CEBU and DAVAO, hand in hand for a stronger Philippines!

[diehardbisdak]

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McDonald’s opens 9th branch

TARGETING residents and travelers in the northern part of the province, an international fastfood chain opened its ninth branch in Cebu.

The McDonald’s branch, which is located in Basak, Mandaue City, had its soft opening last Oct. 28. It will have a simultaneous grand opening with the Caltex gasoline station next month.

“This is the first McDonald’s branch in the Visayas that’s anchored in a gasoline station,” said Christian Eje, McDonald’s Cebu operations consultant.

Eje said most of its Manila branches are situated near gasoline stations.

This proves to be an advantage for the fastfood chain since it provides easy access for drive-through customers, he added.

McDonald’s Mandaue Branch, which features the latest architectural designs of the company, opens from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.

It has a sitting capacity of 200 with 60 service crews.

“The new branch has a bigger parking space. It’s very accessible since it’s located near the main highway,” Eje added.

Meanwhile, Eje also reported that its branch on Colon Street will reopen before the year ends.

“We are planning to open more branches next year,” he said. However, he refused to divulge more details.

More branches

In an earlier interview, Eje said McDonald’s is also eyeing an outlet at the Asiatown IT Park in Cebu City to cater to workers of call centers and software development companies located in the area.

Eje said he is optimistic that McDonald’s will continue to attract a growing number of customers, particularly those aged two years and above.

“Cebu has been the greatest contributor for Mc-Donald’s Philippines because it has brought positive business results and plans of future expansion,” he said.

McDonald’s has about 300 branches nationwide.

In Cebu, it has branches on Cebu South Road in the Basak-Mambaling area, Ayala Center Cebu, Osmeña Blvd., Fuente Osmeña, JY Square Mall, SM City Cebu and in Lapu-Lapu City. (MMM)

[diehardbisdak]

P4-B transaxial hi-way to connect entire Cebu province
PIA Online News
Cebu City (31 October 2006)

A P4-B transaxial highway that will unite the entire province of Cebu will be constructed by next year under a five-year plan program.

Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez disclosed that the transaxial highway also dubbed as the 'unity highway' aims to connect the municipality of Santander in the South to the town of Daan Bantayan in the North.

The unity highway will be a major project of the Provincial Government that is expected to fast track the economic growth of Cebu and reverse migration from urban to rural.

Sanchez said it is costly for the province to maintain the entire 600-km. coastal road with the problem of road right-of-way while any plan for road expansion is not feasible as the existing roads are narrow and already congested due to increasing population.

The vice-governor bared the highway will merely connect the existing roads citing the present roads from Santander to Argao in the south, Balamban (northwest) to Pinamungahan (southwest) and Tuburan to Compostela in the northern part. The construction of the transaxial highway will not be that costly as an alignment will just be done to connect these existing roads and come up with the unity highway, Sanchez said.

The transaxial highway will be a four-lane major thoroughfare that is also considered as a speed highway with no intersection and will save a lot of travel time, Sanchez added.

Construction of the major highway is likewise a holistic approach to entice the people to go back to the countryside as rural development is boosted, Sanchez further added.

Building good roads will be a major come-on for the industries to invest in the province especially in the countrysides while there are two Malaysian companies that have already expressed interest in constructing the transaxial highway, according to Sanchez.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo identified infrastructure as a vital tool to development particularly as the government envisions the Philippines to be among the First Nations by year 2020 as economic reforms have already been set in place. (PIA-Cebu/FCR)

source: PIA News



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...CEBU to the world! first, the famous dried mangoes, then Penshoppe, then the health drink Lacto Pafi, and now Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes....hehheheh.... next in line is Bo's Coffee Club...they'll be opening soon branches in the middle east and in far east asia !!!

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Cosmopolitan to open Vietnam outlet in '07
By Ehda M. Dagooc
The Freeman 11/01/2006



Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapels will be opening its first overseas outlet in Vietnam in the second quarter of 2007.

Cosmopolitan, which has the largest chain of memorial chapels in the country, launched its local and international franchise package in 2002. The Vietnam outlet opening next year will start the company's active positioning in the international market.

Expanding its overseas presence through franchise concept, Cosmopolitan franchise director and vice president for operations Kate Dychangco-Anzani said it took time for the company to clench the offshore deal because of cultural constraints especially in the death care and memorial care aspects.

In Vietnam, since the country has similar culture in the Philippines, it was a bit easier for the company to pursue the franchise business.

"Locals in Vietnam believe that there is a need for more professional funeral service," Dychangco-Anzani said.

