If you sell anything worth P25 …

MANILA, Philippines—If you sell anything worth more than P25, better issue a receipt. Otherwise, you’d be the target of a forthcoming crackdown by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against so-called ‘informal’ merchants making up around 40 percent of the economy. Hard pressed to collect…

Market up on Bernanke statement to keep rates low

Share prices ended up yesterday due to Wall Street’s overnight gain on news that the US Fed would keep interest rates low to help the economy recover from the economic crisis.

Meralco says power demand back to pre-crisis level

Power sales in Manila Electric Co.’s franchise are back to pre-crisis levels, another indicator that the economy is on the way to recovery. Meralco president Jose de Jesus said there was a “sizeable”…

Heroes welcome awaits more than 300 OFWs at NAIA

By Conrado Ching 11/23/2009 The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) will give a heroes welcome to more than 300 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who will arrive today at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from the Middle East. “While pambasang kamao Manny Pacquiao gave us honor in sports, our workers from abroad help our economy improve through their dollar remittances,” MIAA spokesman Connie Bungag said. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Carmelita Dimzon will personally greet the arriving OFWs which is held every year…

Wishful thinking

MANILA, Philippines – Every time President Macapagal-Arroyo makes a performance report on her presidency, she always puts on top of her list the economic reforms she has put in place, like the expanded value-added tax. These measures may not have won her public approval, she would say, but they have pushed the economy to grow at record pace and, more recently, allowed it to avoid the global recession. And then she would repeat her favorite mantra: she would rather be right than popular.

Poverty’s the same after 26 years

THE SWS SEPTEMBER 2009 SURVEY FINDING that 53 percent of Filipino households call themselves mahirap (poor), released this week, indicates that there has been practically no progress in the fight against poverty in the last 26 years. The new poverty reading is from the 87th in a series of national surveys that started in April 1983, when the self-rating method was first applied nationwide, by the Development Academy of the Philippines.

Lopezes selling only half of Meralco stake

Most Read Business Ayala Land resumes sales push Pfizer-Unilab row reaches retail sector EO on oil price rollback toothless Japanese firm buys 34% stake of BDO in Mabuhay Vinyl Zambales property ready for development Lopezes selling only half of Meralco stake Economy said to have grown faster in 3Q RP tourism competitiveness slips five notches Not yet strategically significant Value down 15.2% as volume dipped 13.3% in Aug.

Choosing the wrong path to economic development

BACKBENCHER 10/24/2009 There are two stereotype approaches for states to financially sustain themselves. These approaches have often been classified as economic systems due to the standpoint on whether to control the means of production or to allow the private sector to run the economy

Civil society groups slam Asean for snub, gag at meet

By Gerry Baldo and Michaela P. del Callar 10/24/2009 Civil society groups have denounced leaders of states that are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for rejecting them and choosing their own representatives at the regional bloc’s summit in Bangkok on Thursday. Jenina Joy Chavez of the Focus on Global South said the representatives of civil society groups, including Sister Cresencia Lucero of the Philippines, were snubbed by the Philippine representative and other leaders of Asean while those who have been allowed to meet with government leaders were not allowed to speak at all to them.

Typhoons Hit Small Businesses in Philippines Hard

MANILA — The back-to-back typhoons that struck the Philippines in the past three weeks have devastated the country’s small entrepreneurs — the backbone of the economy — making recovery much more difficult.

Ethanol safe for vehicles, says WWF

MANILA, Philippines — The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thursday urged the public to patronize local ethanol products, stressing that these would help to usher the automobile industry and the economy into a cleaner and greener era. The WWF disputed claims that ethanol corrodes vehicle gas tanks, fuel injectors and carburetors, saying that all types of automotive gasoline have corrosive properties. ‘Ethanol in itself is…

Atienza: Green industries to benefit RP

09/01/2009 Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza yesterday underscored the importance of green industries not only in softening the impact of climate change, but also in generating jobs and incomes. “Increase jobs and incomes while slowing down climate change

RP could avoid recession—analysis

MANILA, Philippines—Many predicted a grim future for the export-dependent country as the global slump hit world trade, but recent data suggest it could avoid recession as the government remains defiant. The archipelago nation has talked up its resilience, while bodies such as The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) see the Asian nation’s economy contracting this year. They cite an expected downturn in remittances from Filipinos working abroad and a continuing fall in overseas shipments

Al Gore’s tax

By J.G. Azarcon ESQ.
Celebrity singer Sheryl Crow who is an avowed global warming activist says that the science on climate change is settled. That means that those who do not subscribe to Al Gore’s sermon must still believe that the earth is flat. Sheryl has an interesting prescription for reducing greenhouse gases. Save the trees [...]

RP has high income inequality

The Philippines must “work for the poor” as it works to grow the economy, World Bank Country Director Bert Hofman said during the launch of the Naga city Governance Institute recently. While economic growth in the past years “has been high,” Hofman said the Philippines continued to experience “relatively high income inequality. Growth alone is [...]

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