^TRue. Besides any politcal systems has its own elites. There's no exception. We cannot get rid of them. But it doesnt mean that they will always be powerful. A rising middle class could be a limit to their power.

^^ who ever said of ever depriving the elite of their rights or of "eliminating" them? sheesh... read carefully to understand that im referring to the system called elite democracy where power is consolidated on the few.
sadly, we have a very weak middle class which often times is indistinguishable from the elite because of many similarities in agenda.

5-yr building plan may boost RP growth — Beltran

The Philippine Star 07/29/2006

President Arroyo’s P290-billion five-year infrastructure spending plan may boost economic growth to its fastest pace in more than 30 years, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said.

Building roads, railways, and air and sea ports by 2010 will boost the government’s chances of reaching the top seven percent growth rate under the government’s six-year development plan, Beltran said.

"The higher end of the government’s development program will become more achievable," Beltran said.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier this week said the government will pursue the building plan to attract investment and create jobs in the country.

The Philippines, the second-smallest among 15 economies in Asia Pacific tracked by Bloomberg, grew 8.8 percent in 1976, according to data since 1956.

Mrs. Arroyo’s infrastructure projects, which also include bridges and water systems, will not stop the government balancing the budget by 2008, Beltran said.

The Philippines raised taxes in the past nine months to boost revenue and cut deficits that since 1998 had tripled the nation’s debt to P4 trillion.

"These projects will not be done at one go," Beltran said. "The spending will be calibrated so funding these projects will not be a problem. Some of these were already in the pipeline even after the plan was announced."

Beltran said that aside from the government’s budget, the projects will be funded by loans from multilateral and bilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607290702.htm

Manufacturing industry posts 8.5% growth in May



By EDU H. LOPEZ

The value of production index (VaPI) for the manufacturing industry posted an 8.5 percent growth in May 2006 compared with the year-ago figure, according to the preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI).


The National Statistics Office (NSO) said this was brought about by the three-digit growth in production of leather products with 127.6 percent, followed by six other major sectors which posted two-digit increases such as basic metals, fabricated metal products, miscellaneous manufactures, petroleum products, textiles and electrical machinery.

On a month-on-month basis, VaPI also picked up by 9.0 percent in May 2006. Significant expansion in production were noted in 17 major sectors, with two-digit increases in tobacco, leather products, transport equipment, basic metals, miscellaneous manufactures, fabricated metal products, publishing and printing, beverages and food manufacturing.

However, the volume of production Index (VoPI) has continued to decline, but at a slower rate of 5.4 percent in May 2006.

This was an improvement from the two-digit drop of 13.2 percent in April 2006. The sectors that mainly influenced the decrease were wood and wood products, machinery excluding electrical, tobacco, electrical machinery, rubber products, footwear and wearing apparel, transport equipment and non-metallic mineral products.

The value of Net Sales reflected a year-on-year increase of 7.7 percent in May 2006 compared to the previous month’s decrease of 2.2 percent.

Leather products led other major sectors with a significant growth of 122.6 percent, followed by four major sectors which posted double-digit increases in basic metals, food manufacturing, petroleum products and electrical machinery.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006072970369.html

Air industry eyed as catalyst for Caraga’s economic growth



By MIKE U. CRISMUNDO

BUTUAN CITY — An economic boom is expected in the Caraga region following a decision of an airline to acquire newer and better aircraft for domestic and international flights.


The maiden flight of the Cebu Pacific Airbus 319 to this city was attended by top airline officials, representatives from the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Air Transport Office (ATO), and Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA).

Also present were regional directors from line agencies of the government led by Butuan City Rep. Leovigildo B. Banaag, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources at the House of Representatives and Mayor Democrito Plaza II, chairman of the Regional Development Council (RDC).

The new 150-seater Airbus 319 of Cebu Pacific upgrades the services offered by the company to travelers flying the Manila-Butuan route.

To boost tourism in the region, Cebu Pacific also designed special treats and holiday packages for passengers who will patronize the airline.

Meanwhile, Banaag announced that President Arroyo is set to release R5 million for the rehabilitation of the runway of the Bancasi Airport.

Aside from the commitment of the President to fund the R300-million modernization project to upgrade the facilities at the Bancasi Airport last year, Banaag said that another R55 million proposed in the 2006 budget is being allocated for the extension of the runway and passenger terminal and for the purchase of night flight facilities.

"The additional aircraft being launched and acquired by air companies in this region’s capital city is indeed an indicator that Caraga region is booming economically," Banaag said.

The solon also cited the inflow of big business investments, both foreign and domestic in the fields of tourism, mining, lumber and agricultural business opportunities, where thousands of employment opportunities will be generated, which translates to more revenues for the state’s coffers.

In the mining industry alone, Banaag revealed that at least 59,130 Butuanons benefited from new jobs.

The multi-billion Nonoc Mining Corp. is also set to operate in the city and an estimated 15,000 new jobs would be generated. Millions of pesos in taxes would also be generated at the mine site in Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte, he added.

Banaag added thousands of hectares of land are being developed as tree plantations.

More foreign investors, particularly Europeans and Chinese, are also keen on investing in these plantations, he stressed.

http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2006072970347.html

Missing OFW funds
07/29/2006

Something is definitely wrong somewhere in Gloria’s world.

In her State of the Nation Address (Sona), she stressed several times over, that she has the funds for the future massive infrastructure projects she laid out; funds for the war against terror; the war against corruption, and the war against the insurgents, among many other funds she claims to have.

Yet in the case of the overseas workers’ funds, where her government should have, at the very least, some P8 billion that should be flowing, given the war conditions in Lebanon, where some 34,000 Filipino workers are stationed, all Gloria has eked out for evacuation purposes is P150 million.

And Gloria’s people are stingy with that miniscule amount even at this time of evacuation.

Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Bichara has been complaining publicly that the embassy’s funds are running out. He has asked for at least $1 million to keep things going.

For airing this complaint, Bichara has been berated heavily by Malacañang and the Department of Foreign Affairs with even a DFA undersecretary saying that if Bichara were a soldier during a time of war, he would shoot him dead. That’s the diplomacy they teach this undersecretary?

There was too that remark from the undersecretary that all Bichara spends on is food and bus transport from Lebanon to Damascus. Just how much does this undersecretary think feeding sardine-packed OFWs in that church costs, given the many days they have been staying there?

Rafael Seguis, a DFA official, was sent to Lebanon to check on the claim of Bichara, and said the ambassador had less than $100,000 total. So what’s that amount when one is dealing with the problem of some 34,000 Filipinos? But why are they so measly with the funds, since the OWWA funds, precisely meant for such contingencies, amount to some P8 billion minimum?

They all denied that there is a lack of funds, yet it was clear, from the flight arrivals of Filipino workers from the war-torn country, that there are less and less workers being brought home by the Philippine government, with the latest batch numbering some 50 workers and in a commercial flight, which means that chartered flights have been dumped by the Arroyo government as a means to get more Pinoy workers home and fast.

Even more ridiculous was the claim of Budget Secretary Andaya that he wouldn’t release any money to Bichara unless and until the ambassador liquidates that which he has been given. With the red tape in Gloria’s government and considering that the times are extraordinary in Lebanon and the Filipino situation, the Budget secretary wants to wait for a liquidation report? Has Gloria even liquidated the cash advances her office got for her many jaunts abroad? Past Commission on Audit reports showed a huge amount that has been left unliquidated for these trips.

Chances are, those billions in OWWA funds no longer exist, with the funds diverted elsewhere — again.

It will be recalled that in 2004, during election campaign time, OWWA funds diverted and used for those PhilHealth cards were questioned by a group of migrant workers. There was enough evidence of the diversion and obviously used for Gloria’s presidential election campaign.

Still, some of these funds must have had a replenishment if they had not been diverted again. And it certainly looks like the funds aren’t there, since Malacañang has been quite stingy with the money that should be poured in for the contract workers stranded in Lebanon. But why isn’t this being done? Aren’t these workers considered by this government as the modern economic heroes, since they have been helping greatly in propping the economy through their billions in remittances?

Even more ridiculous is the fact that the Arroyo government announced that those workers who had arrived from Lebanon can now apply for jobs in the Middle East, as they would have an edge over others, having worked there before.

None made mention of the fact that there were many Filipino workers who had come home from Lebanon saying they had been abused by their employers, or that they had not been paid for some six months.

Gloria and her officials really have no heart. All they see in the Filipino contract workers is money, money, money, and to hell with their situation — so much so that even the funds reserved for them for such emergencies are not even being provided.

It is timely for the Senate to conduct a probe on these missing OWWA funds. The nation may just discover another thing or two from this thieving government.

‘GMA top funds borrower among all Presidents’
07/29/2006
Gerry Baldo

The advocacy group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) yesterday lambasted President Arroyo for being “the biggest borrower among all other Presidents of the Republic in Philippine history.”

FDC president Ana Maria Nemenzo said Mrs. Arroyo has borrowed a total to P2.74 trillion in her five years and six months in office, even as she cited the Euromoney report, a prestigious international business magazine, that said the Philippines is 2006's Best Sovereign Borrower in Asia for issuing bonds that “have taken the market by storm over the last 12 months.”

“In her five years and six months in office, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has borrowed a total of P2.74 trillion, the biggest among all her predecessors. But where has the money gone in the face of increasing poverty and hunger in the country?” Nemenzo asked.

Nemenzo also scored National Treasurer Omar Cruz for putting up a banner in front of his office in appreciation of the “best borrower” award the country received.

“This award is definitely not something to be proud of. It’s an embarrassment and a slap on the face of every Filipino,” she said.

She further chidingly said the Euromoney award is a great addition to Mrs. Arroyo’s long list of “achievements,” such as election fraud, corruption, human rights violations and political killings.

In its report, Euromoney said the award was being bestowed to the Philippines after it issued a bond float worth $2.2 billion in the international market last Jan. 4.

Of the $2.2 billion worth of bonds, she said $1.5 billion were denominated in US dollars and $700 million in Euros (500 million Euros).

In addition, the government on Tuesday sold $750 million worth of 10-year and 25-year sovereign bonds, completing its foreign borrowing requirement for the year.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services gave a “BB-” senior unsecured rating to the Philippine global bonds.

________________

5-yr building plan may boost RP growth — Beltran

The Philippine Star 07/29/2006

President Arroyo’s P290-billion five-year infrastructure spending plan may boost economic growth to its fastest pace in more than 30 years, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said.

Building roads, railways, and air and sea ports by 2010 will boost the government’s chances of reaching the top seven percent growth rate under the government’s six-year development plan, Beltran said.

"The higher end of the government’s development program will become more achievable," Beltran said.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier this week said the government will pursue the building plan to attract investment and create jobs in the country.

The Philippines, the second-smallest among 15 economies in Asia Pacific tracked by Bloomberg, grew 8.8 percent in 1976, according to data since 1956.

Mrs. Arroyo’s infrastructure projects, which also include bridges and water systems, will not stop the government balancing the budget by 2008, Beltran said.

The Philippines raised taxes in the past nine months to boost revenue and cut deficits that since 1998 had tripled the nation’s debt to P4 trillion.

"These projects will not be done at one go," Beltran said. "The spending will be calibrated so funding these projects will not be a problem. Some of these were already in the pipeline even after the plan was announced."

Beltran said that aside from the government’s budget, the projects will be funded by loans from multilateral and bilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

US designs on the Philippines
By E San Juan

The Philippines has historically been pivotal to the US projection of its military power in Asia and the Middle East. Besides, Filipinos are famous worldwide for being 200% Americanized and martyrs for "Americanism" everywhere.

Washington is now plagued with the mounting disasters of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Public resistance to the wars is increasing, especially among military families and business sectors. Meanwhile, the challenges of Iran, North Korea and of course China, not to mention Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and insurgents in Colombia, Nepal and elsewhere, are extremely worrisome to the corporate power elite.

The Philippines is not comparable to oil-rich Indonesia or even touristy Thailand. Nonetheless, the US hegemonic bloc is extremely fearful that a nationalist, nay a left-wing, alternative may take advantage of the chronic weakness of the Filipino oligarchy ridden with corruption, internal antagonisms and sycophancy to corporate US and foreign interests. Preparations to transfer the Okinawa military operations to the Philippines are being expedited, even as the militarization of Japan proceeds without let-up. The Philippines also provides about 10 million migrant contract workers to service corporate globalization around the planet (for example, building Guantanamo prison cells and cleaning the barracks of troops in Iraq).

After September 11, the New People's Army (NPA)and the Communist Party of the Philippines were promptly declared "terrorist organizations" by the US State Department. This was meant to paralyze any international support for the nationalist insurgency. The millions of Filipinos abroad might be a support base for the NPA and the National Democratic Front - just as Islamic nations supported the Moro National Liberation Front during the Marcos dictatorship.

The systematic media exploitation of the Abu Sayaff as somehow comparable in scale to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, together with its linking of the Abu Sayaff with left-wing and nationalist dissent, has conditioned the US public to recent military incursions ("exercises") in the Philippines. It has allowed Bush and his generals to refurbish the politically bankrupt Arroyo and the armed forces of the Philippines as part of their united front against opponents of US neo-colonial encroachment wherever profits can be made.

Ever since the local economic think-tank, Ibon Foundation, and pollsters began documenting the decline of public support for Arroyo amid illegal gambling (jueteng) scandals involving her family, the US has begun to follow their tested modus operandi on "regime change". They have consulted with opposition politicians, the Catholic Church, the judiciary and of course their military operatives.

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo solicited the backing of key US lawmakers for Arroyo, such as Republican Senator Thad Cochran, chair of the US Senate Appropriations Committee; Republican senators Robert Bennett of Utah and Jim Kolbe of Arizona, as well as Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California (where the majority of Filipino Americans reside). Romulo also got the support of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, former deputy defense secretary and adviser to Bush, and one of the shrewd authors of the project to resuscitate the obsolescent American empire in the post-Cold War epoch.

A revealing interview with US diplomat Karen Kelley, suggests the duplicitous mode of preparing for "regime change" as seen from the US Embassy in Manila. While former lackeys of Arroyo are abandoning ship and jumping into the opposition bandwagon, the US poses to defend orderly transition, which means appearing to endorse transparency and accountability while engaged in cloak-and-dagger shenanigans to preserve business and military interests in their former "showcase of democracy" in Asia. The cases of "Cold Warriors" Ramon Magsaysay, Benigno Aquino and Colonel Edward Lansdale of the notorious Phoenix program in Vietnam easily come to mind.

Given the pre-emptive and unconscionable means used by globalizing capital to prevent any real substantive change in the local power hierarchy, we shouldn't be deceived by all this legalese rhetoric about democracy and freedom. It is necessary for all progressive forces not to rely solely on bureaucratic or parliamentary means to get rid of Arroyo and her business network. The few wealthy families have never relied only on peaceful means to seize power and maintain supremacy. Nor have the bourgeoisie anywhere in the world. "Civil society" and state as presently constituted only serve to maintain the seemingly "normal" unequal division of power and wealth. We need to be critical of current institutions and practices, and also guard against sectarian dogmatism and opportunist vanguardism. Let the dead bury the dead.

As events in our history have proved, representatives of the ruling class can never represent the genuine long-term interests of the people. Neither ex-president Cory Aquino nor Arroyo (who represent sections of the privileged minority) can solve the systemic evils of rampant poverty and unnecessary deaths caused by the unequal division of wealth (in particular, land and other means of production) and the chronic backwardness of the economy due to subservience to US dictates (via World Bank - WB - and International Monetary Fund - IMF - conditionalities).

Nor can populist gimmicks tied to ousted president Joseph Estrada and assorted "social democrats" obsessed with capitalist globalization elsewhere except in the Philippines, mobilize informed grass-roots support for a thoroughgoing land-reform program, industrialization, a halt to the overseas workers warm-body export policy, and the genocidal war against Moro and indigenous communities.

How can the owners of Hacienda Luisita and the plantations in Negros, Davao, and elsewhere support the loss of their property and class privileges? How can the classes represented by Aquino, former president Fidel Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo really allow the break-up of feudal privileges and their monopoly of political power in their territories? Behind them stand the corrupt mendacious officers of the armed forces and the police (notwithstanding the presence of some nationalist middle-level personnel in the ranks), as well as warlords and gangster-vigilante formations sponsored by the CIA.

This is not to exclude individual members of these conservative and reactionary groups from joining the anti-imperialist united front. What we need is adherence to and step-by-step implementation of a tactical and strategic program of nationalist development that will mobilize the masses of workers, peasants, women, youth, professionals and indigenous communities. We do not need to repeat the mistakes of the past. What is needed? Not a mountain stronghold policy of imposing a party line in a sectarian manner, but a way of unleashing the energies, wit, cunning and intelligence of the masses to destroy the old structures of oppression and exploitation that have victimized us since the days of Spanish colonialism, and particularly since the missionary agents of the US. "Benevolent assimilation" landed on our shores and civilized 1.4 million dead Filipinos.

We need to initiate and explore new radical means of emancipatory transformation. A transitional nationalist and popular-democratic government is needed to prevent the usual trick of using so-called legal procedures that have always reproduced the status quo to restore peace and "business as usual". If we want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the "People Power I" revolution and the delusions of "People Power II" , we need to rely on a united alliance of armed workers' and peasants' councils, community organizations, existing guerilla forces, and other grass-roots agencies to destroy the mechanisms of imperial domination through the institutions used by the landlords, compradors, bureaucrats and traditional politicians. Otherwise, we will prolong the injustice of the present set-up and the suffering of millions of Filipinos now and in the future.

Only a massive mobilization of the majority of citizens, of all oppressed and exploited sectors, in particular the Moro people and the tribal communities, can rid us of the evils of the exploitation of labor, political tyranny of the US, the WB/IMF, and World Trade Organization, foreign control of the economy, and the racialized inferiorization of our cultural heritage. We need to arm the masses to defend themselves against the counter-revolutionary violence of the US and its local followers.

A thousand defeats and sacrifices litter the past; is history repeating itself? But our countrymen who gave their lives fighting against Spanish, US and Japanese colonialisms speak to us from the future, saying: "A new world is possible. It is there for us to win." Let us seize this crisis of the enemy - the oligarchic elite and US imperialism - as an opportunity to advance the national democratic revolution of the Filipino masses and liberate ourselves from the evils of neo-colonialism, racial and gender oppression, commercialization and globalized misery.


Dr E San Juan Jr was recently Fulbright professor of American Studies at Leuven University, Belgium, and fellow of the Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University. He also works with Philippine Forum in New York City

^^Uhmmm that article is already posted... please, make sure to read the thread before posting any news...

Sin-tax collections rose to P21.8b in 1st half
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business05_july29_2006

Excise tax collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue from cigarette and liquor makers rose 11.5 percent in the first half of the year to exceed the collection goal for the period by P1.6 billion.

Collections from tobacco and alcohol have been on the rise since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9334 in December of 2004 raising the excise tax slapped on the said sin products.

Data from the BIR showed that sin taxes collected by the agency reached P21.79 billion from January to June this year, or about P2.24 billion more than the P19.55 billion posted during the same period last year.

Excise taxes from producers of tobacco and alcohol products were P1.57 billion more than the programmed collection of P20.22 billion for the first semester of the year.

Excise tax from tobacco products jumped 31.25 percent to P13.71 billion in the first six months of the year from P10.45 billion in the same period last year. The excise tax take from cigarette makers was P1.26 billion more than the collection target of P12.45 billion for the first half of the year.

On the other hand, excise tax from alcohol products fell 11.2 percent to P8.08 billion during the first half of the year from P9.1 billion in the same period last year. Despite the decline, collections from alcohol products were P308.66 million above the goal of P7.77 billion.

For the month of June alone, sin taxes collected by the BIR surged 28.45 percent to P4.65 billion from P3.62 billion in the same period last year. This was P1.05 billion more than the programmed collection of P3.6 billion for the month of June.

Collections from cigarette makers jumped 53.3 percent to P3.54 billion from P2.31 billion exceeding the goal of P2.29 billion by P1.23 billion. Tax take from alcohol producers, however, retreated by 15.5 percent to P1.11 billion from P1.31 billion but surpassed the goal of P1.31 billion by P203.7 million.

The BIR sees excise tax collections from tobacco and alcohol manufacturers rising by 18 percent to P48.04 billion this year from P40.69 billion last year. The agency expects a 19.7 percent increase from cigarette makers to P28.37 billion from P23.7 billion last year and a 15.76 percent rise in collections from alcohol producers to P19.67 billion from P16.99 billion.

The BIR and the Bureau of Customs are expected to raise an incremental revenue of P15 billion. However, both agencies failed to meet their collection targets after manufacturers decided to frontload the withdrawal of cigarettes and alcohol in 2004 and a lower court in Olongapo City issued an injunction preventing the government from imposing higher excise tax. Lawrence Agcaoili

GMA wins in ballot recount from 7,700 precincts in Cebu

Results of the ballot recount from 7,700 precincts in Cebu province
showed no irregularity, further reinforcing President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo's overwhelming win in the 2004 elections.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal made this assessment after receiving results
of recount on Thursday.

"Since ballots and returns for the vice-president and president are
the same, it follows that absence of any poll irregularity in the
vice-presidential race should have the same conclusion for
presidential candidates," he said.

Macalintal said he furnished the President the results of the recount.

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) conducted a re-count of the
votes cast in Cebu during the May 10, 2004 national polls after
opposition vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda filed an
electoral protest against Vice-President Noli de Castro.

Macalintal said Legarda's withdrawal of protest in ten municipalities
of Lanao del Norte, five municipalities in Surigao del Sur and six
towns of Lanao del Sur covering a total of over 300,000 voters
boosted the administration's claim that the 2004 election was clean
and orderly.

After receiving election returns from Lanao del Norte and Surigao del
Sur, Legarda conceded she she lost in these areas.

"This is a clear admission and indication of inherent weakness of the
opposition's much-publicized but unsubstantiated allegation of
massive election fraud that allegedly marred election of president in
2004," Macalintal said.

With this developmment, Ms Arroyo's legitimacy as President of the
Republic is beyond question.

"With your votes in Cebu fully intact and undisturbed, no court,
agency or tribunal can re-open any case to question the President's
legitimacy and the mandate of people for her to serve until 2010
should be respected for the sake of our people and our nation," he said.

During the 2004 elections Ms Arroyo garnered some 1.2 million votes
over her closest rival, the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr.

Most of the votes came from Cebu, a known bailwick of the President. (PNA)

^^ who ever said of ever depriving the elite of their rights or of "eliminating" them? sheesh... read carefully to understand that im referring to the system called elite democracy where power is consolidated on the few.
sadly, we have a very weak middle class which often times is indistinguishable from the elite because of many similarities in agenda.

You did not say eliminate. But you said patalsikin. I mean, how can you remove them easily? It's easy to say 'patalsikin,' but how?

isa pa yang legardang yan. Kunware iiyak iyak pa nung impeachment ni ERap eh peke naman. ngayon eh kampon ni ERAp. Anything for the sake of position and power and they they have the gall to criticize GMA for being ate Glue when they're birds of the same feather. Only difference is GMA won fair and square. and then she had the nerve to accuse NOli cheated when the preelection survey and exit polls all showed noli was way ahead of her.

haaayyy... talaga naman ang mga pro-gloria naniniwala na hindi sha nandaya... Kahit obvious na ang lahat. Pero hayaan nyo na hinding hindi na yan mapapanagot sa kasalanan nya habang d pa tapos term nya.. Kaya mabuti pa sabi nga ng iba wala nmang ipapalit na much better kaya patapusin na lang sha ng term. Pera2han na at alok ng position ang labanan ngayon..tsk tsk tsk.. Buti na lang magaling sha sa pagpapatakbo ng ekonomiya natin kaya pwede na hangang 2010 total sa ngayon wala na tayong magagawa kundi suportahan sha.

Pero ewan ko lang after 2010 kung ano pa magagawa ng mga pro-GMA pag hindi nagtagumpay cha2...hehehe kung succesful eh d ok lang din.. :)

nagpaparinig ka ba^^ bat hindi ka na lang magpost ng mga anti gloria rhetorics mo without attacking the pro gloria crowd. you believe what you want to believe and let others believe what they want to believe.

haaayyy... talaga naman ang mga pro-gloria naniniwala na hindi sha nandaya... Kahit obvious na ang lahat. Pero hayaan nyo na hinding hindi na yan mapapanagot sa kasalanan nya habang d pa tapos term nya.. Kaya mabuti pa sabi nga ng iba wala nmang ipapalit na much better kaya patapusin na lang sha ng term. Pera2han na at alok ng position ang labanan ngayon..tsk tsk tsk.. Buti na lang magaling sha sa pagpapatakbo ng ekonomiya natin kaya pwede na hangang 2010 total sa ngayon wala na tayong magagawa kundi suportahan sha.

Pero ewan ko lang after 2010 kung ano pa magagawa ng mga pro-GMA pag hindi nagtagumpay cha2...hehehe kung succesful eh d ok lang din.. :)

Yun na nga eh obvious na pala bakit pa mapatunayan? To think na sobrang tuso ng mga kaaway niya di ba? Kahit sa PET hindi pa rin? Ano ba yan. Yan ba ang obvious?

gave here a 7, good in economics,infrastructure,agriculture. needs improvement in control of graft and corruption,social services,peace and order.

chacha and parliamentary federalism,regionalism,impeachment and electoral reforms are challenges she will be facing till her term ends.

