StreetWise Philippines

If you run a business over here one of your biggest headache creators will be staff. I used to think it very cruel and neo-colonial, the way many Pinoy and Chinoy (Filipino and Chinese-Filipino) employers treated their staff. Like a cross between recalcitrant children and indentured slaves. Now I can appreciate why.

I have learnt if you give them a fair go as you would back home, too many will take unfair advantage of you. Our last IT staffer started out like a nipa hut on fire. As she realised we were decent blokes she took advantage, turning up later and later, missing whole days and eventually not even bothering to apologize. She’s gone now.

Looking for a replacement has been a challenge to my Angeles City based partner. Our office there is in residential premises so we usually meet clients at their offices or somewhere neutral like Starbucks at the Mall. Seems too many Filipinos must feel the job isn’t legit if we have to meet off site. Of course back home we do that if we want to interview in a neutral locale or if there is still someone in the role who will soon be fired.

Eventually my partner used his network of business contacts to hunt down some hopefuls and, with an introduction from someone they trust, we had several actually turn up to be interviewed. One will start monday and hopefully be able to hit the ground running, as they say. It’s all fun and frolic in the Philippines!

The anti-discrimination regulations in force in most western countries often seem like a politically correct joke in many ways. Especially as we know that even if they don’t specify X in the ad, if you don’t have X then you won’t get the job. Yes, they have just discriminated against you but then we all ‘discriminate’ every time we choose one thing over another, when we buy this brand over that and so on.

Personally I think the rules for advertising jobs are a good indicator of where political correctness can get it wrong, but then I read the job ads in Philippines newspapers. Here are a few taken at random:

Admin Assistant Female, 5′4″ in height, excellent in oral and written english, keen to details and able to work independently, knowledgeable in microsoft word, excel and powerpoint.

I thought English, the language, deserved an upper case E? Maybe why they need someone ‘excellent in oral and written english’. But why 5’4”?

Japanese Speaking Guest Service Associate for Front Office Female, 27-35 years of age, 5′4″ in height, fluent in japanese and english with strong customer service skills, willing to work in shifts, With at least 2 years experience working for a 5-star hotel is an advantage, college graduate.

At least they are consistent and leave out the J along with the E. What if the best candidate is 26 and 5’3”? No point sending in the resume as they will ask for a birth certificate and do a height check. OK, same employer (a five star hotel in Cebu);

Media Communications Manager Female, college graduate at least 5′4″ in height, preferably single, related working experience in marketing, advertising, or journalism is an advantage, has established contact and linkages with counterparts in the city, excellent in oral and written english, customer service oriented.

And this one:

Banguet Sales Executive Female, college graduate, at least 5′4″ in height, preferably single, preferably with 2 years relevant experience with a reputable hotel, excellent leadership, selling and communication skills.

Four out of eight job vacancies require females 5’4” in height. Why? Low doorways to the Ladies toilets? Only one uniform size? Of the other four job openings, one didn’t specify gender, two allowed the candidate to be either male or female and the last one wanted a female for the role, height unspecified but she had to be between 21 – 30 years old.

Trawl through any job listings for Filipino positions and you will be told how old they have to be, what gender, marital status, age and even that their personality must be ‘pleasing’. In some cases they even stipulate ‘attractive’. That means light skinned by the way.

That is the way it is here and just one more thing you will have to accept if you plan to live here. It is their Rome, they are doing it the ‘Roman’ way and you know what they say about ‘When in Rome…’

A recent court case between the mother of a premature baby and the hospital that refused to let the baby go until her bill was paid, found in favour of the mother. A Writ of Habeas Corpus (Produce the Body) was served on Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital to release the baby to the mother, even though the unpaid portion of the bill is P503,000 (US$10K)

Not letting the patient or the ‘watchers’ (patient’s family) leave is a common tactic in hospitals across the country. I waited in agony on a gurney for an hour while my wife looked for an ATM to pay the deposit before anyone would even triage me at Perpetual Succour Hospital, Cebu. That was just to get admitted! Both Cebu Doctor’s and Perpetual Succour are owned in whole or part by the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres, a Catholic order.

My wife’s father was held a virtual prisoner in Cebu Doctor’s Hospital in 2002 until I promised to pay his bill. The body of my sister-in-law was detained along with the Death Certificate until we had paid her bill in full at . She died in Cebu (Velez) General Hospital, a ‘public hospital’ but the mentality is the same. Doctors are mini-gods, nurses do nothing and the rats have the run of the place when the cats are sleeping. I kid you not.

