Filipinos normally save money for 3 main reasons: children education, buying a house, and birthday parties. Of course saving cash for starting a business, vacation and travel, buying car and appliances comes secondary. Very few are actually saving money for retirement.

In ensuring education for children, many parents purchased Education Plans because of the promise of guaranteed tuition and allowance payments when the children are in schools. But not long ago, several companies selling Education Plans went bankrupt and were unable to pay as promised. You could imagine how hard it was for parents who made sacrifices just to be able to buy that education plan but will never receive a single centavo from their investments.

Then many put their money in banks hoping money can be kept there despite the very low interest rates - but in recent years, several banks went bankrupt and declared perpetual bank holidays. I know some friends who until now have not recovered their money from those banks.

Then there are mutual funds, and investment securities. Once I was so tempted to invest in an AIG investment offering - with the promise of higher yields, plus of course its AIG - the most trusted investment company in the Philippines for more than 60 years. However, recently, AIG is selling its profitable non-life and investment units in the Philippines to help its mother company pay-off its debt to the US Federal Reserves. This left many investors worried and wonder if they should withdraw their investments or not.

If you are familiar with the Stock Market, this could be a good place to put your money and earn a bit higher than what banks offer. Of course, the higher yield you want, the higher is the risk. The stock market isn’t a place for people with a faint heart who cannot afford to lose money. There are blue chips stocks to rely on for those who want it safe - but then again, a simple rule of thumb - there is no such thing as 100% safe these days.

Not everyone has the skills to run a business, or play in the stock market, or make online or offline investments - this leaves few options to people who just simply want to keep money for the future. So to whom we could trust our money? If its just about keeping your money safe and not to be concerned of whether it will grow - the big banks are probably more safe than keeping it under your pillow. However, its still not a guarantee that your money will be 100% safe - at least you’ll have peace of mind than keeping them at home. Just be choosy which bank to deposit your money, and be aware of the deposit insurance limit of Php250,000.00. Although not verified - rumors have circulated that several Philippine banks will undergo major buyout or merger soon.

Before you get your piggy bank, one might consider perhaps one of the safer options: buying Gold - bars, coins, notes, jewelries. Of course keeping them in a safe place would be a challenge - but Gold is proven to be resilient to economic fall-out and recession. Gold has steadily increased its value over the years. It might be good for humanity to adopt Gold as the standard currency (as in the old times). But as to its viability as a standard currency - lets leave it to the experts to debate and decide.

How will you save money for the future? Your comments are welcome and share your thoughts.

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The idea is simple - giving back something in return to those who visited this blog and left comments on certain posts/articles, be it a critique, a praise, a negative reaction or just about anything as long as it ain’t spam. The Top Commenter of the Month gets USD15.00. Top 10 Commenters of the Month get 50 Entrecard Credits each (for those who don’t have Entrecard Accounts, I am thinking of an alternative prize - so check it out), and each stands to win a free Domain (sorry, hosting is not included as of this time).

Next month, all those who will visit Bloggista.com and leave comments - even if they’re not in the Top 10, will be included in the raffle to win a free Domain.

This month’s Free Domain is brought to you by Bloggista.net - a free wordpress powered blog. I just used Random.org to determine the winner. First, I made a random list of the Top 10 Commenters of the Month. Then using the Integer Generator, I let Random.org pick the Winning Number (between 1 to 10). And so, the first winner of the Bloggista Domain Giveaway is…

Top 10 Commenters Random List

Top 10 Commenters Random Selection

Random Winner of Free Domain = Congratulations!!!

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• 888: Comment Rewards, Blog Hops and Linky Love
• Perfect World 85,000++ Gold giveaway
• The Best Definition of Bloggista Contest
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I went to Batangas (about 110 kilometers from Manila) last Thursday with a colleague to conduct a business process and requirements review of a client of this new Oracle project. I learned only about this activity the day before - and as with my previous business trips - I only grabbed my small travel backpack enough for 2-3 days. All are just clothings - personal hygiene stuff. Soaps, shampoos, towels are not included since accommodations are always provided complete with these stuffs already.

The trip to the client’s site in San Roque, Batangas via STAR highway took only an hour and a half drive from Makati - a big improvement than my previous trips in the area: 6 or 7 years ago, it was about 5 hours drive to reach the area, then travel time was just 3 hours when the first segments of STAR highway (Sto. Tomas up to Lipa City) was opened about 4-5 years ago. Today, the STAR highway is extended up to Batangas City so the travel time from Sto. Tomas to Batangas City, which used to be about 3-4 hours some years ago, is now reduced to just 30-45 minutes.

