A DELEGATION of businessmen from India is set to arrive in the country to look at business opportunities in the country, particularly in Mindanao.
Apr 182013
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – A Magna Carta for the poor remains a viable state instrument for the emancipation of poor families, but its formulation cannot be left alone to “congressional caprice.” This was stressed by economist and former presidential adviser Joey Salceda, saying “the poor are so poor that the Magna Carta for their emancipation is urgent.” “If I were allowed to make an input, I would have phrased it this way: Like IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) to LGUs (local government units), the poor shall be entitled to at least three percent of the gross domestic product, which would automatically be appropriated annually in the state’s national expenditures,” he said. The poor’s share, he added, should be an integral part of the multi-year development instruments such as the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan and the Medium Term Public Investment Program. He, however, said the poor and the expenditure program must be defined by the National Anti- Poverty Commission, with the secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development as its ex-officio chair. President Aquino vetoed the proposed law recently, saying it was a “mission impossible” because the government has no means to produce the P3.3 trillion budget it requires to uplift the poor. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Philippine government has only a P2-trillion annual national budget this year. The President, however, has ordered the Cabinet social welfare cluster group to draw up a “substitute measure that will be given to the next Congress, which Read More …
Apr 182013
Go ahead and cry and turn green with envy. And be mad as hell in frustration too. Myanmar, a country that was stuck in the past has been making fast and bold leaps into the future. And they started doing that while our leaders were busy playing politics or otherwise doing nothing more productive than shuffling papers and restudying long completed project studies. A friend of mine from the old UP days just came from Myanmar, as part of a JICA team to help Myanmar formulate its national transport plan. Guess what? According to him, Myanmar “has built a new international airport in three years time, with a spanking new terminal building that puts our T3 to shame.” Good Grief! In the three years this administration was busy restudying plans and getting DOTC lawyers to pretend they were engineers, Myanmar got going and has inaugurated a brand new airport they can’t even fully utilize. The new airport “was designed by Changi airport with a capacity to handle five million passengers per annum. Current traffic is only 40,000 passengers per year.” According to my friend, a transport expert working on projects in Asean, “had Myanmar applied cost-benefit analysis, phasing and staging would have resulted in a more modest airport. But there it is, standing on a new capital that is 3x the size of MetroManila.” I hope Mar and his gang of lawyers won’t say Myanmar succeeded in opening a brand new airport larger and better than our Terminal 3 because Read More …
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – A substantial number of collection cases filed in the office of the prosecutor or court using BP 22 and /or estafa are dismissed due to legal technicalities. You should never be a victim of bouncing checks again if you know the right way to prevent it, prosecute offenders, and collect debts effectively. Many lawyers fail to defend their clients on this effectively because they only learn this subject matter as a two to three hour lecture in law school. To arm yourselves with the full knowledge of the law against bouncing checks, the Center for Global Best Practices is launching a one-day pioneering seminar entitled, “How to Prevent, Prosecute and Collect Bouncing Checks: Best Practices Guide on the Use of BP 22 and Estafa and Other Effective Collection Methods” on May 8 at The Peninsula Manila, Makati City, Philippines. In this one-day comprehensive seminar, commercial and criminal law experts will teach you all the relevant regulations governing bouncing checks, how to file a court case properly against the offenders, surefire ways to secure criminal conviction, as well as how to enforce court decisions and recover your money with the right out-of the-box collection strategies. For details call Manila lines: (+632) 556-8968 or 69; telefax (+632) 842-7148 or 59; Cebu lines: (+632-512-3106 or 07; Baguio: (+632) 423-5148. You may also check details and all other upcoming best practices seminars at www.cgbp.org. This special seminar will feature lawyer Marlo B. Campanilla who has authored six criminal law books and Read More …
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), the thrift unit of the Metrobank Group, has appointed Vicente Cuna Jr. as its new president following the retirement of Pascual M. Garcia III effective today. Garcia, however, will take on another position within the Metrobank Group, consistent with its policy on cross-posting. The turnover to Cuna, who is currently Metrobank senior executive vice president, would be held in an organizational meeting, after the bank’s annual stockholders’ meeting today. Garcia, PSBank president since 2001, has been instrumental in rallying the bank to become one of the key players in the consumer banking market. With his vision and leadership, the bank has become the second-largest savings bank in the country. With Garcia’s departure, PSBank said the operation of the bank would be turned over to the equally capable hands of Cuna. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Cuna has been privy to the strengths of the bank as its former vice chairman and director from 2009 to 2011. He previously served as the head of institutional and corporate banking at Metrobank. He was chairman of Metro Remittance (Canada) Inc. He also held the position of adviser of Metrobank and Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and director at SMBC Metro Investment Corp. Cuna held previous positions in Citibank Manila, Citibank New York and JP Morgan New York.
