These shoes were donated recently to the Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Education in Mintal, Davao City. In simple rites but in a festive setting, adidas executives, led by Country Manager Nolet Puno, turned over the shoes to the students of Pamulaan. All who study at Pamulaan are children of indigenous peoples from all over the country.

adidas assets graced the event, among them Purefoods cagers, Enrico Villanueva and Peter Jun Simon, who hails from Davao City.

Pamulaan, the first of its kind in Asia, is established in the Mintal campus of the University of South Eastern Philippines, which is about half an hour’s drive from downtown Davao City. At present, there are about 100 students taking up courses in education, agriculture and anthropology. At the turnover ceremony, students from various cultural minorities honored their guests with traditional dances: Manobo, Matigsalog, Mangyan, Ifugao, Teburay, and others.

The students, as well as everyone else in attendance, were treated to the antics of VJ Drei of MYX and the presence of TV idol Rayver Cruz, both of whom are also adidas assets. I’m sure that for both parties — the Pamulaan family and the adidas entourage — it was a first-of-a-kind encounter.

adidas chose Pamulaan as sole beneficiary of their corporate social responsibility project, according to Jillian Panganiban of adidas Philippines, because of the center’s uniqueness and worthy objectives. Pamulaan (from the Matigsalog word for ’seedbed’) is currently home to about 31 different indigenous peoples groups from all over the archipelago.

In his acceptance speech, Pamulaan founder Benjamin Abadiano stressed that this generous donation from adidas will benefit thousands of cultural minority students, a lot of whom walk to school across great distances. Pamulaan is based in Davao City, but extends its helping hands to indigenous peoples all over the country.

Bloggers @ the adidas-Pamulaan event

In behalf of my fellow bloggers, I’d like to extend sincere greetings of congratulations to adidas Philippines for the very charitable contribution it has made to our indigenous peoples.

Here are photos of the event, courtesy of Chattee Lara.

The much-awaited Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and Anflocor project took a significant stride with a groundbreaking ceremony held on site last 23 September 2008 for their joint venture dubbed as Abreeza.

The ceremony was attended by ALI & Anflocor executives and guests, who witnessed Anflocor Chairman of the Board Antonio O. Floirendo Sr., Ayala Corp. Chairman of the Board Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, Ayala Land Chairman of the Board Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Land President Jaime I. Ayala, Ayala Malls and Ayala Businesscapes Group Head Ma. Victoria E. Añonuevo, Head of Ayala Land Vis-Min Emilio J. Tumbocon, Anflocor Vice Chairman Antonio R. Floirendo Jr., Anflocor President Alexander Valoria, Anflocor Senior Vice President Ricardo R. Floirendo, Anflocor Directors Ma. Cristina R. Brias and Vicente R. Floirendo, with Davao City Administrator Wendell Avisado, break the ground at the Abreeza site along J. P. Laurel Avenue to formally signal the start of building work for the joint venture.

Abreeza is the first major entry project of Ayala Land, Inc. in Davao City. When completed, Abreeza is envisioned to be an integrated mixed-used development that will innovate the city’s urban landscape. It will include a three-storey shopping mall, two Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) buildings and, in the future, a hotel and residential and commercial lots. The first BPO building will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009 while the first phase of the mall will open in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Abreeza is not the Ayalas’ first development in Davao City, however. We mustn’t forget that the venerable Insular Hotel (now owned and operated by the Waterfront chain) was built by the Ayala family. The high-end Insular villages were also theirs, as well as the Insular Life and BPI buildings.

During the press conference on the same day, this time held at the Pearl Farm Marina, ALI President Jim Ayala, Anflocor Senior VP Ricky Floirendo and the other executives of these two corporations related how Abreeza will become a business-cum-leisure center that Dabawenyos will be proud of. If we are to base our expectations on Makati’s Greenbelt, Abreeza is certainly something to look forward to — in two short years!

The representatives who were at the presscon were the decision-makers of the joint venture, and so the media — as well as the bloggers — were able to glean juicier details than what was printed on the press releases. For example, Jim Ayala revealed that the total project cost up to 2011 will be Php 4 to 5 billion (but the question regarding ROI was predictably left unanswered).

Also, and this is something that I’m sure we will all appreciate, Abreeza will reportedly have around 20% of the 10-hectare property dedicated to open spaces. Think of those beautiful gardens and parks that dot the five Greenbelts in Makati.

Davao City has long been identified as a favorable investment destination for BPO companies, as well as a viable source of skilled manpower. Thus, Abreeza’s first finished product will be the 10,000-sqm building reserved for BPO and IT firms. The executives said that there have already been inquiries from such operators who have existing deployments in other ALI properties.

