Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The government continues to push for economic development in the country’s rural areas as four departments converge to address poverty and employment in the countryside. The departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources, and Interior and Local Government recently signed resolutions for the National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development (NCI-SRD). The NCI-SRD is a strategy among the four rural development agencies with the goal of reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable countryside development. The convergence also aims to provide integrated delivery of services and programs to rural farming, fishing, and upland communities of the country. “The convergence aims to lower poverty incidence, produce livelihood from rural areas, and generate economic activities. We will streamline the processes and make the turnaround time of every projects faster,” lead convenor and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said. Through the enhanced framework, the NCI-SRD will undertake joint planning, programming and budgeting as well as monitoring and evaluation in the achievement of the sectoral goals and targets of the plan. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The convergence has requested the National Economic and Development Authority to task regional development councils to consider convergence initiative projects as regional priorities. It also recommended to the DENR the construction of on-farm roads and flood control dams in the National Greening Program Development Plan by tapping the Department of Public Works and Highways. The four agencies have likewise requested to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to classify convergence initiative sites as economic zones. Read More …

Before, audits were halted during Christmas season to avoid tax examiners asking gifts, an official of industry group Tax Management Association of the Philippines said. Philstar.com/File  MANILA, Philippines — There will be no let-up on the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) audits this holiday season as it aims to reverse a revenue slowdown toward “maximum” collection by the end of the year. “All field audit and other field operations, including all enforcement activities, shall continue during this holiday season,” Revenue Memorandum Circular 109-2016 dated November 7 stated. “It is reminded that all efforts should be directed to ensure maximum revenue collection throughout the year,” it added.  In previous years, BIR stops audits from December 15 until January 1 of the following year. Eleanor Roque, a director of industry group Tax Management Association of the Philippines, said halting audits during Christmas season before was meant to avoid “tax examiners asking gifts.” “But I guess now, given the promises and the declarations of the new administration, taxpayers are assured that will not happen or if it does, they have ways to report it,” she said in a phone interview on Wednesday. BIR, which accounts for around 80 percent of state revenues, had fluctuating performance since the Duterte administration took over on June 30. It increased revenues by one percent in July, a seven-month low, before recovering to a 10-percent uptick the following month. In September, it slowed again to one percent. It brought the nine-month tally to P1.17 trillion, still up 9 percent Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Why do you save money? According to a 2015 report by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), 97 percent of Filipino adults believe that saving money is important. And the top three purposes for saving money, as the results show, are emergencies, food and education. While these are great goals, do you realize that how you save money can directly impact whether you’ll meet your financial goals? Unfortunately, there are some “money-saving” habits that are not actually helping you. Let’s take a look at a few: 1) Buying promos Discount coupons, buy-1-take-1 items, zero-percent interest. They’re some of the most attractive offers you often fall for, right? You believe that you’re saving money by buying items and services that cost less than their original price. Well, think again. Buying promos is not frugality anymore when you do it too frequently than you need to. For example, a coupon says it can slash the price of a prestigious buffet dinner to half. Looks like a great deal, isn’t it? But do you actually need it? Are you going to celebrate something soon or do you just feel like it’s an opportunity missed if you don’t purchase it now? Think carefully. More often than not, you’ll find yourself spending more—and not saving when you let yourself get overwhelmed by discounts. Again, take a good look at your needs and finances before jumping into a purchase. 2) Income – expenses = savings When you were younger, did you have elders Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now considering more options to finally put an end to the widespread illegal contractual employment scheme in the country. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello yesterday reported that DOLE was looking at four proposals submitted by different employers and labor groups on how to address the issue of contractualization. Bello said DOLE was studying the recommendation of the Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce in addition to the win-win solution proposed by the Department of Trade and Industry and the middle ground position of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. He declined to elaborate on the proposal of the Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce, except to say it was a “radical” measure to address contractualization. “We will have to assimilate all these inputs that will address the focal position of President Duterte which is to end illegal forms of contractualization,” he said. Bello earlier said DOLE was inclined to adopt ECOP’s proposal as a temporary policy to resolve illegal forms of contractualization. Speaking at the 6th national forum of the Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors, Bello assured service providers that DOLE would be fair in deciding a new policy to address contractualization. The labor chief said it was “unrealistic” for the government to impose a total ban since there are legal forms of contractualization provided under the law. After holding two labor summits this week, Bello said DOLE would come out before the end of the year with a final policy Read More …