:scouserd: :scouserd: Sinasabi ko lang naman mga napapansin ko, pero im not attaking anyone.

Kung tuso mga kalaban ni GMA mas tuso mga nakapaligid sa kanya, kaya sabi nga nila pera2 na lang at kapangayarihan labanan ngayon.

Well tignan na lang natin sa 2010 kung anong magiging fate nya, malamang2 sha na ang pinaka endangered ex-presidet sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas.. Pero depende pa din yan sa develoments ng cha2.. Kung succesful charter change better for the philippines kahit sha pa maging prime minister ok un magaling naman sha eh wala ng tanong dun. Pero kung hindi magiging succesful ewan ko lang...tsk tsk tsk :runaway: :runaway:

^^ o yeah or making a fool out of yourself?

:bash:

Coconut oil export up to $ 311.64 M in 1st half



By MELODY M. AGUIBA

The Philippines posted a higher coconut oil export in the first half of the year to $ 311.64 million from 4.78 million in the same period last year owing to higher export volume, but export value of other coconut products are receding.


Overall, the value of export of all coconut products of the country also rose to 7.57 million, up by 2.25 percent compared to the previous year as part of producers’ and farmers’ intention to ship more products for their foreign exchange value.

While coconut export grew slightly, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) reported that export of desiccated coconut, the second most important coconut product next to coconut oil, receded by 5.57 percent in volume and 1.97 percent in value at $ 61.2 million compared to .48 million in the first six months of 2005.

Coconut chemicals export also fell by 7.67 percent to $ 25.98 million from the previous year’s $ 28.14 million.

The better performer for the first semester was activated carbon with a 13.32 percent export value improvement totaling to $ 21.35 million.

Export value of other coconut products are $ 11.38 million, copra meal; $ 3 million, coconut shell charcoal; other coconut products, $ 22.86 million.

PCA is actually projecting a lower coconut production this year by 1.45 percent to 2.64 million MT.

By the end of the year, export volume will also be down for most products including coconut oil, down by 12.5 percent to 1.11 million metric tons (MT) and desiccated coconut, down by 12.5 percent to 110 ,000 MT.

However, coconut chemicals’ export volume will rise by 22.84 percent to 150 MT.

On the domestic front, PCA’s projection indicate that manufactured oil will grow by 33.3 percent to 480,000 MT while homemade oil and foodnuts will also register an increase of 11.11 percent in production to 120,000 MT.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006073070420.html

Oppositon, be firm on your belief, don't put option, you believe on panindigan ninyo. For me whatever happen, I have strong confident di man successful 100%, atleast she spark plug the economic growth of our country better than so much plans, so much debate pero puro salita lang wala namang magawa in short ningas kugon lang. For corruptions, nobody is exempted, I dont mind if she do, lahat naman ng pumapasok sa politics and even private sectors, that is part of the activities nobody is excepted even you say your own bet if they, will they do the same thing, but I am not tolerating this. What I mean, corruption cannot eliminate 100% that is impossible but the most important to one's leader, she/he do her/his obligations according to the welfare of his/her territory. Kahit magcorrupt ang isang political leader na seems just for small portion, sobra-sobra pa rin ang pera ng ating bansa at sapat sa mga pangangailangan nating lahat but the worst is the start of the previous leaders, sinanggab lahat until the last part di na sapat sa pangangailangan ng ating bansa. Then if there is new issues about cooruption to PGMA, gusto nating siya lang ang magdusa about all the problems occured before her, try to see the realistic views, dapat pinupukpok nating yung unang gumawa pero pinabayaan natin and more we spoiled them. Hindi si PGMA ang pagbaguhin kundi tayong lahat, if we just let our lives to depend to the government, mamamatay tayo ng gutom, government cannto moulds our life to be good, nasa atin ang ikakaganda ng ating buhay, pero kungiintindihin natin ay just puro rally even those students na imbis nasa loob ng iskuwela ay ksumasali sa rally, they cannot get more on that, what knowledge they will get on this environment, instead of learning for good future life but poisoned their mind of political bickering which they dont knwo ginagamit lang sila who are behind that.

Let us not pressume perfect, nobody is not hypocrite............

I am satisfied with the president's performance. She'll do better if the opposition will stop playing dirty politics. Let's support the president so that our country will move forward.

Sabi ni Alan Peter cayetano sa Diyos at Bayan (a lacklustre show in QTV) na nagtataka daw siya kung bakit opposition ang sinisisi sa mga political problems ng bansa. Ang sarap barilin, hehehe...

hehehehe, He is just trying to be funny.

all the corruption charges they're alleging anyways are about GMA laundering money to help her win the elections. At least she did'nt line her pockets anything as long as FPJ doesn't win. The incumbent always has the edge that's the perks of being an incumbent. It all boils down to them being sore losers and not being able to accept the fact that they lost.

Tama na yung style na bulok. Iland dekada na style nila bulok kaya ilang dekada na nakaraan hindi umuunsad Pilipinas. Kailangan maiba naman hangin.

all the corruption charges they're alleging anyways are about GMA laundering money to help her win the elections. At least she did'nt line her pockets anything as long as FPJ doesn't win. The incumbent always has the edge that's the perks of being an incumbent. It all boils down to them being sore losers and not being able to accept the fact that they lost.

Tama na yung style na bulok. Iland dekada na style nila bulok kaya ilang dekada na nakaraan hindi umuunsad Pilipinas. Kailangan maiba naman hangin.

ate...ang puso mo.....(but seriously you're right) :)

nakakulong ba yang ibon mo? parang hindi umuusad. hehehe OT

Ugh, and that stupid cake commercial! Seriously, they need a better advertiser, or better yet, huwag na sila mag advertise ng mga anti-chacha stuff.

Stupid opps. They'll do everything just to make the Philippines look bad...para masasabi nilang mali ang nakaupo ngayong Pangulo. Eh, hello?! Obvious naman na sila ang nanggugulo eh.

Nayki.

Ang hirap intindihin ng sinasabi mo. Pinoy text messaging is so distracting, for example, Sha=siya; un=ang; dun=doon. Also, please use commas and periods. Nakakalito! Kaya hindi tayo nagkaka-unawaan. Your messages are lost in translation.

nakakulong ba yang ibon mo? parang hindi umuusad. hehehe OT

malayang lumilipad ang ibon ko....hindi mo ba pansin? :)

first of all Congratulations Sinjin for doing this thread! i gave mrs.president an 8. i believe in her capabilities and i know that she can do it. although she had some lackness/indifferences and problem she still made herself stand-out and be applauded. she's not perfect but she's doing her best. i still want her to continue until 2010! my vision for politics in the country is just do your job and less talk! Go Gloria!

Recount of votes in Legarda protest shows PGMA won 2004 fair and square --Bunye

SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2006

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said the latest results in the recount of votes by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) are "convincing proof" that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won the 2004 elections fair and square.

In his regular weekly newspaper column, The View From The Palace that comes out tomorrow (Monday, July 31), Bunye cited "two very interesting observations" presidential election lawyer Romulo B. Macalintal had disclosed in his report to the President last week.

Macalintal is also Vice President Noli de Castro’s lawyer in the electoral protest lodged against him by former Sen. Loren Legarda.

Bunye stressed that since the electoral protest filed by the late Fernando Poe Jr. was deemed withdrawn in view of his death, the only legal recourse for demonstrating the President’s victory is the electoral protest filed by Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro.

"Ms. Legarda’s protest provides the only existing and still available legal opportunity to examine election returns, which are exactly the same returns which were used in proclaiming the winners, not just in the presidential and vice presidential elections but also in the senatorial contest," Bunye said.

He pointed out that Macalintal’s findings showed that, "First, Ms. Legarda withdrew her protest from 10 municipalities in Lanao del Norte; five municipalities in Surigao del Sur and six towns in Lanao del Sur, with a total of 300,000 voters," Bunye said.

He said that according to Macalintal, Legarda admitted that she had previewed the returns from the two provinces and had "predetermined that no substantial recoveries could be derived therefrom."

Bunye added that this was "a virtual admission that no irregularities occurred in the said provinces, contrary to what pro-impeachment groups are saying."

Ironically for the President’s detractors, it was in Surigao del Sur and Lanao del Sur where the President supposedly cheated.

The second proof, Bunye said, was in the revision reports of De Castro’s revisors which showed that instead of losing votes, the vice president gained an additional 2,228 votes from Cebu province when the results of the actual count of ballots were compared with the tally in the Certificate of Canvass for the said province.

"These results reflected the honesty and intelligence of the voters of Cebu in giving you that overwhelming majority which should now stop your political detractors from making our country pay for their frustrated political ambition," Macalintal said in his report to the President.

"Detractors of the President have been demanding to know what really happened during the last elections. The truth is staring them in he face," Bunye said.

^^ good to know

Thank you Loren (bwahahaha!).

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the legitimate head of state and government of the Republic of the Philippines.

that article.. just shows.. well, why i love cebuano people

sa totoo lang mas gusto kong nanalo si GMA sa election kahit nandaya pa dahil kung ang nanalo ay si FPJ (ay babalik na naman ang mga kampon nila Marcos at Estrada na mga known magnanakaw na isa pang group ng mga elite na mga corrupts at plunderer.

despite na mas gusto kong manalo si GMA kaysa FPJ, for the sake of my conscience ay ang ibinoto ko ay si Roco. Roco perhaps belong to the elite class however, I think he belongs to the honest group of the elite class in
Pinas.

going back to past elections which GMA was accused of cheating. It is also possible that she cheat because reading various publications it is a fact that widescale cheating is done at the Comelec by simply changing the Elections returns which usually and always happened eversince after the Japanese war. So it is possible that GMA cheated in the elections knowing that we have a corrupted Comelec in this corrupted country. And there is the infamous Garci tape where GMA admitted that she has a lapse of judgement

So we cannot say the she really Won fair and square. If she really won fair and square then she should clear her name by letting the Senate investigation and the Impeachment trial runs on it's natural course and not stopped by technicalities.

Actually I liked GMA to the point that during the EDSA Tres, I stayed in Mendiola Bridge together with other member of the Left on the eve of May 1st Labor Day till morning to show support to GMA when the Erap's rabble attacked Malacanang. I was in the group that retreated to San Beda College together with other soldiers and Police just before the Erap rabbles arrived
in Mendiola. There at San Beda, I have seen Mr. Abalos (the present Chairman of Comelec) most probably he was with us during the retreat to San Beda from the Mendiola Bridge.

Many leftist have answered the call to depend Malacanang on that night. Unfortunately most of them left Mendiola about midnight before the attack began at about 2AM, owing some officials said the Erap rabble is not proceeding to Malacanang. So about 500 to 1,000 of us was left in the frontline in Mendiola Bridge together with the Police and soldiers. We later retreated to San Beda College upon the advise of the Police when the Erap's
rabble was already in Legarda just a few blocks near Mendiola. During the siege, the Police and the soldiers in the frontline also retreated to San Beda.

I experienced the fear of what will happen to us if the gullible ""masa " was able to penetrate Malacanang and later San Beda. On that night in San Beda College, we were organized in groups and told what to do in case the Erap masa was able to penetrate San Beda. Our names was even taken and those incharge said our names will be sent to Malacanang and also if worst comes to worst, the Palace will sent Helicopters to rescue us. We survived that harrowing night and in the morning about 10AM we were escorted by the Marines to Malacanang ground where we were ferried by Coast Guard launch to the Pandacan side of the PSG headquarter. From Pandacan our group dispersed, some went to Edsa Shrine while I go home to my family in the province.

But now after GMA declaration of total war against the Left I realized that she is more ruthless than Marcos. How come she tolerated the Death Squads to zap some leftist and some members of progressive groups who were not even member of the radical left the NPA.

Kung gusto ni GMA na labanan ang NPA then labanan nila pero hindi na dapat isama ang mga legal left, union leaders, at mga nationalistic Pinoy na ang tanging kasalanan ay ang mahalin ang ating bayan.

Hindi naman lahat ng Leftist ay member ng NPA, some leftist don't even like the NPA because of the killing fields in Mindanao. Sometimes my eyes is teary when I remembered reading the stories of cadres who where survivors of the killing fields, they cried when during the night they heard the cries and anguished of those other cadres who were mistaken as deep penetration agent.

Wala na ba tayong freedom na magsabi sa gobyerno ng mga bagay na para sa ikabubuti ng bayan. Pag nagsabi ka ba na maraming corrupts sa gobyerno and etc ay subversive ka na.

Talking about NPA I never glorify them, to me they are necessary evils (just like the Americans were also necessary evils). Kung may NPA ay puwedeng matakot din ang mga corrupts sa government na hindi sila masyadong maging garapal sa corruption dahil may NPA na magpaparusa sa kanila.


isa pa yang legardang yan. Kunware iiyak iyak pa nung impeachment ni ERap eh peke naman. ngayon eh kampon ni ERAp. Anything for the sake of position and power and they they have the gall to criticize GMA for being ate Glue when they're birds of the same feather. Only difference is GMA won fair and square. and then she had the nerve to accuse NOli cheated when the preelection survey and exit polls all showed noli was way ahead of her.

Ugh, and that stupid cake commercial! Seriously, they need a better advertiser, or better yet, huwag na sila mag advertise ng mga anti-chacha stuff.

Stupid opps. They'll do everything just to make the Philippines look bad...para masasabi nilang mali ang nakaupo ngayong Pangulo. Eh, hello?! Obvious naman na sila ang nanggugulo eh.


And the biggest fool of all is the one who wants Spanish back in the Philippines.

that article.. just shows.. well, why i love cebuano people


i should say this out loud: THEY SAVED OUR ASSES!!!!! :)

[PHP]sa totoo lang mas gusto kong nanalo si GMA sa election kahit nandaya pa dahil kung ang nanalo ay si FPJ (ay babalik na naman ang mga kampon nila Marcos at Estrada na mga known magnanakaw na isa pang group ng mga elite na mga corrupts at plunderer.

despite na mas gusto kong manalo si GMA kaysa FPJ, for the sake of my conscience ay ang ibinoto ko ay si Roco. Roco perhaps belong to the elite class however, I think he belongs to the honest group of the elite class in
Pinas.

going back to past elections which GMA was accused of cheating. It is also possible that she cheat because reading various publications it is a fact that widescale cheating is done at the Comelec by simply changing the Elections returns which usually and always happened eversince after the Japanese war. So it is possible that GMA cheated in the elections knowing that we have a corrupted Comelec in this corrupted country. And there is the infamous Garci tape where GMA admitted that she has a lapse of judgement

So we cannot say the she really Won fair and square. If she really won fair and square then she should clear her name by letting the Senate investigation and the Impeachment trial runs on it's natural course and not stopped by technicalities.

Actually I liked GMA to the point that during the EDSA Tres, I stayed in Mendiola Bridge together with other member of the Left on the eve of May 1st Labor Day till morning to show support to GMA when the Erap's rabble attacked Malacanang. I was in the group that retreated to San Beda College together with other soldiers and Police just before the Erap rabbles arrived
in Mendiola. There at San Beda, I have seen Mr. Abalos (the present Chairman of Comelec) most probably he was with us during the retreat to San Beda from the Mendiola Bridge.

Many leftist have answered the call to depend Malacanang on that night. Unfortunately most of them left Mendiola about midnight before the attack began at about 2AM, owing some officials said the Erap rabble is not proceeding to Malacanang. So about 500 to 1,000 of us was left in the frontline in Mendiola Bridge together with the Police and soldiers. We later retreated to San Beda College upon the advise of the Police when the Erap's
rabble was already in Legarda just a few blocks near Mendiola. During the siege, the Police and the soldiers in the frontline also retreated to San Beda.

I experienced the fear of what will happen to us if the gullible ""masa " was able to penetrate Malacanang and later San Beda. On that night in San Beda College, we were organized in groups and told what to do in case the Erap masa was able to penetrate San Beda. Our names was even taken and those incharge said our names will be sent to Malacanang and also if worst comes to worst, the Palace will sent Helicopters to rescue us. We survived that harrowing night and in the morning about 10AM we were escorted by the Marines to Malacanang ground where we were ferried by Coast Guard launch to the Pandacan side of the PSG headquarter. From Pandacan our group dispersed, some went to Edsa Shrine while I go home to my family in the province.

But now after GMA declaration of total war against the Left I realized that she is more ruthless than Marcos. How come she tolerated the Death Squads to zap some leftist and some members of progressive groups who were not even member of the radical left the NPA.

Kung gusto ni GMA na labanan ang NPA then labanan nila pero hindi na dapat isama ang mga legal left, union leaders, at mga nationalistic Pinoy na ang tanging kasalanan ay ang mahalin ang ating bayan.

Hindi naman lahat ng Leftist ay member ng NPA, some leftist don't even like the NPA because of the killing fields in Mindanao. Sometimes my eyes is teary when I remembered reading the stories of cadres who where survivors of the killing fields, they cried when during the night they heard the cries and anguished of those other cadres who were mistaken as deep penetration agent.

Wala na ba tayong freedom na magsabi sa gobyerno ng mga bagay na para sa ikabubuti ng bayan. Pag nagsabi ka ba na maraming corrupts sa gobyerno and etc ay subversive ka na.

Talking about NPA I never glorify them, to me they are necessary evils (just like the Americans were also necessary evils). Kung may NPA ay puwedeng matakot din ang mga corrupts sa government na hindi sila masyadong maging garapal sa corruption dahil may NPA na magpaparusa sa kanila.

And now, there are these text messages being passed by people na walang magawa sa buhay, "May malubhang sakit daw ang pangulo".... Hmm, how pathetic of them... Anyway, sana naman walang sakit si pangulo dahil kung meron man, ewan na lang kung sinong matino ang ipapalit sa kanya

‘Remittances keep RP economy on its feet’

REMITTANCES of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain to be the strength of the country’s economy, preventing it from collapsing amid the lingering political turmoil in the government and high oil prices.

The volume of remittances has also increased as Filipinos found high-paying jobs, such as nurses, doctors, teachers, information technology (IT) engineers and accountants, overseas, said economist Cayetano Paderanga Jr.

He said the country has already felt the change in the quality of jobs of OFWs, from domestic helpers to professionals.

Briefing

Paderanga presented the current condition of the economy in a mid-year economic briefing sponsored by Wealth Development Bank, CIBI Information Inc. and the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis Inc. (IDEA) at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino last Thursday.

Paderanga also presented the economic forecast of IDEA, a research team that he leads.

IDEA foresees the country’s economic state to be bleak due to rising oil prices, caused by instability in the Middle East and the war between Lebanon and Israel.

“The possibility that the price of oil will reach $80 per barrel is not remote,” Paderanga said.

He said the growth of personal consumption, which is one driver of the economy, is dependent on the price of oil.

Paderanga said OFW remittances, which grew by 14.8 percent year-on-year from January to May 2006, will help cushion the economy and avoid depletion of the country’s international reserves. The country needs more dollars to buy oil.

The average remittances every two weeks of an OFW is of from $150 to $250.

Strong peso

Increase in the volume of OFW remittances boost the country’s international reserves, resulting in a strong peso—which closed at P51.56 to the dollar last Friday.

The strengthening of the peso, however, is a major concern of exporters in the country, as a strong currency affects the competitiveness, in terms of price, of Philippine exports.

Exporters in Cebu represented by the Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation Inc. have been asking the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to intervene and prevent the peso from appreciating further.

Despite acknowledging this concern, BSP deputy governot Diwa Guinigundo earlier said it is not in the position to intervene in the movements of the peso against the dollar.

Paderanga, former member of the BSP monetary board, supported Guinigundo’s statement, saying the BSP can only intervene to smoothen bumps in the foreign exchange—such as when the peso moves irregularly from P40 to P50 then back to P40 in only few days.

BSP poll sees 5.3% economic growth in '06

By Doris Dumlao
Inquirer
Last updated 11:29pm (Mla time) 07/30/2006

Published on Page B1 of the July 31, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE PHILIPPINES WILL LIKELY POST A HIGHER ECONOMIC growth rate of 5.3 percent and a lower inflation rate of 6.9 percent this year, based on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' latest quarterly poll of private analysts.

The market consensus, derived by the BSP from 17 private institutions monitoring the Philippines during its second-quarter survey, was rosier compared to the previous quarter's poll wherein respondents projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of only 5 percent and a higher inflation rate of 7.1 percent for this year.

"Analysts cited that stronger-than-expected agricultural production and export growth are likely to spur growth in 2006," the BSP reported. "They noted that personal consumption and healthy exports should be the major engines of growth. Also, fiscal consolidation is expected to increase this year's spending."

However, the projected growth rate was still short of the government's official GDP target of 5.5-6.2 percent for this year. But the latest survey showed a more upbeat GDP forecast of 5.3 percent for 2007 or higher than the consensus of 4.9 percent during the previous poll.

The mean forecast for inflation for next year also declined to 5.7 percent versus the 5.8 percent consensus in the previous quarter's poll.

Private analysts lowered their inflation forecasts slightly for 2006 on evidence of lower food prices, the BSP noted.

The survey showed that most analysts believed that robust production in the agriculture sector would limit price pressures from higher wages and pump prices of crude oil.

But some analysts were of the view that high oil prices would not be sustained and that the peso would be stronger than its current level, thus keeping prices from rising sharply.

At the same time, some economists pointed out that there were potential inflation risks from global crude oil prices, the country's weak external payments position and intermittent political uncertainties.

The 17 institutions covered by the survey were ABN-Amro, Asia Pacific International Finance Review, ATR Kim Eng Securities, Banco de Oro Universal Bank, Bank of America, Citigroup, Development Bank of Singapore, Economist Intelligence Unit, Equitable PCIBank, HSBC, Idea, ING Bank, Macquarie Bank, Multinational Investment Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., UBS Warburg and Wallace Business Forum.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said on Friday that the outlook of manageable inflation would allow the central monetary institution to maintain current policy settings in the near term.

Latest BSP forecasts continued to suggest a deceleration in inflation beginning the second half of this year, leading to a return to the targeted inflation path of 4-5 percent for next year.

Related Site:
BSP (www.bsp.gov.ph)

^^That's Pinoy Humor I guess, bawat malaking balitang pinapalabas nagagawang katawa-tawa ng Pinoy sa text.

DoF expects outstanding debts to decline to 68 percent of GDP



By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

National Government outstanding debt, now 66 percent of gross domestic product, is declining faster than anticipated, finance department data show.


From a 2004 peak of 78.4 percent, one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in Asia, the Department of Finance said Philippine debt is expected to decline to 68.1 percent by the end of the year; 61.9 percent in 2007 and 54.8 percent by 2008.

"It’s now below that (68 percent), which means we’re doing better than program," DoF Undersecretary Gil Beltran said. As of April, NG debt has declined to 66 percent, from 65.2 percent as of the end of the first quarter and 71.8 percent as of end 2005.

National Treasurer Omar Cruz said there is a "continuing and undying need to manage (Philippine) debt position and this is a priority as well as containing the budget deficit." He said that while budget targets are the first order of the day, the bottom line always is revenues and a healthy fiscal position, which would translate into lower government debt.

UBS Investment Research said government efforts to bring down debt vis-à-vis the GDP is still on track, and if the finance and treasury departments missed the budget deficit target for the year, it would not affect debt-to-GDP declining trends.

"The Philippine fiscal turnaround may just be one of these ‘glass half-full, half-empty’ stories," UBS said. "While it is important that budget targets are met and that they are met with sustainable policies, what ultimately matters is whether the trend in government debt is up or down. And we believe that even if this year’s budget target were to be missed by half a percentage point of GDP, the trend decline in the government’s debt-to-GDP ratio would remain intact."

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves has recommended a study on utilizing excess cash or surplus to spend more as well as improve the debt-to-GDP ratio.

The inter-agency Development Budget and Coordination Committee executive technical board is now looking at Teves’ recommendation and to review how the economy will move to improve the debt-toGDP ratio.

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

It was reported earlier this month that NG outstanding debt as of April was up 3.3 percent or P128.9 billion more at P3.996 trillion from P3.867 trillion recorded the same period last year.

The Bureau of Treasury said that compared to the previous month, total debt was higher by 0.8 percent of which P1.81 trillion or 45 percent are foreign loans and P2.19 trillion or 55 percent are owed to domestic creditors.

Domestic debt was 6.1 percent higher from last year’s P2.06 trillion. The increase translates to P126 billion. In the meantime the country’s foreign obligations is also a little higher by P2.8 billion or 0.2 percent from last year’s P1.80 trillion.

As for government’s contingent debt, the amount reached P580.9 billion, 2.9 percent or P17.3 billion lower from the same period last year of P598 billion.

DoF expects outstanding debts to decline to 68 percent of GDP



http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006073170487.html

Palace: Liberalizing Charter will increase GDP, reduce poverty
By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 07/31/2006

Malacañang said yesterday that lifting the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution can dramatically increase the country’s growth rate by as much as eight percent annually and reduce poverty to less than 10 percent in 10 years.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also said shifting the current form of government to a more politically stable unicameral parliamentary system will protect hard-won economic gains.

