How much money do other people make each month?

That, I’m sure, is something you’ve always wanted to know but are afraid to ask. But we still asked our PMT Forum members that question and, based on initial results, they’re not your average wage earners.

The pie graph below shows the breakdown of members of the PinoyMoneyTalk.com Forum based on their monthly income. Income here refers to wages, salaries, or business income and other money sources such as investment earnings.

Pie Chart: Monthly Salaries of PMT Forum members

Based on a two-month poll answered by 65 members until November 20, 2008, around 37% are high earners, meaning they earn more than P100,000 or $2,080 per month.

Around 23%, on the other hand, earn P10,001 - P25,000 ($208 - $520) every month.

More than 15% have monthly incomes in the range of P25,001 - P50,000 ($521 - $1,041).

Only a meager 1.5% earn below P10,000 per month.

Members polled get incomes mostly from wages or business earnings.

How about you? How much do you earn?

Join the survey so we’ll know how much PMT members really earn. The poll’s here: Magkano income niyo in one month (in Philippine peso)?

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

The global economy is now said to be in recession. Stock markets worldwide have been suffering from steep losses. And individual investors are losing money in most of their investments.

In the PMT Forum, members have been talking about how much they have lost so far during this bearish period of the market. Here are some posts.

mlangseth says:

I have lost 28-33% of my investments, paper loss only as I do not want to move any of my investments.

scout says:

I managed to pull out around 30% of my stocks investment, the other 70% was just too deep to cut losses.  My original plan is for short term investment, say 6 months to a year. Unfortunately I am forced to go long term now.  Only consolation I have is that most of my LOSING position are blue chips.

pachira says:

Ako 40% na nawawala. Kukunin ko na rin kasi may napanood ako sa tv na economist/ economic adviser na till 2010 pa earliest ito gaganda or kung anuman. Kahit di ko pa kailangan ng money na ininvest ko, sayang ang time na mapapalago ko siya sa ibang vehicles. Pag malago na siya, pwede namang bumalik ulit.

RealEstateInvestor says:

About 70% in paper…

How about you? Are you losing or winning? By how much? Join the discussion in the thread How much have you lost so far in this bear market?

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Ayala Corporation, the country’s largest conglomerate, will be issuing a total of 12 million preferred “Class A “shares for P500 each. Proceeds from the issue will be used to fund the company’s investments in business process outsourcing (BPO) and overseas real estate projects.

Unlike owners of common shares, preferred stockholders do not have voting rights but are the first to get paid in case a company is liquidated.

Ayala Corp (Stock Code: AC)’s Preferred Shares will pay a fixed dividend rate of 8.88% per annum. Minimum subscription is 100 shares and succeeding placements must be in multiples of 20 shares.

Other features of the Preferred Shares are the following:

• Dividends will only be distributed to shareholders if and when the company’s Board of Directors decide to declare it. The dividends are cumulative so that when the Issuer’s Board declares dividends, holders of the Shares will receive the dividends due them on such Dividend Payment Date and all Dividends accrued and unpaid prior to such Dividend Payment Period.

• The Dividends will be paid quarterly in arrears on the last day of each 3-month Dividend Period (Dividend Payment Date) of February, May, August, and November of each year. If the Issuer’s Board does not declare a dividend on the Shares, no Dividend will be paid on these Dividend Payment Dates.

• The Shares are redeemable, as and if declared by the Issuer’s Board, on the fifth anniversary from the Listing Date (Optional Redemption Date) or on any Dividend Payment Date thereafter.  Redemption will be in whole (but not in part only), at a price equal to the Issue Price plus accrued and unpaid dividends for all dividend periods up to the Redemption Date.

• If the Shares are not redeemed on the fifth year from the Listing Date, the dividend rate will be adjusted to the higher of (a) the Dividend Rate; or (b) the 10-year Fixed Rate Treasury Note benchmark yields as displayed on the “PDST-R2″ screen of the PDEX page of Bloomberg at approximately 4:15 p.m. for the date corresponding the Optional Redemption Date, plus a spread of 0.0088 or 88 bps.

