Bangko Sentral
Media Releases
10.07.2009
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=2176
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Preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that the country's gross international reserves (GIR) level rose to US$42.3 billion as of end-September 2009, higher by US$0.8 billion than the end-August 2009 level of US$41.5 billion, BSP Officer-In-Charge Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. announced today.
The increase in the end-September 2009 GIR level was due mainly to the foreign currency deposits by the National Government (NG) of the loan proceeds and by the authorized agent banks (AABs), revaluation gains in the BSP's gold holdings arising from the higher price of gold in the international market in September 2009, and net foreign exchange operations by the BSP as well as income from its investments abroad. A special allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) was made available by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to all member-countries in September 2009, further contributing to the rise in the country's reserves level. The IMF's move to increase SDR allocations is a liquidity-enhancing measure aimed at providing financial resources to all member countries and forms part of the cooperative monetary response to the global financial crisis. These receipts were, in turn, partly offset by outflows arising from the repayment of maturing foreign exchange obligations of the NG and the BSP.
The current GIR level could cover 7.8 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It was also equivalent to 7.6 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.
The level of net international reserves (NIR), which includes revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related liabilities, likewise increased to US$41.6 billion as of end-September 2009, up by US$0.9 billion from the previous month's level of US$40.7 billion. NIR refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
End-September 2009 GIR Hits US$42.0 Billion Mark
Software firm sees RP as major market, cites strong retail sector
Emilia Narni J. David
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100709/content.php?id=043
A RETAIL software company is eyeing the Philippines as a major market, citing the concentration of retail businesses such as shopping malls in the country.
JDA Software Philippines, the local subsidiary of the JDA Software Group, said the country’s retail sector could expand further with the increasing competitiveness of regional businesses.
"There is a large concentration of top retailers in the Philippines. Which means that retail has a very big impact on the economy," JDA Asia-Pacific president Stephen McNulty said in a press briefing yesterday.
He added that more than half of the top 10 performing retailers in Asia are found in the Philippines.
JDA Software Philippines serves many of the country’s top retail companies like the SM group, Stores Specialists, Inc., Robinsons Supermarket and Department Store, National Book Store, and 7-11.
The company provides retail software to retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies, as well as "business intelligence" materials.
Cherokee D. Chamorro, JDA Software Philippines country manager, said: "The big players are entering markets where previously only one retailer was [present]. We have clients in the regions that have realized that they need to compete with these companies that are using our software and seeing the benefits of having at least the basic tools to be able to become more competitive."
He cited the example of Bohol Quality Mall in Bohol, one of the company’s clients. Growth in provinces, however, depends "on the maturity of customers."
Mr. Chamorro said companies are seeing the benefit of investing in new technologies and systems even during the financial downturn. "[The companies] told us that they want to take advantage of the lull because of the crisis. They are focusing on getting together their systems so that they can be ready and stabilize their systems after the slowdown," he said.
Philippine retail companies make around $5 billion to $10 billion in revenues per year, he said.
Nickel mining firm lists by way of introduction, to invest P10B
Neil Jerome C. Morales
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100709/content.php?id=046
NICKEL MINER Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp. will invest almost P10 billion to put up a nickel mine and processing plant in northeastern Mindanao.
The announcement came after Century Peak listed 2.82 billion common shares by introduction to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, making the miner the second firm to list by way of introduction this year.
"[For the] phase one we are actually investing P2 billion... [and] at least $100-$150 million for full operation," Century Peak president and chief executive Wilfredo D. Keng told reporters. "We are going to start [phase one] next year."
During the first stage of operation in the 4,000-hectare nickel property in the province of Dinagat Island, the miner will produce 5,000-10,000 metric tons (MT) of nickel per year. Output will be doubled to 20,000 MT per year when operations go full-scale.
An 86-hectare area has total resources of 11.900 million wet MT of nickel ore, enough to sustain the company’s operations for at least 10 years. "Actually we discovered that we can go for 15-20 years [of operations] but we will still continue explorations in the area," Mr. Keng said, adding that about 3,000 hectares of the property has yet to be explored.
The mining area was held by Casiguran Mining Corp. from 1992 to 1995. However, it was categorized by the Environment department as a nonperforming tenement and was taken away from Casiguran. In 2006, it was reinstated to Casiguran, which transferred the rights to Century Peak that same year.
Aside from nickel mining, Century Peak will put up a processing plant with Century Hua Guang Smelting, Inc., where the miner has a 55% stake.
"With our smelting plant, even if the price drops to $10,000 per MT ($4.53 per pound), we still make money," he said. "We could add more value in the company."
The nickel price for cash buyers yesterday closed at $7.75 per pound (lb.) from the average $5.64 and $4.75 per lb. in the second and first quarters, respectively, data from the London Metal Exchange showed.
Better roads expected to improve farm production
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100709/content.php?id=056
TACLOBAN CITY — The top regional official here of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the improved road conditions in Eastern Visayas should boost the region’s agriculture sector.
"Having improved roads will lower transport costs and encourage agricultural productivity," said NEDA regional director Buenaventura Go-Soco.
Mr. Go-Soco, who is also vice-chairman of the Regional Development Council, said a third of the region’s population depends on agriculture to sustain their livelihood. About 47% of the region’s employed persons are in the agriculture sector. The rest, 43.9% and 9.1% are in services and industry, respectively.
Among the ongoing road projects in the region is the Laoang-Lapinig-Arteche-San Policarpio road, which connects Eastern Samar to Northern Samar. In his recent visit here, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes E. Ebdane, Jr. said the government is speeding up the completion of this project to boost the agriculture and eco-tourism sectors in the two Samar provinces.
The government allotted P345 million this year for the project, as well as for the paving of the Palapag-Mapanas-Gamay-Lapinig Road, which is part of the Samar circumferential road. The government has also completed the Agas-Agas Bridge, which provides an alternative to the road in the landslide-prone section of Sogod, Southern Leyte. — SQM
Tourism chief sees arrivals exceeding estimate
Wilfredo Rodolfo
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/16943-tourism-chief-sees-arrivals-exceeding-estimate.html
TOURISM Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano is expecting the uptrend in tourism figures to continue and surpass department estimates of only 2-percent increase in the number of arrivals in 2009.
“If the trend in the first semester would continue and the economy of our major markets, indeed, recover, we should see growth in 2009,” Durano told reporters in Cebu City.
“We were expecting zero to 2-percent growth for 2009 and even thought we will contract.”
The first six months of the year posted a 6-percent growth in terms for foreign tourists’ arrivals compared with the same period in 2008. January to June 2008 figures showed 1.633 million foreign tourist arrivals, 7 percent higher than the year before.
