Flair Towers - Unit for Rent (Manduluyong)

I am the owner of a DMCI Flair Towers 2-Bedroom Deluxe unit, of the North Tower. My unit is on the higher floor and facing the amenities. It is expected to turnover in the month of December 2014.

I am looking forward to secure a tenant early who is willing to lease my unit on a long term basis for a period of at least 2 years. After turnover, my unit has to undergo a renovation. I am open to any ideas that my prospective tenant’s desire on how the unit is to be renovated or designed. Also, I may purchase appliances and furniture to match his/her likings.

In case if you are not aware about this hot selling condominium project by DMCI at Manduluyong, you can read more about it from the following websites:

http://www.flairtowers.com/

http://flairtowersdmci.com/

As you can see from the maps above, this condominium is strategically located in the middle of the 3 major CBD in Manila which are Ortigas, Makati and Bonifaciao Global City. It is just a walking distance to the nearest Boni Avenue MRT station.

There are a couple of other condominium projects which are near its vicinity. What Flair Towers stands out from the rest is that it is located slightly away from the buzz and noise of the Edsa Highway while having easy accessibility to the other parts of Manila through Shaw Boulevard and Pioneer roads.

If you are interested to lease this unit, do send me an email. Queries are also welcomed but no agents or brokers are allowed. You can find my contact details on the right side of this blog under About Me.

MBS - Big company but small heart

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has been around in Singapore for more than two years. The company hired a large number of local employees boosting the job availability in the hospitality sector here. I view that as an encouraging sign because the company has not only provided a support for the country’s employment sector but also help to promote the tourism sector of the country.

In the recent survey which I can’t really recall, MBS is named as one of the top employers to work with in Singapore. There is no doubt that they can really pay well to their employees. I know this because I have a lot of friends and relatives working in the company as a casino dealer or cage cashier.

Despite the higher salaries given to its employees, the turnover rate there is quite high too. One problem with the company is with regards to the employees working schedule. The company has employed a diverse group of employees from different races and religions. When comes to festive holidays like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali or Christmas, most of their employees are forced to work on those days. Nobody is allowed to take leaves.

One peculiar scheduling of their employees is that some of them who are not celebrating the festivals are given their day offs while those who are celebrating are required to work instead. For an example, some non-Chinese employees are given day offs during Chinese New Year while their Chinese employees are required to come to work.  This is definitely not a fair practice. With a little bit of tweaking, I am sure the off days can be given to those who really need them. Selected employees who are celebrating their festivals should also be given day offs on a rotation basis.

I hope a big company like MBS can improve the working schedules of their employees and be more sensitive to the needs of their employees with diverse ethnicity when comes to the festive seasons. If not, the turnover or employees absenteeism rates will remain high.

Hiring a transfer or direct maid

I am planning to hire a transfer or direct hire maid who can start working in my house from August 2013. I have two daughters aged 7 and 3 years old.

In order to save costs, I am willing to do by myself all the legal documentations to obtain a maid permit from the Ministry of Manpower of Singapore. For a direct hire maid, that means you need to leave your country as a tourist but you will enter Singapore with a maid permit. We can discuss and make arrangements for your travel to Singapore.

Here are the requirements that I am looking for:

1) Experiences with cooking, cleaning and taking care of children.
2) Able to speak English.
3) Filipino or Indonesian maids preferred.
4) Pleasant looking and aged 23 to 35 years old.
5) Minimum 8 years of formal education (educational certificates required). See list of approved schools.
6) Not registered as a maid with any agencies of your country (for direct hire).
7) Valid travel passport.

If you fit the above requirements, kindly send me an email by attaching a recent photo together with a description about yourself.

Tougher to raise kids in Singapore

I have two young daughters age 7 and 3 years old. My wife is a Singapore PR from the Philippines. Prior to the current company, she was working as a part time cashier at Fairprice. The flexible working hours there allowed her to work while my daughter was sent to the childcare centre. After the birth of our 2^nd daughter, I tried to bring in my mom in law into Singapore so that she can take care of our children as my wife wanted to find a full time job.

We know that the government is encouraging Singaporean married couples to have more babies. But to my dismay, the policies are not accommodating enough to the married couples. I tried several attempts to apply for a Long Term Visit Pass for my mom in law to stay in Singapore. However my application was only approved after a long and painful process of obtaining a 2^nd appeal letter from my MP.

The Long Term Visit Pass approval was only a short term relief to my family because the validity of the pass is for a maximum of 2 years or till my 2^nd daughter reaches the age of 3 years old whichever is earlier! That means my mom in law has to go back to the Philippines soon. By then, I am only left with 2 options. Its either I get a maid or my wife has to quit her job. Both are unacceptable options to us.

Out of the 2 options, it is more likely that I am forced to find a maid. As a parent, I am sure everyone would like to have their children taken care by someone whom they trusted. We have read about the many ill-effects of what maids can do. Maid industry needs a cleanup is another recent article that gives me little confidence about getting a maid.

Here are some questions that I want to pose to the policy makers. I know the government is trying to cut down on the approval of foreigners to stay in Singapore recently. The thing is regardless of whether I bring in my mom in law or I get a maid, the number of foreigners here will still be the same. The only difference is I am paying a levy with a maid. So can I pay a levy to bring my mom in law to work as a maid here in Singapore? Or can the government do something about the immigration policies of ICA to help Singaporean married couples who want to bring in their foreign relatives into Singapore to help look after their children?

Looking after the children and maid issues are some of the problems that need to be addressed if the government is serious about increasing birth rates. After the recent in-flux of foreigners working here in Singapore, more and more locals are marrying foreigners.