consumer
Google Car: Will It Work in PH?
By Andrea Lim
Google has recently come up with a prototype that, although it looks like it came straight out of a Disney Pixar movie, is an innovation that will seem to put us forward into the twenty-first century – the ‘Google Car’.
It is basically a self-driving compact version of a Mercedes-Benz smart car, big enough to fit two adults and a few pieces of luggage in the back.
The Google Car, or ‘Goog’, possibly owes its appeal to its friendly, ‘cute’ appearance – its face having ovoid eyes and baby-blue retinas, a shiny button nose and a straight-line mouth. However, the design strategy was “a concession to a fact about glaring fact about driverless cars: To a public raised on taking the wheel, the very concept of ceding control is terrifying.”
Although most people have nothing but positive words for this development in technology, we can only speculate if and how this will be beneficial to a third-world country like the Philippines.
Take for instance, the fact that while the Google Car is driverless but may still follow rules of the road down to the letter, there are still other factors to consider. Among those are the safety of the driverless car’s passengers and of course, the other drivers.
Google released a trial product where the car has nothing save for the seatbelts, a start button, and an emergency stop button. Cliff Kuang of wired.com says that a driverless car has to be “filled with cues in the knobs and interfaces that teach the user even while it’s enticing and acclimating the audience of potential users.”
If we are to have this sort of modernization running along our streets, it should be worth noting that Filipinos are known for their short attention spans, sad to say. If a billboard of a half-naked woman along EDSA could divert drivers’ attention from the road, what more a driverless vehicle running at 60 miles per hour?
Flying high!
Cebu Pacific, the listed aviation unit of taipan John Gokongwei, has beefed up its fleet, allowing it to fly international routes.
Last May 18, the carrier took delivery of the second of three Airbus A330 aircraft it will receive this year, while another one is due in August 2014.
By end of 2014, the airline will utilize five wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft for its long-haul operations.
With this delivery, CEB now operates a fleet of 52 aircraft comprised of 10 Airbus A319, 30 Airbus A320, 4 Airbus A330 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft.
Between 2014 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 11 more Airbus A320, 30 Airbus A321neo, and 2 Airbus A330 aircraft.
Cebu Air Inc., one of the largest carriers in the Philippine air transportation industry, offers low-cost services to destinations and routes with high flight frequency within the Philippines.
It entered the aviation industry on March 1996 and pioneered the “low fare, great value” strategy. It has since then flown over 80 million passengers and counting.
CEB also operates flights to 24 cities in 13 countries in North Asia, ASEAN and the Middle East.
Cebu Pacific’s recent acquisition of Singapore’s low-cost Tigerair created the largest low-cost network to and from the Philippines.
The alliance allows both airlines to leverage on each other’s extensive route networks, flight frequencies and customer service, providing customers an even wider range of travel options at the lowest fares possible.
CEB has one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world.
Between 2014 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 12 more Airbus A320 and 30 Airbus A321 aircraft orders.
It began long-haul services in the 3rd quarter of 2013, and expects the arrival of three more Airbus A330 aircraft from 2014 to 2015.
CEB is also the dominant air cargo carrier in the Philippines, providing competitive and flexible air cargo services to a network of individual shippers and cargo agents.
Cacao Industry Bids For ‘Sweet Success’
The rebirth of a Philippine world-class product
By Allysa Faye Greganda
By 2020, the world’s need for cacao beans is projected to increase by 30%, yet the country’s production has yet to meet the demand. If our cacao industry can do so, then there is hope for the Philippine agricultural sector.
While Filipinos crave for imported chocolates, better think again: first-rate quality cocoa can be grownin your backyard. It is the same reason why the Department of Agriculture keeps an eye on this delectable opportunity for the country’s agri-production.
This month, DA just handed an initial P14M for cacaoagri-business zones (CABZs) in Davao City.
Being endowed with such perfect soil composition and sun temperature, the Philippine’s cacao industry is a potential big exporter—only if more farmers would invest into it.
The truth is, cacao seeds do not grow in thewestern countries known to produce these mouth-watering chocolates, including Japan. Raising cacao trees haveclimatic requirements.
Land capability
Rainfall should range from 1250 to 3000 mm per annum while 1500-2000 mm during dry season of not more than 3 months. Maximum temperature is 32°C and the minimum is 18°C. Altitude of the area must lie between 300-1200 meters above sea level.
