December 2007
Simple and Wonderful Christmas
Filed Under Personal
Our family spent Christmas together at our favorite rented place in Pansol, Laguna. I think that’s the third consecutive Christmas that we spent there. The kids love the place because of the hotspring swimming pool. They just love the water that they chose to go there instead of a visit to the Global Fun Carnival in Mall of Asia. The kids were very happy and that’s what important to us.
The celebration is so simple, very basic just like before. It’s that simplicity that I missed. For two days, we did not think about our problem. We just focused in the celebration, the bonding moments and of course, the time to rest.
Here’s some of the quotable quotes from the kids:
Donn : “Tito Mike, wala ka pa regalo sa akin…” (this is early on Christmas eve, hehehe)
Fia : “Nde naman totoo si Sta. Claus, fake kasi yung Barbie na binigay sa akin tas yung Teddy Bear, yun lang nabibili sa SM” (that’s on Christmas day, the day after gift-giving)
Donn : “Ayaw ko naman si Superman! Gusto ko si Batman!” (I gave him a Superman T-Shirt, he smiled back after giving him a crisp P100 bill)
Fia : “Di ba, wala namang ganun sa US?” (referring to the ‘local’ Barbie doll that ‘Santa’ gave her)
Over all, it was fun!
Greeting You a Merry Christmas
Filed Under Personal
I didn’t realize that I wasn’t really greeting people “Merry Christmas”. Of course, that’s mainly because I can’t be merry on Christmas. That’s a shame since my friends deserve to be happy. I, too, deserve to be happy on this holiday season. Not because I have financial problems, I can no longer greet them, right?
So with this post, I greet all you people who read this a Happy Christmas. May the spirit of Christmas be with you always. Please do treasure your loved ones, the people around you. Let’s be thankful for all the blessings that we have received for the year.
On another note, being happy is a choice. On this season, I choose to be happy. If I can’t be happy, at least I’ll try. Again, Merry Christmas to you all! Accept Jesus in your home.
Over-Qualified is Never Qualified
Filed Under PersonalI recently sent an application to a company in Singapore. The nature of the job is very similar to mine, production support. For some, they call it technical support but that’s just the same. Quite a number of my former officemates already moved to that company due mainly to good compensation but had to sacrifice the company of their family. A few of them moved with the family to Singapore but that’s another story.
And so I sent them my resume and waited for a few days for the reply. I had it coursed through my former officemate so that he’ll be able to get a referral fee if ever I get accepted. The opening is for the second-line support which means somebody has already pre-processed a service request that will come to you and if you can’t handle it, you’ll pass the request to another group. It sounds like heaven since in my current job, I do end-to-end. It has been my bread and butter for almost seven years here in my current employer and another 1 year from my previous job. Yes, it is very toxic but believe it or not, I love it.
When I got the reply, I was devastated. They said that I’m over-qualified. What the hell they mean about that? To be honest, I took it as if I’m not really qualified because Over Qualified is Never Qualified. It’s either you are qualified or not. It’s just that simple.
I don’t know what they saw in my resume but I think my current position mattered much. However, not because I’m a team leader here means I can no longer do the ‘mean jobs’. Until today, I still help my subordinates in their job to the point that I still do some of the work(to the dismay of my managers, of course!). I do that partly because I want to get things done fast and right especially if problems are of high severity and the impact to the business is considerable. How can I be not qualified?
Or maybe that job is really not meant for me. Maybe God has something in store for me. I don’t know. God only knows… I just pray that he show me the way…. soon.
God Will Always Provide
Filed Under PersonalWhen you feel that God has provided enough, would you think he’ll still provide more?
It’s not a question of God’s power but rather a manifestation of how much shame I already feel. I just feel that it isn’t right that I let God to the work for me. I just feel that I am already blessed abundantly and asking for more grace from the Lord already too much.
But what can I do? I have nothing. It is only the faith in him that keeps me on paddling. Or maybe I haven’t surrendered everything to God yet. A timely message by Ellen G. White states :
Many who profess to be Christ’s followers have an anxious, troubled heart because they are afraid to trust themselves with God. They do not make a complete surrender to Him, for they shrink from the consequences that such a surrender may involve. Unless they do make this surrender they cannot find peace.
She further says:
Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme, will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet.
Whatever my family and me are going through is a tough test. I need your prayers and support.
Floating in Limbo (Dec 18 2007)
Filed Under PersonalIt has been several days since I last posted an update. If there’s anything good that happened, it’s the fact that I’m still alive and kicking. Of course, we are all trying to keep on paddling. I managed to get a loan from a bank. That will help me finance some of the dues. My sister will transfer the money tomorrow. That means there will be no legal actions against me yet. No murderer, either. And for some good news, the former owner of the house agreed to postpone the payment until January. That’s one less headache for the next two weeks. Of course, there’s a lot more.
Just this afternoon, I already informed my superiors about what I’m going through. I feel lucky to be able to have people like them. They have been very supportive of my plans. I can’t help but cry when I told them that I have plans of going abroad to look for a job there. I never dreamed of working abroad despite the promise of better wage. Of course, tears flowed when I told my managers my predicament. At least, I was able to let that tears out. I hope that will help me to sleep tonight.
