Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

They control electricity, they control water, they control telecommunications - and more recently - they now control roads - that's what you get for privatizing without liberalization - monopolies and vested interests in bed with government. Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), formerly First Philippine Infrastructure, Inc (FPII), is a Philippines-based holding company. The Company acts as a holding company for the shares of Benpres Holdings ... Full story

Asia's oldest airline pushes lobbyist levers to "protect" the industry from the open skies policy. The theme of the anti-open skies lobby is to appeal to nationalism - and to use the "infant industry" argument. Frankly, I find it hilarious that the same industry which brandishes "Asia's oldest airline" is the same Philippine industry which NEVER GREW up and worse, FAILED TO LAUNCH.... Full story

According to a study conducted by the Brussels-based Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), the Philippines is Mother Nature's top whipping boy, trumping all other nations on the planet in a "list of countries that are most vulnerable to disasters". That kind of contradicts the "blessed" place in the heart of the Almighty that we constantly imagine ourselves to be in ... Full story

The Philippine is a very predictable place to do business for monopolists. Have your 40% equity ready - and there will be a Filipino monopoly business  ready to match you with 60%. Filipinos who can only match 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%, 5% - you are out of luck. The lucky foreign investors who find the Filipinos who can match the foreign 40% with ... Full story

Talks of privatization is ripe in the air. Privatize MWSS. Privatize NAPOCOR. And more recently, Privatize PAGCOR to the tune of $10B. Is this to the advantage of the Filipino taxpayer? Or will this benefit Filipino monopoly businesses only? P.Noy Aquino is sending signals he is inclined to sell. * Aquino: Sale of ... Full story

The recent "compromise agreement" is another fry-in-your-own-lard deal being promoted by paid hacks as a "breakthrough deal". But who really is benefitting from the breakthrough? Definitely, not the farmers who are getting another bum deal. This is the sort of news that just enrages thinking people's sense of decency. HLI represents the hypocrisy, the phoniness, and the corruption of the Aquino administration. A ... Full story

The government urges creation of an infrastructure fund to help fund Public-Private Partnerships. Sec Purisima says "“We’re solid in our belief that we need to invite investors to our country. Investors need a fair return as payment for their capital and the risk they’re taking. We need to make sure that we simplify the processes.” One step in this direction, according to Purisima, was ... Full story

President Noynoy Aquino will be giving his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) soon. If his army of speechwriters will have their way, his speech will be all about giving people "hope". Hopefully, it will not be full of motherhood statements similar to his election platform and inauguration speech. Heaven forbid that Conrado de Quiros have his way in writing it lest ... Full story

Earlier this week Get Real Philippines raised the issue of pornography in the Philippines, which despite being illegal generates over a billion dollars (nearly 65 billion pesos at the current exchange rate) in annual income, making the local porn “industry” the eighth-largest in the world. To get some idea of ... Full story

How often do we hear about "evil" foreign employers as the justification for protectionism? I find that hard to believe because in general, when it comes to employee compensation and benefits - Filipino companies are worse than foreign companies. Note that there are companies with foreign-sounding names but whose owners are majority Filipino. Oftentimes, the foreign partners want compliance with rules and regulations - the ... Full story

A July 8, 2010 article filed by Roderick dela Cruz in the Manila Standard shows that the Philippines is among the "world’s most restrictive countries in allowing foreign capital into the economy". You can go through each item in the Constitution and the FINL and read it with a critical mind with the intention of identifying protectionism and how it affects our daily lives. Full story

Behind the game of soccer lies a complex web of interactions that deliver value from customer wants to product designers to manufacturing distribution and services. We can damn these interactions as exploitation and imperialism. Or we can understand how the game is played and see for ourselves whether it is indeed imperialism that's killing us - or our lack of understanding :oops:  of our ... Full story

At the time of this writing, millions of people around the world are obsessing about the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the noise of the annoying Vuvuzela horn. From every continent, people speaking almost every language, coming from practically every race, creed, and color are excitedly watching the game called “Association ... Full story

Word has it that when Noynoy Aquino was still a candidate, there was a group in his billionaire-backed campaign team that was assigned to handle international media relations. As a result, Aquino received positive coverage. That makes these two articles published by the Asian Wall Street Journal during Aquino's first two days in office all the more interesting to read. Full story

I've had it with listening to all this "walang mahirap kung walang corrupt" yarn. Allow me to explain in five steps with the aid of visuals why Noynoy Aquino, his team, and his supporters are wrong on corruption. I will cut to the chase and keep it simple. You be the judge as to who really, is making sense. ... Full story

