One of the biggest challenges facing any future small business owner in the Philippines is determining exactly how much to charge for a particular good or service. Setting the price for your various goods or services really can make or break your business. And while there are various 'rules of thumb' you can use to set initial prices, chances are you'll find that getting to an appropriate price takes time, and is influenced by a wider range of factors than you think. In other words, setting the price for your goods and or services becomes more of an art than a science. Before developing any pricing strategy, you must first determine who will … [Read more...]
Heads Must Roll!
November 30, 2008 By 12 Comments
It seems to me that when something goes wrong in the Philippines, someone gets fired and possibly prosecuted. There was a jail break in Bogo City on Sunday and one of the escapes ended up dead when police shot him a couple of days later. … [Read more...]
Estafa — Are You Aquainted?
November 29, 2008 By 33 Comments
I better start this post with a definition. Even though I lived under the same legal system as many of you, and even worked as a researcher for a lawyer for some years , I have to admit I never heard this word before I came to the Philippines: Estafa is committed by a person who defrauds another causing him to suffer damage, by means of unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, or of false pretense opt fraudulent acts. For the existence of the crime of estafa, two elements are indispensable: fraud and damage.2 In other words, the essential elements of estafa are: (1) The deceit employed to … [Read more...]
Filipinos vs. Poverty
November 29, 2008 By 8 Comments
Last year, the Philippines had the most number of people who stood up against poverty in the Stand Up Against poverty campaign, according to Minar Pimple, United Nations Millennium Campaign deputy director. To achieve 15 million people who would stand up and take action against poverty for this year in order to sustain the country's first place position, President Arroyo led the campaign at the Asian Conference on Religion for peace at the UST (University of the Santo Tomas) in Manila last October. This year, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts followed up this achievement and supported this campaign for global mobilization to end … [Read more...]
We've been here before
November 28, 2008 By 45 Comments
It's a great feeling isn't it? P50 for every dollar! Imagine, just a year ago, the dollar was only worth 40 Pesos, and now we have made a huge jump back to P50. We are not all the way back to where we were a couple of years ago, but it seems to be headed that way. Remember, we peaked out at a little over P56 to the dollar. As far as I can recall, we never quite made it to 57, but we got into the mid-56 range before the bottom fell out. So, indeed, we have been here before. This is not new territory for us. But, we should not forget that even when the dollar was at it's peak, things were not rosy. The falling peso does create some … [Read more...]
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 27, 2008 By 27 Comments
Hi Everyone in the States or People that live all over the world that celebrate Thanksgiving. Happy Turkey "GOBBLE" to all. We havw a lot to be thankful for to God. Well in our household we celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday, since the kids has school on Thursday, the kids usually come home around 4:30 in the afternoon. It's really late and short time for them to sit down and have dinner with us. We want them to really enjoy the Thanksgiving Day so we made it Saturday since we lived here in the Philippines. We really prepare the American tradition of Thanksgiving. We will have turkey butterball of course. Bob will help me make the stuffing and … [Read more...]
SIR: In Group
November 27, 2008 By 22 Comments
SIR is the basic system that guides Philippine Society, it is the foundation of Filipino Culture. SIR stands for "Smooth Interpersonal Relations." Continuing on with my series of articles about SIR, today I want to look at the first Value that comprises Sir: In Group. "In Group" is also known as "Kita" in the Bisaya parts of the country, in other areas it is also known as the "Barkada" system. Basically it means that Filipino hangs out in a group, rather than individually. It also means that the individual tends to take on the group dynamic, rather than the group taking on the personality of it's members. The study material that I … [Read more...]
What is a lie?
November 26, 2008 By 12 Comments
Now in the West we appear to judge a lie a little different from a lie here in the Philippines as the line between a lie here and the truth is so different. In the Philippines the culture here is not to lose face and this in itself causes many misunderstandings and communication errors that we in the West get annoyed about and in the main the locals cannot understand what all the fuss is all about. Examples. You have an appointment and no one shows, despite you going out of your way to be there on time the answer is normally that the person who did not show insists they said "maybe yes they will be there", which after a while you learn … [Read more...]
News Headline
November 26, 2008 By 71 Comments
Filipinos love to shorten words, come up with combinations of words and such in ways that make me crack up. Frankly, I guess that some of the stuff that they come up with would crack up just about any westerner. Most of the time, I don't think that Filipinos make up these names and such in ways that are meant to be humerous, they just are not used to the same meanings for certain phrases that we are, and that is why we see humor, even when they are very serious. Ever since we moved here in 2000, there has been a movement to modify the Constitution of the Philippines. Mostly, a lot of people want to put the Philippines under a Parliamentary … [Read more...]
A Bruneiyuki?
November 25, 2008 By 20 Comments
Back on the OFW topic now... Rebecca and I went to Brunei a couple of weeks ago. She joined me on a business trip, and we were being given a tour of Brunei by my colleague there. Rebecca said that she noticed many Filipinos working there. My colleague said, "Oh, yes. Lots of Filipinos come here to work. The wages are decent and it is easy for them to visit home." Rebecca then informed him that the slang term for an OFW in Brunei is "Bruneiyuki". My colleague started laughing very hard. You see, it really is a funny-sounding term... Bruneiyuki... Sort of like when you say "Kalamazoo", "Uterus", or "Cucamonga". How did the term come to be? Well, … [Read more...]
Recent Comments