"Overweight" rating by JPMorgan boosts RP -- Gullas


MANILA - JPMorgan Chase and Company’s "overweight" rating of the Philippines demonstrates "the enduring positive foreign investor sentiment toward the country" despite the political rancor caused by moves to amend the Constitution, House Deputy Speaker Eduardo Gullas said.

"Among leading global financial institutions, JPMorgan is probably the best qualified to accurately pass judgment on the country’s worth. The company has been here for 45 years and has become totally acclimatized to our political and economic conditions," Gullas pointed out.

An "overweight" rating means "the total investment return in the Philippines is expected to exceed the average total return in other countries covered, on a risk-adjusted basis, over the next 12 to 18 months," according to JPMorgan, which has operations in more than 50 countries.

Citing the Philippines’ robust economic fundamentals, the New York-based diversified financial services giant -- the world’s sixth largest in assets -- also expressed bullishness on the local stock market.

The profits of publicly traded Philippine companies, led by banks and property developers, are expected to grow by 15 percent next year, almost double this year’s projected eight percent earnings expansion, JPMorgan said.

Apart from being one of the country’s biggest creditors, JPMorgan has commercial banking and stockbrokerage businesses in the country through JP Morgan Chase Bank and JPMorgan Securities Philippines Inc., one of the 33 foreign members of, and trading participants in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

JPMorgan Securities is one of the top 10 brokers that handles the most trades on the PSE and provides foreign investors direct access to publicly-listed Philippine equities.

The firm recently crossed the sale of US$ 440-million worth of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) shares, from NTT Communications Corp. to its parent, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc., which now owns seven percent of the leading Philippine telecommunications provider.

JPMorgan is also one of the largest institutional investors in PLDT, holding 629,038 common shares worth P1.26 billion at Friday’s closing price of P2,010 per share. This is one-third of one percent of PLDT’s issued shares, according to the telecommunications company’s latest filing of its top 100 stockholders.

JPMorgan likewise has a new, in-house, 700-seat call center in Makati City that services the firm’s credit cardholders in the U.S.

Current year target on revenue collections on track -- Palace


MANILA - Citing bullish outlook and confidence of various investors and financial institutions, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said Saturday the recent lag in the government’s revenue collections was temporary and the target for this year would be attained.

Bunye, who is also Presidential Spokesman, was reacting to report saying the London-based Fitch Ratings is likely to maintain its current stable credit outlook on the country "due to poor revenue collections."

"We take note of the concerns raised by Fitch as well as other stakeholders in our economy over the recent lag in our revenue collections, but they can rest assured that the current year target is on track and will be achieved," Bunye said in a statement.

James McCormack, Hongkong-based Fitch senior director and head of Asia sovereign ratings, said an upgrade on Philippine sovereign credit rating depends on the government's revenue collections over the medium term.

He said they have assumed that the Philippines would meet its value-added tax (VAT) collection targets, but noted it needs more financial consolidation to merit an upgrade rating such as the improvement of collections on government campaign on tax evasion.

Bunye said the Philippines is reviewing and improving the performance of revenue agencies as part of its fiscal reform program.

"The performance of our revenue agencies is undergoing a stringent review and there is an ongoing crackdown on inefficiency and tax leakage," Bunye said.

"The bullish outlook of various investors and financial institutions has sparked business confidence and is a steady boost to our economic reform agenda," he added.

Bunye said this is supported by the Social Security System (SSS), which reported yesterday a net income of P2.37 billion for the first quarter of this year, a P650 million or 37.8 percent increase from the P1.72 billion it earned during the same period in 2005.

SSS president and chief executive officer Corazon de la Paz said the profit was a result of higher contribution collections, which rose 13.7 percent to P12.94 billion from the P11.38 billion collected in 2005.

GDP grows 5.5% in Q1


MANILA – The Philippine economy, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rose 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2006, riding on the crest of the recovery by agriculture and the surging growth in the services sector.

This was much higher compared to the 4.2 percent GDP posted in the first quarter of 2005 and the 5 to 5.5 percent growth forecast of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for the period.

The Gross National Product (GNP) also expanded by 5.8 percent in the first quarter from last year’s 4.9 percent, despite the slower 8.8-percent growth of net factor income from abroad.

”The economy expanded briskly on a broad front, driven by the rebound in agriculture, a distinct pick-up in industry, particularly manufacturing and construction, and the continued surge in the financial sector,” Socio-economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said.

Neri attributed the recovery in agriculture sector, led by corn, palay, banana and fishery sub-sectors, to sufficient amount of rainfall in the first quarter as well as the continued policy interventions from the government.

On the demand side, the economy was boosted by household consumption, increased government expenditure and higher public spending on infrastructure, he added.

The services sector, which accounted for 2.98 percent of overall GDP in the first quarter, grew 6.2 percent although slightly lower than previous year’s seven percent. Trade and finance continued to lead the sector.

On the other hand, industry and agriculture sectors rose 5.5 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. These sectors contributed 1.75 percent and 0.79 percent to GDP growth.

Neri said the healthy growth happened despite rising oil prices, still tight fiscal situation, the imposition of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (EVAT) and the political conflict which peaked in February with a reported coup attempt.

Given the relatively strong GDP outturn of 5.5-percent growth in the first quarter of 2006, the government is optimistic in attaining the full year target GDP growth of 5.5 to 6.2 percent.

This despite external downside risks posed by the continued hike in oil prices to around $ 64.99 per barrel, the rising US interest rates, the threat of avian flu and the volatilities in the international financial markets.

”Our expectation is anchored on resilient personal consumer spending growth, the recovery of agriculture, the improving prospects of construction, and the continued brisk growth of services,” Neri said.

Neri also expressed hope that the VAT will translate to long-term growth as the additional revenues allow the country to increase its capital and infrastructure expenditures and allot more funds for social and basic services.

To address the rising oil prices, he noted, the government intends to reduce by 10 percent its imports for ethanol and biodiesel worth P35 billion a year.

Neri said GDP could have grown over six percent had oil prices not gone up.

Inflation eases to 6.9% in May
Posted: 9:38 AM | Jun. 06, 2006

Erik de la Cruz
XFN-Asia

(UPDATE) THE CONSUMER price index rose 6.9 percent year-on-year in May, compared to April's 7.1 percent rise, due to slower increases in food and utility costs, the National Statistics Office said.

The figure was at the lower end of the central bank's forecast range of 6.8 to 7.5 percent and was slower than the National Economic Development Authority's estimate of 7.0 to 7.3 percent.

Consumer prices were up 0.2 percent month-on-month in May, after rising 0.1 percent in April.

Inflation averaged 7.2 percent in the first five months of the year. It stood at 8.5 percent in May 2005.

In a statement, the statistics agency said all commodity groups showed lower price increases except for clothing and services.

Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy prices, also eased to 6.1 percent last month from 6.3 percent in April.

Year-on-year inflation for food, beverage and tobacco slowed to 5.9 percent from 6.1 percent, while that of fuel, light and water eased to 13.4 percent from 15.9 percent.

The rise in the cost of housing and repairs eased to 4.0 percent from 4.2 percent, while the price of miscellaneous items grew at a slower rate of 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent in April.

On the other hand, annual price hike in clothing was slightly faster at 3.2 percent from 3.1 percent, and also for services at 11.1 percent from 10.6 percent.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=06&file=6

Laguna once again emerged as the number one among the 79 provinces in the country in terms of internal revenue collection in 2005 which stood at P11 billion.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said that the other provinces in the top five ranking were Cavite with P6,753.5 million, Cebu with P6,455.2 million, Davao del Sur with P3,882.6 million and Quezon with P3,561.6 million.

The province of Laguna has been number one in BIR revenue collection for three consecutive years (2003-2005).

Meanwhile, the province of Benguet posted the highest growth rate in BIR revenue collection from 2004 to 2005 at 88.7 percent followed by Aklan 61.9 percent, Pangasinan 60.3 percent, Antique 48.2 percent and Quirino 42.8 percent.

In terms of Palay production, the province of Nueva Ecija has remained the top palay producing province in the country for four years from 2002 to 2005.
Nueva Ecija also posted the highest increase in chicken inventory with 98.5 percent in 2005.

As of December 2005, Bohol and Cebu provinces had the most number of municipalities in the Philippines with 47 each while Iloilo had the most number of barangays with 1,901.

These and more information on the performance of the country’s provinces based on various indicators can be found in the 2005 Philippine Countryside in Figures (PCIF) released recently by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

The PCIF is one of the responses of the NSCB to clamor from various stakeholders including investors and research analysts for more provincial data.

The 2005 edition of the PCIF describes the state of the country’s 79 provinces in terms of various indicators on governance, income and expenditures, labor and employment, prices, finance, agriculture, health, education, communication, infrastructure, tourism, transportation, energy and public order, safety and justice.

The provinces/cities have been ranked according to these indicators; hence it can be used as a reference for comparing the performance of our provinces and key cities in different areas of interest.


BY EDU H. LOPEZ
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006060766128.html

Forex reserves hit new record high
Posted: 4:19 PM | Jun. 07, 2006

Cecille Yap
XFN-Asia

THE COUNTRY'S gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to a record 20.94 billion dollars last month from the revised April figure of 20.85 billion dollars, the central bank said.

The central bank had previously reported gross international reserves of 20.91 billion dollars at the end of April.

"This preliminary May GIR level is adequate to cover about 4.4 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income. This level is also equivalent to 3.3 times the country's short-term debt based on original maturity, and 1.7 times based on residual maturity," the central bank said in a statement.

The central bank attributed the rise to its foreign exchange operations, income from abroad and deposits by the government.

However, these inflows were partly offset by principal and interest payments for foreign exchange loans of both the central bank and the government.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=07&file=16

American businessmen remain confident in the prospects of markets belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc.

A survey conducted by the American Chambers of Commerce in the region shows that 42 percent of respondents expected the world economy to do better in 2006, compared to 29 percent last year.

Senior executives in American companies based in Asean member-countries are increasingly confident of business growth, workforce expansion and profit growth for their business in Asean markets and are generally optimistic in their outlook on the world economy.

Four in five American senior managers saw business growth while 80 percent of American senior citizens expected to expand their business operations in the region while only three percent thought their operations would shrink.

American businessmen also believed Asean’s importance to the global economy was steadily increasing, with 62 percent saying the region would be more important to their respective companies’ revenues in the next two years with economic recovery and infrastructure improvements cited as key factors for the upbeat prospects.

More than half of the respondents expect their respective workforces to expand with almost half citing increases of 10 percent to 50 percent.

By Elaine Ruzul S. Ramos
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business03_june08_2006

1.6 million move up from poverty
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=41094

Extreme poverty levels in the Philippines have declined slightly to about 30 percent of the population, with minority Muslims improving their lot significantly, the government said Wednesday.

"In terms of population, 30 out of 100 Filipinos in 2003 had income short of the minimum cost of satisfying the basic requirements, an improvement from 2000 [when] 33 out of 100 Filipinos [were] . . . below the poverty threshold," the National Statistical Coordination Board said.

That improvement took 1.6 million Filipinos out of poverty.

The board puts the per capita poverty threshold at P35.93 a day in income, enough to buy about 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of rice, the staple cereal.

The World Bank estimates that 40 percent of Filipinos live on $2 a day or less.

Three predominantly Muslim provinces in the south—Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi—hauled themselves off the 2000 list of the 10 poorest, with double-digit declines in the incidence of poverty, the board said in a statement.

These areas, which form part of a Muslim self-rule area called the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, have benefited from large-scale government and international aid since the signing of a peace treaty between Manila and the separatist Moro National Liberation Front in 1996.

The government is observing a three-year-old ceasefire in the area with another separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and hopes to sign a wider political settlement later this year.

However, the government survey also found that six other provinces in the south, many of them with substantial Muslim populations, are now among the 10 poorest provinces in the Philippines.

The Philippines has a population of 76,500,000 as of 2000, and a growth rate of 1.8 percent. AFP

Net foreign buying of RP stocks up
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
The Philippine Star 06/08/2006

Buoyed by the country’s improving fiscal position and continued economic expansion, net foreign buying in the stock market surged 109.6 percent in the first five months of the year to P25.01 billion, from only P11.93 billion in the same period a year ago.

Net foreign buying means foreign investors bought more stocks than sold them during a given period.

Total foreign buying reached P141.15 billion, up 35 percent from P104.61 billion while foreign selling amounted to P116.14 billion compared with only P92.68 billion the previous level.

At the same time, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president Francis Lim said stock prices, as tracked by the main index now renamed the PSEi, went up to 2,296.11 in the first five months of the year, or 9.5 percent higher than the 2,096.04 level at the end of 2005.

Value turnover for the period January to May 2006 hit P213.45 billion, up 8.6 percent from P196.47 billion in the same period last year while average daily value turnover reached P2.03 billion from P1.56 billion in 2005.

Total market capitalization, on the other hand, amounted to P6.8 trillion or 14.2 percent higher than the P5.95 trillion at the end of 2005.

Lim said all sectors, except industrial, posted double-digit growth in their indices. The financial , holding firms, property, and services indices rose 21.9 percent, 19.8 percent, 20.1 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively.

Mining and oil issues posted the biggest increase with the mining and oil index growing 61.75 percent to 4,483.255 in May from 2,771.77 at the end of 2005.

"Our performance so far this year confirms the increasing commitment of investors towards the local stock market. I believe this is a vote of confidence from the investors about the country’s economic health," Lim said.

"I am optimistic we have enough momentum to push stock prices higher and promote more trading activity. Thus, I am confident the market in 2006 will enjoy a performance that is definitely better than last year’s, Lim added.

Companies in the telecommunications industry grabbed the biggest slice of daily value turnover at P565.6 million, or 30 percent higher than the P434 million recorded a year earlier. But listed firms in the transportation service and oil businesses posted the highest increase in average daily value turnover at 911.4 percent and 801 percent, respectively, or from only P9.7 million and P1.9 million, respectively, in the first five months of last year to P98.1 million and P17.1 million, also respectively, for the same period this year.

The bulk of market capitalization remained concentrated on the financial sector. Based on the PSE review, the market capitalization of this sector increased by 13.3 percent to P4.8 trillion.

The services sector followed with a P643.3 billion market capitalization, which was 17.1 percent higher than its level a year ago.

Meanwhile, the mining and oil sector registered the highest growth rate in market capitalization with a 50-percent rise in market valuation from P31.6 billion to P47.4 billion.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606080702.htm

Double-digit growth seen for Philippine export sector
Posted: 3:45 PM | Jun. 09, 2006

Erik de la Cruz
XFN-Asia

Subscribe to Business News SMS Alerts on your mobile phone! Send ON EXTRA BUSINESS to 2207 for Globe, or EXTRA BUSINESS to 386 for Smart.

THE SUSTAINED recovery in exports raises the possibility of double-digit growth for the sector this year, stronger than the government's forecast of eight percent, said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.

Merchandise exports rose 18.7 percent year-on-year in April, helped by a double-digit increase in electronics shipments, though growth was still slower than the 26.3 percent gain in March, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

"It's a very encouraging pickup which could lead to growth better than 10 percent in 2006," Cohen said.

"It's only April but at this point I don't see a downturn in electronics demand going forward despite the understandable nervousness about prospects in the second half. What I see now is a moderation in electronics demand later this year," he added.

He said the "robust" exports growth in April was good for the Philippine economy, which grew at an annual rate of 5.5 percent in the first quarter, supported by a rebound in exports.

"Exports should be supportive of GDP growth in the second quarter," Cohen said.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=09&file=14

Net foreign direct investments in May reach $78.9M
Posted: 3:50 PM | Jun. 09, 2006

XFN-Asia

THE COUNTRY drew in net foreign direct investments (FDI) of 78.9 million dollars last month, bringing the cumulative net inflow for the first five months of the year to 669.8 million dollars, the central bank said.

A net FDI inflow of 98.7 million dollars was recorded in May last year.

In a statement, central bank governor Amando Tetangco said positive economic and corporate earnings reports and steady key interest rates were factors that attracted additional foreign investment last month.

He said investors might have also been encouraged by news that the largest US pension fund, California Public Employees' Retirement System, had raised the country's ranking in its list of permissible investment destinations.

Investors had also expected an upgrade by Moody's Investors Service of the country's debt rating outlook to stable, Tetangco said.

Of the total registered investments of 663.6 million dollars last month, 73 percent was in shares listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, the central bank said.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=09&file=15

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Hebei Xintai Jingniu Group of China yesterday signed a contract to invest $312 million in a glass manufacturing facility here.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman Feliciano Salonga and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza and Hebei Jingniu president Wang Chang Lin signed a 50-year lease contract covering a 32-hectare industrial estate here, authorities said.

Arreza said Hebei’s project would create 3,000 jobs for residents of communities around the Freeport zone. Hebei will produce rolling crystallite glass and coated float glass for exports to Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa.

Salonga welcomed Hebei investments, saying they indicated investors’ confidence on the Philippines and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
“First, there was Korea’s Hanjin that will build a $1-billion shipbuilding facility and now we have Hebei of China,” he said.

Salonga said the entry of the glass manufacturing firm would strengthen trade relations between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China.
Ronnie Yambao, investment and processing department head of SBMA, said Hebei chose a site along Maritan Hill near the Subic Gateway District that is strategically connected to the ongoing Subic-Clark-Tarlac road project.

By Cecille Garcia
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business03_june09_2006

^^ so they pushed through in SUBIC
Before their location plan was diverted in PHIVIDEC in Misamis Oriental.

I'm interested in our FDI's. What is our FDI stat in the first five months last year? The news is incomplete. They should have also included if there was an increase or decrease in the FDIs for the first five mos. relative to the year ago since they said that the FDI in the frist 5 mos this year is $668.9M.

I'm happy with the report about the electronics sector though. I hope the depreciation of the peso could help a lot.

Exports jumped 18.7% in April to $3.85B
Posted: 4:33 AM | Jun. 10, 2006

Michelle V. Remo
Inquirer

MERCHANDISE exports grew 18.7 percent to $3.85 billion in April from a year ago, boosting the country's chances of surpassing its full-year export growth target of 8 percent, as global demand for electronics remained robust.

This brought the January-to-April exports figure to $14.75 billion, up 15.2 percent from the same period last year.

Documents from the National Statistics Office showed that exports were led by electronics, accounting for 65.2 percent of earnings, which grew 19.7 percent year-on-year to $2.51 billion in April.

Dennis Arroyo, director for policy and planning at the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said double-digit growth in exports was likely to be seen for the rest of the year given the increasing demand for electronics in various markets abroad.

He noted that the country's electronics industry expected a buildup of inventory in the second half due to a possible pick-up in demand especially for the Christmas season.

Arroyo likewise noted projections made by the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), which said demand for cellular phones and other electronic devices would be on an uptrend this year following last year's slowdown.

Aside from electronics, garments likewise gained substantially from an increasing global demand. Exports of garments grew 19.2 percent to $153.44 million in April.

Other top exports during the month were cathodes of refined copper ($100.52 million), coconut oil ($82.45 million), petroleum products ($74.65 million), woodcraft and furniture ($36.65 million), wiring sets for vehicles, aircraft and ships ($57 million), bananas ($34.27 million), metal components ($23.08 million), and gold ($20.54 million).

"Growth in exports was getting more broad-based," Arroyo said, explaining that the country was gradually reducing its heavy dependence on electronics for its export earnings as well as on the United States as a major export market.

He said that the Netherlands topped the list of export markets in April, beating the United States, which used to be the leading export destination of Philippine exports.

The Netherlands cornered 19.1 percent of total Philippine exports in April, accounting for $734.41 million worth of total export receipts. It was followed by Japan, which had a 16.6-percent share of Philippine exports and accounted for $640.58 million of total. The United States came in third with $612.82 million or 15.9 percent.

Other top markets were Singapore ($297.34 million); China ($287.81 million); Hong Kong ($271.26 million); Malaysia ($184.17 million); Germany ($122.04 million); Korea ($120.57 million), and Taiwan ($119.86 million).

Despite double-digit growth in exports, Arroyo said the government was not considering, at least for now, a revision of the 8-percent expansion target in exports this year. He added that economic managers have yet to decide whether current developments should merit an increase in the projected gross domestic product for 2006.

GDP, a common tool used to measure a country's economy, is the sum of all goods produced and services rendered in a given period. The government has set its GDP growth target for this year at only 5.5 to 6.2 percent.

http://money.inq7.net/topstories/view_topstories.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=10&file=1

GMA pursuing economic plan to keep RP professionals here


By GENALYN D. KABILING

Even as she recognizes the vital role of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in fueling economic growth, President Arroyo is pursuing a long-term economic blueprint to keep more Filipino professionals in the country.


Press Secretary Bunye said the President remains focused on improving the economy, particularly in generating more jobs so Filipinos would not be forced to find work abroad away from their families.

Bunye admitted that the "limited opportunities" in the country has driven Filipino talent to greener pastures in foreign lands.

"But this administration’s long-term economic blueprint will make sure we can keep more Filipinos who have the inherent excellence and patriotism to help build the Philippines right here where they can be with their families," he said in a statement.

"This is one of the reasons why the President is focused single-mindedly on the economy — to bring home investments, to create jobs, expand enterprise, build more infrastructure, and bring more food on the table," he added.

At present, Bunye said the government appreciates the "leading contribution" of the OFWs to the "strength and stability" of the local economy. Bunye was referring to the multibillion dollar remittances sent by OFWs to their families at home, which has kept the peso strong and propelled domestic economic growth.

Bunye assured the government would continue to uphold the welfare of the OFWs and their families in appreciation for their contributions to the economy.

"President Arroyo has been in the forefront to protect them and accord them and their families the special treatment befitting our modern-day heroes," he added.

A study by the Asian Development Bank recently showed money sent home by Filipinos working in Asian countries is spent primarily on food.

The ADB said remittances sent by Filipino workers in Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Malaysia back home were spent on food, followed by education and clothing.

Of the estimated .2-billion remittances from Southeast Asia, .94 billion goes to the Philippines, according to the study.

http://www.mb.com.ph/MTNN2006061166538.html

Hay, the Economy thread...always has the good news. Thanks for the updates, Jam!

Hay, the Economy thread...always has the good news. Thanks for the updates, Jam!

Yeah! Thanks to JAMAICUS, chixbebe and sandrin. Lots of good news. :)

BSP forecasts $ 2-B BoP surplus



By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said continued dollar inflows from migrant workers, exports’ receipts and portfolio investments will push the country’s balance of payments surplus to billion this year, exceeding target of .6 billion.


"We expect to exceed the .6 billion target to billion this year," BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said over the weekend. "The continued inflows from OFWs (overseas Filipino workers remittances) and exports are much stronger than originally anticipated. Notwithstanding volatilities in recent weeks, we continue to see sustained portfolio and equity investments."

Guinigundo adds, "and then of course the NG (National Government) will borrow so they will be able to finance their requirements. This will add to the BoP surplus." It was reported that the government is launching its last bond sale soon, worth at least billion.

As of April the National Statistics Office reported export earnings of .75 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous year. Guinigundo said the strong performance in the electronics and semiconductor products bodes well for the full year target, which is modest at eight percent.

The BSP raised its exports forecast from six percent to eight percent or .6 billion for 2006. Last year actual export receipts totaled .2 billion, which was a moderate growth of only .7 percent.

In the meantime foreign portfolio investments totaled 1.7 million as of end-May, 63 percent lower from last year’s .850 billion. However despite the lower numbers, the BSP still believes there is "favorable foreign investor sentiment." OFW remittances as of March, on the other hand, had a total value of .8 billion.

The BoP is a summary of the country’s transactions with the rest of the world and includes exports less imports, net portfolio and equity investments, income and other transfers. OFW remittances are one of the important BoP components.

Last year the country’s BoP position was a surplus of .4 billion.

As of April, the BoP was a deficit of 7 million after the government paid off its debt obligations. Yearto-date the BoP is still a surplus of .844 billion from .121 billion in March. The April deficit was the first for the year, from a small surplus of million the previous month.

Higher maturing bonds and loans widen BoP deficits but the strong inflows from migrant workers’ remittances and portfolio investments improve the BoP.

The BSP is also revising the way they compute BoP and gross international reserves according to the International Accounting Standards.

The BSP said the release calendar would resume its normal schedule after the release of the May 2006 BoP figures.


http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006061266577.html

"Industrialism is going to be a curse for mankind.
The world we must strive to build needs to be based on the concept of genuine social equality … economic progress cannot
mean that few people charge ahead and more and more are left behind."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Greetins newbie... you should go to the process of making an introduction here : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=313430&page=1&pp=20

The renaissance of manufacturing

By DENNIS POSADAS
This week, let me shift emphasis from services and higher value-added design start-ups, and talk instead about manufacturing. For many people, their image of a factory is probably what they have seen in the movies.

But let me tell you, we are about to enter a renaissance of manufacturing.

Things like chips, cars, medicines and others that we see around us are becoming harder and harder to make.

Whereas factories before used to be the career option of hard-core techies and vocational school graduates, now we are seeing people with advanced degrees working in factories. Materials and equipment that are being used to make stuff are becoming more complex, and so are the processes. Now, many of our vocational school graduates are being encouraged to complete their bachelors degree, and many with bachelors degrees are being asked to get graduate degrees. This is because manufacturing is getting harder, the quest for becoming -- better, faster and cheaper -- is constantly being put to the test.

A manufacturing floor is a war zone; many people are constantly working to see why products coming out have defects, are slower, have wasted materials, etc. It is not a place for the meek.

Here in the Philippines, we should be thankful that we are still getting foreign investments in manufacturing. Chip companies, car companies, electronics companies, pharmaceutical companies are still coming in to employ thousands of our countrymen, from the experts to the people in the countryside who badly need employment.

Hopefully, the development of a spot electricity market will result in some improvement for the cost of electricity of these factories.

One thing we have not done to prevent our manufacturing industries from leaving for China and other cheaper labor places is to build a local allied or support supplier industry. I am talking about localizing materials and equipment for manufacturing.

There are some who exist of course, but they have sprouted "despite" a lack of an organized support for their cause.

Let me give a simple example. Look around the giant industrial zones where the large multinationals locate. If you take a camera with you, you will find that for every big multinational manufacturing company, there are a host of small suppliers in the periphery. Where are they located? In the ecozones?

No, they are located beside sari-sari stores or some market somewhere. In other words, we gave incentives and policies to benefit big business, but we left these small suppliers in the lurch. Go to other countries like Malaysia and Taiwan, these suppliers would be right alongside the big players in these industrial estates. They would be in incubators or nice buildings appropriate for small business.

I should know these things first hand. I managed these local suppliers for a large company a few years ago.

Their situation is, they thrive despite government support.

Maybe lately the situation has changed. But it has not changed enough. For example, in some countries, engineering and science universities purposely move their satellite campuses near where industry is located, to train the technicians and engineers to get their degrees. Here, we are seeing the beginnings of that happening, but many people still don’t realize what that means. If local suppliers (businessmen) work with the academe (experts), they get to tap the brains of the university people to fix the very hard problems I described earlier. It also becomes convenient for industry technicians and engineers to get more theoretical courses; and enables our faculty to stay in touch with industry developments.

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/columns.php?id=posadas_061306

Public sector debt below 100% of GDP
Posted: 6:30 PM | Jun. 14, 2006

THE PHILIPPINES' total public sector debt narrowed to 93.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2005, with the ratio falling below 100 percent for the first time in at least seven years, data from the finance department showed.

The total outstanding public debt -- which includes debts of state-owned and state-controlled corporations -- fell 4.4 percent in 2005 from 2004 to 5.1 trillion pesos, the finance department said on Wednesday.

The Philippines, Asia's largest sovereign debt issuer after Japan, has implemented fiscal reforms to cut its budget deficit and lower its debts, but analysts said the government needed to deliver higher revenues to prove that its reforms were on track.

Total public sector foreign debt fell 7.5 percent to 3.32 trillion pesos by the end of 2005 from 3.59 trillion pesos at the end of 2004, the finance department said.

Domestic debt climbed 2.1 percent to 1.75 trillion pesos from 1.71 trillion pesos.

Debts of the central government -- at 3.89 trillion pesos -- represented nearly 77 percent of total public sector debt, the finance department said.

The Philippines borrows heavily from foreign and local markets to fund a budget deficit expected to hit 125 billion pesos, 2.1 percent of GDP, this year from 146.5 billion pesos or 2.8 percent of GDP in 2005.

The government has said it might record a smaller budget deficit than expected in 2006 since Congress has failed to pass new spending plans for the year.

The government, which spends a third of its annual budget on debt servicing, wants to raise revenues through a higher sales tax and a clampdown on corruption and tax dodging, to wipe out its budget deficit by 2008 and cut its dependence on loans.

Consolidated non-financial public sector debt climbed 1.5 percent to 4.7 trillion pesos at end-2005 from the previous year, equivalent to 86.8 percent of GDP.

The increase was largely due to higher liabilities of 14 monitored government firms, led by the state grain-importing firm National Food Authority (NFA).

The International Monetary Fund has urged the Philippines to sustain the turnaround in the financial performance of the National Power Corp., which used to be the biggest drain on the government's finances, and to minimise losses at the NFA.

Total contingent obligations, or guarantees issued by the government on loans by state-run firms, fell 27.4 percent to 627.4 billion pesos at the end of 2005 from a year earlier.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=14&file=17

Consumers remain pessimistic in the second quarter of the year but their outlook for the next quarter and one year ahead is improving, the quarterly Consumer Expectations Survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

The survey helps the Monetary Board decide on how to address increases or decreases in inflation using tools such as interest rate and the reserve requirement.

The survey was conducted from April 1 to April 7, covering 2,590 households in the National Capital Region and had a response rate of 93.09 percent.

Despite the pessimism for the prevailing among consumer this quarter, the Bangko Sentral noted a decline in pessimism for the third straight quarter.

“The increasing trend indicated that the edge of the pessimists over the optimists has been narrowing. This was reinforced by the rising trend in the one-year ahead consumer outlook,” the central bank said.

The bank reported an improvement in outlook among all income groups. Majority of the respondents expect improvements in their family income, financial situation and country’s economic condition.

The BSP said the survey showed that the outlook on family income turned positive in the second quarter and showed expectations of further improvements in 12 months, indicating “that respondents are looking at better or more income opportunities.” Eileen A. Mencias


http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business03_june15_2006

"Industrialism is going to be a curse for mankind.
The world we must strive to build needs to be based on the concept of genuine social equality … economic progress cannot
mean that few people charge ahead and more and more are left behind."

- Mahatma Gandhi
You've posted this in many threads. Very different outlook there.

Public debt dips to P5.1 T in 2005


By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

The National Government reported a lower public sector debt of P5.1 trillion in 2005, or 93.4 percent of gross domestic product.

Compared to 2004, this is a decline of 4.4 percent (P233.7 billion) which brought down debt-to-GDP ratio from 109 percent to 93.4 percent.

Based on Department of Finance figures, the total public sector domestic debt rose by 2.1 percent last year to P1.7 trillion while total public sector foreign debt dropped by 7.5 percent to P3.3 trillion.

In the meantime the non-financial public sector debt went up by 1.5 percent to P4.7 trillion, equivalent to 86.8 percent of GDP. The increase was attributed to the increase in NG debt of P76.3-billion and the P19-billion increase in the recorded liabilities of the 14 monitored non-financial government corporations.

According to the DoF, the debt of the 14 MNFGCs rose by 1.2 percent to P1.6 trillion, which is 29 percent of GDP. The growth was attributed to the combined increases in liabilities by most of the 14 MNFGCs, with the National Food Authority recording an increase of P10 billion. "The acceleration of the NFA debt was due to additional loans incurred to finance the cost of importation including corresponding custom duties," the DoF said.

The financial public sector posted debt of P1.1 trillion or 19.4 percent of GDP. It decreased its debt by 21.1 percent from December 2004 because of the decline in the Open Market Operations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the reduction of deposits and other liabilities of the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Social Security Institutions, on the other hand, reported zero liabilities during the period, compared to the P7.1 billion in 2004. This is because since December 2005, the debt of SSIs will no longer include accruals, liabilities, deferred credits and payables to non-financing entities.


http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006061566819.html

Palace announces ‘mega-regions’ plan
First posted 02:21pm (Mla time) June 15, 2006
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQ7.net



IN GOVERNMENT’S continued efforts to spur growth in the country’s regions and boost their economic potential, Malacañang on Thursday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be formally unveiling what it called "mega-regions."
The “mega-region” concept divides the country into four multi-regional “investment and development areas,” namely: North Luzon (Regions 1, 2 and Cordillera Autonomous Region, plus Aurora and Nueva Ecija); Metro Luzon (Regions 3, 4A, and the National Capital Region); Central Philippines (Regions 4-B, 5 to 8); and Mindanao (Regions 9 to 13 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

The President will present the concept when she and her Cabinet meet local officials of Northern Luzon in Cauayan, Isabela on Friday, Secretary to the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo said at a briefing on the mega-regions.

At the briefing, Saludo said Arroyo will soon draft an executive order outlining the boundaries of the development areas and the mechanisms by which local government units will participate in implementing the concept.

Saludo said the new groupings will allow regional leaders and sectors to participate more intensively in planning, monitoring, and fine-tuning development programs and projects in their regions.

"The President's idea is to move toward larger groupings that will boost economic and market potentials beyond what each region can generate, with economies of scale, synergies, and complementation that will be more attractive to investors," Saludo said.

"In addition, a larger resource base of each mega-region will be available for the provision of social services and pump-priming infrastructure, particularly the poorer provinces," he added.

Saludo said planning discussions will be held among the regional development councils executive committees, governors, and mayors of regional capital cities.

During Friday's Cabinet meeting, the National Economic and Development Authority will also make an economic and social report on the enlarged investment areas, noting key features such as land area, major industries, power-generating capacity, tourism, road network, strengths, weaknesses, demographics, and industrial facilities, Saludo said.

The Cauayan meeting is the first of four out-of-town Cabinet meetings until July to "review and revitalize investments and development blueprints from a supra-regional perspective" together with local governments, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

The next two out-of-town Cabinet meetings, in Metro Luzon and Mindanao, will be held before Arroyo leaves for Europe towards the end of the month. The last meeting, for Central Philippines, will take place upon her return to the country.

Bunye said the discussions with local officials will be used as inputs for the President's State of the Nation Address next month.


http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=79218

April OFW remittances up 0.34%


Overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) remittances in April grew 0.34 percent on year to $899 million, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Thursday.

BSP said remittances from January to April grew 10.8 percent at $3.7 billion compared to the same period last year.

Most of the remittances came from OFWs in the US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, and United Kingdom.

A BSP report earlier said OFW remittances for the first quarter of 2006 surged to an eight-year high of $1.03 billion in March, 15.6 percent better than the inflows a year ago.

BSP said a decrease in the number of deployed OFWs led to a slowdown in remittances for April.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) from January to April 2006 showed that the total number of deployed workers dropped by 2.7 percent to 359,402.

Land-based workers, which comprised 74.7 percent of total deployed OFWs, declined by 5.8 percent to 268,637 while sea-based workers was higher by eight percent to 90,765.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=41786

OFW inflows up 11% in Jan-Apr
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 06/16/2006

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) surged by almost 11 percent to hit $3.7billion in the first four months of the year from a year ago level, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

The BSP said banks reported a slowdown in April, halting the momentum during the first three months as banks felt the impact of the decline in the number of deployed workers abroad. In the first three months, remittances grew by a stronger 14.64 percent.

The BSP said April remittances barely moved compared to last year, reaching $899 million–only half a percent higher than year-ago level of $895 million.

According to the BSP, preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on new hires and rehires from January to April 2006 showed that the total number of deployed workers dropped by 2.7 percent to 359,402.

Land-based workers, which comprised 74.7 percent of total deployed OFWs, declined by 5.8 percent to 268,637 while sea-based workers was higher by eight percent to 90,765.

The BSP reported that partly compensating for the effect of the contraction in the number of deployed workers was the sustained aggressive marketing campaigns conducted by local banks.

"These bank initiatives offered overseas workers with a wide array of instruments/facilities for faster means of remittance transfer to beneficiaries," the BSP reported.

Major sources of remittances remained to be the US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.

Banks reported a 12 percent increase in remittances from overseas Filipino workers in the first quarter of the year, reaching $2.8 billion due to a slight increase in the number of deployed workers abroad and the declining use of non-bank channels as remittance agents.

Remittances in the first quarter had been strong, coming ahead of the reopening of schools in June. Inflows from OFWs are supposed to be even stronger in April but with fewer workers sending money home, remittances also slowed down.

The BSP said the increased deployment of highly-skilled, thus, higher-paid land-based workers compensated for the reduction in the number of workers going abroad but not enough to sustain the momentum.

The BSP said deployed labor were mainly engineers, teachers, ship and pilot/aircraft officers, production related workers and service providers.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200606160701.htm

Gov’t reports P5.8-B surplus in May

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

The National Government posted its second budget surplus for the year of P5.8 billion in May, due to higher revenues for the period of P89.7 billion.


In April, when the NG had its first budget surplus of P17.6 billion, the lower expenditure profile made it possible for the government to contain the shortfall. In the meantime the January-May fiscal position is still a deficit of P44.2 billion from P67.8 billion the same period in 2005.

According to Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves: "The positive fiscal performance for May brings us closer towards achieving our budget deficit target of not more than P125 billion this year. (The May surplus was achieved) with a combination of higher revenue collection and prudent spending." The government is expecting a lower budget deficit than P125 billion for the year since the 2006 budget was not passed and officials will be working with a lower budget for the year.

For May, total revenues rose 31.2 percent to P89.7 billion from P68.4 billion last year. The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P61.7 billion for the said month, beating target of P62 billion. The Bureau of Customs recorded P17.6 billion for the same period while the Bureau of Treasury collected P4.4 billion. Also for May, the total government expenditures reached P83.9 billion, ten percent higher from the previous year of P76 billion.

For the five-month tally, total revenues reached P389.8 billion or 19.3 percent higher than 2005’s P326.8 billion. BIR collected P268 billion, 20.7 percent higher from 2005’s P222.1 billion. BOC, on the other hand, reported revenues of P76.2 billion from P59.5 billion. The BTr collected P26.6 billion for the first five months, from P28.5 billion last year.

In the meantime, expenditures increased 10 percent to P433.9 billion from P394.5 billion.

At the moment, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee is discussing adjusting the balanced budget target to allow pump priming, using surpluses that will be gained by 2008.

In the meantime finance and monetary authorities are currently assessing prepayment plans and how government borrowings can be reduced to lessen foreign exchange costs.

Last January, the government launched its first bond issuance, fetching a hefty amount of .1 billion. This leaves the government another 0 million to source abroad or from commercial sources. Another 0 million will come from multilateral funding.

According to Teves, the government will go back to the market when the interest rates environment is favorable. "It is still on or before September."

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006061666897.html

Gov’t reports P5.8-B surplus in May


http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006061666897.html

This is apparently our first surplus in twenty years. There is also a further rise in OFW's remittances as well as a rise in exports. $7B worth of exports is projected this year.

I guess mega-regions will be good in that they will be able to pool their resources and promote more economic growth, especially in the poorer provinces.

^^ You should be updated more... read recent news articles....we have been having surpluses in the past few months...

I think what you're trying to say is the first budget surplus for the month of May in twenty years. :D

oops sorry, jamaicus, i stand corrected. :D

GMA must be doing something right.

marites, GMA is running the government as best she could and in my opinion she is handling our finances better than anyone can possible do right now and quite better than other presidents of the past.

marites, GMA is running the government as best she could and in my opinion she is handling our finances better than anyone can possible do right now and quite better than other presidents of the past.


Yeah, and she is getting FVR's support once again. :)

Prospects for Chinese investments in RP textile industry are high--DTI


MANILA - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) remains optimistic that more Chinese companies will invest in the Philippine garments and textile.

This was indicated in the great interest expressed by Chinese companies in the recently-concluded investment mission on textiles in Guangdong Province, China.

The Philippine delegation to the textile investment mission was led by DTI Senior Undersecretary Thomas Aquino and DTI Special Consultant on Textiles and Garments Serafin Juliano.

Joining them were more than 70 Filipino textile businessmen who are members of the Federation of Philippine Textile Industries Inc.

“Investment prospects are high as shown in keen consideration of Chinese textile firms to invest in the country as well as the high-level of support to Philippine textile companies from the Guangdong provincial government,” said Emmanuel Ang, DTI Commercial Attache to Guangzhou in a report to Trade Secretary Peter Favila.

According to Ang, a Cooperation Memo between Philippine textile firms and Guangdong Province was signed during the mission. “The memorandum of understanding will serve as the enabling platform for all future business cooperation between Chinese and Philippine textile firms”, Ang said.

“We are pleased with the results of the mission. Investments by Chinese in the country would definitely lead to expansion in our exports of garments and textiles,” said Secretary Favila.

Garments and textiles is the country’s second top export product, accounting for 6.23 percent of total exports in the first quarter of 2006. It reached $ 677.86 million in the first quarter of 2006 or better by 12.75 percent compared to the same period in 2005, according to data from the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion.

The three-day mission kicked off with the conduct of the Textiles Economic and Trade Forum where more than 300 businessmen representing 218 Chinese companies from the Guangdong textile industry participating in the event to look for business opportunities with their Philippine counterparts.

In the forum, Senior Undersecretary Aquino presented an overview of the advantages of locating in the Philippines, and the specific opportunities available for Chinese textile and garment companies.

DTI Special Consultant on Textiles and Garments Mr. Serafin Juliano further reinforced the presentation of Aquino, saying that “there is currently an exciting window of opportunity for these investments from China, due to the good fit and complementation between both industries, in areas such as labor, capital and technology, resources and raw materials, cultural affinity, design capability, and market access”.

Guangdong Vice Governor Tong Xing graced the event, continuing the Chinese government’s support for this initiative that was started by Guangdong Party Secretary Qiang de Jiang.

During the garments and textile mission, the Economic and Trade Commission of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province likewise hosted the Filipino textile firms’ visits and discussions with Chinese textile and garment factories heads.

Rise in employment signifies improved economy - Sto. Tomas


MANILA - The rise in employment signifies the economy's capability to productively absorb more new entrants to the labor force, outgoing Labor and Employment Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas said Thursday.

Latest labor force survey from the National Statistics Office indicated that employment rose to 33.024 million as of April 2006, higher than 32.22 million during the same period last year.

This slightly reduced the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent from last year's 8.3 percent.

Sto. Tomas cited that the agriculture, fishery and forestry sector led the employment growth by a robust 3.9 percent or 427,000.

She said such growth rate effectively raised employment levels in the sector to 11.42 million in April 2006 from 10.99 million in April 2005.

Sto. Tomas also said employment in the services sector -the country's largest sector in terms of employment- rose by some 2.4 percent or 378,000 to 16.369 million in April 2006 from 15.991 million the previous year.

On the other hand, industry sector employment remained stable at 5.236 million in April 2006, virtually unchanged from April 2005.

Sto. Tomas also said services' wholesale and retail trade posted the largest employment increment (103,000), complemented by other sub-sectors that registered solid employment gains like transport, storage and communication (90,000), education (73,000), hotels and restaurants (42,000), and real estate, renting and business activities (39,000).

In industry, on the other hand, mining and quarrying, as well as electricity, gas and water sub-sectors posted employment gains of 28.9 percent (39,000) and 21.8 percent (26,000), respectively.

The same data showed underemployment declined from 26.1 percent to 25.4 percent in April 2006.

You've posted this in many threads. Very different outlook there.

Actually... This is the only thread I've posted that quote.

^^I thought I read it somewhere, sige, sabi mo eh...:)

DOF exceeds EVAT target for January-April
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 06/19/2006

The Department of Finance (DOF) said value added tax collections reached P23.7 billion in January to April, exceeding the four-month target by P6.6 billion.

The DOF said over the weekend that the Expanded VAT (EVAT) target of P17.1 billion was surpassed as consumer spending picked up towards the opening of the school year in June.

"This is a good indication that with sustained effort, we should be able to achieve our 2006 target of P75 billion in additional revenues from EVAT (Republic Act 9337), Finance Secretary Gary Teves said.

Although the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) failed to meet its overall target in April, the DOF said EVAT returns alone yielded higher-than-expected revenues during the first four months of the year.

EVAT collections of the BIR reached P8.3 billion, exceeding its target by a hefty P6.1 billion while the BOC collected P15.4 billion, or P574 million higher than its target of P14.8 billion.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the BIR EVAT was boosted by lower offsets of input VAT claims by VATable entities (P1.2 billion lower) and higher collections from non-VAT reforms (higher by P0.4 billion).

However, BIR’s EVAT collections were negatively affected by lower domestic oil industry output (P0.4 billion lower) and lower yields from input VAT cap and crediting (P2.5 billion lower).

On the other hand, Beltran said the BOC’s EVAT collections picked up due to higher import volumes and higher oil prices.

EVAT pushed the BIR’s overall VAT collection to P43.2 billion for the first four months, exceeding the target by P2.9 billion. It also boosted BOC’s overall VAT collections to P34.5 billion, also ahead of its target by P2.1 billion.

The DOF said gross EVAT collections amounted to P34.9 billion during the period. Of this amount, P23.9 billion were collected from the lifting of exemptions on petroleum products (P20.7 billion), electric power (P2.3 billion), medical services (P222.0 million), transportation (P195.1 million), legal services (P80.5 million), passenger vessels (P20.9 million), and non-food agricultural products (P14.4 million).

On the other hand, input VAT spreading and caps generated P4.0 billion and P1.0 billion, respectively, while VAT withholding on government purchases led to a revenue loss of P388.7 million.

As the government implemented its so-called mitigating measures to offset the increase in the VAT rate from 10 to 12 percent, its collections generated revenues foregone estimated at P6.6 billion for the period.

The DOF said a large bulk was accounted for by reduction in excise taxes on petroleum products (P4.6 billion), repeal of franchise tax on power distribution (P1.0 billion), repeal of common carrier’s tax on international transport (P75.7 million) and domestic transport (P23.2 million).

Non-VAT reforms generated P2.3 billion of which increases in the rate for corporate income tax yielded P2.1 billion; gross receipts tax, P86.3 million; and PAGCOR tax payments, P79.1 million.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606190702.htm

Exports remain strong; $ 50 B expected this year



By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

Exporters are expecting higher dollar receipts this year of at least $ 50 billion due to the strong mid-year performance of the electronics, consumer durables and garments exports.


Philippine Exporters Confederation president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said because of the strong exports, the current exchange rate of P53:$ 1 will not hold for long. "The P53:$ 1 is not sustainable because of the strong exports."

