Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA) has launched two initiatives that seek to increase financial awareness among high school students. Gregorio Mercado, president of PLIA, cited the need to address the low rate of financial literacy in the country and help Filipinos understand how insurance can help them fulfill their goals. “PLIA strives to contribute to the Insurance Commission’s efforts to propagate the importance of financial literacy,” Mercado said. With this, the PLIA has started to roll out a program that aims to create a financial education curriculum geared towards Philippine secondary schools. The curriculum will cover topics such as identifying financial needs and choosing financial products, as well as sample lesson plans, student activities and assessment and downloadable classroom teaching aids. The Department of Education is expected to validate all the content included in the curriculum, PLIA said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Once created, it will be made available through an online portal, and will be  accessible to parents, teachers and students, alike. The insurance group said its long-term target was to have the curriculum adopted by secondary schools into their programs.  “PLIA is proud to have started developing something today that will eventually represent an institutionalized intervention in increasing public awareness on the value of life insurance through our education system,” Mercado said. Meanwhile, PLIA also announced its partnership with the Foundation for the Advancement of Life and Insurance around the World (FALIA) to conduct a series of lectures in Read More …

Tourism industry professionals I have been talking to are giving me the picture of a tourism industry that has gone adrift. I suspected as much and I pin the blame on the appointment of a Tourism Secretary who took an assignment that is way beyond her pay grade. I imagine that when she was appointed, President Duterte didn’t give it much thought. Tourism wasn’t on top of his list of priorities. He didn’t know what the job entailed in terms of a prospective appointee’s capability and experience. And he didn’t know too many people in the industry beyond a local travel agent. Puede na yan. Little did the President know that the job of Tourism Secretary required more than knowledge of booking tickets and taking visitors around tourist spots. It requires solid marketing experience and a level of sophistication that would allow her to sell the country in a very competitive tourism market. Luckily, the last Tourism Secretary did his homework very well. He came up with a road map for the development of the industry which includes very specific plans on things to do for a number of years beyond his term of office. He also invested in a catchy marketing campaign that can be as promising as the long term image campaigns of Thailand, Malaysia and India. It is really a pity if the current Secretary of Tourism is unable to follow through the gains of the past. Continuity is important if we want to realize dividends from Read More …

PH strengthens commercial ties with Mexico: Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez recently met with Ambassador Julio Camarena Villaseñor to discuss economic ties with Mexico and put forward the interest of establishing a Joint Economic Committee in the future. Mexico is the Philippines’ second biggest trading partner in Latin America. Both countries have long-shared historical and economic ties.   MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is eyeing $2 billion worth of investments from Mexico following recent meetings among ranking officials that strengthened commercial ties between both countries. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday some $2 billion worth of investments is being allocated by Mexico to the Philippines, bulk of which is targeted for the telecommunications sector. Mexican Ambassador Julio Camarena Villaseñor, who met with Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez during a recent courtesy visit, emphasized the Philippines is a priority area for investments in Asia. The diplomat likewise expressed Mexico’s interest to make the Philippines an economic gateway to the ASEAN region, the DTI reported. Total investments between both countries in 2015 reached $6 billion. During the meeting, both sides also discussed the establishment of a joint economic committee that will further strengthen bilateral trade and investment between the Philippines and Mexico. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The Philippines is eager to know that one of our strong commercial allies, Mexico, has expressed its keen interest in the country. Our long-shared history with Mexico makes it easier to understand each other’s interest,” Lopez said. Lopez Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has moved to next year its target of four horsepower per hectare (HP/ha) farm mechanization level of the country. “We still cannot reach it this year, but by end-2017, we can reach that level and even exceed, provided the DA (Department of Agriculture) will give all equipment needed,” PhilMech executive director Dionisio Alvindia. The previous DA administration under former secretary Proceso Alcala earlier targeted to attain 4 HP/ha level by year-end to be at par with ASEAN neighbors for the regional integration. The local agricultural industry is currently at 3 HP/ha from the .75 HP/ha status in 2010. Alvindia said this is also because of the lack of budget allocation for the mechanization sector of the agriculture industry, with a funding of only P300 million next year. PhilMech said an increase in farm mechanization could make Filipino farmers as competitive as their counterparts in Thailand and Vietnam. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Under the new administration, Alvindia said PhilMech is aiming for new directions as it now focuses on stakeholder-driven research and development. “Our new advocacy is to develop and commercialize the technologies where stakeholders will be the ones to tell us what they want and need, then we will address their concerns,” he said. Alvindia said the RDE agenda should result to getting more inputs from the intended users of farm technologies, particularly small farmers and agriculture cooperatives, and to manufacturers of farm Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has ordered Mindanao oil players to explain the unusual price reductions in gasoline products which is considered as anti-competitive behavior under the law. Based on the monitoring of the DOE-Mindanao Field Office (MFO), the oil companies from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6 cut prices a sizable P3 per liter on the average. Elsewhere in the country, oil companies raised gasoline prices by 50 centavos per liter during the period, reflecting the uptrend in the global market amid positive signals over a production freeze among major oil producers. While price rollbacks are a welcome development for the consumers, the DOE cautioned that sudden and sustained huge decreases in oil prices might qualify as an anti-competitive behavior under the Oil Deregulation Law. “This market behavior puts both the smaller oil players and the consumers at a disadvantageous position in the long run. Smaller oil players may actually lose its market share and end up closing, allowing the remaining oil players the chance to dictate prices to the detriment of the consuming public,” the DOE said. This market behavior could also spark more peddling of petroleum products through the “bote-bote” scheme and the alleged smuggling of oil products from nearby countries. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The DOE said its Mindanao office has been coordinating with local government units (LGUs) and the Bureau of Fire Protection to eliminate the “bote-bote” scheme while also discouraging consumers from patronizing such activity as this Read More …