Prompted by questions from the press and from yours truly, the executives of ALI and Anflocor also talked about their dealings with the city government. Jim Ayala, who reiterated his company’s confidence in the city’s peace & order stability, also discussed plans to address the flooding situation along J. P. Laurel Avenue, as well as other plans to ensure the success of Abreeza’s development.

The entry of Ayala Land, in partnership with Anflocor, is a gleaming beacon of investor confidence in Davao City. Progress is inexorably in our midst.

The name Abreeza was coined from "breeze" and the Italian word for embrace, "abbraccio".

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In Davao, there is a growing number of businessmen who are getting on the digital bandwagon. When before it was near to impossible to do business with foreign clients and agents, today, practically the whole world is an open market.

This way of doing business, however, is a whole new practice. While the core principles might be the same, the paradigm is now totally different. One way of putting it is this: the ultimate objective is still to make a profit; but the way of going about it is completely new.

To give an example, consider credit card merchant accounts or merchant bankcards. Traditionally, these were services provided solely by banks or brick-and-mortar financial institutions. But in this day and age, we’ve gone beyond this limitation.

To a certain extent, business activity isn’t even limited by geographical boundaries anymore. A local company here can apply for an offshore credit card merchant account with any of the globally-aligned services that can be found online.

There’s no reason for Davao-based companies to miss out on this wave of opportunities. All it takes, really, is the willpower to go online and discover the potentials and realize them.

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This flagship research project by the AIM, established in 1999, is conducted every two years, and has since become a benchmark of Philippine cities’ overall economic standing. To quote the AIM:

…the Program envisions to promote national competitiveness by encouraging healthy competition among highly urbanized and emerging cities, emphasizing the crucial roles of small and medium enterprises as the backbone of local development. By gathering and compiling strategic data and providing focused analyses of the results, the PCCRP also seeks to cultivate competitive industries, promote healthy communities and maximize the economic potentials of the cities

This should be another reason for Dabawenyos to be proud of their beloved city. And it should be one more indicator of just how viable Davao is as an investment destination.

I have recently been to Lapu-Lapu, Makati and Quezon City, and the progress in those cities is clearly evident. Still, Davao City tops them all in the 2007 survey. The PCCRP includes the following criteria in its study: dynamism of local economy, cost of doing business, infrastructure, human resources and training, responsiveness of LGU to business needs and quality of life.

Dynamism of local economy / Cost of doing business / Infrastructure. There certainly is much dynamism in Davao’s local economy, as evidenced by an ongoing construction boom, and the entry of new industry players such as call centers and other BPO operators.

Human resources and training. Davao is a favorite hunting ground among headhunters, and the hiring rate of Dabawenyos is reportedly high. Call centers (e.g., Concentrix and People Support) view their Davao staff as highly trainable.

Responsiveness of LGU to business needs. Davao’s local government is the first to establish a "911" emergency response service, which is being supported by the Davao Light and Power Company. Aside from this, the LGU maintains very good working relationships with private enterprises and organizations.

Quality of life. Just read this blog and my readers’ comments… Need I say more?

Thank you to Councilor Pete Laviña for alerting us to this piece of news! It’s something all Dabawenyo bloggers should proudly post about!

The city government actually has a professionally-created map of the entire city, but they won’t release any part of it to the public. They say it’s for security reasons. One official actually told me, it’s to avoid having evil elements of society use the information. OK, that’s fine, but what about the other side of the coin?

What about businessmen who need, for example, to put GPS vehicle tracking in place? While GPS as a service is already available to us, the technology won’t be 100% deployable without the necessary geographical data.

Vehicle tracking is just one emerging requirement for companies with a fleet of cars and trucks and what have you. The technology behind GPS fleet tracking, even personnel tracking, is already possible at affordable rates — and it can even be developed locally. In fact, we already have a couple of local software development companies that are involved in such projects.

If only our local government would have a more forward-thinking attitude towards technology, they would realize that it is a tool that can greatly help in the city’s development in all levels.

So, I thought it might be good to blog about it, to help her find potential buyers. Here are some information I got from Mawie. The establishment is located on Mt. Apo Street, near the rotunda. It is around 70sqm, with a mezzanine. It can accommodate around 30 people.

Food type: Italian cuisine with pasta dishes as specialty (excellent dishes!); high-quality coffee and fruit-based drinks, hot and ice-blended; specialty cakes (and they’re really good, too).

