Businessmirror february 21, 2018

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BMReports PHL scales terrain of Swiss challenge and procurement By Rea Cu

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United nations

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Conclusion

EPUBLIC Act (RA) 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, has created the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) in line with further improving the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law and making it more adaptable to the changing procurement environment of the country. According to GPPB-Technical Support Office (TSO) Executive Director V Dennis S. Santiago, the

A worker seats among steel rods in a construction site in Parañaque City. According to an executive of the Government Procurement Policy Board, procurement in government infrastructure projects takes 26 calendar days as the shortest time and the longest takes around 141 calendar days. NONIE REYES

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Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 133

TRAIN not an excuse to lay off workers–Lopez 600

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah & Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

he country’s trade chief warned firms not to use the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, which raised excise taxes on sugarsweetened drinks, as reason to strip workers of their jobs .

The number of workers laid off by Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Inc.

Trade Secretar y R amon M. Lopez said workers should not worry about losing their jobs due Continued on A12

NFA warns govt rice stock gone by April

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EXPORTERS STAND GROUND ON GROWTH FORECAST AS WEAK PESO SLITHERS UP By Bianca Cuaresma

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@BcuaresmaBM

XPORTERS stood firm with their growth forecasts this year, in spite of the continuous weakening of the peso against the dollar. The Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi), for one, maintained its 6-percent growth forecast will stay even if the country’s legal tender underperforms for the entire year. A weaker peso favors exporters because it has the potential to expand their revenues. “We will stick to our 6-percent forecast for the year, unless there is a compelling reason [not to],” Seipi President Danilo C. Lachica told the BusinessMirror. “The peso may fluctuate throughout the year.”

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& Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

he Nationa l Food Authority (NFA) w ill ask the NFA Council (NFAC) to reconsider its earlier decision to set the arrival of rice imports in June, as it warned that the government’s stockpile could be wiped out by April. NFA Administrator Jason L.Y. Aquino also urged lawmakers to convince President Duterte to reschedule the arrival of rice imports before April during the hearing on the food agency’s rice stock conducted by the House of Representatives’s Committee on Agriculture and Food. “To address this NFA crisis, I would recommend to this body to make an appeal to the President. After all, it is the President who approved the importation of 250,000 metric tons [MT] of rice,” Aquino said at the hearing on February 20. “Immediate importation is the only immediate solution [to address this problem].” Aquino’s special assistant, lawyer Rachel Miguel, told the BusinessMirror that the NFA would file a request for reconsideration to the NFAC within the week.

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₧52.24 The value of the peso to the US dollar on the closing of trade on February 20

Indeed, the local currency sought to recover on Tuesday after hitting its lowest level in more than 11 years on Monday’s trade. Data from the PDS Group showed the peso closed trade at P52.24 to a dollar on February 20, correcting by 10 centavos from the P52.34-to-a-dollar on Monday. The traded volume remained slightly elevated, albeit lower than Monday’s $1 billion, at $977.8 million. See “Exporters,” A2

Groups to seek ILO’s help to stop contractualization

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Ctontinued on A12

Continued on A2

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law also allowed more observers to be included in the project bidding process, thus making the process more transparent. “It’s also nice to have observers [who] are independent; under RA 9184, you have now a totally independent observer, it will be the Commission on Audit [COA] for the government, non-governmental organizations or civil-society organizations, and then the private sector,” Santiago told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “[They form] the third lens looking into what we are doing in the government;

NEW FLOOR Brokers transact their business at the trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s new home at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Share prices on the PSE extended a winning streak on Tuesday, as investors cheered the Central Bank’s “surprise” cut on the reserve requirement ratio. The benchmark PSEi gained 12.48 points, or 0.14 percent, to 8,722.70 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares increased by 6.59 points, or 0.13 percent, to 5,129.79. NONIE REYES

abor groups belonging to a coalition announced on Tuesday they will seek the intervention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on ending contractualization if President Duterte fails to sign a new executive order (EO) banning it next month. “If the President remains firm on not signing the EO...and there are still inadequacies in our laws and regulations to address contractualization, this will become part of the agenda of the workers’ representative during the ILO

conference in June,” Nagkaisa Spokesman Renato Magtubo told reporters in an ambush interview on Tuesday, following the joint news briefing of Nagkaisa and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). The 107th session of the ILO Conference (ILC) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 28 to June 8. During the event, the ILO will discuss support for the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations; addressing violence and See “Contractualization,” A2

Boracay resort says it hasn’t violated environmental laws By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE management of Boracay West Cove Resort said it has hewed closely to environmental laws, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) even issuing it a certificate of disposal of hazardous waste. In a letter sent to the BusinessMirror dated February 5, 2018, lawyer Florante C. Roxas of Roxas

PESO exchange rates n US 52.3540

& Roxas, a law office retained by the resort, said: “We categorically deny that Boracay West Cove violated environmental laws in operating its hotel and resort in Boracay Island, particularly, in its disposal of sewage and wastes.” He also said the resort “participated in the Environmental Forum initiated by the [DENR], held at the Crown Regency Hotel on 29 November 2018 [sic], and no mention was made that it was in the list of violators of sewage mess; Boracay West

We categorically deny that Boracay West Cove violated environmental laws in operating its hotel and resort in Boracay Island, particularly, in its disposal of sewage and wastes.”—Roxas Cove has first hand information that it is not and never was, included in the list of violators of sewage mess.” (sic) He added that Boracay Tubi

System Inc. (BTSI) “issued a certification to the effect that Boracay West Cove is a bona fide customer, and it has been siphoning/ dislodging its septic tank; hence,

Boracay Island Water Corporation [BIWC] has no business with Boracay West Cove and has no knowledge with regard to its disposal and dislodging of Boracay West Cove’s sewer.” Roxas, likewise, pointed out that the “DENR itself issued the ‘Hazardous Waste Generator Registration Certificate’ to the effect that Boracay West Cove has submitted information to the satisfaction of Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR.” See “Boracay,” A12

n japan 0.4912 n UK 73.3165 n HK 6.6937 n CHINA 8.2577 n singapore 39.8645 n australia 41.4120 n EU 64.9556 n SAUDI arabia 13.9607

Source: BSP (20 February 2018 )


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