Life lately + a wishlist

It's been raining non-stop for the past two weeks. While I'm happy that we're safe and dry it's already a disaster outside and I can't wait for the sun to shine. I miss my family, my plant is dying for some sunshine, and so do our laundry.

Anyway, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed at work lately. I have a demo presentation coming up next week that I have not prepared for, plus I need to work on my mid-year performance evaluation. Power BI has been eating me a lot. I've been learning so much and as much as I want to focus on it completely, I have a ton of automation tasks lined up that I also want to complete.

I'm very grateful that my manager is very understanding and reasonable so I don't really feel very very stressed haha.

In between getting tired at work I've been lurking at Shopee a lot so here goes a new wishlist...

1. Dyson Airstrait

The technology is really interesting. Blower and straightener in one. No hot plates. And best of all, it works on wet hair. Somehow my excitement has turned a nice-to-have into a need that's worth 28k hahaha. I've always wanted to dry my hair immediately after showering, but lack of time and my general laziness has brought me into just letting it air dry naturally. But then my wet and heavy hair feels icky and hot so I always end up tying my damp hair the whole day. It never dries properly, and I want to change that.

No actually I don't, I just want to justify buying the aistrait and that's a use case I can get back on haha. Makes me look nicer. 😊

2. Mini desk fan for the bathroom

One of the reasons I hate fixing myself after showering is that it gets really humid in the bathroom. And it's the only place I can blowdry my hair and apply makeup and skincare. If I can get a fan in there that would help.

3. A vacation

I need to rest. I miss Tagaytay. I miss trees and nature and fresh air. Hopefully in the coming months! 💖

4. New specs

My lens has scratches already and I can never get it clean enough even though I'm using glass cleaner. I also want something bigger that would comfortably cover my whole eyes. I'm looking at Sunnies Specs but I haven't fully decided on it. When I get enough funds!

That's it I guess.

Stay safe and dry! 

[Ayala Land Inc.] Cancellation of CTS / Refund under Maceda Law / PD 957 - a timeline

✨ December 2020 - we reserved 2 studio units at Amaia Skies Avenida, which was pre-selling then. The property cost ₱3M without VAT. Including all other charges it cost ₱3.264M per unit. With 54 months to pay we were paying ₱11,351.32 for both units. Our checks are dated until June 30, 2025. 

5 years later... 

✨ January 2025 - started selling the property. Had our broker post it online for interest. Turn over was delayed, as expected. The original purpose for this investment is really to buy and sell. We weren't in a rush yet.

✨ March 2025 - 3 months in the market and no solid interest.

✨ May 2025 - we started getting more involved in selling, posting on our personal pages and selling to friends. We've also entered the listing in several condo pasalo groups, including Facebook Marketplace. Reception remained dismal.

✨ June 2025 - we learned that the developer is selling at a ridiculously low price. Much lower than our selling price. They offer 10% discount for no spot DP, or 20% off if you pay 10% DP. There's no way we can compete with that. Let's compute. 

Current market price is ₱3.8M.

With 20% off, selling price would be down to ₱3M. Adding VAT and all other charges, the total selling price would probably fall around ₱3.3M. This is developer price. Which is almost the same price 5 years ago.

We need to pasalo ₱2.94M to the buyer. This is the amount we owe to the developer which can be bank financed. It's fixed. This leaves us with a profit margin of only ₱360,000.

If we sell at ₱3.3M - considering capital gains tax (6%), documentary stamps tax (1.5%), and broker's fee (5%), we take home -₱50K. That's NEGATIVE ₱50,000 HAHAHA. 

Now let's price match the 10% developer discount. That would bring down the price to ₱3.42M. Add other charges and net selling price would probably go to ₱3.72M.

With the same pasalo amount, we get a margin of around ₱780K.

If we sell at ₱3.72M - with the same taxes and fees applied, we get to take home more or less ₱300K per unit. Sweet right? But remember, developer price has NO SPOT DP. Whereas we require a cashout of ₱780K. And we've been on the market for half a year already. No takers.

Currently we've brought down the price to ₱3.6M and still there are no takers. Any lower and we're looking at a loss of more than 50%.

We weren't considering taking a loan on this one cos honestly, after much thinking, the property isn't worth it. A ₱6M loan would take us back ₱40K per month for 20 years and no way we're paying that much for a property that doesn't even have that much potential. It's admittedly a bad investment. Made worse because of the economy and quite honestly, the POGO exit lol. 