Durano said the country suffered from a dip in arrivals since last year as the global economic slowdown affected its major markets like Korea, Japan, the United States and Europe. He said, however, that emerging markets like China are somehow filling the slack.
The department had earlier aimed at hitting the 5-million mark in foreign-tourist arrivals by 2010.
In 2008 the country first breached the 3-million mark with less than 2-percent growth.
The big news, however, was the 8 million registered consolidated arrivals in the country’s top 15 destinations, an increase of 16 percent.
Domestic tourism also increased by 20 percent, mostly based on the monitoring in the top destinations in the country.
Philippines, Vietnam post top profit growth
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/223500/rp-vietnam-post-top-profit-growth
The Philippines tied with Vietnam as top ASEAN countries with the highest profit growth for 2010, results of the ASEAN Business Outlook Survey 2009 revealed.
There were a total of 369 American businessmen respondents to the survey, which is conducted annually by the American Chambers of Commerce in ASEAN since 2002.
The survey was conducted during the period of July to August 2009 to understand business growth and perceptions of doing business from U.S. companies with offices in six ASEAN countries – Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Respondents from the Philippines and Vietnam had the highest profit increases expectations of 80 percent for 2010 followed by Indonesia with 78 percent increases.
On the other hand, respondents from Malaysia and Singapore had the lowest expectations for 2010, with profit increases predicted by 50 percent and 57 percent of respondents, respectively.
The high profit expectation among American firms in the region for 2010 is a reversal of the steady decline in profit growth expectation since 2007 up to 2009.
Seventy percent of respondents expect profits above 2008 levels for 2010, while 8% anticipate a decrease and 17% foresee no substantial change.
However, profit expectations for respondents from the Philippines are modest.
Overall, American companies in the country are more satisfied with the business environment in the Philippines than in 2008; however, satisfaction with local government institutions is very mixed.
Resettlement of Marikina River Bank families begins
http://www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001831&Itemid=2
Sta. Rosa, Laguna (PND) -- Around 145 of 400 families along Marikina’s river banks have started relocating to their new houses as the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Marikina City shuttled them round the clock to this 35-hectare Southville 4 NHA project.
Karen Dianona, a third year high school student of Fortune High School in Marikina, could not contain herself from expressing her gratitude to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who ordered their resettlement from the river banks of Marikina to this new site.
“She did not really forget us and always looks after our welfare,” she exclaimed.
Although the President was kept by her earlier engagement in Iloilo from attending the event here, Vice President Noli de Castro, who is also chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and NHA, took her place in distributing relief goods to the typhoon victims.
According to Susan Nonato, NHA Deputy Area Manager for South Luzon, Southville 4, covering Barangays Caingin and Pook, was programmed for the displaced settlers of the Northrail-Southrail portions of the Philippine National Railway totaling 5,292 families. But it still has rooms for 400 families of Marikina as committed last Saturday by the President during her Cabinet level meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).
Each unit measuring 21.5 square meters costs P175,000, payable over 30 years or P200 per month with a grace period of one year. The monthly installments will not be slapped any interest for five years. But the succeeding years will be charged an interest of six percent, Nonato said.
Lot size ranges from 32 to 36 square meters, Nonato said.
Nonato said there is a provision for two schools, multi purpose center, a production and training center, and a livelihood center (which will be equipped in collaboration with the Philippine Export Zone Authority, the provincial government of Sta. Rosa, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Technical Education Skills Development Authority) to provide skills training for the workers.
She, likewise, mentioned other possible relocation sites such as those in Binan, Laguna with 600 units and the Towerville also in Sta. Rosa with 400 units and other sites.
Nonato noted there is at present a slipper manufacturer in the area and “we will be proposing with the Marikina government to transfer some of the shoe manufacturing equipment to be brought here so the relocatees will have livelihood to earn from.”
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Pasig River rehab goes in full swing
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/223338/pasig-river-rehab-goes-full-swing
Metro Manila residents can look forward to an early rehabilitation of the Pasig River as the dredging project continues 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Jr. said.
Atienza, chairman of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), issued the statement after the Philippine Coast Guard reported on Wednesday that a private contractor of the river rehabilitation project dug up a 65-year-old battle tank off the South Harbor.
Commander Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said personnel of Kwan Sing Construction Corp. accidentally recovered the Sherman M4-A1 tank while dredging near the breakwater in Baseco Compound, Tondo early Saturday.
According to Balilo, the tank was commonly used by the US military during World War II. When they checked, they found several bullets for Garand rifles inside the tank.
“This only means that dredging the Pasig River to regain its pristine condition is being done without letup. With the help of Baggwerwerken Decloedt N.V. Philippines, we assure everyone that we could revive the waterway as early as possible,” said architect Deogracias Tablan Jr., PRRC executive director.
Earlier, the dredgers and sea marshals also found old cannon shells, which were turned over to the PCG Special Operations Group in Parola, Tondo, Manila.
In terms of modern technology and expertise, he said, they have no doubt that the goal of rehabilitating the Pasig River will be attained soon.
Tablan clarified that the Pasig River dredging project is not a Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig but a priority project of the national government under the DENR thru the PRRC, correcting earlier reports aired in a radio station.
The PRRC executive director also said that through an aggressive information campaign, the people’s negative views on the Pasig River could be reversed “because there is still hope to revive it and bacause support for the river’s preservation has started pouring in.”
‘Ondoy’: A positive game-changer
John Mangun
Outside the Box
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/16907-ondoy-a-positive-game-changer.html
The problem with most of the analysis that you read regarding almost any event is that it is based on the Western system of logic formulated by Greek philosopher Aristotle. Simply put, if “A” occurs then “B” will happen next. This is linear or straight line thinking.
In Asia, influenced by both traditional Buddhism and Confucius, a much less linear style of thinking developed. Western logic looks more closely and more effectively at the details, while Eastern logic does a better job of seeing the big picture.
The reason I mention this is in response to those e-mails that always question and wonder why I can be optimistic in the face of events like the killer storms that we have just experienced.
It is not a matter of being optimistic; it is all about looking for other possibilities that might not fit in the normal A+B=C logical pattern.
For example. The day before Ondoy hit Manila, a close relative of mine died. Another relative in the US wanted to send over some money to help with expenses. Usually this kind of remittance takes 12 to 18 hours. This time it took more than four days, and according to the remittance company it was because they were flooded with money coming into the country. They did not have enough couriers to handle the enormous increase in their business. We will see a substantial increase in overseas remittances for the month of October which will offset some of the economic damage from the storm.
In effect, Ondoy caused an increase in remittances which several commentators are now noting. This might fall under the Law of Unintended Consequences (LUC).