Ermita said studies have shown that countries under a presidential system have experienced more coups and other violent political upheavals compared with nations run by parliaments.

Citing research done by the Charter Change Advocacy Commission (ad-com) on the political and economic effects of amending the 1987 Constitution, Ermita said the country’s economy cannot fully take off because of constitutional limits, which put the government’s gains at risk because of political uncertainty, though progress is already being made.

"More liberal provisions in high-growth areas will bring in an additional four percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and push the annual growth rate (up) to eight percent," Ermita said in a telephone interview. "This will bring down poverty levels to 10 percent or less in 10 years."

Ad-com Commissioner Romela Bengzon, who conducted the study, said the Philippines was able to achieve 22 consecutive quarters of growth, which reduced the poverty incidence among families from 28 percent to 22 percent. This translates into two million Filipinos graduating from poverty, Bengzon said.

She added that foreign direct investments in the first quarter of the year reached $430 million, 11 percent higher than the $386 million in such investments recorded over the same period in 2005.

The country also posted a surplus of net portfolio inflows of $2.8 billion and reversed net outflows of $1.7 billion last year, she added.

Bengzon said the "efforts and economic policies of the current administration have merited remarkable results" despite the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution that hamper the entry of foreign capital.

On their own, Filipino businesses do not have the capital for large-scale mining or oil drilling, labor intensive factories, power and water utilities, advanced colleges and universities, modern engineering, cinema or entertainment and advertising, she said.

"This is because of our low savings rate of 18 percent of GDP — only one-half of the 35 percent needed to spur investments," Bengzon said.

The provisions in the Charter seen as economically limiting are Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony) and Article XVI (General Provisions), which cover the areas of exploration, development, utilization of natural resources and the ownership of industrial, commercial and residential land as well as the operation of public utilities, ownership of tertiary educational institutions and the practice of professions — particularly in high-technology fields. Also restricted by these constitutional provisions are the ownership and management of mass media firms and the ownership and management of advertising companies.

A brief survey of similar constitutional provisions in neighboring Asia-Pacific countries and territories — Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India — showed that they either have more liberal rules, such as allowing full foreign ownership of land, or have no economic restrictions at all.

"We need to protect and sustain our economic gains by changing our Constitution, taking out the restrictive economic provisions and shifting to a unicameral parliament that fuses the executive and legislative branches, which is a structure that provides for greater consensus," Bengzon said.

"Even with wise economic policy, maintaining long-term political stability upon which economic prosperity depends, requires a supporting constitutional and legal structure," she said, quoting Louisiana State University Law Center professor John Baker.

Ermita said that, according to a study by the University of Hawaii, of 33 countries under a presidential form of government, 30 experienced coups while, of 42 nations under a parliamentary system, only 13 went through coups.

He also cited another study of developing countries that were democratic for at least a year between the years 1973 and 1989, which showed that 40 percent of the countries run under a presidential system experienced a coup, compared with only 18 percent of countries run by parliaments.

He added that the "military coup susceptibility rate" was at "10" for countries run under a presidential system, compared with a risk rate of only "five" for countries run under a parliamentary system.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607310414.htm

Missing OFW funds
07/29/2006

Something is definitely wrong somewhere in Gloria’s world.

In her State of the Nation Address (Sona), she stressed several times over, that she has the funds for the future massive infrastructure projects she laid out; funds for the war against terror; the war against corruption, and the war against the insurgents, among many other funds she claims to have.

Yet in the case of the overseas workers’ funds, where her government should have, at the very least, some P8 billion that should be flowing, given the war conditions in Lebanon, where some 34,000 Filipino workers are stationed, all Gloria has eked out for evacuation purposes is P150 million.

And Gloria’s people are stingy with that miniscule amount even at this time of evacuation.

Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Bichara has been complaining publicly that the embassy’s funds are running out. He has asked for at least $1 million to keep things going.

For airing this complaint, Bichara has been berated heavily by Malacañang and the Department of Foreign Affairs with even a DFA undersecretary saying that if Bichara were a soldier during a time of war, he would shoot him dead. That’s the diplomacy they teach this undersecretary?

There was too that remark from the undersecretary that all Bichara spends on is food and bus transport from Lebanon to Damascus. Just how much does this undersecretary think feeding sardine-packed OFWs in that church costs, given the many days they have been staying there?

Rafael Seguis, a DFA official, was sent to Lebanon to check on the claim of Bichara, and said the ambassador had less than $100,000 total. So what’s that amount when one is dealing with the problem of some 34,000 Filipinos? But why are they so measly with the funds, since the OWWA funds, precisely meant for such contingencies, amount to some P8 billion minimum?

They all denied that there is a lack of funds, yet it was clear, from the flight arrivals of Filipino workers from the war-torn country, that there are less and less workers being brought home by the Philippine government, with the latest batch numbering some 50 workers and in a commercial flight, which means that chartered flights have been dumped by the Arroyo government as a means to get more Pinoy workers home and fast.

Even more ridiculous was the claim of Budget Secretary Andaya that he wouldn’t release any money to Bichara unless and until the ambassador liquidates that which he has been given. With the red tape in Gloria’s government and considering that the times are extraordinary in Lebanon and the Filipino situation, the Budget secretary wants to wait for a liquidation report? Has Gloria even liquidated the cash advances her office got for her many jaunts abroad? Past Commission on Audit reports showed a huge amount that has been left unliquidated for these trips.

Chances are, those billions in OWWA funds no longer exist, with the funds diverted elsewhere — again.

It will be recalled that in 2004, during election campaign time, OWWA funds diverted and used for those PhilHealth cards were questioned by a group of migrant workers. There was enough evidence of the diversion and obviously used for Gloria’s presidential election campaign.

Still, some of these funds must have had a replenishment if they had not been diverted again. And it certainly looks like the funds aren’t there, since Malacañang has been quite stingy with the money that should be poured in for the contract workers stranded in Lebanon. But why isn’t this being done? Aren’t these workers considered by this government as the modern economic heroes, since they have been helping greatly in propping the economy through their billions in remittances?

Even more ridiculous is the fact that the Arroyo government announced that those workers who had arrived from Lebanon can now apply for jobs in the Middle East, as they would have an edge over others, having worked there before.

None made mention of the fact that there were many Filipino workers who had come home from Lebanon saying they had been abused by their employers, or that they had not been paid for some six months.

Gloria and her officials really have no heart. All they see in the Filipino contract workers is money, money, money, and to hell with their situation — so much so that even the funds reserved for them for such emergencies are not even being provided.

It is timely for the Senate to conduct a probe on these missing OWWA funds. The nation may just discover another thing or two from this thieving government.



____________________________________________________



What happened to the OWWA funds? According to Tulfo eto raw ang nangyari...


OWWA money ended up in the 2004 polls; here’s how
By Ramon Tulfo
Inquirer
Last updated 06:21am (Mla time) 08/01/2006

Published on Page A18 of the August 1, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

HERE’S a tip for the Senate on where to find the missing funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa):

A total of P3.4 billion in Owwa Medicare funds was transferred to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) before the 2004 presidential election.

The money was supposedly to fund the health insurance coverage of all Filipino citizens by Philhealth. Republic Act 7875 supposedly mandates Philhealth to do that.

In a memorandum to President Macapagal-Arroyo on Nov. 20, 2002, Francisco T. Duque, then Philhealth president and chief executive officer, proposed the transfer of the Owwa Medicare fund to Philhealth.

“The proposed transfer will have a significant bearing on the 2004 elections. I will be available to explain in greater detail the far-reaching implications of the transfer. May I ask that we meet personally?” Duque told the President in that memo.

No wonder Duque is now the health secretary. The Cabinet post was his reward for that brilliant idea.

* * *

Executive Order No. 182 carrying out the transfer of the Owwa Medicare fund to Philhealth was signed for the President by then Executive Secretary Alberto G. Romulo

The EO was issued on Feb. 14, 2003, a year and three months before the 2004 election.

Section 2 of E0 182 stated: “Transfer of Medicare Funds of the Owwa—The Medicare Funds being administered by the Owwa shall be transferred to the PHIC (Philhealth) within sixty days from the effectivity of this Executive Order.”

* * *

The fund transfer was not done outright or in one sitting. It was in tranches. Each tranche was covered by a resolution.

One tranche was for P530,382,446. It was covered by Owwa Resolution No. 005 approved on Feb. 2, 2004.

The resolution was signed by, among other officials, then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas as chair of the Owwa board of trustees; Owwa Administrator Virgilio R. Angelo, Owwa board vice chair; and Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

That was for the Owwa Medicare fund amounting to, at that time, P3.4 billion, according to my inside source at the Owwa.

The rest of the Owwa fund was transferred to the National Treasury where the money was disposed of by the Department of the Budget and Management under then Secretary Emilia T. Boncodin.

On Feb. 18, 2004, or three months before the 2004 election, Boncodin wrote Labor Secretary Sto. Tomas reclassifying Owwa from a government-controlled corporation to a regular national government agency (NGA).

“As such, the Owwa shall be subject to existing organization/compensation/budgeting rules and regulations applicable to NGAs. In this regard, all proposals and transactions appurtenant thereto, shall be addressed and coordinated with our Budget and Management Bureau (BMB), the DBM office handling the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment),” Boncodin said in her letter to Sto. Tomas.

Boncodin was one of several Cabinet members who comprised what is now known as the “Hyatt 10” that called for the President’s resignation in the wake of the “Hello Garci” Scandal.

Boncodin was probably guilt-stricken for taking part in the 2004 election charade.

* * *

Conclusion: The reason Owwa can’t finance the repatriation of 34,000 overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) in war-torn Lebanon is obvious: It has no money.

“Walang pera ang Owwa, Mon, naubos noong eleksiyon (Owwa has no money, it was spent in the elections),” said my Owwa source who gave me the documents on the fund transfer.

^^ tsktsktsk ... :no: :no: :no: hindi lang magsasaka (fertilizer fund) ginamit ng mga hayup! pati mga OFW (OWWA funds) nag nagapakahirap sa ibang bansa dugo at pawis pinuhunan iniwan mga mahal sa buhay ...

... di nakapagtataka lakas ng palakpak ng mga demonyo sa congresso nun sona
... mga hayup talaga.... kukunin din ni lord yan mga yan... :no: :no: :no:

^^ Oo nga eh walang mga konsensiya. :nono: :nono: :nono:


Eto pa isa...
Read in the paper that Arroyo admin in her sona is asking for 5b to clear southrail squatters, this is on top of the original 3b we heard of ! Grabe ang mahal naman sobra. Ang OA na ha... What P8B to clear the railways? Naku eh ang mas mura pa pala to eradicate/kill the leftists kaysa to clear those squatting sa southrailway. I smell "Kurakot" in the air. Ano pa kaya duon sa P372B being asked for the SONA projects. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk... :bash:


Infrastructure plan to cost P372B, says budget chief
XFN-Asia
08/02/2006


THE bold infrastructure program that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced last week will cost 372.02 billion pesos over the next four years, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said Tuesday.

Arroyo announced thee program in her annual State of the Nation Address, outlining plans for huge spending on roads, rail systems, airports, ports and other public works from this year to 2010.

Critics have questioned how the government will fund the ambitious program, with the country running a hefty budget deficit and spending about a third of its annual revenue on debt servicing.

Andaya said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the 92 "big-ticket" items listed by Arroyo would cost 372.02 billion pesos and that the annual national budgets and concessional loans from foreign funding agencies would absorb about half of the cost, or 186.00 billion pesos.

Local government units will do projects costing a total of 1.33 billion pesos, government-owned or -controlled corporations will shoulder 116.00 billion pesos, and -- build-operate-transfer arrangements -- the private sector could fund 68.40 billion pesos, Andaya said.

"The cost per project can still go up or down, depending on the prices of construction materials," he said. "For example, if oil prices go up, then an escalation in the project cost is to be expected."

In a "worst-case scenario" when the government is left alone to finance the projects, the Arroyo administration would allocate 527.2 billion pesos in the budget from 2007 to 2010 for "infrastructure and emerging projects/priorities" coming from tax and customs collections, he said.

Rail projects dominate the "mega infrastructure" plan, costing 180.15 billion pesos for four projects that will ring Metro Manila with an overhead light rail system and a ground-level track that will run from Malolos City in the north to Legaspi City in the southeast.

Road projects will eat up 101.8 billion pesos, or 27 percent of the program total, for 26 "road packages" consisting of several projects.

Twenty-three airport projects -- four of which are international airports -- will cost 43.10 billion pesos -- 11 percent of the total program cost.

Seaports will cost 15.85 billion pesos, irrigation 12.6 billion pesos, and bridges 5.0 billion pesos.

Copyright 2006 XFN-Asia. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A high-ranking American state department official acknowledged yesterday that United States companies operating in the Philippines have responded positively to the Arroyo government’s efforts to achieve higher economic growth, and rein in the budget deficit in order to provide more funds for upgrading the country’s infrastructures.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill expressed this view before newsmen after meeting with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Malacañang.

Hill said his discussion of bilateral issues with the President centered on the economic relations between the Philippines and US.

“I told her about some of the visits I made to US companies operating here in the Philippines, how pleased they are with the Filipino workers here, how pleased they are with business growth and how much they would like to do business here in the future,” the American official said.

Hill said he emphasized the need to reduce the government deficit to free up funds that can be used for infrastructure projects.

Hill said they also tackled some political issues such as the Mindanao situation and the peace process there and the assumption by the Philippines of the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He said the lead role of the Philippines in the Asean assumes greater significance in the light of “regional challenges” notably the “unwillingness of Myanmar to live up to its responsibility as a member-nation of Asean.

The military rulers of Myanmar have reneged on their commitment to democratize. Aung Sun Kyi, who remains under house arrest, and other opposition leaders, continue to be persecuted by the ruling junta.

Hill lauded the President’s efforts to ensure the safety and welfare of some 35,000 migrant workers in war-torn Lebanon.

He said he also discussed the performance of the Philippine economy with Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.

“I think it is very important that the Philippines continues these positive economic trends for the country to play a positive role in the region,” he said.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics02_aug01_2006

^It seems that the international investor community is more upbeat about our country than even our fellow Filipinos. $750 worth of sovereign bonds were oversold by sixteen times recently, proof of strong demand and confidence in our economy.

Instead of whining about everything, all our leaders should help to achieve the progressive plans of the administration.

patalsikin si GLORIA! yan pa rin ang sigaw nila. out of tune na ata.

MY GOD! HAGGANG DITO DINADALA NIYO YANG DEBATE!!! DISCUSS IT IN MORE PROPER POLITICAL THREADS!!! PUMUNTA NGA KAYO SA TAMANG LUGAR!....

_______________________________________

Growth boost expected
Leading indicators point to gains in third quarter

The economy will likely grow faster in the current quarter given a positive outlook for key indicators, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said.

In its latest report, the NSCB said the country’s composite leading economic indicator (LEI), which indicates business cycle trends, improved to a positive 0.072 for the third quarter from the previous quarter’s 0.060.

The LEI is a measure developed jointly by the NSCB and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to aid planners by providing a glimpse of where the economy is headed in the short term, in this case, at least three months before actual economic figures for a particular quarter are reported.

Presently, the LEI is computed using 11 indicators. These indicators are considered "leading" because they generally move up and down before actual expansion or contraction in overall economic activity happens. Seasonal factors are removed from these data, assigned weights, indexed and added together to come up with the LEI.

The index for the July to September period showed economic growth figures will likely top second-quarter figures, with the slope positive at 0.012 from negative 0.018 previously.

The economy grew year on year by 5.5% in the first quarter this year, mainly driven by a recovery in agriculture and a vibrant industry sector. The growth figure was at the high end of government’s forecast and higher than the 4.2% growth in the same period last year.

The government is scheduled to release its official economic growth rate figures for the second quarter before the end of this month, while third-quarter data will be announced in November.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri remains confident that full-year economic growth for 2006 will be within the government’s target of 5.5-6.2% for the year. He expects the economy to have grown 5.5-6.0% during the second quarter.

Sought for comment, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) economist Dr. Peter Lee U said it is possible for the economy to grow at a better pace this quarter provided that the government continues to keep its fiscal house in order.

But he cautioned that the oil prices would continue to remain a threat to economic growth.

"With all this conflict [in the Middle East], global politics now dictates where oil prices will go. So oil prices are much more volatile than before," he told BusinessWorld.

He said that based on UA&P’s estimates, the economy would likely grow by 5.1% for 2006.

"Maybe we can hit 5.5% as what the government says, but [full-year economic growth of] 6% or higher will be very difficult to achieve," Mr. U said.

University of the Philippines economist Benjamin E. Diokno, meanwhile, was skeptical.

"They (the government) always have high forecasts, but they eventually change them when it is clear than they cannot achieve them," Mr. Diokno said in a telephone interview.

Once all the "statistical discrepancies" have been adjusted, the economy would likely grow just by 4.6% for 2006, he said.

"Export growth will eventually slow down towards the end of the year, as the US economy (one of the country’s largest export markets) is expected to slow down towards the end of the year," Mr. Diokno said.

Economist Luz Lorenzo of ATR Kim Eng Securities, Inc., meanwhile, believes that while the LEI provides a good gauge of the economy, services will overshadow the industry sector in terms of contributing to growth. A resurgent agriculture sector, she added, would also provide some needed output for the economy to attain a 5.7% growth this year.

The reference series used in the LEI is the non-agriculture component of gross domestic product (GDP) or the economic value of industry and services only. This is so because the non-agriculture economy and GDP usually show the same pattern.

Despite the overall expected growth in the economy, however, only five of the 11 leading indicators utilized in the computation of the latest LEI contributed positively during the review period. These were -- beginning with the largest positive contributor -- stock price index, exchange rate, money supply, terms of trade and tourist arrivals.

Performance of the stock market has a three-quarter lead over gross domestic product (GDP), or the total value of goods and services produced within the economy. With a direct relationship against GDP, the stock market index needs to move upward in order to stimulate growth in the economy.

The LEI for the third quarter used the local stock market’s performance as of the fourth quarter last year. In 2005, the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) composite index (Phisix) managed to post the second-fastest growth rate in Southeast Asia at 15% to 2,096.04 points.

In a study prepared by the exchange, it said bad news on the political front last year was offset by positive news in the economic field, such as expectations of higher listed firm earnings and prospects of a lower government budget deficit due to the implementation the expanded value-added tax (VAT) law.

Meanwhile, the second biggest contributor, the exchange rate, has a two-quarter lead over actual GDP figures. Unlike the stock price index, the exchange rate, together with the wholesale and consumer price index, should exhibit a downtrend to contribute positively to the LEI.

The LEI for the third quarter tracked the performance of local currency as of the first quarter this year, which hit a 3-1/2-year high of P50.88 per dollar in March amid strong remittances from abroad. Windfall remittances from OFWs (overseas Filipino workers), especially in the last quarter of 2005, made the Philippine peso Asia’s best performer in 2005.

Data on tourist arrivals, meanwhile, also have a two-quarter lead over GDP. Statistics from the Department of Tourism show visitor arrivals grew by a double-digit 13% in the first quarter to 726,912 from just 643,202 in the same period last year.

Another positive contributor, latest data for domestic liquidity, or the total amount of money available in the economy, posted an increase in May compared to the same period a year ago, largely due to a rise in the country’s net assets.

Preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show money supply up by 12.7% year-on-year in May, accelerating from a revised 10% year-on-year rise recorded in April. Domestic liquidity, or M3, is the broadest measure of money and is used to estimate the entire supply of money within an economy. It includes money in circulation, demand deposits, money market funds and short-term repurchase agreements.

The leading indicators in the LEI that tempered its upward movement, meanwhile, were electric energy consumption, imports, consumer price index, wholesale price index, number of new business incorporations and hotel occupancy rate.

Due to unavailability of some figures, estimates were utilized in some indicators. In the third quarter composite LEI, forecast figures were used for money supply, total imports, number of new businesses and the wholesale price index.

The NSCB said that in terms of trade, which measures changes in prices received for exports in relation to prices paid for imports, the third quarter would likely be favorable for the Philippines due to growing electronic products exports.

Merchandise exports have been posting double-digit growth for the past months. Growth for the first five months was 16%, twice the government’s full-year target.

On the other hand, the NSCB said economic activity during the third quarter would likely be adversely affected by threats of higher consumer prices. Inflation, or the increase in the cost of goods and services used by a typical household, hit an average of 7.1% for the first semester of the year. This was better than the 8.3% inflation recorded during the same period last year.

The NSCB noted that inflation would likely grow at a faster pace during the third quarter if prevailing tensions in the Middle East affect oil supply. Inflation for the third quarter last year grew by an average of 7.1%.

Higher electricity prices might also temper consumption and the opening of new businesses during the July to September 2006 period, the NSCB said. -- Ernesto B. Calucag and Jeffrey O. Valisno

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW080106/content.php?id=001

With collection running above target

BIR marks 102nd anniversary today

By JUN RAMIREZ

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) celebrates today its 102nd founding anniversary on a happy note due to collection surpluses it achieved in the first six months of the year which boosted its chances of hitting its R675-billion collection target this year.


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will lead top government officials and business leaders in the celebration that has for its theme "Reporma sa Pagbubuwis Tungo sa Magandang Kinabukasan."

The affair will highlight the launching of a wide range of tax reform programs in support of Ms. Arroyo’s ambitious economic and development programs that she outlined in her recent State-of-the-Nation Address.

"The BIR is solidly behind the government’s bid to meet its revenue collection target and we are continuously plugging loopholes in our revenue collection system to further improve tax administration," Buñag said in a brief message on the eve of the celebration.

Among these tax reform measures, Buñag said are enhanced registration, filing and payment systems; strengthening of audit, legal and enforcement capabilities; enhanced collection enforcement and arrears management; and nationwide roll-out of computerized Integrated Tax System (ITS), the backbone of the BIR’s computerization program.

In his report to the President and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Buñag said the agency raised a total of R302 billion from January to June this year.

He said the take was R1.5 billion higher than the six-month goal of R300 billion and R58.1 billion or 24 percent higher than what the bureau collection in the same period last year.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006080170587.html

And now, there are these text messages being passed by people na walang magawa sa buhay, "May malubhang sakit daw ang pangulo".... Hmm, how pathetic of them... Anyway, sana naman walang sakit si pangulo dahil kung meron man, ewan na lang kung sinong matino ang ipapalit sa kanya

baka naman tinatawag na siya ni Lord, sabi niya kasi only God can judge her at ayaw nya ng impeachment

EIU: Infra spending impossible
By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter
Wednesday, August 02, 2006

HIGHER spending in Philippine infrastructure is impossible if the Arroyo administration’s fiscal deficit remains a concern, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU report came just as the government filed a P46-billion supplemental budget in the House and announced a planned cut in borrowings in the fourth quarter.

In its latest risk assessment of the country, the London-based think tank rated the Philippines’ economic structure a “B,” citing the need for the government to spend more to improve the country’s infrastructure. Low spending in infrastructure is the main weakness of the country in attracting more investments, it said.

“So long as the fiscal deficit remains a concern, this will not [be] possible,” the EIU, however, said. Despite this sentiment, the EIU rated the Philippines’ sovereign risk a “B,” as payment difficulties are unlikely in the next 18 months, partly because of the recent progress in reducing the fiscal deficit.

Besides sovereign and economic structure risk, the think tank also assessed the Philippines according to three other categories—political, currency and banking sector risk.

Of these, political risk was the topmost concern with a rating of “CCC,” as the think tank noted that political tensions remain high after the government declared a state of emergency in February. Congress is also discussing options for constitutional reform and the opposition has launched an impeachment motion against President Arroyo.

The EIU also rated the Philippines a “BB” in terms of currency risk, as the peso is expected to stabilize in the remainder of the year.

The think tank gave a “B” rating for banking sector risk, citing the local commercial banking industry’s high bad-loan ratio due to the low quality of bank lending. This was despite the industry’s bad-loan ratio falling to 8.5 percent of total loans at end-2005, but was in line with independent estimates that put the level much higher given questions about the quality of bank lending.

http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=12966

OFW demand fuels housing loan boom

By Doris Dumlao
Inquirer
Last updated 03:34am (Mla time) 08/02/2006

A BOOMING demand for residential units among overseas Filipinos, supported by a widening pool of affordable-housing developments, is catapulting banks' new housing loan portfolios to record highs, a banker said Tuesday.

BPI Family Savings Bank, the country's biggest thrift bank, now generates nearly 60 percent of its new-housing loan business from the lucrative overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) market, compared with 15 percent four years ago, bank president Alfonso Salcedo Jr. said at the sidelines of Bank of the Philippine Islands' 155th anniversary celebration.

Last year, the OFW share of the bank's new housing loans reached 51 percent, Salcedo said.

"We'll cross 60 percent and I think that will settle at 65-70 percent," he said.

Of the bank's total housing loan portfolio, OFW-funded transactions now account for 40 percent, Salcedo added.

Housing represents about 44 percent of BPI Family Bank's P51-billion loan portfolio. Auto lending and small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) lending are about one-fourth each.

