THE PHILIPPINES ranked 57th among 132 countries surveyed for household broadband penetration in 2013, a report by the United Nations (UN) Broadband Commission published yesterday showed, noting that only around 23 of 100 Filipino homes have access to broadband Internet.
AT THE start of the year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Regulations No. (RR) 1-2014 and Revenue Memorandum Circular No. (RMC) 5-2014, which tackled the submission of the alphabetical list (alphalist) of employees and list of payees on income payments subject to creditable and final withholding taxes of all withholding agents. These issuances require that complete names of payees be specified in the alphalists. Using words such as “various payees” and “PCD nominees” where income payments and taxes withheld are lumped into one single amount shall not be allowed and failure to follow such prescribed format shall disqualify the related expenses from being deductible for income tax purposes.
GOVERNMENT debt servicing dropped by a fourth in July as both principal and interest payments declined, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
TACLOBAN CITY — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has released P3 million to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) for the repair of the Tacloban Fish Port.
(First of two parts) A FEW weeks ago, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued the complete version of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 Financial Instruments. IFRS 9 is the culmination of the IASB’s project to replace International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.
How do we ensure better personal security, which is a foremost priority for successful businesspeople, top professionals, bankers, and even more so for high-profile politicians and celebrities worldwide? One of the Philippines’ top billionaires told me: “Please write in your column that crime is a bigger and more serious threat to foreign and domestic investments for any nation than corruption or other problems.” I urge government to secure better peace and order as well as have the political will to reform and modernize our entire police organization nationwide. To be fair to the many honest policemen and policewomen, the need for high-level political will and quick action to reform the police force can also salvage the badly battered reputation of the whole PNP. NO FOREIGN INVESTMENT BOOM WITHOUT BETTER PEACE AND ORDER Much better peace and order — not promises, “praise releases” in the mass media, excuses, bureaucratic inertia, blaming others or eloquent speeches — is demanded by all of us taxpayers, ordinary citizens, foreign investors and tourists. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: Stable peace and order is also a must if we seriously want to encourage more domestic and foreign investments to boost the Philippine economy and translate the feel-good international goodwill of “tuwid na daan” or “straight path” politics into sustainable and inclusive economic growth. There can be no real foreign investment boom in our country if there is no perceptible improvement in peace and order here in the Philippines. We need it in Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – We Filipinos are known for our entrepreneurial spirit, and many of us dream of putting up our own business as soon as we have gathered enough capital. Karla La Rosa has been living this dream at the young age of 32. After graduating college, Karla moved to the US to work and scored a job in Wall Street, New York City. Missing home, she came back to the Philippines and successfully ran a health care business. Admittedly, her income was huge, but in exchange she lost time for herself, family and friends. “Being 32, I still want to enjoy and have fun. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working. So right now, I’m looking for something that’s rewarding and at the same time will allow me to travel and enjoy with my family and friends,” Karla says. Karla’s case is not unique and recognizing that her problem is one of the many financial issues Filipinos face, The Philippines STAR in partnership with Insular Life created “Futurecasting,” a first-of-its-kind 360-approach to financial education. Futurecasting, which debuted on April 28, has two parts: a column by Francis Kong and a webisode uploaded on Insular Life’s YouTube channel. Real people representing a person’s different life stages (such as singlehood, marriage, and retirement) are given financial advice by Insular Life experts. In its penultimate installment, Karla receives counsel from Insular Life senior vice president and chief agency executive Ramon “Mon” Cabrera. “In business, what you do is Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) is introducing ways to allow the public to calculate their appliances’ monthly consumption and forecast possible savings. The move is part of efforts to promote practical means to encourage energy efficiency practices in the country. In line with this, the DOE is already spearheading the introduction of inter-active websites that can inform and create awareness to consumers regarding energy efficiency. The wattmatters.org.ph site, for instance, encourages web visitors to calculate as well as simulate the monthly consumption, savings and projected energy efficiency of their desired appliances. Similarly, kuryente.org.ph acts as a reference for consumers to be informed of the present electricity prices in their areas and the contents of their electricity bills. Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said since the website launch, consumers are becoming more aware of energy consumption and energy efficiency. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Transparency in the sector is a good model to create awareness and sound partnerships with our consumers, They can be part of the solution of reducing our power consumptions, thus promoting efficiency and saving money as well,” he said. The DOE’s Energy Utilization Management Bureau (EUMB) has been robust in promoting energy efficiency through its Information, Education and Communication Campaigns (IEC). Majority of these campaigns are hosted by electric cooperatives with their member-consumers as audience, the DOE said. As part of these campaigns, they presented the energy efficiency ratio (EER) for air-conditioners where a higher EER has a more efficient Read More …
The Commission on Elections is putting in place a slew of reforms and new initiatives meant to replicate, if not surpass, the success it had in the two previous national polls. In addition to adopting the “multiple or mixed technologies” proposal of the multi-sectoral Comelec Advisory Council (CAC), Comelec will partially use a Biometric Voter Identification Apparatus, which can identify a registered voter at once using his thumbprint; look into Internet voting by seafarers and other overseas Filipino workers (OFWs); address the problem of long queues come election day by trimming the number of voters per precinct from the current 1,000 average to about 600-800 per station and at the same adding more voting precincts nationwide; and institutionalize or allow the early review by political parties and other interested parties of the source code of all components of existing technologies for use or re-use in the next elections. Speaking of multiple or mixed technologies, Comelec will use in the 2016 elections the same Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines or optical mark reader (OMR) technology used during the automated polls of 2010 and 2013. It will also pilot a secondary, more advanced Direct Electronic Recording (DRE) technology—using the touch screen mode in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized centers like Cebu and Davao. But the same critics in 2010 and 2013 were quick to pounce anew on the Comelec for adopting the CAC-recommended “mixed or multiple technoligies” approach with their same-old doomsday poll scenario and same-old call for the return Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The largest self-use solar rooftop power plant in the country was launched yesterday at a shopping mall in Laguna. The 700-kilowatt Central Mall Biñan solar rooftop project is part of the country’s efforts to promote the use of renewable energy and reduce the public’s dependence on coal-fired power plants. Premiumlink Development Corp., the company operating Central Mall Biñan, tapped Solar Philippines which designed, constructed and installed at zero upfront cost the entire system. Solar Philippines and Premiumlink signed a purchase power agreement wherein the energy generated by the solar power plant is sold to the establishment for its own consumption, at a rate lower than the usual electricity rates in the area. With the power plant on its roof augmenting 30 percent of City Mall Biñan’s total energy consumption, the mall’s management is able to save more than P100,000 monthly on electricity bills. Spreading over 700 square meters of sunlit roof space, the solar power plant is made up of 2,514 top quality solar panels on steel mounting structures that can withstand wind speeds up to 200 kph. The energy generated by the panels is converted into electricity by 87 inverters, ready to be used by the mall tenants, administration and mall goers, Solar Philippines said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Central Mall Biñan solar rooftop project is the first solar project granted loan financing by one of the country’s biggest banks, Ayala-owned Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI). Furthermore, the project Read More …