That said we've decided to cut our losses by invoking our rights through the Maceda Law/ PD 957. At least we get 50% back.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU QUALIFY FOR A REFUND?

Respicio & Co. gives a comprehensive explanation on how you can get a refund under Maceda Law / PD957. You may read about it here: https://www.respicio.ph/commentaries/condo-contract-cancellation-under-pd-957 

In our case since turnover is delayed and we've paid for more than 2 years, we just had to formally request for cancellation of contract and the developer should honor it - no questions asked. The law also overrides any non-refundable clauses found in your contract, especially for preselling condos paid on installment basis. 😊

Take note that you can only get at least 50% refund with this method. And this only applies to developer contracts, not bank contracts. If you have taken a loan already, I'm afraid this is not the right recourse.

Here's how to reach Ayala Land Inc.

ALI Residential Customer Service

residential.customers@ayalaland.com.ph

+632 8848 5000 

✨ June 28, 2025 - Emailed a formal request to cancel CTS to ALI Residential Customer Service. I posted the letter template here: [Sample letter] Request for cancellation of CTS with Ayala Land Inc. 

I also called them beforehand to inquire about the process and let them know I'm emailing afterwards. They seem to respond faster if you call them first.

✨ June 30, 2025 - They acknowledged the email and promised to revert back as soon as the computation for refund is available.  At this point we have paid around ₱650K to Amaia. We're hoping to get at least ₱325K back.

✨ July 17, 2025 - Sent a follow up email.

✨ July 18, 2025 - They finally responded with a refund computation. The letters indicate we are entitled to around ₱163K per unit. Exactly 50% of the amount we paid. The letters were also dated July 8, 2025. If we hadn't followed up I wonder if they're ever gonna send it 🤔. Anyway, we're happy.

So to note, it takes one week for the refund computation to be available. Make sure to follow up then.

✨ July 21, 2025 - We acknowledged the refund computation and asked to proceed with the cancellation.

✨ July 22, 2025 - ALI has started preparation of DOC (Deed of Cancellation) and RWQ (Release, Waiver, and Quitclaim). Process will take 10 working days. We're expecting a soft copy then. They also mentioned that the refund will be issued through check. But since we requested for bank transfer instead, they will endorse the check for bank deposit as soon as it's available. We then gave our bank details. 😊

To be continued...

New building, new woes, and my knee buckling

Today is the first day of our transfer to the new building, WCC. New building meaning the main building that's a lot prettier than BOTT haha. This building is right smack in what I call the office central, which is where most BGC corporate buildings stand side by side. So yeah, it can get crowded. And hot. And annoying. Here I made a pros and cons list of working in this new building because just a few hours in and I already badly miss BOTT hahaha. Despite it looking drab and old, it's pretty peaceful on that side of BGC. It's more open and green, and I can walk around without suffocating. Anyway here you go:

Today's favorite thing 

 

Here at WCC...

👍Pros:

• Beautiful lobby
• Cute office interior
• Better monitor mounts
• Feels more active and engaging
• Free parking with license plate recognition 
• Highlands Coffee right within the building! And Jollibee!
• Food is nearer
• Landmark is just across haha
• Seating cubes are open, no partition. I'm putting it under pros for now cos so far I don't hate it hehe. 

 

👎Cons:

• Fewer parking spaces. Literal first come, first served. Guard doesn't assign slots unlike BOTT so you know right ahead if there's a slot available.
• Nearby pay parking areas are too crowded. BOTT has pay parking in the building itself so when I run out of free slots I can easily find another one. Other parking areas include Stopover and the big open parking that's two blocks away.
• Back to the bad parking areas. Three Parkade is so ugly and tight huhu and it's the nearest parking alternative. It's almost VRP tight but made worse because it's darker and more crowded and the scaffolding flooring shakes. I hate it. If only slots free up within the start of my shift that would be great but I had no luck earlier.
• It's so hot in this area. As soon as you head out of the building, it's hell. It's car fumes, building exhaust, and people's sweat. They're what make up BGC. I can leisurely walk two blocks around BOTT but here I'd probably die on the first turn. I'm kidding, I survived walking around earlier, it's just too hot for my own sake.
• Traffic in and out. I'm faced with more traffic coming to and going out of the office. More stoplights and lots of going around one way streets. I miss how BOTT is so easily accessible any time of the day. 
• Smaller comfort room. BOTT has 6 cubicles and a very loud exhaust that makes it easy to hide your business (aka #2) hehe. They also have better tissue and a stronger hand dryer lol. Here at WCC, there are 4 cubicles all in front of the short sink area (2 sinks only), tissue breaks off too easily, but hey lighting is better? Haha

 

🦵 Oh my knee

It's been a while since my knee last buckled. Considering I'm very careful of it now I didn't think it will attack again. I thought I was regaining control of my right knee, building better support and stronger muscles. But earlier as I was comfortably seated eating dinner, it buckled painfully. I was in a middle of a call with my husband so I had to drop and snap it back. Boy did it loudly click back in place. It was less painful than before but only because I addressed it as quickly as I could. Anyway. I'm taking note of this day. 

