General Info

[GoodEnough]

A few years ago I started out with an inexpensive cellphone using smart. It drove me crazy because I would always get a bad connection. Later on I brought over a used unlocked iPhone 4 that I bought for $100 and insert my SIM card. It was amazing how much clearer the calls were. For me it was not the carrier but the cellphone. Of course it doesn't help if the other person is using a crap phone either.

True, the quality of the phones makes a difference. However I've got an iPhone 6 and that doesn't stop me from getting dropped calls, garbled transmissions, pitifully slow Internet speeds and generally poor service. I think that both major telecom groups--PLDT and Ayala--don't unvest in systems improvements because the ROI is simply not there. The fact is that most Filipinos do not subscribe to plans, and don't engage in voice calls. Most people here text, and texting doesn't require much in the way of state-of-the-art infrastructure. This, the percentage of the population that's affected by the lack of quality service is quite small.

GE.

[Dg8787]

A few years ago I started out with an inexpensive cellphone using smart. It drove me crazy because I would always get a bad connection. Later on I brought over a used unlocked iPhone 4 that I bought for $100 and insert my SIM card. It was amazing how much clearer the calls were. For me it was not the carrier but the cellphone. Of course it doesn't help if the other person is using a crap phone either.

[Roll Aides]

Globe is owned by Ayala and Singtel. The Singaporeans are still shaking their heads in disbelief. Smart is owned by PLDT, which also owns Sun. You know, in 2 years I've never met a person who has a Sun number.

Tarsiers. And squirrels.

Actually, I pretty much use Sun exclusively, I have a smart as a backup and the GF has a smart and a globe. I get better signal in Bacolod on Sun than on anything else, she has to stand outside the apartment to talk on the Smart fairly often. I guess it's regional, who knows.

[Hutsori]

I don't know and did not bother to check but are all the phonecompanies in phils owned by the Ayala wing? If that's true they realy don't have to put forward an excellent customer service as people have to use their services anyhow? Am I close?

Globe is owned by Ayala and Singtel. The Singaporeans are still shaking their heads in disbelief. Smart is owned by PLDT, which also owns Sun. You know, in 2 years I've never met a person who has a Sun number.

And who has build the infrasteucture(base stations, computericed terminals etc, phone lines etc etc???)

Tarsiers. And squirrels.

[Member #4387]

It's a terrible company, poorly managed, lousy service and a total indifference to its customers. Smart isn't much better, but I know two people who work in the company and get better service. Plus, at least in Manila and Davao, I think that Smart's signal strength is slightly better.GE.

I don't know and did not bother to check but are all the phonecompanies in phils owned by the Ayala wing? If that's true they realy don't have to put forward an excellent customer service as people have to use their services anyhow? Am I close?
And who has build the infrasteucture(base stations, computericed terminals etc, phone lines etc etc???). In my country we have this big Telenor company(Dtac in Thailand, they buy themself into many other countries these days as well especially in Asian countries as it is a blooming market in most of them maby except phils as they are slacking behind big time in many ways), they own all infrasteucture and other companies have to rent from their infrasteucture, all the time the norwegian government owns 51% of the Telenor the other companies dont dare to put down the customer services as if they try they get threatned they will loose the access to the infrastructure.

[GoodEnough]

All in all I don't find much to whinge about in the Philippines. But golly, sometimes I'm driven to wit's end. Globe Telecom, I'm talking about you. I needed to call their office at Mall of Asia. A google doesn't find me the number. Visited Globe's websites. All the offices are listed with exact address, none with phone numbers. Globe's online chat isn't monitored. I call Globe's customer disservice number. They have no idea what the number is and no email address of a POC either. I'm told to email their customer service team. I do. I receive an automated reply with a link to form I must complete. I start the form and I'm required to provide information that isn't relevant and also other info I don't have; I'm not a globe customer, and it's now certain I will remain that way. This a communication company that can't communicate with its own offices. This is a telco that doesn't know its phone numbers. This is an information technology company without some of the most basic information. /rant

If anyone happens to be at MOA in the north building on the 2nd level could you walk in and ask them what their office telephone number is or some way of communicating to a worker in that exact office I'd really appreciate if you could PM me. Thank you.

