Who is more Filipino?

Between Feyma and myself, who do you think is more Filipino?  Of course, since Feyma was born and raised in the Philippines, I am sure that almost all of you will say that Feyma is more Filipino.  Many would argue that I am not Filipino at all.  Am I, though?  Let’s see.

About a month ago or so, our microwave oven broke.  There was something wrong with the keypad, and when you typed in keys, it didn’t register in the unit.  Basically, the microwave was not useable at all.  Well, in the USA, when I lived there, when something like this would happen, we would think to ourselves, “it’s time to get a new microwave!”  However, here in the Philippines, people get things fixed instead of throwing them away.  So, really, getting a broken item fixed is, in my opinion, the Filipino way!

Well, when the microwave stopped working, I told Feyma that she should tell our nephew to bring it in to the repair shop and have them take a look at it.  Feyma responded by saying that she didn’t think it could be fixed.  She said that if it could be fixed, she thought it would be too expensive to have it fixed.  It was, she said, cheaper to just buy a new microwave!

Well, this didn’t sit well with me.  The microwave was only a few years old, maybe 5 years old at the most, and it is a really nice microwave, not a low end unit.  Feyma and I were at a store a couple weeks ago and saw microwaves there, and they were only P3,000 or less.  Not bad, but these were not of the same quality that we already had.  Feyma and I agreed that maybe we should go for a cheap unit, and just consider it disposeable.

I told Feyma, though, that first I wanted to have our broken microwave to be looked at by the service technicians.  Well, our niece took the microwave in to the shop, and we got the diagnosis about 2 days later.  It could be fixed after all!  How much?  P550, only about $11.  Now, that is exactly what I expected it to be!  So, the microwave was fixed.  It worked for a few days and went out again!  But, the technicians fixed it again for free.  Now, it is acting funny again, but we have been told that for about $35 they can replace the whole keypad module, and it should be as good as new.

What will be the final outcome on this?  I can’t be certain.  However, I find it quite interesting that Feyma has taken the more American viewpoint of “let’s throw it away and get a new one.”  Meanwhile, I have taken the stance that we should get the old one fixed!

So, who is more Filipino?

Psalms

The full moon shone palely, thin clouds covering its diffused glow, but the faces of the people looked peaceful and solemn in the kind, subdued light of many-colored lanterns lining the sides of Lourdes Church in Quezon City. The priest’s voice echoed from hidden speakers and was thunderous, like a foreboding voice of God, but I did not see the priest’s face because I was standing outside at the adjacent car park, where children wearing grey shirts begged for alms and where teenage girls strutted about in outfits so skimpy as to pose the most unchaste temptations to those holy and hypocritical. Inside, there were several empty pews, but more parishioners than what I thought was usual had gathered to listen, to pray.

The evening was chilly; one could almost imagine that the church, the streets, the rows of shabby souvenir shops and donut chains outside, and all the rest of Manila were air-conditioned. The leaves of the fruitless trees beside the adoration chapel created a gentle rustling sound, and the seven o’clock sky was pink. Indeed, the weather is best come December. It doesn’t rain, it is never too hot, and the choirs are in shape after months of practice and preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. When the priest called on everyone to open their hands to heaven for the singing of Our Father, they did not hesitate, and immediately a great chorus was heard, unrestrained, drifting through the open air like a strong memory – of seasons past, of songs sung, masses attended and prayers whispered.

It used to be that on the several nights leading up to Christmas Day, I’d join my parents and siblings at the Banahaw Cultural Center, located on the outskirts of affluent New Manila, to hear a quietly lengthy Latin mass with associates and numeraries and supernumeraries and their families. There was always a closed-circuit video camera set up inside the golden chapel, at the back of the pews, such that those who had arrived after the meditation and were thus forced to sit outside can still see the priest’s face as he delivered his homily and went about the rituals, the lapel microphone hidden underneath his garments.

Since I seldom received the Eucharist, I was usually relegated to watching the monitor from a wooden chair, shiny from polishing; it was amusing to observe the self-conscious movements of those who were abashed at being focused on by the camera; they were usually young people. After the mass an assigned person blew the tall wax candles and there’d be cocktails and sweet pastries waiting outside, by a humble sort of garden decorated with constellations of yellow lights. It was where one engaged in chats either polite or apostolic, sometimes both, always ephemeral, since families always left early for more intimate celebrations at home.

The next few years I did not see any priest’s face; I did not go to church or the center in New Manila to mark the holiday season, even though a Filipino Christmas is as much a religious idea as it is commercial. How much was missed? One cannot tell. Only now, as then, rebellion in any form is inappropriate.

