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filipino globe
the city
April 2008
P45,000 loan to open your
ANGBANSA
Cagayan
Tuberculosis is no longer one of
very own internet business
the 10 leading causes of death
in the Cagayan Valley region.
Dr Tita Callueng, assistant
regional director of the
Department of Health, said
local residents have been freed
DBP launches program to help workers tap growing demand for online services
from the disease.
She attributed this to a
change in lifestyle of the local
Reggie Amigo in Hong Kong
population, coupled with a
relentless drive by health
authorities.
R
emember the old black
telephone with the rotary dial
“People are now more
that often caught your finger?
conscious of their health than
ever before,” she said.
If you’re too old to remember or
“They choose the kind of
too young to know, here’s a clue: It
food they eat, work in a more
delivered pulses in your ear as you
healthy environment and have
dialled, and created a sound similar
healthy lifestyles.
to that of a spring-loaded bicycle bell
“Those who are afflicted with
being pulled like mad.
the disease come out into the
It used to sit in a little corner in open and submit themselves
a sari-sari store, or just behind the to treatment,” Callueng
chicken wire on the counter. You had told a health conference in
to reach in through a hole, or ask
Tuguegarao.
someone to push it out, to use it.
There’s still a few of the old black
Davao
telephone around, but it won’t be
long before it goes the way of the
In a sudden change of heart, a
jukebox, betamax and vinyl record.
man who had pleaded guilty to
“For the longest time, it was an
illegal possession of firearms
indispensable service for small sari-
withdrew his plea and decided
sari store owners and it somehow
to stand trial.
helped them drive up sales,” said
Marlon Tacang was facing
Rey David, president and chief
sentencing when he asked for
executive of the Development Bank leave to change his plea, saying
of the Philippines. he was under severe stress
“Now everybody has a cell phone when he admitted guilt.
and they can use it to call from even
He said he entered the guilty
the most remote places.”
Not everyone, however, has
internet access. And the way things
have changed around the sari-sari
store concept has paved the way for
a new kind of service – the internet
OFWs are driving growth in internet services with their increasing appetite for cheap, instant visual communication.
cafe.
BY THE NUMBERS We can double,
David said an applicant can tap
DBP was among the first to see its
microfinancing to either start or grow
potential for small businesses.
Amount, in pesos, of microfinancing
Nine months ago, it launched its
his internet business.
loans lent so far to small businesses
or even triple,
plea despite his lawyer’s advice
P1 billion I-Net program in Manila,
Demand for internet services
to the contrary because he
and last month, it began pitching the
16B
the amount has taken off with the OFW
had not been in the right frame
project in Hong Kong.
of the loan,
phenomenon, driven by a growing
of mind. Tacang blamed his
With a P45,000 loan to be provided
appetite for cheap, instant visual
distress to his parents’s failure
by DBP, an applicant can start an depending on
communication.
to visit him in jail and attend the
internet cafe. “The package includes
“We always have a long waiting
the paying
hearings.
one computer, software and wireless
list on Sundays,” said Cely Obregar,
Judge Virginia Europa of the
broadband. Installation and set-up free of charge in the Philippines once
capacity of the
who helps run an internet shop in regional trial court is studying
are free,” David said. their application is approved.
Central. Tacang’s motion.
He said this is ideal for small sari- Repayment is spread over 18
applicant
“These are from people who book
Defense lawyer John Zamora
sari stores as a value-added service, months, which works out to P2,700 a
a session at a specific time, which
said his client has a strong
or as a first step in setting up a month, including interest.
REY DAVID
has been pre-arranged with their
chance of being cleared
DBP president and chief executive
because the weapon in question
standalone internet business. “There are no other costs, but
families in the Philippines.”
(sumpak) is not among those
“We can double, or even triple, the the operator will pay the local fees
Hong Kong-based Renz Valencia
listed as illegal firearms.
amount of the loan, depending on the [licenses and business registration],”
funding. The program lends P20,000
monitors his burgeoning internet
paying capacity of the applicant,” he David said.
to P25,000 to each applicant, which
shop in Tacloban using a special
Nueva Ecija
said. I-Net ties in with the bank’s
will enable him to start a small
software for which he spent a small
Hong Kong OFWs may apply microfinancing program, which will
business such as a sari-sari store.
fortune. “I’ve been getting my Agriculture stakeholders in
at the bank’s remittance center in make it possible for applicants for
More than P16 billion has been
money’s worth,” he said. “It’s paying Nueva Ecija have pressed
Central and have the unit delivered the internet business to tap extra
released to small entrepreneurs.
off.”
for a more systematic
and advanced method
of production to improve
Mystery deepens over DB Pinay’s death
competitiveness.
Among the measures being
considered will limit production
to the top five products Novo
FROM PAGE 1
stances surrounding the case. Ma- Ecijanos can excellently
hirap na puro rumors na lang ‘yan. produce, Presidential assistant
Flores’ elder sister, Erine Flores-
Otherwise wala nang pupuntahan ang for Luzon Relly Fajardo said.
Perez, arrived from the Philippines
imbestigasyon,” he said.
He said clustering will
on April 16 to oversee the repatriation
“It’s a bit strange that the body was
also be introduced for more
and claim the maid’s belongings. The
found at the Tung Chung pier. And if
systematic production.
family have been promised help by
the death was caused by drowning,
Among the agri-industries
the consulate.
what caused the drowning? There are
expected to benefit from
The family said they know of no
a lot of questions that the police must
the measures are hog, goat
reason for Flores to take her own life.
find an answer to.”
and poultry raising as well
She had no known debts, they said,
About 1,000 Discovery Bay resi-
as mango, calamansi and
and had in fact built a comfortable
vegetable farming.
The unexplained death has mystified residents of Discovery Bay.
dents, mostly Filipinos and foreign-
home for her elderly parents.
Underscoring the clustering
ers, held a vigil on Thursday night
of production, Fajardo said the
The investigation, Roque said, was
to an accident or suicide. vestigation into the incident has left a outside the flat where Flores lived.
scheme will reduce input cost,
handled by the Hong Kong police’s
While refusing to imply that foul lot of questions unanswered. They lit candles and carried photo-
which will translate to bigger
Missing Persons Unit and was fo-
play could be involved in the death, “The consulate feels that the police graphs of the deceased to a makeshift
income.
cused on whether the death was due
Roque nonetheless said the initial in- should look deeper into the circum- shrine.
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