He said that if not for the higher the ten percent target growth for the year to even 15 percent, which value-wise, would translate to $ 50 billion.

So far, for the January-April export period, the average growth rate is 15.4 percent compared to an eight percent target.

"To meet the $ 50 billion (export revenue) we have to raise the target to 15 percent," said Ortiz, also the chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

About 70 percent of the country’s exporters or about 3,000 are Philexport members.

For the January-April period the country’s export of electronics products, rose by 20.5 percent, followed by garment products at 15 percent.

Export earnings as of April went up by 18.7 percent to $ 3.852 billion from $ 3.246 billion during the same period a year earlier. The double-digit increase was recorded since February of the current year.

Receipts from merchandise exports during January to April gained 15.2 percent to $ 14.750 billion from $ 12.808 billion during the same period of the previous year.
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006061967162.html

Thai oil firm in P4-B expansion





Thai oil firm’s local subsidiary PTT Philippines Corp. (PTTPC) is gearing up for P3.5 billion to P4.0 billion expansion in the domestic oil market until 2009; which may involve transfer of its lubricant blending facility here.


The company, previously known as Subic Bay Distribution, Inc. (SBDI) has also renamed its trading arm, Subic Bay Fuels Co. (SBFCI) to PTT Philippines Trading Corp. (PTTTC).

According to Artasith Pothiapinyanvisuth, executive vice president for commercial and international marketing oil business group of PTT Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand, the company is seriously studying the possibility of transferring one of their existing lubricant blending plant to the country; but has not provided specific details yet.

Should plans push through, the first thing on their mind is to locate the blending facility to a site somewhere in Metro Manila.

For this venture alone, the Thai oil firm penciled in an investment of up to P1.0 billion.

Meanwhile, PTTPC president Siripong Phoungpaka noted that the P5-billion investment budget would be spread at P500 million a year.

He added that a good chunk of the investment budget shall be poured in for the construction of additional 50 retail gas stations all over the country in the next two years.

PPTPC currently has 16 gas refilling stations; and they expect this to be up to 100 to 200 stations nationwide in the next five years.

With the push on aggressive marketing strategies being embraced by almost all players in the oil industry, PTT is charting its own approach; and it counts the special economic zones among its potential market, primarily Subic and Clark freeport zones.

As far as other business expansions are concerned, PTT plans of setting up a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) warehouse with a capacity of 5,000 metric tons (MT) to 10,000 MT.

The target is to set on commercial operation this facility by 2008 or 2009; simultaneous to the targeted commercial operation of the PTT LPG production in Thailand.

Pothiapinyanvisuth said the company sees "an opportunity for us to sell LPG to the Philippines which imports most its LPG requirements."

At this stage, PTT is lining up the completion of an oil depot in Cebu with 5.0 million capacity, which is eyed for commercial operation by November this year.

The handling capacity of the facility is intended to cater to the needs of the entire region.

The company’s five-year plan also slots in the possibility of putting up an ethanol plant as part of its contribution to the promotion of the use of alternative fuels in the transport sector. (MMV)

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006062067238.html

Call centers seen to generate $7.3B for Philippines by 2010

Agence France-Presse

Subscribe to Business News SMS Alerts on your mobile phone! Send ON EXTRA BUSINESS to 2207 for Globe, or EXTRA BUSINESS to 386 for Smart.

ANNUAL foreign exchange earnings from the Philippines call center industry will nearly triple to 7.3 billion dollars in 2010, up from about 2.6 billion dollars this year, an industry leader said Tuesday.

Industry employment would rise to some 506,500 call center agents compared to 179,000 this year, said Rainiero Borja, president of People Support, a call center firm.

Citing figures from the industry association and the government, Borja told an annual industry conference that call center employees would pay 8.6 billion pesos (162 million dollars) in income taxes this year with more money spent on downstream industries such as office rentals and equipment supplies.

President Gloria Arroyo has singled out the industry as a key potential growth area as Western companies move more of their office functions abroad to take advantage of the huge pool of English-speaking workers here.

"Given these numbers, the value of this industry and its impact on the Philippine economy cannot be understated. We could just be scratching the surface of what could be the next Philippine gold mine," Borja said.

However he warned that the Philippines could also suffer the same problems that have afflicted its industry rivals in India such as "wage inflation" and high employee turnover.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=20&file=14

Gov't eyes P100 billion add'l public investment annually


MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled on Tuesday government plans to allocate an additional P100 billion public investments annually to further rev up the economy.

In her opening statement at the Second Joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council meeting held at the Heroes Hall of Malacanang, the President said if the government’s fiscal program goes as planned, investments in infrastructure, health, education, industry, security and peace and order will have to be markedly increased to pump prime the economy.

Citing the Asian Development Bank (ADB) report that the Philippines should increase its investment or capital stock by 10 percent annually, the President said it was imperative that the government and business sector gain the confidence of the international financial community to attract more foreign investments.

The President said heavy investments will go to the government’s program on education and infrastructure facilities nationwide.

She said the government will also encourage greater logistics investments in Clark and Subic Economic Zones, in expressways and ports in the Urban Beltway as well as Aurora province.

Agri-business investments in Nueva Ecija, the country’s number one rice producer, will be spurred, adding that investments in Mindoro and Marinduque would enable the two provinces to benefit from the development of Calabarzon, the President said.

She pointed out that the government now has adequate funds for development projects with the increase in revenue collections following the implementation of tough economic and fiscal reforms such as the Reformed Value Added Tax (RVAT) Law and the government’s all out war against smugglers, tax cheats and graft and corruption.

She explained that the rationale behind the joint Cabinet and RDC meeting is for the national government, RDCs and local government units (LGUs) to forge a strong partnership in planning and identifying the areas of investments in the regions in a bid to further spur development throughout the country.

In today’s joint meeting of the second cluster of the mega-region, which is composed of Regions 3, 4A and Metro Manila, the governors and mayors of city and capital towns in the cluster were set to work together with the national government in mapping out plans to spur the economy and market potentials of the area.

The new planning tact of the government kicked off in Cauayan City, Isabela last Friday.

The consultative planning, now done on a mega scale has four regional groupings: North Luzon (Regions 1, 2, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Aurora and Nueva Ecija; Metro Luzon (Regions 3, 4A and the National Capital Region); Central Philippines (Regions 4B, 5-8) and the Mindanao provinces.

The inputs in the consultative meetings will be inputted in the Medium Term Investment Program and in the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress on July 24.

OFW remittances to top 10% growth in 2006

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said he is confident that the projected ten percent growth for migrant workers’ remittances will be surpassed this year since banks’ penetration of the fund transfer business is now higher.


"(The growth) is more than ten percent now (as of April) and we’re keeping the growth target," said Tetangco. He added, "we’ve been coordinating with the banks, so they can offer financial products that the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) and their families can buy or participate in."

Tetangco said the BSP wants to see more OFW families putting a part of the remittances in banks or financial products. "(And) for those that don’t have the inclination or the time to manage their investment, the banks will basically manage that for you, that’s also good because there’ll be more resources for banks to invest in productive activities (and a) source of funds for lending."

As of April, OFW cash reached .7 billion, 10.8 percent higher compared to .35 billion in 2005.

Remittance transfers such as internet and online-banking, better rates, expansion of remittance branches and more tie-ups with foreign money transfer agents are encouraging OFWs to transact more with banks. (LCC)

There are an estimated seven million OFWs. The US, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan are the top four major sources of remittance flows.

To maintain competitiveness of OFWs, the government pursued programs that will strengthen workers’ technical training and education to enhance job-skills matching.

The continued growth in remittance helps the country’s balance of payments and ensures surpluses, which means more dollar stock.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006062267410.html

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia ureged foreign and domestiv investors to pour in more investment in Cebu Province. She stressed that their account for the bulk of the industrial and service activities in the Visayas region. That their major manufacturing industries such as furnitures, shipbuilding, fashion accessories, electronics and semi conductors are growing at a rate of 5.5%.

She also said that the major service industries such as tourism, business process outsourcing, call center, and other IT-related services have registered a 6.2 percent growth rate this year and is continuously rising.

She proudly say that it Unity that drives their area forward. Whether it is to determine the country's political futuer of to decide the province direction, Cebu speaks with one Voice...

I believed that this is the right attitude the ALL Pinoys should have. :grouphug:

Philippines sees over 5.5 pct GDP growth in 2006

MANILA, June 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Wednesday it expects the economy to grow more than 5.5 percent this year, helped by stronger farm sector output and private consumption and despite the lack of a higher government spending budget for 2006.
The government had earlier warned 1 percentage point would be shaved from the target growth of 5.5 to 6.2 percent this year if Congress failed to pass the proposed 2006 budget bill.

"We have a very good chance of reaching or even exceeding 5.5 percent," Romulo Neri, socio-economic planning secretary, told reporters.

"Government may not be as positive a contributor as we'd like to because of the re-enacted budget, but there are many good developments," Neri said, adding that exports in the first four months of the year have risen 15 percent against the annual target growth of 8 percent.

Neri said economic growth could even reach 6 percent this year, from 5 percent in 2005, if the new budget was passed, coupled with the backdrop of an exports rebound and expectations of better farm output.

Agricultural production, which comprises about a fifth of economic activity, is forecast to expand 4.5 to 5 percent in the first half from 2005. ADVERTISEMENT



The economy grew a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months and 5.5 percent from a year earlier, boosted by exports, higher farm output and consumption.

A recent Reuters poll showed a median forecast of 5.3 percent GDP growth this year from 2005.

The 2006 national budget, which is unlikely to be passed due to political bickering between senators and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, allocated a rise of 22 percent in capital spending and more than 50 percent for infrastructure.

The government, which has released additional allowances of about 13 billion pesos ($244.6 million) for state workers this year, is now operating with a rolled-over budget from 2005.

Neri said debt issues of the National Development Corp would help fund the government's infrastructure projects this year.

The Philippines' infrastructure spending budget, at about 2.39 percent of GDP in 2005, is one of the lowest in the region.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060621/3/2m6as.html

BSP upbeat over stronger exports
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 06/24/2006

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expressed optimism yesterday that exports would perform better than expected this year as global demand for semiconductors and electronics products has started to pick up.

Exports are projected to grow by eight percent this year, but BSP officials said indications are this growth rate would be easily achieved and maybe even surpassed.

The BSP said in its first quarter balance of payments report that exports recovered strongly in the first quarter, going up by 14.2 percent to $10.7 billion from $9.9 billion last year.

The surge, according to the BSP’s Department of Economic Affairs (DER) was due to the growth in electronics exports, mainly semiconductor parts which account for 73 percent of the country’s electronics exports.

DER director Iluminada Sicat told reporters that the acceleration in electronics exports was fueled by the global pick up in demand for consumer electronics such as mobile telephones, digital cameras, music players and the like.

Sicat said there has been a slow build-up in the global book to bill ratio which represents the proportion of orders versus actual shipments. A one-to-one ratio is an indication that the demand and supply for electronics is evenly matched.

"Right now the ratio is over one, somewhere around 1.2 to one," she said. "This tells us that there is a pick-up in demand and we expect that to translate into higher exports for us."

Aside from the gathering strength of the electronics sector, Sicat said the garments sector is also showing remarkable performance after the industry lost its import quota allocations from countries like the US.

"The strategy they adapted is to shift to high-end branded products," Sicat said. "As a result, they managed to post growth in the first quarter."

Another dark horse, according to Sicat, is business process outsourcing (BPO) which caused the surge in the export of services.

The BSP is currently reviewing all its projections and targets in preparation for the annual performance review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July.

In the first quarter, however, income from BPO operations such as call centers caused a surge in the country’s current accounts in the first quarter of the year and pushed up the balance of payments surplus.

The BSP reported that the country’s current account for the first three months of the year posted a surplus of $1.17 billion, equivalent to about 4.4 percent of gross domestic product.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said this was a 59-percent growth from the year-ago level of $733 million, due mostly to higher inflows from remittances, portfolio investments and the surge in the services exports.

Total exports of goods for the first quarter, according to GUinigundo, grew by 14.2 percent to $10.69 billion due to higher shipments of electronics and garments.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200606240701.htm

Interesting article about too much politicking in the Philippines...it has its advantage too.

The Philippines
Muddling along

Jun 22nd 2006 | MANILA
From The Economist print edition http://economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_SDJDNRV
Who needs a budget, Mrs Arroyo wonders?

THE year is almost half over and the Philippines' government still does not have a budget. Congress went into recess earlier this month, having neither approved the 2006 budget proposed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo nor agreed on an alternative. The chances of passing one now seem slim. Political turmoil is also blocking the progress of economic reforms and other much-needed laws.

It all looks bad. Yet the Philippines' financial situation is much improved since a year ago, when there were fears that it was heading for default. Since then, the government has won legal battles to broaden the value-added-tax base and increase the VAT rate. It has also improved revenues by cracking the whip over the sluggish and corruption-riddled tax-collection agencies. They are squealing at the demanding targets they have been set but so far they are, more or less, hitting them. The government has been able to bring forward, from 2010 to 2008, its self-imposed deadline for balancing its books.

The failure to pass a budget, a frequent occurrence in recent years, does not do much for the Philippines' image. But in some respects it is helpful for Mrs Arroyo's government. It will now have to re-run the 2005 budget. Since this is smaller than the one proposed for 2006, whereas revenues are rising, it should be easy to reach this year's deficit target, or even outperform it. Total public debt soared after the mid-1990s Asian financial crisis, peaking at over 100% of GDP. But by the end of last year it was down to 93% and it is set to continue falling. Since interest payments now absorb about one-third of the national budget, this should eventually liberate lots of money to increase social spending.

Just as helpful for Mrs Arroyo, a re-run of the 2005 budget will give her greater freedom on how to spend it, because money earmarked for projects that were completed last year can be used on other things. She might even be able to bend the rules to launch two flagship anti-poverty funds at the centre of the budget row.

The funds, together worth 8.7 billion pesos ($163m), would give grants to local authorities to improve drinking-water supplies and build schools and roads. One of them would be specifically for districts in the southern Philippines, in the hope of boosting the peace process with Islamist insurgents there. Many senators feared that the funds would be misused by the government to buy support ahead of next year's congressional elections. The Senate insisted on deleting them, putting it in conflict with the lower house, where Mrs Arroyo has more backing.

But the failure to pass the budget has a downside as well. Much of the spending increase Mrs Arroyo had planned for this year was for desperately needed improvements to roads and other infrastructure. The Philippines' investment in such areas is even more feeble than that of its main South-East Asian neighbours, holding the country back from the extra 2-3% of growth that it needs to make a dent in poverty. Much more private money would be forthcoming for such projects if public institutions, including the regulatory bodies that set electricity and water prices and road tolls, were reformed and freed from political interference.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid208/p5f0e4baa17609c478684a61f9a753d4c/ee598934.jpg

Dutch investment bank ING yesterday said allowing local fund managers to invest offshore could have averted the panic in the unit investment trust fund industry last month.

ING Investment Management South Asia general manager Michael Ferrer blamed the market panic in May to the imbalance of supply and demand, with fund managers facing huge redemptions that required them to sell their bond positions.

Ferrer said the May trust fund selloff was a “wake up call” and not a “financial crisis” as others had referred to it, adding that even developed economies had experienced something similar during the early phase of the industry’s development.

Allowing the fund managers to invest offshore markets could have prevented the sharp fall in the domestic bond market because foreign market are more liquid. Deeper capital markets are more liquid and have more investment options than the Philippine government securities and equities that the local fund managers were limited to.

“The market needs to be liquid,” Ferrer said. “The investible universe isn’t that large... it makes sense to invest offshore.”

Domestic bond prices fell sharply in May as trust fund investors panicked and divested their holdings, with the Bureau of the Treasury even buying P1 billion worth of bonds to calm the market.

The Philippines is considered one of the more restrictive markets in Asia because of the limits on offshore investments. A resident is technically allowed to invest $6 million overseas but the central bank will likely require some documentation.

article (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business05_june27_2006)

RP’s electronic exports pass new EU standards
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 06/27/2006

Philippine electrical and electronic equipment exports to the European Union (EU) will have to comply with new environmental standards taking effect in July this year or risk rejection by EU inspectors.

In a press conference yesterday at the start of a two-day EU sponsored workshop on standards and technical regulations in the electrical and electronic equipment sector, European Commission officials led by Sandra Callagan, Rein Nieland, Luc Van de Bon and Robert Hine of the British Standards Institute, said the new environmental standards are not intended as a form of non-tariff barriers.

The new environmental standards, the EU officials explained, were approved in 2003 and are only taking effect in July this year.

The EC has been conducting seminars over the past several years informing electrical and electronic equipment exporters about the new environmental standards and how to comply with them.

The EU officials further clarified that the new environmental standards legislated in the EU are not unique to the EU alone but are also being adopted by other countries including Japan and Thailand.

The new environmental standards seek to ban or reduce the use of at least six hazardous chemicals in the production of electrical and electronic products.

The six chemicals include mercury, lead, chromium 6, cadmium, PBBe and PBDE.

Based on EU statistics, the EU is the Philippines’ fifth largest export market in 2005, accounting for E6.4 billion in exports. Of this amount, about 80 percent is from the electrical and electronic equipment sector.

Fortunately, the EC officials noted, 80 percent of electrical and electronic equipment exports to the EU are from large original electronics manufacturers (OEM) who have the capability and access to new manufacturing technology that allows them to comply with the new EU environmental standards.

However, the EC officials estimate that about 20 percent of electrical and electronic equipment exporters may not have the capability or access to the new manufacturing technology.

The EC, however, the officials assured, has been extending their assistance to small manufacturers.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606270708.htm

BPO a bigger boon to economy than mining, says lawmaker
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
The Philippine Star 06/27/2006

Business process outsourcing (BPO) will do more good to the Philippine economy than any mining investment, according to Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on natural resources and environment, said investing in human skills, rather than altering natural resources through mining, should be the focus of the government’s economic policies.

"The Philippines should fully harness the economic benefits of the BPO-contact center (CC) sector for the jobs generation program for our people," she said during a recent forum sponsored by Five9 Inc., a California-based information technology company providing solutions to the contact center industry.

"Unlike mining, the BPO-CC industry does not have too much baggage for our environment to carry," she pointed out. Cayetano warned that mining, if not properly managed, could have destructive effects on the environment. The government, she said, must properly balance mining’s economic and environmental impact.

On the other hand, the BPO-CC industry could result in economic growth and better income for the people, without causing damages on the environment, because it focuses on human resource development.

She said companies like Five9 are doing the country a favor by training and equipping thousands of Filipinos with the right skills to become highly paid contact center agents and other BPO professionals.

Five9 country manager Junie Pama echoed this, saying that with the number of call centers in the country steadily rising, "the employment opportunity for Filipinos is also experiencing unprecedented growth as the Philippines is now tagged as the BPO-CC capital of the world."

Another 300 call centers are expected to operate in the country within the next two years, because of the many advantages the Philippines has over other Asian countries, in terms of personalized customer service, impeccable work ethics, language, diction, and robust communication infrastructure.

Five9 has chosen the Philippines as the site of its regional headquarters in Southeast Asia. In 2005, the company introduced its award-winning Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC), a revolutionary technology that allows small organizations to start a call center with minimal capital.

"With the development of low-cost and state-of-the-art technology such as the Five9 VCC, we will be able to help differentiate Filipino BPO centers with higher skills, excellent or superior customer satisfaction and customer experience, high velocity delivery, and specialized value and increased knowledge," Pama said.

Pama said that with the advent of new low-cost technology, it is expected that the 100,000 jobs in the BPO-CC sector will increase by another 90,000 over the next three years, expanding the business by $10 billion.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606270711.htm

The government expects to earn about $300 million over the next seven years from four new service contracts (SC) on oil and gas exploration to be awarded soon under the second Public Contracting Round (PCR), a ranking energy official said.

Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce said they would award next month four exploration blocks to Burgundy Global Asset Management Corp., PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC)/ Nido Petroleum Philippines Ltd., and Ranhill Berhad of Malaysia.

Balce said the West Palawan block will be awarded to the consortium of PNOC-EC and Australia’s Nido Petroleum. Two exploration blocks in East Palawan, on the other hand, were won by Filipino-owned Burgundy and other partners, while the South Eastern Palawan (Tawi-tawi block) will be awarded to Ranhill.

The energy official said Nido Petroleum, which is partly-owned by Ranhill, will need to secure approval from the Office of the President since it will involve more than 60 percent foreign participation.

"We are preparing for the awarding of the contracts. Probably we can award them by July this year," Balce said.

In the first seven years of the contract, it is expected that each exploration firm/group would spend about $70 million to $75 million — or a minimum of $10 million each well — and about $5 million will be used for other costs like geological studies and training.

The investments exclude capital that would come in if the exploration proves to be of commercial value. "This is the minimum investment we can get. The companies are expected to extend the contract to 25 years and invest more if they will find oil, gas in their respective areas of exploration," Balce said.

He said after the awarding of these contracts, the Department of Energy (DOE) will undertake another PCR within the third quarter of this year.

"We will conduct another PCR for oil and gas, coal, and geothermal exploration blocks within July, September and October. And then we will close it on December," he said.

He said they expect to open five to six more exploration blocks for oil and gas and nine blocks each for geothermal and coal.

The four petroleum contract areas cover a total of 49,789 square kilometers in shallow to deep waters.

The Philippine government has embarked on an aggressive development of the country’s energy resources through improved contracting and bidding schemes and enhanced fiscal incentives in pursuit of its quest to increase the country’s energy self-sufficiency.

In 2003, the DOE launched PCR-1 wherein exploration blocks near oil producing areas in Northwest Palawan and in vast frontier basins in Southwest and East Palawan, Sulu Sea and Reed Bank were offered for investors. Two blocks were awarded to BHP Billiton Petroleum under Service Contract 56.

Since December 2004, 16 petroleum exploration service contracts have been awarded with minimum financial resources amounting to $215.31 million committed to the proposed work program.

Continuing the gains of PCR-1, the DOE in August. 2005 conducted the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) wherein it offered investors opportunities for exploration and development not only of petroleum resources but also exploration and development of coal and geothermal resources.

Seven areas were offered for exploration, development and production of the country’s coal resources while 11 areas were offered for geothermal exploration, development and/or direct utilization for power generation use and other geothermal applications.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606280706.htm

New perks proposed in House for electronics sector
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 06/28/2006

The country’s electronics industry may get to avail of new incentives based on several bills filed by Rep. Junie Cua, chairman of the House committee on trade and industry.

Cua, who was the keynote speaker yesterday at the opening of the Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Conference and Exhibition at the Philippine International Convention Center, had proposed legislative initiatives that would give additional perks to the semiconductor and electronics industries, the country’s top dollar earner.

One proposal is to grant incentives for the use of indigenous raw materials, such as copper and gold, by allied industries supporting the semiconductor and electronics industry, he said.

Another proposal is to allocate funds from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for the scholarship and training program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for engineers to increase the manpower/labor source of the semiconductor and electronic industry.

Cua is also introducing legislation that would allow the semiconductor and electronic industry, which is a big power consumer, greater access to the high load factor (HLF) rider scheme which provides special discounts to Meralco’s industrial customers with billing demand of at least one megawatt.

The discount rate would be based on the increase of a customer’s load factor.

According to Cua, the minimum requirement of one megawatt should be scrapped and instead allow all industrial power users to avail of the HLF rider scheme.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606280711.htm

http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20060629bus5.html

Japan’s Rating and Investment Information Inc. (R&I) upgraded the outlook for foreign currency short-term credit rating on the country to stable from negative, citing progress in fiscal reforms.

R&I said in a press statement it has affirmed its sovereign rating of “BBB-” for the Philippines.

The ratings agency noted the increase in value-added tax (VAT) that had been an issue of concern by rating agencies was implemented beginning in 2005 as the government took important steps in fiscal reconstruction.
Reduction in the fiscal deficit and foreign debt is keeping the effects of foreign interest rates rises to a minimum, it added.

The agency, however, stated that stable economic growth would mainly come from “solid remittances from expatriate workers abroad.”

A bill on VAT reforms aimed at reducing tax exemptions and increasing the tax rate was enacted in May 2005 after arduous negotiations.

In spite of a temporary injunction by the country’s Supreme Court, measures were implemented in two stages in November 2005 and February 2006, it said.

R&I added since then the VAT has been in operation without causing significant disruption and is expected to increase revenue by about 1.3 percent to 1.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Fiscal deficit is on a declining trend as the government aims to achieve a balanced budget by 2008. The government’s firm stand on fiscal reconstruction after overcoming the impasse in VAT tax increase will probably be a condition for increasing its creditworthiness.

“Furthermore, the ability to execute both revenue and spending measures will be tested and attention must be paid to the ongoing situation such as continuing arguments within the government over tax revenue goals and difficulties in budget deliberation in the country’s legislative assembly,” it said.

R&I noted that if reduction in fiscal deficit continues, the burden of interest payment will be brought under control in the medium-term and resistance to interest rate risk will increase.

Expenditure for improvement in domestic infrastructure, however, an area where Malaysia and Thailand far surpass the Philippines, as well as expenditure for increasing employment opportunities is necessary, it said.

Supported by a population proficient in English and an established reputation in the management of special economic areas, the country has a relatively sound production base in the processing and assembly of semiconductors and electronic parts, it said.

So far, the news are really very good, but let us not forget the bad ones, as of now, our economy is risig, we can only hope that this rise will be consistent.

US confectionery giant turns to RP for its cacao needs
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 06/29/2006

New Jersey-based Masterfoods USA, one of the world’s three biggest confectionery players with 2005 sales of $18 billion, is looking at the Philippines as a supplier for its growing cacao bean requirements.

Masterfoods which is entirely owned by the Mars family, is famous for its Mars, Milky Way, M&M’s, Twix and Snickers confectionery, as well as pet foods such as the well-known Whiskas, Chappy and Pedigree brands, human foods including Uncle Ben’s and non-confectionery snack foods including Combos, is one of several participants in a 10-year (2006-2016) cacao production roadmap program.

Created by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in collaboration with the Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines (CFP), the cacao production roadmap will be implemented with the assistance of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which is providing a $2.6-million (P137.8 million) grant, the Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance. (ACDI VOCA) and the Sustainable Cocoa Enterprise Solutions for Smallholders (Success Alliance).

"Masterfoods is an important global player in the chocolate and confectionery business and its growing requirements for its expansion requirements is pushing the company to look for new and non-traditional sources of cacao beans, the Philippines is definitely on its plans," said Nicholas Richards, a cocoa farming systems advisor of Success Alliance/ACDI VOCA and the team leader for the Philippine cacao production program.

"Masterfoods wants continuity of supply and is constantly looking for competitive edge which it believes is achievable in the Philippines. The company has a huge portfolio all over the world and requires an average of about 300,000 metric tons (MT) of raw cacao beans for its various product applications. As long as the Philippines can conform with internationally-accepted cacao standards, then it has an assured market in Masterfoods, and in other buyers," noted Richards.

Richards said that under the cacao production roadmap, Success Alliance and ACDI VOCA, both non-profit organizations will be assisting in both the technical and market development aspects of the program.

"With close coordination with the local government agencies, we will help train 17,000 farmers, 1.5 million plants will be distributed to farmers, 50 postharvest facilities will be put up and about 120 cacao nurseries will be established nationwide," said Richards.

He added that when there is enough production to merit going into full steam exports of cacao, Success Alliance which operates in 40 countries, will also facilitate market linkages between the smallholder cacao producers and major buyers and traders of cacao such as ED F Man, PT Olan, Cargill and Armarjoro.

Josephine Ramos, CFP field operations manager said that by 2010, about five million seedlings would have been distributed to farmers nationwide and production should be at the level of at least 10,000 MT.

Currently, annual production is only averaging 6,000 MT, while domestic requirement is about 35,000 MT. Thus, the Philippines imports about 24,000 to 25,000 of cacao yearly worth $50 million.

Ramos said that by 2016, the country’s cacao production should reach 337,000 MT of well-fermented and dried cacao beans from 35 million productive cacao trees in 60,000 hectares.

It is also projected that by 2016, the country’s the revenues from export of processed cacao products such as cocoa butter will reach $185 million.

"Raising cacao production will translate into full-time on-farm jobs of 787,500 and will also provide additional incomes for 60,000 farm-families," said Ramos.

She added that there are various export opportunities for locally-produced cacao.

"We don’t even have to go so far. The potential Asian market alone can absorb 100,000 metric tons which we can supply to Malaysia, China, Japan and Singapore. The bigger potential markets would be the United States and the European nations," noted Ramos.

Cacao prices which unlike other crops are not so much subjected to sharp price fluctuations, should encourage farmers to go into cacao production on a bigger scale.

Currently, cacao is traded at the futures market at an average of $1,550 per MT.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200606290701.htm

BIR exceeds May collection target by P800 million

The Philippine Star 06/29/2006

The Bureau of Internal Revenue exceeded its collection target for the month of May, it was announced yesterday by Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.

In a report to President Arroyo shortly before she left for the Vatican, Buñag said that the BIR collected P59.3 billion in internal revenue taxes in May, exceeding the collection goal of P58.5 billion by P800 million or 1.4 percent.

Based on actual tax collection, BIR revenue collection in May this year surpassed the

BIR collection in May last year by 28.9 percent. In May 2005, the BIR collected P46 billion, while in May 2006, the BIR amassed P59.3 billion, or a surplus of P13.3 billion.

The BIR’s cumulative collection for the five-month period, from January to May, this year, exceeded the collections for the same period last year by 22.4 percent. The collection for the first five months of 2006 totaled P254 billion as against P207.5 for the same period in 2005, or an increase of P46.5 billion.

Tax collections made by the Bureau of Treasury from Treasury bills and bonds, however, suffered a decline. In May 2006, Treasury collections suffered a 20-percent decline, from P3 billion in May 2005 to P2.4 billion in May this year. Compared to the goal of P3.7 billion. Treasury collection was short by P1.3 billion or 35.1 percent.

For the five-month period from January to May, 2006, Treasury collections amounted to P14 billion, compared to the goal of P17.3 billion, falling short by P3.3 billion or 19.1 percent. Based on actual collection of P14.7 billion in 2005, Treasury collections in 2006 decreased by only P700 million or 4.8 percent.

Buñag attributed the success of the BIR operations for tax collection to the intensified tax collection campaign conducted by the bureau, including closer scrutiny and examination of tax returns and the filing of tax evasion cases against business firms and individuals remiss in the payment of their tax liabilities.

Buñag also praised the cooperation, higher morale and efficiency of the men and women of the BIR who have been motivated to exert stronger efforts to increase collections in order to reduce if not eliminate the fiscal deficit of government.

"We have also delivered the message to the BIR personnel that they should cooperate wholeheartedly with the administration of President Arroyo in delivering greater and better services to the Filipino people through collection of taxes that finance government operations," Buñag said.

He added that BIR personnel responded enthusiastically to his appeal. However, the BIR administration continued the purge the BIR of misfits and incompetents, filing administrative and criminal charges against BIR personnel found guilty of corruption, laxity and inefficiency, Buñag stressed.

National Treasurer Omar Cruz had expressed confidence earlier that the BIR may exceed its planned revenue collection levels for period ending in May amid reports that the agency has already reached the P254 billion mark as of the end of the previous month.

Cruz said he projects a BIR target overshoot of some P2 billion as soon as the P3.3 billion in withheld taxes are included in the collection figures for January to May this year.

Cruz’s bullish outlook confirmed Buñag’s earlier assessment that the overall government revenue collection goal for the current year is attainable.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606290703.htm

i've read sa Newsweek (or was it Time?) yung interview kay Imelda...natawa ako dun sa sinabi nya na may gagawin daw cya para ma wipe-out yung poverty sa Pilipinas in two years! :lol: god bless you meldy!

i've read sa Newsweek (or was it Time?) yung interview kay Imelda...natawa ako dun sa sinabi nya na may gagawin daw cya para ma wipe-out yung poverty sa Pilipinas in two years! :lol: god bless you meldy!


Baka ibabalik na nya lahat ang mga ill-gotten wealth nila :lol:

MADRID (via PLDT) — The Philippines will get some 350 million euros in fresh investments from Spanish businesses as a result of the visit of President Arroyo here while other deals remain in the pipeline.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said Filipino businessmen and their counterparts were still finalizing other agreements for possible investments in the country.

He said Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, one of Spain’s top banks, will offer a 200-million euro credit line facility to Burgundy Global Exploration Corp. in Palawan.

Others include the development of Port Irene in Cagayan (50 million euros), hotels and resorts (50 million euros) and projects to facilitate growth and commerce (50 million euros).

"There are still ongoing talks between the Philippine and Spanish businessmen," he said.

Favila said Spanish investors in the Philippines would also meet with Mrs. Arroyo here such as the cement producer Semex and Soluciones, an electricity company with a stake in giant power retailer Manila Electric Co.

Favila said other businessmen were also interested in infrastructure projects such as railways, sea ports and others.

He added various areas of investments were discussed such as information technology, mining, defense system and technology, waste management, water treatment, tourism and even traffic systems.

Two large hotel chains in Spain, Favila said, would also meet with Mrs. Arroyo to determine whether they would push through with their investments in the Philippines to be able to establish a greater presence in Asia.

These are the Occidental and Ramada groups of hotels.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said they would offer Subic, Palawan, Boracay, Bohol and other provinces with great beaches to these prospective investors.

Durano said he had also met with Qatar airlines and the six largest tour operators here to be able to implement tourism promotion and attract more scuba divers to the Philippines.

He said it would be important to have a target market so its government would get a quick return on its investments in tourism promotion.

Durano noted only 8,000 Spanish tourists came to the Philippines last year but this could increase if diving sites and other beaches in the country were introduced to them properly.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200606300402.htm

Peso, stocks surge as rate concerns subside
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/01/2006

The peso and stocks staged a strong rally yesterday after the US Federal Reserve said America’s economic growth is moderating, raising expectations it may stop raising interest rates soon after increasing borrowing costs for a 17th straight time Thursday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) composite index posted its biggest gain since May 8, surging 94.17 points, or 4.7 percent, to close at 2,178.79. The index closed the week 3.1 percent higher, ending three consecutive weeks of declines.

"The less-than-expected aggressive tone of the Fed’s comment has tempered fears about interest rates," said Fitz Aclan of Banco de Oro. "The softer tone may signal that the cycle of rising interest rates is coming to an end," he added.

At the Philippine Dealing System (PDS), the peso appreciated by 44 centavos to close at 53.11 from Thursday’s close of 53.55 to a dollar. It was the peso’s strongest close since it last touched the 52.92 level on June 7.

Analysts said the peso gained more momentum toward the end of the day’s trade, closing at its intra-day high of 53.11 to the dollar.

Asian currencies have suffered the brunt of looming increases in interest rates hike and analysts said they should now start recovering against the dollar.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. said economies in the region have weathered the US rates hike relatively well because they had better fundamentals.

"Generally, the Philippines included, we have sustained higher growth in the region, low inflation, good external liquidity and generally improved performance," he said. Strong blue chips
Ayala Land, the country’s largest builder, rose 50 centavos, or 4.6 percent, to P11.50, set for its biggest gain since May 26 when it jumped 6.3 percent. PLDT, the nation’s largest phone company, advanced P90, or 5.2 percent, to P1,830, its biggest climb since May 8.

Yesterday’s gain pared this quarter’s loss to 0.8 percent, averting what could have been the main stock exchange index’s biggest thee-month loss in 3-1/2 years.

"The Fed pronouncement that the economy is slowing gives more leeway for the Fed to pause in its two-year rate hike campaign,’’ said Grace Cerdenia, head of research at 2TradeAsia.com.

The BSP kept its key rate unchanged at a ninth straight meeting on expectations that inflation will slow in the next six months.

"Buying interest in property and financial stocks may ensue following the decision by local monetary authorities to maintain rates’’ at the current level, Cerdenia said.

Local stocks had fallen on worries of prolonged monetary tightening in the US, which could siphon funds out of emerging markets and possibly slow the US economy and demand for Asian exports.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the nation’s largest lender by market value, gained P4.5, or 9.9 percent, to P50, its biggest gain since Jan. 22, 2001 when a protest action ousted President Joseph Estrada. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the largest Philippine lender by assets, advanced P2, or 6.3 percent, to P34, its biggest since June 6.

Ayala Corp., owner of the nation’s largest builder, the country’s second-biggest mobile phone operator, jumped P20, or 5.7 percent, to P370, its biggest gain since May 8.

Robinson Land Corp. and Megaworld Corp., the nation’s two-biggest builders of office space for companies that provide outsourced services, including call centers, surged after the local unit of Colliers International Property Consultants Inc. said there could be a shortage of space for call centers and similar companies in the next five years.

Robinsons Land, the nation’s second-largest builder, jumped 35 centavos, or 3.5 percent, to P10.25. Megaworld, which has built the most space in Manila for companies that provide outsourced services, added six centavos, or 4.2 percent, to P1.48, extending a 4.4 percent gain yesterday.

The Philippines is building only 328,100 square meters of space for outsourcing companies in the next five years, compared with a projected demand of 660,000 square meters, the consultant said.

Shares worth P3.44 billion were traded, almost twice the six-month daily average and the most since June 6. Gainers edged losers, 77 to 14, with 28 stocks unchanged in the broader market.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607010701.htm

Local stocks are seen to sustain their upswing this week on follow-through buying, seasonal quarter end window-dressing, and improving economic prospects, analysts said.

Last week, the Philippine composite index or PSEi gained three percent to settle at 2,178.78, ending three consecutive weeks of declines. The index posted its biggest gain since May 8, surging 94.17 points.

Paul C. Rafael, sales and marketing senior manager at PCCI Securities Brokers Corp., said there will be some follow through buying, aided by quarter end window-dressing activities in anticipation of favorable second quarter corporate results.

Rafael said the US Fed’s decision to increase rates by only 25 basis points (bps) is also expected to buoy market sentiment since some analysts had predicted a 50 bps increase.

US analysts, however, are expecting another 25 bps rate hike come August and expectations are that rates for the end of the year may hover between 5.75 percent and six percent.

"This development takes away one major short term roadblock to the market, which is the concern on interest rates. This doesn’t mean that domestic interest rates are not going to rise, but the Fed comment is expected to ease the pressures on global rates. Since there is no significant threat looming over the horizon, we are now advising investors to gradually accumulate," said AB Capital Securities Corp.’s Jovis Vistan.

"With the easing of interest rates, we believe that the market will move back to its bullish long term uptrend," Vistan said as he pointed out that most listed companies have stronger balance sheets and healthy profit margins.

"With the economy growing at around six percent and corporate earnings growth of 15 percent, a valuation of 11.5 times PE ratio should provide some reasonable upside for bargain hunters," Vistan said.

Stock portal 2tradeasia.com advised investors to buy on dips. Immediate support is pegged at 2,130 to 2,150 while resistance is at 2,200 to 2,250.

"Improved take-up rates within the property sector, specifically from the deluge of business process outsourcing (BPOs) and cost minimization via project tie-ups should help support interest in the counter, while series of merger and acquisition stories as well as non-dilutive Tier-2 capital raising exercises would help buoy sentiment in financials," 2tradeasia.com said.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607030706.htm

RP secures tourism investments from Spain
By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 07/03/2006

The Philippines has secured investment commitments worth some 300 million euros from Spain in tourism, energy and information and communications technology (ICT) as well as in infrastructure development, President Arroyo said yesterday upon her arrival from a seven-day trip to Europe.

In her arrival statement, the President also said she was able to work with Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero for closer ties between the two countries in the areas of defense, security and judicial cooperation as well as witnessing efforts by Filipino and Spanish lawmakers to reduce foreign debt of poor nations.

"I met with the Confederacion Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, the largest economic group in Spain," she said. "There was serious interest in investments in the tourism, infrastructure, mining, energy and information technology."

Mrs. Arroyo said four projects, worth a total of 300 million euros, are in the pipeline. These projects include "oil and gas, hotel and resort development, ICT and infrastructure development."

Spain was the last leg of Mrs. Arroyo’s three-state swing that included Italy, and the Vatican, where she invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Philippines.

She said Spanish and Filipino parliamentarians belonging to the Christian Democrats International signed a protocol for the organization of an international conference for the conversion and investment of foreign debt of poor countries.

The conference, she said, seeks to create a social, political and legal framework that will serve as a platform for the conversion of the debt of 100 poor and middle-income countries into Millennium Development Projects with the aim of reducing the incidence of poverty by half in 2015.

"All these developments converge with our continuing gains in economic growth, political transformation and social justice in the Philippines," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the bulk of the planned investments are in the area of tourism. He said since Spain is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, it "should be able to provide us enough inputs which will further enhance or improve our own tourism industry."

Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano told reporters that Spain’s two biggest hotel and resort chains — Occidental and New Romasa — are planning to put up 200- to 400-room hotels in the country’s top tourist destinations, particularly beaches, that would be worth at least P2 billion to P4 billion each.

Bunye and Durano said the government is pulling out all the stops to make the Philippines the "headquarters" of Spanish businessmen’s projected expansion in Asia.

"Since Spain as a whole is really looking to Asia to expand investment and these two groups, this (the hotel projects) will be their very first entry into Asia," Durano said, adding that top officials of Occidental would be arriving in the country next month while investors from New Romasa are coming before the end of the year.

"Of course we have to be frank with them as to what particular product in the country (is) doing well so we said beach destinations in the country. That is really hot right now so they will be looking at the beach destinations," he said.

Durano said once the investors, who note that tourism is a fast growing industry in Asia, find a favorable location for them, it will take only 18 months to two years until the resorts and hotels open their doors.

He said the two hotel chains are not really looking at Spanish tourists coming into the country but intend to cash in on the influx of American, Japanese, Korean and Chinese visitors.

Durano said the country aims to attract more tourists but is hampered by lack of facilities and infrastructure, making the projected Spanish investments most welcome.

He pointed out that the country’s tourist arrivals have been growing by an average of 13 percent annually in the last three years. Last year, the Philippines hit the 2.6 million mark in tourist arrivals, the first in 20 years, he said.

"This year we’ll breach three million (arrivals)," Durano said.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607030414.htm

Neri sees GDP up 'at least 5.5%' in H1

Slowdown seen in H2

By Erik de la Cruz
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 11:52am (Mla time) 07/03/2006


GROSS Domestic Product likely grew "at least 5.5 percent" year-on-year in the first half of the year, driven by a rebound in agriculture and exports, Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said.

However, Neri said growth might lose steam in the second half because of the failure of Congress to pass the government's proposed budget of 1.053 trillion pesos.

"Growth might slow down in the second half because we now operate with a re-enacted 2005 budget [of 918.6 billion pesos] which trims government spending on infrastructure. We have to look for other growth drivers," he told reporters.

The government is aiming for GDP growth of 5.5-6.2 percent for this year.

Annual growth in the first quarter was 5.5 percent.

The Department of Agriculture recently projected growth of 4.5-5.0 percent in farm output in the first half, helped by favorable weather.

Merchandise exports rose 15.6 percent in the first four months of the year, growing at nearly double the government's projected rate of 8 percent for the full year.
http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=7907

Shares close firmer for 3rd straight day

Key index at 1-month high

By Cecille Yap
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 01:24pm (Mla time) 07/03/2006


(UPDATE) Share prices closed higher for the third straight session, bringing the key composite index to its best level in nearly a month, as investors continued to accumulate bargains on hopes that the US Federal Reserve will soon be over raising interest rates, easing pressure on other central banks to tighten policy, dealers said.

The composite index finished up 16.05 points or 0.74 percent at 2,194.84, after trading between 2,178.79 and 2,196.52. It was the main index's best closing level since June 7 when it ended at 2,218.42.

The broader all-shares index advanced 5.51 points to 1,375.40.

Gainers outnumbered losers 38 to 30, with 45 stocks unchanged.

Volume was 1.99 billion shares worth 1.16 billion pesos.

"The market seems to have reversed itself," Summit Securities president Harry Liu said. "We're now seeing a recovery after losing heavily in the past two months."

Despite Monday's gains, the composite index is still around 15 percent below this year's high of 2,589.17 points reached on May 8. That was also the index's best level in nearly seven years.

The Fed raised its key federal funds rate by 25 basis points for the 17th time last Thursday to 5.25 percent, but investors cheered the Fed's less hawkish outlook, taking it as a sign that it would soon stop increasing rates.

"Selling has eased and there appears to be no strong buying pressure as well. It looks like people are now taking a closer look at the fundamentals of companies," Liu said.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co was the most actively traded stock, ending up 45.00 pesos or 2.46 percent at 1,875 with 160,300 shares traded, tracking Friday's advance of its American Depositary Receipts.

Property stocks continued to recover after falling sharply in previous weeks because of worries that higher interest rates would dampen sales of homes and offices.

Ayala Land Inc gained 0.50 peso or 4.35 percent to 12.00 on 2.55 million shares, while Megaworld Corp advanced 0.02 pesos to 1.50 on volume of 67.59 million shares.

Mining shares also closed higher after prices of gold and other precious metals rose in US trading Friday, dealers said.

Philex's A-shares, restricted to Filipinos, gained 0.10 peso or 2.35 percent to 4.35 on volume of 10.29 million shares. Philex's B-shares, which foreign investors can buy, also advanced 0.10 pesos or 2.35 percent to 4.35 on 18.13 million shares.

Petroenergy Resources Corp rose 0.25 pesos to 18.00 on 6.24 million shares.

Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp's A-shares rose 0.0005 peso or 5.26 percent to 0.01 on 695 million shares. Its B-shares gained 0.0010 peso or 10 percent to 0.011 with 77 million shares exchanged.

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp advanced 0.30 peso or 3.8 percent to 8.20 on 3.7 million shares.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Atlas subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp is keen on listing its shares on either the Toronto Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange next year. Atlas has not issued any statement regarding the report.

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=7911

Market extends gains on positive investor sentiment

The Philippine Star 07/04/2006

Share prices closed 0.74 percent higher yesterday, extending gains to a third day on hopes the US Federal Reserve will soon call a halt to its rate hike cycle, dealers said.

They said sentiment was much more positive after a gain of 4.52 percent Friday following the latest Fed statement on the economy was taken to mean US interest rates had peaked, or were near to peaking out.

The composite index finished up 16.05 points to 2,194.84, its highest closing level for nearly a month, after trading between 2,178.79 and 2,196.52. Volume was 1.99 billion shares worth P1.16 billion.

The broader all-shares index advanced 5.51 points to 1,375.40.

Gainers outnumbered losers 38 to 30, with 45 stocks unchanged.

"The market seems to have reversed itself," said Harry Liu of Summit Securities. "We’re now seeing a recovery after losing heavily in the past two months."

