Maniolas

SAN FRANCISCO – I got confused and so we got off at the wrong stop on our Muni ride from my son’s place to Market street. Instead of getting off at Powell, we got off at Civic Center. Then my jetlagged disorientation continued and we started walking the wrong direction. Two blocks down and the neighborhood just got seedier, confirming that we should be walking the other way. The smell of “bum piss” was also overwhelming. We saw the office of Twitter in what seemed like the wrong place for a trendy dot com company. Maybe its presence there will eventually improve the neighborhood but who really knows. We finally got to Powell and my wife needed to go to the restroom so we went straight to Westfield mall. Surprisingly, the “CR” there was worse than NAIA’s. In fact, my wife just couldn’t use it. We found a cleaner restroom at the fast food area of the same mall. It wasn’t as clean as any at Rockwell or Robinson’s Galleria or Ayala malls but better than the first one. Westfield, home of Bloomingdale in SF, was supposed to be a premier mall but the upkeep seems to have deteriorated since the last time we were there two years ago. Indeed, the city seems to have deteriorated too. Or maybe we just wandered in an area we don’t normally go to. There seems to be more homeless people in the streets…more jobless folks asking for dole outs. One such man at Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The government continued to show a downtrend in its debt servicing for the first 10 months this year, with payments for amortization declining significantly. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Treasury, debt servicing from January to October amounted to P357 billion, down 28.3percent from P498.04 billion in the same period last year. The government settled a total of P82.83 billion in principal, including P79.66 billion in foreign loans and P3.18 billion in domestic debts. Total principal payment in the 10-month period was 137.7 percent lower than the P219.47 billion recorded in the year ago period. The government also paid a total of P274.16 billion in interest, covering P182.74 billion on domestic obligations and P91.42 billion on foreign borrowings. Total interest payments marked a slight decrease from the P278.56 billion settled the previous year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In October alone, government debt payments totaled P19.88 billion, 28.7 percent less than the P27.9 billion paid in the same month a year earlier. Of the P19.88 billion, P16.77 billion comprised interest payments while the balance of P4.69 billion made up principal payments. The government’s outstanding debt rose 1.2 percent to P5.71 trillion as of October as the state continued to rely on borrowings to fund its expenditure requirements. The latest figure, however, was lower than the P5.72 trillion registered in September due to the net redemption of government securities. Bulk of the amount or about P3.75 trillion was accounted for by Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is pushing for the renewal of a program in the US granting trade preferences to support exporters, Trade Assistance Secretary Ceferino Rodolfo said over the weekend. “The Philippines is actively involved in the Alliance of GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) beneficiary countries in the US. We are continuously advocating together with other countries like Thailand, for the renewal of law,” Rodolfo said. The Philippines is among the beneficiary countries of the GSP which provides preferential duty-free treatment for up to 5,000 products entering the US. Products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP include: most manufactured items; many types of chemicals, minerals and building stone; jewelry; many types of carpets; and certain agricultural and fishery products. The GSP program expired in July 31, 2013. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Rodolfo said that based on information received by the government, the US is looking to consolidate its different programs seeking to provide trade preferences. “They want to consolidate into one law…That was what we were told,” he said. Even as the GSP has expired, Rodolfo said the DTI continues to advise exporters to declare that they intend to avail of GSP rates so that when the program is extended and benefits are made retroactive, reimbursements on duties paid can be made. In the past, when the US Congress acted to extend the GSP, the duty-free treatment to GSP-eligible products was applied retroactively to the expiration of program, allowing refunds of duties Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The peso slipped against the dollar midday Friday, settling at 44.552 from the previous day’s 44.48. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $318.23 million in the morning, higher than the $167.6 million posted the same period on Thursday. The peso opened Friday at 44.48.

MANILA, Philippines – The Social Security System (SSS) said its provident fund for overseas Filipino workers has much more room for growth as only two in every five OFWs set aside money for investments and savings. Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s 2013 survey on overseas Filipinos, SSS senior vice president and international operations division head Judy Frances A. See said only 40.7 percent of 1.9 million OFWs had savings from cash remittances. This was 2.2 percent lower than the 2012 figure. Given this, See urged OFWs registered with the state pension fund to invest in its Flexi-Fund program, a provident fund type of retirement plan offered exclusively to OFW members. Under the program, an OFW member could contribute at least P550 based on the P5,000 minimum monthly salary credit (MSC) for OFWs to a maximum of P1,760 per month based on the maximum MSC of P16,000. “Saving should be a priority because once they come back home and their income stops, they would likely have to live off whatever amount they have set aside. It is, therefore, important that they accumulate funds for a reserve, such as their SSS savings to mitigate loss of income.” See said. SSS savings would redound to their benefit in the form of payments for contingencies such as sickness, maternity, disability, retirement and death, she said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “For only a minimum of P200 paid in excess of the maximum contribution, it already enables an OFW member Read More …