Hoop Addict

A few weeks back somebody submitted an entry to the online directory that I run. The directory is for the city of Davao. Normally I would have accepted his entry, except that it was an SEO company located in another country.

After one day I got an email from this guy, he was pissed off on why it was taking such a long time for his entry to appear on the site. Caps and exclamation points in his email showed how aggravated he was.

I replied to him kindly, Thanked him for his submission, then explained to him that it was because he was from another city in another country that I couldn’t approve his submission. All entities in the directory must reside in the city of Davao.

That’s why I’m happy to be Asian sometimes, because we are so tolerant of other people’s rudeness.

A retired public servant and soon to be real estate broker suggested that a specific forum channel be put up to answer questions that people might have regarding real estate. And with that the Davao real estate q & a forum was born (here).

It’s quite an interesting and informative forum really. I never knew the intricacies of real estate taxation that the local government imposes on land, housing and commercial establishments till I read the articles posted there.

Quite an important thing to have knowledge of when you plan to put up a house or building in the Philippines. Also posted there the reason why you have to transfer right away any properties that you have bought to your name, because some unscrupulous sellers report a lost title and resell the property.

It’s great that gasoline is cheap right now. In the Philippines its back to 2004 levels, about P30/liter at the pump for unleaded gasoline. I could actually start driving in the road again for recreation. The past year one could only go outside in ones car if one had an actual purpose to it.

I remember back in 1998 when gasoline was at P11/liter. I was fresh out of college, was starting out at a new job and had my first car. It was second hand. Then come 1999, the price of gas was starting to creep up. By 2000 it was at P13/liter. I told myself that if gas hit P15/liter I’d ditch my car and start taking the company shuttle bus. I guess you know how that ended up.
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I feel sad whenever I hear news of OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Worker) being scammed. It’s a curse of this perception that OFW’s have a lot of money. Ok so maybe a small percentage of them have a lot of money, but the reality is that the majority of them eke out just enough to support their families at home. That’s why its despicable to see people conning people from the meager earnings that they have.
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Who would have “thunk” that car manufacturing giant, Toyota Motor Corporation, started from the weaving industry?

Quite inspiring really. If you disregard the fact that it was because of the war in China that they were encouraged to start a car manufacturing division.
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Well not entirely because you can’t make wood boards out of the malunggay’s trunk. Who would have thought that there were a lot more uses for the Malunggay plant (Moringa in English) other than as a pro lactate for breast feeding women?

Now they’re using it in beauty products, for snake bites, to increase sperm count and even as a biofuel.

In the provinces it was even used as fencing posts. You plant it of course in the place you want the boundaries of your fence to be then tack on the actual fencing material.

And the great thing about it is that it can grow anywhere and doesn’t need that much water.

A true miracle plant indeed.

If people ask me what the best hotel in Davao City is, I always say that it is the Marco Polo Hotel. Not surprising too that the hotel has garnered a lot of awards.

Whenever you entertain your guests there you will never be embarrassed. No other hotel in the City can compare to the splendor and grandeur it projects. Of course the drawback is that the place is very pricey so be ready to spend a princely sum there.
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Layoffs are a sad part of being a worker. What’s even depressing is the figure of layoffs being announced this December.

Times like these, those who worked hard, don’t give management a hard time, outperform and have a good disposition altogether are usually the ones not earmarked for redundancy.

Further developments in the problem of home loan foreclosure being faced by the Davao real estate sector right now.

The City Mayor thinks that the President of the Philippines is the only one who can solve this problem now.

What’s clear to me is the problem in Davao City. I wonder if there are other cities in the Philippines facing the same problem of a possible meltdown in the home loan mortgage industry?