Despite yesterday’s gains, the composite index is still around 15 percent below this year’s peak of 2,589.17 points reached on May 8. That was also the best level in nearly seven years.

The Fed raised its key federal funds rate by 25 basis points for the 17th time Thursday to 5.25 percent but investors cheered the Fed’s less hawkish outlook, taking it as a sign that it would soon stop increasing rates.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) ended up P45 to P1,875.

Property stocks continued to recover after falling sharply in previous weeks because of worries higher interest rates would dampen sales.

Ayala Land gained 50 centavos to P12.

Mining shares also closed higher after prices of gold and other precious metals rose trading Friday, dealers said.

Philex A shares, restricted to Filipinos, gained 10 centavos to P4.35, while its B shares, which foreign investors can buy, also advanced 10 centavos to P4.35.

San Miguel A was steady at P65 while its B shares fell P1.50 to P71.50.

Philex Class A shares, equity reserved for Filipinos in the country’s nation’s largest metal producer by market value, rose 10 centavos, or 2.4 percent, to P4.35. Its Class B shares, which have no ownership restrictions, gained 10 centavos, or 2.4 percent, to P4.35.

Class A shares of Lepanto, the nation’s second-largest metal mine by market value, added one centavo, or 3.5 percent, to 30. Its Class B shares advanced one centavo, or 2.9 percent, to 35, the highest since June 1. – AFP

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607040703.htm

2nd-quarter growth 5.5%-6.0%, says NEDA
Posted: 4:15 AM | Jul. 04, 2006

Inquirer


Editor's Note: Due to technical difficulties, we are using a text-only version of the site at the moment. We apologize for any inconvenience.

THE economy grew by 5.5-6.0 percent in the second quarter with strong performance of exports and agriculture, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Monday.

With the first-quarter growth at 5.5 percent, the economy remains on track to meeting the full-year target growth of 5.5-6.2 percent in the gross domestic product despite such problems as non-passage of the 2006 national budget, Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, director general of the NEDA, told reporters.

Growth in agriculture, which accounts for about one-fifth of the GDP, is estimated at 5.0 percent, Neri said.

The Department of Agriculture earlier noted the absence of the drought-inducing El Niño weather disruption in the second quarter, which helped to improve rice and corn harvest.

Exports in the January-April period grew 15.2 percent to $14.75 billion from $12.81 billion in the same months last year, the National Statistics Office earlier reported.

The government is aiming for an 8.0-percent growth in exports this year after revising the target from 10.0 percent in view of a weak performance of the export sector in early 2005.

Officials said exports grew substantially in April because of increased global demand for electronics, which account for at least 60 percent of total Philippine exports.

The demand grew mainly for laptop computers, iPODs, and MP3 players. With INQ7.net

http://money.inq7.net/topstories/printable_topstories.php?yyyy=2006&mon=07&dd=04&file=1

Yipee! We're gonna have Spanish hotels! Tapos economy is expanding fast (at least one of the fastest in the last three decades)! Peso is appreciating and the PSEi is gaining more points!:banana:

Diaspora, Globalization and Development

By Randy David
Inquirer
Last updated 05:28pm (Mla time) 07/04/2006

In the 1880s, scores of Filipino students started to arrive in Europe to study. Many of them were sent abroad by their parents to keep them from getting into trouble with the Spanish Government in Manila that had become more repressive in its vain effort to pre-empt the revolutionary tide.

Many went to Europe to obtain the professional training they could not get in Manila because higher learning at that time was still reserved for the Spanish elite and members of the Clergy.

What these Filipino expatriates in obtained in Europe was more than university education. There, in a climate of freedom of tolerance, they quickly imbibed the Enlightenment ethos of liberalism and equality, and belief in reason and scientific progress. They became the first Filipino moderns – young intellectuals who imagined themselves as the nervous system of a new nation that was being born.

They became obsessed with showing the world that Filipinos were the equal of any race. They campaigned for their people to be treated like rational beings, and for the Filipino nation to ultimately be free.

When they returned to the Philippines, these Indios Bravos, as they proudly called themselves, brought home with them, not only new skills and new knowledge, but an entire world view that enabled them to see their society from the standpoint of what it could be if it were free to decide its own destiny.

These Ilustrados were the first Filipinos to step out of the skin of their own culture, and to see the reality of their existence through the prism of liberty and equality. It was natural that they would become the leaders of a new nation and the agents of a new way of life.

Jose Rizal became the icon of this first generation of modern Filipinos. In Berlin, while training to be an eye surgeon, he completed his first novel, ‘Noli Me Tangere,’ a compelling political satire of the abuses of the Spanish colonial rulers and the folly of their pathetic Filipino surrogates.

Rizal decided from the start that Europe would not be his permanent home. He was in a hurry to return to the Philippines, where he felt he had a mission to achieve. No doubt, here was a man who was very much ahead of his time. He had great ambitions for his people. He became a curious observer of everything European and modern, and his encounter with 19th century Europe framed his concept of what Filipinos would be if they were given the same opportunity to develop themselves.

Rizal never tired of sharing his keen observations of the modern way of life with the members of his family. To his eighteen-year-old sister, Trining, for example, he offered this fascinating profile of the 19th century German woman:

"The German woman is serious, studious, and diligent, and … they do not pay much attention to their clothes nor to jewels…they go
everywhere, walking so nimbly or faster than men, carrying their books, their baskets, without minding anyone and only their own
business… If our sister Maria had been educated in Germany, she would have been notable, because German women are active and somewhat masculine. They are not afraid of men. They are more concerned with the substance than with appearances… It is a pity that there in our country the principal adornment of all women almost always consists of clothes and finery, rather than of knowledge. In our province, women still preserve a virtue that compensates for their little instruction – the virtue of industry and tenderness. In no woman in Europe have I found a latter virtue in such a high degree as among the women there. If these qualities that nature gives to the women there were exalted by intellectual qualities, as it happens in Europe, the Filipino has nothing to envy the European." (Rizal’s letter to Trinidad, March 11, 1886)

I have quoted extensively from one of these charming letters that Rizal wrote to his sisters because it could well have been addressed to all the young Filipinos of his time. But it was not merely because he was brilliant that he could make these insightful comparisons. It was also because, for the first time, Rizal the expatriate could look at his own from the perspective of another. He envisioned a nation that was as progressive, as disciplined, and as confident as Europe – but one where the gift of tenderness, of which our people seem to have so much, survives.

In the 1980s, a century after Rizal, Filipinos returned to Europe. They came, not by the hundreds, but by the tens of thousands. Unlike the ilustrado generation of the 19th century, they were not escaping political persecution; they were fleeing from poverty and lack of opportunity. They came not to study, for indeed many of them were already highly educated, but to earn a living or to start a new life. Interestingly, most were women, whereas the 19th century Filipinos in Europe were almost all men. Unlike the early Filipino students, most of these recent migrants have opted to make Europe their permanent home.

But like those first Filipino travelers, they, too, remained loyal to the country – regularly sending money to their loved ones, and avidly watching the nation’s journey from turmoil to turmoil, as if they never left home. With modern communication, they continue to bear witness to the relentless political and economic storms that have hit the same criteria of responsible governance by which Europeans measure their leaders. In more ways than they can imagine, they, too, have been more influential agents of change in the nation they left behind.

They download the electronic version of Manila’s major dailies, and watch the early evening news beamed from our local television networks. They tirelessly write letters to the editors. They comment on issues, publicize their views, grumble about corruption and incompetence, and instruct their relatives to reject unfit candidates during elections.

More than half of the comments I get to my Sunday Inquirer column, for instance, come from Filipinos abroad. I would say they are far more informed about events taking place in our country and, certainly, in the rest of the world than the average middle class Filipino living in the Philippines. Very much like Rizal, they tell their families at home what life is like in societies governed by accountable leaders.

They form a view of how states in mature democracies are like, how citizens behave when their freedoms are threatened, and what civil liberties mean when people have the capacity to assert them. Perhaps, most importantly, their prolonged separation from their families and culture gives them an insight into their own personal needs and inner selves, which modern culture
allows them to recognize and express.

The net effect of all this is that Filipinos living abroad have become the most demanding constituency of the Filipino nation. They know how the nation’s economy has become very dependent on their remittances. Like Rizal’s generation of émigrés, today’s Overseas Filipino Workers know their power, even if they may still be groping for effective ways to use it. The structurally flawed Absentee Voting Law hardly affords them the occasion to use this power.

Overseas work has become the most dynamic element in the economic life of the Philippines. OFW remittances have funded the education of millions of young people from poor families who would otherwise be excluded from our society’s structure of opportunity. Consumption patterns throughout the country have changed overnight because of the steady flow of remittances.

Television sets, DVD players, mobile phones, and personal computers have become ordinary fixtures in many homes, serving as channels for new and varied forms of information.

Among the millions of Filipino residents abroad, many have acquired second homes in the Philippines, shuttling back and forth at least once a year. Their mobility, their incredible international experience, and their encounters with various cultures have made them truly modern individuals – in the words of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann – human beings "with an enhanced capacity, both for impersonal and for more intensive personal relationships."

The OFW phenomenon is an impulse that is revolutionizing our way of life beyond our imagination. I cannot think of any other phenomenon that has shaken the deep formative contexts of our social life than the massive deployment of Filipino workers abroad. Its overall impact I believe, is, for example, pulling our political system toward greater democracy, greater transparency and governance, and more accountability in public life.

Our politicians, rooted in the old ways of patronage and corruption, are finding it increasingly difficult to win popular support in this emerging society. Our people are changing but their leaders have remained the same.

I think of the current political crisis in a different way – I think it is telling us that at least the old is dying, and something new is being born. Undoubtedly, this transition has been stretched too long, and is far from smooth. Yet, I find in the growing disaffection with traditional politicians new values and new expectations at work. Traditional politicians find that now have to spend more money during election to get elected.

This development has, of course, made large scale cheating during elections a desperate last resort. We saw this in the 2004 presidential election. From a politics based on patronage, the country is moving towards a politics based on mass media charisma. This, of course, is not exactly how we imagined democracy. But I believe this is a temporary phenomenon, akin to the merger of religious fundamentalism and politics in those societies taking the first steps to democracy at the moment of the collapse of dictatorships.

I think of Filipinos who have had extensive overseas experience as the fulcrum in our societies’ transition to modernity. As in Rizal’s time, mass education and the spread of literacy among our people are changing the conduct of governance and the rules of political competition. The change may not be visible yet at the level of national politics. But it is being felt at the local level, where new politicians who have won as mayors and as governors are uprooting the old ways of patronage and introducing innovative managerial practices. They are reinventing local governance and reestablishing democratic practice at a more substantive level. That is the good news.

There is, however, a side to the side of the OFW phenomenon that is disturbing. At present, an estimated 8 million Filipinos leave and work in about 192 countries. Less than half of them are immigrants or permanent residents abroad; the rest are temporary contract workers. We are the third largest labor exporter in the world after Mexico and India – but our workers are dispersed in more countries in the world and are found in more varied occupations and professions.

I do not know of any other people that have made the word their own as extensively as our people have. The biggest numbers are construction workers, seafarers, domestic helpers, hotel staffs, casino workers, entertainers, nurses, doctors, and other health personnel, engineers, accountants, teachers, etc. Although, they send back to their countries an estimated ten billion dollars every year, the largest remittances still originate from North America, where an estimated 2.5 million Filipinos live as US citizens or permanent residents, or as overstaying aliens.

The OFW is to the Philippines as oil is to Indonesia. But there is a big difference between selling people and selling oil. On the positive side, Saudi Arabia, or Brunei, or Indonesia, may run out of oil in the next 25 years depending on the rate at which they pump it out of the earth. We will never run out of people, since we keep producing them at a rate faster than most other countries. The downside of this is that oil extraction, unlike the export of people, leaves negligible side-effects on the institutions and culture of a people.

A society that exports people rather than commodities on a scale that the Philippines does, undercuts its own way of life. At the rate that we are exporting our medical staff, the country’s hospitals will run out of health professionals in just a few years. 200 hospitals have already closed because they have run out of nurses. Another 600 are severely understaffed. Today, it’s the hospitals; tomorrow, it will be the airlines. It is not to say that societies do not adjust to the increased demand. Indeed they do. But at what cost?

The phenomenal demand for nursing personnel abroad, as we all have seen, has led to the overnight establishments of hundreds of nursing schools unsupported by training facilities. The shift to nursing is the most dramatic change in our countries education system since the introduction of computer science courses. It has spawned far more new schools in the last four years than any other tertiary level course. It has colonized the academic programs of traditional liberal arts colleges. Many medical schools are closing down because they cannot get enough students; their faculties and facilities are being swallowed up by nursing programs.

We talk of local companies and industries losing their specialized work force. But we seldom talk of communities losing their artisans, of children losing their parents, of aging parents losing their children, of spouses losing one another, of a nation losing entire generations.

Sending out people almost always means wrenching them away from their loved ones. The effects of such separations on the psyche of children and on the consciousness of the nation are hard to assess.

We are a resilient nation because we have strong families. We have parents who literally give up their own personal happiness so that their children may live with hope. What is tragic, however, is that we are giving up the very resource that makes us strong when we offer entire families and communities in sacrifice so that the nation may live. There is something wrong and perverse in that, I think. It is interesting that, instead of viewing this massive exodus with alarm, the Philippine government seems to rejoice in it.

In 2005, we finally hit the 1 million mark for annual deployment. What is distressing is that we have not increased our institutional mechanism for overseeing the needs of our compatriots abroad and defending their rights as guest workers. At the most basic level, such institutional adjustment should have been manifested in the major reconfiguration of our consulates and embassies abroad. More than defense, and commercial attachés, today, we need more labor attachés, more counselors, social workers, psychologists, and legal experts with extensive knowledge of the laws of host countries.

But the best protection of all is afforded by a bilateral agreement with the receiving countries that would at the minimum secure for our workers those rights that are provided by the UN Charter on Migrant Workers. On the whole, we have not been successful in securing such bilateral agreements. That is why our workers are in the main left on their own to defend themselves from these abuses. I would think that it is the height of irresponsibility for any government to deploy its people for work abroad if it cannot assure them the basic protection of their human rights.

In general, our people thrive well abroad. They work hard, are loyal and dependable. They value their jobs and are much appreciated. The companies and institutions they serve abroad sometimes wonder how any country can cavalierly dispense the services of such a gifted people. But that’s precisely what makes us a unique nation – a hardworking people run by unworthy leaders. There’s nothing wrong with our people; everything is wrong with our government, with our politicians, and with the leadership of our key institutions.


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http://globalnation.inq7.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view_article.php?article_id=8069

RP economic prospects lift stocks, peso
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/05/2006

Positive economic prospects boosted the financial markets yesterday, with the stocks and the peso rising strongly after the government reported that the economy’s second quarter growth rate was the fastest in seven quarters.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index surged 61.64 points, or 2.8 percent, to 2,256.48 at the noon close, rounding out a four-day, 9.2 percent climb. The PSE closed at its highest since June 6.

At the Philippine Dealing System (PDS), the peso continued to strengthen against the dollar, gaining another 32 centavos to close at 52.66 from Monday’s close of 52.98 to the dollar.

"We are pretty optimistic with the outlook for the Philippines," said Paul Garcia, who helps manage about $946 million at ING Investment Management Philippines Inc. "A resilient economy is one of the reasons."

The economy probably grew "near" six percent in the three months ending June on higher output, Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said.

The government is aiming to boost growth to between 5.5 percent to 6.2 percent this year to create jobs and lift income.

"The exchange rate is determined by market forces and today we saw that the market is very relieved," Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr said. "We are also seeing inflows so that supported the strengthening of the peso."

Tetangco said that the stock market also picked up, indicating that foreign investments are returning after the concerns over the impending increase in US interest rates last week.

"Now people are again looking at our fundamentals and realizing that we have strong numbers," Tetangco said. "Our fiscal position has improved significantly, we have a healthy balance of payments surplus and economic growth is on track," he added. ‘Window of opportunity’
The PSE main index has tumbled 13 percent since May 8, when it closed at its highest in almost seven years. The slump was triggered partly by concern that rising US interest rates will slow global growth and trim demand for emerging market assets, including the country’s stocks.

"The panic opened a window of opportunity,’’ said Garcia, who expects the main index to climb to as high as 2,700 this year.

"Now is a good time to put cash to work and scoop up those stocks that became unduly cheap during the downturn."

Ayala Land, the country’s largest builder, added 50 centavos, or 4.2 percent, to P12.50, a four-week high. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) , the country’s largest lender by market value, gained P1.50, or 3.1 percent, to P50.50, the nation’s largest phone company, jumped P100, or 5.3 percent, to P1,975, rounding out a four- day, 15 percent gain.

Ayala Corp., owner of the nation’s largest builder, the country’s biggest bank by market value and the second-largest Philippine mobile phone company, advanced P15, or 4.1 percent, to P385.

The stock has tumbled 19 percent since May 8.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the nation’s biggest lender by assets, gained P1, or 2.9 percent, to P35.50, bringing its four-day gain to 15 percent.

Philippine National Bank (PNB) , a lender owned by the

country’s richest tycoon, Lucio Tan, rose 50 centavos, or 1.5 percent, to P33.50. The bank said it would sell P3 billion of bonds, two percent lower than it planned initially, to boost its capital.

Shares valued at P1.44 billion traded yesterday, 23 percent less than the six-month daily average. Gainers edged losers 47 to 25, with 64 stocks unchanged.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607050701.htm

June inflation eases to 6.7%

By Erik de la Cruz
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 09:59am (Mla time) 07/05/2006


(UPDATE) Consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in five months in June as increases in prices of food and utilities eased.

The National Statistics Office said the consumer price index increased 6.7 percent in June from a year earlier, compared to May's 6.9-percent gain, settling at the lower end of the central bank's forecast range of 6.5-7.2 percent.

Last month's annual inflation was the slowest since January when it also stood at 6.7 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy prices, eased to 5.8 percent last month from 6.1 percent in May.

Inflation averaged 7.1 percent in the first half of the year. It stood at 7.6 percent in June 2005.

"The deceleration from May is consistent with the projected downtrend in inflation and provides support to the recent decision of the monetary board to maintain the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' policy rates," central bank governor Amando Tetangco Jr said.

Last week, the monetary authority kept its key overnight rates unchanged for the ninth straight time since October 2005. Its overnight borrowing rate remains at 7.50 percent and its overnight lending rate at 9.75 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices were up 0.7 percent in June, after rising 0.2 percent in May.

In a statement, the statistics agency said all commodity groups posted slower price increases except for housing and repairs which was steady at 4.0 percent.

Year-on-year inflation for food, beverage and tobacco slowed to 5.6 percent from 5.9 percent, while that of fuel, light and water eased to 13.2 percent from 13.4 percent.

The rise in the cost of clothing declined to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent, while that of services eased to 11.0 percent from 11.1 percent.

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=8215

Wow, daming good news ah!

vote of confidence in our country, despite alarums of doom and gloom
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven
The Philippine Star 07/06/2006

It’s a good thing the item didn’t come from the Palace propagandists who seem to bungle most of the time. What caught my eye was a frontpage item in yesterday’s Financial Times which is edited in London but published daily in three continents. The brief item, at the left corner of the FT was entitled: "Philippine Loans Approved."

But that’s not the point. As the news item stated: "The World Bank has approved $400 million of loans to the Philippines in the past two weeks, more than the total of the past three years, in a show of confidence in the country’s improving fiscal position."

In a lengthier article on page 7, headlined even more positively: "Philippines gets $400 million stamp of approval from the World Bank." The report said that "the lender cleared a $110 million loan to support health reforms and $100 million to promote local development and investment on Friday. The approvals came less than a week after the bank made a $200 million loan to help improve education in the country."

Joaquim von Amsberg, the World Bank’s country director was quoted as declaring: "Now the fiscal accounts are improving, we’re happy to increase our commitment."

He added that the World Bank could "lend up to $1.8 billion to the Philippines under its country assistance programme for 2006-2008."

The article, however, contained a caveat. It said that "the ability to make full use of the World Bank loans will be limited by the failure of Congress to pass this year’s budget. Without a new spending plan, the government is obliged to spend more than last year, or 16 percent lower than the proposed 2006 budget."

We’re our own worst enemies. Our warring politicians made political football out of the budget while giving themselves a huge pork barrel. The outside world wants to help our people, but not our own so-called political leaders in their endless, selfish bickering, ego-tripping, and hypocritical grabs for power.

As was once uttered in a Shakespearean play, "a pox on both your Houses!." Pardon me for my faulty memory, I can’t recall which play, or whether it was a tragedy or a comedy, but the curse is both apt and current.

What’s happening in this land is truly a comedy combined with tragedy. And it’s the little people who suffer, not our politicians and those noisy know-it-alls in the civilian sector who lead cushy, air-conditioned lives. * * *

^ These could be translated to various government programs in the filed of housing, education, health, infrastructures, anti-terrorism, energy independence, and anti-corruption campaigns among others.

However, as our national budget is still pending before the Congress, a reenacted budget will only give us more spending that we should have been spending, as what the author stated. This will gives us another burden instead of utilizing the funds for the country's benefit? Indeed, politics will lead us to nothing.

>For the Philippines to have an equal fair share of wealth and the good news, it would be best if all the regions get the right benefits equally.

10% of GDP for infastructure!

Record palay harvest seen due to good weather
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 07/06/2006

Good weather raises the likelihood of palay production hitting 15.4 million metric tons (MT) this year, 300,000 MT more than the original projected full-year production of 15.1 million MT.

"It all boils down to good weather conditions, along with the fact that farmers are raring to plant more and expand the hectarage planted to rice. So far, harvest was good given a good headstart in the first quarter," said Agriculture Assistant Secretary and Bureau of Agricultural Statistics Director Romeo Recide.

The La Niña rains during the summer months boosted efforts to increase rice production with the January to September palay harvest projected to reach an all-time high of about 9.6 million MT, the highest projection in five years.

This favorable factor also prompted the National Food Authority to complete its rice importations for the year at 1.65 million MT, lower than the original projection of 1.8 million MT.

Recide noted that rice production in the first quarter at 3.6 million MT was seven percent higher than of the same period in 2005, while the second quarter yield is projected to hit 2.9 million MT, 9.6 percent higher than the 2.8 million MT in the previous year.

In the third quarter, production is projected at 3.096 million MT,

Earlier, National Fod Authority administrator Gregorio Tan Jr. said that aside from an abundance of rainfall more farmers are shifting to hybrid rice and as a result, are harvesting more palay, while others expanded their hectarage to take advantage of the rainfall.

The higher yields will reduce the country’s costly rice imports.

To date, a total of 1.495 million MT has been contracted to come in by August, of which 1.43 million MT will come from Vietnam and Thailand, 65,000 MT from the US Public Law 480 commodity grant and 132, 000 MT from countries that supported the Philippines‚ bid under the World Trade Organization to maintain quantitative restrictions on rice. Another 100,000 MT could come from re-orders from Thailand and Vietnam suppliers which earlier won contracts to supply rice to the Philippines.

NFA wants to bring in all of the volume required as early as possible so that it can bring in the commodity when prices are still relatively stable.

Tan said NFA does not want to get caught in a situation when fuel prices soar steadily alongside tight supply as major suppliers like Thailand are positioning to secure their domestic supply. A major buyer, China is also seen to further hike up prices when it pushes through with plans to import its requirements by the second semester this year.

Last year, the cost of rice importations by the NFA went up significantly $280-$290 per MT, from the 2004 average of $250 to $260 per MT NFA’s 2004-2005 rice imports were estimated to cost P28 to P29 billion.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607060702.htm

Ecozone investments jump to P26B
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 07/07/2006

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported yesterday that investments made by locators in the special economic zones from Jan. 1 to June 27 this year increased 13.06 percent to P25.917 billion from the comparable P22.287-billion investments recorded in the first half of 2005.

In a report to Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, PEZA director general Lilia B. de Lima said the expected annual average direct employment to be generated by the new investments is 45,772 jobs, a 38.33-percent increase from last year’s 33,088 jobs.

Investments in the information and technology sector, De Lima reported, amounted to P4.478 billion for the period in review, 56.56 percent higher than the P2.861 billion invested in the IT sector for the comparable six-month period last year.

The projected average direct employment expected to be generated from the approved IT projects is 21,844 new jobs which is 76.45 percent more than the 12,380 jobs generated by IT investors in the first six months of 2005.

De Lima also reported that PEZA exports from January to May this year amounted to $13.617 billion, 11.24 percent higher than the $12.241 billion recorded in the same period last year.

De Lima attributed the continued inflow of investments to the special economic zones to the perks investors enjoy, which include income tax holidays, and duty-free importation of capital equipment and raw materials.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607070704.htm

Gov’t removes fees on exporters



By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

The government has removed the fees charged to exporters to help the sector achieve its 15-percent growth target for the year.


Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said that he and Secretary Peter Favila of the Department of Trade and Industry have agreed to waive the fees that government agencies slap on exporters. The Executive Order "abolishing the fees" will be signed soon.

Teves assured that removal of the exporters’ fees would not have a noticeable impact on the full-year revenue target of P872 billion.

"Doing away with these fees will have a minimal impact on government revenues, but we believe this could be a big help to exporters (by cutting their costs)," Teves said. Right now big exporters located in special economic zones are already exempted from different fees. The EO will mostly benefit small exporters.

National Tax Research Center executive director Lina Isorena said the government could absorb the foregone collection. "Our estimate is about P30 million (a year)," she said yesterday.

The NTRC drafted the proposed EO repealing 22 export fees covered by executive issuances.

The EO will also initiate the streamline of government agencies that deal with exporters. At the moment the Export Development Council said exporters have to apply and pay fees to different agencies for various permits and clearances.

"(All government agencies concerned) will be required to further streamline their export documentation that help our entrepreneurs, whom we consider the lifeblood of our economy," said Teves.

Exporters are expecting higher dollar receipts this year of at least $ 50 billion due to the strong mid-year performance of the electronics, consumer durables and garments exports.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006070768685.html

Some P600m is expected to be investing (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=regions03_july07_2006) in the cold chain industry in Mindanao. Reports said that investments are seriously comming in Mindanao which means that investors are dead serious of transforming Mindanao region as one of those investment capital in the Philippines inspite the clash between the rebels and the soldiers.. Reports said that mostly of the investment will pour down to DAVAO City, the fruit and vegetable basket in the region; General Santos City, the acknowledged tuna capital, and Misamis Oriental.


I bet, A new Mindanao will rise one of this days.... :cheers:

Forex reserves hit new record level of $21.15B
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/08/2006

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached a new record high level of $21.147 billion as of end-June, up by a notable $197 million from the end-May level of $20.950 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

The BSP said the increase in the GIR level was due in part to the BSP’s foreign exchange operations, income from investments abroad and the National Government’s (NG) deposit of the proceeds from its project loans.

More significantly, however, the GIR also surged due to the release of collateral arising from the pre-termination of some Brady Bonds in May.

The NG retired up to $411 million worth of Brady bonds by June, representing over half of the $774.4 million worth of Brady bonds still outstanding in the overseas market.

Issued in 1992, the Brady bonds are coupon bearing bonds with fixed, step or floating rate (or hybrid combination of each). They have 10- to 30-year maturity, semi-annual interest payments and generally amortize.

The principal and certain interest of Brady bonds are collateralized by US Treasury zero coupon bonds and other high grade instruments which are released into the country’s reserves when the bonds are retired.

The collateral released into the GIR was estimated by the Department of Finance (DOF) at $256 million.

The BSP said the preliminary June GIR level is adequate to cover about 4.3 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income.

This level is also equivalent to 3.4 times the country’s short-term debt based on original maturity and 1.8 times based on residual maturity. Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.

Net international reserves (NIR), including revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related liabilities, increased to $20.517 billion, up by $218 million from the end-May 2006 level of $20.299 billion. NIR refers to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and the combined total of short-term liabilities and use of Fund credits.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607080701.htm

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607100702.htm

Investors are starting to return as interest rate differentials have started to improve following the June meeting of the US Federal Reserve Board, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.

The BSP said there are indications both in the equity and the bond markets that investors did not off to other markets despite the jitters over the expected increase in US interest rates.

Emerging markets like the Philippines had been the target of much speculation, with investors expecting instability to attend the rise in US rates especially in countries with huge trade deficits and problematic reserves.

The Philippines, however, appeared to have weathered the negative perception with only occasional outbursts in the market.

According to BSP Diwa Guinigundo, there are indications that investors that pulled out of the equities market did not even leave at all, as indicated by movements in foreign currency deposit units.

"If investors appeared to have pulled out, they merely shifted to FCDU deposits," Guinigundo said. This would mean that investors stayed in the periphery, while awaiting the impact of the US Fed decision on the market.

"It looks like they realized that our macro-economic fundamentals are strong," he said.

Guinigundo said the spreads on Philippine bonds have narrowed after widening slightly in mid-June.

The spread on the country’s 91-day Treasury bills, for example, had narrowed down from 25 basis points over 90-day US Treasury bills on June 26 to -12.9 points as of July 3 due mainly to the July 4 holiday break.

"In other words, the decline in our market interest rates might have been a blip," Guinigundo said. "But right now, market rates are going closer to our policy rates and it is possible that this story will continue."

Ideally, Guinigundo said market interest rates should not be too far from the average inflation rate, now recorded at 6.7 percent as of June. Secondary market rates on the 91-day notes, he said, is now at around 7.163 percent.

"So there is realignment going on and since the market is improving, we expect foreign exchange to come in and market liquidity to grow," he said.

However, Guinigundo admitted that despite the slight recovery in portfolio investments, this year’s performance still fell short of the 2005 record when hot money flows amounted to $1.8 billion in the first six months compared to only $755.3 million

Spanish firms keen on 7 RP projects


Seven major engineering, construction and financial institutions in Spain are seriously considering of participating in the country’s infrastructure development programs both as equity investor and supplier of capital equipment mostly to the country’s railways projects.


This was bared by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila upon his return from Spain as part of President Gloria Arroyo’s entourage during her recent state visit in Spain.

"I told them that what we need are capital investments not official development assistance or loans because we don’t want to borrow. Spain is our mother country and yet we are getting very little investments from them," Favila said. The Philippines was under the Spanish rule for 300 years.

During the official state visit, Favila spoke before the Confederacion Espanola de Organizaciones Empresariales (CEOE), the largest business organization in Spain.

Among the serious Spanish firms are IsoluxCorsan, Pro-Intec, Dimetronics, Soluziona, Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Espanoles (RENFE), Construccion Y Auxilliar de Ferrocarriles, and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

Isolux-Corsan, a major engineering and construction firm in Spain, has expressed interest in the country’s railway projects under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.


"It has plans to participate in the bidding for LRT Line 1 south extension," Favila said. Line 1 expansion starts from Baclaran to Cavite. The project is now subject to a Swisschallenge.

Pro-Intec, an engineering, architecture and consulting firm, has committed to lobby and secure from the Spanish government 800,000 Euros for a technical study grant. It is interested in BOT investments in LRT Line 1 South and Line 2, west extension, a 3-4 kilometer elevated tracks.

LRT Line 2 involves the construction of a 13.8 kilometer railway along Marcos Highway, Aurora Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Legarda and Recto Avenue. It has an estimated project cost of P25.7 billion.

Pro-Intec is also interested in the Laguindingan Airport and Mindanao Airport Development project in Cagayan de Oro. It commits to provide a technical study grant for an agricultural/industrial project in Cagayan Export Zone Authority. It is also proposing technical study grant for the fabrication of oil drilling equipment in Subic.

Dimetronics of Spain is also interested in the supply contracts for signaling equipment for LRT Line 1 and Line 2 extensions.

Soluziona, an existing IT investor in the country, is interested in BOT investments in Don Piyo Intermodal Station, a hub for intercity and provincial bus transport and track systems for north-bound buses.

RENFE, Spain’s national railway operator that operates Spain’s 15,000 kilometer system of railways, is interested in participating in the Iligan-Cagayan de Oro Railway project. It will fund 100,000 Euros for a feasibility project.

The Iligan-Cagayan de Oro Railway project is an 82.5 kilometer line with an estimated cost of 0 million. It is the first phase of the four-phased Mindanao Railway System.

The project was launched in September 1996 as among the flagship projects under the Ramos administration. It was relaunched recently with Speaker Jose De Venecia at the helm.

The MRS was envisioned to 1,700 kilometer line connecting Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Butuan, Zamboanga, Davao and General Santos in Cotabato.

Construccion Y Auxilliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), a railroad construction company, is also looking at providing 33 million Euros funding the feasibility study for the Mindanao railway project.

Favila said that Soluziona, an existing IT systems provider in the country, is also bidding as IT systems provider for the NorthRail project. Its presence in the country is through a partnership with the Lopez-owned Meralco.

Soluziona is also exploring a partnership with department store magnate Henry Sy for an integrated property development complex, Favila said.

Filipino-owned Burgundy Global Asset Management Corp. has also signed a memorandum of agreement with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Spain’s second largest bank, for a 250 million Euro funding for BOT projects.

The credit line may be used for oil and gas exploration in Palawan, hotels and resort development, ICT projects, and the development of Port Irene in Cagayan.

Winace Holdings Philippines Inc., a local affiliate of the Mabey Group of UK, also signed a joint declaration with Banco Bilbao for the conclusion of an agreement for a credit line of 280 million Euros for infrastructure and energy projects.

Winace has an existing investment in a call center operation in the country under its subsidiary WinSource Solutions Inc.(BCM)

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006071068905.html

China to build houses, industrial park — De Venecia


Speaker Jose de Venecia of the House of Representatives returned to Manila last Saturday after a 10-day, 10-city tour of China to drum up support for his proposal for China to set up an industrial park at Clark Field and undertake a one-million unit mass housing program for poor Filipinos through concessional financing.


Officials in Beijing confirmed the planned Chinese industrial park in Clark, De Venecia said as he reported to President Arroyo by overseas call about this development.

The industrial park and low-cost housing program were among five major proposals that the President and De Venecia unveiled last month at the First Philippines-China Economic Partnership Forum in Manila, as the two countries firmed up an unprecedented economic partnership agreement.

China’s Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai led the Chinese delegation in Manila of more than 300 economic leaders and industrialists.

De Venecia also revealed that Guangdong and Shandong—China’s top provinces at the forefront of its economic miracle—showed interest in building part of the one million lost-cost houses the Philippines has asked the Chinese government to build through concessional financing.

"Two of China’s biggest provinces have shown interest in taking part in the construction of pre-fabricated housing factories in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao," De Venecia said. The proposed housing units will be anti-typhoon, anti-earthquake, and would repel termites.

China’s largest state corporations agreed to provide the housing factories and the housing financing and the construction could use China’s housing materials that cost much less than those imported from Europe and the United States.

"We will be able to produce highly affordable housing units for the benefit of the greater masses of our people," De Venecia said.

Guangdong, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of 8 billion, is China’s leading province, while Shandong is not far behind, dramatizing China’s march towards industrialization along its eastern seaboard. Each of the two provinces has a population in excess of 90 million.

De Venecia started his Chinese trip in Beijing, where he conferred with China’s No. 3 leader, Wu Bangguo, who honored the Philippine leader and his delegation with a banquet at the Great Hall of the People.

De Venecia and Wu Bangguo discussed the Philippine proposals in Beijing, before the former left for southern China for further discussions with the Communist Party of China (CPC) leaders in Guangdong, notably with Zhang Dejiang, who heads the province’s political team in Guangzhou, and Zhang Gao Li of Shandong province.

The proposals received "strong positive response" from the Chinese government and the leaders of the Communist Party of China, the Speaker said.

De Venecia and his delegation were accompanied by a high-level team led by assistant minister Tan Jialin of the Central Committee of the International Department of the CPC.

The Speaker said the top leaders of Guangdong and Shandong also agreed to support De Venecia’s request for large-scale Philippine fisheries programs of 2,000 fish cages in the sea, and the rehabilitation of 250,000 hectares of coastal and inland fishponds.

He said these programs, once completed, would boost productivity and open the way for the introduction of new species, including the mixing of "bangus" (milkfish) with new species of white shrimps, which are now undergoing testing with the Bureau of Fisheries. De Venecia was joined by a delegation composed of National Economic and Development Authority(NEDA) Director- General Romulo Neri, and Reps. Mark Cojuangco, Isidoro Real Jr., Edwin Uy and party-list Rep. Ernesto Pablo, as well as Francis Chua, head of the FilipinoChinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Donald Dee, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry from the private sector.

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006071068959.html

Chinese telecom firm to invest $1B in Compostela Valley

Article posted July 8, 2006, 8:59 pm
President Arroyo on Saturday said China's largest listed telecommunications manufacturer is planning to invest $1 billion in Compostela Valley.

The President said ZTE Corporation will invest $1 billion, or half of the $2 billion total projected Chinese investments into Mindanao. She made the statement during the joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council meeting in Cotabato City on Saturday.

“I brought with me the chairman of the ZTE, the Chinese corporation with the largest value traded in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange," Mrs. Arroyo told her audience. “Together with the China Development Bank, they are bringing into Compostela a $1 billion investment."

ZTE is reportedly China's largest listed telecommunications manufacturer with shares publicly traded in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Mrs. Arroyo said the amount is part of the $4 billion in various Chinese investments in the country.

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila said the state-owned ZTE is seeking to have a Memorandum of Understanding with the government.

Favila said the investments “may not be only in the areas of telecommunications".

Mrs. Arroyo said the prospect of finally forging a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would realize Mindanao's agri-business potential and bring in economic and social progress.

“Just think of what we could do with the economic and social dividend derived from peace in Mindanao," Mrs. Arroyo said. “This peace dividend would free us up to invest money, not armed forces; to build up, not tear down our Muslim brothers in the south."

Prior to presiding over the Cabinet meeting, Mrs. Arroyo visited Compostela Valley where she vowed to allot more development projects to fast-track the province's economic growth.

“The support I have given your province is not enough yet. I will give more development projects here so your progress would be faster," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Compostela Valley is a predominantly agriculture-producing province with 11 towns. It is also rich in mineral deposits, particularly gold. - GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/breakingnews.php?sec=13&id=10315

Several government agencies are finalizing the guidelines that will regulate the use of tax credit certificates as part of initiatives to streamline revenue collection efforts.

Finance Undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza Jr. told reporters yesterday the guidelines would limit the use of some P5 billion worth of tax credit certificates now floating in the system.

Mendoza said the government was contemplating to use 30 percent to 40 percent of the total face value of the certificates during a taxable period.

He said the government was also studying the possibility of limiting the number of transfers of certificates to just one, with a taxpayer purchasing a certificate based only on the amount of his liability.

“This will make TCC utilization more predictable,” he said.

Mendoza said the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs were finalizing the draft revenue regulation and the customs administrative order that would set the guidelines on the use of the certificates.

He said the Department of Finance would no longer accept outstanding certificates as payment of taxes and duties starting Aug. 1 in line with the government’s revalidation program aimed at preventing the use of expired, stolen, tampered, and recycled certificates.

Under finance department order 20-06, all outstanding certificates are deemed automatically retired, recalled, or cancelled and are no longer accepted as payment for outstanding tax or duty liabilities of holders.


http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business02_july11_2006

Mining seen to bolster economy





The revitalized mining industry is seen as the best and a rare opportunity to jumpstart the economy of Mindanao, Paul G. Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. said.


In a presentation before the 30th General Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference, Dominguez said Mindanao will be able to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of economic progress, if responsible and sustainable mining will be allowed to continue.

There are 24 priority mining projects in the country, 10 of them are located in Mindanao.

Statistics in the year 2000 showed that per capita income of Mindanao stood at P19,907 or roughly only 62 percent of the Philippines’ P32,141 during the same period.

He said mining is the best economic opportunity for Mindanao. The industry has the potential to generate 240,000 jobs in the next six years and could attract between $ 4 billion and $ 6 billion in foreign direct investments.

"We are at a big crossroads, we can take advantage of that chance, modify the whole economic structure, if we don’t take advantage of that, the investors looking for resources will all go back to Peru and all other places because that demand has to be satisfied. In fact, in Australia and in other countries, they are already exploring the seabed, looking for copper deposits under the sea. No community problems there, they’re in the middle of the ocean," he told nearly a hundred visitors and members of the BBC at the Asian Institute of Management.

Some bishops, however, expressed apprehension about irresponsible mining. Bishop Jose Mangiuran of Dipolog said mining will produce pollutants that will endanger the environment. Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel expressed apprehension that the watershed in SOCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santon City) will be adversely affected.

SMI’s Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, now in its pre-feasibility stage, holds a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) with the government to develop a 27,945hectare area straddling South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur. The area is believed to hold the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in the world.

Other BBC members in the business sector cited other issues that give mining a bad reputation. Ernesto M. Aboitiz, vice cochairman of the BBC said poverty is the real problem why we suffer from environmental degradation. "Our forests were not destroyed by loggers," he said, but when the loggers leave the forests, poor people who are trying to survive will take over and burn the trees so they can plant. The worst mining disaster he said is Mt. Diwalwal in Davao del Norte where small-scale miners are operating using mercury to get gold.

Economist Bernie Villegas agreed with Aboitiz and said that mining will bring people out of poverty. "Philippine poverty is a rural phenomenon, 70 percent of the Philippine poor are in the rural areas which includes the indigenous poor, especially in these most depressed areas – Caraga, most of Mindanao, Cagayan, Bicol Eastern Visayas."

He reiterated Dominguez’s stand that "there is very few opportunities that can jumpstart the economy. Agriculture in those places … will not bring people out of poverty and manufacturing is not feasible because there is no infrastructure. And so, since mining is usually in the boondocks, we really have to find some ways of implementing sustainable and equitable mining to bring people out of poverty."

The economist also said the lack of capital prevents Philippine firms to venture in big mining projects.

"All of us agree that we like Filipino capital to develop our national patrimony but the harsh reality is that the Philippines has the lowest savings rate in East Asia and capital could only come from savings. A typical East Asian economy saves 32 percent of its gross domestic product. China, which is a poor country, saves 50 percent of its gross domestic product. The Philippines traditionally has been saving only 20 percent of its gross domestic product.

"Last year, for example, China, in addition to saving 50 percent of its GDP, attracted $ 60 billion in foreign direct investments. Do you know what we attracted? $ 1.1 billion. It’s not because without the foreigners that we need to have, but it’s a fact that there is no Filipino capital," he said.

Felipe B. Alfonso, vicechairman of AIM’s Board of Trustees, who acted as the facilitator of the forum, concluded that despite the difference between the pro- and antimining groups, both parties are in agreement that the issues should be resolved and that they should move on.
http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/07/11/BSNS2006071168995.html

Exports register 17.3% growth in May



By EDU H. LOPEZ

The country’s exports sustained double-digit expansion whenposted a 17.3 percent growth in May compared to the same period last year.


Export earnings for the first five months of the year rose by 16 percent, twice the target of eight percent for the whole 2006, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

Soceio-economic Planning Sec. Romulo Neri said the May export performance reflects a broad-based growth as all major commodities except forest products (-59.3 percent) posted gains, led by mineral products (134.6 percent), petroleum products (21.4 percent), manufactures (15.4 percent), and agrobased products (3.4 percent).

The sustained recovery of exports is continuously supported by the doubledigit expansion of semiconductors (10.8 percents), with receipts from the sector accounting for almost 60 percent of total export revenues.

On a cumulative basis, exports of semiconductors grew 18.8 percent, with revenues reached billion.

"Powering the demand for electronic components is the rising global demand for cell phones, digital cameras, and laptop computers," said Neri.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported that worldwide chip sales rose 9.4 percent in May from the previous year.

This follows the current demand of consumers in the United States and Europe for digital music players and the latest mobile phones that can surf the Internet and play videos.

Aside from semiconductors, other best performers of the manufacturing sector are garments and chemicals, which posted a year-to-date growth rate of 17.5 percent and 42.4 percent, respectively.

Mineral exports also continued its robust growth as exports of all sub-products, especially copper metal, grew by 107.3 percent year-to-date with total revenues reaching 0 million in the first five months of 2006.

The production of the Malampaya reserves likewise sustained the strong performance of petroleum exports by as much as 104.5 percent on a cumulative basis this year with year-to-date revenues reaching 4 million.

Despite a spotty performance across sub-products, total agro-based products still managed to grow 3.4 percent year-on-year, led by higher outward shipments of bananas (38 percent), coconut oil (8 percent), prawns (21.3 percent) and natural rubber (99 percent).

"The growth of sectors other than semiconductors shows that export diversification is taking place," said Neri.

The US regained its spot as the country’s top export destination accounting for 18.1 percent of total exports revenues for May valued at 3 million.

Japan followed with a 17.3 percent share, and Singapore came in third with 9.1 percent of the total.(Edu Lopez)

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006071269066.html

THE Zamboanga Peninsula posted the highest economic growth rate among the 17 regions in the country, the National Statistical Coordination Board said recently.

The region posted the highest gross regional domestic product, posting a 7.2-percent jump for 2005, higher than the 4.1-percent growth it posted in 2004.
The GRDP measures the goods and services produced in each of the geo-political regions of the country, according to the NSCB.

The expansion of agriculture, fishery and forestry sector accounted for more than half of the Zamboanga Peninsula,s economy, expanding by 8.7 percent.

The top five fastest-growing regions in 2005 were the Zamboanga Peninsula, Metro Manila, with 7.1-percent growth rate; Mindoro-Masbate-Romblon-Palawan, 6.5 percent; and Ilocos and Central Visayas with 6 percent each.

Cagayan Valley posted the lowest growth at negative 5.4 percent, a reversal from its 2004 ranking as the top performing region when it registered a growth rate of 10.4 percent.

Among the major island groups, the Visayas collectively grew by 5.7 percent in 2005, a slight deceleration from its 7.0 percent growth in 2004. Its share of the national economy slightly increased from 16.5 percent to 16.6 percent while its contribution to growth decreased from 1.1 percentage points to 0.9 percentage point in 2005.

Mindanao’s aggregate economic growth fell to 4.3 percent in 2005 from 5.9 percent in 2004. It contributed 17.7 percent to the national GDP and 0.8 percentage point to GDP growth.

Luzon’s (excluding NCR) share decreased from 34.4 percent in 2004 to 33.8 percent in 2005. Its aggregate economic growth decelerated to 3.0 percent in 2005 from 4.1 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, Luzon’s contribution to overall GDP growth decreased from 1.4 percent to 1 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Real per capita gross GRDP is highest in NCR at P35,742, a 5.5-percent improvement over its 2004 level of P33,867 followed by the Cordillera region with P17,919 and Northern Mindanao with P14,829. ARMM registered the lowest per capita GRDP at P3,433.