• The Shares will be listed and traded at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

For information on how to take part in this offering, contact the underwriter BPI Capital.

ADDRESS: 8th Floor BPI Building, Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
TELEPHONE NO.: (632) 816-9612
FAX NO.: (632) 818-7809

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

After more than 2 weeks of waiting and rambling about BPI call center’s ineffiency in handling customer calls, my BPI Trade password problem was finally solved today.

A few minutes ago, I called BPI’s Customer Support Hotline at 89-100 and, unlike my previous attempts, instantly got connected without hearing that “All circuits are busy now” message.

A customer representative noted my request then told me to wait while she transferred my call to a Password Reset support person. That’s when I was kept on hold for more than 10 minutes. A bit annoying, but at least the person who handled my password reset request was accommodating and friendly.

She told me that during the past week, BPI Trade upgraded its website and that’s what caused several login problems for most BPI Trade clients. Ironically, though, after the supposed system upgrade, the site is loading much slower than before. Logging in now takes almost a minute while in the past, it was almost instantaneous.

In any case, I’m glad my password problem is now solved. I just hope that in the future, BPI’s customer support will be faster and more efficient so that clients won’t be disappointed and annoyed by repeated messages of “All circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

Because if BPI’s service will deteriorate, customers will not simply try again but will rather try other banks.

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Have you gotten yourself a 100-peso bill with the UP Oblation logo on it?

I asked because it seems like the bills are now widely circulated. For one, some PMT readers posted comments in the article Limited edition Php100 UP Centennial bills that they are selling their bills (at a premium, that is).

Last month, I dined at Jollibee Philcoa and the change I got consisted of one UP Centennial P100 bill. A week later, I got another UP Centennial bill as change from Greenwich Philcoa.

Then last Saturday, I withdrew cash from a UnionBank ATM in Ortigas and, to my surprise, the ATM churned out five crisp, brand-new bills (see photo below).

The bills were printed by the Philippine Central Bank as part of the celebration of the 100th year of UP. I bought a package of four uncut bills back in June for P1,000. I heard that they now cost P1,500 per set.

The bills are definitely being sold at a premium and that explains why a lot of holders of the bills are selling their piece at P300 or even P500 each.

As for mine, I’m holding on to it until perhaps the 150th or 200th year anniversary of UP. I’m sure that the value of my bills would increase by that time. That assumes, of course, that I live long enough to see that moment.

See also: Limited edition Php100 UP Centennial bills

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Almost a week after I posted my BPI Trade password problem, I still have not solved it because it looks like no one’s around at the BPI Call Center.

On October 9, I made a gazillion calls to BPI’s customer support number 89-100 or 891-0000 but the only response I got was “All circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

I did try several days later but I kept getting the same message.

Yesterday, November 3, I managed to get connected but — surprise! — the call center representative I talked to told me to call again because “there are no available agents in charge of Password Reset.”

That’s when I had it. I asked how many agents are assigned to do Password Reset. She told me there are a lot. If you have a lot, I said, then how come my problem a week ago is still not solved?

She apologized, then asked for my phone number so they can call me “the moment an agent who does Password Reset becomes available.”

Today — 24 hours later — no one from BPI Call Center has called me yet. Apparently, no agent has become available until now.

BPI’s customer phone support is obviously and terribly undermanned. Either that or they’re just lazy. You choose.

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Halloween just ended but sadly I wasn’t able to spot a Google Adsense unit that sported a Halloween theme.

For those not in the know, Adsense used to customize the color and design of their ads to suit a particular occasion. Previously, I saw Google Adsense ads sporting the Christmas theme right here on this blog. Recently, though, I haven’t seen any ad unit with a customized look.

If you want to see how these special ad units look like, here are sample Halloween-themed Adsense ads seen in 2005.

