Incompetence of Government?

"IMF: Better collection, not new taxes, is needed "

Look, the government imposed the 12% EVAT last year. Since then, almost everyone from restaurants to shops are charging EVAT to the detriment of the people and the buying public. We endure, thinking that the money will be collected and spent on worthwhile projects such as new schools, new books, medicine, new roads etc.

But the government failed to collect all these EVAT payments. Where are they? Why the government cannot collect them? Where is the money paid by people? By everyone.

All I can say is that: the government should NEVER impose taxes that they cannot collect! The tax collection system of this country must be overhauled!

PS: may duda ako that the EVAT charged to me by the shop where I buy supplies for the maintenance of my motor vehicles, are not being remitted to the BIR. So...I think this EVAT thing only benefited the business owners. BIR is incompetent and sleeping on the job.

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Another is the Peso. In January last year, or since the the peso was 56 to the dollar, it has now risen to 45. There had been huge appreciation - let us just put it at 10%. What are the supposed implications of these to the people here in the country? For OFWs, the implications is the erosion of their buying power - their dollars purchase fewer goods than before.

Now let us go back to the buying public.

Supposedly good and services paid in dollars should cheapen by at least 10%, since the peso appreciated by at least 10% diba? But the reverse is happening.

1. Fares that should have gone down by 10%, operators (I am an operator) are asking for fare increases!

2. Gasul which way back when the Peso was at 56 costs, 480 pesos per 13.3 kg tank; and now that the peso has gone up to 45, the Gasul prices has also gone up to more than 500 per tank! I don't understand.

3. Food sold in the market, even burger at Mcdo has also gone up. To mention a few.

What are the benefits, then, that are being afforded by this peso appreciation to the people of the Philippines? Pardon my ignorance but I need answers.

Liquidated Shoes

Are you looking for a good deal? I found a site called merchandizeliquidators, where you can buy wholesale shoes cheaply for 7.99 dollars per pair provided you purchase a minimum of 180 pairs. These shoes included high fashion dress shoes, athletic shoes, and branded shoes. Most of these are factory surplus or overstock, and sold below whole sale prices. The shoes for sale cover a variety of sizes, styles, colors and brands. For example, some of the women designer shoes may have Polo, DKNY, Tommy, Nine West among other brands.

How many shoes did you say? Yes, you read me right 180 pairs! Now you might ask what you are going to do with 180 pairs of shoes. My suggestions are as follows:

1. In our culture we need to have lots of “pasalubong”. Now, as an OFW, if you are planning to go on vacation, you can consider buying these shoes for your community of friends and relatives back home. This is better, instead of cash or food items.

2. Or, if you are feeling generous; you can buy them and give them as Christmas gifts to our poor kababayans, to a charity organization, or to your local school. You can also buy the shoes for yourself, use some of it, and donate the rest.

3. Or, if you are entrepreneurial, you can resale them, and profit handsomely. This is great if you or your relative have a store back home.

This maybe an opportunity.

Bought new cabs

Been busy the past few days. I have expanded my debts as well as my assets. Magkakatalo sa management.....and financial liquidity aspects, hehehe. But if I survive until the next cropping season (November 2007), then I will be fine....as in...great in the next several years; or until I decided to have a major acquisition again, hehehe.

I bought cabs, as in cabs (plural...s, hehe) and lands the past few days. Tempted to acquire more lands because of available cheap oppurtunities. I have to convince my self to stop expanding and acquiring more assets.Hay....

All these acquisitions are self financing. The assets are going to pay for themselves; and after a year or two .... would present themselves to me free from liens, hehehe.

For example, a cab, franchise (25K), downpayment (25K), total cost is 200K. Earnings will be 500/day or 15K a month or 180K a year. This income would be used to pay for the cabs - will be fully paid after 14 months. These acquisitions are self liquidating as well, because the initial exposure for each cab of 50K was obtained through a cheap loan. Ahihi. Failure, would not hurt me as much.

If properly managed, a cab would last 8 years. After 8 years, I would be happy to sell them as scrap, ahihi. But before the sell, I would have profitted 6 years and 10 months of cab operation at 500 pesos/day per cab!

Let us see where this gamble would led us. Hay......hoping to hit another jackpot.

Before and ten years later after the wedding

Before the marriage:
.
.
.
He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to
wait.

She: Do you want me to leave?

He: NO! Don't even think about it.

She: Do you love me?

He: Of course!

She: Have you ever cheated on me?

He: NO! Why you even asking?

She: Will you kiss me?

He: Yes!

She: Will you hit me?

He: No way! I'm not such kind of
person!

She: Can I trust you?

He: Yes.

She: Honey
.
.
.
.
Now after the marriage. you can read it backwards from bottom to the top.

ebay and Vitamin C

How lucky could this guy get. Would you return the money? hehehehe.

On the news (PDI):

LONDON -- A British teenager bagged more than he bargained for when he bought a PlayStation game console on the Internet auction website eBay, discovering about 65,400 euros ($90,200) in cash in his delivery.

wo....wa.

