Maniolas

The clamor for lower income tax rates continues to gain momentum, primarily from the business sector which rightfully justifies its posture with a comparative chart showing the Philippines as having the highest corporate income tax (30 percent) in the ASEAN region, higher than that of Indonesia (25 percent) and Thailand (20 percent). Comparatively high corporate income taxes are clearly a deterrent to the competitiveness of local businesses, and are a critical factor for foreign investors to decide not to set up their businesses here in the Philippines. Clearly, if the country wants to continue its growth levels in the next years, the government must align its corporate income tax structure to make it attractive to business and national growth. High personal income taxes With regards personal income taxes, the Philippines has also one of the highest rates slapped on its citizens within the ASEAN. At 32 percent, income taxes on working Filipinos are second highest in the region, almost comparable to the 35 percent of Thailand and Vietnam. While many working Filipinos belonging to lower income brackets earning minimum wage rates are technically exempted from paying income taxes, there in the next salary levels have to endure the high taxes. While the current personal income tax system is on graduated basis, the lowest rate applicable to those that are not minimum wage earners would still be 20 percent. Thus, a struggling P15,000-a-month employee will effectively bring home only P12,000. The case gets worse for those in the middle-income brackets, the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), a leading power supplier in the Visayas which is now controlled by the Pangilinan Group, expects to double its existing capacity of 850 megawatts by 2021. Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said the country needs more power plants because demand for power is increasing along with economic growth. GBPC has an aggregate capacity of 852 MW of coal and diesel powered generating capacity, including the 150 MW expansion project which is expected to be operational later this year of which 70 MW is contracted to Meralco. Bulk of the additional capacity will come from the planned 670 megawatt coal plant in La Union, GBPC’s first power plant in Luzon. The plant has no ECC or environmental clearance certificate yet but officials expressed optimism the company would be able to obtain the certificate even as Environment Secretary Regina Lopez is known to be critical of coal plants. MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said GBPC was also looking at investing in renewable energy. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In the first half of the year, GBPC sold 1,787 gwh of electricity, four percent higher than last year’s 1,721 gwh, owing to higher plant availability. This translated to core income growth of 27 percent with fewer purchases from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market to source power obligations to customers. GBPC’s core income contribution to MPIC’s earnings amounted to P120 million, net of financing for the Read More …

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 – 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 …

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc said the ruling paves the way for a “clearer” disposition of remaining Prudentialife assets. File 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. 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, 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 took the case to the high court last year.  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. According to an IC statement, the first tranche of releases for education, pension and life planholders were funded by the company’s remaining trust fund. They were Read More …