Maniolas

President Rodrigo Duterte is on his way to Peru for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit. Facebook/Presidential Communications Office   President Rodrigo Duterte is on his way to Peru for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit. On Thursday, the president said that he would spend his time in Peru promoting the Philippine economy and his 10-point socio-economic agenda, saying “the Philippines is open for business.” The president’s continued support for greater cross-border economic connections is particularly welcome, given the anti-trade attitudes that are on the rise in other parts of the world—especially the United States. This year’s theme of “Quality Growth and Human Development” builds on the priorities laid out by the Philippine government during its hosting last year. Although APEC was originally established to promote trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region, it has since prioritized agendas that highlight the importance of investing in human capital to build sustainable and inclusive economies. In recent years, the uneven distribution of growth has alienated the majority, leading to the rise of populist leaders around the globe.  Despite an average economic growth of 6.1 percent over the last six years, the past administration failed to reach their target poverty incidence of no more than 18 to 20 percent. Pervasive inequality helped usher in the rise of Duterte, who pledges to lift millions of Filipinos from poverty. As world leaders are set to convene in Lima, we must reflect on the promise of growth, the future of trade, and APEC’s role in ensuring more Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Amid allegations of environment degradation, coal miner and power producer Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) has committed to protect marine protected areas (MPA) surrounding its coal mines in Semirara Island in Antique. SMPC disclosed yesterday it has pledged to support the Caluya local government’s campaign to declare two near-shore sites in Semirara Island as MPA or marine reserves. MPAs are coastal or marine areas placed under conservation or protection regimes by communities, local ordinances or national laws to restrict human activity. Two near-shore sites were identified as MPAs by Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management (SUAKCREM), a leading marine and terrestrial research organization which conducted a biological survey of the island last year. “Contrary to expectation for mining areas, the reefs surveyed has extensive coverage of live hard coral cover and relatively high fish biomass and density,” the study noted. However, the research team also noted certain sites may have been affected by siltation and fishing activities but these sites have the potential to recover if “strictly protected from heavy fishing.” Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Prior to this research, marine diversity around the island was undocumented. We wanted an independent study to help resolve concerns and allegations of environmental degradation in Semirara Island,” said SMPC president and COO Victor Consunji. Semirara has been part of the hit list of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez for allegedly causing environmental-related issues based on complaints Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry is amenable to the creation of a potential China industrial economic zone in the country as part of government’s effort to strengthen relations with China. “Definitely there are many areas of cooperation, including the establishment of industrial economic zones. That’s on the table,” Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said yesterday. Rodolfo said a China industrial economic zone would likely require some 300 hectares of land and would open up plenty of job and investment opportunities for Filipinos. “Under the models they’ve had in other countries, they will develop it and they will also be the ones to get investors, but not limited to Chinese investors. The land, of course, will be ours and of course that would create jobs so we want that. That is a big thing for us especially if they will be the ones spending the bigger part,” he said. Rodolfo said the plan is expected be threshed out in a joint committee on economic and trade cooperation meeting scheduled early next year. President Duterte’s state visit to China last month led to the signing of several agreements covering a wide range of areas such as trade, tourism, agriculture, security, health, and infrastructure.

Being stuck in traffic is the daily bane of our existence. Our government goes through the motions of seeming to address the problem, but in reality is so afraid to make the tough decisions that will begin to make conditions better. So much for political will… even of Duterte or his minions! We, the public, are not much better. We complain incessantly about the problem, but thumb down any solution that demands the least bit of sacrifice on our part. At the rate we are going, we will continue to suffer for a long time the consequences of our inability to face the problem. We need to accept solutions that seem logical, but inconvenient. In the meantime, we adopt solutions that make the situation worse. Example: buying more cars to go around the coding scheme. Here is the latest news from the world of industry: Car sales rise 8.6 percent in October. Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed car sales grew 8.6 percent YoY to 31,132 units in Oct. Passenger car sales rose 2.3 percent to 11,499 units while commercial vehicles grew 8.6 percent to 19,633 units. From Jan to Oct, auto sales tallied 292,502 units, up 24.5 percent YoY. Guess what? The road space available for the ever increasing number of cars and trucks remains the same. I would guess our road network didn’t grow significantly over the last 30 or even 50 years… at least not Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Social Security System (SSS) now wants to have a first say on financing part of public private partnership (PPP) projects to be bid out by the government.  “We plan to make it compulsory for PPP proponents to reserve for SSS the right of first refusal to 25 percent equity participation,” SSS chair Amado Valdez said in a statement yesterday. This, in effect, will require the government to first seek SSS help in funding part of infrastructure projects before going elsewhere. This, in turn, will help finance planned pension increases, particularly the P2,000 adjustment pending before Congress. The PPP Center declined to comment. Sought for details, SSS assistant vice-president Maria Luisa Sebastian said the proposal would be contained in a bill to amend the pension fund’s charter, which is yet to be crafted. “Those are still ideas being floated by the new chair,” Sebastian said in a phone interview. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Earlier, Valdez said he wanted all future toll roads to be partly constructed using SSS funds since fees collected from their operations would represent consistent flow of funds for the agency. From January to September, 39 percent or P180.46 billion of SSS investment portfolio was invested in government securities. Around 24 percent or P111.22 billion was invested in equities, 18 percent (P85.93 billion) in member loans, eight percent (P38.66 billion) in corporate notes, seven percent (P33.82 billion) in bank deposits and four percent (P20.05 billion) in property. That represented Read More …