THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) may tighten monetary policy settings anew early next year should the US Federal Reserve hike its own interest rates, a Malaysian bank said in a research note.
Nov 022014
Nov 022014
TWO PUBLIC-PRIVATE partnership (PPP) projects under the Transportation department have been further delayed after the agency opted to push back bid submission deadlines, separate bulletins issued last Friday showed.
Nov 022014
(Second of two parts) IN LAST WEEK’S article we explained how agricultural companies have to account for the costs of bearer plants or the aggregate of planting costs prior to harvest. We also explained how these costs are currently accounted for in the financial statements. However, concerns about accuracy and complexity prompted the International Accounting Standards Board to amend International Accounting Standard (IAS) 16, Plant, Property and Equipment, and IAS 41, Agriculture. Specifically, bearer plants will be accounted for just like any other plant, property and equipment (PPE). We now continue the discussion on the specifics on how IAS 16 will be applied to bearer plants.
Nov 022014
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the country’s biggest telecommunications provider, insists that rival Globe Telecom’s acquisition of Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayantel) would result in “unfair” competition. PLDT, which earlier obtained a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals that effectively blocked a Bayantel takeover by Globe, restated parts of the order in a statement, saying it “has a clear right to be protected.” The statement was in apparent reaction to recent announcements by Globe, which noted that PLDT efforts to block the deal would delay improvements to Bayantel’s about 350,000 customers. The Court of Appeals’ TRO specifically prevents the National Telecommunications Commission from acting on a joint Globe-Bayantel application aimed at allowing Globe to convert Bayantel debts into equity. The conversion of those debts would allow Globe to take a controlling stake in Bayantel, which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation. “It is the position of both PLDT and Smart (Communication) that the arrangement circumvents pertinent laws and regulations regarding the assignment, allocation, or use of radio frequencies that call for the public auction of the contested radio frequencies which remained idle for over 10 years,” PLDT said. “It should be noted that Bayantel’s franchise also specifically prohibits the transfer, sale or assignment of any right or privilege granted to it without the approval of Congress,” PLDT added. PLDT previously said the issue stemmed from an earlier position it took against an agreement between Bayantel and Globe for the joint use of frequencies. PLDT unit Smart earlier argued that the Bayantel Read More …
Nov 022014
The rate of consumer price increases likely continued to slow down in October for the second consecutive month as fuel and food costs fell during the month. Fuel prices in international markets have fallen by a quarter since the start of the year. The country has also started to recover from the effects of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” that struck in November last year and supply shocks due to Manila’s truck ban earlier this year. This comes amid signals by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that benchmark interest rates would be kept on hold in the coming months to allow previous increases to work their way into the economy. “Food prices may remain elevated but easing oil prices may offset (this),” said Gundy Cahyadi, economist at Singapore’s DBS bank. DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest lender, sees Philippine inflation slowing down to 4.2 percent in October, a view shared by BDO Unibank Inc.. This is slower than the 4.4 percent in September. Inflation peaked this year at 4.9 percent in July and August. Barclays and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. both see inflation at 4.3 percent, while Bank of the Philippine Islands expects inflation at 4.1 percent. All projections are within the BSP’s projected range of 3.7 to 4.6 percent for the month. The BSP wants to keep inflation within the 3 to 5 percent target range. Last year, inflation settled at 3 percent. Earlier this week, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said that with price pressures easing, monetary authorities would keep Read More …
Nov 022014
MANILA, Philippines – The 13th Israeli Film Festival will start a journey of laughter from the Holy Land to the Philippines, with Manila as its first stop. The Israeli Film Festival will be launched on Nov. 5 and 6 in Greenbelt 3 Cinema, Makati City. And it will travel up north to Baguio, then to Iloilo, and down south to Davao and Zamboanga in the regional cinematheques of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). In partnership with the FDCP through its Film Cultural Exchange Program, Ayala Malls, and Greenbelt Cinema, the 13th Israeli Film Festival will feature eight films of heartwarming comedy. Admission is free. Israeli Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau said that humor is one of the strongest trademarks of the Israeli society and the Jewish world. “Humor is the best universal language that we all understand. The film festival is an opportunity for all of us, Israelis and Filipinos, to laugh together,” said Ambassador Matityau. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: One of the highlights of the festival is the screening of Hunting Elephants, which features seasoned British actor Patrick Stewart who is known for his role as Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men’s Professor Charles Xavier. This 2013 film revolves around the adventures and misadventures behind a bank robbery for revenge. Two films mix the mysteries of the human heart and changes in society. The 2013 film Up the Wrong Tree of eminent Israeli filmmaker Gur Bentwich centers on a personal and Read More …
Nov 022014
Sta. Elena Construction’s maintenance supervisor, Elias Altarejos with Sta. Elena HR head Pinky Rojas and Lancaster officials MANILA, Philippines – The name “Alice” means “noble” and generous indeed is this tribute to loyalty. As part of its corporate social responsibility, Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corporation (SECDC), led by its president, Alice Eduardo, is providing nearly 500 free homes to its employees. The only equity required comes in the form of tenure and loyalty. For this purpose, the company has chosen Lancaster New City in Imus, Cavite where it has acquired an entire Phase covering over four hectares. By pure coincidence, the name of the model unit is “Alice.” The self-contained township is a mere fifteen minutes away from SM Mall of Asia via the CAVITEx. Elias Altarejos, who has been with Sta. Elena from the start, spoke for the entire team when he said: “Isang panaginip ito na ngayo’y nagkatotoo. Kadalasan at karamihan ng employee housing may partisipasyon sa bayad at napakalayo. Sa pabahay ng Sta. Elena ang tanging puhunan ay katapatan, malasakit at dedikasyon. Ito rin ay napakalapit sa Maynila.” Over the last two decades, Sta. Elena Construction has forged a strong reputation for building foundations, ports, roads and bridges, and power plants. The firm has made a name for itself not only in the quality of its work, but also in the way it takes care of its greatest asset: its people.
