Rodel E. Dagumampan

Never in my life I thought that I would be this luxurious. Shit happens last night and I have to find a place to sleep over and stay temporarily. I know nobody here in Davao, and all apartelle we’ve checked were closed already.

We tried our luck with Apo View Hotel but surprisingly they are fully booked!! Can you imagine that, its just a normal week in Davao and its fully booked! The front desk officer made us a reservation to another hotel near Apo View, Casa Leticia. I had a Presidential Suite, me alone lols. Its was very nice, I can only have it in my dreams, clean, silent, perfectly designed. Its nice but its so silent and boring.

I walk around to see where I can hang-out and have some drinks just to kill time. Just few meters, I entered Rizal Promenade. Nice place, live bands, stand-up dance bar, pretty party ladies, friendly people and cheaper drinks. I had 3 SMG Lights and return to my hotel after few more chat with dabaweñas and dabaweños. I checked out 10AM and just bad I didn’t have the chance to take my free breakfast as I was late.

That’s all for PHP 3, 500.00.

Perhaps one of the services hardest to find in Davao City are business and corporate lawyers. We googled for business lawyers directories practicing in Davao and we found only one site. But its also disappointing how much these lawyers charge, 6k/hr! We cannot afford it (period!).

In need of a business lawyer.

What we’re looking is a lawyer with knowledge and experience handling employee contracts, partner agreements, specials clauses and intellectual property protection. Its better also if he/she has knowledge on international trade law and copyright. A business lawyer knows the nuts and bolts of these things and perhaps can suggest the best and practical ways of doing it. Much better if he/she is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

The problem with some lawyers is that, they treated clients unfair. As a proof, we talked to a lawyer that initially asked 1k/hr for his service but when he learned the client is not a Filipino, a white, the price goes mountain high as much as 6k/hr!! Its was very bad. They were asking also how much is our starting capital. I don’t know exactly what is that for, but perhaps they estimate their professional fee based on company’s capability.

I decided its better if I just do it myself, list down what I have to asked and just have my partner meet him when we’re done.

Outsourcing administrative tasks.

I asked my friend here Florante f he can recommend a business lawyer. Good thing he has a friend who is a practicing lawyer. The lawyer and his wife, both of them are lawyer and CPA. They are nice and easy to deal with.

For a reasonable one time consulting fee and retainers fee,  we have agreed that they will work on our business applications, government requirements , our accounting services, and legal services. Regularly they will visit our office to collect the receipts for filing, to process the payroll,  to remit Income Tax and SSS and Pag-big contributions of our employees. This way we don’t have to worry about those administrative works, we don’t have to house a full time accountant or secretary, besides we’re more on R&D for 1-2 years.

PS: If you have the same requirements, just send me e-mail and I will give their contact information.

Today, I spent several hours evaluating the best DSL provider in Davao City for a business subscription. Basically the following is what we are lookup into a DSL provider.

• Speed. It has to be very fast both Uploading and downloading. But I think we can only wish so much as ISP can only offer upto 2mbps max.
• Reliability. It has to be up 365/24/7 as much as possible.
• Technical Support. TSR should be easily reachable and easy to deal. 
• Voice and Data. Its cheaper if it can offer bundled account with voice and data in one subscriptin and one billing statement.
• Easy Application. Application should be easy and less requirements/papers to be prepared and filed.
• Fast Installation. Can install the service and have it up and running within 3-5 days.  
• Reputation. Established good reputation in the area for service reliability and support’s responsive ness.
• Small Initial Investment. Small cash-out and possibly can waive the first monthly service fee.
• Availability. Thru it all, ports should be available in the area.

In evaluating service providers, I was very careful because possibly there are some writers who works for the company or work as reseller agent and write good things about the service on web. They blog on it and response to several forums and communities. Worst, they write false experiences just to sell. Ask the computer shops around the area, ask some subscribers there, ask friends who lives in davao and read several forums and trying to get in touch with the poster.

