THE Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) said it will seek to build on the island’s strengths in agriculture and expressed optimism it can overcome current hurdles like law and order and logistics, as it encouraged members of the US-ASEAN Business Council to set shop in the southern island.
THE tax reform package being prepared by the government will also carry a proposal to relax the deposit secrecy law, which would allow the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to look into bank accounts of suspected tax evaders.
THE Department of Finance (DoF) has tapped the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to set up business and citizen registries expected to be operational by year’s end to aid in streamlining service delivery and cut red tape.
On July 25, President Rodrigo R. Duterte delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) as the 16th President of the Philippines, focusing on improved government services, tax reform, transportation, tourism and agriculture, and economic development, among others. Taking up the SONA agenda, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has said that he is tasked with accomplishing two things — to ensure that sufficient food for Filipinos; and to stop corruption within the agency. These objectives may be achieved with the help of Republic Act (RA) No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, signed by former President Benigno S. C. Aquino III on May 23, which primarily aims to boost the productivity of the agricultural sector and protect Filipino farmers and agricultural enterprises from illegal traders and importers.
MANILA, Philippines – Laguna-based technology firnm Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. saw an eight percent rise in its first half profit to $3.5 million on the back of higher revenues. Revenues grew 15 percent to $32.5 million with the RF/microwave/millimeter wave business accounting for 37 percent of total. In the second quarter alone, Cirtek reported a 10 percent growth in net income to $2 million as revenues expanded by 23 percent to P17.5 million due to the strong performance of its broadband and antenna systems business under Cirtek ATS. Cirtek remains optimistic about its performance for the rest of the year as it sees the global millimeter wave technology market growing 45 percent annually, with a total addressable market of $12 billion by 2020. To take advantage of the expected growth in the millimeter wave market, Cirtek intends to continue to deliver high-end box build finished products, test-board fabrication, test solutions, and product support businesses required by its customers. The company is also developing proprietary wireless products and components for the wireless communication industry. It expects to begin selling these products in the fourth quarter of the year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Cirtek likewise plans to continue to expand its high capacity, multi-port, multi-band antenna business with Quintel. Apart from this, Cirtek is evaluating acquisition opportunities that will either significantly scale up its manufacturing operation or give it access to high-end research and development capabilities. Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. (CHPC) is the holding company of Cirtek Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – ABS-CBN Corp. claimed nationwide leadership in TV ratings, while GMA Network Inc. continued to be the leader in Urban Luzon in July. In a statement, ABS-CBN said it maintained its national audience share of 47 percent versus GMA which only scored 32 percent, and TV5 which had seven percent, based on data from Kantar Media. Kantar Media, which provides TV audience measurement, uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes representing 100 percent of total Philippine TV viewing population. By area, ABS-CBN beats its rivals. In Luzon, ABS-CBN had a 41 percent share, higher than GMA’s 35 percent and TV5’s six percent. In the Visayas, ABS-CBN took the lead with its 57 percent audience share, while GMA had 23 percent and TV5 had eight percent. As for Mindanao, ABS-CBN was also the most watched with its 58 percent share compared to GMA’s 26 percent and TV5’s seven percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 ABS-CBN also ruled the primetime block or the most important part of the day, by obtaining a 50 percent average audience share, bigger than GMA’s 30 percent and TV5’s eight percent. The primetime block (6 p.m. until 12 midnight), is when firms put the bulk of their advertising budget as this is when most Filipinos tune in to their TV sets. Aside from primetime, ABS-CBN also ruled all time blocks nationwide for the month of July. In the morning block (6 a.m. to 12 noon) ABS-CBN accounted Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), the banking arm of taipan George Ty, continued to make strides in its core business expansion with net earnings hitting P9.1 billion in the first half of the year. “Overall, we are pleased with our earnings results. Despite the volatility in the global financial markets, local elections and heightened competition, we managed to accelerate our performance in our core business, particularly lending, low cost deposit generation and fee income,” said Metrobank president Fabian Dee. “More importantly, our margins held steady in the face of the challenging environment. We are also confident that given our strong capital, we are best positioned to take advantage of the country’s growth opportunities,” Dee added. Leveraging on the strength of its balance sheet, Metrobank expanded net loans and receivables by 24 percent year-on-year to P920.5 billion. The commercial segment accelerated by 27 percent as the bank continued to support the business expansion plans and infrastructure spending of local conglomerates, while the consumer segment sustained strong volume growth of 17 percent. Low cost deposits grew 21 percent, faster than industry’s 13 percent growth rate in overall deposits as of May 2016. This improved the bank’s CASA ratio to 61 percent of the total P1.3 trillion deposit base. