US 7-11 stores rapped for exploiting Filipinos

 News
Jun 182013
 
US 7-11 stores rapped for exploiting Filipinos

Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:47 am | Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 Graphics depicting the locations of 7-Eleven stores involved in a federal indictment are shown after a news conference at the US Attorney’s office, Monday, June 17, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Philippine officials in the US are investigating the reported exploitation of Filipino immigrants at several 7-Eleven convenience stores in two East Coast states under a scheme likened to a “modern-day plantation system” where their wages are withheld and their employment concealed under stolen identities. AP PHOTO/JOHN MINCHILLO MANILA, Philippines—Philippine officials in the United States are investigating the reported exploitation of Filipino immigrants at several 7-Eleven convenience stores in two East Coast states under a scheme likened to a “modern-day plantation system” where their wages are withheld and their employment concealed under stolen identities. Nine store owners and managers were charged on Monday in the scheme to exploit immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines, in part by paying them using the stolen Social Security numbers of a child and three dead people, according to the Associated Press (AP). Most of the defendants were arrested early Monday as US federal authorities raided 14 franchise stores on Long Island, New York, and in Virginia. Immigration and customs enforcement agents were executing search warrants at about 30 other stores across the US suspected of similar infractions, authorities said at a news conference in Brooklyn. The Philippine Embassy in Washington and the Philippine Consulate General in New York are looking into Read More …

US convenience stores exploited immigrants from PH, Pakistan

 News
Jun 172013
 
US convenience stores exploited immigrants from PH, Pakistan

Associated Press 7:50 am | Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 Graphics depicting the locations of 7-Eleven stores involved in a federal indictment are shown after a news conference at the US Attorney’s office, Monday, June 17, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch has announced the indictment of nine individuals involved in a multi-state scheme to conceal the systematic employment of illegal immigrants and steal their identities. AP PHOTO/JOHN MINCHILLO NEW YORK—Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven convenience stores were charged Monday in a scheme to exploit immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines, in part by paying them using the stolen Social Security numbers of a child and three dead people while stealing most of their wages. Most of the defendants were arrested early Monday as federal authorities raided 14 franchise stores on Long Island, New York, and in Virginia. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were executing search warrants at more than 40 other stores across the US suspected of similar infractions, authorities said at a news conference in Brooklyn. “These nine defendants created a modern-day plantation system, with themselves as overseers, with the immigrant workers as subjects, living in their version of a company town,” US Attorney Loretta Lynch told a news conference in Brooklyn. Four defendants who hold both US and Pakistani citizenship belong to a family that has participated in social events with Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, prosecutors said in court papers as they highlighted foreign ties while successfully Read More …

Interest rates seen staying at lowest levels

 Economy
Jun 162013
 
Interest rates seen staying at lowest levels

MANILA, Philippines – Interest rates are expected to remain at their lowest levels this year as the current market sell-off, the worst since 2008, remains manageable thanks to the country’s strong fundamentals. On Thursday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept policy rates steady at 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent for overnight borrowing and lending, respectively. It also held the rate it charges on special deposit accounts (SDA) at two percent. Policy rates – which serve as benchmark for banks in charging their loans – have been maintained at their historic low levels since October last year, with the BSP choosing to reduce SDA rates by a total of 150 basis points earlier this year to push out more funds into the system and support economic growth. “It’s neutral for now. It’s both hard to say at this point whether this is the end of the cuts or is just a pause at the end of the year,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. told CNBC in a televised interview, adding that “if it is needed, we have scope to further ease.” For analysts, the decision – which one described as a “disappointment” – was a show of strength from the BSP, which has successfully maneuvered the country from the global financial crisis five years ago to help it become Asia’s fastest growing economy now. “There were economic reasons for the BSP to pursue another SDA reduction, but it chose to pause,” said Emilio Neri Jr., lead economist at the Bank Read More …