Nov 022014
BANK depositors have lost nearly P400 million as a result of 2,872 cases of automated machine teller (ATM) fraud – mainly card-skimming – from 2012 to 2013, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said over the weekend. Citing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) figures, Romulo said that in 2013 alone, some P220 million in deposits were looted on account of the proliferation of illegal personal identification number (PIN)-capturing devices on ATMs. The amount was P45 million, or 26 percent, higher than the P175 million in deposits ripped off in 2012 due to the covert copying of information from the magnetic strip of an ATM card, according to Romulo. “These losses do not include the sum lost by cardholders due to conventional ATM robberies or holdups at gunpoint,” he pointed out. Romulo is author of House Bill 5036 –- the proposed ATM Theft Insurance Act — which seeks to require all banks to extend financial protection to their cardholders against losses due to fraud or robbery. “Banks are duty-bound to safeguard customers and their deposits against all forms of attacks at all times,” Romulo said. Card-skimming refers to the illegal capture of a cardholder’s PIN, mainly via a “skimming plate” sneakily installed by scammers on an ATM. Cloned card Crooks then create a false or “cloned” card that enables them to withdraw or run up charges to the victim’s account. Skimming is also a way for “identity thieves” to steal a cardholder’s personal and account details, thus allowing them to borrow money Read More …
Nov 022014
Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will ask the Sandiganbayan for a furlough to attend the wake and interment of her grandson who died early Sunday. “We are going to file a motion tomorrow asking the Sandiganbayan to allow her (Arroyo) to attend the wake and the interment of her grandson,” lawyer Raul Lambino, Arroyo spokesman, told GMA News Online in a phone interview. Lambino said that the 13-month-old child — Luli Arroyo and Luigi Bernas’ youngest son — had been suffering from a heart ailment. Luli is the former president’s only daughter. “Dinala kagabi sa Philippine Heart Center ‘yung bata. He passed away around 10 this morning,” he said. “I hope the Sandiganbayan will give merit to the motion for humanitarian reasons,” he added. Arroyo has been under hospital arrest at Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center since 2012 for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently divert P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds “for personal gain” from 2008 to 2010. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/JDS, GMA News
Nov 022014
The chances of Vice President Jejomar Binay attending the Senate blue ribbon committee probe on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II appear slim after two of his allies were booted out of the subcommittee’s hearing last week. Lawyer Jose Virgilio “JV” Bautista, one of those shown the door by Senate security, said the Senate subpanel’s treatment of him and Navotas City Rep. Tobias “Toby” Tiangco showed that Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III has “lost control” of Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Alan Peter Cayetano and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. “Sa takbo ng mga insidente na ‘to, parang hindi na rin ginaganahan ang ating Pangalawang Pangulo na pumunta sa mother committee… Nakikita nya hindi naman pala kontrolado ni Senator Guingona itong nagwawalang tatlong senador. ‘Yung iniiwasan ni VP na mangyari sa subcommittee ay baka mangyari doon sa mother committee, ganon din lang yon,” he said in an interview on dzBB radio Sunday. Bautista, however, added the decision on whether or not to attend the probe is still up to Binay. Cayetano barred both Bautista and Tiangco from speaking at the hearing last Oct. 30, saying they were not invited as resource persons or witnesses. He then ordered the Senate sergeant-at-arms to escort the two executives of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) out of the session hall. The Blue Ribbon main committee has formally invited Binay to appear at the Senate to shed light on purported irregularities in the construction of the P2.7-billion Makati building. Challenge: Probe Read More …