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Despite the market volatility and competitive pressures, net interest margin held steady at 3.5 percent as a result of the robust growth in low cost deposits as well as loan expansion Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – AboitizLand, the real estate arm of conglomerate Aboitiz Group, has entered the Luzon market with P2.35 billion allotted for four major projects this year. The company is moving out of its Cebu hub and is set to develop residential and commercial projects in Batangas, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija. It will develop an initial 83 hectares of land, AboitizLand said. “We saw huge potential in terms of land development in Luzon and we are very keen on becoming stronger players in the national scene while maintaining our foothold in Cebu,” said Rafael de Mesa, AboitizLand vice president for Business Innovation. These projects include the 44-hectare high-end Sands Seaside Residences, which is considered the first residential beach property in the area. Sands Seaside will offer more than 800 homes priced at P7 million to P10 million each. The company expects to generate around P6 billion in aggregate sales from the project. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “ We are focusing on horizontal developments because there is still huge unmet needs for house and lots,” AboitizLand vice president for Marketing John Amon said. AboitizLand is also developing two gated developments in Northern Luzon – the 13-hectare Ajoya Capas in Tarlac and the 17-hectare Ajoya Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, providing over 2,000 homes in both communities. “We’re launching and selling this year and start of construction will be first or second quarter next year and turnover will probably be after a year and a half or two Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry on the review currently being undertaken by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) involving a P70-billion telecommunications deal. House Resolution 93 hopes to direct the Committee on Trade and Industry to conduct an inquiry on the PCC’s review of PLDT and Globe Telecom’s joint purchase of the telecommunications business of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). “There is a need for Congress to determine whether the PCC is sufficiently empowered by current statutes to withstand harassment suits in fulfilling their mandate or if there is a need for remedial legislation so that it carry-out its functions more effectively,” the resolution said. “Any duopolistic tendencies must not be allowed so that the consumers will be protected and new market players capable of providing better service to end-users will not be dissuaded from doing business in the Philippines. There is also a need for the public, how ordinary consumers and users will be affected by this transaction in the years to come,” it added. The PCC earlier said Globe and PLDT refused to comply when the anti-trust body requested for additional information on the key terms of the telco transaction, thereby preventing the PCC from granting it a deemed-approved status. The P70-billion transaction covered the purchase of the entire equity interest in SMC’s Vega Telecom Inc., New Century Telecoms Inc. and eTelco Inc., with PLDT and Globe getting 50 percent each. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Read More …
Payment of claims of shuttered Prudentialife Plans Inc. will continue after the Insurance Commission (IC) scored a win against the company at the Supreme Court four years after it was put under receivership. File photo MANILA, Philippines – Payment of claims of shuttered Prudentialife Plans Inc. will continue after the Insurance Commission (IC) scored a win against the company at the Supreme Court four years after it was put under receivership. “The Court resolves to deny the petition for failure of petitioners to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error,” the high court said in its resolution dated April 19. The IC received the decision two days ago, a copy of which was sent to The STAR yesterday. In September 2012, the IC put Prudentialife under receivership after all proposals to rehabilitate it failed to meet its obligations at best value. The prior year, the company had a deficit of P12.3 billion. Even the receivership failed though, leading the IC to order the company’s liquidation a month after. The company questioned this before the Court of Appeals, but lost in 2014. It then hailed the case to the high court last year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Sought for comment, Insurance commissioner Emmanuel Dooc said the ruling paves the way for a “clearer” disposition of remaining Prudentialife assets. “We have been distributing claims since 2013 and what remains now are the non-cash assets yet to be disposed,” Dooc said in a phone interview. Read More …