Things You Can Do For Fun At Subic Bay, Philippines

I spend quite a bit of time here on the blog and in many personal conversations, explaining to people that living in the Philippines is nothing like the lady enjoying life in this picture.Re;axing on the beack at Subic

Yet, on the other hand, I have been to the exact patch of sand where that picture was taken and I guarantee you it is real, and within a two or two and a half hour drive from the smoggy heart of Manila, along modern toll roads with no traffic lights or tricycle snarls.

So maybe life in the Philippines is a beach … and I just don’t go there often enough?  

As I mentioned last time, we frequently visit the Subic Bay Freeport.  And one of the absolute prime attractions on Subic is the Ocean View Adventure theme park.  A comment often thrown about in the Philippines is “world class”.  Sometimes it refers to something that truly is worth the adjective and other times it is what some hopeful resort entrepreneur wants you to think is world class, when the place doesn’t even have toilet seats, toilet paper and soap in the washroom.

Well I can personally attest, as a satisfied customer, that ocean Adventure delivers on their promises.  What exactly is Ocean Adventure?  Well it’s loosely called a theme park, and that part is true.  But there are quite a few attractions when you sit down and list them all out … more than you can do on a one day visit, that is for sure.

What To See:

Here’s the “Main Course” .. what you get for a very reasonable one day admission … 500 Pesos … about $11.50USD the day I was there. … all-in, no ups, mo extras

Ocean Discovery Aquarium

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Bright colors. Strange shapes. Mysterious creatures. Welcome to the World of the Discovery Aquarium. Explore the fascinating waters of Subic Bay and the South China Sea – without getting wet. Inside our air conditioned aquarium explore many habitats and the amazing animals that live in them – fresh water streams, mangrove forests, coral reefs and deep dark caves. Discover actions you can take to protect these fragile marine environments.

This is the first attraction we visited.  (they are all close together in easy kids waling distance, and connected by covered walkways to shade you from the sun, or the rainy season showers.  This is one of the few attractions up here in the Northland that is pretty much a rain or shine environment.  Good for the “gray season’ “cabin fever “blahs”.

Small, but exquisitely maintained … not just a bunch of fish in a tank.

Learning Center

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What’s the difference between a fish and a mammal? What is Baleen? What do you call a group of dolphins? Discover the answers to these fun facts and many more in the learning center. Find out how you can get involved in conservation action. Colorful graphics,fun activities, and interesting talks by our friendly Park Guides – there’s always something going on in the Learning Center!

This will be more appropriate for my nephews when they are a little older.  At 3 and (almost) five they are already veterans of organized school, but we made this trip on their summer vacations, so give them a break, OK?

 

 

 The International Champions High Dive Show

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Back by popular demand, Ocean Adventure is proud to present the International Champion High Divers. This exciting show features amazing divers from around the world, all here for a summer season of great entertainment. From precision diving to wild and crazy comic antics to the drama of a high dive 85 feet in the air, the high divers show is guaranteed to thrill and amaze the entire family.

Sadly I didn’t get to see the diving show itself .. the kids were already tuckered out … the show itself normally runs at 1330 or 1400 and you can believe me I’ll be back to see it RSN (Real Soon Now). 

The next time we visit I think one of my grown nieces who is a bit of a high diver herself (I have a picture of her around her somewhere going off a 30 foot platform) will be along.  I’ll tell her to bring her swimsuit … can there be much difference between 30 feet and 85 feet?

I’ll say one thing … you have to tilt your head back really, really far just to look up far enough to see that 85 foot platform.  Impressive.

Dolphin Friends Show

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Enjoy our dolphin friends in their lovely lagoon by the rain forest. Learn about these fascinating animals, while being thrilled by their grace, agility, power, and intelligence. This presentation is packed with action, smiles, interesting information, and an important conservation message.

This is by far the one and only centerpiece show not to miss.

The dolphins and false killer whales are close up and personal and they seem trained to the highest standards … they put on quite a show.  And they don’t have to live in relatively tiny tanks like so many performing animals in the US do … plus, good quality fresh fish is cheap here, they are well fed … and I can tell there is a genuine rapport between the animals and their trainers .. you can tell when an animal is performing by rote, or when s/he loves to show off, and these animals are living the good life here in the Philippines as I am … they enjoy their work.

These are just about half the attractions your standard admission gives you.  The full list of Ocean Adventure attractions is here.  It will be a full day, believe me.  Hard for me to believe the bargain we got and the kids … wish you were here to ask them … they loved it.

Inside the park you’ll find everything is clean and neat and perfectly laid out for the visitor.  There’s even an excellent cafe that serves quite good food … Filipino and Western and normal, outside the park prices … no gouging the tourist here.  Learn more about the dozens of other attractions … organized diving adventures, swim with the dolphins, be a dolphin trainer and more here at their excellent website

Where To Stay

There’s good quality lodging directly across the parking lot from Ocean Park,  Camayan Beach Resort … it’s run by the same folks who operate Ocean Adventure.  I haven’t tried it though, I’d rather be back at the Venezia or one of the other hotels along the beachfront across the Freeport and adjacent to Olongapo City.