We were in time for the 9:0am scheduled meeting. It was a productive first day, and a very exhausting one as expected. Unfortunately, the executive houses of the client were all occupied (as there were also other Consultants) and we were assigned to a common dormitory about 2 kilometers from the plant. Seeing the place - a two-bed room, which was relatively okay, except for the common comfort room shared by 2-3 more rooms. I can sleep on a chair, as long as there’s a comfy CR, so at around 8pm, I decided to look for a more comfortable place to stay.

However, my cash was just Php1,500.00 - I normally don’t bring big cash when I travel, since everything is paid for by clients. We learned after some calls that there’s a nice hotel in Batangas City, about 14 kilometers from San Roque town - but I was so sure my cash is not enough to get us rooms for the night. As we entered Batangas City, a big yellow Western Union sign of a popular pawnshop chain caught my attention - and I remembered Google sent me a payment via Western Union several weeks back. Fortunately, I copied the transfer code or MTCN # on my phone. The guy at the counter was extra friendly - after filling up the forms, showed my ID - he gave me close to Php10K of hard moolahs.

The exchange rate was just 46.80 pesos to a dollar - but you wouldn’t mind losing a few pesos with the exchange rate when you needed some cash ‘aight? There was also a tax charge of Php1.50 for every thousand pesos money received - still, fine with me.

So we had a good, comfy place for that night. The food buffet was great - we had enough cash to pay for grilled fresh seafood combo (with tuna, tilapia, mussels, etc), grilled pork and chicken, and some bottles of ice cold great tasting dark beer - while enjoying 3 sets of live band performance. Just some simple “great things” blogging and Google AdSense could bring.

If you want to start earning passive income now, and learn how to make money online, feel free to contact Bloggsita.com and I will be more than glad to assist you so you can have your FREE Domain and Hosting, and we will even help you setup your wordpress blog. Or if you are up to the challenge and rewards of affiliate marketing, you can join our GDICre.ws - and to help you get started, we will pay your first month if you join!

Happy weekend, everyone!

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So here are Bloggista.com’s September Top Commenters:

Top Commenter - wins USD15.00 via PayPal:

Metz of Empty Streets

Top 10 Commenters - 50 EC’s each:

• Metz - Empty Streets
• Dyimz
• Miss Elle
• Ambo
• ceblogger
• Chizmosa
• catherine
• cyril
• Gem
• Snow of The Budget Shopper
  

Check back again soon as I will be announcing the winner of a free Domain (1-year) - again, hosting is not included, but I can make your first year hosting FREE! The winner will be chosen “randomly” among the Top 10 Commenters of the Month.

So you want to win USD15.00, EC credits and a free Domain? Be sure to drop by Bloggista.com regularly and share your thoughts about the featured articles by leaving your comment - it’s that easy! And, oh, if you haven’t done so - be sure to submit your entry to the Bloggista Definition Contest for a chance to win exciting prizes!

Gentlemen and Ladies, thank you so much! To facilitate awarding of prizes, please use the Contact Form and send me the Paypal email account (for the cash prize winner) and EC email account (for EC winners).

• And The Winner Of The Bloggista Domain Giveaway…
• 888: Comment Rewards, Blog Hops and Linky Love
• Make Money Online with Team GDICre.ws
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• The Bloggista Definition Contest Update

While the world wants Obama to be the next US President, it is still not certain whether Americans want him to be President. While it seemed that many Americans speak of Obama as seen on cable TV - voting a President in the US is unlike voting a President in the Philippines. In the Philippines, everyone can vote, and the most popular candidate who gathered the most votes wins.

The US is using an indirect voting system - the citizens elect an “elector” who will represent them in electing the President. These electors, supposedly persons of integrity and wisdom form the so called Electoral College. Normally, these electors are associated with organizations, groups or tickets that support a particular candidate. And the ticket that wins the most votes get all the electoral votes for a particular State. Thus winning the US Presidency doesn’t need to be winning the most States but rather, win in States which have the majority of electoral votes. There are a total of 538 people elected to the US Electoral College, and a candidate has to win 270 of these electoral votes to win the Presidency. In the current stats, Obama is leading McCain 46-43, with 11% still not decided. That’s about 247 electoral votes for Obama, and about 231 for McCain. The remaining 60 electoral votes can still make either the President. The figures kept on changing lately, while Obama is advancing, McCain might be able to get a good run in the coming weeks.