The company offers an average of P20 million to P40 million franchise fee, depending on the location, and the size of the memorial chapel.

She said if the Vietnam operation goes well, the company will have to actively explore other franchise possibilities in other countries.

Cosmopolitan is banking on it's over 50 years experience in the funeral care service industry, with 17 chain of memorial chapels around the country.

The company has also introduced the first internationally accredited mortuary and funeral care skills training center at Nivel Hills, the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS).

According to Sarah Dychangco, PCAS president, the mortuary and funeral skills is always in demand whether in the Philippines or anywhere around the globe, as date rate is constant at 100 percent.

The training center arm of the Cosmopolitan will also serve as the human resource powerhouse of the company to compliment its bid to go international.

To date, the school has not only attracted locals, but also foreign students.

"What we commit to our franchisees is transitional growth and a partnership that will be beneficial through the years," Dychangco-Anzani said.

Last April of this year, the company started to export funeral care merchandizes, such as casket interiors, urn bags, some chemicals, and embalming fluids.

Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes Inc., has been in the death care service industry for over 50 years. The company started in Cebu, in 1950, by Renato Dychangco Sr. The very first branch opened to the public with aide of horses-then known as "kalesas" serving as the company hearse.

source: The Freeman Online

...photo by @rokbotoy of flickr.com

[diehardbisdak]

Firm opens budget hotel in downtown Cebu

A COMPANY that operates a chain of pension houses in Leyte has ventured into Cebu’s hotel industry.

“The opportunity in Cebu is big. Although we cannot say that we will be successful just yet but experience will teach us to become better,” said Vismin GV Hotel Inc. (Vismin-GVHI) owner Flor Villegas.

Vismin GVHI launched on Oct. 20 the GV Tower Hotel, which is located in downtown Cebu City.

Villegas also revealed that the company plans to construct a 45-story apartel on a 1,500-square meter property in Basak, Mam-baling, Cebu City.

The apartel, which is expected to be completed in 2008, will house 39 units and will cater mainly to foreigners and overseas Filipino workers, she said.

The company’s GV Tower Hotel, on the other hand, sits on a 600-square meter prime property.

The first six floors of the tower hotel is occupied by Citi Appliance and Universal Lending, which is also owned by the company, while the rest of the building is allotted to the hotel and its amenities.

Business travelers

“It’s a budget hotel,” Villegas told Sun.Star Cebu.

She said it would cater to business travelers and foreign and local tourists.

“Because of the limited space, we know we cannot provide all the amenities common in most hotels,” she said.

But the GV Tower Hotel has the basics: restaurant, coffee shop and a function room that can accommodate 250 guests.

Villegas said the hotel’s ideal location —close to restaurants, malls, churches, tourists spots and hospitals, among others — is what sets it apart from competitors.

She said safety of the guests is the hotel’s main priority.

The parking area is equipped with an electric shutter that automatically closes the gates at 10 p.m. The area also has a 24-hour security scanning system.

“We provide our guests with a card that they will present to the guard for them to enter or exit,” Villegas said. (MMM)

[diehardbisdak]

...IT investments are pouring in Cebu !!!

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Japanese IT firms to invest in Cebu
PIA Press Release
by Minerva BC
1 November 2006

According to the Cebu Investment Promotion Center (CIPC), five (5) Japanese information-technology (IT) companies plan to invest in Cebu this year. This confirms a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) that Japanese firms in the Philippines are more optimistic about doing business in the country, as shown by a positive business sentiment index for October 2006.

The current survey of 180 firms out of the total 271 Japanese companies registered in the Philippines showed 26.1% of the respondents felt business got worse in October, from 28.1% last month, while 28.9% felt their business got better this month, against 26.6% in September. JETRO said 45% of the respondents said their businesses remained the same in October the same number registered the previous month.

CIPC managing director, Joel Mari Yu said, the Tokyo-based companies were identified as Bell net Co. Ltd., ISFnet Co. Ltd., Sahara Systems Japan, Data Application Co. Ltd. and CyberTech Corp.

Yu said, these companies plan to set up only small operations here, which is ideal for Cebu, because it has yet to build its capability to serve their skills requirement. "For example, we don't really have the capability to provide 2,000 programmers," Yu explained.

Attracting these companies to set up business here will help Cebu show to the world that it can already handle IT investments, other than call centers and business process outsourcing, Yu added. "CIPC is getting in touch with various schools and universities in Cebu, arranging meetings with government and non-government organizations involved in IT development because these companies want to establish partnerships with IT schools and universities in Cebu," Yu said.