Do I recommend visiting Subic and Ocean Adventure?  You bet I do.

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Ocean Adventure
Telephone Nos. , +63 (47) 252-5885
Fax No. +63 (47) 252-5883

Camayan Beach Resort
Telephone No. +63 (47) 252-8000
Fax No. +63 (47) 252-2959

Manila Marketing Office
Telephone No. +63 (2) 706-3344 to 46
Mobile Number: +63 (908) 885-4911

E-Mail: info@oceanadventure.com.ph

 

 


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  • And much more besides!

As with everything I ever promote, this program is 100% unconditionally guaranteed to be right … for you … and you are the sole judge of its value.  If you make a fortune, see you at Ocean Adventure.  If you don’t like the program, your money will be instantly refunded, no questions asked.

If you’ve been waiting and wondering and studying how you can have the freedom to live where you want to, here’s a fork in the road.  As my friend Yogi is famous for saying,“Take It!”


Popularity: 9% [?]

Where to Buy It

If you live in the Philippines (or any other country outside the US, for that matter) and you want to buy something you’ve seen advertised, you often run into a terrible brick wall.  It is often like pulling teeth to find out from a vendor’s web site if they even ship overseas … and if they do, how much it costs.

Here’s a great example of as site that actually recognizes people live in many different countries:

http://www.pricenoia.com

image Right now they hook only the Amazon, butt that’s not too bad.  Select the Amazon international site (I find selecting all of them helps you find the best deals) and search for an item.  The site finds the availability at all the different Amazons _and_ calculates the shipping cost to the country you designate.

Seriously way cool .. would you have guessed that it’s cheaper to order some things from Amazon Japan than from Amazon US for Philippine delivery?  This site is what the web is not in most cases, but should be … International.

Popularity: 1% [?]

12 Little Things — Rule 8

This is the ninth in this ongoing series for practical people, both Filipino and foreign who care about the country of the Philippines and would like to do something, within their own means and power, to make it a better place.

Here is an issue almost everyone can get their arms around, or more likely stick their oar into.  I must be one of the most apolitical Americans I know … very boring to many of my friends, because I am not a Republican nor Democrat, and I certainly refuse to be categorized as Liberal or Conservative.  I am at any given time in any or all of those political 12 Little things logo“quadrants”.  I personally feel politics is much too hyped up in my own USA, it seldom makes much difference which opportunist is in office as far as the actual way the country runs, but my goodness it certainly gives otherwise bored folks something to virtually (or even actually) froth at the mouth about for a few years until the next band of charlatans hoves into view.  Here in the Philippines, politics is way, way different


During elections, do your solemn duty.


No matter what sort of political discussions I’ve had with fellow Americans involving US politics, I have almost never found a debater who didn’t have a champion.  Suppose I were discussing today’s US political news.  Even if my fellow debater were vehemently anti-Obama (just for conversations’ sake), s/he would be highly unlikely not to follow-up perceived problems with the Obama administration with positive statements about who “should” have been in there instead, or who they were going to support, perhaps with every fiber of their being, in the very next election.  In other words, even the strongest opponents typically have a better solution to offer.

In the Philippines, (at least to an outsider) it almost never works like this.  There are a plethora of political parties and the mix of parties virtually changes overnight.  As the next presidential election here looms closer, I see more and more news every day about ‘this’ party merging with ‘that’ party, another party changing support in mid stream, and so on.

To the foreigner and even to Filipinos which this foreigner has discussed politics with, it’s virtually a complete mystery as well as to what any party ‘stands for’.  Indeed it seems that few of them stand ‘for’ anything.  There is an general tendency to support the current administration, or a pronounced “ant-administration” slant, and that’s about it

But there is absolutely no lack of support and opinion based on personality.  The news media hangs on every word of former presidents, and these notables are hardly shy about going on TV given every opportunity and instructing party faithful (assuming their party even exists any more) about what to do in the next election.  Another former president, convicted of national plunder, a capital crime is now pardoned and retains great popularity.  His qualifications, aside from being a poor imitation of the sort of plunderer former president/dictator Marcos was, is that he had along career in the movies playing the fellow who fights for the underdog.  From what I see, there’s nothing that will stop him from running and even being re-elected … his popular support and political skills are far superior to many I see.