Here are my personal observations why: WAR-PEACE:

Women. While many may disagree, but had Hillary Clinton won the Democrats’ nomination, it would certainly be a no-contest. The United States would have seen a Democrat, and its first woman president by November 2008. Obama has to win the hearts of many women, especially those older women. With Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP bet, it has become even more difficult for Obama to get a good nod with the women sector.

Age. Obama, in many instances, capitalized his age over McCain’s. While it is true that McCain is already 72 years old, Americans have voted older Presidents before. Ronal Reagan was already 73 years old when he won his second term. So, age won’t play too much factor in this election.

Race. Unfortunately, the issue on Race, color and religion is imminent in the campaigns. There are Asians for Obama, Blacks for Obama, Latinos for Obama, Catholics for Obama - but again the US Presidency is not won through popular votes, but rather through Electoral votes. While this may be sick for some people - but you could see many Americans are not yet ready to see a woman president, and much more a black President.

Patriot. Americans can be very passionate about one thing - patriotism. Obviously, John McCain, having a military background, and once a POW subjected to torture in Vietnam for five and a half years, easily gets the support of patriotic Americans, the older Americans and those retired service personnel.

Experience and of being smart. Obama is perhaps more intelligent and knows more than McCain, as what most of the Democrats suggest in their statements, Americans are not always voting for smarter candidate - remember Bush vs. Gore. Sarah Palin in her acceptance speech said that while Obama is promoting “Change” to bring about American progress, McCain will be using his experience to effect Change and bring progress to every American. I thought it was one of a strong statements of Palin that may reverberate in the ears of many Americans. Obama and Biden political careers were mostly on legislation in the US Senate, while McCain was a Congressman and served several terms in the Senate. Sarah Palin on the other hand, is governor of Alaska. The Republican nominees are becoming to be a good tandem for US Presidency and Vice Presidency to some people because of their experience in both administrative and legislative governance.

Authenticity. Nothing can beat a strong and authentic principle when it comes to make known of your stand on several issues. This is where McCain is leading over Obama. Despite popular anti-Iraq war sentiments among Americans, McCain is steadfast in his stand of supporting troops deployed in Iraq. Obama wanted to cut support for troops in Iraq and wanted an early withdrawal of troops - being an anti-Iraq war person himself. But as the Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman said of his endorsement of McCain, that McCain ensures all troops deployed in Iraq could go home with honor. Obama on the other hand is having a different stand regarding not to pull-out troops in Afghanistan. Both may have been doing some flip-flopping but Obama have several notable flip-flops, like abandoning his promise not to run his campaign with private funds, the renegotiation of the NAFTA, the war on Iraq among others.

Change. There is a favorite saying “don’t change horses in midstream”. America is having trouble with its economy lately, and people may realize that the best people to clean up the mess they’re having right now are the people who made those mess - in this case the Republicans. Americans may consider giving Republicans a chance through McCain, who seemed to be succesfully portraying himself to be an independent Republican out to clean its mess.

Economy. Perhaps the most important issue every American presidentiable is facing - what he will do to rescue the economy and revive great American prosperity. This is probably what makes or break a campaign. While it is true that with the current economic crisis, many voters have switched support to Obama, it maybe temporary. There is a popular saying, that when America is in depression, war is started somewhere in the world. While many Americans may disagree, but it is a common “belief” in many countries that America needs war in order to achieve economic balance and maintain its superpower status. McCain is known to support the war in Iraq, Obama promised to pull-out these troops soon as he gets elected.

Others are saying McCain is a good choice in times of crisis and war (America still feels it is continously receiving threats of terror attacks), while Obama could be great President during times of peace. What do you think?

These are my personal observations, and everyone is welcome to voice his/her opinion. This is not a prediction - but rather just my thoughts on how might McCain win the elections over Obama who is clearly leading the campaigns by a small margin.

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While the move maybe a prerogative of each company concerned, however, with the recent issue on risks to health on certain products from China, it is high time our government be serious in its campaign of protecting its citizens against such dangers and from these “irresponsible” traders and manufacturers who are only after profits and are totally disregarding consumer safety.

Many years ago, a popular shoe/apparel company was criticized by many for transferring most of its production in China and later found out that it was employing minors/children and were not even given proper safety gears and were subjected to excessive working hours with very low pay. And several months back, a popular US toy maker was forced to recall thousands of toys made from China, after it was discovered that one of the components used to assemble the toys posed dangers to kids’ health.

