CNMI’s 2009 auto sales at a glance

2009 has been a very challenging year for the businesses in the CNMI, and the island’s car dealers are not immune to the difficulties.

The global economic crisis, the mass exodus of residents to the mainland and other countries to look for greener pasture, the onset of federalization and the uncertainty of their immigration status just some of the factors of the steadily decreasing figures in car sales for the past five years.
But the year ended with a positive result as sales for the month of December produced the highest increase for the year.
Statistics based on the monthly reports released by the Commonwealth Auto Dealer’s Association, the island’s three car dealers — Joeten Motors, Microl Corporation and Triple “J” Motors ­— showed total sales of 1,885 units sold in 2005. The figure dropped to 1,352 in 2006, 1,101 in 2007, and 966 in 2008.

Up and down trend in ‘09

For the first quarter of the year, the three dealers sold only a total of 203 brand new cars and this figure indicated a 32.3 percent dip in sales for brand new cars as compared to the sales for the first quarter of 2008 which was 300.
Sales for brand new cars continued to drop in April by 40 percent compared to the same month in 2008. The figures dipped lower in May when sales posted a 45.83 percent decrease.
From June to December, sales figures went on a see-saw trend. In June, the figures went up by 23.53 percent with the three car dealers selling a total of 42 brand new cars compared to the 34 units sold in June of 2008.
The June increase was momentary as a 44.62 percent drop in the July sales took over.
Sales picked up again in August, with the three dealers selling 60 brand new units and posting a 39.53 percent increase. The dealers sold only 43 units in August 2008.
By September, sales again dropped by 8.51 percent but slightly recovered in October with a 5.56 increase.
By November, sales for brand new cars dipped by 34.69 percent, brought about mainly by the impact of the takeover of the U.S. immigration as potential buyers hesitated to purchase automobiles.
But the December sales picked up, posting the highest increase of 72.97 percent for the total 64 brand new cars sold compared to the sales in December 2008.

Summing up

From January to December, the three car dealers sold a total of 469 brand new cars, indicating a 21.18 percent overall decrease compared to the 595 units sold for 2008. The total cars sold last year are broken down into 246 sedans, 59 trucks, 23 vans, and 141 sport utility vehicles.
December brought in the highest number of brand new cars sold this year with 64 units, while May posted the lowest sales with only 26 units sold.
Of the three dealers, Microl Corp. sold the most number of brand new cars which totaled to 200 units, representing a 42.64 percent market share. Joeten Motors followed with 146 units sold and claiming a 31.13 percent market share. Triple “J” Motors’ 123 units sold represented 26.23 percent of the market share.

Popular car models

Toyota is the leading brand of cars sold by the three dealers for 2009. It sold a total of 194 brand new units. Nissan brand followed with 83 units sold, and Mazda came third with 59 units sold. Other brands were Honda — 36, Mitsubishi — 30; Hyundai — 27, Ford — 14, Kia — 13, Suzuki — 7, and Chevrolet — 6.

Used cars, an alternative

As the economy got tougher and the uncertainty got stronger, customers turned to used cars to pay lesser amounts for transportation expenses. The car dealers saw an increase in the sales of used cars.
From 2009, sales for used cars soared and reached a total of 380 units sold, nearly closing the gap with a difference of 89 units to level off with the sales for brand new cars.
Microl Corp. led the dealers in used car sales, selling 145 units during the 11-month period. Joeten Motors came next with 120 units, followed closely by Triple “J” who sold 115 units used cars for the year.
CADA president and Joeten Motors general manager Matthew Deets said that 2009 was a good year for used cars as consumers turn to it as an alternative to paying for brand new cars.
“Sales for used cars had been going up for the past two years,” he said.

Hopes for a better year

Triple “J” Motors general manager Randy Steele said that car sales for Triple “J” had been stable in 2009.
“We think consumers recognize the value in our products during these tough economic times,” Steele said.
He added that the federalization of the immigration in the commonwealth created a big impact.
“A huge number of potential buyers were taken out of the market to purchase an automobile due to their uncertain immigration status,” Steele said.
Deets said he sees 2010 as a stable year for the car dealers.
He said that with the federalization of the local immigration, more federal money and federal projects will be poured here and they are hoping for stability in terms of car sales for the year.
Microl Toyota general manager Doug Brennan said that while CADA was hoping 2009 sales figures remained at least at the same levels as 2008 (or improve), the apparent lack of consumer confidence in the CNMI economic future contributed to a drop in sales.
He said that Microl-Toyota did well.
“Austerity measures instituted over the past several years have allowed us to control operating expenses and remain a strong, viable company,” he said.
Brennan added that initially, the impending move to federalization caused the market to fall off.
“The actual influx of new Federal agencies has created a slight surge in the car market, but we don’t expect the surge to last,” he said.
He added that while they would like to see an improvement in the market, there are still many questions yet to be answered in regards to the future of the CNMI economy.
“We anticipate the passenger vehicle market to remain at about the same level as 2009,” he said.