Tomorrow, I’ll start talking to some of my financier-friends. I’m praying that they’ll understand. If they don’t, then what can I do? It isn’t easy. I can’t take it but I have to. It’s not more about me, I’m more concerned with my dear wife. She’s not used to this kind of stress. She’s not used to be away with her family. But maybe, it’s time for her to learn some things the hard way. But I feel sorry and guilty for pulling her with my family’s problems. Yes, she is my wife and we are one but sometimes, I can’t help but think on whether she deserves it or not. Besides, who does?
Losing hope is so natural but if that’s that you only have, how can you let it go? It is only the faith with the mercy of the Lord that keeps me going.
A Spark of Hope
Filed Under PersonalWe were able to contact a high-ranking official in a bank yesterday. The prospect is very promising but details will be discussed on Monday. If that will materialize, it will ease some of the burdens. Not all, not even significant, but any pressure lifted will taste like heaven.
Another good sign is the news that there is another bank willing to rediscount our client cheques. As you know, the loan sharks around the metro cannot handle huge amounts. If you show them a cheque worth 1M, they’ll stay away. So it is the banks that can help us. But we don’t have the right connections as of yet. We beg from our clients to release their payments even in the from of post-dated cheques (PDCs). They themselves admitted that they don’t have the funds so they can’t release a dated check. Some agreed to Jan and Feb dates so that what we have right now.
It’s a spark, not a beam. Nevertheless, it’s a light in this dark days. If that spark will cause fire (which I hope and pray it will), then we can start moving. In the dark, even a small source of light is a treasure.
Who is to Blame?
Filed Under PersonalAt the height of a problem, we usually ask who is to blame and pin that person/s down to the bones. In my corporate life, especially in the current company I work in, this is not the case. As a production support resource, we have to solve it first and then do a “post-mortem” analysis later. We’ll have to identify the root cause and investigate what went wrong. If there’s somebody who made a mistake, we’ll have to know what lead him/her to commit the mistake. Simply put, there’s always a reason for every problem. There’s even a new requirement that we have to log every step we take to solve a Severity 1 issue. That’s logging every email, every query, every update and everything you do until the problem is solved. Once done, then we’ll have to devise a procedure or solution so that the recently solved problem will no longer happen again.
In the problem I current problem that I am into (not related to work), solving it is a tall order. Honestly, I don’t know what to do. If there’s any little thing that I can do, I already did. I’m almost resigned to the idea that it’s a losing battle. Or should I say, we already lost it and it’s high time to know what went wrong.
In my ealier post, I already presented what went wrong. It’s just part of the story. Another part is the fact that in the months of July and August, our small company managed to have a 55M worth of sales. Now, that’s mind boggling to me. I can’t believe my sister was able to pull that off. If we get the 30% downpayment by the first week of September, the company will be in good financial position for the rest of the year. But that downpayment never came. If it did, it was already too late. Instead, we have to repossess items equivalent to 30% of that sales due to non-payment. It’s a domino effect since then.
If you look at it, we should have not gotten to the big ticket contracts. We should have stayed low where the risk is low and although the profit is less, it is steadily coming. We bit more than we can chew!
So who is to blame? Most of the people in the know would say it’s my sister who is to blame. But no, we are part of it. In every request to get funds, we always get one. Had we not give in, this would have not been the case. But it’s already there and we have to face the consequences. We are part of it and that’s the truth.
My God, your tests are just too heavy for me and my family. It is only you and you that can help us. Forgive us.
Possible Things That May Happen to Me
Filed Under PersonalAs of today, I still have some things that I can sell to pay a very small percentage of my debts. But even with that, the following are the possible things that may happen to me.
- Forgiveness -my financiers will allow me to pay my debts in staggard basis. That would require me to seek job abroad to pay my debts. Forgiveness doesn’t mean I will not pay them. Of course, I will if I will be given a chance. It may take years but at least I can work to pay them. As long as I can work and I live, I’ll pay them little by little.
- Legal Options - somebody or all of my financiers will sue me of BP22. That’s the bouncing cheque law of the Philippines. If they choose this option, they will not get anything in return. You see, I have no money right now and if they send me to jail and rot there, nobody will pay them.
- Someone Kills Me - an irate financier may opt to have me murdered. It may not come from those who I owe much since killing me means they won’t get anything in return. I much more afraid of the people I owe less.
- I Kill Myself - something that is very far from my mind. But the burden is just too much.
You see, only Option 1 is good. So I’m pray hard for it. All the things that I own. All the things I worked hard for. My reputation, my everything. My life, my wife’s dream. Our future, they are all under uncertainties. What can I do? What shall I do?
Paving My Way to My Dungeon
Filed Under PersonalStarting with this post, I’ll chronicle my possible last days as a blogger and a regular citizen. I’m in deep trouble these days and people close to me knows it. However, my colleagues in the office do not know this problem yet. Maybe if any of them reads this post, they’ll know. I’ll give a backgrounder on this post so my friends who read this will know.
