Lessons from Ondoy and Pepeng

A few weeks have passed ever since tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng hit the country, causing massive damage to many Filipinos. Until now, many are still trying to recover from the magnitude of the damage.

Allow me to provide some perspective. Aside from the environmental lessons, there are financial lessons, as well.

I know a very devastated husband (not mine) who lost his entire FHM Philippines collection. He diligently collected every issue from day 1 and it was all swept away by the flood.

Another husband’s comic collection was also badly damaged. His wife narrated that her husband started his comic collection ever since he was young. When the flood reached their home, they weren’t able to save anything. All was left was the loose pages from the collection.

Other stories I heard include the rock-bottom prices of houses in subdivisions that were badly hit by Ondoy like Provident Village. It seems that in their desperate attempt to just get rid of their houses and to start moving forward, many homeowners are dropping the prices so low. One is even offering her two-storey house for just P1 million.

What is the take-away from all these?

I believe that calamities like these are a wake-up call from God to focus on the more important things like your loved-ones and your own lives. Maybe we have spent way too much time and money in shallow things like collections, a grand home, etc. when we could have pursued more important things. Sure, we all want to live a comfortable life but we also have to realize that these material things should be balanced with spending more time with our family and loved-ones.

I feel so sorry for those collections and houses damaged by the storms. I have my own Archie comics and snowglobe collections and I would probably be just as devastated. But the storms also serve as a wake-up call to me to focus on the more important things in life.

Typhoon Ondoy wreaks havoc

Typhoon Ondoy brought continuous heavy rains in Luzon since Friday afternoon (Sept. 25) that by Saturday morning, the flood has started to rise and many were forced to flee.

Here in Fairview, Quezon City, about 50% of the area was affected with floods. North Fairview, Sitio Ruby (Sapamanai), and West Fairview saw some parts with water rising as high as a house.

Our own area in East Fairview was also affected. We live in a condo compound and by Saturday lunchtime, we saw the waters in a nearby creek spill.  Here’s the video I took yesterday when the water outside the compound was still knee-deep.

In just a couple of hours, we saw the water come inside the condo compound. It reached the ground  floor and residents there had to transfer to the higher floors.

And this is the video taken from our window. The cars in our street were submerged.

My own parents were stranded  in Bulacan after they went to Nueva Ecija yesterday morning to attend a wedding. They left Nueva Ecija by noon because they received info that the nearby dams would release water.

It took them 12 hours to get home because they got stranded in Bocaue, Bulacan. They had to get off the vehicle because the tollway patrol already told passengers to get out.  They had to take shelter in the headquarter of the Manila Tollways.

The evolution of Pinay and Money

A few days ago, I received an email from an ad agency, inviting me to attend a bloggers’ event. It would have been an ordinary email if the event was about personal finance. But no, it was about another health and wellness event.

Admittedly, from time to time, I talk about health and wellness here in my blog. And when I do, I always start the title with “Side Topic.” This is just to remind myself and the readers that this is just a side note and my main focus remains on personal finance.

But the email invitation for a health and wellness event gives me the impression that I’m also making little noise in that field. The few times that I blogged about health and wellness products may have been enough to earn me invitations to such event.

And I dare ask myself if this is how the site would evolve. That aside from personal finance, will the blog be giving more focus to health and wellness? Or is this just a passing phase?

As a colleague told me over lunch, “Health and wellness ang ibang topics mo pero hindi naman tugma sa blog site mo!”

We’ll see how this goes… And yes, I confirmed my attendance to the event.

Salamat, President Cory C. Aquino

We join the Filipino nation in honoring former Philippine President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

Corazon Cojuangco Aquino is not only an icon of democracy but a great role model for all Filipino women. She is a testament of the greatness any Filipino woman can achieve, the proof that a Filipino woman can make a great name for herself. 

Mrs. Aquino will always be remembered not only for what she did to the Filipino nation but also for being a shining example to all Filipino women.

Pay your PhilHealth premiums via text

I read in today’s Philippine Star that PhilHealth members can now pay their premiums via text.

According to the photo, individual-paying members of PhilHealth will soon enjoy the convenience of paying their monthly premium contributions via text messaging. This new facility is a joint project of PhilHealth and E-Soluzione, Inc.

We hope to get more information about this. We’ll keep you posted

eBay Ph’s Scam Patrol

Although eBay is still the best auction site in the Philippines, eBay is still in its infancy stage here and more safeguards must be implemented to protect its members. Every time I visit eBay’s discussion board, I’m disheartened to find threads, where eBay members ask for help or ranting about being scammed.

A few months back, I posted an entry about the 13 red flags of a fraudulent eBay transaction. Courtesy of eBay members jenny_lake and silverstrad, they listed down possible red flags that eBay members should know.

Now, there’s a new thread in eBay’s discussion board, courtesy of vigilant eBay members and spearheaded by hananim012. You will find a discussion of auction postings that are potentially fraudulent.

I encourage everyone to regularly visit the Scam Patrol thread to ensure that you are entering into a legitimate transaction. And if you see fraudulent listings in eBay, please do your part and share it with the rest of the eBay Ph community. Every voice counts.

Side Topic: Register and Vote

Less than a year to go and it will be the 2010 elections. You may have complaints about the current administration and so 2010 is a great time to exercise your right and let your voice be heard.

Are you a registered voter? If you’re not sure if your name is still included in the list of voters of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), you can check their website and see for yourself. Just click the Precinct Finder link, type in your name and see if you’re still an active voter. I tried it myself and saw that I’m still active.