This article was first published HERE

Santa’s going to be broke

GONE are the days when kids look forward to waking up on Christmas morning to find their stockings filled with teddy bears, toy trucks and trains and Barbie dolls.

In fact, Santa Claus may have to fire his elves unless they have gone to graduate school over the past 11 months and took master’s degree classes to keep abreast with the latest trends on children’s wishes.
I haven’t noticed the transition but the trend of children’s wishes has gone high tech. In Friday’s issue of the Marianas Variety, an article came out where second graders from a school posted letters for Santa Claus with their wishes.
Santa has also got to be patient because almost all of the kids are asking things in exchange for being good, or for promising to be good upon delivery of the goods.
Here are excerpts of some of the kid’s letters.
Dear Santa, I want:
…a laptop and a Limo
…a laptop because every time I want to use our computer my sister is online. I also want lots of presents and an i-Pod.
… an i-Pod.
… a laptop and an i-Pod.
… a big computer.
…an X-Box 360 for Christmas.
…a watch for my dad, necklace for me and I want to be rich.
…a SPS and a car and a Happy Christmas.
…a DS and a big nice gift.
…a DS nintendo that can take pictures.
…a DS, color pink.
…a PSP and Ostrich Joshua
…a panda
…one of your presents (laptop)
…a sportscar
…toys, and i-Pod, Wii and PSI and laptop
…a car like a Mustang
…telephone and a computer and a new DSI and Barbie printer
…X-Box again and new games
…a pink i-Pod because I helped Mom and Dad
…a unicorn
…laptop, or DSI, or Wii or new PSP.
…give me a big house and I will be a good girl.
…give me a DSI and a lot of money and a laptop, and I wish I were smart, blond, pretty and white (Santa don’t forget to bring your beauty and make-over kit)
…to go to the North Pole. Now this is one wish which may require Santa to put up a travel agency.
A couple of kids are more practical and wished for school supplies “because I’m good” and a big bike and a pack of pencils and a desk and a computer and five books “because I have been trying my best to be good.”
And finally, here’s one that would surely make Santa Claus feel wanted.
…I want Santa for Christmas. I would like to see him in person.
I guess Santa can breathe a sigh of relief because this is from a second grader, otherwise if the wish is from an adult he should not relax because he may be presented with a long list of wants and wishes after the courtesies and niceties.
At the base of the 30-foot Christmas tree at the Paseo de Marianas are colored ribbons with wishes written on them in different languages. Here are some to mention a few. I wish:
…for a better life
…to improve in school
…for Dora
… for more jobs
…for a bike and a boyfriend (in that order?)
…for world peace
…for a better future for my son
…for a great voice
…to have money.
And a thousand other wishes more. Santa Claus has some options to continue distributing gifts in the future. He could go to the Legislature to present a budget for next Christmas, write a grant application to the federal government, or retire from service but not here because he may not be getting any retirement benefits just yet.

(This article was first published HERE)

I flunked culinary class!

So what’s new with that? I have never been at home in the kitchen, whether to eat or to cook. I mean I’m not a hearty eater (ever hear of the phrase I eat for survival?) I cook for survival too. Living alone for as long as I can remember has its effects and one of those is developing the habit to buy ready to eat or order from a fastfood whenever hunger strikes. Which is not very often in my case. The best and must-not-meal for me is dinner. Breakfast and lunch I can go without, but not dinner.

Anyways, I signed up for a culinary class for overseas Filipino workers at the OWWA office in Susupe a couple of months ago with 'ranch-mates' Junhan, Raymond, Tita Lits and Terri. What never occurred to me was that the classes would require five Saturday afternoons because if I did, I would have relegated my slot to somebody else. I know I just don’t have 5 consecutive Saturday afternoons free.