On top of my list is the BayanTel DSL service. I think BayanTel is a true service company, at least in this area (davao city). They have nice bandwidth range at cheap prices. They offer 24/7 quick response team guaranteed. Every time you called for problem on your internet connection, they can give you rebate per hour that your internet has not been fixed. They offered bundled account also with phone and data lines included in one time payment, one time installation, one billing statement. Application is very easy and they can even offer you just follow some of your requirements esp in business account where some papers are hard to process and you want to have connection installed right away. They offered 1,999.00 installation fee (initial cash-out) both residential and business subscription (with agreement with an agent).

Note: Their website is not updated, better visit their branch office to know their latest offers.

Davao City has great potential for IT hubs and business process outsourcing, given its vast resources of graduates, security, and limited cities competing in Mindanao region. But as a business locator, I personally find it hard to locate a strategic development center for small ISV company like ours here. There are only two buildings in davao that can be suited for IT business, the Pryce Tower and Landco Building.We visited Pryce Tower at Bajada, Davao City near J. P. Laurel Avenue. I was surprised how cheap it is to rent a big place here. Around 30, 000.00 PHP for a 150 sqm. office area. But like other buildings in Makati, you have to do the construction yourself, aircondition systems, the ceilings, the interior design, and everything. In other words, its one big plain box. The elevators are old and other units are not functioning (maybe just that time we’re there ). I also doubt if their centralized aircondition systems works good. Also to my surprise, their internet service lines is exclusive only for PLDT!! For a small team, its not so smart.

Just few meters from Pryce Tower is the Landco Building. Its a modern-design tower with facilities comparable to that of Makati. Fast and nice elevators built at center of city. Easy access to taxi, multi-cabs/jeep, resto and fast food shops. Rental price for a 150 sqm area is almost the same with Pryce. The time we visited, they have no smaller units available. Bad bad bad…

To see these two business centers and more information about davao city. click here. http://www.davaocity.gov.ph/about/index.htm

What we have considered in finding location.

Area. A small office area, around 50-75 sqm, fully painted and furnished with basic furniture and fixtures. We like that we can just buy good tables and chairs and move in in less than a month.

Noise. It has to be silent and preferably situated in a not busy street or elevated by at least 2 floors. Software engineers hate disturbance from unneccesary noise and visitors. Better be its an area in isolation hehe.

Power Supply. Good supply of electricity with back-up generator system. Btw, Davao Light is the electrictiy provider here and from what I have heard, they are nice and fast. I have learned also the electrcity here is cheaper than other cities.

Water Supply. Well designed water tubing. I have visited some office spaces in Manila were water supply system was badly designed. No built-in lines to supply water for airconditioners.

Aircondition. Its nice if the aircondition system is centralized but I think its hard to find a place like that here. We prefer some spaces that is for split-type aircons. Its more silent and cleaner compare to wall mounted and floor mounted units.

Security. Area must be secured by stationed guard most specially at night.

Location. Its nice if its not too far from city proper and access to basic services like passenger jeepneys, taxis, fast food restaurants and bars is easy.

Telecommunication. I think this one of most important. The building or office should support other internet providers and availability of DSL lines in the area or else, its an outright no way .

Feng Sui. If a place has good feng sui, that would be really nice. lol.

Davao maybe behind Cebu, Makati, or Quezon City but this may not be for long because by end of this year, the first Davao IT park will be completed. SM Development Corp. is also developing an IT park in Ecoland and some groups are planning to create Incubation offices here. Lets just wait what more this progressive city can offer.

Its really nice being here in Davao City. For the mean time, I’ll be staying at White Mansion until we have fully setup our office and good to go. A very nice place, fully furnished with complete basic amenities situated few kilometers from the city proper. Impressive city.

Nice people. I think common dabawenyos are generally honest and good. If they learned that you’re a tourist and new to the place, they are really helpful despite the language barriers. Most of the time I speak English so they will answer me in English because if I speak Tagalong, they will have to think about it and most of the time they are hesitant to answer me. They always said gwapa (what was that mean lols).