I stayed at the car park for a few more minutes after the final hymn, content to hold my view without analysis. The previously pink sky had slowly become deep clear lavender. And there was no way one can disagree with the scene. I did not, however, see the celebrant walk towards the parish office; there were simply too many people. Family by family, they filed out, while the song faded into the darkness.

Podcast: Bob & Feyma

That’s right, folks, today I am bringing you a new Podcast!  Yes, it has been many, many months since my last Podcast, but I decided that I wanted to do a new one today, and wanted to do it with Feyma.  So, for today’s Podcast, Feyma and I talk about our decision to move to and live in the Philippines.

Making the move to the Philippines was a major life decision for us, and it was not an easy decision for Feyma to make.  It took probably a year or so of me talking about making such a move before Feyma decided to give her go-ahead.  You know, such a decision cannot really be made without the approval from the “Big Boss” if you know what I mean (all of you guys understand, I am sure!).

So, without further fanfare, here is the Podcast with Feyma and myself.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

SIR: Pakig-Uban

Last week, I introduced the new series about Philippine Culture called “SIR” which means “Smooth Interpersonal Relations.”  After that, we talked about the first tenet of SIR, which is called “In Group” or Kita.  Today, it’s time we move on to the second major tenet of SIR, “Pakig-Uban.”  Pakig-Uban is derived from the root word, “uban” which means to accompany or go along with.

So, how is this related to SIR?  Pakig-Uban generally means “good public relations,” and in relation to SIR it means going along with the group, and adjusting to the group norms.

As I said in the previous article about In Group, pointed out that Filipinos really have a need to be part a larger group, and do not like being alone.  To remain part of the group, it is important for each group member to conform to the group, and to take on the group values.  If the person bucks the group norm, the person will not remain in the group for long.  But, by conforming to the values of the group, the person gets “backing” from the other group members, they will be behind this person through thick and thin.

How about some examples of this, by looking at the foreigner’s viewpoint of a subject, and then how the Filipino will view it:

1. American/Foreinger View: The individual manipulates his environment.  Man studies the laws of nature and takes advantage of them.
   Filipino View: The individual has to placate the powers that be.  There is no individual control of what happens in life.
   Wow, how interesting.  As an American, I could never bring myself to think along the lines of the way that Filipinos view this.  It simply is so far outside my way of thinking that it is incomprehensible.  See what I am saying about the group - the individual Filipino fees that he must conform to the group because it is only the group that would have enough power to have any control of any situation.  Even the group, though, would not have control over something as large as life itself.
2. American/Foreigner way: Open to change, flux and movement.
   Filipino way: Follows the traditional way.
   For the Filipino to even breach the topic of changing the way something is or should be done, it breaks with the group thought.  Filipinos, as a large group, have done things a certain way for generations, and to think of a new way would be to say that the old way of doing it is wrong, so it is not natural for a Filipino to bring new ideas to the table.
3. American/Foreigner way: “My fair share”.  The American or Foreigner wants to make sure that he (and his family, of course) always get their fair share.  If something is to be divided, it is important that he gets (at least) what is due to him.
   Filipino way: “Everyone’s fair share”.  Instead of looking out for himself, the Filipino is interested to see that everybody involved gets his fair amount.  It would not be fair to the entire group, after all, if one person in the group got more than he should, because that would mean that others in the group did not get what they should have gotten.
4. American/Foreigner way: Work hard to keep up with the Jones family.
   Filipino way: If the “Dela Cruz” family has a stroke of luck or fortune, they should share it with the rest of the group.
   This a major difference between our cultures.  It is also something that causes a lot of heartache among us foreigners.  When you have more than the others, you are expected to share the wealth.  Filipinos who get a raise at work or get promoted to a better job will often throw a big party for their group of friends, and will spend a huge amount of money.  To do less would be to abandon the group.

These are just a few examples of how Filipinos must defer to the group, and always uphold the values of the group.  Most of us westerners would have long since told the group where to go if the group expected conformity from us.  That is not the Filipino way, though.

It’s just one more part of SIR.  Don’t take me wrong about SIR, I am not saying that we should all live our lives by SIR, I could not do it.  I can, though, accept parts of SIR into my life, while not conforming with others.  Even if we don’t conform, it is still useful and helpful to understand it so that we can make an easier life for ourselves in the Philippines.

2008 - Good or Bad?

