GenSan Weekend

Magandang GenSan! Last weekend, we went to General Santos City for the Mindanao Leg of the Map Maker Summit. It was my first time to ride a plane and to be outside Luzon.

We left Manila at around 7:30 in the morning of April 20. After arriving in GenSan at about 9:30 A.M., we went to East Asia Royale Hotel to check in and unpack our things. Then, we had our lunch in Ranchero's Grill. There, we met Filipino actor Gerald Anderson. After having lunch, we went to the city hall and met the mayor, Darlene Antonino Custodio. We went to STI College General Santos, the venue of the summit, to have an ocular visit. We also went to Robinson's mall to check out Manny Pacquiao's store, Team Pacquiao. Then, we had cakes at Blugre Coffee, which is owned by Jinkee Pacquiao. We went to the hotel's Royale Lounge to start the planning for the summit. We made the food stubs and printed them. After the long day, we slept so we can wake up early.

The next day was the day of the Map Maker Summit. It was attended by almost 140 participants. There was a wide diversity of attendees: there were students and teachers, IT professionals and bloggers, policemen and policewomen, and even a nun. After the event, we had dinner at Grab a Crab.

On our last day at Gen. Santos City, we wake up early to have breakfast and go to the fish port. There, we saw how the tunas are being unloaded, weighed and packed. We also went to Pick Me up store and KCC Mall to buy food and souvenir items to bring home. After having lunch at Giacomino's, we went to the airport and went back to Manila. The weekend experience in GenSan was so good. I am hoping I can go back there soon.

Some of the photos during the weekend:

• Photos from Celine's tablet
• Photos from the photobooth during the Map Maker Summit
• Photos from Avel during the visit to Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio
• Photos of the Map Maker Summit from Aileen Apolo
• Photos at the Fish Port from Ms. Aileen

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Pre-Startup Weekend Manila Bootcamp

Last April 14, we helped organized Pre-Startup Weekend Manila Bootcamp at MINT College. Google Technology Users Groups worldwide are conducting Pre-Startup Weekend Bootcamps as part of the partnership of Google and Startup Weekend.

Some of the pictures of the event, taken from my phone:

For more details about the event, please check out this blog post of GTUG Philippines.

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Sweldong Pinoy

A few months ago, Celine asked me to make an app she can use in computing the taxes and statutory deductions based from a specific salary. There wasn't an existing app yet for that purpose. Since it will not only benefit her (and me), but a lot more too, I decided to start developing the app. However, due to time constraints and because of the complicated processes in computing the taxes and deductions, it took a long while to develop the app.

Last week, I have finished the prototype of Salary Calculator. It is an online tool for Filipinos that they can use to compute their net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS, Philhealth and PAG-IBIG. Users just need to provide their basic pays, and allowances (taxable and non-taxable allowances), as well as the rate (semi-monthly, monthly or annual). Then with just a click of the "Compute" button, the app will display the gross pay, withholding tax amount, net pay and the deductions for PAG-IBIG, SSS, and Philhealth. The withholding tax was computed based from the monthly taxable income using the BIR Revised Withholding Tax Table. The computation of the other deductions are based from PhilHealth Contribution Table, SSS Contribution Table, and Republic Act No. 9679 (for the PAG-IBIG contributions).

The app can be accessed at http://sweldongpinoy.tigcal.com and is still a work in progress. Try the app and please give comments and suggestions.

Update: The app is now called Sweldong Pinoy and is now also available on Chrome Web Store. We've also made an Android app which can now be downloaded on Google Play.

Update (December 19, 2012): The app is now at http://www.sweldongpinoy.com. The previous URLs redirect to this website now. We'll also be publishing an update to the app in connection to the increase in the PhilHealth contribution (see PhilHealth Circular 11 s. 2012 for details). For updates, you may also follow @sweldongpinoy on Twitter. Thank you very much for using the app!

Update (March 28, 2013): We already have a blog at http://blog.sweldongpinoy.com. We'll be posting news and updates about the app there.

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April Events

Map Maker Summits

After the Google Map Maker Manila Workshop last March 17, Google will be conducting Map Maker Summits this April in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The summits will be conducted in Bacolod (April 12), Baguio (April 14) and General Santos City (April 21). To signup in any of these summits, you may visit GTUG Philippines' blog post. You may also join the Mapping the Philippines group.

Startup Weekend Manila

Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups! This year's Startup Weekend Manila will be on April 27 to 29 at MINT College in Taguig City. You may register for the event here. If you are a member of GTUG Philippines and want to avail of the 20% GTUG discount, send an email to gtugphilippines@gmail.com.

Pre-Startup Weekend Manila

Because of the partnership of Google and Startup Weekend, GTUG Philippines is organizing a Pre-Startup Weekend Bootcamp. It will be held on April 14 at MINT College also. There will be technical and non-technical sessions to prepare the attendees for the Startup weekend. To find out more details and to register, check out this blog post.

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