PHILIPPINE
Vol. 23, No. 4 April 2011
FACTSHEET The Month’s Highlights Political
Days before she was to stand trial before a Senate impeachment court, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez announced her resignation effective May 6, citing her wish to spare the nation from a long and divisive impeachment process. The President authorized the transfer of SEC supervision from the DTI to the DOF through E.O. 37 dated April 19. Malacanang announced that the Philippines is open to a ‘mutually acceptable’ resolution of concerns over the scrapped Laguna Lake Rehabilitation project. President Aquino has appointed former Bataan congressman and former chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Felicito Payumo as head of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). The next chair of SEC will be ACCRA senior partner Teresita Herbosa. Malacanang also announced two appointments in the Commission on Audit: whistle-blower Heidi Mendoza as commissioner and Ma. Gracia M. Pulido Tan as chairman. Mendoza is to serve for 4 years. President Aquino appointed Augusto Lagman as commissioner of Comelec. Community sentiments must prevail in determining whether or not a mining project should be pursued, President Aquino said as he reiterated his administration’s support for large-scale mining investment. A P73.8 million tax evasion case was filed by the BIR versus Mikey Arroyo and his wife at the Justice department. Former agriculture secretary Luis ‘Cito’ Lorenzo, undersecretary Jocelyn J‘ ocjoc’ Bolante and several others will face plunder charges for the P728 billion fertilizer scam, as the Ombudsman orders the filing of charges.
A day after the Ombudsman filed a graft case against LTO chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres, she took a leave of absence. Former military budget officer George Rabusa filed plunder complaints against three former Armed Forces chiefs of staff, four retired generals and 10 other people for their alleged involvement in military fund anomalies.
Economic
Remittances from OFWs grew by 6.2% to US$ 1.5 billion in February. In the first two months, remittances rose by 6.9% to US$ 2.98 billion. Universal and commercial banks’ bad loans in relation to their total loan portfolio continued to improve to 2.93% in February. Credit card receivables of banks operating in the Philippines increased 4.7% last year to P143 billion. With a budget deficit of P18.131 billion in March, the shortfall for the first quarter reached P26.197 billion, significantly below the projected deficit of P111.986 billion and the deficit of P134.179 billion recorded in the same period of last year. The country’s manufacturing output grew by 11.2% in volume in February. Imports grew by 20.1% to US$ 4.69 billion in February, bringing total imports for the year to US$ 9.99 billion. With total exports in February of US$ 3.86 billion, the trade deficit in February reached US$ 823 million. For the first two months, exports were up 10% to US$ 7.865 billion. FDI net inflow surged 22% to US$ 207 million in January, according to the BSP. The BOI said that FDI inflows in the first two months increased by 135% to US$ 727 million. Globe Telecom Inc. has called for a probe of the impending P74.1 billion takeover by PLDT of competitor Digital Telecommunications
Philippines Inc. that could turn the competitive telecommunications industry into a virtual monopoly. Meanwhile, Malacanang orders the review of the PLDT-Digitel deal. The NTC is supposed to review the deal and calls for an effective anti-trust legislation are increasing. The BOI has granted various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to four projects – three in housing and one in dessicated coconut production – worth more than P2.4 billion. Registered investments with BOI and PEZA surged 123% to P144.822 billion in the first quarter of the year. The country’s balance of payments hit a surplus in March that was the biggest in four months, boosted primarily by a US$ 1.5 billion global bond sale. The US$ 2.02 billion BoP surplus in March, in turn, led to US$ 3.493 billion surplus in the first quarter, nearly three times the US$ 1.276 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2010. The draft implementing rules and regulations for the ‘pocket open skies’ policy seek to appease local carriers’ concerns regarding reciprocity but also maintain that national interest will be paramount in setting air services deals. Net inflows of portfolio investments dropped 54% to US$ 245.4 million in March due to jitters triggered by Japan’s disaster, but net inflows in the first quarter reached US$ 972.56 million, up from US$ 384.75 million in the same period of 2010. Gross international reserves continued to increase in March to US$ 66 billion due mainly to proceeds from government bonds. The National Renewable Energy Board has recommended a target of 830-MW as the total allowed capacity of the renewable energy facilities that will be put up in the country in the next three years (250-MW in new