THE COUNTRY’S money supply surged further in January as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept policy rates at record lows.
Feb 282013
Feb 282013
STATE-RUN National Power Corp. (Napocor) is set to spend around P15 to P18 million to construct diesel power plants with an aggregate capacity of 95 kilowatts (kW) in three areas covered by the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG), an official said yesterday.
Feb 282013
LEGISLATIVE reforms opening up the rural banking segment to wider foreign investment could see an injection of funding into at least some of the almost 600 small lenders. However, it is likely that only a few will attract an overseas partner.
Feb 282013
MANILA, Philippines – Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), fresh from beating its full-year core earnings guidance, expects another banner year amid continuous economic growth. Core net income, which strips out currency and derivatives-related items, jumped 30 percent to P1.5 billion in the fourth quarter. This allowed MPIC to post a 28-percent uptick in core profit to P6.5 billion in 2012 from P5.1 billion in 2011. It is also higher than the company’s P6.3-billion core profit guidance. “The strong results for 2012 reflect significant improvements in service levels and efficiency gains for all our operating companies,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a briefing. “It is likely that the 2013 results will be better than the 2012,” Pangilinan said, adding that the outlook is encouraging given optimistic views on the Philippine economy. In the fourth quarter, profits were driven by strong water, power distribution, toll roads and hospitals businesses, MPIC chief finance officer David J. Nicol said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 For the entire year, consolidated net income rose to P6.4 billion from P5.1 billion a year ago. This reflects a P142-million non-recurring net loss. MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said the increase in core net income was due mainly to higher profit contributions from Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), higher rates for Maynilad Water Services Inc., traffic growth at Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and investments from the hospital group. In terms of contribution to MPIC’s net operating income, Maynilad Read More …
Feb 282013
WASHINGTON (AP) — With big, automatic budget cuts about to kick in, House Republicans are turning to mapping strategy for the next showdown just a month away, when a government shutdown instead of just a slowdown will be at stake. Both topics are sure to come up at the White House meeting Friday between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner. A breakthrough on replacing or easing the imminent across-the-board spending cuts still seems unlikely at the first face-to-face discussion between Obama and Republican leaders this year. To no one’s surprise, even as a dysfunctional Washington appears incapable of averting a crisis over economy-rattling spending cuts, it may be lurching toward another over a possible shutdown. Republicans are planning for a vote next week on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the Sept. 30 end of the 2013 fiscal year — while keeping in place the new $85 billion in cuts of five percent to domestic agencies and eight percent to the military. The need to keep the government’s doors open and lights on — or else suffer the first government shutdown since 1996 — requires the GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree. Right now they hardly see eye to eye. The House GOP plan, unveiled to the rank and file on Wednesday, would award the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs with their line-by-line budgets, for a more-targeted rather than indiscriminate batch of military cuts, Read More …
Feb 282013
MANILA, Philippines — Rivals Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications Co. continue to wage a bitter fight over interconnection problems. Globe has urged PLDT to address the interconnection problems in several areas in the past three days. In a statement, Globe reported that problems began February 25. The telco recalled that at around 8 p.m. last February 25, the local interconnection with PLDT in the province of Bulacan was monitored to be out-of-service. It was relayed immediately to PLDT and initial investigation showed the problem was owing to the unavailability of Signaling Link. The PLDT team advised Globe that they will look into the problem and perform a reset if necessary. Globe revealed that since year 2012, the POIs with PLDT have experienced problems on the signaling link at PLDT side, prompting globe to perform a reset of these signaling links. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 On February 26, at around 12 p.m., other North Luzon local interconnections with PLDT (La Union, Baguio, Tarlac, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija) also went out-of-service, still owing to the unavailability of signaling links. The case was again brought to PLDT ‘s attention. PLDT informed Globe that they forwarded the concern to their technical teams and will update Globe accordingly. Yet on the morning of February 27, the local POIs were still out-of-service and PLDT was unable to give any reason for it. Given the amount of time and the inconvenience to Globe’s customers, it became necessary for Globe to issue a public advisory Read More …