The LUC usually relates to some government program designed to do one thing and winds up causing a completely unexpected effect or consequence. Government attempts to control the price of a commodity without controlling the price of all the components that go into producing that commodity. Shortages occur and the price control is ineffective in protecting the consumer.
In the 1980s, US penalties for drunk driving were increased. What resulted was a great increase in the number of hit-and-run accidents, since the penalty for drunk driving was much greater than the penalty for running away from an accident. The introduction of rabbits into Australia for food was followed by an explosive growth in the rabbit population; rabbits have become a major pest in Australia, destroying crops.
However, there are also positive unintended consequences, maybe the best example being the drug Sildenafil or Viagra. Created for use in high blood pressure and angina, it did not work effectively. But what it did do, well, we all know what Viagra does effectively. There will be positive consequences from Ondoy also.
Government is now forced to address the problem of squatter communities along the waterways, something that every administration has virtually ignored. The proper use and maintenance of Laguna de Bay has suddenly become important, another issue that was ignored.
And corporate response to situations like the flooding has had to be examined and a new model created.
One of the largest outsourcing/call- center companies in the Philippines is Teleperformance Philippines (TP), a part of the worldwide publicly listed French company Teleperformance Group. TP has been in the country since 1996 and employs about 10,000 Filipinos. This is a $2-billion multinational company with call centers in 47 countries.
Every large company has a disaster plan with all the “What do we do if...” scenarios spelled out. A labor-intensive firm like a call center must first and foremost have a strategy to ensure its employees are able to function during extraordinary times.
And during Ondoy, the call-center business continued even with a substantial amount of people not being able to get to work. But the mere implementation of a disaster plan is not what I mean by a positive unintended consequence.
At news of the great flooding, TP founder and CEO Daniel Julian e-mailed his global offices, mobilizing a relief effort coordinated through Philippine managing director Dave Rizzo. Within a couple of days, global TP employees had pledged over P2 million to help their fellow Filipino employees.
TP has a community outreach program called “Citizen of the World.” And again, TP employees donated cash and goods to help the community like very many other corporations. There is nothing unusual about that. Just good social responsibility. But here is where the model changes.
TP quickly surveyed its thousands of employees to identify those most affected by the flooding, locating those that may have suffered severe damage to their homes. The human-resources department coordinated with Pag-IBIG to facilitate disaster loans for its employees.
A portion of the goods and cash collected from employees here and abroad went to assist other employees impacted by the flooding, an example of charity beginning at home.
However, all of these efforts at helping those most affected are commendable but certainly do not qualify as particularly unique. But then, TP management changed its disaster-relief model.
Recognizing that all of its employees suffered during the flooding, TP did something that I have never heard of before. The company advanced the payment of its employees’ 13th-month pay, pro-rated and paid this week. Granted that this is not charity, the company is still advancing tens of millions of pesos at a substantial expense to the company to help out its employees.
The unintended consequence in this case is that this very large company reacted by creating a new and different response to an old and common problem of disaster relief.
I guarantee that Ondoy is a game- changer that will create many other positive unintended consequences.
PSE stock-market information and technical-analysis tools were provided by CitisecOnline.com Inc. E-mail comments to mangun@email.com.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Victims turned volunteers pouring in Malacanang Sagip Bayan Relief Center
http://www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001799&Itemid=2
Thirty (30) typhoon Ondoy victims who were earlier relief recipients of Malacanang's Operation Sagip Bayan Center poured in today to help in the packing of goods at the Kalayaan Hall upon hearing over radio and television that more volunteers are needed to repack donations
Earlier, the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) through Secretary Hermogenes Esperon appealed for more volunteers when relief goods from donors continuously poured in since yesterday.
The newly-arrived thirty new volunteers will replace those who have been helping at the Center since early this week. PMS officials said most of the volunteers who were recruited early this week after the aftermath of typhoon Ondoy were students who need to go back to school starting tomorrow.
PMS Assistant Secretary Willy Oca who was at the Center early this morning to sound out PMS Chief Esperon's call for more volunteers said it was heartening to see victims who were earlier recipients of relief goods from Malacanang's Sagip Bayan in Kalayaan turning in to become volunteers.
The thirty newly arrived volunteers are from Barangay 845 of Pandacan, Manila. They were the first batch of relief good recipients when the Center opened last Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
Virginia Rotao, 58 years old, of 1933 Sampaguita St., Bgy. 845, Pandacan, Manila, said she volunteered to help victims like her.
"Nung narining namin na kailangan ng mga volunteers para mag-repack ng mga relief goods ay nagpunta kami dito para matulungan naman iyong mga iba," says Rotao.
She said her presence at the Center is not only in gratitude for the help she earlier received from the Sagip Bayan operations but it is common for Filipinos to help one another in time of crisis.
Aside from the thirty volunteers from Pandacan, Manila, a group from the Young Pinoy organization - Smokey Mountain Chapter from the first district of Tondo, also arrived early morning to volunteer.
According to them they are volunteering to be able to share in the helping hand being offered by the Malacanang Sagip Bayan operations to typhoon Ondoy victims.
The Malacañang Sagip Bayan Relief Operations Center was established by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday night, September 29, 2009, to give immediate help to victims of typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila.
The 24-hour Center repacks relief goods and distributes these to the different evacuation centers located in the metropolis.
Aside from the Center, President Arroyo has also transformed part of Mabini Hall and the Ceremonial Hall into an evacuation center. (PND)
Sunday, 4 October 2009
US GIs wonder Filipinos still smiling
Beverly T. Natividad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091003-228116/US-GIs-wonder-Filipinos-still-smiling
MANILA, Philippines – A team of American soldiers got a first-hand look at the devastation wrought by tropical storm “Ondoy” – and ended up wondering how Filipinos could still smile and give them “high-fives” amid a terrible calamity.
At least 27 members of the 3rd US Marine Expeditionary Force, composed of doctors, nurses, medical aides and a chaplain, the other day conducted a medical and dental mission at Nangka Elementary School, which sheltered thousands displaced by the massive floods in Marikina City.
“We’ve seen things here [in terms of the destruction] that we haven’t seen before. This is really the least we can do. We wish we could stay longer,” said Lt. Commander Todd Endicott, the mission’s leader.
Endicott also shared one interesting observation: “We all wonder how [Filipinos] keep smiling through all this.”
“Americans probably wouldn’t handle this as well. Here, people are smiling, saying ‘Hi’ to us, giving us high-fives. This is a pretty miserable situation, how people keep smiling, I don’t know. It’s probably a testament to the culture,” Endicott said.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr., AFP spokesman, said the US mission was the first in a series that the group would conduct in the next few days in Eastern Metro Manila, one of the areas hit hardest by storm.
