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Petrobas scandal scrambles Brazil’s offshore dreams

General

Mar 082015

Petrobas scandal scrambles Brazil’s offshore dreams

Workers stand by the construction of Petrobras oil platforms in the BrasFels shipyard in Angra dos Reis, Brazil. AP RIO DE JANEIRO — Oil was to have been Brazil’s “passport to the future,” but the grand dreams tied to state company Petrobras have been brought to a screeching halt not only by falling crude prices, but by a crisis of its own making. An expanding investigation into a kickback scandal at Brazil’s largest company is rippling through the industry, suspending contracts, cutting off credit supplies and forcing layoffs at shipyards and other firms that had been gearing up for the anticipated oil boom. Not long ago, President Dilma Rousseff had promised that exploration of rich, offshore fields would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and provide royalty income to finally improve Brazil’s schools and health care system. But with no end to the investigation in sight, it’s anyone’s guess as to when Brazil will reap the rewards of its oil wealth. “In 2008, everyone thought Brazil was becoming an oil superpower,” said Adriano Pires, an energy consultant and former official at the government National Petroleum Agency. “Those big plans of expansion are all being reviewed.” Federal investigators say that over the last decade, construction firms paid about $800 million in bribes and other funds by overvaluing contracts with Petrobras and funneling some of the money to the ruling Workers’ Party and its affiliates. Eighty-seven people have been charged so far, including two former Petrobras directors. And on Friday night, the Supreme Read More …

Manila ports to handle higher volume

Economy

Mar 082015

MANILA, Philippines – The government expects Manila’s ports to be able to handle increased transactions this year given measures that have been put in place to address congestion. “I think that during the peak season, we will see an increase (in transactions) but I don’t think we’ll see the same level of problems last year even with a higher volume,” Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo told reporters. Domingo said various measures have been undertaken to improve the condition at the ports. “The challenge is every year, our transactions are rising so the number of containers that will be processed through the ports will increase again. But there are a number of measures that have been implemented,” he said. Among the measures undertaken is to shorten the period for re-exporting free empty foreign containers to 90 days from 150 days. The enhanced truck ban hours and routes are also seen to have helped improve the flow of cargo at the ports. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “So, hopefully, these things will alleviate it. Also, we’ve seen improvement in port operations…They are able to process faster,” Domingo said. Malacañang announced last week that Manila’s port congestion has been resolved due to measures implemented both by the government and the private sector. Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras said in a statement that while there was a time that the ports and all the container yards were flooded with empty containers, this is no longer the situation as of Read More …

Gov’t rolls out first LGU-based PPP project

Economy

Mar 072015

Gov’t rolls out first LGU-based PPP project

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration has rolled out the country’s first Public Private Partnership (PPP) project initiated by a local government unit (LGU) via the P400 million Tanauan City public market redevelopment project. The Tanauan City government, through Pre-qualification Bids and Awards Committee chairman Herminigildo Trinidad Jr., said foreign and local companies may bid for the PPP project under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law. Trinidad said the winning bidder would finance the construction of a four-story commercial building with a floor area of 26,000 square meters, comprising of ground and second floor for commercial spaces as well as the third and fourth floor for parking and terminal. He added that the project also covers the construction of a wet and dry market building with a minimum floor area of 10,000 square meters. Interested companies have until April 13 to submit their letters of intent and prequalification documents. The LGU would adopt a two-stage bidding process, including the pre-qualification and shortlisting process, as well as the actual bid proposal submission and opening. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 It would conduct a pre-bid conference on April 27, paving the way for the submission of bids on June 4. The project was given the green light by the National Economic and Development Authority – Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) last January. PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the first LGU-PPP project would entice other LGUs in the country to pursue more infrastructure projects in partnership with the private sector. Read More …

