Economy BusinessMirror
A4 Thursday, July 2, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
NG disbursement up 5.5% but infra spending down 1.9%–DBM report
T
he Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said disbursements by the national government (NG) increased year-on-year by 5.5 percent, or P34.4 billion, to P660.6 billion for the months of January to April, but spending on infrastructure declined by 1.9 percent despite the need to speed up road and transport projects. A DBM disbursement report showed that government spending reached P660.6 billion from Ja nu a r y compa re d w it h t he P626.1 billion for the same period last year. Although the government’s disbursement for April increased to P156.5 billion in 2015 compared with P143.6 billion during the same period last year, spending on infrastructure went down by as much as P1.8 billion. The DBM report showed that NG disbursements for April this year for infrastructure was down to 1.9 percent at P91.9 billion compared with P93.7 billion in the same month last year. The DBM report also said that by the end of April this year, a total of
P2.178 billion, or 84 percent, of the 2015 national budget have been released to departments and agencies. “This rate of allotment release is faster than the comparable rates of 80 percent last year and 73 percent in 2013 with the adoption of the General Appropriations Act-as-a-release document policy,” said the DBM disbursement report issued on Tuesday. It added that for April 2015, the DBM has released P49.3 billion for major projects of key spending agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd). This include DepEd’s Basic Educational Facilities Fund worth P15.6 billion, which was transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways; pension requirements under the Pension and Gratuity Fund worth P10.8 billion; customs duties and taxes worth P6.4 billion; creation of new positions and filling up of unfilled positions under the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund at P2.7 billion; and road-maintenance projects charged against the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge Fund at P2.7 billion. Estrella Torres
news@businessmirror.com.ph
TPB sees bigger tourism growth for Mindanao this year and next
T
By Rizal Raoul Reyes
he Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) expressed confidence that Mindanao will hit its target of 12.6 million visitors for this year and 13.9 million in 2016, as crafted in the National Tourism Development Plan.
TPB COO Domingo Ramon C. Enerio III stressed the continued rise in Mindanao’s number of visitor arrivals, particularly domestic tourists, in various regions of the South as the main factor for the positive outlook. “Regions 10 [Northern Mindanao], 11 [Davao region], and 12 south composed of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City. [Soccsksargen] alone have reg-
istered significant and consistent increases in visitor volume,” Enerio said in a news statement. Reports gathered by TPB from the regions indicate visitor volume in Northern Mindanao leaping by 96 percent in the second quarter of 2014, and the Davao region by 38 percent to 2.52 million in 2014 from 1.83 million in 2013 and 16 percent over the 1.57 million in 2012.
Similarly, Region 12 Director Nelly Nita Dillera reported a 294-percent volume increase in daytime tourists from 471,980 in 2013 to 1,858,809 in 2014, with the number of overnight stay also rising by 108 percent from 345,328 in 2013 to 717,596 in 2014. Dillera also noted that foreign arrivals contributed to the growth, as it also posted a triple-digit surge at 122 percent from 14,375 in 2013 to 31,861 in 2014. “In fact we can expect a continued uptrend across the board for the rest of Mindanao as the TPB intensifies its region-focused marketing campaign,” Enerio stressed. The TPB, according to Enerio, is regionalizing its thrust in product development and promotional efforts in adhering to the Aquino administration’s pursuit of inclusive growth. Part of that program is the TPB’s participation in a forthcoming international tourism expo, where Mindanao’s regions will showcase their tourism destinations, products,
Competition bill seen to improve PHL footing in global economy
briefs petilla to omeco: look for alternative power source
T
he landmark legislation Fair Competition Act will strengthen the foundations for a sustained and inclusive growth in the Philippines, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). “The competition bill will not only sustain, but bolster a rapidly growing Philippine economy. As the bill levels the playing field among businesses, we can expect an increased level of confidence among the international business community, and thus lead to a surge of investments and economic activity, and an expanded logistical capacity,” Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said. The bill is one of the numerous reforms in governance and the economy that will encourage more investments. It seeks to eliminate unfair business practices among competitors, such as engaging in agreements that restrict market competition by having fixed prices for goods and services, dividing the market among themselves, or controlling production. Moreover, it prohibits the abuse of dominant position, for example, by selling goods and services at a below-cost price, with the intention of driving out competition then increasing the price thereafter, or imposing unreasonable conditions on transactions, and keeping producers at a losing end by enforcing low purchase prices for their goods and services, among others. “The passage of this bill follows Neda’s advocacy to remove or amend some existing laws and regulations that have become irrelevant or unenforceable. It is also aligned with the Philippine Development Plan which identified this law as a measure that will improve the country’s business climate,” Balisacan said. “While this bill will certainly help us move forward,
Taller and taller
Construction workers install steel bars to serve as concrete posts of a high-rise building under construction along Xavierville Avenue near corner Esteban Abada Street and Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City over the weekend. PNA
our efforts will remain focused on implementing key reforms in the country. The task at hand is to increase investments, address gaps in our economic system, and reduce barriers hampering productivity and growth in the country. These will allow us to increase opportunities for shared prosperity, sustain our gains and lead us to an even higher growth path,” he added.