Based on CIPC data and company information materials, Bell Net, a software engineering company has already set up a temporary office in Cebu with a P10M capitalization, 10 full-time staff and 160 contract engineers and designers. ISFnet, on the other hand, offers consulting, system design, software development, hardware, computer system management and other IT-related services. It plans to invest with a $1.6M capitalization and hires about 1,600 employees. The company plans to hire and train engineers for three years and set-up a training school here later.

The Sahara Systems will partner with universities in Cebu to develop its Unix and Computing Service and Japanese language courses. It plans to come up with 4-year Unix course and hire qualified graduates of this course. Recently, the company offers its Unix box for free to the different universities here in return for acknowledgement of their contribution.

Meantime, the Data Application Co. has a capitalization of 200 million Yen with 50 employees providing various products including communication middleware and other IT support services. It core business is network systems development; while the CyberTech Corp. has an 80 million Yen capitalization and in involved in the development of the world's first commercial XML native database Cyber Luxeon and the development of XML database using middleware.

XML, or Extensible markup Language, according to a company brochure, is a simple and flexible text format designed for use in large-scale electronic publishing. It is also used in exchange of data on the Web.

As these developed in the Central Philippines, the country's chief negotiator in the trade talks with Japan, Senior Trade Undersecretary Thomas Aquino said, the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) signed by the two countries last week, is an "all-trade" pact that covers a comprehensive range of products; which means that all products produced in both countries are covered. Aquino added, Manila and Tokyo are set to work on a protocol or rules on how to do things under the JPEPA.

The Japanese embassy said, the Japanese government "sincerely hopes that JPEPA will come into force at the earliest possible date," as it believes that the agreement, which still has to be ratified by the Philippine Senate, "will be conducive to the further increase of trade and investments between the two countries and thus further promote the bilateral relations."

source: Philippine Information Agency

[diehardbisdak]

...The Cebu Asiatown IT Park





















...pics from flickr.com

[diehardbisdak]

Realizing their ‘Potensyal’
Manila Bulletin
2 Nov '06

The year-long hunt for outstanding Department of Education divisions that have successfully integrated information and communication technology (ICT) in student teaching and learning curriculum is concluded with the announcement of the winners of Microsoft Philippines’ Partners in Learning (PiL) search, called Potensyal: Building the 21st Century School System.


Besting over 180 teams all over the Philippines, the divisions of Muntinlupa, Cebu Province and Digos emerged as the winners of Potensyal. Each division will be awarded with training and technology grants totaling nearly P10-million.

With Potensyal, the initiative and desire to improve the school system comes from the schools and divisions themselves as the process of conducting the trainings and gathering the materials for documentation depended entirely on the commitment of the divisions.

Microsoft Philippines Partners in Learning is an initiative to provide schools and students access to information and communications technology (ICT) based learning solutions to empower students with knowledge that will boost their competence and skills, enabling them to realize their full potential. As part of PiL, Potensyal aims to recognize the most innovative schools and divisions that are also open to technology and driven to empower people. In addition, the search encourages the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process in the divisions.

"In PiL programs, like No Teacher Left Behind and the Innovative Teachers Leadership Awards for example, teachers have undergone trainings that enhance their skills as educators. Potensyal, on the other hand, reveals how our teachers and school administrators have successfully worked together to implement and employ what they have learned," said Michelle Casio, Academic Program Manager, Microsoft Philippines.

The multi-phase search began in 2005 with the pre-selection phase, which confirmed the divisions’ adopted and integrated PiL programs, as well as the number of principals and teachers who have undergone the Digital Literacy Training and 21st Century Leadership Course. 74 divisions coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were considered to be eligible for the search.

The top 30 divisions then proceeded to the second phase, the verification and validation phase, where improvements on the selected entries were made. In the 21st Century School System finals, the third phase, the final 30 were invited to Manila to attend a special session that improved their presentation skills in preparation for the panel judging.

After deliberating on the presentations, the panel voted on the three divisions with the most sustainable and purpose-driven documents. These three were nominated to move on to the fourth and last phase, Realizing Potensyal, and were recognized in the awarding rites held today.

Potensyal was implemented with the support of Galileo Educational Corporation, I.T. Works, Manila Broadcasting Company, Mobile Concepts Asia and Smart Communications, Inc. through the Smart Schools Program, its flagship community service initiative in education.


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Philippine Estates to build two malls
Manila Times - Cheryl M. Arcibal
Thursday, November 2, 2006

PHILIPPINE Estates Corp. (PEC) is set to develop two malls in the Visayas region next year.