The hospitals in Cebu are a paradox in many ways. They do have some first class hospitals yet the attention to detail is lacking, to the point where the cleaners only clean where you can see leaving dirt and dust behind hand rails and under sinks etc. They have some fine medical professionals also. My cardiologist was trained at Cebu Doctor’s but now practises in Australia.

Try also to see the hospital’s position. They are a business and have their own bills to pay. Until the societal changes necessary to make it fairer for all occur, only those with the ability to pay will be able to access the best treatment.

Read the article by clicking on this link to the SunStar Cebu.

This is my favourite Filipino song, Mr Suave, pronounced Mister Swabby. Click the link:-

OK, this is a classic KTV song. If you don’t understand it then you haven’t been here long enough. If you do understand it then you have been here way too long! Don’t try to analyze it, just enjoy the fun value, it’s very Pinoy! Just click on the link:-

Otso Otso

Recently the Chinese courts had the pleasure of the company of six Filipino ‘Bakla’ (basically ‘homosexual inTagalog, Bayut in Visayan but used to include transsexuals) ‘transgenders’. The six Filipino men, posing as Filipino women, drugged and robbed their victims in Shanghai… and were caught. In the old days, pre-Mayor Lim’s Crack Down in Ermita, they were a menace to drunken ‘Kano’s’ wandering down Mabini Street late at night. Called ‘Bini Boys’, they were often viscious and quick to use the knives they all carried if a punter didn’t want their ’services’. Even if he did there was no guarantee he would be left unharmed and unrobbed.

The six that traveled to Shanghai to ply their trade. Basically they pose as prostitutes, then drug and rob their customers. The Philippines Consul in Shanghai has expressed dismay at the growing number of Filipino and Filipinas who are working in the sex industry in China. Of the six arrested, one turned ’state’s evidence and is free while the other five are plying their trade in a Chinese prison.

For more info, click here:

John Zuke, a long time expat resident of Moal Boal, Cebu, was murdered last weekend. Driving home from a trip to Cebu City, John was shot in the head and killed by an assassination team on a motorcycle. While the murder is under investigation it is unwise to speculate on the reason why he was murdered. However, as is nearly always the case in these matters, John was involved in disputes over land and property he had invested in with his estranged wife.

The best advice we can offer is to stay out of business deals involving locals, especially well connected ones. Even if you win the court case the chances of recovering the monies awarded are slim to none. While I didn’t know the deceased personally, it has been my experience that most foreigners killed in the Philippines were heavily involved in local affairs, either financial or political. Those expats who keep out of local issues never seem to have any problems. The same goes for those who remain faithful to their Filipina wives, don’t lend out money, don’t ‘flash their cash’ and basically keep a lowish profile.

There is a new classified ad site for all things Philippines. Philippine Finder is the place to go for real estate, cars,  items anything that is up for sale for the expat or retiree. There is also a personals section where you can find friends, activity partners or seach for romance.  You can advertise there free of charge. Right now it is a little light on for ads, but so was the Yellow Pages the day the first telephone was installed! The more people who use it to advertise and respond to ads, the better a service it will become.

How is this for irony…we were working on a review of Internet Service Providers for the Philippines but unfortunately the SmartBro service I was using at a friend’s house was down for a week and SmartBro support seemed incapable of fixing it.

The message on the screen informed me that I had been redirected to a particular SmartBro page because the bill is not paid or the service has been moved.

This happened of Friday and trying to use their automated help line was not just frustrating but impossible.   They asked for account numbers which I carefully entered only to be told that such an account did not exist and the call was disconnected.  

Back home a help desk will have an option to speak to an operator when you encounter any difficulty with the automated system but not SmartBros  1888 number. 

So I had to waited till Monday and sent my assistant to what I we were told was the closest Smart office.   He came back a few hours later told that the account was in order and to just check our physical connections (was everything plugged in).

Given that he had told them that it was an actual SmartBro onscreen message saying the service was disconnected this was not at all helpful.

Later in the afternoon I travelled to the SmartBro office and spoke with one of the representatives that logged the fault and promised someone would call the next day.

No one called the next day so I returned to the Smart Office and this time spoke to a manager this time promised someone would be onsite the next morning.

