Category: Philippines

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rePost:: more, More, MORE! :: Seth's Blog

In the Philippines how well you are treated as a customer is most of the time inversely proportional to how good a customer you are. If you complain a lot you get good service but if you are more of the let it slide type you don’t have such great service. I sometimes wish restaurants do the math and just give great service to their valuable customers. This is partly the reason why I sign up for loyalty cards which help them track your spending, maybe they’d get their act together and figure out that the 80-20 rule / pareto principle probably applies to them. 80 percent of their revenues may come from just 20 percent of their clientele.

You have three choices: put up with the whiners, write off everyone, or, deliberately exclude the ungrateful curs.
Firing the customers you can’t possibly please gives you the bandwidth and resources to coddle the ones that truly deserve your attention and repay you with referrals, applause and loyalty.
via Seth’s Blog: more, More, MORE!.

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rePost:: » Tips for Stress-Free Travel » The Art of Non-Conformity »

Nice set of advice. I learned the quoted advice implicitly from tonio and chuck. It came from observing that what’s important is the experience everything else should be in the background. What does this mean? Well bring lot’s of money and have a who cares attitude about money. Some caveats would be, at least for me.
Learn to haggle without being stressed (I needed to learn this)
some more travel advice:

  • Learn to ask for directions.
  • Learn if the area has a map (especially useful for introverts like me)/cultural/tourist office.
  • It’s not how many places you visit it’s about how happy you were when you visited those places. (Let the bad things slide)
  • You travel to travel not to tell other people about it, which basically means photos are there to remind you of the happy moments.
  • Basically BE IN THE MOMENT(I can still recall vividly the first panoramic view of the Mt Pinatubo crater lake or each second of the Dahilayan zipline, It was because I was so into the moment it was as if nothing else existed.)
  • Travel Light.  (This was taught to me by walking with 2 bags with a combine weight of around 25kg walking for more than 15km from davao’s eco bus station to the davao museum and to a few more places. When you are thinking of bringing anything just say to yourself YOU AREN’T GOING TO NEED IT)
  • Always carry change.
  • Dress down, dress comfortably. (I find that dressing down automatically signals to people you are asking for directions/advice to point you to the least expensive options.)

Spend more money. I often get stressed out spending small amounts of money. Overall, this isn’t always bad—it’s led to a healthy paranoia about debt and a lifelong adherence to frugality. However, it has its downsides too, in that I can spend hours walking around trying to decide what to eat, or hours trying to figure out the public transit system somewhere instead of just flagging down a taxi.
It only took me about 100 countries—I’m a slow learner—but I finally created a $10 rule for myself that has been rocking my world. The $10 rule is that when I’m traveling, I deliberately avoid worrying about most things that cost $10 or less. As I said, this makes a big difference. I actually eat three meals a day now. If I can’t find free WiFi, I’ll walk into a hotel and pay for the connection. SO MUCH LESS STRESS.
via The Art of Non-Conformity » Tips for Stress-Free Travel.

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rrePost:: Invisible platform : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose :: The Long View

If machinery wins National Elections (I’m acutely aware that local elections can be won by a better party machinery) then Pichay should be a senator now. Obviously he isn’t. QED.
Wish people really call BS on these politicians. We would have a shorter news cast.

I have heard it said that Teodoro played a central role in formulating the NPC platform and he himself has been saying things that suggest familiarity with a draft platform. This has been particularly true in recent weeks, coinciding with the period work on a platform has been taking place, as Magno mentioned. The term “subsidiarity” that he mentioned at a recent forum is a vintage Christian Democratic one and is, surely, a hint of what the Lakas-Kampi-CMD platform might put forward. This inability to publish a platform means the ruling coalition believes Prospero Pichay’s statement that their candidate will win because of party machinery and not public sentiment.
via The Long View: Invisible platform : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose.