EU gets deal on trans-Atlantic trade pact

 Economy
Jun 152013
 
EU gets deal on trans-Atlantic trade pact

LUXEMBOURG– The European Union worked around French objections on Friday to agree on a free trade negotiating mandate for sweeping talks with the United States that President Barack Obama wants to officially open next week.  Under Friday’s deal, trade ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg agreed to France’s demand to keep its movie and television industry out of the hotly anticipated trans-Atlantic talks. But, they said they could possibly come back to debate it at a later time, meaning the deeply divisive issue could resurface.  The outcome should allow Obama and his EU counterparts to announce the start of negotiations for a deal expected to provide a big boost to growth and jobs by eliminating tariffs and other barriers that have long plagued economic relations. A free trade pact would create a market with common standards and regulations across countries that together account for nearly half the global economy. France’s longstanding objections, which turned a simple ministerial meeting into a 12-hour negotiating marathon, showed the challenges ahead. Within the EU alone, there is a rift with some nations big on protecting struggling sectors with subsidies and more pro-free-trade member states. Beyond the audiovisual sector, major problems are expected to emerge over agriculture and transport. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Friday night though, Finland’s European Affairs Minister Alexander Stubb tweeted optimistically about the prospect of trans-Atlantic negotiations: “Play ball!” he wrote. All other EU nations have vowed to protect the culture industry as well, but the large Read More …

European economic growth still on US agenda

 Economy
Jun 142013
 
European economic growth still on US agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after President Barack Obama made an emphatic pitch to Europe’s economic powers to focus more on economic growth than austerity, much of the eurozone remains mired in or near recession. Obama’s appeals have had mixed results in softening the demands on some of the most debt-ridden European nations to cut their spending. Still, the region’s crisis is no longer perceived as an urgent threat to the global economy, and while the US still wants Europe to temper the debt trimming and increase global demand, Obama is not expected to be as insistent with other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations when they meet in Northern Ireland next week. Last year, the G-8 leaders assembled at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat in the aftermath of European elections that represented a revolt against the austerity measures pushed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. When Obama greeted Merkel and asked how she had been, the German leader merely shrugged. “Well, you have a few things on your mind,” Obama replied then. These days, the furor has died down, high-debt nations have been given more time to work on their fiscal cuts, and even the language has changed from “austerity” to “growth-oriented structural reforms.” “Relative to last year, things are somewhat better in that the European situation is more contained,” said Matthew Goodman, a former Obama international economics adviser now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The risks that people were worried about have been Read More …

Hot money outflow in May largest since 1999

 Economy
Jun 142013
 
Hot money outflow in May largest since 1999

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign portfolio investments slumped the most last month since 1999 after investors shied away from emerging markets on indications US stimulus measures will be scaled down. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday that portfolio placements— usually placed in the bond and stock markets— reversed to a net outflow of $640.84 million in May, the first for the year. A net outflow indicates more investments left the country than entered. The May tally was also the highest monthly outflow based on available records from the BSP website that dated back to 1999.  For the first five months though, portfolio investments— also called hot money for the ease they enter and exit economies— remained on the positive territory at $1.577 billion, up 74.4 percent from last year’s $904.16 million. The BSP expects hot money net inflow to reach $3 billion this year, although that amount may be revised next week. “The announcement of a possible scaling down of quantitative easing (QE) in the United States” drove investors to withdraw funds from emerging markets such as the Philippines last month, the BSP said in a statement. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 As the United States economy showed signs of recovery, the US Federal Reserve has signaled last month that some of its members favor a “downward” adjustment to its QE, which involves the purchase of $85 billion worth of securities every month. The measure, instituted five years ago, was meant to flood the Read More …

