Maniolas

Shell Philippines Exploration BV finance director Jose Jerome “Jeng” Pascual II (center) receives the prestigious ING-FINEX CFO of the Year Award 2014 from awards committee overall chairman Judith Lopez, Integrity Initiative chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr., chairman of the board of judges Florencia Tarriela, ING Bank NV (Manila) country manager Consuelo Garcia, FINEX president Edmundo Soriano, and founding chairman and liaison director Victor dela Dingco. MANILA, Philippines – The Finance Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), together with Dutch financial giant ING Bank, conferred the 2014 ING-FINEX Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Year award to Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX) finance director Jeng Pascual, in a ceremony held recently at the Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati City. Top financial executives and highly respected finance experts selected Pascual for his excellence in four key areas: as a strategist, catalyst, operator, and steward, exemplified in his roles as finance director of SPEX, as well as in his many other roles as the country controller of the Shell companies in the Philippines, and chairman of the board of trustees of the Shell Pension Fund.  Pascual is the first ever CFO from a multinational company to be given the award. He also receives the citation on the centenary of Shell companies in the Philippines in 2014. Pascual joins the distinguished roster of FINEX CFO awardees such as Delfin Gonzales Jr. of Globe Telecom in 2007; Sherisa Nuesa of Manila Water in 2008; Jose Sio of SM Investments Corporation in 2009; Ysmael Baysa of Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. and dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) continued to expand interconnection links in the provinces, this time allowing subscribers in Ilocos Sur to call each other for free. Globe announced in a statement that the commercial activation of the interconnection deal with PLDT took effect last Dec. 10 allowing their landline customers to realize substantial savings as they no longer have to pay for long distance charges when calling one another. Landline subscribers of Globelines and PLDT were charged with long distance rate when making phones to one another. Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo said Globelines subscribers could simply dial the seven-digit telephone number to connect with PLDT and vice-versa. “The goal of the company has always been to offer products and services that are relevant to our customers. The expansion of our collaboration with competition further enhances our customers’ access to affordable telecommunication services especially for those that are residing in the provinces,” Castelo said According to him, Globe is also open for discussions for potential interconnection arrangement with other local exchange carriers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Globe and PLDT have existing interconnection in Metro Manila, Cavite, Iloilo, Capiz, Batangas, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Leyte, Davao City, Pampanga, Bulacan, Zamboanga, Laguna, Quezon, La Union, Nueva Ecija, and Benguet, General Santos/South Cotabato , Tarlac, Davao del Norte, and Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte and Zambales.

MANILA, Philippines – The joint venture undertaking the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) project has secured through debt more than half of the financing required for the airport’s rehabilitation and expansion. In a statement, the tandem of Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure said it has bagged 70 percent of the amount needed to finance the MCIA project through an omnibus loan and security agreement with a syndicate of six local banks. BDO Capital and Investment Corp. has been the lead arranger while the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., and Philippine National Bank are the participants in the lending consortium. With the transaction, the joint venture called GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) said it has tied-in the required funding for delivering the improvements in Terminal 1 as well as the construction of a new Terminal 2. “Hence, this is an important milestone in GMCAC’s journey in turning MCIA into an airport of international standards and one that all Filipinos will be proud of,” GMCAC said. “This transaction, and the wide participation in it, is also a validation by the banking industry of the financial sustainability of the project as well as the value it creates for the local and national economy,” the Megawide and GMR team added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The joint venture that is 60 percent owned by Megawide and 40 percent owned by the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Local oil industry players are studying their options on how to deal with declining oil prices and the eventual renewed spike in the global crude market. Fernando Martinez, president of the Independent Philippines Petroleum Companies Association and Eastern Petroleum Corp., said oil players are continuously studying the trend of the industry and where prices would go. He said oil players are working on various strategies including stockpiling in preparation for an eventual increase in prices. However, he said this would be a matter of timing. “That would be part of my strategy but at the right timing. Analysis and information that’s what we have to do… You do it at the right price. We may think that prices are now very low but what if it will still go down. It’s market risk appetite,” Martinez said. While lower oil prices threaten oil companies’ revenues, he said it has also lowered their costs. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The positive thing is the cost of doing business now is lower. This is the right time to maximize to either save or take advantage of the lower cost,” Martinez said. Oil prices have gone down at least 25 times since the start of the year for gasoline, equivalent to P18.30 per liter, while diesel prices have gone down 31 times, equivalent to P18.85. The latest cut was last weekend’s hefty price cut of P1.75 per liter for gasoline and P1.55 per liter for diesel. Based Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines can start enjoying its European Union (EU) Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status by Dec. 25. “The publication (of approval of Philippines’ application) on the EU official journal is on the 24th of December. It takes effect one day after the publication,” EU Ambassador to the Philippines Guy Ledoux said in a press conference yesterday. “This is quite a nice Christmas gift for the Philippines,” he added. The EU Parliament approved the Philippines’ application to qualify for EU GSP+ status during its plenary meeting on Dec. 18. By being qualified for the GSP+ scheme, the Philippines can enjoy zero duty for 6,274 products exported to the EU for a period of 10 years. Before the approval of its application for EU GSP+ status, the Philippines was a beneficiary of the regular GSP program which covers 6,209 products, with 2,442 products subject to zero duty and the rest subject with lower tariffs. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said yesterday the EU GSP+ would allow the country to increase its exports to the EU by 611.8 million euros and create more than 200,000 new jobs in the first three years of implementation of the program. “It (increase in exports) really depends on how fast we can train people,” he said. The Philippines’ approved application, he added, also strengthens the country’s aim to become a manufacturing base in Southeast Asia as it is the only country in the region Read More …