• The Guide

    The Urban Roamer’s Taxation Guide for (Part-Time) Freelancers

    The previous entry here on the Urban Roamer which talked about the BIR Registration Guide for (Part-Time) Freelancers was a such a well-received post that it warms my heart to see and read messages of appreciation for coming up with the piece, having helped to fill in the pieces that have been blank for a long while. To that I say thank you that somehow I was able to be of help in some way. I appreciate them a lot. As comprehensive as the entry was, I have to admit it was not able to provide as much important details as possible about taxation for professionals, part-time ones especially. Thus the…

  • The Guide

    The Urban Roamer’s BIR Registration Guide for (Part-Time) Freelancers

    Truth be told, I had no intention of getting myself registered as a freelancing “professional.” (if writers are considered as “professionals” which the BIR says they are) It’s not that I do not wish to cheat on taxes despite my apprehensions and frustrations with the way things are run in the government today. Rather, my non-intent is borne out of practical reasons. One of them being I am currently a full-time employee, so I’m already paying taxes through the withholding tax deducted from my payslip. The other one is the fact that my writing gig is a part-time thing at this point, (something I stress much often) not to mention…

  • Makati,  Quezon City,  The Guide

    Horacio de la Costa

    If you were one of those who caught Pope Francis’ mass at the Manila Cathedral last January 16, you may have chanced upon the words of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in which he quoted a fellow named Fr. Horacio de la Costa who said that the resiliency of the Filipinos can be traced to “music and faith.” While there is little argument to be made about that statement, some have raised a question as a consequence of the Cardinal’s statement: who is Horacio de la Costa? Today, this edition of The Guide will try to answer the question about this man’s identity and his contributions to religion, history, and even the landscape…

  • The Guide

    A Pope in Manila

    Other than a visit of a US President, no official visit gets Manila, and the country as whole, all abuzz than a visit here of the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the person we all know as the pope. Something that should be a no-brainer given the country’s predominantly Catholic population. For Filipino Catholics, a papal visit is seen as an honor that the pope has taken time to visit them here, being a bastion of Catholicism in Asia and a chance for them to receive his blessings to them and to the country. On January 15 this year, Manila will be graced by such visit with the arrival of the current leader of the Roman…