Nice restaurants. Trust me! There are a lot of very nice restaurants in Davao. Name it, they have it. Sprouting Korean restaurants all over the city. Chinese cuisine, Filipino restobars and Thai food shops. We had our first dinner at Red Night Garden near our place. Its a really nice place for small drink session or chatting. I had my first taste of Durian Cappuccino at Bo’s Coffee Club, the best Thai soup in Krua Thai Authentic Cuisine and spicy chicken curry at Banana Leaf Asian Cafe in Chimes. My bad, I dont have camera yet so I just linked you up to those blogs.

Nice food. Fruits in Davao city are really cheap compared to Marathi or event Lipa City. You can see different kinds of fruit shops in the city or along small intersections. Watermelons are just being laid down the avenues. High quality banana that I usually buy for 70 pesos in Marathi is being sell for 30-40 pesos.

Regulated smoking. I was impressed authorities here have the political will to implement rules. I have yet to see smoker caught, basically because there really are no public smokers here. I have found some but they have it either under the overpass or in smoking area of foodshops and cafe. This week is anniversary of 100% smoke free Davao. Very far from Makati, where No-Smoking ordinance was just implement “ningas kugon”!!!. FYI in Makati, major percentage of call center agents and IT workers are smokers (no offense). Each building has designated ash tray on top of the trash bin near the entrance. Cigarette vendors are just around the corner of every building.

Relatively clean. You can see large trashbin lined up on almost every corner of the streets. Green for biodegradable and black for recyclable. Touring around trying to find a nice apartment, I found Davao really clean. I’ve been to the city proper near Ateneo and its really nice.

Nice taxi drivers. I think everybody would agree with this that generally taxi drivers here are good and honest. They will give you the change in even as small as 2.00. If you asked for a place and request to take you there, you can trust them that they won’t fool you or asked for the meter off for fixed amount. If they don?t know the place, they simply said no. Or they would asked some other taxi drivers for the direction.

Its more practical to take taxi here. There are lot of non-aircon taxi in davao. The minimum charge is 26.00, and 1.00 per 100 meters.

Manila Domestic Airport. The initial checkin goes fine except on pre-departure security check when I forgot to put my perfume and toothpaste inside my checked-in luggage. It was an honest mistake, so I have return and find my baggage on the conveyor. I have to go thru the pre-departure security once again and but still something inside my bag is causing me trouble, it was my deodorant. Wheww!, good thing the security officer just let me in and let me just thrash my deodorant, that’s it and I’m good to go.

It was 1:00 PM. Cebu Pacific announced our flight to Davao will be delayed and we can expect it to arrive by 2:00 PM. An hour past with me just walking around, eating, chatting with some passengers.

Its past 2:00 PM. Still our plane doesn’t arrived. Another announcement, it will be delayed by another hour. It was frustrating but least its lighter than other passengers bound to Caticlan, Boracay where the Sea Air customer service announced many times “Flight to Boracay will be delayed, please wait for further announcement”, I can feel the frustration hehe.

It was 2:45 PM. Atlast our plane arrived.

Almost 2 hours delayed flight. I boarded the Cebu Pacific Airbus 969. It was a very nice plane, its new and I felt safe and have peace of mind everything would be fine. This is my first time to take a trip via plane and I really like the feeling taking-off. The flight steward are generous and kind. Its nice being on thousands feet above the earth!

Midair. Suddenly its like we hit an iceberg, the plane was shaking and its like going to multiple directions. You can see the plane’s wing very busy trying to cope with the wind. It’s called turbulence. I have only seen thin on movies but not on real trip. Its frightening. A lot of passengers were shouting, praying, some were just silent but I can feel they’re as cold as dead. Me? I just close my eyes and pray. Things gonna be alright . Of course I was afraid too lol.