No one called or visited and the Manager did not respond to any of my messages until late afternoon and then said he was “lowbat’ but I know this was not true as his phone had rung when I had tried it around midday.

I then begged and even threatened (only in terms of making a complaint) but the Manager  John Hensen just did not seem to care.  

On the Friday I ordered a new service on behalf of my friend and was resigned to never having SmartBro work again.  

Then when visiting another Mall I saw a Smart office and decided to try one last time.

I waited about an hour feeling very frustrated but eventually my number came up and spoke to a lady who after looking at the account worked out the problem in just a few minutes.  

It turns out that the account of my friend was in fact unpaid and by paying it the service would be restored in less than two hours.

The problem was that the address of my friends service was wrong and going to a non-existent address but another account with the correct address but different name was suddenly coming to the address where my friends service was located.  That is the account they had paid.

The Smart office of John Hensen had not spotted this and was just too keen to pass me on to support but failed to take any responsibility or follow up when support failed to contact me.

I will write the complaint about the incident and also commend the lady at the other office that quickly spotted the problem and got a fast resolution.

As for the account confusion this is a very suspect situation that needs to be followed up by the owner of the service as there could be some sort of fraud.

Before anyone accuses me of being a hypocrite, I freely admit I have been to Angeles in the past and I enjoyed the place for what it was then and is now.  I believe we must always have places like Angeles, they serve a purpose that human nature creates and I won’t be so naïve as to deny it.

But times and people change and I find myself quite disillusioned with the whole sordid sewer of a place that is really just a very small section of an otherwise vibrant and wonderful Filipino city.  So with that understanding between us (writer and reader), let us progress.  Angeles City sprung up to serve the needs of the US military.  Back in 1902 when the US Cavalry set up a remount station and cavalry camp there the local barangay was some distance from the camp gates.  Gradually the place grew as those bars and brothels that sprung up outside the camp gates met with the spreading tentacles of Angeles City proper.   

The hey day of Angeles would have had to have been in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s during the Vietnam War.  The expats who have retired here who spent time in the USAF stationed at Clark still hold the attitude that they own the town and the people.  Or at least many I have met do.  I can understand that sentiment as the USAF poured up to a million dollars a week into the town, more sometimes.

The airmen had the money and lust, the local girls had the looks and the need.  Perfect symbiotic relationship in anyone’s book.  Clark had the highest divorce rate of any military base according to one source.  He explained it was no wonder when Mrs Obese Ohio ’74 spent her days hiding in the house because the locals stared at her and hubby was off in the bars chasing sweet young Filipina’s all night long.

I spoke to one man who was one of the team that investigated the backgrounds of women engaged to servicemen.  He said it was more of a surprise when they found out she wasn’t out of a bar or had been selling her services one way or another for some time.  Most of the Filipinas were working girls, how else would they meet their future husbands?  He said he would love to follow up on some of the cases he had back then and see how many were still together, how many were divorced and so on.  He felt that there would be a higher percentage of couples still married than the national average.  He also felt if the marriage broke down after more than five years you really couldn’t pin it on the girls’ previous employment. 

June 15 1991 was the day Mount Pinatubo speeded up the inevitable.  With the nationalistic bent of many in the country; many who gained nothing from the US bases as they were but might if they were open to local development, it was a fairly foregone conclusion the Yanks would have to go home.  I have asked dozens of Filipino’s and I have yet to find one who has benefited from the USAF not being at Clark.  I have yet to find a single Filipino who doesn’t want them back!  Obviously I am asking the wrong people.  I need to get out and ask the rich minority who own businesses in the Clark Special Economic Zone that replaced the base. 

Unlike Subic Bay, where far sighted Richard Gordon organised the local middle class to protect the greatest asset their town (Olongapo) possessed, when the USAF left Clark it was in a bit of a hurry.  People were assured their homes would be protected and their belongings safely packed and sent on to them but many I have spoken to claim locals simply walked on base and looted every home they could enter.  They never saw their personal effects again. 

It is close to 20 years since all of that happened yet I can remember it as if it were just last week. One thing is certain, Angeles City is more than just Fields Avenue in Balibago. It is a thriving city with hospitals, universities and a heck of a lot going for it beyond the red light strip bordering Clark Special Economic Zone. Get away from the entertainment area and explore the city and surrounding province and you will find a lot more to do than just hang out in bars and drink beer.