Philippine project: Metro Pac close to acquiring Skyway firm

Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090406-198232/Metro-Pac-close-to-acquiring-Skyway-firm

MANILA, Philippines--The local infrastructure unit of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. may soon acquire a majority stake in the company that operates the Skyway elevated toll road in southern Metro Manila.

According to Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez, the group is in discussion with Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC) for possible equity infusion by the Manuel Pangilinan-led group into the latter.

He said discussions with the Indonesian-led firm shifted to high gear with the start of construction of the so-called “Skyway 2” project, which involved the extension of an existing 10-kilometer stretch from Makati City to Bicutan by another seven kilometers to Alabang.

Speaking to reporters, Fernandez said an estimated $192 million would be needed for the second phase of the Skyway project—an amount the Metro Pacific group would help fund should it successfully gain an additional stake in CMMTC.

Currently, Metro Pacific’s stake in CMMTC amounts to 10 percent.

Separately, Pangilinan, who chairs Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), parent firm of MPTC, said talks with CMMTC were at an advanced stage and that a deal may be forthcoming.

“It is almost done,” he told reporters, adding that his firm was interested in gaining a majority stake in the Skyway operator.

He said Metro Pacific would help the firm raise funds for the expansion of the Skyway, the development of which was cut short by the effects of the 1997 East Asian financial crisis and the downfall of Indonesian strongman Suharto, whose daughter owned the firm that built the roadway.

Apart from constructing the elevated roadway, Pangilinan said funds would also be devoted to rehabilitating the toll plazas of the Skyway, to give them a uniform design with those of the North Luzon Expressway, which the group also owns and operates.

Funds will also be allocated for the continuing rehabilitation of the existing at-grade section of the Skyway from Magallanes to Alabang.

The entry of the Metro Pacific group into the company will dilute the stake of its Indonesian owners to a minority stake, company officials said.

Officials also said this project would generate an estimated 30,000 jobs over its two-year life span.

For its part, the government is expected to contribute about P200 million, which will come in the form of right-of-way acquisitions in and around the project site.

Skyway 2 is the fourth component of Metro Pacific’s P38.1–billion road construction package designed to decongest major roadways in and around Metro Manila.

Other projects in the pipeline consist of Segment 8.1 from Mindanao Ave. to Valenzuela City; Segments 9 and 10, covering a distance of 8 kilometers from NLEx to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela and Port Area in Manila; and the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road Expressway from C3 in Caloocan City to Buendia Avenue in Makati.

CMMTC is the joint venture corporation of Indonesia’s P. T. Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada (CLGP) and the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC).

CMMTC’s owners are CLGP, Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, Bhaskara Dunlajaya, and Matra Sarana Aristama; Avenue Asia Special Situations Funds III; and local firms Strategic Development Corporation, Metro Strategic Infrastructure Holdings, Inc., as well as the PNCC.

Philippines advances deadline for P40-billion infrastructure projects

Ding Cervantes
Philstar

LUBAO, Pampanga, Philippines – Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Hermogenes Esperon said recently that the deadline for the various projects set by President Arroyo in her past State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) has been moved forward to December 2009 from the original 2010 target.

These are mostly infrastructure projects nationwide amounting to P40 billion.

In an interview during the celebration of Mrs. Arroyo’s 62nd birthday here Sunday, Esperon said “we have moved the deadline for the projects from 2010 to this December.”

“As PMS head, I am now focusing on SONA commitments including major thoroughfares such as the South Luzon Expressway, the roads connecting to Batangas, and also the road that will connect Tarlac, Pangasinan and La Union,” Esperon said.

He said that as early as January, the President had instructed that no less than 60 percent of these projects be bidded out to private contractors within the first quarter of this year.

“So by February, most of the projects were already bidded out,” he said, referring to P20 billion worth of irrigation projects and P6 billion worth of farm-to-market roads.

Esperon, however, also admitted that some projects could still not be completed this year, including the long-delayed Caloocan-to-Clark railway and the modern passenger terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at the Clark Freeport.

“We have added more funds for the railway,” he said, referring to the $317 million additional cost for the $1 billion railway which has been delayed for five years.

But North Luzon Railways Corp. (Northrail) chairman Edgardo Pamintuan said that Mrs. Arroyo has insisted on the completion of the project before her term expires next year.

Sources from the Clark International Airport Corp., meantime, admitted that the new terminal, whose private contractor has yet to be picked, could be finished only in the latter part of next year, past the Arroyo administration.

MetroPac plans higher stake in Philippine toll road unit

Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/companies/8422-metropac-plans-higher-stake-in-toll-road-unit.html

METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is planning to raise its equity stake in Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC), the contract builder of the Metro Manila Skyway System.

From the current equity equivalent to 5 percent, MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said they are in talks to increase the stake to a “substantial level.” Doing this would naturally mean additional capital injection in CMMTC, he said.

“We plan to increase it substantially. We will just announce if a definitive agreement is signed. CMMTC’s pro-ject complements the South Luzon Expressway [Slex] and what we have in the north,” said Pangilinan.

He did not provide further details in the plan but said they may have to source funding to support the additional investment.

Despite its target to become a majority shareholder, he said PT Citra Marga of Indonesia will remain an important stakeholder of CMMTC, as well as the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC), which holds the 30-year concession in the operation of the skyway.

MPIC appears encouraged by CMMTC’s ongoing Skyway Stage 2 project. To be put up at a cost of $192 million (roughly P10 billion), the pro-ject will extend the existing Skyway from Bicutan to Alabang in Muntinlupa City, while facilitating the needed rehabilitation works on the existing expressway, including toll collection plazas.

The Metro Manila Skyway Project is being implemented using the build-transfer-operate scheme, with CMMTC financing the design and construction of the toll road. The infrastructure will be transferred to the government after 30 years.

MPIC is also interested to take part on the Coastal Road toll project.

Earlier, the company said it is planning to initiate talks with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and World Bank for possible official development assistance to help fund its toll road projects in north Luzon.

In an interview at the groundbreaking rites for Segment 8.1 of the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) on Thursday, company president and chief executive Ramon S. Fernandez said an investment of P38.1 billion is needed to lay down the ambitious project.

“We are looking for ways to raise the funding needed. But it would be a combination of loans and additional equity,” he said.

Fernandez said the company will be selecting in three weeks the financial advisor to help evaluate the funding sources.

Earlier, MPIC successfully closed the financing for segment 8.1 worth P2.1-billion via a seven-year loan facility agreement with the Philippine National Bank.

The project is a 2.7-kilometer roadway linking Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Nlex main gateway in Valenzuela City. It will have 2x2 lanes, a two-way service road and a clover leaf interchange north of the Balintawak toll plaza.

With Leighton Contractors (Philippines) Inc. as civil works contractor, Segment 8.1 is expected to be completed on or before April 30, 2010.

Four more toll road projects under the Phase 2— Segment 9 and Segment 10 of MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City, the Nlex-Slex connector road expressway and the Skyway Stage 2—are in the pipeline, with an aggregate length of 22.48 kilometers. The projects are expected to provide increased access to Nlex and substantially ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

A new–and forced–economic model for the Philippines

OUTSIDE THE BOX
John Mangun
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/8449-a-newand-forcedeconomic-model-for-rp.html

In his BusinessMirror column yesterday, Sen. Manny Villar wrote of “A new economic model for the Philippines.” I call this to your attention because the senator is absolutely right that the country does need a new model of how the economy should operate.

Senator Villar proposes that a group of experts be convened to come up with economic ideas that may be more suitable for the Philippines to follow for the years ahead. He writes, “I must clarify that I am not proposing a new economic model. It is impossible to craft such a model overnight.”

From your perspective, you are probably thinking that talking about an economic model for the Philippines is some sort of intellectual or political exercise that has no bearing on your daily life. You could not be more wrong.

For a nation to move its economy in a particular direction is not an easy task, nor, as Senator Villar says, does it happen overnight. But the effects of crafting and implementing a national economic policy reach across and permeate every society.

The most interesting example of a nation that pushed its economy toward a particular goal and purpose is found in Thailand during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Thailand concluded that the most effective economic plan to raise investment, currency inflow and the highest investment-to-employment business model was through tourism.

The government-owned Thai Airways lowered ticket prices and raised service levels so that the airline attracted hundreds of thousands of new passengers while operating barely at the break-even point. It was the only air carrier that served lobster and champagne as the regular meal service in economy class.

Hotel operators poured millions into the economy as the demand for rooms skyrocketed. Thousands of jobs were instantly created as these new resorts opened. And thousands more of jobs came online with the increased demand for bus drivers, tour guides, restaurant workers, and on and on.

The government mobilized virtually the entire economy toward serving the tourist. Taxi drivers were given courses in basic English. Advertising agencies set up departments only to market goods and services to the foreigners that filled the streets of Bangkok. Retail-shop employees were taught what the foreign tourist expected from sales people. Ordinary Thais, most of whom speak no foreign language, were given multilingual booklets to be able to assist tourists who needed directions or help. From probably an offhand comment from some Cabinet member like, “Maybe we should bring in some more tourists,” the country was turned into a huge visitor-friendly resort.

Formulating a “master plan” for the Philippine economy will be the first and primary task of the next President. Honestly, it has never been done before on the scale that will be necessary now.

Seventy-five years ago, the world moved into a global industrial revolution. Countries that for centuries had produced nothing more than self-sufficient quantities of agricultural products became key manufacturing players.

