By Elizabeth Lolarga, VERA Files Photos courtesy of Ayala Museum Spidery webs, nets, dots, petals–imagine these harmless images. But they’re out there, crowding one’s field of vision, encroaching on, about to engulf one’s self. These hallucinations continue to visit Yayoi … Continue reading → …
THE TRADE department hopes to file the country’s application to enter a preferential tariff program with the European Union (EU) by the end of the month, an official said.
THE SENATE will start its review today of the current project allocations for education, health, and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to kick off the budget deliberations, the chamber head said yesterday.
(Second of two parts) IN THE first part of this article, we discussed the circumstances leading to the growing importance of credit valuation adjustment (CVA) and counterparty credit risk, as well as the financial reporting requirements relating to CVA and debit valuation adjustment (DVA) and an overview of its calculation.
After enhancing the southwest monsoon that has dumped rain over a wide swath of Luzon in the past several days, Tropical Storm Maring (Trami) is moving erratically and may linger inside the Philippine area of responsibility until Thursday. Large parts of Metro Manila are already flooded, with classes suspended in most areas. PAGASA forecaster Manny Mendoza said Maring is interacting with another weather system outside the Philippine area of responsibility and has repeatedly changed direction. “Medyo mabagal ito, pabago-bago ang direksyon ng bagyong ito. Dati southeast, tapos east, ngayon north-northeast (Maring is moving very slowly, and keeps changing direction. It was moving southeast, then east, then north-northeast),” Mendoza said in an interview on dzBB radio. When asked when Maring will exit the Philippine area of responsibility, Mendoza said their models show it may do so on August 22, Thursday. However, he said there is also a chance Maring may exit the PAR on Friday. Mendoza said their models show Maring appears headed for the southern islands of Japan but may change direction until it heads for Taiwan. Tropical Storm Maring seemed to make a U-turn over the Pacific Ocean section northeast of the Philippines and east of Taiwan. Flash floods, landslides PAGASA said that as of 4 a.m., Maring was estimated at 550 km east of Itbayat, Batanes, with maximum winds of 75 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph. It is forecast to move northeast at 7 kph. Also, PAGASA said the southwest monsoon Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Ilaw ng Tahanan, a project designed to train women inmates to produce low-cost solar lamps, brings young Filipino lawyers Margarita N. Gutierrez and Doranne Lim to Singapore for the finals of Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World, hopefully to win the US$25,000 Women’s Empowerment Grant. Gutierrez and Lim will compete with nine other Project Inspire finalists from Canada, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda and United States, whose projects will benefit communities in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East or Africa (APMEA). The 10 finalists were selected based on their sustainability, impact and economic or social benefit, out of this year’s 577 submissions from 62 countries around the world. Jointly organized by the Singapore Committee of UN Women and MasterCard and supported by INSEAD, Project Inspire is a digital and social media driven initiative that encourages young people across the world to empower disadvantaged women and girls. It was launched in 2011, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard in APMEA. Open to 18-35 year olds all over the world, Project Inspire provides a five-minute platform for pitching transformative, sustainable ideas and a grant for the winner to implement the initiatives, which can range from education and skills training, to financial inclusion or social entrepreneurship. It’s the third time Filipinos made a mark on the competition. For Project Inspire 2011, a micro-entrepreneurship program, Hapinoy, won the Grand Prize. Hapinoy equipped underprivileged women with the skills, tools, Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Listed Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) is jointly expanding the ports of Manila and Batangas backed by its P4.2-billion capital investments over the next three years to boost the competitiveness of Philippine industries. ATI vice president Sean Perez said the company is supporting the government’s bid to boost the competitiveness of industries by sustaining efficient gateway ports especially at this time of rapid economic growth. “Manila is the center of the country’s consumer-driven economy and where majority of economic activities transpire. This is what the ports of Manila serve,” he said. Aligned with this, Perez said that ATI is taking a balanced approach in its port development initiatives to ensure that Manila and its surrounding environs are adequately served by Manila South Harbor while at the same time opening up a viable option for industries based in southern Luzon via its modern Batangas Port. Perez said that developments at Manila South Harbor are on schedule and are primarily anchored on expanding pier- and land-side infrastructure, improving