I like the third one more, the one with the pumpkin and ghost caricatures on each ad. Which do you like?

I know that Google Adsense publishers can activate this option when they create ad units but I logged on to my account just now but didn’t see this option. Probably Adsense already retired this?

Anyway, if you’ve seen a themed Google Adsense ad unit somewhere, let us know.

Image Credit: Jensense

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

You’re working in the US and you received an unfortunate call informing you that your father in the Philippines passed away. You wanted to fly back but you’re strapped on cash. How do you mourn for your deceased father thousands of miles away?

The answer: log on to the internet and avail of St. Peter Memorial Chapels’ E-Burol or Online Burol (Online Wake) service.

Yesterday, November 1, an advertisement of St. Peter Chapels’ Online Burol appeared on several newspapers. Apparently families and relatives from all over the globe can now take part in the wake of their deceased loved one.

If you conduct a wake in any of St. Peter Memorial Chapels, an online webcam facility which “broadcasts” the wake will be set up. Relatives and friends who cannot personally attend just need to visit the website of St. Peter Chapels to watch a real-time broadcast of the wake.

Creepy but useful, nevertheless.

What’s more interesting is that the Chapel also offers free wifi connection. This is probably for those attending the wake so that they can chat with relatives and friends “viewing” the wake. Sample conversation:

Online Viewer: Ano daw bang ikinamatay ni Tatay?
Wake Attender: Inatake sa puso.
OV: Sorry ha, hindi na ako makakauwi kasi mahal ang pamasahe. Magpapadala na lang ako ng pera. I-send ko ba via Paypal o Western Union na lang?
WA: Wag na Paypal, baka ma-hack pa account ko. Western Union na lang. Pag na-send mo na, text mo sa akin yung Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN).
OV: Ok, np. Marami bang tao pala jan ngayon sa burol?
WA: Marami-rami naman. Nakikita mo ba sa webcam ngayon, ayun si Tiya Adela sa unahan.
OV: Hindi pa, baka may lag itong streaming. Ayun, ok na. Aba, tumataba si Tiya Adela! LOL.
WA: Onga, pero nagda-diet na raw siya hehe. Oi, teka BRB muna ako kasi sasalubungin ko si Tiyo Mario, kadarating lang.
OV: Sige, GTG na rin ako kasi shift ko na sa hospital.
WA: Bye! Log in ka na lang uli later ha?

For some, this may take away the solemnity of the occasion but for those without the means to personally attend a wake, this is their way of joining in the mourning.

Ah, the wonders of the internet!

Image Credit: ABS-CBN News

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

In the September 2008 update made to investors of scam investment program Performance Investment Products Corporation (PIPC), fraud investigation firm Ferrier Hodgson disclosed that the results of preliminary analysis support its belief that PIPC operated as a Ponzi scheme.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves promising or paying abnormally high returns to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from revenues generated by a real business.

PIPC was a multimillion-dollar scam investment program that was exposed in 2007 after the owner of the company, Singaporean Michael H.K. Liew, fled the Philippines and disappeared, supposedly taking with him between US$140 million and US$250 million of investors’ funds.

The assertion that PIPC was a scam was reached by Ferrier while progressing on three key areas of investigation, namely:

1. Analysis of PIPC funds transferred to Cristina Tuason;
2. ABN-Amro examination; and
3. Possible legal proceedings against Metro Capital Venture Pty Ltd.

Below are brief updates on each of the key issues.

Transfers to Cristina Tuason

In the course of its investigation, Ferrier Hodgson identified substantial amounts of money being transferred from the ABN-Amro and Standard Chartered Bank accounts of PIPC-Hong Kong to bearer accounts in the name of “Cristina Tuason,” PIPC incorporator and executive in the Philippines.