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Better Press Corp Please::Covering Washington like Kabul | FP Passport

This post should be titled better press corp and better electorate please. This is because the two sides are at fault for how lousy the coverage of elections has been. The blame goes to the people who now thinks of politicians as entertainers and vice versa (if I hear another question about Noy and Shalani  I’m going to puke.)
Where are we really. Let’s see.
We have the world’s longest ballot, with electronic elections that is unprecedented. We have 7.1 % unemployment rate. a 19.1% underemployment rate, we have what thousands of OFW in some of the most hostile social environments in the world, we have an education system in rambles, our general populace is scared whenever we see a check point. Our policemen/military can’t seem to understand that belonging to a political/ideological party is not a crime (bearing arms is). We have a few dozen warlords in the poorest provinces whose people are locked in a cycle of poverty , corruption and abuse.
And the question you would like to ask Villar is “Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura?”. Fuck, you people have no right to claim being the Fourth Estate or rather it is sad that maybe this is what or how the fourth estate should be if left to the devices of people who do not have any noble belief towards their profession.
In a better world media should be asking Gibo what he has done as Department of Defense? What Gordon did with the ZTE-NBN deal investigation ? Executive success of Noy? and the Peace and Order understanding of Manny Villar?
PS :: Mild Migraines again so grain of salt guys.
PS1: Prior to the C5 road scams my problems with Villar is that our economy may do well with his stewardship but that the Ampatuans and other rumored warlord families would only strengthen their grasp.

Covering Washington like Kabul

Posted By Annie Lowrey Tuesday, February 16, 2010 – 11:31 PM

On his New Yorker blog, George Packer takes aim at the “devastatingly unremarkable” bloviation of Beltway journos. He cites Washington Post columnist (and “dean” of the Washington press corps) David Broder’s analysis of a recent Sarah Palin speech as “[showing] off a public figure at the top of her game — a politician who knows who she is and how to sell herself.” He also offers up the New York Times‘ Adam Nagourney’s coverage of a recent Republican leadership conference: “Here in Honolulu, the strains within the party over conservative principles versus political pragmatism played out in a sharp and public way.”
These two characterizations from two top writers for the United States’ two leading papers, Packer argues, are but purple guff — in the words of Michael Kelly, examples of how the “idea of image” is “faith in Washington.” The journalists follow the same, strange, well-worn routine. They take the mundane comings and goings of major political figures, interpret them according to prevailing partisan winds, and write them up in the overheated, undercooked language of a harlequin novel. The result is airy nonsense that fervently insists on its trenchancy.
Packer further demonstrates the absurdity of this journalistic convention by satirically recasting the Palin passage about Afghan President Hamid Karzai: “Speaking at the presidential palace in Kabul, Mr. Karzai showed himself to be at the top of his game. He skillfully co-opted his Pashtun base while making a powerful appeal to the technocrats.”
The point is that Washington coverage of major political figures is not just bizarre stylistically, but dead substantively. To discuss for hundreds of words how Palin is at the top of her game is to spend hundreds of words not discussing her actual relevance to the fractured conservative scene. Foreign correspondence on major political figures needs to be more explanatory than illlustrative — and it would be better if coverage of Washington were more like the clear-eyed, clean-written analysis of Kabul.
via Covering Washington like Kabul | FP Passport.

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rePost::‘Think twice,’ Ermita warns telcos – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

There was this The West Wing episode about a televised presidential debate. That episode is very meaningful here.
The Telcos are operating based on being able to use the electromagnetic spectrum. This is not their right but rather a massive gift to them from the government. To do something that is detrimental to our republic must also entail an equal or a more pronounced response. If they fear for their security then they have no right to enjoy the massive profits they get out of using a resource that is in some ways fully owned by the Filipino people. Withdrawal of support must mean withdrawal of use of the resource upon which the massive salaries of their executives/shareholders and workers are based on.

ON PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL OF POLL SUPPORT
‘Think twice,’ Ermita warns telcos
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:59:00 02/17/2010
Filed Under: Telecommunications Services, Elections, Eleksyon 2010
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Wednesday cautioned telecommunications firms against backing out of its commitment to provide the main data center for the May election, saying national interest is at stake.
“I think they should think twice before they resort to what they say they may refuse because you know this thing involves the national welfare, it involves the national interest and very surely the Comelec would know what to do in order to ensure that the commitment under the contract will be fulfilled,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.
The Palace executive was reacting to reports that Globe Telecoms and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, which owns Telecommunications, have proposed to withdraw its offer to setup a main data center in its offices for the transmission of election results in the May 10 polls.
The firms have expressed fears of physical attacks against their facilities during the election.
via ‘Think twice,’ Ermita warns telcos – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

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rePost::Revilla Jr.'s surname is now Bong Revilla – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News

Wow who ever is advising him must be commended this shows an amazing grasps of human psychology and some mental shortcuts people make!!! bravo!!! maybe the best move (in an intellectual sense) for the past 10 years!!!

