Anyone who runs a blog or website knows that a lot of people send out press releases to let people know about something of interest that is going on. Sometimes these press releases are hardly worth a yawn. Other times they are so self-serving as to merit only a very quick click of the “Delete” key. But one jsut landed in my inbox that I think is very good news, and I am happy to repost it here to help spread the word. (more…)
Here’s the List of 2007 Nursing Board Exam Passers. Congrats to all, especially just one of our very special nieces who is on the list.
One of the shortfalls of the Philippines from the viewpoint of foreign investors and retirees is the difficulty of owning property for an outsider. This issue has two main components:
Those sort of plans aren’t plans at all to foreigners used to a healthy housing finance infrastructure.
This article shows a number of banks as well as Pag-IBIG (the Philippine government’s housing bond program) are now moving with the times and making financing a home in the Philippines more of a possibility. God news for home buyers and good news for the Philippines.
There are not many of us who have been around the Philippine Living scene for any length of time and not heard of a balik bayan box. For those who haven’t, it’s a heavy cardboard carton filled with “goodies” usually used for shipping to the Philippines … literally “back to the country”. If you’ve seen a balik bayan box there’s a better than even chance it was from Manila Forwarder LLC., one of the big names in that business.
Manny Paez is the founder of Manila Forwarder and several other businesses, including today’s feature on TravelPH. Here’s my chat with Manny.
————–
1. Name, contact information and web site address.
TravelPH.Com
Email: info@travelph.com
Philippines +63 02 356-8061 / 294-4891USA 1.800.210.1019
2. Number of years in the business and a rough idea of how many clients you send to the Philippines yearly.
4 years
3. Your thoughts on why a prospect should use an agent, and specifically whey they should chose you.
-24/7 customer support
- USA and Manila Offices
-We personally inspect the resorts, hotels, airlines, etc
-instant airline booking confirmation on e-ticketing
- searches all available airline and the lowest rate instantly
-discounts on shipping
4. Number One mistake you have seen Philippine travelers make over the years
Staying with relatives and not using hotels and resorts in their visit during the whole duration of their visit thinking that they would save. Eventually, they end up spending more, culture shock to foreign-born offsprings, etc.
5. Philippine travel tips.
I highly recommend using tourist facilities like hotels, resorts, and other amenities to first-time and return visitors. Invite the relatives to join you in the hotel or resort. Less headache and it will be a pleasing experience to both parties.
6. Where do you see the business headed in 2007 and beyond.
More technology available for the travel agent and clients.
———————–
Thank you Manny, very much appreciate the time and effort you put into making travel happen for folks. If any of you enjoyed reading this, please let me know. If you have other comments, questions or concerns let me know too. We’ll be publishing more interviews like this from folks who actually know about Philippine travel. You can leave a comment, or email me direct at davestarr (at) gmail.com or text me at: 63-0919-231-5625
A lot of folks I’ve met on-line over the past 7 or 8 years want to live in the Philippines. Many are also below normal retirement age and don’t have a pension or other regular non-work income source to support their move. So those with technical talent often ask about getting a tech job in the Philippines.
My view? based on personal knowledge and contacts with a number of hi-tech folks as well as bankers and lawyers is … fughedaboutit (or that would be Tony Soprano’s advice and my echo). Your competition is thousands and thousands of fresh, motivated and ‘hungry’ technical graduates each year and a large crop of under-employed experienced folks. Also, many things both culturally and technically are done differently. They may be smarter or less smart in your view, but the object is, no one is looking for your view … your chief value would be fitting in and being part of a team.
If my pessimism (honest evaluation) of the work climate hasn’t driven you away. here’s an outfit that is actively working with a lot of tech companies here in the Phils and is actively recruiting cannon fodder (I mean job applicants). Best of luck.
Eric Lilley an American retiree in the Philippines recently posted a very interesting question here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Philippine_Living_Island_Paradise/message/41749
Eric brings up a couple very good points … ones I am not that sure
there are good answers for.
Those considering moving to the Philippines mostly ask questions about
how much groceries or electricity costs or other minor money issues.
I live in the Philippines and I’m happy with my decision. However I
would be the first to state that I am taking some big risks by doing
so … risks that make the number of pesos in my electric bill pretty
inconsequential.
The is no effective emergency service in almost all of the
Philippines. You don’t call 911 and get a cardiac care team at
your door, when there’s a pileup on the NLEX and people are lying
broken and bleeding in the road no “flight for life” helicopter swoops
done and transports the victims. It just doesn’t exist almost
anywhere and it’s not likely to in the lifetime of anyone reading this.