Tales from the deep: Fil-Am steers US submarine home

 News
Jun 132013
 
Tales from the deep: Fil-Am steers US submarine home

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:27 am | Friday, June 14th, 2013 Cmdr. Douglas Bradley shows some of the torpedoes of the US Navy’s attack submarine USS Asheville, which is docked at the Subic Bay Freeport. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Coming home to the land of his mother was a longtime dream of Lt. Vincent Mejia. When he finally did so, it was doubly joyful for the Filipino-American sailor who was tasked to steer to port one of the US Navy’s most advanced attack submarines after it had surfaced. “The most exciting was being able to drive the sub back to my homeland. It’s been a dream my entire life to come home,” said Mejia, 24, born and raised in the United States but whose mother hails from Pangasinan. “I would have never thought I would come back here and drive the ship to port,” said Mejia, who spends most of his days doing paperwork but also gets to serve as the sub’s helmsman, steering the vessel from time to time. Mejia is among a handful of Filipino-American sailors on their first Navy deployment aboard the USS Asheville, a submarine that docked here last weekend on a routine port call as part of its six-month Western Pacific deployment. Nicknamed “The Ghost of the Coast,” the 110-meter fast-attack submarine has been in service since 1991 and is the fourth Navy ship to be named after the North Carolina city, known to have a long maritime history. ‘Ghost of the Coast’ The Read More …

iRemit to venture into financial derivatives

 Economy
Jun 132013
 
iRemit to venture into financial derivatives

MANILA, Philippines – I-Remit Inc., a Filipino-owned global remittance firm, will venture into financial derivative activities as a safeguard against the impact of fluctuating foreign exchange rates, a company disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said. iRemit said its board has approved the amendment of the corporation’s primary purpose to give way to this new function. “With the amendment, and subject to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ regulatory approval, the corporation will no longer be limited to engaging in spot foreign currency transactions,” it said. It added that it “will be able to engage in financial derivative activities such as foreign currency swaps, forwards, options or other similar instruments.” It would be noted that due to the peso’s appreciation against the dollar in the first three months of the year, iRemit’s income dropped 95 percent to P1.6 million from P33 million in the same period in 2012. As iRemit’s operation is dependent on transaction fees of foreign exchange particularly the peso, any forex gyration would greatly impact on its profit. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Due to the sharp peso appreciation, the company said its trading gains also suffered. For the first quarter, the company’s revenues dropped 11.8 percent to P175.8 million from P199.4 million in the same period last year. iRemit said the decline in sales was“mainly due to significant net realized foreign exchange loss as the Philippine peso continued to appreciate against the US dollar.” Despite the income drop, total transactions jumped six Read More …

Key rates kept steady

 Economy
Jun 132013
 
Key rates kept steady

MANILA, Philippines – Policy rates were kept steady on Thursday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which said the economy remains in good footing despite the recent slump in the financial markets that highlighted funds leaving emerging markets. Key rates— which serve as banks’ benchmark on charging their loans— were maintained at 3.5 percent for overnight borrowing and 5.5 percent for overnight lending. Rates have been at that level since October last year.  At the same time, the BSP’s policymaking Monetary Board also retained the rate on special deposit accounts (SDA)— fixed-term deposits of banks and trust departments— at two percent, halting a series of cuts this year that started in January, March and April.  “The Monetary Board’s decision is based on its assessment that the inflation environment remains benign,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. told reporters in a briefing. “At the same time, domestic economic growth remains firm, driven by strong internal demand. Ample liquidity and strong bank lending should also continue to support economic activity,” he added. Inflation may settle at 3.1 percent this year, slower than the 3.2 percent projected by the central bank last April. For 2014, consumer prices may accelerate 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent originally. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The forecasts fell at the low-end of the BSP’s 3- to 5-percent target range for both years.  BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, in the same briefing, said lower oil prices in the world market are expected this year Read More …

US immigration office halts Filipina’s deportation after public outcry

 News
Jun 122013
 
US immigration office halts Filipina’s deportation after public outcry

INQUIRER.net US Bureau 9:13 am | Thursday, June 13th, 2013 Karla Gaerlan, baby Christopher, U.S. Army Specialist Thad Schmierer. Photo by rciriacruz U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cancelled the deportation order for Karla Gaerlan, an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines, following hundreds of emails and phone calls from community members and a protest/press conference this morning. ICE had scheduled Karla’s deportation this Sunday – Father’s Day. Thad Schmierer, Karla’s husband, is a member of the U.S. Army.  Karla and Thad have a nine-month-old baby boy. Also, earlier today, eight members of the House of Representatives joined immigrant rights organizations calling for a halt to deportations while immigration reform moves through Congress. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: ICE , Immigration , immigration reform , Secure Communities , voluntary departure process Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate:

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