Audit of the money trail, however, showed that more than US$33 million of the US$38 million transferred were for profit payments to investors. The remaining amount is still unaccounted for and, according to Ferrier, may have been used to pay for bank charges, as profit payments to investors which were not recorded in the books, or as transfers to other bearer accounts for an unknown purpose.

Ferrier Hodgson explained that the said analysis “supports our belief that [PIPC] merely operated as a Ponzi scheme and that investor funds were cycled back to investors.” Basically, this means the “return” given to old investors of PIPC were paid out from incoming investment money of new investors and not from real profits generated from any business. A Ponzi scam, that is.

ABN-Amro Examination

Ferrier Hodgson was able to secure a Court Order against ABN-Amro Hong Kong providing for the turnover and analysis of all documentation related to PIPC-Hong Kong’s accounts. They are currently reviewing the documents received and will issue an update upon completion of the said investigation.

Possible legal action vs. Metro Capital Venture Pty Ltd.

Ferrier’s investigation also led to the identification of a series of payments totaling US$461,088 made by PIPC to Metro Capital Venture Pty Limited. Metro Capital is an Australian company related to PIPC executives Albert Chua and Eric Lee. Demand letters for repayment were submitted to the company but until now, there was no response. Ferrier is said to be in the process of instituting legal recovery proceedings against Metro.

More than a year and still counting

It’s been more than a year since PIPC officially became a scam but the resolution of the case is nowhere in sight. Thousands of investors who were duped by the PIPC scam have nothing to do right now but wait. But wait for what, no one knows.

Related readings:

• Discussion forum: PIPC scam
• Discussion forum: PFEC scam
• More PIPC and PFEC news and updates

Early this morning, I got locked out of my Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Trading account after I incorrectly entered my password three times. Apparently, I had forgotten that I changed my password a few days ago.

Around 10 in the morning, I called BPI’s Customer Phone Support at 89-100 or 891-0000 to help me reset my password. What greeted me was the pre-recorded message, “Sorry, all circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

Ok, fine, I’ll try again in 10 minutes.

Ring, ring! “Sorry, all circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

Thirty minutes later: “Sorry, all circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

Hmm…

Before 12 noon, I think I made more than 10 calls to BPI and yet none of my calls got through. I tried three other phone lines to check if the problem was on my side but not even one of my calls got connected.

This afternoon, around 3:30, I telephoned them again but all I heard was the same message.

“Sorry, all circuits are busy now. Please try again later.”

Try again when exactly? @#$%^&!!

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Blogging is now, without a doubt, a certified way to make money online. Many bloggers around the world have relied — and are still relying on blogging — to provide them with a regular stream of income, which they use to buy a car, house, laptop, or LCD TV.

For some, blogging has become their source of passive income. Passive, because they don’t have to write articles or monitor their blog every single day. Passive, because they don’t even have to be online and yet they earn money.

Take, for example, this PinoyMoneyTalk.com blog.

During the first week of October, I moved to a new place and, until now, I don’t have internet access at home. I simply connect to the net using free wifi offered in coffee shops (read: Krispy Kreme LOL). That explains why I was able to make only 11 articles in the month of October. That’s roughly one article every three days, a surprisingly slow rate considering I was posting 1-2 articles every day without fail during the past months.

And yet, my online income from Google Adsense did not significantly change. Below is a graph comparing the number of articles posted daily on the PMT Blog and the dollar income level everyday in October 2008.

As seen in the graph, my Adsense earnings during the days when there was no article did not vary much compared to the days when there was an article posted (red circles). In fact, there is no longer a direct relationship between the level of online income and the number of articles I post. This is probably due to the existence of 800+ other articles previously posted on the PMT Blog during the past three years which make money for me even if I don’t make new posts now.

What does this mean to you as a blogger?

This goes to show that you need to keep on writing so you can build a portfolio of articles that will earn for you even if you don’t add anything to that portfolio anymore.

Don’t worry if you think your online earnings don’t seem to increase despite the fact that you have been posting blog articles everyday. Based on my experience, there appears to be a lag between the time you post an article and the time it makes money for you.

