Condo Unit for Rent

Here's a condominium unit I am leasing out. It measures 57.5 square meters, has two bedrooms, two toilets and baths, a kitchen, a loft and a dining and receiving area. The unit is furnished with a sofa, a dining table, one queen-sized and one single-sized beds, an aircon, two stand fans, and other household necessities.

Condominium amenities include a swimming pool, a clubhouse, a three-level underground parking and a 24-hour very strict, no-nonsense security. The building has its own 7/11 outlet, a branch of Allied Bank, ATM machines, a spa center, a KTV, and a restaurant cum bar that features exotic animals that include talking parrots and a twenty-feet-long boa constrictor.

Its best selling point, however, is its location, its accessibility. The condo unit is in Xavierhills Condominium located along corner Gilmore and N. Domingo Streets in Quezon City. It's just a block away from Gilmore LRT Station, Broadway Centrum, Gilmore IT Center, and St. Paul University, Q.C. It's a mere five-minute ride from St. Luke's Hospital, Xavier School, Immaculate Conception Academy, Greenhills Shopping Center and Cubao. Joel Torre's Manukan Grille and Mt. Carmel Church are both at a walking distance. You can have the day's newspaper, your laundry, water, and meals delivered right at your doorstep. Plus, a number of our local celebrities live in the place and you get to elbow with them right in the elevators.

The unit itself is dressed with wooden and antique interiors. My fascination with antiques definitely reveals itself in the unit's setup. A few mementos I gathered from my travels, both in the different parts of the country and abroad, would find their way in said condo unit. There's that old baul I brought from Ilocos, the lampshades from East Germany, the tiny bronze jars from India, the wooden mask from Sagada, the image of St. Joseph and the child Jesus carved from a Molave driftwood, the driftwood narra table from my hometown in Bicol, and yes, the Mona Lisa cross-stitched by my doting Mama before she has had her stroke that left her hands, well, incapable of doing more cross-stiches. And oh, I also have some golf clubs in the unit which any golf aficionado would be free to use. Just ask me to swing with you, buddy, and you'll be surprised I'm so easy to please and am actually so cheap. You might just find yourself spending free board and lodging in my unit for a couple of days. Hehehe.

A catch though: the condo unit is for transients only. You see, I've had a very bad experience renting it out for longer contracts. But you know, it's perfect for your balikbayan friends and relatives. It's perfect for your visiting friends and relatives from the provinces, too. And it would be perfect for those who would come to Manila for conferences or seminars.

My rate: Php 500 per pax per day for four pax and above or Php 2,000 per day for three pax and below.

I hope you'll find it reasonable. And if you don't, well, I always enjoy talking to people who know how to haggle.

Contact me through this blog or drop me a line at balangaw98@yahoo.com.

Other services offered by Theotokos Int'l. Ents.

Theotokos International Enterprises holds office in Intramuros, Manila. It also has a marketing office located at AF Pasig Cold Storage Plant along Shaw Boulevard Extension, Pasig City.


Other Services

The company, through its subsidiary, Easyway Customs Brokerage, also offers services in the following areas:

• Customs brokerage
• Trucking
• Import-export consultancy
• Indentation

The compnay has all the facilities and prides itself with proven and tested expertise in securing the immediate release and delivery of its customers' cargoes. Likewise, the company is geared towards rendering specific service that the client may require to perform, thus giving flesh to the popular slogan “Customer’s satisfaction guaranteed.”

Chicken Products

Drumstick
Legquarter

Pork Products (Part 2)

Liver
Loin Ham Ends
Loin Rib Ends
Spareribs

Pork Products (Part 1)

Bellies
Boneless Picnic
Femur Bones
Ham Bone In
Ham Trimmings

Beef Products (Part 2)

Striploin
Tenderloin Side
Top Sirloin

Beef Products (Part 1)

Brisket
Chuckroll
Cuberoll
Flanksteak
Knuckle

Some of the Things I Sell

I am a true-bloodied magbababoy. Or magkakarne if you prefer. Through Theotokos International Enterprises, the first company I founded, I sell different kinds of meat - beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. I deal with most of the country's leading meat processors, I supply meat to different upscale, mid-scale as well as low-scale restaurateurs, other importers and traders, and wet markets in and around Metro Manila.

I import my stocks from Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Korea.

Two advantages of buying imported meat that most Filipinos still aren't aware of: One, imported meat costs at least 30% less than our local meat; and two, imported meat is of much better quality than our local brands.

