MEXICO proposed a free trade deal with the Philippines and the possibility of freeing up visa arrangements during a meeting between top officials of the two countries.
Feb 172017
May 272015
THE PHILIPPINES has launched exploratory talks for potential bilateral agreements with Mexico, Chile, and Canada amid “strong mutual interest,” with a deal likely to take at least two years to be forged, a Trade official said.
Apr 182014
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology on Saturday said there is no threat from a tsunami following a magnitude-6.9 quake that hit the Solomon Islands. In an advisory issued 9:20 a.m., Phivolcs said there is “no destructive widespread tsunami threat” based on historical and tsunami data. While it said such quakes can sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts within 100 km of the epicenter, “there is no tsunami threat to the Philippines from this earthquake.“ Citing initial information, Phivolcs said the quake at Solomon Islands occurred at 9:12 a.m. and had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9. Earlier, the Phivolcs similarly allayed fears of a tsunami from a magnitude-7.4 quake in Guerrero, Mexico. In its advisory issued 10:51 p.m. Friday, Phivolcs said the quake occurred in Guerrero, Mexico at 10:27 PM (Philippine Time) with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News
Feb 212014
Volkswagen Jettas produced in Mexico for export are parked at the port terminal in the Gulf city of Veracruz, Mexico. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) CELAYA, Mexico — Mexico is on track to become the United States’ No. 1 source of imported cars by the end of next year, overtaking Japan and Canada in a manufacturing boom that’s turning the auto industry into a bigger source of dollars than money sent home by migrants. The boom is raising hopes that Mexico can create enough new jobs to pull millions out of poverty as northbound migration slows sharply, but critics caution that most of the new car jobs are low-skill and pay too little. Mexico’s low and stagnant wages have helped kept the poverty rate between 40 and 50 percent since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement two decades ago. An $800 million Honda plant that opened Friday in the central state of Guanajuato will produce more than 200,000 Fit hatchbacks and compact sport-utility vehicles a year, helping push total Mexican car exports to the U.S. to 1.7 million in 2014, roughly 200,000 more than Japan, consulting firm IHS Automotive says. And with another big plant starting next week, Mexico is expected to surpass Canada for the top spot by the end of 2015. “It’s a safe bet,” said Eduardo Solis, president of the Mexican Automotive Industry Association. “Mexico is now one of the major global players in car manufacturing.” When NAFTA was signed two decades ago, Mexico produced 6 Read More …
Dec 262013
Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:25 am | Friday, December 27th, 2013 Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. AP FILE PHOTO The drug trafficking cartel known as Sinaloa derives its name from Mexico’s remote state. It is said to be the ancestral land of the country’s most notorious traffickers, bound in an “alliance of blood.” Prominent members are cousins by marriage or brothers-in-law. The cartel is headed by Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin (“El Chapo” or “Shorty”) Guzman. Often described as Mexico’s most powerful drug kingpin, Guzman escaped from prison in 2001 and then went on a wave of killings in an attempt to dominate the country’s highly lucrative drug trade into the United States. He has been on the run with a $5-million reward on his head since. Guzman was on the Forbes list of billionaires from 2009 to 2012. He was cut from the 2013 list. Forbes said it was no longer confident Guzman, rumored to have been killed in a shootout on the Guatemala border in February, had enough money to count in its rankings this year. About 90 percent of all cocaine consumed in the United States come from Mexico, which is also a major source of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana. By most estimates, Sinaloa has achieved a market share of 40 to 60 percent, which may be translated to annual revenues of some $3 billion. In the 1980s, Guzman joined the Guadalajara cartel, which was headed by a former policeman known as El Padrino. After El Padrino’s capture in Read More …
Jul 122013
NEW YORK – Family planning, higher education and quality time with loved ones are priorities for people around the world, according to a new global Nielsen survey focusing on lifestyle values released on Friday. The Nielsen poll of more than 29,000 people in 58 countries also showed that most people think women should have a say in important household issues, but opinions diverged on how the roles of wife and mother are perceived. “It was very striking that spending quality time with family was the No. 1 most important item,” said James Russo, senior vice president of Global Consumer Insights of Nielsen, a global provider of information and insights. In Nielsen’s first poll on lifestyle values, 80 percent of people surveyed said that spending time with family was most important, with the number rising to 88 percent in Latin America. “One of the more interesting findings is the consistency in these values,” Russo added, “which tells us that we are similar in many ways.” Family planning, or deciding on how many children to have, was a top issue, with 77 percent of people saying it was important, particularly in Latin America. In largely Catholic countries such as Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico, 90 percent or more agreed that it was crucial, compared to 45 percent of Norwegians and more than 50 percent of Danes and French. The rating for higher education was similar around the world, with 78 percent of people globally saying it was a priority. In emerging markets like Read More …
Feb 012013
MANILA, Philippines – Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) said it has secured a new manufacturing deal with a Japanese firm. In a disclosure to the local bourse, IMI said it will produce heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and blower units for the Mexico plant of Japan Climate Systems Corp. (JCS) starting the first quarter of 2014. Specifically, JCS is outsourcing to IMI the development of small plastic molds and plastic injection and complete product assembly of HVAC and blower units for Mazda cars. JCS develops, manufactures, and sells air conditioning, thermal control, and cooling apparatus for automobile and industrial machinery. Automotive firm Mazda, along with Visteon and Panasonic, is one of the main shareholders of JCS. “Our global footprint and extensive experience with Japanese partners make the synergy very compelling for JCS to choose IMI,” said IMI president and CEO Arthur R. Tan said. “This partnership also increases our company’s penetration into our target market of automotive electronics,” Tan added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Partnering with an experienced electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider like IMI will allow us to efficiently manufacture for our Mexico business,” said JCS president Toshiki Hiura. Hiura said IMI’s plastic injection and assembly technology and track record will help JCS grow its business. IMI is a provider of EMS and is into power semiconductor assembly and test services. It has a total of 17 manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, China, Singapore, US, Mexico, Bulgaria and Czech Republic. IMI serves diversified Read More …
Jan 292013
8:51 pm | Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 VALLADOLID, The Yucatan—This is not my first time in the Yucatan nor in Mexico, and every time I visit, always as a turista (to act otherwise would be disingenuous), I feel a connection with the country, a stronger one with it and the rest of Latin America than with that country north of the border, where my wife and I live, even as the tangled layers of bloodlines, colonial history, and economic imperatives, among other things, tie us to both the Hispanic world and that of the norteamericanos. Perhaps this can be explained by the simple fact that Las Islas Filipinas—that perla del mar oriente—was under the Iberian thumb far, far longer than the roughly half a century of US colonial occupation. The United States did take over a Southeast Asian country but one that was already Hispanicized. Walking around this lovely, un-bustling 16th-century colonial town, blessedly far from the hordes of visitors that clog Cancun on the Caribbean coast but not too far as to be a long haul from the Cancun airport, I do have a sense of déjà vu, even if this may be my first visit to this particular pueblo that is still largely Mayan. Whenever asked, I always facetiously summarize the legacies of more than three centuries of Spanish rule as the fiesta, the siesta, and la iglesia—with the last being a legacy the Philippines would be much better shaking off. (In this sense, the Mexicans very astutely Read More …