If, for example, you will be offline for a certain number of days or weeks, you can still post articles by preparing them beforehand and scheduling their publication using the blog’s “Schedule Publication” function. In Wordpress, you can find this under Publish Status > Publish Immediately - Edit link located under the right-hand sidebar of the Write Post section.

The key here is simply to keep on writing and writing. Soon you will see an exponential increase in income vis-à-vis the number of articles you post.

Once you’ve achieved making a consistent amount of money despite you not posting as often as before, congratulations! Blogging has officially become your source of passive income.

Some more online money-making tips and tricks:

• How to get started in blogging
• How to optimize your Google Adsense ads
• How Filipinos make money online
• Analysis of Adsense income thru Google Analytics

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

If you’re a Google Adsense publisher, one of the common problems you probably have is the lack of detailed information to tell you which specific content is delivering you income and from which countries the ad clicks are coming from.

Now, those problems will be addressed by the new feature Adsense is offering. Google’s online money-making program, Adsense, is currently integrating with Google’s own web analytics tool, Analytics, to give users access to detailed information about the performance of Adsense ads.

Can the integration of Adsense and Analytics ultimately bring more earnings?

Definitely. The marriage of Adsense and Analytics can help you identify at least five important things which can help improve the performance of your site’s Adsense ads.

1. Specific content that brings income

The new feature will identify specific web pages and how much Adsense earnings they are contributing. Armed with this data, you will not only know which blog articles or pages are popular but, more importantly, which ones are profitable. If you discover, for example, that articles about “Making Money Online” or “Vanessa Anne Hudgens” or, uh-hmm, “Nude Photos of Celebrities” are the ones giving you more income, you can choose to write more articles about these topics so you can earn more.  

2. Geographic location of ad clicks

You can now also identify the actual region or geographic location of the people clicking on your ads. Do they come from the US or Canada? United Kingdom or Russia? The Philippines or Malaysia? Knowing who clicks on your ads can help you tailor your site content to them.

3. Referring source  

You already know which content generates ad clicks and from where these clicks are coming from, but how did your visitors come to your site? That will be answered by the list of referrers that will be integrated with your Adsense account. This Analytics function can help you determine which sites or search engines bring you profitable traffic so you can leverage these referring sources.

4. Time of ad clicks

The current “Reports” section in Google Adsense can enumerate the daily earnings you have earned. But with the new Adsense-Analytics integration, even the hourly performance of ads can be identified. If you know that more ad clicks are generated during a certain time period, you must ensure that your site is accessible during that time. Otherwise, you’ll lose a hefty amount of Adsense earnings.

5. Users’ browsers and technologies

Google Analytics will also integrate data about the browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Safari, etc.) and technologies (e.g., Flash, Java, etc.) the people clicking on your ads are using. This can help you check if your content suits the software and PC capabilities of the visitors giving you income.

Even before, I have been analyzing my Adsense performance through Google Analytics (see Analysis of Adsense income thru Google Analytics). But this integration of Adsense and Analytics can make ad optimization easier and probably more effective.

This “Google Adsense + Analytics” feature is slowly being rolled out and is not yet available to all Adsense users. But sooner or later, you’ll be able to get the invitation to try it so watch out for that Integrate your Adsense account with Google Analytics link under the Reports-Overview section of your Adsense account.

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

The issue of increased deposit coverage by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) is probably a no-brainer to most people. If it can be made to guarantee a higher deposit amount to protect depositors from any bank failures, why still argue about it, right?

Apparently, there is more to just increasing the amount of insured deposits, and that’s what PMT members are talking about in the discussion thread Proposed increase in PDIC coverage.

What is the PDIC?

The PDIC is the Philippine counterpart to the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As a deposit insurer like the FDIC, the PDIC collects semiannual fees from member banks similar to premiums collected by an insurance company. The fees paid represent the assurance of depositors that the PDIC will guarantee deposits up to P250,000 (US$5,200) in that bank.

