philstar.com – Business – Page 241

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Phl investment in solar power pushed

Economy

Apr 172013

MANILA, Philippines – More lawmakers want the government to invest in solar power to promote energy stability, attain energy independence from oil-dependent energy sources and address the power crisis in the country. Rep. Teddy Casiño (Party-list, Bayan Muna) said House Bill 5405 or the proposed One Million Solar Roofs Act of 2011 would help mitigate global warming and air pollution and encourage industry growth that would lead to more jobs and lower electricity bills. “In an era of increasingly high prices and foreseeable decline of the global oil supply, government should at the soonest develop fuel alternatives and accelerate the exploration and utilization of renewable sources of energy,” Casiño said. Casiño said Congress enacted Republic Act 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act in 2008 to encourage investments in renewable energy. “To complement this measure, it is also necessary to encourage demand and provide incentives especially to purchasers of small renewable energy systems,” Casiño added. Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan (Party-list, Gabriela), another author of the measure, said the Philippines would greatly benefit from using renewable sources of energy because of its clean and sustainable character. Ilagan said solar technology could be an immediate and sustainable way to deal with the country’s energy problems, especially with the abundance of solar energy throughout the country and the modular nature of solar energy systems. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Besides the country being the second in Southeast Asia in terms of irradiation and insolation, we already have the foundation to become Read More …

Phinma allots P3.9B for power plant project with Ayala

Economy

Apr 172013

Phinma allots P3.9B for power plant project with Ayala

MANILA, Philippines – Listed holding firm Phinma Corp. is banking on the recovery of its property unit and the absence of losses from its business processing unit to post an income turnaround this year. Phinma is allotting P3.9 billion in capital expenditures this year that will primarily fund the construction of a power generation plant. “Higher income will come from energy, better property business and no more losses from One Animate Ltd.,” Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., president and vice-chairman of Phinma, told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders meeting. Lower profits from the Phinma Properties, which was hampered by delays in project launches, and losses in the animation unit resulted in Phinma incurring a net loss last year. Phinma said it suffered from a P36-million net loss last year, reversing the P81-million income in 2011. “The company is poised for a recovery based on a larger sales network and a healthy pipeline of over 4,400 condominium units over the next three years,” Del Rosario said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Regina B. Alvarez, senior vice-president for finance of Phinma, said the company will spend P3.9 billion this year, of which P3.6 billion will be for the power project, P79 million for Phinma Properties and P200 million for steel fabricator Union Galvasteel Corp. Unit Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is building a 135-megawatt (MW) power plant in partnership with Ayala Corp. It will start commercial operations in 2016. For the hotels business, Del Rosario said Read More …

Calata declares dividend

Economy

Apr 172013

MANILA, Philippines – Listed agritechnology firm Calata Corp. is declaring cash dividends as it posts a year-on-year growth in revenues and a slight increase in its net income. In a filing, the company announced that it has approved cash dividends of P0.25 per share on common shares as of May 17, 2013. The company will announce the date of distribution. As a result of its continued business growth, this is the third consecutive year that the company has declared a cash dividend. Calata declared a net income of P110.375 million in 2012 from P100.173 million in 2011. The firm attributed its higher income to increased tie ups with foreign agritechnology companies and exclusive long term supply agreements in 2012. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 It posted revenues of P2.2 billion in 2012 from P2 billion in 2011. Towards the close of 2012, the company established a retail chain of farm input products through its acquisition of Agri Phil Corp. Agri Phil Corp. owns 116 stores located in various parts of Luzon. “This is expected to further improve the revenue and income of the company in the years to come, thereby increasing shareholder value as well as providing an attractive investment prospect to the investing public,” the company said. Early this month, the company announced that it has entered into an agreement with Argentina-based Agroservicios Humboldt S.A for the exclusive distribution of its animal nutrition products in the Philippines. The company was granted the exclusive right to Read More …