We missed the first session which was soup making. The second first session was into Japanese cuisine. Haha when I came into the class I felt I flunked right away. Everybody had an apron and a head gear or hair net. It never even occured to me to get one huhu.

Not a big fan of Japanese food myself (or any other cuisine in that matter) I just observed as Hermie the instructor whipped up sushi and all those rolled Japanesy-foods which I always thought comes in ready made packages.

I kept notes but now I can’t even read what I wrote. If I give it to a pharmacist Im sure I will be given prescription medicines. Tasting time proves rewarding for everybody else except for me.

On our second (and my last alas) session we were into pasta making. Alas, I never cared that much for pasta. I eat them but I can't or wouldn't die for pasta. We were taught how to whip up red and white sauce, spaghetti, soba, and the whole noodle family. I just sat on a corner feeling so drowsy for five hours of staying in one room (*ewww you don’t know how hard that was) The fourth Saturday I had to be on Tinian to cover the Poker tournament at the Tinian Dynasty Casino, so another absent.

Funny but I took more photos of my classmates and of the food and ingredients than what my mind absorbed. I still find it still easier to just point what you want and leave the messy job of food preparation to the expert chefs in the kitchen. I was a misfit in the kitchen. Maybe I was thinking of photography class afterall when I submitted my application form.

The graduation was last Saturday. Only Junhan and Teri were able to make it. We three flunked the classes because we had more than two absences.

Somehow there are some people who could never be at home in the kitchen and I am one of them. My sis and my brod took that talent when I was away and only two were given to each family I guess…

What I would have wanted to join though was the bread baking and cake decorating classes. That im sure I wouldn’t feel drowsy but the list is long and the next classes may be held next year yet.

Maybe I will just have to content myself with taking photos of food, not preparing them.

Missing Davao

Staying in an isolated island like Saipan does not necessarily make one a full-pledged islander. Maybe this does not apply for all but in my case, I guess the feeling of being a complete islander have not yet gotten into my system.

Having spent a huge number of years of my life in the urban areas which pulsed with life especially at night, a nocturnal being like me still finds it hard to momentarily settle for the rural life in this island-even after my five and-a-half months stay here, plus 19 months stay in Palau.

I wake up six mornings a week disoriented and grumpy, wondering why on earth I still keep the alarm clock whose screeching sound regularly wakes me up at 6:30 every morning. Maybe a lifetime habit of being nocturnal could not just change that easily despite constant clashing with my ex-boss, who was an early riser and could not understand the logic of working late in the night and waking up late, too.

Here on Saipan, one does not necessarily feel being a stranger because Filipinos are everywhere- in offices, stores, schools, construction companies, night clubs and anywhere. Some have stayed in this island for as long as 30 years and have totally adopted the island lifestyle, thinking only of going home to the Philippines for vacations. They have completely become islanders.

Well, to name a few of the tastes, sights and smells I miss in Davao that’s hindering me from adopting the island life:

Never-ending stream of traffic. Looking at the flow of vehicles occupying every inch of the road is just fantastic, and riding on a jeepney and being a part of the traffic has never irritated me. In fact, getting squeezed in a heavy traffic jam gives me the perfect opportunity to day dream. (Need i mention how many times a week do i have to get a ride back because I already passed by my destination???)

Tsokolate and pandesal from Bankerohan. Here the pandesal tastes just like any ordinary, oven-baked bread. It’s extra hard that if you hit your head with it, a lump will grow so fast before you can blink. I miss the fluffy yet crispy and salty pandesal cooked in a pugon. At our barracks, (which I baptized the named Ranch House), a pandesal vendor toots his horn on early mornings. Once in a blue moon, I would be up and catch him but oftentimes i would lay in bed in wishful

thinking hoping that he can read my mind and drop a bag of pandesal for me. Of course, he can't read my mind, otherwise he won't be selling pan de sal so early in the morning but out there making a fortune for himself. I would still be half in dreamland by then. By the time I decide I want that pan de sal, the vendor is long gone.

Tinolang native manok at the food stalls in Magallanes. Thinking of the huge slices of chicken here makes my hair stand.

Barbeque batikulon (gizzard) at Bankerohan side walk where I always buy three pieces on a stick for P5.

Manggang hilaw (green mangoes) with bagoong. Yo

u can buy a smallplastic of sliced green mangoes from street vendors for five pesos.

Durian. This is something I haven't seen on Saipan. Surely because it's prohibited. I miss our durian sprees at Magsaysay park.