I can sympathize. I've had a Globe post-paid account for years. About two years ago I switched to Smart and gave the sim on the old account to my wife. The contract for that card expires at the end of the month, and we decided to let it lapse and replace it with a post-paid Smart account. The new account at Smart took about 10 minutes to arrange, though it did take two days for the new number to start working. Ending the contract with Globe, or should I say letting Globe know I had no plan to renew the contract took an hour to get a phone number (I think it's *270 but I'm not sure) and then endless conversations with at least three people. I got so pissed off after about 3 minutes that I had to hand the phone to my wife, who is more tolerant of egregious stupidity than I.

In most legal systems with which I'm familiar, once a contract date has passed, and once all terms and conditions have been met, the contract is over. There's nothing left to do. That's not the case here, and evidently Globe has the right under what passes for a legal system here, just to keep on billing. I tried to inform Globe at one of its offices in Davao of my intention not to renew and was told that I must call Manila and speak to someone there.

It's a terrible company, poorly managed, lousy service and a total indifference to its customers. Smart isn't much better, but I know two people who work in the company and get better service. Plus, at least in Manila and Davao, I think that Smart's signal strength is slightly better.

GE.

[Hutsori]

All in all I don't find much to whinge about in the Philippines. But golly, sometimes I'm driven to wit's end. Globe Telecom, I'm talking about you. I needed to call their office at Mall of Asia. A google doesn't find me the number. Visited Globe's websites. All the offices are listed with exact address, none with phone numbers. Globe's online chat isn't monitored. I call Globe's customer disservice number. They have no idea what the number is and no email address of a POC either. I'm told to email their customer service team. I do. I receive an automated reply with a link to form I must complete. I start the form and I'm required to provide information that isn't relevant and also other info I don't have; I'm not a globe customer, and it's now certain I will remain that way. This a communication company that can't communicate with its own offices. This is a telco that doesn't know its phone numbers. This is an information technology company without some of the most basic information. /rant

If anyone happens to be at MOA in the north building on the 2nd level could you walk in and ask them what their office telephone number is or some way of communicating to a worker in that exact office I'd really appreciate if you could PM me. Thank you.

[Radical Guy]

Thanks Hutsori. Very useful.

Reading the provisions and limitations would seem to preclude me from long term lease of land for the purpose of constructing a dwelling.

Too bad.

I am aware of the situation regarding land titling in the Philippines, and I have commented on this several times on this forum.

For several years I worked on a lant titling project in the Philippines. It was more than illuminating, I can tell you.

G

In general, I would never make any significant investment in a third-world country like the Philippines. The laws on the books are only as strong as the ability to enforce your property rights, in court or through the government. Sure, you might get a valid title to land, or improvements to land, but if that title is ever questioned, what is your recourse? I'm a lawyer in the US, and if one has valid title to land, and someone encroaches on it, then courts will entertain a "suit to quiet title," and a judgment will be enforceable. The legal mechanisms in the Philippines are a joke. Better to invest your money in the US or some stable country, and simply pay rent in the Philippines as you go.

RG.

[X Man]

I think some people need the WSJ password.

Wall Street Journal covers it comprehensively & much better than I could for those thirsting for pics:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/life-...09402?mod=e2fb

AV.

[Econo Tech]

Most incredibly, President Acquino has never visited Tacloban! Only in the Philippines.

Not fair.

Aquino said he has visited Tacloban too many times.

And then his defenders go 'Aceh took 5 years to get back to normalcy'.

Well, Aceh was totally wiped out, vs Tacloban, which had malls and all up and running in a month, so Vs Aceh the damage here was pretty low.

