Bastide de Fontaine

One of the major considerations when traveling is the accommodation. Any tourist will tell you that where you stay can make or break your entire vacation. I mean, how many times have you heard friends say that they had a great time vacationing but it could have been much better if they had decent accommodations? 

What many people don’t realize is that there are a lot of options for lodgings when traveling, depending on your preference and budget. Here are just some of them. (more…)

Employees contribute PhP100 to Pag-Ibig monthly. This is mandatory. But if you wish to add more to your Pag-Ibig contribution, you may do so. I have an additional PhP100 monthly contribution. I don’t know if this is true but somebody must have told me that the additional contribution would allow me to get a bigger housing loan when I decide to get one. And the additional contribution is also tax-exempt. But things are changing.

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We all know Ericsson as a provider of technology and services to telecom operators. It has recently launched an international remittance service that would cater to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Europe and allow them to send money to their loved ones in the Philippines.

This remittance service is in collaboration with Globe’s GCash and SMART’s SmartMoney e-wallet schemes. OFWs based in Europe can now send and receive money to their families in the Philippines. Alerts would be sent via the mobile phone and recipients can withdraw it from their designated ATMs.

The service takes the place of Western Union, a popular service for OFWs. The problem with Western Union is that it has expensive remittance fees and recipients in the Philippines often face the problem of Western Union going offline.

Another remittance service would provide convenience for many OFWs. They have more choices to choose from and they can choose the service that provides them the best value.

Have you noticed that prices are going up, up and up? I don’t really remember the last time that prices of so many goods and services increased at almost the same time.

I’ve been monitoring the news (part of my job) and I was surprised to see that prices of oil, bread, water, electricity, milk, taxi fares and toll fees have gone up. And today, the minimum fare for jeeps have increased from PhP7 to PhP8. Goodness gracious! I can imagine that next on the list would be bus fares, MRT fares, rice, and other food items.

I can’t imagine how minimum-wagers feel about this round of price increases. It’s a real pain in the neck and in the wallet. Can we have an increase in basic salary, too?

I’m not happy with this but it is what it is. From the current P30 flag-down rate of taxi, the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has approved the increase to P40, a good 33% hike.

There is also an increase in the meter rates. For every 300 meters, passengers will now pay P3.50 from the previous P2.50. Oh, brother.

The last time there was an increase in taxi flag-down rate was in 2004. But I do remember having a temporary P10 “mandatory” tip a couple of years back to help taxi drivers bear the burden of the consecutive oil price increases then.

I’m not a regular cab passenger but I do take the cab when I’m late or when I’m going to Makati. The hike is quite steep, to be honest. And while I am used to giving tips of at least P20 or more, next time I ride the cab, I just might round it off to the nearest tens.

How about you? How do you feel about this fare increase?