And who knows that tasty looking apple or banana in your table right now was sourced in China and was wiped with “formalin” or formaldehyde, a chemical used to preserve cadavers, to make it fresh looking for a longer time? That isn’t a wild idea knowing that some “genius” in China found out that Melamine is rich in protein thus it makes a good ingredient for milk and dairy products? We are not trying to dis-credit China here, but if the claim is true that the Chinese authorities were aware of this long before the news broke out, then every one should be cautious on everything that comes from China.

It is better to be safe than sorry. Our government should therefore require all Manufacturers, not just the likes of Nestle or multinational companies, but also local companies, to declare which products are using ingredients or components from China. Every citizen should be given the right to be informed, and let them decide for themselves should they purchase those products or not, until they are tested and verified to be safe for consumption or usage.

We also appeal to every manufacturer, to make their share of public service by letting every consumer know which products have ingredients/components from China - just like what the Aviation authorities do when an airplane crashes - all aircrafts of the same built/model are immediately grounded.

Right now, testing and verification is extended to include not just milk and dairy products from China, but also flour. Flour and Milk are two of the most common food ingredient - and if you try to list down which products were derived from these two ingredients, you will be surprised it will almost include everything you have in your kitchen and refrigerators right now - mayo, creams, chocolates, cookies, candies, ice creams, sundaes, tortilla chips, corn chips, noodles, yughort, sliced bread, pan de sal - the list would be very long.

And how about those fruits and vegetables from China? Toys - there’s a lot of them in every bangketa, fake rolex and other watches, fake lacoste polo shirts, nike shoes, etc - who knows those have components that would eat your skin and cause cancer? I might be over reacting and this might not be helping, but think again. In a recent Hollywood action movie, the lead actor furiously confronted a gang boss and told him that the next time he sends an assassin to kill him, “make sure he’s not using a gun made in China”. Talk about “chinafied.”

For China to remain competitive in the world, they must ensure their produce comply to the health and safety standards of the world. While probably the Chinese government is doing something to rectify this mess (hopefully), governments of countries should make safety of its citizens be its first priority. Unfortunately, our government agencies were not that quick and pro-active in releasing the lists of products from China. Let’s do our share and help ourselves - let’s make our own List of products from China, or products with ingredients/components from China.

To start, you can leave your comments.

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According to Langdon, his desire to keep the site up and running would cost him a lot and giving it to a company with enough resources and money is just the right thing to do to continue serving the thousands of blogs in its network. But with the failed negotiations with Venture Capitalists lately left him wrecked, and he’s still not back to his feet, and he’s come into a stalemate and could not keep up with Entrecard’s growth.

Graham Langdon isn’t new to selling a site which started to be some brilliant idea and became successful. He sold milliondollarwiki.com for some nice amount of money (not sure if he made about US$50,000.00) from that - and it is supposed to stay alive for 15 years but now it’s dead. Some people are thinking that Langdon may have come to realize the slow demise of Entrecard’s popularity and is seeing the opportune time to sell it - while it still bites. Many issues and controversies were hurled against Entrecard recently, but its loyal members (including me) stick to it and even wrote lots of articles about the benefits of using Entrecard and how to improve the EC dropping community among others.

I have not been active with Entrecard dropping and advertising lately. I have not been to the Forums site. I used to be a regular EC dropper and ‘forumer’. But due to tight and busy skeds, I have skipped dropping save for some sites that have dropped on my EC widgets, and of course my friends’ sites as well.

Graham claims Entrecard is currently enjoying 80 million impressions, 85,000 uniques, 3.25 Million page views, and US$2,000.00 revenue per month. Figures that each interested buyer has to verify. Do you think Entrecard would be a good site for anyone with the money to buy?

What is Entrecard?

Entrecard is blog network site that thrives on advertising. You put a widget on your site, and you earn Entrecard Credit for each Entrecard Member who visits your blog and make an EC drop on your 125×125 banner widget. You also earn one Entrecard Credit when you visit other EC members’ sites and drop on their EC widgets. These EC credits can be accumulated to buy advertising slots on other blogs’ EC widget. For example, currently, the cost to advertise on Bloggista.com is 128 EC per day. My EC widget is placed at the top-left sidebar. You can either make a drop, click on the advertised 125×125 banner to visit the advertised blog (then make another EC drop), and/or make an advertising booking on this blog, which is currently 6 days - meaning, when you advertise today, your 125×125 banner will displayed on my EC widget  6 days from now.