Sure, it’s to early for looking back… . This year is not yet finished. But if I look back up to 1999, when I  moved here for good, I must say, that 2008 wasn’t my worst year. Hold on again, and don’t get me wrong! I would say, it was a roller coaster year from its best… .

Yesterday (November 29), while joining a German friend’s birthday party, strokes of fate came our way: within two hours our beloved auntie (living not in our compound, but in the closest neighborhood) and the mother of my sister-in-law Ellen passed away… .Some friends and family members called it really “harvest time”. In our family, friends circle and business partners we counted now 11 obituaries since June 2008. Fate’s irony: the business is going up and up - we don’t know what to do first sometimes.

2008 - good or bad? To be or not to be? To say it clearly: without faith we are really nothing. Faith is belief, believe in us, belief in our work, talents and our personalities. Believe in our families and in our friends, even it seems to become very difficult many times. I can’t say, that I didn’t do that while still staying in Germany. Here in the Philippines, it became easier for me to believe in faith. I was able to find a real family and very good friends. If not, i would have reach the rock bottom. Don’t say, it’s a likely story… .

The German poet Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller 91759-18150 mentioned in his drama “Maria Stuart’; ‘even the word might be dead, but faith keeps it alive!” Faith is tantamount to convincing and conviction. Richard Wagner (German classical composer and poet, 1813-1883) found the following lyric: “Blessed are those people, who know how to live their life in humility and faith!” Faith is trust or reliance. Faith is really a pledged word.

2008 - a good or a bad year?

What do you think?

How did “Mindanao Bob” come about?

Regular visitors of any of my websites will see me called “Mindanao Bob” and if they don’t know the story of the name, they may wonder where it came from.  Do you know?  If not, I plan to explain a little bit about that today.

As I recall, I believe that I first got that moniker in November or possibly December 2006, so it is 2 years old now.  I was at NCCC Mall in Davao City one day and had a haircut at Big Tom’s Barbershop there. After my haircut, I was walking around the mall doing a little window shopping, and after I had walked all through the mall, I was ready to go home, so I started walking toward the exit.  Before I made it to the exit, though, somebody came running up from behind me and sort of jumped in front of me.  Honestly, it scared me a little bit, because I was not expecting anybody to jump in front of me like that.  The guy said “Are you Bob?”  “Well, yes,” I responded.  The man kind of looked at me and paused, then asked further, “Mindanao Bob?”  I said, “Well, I guess so.”  And a new nickname was born!

After about 30 seconds, a lady came running and the fellow exclaimed to her, “Yeah, it’s him!”  Hmm… I was feeling kind of strange, and not sure what was going on.  The fellow introduced himself as Scott, and explained to me that he and his wife were regular readers of this site and also my Mindanao Blog (now relaunched as Mindanao Magazine) and it was because of my Mindanao website that Scott came up with the name “Mindanao Bob.”

I had never thought of such a name before, but upon reflection it seemed to kind of fit, because I have had a sort of love affair with Mindanao for many years now.  I fell in love with Mindanao before I even set foot on the Island, in 1990.  When I was flying over Mindanao to land for the first time in General Santos City, just looking at the scenery, the lay of the land, I felt a special feeling in my heart, and it has only grown over the years.  So, to me, it was kind of a special thing to be called “Mindanao Bob” for the first time.  After that, I told the story a few times, and people picked up on the name, and it stuck.

Now, there is another thing that kind of ties in with this.  My haircut.  I never had really short hair until we moved to Davao.  Even when we lived in General Santos, I had longer hair.  Not too long, but much longer than now.  When we moved to Davao, just a couple weeks after arriving, I decided I was going to get a really short haircut.  I told Feyma, and she was not too fond of the idea.  But, I wanted to do it.  Ever since then, I have had the haircut, which I call the “Mindanao Bob Haircut” these days.  My main reason for having extremely short hair is that it is comfortable, and it is also cooler.  The weather can be quite hot here, as we all know, and having such short hair helps keep me feeling cooler, I find.

I get teased by people about my hair being so short, but it’s OK.  The main people that tease me are my kids.  I still tease them, when they are going for a haircut, I always ask, “are you going to get a Mindanao Bob cut?” They laugh at me on the way out the door.  I especially like to tease my daughter, Jean, about this, and she gets a kick out of it.  A while back, Migs wrote an article saying that he gets a “Dos” cut, meaning that the barber uses the “number two” setting on the clippers, which regulates the length of the hair.  Well, for any of you who want to get a “Mindanao Bob cut,” I go with a “Dos” or number 2 on the top, and number 1 on the sides!  Go for it, you won’t regret it!

