Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Members of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) including the Philippines have agreed to intensify efforts to promote ASEAN asset classes and promote corporate governance and other initiatives to support the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). This was the result of the ACMF’s 25th meeting, hosted by the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan) in Jakarta early this month. During the meeting, the ACMF also agreed to introduce an annual ASEAN Capital Market Conference as a platform to discuss opportunities in ASEAN capital markets and to showcase ASEAN asset classes. The inaugural conference will be conducted in the first half of 2017. The members of ACMF also noted the progress of implementation of the ACMF Action Plan 2016 to 2020 that will support the objectives of the AEC. A key initiative in the Action Plan is to foster greater mobility of professionals within the region by establishing a working group on professional mobility to introduce rules to facilitate cross-border movement of capital market professionals on a phased basis. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The ACMF also acknowledged the progress of the holistic review of the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard and assessment methodology, which is being spearheaded by the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Overall, the members reiterated the importance of corporate governance as a key component of the ACMF’s efforts in promoting the investability of ASEAN public-listed companies. Ranjit Ajit Singh, chair of the ACMF, said discussions with international dialogue partners and industry Read More …

SOME mining firms in the country passed the Environment department’s completed audit,its chief said on Friday, even as the agency is still processing the results of its probe.

The government’s economic team is unlikely to back the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposed P125 across-the-board wage hike for workers in the private sector as this would impede economic growth and bloat unemployment, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – The government’s economic team is unlikely to back the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposed P125 across-the-board wage hike for workers in the private sector as this would impede economic growth and bloat unemployment, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. Citing data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Lopez said the planned P125 across-the-board wage hike could slow the pace of the country’s economic acceleration placed at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent to somewhere between 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent. He said the proposal would also expand the country’s unemployment rate to about 7.3 percent from a baseline of 6.1 percent. “Definitely overall, what this shows is inflation will go up. That is also one percentage point down for our gross domestic product. And unemployment rate would increase one percentage point more or less because obviously once prices go up, (companies) would cut on their workforce,” Lopez said. “So in other words it does not look good, so even NEDA does not support it. We (in DTI) will not support it definitely,” he added. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello has earlier ordered all the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to conduct nationwide consultations on the legislative measures proposing for a P125 across-the-board general wage increase Read More …

The stock market plunged 154.66 points or 2.006 percent to finish at 7,553.76 yesterday following a technical rally on Thursday. AP file photo/Bullit Marquez MANILA, Philippines – The stock market plunged 154.66 points or 2.006 percent to finish at 7,553.76 yesterday following a technical rally on Thursday. Analysts said the drop was expected following Thursday’s unusual jump . “Well I think majority of the decline was caused by the unusual jump yesterday on close – maybe due to last second index buying prompted by an oversold market. But because prices normalized off that heavy up sway, the negatives began to pile in. We still see corrective bias but the oversold state will cause hiccup rallies on occasion,” said Juanis Barredo, vice president and chief technical analyst at COL Financial. Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital said the market simply resumed its downward trend. “The Philippine markets resumed their downward trend as it took yesterday’s run up as an anomaly. The 7,700 resistance proved rather firm as we slipped closer back to the 7,500 level. Markets became choppy once more as investors continue to speculate on the upcoming US Fed rate hike decision next week,” he said. During yesterday’s session, the broader All Shares index also plunged 55.83 points or 1.21 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 All counters likewise retreated into negative territory following Thursday’s upward trend. Total value turnover closed at P13.80 billion as foreign selling continued. Decliners edged out advancing stocks, 102 to Read More …

The Department of Labor and Employment reported there are currently 5,150 registered contractors and subcontractors deploying more than 416,000 workers to not less than 26,000 principals. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has come up with a win-win solution for businesses and workers in line with President Duterte’s mandate to end labor contractualization and end-of-contract or “endo” schemes. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez presented the so-called “win-win structure” of labor relations Thursday during a consultation involving government officials on labor and trade, business leaders and selected legislators. The win-win structure involves workers, service providers and companies. “We have come up with an alternative structure, and the premise of this is that the workers’ benefits will be assured and will be protected. We also have to balance it with the need to have a business-friendly policy environment that will generate jobs and attract investments. In other words, the structure should be in favor for both business and labor,” Lopez said. “We basically have two set-ups, one is the company hires directly the workers, the labor. The other option is if it is not direct hire via the company, the principal or the company will outsource it to service providers. Service providers will then hire the workers and they will have the direct employer-employee relationship,” he added. Through this win-win set-up, Lopez said workers can be hired by service providers as regulars, receiving full benefits such as leave credits, 13th month pay, as well as retirement, social Read More …