Feb 282013
By Chito AragonInquirer Visayas 5:51 pm | Thursday, February 28th, 2013 CEBU CITY, Philippines — A German national who had been arrested and charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm was arrested again after he failed to appear in the hearings of his case. The operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-7) arrested Pater Mai Kimmer, 49, past 3 p.m., Wednesday, at his rented house in D. Jakosalem Street in Barangay (village) Cogon-Ramos based on the warrant of arrest issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Lynna Adviento. The court issued the alias warrant after Kimmer failed to appear in court for the hearing of his case several times. The court recommended P160,000 for Kimmer’s temporary release. Kimmer was also previously charged with illegal possession of dangerous drugs and carjacking. Before he was arrested on Wednesday, Kimmer had gone to the office of the prosecutor handling his case to express sympathy for John Pope, a retired Canadian journalist who killed himself after he shot and killed two persons and seriously wounded another. Pope, using an unlicensed firearm, shot lawyer Juvian Achas and his client, Doctor Rene Rafols, inside a court in the Palace of Justice last January 22. Rafols was the complainant in the malicious mischief charges against Pope. Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Maria Theresa Casiño was also shot and wounded. Inspector Delfin Bontuyan, leader of the team who arrested Kimmer, said the German reportedly said, “I sympathize with John Pope because I am experiencing the same fate.” Read More …
Feb 282013
By Allan Nawal and Julie AlipalaInquirer Mindanao 5:24 pm | Thursday, February 28th, 2013 DAVAO CITY, Philippines – If Malaysian officials want to end the stand-off in Lahad Datu, they should talk directly to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, the leader of Kiram’s “royal army” that has occupied a fishing village in the east Malaysia state of Sabah since Feb. 9 said Thursday. Agbimuddin Kiram, who calls himself the crown prince of the ancient Sultanate of Sulu, said only his elder brother, the sultan, could order them to leave Felda Sahabat 17 in Tungku, a village in the Tanduo district of Lahad Datu. Speaking over a Sabah radio station, whose shortwave broadcast was monitored here, Agbimuddin said in a mixture of Melayu, Tausug and English that any negotiation “should be through the sultan.” Agbimuddin’s group has been holed up in Tanduo, a sparsely populated fishing and farming area some 130 kilometers from the center of Lahad Datu, since Feb. 9 and has refused to leave even after Malaysian security forces surrounded them three days later. The same line was used by Agbimuddin in a separate interview, The Star Malaysia reported. “All negotiations have to go through my brother in Manila. The final line is my brother,” The Star quoted Agbimuddin as saying by phone. In Thursday’s radio interview, Agbimuddin stressed the need for the Malaysian government to negotiate with his brother so the issue could be addressed. The Kirams had said that their “homecoming” in Sabah was aimed at advancing their Read More …
Feb 282013
DND-OPA – MV – Bayanihan Para sa Kapayapaan(screenshot courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y1qYSSb0tA) Music Video on the on-going peace and development in the countryside program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, produced and developed by the Philippine Army Public Affairs Office. Popular young singer-actress Sarah Geronimo lends her persona and services pro bono as part of her “bayanihan” in the nation’s aspiration for peace and stability. Music and lyrics by LtJg Lady Chatterly Alvaro Sumbeling PN. Launched and released on November 28, 2012 at the Headquarters Philippine Army.
Feb 282013
Agance France-Presse 3:15 pm | Thursday, February 28th, 2013 AFP File Photo MANILA – The mating rituals of two captive Philippine eagles are being broadcast live over the Internet to rally global support for saving of the world’s rarest and biggest raptors, conservationists said Thursday. Livestreaming the pair gives a global Internet audience a rare insight into the courtship, mating and chick-rearing habits of the birds, which could soon become extinct, said Philippine Eagle Foundation spokesman Rolando Pinsoy. “This will give everyone a chance to learn more about this species and understand why we have to save them,” Pinsoy told AFP. Customarily, the female lays a single egg in November or December and the chick hatches a month later, he said. In a project backed by the US-based Raptor Resource Project and the Internet videosharing site Ustream.tv, the pair can now be viewed 24 hours a day over the next 12 months at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/29615691 “Even for biologists, there is so much more that we need to learn about this species,” Pinsoy said. The Philippine eagle, or Pithecophaga jefferyi, is the world’s largest eagle in terms of length. It is found only in the country’s vanishing forests, where hunting, logging and land conversion all threaten its survival. The bird, with a distinctive shaggy and cream-coloured crest, grows to up to 3.35 feet (one metre) in length with a wing span of up to seven feet. According to the foundation and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there are only about between Read More …