Cacao thrives best in areas with evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year. As of now, cacao plantations can be found in the areas of Mindanao specially Davao and CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) in Luzon.
The cacao industry has never grown into its full potential. Moreover, we even import 20,000 metric tons of cocoa beans from Africa last 2008 up to this date, costing $42 million a year.
During 1980s, Philippines has shared 20% of the world’s need for cocoa. The industry declinedaltogether with the rise of CARP.
Discovering these lost chances, the DA and Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) made partnerships with different companies to help boost cacao farming in the country.
BAR also collaborated with Cocoaphil for the Sustainable Cacao Program. The target now is to be able to produce 100,000 metric tons by 2020 from our usual production of 25,000 metric tons yearly.
As for the initial funding, P1.75 million has been allotted for the distribution of seedlings.
P2.5 million goes for production equipment’s and machinery. Post-harvest facilities and other infrastructure costs P6.22 million, marketing development services amounts to P200,000, while P615,000 budget allotted in training for new and current cacao industry players.
Made in the Philippines
“Dry like a full bodied well-aged red wine,” these were the words Shawn Askinosie of the world’s famous Zingerman’s Deli said to describe the Philippine Tablea (chocolate).
So far, there had been few who attempts in making it into the exporting world—all by themselves. Rob Crisostomo started as a simple farmer then eventually founded the Seed Core Enterprises in Davao.
He now exports container load of Philippine cacao to Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest supplier of high quality chocolate and cacao products. It just proves that cacao made in the Philippines is globally competitive.
This will not only give glory to the country but also provide livelihood for many families.
The secret of Philippine cacao beans is in how our farmers carefully process the seedlings from planting, harvesting and even in quality control phase. Filipino women are the usual laborers in cacao plantations. DA said that this type of farming is gender-sensitive, that is why women are the preferred laborers.
As of now, there are 20,000 hectares of cacao trees in Davao, and 70% of the annual production of the crop come from the same province. The industry has helped 16,000 farmers and 340 cooperatives, according to Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines.
Indeed, this industry has becoming a good source of livelihood for most Filipinos in the South.
Harvesting Hope
It is a wise decision for DA to finally revive the cacao industry. This can even lift the country into poverty. We should focus more into utilizing our lands because the Philippines’climate and environment has the perfect set up for growing such crops.
Our true wealth is our agriculture because not all countries are capable of producing crops such as cacao beans. Our government has to realize that prosperity in our country does not merely relyon just ICT, business empires and technology.
It will be beneficial for the country’s economy if the budget allocation for this industry is increased.
(Ms. Greganda is a graduating student of AB Communication in the University of Perpetual Help System Laguna. She is currently working in OpinYon as an intern. She also loves sweets, including chocolate.)
(Mis)Taxes For Sari-Sari Stores
“A bad beginning makes a bad ending” ~ Euripedes
Laoag City – The slow and tedious, not to mention expensive, processes of registering a business and compliance with tax requirements with the Bureau of Internal Revenue make Teresita* question her decision to open a sari-sari store to augment her husband’s, a tenant farmer, income. For the privilege of operating a sari-sari store, she has to issue official receipts and deal with the BIR every month, for percentage tax** among others.
“Issue an official receipt for every sale even if the buyer didn’t ask for it, but if the sale is below P25 and the buyer didn’t ask for one, then you don’t have to issue a receipt,” the BIR officer emphasized during the tax briefing at the Revenue District Office No. 1 in Laoag City. “If you don’t issue a receipt, you will be fined P10,000! If your customer asked for a receipt and you didn’t give him, that’s a fine of P20,000!” she warned.
“Everything is very confusing,” Teresita told her seatmate at the briefing. “To travel to the city every month to pay taxes, I will spend an additional P184 for public transportation expense,” she added.
Additional transportation expense is not the only additional costs Teresita has to think of is she wants to open a sari-sari store. Not only will she need to pay 3% of her monthly sales to BIR, but she also have to pay for the cost of printing official receipts. For a farmer and a housewife, just the additional P184 in monthly transportation expense is a lot.
