Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – After seven years of serving Filipino entrepreneurs and freelancers in the country, online and cross-border payment solutions provider Payoneer Inc. has finally opened its Philippine office in Taguig City. Patrick de Courcy, head of Asia-Pacific for Payoneer Inc., told reporters the company has decided to expand its footprint into the country to take advantage of its growing freelancing, outsourcing and e-commerce industry. “In the Philippines, we see a huge potential in the freelance, business processing outsourcing (BPO), and small businesses to become global businesses, and we help them to get paid on a cost efficient, easy, simple manner,” De Courcy said on the sidelines of the company’s Manila office launching. According to de Courcy, the Philippines is one of Payoneer’s fastest growing markets, with 230 percent growth in registration, and 307 percent growth in payment volume from 2010 to 2015. Payoneer services has been present in the Philippines since 2009. Payoneer country manager Miguel Warren, for his part, said the Philippine office of Payoneer seeks to create a better relationship between the company and its local clients, enabling it to understand better and adapt to the needs of the market. “We’re starting to build out our local team…We understand that in order to be able to grow the business, we are gonna need to become more local, to understand the costumers better,” Warren said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Citing no figures, the company official said there is still a lot of potential Read More …

In a statement yesterday, Globe said it is the first telco in the Philippines to adopt the TV white space frequency for broadband use. File photo MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom Inc. has successfully completed a TV white space trial for broadband use, a move that is seen to help the telco provide internet connectivity even in hard to reach rural areas. In a statement yesterday, Globe said it is the first telco in the Philippines to adopt the TV white space frequency for broadband use. “The TV white space provides us with another means to bridge the Digital Divide in remote rural  areas where traditional means of backhaul such as fiber or multi-hop microwave terrestrial backhaul does not make it economically viable for telecommunication providers to deploy broadband facilities,” Emmanuel Estrada, Globe senior vice president for network technologies strategy, said. TV white space refers to the unused TV channels between the active ones in the VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) spectrum. While these channels were typically referred to as buffers placed between active TV channels to protect broadcasting interference, it has been found such can be used to provide broadband internet access while operating harmoniously with surrounding TV channels. Utilizing TV white space for internet service is a relatively new technology as TV broadcast began transitioning from analog to digital. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Estrada said the TV white space trials were conducted to allow the Ayala-led telco to maximize Read More …

“Having fair, simple and easy-to-comply tax laws will help improve the ease of doing business in the country and will encourage more local and foreign investments,” the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) said in a statement yesterday. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – Local business groups have reiterated their support to the Duterte administration’s tax reform plan, citing its importance in making the country a more attractive investment destination. “Having fair, simple and easy-to-comply tax laws will help improve the ease of doing business in the country and will encourage more local and foreign investments,” the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) said in a statement yesterday. “The MAP fully supports the tax reform package of the Duterte administration for a simpler, equitable, and efficient tax system that would encourage voluntary compliance, lower the compliance cost, promote progressivity, and expand the tax base while spreading the tax burden,” the group added. The MAP is urging the Department of Finance (DOF), the Senate, and the House of Representatives to exhaust all possible means to make the tax system simpler to administer, fairer to taxpayers, and more attractive to investors. The business group said the enactment of a holistic tax reform measure would correct current inequities, encourage compliance, and pursue measures that would counter the effects of tax rate adjustments. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s largest business organization,  has also aired its support to the comprehensive tax reform program being proposed by the DOF. Business ( Article Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s policy on rice imports remains in limbo as the Department of Agriculture (DA) is just starting to review the possible extension of the quantitative restriction on the main Filipino staple food. “There’s no decision yet. We are doing consultations nationwide with the stakeholders. There are ways to hack it through renegotiations,” Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo Serrano told reporters. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol has made public his stand on seeking another extension of the QR by least two more years. Should the Philippines decide to extend the QR, World Trade Organization (WTO) member-countries that wish to seek concession for allowing the extension would have to negotiate with the country, which would normally take at least one year of negotiations. In 2014, the Philippines under former president Benigno Aquino III won approval of the WTO to keep import restrictions for three more years to June 2017. The previous administration took two years to renegotiate the extension. “If it would be painless and just extend for two years, then we retain the same concession. If they (WTO members) will ask for more in terms of rice, we don’t have a problem if it’s reasonable. But, they could ask conceivably concessions outside of agriculture which we may be sensitive,” Serrano said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He said Congress would need to amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act. Under the law, only rice is protected by the QR and it did not specify Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Vega Telecom Inc. (VTI) is extending the tender offer period for common shares of subsidiary Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. until Oct. 20, in compliance to the directive of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “VTI has filed an amended tender offer report with the SEC to extend the offer period for the purchase by VTI of common shares in Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. until 12 noon on Oct. 20, 2016,” VTI said in a statement yesterday. Apart from the extension of the tender offer period, VTI said the same terms and conditions of the tender offer report as filed on Aug. 19, which includes the tender offer price of P2.20 per share, would apply. VTI’s tender offer for up to 165.88 million common shares representing 12.82 percent of the issued and outstanding common stock of Liberty, commenced on Aug. 24 and was initially expected to run until 12 noon of Sept.21. VTI decided to defer the deadline for the tender offer following a directive issued by the SEC. In a letter dated Sept. 16, Vicente Graciano Felizmenio Jr., director of SEC’s Markets and Securities Regulation Department said VTI is directed to defer the conclusion of the tender offer period from its original date of Sept. 21, and to submit a new timeline relative to the amended tender offer report. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The new offer period should provide reasonable time to the tendering shareholders to evaluate or assess the amended and/or Read More …