Inclusive in sale price:

• naming rights and licenses
• recipes of the existing dishes
• tables and chairs
• countertops and dividers
• kitchen equipment and utensils
• dining ware
• existing decorations and supplies (food, kitchen, miscellaneous)
• 2-week intensive kitchen staff and service crew training and orientation
• finances monitoring system
• list and contact numbers of suppliers

If you’re interested, please drop me a line, and I’ll put you in touch with Mawie. Please, somebody assume Caffe Vivere! Their food is actually really good, especially the Shrimp Diavolo– to die for!

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Luckily, there is a solution to financial straits caused by abuse of the plastic currency. Credit card debt elimination is now possible by way of Clear Debt Results (CDR), a company based in Irving, Texas. Beyond mere advice, CDR offers professional assistance in getting you back on track financially.

Beyond debt consolidation services, Clear Debt Results helps you reduce your debt (40-75%, according to the literature on their website) and avoid the stigma of bankruptcy. If it’s a secure financial future that you’re after, bankruptcy should never be an option. With CDR, it doesn’t have to be.

Clear Debt Results is not a counseling firm, nor is it a place for legal consultation. What it is, is a debt settlement company that will help you get back on your feet by negotiating with your creditors. CDR’s people have extensive and successful experience in matters financial, so you can rest assured that they have your best interest in mind.

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One of them is the Idaho Mortgage Refinance service I found on the Web, provided by a company called Strategic Lending, LLC. They are a properties brokerage firm who will talk to both end-users as well as investors in real estate properties.

Their website, although rather avant-garde in its approach to design, lends an air of seriousness and modernity. Information on their various services and concerns is straightforward and plainly stated. Whether you’re in the market for a Utah Mortgage Loan, or elsewhere in the world but facing a similar challenge, you will appreciate the direct way that Strategic Lending presents their menu of offerings. There are even some helpful tools within their website, such as a mortgage calculator.

Another thing I appreciate is the fact that they’ve placed the quotation request form right out in the open. From any web page, you’ll be able to see the form and make use of it at any time you’re viewing the Strategic Lending website.

I wish we could have a local version of this Idaho Mortgage Refinance type of online service.

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What used to be a dusty, lonely part of town is now a vibrant collection of shops, restaurants, company offices and other business entities. Take a look at their parade of international cuisine: Japanese (Tsuru), Indian (Taj Minar), Spanish (Hola España), Vietnamese (Hanoi), Filipino (Q, Avenue S, Charlie’s), fast food (Crazy Bowl, Giacomino’s). There’s also a coffee shop, called Coffee Dream. Let’s not forget the Continental restaurant and wine cellar, Swiss Deli, which is just a stone’s throw away.

This setup is perfect for Microtel Davao’s guests. Microtel, a international chain of upper-class inns, opened a 51-room property right beside Damosa Gateway last 1 October 2007. This business hotel does not have an in-house restaurant, so the presence of the Gateway’s shops is very complementary indeed.

Aside from food places, there are also a pharmacy, boutiques, an Internet café, and a bank (RCBC Savings). Although Damosa Gateway is located quite a distance from the city center, it has the makings of a self-contained community.

Established in 2001 and slightly towering over the Gateway is the island’s foremost Japanese-language educational institution: Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku (Mindanao International College). Inside its compound as well is the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai School of Davao, which is MKD’s counterpart school for the elementary and high school levels.

I believe that a huge part of what pushed the development of this area in Davao is the establishment of Link2Support. This IT-enabled company is reportedly Mindanao’s largest call center. In Davao, it employs about 500 agents, with plans of expanding that number in the near future. Of course, credit is also due to Damosa Land, whose forward-thinking pioneers have brought vibrancy to this northern section of Davao City.

In order to land that job with a higher amount of certainty, create and design your curriculum vitae the best way possible. Use a resume writer to help you deliver the message that you’re the right man (or woman) for the job!

Speaking of which, it’s all about gifts this time of year. Receiving is a lot better, yes, but most of us find ourselves at the giving end now.

For those of you not in the city (or not in the country, for that matter) but want to send meaningful Christmas gifts to loved ones or business partners or whoever here in Davao, here’s the perfect Internet store at your service: WowDavao.

The cyber shopkeeper is my friend, so I can vouch for the reliability and professionalism of this outfit. And the wowdavao.com domain name used to be mine, so I’m very happy with what Bob Martin has transformed it into — a virtual shopping center with so many items to choose from.

And, they deliver to anywhere in Davao City.

Flowers for your girlfriend (or boyfriend)? Heck, why not an iPod? WowDavao carries Philippine-made jewelry, toys, appliances, food, … even mobile phone credits! So it’s not just for special occasions but for everyday needs, too. Give it a try and be one of WowDavao’s thousands of satisfied customers!

WowDavao accepts Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Discover. Wouldn’t it be neat though if they also accepted payments via PayPal?

This is not a paid post, by the way.

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