You can make up to 300 drops per blog, and you can have several blogs linked to several EC accounts. The Entrecard Credits can also be used to purchase items at the Entrecard marketplace, or can be used as a reward for comments and prize for contests. EC credits can also be sold, ranging from 3USD to 6USD per 1000 EC credits. In essence, Entrecard is a micro-economy, where members can trade - buy, sell, exchange, gift entrecard credits to one another.

But one thing that made Entrecard attractive to blogs, especially to new bloggers - is its ability to bring in traffic to a blog. By purchasing EC advertising slots on various blogs, and/or by making drops to several blogs hoping that those whom you dropped EC’s will reciprocate and drop on your EC widget as well, thus, giving you traffics at the same time. While many have criticized that the traffic generated are superficial and lead to high-bounce rates, still many bloggers find Entrecard a helpful tool to get traffic and to get noticed in blogosphere.

Bloggista.com is in fact, thankful to Entrecard and its community - because that’s where I found all my blog friends - from the Philippines and all over the world.

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And you might wonder where did all the UAAP Finals tickets go? I am sure Coach Norman Black of the Eagles and Coach Franz Pumaren aren’t hoarding tickets - for years, its the Scalpers that are taking advantage and are definitely raking thousands of pesos from these tickets. And ‘re-selling’ UAAP tickets have gone hi-tech lately; its all in e-Bay and other buy and sell sites. Some scalpers have finally found a place to sell their hot merchandise. Wala na sigurong tatabi sayo doon sa Araneta at bubulong sayo, “ticket Sir?”

For a General Admission ticket, which costs Php55.00, is currently selling at Php300.00 or higher. There are several tickets currently up for bidding at eBay Philippines. Upperbox B tickets (Php75.00) is bidding at Php2,000.00 as of this writing, while Upperbox A (Php220.00) is now selling at Php6,000.00 and may still go up since lots of people are actually participating the bidding. During the UAAP 71 Game 1 last Sunday, 21-Sep-2008, two Patron tickets worth Php350.00 each were posted for bidding at eBay, with a starting price of Php25,000.00 each - and there were takers!

Merchants at the Araneta Coliseum told reporters that for just one Ateneo-De La Salle game, sales of food, drinks and souvenir items like shirts and caps could well exceed their entire year’s sales. The Ateneo-De La Salle rivaly is indeed a good business for everyone.

Check out the UAAP 71 Finals Game results and updates at Bloggista.org. There are also some interesting exchange of comments going-on there. Plus, you can participate the Poll on which UAAP Team will win the UAAP 71 Championsip Title and in what game.

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Just like any other Profession, members of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), a self-governing regulatory body of all medical doctors in the country recently released their “controversial” Code Of Ethics. Controversial in the sense that - to many Doctors, it will disallow them from engaging in various activities, most especially “marketing” and ‘business’ activities of different health and medical products and companies.

I was driving home late Sunday morning listening to a radio program on DZMM, an ABS-CBN AM radio station. The host was Dr. Gary Sy - the most “un-ethical Doctor” in the Philippines. That was what he claimed he is anyway. He was discussing the newly released Doctor Code of Ethics of 2008, and it aroused my interest on some sections of the said Code of Ethics.

One notable section is on Media appearances, including hosting programs on TV and Radio, or writing a column on print media.

“A physician should only make a general opinion and shall refrain from making a specific diagnosis, therapy or projection to individual cases in his appearances in the broadcast media..”

Another section is perhaps the most controversial - where Doctors like Gary Sy have been engaged for quite some time. Dr. Gary Sy is popular for his “natural” medical product endorsements, ranging from Virgin Coconut Oil, other ‘natural’ health supplements such as Ginseng, ginko biloba, ampalaya among others most often endorsing a particular Brand or Manufacturer.

“A physician shall not commercially endorse any medical or health product.”

The PMA is also mandating its member-doctors, which is included in the Code of Ethics as well, to report all corrupt, unlicensed medical practitioners and members who violate their Code Of Ethics.

The discussions on this may still continue for a longer time. There are lots of things the Medical Profession regulatory body should do to help protect the welfare of patients, which is the Ultimate purpose of every medical practitioner. We also yet to see what happened to the Cheaper Medicines Act, the Medical Malpractice Act among other legislative initiative that have been put on hold or delayed either by strong lobbyists in the Senate or due to the shift of the Philippine Senate from a house to legislate laws, to a house of money, insertions and investigations with no results.