The competition bill is considered to be one of the longest-running congressional bills in the country, first introduced in the 8th Congress and has remained pending for 24 years since. It was only on June 10, 2015, that the bicameral conference committee overcame the hurdles concerning contentious provisions. The bill now awaits the President’s signature, which would enact it into law. PNA
Manila’s IT-BPM, ICT poised to ride on new wave of revolution
W
ASHINGTON—Recent developments and policy changes in information technology and business-process management (ITBPM) in the Philippines are making the country ripe for investment and poising it to ride on a new wave of revolution in information and communications technology (ICT). This was the message of government officials and business leaders who traveled to San Francisco for a conference entitled “Invest in the Philippines: Asia’s Bright Spot,” the third and final leg of a highlevel trade and investment mission to the United States on June 29. In his remarks, Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. pointed out that the IT-BPM and ICT industries in the Philippines are very much alive and have been a strong driving force in the Philippine economy. “The choice of San Francisco as the third city of this historic High Level Trade and Economic Mission to the United States is very appropriate. San Francisco and Silicon Valley, in particular, is the heartland of innovation and technology. And the importance of information and communications technology, which this city breathes and lives, is one that is not lost on the Philippines,” Cuisia said.
services and other attractions. Slated at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, from July 3 to 5, the Travel Madness Expo will have a big 36-square-meter booth for the regional exhibits of the entire South. “This Mindanao showcase will also highlight the many sectoral partnerships that the TPB has been developing to bring about a widely participatory development of tourism in both the urban centers and the countryside, involving both crosscultural and geographic linkages that offer a much broader and deeper tourism experience as a marketing come-on,” Enerio added. Known as the country’s secondbiggest island, Mindanao is home to about a quarter of the national population with mostly literate and English-speaking labor force, generally located outside the typhoon belt, endowed with magnificent natural landscape, and supplies 40 percent of the country’s food requirements.
