Month: April 2009

A(H1N1) SWINE FLU symptoms, prevention, treatment

What you need to know about the Swine Flu or the Human Swine Influenza A (H1N1) virus that has hit Mexico, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world.
What is Swine Flu?
Swine Influenza or swine flu is a type of respiratory disease in pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. The disease is normally not passed on to people but human infections can and do happen. A few cases of swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person to person but in the past, transmission was only limited and not sustained beyond three people.

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How to invest in SDA – Special Deposit Accounts

What alternatives do you have if you have extra money which you won’t need in the near future and which you want to place in a safe investment?

Well, the easiest choice is to put it in a bank’s savings account. A savings account is highly liquid — meaning you can withdraw your money anytime you want. It is also safe because deposits up to P250,000 are covered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation.

If you want higher interest rate than a savings account, you may opt for a time deposit. Here you park your money for a certain period of time and, in return, the bank offers you an interest rate relatively higher than what your regular savings account will get. Like a savings account, time deposits are covered by the PDIC up to P250,000 per depositor.

Now, what if you still want a higher interest rate but are not willing to take additional risk? That’s when you can try investing in Special Deposit Accounts or SDAs.

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Top 10 banks in the Philippines

Update: Largest Banks in the Philippines (2009)

Banco de Oro (BDO) is now the largest bank in the Philippines, in terms of both assets and total deposits.

This is according to a report of comparative sizes of Philippine banks which I got from my bank.

Until 2007, Metrobank was the largest bank. As of December 31, 2008, however, Banco de Oro has overtaken Metrobank and has grabbed the title since.

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18 summa cum laude graduates in UP Diliman

Wow.
That’s all I can say about the news that eighteen (18) students of the University of the Philippines – Diliman (UP Diliman) are set to be awarded the highest academic award of summa cum laude in the University Graduation ceremony this Sunday, April 26, 2009.

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$2 million prize for hackers!

Wanted: hackers!
If Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s resolution is to pass, the Commision on Elections (COMELEC) will soon be inviting hackers to hack the poll automation machines set to be used for the 2010 Philippine national elections.
The prize for the hacker who can beat the computerized system? Around P100 million or US$2.083 million.

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The Philippines’ Top Blogs of 2008

The year 2008 was a turbulent year not just for the Philippine stock market but for the Philippine blogosphere as well. For one, several bloggers were directly involved in a variety of issues, both good and bad. Last year also saw the rise of a lot of up-and-coming bloggers but, at the same time, a few previously popular bloggers simply stopped writing or just faded into oblivion.

In this article, we recognize Filipino blogs which made a huge jump in their Alexa rankings from the time we started monitoring blogs during the 1st quarter of 2008. A jump in the ranking most likely means the blog is getting more popular, translating to more visitors and perhaps more online income.

We also present here the quarterly change in the ranking of blogs from the 3rd quarter of 2008 to the 1st quarter of 2009.

The results below.

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Good time now to invest in stock market again?

The Business Mirror reported yesterday that the Philippine Stock Exchange was the best performing stock market in Southeast Asia during the 1st quarter of 2009.

From January to March 2009, the 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged 6.05% — a remarkable performance considering the current worldwide economic recession and the losses in other Asian markets.

Compare the Philippine stock market’s performance below with the other Southeast Asian counterparts.

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