There has been a large US presence in the Phillipines for many years now, so the use of Imperial units may result from that. I notice that they use 2.5 feet, rather than 2ft 6in, which is how the British would say it.
I notice that further into the article, conversions into metric are shown, so obviously many Phillipinos are probably more comfortable with metric. John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: John M. Steele To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 12:03 PM Subject: [USMA:46423] I thought only Americans were innumerate I was surprised by this article from the Phillipines using inches first. Are they only "marginally metric?" I was also surprised by the level of innumeracy (check the conversions) http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100117-247870/25-foot-ballot-seen-with-144-partylist-groups-in-polls [quoted snippets] Comelec spokesman James Arthur Jimenez said the ballot, as has been designed, has a “maximum” length of 26 inches or a little over two feet but a backup ballot design measuring 29 inches or nearly 2.5 feet could be used instead after the poll body’s approval of 144 party-list groups participating in the elections. . . . Converted to the metric system, 26 inches is about 66 centimeters or one-third of a meter; 29 inches is 77.66 cm or nearly four-fifths of a meter. [end quote]