Elvira Ting, PEC president, told reporters that the company will continue with the development of its residential projects in Cebu and Iloilo by including commercial centers in these projects.

“Definitely, next year, we will go ahead with these projects,” she said.

Among the publicly-listed company’s projects are the Pearl of Orient Tower along Roxas Boulevard, Plastic City Industrial Park and Pacific Grand Residences in Valenzuela City, Pacific Grand Villas in Lapu Lapu City, and the Chateaux Geneva and Coastal Villas in Iloilo.

Ting earlier said the company is willing to spend as much as P200 million to buy more land, adding that it plans to put up five projects within the year.

She said the company is eyeing mid-rise condominium buildings in Metro Manila, citing the Taft-Malate district, San Juan and Makati as possible locations.

In the third quarter, PEC only “broke even” owing to “flat sales,” Ting said, without providing details.

She however noted that the property sector is still picking up.

In the first six months of the year, PEC said it sustained losses of P0.8 million, a turnaround from P22 million in profits gained in the same period last year.

In a report to regulators, the company said it has lined up three projects, two of which are expected to commence development in 2007.

These projects include the Pacific Grand Townhomes, a 2.2-hectare residential townhouse development in Marilao, Bulacan, the Pacific Grand Residences Dasmariñas and the Tagaytay Project in Calabuso.

[diehardbisdak]

cebu pics by @slerz

N. Bacalso Ave. (known as Hi-Way in Cebu) Salazar Institute Technology
[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/NB1.jpg[/img]

the Marcelo Fernan Bridge (view from the 1st bridge)
[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/2ndMMB.jpg[/img]

Cebu City Skyline (it's becoming crowded and looking good especially at night)
[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/SL7.jpg[/img]

..approach going to the 1st Mactan bridge (backdrop is the University of Cebu - LM)
[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/UC1.jpg[/img]

...San Miguel Brewery (shot para igat !)

[diehardbisdak]

...this must be a good news !!! ...no wonder why shopping centers in Cebu are always full !!!

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Poor declining in region despite high nat'l figures
The Freeman 11/05/2006

Despite the recent survey by the Social Weather Station that a large number of Filipinos are hungry, poverty in Central Visayas has gone down from 36.2 percent in year 2000 to 28.3 percent in 2003, the National Economic Development Authority said.

Rafael Tagalog, NEDA-7's Social Development Division chief said that in the region Cebu has remained among the provinces with the lowest poverty rate with 21.1 percent. Bohol comes next with 34.9 percent.

Tagalog said that fast economic development in Cebu and the nearby province of Bohol have provided employment to the residents and improved the standard of living of the people.

However, Negros Oriental and Siquijor registered an increase in number of poor persons with 43.4 percent and 37.4 percent, respectively. In 2000, Negros Oriental has registered a poverty rate of 37.1 percent while Siquijor has 32.7 percent.

Tagalog said that the increase in number of poor in Negros Oriental might be brought by the insurgency. He explained that threats of terrorism might have discouraged investors in the province and slowed down the economic activity.

In Siquijor, he added that lack of economic development due to lack of investors have also slowed down the growth of the province and residents.

But in general, Tagalog said that the region's poverty has gone down, proof that the local government leaders are doing well in their implementation of the poverty alleviation programs of the government.

Tagalog said that he is not alarmed by the recent survey of SWS because in the Visayas, it is not only Region 7 that is involved but also Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), which has high poverty rate.

He likewise urged SWS to validate and check what the government does in solving poverty and make the lives of the people better.

The latest survey conducted by the SWS revealed that 2.9 million households in the country are experiencing hunger and 51 percent of Filipinos consider themselves poor.

According to SWS, the 2.9 million out of 17.4 million households in the country amounts to 16.9 percent, matching a "record high" reached last March and September.

It added that "results indicate that while some families managed to cross the borderline of poverty, other families began to suffer the deep deprivation of hunger."

Hunger has been at double-digit levels since the second quarter of 2004, it said. The latest survey was conducted from September 24 to October 2.

On the other hand, it said the 51 percent who consider themselves poor was slightly down from the 59 percent in the second quarter of 2006.

Severe hunger, defined as going hungry "often" or "always" in the last three months, went up to 4.6 percent in September or some 800,000 households, from 3.4 percent in June.

Moderate hunger, defined as experienced "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months, rose to 12.3 percent, or about 2.1 million households, from 10.1 percent in the previous quarter. - Wenna A. Berondo/BRP

[diehardbisdak]

more Cebu pics by @slerz...