My family’s financial trouble is finally dawning on us. Thanks to the clients who can’t pay and to the outrageously long payment contracts that no one could benefit but the them. For those who doesn’t know, my family is on a medical supply business. It is run by my sister with her siblings(that includes me) helping in every way they can. Primarily, we get financiers for additional capital.
There were no troubles for almost two years. How can we get into trouble if the payment method is 30%DP+30/60/90 days for the rest. In just 3-4 months, we already collected the whole amount of purchase orders. In most cases, we get all the capital in every P.O. after 30 days upon delivery. Those that will be collected for the 60th and 90th day are already for profits. It went well for more than one year and made our small medical supply company grow tremendously. Purchase orders are small and mostly are at up to 2M pesos only.
For some twist of luck, my sister decided to fight with the big league. Now, we are talking about contracts amounting to up to 30M and with payment period of at least 24 months. It involves big items like CTScan that we never tried selling before. Of course, I’m apprehensive on that because first and foremost, we don’t have the moolah to finance such large contracts. But nevertheless, we supported our sister. Besides, she runs the business well and she must know what she’s doing. The only thing that we can do is help her get more financiers.
Banking on our reputation and connections, me and my wife run a drive to get more financiers. It’s not easy but we managed to get a lot of “investors”… we collected millions and helped drive the company push even farther. In the third quarter of the year, we (me and my wife) wanted to take-out some money to divest into another venture. Something that my wife has been dreaming of for a long time. To my horror, we can’t withdraw money as we have no collection since August.
A hospital in Lemery, Bats wasn’t able to pay immediately after we completed the delivery. At first, it was OK because it may be for a week or two only. But it took them months to pay. Only in October that they were able to pay and by that time, our financiers have already made a killing in the interest payment. But before Lemery was able to pay, another blow to the company came. A hospital in Paranaque who bought CTScan and Ultrasound failed to pay. Of the 3.5M downpayment, only the 500T cheque went good. All the others bounced in September. They bought the equipment brand new and when it was decided to just return the equipment to us, it already lost its value. I won’t say how much the contract was but it was huge! Until now, it’s already December, both items are still in our warehouse. You don’t always see hospitals buying such expensive equipment like CTScan.
And maybe it wasn’t enough, two other hospitals (Albay and Subic) had to postpone the delivery of their orders because their hospitals are not finished yet. We already bought their orders and was paying interest to our financiers. The delivery date has been moved four times already. Until now, most of the equipment are still with us.
By November, we are already in deep trouble but I was still hoping. But when December came, it was clear that the meager collections that we get will not be enough to pay our debts. We decided to sell stocks at almost acquisition cost to fellow suppliers. One of our suppliers we owe got several stretchers and operating tables as payment. And it did not end there. Post dated cheques that we received are not honored by rediscounting firms. In early November, we resorted to pawning our properties to private lenders as loan sharks’ rate. That included my house and lot that I haven’t used yet. It’s not even fully paid yet. My granduncle’s house and lot was pawned, too. So was the Innova and an agricultural land in Mindoro.
Today, I don’t know what’s up to me. There are extreme things that may happen. I will discuss them on my next posts.
The Impact of Rising Peso
Filed Under NetMarketingAfter reading Taong Grasa’s post about the effect of the peso-dollar exchange rate, I asked myself how much really is the effect on quest in making money online. For sure, a lot of SEO experts and netpreneurs are feeling the pressure, too. Of course, I don’t make a lot of money through adsense or any affiliate program but I had some dollars in the bank until last week. I shouldn’t be that much affected, right? Well, maybe.
But on my meager income of around $80 a month(take note, that’s a total of all sites I maintain), the difference is becoming more evident. Just a couple of months ago, I get roughly PHP8,000.00 every other month when the peso-dollar exchange rate is at around $50. Small but since this is just a hobby for me, that’s a lot already. It can already pay for my domains and hosting and still have some extra. You cannot get that in the streets even if you walk hundreds of kilometers. But now when $1=PHP41.85, I only get roughly PHP6,600.00. Now, I’m beginning to feel the difference.
It became more evident to me when I decided to close my dollar account. I needed money and had to withdraw every penny I have in the bank. As expected, the value of my dollars are so low already. You see, I got some of my dollars at a exchange rate of PHP56, some at 54 and some at 50. None from below PHP50.00. I got those from my per diem during my trips abroad and some from adsense. If you compute the difference with the current PHP41.85 to a dollar, that’s a whopping average of PHP11.30 for every dollar. So for every thousand, I threw PHP11,300.00. Whew, that’s more than a month’s salary of a daily wage earner here in the Philippines. And that’s just a one time transaction for me. How much more with the beneficiaries of our “Bagong Bayani”, the Overseas Filipino Workers.
We all know that a stronger peso is good for the economy in general but it also comes with caveats. With millions of Filipinos abroad that feed their family here in the Philippines, more and more people are feeling the effect of the rise of the peso. But we must look at the bigger picture instead of our personal grievances brought about by this phenomenon. Our monetary authorities are working overtime to help soften the impact and let’s just hope that they keep doing their jobs.