So, anyway, this is the story of the name “Mindanao Bob” and I’d like to offer my thanks to Scott, if he is still reading, for pinning this moniker on me!  Thanks also to Macky, a regular reader and commenter, who drew my “Mindanao Bob” caricature that you see often on my sites.  That caricature that Macky drew for me is part of the whole “Mindanao Bob” character these days!  Thanks again, guys.

The Price is Right!

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 make up your intended customer base. Knowing what to charge has a lot to do with knowing who are your customers! What may appear to be a bargain price for a product to one particular customer may be an absolute extravagance to another customer. If you target higher income earners, you can adopt a strategy of charging a premium. In return you offer high quality products and services with very personalized service and in as exclusive and as attractive environment as possible. If your target market is made up of mostly lower income earners, you can instead adopt a strategy that allows customers to stretch their Peso. In this case you can offer less expensive alternatives to high end products. Sales volume is most important in this case, and keeping costs very low is what allows for a high sales environment. In exchange for discount prices, customers agree to no frills service and a very basic transaction environment. The key is to know exactly who is your target customer. You must not try and offer a premium product or service with a matching premium price AND expect to cut corners. Affluent customers notice small details, so don’t disappoint by thinking you can cut back and it won’t be noticed. Similarly, don’t offer too many extra services or perks if your strategy is to target the cost conscious consumer. Your small margins won’t allow for it. In other words, stick to a strategy that your customers expect. No more, no less.

Once you have determined exactly whom you want for customers, you can begin to come up with a pricing strategy that will match with their expectations. You will have to now determine whether your business falls into the price-maker or price-taker category. Contrary to popular belief, these are your only two options. Your small business will either be one of many other such providers of your good or service, in which case you are competing for your niche in the overall market and need to follow a price-taker approach to pricing. Or your small business is the very first of its kind in a particular market, in which case you will need to be the one to set the price of your products or services.

If yours is a typical small business and you offer a product or service that other merchants are offering, you will be a price taker. The market will already have a set, generally acceptable range that your pricing must fall in line with. There will of course be some variation in price based on different levels of actual service or convenience, but prices cannot vary too much or customers will switch to another provider. Your ability to charge more than the norm will depend on your small businesses’ ability to offer a more comprehensive service package than that of your competitors. If you can offer additional useful services, you can push the price upwards. If you cannot, you will need to compete by offering lower prices, or by keeping your costs lower than that of your competition.

If yours is a pioneer industry in your market, you will be responsible for setting the price of your goods or services. As a small business, you will likely either choose a standard markup when pricing, or look at introducing a cost-oriented price. A standard markup is usually a percentage added on top of cost of goods or services sold and all overhead costs. Some businesses apply a single markup across the board, while others have different markups for each sales category. Cost-oriented pricing is different in that prices are set individually for each product based on the cost of the goods or services sold, the overheads, and a desired profit that is set differently for each and every product line sold. For example, if you sell electronic equipment, instead of say a 50% markup across the range of DVD players sold, some brands will have a 50% markup, while others maybe more or less.

Lastly, I’d like to offer a few final words on pricing for your small business in the Philippines. Be very careful in computing markups, as it is easy to shortchange yourself. Many small business owners make the mistake of forgetting to include all the typical expenses when computing a final markup figure. The result is potential profits eaten up and margins squeezed so tight you have little or no room to move financially. As a rule of thumb, make sure your markup covers all administrative expenses, all selling expenses, and all losses resulting from merchandise discounts, theft, or product damage. In addition to this you need to add in a profit margin.

In addition to watching markups carefully, you may want to consider other ways to compete in the market place. If you are a pioneer business, try setting your prices on the higher end at the beginning with the intention of dropping prices over time as the product becomes more widely accepted and as competitors jump on the bandwagon. You may also want to try price bundling. In this strategy you can bundle for sale two or more products or services together and sell them as a package. Sales can be boosted because you can entice buyers into buying higher markup products if they also receive a lower markup product that is included at a discount. Overall you lose a small measure of profit, but you may be able to boost sales of higher markup products and increase cash flow in this manner.

Clearly there is more to pricing than one might have initially thought. If you are opening a small business in the Philippines, or are already in business and about to launch a new line of products, try to remember the above tips and suggestions. They just may help you get and stay on the right pricing track!

Heads Must Roll!

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?

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 defraud another; and (2) the injury or damage caused thereby.

I surely have heard this term a lot in just my first few years here in the Philippines.  And like the differences between slander and libel laws I wrote about a week or so ago, if you are new to the Philippines you might be very well advised to make estafa’s acquaintance also.

