Maniolas

Since I started covering motoring events and developments for almost three decades now, first with the TV show, Motoring Today and immediately after with this column, which started in a now defunct broadsheet, the traffic problem in Metro Manila has always been on top of all metro management agendas.  The main culprit at that time was the infamous lack of discipline of our drivers, which was immediately followed by the sheer volume of vehicles that travel the metro’s streets. And during that time the number of vehicles sold yearly was not even half of what are being sold now. To address the problem of drivers’ discipline or sheer lack of it, the government would come up with regular crackdowns on traffic violators, which would immediately fizzle down when the drivers’ organizations would threaten, just threaten to stage a transport strike. Then the colorum issue was like a song that kept on coming back—an “oldie but goodie”. Some top traffic official would launch a no nonsense anti-colorum campaign and then after a few vehicles were impounded, they would vanish from the impounding area and back to the streets due to “a couple of hundreds of thousands of reasons” as many would speculate. But then the unnecessary presence of the growing number of provincial buses, most of them of the humongous types, had also been pinpointed as a major contributor of traffic congestion in the metro, which can be helped. At that time, the traffic mangers have already been suggesting not allowing Read More …

ANDREW and Mercedes still growing strong after more than 60 years together. If there are secrets to growing a company to a conglomerate, Filinvest Group chair emeritus Andrew L. Gotianun Sr. is more than willing to share with second and third generation Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs. ‘BE FAIR in all your dealings,’ says the man behind Filinvest. In one of his rare forum appearances, obliging to sit in the panel during the Anvil Business Club gathering with his son, Jonathan T. Gotianun and daughter, Josephine Gotianun Yap, Andrew Sr., 88, gamely answered questions from the audience. He revealed that it is not just about hard work but also the right attitude that makes one succeed in life and business. “Be fair in all your dealings, may it be in your family or in your business. At the end of it all, what matters is not how much money you make but how honest you are,” shares Gotianun Sr. Long before there was talk about breaking the glass ceiling in the workplace, Gotianun believed as early as the 1950s hat women deserve a place in the boardroom. Breaking the tradition of the time that only sons or males in the family take precedence, Andrew Sr. emphasized that women deserve to be treated equally with men and that they should be provided all the opportunities in life. “Do things fairly especially with your children. Girls deserve equal opportunities especially in getting educated as well as equal sharing in business,” he says. He admits that Read More …

Is it system-related, a case of poor maintenance, bad management, normal wear and tear, a combination, or all? The series of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) mishaps and glitches since July alone, topped by the Aug. 13 overshooting by a malfunctioning train at the Taft Station that injured 38 passengers, point to the sad reality that the EDSA rail system is not about to get better. Rather, expect worse. That MRT3 passengers will continue to use the train to go to and from work despite the problems besetting the fastest mode of transportation along EDSA is a foregone conclusion. All the more that our government should immediately pinpoint the cause of the problems and implement solutions because Filipinos deserve a better mode of public transportation, before a fatal accident occurs, God forbid. The Senate inquiry into the woes of MRT3 was welcome news to MRT3’s over half-million daily commuters as it raised hope that the series of public hearings would jolt public officials into action, whether or not the inquiry was really in aid of legislation. That officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications seem to be quick in absolving the current interim maintenance provider and in blaming others has become obvious, raising suspicions that there is an unholy alliance between DOTC and PH Trams, as well as its successor APT Global. In fact, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya and the probe committee that was created to investigate the Aug. 13 incident had dismissed the accident as a mere Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The battle in the local retail drug sector has gone far beyond branded pharmaceutical products as acceptance for generics among Filipinos has been on the rise in recent years. Recently joining the market for low-priced medicines is the Watsons group, one of the biggest pharmacy retail brands in Asia, in its bid to increase sales and corner a bigger portion of the market. With the notion slowly fading that generics are of low quality and ineffective, Watsons Personal Care Stores (Philippines) Inc. is introducing its own line of high quality and affordable generics medicines. “One reason why people were not accepting or using generics in the past is because of the quality of generics. If the brand is not well-known, they tend to be wary. Now what we are doing here is we are incorporating the name of Watsons in our own generics products because the name of the company already connotes quality,” Watsons Philippines Health Business director Danilo S. Chiong told The STAR in an interview. Despite the growing usage of generics in the Philippines in the past couple of years, Chiong said generics still only account for about five to six percent of the country’s total pharmaceutical market, far from the US and other developed nations where generics are being used by as much as 60 to 70 percent of its population. “Isn’t it ironic that in a country where people seems to be poorer, branded medicine usage is larger? I think this move to Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Inflation stayed near the upper end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ target for the second straight month inAugust, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday. The PSA said inflation stood at 4.9 percent in August, or the same pace as in July and the highest in 30 months. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the latest inflation figure was within the central bank’s 4.7 to 5.5 percent forecast range for August. The August inflation brought the eight-month average to 4.4 percent, which is still within the government’s full-year target range of three to five percent.  “We will consider this as well as movements in core inflation which rose to 3.4 percent from three percent in July, and  other developments on the local/external front at our meeting next week, to see if there is need to make further adjustments to policy settings so as to keep inflation expectations well-anchored,” Tetangco said. Without the volatile food and fuel prices, core inflation hit a 17-month high of 3.4 percent last month. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The central bank in July raised key policy rates to ensure inflation expectations will remain within the target range. The move also came ahead of an expected normalization in monetary policy in advanced economies. The inflation the rate in the National Capital Region accelerated to 4.4 percent in August from 3.9 percent in July. Areas outside the NCR, meanwhile, saw the rate slow down to Read More …