Then again, touch wood, hope not another typhoon will traverse the Tacloban / Leyte area or the apologists will blame the next typhoon.

Maybe it's planning to stretch recovery so there is something happening.

Imagine the trouble if Tacloban was fixed fast and no more typhoon comes. The rulers will have to face other problems.

[Amavida]

This is the first anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, one of the most devastating storms of all time. Tacloban was the center of the surge that destroyed the city and caused several thousand deaths. Huge international relief effort and many hundreds of millions of dollars collected. The world's focus on this disaster filled the news for the next several weeks. So, today, what's the result of all this grief and worldwide attention? Almost All of the refugees are still in temporary dwellings or cobbled together shacks. Most incredibly, President Acquino has never visited Tacloban! Only in the Philippines.

Wall Street Journal covers it comprehensively & much better than I could for those thirsting for pics:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/life-...09402?mod=e2fb

AV.

[Amavida]

GE.

I am not sure why you had such a problem with your SIM as mentioned above and in a previous post.

My wife and I both obtained new postpaid SIMS from Globe just last week.

Both were activated by a customer assistant as we sat in the Globe office in Podium in Ortigas.

The whole exercise took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.

It was handled most efficiently because we made a personal appearance.

It can be a throw of the dice though. They can be courteous & efficient other times they can be infuriatingly vague & obstructive. No way to predict in advance. GE's experience is not unusual.

AV.

[Questor55]

This is the first anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, one of the most devastating storms of all time. Tacloban was the center of the surge that destroyed the city and caused several thousand deaths. Huge international relief effort and many hundreds of millions of dollars collected. The world's focus on this disaster filled the news for the next several weeks. So, today, what's the result of all this grief and worldwide attention? Almost All of the refugees are still in temporary dwellings or cobbled together shacks. Most incredibly, President Acquino has never visited Tacloban! Only in the Philippines.

[Gangles]

Thanks Hutsori. Very useful.

Reading the provisions and limitations would seem to preclude me from long term lease of land for the purpose of constructing a dwelling.

Too bad.

I am aware of the situation regarding land titling in the Philippines, and I have commented on this several times on this forum.

For several years I worked on a lant titling project in the Philippines. It was more than illuminating, I can tell you.

G

Yes. Read this http://www.chanrobles.com/republicac...m#.VFuz6jTF9LC.

[Amavida]

Questor raises the appropriate flag of caution.

My wife and I sought to buy several parcels of rice farming land in Nthn Luzon 3 or 4 years ago.

We were lucky to have a diligent and well-qualified lawyer.

Out of around 20 titles that we were "offered", probably 15 of them were "invalid", even though they were being held by the current owner.

What transpires is that people sell land to one another simply by exchanging money for the title but then do not take it to the Government Authority for proper endorsement and payment of the transfer fees etc. These fees seem quite low to me but for a subsistence farmer I guess they are too much to contemplate.

When I come along and want to transfer the land into our names (meaning my wife's), the current holder of the title is rarely the owner listed on the title and on the official register, and there are usually several years worth of unpaid and overdue land tax debts due for payment. These can run into the tens of thousands.

If you buy or lease ANY land, be sure to establish the bona fides of the title and be sure that it is free of encumbrances (meaning that all rates and taxes have been paid). Once you do that, then you can obtain quite useful property at a very competitive rate. We do the due diligence, and we exclude the titles that are "shonky".

Even when purchasing the condo that I currently own in Manila, we discovered that there were 2 years of back taxes owing to the local barangay (which was more than 100,000 php). We insisted the seller pay the outstanding fees before purchase could go through, Again, having good, diligent legal support who knows what to look for is essential.

On a side note and as Questor says, leasing (as a foreigner) gives you very little power. If a bigger and stronger filipino decides he or she wants your land, they will find numerous ways to take it from you.

I might add that simply paying the due or over due land tax is enough to wrest control of the title from an owner. If you acquire land here via marriage make damn sure those dues are paid!

AV.