Wading through mud
Wading through the mud, the GIs and their counterparts from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also distributed medicines and clothes.
Hunched in small chairs meant for schoolchildren, US troopers made do with the few tables and chairs available.
They treated mostly the wounded – those who fled the floods barefoot amid the debris – as well as evacuees suffering from colds and cough.
American troopers who took part in the mission were supposed to undergo training north of the country, Endicott said, “but we were told that there’s flooding, destruction and displaced people here so we sprang into action.”
To help clean up
Two more US military units – 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, both stationed in Okinawa, Japan – are expected to ship heavy equipment to help in the cleanup of the disaster areas in the next few days.
These would include a bulldozer, five cargo trucks, five heavy transport vehicles and two heavy-lift helicopters.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
What is the government doing in the short, medium and long term?
Media Interview by Mr Paolo Romero of Philippine Star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCxD5oZ0BRc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6vV7Yz0Wdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGTvRiUPanY
PGMA visits evacuees at Rizal Hall (Malacañang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FiHTwSBT54&feature=channel_page
REITs coming to Philippines; developers optimistic
ABS-CBNNews
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/10/03/09/reits-coming-philippines-developers-optimistic
MANILA - Philippine property developers are optimistic the local take up of real estate investment trusts (REITs) would be robust, allowing more funds to flow to the sector once the law takes effect late this year or early next year.
The Philippine Congress ratified the bill creating the legal and regulatory framework for REITs this week. It is now awaiting the signature of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Implementing rules and regulations should be out 90 days after the president signs the bill into law.
"It should be good for the industry and the Philippine capital market in general and ultimately the economy," Jaime Ysmael, Ayala Land chief finance officer, told Reuters.
"Hopefully, it will spur a lot of economic activity given the liquidity (it will attract) and that will allow developers to pursue more projects," Ysmael said.
REITs have been widely adopted in the United States, Australia and more recently Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
As of June 2009, the market capitalisation of REITs in Asia stood at $55.86 billion dollars, with Japan accounting for the biggest share, data from the European Public Real Estate Association showed.
"We have to wait for the implementing rules first but I am sure that property companies will take advantage of this legislation if and when market conditions (become) attractive," Frederick Go, president of Robinsons Land Corp, told a press conference on Wednesday.
Bayanihan 2.0: Ondoy floods the Net
Ed Biado
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideLifestyle.htm?f=2009/october/2/lifestyle1.isx&d=/2009/october/2
As of Tuesday (Sept. 29), Bibs Figueroa’s Facebook status update reads, “Please clear Facebook walls of unnecessary status messages and quiz results. Facebook is now being used for faster dissemination of rescue calls, updates and other important information [regarding] Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy.”
It may be a repost of someone else’s update, as many cause-related updates are, but it cannot be any truer. My Facebook news feed is usually filled with my friends’ Mafia Wars and Farmville notifications. But when we started to feel the fury of tropical storm Ondoy, it transformed into a round-the-clock news channel and resource center.
We, Filipinos, have turned to the Web in executing our distinct collective concept of heroism, bayanihan. It’s an epic collaborative mass action, on- and offline, in the midst of a calamity of epic proportions.
By Sunday (Sept. 27) afternoon, as floods in certain areas were subsiding, more Ondoy communications flooded Facebook. It became a virtual real-time community-driven disaster response control hub for victims and volunteers alike. It was a gushing river of pleas for help, missing person calls, messages of hope, hotline numbers and relief mobilization schedules.
Popular messages include variations of a request for all Filipino Facebook users (an estimated 1.6 million) to donate a hundred pesos each in aid of the rescue operations. Others are updates on ongoing citizen brigades, request for participation, evacuation center availability, reports on donation and pledge amounts, bank account numbers where donations can be deposited and individual efforts that are equally significant.
Pictures that show muddy interiors, one-story high floods and wrecked vehicles are also posted as part of the Ondoy coverage by citizen journalists (videos, on the other hand, are posted both at Facebook and YouTube). Even shots of celebrities, like Gerald Anderson swimming around his village to check on his neighbors, are circulated by impressed Facebookers to applaud their bravery.
Users with mobile network problems have been using Facebook as the primary means of communication. Those trapped on rooftops whose phones were able to get a signal contacted their relatives and friends, who, in turn, sought rescue help via their Facebook statuses.
Some have been spending hours and hours on the site, acting as “switchboard controllers” and “dispatchers” and liaising between victims and authorities/volunteer groups. These people have been tirelessly collating information and organizing them on spreadsheets and maps on an especially-made Google landing site and pictographs for others to easily refer to.
Messages about the storm have also flooded micro-blogging site Twitter—enough for “Philippines” to be a top trending topic for four days in a row, as of this writing. Along the way, “NDCC,” “Ondoy,” “CHED” and other related keywords have also trended.
This has gone as far as Hollywood, with Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Alyssa Milano, Ricky Martin, Paris Hilton and Pete Wenz all expressing their sympathy and calls to aid affected Filipinos, re-tweeting links to either the American or Philippine Red Cross and petitioning the former to extend assistance to the latter.
Josh Groban wrote, “The situation in the Philippines is dire. This is a good way to help,” and posted a link as well. Paulo Coelho shared his sentiments, at the same time, urging the PRC to open a PayPal account for quicker donation transmittal.
Many lives have potentially been spared and many worries have been eased by these seemingly innocuous status updates and tweets. People who posted traffic and flood conditions were able to aid commuters in deciding on alternative routes. Those stranded were able to let all their loved ones (including the ones abroad) know their whereabouts and state. The interactive maps proved critical in the process, as their real-time updates on victims helped in organizing tactical, well-coordinated rescue operations.
Three days after the onslaught of the storm, there is still a continuous flow of Facebook updates and tweets about drop-off points for donations and volunteers.
And for those who are still awaiting rescue, Jessica Gutierrez posted on Tuesday, “Mr. Angelo Olondriz manufactures rubber boats and speedboats. Anyone still stranded on their roofs in Marikina or Cainta, please text 0917-540-8921 with details—names, address, ages and current situation. They will be sending out their teams to the ‘un-rescued.’ Please repost. Thanks.”
PGMA fast tracks NCR’s clearing operations
http://www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001788&Itemid=1
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fast tracked clearing operations, especially in Metro Manila, as well as the identification of possible relocation sites for displaced victims to restore normalcy in areas devastated by typhoon “Ondoy.”
At the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) meeting this morning, the President stressed the need to relocate riverbank settlers to safer grounds to avoid further loss of lives and properties in future disasters.
