WHAT CAN BE DONE to change the country for the better? One way is to build up and strengthen the middle-class. Every country that has made leaps and bounds in its social and economic progress did so only after the growth of its middle-class. This same spirit of nation building drives PLDT-SME Nation to support SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises) and as a result, create a strong, vibrant and thriving middle-class.

“When it comes to wealth creation and providing jobs and opportunities to a greater number of people, our country owes a lot to SMEs. The more SMEs thrive, the better it is for our economy and our society. Only then can we generate jobs, income and opportunities that our workers, professionals and graduates need.

“SMEs form the backbone of the Philippine economy, generating more than 90% of income. More SMEs mean more jobs, more income and more purchasing power. Filipino entrepreneurship is a key to creating a strong economy for the country,” says Kat Luna-Abelarde PLDT vice-president and head of PLDT-SME Nation.

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A lot of parents these days are disappointed with the amount of money they are going to get from their children’s college educational plans. Of course, some insurance agents will promise the sun and the moon in order to convince you to buy their policy. To those who did not do their homework of reading the fine print and really finding out what those things mean, they are bound to have a nightmare when their kids are about to enroll to college. Most of the time, it will be best to get in touch with a legal counsel before putting your signature on the dotted line, so as not to be misled.

Inflation is the number one reason on why these companies are unable to follow through with their commitments, perhaps not all of it. Some have actually shut down operations. So it would be best to diversify your investments in order to have enough money when enrollment is due. You can get in touch a financial advisor to find out what sort of investment you’d be more comfortable and best to have. One that I’m actually interested in having is a health savings account. I’m just not sure if we already have it here. It allows you to pay a portion of your health-care budget to yourself instead of the insurance company. I just hope that this option would be available soon from health care insurance companies.

Lovely and privy Valenzuela counselor – Sahalani Soledad guested in The Buzz for a one on one interview with her future sister-in-law and Philippines’ Queen of talk – Kris Aquino. I actually missed watching the show. And for those of you who weren’t able to watch it, here’s a copy of the interview. The second part is of course the one below. Read more…

photo credits from ABS CBN

An unsolicited advise came from former president FVR to incoming president NoyNoy Aquino I just read in ABS-CBN’s news website that the former president just advised Noynoy to ditch his smoking habit. I was just baffled that such a statement came from no less than the tobacco fanatic FVR. Personally, I don’t really care if the incoming president is a smoker. After all, we’ve had a president who is a gambler and womanizer and well other government officials who’s much much worse. My only concern is Noy’s health given the long list of health risks that comes with smoking. Perhaps later on when Mr. Aquino is finally sworn president, it would best for his staff to always be ready with sophisticated medical equipments (like a spirometer) whenever the president is travelling.

Some 50,000 onlookers got a glimpse of the first in the series of Bossing Ako billboards with a preview of PLDT Chair Manny V. Pangilinan as the ultimate bossing during the kick off at the PLDT building in Makati. From left: PLDT Senior Vice President Eric R. Alberto, PLDT Chair Manny V. Pangilinan, PLDT-SME Nation Vice President and Head Kat Luna-Abelarde, PLDT-SME Nation Community Consultancy Head Gabby Cui, and host Tessa Prieto-Valdes.

PLDT-SME Nation is going all out in serving the nation’s small-and-medium entrepreneurs (SME) through its massive campaign that aims to ignite Pinoy ingenuity for business with “Bossing Ako.” The “Bossing Ako’ campaign aims to encourage more Filipinos to strive to become their own boss by becoming entrepreneurs. It also seeks to inspire Filipino small-to-medium scale entrepreneurs to continue striving for success and courageously meet the challenges of growing their business.

“We are on a nationwide campaign to encourage a new generation of Filipino entrepreneurs. The Philippines needs more entrepreneurs in order to ensure our economic future. Today, about 90 percent of income in the Philippine economy is generated by SMEs. As we move forward into the 21^st century, we’ll need more SMEs to provide more jobs, more income and more purchasing power,” says PLDT-SME Nation Vice President and Head Kat Luna-Abelarde. Read more…

The school year is about to start again in a matter of days and with that in mind, it’s a good thing that the officers of the city of Manila deemed it proper to check out the dormitories and boarding houses around the university belt. In Recto alone, close to 90% of the dormitories and boarding houses were considered inhabitable. No fire extinguishers, no fire exits and with poor ventilation. Despite the city’s efforts to have these dorms and boarding houses to shut down, many budget-challenged parents and self-supporting students who are willing to settle for such facilities, are sustaining these businesses. On top of that, the usual excuse that the people using the facility are related to the land owner makes it even more difficult for the city officials to enforce the rules. Read more…

About a few months back, I was introduced by a blogger friend to AW Surveys. All because we share the same hope of growing our digits in our PayPal accounts. All you have to do is to sign up, pretty much the same way you sign up when creating an email account. Later on, you can opt to start participating in the surveys. Each of which, according to the site entitles you to earn $1-6. You will be asked to check out websites, some for social networking like (Socint.com), where they say you get paid for posting pictures and blog entries, it has a video on the home page that teaches new users how to get around the site.  Anyway, aside from that site, there is another site that you will also be asked to evaluate and it’s another survey site, something like surveyhead.com, and I’m guessing it also owned by the scammers who owned AW Surveys. Read more…