Price Of Onion Up Due To lack Of Supply From India

The price of onion, known locally as sibuyas, continues to rise even after the holidays. Traders blame the steep prices of onions to the lack of supply from India. India, one of the main exporter of onions to the world market, is experiencing heavy floods thus explaining the dwindling supply from them.

Onion used to cost P40 to P50 only last September, 2007 but increased to P100 per kilo during the Christmas season. The present market price of onion in Davao City is however between P150 to P250 depending on which market you are buying your supply from. Traders at the Mintal market are selling their onions at P2oo to P250 per kilo while those at the Bagsakan near Bankerohan market are selling onions at a cheaper (but still high) price of P140 to P180 per kilo.

Even Malaysia is complaining about the high prices of onion prompting Datuk Patrick Sindu, president of the Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan to call for the investigation of the 100% increase in the price of onions. Onion is a controlled item in the area. Traders however cited the dwindling supply of onion from India as the culprit.

Wednesday Movie Guide

The Queen is back! And with a vengeance.

I thought I was seeing double when I was told there's a new Elizabeth movie. And why not when I already watched that in 1998. Turns out that the new "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is already part II. The first one being the Academy Award winning "Elizabeth" which was shown in 1998 (minus Joseph Fiennes). Another thing which made me look twice is the fact that both Elizabeth movies starred my favorite Cate Blanchett but she looked different in both posters, the second and newest one looked more like a Joan of Arc than an Elizabeth. I still have to watch part 2 tonight but the first was a great movie. A real tearjerker with lots of history. This is what I like about movies like these--include National Museum, National Treasure, 300, etc---they give us a not-so boring detail of history. However, make sure you do some research as some of the history depicted in the movies may be twisted after all.

It seems the National Treasure (NCCC Mall only) and Bee Movie are still showing at SM cinemas 1 and 3 respectively so you can still catch them. Here's the movie schedule for this week. One of Datelinedavao's visitors asked why there's no Gaisano Mall listing here---will try to do that when I have more time to go to Bajada.

Elizabeth The Golden Age
SM Cinema 2 12:20/14:30/16:40/18:50
NCCC Cinema 4 12:40 /3:00 /5:20/7:40

Martian Child
SM Cinema 5 12:20/14:30/16:40/18:50

I am Legend
SM Cinema 6 11:0513:0015:0017:00
NCCC Cinema 3 12:00 / 2:00 / 4:00 / 6:00

Earn Extra With PayPerPlay

You may have heard of pay per click--that's a marketing/advertising scheme where you earn for every click on an advertisement on your site. But what if no one clicks the ad? No income for you.

But here's a revolutionary system which allows you to earn even without any affirmative action from your readers or visitors. I’m talking about Net Audio Ads Pay Per Play advertising system. The ads do not take any space in your blog or site because your visitors hear them once they visit your site. Remember, they don't need to click on anything for your to earn. Don't worry because the ads that will be played is related to your site and it will not irritate your readers as the 5-second audio will only be played once.

If you think the television is the greatest think that happened to advertising then you better think again. Research shows that more people are looking at the Internet than on TV. Thus, advertisers are slowly shifting their ad strategies to the World Wide Web. You can earn in three ways:

1. Direct PPP
Copy the PPP code on your site where you want the ads to play and earn 25% of the money spent by advertisers for that pay per play ads
2. Referrals
Refer PPP to people who have Internet presence (this means they have a website, blog, etc.) and earn 5% of what their advertisers spent in running the ads on your referred website
3. Earn from your referral's referral
If the person you referred got another person to host PPP ads then you also earn 5% from his PPP website earnings.

Advertisers will start bidding on February 8, 2008 for sites where they want their ads to be heard. So what are you waiting for? Grab this opportunity while it's hot!

Mini Firetrucks For Cito Beltran

The recent controversy involving government firefighters and private volunteer firefighters brought to light how ill-equipped and how inept this supposedly safety and prevention agency we call Bureau of Fire Protection. The BFP once again got entangled in this messy word war with a private volunteer fire fighting group on the issue of water.

The inability of the BFP was the issue in Cito Beltran's January 8 column in the Philippine Star. As Cito said, "why should we pay for their services when there are volunteer groups that are more efficient in providing firefighting skills?" One of the reasons cited by the BFP for its failure to immediately respond to emergencies is the state of our roads. "If the roads are narrow then why can't they get smaller firetrucks to get in" Beltran added.

This reminded me of the tiny firetrucks of Davao City 1st District Representative Prospero Nograles. The teeny weeny firetrucks have been the butt of jokes and sarcasm here in the city but come to think of it, isn't this what Beltran was referring to?

Of the P52.61 billion budget allotted for the Department of Interior and Local Government for 2008, only P4.88B will go to the BFP. Unfortunately, the agency's budget seems not enough to pay for additional firefighting equipment and protective gears for the firefighters who are facing their lives on the line every time they respond to an emergency.

Is higher education still practical today? I have seen a lot of people with masters or even other degrees tucked in their belt but they have not really learned how to make their lives better financially. If you have a college degree in the US then that would mean lots of opportunities. But in the Philippines, hey!

VM Shows Iron Fist With Grace

(Acting Mayor) Vice Mayor Sara Duterte yesterday showed the Dabawenyos that she can have an iron fist just like her father Mayor Rodrigo Duterte but with a touch of grace, after she challenged a local billboard company to sue her for ordering the dismantling of a billboard located in SIR, Matina after it failed to comply with the required government permits.

Duterte was advised by the City Legal Office to sue the company but considering the slow bureaucratic process, she said it would be better to just order the demolition of the billboard. She said they can sue her in turn.

The company was given 3 days to dismantle the billboard. Otherwise, it would be the City Engineer's responsibility to dismantle the billboard at the expense of the owner. She however urged the barangay people to do the dismantling themselves and sell the steel and other materials they can salvage if the company fails to to comply with the order.

Suspicious PayPal Phising Emails On The Rise

Dabawenyo bloggers and those who are using PayPal for Ebay and other transactions should watch out for suspicious PayPal emails.

I just got one from webmaster@paypal.com asking me to update my account following this link "http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run" or face account cancellation.

I wrote PayPal and verified if the said email came from them and as suspected, it was a phising email. The response was very fast--no more than 5 minutes from the time I sent the query.

Phising is an illegal way of acquiring information which can lead to identity theft. The people behind this can get hold of important financial information about the victim and make life miserable for him.

With the availability of PayPal to Dabawenyos (generally to the Philippines), it is also expected that more people will get phising emails like this. If you get suspicious PayPal emails then please send a query to spoof@paypal.com.