In the first half of 2006, BPI Family's housing loans surged 36 percent year-on-year, Salcedo said.

"Because of OFWs, the real estate market will continue to be strong in the next two to three years," he said. "What will happen is that ticket items will become smaller because they are now catering to OFWs."

A bigger segment of the OFW market consists of Filipinos going abroad on three- to five-year contracts, Salcedo said.

"These are the people who are not very rich," he said. "They are buying house-and-lot units worth about P600,000 to P1.75 million. That's the big segment and that's growing very fast and bringing down the ticket sizes of the developers."

He said property developers, like BPI Family Bank affiliate Ayala Land Inc.'s Avida, were putting up good-quality but low-cost dwelling units worth P500,000 to P1 million across the country.

Another segment of the market consists of overseas Filipinos buying higher-end property units worth P8 million or more -- mostly those who have lived in the United States or Europe for decades and are looking forward to retirement or a place to stay whenever they visit the country, Salcedo said.

Majority of buyers of units in the plush condominium Grand Shang in the Makati business district are Filipino-Americans, who are getting them for their own use, he said.

"Those buying for investment are a smaller part of the market," Salcedo said. "Most buyers come here every year or twice a year and they don't want to hassle their relatives or stay in a hotel."

Salcedo said BPI Family Bank was generating its share of the housing loan business through tie-ups with real estate developers.

A recent research report from Deutsche Bank said high-earning overseas-based Filipinos accounted for about 30 percent of sales transactions of publicly listed property developers, and possibly as high as 50 percent if indirect contributions were counted.

Passage of a law in 2004 allowing Filipinos to hold dual citizenships also enlarged the market for overseas-based homebuyers, the report said. Prior to that, Filipinos living abroad who carried non-Philippine passports were barred from owning land in the Philippines. With INQ7.net

Palace men named to head 'super-regions'
ABS-CBN News

President Arroyo on Tuesday appointed five Malacañan officials to head her administration's "super-regions" project that aims to spur economic and infrastructure development in the countryside, ABS-CBN News learned.

Arthur Yap, head of the Presidential Management Staff and a former agriculture secretary, will head the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle. Secretary Ed Pamintuan of the Subic-Clark economic zones was tapped as chairman of the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, meanwhile, will focus on the Central Philippines region and Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process, was named supervisor of the Mindanao area.

Ramon Sales, on the other hand, will man the post as chief of the Cyber Corridor. Sales currently heads the Commission on Information and Communications Technology.

The appointments of the five officials to their new post came following the President's announcement of the creation of five super-regions during her State of the Nation Address last month.

The regional development, also dubbed "mega projects" by Mrs. Arroyo's aides, will consist of some 92 "big-ticket" items listed by Mrs. Arroyo. These will cost P372.02 billion ($7.2 billion) and about half the funding would come from the annual national budgets for 2007-2010.

Part of the program would be funded with development assistance from donor countries, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said.

The private sector would be asked to tender for P68.4 billion worth of projects, 18.39 percent of the total, that would be undertaken through "build-operate-transfer" or similar schemes, while state-run firms would spend P116 billion or 31.8 percent of the total cost of the program.

Local government units would put up P1.33 billion of the total cost, Andaya added.

"The cost per project can still go up or down depending on the prices of construction materials. For example, if oil prices go up, then an escalation in the project cost is to be expected," he added.

Rail projects account for 48 percent of the project cost, including a light rail loop covering metropolitan Manila.

Road projects would make up 27 percent of the spending, while P43.1 billion or 11 percent of the total would be needed to build or improve 23 airports.

Sea ports, irrigation canals, bridges, windmills, machine-readable passports and refrigerated warehouses make up the rest of the projects, the budget department said in a statement.

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said the project cost breakdown provided by the government should "answer now all the nitpickers, the critics that are appearing in the papers."

Mrs. Arroyo told reporters all 92 projects she announced represented about a third of the government's medium-term public infrastructure program.

"That's why I am quite confident that we can afford it," she added.

Tax collections have improved over the past two years as the legislature passed a 12 percent sales tax and raised excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.

^^ and who are you to say that? don't wish someones death, it might be you next, you never know.

sa totoo lang mas gusto kong nanalo si GMA sa election kahit nandaya pa dahil kung ang nanalo ay si FPJ (ay babalik na naman ang mga kampon nila Marcos at Estrada na mga known magnanakaw na isa pang group ng mga elite na mga corrupts at plunderer.

Refer to Loren Legarda's protest which is the only reliable source we have regarding the real outcome of the presidential elections. It appears that GMA indeed won by around a million votes margin.

But now after GMA declaration of total war against the Left I realized that she is more ruthless than Marcos. How come she tolerated the Death Squads to zap some leftist and some members of progressive groups who were not even member of the radical left the NPA.

How do you know she actually tolerated them? She even had the death penalty abolished because of her religious principles regarding the taking of human life.

Wala na ba tayong freedom na magsabi sa gobyerno ng mga bagay na para sa ikabubuti ng bayan. Pag nagsabi ka ba na maraming corrupts sa gobyerno and etc ay subversive ka na.

Talking about NPA I never glorify them, to me they are necessary evils (just like the Americans were also necessary evils). Kung may NPA ay puwedeng matakot din ang mga corrupts sa government na hindi sila masyadong maging garapal sa corruption dahil may NPA na magpaparusa sa kanila.

Mere airing of grievances is different from inciting to sedition, sedition, rebellion, insurrection and conspiracy to commit such acts which are felonies under the law.

^^ and who are you to say that? don't wish someones death, it might be you next, you never know.

yeah, wishing harm on another human being- that is just sick.

you can hate her all you want, but no wishing

Eto na naman, kailan kaya mapuputol ang sensational instinct ng mga Pilipino. Akala ko sa showbiz lang yan pati pala sa politics mas grabe pa. Citing the OWWA scandals, lagi na lang inaabangan ng oposisyon yung loop holes to the governement, wala na ba silang maisip, yung confinement ni PGMA, malubha na ang sakit, yung OWWA fund hoarding dahil miscommunications from the authorities in Lebanon then sampa kaagad ng complain sa Senate, what a rediculous move, ganito na lang palagi why this people gave their help to our kababayans there trap in war instead of doing another controversy. I really dont know are they on their minds or much worst than a kids who only wants to gave him a candy, what a suck people, be matured naman kayo.......We need to move tumulong naman kayo rather than seating and paying for your seat by our sweat.........

Eto na naman, kailan kaya mapuputol ang sensational instinct ng mga Pilipino. Akala ko sa showbiz lang yan pati pala sa politics mas grabe pa. Citing the OWWA scandals, lagi na lang inaabangan ng oposisyon yung loop holes to the governement, wala na ba silang maisip, yung confinement ni PGMA, malubha na ang sakit, yung OWWA fund hoarding dahil miscommunications from the authorities in Lebanon then sampa kaagad ng complain sa Senate, what a rediculous move, ganito na lang palagi why this people gave their help to our kababayans there trap in war instead of doing another controversy. I really dont know are they on their minds or much worst than a kids who only wants to gave him a candy, what a suck people, be matured naman kayo.......We need to move tumulong naman kayo rather than seating and paying for your seat by our sweat.........

It appears that ambassador Bicharra already knew that funds for the evacuation were already on their way and in fact he had already sent a subordinate to get the funds. But still he claimed that there were no funds, etc.

Tsk tsk much ado about a mere miscommunication.

katawa-tawa tuloy ang opposition. kinagat agad para mag karoon ng issue.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves yesterday said an improved fiscal position on the back of strong revenue collections by major tax agencies has put the Philippines back on the map of foreign investors.

Teves, in a speech during the 102nd Anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, stressed the need for the national government to increase revenue collections to accelerate the pace of its fiscal consolidation program aimed at achieving a balanced budget by 2008.

“We need to really increase our revenues because… improving our fiscal performance has helped a lot in terms of lowering interest rates, improving the peso, increasing investors’ confidence, and overall has put us back on the map at least in the subconscious of many investors,” he said.

Teves said American and European investors in the past were skeptical about the ability of the government to pursue much-needed fiscal and economic reforms.

“I recall when we visited the US and Europe a year ago, a lot of investors were not clear or even skeptical about how serious we are in pursuing our fiscal and economic reform program,” he said.

However, the finance chief said the perception changed in April after the government fully implemented the Expanded Value Added Tax Act of 2005.

He said even the finance minister of France cited the successful implementation of the new VAT law by the Philippines during the recent meeting of the G-24 (Group of 24) consisting of finance ministers.

“The finance minister of France in his extemporaneous speech cited the Philippines as a country that we should emulate in terms of taking a serious decision despite the high oil prices,” he quoted the official as saying.

The government managed to trim its budget deficit by 53.3 percent to P31.5 billion in the first half of the year from P67.5 billion in the same period last year. This was P58.9 billion better than the programmed budget gap of P90.4 billion for the first six months of the year.

The strong fiscal position was achieved after the national government posted surpluses of P17.6 billion in April, P5.8 billion in May and P12.7 billion in June.

Government revenues jumped 21.1 percent to P471.1 billion from January to June compared to P389 billion in the same period last year. The tax take of government agencies was P15 billion more than the programmed P456 billion.

BIR collections rose 22.1 percent to P318.4 billion from P260.9 billion while the tax take of the Bureau of Customs jumped 31.3 percent to P94.8 billion from P72.2 billion.

Teves said the national government would continue to focus on tax administration and collection efficiency so there would be no need to impose new taxes that would put more burden on the Filipino people.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business01_aug02_2006

No new taxes, just improved collection – Teves



By JUN RAMIREZ

Department of Finance (DoF) Secretary Margarito Teves yesterday ruled out the imposition of new taxes to support President Arroyo’s ambitious economic and development programs which she outlined in her recent State of the Nation Address.


"We will just improve our tax collection and administration efficiency to raise more funds,’’ Teves told officials and employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and their guests during yesterday’s celebration of the agency’s 102nd anniversary.

Teves said the BIR has already launched a string of tax reform measures to enhance voluntary tax payment, including the run-after-tax-evaders and invoice raffle programs.

The finance chief also disclosed that the BIR expects to raise between R5 billion to R10 billion a year from its "Premyo sa Resibo’’ program, which requires consumers of goods and services to "text" to the BIR the number of invoices issued for their purchases.

He also lauded BIR Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag and the staff of the revenue service for exceeding their collected target in the first semester of the year.

Records showed that the BIR raised a total of R302 billion from January to June, which is R1.5 billion or 24 percent higher compared to the amount collected in the same period last year.

Teves said even finance ministers of various countries in the world were impressed by the BIR’s collection performance, adding that France has urged other countries to emulate the Philippine experience.

On the same occasion, Teves and Buñag awarded plaques of appreciation to the country’s top taxpayers as well as revenue directors and district officers who have performed well in 2005 and in the first five months of the year.

They included Revenue Regional Directors Nelson Aspe of Makati, Fred Misajon of Manila and Anselmo Adriano of Valenzuela.

Among the revenue district officers (RDOs) cited were Charlie Lim of Makati South; Bobby Mailig of Makati East; Manuel Mapoy of Las Piñas; Clavelina Nacar of South Quezon City; Orlando Chio of South Manila; Gerry Dumayas of West Makati; Myrna Leonida and Gerry Florendo, present and former RDO of San Pedro, Laguna, respectively; and Rose Ragasa and Lorna Tobias, present and former head of the Binondo district office, respectively; and Virgilio Cembrano of the Makati large taxpayers district office.


http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006080270682.html

Mr.3cr please cite the sources of your articles... make sure to put the website address...... it's forum etiquette to do so... thank you...


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Cutting debt-to-GDP ratio
from 72 to 64% is crucial

By Jun Vallecera
Reporter

THE absolute amount of debt does not matter much, although it matters that the level of debt relative to the gross domestic product be progressively reduced to 64 percent of GDP this year from last year’s 72 percent of GDP, according to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves.

The government being in debt is a given “for as long as we continue to incur a deficit,” Teves said in an interview, and “that is why the goal is to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 64 percent this year.”

The original target was set at 68 percent of GDP by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee headed by budget chief Rolando Andaya.

Teves reiterated that the more important factor was not the absolute amount of the national government’s indebtedness, totaling P3.96 trillion at end-March this year, “but rather the ratio.”

“As we generate more resources locally, we will borrow less so the ratio of borrowing to GDP increasingly goes down. That is important to the financial community than the absolute amount,” Teves stressed.

He said the ratio has steadily fallen from 79 percent of GDP in 2004 to only 72 percent of last year’s aggregate output.

“We are going to bring this down to 64 percent by the end of the year. This is the goal,” Teves added.

The medium term goal was to bring the ratio further down to 50 percent of local output, Teves said, noting that most developing countries do well already when the ratio reaches this level.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front05.php

Marcos to Arroyo: Disclose health, don’t be like my father

By Maila Ager
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:03pm (Mla time) 08/02/2006

ADMITTING that her family did the wrong thing when they concealed the true state of health of her father, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, Ilocos Representative Imee Marcos has urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to disclose her real condition and seek the best medical attention before it was too late.

The young Marcos suspected that there was ”something amiss" with Arroyo's frequent trips to St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City.

"I make this appeal not as a member of the opposition but out of compassion as [a] daughter whose father once kept his illness from
the public until everything was out of hand. I don’t want the
President to endure the same pains as my father's," Marcos said in a
statement Wednesday.

Marcos said they were restrained from seeking medical help overseas because his father’s advisers were anxious that the people might know.

"It was too painful for us to see our father suffering. He didn’t deserve to be confined in his room and make do with the limited medical facilities of the Palace. His attending doctors can’t even bring in the basic medical equipment because of paranoia," she said.

"We could have availed [of] the best medical treatment during that time
-- but my father's advisers were anxious that people might know," she said.

“In spite of having the best doctors at our disposal, we opted to
conceal my father's condition," she said.

Marcos then urged the President's children -- Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo (Mikey), Diosdado (Dato), and Evangeline Lourdes (Luli) -- to convince their mother to get the best medical help.

Denying the President medical attention will only worsen her health, Marcos said.

"Hiding the President's state of health is a disaster waiting to happen. Speculations will continue to hound the presidency [regarding] her mental and physical fitness," the young Marcos said.

katawa-tawa tuloy ang opposition. kinagat agad para mag karoon ng issue.

What's more, a counterpart committee in the House of Representatives has already examined the disbursements of OWWA and found them to be aboveboard. The Lower House is now appealing to the Senate to defer their investigation since it would only distract the authorities from their efforts to evacuate the OFWs and ensure the safety of those who choose to stay in Lebanon.

^ They have to use every opportunity they can imagine since they thought this could be used for the upcoming elections. Little did they know that it will all come back to them.

Now that it is cleared that there are available funds, they don't know what to react with their own allegations. So much more when the president now decided to evacuate all our Filipino workers there since there is an escalated conflict in the area. Now they knew that this administration is seriously ensuring the safety of our OFWs in Lebanon.

As a Senator, Jinggoy should know better than to make such irresponsible comments. But then again, what can we expect? He and his mother are only in Congress to "fight for his father" and not for public service.

^^Jinggoy and his mother are practically useless in the Senate, it is so obvious that their only goal on why they chose to run is to resurrect their relative from the state of dishonor that he is in now.

I was shocked with Imee's statements, I can sense something fishy with that.

^^Jinggoy and his mother are practically useless in the Senate, it is so obvious that their only goal on why they chose to run is to resurrect their relative from the state of dishonor that he is in now.

I was shocked with Imee's statements, I can sense something fishy with that.

political demagoguery...what else is new with the marcoses...
like the estradas...they want to be back in power....by capitalizing on the ignorance of the populace (opinion lang ha....walang magagalit) :)

For the first time in 6 yrs,
debt interest payments to decline

BUDGET Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. has presented before the Cabinet the proposed P1.137-trillion national budget for 2007 which he described as a “progrowth measure” as it increases spending in all areas “except debt service.”

“Due to robust tax collection, spending for economic and social services will swell, while interest payments are expected shrink,” Andaya said.

Allocation for social services will jump from P256.8 billion this year to P335.4 billion next year, while the share of economic services will surge from P170.3 billion to P239 billion, he said.

“We are increasing spending for health, education, housing and the like by 30 percent. We are putting in P78.7 billion more for social services,” he said.

Investments in agriculture, agrarian reform, roads, and tourism—which are clustered in the economic services sector—will also get a hefty 40- percent hike next year to P239 billion in 2007 from P170 billion this year.

And for the first time in six years, interest payments will actually dip from this year’s level of P340 billion to P318 billion in 2007.

“We will free P22 billion from debt service and use this for productive purposes. Instead of being remitted to our creditors, these funds shall now go to farms, roads and schools,” Andaya said.

Next year, the share of debt burden to the national budget will slide to 28.8 percent from this year’s 36.2 percent.

The bias for social services reflects in the proposed budget of departments, the DBM said. Education tops the list with a proposed allocation of P134 billion, up by P22.1 billion from this year’s P112 billion .

“We are increasing DepEd’s budget by 20 percent, the highest growth in history,“ he said.

Another unprecedented feat is the 43.9-percent increase in the Department of Public Works and Highways, which is slated to get P21.8 billion more than its 2006 budget of P49.7 billion.

The budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will likewise balloon from P8.3 billion to P17.5 billion, a 110.9-percent hike that is reflective of the overall increase in capital outlays, including infrastructure, from P73 billion this year to P118.8 billion, Andaya explained .

Not only “sank-in-the-ground” projects stand to get a windfall from good fiscal performance but institutions, too, such as local governments which will have a bigger share of revenues, plowed back in the form of IRA and other local government unit share, which will increase from P151.6 billion to P186.4 billion.

Andaya said the increases would be made despite the “spending restrictions imposed by the plan to balance the budget by 2008.”

The 2007 budget is premised on revenues of P1.118 trillion, thus entailing a deficit of P63 billion, “which is hopefully the last before we enter the balanced budget era,” Andaya said.

Raising the revenues will be the job mostly of the BIR, with a quota of P784 billion; and the BOC, which has been assigned a P235-billion target. The government is pinning its hope on a revenue effort of 16.7 percent.

The 2007 budget is anchored on the following macroeconomic assumptions: GDP growth of 5.7 percent; 4.3-4.8 percent inflation; and exchange rate of P51-53 to US$1, among others.

Andaya clarified that the working draft of the 2007 budget including budget levels assigned to agencies would still be fine-tuned.

“There will still be improvements. The budget will be subjected to one more pass by the Cabinet before it is signed, sealed and delivered to Congress,” he said.

“What I have presented are just the broad strokes,” he added.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front06.php

NSCB: Banks, malls, property firms most profitable in Q1
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business05_aug04_2006
By Roderick T. dela Cruz

The year 2006 has emerged as the year for banks, shopping malls, real estate developers and telecommunication companies.

These industries posted double-digit growth in gross revenues in the first quarter of 2006, according to the Quarterly Survey of Philippine Business and Industries.

The National Statistical Coordination Board, which administers the survey, said total gross revenue of industries, as measured by quarterly economic indices, grew 15.1 percent year-on-year in the first three months, on the back of robust performance of the four sectors. This marked the ninth consecutive double-digit growth since the first quarter of 2004.

The statistical agency said the QEI on gross revenue for finance, which include banks and other financial institutions, went up by 21.9 percent while the indices for trade, which include wholesale and retail, grew 18.9 percent.

“These are largely attributed to the surge in interest income, income from fee-based transactions and gains from the sale of government securities of banks for finance and higher sales from petroleum, pharmaceutical, and supermarket products for trade,” NSCB secretary general Romulo Virola said.

Data also showed that real estate posted a 14.7 percent growth in revenues while transportation and communication, mainly powered by telecom companies, saw their revenues rise 12 percent in the first quarter.

Revenues of the manufacturing sector grew 8.8 percent while those of private services rose 7.6 percent.

According to the NSCB, the QEI intends to measure the average percent change on the volume of production, gross revenue, employment, compensation and compensation per employee in the various sectors of the economy.

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IMF ready to end monitoring of RP
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006080470872.html
By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

International Monetary Fund-Post Program Monitoring Mission Head James Gordon said his agency is ready to end its post-program monitoring of the country, thus concluding a 30-year IMF mantle over the Philippines.

"It’s more than procedural in the sense that it is something that we welcome," Gordon said, commenting on the termination of the PPM. The original purpose of the PPM is as an exit program from the IMF.

"If you read our reports you’ll see that the PPM is carried on for quite a while because the authorities see benefit in the dialogue that PPM facilitates (or) until the fiscal position is stronger. So we would welcome an ending of the PPM because it would be a sign that the fiscal position has strengthened sufficiently that the authorities feel comfortable enough to do without it," the IMF official said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is one agency that still appreciates the IMF presence in the country in fact IMF Representative Reza Baqir has his office in the BSP building.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said that there is no real hurry to exit from the IMF since the policy discussions, or third party counsel is something that the market appreciates. "The advantage to the IMF presence is the consultation that (we) have."

Tetangco added: "Market players still look at their data, and what they have to say. Part of the IMF service is the advice. If their assessment is good or positive then this will have positive effects as well. (But this is basic) if your performance is good, the market will realize that."

After 23 IMF programs, the Philippines is still under the scrutiny of the IMF, which assess monetary and financial stability.

The PPM provides the BSP and other agencies such as the Department of Finance an opportunity to have a forum with the IMF – to assess progress and take note of reform efforts.

As a member of the IMF, the National Government pays membership fees, which runs in the millions. The BSP has been advancing payments to the IMF on behalf of the NG.

Last February the NG paid BSP P6.8 billion for arrears due since 2002 when the bank settled the country’s membership or subscription quota with the IMF.

The P6.8 billion IMF dues is a requirement under the Fund’s ninth General Review of Quotas. The government still owes BSP P7 billion.

In 2002 the NG incurred this obligation when the IMF adjusted its subscription fees for member sovereigns. The central bank advanced the fees on behalf of the NG and it has been negotiating for settlement since then, including the issuance of promissory notes.

The finance department argued earlier that the BSP should assume the dues because of the government’s deficit concerns. But the central bank said with surpluses reported in 2005 and this year, the government can now afford to pay and they did.

Monetary authorities maintain that the government should assume payment of the quota subscription since the IMF is an association of governments and not of central banks.

For that matter the BSP pays for its own membership with the World Bank.(LCC)

For all the brickbats being hurled against her and the slings and arrows of the outraged opposition, GMA is one lucky gal. The country is fiscally sound, although we’re now being buffeted by the storm winds of an escalating global oil crisis. The World Bank, long critical of the Philippines’ economy and financial institutions has shown regained confidence in us by recently programming $200 million in loans, with the promise that this will be doubled, or even further enhanced if we continue making a good showing.

The US has launched what is called The Millennium Challenge in which we stand to get $20 million IF we clean up our act and bring integrity and efficiency back into our corrupt system. This can be expected to soar to as much as $200 million if the GMA government behaves itself and demonstrates substantial progress.

Sanamagan. If we miss these proffered opportunities, then we deserve to remain in the dumps, with tons of garbage being dumped daily on our heads.

GMA likes to say that God is with her and invoke the help of Divine Providence. But this is the time, as the ditty went in wartime, to "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

this is good news

For all the brickbats being hurled against her and the slings and arrows of the outraged opposition, GMA is one lucky gal. The country is fiscally sound, although we’re now being buffeted by the storm winds of an escalating global oil crisis. The World Bank, long critical of the Philippines’ economy and financial institutions has shown regained confidence in us by recently programming $200 million in loans, with the promise that this will be doubled, or even further enhanced if we continue making a good showing.

The US has launched what is called The Millennium Challenge in which we stand to get $20 million IF we clean up our act and bring integrity and efficiency back into our corrupt system. This can be expected to soar to as much as $200 million if the GMA government behaves itself and demonstrates substantial progress.

Sanamagan. If we miss these proffered opportunities, then we deserve to remain in the dumps, with tons of garbage being dumped daily on our heads.

GMA likes to say that God is with her and invoke the help of Divine Providence. But this is the time, as the ditty went in wartime, to "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Inflation dips to 2-year low
By Roderick T. dela Cruz

Inflation rate eased to a two-year low in July, as increased domestic food production helped stabilize prices which remain susceptible to oil price shocks.

In a summary inflation report released yesterday, the National Statistics Office said the year-on-year headline inflation rate decelerated to 6.4 percent in July, the slowest rate of price adjustment in 25 months since it was registered at 5.4 percent in June 2004.

The July headline inflation was also a significant improvement from 6.7 percent in June and 7.1 percent in July last year. It averaged 7.0 percent in the first seven months of 2006, well below the government’s revised inflation target of 7.3 to 7.9 percent for the whole year.

“The continued slowing down of the inflation rate of the heavily weighted food, beverages and tobacco items primarily contributed to the downtrend. Slower annual movements posted in the inflation rates of housing and repairs and services were also registered this month [July],” the NSO said.

More:
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business01_aug05_2006

The Zobel Dynasty

A look in Philippine newspapers – especially in the columns of enterprise news or high-society – shows often the name of Zobel with variations. The scarcely Spanish rather German appearing name makes curious and raises questions about the origins and the evolution of this dynasty, which has been in the past und nowadays so important for the development of Philippine economy. Here some protruding family-representatives are sketched shortly.

