Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Center for Global Best Practices (www.cgbp.org) is holding a special seminar titled, Refresher Course on Business English for Professionals and Executives scheduled on Aug. 16 and 17, 2016 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City. This back-to-basics intensive course for professionals, senior executives and entrepreneurs will help them refresh their memory and re-sharpen their skills once again to master the world’s language for business. This unique program will feature Prof. Lucris Carina Agnir-Paraan, Ph.D. She finished her doctorate degree, major in English Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman where she was awarded the “Outstanding Dissertation” of the College of Arts and Letters. She earned her MA in Language and Literature at the University of the Philippines in Baguio where she graduated with a 1.007 GPA. Her AB in Philosophy was also earned at UP Diliman, and she graduated high school at the International School of Kuala Lumpur where she was the first Asian and first woman editor-in-chief of the school paper. She conducts regular public and in-house English refresher workshops and seminars on business communication and verbal skills. Her program is limited to 40 participants and pre-registration is required. For more details, visit www.cgbp.org to see other best practices seminars including Write Right for Positive Results, Master Class on English Pronunciation and Effective Presentations, Super Memory Program for Executives and Professionals and many more. Contact CGBP at (02) 556-8968 / 69 (Manila); (032) 512-3106 / 07 (Cebu) and (074) 423-5148 (Baguio).

MANILA, Philippines – High-ranking cabinet officials from Bangladesh recently visited the Philippines to learn about business process outsourcing (BPO) and information and communications technology (ICT) including cybersecurity. Managed by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) in collaboration with Management and Training International (MTI) Limited in Bangladesh, the study tour and workshop included visits to private, government, and academic institutions – the ICT Office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), KLab Cyscorpions Inc., Asia Pacific College, Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) and NOW Corp. Of grave concern among the Bangladeshi officials is the need for clear strategic directions on cybersecurity initiatives. During his lecture on this topic, Mel Velasco Velarde, CEO of NOW Corp. and AIJC, discussed specific cases of security breaches that happened with big multinational firms such as Facebook, Wall Street Journal, Ubiquity, Barracuda, LinkedIn, Harmony and others including government-induced errors in cybersecurity.  Velarde emphasized the need for organizations to meet the “reasonable security” requirement (known as the “20 Critical Security Controls” or CSCs) prescribed by top global private and governmental cybersecurity inter-agencies.

BSP indicators point to faster pace than in Q1 MANILA, Philippines – The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth likely accelerated in the second quarter of the year, a ranking official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday. BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the GDP grew faster in the second quarter compared to the 6.9 percent expansion registered in the first quarter of the year amid robust consumer spending and higher investments.  “It looks like that it can be higher on the basis of the indicators that we’re seeing. All indications would point to a more robust economic growth in the second quarter of 2016,” he said. The country’s GDP grew faster at 6.9 percent in the first quarter of the year from the revised 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year amid accelerated public consumer spending, as well as increased fixed capital outlook on domestic spending. Guinigundo also cited the impact of election-related spending. “It should be higher than 6.9 percent because of the latest readings that we saw,” he added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Zeno Ronald Abenoja, director of the BSP’s Department of Economic Research, said high-frequency indicators of demand continued to suggest an optimistic outlook on domestic spending. Abenoja said vehicle sales remained brisk while the composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stayed above the 50-point expansion threshold. According to Abenoja the PMI stood at 55.3 in April while the volume of production index (VoPI) grew faster at Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine firms sold a record $44 million in specialty food products at a trade show in the US last month, the Department of Trade and Industry said. The country’s delegation to the Winter Fancy Food Show (WFFS) also attracted 540 inquiries regarding their products and businesses from US investors in the West Coast. “Given the warm reception of social enterprises and their specialty food products in the WFFS, Food Philippines looks forward to the continued promotion of specialty food products,” said Rosvi Gaetos, executive director of the Center for International Trade, Expositions and Missions (CITEM). CITEM is the export promotions arm of DTI. Trade Commissioner Nicanor Bautista said the Philippine delegation was composed of 17 home-grown manufacturers that offer products ranging from processed fruits, frozen and canned tuna, ethnic food, condiments, sauces and mixes and snacks. Their buyers, the DTI said, were looking mostly for natural, organic, fair trade, and healthy products which all packaged to international standards. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 As such, the agency said best-selling items included virgin coconut oil, coconut sugar, frozen tuna, banana chips, frozen saba, organic muscovado sugar, upland rice and jasponica rice, and sea salts. Gaetos, for his part, assured local firms that CITEM will continue to explore opportunities for their products and services to be showcased before foreign investors abroad. “We are also considering a participation in the Summer Fancy Food Show to sustain the impression we have made in WFFS,” he said. According Read More …

Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) is set to undertake the widening project to address the increase in the volume of vehicles using the 93-kilometer tollway connecting Metro Manila to central and northern Luzon. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – A unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is set to begin work for the P2.6-billion North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) road widening project this month. Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) is set to undertake the widening project to address the increase in the volume of vehicles using the 93-kilometer tollway connecting Metro Manila to central and northern Luzon. “Traffic volume increases every year, so we need to build additional lanes in certain portions of the expressway in order to maintain the high quality service we provide motorists,” MNTC president and chief executive officer Rodrigo Franco said in a statement. MNTC is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of MPIC. Data from MNTC showed vehicle entries in NLEX rose nine percent to more than 218,000 last year from almost 200,000 in 2014. The road widening project is aimed at expanding the existing two-lane portion of NLEX between Sta. Rita and San Fernando to three lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides, while the current one-lane stretch between Dau and Sta. Ines will be expanded to two lanes on both sides. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “These are where queues of vehicles usually form especially during holidays when many motorists from Metro Manila leave Read More …