Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said the government is no longer extending the deadline for the submission of qualification documents for the P123 billion Laguna Lakeshore expressway and dike project. DPWH Undersecretary Rafael Yabut has issued a supplemental bid bulletin giving interested companies until Feb. 27 to submit their qualification documents for largest public private partnership (PPP) project rolled out by the government so far.  “No extension will be given to the submission of qualification documents so as not to adversely affect the schedule of the bidding process,” he said. Under the original schedule, the DPWH should have notified the prequalified bidders last Feb. 8 paving the way for the submission of bid proposals on July 6. The DPWH intends to issue the Notice of Award on Aug. 4 g and sign the concession agreement on Sept. 4. According to Yabut, DPWH would no longer defer the deadline as companies have been given ample time after the submission was deferred twice to Jan. 14 and then to Feb. 27. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  “Previous extensions granted by this office were provided to afford sufficient time for this department to release additional information related to the project and for prospective bidders to identify and engage participants in the bidding process,” Yabut said. PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao earlier reported that a total of 24 companies have expressed interest in the government’s largest PPP project. The LLEDP involves the construction Read More …

Hifalutin words like economic freedom seldom ring a bell for majority of our citizens who aspire for a better life. Somehow, these words just don’t seem to connect to their everyday lives. Yet, this simple phrase spells the difference between a dogged day-to-day existence and one where they are able to realistically plan for a brighter future. Yes, economic freedom is a measurement that is tracked by a few international agencies, the two highest ranked being that of Fraser Institute (Economic Freedom of the World or EFW) and The Heritage Foundation with The Wall Street Journal (Index of Economic Freedom or IEF). Both are guided by the principle that a country’s laws can be measured to equate to how an individual is able to accumulate wealth in a free economic environment. The EFW tracker is more comprehensive and authoritative but is about two years late. The IEF, on the other hand, is more current and used by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and as such will be cited in this column. In the most recent IEF ranking, the Philippines performed well, with its standing moving to 76, clearly now belonging to the top half of the list of 178 countries. In the previous year, the country was at the lower half, having been ranked 89th. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The IEF indices for economic wealth are: property rights, freedom from corruption, fiscal freedom, government spending, business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue has widened the scope of electronic filing and payment of income tax in line with its drive to constantly revolutionize tax filing and payment as well as ease the process of doing business. Despite significant advances in technology, there was  meager compliance by taxpayers in filing their returns electronically, the agency said. The BIR noted that only three percent of taxpayers submitted their payments online through the electronic filing and payment system (eFPS) or electronic BIR forms last year. Among those required to file their tax returns electronically are accredited and prospective importers and brokers; national government agencies; licensed local contractors; recipients of fiscal incentives;  top 5,000 individual taxpayers, corporations with a paid up capital of P10 million and above; procuring government agencies, government bidders, large taxpayers and the top 20,000 private corporations. Also mandated to use the eFPS are accredited tax practitioners and their clients, accredited printers of receipts, one-time transaction taxpayers, state-owned firms, local government units and cooperatives registered with the National Electrification Administration and Local Water Utilities Administration. The agency mandated the use of the electronic tax payment facility to make it convenient for taxpayers to file their returns anytime and anywhere. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the government “aims to dramatically increase the number of taxpayers filing returns electronically to ease taxpayer experience and in the process encourage more people to pay taxes.”

MANILA, Philippines – South Koreans remain the top tourists in the country with over a million arrivals a year, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said. DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez said Korea is followed by the United States, Japan, China and Australia in terms of tourist arrivals. “China and Japan are still very close. You can assume that monthly you have around 100,000 arrivals from Korea,” Jimenez told reporters at the “Tourism Star Philippines” awarding ceremony on Thursday night at the Raffles and Fairmont Hotel in Makati. Jimenez said primary destinations in the country for Korean tourists are Manila, Cebu, Bohol and Southern Luzon. Meanwhile, Jimenez said the DOT is confident that the country could rake-in at least US$6-billion in tourism revenue by the end of this year. “We are now close to $5 billion a year in income from foreign arrivals. We were able to improve our product offerings so we are actually making more money than the actual,” said Jimenez. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The DOT chief said that they were actually projecting a serious decline in the tourist arrivals , but the opposite happened. “We still have growth and because our major markets are growing again—Taiwan is growing again, the US market, Japan, so nakatulong yun,” Jimenez said. Meanwhile, Jimenez said the DOT for this year, is aiming to develop a stronger reputation in gastronomy for the Philippines. “Not necessarily for Filipino food but for Filipino skill. Importante yun, remember it’s the 21st Read More …