Okay meeting's over, got to go! 

[Sample letter] Request for cancellation of CTS with Ayala Land Inc.

Here's a template for the letter we sent ALI regarding the cancellation of our CTS for a pre-selling unit. We're doing this to cut losses and get at least 50% of our payments back.

For more details on our refund journey, read here: [Ayala Land Inc.] Cancellation of CTS / Refund under Maceda Law / PD 957 - a timeline

---

[Date]

[NAME OF PRIMARY BUYER]
[Registered address]
[City, Zip]
[Registered email]
[Registered mobile number]

Request for Cancellation of Contract to Sell and Refund under Maceda Law

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to formally request the cancellation of my Contract to Sell (CTS) for a pre-selling condominium unit located at [Property name] – [Unit#].

Over the past [X] years, I have completed paying the downpayment through post-dated checks, amounting to [PHP XXX,XXX.XX].

Due to ongoing financial constraints and our inability to secure a buyer since [month] of this year, I am no longer in a position to proceed with the purchase. As such, I respectfully request the cancellation of the CTS and a refund of at least fifty percent (50%) of the total payments made, in accordance with Section 3(b) of the Maceda Law.

I understand that the law entitles buyers who have paid at least two years of installments to a refund of 50% of total payments made, excluding interest and penalties. I am prepared to comply with any procedural requirements you may have.

Please consider this letter as my formal notice of cancellation. I would appreciate a written confirmation of receipt and the next steps regarding the refund process.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I hope for your kind understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,

___________________________
[Purchaser/s name and signature]
Purchasers

---

Many thanks to copilot of coming up with the letter. I just had to give it a prompt. Now if you're sure with your decision and confirmed you're eligible, just email the signed letter to: 

ALI Residential Customer Service
residential.customers@ayalaland.com.ph

It would be best to give them a call beforehand so an agent would be expecting your email already. You may call them at:

+632 8848 5000

Hope this helps 😊

Sick 🤧

Been feeling sick the past few days. Started Thursday, broke into a fever then mellowed down to the usual cough and colds. It's a good thing I only had fever for one night. I'm feeling a lot better now but I also know I could've recovered more quickly had I not eaten a lot of sweets. Thing is, I prepared two fruit desserts for the week that I can't afford to go bad hahaha. So I kinda had to munch through them despite my sore throat. It's my fault really. But my avocadoes and saba con yelo can't wait!!! Huhu.

For today's flu my weapons are:

• Bioflu every 6hrs during fever
• 2x Immunpro vitamin c + zinc daily
• Stresstabs multivitamins
• Betadine mouthwash 2x a day
• Lianhua lung clearing tea
• Ginger and honey tea
• Avoid cold drinks and sweets

I'm fighting the urge to chomp down on the remaining serving of minatamis na saba sitting in the ref but I have to go to the gym tomorrow so I can't afford to feel bad again. I almost always fall sick after eating sweets during recovery. I also need to prepare myself for the drive to work because we're moving to a different building and I'm unsure where to park and where to sit. Just the thought of it gives me anxiety, specially that my office bff isn't coming tomorrow so I'm going solo hahaha. But really, worst case is I don't get parking so I have to park at Landmark or One Parkade. Worst worst case - I don't get a seat, which really sucks cos it means I have to drive back to the other building. Good thing I don't have any afternoon meetings so I have time to spare fumbling about this new routine. I'm already dreading the traffic tbh. There are more stoplights around this new building, also it gets really busy at night so driving out of BGC could be a menace. Oh well, we'll see!

Happy Friday?

It's been a while since I opened my laptop. Sometimes I wonder if I should've just bought a macbook air instead because it's lighter (by 300g 🤣). Also cheaper. It's pretty hard to carry the pro around. Even when I'm just at home lol. Then again I wanted a pro because I would probably need the extra ports and the pro features and also the fan if I ever get too passionate about upgrading my vlog editing skills lol. Who knows, I might start developing ios apps too? It's nice to dream no? Chances are I'll never get to maximize this laptop the way I wanted. What a luxury to be able to future proof myself this way.