Enough of the foreigner commentary.  What do I know, anyway>  I’m not a Filipino and I am only a guest here.  My point id this:

Read these words and think long and hard about the author’s words.  When the time comes to go to the polls, whether it be a local barangay captain or the president of the nation, do not act in haste and do not be influenced by peripheral personality traits, the color of the candidate’s shirt, or old family names.  Be for someone or something, not just against … there are more than enough “agin-ers” already. The future of the country … your country … is in your hands.  make a choice that befits the solemnity and importance of the situation.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Philippine Living Cheaper — Timely News, Read and Act Now If You Can

I’ve been away for a couple days (had a lovely trip to Davao City, more will follow) but I came across two items of interest to those who might want to travel and save money.  These offers will not last long, but the first one, in particular, is an exceptional saving, so I’m putting them up there for those who might be able to tale advantage.  (by the way I have no business relationship with these companies and I don’t make a penny if you chose to avail (sad to say) so you don’t have to worry about making me rich if you buy)

Deep, Deep Discount Fares to and FROM the Philippines:

Philippine Airlines is launching its "Way to Go" promo on Monday, June 1, by offering round-trip, economy fares for 20 trans-Pacific and regional routes starting at US$98.

(yes you read that right, round trips as low as $98 USD Note the dates below)

The promo fare, which excludes government taxes, will be available for sale from June 1 to 5, 2009. The travel period is September 1 to Dec. 25, 2009 for five trans-Pacific destinations (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Vancouver) and July 1 to Nov. 30, 2009 for 12 regional destinations, including Australia. (Notice the buying window is very limited, I can safely predict these fares will disappear in a heartbeat).

The promo covers Manila outbound tickets, as well as Narita-bound flights from Cebu. It requires that return flights should be dated no more than 21 days after departure for tickets to the US , Canada and Australia . For other destinations, trip must be completed within eight days.
The regional points covered by the promo include Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Saigon, Jakarta, Shanghai, Osaka, Beijing, Fukuoka, Nagoya, as well as Sydney and Melbourne in Australia.
Customers can avail of the promo through PAL’s web site, philippineairlines.com, at any PAL ticket office or accredited travel agents.
Tickets must be purchased within 24 hours after getting a confirmed booking, but not later than June 5, 2009.

More Good deals on Cebu Pacific:

CEB offers 3-day seat sale for July, August travel

Domestic fares from P588 all-in; International fares from P1,388

Cebu Pacific (CEB) will launch a 3-day seat sale on May 27 to 29, 2009 with fares as low as P588 for domestic and P1,388 for international flights valid for travel from July 1 to August 31, 2009. CEB is allocating more than 200,000 seats for this seat sale.

A one-way ‘Go Lite’ fare of P1,388 is applied for Clark to Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok; Manila to Bangkok, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Min, Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shanghai, Singapore, and Taipei; Cebu to Hong Kong and Singapore.

CEB is offering a P2,288 one-way ‘Go Lite’ fare for its Manila to Incheon (Seoul) and Cebu to Incheon, Busan, and Jakarta services…

As an example of just how good a deal you can make with domestic travel 9and to and from some international locations as well), five of us flew Manila to Davao City and back last week for a total of PhP 8,800.  Not each, all in for all five of us.  These are special “Go Lite” fares that only allow 7 kg of carry-on baggage per passenger (no you can not carry on a 14kg bag for two people, it’s one piece of carry-on per pax, 7 kg max)., but how much do you really need to take? (you can check bags for a few hundred pesos more).  A lot of people love to hate Cebu pacific but I have used them many times now and if you look at the level of service you get and the price you are paying, they are a lot more of a blessing than a curse, believe me.  The same flight on a competing airline would have been several hundred USD each.  ‘Nuf said  There is a fare sale going on right now on http://www.cebupacificair.com/aboutus/press/2009/05262009.html  These seats go quick, and no wonder, they are a great bargain.

Just in case you want to fly this summer ……

Popularity: 3% [?]

12 Little Things — Rule 5

This is the sixth in this ongoing series for practical people, both Filipino and foreign who care about the country of the Philippines and would like to do something, within their own means and power, to make it a better place.

I’d like to report some good news, too.  I have a source for this book … although I still haven’t made my much looked forward to meeting with the author happen yet.  But if any of you want your own copy or want a copy to give as birthday, Christmas or passalubong, just let me know here and we’ll work something out.  I’ll sell it at the current retail price … I’m not in this to make a profit and I can ship it virtually anywhere in the world.  Personally I have along list of pamamkins, high school and college graduates (and in some cases their parents) who are getting the book as a gift real soon now.

12 Little Things logo


Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.


One thing that is particularly noticeable to a foreigners is that there are an awful lot of police agencies in the Philippines.  There’s a Philippine National Police service … much like an arm of the military .. academy graduate officers, generals at the top, regional and provincial directors, standardized uniforms, special units and a lot of what one would expect from the USA if we had a national police force.

There are also the other trappings of enforcement and compliance most developed countries have … a national Bureau of Investigation (similar in many ways to the US FBI), drug enforcement agencies, customs and immigration enforcement officers and so on.

We also have some unique hierarchies here in the Metro Manila area … there is a Metro Manila Development Agency which has it’s own extensive police force (similar in some ways to the Port of New York Authority back in the US) and various other traffic and police agencies I am not aware of yet.

