The Philippines is ranked 18th regionally and 94th overall, down eight places since the last edition, with a weaker performance across most areas measured by the Index. Among the country’s strengths are aspects of its natural resources: it is ranked 24th for the number of World Heritage natural sites and 40th for the total known species in the country. The Philippines also benefits from excellent price competitiveness (ranked 20th), with low prices overall, particularly hotel prices, and low ticket taxes and airport charges. There are also some aspects of the policy rules and regulations regime that are conducive to the development of the sector, such as few visa requirements for foreign visitors (ranked 3rd) and bilateral Air Service Agreements that are assessed as comparatively open (29th), although other areas— such as the protection of property rights, rules related to foreign investment, and the difficulty of starting a business in the country—remain a challenge. Other matters of concern are safety and security (ranked 109th); health and hygiene levels (97th); and transport, tourism, and ICT infrastructures that require upgrading.

This is a screenshot of the table showing the Philippines’ overall ranking breakdown in each qualifying category. Which one did the country score low?

And see how the Pilipinas fares among all Asia Pacific countries.

Why are we going down the ranks? The Philippine government should really look into the business environment and improve our infrastructure. These are the areas were we scored so low.

Capital One offers Visa and MasterCard, with platinum and gold cards. With more than 44 million cardholders in the US, Canada, and the UK, why send mail spams? If they have these many customers, why not let the word of mouth do the promoting or recruiting? Satisfied customers will always be happy to share their experiences.

Sending credit card offers to random people via postal service is so very annoying. Each time I receive one, I don’t even open the envelope. I tear it into pieces and throw it to the bin.

And I wonder how Capital One found me. I just transferred to a new house and just few weeks after I settled in, I got their spam mails again.

Capital One should stop sending these mails! If Capital One really wants to invite people to join, they should send emails instead. In that way, I could mark their emails ‘unwanted’ and they go directly to the bin marked, what else, ‘spam.’

I thought the construction of the building will never be finished. In all those times that I drove along 6th St., it seemed the bank construction has been taking its time. I waited for it to finish because I am planning to open a new account with them. If you want to know its banking hours, I posted the schedule below:

Lobby Hours: 8:30 – 5:00 PM
Drive-Up Hours: 8:00 – 5:30 PM, 6 PM Fridays

Insurance:
P – 1-800-881-5611
F – 605-229-5409

Dacotah Bank Address:
1441 6th Street, Brookings, SD 57006

Contact:
P – 605.692.8600
F – 605-692-4350

Visit Dacotah Bank in Brookings, South Dakota for your banking business!

See map for directions:

New York Times reports the discovery of bags full of unused clothes in bins, slashed with razors to ensure that no one would ever wear or sell it. H&M follows a destroy-and-discard policy. OMG! These predatory companies do not have a sense of civic virtue or civil responsibilities.

Report: “Gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks. Cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor. Men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls. The jackets were tagged $59, $79 and $129.”

Is this behavior from these giant retailers shocking to you?

But not with Bay Landing Hotel. The price of the room per night was only $69, without the necessary tax. While most of the hotels I searched online were priced at more than $100 a night, Bay Landing Hotel was listed as one of the cheapest hotels near the airport and close to the downtown area.

For me, the hotel must not only be cheap. I always have this notion that cheap ones are limited in services — no complimentary breakfast, no fitness room and so on. Price usually goes hand in hand with hotel amenities and quality service. Cheap hotels are 2-feature less and 2-star less than the pricey ones. So when I saw that Bay Landing Hotel was cheap yet with features comparable to high-end hotels, I was proven wrong.

What you read from their website is correct. The hotel has a high-speed wireless internet access — for free. Since I cannot live without the web, internet access is one of my prerequisites in getting a hotel. The beds were huge and the room was spacious, even with two beds and few furniture. The bathroom can accommodate 10 people inside. That’s how big it was. The room fixtures were not cheap-looking, unlike other hotels I’d been to.

I did not find anything bad about the service. The front desk personnel were kind enough to attend to my inquiries.

The location of Bay Landing Hotel is perfect. Along the bay shore, you can jog, walk, or even sit on the benches that lined the sidewalk. In my case, I took pictures of the various birds enjoying the rocky shores.

If you visit the site, this is what you’d read, which are all true.

“Many of our inviting rooms have bay views and all afford numerous amenities, including: safe, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, iron and board, cable television, pay-per-view movies and games, voicemail and high-speed Internet access.”

“Enjoy complimentary Continental breakfast in our dining room or out on the terrace, where you can immerse yourself in the tranquil beauty of the San Francisco Bay.”

“Greet the day or unwind after work in our fitness room. Our cardio equipment includes treadmills and stationary bike, and we have a complete circuit of weight equipment.”

If you happen to visit San Francisco and wanting to stay in a cheap yet with service far better than a 5-star hotel, give Bay Landing Hotel a try. I highly recommend this hotel.