00:00Rainy Monday, evening greetings to all. William Theo here, homegrown and glad to bring you PTV News Now.
00:09Topping our list of breaking stories both here in the homeland and away,
00:14law enforcement has joined government and volunteer groups in providing relief to civilians hit hard by severe tropical storm crisis impact.
00:23Chief PNP Nicolás Torres III earlier said today in a presser at Camp Crame that over 2,600 policemen and women have been deployed to areas hit hard by the confluence of Kersing's winds and the southwest monsoon's torrential rains.
00:39Torres said this latest dispatch of law enforcers are part of the PNP's disaster response efforts,
00:45of which 3,000 are on ground operations and 7,000 more on standby or reinforcement assignment.
00:53Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council reports close to 226,000 families or equal to 800,850 persons nationwide have been hit hard by Kersing's passage,
01:07and from which over 5,900 families or equal to 20,100 individuals have sought shelter in 319 evacuation sites.
01:19For his part, Torres said Tropical Storm Kersing also did not spare 62 police officers from her wrath with damage to their homes and property.
01:28Finally, an application that could break through and boost customer service satisfaction in call centers around the planet and especially here at home.
01:39A California tech startup is developing a software using artificial intelligence to mask accents of international customer service agents and allay prejudices of American, Australian, British and other customers
01:54whose native tongue is English on-call center agents providing help. VOA's Matt Dibble has this VOA log-on feature report.
02:05In the global economy, a call to a customer service center will likely be answered by someone in a faraway part of the world.
02:13Call center workers can train for months to effectively communicate with customers whose native language and culture differ from theirs.
02:21Despite all the training, an agent's accent can trigger biased reactions from a caller, says developer Sharaf Narayana.
02:30Now I'm connected to somebody that I can't relate to or his voice that I cannot relate to. Can this person actually solve my problem?
02:38Narayana is a co-founder of California-based Sanus AI, whose technology can adjust the way a speaker sounds with the goal of making an accent more relatable.
02:48A call center agent from the Philippines demonstrated.
02:52Hi, my name is Iggy. I'm from Paranyake.
02:56Hi, my name is Iggy. I'm from Paranyake.
02:59The agent speaks normally into a microphone and the AI system detects phonemes, which are the sound components of words.
03:07And what we're essentially doing is real-time, is matching those phonemes to how that phoneme should sound in an American accent.
03:14Discrimination and abuse by callers are among the factors leading to high turnover among call center workers.
03:21Narayana himself once worked in such a center, and although he doesn't excuse the behavior of callers, he says Sanus makes the job easier for agents.
03:30If there is a technology solution to it, where I don't have to change the way I sound, but the other person can understand me very, very clearly, why isn't it a beautiful thing?
03:40Because I was able to listen to one of my calls using Sanus, and wow.
03:44It looks like English is my first language.
03:47Narayana says that 97% of agents with an optional Sanus system installed are using it every day.
03:54Matt Dibble, VOA News, Palo Alto, California.
04:00Right now, let's lend our eyes and ears to my colleague in PTV's Pine City Studios for what's brewing of late in the Cordilleras after the storm.
04:10Audrey?
04:12Naimbaga rabi.
04:13Di manon itinasor 7 gaso, siya mapulukot 6,000 a pesos si Gatad ti Danios, kadagi ti Power Lines, kanistraktura ti Benguet Electric Cooperative, Kalpasan ti Baguio, Crising.
04:22Sigun kineng Engineer Freiser P. Angayan Department Manager ti Network Services ti Beneco, dakdakal ti Nasaw Adanios kumpara iti imunan a Baguio itaabulan a ni Bising.
04:35Pusibli ang manayunan pa'y day tuigapu iti mapaspasaran a Southwest Monsoon.
04:39Iti madagdama a garop 98% ti power restoration iti probinsya, bayat at wapulokot upat pa'y alugar ti san a nagpasilawan.
04:47Punti riada ang mapasilawan aming dagitoy-aginggay ng Tundigat, baban iti manariman a panagtignay dagitoy-alignment tik operatiba.
04:55Currently, as of now, meron tayong recorder na mga no light in others, so may mga nasirang poste, transformers, so although yung iba is for inspection pa lang.
05:07So target namin is by tomorrow sana ma-fully restored.
05:11Sa ating mga MCOs, pasensya na po kung hindi namin ma-restore agad yung ating mga ilaw, but Bineco is doing its best to restore the most possible and safe possible type.
05:29Iti sa baliyad ang mag-agtultuloy ang nakarikap ti Cannon Road, Kalpasan ang nagtilnag dagitibatbatu iti Kalsada, ididim malapos ti Baguio, Akrisi.
05:36Sigun kinimayor Benjamin Magalong, nakapatrolya dagitipulis siya itilugar, kan maruura iti advisory manibod iti DPWH no kaano ang malukatan ti Kalsada.
05:48Malaksid iti tayto'y mabambantayan matlang tipa sa Tilonglong Tamawan Road, a nakapasar matlang tipa nagrega iti Daga.
05:55Kaduan ka dagitin ang kapasar ay tipa nagrega iti Daga, katka dagitilugar, akalat ang mapatpatakderan ti ibabalay,
06:01wheno dagiti awant iti soil excavation permit manibod iti lokal na gobyerno.
06:06Nabalakad ang dagiti barangay officials nga i-report a Dagus dagiti makita dang agpatakder iti Pasda,
06:11wheno mangipatpatumpal ti construction can land development nga awanan ti permiso.
06:17Magulit yung nakita natin dun sa Puliwas, na bigla na lang without any permit.
06:23Bigla na lang gumalaw yung isang residente dun na naguhukay na lang bigla-bigla.
06:29At ayun nga, na-aggravate nga yung situation, kaya bumagsak yung soil doon, nagkaroon na soil erosion.
06:37At okay, siguro, kailangan natin higpitan ulit itong mga nagkakaroon na mga construction na walang building permit.
06:44Higpitan ulit natin.
06:45Dagita dagiti damdamag manipod iti PTV Cordelia Rashaak ni Audrey Villana na imbag-arabi.
06:51Many thanks, Audrey.
06:54And with that, we call curtains on tonight's program.
06:57Join us anew tomorrow afternoon and evening for another twin bill of major stories here and abroad.
07:03This is William Thea wishing you a safe, dry and restful evening ahead.
07:07And thank you for watching PTV News Now.
07:09PTV News Now.