With the breakdown in the global financial system, the offshoot is the realization that denominating global wealth on a single currency, the US dollar, was foolish and is now impossible. The Great Depression moved the world’s wealth from gold to the dollar in large measure because of US policies to counter the Depression. Those same policies, government spending from artificially created money, will move the world back to currencies backed by something of intrinsic value.

A call by Russia and China to delink from the US dollar is the first step to a new world financial order. Gold was the primary storage of wealth and medium of exchange, was replaced by the US dollar by the end of World War II, and we will see the dollar replaced by a basket of hard commodities.

Nations with actual resources, not merely money printing presses, will dominate the future. When armies and their supporting infrastructure measured a nation’s power, Rome ruled the world. When colonies and sea trade was the ultimate measure of a nation’s wealth, England ruled the world. In the last 70 years, dollars ruled the world, and the nation that had the capacity to print dollars, the United States, was the economic giant. That time is over.

The current US financial policy guarantees that the US dollar will lose tremendous value and will be replaced by hard assets including gold, strategic metals and other commodities with high demand and limited supply.

Imagine a partial shift back to the gold standard where the price of a barrel of oil is quoted in dollars, the price changing every day, and also priced in gold, which rarely changes. Imagine countries receiving for their exports and paying for their imports partially with gold, copper, silver and oil. The new economic giants would be those nations that control vast amounts of the resources. Perhaps that is why Russia is so interested in dropping the dollar and why China is buying natural-resource operations across the planet.

If a nation’s wealth and economic power will inevitably be measured by its hard resources as mentioned above, where does that put the Philippines, and what should our economic model be? The Philippines has the fifth-largest proven reserves of gold and copper in the world. The country is sixth in nickel, with similar statistics for cobalt and other minerals. Eventually, a new economic model will be forced on the Philippines because adapting to the new world order will require it. And the Philippines may be in a position, with wise management, to profit in a way that has eluded it for centuries.



PSE stock-market information and technical-analysis tools were provided by CitisecOnline.com Inc. E-mail comments to mangun@email.com.

Metro Pacific wants to buy Manila-Cavite Coastal Road project

BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW040709/content.php?id=041

LISTED HOLDING firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. wants to buy into the consortium that controls the Coastal Road project, as part of a plan to improve its water utility’s service in Cavite.

During Thursday’s inauguration of Metro Pacific’s P38-billion project to construct roads linking to the North Luzon Expressway, Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters he was negotiating with the Public Estates Authority Tollway Corp., the state firm that operates the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

"We are eyeing the existing company. [But] the talks have been on and off. I can’t understand why they are not talking to us when frankly, they are not doing anything and going anywhere," he said.

The Coastal Road is being extended by a joint venture between the state-owned Philippine Reclamation Authority, the former Public Estates Authority, and UEM-Mara Philippines Corp. of businessman Luis J.L. Virata.

The Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway project consists of the rehabilitation of the existing 6.6-kilometer (km) R-1 Expressway from Seaside Drive in Parañaque to Zapote in Las Piñas, a 7.5-km. link from the South Luzon Expressway to R-1, and the 11.4-km. R-1 Extension from Zapote to Noveleta in Cavite.

The Public Estates Authority Tollway Corp. has been collecting toll fees and remitting 90% of the revenues to UEM-Mara. UEM-Mara got a P3.5-billion loan from a group of banks for the Coastal Road project back in 2006.

The R-1 upgrade was finished years ago and UEM-Mara is working on the initial 7-km. segment of the extension, from Zapote to Kawit in Cavite. The final segment is the 4.3-km. extension from Kawit to Noveleta.

The link between the South Luzon Expressway and R-1, meanwhile, has been hounded by right-of-way problems.

Mr. Pangilinan said acquiring the Coastal Road project would allow Metro Pacific’s water utility, Maynilad Water Services, Inc., to improve its service in Cavite.

Metro Pacific already owns the operations of the North Luzon Expressway, making it a major infrastructure player. A 67% stake in the concession was bought from the Lopez family last year for P12.2 billion.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Ramoncito S. Fernandez, president and chief executive officer of Metro Pacific tollway unit Manila North Tollways Corp., said investing in the Coastal Road project makes sense for the Pangilinan-led firm as this would lead to "synergies."

"If you get that road network you also get the right of way and [lay water pipes there]," he said.

Maynilad is owned by a joint venture between Metro Pacific and the DMCI Holdings, Inc. of the Consunjis, which took over from the Lopezes who gave up on the utility in 2005.

"We welcome reviving the discussions (over the Coastal Road) ... We are also open to continuing any expansion program that has been earmarked for that road," he said.

Philippine central bank makes P500-B available, hoping to jumpstart economy

GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155876/BSP-makes-P500-B-available-hoping-to-jumpstart-economy

The sole Philippine agency tasked to print, issue, distribute, and retire Philippine currency has circulated nearly half a trillion pesos in February, a move seen to jumpstart the economy.

By making more cash available in the financial system, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hopes to stimulate the economy by encouraging banks to lend, businesses to borrow, and consumers to buy.

Domestic liquidity – which measures the amount of available credit in the system – expanded by 14.6 percent during the second month this year, latest data from the BSP said.

The increase brought the amount of money in circulation to a total of P3.494 trillion, increasing by P445.45 billion for February alone.

The BSP was prompted to print more legal tender after private lenders have expressed apprehensions that defaults may increase, as indicated by the 15.1 percent drop in private sector credit during February.

Private sector credit reached P2.074 trillion in February, lower than the P2.388 trillion posted during the same month a year ago.

Similarly, private sector loans also contracted by nearly three percent from January’s P2.453 trillion.

“The rate of expansion in net domestic assets (NDA) [the BSP’s assets] slowed down to 6.5 percent in February from the previous month’s 9.4 percent, as the growth of credit extended to the private sector decelerated to 15.1 percent from the 18.3 percent growth registered in January," BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said.

"Credits extended to the public sector rose to 11.0 percent with the increase in lending to local government units and other public entities (23.8 percent), as well as to the national government (7.1 percent)," he added.

Injecting more money into the system was intentional, a move seen to curb the impact of the global crisis on the local economy, Tetangco said earlier.

Increased availability of cash and credit in the system was not only brought about by rising issuances of legal tender but moves undertaken by the BSP such as interest rate cuts – which make loans cheaper – and reducing deposit reserve requirements that frees up cash previously “frozen" or kept in the central bank’s vaults.

However, the BSP said that higher liquidity levels was not expected to be inflationary owing to easing price pressures, allowing inflation to fall to an average of 7.3 percent in February from 7.1 percent the month before.

The central bank’s “easy money" policy has prompted BSP deputy governor Diwa C. Guinigundo to appeal to Filipinos to "rekindle their entrepreneural spirit" so as not to waste the available liquidity.

Entrepreneurial efforts will “reinforce consumer demand," Guinigundo said.

Consumer demand comprises 70 percent of the Philippines’ total economic output.

Philippine public works chief wants ‘super region’ projects completed by April 2010

GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155305/DPWH-chief-wants-super-region-projects-completed-by-April-2010#

Public works officials handling “super region" projects have been given orders to complete their projects by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPHWH) said Department’s thrust for 2009 is to complete the super regions projects before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finishes her term of office.

Arroyo is barred by law from seeking another term. Her term of office ends on June 30, 2010.

Ebdane said Arroyo’s “super regions" project are of top priority because “they serve as foundations of economic development and it can also help our government’s effort to sustain its economic gains through infrastructure development."

Ebdane directed Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan to supervise the overall implementation of P56.3 billion super region projects.

The super region projects are:

• North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, consisting of the widening/concreting of 95.29 kilometers Halsema Highway covering the Bontoc Banaue Section (27.37% complete) and Mt. Data-Bontoc Section (31.04% complete); concreting of the 108.03-kilometer Bontoc-Tabuk-Tuguegarao Road (18.22% complete); and 120-kilometer gravelling and construction including rehabilitation of bridges at Baler-Casiguran Road (5.51% complete) in Aurora province.

• Luzon Urban Beltway, include the widening/improvement and new road opening for the 120.65-kilometer Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Fort Magsaysay-Dingalan Port Road (50.95% complete) in Central Luzon and the concreting of 109.125 kilometers Marikina-Infanta Road (46.59% complete) in Southern Tagalog Region.

The DPWH will facilitate inter-island transportation, commerce, agribusiness and further enhance tourism including job generation in the Central Philippines Super Region through nine road improvement projects located in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, Western, Eastern and Central Visayas regions.

• Central Philippines, which include the 358.38-km El Nido-Bataraza-Rio Tuba Road (31.64% complete); Cansaga Bay Bridge under the Cebu North Coastal Road Project (phase 1: completed, phase 2: 4.92% complete); Panay Island Package consisting of Caticlan-Malay-Libertad Road (completed), Pandan-Libertad-Antique/Aklan Boundary Road (1.30% complete), Iloilo City-Sta. Barbara and Metro Iloilo Radial Road (8.77% complete); Aroroy-Esperanza Road (39.32% complete); New Bacolod (Silay) Airport Access Road (road right-of-way under negotiation); Bohol Circumferential Road (completed); Maharlika Highway, Samar (33.26% complete); San Isidro-Lope de Vega Road, Northern Samar (5.08% complete); and Laoang-Lapinig-Arteche-San Policarpio (Samar Pacific Coastal Road) (12.18% complete).