current facilities and acquiring new equipment to sustain the port’s reliability, efficiency and high productivity. Backed by P4.2 billion in capital investments over the next three years, ATI expects to meet its expansion targets for Manila’s gateway port as part of its contractual commitments with the state-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He added that Batangas Port container terminal would continue complementing Manila ports with a capacity of 300,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may tweak its 2015 inflation target of two to four percent in order to keep up with a foreseen volatile interest rate environment, the Bank of the Philippine Islands said. “In keeping with its desire to fulfill its dual mandate of price stability and financial stability, the BSP may consider widening its 2015 inflation target, a move that will be widely accepted by the market,” BPI Economics and Financial Markets Research said in a commentary. “BSP may resort to invoking flexibility and widen its inflation target to avoid a volatile interest rate environment, a scenario which could emerge with its pre-set 2015 inflation target of two to four percent,” it said. The bank explained the 2015 inflation target may be “incompatible” with the central bank’s preferred “middle-of-the-pack” stance for the peso. This “middle-of-the-pack” stance, which means the BSP is keeping the peso from veering away from the movement of other regional currencies, is seen to have a pass-through impact on inflation, the bank noted. “BSP’s more flexible exchange rate policy, embodied in their efforts to keep USD/PHP in the middle of the regional pack will likely lead to an upward adjustment in the BSP’s 2015 inflation target, which will in turn, enable monetary policy authority to keep interest rates stable in the next 18 months,” BPI said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The BSP sees inflation to fall within the three to five percent target this year Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – United States-based Pangea Motors, LLC (Pangea) is bringing to the Philippines a fully electric public utility vehicle (PUV) next month. Pangea has teamed up with local investors to create an international partnership called Global Electric Transportation with a Philippine franchise named GET Philippines Inc. to carry out its plan. “GET has an exclusive arrangement with Pangea for the supply and distribution of the public utility vehicle called the Comet,” Pangea said in a statement. Pangea said that unlike its competitors, its vehicles are designed to be fully electric from the beginning instead of modifying gas vehicles or golf carts. The vehicle uses lithium iron phosphate batteries that are enclosed in a watertight casing and consists of less than 300 parts instead of the usual 4,000 parts of a typical diesel-run engine, which translates to cost-efficient manufacturing and minimal maintenance, Pangea said. To penetrate the Philippine market, the GET team has painstakingly studied different angles of the Philippine transport system to ensure that all members of the community benefit from this endeavor. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “GET Philippines has conceived cashless fare payment and centralized fleet management systems, designated infrastructure, customer service support and adaptable financial models to support the needs of all the stakeholders involved,” Pangea said. The first vehicle is expected to arrive in the Philippines by mid-September. It will be making its public appearance soon after, the company said. It is set to serve passengers on its first route by Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has provided two shared service facilities (SSF) for sugar farmers in Batangas. In a statement, the DTI said it has given an automatic granular packaging machine worth P280,000 to Kamahari Agri-based Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Nasugbu. “Kamahari sells muscovado sugar in 250-and, 500-gram, and one kilogram packs. With the automated packaging machine, Kamahari would be able to sell muscovado in 10-20-and 30-gram sachets to supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and resorts,” DTI said. The Trade department added that at least five more producers of coffee, bignay tea, muscovado and other sugar products within the first district of Batangas would be able to use the packaging machine. Apart from the packaging machine given to Kamahari, the DTI likewise provided a presser or extractor, and workbench amounting to P78,000 to Riverside Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which sells sugarcane juice in Nasugbu. Riverside had earlier acquired a sugarcane press to use for its production, but was only able to sell juice in paper cups due to insufficient output. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Through the new SSF, Riverside is expected to increase its output of juice contained in polyethylene bottles which could be sold to restaurants, beach resorts and supermarkets not just in Batangas, but in Metro Manila as well. The SSF is one of the programs being implemented by the DTI to provide enterprises, particularly those in the countryside, with machinery and equipment to increase their levels of quality, productivity, and competitiveness. The Read More …