On the local level the Philippines has something quite unique to most foreigners … from little villages to large cities,virtually every dwelling and business lies within a barangay, governed by a locally elected barangay captain and most with their own local patrols often know as the ‘tanod’.  These barangay’s are a legal political structure … local government at the lowest level, but unique to anything I have seen before … although the offices are elective and sometimes even highly contested, they are by rule of law apolitical.  The people running for barangay captain, for example, can’t display partisan signs and run as candidates of any of the major political parties.  Totally different to a boy like me who grew up in Hudson County, New Jersey back in the Boss Hague days when every local political ward (the closest US equivalent to a barangay I think) was connected from the lowest ward heeler to the office of the President of the country … or so folks would say.

It’s interesting, to say the least.  But I’m rambling.  A a foreigner or a Filipino it really doesn’t matter whose authority caused the guy or gal in uniform to be wearing it …but the rule of law of any civilized nation demands that we give them respect … respect for the uniform and position, regardless of what we think of the individual in the uniform.

These days very few of my fellow Americans have ever served in the military, and many are even a tad “military hostile” … except when they want the military to rush in and save their backside, or shot somebody because ‘the majority’ has determined that a certain religion or country of origin as ‘dangerous’ to the majority’.

In many ways I suppose this de-emphasis on military service is a good thing, perhaps the normal progression of a free nation.  I dunno, I’m still an old soldier myself, but my mind is open enough for other points of view.

In my short time her in the Philippines I notice a very similar attitude in many Filipinos.  Even people who are dirt poor and need a career badly seldom talk about making the military a career.  The best and brightest in schools all head for the bar exam or scientific pursuits, I almost never hear of anyone thinking about making the military a career, and just as I see in the US, many Filipinos consider the military worth having round to perpetuate the war in Mindanao, but no closer to the ‘civilized’ part of the country.

One thing the military did teach me that has been worthwhile all my life … to get respect, you must give respect.  When you are a lower-ranking person … military or civilian … that concept may be a little difficult to comprehend, but later, as you gain experience and rise to your proper station in life, you’ll see that giving respect early in the game is something like the concept of “paying forward”.  The respect you gave, even when you didn’t really want to, will come back in spades … or so it has for me.

Not happy with the respect you feel a police officer or traffic enforcer seems to be showing you?  Well, whatever you do, don’t argue with him in his job, or spend a week telling everyone in earshot how rotten he was and how mad you are.  If an officer truly treats you with disrespect, make notes and complain later to his higher authorities, but in day to day life …give them the respect they deserve, even if you don’t feel it in your heart at the time.  It is a sign of a civilized, progressive nation and it really doesn’t cost anyone a penny.  To be respected, you must show respect first.

Popularity: unranked [?]

12 Little Things — Rule 4

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This is the fifth in this ongoing series for practical people, both Filipino and foreign who care about the country of the Philippines and would like to do something, within their own means and power, to make it a better place.


When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country


The hobby of a lot of foreigners and way, way too many Filipinos is to find every flaw, gigantic or tiny, and focus on it … often to the exclusion on any possible solution.  Maybe you’ve raised a child and watched them pick continuously at a scab, no matter how times you’ve asked them to stop.  Almost makes you crazy at times, doesn’t it?  If they just wouldn’t focus on it, it would heal up and go away, but the more they pick at it, the more they seem to want to pick at it, and the worse it gets.  A vicious circle.

After three years here now in the Philippines I really get exasperated at the trait often.  I’m no Pollyanna, nor am I an apologist.  The Philippines, like every country on earth has problems, issues and shortcomings.

It is disingenuous or even downright dishonest to try to hide or artificially deemphasize real problems, but just as I wrote about a month or so ago, when I was talking about the problem of focusing only on the less admirable things in life in general and the Philippines in particular, you don’t have to spend your life talking only about the bad things to the exclusion of a balanced look at the real world.

As a foreigner I am well aware there are a few of my fellow non-Filipinos who either out of meanness or ignorance have said nasty hurtful things about the Philippines and the Filipino people.  I may have even been guilty of this a time or two myself, although I certainly don’t make a habit of it.

But my goodness … as long as there are 90 million Filipinos talking to themselves and to visitors about their own country, no one needs to worry about the lapses in manners and judgment by the foreigners.  Invariably when I talk about something I see that seems to be a good thing, or ask a question to help me learn if there is a better way to do something I get a near-universal response from Filipinos. 

Nothing is right in the Philippines. 

All the politicians are crooked and the businessmen are worse. 

The workers are lazy and won’t do a day’s work even if you beg them. 

And their supervisors are incapable of managing and wouldn’t do a good job if they did know how.

You can’t cure any health problem, because there is no money, and if there was money, someone would just steal it so what’s the use?

Enough.  I could go on with a thousand examples …some quite nasty … and all coming directly from Filipinos I have talked to or heard in the media.  It’s sad.  With “friends” like these … a large cross section of its people … the Philippines doesn’t need to worry about enemies, its so-called friends are doing a bang-up job in tearing the country down.

