SUGAR production for crop year 2013-2014 will likely be lower than the country’s final raw sugar output for the current crop year, a Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) official said yesterday.
Aug 302013
Aug 302013
THE CONCESSIONAIRE agreement for the P17.2-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport rehabilitation public-private partnership (PPP) project will be available by tonight or tomorrow, a top MCIA official said.
Aug 302013
THE CIVIL Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) expects the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to raise the country from Category 2 to Category 1 sometime in October, the local aviation regulator’s top official said.
Aug 302013
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stok Exchange (PSE) index rallied for the second straight day yesterday, rising 2.20 percent or 130.96 points to 6,075.17. “Equity investors found more reason to stay optimistic after US economic numbers showed the worst may be over,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp. “European shares snapped three consecutive days of losses as the UK Parliament rejected a proposed military involvement in Syria,” Calaycay said. Geopolitical tension in Syria, particularly the potential US-led military strike, has been hounding stock markets in the past few days. Wall Street advanced anew as easing tensions was coupled with a surprising 2.5-percent second quarter gross domestic product growth in the US. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.1 percent or 16.44 points to 14,840.95, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.2 percent or 3.21 points to 1,638.17. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Locally, all counters were in the green, led by property firms that rose 2.81 percent or 63.39 points to 2,319.44. “The PSEi started off with a 40-point gain and except for a momentary slide took a decidedly positive heading, breaking into the 6,000-line going into the final hour of morning trades,” Calaycay said. Turnover value spiked to P14.43 billion from P9.69 billion on Thursday. There were two advancers for every decliner. SM Investments Corp. (+1.36 percent) remained as the top traded company, followed by Ayala Land Inc. (+3.31 percent) and PLDT (+2.79 percent).
Aug 302013
MANILA, Philippines – The number of approved building permits declined 3.9 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago as developers took fewer projects. The National Statistics Office (NSO) said preliminary results of its construction statistics showed that the total number of construction projects from approved building permits was registered at 29,424. The number is lower than the 30,614 projects reported in the same period last year. While there were fewer approved building permits in the second quarter this year, the total value of construction projects for the period increased compared to the previous year. The aggregate value of construction projects during the quarter reached P66.4 billion, up 9 percent from the P60.9 billion in the comparable period a year ago. The bulk or 72.6 percent of the total new construction projects for the period were residential buildings which reached 21,360. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 These residential projects were valued at P32.6 billion. Approved building permits for non-residential projects which accounted for 11.9 percent of the total, reached 3,504. The non-residential projects amounted to P28.5 billion. The total number of building permits for additions, alterations and repairs of existing structures meanwhile, reached 4,560 in the second quarter, with their combined value placed at P5.3 billion. “Among regions in the country, CALABARZON (Region IVA) posted the highest number of construction projects with 6,826 accounting for 23.2 percent of the total,” the NSO said. The National Capital Region came in second while Read More …
Aug 302013
MANILA, Philippines – After sentiment hit an all-time high in the second quarter, businesses turned less bullish in the succeeding three-month period on the back of the seasonal drop in demand, peso volatility and concern over the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s looming exit from its massive bond buying program, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday. In its Business Expectations Survey (BES), the BSP said the overall confidence index for the third quarter eased to 42.8 percent from record high of 54.9 percent in the second quarter. Despite the slight drop, the index for the fourth quarter climbed to a new high of 60 percent. The index is the difference between the percentage of firms that answered in the positive and those in the negative. “Basically, the general story is the business sentiment of our respondents continue to be broadly bullish,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said. “There was some slight decline in the confidence index but in general, it remains in the positive story so the bullishness that we saw in the first quarter and second quarter continued in the third quarter,” he added. “Respondents attributed their less buoyant outlook to expectations of lower seasonal demand during the quarter, stiffer competition, particularly from products from China, and volatility in the movements of the peso” Teresita B. Deveza, deputy director of BSP’s Department of Economic Statistics, said. “Uncertainties in the global economy such as the impact of the anticipated exit from quantitative easing in the US Read More …
Aug 302013
MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is on track to hit or even exceed its sin tax collection target of P60 billion this year, according to its top official. “We’re confident that we will reach the target. We think we can even surpass it,” said Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares. Excise tax collections from sin products grew 46 percent to P38.54 billion as of end-June. The bigger share of P22.38 billion came from excise tax revenues from tobacco products. Excise tax collections from alcohol amounted to P16.16 million, up 37 percent from P11.77 billion a year ago. Henares said the BIR would have collected P9 billion more if volumes did not fall by 43 percent. Nevertheless, collections were still up 56 percent compared with the previous year. The P12.15-billion increase in sin tax collections accounted for less than half of the expected P33.96 billion additional revenues that the government seeks to raise in the first year of implementation of the sin tax reform law. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The decline in volume was due to frontloading at the latter part of 2012. Of the total P33.96 billion in incremental six tax revenues expected this year, P22.9 billion would come from tobacco products while P11 billion would come from alcohol products. Henares said the BIR would have collected P9 billion more if volumes did not fall 43 percent. Nevertheless, collections were still up 56 percent compared with the previous year. The decline in Read More …
Aug 302013
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has thumbed down the proposed farm-in agreement for Service Contract 6 in Northwest Palawan primarily due to its proponents failure to meet the required financial capability, Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday. The farm-in agreement proposes to transfer the 70 percent interest and right to operate SC 6 to three companies, namely Peak Oil and Gas Ltd., Blade Petroleum and VenturOil Philippines Inc. Trans-Asia Petroleum, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., has a 14.063 percent participating interest in SC 6 Block B. Other consortium members are Philodrill, Nido Petroleum Ltd., Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp. and Alcorn Petroleum & Minerals Corp. In December 2011, Philodrill executed a deed of assignment, transferring the 70 percent participating interest in SC 6B – located northwest of Palawan – to the three companies. However, the energy department said that after a thorough review of the documents, the documents were deemed not enough to completely evaluate the application. “Further, Philodrill failed to comply and submit additional updated documents as requested in our letter… Since then and up to now, all the farminees have been unable to comply with the DOE’s directive to submit additional documents which are supposed to aid the DOE in properly determining whether the farminees and applicant for operatorship are qualified to perform the work obligations in SC 6B,” the energy department said in an earlier letter to Read More …
Aug 302013
By Michelle V. RemoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 10:47 pm | Friday, August 30th, 2013 The value of construction projects with approved building permits rose in the second quarter from a year ago on the back of substantial demand for residential and office spaces. This was according to the National Statistics Office, which reported that construction projects with building permits were valued at P66.4 billion in the second quarter, up by nearly 18 percent from P60.9 billion reported in the same period last year. The total value was spread over 29,424 projects, lower by about 4 percent than the 30,614 approved building projects reported for the same period last year. Nearly half, or P32.6 billion, of the total value of construction projects was accounted for by the residential sector. Non-residential accounted for P28.5 billion and the balance covered repairs. The total floor area for residential projects stood at 3.3 million square meters, while that for non-residential settled at 2.1 million square meters. The total floor area for residential projects was up from 3.1 million square meters a year ago, while the total floor area for office and other non-residential projects was lower than last year’s 2.8 million square meters. The double-digit growth in the value of construction projects was attributed to still significant demand for residential and office spaces. Economists said the demand for residential spaces in the Philippines was partly boosted by remittances from overseas Filipino workers, while demand for office spaces was driven in part by demand from business process Read More …
Aug 302013
A Makati court has approved the transfer of controversial businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles from the Makati City Jail to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, a tweet from radio dzBB said Friday. Napoles’s camp asked for her transfer for “safety reasons.” Napoles, detained in connection with a serious illegal detention case, spent the night at the Makati City Jail after surrendering to President Benigno Aquino III Wednesday night. The alleged mastermind in a P10-billion pork barrel scam, Napoles was first brought to Camp Crame in Quezon City after her surrender. She was brought to Makati City Jail on Thursday night. Among known personalities who had been detained at Fort Sto. Domingo were former President Joseph Estrada and his son Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Nur Misuari, and Sen. Gringo Honasan. — KBK, GMA News