Leadership by compassion

General

Mar 072015

Just recently, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) signed an agreement calling for the integration of toll collection systems of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX). We all know what happened. The agreement was unacted upon for years by the BCDA for some unknown reason. Then December 26, 2015 came and Senate President Franklin Drilon was among those who had to endure a nine-hour ride from Manila to Baguio City. Reason for the traffic primarily was the volume of people who wanted to try out the newly opened Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), the cold Baguio weather, the long weekend, and the drastic drop in fuel prices that made travelling by private vehicles affordable to more people. But adding to the woes of the Baguio-bound vacationers was the series of stops they had to make for each of the toll collection booths of NLEX, SCTEX, and TPLEX, with the lines going into the toll booths running as long as three kilometers. Senator Drilon was of course pissed and vowed to make sure it would never happen again. The agreement would later turn out to be no longer necessary because BCDA agreed to finally turn over SCTEX management and operation to MNTC after nobody showed up to challenge the latter’s offer. According to BCDA, MNTC’s improved commercial offer includes an upfront cash payment of P3.5 billion, a 50-50 sharing of gross toll revenues, among others. But the point of all Read More …

Gov’t, private sector draw blueprint for greener Mindanao

Economy

Mar 072015

Gov’t, private sector draw blueprint for greener Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines – Key players from the government and the private sector are drawing up a blueprint to make Mindanao a greener region. During a recent meeting of the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC) held at the National Power Corp. (Napocor), officials underscored the importance of advocating renewable energy (RE) as a prominent source of electricity for the island-region. Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), said compared to the situation last year and the years before, the state of Mindanao power today had seen significant improvement. She said majority of the region did not have rotating blackouts as reported by the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives. However, Antonino said the expected entry of more baseload capacities from coal-fired power plants totaling 2,000 megawatts until 2018 should be complemented by accelerated deployment of renewable energy projects such as hydro, biomass, geothermal, and solar, among others. Based on the monitoring of the One-Stop Facilitation and Monitoring of MPMC, there are 231 RE projects in the pipeline spread across Mindanao that could potentially generate at least 2,419 MW of sustainable power for the region between 2020 and 2025. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “A diversified mix of fossil and renewable energy sources is integral to our overall strategy of pursuing balanced and holistic economic growth in Mindanao,” said Romeo Montenegro, MinDA’s director for Investment Promotions and Public Affairs. He added that pursuing RE development is also aligned with the MinDA’s Mindanao 2020 Peace and Read More …

Poor man’s rich man

Economy

Mar 072015

It looks like fish. It smells like fish. When unsold and unmarketable, it usually rots and goes to waste. But not so in the fisherfolk community in Iligan, where excess catch of fish in season are collected for livelihood. It’s like chicken dung gathered by another community in Naawan, Misamis Oriental, and coconut husks collected from copra farms by a cooperative of former rebels who laid down their arms for life with society. Rotten fish, chicken dung, coconut husks – all biowastes that can be converted to organic fertilizers that communities can sell and make a living out of. For them, it is a way to resist poverty through their own productive work. But this is just half of the story. Someone helped these communities organize to gather lowly raw materials from their own vicinities. Someone supplies the secret ingredient and process to make fertilizers; someone teaches them how to manufacture. Finally, someone helps them sell their produce. Most of the proceeds stay with these folks and a part they remit to their technology provider, trainer, marketer and business partner. That “someone” is a social entrepreneur named Nanette and her enterprise is called Ecosystems Work for Essential Benefits, Inc. (ECOWEB). Before she empowered communities, she used her education as an agriculture engineer to formulate an inoculant to produce organic fertilizers and pest repellants. I am reminded of the phrase born out of weariness: “so much work for so little.” Social entrepreneurs give this phrase a proud new meaning. They work Read More …

Exports surge seen in January

Economy

Mar 072015

MANILA, Philippines – Merchandise exports likely increased sharply in January from the same period last year due to a low base and the recovery in export markets, a foreign bank said in a report. “A low base is likely to support a sharp rebound in exports, but the sequential recovery is likely to be more modest,” UK-based investment bank Barclays said in a research note yesterday. The bank has forecast a 16.8-percent growth in outbound shipments in January, a reversal of the 3.2-percent contraction recorded in the same month in 2014. Moreover, this is an improvement from the 3.2-percent drop in merchandise exports in December last year. Official January exports data will be released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday, March 10. Last year, Philippine exports went up nine percent to $61.81 billion from $56.698 billion in 2013. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan earlier said the growth rate reflected the resiliency in the country’s exports despite weaker activity in Japan, euro zone, and even in China. The continuing recovery in the US and expected better prospects in Japan should support Philippine exports this year, Balisacan said. Electronic products continued to make up the lion’s share of the Philippines’ outbound shipments last year at $25.88 billion or 42 percent of total value. Japan was the main destination for Philippine exports in 2014, accounting for 22.5 percent of total shipments. This was followed by the US at 14.1 percent, China at 13 Read More …

