A Crown City

     Korona (crown) exactly fits the name of a city which came to be known as Koronadal City. City of Koronadal is a sprawling community at the foothills of the sorroundings Roxas and Quezon mountain ranges that gives a perfect illusion of a crown jewel set at the bed of a landlocked crater.

     Covering a total land area of 27,700 hectares, City of Koronadal constitutes 8.41% of the total land area of the province of South Cotabato. It is in the southwestern part of the Mindanao, the country's second largest island. It occupies the southwestern part of South Cotabato.
    
     The captial of South Cotabato, Koronadal is the center of the commerce, trade, government administration, transportation, communication and education.

     Koronadal is a typhoon-free city. March to June are hot and dry while rains abound from July to October. November to February are pleasantly cool and dry. Highlands around the city dip to about 15°c. Light casual clothing is recommended for daily wear. Casual and formal attire are used for business and formal functions.

     Hiligaynon is the most widely spoken dialect. Cebuano and Ilocano also compose the conversation of people in the city. Maguindanaon, Maranao and B'laan dialects are also significant. Tagalog and English are officially used for business correspondence and transactions.

     Koronadal is a jump-off point to key cities in Mindanao like General Santos, Tacurong and Cotabato. Visitors from Luzon , Visayas and other parts of Mindanao get in Koronadal through daily flights of Philippine Airlines, Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific via General Santos City which is 45-minute, traffic free ride from City of Koronadal. Regular sailing of WG&A, Negros Navigation and Sulpicio Lines also provide access to Koronadal. Inter-region transportation is provided by buses, jeepneys and air-conditioned vans. Within Koronadal, motor tricycles and multicabs run in the hassle-free hi-ways and streets in the city.

     Eating in Koronadal is an outstanding experience at all budget levels. A matrix of native dishes smatters around Koronadal with famous Ilonggo cuisine such as inasal nga manok(chicken barbeque), balbacua/nilagang baka and la paz batchoy. Western and Chinese food are provided by an array of food chains like Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Mang Gorio and Shakeys. Also, export-quality processed foods and fruits are among the best that Koronadal can offer.

     Koronadal provides relaxing and soothing evening entertainment for all. One can fancy from the city's live band disco, one-man guitar or paino shows, hard-beat disco and street parties. 

     Heading toward the requirements of a global technology, City of Koronadal is all set to venture into Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry by taking all the initiatives to prepare the city in the required proficiency and efficiency in computerization projects. As forecasts are made on the expansion of booming ICT industries in the provinces, City of Koronadal is giving high focus on human resource development sush as capability building and skills seminar on medical transcription, ICT project management and English proficiency.

     City of Koronadal's modern communication links use satellites, cellular telephone networks and routing land based telephone services. High quality broadband links and IDD services are available and compatible with systems worldwide.

     City of Koronadal will soon open an outsourcing company named Philippines Outsource Support (Philsupport) that offers remote secretarial, administrative and marketing services to professionals, business people and private individuals. The company is hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) for U.S. based
clients in Koronadal. Virtual assistants utilize today's technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients by working remotely. A virtual assistant's core practice consists of administrative or clerical tasks. However, many virtual assistants offer additional specialties that fall under various other categories, such as marketing, website development or maintenance, creative and technical services, etc.
     Mostly, the services of a virtual assistant are hired by small and medium sized companies, including professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, management consultants, stock brokers and other small businesses. Such businesses prefer to operate with low overheads in order to survive in a competitive environment. Therefore, instead of hiring full-time services of an employee, they are happy to outsource such services at a cheaper cost as and when required.
     Particularly, the ongoing economic slowdown has increased the demand for such outsourced services because every business is forced to cut down costs, and maintaining employees is becoming a much more expensive option. Even the customers are happy with such companies that outsource services and manage to provide a lower price to the customers at the end of the day.
     In this business, the usual method of communication and data transmission is through online channels such as the Internet, electronic mail, web conferencing, online chatting, and also through telephone and facsimile. It is difficult to obtain clients for this business, but those service providers that have a strong expertise and rich past experience in this line can gain clients relatively easily.
     The rapid growth of information and communication technologies has given a boost to this business and widened its scope tremendously. It has become an important part of the home business industry, providing new opportunities for people who are interested in working from home, or taking up independent assignments instead of working as an employee for another.