Isn’t there an injustice in this tax requirement for sari-sari stores? Is it really fair to ask them to issue official receipts? Is it fair that sari-sari store owners, who are mostly marginal earners, be burdened with monthly tax compliance? Is it fair that people who barely earn enough to buy for their necessities are burdened with additional costs in exchange for the privilege of owning a sari-sari store?
When asked why this so much tax compliance burden for sari-sari stores, the same BIR officer said that the official receipts will help BIR determine if sari-sari stores are truly earning marginally. She added that it is not enough for sari-sari store owners to declare they are marginal earners, but they have to show BIR receipts that they only sold so much.
I understand the country, through the BIR, needs to increase its tax collections so it can improve basic services to the country, but ensuring that all sari-sari stores report their actual sales and requiring them to pay taxes on these sales every month too much of a burden? The combined annual sales of all sari-sari stores in the country couldn’t possibly equal the one year sales of PLDT which, as of 2013, was P 164.1 billions. So isn’t BIR efforts more aptly rewarded if it focuses its efforts in policing the country’s biggest corporations and ensuring that they pay the right taxes?
The cost of ensuring that every single sari-sari store comply with this rule and the additional benefit, increase in tax collections, are clearly not commensurate. Isn’t there a better, less onerous way for the government to collect taxes from sari-sari stores? With the combined brilliance of the people at BIR, I am sure they can think of something.
The tax rules governing tricycle and jeepney drivers and operators are an example of this brilliance. I don’t know how it is in the other parts of the country, but in the boondocks I call home, our neighborhood tricycle driver earns more than the nearest sari-sari store. Why not require sari-sari stores to pay a fixed amount of taxes every quarter? If Teresita is required to pay P750, which is equivalent to a total sales of P25,000, a quarter in taxes, this would still be preferable to spending almost P600 every quarter in transportation expenses for monthly tax compliance.
What is it with sari-sari stores that they are dealt with differently? Could it be that requiring sari-sari stores to issue official receipt with the threat of thousands of pesos in fines if they don’t is a sign of a wider epidemic? Is this the beginning of the slow death of common sense in BIR?
What will be the next result of this slow death of common sense? Maybe, ask the fish vendor at the wet market to issue official receipts, too?
*Not her real name
**Percentage tax is a computed as 3% of total sales and is paid monthly to the BIR
Liza M. Gaspar is a wealth coach and personal finance enthusiast. She also volunteers for the Rotary Club of Makati McKinley (rcmmckinley.org) and the Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees (grlawardees.org). Engage her in a discussion about anything you fancy at http://www.thegirlninja.com, liza@thegirlninja.com or www.facebook.com/annalizagaspar
Christopher Po : Heir to the King of Tuna
FOR Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs, running the business is always a family affair.
The same is true with Ricardo Sy Po, Sr., founder of the 34-year old Century Pacific Group (CPG)—makers of Century Tuna and the country’s largest canned food manufacturer–who has bequeathed a huge responsibility of running the corporation to his son Christopher “Chris” Po.
Chris, President and CEO of CPG Holdings Inc., was the man at the helm when the Century food group teamed up with leading global tuna supplier Thai Union and local fishing giant Frabelle to build a US$20-million tuna processing plant in Papua New Guinea back in 2011.
By casting a wider net via a three-way partnership with global leaders in seafood processing and fishing, the Century Pacific Group (CPG) has built an overseas capacity especially for its private label tuna manufacturing business.
Apart from selling its own canned tuna brands like Century, 555, Blue Bay and Fresca, CPG exports to international buyers that, in turn, market canned fish under their own brands (the company also owns Blue Bay and Fresca Tuna, Birch Tree and Angel milk, Kaffe de Oro and HomePride). #OpinYon #FeatureStory
read cont | http://bit.ly/19MalAM
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Gums Are Just as Important as Your Teeth
by: Dr. Joseph D. Lim
IF you are age 40 or over, chances are you will have gum disease.
While it is commonly experienced during middle age, gum recession actually starts during the teenage years.
When a tooth appears longer than normal or the spaces between teeth seem to grow, you are likely to have the malady.
Symptoms include teeth that are very sensitive to stimuli (hot or spicy food for example), visible roots of the tooth, notched tooth at the gum line, tooth dislocation and cavities below the gum line.