NCR also posted the highest per capita index relative to the national average with 252.0, followed by CAR with 126.3 and Northern Mindanao with 104.5. All other regions posted indexes lower than the national average with ARMM registering the lowest at 24.2, or a per capita GDP of residents less than a quarter of that of the entire country.
--Euan C. Añonuevo




http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/12/yehey/prov/20060712pro6.html

Article posted July 14, 2006, 2:22 pm
The Philippines will continue to post a budget surplus for the third straight month in June aided by continued expenditure cuts and increasing revenues, economists said on Friday.

The Department of Finance will announce the June budget deficit data on Monday.

The government posted a rare budget surplus of 5.8 billion pesos in May, its first surplus in 20 years for the typically lean month, and its second consecutive month in the black, helped by a jump in revenues and a tight lid on spending.

For the first five months of the year, the budget gap totalled P44.2 billion which was 35 percent of this year deficit goal of P125 billion.

Action Economics analyst David Cohen predicted a budget surplus of P5.4 billion for the month of June.

"This would be a partly-seasonal surplus, though an improvement from a surplus of just over P0.2 billion in June 2005," Cohen said.

CIMB-GK Research regional economist Song Seng Wun said he expects a P7.5-8 billion surplus for June, adding that prospects for the whole year looked bright.

"2006 is a historic year. so I am quite hopeful about June. I am looking for another month of surplus of between P7.5-8 million," Song said.

The government said early on Friday that it remained committed to its goal of achieving a balanced budget by 2008, despite President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's statement that she was open to delaying this to 2010.

This led the Dutch-based investment house ING to upgrade its rating on Philippine bonds to "overweight" from "neutral".

"The government's policy on reducing the deficit and balancing the budget has not changed," Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said in a statement.

"We remain committed to the 2007 deficit reduction target of P63 billion and to balancing the budget by end-2008. We intend to do this without reducing our spending on infrastructure and social services."

ING said the government has displayed a political will to keep with its track record of outperforming its fiscal goals over the past two years.

"The 2005-2006 fiscal consolidation and the administration's commitment to sustaining progress in 2007 put the Philippines on a rating upgrade cycle. We revise our weighting on ROPs to overweight from neutral," ING said. - GMANews.TV

from: http://www.gmanews.tv/breakingnews.php?sec=2&id=10749

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=9799

Reports said tourism and retirement sectors are seen as the next drivers of economic growth, as citizens of Asian economies look at the Philippines as an affordable place to live in and have leisure.

University of Asia and the Pacific senior vice president Bernardo Villegas said that amid the lack of diversification in the manufacturing sector that caused too much reliance of the economy on electronics exports, service exports from foreign tourists and retirees would eventually be the major sources of dollar exchange.

He said the country should learn to harness its strengths to accelerate growth.

One of the country’s strength, he said, was in its beautiful destinations and the talents of its people that suited the government’s campaign to attract dollar-spending tourists and retirees.

“Tourism will be an important engine of growth. It is one accomplishment of this government that I can ascribe to, thanks to clever marketing skills of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano,” he said.

International visitor arrivals hit a record high of 2.6 million last year and continued to grow this year. Foreign arrivals grew 11.8 percent to 1.194 million in the first five months from 1.069 million a year ago.
Durano said he was confident of meeting the target of three million visitor arrivals this year and five million arrivals by 2010.

Driving the growth of tourism sector, Villegas said, were the double-digit growth in arrivals from the Northeast Asia, particularly South Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. Roderick T. dela Cruz


http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business05_july14_2006

Mining sector to jumpstart Mindanao economy

The Philippine Star 07/14/2006

The revitalized mining industry is seen as the best and rare opportunity to jumpstart the economy of Mindanao, Paul Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) said.

In a presentation before the 30th general assembly and annual meeting of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference recently, Dominguez said Mindanao will be able to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of economic progress if responsible and sustainable mining is allowed to continue.

There are 24 priority mining projects in the country, 10 of them in Mindanao.

Statistics in 2000 showed that the per capita income of Mindanao stood at P19,907 or roughly only 62 percent of the P32,141 national per capita income that year.

He said mining is the best economic opportunity for Mindanao, adding that the industry has the potential to generate 240,000 jobs in the next six years and could attract between $4 billion and $6 billion in foreign direct investments.

"We are at a big crossroads, we can take advantage of that chance, modify the whole economic structure. If we don’t take advantage of that, the investors looking for resources will all go back to Peru and all other places because that demand has to be satisfied," Dominguez told nearly a hundred guests and BBC members at the Asian Institute of Management.

"In fact, in Australia and other countries, they are already exploring the seabed, looking for copper deposits under the sea. No community problems there; they are in the middle of the ocean," he added.

Some bishops, however, expressed apprehensions about irresponsible mining.

Bishop Jose Mangiuran of Dipolog said mining would produce pollutants that would endanger the environment. Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel expressed fear that the watershed in Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) would be adversely affected.

SMI’s Tampakan copper-gold project, now in its pre-feasibility stage, holds a financial and technical assistance agreement (FTAA) with the government to develop a 27,945-hectare area straddling South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur. The area is believed to hold the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world.

Other BBC members in the business sector cited other issues that have given mining a bad reputation.

Ernesto Aboitiz, BBC vice co-chairman, said poverty is the real problem why the country suffers from environmental degradation.

"Our forests were not destroyed by loggers," he said, "but when the loggers leave the forests, poor people who are trying to survive will take over and burn the trees so they can plant."

The worst mining disaster, according to Aboitiz, is Mt. Diwalwal in Compostela Valley where small-scale miners are using mercury to extract gold.

Economist Bernie Villegas agreed with Aboitiz, saying that mining would bring people out of poverty.

"Philippine poverty is a rural phenomenon; 70 percent of the Philippine poor are in the rural areas, which include the indigenous poor, especially in the most depressed areas — Caraga, most of Mindanao, Cagayan, Bicol, Eastern Visayas," he said.

He reiterated Dominguez’s stand that "there is very few opportunities that can jumpstart the economy. Agriculture in those places… will not bring people out of poverty and manufacturing is not feasible because there is no infrastructure. And so, since mining is usually in the boondocks, we really have to find some ways of implementing sustainable and equitable mining to bring people out of poverty."

Villegas also said the lack of capital prevents Filipino firms from venturing in big mining projects.

Felipe Alfonso, vice chairman of AIM’s Board of Trustees, who acted as the facilitator of the forum, concluded that despite the differences between the pro- and anti-mining groups, both parties are in agreement that the issues should be resolved.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607149906.htm

IMF impressed with RP fiscal, debt reforms — official
The Philippine Star 07/15/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607150417.htm

A senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded yesterday the Philippines’ effort to pursue fiscal and debt reforms, saying the measures should set the country on course to achieve sustainable economic growth.

"I am impressed by the significant progress that has been made with economic reforms," IMF deputy managing director Takatoshi Kato said in a statement after his Manila visit.

He commended authorities for accelerating the pace of fiscal adjustment, including the landmark value-added tax reform.

"These efforts should help set the country on a higher sustainable growth path," Kato said.

The government last year expanded the value-added tax to cover power and oil products, and three months later, raised the VAT rate to 12 percent from 10 percent.

Higher revenue and controlled spending allowed the Philippines to post a budget surplus in April and May, narrowing the budget deficit to P44.2 billion for the first five months of 2006, from P67.8 billion in the same period last year.

The government also managed to shrink the size of public debt to 71 percent of gross domestic product in March from 72 percent of GDP at the end of 2005, based on data released last month by the Bureau of Treasury.

With growing political stability and declining debt, President Arroyo remains confident that the country would be able to wipe out its fiscal deficit ahead of schedule.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye pointed out that in her inaugural address in 2004, Mrs. Arroyo announced that one of her goals is to balance the budget before her term ends in 2010.

"But she is now confident that this could be achieved very much ahead of target," Bunye said. "The overall trend of the government debt is declining, fiscal reform is working and we have growing political stability."

He said "the economic renaissance continues to fuel confidence, creating more jobs and widening the delivery of social services to the people."

The Palace issued the statement as the government posted a budget surplus for the third straight month in June though Finance Secretary Margarito Teves refused to disclose the figures.

The government is projecting a budget deficit of P125 billion for the year or lower than the P146.5-billion deficit posted in 2005.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. and Teves said the government remains committed to its goal of cutting the deficit to P63 billion in 2007 and balancing it by 2008, despite calls to revise the target.

"The upbeat outlook on the economy is reinforced by the people’s resistance to political turmoil and their determination to get on with the business of a globally-competitive economy," Bunye said.

Andaya gave assurances that the 2007 budget currently being drafted is en route to a balanced budget by 2008.

He earlier estimated the proposed 2007 budget to amount to P1.14 trillion. — AP, Paolo Romero

OFW inflows surge 15% to $4.9B in Jan-May
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/15/2006

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) surged in May, bringing the total inflows for the first five months of the year to $4.9 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Remittances for May alone reached $1.1 billion compared with $899 million in April.

Over the five-month period, the BSP said remittances grew by 14.8 percent, sustaining the double-digit growth rate set since the start of the year.

The BSP said the growth in remittances was traced to the continued demand for Filipino workers as well as to the commercial banks’ increasingly efficient banking services.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on new hires and rehires showed that in May 2006, the total number of deployed overseas workers rose by 12.5 percent.

For the first five months of 2006, POEA said deployed sea-based workers posted a 15.1 percent rise to 115,557, offsetting the 3.6 percent decline to 350,705 in deployed land-based workers.

According to the BSP, the level of remittances during the five-month period was further enhanced by the expansion in the network of remittance centers and tie-ups abroad established by Philippine banks catering to the OFW market.

"There were also aggressive promotional and advertising campaigns that reached out to a greater number of overseas workers and their beneficiaries," the BSP said.

"It is expected that with the recent link-up of the three major ATM networks (Megalink, ExpressNet, and BancNet), beneficiaries of overseas workers will have increased access to financial services provided by commercial banks" BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said.

According to Tetangco, this would encourage the utilization of formal channels for remittance transfers and thus increase the amount of inflows being captured and reported by banks.

The BSP reported earlier that banks have captured 80 percent of remittances coming into the country, up significantly from 75 percent and further displacing informal remittance agents.

According to the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country’s top remittance bank, this could go up easily to 90 percent as the network expanded to include rural banks, cooperative banks and even non-government organizations linked with the new network set up by Nationlink Inc.

To date, the BSP said the bulk of remittances continue to come from the US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates.
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607150701.htm

Everyone should visit this thread and see the progress the country is making financially. I know we don't see visual changes as fast as we want to, but economics is tricky. These improvements are vital, as the Clinton/Gore slogan of 1992 goes "ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID"

Finance chief says 2008 balanced budget goal stays


The government’s goal of balancing the national budget by 2008 remains, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said yesterday, a day after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared openness to move back the zero-deficit target to 2010 to allow for more spending.

In a statement, the President’s chief economic manager said the government also remains committed to narrowing the budget gap to P63 billion next year or less than 1% of gross domestic product, from the expected P125 billion or 2.1% of economic output this year.

"The government’s policy on reducing the deficit and balancing the budget has not changed. We remain committed to the 2007 deficit reduction target of P63 billion and to balancing the budget by end-2008," the Cabinet official said.

Mr. Teves, however, clarified that the balanced budget goal won’t necessarily constrict spending on infrastructure and social services. In fact, he added, there will be money for this purpose, such as proceeds from the new value-added tax (VAT) law as well as "improved tax administration and collection efficiency."

He assured that funds would be raised to spend for various projects needed to spur economic activity.

"We remain on track with our efforts to raise the additional revenues we need to cut the deficit and invest in critical infrastructure and basic services, such as health and education," Mr. Teves said.

There have been repeated suggestions to postpone the zero-deficit goal to 2010, and proponents argue that more infrastructure spending is needed to boost the domestic economy. Mr. Teves also broached the idea of posting a balanced budget for the years 2009 and 2010 instead of incurring surpluses after 2008 as earlier planned, with the money channeled to productive expenditures.

Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda, who advises the President on economic matters, is also suggesting that the 2007 target budget gap be widened to P90 billion from P63 billion to allow for more spending. The target will surely be breached anyway, he argued.

A proponent of the 2010 balanced budget, Budget Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr., seems to have reversed his position, saying in a separate statement yesterday that the 2007 budget being crafted by the government is "en route to a balanced budget by 2008." Mr. Andaya, a member of the economic team, yesterday said that next year’s P1.136 trillion budget proposal is consistent with the balanced budget goal in 2008.

"The 2007 budget that the Budget department and the DBCC [Development Budget Coordinating Committee] is crafting right now is still consistent with the original target of a balanced budget two years from now," he said in a statement.

He also said the 2007 budget is being readied for submission to Congress in fulfillment of the President’s constitutional duty of submitting next year’s national budget within 30 days after she delivers the State of the Nation Address every fourth Monday of July.

Mr. Andaya has suggested a reexamination of the 2008 balanced budget goal to give the government more room to spend on infrastructure and eduction.

The Arroyo administration originally wanted a balanced budget by 2010. But during the time of Finance Secretary Cesar A.V. Purisima, Mr. Teves’ predecessor, officials decided to move the target two years ahead of schedule. This was after the passage of key tax measures such as higher excise taxes on "sin" products such as alcohol and tobacco, the imposition of VAT on power and petroleum, and the increase in the national sales tax rate to 12% from 10%.

The deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), meanwhile, praised the Arroyo administration for pursuing fiscal reforms.

Takatoshi Kato, who was in Manila to solicit views for the multilateral agency’s new medium-term strategy, said he was "impressed" with economic reforms in the Philippines.

"In particular, the authorities are to be commended for accelerating the pace of fiscal adjustment, including through the landmark VAT reform, and setting the country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward trend," Mr. Kato said in a statement Thursday night.

For her part, President Arroyo may have announced her preference for a balanced budget in 2010 yet, but she is confident this target could be achieved earlier given the government’s recent fiscal performance, Malacañang yesterday said.

Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye did not say, however, on what year Mrs. Arroyo expects the budget deficit brought down to zero although her economic managers have said they want this achieved in 2008.

"During her inaugural address, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that one of her goals is to balance the budget before her terms ends by 2010. But she is now confident that this could be achieved very much ahead of target," Mr. Bunye said.

"The overall trend of the government debt is declining, fiscal reform is working and we have growing fiscal stability," he added.

Mrs. Arroyo, in two occasions this week, indicated she prefers to see the budget balanced by 2010 and not 2008 as envisioned in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 2004-2010.

Postponing the balanced budget goal to 2010 instead of 2008, proponents have said, will allow the government to spend more on infrastructure and social services, particularly education.

But Senator Ralph G. Recto, Senate ways and means committee chairman, said the President should stick to the 2008 target for a balanced budget, as delaying this will cause more costs than benefits to the economy.

He said in a phone interview yesterday that revenue measures passed by Congress in the last two years were aimed at closing the budget deficit and mitigating a looming fiscal crisis.

He recalled that balancing the budget by 2008 was "kasama sa usapan [part of the deal]" between Malacañang and Congress on the approval of revenue measures.

The largest of the said revenue measures is the expanded value-added tax (E-VAT), which is expected to provide additional revenues of around P100 billion a year. The measure, seen as unpopular by various camps, lifted the exemption on electricity and petroleum starting November 1 last year and increased the tax rate to 12% last February 1 from the previous 10%.

Two other measures have been approved and signed into law: revisions to excise tax rates of alcohol and tobacco products, and the Lateral Attrition Act. One more measure -- the proposed rationalization of fiscal incentives -- is still pending with Congress.

While the claim of government is that it needs to spend more funds for infrastructure projects, Mr. Recto however said "the government’s absorptive capacity to spend is low anyway."

He said this means the government itself is finding it hard to source and release funds to spend for projects. Absorptive capacity to spend means the capability of the government or its agencies either to provide counterpart funds for overseas development assistance projects or to repay debts it incurred for infrastructure projects.

Furthermore, "first of all, how can we talk about delaying the balanced budget if we don’t have a budget this year?" he said.

He further said the international community--particularly creditors--will not look positively on the Philippines if the government decides to delay the fiscal balance to 2010. This, he said, will result in higher interest and exchange rates, and eventually to less confidence in the Philippine economy.

On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. is open to delaying the fiscal balance, due to the "far-from-ideal" situation of the Philippines.

"If it’s a choice between infrastructure spending and debt repayment, I choose the former. In the meantime, let’s negotiate for better debt terms," he said. -- Felipe F. Salvosa II, Judy T. Gulane and Francis Y. Capistrano

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW071506/content.php?id=001

Government posts 3rd straight monthly surplus in June
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/16/2006

The government posted a third straight monthly surplus in June, the first time in more than 10 years, setting the stage for a balanced budget in 2008 amid fears that reduced government spending would cut into growth targets in the second half of the year.

The Department of Finance reported Friday that the government generated a budget surplus in June although Finance Secretary Margarito Teves refused to give details. He is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow to report on the government’s June fiscal performance.

Posting more monthly budget surpluses will allow the government to narrow its yearly deficit faster than planned, boosting investor confidence in the country’s capacity to pay its P3.9 trillion debt. The country’s debt has tripled since it began posting deficits in 1998.

The Philippines may announce a budget surplus of P5.3 billion for June, said David Cohen, director of Asian Economics Forecasting at Action Economics LLC in Singapore.

Cohen said the deficit for the year may fall to P85 billion, down 42 percent from last year’s P146.5 billion. This year’s deficit target is P125 billion.

The Philippines, which aims to end deficits by 2008, posted a surplus in April and May. The last time the Philippines had budget surpluses over a period of longer than two months was from September to December 1995, according to Bloomberg data.

In April and May, the Arroyo administration ended with surpluses, not unusual for the tax month of April but surprising for the usually lean month of May although officials said it was easily explained by the increase in tax rates while government agencies tightened the lid on public spending.

Operating under the re-enacted 2005 budget, the government’s fiscal position in May reached a surplus of P5.8 billion and Finance officials said this was the first time in 20 years that May ended up as a surplus month.

The May surplus brought the total January to May deficit to P44.1 billion, significantly lower than the P67.8 billion deficit over the same period last year. The May surplus alone was 176.2 percent more than the P7.6 billion deficit in May 2005.

"If you look at the first five months, we are actually P23.6 billion ahead of our target deficit," said National Treasurer Omar Cruz.

This means that as of end-May, the government had a budget room of P23.6 billion that would give it room for flexibility should Congress finally approve the 2006 national budget.

"May is usually one of the weakest revenue months, coming right after the tax month of April," said Cruz. "This is the first time in a long while that the budget isn’t in deficit this time of year."

Economic officials, however, were less than ecstatic over the fiscal turnaround, saying that although the economy is likely to grow by 5.5 percent in the first semester, a slowdown is imminent in the second semester due to low government spending under the re-enacted budget.

Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic Authority (NEDA) director general Romulo Neri said that the third quarter growth would be more difficult as Congress failed to pass the 2006 budget, forcing the government to use the re-enacted 2005 budget.

Based on NEDA’s own estimates, the economy would slow down slightly in 2006 if Congress ultimately votes to re-enact even a small portion of the 2005 budget.

Balancing the budget by 2006 would result to the most significant slowdown since this would entail deep budget cuts to eliminate the budget deficit, NEDA added.

If the Arroyo administration opted to balance its budget next year, gross domestic producti (GDP) would grow by only 5.4 percent, lower than the bottom-end of the projected GDP growth of 5.7 to 6.3 percent next year.

Re-enacting the entire 2005 budget, however, is expected to slow down the GDP growth to 5.5 percent while re-enacting either the first quarter or first semester 2005 budget would both result to a 5.6 percent growth.



http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607160701.htm

US to allow exports of RP fresh mangoes to Guam, Hawaii
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 07/17/2006

The US will allow the exports of fresh mangoes to its territories – Guam and Hawaii before the end of the year, a senior official of the US Department of Agriculture said.

"We expect approval of requests from the Philippines to ship fresh mangoes to Guam and Hawaii later this year from sources other than Guimaras, except for Palawan," said Dennis Voboril, USDA agricultural trade office director Dennis Voboril.

Currently, the US only allows exports of fresh mangoes from the quarantined Guimaras Island in the Visayas, which was declared free of the mango pulp and mango seed weevil diseases. There are also no reported incidents of these diseases in mango-producing areas in the Philippines except for Palawan in Luzon.

The USDA approval, if granted this year, will enable exporters of fresh mangoes to ship even earlier than the scheduled 2007 effectivity of the revised US Federal Rule that will allow mangoes coming from all production areas in the Philippines except Palawan to enter Hawaii and Guam, and subsequently other US territories and mainland states.

At the same time, Voboril said the USDA will release a $2-million grant or about P106 million next month to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) which already started a study on how to enhance the export competitiveness of Philippine mangoes intended for shipment to the US.

Among others, the study will include evaluating the use of irradiation facility to treat mango fruit pests, a survey to determine the existence and prevalence of the mango pulp weevil and seed weevil diseases and measures to extend the shelf-life of fresh mangoes intended for shipment to the US mainland and its territories, and strengthening quarantine measures to ensure they comply with the USDA sanitary and phytosanitary standards.

Voboril clarified that the US irradiation method to treat mangoes is not necessarily a precondition to USDA’s approval of exports coming from other production areas in the Philippines.

"All would depend on the results of the three-year study," noted Voboril.

The USDA has been pushing for the irradiation technology to replace the widely-accepted international vapor heat treatment (VHT) technology as a condition to accepting bigger volumes of fresh mango from the Philippines.

Food irradiation is the exposure of food to ionizing radiation intended to eliminate pests and bacteria, especially pulp weevil pests usually found in tropical countries.

The US promotes food irradiation under the Food for Peace program which aims to develop civilian application of nuclear technology. US-based companies GrayStar and Surebeam were among those proposing to build the first commercial food irradiation facility in the Philippines.

Exporters, however, are opposing replacing the VHT method which is used to treat mangoes shipped to Japan and other markets, saying minimum investment is costly at P500 million.

"The industry does not have the capacity to invest in such an expensive facility except if government steps up and supports exporters," said Roberto Amores in a previous interview. Amores is president of the Philippine Mango Exporters Confederation Inc. and Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. (Philfoodex).

Exporters said USDA’s concern about pulp weevil infestation was based on an old survey in the island province Palawan which is isolated from major mango-producing areas in the country.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607170704.htm

Government posts P5-B surplus in June
By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 07/17/2006

Efforts to exercise tighter spending and enhanced revenue collection measures enabled the government to post a budget surplus of P5 billion in June, a top Malacañang official revealed yesterday.

The official said the efforts apparently paid off since the government was able to sustain the budget surplus for three consecutive months.

The same official, however, claimed President Arroyo’s economic team is "not exactly ecstatic" over the figures since the government remains constrained in its spending as the proposed P1.053-trillion national budget for 2006 has not been passed by Congress.

"I think we are resigned on finishing the fiscal year on a reenacted budget," the Cabinet official said, referring to the P907.5-billion budget for 2005.

The government is projecting a budget deficit of P125 billion for the year, lower than the P146.5-billion deficit posted in 2005.

The surplus posted in April and May, totaling P23.4 billion, had helped narrow the budget deficit for the first five months of the year to P44.2 billion from P67.6 billion in March.

Socio-Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri said the surplus would "sound very good" to international creditors and rating agencies that could lead to better ratings for the country’s debt instruments as well as for the economy as a whole.

Despite the surplus, Neri admitted the economic managers are not exactly happy as the Arroyo administration is not authorized to spend beyond what is allowed in the reenacted budget.

As a result, growth might slow a bit in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

"We want to spend more but we’re constrained," Neri said.

"The government might not be the main driver of growth in the coming quarters."

In the first half of the year, Neri said the government undertook pump-priming activities amounting to some P30 billion, on hopes that the 2006 budget would be approved.

He said the move helped contribute to growth and create more jobs.

Growth in the last quarter of 2005 slowed down slightly as the nervous government reined in spending to achieve its year-end deficit target.

Officials said the government aims to pour revenues collected from new taxes into infrastructure projects, health, agriculture and education to generate more jobs and jumpstart the economy.

To go around the constraints, Neri said the National Development Co. has floated P10 billion worth of bonds and would float P10 billion more before year-end for socio-economic projects.

He said the funding would be coursed through government-owned or controlled corporations, which would be the ones to undertake the projects shelved due to the failure of the 2006 national budget.

President Arroyo last week expressed confidence that the country would be able to wipe out its fiscal deficit ahead of schedule due to growing political stability and declining debt.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye had pointed out Mrs. Arroyo is committed to balance the budget before her term ends in 2010.

"But she is now confident that this could be achieved very much ahead of target," Bunye said. "The overall trend of the government debt is declining, fiscal reform is working and we have growing political stability."

Bunye said the upbeat outlook on the economy has been reinforced by the people’s resistance to political turmoil and determination to get on with their daily lives.

He said Mrs. Arroyo remains focused on her economic plan "and the people are focused on their economic future."

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., for his part, said the government remains committed to its goal of cutting the deficit to P63 billion in 2007 and balancing it by 2008, despite calls to revise the target.

Andaya gave assurances the 2007 budget proposal currently being drafted is en route to a balanced budget for 2008.

Andaya, who is also the Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) chairman, added the focus of the proposed budget is still "really to raise revenues" to enable the government to raise the level of spending.

"The only way to raise the level of spending is to improve revenue administration and not raise the deficit," he said.

Andaya said the DBCC has to meet and it is still crafting the budget for next year, consistent with the goal of a zero deficit by 2008.

The 2007 budget is being readied to enable the President to submit the proposal before Congress in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24.

Andaya earlier estimated the proposed 2007 budget might reach P1.14 trillion.
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607170414.htm

RP reins in budget deficit
By Lawrence Agcaoili
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business01_july18_2006

The government posted a budget surplus of P12.7 billion in June, the third month in a row, on the back of strong revenue collections and lower spending, National Treasurer Omar Cruz reported yesterday.

The June figure brought the government’s budget shortfall in the first six months of the year to P58.9 billion, P31.5 billion below the ceiling of P90.4 billion for the period.

Cruz told reporters yesterday morning that government revenues in June surged 30.6 percent to P81.3 billion from P62.2 billion in the same month last year while expenditures went up by 10.7 percent to P68.6 billion from P62 billion.

It was the third straight month that the national government was in the black after it posted back-to-back surpluses of P17.6 billion in April and P5.8 billion in May.

Statistics showed that the tax take of the Bureau of Internal Revenue jumped 30 percent to P50.4 billion in June from P38.7 billion while that of the Bureau of Customs soared 46.6 percent to P18.5 billion from P12.6 billion.

Collections by the Bureau of Treasury rose 32.7 percent to P9.9 billion from P7.4 billion while that of other offices fell 26.2 percent to P2.5 billion from P3.4 billion.

On the expenditure side, interest payments inched up 5.3 percent to P12.3 billion from P11.7 billion while allotment for local government units dropped 7.7 percent to P12.9 billion from P14 billion.

Cruz said the government’s budget deficit in the first half of the year narrowed by 53.3 percent to P31.5 billion from P67.5 billion in the same period last year.

“It is a very solid performance. It looks good considering we had three out of six,” Cruz said.

Revenues improved 21.1 percent to P471.1 billion from January to June compared to P389 billion on year. The tax take of government agencies was P15 billion more than the programmed P456 billion.

Internal Revenue collections, data showed, rose 22.1 percent to P318.4 billion from P260.9 billion. The tax take of the agency was, however, P2.8 billion short of the collection goal of P321.2 billion for the first semester of the year.

“The BIR is P2.8 billion short of its target but it is okay because they are slowly catching up,” Cruz said.

The tax take of Customs rose 31.3 percent to P94.8 billion during the first semester from P72.2 billion in the same period last year. The agency surpassed its collection goal of P89.7 billion by P5 billion.

Treasury revenues inched up 1.6 percent to P36.5 billion from P35.9 billion. The agency exceeded its collection goal of P24.6 billion by P11.9 billion. Other offices posted a 6.9 percent rise in collections to P21.4 billion from P20 billion.

Government spending, on the other hand, went up by 10.1 percent to P502.6 billion during the first six months of the year from P456.5 billion in the same period last year. Expenditures during the period were P43.8 billion lower than the goal of P546.4 billion for the first half of the year.




Govt to request P53b supplemental budget
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business02_july18_2006

The government will likely ask Congress to pass a P53 billion supplemental budget as deep cuts in this year’s spending, especially on infrastructure, is threatening to slow the country’s economic momentum.

“We haven’t made an actual decision on the amount and where the funds should go but the number being discussed by budget officials is between P50 billion and P53 billion,” Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said in the likelihood that Congress would not pass the 2006 national budget.

Teves said the additional revenues from the new value added tax law was not enough to finance more spending on infrastructure and social services although the government posted a strong fiscal performance in the first half of the year.

The national government outperformed its budget deficit goal of P90.4 billion by P58.9 billion in the first semester after registering a budget deficit of only P31.6 billion. The gap was also 53.3 percent narrower than the P67.5 billion deficit registered in the same period last year.

Government revenues surged 21.1 percent to P471.1 billion from P389 billion and were P15 billion higher than the goal of P456 billion set for the first six months of the year.

The finance chief said the robust performance during the first half of the year gave the Arroyo administration enough elbow room to meet the year-end budget deficit target of P125 billion, or 2.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

“We want to be able to increase spending without going over the fiscal targets. To do that, we will need a supplemental budget to the 2005 budget we are using now,” he said.

In spite of the proposed supplemental budget, Teves said the amount would not be anywhere close to the P1.1 trillion spending being sought by the government to support a GDP growth rate of about 5.7 percent to 6.3 percent this year.

“If the proposed 2006 budget still does not pass, we will have to ask for a supplemental budget because the 2005 budget is not responsive to our growth trajectory this year,” he said.

National Treasurer Omar Cruz said the government was likely to cut its borrowing program this year in case the 2005 national budget was re-enacted. Lawrence Agcaoili

The BIR beat its tax revenue goal for June. The tax reforms and debt reduction efforts of the government were recently commended by the IMF.

ADB's latest assessment/findings...
RP’s poverty rate higher than Asean countries–ADB
By Artemio F. Cusi III
Reporter

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0421/front03.php

POVERTY in the Philippines increased at a much faster rate last year compared to those of its Southeast Asian neighbors, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In its Annual Report 2005, the ADB noted that the number of poor people grew 14.1 percent in 2005.

Countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, however, showed corresponding poverty rates of only 0.2 percent and 6.5 percent.

Thailand, which is not categorized by the ADB as under Southeast Asia but classified as part of the Mekong subregion, registered 9.8 percent.

However, if other countries in the Mekong subregion under the ADB classification are included in the category of Southeast Asian countries, then the Philippines’ poverty rate would still be lower compared to those displayed by Myanmar with 26.6 percent; Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 32.7 percent; and Cambodia, 34.7 percent.

Those mentioned by the ADB under Southeast Asia and the Mekong subregion belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries.

In its report, the ADB said the $180-million loan in 2005 was focused on the microfinancing and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) program. “More than two thirds of the country’s poor, or 17 million people, do not have access to microfinance services and rely on costly informal sectors,” the ADB said.

The bank also noted the country’s difficulty in pushing its SMEs to increase their value-added tax share to the to 40 percent in 2010 from the current 32 percent.

According to the ADB, the Philippines confronts the problems of constraints in unsupportive policies, cumbersome and costly registration and licensing processes, and the lack of a national business and collateral registry.

Total financial assistance requested by the Philippines in 2005 alone reached $204.72 million. Of this amount, $180 million had been for loans; equity and guarantees, $19.4 million; grants, $700,000; and technical assistance, $4.62 million.

As of 2005, cumulative ADB lending for the country amounted to $8.8 billion while cumulative disbursement reached $6.28 billion.

Central bank reports BOP surplus
of $2.04B in first half
THE external sector strengthened some more in the first six months as the balance of payments (BOP) incurred a surplus amounting to $2.04 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.
The BOP is a summary of the country’s transactions with the rest of the world, reflecting all foreign exchange earnings for the period minus the expenses.
It is a more or less reliable indicator of where the economy was generally headed while also serving to indicate the strength of the local currency.
The six-month total represents a three-percent growth from a year earlier when the surplus amounted to only $1.98 billion.
BSP governor Amando Tetangco Jr. traced the surplus to the release of collateral arising from the government’s early redemption of its Brady bond issues, a rather costly borrowing paper issued to help restructure the country’s foreign debts in the 1980s.
“The June BOP surplus is due mainly to the release of collateral to the BSP from the pretermination of some Brady bonds in May,” Tetangco said by telephone.
This indicates the seriousness by which the government has pursued its debt-management objectives, retiring those IOUs expensive to service over time.
Tetangco said the surplus was achieved at a time when remittances from overseas Filipino workers, totaling $4.9 billion in the first five months, posted double-digit growth and foreign direct investments were similarly robust at $500 million at end of April.
“Stronger merchandise exports, sustained growth in direct investments and higher investment income of the BSP [made these possible],” he added.
Records show the BOP was a deficit of $36 million in May when the Bradys were redeemed ahead of schedule.
Actually the deficit was a lot bigger the previous April—$277 million—when the monetary authorities had to dip into the country’s foreign exchange resources to service maturing BSP debts.---J. Vallecera


http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front06.php

Philippines seeks $122 mining investment in 2006

MANILA, July 18 (Reuters) - The Philippines aims to lure mostly foreign firms to invest $122 million in mining projects this year, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau said on Tuesday.
The targeted investments were on top of the $500 million previously placed by firms in 24 projects since 2005 as part of a programme to revive the local mining industry.

Benjamin de Vera, head of the bureau's minerals economics division, said firms have so far invested a total of $47.91 million from January to May this year.

He said the government's move allowing Lafayette Mining Ltd. to conduct a 30-day test run starting on July 10 on its copper and gold mine on a remote island in the Philippines was welcomed by investors.

Lafayette's Rapu Rapu project was closed since October last year due to pollution violations.

The mine, the first to be developed by a foreign firm in almost 40 years, is among the 24 priority projects identified by the government to jump-start the revival of a nearly moribound local mining industry.

The government says the Philippines has $1 trillion worth of untapped gold, nickel, copper and other mineral wealth.

But many foreign firms have been put off by political turmoil, corruption, insurgencies in the resource-rich south and opposition by churchmen and indigenous groups.


http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060718/3/2nayr.html

Sustained growth seen
ADB report ups outlook for RP, says economy to stay resilient

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects the Philippine economy to grow by 5% this year, up from its earlier projection of 4.8%, on the back of expanding remittance-led consumption and improved information technology exports.

The growth outlook means Philippine growth will stay the same as last year, and the economy is expected to remain resilient despite uncertain investment climate, monetary tightening, and high oil prices, the ADB said in its semiannual Asia Economic Monitor (AEM).

In the AEM released last December, the ADB’s regional economic monitoring unit said economic growth in 2006 would slow to 4.8% due to weak exports, costlier oil and a delay in planting caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The latest AEM outlook for 2007, meanwhile, is for a 5.3% growth for the Philippines.

The AEM reviews emerging East Asia’s growth, financial vulnerability, and emerging policy issues. It covers the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members; the People’s Republic of China (PROC); Hong Kong, China; Republic of Korea; and Taipei, Republic of China.

The 5% forecast of ADB is below the Philippine government’s 5.5%-6.2% growth outlook for 2006. Gross domestic product, the total market value of all final goods and services produced in the year, grew by 5.5% in the first quarter.

The ADB said investments in the Philippines are likely to remain constrained by limited progress in structural reforms such as in the power sector.

"Continued political uncertainty also affected Philippine investment, which has experienced a prolonged contraction," it said.

Continuing remittance flows and restrained import expansion should keep the current account in surplus, while average inflation from January to June 2006 reached 7.1%, mainly due to higher fuel prices and the recent value-added tax (VAT) increases, the ADB said. It added that inflation could still hover around 7%.

Other risks faced by the Philippines include a possible slowdown in remittances that would crimp consumer spending and an abrupt correction in global payments imbalances that could reduce export growth and further erode investment.

Heightened global financial uncertainty would likely reduce capital inflows, create currency instability, erase recent gains in foreign reserves, and increase the sovereign spread on external debt.

Domestically, investor confidence could further decline with continued delays in structural reforms. But with the non-performing loans ratio down to 8.2% in April 2006, vulnerabilities in the domestic financial sector have been reduced, it said.

The banking sector, however, holds about 28% of the issuance of the public sector, exposing it to volatility in sovereign bond ratings and spreads.

It said policy rates would likely remain stable in the months ahead. "After three successive 25 basis-point hikes in the policy interest rate during 2005, the central bank maintained its policy rates in early 2006 based on evidence that current and expected inflation suggest it is decelerating."

On the fiscal front, higher revenues in the first quarter from an expanded VAT and stronger tax collections kept the target deficit of 2.1% of GDP for 2006 on track, the ADB said. Vulnerability can be further reduced through continued efforts to enhance revenues and maintain fiscal prudence, it added.

East Asia, the Philippines included, is expected to post collective growth of 7.5% in 2006, buoyed by economic expansion key export markets for the region as well as a rebound in the global information technology industry, the ADB said.

"The region has adjusted well to a challenging first half characterized by high energy costs, persistent inflationary pressures, tighter monetary conditions, and financial volatility," said Masahiro Kawai, head of the ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration, which produces the AEM.

The ADB said 2006 will be the third consecutive year of average GDP growth above 7% for emerging East Asia. The region posted a 7.2% growth in 2005 and 7.9% in 2004. The AEM forecasts 6.9% growth for emerging East Asia in 2007.

The outlook for the PRC economy is a key element of the region’s prospects. The AEM forecasts GDP in the PRC will grow a strong 10.1% this year and 9.0% in 2007.

Importantly for the rest of emerging East Asia, the ADB expects Chinese imports to rebound from exceptionally low growth in 2005.

ASEAN economies are expected to post steady GDP growth of 5.5% in 2006, reflecting the stable external outlook, with slight variations up or down across economies.

The broadly favorable outlook for the region is subject to two types of risks:


near-term cyclical risks which include a sharp fall in external demand, faster-than-expected correction of an overheating Chinese economy, higher-than-expected energy prices, and a significant decline in global financial conditions; and
deeper structural, low probability but high impact risks which include a sudden and disruptive adjustment of the global payments imbalances and the outbreak of a bird flu pandemic.
Emerging East Asia’s policy options for managing near-term risks, the ADB said, comprise a combination of further monetary tightening and additional efforts to narrow fiscal deficits and reduce public debt.

To address deeper vulnera-bilities, policy priorities should be to boost domestic demand, the ADB said.

"The strengths of emerging East Asia’s economies and the risks they face are relatively clear," Mr. Kawai said.

"With sound policy decisions the region should be able to maintain its strong growth and continue setting the trend for rapid development and poverty reduction." -- B. S. Sto. Domingo

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW071906/content.php?id=001

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has collected P48.031 billion in taxes for the month of June, exceeding by P2.02 billion or 4.39 percent its goal of P46.009 billion for the month, preliminary data shows.

The month’s P48.031-billion collection was also a significant improvement over the BIR’s collection for the same period last year of P36.306 billion or an increase equivalent to 32.30 percent.

For the first semester of 2006, the BIR already has a cumulative collection of P302.028 billion exceeding its six-month goal of P300.877 billion by P1.151 billion or a total surplus equivalent to 0.38 percent. The year’s first half collection was, a major improvement compared to its 2005 collection level of P243.834 billion registering an increase of 23.87 percent or P58.194 billion.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario C. Buñag attributed the success of the bureau’s collection operations to the intensified tax collection campaign of its Large Taxpayer Service (LTS), 19 regional office of and the 115 revenue district offices (RDOs) spread nationwide.

He cited the tax agency’s impressive collection as a result of an intensified campaign for the strict implementation of existing and new tax measure.

The BIR’s nationwide campaign this year focuses on profiling of taxpayers, especially the value added tax (VAT) covered taxpayers, stock-taking of excisable goods/products, benchmarking, rigorous monitoring of taxpayers’ delinquent accounts utilization of taxpayers data, improvement of taxpayers database and close monitoring of one time transactions (ONETT).

The bureau has intensified its taxpayer compliance verification drive (TCVD), monitoring of non-filers/stop-filers, monitoring of taxpayers filing "no operations returns", development of RATE (Run After Tax Evaders) cases and endorsement of the electronic raffle promo "Premyo sa Resibo".

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607190702.htm

Competitiveness boost seen from creative sectors

The so-called creative industries are key to boosting the Philippines’ global competitiveness, officials from the government, academe and the private sector yesterday said.

And unless the Philippines addresses declining education, continued corruption and lack of infrastructure support, the country may slide further in an annual global competitiveness listing compiled by Swiss firm International Institute for Management Development (IMD), they added.

"Our strength is in human resources. We may lack edge in competitiveness and technology but not in creativity," Asian Institute of Management (AIM) professor Dr. Federico Macaranas told a forum.

Mr. Macaranas identified artisan products (clothing, decoration), visual and performing arts (fashion, design, photography, dance, theater), cinema (film, video), multimedia and literature (digital art, advertising, animation) sectors as the most dynamic and promising creative industries.

Trade Undersecretary Thomas G. Aquino said the government is planning to hold a competitiveness summit to address issues that hinder the country and draft strategies to eliminate weaknesses. He said officials are looking at holding the summit after the President’s State of the Nation Address next week.

The Philippines was the 13th least competitive country among 61 economies surveyed for the 2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook. The 2006 rankings were announced in May by the AIM, the IMD’s partner institution in the country.

The survey ranked the Philippines last, or 61st, in terms of basic infrastructure, 58th in terms of scientific infrastructure, 57th in education, 53rd in health environment, and 37th in technological infrastructure.

"The Philippines has not lost its creativity. We have lagged behind our neighbors, but without bickering, I’m confident we can catch up," said Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr., Philippine Exports Confederation president.

"Animation, the movie industry, book publishing and multimedia are just some of the creative industry sectors that we have yet to develop," he added.

The AIM said the Philippines needs to foster anti-corruption measures in both the public and private sectors to help improve its image abroad, intellectual property rights enforcement and attract more investments.

In addition, the Philippines needs increased expenditures in education and an educational system that is more responsive to the requirements of a competitive economy.

Increased emphasis on science and basic research is also a must, the AIM said.

The AIM recommended the following:


creation of a creative economy mapping program;

a creative companies directory and database of creative people; and

a new industry classification to account for creative companies.
"There is a need for entrepreneurial skills training; better education infrastructure; and access to better financing and business support," it said.

The 2006 competitiveness list was topped by the United States, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.

Of the 15 Asia-Pacific economies studied by the IMD, the Philippines was last in terms of overall competitiveness, ahead only of Indonesia.

The countries that scored lower than the Philippines were Lombardy, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, Italy, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Indonesia and Venezuela.

The IMD survey analyzes and ranks the ability of nations to create and maintain an environment that sustains business competitiveness.

It used 312 criteria, with about two-thirds using statistical data with the rest involving opinions from businessmen worldwide. -- B. S. Sto. Domingo

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW072006/content.php?id=001

Investments in mining
now $494M

THE mining sector continues to attract more investments owing to the favorable mining policy climate in the Philippines, with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), recording an increase of US $47.91 million as of May 2006.
This brings to $494.47 million the total investments poured in by local and foreign investors in the mining sector under the Revitalization of the Mining Sector Program of the Arroyo administration, generating 5,668 jobs so far. The program is eyeing $6.4 billion in potential investments.
An MGB official said mining investments are expected to reach $122 million at the end of the year but MGB officials said this falls short of their earlier forecast that new and additional investments will reach $193 million in 2006.
The $47.91 million in new and additional investments were attributed to additional investment poured through the construction of roads and other infrastructure projects considered basic to mining operations such as mineral processing plants, bridges and offices of mining company executives.
Benjamin de Vera, chief of the MGB’s mineral economics, information and publications division, said that despite the expected start of premining operations of some companies at the last quarter of the year, they expect total investment to reach only a little over $122 million, owing to some delays in the expansion of ongoing projects.
In particular, the proposed nickel project of Atlas Consolidated in Palawan scheduled to start in June this year did not push through owing to the decision of the Australian partners to postpone it to next year. “It is a matter of priority. Maybe they decided to invest somewhere else instead of Palawan,” one official explained.
Nevertheless, de Vera said some upcoming major projects are expected to boost the mining industry in the Philippines.
The Palawan HPP Project of the Coral Bay Nickel Corp. is expected to double its production capacity from 10,000 tons of nickel and 700 tons of cobalt to 20,000 tons of nickel and 1,400 tons of cobalt per year. Estimated investments for the expansion is $285 million. The construction is expected to go full swing during the last quarter of the year until 2009.--- J. Mayuga

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front02.php

Measures to boost competitiveness listed
Manila Bulletin

Improvement in the country’s quality of basic education, acceleration of e-governance projects to promote transparency and lessen corruption and infrastructure investments by the private sector topped the list recommendations to improve the country’s overall competitiveness.


This was the recommendation of the AIM Policy Center following the release of the World Competitiveness Report 2006 wherein the Philippines showed no improvement in its overall competitiveness ratings among 61 countries surveyed by the International Institute of Management Development (IMD).

In this year’s report, the Philippines maintained its 49th ranking. In the area of economic performance, the Philippines dropped to 52 from 41 but posted an improvement in the area of government efficiency to 45 from 47. The Philippines fell to the 44th place in the area of business efficiency from 38 and a notch lower in terms of infrastructure to 56 from 55 last year.

AIM president Francis G. Estrada, in a speech before the State of Philippine Competitiveness National Conference, highlighted the seven recommendations to help improve the country’s competitiveness, which remained at 49th place.

Estrada, on the other hand, said the Philippines is still lucky that it did not slip down in the ranking this year but warned the country may not be as lucky as next year.

Education topped its set recommendation with emphasis on the country achieving demonstrable ratings improvements in Math, Science and English.

The country’s deteriorating quality of education was traced to the poor investments in this sector showing that government is not prioritizing this sector. There was concern on the low pupil/teacher ratio in secondary schools.

The AIM further urged government to undertake capacity-building for regulatory agencies to promote transparency, non-discrimination and procedural fairness as well as the establishment of credible anti-corruption efforts by vigorously prosecuting/securing conviction of some "big fish."

Estrada said this as the Competitiveness Report noted of the country scored low on five criteria under the government efficiency area. These weaknesses include bribery and corruption, customs’ authorities, public service, low risk of political instability and country credit rating.

In the case of infrastructure, Estrada recommended improve distribution infrastructure for faster turn-around times and lower transaction costs.

