Your Daily Dose of Useful Stuff

Some hospitals in Lapu-Lapu City should be closed for violating environmental laws! who would think that hospitals can be very irresponsible in disposing off their medical waste?  Just yesterday, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) revealed that about 50 kilograms of medical waste were collected since January 5th of this year believed to be from three private hospitals in the Lapu-Lapu area, these are:    Chong Hua Hospital Mandaue Cancer Center, Dr. Ignacio Cortes General Hospital, and UCMed.  Imagine that! The waste products were estimated to be two to three weeks old because of the unbearable stench.  It's unbelievable that these institutions who are supposed to be helping in the reduction of diseases among people by promoting healthy practices are the ones endangering public health.     Because of this, Dr. Realiza of the city health office informed the public of a possible contamination of the sea water because ...

After the last glass of wine had been drunk, after the last slice of cheese had been eaten, after that last container of  leftover 'biko' had been consumed, it's time to face the new year.  And as we always promise each year, we always want to resolve the problematic areas in our life at the start of the year.  Call it what you like:  resolution, goals, whatever, they all aim at fixing our broken promise the past years.   So, what do you plan to resolve this 2019?  Here's my short list of 2019 goals or resolutions: 1.  Avoid procrastinating and corollary to that is:  pay your credit cards ahead of time.   Upon receiving the bill, if you have enough balance in your account to pay it, pay it immediately.  Don't wait for the due date because if heaven forbid, there is a brown out and you pay online, imagine if the brown out would take days?  You will incur that dreaded delayed payment ch...

I have been a SUN user of almost three years, but I have very rarely bought their deals because of some very bad experiences I had in availing them.  I would often buy regular loads of 150 and stretch it out for two weeks because I don't trust the deals of SUN.  You see, I once availed of the CTU100 in order to call someone who is residing in Cebu.  Now, the CTU100 has the following features (see below):  It really is not a great deal.  Come to think of it,   The CTU30 has better features because we can call other networks.     So I bought the CTU100 once, but when I tried calling my mother, my regular load was subtracted.  That was a wake up call for me.   I complained about it in one of the small outlets of SUN in the outskirts of Manila, the manager of the said outlet said it's difficult to follow up and check because it's been three weeks already.  The  confirmation is still in my phone though.  I...

Cervical cancer is a big killer of women so we should be armed against this criminal.  I have been meaning to get a vaccine for the longest time and finally, I got it when Watson's offered it last February 18, 2018.   Before I was administered this vaccine, there was a questionnaire that I needed to fill up.    The doctor also confirmed the answers I wrote down,  especially those pertaining to allergic reactions.  

Don't be a victim like Rosita (not her real name)  I heard of her story while I was also going to send money to a retailer in Mindanao because I was purchasing something.  Rosita is 70 years old and like people her age, doesn't pay attention much to details especially that she has been sending money through this popular courier a hundred times already and was satisfied of their service, until that fateful day of June.   She sent the amount of P2000 to her grandson as a fiesta present, so that he can buy something new to wear or spend while watching the festivities.    Her grandson   was so excited to get the cash but he was denied the first time he came.  He requested that the control number be sent again, to be sure, so Rosita sent it and again, he was denied.  He was made to return several  times in order to speak with the cashier, but he was denied again and again.  Until somebody said that the money was already claimed by a...

My experiment paid off!  I am not one who easily buys too-good-to-be-true promos, but somehow this earninghabit.com sounded sensible though it still could not explain how they are able to pay their members thousands of dollars a day, assuming that what they are claiming is true.   So upon clicking the site, I was asked to register.  Thank God I have an email I use for these kinds of purposes, just in case.  Without any difficulty, I was given an account and an initial earning of, would you believe, $25 and will easily become $300 once you let others register.  So I promoted the link to all social media that I have, Twitter, Facebook (2 accounts), Google+,  I posted it many times.  Why did I do that? They promised me a pay off when my account reaches $300.  So I monitored my account and true enough after 55 invites, I was able to earn $365.  Wow. I was so excited to get my $365.  I was already making plans to spend it over the ...

I thought my faith in Citibank will finally be restored when they granted my application for a credit card after over ten years that I did not avail any of their products because of a traumatizing experience.  I'm sure all of us have heard 'horror stories' of Citibank's  violations of human rights in countries like Indonesia, etc.  where they send "T-H-U-G-S" to pressure card holders to pay up.  For a supposedly large and global financial institution, it's  surprising that they still employ barbaric methods in this computer age.   I was minding my own business in one of the malls in the metro when I was approached by a Citibank credit card agent offering me their products and dangled the fake bait which is zero annual fee for life.  Little did I know that this agent omitted a big factor.  While I acknowledge that it is my fault for biting the bait, I still think that Citibank should not mislead anyone and prey on human weakness.  A...