In case a bank run or bank holiday is declared, the PDIC will step in to reimburse that bank’s depositors up to P250,000 of their deposit accounts. If closed banks are not rehabilitated or taken over by other banks, deposits amounting to more than P250,000 can still be claimed if there are bank assets remaining which can be liquidated.

Right now, the PDIC guarantee covers only deposit accounts, meaning Savings, Checking, and Time Deposit accounts offered by banks in the Philippines.

Higher PDIC coverage

Last week, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero filed a bill in the Senate calling to double the maximum deposit insurance coverage from P250,000 to P500,000. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself supported the idea and even proposed that the coverage be further increased to P1 million.

What’s wrong with the bill? Technically, nothing, except that it might spur a few negative implications.

For one, the government will have to contribute P42 billion more to cover the proposed increase in insured deposits. According to PDIC president Jose Nograles, the hike in insurance coverage will entail the government to raise its contribution from the current P3 billion to P45 billion. That’s a lot of government money that could be better spent to increase the competitiveness of Philippine industries or, to address the bank deposits issue, ensure that no local bank will collapse.

Second, maintaining the blanket insurance coverage on all deposits might encourage banks to offer “risky” deposit accounts such as double-your-money investments or hybrid time deposits that offer up to 20% interest per annum.

There’s nothing wrong with those products as long as the money is placed in investment vehicles whose return exceeds the offered interest rate. But what would prevent a greedy bank from offering, say, a 50%-interest-per-annum, P1-million-minimum time deposit account whose proceeds we won’t know how they are being invested?

The bank would surely pocket the profits, but once they become unable to sustain the high payout, they can simply declare a bank run and tell depositors: “Uh-oh, we blew it. Apparently, we can’t offer 50% interest per annum. No, no, you won’t lose money because you can run after the PDIC. Go after them, not us. By the way, we’re planning to open a new bank soon and we’ll offer the same double-your-money time deposit product, so see you again when you make an investment with us. Nope, this is not going to be risky because, remember, the PDIC will reimburse you when we fail!”

Actually right now, the blanket insurance coverage is being used – actually, exploited – by some banks that offer high-yield but high-risk deposit accounts, such as several double-your-money investment programs. Again, there is no problem with this as long as banks are able to make interest payments. However, once the bubble bursts, they simply shift the responsibility and pass on the burden to the PDIC.

Discretion of insurance coverage

For this reason, we concur with the provision in the proposed Senate bill giving the PDIC discretion on which deposit accounts to insure. If ever this bill is approved, depositors can still be protected by requiring banks to inform them if the deposit account they are opening is covered by the PDIC or not. Depositors must have the right to know if their accounts are protected by the insurance coverage PRIOR to opening the account, NOT after the bank has closed down.

The PDIC should not and should never be made to guarantee erring decisions of faulty banks. Because if it continues refunding depositors for risky deposit accounts that should not be offered in the first place, the PDIC may — and can — go bankrupt.

And when and if the PDIC, the insurer of our bank deposits, ultimately finds itself in trouble, without a doubt, no depositor will laugh his way to the bank.

Additional readings:

• Discussion forum: Proposed PDIC coverage of P500,000
• Discussion forum: Explanation on the rules of the PDIC coverage
• Double-your-money investment schemes — are they for real?
• Experiences investing in double-your-money programs in the Philippines
• List of banks offering double-your-money or high-interest accounts

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Congratulations to the 2,442 out of 6,663 examinees who passed the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Licensure Examination administered by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) on October 2008!

Check below to view the complete list of passers.

