Maniolas

What a tagline! Everywhere I go in the country, I open the line and say, “Change is….” and everyone in my audience will complete the line and say, “Change is coming.” It ranks as popular as the phrase, “It’s more fun in……the Philippines,” as my audience would declare and then smile and laugh about it. There are so many changes happening in the political scene and in the business scene, but what about changes that are not coming, at least in the immediate future? Well, let’s take a careful look into these things. Here are the things that will not change: 1. EDSA traffic will still be a problem and it would take time and immediate measures to improve the situation. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 2. Some politicians will still lie and steal, even though there is a higher sense of consciousness and apprehension these days. 3. Business will continue to be uncertain. 4. Business competitions will continue to rise. 5. Price competitions will always be there. 6. Technology will still churn out things that will change consumer behavior and will threaten many established industries. 7. You and I will grow old. 8. Life will still be laced with challenges and trials and the pace of it will add more stress to many of us. On the other hand, these are the good things that will not change: 1. Life is beautiful, especially if you wake up every morning and realize it is a gift Read More …

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 …

From left: AVP and Head of Community Engagement and Marketing Communication Gabby Cui, PLDT VP and Head of SME Nation Mitch Locsin, Boss for Innovative Solutions Matthew Cua of Skyeye, Boss for E-Commerce Barni Rennebeck of The Sexy Chef, Bosses for Social Responsibility Melanie Go and Hindy Weber with PLDT Group Chair Manuel V. Pangilinan (center), Bosses for Social Media Jill Borja, Nadine Fanlo, and Jaime Fanlo joined by Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, and PLDT EVP and Head of Enterprise International and Carrier Business Eric R. Alberto PLDT/Released MANILA, Philippines – The 2016 search for the country’s next generation of digital business leaders has finally come to a close, and PLDT SME Nation, the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) arm of PLDT, Inc., concluded the competition with the announcement of the new batch of game-changing entrepreneurs at the #BeTheBoss Awards Night last September 9 at the Conrad Hotel Manila. The #BeTheBoss Awards, now on its second year, recognizes promising Filipino entrepreneurs leading through tech innovation and digital integration in their business. “It’s amazing to see the number of revolutionary MSMEs we have in the country. We received double the amount of nominations from last year’s competition,” enthused PLDT VP and Head of SME Nation Mitch Locsin. “And with over 24,000 votes that came in, we can very much observe how technology continues to play a key role in the growth and success of the Filipino MSME.” From over 600 nominations, this year’s #BeTheBoss Awards highlighted 12 finalists who exhibited Read More …

PLANTING tobacco is not a lucrative endeavor, with four out of 10 farmers not happy with the revenues they make from tobacco farming, according to a joint study by activist policy group Action for Economic Reforms (AER) and the research arm of the American Cancer Society.