After an exciting and breathtaking 5-setter Game 2 for the Finals of the UAAP Volleyball Games, the De La Salle Lady Spikers emerged victorious and proved to be the more powerful team over its opponent, the Ateneo Lady Eagles.    Game 2 started rather slow for the Lady Spikers as the first set was taken by the ALE, whose attacks and floor defense got better compared to their first encounter.  During the second set,  the multi-awarded setter-captain of the DLSU, Kim Fajardo, threw 9 service aces at the ALE and it became an uphill climb from there. The ALE never outscored the Spikers and the Spikers ran away with the second set in a 14-25 result.   The 3rd set swung back to the ALE's favor again, as their floor and net defense worked to their advantage and the score registered at 19-25, giving the second win for this game to the ALEs.

Were we really surprised about the result of the CA on the confirmation of Gina Lopez as Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources?  Frankly, I have half expected it already, though at the back of my mind, my fingers were crossed that eventually, she can convince the CA of her passion about the restoration of the  cleanliness of our environment.  One of the famous lines she delivered was, "The Philippines does not need mining."  Unfortunately, these famous words became the pivotal point and cost her her confirmation. The entire country watched as the events unfolded and climaxed into a disappointing result.  She is the second appointee of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte who was rejected by the CA.  The first one was Sec. Perfecto Yasay, who had a totally different issue that's why he was rejected.  Will any Duterte appointee ever be confirmed secretary in the end?  Sounds like it is a very steep and challenging mountain slope for them. ...

One of the buzzwords of the early 21st century among Filipinos is financial literacy, especially among the millenials.  Millenials are those who were born in the 80s and have reached the age of 20 or thereabouts in the 21st century.  In a society where saving is not a popular concept and people are conditioned to buy and accumulate material possession, saving money seems a thing that is slowly gaining ground.  Nowadays, it seems that Filipinos have gone into a "financial literacy revolution" and they are starting to be conscious about spending wisely, saving and preparing for the future.    One of the easiest and fastest way to save is by the PAG-IBIG Fund.  When I was younger, IBIG stood for Ikaw, Bangko , Industriya at Gobyerno .  So it was a consolidated effort of the employee, banks, industries and government that the fund was created.   If you are a member of the Pag-ibig Fund, you have access to short-term loans otherwise ca...

What do we know, barely a week when Pres. Duterte announced that he will not be increasing the SSS pension of retirees, he has now succumbed to pressure (to fulfill his campaign promise) to give the 2,000 pension hike.   That's the reason why I give our president a half-ear whenever he announces anything.  There is just no telling when he will revise what he will say.  I don't know if that is deliberate or not.  And if it is deliberate, why do it and what he gets from it.   It's common to hear him curse and threaten government and public officials especially when he talks to the elected officials that are in the narco-list (list of officials and politicians who are allegedly involved in drug-selling/dealing), so why should changing his mind be a big deal?   So this increase will not be given in one big bulk (otherwise that will be the death of SSS), but in two staggered gives.  In February this year, retirees with low pension (below 2,000...

The Philippine Islands is known for the many feasts and fiestas they celebrate every year.  Many believe that fiestas or feasts are pagan practices of venerating and worshiping nature and their traditional gods and goddesses which got interspersed with the Roman Catholic religion's religious rites and rituals.  Because of the combination of both beliefs, what we can see now are the big feasts that are celebrated in honor of religious figures like the Senor Sto. Nino.    The feast of the Sto.  Nino are celebrated in the islands in the Visayas like Cebu and Panay.  The celebration in honor of the Sto. Nino is held in the month of January.  In the Luzon island, the most famous yearly religious observation of a religious figure is held in the month of January as well.  This is the Feast of the Nazarene.  Hundreds of thousands, some speculate that a million would join in the Traslacion.  The passage of the andas ,  the carriage...

President Duterte finally admitted that increasing the pension of retirees by P2,000 is an impossible promise to keep.  He finally saw the wisdom that giving an additional P2,000 to the millions of retirees means signing the death of SSS.  I hate to say this, but, guys, those who voted for the president thinking that he can actually enforce this law, you were all taken for a ride.  It is simply not realistic and unfair to the other SSS members.   In fairness to the president, he came to his senses and become practical.  It is not easy admitting one's fault and to admit that it is simply not possible because the money is not only his to decide on, makes him a bigger man to me.   And for that I admire him.  Let's consider the reason why increasing the pension to 2,000 is not a wise decision. By simple math computation, we can deduce that the scenario is going to be like this:  if we give millions of pensioners 2,000, there should be a...