Just a total waste of time, energy and money. Anyways, the following are some interesting sections of the Code Of Ethics of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA). You can also download a PDF copy here.

“The primary objective of the practice of medicine is service to mankind irrespective of race, age, disease, disability, gender, sexual orientation, social standing, creed or political affiliation. In medical practice, reward or financial gain should be a subordinate consideration.”

“Physicians should be upright, diligent, sober, modest and well versed in both the science and the art of the profession.”

“The promotion and advancement of the health of the patients should be prioritized over the benefits of the physicians and the health products industries.”

“Professional fees should be commensurate to the services rendered with due consideration to the patient’s financial status, nature of the case, time consumed and the professional standing and skill of the physician in the community.”

“A physician shall waive his professional fees to a colleague, his or her spouse, children and parents who are financially dependent on him.”

“A physician shall not receive any commission for referring patients to a colleague, third person or institution. However, nominal gifts during occasions may be received by a physician.”

“The physician shall not derive any form of material gain from product samples.”

“Only gifts of reasonable value that primarily entail benefit to patient care or related to physicians’ work may be accepted by a physician from a health product company.”

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People used to ridicule Smart users who were still using the analog technology - and I was one of them. While Globe was deploying more Digital cell sites, Smart expanded its nationwide coverage for its analog service, dominating the mobile market in that segment. But it was a good strategy, soon when Smart is almost anywhere in the Philippines, it offered digital mobile service and all of a sudden, Globe had a serious, even threatening competition.

Today Smart is a big player in mobile telecoms, including its 3G services. But I’m not going to talk about Smart in this article. I used to have a Smart-sim powered PLDT we-roam and I was happy with the service. Globe on the other hand was a big disappointment. When it introduced its Globe Visibility using 3G technology, I was one of the first people to recommend it to a client whom I had a project two years ago. After presentation of justifications, the client approved my request of procuring more than a dozen units. We deployed the Visibility units in about 12 locations in Central Luzon - where we were doing a pilot project of the client’s Sales and Distribution system, which will serve as the model for a nationwide roll-out (with over 100 locations).

We used the Visibility to transmit data to and from the main office in Central Luzon and its sales locations - and we found out the 3G service was below par. There were instances the client could not connect thus delayed much of the transmission and consolidation of data. So with much disappointment we decided to choose PLDT We-Roam using Smart for the rest of the 100 locations. Although there are glitches at times, but the Smart-powered WeRoam is far more effective - wherever I went, from North to South Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Now going back the Visibility and the 3G services of Globe. Did you know that you are billed, by default Php0.15 per kilobyte of usage? If you happen to browse Bloggista.com using your 3G-enabled mobile phone, the home page is about 46KB to 50Kb, so that would mean you’ll be billed Php7.50 for browsing this blog on your phone. Why would you use a mobile phone to browse the internet anyway? Well the future is mobility. Soon most transactions can be done using your mobile phone. But companies like Globe took advantage of the unsuspecting subscriber by not openly explaining how much would be billed for every single use of the service.

What’s more unacceptable is the fact the 3G service of Globe is below par. If you use it as a modem of your notebook PC to connect to the internet, there are times, and lots of times, that its not connecting, but still you’re billed! If it can connect, on several occasions, it takes ages before a page gets loaded - but still the KB counter is running - and you are charged for each KB count! Absurd! And to think charging 15 centavos per KB is absolutely an OVERCHARGE and unfair charging.

And the service? It sucks! Why? because more than half the time, browsing the internet using my Samsung 3.5G-enabled phone with this service I always get a message “Content Not Found” and you are already charged! Rival Smart charges its subscriber Php10.00 per 30 minutes of usage, that’s comparable to paying Php20.00 per hour on internet shops, and their 3G service is reliable - maybe not working at times, but not as bad as Globe’s. Globe followed suit just this year - and they have had grand advertisements telling people they’re now charging Php5.00 per 15 minutes of usage. But for an ordinary subsriber, what you don’t know is that you have to do some configuration change before you could be charged Php5.00 per 15 minutes. You have to send Globe a text message ‘TIME’ and send to 1111 to switch to time-based charging.