It is easy to prevent gum disease with simple habits like flossing and brushing, avoiding tobacco, eating properly and not piercing the lip or tongue.
Over-aggressive brushing that cause gum recession may be evaded with gentle brushing with a soft toothbrush.
Regular professional dental cleanings prevent plaque buildup that also causes gum recession. Scaling and root planning may be necessary to clean the teeth and heal the inflammation in the gums caused by tartar.
It is necessary to avoid gum disease because it leads to other serious ailments. #OpinYon #LifeStyle #Gums
read cont | http://bit.ly/1gmjy9R
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KILLING THE CARTEL
By: Al S. Labita & Miguel Raymundo
IN a dark alley in Binondo, Manila’s Chinatown, a Chinese rice trader ponders on the fate of the tons of rice he illegally stockpiled in his leased warehouse.
Not only were the grains rotting, but their storage also drained him of “dirty profits” he pocketed from speculating on the supply and demand cycle of the Filipinos’ major staple.
Call it “bad karma,” but the tsinoy trader—like his peers in the cartelized trading of rice—is bearing the brunt of the government’s resolute political will to stabilize the rice market–and stamp out smuggling, hoarding and price manipulation.
Based on OpinYon’s research, a paper trail leads to Binondo as the epicenter of cartelized trading of grains, apparently in cahoots with corrupt government officials.
Mostly involving Tsinoys, the syndicate–described as “big and powerful”—corners and manipulates rice prices, creating an artificial shortage in the grains market. #OpinYon #banner#RiceHoarding #Rice
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Francisco “Frank” Reyes : The King of the Grill
FRANCISCO “Frank” Reyes belongs to a huge family and his culinary roots span more than 140 years.
The grandson of the founder of the famous The Aristocrat restaurant, Reyes has 70 first cousins—but he is the only one in the clan to go into the barbecue business with the opening of Reyes Barbecue in 2002.
Culinary Roots
Frank’s maternal great grandmother was Luisa Gracia Cruz, who was born in the 1870’s in Navotas, Rizal. Luisa, though unschooled, was a highly-skilled cook who ran a small carinderia in front of their house.
Her specialty, kare-kare—a meat and vegetable stew with a peanut-based sauce—was so delicious, it earned her the nickname “Luisang Kari” in their neighborhood.
Luisa passed on her talents, skills and taste buds to her daughter, Engracia Cruz Reyes, who eventually became the pioneer restaurateur of the Phillipines, and the founder (in 1936) of one of the longest surviving restaurant in the counrty–The Aristocrat. #OpinYon #Business #ReyesBBQ Reyes Barbecue
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Kudos MWSS: Let MWC, Maynilad Hurt
by: Mentong Laurel
LAST September 11, the MWSS denied appeals of the privatized water utilities companies Manila Water and Maynilad for water rate hikes and ordered lowering of water rates for the next five year. As a result, water rates are expected to lower by more than one peso per cubic meter starting October. This is still a far cry from the real lowering of rates that must be attained by the public to match the average water tariff in the region, but it is a good start.
Congratulations to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for taking a stand to be pro-People. Special thanks to MWSS acting chief regulator Emmanuel Caparas and his team for standing up for Public Welfare and the Public Good, against the corrupt 1997 concession agreement signed under the corporatist-enforcer Fidel V. Ramos and the compromised MWSS board members then.
The iniquitous pass-on to water consumers of corporate income tax is now ended because of Caparas’ “heroic stand” against pressures from the corporate powers and its controlled media and economist-advocates to keep the income tax pass-on privilege for their corporations. #OpinYon #MWSS #Maynilad
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Root Canal is Not Painful
by: Dr. Joseph D. Lim
WHAT most Americans fear, more than paying taxes and speaking in public, is getting a root canal treatment.
Two of three Americans surveyed by the American Association of Endodontists (AAE) also ranked root canals as the dental procedure they most fear, more than having a tooth pulled or a cavity filled.
The survey reveals that seven out of 10 (70 percent) Americans fear losing a natural tooth. Ironically, the same number also fear root canal treatment, a dental procedure that can save their teeth.
From March 27 to April 2, the AAE is holding its fifth annual Root Canal Awareness Week to dispel long-standing myths about root canal treatment and increase understanding of the procedure as one that is virtually painless. #OpinYon #LifeStyle
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