“Riverbanks settlers should not go back, (to their former homes)” she stressed as she asked Vice President Noli de Castro to look for possible relocation sites.
De Castro said 100,000 units could be built on a former Manila Bank property in San Miguel, Bulacan and some 281 hectares could be set aside for agri-livelihood projects for relocated typhoon victims.
De Castro, who is concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said the site is 65 kilometers from Manila and could be developed as a permanent relocation site.
Other recommended sites are the Southville in Binan, Laguna where 750 units are already available; Towerville in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan with 650 units; service lots in San Jose del Monte;1,800 lots and 20,312 hectares in the Lungsod Silangan property.
The government also plans to offer a “Balik Probinsiya” program for victims of typhoon “Ondoy” who wish to go back to their home provinces.
The program offers each family the equivalent of 60 days of minimum wage or P22,920 per family to start life anew in the provinces. (PND)
Friday, 2 October 2009
Only in the Philippines: Cebu inmates skip meal to help Manila flood victims
By Dale G. Israel, Reporter
Cebu Daily News
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20090930-227640/Mandaue_inmates_skip_meal_to_help_Manila_flood_victims
Even prisoners in Mandaue City are going out of their way to help flood victims of Metro Manila.
More than 600 inmates volunteered to forego one meal today and donate their rations.
The skipped meal will translate to four sacks of rice and several canned goods.
The idea started with the jail’s 45-member staff, who decided to skip in-house birthday celebrations for October and donate the budget to typhoon victims, said Supt. Simeon Dolojo, the jail warden and an October celebrant.
Then leaders of inmates followed the cue and agreed to skip one meal today.
“Mas grabe ang nahitabo nga kalisod sa Manila kaysa sa amoa, mao nga mas maayong muhatag mi (The difficulties happening in Manila are far worse than ours here, so it would be better for us to give),” said Pepito Togade, 36, leader of inmates in the Annex Building of the city jail.
The mayores or section leaders – Cherry Mendoza, 39, of the Female Dormitory, and Willy Loberanes, 49, of the Solid Building section – spread the word, and the whole prison population eventually agreed.
Lobaranes said the inmates wanted to return the favor to the public when the jail received help during an outbreak of the Influenza A subtype H1N1 virus among the prisoners.
“We received a lot of help when H1N1 struck us. This is our way of giving back,” Loberanes said in Cebuano.
Most inmates in the city jail are male, with 54 women in the Female Dormitory.
“I salute our inmates for their good gesture,“ said Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes.
“For me, this will create ripples of joy and kindness. In good times and in bad times, we are all brothers and sisters.”
Also, the Mandaue City government is donating P1 million for relief efforts in Manila.
During the City Council’s regular session yesterday, a resolution was passed authorizing Cortes to tap P1 million from the city’s calamity funds as a donation to Manila.
The donation will be coursed to the Office of the President through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
“I was touched when the warden called me up. It was a beautiful project,” said Chief Supt. Doris Dorigo, director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas (BJMP-7), in Tagalog.
“We can see how difficult it is for them, yet still they were quick to help.”
Dorigo visited the jail yesterday to award some jail personnel.
Inspired by the inmates’ action, Dorigo said she would require all BJMP-7 personnel to skip one meal every seven days so that the resources could be donated to flood victims.
Can’t get any better than this: Home at the Palace
TJ Burgonio, Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091002-227961/Cant-get-any-better-than-this-Home-at-the-Palace
MANILA, Philippines — Impoverished families displaced by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) are living a dream in the Palace.
Having fled their homes in the flood- and fire-ravaged Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City, they now find themselves bedding down in Malacañang’s carpeted Ceremonial Hall and being plied with meals and snacks, new clothes, even toiletries.
“This is like a dream for us. We are very lucky,” housewife Evelyn Oclarit, 33, told the Inquirer Thursday as she looked around the ballroom-size hall where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hosts formal dinners for state leaders.
On the other side of town in Marikina City, 6,000 people are packed into Nangka Elementary School and making do with desks, tables and pieces of cardboard for beds.
Those who saw the Inquirer writing down the names of interviewees asked that their names also be listed, thinking it was a survey of those who had lost their homes.
Ignoring the efforts of US servicemen on a mercy mission to organize an orderly distribution of relief goods, children and adults alike scrambled to get hold of the clothes and shoes being handed out.
Others were able to get medicines for fever, fungal infections, and cough and cold.
Elsewhere in the yard, many of the evacuees took advantage of the water provided by a fire truck to take a bath.
City workers and firemen trained a water hose on the thick mud, to no avail.
The stairs were so slippery with mud that, an evacuee said, a pregnant woman fell and had to be taken to a hospital.
Under chandeliers
But in Malacañang, the Oclarits and five other families who left the teeming crowd of evacuees at Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School in Quezon City’s Barangay Tatalon not only soaked in comfort and cheer but also enjoyed a free tour of the President’s official residence.
They spread fresh mats on the carpeted floor under three huge chandeliers, and savored the silence in the hall that looks out to the swollen Pasig River.
“There’s a lot of room for the children to play. This is a far cry from the cramped home that we’re renting,” said Evelyn Oclarit, a mother of four, including a 3-week-old baby girl.
Meters away at the Mabini Hall, provisions continued to arrive for 17 other displaced families from Tatalon who started occupying the building’s first two floors at midnight on Tuesday.
Apart from catered food, snacks, medicines, infant formula and toiletries, the evacuees were provided new clothes and pillows by the Office of the President.
“They give us food every now and then,” said Janet Macabudbud, 30, also a mother of four.
“We have more than what we need,” she said, pointing to packs of biscuits waiting to be opened.
Keeping them occupied
The evacuees at the Palace have been subjected to stress debriefing as well as livelihood orientation. Their children are busy with activities, like games and poster-making, supervised by social workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“We have to keep them occupied,” psychologist Donna Marie Arcaya said.
A mass baptism is being planned for seven children of the displaced families, according to the social workers.
A guided tour for all the evacuees is also being mulled, but Secretary Hermogenes Esperon of the Presidential Management Staff said: “We will have to do that later.”
Officials could not say how long the evacuees would stay in Malacañang.
Student volunteers
Kalayaan Hall continued to bustle with student volunteers stuffing food items into plastic bags, unloading goods, and inputting data into computers.
Even Heroes’ Hall just below the Ceremonial Hall has been converted into a repacking center of relief goods for distribution to evacuation centers.
“We’ve serviced 27,500 families,” Esperon said at a briefing, admitting later that certain flood victims had yet to receive assistance.
Earlier in the day, Malacañang deployed student volunteers aboard fire trucks to evacuation centers in Metro Manila to help clean up and distribute relief goods.