Why is imported meat cheaper than our local meat? Because international prices of meat are dictated by free competition. For instance, I am currently selling pork liver from the USA at P50 per kilo. Traders at Farmers market in Cubao are currently selling the same at P105 per kilo.

Why is imported meat of better quality than our local meat? Several factors come into play. Feeds play a most important role. Our local hogs for instance are fed with low-grade feeds if not left-overs from our tables; hogs from my suppliers are pampered with feeds and vitamins which are all scientifically developed and tested. Environment provided for the animals comes next. Our local hogs for instance are mostly raised in backyard environment and endure our tropical heat; hogs from my suppliers live in airconditioned pens. Rearing and slaughtering practices are another important factor. Hogs in our country are for instance slaughtered very inhumanely, with knives slitting through the animals' throats which cause the animals to shriek and thereby contract their muscles; Hogs from my suppliers are slaughtered very humanely, often through electric shock, which even relaxes the muscles of the animals. Now, be aware that contracted muscles of the animal have very negative effects in the taste of the animal's meat. Just imagine, the animal could have died from shrieking, not entirely from loss of blood through the slit in its throat. You died shrieking, shaking, even wildly protesting your death and your being tied in all fours, would you still wonder if your flesh would ever taste good? Also, local hograisers would still market sow meat even after four or five childbirths. Imagine the meat of a lola who has already given birth to dozens of children. How do you think would it taste? Sorry for the analogy but a study I made a couple of years ago showed that the average Filipino eats at least 9 kilograms of sow meat a year. Now, sow meat for my suppliers are not for human consumption. They are made into feeds.

In the meat industry, I've learned a lot about meat science. I shall write about them in due time. Meanwhile, herewith below are some of the meat products I carry and -- in Filipino -- nilalako.

Pili na po kayo!!

Products

The products being imported and traded by the company include but are not limited to the following:

• Pork

o Ham
o Loin
o Belly
o Fat
o Skin on fat
o Skin (Back, Belly & Mixed)
o Liver
o Ear
o Headmask
o Jowl
o Rosary bones
o Back bones
o Femur bones
o Picnic

• Beef

o Tenderloin
o Striploin
o Sirloin
o Rib eye
o Chuck
o Forequarter
o Brisket
o Shank
o Tripe
o Mechanically Deboned Meat
o Trimmings

• Chicken

o Legquarter
o Mechanicaly Deboned Meat

My company

Now, let's talk about business. And lemme start by introducing to you the first company I founded. Hereunder is a profile of Theotokos International Enterprises, one of my import-export firms. In my next posts, I shall introduce to you, dear friends -- and dear future clients -- the different products I carry and, hmm, sell.

A Humble Beginning

Theotokos International Enterprises is an import-export firm that specializes in the importation and trading of frozen meat products. Founded in June 2002, it carries the seemingly quixotic vision of providing quality and the most affordable food on every Filipino's table.

The discrepancy between the quality and affordability of food that are feeding the Filipino people has long been a painful fact that burdened the Filipinos. The reality that most affordable foods are not quality foods and almost all quality foods are not very affordable stared especially at the faces of the founders of the company like the eyes of the Gorgons. To their mind and according to their faith and principles, quality and affordability should exist like twins in matters as important as food. To bridge the seemingly irreconcilable gap thus, they immediately laid out the foundations of one grandiose dream.

That dream would soon become Theotokos International Enterprises.

From then on, there was no turning back. Armed only with the needed experience, knowledge and a strong passion to succeed, the company, in the spirit of its adopted motto often found posted in many a door, made all the PUSH and PULL that slowly put Theotokos International Enterprises in its rightful place in the Philippine meat industry.

The company proved itself relentless and success-driven. It wouldn’t let one stone unturned that would help in the building of one great edifice that is Theotokos International Enterprises. It boldly stirred itself into the heights and the depths, where its own wits and guts were challenged and where its potentials were brought to their heights.

Today, Theotokos International Enterprises caters to its certified clients that include leading meat processors in the country as well as leading restaurateurs, traders and wholesalers. It continues to grow, to be strong, and to be where one really meets the meat.

Indeed, to PUSH and to PULL.

Vision Statement

A company defined by unrelenting pursuit for excellence, unparalleled service and total commitment in contributing to the nourishment of health and well being of every Filipino family by providing quality and the most affordable meat and meat products for every Filipino family’s table.

Mission Statement

• We aim to provide the most affordable and the best quality of meat and meat products for every Filipino family’s table for the purpose of contributing our share in the nourishment of health and well being of each member of the Filipino family.
• We aim to provide the best quality in our products and the biggest opportunities for work and business by:
• Providing the highest standards in labor;
• Promoting a culture of industriousness and diligence, and particularly, Theotokos International Enterprises’ culture of “PUSH and PULL”; and
  
• Offering an unparalleled service.