• Mindanao Super Region, which includes the 89.80-km Dinagat Island Road Network (22.41% complete); 10.518-km Iligan City Circumferential Road 3 (1.43% complete); 10.766-km Dapitan-Dakak Road (45.58%); 172.72-km Zamboanga West Coast Road (22.25%); 2.36-km Panguil Bay Bridge (contract for the geotechnical investigation works is under process); 104.93-km Junction Awang-Upi-Lebak-Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao (civil works for contract packages 1 and 3 has just commenced and accomplishment is at 4.955 and 0.38%, respectively); 151.88-km Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia Road, Bukidnon (48.85% complete), and the 89.27-km Hawilian-Salug-Sinakungan Road (80.77%). - GMANews.TV

Korean movie promotes Philippine tourism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qljd_zPX8Hs
Starring: Lee Seon-gyoon, Lee Min-ki, and Lee Soo-kyeong, Eugene kim,Lee Soo-kyeong
Three stories converge on Boracay.



(To search YouTube, type Romantic Island Boracay Korea.)

Philippine Economic Zone Authority approves Taytay P1-billion Cyberpark

C. Mocon
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/8397-taytay-gets-p1-billion-cyberpark.html

TAYTAY—The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has approved a P1-billion investment that would be engaged in IT park developments and a tourism economic zone, Mayor Joric Gacula announced.

Gacula said the project would cost the Manila East Homes Inc. some P1 billion for the construction, development and operation of the very first cyberpark in this locality.

The Filipino-owned company has proposed to develop a 5,000-plus- square-meter property in barangay San Juan, Taytay, Rizal, into an IT park to be known as Manila East City Cyberpark.

“With pride, we are happy to announce that we would soon be hosting the very first cyberpark facility not just in Taytay but would also be the first and only in Rizal,” Gacula noted.

Peza also recently approved two other IT park projects. Ortigas and Co. is also investing P550 million for the conversion of an existing three-story building located in Frontera Verde Drive, Ortigas Avenue, in Pasig City into an IT Center. The company, which is an existing Peza-registered IT park developer, is investing P200 million for this particular project, bringing its investments to a total of P550 million to date.

The third project approved by Peza is GRCanon Development for its P374-million project.

Philippine Ombudsman a success story

Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/05/yehey/top_stories/20090405top4.html

IN late 2007, a private lending company filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against 50 government employees, including school teachers, the police and fire department officers.

The company sought to collect outstanding amounts on these employees’ delinquent personal loans.

The Office of the Ombudsman decided to recommend the case for mediation, an option that was not available prior to June 2007.

This new alternative dispute resolution program was developed thanks to the Millennium Challenge Corp.’s (MCC) Philippines Threshold Program, which has been working since 2006 to help improve revenue administration and anti-corruption efforts in the country.

This decision saved the Office of the Ombudsman considerable time and resources.

Through mediation, both parties had an opportunity to present their points of view. As a result of mediation, the lending company agreed to restructure the employees’ payment schedules. This outcome benefited all parties involved.

The employees and the company were able to reach an agreement, and the Ombudsman had 50 fewer complaints, thereby reducing the number of pending cases and shifting more resources from administrative cases toward the fight against corruption.

The mediation program was developed in conjunction with the Asia Foundation and in close collaboration with the Office of the Ombudsman to determine appropriate dispute resolution approaches and training needs. Staff was carefully selected for mediation training that included a five-day course and 40 hours of mediation practice.

The process finalized with a review of policies and procedures as well as the drafting of an Ombudsman Rules of Procedure for Mediation.

At its inception, the MCC program’s goal was to increase the number of cases successfully mediated in the Ombudsman’s Public Assistance Office from zero to 300 a year. Current results exceed those expectations.

The Office of the Ombudsman expects to settle through mediation at least half of the 10,000 cases it receives each year. This system will allow the reduction of its backlog of unresolved cases and face the rapid annual increase in the number of cases filed.

By strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman, the MCC is helping the Philippines reduce corruption and better position itself to start investing in poverty reduction programs.

Philippines eligible since March 2008 for US aid as a ‘Compact’ level MCA beneficiary

Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/05/yehey/top_stories/20090405top2.html

REFLECTING its ongoing efforts to root out corruption, the Philippines is now eligible for bigger grants from a US government corporation that promotes civil liberties, public health expenditure, girls’ primary education, business start ups and land rights.

“The Philippines was re-selected as a compact-eligible country during the meeting of the Millennium Challenge Corp. [MCC] Board in December, 2008,” says Dante Canlas, executive director of the Millennium Challenge Account Philippine Compact Program Office. “Compact signing is, however, conditional on the Philippines making progress on a Policy Improvement Process [PIP], particularly in fighting corruption.”

Since it became eligible for so-called “Compact” projects last year, the Philippines embarked on consultative meetings that resulted in several project proposals submitted for possible grants from the MCC.

The MCC is a US government corporation designed to work with developing countries in the belief that aid is most effective when it reinforces sound political, economic and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth.

“The proposals are now undergoing peer review in Washington,” Canlas says.

Since early 2007, the MCC has funded the Philippines’ Threshold Program aimed at enhancing anti-corruption efforts by strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman, improving revenue administration and increasing enforcement capacity within the Department of Finance.

The Philippines became eligible for a $21-million MCC Threshold Program in November 2006. The program is used to assist a country to become eligible for a full “Compact” program that substantially increases grants depending on project costs.

The Philippines became available for so-called Compact projects in March 2008 as the MCC observed the country’s consistent performance on eligibility criteria and its effective implementation of the MCC-funded Threshold Program focused on helping curb corruption through improved tax and customs administration and strengthening of their Ombudsman’s office.

Eligibility for “Compact” pro jects does not guarantee funding. The Philippines, like all countries eligible for a compact, must maintain its performance on the selection criteria and embark on a consultative process to develop proposals that addresses the country’s barriers to poverty reduction and economic growth.

The consultation process included the public, nongovernmental organizations and the government and private sector.

Measured by 17 different policy indicators, a country becomes eligible for an MCC “Compact” program when it has consistently upheld civil liberties, political rights, voice and accountability, government effectiveness, rule of law, control of corruption, health immunization rates, public health expenditure, girls’ primary education completion rate, public expenditure on primary education, business start up, inflation, trade policy, regulatory quality, fiscal policy, natural resource management and land rights and access.

The indicators are based on data from local, US and international sources such as the Heritage Foundation, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Health Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Since the Philippines became eligible for a “Compact” project last year, it has submitted several “Compact” project proposals that are now undergoing peer review in Washington, D.C.

The proposed “Compact” pro jects include Secondary National Roads Development ($191 million); Empowerment and Development Project for Poor Communities ($140 million); Sustainable Upland Watershed Management and Productivity Enhancement ($43 million); and Integrated Revenue Information System for Sustained Fiscal Governance ($148 million).

One proposal ($ 191 million) involves the Department of Public Works and Highways aims to improve six priority secondary roads totaling 309.5 kilometers. Another ($140 million) involves the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to scale-up a World Bank project that assists local governments to increase access to basic education, health and nutrition, shelter, potable water, sanitation, electricity and other needs.

The DSWD also proposed a poverty reduction project that provides cash grants to extremely poor households to allow 172,488 households to meet certain human development goals such as regular school attendance and availing of recommended child and maternal health care services.

The Department of Agriculture wants to improve 170 small water-impounding projects (mostly, dams) in upland areas in 41 provinces. Impounded rainwater will irrigate 13,000 hectares while 500 hectares will be developed into a water reservoir for inland fishery and 3,400 hectares of watershed for agroforestry.

Smugglers, etc.

In 2007, the Department of Budget and Management allotted P153.11 million to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Department of Finance (DOF) anti-corruption programs, while another P105.49 went to the Bureau of Customs as part of the Philippine government’s share to the Washington grant under the MCA Threshold Program Assistance (TPA).

A typical TPA ended in March at the Bureau of Customs Run After the Smugglers (RATS) program. Since 2005, RATS initiated detection, investigation and prosecution of smugglers and trade law violators. The aim is to streamline trade enforcement and increase revenue collection.

The assistance included training of lawyers, investigators and prosecutors of the Department of Justice Task Force on Anti-Smuggling. Personnel were trained in the management of air- and seaport surveillance equipment acquired from the program. An evidence storage facility was set up.

At a cost of $630,000 (P28.3 million), the project included hardware, software, IT-related training, and third-party consulting services and a data/statistical analysis system. The information data warehouse was established to monitor revenues, profile imports and importers, analyze trends and target potential smugglers.

With 12 full time attorneys, and 100 more to be deployed nationwide, RATS profile, evaluate and litigate trade law violators and fraudulent importers and brokers.

The turnover was held on March 5 to mark the culmination of technical assistance to the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) in the Department of Finance during which 132 corruption cases were filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, exceeding targets by 12 percent.

RIPS investigates allegations of corruption in the Department of Finance and unjustified accumulation of wealth disproportionate to earning capacity of the same officials and employees.

The TPA was also instrumental in the formulation of the Customs and Tariff Modernization Act of 2008 that harmonizes and updates customs laws, rules and regulations.

On the darker side, Information Technology gives tax evaders new avenues and tools to engage in lucrative transactions and then hide their money from tax authorities. Or launder crime money in ways that make it legitimate.

Also last March, a seminar on e-commerce was held for revenue and justice officials. An American justice attaché was among those who discussed electronic evidence and money laundering, rules of court governing use and admissibility of electronic evidence and the techniques used in preparing digital documents.

Early this year, 79 officers from the Office of the Ombudsman attended training on corruption prevention patterned after the Hong Kong University Postgraduate Certificate Course in Corruption Studies.