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy is expected to grow by 6.2 percent in 2013, driven by strong private consumption, according to a survey released by the United Nations Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) yesterday. In its briefing paper, UNESCAP noted while there could be threats of poor global demand, the Philippines could bank on its aggressive investment programs. “Poor global demand, including a slowdown in major trading partners such as China, could impede (Philippines) economic expansion, however. Speedy growth could materialize if progress on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) gains more momentum, helped by the upgrade of the country’s rating to investment grade status in March,” it said. PPP is a government initiative to boost investment and, at the same time, provide the public with adequate, safe, efficient, reliable,and reasonably-priced infrastructure and development facilities while affording the private sector a level playing field, reasonable returns and appropriate sharing of risks. Early this year, the government approved four big-ticket infrastructure projects under the PPP program totaling more than P80 billion. Fitch Ratings early this month raised the Philippines’ credit rating to investment grade. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 According to the survey, the Philippine government expects to raise infrastructure spending to five percent of GDP (gross domestic product) by 2016 from two percent in 2012. Aside from the slump in its regional partners’ growth, another major concern for the Philippines, UNESCAP noted, is higher job creation in the formal sector which remains Read More …
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – Foreign exchange (FX) rules were relaxed anew on Thursday in a bid to ease business transactions and encourage outflow of dollars amid a strengthening peso. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) unveiled new foreign exchange liberalization measures “to keep policies responsive to current economic conditions,” Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said. “The new rules aim to further simplify FX transactions of the general public with banks,” Espenilla told reporters in a briefing. Patria Angeles, director of BSP international operations department, said the measures may “ease pressure” on the peso, which was Asia’s second best performer versus the greenback last year. The peso closed three centavos stronger at 40.22 to a dollar Thursday. Under the new regulations, foreign money allowed to be purchased by residents without the need for BSP approval was doubled to $120,000 from $60,000. Espenilla said this is to cover “rising costs” in studying abroad, medical bills, or travelling. In the same manner, foreigners and balikbayans departing the country may now exchange their remaining pesos up to $10,000 or the equivalent amount in other currencies. The original cap to avoid BSP clearance was set at $5,000. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Expatriates and foreign students living in the Philippines may now also open peso bank accounts using their earnings here. “Previously, opening of bank accounts for non-residents may only be done by exchanging your foreign money to pesos and then using that pesos to open the account,” said BSP managing director Read More …
Apr 182013
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications on Thursday announced that it will conduct another opening of qualification documents next week for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport project. The DOTC said the project, under the Public-Private Partnership program of the Aquino administration, is the third to be rolled out this year. It added that interested parties in the MCIA project will submit their eligibility documents to the joint DOTC-Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority Prequalification, Bids, and Awards Committee on Monday, Apr. 22. “We are optimistic that the MCIA Project will generate the same level of interest from major local and international companies as what we saw from the AFCS (Automated Fare Collection System) project. We made sure that this project will also be attractive to investors in order to foster competitive and open bidding,” the DOTC said. To date, a total of 12 companies purchased Invitation Documents for the MCIA Project, the DOTC said. It noted that it expects foreign airport operators to take part in the bid because of the lack of local expertise in that area. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Based on our requirements, Philippine companies will have to partner with established airport operators from other countries. This will benefit our domestic air transport industry, as technology transfer will give local players the opportunity to learn from more advanced and more experienced airport operators.” In turn, the DOTC assures the private sector that the joint DOTC-MCIA PBAC will maintain a level playing Read More …
Apr 172013
MANILA, Philippines – More lawmakers want the government to invest in solar power to promote energy stability, attain energy independence from oil-dependent energy sources and address the power crisis in the country. Rep. Teddy Casiño (Party-list, Bayan Muna) said House Bill 5405 or the proposed One Million Solar Roofs Act of 2011 would help mitigate global warming and air pollution and encourage industry growth that would lead to more jobs and lower electricity bills. “In an era of increasingly high prices and foreseeable decline of the global oil supply, government should at the soonest develop fuel alternatives and accelerate the exploration and utilization of renewable sources of energy,” Casiño said. Casiño said Congress enacted Republic Act 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act in 2008 to encourage investments in renewable energy. “To complement this measure, it is also necessary to encourage demand and provide incentives especially to purchasers of small renewable energy systems,” Casiño added. Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan (Party-list, Gabriela), another author of the measure, said the Philippines would greatly benefit from using renewable sources of energy because of its clean and sustainable character. Ilagan said solar technology could be an immediate and sustainable way to deal with the country’s energy problems, especially with the abundance of solar energy throughout the country and the modular nature of solar energy systems. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Besides the country being the second in Southeast Asia in terms of irradiation and insolation, we already have the foundation to become Read More …
Apr 172013
MANILA, Philippines – Listed holding firm Phinma Corp. is banking on the recovery of its property unit and the absence of losses from its business processing unit to post an income turnaround this year. Phinma is allotting P3.9 billion in capital expenditures this year that will primarily fund the construction of a power generation plant. “Higher income will come from energy, better property business and no more losses from One Animate Ltd.,” Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., president and vice-chairman of Phinma, told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders meeting. Lower profits from the Phinma Properties, which was hampered by delays in project launches, and losses in the animation unit resulted in Phinma incurring a net loss last year. Phinma said it suffered from a P36-million net loss last year, reversing the P81-million income in 2011. “The company is poised for a recovery based on a larger sales network and a healthy pipeline of over 4,400 condominium units over the next three years,” Del Rosario said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Regina B. Alvarez, senior vice-president for finance of Phinma, said the company will spend P3.9 billion this year, of which P3.6 billion will be for the power project, P79 million for Phinma Properties and P200 million for steel fabricator Union Galvasteel Corp. Unit Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is building a 135-megawatt (MW) power plant in partnership with Ayala Corp. It will start commercial operations in 2016. For the hotels business, Del Rosario said Read More …