The envoy added, “The first wave of the information and communications technology revolution transformed the Philippine semiconductor industry into one of the most important segment of our economy. Today, the IT-BPM industry has been the fastest-growing industry in the Philippines in the last 10 years. In 2011 we overtook India to become the No. 1 outsourcing destination for voice support. And the Philippines is second only to India as a global outsourcing destination, specifically in the areas of health care and software.” However, the Philippines is still facing challenges in the IT-BPM and ICT industries. According to keynote speaker Diosdado Banatao, managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a main challenge that remains for the country is infrastructure building in ICT, particularly the lack of Internet bandwidth, which he also noted as an area of opportunity for investments. The government is addressing these issues through the legislature aimed at reforming the country, boosting economic growth and creating an environment conducive to investment. Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, who participated in the San Francisco conference, shared the congressional
agenda for the last year of the Aquino administration, which is to pass the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act in order to institutionalize reforms and best practices, amend the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Charter to strengthen its regulatory power, and approve the customs modernization law to achieve trade facilitation and logistics efficiency. According to Drilon, a bill to create the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is also on its way. In early June, the Senate approved the third and final reading Senate Bill 2686, which mandated the creation of the DICT. The bill would effectively create the agency charged with developing, planning and promoting the government’s ICT agenda, as well as speed up the industry’s growth and competitiveness by enhancing the country’s technology linkages with ICT firms abroad. The House version is currently being debated at the committee level. There has also been a greater emphasis on education, which is further enriching one of the biggest assets of the country, its human resource. of Trade Secretary Gregory L. Do-
mingo pointed out that the young Philippine work force is only getting better due to the reforms in the educational sector such as the introduction of the K to 12 Program and doubling the budget of education. Panelists in the conference agreed that with a strong, high-skilled and eager labor force, good political leadership, the ability to provide the required infrastructure, the Philippines has created an excellent business environment. “It is our hope that this conference will generate not only investments in infrastructure and PPP, which are equally important to the continued success of the Philippine economic story, but also in the information and communications technology sector. Such investments from the United States will complement the Philippine government’s investments, in the last few years, on the infrastructure, technology and human resources that underpin the growing Philippine economy,” Cuisia said. The conference is the third stop of a high-level trade and investment mission to the US that took place from June 24 to 29. The delegation made a pitch in Washington, D.C., on June 24 and conducted an Economic Briefing and Investment Conference in New York on June 26. PNA
The Occidental Mindoro Power Cooperative (Omeco) should be more transparent and start looking for reliable power producers to generate enough electricity for the province’s residents. This was Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla’s advice and recommendation to Omeco, his last official act after tendering his resignation on April 28, which was made public during a dialogue with various stakeholders in the province on June 30. The dialogue held at the San Jose Gymnasium in San Jose City aims to address the rotating brownouts that has been affecting close to 500,000 residents of the off-grid island province in Luzon for over a decade now. According to the 100 percent Brownout Free Occidental Mindoro, a coorganizer of the dialogue, Petilla said, ideally, the province should be connected to a single power grid, but such is not possible at the moment because of budget constraints. The ideal solution to Occidental Mindoro’s unstable power supply, Petilla was quoted as saying, is to construct a power grid, transfer it from Sablayan to San Jose, which, however, will take until September 2016 to complete. During the dialogue, Director Mylene Capongcol of the Department of Energy’s Electric Power Industry Management Bureau said there are three major programs needed for Occidental Mindoro, which involves increasing plant capacity to generate more power, improving transmission lines for stable supply to households, and power-distribution systems improvement.
escudero optimistic on passage of pagasa modernization bill Sen. Francis Escudero is optimistic that the bill seeking to modernize the country’s weather bureau will be signed into law before year-end. The Senate bill providing for the modernization of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), passed the third and final reading at the Senate on June 9 and will soon go through the bicameral conference committee. “I’m hoping that President Aquino will be able to sign the Pagasa modernization bill into law within the year to give long-overdue upgrades to the weather bureau’s equipment, staff pay, research capabilities and communication reach,” said Escudero, one of the principal authors of the bill. Escudero said he expects smooth bicameral conference committee deliberations since there are no major differences between the House and the Senate versions. The House approved its own version of the Pagasa modernization bill in May 2014. The bicameral version will have to be ratified by both the Senate and the House before being submitted to the President for signing. Recto Mercene
groups slam delays in enforcement of graphic health warning law
Antismoking advocates took a swipe on the delay in the implementation of the graphic health warning law that was signed a year ago. New Vois Association of the Philippines President Emer Rojas said the delay in the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations of the graphic health warning law (Republic Act 10643) might be one of the reasons for the delay in the law’s implementation adding to the long compliance period given to the tobacco companies. “Tobacco companies were given a year to comply with the law plus eight months to exhaust their stocks in sari-sari stores. Add to that is another eight months’ delay because of their contentions on the templates that will be used,” Rojas said. PNA