The TPA also supports the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) Program created by the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2005.

The National Tax Research Center estimates that from 2001 to 2006, over P179 billion in income taxes were lost from tax evasion by fixed-income earners, professionals and self-employed individuals.

It promotes voluntary tax compliance and generates deterrence after violators are caught and punished. In the first of a series of measures, the BIR designated specific investigators among a team of examiners to handle RATE cases.

Among the RATE programs assisted is to inform taxpayers that the BIR has the capacity and the will to make tax evasion a high-risk, low-reward activity.

This includes computerizing the gathering, storage and retrieval of data on taxpayers, from the district level up.

The RATE program computerized 71 tax districts; only 44 districts, most of them in Metro Manila and Cebu, were previously computerized. The program provided the computers, servers, network cabling and data storage facilities.

The data can be mined, analyzed and retrieved at a much faster rate and in a more efficient manner than manual operations. The comprehensive database captures all tax transactions and enables the bureau to countercheck within, between, and among data sets for indications of tax evasion.

Source: http://www.mca-ptp.ph/

Philippines slogs on to perform Millennium Devt Goals

SPECIAL REPORT: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Rene Q. Bas
Editor in Chief
The Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/05/yehey/top_stories/20090405top1.html

If you base your conclusions only on critical reports about the Philippines, you will say we are only slogging on—not marching briskly—to meet our Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

But that is not what the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corp.’s board of directors says. The MCC has promoted the Philippines from the “Threshhold” level of aid beneficiary to “Compact Assistance” Level.

The MDGS are the United Nations’ eight developmental goals that 189 countries, including the Philippines, adopted in 2000. These goals are: (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. (2) Achieve universal primary education. (3) Promote gender equality and empower women. (4) Reduce child mortality. (5) Improve maternal health. (6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. (7) Ensure environmental sustainability. And (8) Develop a global partnership for development.

To meet goals 1 to 7, a developing (read “poor”) country needs a lot of money.

The United States, working on goal No. 8, created the Millennium Challenge Account in 2002 to help developing nations fund their efforts to meet the MDGs. It founded, with a proper budget legislated by the US Congress, the Millennium Challenge Corp.

America‘s objective is to demonstrate how poverty can be reduced and the MDGs can be reached by poor countries through the right combination of good governance policies, sufficient resources, measurable goals and generous rich-country donors. The donor recipients have to commit themselves to reforms. Both donors and donees hold themselves accountable for results.

As a low-level “Threshold” receiver of MCC aid from America, the Philippines performed well to the point of being eligible for promotion to the higher “Compact” status. The MCC board of directors made that decision to promote us in March 2008 and then affirmed it in December 2008.

“Compact” aid status would secure significantly bigger funding for Philippine development projects.

But then the World Bank report and Philippine Senate hearings on how a cabal of contractors had been rigging the bidding process made global headlines.

All of a sudden a report hit the front pages in January 2009 that the Millennium Challenge Corp. was setting aside its previous decision to upgrade the Philippines.

But the institution Global Integrity Index knew better. It made a statement that “the MCC decision appears largely based on the World Bank Institute’s aggregation of corruption perception surveys, which report a worsening public perception of corruption problems.

“The Global Integrity report on the Philippines [2007, 2006, 2004], which examines the anti-corruption framework rather than public perceptions of corruption, show consistent—though not very good—performance in recent years.”

Global Integrity said that “as we note on the cover of our 2007 report, an overall score change from 2006 to 2007 is not a trend, but reflects the inclusion of a new investigation of state-owned enterprises, an area where the Philippines performs poorly.”

The media, like ABS-CBN, reported that “the head of America’s chief global poverty-fighting arm said indications of worsening corruption in the Philippines is blocking the way to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional help [for the Philippines]. John Danilovich, chief-executive-officer of the Millennium Challenge Corp. [MCC], said they have ‘serious concerns’ with corruption indicators for the Philippines. ‘The drop in performance was in fact very dramatic,’ he told reporters during a briefing at the Foreign Press Center here on Wednesday, January 30.”

Latter events were to show that the MCC had not downgraded us after all. (See related stories “We’ve been eligible since March 2008 for big US aid as ‘Cmpact’ level MCA beneficiary” and “As far as MCA is concerned, Ombudsman is a success story”).

The other day, there was news that the Philippines—along with Switzerland, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Uruguay, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Hong Kong and 39 other territories—were criticized by the Organizations for Economic Cooperation and Development as jurisdictions that have committed to internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented the standard.

Will this make the critics of the Philippines raise a big stink about us being a “tax haven” and therefore deserving of being punished by the MCC?

Intermission: Tribute to Pope John Paul II

On the 4th Anniversary of his return to the Father's House
2nd of April 2005

Thank You John Paul II is a Salt + Light Television production that pays tribute to a man who touched the hearts of millions of people. John Paul II will forever be remembered for his courageous bridge-building efforts between nations and religions around the world, and will always hold a special place in the hearts of young people. Additional programming may be found at www.saltandlighttv.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8SflZ0uR4&eurl=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuZYEqRgLX0

Philippines' Ayala investing P49b in ’09

By Jenniffer B. Austria
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business1_april4_2009

Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest and largest conglomerate, is spending P49 billion in capital expenditures this year, slightly lower than P55 billion it spent in 2008.

Ayala chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala told reporters following an annual stockholders’ meeting that the investments would enable the company to position itself when economic recovery starts.

“We expect 2009 to be a challenging year as the full impact of the global financial crisis on the real economy continues to unfold. We remain cautiously optimistic that the Philippines will remain partly insulated from the worse effect of this economic upheaval,” Zobel said.

The company is earmarking about 35 percent of capital expenditure for real estate development projects, 33 percent for telecommunications expansion and 23 percent for its water distribution system.

Property unit Ayala Land Inc. earlier said it would spend P17.4 billion in capital expenditure this year while Globe Telecom was allotting P16 billion for capital outlay.

Banking subsidiary Bank of the Philippine Islands said it would spend P2 billion in capital spending while Manila Water Services Co. Inc. earmarked P10 billion.

Ayala Corp. said funding for capital expenditures would primarily come from internal funds and borrowings.

Ayala Corp. at the end of 2008 had cash of P25 billion after raising P23 billion from the tight credit market. The company raised the amount for possible acquisition opportunities.

“All of us across the group are on the lookout for any opportunity. There will be opportunities and we are in good position to take advantage of that and we are on the lookout but that doesn’t stop us from continuously expanding across our group,” Zobel said.

Zobel did not specify the new sectors that the company is interested.

Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan, meanwhile, said it was interested in increasing its stake in Ayala-owned Integrated Microelectronics Inc. to 10 percent.

IMI president Arthur Tan said the company was in talks with Mitsubishi Corp. over the possible equity infusion in exchange for additional shares in the company.

Mitsubishi Corp. owns 1 percent of IMI, which is the electronics manufacturing subsidiary of the Ayala group.

“We want to expand our relationship with Mitsubishi Corp. They are a currently a shareholder of IMI and we are discussing the possibility of increasing their stake and help us penetrate Japan,” Tan said.

IMI is 68 percent owned by Ayala Corp. and 17 percent held by Resins Inc. The remaining shares are owned by other investors and employees of the company.

Philippines' Galoc field to ship another 300,000 barrels to Japan

Alena Mae S. Flores
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business4_april4_2009

Galoc Production Co. will ship another 300,000 barrels of Palawan Light crude to Japan next week, a company source said.

Galoc Production, a consortium of local and foreign oil and gas companies, operates the Galoc oil field in offshore northwest Palawan.

Galoc Production earlier sold 400,000 barrels of Palawan Light to South Korea, 300,000 barrels to Thailand, an undetermined volume to Japan and 300,000 barrels to local refiner Petron Corp.

“We got an advice that the target date of delivery to Japan is late next week. There is also the possibility that shipment to Japan will be increased,” the source said.

Last month, Galoc Production announced that it reached a milestone after producing 1 million barrels of oil from the field since October last year.

The Galoc field has been producing steadily, even exceeding pre-shut-in levels of over 16,000 barrels per day.

Production at the field is expected to gradually go down to 13,000 to 14,000 barrels a day.

The Galoc field is located in service contract 14-C in 290 meters of water, approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Palawan.

The field is estimated to contain 10 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves. Singapore’s Gaffney and Cline Associates, which conducted its own assessment, however, said the field could contain up to 49 million barrels.

Philippine rail project to relocate 18,000 families

Tonette Orejas
Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090404-197819/NorthRail-to-move-out-18000-families

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – By June, all 18,455 families living along the old tracks of the Philippine National Railways in the City of Malolos in Bulacan down to Mabalacat in Pampanga will be relocated to pave the way for the construction of the 50-km segment, or Section 2, of the NorthRail.

“We will relocate as soon as the housing units are completed and by the middle of this year, we should have cleared the entire stretch,” Federico Laxa, general manager of the National Housing Authority, told the Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in a phone interview on Friday.

The need to obtain full right-of-way (ROW) for the modern mass transit project connecting Metro Manila and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in the Clark Freeport became certain after the board of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda), chaired by President Macapagal-Arroyo, approved on Tuesday a $317-million increase in project cost after five years of delay.

This brought the budget of NorthRail to $1.317 billion. The $1 billion had been obtained through a loan from the Chinese government. The additional budget will be taken from local funds, North Luzon Railways Corp. (NLRC) chair Edgardo Pamintuan said.