As I stated a few paragraphs back, no way am I suggesting, ever, that someone lie or refuse to divulge information they are honestly asked for.  But goodness, didn’t anyone’s mother ever teach them the old adage, “If you can’t say anything nice about someone, better to say nothing at all”?

It works for countries and national prude too, folks.  If you hear someone saying something happy and hopeful about some new project, and you just know in your heart that it won’t work, it will be sabotaged somewhere along the line … why not try a new technique and just keep what you know to yourself.  Unless the person with the happy dream is really in some grave physical or moral danger, just let them have the joy of that dream.  If it “goes south”, well so be it, they had the joy and the invaluable educational benefits of trying … they didn’t need an anchor to weight them down, why add yours?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Foreigner Jobs Philippines

I see there have often been searches here on PhilFAQS, the blog that attempts to answer the frequently asked questions (FAQS) about the Philippines regarding US Department of State jobs in the Philippines.

Here’s some information the US State Department just sent and asked me to pass on (US Citizens on are eligible)

 

fsot

For registration information or to request study materials you may visit:

www.careers.state.gov

For further information contact:

American Citizen Services
U.S. Embassy, Manila, Philippines
Telephone: (02) 301-2000  extensions 2246 or 2567
Fax: (02) 301-2017

Having worked hand in hand with the US State Department for years I can tell you these are great jobs … well worth taking a test for.  Best of luck to those who decide to take a shot.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Philippine Questions and Answers — 16 Apr 2009

A few electrical thoughts written as my trusty air conditioner hums away, sucking down that expensive MERALCO power, for which I am very grateful.

It’s the height of the summer here on Luzon … summer peaks much earlier here than it does in more temperate latitudes, and this summer has been the hottest of the three I have been in so far.

A lot of people have questions about the power, and about bringing appliances here to the Philippines.  I started to write a separate post and then realized I had already written a lot of them, so here’s most of what you need to know.  feel free to write with any specific questions which I have failed to cover … and stay warm, or stay cool, wherever you may be.

Watt Did He Say? He Said, "If You Aren’t Careful This Might Hertz" | PhilFAQS
One Aw Shoot Wipes Out All Your Attaboys | PhilFAQS
More Help On Adapters — Fit Any Plug | PhilFAQS
INPUT: AC 100V- 240V~ 1.0A 50 / 60 Hz | PhilFAQS

Remember when choosing appliances, our power is about the most expensive on earth, 7 to 20 times per kilowatt hour what many of you in the US are paying, so think things through carefully.  It’s easy enough to get 110 volt power here, by either wiring modifications or auxiliary transformers, but 110 volt appliances use twice the power to do the equal work of a 220 device, and any transformer will use up at least another 10% that is totally wasted.

I always wonder as I sit here in the ‘rest of the world’ which is almost universally 220 volt, and listen to the supposed ‘experts’ in the US rant on about ‘green power’ and ‘reducing dependence on foreign oil’ and all the other politically-motivated claptrap, why they can’t see the simple physics in every circuit breaker panel.

Virtually every house is wired for 220 as well as 110 volts, and 220 volt appliances will cut consumption by about 50% … so why aren’t we smart enough to use them?   I don’t know of another developed and/or allegedly educated nation that uses 110 the way the US does … it’s a bit mind boggling.

Popularity: 9% [?]

What Things Cost Updates — 15 April 2009

Some of the most popular posts on this blog have been lists of what things cost here in the Philippines.  In the past I have somewhat laboriously made lists.  Boring to both me and to some readers.  Today I’ll try scanning in some current ad circulars and we’ll see (by the number of visits the page gets) how popular the method might be,

The real estate images don’t have pricing.  I just included this flier because it is typical of middle class homes being built here just outside metro Manila.  Figure 1 to 6 million pesos all in, depending on the house and the options and you’ll be real close.

The supermarket listings are from our local SM Hypermart.

Remember you can click on the scans to get6 the full size and then use the Zoom feature of your  browser (usually the <Control ++ > key combination) to magnify further.

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pricing_2j

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Random Thoughts from The Kalbo Kano Kurmudgeon

Today I’m cleaning my in box/draft posts folder.  And yes I know curmudgeon is properly spelled with a “C” but I live in the Philippines and I can spell it anyway I want.  You’ll find many ‘creative’ spellings of English words here, especially the ones that have been adopted into Pilipino or Filipino or Tagalog.  I learned to read at an early age using a method my school was trying out … innovative at the time … called the Carden method.  It seems a fantastic way to teach children to read but it purposely ignored spelling and all those silly rules of English like “I before E except after ….”  Forget it, the rules still bore me.  Thank you so much for your gift of reading, Ms. Mae.

"Miss Carden and her work remain a well-kept secret of American education," wrote educator Ronald E. Koetzsch, Ph. D., author of The Parents’ Guide to Alternatives in Education. "This is unfortunate, since the Carden reading methods and curriculum, and the schools that use them, comprise an important potential resource for American education," he said. We hope this Web site will help you learn more about our "secret."

