SOUTH Korea’s largest importers organization is set to visit the country this week in a bid to strengthen its ties with the Philippines, the Trade department said in a statement yesterday.
Jul 152013
Jul 152013
MANILA, Philippines – Small flour millers are asking the Department of Agriculture (DA) to investigate the alleged dumping of Turkish flour into the country. The Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFMIL) yesterday said it filed a petition before the DA in May seeking a public hearing on the issue and to coordinate with the Tariff Commission to institute safeguards against the supposed dumping of Turkish flour. “We asked the DA to look into the matter and conduct a public hearing. Afterwards, it can coordinate with the Tariff Commission to put in place the necessary safeguards,” said PAFMIL executive director Ric Pinca. “We hope to get a favorable ruling because we believe we have a strong case.” PAFMIL alleged that Turkish flour exportation to the Philippines at dumping prices violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Dumping occurs when a country exports a commodity at prices lower than its domestic prices. “When a country exports products at dumping prices, it is engaged in unfair trade. Thus, we are up against a group of flour exporters engaging in unfair trade,” said Pinca. PAFMIL noted that in 2010, average export price of Turkish flour was $276 per metric ton while their domestic price was $600 per MT. In 2011, export price was at an average of $388 per MT against Turkish domestic price of $600 per MT. Last year, it was $340 against their domestic price of $470 per MT. PAFMIL said Turkish flour exports Read More …
Jul 152013
MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Corp.’s plan to raise about $4 billion by selling power assets brings it closer to funding the Philippines’ biggest company’s expansion into industries and infrastructure. The Southeast Asian nation’s most acquisitive company plans to spend $35 billion to complete Ramon Ang’s strategy to transform SMC from a brewer and foodmaker into an investor in energy, mining, airlines and roads. San Miguel, which started making beer before the country declared independence from Spain more than 100 years ago, has made more than $5.6 billion worth of purchases since 2008, when it announced an investment in Manila Electric Co. That stake has more than tripled in value, while Ang acquired control of Petron Corp., the country’s largest refiner, and bought three of the nation’s biggest power plants. “Ang has been an opportunistic entrepreneur and he has seen better opportunities so he’s selling assets that have already paid off to fund these new ventures,” said Marvin Fausto, who oversees about $20 billion as Manila-based chief investment officer at BDO Unibank Inc. “He’s moving assets from one to the other, liquidating those where he has made money, and financing opportunities that will eventually pay off like toll roads and airlines.” Completion of Ang’s plan to sell a 32.8- percent stake in Meralco and 49 percent of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. would bring his asset sales in the past seven years to about $10 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “If we can sell something, good,” Ang said Read More …
Jul 152013
MANILA (Mabuhay) — President Benigno Aquino III on Friday met with new World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Axel van Trotsenburg during a courtesy call at Malacanang’s Music Room. This is the first visit of Trotsenburg to the Philippines since he assumed his post on February 1, 2013. Joining Trotsenburg were […]
Jul 152013
By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 3:39 pm | Monday, July 15th, 2013 DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – Accept that we own the entire South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) before we talk. That was gist of “the Chinese unequivocal message” on the territorial dispute with the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) despite several attempts at negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez told reporters Monday. “It has, therefore, become impossible to continue bilateral discussion on disputes in the WPS with China on the basis of this rigid position,” Hernandez said. “This led us to finally resort to arbitration under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS),” he said. The DFA’s statement was in response to another statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that said “the Philippine’s claim that it had exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful settlement of dispute is completely not true.” Hernandez said that their statement was baseless and he enumerated the many attempts of the Philippines to settle the dispute. “Since intrusions in the Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag Shoal or Scarborough Shoal) started in April 2012 alone, we have had nearly fifty consultations with China,” he said. The DFA had officially asked China to bring the issue “to a dispute settlement mechanism to resolve the issue on a long-term basis” through a note verbale dated April 26, 2012. Hernandez said that China replied that it Read More …