We’re descending! Its frightening, its like roller coaster – octopus ride. But then that was temporary, we’re approaching Davao International Airport. It was raining, I can hardly see the ground. Few minutes later, we’re on ground!! We’re clapping our hands for such a thrilled and safe trip .

National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) suffered slowed tabulation count and delayed posting of partial unofficial results for Philippine’s 2007 Senatorial Election due to “software problems”. NAMFREL is the organization accredited by Commision on Elections (COMELEC) to conduct partial unofficial report.

“I thought there were people who have perfected the systems already [but] we’ve never tested the program, [which was] developed by Muntinlupa for the 2004 [presidential] elections,” said Go, who assumed Namfrel chairmanship on April 13.

In my past two days of monitoring poll results this probobly one of most rediculous lines I have read. With 25 million pesos in budget, we don’t expect to hear this line.

In 2003 Election, STI/ABS-CBN tabulation system also suffered severe downtime due to exceeded number of requests or should I say “untested” system. I was then an STI student and we voluntered to conduct quick count in several precints in Lipa City. Unfortunately, just few hours after the counting started, the servers went down and we’re not able to access the website where we’re suppose to encode the results. We resorted to creating excel files and sending it manually thru email to STI central tabulation center at ABS-CBN.

On May 14, 2007, Monday, we will all off our work to decide who will lead and govern our country. While this list may not be like yours, I hope I can share with you key points I considered on selecting our to-be leaders.

Senatorial Positions

1. Koko Pimentel, judicial and tax reforms
2. Chiz Escudero, broad advocacies and interesting bills filed
3. Prospero Pitchay, mindanao development plan
4. Miguel Zubiri, solid environment reforms proven by his bills passed
5. Martin Bautista, medicare and social welfare, a medical practitioner
6. Ping Lacson, environment, peace and order
7. Manny Villar, entrepreneurship, economic development
8. Loren Legarda, investment reforms
9. Mike Defensor, housing reforms
10. Kiko Pangilinan, LGU reforms and family welfare
11. Ralf Recto, economic dev’t, batangueño
12. Edgardo Angara, agricultural modernization, great track record

KeyPoints

• Mindanao. It may not be obvious on my list but the fact is, 4 candidates here represent Mindanao. Koko-Cagayan de Oro, Chiz-Sorsogon, Pitchay-Surigao, Zubiri-Negros.
• Economics. The Philippines in order to continue moving on, our legislators must know about economics and law.
• Hypocrisy. Despite the hypocrisy of Mike Defensor and Manny Villar to favor Erap’s release for that sake of reconciliation, our own Ralf Recto’s so called “Type School Building” and Angara’s “turncoat-ism” and molten “PPA advocacy” in previous election, I still believe they can do well among others.
• Age matter. I favored electing young candidates and welcome fresh ideas and new social, political, and business reforms.
• Arts & Tourism. This may not be directly related to legislative body, afaik should be on executive department. But given more options, I may chose between Bautista and Montano.

Local Positions

1. Vilma Santos Recto, Governor – Batangas
2. Edwin Ermita, Batan, Vice-Governor – Batangas
3. Ipe Marquez, Mayor, Rosarro, Batangas

Party List:

1. AGAP, samahan ng mangsasaka, magbababoy, magmamanok, feed millers, beterinaryo, kooperatiba, at padpao.
2. TUCP, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines
3. Gabriela, filipino women’s group
4. AGHAM, filipino scientists and engineers
5. A Teacher, filipino teachers and educators

Where Credit Is Due

The media exerted great effort on social awareness; GMA Network did good job on keeping the people informed. ABS-CBN News, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inquirer.NET, broadsheets, political bloggers, columnists and responsible broadcasters.

If its not for GMA’s programs Isang Boto, Philippine Agenda, Isang Tanong, and GMANews.tv Election 2007 website, I would not know that Martin Bautista exists. That Cayetano is sheer showbiz, that Zubiri is great legislator, that Trillanes is just a typical military man with no concrete platform.

Parting Words

See you on May 14. Keep in mind, YOUR ONE VOTE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!