‘Everything’s gone’
The people squeezed in Nangka Elementary School were mostly families living in a settlement area called Balubag whose homes were damaged or washed away by the flood, according to principal Rosario Diaz.
Among them was Liza Gabanes, 38, who has been staying in the school since Saturday, when “Ondoy” struck.
“I don’t have a house. There’s no water. There’s nothing to wear. Everything’s gone. How can we still prepare for the coming typhoon?” Gabanes said in reference to Typhoon “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma).
Ana Dayawon, a 34-year-old mother of two, said her family was “used” to typhoons and would just “take care.”
Other evacuees said that while they had heard that two typhoons were poised to strike, no one from the city government or the military—who was overseeing the relief efforts at the evacuation center—had briefed them on what to do.
They said they had also heard that they would be moved on Friday to a “tent city” near the Marikina City Hall.
Jasmin Evans said she was worried that strong winds might blow the tents away.
But Elena Flores, 60, and her daughter Rosita Labayo said that at least the food ration was coming regularly.
Additional funds
On the phone with the Inquirer, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the DSWD was “speeding up the repacking and prepositioning of relief goods in regional offices wherever the [new] typhoon would hit.”
Cabral said the DSWD had a sufficient supply of relief goods but that she had asked the Department of Budget and Management for P100 million to augment her department’s depleted calamity fund.
She said that from P50 million, the DSWD’s calamity fund was now down to P24 million.
She added that Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya had assured her that the money would be immediately available.
Col. Daniel Lucero, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for civil military operations, said all Army offices in Metro Manila would remain “shut down” and manned by a skeleton staff because most of the officers and soldiers were busy helping in relief operations.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
From calamity, the Philippines rises again in solidarity
MABUHAY ANG PILIPINO! MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vilS0evbTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtyoPp7z9Ec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7D0C1yYak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iwvcq5JyLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWNM8bBOfNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB2qda3nXck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBlI-92qiIY
Hundreds of evacuees now call Palace ‘second home’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcYwygloMqw
By CHARISSA M. LUCI , MADEL SABATER
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/222663/hundreds-evacuees-now-call-palace-second-home
Empty-handed and penniless, hundreds of evacuees Wednesday flocked to Malacañang Palace and sought refuge after heavy floods and a fire struck their homes in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City.
“This is our second home,” said Janet Macabudbod who, along with her four children, was relocated to Malacañang’s Mabini Hall after their house was razed by fire amid the heavy rains and floods on Saturday.
There are now 17 families, including the Macabudbods, currently staying at Mabini Hall, with 350 people more expected to arrive at the Palace grounds, 50 of whom will stay at the Ceremonial Hall and the rest at Mabini Hall.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said they plan to open another building, the Tahanan ng Masa, for more displaced families.
Presidential Managament Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who is heading the National Relief Operations Center, said they will also be using the Palace grounds to set up tents to accommodate up to 500 evacuees.
“We are now addressing the overflow of evacuees and around 100 families would be housed in Mabini Hall,” he said in a briefing.
He also took opportunity to appeal to private companies and individuals to donate more canned goods and water that are running out of supply.
Esperon said the President also instructed to put another receiving counter for donations which is manned by presidential daughter Evangelina Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo Bernas and other female members of the First Family.
Meanwhile, more expressions of condolences and sympathies poured in Wednesday for the victims of tropical storm Ondoy, including Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
“I was saddened to hear of the devastation and tragic loss of life caused by the flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon. Please accept my condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all those affected at this difficult time,” the Queen said in a letter to President Arroyo.
Likewise, South African president Jacob Zuma and German president Horst Köhler conveyed their condolences to the typhoon victims, with Germany providing 500,000 euros in emergency relief assistance.
The French government earlier provided 10,000 euros or approximately P700,000 in immediate relief assistance Tuesday.
The European Commission (EC) has given a separate assistance worth 2 million euros or approximately P140 million.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso also dispatched an expert team to assess the humanitarian needs of the victims of the storm.
China meanwhile provided an additional US$100,000 in humanitarian assistance in a ceremony at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Wednesday afternoon. The assistance from China now totals US$140,000 after it initially donated US$10,000 to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) Sunday and Chinese telecom giant Huawei technologies Philippines, Inc. donating US$30,000 cash.
The government of Japan also turned over 20 million yen to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The turnover was made by Japanese Charge d’ Affaires Hidenobu Sobashima. The assistance includes 1,500 sleeping water tanks, 1,500 polyester tanks, and 15 units of water purifiers.
The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has donated P6,908,330 worth of supplies for the typhoon victims.
VISIT TO RODRIGUEZ, RIZAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-bJuRDIjI
Bright sunshine after the storm
John Mangun
Outside the Box
Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/16720-bright-sunshine-after-the-storm.html
There is no question that it is different this time.
There have been greater disasters in the Philippines. Even greater floods.
Remember the 6,000 people killed and missing in the 1991 flood in Ormoc? It is not just that Ormoc was a million miles away from the consciousness of most people in Metro Manila. In 1990, we all felt the earthquake that hit Baguio City and killed 1,700. We were supremely aware of the terror that the people felt nearest to the epicenter.
Mount Pinatubo’s ash cloud forced all of us living here in the National Capital Region to shovel out after the 1991 eruption that killed 700.
I can remember experiencing a much worse storm than Ondoy: Typhoon Ruby or Unsang in 1988. Seventy-five percent of the Philippines’ rice and sugar crops were destroyed and more than 750,000 Filipinos were left without homes, with more than 500 killed. Less than two weeks later, while we were still cleaning up from Unsang, Typhoon Skip, Yoning, hit with more than 200 dead.
Obviously, that was before there was any really bad weather due to “climate change/global warming” and the Earth was a paradise. Back then we just called it a really bad typhoon season. And that was just a few years after the “experts” in the late ’70s were telling us that the earth was headed for “global cooling” and a new ice age.
I seem to remember that about the same time, the local tabloids were talking about a woman in Bulacan that had given birth to a mudfish, too.
But it is different this time.
Last weekend’s flood affected the high and mighty and the lowly and “insignificant.” All in Metro Manila were helpless. The pictures of expensive SUVs and Mercedes being tossed around like beach balls in the floodwaters were no less dramatic than shanties being ripped away by the same raging waters. And in the aftermath, the bayanihan (volunteerism) spirit rose and is growing stronger with each passing day.
Individuals who thought their obligations to society ended with a few peso coins or a piece of pan de sal for a street child are now picking up relief goods, packing boxes and distributing those supplies in areas they have only seen in television news stories. I find it wonderful and amazing to see the unselfishness that so many thousands are displaying in the wake of this calamity. It is refreshing and uplifting.
