DTI business name registration is a failure
Launching our little business last month has been an eye-opening experience. It has broadened my mind about the dynamics of being an entrepreneur in this country. I am bound to agree with the observations of some people (including foreigners) that the environment for doing business in the Philippines is poor and discouraging. But first of all, President Arroyo should crack the whip on agencies who are “good on paper” but are actually NO GOOD in what they do.
For example, how does DTI Secretary Peter Favila and his staff explain the more than one month wait in the approval of business names? I am asking this because the DTI even goes to the extremes of spending millions for advertising their Business Name Registration Service (DTI BNRS is supposedly a frontline service for the registry of sole proprietorships). The last time, I saw their half-page ads in the Inquirer.
More than one month of waiting for government approval of a business name is just inexcusable. It certainly doesn’t speak of the prompt delivery of service and efficiency of the DTI. My fellow applicants and I have been in touch through cellphone and they told me that they haven’t received their certificates from DTI as well. We applied on the second week of May. DTI BNRS promised to process our applications in two weeks, and they were supposed to mail our papers to us.
Katrina Halili did the right thing
This morning, I did something that was out of my routine. Instead of checking my emails first thing, I viewed the town’s most talked about videos featuring a celebrity doctor and his separate trysts with three models slash showbiz personalities, in various states of undress. It is because my web-connected friends have been talking about them that I had to ask for a link, rather belatedly. Of course, the sex tapes are also now available in your friendly bootleg vendor in Quiapo and elsewhere.
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Laptop & camera thefts are on the rise
As a theft victim myself, I couldn’t help but feel the pain of friends and acquaintances who’ve lost their precious gadgets recently.
One is my Plurk friend Pau who lost his laptop and high-end cameras at the rooftop parking lot of MC Home Depot, The Fort in a span of less than 10 minutes!
Last night, Plurk was abuzz again with news of another robbery. This time, somebody recounted how some rogue peeps broke into the trunk of a car and stole a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and a Dell laptop amounting to more than P200,000 at the Podium parking lot in Ortigas.
Yogini Jane recounts how one lost a laptop through the clever workings of the Salisi Gang.
Earlier in our photography class, my seatmate also recounted how she lost her camera collection in her parked car inside BF Homes Paranaque.
Another (and a reporter at that!) was victimized by somebody who engaged him in a conversation in Greenbelt. He lost his MacBook because he put down his bag to talk. His bag was gone in a split second.
The common thread in all these is that it’s almost suicidal to leave valuable items in any part of the car these days… no matter how inconspicuous they are. It seems that ruthless thieves are now targetting gadgets more expensive than cellphones. And they are doing so upscale places in Makati, Taguig and Ortigas.
One part of me thinks if this is in any way related to the elections, but laptops will always be in-demand among students and the like. (Yes, even if the advent of cheap netbooks has made owning a laptop easier)
An even more dangerous trend: unscrupulous persons are cannibalizing stolen items and selling them by parts, where they’re less likely to be traced. Browse the online marketplace and you’ll see some ads being ran about Macbook LCD screens for sale, and being peddled for $200 to $400.
Here’s my thoughts on the matter:
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My not-so-late Christmas wishlist
My Manila Bulletin column on A Blogger’s Wishlist For Christmas appeared two weeks ago, and am reprinting it here. Our peer, Melo Villareal, has an ongoing blog promotion on Christmas wishlists and am joining coz I want to win the 2009 Starbucks Planner, even though last year’s remain unused 
Here it goes:
It’s the time of the year again! Christmas is synonymous with wishlists and we do this for a couple of reasons: remind ourselves in choosing which stuff to spend our bonus on, guide our loved ones as to our preferences, or serve as a raincheck for future purchases.
The difficulty with blogging is that it’s a technologically-dependent field. You’d almost always need your own computer, high-speed internet connection, cameras to aid in your photo-documentation, software as needed, and other gadgets you see your blogging contemporaries using. This is what makes blogging pressure-filled. You gotta keep up with the Joneses, so to speak.
Don’t get me wrong. One can survive in blogging by owning just the basics. There’s even talk of a blogger earning a lot of money from his site, but has to bike his way to the nearest internet cafe. Still, it’s better to be equipped with the best, and that is why I crave for the following things:
1. A new cellphone, either a Nokia E61 or the new E63. Don’t know why, but I just like the look of this mobile phone, after attending the line’s launching in Singapore this year. The fact that it has wi-fi and a decent camera is an added plus.
If we have double-digit inflation, why do they keep on building condos?
