PHILIPPINE
Vol. 23, No. 2 February 2011
FACTSHEET The Month’s Highlights Political
The Commission on Appointments has confirmed the appointments of Health Secretary Ona, Labor Secretary Baldoz, DOST Secretary Montejo, Defense Secretary Gazmin, Executive Secretary Ochoa, Budget Sec. Abad and Transportation Secretary de Jesus. Former Philippine Ambassador to the US, Albert del Rosario, was sworn in as the new secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, replacing Alberto Romulo. Malacanang released E.O. 23, signed Feb 1, declaring an indefinite moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in the natural and residual forests of the entire country. The President has ordered DENR Sec. Paje to suspend all large-scale mining applications while the government reviews pending and inactive mining claims this year. Former Armed Forces chief Angelo T. Reyes, embroiled in a probe of alleged corruption in the military, died in an apparent suicide.
Economic
poverty, with nearly a million more Filipinos joining the ranks of the impoverished from 2006 to 2009. The economic freedom in the Philippines, as measured by a Washington DC-based think tank’s yearly Economic Freedom Index, has worsened to the country’s 115th rank out of 183 countries and territories. A list of PPP projects up for bidding before July has been trimmed to the sale of two light railways and an airport plus the construction of an expressway (MRT3, LRT1, Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental and phase 2 of the NAIA expressway – worth US$ 579 million) Regulators have decided to increase ethanol content in gasoline to 10% from 5%, but will give oil firms and ethanol producers six months to prepare. Local oil companies and ethanol producers have been given another year to prepare for the mandated 10% blending of ethanol in gasoline as the government decided to postpone its implementation to February 2012.
The country’s imports rose 25.2% to US$ 4.93 billion in December, bringing total imports for 2010 to US$ 54.7 billion, up 26.5% from 2009. Philippine exports grew by 25.3% in December to US$ 4.1 billion, raising total exports for 2010 to US$ 51.39 billion, up 33.7%. 2010 ended with a trade deficit of US$ 3.27 billion, lower than the deficit of US$ 4.66 billion recorded in 2009.
The BOI has given tax perks to the P630 million twin projects of sister companies Palawan Palm and Vegetable Oil Mills and Agumil Palm Inc. for the production of crude palm oil in Palawan for export to Singapore, Malaysia and China.
The country’s inflation hit a four-month high at 3.5% in January from 3.0% in December on the back of higher food, oil and energy prices.
The BSP has issued the guidelines on the additional single borrower’s limit for exposure of banks to proponents of major infrastructure or development projects (25%), oil companies (15%) and trust corporations.
The economy grew by 7.3% (GDP) in 2010, a pace well over target and the fastest in more than two decades. The industry sector expanded by 12.1%, services grew by 7.1% while agriculture shrank by 0.5%. Economic growth has not led to gains versus
The government’s budget deficit in December hit P40.142 billion, bringing the full-year deficit to P310 billion, well below the P325 billion ceiling.
The Philippines is eyeing entry into the TransPacific-Partnership (TPP) given a longstanding desire to forge a bilateral pact with the US, a major trading partner which has said it would rather forge regional deals.
The government is targeting to come up with the feed-in tariff scheme by the end of March. Meanwhile, the DOE is set to cancel at least 50 service contracts on renewable energy which were found non-compliant. Remittances of Filipinos abroad went up by 8.2% to hit a new record of US$ 18.76 billion in 2010. Investment pledges filed with four incentivegranting agencies rose by 72.7% to P542.6 billion last year with Filipino firms leading the pack. The growth of foreign portfolio investments eased to 13.5% in January from 54.9% in December. The inflow reached US$ 193.09 million in January. The country’s balance of payments registered a surplus of US$ 1.6 billion in January, up 31% from US 1.23 billion in the same month of last year. The country’s gross international reserves hit US$ 63.54 billion as of the end of January. Malacanang detailed 17 measures it wants Congress to prioritize, scheduling a February 28 meeting with the LEDAC to push the agenda. Included are bills on fiscal responsibility, rationalization of fiscal incentives, amending the BOT Law, tweaks to the EPIRA law, the Anti-Money Laundering Act and amending the Labor Code to allow night work for women and the Whistle Blowers’ Act. Not included are the Reproductive Health bill and the Freedom of Information bill. Foreign direct investments went back into positive territory in November, posting a net inflow of US$ 304 million. Net inflows for the 11month period stood at US$ 1.374 billion, down 22.7% from the same period in 2009. The LGU of Pagbilao in Quezon is again considering the sale of the 700-MW coal-