The sight of news boys folding the Super Balita and Sunstar late at night in the office, and the newspaper-littered streets early in the morning as newsboys collate them ready for loading on their bicycles. (yes I'm up on some mornings).

Noise of internet cafes. Having no internet connection at Gwen's house, I had to walk exactly 300 steps to nearest internet cafe to do my research and bear the noise and smell of the kids as they swear and curse loudly while playing online games.

Open markets where you can buy fish and vegetables and where the vendors tried to outdo each other in making the loudest noise to attract more customers. I always cover my ears and rejoice in the loud humming they made.

Bulalo and hinalang na baka. Where one serving is often

tooo huge for me to consume.

Halo-halo at Chowking. I don't care even if it's 12 midnight o

r 3 a.m. when the urge to eat gets at me, I go out. The halo-halo I've tried here so far is from Shirley's. So far so good. Only the serving is not big. It's huge!

Instant McDonald meals or chicken feet from Mandarin tea garden. I'm a constant customer at McDonalds here, but somehow, although the food is the same, i miss the ambiance of the McDo branches in Davao. There's no place like home, nai?

A bottle of beer (s) shared with office mates at our favorite restaurant at Times Beach after work, where we take turns

(give me a safer word than backbiting...lol) our other office mates.

The eternal blowing of horns from jeepneys and public vehicles. You only blow your horns here on exceptional situations like if the driver of the car you’re following failed to turn on his lights, or if his tires are flat, gone square or missing.

The noise of the kids next door in my boarding ho

use at S.I.R. although everyone knew I wished to strangle them every minute when i was there.

Kids swimming like tadpoles at Times Beach at the Magsaysay wharf. *sigh*. I let a wonderful opportunity slip through my fingers when Sam of Sams Tours, owner of the biggest dive shop in Palau offered to give me a free open water diving lesson. Alas, that is after I LEARNED how to swim and he gave me two months time allowance.I flunked the challenge and forfeited the opportunity to go diving. The possibility o

f learning how to swim stepped back two planets away from my reach, andthe possibility of diving? about 15 planets away.

Well, nothing would come out of just staring into

space and missing home. I’ve got some serio

us thinking to do. If you can't beat them join them. I've got five months to decide...

street ice cream

ginanggang or banana cue

A living memorial on Saipan

Island explore

ONE of the must-visit sites on Saipan is American Memorial Park in Garapan, a huge park which serves as a bank of World War 11 memorabilia and a recreation park rolled into one.

National Park Service Ranger Nancy Kelchner said AMP gets a fair share of about 10,000 tourists and about 50 field trips a year.

“Majority of the tourists who drop in are from Japan, Korea, China, Mainlanders (U.S.), Russia and other countries, while the field trips are from the different schools in the CNMI and Guam,” Kelchner said. She said the AMP is designed to be a living memorial for all those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the island.

The AMP Visitors Center and WW11 Exhibit Hall just turned three years old on May 28 but already, it is gaining a steady stream of visits from locals and tourists.

A brief tour of the Exhibit Hall brings poignant memories of what transpired during the bloodiest battles fought in the island during the World War 11. You can’t help but feel goose bumps as you go through the pictures, recordings and artifacts on display, remnants of the bloody war that claimed thousands of lives years ago.

The Exhibit area has three sections--the Pre-war life, At War on Saipan and After the Battle section. Here is one hall where the chronology of the battle was recorded with artifacts that were mute witnesses of the actual events. Exiting the exhibit hall brings you to an atrium where you can reflect on the war and its impact on the islands. Opposite the reflection wall where you can see the Court of Honor and the Marianas Memorial is the Recovery Wall where colorful pictures are depicted indicating the “recovery from the ashes of the war”. This is indicative that there is life after the war.

A small library is available to help researchers and scholars, a bookshop containing English and Japanese books, videos and other merchandise related to the WW11 and the National Park Service, a 120-seater auditorium which is available for meetings, conferences, film showings, lectures and presentations.

Within American Memorial Park are amenities that the community finds useful like the Amphitheater, Micro beach pavilion, a jogging bike path under the shades of the ironwood trees, Marina and Microbeach restrooms, tennis courts, the Carillon Bell Tower where you can sit for meditation or relaxation, and the whole park which is also home to mangrove forests, native birds and other species.

The Visitors Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. Admission is free for everybody. For more information, please call (670) 234-7207, fax 234-6698, or email amme_administration@nps.gov.