A week ago we attended a birthday/dedication party of one our friend's daughter. Jeckie was chosen as ninong, along with the rest of the guys, and one of the wives. And I... feel left out. My husband didn't even tell me he was ninong. I only learned when they were being called for a photo, and I found myself left at the table, with another wife (what a consolation right?). 

That time I was reminded, once again, of my place in his group of friends. That I'm not really a friend. I'm a friend's wife. My husband thinks that because we're married, his friends should be my friends too so that we're one big circle of friends. But honestly, I've never felt like we're one big circle. I'm okay outside, being a friend's wife. That's literally what I am. 

Anyway, I also realized that being ninang was not a courtesy extended to you if your husband is a ninong, but a deliberate decision made by the parents. And knowing them, they must've really considered the roster. Agnostic and child-free don't exactly sound like someone you'd want to foster your daughter whom you just dedicated to God, but they probably knew better, saw deeper. That makes me proud of my husband. And I hope that's not just a courtesy due to their friendship.

At first it hurt not to be chosen, so I promised to know my place. I may have overestimated our friendship. From now on, I'm not going to spend on their gifts, I'll leave that to my husband. I'll stop reminding him to buy them gifts, I don't care anymore, who am I anyway? He's the friend, not me. So petty haha and I'm kidding okay. But as I dwelled on it throughout the party, I realized I was actually jealous that my husband gets to be ninong to kids whose parents he actually cares about.

For the record, I don't know who my inaanaks are. Most of them are pamangkins, from cousins I'm not even that close to. I was just appointed as ninang because it's my turn after my sister got the older ones lol. We may have a culture of choosing godparents based on how much you can extort from them. I don't have any inaanaks outside the family (just one, maybe I should start paying attention to her), which makes me think that I really don't have any friends. More to that, I don't deserve to be ninang.

That sucks right?

My friends come and go. I don't reach out. I lose touch. I let it die. I have multiple circles of friends from the different phases of my life. I have highschool friends, college friends, office friends, then my family (the only constant). When I leave a phase, the circle fades. It's difficult for me to maintain friendships when we don't share the same space anymore. The same classroom, the same office, the same dorm. It's just how I am. I'm really bad at keeping in touch. Should I change? I know it's for the better. Relationships matter the most right? 

I'm okay with who I have right now though. Which isn't a lot. Urgh. I don't know. 

Some Happy Things

Now that I'm in front of my blog I can't seem to remember what to write about. And I do remember wanting to write about a lot of things haha

So let's just do a 10 some happy things!

🍔 Estancia is opening a lot of good restaurants! There's Buffalo's Wings n' Things, Shake Shack, and Yabu coming soon to name a few! Love it! Good variety too. Hopefully they add an Indian restaurant naman haha

💻 Came to the office yesterday despite the rainstorm. I look forward to Monday RTO's because I get to have a bit of a me time and also focus on work better. But most importantly, I need to complete my RTO quota for the month haha. 

As usual I enjoyed walking slowly and leisurely to dinner, where I had hotpot at Sichu Malatang and froyo at llao llao. Same exact things I had the day before. I realized I didn't want noodles in my hotpot. I love beef, vegetables, mushrooms, and the various fish balls. I also love the peanut sauce with black vinegar. Urgh writing about it makes me hungry!

🏠 No luck selling our condo. Hopefully we can exit via Maceda Law or PD 957, so that at least we can get 50% of our downpayment back. Hoping for the best. But quite honestly we've already accepted losing the entire investment. We're more excited with the prospect of not having to pay monthly anymore. So it's either 0 or 50% back, and we're happy either way. The odds are against us. Condo oversupply, low market price, and we're competing with the developer too. Yep, the condo didn't sell out 5 years after pre-selling. Can you believe they're offering 20-30% off on it, with no spot DP? It's not fair. That's even less than the amount we need to pasalo to prospective buyers and we still need to cover taxes and fees. There's no way to get a positive return in this investment and waiting for the market to recover means drowning in debt. We're not sacrificing our standard of living for a condo we don't even see ourselves using. Cutting our losses is the only way. 

This is a happy thing because we're just tired of paying and we're finally over it! Yayy!

📊 I'm learning and loving Power BI! Really love designing the dashboard and learning data modeling ♥️

That's it for now! Happy Wednesday!