I have always been using LBC ever since LBC started servicing the country, but sometimes, they can be frustrating.   My sister asked me one time to send a cell phone and a piece of jewelry to a friend in one province up north.  

Banking in the Philippines is a horror story.  It is a horror story because it would seem like you lost in the casino whenever your bank would charge you fees for their service.  Talk about point blank robbery.  Case #1:  I admit that I would have senior moments occasionally, and at one time, I forgot my PIN totally.  So in order to access my account, which i hadn't done for almost 6 months, I had to also secure another card.  To secure a new card, I had to go to the bank, sign anew and wait for 5 days, of course, you guess it right, I had to pay a service fee of P150.00.  Isn't that great?  Now, the horror story does not end there, since I want to withdraw some funds from my account, I had to withdraw over the counter.   And, why was I not surprised:  To withdraw my money at the bank where I am a depositor, I had to pay another P100.   Wait, there is more,  which is curious to me.  In this bank of mine,  I would be ...

PHILIPPINES, October 27, 2016  – Herbalife Nutrition, a global nutrition company, has released the findings from its Asia Pacific  Millennials At Work  Survey 1 , which revealed that Filipino millennials are adapting a healthy, active lifestyle, however, most believe their current workplace environment prevents them from doing so. Millennials, or people born in between 1980 and 2000, are opting for a workplace that will encourage them to stay active, if only this will be embedded in every company culture.   About 83 percent or eight (8) in 10 millennials have agreed that they would like their company workplace to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. With the millennial generation expected to make up 50 percent of the global workforce by 2020, ensuring the wellbeing of millennials will be important to improving workplace productivity.  “There are about 35 million millennials now in the Philippines, which is about one-third of the country’s entire po...

When receiving a package, you should always make sure that the package is in good condition before signing the delivery receipt. Signing the receipt upon acceptance of the package is a binding contract that means the package you got was not pilfered or tampered in any way. However, this was not the case with Bakura Pagaduan, a recipient of a delivery by LBC Express. He received a package that was supposed to contain shoes and other items. Upon delivery, Pagaduan signed the delivery receipt without incident and some time later came to the local LBC branch to complain that his package was tampered. The local LBC branch people then offered him to sign a complaint form so that the incident can be documented and properly investigated. However, Pagaduan declined to file a formal complaint which could have investigated the matter more fully. Eventually, Pagaduan demanded to be compensated for his alleged lost item. LBC Express agreed, and did not delay compliance. Because...

We have been hearing about 'Glutathione' for over three decades already, but some of us are still curious about what it is.  Well, Glutathione is a substance produced by the liver and is used in many processes in the body including tissue-building and repair, creation of chemicals and proteins needed by the body and for the immune system.   However, as we reach the age of 30 the level of Glutathione produced by the body decreases, so we become prone to illnesses, sicknesses and diseases.   To make our immune system stronger, we need to restore our Glutathione levels in order to help us more immune to invading viruses, bacteria and parasites. Aside from this, restoring and maintaining the appropriate level of Glutathione in our body would put on hold the ageing process of our physical body.  Taking the more improved and more fortified Glutathione capsule of Lucida DS would be a great way to restore and maintain the Glutathione level in our body.   This fortif...

So you have not decided yet who to vote for on May 9? If not, why don’t you do some soul-searching to help you decide on who to vote for in order to get the leaders that you really want and need?  If you ask me, I only have one choice and selection to make.  My vote goes to the winning team of Mar and Leni, or Ro-Ro, for Roxas-Robredo.  My vote goes to the team whose integrity I believe in.  When I think of the future of the Philippines, I think of it not only in terms of industrial, economic and financial growth.  Most importantly, I would like to aim for quality thinking and shift in mentality.  Thinking that we need a strongman to help us rise or make our lives better is the thinking of people who don’t have confidence in themselves and in their capacity to work and think for their own upliftment.   In order to do this, a leader must also have this kind of mentality and not feed on the people’s desperation.  This leader must ins...

May 9 is another historical day as the nation will elect another president who will lead the country for the next 6 years.  As a voter, ask yourself what do you want your leader to do for the country and for the people.  What kind of leader do you want?   What projects or programs do you want him to focus on?   Will he be the kind of leader that will inspire the people to have initiative in helping themselves by being a good example himself?  Is he a leader that you can be proud of when he represents the country at international conventions or conferences?   Is he a leader that is approachable?   And lastly, does he have integrity and good character.    As a voter, I want my president to be compassionate but strict at the same time.  I prefer a president who stands by his word and for each principle that he believes in.   I want a president who plans well for the general well-being of the people, the...