"Basic infrastructure is a major driver of growth and it is important in attracting investments," Estrada said.

Estrada stressed that while the country fared well in terms of infrastructure investments in the telecommunications sector, it has not enough invested enough for education infrastructure. There is no investments also in the area of R & D.

In addition, Estrada cited the need for a progress on a clear and coherent population policy.

The growing population is also compounding poverty leading to huge unemployment problem, he said.

There was no improvement in the country’s employment situation in the latest report compared to 2003, the benchmark year.(BCM)

Gov’t likely to beat 2006 deficit target--investment houses


By Cecille Yap
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 05:28pm (Mla time) 07/20/2006


THE GOVERNMENT'S budget deficit this year is likely to be lower than its target of 125 billion pesos, even if it spends more in the coming months to support the economy amid external uncertainties, according to at least three investment houses.

Macquarie Research Equities says it is maintaining its "overweight" rating for the Philippines after the government recorded a monthly budget surplus of 12.7 billion pesos in June -- its third surplus in as many months -- due to spending restraint and higher revenue.

Last month's surplus brought the first-half deficit to 31.5 billion pesos, or only 25 percent of the full-year target.

This will allow the government to spend more in the second half to support the economy amid high prices for crude oil, government officials said recently.

"At this stage, our broad macro theme for the Philippines remains unchanged, with the continued consolidation in government finances almost a sure thing," Macquarie regional economist Tim Bowring said in a note.

"While we expect the government to pump-prime the economy with greater diligence in the second half, we remain of the view that the government will beat its 2006 budget deficit target of 125 billion pesos (or 2.1 percent of GDP)," he said.

UBS said in a note that the government might already have seen the worst of its tax collection shortfalls.

"UBS's view remains unchanged that 2006 is still a fiscal stabilization year [and that] beating the target appears increasingly credible," the investment bank said.

ING economist Tim Condon echoed this opinion, saying the Philippines is a candidate for a rating upgrade.

Condon said: "There is little doubt that the full-year deficit will come in substantially below the official target of 125 billion pesos. Our forecast is 50 to 80 billion pesos or 0.8 to 1.3 percent of GDP based on the passage of supplemental budgets."

Macquarie expects the deficit this year to reach 1.7 percent of GDP, but this depends on whether Congress eventually passes the 2006 budget of 1.05 trillion pesos.

Congress has so far failed to pass the budget bill because senators want some items of expenditure removed.

In the absence of a new budget, the government is now operating on a re-enacted 2005 budget of 918.6 billion pesos. But the government has disclosed plans to ask Congress for a supplemental budget if the 2006 budget is not approved.

http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=10855

Article posted July 20, 2006, 5:00 pm
The Philippines may be able to finally end over 40 years of dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if economic reforms were sustained and completed, a monetary official said on Thursday.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said the government can pre-pay its remaining obligations with the IMF but he said the bank
was still studying its options amid renewed uncertainty in emerging markets due to geopolitical conditions.

The IMF is scheduled to send its annual post-program monitoring (PPM) evaluation team this week and discussions are scheduled to begin next week on the country's progress with on-going economic reforms.

The Philippines has over $300 million worth of IMF obligations left and once settled, it would end over 40 years of perennial use of IMF loans.

According to Guinigundo, the Philippines has been in and out of various IMF programs since 1962 and the country was considered one of the longest chronic users of IMF assistance.

"It is, in a way, a testimony to how IMF programs have worked in the country over the years," Guinigundo said. "If these programs worked the way they were supposed to, then we would have been able to get out of these programs sooner."

Guinigundo said the Philippines and the IMF have entered a stage in their 44-year relationship where the two parties were "just tolerating each other".

According to Guinigundo, the IMF had been such a fixture in the country's economic history with only short interruptions in various IMF-funded programs that entailed various conditionalities ranging from major macro-economic policies to very specific reforms that bordered on micro-management.

"At some point, there were so many conditions to various IMF programs that often, these policy conditions did not even relate to macro-economics," he said. "One time, even retail trade policies were somehow attached to some of these loans."

Over the years, Guinigundo said prolonged use of IMF assistance started to put the IMF presence in the country in question, specifically the effectiveness of its programs and policy impositions.

Although the IMF has helped significantly and at crucial moments, Guinigundo said prolonged use of IMF funds also indicated a disjoint between what should have happened and what were actually happening.

The Philippines is expected to be under the post-program monitoring of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) only until the end of April 2007, shortly before the Arroyo administration balances its budget in 2008. - GMANews.TV

ADB notes RP’s improving fiscal program
By Roderick T. dela Cruz
ManilaStandardtoday

The Asian Development Bank has identified the Philippines as one of two countries in East Asia that are committed to further reduce their fiscal deficits.

In its semiannual Asia Economic Monitor, the Manila-based multilateral lender said while most countries in the region left fiscal policies unchanged in 2006, the Philippines and Malaysia aimed to further narrow their respective budget gaps.

“Against a backdrop of generally strong economic expansion, gradually rising inflation, and tightening monetary policies, authorities left fiscal policies generally unchanged in 2006, although some continued to cut deficits,” the ADB said.

“The main exceptions were the modest programmed increases in the deficit in China, Taipei, and Vietnam. In contrast, Malaysia and the Philippines aimed to further reduce fiscal deficits in 2006, while in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, there were no major changes in fiscal policy stances,” the lender said.

The Philippines reduced its budget deficit to P58.9 billion in the first half of 2006, well below the ceiling of P90.4 billion for the period. The government has set a full-year deficit ceiling of P125 billion, representing 2.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2006.

According to the ADB data, such fiscal deficit target will be an improvement from 2.7 percent of GDP in 2005, 3.9 percent in 2004 and 4.7 percent in 2003.

It also noted that Malaysia plans to reduce its fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2006, from 3.8 percent in 2005.

In 2006, the ADB predicted the fiscal deficit will settle at 1.4 percent of GDP in China, 0.7 percent in Indonesia, 1.4 percent in Singapore, 2.5 percent in Taiwan, and 3 percent in Vietnam.

Only Hong Kong and Thailand are expected to post budget surpluses amounting to 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent of their GDPs, respectively. Hong Kong registered a budget surplus only last year, while Thailand entered a budget surplus regime since 2003.

RP may end IMF dependence
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/21/2006

The Philippines may finally end over 40 years of chronic dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), provided economic reforms are sustained and completed, a ranking central bank official said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the Philippines had a little over $300-million worth of IMF obligations left and once settled, it would end over 40 years of perennial use of IMF loans.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told reporters that the government had the option of pre-paying the remaining loans and hopefully end IMF tutelage once and for all.

The government can pre-pay its remaining obligations with the IMF but officials are still weighing their options to determine what course to take in the midst of renewed uncertainty in emerging markets due to geopolitical conditions.

The IMF is scheduled to send its annual post-program monitoring (PPM) evaluation team this week and discussions are scheduled to begin next week on the country’s progress with on-going economic reforms.

According to Guinigundo, the Philippines has been in and out of various IMF programs since 1962 and the country is considered one of the longest chronic users of IMF assistance.

"It is, in a way, a testimony to how IMF programs have worked in the country over the years," Guinigundo said. "If these programs worked the way they were supposed to, then we would have been able to get out of these programs sooner."

Guinigundo said the Philippines and the IMF have entered a stage in their 44-year relationship where the two parties were "just tolerating each other".

He said, the IMF had been such a fixture in the country’s economic history with only short interruptions in various IMF-funded programs that entailed various conditionalities ranging from major macro-economic policies to very specific reforms that bordered on micro-management.

"At some point, there were so many conditions to various IMF programs that often, these policy conditions did not even relate to macro-economics," he said. "One time, even retail trade policies were somehow attached to some of these loans."

Over the years, Guinigundo said prolonged use of IMF assistance started to put the IMF presence in the country in question, specifically the effectiveness of its programs and policy impositions.

Although the IMF has helped significantly and at crucial moments, Guinigundo said prolonged use of IMF funds also indicated a disjoint between what should have happened and what were actually happening.

The Philippines is expected to be under the post-program monitoring of the IMF only until the end of April 2007, shortly before the Arroyo administration balances its budget in 2008.

When asked about whether this particular exit is likely to be permanent, however, Guinigundo was reluctant to make the call. "It’s hard to say, something might happen that would force us to tap the IMF again," he said.

However, Guinigundo said the country’s fundamentals were intact and any crises that might arise would not be due to inherent weaknesses in economic fundamentals but due to cataclysmic factors beyond anyone’s control such as total war or global market collapse.

The PPM involves more frequent consultation between the IMF and the government whose arrangement has expired but continue to have credit outstanding. These discussions focus on policies that have bearing on external viability.

The PPM is supposed to last until the country’s outstanding obligations go down below 100 percent of the membership quota that all IMF member countries are required to pay.

Although the country’s obligations have fallen below the quota, the government has decided to stay under the PPM process to assure its creditors that it was being closely monitored by a credible third party.

The documents revealed that as early as November 2003, the country’s outstanding obligations to the IMF had already fallen below 100 percent of the quota.

THE Department of Trade and Industry touted its role in developing the country’s small and medium enterprises, noting they have increased the productivity, product quality and overall sales of local businesses, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said.

Favila has recently submitted the department’s list of accomplishments in line with SME Development Plan 2004-2010 to President Arroyo as part of SME Development Week at the Market! Market! in Bonifacio Global City.

Favila said his department has enhanced the SME sector by facilitating easy access to quality business development services, improving enterprise productivity, promoting technologies to improve product quality and expanding production output, sales and markets.

“All the above mentioned efforts culminated in the National Trade Fair 2006, which generated total sales of P81.653 million,” he said.

Favila added that his department has also facilitated the growth of exports through trade fairs and selling missions, generating a combined $188.7 million, with domestic sales reaching P176.6 million.

Cumulative lending through Government Finance Institutions (GFI) for SME’s also picked up, with loans extended reaching P95.71 billion as of April 2006.
Yearly SME lending numbers have increased in the past three years, from P26.76 billion in 2003, P27.05 in 2004 and P31.59 billion, respectively.

The drive to cover more financing for SME growth is part of the DTI’s SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth, being carried out by the Development Bank of the Philippines, the Land Bank of the Philippines, the

National Lending Support Fund, the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency, the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. and the SB Corp. starting 2003.
“As we continue, we hope to build on these achievements and remain focused on our goals of job creation and poverty alleviation through the development of globally competitive SMEs,” Favila said.
--Rafael S. Santos

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/21/yehey/business/20060721bus9.html

so many good things happening in the economic front. if only people would relent on trying to destroy everything.

^^ You said it. Our small medium enterprises are currently achieving growth. As much as we need it, we know that many of our Filipino enterprises belong to the small and medium size scale. As such, the reported growth as supported by the DTI's SME program means that many of those Filipinos who are just starting business have benefited from such program.

^i often get you and chix bebe confused maybe because you both joined at around the same time.

Hmm, I'm not sure if this thread is allowed... Anyway, dear mods, feel free to lock this thread if it is inappropriate

Survey: Many Filipinos unhappy with Arroyo

Many Filipinos remain unhappy with President Arroyo’s performance, according to the latest survey of think-tank IBON Foundation, Inc. released Friday.

"The net satisfaction rating of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remained low at -68.73 in July," IBON said.

The survey was conducted nationwide from June 28 to July 7, 2006 with 1,487 respondents from various sectors. The survey used a multi-stage probability sampling scheme with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

According to the foundation, respondents gave Mrs. Arroyo failing grades in all aspects of her governance. Her worst grades were in combating corruption, for which she got a grade of 69.5, it said. Her highest grade was in foreign relations, where she got 74.6 from a passing grade of 76 in March, it added.

The highlights of the survey are:

* 32.2 percent of respondents graded Arroyo between 75-95, with an average grade of 78.2 while 55.6 percent gave her a failing grade of between 65-74, with an average of 67.3. Her overall mean grade for July was 71.3 from 72.7 in March.

* 65.9 percent of respondents said they believed that President Arroyo should be removed now as the country’s president, a slight decline from 67.5 percent in March.

* Of those who believed that President Arroyo should be removed from office, 51.3 percent said she should resign while 40.6 percent said she should be ousted through a "People Power" popular uprising.

* 69.3 percent of respondents said that when they look at their situation today, they think of themselves as poor.

All out war

IBON said of the 65.4 percent of respondents who were aware of the Arroyo administration’s all-out war against the New People’s Army, 82.5 percent said they were not in favor of the anti-insurgency "war".

It added of the 77.5 percent of respondents who were aware of the rash of killings of activists, journalists, and other civilians critical of the Arroyo administration since 2001, 66.9 percent believed that the military and/or police were responsible for the killings, while 39.8 percent believed that other armed groups like the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army and other rebel groups were behind the killings.

Also of those aware of the assassinations, 92.5 percent of respondents said the Arroyo administration has a responsibility to stop the political killings.

I think GMA's a good president. Some just fail to see it. She's way better than Erap or Cory. No one's perfect. She's not a criminal either.

Just my honest opinion:) I'll give her a 9.

Manila Q1 public sector deficit 57 pct below target

MANILA, July 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines' public sector deficit in the first quarter was 57 percent below target at 33.2 billion pesos ($636 million), or 2.4 percent of GDP, helped by surpluses from state firms, the government said on Friday.
The government had set a target consolidated public sector fiscal deficit of 77.1 billion pesos, or 5.7 percent of gross domestic product in the January-to-March period, the finance department said.

The first-quarter deficit was 35 percent below the year-ago level of 51.1 billion pesos, or 4.2 percent of GDP.

The improvement was largely due to the 1.9 billion pesos surplus posted by the 14 monitored state-owned and state-controlled corporations, led by the National Power Corp. (Napocor), better than the target deficit of 18.5 billion pesos.

Napocor, which was the biggest drag on the Philippines' fiscal position before 2005, posted a net income of 16 million pesos last year to end seven years of losses helped by a tariff increase.

The tariff hike was part of a series of fiscal reforms that included the broadening of the national sales tax aimed at cutting the government's huge budget gap and its dependence on debt to fund its fiscal shortfall.

The higher-than-expected fiscal surplus of 20.2 billion pesos of local government units in the first quarter also helped boost the overall public sector deficit.

With the government's lower fiscal deficit, the actual public sector borrowing requirement of 66.2 billion pesos, or 4.8 percent of GDP, in the first quarter was lower than the target of of 89.7 billion pesos, or 6.6 percent of GDP.

The 2005 public sector deficit was half the 2004 gap of 231.96 billion pesos, or 4.9 percent of GDP, with the International Monetary Fund commending the government for its efforts to cut its shortfall.

This year, the central government has a target budget deficit of 125 billion pesos, or 2.1 percent of GDP, against a 146.5 billion pesos deficit in 2005, or 2.7 percent of GDP.

But some finance officials said a re-enacted budget this year might cut the central government's deficit to 20 billion pesos.

The Philippines expects to post a consolidated public sector surplus in 2008, helped by revenues from a broader and higher sales tax and improved collections by its tax agencies. ($1 = 52.2 pesos)



http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060721/3/2ng46.html

Ill give PGMA a nine. She has many detractors, always a good indication IF and ONLY IF it is not-so-obvious that she's is doing a good job. So many inggiteros and inggiteras out there, they would do just about anything to destroy her. I can't see if they are blind but spank me if I'm wrong but the only "root" reason why they are so against her is that they are HYPOTHESIZING that she cheated in the last presidential election, oh dear, CAUSE is as BLUNT as the MINDS of the NEGATIVE energies. Eliminate today's OPPOSITION and replace it with a more should I say, "RESPECTABLE" team and PGMA will be the Lee Kuan Yew of the Philippines.

I also give her a 9 because she got guts and able to perform well in her job. She gets good foreign investments for the country.

I give her an 8. minus one for her nonaggresive pop. policy and minus one for the repealling of the death penalty.
She is doing good in addressing our budget deficit, even registering surplusses.
IN the investment community image and perception is everything, She is trying to reverse the havoc ERAp created, we have to have solid macroeconomic fundamentals to pique back the interests of investors.

minus one for repealing the death penalty, minus one because of her husband but plus two (dahil bwisit ako sa mga detractors nya) kaya I gave her a 10 :hahaha:

I gave her a 7. Seems a bit different from other people here but anyway, that's what I think about her government. She's slow in delivering reforms but I'm still happy that she made it even though it's unpopular to most of the population. And I'm talking about the VAT and other financial reforms. Another problem for her government is its policy towards population management. Her government could not go against the Catholic church. The bureaucracy is still inefficient and bloated. Still can't privatize the financially-troubled government assets such as NAPOCOR and can't open NAIA T3. Education and Health is in decline.

I give her a zero for:

- making corruption in Philippine governance worse than ever
- for failing to unite the nation forward and putting the nation in a "floating" status for committing Hello Garci
- for corrupting and destroying the integrity of Philippine institutions to achieve political survival
- for poisoning even the CBCP with corruption and bribery
- for having no population policy
- for incurring more debts - more than the combined borrowings of Erap, Cory and FVR
- for scrapping death penalty on one hand and then impose a policy of war and death against the underground and aboveground left
- for the record breaking incident of political killings (700 and counting) - at the rate GMA is going with the killings and abductions, she is worse than Marcos who at least did it under martial law
- for failing to open NAIA 3 for a loooooooooooooooooong time
- for failing to connect the LRT and MRT
- for not improving the quality of employment at home and implementing a better- leave-the-country-and-send-us-dollars labor policy
- and yet will not act quickly and decisively to pull out OFWs in Lebanon because it does not want to spend the money, she can spend 1 Billion for war and death but worried about spending money to ensure the safety of Filipino lives abroad
- for keeping and even increasing the pork barrel allotment for legislators and the executive
- for sponsoring the Fertilizer scam and protecting Joc Joc Bolante
- for sponsoring Cha Cha mainly to address her long term political and personal survival
- for wrecking civil liberties with Proc. 1017, CPR and EO 464 - all of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

Make no mistake, justice will be served for all the sins GMA committed. She better follow Joc Joc Bolante and seek political asylum once she is booted out of office.

I gave her 10 just to be fair with our president: she doing all of her best for the benifits of all Filipinos: i know some of you here will going to react but im just ordinary citizen of this country wanting all the best and hoping that all filipino will unite as one nation even though we have some indifferences: but let us help this country instead of bickering and put the peoples down specially our leaders though they have some flaws but still they are the one who know what are the best for this country:

I cannot avoid people tried to compare the president for the past presidents who ruled and lead this nation since we have our own principles and point of view in regards of what happening in our political situations here: But still like what i have said as a good citizen of this country let us unite as one as if we can offer good for this nation instead of blaming.

I gave her a 9 because she has the guts to make unpopular decisions. She's efficient and works really hard for the country.

8 for her overall performance

I'd her give a 7.5 but you can't so I'll give her an 8 for trying ideas that can help the country in the long run and being one of the most powerful women in the world. Her being unpopular isn't news anymore and it's always been that way even a year after she was sworn in after EDSA II.

5 ...
The negative...
-1 for EO 464 and fertilizer scam, -1 for mounting foreign debt, -1 for repealing death penalty, -1 for flip flopping on population control issue, -1 in curbing corruption and smuggling (puro life style check lang)

on the positive...
+1 for improving fiscal deficit, +1 for aggressively pusuring investors, +1 for guts on unpopular fiscal reforms (EVAT and lifting of VAT exemptions), +1 for infrastructure projects and plans to decongest metro manila, RORO projects and more projects for the visayas and mindanao, +1 for her tougher stance against NPA ...

I realy don't know what is the real situation in our country right now, but based on the development I see from this forum and I have read on inline news, I think PGMA deserves to merit an award for her struggleness to change Philippine image to international scene. Giving the mandate to spark a move for our economic growth. Economic growth process need long time, patience and unity among us is required to sustain this vision. I respect others who really downgrade PGMA since everyone have different perception and that is valid to one democratic country and this is normal political scenario in every country. I vote her a perfect 10 which seems not acceptable to the majority but my instinct telling me that she is the way to our economic growth, give her a chance and we a just starting to take-off. To others current leaders, I respect them and they do their best to what they can, nobody is perfect in this field so we must balance situation. Like in a white shirt, I repeat again, when a white shirt stained with a dot of black ink, our first impression is to see the black ink rather than appreciating the beauty of his white shirts, that's all.....

i agree with you again adverg.

for me, i gave her 9.
Matalino naman si Pres. Arroyo.

Maganda ang takbo ng ating ekonomiya,
at tsaka, magaling talaga siya!

i like PGMA.......marami syang nagagawa sa ekonomiya ng bansa, ang gaganda ng mga projects nya para mapaunlad ang pilipinas! malay ko b sa ibang tao bkit inis na inis cla kay PGMA..........

i like PGMA.......marami syang nagagawa sa ekonomiya ng bansa, ang gaganda ng mga projects nya para mapaunlad ang pilipinas! malay ko b sa ibang tao bkit inis na inis cla kay PGMA..........

hindi sila nainis dahil sa nagawa ni GMA sa ekonomiya, sa mga projects, atbp... nainis sila dahil sa natalo ang mga manok nila

Based on her good side i give her an 8. But what the use of an 8 if people are against you and do not trust you just like thaksin shinowatra. No matter how good you are it will have no effect becoz you cannot unite the country and the people and a divided country will not move on. So it is better to have a president which a lot less smarter or better than GMA but can bring calm and peace to his country and the econismist advisers and strategists are the ones that will care of moving the economy. :)

Governor Ayong Maliksi of Cavite, on his interview at Crossroads gave the President a passing mark. Don't know what the mark is whether 50%, 60%, 70% or 75%! While Governor Lando Yebes of Zamboanga del Norte, which was the poorest province according to government data, gave the President 8/10. :)

Hmm, sana those who voted for 1 and 2 could justify their ratings. :) I'll reserve my ratings until after the State of the Nation Address

Gee, Gawa ng IBON itong survey na ito? Haay naku kaya naman pala -68.73. Bakit yung SWS and Pulse Asia negative pero sobrang laki ng pinagbago? I mean sa SWS mga -20 something yung rating niya nasa ganun ding rating ang pulse asia(pero hindi ako sure sa pulse asia). Bakit ang IBON ang OA ng rating?

As I've said, change is a process and need long time, judge her after 2010 if we cannot see anything that is ahead or different from what life we had for the past 30 years, I think the feeling of difference is there.

minus one for repealing the death penalty, minus one because of her husband but plus two (dahil bwisit ako sa mga detractors nya) kaya I gave her a 10 :hahaha:


he he he...sounds good.
i gave her a 9, minus one for removing the death penalty.

i give her a ONE.

and please lets stop saying na marami syang nagawa. after six years of being president, the only thing that she's proud of is the statistics that people in the philippines barely feel. come on. just look at the infrastructure here in this country. wala naman dyan was initiated by her.

i think spending on infrastructure has been difficult because the government has really been trying cut the deficit and the 2006 budget has yet to be passed

i think spending on infrastructure has been difficult because the government has really been trying cut the deficit and the 2006 budget has yet to be passed

i agree

Infrastructure?! Even if those cocoon-minded chipmunks at the senate are blocking the 2006 budget, this administration is very good in dealing with infrastructure. Look at all the airports being planned, built and renovated. Northrail's full-scale construction is to start later this year. A world-class NLE has become a reality. SLEX is now undergoing improvements. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway is on the works. There are also numerous infrastructure projects well under construction in the provinces.

The GMA administration has the smallest percentage of the budget alloted for infrastructure spending. And guess what? The percentage has become smaller and smaller year after year. Can anybody name a significant infrastructure project na nakumpleto since the last SONA? Puro drawing, under planning, under construction, puro tayo hintay, while the corrupt in government take their sweet time trying to squeeze corruption money in these projects. NAIA 3 is still not open, the LRT and MRT are still not linked. At madumi at mabaho pa rin po ang toilets ng NAIA. Year after year, what do businessmen and investors complain about? Corruption and poor infrastructure. Corruption and poor infrastructure. For six years what has GMA accomplished in these 2 areas such that businessmen will at least say they are hopeful. Wala. You see, FVR within his term, and in his own initiative, improved the country's power and telecoms infrastructure. To me, that is his infrastructure legacy. So what is GMA's legacy? Bike lanes? If she can renovate the toilet in NAIA that should only cost sabihin na natin na 1 million pesos, then I will give her 1 point and acknowledge that as her significant legacy.

BTW, NLE is the brain-child and initiative of the Lopezes as one of the nation's top industrialists. Hindi po brain-child ni GMA yan. Ang brain-child ni GMA is an Enchanted Kingdom for Filipinos. But sad to say, tapos an po ang Enchanted Kingdom sa Sta. Rosa, so she can't lay claim even for that one.

Hmm, sana those who voted for 1 and 2 could justify their ratings. :) I'll reserve my ratings until after the State of the Nation Address


I gave her a two and would have opted for lower but had to leave space at the bottom for ERAP and Marcos.

The economy is the only area where she can claim some semblance of success. In my opinion the backbone of the economy is the billions of remittances by overseas filipinos. Filipinos who have to toil and struggle in lands faraway from their families, kawawa naman sila. If your economy is dependent on sweat of overseas filipinos then how can she take credit for this. The increase of the peso vis a vis the US dollar is more of an Asian phenomenon in that most currencies appreciated during this same period of time. What about the billions ($) in additional debt the country has had to take on, we are already overburdened by the Marcos plunder and now even more generations of Filipinos will have pay off this debt. I give her credit for VAT, but there was a point there (which is characteristic of her ruling style) which she hesitated to implement it because of the political fallout.

Her cha cha change is disingenuous, she simply is biding her time, preempting moves to dislodge her. In order to preserve her rule, she resorted to extraconstitutional measures; even the supreme court has slapped her in the face on numerous occassions. She has alienated the members of her party, the senate, business leaders, church heirarchy, the supreme court and the populace. She has turned the good guys in Philippine politics against her and not stopping there, turned the bad guys in her favor, Miriam, Enrile, Angara, and Imelda in her favor. One can judge a persons character by the friends they keep.

Now she is engaged in a clandestine operation to liquidate leftists leader and symphatizers, which many would welcome but the sheer numbers of people being liquidated is Marcosesque.

Infrastructure developments. By virtue of her being the president quite naturally there will some changes but what has she really accomplished other than Macapagal Avenue and Macapagal International Airport (Marcosesque as well). For us skyscaper aficionados, we certainly rejoice at the developements in our country but can she claim benefit for that, I am not sure. But what troubles me is that many of the real estate developers are relying heavily on overseas Filipinos namely balikbayans from the US. There are droves of developers coming to the US to sell their wares. It troubles me that much of the housing is not directed at the average Filipino but towards the upper class and foreign investors. It is certainly priced that way. She certainy can't claim that she was the one helped in the development of skyline. The developers are flourishing despite her administration not because of it. Again as testatment to the real weakness in the economy and lack of faith in her administration there are a very few office developments in the works.

What about the Terminal III which was completed, was it 2002 or 2003? and it is still not open despite a concerted but all so late effort on her part to open it. Teminal III is suppose to be the first impression for overseas tourist as they come in. Further, tourist who flock to other islands have to utilize a dilapidated domestic terminal (if not flying Philippine airlines). Why didn't she direct the millions of dollars she took from the Marcos fund and apply it towards the terminal rather than lining the pockets of "farmers" in Makati and Quezon City. The same holds true for her recent "donations" to our church bishops.

GMA: The best is yet to come
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 07/23/2006

Emerging triumphant from several attempts to oust her, President Arroyo will unveil an ambitious economic recovery plan when she faces Filipinos tomorrow for her sixth State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress.

The plan, which she envisions as the foundation for a "First-World Philippines" that will emerge in the next two decades, calls for dividing the country into economic regions, each capitalizing on its strengths. Mrs. Arroyo believes this will spread economic development to remote areas.

"It is like I am going to do four or five mini-SONAs," she told a television interview late Friday. "I’ll talk about what has been done, what we are doing and what is yet to be done on our sub-economies."

Mrs. Arroyo’s address will be accompanied by a visual presentation to outline her economic agenda, Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said.

"You will be impressed with her knowledge and what she has in store for every town in the country. She can point out that a port should be in this and that place. She really has a plan," Defensor told reporters.

"This is where you will see her expertise. She knows the overall development of the country, how to connect (economic areas) to each other and create one super economy," Defensor added.

Mrs. Arroyo also will have so-called "people’s champions" as special guests to highlight the potential of the Filipino, Defensor said. He hinted that they could be the recent recipients of the Order of Lakandula award with the rank of Champion for Life, of which boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was the first awardee. Defensor refused to give details, except telling reporters to "just wait and see."

Mrs. Arroyo’s economic development plan calls for grouping the country’s 16 regions into four economic regions or "sub-economies" that she said "goes beyond political boundaries and goes toward the direction of economic boundaries."

These four economic regions were designated as North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao.

North Luzon will be comprised of the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Administrative Region, and the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora.

Metro Luzon will be made up of Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Calabarzon, while the regions of Bicol, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Western Visayas will make up the Central Philippines.

Mindanao will have all the regions in the country’s second-largest island.

Further, Mrs. Arroyo has identified one more sub-economy, a "fifth region that cuts across the length of the four mega regions — from Baguio City in the north to Davao City in the south and that is the cyber corridor-like information and communications technology or ICT," which are composed of call centers and other business process outsourcings.

Mrs. Arroyo said the idea of grouping the regions into economies is to capitalize on the "natural competitive advantage" of each, all identified by local officials.

The national government will work closely with regional development councils, she said, giving recognition to their knowledge of local conditions.

Up to P100 billion in government funding will be allotted annually, to be divided equally among the four economic regions to be invested in education, infrastructure, industrial development and social services to tap each region’s market potentials and attract foreign investment.

Mrs. Arroyo envisions the North Luzon and Mindanao economic regions as the country’s agri-business centers in the north and south, respectively.

Metro Luzon will become a commercial and trade center while Central Philippines will lean on its tourism potential.

Mrs. Arroyo hopes that poor provinces will benefit from their developed neighbors in their economic groupings.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the economic plan will rely heavily on cooperation from local government units. "I think there’s a political undertone here. This is national-local partnership, and then you can see the trend also to distributing the powers more to the countryside."

Local officials also see the economic recovery plan as "empowerment" of local governments that have long complained of interference from "Imperial Manila," Bunye said.

Defensor said Mrs. Arroyo has been working late on her speech for the past nights. "We are there to provide the data and to provide the input but she’s doing everything. And if we continue like this for a month I will be part of the poverty threshold."

Mrs. Arroyo called it a day yesterday at 5 a.m. and went over her speech again after lunch.

"She’s not rehearsing yet. She wants to rehash and check the speech. She’s finishing it, she’s typing it, she does not want anyone to type it," Defensor said.

Defensor said he and Presidential Management Staff chief Arthur Yap have been on standby, ready to make calls when Mrs. Arroyo asks for information.

"It’s unbelievable," he said. "She was calling us up this (Saturday) afternoon because she needed more data. I have no idea how many hours she slept. We have problems with the data. She wants everything to be accurate. If you are a Cabinet secretary and you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re in trouble."

Cabinet officials were questioned several times by Mrs. Arroyo about data and lectured when information didn’t seem right. "You should know what you’re talking about," Defensor said.

Overall, Mrs. Arroyo seemed happy that her figures and data in her speech are accurate, he added.

"As an example, I am personally elated at the fact that 2.4 million families have been lifted from poverty," he said.

"The opposition, the only arguments they can have against us are emotional. As far as the numbers are concerned, we have solid foundation and basis to say that the economy and the social situation would show that somehow things are looking up."

GMA is one intelligent lady. She speaks about ten million languages and i'm impressed with her photographic memory.


Cusket and tootsjap are you joining the grand manila meet?

^^^ GMA is like dragon smart but deceptive looks innocent but corrupted inside. She could have been a good strategist and a good leader but she is corrupted so no matter how good she is it is all nothing becoz she is now exposed. Just like in thaksin shinowatra's case he was a very good leader but he was exposed and he cannot further continue to lead the country with that blemish on him. I suggest GMA should do the same. :)

How many more years does GMA have under her current term?

I see that this is a 10-year, nay, 20-year development plan she is contemplating.

If you look at the agenda, it will entail some sort of gerrymandering of the regions. As an executive under a presidential form of government, she cannot do that without legislative will or without amending the constitution.

This will be her salvo then to tie up the political amendments with the economic amendments that they are pushing for under the Cha-Cha.

She is indeed intelligent in a cunning sort of way. Her political savvy is the stuff of legends. Very macchiavellian, I might say.

But really, what are you looking for in a leader?

GMA: Only God can judge me at the end of my life
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 07/14/2006

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Besieged by impeachment complaints and coup plots, President Arroyo said here yesterday that at the end of the day, it would not be history that would be her judge — only God.

"What we were born to be, we were born to serve God, in the end it’s going to be God who will judge who has been good and who has not been good," the Catholic school-bred Mrs. Arroyo pointed out.

"I’m not after being a great person. I said I want to be a good President, now to be (one) is not even necessarily history because in the end who is going to judge whether one is good or not?" President Arroyo asked.

Mrs. Arroyo said she herself could not tell now if she had been doing good because "that’s for the Lord to determine at the end of my life."

Several impeachment complaints against her had been filed by various groups on allegations that she cheated her way to victory in the 2004 elections, among other charges involving her policies.

Mrs. Arroyo said her only focus now was to improve the economy and bring more investments into the country.

She said she was happy with the country’s current performance despite the political noise and the rising oil prices in the world market.

The President said the country could have achieved more without the political noise but given that, she noted the gains that the Philippines had been posting despite the global oil price hikes that had been hurting world economies.

She said she could not make things happen by waving a magic wand and that she would be needing all the support she could get as leader of the nation.

"We all have to make it (progress) happen," the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo presided over the joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council meeting here where the various infrastructure projects to attract investments were discussed.

She said investors must start paying attention to the Philippines especially with the good economic indicators. ‘Look at indicators’
"They should be told look at our economics, look at our indicators, look at our 5.5 percent growth rate, look at our budgetary surplus in April and May, look at our deficit that has gone drastically therefore look at our strong peso, look at our foreign exchange reserve, $21 billion when we only need $16 billion to make our peso stable, look at our benign inflation rate compared to the world oil prices," she said.

There was a 5.5 percent growth in the gross domestic product in the first quarter, and "we will be expecting even six percent for the second quarter."

She also noted the "historic" P18-billion budget surplus in April and P5 billion in May, which she said was "the biggest in almost a decade and yet we had expected to balance the budget by 2008 or by 2010 yet."

The President said that "we have a marked inflow in foreign investments at $500 million in the first four months" and a "double digit growth of our exports at 17 percent for May."

"So if you look at the numbers, they can see that we achieved this in spite of the political noise. Of course, what more can we achieve without the political noise?" Mrs. Arroyo added.

She said that to boost the economy further, she has instructed Trade Secretary Peter Favila to organize a national competitiveness summit, and that a national competitiveness council was in the works.

"The national coffer is growing, thanks to our fiscal reforms. We can now fund projects and programs that people, business and even regions have been seeking for quite some time. At last, government investments and undertakings can take off towards development of the country and alleviation of poverty," she said.

The President, however, stressed the need to "increase our capital stock by 10 percent a year to catch up with the richer countries of Asia."

"We will have an additional P100 billion in annual investment for the whole country because our tax reforms gave us P80 billion a year, and our administrative reforms are giving us at least P20 billion more. We will spend in public investments, in infrastructure and also in social development, security, livelihood and enterprise facility and good governance.

"And this should in turn address the problems of unemployment, food and prices," she said.

^^ There is a repetitive cross-posting of that article. It seems to belabor the point.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=332763&page=15&pp=20 Post #296

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=9282778#post9282778
Post #173

^^ Lili, I reposted it here as I found it arrogant and ironic that GMA said only God can Judge Her and here we are conducting a survey on her.

^ Aha! I see.

The best thing she has done is resuscitating the once "left-for-dead erap" economy. Her government deserves credit for controlling the Philippine coffers well:

1. The budget surplus has been increasing from a lowly P6.7 billion in 2000 to P153 billion last year.

2. The fiscal deficit has been reduced from 5.5% of GDP in 2002 to 2.6% of GDP in 2005. It is expected to drop further by the year end, while the country’s 5.5% to 6.2 % economic growth for 2006 is achievable.

3. Tax and Custom’s revenue have been continuously improving.

4. The foreign debt improves to 55% of GDP from 67.%% of GDP five years ago.

5. The balance of trade stands at a Positive $1.1 billion as against $2.2 billion Deficit in 2000.

6. The Philippines has retired more than half of the Brady bond and is expected to get out of IMF tutelage next year.

7. Despite the oil crisis, the inflation is on a downtrend. (I hope the Mid-East crisis will end soon).


So what’s left for the Filipinos to do? Think smarter, Work smarter, Study harder. Discipline thyself.

So what’s left for the Filipinos to do? Think smarter, Work smarter, Study harder. Discipline thyself.


I AGREE!!!...at tigilan na ang pamumulitika...parang "O.A." na kung pagmamasdan :)

Public sector deficit improves on state firms’ turnaround
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW072206/content.php?id=001

A turnaround among major state firms has further narrowed the funding gap of the entire public sector to well below half of what had been anticipated for the first quarter, the government yesterday said.

The Department of Finance reported a consolidated public sector deficit of P33.2 billion as of end-March, equivalent to 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) and much better than the targeted P77.1 billion or 5.7% of economic output. The first-quarter figure is also an improvement over the deficit of P51.1 billion incurred in the same period last year.

The consolidated deficit, a closely watched indicator of the government’s fiscal health, combines the budget deficits of the National Government and local governments, government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions, and the Central Bank Board of Liquidators - the fund that pays for debts incurred by the defunct Central Bank of the Philippines.

Fourteen GOCCs under strict financial monitoring were expected to post an P18.5-billion deficit for the three-month period, but instead reported a modest surplus of P1.9 billion, the Finance department said. In the same period last year, the combined deficit of all 14 state firms reached P8.4 billion.

There are 76 state-owned firms but only 14 are monitored by the government: Philippine National Oil Co., Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Ports Authority, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Water Utilities Administration, Home Guaranty Corp., National Housing Authority, National Power Corp., National Electrification Administration, Light Rail Transit Authority, National Irrigation Administration, Philippine National Railways, National Food Authority, and National Development Co.

In the first quarter, the National Government itself incurred a deficit of P67.6 billion, narrower than the targeted P71.8 billion. Because the GOCCs posted a P1.9-billion surplus, only P66.2 billion needed to be borrowed for the period. This was only 4.8% of GDP, better than the expected borrowing level of P89.7 billion which is equivalent to 6.6% of economic output. Last year, the government borrowed P72.9 billion, 6% of GDP.

Local governments also fared well, posting a hefty P20.2-billion surplus in the first quarter when only P2.2 billion was anticipated. Local governments reported a combined P5.4-billion surplus last year.

Two state pension funds - the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, as well as the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. - likewise outperformed, producing a combined surplus of P12.3 billion. This was P3.6 billion more than programmed and a little higher than last year’s P11.3 billion, the Finance department said.

In end-2005, the government achieved its best consolidated financial position since 1999 after a key reform pushed perennially losing National Power Corp. back into profitability.

Although public sector fiscal position was still a deficit, last year’s P106- billion gap - at 2% of total economic output - posted as of end-2005 was a 54.3% improvement over 2004’s shortfall of P231.9 billion.

International creditors are closely watching the country’s consolidated deficit figure as it reflects the government’s ability to generate funds to finance spending and repay borrowing. -- Felipe F. Salvosa II

i think its because every filipino wants a taste of "politicking"... which is not good, who won has won, let them server his/her term.. and if they do poorly dont vote again.. if they win then theirs something fishy going on. At this point, aside from the scandals rocking gma... the GDP growth rate is all im looking at and it is a healthy 5.5-6.*

now compare that to GDP growth rate of UK for example which is 1.2%, dont you think we are doing good? So far what i expected a president to do for this term regardless was to do something about our economy.. and thats what arroyo's doing, so i have no complaints. Even if i complain i wouldnt rally, rallying is serving us a "bad image"... believe it or not it affects our economy.

the thing is, filipino people, dont know much about even the basics of how the world goes round. People have barely scratched the surface, and they say... baaah this presidents no good. I mean what else can gloria do??? i asked a fellow filipino about this once and he cant give me an answer, economy is complicated and the fact that issues here and there.. which are for me, useless, seems to be the ones filipinos look at the most.

Although people here in the UK would say "whats economy?", blairs administration has undergone a lot of criticism, the NHS problem, the immigration problem, which i think are big issues.. do i see people running round the streets amock protesting??? no! (well theres some, but just putting up banners and stuff and not goin to work for 1 day etc etc) but thats as far as it goes and rarely hapens. Whereby in teh philippines, last couple yers it was something of a common event.

HOWEVER... i should say those rants of mine are about the philippines in the past. More recently i think the people are doin good i guess, ive not read any protests anymore for a long time *whew* im happy. And theres this thing about honasan and the agriculture money etc etc.... in terms of our economic progression its doin great.

People would say, why you talkin bout economy all the time when there are other issues.. wellp, we can tackle those... but the city officials and province officials jobs are just that. I think the first thing we need to look at will be education, health service, and public services etc.

(do you guys think our transportation is rubbish?)

and please lets stop saying na marami syang nagawa. after six years of being president, the only thing that she's proud of is the statistics that people in the philippines barely feel. come on. just look at the infrastructure here in this country. wala naman dyan was initiated by her.

you think??? if ure talking about business infrastructures its not the job of the president, if your talking about public infrastructures its up to the government. Do you really think that we need infra structures??? whats up with that, how do you improve philippines by adding infra structures???

Is it because you are addicted to the thought of the american dream.. skyscraper buildings... long bridges etc etc???

Ill tell you what, you go to europe... this is not the case... infra structure is something that arises from public needs or something out of an investors money... im so confused right now as to why your saying this,, no point.. nada... zero

Infrastructure developments. By virtue of her being the president quite naturally there will some changes but what has she really accomplished other than Macapagal Avenue and Macapagal International Airport (Marcosesque as well). For us skyscaper aficionados, we certainly rejoice at the developements in our country but can she claim benefit for that, I am not sure. But what troubles me is that many of the real estate developers are relying heavily on overseas Filipinos namely balikbayans from the US. There are droves of developers coming to the US to sell their wares. It troubles me that much of the housing is not directed at the average Filipino but towards the upper class and foreign investors. It is certainly priced that way. She certainy can't claim that she was the one helped in the development of skyline. The developers are flourishing despite her administration not because of it. Again as testatment to the real weakness in the economy and lack of faith in her administration there are a very few office developments in the works.

cut the crap about sky skyscrapers... GIve me 3 very good reasons as to why you think that skyscrapers are gonna do any good to our country??? is it because it looks good? or is it because its a status symbol? or is it because you want something to be proud and brag about? Oh, have i just said your 3 reasons??? lame.

What about the Terminal III which was completed, was it 2002 or 2003? and it is still not open despite a concerted but all so late effort on her part to open it. Teminal III is suppose to be the first impression for overseas tourist as they come in. Further, tourist who flock to other islands have to utilize a dilapidated domestic terminal (if not flying Philippine airlines). Why didn't she direct the millions of dollars she took from the Marcos fund and apply it towards the terminal rather than lining the pockets of "farmers" in Makati and Quezon City. The same holds true for her recent "donations" to our church bishops.

DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THAT TERMINAL 3 CAN CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF THE TOURISTS??? hell no! even before they land in NAIA theyd be able to get a good look at the vast are of squatters and shanties surrounding the airport. No matter how good terminal 3 looks like, the toursits have already seen enough.. a new zealander even once told me.. "when i saw what was below me, i thought that we were gonna land in a garbage site" *jokingly.. does it surprise you??? have you ever seen it or have you not.

Which is more expensive.. relocating these squatters away from the airport OR relocating the international airport alltogether. If they were considering option 2, then whats the point of running terminal 3 when the costs are just gonna be wasted. Think about it, have you even read that they plan to use the current international airport as a domestic airport hub and relocate to another location??? i guess you havent.

you look at things to simplistically.. do you think doing these kind of decisions is easy as choosing the flavour of ice cream you want to eat??? HELL NO!!! so give me a damn good reason why you still think so

RP businesses bullish — survey

By BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT

More businesses in the Philippines are bullish on the economic prospects this year than last years’ tracking down optimistic prospects in most East Asian countries, the Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey 2006 showed.


According to the survey, the 71 percent of businessmen surveyed said business is bullish this year as against 50 percent last year.

Businesses in East Asia as a whole are fairly optimistic (+42 percent) although levels of optimism vary extensively throughout the East Asian countries/territories.

Mainland China records the highest balance with +79 percent saying they are optimistic, while Taiwan is the most pessimistic. Indeed, if we exclude Mainland China from the results, optimism levels in East Asia remain similar to last year.

This year a balance of 7 percent of businesses are positive about their country’s economy compared to a balance of -10 percent in 2005.

Agriculture retains an important place in the Philippine economy, but light industry and services are growing strongly, increasing their share of GDP.

The survey also cited the government has promised to continue economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly industrialized countries of East Asia.

Businesses in the Philippines are optimistic about turnover (revenue) prospects in 2006, with a balance of +59 percent being reported, this is lower than last year’s result of +62 percent.

However, businesses in the country are less optimistic regarding investment in new buildings for the coming year (+16 percent) than businesses in East Asia (+40 percent).

In terms of employment, local businessmen expect employment to be lower than was expected in 2005. In 2005, a balance of +57 percent of businesses in the Philippines expected employment levels to rise, whereas in fact a balance of only +28 percent actually increased employment over the period.

Cost of finance is a major constraint on business expansion. Availability of skilled workforce as a constraint was reported by just 15 percent of businesses in the Philippines, well below their global counterparts.

Majority or 76 percent of business owners in the Philippines report that their stress levels have increased over the past year, above the global average (57 percent). (BCM)
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006072369906.html

^^^take a deep breath and perhaps a glass of wine...just chill out

^^ dude we need infrastructure to attract investments, speed up business transactions and improve the quality of living of the people.
Don't compare us to Europe which is pretty much a developed continent while PI is still developing. Europe has been pretty stagnant anyway last few years probably the reason why not much infra developments.

Infrastructures are the very reason why industrialized nations are developed. Bottlenecks arises because the existing infrastructures previously designed to handle the maximum capacity is becoming a limiting factor. It is the demand for products or services that drives growth and in order to address the concerns of developing industries or sectors, you needed infrastructures to handle that forseeable demand in the future as the economy grows.

Hmm... I'll just post an anecdote by Atty. Macalintal, GMA and Noli's lawyer.

