Philippines Presentation

Submitted by Quirino

$3-B investments in sewerage projects seen

The Philippines is set to get about $3 billion in investments in water sewerage projects alone and is keen on public-private partnership projects for new water sources besides Angat Dam. 

This was disclosed by Ramon Alikpala, chair of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, during the Japan External Trade Organization workshop on private-public partnership (PPP) projects organized in cooperation with the PPP Center. 

Metro Manila’s water services concessionaires Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. will invest the $3 billion under their current concession programs, Alikpala said. Asked whether the government would still consider developing the Laiban dam project in Rizal, for which San Miguel Corp. had submitted an unsolicited proposal, Alikpala said it was still one of the options but the scale might be different.

Link (submitted by Quirino)

BSP boosts microfinance lending

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has further eased its guidelines on microfinance lending to allow banks to disburse more funds in the countryside particularly for the agriculture and agrarian reform sectors. 

The central bank issued Circular 748 covering the new rules on the Micro-Agri Loans and liberalizing the initial Micro-Agri Circular 680. 

The new rules reiterate the possibility of using the microfinance technology and methodology to effectively deliver other types of financial services including credit for small farming activities.

Link (submitted by Quirino)

Gov't urged to settle open-pit mining ban

MANILA, Philippines - The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) is calling on the government to end the conflict between provincial ordinances banning open-pit mining which contradict national law and to grant the critical environmental permit for the Tampakan project so as not to discourage investments in the mining sector. 

The COMP said in a statement yesterday that the ban on open pit mining in the province of South Cotabato was publicly acknowledged by the government to be contrary to the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

Link (submitted by Quirino)

AirAsia finally cleared for take-off in Clark

MANILA, Philippines - It’s now all systems go for AirAsia Philippines, a company partly owned by businessman Antonio O. Cojuangco and port operator Michael Romero, whose maiden commercial flight could not push through earlier due to the absence of a critical government permit. 

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), after much delay, granted AirAsia Philippines its airline operating certificate (AOC) that would allow it to fly commercially out of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.

Link (submitted by Quirino)

US ups military presence in Philippines, Asia-Pacific

THE military and defense leadership have confirmed that there are moves to increase US military presence in the Philippines and in other parts of the Asia-Pacific to ensure peace and stability in the region in view of China’s stepped-up military build-up, particularly in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.

“Well, unang-una, totoo gusto ng kwan [United States] magkaroon ng presence dito sa region, kaya nga naglagay sila ng base sa Australia. Maglalagay din [sila] ng magdadaong ng barko sa Singapore [Well, it is true that the United States wants its presence felt in the region, that’s why they put up a base in Australia. They will also put ships that would dock in Singapore]” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Thursday.

Link (submitted by Quirino)

PH economy struggles amid crisis in major economies

MANILA — The Philippine economy struggled under the weight of weak public spending and the crises — financial and natural — in the world’s major economies, but has remained resilient in the first full year of the Aquino Administration, according to Iris C. Gonzales of thePhilippine Star.

Link (submitted by Quirino)