Pinoy in Singapore

You can find a lot of remittance centres for Filipinos at the third floor of Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road.  Personally, I’ve tried iRemit to deposit cash in my BPI savings account.  I remitted the money on a Saturday and it was reflected on my account on Sunday.  It works even on weekends!  How convenient!

[Read more →]

Singapore is small country of 646 sq km.  It’s almost the size of Manila which is 636 sq km BUT not as densely populated.  It’s pretty easy to go around Singapore because the transportation system is very efficient.  To Pinoys though, one difference between commuting in Manila and commuting in Singapore is that

[Read more →]

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is the government body responsible for administering, assessing, collecting and enforcing payment of taxes much like BIR is in the Philippines. In the Philippines, when regular employees receive their salary, usually the tax due is already deducted.  In Singapore,

[Read more →]

On your mark … set … SHOP!  The Great Singapore Sale starts May 25 (Fri) and will run up to July 22 (Sat), 2007.   Everyone gets to enjoy up to 70% discounts in shops all over Singapore.  Plus, that’s 8 weeks of duty-free shopping for you tourists!  The sale is really to attract more visitors to [...]

[Read more →]

No need to apply for a new work pass when changing jobsAs a PEP holder, you may take on a new job in Singapore without having to worry about re-applying for a new work pass when changing jobs.

[Read more →]

The Immigration and Checkpoints authority usually sends you a letter if you are eligible for applying for PR status.  Mr. Tsiken got his letter less than 5 months since we’ve moved here.  I guess he was fortunate enough to meet the requirements.  But we still haven’t decided whether to proceed with the application because we want to make sure we completely [...]

[Read more →]

Eligibility The EP is for foreigners who: Earn a fixed monthly salary of more than $2,500; and Have recognised qualifications.

[Read more →]

No, this is not a lounge nor a fancy restaurant.  It’s the interior of a public utility bus!  Fashion meets public utility in this SMRT bus in Singapore.  As I boarded an otherwise normal looking bus (I forgot which route) on my way to Serangoon Rd.,  I was pleasantly surprised to see the cream leather seats against [...]

[Read more →]

The multiracial culture of Singapore is very much reflected in its food.  You’ll find a Hawker centre in almost every corner.    Probably the most popular dish in Singapore is the Hainanese Chicken Rice.  It’s one of my personal favorites (hence the name Ms. Tsiken).  There’s a lot of Chinese food here and I don’t know [...]

[Read more →]

Singapore has 4 official languages namely English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.  Communicating with the locals may prove to be one of the more challenging tasks.  Though, Singaporeans can speak English, Singapore has its own version of English – Singlish, much like Taglish is to Filipinos.  What complicates it for me

[Read more →]

Singapore is a very multiracial country.  There are the Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, South Asians – Indians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshi, the Caucasians… you name it.  All of them exist in harmony in this little country at the southern tip of continental Asia.  But because there’s a lot of different cultures,

[Read more →]