The Neda board also approved the immediate construction of Section 2, making it important for the NHA to go full-scale in its relocation work, Pamintuan said.

Like in the 32-km Section 1 that stretches from Caloocan City to Malolos, the NHA continued to adopt an in-town relocation policy. The houses are being built simultaneously in at least nine local resettlements where residents will be transferred, Laxa said.

Local officials and Vice President Noli de Castro, who is also chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, have been helping facilitate the transfer of the families to give the project ample ROW.

Laxa said the national government has appropriated P1.68 billion from out of NHA’s P3.5-billion budget in 2009 to cover the costs of constructing the houses, school buildings and community facilities, buying the relocation sites and providing food allowances to residents who would be relocated.

The NHA, until 2007, had moved out 23,386 families from Section 1, transferring them to at least 12 resettlement sites, Laxa said.

With nearly 41,000 families affected, the NorthRail is so far the single biggest government project that has caused massive displacement in Malabon, Caloocan and Valenzuela cities in Metro Manila; Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto and Malolos in Bulacan; and Apalit, San Simon, San Luis, City of San Fernando, Angeles City and Mabalacat in Pampanga, an Inquirer review of flagship projects showed.

1,000 jobs opened in Cebu call center

Irene Sino Cruz
Inquirer Visayas
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090404-197820/1000-jobs-opened-in-Cebu-call-center

CEBU CITY – Convergys Corp., a business process outsourcing company, has opened its third facility at the Asiatown IT Park here and is now looking for people.

Jose Manuel T. Castillo, Convergys Corp. sourcing manager, said the firm’s new contact center at i3 building will accommodate 1,000 employees.

Castillo said the company decided to open another facility in Cebu, which is considered the outsourcing hub in the Visayas, because of the presence of talented and skilled manpower base in the city.

He noted that the presence of good universities here has also helped ensure there would be enough manpower to meet the growing demand from the BPO industry.

Castillo stressed that Cebu has the workers with qualifications, including English skills, intelligence and patience, needed by the BPOs.

He also explained that the global economic slowdown has minimal impact on the company’s operations.

“Convergys is still on track with our growth plan and proof of that is our expansion,” Castillo explained.

He said the company could not see any slowdown this year. “For us, the demand is still there,” Castillo said, adding that the growth has come from both new and existing clients.

Convergys dedicated its newest integrated contact center facility in Cebu City on Wednesday, simultaneous with two others, the UP-Ayala Land TechnoHub facility in Metro Manila and the Nuvali TechnoHub facility in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

In a press statement, Convergys chief information officer Jim Goetz said the Philippines was a key contributor to the success of the firm’s customer management business.

“Our three newest facilities will allow us to build upon our success utilizing the skills and talents of our people in the Philippines,” Goetz said.

Marife Zamora, Convergys vice president and country manager, also said that with the addition of a third facility in Cebu, the company has become the largest BPO provider in Cebu City.

Zamora also lauded the company’s Filipino workers who had helped the company maintain its clientele.

“The tremendous dedication and support that our employees bring to work everyday is reflected in the continued business demand from our US-based clients wanting to house their customer support operations in the Philippines,” Zamora said.

Five years after it started operations in the Philippines, Convergys has put up 12 contact centers in the Philippines, seven in Metro Manila, three in Cebu City, one in Bacolod City and one in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

Castillo said their clients include those engaged in banking, retail and telecommunications.

He prayed ‘Hail Marys’ in engineering test

By Jhunnex Napallacan
Inquirer Visayas
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090404-197821/He-prayed-Hail-Marys-in-engineering-test

CEBU CITY – An altar boy who recited the “Hail Mary” every time he shaded his answer in the box became the only topnotcher from a Cebu university in the recent Electronics and Communication Engineer (ECE) licensure examinations.

Kevin Joseph Torres, 23, a resident of Punta Princesa, Cebu City, is the 9th placer in results of the ECE board exams released on Thursday.

“I’m overwhelmed especially that I’m the only one who came from Cebu in the top 10, the rest came from La Salle in Manila,” Torres said Friday.

Torres, an honor student since his elementary years, graduated cum laude at the University of San Jose Recoletos in March 2008.

Torres is the only boy and fourth of seven siblings who were raised by a single parent, Floredeliza.

Poverty became his motivation to strive hard and finish his studies.

While in Grade 3 at the age of 10 in 1995, he started serving as one of the altar boys in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in the southern Cebu town of Minglanilla, his mother’s hometown where he and his siblings grew up.

He thought of entering the seminary after high school but he opted for an engineering course in electronics.

Torres said the former parish priest of Minglanilla, Msgr. Esteban Binghay, one of the respected Church leaders in the Archdiocese of Cebu, helped him finish his college studies.

Torres later relocated to Cebu City, 15.4 km south of Minglanilla but he would return to the town on Sundays, to continue serving as altar boy of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish.

Torres did that even after he graduated from college.

He studied hard not only because he wanted to ensure a better future for him and his family but also because he did not want to disappoint Monsignor Binghay who paid for his studies.

Torres recalled clutching a rosary on the day of the ECE licensure examinations.

Torres said he took time making computations in every item of the exams, but every time he shaded his answer into the box, he recited the Hail Mary.

To Torres, it was the “grace of Mama Mary” that made him land in the top 10.

He said faith has made him strong.

Torres learned about his passing the ECE board through the Internet.

Torres said he initially thought he did not make it when he did not see his name in the list and when he noted the low passing percentage.

Two hours later, Torres said he checked again in the Internet and jumped for joy when he saw his name in the top 10 list.

Torres said he would always be grateful to Monsignor Binghay and his mother and siblings for always believing in him.

Philippines allots more funds for classrooms

Bernardette S. Sto. Domingo
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW040409/content.php?id=079

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday set aside P35 million for the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) to help fund its school-buildings projects.

The fresh capital will be sourced from the Presidential Social Fund. "You have to put the money into building more elementary classrooms to reduce the current student to classroom ratio of 100 to one classroom in one shift to 50 to one in two shifts," the President told incoming FFCCCII officers at the group’s 27th biennial convention at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay.

FFCCCII Chairman Emeritus Francis Chua, in a separate interview, said Mrs. Arroyo early this year signed Executive Order 784 granting tax exemptions to all individuals or companies who would support, contribute and donate to the "Operation: Barrio Schools" project.

The EO, signed in February, also authorized a one-year fundraising activity organized by the FFCCCII for the barrio schools program, an offshoot of the "Adopt-a-School Program" joint public-private venture. "When you donate money for a school building, the donor’s tax is waived," Mr. Chua said.

Under the EO, contributions or donations will be classified as exempt from all forms of taxes and allowed as deductible in full for income tax purposes in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations.

The tax perks will be effective for one year. Citing FFCCCII data, the group’s outgoing president Dr. John K. Tan said the federation has helped construct 4,000 schoolbuildings and 8,000 classrooms since 1960. "We hope to build 11,000 classrooms to help improve the learning conditions of the schoolchildren," Dr. Tan said.

Skills training for displaced OFWs offered

BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW040409/content.php?id=078

CEBU CITY — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have lost their jobs to avail of free business and skills training seminars.

Minerva Yap, director of the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (NERBAC) in Cebu, said they have been holding free seminars on the business permit and licensing system every Wednesday afternoon.

Displaced OFWs who want to become entrepreneurs will find the seminars useful. Entrepreneurs who equip themselves with sufficient knowledge on the intricacies of business will have a better chance at success, especially in difficult times, Ms. Yap said.

During the seminar, participants can interact with speakers from the DTI, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Corp. (PhilHealth), Pag-ibig Fund and the Cebu city government.

Another free seminar, this time on enterprise development, is being conducted together with a skills training session every Tuesday (except in the fourth week of the month) from March to June this year in all DTI provincial offices in Central Visayas.

NERBAC, which was launched in Cebu in November 2006, was put up to assist start-up and expanding businesses in licensing and registration, knowledge and information management and proactive investment marketing. It is aimed at reducing red tape and improving efficiency in government services.

The center is supported by the Private Sector Promotion Program (SMEDSEP), a development cooperation project between the Philippine and German governments.

5,000 job opportunities available for Filipinos in Singapore

Provincial emergency employment programs kick in
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW040409/content.php?id=074

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced yesterday that Filipinos stand to benefit from about 5,000 job opportunities in Sentosa Island, Singapore.

Philippine Overseas Employment Agency Administrator Jennifer Manalili confirmed that Singapore will be needing more workers, adding she had visited Singapore last month with Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to discuss job opportunities for Filipino workers at Resorts World in Sentosa.

This as emergency employment programs in the provinces start to kick in. Over 500 nurses in Eastern Visayas have been hired under the government’s emergency employment program that is designed to stimulate the economy amid the global downturn. This as the Agriculture department has employed some 9,000 workers in the Cagayan Valley under the same plan.

Meanwhile, the Social Welfare department also reported that it has employed 376 individuals under its Cash and Food for Work Program to date; the Trade department has hired 127 workers; and the Public Works department has employed 255 workers for its roadside maintenance project in the Cagayan Valley region.

The Environment department is expected to hire 4,452 out-of-school youths and 3,572 forest guards for its reforestation projects.

Early this year, the government announced its P330-billion Economic Resiliency Program that includes the short-term emergency employment program.

Sentosa Island

"They are expanding and there will be openings for workers for hotels, casinos and performers," said Ms. Manalili. Universal Studios, for one, is building a theme park and is asking for Filipino talents and performers.

