SUBSIDIES to state firms more than doubled year on year in the first semester as the government disbursed more financial assistance in that period.
Jul 282013
Jul 282013
THE ENERGY department is set to conduct public consultations next month for the increase of biodiesel blend to 5% from the current 2%, an official told reporters on Thursday last week.
Jul 282013
DEATH is almost always unplanned but an event that we should all prepare for, whether we believe in an afterlife or not. Hell, after all, is not just a spiritual concept, but an unfortunate reality that heirs of a decedent usually experience when there is no plan for the settlement of his or her estate and for the payment of taxes that will fall due from the transfer of assets to the heirs.
Jul 282013
Janet Altamarino, chief executive of Ultimate Visa Corporation, is committed to providing Filipinos with a legitimate visa processing service and is the only agency that caters to all visas to other countries. MANILA, Philippines – When life gives you lemons, you can become just as bitter, or you can make lemonade, as the saying goes. Janet Altamarino, chief executive of Ultimate Visa Corporation, did exactly the latter — she made a lot of lemonade, only on a grander scale. Ultimate Visa is the leading visa and immigration consultancy in the Philippines that she and her partner, Atty. Jonnah John B. Ungab, started in Cebu City five years ago. Today, they have already established a second headquarters in Makati City, and have recently been dubbed the Most Trusted Immigration Services Company by the National Consumers’ Choice Awards Council. Altamarino wanted to explore greener pastures abroad as a young graduate. After entrusting her savings to a visa-processing firm, the company disappeared. It happened two more times before she learned her lesson. “You turn the misfortune into an opportunity when you experience difficulties instead of crying over it,” she says. After hearing similar tales, she went on a quest to help other visa applicants in their processing — never again would they be conned. “Most applicants forego the background check on agencies. They sell their business, their assets, others pawn their family home and farmland, and then nothing happens with their applications,” explains Altamarino. “It’s heartbreaking.” “I wanted the opportunity to put up Read More …
Jul 272013
MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom Inc., is spending as much as $250,000, (P10.8 million) per village to improve its wireless signal in posh subdivisions. Emmanuel Estrada, head of Network Technologies Strategy of Globe, said the company is in talks with several exclusive villages in Metro Manila that reject the construction of cell sites in their subdivision premises. Estrada said Globe has introduced the use of cell sites disguised as palm trees to address aesthetic concerns over the use of towering cell sites that are necessary in effecting seamless connectivity in exclusive villages. The offer to build palm-like cellphone towers follows the introduction of the outdoor distributed antenna system (ODAS), a state of the art technology that makes use of specialized lamp posts built with radio signal transmission capability. “The use of tree-shaped cellphone towers is part of Globe Telecom’s efforts to improve wireless signal in exclusive villages in line with our network transformation initiative,” he stressed. He pointed out that Globe has utilized aesthetic tree solution in enhancing connectivity in Urdaneta Village in Makati City. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He explained that the use of palm-tree cellphone towers is most effective in camouflaging gigantic cell sites that are sometimes considered as eye sores by some residents in exclusive villages. “The disguised cell phone towers will be difficult to identify as such and they even work to beautify the area where these infrastructures are installed,” Estrada said. Certain residents in exclusive villages have been opposing the Read More …
Jul 272013
MANILA, Philippines – A group of local industry supporters have asked the government to address the high power cost in the Philippines, noting that it is the highest in Asia. “The cost of power, the highest in Asia, makes the Philippines uncompetitive, not only in manufacturing but also in all areas of the economy,” said the Philippine Employer-Labor Social Partnership, Inc. (PELSPI) in a position paper submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). The group, which includes University of the Philippines labor professor Rene Ofreneo, said the high cost of power in the Philippines is threatening the growth potential of the booming call center sector. “It is even threatening the viability of the booming call center/BPO sector. In the electronics industry and other manufacturing industries, power accounts for one third of the total cost of production compared to less than 10 percent for payrolls,” the group said. The group noted that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 failed to lower power cost and improve power service. It urged the government to review the EPIRA and propose the necessary amendments. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “A review and overhaul of the EPIRA program is urgent,” it said. The group expressed support to the government’s efforts to reengineer a revival of Philippine manufacturing. “With a stagnating industrial and agricultural base, the Philippines, the second most industrially-developed in Asia in the 1960s, has been left behind by our East and Southeast Asian neighbors,” it said. Read More …
