Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Palawan will soon be connected to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as part of the economic and trade cooperation among the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said on Monday. Coloma said President Benigno S. Aquino III and leaders of the Southeast Asian countries agreed to concretize the proposed connections of roads, airports and seaports through the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Leaders of the four countries met during the 24th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Myanmar and held the 10th BIMP-EAGA summit there. Coloma said aside from direct flights from Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu, private companies also signed a memorandum of agreement to establish the Davao-General Santos-Bitung shipping service, which will connect Mindanao to Sulawesi in Indonesia. He said the economic cooperation is also meant to boost the livelihood of citizens of the four countries. BIMP-EAGA is a subregional economic bloc established in 1994 to spur economic development and trade liberalization in the resource-rich area covered by the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua and Papua in Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; and the island of Mindanao and the province of Palawan in the Philippines.

Many Filipinos are literally saddled with debt. As such, debt has been viewed negatively. Being in debt connotes a burden, and being buried in debt has a similar connotation as being buried six feet under. However, with all the negative beliefs about debt, debt can actually be your best friend and lifesaver. Debt is made possible through credit. It is important to understand that the word credit has the same Latin roots such as creed and credibility. This root word is credere, which means to entrust and to believe. Credere comes from ker-dhe, which literally means to put one’s heart into. Thus, good debt is a product of kind intentions, since the lender actually entrusts his or her money to you to save you from some predicament. For instance, your remittance is delayed, and someone in your family suddenly suffers from a medical emergency. To pay for this emergency, you can draw from your liquidity pool, but if it is not enough to cover for this, the next best thing would be to ask for financial help from a relative or a very close friend. Personal credit then acts as a bridge, allowing you to meet the expenses associated with the emergency, prior to you receiving your cash inflow. Let me call this kind of debt personal debt. Thus, a credit line can actually serve as a lifeline, in cases where liquidity cannot cover the essentials. However, being an extension of someone’s kindness, personal debt bears a responsibility. Personal debt Read More …

SUBSIDIES given to state firms went down significantly in March from a year ago as the government disbursed less financial assistance during the month, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.