Tigcal Apps and Projects in 2021

This year, I continued working on Tigcal Apps and Projects. Here are the features and updates (arranged alphabetically by app name):

Boto Ko

Boto Ko has been updated for the 2022 National and Local Elections. It also can now automatically update the list of candidates (for the national positions) as soon as they become available. The Clear and Save buttons have also been fixed at the bottom so users can easily use them without scrolling all the way down to all the input fields.

Boto Ko Website and Web App

Boto Ko now has a domain name and website: https://www.botoko.app. The website was also transformed into a web app so that users can use Boto Ko even if they are not using an Android device.

PHostpaid

PHostpaid 2.0, with Dark Theme support and more, has been released this year. I also converted everything from Java to 100% Kotlin, improved the app architecture, and refactored the code.

Pinoy Jokes

Minor updates to the Pinoy Jokes Android app have been released this year. I'm still working on the next big release for the app.

Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy

Sweldong Pinoy has been updated early in the year for the deferred PhilHealth contribution increase. They were then updated for the contribution increases for 2022.

Other apps

I also updated other apps like Thirteenth Month with small changes, mostly on design and performance.

Comments/Suggestions?

Help us improve our apps! Send us your comments and suggestions by email or by adding a review on the Google Play Store page of the apps.

Sweldong Pinoy in 2021

Sweldong Pinoy is a salary calculator for Filipinos in computing net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS/GSIS, PhilHealth and PAG-IBIG. Here are the updates we have released this year for Sweldong Pinoy, Budget Pinoy, and Thirteenth Month.

Deferring PhilHealth Contribution Increase

Contributions for SSS and PhilHealth have increased but for PhilHealth, it was deferred. We have immediately updated all our apps after the announcement.

Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy for 2022

Contributions for PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG Fund are increasing in 2022. The Android and web apps of Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy has been updated. A dropdown was added so users can choose and compare between the current or upcoming rates.

Other Updates

There have been a few updates focusing on design and performance updates to the apps.

Looking forward to 2022

Thank you to everyone who uses Sweldong Pinoy apps and sends us feedback. We're looking forward to adding more features and enhancements to our apps.

If you have comments, suggestions, or messages to us, please feel free to contact us by email, Facebook Messenger, or with the Chatra app on our website. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more updates.

---

Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog

Boto Ko Web App

There are only five months to go before the 2022 National and Local elections in the Philippines! In case you don't know it yet, we have an app called Boto Ko that can be useful for you as you get ready to vote. Boto Ko is an application for Philippine elections where you can list, update, and share the candidates you want to vote for. It was initially released in 2013 and we have updated it for the 2016 and 2019 elections.

With Boto Ko, you can input your vote from President to City/Municipal Councilor. You can also choose from a list for the President, Vice-President, Senators, and Party-List Representatives. We include this so that users can see all the candidates and easily select from there.

Boto Ko has been available as an Android app since the initial release. We have recently made a website for Boto Ko and decided to add a web version of the app for people who are not on Android.

You can now go to www.botoko.app to list and update the candidates you want to vote for. Once the official lists of candidates for President, Vice-President, Senator, and Party-list Representative become available, we will be updating the app so you can easily select your choices.

Comments/Suggestions

Help us improve Boto Ko! Send us your comments and suggestions. You can also add a review on the Google Play Store page.

Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy for 2022

---

Update: Pag-IBIG will defer the increase in contribution again as they had a strong performance in 2021. The Sweldong Pinoy apps have been updated.

---

Sweldong Pinoy is a salary calculator for Filipinos in computing net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS/GSIS, PhilHealth and PAG-IBIG. Next year, contributions will be changing again; we're updating Sweldong Pinoy with the new rates.

What's Changing?

Last year, contributions for SSS was increased and will still be the same. In accordance with the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act No. 11223), the PhilHealth contribution rate will rise to 4.0% (from 3.5%) and the income ceiling will now be 80,000 (from 70,000). However, the increase for 2021 was deferred.

Pag-IBIG Fund members' mandatory monthly savings was also scheduled to increase from the current P100 to 150 by January 2021 and to 200 by January 2023. This was postponed to 2022.

Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy Updates

We have updated sweldongpinoy.com, budgetpinoy.com, and the Sweldong Pinoy (version 4.4) and Budget Pinoy (version 1.2) Android apps for the upcoming changes to the contributions.

The Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy web and Android apps have a dropdown so you can choose between the current or upcoming rates. With this, you compare how your salary will change from this year to next.

Sweldong Pinoy for 2022 (Android)

Budget Pinoy for 2022 (Web)

What's Next?

If any of the scheduled increase will be postponed (like with PhilHealth for 2021), we will be updating our apps as soon as it becomes official.

Let us know how we can improve Sweldong Pinoy. Contact us by email, Facebook Messenger, or with the Chatra app on our website. For more updates, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

---

Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog

Thirteenth Month Android App 2.0.4

It's fifty one days to go before Christmas! One of the things Filipinos look forward to this time is the Thirteenth Month Pay. This is why we developed Thirteenth Month web and Android app. Thirteenth Month is a tool for Filipinos in computing their 13th-month pays.

With the Thirteenth Month app, users can input their salaries from January to December. We have done minor updates on the design and performance of the Android app. Version 2.0.4 is now rolling out.

Help us improve Thirteenth Month! If you have suggestions on how we can improve our apps, please contact us by emailing us at info@sweldongpinoy.com or by sending us a message. You can also add a review on the Google Play Store page of the apps. For more updates, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

---

Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog

Boto Ko App Updates

The 2022 National and Local elections in the Philippines is only a few months away! We spent some time in the past weeks for updates on Boto Ko for this upcoming election. Boto Ko is an application for Philippine elections where you can list, update, and share the candidates you want to vote for. It was initially released in 2013 and we have updated it for the 2016 and 2019 elections.

New Website

Boto Ko now has a domain name and website! You can check it out at https://www.botoko.app. We also have accounts now on Twitter and Facebook. Follow our social media pages for updates!

Boto Ko 3.0

With Boto Ko, you can input your vote from President to City/Municipal Councilor. You can also choose from a list for the President, Vice-President, Senators, and Party-List Representatives. We include this so that users can see all the candidates and easily select from there.

Recently, however, the official list change very often. In the new Boto Ko, the app will automatically update the choices. We will do our best to stay tuned in to these changes so that Boto Ko will have the latest lists.

Another small update we added is fixing the Clear and Save buttons at the bottom of the screen, so you can easily use them without scrolling all the way down to all the input fields.

Boto Ko 3.0 is now rolling out. You can download it from the Google Play Store.

Boto Ko Polls

Starting the 2022 elections, we will be conducting an unofficial survey for the national positions based on anynomous inputs from users of the Android app (version 3.0+).

We will be commencing the poll once the official list of candidates becomes available. You will be prompted to enable the polls or you can do it from the Settings menu. The result of the poll will be available at https://polls.botoko.app later.

Comments/Suggestions

Help us improve Boto Ko! Send us your comments and suggestions. You can also email us or add a review on the Google Play Store page.

Android Apps Updates

Updates to the Sweldong Pinoy, Budget Pinoy, Thirteenth Month, Boto Ko, and Pinoy Jokes Android apps are rolling out now. These contain design and performance improvements. Boto Ko has additional updates for the upcoming 2022 National and Local Elections.

Sweldong Pinoy is a salary calculator for Filipinos in computing net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS/GSIS, PhilHealth and PAG-IBIG. Budget Pinoy is a tool for Filipinos in finding out how much their asking salary should be based on their budget. Thirteenth Month is a tool app for Filipinos in computing their 13th-month pays.Boto Ko is an Android application for Philippine elections where you can list, update, and share the candidates you want to vote for. Pinoy Jokes is an Android app that will allow users to view and share Filipino Jokes.

Help us improve our apps! Send us your comments and suggestions by email or by adding a review on the Google Play Store page of the apps.

Pinoy Jokes 3.1.4

This weekend, I have published a minor update to the Pinoy Jokes Android app. This is just mainly for bug fixes and a few upgrades to the libraries used. I'm still working on the next big release and it will be available soon.

PHostpaid 2.0

<

PHostpaid is one of the first Android apps that I have developed. It is a utility app for postpaid mobile phone services in the Philippines (Globe, Smart, Sun Cellular). With the app, you can easily check your balance/unbilled charges, call customer service, and share load.

It has been years since I have last updated it so I planned to spend some time to release a new version. Originally, I only planned to add Dark Theme to the app. I then decided to do more, like converting everything from Java to 100% Kotlin, improving the app architecture, and refactoring the code.