Estafa is on the books of some US states, but it’s an obscure and relatively antique statute.  Here in the Philippines it’s a staple of the legal system.  The most common place you’ll hear about it involves bouncing checks.  When you write a check that is not covered by sufficient funds you of course are attempting to defraud the payee of the check.  But you have also committed a much larger act, you have acted against the general trust of the population and the nation’s business community in particular.  Checks are meant to be truthful documents and trust in business is indispensable … so it’s very common to hear of people issuing worthless checks being charged with estafa.

But you can get in deep estafa trouble quite easily even if you never write a check.  Last year I did some research on the case of a foreigner who came to the Philippines and took up residence with a Filipina girlfriend he’d met.  They lived openly as husband and wife and even had a child together.  One little detail they seemed to overlook was, she was already married.  The woman’s husband was long ago separated from her and appeared to be out of the picture.  But under Philippine law, even couples who are “legally separated” are still married.  Period.

To me, and many others perhaps, they both committed moral crimes but my goodness, “living together” is so common these days, what could really be legally wrong?  Well, the foreigner found out.  The woman’s legal husband filed charges of estafa against the wife’s new lover boy.

His acts were deceitful (the first predicate of estafa) and his acts caused actual damage to the husband … embarrassment and a distinct loss of ‘hiya’ … face … at the very least, which is the second predicate of estafa.

The foreigner was arrested and last time I checked he was still in jail while one long drawn out legal proceeding followed another.  If found guilty, which likely he will, at the least he’ll have already served whatever time he winds up serving in pretrial confinement and then be deported to his native country, with a ban on re-entry and probably a child support order as well.  I’ve probably known, give or take, a hundred or more foreigners who chose to come here and live with a woman already married … I wonder how many of them will someday run afoul of estafa?

Estafa can be much different than sordid romances too.  A few months ago here in Bulacan a man entered the house of a neighbor and stole an expensive radio from the neighbor’s bedroom.  Nobody knew what had happened.  Wanting to turn the radio into cash, but not wanting to be seen selling it, the thief made a deal with the maid … a minor child … of the original victim.  Not knowing it was stolen property the maid agreed to take the radio to a dealer in the local market, sell it and bring the cash back to the thief.  For this she was paid a small fee, which she had reason to believe was just honest pay for an honest job.  A child trusting an adult in a position of some authority … a peer of her employer.

The police found the radio at the market and from there the whole story unfolded.

Can you guess, aside from larceny, what the thief was charged with?  Estafa.  Two counts.  He destroyed the employer’s trust in his servant (which anyone whose gone of the quest for a worthy maid knows is a thing of great value) and he destroyed the reputation of the young girl, who even though the police determined had no culpability, will be forever branded in some people’s minds as being party to thievery.

Your “takeaways” for today?

First:  Trust is important.  If someone trusts you, you do not have the option of acting in an untrustworthy manner … it’s not your option … you must uphold the trust even if you didn’t ask for it.  It matters not how you feel morally, the law of estafa compels you to maintain the trust.

Two;  Causing embarrassment or damaging a person’s reputation is more than something rude or uncouth.  It can very well be a criminal act.  Each person in the Philippines has a real property, one with legal value, their reputation.  You damage that reputation very much at your own risk.

Disclaimer.  I am not a lawyer and I don’t even play one on TV.  But I try to live my life in acordance with this advice and if you choose to, you can too … or not, it’s a free country.

Filipinos vs. Poverty

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 poverty and inequality.

I would be the last, who wouldn’t support such campaigns and events. But, will they bear fruits?

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB XI) released data here over the weekend, showing us that at least 14 of the country’s 20 poorest municipalities are in Mindanao. The town of Siayan in Zamboanga del Norte is the poorest in the country, with a poverty incidence of 97.46 (!) percent.

The NSCB data also indicated that in Southern Mindanao, five of the poorest towns are in Davao del Sur. These are Jose Abad Santos, Don Marcelino, Sarangani, Malita and Sta. Maria.

But with all these poorest towns, Kidapawan City in North Cotabato emerged as Mindanao’s richest municipality, with only 12.46 (!) percent poverty incidence. Other areas in the list of Mindanao’s 10 richest municipalities are General Santos City (13.98 %), Polomolok (14.29%), Davao City (14.94%), Tagum City (15.42%), Cagayan de Oro (15.50%), Korondal City (16.18%), Digos City (18.22%), Padada (21.99%) and Hagonoy (22.60%).

Filipinos vs. poverty… . How looks reality?

What do you think?