"They noted that Filipinos are good in music and in dance so they might come here to conduct auditions either next month or in June," she added.

The government, she said, is set to deploy a team to Sentosa next month to finalize discussions and requirements for Filipino workers.

Resorts World plans to open four of its six hotels by the first quarter of 2010 and expects to fill up some 10,000 job vacancies.

Of these available positions, 3,000 will be for the casino, 3,000 for theme park operations and about 4,000 for hotel and other entertainment facilities.

Government data showed 46,000 Filipinos were left unemployed by the global financial crisis while 5,700 overseas Filipino workers lost their jobs.

The government earlier said more than 100,000 jobs are also available in Qatar while other emirates within the United Arab Emirates are also prepared to absorb Filipino construction workers who were laid off in Dubai.

Close to one million domestic jobs, 700,000 of which will come from the government and 120,000 from the business process outsourcing sector, are also available for jobless Filipinos.

Investors committed to Philippines' gaming and hotel project

Manila Bulletin
http://mb.com.ph/articles/201314/investors-committed-pagcor-project

Representatives of investors participating in the Bagong Nayong Pilipino-Entertainment City Manila of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) Friday reiterated their commitment to the multi-billion dollar project, and vowed to do their part to make it the next biggest tourism development in Asia.

They were among the panel of speakers at the Global Leaders Forum held during the Gaming, Tourism and Investments Congress of the Asia’s Gaming and Entertainment + Leisure Expo (Asia’s GEM) 2009.

Composed of key players in tourism, gaming and entertainment, the Forum participants included PAGCOR President and COO RafaelFrancisco, Austrian Gaming Industries Director David Orrick, Alliance Global Group, Inc. President Kingson Sian; ARUZE Corporation of America president Mikio Tanji, SM Hotel Corporation president Merrill F. Yu, and Dreamgate Corp. Bhd group executive director Mazlan Ismail.

During their engaging discussions, Orrick cited the Entertainment City project for its potential in providing wider entertainment options in the region while supplying jobs, and tourism enhancement opportunities. “This project will capture the imagination not only of the Filipino people but visitors from the outside. It supports the enterprise of gaming and tourism,” he said.

Francisco, meanwhile said that the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by year 2010, with major investors already on line to begin construction of their project concepts.

Philippines enhancing chances for growth despite crisis

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 | GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT
http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=24075

Manila (PND) -- Having put in place safety nets for the vulnerable sectors of the economy, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is simultaneously enhancing the chances of the Philippines to grow despite the current global financial crisis.

This, by promoting investments in agriculture, tourism and information & communication technology sectors, which have been identified as the growth drivers in the Philippines through the years, said Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde.

Her thrust for agriculture is aimed at meeting the 98% self sufficiency goal by 2010, making it easier for the country to meet 100 percent sufficiency by 2013 through her FIELDS program (fertilizer, irrigation and other infrastructure facilities, extension and education, loans for inputs and drivers and other post harvest facilities and seeds), Remonde said.

The Department of Agriculture extended 3.2 million fertilizer discount coupons to farmers under the Fertilizer Subsidy Program. It also provided: a) 13,635.52 MT of organic fertilizer and soil ameliorants; b) 2.615 million bio-agents; c) location-specific interventions like Bio-N, Vital-N, Zinc Sulfate and Bio-con and d) soil and plant testing kits to minimize wastage of fertilizer and soil ameliorants.

A total of 74,259 hectares of irrigated farmlands were rehabilitated while irrigation service was restored in another 45,252 hectares. A total of 217,669 farmer-households benefited from 3,220 kilometers of farm-to-market roads that were constructed or rehabilitated which in turn generated 35,351 jobs.

Also built were 16 agricultural tramlines which now facilitate the transport of commodities from highlands to markets (seven in Benguet, three in Mountain Province, two in Nueva Vizcaya, two in Luzon, one in Pampanga and one in Negros Occidental) and 15 mariculture parks were established.

On extension and education, a total of 5,783 training activities were held aside from 212 research and development undertakings to generate production-enhancing and cost reducing technologies, Remonde said.

The government also released P3.18 billion to 108,760 farmers/fisherfolk under various lending programs of the Agro Industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program apart from the P6.32 billion released by Land Bank to 221,110 palay farmer-beneficiaries.

To reduce post harvest (PH) losses and maintain grain quality, 596 flatbed driers were distributed and installed; four corn post harvest processing and trading centers were established each serving 2,000 hectares of corn land to produce quality corn and improve farmers’ incomes through reduced PH losses, Remonde added.

As of December 2008, the government distributed 55,189.12 MT of certified seeds and 2,850.72 MT of hybrid seeds to farmers. Another 8.2 million pieces of planting materials (sugarcane, mango, coconut, cashew, citrus, lanzones, durian, cassava, mushroom and forage cuttings) 28,279 heads of various animals and 122.3 million pieces of fingerlings and broodstock were distributed.

On tourism, 23 tourism projects, including new hotels, tourist facilities, enterprise zones and modernization of accommodations worth P15.9 billion were endorsed by the Department of Tourism. Despite the global slowdown, tourist arrivals as of October 2008 reached 2.6 million, 4% percent more than the 1.87 million recorded in 2007.

With the government’s keen support for ICT, particularly the business process outsourcing, the industry was able to generate 410,000 jobs and revenues of $6.2 billion since end-2008, Remonde said.

Philippine President unveils P38-billion Metro Manila road network project that will generate 107,000 jobs

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 | EDUCATION
http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=24077

BRGY. UGONG, Valenzuela City (PND) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled today (Thursday, April 2) the ambitious P38-billion road network project of the Metro Manila Tollways Corporation “designed to significantly boost the government’s national development project and create an estimated 107,000 jobs during the five-year construction period.”

The President was briefed on the construction package through a power-point presentation by MPTC chair Manuel Pangilinan during the groundbreaking rites for a portion of project at Brgy. Ugong in Valenzuela City this morning.

The President congratulated the people involved in the road package, especially the MPTC, pointing out that projects such as these will ensure a “fiscally-strong economy and a financially-strong company.”

The road plan “will dramatically change the metropolitan landscape,” assured the MPTC which enumerated the following projects in the pipeline: Segment 8.1 whose capsule-laying ceremony was led by the President here; Segments 9 and 10 that will connect MacArthur Highway in this city to Port Area in Manila; the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Expressway; and the Skyway Stage 2.

The P38-billion package is broken down as follows: P2.9 billion for Segment 8.1; P10 billion for Segments 9 & 10; P16 billion for the NLEX-SLEX connector highway; and P10 billion plus for the Skyway Stage 2.

The planned connector road that will link the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) is an “elevated, 13-kilometer, four-way expressway linking the NLEX to the SLEX and Skyway through Road C-3 in Caloocan and Buendia Avenue in Makati City,” according to the MPTC.

It added that the connector road shall reduce travel time from NLEX to SLEX to only 15-20 minutes, down from the present travel time of more than an hour.

On the other hand, the planned Skyway Stage 2 “will extend the existing Skyway from Bicutan to Alabang in Muntinlupa City, while facilitating the needed rehabilitation works on the existing expressway including toll collection systems and the toll plazas.”

Aside from the 100,000-plus workers who will be hired for its roads package, the MPTC has a total of 880 employees in its present workforce.

President pushes Manila road projects

PGMA lowers time capsule for P2.1B NLEX-C5 road link
THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 | INFRASTRUCTURE
http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=24072

VALENZUELA CITY (PND) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lowered at Brgy. Ugong here the time capsule for the P2.1-billion NLEX-C5 North Link Project that would enable northbound motorists from the eastern part of Metro Manila to have seamless entry into the main North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).

Set to be completed by April 2010, the 2.7-kilometer Segment 8.1 is part of the ambitious P38-billion road network project of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the mother company of the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) which will construct the road segment that will link NLEX to the Circumferential Road 5.

Welcoming the President to the capsule-laying ceremonies were top officials of MPTC led by Manuel Pangilinan; National Housing Authority (NHA) general manager Federico Laxa; Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane; Subic-Clark Alliance for Development (SCAD) chair Edgardo Pamintuan; Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) chair Narciso Abaya; and Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Hermogenes Esperon, among others.

Also in the ceremonies for the link road that will traverse three cities in Metro Manila were Quezon City officials led by Mayor Feliciano Belmonte; Caloocan City officials led by Mayor Recom Echiverri; and Valenzuela City officials led by Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian.

With the above-named officials, the President laid the time capsule containing, among others, the plans for the road segment.

The President -- who also interviewed three people who have been benefiting from the upgraded NLEX and a worker hired for Segment 8 -- was then shown maps of the ambitious P38-billion road network that would connect the NLEX to the Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) within the next five years.

The MNTC said Segment 8.1 shall “bypass the high-density areas approaching the Balintawak toll plaza in Caloocan City. It starts at Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City and ends south of the Valenzuela Interchange, and is the first step toward completing the entire NLEX Phase 2 Project.

NLEX Phase 2 consists of four satellite road projects with an aggregate length of 22.486 kilometers. It is designed to provide easy, hassle-free and speedy access to the 84-km. main NLEX from all four directions – north, east, west and south of Metro Manila.

The highway expansion is in line with President Arroyo’s policy to link roadways and seaways to hasten travel and the delivery of goods and services towards economic growth.

“This expansion is attuned to the policy enunciated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to decongest Metro Manila – thus greatly enhancing mobility of people, goods and services and, at the same time, dramatically improving quality of life in the metropolis.

