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BusinessWeek
YOUR LOCAL ONLINE BUSINESS PAPER
Issue No. 47, Volume II • April 4-10, 2011
Market Indicators AS OF 4:21 P.M., APRIL 1, 2011 (Friday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P43.360
4,129.54 points
; ; Briefly 0.030 cents
74.40 points
Sun’s unli remains
SUN Cellular will continue to offer unli voice and text services even after PLDT completes its investment in Digitel Inc., Sun’s parent company, PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said. “Our intention is to maintain Sun’s current offers and further improve them. One clear opportunity is mobile broadband,” Nazareno said. “Leveraging the combined networks of PLDT, Smart and Sun, we plan to expand the reach and raise the quality of mobile broadband services for Sun subscribers. This is in line with our Internet for All advocacy.” Some quarters had raised concerns that PLDT’s investment into Digitel would lead to the end of Sun’s unli offers. “That’s not going to happen. There is a market for unli services and we intend to be the best in serving that market,” Nazareno said.
Shang Properties buys Phinma bdgs.
SHANG PROPERTIES, Inc., the listed real estate development arm of Malaysia’s Kuok Group, bought buildings and lots from a Phinma Corp. unit for more than P600 million, a disclosure filed on Friday with the local bourse showed. “The issuer’s subsidiary, Shang Property Developers, Inc. has agreed with Asian Plaza, Inc. and Asian Plaza I Condominium Corp. to acquire [the two companies’] real properties consisting of a condominium project including building and parcels of land located at the corner of Gil Puyat Ave., Tordesillas street and H.V. dela Costa street, Makati City,” Shang Properties said. Officials from both companies could not be immediately reached to elaborate. “The total purchase price for the transaction is P615 million,” Shang Properties added.
AMLA amendments
THE House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill strengthening the anti-money laundering law to make it compliant with international standards and a more effective tool against terror financing. The passage of the measure came as both chambers of Congress were investigating allegations of massive corruption in the Armed Forces involving “conversion” of hundreds of millions of pesos in budgetary allocations by generals and military finance officers. The House has wrapped up its probe on the matter while a parallel investigation in the Senate is still ongoing. House Bill 4275, personally pushed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., declares terrorism and terrorist financing, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, corruption, bribery, forgery and environmental crime as unlawful activities.
www.businessweekmindanao.com
P10.00
Normin confident to meet growth targets By MIKE BAÑOS, Correspondent with NELSON V. CONSTANTINO Editor-in-Chief
A
FTER making great strides during the last decade to become Mindanao’s largest regional economy, Northern Mindanao is showing signs of recovery following a hiccup in 2009 and despite the recent setback suffered by Japan, the third largest importer of Philippine products.
Source: NEDA-10
Source: NEDA-10
Northern Mindanao remains the largest economy in Mindanao.
After rising from 4.4 in 2005 to 7.7 percent in 2007, the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth dropped to 5.2 in 2008 and further to 2.9 percent in 2009, still good enough to make it the fifth fastest growing regional economy in the latter year.
Regional economies slowed down from 2007 to 2009 but is expected to be back on track this year.
During a media forum held March 30, the National Economic and Development Authority regional office said there are encouraging signs pointing to a recovery to attain the target of 4.5 to 5 percent growth in the Gross Regional Domestic Product
(GRDP) for 2010. Clark Y. Clarete, NEDA-X Knowledge Management Division Chief, said agriculture recorded the largest expansion in recent years, inflation was down significantly, growth of See TARGETS TARGETS/p.17 /p.17
BSP to infuse P2.5 billion to coop banks By BENCYRUS G. ELLORIN, Contributor
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will be infusing P2.5-billion to strengthen the country’s cooperative banking industry. “The BSP rehabilitation fund will come as preferred shares in selected cooperative banks that are stable,” Ating Koop party list Rep. Isidro Q. Lico said during the 22nd General Assembly of the Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental and northern Bukidnon chapter of the Philippine Federation of Credit Cooperatives (PFCCO).
ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN. This kid seemed enjoying the drizzle amid the pile of rubber tires in a slum area. Despite the perceived slowdown in economic activity this year, Northern Mindanao remains resilient and within its growth target, the National Economic and Development Authority in Region 10 said. PHOTO BY MIO CADE
See BANKS BANKS/p.17
Aboitiz to bear entire P25-B for coal plant
Coca-Cola’s Mindanao plant nears completion
By CARMELITO Q. FRANCISCO, Correspondent
DAVAO City––Aboitiz Power Corp. will generate internally the entire P25 billion it needs to set up the proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the city, Manuel M. Orig, Aboitiz Power first vice-president for Mindanao, said. Aboitiz Power plans to put up a coal plant to complement See PLANT PLANT/p.23 /p.23
COCA-COLA, the biggest softdrink company in the country, is expected to start full-blast operation of its Misamis Oriental plant in a couple of months as construction is already nearing completion. said that its Misamis Oriental bottling plant, which is part of its $1-billion five year investment commitment, is nearing completion. In a statement, Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines chief executive officer Bill Schultz said that the new plant in Villanueva town is part of the company’s $1-billion five-year investment commitment in the country. Once completed, the plant will be one of Coca-Cola’s largest in the region and is
Aerial view of Coke’s Villanueva plant.
expected to generate significant employment opportunities in the area. “We remain committed to the Philippines, where we will celebrate 100 years in business in 2012, and uphold our confidence in See COMPLETION COMPLETION/p.19 /p.19