Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in the country’s power mix. The WWF believes that while the DOE has increased the installation targets for solar energy under the so-called Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program, the next step is to commit to specific targets for wind energy. “WWF believes that with the increase in solar, an additional increase in wind energy installation targets is a firm, next step that the DOE can commit to,” the group said. FIT is a set of incentives given to renewable energy players. Under the FIT system, renewable energy companies are entitled to the following FIT rates: P9.68 per kwh for solar power, P8.53 per kwh for wind and P5.90 per kwh for run-of-river hydroelectric power. WWF said that about 70 percent of Philippine electricity is currently generated from fossil-fuels, with 90 percent of coal and oil resources imported at varying prices from other nations. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 On the other hand, the group said that clean and renewable sources of energy such as geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy are among the Philippines’ few competitive advantages, especially since the country has no significant deposits of fossil fuels. “Its continued reliance on imported fuel has made Philippine electricity rates among the highest in Asia,” it said. If the country relies more on renewable energy than on imported fuel, consumers may benefit from lower electricity Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue has amended the documentary requirements for brokers and dealers applying for a clearance certificate or accreditation with the Bureau of Customs. Under the new guidelines, applicants no longer need to submit a certified copy of their certificate of registration with the BIR as well as their business registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the BIR imposed new documentary requirements which include a certification issued by the concerned revenue district that the applicant has no pending criminal charges, delinquent account and tax liabilities. The applicant is also required to submit a certification that it has filed the requisite monthly summary list of sales, purchases and importations for the next eight taxable quarters. Applicants must also submit a certification that it had electronically filed the requisite alphabetical list of income recipients subjected to creditable withholding taxes during the last two preceding years and that the same were successfully uploaded to the BIR’s data warehouse. Applications of importers/brokers found submitting any certification that is different from the one issued by the concerned offices shall be automatically rejected, BIR commissioner Kim Henares said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 She said only applications with certifications issued by the concerned BIR offices that the applicant is fully compliant with all the prescribed criteria shall be accepted by the Accounts Receivable Monitoring Division (ARMD). The BIR chief noted that the six-month validity period of the provisional importers clearance certificate shall no longer be Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has started evaluating the technical proposals of Filinvest Land Inc. and a group led by Megawide Construction Corp. for the proposed P2.5 billion integrated transport system – southwest terminal. The DOTC has opened the technical proposals submitted by Filinvest Land and Megawide’s MWM Terminals for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. “The DOTC will conduct a detailed evaluation of the group’s technical proposals before the financial proposals are opened,” the PPP Center said in a statement. Both groups were prequalified by DOTC’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) early this year. A total of 16 companies bought prequalification documents for the PPP project but only Filinvest Land and MWM Terminals submitted qualification documents last Dec. 22. Aside from Filinvest and Megawide, other companies that bought bid documents include San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Robinsons Land Inc., D.M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc., Vicente T. Lao Construction, French-owned Egis Projects Philippines, Megaworld Corp., State Properties Corp., Expedition Properties Corp., MGS Construction Inc., Altus San Nicolas Corp., and Tutuban Properties. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The proposed terminal to be situated in a 4.6-hectare property at the Coastal Road Terminal along the Manila-Cavite Expressway would connect passengers coming from Cavite to other urban transport systems such as the future Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT) South Extension to Bacoor in Cavite, city bus, taxi, and other public utility vehicles plying Metro Manila. Earlier, Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is reviewing the suggested retail prices (SRPs) for selected basic goods such as milk, bread and noodles, citing lower cost of imported raw materials. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo has instructed Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Group Victorio Mario Dimagiba to review the retail prices of the selected basic goods. “SRPs for selected basic goods such as milk, bread and noodles should go down due to lower cost of imported raw materials of skimmed milk, powdered milk, and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas),” the department said. Even as prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal have been reduced by P0.50 and P0.25, respectively in November. Domingo said any additional price reduction would be welcomed by consumers. Prices of most basic necessities and prime commodities in the last quarter of 2014 reflected the declining cost of petroleum products such as diesel and gasoline for the same period. The DTI said the prices of most of the monitored retail prices of basic and prime goods from October to December 2014 are unchanged or are lower than the published SRPs by 0.06 percent up to 23.53 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Prevailing monitored prices of 51 brands of basic and prime goods remained at SRP levels, while products whose prevailing prices are lower than the SRPs are: Milkmaid Full Cream Sweetened Condensed Milk 300 ml (millilitre) – lower by P2.85; Alaska Evaporated Milk 370 ml – lower by P1.20; Alpine Read More …