The Unlawyer

Mrs. Unlawyer and I are in the Lion City for a few days, mainly to meet her friends and to take a brief summer break. While air fares to this island city-state are cheaper than ever, thanks to the presence of intense competition among the airlines flying to and from Manila to Singapore, finding reasonably-priced lodging is another thing altogether. Consider this: a four-star hotel that used to cost SGD 115 a night some two years ago [Okay, this was the low season tariff - Ed.] now charges a whopping SGD 225 a night – taxes not included.

Singapore was never a cheap city to live in to begin with. Now, with inflation running at 26-year highs, it has become even less so: Affluent Singapore feels pinch of inflation at 26-year highs. A government-sponsored website, according to a Xinhua report, has even dedicated a page highlighting food stalls in the Bedok district that sell food costing SGD 2 or less.

Many Filipinos work in Singapore as domestic helpers and one of the things I learned about their working conditions is that there is no statutory minimum wage for their benefit, nor does the law require employers to give them a weekly day off. Now that may soon change: Call in Singapore for maids to have a regular day off. Their low pay is also causing problems: Foreign maids choose Hong Kong and Taiwan over Singapore.

News of note: the brand-new Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) opened its 94-kilometer four-lane carriageway to the public Monday. Even as I write this, there are plans afoot to extend this new highway further north: PGMA pushes for P11.B Tarlac-La Union Expressway.

This new highway should improve commerce in this part of the country, although I firmly believe that a railway network can do this better and more efficiently.

More highway projects are in the pipeline, like this one meant to eventually benefit communities now depending on the two-lane and much overused Cagayan Valley Road: Elevated expressway to be built over dam.

Chinese citizens, furious at the way French protesters disrupted the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay race on the streets of Paris, and angry at what they believe are biased reports coming from Western media outlets about China’s treatment of Tibetan protesters, are taking their ire on French businesses in China and particularly against the Carrefour hypermart chain, enough for that company to take a lower profile in the meantime by cancelling its proposed May Day promotions and ads.

Carrefour executives, understandably, want to smooth things over with their Chinese customers immediately:

“Carrefour’s chairman, Jose Luis Duran, appeared on China Central Television to assure the Chinese people that his company had never provided support for Tibetan separatists, and that he fully supported the Beijing Olympics. Duran has reason to be concerned; Carrefour has 112 stores in different parts of China, which accounts for 9 percent of the company’s global business.”

Another French executive is anxious as well: Bernard Arnault offers support to China after threat of LVMH boycott. Which is quite understandable, as China is almost the third-largest market for LVMH products, the company that owns Louis Vuitton and a host of luxury brands.

Chinese government officials are quite anxious to sweep everything under the rug: China Reins in Nationalistic Anger, which may be ironic to some as it is widely perceived that these protests have the tacit approval of the Chinese authorities.

Bryanboy is happy that the Marc by Marc Jacobs store at the upscale Greenbelt 5 shopping mall is now open. Here’s a profile of Mr. Jacobs that Bryanboy might like: Lost and Found, which includes plenty of insights of the New York City-born Jacobs’ contentious relationship with LVMH boss Mr. Arnault.

An informal survey conducted by Pinoy Guy Guide (PGG) says: 77% of PGG readers go to salons. I’m a barbershop guy myself, as the hairstyle I want is just short hair.

A blog with the curious title of A blog title cannot define what my life’s all about takes some notes about customer service in The New Name Of Customer Service