The Top 10 new CPAs are:

1. Richie Jackson Taguinod Padilla, University Of Saint Louis-Tuguegarao — 92.71%

2. Ziff Calvin Rigor Marabillo, Silliman University — 92.14%

3. Joanes Albert Batalla De Vera, Far Eastern University-Manila — 92.00%

4. Richellou Jamaica Ortega Lenon, University Of The Philippines-Diliman — 91.86%

5. Hazel Angeline Quiapos Abenoja, Bicol University-Legazpi — 91.57%

6. Mhark Almario Serato, De La Salle University-Manila — 91.43%

7. Kristine Jennifer Discaya Chua, University Of The Philippines-Diliman — 91.29%

8. Adrian Hizon Bajador, University Of The Philippines-Diliman — 91.14%

9. Raymund Christian Sayco Ong Abrantes, Ateneo De Davao University — 91.00%
Teejay Tamayo Banal, Jose Rizal University (JRC) — 91.00%
Apple Amatorio Canaya, University Of The Philippines-Visayas-Iloilo City — 91.00%
Jessica Madriaga Delos Reyes, Adamson University — 91.00%
Melody Jade Figueroa Quilana, University Of Northern Philippines-Vigan — 91.00%
Leomar Gabon Velez, Polytechnic University Of The Philippines-Main-Sta. Mesa — 91.00%

10. Edison Ramirez Bautista, Wesleyan University Of The Philippines-Cabanatuan City — 90.86%
Mark Jerson Rodriguez Pulohanan, University Of The Philippines-Visayas-Iloilo City — 90.86%

To find out if you passed, download this pdf copy of the October 2008 CPA Board Exam Passers (to save this file, right-click on the link then choose “Save Link As…”).

Or go here and click on the first letter of the surname of the person you want to check.

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This article was originally posted at PinoyMoneyTalk.com . If you’re reading this elsewhere, it’s likely copied WITHOUT permission! Drop by the PMT Forum for more discussions about money, finance, and business.

Do you know how many OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are there around the world? According to the Population Reference Bureau, around 11% of the Philippine population or roughly 11 million Filipinos are working as OFWs. This number keeps on increasing as more and more Filipinos seek greener pastures outside of the country.

But there are several Filipinos who apply for work abroad who also end up as victims of fake recruitment agencies. Everyday, hundreds — probably even thousands — are duped by false promises of overseas employment.

How can you check if an agency offering a job abroad is legal or licensed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA)?

One simple way to do this is to check the POEA list of Philippine recruitment agencies.

Take note of two things in the list: (1) the Status of the employment agency and (2) the License Validity .

With regard to Status, be wary of agencies whose current standing with the POEA are Delisted, Cancelled, Preventive Suspension, or Forever Banned. Several clients in the past probably encountered problems with them and it would be risky if you transact with them now.

Although those with Good Standing status are reputable at present, there is no reason to fully trust these companies from keeping this status forever. That’s why it pays to be vigilant and cautious when dealing with employment agencies. Inquiring with the POEA about the latest status of your employment agency and whether there are pending cases against them can help you identify problems before they crop up.

The License Validity tells you the duration of a company’s license registration with the POEA. Don’t deal with those with expired licenses because, technically, they are not allowed to operate legally. If you’re transacting with an agency with an expiring license, inquire if they are already renewing it. Double-check this with the POEA.

Here are a few more tips how not to become a victim of illegal recruiters.

1. Do not deal with any person who is not an authorized representative of a licensed agency.

2. Do not transact business outside the registered address of the agency. If recruitment is conducted in the province, check if the agency has a provincial recruitment authority.

3. Do not pay more than the allowed placement fee. It should be equivalent to one month salary, exclusive of documentation and processing costs.

4. Do not pay any placement fee unless you have a valid employment contract and an official receipt.

5. Do not deal with training centers and travel agencies, which promise overseas employment.

6. Do not accept a tourist visa.

7. Do not deal with fixers.

8. Do not be enticed by ads or brochures requiring you to reply to a Post Office (P.O.) Box, and to enclose payment for processing of papers.

With the tips above, we hope you won’t become the next victim of illegal recruiters.

See also: POEA warns UK job applicants vs. new internet scam

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