Category Archives: Business

Business, Economy, Travel

PHILIPPINES SUCCESS STORY: FROM BUS TO AIRBUS

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imageCABANATUAN CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – We’ve seen many success stories about small businesses being transformed into multi-billion enterprises —  like Apple, Amazon and Google. They all started in some family garage.

The Philippines has its share of business success stories, but none as amazing as that of  Baliwag Transit, Inc., a bus transportation system with offices and terminals in various parts of Luzon. It mainly services routes to and from Metro Manila and Northern and Central Luzon. Most of its terminals are located in the province of Nueva Ecija, where some of its terminals are located in San Jose City, Baliuag and Cabanatuan City.

We can say that Baliwag Transit started in a garage, literally.

On Friday, the lowly bus company unveiled the latest unit of its fleet — an Airbus 380.

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European aircraft company Airbus. It is the world’s largest passenger airliner, and the airports at which it operates have upgraded facilities to accommodate it.

Unfortunately, no airport in Nueva Ecija is big enough or equipped to accommodate the Airbus 380.

So for now, the Baliwag Transit jumbo jet sits by a terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. And travelers to and from Nueva Ecija will have to take the old reliable motor bus.

It is a success story nonetheless!

Business, Politics

SALES OF SAN MIGUEL BEER ON THE RISE, THANKS TO PHILIPPINE SENATOR GRACE POE

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2ac1b0007c47d872b3298cf2c02e2926MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – She has not yet declared her candidacy for president of the Philippines, but already, Senator Grace Poe is on the receiving end of bad rap from her nervous political opponents.

In recent months, Poe has consistently ranked number one in the polls on candidates and potential candidates for the 2016 presidential elections, displacing Vice President Jejomar Binay from the top spot.  Only  Binay and Interior and Local Governments Secretary Mar Roxas have officially declared their candidacy so far.

Poe’s enemies have accused her of being a batterer, drug addict and alcoholic, all of which the daughter of the late movie actor and former presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr.  categorically denied.

In speaking with reporters yesterday, Poe said that she does drink white wine or San Miguel beer at parties and receptions, but that doesn’t make her an alcoholic.sanmig

Since Poe clarified the allegations of alcoholism, the sales of San Miguel beer, the Philippines’ premier bottled brew, has tripled. No other celebrity endorsement of the beer has ever resulted in increased demand and sales.

We could not reach Poe to clarify whether her drink of choice was regular San Miguel beer (Pale Pilsen) or San Mig Light.

Beauty, Business, International

MISS UNIVERSE IS FOR SALE!

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Vega

MIAMI, Florida (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Miss Universe is up for sale! No, not Paulina Vega, the reigning title holder from Colombia, but Miss Universe the pageant.

Republican presidential candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump told reporters he was putting his 49% stake in the pageant on the market.

Trump has been the face of Miss Universe for decades — well, hiding behind the beautiful faces of the pageant contestants and winners, that is. As owner of the Miss Universe Organization, he pretty much dictated how, where and when the pageants were to take place. He also singularly made that decision years ago to allow a transgender contestant to compete for the Miss Canada-Universe pageant.

Alas, things continue to go downhill for Miss Universe (and Miss USA which Trump also owns), since he made those disparaging remarks against Mexicans during the launch of his presidential bid. NBC Universal and Univision both cut their ties to Trump and countries like Mexico and Panama have dropped out of the international pageant, with other Latin countries expected to do the same.

So what’s next for Miss Universe? Will any one step up to buy out Trump?

It’s just a rumor, but keep an eye on who will succeed Trump as owner. The likes of billionaires Carlos Slim of Mexico (the second richest man next to Bill Gates) and Henry Sy, the richest man in the Philippines.

Both Mexico and the Philippines love beauty pageants, so that increases the odds of a Mexican or a Filipino owning Miss Universe.