Talk About Niche! A New Site for the “Southerners”!

I love it when I get directed to a new blog site that has so much to offer despite its narrow niche play.  My buddy Gary, who operates the Exchange.ph Sites (the links to which you can see in my Blogroll to the right), told me about Southbound.

It’s a “blogazine” (a term they so aptly coined, I suppose) that talks about anything and everything about the South.  South, in this relative case, would mean the locale south of Manila, Makati included (correct me if I am wrong, Guys of Southbound, since you categorized Makati as “Sana nasa South” ).  You can view it as your localized “Lonely Planet” guide.  Or, moreso, your “Lonely South of Manila” guide.

It’s a great resource site for those of you who are unfamiliar with the deep south (not the “deep south” that Adam Sandler was referring to in “Little Nicky”, of course).  If you are the type who goes for the hole-in-the-window restaurant variant or the not-so-famous-but-offers-great-food restos, then you this is the site for you to do your research before heading out past the toll gates of South Super Hi-way (I am gonna go try out Vibang’s one of these days….).

Keep it up, Guys!  Your site is a perfect example of “finding a place” in the scheme of things, and executing well!  May the aspiring bloggers and entreps out there who wish to make a living on the side (or better yet, full time) learn a thing or two from your worthwhile endeavor.

Cheers!

Part II – The Need to Globalize Philippine Basketball: THE MODEL

In this 2nd part, I wish to highlight the growing nature of basketball as a “global sport”, influenced by the popularity of the NBA as well as its “open door policy” on allowing foreign-born players to compete in the league. These two factors must be recognized and embraced as an accepted fact — that the world and game of basketball is, indeed, already GLOBAL.

 

 

Article of Excuses

 

I recently read an article by a noted sportswriter who wrote about the lambasting we got from a tournament, the FIBA-Asia Club Championships, in which the All-Pro Philippine Team participated. We all know that Filipinos are known sour-grapes when it comes to losing in basketball. In that article, we got the usual litany of excuses as to why we got beaten badly. In fact, most of them were valid: unfamiliarity with international rules, lack of cohesiveness, and fatigue.

Why More Filipino Entreps Would Rather Stay in the INFORMAL Sector of the Economy

I’d like to share with you a special feature I read in Business World’s EntrepreNEWS last July 6, 2007.

In a recently published joint report by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) entitled “Doing Business in 2006″, the Philippines scored quite low on the following areas covered by the survey:

• Starting a business
• Dealing with licenses
• Registering property
• Getting credit
• Protecting investors
• Paying taxes
• Trading across borders
• Enforcing contracts
• Closing a business

The low survey scores we garnered placed us 126th in the overall ranking…. which explains WHY MORE FILIPINO ENTREPRENEURS OPT TO STAY IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR THAN REGISTER A BUSINESS. This is all the more compounded by the fact it is harder to OFFICIALLY close a business in the Philippines than to start one.

Hope is not lost though.

News Flash: RP wins over Iran, 89-79

Just got a text a few minutes ago. Team Pilipinas just finished off Iran, 89-79.

It is a good victory for our national cagers considering they just came from another heartbreaking loss to Jordan, 70-74, yesterday. As you would have read by now, Kerby Raymundo had a chance to tie the ballgame with two free throws (RP down then by 2, 68-70, with 1:03 to go in the game). However… you guessed it. Two free throws muffed.

It might interest all of you to know that both Jordan and Iran are bracketed with the Philippines and China in the “Group of Death” for the FIBA-Asia Qualifiers, which will take place at the end of this month (July 2007). The top two teams of each group advance to the quarters and so on. Assuming that we’ll be waylaid by China (hope not, though), we will need to beat both Jordan and Iran to obviously assure ourselves entry to the next round. Or if we’ll only manage a 1-2 record, we’ll have to rely both on hardwork (win by as many points as we can and lose by as few as possible — quotient system) and help from Lady Luck (that Iran, Jordan, and the Philippines cancel out each other’s win) to move into the next round via photo finish.

I am quite satisfied with the way Team Pilipinas has played in this 29th edition of the Jones Cup. If we had played it more intelligently and carefully, we would’ve been sporting a 6-0 win-loss record by now. Our three losses: to Lebanon, 62-65 (via a last second 3-point shot that went off the glass); to Japan, 82-84 (via a dying-seconds-turnover by Dondon Hontiveros, en route to a breakaway layup for the marginal basket); and to Jordan, as mentioned above.

Chot and his wards came to the Jones Cup to study and practice. I believe they are doing their job well.

Keep it up, Boys!

Part I – The Need to Globalize Philippine Basketball: BACKGROUNDER

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) model is now outmoded. They’re still living in the past, trying to cling to the spirit of its heydays in the 70’s and the 80’s. Sad to say, the spunk and glamor are gone. Well, at least for me, an avid basketball fan, who had religiously followed the league, game after game, until the early 90’s. Same can probably be said about our existing insular brand of “basketball infrastructure”, from the various collegiate leagues to the various commercial leagues, professional and amateur.

