Maniolas

In the Philippines, it’s a common habit for people who ride taxis or other public transportation to send an SMS to a family member containing the plate number of the vehicle before boarding. Many dangers face commuters every day when riding public vehicles – difficulty hailing buses and taxis, accidents, holdups, and pick-pockets. Informing loved ones before each journey is a small step to ensure a passenger’s safety. A new app called Pasahero taps into this trend in a more advanced way. Users input the plate number of the vehicle and can upload a photo of the vehicle or the driver. The app then tracks the movement of the vehicle. The app has a panic button that’s easily accessible while in transit. Users can select trusted contacts to be alerted if something goes wrong – like an accident or a holdup. The user’s trusted contacts can then report the incident to the authorities. Broadcasting network ABS-CBN created Pasahero to compliment the existing selection of public transportation apps in the Philippines. Meaning ‘passenger’ in Filipino, Pasahero especially applies to rural areas where a number of muggers and pick-pockets choose different public transportation vehicles as their modus operandi. Part of the plan to improve the app is to link the panic button to the emergency hotlines of government bodies in charge of traffic operations such as the Land Transportation Office and the Metro Manila Development Authority. Given the difficulty of commuting in the Philippines, Tech in Asia has already spotted a number Read More …

LIM MOORE (center) with her mother Lenore and husband Alex. Marie Claire Lim Moore, a Filipino-Canadian-American mother and bank executive, is back in Manila, and she has definitely not forgotten the soap, so to speak—this time beautifully wrapped in a 220-page book full of remembrances, photographs and useful tips. Claire’s book shares tips on how to keep one’s balance in a globalized world. Many helpful tips were passed on to her by her mother, teacher and artist Lenore Lim. The book hit No. 1 on Amazon’s Parenting and Adult-Child Relationships category when it was released in September 2013. Claire, 37, enjoys juggling her career as a top banking exec, as mother to two growing children, and as fund-raiser for Filipino community events, among others. After spending the early part of her childhood in Vancouver, Canada, Claire moved to New York City when she was 12 and attended the United Nations International School where she sang on stage with singer Debbie Gibson and received her high school diploma from former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. She went on to study at Yale and eventually climbed the corporate ladder at Citi. Her job has taken her to many parts of the world. She met her husband, Alex Moore, while working in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They married in Manila shortly before moving to Singapore. Now mom to Carlos and Isabel, Claire also manages the Global Client business for Citi in Asia. From someone who is probably among the highest-ranking Filipino-Americans in global finance, Read More …

Rebuilding areas devastated by a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines will take up to five years and cost more than two billion dollars, officials said Saturday. The comments came as the death toll from Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the country, continued to rise. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 5,632 people had been confirmed dead while 1,759 were still missing following the category five storm earlier this month. “The total rehabilitation will take three to five years, depending on the pace of our support system and the projects we implement,” Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the NDRRMC, said. He told reporters that President Benigno Aquino did not want to merely repair the damage but wants the new structures to be better than those that were standing before the storm. “Our president wants the rehabilitation to be ‘build-back better communities,” so they can withstand future storms,” del Rosario said. Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said: “We are looking at over a hundred billion pesos ($2.2 billion) of reconstruction, from livelihood, commerce, social services,” as well as infrastructure and power facilities. That figure does not include the huge amounts already spent on immediate relief for the millions of people who were injured or left without food, water or shelter. About 15 to 20 billion pesos will go to providing shelter with some 60,000 to 80,000 families to be re-settled in two to three years, said Singson. This will include Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Over 20,000 workers nationwide lost their jobs due to closures of commercial establishments, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported. Data from the DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) showed that closures of establishments affected a total of 20,222 workers nationwide in the first half of 2013. From January to June, BLES noted that a total of 1,137 commercial establishments closed due to various reasons. Metro Manila accounted for the biggest number of displaced workers resulting from the closures of various commercial establishments nationwide. A total of 706 commercial establishments  in Metro Manila filed notice of closures that affected 10,783 workers. The top causes cited for retrenchment and closures of establishments was downsizing, which led to the displacement of more than 5,414 workers in the country. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Employers also claimed financial losses and lack of market as among factors that forced them to lay off workers or close down their commercial firms. In the past two years, an annual average of 2,000 companies folded up due to economic difficulty. The closures resulted to displacement of over 30,000 workers each year. The number of companies resorting to closures could still go up this year as numerous calamities hit various areas in the country.      Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz expressed confidence that the country would be able to immediately bounce back from the calamities. With the Christmas holiday already coming, Baldoz said, they see a surge in employment that could Read More …

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:49 am | Monday, November 25th, 2013 More than 30 companies from the United Kingdom are eyeing business and investment opportunities in the Philippines. “These companies range from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to multinationals and cover a wide variety of sectors, all of which are interested in the substantial opportunities offered by the Philippines. Some will be looking to export, others to invest and others to partner with local businesses,” Iain Mansfield, director of the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in Manila said in an interview. Mansfield told the Inquirer that a mission organized by the Philippines British Business Council (PBBC) was in the country from Nov. 18 to 20 for networking with potential partners. Apart from the heads of the PBCC, participants in the mission include Deerpark Pedigree Pigs, a family-owned and -run pig breeding business with over 50 years of success supplying pedigree pigs to a worldwide market; De La Rue Currency, the world’s largest integrated commercial banknote printer; Hairbyus.com, a fast-growing UK-based Internet business designed to put the public in touch with competent and qualified local hairstylists; Indo British Consulting (IBC); Martyn Skinner Consulting Services (MSCS), which wanted to develop additional contacts in the agribusiness sector; and Mi-Pay UK, which provides hosted, managed white labelled mobile payment services. Also participating in the mission last week were SEGRO, a leading owner, asset manager and developer of modern warehousing, light industrial and data center properties; South-East Asia Consultancy; Standard Chartered Bank; Thomas Broadbent & Read More …