[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/Cebuharbour.jpg[/img]

[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/BCebuDailyNews.jpg[/img]

[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/ctsavings2.jpg[/img]

[img width=500 height=375]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/DSCN5472.jpg[/img]

[img width=500 height=73]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/Slerz2/SL1.jpg[/img]

[diehardbisdak]

TeleTech expects to employ 1k agents
By Ehda M. Dagooc
The Freeman 11/06/2006

Inbound customer management call center, TeleTech has officially opened its 700-seat facility in Cebu and projected to employ about 1,000 call center agents in the next eight months.

In a press conference, TeleTech vice president and general manager for the Philippines Maulik Parekh said that the good relationship between the government and the private sector and the good quality of workforce in Cebu has encouraged the company to set up its 8th call center outlet in the Philippines here.

Initially, the Cebu operations will provide customer management service to the company's big clients in the United States, which are big airline firms, retail chain, telecommunications and electronic companies.

"A couple of clients are on the pipeline to be served by the Cebu operation," Parekh said.

TeleTech entered the Philippines in 2002. It has four facilities in Manila, one in Lipa City, Dumaguete and Bacolod, with a total of 8,500 employees.

According to Parekh, the company may open another facility in Cebu, as soon as the 700-seat will be fully occupied.

Tele Tech Cebu started its operations last month, with 300 call center agents. Parekh said despite the competition in hiring qualified agents in Cebu with so many call centers coming in and expanding, TeleTech was able to hire at least 300 qualified agents in just two months. About 30 percent of which came from other call centers, with majority of 70 percent are fresh entrants in the industry. Unlike other call center firms, which suffered from high attrition rate, TeleTech is able to keep its employees and made them stay longer. Some have even reached to three years in service, because of its unique program to take care of its workforce. One of its strategies aside from establishing a work-friendly office environment is to bring the facility nearer to residential areas, instead of locating in a business district, to provide easy access to employees.

The Cebu Customer Management Center (CMC) located in Oakridge IT center in Mandaue City has two sprawling floors designed to provide call center agents with modern amenities and state of the art technology.

Tele Tech is a leading global business outsourcing (BPO) company based in Denver, Colorado. It provides a full range of front-to-back office outsourced solutions including customer management, transaction-based processing, and database marketing services.

The company has 46,000 employees worldwide and handles 2.7 million live customer interactions or calls over US$1 billion in commerce for its clients daily.

The company provides service to wide range of clientele in commercial, cable, satellite, insurance, retail chain, telecommunications, and airlines, among others. Most of its clients are in the Fortune 500 circle. President Arroyo to grace ICT Congress this month By Ehda M. Dagooc Staff Member

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has confirmed to formally open the upcoming International Congress on ICT set on November 16-18, 2006, at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

This was announced by the organizer of the Congress, which is the second ICT stakeholders' gathering in Cebu this year that hopes to attract more than a thousand delegates from all over the Philippines, including representatives from 40 countries.

Arroyo has been pushing for the fast development of ICT (Information Communication Technology) sector in the Philippines, tagging the industry as an important employment generator.

Organized by the three government-owned institutions in the regional level, CHED, Tesda, and Department of Education together with other private institutions, like the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), Cebu International Distance Education College (CIDEC) among others will carry the theme "A Global Challenge in Education."

Arroyo was also the keynote speaker during the National ICT in Basic Education Congress hosted by the DepEd held in Cebu last few months ago.

Arroyo believes that there is a need for the Philippines to nurture the ICT capabilities as it is the wave of the future, saying "It (ICT) is the employment provider [of the country]." Renowned practitioners of e-learning and distance education, instructional designers, ICT trainers, teachers and other members of the academe will convene for the three-day congress. These participants will be identifying the challenges of integrating ICT in education, sharing knowledge on global ICT trends that could potentially enhance education in schools, and mining insights on how teachers can harness the power of ICT through innovative teaching strategies.

The Congress is considered as the most appropriate and effective venue that all practioners of e-learning, distance education, instructional designers, faculty, teachers and ICT trainers, would share information and experience on their ICT activities, discuss problems they encountered and explore possible ways of overcoming them, said CHED-7 regional director Enrique P. Grecia.

"We wanted to update the academe, students, teachers, and other stakeholders in ICT on the latest trend in technology right now. We hope to provide knowledge buildings [academe], and the students the update and prospects in technology," Grecia added. The Congress is going to highlight the topic on "Unfulfilled promises of the digital revolution and the many obstacles on the road towards Universality in Education."

Swiss Ambassador of Federal department of foreign affairs, Walter Fust, is set to discuss on this topic, to give participants a wider view of ICT development and its challenges in the worldwide landscape.

source link: Philstar/Freeman Online