“It also augurs well for the realization of the President’s larger vision of setting up a Luzon Urban Beltway traversing the growth corridors of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Central Luzon,” the MNTC said.

With Segment 8.1 in place, motorists from South Luzon Expressway can expediently reach the NLEX via C-5, Katipunan and Mindanao Avenues, and Segment 8.1, thereby avoiding the costly and time-consuming traffic jams along EDSA and other choke points within the metropolis.

A total of 3,347 households of informal settlers affected by the expansion project have been relocated by the National Housing Authority (NHA) which was allocated a P600-million budget at P180,000 cost/entitlement per household.

The NHA says it has relocated all affected families as of Feb. 28. this year.

Some 2,667 households (80 percent) were relocated to the following areas: 801 households in Brgy. Punturin here; 110 in Marilao, Bulacan; 56 in Caysio, Marilao, Bulacan; 186 in Minuyan, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; and 112 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Some 272 households went back to their own provinces under the ‘Balik-Probinsiya’ program; while the rest were either disqualified or were informal settlers on private properties.

The relocated households were each housed in 20-22.5-sq.m. “starter” houses at P200 amortization per month during the first five years.

The houses on 32-40 sq.m. individual services lots are payable over 30 years at six-percent interest.

Philippines' SM group keeps banking on OFWs; expects to grow 12-14% in 2009

Rosemarie Francisco
Reuters
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/04/02/09/sm-group-banks-ofw-remittances-expects-grow-12-14-2009

Mall-to-banking group SM Investments Corp. expects its net income to grow 12 to 14 percent this year, ahead of market forecasts, as consumption and remittance income from Filipinos working overseas hold up despite a global financial crisis.

The group, owned by the country's richest man, Henry Sy, said it is not slowing its expansion plans even as forecasts point to braking growth in the local economy this year.

"Just like a chariot, all horses forward -- banking, retail, malls, property -- all competing with each other," group Chief Finance Officer Jose Sio told Reuters on Thursday in an interview at the company's headquarters overlooking Manila Bay. "All the four horses are pulling ahead."

"This year will be double digit," Sio said when asked about growth in the 2009 bottomline. "Our budget is 12-14 percent."

Analysts expect SM Investments' net income to be largely flat this year, according to Reuters Estimates. Net profit climbed 15.6 percent in 2008 to 14 billion pesos ($291 million) on revenue growth of 20 percent.

The company, which has grown from a small Manila shoe store that Sy built up in the 1950s, has set aside P25 billion in capital spending this year, up 25 percent from in 2008.

SM Investments would spend heavily in coming years on hotels and leisure developments in the Philippines, said investor relations chief Corazon Guidote, creating a fifth core business.

Group executive director Gregory Domingo said SM, which opened its first mall in 1985 with the country in the middle of a political crisis, was undaunted by the current downturn.

"Restaurants are still full, people are still shopping, malls are still full, so you don't yet feel it, unless there's a very long lag," he said.

The central bank expects remittances from more than 8 million overseas workers to hold steady at $16.4 billion -- more than a tenth of GDP -- this year, but analysts forecast a 6 percent decline, the first drop since 2001.

Mall developer SM Prime Holdings expects its revenues to grow 11 percent, just ahead of last year's levels, as it opens three new malls and spends 11 billion pesos to open and expand malls at home and in China.

Revenues from property development, which includes SM Development Corp., would likely increase 50 percent this year after 57 percent growth in 2008, as residential apartment developments come onstream, Domingo said.

The retail business, which includes the SM Department Store and supermarkets, is expected to post 10-12 percent revenue growth, half last year's growth, as consumers focus their spending on essentials such as food and clothing.

The retail segment posted 14-15 percent revenue growth in January-February, Guidote said.

Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., the country's largest lender by assets, expects its loan portfolio to grow 15 percent this year, higher than the expected industry average of 5 to 10 percent, but half last year's increase.

SM Investments is eyeing acquisitions, and Sio said the group had a P47 billion ($977 million) cash balance at end-2008.

Convergys assures Philippine President: Jobs generation to total 20,000 by year-end

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 | FOREIGN INVESTMENT
http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=24070

STA. ROSA CITY, Laguna (PND) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was assured today by Convergys that it shall have generated a total of 20,000 jobs in the Philippines by year-end.

The assurance was made by Convergys president and CEO Dave Dougherty during the simultaneous dedication of the latest contact sites of the company whose headquarters are based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Convergys head thanked the President for her support, and committed to her that his company – which had generated a total of 16,000 jobs so far – shall be hiring a total of 20,000 “by the end of the year.”

“That’s wonderful,” the President said about the company’s contribution to the government’s efforts to hurdle the world-wide economic crisis. Later, she announced the good news as reported to her by Trade Secretary Peter Favila who accompanied her to the event: “The companies that laid off (their workers) are now calling back the employees (they earlier laid off).”

The President led the dedication ceremony at past 4 p.m. for this 12th contact site of Convergys in the Philippines, which located in the country five years ago.

Assisting the President in the ribbon-cutting and globe-tossing ceremonies were Convergys officers led by Dougherty and Andrea Ayers, president of the Customer Management line of business of Convergys; Marife Zamora, vice president and Philippines country manager; and government officials, including Lilia de Lima, director-general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA); Mon Ibrahim, commissioner of the Commission on Information and Technology (CICT); Laguna Gov. Teresita Lazaro, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez and Sta. Rosa Mayor Arlene Nazareno, among others.

The dedication rites for the contact site at the Ayala Land’s Nuvali Techno-Hub here coincides with the dedication of the 10th and 11th contact centers in Cebu City and UP Diliman, respectively.

The Nuvali TechnoHub contact center here – its first in Santa Rosa, Laguna -- “boasts an open floor plan of 66,000 square feet and the ability to hold approximately 900 employees.”

As it announced in May last year, Convergys is building two other sites – in San Lazaro and in Glorietta – to total five new sites.

Within five years since it located in the Philippines, the 30-plus-year-old relationship-management company has “established 12 contact centers in the Philippines -- seven located in Metro Manila, three in Cebu City, one in Bacolod City, and one in Santa Rosa, Laguna.”

“These facilities include the new sites Convergys is adding to the country, as announced in May 2008. The new sites announced included Cebu Asiatown i3, UP Science Park, Nuvali, San Lazaro, and Glorietta,” according to Convergys.

Dougherty expressed his appreciation of the Philippines as a business-process outsourcing (BPO) location: “Over the past few years, the Philippines market has established itself as a leader in the BPO industry. As such, Convergys continues to see growth in the Philippines.”

“Within five years, we have grown from zero to more than 16,000 employees in the Philippines and expect to see continued growth in the area.”

“From Convergys’ announcement in May 2008 in which we said that five new facilities will be built in the Philippines, three of which we are dedicating today, two more centers are currently still under construction in Metro Manila,” added Dougherty.

He assured that “at the conclusion of the construction, there will be many positions that will need to be filled,” pointing out that “despite the economic climate, Convergys continues to see growth and development.”

"Convergys strives to meet the needs of our current and future clients wherever that may take us in the world. Convergys' vision of being the voice and the technology behind all superior service experiences, recognized as the leading relationship management company in the markets we serve worldwide, is made possible by harnessing the individual strengths of peoples and cultures around the world.

“With these new facilities, we continue to tap the tremendous pool of resources available in the Philippines," said Dougherty.

Dougherty continued about the advantages of doing business in the Philippines: “The biggest advantage continues to be the availability and high quality of the potential employee pool found in the Philippines -- employees who are well-educated, English proficient and have a strong understanding of U.S. culture are the key to Convergys’ success in the Philippines.”

Thus, the Convergys CEO is upbeat on the Philippines as a BPO location: “We continue to see a strong demand from our clients to have their customer management services housed in the Philippines.”

“To meet this demand, we continue to work with the local government to ensure that the Philippines remains a rich source of talent and growth. Providing top quality service to our clients and their customers ensures that Convergys continues to retain established business and win new business for all the regions in which we operate,” Doughterty added.

Convergys said “for more than 30 years, our unique combination of domain expertise, operational excellence, and innovative technologies has delivered process improvement and actionable business insight to clients that now span more than 70 countries and 35 languages.”

A member of the S&P 500 and voted a Fortune “Most Admired Company” for nine consecutive years, Convergys has “approximately 75,000 employees in 84 customer contact centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and our global headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.”

MoneyGram expands in Philippines

Bizjournals
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/03/30/daily28.html

MoneyGram International Inc. has added 1,200 money-transfer locations throughout the Philippines through a partnership with M. Lhuillier Financial Services Inc., one of the country’s leading financial services firms.

Adding the M. Lhuillier locations expands MoneyGram’s network in the Philippines to more than 6,000 locations. MoneyGram plans to continue growing its presence there throughout 2009, including the addition of nearly 900 bank branches that will roll out money-transfer services this year.

“The Philippines is a strategic country where we see strong growth potential,” MoneyGram President and CEO Tony Ryan said in a statement. “Remittances are an essential part of the economy in the Philippines and we believe that our convenient and reliable global money-transfer service will provide more control and choice for Filipinos working abroad to send money to their families back home.”

St. Louis Park-based MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) now has 176,000 agent locations in 190 countries and territories.


jvomhof@bizjournals.com

Law gives job opportunities to poor students in the Philippines

IPP
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW040209/content.php?id=077

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday signed into law a bill that expands employment opportunities for poor students.

In a statement, Malacañang said the law amends a current program for the employment of students.