In fact the name is of German origin . In 1832 the pharmacist Johannes Andreas Zobel came from Hamburg to Manila and he opened together with his wife a drugstore in Intramuros, the Zobel Botica. The motives of his emigration as well as the person itself remain in historical darkness. There is a speculation, that also political aspects - the European revolutionary movements failed in this time - would have given reason. Later Johannes Andreas Zobel expanded his economical activities. He established a chemical lab and is engaged in the exploitation of iron- and cupper-mines in Bulacan and Baguio.

http://home.arcor.de/be/bethge/lif_6-1.jpg

His son Jakob or Jacabo Hinsch Zobel senior, born 1815 in Hamburg, assists his father and gets married with the attractive daughter of a high judge in Manila. Her name is Anna Maria Zongroniz y Arrieta. The marriage clears further entrances to the local upper class of such days. Anna Maria dies however early with thirty years. In time of her death son Jacobo Junior is only six years old.

The family decides to send the child Jacobo Zobel junior (1842 – 1896) to a private school in Hamburg. He achieves the degree of middle maturity there and his talents for foreign languages are discovered. In 1858 his father arrives from Manila and the son is sent for further studies to Madrid. Now the family gets culturally more orientated to Spain over generations and the former German relationships are losing importance. Nevertheless there are still blue eyes and blond hairs in the gene pool of the family as the example of Enrique Jacobo Zobel shows. But they can be also from Basque origin's.

Jacobo junior completes a studium generale in Madrid and acquires additionally a degree as pharmacist. As already told he is exceptionally language-talented - and as a polyglot man he has a understanding of eleven languages, including the Swedish, Russian, Arabian, Etruscan or Chaldean language. A German professor in Madrid inspires him for the numismatics. Henceforth Jacobo is collecting especially antique coins and he publishes also articles in Spanish and German journals on this subject.

In 1866 he returns to the Philippines and he manages the pharmacy of his father for a short period of time. The Zobels are already regarded as wealthy. The marriage with Trinidad Ayala y Roxas has a further strong capital increase as side-effect. Trinidad is the daughter of a rich Basque-Philippine family, which - here comparable with the American Kennedy family - made money with alcoholic distillates. The distillery is the germ cell of today’s much more diversified Ayala-Corporation. Jacobo Zobel becomes capital owner and enters into management.

His economical activities are extensive. He manages the building of the first two bridges made from steel in Manila and imports for the first time bikes and typewriters from Germany to the Philippines. His name is also connected with the first public traffic network in Manila, tramcars drawn by horses. Five routes are operated. The cars can take up to twelve passengers and have a first and second class. In his late years he is co-founder of the Banco Espanol Filipino. Eagerness and assertiveness are attributes of his work. He is regarded as being work-possessed and denounces the popular "dolce far niente".

As multicultural philanthropist he corresponds for example with the Danish fairy tale writer Andersen and he translates agricultural articles. In the circles of his friends and his Freemason group - presumably considered crucial by the Catholic church - he is supporting Philippine talents from the culture scene. He joined a loge of British origin, because such one established by the German consul in Manila was not opened for Spaniards and Mestizos.

Already in young years he becomes a town council. He stands up in particular for the expansion of the public school and library system. He tries to beautify Manila by planting trees and he strives for a stronger Philippine influence in the Spanish Cortes.

May be that the property of German hunt-arms made him suspicious to the Spaniards in 1872 , the year of the rebellion of Cavite. He is sent to prison for six months. Due to an intervention of German chancellor Bismarck he gets free from prison. Nevertheless he becomes later a member of the Royal Academy in Madrid. His death in 1896 caused by an intestine-ailment at the age of 54 years is also deplored at Madrid. Hermogenes E. Bacareza writes in his history of the Philippine-German relationships, that the little known Filipino Jacobo Zobel Jr. is worth of greater fame. (1).

The marriage with Trinidad produced five children. Two children have – in spite of the proximity to the medicine of those days - only a very short life. From the oldest son Fernandes (1876 - 1949) we know only that he supported in an active manner the later president Aguinaldo.

In particular it is his son Enrique – his full name is Enrique sable de Ayala ( 1877 - 1943) -, who gets public attention. He acquires the "Bachelor of Arts" in Madrid and continues with a follow-up study of mining industry, engineering sciences and painting at Paris. Returned to Manila, he joins the management of family’s company.

In 1901 he marries his cousin Consuelo Roxas de Ayala. The short marriage - Consuela falls victim to a cholera epidemic – produces three children follow. At the age of 33 he marries a second time. His second wife, daughter of a Spanish admiral, brings four children to the world.

Enrique consolidates his father’s firm and expands into many other business fields: the pharmaceuticals-sector, the porcelain and glass sector, banking and insurance sector, the field of building design and real estates as well as into the production of cane sugar. From original rice-fields he develops the trading centre of Makati.

He is reserved with regard to the "pax america". In a conservative attitude he is defending the heritage of the Spanish "mother country". For him the knowledge of Spanish language is indispensable to understand fully the writings of Rizal. To support the knowledge of Spanish language he founds a special school, the "Premio", that still looks for the initial objectives today. He understands himself as a philanthropist and supports the building of the national museum and the theatre's Metropolitan. On the side he publishes still essays and economy articles.

Enrique is a member of the Spanish Club, a union of rich and influential Spaniards born on the Philippines. They have reservations about the new American Commonwealth. In the thirties Generalissimo Franco becomes the new political idol. Enrique is on the side of Solano a strong proponent of the Falangists. It is little known that there have been parades in Manila comparable to such of the Third Reich - with uniforms, flags, banners and arms stretched for greeting. But the government of president Quezon was not very impressed by such parades.

Enrique has in total eight children and now the family tree is getting more and more side-branches. His son Jacobo participates in the death march of Bataan and is arrested by the Japanese. By the end of war he becomes consultant of the presidents Quirino, Roxas and Magsaysay. Alfonso is the father of Jaime Zobel which becomes decades later CEO of Ayala Company. Daughter Mercedes marries the American intelligence officer McMicking from the staff of general Mc Arthur. McMicking was after the war a great support to the family and he is more and more engaged in diversification.

http://home.arcor.de/be/bethge/consuelo.gif

Daughter Consuelo from Enrique’s second marriage becomes spouse of the youngest 4-star general of America, James Alger. After his retirement they move in 1970 to Hawaii. She is a strong catholic and deeply impressed by the charity of Saint Theresa. In 1987 Consuelo Zobel establishes a relief organization for street children in Manila.

Also son Fernando (1924 - 1984) from the second marriage becomes well-known. He visits the elementary school in Spain, but has to return to the Philippines, because of the Spanish civil war. He sees the Japanese occupation and is confined to bed for more than a year because of a back suffering. In this period he begins to paint. After the end of war he studies in Spain and at the Harvard University. Later Fernando joins the management of the Ayala group. In 1960 he becomes a professional painter. In exhibitions he has already shown his artistic talents. He resides mostly in Spain. His figurative painting becomes gets more and more abstract. Graphic and calligraphic elements are engraved in abstract, foggy structures. He is founder of the Museo de Arte Abstracto Espanol in Cuenca in Spain. One of his commentators compares his work with a "bright, dazzling comet on the sky of in the Philippines".

Outstanding figures of the next generation are Enrique Jacobo Zobel (*1920) and Jaimes Zobel (*1921).

About Enrique Zobel – short name: "Enzo" – we know more, because he has given interviews. He describes himself as being a non-conformist and a very strict disciplinarian. Now in old ages he announced to publish a biography, so that we could get more information about this extraordinary man.

First as single pampered child of a superrich family he does not lack anything and he is attending the American School in Manila. However, this pleasant life is disturbed abruptly by the Japanese occupation and the imprisonment of his father. Suddenly in the age of fourteen he has to take care for his family. And so it comes, that he works for two years as a coachmen (!) in Manila. Later he teaches the Spanish language to Japanese soldiers. He succeeds in getting free his very thin father from Japanese captivity.

After the end of war he works as a engine mechanic with the American army. He earned only two and a half Pesos per hour and a "Ganta" rice per day. Later he decides to go to America and to study agriculture. To be independent from allowances of his parents he works in the evenings as an engine mechanic for General Motors.

Finally his uncle Joseph McMicking offers him a management function in the truck department of Ayala-enterprise. Now Enrique can forget his agriculture studies more or less. In the first years he is active for his uncle, who is his instructor. His area of responsibility is area- and town planning. The trading center Makati and the Forbes Park is developed under his direction. Enrique buys up agricultural areas for - how he says - good money and resells these after their development to businessmen for even better money.

http://home.arcor.de/be/bethge/donjaimezobeldeayola.jpg

His jurisdiction expands in the following years into other industries and he becomes in 1968 CEO of the Ayala Company. Job discipline is very important for him. Often he is sitting at the desk of his office already at seven o'clock in the morning and he can get angrily if employees are coming late at ten o'clock. In the early eighties he gets a vehement quarrel with his cousin Andreas Soriano about important shares of the San Miguel Corporation, the large beer and food producer group on the Philippines. Enrique sells angrily the family’s shares to the Marcos favourite "Danding" Cojuangco. But before this transaction he did not consult his family clan – especially the "queen widow" Gloria - and so it comes, that he loses his positions in the Ayala group.

But Enrique is an entrepreneurial primary rock and builds up business fields of his own in the building sector. For the sultan of Brunei he builds for example one of the largest palaces of the world.

He described his business activities also as a game, comparable to his favourite sport, the polo. As an excellent polo-player and billionaire he knows all renowned polo places of the world and sometimes flies to them in own plane.

Mare "Juanita" is in 1991 however his undoing. She throws him off and it becomes - in the real sense of word - "dark" for him. Doctors are already expecting his death. One year he can not remind anything. When he awakes up from coma, he is paralyzed from the cervical vertebra and needs a rolling chair and movement therapists. Despite of his heavy physical handicap he is still going abroad, in order to arrange his economical matters. His intellectual vitality and zest of life is unbroken.

The autocrat comments political events very frankly and directly. Ex-president Estrada got only garbage as information from his consultants. President Macapagal-Arroyo, which he knows from her childhood, ignores critical remarks and she wants to hear only "good things". He blames the lacking creativity of Philippine’s manager, some of them would have only a Sari-Sari mentality and try to copy very often foreign countries.

A stellar hour – actually it took several hours - Enrique had in 1992, when he was invited to speak about the person and the property of ex-president Marcos in front of the "Blue Ribbon-committee" of the Philippine senate on Hawaii. Enrique was related to Marcos in critical friendship. That is not unusual, it is known that the economical and political elite groups on the Philippines have a very close relationship. He knew the trickeries, weaknesses and mistakes of Marcos very well, because he was a leading member of Makati-Business-Club. He believed in such days that the ill Marcos could still find to reforms. Now he should help, to open the "can of the Pandora". Here some of his revelations:

"[[ Marcos had evidently gold bars, gold certificates and treasury bonds in a value from more than 100 billion dollars when he went to his exile in Hawaii. His fortune is deposited in several countries ( among other counties in Switzerland and Vatican City). Part of the fortune - so he was assured directly by Marcos - came from Nazi gold that the Japanese hid in the Philippines in time of war. (2). Marcos concealed his wealth from his family. The fortune would allow to pay all the debts of the country. The former follower of Marcos like Fidel Ramos, Ponce Enrile or Fabian Ver got for their services gold bars in the value of a million dollars. On the other hand Marcos asked him during his stay on Hawaii for a 250-million $ credit to pay his 300 employees on Hawaii. ]]"

Enrique Zobels statements was attested a high degree creditability. Only Fidel Ramos protested.

Now Enrique lives now on his Hacienda. Now he can realize his dream of youth, - the cattle breeding. And he found already the place of his future tomb.

Due to pressure of his family Enrique was relieved in 1983 from the Ayala executive board post. His successor is the tall cousin Jaime sables de Ayala I . Born in 1920, he attends after schooling a university in Madrid as well as the Harvard University. In 1958 he was given the job of an assistant in the Ayala group with a monthly salary of 200 dollars. He works 26 years in different departments of the company, intermitted by a "Sabbath time" of five years as ambassador in Great Britain. Sable Jaime invests in particular in the High-Tech and telecommunication sector, the establishment of industries and car sales market (Mitsubishi). After the old one was burned down, he is engaged in the planning of the new Ayala art museum in Makati.

In 1985 he has to decide if he and his family should support Ferdinand Marcos or his competitor Aquino. That was also a crucial question with regard to the existence of the Ayala company. Jaime Zobel comes to the conclusion: " If the forces of reform were defeated, there would be no place for us here." Aquino gets his support.

Jaime Zobel retires from Ayala in 1995 because of age limit. Now he should have more time for his hobby, the photography. He got for his professional photos some awards.

Forbes Magazine is publishing an annual list of billionaires. Following this list he and his family have a property of round about 1.2 billion dollars, so he is on the level of the China-descended family Henry Sy (1.3 billion $) and Lucio Tan (1.2 billion $).

http://home.arcor.de/be/bethge/augusto2.jpg

His successor in the office of president becomes his son J. Augusto Zobel de Ayala – short name: JAZA. He is born 1959 in Manila and has also a Harvard degree. He continues further investments in the food industry and in particular in the sectors of telecommunication, IT and E-Commerce. But now he has to decide if he should go on with the diversification of the conglomerate of Ayala or if he should follow the trend to concentrate on the classical fields of business. - He is also vice-chairman at Globe Telecom and the Bank of the Philippine Islands and is sitting in the advisory committees of JP Morgan International, the Mitsubishi Corporation and the Toshiba Corporation.

In a 1995 speech to Asean business people in Hong Kong he said:

"We all pay for poverty and unemployment and illiteracy. If a large percentage of the society falls into a disadvantaged class, investors will find it hard to source skilled and alert workers; Manufacturers will have a limited market for their products; criminality will scare foreign investments .... It therefore makes business sense for corporations to complement the efforts of government in contributing to social development."

His words are not a mere declaration. JAZA is chairman of the Philippine ´s Children & Youth Foundation and Vice chairman of the global Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). These positions underline his social commitment.

In his leisure time he swims, is doing gymnastics or is riding a bike. Once he said "Life is a marathon, not a sprint". And that’s clear, he tries to have time for his family life.

Because the eighth generation of the Zobels – represented for example by Bianca, Paolo and Jake - is already in the blocks to take over demanding businesses in the oldest, most diversified and growth-oriented company of the Philippines.

http://home.arcor.de/be/bethge/zobelengl.htm

nag gegerman pa rin kaya si Zobel o bisaya na rin katulad ni gokongwei

since inflation rate is slow i think the people are less complaining about their wage hikes! stocks are in good position!

akala ko Spanish, German pala.

akala ko Spanish, German pala.


that's right...and the SM beer has a hanseatic origin... :)

to all komrad,

up to the bones i hate the marcoses and the estradas for their coruptions,
plundering the nations's treasury and for using the illiterate masa in their
own vested economic and political interest. (corrupting moral values etc
were also a kind of corruptions.

and same time I am not pro GMA.

pero sa totoo lang ang mga leftist lang and other progressive organizations ang against talaga sa mga marcoses and estradas.

" tila" galit lang kayo sa mga marcoses at estradas hindi dahil sa principio pero dahil sagad sa bones nyo na GMA fans kayo. sa totoo lang....

siguro noong last zona sa congress ni GMA kasama kayo sa mga palakpak crowds... just joking..

As a Senator, Jinggoy should know better than to make such irresponsible comments. But then again, what can we expect? He and his mother are only in Congress to "fight for his father" and not for public service.

Enrique Zobel spoke fluent Batangas Tagalog since he grew-up in his family's hacinda in Calatagan, where he would spend afternoons with the tenant children.

The Zobels call their home Hacienda Bigaa in Calatagan, Batangas.

I'm not sure if they still bred good race horses there.

interesting family history. I wish our family would have something like that :P

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (I think the pic was taken from the Ayala Tower One)
http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/10/2006/EGES.jpg

Fernando Zobel de Ayala
http://philko.org/img/news/sarang163.jpg

Consuelo Zobel
http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/04/news/art2c.jpg

Very interesting thread!

...and Consuelo Zobel Foundation continues to perform hundreds of miracles for disadvantaged Hawaiian families, regardless of ethnic background. I often wonder how many recipients here realize this is one of the great Philippine families. Anyway, I'm also fortunate enough to own one of the antique religious artifacts from Doña Consuelo's collection that was auctioned off after her demise, hence the "connection" (minor and distant as that may be).

^^ They are one of the great Filipino families in the country. :yes: Hmm, I actually met a member of the Zobel y Ayala clan. Her name is Tita Lourdes. She was born in Manila and speaks Tagalog. She has blue eyes because her father is a Spaniard while her mother is Filipina mestiza. Also she is a friend and the neighbor of Cory Aquino.

Arroyo’s ‘believe it or not’ stunt



Inquirer
Last updated 02:21am (Mla time) 08/05/2006

Published on Page A12 of the August 5, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BELIEVE it or not, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can do it. Yes, she can lie again and again in front of the nation. Her latest was no less than the State of the Nation Address (Sona).

This year’s Sona showed how far off Ms Arroyo’s world is from the world of the Filipino people, especially the rural women. She laid out big plans for bridges, airports and highways to link the so-called “super regions,” but not even one to link the reality of rural unemployment and chronic poverty in the countryside.

The marginal women-farmers and -fishers have long been crying out for change in the government’s liberalization policy. Imported products flood the market and depress the prices of local goods. The small players cannot compete as long as they are taken for granted by government, i.e., not given the necessary credit, training and technology support. The Sona promised nothing but further neglect.

Or did Ms Arroyo expect the Filipino people to be tricked by her long and winding roads (promises)?

Ms Arroyo said that around two million people have risen above poverty but was silent on the decline in rural employment; every year, from 2002 to 2004, an average of 2.13 percent of women in agriculture have been losing jobs.

She said land titles had been granted, but she did not mention the many agrarian decisions that have been reversed (e.g., cancellation of emancipation patents and certificate of land ownership awards). She talked about the solidarity of the family, but she seemed not to notice the struggle of rural families whose mothers and daughters have left for overseas work. She denounced political killings but gave her “blessings” to the perpetrators of human rights violations.

Ms Arroyo also supported the claim of some groups to the portion of the coco levy fund despite the fact that they are ready to compromise with Danding Cojuangco. Why? Maybe, Cojuangco is ready to assist in paving her roads which, she hopes, will reach her desired destination: Charter change.

Did she really expect us to believe that the “Cha-cha” will solve the problem of corruption? We remind Ms Arroyo that all she has to do is to leave her position if she really wants to contribute to the eradication of corruption. We do not forget the fertilizer scam that easy. We also wish to tell her that we are not going to put at risk our national patrimony -- the land, forests and water that are our sources of subsistence -- by acceding to her proposed Charter change.

Lastly, Ms Arroyo promised to relinquish the “presidency” after three years. Does she really expect the Filipino people to put up with her that long?

LUISITA Z. ESMAO, execom member, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), via e-mail

Interesting thread. Please put the source also. That is very important.

Ok, please feature another Filipino 'Dynasty' so we will know and learn their ancestry, their roots, how they rose to fame and fortune, their trials and tribulations, their legacies.

Believe it or not Luisita Esmao, I don't believe you!

There's this book we have in Ateneo about the Aboitiz clan. They don't look like elegant people (their ancestors were barefoot in most of their family pictures).

oi oi bat nyo pinagchichismisan familia namin?????!!!!! lols

There's this book we have in Ateneo about the Aboitiz clan. They don't look like elegant people (their ancestors were barefoot in most of their family pictures).

who was this aboitiz nga who felt that he was poor, ws that indira aboitiz or sumthing (basta parang ganun ang sound ng name nya, indira, indika ewan)

feeling nya daw mahirap sya and kahit sa office sa table daw nya natutulog, tapos during one meeting nung nagmemerge pa ang aboitiz with william lines and gothong for forming WG&A, yung iba naka fomal attire tapos sya naka maong lang..i dunno if its true though pero it sounds amusing..well the "real rich" need not show of right..its those "alanganing rich" that like to flaunt

That's the Cebu Aboitizes, diba?

Nagka chismisan na ngani ng mga Famous Families in the Philippines. :lol:

The SORIANOS and ELIZALDES would be a good thread to start. Aren't they all related to Zobel de Ayala families?

There are some more famous families all around the islands, it would be nice to trace their geneologies.......... baka makarating tayo sa Arroyo Y Tuazon families. :D

well the "real rich" need not show of right..its those "alanganing rich" that like to flaunt

Like this guy with a blog here: cofibean blog (http://www.cofibean.blogspot.com/)

Back to topic. I got to meet Monica Zobel a few times. She and my sister worked in the same ad agency. But the first times that I saw her when I was younger I wasn't that much aware of who she was. I remember one time at a party she was with her then-boyfriend, the singer Louie Heredia. I was more impressed with Louie then because I'd seen him on TV with other artistas (now I realize how jologs that was, hehe). They seemed like a cute couple and she seems like a very nice lady. I noticed that she knew how to speak Tagalog well, but would also lapse into Taglish and a bit of Spanglish (when speaking with Louie).

A Spanish friend of mine who deals with JAZA and FZA sometimes, says that they seem to prefer speaking Spanish when they're just talking among themselves with other people who speak it, but for business it's English.

I've bumped into the ZA brothers a few times, last at a function at the Ayala Museum I think. I also remember a Spanish lady teacher I know (whose boyfriend then was a Pinoy) saying once that when she saw the ZA brothers she was puzzled why some Filipinas found them to be attractive when she thought they were quite ugly. To each their own I guess ;)

Another friend of my sister is also a good friend of JAZA's. And JAZA confided to him daw that he really envies him because he can go just anywhere here in Manila at any time without sticking out or being recognized or having to take extra precautions.

It's like a legend in our family how in the 1950s my grandfather was offered a lot in Makati by the Zobels in what was then going to become Forbes Park/Dasmarinas Village. However, he was more gung-ho about Quezon City (which was the capital and had a lot of government buildings and developments going up at the time) and was also more involved as a politician in that city so instead he chose to get a lot in what is now Project 8! Years later when somebody asked him about that decision he said he never expected that swampy and grassy wasteland to turn out like that, and he didn't like the concept of a neighborhood being "gated" because it would be hard for his constituents to go to visit him. My uncle and his family are still living in the house in Project 8 and we all joke that if only lolo had been smarter (or could have seen the future) and less of a politico then they'd be living in Forbes now! That's one bit of chismis of our "family dynasty" naman hehe. But I guess bumawi naman yung isa ko pang uncle since his family got lots naman in La Vista of the Tuazons. Although I gotta say, wala pa ring sinabi ang La Vista sa Forbes, the Zobels just planned and maintained their land much much better than the Tuazons (who actually had more).

http://www.divasthesite.com/images/Diva_Offspring/Imelda_Marcos_children.JPG

Post more pictures of the Ayala family, and the "Philippine Royal Family" :scouserd:

http://www.divasthesite.com/images/Diva_Offspring/Imelda_Marcos_children.JPG

Post more pictures of the Ayala family, and the "Philippine Royal Family" :scouserd:

Matagal ko nang gustong itanong, sino ba yung batang yan na laging kasama sa family portrait, bunso ba nila yan o ano? kasi ang bata nmn para maging bunso :?

http://img.timeinc.net/asiaweek/97/0221/feat5a.jpg
That is Aimee Marcos rumored to be the daughter of Imee and a billionaire

http://img.timeinc.net/asiaweek/97/0221/feat5a.jpg
That is Aimee Marcos rumored to be the daughter of Imee and a billionaire

So thats the beautiful Aimee, Kala ko siya yung isa pang dalaga, hehe, hmm.. e sino naman yung isa pang dalaga?

yung nasa left, si irene, i think.

*sigh* how i wish i was a zobel...

Nagka chismisan na ngani ng mga Famous Families in the Philippines. :lol:

The SORIANOS and ELIZALDES would be a good thread to start. Aren't they all related to Zobel de Ayala families?

There are some more famous families all around the islands, it would be nice to trace their geneologies.......... baka makarating tayo sa Arroyo Y Tuazon families. :D

There's also the Roxas family.

http://img.timeinc.net/asiaweek/97/0221/feat5a.jpg
That is Aimee Marcos rumored to be the daughter of Imee and a billionaire
..that is not Aimee i think...i watched an episode before in Rated K...Korina interviews Aimee and shes a littlebit chubby and play drums with her band...the lady in that pic with First Lady is younger looking...

I got a pictures of her...

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784262.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784261.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784260.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784259.jpg

photo credits to: www.abs.cbnnews.com

fernando zobel and consuelo zobel they're very handsome even it they're old already. Is it true Richard gomez was the boyfriend of zobel?

Enrique Zobel spoke fluent Batangas Tagalog since he grew-up in his family's hacinda in Calatagan where he would spend afternoons with the tenant children.

unrelated but,

is it true that the gardeners in their haciendas carry handguns just in case of an attack??

