Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The National Competitiveness Council (NCC)’s program of cutting red tape in the country has received backing from the United Kingdom. In a signing ceremony, the NCC received technical assistance from the British Embassy through the Asia Pacific Bilateral Program Fund to support Project Repeal. “The assistance will be used for the development, pilot–testing and initial rollout of the standard cost model for Project Repeal in a bid to come up with a systematic way of determining the savings brought about by reduced cost of compliance for businesses as a result of the streamlining of rules and regulations,” NCC private sector co-chairman Guillermo Luz said. Luz said the assistance would also be utilized to conduct a series of activities, including supplementary focus group discussions that will be held in several regions in the country to have a wider stakeholder engagement and ensure the project’s greater impact. Technical workshops on regulatory cost analysis and cost data capture and standardization will be organized in order to create a cost model that will provide a statistically robust, valid and reliable method in estimating the regulatory burdens imposed by existing regulations on businesses, the NCC said. The NCC’s Project Repeal is a government-wide deregulation system that addresses the growing need for a wider effort to cut red tape across agencies. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 An initiative that has drawn inspiration from UK’s Red Tape Challenge, Project Repeal was also initiated to facilitate an efficient government regulatory environment Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will name a finance attaché to China to help resolve discrepancies in trade data between the two countries which resulted in billions of pesos in revenue losses. “I will appoint a finance attaché to China to talk and go over the exporters there so we can solve this,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told a budget hearing at the Senate yesterday. “We would like our attaché in China to work very closely with our BOC (Bureau of Customs) here and the BOC in China,” he said. According to Finance data, there exists an “alarming” discrepancy worth P1.8 trillion in trade data between the Philippines and its trading partners in 2014. As a result, the government lost P231 billion in revenues that year, equivalent to two percent of gross domestic product. Dominguez said around 30 percent of the P1.8 trillion came from China, which is the country’s fourth biggest export destination and top source of imports in July, latest figures showed. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Specifically, China cornered 11.3 percent of exports and 11.2 percent of imports during the period. “The differential is about 50 percent (from what is reported here and there) so with that, we hope the attaché can assist the BOC to correct them,” Dominguez said. Appointing a finance attaché is consistent with Department of Finance Order 105-2015 issued during the previous administration that mandated a two-year stint for every person deployed overseas. They are appointed by the President Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – PhilWeb Corp. is implementing a retrenchment program following the non-renewal of its license by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. The company disclosed yesterday that vice president Antonio Jose Garcia would serve in the corporation only until Nov. 4 due to retrenchment. Businessman and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin was the first to resign from the company after President Duterte singled him out as an oligarch who must be destroyed. Ongpin is divesting his entire holdings equivalent to 771.6 million PhilWeb shares or 53.76 percent of the company. He is in talks with investment bankers on how best to go about his divestment including selling this in the open market or through a private placement. Following Ongpin’s resignation, businessman Gregorio Ma. Araneta III, chairman and CEO of Araneta Properties Inc. and the son-in-law of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has been elected as chairman. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  Araneta is the second largest shareholder of PhilWeb and has been a director of the company for a number of years. He also has other business interests in property development and energy aside from his investment in the company. PhilWeb is on temporary shutdown after Pagcor refused to renew its gaming license which expired on Aug.10. The company used to provide technology for some internet cafes exclusively dedicated to casino games. PhilWeb is also studying the viability of participating in the Duterte administration’s plan to roll out offshore gaming, which will target foreign players.

Still considered as a vibrant economy, the Philippines continues to nurture a growing real estate market. Specifically for resort clubs, condominium buildings, and subdivisions, where the market has been notably shrinking, the competitive landscape is fiercely contested. We see a proliferation of sales agents distributing leaflets at busy intersections, inside malls and other places where people who are likely to buy shares of stocks in upcoming resort clubs, condominium units being constructed, or dream houses in just-cleared lands, can be found. The sales agents have excellent pressure selling techniques that are able to convert curious, prospective customers is to hooked buyers, albeit sometimes reluctantly, and often at a cost. Buyers usually sign contracts without the full knowledge of the terms and conditions that come with what they are buying, or worse, the real condition of the property or share they have pledged to pay through  monthly installments for years. Unfortunately, all those frustrating stories of unfulfilled agreements are made known only when the duped buyers are already in a similar situation. Sad stories How many have gone through the agony of sad stories where, after making the down payment and a couple of monthly installments, the buyer discovers that work on the property has stopped and what remains are unfinished roads and a broken promise. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Or the now familiar case of buyers, after several years of religiously paying monthly installments until fully paid, could not get the title to their respective Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC), which is owned and controlled by tycoon Lucio Tan, is planning to bid for the redevelopment of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. “We are participating in the bidding because we firmly believe in the growth potential of our country’s premier airport, given our past experience of pushing for Philippine aviation development,” AEDC president Salvador Mison said. AEDC said it would have a foreign partner when it submits the bid for the P74.6-billion project. AEDC is confident it could provide viable solutions to NAIA’s inter-terminal connectivity as well as traffic congestion in the area. AEDC’s foreign partner is expected to provide the technical expertise in its long-term proposal. The National Economic and Development Authority approved last month the NAIA redevelopment project which involves the upgrade of the country’s main international gateway. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In particular, the project is looking to improve the safety and security, as well as maximize the capacity of the NAIA through infrastructure or assets for air traffic and land side management. In addition to the upgrade of the airport, the private partner will be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the NAIA according to international standards. Under the deal, the concession period covers 15 to 20 years, including the design or construction. Procurement for the project is expected to begin soon.  The award and signing of the concession agreement is expected by September Read More …