So that he will be on top of the alphabetical list of senatorial candidates in the ballots, re-electionist Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. decided to change his surname to Bong Revilla.
Revilla’s lawyer, George Erwin Garcia, said the Cavite Regional Trial Court Branch 19 had approved the use of Bong Revilla as a registered family name last October 19, 2009.
“At least yung paggamit niya ng (his use of) Bong Revilla has the imprimatur of the court, it is perfectly legal,” Garcia said, adding that even Revilla’s birth certificate has been corrected.
Revilla’s decision to change his surname prompted a certain Mary Emily Verr Peji to file a disqualification case against him with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last December.
via Revilla Jr.’s surname is now Bong Revilla – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

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rePost::Foreign investors shunning Philippines: experts | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

If we are hard headed about this the huge remittances of Filipino overseas workers can be thought of as investment. We have a postive balance of payments, we need to marshal these resources and create a focused try at finding our comparative advantage and try to develop industries that we can be world leaders in.

Wallace said the Philippines had enjoyed low inflation and high international reserves and a stable balance of payments under Arroyo.
But he attributed this to the actions of the central bank and the huge remittances of millions of Filipinos working overseas.
He said most Asian countries, except small ones such as Cambodia and East Timor, were getting more foreign investment than the Philippines.
AYC Consultants economist Benvenuto Icamina said that, to attract more investment, the Philippines would need to revise certain “discriminatory taxation” policies that favor local companies over foreign ones.
He also said the country needed to upgrade and modernize its infrastructure while improving its governance and cutting “non-tariff barriers” such as red tape.
via Foreign investors shunning Philippines: experts | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

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rePost::Congress appears doomed to fail on Jobs Creation Legislation | Angry Bear

This is my beef with a lot of the spending that politicians do with their Pork Barrel /IRA allotments etc. Few politicians seem to grasp that spending money on somethings are a better use of capital because it creates a value unlocking cycle to more investments/more revenues. This is why districts which have very narrow roads that are burdened with heavy traffic should be widened, and when you see a couple of projects to cover the basketball courts along the road whilst the narrowness of the road is not addressed. Well this is simply a failure in allocation. This is a simple example but we can see this in various degrees in most congressional districts/ provinces and cities in the Philippines. We have a fucking budget deficit because of a few things. One being corruption and the other being a failure in allocation. If I can credit GMA with anything is that she seems to understand this. Hence a lot of development in places like bohol,cebu,cagayan de oro, davao and a host of other places.  A flawed analogy would be using your money to get into trainings. If you use your money to train in skills that are marketable or have value you have used you money well, while if you use your money to train for personal enjoyment you gain in happiness but you didn’t increase your value (If your strict about this you increased your value but tangentially).

What should Congress be doing instead? It should be thinking of public infrastructure and human capital projects that provide3 support to important public institutions that will last long beyond the current Recession. Congress should be funding public transit and renewable energy projects that would directly put to work hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans. Another important public infrastructure project that would make a real difference in unemployment? How about providing 1-2 billion apiece to the ten largest inner cities to be used for urban renewal–destruction of ruined buildings, building of public transit and energy projects–with the requiremment that at least 75% of the employees be from the city itself. Detroit's mayor has said that tehre aare 10,000 buildings that need to be pulled down in the city. That would be great work for unskilled laborers and make a marvelous dent in uhemployment. And it should be providing another stimulus packagge for the states to support education from K-16 and beyond–the best investment we can make in keeping our US universities and schools great, keeping educators employed, and offering ordinary Americans the chance to better themselves through educational advancement.
Just imagine. What if Congress would have the courage to discuss these issues publicly? Quit thinking about their corporatist patrons? Start thinking about ordinary Americans? And actually fund public infrastructure and human capital support over the next two years.
via Congress appears doomed to fail on Jobs Creation Legislation | Angry Bear.

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rePost::Tortured doc to speak for all ‘Morong 43’ – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

A society is judeged by how it treats its elders and children. We are failing.

