Maniolas

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP LIMA, Peru — Russia is expected to hike significantly the value of goods it would import from the Philippines and to cooperate with the Philippine government in tourism, infrastructure, energy and agriculture, a Cabinet official said Monday. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Russia has committed to increase the value of its imports from the Philippines to $2.5 billion (about P124.17 billion) from about $46 million (about P2.28 billion) for a year.  “They are saying immediately… they can easily bring up the imports from the Philippines to the tune of about $2.5 billion,” Lopez told reporters in a press briefing here.   Lopez said Russia imports agricultural products and beer from the Philippines.  “I think on fruits and other products, they (Russia) can easily bring up (the volume),” the trade chief said.   “We can only look up, I mean, nowhere to go but up because it’s really a relationship that offers a lot of opportunities because before, almost nothing happened when it comes to trade and investment with Russia,” he added.  Total trade between the Philippines and Russia amounted to $422 million last year. President Rodrigo Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin met here Sunday (Manila time) to discuss ways to boost the ties between Manila and Moscow.  The meeting was an opportunity for Duterte to Read More …

Energy Regulatory Commission Jose Vicente Salazar is waiting for President Rodrigo Duterte to return from Peru to seek out a meeting with him. ERC/Released MANILA, Philippines — Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairman and CEO Jose Vicente Salazar will seek a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte following the latter’s demand for all ERC officials to step down from office. The president warned that he will ask Congress to abolish the ERC, which was created by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, if its officials refuse to resign following the suicide of one of their colleagues. READ: Duterte demands resignation of ERC execs Last week, ERC bids and awards chairman Francisco Jose Villa Jr. took his own life after being allegedly pressured by Salazar into rigging bids. Salazar said that he is waiting for Duterte’s return from Peru to meet with him and update him on the current developments at the ERC. “I am confident that the proposed meeting with and briefing for the president would result in clearer directions from him regarding the issues facing the ERC,” Salazar said in a statement. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The ERC chairman also assured Duterte that he respects his recent statement and vowed to take appropriate actions to protect the organization. “Part of this is our request to the Commission on Audit to immediately probe the allegations made by the late Director Jun Villa and our expression of support and full cooperation for the planned inquiry by the Senate Read More …

THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) forecasts metal output this year to decline from 2015 levels due to the unfavorable price environment and the government’s environmental audit that threatens to suspend several miners.

I just finished reading the handwritten suicide notes of Francisco Villa, Jr., an official of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the older brother of my colleague Charie Villa. It’s sad to hear of someone who had to take his life because he couldn’t see himself acceding to corrupt practices in his workplace. That’s not how it is supposed to be. The good guys should multiply and drive the bad eggs out of our civil service. But l also just read that a deputy customs commissioner was killed in an ambush as he drove home from work. I was told he was a pretty good guy too, a rarity in his agency. The late ERC director Villa wrote a series of three suicide notes starting on Aug. 23, addressed to “my dear Lord Jesus,” a prayer for deliverance from his situation. He expressed worries about his role in reviewing procurement contracts at the power industry watchdog. “I have fears about my BAC (Bids and Awards Committee) work,” he wrote. “Our mistakes may bring on (Commission on Audit) observations and disallowances…” He wrote that his “greatest fear in the Bids and Awards Committee is the AVP by Luis Morelos which the chairman and CEO, Jose Vicente B. Salazar, chose through a rigged selection system. That will be a criminal act.” In his first note, Villa asked the Lord’s help as he “cannot physically bring himself to work” at the ERC due to “fears” about his work as chief of the agency’s Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The parent firm of Philippine Airlines (PAL) expects to post profit in the fourth quarter, coming from a net loss in the third quarter, amid anticipated increase in passengers during the holiday season. PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters on the sidelines of the 60th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines that while the carrier expects October to still be a lean month for travel, passenger volume would likely pick up in November and December. “Half of November is lean (and) half is going to peak, but December will be peak. So, the (fourth) quarter, we’re expecting to be a profitable quarter,” he said. PAL Holdings Inc. incurred a net loss of P2.01 billion in the third quarter last year, a turnaround from the P247.90 million net income posted in the same period a year ago. While revenues went up year-on-year in the third quarter, total expenses rose. Revenues grew six percent to P27.78 billion in the third quarter from P26.21 billion last year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Total expenses, meanwhile, climbed 14.9 percent to P29.57 billion in the third quarter from the previous year’s P25.73 billion. For the January to September period, net earnings of PAL Holdings reached P2.60 billion, down 57 percent from the P6.11 billion a year ago. Revenues for the nine-month period reached P85.35 billion this year, a 3.5 percent increase from the P82.48 billion in the same period last Read More …