Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now considering more options to finally put an end to the widespread illegal contractual employment scheme in the country. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello yesterday reported that DOLE was looking at four proposals submitted by different employers and labor groups on how to address the issue of contractualization. Bello said DOLE was studying the recommendation of the Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce in addition to the win-win solution proposed by the Department of Trade and Industry and the middle ground position of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. He declined to elaborate on the proposal of the Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce, except to say it was a “radical” measure to address contractualization. “We will have to assimilate all these inputs that will address the focal position of President Duterte which is to end illegal forms of contractualization,” he said. Bello earlier said DOLE was inclined to adopt ECOP’s proposal as a temporary policy to resolve illegal forms of contractualization. Speaking at the 6th national forum of the Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors, Bello assured service providers that DOLE would be fair in deciding a new policy to address contractualization. The labor chief said it was “unrealistic” for the government to impose a total ban since there are legal forms of contractualization provided under the law. After holding two labor summits this week, Bello said DOLE would come out before the end of the year with a final policy Read More …

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed total outflows reached $2.08 billion in September, 23 percent higher than the $1.69 billion withdrawn in the same month last year. File photo MANILA, Philippines – More than $2 billion worth of foreign portfolio investments or “hot money” were pulled out from the Philippines in September amid the uncertainties brought about by the impending interest rate hike in the US and the increasingly worrisome presidential pronouncements that add to investor jitters. Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed total outflows reached $2.08 billion in September, 23 percent higher than the $1.69 billion withdrawn in the same month last year. This was the highest monthly withdrawal since June last year when $2.21 billion worth of foreign portfolio investments were pulled out by investors from the economy. Inflows declined 7.3 percent to $1.27 billion in September from $1.37 billion in the same month last year due to negative investor sentiment, lingering uncertainty on the timing of the next interest rate hike in the US, the bombing in Davao, and the decision of the European Central Bank to discontinue its bond-buying program. This translated to a net outflow of $807.15 billion last September, 150 percent higher than the $323.98 million net outflow booked in the same month last year. This was the highest since the Philippines booked a net outflow of $1.84 billion in January 2014. The BSP traced the outflows in September to profit taking. Foreign portfolio investments or Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – More airlines and charter operators have signified their interest to fly Chinese visitors to the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said yesterday. Erwin Balane, head of the DOT route development team, told The STAR some airlines and charter operators from China were planning to mount more flights to the Philippines, while some were looking at entering market. “Because there is a really big volume of leisure travelers from China, it’s easier to invite airlines to fly here,” he said over the phone. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), China was the top source of the global tourism market in 2015. It was also the world’s top tourism spender last year, recording a total of $292 billion in tourism receipts, up 25 percent from 2014. Chinese arrivals to the Philippines, meanwhile, reached 490,841 in 2015, 24.28 percent higher than the 394,951 arrivals reported a year earlier. From January to July 2016, a total of 422,801 Chinese tourists went to the Philippines.  The DOT expects a new set of Chinese tourists from Xiamen who will be traveling to Davao via Xiamen Airlines this Chinese New Year.  The airline earlier conducted two trial flights last Sept. 20 and Oct. 7 to test the reception of the market in Xiamen.  Balane said he considered it a good sign that the travelers did not cancel their trip despite the recent bombing incident in Davao. “So far the market is okay, so maybe they are already preparing for another Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Banks and other financial institutions are open to a proposal allowing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to use other properties as collateral for loans, aside from land and other immovable assets, Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said yesterday. During the technical working group (TWG) meeting conducted by the Senate committee on banks on Senate Bill 354 or the proposed Secured Transactions Act, different financial associations and concerned government agencies have supported the passage of the measure. The TWG was attended by representatives from the Department of Finance, Land Registration Authority (LRA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Credit Information Corporation (CIC), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, banks, financing organizations and MSMEs. Aquino, who authored SB 354, said the proposal can provide a win-win situation for both MSMEs and banks with a healthier loan environment. He said the measure can address the lack of capital of MSMEs to promote their growth. “The proposal encourages financial institutions to take part in MSME development without the fear of great risk,” the senator said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Usually, banks prefer immovable assets, such as houses or land, as loan collateral, he said. However, assets of MSMEs are mostly personal in nature, including equipment, inventory, motor vehicles and receivables, making it difficult for them to meet bank requirements to get loan approvals, he said. During the TWG, different stakeholders said MSMEs can easily acquire loans they need if banks would accept movable collaterals such as goods, livestock Read More …

After months of falling below target, inflation could finally hover back to the government’s target in the remainder of the year, an official of the Department of Finance said. File photo MANILA, Philippines – After months of falling below target, inflation could finally hover back to the government’s target in the remainder of the year, an official of the Department of Finance said. This was after consumer prices rose to their fastest in 18 months at 2.3 percent in September, falling within the central bank’s two to four-percent target for the year. “Core inflation suggests that in the short-term, headline inflation rate will be above two percent,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said in his economic bulletin dated Oct. 5. Core inflation pertains to the long-run trend of inflation, which excludes transitory effects coming from volatile prices of food, oil and energy. The indicator hit 2.3 percent last month. According to Beltran, last month’s result, as measured by the consumer price index, was largely driven by low base effects of just 0.4 percent from last year, and thus should not be a cause for concern. “A continued regime of stable prices will provide cushion to absorb shocks to the economy and help sustain rapid economic growth,” he said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 This was driven highly by increase in oil and electricity prices, with Beltran pointing to adjustments made by the “big three” oil players namely Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell and Caltex. Specifically, he said average Read More …