Maniolas

Being stuck in traffic is the daily bane of our existence. Our government goes through the motions of seeming to address the problem, but in reality is so afraid to make the tough decisions that will begin to make conditions better. So much for political will… even of Duterte or his minions! We, the public, are not much better. We complain incessantly about the problem, but thumb down any solution that demands the least bit of sacrifice on our part. At the rate we are going, we will continue to suffer for a long time the consequences of our inability to face the problem. We need to accept solutions that seem logical, but inconvenient. In the meantime, we adopt solutions that make the situation worse. Example: buying more cars to go around the coding scheme. Here is the latest news from the world of industry: Car sales rise 8.6 percent in October. Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed car sales grew 8.6 percent YoY to 31,132 units in Oct. Passenger car sales rose 2.3 percent to 11,499 units while commercial vehicles grew 8.6 percent to 19,633 units. From Jan to Oct, auto sales tallied 292,502 units, up 24.5 percent YoY. Guess what? The road space available for the ever increasing number of cars and trucks remains the same. I would guess our road network didn’t grow significantly over the last 30 or even 50 years… at least not Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Amid allegations of environment degradation, coal miner and power producer Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) has committed to protect marine protected areas (MPA) surrounding its coal mines in Semirara Island in Antique. SMPC disclosed yesterday it has pledged to support the Caluya local government’s campaign to declare two near-shore sites in Semirara Island as MPA or marine reserves. MPAs are coastal or marine areas placed under conservation or protection regimes by communities, local ordinances or national laws to restrict human activity. Two near-shore sites were identified as MPAs by Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management (SUAKCREM), a leading marine and terrestrial research organization which conducted a biological survey of the island last year. “Contrary to expectation for mining areas, the reefs surveyed has extensive coverage of live hard coral cover and relatively high fish biomass and density,” the study noted. However, the research team also noted certain sites may have been affected by siltation and fishing activities but these sites have the potential to recover if “strictly protected from heavy fishing.” Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Prior to this research, marine diversity around the island was undocumented. We wanted an independent study to help resolve concerns and allegations of environmental degradation in Semirara Island,” said SMPC president and COO Victor Consunji. Semirara has been part of the hit list of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez for allegedly causing environmental-related issues based on complaints Read More …

The country’s third quarter GDP growth rate is the highest since the second quarter of 2013 (7.6 percent). Jun Acculador/CC BY-ND MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy expanded by 7.1 percent in the third quarter of the year, higher than the revised second quarter growth of 7 percent, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Thursday. The country’s latest GDP growth rate is the highest since the second quarter of 2013 (7.6 percent). The PSA said the services sector, which posted a growth of 6.9 percent, contributed much to the third quarter’s economic performance this year. “Services gave the highest contribution to the GDP growth in the third quarter of 2016 with 4.1 percentage points,” said National Economic and Development Authority Director Reynaldo Cancio said at a news conference. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The industry sector, meanwhile, accelerated by 8.6 percent this year, considerably higher than the 6.1 percent rate in 2015. This is a developing story.

THE Department of Energy (DoE) has asked the government agency that owns the Agus and Pulangi hydroelectric complex to allocate the output of Mindanao’s main power source to areas that need it the most.

In their desire to improve their lives, many Filipinos sacrifice their time with their families to work abroad and earn a decent income. Hopefully, in the next few years, our modern day heroes will not need to work overseas in order to help their families. Last Tuesday was the 6th OFW and Family Summit. The summit was organized by Villar Sipag Foundation and Go Negosyo to promote entrepreneurship among OFWs and their families. For the past few years, the summit has featured different business opportunities OFWs or their families can consider and invest on. I met one former OFW turned entrepreneur, Imelda Dagus. She has been an OFW for more than 20 years and worked as an executive secretary in an oil company in Oman. She has always been enterprising. She has read business books and attended business seminars. In fact, she attended one of the first seminars abroad of Go Negosyo in 2013 held in Bahrain where she met some of our angelpreneurs and learned about the Go Negosyo advocacy. Her family has a coffee shop established by her grandmother in 1962. The family has managed the business, but because of lack of focus, the business did not grow. Imelda decided to improve the business and upgrade the products and services they offered. In 2015, she opened Dennis Coffee Garden which originated in Jolo, Sulu, but is now in Zamboanga. It is one of the most visited coffee shops in the province. Their coffee shop offers organic coffee called Read More …