But the world is still spinning and there are other topics to discuss.
Thoughts are turning to the effects of Ondoy on the economy. The first analysis out of the box is that economic growth is going to be hampered by the loss of productivity due to the storm and flooding.
I am not so sure about that. Yes, it is certainly true that the government budget situation is going to be messy, as public funds are being spent to clean up and provide assistance to those most severely affected. Yet among the more affluent that can afford it, there is going to be a lot of buying and rebuilding that will have something of a positive effect on middle-class consumer spending.
The question is if funds will be diverted from normal holiday spending to replace that television or computer or furniture damaged by the flooding.
I am thinking that perhaps this disaster may have a positive effect on the economy.
It is probably because I am a “Tiger” and 2010 is the Year of the Tiger; natural optimism and all that. But Ondoy might just mark the dramatic end to 18 months of economic turmoil and confusion for the Philippines.
I know that nobody believed me last year when I said oil prices were going to plummet. And again this year, in April, when I said that the stock market was going up and the index was at 2,000, that prediction seemed improbable.
There is one kind of “climate change” that I do believe in: economic climate change. And the Philippines is heading for a much brighter economic climate.
Events are moving very rapidly to a major collapse in the value of the dollar. China is unloading its dollar holdings at breakneck speed. Just in the last few days, the Chinese have invested $2.5 billion in an energy project, invested $4 billion in high-speed railroad equipment, and invested $2 billion in US high-risk funds. They are dumping dollars just as fast as they can.
Dollars are now less than 50 percent of the foreign-currency reserves. Before the middle of November, we are going to see a very substantial, perhaps as much as a worst-case scenario drop of 10 percent in the value of the greenback.
The reduction in the purchasing power of remitted funds is going to be more than offset by a decrease in the price of all imported goods as the peso goes up. The value of our mineral resources is going to increase by 10 percent to 15 percent over the next year. We are going see a major change in commodity prices, which will be beneficial to the country.
I was very wrong in my early-2009 prediction on sugar prices due to a supply problem, and higher sugar prices are good for the agricultural sector. Oil is ready to fall again as a dropping dollar will dampen speculation of a US economic rebound. Prices of building materials will fall also as speculation of a US recovery disappears.
The sun always seems to shine brightest after a big storm. It will not be an exception this time.
PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by CitisecOnline.com Inc. E-mail comments to mangun@email.com.
Philippine Peso to ‘Catch Up,’ Rise 3%, Standard Chartered Says
By Clarissa Batino
Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ahbuFijMk8MQ
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Philippine peso will gain 3 percent by the end of March as economic growth accelerates amid increased spending and because the central bank will refrain from raising interest rates, Standard Chartered Plc said.
The $167 billion Southeast Asian nation’s economy will expand 1.5 percent this year and 3.3 percent in 2010, the U.K. bank predicted in a research note today, raising previous forecasts of 0.7 percent and 2.7 percent. Rising remittances from 9 million Filipinos overseas and foreign investment in stocks will boost the external balance of payments surplus and support peso appreciation, according to Standard Chartered.
“The peso will outperform currencies of major trading partners like the U.S., Japan, Europe and China in the next three to six months,” Thomas Harr, a Singapore-based currency strategist at the bank, said in an interview.
Capital outflows that have restrained gains in the peso this year will return, Standard Chartered said, expecting the currency to “gradually catch up” with strength in other Asian exchange rates such as those of the South Korean won and Indonesian rupiah.
The currency, which traded at 47.395 per dollar as of 2:10 p.m. in Manila, will climb 0.8 percent to 47 by year-end and rise to 46 by March 31, Standard Chartered forecast. The peso appreciated 1.6 percent this quarter, lagging behind an 8 percent gain in the won and 5.6 percent for the rupiah, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Downgrade Unlikely
Standard Chartered says the Philippines is unlikely to face a credit-rating downgrade because of a widening budget deficit as the increase in spending will support economic growth ahead of elections scheduled for May 2010.
The bank kept its budget deficit forecast for 2009 at 320 billion pesos ($6.8 billion) as the rebuilding following Tropical Storm Ketsana will require additional spending. The government projects a record shortfall of 250 billion pesos.
“Even with the higher deficit, the Philippines does not face a near-term risk of a rating downgrade,” Harr said. “Investors are not yet focused on next year’s elections,” muting political risks, he said.
The central bank, which meets on monetary policy tomorrow, will keep its overnight borrowing rate at a record low of 4 percent and hold it there for 2009 and 2010, Harr wrote.
“We expect the Philippine economy to recover over the next two years,” according to the note that Harr co-wrote with economist Simon Wong. “Remittances tend to pick up in the fourth quarter, ahead of Christmas.”
Standard Chartered raised its short-term rating on the peso to “overweight” from “neutral.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net.
Philippine peso seen fundamentally attractive against Indian rupee
Erik de la Cruz
Business Mirror
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/banking-a-finance/16590-philippine-peso-seen-fundamentally-attractive-against-indian-rupee.html
INDIA’S economy may have shown more resilience than the Philippines’ in a recessionary environment, but the peso is considered more fundamentally attractive than the rupee, according to DBS Bank.
In its Asian Currency Research report dated September 24, the biggest bank in Southeast Asia said the Philippine peso in three of the past four years had appreciated against the Indian rupee during the fourth quarter.
It expects the trend to continue this year.
DBS currency strategist Philip Wee pointed to the Philippines’ current-account surplus to explain this behavior of the peso relative to the performance of the currency of its key rival in terms of attracting investments into the booming business-process outsourcing sector.
As India incurred record trade deficits, he said the country had also slipped into the red on its overall current account. The Philippines, on the other hand, recorded current-account surpluses as it has turned itself into an important outsourcing center and attracted investments, he said.
Wee also noted the contribution of money remitted by Filipinos abroad—who account for a tenth of the population of about 90 million—to the country’s current-account surplus.
“The negative savings-investment gap in India has resulted from the government’s pro-growth policy that relied heavily on investment and industry [from 2005],” he said. “In turn, this led to record trade deficits and pushed the current-account overall into deficit.”
Viewed as a negative savings-investment gap, India’s current account deficit is also consistent with its banks having more loans than deposits, he said.
And to continue pursuing its pro-growth strategy led by investment and industry, he said India will need to increase external borrowings to compensate the shortfall in domestic savings.
“Herein lies one important difference between India and the Philippines,” Wee said. “When both countries were achieving high growth rates before the global crisis, India’s external debt was rising and catching up with its foreign reserves, while foreign reserves were rising and closing its gap with external debt in the Philippines.”
Clearly, he pointed out, the Philippines has a stronger international liquidity position than India.