BIR: Kris Aquino, Smart top taxpayers

Economy

Apr 152013

In this file photo, talk show host and multiple product endorser Kris Aquino gives away prizes to prizes to a contestant in her show Kris TV aired over ABS-CBN network. MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III’s celebrity sister, Kris Aquino, is the country’s top taxpayer, based on the list of the top 500 individual taxpayers released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on Monday. According to the BIR report, the “Queen of All Media” paid a total of P49,871,657.37 during the taxable year 2011. Tesla Motors executive Gregory Reichow followed Aquino as the second biggest taxpayer, having paid over P38.1 million, while senior diplomat and former Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr. landed in third place with the payment of over P34.2 million taxes. Broadband and mobile group Smart Communications, Inc., meanwhile, was the top among corporate taxpayers charged with P10.2 billion by the government. The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) paid P8.3 billion in taxes while oil giant Shell Philippine Exploration retained its 2010 third-place ranking with P6.26 billion worth of taxes. Top 10 taxpayers: Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Kris Aquino (media) – P49,871,657.37 Gregory Reichow (Tesla Motors executive) – P38,196,685.00 Lauro Baja, Jr. (senior diplomat) – P34,257,368.88 Manuel V. Pangilinan (mining and telecommunications businessman) – P25,992,131.86 Aurelio Montinola III (Bank of the Philippine Islands president) – P24,472,645.10 Gerardo Ablaza, Jr. (Manila Water, Co. chief) – P22,645,262.00 Philippe Jones Lhuillier (Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshop chain chief) – P21,645,000.00 Victor Manguerra Angeles – P21,202,815.34 Roberto Panlilio (Investment banking Read More …

BSP: Remittances grew by 6% in February

Economy

Apr 152013

MANILA, Philippines – Money sent home by Filipinos abroad grew by 6 percent in February to $1.682 billion from $1.587 billion a year ago, the central bank reported on Monday. The amount represented cash coursed through banks. It brought the two-month tally to $3.363 billion, an improvement of seven percent from last year. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects a 5-percent expansion in cash remittances for 2013. A separate gauge called personal remittances- which included hand-carry transfers– rose by a faster 6.9 percent last month and 7.6 percent for the first two months of the year. “The steady deployment of overseas Filipino workers remained a primary contributory factor to the growth in remittances flows,” BSP said in a statement. More than three-fourths of cash remittances were sent by land-based workers, while about a quarter were sent by seafarers, figures showed. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The United States remained the top source of remittances, accounting for 41.5 percent of the total. It was followed by Canada (9.8 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.9 percent), the United Kingdom (5.3 percent), the United Arab Emirates (4.5 percent), Singapore (4.1 percent) and Japan (3.5 percent). The BSP said remittances are poised to increase further in the coming months as indicated by the Department of Labor and Employment. “[O]pportunities for migrant workers through infrastructure projects in Hong Kong and increased minimum wage for monthly paid workers in Taiwan, could support further the sustained inflows of remittances to the country in the Read More …

Lawmakers mixed on BOC abolition

Economy

Apr 142013

MANILA, Philippines – Lawmakers are backing a proposal to replace the Bureau of Customs (BoC) with a “professional” institution run by private officials and employees in a bid to stamp out smuggling and cleanse the bureau. Rep. Winston Castelo (2nd District, Quezon City) said he always believes in the privatization of certain government functions for reasons of efficiency and transparency. “This is a proposal that requires thorough studies and careful evaluation. It can turn custom functions upside down but is worth exploring. We have to keep an open mind,” Castelo said. On the other hand, Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan (Party-list, Gabriela) said that by just abolishing the BoC and replacing it with another agency may not solve the real problem. “The corruption in the customs is already an urban legend. It is systemic,” Ilagan said. Ilagan said the best solution to curb corruption in the bureau is to uproot the oldies, cleanse the agency and get committed workers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Ilagan also underscored that President Benigno S. Aquino III should get down to work if he really wants to see the fulfillment of his tuwid na daan theme. “If he continues to see no evil, hear no evil or speak no evil about this agency, he should stop mouthing his tuwid na daan and get down to work,” Ilagan said. The Bureau of Customs has been under fire in recent days, with reports on rampant smuggling of oil through special economic zones and agricultural Read More …