SEC steps up campaign vs Emgoldex

Economy

Mar 072015

MANILA, Philippines – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has intensified its campaign against Emgoldex Philippines, an alleged fraud entity that is not registered to operate in the country. “This commission has received information about the proliferation of bogus SEC public advisories concerning Emgoldex Philippines that bear the SEC logo or appear to have been issued by the commission or signed by any of its officials,” the country’s corporate regulator said in its recent public advisory. The SEC last month already issued a warning to the public against investing their money with Emgoldex Philippines which claims to offer huge returns for every investment. Despite the earlier notice, however, fake SEC public advisories from Emgoldex Philippines have continued to surface. “Any public offering or solicitation of investment in the Philippines without the prior license or permit from the SEC is strictly prohibited by law and may be penalized by imprisonment and/or fine,” the corporate regulator said. “There is no distinction whether the investment offering is made through the Internet or in a commercial or public place as long as the investment solicitation is indiscriminately offered to the public in general within this jurisdiction,” it said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The SEC reiterated that based on its existing records, Emgoldex is not a registered corporation or partnership in the Philippines. Thus, the agency said the entity is not licensed or authorized to solicit investments from the public in the country. “With regard to the claim that Emgoldex Read More …

MNTC taps Maybank for payment solutions

Economy

Mar 072015

MANILA, Philippines – Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), the tollways arm of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), has tapped Maybank Philippines Inc. to streamline check preparation and releasing transactions. Rodrigo Franco, president and chief executive officer of MNTC, said the check cutting service would make it more convenient for the company to settle its account with its supplies. MNTC operates the 87-kilometer North Luzon expressway (NLEX) and has recently bagged the concession for the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway (SCTEX) from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). “The deal will enable MNTC to focus more on operating and maintaining the NLEX rather than doing the cutting and releasing of checks. It will also give more convenience to our suppliers due to Maybank’s accessible locations,” Franco said. For his part, Maybank president and chief executive officer Herminio Famatigan Jr. said MNTC could use selected Maybank branches or all branches nationwide to release check payments under the check cutting services agreement. “Through Maybank’s payment solution, the Check Cutting Service, MNTC will enjoy the convenience of outsourcing the preparation and releasing of their regular check payments to suppliers,” Famatigan said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Maybank’s check cutting service is an outsourcing solution for corporate customers that handle the preparation and nationwide disbursement of voluminous check payments to their suppliers and payees. The outsourcing solution automates clients the check and voucher preparation and enhances the client’s productivity while maintaining security, control and confidentiality of their financial transactions. This Read More …

BSP not inclined to tweak monetary policy – Guinigundo

General

Mar 062015

BSP not inclined to tweak monetary policy – Guinigundo

MANILA, Philippines – The central bank is not inclined to tweak its monetary policy stance for now given subdued inflation and continued robust domestic growth, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said yesterday. “We don’t need to reduce the policy rate at this point because the economy is growing and inflation rate is within the target of two to three percent,” Guinigundo told reporters on the sidelines of the Asian Pacific Economic (APEC) forum in Tagaytay. “There is no compelling reason why we should change our monetary policy stance, it remains appropriate,” he added. Ample liquidity and strong domestic activity provide ample fiscal headroom for the central bank to retain the current benchmark interest rates despite a steep drop in the price of oil and China’s slowing economy. The monetary board will meet on March 26 to decide whether or not to retain existing interest rates. The central bank is committed to promote and maintain price stability and provide proactive leadership in bringing about a strong financial system conducive to a balanced and sustainable growth of the economy. During its last meeting on Feb.12, the monetary board left its key policy rate on hold at four percent for the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase facility and six percent for the overnight lending or repurchase facility. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The interest rates on special deposit accounts were also kept steady.

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