Now that President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and his Cabinet have "hit the ground running", it is time to examine the focal point around which spin the complex of platitudes and promises delivered to us over much of Noynoy's presidential campaign -- Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap (translated literally: "If no corruption THEN no poverty"). A few of my colleagues here have already made an ... Full story

The Inquirer.net Editor, true to form, sheds rose-coloured light on the token frugality President-Elect Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III applies to the conduct of his inauguration at the end of June. This "virtue" is made stark by using the "evil" extravagance of out-going President Gloria Arroyo as a backdrop to heighten the contrast. This is the ... Full story

A buddy sent me an email about an interesting discussion on outsourcing. It asked the question "Is outsourcing exploitation?". It is not the first time to hear the question. I raised that question too as a young freelancer. As you know freelancing has a certain appeal to it. You are in complete control of your time, your finances - you are your own ... Full story

Turbulence, uncertainty, and volatility characterize the 21st century economy. There are many reasons for this increase - lifecycles of products and technologies have been reduced substantially and rapid product development by competition makes demand difficult to forecast. There is disorder, there is chaos resulting from marketing activities such as promotions and periodic incentives - or business rules that deal with procurement. Inefficient economics leads to high prices of fundamental commodities like cement. Philippine cement prices said to be among the highest in E. Asia And there's nothing that Kris, Jim, Boy, Dingdong can do about it, except maybe do a song and dance number? :lol: CEMENT PRICES in the Philippines are among the highest in East Asia, Board of Investments (BoI) data showed. The data were made public late on Friday, a week after the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) was unveiled with provisions granting incentives to new entrants into the cement industry which the state agency said would encourage competition and thus bring down prices. Cement here costs roughly $4.56 per 40-kilo bag as of January 2010, higher than the $3.63 average for nine countries in the region according to BoI estimates. Indonesia has the most expensive cement at $4.62 per bag, followed by the Philippines, whose average price is nearly the same as that in Japan. The three are trailed by Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and China. Among its Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines’ cement prices are two-thirds more than Vietnam’s, a fifth more than Malaysia’s, and roughly 40% higher than Thailand’s. BoI Managing Head Elmer C. Hernandez declined to comment on the figures. Earlier, however, the state agency published the 2010 IPP which now includes the grinding of imported clinker into cement as among the business activities qualified for incentives. The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines had opposed this move, saying it would disadvantage firms with big-ticket investments that produce their own clinker. Full story

What the 60 percent needs to know is the PLAN… THE GRAND PLAN FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT!!! Full story

Some people are very, very disappointing. I'm not just talking about Noynoy Aquino. I'm talking about some people who used to make a lot of sense and now they are talking non-sense. They have the nerve to tell other people to stop engaging in "reckless adventurism" whatever the heck that means because to them, engaging in such "may negate what fate and fortune has laid ... Full story

Faster than anyone could say “President-elect Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III”, numerous Noynoy-Mar supporters from the burgis class and Liberal Party supporters were shell-shocked to see Makati Mayor and VP-candidate Jejomar Binay consistently dominate the polls over Mar Roxas. While these same people were primed to think that Mar Roxas originally had a strong ... Full story

Understanding who the oligarchs are become more important as the Philippine nation searches for answers to its existential questions of poverty. It becomes more ironic that the Noynoy Aquino, a member of the very same oligarchy, presents himself as the answer to corruption. It is a ridiculous proposition given that the oligarchy itself is the mother vein, the ice berg, ... Full story

What exactly is it that we Filipinos do, as a society that we come up with dismal results. This is a question that has bugged us, keeps bugging us, and will keep on bugging us until we get our sh*t together. Will this election really improve the collective results generated by Da Pinoy? Maybe? Maybe ... Full story

Ang usapang ito ay nagsimula sa isang FB thread.  Ang mga nag-uusap ay dating mga tibak noong kanilang kabataan. Ngayon ay may kanya kanya na silang buhay at bihira nang mag-usap until Facebook came along. Si Manny ay nasa press, si Alpha ay isang agribiz entrepreneur, si Bravo ay nasa corporate, si Lima ay nasa provincial capitol. Note: Ang ... Full story

Ang usapang ito ay nagsimula sa isang FB thread.  Ang mga nag-uusap ay dating mga tibak noong kanilang kabataan. Ngayon ay may kanya kanya na silang buhay at bihira nang mag-usap until Facebook came along. Si Manny ay nasa press, si Alpha ay isang agribiz entrepreneur, si Bravo ay nasa corporate, si Lima ay nasa ... Full story

Wouldn't it be great if there was an election every year? The six year term given to the incumbent president is too long in my opinion. Just think about it. Every six years, the Philippines goes into fiesta mode during the campaign period and every politician switches into "sip-sip" gear in an effort to reach out ... Full story