:runaway:

fernando zobel and consuelo zobel they're very handsome even it they're old already. Is it true Richard gomez was the boyfriend of zobel?
..tsismis! hehehehe

Believe it or not Luisita Esmao,


I don't believe you!


hehehe, count me in

Arroyo’s ‘believe it or not’ stunt
The marginal women-farmers and -fishers have long been crying out for change in the government’s liberalization policy. Imported products flood the market and depress the prices of local goods. The small players cannot compete as long as they are taken for granted by government, i.e., not given the necessary credit, training and technology support. The Sona promised nothing but further neglect.

Or did Ms Arroyo expect the Filipino people to be tricked by her long and winding roads (promises)?

Ms Arroyo said that around two million people have risen above poverty but was silent on the decline in rural employment; every year, from 2002 to 2004, an average of 2.13 percent of women in agriculture have been losing jobs.

She said land titles had been granted, but she did not mention the many agrarian decisions that have been reversed (e.g., cancellation of emancipation patents and certificate of land ownership awards). She talked about the solidarity of the family, but she seemed not to notice the struggle of rural families whose mothers and daughters have left for overseas work. She denounced political killings but gave her “blessings” to the perpetrators of human rights violations.

Ms Arroyo also supported the claim of some groups to the portion of the coco levy fund despite the fact that they are ready to compromise with Danding Cojuangco. Why? Maybe, Cojuangco is ready to assist in paving her roads which, she hopes, will reach her desired destination: Charter change.

Did she really expect us to believe that the “Cha-cha” will solve the problem of corruption? We remind Ms Arroyo that all she has to do is to leave her position if she really wants to contribute to the eradication of corruption. We do not forget the fertilizer scam that easy. We also wish to tell her that we are not going to put at risk our national patrimony -- the land, forestsWe do not forget the fertilizer scam that easy. We also wish to tell her that we are not going to put at risk our national patrimony -- the land, forests and water that are our sources of subsistence -- by acceding to her proposed Charter change. and water that are our sources of subsistence -- by acceding to her proposed Charter change.

Lastly, Ms Arroyo promised to relinquish the “presidency” after three years. Does she really expect the Filipino people to put up with her that long?

LUISITA Z. ESMAO, execom member, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), via e-mail

--->I have no idea about the whole liberalization policy of the government. But as what I've understood in some forums that I attended in our school, the government seems to be doing its job right. Especially in the WTO MInisterial Conference in Hong Kong several months ago. The position of the Philippine government with regards to liberalization of some agricultural products is not the same with what this woman is talking about. I actually commend the government for consulting with other groups before making a position in thet conference.

I understand that the Philippines' agriculture has suffered when we opened up. But I hope she would also consider the benefits. But, of course, I also have to take note that our tariffs are low compared to other Asian countries such as Thailand and INdia. I hope the government would raise it a bit higher to be at par with other Asian countries. Subsidies should also be increased. Agriculture is still very important to us.

--->She did not mention where the unemployed women went. Are they still unemployed by now or they have transferred to other types of jobs. Maybe they are now in manufacturing sector or the services sector. She didn't mention it. Perhaps it would be more convincing if she said that this "unemployed" women remained unemployed up to now and their families are now suffering hunger and poverty. Perhaps it would be better that way.

--->She mentioned the agrarian decisions that were reversed. But did not mention why. Were those dcisions reversed because the party did not follow the contract or were there anomalies to the land grant given before? We do not know. No one knows actually. I know a single decision that was reversed. And that is the Hacienda Luisita case. If I'm not mistaken, the court now ordered that the hacienda should be divided and sold to the farmers. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

--->She mentioned that GMA gave her "blessings" to the political killings. Ok. What kind of blessing? Is she reffering to the all-out war against communism? Or maybe she knows a "hidden policy" of government about political killings. That we don't know.

--->Did the government really compromised with Danding? If that's the case, then why? PLease explain further.

--->She suggested that Ms. Arroyo should leave her post to "contibute to the eradication of corruption." Maybe yes. Maybe no.

--->I don't forget the fertilizer scam either.

--->And this is the last thing that I hate to what she said: "We also wish to tell her that we are not going to put at risk our national patrimony -- the land, forests and water that are our sources of subsistence -- by acceding to her proposed Charter change."
For heaven's sake, how did she come up with the conclusion that the government is trying to put the national patrimony "at risk" via Chacha? This is totally unfair and misleading. If you would compare our policy to other Asian countries, you would realize that the Philippines is the only remaining country or one of the contries which has not liberalized its resources. So haw can we descbribe what these other Asian countries did? Did they put their national patrimony "at risk" because they liberalized? If I'm not mistaken, even China has liberalized its economy and resources.

lastly did she expect that the readers would believe this?

Does Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel speak Tagalog?

I got a pictures of her...

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784262.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784261.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784260.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784259.jpg

photo credits to: www.abs.cbnnews.com

Wala bang gagawa ng sa mga Marcoses? Ang ganda talaga ni Imelda dati. nakaka-asar nga lang sayang talag sila. tsk tsk tsk...

I got a pictures of her...

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784262.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784261.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784260.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174784259.jpg

photo credits to: www.abs.cbnnews.com

Who is the father of Aimee Marcos?

hehehe, count me in

me three :scouserd:

rumor na si aimee yata eh anak ni Ferdie sa ibang babae or anak ng kapatid ni First Lady Imelda...

basahin niyo "The MArcos Dynasty" book by Sterling Seagrave....diyan ko nabasa kung saan galing si Aimee..hindi ko na matandaan eh pero hindi talaga siya anak nila Imelda at Ferdinand...

^Hindi nga. Pero ang alam ko inampon siya. Hindi ko alam kung saan galing. Pero siguro nga galing din sa isa sa mga members. Hindi naman siguro sila mag-aampon kung hindi nila kadugo. Feeling ko lang naman yun.

I wonder how Imelda looked like when she was still in her teens :cheers:

pinalabas yata kasi noon na buntis si Imelda kahit hindi, para maging totoo eh kumuha sila ng bata at sinabing yun ang anak nila..at yun nga si Aimee..

I wonder how Imelda looked like when she was still in her teens :cheers:
shes so beautiful, shes a former beauty title holder in her hometown Leyte and former Miss Manila too...

So thats the beautiful Aimee, Kala ko siya yung isa pang dalaga, hehe, hmm.. e sino naman yung isa pang dalaga?
the other lady is Irene Marcos...

shes so beautiful, shes a former beauty title holder in her hometown Leyte and former Miss Manila too...

any pictures?

the ever glamorous Imelda Marcos

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174808462.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174808461.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174808460.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174808459.jpg

she's a former model too
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891404/11414419/174808457.jpg

Nagka chismisan na ngani ng mga Famous Families in the Philippines. :lol:

The SORIANOS and ELIZALDES would be a good thread to start. Aren't they all related to Zobel de Ayala families?

There are some more famous families all around the islands, it would be nice to trace their geneologies.......... baka makarating tayo sa Arroyo Y Tuazon families. :D

speaking of the the Elizaldes, my friend Javier (youngest brother of the more popular Juan) nasa burol :( ...ewan ko bakit pinapalabas nilang nagpakamatay sya...

My mum told me that Imee was just adopted. Her biological father daw was Manila Mayor Lacson. It's just a rumor though.

who was this aboitiz nga who felt that he was poor, ws that indira aboitiz or sumthing (basta parang ganun ang sound ng name nya, indira, indika ewan)

feeling nya daw mahirap sya and kahit sa office sa table daw nya natutulog, tapos during one meeting nung nagmemerge pa ang aboitiz with william lines and gothong for forming WG&A, yung iba naka fomal attire tapos sya naka maong lang..i dunno if its true though pero it sounds amusing..well the "real rich" need not show of right..its those "alanganing rich" that like to flaunt

Siguro mga simpleng tao lang sila. Yung mga ibang retrato nga sa bahay kubo kinuhaan.

That's the Cebu Aboitizes, diba?

Yup.

Actualy... in Ces Drilon's "pipol"... she admitted that she is adopted...

ehh... maybe i shoulda posted this on the "samahan" thread :runaway:

Actualy... in Ces Drilon's "pipol"... she admitted that she is adopted...

Who did? Imee or Aimee?

^^ Aimee...

Imelda looked japanese when she was younger. and ferdi looked vietnamese.

^^Ferdie had Japanese flood, so it's the other way around. Imelda is partly Spanish.

http://img.timeinc.net/asiaweek/97/0221/feat5a.jpg
This is Aimee Marcos on her 18th birthday that's why she looks young and skinny!

This is the article featured on the Asiaweek website where I found the Pic:

Aimee, has always been a charmer. As a little girl in the Malacanang presidential palace, she would engage the tough security guards with children's games of hide-and-seek. Last week, amid dancing ballerinas in the Manila Hotel ballroom, she emerged as an 18-year-old set to cut her own profile in Philippine high society. At a benefit dinner Feb. 5, Aimee was named one of "Manila's Five Loveliest." A poetry-writing English Literature major at the elite Ateneo de Manila University, she enchanted the well-heeled crowd, which included mom Imelda -- a "Miss Manila" beauty titleholder in her time. The 67-year-old former first lady shed tears (to match her tear-drop gem-and-diamond earrings, perhaps) as her ward received the trophy.

http://img328.imageshack.us/img328/83/ixz0.jpg

I recently bought a book about the Marcos Family at National Book Store(Glorietta) for only P48

This is the only book I could find that's about the Marcos family

that cannot be imee. that picture looks current imelda looks old already and how can imee only be 18.

that cannot be imee. that picture looks current imelda looks old already and how can imee only be 18.
yeah, thats not Aimee I think...matanda na si Aimee ngayon...baka anak ni Aimee yang nag debut kasama si First Lady...

a00556425, I recommend The Marcos Dynasty book by Sterling Seagrave...

Read again... the article said it was created by the the know defunct "ASIAWEEK"... the article is probably years old...

I have the "Marcos Dynasty" book too. But it's mostly about Yamashita treasure and other Bullsh*t that has nothing to do with the Marcos family they just added more information to make the book longer

Anybody have pictures or more info about President Marcos's girlfriend Dovie Beams?

The book says that there are recorded sex tapes between the two, that were exposed in the 1970's! :lol: :lol:

no, it has lots of infos on imelda and ferdinand! especially the secrets of the family..well i havent read the yamashita section of the book cause im not interested on that...

The book says that there are recorded sex tapes between the two, that were exposed in the 1970's! :lol: :lol:
and it was played and heard daw all over UP...

The Zobel de Ayalas will have a serious fit because their thread was converted into a Marcos dynasty thread. :ohno:

Yes... this thread is suppose to talk about the Zobel family... anyway, does Fernando and Jaime Augusto Zobel speak tagalog?

I have the "Marcos Dynasty" book too. But it's mostly about Yamashita treasure and other Bullsh*t that has nothing to do with the Marcos family they just added more information to make the book longer

Anybody have pictures or more info about President Marcos's girlfriend Dovie Beams?

The book says that there are recorded sex tapes between the two, that were exposed in the 1970's! :lol: :lol:

Here is a picture of Dovie Beams from a movie poster:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a137/ECdoesit/DovieBeams.jpg

I did read about that recorded sex tapes that Dovie made. Ferdie even sang Pamulinawen (I think.)

Later, he sang "If I were a rich man... dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie ...beams. All day long I'll biddy biddy bum, If I were a wealthy man." (tune from Fiddler on the Roof.) :jk:

^^Haha. Si Imelda scene stealer kasi.

and it was played and heard daw all over UP...
Yup, we also had that here in school during first year high school. It was Marcos and a certain Dovie Beams.

@Mico: I'm guessing that they can speak Filipino. As mentioned Jaime Augusto grew up in a hacienda in Batangas.

If Stella Araneta can speak Tagalog (I heard her talking to her alalay at Gateway), then I'm sure Filipinos Fernando and Jaime can.

The Zobel de Ayalas will have a serious fit because their thread was converted into a Marcos dynasty thread. :ohno:


I bought the Marcos book at Glorietta Mall, which is owned by the Zobel de Ayala's. SEE its all connected :weird:

the other lady is Irene Marcos...
o yeah, hehe I forgot about her hehehe

o yeah, recently I made Imelda my topic ofr my senior term paper hehe...

I also have a book with that portrait at the back cover.

^^me four. Magkano kaya ang bayad ng article na yan from the Opposition?

me five ^^ :D

puedeng bumoto uli?


wala na kasi silang masasabi kaya yun, kung anu-ano na lang.

this is good news

For all the brickbats being hurled against her and the slings and arrows of the outraged opposition, GMA is one lucky gal. The country is fiscally sound, although we’re now being buffeted by the storm winds of an escalating global oil crisis. The World Bank, long critical of the Philippines’ economy and financial institutions has shown regained confidence in us by recently programming $200 million in loans, with the promise that this will be doubled, or even further enhanced if we continue making a good showing.



The Philippines doesn't need anymore loans, what the country must do is to increase its revenues by way of efficient collection of taxes and with honest governance nailing all the corrupt politicians in our rotten political system making sure justice is served.

--->I have no idea about the whole liberalization policy of the government. But as what I've understood in some forums that I attended in our school, the government seems to be doing its job right. Especially in the WTO MInisterial Conference in Hong Kong several months ago. The position of the Philippine government with regards to liberalization of some agricultural products is not the same with what this woman is talking about. I actually commend the government for consulting with other groups before making a position in thet conference.

I understand that the Philippines' agriculture has suffered when we opened up. But I hope she would also consider the benefits. But, of course, I also have to take note that our tariffs are low compared to other Asian countries such as Thailand and INdia. I hope the government would raise it a bit higher to be at par with other Asian countries. Subsidies should also be increased. Agriculture is still very important to us.

--->She did not mention where the unemployed women went. Are they still unemployed by now or they have transferred to other types of jobs. Maybe they are now in manufacturing sector or the services sector. She didn't mention it. Perhaps it would be more convincing if she said that this "unemployed" women remained unemployed up to now and their families are now suffering hunger and poverty. Perhaps it would be better that way.

--->She mentioned the agrarian decisions that were reversed. But did not mention why. Were those dcisions reversed because the party did not follow the contract or were there anomalies to the land grant given before? We do not know. No one knows actually. I know a single decision that was reversed. And that is the Hacienda Luisita case. If I'm not mistaken, the court now ordered that the hacienda should be divided and sold to the farmers. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

--->She mentioned that GMA gave her "blessings" to the political killings. Ok. What kind of blessing? Is she reffering to the all-out war against communism? Or maybe she knows a "hidden policy" of government about political killings. That we don't know.

--->Did the government really compromised with Danding? If that's the case, then why? PLease explain further.

--->She suggested that Ms. Arroyo should leave her post to "contibute to the eradication of corruption." Maybe yes. Maybe no.

--->I don't forget the fertilizer scam either.

--->And this is the last thing that I hate to what she said: "We also wish to tell her that we are not going to put at risk our national patrimony -- the land, forests and water that are our sources of subsistence -- by acceding to her proposed Charter change."
For heaven's sake, how did she come up with the conclusion that the government is trying to put the national patrimony "at risk" via Chacha? This is totally unfair and misleading. If you would compare our policy to other Asian countries, you would realize that the Philippines is the only remaining country or one of the contries which has not liberalized its resources. So haw can we descbribe what these other Asian countries did? Did they put their national patrimony "at risk" because they liberalized? If I'm not mistaken, even China has liberalized its economy and resources.

lastly did she expect that the readers would believe this?

u should directly mail this to the author :bash: invite them opposition people... its should to be fun :sleepy:

^^ Apila na lang pod sa thread ang Relations nina Gaisano at ni Henry Sy. Remember that both of them are "Sys"

Good Job!

How Teves did it
By Tony Lopez
Monday, August 07, 2006

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/aug/07/yehey/business/20060807bus4.html

Not many people have realized it but Margarito “Gary” Teves has just engineered one of the most incredible turnarounds in government corporate finance history: Ending years of massive government budget deficits into a surplus as early as 2008.

Credit Gary’s education (Development Economics, in London), his long experience as a politician (three terms as congressman), as a bank president (Land Bank), and as an entrepreneur (he put up a think tank), and his enormous people relations skills for his success.

And he has political will. Last year, when President Arroyo was wavering on whether to implement or not the Expanded Value Added Tax, Gary plodded on.

Collecting higher taxes is no easy task. Not when oil prices are breaking thru the ceiling. Not when protesters are spilling into the streets. Not when President Arroyo is faced with attempted coups and impeachment raps. Tax during a turmoil? No way, Jose.

With VAT and additional taxes on liquor and tobacco, revenues climbed dramatically, from P706.7 billion in 2004 to P815.7 billion in 2005 and to an expected P968.6 billion this year.

Next year, revenues could hit the P1.1-trillion mark for the first time, and further to P1.3 trillion in 2008 by which time the budget deficit would have been eliminated.

As a result, the budget gap would decline from P187.1 billion in 2004 to P146.5 billion in 2005, to P124.9 billion this year. Teves hopes that by 2008, the gap would disappear.

A budget surplus is something that has never been achieved before, except for some devious window-dressing of government cash balances like asking government-owned or controlled corporations to advance cash dividends ahead of the year’s end or not paying more than P100 billion in arrears to contractors.

So big is the administration surplus that President Arroyo has just uncorked the most ambitious infrastructure program ever launched by any president, a whopping P100 billion a year over the next four years.

Spending P400 billion in four years, to be matched by the private sector’s own infrastructure spending, with another P400 billion, Arroyo hopes, will bring infra expenditures to 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, five times the current average and the highest in memory.

That should be enough to develop the north and south of the archipelago into two major agri-business centers and the central Philippines into a tourism hub.

At the same time, the price of electricity would be more reasonable, food would become plentiful, goods could be brought to markets, the Filipino worker could upgrade his skills to global standards, and red tape cut to the barest minimum.

Government’s stubbornness to impose the EVAT earned it the grudging admiration and respect of the normally cynical international creditor community. And investors like call center operators and firms engaged in business process outsourcing (BPO).

That in turn has resulted in improved credit ratings which, in turn, brought about lower interest rates for the country’s debts. Arroyo estimates the savings from lower interest payments at P30 billion, almost the size of the record P34 billion profits PLDT made last year, mostly from cellular phones.

Fiscal reform, along with growing OFW remittances and anti-corruption campaigns, resulted in:

• Credit rating upgrade from negative to stable of the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCRA).

• Upgrade of the debt-rating outlook from negative to stable by Fitch Rating; and

• Revised outlook on sovereign credit rating from negative to stable by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Rating Services.

There is no letup in the revenue drive. Teves has vowed to sell more government corporations. The one overdue is the transmission assets of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).

CATARMAN—Australia is granting P2 million to selected communities in Northern Samar to finance their development projects for five years, an official has said.

David Swete Kelly, program director of the Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Program, made the announcement at the recent launching of community projects in the towns of Catarman and San Isidro in this province.

He cited the special relations between Australia and the province of Northern Samar, which has been in place for 35 years.

Australia first financed construction of the road between San Isidro and Rawis in Laoang, in the late ’70s. Ben Veridiano

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news07_aug07_2006

Yeah, Gaisanos and Sys are distant relatives, but Gaisanos and Gokongwei are closer relatives, I think they are second-degree cousins. The Gaisanos are also cousins of the owners of Isetann (Go's). They all came from the same freakin' Fujian province!

u should directly mail this to the author :bash: invite them opposition people... its should to be fun :sleepy:


Liberalization or globalization is okey for those countries with patriotic and nationalistic citizens unlike the Philippines where many don't care about what will happens to the country as long as they can have money in their pockets.

the elite class don't care to plunder our national wealth or the people's taxes
as long as they can have millions to deposit in their foreign accounts.

many of the poor class or the masses out of desperation will also sell their country so that they can survive.

^^ They will all fit in one shoe. "Sy-Go" hehehehe :D :D :D

The Philippines doesn't need anymore loans, what the country must do is to increase its revenues by way of efficient collection of taxes and with honest governance nailing all the corrupt politicians in our rotten political system making sure justice is served.


Loans are good if appropriated efficiently and correctly. and you make sure your profit from the loan is more than the interest your paying. If the gain is more than the cost then it's beneficial.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608080708.htm

US investment firm Bear Stearns expects the country’s central monetary authority to keep its policy rates steady due to a continuing decline in inflation rates.

"Slowing inflation may convince the central bank-Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and its policy makers to keep borrowing costs unchanged at 7.5 percent when they next meet on Aug. 10," the firm said, in its latest Emerging Markets Sovereign Journal.

Bear Stearns noted that Philippine inflation slowed to a two-year low in July as food and fuel price gains eased, giving the central bank room to keep interest rates unchanged.

Consumer prices, on the other hand, rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier gaining 6.7 percent in June.

Bear Stearns also noted that President Arroyo’s government needs to lower interest rates to spur consumer spending, which accounts for three-quarters of the Philippines‚ economy.

"Price increases have averaged seven percent so far this year. The central bank is aiming for price increases of between four percent and five percent next year," it said.

It also noted that the Philippines has upgraded its export growth target for this year to 10 percent from eight-percent goal earlier set due to strong performance of the global semiconductor market.

"The new export target for this year is much higher than the 3.7- percent actual growth in 2005 and reflects the fact that in the first five months of the year, the country’s export earnings have surged by 16 percent compared to the same period in 2005," it said.

It added that "much of this is driven by the doubling of electronics industry investments last year in the Philippines."

"The country’s electronic products, which account for two-thirds of export earnings, consist of semiconductors, office equipment, telecommunication and medical/industrial instrumentation," it said.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the adjustment, if there is any on the US Federal rates will not have a substantial impact on the local interest rates.

"The market thinks the US Fed will not consider a 25 basis points increase. It is something to think about. It is not a significant factor in our policy decision. The factors we are considering are demand pressures, second round effects and inflation expectations.

As this developed, the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) sources said the government economic managers may revise the average peso-dollar exchange rate target for 2007 to P53.50, a depreciation as against P52.40 to a dollar assumption this year.

DBCC will also adjust average crude price level targets to $63.42 in 2006 and $67.05 in 2007. This year, the DBCC originally targets only $62 to $63 per barrel.

"Peso is seen to depreciate due to higher crude prices next year,"the sources said.

Loans are not good regardless of how it will be appropriated especially for a country like the Philippines which can't even pay the principal on its current debt. The Philippine government need to improve and increase its revenue to sustain its spending on infrastructure and social services for its constituents.

^^^^I just want to add the future generations of Filipinos are not even born yet but they are already deep in debt.

^^Haha. Si Imelda scene stealer kasi.


Yup, we also had that here in school during first year high school. It was Marcos and a certain Dovie Beams.

@Mico: I'm guessing that they can speak Filipino. As mentioned Jaime Augusto grew up in a hacienda in Batangas.

If Stella Araneta can speak Tagalog (I heard her talking to her alalay at Gateway), then I'm sure Filipinos Fernando and Jaime can.



If I'm not mistaken, Jaime's wife is not a typical mestiza right? I was expecting her wife to be a flashy Spanish socialite.

I saw pictures of him and his wife, and she seemed to be a shy, not-so-outgoing one... If I am correct, then saludo ako sa iyo Jaime!

^^I even thought she was not a mestiza, pure native talaga.

^^

Yeah exactly. At first I even thought that she was a secretary or something but when I read the caption, she's the wife after all.. And she's so, umm what's the right word, I mean she's rarely seen on photographs or in the newspapers. What's the right word again for this? Is it lay-low?

^^

Yeah exactly. At first I even thought that she was a secretary or something but when I read the caption, she's the wife after all.. And she's so, umm what's the right word, I mean she's rarely seen on photographs or in the newspapers. What's the right word again for this? Is it lay-low?

She's a fine lady, the right word could be martir. :D

A very secluded person might be the right term also.

But, isn't she a part of those that rallied in congress?

Jaime Zobel's wife, Lizzie Zobel, is very Caucasian-looking

I think you're talking about Fernando Zobel's wife, Kitkat Silverio Zobel, daughter of the artist and Toyota basketball team coach Dante Silverio. She grew up in Dasmarinas Village.

^^

Yeah exactly. At first I even thought that she was a secretary or something but when I read the caption, she's the wife after all.. And she's so, umm what's the right word, I mean she's rarely seen on photographs or in the newspapers. What's the right word again for this? Is it lay-low?
low key

^^ Definitely also alta sociedad. Wasn't Dante Silverio rumored to be the father of Aimee Marcos?

Wow, back to Marcos again.

of course they speak tagalog (not so well but they can definitely shop in greenhills and divisoria!) , the boys went to ateneo and girls went to teresiana (poveda) before they moved to england when their dad was ambasador.

lizzie is south american (am not sure if colombian or venezualan) and kitkat is definitely pinay!

eh what's marcos doing in this thread maybe they should make another one of change the title.

IT is good news in case we ever do need to borrow then the cost is cheaper . IF we ever do need funds we are lacking we know that it will be available for us. The US is the biggest borrower of all. Everybody borrows businesses cant survive unless they borrow. YOu just have to be a responsible borrower and know your limits. What the creditors are affirming are given the performance of this current administration there seems to be more fiscal discipline and less of a credit risk.

wow . it turned to be a gossip thread. ..

Ill probably post up information about the Hyuuga clan and their mystical Byakugan or the Uchiha clan with their Sharingan. :jk: :lol:

^^ sometimes maganda ang gossip.