How about using your 3G phone as a modem? It doesn’t work at least with my Samsung phone. But what’s the difference between using a Nokia or Samsung phone when using it as a modem? I have used the same phone with other networks, it works. It used to work before with Globe but after they announced their 5/15 service I could not connect anymore. Did I seek the help of their Customer Support? Yep, I did. I dialled ‘211′ and this was what happened:

Me: Hi, just want to know if you have changed configurations when you introduced the TIME service. I am using a Samsung 3G phone, I got the configurations on my phone.

Support Guy (SG): Thank You for calling … blah blah blah. No Sir, we haven’t changed the configurations. What is your phone model again?

Me: Samsung blah blah blah.

SG: Do you have the right configuration settings?

Me: Yes. I received several messages regarding the configuration settings when I inserted my Globe SIM card.

SG: Maybe you’re not in the service area Sir that’s why its not connecting.

Me: I am in Makati. The signal is full bar, 3G.

SG: Do you know how to setup the dial-up connection in your PC?

Me: Yeah, I got the CD Installer and these are the settings… blah blah blah….

SG: Yes Sir, those are the right settings. Were you able to connect that phone before with Globe?

Me: Yep, I used to have a Post-paid plan, but I decided to use the Pre-paid plan instead. Why? Is the service not available with Prepaid Subscribers? Your ad says it works both for Post-paid and Pre-paid subrcribers.

SG: Yes Sir, you are right. It works for both types. But Sir, maybe there is something wrong with your phone, that is why its not connecting.

Me: I don’t think so, I have another SIM Card from U-Mobile, my phone is Open Line, and I was able to connect to their 3G service.

SG: Okay Sir, maybe your SIM card has a problem, or it doesn’t have enough balance.

Me: I just loaded 300 pesos, and yeah, I got another Globe SIM card, it has 500 pesos load balance, and still same problem - it doesn’t connect when dialling the service.

SG: Okay Sir, honestly, this is the situation. We have problems right now with the 3G service. Our Technical Team is currently working on it, and it may take weeks before the service is operational again. So you cannot use the dial-up service at this time, but you can use your phone for browsing, but not as a modem. Thank you for calling - and have a nice day.

Me: ???????………

So, there… right after I put down the phone, the TV commercial was that of Globe advertising the TIME service to both Post-paid and Pre-paid. Isn’t that false advertising?

Globe used to be a great company - but now it sucks. If you’re using its 3G service or using your phone to browse the internet, chances are, you have been cheated too. They have cheated me before with 14,000 pesos of charging for just browsing my Yahoo emails - a browsing experience that raises your high blood pressure because of frequent disconnections. Check your bills - or check your prepaid balance before you connect, and after you connect. I find it absurd for us consumers paying for such a poor, inefficient service. How many subscribers are using Globe? If they have over 10 million subscribers, imagine how much they are making for every text message sent? Imagine how much they are profiting from cheating with this 3G disconnection issue?

Today mobile communications is essential. Each person is empowered with these technologies - mobile phones, 3G service, internet. But being charged for a service not delivered, or not efficiently delivered is totally outrageous and is not fair. Would you stop using what these technologies could offer? That would be a stupid idea - better switch to a reliable and fair service provider.

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So it’s like this. Okay, so you start a business, you go through the business plan process, and secure capitalization, process voluminous paper requirements with the SEC and other government agencies, you find an office space, buy furnitures, servers and laptops, and yeah, office phone with DSL internet connection.

So we’ve done all of them, got an office space in an office tower in Mandaluyong/Ortigas area, and one week before the official launch, applied a phone line with DSL with PLDT. Five weeks passed, still all we got were 3 volumes of yellow and white pages delivered 2 weeks ago - no phone line, couldn’t even print our business cards because we don’t have a telephone number yet, and no internet connection!

The Telecoms Industry in the Philippines

What does a Country need to be globally competitive for long term investments thus making more jobs available? There maybe a lot but probably among the top criteria are political stability, peace and order and, a good telecoms industry.

A Telecoms study results of two different research companies surprisingly have the following common illustration of the state of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines:

The country’s telecom industry is rather unusual – for a developing country – for two reasons. First, its regulation is extremely liberal and, second, in some respects there is a surfeit of telecom infrastructure. The regulatory regime is weak to the point of being ineffectual, while the fixed line infrastructure is severely under-utilised and a great deal of investment is going to waste.