One day, the Pope and GMA were strolling around baywalk. And then suddenly a strong wind came and the pope's hat was blown into the bay. GMA's bodygaurd immediately plunged into the water and swam into the bay. But he didn't get the hat. And then the 2nd bodyguard jumped off to the bay and the same thing happened. So GMA decided to get down there and walk ON the water like what St. Peter did when he saw Jesus. And she gladly returned the hat to the pope. Of course, the pope was delighted.

But the next day, this is what was written in the newspapers: "GMA DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM -by OPPOSITION"

Hope you like it... And try to know the moral of the story... hahaha parang grade 1.

I don't know i feel with GMA she is really brainstorming and trying new ideas and working hard to improve conditions. I never felt this with ERap . Erap is more like I'm your president deal with it. here's a sack of rice.

RVAT yields P29.7B as of May, P5.8B over target
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/25/2006

The government generated a total of P29.7 billion in net revenues from the Reformed Value Added Tax (RVAT) in the first five months of the year, surpassing it target by P5.8 billion.

Data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that the RVAT collection exceeded the target due to the decline in VAT offsetting by business entities covered by the tax.

The DOF reported that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P8.7 billion and exceeded its target by P4.4 billion during the period in review, while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P21 billion, surpassing its target by P1.4 billion.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said BIR collection was boosted by lower offsets of input VAT claims by VATable entities.

Beltran said the BIR collection was reduced by lower domestic oil industry output which reduced collection by P1.4 billion and lower yields from input VAT cap and crediting by P4.2 billion and P1.7 billion, respectively.

According to Beltra, the BOC enjoyed higher collections due to higher oil imports where revenues amounted to P18.7 billion.

Gross RVAT collections amounted to P37.5 billion during the period. Of this amount, a total of P23.5 billion were raised from the lifting of exemptions on the following: petroleum products, P20.2 billion; electric power, P2.6 billion; medical services, P75.1 million; transportation, P300.2 million; legal services, P47.4 million; passenger vessels, P22.6 million; and non-food agricultural products, P14.4 million.

Input VAT spreading and caps, on the other hand, generated P3.3 billion and P0.8 billion, respectively, while VAT withholding on government purchases reversed its negative impact in previous months and led to a revenue gain of P395.7 million.

Beltran said mitigating measures resulted in foregone revenues of P6.6 billion. Of this amount, the bulk was accounted for by reduction in excise taxes on petroleum products, (P4.9 billion); repeal of franchise tax on power distribution, (P1.4 billion); repeal of common carrier’s tax on international transport (P17.5 million) and domestic transport (P36.5 million).

Non-VAT reforms generated P4.9 billion of which increases in the rate for corporate income tax yielded P3.5 billion; gross receipts tax, P110.4 million; and tax payments by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), P128.4 million.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607250706.htm

I give her a 10 for effort, bringing the Philippines back on the international scene and for renewing back the trust of the international community on the Philippine government, she brings in investments whenever she travels overseas, a working president!!

I also give the opposition 10 for doing everything it can to bring down the current government of Arroyo.

Recount debunks fraud rap
By Fel V. Maragay

The recount of votes in Cebu and three Mindanao provinces disproves the opposition’s oft-repeated accusation of massive electoral fraud in 2004, a private lawyer of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the results of the retabulation of the ballots in Cebu provinces and the removal of several towns in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Surigao del Sur from the list of areas covered by the electoral protest of Loren Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro affirmed Mrs. Arroyo’s victory in the May 2004 presidential derby.

Macalintal said based on the individual reports of 25 revisors to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, who recounted the ballots and looked into the condition of the ballot boxes in Cebu, “there has been no significant or material findings to support any allegation of poll fraud in the province of Cebu.”

He said the recount results should put to rest lingering doubts about the President’s victory in Cebu province and Cebu City where she trounced the late actor and opposition contender Fernando Poe Jr. by more than 1.1 million votes.

“Since the ballots and election returns used for candidates for president and vice president were the same, whatever would be the results in the vice presidential case would also be the same for the presidential candidates,” Macalintal pointed out.

Macalintal, who is also the legal counsel of De Castro, said the President was “very happy and elated” when he relayed to her the final tally of the recount of ballots from Cebu.

What affirmed President Arroyo’s victory, according to Macalintal, was when Legarda withdrew her protest in 15 major municipalities of Lanao del Sur with 200,000 votes, five big municipalities of Surigao del Sur with 123,000 votes and six municipalities of Lanao del Sur with 44,000 votes.

“In withdrawing these areas from her protest, Legarda admitted that her alleged evidence in Lanao del Norte and Surigao del Sur failed to substantiate her allegation of widespread fraud during the last election on the ground that they are insufficient to prove fraud and manifest errors. She also admitted that she made this decision to withdraw her protest in these areas after she had previewed the election returns involved and she had predetermined that no substantial recoveries could be denied therefrom,” the President’s election lawyer said. With Rey E. Requejo

And to think that the one of the areas mentioned in "Hello Garci" tape was Lanao. I don't think even Cebu was also included in that silly tape. When in fact GMA already said that she won in CEBU by a million vote. Even if you turn all the votes of GMA in Lanao it would not make any significant difference in the result of the elections. Gee, this is what Solita Monsod has been saying for the past 12 months. And the opposition is still trying to recycle the same old complaint.

Based on her good side i give her an 8. But what the use of an 8 if people are against you and do not trust you just like thaksin shinowatra. No matter how good you are it will have no effect becoz you cannot unite the country and the people and a divided country will not move on. So it is better to have a president which a lot less smarter or better than GMA but can bring calm and peace to his country and the econismist advisers and strategists are the ones that will care of moving the economy. :)

many of the world's greatest rulers wer unpopular and even feared during their time.....

and some of the most popular,... did the most gruesome crimes....
Like hitler.....

How many more years does GMA have under her current term?

I see that this is a 10-year, nay, 20-year development plan she is contemplating.

If you look at the agenda, it will entail some sort of gerrymandering of the regions. As an executive under a presidential form of government, she cannot do that without legislative will or without amending the constitution.

This will be her salvo then to tie up the political amendments with the economic amendments that they are pushing for under the Cha-Cha.

She is indeed intelligent in a cunning sort of way. Her political savvy is the stuff of legends. Very macchiavellian, I might say.

But really, what are you looking for in a leader?

They want something that does not exist...:colgate:
Basta matumba lang si GMA okey na... to hell with da nation,,,

Infrastructures are the very reason why industrialized nations are developed. Bottlenecks arises because the existing infrastructures previously designed to handle the maximum capacity is becoming a limiting factor. It is the demand for products or services that drives growth and in order to address the concerns of developing industries or sectors, you needed infrastructures to handle that forseeable demand in the future as the economy grows.

the only infrastructures i see that would give us advantage is roadways and railways.. and of coursse airports... the other one i think most important is the medical infra structures.. there are many others...

sorry if i misinterpreted you but the infrastructures, i should refereed as "buildings" or "skyscrapers" that are to be used as offices for companies.... of course these are the ones that investors have to do it themselves and not the government because the government should be concentrating in attracting investors and in turn create these buildings as we may speak...

lol, sorry guys... i was a bit off there. My apologies!!!

[size=4]Budget focus on infrastructure, education[size]
BY JUDY T. GULANE, Reporter
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW072506/content.php?id=051

The proposed 2007 budget will emphasize infrastructure and education more than what had been intended in the ill-fated 2006 state spending plan, which stalled on a deadlock in the legislative bicameral conference committee that had been blamed even by administration solons on Malacañang’s intransigence.

"There will be marked increases for infrastructure and education," Budget Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr. said in a recent interview, even as he declined to give details amid ongoing efforts to fine-tune the new appropriations.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) is scheduled to meet tomorrow to approve changes to the government’s macroeconomic assumptions for 2006 as well as the 2007 budget, before this is presented to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Cabinet.

Mr. Andaya, concurrent DBCC chairman, said, however, that the Wednesday schedule is still tentative, and it is possible for the meeting to be moved to next week.

Still, the Budget department is mindful of the government’s duty to submit the 2007 budget to Congress within a month after Mrs. Arroyo makes her State of the Nation Address, he said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is currently reassessing the macro-economic assumptions and targets the DBCC approved in March in order to reflect the current price of oil. The DBCC, the interagency body that sets the government’s economic assumptions and targets, had expected Dubai crude to average $62 per barrel this year and $63 per barrel next year. Tensions in the Middle East have pushed the price to above $73 per barrel.

Increases in oil prices impact on the peso-dollar exchange rate, export and import growth targets, as well as on inflation, the central bank said

REAL INCREASES

But the planned increase in allocations for infrastructure and education projects will not be just in nominal terms, Mr. Andaya said, but will be reflected in terms of percentage of the total outlay and percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The 2007 budget ceiling has been pegged at P1.136 trillion. This is in line with the goal of a P63.5-billion deficit next year and a balanced budget by 2008.

With this deficit path, the Budget department will continue its "prudent spending policy," Mr. Andaya said, even if the allocations for infrastructure and education are increased.

Mr. Andaya said the 2007 expenditure program will be in line with Mrs. Arroyo’s "mega-regions" plan, which promotes infrastructure development in North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao or the four "mega-regions" she has identified.

‘NO GUARANTEE’

He also said there is no guarantee there will be no Senate-House impasse on the 2007 budget, like what happened with the 2006 budget, which has forced the government to reenact the 2005 expenditure program.

"There is no guarantee. It will depend on the Senate and House [of Representatives]. But historically, budgets for an election year were passed early," he said.

This is because senators and congressmen will want to make sure new projects are implemented as early as the beginning of the year in order to beat the election ban on the grant of government contracts.

The government is being urged to address declining education standards and lack of infrastructure support to boost its competitiveness.

The Philippines was the 13th least competitive country among 61 economies surveyed for the 2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook. The 2006 rankings were announced last May by the Asian Institute of Management, the local partner of Swiss firm International Institute for Management Development.

The survey ranked the Philippines last, or 61st, in terms of basic infrastructure, 58th in terms of scientific infrastructure, 57th in education, 53rd in health environment, and 37th in technological infrastructure.

As noted by the Congressional Planning and Budget Department (CPBD) of the House of Representatives in its analysis of the 2006 budget, the public infrastructure budget-to-GDP ratio was 2.1% in 2005.

This was much lower than the 5% prescribed by the World Bank in order for infrastructure spending to have an impact on the economies of middle income countries in East Asia.

The CPBD also noted that the public sector infrastructure budget in relation to the overall budget had decreased from 17.1% in 2000 to 12.6% in 2005.
To improve basic education, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have said that 15% of the budget should be devoted to "maintenance and other operating expenses" (MOOE) under which expenditures for developmental purposes -- teachers’ training, books and other instructional materials -- are classified.
CPBD noted that the share of MOOE in the total education budget had increased from 6.94% in 2004 to 7.86% in 2005, yet is still below international standards.
Capital outlays had been increased as well, from 2.49% in 2004 to 3.23% in 2005 -- still at a very low level.

‘Where to get the money?’
BY MAX ESTAYO

Bankers yesterday asked where will President Arroyo get the money to finance the expansive expenditure program she lined up in her State of the Nation Address.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said yesterday her new spending plan made the implementation of fiscal reforms more urgent.

Jonas Ravelas, market strategist of Banco de Oro Universal Bank said: "Her remarks were positive but for these great expectations to come true, the cost should have been detailed out, how are we going to fund these projects."

Market players said for the government to meet its ambitious targets, it pays to know the sources of the funds first.

"There is need to prioritize the big plans because the resources are obviously not as big," said Joey Bermudez, president of Chinatrust (Phils.) Commercial Bank.

The President said in her 6th state of the nation address yesterday that the government is now ready to spend on social and infrastructure projects after generating resources from fiscal reforms.

Among the many projects lined up were roads, seaports and airports designed to improve the competitiveness of the regions.

The projects aim to create "super regions" banking on each of the region’s particular strengths.

"It is quite a detailed economic plan which when implemented will improve the country’s competitiveness by expanding the absorptive capacity and enhancing efficiency," Tetangco said.

"This makes the fiscal and economic reform program so crucial that the required resources can be made available and investor confidence further enhanced," Tetangco said.

Market watchers said the President’s pronouncements made the next direction of the government clear, but had questions of how far the commitments would go.

"It’s all motherhood statements. I would have expected the President to give out numbers. But maybe Congress or Finance Secretary Margarito Teves may come out with the numbers in the coming weeks," said

Reynaldo David, president of Development Bank of the Philippines, said although the government has made significant progress in its fiscal reforms, the emphasis should be on the collections.

"Collection should be strengthened. We’re moving in the right direction, having expanded the tax base in November and raised the rate to 12 percent in February this year. So we’ll have the full impact of the VAT reform this year," David said.

David said the government’s cost-cutting on administrative expenses should allow the diversion of the funds for pump-priming activities.

The state-owned bank has already released half of its P6 billion commitment for pump-priming after Congress failed to pass the new budget that would have increased the budget for infrastructure and social spending this year.

Market players said Arroyo’s statements should inspire confidence in the market because the government appears right track with its targets.

"She’s (Arroyo) saying that the Philippines is in better shape today, the government can pay off its debts and can spend now," Ravelas said.

"She’s also saying we’re back in business, with the government moving to spending that should strengthen the economy in light of external factors," Ravelas added.

List of priority infra projects readied
For presentation to prospective foreign lenders
By Michelle Remo
Inquirer
Last updated 03:16am (Mla time) 07/24/2006

Published on page B11 of the July 24, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE COUNTRY will submit a list of major infrastructure projects to foreign lenders for funding, as the government moves to fulfill its goal of pump priming the economy despite its failure to get the proposed 2006 national budget approved by Congress.

To be included in the list are vital telecommunication, transportation and public works projects.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the economic team was preparing the list of projects for presentation to various bilateral and multilateral agencies, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Teves said the list would include construction of highways and bridges; the establishment of new airports and repair of existing facilities, and key irrigation projects. He added that the number of projects would be limited to only about 10, but that these would be big-ticket ventures that would significantly help achieve the government's pump-priming goals.

Teves said the economic team would tap the assistance of local government units and line agencies in the implementation of the projects. He added that government financial institutions would be asked to help generate counterpart funds by seeking partners from the private sector.

"I am hoping that on a monthly or quarterly basis, we (government) will be able to update the participants (lenders) and the general public on how we are advancing in completing the projects," Teves said during a recent forum attended by financial market investors.

The finance chief said that in the recent Philippine Development Forum (PDF), foreign lenders had committed to provide financial support for the Philippine government's economic development agenda. The economic team, he said, would take advantage of the offer by seeking funding for the key infrastructure projects to be identified.

He said that to achieve the goal of pump-priming the economy, infrastructure spending by the government should increase to a range of 5 to 7 percent of the gross domestic product, similar to the average spending by governments of neighboring countries. Currently, the Philippine government's infrastructure spending is equivalent to only about 2 to 3 percent of the GDP.

Boosting infrastructure spending was a key to achieving an ideal GDP growth rate of 7 to 9 percent. He said the current GDP growth, which is in the 5-percent level, was not enough to ensure that the benefits of economic expansion would reach the poor.

The government's economic team agreed on asking foreign lenders to assist in the pump-priming program following the failure of Congress to pass the proposed P1.053-trillion national budget for 2006.

The government is now running under a reenacted 2005 budget, which is set at only about P918 billion.

The failure to pass the proposed budget for this year was a result of a deadlock between the Lower House and the Senate. While the Lower House wanted the proposed amount of budget intact, the Senate wanted it cut.

TAX REVENUE
End-May collections from VAT surpass goal

By Likha C. Cuevas

ACTUAL collections of value-added tax exceeded the target set for the first five months of the year, according to the Department of Finance.

In the January to May period, the government raised P29.7 billion in VAT, or P5.8 billion more than the target set for the period.

“This is good news to our people because VAT revenues are utilized to fund necessary social services such as schools and health insurance, as well as vital infrastructure, including farm-to-market roads,” Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which contributes about two thirds to government revenues, collected P8.7 billion, or P4.4 billion higher than the target set for the period. The Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P21.0 billion, surpassing its target by P1.4 billion.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said BIR collection was boosted by lower offsets of input VAT claims by entities subject to the sales tax. The input VAT claims was P4-billion below target.

Also boosting VAT collections for the five-month period were higher collections from non-VAT reforms amounting to P4.9 billion more than programmed.

Lower output by the domestic oil industry pulled the BIR’s collections by P1.4 billion, Beltran said. Lower yields arising from the input VAT cap and crediting also lessened the tax bureau’s collection by P4.2 billion and P1.7 billion, respectively.

The BOC, on the other hand, enjoyed higher collections of P18.7 billion due to higher oil imports.

Of the P37.5-billion gross VAT collections for the period, P23.5 billion was raised from the lifting of exemptions on petroleum products, electric power, medical services, transportation, legal services, passenger vessels and nonfood agricultural products.

Input VAT spreading and cap contributed P3.3 billion and P0.8 billion, respectively, while VAT withholding on government purchases allowed the government to generate P395.7 million.

Beltran said mitigating measures resulted in foregone revenues of P6.6 billion, the bulk of which was accounted for by a reduction in excise taxes on petroleum products.

CUSTOMS REVENUE
Customs likely to meet goal in July

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the levy, value-added tax and excise tax that will be collected this week from Petron Corp. will help his agency meet its target for July.

Morales affirmed that the Bureau of Customs will hit its P15.50-billion target for July, with the bigger boost coming from the P800 million in duties, value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax that the agency will collect this week from Petron Corp.

With this development, the customs chief expressed confidence that BOC may meet its end-2006 internal target of P200 billion.

Morales explained that the official target was P197 billion but it was increased because “according to [Finance] Secretary (Margarito) Teves, it’s very hard to remember the P197 billion and it’s easy to remember the P200 billion.”

Earlier this month, Morales said he is “very optimistic” about hitting the internal target based on the first-semester posting of a P5-billion surplus over the P89.7-billion target.

He said the bureau at this time does not plan any additional revenue enhancement program as its revenue collection effort for the first half of 2006 has been successful.

Customs currently implements the proper description of goods that enables the agency to assign correct tariff heading and evaluation and, thus, increase its collection.

Meanwhile, the enforcemen of the Lateral Attrition law has propelled the agency to reshuffle its key officials in various ports in the country recently.
--Likha C. Cuevas

BALANCE OF PAYMENT SURPLUS

Forex reserves buildup hinges on BoP surplus
By Eileen A. Mencias
Manila Standard Today

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the economy must consistently post a yearly surplus of about $2 billion in its balance of payments in the next five years to allow a buildup in the country’s foreign reserves.

Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said “ the BoP surplus should not be lower than $2 billion a year in the next five years” if the central bank was to achieve its plan of bringing its reserves to the $25-billion-to-$30-billion mark.

“Exports, fdi [foreign direct investments], ofw [Filipino workers overseas] remittances will help us have a better BoP performance which would lead to higher growth in reserves,” Tetangco said.

The BoP is a record of the country’s transactions with the rest of the world, including exports, imports, investments, loans and debt servicing as well as remittances. A surplus means the economy generated more foreign currency than what it had to pay out.

The central bank wants to raise its reserves to $25 billion to $30 billion lin the next five years even as government pares down its external debt.

Tetangco said the central bank aimed to increase its foreign currency reserves by about a fifth of present levels.

The gross international reserves, or the amount of gold, dollars and other foreign currency held by the central bank, stood at an all-time high of $21.14 billion at the end of June.

The end-June GIR is enough to pay for over four months worth of the country’s imports or for over a year’s worth of the country’s short-term external debt.

The GIR is an important indicator for foreign investors and creditors and is a gauge of whether an economy can pay for its imports, loans and other transactions with other nations.

‘Where to get the money?’
BY MAX ESTAYO

Bankers yesterday asked where will President Arroyo get the money to finance the expansive expenditure program she lined up in her State of the Nation Address.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said yesterday her new spending plan made the implementation of fiscal reforms more urgent.

Jonas Ravelas, market strategist of Banco de Oro Universal Bank said: "Her remarks were positive but for these great expectations to come true, the cost should have been detailed out, how are we going to fund these projects."

Market players said for the government to meet its ambitious targets, it pays to know the sources of the funds first.

"There is need to prioritize the big plans because the resources are obviously not as big," said Joey Bermudez, president of Chinatrust (Phils.) Commercial Bank.

The President said in her 6th state of the nation address yesterday that the government is now ready to spend on social and infrastructure projects after generating resources from fiscal reforms.

Among the many projects lined up were roads, seaports and airports designed to improve the competitiveness of the regions.

The projects aim to create "super regions" banking on each of the region’s particular strengths.

"It is quite a detailed economic plan which when implemented will improve the country’s competitiveness by expanding the absorptive capacity and enhancing efficiency," Tetangco said.

"This makes the fiscal and economic reform program so crucial that the required resources can be made available and investor confidence further enhanced," Tetangco said.

Market watchers said the President’s pronouncements made the next direction of the government clear, but had questions of how far the commitments would go.

"It’s all motherhood statements. I would have expected the President to give out numbers. But maybe Congress or Finance Secretary Margarito Teves may come out with the numbers in the coming weeks," said

Reynaldo David, president of Development Bank of the Philippines, said although the government has made significant progress in its fiscal reforms, the emphasis should be on the collections.

"Collection should be strengthened. We’re moving in the right direction, having expanded the tax base in November and raised the rate to 12 percent in February this year. So we’ll have the full impact of the VAT reform this year," David said.

David said the government’s cost-cutting on administrative expenses should allow the diversion of the funds for pump-priming activities.

The state-owned bank has already released half of its P6 billion commitment for pump-priming after Congress failed to pass the new budget that would have increased the budget for infrastructure and social spending this year.

Market players said Arroyo’s statements should inspire confidence in the market because the government appears right track with its targets.

"She’s (Arroyo) saying that the Philippines is in better shape today, the government can pay off its debts and can spend now," Ravelas said.

"She’s also saying we’re back in business, with the government moving to spending that should strengthen the economy in light of external factors," Ravelas added.
that is the marksmanship of a good businessman. Making money without money.

kaya next time wag muna over-react...

The government has committed P200 million in monthly allocation for small irrigation projects that the local power industry expects to beef up interest in big-ticket hydroelectric power projects scheduled for pre-bidding this October.

President Arroyo mentioned the commitment in her State Of The Nation address yesterday.

Set for pre-bidding this October are the 100-Megawatt Pantabangan and the 12-MW Masiway (both hydroelectric plants located in Nueva Viscaya) and the 360-MW Magat Hydro power plant in Isabela province.

The component of small irrigation projects is on the cost items of operation and maintenance (O&M) which according to the Power Sector And Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm), the holding company of the government for its generation and transmission assets, has been the subject of discussions with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to define the guidelines that will be laid out to prospective investors in hydroelectric projects.

Psalm president Nieves Osorio earlier confirmed that one of the critical issues Psalm has been working on has been infrastructure such as dams.

Buyers (investors to hydro power plants) will be discouraged if they are not assured of the dams which are the source of power, she said.

Irrigation and flood control projects are among the infrastructure components of hydroelectric projects.



http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20060725bus3.html
07/25/2006

Brain drain saps the Philippine economy
By David L Llorito

MANILA - Philippine Airlines (PAL) vice president Captain John Andrews complains that the national carrier's business prospects have never been so up in the air. Despite the airline's raising salaries by some 40% and padding fringe benefits, its best pilots keep jumping ship for better-paid jobs at foreign carriers.

Between 2003 and 2005, PAL lost more than 80 pilots, or 20% of the airline's total number. Airlines in Hong Kong, South Korea, the Middle East and even Sri Lanka have all poached their highest-flying pilots - particularly ones trained on wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A340. At least 15 more pilots have departed PAL so far this year, most lured by the prospect of receiving salaries two to three times the amount PAL offers.

That's taking a heavy toll on the airline's viability, Andrews contends. "We can't expand [the airline's] capacity because of the uncertainty on the availability of pilots," said Andrews, himself a former pilot who is currently on standby to fly again if more pilots leave. "Nobody knows how many pilots are going to stay with us or leave."

Struggling to keep its planes aloft, PAL has raised its pilots' mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65 years - but that has had a minimal effect on retaining staff. The company has since asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the country's labor-export program, to impose a moratorium on deploying Filipino pilots abroad.

But there are more human-resource storm clouds on PAL's horizon: all global pilots will be required by 2008 to pass an English-proficiency examination, which will make English-speaking Filipino pilots even more attractive to global airlines.

"The financial incentive for them to leave is just too tempting," said Andrews. "[The government] says: 'Why just don't you train more pilots?' But why should we train more pilots only to [have them] be pirated by foreign airlines?"

The brain-drained economy

The woes of the Philippine aviation industry are just one example of a spreading phenomenon that is fast undermining the Philippine economy. Low-skilled workers have long left the Philippines for higher-earning jobs abroad. But an expanding diaspora of the Philippines' best and brightest professionals is hitting the country's overall competitiveness and threatens to jeopardize the viability of entire sectors of the local economy. And indications are that what's locally referred to as "the brain-drain situation" is set to get worse before it gets better.

POEA statistics indicate that over the past eight years, the number of Filipino workers who have left the country in pursuit of more gainful employment abroad has averaged 880,000 a year, with destinations spanning the globe from the Americas to the Middle East, Europe and other Asian countries. There are now more than 8 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) worldwide, representing 10% of the total Philippine population or nearly 23% of the country's labor force, according to the POEA.

"Globalization has opened a lot of opportunities for Filipino professionals," said Lalaine Benitez-Chua, a Filipino expatriate based in Dubai who runs her own publishing firm. "I would think that the diaspora of Filipino professionals is mainly related to the performance of the Philippine economy - as well as the general feeling of hopelessness the country is plagued with."

Over the past decade, two major diaspora trends have emerged. First is the rising proportion of professionals, skilled technicians and high-end service workers who are leaving the country for higher-paying jobs abroad. In 1992, this category of workers accounted for about 60% of all newly hired OFWs; by 2005 that percentage had shot up to 70%.

The second statistical trend is the so-called "feminization" of new OFWs, rising from 50% to 70% over the same 13-year period. The rising proportion of female OFWs began as early as 1993, but the trend accelerated in 1998 with the onset of the Asian financial crisis, which hit the Philippines' economy hard. But even though the Philippines has since recovered from that economic downturn, the exodus of Filipino workers, especially women, has continued apace.

"If you go to any country in the Middle East, the first things that you see at their airports are stores or boutiques manned by Filipinas as cashiers," said Rosalinda Baldoz, a POEA administrator. "They have Filipinas in their hospitals, their homes, and offices. The domestic helpers, entertainers and caretakers of the elderly and incapacitated are mostly Filipinas."

Aging populations in rich countries such as Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the rest of Western Europe, she said, has contributed significantly to the so-called "feminization" of the Filipino diaspora. "Nurses and caregivers - professions traditionally dominated by females in [the] Philippines - are in demand. It's really the [global] health-care sector that's bringing this about."

Globalization has definitely had its upside in the Philippines. Historically the Filipino diaspora has sent home huge economic benefits to the Philippine economy through hefty foreign-currency remittances. OFW dollar remittances have recently averaged about US$7 billion per year, and peaked at more than $10.7 billion in 2005. Foreign remittances currently account for about 13% of the Philippines' total gross domestic product (GDP).

This March, the monthly remittance figure was more than $1 billion, a 19% jump from the previous month's figure. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippine central bank, attributed the jump in remittances to the growing deployment of better-paid skilled workers, specifically engineers, nurses, and medical workers.

While growing remittances help to spark local consumption, government policymakers are starting to ask hard questions about the long-term economic impact of its current success as a labor exporter. The specter of a growing "brain drain" is stoking new fears that the Philippines might be losing more skilled workers than it can afford in critical sectors of the economy, including health, aviation, mining, shipping, and port operations.

Doctors-cum-nurses

Nowhere is this emerging problem more pressing than in the medical sector. Dr Jaime Galvez-Tan, professor of the University of the Philippines' College of Medicine and a former secretary of the government's Department of Health (DOH), says the Philippines is currently the world's leading exporter of nurses. About 164,000 nurses, or 85% of the country's trained total, are working outside the Philippines. Out of this number, about 100,000 have left the Philippines in the past 10 years.

Most have been lured by the higher pay. Nurses in both private and publicly owned Philippine hospitals are paid between P3,000 and P6,000 ($58-$115) per month, said Leonor Rosero, chairperson of the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC). In such countries as Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, they could earn as much as $5,000 a month, Galvaz-Tan estimates. Rising global demand has subsequently raised enrollment in most national nursing schools.

At the same time, there is a growing dearth of specialized nurses in local hospitals, especially those that have expertise in the operation room and the delivery and pediatric wards. But what really alarms health policymakers is the new trend of doctors becoming nurses - the so-called "nursing medics" phenomenon - so they can more easily leave the country to work abroad. The huge time and expense required to train new doctors is making replacement at local hospitals difficult.

"PRC data [show] that about 4,000 doctors-turned-nurses have already left the country," said Dr Kenneth Ronquillo, head of the DOH's health and human resources development division. About 4,000 more doctors are currently studying nursing, most likely in preparation for jobs abroad, he said. "Should they pass the board examination for nurses, they are likely to leave the country as well."

The higher wages that nurses earn abroad have greatly diminished domestic interest in studying medicine with the aim of becoming a full-fledged doctor. Since 2000, Galvez-Tan notes that enrollment in medical schools has declined by an alarming average of almost 6% a year through 2005. Those declining figures have driven at least three Philippines-based medical schools out of business, while the number of applicants for medical residency positions, required to become a medical specialist, has declined by an average of 10% per year over the same period.

From 1994 until 2000, official statistics show that those who took the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT) to become doctors numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 per year. Since 2001, however, the number of NMAT applicants has been declining by an average of 13% a year, hitting a low of 2,900 test takers in 2005.

Dr Jose Sabili, president of the Philippine Medical Association, attributes the trend to the "low return on investment" in the Philippine medical sector. He notes that while medical students pay tuition of about P100,000 per semester for an eight-semester degree, their starting salaries at private and public hospitals on average start at P17,000 to P21,000 per month - less than a tenth of what they could earn abroad, he notes.

There is little doubt that those hard financial realities are adversely affecting the quality of Philippine medical services. Galvez-Tan says that about 200 hospitals have recently closed down across the country because of a lack of doctors and nurses. Another 800 hospitals are considered "partially closed", meaning that at least one of their wards has been shuttered because of the lack of qualified health personnel. "The proportion of Filipinos dying without [proper] medical attention has reverted to its 1975 levels," he said, also noting that government health programs, including immunization drives, have also suffered.

Unmanned infrastructure

Even crucial economic infrastructure is being affected, though some employers are trying to fight back. National ports operators are another victim of the growing diaspora, where rising demand for skilled handling-equipment operators in the Middle East is luring Philippine workers from local shipyards. Last year, 50 skilled port handling-equipment operators from the Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) suddenly left for Dubai, lured by the higher salaries offered by the Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates state-owned firm.

The mass resignation of some of ICTSI's best workers nearly crippled the company's Manila-based operations. In response, ICTSI has since instituted a productivity-based incentives system to raise their workers' pay and ideally improve productivity. Arnold Rivas, ICTSI's human-resource manager, says an operator now earns a base pay of $250 a month, but also has the potential to earn a number of performance-based bonuses. The company has also showered workers and their families with perks, including free dental, medical and hospitalization insurance.

"Last year, we lost 50 of our best workers; this year, not a single staff [member] has resigned," said Rivas. He contended that even if more of his workers left, the company's operations would not suffer since most of the firm's staff, including office workers, are multi-skilled. Notably, the company has also started training female crane operators for the first time.

While more training and financial incentives might help Philippine port operators, and possibly to a lesser degree the aviation industry, addressing the growing exodus of medical and other skilled professionals will be much more difficult, labor analysts say. The Philippine Congress is now considering legislating a "national health service law" that would require medical and nursing graduates from state colleges and universities to serve the country for at least a year or two before they would be allowed to leave the country for overseas work.

POEA officials, however, are wary of introducing new measures that restrict the right to travel, fearing that strict rules would only encourage people to leave the country through illegal means. Even the PRC's Rosero is skeptical, stressing that coercing nurses and doctors through legal restrictions will only accentuate the problem. Rosero fears that without a significant rise in the local pay scale, homebound nurses might opt for better-paying jobs at call centers and medical transcription companies, which on average offer P18,000 a month, or three times what they can currently earn as nurses at local hospitals.

Given the government's perennial fiscal problems, raising doctors' and nurses' pay is obviously easier said than done. In the past 10 years, the DOH's budget as a percentage of the total national budget has decreased from about 2.53% in 1998 to just over 1% last year. Health expenditures have perennially lost out to debt service payments and national defense on the government's priority list, and this has prevented the DOH from raising doctors' salaries.

Meanwhile, global demand for English-speaking, skilled Philippine labor continues to grow. Rosero says that Australia is considering proposals to source more Filipino nurses and accountants. Canberra has already opened its doors to 20,000 Filipino technical workers.

More Filipino geologists, metallurgical engineers, and mining engineers now work in mines and laboratories abroad than domestically. The government has recently opened the door for more foreign investment in mining in hopes of creating more jobs. But once the new mines start operations, mining companies may soon discover that there are few skilled engineers to hire.

David Llorito is a researcher at the BusinessMirror, a Manila-based daily newspaper. He has more than a decade of experience in socioeconomic research, policy analysis, and business-economy journalism in the Philippines.

(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Shares close higher on Wall St. rally, Arroyo's promises


By Cecille Yap
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 01:18pm (Mla time) 07/25/2006


(UPDATE) SHARE prices closed higher Tuesday boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street and rises in some regional markets, dealers said.

They added that President Gloria Arroyo's commitment in her 'State of the Nation' (SONA) address Monday to increase infrastructure spending also aided sentiment, dealers said.

The composite index ended up 26.42 points or 1.18 percent at 2,267.67, after trading between 2,259.54 and 2,273.63.

The broader all-shares index advanced 12.80 points to 1,409.74.

Gainers outnumbered losers 49 to 17, while 60 stocks were unchanged.

Volume totaled 3.69 billion shares worth 968.29 million pesos.

Arroyo, in her SONA, said fiscal reforms had provided the government with the necessary funds to embark on an ambitious program of infrastructure projects.

"Her speech gave investors a clear sense of direction on where the country is headed. She presented a clear road map for the next couple of years," said First Grade Holdings managing director Astro del Castillo.

"Obviously, this should benefit Philippine companies who will likely participate in these various infrastructure undertakings."

ING economist Tim Condon commented: "Our first impression is that the spending proposals are in line with expectations and with the commitment to balance the budget by 2008."

Summit Securities president Harry Liu remarked: "The master plan is there, and it looks like it is acceptable to investors."

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was the most heavily traded stock, ending up 40.00 pesos or 2.12 percent at 1,925.00, on volume of 131,520 shares.

It tracked the overnight advance of its American Depositary Receipts.

Globe Telecom advanced 10.00 or 1.05 percent to 965.00, on 68,880 shares, before the announcement next week of its second-quarter earnings.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. gained 2.50 at 402.50. One of its units, Ayala Land, ended steady at 12.50. Another, Bank of the Philippine Islands, was up 1.00 at 52.50.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. gained 1.00 at 37.00.

(One dollar = 51.99 pesos)

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=11629

Customs likely to hit P15.5-B collection target in July

Inquirer
Last updated 03:29am (Mla time) 07/25/2006


THE Bureau of Customs is likely to meet its collection goal of P15.5 billion for July, being near that target with a week to go, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said Monday.

Morales gave no figure on overall collection but said the bureau was scheduled to collect this week from oil refiner and distributor Petron Corp. about P800 million in duties, excise tax and value-added tax, which he said would suffice to put the bureau at or over its collection target for the month.

The official full-year target is P197.0 billion, but the bureau has an internal target, set by the Department of Finance, of P200.0 billion, Morales said.

The national government aims to bring down its budget deficit this year to P125.0 billion from P146.8 billion. But with relatively healthy revenue collections and restrained spending because of reenactment of the 2005 budget to apply to 2006, authorities expect the deficit to fall way below P125.0 billion.

In the first half of the year, the Bureau of Customs generated P94.8 billion in revenue, six percent over the target of P89.7 billion set for that period.

Morales said the bureau had instituted measures to ensure it met its collection target for the year, especially with the implementation this year of the Lateral Attrition Law, which provides a mechanism for penalties and rewards for revenue personnel, depending on their collection performance.

He said he ordered a major reshuffle of heads of various customs ports to boost the collections. "If you are a non-performing asset, you have to be replaced by someone who could collect," he said.

The bureau announced new appointments: Adelina Molina to head customs operations as the Manila International Container Port, Carlos So at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Ricardo Belmonte at the Port of Cebu, Grace Caringal at the Port of Batangas, Maria Lourdes Mangaoang at the Port of Iloilo, Dennis Azarraga at Manila's North Harbor, and Marietta Zamoranos at the Port of Subic. With INQ7.net


http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=11550

Arroyo to ask private sector to help pay for spending plan
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 01:13pm (Mla time) 07/25/2006


PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo will ask the private sector to do some of the heavy lifting to get her massive public investment plan off the ground, a senior aide said Tuesday.

Arroyo outlined her plans to kickstart the economy in her annual state of the nation address on Monday to the legislature.

Critics doubt the government can pay the estimated half a trillion pesos (9.58 billion dollars) tagged for building airports, ports, railways, ferry links and irrigation systems to connect the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago and thus lower the cost of doing business.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya insisted the plans could be paid for.

He said increased tax collection likely led to a 12 billion-peso budget surplus in the first half, compared to the 15 billion-peso deficit target.

"We have enough cash," Andaya said on DZBB radio. "Not all of the funds would have to come from the national budget. Government-owned and -controlled corporations will also pitch in, and there will be BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects for the private sector."

He said most of the port building and upgrades mentioned by Arroyo would be undertaken by the private sector under BOT or similar terms. "Only about two of these projects mentioned by the president will be funded by the national budget."

Local governments will also pitch for some projects, including provincial airports, he added. Arroyo vowed to build or upgrade 20 airports.

Andaya said the spending program would not alter the government's target to balance the national budget by 2008.

"What we will spend, will not come from debt alone, we also have extra revenues," he added. "This plan is not really ambitious as they say."

Andaya said the public would get a better understanding of the government-funded components of the program when Arroyo submits the 2007 national budget bill to the House of Representatives next month.

The 2007 budget should have a 46 billion-peso outlay for infrastructure, of which "only 10 billion" pesos is needed to jumpstart the projects mentioned by Arroyo, he added.


Copyright 2006 Agence France-Presse.

even after the SONA, she still deserves a ONE.

theres nothing new with her promises. we have heard it before. in fact i am sure we all know them even before the sona.

then theres the problem with doability. could she really do it? the obvious answer is no. after 6 years as president, ive learned how to accept the fact that what shes saying are just promises, plain and simple.

May trade data suggest economy is strong--Action

By Erik de la Cruz
XFN-Asia
Last updated 05:07pm (Mla time) 07/25/2006


TRADE data in May showed that the Philippine economy sustained its growth in the second quarter despite record high oil prices, said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics LLC in Singapore.

"We're seeing solid numbers in imports, boosted not just by the oil component but also by electronics. Together with the exports data, the overall trade picture looks encouraging and supportive of the government's economic growth targets," he said.

Imports in May rose 15.2 percent from a year earlier to 4.376 billion dollars, driven by costlier oil and increased electronics purchases, the National Statistics Office announced earlier Tuesday.

Exports in May grew 17.3 percent to 3.878 billion dollars, with the data showing increased shipments of commodities other than electronics, which has been the traditional growth driver.

Imports of electronics products, which accounted for 45.3 percent of the total bill, increased 9.1 percent to 1.984 billion dollars. Raw materials used in making products for export were a big portion of Philippine imports.

Purchases of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials jumped 82 percent year-on-year to 899.58 million dollars, comprising 20.6 percent of total imports.

"There's an extra uncertainty surrounding the global economic picture now as oil prices hit record highs, but I believe the trade figures remain in upward trajectory," Cohen said. "I think the trade performance in May could be sustained until mid-year."

The Philippine economy grew 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, and possibly even faster in the second quarter because of a rebound in agriculture output and exports, according to Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri.

The government is aiming for GDP growth of 5.5-6.2 percent this year, but Neri warned on Monday that full-year growth could come in near the lower end of that target because of high oil prices.

Crude futures hit a record 78.40 dollars a barrel earlier this month, as fighting between Israel and militants in Lebanon had raised fears of a full-blown war in that region and disruption in oil supplies.

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=11688

even after the SONA, she still deserves a ONE.

theres nothing new with her promises. we have heard it before. in fact i am sure we all know them even before the sona.

you mean you already heard the so called "mega regions" before :D

then theres the problem with doability. could she really do it? the obvious answer is no. after 6 years as president, ive learned how to accept the fact that what shes saying are just promises, plain and simple.

IMO very doable.

Despite all of our country's problems...
RP, 17th happiest state worldwide
First posted 10:35am (Mla time) July 12, 2006
INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse

LONDON -- The Philippines ranks 17th among the 178 countries ranked as the
happiest on Earth, according to a study published Wednesday measuring people's well being and their impact on the environment.


The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest, with
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama completing the top five in the
Happy Planet Index compiled by the British think-tank New Economics
Foundation.


The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental
footprint -- the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb
its energy consumption.


Zimbabwe is at the bottom, below second-worst performer Swaziland, Burundi,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine.


The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in Saint Petersburg this weekend but
have not much to smile about, according to the index.


Italy came out best in 66th place, ahead of Germany (81), Japan (95), Britain
(108), Canada (111), France (129), the United States (150) and Russia, in
lowly 172nd place.


Andrew Simms, NEF's policy director, said the index "addresses the relative
success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life while
respecting the environmental resource limits on which all our lives depend."


Nic Marks, the head of NEF's center for wellbeing, added: "It is clear that no
single nation listed in the Happy Planet Index has got everything right.


"But the index does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve long
and happy lives for all, whilst living within our environmental means," he
said, according to British daily The Guardian. "The challenge is: can we learn
the lessons and apply them?"


Island nations performed particularly well in the rankings. But Vanuatu, with
a population of around 200,000, topped them all.


"Don't tell too many people, please," said Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the
republic's online newspaper.


"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very
little," Lowen told The Guardian.


"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and
family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you don't worry too
much," Lowen said.


"The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes," he said.


Also on the list are 23. Indonesia; 31. China; 32. Thailand; 44. Malaysia; 62.
India; 64. Iceland; 70. Netherlands; 87. Spain; 88. Hong Kong; 89. Saudi
Arabia; 99. Denmark; 112. Pakistan; 115. Norway; 119. Sweden; 123. Finland;
139. Australia; 154. UAE; 156. South Africa; 159. Kuwait; 166. Qatar.

Pera (budget) lang talaga ang katapat niyan at yan ang tanong, saan kukunin ang perang kailangan. Pag may pondo posible naman magkatotoo ang mga programa at proyektong pinanukala ni GMA. Guess they are really counting on the private sector as well as foreign investment to make this a reality. Guess only time will tell @.

‘Where to get the money?’
BY MAX ESTAYO

Bankers yesterday asked where will President Arroyo get the money to finance the expansive expenditure program she lined up in her State of the Nation Address.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said yesterday her new spending plan made the implementation of fiscal reforms more urgent.

Jonas Ravelas, market strategist of Banco de Oro Universal Bank said: "Her remarks were positive but for these great expectations to come true, the cost should have been detailed out, how are we going to fund these projects."

Market players said for the government to meet its ambitious targets, it pays to know the sources of the funds first.

"There is need to prioritize the big plans because the resources are obviously not as big," said Joey Bermudez, president of Chinatrust (Phils.) Commercial Bank.

The President said in her 6th state of the nation address yesterday that the government is now ready to spend on social and infrastructure projects after generating resources from fiscal reforms.

Among the many projects lined up were roads, seaports and airports designed to improve the competitiveness of the regions.

The projects aim to create "super regions" banking on each of the region’s particular strengths.

"It is quite a detailed economic plan which when implemented will improve the country’s competitiveness by expanding the absorptive capacity and enhancing efficiency," Tetangco said.

"This makes the fiscal and economic reform program so crucial that the required resources can be made available and investor confidence further enhanced," Tetangco said.

Market watchers said the President’s pronouncements made the next direction of the government clear, but had questions of how far the commitments would go.

"It’s all motherhood statements. I would have expected the President to give out numbers. But maybe Congress or Finance Secretary Margarito Teves may come out with the numbers in the coming weeks," said

Reynaldo David, president of Development Bank of the Philippines, said although the government has made significant progress in its fiscal reforms, the emphasis should be on the collections.

"Collection should be strengthened. We’re moving in the right direction, having expanded the tax base in November and raised the rate to 12 percent in February this year. So we’ll have the full impact of the VAT reform this year," David said.

David said the government’s cost-cutting on administrative expenses should allow the diversion of the funds for pump-priming activities.

The state-owned bank has already released half of its P6 billion commitment for pump-priming after Congress failed to pass the new budget that would have increased the budget for infrastructure and social spending this year.

Market players said Arroyo’s statements should inspire confidence in the market because the government appears right track with its targets.

"She’s (Arroyo) saying that the Philippines is in better shape today, the government can pay off its debts and can spend now," Ravelas said.

"She’s also saying we’re back in business, with the government moving to spending that should strengthen the economy in light of external factors," Ravelas added.


Arroyo to ask private sector to help pay for spending plan
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 01:13pm (Mla time) 07/25/2006


PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo will ask the private sector to do some of the heavy lifting to get her massive public investment plan off the ground, a senior aide said Tuesday.

Arroyo outlined her plans to kickstart the economy in her annual state of the nation address on Monday to the legislature.

Critics doubt the government can pay the estimated half a trillion pesos (9.58 billion dollars) tagged for building airports, ports, railways, ferry links and irrigation systems to connect the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago and thus lower the cost of doing business.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya insisted the plans could be paid for.

He said increased tax collection likely led to a 12 billion-peso budget surplus in the first half, compared to the 15 billion-peso deficit target.

"We have enough cash," Andaya said on DZBB radio. "Not all of the funds would have to come from the national budget. Government-owned and -controlled corporations will also pitch in, and there will be BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects for the private sector."

He said most of the port building and upgrades mentioned by Arroyo would be undertaken by the private sector under BOT or similar terms. "Only about two of these projects mentioned by the president will be funded by the national budget."

Local governments will also pitch for some projects, including provincial airports, he added. Arroyo vowed to build or upgrade 20 airports.

Andaya said the spending program would not alter the government's target to balance the national budget by 2008.

