Baguio Insider

All banks in the Cordillera Administrative Region are closed today as it is Cordillera Day, a special non-banking holiday

Mondays and Thursdays are the days Nico and I are small-time vegetable dealers, so our orders come in at 5 a.m., then we source the highland vegetables from different suppliers all day, pack them properly for the shipping phase, and by nightfall, these are on their way down to Manila. Even when we are out-of-town this is a sacred exercise as there can be no delays or postponements. As a supplier, we are in the mid-bottom of the consumption chain, you see, and behave accordingly.

And from wherever we are in the Philippines, Robinsons Bank, my preferred bank, handles the money transactions. When the banks are open for business. And they are closed today. There was no way I would have sent money up for this purpose from Manila on the last banking day, which was last Friday. So what to do? How does one send up money FAST on a non-banking day, or after banking or office hours, for that matter?

VICTORY LINER ‘RUSH MONEY’ OR ‘NORMAL’

Yup, you send it up by through this service and it arrives either in one hour or in seven hours. The transaction fees are higher for ‘Rush Money’ of course - about 7% of total - while the ‘Normal’ way costs about 5% of total.

We have not tried the services Western Union, RCPI or other courier services yet. So far, this way is very convenient for us. A little expensive, but that’s the cost of this particular ‘emergency.’ I figured I’d let you guys know about this particular option.