Anyway, on a few occasions I have used that curmudgeon word in the past, I’ve had a comment or two that suggested a few folks aren’t really familiar with the word, spelled properly or not.  It means:

a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

There are some other definitions that vary from this one only in degree, this is the one I am proud to wear.

Here’s the first item I came across to touch on today.  I get so many queries from people about “safety” here in the Philippines and see so many elsewhere that it almost makes me want to scream at times.  If your goal in life is to be safe, don’t live in the Philippines, don’t live in the US, don’t, in particular drive a car. don’t fly in an airplane, don’t use an electric shaver … in short, just don’t live.  News report:  You’re dead meat, and so am I.  We just don’t know the hour and means of our passing.  I’m “using up” my minutes as they come along, you can do with yours as you wish … but we’ll all run out at the appointed time anyway. 

When I read the news and talk with fellow Americans I often feel as if I were somehow a counterfeit, or that my own country has changed so much in 60 years that I don’t even recognize it.  A fellow named Chuck Leathers made a comment on another blog I read regularly which said what i want to say so well I just couldn’t let it pass:

This stolen 172 hysteria is the latest manifestation of our national obsession with fear. This used to be a country of risk-takers and pioneers. Since the Bush-induced terror following 9/11, we have become a nation of cowards instead.

We lose 50,000 lives each year on our highways, over one hundred 747s full of souls, but are focused entirely on the 3,000 or so we lost on that day seven years ago.

We let just about anyone who can fog a mirror buy a handgun, but have to take our shoes off and get our private parts probed to travel by air?

Folks! What are we thinking? This isn’t who we are. Let’s get over it and get back to living our lives without fear.

Chuck Leathers

Amen Chuck, amen.  Incidentally.  I just watched In The Line Of Fire, a 1993 film starring Clint Eastwood.  The plot involved a crazed man who wanted to kill the President, but he could have just as easily been bent of hijacking an airliner.  The movie shows in great detail how the would-be assassin got a customer manufactured gun through Secret Service security screening and close enough to take an easy shot at the president.  Every trick the screenwriter used to make the hidden gun trick work, 16 years ago, would work today though brain-dead TSA airport security, QED. 

So why are we nation of sheep just following rules because someone said so, when those rules demonstrably will not stop a determined individual from smuggling a weapon on board?  So we can feel ‘safe’?  Well guess what.  I sometimes feel rich and good looking, but “feelings” aren’t reality.  Wake Up, America.


image Now on a brighter note … bright yellow, actually …  let me make a sudden turn and get back on something Philippine-related.  I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of the show Asian Air Safari, which airs here in the Philippines Sundays at 2-30.  It’s available world-wide on The Filipino Channel, either from your cable operator or via direct broadcast home satellite terminal (dish) in the USA.

The host, Captain Joy Roa, works interesting stories about travel and airplanes into what are essentially travelogues, shot all ‘round the world.

Remember my made in USA Tire Gauge article from a few weeks back?  Well Captain Roa found a much better example of American ingenuity, drive to succeed and business acumen, right here in the middle of this “huge economic meltdown” that the ever-fear-mongering US media is so happy to focus on.  You’ll never hear of this company in Texas, USA, on US media I recon.  Why?

Because the company builds the absolute best solution to the problem they set out to solve in the world … many of their sales are overseas … the talking bobble heads want you to believe that America can’t compete, remember.  The company recently celebrated their 60th year in the same small town, and have a backlog of orders well into the year 2010.  They don’t need government handouts, and advice from Harvard elitists who have never held a job with profit and loss responsibility or built a product in their lives, but consider themselves qualified to decide which businesses are ‘too big to fail’.

Thank you Captain Roa, for teaching me something about my own country … which is far from dead yet.  God bless you, sir, and God bless the USA … and the Philippines too.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Philippine Questions and Answers — 9 Apr 2009

A little Easter gift.  But what is underneath the pretty wrapping?  We’ve talked here before about the recent Rural Bank Time deposit scams that forced the closure of 12 banks over the Christmas holidays, end of 2008.  Sadly a number of foreigners were involved in peddling these ‘too good to be true’ products, and many foreigners, some who even contacted me for advice, were so enthused about the promises of ‘money for nothing’ that they didn’t want to hear any intelligent and rational analysis of the matter.

Well the house of cards finally collapsed last December, the perpetrators of the scam having apparently bought all the houses they wanted, all the Pajeros, Patrols, Expeditions and Benz’s they and their children could drive … and the BSP (Central Bank) and the PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation) woke up from their three-year nap on this issue and took action.  Better late than never,

I get a lot of questions on this issue.  I also get a lot of flack whenever I express an opinion.  So for this week’s Questions and Answers, I don’t need to … I’ve got a guest columnist, courtesy of the Manila Standard to do it for me.  Please note the feedback email at the end of the article if you are one of those people who insist on pushing your get rich quick schemes and are now annoyed the the PDIC is no longer going to cover these Ponzi schemes … take the matter up with Mr. Geronimo, he has much more expertise than I.


Are your deposits really insured in the Philippines?


