Seair to impose higher fuel surcharge

 Economy
Feb 092013
 
Seair to impose higher fuel surcharge

MANILA, Philippines – Low-cost carrier Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair), a unit of Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. of Singapore, is set to impose higher fuel surcharge for all its international and domestic passengers on the back of the continued rise in the price of aviation fuel in the world market. Seair has filed a petition with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) seeking to impose a fuel surcharge of P500 for all its international passengers and P300 for all its domestic passengers flying within the Philippines except Davao. The budget airline is also set to impose a fuel surcharge of P400 for the passengers of its Manila to Davao flights. The CAB allows airlines to impose fuel surcharge on international and domestic passengers as a temporary relief to help them recover losses arising from the increase in jet fuel prices in the world market. Latest results of the jet fuel price monitor of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) showed that average price of jet fuel rose 3.8 percent to $132.4 per barrel from a month ago level or higher than the full year target of $130.3 per barrel set by IATA. Seair flies from Manila to Cebu, Davao, Tacloban, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Bacolod, and Boracay via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Its international destinations include Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, and Kota Kinabalu via the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In August last year, Tiger Airways through wholly-owned subsidiary Roar Aviation II Read More …

Nueva Ecija farmers’ association to subsidize SSS payment

 Economy
Feb 092013
 
Nueva Ecija farmers’ association to subsidize SSS payment

MANILA, Philippines – The Social Security System (SSS), the state-run provident fund for private employees, has signed an agreement with a local irrigators association in Nueva Ecija to subsidize farmers’ contributions to the agency. In an agreement signed last month between Deep Well Sumulong Irrigators Association of Nueva Ecija and SSS covering 185 farmers, the association would provide a counterpart amount that would match its members’ monthly SSS contribution. As a result, the monthly contributions of member farmers to the SSS would double, SSS president and chief executive officer Emilio de Quiros Jr. said. “In effect, the subsidy will double the amount of the farmers’ SSS contributions,” De Quiros said. SSS contributions range from P104 to P1,560 every month depending on the member’s monthly earnings. If, for instance, the farmer saves P156 as SSS contribution a month, the association would add P156 as counterpart subsidy, for a total of P312 that will be credited to the farmer’s SSS account. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The subsidy serves as additional motivation for farmers to save up for their future. The more they save, the more they will receive in counterpart funds for their contributions,” De Quiros said. Furthermore, the SSS chief said the arrangement with the association ensures convenient and regular remittance of the farmers’ SSS premiums because the association will do it for them. The association will use the cash incentives granted by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) to associations that have shown efficient collection of Read More …

SkyCable vows to fix GMA signal disruption

 Economy
Feb 092013
 
SkyCable vows to fix GMA signal disruption

MANILA, Philippines – SkyCable Corp., a unit of broadcast giant ABS-CBN Corp. of the Lopez clan, has vowed to cooperate with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to resolve its difference with publicly-held GMA Network Inc. over signal disruptions. “SkyCable, together with GMA Network and NTC, has been working hand-in-hand to explore necessary procedures to be undertaken in order to resolve the signal disruption issue at hand,” the company said in a statement. In the meantime, SkyCable said subscribers who are experiencing the said DigiBox problem could fix this manually by rescanning their DigiBox. “We regret this temporary inconvenience and extend our apologies for any difficulty brought about by this system upgrade,” the company said. GMA has filed a complaint against SkyCable over the unilateral change in channel assignment for the second time in less than four months. Butch Raquel, consultant to the chairman and chief executive officer for corporate communications, said the company filed a complaint before the NTC for the rechanneling undertaken by SkyCable last Feb.1. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “GMA Network expresses its concern as to why it gets to be affected by whatever SkyCable is doing or modifying in its system,” Raquel stressed. Last Feb. 1, SkyCable conducted a system upgrade to enhance signal clarity for GMA from channel 12 to channel 99, Shop TV from channel 13, SKY Preview Channel from channel 21, and ABN from channel 163. In a letter to NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, GMA vice president for legal Read More …

Exchange-traded funds await SEC approval

 Economy
Feb 072013
 
Exchange-traded funds await SEC approval

MANILA, Philippines – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to approve the rules that will govern the listing of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “Still under discussion,” SEC commissioner Ma. Juanita E. Cueto said in a text message when asked if corporate regulators have approved the guidelines. The SEC was scheduled to meet on Feb. 6 to deliberate on the proposed listing rules for the new investment instrument. An ETF is defined as a security that monitors the index, a commodity of assets like an index fund, but trades like a normal stock in an exchange. Late last month, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) submitted to the SEC its proposed rules that will govern the listing and trading of ETFs after it gathered public comments. At least three firms, First Metro Investment Corp. of the Metrobank Group, Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala conglomerate have expressed plans to offer ETFs. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat earlier said ETFs will provide several advantages and investment options to investors including liquidity, especially for those who cannot directly access specific sectors in the market due to a country’s specific regulatory environment. The creation of an ETF would allow investors more investment options aside from the existing stocks in the market. The proposed ETF listing rules, which is governed by the general ETF guidelines issued by the SEC in October, provides for transparency and investor safeguards Read More …

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