Republic Act 9547, which seeks to strengthen and expand the coverage of the Special Program for Employment of Students, allows students between 15 and 25 years old to receive a salary not lower than the minimum wage set for other private employees.

Companies employing at least 10 workers may opt to hire students.

The law provides that high school students should only be employed during summer and Christmas vacation for not more than 15 days.

Students in tertiary, vocational or technical schools may be employed at any time of the year provided their work period would be limited to 20 to 52 days.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to come up with a socially sensitive tuition payment plan for state colleges and universities.

In a speech before the national convention of the Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) in Sta. Rosa, Laguna yesterday, the President also ordered a review of the no payment-no examination policy.

Mrs. Arroyo also raised the possibility of providing transportation, laboratory and research stipends should also be studied.

"CHEd has to reform the no payment-no periodic examination policy... [which] is one of the main reasons young students from poor families drop out from state universities and colleges," she said.

100,000 jobs open for Filipinos in Qatar

Palace allows OFWs into Lebanon, Jordan
Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Angelo S. Samonte And Llanesca T. Panti
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/02/yehey/top_stories/20090402top1.html

Despite the global crisis, more than 100,000 jobs in Qatar are available for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Labor department announced Wednesday after attending a meeting with Qatari labor officials last week.

In a separate announcement on Wednesday, the government also said it would lift the ban on sending Filipino workers to Lebanon and Jordan. The move is also expected to create new placement opportunities for Filipinos.

The Qatar government approved 296,787 work visas for OFWs between October 2008 and March 2009, said Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, adding that 190,000 positions have been filled up. That leaves more than 100,000 work visas still available for Filipino workers.

The openings were discussed in a meeting between Roque and his Qatari counterparts. The secretary said the primary purpose of the meeting was to strengthen bilateral labor relations, specifically the opening of more job opportunities in Qatar for Filipino workers.

“About 85 percent of the available jobs for OFWs in Qatar required technical and highly skilled workers in the construction sector,” he said in statement.

Agreements discussed

He added that the two countries also discussed the ratification of the Additional Protocol to the RP-Qatar Agreement Concerning Filipino Manpower Employment in Qatar that the Philippine government entered into in 1997 for the protection of the rights of Filipino workers in Qatar.

The two delegations also aim to address illegal recruitment agencies and excessive placement fees, mainly by sharing information between Manila and Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Roque also said the Labor department was looking at cooperating with the Qatari government in conducting training programs for OFWs in order to ensure “adequate supply of skilled workers for manpower requirements of employers in the [Arab] country.”

Part of the agreement is the Sponsorship Law in Qatar that would allow Filipino workers to transfer jobs if their employers physically abuse them or fail to pay them.

The law also says that OFWs who file a complaint in a Qatari labor court would not be sent back to the Philippines by his or her employer before claims are settled.

Lebanon and Jordan

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said also Wednesday that Malaca­ñang gave the green light to the Department of Foreign Affairs to lift the ban on deploying Filipino workers to Lebanon and Jordan.

But he added that the deployment ban on Iraq, Nigeria and Afghanistan remains in effect, because of unstable security situations in those countries.

The government stopped sending Filipino workers to Lebanon in 2006 when fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants escalated.

When the ban was imposed, about 6,000 Filipino workers, most of them undocumented, were repatriated to the Philippines. But some 26,000 remained in Lebanon.

Many of those who remained were restrained by their employers from leaving, while others feared losing their jobs. There were also Filipinos married to Lebanese who opted to stay with their families.

The Philippines had also prevented OFWs from working in Lebanon because of poor labor conditions there.

“Our government wants to make sure the protection and welfare of the OFWs will be assured before we lift the deployment ban,” Secretary Roque said in an interview last week.

Last month, the presidential envoy to the Middle East, Roy Cima tu, was sent to Lebanon to assess the security situation there. He reported that it was safe again for Filipino to go there.

OFWs in France

Thierry Borja de Mozota, France’s ambassador to Manila, said late Tuesday that the estimated 40,000 OFWs in his country have so far been spared from layoffs resulting from the global financial turmoil.

Filipinos in France are mainly woman caregivers working for families, and those jobs are not at risk, he said. “At the moment, there is no sign of reduction of workers of families in France. They are not working for companies, so there is no reason for them to lose their jobs.”

He added that the Filipino community in France was appreciated for helping his country’s economy stay afloat.

Illegals a concern

The ambassador, however, was concerned about the growing number of undocumented Filipino workers in France—estimated at 33,000.

He called on the Philippine government to come up with a labor agreement with France that would allow Filipino workers in his country to obtain work permits.

“This agreement would give undocumented Filipino workers in France a chance to legalize their stay,” he explained. “This will ensure that Filipinos already in France will be provided an avenue to get working permit as soon as they ask for it.”

The European Parliament has adopted a program in June 2008 to allow its member-states to repatriate all undocumented workers. The European Union estimates that there are more than 90,000 undocumented Filipino workers in Europe, mostly working as household workers in Paris, Nice, Milan, Rome, Madrid and Barcelona.

Two years ago, the French government started negotiating a labor agreement with the Philippines that would allow healthcare professionals—like nurses and doctors—and those in the arts and fashion businesses to work in France. But the envoy added that they want a “return policy,” a provision compelling the Filipino workers to return to the Philippines after two to three years working in France so that they could bring home their knowledge and experience here.

But the program is not attracting much attention, because Filipinos do not speak French, and those who go often prefer to stay there, the envoy added.

Philippines' North Railways assured of $317m extra budget

Joyce Pangco Pañares
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics2_april1_2009

The National Economic and Development Authority board yesterday approved a supplemental budget of $317 million for the North Luzon Railways Corp., $17 million more than what the company had requested.

Northrail would use the extra budget to pay the Chinese contractor building the rail project and end a year-long halt in operations.

“This will answer for foreign exchange rate adjustments, inflation, and necessary variation orders required by project site conditions,” Northrail president Edgardo Pamintuan said in a statement.

Pamintuan said the Northrail project could either tap funds from local sources or borrow from the China Export-Import Bank or other favorable partners.

“If China is willing to lend at 3 percent [interest], it’s still manageable so it’s okay,” Pamintuan said in a separate interview.

Northrail contractor Sinomach (previously known as China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. Group) has already been informed of the budget approval, Pamintuan said.

Pamintuan said the fresh funds would also allow Northrail to immediately begin building the Malolos-to-Clark portion of the railway.

The company will attempt to complete all of the civil and track works from Caloocan to Clark on or before June 2010.

It will come as the single biggest pump-priming project given the host of industries that will benefit from it, Pamintuan said. “Instead of going on work slowdowns or temporary shutdowns, the Philippine steel, cement, and quarry industries will be loaded with work and will be hard-pressed to meet the demands of the entire Northrail project. This is the type of economic pump-priming that the President is implementing to beat the odds presented by the global recession.”

The amount approved by the Neda board is about 5 percent more than the $299 million being demanded by Sinomach.

In February last year, Sinomach unilaterally suspended work on the Northrail project that will connect Caloocan City to Malolos City in Bulacan and demanded an additional $299 million in the contract price.

Of the additional $299 million, almost two-thirds or $211 million was to cover foreign exchange losses, inflation and costs of the delay in construction while the remaining $88.63 million was due to variations in the original scope of work.

Sinomach also blamed the government for the construction delays, citing the slow relocation of the illegal settlers whose houses will be covered by the project.

12 firms eye $1.1-B biofuels investments in the Philippines

By JAMES A. LOYOLA
Manila Bulletin
http://mb.com.ph/articles/201068/12-firms-eye-11b-biofuels-investments

About $1.1 billion in new investments will be made by more than 12 firms that have signified interest in the biofuels industry even as the government is eyeing to increase the mandated blends to further boost growth.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said during the Asia Biofuel Investment Summit 2009 that incentives provided by the Biofuels Act spurred the strong investor interest in the sunshine biofuels industry.

"The Biofuels Act provided attractive incentives for investors who develop and produce biofuels. As a result, from two plants in 2004, there are now 11 biofuel plants operating in the country. There are now more than a dozen companies who have signified their intention to enter the industry," he said.

Reyes added that, in the past four years, the industry witnessed an increase in biodiesel investments that has resulted in a staggering 623 percent jump in aggregate domestic production capacity to the current 383 million liters from 53 million liters in 2005.

He noted that the two percent biodiesel mandate, which took effect last February, will increase biodiesel requirement to 160 million liters by 2014 from 133 million lites this year.

For bioethanol, Reyes said the five percent mandated blend (which will be increased to 10 percent in 2011) will increase the ethanol requirement to 536 million liters in 2014 from 208 million liters this year.

He also said that, two years into the implementation of the National Biofuels Program, the Energy Department is still improving the "rules of engagement" in order to fast-track investments in the biofuels industry.

"The department is currently studying even further increases in the blend percentages, giving careful consideration to the availability of feedstock and the resulting final prices," Reyes said.

He added that they are holding consultations with stakeholders in order to establish the rules governing the operations of the one-stop-shop under the National Biofuels Board.

Among the existing biodiesel producers to date are market leader Chemrez Technologies as well as Senbel Fine Chemicals, Mt. Holy Coco,. and Pure Essence. Biodiesel companies that are undergoing accreditation include Atson Coco Inc, Lion Chemical Corp. and Freyvonne Milling Services.

There are currently only two bioethanol producers in the country, namely Leyte Agri Corp. and. San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. Other companies are in the process of putting up their ethanol facilities such as Cavite Biofuels Producers, Inc.