Jeanne drawing on the iPad with a capacitive pen.
Month: September 2011
Read John Mangun’s article this morning and learned that the country rose 10 places in the World Economic Forum’s ranking to 75th. This despite the poverty level, corruption (PNoy is all talk and no walk on this), inefficient government bureaucracy, security issues (bus hostage-taking), inadequate infrastructure (where are the PPP projects promised by PNoy?), poor education, poor investor protection (NAIA3, PLDT foreign ownership), and the difficulty of starting a business. Personally, I think all these hostile factors contribute to leaving only the smartest and most resilient thus contributing to robust and sophisticated businesses. Supporting factors are good fiscal and monetary policy (BSP governor Tetangco got an “A” grade recently from a finance magazine), good banking industry, and a good stock market. That’s good news to start the day!
Full report here.
Last night, Michelle was off to an office dinner and videoke session. When I got home around 5PM, Gretchen and Jeanne were out playing so I was able to rest a bit until they got back. It turned out she had been out playing the whole afternoon and hadn’t taken her nap or snack. She was hungry so I gave her dinner early.
After dinner we sat on the sofa and she said “Let’s watch!” and so, along with Gretchen, we watched Thor. She took her nap midway through and woke up in time for the finale. After the movie, we prepared for bed and turned off the lights. But she wouldn’t sleep and kept walking about in the dark. She looked out the window from the bed, went out and up the sofa and looked out the window, then up a dining chair and looked out the window again. She was looking down the stairway and I realized she was looking for mommy.
After a while, she got tired. I hugged her and we went back to bed where I entertained her with YouTube clips on the iPad. She watched while we slowly fell asleep. Only Michelle’s arrival awakened me but I was tired and sleepy and was back asleep quickly.
Northern Mindanao, aka Region X, is a cluster of 5 provinces including the island province of Camiguin and two highly-urbanized areas Cagayan de Oro City (CDO) and Iligan City. The economy of Northern Mindanao is primarily agricultural but also industrial mainly in CDO and Iligan. It is the largest economy in Mindanao. As of 2009, it had the second highest per capita Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of P91,453 just behind the National Capital Region (NCR) (P246,753). It had the fourth fastest growth of 7.6%, just behind the Bicol (12.7%), Davao (9.2%), and Western Visayas (8.4%) regions.
Focusing on the two urbanized and industrialized areas, CDO and Iligan, the two host several industrial plants along with the supporting economy. The power generation plants in Iligan actually provide 65% (as of 2010) of the power for ALL of Mindanao so electricity for plants is not a problem. Aside from both being port cities, there is also a container terminal, Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT), near CDO which addresses bulk shipping of raw materials and finished goods. Telecommunications is also now well-developed and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies are now operating out of CDO but also some in Iligan. Tourism is also being developed especially in Camiguin.
Providing manpower to the local economies of both cities is the urban population. There is also two major universities Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) and Xavier University (part of the Ateneo group) . There is also the bigger MSU Main an hour away from Iligan. Together, these universities produce thousands of graduates every year, making available a well-educated and well-trained manpower pool.
One latest development is that Laguindingan International Airport is due for completion next year. The new airport, strategically situated between CDO and Iligan, is just about an hour away from either. The new airport is also a driver for plans of a wider highway between the two cities and even a high-speed railway system. This increases the potential for an influx of more tourists, investments, and business opportunities.
Michelle decided to get a rebond. So at 2PM, I dropped her off along with Gretchen at Galleria while Jeanne and I went off to the Podium. Since we’re not sure what time she will be done, we agreed Jeanne and I can go home ahead when I’m done.
Jeanne and I had snacks at Cinnabon, we strolled across all the floors, visited Toys ‘R Us (always a good stop for her), occasionally rested in the very convenient and comfortable lounging area (if there’s only one reason I’d opt to go to the Podium, this is it), went to MegaMall (for Cyberzone), back to the Podium again, and then dinner at Burgoo (where she had fun coloring the table cover and eating the finger food). After dinner we went back the the lounging area and waited.
At around 9PM, I decided to head home. Unfortunately, the iPhone had run out of power by then. Good thing there’s free WiFi at the Podium and I was able to use the iPad to YM some friends to please text Michelle that Jeanne and I were going. We then packed up and headed for the parking. On the way, we encountered Michelle with her new hair (to be fair, she looks good but then the hair is just a small part) and then Gretchen. All together now, we headed home.