By Gerry Geronimo

The affluent cheered when the affluent-dominated Senate and House of Representatives approved, before going into their Lenten break presumably in sorrow for their sins, if any may be admitted, the Conference Committee Report on the latest amendments to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. law. After all, the rich would be the main beneficiaries of their kind’s last hurrah before heading for the beach.

As the consolidated bill’s title proclaims, the main subject or concern of the bill was to increase the maximum insurance coverage, and, only I might say, “in connection therewith, to strengthen the regulatory and administrative authority and financial capability” of the PDIC. Since, as Speaker Prospero Nograles’ brother and PDIC president Jose Nograles says, the previous maximum insurance coverage of P250,000 already covered about 95 percent or so of deposits, then the target beneficiary of new cover are clearly the remaining 5 percent of affluent depositors.

I am not affluent, but if I were, I would examine the new law a bit more carefully, before joining in the toasting. In fact, I think, some roasting is called for.

After the expected salute to motherhood in Section 1, declaring it “the policy of the State to strengthen the mandatory deposit insurance coverage system to preserve, maintain faith and confidence in the country’s banking system and protect it from illegal schemes and machinations,” the new law in Section 2(f) makes clear what are to be considered “deposits” for purposes of insurance coverage.

Some arrangements regardless of how the transaction or account is denominated, documented, or booked, will not be paid deposit insurance in case of bank failure.

The first of these are “investment products such as bonds and securities, trust accounts and similar instruments.”

Trust accounts and similar instruments have by regulation long been required to be clearly documented as not covered by the PDIC simply because they are not debts of the bank. However, bonds and (debt) securities, which also partake of the debtor-creditor relationship present in deposits, are, nevertheless, also not considered “deposits” in the law.

The rationale for making the distinction between the two relationships of the same nature, it seems to me, is that the lender in the case of bonds and debt securities are, most likely, “sophisticated” investors who can fend for themselves and thus have no need for the protective mantle of government insurance. Such awe of the “sophisticated” investor, at least in the Philippines, is misplaced. Not only is he a mythical figure; he is just as gullible as the lonely depositor.

The second type of transactions that the PDIC will not recognize as deposits is “deposit accounts or transactions which are not funded or fictitious or fraudulent.”

Celso de Los Angeles’ Legacy rural banks seemed to have perfected this criminal technique of fictitious deposits into a science thereby putting the PDIC at risk, at least on paper, of paying about P14 billion to insured depositors.

Unfortunately for De Los Angeles, PDIC was not born yesterday. It has a long-standing requirement that claiming depositors should make a personal appearance, with sufficient and valid identification, to establish their actual existence and capability to have made the deposits. There is a good chance that not all the P14 billion deposits recorded by the Legacy rural banks will be actually claimed. P14 billion translates into a lot of P250,000-account holders that not even the Pied Pier of Hamelin can gather with his music of high interest.

The third class of transactions that the PDIC will not pay are accounts and transactions in conflict with principles of safe and sound banking. The new law prohibits the PDIC from paying deposit insurance for accounts “constituting or emanating from unsafe and unsound banking practice/s.” It looks well-meant; but a closer look, indicates that the invocation of the safe and sound principle is only a whit better than lip service.

In the first place, whether an account or transaction has the dubious patrimony of “constituting or emanating from unsafe and unsound banking practice/s” is to be determined by the PDIC in consultation with the BSP. In practice, this means that the determination of “unsafe and unsound banking practice” is required to be a joint endeavor of the PDIC and BSP, even if the monetary consequences of such a determination fall only on the PDIC. There is no reason why the PDIC should not be able to determine that by itself.

Secondly, the determination (joint that it is) must be made only “after due notice and hearing.” The determination, therefore, cannot be summary and expeditious; and must instead follow “due process” which Philippine-style often means tedious and time-consuming. This requirement in my mind is the legislative approval of what Celso de Los Angeles had wanted Bangko Sentral to follow before it closed the Legacy rural banks. De Los Angeles went to court to insist that he be given a copy of the Examination Report prepared by the BSP examiner who headed the team that simultaneously looked into the shenanigans of his rural banks before it was submitted to the Monetary Board. Not that, he was not curious about his contents (he had already been given an idea when the exit interviews provided him with a List of Findings); he wanted to have a document to challenge in court who would have to give him “due notice and hearing.”

Finally, the last requisite that renders this exclusion ineffective is the need for the PDIC, not only to have issued, but to have caused the “publication of a cease and desist order issued by the Corporation (PDIC) against such deposit accounts or transactions.” What a tricky requirement. It is not even clear what ought to be published by the PDIC. Is it the fact of the issuance of the CDO against a class of transactions considered unsafe or unsound? Or, as the word “such” suggests, must the publication be of the issuance a CDO against the specific deposit accounts or transactions which are c
onsidered “constituting and/or emanating from unsafe and unsound banking practice/s”?

