Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

#NindotKaayo I could remember back then when Mr. India opened in Gaisano Country Mall before it was closed down and replaced by Rusty's. Back then, I was quite wary of Indian restaurants because of my experience with a restaurant I'll not name but I felt I was five-sixed by it. I remembered learning to drive and going to Gaisano Country Mall to try Mr. India around in 2014. It was a nice cozy place that served affordable Indian food.  The owner Gulab "Soni" Vasnani was the one to try and challenge the stereotypes. I think one of the best strategies he did was to allow some customization in spicy levels. Some like it spicy and some like it mild. I did try to eat at Little India and had my food ordered mild . Indian food can be too spicy for some such as how the South Indian style restaurants carry theirs. My first picks were chicken curry, vegetable shawarma (which had tofu), Indian bread (especially their paratha), and some of their biryani. It was pretty much a good

Arguments against foreign direct investments (FDI) are often just lame excuses. It's said that if the Philippines lets FDI enter into it--it will directly crush the local businesses. However, that's proven to be false as only businesses (whether local or foreign) that don't innovate will be crushed. If an FDI invests and doesn't innovate--it can expect to be crushed by the local competition. If a local business doesn't innovate--it can be crushed by foreign investors and local investors alike. At this point, I decided that writing about Jollibee would be a good thing. It's because it turns out that Jollibee has opened its 150th branch in Vietnam which is now a developed communist country.  Just reading this excerpt from Good News Pilipinas makes me say that the Philippines is more than ready for more FDI inflows: Jollibee’s opened its first store in the country 15 years ago, one of the first international markets entered by the successful Filipino restaurant cha

One of the greatest news for the Philippines is the Public Service Act of 2022. The following can be read from the Philippine News Agency regarding President Rodrigo R. Duterte's signing of the new law into action: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday signed into law a measure amending the Public Service Act (PSA), allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership of public services in the country. Republic Act (RA) No. 11659 or "An Act Amending Commonwealth Act No. 146 otherwise known as the Public Service Act” as amended was signed by Duterte in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall, Malacañan Palace in the presence of lawmakers and other officials. Under the amended PSA, the telecommunications, railways, expressways, airports, and shipping industries will be considered public services, allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership in these sectors. Duterte also led the ceremonial presentation of newly enacted laws namely RA 11647 which amends the Foreign Investments Act; RA 11650, whic

It's been some time since I did a food review, right? Back then, I remembered how my first love with Taiwanese milk tea was Chatime. Though. when I went to Chatime--I usually ordered fruit tea since I was trying to lose weight. I ended up trying Tiger Sugar which ordering something without sugar doesn't make sense. So, another milk tea I decided to try (via delivery, haven't gone to the branches yet since the pandemic) is ITealicious. ITealicious is founded by Taiwan-born Yuwen Chiu (who's also a Chinese teacher in Cebu Eastern College). It was founded in 2018--the time when I was so devoted to weight loss that I didn't try it until I lost some pounds. In trying to renew my driver's license--I discovered I went from 85 pounds to 79 pounds since I've been doing a lot of cardiovascular exercises during the pandemic. I decided to give ITealicious a shot after I had tasted the food at Jolly Bubble. Jolly Bubble is pretty much the ideal place to get a delicious m

Summit Staffing I'm glad that Cebu City is moving forward from Odette. I started to see repairs are going slow as they can be or as fast as they can be. Electricity was slowly restored so that means I didn't have to endure the irritating noise of the generator. It was a blessing to have a generator but it was also a hindrance. The generator was only used to avoid the issue of spoiling food and to charge gadgets. The use of the car to charge gadgets wasn't good for the battery. Now, the electricity is back and power tools labor can be done with both carpenters and electricians. This reminded me of how Philippine society tends to look at "low-level" workers or the menial labor force. I was told that if I don't study hard--I would end up like the man on the road. The man on the road was cleaning. The other climbed very high areas. Then in third-year high school--we had the poem "The Road Less Taken". It was something to think about how "low-level&q

I remembered the time when I took my two-year Associate in Computer Science course and man I found the first accounting subject tedious. Introduction to accounting was rather tedious since it required balancing-- something that takes a lot of extra attention. The next accounting subject was Partnership and Corporation Accounting. The first two accounting subjects were really that tough for me. I felt balancing was my biggest Waterloo. In chemistry, my most disliked aspect was stoichiometry which involves balancing the elements. In physics, perhaps my most disliked part of its application was the use of the balance. In short, balancing is one subject that's necessary but I feel I need to exert more effort than usual. Commerce courses really needed them such as Business Administration and the Hotel and Restaurant Management courses. The time came when I had my next two accounting subjects--cost accounting and management accounting. I managed to get a better score in those two courses

I could remember a couple of stuff about a misconception of wealth back when I was in elementary until I was a teenager. I could remember how I envied some of my classmates for their bragging about this and that, their so-called "wealth", and those useless "leaving the uncool kid out" which I felt that I was. It was pretty much a stupid thing to say I'm "poor" because I didn't have the cool video game consoles and the other hand it. Others brag about their cars such as having a Pajero or a Mercedes Benz. Others even brag about their thick wallets while I hardly had a thick wallet because my parents were thrifty. If I overspent--I had to deal with having less money. I had to learn how to save as a teenager up to my college days because of limited allowances from thrifty parents. I could think of these reasons vs. rebuttals that I've learned in life when I showed my jealousy: I used to say that somebody was richer because his or her car was luxur