Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has increased the number of listed firms found compliant with the moral code and religious law of Islam. As of end-December last year, eight companies have been added to the lineup of listed companies considered adhering to the Shariah standard. No company, meanwhile, exited the list in the PSE’s recent quarterly update as opposed to the three firms which were kicked out of the roster during the previous quarter. The PSE said 61 of the more than 260 listed companies adhere to the Shariah standard, up from 53 in the October list.The new companies that joined the ranks of Shariah-complaint firms were APC Group Inc., Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp., EEI Corp., Globe Telecom Inc., MacroAsia Corp., NIHAO Mineral Resources International Inc., SSI Group Inc., and Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp. Companies retained in the Shariah-compliant list are ATN Holdings, Inc. A and B shares, Abra Mining & Industrial Corp., Bogo-Medellin Milling Co. Inc., Concepcion Industrial Corp., Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc.,, Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc., Forum Pacific Inc., IRC Properties Inc., Island Information & Technology Inc., Keppel Philippines Properties Inc., Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc., Now Corp., The Philodrill Corp., Roxas and Co. Inc., SPC Power Corp., Swift Foods Inc., United Paragon Mining Corp. and Wellex Industries Inc. Other companies that made the list are Apex Mining Inc., Araneta Properties Inc., Asian Terminals Inc., Calapan Ventures Inc., Centro Escolar University, Chemrez Technologies Inc., Cirtek Holdings Philippines Inc., D&L Industries Inc., DMCI Holdings Inc., Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – BDO Unibank has partnered with Emirates NBD, the leading bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the latter’s money transfer service called Direct Remit 60 Seconds. The service was introduced last month to the Philippines and is known as the fastest direct bank transfer service in the UAE. It enables the transfer of Philippine peso to BDO bank accounts in 60 seconds. Direct Remit 60 Seconds benefits the remittance beneficiaries of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), numbering over 700,000, stationed in the various parts of the UAE region, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “This is another channel that will bring security and ease to our remitters,” BDO senior vice president for remittance distribution Geneva T. Gloria said. Gloria described the alliance with Emirates as a good fit because of the resemblance between the two banks. Both are leading industry players in their respective countries and serving a considerable number of Filipino clients. “Most of their Filipino clients who maintain an account with them are also enrolled in Emirates’ online banking facility. Using this platform, these customers can send money to the Philippines anytime, anywhere and can also pay their bills, insurance premiums or loans payments via their BDO accounts,” she added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 International money transfers, mainly personal remittances, amounted to $22 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, or 6.7 percent higher than remittances in the same period in 2013. Filipinos deployed to the UAE rank second Read More …

PALO, Leyte, Philippines – The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has completed 21 school buildings it earlier committed to build in Leyte to help the province recover following the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. In a ceremony here, NGCP formally turned over a new three-classroom school building to Palo 1 Central School. The other schools were turned over in November. The 21 beneficiary schools are spread out in nine local government units (LGUs) of Leyte namely, Palo, Tolosa, Ormoc City, Tan-auan, Sta. Fe, Alang-alang, Barugo, Carigara and Capoocan. Around 10,000 students are expected to benefit from the new school buildings. Aside from the Palo 1 Central School, the beneficiary schools include Gacao Elementary School and Caloogan Elementary in Palo; Sta. Fe Central School and Tibak Elementary School, both in Sta.Fe; Dolores Elementary School in Ormoc; and Sta. Rosa Elementary School in Barugo. NGCP corporate affairs department head Nelson Cabangon said the three-classroom buildings are built sturdier, and can withstand wind velocities of up to 250 kilometers per hour, which is the standard of the Department of Public Works and Highways for typhoon-resilient structures. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He also said the classrooms’ roofing is reinforced using a new method of connecting the galvanized iron sheet to the trestle.  The walls are thicker, almost double the width of the old classrooms’ walls.  Moreover, the facilities have movable dividers and can be used as evacuation centers during calamities or for other indoor Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is giving interested bidders a two-week extension to submit prequalification documents for the proposed P15 billion Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) connecting Tarlac to Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija. In a Notice of Postponement, DPWH undersecretary Alfredo Tolentino said the submission of prequalification documents for the first phase of CLLEX scheduled on Jan. 19 has been called off due to the scheduled visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines from Jan. 15 to 19. Tolentino said the deadline for the submission or prequalification documents for the public private partnership (PPP) project has to be deferred as Malacañang has declared Jan. 15, 16, and 19 as special non-working days in the National Capital Region. The deadline for the submission of prequalification documents has been postponed to Feb. 2. Tolentino pointed out that some contractors and bidders have requested that they be given ample time to secure or acquire necessary documents from the country of origin due to the long Christmas holidays. The first phase of the CLLEX project worth P14.9 billion would cover a 30.7-kilometer four-lane expressway stretching from Tarlac to Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija, while the second phase worth P14.2 billion covers 35.7 kilometer worth a two-lane expressway from Cabanatuan City to San Jose City, in Nueva Ecija. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 CLLEX forms an important lateral (east-west) link of an overall High Standard Highway network within the 200-kilometer radius from Metro Manila. Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) continues to seek participants for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to help avert blackouts this summer, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said.  “In times like this, we need the collective effort and assistance of those who are willing to extend their hands. Our search has never been in vain. In fact, ILP participants have been growing, reflecting the private sector’s role in this initiative,” Petilla said. Under the ILP scheme, big power users will be asked to run their own generators when supply is short in the summer months, instead of getting their power from the Luzon grid. In exchange, they will be compensated for their fuel costs. The electricity that would not be taken from the grid would be available to households and other users, sparing them from rotating blackouts. There is a projected power supply shortage this summer of at least 700 megawatts (MW) due to higher demand during the summer months. At least 38 establishments with a total combined capacity of 197.56 MW have already been committed to the ILP through Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The three largest participants are SM Prime Holding Inc., the mall development arm of the SM Group with 57.96 MW, Robinsons Land Corp., the property development arm of the Gokongwei Group with capacity of 23.15 MW and Waltermart Malls with 14.30 MW. In addition, there have been expressions of commitment Read More …