One of the reasons I chose to live on the outskirts of Manila is
medical care. I can get into major medical facilities in Manila in an
hour or so … nice for seeing specialists or for having elective
procedures done at good hospitals.
But I’m under no false illusions here … if I have something like a
major heart attack … I’m dead … simple as that. Those who depend
upon or expect world-class emergency medical services are not going to
find them here. Air evacuation services might offer some help but as
Eric is finding, essentially they don’t exist.
I don’t want this to sound strictly gloom and doom, but I have talked
to many who just haven’t thought through what would happen to them if
there is no 911 to call.
As a side note, one of the bigger news stories this past week was the
death of a fellow named Max Soliven, perhaps the most illustrious
Filipino journalist ever. He was in Japan and suffered a heat attack
in the departure lounge at Narita airport, Tokyo. Japan has excellent
medical care and has emergency services operated in a manner that
makes most US services look like amateurs … and helicopter evac is
readily available and frequently used … especially for VIPs which
Max certain was. However, he was dead in seconds … when it’s your
time, it’s your time and no amount of insurance or technology can
‘fix’ things.
The real problem seems to be to me that those still living in the US seem to think they have the best medical care in the world, when, in fact the US can’t come up to better than a dismal 37th in WHO’s latest rankings. France (number 1) would be a much better choice, but I don’t see many moving there.
By Enrico Dee on News
Selamat Datang Malaysia! The Philippines’ leading low-cost airline will commence its Manila-Kuala Lumpur flight with a promo one simply can’t just resist: fly for only 1,499 pesos, one-way (taxes excluded). This is another good news for al travelers wishing to go to the wonderful city of Kuala Lumpur.
Check out the other dirt-cheap prices of Cebu Pacific Airline’s Go Fare promo:
To know more about the latest Cebu Pacific Promo, please click here
Cebu Pacific is my favorite airline. I’ve used them to fly between Manila and Cebu and like the service ands like the 
prices. To pass the tim eon the short flights the flight attendants hand out prizes, sell T-shirts and ball caps and play corny games … always with a big smile. So much nicer than the ramrod-stiff schoolgirls you get on China Air or the sour-faced scolding teachers that you get on Northwest … sorry ma’am I had to make this trip, I promise not to clutter up your cabin another trip ……
Many guys and gals are in the Philippine son tourist visas and have to leave every year … Hong Kong has been one of the choices in the past, Kuala Lumpur is a great alternative destination.
So when you need a good “escape route” just hop on Cebu Pacific’s web site and buy yourself a low-price ticket. Recommended.
Here’s a really useful list with phone numbers you can call when you need a Manila taxi. Thanks to Enrico Dee for taking the time to put the list together.
Gawad Kalinga communities to be ‘tourist-ready villages’
By Tessa Salazar
Inquirer
Last updated 00:02am (Mla time) 09/23/2006WITH THE first grand event of Gawad Kalinga communities to happen from October 6 to 8 at the Mall of Asia, the emerging challenge for township and property developments using the GK format is how to make GK shelters tourist-ready villages as well.
Tourists-for-a-cause and youth groups from 34 countries dropped by the GK villages recently to learn for themselves how and why the villages “clicked†and to assess if these same villages could suit them in their future visits to the country.
GK volunteers present during the visit said, however, that they were not looking to build resort-type communities but visitor-friendly structures that could be upgraded to accommodate tourists who would like to stay for some time. Full entry here:
OK first thing many readers are going to ask is, what the heck is Gawad Kalinga? Short answer is it’s a free-standing charity (NGO or Non-Government Organization) that coordinates people who want to help the poor by building houses with people in need of houses. If you think that sounds a bit like Habitat For Humanity, you’re correct, but it’s not the same organization. HFH is very much alive and well on it’s own in the Philippines and the two organizations work to the same goals.
In my 7 years of intimate acquaintance with the Philippines I have run into many foreigners who want to help cure the abysmal housing conditions of the poor. The schemes run form grandiose ideas like let’s re-make the entire government to sending cash in the hopes it will get where it will do some good.
No scheme I can think of is better than building houses for people. It has concrete, immediate satisfaction, there’s no nagging thoughts of where did the money go, and like the parable about teaching the man to fish and feeding him for a lifetime, when you build a man a house you house him and his children for their lifetimes and the lifetimes of children to come. Kind of a monument that serves a purpose for a change.
Great way to get there. As you know, I highly recommend Cathay Pacific Airlines. They fly great equipment with great people US to Asia and leave from both US coasts. They partner with American Airlines in the US so you can book a flight from nearly any city via New York, Dan Francisco or Los Angels on Cathay. All their US flights will take you first to Hong Kong, a great place to visit on its own, and then take you via a short (less than two hours) hop to Manila.
