MANILA, Philippines – The peso shed 6 centavos against the dollar on Monday, closing at 43.71 from the previous day’s 43.65. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $863.8 million, lower than the $1.036 billion posted on Friday. The peso opened the week at 43.67.
MANILA, Philippines – Palawan will soon be connected to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as part of the economic and trade cooperation among the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said on Monday. Coloma said President Benigno S. Aquino III and leaders of the Southeast Asian countries agreed to concretize the proposed connections of roads, airports and seaports through the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Leaders of the four countries met during the 24th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Myanmar and held the 10th BIMP-EAGA summit there. Coloma said aside from direct flights from Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu, private companies also signed a memorandum of agreement to establish the Davao-General Santos-Bitung shipping service, which will connect Mindanao to Sulawesi in Indonesia. He said the economic cooperation is also meant to boost the livelihood of citizens of the four countries. BIMP-EAGA is a subregional economic bloc established in 1994 to spur economic development and trade liberalization in the resource-rich area covered by the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua and Papua in Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; and the island of Mindanao and the province of Palawan in the Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines – The peso slid against the dollar midday Monday, settling at 43.723 from the previous day’s 43.65. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $472.3 million in the morning, lower than the $503 million posted the same period on Friday. The peso opened the week at 43.67.
Many Filipinos are literally saddled with debt. As such, debt has been viewed negatively. Being in debt connotes a burden, and being buried in debt has a similar connotation as being buried six feet under. However, with all the negative beliefs about debt, debt can actually be your best friend and lifesaver. Debt is made possible through credit. It is important to understand that the word credit has the same Latin roots such as creed and credibility. This root word is credere, which means to entrust and to believe. Credere comes from ker-dhe, which literally means to put one’s heart into. Thus, good debt is a product of kind intentions, since the lender actually entrusts his or her money to you to save you from some predicament. For instance, your remittance is delayed, and someone in your family suddenly suffers from a medical emergency. To pay for this emergency, you can draw from your liquidity pool, but if it is not enough to cover for this, the next best thing would be to ask for financial help from a relative or a very close friend. Personal credit then acts as a bridge, allowing you to meet the expenses associated with the emergency, prior to you receiving your cash inflow. Let me call this kind of debt personal debt. Thus, a credit line can actually serve as a lifeline, in cases where liquidity cannot cover the essentials. However, being an extension of someone’s kindness, personal debt bears a responsibility. Personal debt Read More …
INFRASTRUCTURE spending grew by almost 50% annually in the first two months of the year as the government continued to speed up project implementation, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) yesterday reported.
SUBSIDIES given to state firms went down significantly in March from a year ago as the government disbursed less financial assistance during the month, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
(Fifth in a five-part series) AS we come to the final installment of this five-part series on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), it may be useful to recall the ultimate goal of pursuing freer flows of goods, services, capital, and labor. At the end of the day, the vision is to establish a competitive, sustainable, and inclusive region that is integrated into the global economy.
MANILA, Philippines – Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is confident that it would dominate the pay-TV industry by the fourth quarter of the year as it strengthens the company’s multi-media initiatives. PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said Cignal Digital TV is currently the largest single brand pay-TV service and number one in terms of digital service in the country with approximately 705,000 subscribers as of end-April. “I think it will be the number one pay TV service overall by the fourth quarter this year because it is growing by leaps and bounds,” Pangilinan said. He likened the growth of the digital pay-TV business to the strong growth experienced by the cellular phone market compared to the fixed line over the past few years. “It is the similar story between the growth of cellular many years ago versus the growth of fixed line. It is so much easier to connect on a wireless delivered system and at the same time Cignal has a national footprint,” he added. The subscriber base of direct-to-home Cignal TV jumped 36.5 percent to 602,000 last year from 441,000 in 2012. Of the total subscriber base about 68 percent are prepaid subscribers with plans ranging between P290 per month to P430 per month while 32 percent are postpaid subscribers with plans ranging between P430 and P1,590. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 As of end-December, Cignal TV had 104 channels including 13 free-to air as well as are standard definition channels Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Port operator Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) is committed to investing $32 million to develop and modernize several Subic Bay ports despite a legal setback following an Ombudsman ruling. HCPTI corporate counsel Jerome Canlas made the statement after receiving the copy of an Ombudsman resolution indicting Subic Bay Metropolitan Administration (SBMA) officials for graft. SBMA has not yet awarded the Manila-based global giant firm the right to develop the ports. “We will not stay away with the planned development of Subic Freeport into a modern seaport. We are committed to transform these ports into a modern hub capable of handling large cargoes that can ramp up industrial activities in Subic, Clark Freeport Zone and Central and Northern Luzon,” Canlas said. To date, some Subic ports (excluding the container yard) can only handle 1.3 million metric tons of cargoes and cater mostly on imported rice and fertilizers. HCPTI said it can fit out state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to turn Subic into a modern port which can handle cargoes up to four million metric tons per year. HCPTI envisions construction of new piers and warehouses and installation of modern cargo handling equipment such as huge cranes and payloaders. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Canlas bewailed that those who filed flimsy charges against HCPTI are those opposing the development of Subic ports for their failure to refurbish and fit out modern facilities despite lording it over Subic for more than 20 years.
Cebu City , Philippines – More than 25 Philippine hotels, resorts and tourism industry associations have received skills development grants from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Canada to upgrade the quality of services of their respective tourism workers. The grants scheme program, established by the Department of Tourism (DOT), forms part of the Improving Competitiveness in Tourism (ICT) project. Launched in 2013, the $7.1-million technical assistance was designed to support the government’s effort to achieve inclusive growth and create employment opportunities in tourism. Chosen from the country’s main tourism destinations, the awardees are based in Bohol, Cebu, Davao, and Palawan, which serve as the program’s pilot areas. Under the program, which will run for 38 months, various accommodation enterprises submitted proposals to help fund their skills training programs. These include food and beverage preparation and service, front office, personality development, housekeeping, and leisure and entertainment activities. “We welcome this technical assistance as it complements our National Tourism Development Plan which targets to increase tourism revenue, employment, and arrivals to aid in job creation and poverty reduction. Our collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Canada for this grants scheme program proves that international institutions recognize the role of tourism as a key driver of economic development in the country,” Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Improving Competitiveness in Tourism project aims to deliver three outputs, namely: assistance for local governments to reduce red tape Read More …