"What we will spend, will not come from debt alone, we also have extra revenues," he added. "This plan is not really ambitious as they say."

Andaya said the public would get a better understanding of the government-funded components of the program when Arroyo submits the 2007 national budget bill to the House of Representatives next month.

The 2007 budget should have a 46 billion-peso outlay for infrastructure, of which "only 10 billion" pesos is needed to jumpstart the projects mentioned by Arroyo, he added.


Copyright 2006 Agence France-Presse.

i guess we will have to use our ingenuity, resourcefullness and creativeness

that's right. in the end we are all gonna be responsible for the success of the failure of these plans. personally, i am very excited on the different possibilites to where this is going to end up. it is also a great opportunity for us to contribute and at the same time be critical and open minded to what's happening in our country.

haha... kawawa naman si GMA... ginagawa naman nya lahat for our country and if you want infrastructures , kelangan ng malaking pera!!! :D

I will be expecting a lot of news from this thread once the super regions plan is implemented. After all, the super region plan was designed to have a long term impact on the Philippine economy.

Sen. Drilon open for supplemental budget
Proposed national budget for 2007 totals P1.4 trillion

SEN. Franklin Drilon, now chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, is open to a supplemental budget as proposed by Malacañang to meet the financing needs of urgent projects both of the national and local governments.

“I’m also open to that,” he told reporters in an interview Tuesday. “We need P2 billion for the Comelec modernization program. We really need to modernize the [election] process next year.”

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, meanwhile, said that the government is eyeing a national budget of P1.4 trillion for 2007, up from the proposed P1.053-trillion budget for this year.

Teves said the country’s economic managers are scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the budget as well possible sources of the government’s public spending program as detailed in President Arroyo’s State of the Nation address (SONA) on Monday.

Drilon said a supplemental budget for the internal revenue allotment share of local governments amounting to P15 billion is also needed to fund their projects and programs.

“In the 2005 budget, which was reenacted, the share of the LGUs is based on the 2002 collection of national taxes. We are now in 2006. The LGUs share should be based on the national taxes collection in 2003. There is a difference of P15 billion approximately. Therefore, for the LGUs to get that share, we must have a supplemental budget,” he explained.

Reenacted budget

Drilon, who had been replaced as Senate president Monday, said that he is also open to a reenacted budget as the budget deficit will be reduced to P44 billion for the year as against a projected P125 billion in the 2006 budget.

“Reenacting the budget for 2005 in 2006 is not exactly bad,” he said. “The spending authority limit under the 2005 budget would result in a better deficit picture, which is good for our economy. It is not actually bad that the budget is reenacted.”

Senate President Manny Villar said that if a supplemental budget is submitted to the Senate, there is still enough time for its deliberation and approval considering that the reelectionist senators would be busy for the 2007 elections.

P1.4-trillion 2007 budget

Teves said that his department would submit the proposed 2007 budget of P1.4 trillion before the end of August.

The finance chief also said the government would most likely increase its foreign borrowings to cover increased spending in public infrastructure.

He said economic managers need to identify other possible sources of funding for government projects outlined in the President’s SONA. He admitted that some of the medium-term plans did not identify specific sources of funding.

Mrs. Arroyo on Monday outlined a massive spending program to kick-start the economy. She said the government would build or upgrade at least 20 airports as well as roads, railways, bridges, ports and ferry services, tap water and irrigation projects.




Govt resumes borrowing after SONA spending call
By Likha C. Cuevas

FACED with a smaller reenacted budget from last year, the Philippines has returned to the foreign debt market, with the government set to borrow its remaining financial requirements for this year a day after President Arroyo laid down her spending priorities in her sixth State of the Nation address.

The amount is earmarked for plugging a budget deficit seen reaching P125 billion this year.

On the sidelines of Tuesday’s auction of three-year debt papers, National Treasurer Omar T. Cruz said the government has tapped Citigroup, Deutschebank, and JP Morgan as underwriters for a planned issuance involving the additional sale of some $750 million in bonds or IOUs that would mature in 25 and 30 years.

As underwriters, the three investment banks would guarantee the sale of the bonds.

Cruz said this would be the Philippines’ last sovereign bond sale this year.

Interest rates for the two tenors were initially set at between 7.56 and 7.62 for the 25-year debt papers, and between 7.86 and 7.91 for the 30-year maturities.

The treasury chief refused to disclose the pricing, adding it would be unfair to divulge more information. “The best we can give them is the guidance then the book is being [dealt with] at the moment and not until we complete the book-building and then we price in New York later, then that’s the time [we can talk],” he said.

Cruz said that the pricing would be done in New York today, so there are no breakdown sizes yet for the two tranches. He said that this is a reopening for euro-denominated bonds that will mature in 2016 and the dollar-denominated bonds that will mature in 2031.

The government still has about $900 million to $1 billion left to borrow under its foreign program for this year. In January 5 this year, it borrowed $1.5 billion through the sale of 25-year dollar-denominated bonds and $500 million in 10-year euro-denominated IOUs.

The government earlier set a $3.1-billion foreign commercial borrowing program for this year. This excludes some $900 million in planned borrowings that would be sourced from international donor agencies.

The Philippines last month posted a budget surplus of P12.7 billion, its third for the year, allowing it to cut its fiscal deficit so far this year by P58.9 billion.

Earlier, Cruz said that the government plans to cut its borrowing program for the rest of the year following the implementation of the reenacted 2005 budget.

He said the cut in foreign and domestic borrowing would depend on the supplemental budget that Congress would approve.

The government is operating on the 2005 reenacted budget this year, after Congress failed to pass the 2006 General Appropriations Act.

Investors lap up 3-year bond auction

At Tuesday’s auction, the government sold P7 billion in three-year bonds at a coupon rate of 8.75 percent. The issue was oversubscribed as investors were willing to buy as much as P17.805 billion of the debt paper.

Senate to continue probes
By MARIO B. CASAYURAN

Senate investigations into alleged irregularities committed by various officials of the Executive department would go on unimpeded, newly installed Senate President Manuel Villar said yesterday.


Villar said the chairmen of various Senate standing committees would not be stopped in pursuing their inquiries.

The Senate president, however, stressed that he is also pushing for the passage of important pending legislation that Congress failed to pass last June.

These include the Biofuel Act, the Anti-Terrorism bill, amendments to the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act), full election automation, income tax reforms and incentives for the Clark and Subic economic zones.

Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. said the Senate under Villar’s leadership would continue with probes into alleged irregularities at the Executive branch which had been stymied by Executive Order 464 prohibiting Cabinet members and other government officials from appearing in congressional hearings without the President’s approval.

"He (Villar) assured us that the investigations will continue. He’ll not interfere with the progress of the investigation. He will not prevent the investigations to seek the truth," Pimentel said during a television interview.

The Senate is awaiting final decision from the Supreme Court on Malacañang’s petition for reconsideration of its ruling that EO 464 has some provisions that are unconstitutional.

Among the high-profile cases that the Senate wants to complete after a thorough probe are the controversial "Hello Garci" wiretapped conversations between President Arroyo and a Commission on Elections official, the alleged overpriced 2 million Northrail project, and the R728 million fertilizer scam.

Asked whether Villar would be friendlier to President Arroyo’s administration, Pimentel said, "that might be so. That flows from the character of the Senate President who is more diplomatic."

"In any event, I can sense from Villar’s statements that he will keep the Senate independent from the interference of other entities not as a matter just out of the spirit of contradiction but to retain checks and balance," Pimentel said.

The Senate during the leadership of former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon had a rocky relationship with Malacañang.

During the the interview, Pimentel said that opposition Senators Luisa "Loi" Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada and Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada may have voted for Villar as Senate president on the say so of former President Joseph Estrada.

He noted that Villar visited the elder Estrada at his Tanay detention center last Sunday.

"It looks like he (Villar) explained matters to Erap (President Estrada), no wholesale expression of loyalty to Gloria, maybe Erap’s resentment over the past, he told his wife and son (Senators Estrada) to vote for Villar," he said.

The downfall of Estrada during the 2001 EDSA people power demonstration was helped along by Villar, who as speaker of the House, facilitated the submission of the impeachment complaint against Estrada to the Senate for trial.

In casting her vote for Villar, Senator Luisa Estrada said she would continue supporting the Villar Senate presidency as long as he steers clear from Malacanang’s control.

Mrs. Estrada said she would immediately withdraw her support for Villar once he plays "unedited rendition of Malacanang lines."

I think GMA's a good president. Some just fail to see it. She's way better than Erap or Cory. No one's perfect. She's not a criminal either.

Just my honest opinion:) I'll give her a 9.

No doubt, she has the vision for a future Philippines. Similar with any other politician, she is also corrupt, although not a big deal as long as the benefits outweighed the costs.

PRESIDENT Arroyo will ask the private sector to do some of the heavy lifting to get her massive public investment plan off the ground, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said Tuesday.

The President outlined her plans Monday to kick-start the economy in her annual State of the Nation address to Congress.

Critics doubt the government can pay the estimated half a trillion pesos tagged for building airports, ports, railways, ferry links and irrigation systems to connect the country and thus lower the cost of doing business.
Andaya insisted the plans could be paid for.

He said increased tax collection likely led to a P12-billion budget surplus in the first half, compared with the P15-billion deficit target.

“We have enough cash,” Andaya said on DZBB radio. “Not all of the funds would have to come from the national budget. Government-owned and -controlled corporations will also pitch in, and there will be BOT [build-operate-transfer] projects for the private sector.”

He said most of the port building and upgrades mentioned by the President would be undertaken by the private sector under BOT or similar terms. “Only about two of these projects mentioned by the President will be funded by the national budget.”

Local governments will also pitch in for some projects, including provincial airports, he added. Mrs. Arroyo vowed to build or upgrade 20 airports.

Andaya said the spending program would not alter the government’s target to balance the national budget by 2008.

“What we will spend will not come from debt alone; we also have extra revenues,” he added. “This plan is not really ambitious as they say.”

Andaya said the people would get a better understanding of the government-funded components of the program when Mrs. Arroyo submits the 2007 national budget bill to the House of Representatives next month.

More (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/26/yehey/top_stories/20060726top1.html)

mas believe pa mga foreigners sa Sona at ke ate glo kesa mga Pilipino.

many of the world's greatest rulers wer unpopular and even feared during their time.....

and some of the most popular,... did the most gruesome crimes....
Like hitler.....

I agree. What the country will be at the end of GMA's term will ultimately be how history will judge her, regardless of her popularity ratings now. Even Hitler was popular and yet look at the monstrosities that he was responsible for.

PGMA's efforts to put the country's fiscal house in order and advance the economy are more important than her popularity ratings. As a president, she has the responsibility to make the tough decisions that will benefit the country in the long run.

Shares close higher on Wall St. rally, Arroyo's promises


By Cecille Yap
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 01:18pm (Mla time) 07/25/2006


(UPDATE) SHARE prices closed higher Tuesday boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street and rises in some regional markets, dealers said.

They added that President Gloria Arroyo's commitment in her 'State of the Nation' (SONA) address Monday to increase infrastructure spending also aided sentiment, dealers said.

The composite index ended up 26.42 points or 1.18 percent at 2,267.67, after trading between 2,259.54 and 2,273.63.

The broader all-shares index advanced 12.80 points to 1,409.74.

Gainers outnumbered losers 49 to 17, while 60 stocks were unchanged.

Volume totaled 3.69 billion shares worth 968.29 million pesos.

Arroyo, in her SONA, said fiscal reforms had provided the government with the necessary funds to embark on an ambitious program of infrastructure projects.

"Her speech gave investors a clear sense of direction on where the country is headed. She presented a clear road map for the next couple of years," said First Grade Holdings managing director Astro del Castillo.

"Obviously, this should benefit Philippine companies who will likely participate in these various infrastructure undertakings."

ING economist Tim Condon commented: "Our first impression is that the spending proposals are in line with expectations and with the commitment to balance the budget by 2008."

Summit Securities president Harry Liu remarked: "The master plan is there, and it looks like it is acceptable to investors."

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was the most heavily traded stock, ending up 40.00 pesos or 2.12 percent at 1,925.00, on volume of 131,520 shares.

It tracked the overnight advance of its American Depositary Receipts.

Globe Telecom advanced 10.00 or 1.05 percent to 965.00, on 68,880 shares, before the announcement next week of its second-quarter earnings.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. gained 2.50 at 402.50. One of its units, Ayala Land, ended steady at 12.50. Another, Bank of the Philippine Islands, was up 1.00 at 52.50.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. gained 1.00 at 37.00.

(One dollar = 51.99 pesos)

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=11629

The stock market seems to have reacted positively and the peso has sharply appreciated after the SONA. Further proof of business confidence in PGMA.

People might well ask where the budget is coming from. That's precisely why our legislators should show their statesmanship by passing the budget already. How can the government deliver and make the country's economic gains felt by the people, if not through the improvement in delivery of basic services and infrastructure that can only be accomplished with an adequate budget.

I agree. What the country will be at the end of GMA's term will ultimately be how history will judge her, regardless of her popularity ratings now. Even Hitler was popular and yet look at the monstrosities that he was responsible for.

PGMA's efforts to put the country's fiscal house in order and advance the economy are more important than her popularity ratings. As a president, she has the responsibility to make the tough decisions that will benefit the country in the long run.

Yeah I like the way she put our country's fiscal house in order. Though she's not as popular as FPJ, Erap, or Cory hindi ko sya ipagpalit dun sa mga yun.

There's this one person they interviewed in TV, he was asked "Do you like the president?" or something like that. His answer was "di ko masyadong gusto si GMa, di kasi siya maka-masa gaya ni FPJ and ERAP, si FPJ at ERAP kasi malapit sa masa." Talk about idiots, I told myself. Napaka timang talaga ng ibang Pilipino diyan sa tabi tabi, well di ko naman sila masisisi kung ganun ang upbringing nila, most of the blabbers and protesters and government haters don't know economics eh. Ang alam lang nila basta "maka-masa" yung presidente, kahit na BOBO, ok lang.

Funds for projects cited in SoNA assured by gov’t



By DAVID CAGAHASTIAN

Malacañang yesterday assured the availability of funds for the infrastructure projects laid out by President Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (SoNA) last Monday. The Palace reacted to criticisms that Mrs. Arroyo’s proposals in her SoNA for improved infrastructure lacked possible sources of funding.


Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the government is already preparing the proposed 2007 national budget, which will include funds needed to start the implementation of some of the infrastructure projects enumerated by Mrs. Arroyo in her SoNA.

The proposed infrastructure projects for the next three years, aimed at improving productivity in the countryside, are expected to cost some R207.6 billion.

Andaya said the national government will shoulder 29 percent, or R74.1 billion, of the estimated R207.6 billion aggregate cost of the infrastructure projects cited by Mrs. Arroyo.

Government-owned and -controlled corporations will shoulder most of the costs of the infrastructure projects, contributing 38.6 percent or R96.5 billion to the government’s efforts to improve infrastructure in the countryside in the next three years.

Some R36.8 billion worth of infrastructure projects would also be set up for build-operate-transfer contracts, Andaya said.

Andaya said the government will start funding the proposed infrastructure projects next year, with the inclusion in the R1.136trillion, 2007 national budget proposal of R11.6 billion funding for infrastructure projects identified by the Department of Transportation and Communication, the National Irrigation Authority, and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Mrs. Arroyo, in her SoNA, identified various infrastructure projects, mostly seaports, airports and farm-to-market roads, to improve productivity in the countryside.

Andaya said the R11.6billion funding for the infrastructure projects in 2007 will be part of the "allocable amounts" that would be left unspent by the government and would be used to finance the most vital infrastructure projects.

Andaya said that for 2007, the government is expecting an allocable amount of only R38 billion, but he assured that the allocable amount for infrastructure could increase to R100 billion by 2009.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye described Mrs. Arroyo’s infrastructure development plan as "an ambitious yet doable plan to really move this country forward."

In response to criticisms of the perceived delusive plans of the government, Bunye reiterated Malacañang’s appeal for the setting aside of politics and to focus instead of realizing the goals set by Mrs. Arroyo in her SoNA.

"What we need at this point is the support and cooperation of every Filipino, every government agency and non-government institution, and every sector to ensure and expedite the implementation of this blueprint for national strength and greatness," Bunye said.

"For the sake of the Filipino people, we reiterate our call for all our leaders to set aside politics and focus on the challenges at hand," he said.

Meanwhile, a supplemental budget proposal aimed at augmenting the 2005 reenacted budget on which the government is currently operating will be submitted to Congress within this week.

Andaya said he has spoken to new Senate President Manuel Villar, who was reportedly agreeable to providing a supplemental budget of at least R17 billion.

Andaya said the proposed R17 billion supplemental budget consists of R15 billion disbursement for the internal revenue allotments of local government units, and R2 billion for preparations for the 2007 elections.

Andaya also expressed confidence that the Senate, under its new leadership, would be able to pass the 2007 national budget which has yet to be submitted to Congress.

"Historically, if there is a budget proposed for an election year, it is passed early — before the election," Andaya said.


Palace tells opposition: Do your homework and present alternative plan


Malacañang yesterday challenged the political opposition to "do your homework" and present worthwhile alternative development plans for the country instead of vilifying President Arroro’s economic goals as mentioned in her SoNA.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor hit back at opposition solons for criticizing the loopholes in the President’s SoNA last Monday, particularly her alleged failure to address questions about the legitimacy of her presidency.

"We recognize that the opposition will always contradict and take a negative attitude. But I think the opposition is committing a grave mistake by putting down the SoNA, which is basically based on development programs in the respective provinces and regions," Defensor said.

"I think the bigger challenge is not so much on whether what the President presented is correct or not, but rather on if we are capable of implementing it. That’s the challenge for us," he added.

Defensor said the political opposition should stop making a fuss over the alleged failure of the President to mention anything about graft and corruption and the election fraud charges against her. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006072670097.html

many of the world's greatest rulers wer unpopular and even feared during their time.....

and some of the most popular,... did the most gruesome crimes....
Like hitler.....

talking about Hitler...

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7/bkatoots/hitler.jpg

talking about Hitler...

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7/bkatoots/hitler.jpg


These kids must be in school!!!!!! (or must be doing their school homeworks)..... :)

There's this one person they interviewed in TV, he was asked "Do you like the president?" or something like that. His answer was "di ko masyadong gusto si GMa, di kasi siya maka-masa gaya ni FPJ and ERAP, si FPJ at ERAP kasi malapit sa masa." Talk about idiots, I told myself. Napaka timang talaga ng ibang Pilipino diyan sa tabi tabi, well di ko naman sila masisisi kung ganun ang upbringing nila, most of the blabbers and protesters and government haters don't know economics eh. Ang alam lang nila basta "maka-masa" yung presidente, kahit na BOBO, ok lang.

gusto pala niya si GMA, di lang masyado. at yong mga timang na yan ay yun pang di nagbabayad ng buwis :crazy:

If you mean GMA is more educated and smart than Erap and Cory, that
is really true. But Marcos is more educated and more smarter than all of
them, but he is an evil-genius.

Corruptions is like a cancer that destroy everthing sooner or later, so how
can the benefits outweighed the cost?


No doubt, she has the vision for a future Philippines. Similar with any other politician, she is also corrupt, although not a big deal as long as the benefits outweighed the costs.

you can't be a politician and not be corrupt. You will not survive and last that's why it's called politics. You just have to choose between the lesser corrupt and the one working and taking care of business of improving the lot of everyone.

Very Good kung di na ito kailangan pang utangin ng Gobyerno.
Funds for projects cited in SoNA assured by gov’t
By DAVID CAGAHASTIAN

Malacañang yesterday assured the availability of funds for the infrastructure projects laid out by President Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (SoNA) last Monday. The Palace reacted to criticisms that Mrs. Arroyo’s proposals in her SoNA for improved infrastructure lacked possible sources of funding.


Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the government is already preparing the proposed 2007 national budget, which will include funds needed to start the implementation of some of the infrastructure projects enumerated by Mrs. Arroyo in her SoNA.

The proposed infrastructure projects for the next three years, aimed at improving productivity in the countryside, are expected to cost some R207.6 billion.

Andaya said the national government will shoulder 29 percent, or R74.1 billion, of the estimated R207.6 billion aggregate cost of the infrastructure projects cited by Mrs. Arroyo.

Government-owned and -controlled corporations will shoulder most of the costs of the infrastructure projects, contributing 38.6 percent or R96.5 billion to the government’s efforts to improve infrastructure in the countryside in the next three years.

Some R36.8 billion worth of infrastructure projects would also be set up for build-operate-transfer contracts, Andaya said.

Andaya said the government will start funding the proposed infrastructure projects next year, with the inclusion in the R1.136trillion, 2007 national budget proposal of R11.6 billion funding for infrastructure projects identified by the Department of Transportation and Communication, the National Irrigation Authority, and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Mrs. Arroyo, in her SoNA, identified various infrastructure projects, mostly seaports, airports and farm-to-market roads, to improve productivity in the countryside.

Andaya said the R11.6billion funding for the infrastructure projects in 2007 will be part of the "allocable amounts" that would be left unspent by the government and would be used to finance the most vital infrastructure projects.

Andaya said that for 2007, the government is expecting an allocable amount of only R38 billion, but he assured that the allocable amount for infrastructure could increase to R100 billion by 2009.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye described Mrs. Arroyo’s infrastructure development plan as "an ambitious yet doable plan to really move this country forward."

In response to criticisms of the perceived delusive plans of the government, Bunye reiterated Malacañang’s appeal for the setting aside of politics and to focus instead of realizing the goals set by Mrs. Arroyo in her SoNA.

"What we need at this point is the support and cooperation of every Filipino, every government agency and non-government institution, and every sector to ensure and expedite the implementation of this blueprint for national strength and greatness," Bunye said.

"For the sake of the Filipino people, we reiterate our call for all our leaders to set aside politics and focus on the challenges at hand," he said.

Meanwhile, a supplemental budget proposal aimed at augmenting the 2005 reenacted budget on which the government is currently operating will be submitted to Congress within this week.

Andaya said he has spoken to new Senate President Manuel Villar, who was reportedly agreeable to providing a supplemental budget of at least R17 billion.

Andaya said the proposed R17 billion supplemental budget consists of R15 billion disbursement for the internal revenue allotments of local government units, and R2 billion for preparations for the 2007 elections.

Andaya also expressed confidence that the Senate, under its new leadership, would be able to pass the 2007 national budget which has yet to be submitted to Congress.

"Historically, if there is a budget proposed for an election year, it is passed early — before the election," Andaya said.


Palace tells opposition: Do your homework and present alternative plan


Malacañang yesterday challenged the political opposition to "do your homework" and present worthwhile alternative development plans for the country instead of vilifying President Arroro’s economic goals as mentioned in her SoNA.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor hit back at opposition solons for criticizing the loopholes in the President’s SoNA last Monday, particularly her alleged failure to address questions about the legitimacy of her presidency.

"We recognize that the opposition will always contradict and take a negative attitude. But I think the opposition is committing a grave mistake by putting down the SoNA, which is basically based on development programs in the respective provinces and regions," Defensor said.

"I think the bigger challenge is not so much on whether what the President presented is correct or not, but rather on if we are capable of implementing it. That’s the challenge for us," he added.

Defensor said the political opposition should stop making a fuss over the alleged failure of the President to mention anything about graft and corruption and the election fraud charges against her. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006072670097.html


Guess we'll just have to wait and see things unfold...
We’re holding our breath
Malaya
Editorial

We’re holding our breath until Aug. 22. On that day we’ll see whether this administration is capable of drawing the line between daydreaming and dealing with reality. Why Aug. 22 ? That’s the deadline imposed by the Constitution on the Executive department for the submission of the proposed budget for 2007.

In her State-of-the-Nation Address, Gloria Arroyo said there is now enough money for a) debt payments, b) social services, c) law enforcement/security, and d) infrastructure.

That must be news for the inter-agency budget coordinating committee which at this very moment is busy lopping off the "non-essentials" in the budget request of each department to fit the total spending to the expected revenues.

We understand why Finance Secretary Gary Teves appeared dazed when he was asked after the SONA about the financing requirement of the airports, seaports, highways, power plants, etc. that would underpin the development of Gloria’s super regions. After all, raising the money is his problem.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya placed the total cost at P207 billion, P74 billion of which would be shouldered by the national government and foreign donors. Rep. Joey Salceda, the reputed economic Rasputin of Gloria, came up with a total tag of P1.6 trillion, P1 trillion of which will be shouldered by the people in the form of taxes. We’re talking about a difference of a factor of eight. Which is which?

The reasonable explanation is that Salceda was talking about the total cost spread over the medium term, while Andaya was talking about a tighter time frame. It’s a matter of setting one’s priorities given the scarcity of resources. Hence the budget.

Nobody can argue against increased social spending, especially on education, and higher investments in infrastructure. The problem is there are elections next year. And if the past is any guide to Gloria’s future actions, we will not see itemized spending on services and infrastructure.

This year’s proposed budget is good as dead because of lump-sum programs the money for which Gloria can spend as she wishes. The Senate has been blamed for the budget talks impasse. The truth is it is the Palace which has been adamant on exercising unchecked discretion on how the funds are to be spent.

We now know the anatomy of buying elections with people’s money. There was the fertilizer fund managed by Jocelyn "Joc Joc" Bolante. The thievery was set up under the guise of agriculture modernization.

This time the call is for infrastructure building. The result, we fear, is the same old thieving.

you can't be a politician and not be corrupt. You will not survive and last that's why it's called politics. You just have to choose between the lesser corrupt and the one working and taking care of business of improving the lot of everyone.

Hmmm... maybe the statement needs to be qualified to "you can't be a politician in the Philippines and not be corrupt." But that is a sad commentary really. tsk. tsk.

i don't think it's only in the PHils. These politicians spend millions and don't get paid much. I bet they feel they have to be compensated somehow. CHina,India even the US govt. are also corrupt. if they don't get it from their respective coffers they do it in form of influence peddling through their multimillion contract deals. it's just in the PHils its garapal and unahan.

Good day my friend,

Only in da Pilipins!! where politicians and corruptions have the same
meaning. Here in Pinas you have to be corrupt to become a politicians,
and you have to be a politicians to become more corrupt.

Unfortunately corruptions have already pervaded not only the
government but also the civilian society.

In the western world of North America, Europe, and Australia /
New Zealand, etc, I reckoned that perhaps less than 5 percent of
Politicians were corrupts. In the Eastern world of the former
Soviet Union, and in the Islamic world they also abhors
corruptions in the government and society.

Only in da Pilipins where corruptions is accepted as a way of life.

But here in our beloved country it seems only the rightist and leftist
were against corruption. I will emphasize that not only GMA
government is corrupt but also the previous government of Marcos
(the worst).

Also Cory and her elite kamag-anak who were just as corrupts like
the cronies of Marcos, (lately Cory wants other to make a supreme
sacrifice for the country, but she and her family cannot make the
supreme sacrifice of obeying land reform law and give their
Hacienda Luisita to their landless hacienda workers)

Also Ramos the tabako general who head the govt when our country
loses millions of pesos in the Expo scam and Amari land deal.

Also Estrada the college drop-out who were elected by the gullible
masa and supported by the usual corrupt elite in the society.
Erap is another elite who use the mahirap for his own political and
business interest

And now GMA, who makes the excuse of "lapse of judgement" when
caught talking with Garci about the alleged election cheating.

(Actually, i don't mind that she won rather than Fernando Poe,
another actor like Estrada. Of course FPJ is more honorable than
Erap however he don't have enough educations to become a
President. There is no point to repeat the mistake in electing
Erap.)

However cheating in an election is also another kind of corruption.
Though there is no hard evidence for the court, but when there
is a smoke there is fire.

She could have won the election without cheating since people like
me who hates Marcos and his friends like Estrada, and who don't
like actors or entertainers to head the top post in the land prefer
her than FPJ. (But I voted for Roco in the last national election.)

The elite, the corrupt politicians of both parties,the corrupt
bureaucrats were taking care of their own business for improving
their own lot.

Lastly, according to what I learned in the school, it is taught that
" Politics is the art of good govenrment ".
and not the art of Corruption.

Shalom,
From a Pinoy who cares for nation-building.



you can't be a politician and not be corrupt. You will not survive and last that's why it's called politics. You just have to choose between the lesser corrupt and the one working and taking care of business of improving the lot of everyone.

if there is no smoke ,they'll create fake smoke.
ideally that's what politics should be but reality is very different.

I thought Politics is the art of good government and not the art of
corruption. That is what I learned in the public school. I wonder what
they taught in the exclusive schools of the elite class in the society.

you can't be a politician and not be corrupt. You will not survive and last that's why it's called politics. You just have to choose between the lesser corrupt and the one working and taking care of business of improving the lot of everyone.

There's this one person they interviewed in TV, he was asked "Do you like the president?" or something like that. His answer was "di ko masyadong gusto si GMa, di kasi siya maka-masa gaya ni FPJ and ERAP, si FPJ at ERAP kasi malapit sa masa." Talk about idiots, I told myself. Napaka timang talaga ng ibang Pilipino diyan sa tabi tabi, well di ko naman sila masisisi kung ganun ang upbringing nila, most of the blabbers and protesters and government haters don't know economics eh. Ang alam lang nila basta "maka-masa" yung presidente, kahit na BOBO, ok lang.

:lol: oo nga, nakaka asar ung ibang tao... pero i think just like emesber said na if they chose a president who is so smart na evil genius naman, they prefer the "maka masa" na president... :D


mind if i ask, how is GMA's father nung term nya??? my pinagmanahan ba??? :D

For now, I'm giving our president a 7... She has a lot of accomplishments and a lot of failures but with more than 3 years left in her term, there is still a lot of room for improvement. :okay:

^^ This is just an assurance that the government have funds to utilize for the super regions plan, albeit, a simple negation to those who wanted to cast doubt as to where will the government gets fund for the SONA project.

What the president stated was a well-settled project. Her detractors cannot say anything but doubt on where would the government gets the funds. It seems that this is really a good project of the government since the president's edge on focusing to economic development would likely be approved by all.

I’m back in Dumaguete for the past two weeks after being absent for almost a year, and I have seen the fast evolution of the City. It is growing faster than before.

There are now 24-hour fastfood establishments which obviously cater to the growing number of BPO workers, probably one, if not the only, main driver of the city’s economic transformation. In the downtown area, and in areas even outside the immediate surroundings of Dumaguete, there a lot of constructions going on, with many of them bigger than the constructions that we have seen here in the last two to three years.

The designs of most of the buildings have also become more modern, with a lot of them utilizing glass and other colorful and modern materials for their façade and front portions. These edifices make the Dumaguete landscape more colorful and modern.

I would like to point out some of my thoughts regarding the city’s progress. Thinking ahead, when Dumaguete shall have been overtaken by development, progress and modernity, it would be better that there will be only a few high rise buildings dominating the skyline rather than a multitude of low rise buildings that consume a lot of space. This is happening in big cities. There are a lot of shanties and makeshift buildings made of low-grade materials to house the low-capital businesses that are there to get a share of the money of these cities’ burgeoning population. As a result, they contribute to the shabby look and pollution of these cities.

Having only a few but beautiful and modern buildings will save spaces, which can be converted into greeneries and parks. This would also make our city appear modern and healthful.

Traffic in Dumaguete is getting terrible! There are just plenty of backward-looking pedicabs. They should be replaced with more modern and efficient mode of transportation, at least in the main thoroughfares. They may be allowed to ply in the city’s streets, but they must be forbidden to ply in the main thoroughfares. If the pedicabs can’t be replaced right away, I suggest we paint them brightly and nicely so they will become tourist attractions, such as what are being done to the jeepneys in Fort Bonifacio.

Dumaguete still has plenty of room to grow, and we are very fortunate that we have not yet reached the level of development of such areas as Metro Manila, Cebu, Baguio, even Sta. Rosa in Laguna. There are just a lot of ugly things about these places. They seem to have developed hastily and there is plenty of pollution in these areas. Their streets and skylines, lacking character, are not that beautiful anymore. We can actually learn from their mistakes. We can also take a look at great cities in the world that have successfully integrated development and environmental protection seamlessly.

On the social side, there is a need to marginalize, if not replace, the old establishment. By this, I mean that the old elites should now take a backseat in the City’s affairs and they should be gradually replaced by a new breed of leaders. Their past sins and excesses are very evident: low economic growth in the past resulting to few job opportunities in the city and low income, forcing the city’s populace to go outside the city to look for greener pastures.

This idea is not mine alone, but was actually espoused by F. Sionil Jose in a letter published in the Philippines Free Press. However, the rule of the old elites is perpetuated by those who are afraid and still feel they have utang na loob to these people. In reality, these old elites stifle the city’s growth by cornering most of the city’s resources and businesses, and holding sway to most of the city’s affairs, although mostly stealthily. They can choke, and they do choke, even some individuals they want to control.

I guess these are also some of the reasons why really big projects hardly come to Dumaguete. Again, these are because of greed.

Really, it is time for some cool changes here….

you can't be a politician and not be corrupt. You will not survive and last that's why it's called politics. You just have to choose between the lesser corrupt and the one working and taking care of business of improving the lot of everyone.


there's alot of truth in what you say, corruption can never be completely eradicated but i do believe there are different levels and types of corruption and also differences in how the corruption affects a nation. In the a case of the Philippines when money is diverted from road construction as an example, the results can be devastating, a huge percentage of that money goes to line the pockets of politicians, the end result is you get a road that is inferior in quality one that weakens easily at the first sign of rain. Because the Philippine government budget is so small the effects are felt more there than lets say Japan, where there is systematic and rampant corruption but the economy is much larger and the costs of corruption can be absorbed.

Also as you say corruption is not endemic to the Philippines; I like to believe that corruption is more of a human weakenss and that Filipinos like other beings on this planet fall prey to temptations for whatever reasons. As one might expect there is a greater degree of corruption in the so called poorer countries. But in order to minimize or perhaps even eradicate corruption leadership must answer to the people. the prosecution of ERAP was a good start, although in my opinion, and one of the reasons I resent Gloria is she dealt with him too lightly...i wished she displayed then what she is displaying now that ruthless, take no prisoners sort of attitude---I always believed that she was more motivated by political expediency rather than doing things because they were right.

Going back to last presidential election, I think many people fearful of an FPJ presidency were willing to accept some sort of vote manipulation for the sake of the nations survival, I was one of those people. However as the allegations of manipulation surfaced against her I could not stomach the manner in which she arrogantly dismissed the calls for her to answer the allegations. I really believed that she calculated that she could quash discontent by using the Filipino traits of patience, forgiveness, understanding, and bahala na attitude against the Filipino. She calculated correctly it seems.

Whenever there has been any controversy surrounding her administration the people involved seem to mysteriously disappear without a trace and show up in other countries to the "surprise" of everyone, and for those who have remained local they have refused to cooperate. Not all inquiries can be dismissed as politically motivated, many concern legitimate issues and were initiated by many politicians who have earned their patriotic stripes.

anyway, short of an act of god i don't believe she will be going away any time soon, and we all know God is on her side.

The opposition need to be involved with the incumbent president in moving the Philippines forward and at the same time thinking of the coming presidential elections sending their next presidential candidate to an institution of higher learning and hopefully gaining much needed education to help the very same people they are trying to bury underground alive. :)

RP needs to do ‘what is right’ to tap US goodwill: Del Rosario

Outgoing Philippine ambassador to the United States, Albert del Rosario, yesterday said government must muster political to address its problems on democracy and economy "by doing what is right" to tap US goodwill.

Del Rosario was feted at a testimonial luncheon yesterday by the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippines-US Business Council and the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. Del Rosario also pointed out that the over 3 million Filipino-Americans in the US are the country’s largest investors who can contribute about one-fourth of the economy in five years’ time.

Fil-Ams in the US, however, he said can "be happier" on how the government is run.

Del Rosario, who ended his five-year stint last June, said while there are challenges between US and Philippine relations, "the partnership remains strong stable, resilient and robust."

He called on businessmen to get together and urge this government to consistently do what is right.

He said this could be done by defending democracy, reforming the economy, improving governance by addressing corruption and inequity and by fighting terrorism.

"By doing what is right, we will be able to improve our standing in the international community and more importantly, in the eyes of Filipino-Americans, who are dynamic, growing in number and influence and continue to retain love for their mother country. They have become the strongest pillars of the Philippines," Del Rosario said.

Quoting statistics from the Asian Development Bank, Del Rosario said that out of the $12.5 billion remittances of overseas Filipinos, about 50 percent of that or $7 billion is from the US, which is equivalent to 9 percent of the gross domestic product.

"This amount came in before VAT (value-added tax) and had an effect on the deficit. If you put all the investments together it would not amount to $7 billion," he said.

According to him, in five years, remittances from the US would account for 20 to 25 percent of GDP, judging from the 31 percent rise in 2005 from 2004.

But Del Rosario noted the Philippines has to nurture its Fil-Ams who continue to have affinity for it by improving national image.

"We have to take care of this people, we have to pay attention to them they are the largest investor in the Philippines," Del Rosario said.

Del Rosario, who has been instrumental in achieving economic diplomacy with the US for the past five years, also noted the need for the Philippines "to clear up right away" a labor report that could be inimical to the Philippines as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the biggest pension fund in the US, is scheduled to come out with a preliminary report in October.

"We have to respond to that report, if is accurate, we have to come up with corrective measures," Del Rosario said but he did not elaborate.

Del Rosario, who was the Philippine envoy to the US since October 2001, counts among his achievements the retention of the Philippines in CalPERS in its list of permissible countries at a time when we were supposed to be delisted.

In February this year, Del Rosario said Philippines outdid itself when CalPERS gave it the highest score and improved its ranking four notches from 18th to 14th among 26 emerging markets surpassing even Malaysia, India, Russia and China.

Data center investment to pick up, says study

INVESTMENTS in the Philippines’ data center infrastructure are projected to grow by more than a third this year, according to an international research and consulting firm.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Sanjay Singh, director of Frost & Sullivan, said investments in data center is projected to grow by 34.5 percent to $88.8 million by 2010 from $65.8 million last year.

This year, Singh said investments may reach $69.2 million.

He stressed that the Philippines’ data-center industry is one of the top three in Asia because of the high number of data centers deployed across the region.
Singh said the cost of building a quality data center is rising over the years with an estimated cost of $40 to $90 a square foot, with power costs alone averaging $8 to $12 per kilowatt.

He said most of the firms investing in the country’s data centers are from information and technology (IT) with 43.2 percent; manufacturing, 22.5 percent; telecom including Internet service providers, 18 percent; banking and financial sector, 11.3 percent, other private businesses, 3 percent; and government, 2 percent.

Singh said data-center firms spend about 81.5 percent of their revenues in hardware and the remaining 18.5 percent on software.

The study also showed that about 72 percent of the 60 surveyed firms said that power losses have pulled down services and revenues. About 15 percent cited customer complaints; 22 percent, equipment damage; 10 percent, damage to reputation; and 3 percent, time to restart.

The study further said that 75 percent of the data centers surveyed use centralized uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems for backup power support for their equipment.

“The majority [55 percent] of respondents are optimistic that their investment in UPS will increase over the next couple of years, due to growth in business,” it said.

The study was commissioned by the American Power Conversion Corp., which provides protection against many of the primary causes of data loss, hardware damage and downtime. It is also a leading provider of global, end-to-end back-up power products and services, which include surge suppressors, UPS, power conditioning equipment and power management.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/27/yehey/business/20060727bus2.html

I thought Politics is the art of good government and not the art of corruption. That is what I learned in the public school. I wonder what they taught in the exclusive schools of the elite class in the society. In Politics, it's only considered corruption and cheating when one get's caught! Otherwise it's business as usual. And that's reality no matter how despicable it may be...:D

Agri, OFWs assure 5% growth
But growth estimate lower than 5.5% target
By Rommer M. Balaba
Reporter

A resurgent agriculture sector and strong remittances from overseas Filipino workers should assure a 4.4-percent to 5-percent growth in the local economy this year, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said Wednesday.

Paderanga’s forecast, however, is lower than the government’s 5.5-percent to 6.2-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2006 as he believes escalating oil prices would weigh heavily particularly on the industry sector.

GDP, or the total market value of all final goods and services the domestic economy produces, grew 5.5 percent during the first quarter and 5.1 percent last year.

“I think the local economy is now more resilient mainly because of underlying support of remittances [from Filipinos abroad]... and although agriculture is subject to a lot of uncertainties we now see a recovery with El Niño far off,” explained Paderanga, who is also chairman of think-tank Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis Inc.

Agricultural output, which accounts for one-fifth of domestic output, increased 3.9 percent during the first quarter as favorable weather conditions allowed crop harvests to recover from last year’s slump.

Remittances, meanwhile, went up 14.8 percent during the first five months to $4.9 billion and expected to grow 10 percent this year from $10.7 billion last year.

The think-tank yesterday presented its local and global outlook as gleaned from current trends, which also included GDP growth forecast of 4.2 percent to 4.8 percent for 2007.

By sector, Paderanga said farm output should grow from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent this year against a slow 1.8 percent in 2005, while the industry sector, bugged by uncertainties from global oil prices, would slow down to a rate between 3.8 percent and 4 percent this year from a 4.9 percent a year ago.

The services sector, meanwhile, would continue to grow but at a weaker 5.7-percent to 5.9-percent range this year compared with 6.4 percent in 2005 mainly because of a widening base, Paderanga added.

“We are now on a better footing, except on the question of oil prices. The political issues no longer have a big impact as before, which affected the level of investments. The only way for investments now is to go up,” noted Paderanga, in explaining his “moderately optimistic” outlook.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/sfp01.php

nakapagtataka na mahilig talaga itong mga trapo na isolo ang kapangyarihan sa sarili nilang pamilya o sakop lalo na sa mga kanayunan at mga lokal na mga pamahalaan. dapat na talaga ibago ang konstitusyon KASABAY ng pagpapatalik sa elitistang demokrasya. tunay na reporma ang kailangan hindi ang bulok at inutil na pangako ng trapo.

Shares close sharply higher; key index at 2-mth peak


By Cecille Yap
Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 04:17pm (Mla time) 07/27/2006


(UPDATE) SHARE prices closed higher for the third straight session as investor sentiment got another shot in the arm following brisk demand for the government's 750-million dollar global bond issue earlier this week, dealers said.

Analysts say the oversubscription to the Philippine government's last debt issue for the year reflected upbeat sentiment towards the country's improving fiscal condition, helping push the main stock index to its highest level in more than two months.

The composite index closed up 47.29 points or 2.07 percent at 2,336.42, its best level since settling at 2,357.98 on May 22. It moved between 2,289.13 and 2,339.26 points.

The broader all-shares index advanced 24.48 points to 1,444.96.

Gainers swamped losers 88 to 11, with 36 stocks unchanged.

Volume reached 2.72 billion shares worth 1.38 billion pesos.

"Two things that drove the market up. First, investors are buying ahead of earnings. Second, the reception to the recent bond sale indicates investors' perception that the country is managing its finances pretty well," Westlink Global Equities research head James Lago said.

The government late Tuesday raised 750 million dollars from the reopening of global bonds due 2016 and 2031. The tap, which was highly oversubscribed, completes its foreign commercial borrowing requirements for the year and officials said there is no plan to borrow yet to fund next year's needs.

Share prices have been rising since Tuesday, the day after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's annual state of the nation address where she pledged to boost infrastructure spending. The market was closed Monday due to heavy rains caused by Typhoon Kaemi.

"We really got a good market today," said DA Market Securities president Nestor Aguila. "The clarity of the President's State of the Nation Address rippled to the investing community and was taken with optimism."

Aguila said investor sentiment is so upbeat at the moment that many are waiting for sellers to emerge so they can enter the market.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co led the market's rise, ending up 45.00 peso or 2.31 percent at 1,995 as investors continued to snap up the stock ahead of its second-quarter results on Aug 8. Rival Globe Telecom Inc was up 15 pesos or 1.55 percent at 980.

Ayala Corp, the country's largest conglomerate, rose 12.50 pesos or 3.11 percent to 415. Its unit Bank of the Philippine Islands was up 0.50 peso at 53, while Ayala Land Inc gained 1.00 peso to 13.75.

Shares of Manila Electric Co rose after the power retailer reported second-quarter net profit of 1.12 billion pesos, reversing the previous quarter's loss of 748 million. Its A shares, which are limited to Filipinos, closed up 0.50 peso at 15.75 while its B shares, available to foreigners, advanced 0.25 pesos to 24.50.

Petron Corp added 0.15 pesos to 4.40 after the oil refiner said second-quarter net profit rose 16.7 percent to 1.68 billion pesos due to increased exports and higher oil prices.

(1 dollar = 51.62 pesos)

http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=12052

I don't know how that point thing is worth...but we're catching up with the Strait Times Index (Singapore, which is like 2400+ points)!! Yippee!!

Finance says ODAs may be tapped for GMA's infra projects . . .
By Likha C. Cuevas

THE government plans to tap overseas development assistance (ODAs) from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies to realize the massive infrastructure projects it outlined in President Arroyo’s State of the Nation address.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the total cost of these projects is estimated to be around P290 billion, allaying fears that the government would resort to “excessive” borrowing, which would further bloat its outstanding debt.

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said earlier that in addition to foreign borrowings, the government may utilize funds raised by its various revenue-collecting agencies.

The government plans to further improve the Cordillera region’s Halsema Highway by adding roads that would connect Mount Data to Bontoc and Bontoc to Banaue, which will start next year and 2008, respectively. However, the plan is still subject to Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) approval.

The World Bank funds the construction of the Halsema Highway from Benguet to Mount Data. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), on the other hand, will provide financing for the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway interconnection next year. The project is still in the relocation identification stage.

The NorthRail project funded by the Chinese government is currently procuring the services of consultants. Meanwhile, the Korea Exim Bank will support the South*Rail project connecting Alabang to Caloocan—currently in its preconstruction stage—while the Alabang to Calamba route is still to be approved by the ICC.

Some irrigation projects such as the Agno River project that will start this year will be funded by JBIC, while the China National Construction and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corp. will inject funds to the Bannawag irrigation construction.

For its part, the Philippine government will shoulder the construction of the Bagabag Airport, SouthRail squatter relocation, farm-to-market roads and small irrigation projects in North Luzon.

DOTC on track for GMA’s development plan
By Sandy Araneta
The Philippine Star 07/28/2006

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza said yesterday they were fully on track for President Arroyo’s medium-term development plan (MTDP) as projects being handled by the department and its agencies are underway.

"The participation of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in the medium-term investment program as enumerated by the President during her SONA shall consist of development of airports, seaports and rail systems," Mendoza said in an interview at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, Pasig City.