Light theme (left) and dark theme (right) of the main screen

If you are on a postpaid mobile plan, try the PHostpaid app now! You can download it on the Google Play Store.

Deferring PhilHealth Contribution Increase

Contributions for SSS and PhilHealth are increasing this year. PhilHealth contribution rates will now be 3.5% (from 3.0%) and the income ceiling will now be 70,000 (from 60,000).

The monthly contributions of SSS members will be increased from the current 12% to 13%, employer share will be 8.5% (from 8.0%) and employee share will be 4.5% (from 4.0%), and the minimum and maximum salary credits used for computation will now be 3,000 and 25,000 (from 2,000 and 20,000).

We have already updated Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy to use the 2021 rates. Earlier this week, President Duterte ordered the deferring of the PhilHealth contribution increase and PhilHealth suspended the increase pending law amending the Universal Health Care Act.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/PhilHealthofficial

Sweldong Pinoy in 2020

This year, we have released some new features and other updates to our apps.

Sweldong Pinoy for Self-Employed Individuals

We've added computations for Self-Employed Individuals. You just need to select "Self-Employed Individual" in the employment type and the app will compute the contributions for SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG Fund, tax, and other contributions, and your net pay.

sweldongpinoy.com updated with computations for Self-Employed

Budget Pinoy for Everyone

We have updated Budget Pinoy for Everyone. The web and Android app now has a dropdown for employment type. Users can select their employment type and the app will update the deductions and asking rate accordingly.

Budget Pinoy Android app with Employment Type drop-down

New Thirteenth Month

With the new new Thirteenth Month, users can now input their salaries from January to December to compute their thirteenth month pay. If users have the same salary for the year, they can select "My salary is the same for the whole year" and provide the salary, starting/ending week/month like before. The text fields for the months will be automatically filled up.

You can now provide your salaries per month or select My salary is the same for the whole year

Sweldong Pinoy for 2021/Budget Pinoy for 2021

Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy were also updated to use the new contribution rates for SSS and PhilHealth starting 2021. In the initial release, we added a dropdown so you can choose the current (2020) or upcoming (2021) rates.

Sweldong Pinoy for 2021

Other Updates

On supported browsers, a share button has been added to the web app for users to share their results.

Sweldong Pinoy Share button; Chrome on Pixel 2

A live chat widget has also been added to the web apps for real-time user support.

Chatra for Sweldong Pinoy

To 2021 and beyond!

Thank you to everyone who uses Sweldong Pinoy and sends us feedback. We're looking forward to adding more features and enhancements to our apps. If you have comments, suggestions, or messages to us, please feel free to contact us by email, Facebook Messenger, or with the Chatra app on our website. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more updates.

---

Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog

Tigcal Apps and Projects in 2020

Tigcal Apps

I have made some little commits to the Tigcal Apps repository. I have also changed the app icon.

Sweldong Pinoy

A major release for the year is Sweldong Pinoy for Self-Employed Individuals. For 2021, Sweldong Pinoy was also updated to use the new contribution rates for SSS and PhilHealth. On supported browsers, a share button has been added to the web app for users to share their results. A live chat widget has also been added to the web apps for real-time user support.

Budget Pinoy

Budget Pinoy for Everyone: The web and Android app now has a dropdown for employment type. Users can select their employment type and the app will update the deductions and asking rate accordingly.

Thirteenth Month

The new Thirteenth Month app was released. Users can now input their salaries from January to December to compute their thirteenth month pay. If they have the same salary for the year, they can select "My salary is the same for the whole year" and provide the salary, starting/ending week/month like before. The text fields for the months will be automatically filled up.

GDGPH Chrome Extension

A new update to the Google Chrome Extension for Google Developer Group (GDG) Philippines (version 3.1) was released. This included the following: adding events tab to display events from the Meetup Page, updating GDG logo, updating links, and removing blog and video tabs.

GDG Philippines 4.0

After updating the GDGPH Chrome Extension, I spent some time updating the Android app. I migrated the code to Kotlin and used Retrofit, Coroutines, and ViewModel to fetch the events from the Meetup API. Other changes include the Dark Theme and updates to chapter links.

The events tab on a mobile phone: light theme (left) and dark theme (right)