Who knows, Zobel (who is a photographer also) might go here because of the urbanity pics and when he sees this thread, he might be just lurking on some names we don't know :D

Zobel is really german. Look here:

Pachel-bel is German
No-bel is not German (but we all know that Swedish is a cousin of German)

Interesting thread.

I worked for a Zobel company years ago -- the Enzo side of the clan. Met don Enrique in an informal meeting with key executives and was totally floored with his presence. He was already in a wheelchair then but his mind was very sharp. However, what really drew us closer to him was the fact that he spoke Tagalog all the way.

In another instance, the first time I ever saw Iñigo Zobel was when he drove up into the parking lot in Hacienda Bigaa in a beat up dusty Jeep Wrangler. Very Caucasian looking --totally European in appearance-- wearing khaki shorts, sneakers and loose T shirt--almost like a tourist whose been here before and knew his way around.

And yet... the first words he spoke to to the guy next to me [another company guy ] was in pure Tagalog.... " O, sira ba yang trak na yan? Baka pwede na dalin sa manggahan--(referring to their Mango Orchard.)

Hindi mayabang and very down to earth.

IT is good news in case we ever do need to borrow then the cost is cheaper . IF we ever do need funds we are lacking we know that it will be available for us. The US is the biggest borrower of all. Everybody borrows businesses cant survive unless they borrow. YOu just have to be a responsible borrower and know your limits. What the creditors are affirming are given the performance of this current administration there seems to be more fiscal discipline and less of a credit risk.

But the problem lie with our inefficient corrrupt politicians and not so much of not having the budget. We have the budget for everything but decades old corruption from our officials up until the present time has left our country behind in many ways.

Yes, the US has a lot of debt as well and future generations in the land of plenty are also deep in debt. :) Oh and the United States have something to show for all the debts incurred whereas in the Philippines we have nothing to show. Hehehe!

But the problem lie with our inefficient corrrupt politicians and not so much of not having the budget. We have the budget for everything but decades old corruption from our officials up until the present time has left our country behind in many ways.

Yes, the US has a lot of debt as well and future generations in the land of plenty are also deep in debt. :) Oh and the United States have something to show for all the debts incurred whereas in the Philippines we have nothing to show. Hehehe!

The government was able to achieve budget surpluses for the first time in twenty years in recent months. That could not have been achieved without political will of the people at the helm. As a result of following a strict revenue agenda, the president is embarking on more ambitious infrastructure projects as elucidated in her SONA.

Yes it has improved during the current Arroyo administration but you cannot deny the fact that corruption from our politicians is still on going. It will take time to really clean up the corrupt political system in our country and because of corruption the government still rely on loans, aid and grants from international institutions to sustain infrastructure projects and social services for its people.

Yes it has improved during the current Arroyo administration but you cannot deny the fact that corruption from our politicians is still on going. It will take time to really clean up the corrupt political system in our country and because of corruption the government still rely on loans, aid and grants from international institutions to sustain infrastructure projects and social services for its people.

Which is why I'm for abolishing the Senate. Accountability-wise, congressmen's pork barrel is easier to trace as they have direct constituencies unlike the senators. There is no purpose for the Senate except for the lame justification that they act as "balance" to the supposedly "parochial" mentality of the members of the Lower House.

welcome here georgerev! :hi: this thread is really interesting. I've seen Hacienda Zobel in Calatagan years ago. yaman talaga. Sabi-sabi na down to earth daw talaga mga yan. :)

Outlook for the Philippines is improving

I have been in this country 26 years and I have been writing for the past six years. During all of the latter, I have been influenced negatively by the political situation, two presidents removed by People Power, attempted impeachment, attempted coups, wiretapping, corruption, scandals etc.

Finally, it dawned on me that Filipinos took it all in their stride and foreign fund managers took no notice and concentrated on the economic data. I am now doing the same.

I no longer look at any local channel on TV, especially because, apart from Senator Recto, nobody speaks English. I no longer follow the local news, only the economic data from Finance Secretary Gary Teves and Governor Say Tetangco of the central bank.

I keep a close eye on Wall Street through Bloomberg and also all the data from China, India, Japan and Europe. I also watch golf, poker and Bikini Destination.

As a result of utter detachment, aided by transcendental meditation, I have become bullish on the Philippines economy. Teves and his team are delivering the taxes and reducing the budget deficit, thereby bringing down bond yields and allowing the government to complete its global financing with five months still to go.

Its sale of $750 million worth of bonds was oversubscribed 16 times and Treasury bill and bond rates are falling like snow.

At the same time, money is being released for infrastructure, schools and hospitals and the Asian Development Bank and Japanese banks are lending at only 3.00 percent for 20 years so the government should be able to fulfill at least some of the promises made in the State of the Nation Address. Money from overseas Filipino workers continues to increase and some of it is going into low- and medium-cost housing.

The call centers are still expanding and should continue to do so for another four years at least. Business outsourcing is a major source of growth, which makes it imperative that we improve our standard of English in schools. Another expanding industry is mining and the Philippines is believed to be sitting on more than $800 billion worth of gold, copper, nickel and silver.

Of course, income from taxation will not be forthcoming for at least five years because the foreign investors have to start mining operations and recoup all their investment before paying corporation tax but once the flow starts, it will become a flood.

The Padcal mine of Philex, which has been around for 50 years, has paid more than P8 billion in taxes and is still going strong.

In Metro Manila, regional wage boards have recommended a P25 increase in daily pay, and in Mindanao the figure is P16, so our competitiveness has not been threatened. Inflation has been falling steadily despite the high price of crude oil and is now down to 6.5 percent. Next year, it is expected to drop to 4.5 percent.

The political situation has been quiet all year although the charade of impeaching the President still persists. Despite the additional money to be spent on school, books, roads, ports and airports, Teves still expects to cut the deficit to P125 billion this year, P63 billion next year and to eliminate it completely by 2008.

Prospects for exports later in the year are looking up and the weather has been kind to farmers, who account for 20 percent of the gross domestic product and 40 percent of the labor force.

In the next three weeks, there should be numerous company reports and most of them will show double-digit growth over a year ago.

Foreign fund managers have been positioning themselves in TEL, AC, SMPH, MERB, GLO and MBT, whose half-yearly profits rose 35 percent. Philippine Airlines is expected to enter the market through Baguio Mines, a quoted company owned by the airline's owner, Lucio Tan.

GEI is thought to be a backdoor vehicle either for Red Five, an Australian mining company, the Red Sox, an American baseball team, or the Red Bar, a notorious haunt on Mabini Street.

One important stock has made a chart breakout and the fundamentals are so compelling that I told all subscribers to BUY. I expect the price to appreciate by 50 percent in a year and 100 percent in two years.

Two foreign brokers expect it to virtually double in one year, but I like to be deliberately conservative. My previous recommendations, TEL, GLO, PCOR, PAX and PX have risen by 250 percent to 900 percent.

It is not APX.

The latest number of jobs created was only 113,000, well short of the 145,000 expected and the unemployment figure rose from 4.6 percent to 4.8 percent.

Most analysts (82 percent) are expecting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to pause but inflationary pressures are increasing and I would be happier if he raise rates once more and then stated that he had finished for the next three months. The U.S. market would be happy also because there is nothing worse than uncertainty. A pause, accompanied by a statement that he is still watching the data, will leave the US market in
a jittery state.

With 83 percent of second-quarter results announced, profits year-on-year were up 19 percent boosted by record profits by the giant oil companies. The economy is slowing to a satisfactory 3 percent but productivity is still increasing and second-quarter profits have risen for 12 straight quarters, the longest stretch since 1950.

Developed countries are slowing down but third world countries are taking up the slack. So money should continue to flow into emerging markets like ours.

http://business.inq7.net/money/columns/view_article.php?article_id=14031

^^Siyempre lahat naman ng true-blue mayaman ay down-to-earth. Ang mga mayayabang lang naman ay yung mga may "new money" at yung mga insecured sa sarili. Masarap siguro ang may sariling Hacienda, hehehe...

of course they speak tagalog (not so well but they can definitely shop in greenhills and divisoria!) , the boys went to ateneo and girls went to teresiana (poveda) before they moved to england when their dad was ambasador.

lizzie is south american (am not sure if colombian or venezualan) and kitkat is definitely pinay!

eh what's marcos doing in this thread maybe they should make another one of change the title.

Why is it that they all have these Ayala buildings in the La Salle system, while Ateneo hasn't got any? Buti pa si Gokongwei.

http://www.ayalamuseum.org/img/whatsnew_03.jpg

http://www.aisaam.org/kawayan/images/70s/76/76senior/76Oldtimers.jpg
Iñigo's class of 76' at American International School - Manila (http://www.aisaam.org/kawayan/images/70s/76/76seniors3.htm)

and some old photos. (http://www.ditona-beach.net/Spencer/Archive/rziemba.htm)

Oh! Just saw this thread now. My mom was Enrique Zobel's personal assistant for a while :D I used to go to their house when I was very young. I remember seeing peacocks in their garden and horses, of course. Hehe! :)

thanx sa mga pix Tsinoy.

Hi kuya Chot :hi: gudapternun!

Since we are in a Zobel thread and regarding the looks of the Zobels, have a friend from Iloilo who is related to the Zobels. He looks very caucasian or a spaniard. Gets a kick of speaking tagalog to Filipinos in the U.S. and watching their reaction. Some refuse to speak back in tagalog even though he repeatedly kept speaking tagalog to them. LOL. They have a perplexed look. His tagalog is very good by the way.

In relation, I have an uncle who looks caucasian also. He keeps quiet in Filipino parties and just listens. Usually people start talking about him and you should see their faces when he starts talking in tagalog with an ilonggo accent. LOL.

Dont' be surprised who you meet out in public and that they might be. I was standing in line at a grocery store here in the U.S., a couple was behind me, I heard ilonggo being spoken and to my surprise the couple behind me were talking ilonggo. They were from Bacolod. The more I looked at them then I started to see very slight Filipino traits on their faces but if you just didn't know who they were, you would have assume they were not Filipino but italians or spanish.

Ok, please feature another Filipino 'Dynasty' so we will know and learn their ancestry, their roots, how they rose to fame and fortune, their trials and tribulations, their legacies.

eto po, mga relatives ng lolo ko :)


The Roces Family of Philippine Print Media traces its roots in Spain. They lived in Gijon, which is a seacoast center of the province of Asturias. It is a city known for its industry, commerce and navigation.

From the familiar grounds of Spain, there were two groups of Roceses who moved to the Philippines. One made it to Iloilo where they established a sugar mill and went into brown sugar trade. The other became residents of Manila where they ventured and created a well-repute name in publishing.

The Manila Roceses were led by patriarch, Alejandro Roces y Gonzalez, who was a regidor of the city and elected alferez real in 1854. He had two marriages. One was with Florentina de Leon and the other with . His union with Doña Severa gave him a son named Alejandro Roman Roces y Mauricio.

The younger Alejandro also became a regidor in the Manila Council. At the same time he was a "proprietario" of several real estate properties. Later, he married Filomena Gonzalez and had eleven children. Unfortunately, with the eleven only seven of them survived: Alejandro, Filomena, Rosario, Jesus, Joaquin, Rafael and Marcos. Among these seven children were the first generation of Roces publishers.

With the unexpected death of Severa and Alejandro in 1894 and 1895, their eldest son, also an Alejandro, took over as the guardian to his younger siblings. Alejandro Roces y Gonzalez, fondly called Moy was born on April 26, 1876. He married Antonia Pardo and had 9 children: Ramon, Alejandro, Jr., Filomena, Isabel, Mercedes, Rafael, Antonia, Joaquin and Marcos. He was the one who took responsibility over their family real estates and other properties.

Based on the book, "Looking for Liling" (by Alfredo Roces), the Roces' involvement in journalism started when two of Moy's brothers, Rafael and Marcos, saw the potential of publishing as a business.

Rafael Filomeno Roces was born on 11 August 1887. He married Inocencia Reyes and became the father of eleven: Rafael Mauricio, another Rafael "Liling", Inocencia, Alejandro "Anding", Luis "Chito", Jose Miguel, Marcos Victor, Alfredo "Ding", Joaquin "Titong", Jesus Marcos and Francisco. He with his brother, Marcos, were the ones who purchased La Vanguardia and Taliba in June 1916. However, his inclination was more into enterprising. He pioneered several projects such as Roces y Compania, Santa Clara Lumber and Manila Sporting Goods Store. He was also a co-founder of FEU with his wife's younger brother, Nicanor Reyes.

The purchase of the newspapers was considered a family venture. So elder brother, Moy, took over the business. He pushed through with the idea and built a publishing empire. He came up with the newspaper chain TVT (Taliba-La Vanguardia-Tribune) in the early 1900's. With this achievement, he was given the title as the "William Randolph Hearst of the Philippines".

From the era of TVT, the second generation of Roceses in print media came in. First, there were Rafael Filomeno's sons, Rafael "Liling", Alejandro "Anding", Luis "Chito", Joaquin "Titong" and Alfredo" Ding". With Liling, he put up two publications in the late 1930's. These papers are Sports Spotlight, which as its title suggest speaks about sports and Promenade, which was a monthly literary magazine. What was briefly known about Chito is that at one time he became a reporter. Titong, Ding and Anding had been also inclined in the print media more as columnists.

Also, four of Moy's children: Ramon, Andong, Isabel, and Joaquin, in several ways were involved in publishing. Ramon followed his father's footsteps as publisher but went into a different genre. He became associated with the publications: Liwayway, Bisaya, Hiligaynon and Bannawag. With these he was known as the "Komiks King" of the Philippines. Alejandro, Jr. or Andong was a pre-war journalist and supposedly the heir to Moy's empire but he died during the war times. Isabel or Bebeng was affiliated into publishing when she, at one point, became treasurer of the Manila Times. Then there was the youngest brother, Joaquin "Chino" Roces who was involved in newspaper publishing. He was later known as the great publisher of the Manila Times, who handled the paper during its golden years. Furthermore, he became more popular in Martial Law when he was termed as the 'old man of the parliamentary streets' and 'one of the press freedom fighters.' Moreover, there was Moy's son-in-law, Benito "Bibelo" Prieto, who once served as president of the Manila Times.

With the Roces-Legarda family, there was Benito "Ben" Legarda who was director of Manila Times when Martial Law broke.

In the third generation, Reyes-Roces side, the children of Liling, Sylvia and Tony, are currently affiliated in print media. Also, Joaquin "Titong's" daughter, Teresita "Chit", had involvement in the publishing business.

Going back to the Pardo-Roces, Ramon's daughters Carmen and Elena were also inclined in the family business. Carmen, who married a Davila inherited half of her father's publishing business. Her family used to own and run Atlas Publishing Corporation. However, the company at present was sold to the owners of National Bookstore. Then there was her sister Elena married to a Guerrero. Elena or Morita was the one who put up Graphic Arts Services derived from their father's business.

Mercedes "Peachy" Roces-Prieto, another progeny from the Pardos, had been involved with the old Manila Times, Roces TV station, ABC-TV, and radio station, DZMT. She also handled for a year a Baguio based weekly called "The Highlander".

On the other hand, Marixi Rufino, wife of Alejandro Prieto (son of Mercedes) is currently board member of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

With Chino's family there are Joaquin, Jr. or Joaqui who handled a couple of publications and Edgardo "Eddie" who is currently with ABC-5 (former Manila Times TV station).

Lastly, there are the fourth generation progenies Joaquin "Ito", son of Joaqui, Karla Delgado, daughter of Peachy, and Alexandra "Sandy", daughter of Marixi who are in commercial and media publishing. There were also the Davilas: Angelo, Ma. Elena, Jose Maria, Carlos, Diana, Gonzalo, and Ramon "Chito", who had all been part of Atlas Publishing Inc. during its ownership with their mother, Carmen. Elena's children: Lydia "Cookie", Xavier "Wahoo" and Alfredo "Bumbo", are also in publishing and printing at present. The last descendant from the fourth generation Roces that was involved in print media is Atty. Katrina Legarda, who in 1999 became publisher and editor-in-chief of the "New Manila Times", after the ownership of the Gokongweis.

These are just some of the Roces descendants who left historical trademarks in the print media industry. It started with their intent of having a business to support the family which later turned into a legacy for the next generation.

The Roces are of Spanish descent but when they set foot on the Philippines they have considered themselves as Filipinos and would be of service to their fellowmen. Their involvement into publishing did not simply made them survive in life but it left us - the next generation of media people, inspired with the heritage of a family who left a great dynasty in Philippine print media.

source: http://www.geocities.com/rocesphils/index.htm

The family of Don Alejandro Roman Domingo Roces
and Doña Maria Filomena Gonzales
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Butchik/gonzalesroces.jpg

Don Chino Roces, helping victims during a killer flood at the Kamuning River
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Butchik/chinopic11floodkamuning.jpg

Don Ramon Pardo-Roces (regarded as "komiks king of the Philippines") with wife Elena
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Butchik/donramonpardo-roceswifeelena.jpg

[QUOTE=marites4]Loans are good if appropriated efficiently and correctly. and you make sure your profit from the loan is more than the interest your paying. If the gain is more than the cost then it's beneficial.[/QUOTE

wrong entry - sorry have to removed

IT is good news in case we ever do need to borrow then the cost is cheaper . IF we ever do need funds we are lacking we know that it will be available for us. The US is the biggest borrower of all. Everybody borrows businesses cant survive unless they borrow. YOu just have to be a responsible borrower and know your limits. What the creditors are affirming are given the performance of this current administration there seems to be more fiscal discipline and less of a credit risk.

Hi my dear sweet Marites,
It seems you were working in the propaganda section of the finance dept
or the palace. tama kaya ang hunch ko?

^^ No dear i donot work for the govt.
It is none other the foreign media ,foreign creditors reaffirming their improved positive outlook on the economy. It is not malacanang that can control these foreign rating agencies. You see foreigners believe in us more than we pinoys believe in ourselves.

^^ No dear i donot work for the govt.
It is none other the foreign media ,foreign creditors reaffirming their improved positive outlook on the economy. It is not malacanang that can control these foreign rating agencies. You see foreigners believe in us more than we pinoys believe in ourselves.

oh i am sorry i thought you are preparing us to accept the govt usual
style of asking foreing loans instead of improved tax collections.
have a good day my dear.

fyi you i am a devil's advocate. bye

^^ where have you been. tax collection has been improving the last two years they just need to keep it up and those tax evaders have to help by paying their rightful share.

^^ where have you been. tax collection has been improving the last two years they just need to keep it up and those tax evaders have to help by paying their rightful share.

perhaps, I was busily helping to organize our manila high school alumni assn, so that all our MHS alumni who were spread in North America, Europe, Australia, Middle East, etc can start donating funds for helping our alma mater's students and school facilities, and giving scholarship to poor but deserving students.

as you know most of the present students of the Manila High School came from the depressed area of Baseco compound in Tondo. so by helping our alma mater we helped the poorest of the poor. They were so poor that any political parties who wants hakot ralliers can get it from there. you cannot blame them, they need food for their stomachs.

for us helping our alma mater the Manila High School in Intramuros is one way
of nation-building.

as Pres. Kennedy says " don't ask what the country can do for you, but ask waht you can do for your country "

good for you and your comrades. :applause: I hope others emulate your example. every little effort counts.

Why is it that they all have these Ayala buildings in the La Salle system, while Ateneo hasn't got any? Buti pa si Gokongwei.

traditionally Lasalle is a castillaloy school. I think most of them probably went there. But the two guys running Ayala who are still young early mid 40's went to ateneo, so maybe in the future. Besides daming pera ng jesuits hehe

Thanks for the welcome Mhe-Ann!

It really is amazing when you talk the people of Hacienda Bigaa. I refer to the drivers, the gardeners, the groundskeepers and others. Seems anyone you talk to has a story to tell about Don Enrique and Iñigo-- and all the stories are nice ones too! From my time with their company, I never heard anything bad even whispered about them. They took care of their people, specially the ones in Bigaa, really well.

I agree with you. Yaman nila talaga and Hacienda Bigaa in Calatagan is an excellent showcase of it. Going there for the first time, I asked the driver just where the estate was. He said we were quite nearby already and asked me to watch out for the wire fence on the left as that would signify the property line which also includes Punta Baluarte and CGC.

Guess what? Driving at a slow and leisurely pace, that wire fence took us the good part of 8-10 minutes before I saw the other end. The estate was that huge!

Though some parts were still forested, some areas were flat open land. These grazing areas played host to numerous deer that Don Enrique brought over. The place also was reserved for their cattle.

Been years now since I was there and I've seen it countless times... but am still awed by it. Some old hands say the estate has been with the Zobels for several generations now and seems almost every Zobel male has spent time there in their growing up years. That said, I am sure the place will be Zobel for generations more.

Cheers! :)





welcome here georgerev! :hi: this thread is really interesting. I've seen Hacienda Zobel in Calatagan years ago. yaman talaga. Sabi-sabi na down to earth daw talaga mga yan. :)

who's online?

hahaha hi marites4

who's online?

your komrad the Devil's Advocate

London think tank raises RP growth target to 5.2%

The Economist Intelligence Unit has raised its economic growth forecasts for the Philippines, citing improving global demand for electronics.

In its latest country forecast for the Philippines posted in its Web site, the London-based think tank said the Philippine economy would most likely grow by 5.2 percent in 2006 and 5.0 percent in 2007.

The figures were actually an upward revision from EIU’s original growth estimates of 4.5 percent for 2006 and 4.8 percent for 2007.

The country’s gross domestic product grew by 5.0 percent in 2005 and by 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2006, buoyed by improving external trade and dollar inflows.

The government expects the economy to grow within the range of 5.5 percent to 6.2 percent in 2006, but growth forecast has been reduced to 5.7 percent in 2007, on account of persisting high oil prices.

The EIU said an increase in demand for the country’s electronic exports would provide a boost to GDP growth.

“Consumer price inflation is forecast to moderate to an average of 7 percent in 2006 and 5.2 percent in 2007. Buoyant remittances from overseas workers will ensure that the current account remains in surplus in 2006-07,” it added.

On the fiscal side, the EIU predicted that budget deficit would shrink this year, as the country recorded a budget surplus of P12.7 billion in June, the country’s third-consecutive monthly surplus.

“The June surplus meant that there was a deficit for the first half of the year of just P31.5 billion, compared with a government target of P90.4 billion. In the light of the improving fiscal situation, we are now forecasting a budget deficit for the whole of 2006 of P69.8 billion or 1.3 percent of the GDP,” it said.

The think tank said the introduction of the wholesale electricity spot market in June would eventually lead to lower electricity prices for consumers and accelerate the privatization of power assets.

In its political analysis, the EIU noted that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has seen off demands for her resignation, allegations of vote rigging and an alleged coup attempt.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business04_aug10_2006

I was an intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila where Bea Zobel Jr. is a trustee. She would go there riding a red Toyota Corolla XL that one could easily mistake for a cab! (of course, she has an Expedition too) Even with a driver, she would sit in front. Very low-key and down to earth. In one office party, she partook of pancit and Filipino fare. I was told a story that while they were mounting a major show where they had to bring in hundreds of artifacts from Bohol, Ms. Bea said, "Are you sure you can handle it? I can lend you my plane".

If we're going to bring up the Elizalde's, might as well mention Manda Elizalde of Paniman and the controversial Tasaday's. He used to own that huge mansion in White Plains where, during his heyday, parties were held every week. Also, the Tasadays stayed there too.

There's also the Roxas family. Notably Pedro and Eduardo (I think) Roxas.

Wow, ang daming positive comments about the Zobels ah.







*what if they were provoked?

erald™']Wow, ang daming positive comments about the Zobels ah.


*what if they were provoked?

Just like any families, they have some feuds and highlights in their lives.
The famous one is their San Miguel relationship that turned sour with the (cousins) Sorianos and lately Iñigo was accused of being part of a coup plan.

About their private planes ~ During the EDSA revolution that brought down Pres. Marcos, Doña Bea Zobel I think, offered their family plane to Cory Aquino and her parties for most of their travels.

And Bea Jr.., What can I say, She's still a beauty with a nice personality. Lahat na yata ng mga Philippine heritage foundations that run well are parts of her life.

traditionally Lasalle is a castillaloy school. I think most of them probably went there. But the two guys running Ayala who are still young early mid 40's went to ateneo, so maybe in the future. Besides daming pera ng jesuits hehe
Kuripot naman! :jk:


BTW, yung editor ba ng Tribune Española? I remember seeing her on TV during the height of the emergency rule days earlier this year. Well, she looks caucasian to me.

Exports climbed 20.6% in June


Xinhua Financial News Service
Last updated 04:11pm (Mla time) 08/10/2006


(2ND UPDATE) MERCHANDISE exports skyrocketed 20.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.05 billion dollars in June, extending double-digit growth for a fifth straight month amid broad-based gains led by electronics, the National Statistics Office said.

Shipments of electronics items, which comprised 57.3 percent of total receipts, increased 6.6 percent year-on-year to 2.32 billion dollars in June.

For the first half of the year, overall exports grew 16.8 percent from a year earlier to 22.74 billion dollars.

The statistics agency said shipments of clothing, metal, wood and petroleum products also went up in June.