If the latter, would not the PDIC, be violating the law on secrecy of bank deposits since its publication of the issuance of its CDO would necessarily have to mention “such deposit accounts or transactions”? If only the class of is required to be adverted to in the publication, how is the word “such” to be interpreted without doing violence to the plain meaning of the word?

The fourth and final group excluded from PDIC coverage consists of “deposits that are determined to be the proceeds of an unlawful activity as defined under Republic Act No. 9160, as amended.” It is the least contentious and least problematic. And with reason: if the deposit is of dirty money, then the depositor has no right to it. And Vic Aquino, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, will make sure it is forfeited to the government.

The obvious purpose of the exclusions is to limit PDIC coverage only bona fide deposits. Insurance payments, after all, are to come from Deposit Insurance Fund, which is a special purpose public fund, to be devoted exclusively for deposit insurance and related purposes specified in the PDIC charter. While it is commendable that legislature by the exclusions attempted to protect that trust, the new law, like all compromise, leave some more room for improvement.

For feedback, e-mail thetrustguru@yahoo.com.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Philippine Maps Just Got a Whole Lot Better

One of the things that has troubled me for years about living in the Philippines, learning about living in the Philippines, helping people move to the Philippines, etc., has been the near complete lack of decent digital maps for the Philippines.  It’s very hard to “point” someone to any kind of digital map online, and many of the ones that exists are inaccurate or out of date.

For the past several years now, Google Earth and Google Maps

(A tip, some folks have been confused over this in the past.  Google Earth and Google Maps are two separate services.  Google Earth requires a download to your computer, Google Maps is a service available right from the Google Home Page, just select “Maps” from the menu bar at the top.)

have done stalwart service in bringing us some great “overhead” imagery … satellite photos and also photos taken from aircraft), but, fascinating as they are, a photo is not a map and vice versa.  recently I noticed some activity on Google Maps that seemed to provide a lot more “real map” detail.  Today I read an article that gave a lot of background on what’s happening here (thanks Mita) Google launches Filipino-made Google Maps | ABS-CBN News Online Beta 

Google maps Philippines 2009_before

google maps philippines 2009_duringHere’s about the best you could do with these maps before the  latest update efforts.  And here’s how some of the metro areas have already been updated.  No matter if you love or hate Google, this is a great service.  I used to contract out map work for a living and I can tell you for sure, this is millions of dollars worth of work being given freely to the world by the folks at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California.

If you aren’t yet familiar with Google Maps, especially the small ones embedded in web pages, here’s about all you need to know.  Zoom in or zoom out using the plus-minus buttons in the upper left corner, pan (or move the map center around) with the the upper left arrow keys, or by left clicking and dragging the map with your mouse, and select map view, satellite view or terrain features with the buttons in the top right corner.  Down at the bottom left should be a hyperlink that will let you make the map full screen.  Overall, a pretty decent user interface.

Now that Google maps has become even more useful, you can easily make your own map of places you are interested in, automatically in road map, image or terrain map format, save it, or even embed it in another web page with one click.  Some may be interested in a couple of my earlier Google maps articles:

The mapping details aren’t yet up to US or European standards, but they are getting there at a very impressive rate.  Next stop (I hope) will be live traffic displays like Google has for major US metro areas. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?)

Popularity: 5% [?]

It Can Be Done in the Philippines Continues — 3

Just a quick update on my “It Can Be Done in the Philippines” investment real estate series.  here’s a quick look at the project I have been following that is located right around the corner from my home.  It’s moving right along.

I have been spending some time talking with the owner of the company doing these projects and he is an interesting character to say the least.  He’s 80 years young, has three current building projects in full swing (his wife and his son supervise the other two projects) and had at least four more projects in the “will happen” stage to begin on as soon as this one is done.

Philippine rental project There’s no opportunity in the Philippines.  You can’t make money with rental property in the Philippines.  Filipino builders are slow, drag their feet, do shoddy, sub-standard work.

Anyone heard those statements before?  Thought you had.  They sure are all lies based on my personal investigation, and I can take you around and show you proof.  You can chase pie-in-the-sky dreams, multi-level marketing schemes, insanely inflated interest rate certificates of deposit (Legacy Group, anyone?), or you can make money the old fashioned way and build something that will last even for your children.

Don’t believe all the idle chatter you hear … get the facts for yourself.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Philippine Financials — 2009 Outlook

If there is anyone less qualified to give accurate financial and investment advice than I am. I’d like to meet him or her.  I am not qualified to offer financial, investment or tax advice.  That said I do have a few qualifications that many of your better know commentators and advisers don’t have … I live here in the Philippines and I earn money here (although not from Philippine sources … an important distinction).

You might be shocked just how much of every news broadcast, every talk show and every newspaper here is devoted to US news.  The Philippines may have had its independence since 1946 but the times to the US, both emotionally and financially are very strong.  From a financial standpoint this closeness is unlikely to change any time soon, good times or bad the US economy is always the 800 pound gorilla in the room that sits where he pleases. [Read more...]

Popularity: 1% [?]