Alliance Global unit sets P20-B tourism estate

Economy

Apr 142013

Alliance Global unit sets P20-B tourism estate

MANILA, Philippines – Global Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), a subsidiary of Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), is spending P20 billion to develop the Twin Lakes tourism estate. “(GERI) is actually infusing about P20 billion for the next five years in the development of Twin Lakes,” Erwin Francis Go, GERI’s vice president for sales and marketing told reporters in a briefing for the launch of the project. The 1,149-hectare Twin Lakes overlooking Taal Lake, will be the first vineyard resort community in the country. The project features a vineyard, commercial and retail hubs, residential villas and condominiums, a nature park as well as a university park. Among the components of the project is the 177-hectare Vineyard community which comprises of an actual vineyard for growing grapes to be used to produce wine. “We are devoting 10 hectares of land to develop purely the grapes which will be used in making wine,” Go said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The production of wine will be handled by Emperador Distilleries Inc., the food and beverage arm of AGI. “That is what makes us stand out among all the developments. We are the only vineyard resort community and we have that vineyard as a take-off for the project,” Go noted. The Vineyard community will also have a winery or chateau, as well as a hotel and resort. Aside from the vineyard, GERI is developing the 1.3-hectare Shopping Village and 24-hectare Laketown Shore Center in Twin Lakes which will have commercial Read More …

Infra lack hinders Mindanao growth

Economy

Apr 142013

MANILA, Philippines – The government must continue to address nagging issues in Mindanao to spur its economic growth as the recent upgrade by international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings will not be enough to generate investments in the region, an economist said over the weekend. Economist and University of the Philippines professor Benjamin Diokno said the Fitch Ratings upgrade does not necessarily translate to the influx of investors in Mindanao, where many issues need to be addressed. “Overall, the upgrade is a necessary but not sufficient condition for higher private investment. Much remains to be done by the government,” Diokno said. He said government must provide better public infrastructure, reduce the cost of doing business, improve its revenue generating capacity, ensure policy consistency, and relax some restrictive provisions in the Constitution, among others. “Mindanao as an investment destination has added wrinkles. Power supply adequacy and reliability and peace and order problems are quite severe,” he said. Power outages in Mindanao average eight hours daily as the island suffers from a power shortfall of 294 megawatts with demand at 1,157 megawatts against an actual supply of only 863 megawatts. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Diokno said government should also look into Mindanao’s “inefficient sea and air transport system.” “Sadly these problems cannot be solved overnight. But they should be addressed with great sense of urgency,” he said.

Ratings upgrade not enough

Economy

Apr 102013

After the country got its investment grade rating, what’s next? Simply put, rating upgrade is not enough, its means more work. Of course, congratulations are in order for the whole P-Noy team, especially Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, for keeping their focus and steadfast efforts in steering the economy forward. For the uninitiated, Fitch Ratings last month issued an upgrade of the Philippines’ position from BB+ to BBB-, the three letters signifying investment grade status. Fitch is a global rating company that keeps tabs of a company’s or country’s credit standing. The Philippines relies on three agencies for these periodic ratings, and Fitch is considered to be the least tough. The other two agencies are Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, both of which have marked the country just a notch below investment grade. Often, it just takes a bit more time before Moody’s and S&P echo what Fitch had earlier announced. Yet this should not detract our bureaucracy from continuing to get the house in order for that time when investors start pouring in. And there is so much to do. Higher trust Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 This latest investment upgrade, for example, will persuade investors to take a more serious look at the many business opportunities that the government is offering, something that was not given much attention because of a perceived general weakness in the state’s ability to guarantee robust returns. But since P-Noy took over the state leadership in 2010, his Read More …

USTR ties trade benefits to labor issues

Economy

Apr 102013

USTR ties trade benefits to labor issues

Phl asked to provide plans for labor legislation MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) is asking the Philippine government to provide plans regarding passage of legislation concerning union registration as well as cases when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) were involved in labor disputes as part of its review on whether the country should continue to enjoy trade benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. A copy of post-hearing questions of the USTR following a hearing held on March 28, showed that it wants the Aquino administration to describe plans for seeking passage of remaining labor legislation involving assumption of jurisdiction and union registration. The USTR also said it wants to know whether there have been cases in which the AFP or PNP were involved in labor disputes as well as whether guidelines have been followed. “The government of the Philippines is receiving support from the International Labor Organization (ILO) through December 2013, funded by the US Department of State, to train personnel on the PNP and AFP guidelines,” it noted. The USTR likewise wants to know what work the Department of Labor and Employment is undertaking in conjunction with the ILO or otherwise, to enable inspectors to identify potential issues with compliance, including anti-union discrimination and intimidation or harassment. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The government, it said, must also respond to a concern raised by the International Labor Rights Forum Read More …

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