Find out more an Cathay’s site here. Right now west coast round trip fares to Manila are as low as $749, and it’s really hard to find any fares to beat that on a quality airline.
The thing that makes this an especially good deal is the time frame. It’s not too hard to find fares like this in the low season, February/March for example, but here’s the terms: Departure dates; 01Nov06-30Nov06 Valid for travel Mon - Thu on each transpacific sector only. Surcharge of USD25 for travel Fri - Sun on each transpacific sector. Minimum stay none, maximum stay 20 days.
For those not familiar with the holiday season in Manila, grab this now if you are a Christmas person. Fares over the Christmas period …. 15 Dec through 15 January are usually out of sight. This looks like a good deal to me, personally, check it out.
By Ros Krasny Fri Aug 25, 12:03 PM ET
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) - Take that, Lou Dobbs. Despite much handwringing and political posturing, the surge of job outsourcing, by increasing productivity, has actually helped raise real wages for low-skilled U.S. workers, according to two Princeton University economists.
They countered critics of outsourcing, including high-profile CNN host Dobbs, who charge that transferring U.S. jobs abroad hurt American workers’ well being. Full article here:Taking a swing at conventional wisdom, Princeton professors Gene Grossman and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg argued that wages for the least-skilled blue collar jobs had been rising since 1997 as outsourcing boosted productivity.
This is no news to me. I’ve been reading and analyzing similar studies for several years now. A “study” can come up with whatever you wish it to, really, but I’ve seen a great deal of indepence and verasity in the ones I have read.People
like Mr. Dobbs, whose “jobs” resemble htis pundit’s … sitting around and expressing opinions … need to look alittle fartehr at what they “think” the bad things about outsourceing really are.Outsourcing
is a boon to the Philippines and other countries where any job is better thna no job, and it’s a real benefit to the US becuase we can distrubute the better paid, higher skilled jobs across a broader base.
Think twice before you knee-jerk agree with every word that comes out of Dobbs’ mouth,
We’ve ben a little slow on actual posts from the Philippines lately, as business her ein the US has been consuming a lot of time. A fellow whom I’ve know on line for some years, Thomas Glenn, wo lives in San fernando la Union, on the westrn (South China Sea) cost of Luzon sent some infor on the latest storm along with his kind permission to repost. This latest storm blew by the east side of Luzon and nailed taiwan pretty good. As strorm go it was not a big one, but this fellow or gal seemed to drop alot more rain than normal. heer’s Tom’s min-report and a link to a very short live video of what was going on in his front yard.
—————————————-
Â
Â
Â
The basic problem is this: If you use a computer in an internet cafe to access your online banking account(s), there’s an excellent chance that your user ID and password will be ‘captured’ by so-called ‘key logging’ software. The same problem will plague you as well if you use your own machine, especially over a public Wi Fi connection.
Don’t be fooled by the many ‘experts’ who point out tricks like using Microsoft’s built in ’soft keyboard’ or storing your password in a separate file and dropping it into the password field on your bank’s login screen via cut and paste. These solutions are not solutions at all.
Windows, Linux and Apple operating systems all work in a similar fashion. When you type a key, or click on a ’soft’ key or paste key data, it goes into a location in the operating system known as the keyboard buffer. The system then processes the machine representation of the text that is in the buffer.
Capturing that data is trivially easy for nefarious software developers. As long as you user ID and password is static .. the same for one transaction after another … you are at risk, no matter how you put the data onto the screen (into the buffer). The only really secure method is to have a constantly changing pass word or security code, so that a password captured this minute will be no good a minute from now if a criminal tries to use it.
Hopefully other banks, both in the Philippines and in the US …where banking security is a joke .. will follow HSBC’s lead. For myself, I’m going to vote with my money and move my online activities to HSBC RSN (Real Soon Now)
“Once again, this is a shining testament to the world-class Filipino worker,â€
An interesting story today about the tiny island of New Caledonia. The island is owned by France, one of the last vestiges of France’s former empire and is rich in Nickel and Cobalt ores. One might wonder why France didn’t staff this project with French citizens … especially the huge, whining contingent that was bitching so loud about discrimination and lack of opportunity that they almost burned France down a month or so ago.
Even though I am neither a sociologist nor a politician I have my thoughts on why: (more…)
PhilFAQS © 2007 - 2008 All Rights Reserved. Using WordPress 2.7 Engine
Entries and Comments.
Prosumer 1.5 made by Nurudin Jauhari