Our Commitment

We hereby commit to:

• Establish, maintain and sustain committed partners in the market.
• Invest in and maintain excellent systems in management, marketing and partnerships.
• Nurture and sustain the Theotokos International Enterprises’ culture of industriousness and diligence aptly crystallized in its motto often found posted in many a door - PUSH and PULL.
• Invest in and maintain superior utilities and machineries.
• Nurture and enhance the capabilities and skills of employees through continuing education and trainings.

When Socialism and Capitalism Tie the Knot

There can be marriage between socialism and capitalism after all. China, since the early '90s, showed it can be done. Today, amid setbacks in grappling the melamine menace, the world slowly comes to grips with the realization that socialism may just be the shot in the arm that capitalism desperately needs.

Herewith is an article bannered today by different media organizations around the world including Einnews, Channel News Asia, Canadian News, Today Online and our own Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Comrades, the current challenge is how to consummate this marriage in the Philippine political landscape. Read on and ponder.


Communist giant may save capitalism

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:53:00 10/10/2008

SYDNEY—A cartoon on the front page of Australia’s national newspaper on Thursday neatly illustrates an irony admitted even by two of America’s staunch allies, Australia and the Philippines—that communist China could save capitalism.

The cartoon shows a Chinese man in a Superman outfit telling exactly that to a bankrupt, cigar-smoking Wall Street tycoon covering his nakedness in a barrel.

“Oh, you’re just loving this, aren’t you,” the fallen high-flyer replies in the cartoon in The Australian.

Amid turmoil in the world financial sector, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted China’s economy would grow at more than 9.0 percent next year while much of the West faced recession.

That’s good news for Australia and also for the Philippines.

“China is now a major influence in the world economy and it’s significant that the IMF doesn’t downgrade its growth prospects,” Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said.

“So we are well positioned to continue to sell an awful lot of exports to China and we believe that that’s one of the important factors that’s protecting Australia, to some extent, from the influences of the US financial crisis,” Tanner said.

Australia’s own economic boom has been driven for years by China’s insatiable demand for mineral resources, such as iron ore for steelmaking and coal to fire up its industries.

Tanner’s remarks followed those of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who said: “China has a huge impact on the economies of the east Asia region, as well as the global economy.”

“My understanding is that China will continue to drive strong economic growth for its own national purposes, but that’s also good for countries like Australia because China is such a major trading partner of ours,” Rudd added.

The Australian officials’ comments found echo in the Philippines.

RP in good shape

Speaking in Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday said the Philippines had found new export partners mainly for its agricultural produce, helping cushion the impact of the US financial crisis on the Philippine economy.

Ms Arroyo said the leading destination of Philippine exports was now China. Also atop the list is Japan, she said.

“The US is no longer our top export market,” Ms Arroyo said in a speech at the “Agri-Link, Food-Link, and Aqua-Link” exhibition at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Ms Arroyo said any slowdown or even recession in the United States would not be good for the global economy.

“That said, the Philippines appears in relatively good shape,” she said.

Time to broaden markets

Ms Arroyo said the potential exposure of the Philippine banking sector to the asset deflation triggered by the subprime mortgage losses in the United States accounted for less than 1 percent of the total system assets in the Philippines.

“Our banks are well capitalized and the innate conservatism of our bankers is matched by the prudence of our regulators,” she said.

Ms Arroyo said this was the time for agri-business to exploit the financial liquidity of the country’s banking sector to expand its role in its niche markets.

She was particularly elated by the availability of “nonmainstream” products, such as mangosteen and papaya pastes, yogurt, civet coffee, goat’s milk soaps, the “Dory” fish, black tiger prawns, low-fat salad dressings, palm sugar and indigenous plants.

“All of these will appeal to different segments of local and foreign markets,” Ms Arroyo said.

She also said the Middle East could be a top destination for Philippine exports.

Reports from Christian V. Esguerra and AFP

Carrots, Eggs and Coffee

Here is something my sister Erma, the most incurable optimist I know, emailed to me. Definitely worth sharing with everyone. Read on.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

”Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

”Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity wilt and become soft and lose strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

My Condominium Woes

I was in cyberlimbo for the past twelve days at least. For reasons known only to my provider, my internet connection went pfft, this despite my updated payment. At first, starting on the second half of September, connection could not be established in the daytime and would only be available starting at nine in the evening. To say therefore that it deprived me of precious opportunities for my business, plus precious little time of night rest, would be an understatement. About two weeks ago, it completely went dark. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

I frantically dialed my provider’s customer hotline number. It was useless. I dialed their customer service number, their trunk line number, their fax number, even the cellphone number of their collector. All proved inutile. I dialed a hundred times, maybe more, spent more than two hours doing the finger exercise, at first using my pointer, then my thumb, and slowly graduated to my ring finger and pinky finger, until I finally gave the middle finger – yup, the dirty one – and ended up cursing my internet provider.

