Got no signal? This may be why

Pope Francis arrived yesterday, cheered on by waiting crowds of people excited to see a glimpse of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Unfortunately, those people and the people in the surrounding areas where he travelled to (and is set to travel) will have to wait a few hours to upload their close encounters with the pontiff – the government has asked both Smart and Globe to temporarily suspend network services in and around the routes that Pope Francis is using as a security measure. That means if you’re even remotely near where the Pope will be in the next few days, you can expect not to have any kind of usuable signal while the pope is in your area. The signal shutoff is part of the government’s security measures to protect the pontiff while he’s here, as cellphones have been used to trigger bombs and IEDs in the past – the bombing involving a passenger bus in Bukidnon, for instance, was triggered using a cellphone.