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There..it is concluded. However, I still believe, hugely, on the power of Vitamin C. My personal experience is that, if I took a 500mg Vitamin C, and I went drinking, it would take twice the usual number of bottles of beer to make me drunk! And I don't get a hung over the day after.

On the news:

LONDON -- Vitamin C supplements are practically useless in a bid to avert colds, researchers concluded in analysis published Wednesday.

Branding the widely-held belief a myth, they found that only individuals under extreme stress, such as soldiers and marathon runners, benefited at all from the supplements.

Zubiri proclaimed

Congratulations.

Now lets all buckle down to work. Tantanan na muna natin ang sobrang pamumulitika.

On the news (PDI):

Administration candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri was officially proclaimed the 12th winner of the May 14 senatorial elections by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as National Board of Canvassers, shortly before noon Saturday.

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The whole country is waiting for the response of the National Government on what actions they will do to keep peace in Basilan; and with regards to the barbaric mutilations of the 10 beheaded marines last week.

On the news, today from PDI:

The military on Saturday said it was closing in on Islamic extremists who ambushed and killed 14 Marines this week in the nation's volatile south.The 14 Marines were slain and some were beheaded on Basilan island as they searched for a kidnapped Italian priest, following a tip-off that he was being held in the area.

Credit Card Search

Are you looking for an Online Credit Card? You don’t have to look farther; there is a site that would provide you answers on practically everything that you are looking for in a card. There is CreditCardSearchEngine.com.

You can use various search engines on the internet, but you are not certain to get a comprehensive site where you can choose and compare the leading brands and their respective APRs. You can practically find the characteristics that you are looking for in a card including rewards and cards for people with bad or poor credit ratings. Further, the search engine features offers from leading U.S Credit Card issuers such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and leading brands Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card.

Note: This is a sponsored post.

Mindanao Rebels: What kind of people are they?

I can only think of monsters! Demons! Godless Idiots! That's what I think.

What have they done recently?

1. they kidnapped a priest.
2. beheaded 10 marines.

Why behead them? Why kidnapped a priest? Is it an order from their religion? What kind of God would order such?

On the news from the PDI:

07/11/2007. COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Fourteen Marines searching for a kidnapped Italian priest had been killed in a gunbattle in which the Moro Islamic Liberation Front claimed responsibility.


Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan, spokesman for the Marines, and Brigadier General Ramiro Alivio, chief of 1st Marine Brigade, said 10 of the 14 who had been reported missing were found beheaded.

A coop of blogs

I read todays post of Robs make-money-fast-with-package-deals. I like the idea, certainly (probably) a network or a cooperative of blogs marketed as a package would fetch a higher value. This is done by selling a package where a website owner/company can post a text link, a blog entry, or any other form of ad across the network or coop of blogs. He is currently marketing a group of 8 blogs.

I suggest he recruit more, say form a coop of 25 or 50 blogs, categorized into PRs. Say a group of 25 PR3 blogs for 200 dollars. He can pay each blog 5 dollars for every post which would cost 125, and the coop can keep the 75 for SEO, hosting, domain etc. However, if he organized it into a single proprietor enterprise, he can keep the 75 to himself. Either way, I would be glad to join his group if he asked me. I Have 1 PR2 blog, 3 PR3 blogs, and 1 PR4.

This idea can be tested by asking people in Digital Point or in V7N.

A better idea I guess, is.. would anyone care to join me to form a cooperative of blogs?

A good sign for Pampanga

On the news from the PDI: A special committee of former seminarians created by Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio has collected more than P5 million in sand taxes in the first five days that the Catholic priest has been in office.

The P5-million collection is 17.18 percent of the P29.1 million generated by the administration of former Governor Mark Lapid for the whole of 2006, an Inquirer review of capitol reports on quarry income showed.

If I am doing my Math right, a year is 365 days, now even if we ignore the word "more than" in the first paragraph, this implies that the possible income for quarrying would have been 365 million a year. Right?

Now, if the former administration of Pampanga only reported 29 million for 2006, where did the 335 million go? It is a big amount!

This is just a speculation, we do not know whether the news report is accurate, nor we know the circumstances in Pampanga back in 2006. But certainly this figure - 335 million - speaks volumes and merits an investigation.

Now guys, and gals, and dear OFWs, I urge you to take a minute or two to visit this site: http://www.ombudsman.gov.ph, fill up the complaint form and send.

We have to help stop corruption in the country. We have to be involved. And your help would be greatly appreciated by Pinoys all over. Let us see what happens....who knows the Ombudsman, might conduct the investigation themselves. Or, if not, we can write the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to investigate this matter.

Digital Cameras

Blogging and digital cameras are twin requirements, if you want to succeed in your blogging career, particularly if your blog niche is about traveling, tourist destinations, and photography among other niches that would require a very good camera.

When it comes to cameras, the trend nowadays is digital and mega pixels. Changes, new types and different/new brand of digital cameras are coming out in the market almost every week - that we the consumers have difficulty making our minds up, what and which to buy.

So where else do we go if we want a second opinion? We look for a review site of these cameras before we take a jump of buying them; we tap our key boards and search the internet. One site we should go to is TestFreaks, this site would tell us about the price, the performance, the megapixels, size, optics and many more. Here is the link to this site.