Source: Research and Markets

… the crash programme of infrastructure expansion that the government introduced in the mid-1990s has resulted in an abundance of fixed lines. Many that are now installed are still not operational. The issue today is not so much that lines are unavailable but rather that those in place are under-utilised.

… The Philippines has long had one of the most deregulated telecom environments in the world.

… However, this liberalisation and lack of regulation has not translated into true competition. The weak regulatory regime has allowed the incumbent operator to maintain, and even strengthen, its dominant position.

Source: Asia Pacific Telecom Research Ltd

Now you’ll be surprised, aghast, flabbergasted - when there’s so much facilities available but are under-utilised, when for just a simple phone line connection in a notable building, with existing phone cabling and the previous tenant had a line already, its taking PLDT several weeks and still nothing happens. “You should have contacted customer support”, O yeah! We did, here are the details:

Week 0: Submitted all documents for business phone line processing

Week 1: No feedback. Called up 171, after half an hour of calling, the Customer Helldesk said there’s no information yet.

Week 2: Emailed Customer Support, no response. Called Customer Hotline - nobody knows. Note: A guy told us to give some TIP Amount so our line could be expedited - I said no.

Week 3: Called up some Managers at PLDT. We were told that a certain Michael is coordinating with a certain Jack so we better talk to a certain Albert so we would know what happened to our Service Order number. So we were given a number of a certain Jason to follow up with a certain Paul what happened to our application. We got tired calling all those people. Week ended with nothing happened.

Week 4: Surprise! Finally, we were told we have our Service Number. So the Service number will be used to create a Job Order which will be used to process our Phone number. We got excited, finally. Midweek, a guy came to deliver 3 volumes of yellow and white pages. What I’m gonna do with those anyway?

Week 5: Still nothing! Emailed Customer Suckport - no response. As usual the Customer HellDesk is clueless.

It is hard to operate a business without a phone line and an internet connection. There were already many lost opportunities - I can’t even start training my people since we need a good internet connection. Currently we are sharing an internet connection with the adjacent office, but we can’t do so much.

While its true that we have lots of Telecoms Operators in the country, the industry is still dominated by PLDT and its subsidiaries. Options are still limited. If only Bayantel have a good DSL service then perhaps I could have applied a phone line with them.

Update: (19-Sep-2008)

Finally we got the line, and the DSL service installed today. Its just so sad that it took some action from a higher PLDT office to give the contractor a push to install the line by today, or else…

Wouldn’t it be better if quick service is applied to all - Big time companies or small time businesses (like us)? Sigh…

Next Article: Globe Is Cheating Its Customers - so beware and check your bills!

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Goldman, Sachs & Co., another Jewish financial giant is the only one left of these pioneers in banking and brokerage house is still going strong, if one would assume.

Are we seeing the collapse of the Jewish Empires that control much of the Financial resources on Wall Street?

On the other hand, AIG (American) was lucky to have the US Feds bail them out for an 85 billion dollar loan recently. In the Philippines, several banks have investments on both Lehman Brothers and AIG. How does the AIG incident affect Philamlife in the Philippines? Not much, according to Philamlife President &. CEO Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., as its Financial Books are separate. I may not fully understand why it won’t affect Philamlife but one thing for sure - every Filipino will probably be cautious now with placing investments with AIG and Philamlife.

Philippine Banks and Financial Institutions with exposures to Lehman Brothers

Banco de Oro, Metrobank, RCBC and SunLlife Philippines recently disclosed that they have exposures with Lehman Brothers. So far only these 3 local financial institutions admitted. BDO and Metrobank said they had put up loss provisions totalling USD94 Million. RCBC is allocating about USD USD20.8 Million for its USD30 Million (Php1.4 Billion) in “structure products” linked to Philippine bonds and issued by Lehman (source: SEC). SunLife has 334 Million Canadian dollars. Security Bank also disclosed exposure with Merrrill Lynch totalling to USD10 Million (Php480 Million).

The recent financial crisis in the US sent some ripple effects worldwide. And it would certainly affect developing economies like the Philippines. Which made me think investment security nowadays cannot be guaranteed, and risks are more than doubled. Perhaps the best way to prepare for the future is to set aside some money in a low interest income savings account on reputable banks (still not a guarantee), but at the same time invest in some passive income opportunities that will give substantial returns.

Probably this is where economics is heading - every person is empowered to make investments and manage returns by himself. WIth the advent of e-commerce, internet business opportunities, and technologies, man is now more than empowered to make himself rich by taking advantage of the vast opportunities the online world can offer.

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