While the Western masses are out to hold the elites accountable, the Philippine masses are out endorsing the no-good lazy scion of an oligarch family laden with vested interests. Life goes on outside the Philippine elections of 2010. In the aftermath of the recent recession, the US political elite is out to hold the financial and economic elite accountable. Whatever the outcome of ... Full story

The Washington Post has chimed in with an astute article about Philippine elections. It states what AP readers have no trouble dealing with - Filipino voters choices in the Philippine elections amount to nothing. Where are the yellow zombies and Carolla blowhards - mag-rally na kayo sa harap ng Washington Post!!! In Philippines, pre-vote ... Full story

Blogger Ben Kritz in his Four Principles for Improving the Philippine Economy highlights some key areas where the potentially hardest hitting solutions lie as far as our economic aspirations go. They point to aspects of our economic landscape where flawed thinking has for so many decades prevailed and where the interests of the handful of ... Full story

They say elections are won and lost over the state of the economy and the mind-set of wage earners. Since the Philippine economy has been in stagnation for the last three decades over several administrations, it can instead be said that elections in the country are won and lost over someone dying and the mind-set of ... Full story

AP would like to thank AP commenter boombox, for mentioning the book "Greed And Betrayal" by Cecilio Arilio. As the election draws closer, we really need to think seriously about allowing the same incompetent people of "Tita Cory" back into the Presidency come 2010. From that starting point, we read Qtbabe's ... Full story

Korea and the Philippines. Bow. Both were under the Japanese. Both were under the Americans. Both were "born" after World War II. South Korea was among Asia's weakest economies. The Philippines was "next to Japan" - by virtue of the American infrastructure and developments. Both had dictators - Park Chung Hee and Ferdinand Marcos were Ronald Reagan's ... Full story

Juan: I was googling "Philippines" and "mineral wealth"; such are the privileges of retirement, when I came across an article with the above title. It dates back to early 2005 and suggests all our economic woes would be over if we just dug stuff out of the ground. Does anyone agree with this or is it old news and have we already made a start ... Full story

I was scanning the INQUIRER today and came across another piece of from favorite economist from the "progressive left". What I read tempted me to post an "In the News" article. But, I figured, this is much too delicious to treat like a news story. Ok, 'nuff said. The good news - Walden Bello agrees with AP that fighting corruption is ... Full story

I was talking to a friend about the impact of protectionism on the Philippine economy and how foreign investments can generate new jobs and new sources of wealth. She indicated that she didn't realize how protectionism hit Filipinos close to home. I said if you just stop and looked at your monthly bill - electricity, telephone, water, internet, fuel, food, entertainment - behind your high ... Full story

I will cut to the chase - The issuance of the Renewable Energy Act is as exciting as a root canal to a foreign investor, but a godsend to the only domestic companies that can afford the capital investments - aka monopolies owned by the oligarchs - you know those companies who are owners of the biggest corporations in media, power generation, water utilities, transportation, ... Full story

This is a continuation of my previous post on the beasts of burden - the OFWs.  We look at the current practices, and how we can improve it to bring about a positive bottom line - not just for OFWs but for the overall economic well being of the Philippines as well. Benigno demystifies the myth of OFW remittances contribution to the economy. In ... Full story

here is my essay/treatise on migration.  just a repost. Filipinos are moving out of their homeland at an alarming average daily rate of two thousand four hundred (2,400) according to government statistics (Department of Labor and Employment., 2004) This figure does not include undocumented or illegal migration. The migration phenomenon has been ... Full story

I read recently that our honourable presidential candidates are now scrambling to pander to the so-called "heroes" of the flaccid Philippine economy -- our overseas foreign workers (OFWs). Various quaint ideas are being thrown around -- a provident fund for OFWs, free repatriation services for OFWs in legal binds overseas, and some nebulously-worded measures to ensure ... Full story

In the "breakfast talk show" I catch every morning as I prepare for work, one of the guests was a guy talking about Peak Oil. Relying on my stock knowledge on that term (not being able to google it for now) I recall that Peak Oil is a concept that refers to the looming simultaneous cresting ... Full story

"Presidential" candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III yesterday (21st of January 2010) gave a speech before the esteemed captains of Philippine industry who interbreed and whack golf balls with one another when they are not schmoozing over cocktails at Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, and Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines meetings. The content ... Full story

This is our contribution to this year's Blog Action Day theme -- climate change. What we as ordinary people can contribute to the effort to combat climate change lies in some personal behaviours of ours that we have direct control over -- our consumption habits. We just need to pause and take the time to think ... Full story