"We have resources to support this. For seaports, we have the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), which is a huge government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) that can fund majority of what should be developed. This is in line with the nautical highway of the President. And they also have the capability to get foreign loans on their own. For aviation, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is a very liquid corporation. MIAA has a surplus of accounts for the development of airports," Mendoza said.

For rail, Mendoza said the feasibility study on the interconnection of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) has been completed.

He said there are at least 10 interested bidders, all foreign companies, which have signified their intention to undertake the interconnection project.

The interconnection would begin after approval of the feasibility study by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

Mendoza said overall, the revenue of the DOTC and its agencies is P40 billion a year.

"Almost all our agencies are revenue generating. The biggest is the Land Transportation Office (LTO), then MIAA, PPA, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Air Transportation Office (ATO), totaling P40 billion," he said.

Mendoza said the DOTC has been given an increase of P7 billion in budget for airport development.

He noted that airports in Iloilo and Silay will be opening by July next year.

Other projects, Mendoza said, will be finished in two years.

Mendoza said rail projects will be completed in 2010.

Another project underway is the Pasig River ferryboat system, which will take off by the end of the year.

Mendoza said the system targets 27,000 passengers a day when it starts operation. The ferryboats will travel stations in Pasig, Taguig, Marikina, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Parañaque and Manila. There will be an initial 10 to 12 boats by the end of the year, Mendoza said.

P320 billion for infrastructure
VIRTUAL BUSINESS By TONY LOPEZ

The infrastructure projects President Arroyo enumerated in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 24 will cost P320 billion, according to Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief, Secretary Arthur Yap. Considering that the projects are undertaken over a period of four years, the effective cost is only P80 billion a year.

These major infra projects: 17 airports (including four in Palawan, would you believe?), six seaports, 13 major roads, two large irrigation projects (including the Agno River project), the LRT and MRT linkup at North EDSA going to Bacoor, the NorthRail to Clark and SouthRail to Lucena. She will also provide water to the West Zone of Metro Manila.

The P80 billion a year for these projects looks like loose change for a government that has a spending program of over P1 trillion (P1,000 billion). It’s 8 percent of the budget.

Consider that one UP study years ago placed the amount of corruption at 40 percent of the budget, or P400 billion out of P1 trillion. If the administration can reduce graft by half, you get P200 billion. If it reduces graft to a quarter, you get P100 billion.

The US government is donating P1 billion to curb corruption. The amounted is matched by the government with another P1 billion, for a total of P2 billion. Spending P2 billion to save P100 billion is a very efficient way to do business.

Even if the government didn’t have the P320 billion. The private sector can finance it. The experience of Manila Water of the Ayalas and the Manila North Tollways of the Lopezes shows you can generate huge profits from taking over public infrastructure enterprises. In 2005, Manila Water had a return on equity of 26.39 percent (P2 billion profits out of average equity of P7.6 billion), 13th best among the 100 largest listed companies. First Philippine Holdings, which operates the North Luzon Expressway and two natural gas power plants, was No. 16 with an ROE of 21 percent (P9.7-billion profits using average equity of P46 billion). No. 1 in ROE is the PNOC Exploration Corp., 174 percent or P2.78-billion profits with P1.6-billion equity. This government company provides oil exploration services and owns Service Contract No. 38, the Malampaya natural gas.

So big money can be made from infrastructure and utilities.

And even if you cannot attract private businessmen, there are the OFWs. They remitted $10.7 billion in 2005 and $4.9 billion in the first five months of 2006, an average remittance of $1 billion a month. Maybe, the government should sell them infrastructure bonds, with guaranteed yield of at least 15 percent per year since Manila Water, First Holdings and PNOC Ex make between 21 percent and 174 percent.

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are raising the savings rate in the country. "The vast pool of savings is a resource that should be tapped for infrastructure and social development projects," says Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo L. Neri.

He notes the changing profile of the migrant workers. More professionals are being deployed. In particular, more nurses and caregivers are working abroad to attend to the elderly across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

The OFWs have brought up the savings rate to 30 percent in 2005, from 29.6 percent in 2004 and 23 percent in 2000. At this savings rate, the Philippines can industrialize. Fewer Filipinos disapprove of President Arroyo’s performance—44% in July compared with 50% in March, 52% in October 2005 and 58% in July 2005.

Also, fewer Filipinos distrust the President—47% in July compared with 50% in March this year, 55% in October 2005, and 59% in July 2005

E-mail tonylopez@biznewsasia.com

GMA critics muckraking on OWWA funds — Palace

With the Senate set to conduct a full-blown inquiry on Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds controversy, Malacañang yesterday again pinned the blame on the political opposition and President Arroyo’s critics for the controversy.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye accused the opposition of grandstanding and muckraking, but refused to meet the issue of the lack of OWWA funds head on, saying instead that investigations into this matter are “counter-productive.”

Bunye stressed that which is of importance today is to bring back the Filipinos stranded in Lebanon.

But a militant party-list congressman, Rep. Joel Virador said what is needed is an “open and complete accounting of the P8.1-billion OFW funds held in trust by the OWWA” once a probe is called.

He also wants Special Middle East envoy Roy Cimatu to explain to Congress how he spent the US$293,500 support fund from OWWA when not one OFW was evacuated from Iraq in 2003.

“This representation maintains that the OWWA release of US$2 million to fund the evacuation of Filipinos trapped in Lebanon cannot be equivalent to a government appropriation like the P150 million

DBM announcement. This is why it is imperative that the House investigation look into how much has been collected by the OWWA since its inception, how much was disbursed and how many employees are actually in its plantilla since they are funded by the OFWs’ US$25 annual membership dues,” he pointed out.

He also urged the House to look into government’s so-called contingency and preparedness plan on OFWs in the Middle East and other countries threatened by war, which was handled by Cimatu, a former military chief of staff.

Virador urged foreign affairs relations committee chairman Rep. Antonio Cuenco and overseas workers affairs committee chairman Rep. Edcel Lagman to conduct an immediate probe on the alleged ‘mishandling’ of funds by DFA and the OWWA with regard to the repatriation of OFWs trapped in the war-torn Lebanon.

“Representatives Cuenco and Lagman are in the position to ferret out what is gravely wrong in the country’s foreign service corps vis-à-vis its attitude toward our overseas compatriots. The Arroyo administration has been doing an evacuation of our nationals at the slowest pace compared to all other nationals being taken out of Lebanon by their respective governments. It seems the DFA is worried about saving a few million dollars at the risk of thousands of Filipino workers,” the partylist congressman said.

But Lagman, a staunch ally of Mrs. Arroyo, echoed the Palace line, saying that a probe is not needed at this time, stressing that which is more important is to concentrate on getting the stranded workers back home.

“Critics must not compound the woes of our OFWs by creating phantom problems on alleged lack or missing funds for their assistance and repatriation,” Lagman said.

Despite the rift over funds, Lagman has assured Filipino workers in Lebanon that the government has sufficient funds to bail them out from the areas affected by the escalating armed conflict.

But migrant and militant groups yesterday said they smelled something fishy in the controversy, pointing out that the irregularities in the evacuation of overseas Filipino workers in Lebanon are similar to the controversial P3 billion fertilizer fund scam where the money never reached the intended beneficiaries.

“The developing story behind the evacuation mess is very smelly and similar to the “P3 billion Fertilizer Scam” but on a more grandiose scale, with the funds involving P8 billion of OFWs’ money,” said Nenita Gonzaga, secretary general of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) women’s department.

Philippine Ambassador to Beirut Al Francis Bichara earlier said the lack of funds was the reason many OFWs remain stranded in Damascus, Syria where hundreds have fled to get a airplane ride home.

Gonzaga said they would not be surprised if the name of President Arroyo will again be implicated in the OWWA fund scam since her track record shows her connection to illegal use of public funds.

Migrante International, one of the largest migrant groups in the country also backed the move to probe the missing OWWA funds contributed by the Filipino workers to finance their needs in times of trouble.

Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairman of Migrante stressed that not only the Senate but also the House of Representatives should investigate the OWWA fund scam.

“While our countrymen are being shelled everyday in Lebanon, the finger-pointing between OWWA officials and Philippine Embassy in Lebanon continues. OWWA officials argue that there is money, while those in Lebanon state another story. If there is no problem with funds, show us the money,” she said.

For his part, OWWA administrator Marianito Roque vowed to step down immediately if it can be proved that Filipinos trapped in Lebanon cannot be repatriated due to missing OWWA funds.

“If they see that I am in the wrong, then I’m ready to resign,” Roque declared, insiting that there is no missing fund. “We have the funds here and they are being used wisely,” he said in reaction to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s questions as to how exactly OWWA’s reserves of P8 billion were being used.

If there is somebody who should be blamed for this controversy, it is Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bichara, Roque said. “There is really nothing to be worried or alarmed about. We are doing our job. It’s just that there is a misguided ambassador who seems not to be in control of his own people,” he told reporters.

Moreover, Roque said Bichara has not contacted his people in the embassy and was not even aware of what was taking place in his area of jurisdiction. “He was not even in Beirut (when the conflict erupted) and when he arrived there he started making a lot of accusations,” Roque said.

OWWA’s budget for the evacuation and operational expenses were all coursed through the agency’s representative in Lebanon Welfare Officer Mario Antonio.

Antonio, according to Roque, has made available to the embassy’s finance officer OWWA’s contributions to the repatriation effort which is separate from the embassy’s own funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“They (the embassy) have all the money. He’s imagining his own problem,” the administrator added.

According to Roque at least P7.6 billion OWWA funds was allocated for the repatriation and evacuation of OFWs.

But Sen. Richard Gordon yesterday said that based on his telephone conversation with Bichara, the government appeared remiss in providing contingency funds as its availability was not actually made available to him immediately.

Roughly, P50 million, based on the estimates of Bichara, is needed to finance the repatriation of all Filipino workers in Lebanon as the bulk of those currently stranded comprise undocumented OFWs. Reports earlier said 34,000 OFWs are staying in Lebanon.

“I called him up today and what he said was that there is money and this is what he’s using for his personnel and MOE (miscellaneous and operational expenses), that is the working fund of the embassy. This is actually now what they’re spending to feed those staying with them in the embassy and in the (Catholic) church (where thousands are currently staying),” he said, adding that the embassy’s allotted personnel expenses are being utilized in the hiring of buses to transport Filipino workers-evacuees from Beirut to Syria, each bus costing $38 plus another $38 exacted from them upon entering Syria.

“In short, it’s easily depleted. I am not defending him. I am just giving you what he told me. He sought for contingency fund for the evacuation of 10,000 people out of the 40,000 (to include the undocumented workers) and this is what is being made an issue against him by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” Gordon stressed.

“The called investigation is not aimed to determine if he is misusing government funds. The investigation is to find out how we can move out our compatriots there. We have to know how to get them out,” he said.

Gordon further bolstered Bichara’s claims saying that he had received a call from Red Cross Philippines seeking assistance in the provision of medicines and medical tubes, in particular, for surgery operations.

The senator, current governor of International Red Cross Federation and Red Crescent, said he had already informed DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo regarding this matter.

In rallying behind the proceedings called by Senator Estrada, Gordon defended the conduct of the probe saying they are looking at possible legislation providing for clearer policies on having Filipinos abroad evacuated when the need arises.

“We should have a system in place to protect all these Filipinos who are abroad. If you have one million (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia you must have a very strong contingency plan. Is our policy only to send Filipinos overseas or is it really a policy of alternative income?

“Doesn’t it look pathetic that there have to be requests (for funding) first? Do we have to tell the government to take the lead? If it is unsafe for them then the government must announce ‘it is unsafe there and we are therefore announcing that we are going to pull out our Filipinos. Those of you who will pull out go here. Those of you who will not pull out, you are in your own’. Do we have to tell them that this should be the policy now?” he asked. Dona Policar, Marie A. Surbano, Sherwin C. Olaes and Angie M. Rosales

Call centers offer lifeline but no cure
Friday, July 28, 2006

Unemployment remains a major issue in the Philippines despite outsourcing taking off, writes Rosemarie Francisco.
At a spartan hall converted from a closed textile company east of Manila, hundreds of Filipinos milled around small corporate booths looking for work. The longest lines at the job fair were for call center or business process outsourcing firms.
Despite the odd hours - employees sit down to work just as much of the country gets ready for bed - the call center sector is the current favorite among job seekers, from the annual wave of 400,000 college graduates to more mature workers.
"I earn double here than in my previous job," said Jasmin, 35, who quit her position as a clerk at city hall to handle calls from customers of a major telecoms company in the United States.
Above-average salaries and fast promotions are some of the attractions at call centers and outsourcing firms, which have expanded to include legal, data and medical transcription, as well as animation and software development.
This year, the outsourcing sector is expected to employ about 266,000 people in the developing Southeast Asian country, surging from just about 2,000 five years ago. The number is likely to hit nearly 1.1 million by 2010, according to the Business Processing Association Philippines.
But with call centers hiring just three to five people for every 100 applicants - a reflection of the declining quality of education in the Philippines - some analysts say the industry is far from the cure for the country's unemployment problem.
"Of course, it will generate jobs but the majority of our unemployed don't have adequate skills," said Emmanuel Esguerra, associate professor at the University of the Philippines' School of Economics.
Esguerra said only a quarter of the three million to four million Filipinos without work - the number depends on the government's new or old definition of unemployment - had more than a high-school education.
Quality of labor is a major issue facing the Philippines, where budget deficits and the government's debt of about US$76 billion (HK$592.8 billion) have limited state spending on basic education.
Patricia Santo Tomas, who recently quit as labor secretary, said Manila had set aside 500 million pesos (HK$75.15 million) to retrain "near hires" in the outsourcing industry - those needing more computer training or English- language skills to get a job.
Despite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's vow in 2004 to create up to 1.5 million jobs every year until the end of her term in 2010, progress remains slow in an economy driven by remittances, domestic demand and exports of electronics and farm products.
Arroyo's job creation goal was premised on the economy growing 7 percent to 8 percent per year, a target that has been elusive.
"This administration has the worst unemployment record," Esguerra said. "It has to do with the accumulation of the problem, but I think it also suggests the response has been inadequate."
The unemployment rate has stayed above 10 percent since 2001, when Arroyo was propelled to the presidency after a popular uprising. The last time it was as high was in the final years of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' rule in the mid-1980s.
In April, using the old definition, the unemployment rate was 11.8 percent.
With labor force growth of 3.5 percent per year, the number of people without work would still have widened by 2010 even if one million new jobs were created annually, Esguerra said.
Only 807,000 jobs were created in the year to April 2006 after nearly 700,000 from May 2004 to April 2005, government statistics show.
"Many of the jobs created are not the quality jobs because the big increase came from the ranks of own-account workers and unpaid family workers," said Dante Canlas, the former socioeconomic planning secretary.
Own-account workers include Filipinos who shift to the underground economy with street stalls or small village shops when they are out of work or seeking to supplement low salaries.
The rise in underemployment is another worrying trend.
Workers wanting more hours made up 25 percent of the labor force in April, almost flat from 26 percent a year earlier but higher than the 18.5 percent in the same month of 2004.
With annual average inflation above 6 percent since 2004 and likely as high as 7.9 percent this year, real wages have been falling, pushing Filipinos to work longer hours.
Low wages and lack of opportunities have sent about a 10th of the population of 85 million to work abroad as sailors, nurses, maids, entertainers, IT professionals and accountants.
Canlas said the underemployment problem cut two ways, with most businesses not investing in new technology that would lead to higher production and workers failing to build their skills for better productivity.
"Unless the economy is able to significantly increase its investments and raise its productivity so there will be a scale effect on employment demand, in the short run the unemployment rate will remain high," Canlas said.
In the case of agricultural workers, who make up about 35 percent of total employed and 41.5 percent of underemployed, most of the jobs created are either seasonal or part-time.
Santo Tomas said the Philippines must harness the potential of its agribusiness, which could employ an extra two million people from this year to 2010, the highest in any sector.
Industry was not likely to contribute as much as services and agriculture to put a dent in unemployment in the next five years because of the huge investments required, she said.
REUTERS

nakapagtataka na mahilig talaga itong mga trapo na isolo ang kapangyarihan sa sarili nilang pamilya o sakop lalo na sa mga kanayunan at mga lokal na mga pamahalaan. dapat na talaga ibago ang konstitusyon KASABAY ng pagpapatalik sa elitistang demokrasya. tunay na reporma ang kailangan hindi ang bulok at inutil na pangako ng trapo.

That's easier said than done. These "elitists" cannot be summarily eliminated for the reason that they are also citizens and have rights as such to run for office. In many cases, they are also qualified. It's just that being of an influential family gives them better opportunities than the rest of us.

Besides, I thought you were against Charter change. Foreign competition would be giving the elitists a run for their money, abolishing economic and political monopolies.

Peso, stocks continue to climb
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 07/28/2006

The peso and stocks continued to rally yesterday on rising optimism about the country’s economic outlook and stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings reports.

"The earnings coming out are adding to the optimism that the economy is moving forward and that better numbers will be coming out," said Erick Tan of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).

Some analysts said the peso and the stocks also got a boost after the government’s latest bond offer received a strong response in what was seen as a vote of confidence in the country.

They said demand for the country’s last debt issue this year reflected upbeat sentiment towards the government’s improving fiscal position, helping the peso hit its highest close since May 10 this year and the stock market to its highest level in more than two months.

The peso gained by another 21 centavos to settle at 51.53 from Wednesday’s close of 51.74 to the dollar.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr expressed optimism the peso will prove resilient against market volatility as the steady inflows of foreign investments and remittances continued to bolster the country's international reserves.

At the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the benchmark 30-company index surged 47.29 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,336.42, marking its best finish since May 22. Thursday’s rally brings the total index gain to 4.2 percent since Tuesday, the day after Mrs. Arroyo’s state-of-the-nation address.

"There’s a recovery in risk appetite for the Philippines and investors are coming back," said Craig Chan, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in Hong Kong. "Local fundamentals are looking good."

"We have learned to invest in the country based on fundamentals regardless of the political noise," caused by calls for Mrs Arroyo’s ouster, Wealth Securities analyst Ricardo Puig asid.

"President Arroyo acknowledged that there was a fiscal crisis and she fixed it. Now she has a plan, and all the government projects lined up are economically productive," he added.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200607280701.htm

Today, the telco sector is probably the brightest spot in the economy. The fixed and mobile telephony sector alone accounts for about four percent of total gross domestic product (GDP), and represents six percent of total investments between 1999 and 2003. During this period, total investment in the sector reached $4.3 billion. Total taxes paid by telcos account for six to seven percent of total tax collections by government. The two largest telecom operators alone contributed about P28 billion in taxes last year.

Article (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607280710.htm)

Export potential of makapuno cited


By MELODY M. AGUIBA

The Philippines should tap vast opportunities for its indigenous, tissue-cultured 100 percent makapuno which has markets in local ice cream producers, in the pharmaceutical-personal care industry, and in the US market which needs 1.5 billion makapuno nuts.


Makapuno has high commercial value in the Philippines mainly for its use as pastry and in flavoring in the ice cream industry. The Philippine market for flavored ice cream requires 139,100 kilos yearly for Nestlé-Magnolia and 173,800 kilos for Selecta.

Other companies needing this for flavoring are Red Ribbon, cakes and pastries, 3,700 kilos; Presto, ice cream, 81,140 kilos; and Shimmen Food Industries, Stanfood Corp., and YES Export Import Corp., bottled makapuno, 276,840 kilos.

Dr. Erlinda P. Rillo, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) tissue culture chief based in PCA’s Albay Research Center, said that with makapuno’s greater nutrient-content specially with its high galactomannan content compared to the ordinary coconut, the special fruit has uses for pharmaceutical and personal care products.

Its fatty acid composition is more significant than the ordinary coconut including caproic (C6), 0.61 percent compared to 0.41 percent for the ordinary coconut; capric (C10), 7.34 percent against 7.21 percent; lauric acid (C12), 50.06 percent against 47.63 percent; and myristic (C14), 18.36 percent against 15.26 percent.

Given more studies, the Philippines can tap makapuno for many curative and personal care products.

In the US, it is estimated that market consists of 1.5 billion makapuno nuts just for flavoring required for 831 million gallons of ice cream, 52 million gallons of sherbet, and 82 million gallons of yogurt.

Makapuno offers farmers higher income compared to the usual coconut since a normal nut fetches a price of just P3 to P6 (Guinobatan, Albay reference) while makapuno can have a price of P8 to as much as P42 per nut.

Unfortunately, Rillo said that only 9.34 percent (12,517 hectares) of the required hectarage has been established for makapuno trees nationwide.


There is a total of 29,911 makapuno trees nationwide mainly found in Region 4-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), 15,000 trees; Region 12, Cotabato provinces, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat), 5,088; Region 11, (Davao provinces), 2,134; and Region 4-B (Mindoro provinces, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), 885.

The Philippines now boasts of the only country in the world that has the embryo culture technology that can produce in more massive quantities 100 percent makapuno.

However, this is only limited to PCA’s tissue culture laboratories, certain laboratories maintained by Philhybrid Inc., the only private company producing makapuno seedlings and finished specialty products, and to limited individuals who are willing to invest in it.

Embryo culture technology (ECM) is the only way to mass produce true-totype makapuno palms at present. The traditional makapuno-bearing plants system only produces 25 percent makapuno nuts while ECM palms produce 100 percent.

Among the findings about successful in vitro culture of coconut embryos include the fact that the right age of the embryo should be 11 to 11.5 months, embryos collected from fertilized palms perform better, and shorter duration (from collection to inoculation) harvest is better.

PCA’s embryo culture laboratories are in Pasig, Leyte State University, University of the Phlippines-Los Banos, PCAPangasinan, Department of Agriculture-STIARC, Cavite State UniversityCavite, PCA-Tacloban, and PCA-Zamboanga.

Makapuno, characterized by its soft endosperm that almost fills the nut cavity, is an important coconut mutant whose name comes from the Filipino word "puno," meaning full.

Rillo said local companies engaged in processing different products will require more makapuno including Dalisay Foods, mostly for bottled makapuno, whose makapuno demand will rise to 480,000 kilos yearly; CP Multicommodities Corp., 622,896 kilos; Pacific Isles Intl. Trading, 8,700 kilos; Newton Food Prod Mfg and MLM Foods, 252 kilos each; and Colette’s Buko Pie, 10,800 kilos.

Other makapuno for pastry requirements are from WBC Homemade Products, 600 kilos; Bread and Butter Food Inc., 175 kilos; Eskimo Icre Cream, 87 kilos; and Vjandep Bakeshop, 924 kilos.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006072870269.html

Bias against agriculture continues
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 07/28/2006

The agriculture sector is no doubt a vital cog in the economy, comprising a fifth of the country’s gross domestic output. It provides livelihood for more than 40 percent of the work force and accounts for six percent of the country’s exports.

Despite its importance, Filipino farmers remain one of the poorest in the region. With the investment climate so biased against agriculture, especially for smallholders, agriculture growth has been declining, bogged down by low productivity, expensive production inputs and further weakened by a deluge of cheaper and highly-subsidized imported agricultural products.

Agriculture experts like Pablito Villegas, a former official of the Land Bank of the Philippines, a World Bank consultant and currently president and chief executive officer of think tank Meganomics, puts it succinctly: "It’s two lost decades, the agriculture sector has been in the doldrums. It’s very sad that in all that time, agriculture has not been properly supported in terms of policy, financing and technical support to be able to grow and sustain itself as an instrument for food security and poverty reduction."

While agriculture grew significantly in the 1970s, it’s been downhill since the 1980s. The growth of agricultural output measured in terms of gross value added or GVA slowed down from 3.9 percent during the 1970s to about 1.4 percent annually in the 1990s and had declined consistently vis-à-vis the country’s population growth.

Farm productivity has languished. The Philippines has one of the lowest average growth rates in GVA in Asia. The weaker growth of agricultural exports compared to its Asian neighbors indicates the country is fast losing its competitive edge in world agricultural trade.

"Agriculture needs nourishing to be profitable. No farmer will ever become rich just producing rice, he has to take control of its other aspects, like postharvest and trading. Unfortunately, it has been mostly lip service as far as previous administrations are concerned," said Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban.

Panganiban led the Masagana 99 rice production program in the 1970s and briefly elevated the Philippines as a rice exporter in the region. It was during this time that the highest productivity level was observed during the post-Green Revolution period from 1974-1980.

The discernible decline after that shows that productivity level during the Green Revolution era has not been sustained even with major policy changes implemented since 1986 to revitalize agriculture.

Of course, charts show rising yields. But Panganiban notes that in the past few years, in fact, agricultural production has barely managed to keep pace with the number of mouths it has to feed.

"The Filipino population now stands at a staggering 87 million souls. By the time I end this sentence, two more Filipino children will have been born. And one more will be brought into the world every 15 seconds hence. Around seven out of every 10 Filipinos born will draw first breath somewhere in the rural areas, where just about every other person you meet is poor."


Lopsided policies


The benign neglect of agriculture is very evident. Stakeholders still complain about the same issues as they did 30 years ago: Lack of investments in critical support infrastructures such as farm-to-market roads, marketing facilities, ports and irrigation systems have resulted in high transaction costs, marketing and transportation costs, quantitative and qualitative losses for agricultural products and high domestic prices but low farm prices.

The higher cost of farm inputs and poor access to recommended technologies have led to limited access to certified high yielding varieties and discouraged farmers from adopting new and more efficient farm methods.

Panganiban who earlier this year pushed for the rehabilitation of the country’s irrigation systems, points out that only half of the existing structure is functioning because there are no funds allocated for their maintenance.

"With all of the irrigation and waterworks in place, it would be so much easier to get to that level of self-sufficiency in rice. Just release the budget at the right time, no need to be a visionary there, it’s plain and simple."

While farmers are constantly being encouraged to increase production, there is little, if at all, corresponding support to ensure farm productivity is enhanced and farmers’ real incomes improve to enable them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

For one, farmers up to now, still rely on informal credit to sustain production. The Agri-Agra Law, which mandated banks to set aside a portion of their loan portfolio to agribusiness ventures is riddled with loopholes such as allowing banks to divert these funds to investments in Treasury Bills. Despite efforts by government to support agricultural lending, agriculture continues to experience a credit gap of about P400 billion yearly.

When government liberalized farm trading as early as the 1980s, the average nominal tariffs for the agriculture sector was cut from 60 percent in 1980 to only 10 percent in 2003. Many agricultural crops produced domestically were opened up and only key staples such as rice and corn remain protected, although under its commitment to the World Trade Organization since 1995, the government had to import these commodities under the minimum access volume system.

While opening up farm trade, government failed to implement measures that would make Filipino farmers battle-ready for the influx of cheap produce of their highly-subsidized foreign competitors.

"For instance, the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund was supposed to be a safety net for farmers, but as subsequent events show, the funds went mostly to favored agribusiness companies," observes Pete Borja, of the private-sector dominated National Agricultural and Fishery Council.

The failed commitments include budgetary support to agriculture. The funds to improve agricultural infrastructure were below the target total requirements.

Former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. observed that the local agricultural sector can’t wage a decent skirmish in the global arena because of inadequate budgetary support.

The government also never heeded a WTO provision that required member countries to provide domestic support to their respective agricultural sector by as much as 10 percent of their gross value added contribution to the country’s economy.

Had this been enacted, the Department of Agriculture (DA) should have been entitled to P51 billion in 1999, as the GVA contribution of the agri-fishery sector totaled P506 billion at that time.

The government also passed, but failed repeatedly to allocate the required budget for the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA).

Under Republic Act 8435 which created AFMA , an additional P20 billion should have been appropriated over and above the regular appropriations of DA. In reality, Congress just lumped the DA budget with the allocation for AFMA. Since 1998, a year after AFMA became law, the regular DA budget was just P15.73 billion and this year, the DA is operating on a reenacted budget of about P14 billion.

"The present state of the agriculture sector clearly demonstrates government‚s lack of political will to do the right thing for agriculture. It is a failure of governance. There is resource misallocation most glaring of which is of course the fertilizer scam. So the sector still suffers from lack of critical infrastructure support and the market can‚t operate with these inefficiencies, farmers‚ commodities can‚t be transported," says Villegas.

Another constant problem in the agriculture sector is the lack of policy certainty. Because the highest DA post is so politically-charged, the change in leadership also often results in frequent policy changes.

"The bias against agriculture will never change unless there is a government leadership that will really step up, maintain sound policies and implement them. Then maybe, our farmers have real reason to hope. The way that developed economies have evolved is that industries were built out of the agriculture sector. You empower the farmers so that they can go into agro-industrial activities, you don‚t reduce them to mere producers, but elevate them to traders and entrepreneurs," says a former top official of the DA.


http://philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607280711.htm

Telecommunications: Bright spot in economy
By Mary Ll. Ann Reyes
The Philippine Star 07/28/2006

Twenty years ago, it would have taken months if not years to get a simple telephone line installed. But consumers had no choice. The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) was a monopoly in the fixed line business. Competition was unheard of in those days.

According to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), prior to 1986, the policy on telecommunications was that of integration. Operators were encouraged to integrate into one voice or telephone carrier. All national data carriers, principally telex and telegraph service providers, were also encouraged to form one integrated data service carrier. The growth of the local telephone network was very slow. There were only around 600,000 telephone lines in 1986.

In 1987, the Department of Transportation and Communications issued Order No. 87-188 which allowed regulated competition in the telco market except in the local telephone market. In 1989, two additional international telephone service providers were authorized to compete with PLDT, which enjoyed monopoly in the national and international telephone market until 1989. But the expansion of the local telephone network remained very slow. Until 1995, there were only around 800,000 telephone lines or less than one telephone line per 100 population, according to NTC data.

In 1993, EO 59 was issued mandating the compulsory interconnection of all public networks. Interconnection is a very necessary ingredient to ensure fair and effective competition in the telecommunications industry. EO 109 on the other hand ensured that the necessary telecommunications infrastructure will be available in then the rural areas. These twin issuances were institutionalized by RA 7925, known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act which set the general policies on public telecommunications. RA7925 mandated the NTC to foster healthy competitive environment, ensure interconnection of all public networks at non-discriminatory access rates, protect and promote the interest and welfare of the consumers and ensure that all citizens have access to telecommunications networks and services.

With the opening up of competition in the public telecommunications market, several new players were allowed to compete in the provision of all types of telco services including the local telephone service. From 1996 to 1998, the number of installed local telephone lines increased to more than six million lines from less than one million lines and the number of areas served increased from 20 to 58 percent.

From two million subscribers in 1999, the number of cellular phone subscribers grew to 35 million as of end-2005 due to the introduction of prepaid cellphone service and the popularity of the short or text messaging service.

Today, the telco sector is probably the brightest spot in the economy. The fixed and mobile telephony sector alone accounts for about four percent of total gross domestic product (GDP), and represents six percent of total investments between 1999 and 2003. During this period, total investment in the sector reached $4.3 billion. Total taxes paid by telcos account for six to seven percent of total tax collections by government. The two largest telecom operators alone contributed about P28 billion in taxes last year.

The STAR has invited leaders of the telecommunications sector to share their views on how the past 20 years has changed the lives of Filipinos and where we are headed. Here are their comments:

"The telecommunications sector has been a dynamic force in the Philippine economy over the last decade. It has been a catalyst for many other industries to grow and flourish through the many products and services that have grown around it. The industry has made great advances over the past decade in terms of technology, products, and quality of service, which has made our country’s telecommunication infrastructure rise to a global standard. The telco sector has become an important component of national development, especially as we find ways to develop products and services that are accessible and affordable to a wider base of consumers. Certainly, as a participant in the sector, we will continue to face the challenges of the competitive dynamics of a changing industry. However, given the growth prospects and the opportunities created by new technologies, the Ayala group sees tremendous continued potential and intends to continue being a significant part of this vibrant sector." — Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive officer, Ayala Corp.

"The past two decades have been a period of tremendous growth for the telecommunications industry and delivered enormous benefits for Philippine business and consumers. Following the liberalization of the telecoms industry in the 1990s, the private sector has invested several billion dollars to build new telecom networks. Most of that growth has been powered by the cellular industry. Twenty years ago, we did not have a single mobile phone. Today, we have nearly 40 million mobile phone users. Now, it is the turn of the fixed line business. Landlines are experiencing a rebirth as next generation network technologies empower fixed line networks with increased capabilities at lower costs. Wired and wireless broadband technologies are being deployed all over the country thus creating exciting opportunities for BPO, tourism and other industries in various parts of the country." — Napoleon Nazareno, president and CEO, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications.

"When EO 59 and 109 were first passed in 1993, and all the way through the passage of RA 7925 in 1995, we were all still struggling to wire the nation, working to roll-out copper lines to increase landline penetration just to keep up with the country’s wealthier neighbors, and making do with dial-up to access the internet. Today, the Philippines enjoys an envied position in the wireless world. More than just being the text capital of the world, the Philippines is at the cutting edge of wireless telecommunications technology and is a pioneer in mobile content and services. The explosion in usage of wireless communications has also provided the country with unique opportunities to deliver internet access both with and without wires. Even as we work to ignite the first sparks of the broadband revolution, we are at the same time also planting the seeds and seeing the first sprouts of wireless broadband technologies and powerful media delivery platforms over 3G. More importantly. as telecommunications becomes more and more accessible to all strata of society, it will become a great equalizer. It will be a tool accessible to everyone for all purposes." - Gerardo Ablaza, president and CEO, Globe Telecom

"Compared to 20 years ago, telecom is better, more accessible and much cheaper. It is one sector of infrastructure where the Philippines is world class, and a source of competitive advantage. Just witness the growth of the business process outsourcing industry." — Lance Gokongwei, president, JG Summit and Digitel.

"The liberalization of the telco industry was the most important milestone that transformed the industry to what it is today. The implementation of EO 109 and EO 59 gave birth to BayanTel and other players, significantly improved access to telco services, provided a wider range of products available and improved the delivery of such services to Filipinos. The liberalized environment spurred investments in the sector and facilitated the development of a reliable telco infrastructure necessary to drive economic growth. The industry is now poised for further development and advancement. BayanTel and its shareholders have committed significant resources to further enhance its capabilities and upgraded its core network and are making available sufficient capacities of the National Digital Transmission Network to support seamless communication nationwide. The next generation of services would be based on Internet Protocol or IP, as telecommunications, Internet, media and entertainment converge into a single platform for delivery. BayanTel and the Lopez Group is uniquely positioned with its existing assets to deliver these new generation of services. The telco sector is definitely ready for the future." — Tunde Fafunwa, chief executive consultant, Bayan Telecommunications.

"We are definitely more advanced technologically than 20 years ago. But we should never lose sight of the fact that technology is not the driver towards success but the work ethics, integrity and values of the people that make up our country." — Butch Jimenez, senior vice president and head, retail business group, PLDT.

"The first five years of this century saw the introduction of new electronic services which are faster and more accurate. We now hear of state-of-the art technologies like broadband, fast internet, VoIP, and 3G. No more of the plain old telephone service, telegraph , telex and paging which we now know as legacy services. There are problems though to be solved if our efforts to improve are to be successful. For one, the educational system has lagged in providing the required technological skill needed by the service providers. Those that have skills are quickly snapped by other countries. Another is the dearth of developers of content which is the lifeblood of the whole system. Fortunately the government through the CICT and the NTC have taken cognizance of the problems and are providing solutions with the cooperation of the private sector. — Epitacio Marquez, chairman, Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators


http://philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607280710.htm

Are investors coming back?
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 07/28/2006

Over the last 20 years, the government appears to have squandered the goodwill it earned from the peaceful People Power overthrow of the Marcos regime.

Foreign investors came for a brief period of time, but after the Asian financial crisis which left the local economy in shambles, some have left and new ones have decided to give the country a detour.

Historical investment data from the BOI shows that investments in 1986 amounted to only P3.811 billion due to the political uncertainty.

However, with the successful takeover of the Aquino Administration and subsequent smooth transition to President Fidel V. Ramos, investments returned in 1987, recording a triple-digit growth rate with projects ballooning to 1,434 worth a notable P12.354 billion.

From then on, investments managed to post a respectable performance, reaching 3,111 projects worth P107.295 billion in 1990. There was a decline the following year in 1991 with projects reaching only 2,115 worth P83.376 billion. In 1992, total investments managed to rise to P99.101 billion with projects numbering 2,248 before dropping again to 2,009 projects worth P95.878 billion in 1993.

The heyday of economic boom in the country was from 1994 to 1997 with investors roaring in and bringing investments worth P465.490 billion comprised of only 833 projects and climaxing to P569 billion in 1997 just as the Asian economic crisis reared its ugly head.

By 1998, the party was breaking apart and investments had slowed to only P267.367 billion.

By 2000, the Philippines had definitely lost its appeal and political uncertainty again crept into the picture with the short-lived administration of President Joseph Estrada.

Investments had fallen to just P43.611 billion in 2000 but managed to post a blip in 2001 with P102 billion after another peaceful People Power overthrow of President Estrada and former economist President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over the reins of power.

Unfortunately, investments remained sluggish, amounting to only P28.352 billion in 2002 and P28.340 billion in 2003.

Some investors have slowly returned with investments once again rising to P164.522 in 2004, but dipping to P163.878 billion in 2004.

As of the first six month of 2006, investment inflows amounted to only P74.337 billion, not even half of 2005 level.

And therein lies the rub.

Someone has to take the blame and unfortunately, the Board of Investments (BOI) is getting all the heat with legislators proposing the abolition of the investments body and the creation of a new entity to be known as the Philippine Investment Promotion Agency or PIPA.

Detractors of the BOI believe that since the agency was created in September 1967, it has failed to live up to its objective of accelerating the development of the economy and guiding the dispersal of industries.

In fact, most cite the colossal failure of the Industrialization Program of former

Marcos Trade and Industry Secretary Roberto V. Ongpin which was supposed to make the Philippines industrially sufficient with its own steel, petrochemical, fertilizer, paper, copper and nickel and automotive industries.

Most of these industries have floundered and of what remains is floundering.

Instead, the BOI is now being labelled as a mere incentive- giving body, awarding incentives which should not be given because the investments that do come in would come in even without the incentives.

For BOI managing head Elmer C. Hernandez, Jr., who has been with the BOI for the past 17 years, the BOI is getting a bum rap.

According to Hernandez, the BOI has, and continues, to evolve and adapt its policies to the changing needs of the times.

An example of the BOI’s foresight, Hernandez recalls, was the decision in 1989 to do away with the policy on measured capacity.

Previous to 1989, the BOI policy restricted the registration of new entrants to a specific industry if the existing industry players had high capacity and could meet the demands of the market.

That policy, Hernandez explained, was protectionist and created monopolies.

Thus, even before the era of globalization and liberalization, the BOI, Hernandez said, already had the foresight to open up competition.

The BOI, likewise, Hernandez reveals, shed and avoided what in essence would have been regulatory functions.

One instance he cited was the decision of the BOI to do away with accrediting customs bonded warehouses and giving that function to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Over the years, Hernandez points out, the BOI has adapted a more consultative approach with industries and incorporating their views, suggestions and proposals in the crafting of the Investments Priorities Plan.

The BOI, unfortunately, may just be the convenient fall guy.

Most foreign investors continue to cite political uncertainty, erratic government policies, corruption and lack of infrastructure as some of their reasons for continuing to stay away from the Philippines.

Asian neighbors such as Thailand and Malaysia have been the beneficiaries and have been able to post stronger economic growth than the Philippines.

The emergence of China from its iron curtain has also been a big factor in luring away potential investors in the last 20 years.

Both external and domestic factors are thus, part of the mix, but the bottom line remains that investors are still not coming back.


http://philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607280706.htm

^^ Uhmmm that "Telecommunications: Bright spot in economy" article is already posted... on post 155

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Peace prospects to double
ARMM economic growth

12% growth on local investments after news
of impending peace agreement

By Abdulrahman Ismail

Foreign and domestic investments are expected to grow further in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after the Philippine government started initiatives aimed at forging peace with the Mindanao-based secessionist movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), since last year.

ARMM Secretary for Trade and Investments Atty. Ishak Mastura reported that since the Philippine government and the MILF started its peace talks in Malaysia, investments in 2004 and 2005 in the region grew by P 511.9 million and P439.9 million, respectively. This year, first quarter investments in the ARMM grew by 12%, a significant jump from P 194.97 million to P 222.77 million. If this trend continues, says Mastura, the ARMM expects investments to double that of last year.

ARMM is growing faster compared to other provinces in Mindanao. Moro entrepreneurs involved in the agri-business sector, says Mastura, are generating most of the investments. Foreign investments, however, remained stagnant. Due to the prevailing security situation especially in Maguindanao, most of the potential foreign investments shunned the region, with the exception of the $30 million worth of investments by the Unifruitti company when they established a banana plantation in Lanao del Sur.

“No significant foreign investments entered the ARMM for the past few years because of continuing security risks and lawless violence, “ Mastura said.

“Generally, foreign investors are adopting a `wait and see’ attitude in terms of putting investments in the ARMM until the major uncertainty brought about by possible renewed hostilities between government forces and the Moro rebels is drastically reduced by the signing of the peace agreement,” the ARMM-DTI Secretary added.

Mastura said that more foreign and domestic investments are expected to pour into the ARMM as soon as the Philippine government and the MILF leadership sign the peace agreement. President Arroyo said that the peace agreement with the secessionist rebels will be signed later this year.

While waiting for the resolution of the decades-old conflict, the ARMM-DTI initiated programs for the development of the business sector in the region. Last June, the ARMM-DTI held the ARMM Business Congress in Lamitan Basilan, attended by more than 500 entrepreneurs in the area. Mastura said that the success of the congress just proves that more and more Moros are interested in becoming entrepreneurs and contributing towards the economic development of the region.

ARMM-China Relations

Trade relations between China and the ARMM also jump-started with the establishment of direct trade links this month. M/V Ho Feng, a Chinese vessel, started using the Polloc port in Parang, Maguindanao, loading more than 125,000 bags of cement. More Chinese vessels are expected to use the port to bring ARMM exports to Asia’s fastest-growing economy. Incidentally, China has one of the most robust Muslim communities, with an estimated Muslim population of 5 million and still growing.

Growth of ARMM agri-business sector

Coconut production remains as the primary produce of the ARMM, with 1.17 metric tons produced, followed by cassava (950,785 MT), corn (630,889MT), rice (545,411MT), banana (374,964MT) and rubber (27,067MT). The ARMM dominates cassava production in the whole of Mindanao with 78% of total production coming from the region.

However, seaweed production remains as the most promising export product of the region. In 2004, ARMM produced 472,514 metric tons of seaweeds, accounting for fifty percent of total seaweed production in the Philippines. In 2002, processed seaweeds or what we called carrageen, garnered more than $121 million worth of exports for the Philippines. Mastura said that seaweed production will triple if ARMM can directly export its products abroad. Presently, seaweed producers send their produce to Cebu- and Zamboanga-based processing plants. With the passage of the Regional Economic Zone Authority (REZA) law, Mastura hopes that the ARMM will be able to develop more value-added industries for its raw products through the establishment of agro-industrial estates and special economic zones.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/28/yehey/moro/20060728moro1.html

Meetings begin on P290-B infrastructure plan


By Michelle Remo, Riza T. Olchondra
Inquirer
Last updated 03:23am (Mla time) 07/28/2006


THE government's economic team has begun a series of meetings to firm up a list of infrastructure projects totaling P290 billion that the administration hopes to do from this year until President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term in 2010, officials said Thursday.

Arroyo highlighted the massive plant in her State of the Nation Address last Monday, which was immediately met with questions on funding.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said that after listing the projects, the economic team would follow up with feasibility studies by the different implementing agencies.

Some of the big-ticket projects on the list are new airports in Zamboanga, San Vicente in Palawan, Cagayan, Bagabag, Poro and La Union, and improvement of the two airports in Batanes province.

Also planned are interconnection of the North Luzon and South Luzon Expressways, extension of Metro Manila's overhead Light Rail Transit to Bacoor town to the south, connection of the north stations of the Light Rail Transit and the Metro Rail Transit, upgrade of the Subic seaport, and construction a roll-on, roll-off port system to link Lucena in Quezon and Boac in Marinduque.

The projects already have sources of financing, said Beltran and Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC).

Mendoza said they would be funded partly from the government's annual budget and largely with official development assistance (ODA) from multilateral and bilateral donor agencies.

Mendoza also said government-owned or -controlled corporations under the DoTC -- including the Philippine Ports Authority and the Manila International Airport Authority -- had confirmed existence of funds to support the seaport and airport projects.

The ODA will be obtained from the World Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Chinese government, Korea Export-Import Bank and European governments, the officials said.
Local government units will also be tapped to assist in fund raising, Beltran said.

The economic team includes Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya and Governor Amando Tetangco of the central bank.

It has set a target of increasing spending for infrastructure to five or six percent of the gross domestic product, in line with ratios in neighboring countries, from the present two to three percent of GDP. With INQ7.net



Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=12162

Rising savings rate in RP to fund infrastructure program



Associated Press
Last updated 11:15am (Mla time) 07/28/2006


A RISING national savings rate in the Philippines, courtesy of its huge overseas work force, should finance part of a massive public investment program announced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an aide said Friday.

The Filipino leader announced plans to build airports, roads, ports, and other projects to link up the Southeast Asian archipelago during her State of The Nation Address to Congress on Monday.

Aides said the program would cost about four billion dollars, an amount equivalent to one-fifth of the annual national budget. They said the private sector would be mobilized while to government would take on more debt.

Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said the program should be boosted by the rising gross national savings rate, which has risen to 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year from 23 percent in 2000.

This was helped by remittances from millions of Filipino workers abroad, who sent home a record 10.7 billion dollars -- equivalent to half the national budget -- through the formal banking system last year, he added.

Inflows in the five months to May are nearly 15 percent higher than the equivalent figure last year.

"The vast pool of savings is a resource that should be tapped for infrastructure and social development projects," Neri said.

He said the significant rise in remittances was "due in large part to the changing profile of the migrant workers as more professionals are being deployed. In particular, more nurses and caregivers are working abroad to attend to the elderly across Europe, the Americas and Asia."

Overseas workers now use their money to buy condominium units, vehicles and appliances, or to put them in time-deposit accounts, Neri said.

Organizations representing these workers " have been inquiring about possible investment opportunities for their members. Hence, I suggest that the government tap this source of capital instead of borrowing from abroad," he added.

"This form of financing will further shift the nations credit exposure from foreign to local-denominated debt paper. It is up to the monetary authorities to choose the proper instruments most suitable for tapping [these] funds."

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=12228