Ang Dabawenyo

A couple of Dabawenyos have come up with a great new blog: PRC Board Exam Results. The idea germinated from the super-active minds of Winston Almendras (Batang Yagit) and Jehzeel Laurente (JehzLau Concepts). Only this month, Winston came up with the working site, with the objective of providing a centralized repository that provides nursing board exam results, among others. And then Jehz picked up on it right away, believing that it would provide a timely service to the burgeoning number of professionals in the Philippines. Immediately, they transferred the blog site to its own domain, prcboardexamresults.com. Read more »

It is not uncommon to hear about Americans, Europeans or Asians falling in love with Davao and settling down here for good. Davao City has that special appeal even to other Filipinos who hail from other cities. And from time to time, you chance upon a gold nugget in the haul. What’s not very common — but always an inspiration to find — is a foreigner who not only assimilates himself into Davao society, but contributes to its growth as well.

I can name a few: Claude le Neindre, a Frenchman who has gifted Davao with exquisite French cuisine. Watch out for my feature on his French bistro, Claude’s Le Café de Ville. Another worthy mentionable is Bob Martin of Mindanao.com and LiveInThePhilippines.com, among other things. He has singlehandedly done so much to improve the image of Davao and Mindanao in the eyes of fellow Americans and other foreign nationals. Read more »

Attending the launch of MTC Academy’s Basic Medical Transcription for High School program today, I met a young woman who, despite her visual impairment, was going to enroll at MTC to become a medical transcriptionist. Honey Paula is totally blind, and yet she uses the computer as well as any sighted person. According to Dr. Jaime Haw Jr., head faculty of MTC, who has overseen Honey’s practical tests, she actually performs a lot better than expected. (Incidentally, Jim Haw is a blogger — check this out!)

Read more »