Jul 142013
By Norman BordadoraPhilippine Daily Inquirer 6:55 am | Monday, July 15th, 2013 The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) has dismissed Priscilla Mijares et al.’s petition to enforce in the Philippines an 18-year-old United States District Court decision awarding some $2 billion from the Marcos estate to victims of human rights violations during the late dictator’s administration. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) has dismissed Priscilla Mijares et al.’s petition to enforce in the Philippines an 18-year-old United States District Court decision awarding some $2 billion from the Marcos estate to victims of human rights violations during the late dictator’s administration. A PDF copy of the 11-page decision rendered by Judge Bonifacio Pascua of Makati RTC Branch 56 was furnished the Inquirer by the staff of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who expressed the family’s feeling of vindication on the heels of the June 25 ruling. “Even if we were to espouse fear or threat as reasons for plaintiffs not to file the same in the Philippines, MDL No. 840 was filed in 1991, or five years after Ferdinand E. Marcos was deposed,” the Makati court said in dismissing the plaintiffs’ petition for enforcing the Hawaii court’s award of billions of dollars in damages. “Moreover, the case was filed on foreign soil nearly two years after the death of Ferdinand E. Marcos. A thought along the line of fear or threat on the plaintiffs that could have precluded their filing of a case in the Philippines is obviously imaginary,” Read More …
Jul 132013
Agence France-Presse 3:13 pm | Saturday, July 13th, 2013 TAIPEI—Typhoon Soulik battered Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds on Saturday that left one person dead and at least 30 people injured. This as the typhoon, codenamed “Huaning” in the Philippines, left the country’s area of responsibility Saturday morning, prompting the lifting of all public storm alerts in extreme Northern Luzon. As daylight dawned, some areas in Taiwan were submerged by flood waters, roofs were ripped from homes, and debris and fallen trees littered the streets. More heavy rain and strong winds are predicted throughout Saturday with the authorities warning of landslides and further flooding. More than 8,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the typhoon hit, many from southern areas prone to landslides. Soldiers have been deployed to high risk areas and the whole island declared an “alert zone” by the authorities. In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks that came loose during the typhoon, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said. Three people were left seriously injured with 31 reported hurt in four cities in northeast Taiwan, most of them hit by trees or flying debris. Soulik made landfall on the northeast coast around 03 a.m. Saturday (2000 GMT Friday), packing winds of up to 190 kilometers an hour (118 miles), the Central Weather Bureau said. “We expect Soulik to continue to affect Taiwan with heavy rains and strong winds throughout Saturday across Taiwan even though it is moving away and Read More …
Jul 122013
THE PHILIPPINE and Belgian foreign ministers capped their bilateral talks with a comprehensive agreement, a first between the two countries, with an aim to improve trade relations.
Jul 122013
A TRADE mission from the United States will visit the Philippines on Monday to seek Philippine partners for a number of sectors, a statement from the US Embassy said Friday.
Jul 122013
Axel von Trotsenburg, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific (Jovan Cerda) MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government has to create more jobs to reduce poverty and sustain high economic growth, the World Bank said on Friday. “Turning high growth into inclusive growth is increasingly important for the Philippines, by deepening and accelerating reforms that will create more and better jobs to reduce poverty,” Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific said. Van Trotsenburg said job generation supported by quality education remains a big challenge in the Philippines and other countries in the world, and the country needs to create high-paying jobs directed to the youth sector. The unemployment rate in the country jumped to 7.5 percent in April from the 6.9 percent in 2012 despite gross domestic product soaring by 6.8 percent in 2012 and a 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013. For this year, World Bank expects the Philippines to grow by 6.2 percent. Van Trotsenburg earlier met President Benigno Aquino III and the government’s economic team to discuss areas where the multilateral financial institution can help the country in funding projects aimed at reducing poverty and improving governance in the Philippines. He also noted the transfer of the $300-million development policy loan aimed at spurring job-creating and poverty-reducing growth in the country. “There is clear convergence with the government’s goal of inclusive growth and the World Bank Group’s twin goals to end extreme global poverty by 2030 and Read More …