While both countries avoided recession during the global crisis, the Indian economy was more resilient than the Philippines, with the latter’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanding only by 0.6 percent in the first quarter against India’s 5.8 percent.
But Wee said India’s “resilience” is not without cost as its growth was underpinned by a surge in fiscal spending ahead of the general elections in May this year.
“While India is expected to grow faster than the Philippines, this growth will prove temporary in the short run and less stable in the longer run because of the accompanying deterioration in the country’s fiscal finances and its persistently high inflation,” he said.
The Philippines is also seen facing fiscal troubles amid weak revenue and the urgent need to spend heavily to support economic growth, but Wee believes India’s finances are worse.
He said the Philippines has a more manageable budget gap of 2.7 percent of GDP in the second quarter of this year than India’s 7.3 percent.
Wee also noted that unlike many parts of the world after the global crisis, consumer inflation continued to head up instead of down in India, with the July headline annual figure at 11.9 percent, the highest level since 1998.
In contrast, inflation in the Philippines collapsed to 0.1 percent in August from a high of 12.4 percent a year earlier.
The economist also expects India’s central bank to hike interest rates in the first quarter of 2010, before the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas likely makes a similar move in the third quarter.
“In three of the past four years, the Philippine peso has appreciated against the Indian rupee in the fourth quarter,” he said, with gains in 2008, 2007 and 2005 of 8.8 percent, 4.4 percent and 8.1 percent respectively.
The 1.5-percent loss suffered by the peso in the fourth quarter of 2006, he said, was small by comparison.
In earlier years, from 2002 to 2004, he noted the rupee was consistently stronger against the peso in the final three months of the year.
“This year, we look for PHP/INR to break out of its four-month range of 0.99 to 1.02 and to move toward its May high of 1.0563. Hitting the March high of 1.0754 will be a bonus,” Wee said.
East area to have completely restored water supply
Jose Bimbo F. Santos
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100109/content.php?id=076
MANILA WATER Co., east zone concessionaire which covers many flooded areas, yesterday said it is targeting to completely restore supply by midnight today.
"By midnight [today], we might be able to get back on our feet completely," Rene D. Almendras, Manila Water president, said in a press conference.
From the initial 46,300 affected residents tallied on Sunday in the aftermath of tropical storm Ondoy, the Ayala-led utility said the number was trimmed to 38,000 as of noon yesterday.
Mr. Almendras said eight pumping stations were rendered useless by the flood brought about by tropical storm Ondoy and restoration work is under way.
But more than the repair of pumping stations, Mr. Almendras said that the sheer volume of demand "has increased significantly" following the clean-up operations after the typhoon, and this prevented water from reaching certain locations.
Average peak consumption recorded is at 1,300 million liters per day (MLD). After typhoon Ondoy, peak consumption hit 1,800 MLD. Manila Water’s full production capacity is 1,600 MLD.
Initial affected areas were Rodriguez, San Mateo, Cainta, Angono and Binangonan in Rizal province, while parts of Marikina City also experienced service interruption due to higher consumption.
Assuaging fears, Manila Water denied that its supply has been contaminated as reported in chlorine-level studies after the storm. "Our water is potable," Mr. Almendras said.
He also debunked claimed that an aggravating factor behind the floods in Metro Manila was due the water released from La Mesa dam in Quezon City, which is a common purpose facility by Manila Water and west concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc.
"La Mesa dam does not have a gate that you can open and suddenly release a huge volume of water. It is called a spillway, there is a certain level where if the water reaches that it starts spilling. It doesn’t spill huge amounts," Mr. Almendras said.
For his part, Noelito S. Abesamis, senior manager of regulation and corporate development group, said the dam’s spillway goes through the Tullahan river, opposite that of flood-hit areas in the east like Marikina, Pasig and Cainta.
Meanwhile, Maynilad Water Services said in a statement yesterday that its supply "is potable and in full compliance with the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water."
"We are closely coordinating with the local health officials... to ensure the safety of our customers, and we have not received any reports or complaints regarding the quality of our water," the company said.
The utility also said that its system is "95% back to normal [and will] restore supply [to affected areas] at the soonest time possible."
SM to open 35th mall in Las Piñas
K. J. R. Liu
BusinessWorld
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100109/content.php?id=044
THE COUNTRY’S dominant mall operator SM Prime Holdings, Inc. will open its new mall in Las Piñas today as Filipinos still remain avid mallgoers despite the economic slowdown.
SM Center Las Piñas, located on the Alabang-Zapote Road in Barangay Talon, Pamplona, will become the company’s 35th shopping mall in the country and will have a gross floor area (GFA) of 32,387 square meters (sq. m.).
It is also SM Prime’s second mall in the city after SM City Southmall. Among the anchor tenants are SM Hypermarket, Ace Hardware, Watsons, and Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc.
Other tenants include Jollibee, Savory Chicken, The Old Spaghetti House, and Inasal Chicken Bacolod, among others.
The new mall has a parking lot that can accommodate over 500 vehicles and a terminal for public utility vehicles.
"With its vibrant economy, and eco-friendly environment. Las Piñas provides a good venue for SM malls as we see a huge potential for growth and progress in the city," SM Prime President Hans T. Sy said.
SM Center Las Piñas brings to 35 the total number of SM Prime malls all over the country, with a combined GFA of 4.4 million sq. m.
It is the second SM mall to be opened this year after SM City Naga in Camarines Sur, which was inaugurated last May.
Aside from SM Center Las Piñas, the company has also completed expansion projects at the Sky Garden in SM City North Edsa, the SM City Fairview Annex, and the extension of SM City Rosales in Pangasinan.
Before the year ends, SM Prime will open SM City Rosario in Cavite.
Profits of the company rose by 8% to P3.4 billion from January to June, driven mostly by the opening of new malls last year.
Meanwhile, SM Prime Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey C. Lim expressed optimism that the SM Sta. Mesa supermarket would be open again to the public before the week ends after being affected significantly by tropical storm Ondoy.
"If everything will be up and done, I expect it to open in a couple of days. That is what the people are trying to do — [make sure it opens before the week ends]," Mr. Lim said.
Mr. Lim said the estimated amount of damage would not be significant since the costs involved mostly cleaning dirt and fixing lights.
"It is not material in terms of amount because these are insured," he said.
"The land value will likewise not be affected because we will still continue to operate. We will not close the [SM mall in Marikina]," Mr. Lim said.
Some of SM’s supermarkets were affected by tropical storm Ondoy that hit the country last Saturday.
The storm forced the company to temporarily close six Savemore branches and the SM Supermarket in Sta. Mesa.
Shares in the company did not move at P10.50 apiece yesterday.