And cursing my condominium’s developer more.

You see, all this is part of the grand design that my condominium’s developer made. My condominium’s developer, whose owner is now the country’s newest taipan, did a quite splendid job in capturing us, his naïve market, with heavy chains around our necks by promising us that those chains which actually stole our freedom were made of 24 karat gold.

My internet connection is but one of these business tricks that my developer employs. My developer entered into an exclusive contract with this relatively unknown internet provider and imposed the exclusive services of this same internet provider upon the unit-owners. We couldn’t avail of DSL from other internet service providers. The developer would not allow that. At one time, the developer even did not allow wireless connection and only relented when they realized the futility and foolishness of their directive.

The thing with this internet connection is that each connection or subscription is merely one branch of the same tree, one domain distributed among hundreds of users. The service provider advertises that their company offers at least 5 or 10 mbps but they do not provide separate modems for each subscriber. This means that the available 5 or 10 mbps is being shared by the hundreds of subscribers in the condominium. Imagine a six lane highway where all cars are going to a one lane bottleneck. There are over 700 units in my condominium and if only one half of these unit owners will subscribe to an internet connection, it follows that the subscriber only gets 5 or 10 mbps divided by 350 of the original service that the provider is supposed to deliver. If all 350 unit owners would be connected to the internet at the same time, that would mean that each would only be up at a measly 28 kbps. Harang? But wait, there’s more. Callously, the provider charges an amount which is even higher than that of the leading DSL providers. This is because the internet provider is under contract required to give a certain percentage of its profit to, but who else, my developer. Galing no?

Another gisa-sa-sariling-mantika business trick of my developer: the telephone. The developer, despite all our protests, uses the PABX system in our condominium. I have nothing against the PABX system per se, but this system only works best in offices. It is never – again, never – for residential units.

When I first set my foot on this place, there were only two available lines, one PLDT, the other Bayantel. These two lines were distributed through PABX system among the 700 plus units. So, imagine if one would make telebabad and another would connect to the internet via the dial-up route. T’was the worst telephone service in the whole country. It was impossible to make a call and it was impossible to receive one, too. You can do the finger exercise for five hours, ten hours or even for twenty-four hours. The result would be the same: a calloused dirty finger raised against the developer. But wait again, for there’s more. The developer charges an amount which is higher than the charges made by both PLDT and Bayantel! So, suppose the developer pays P700 per month for each of the two lines, and charges each unit owner P800 per month and there are more than 700 units in the condominium. Wow, that is already a whopping P560,000 plus per month income for the developer! And that is only courtesy of two telephone lines at a total monthly capital of P1,400. Great business, right? Galing! Galing talaga! At kami naman, tanga-tanga talaga!

All these of course are illegal and one can always file a complaint at the proper venue but that of course would be hard to sell to say the least. File a case against a taipan? Heller, c’mon, any volunteers?

About three years ago, however, we started to raise fists and voices and began to unfurl red banners. The developer fortunately saw the biblical “Mene Mene Tekel” and reluctantly added more lines. Tinablan din ng hiya. The good news: we now have 45 lines. The bad news: we still use the PABX system.

We have the same problem with cable: the cable provider had an exclusive contract with the developer. Skycable is more unreachable than the sky. Setting up discs or even the late Ernie Baron’s antenna is anathema.

The problems in my condominium community seem endless. We have problems in electricity rate, water rate, association dues, even in real estate taxes for common areas. It is best expressed in Filipino: lahat pinagkakakitaan ng developer habang gisa sa sariling mantika ang mga unit owners.

All these, however, pale compared to the most serious problem that we have ever since the condominium was constructed: fire safety. But that is of course another, well, BIG story.

Meanwhile, we continue to make the developer richer, and with the chains on our neck getting heavier by the day, we continue to play as his captured market and continue to bow to his every whim and caprice. What else can we do beyond organizing the unit owners to consolidate our legitimate gripes into one collective voice? Well, we murmur that sweetest and most therapeutic Filipino expletive:

P___ i____ talaga ang Megaworld na yan!!