Apparel and clothing accessories remained the country's second-biggest dollar-earner, accounting for 5.7 percent of total receipts with shipments up 23.6 percent at 232.13 million dollars.

Cathodes and sections of cathodes and refined copper ranked third with total revenue of 120.73 million dollars, reflecting a 213.7 percent rise.

Woodcrafts and furniture rose 113.4 percent to 76.56 million dollars, while petroleum products grew 53 percent to 76.51 million.

"The growth in petroleum products can be attributed to higher demand in fuel oils and lubricating greases," the statistics office said.

Japan was the biggest market for Philippine products in June, with shipments to that country valued at 822.20 million dollars or 20.3 percent of total receipts, compared to 517.3 million in June last year.

The US followed with a 17.2 percent share or 696.7 million dollars, up 22.1 percent.

China was the third biggest market, accounting for 9.9 percent of total receipts or 399.3 million dollars, up 7.1 percent year-on-year.

Related Site:
National Statistics Office



Copyright 2006 Xinhua Financial News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=14453

Bigtime pala ang family ni Señor Culiat. :)

The only thing I can relate with the Roces family is when I taught for a while in FEU boy's high school and read The Manila Times. :D

why not change the title of this thread into something like "Philippine's Rich and Famous Clans Gossip Thread" I am sure it would be very interesting...:)

Just like any families, they have some feuds and highlights in their lives.


Anybody here who knows one of the Zobels who crashed her Mercedes into another's car? Rumor is that that Zobel ordered another Mercedes-Benz after the accident and crashed it repeatedly to the other car. Here's what their conversation must have been.

DRIVER: "In this world, you've got to be fast.."
Anonymous Zobel: "In this world you've got to be rich!"

Can somebody confirm this?

There's also the Roxas family. Notably Pedro and Eduardo (I think) Roxas.

This branch of the Roxas family are into the sugar business via Central Azucarera Don Pedro, Roxas Holdings, Inc., CADP Group, Inc., CAC, Inc. They are also into real-estate thru Roxaco Land Corp., which owns Punta Fuego.

They have their base in Nagsugbu, Batangas.

Check: www.cadp.com.ph

About their private planes ~ During the EDSA revolution that brought down Pres. Marcos, Doña Bea Zobel I think, offered their family plane to Cory Aquino and her parties for most of their travels.



Cory had her own plane during the 1986 revolution. When she sought shelter at the Pink Sisters convent in Cebu and had to fly back to Manila, her supporters were aprehensive as they feared that the opposition could single out her plane and shoot it down. Bea Zobel, who was there as well, got stranded so Don Jaime sent over an Ayala Aviation plane to fetch her. Joining the flight was, if I recall, Sen. Aquilino Pimintel.

In an interview for Pipol, one of the late Enrique Zobel's farm managers had this to say: "Si Don Enrique, pag linilibot namin yung hacienda, siya yung driver ng jeep. Pag pumupunta kami sa kabilang isla, siya yung driver ng speedboat. Pag sa kanyang executive jet naman, siya yung piloto."

Does anybody know of the Ynchausti family, who owned or founded several businesses during the Spanish colonial period and I think also during the early part of the American period?

The Ynchausti's founded Ynchausti Y Cia, or YCO

You see from the quote from Pres. Kennedy. Why we need to always blame the government for our misfortune. We are the one who can mould for our better life not by PGMA or anyone whom we expect to lead the country. The only ways we raised-up from the graveyard of defeat is the unity of everyone. Now is the time we have to wake-up from our nightmares, time to bind the brooms into one, that is only the solution to our country's problem, Unity...............

Is this the same YCO as the one owned (I think) by the Elizalde's?

Yes. Remember YCO Paint and floor wax? From Tanduay.com

Tanduay has over a hundred years of history. It all began in 1854 when Don Joaquin Elizalde, together with his uncle, Juan Bautista Yrissary, and the Manila-based Spanish businessman and financier Joaquin Ynchausti established a trading partnership, which acquired the Manila Steamship Company. This alliance was named the Ynchausti Y Cia. Their main line of business was ship chandlery and later on ventured into abaca making. The steamships they owned plied the Laguna Lake to Manila route. Later, Valentin Teus, a cousin of the Elizaldes, joined the partnership. Teus acquired a distillery in Hagonoy, Bulacan from Elias Menchatorre and merged it with Ynchausti Y Cia. Six years later, a rectifying plant of this distillery was constructed in San Miguel District, Manila. This small distillery was transformed by four successive generations of the Elizaldes into the modern Tanduay Distillery, considered one of the largest in the Philippines.

Tirso Cruz III's wife is an Ynchausti, btw.

Here is a picture of Dovie Beams from a movie poster:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a137/ECdoesit/DovieBeams.jpg

I did read about that recorded sex tapes that Dovie made. Ferdie even sang Pamulinawen (I think.)

Later, he sang "If I were a rich man... dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie ...beams. All day long I'll biddy biddy bum, If I were a wealthy man." (tune from Fiddler on the Roof.) :jk:

lolz, my friends were puzzled why i was the only one laughing so hard when molina was singing "if i were a rich man" in Fiddler. well, it reminded me of the willie nepomuceno spoof....

Yes. Remember YCO Paint and floor wax? From Tanduay.com

Tanduay has over a hundred years of history. It all began in 1854 when Don Joaquin Elizalde, together with his uncle, Juan Bautista Yrissary, and the Manila-based Spanish businessman and financier Joaquin Ynchausti established a trading partnership, which acquired the Manila Steamship Company. This alliance was named the Ynchausti Y Cia. Their main line of business was ship chandlery and later on ventured into abaca making. The steamships they owned plied the Laguna Lake to Manila route. Later, Valentin Teus, a cousin of the Elizaldes, joined the partnership. Teus acquired a distillery in Hagonoy, Bulacan from Elias Menchatorre and merged it with Ynchausti Y Cia. Six years later, a rectifying plant of this distillery was constructed in San Miguel District, Manila. This small distillery was transformed by four successive generations of the Elizaldes into the modern Tanduay Distillery, considered one of the largest in the Philippines.

Tirso Cruz III's wife is an Ynchausti, btw.


Thanks rmn. Great info. A few years ago, I was watching a documentary I think, but I can't remember what was the topic then. If my memory serves me right, I think they featured old photos of the Ynchausti mansion but it was destroyed during the war. It had lovely hardwood floor planks.

Here is a picture of Dovie Beams from a movie poster:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a137/ECdoesit/DovieBeams.jpg

I did read about that recorded sex tapes that Dovie made. Ferdie even sang Pamulinawen (I think.)

Later, he sang "If I were a rich man... dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie dovie ...beams. All day long I'll biddy biddy bum, If I were a wealthy man." (tune from Fiddler on the Roof.) :jk:

Asar naman si Ferdie. Eh mas maganda diyan si Meldie ah? Ano kaya nakita niya diyan sa babaeng iyan?

Tsismis kay Macoy: It is said that before he met Imelda, he was eyeing Consuelo Madrigal(-Collantes). But Consuelo, a wealthy Boston Uni Grad snob busted him.
When Macoy became president he told consuelo that she should've been the first lady had she not busted him and consuelo responded that at least their name was not soiled (Jamby's soiling it now). Anyway, consuelo, the matriarch of the madrigal family has a unit in Manhattan (worth $25 mil.) right in front of the unit of Sty Stallone.

Going back to Kitkat Zobel, she's a UP graduate, a transferee from Assumption prior to UP. She was a groupmate/classmate of my sister in STS class. my sister said she's very pretty, simple, & nice. After classes and group meetings she used to hitch my sis & other groupmates in her honda civic and dropped them off in the heart of the campus.

imelda is not ferdie's real wife he had a wife before imelda .

I don't really like glorifying these elite rich families in the PHils because it's appalling how they can have so much wealth in a country with grinding poverty.

The helicpoter below, the Italian made Agusta 109 Power Elite, which costs $ 4 million dollars and is preffered by top European CEO's and business leaders, is the same type of helicopter that Jamby Madrigal used for her campaign. It was lent to her by her billionaire aunt Dona Chito Madrigal-Collantes, who aquired it three years ago and uses it to visit her Calatagan Estate. And it turns out that she is the only one in the country who owns one. Whoa.

http://www.agustawestland.com/dinimg/A109-02%20(Malaysia)(1).jpg

II.A. TABACALERA.


Founded in 1881 after the end of tobacco monopoly, Tabacalera soon after started handling abacca, copra and sugar milling, as well as other businesses such as alcohol distillery and coastal traffic. The Philippine Revolution started when the fruits of the investment were rendering its first profits, such as in the hacienda La Luisita, Tarlac or with the creation of one of the biggest cigar factories in the world, La Flor de la Isabela. Its tobacco storehouses spread all around the archipelago and were used also to collect copra and other products. Up to World War I, its main profits came, in decreasing importance, from gathering leaf tobacco, its processing, gathering of sugar and exploitation of haciendas. After this conflict, Tabacalera started to profit from the sugar mills business, the temporarily rice, to try the insurance sector and even installed a paper mill in 1941 destined to use the husks of sugar cane. Its golden years were in the interwar period, when sugar had a predominant role in the company profits and there was not much problem in assuming losses from tobacco and from the decreasing share in the cigar exports to the United States, which went from 39% in 1933 to 12% in 1939. In spite of this, Tabacalera gave yearly profits to the shares along this period with only two exceptions: 1933 (33%) and 1937 (14%). It was the private company with the biggest number of employees in the Philippines, and in its Hacienda La Luisita, up to 6.000 people worked. 200 Spanish citizens were in its payroll at its best moments[12]. Tabacalera was also the main copra exporter up to World War I and, in relation to sugar, it became the main exporter -although not the main producer- with its peak year in 1934, selling 278.000 Tons[13].


II.B. ANDRES SORIANO y Cia.


Andrés Soriano possessed an Empire extended from its San Miguel Brewery, later San Miguel Corp. It had been under his management after 1910 and since then had gained up to a 90% share in the beer market in 1928. Soriano diversified its businesses with yeast, dairy products, ice and soft-drinks, among them Coca-Cola. Its connections with American Companies were much extended and he represented a good share of its investments in the Philippines. In the 1930's he became more interested in gold mines as the prices of the ounce increased from US$ 30 to 45 and, seemingly because of his leading capacities, dragged along with him a good part of the fortunes of the Spanish community. He was associated with the Roxas family in companies like Sorox and Co. and its companies were located also in the United States, France (Ansor) and Spain, a country which frequently visited[14].


1.C. ELIZALDE & Co.


The vast interests of the Elizalde family were structured around Ynchausti and Co., Inc., later changed to Elizalde & Co. when the descendants of the founder, less involved in management, sold its shares. Its main companies were: Elizalde Rope Factory, Inc., Elizalde Paint and Oil factory, Inc., Manila Steamship Co., La Carlota Sugar Central, Tanduay Distillery and Pilar Sugar Central. They were involved, therefore, in the processing of ropes (they exported two thirds of those made in the Philippines) and its provision to ships, on paint making after the extraction of oil from lumbang tree, on processing of alcohol's and on centrifugation of sugar through their two sugar mills, the most important of which (and one of the biggest in the Philippines) was La Carlota, in Negros Island. Being four brothers, they had distributed among themselves management of business and political connections: Manuel was prominent in business and Joaquin Miguel (Mike for Americans) in political activity. He become director of the public company in charge of promoting industrialization, the National Development Company and, after 1938, was appointed to Washington as Resident Commissioner.

filipinokastila.tripod.com/business.html

rmn, impressive behind-the-scene stories of the RP's rich and famous you have there...amazing!!

jamby looks and act like a lesbian but she's married to a FRench guy?
oh well sometimes super rich have to maintain an image and hide in the closet.

http://www.inq7.net/archive/2006/aug/12/zoom1.jpg

Look at the guy in yellow-green shirt and blue jacket, right side... why is he laughing?


:) ..............

I laughed also after a few seconds... hahaha!

please delete

I don't know if we're thinking the same thing because what I thought made me laugh, too.:hahaha:


BTW, that's Joey Salcedo laughing. He's a representative from Bicol.

Agri sector expands 5.14% in 1st 6 months
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 08/12/2006

The farm sector which accounts for a fifth of the country’s economic output, posted a strong first semester growth of 5.14 percent, from a poor 1.39 percent during the same period last year, fueled mostly by favorable weather.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said second quarter growth was recorded at 6.41 percent, the highest quarterly output since the third quarter of 2003.

"Aside from favorable weather, the growth was due to the right policy directions undertaken. There was an increase in the number of irrigated areas and funds for the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and inputs were released on time," said Panganiban.

In the first semester, the Department of Budget and Management released P1.95 billion for the repair of critical national and municipal water irrigation systems and about P2.3 billion for the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani rice program.

He said these, along with La Niña rains, raised water levels of the Angat, Pantabangan, Miramar and Magat dams which enabled better water distribution to irrigated areas.

He said the sturdy first semester output pushes the sector closer to its full-year growth target of five percent.

"We are still maintaining our growth target of 4.5 to five percent which we believe to be doable," said Panganiban.

The growth was buoyed primarily by the largely improved palay and corn harvests, the country’s two major staples, which grew 8.39 percent and 31.99 percent, respectively.

From January to June abundant rainfall brought in by the La Niña, increased palay or rice production to 6.54 million metric tons (MT), up 8.39 percent from the year-ago level, while corn harvest was up close to 40 percent to 2.6 million MT, reversing the 15.5- percent dive in output during the same period in 2005.

The rains in the second quarter led to substantial production gains from almost all regions, particularly in the Cagayan Valley, ARMM, Caraga, Eastern Visayas, Socsargen and Central Visayas. The improvement was also due to the increased use of hybrid and quality inbred seeds and increased fertilizer application.

Panganiban said that barring any freak weather in the second cropping season, palay production is expected to top output in the first six months this year.

Another major contributor to total agricultural output in the first semester is the fisheries sector which grew 8.55 percent.

The subsector’s share in total agricultural production was 26.35 percent with municipal and aquaculture as the major sources of growth with two-digit production increments of 11.93 percent and 12.91 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, production in commercial fisheries went down by 3.8 percent.

Higher inputs, weak demand and softening of prices resulted in a 1.49 percent cutback in output by the poultry sector.

During the period, producers‚ prices appreciated by an average of 5.67 percent. The biggest price gain was registered in the crops subsector at 11.32 percent. In the poultry sector, prices were up by 2.57 percent. While fishery prices went up by an average 2.4 percent. The downside is that livestock prices slipped 3.03 percent.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608120701.htm

lower electricity prices, budget surplus, increasing exports ,farm output and remittances. Lots of good news hope we seize the momentum and keep snowballing and we're on our way. Hope the opposition and senate cooperates.

Thanks for the link rmn and great info.

This is exactly what I worry about especially when it's obvious by past track record there are no checks and balances in place nor accountability for that matter. I sincerely hope GMA really clamps down on corruption so that the surplus money being talked about that will be used for her "Super-Regions" project goes to good use for a change instead of payolas to her cronies as the article suggests.

‘Super-regions could endup as big sources of graft’
Mark Ivan Roblas
Manila Times
Monday, August 07, 2006

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/aug/07/yehey/metro/20060807met2.html

THE so-called super-regions may just end up as sources of kickbacks for the administration to fund favored candidates in the coming local elections, according to the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).

At a news conference on Sunday Elizabeth Lacson-Paguio, FDC debt and budget campaign coordinator, said the group would keep track of the implementation of the 92 projects enumerated by President Arroyo in her State of the Nation address.

The SONA was nothing but a campaign speech, she said. In that speech the President hinted there would be funds for those who support her and none for those who oppose her. It was, she added, a carrot-and-stick approach for allies and foes alike.

Mrs. Arroyo’s promise to devolve government powers to the provinces, Lacson-Paguio said, was a mere assurance that funds would be made available to loyal local officials in the elections. It was “patronage politics masquerading as empowerment and democratization initiatives,” she added.

“The super regions being dangled by the government only mean more kickbacks for local government officials,” she also said. “There is large profit that can be made from them, and local government officials may now be computing their cuts.”

Wilson Fortaleza, FDC vice-president, also questioned the ability of the government to finance the super regions projects from savings. He said the government remained in a fiscal bind with debt payments eating up much of its revenues.

US raises RP sugar quota by 21.7% to 173,000 tons
By Rocel C. Felix
The Philippine Star 08/13/2006

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised the sugar export allocation of the Philippines by 21.71 percent to 173,025 metric tons (MT) of raw sugarcane for quota year (QY) 2006-2007.

"We have received official communications from the USDA about the increase in our raw sugarcane allocation. The increase shows the Philippines has remained a reliable sugar trading partner of the US," said James Ledesma, administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

Last year, the country’s raw sugarcane allocation was 142,160 MT. It could be recalled that from the initial allocation of 142,160.36 MT for QY 2005-2006, the US, on separate announcements, had increased the Philippine sugar allocation to a total of 224,012 MT.

The Philippines exports part of its sugar production to the US at premium prices under normal conditions. For many years now, the country has been enjoying the third biggest share of US raw sugar imports, next only to Dominican Republic and Brazil, under its tariff rate quota (TRQ) system.

USDA agricultural attaché Jude Akhidenor, in his letter to the SRA, said the QY 2006-2007 country-specific raw sugar quota is allocated based on historic trade shares.

He said that the early entry of the QY 2006-2007 raw sugar TRQ will be permitted beginning Aug. 7, 2006 and that there will be no shipping pattern restrictions on any country.

The SRA is still studying the overall situation before deciding on the allocation of "A" sugar (for US market) and the issuance of Sugar Order 1 for crop year (CY) 2006-2007 beginning Sept. 1, 2006.

At the same time, the SRA is also projecting a five percent increase in production for CY 2006-2007 or a total production of 2.24 million MT.

Ledesma said favorable weather, increases in area planted and adequate farm inputs all point to higher production.

He said this would allow the Philippines to possibly ship out to markets, other than the US, about 70,000 MT of surplus sugar next year.

Earlier, Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) executive director Jose Maria Zabaleta said sugar producers are gearing up for the export market next year on expectations of surplus production and favorable sugar prices in the world market.

Ledesma said producers are being encouraged to increase their hectarage, including planting on fringes of sugar and corn farms because of high sugar prices which are expected to be sustained in the next year.

He added that farmers are also increasing their agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and are investing in better high-yielding sugar varieties to take advantage of the steady rise in prices of sugar in the world market.

Zabaleta added producers are bullish about exporting sugar, specially with forecasts of global supply tightness and rising demand for ethanol for fuel that is seen to prop up sugar prices at the 15 to 18 cents per pound range in the next six to 12 months, as the major world sugar producers are not likely to recover from the previous year’s bad crop.

"Sugar prices will be sustained at 15 to 18 cents per pound well into 2007 because of various factors that are expected to have a significant impact on sugar price movements," said International Sugar Organization (ISO) senior economist Lindsay Jolly.

Zabaleta also attributed the high sugar prices to the increasing use of sugarcane as feedstock for ethanol production.

"For the first time, sugar prices are tracking oil prices. The continued rise in oil prices is prompting many countries to develop biofuels such as ethanol for energy and fuel purposes. Many of the world’s biggest sugar producers are now increasing their use of ethanol for fuel and energy and their local sugar production is kept for domestic consumption. This provides other producers like the Philippines the opportunity to go into the world market and actually enjoy favorable prices, unlike before when the likes of Brazil and Thailand dump sugar at below market costs," noted Zabaleta.

The rise in sugar prices is being fueled by concerns about the production output of the world’s largest sugar producers such as India, Brazil and Thailand.

India was hit by poor weather making it a net importer for the first time. Brazil also experienced drought and kept 65 percent of its domestic produce for ethanol production, while Thailand is also keeping its stocks

Aside from the bad weather affecting the world’s key sugar producers and exporters, rising oil prices are also having a direct impact on sugar prices as energy consumers look at ethanol as fuel substitute. The elimination of sugar export subsidies by the European Union starting this May as part of its commitment to the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization, will also influence sugar price movements.

The imminent decline in EU sugar exports would continue to keep sugar prices steady. The EU has been a stable exporter of around five million metric tons, exporting at times from four to six million MT since 1980. The EU was geared to supporting domestic production with surpluses exported to the world market. The world market was not that important to the EU but the EU was very important to the world market, because it exported more than 40 percent of its production in the world market.

The EU has committed to reduce its export subsidies and restrict exports to 1.3 million MT under its WTO commitment.

On the other hand, the rise in oil prices in the past two years have been matched in large part by the rise in the world price of sugar.

Jolly said sugar prices will remain "fundamentally bullish" due to expectations of a global deficit of about 2.2 million MT in the next year and expectations for large volume of cane to be processed into ethanol by Brazil given high oil prices.

"Exactly how much of Brazil’s forthcoming cane crop will be made into ethanol and how much into sugar, will be decisive for future developments of world sugar prices this year," said Jolly.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200608130701.htm

sabi-sabi din daw na si Bongbong Marcos eh pamangkin nila at ang totoong Bongbong, pinatay daw ng isang Lord sa Europe.

jamby looks and act like a lesbian but she's married to a FRench guy?
oh well sometimes super rich have to maintain an image and hide in the closet.

i heard hindi daw straight yung french guy na ang pamilya ay hindi gusto si jamby

tsismoso nyo. Pinoy na Pinoy.

I think the French guy comes from a noble family.

Does anyone here remember the old drama series - De Buena Familia on channel 9. I think this was back in 1993 or 1994.

This thread should be moved to Samahan. does not have anything to do with skyscrapers, urbanism nore development. Mods.

jamby looks and act like a lesbian but she's married to a FRench guy?
oh well sometimes super rich have to maintain an image and hide in the closet.

Question: Do they have children? Just asking. No offense meant.

You see from the quote from Pres. Kennedy. Why we need to always blame the government for our misfortune. We are the one who can mould for our better life not by PGMA or anyone whom we expect to lead the country. The only ways we raised-up from the graveyard of defeat is the unity of everyone. Now is the time we have to wake-up from our nightmares, time to bind the brooms into one, that is only the solution to our country's problem, Unity...............

though some Pinoys blame the govt for whatever reasons, which may be justified or unjustified..

some pinoys just want the govt to stop corruption and the culture of
Kleptoracy, so that we can move on for progress..

corruption and progress is like the crab mentality situation..
honest citizen crab want to go up from the hole while the corrupt
citizen crab is pulling him down.

honest citizen usually came from the poor and middle class
and the corrupt citizen crab usually came from the clique of some
members of the elite class, from some politicians, and from some
government bureaucrats.

this particular clique were so blinded by materialism and capitalism,
and does not care anymore whatever happened to the country.

"The government is corrupt!" - this line, along with some variations of course, is one of the most used cliches in history. One can't deny the fact that the status quo will never change unless acted upon by what they consider appropriate actions: rallies, demonstrations, and others. But what really is the root cause of this endless predicament? It might be that some may use fame and popularity as their main advantage in winning the elections. That's why the people can't resist writing their names down despite the fact that some are so obviously ineffectual or incompetent for being a leader. Others just simply use the easiest method: bribery. For a third world country like the Philippines, when one is bribed to force them to vote certain individuals, he cannot but accept this tempting offer. For some greedy politicians who still want to stay power for the control of money, they would immediately do some miracles, if you know what i mean. Definitely, people who are so touched by these miracles would want those politicians to keep doing so, simply by voting them again. Alas, those honest and God-fearing individuals who could have made our country into greener pastures had they been wisely voted were just plainly thrown into the garbage of hope. Nevertheless, once the politicians who were in the abovementioned frightening conditions get ahold of power, you could clearly expect things you are thinking now. Once the situation gets worse, streets are being filled by some nefarious miscreants and those with reputable names just to air out the never-ending cycle our nation has been sadly experiencing. Thus, with this on hand, our image just seems to be more negative and negative and worse, other nations would keep on laughing at us for being under in a series of unimaginable circumstances we would have simply solved had we been 'wiser' enough to choose deserving people. The solution is simple, yet one can barely realize it. Some might disagree, but nevertheless, if we want to escape this cycle of chaos, think again.

http://www.inq7.net/archive/2006/aug/12/zoom1.jpg

Look at the guy in yellow-green shirt and blue jacket, right side... why is he laughing?


:) ..............

I laughed also after a few seconds... hahaha!
mmhh.., this is cute., this photo could qualify to be in the book of jokes.. hehe, nakakatawa kasi ung naka-yellowgreen na shirt.. :D

Does anyone here remember the old drama series - De Buena Familia on channel 9. I think this was back in 1993 or 1994.

I followed that series. Twas quite engrossing and, dare I say, riveting, at least during it's time. hehe. :lol: The story revolves around a Castillaloy clan, the Murilo-Ventura's, and the reversal of fortune they encounter afer the death of the family patriarch. In their attempts to rebuild their lost name and fortune, in fighting among siblings--intrigues and power plays--ensue.

There was also the series Cebu, ala Dynasty and Dallas, about the fictional de La Rosa Clan of Cebu. Behind it was the trio of Peque Gallaga, Lore Reyes and Don Escudero.

^^ Don't also forget Davao also by Peke Gallaga :D

I wonder why they don't make other kinds of Biodramas, like Bukidnon (for the Zubiri Clan) or Iloilo (like the Sarabias)