Two launch events I attended recently has made me do a double take on the state of our economy. If real estate companies are building more condos and houses, is there hope for better times ahead? Probably. If there’s one belief that has been inculcated on me by other people, it is that you invest in land today with the hope that prices will appreciate in the future. Still have to test if the hypothesis is true, since I haven’t disposed of any piece of real estate to see if substantial gains can be had…or not.
Another real estate assumption is that it is always good to buy at “preselling” rates. This means plunking down your money on a piece of structure that hasn’t been built yet. The good thing is that you get it at the lowest possible price per square meter. The bad thing is that it will remain a “risk” until the structure or unit is finished and is formally turned over to you. The safest way is always to invest in reputable companies, with a portfolio of fully-completed projects. Another advice is to review the contract so that you can actually recover your downpayment when either the project or the company itself goes down the drain due to bankruptcy or some other reason.
One Pacific Place is one such condominium project that is being sold at preselling rates. The property proponents, ACI Group & Cactus Realty, enjoins its target market to invest in a unit today and occupy it by 2011. Two things it boasts about – a good location in Makati’s Salcedo Village and excellent track record of being the company behind Pan Pacific Hotel Manila. Investors can grab studio units now at P1.9 million or so which is not bad for prevailing prices in the prime business area.
Singapore…. here I is!
Thanks to A.S. for making this dream come true. Thanks to Mahoney (Mah Honey, geddit?) for making my shopping dream in the Great Singapore Sale come true Posts coming soon. (Supposing I don’t get buried in them curry crabs and shoppings bags. Heh.) Man has come a long way since latrines and poo-ing in leaves and newspapers (honestly did this once, while camping!) We now have portalets and a multitude of designs for home bathrooms. I was prepared for some normalcy until I saw the ‘his and hers’ toilet bowl from TwoDaLoo….. It is described as ” the world’s first toilet two people can use … at the exact same time. The TwoDaLoo features two side-by-side toilet seats with a modest privacy wall in between. An upgraded version includes a seven inch LCD television and iPod docking station. ” The dual bowl promises to “bring couples closer together and conserve our water supply, all with one flush.” The latter is commendable, the former questionable. I don’t think too many couples will take to it like ducks to water (pardon the pun), and that’s me included. Dear Boy Friend, You must love me I love your MacBook Pro, Thanks for making A Dream come true. “Moderate their greed,” as said by Romulo Neri to Jun Lozada in the full-blown ZTE scam, is my favorite phrase of the year. Of course, people say the scrapped deal was disadvantageous to the government and would further widen the gap between this country’s rich and poor. Hmm, what about the gap between the rich and the greedy rich? Here are some reasons why the already-rich won’t “moderate their greed” and would like to be filthy rich by all means possible: (as quoted/adapted from an old article in the Sunday Times of London clipped by this blogger) Rich is a house in the country; very rich is a house in another country. Rich is having two cars; very rich is having two chauffeurs . (heck, five chauffeurs even!) Rich is owning offshore investments; very rich is owning offshore islands. Rich is being able to hire an accountant; very rich is being able to fire an accountant. Rich is a eating a large steak in a top restaurant… in New York! ; very rich is a large stake in a top restaurant… in New York! Sweet Little Miss Wifely Steps has an ongoing blog carnival entitled “Show of Hearts” where readers and friends are invited to post anything heart-related. My entry of course has something to do with the just-concluded V-day. The bf was by his usual thoughtful self and made it in time for our Valentine celebration across time zones. Thanks to the magic of online shopping; never really gave this thing a thought, until My Sweet told me to check out a few Filipino-owned sites and how their prices compared against each other. He finally settles for makulay.com because their items were reasonable, and of course they were able to actually deliver the items to my doorstep! The heart-shaped strawberry buttercream cake from Goldilock’s was a revelation. Never really tasted this cake before and we loved it… the mild strawberry flavor blending well with the creamy center. Hmm, I wonder why the bouquet of flowers I got didn’t contain a single rose, but I was certainly glad to find a number of edible roses on the icing of the cake! 
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And now, time for some toilet talk…
I want my own toilet private time…wouldn’t you? The Bible did say “for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health..,” but it wasn’t about to say “till constipation and yer smelly poop do us part.” Ready, get set…shoot!
’cause you gave me this DSLR.
I love you too. Here’s why some people don’t want to “moderate their greed”
A ’show of hearts’ and how online shopping made our Valentine’s Day
Blogging since 2004 and recently married to Mr Z. I can't live without coffee....and brown sugar.