Jul 272013
MANILA, Philippines – State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) is aiming to install 103 megawatts (MW) additional power capacity in off-grid areas by 2016, its top official told The STAR. This is in line with Napocor’s missionary electrification mandate under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, its president, Froilan Tampinco said. The target also includes putting up 518 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines, 45 megavolt-amperes substations – all in off-grid areas. “Napocor continues to pursue our mandate to provide electricity to off-grid areas, particularly in areas where private investors hesitate to come in due to lack of infrastructure and political and security concerns,” Tampinco said as he highlighted his accomplishments as head of the power company. Tampinco has tendered his resignation due to “personal reasons” and is set to leave the agency by Aug. 1. Upon assuming office in 2008, Tampinco said Napocor installed diesel power plants in Cuyo, Palawan (500 kw) and in Siasi, Sulu (1,000 kw) and Power Barge 109 in Tablas, Romblon (1,000 kw). Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Napocor also upgraded three diesel power plants in Marinduque. “We installed transmission lines in Occidental Mindoro and Catanduanes and completed four substation projects in Palawan and Catanduanes,” Tampinco said. The following year, Napocor installed 12,718 kw of new capacities in 34 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) areas nationwide, from as far north as Cagayan down to Basilan and Sultan Kudarat in southern Philippines. “We were also able to construct 154 diesel-fired mini grids in Read More …
Jul 272013
MANILA, Philippines – First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) has retained its growth forecast for full year cash remittances at four to five percent on the back of strong global demand for Filipino workers in other countries. According to the latest issue of The Market Call, a joint monthly publication of FMIC and the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), the level of remittances continued to be buoyant with dollar and peso values posting above year-to-date level growth rates. The announcement by the US Federal Reserve late May of a possible fourth round of quantitative easing – the practice of buying $85 billion in US Treasury and mortgage bonds a month – later this year spooked portfolio investors and forced many to reduce exposure in emerging markets and risky assets. This translated into the highest trading volatility for the peso for the year as it ranged from 41.91 to 43.89 or a 3.9 percent depreciation of the peso-dollar exchange rate to an average of 42.91 in June. This was a reversal of a 0.4 percent rise of the peso in May that brought it to its highest level since January 2012. FMIC-UAP expressed confidence that remittances would remain robust due to sustained strong demand for skilled and professional Filipino workers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Market Call cited data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) that showed the number of Filipinos who got their overseas job orders approved from January to May this year remained Read More …
Jul 272013
MANILA, Philippines – The dividend policy of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has earned praises anew from a Hong Kong-based financial publication but at the same time drew flak from New York-based credit rater Moody’s Investors Service. PLDT was recently cited with the Most Consistent Dividend Policy among publicly-listed Philippine companies in the 3rd Annual Southeast Asia Institutional Investor Corporate Awards by Hong Kong-based investor publications Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine. The award was based on the votes of independent investors and analysts surveyed by the regional publication. PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company is honored and gratified that its efforts to deliver value to customers and shareholders have again been recognized. “Despite intense competition and the profound changes taking place in the telecoms industry in 2012, PLDT paid out 100 percent of its 2012 core earnings per share as dividends to shareholders, making it the sixth consecutive year of 100 percent payout,” Pangilinan said. This is the second year in a row that PLDT was cited by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine for its dividend policy. The institutional investment magazine said PLDT was one of the largest dividend payers on a per share basis and the third largest dividend payer among companies in Southeast Asia in last year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Earlier this year, PLDT also received recognition for its commitment to a consistent dividend policy from Hong Kong-based financial investment magazine FinanceAsia. Alpha Southeast Asia is a Hong Kong-based publication which Read More …
Jul 262013
THE HOUSING and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) has approved the new zoning plan of Makati City to make the metropolis adaptable to disasters, according to a press release on Friday.