MANILA, Philippines—The 60-year-old doctor who was allegedly tortured by the military will speak in behalf of the 42 other health workers about their ordeal in the hands of the military when they are presented to the public for the first time Monday.
Dr. Alex Montes, a member of the non-government organization Community Medicine Development Foundation (Commed), will narrate his experiences while under military detention before the Court of Appeals at 2:30 p.m., according to human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong, lead counsel of the health workers.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to present the detainees to the CA’s First Division for their writ of habeas corpus hearing. But the military asked for deferment and said it would present them Monday.
Capulong, head of the Public Interest Law Center, said the 43 health workers would submit their sworn affidavits to the court.
via Tortured doc to speak for all ‘Morong 43’ – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

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Better Electorate Please!!!!::Kung Fu Monkey: Farm Fetish

One of the more fun rants that I’ve read this month! read the whole thing.
Let’s see a few things that are tangential but I believe relevant.
-The social safety net of the USA and probably the world was started by FDR an US elite who traces his ancestry to early US Presidents. Franklin Delano Roosevelt never knew hunger and or poverty as a state yet he has done more than but a handful of people to establish most of what US citizens know as the social safety net.
-The Civil Rights Act although was a bill that was to be sponsored by John F Kennedy but was made into law during LBJ Lyndon B Johnson’s presidency. LBJ and JFK have never been black/african american.  Yet the Civil Rights Act has been one of the landmark bills to have helped african americans.
-In the same vein Abe Lincoln has never been an african american yet…(tinatamad na akong ipagpatuloy)
If the only reason you are going to vote Manny Villar over Perlas, Gordon, Gibo , Aquino is that he used to be poor , fuck democracy. I’m beginning to be convinced that a democracy not anchored by an educated middle class is untenable.  I know it’s hard to believe but look at it this way. Your doctor has probably never had a brain tumor yet you believe your doctor when he/she advises your treatment. Same with your lawyer (Sorry lawyer friends I had to take a dig, well nobody actually trust their lawyers some lawyers are just less bad as others).
I know this might bite me in the ass in May but we were given a brain to override the emotions that would make us do irrational things or short circuit decision making that is really not that good for us. Think responsibly. My god just think please!  (I think there is a possibility that I will vote for Villar)

You know, I just realized how many errant Google hits that title is going to bring. Creepy.
This will just break Neil’s heart, as he does see me as a champion of fighting regionalism, but this CNN piece (from over at Atrios) is the sort of thing that, Jesus H*. Christ on a crutch, gives me a headache. They send a reporter to literally Middle America, and surprise, discover that they don’t much care for them Hollywood movies. Suuuurrr-prise!
But one chunk of this report, to me, is symptomatic of a larger issue that grinds my molars.
ANDERSON: We stopped by the Lebanon [Kansas — ed.] hotspot, Ladow’s Market, where one local told us Hollywood just can’t relate to a farming way of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They’ve never been back in here to know what it’s like to actually have to make a living doing this.
You know what, Unidentified Male? You’re right. I don’t know what it’s like to have to make a living farming. NOBODY DOES.
For chrissake, only 17% of Americans live in rural settings anymore. Only 2 million of those people work on farms or ranches (USDA figures). Hell, only ten percent of the average farm family’s income even comes from farming anymore (did you know that? I didn’t. Funky). The median age of the United States is 37. I am more than willing to point out that the agriculture industry is a crucial, nay vital part of the American economic infrastructure generating a sizable amount of the GDP. But why in the name of John Deere’s Blood-Soaked Wood-Chipper Gears, every time I hear a news report on what “real Americans” think do I wind up watching some farmer in their fifties and sixties bitch as they survey the blasted plains landscape behind them, and not only that, somehow their cultural observations are assumed to have more relevance than anyone else’s?
This is only half-rant. The honest question is, what in the American character keeps us returning to this completely false self-image? Seriously, how did we get to a point where this report may as well have started: “Hi there, Carol, we’re about to talk to people twenty years older than the average American living a lifestyle less than one in five average Americans live … to find out what the average American thinks” and somehow nobody blinks an eye?
There are four times as many Americans living in urban than rural areas. There are four times as many people sucking back coffee in New York city alone than make a living farming. According to the Burea of Labor, there are just as many people employed in Architecture and Engineering as farming, hell, 3 million people working in Computer and Mathematical jobs. But when one of these “What does America think about culture” pieces comes on, do I ever see a mid-30’s software engineer onscreen bitching about having to download BitTorrents of “The IT Crowd”? Fuck and no.
Four million people in the US play World of Warcraft. And yet, do I ever hear:
Four million people in the US play World of Warcraft. And yet, do I ever hear:
via Kung Fu Monkey: Farm Fetish.