One can say that this insular point of view has kept us from improving to an acceptable level of regional or, even, global standards. In this 3-part series about Philippine Basketball, I aim to put forward ideas that the leaders of the sport can consider, toy around with, and hopefully, implement successfully — all with the end-view of putting the Philippines back to a podium place finish in regional and international tournaments.

For me, there were three (3) major developments that changed the world and the game of basketball, as it is now. First, FIBA’s decision to allow professional players to compete in FIBA-sanctioned international competitions. Second, the burgeoning popularity and worldwide reach of the NBA. And finally, the influx of foreign players into the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The PBA responded right away by fielding in an All-Pro team in 1990 for the Beijing Asiad and had sent select teams made up of pros since then. The best finish we ever achieved since we started sending our PBA players to international tournaments was a runner-up placing behind China in that 1990 version of the Asian Games. We then finished 3rd in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, 4th in the Bangkok Asiad in 1998, and 4th again in the 2002 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar (we would’ve placed 2nd behind China once again if not for that last second 3 point shot by Lee Sang Min of South Korea — and the 2 missed free throws by Olsen Racela — in the semis of that tournament).

The Market is Learning Part II

Now, Smart Money has finally made the right move of offering the Smart Money card for FREE! For me, the recent salvo of adverts is, really, all about getting the message across to the public that the card is being offered at no cost.

NOTE: The Card is Free.

The people in Smart probably (or finally) realized that the P220.00 cost of the card is one BIG hurdle to MASS acceptance of the service.

Blog and You Shall Get Linked…

Ever had that feeling of accomplishment every time someone links your blog to his?

How would you feel if your blog entry gets linked and “featured” in a famous blog site like Boing Boing?

Happy for you, Dundee! This post of his got coverage in Boing Boing.

If you haven’t got a blog, or if you are a novice blogger like Dundee Adriatico, keep on blogging and you’ll be found!

UPDATE (06.26.07 5:08PM, Manila Time): In case most of you don’t know, Boing Boing is the Most Popular Blog in the World, as rated and ranked by Technorati.com.

Can We Pull This Off?

We’ve been complaining about how hotter and hotter each summer has become lately. We’ve been complaining about the horrendous traffic jams all over the metropolis. We’ve been complaining about how rude and stupid most (if not all… I am not wont to generalize, but it has really gotten to me lately) of the public utility vehicle drivers are in this country. We’ve been complaining about the sorry state of our roads, moaning and whining about how it would be much easier to drive a car in the moon than here in Metro Manila.

Well, an insightful and thought provoking article written by the noted Economist Blogger, Greg Mankiw, in October 2006 proposed the need for governments to raise or levy a higher gas tax. It is, by no means, a radical proposition for this has been floated around for so many years now.

“Loaded” State

I am really amazed at how people (Filipinos most especially) find ways to get by. Always ready to play the hand they get.

The “Tingi” System (or Per Piece System) thrives in a country like the Philippines because products compete for “pocket share”. Or, a share for every P1.00 budget.

Every peso counts, and for every such peso, certain percentage assignments go to buying food, toiletry needs, cigarettes, etc, etc, and, of course, prepaid mobile phone load.

I once heard the story about the meeting between Smart’s President, Napoleon Nazareno, and Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, when the former went to Redmond some years back. Fascinated by Smart’s success (and profitability) in offering P1.00 per SMS message, Bill Gates asked Mr. Nazareno how they did it? The answer… “Sachet Marketing”. Gates paused… stared right at Nazareno, then slowly tapped his fingers on the table while repeating the two words… “Sachet Marketing?” … “Sachet Marketing…” “Hmmm…”

You can bet that Bill Gates’s mind was churning up ideas at that moment.

The Useless Doc

To me, one of the useless documents existing on the face of this earth would be that legal piece of sheet called Non-disclosure Agreement. Or NDA, for short. Most especially in the Philippines.

It takes up a lot of time, but isn’t going to be any good at all when it comes to it.

This, supposedly, public document essentially aims to prevent parties privy to confidential information (once disclosed to one another, of course, and assuming the information is not yet public knowledge) from divulging or sharing with any body such secret data.

Far too many activities have been stalled by this document. Far too many timelines have been adjusted to accommodate this requirement. How many (and how much, in actual costs) opportunity losses has this created?

What prevents an employee, an officer, a director of an entity, supposedly, covered by the legal spirit of its words from sharing and giving away these confidential sets of info to other interested individuals who may see great value to what was disclosed? A “mole” could easily claim that he picked up the information somewhere… He can claim that the brilliant idea came from a spur of the moment inspiration or that he conjured such great things in a state of genius revelation.

Proving the last two statements may be a difficult task in itself.

I may be naive. I may be too ignorant for that matter. But is a Non-disclosure Agreement truly enforcible under Philippine Laws? How many cases have been successfully prosecuted to levy the requisite punishments to offenders? Or if there have been successful prosecutions, were the punishments levied enough to deter any one or any entity from breaking the law?

No secrets are safe in this part of the world.