THE MANILA TIMES | JUNE 21, 2019

Bangko Sentral keeps interest rates steady ÂťStory on B1 ++

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FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2019

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No conflict of interest in lease deal – Duque

Q Recto Bank is important to them: The two as they appear in First Pacific 2018 report.

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Rushed oil search by ‘MVP’ firm triggered hostile stance toward China

EALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd on Thursday DENIED CONlICT OF INTEREST ALLEGATIONS ARISING FROM A LEASE DEAL CLAIMING HE had not hidden the existence and was no longer involved in the day-to-day RUNNING OF A FAMILY OWNED Q Gonzalo Duque kRM FROM WHICH 0HILIPPINE (EALTH )NSURANCE #ORP 0HIL(EALTH WAS RENTING ÂłDuqueA2 A BUILDING

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T wa s t h e r u s h by an “MVP� firm to implement its tight program to extract oil and gas in Recto Bank in 2011 that triggered a chain of events which, under President Aquino 3 rd, resulted in making China the Philippines’ de facto foe. Aquino was well on the way to cutting off diplomatic and economic relations with China had President Duterte not come along and stopped that disastrous foreign-affairs stance.

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Retired general named new PhilHealth president REACH US AT: E-mail: newsdesk@ manilatimes.net Tel. Nos.: 524-5664 to 67 Address: 2/F Sitio Grande, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002

NATIONAL DRILL

Students of the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City do the duck, hold and cover routine during the national earthquake drill on Thursday. Similar quake drills were held nationwide. PHOTO BY RUY L. MARTINEZ

What’s inside PARTY-LIST BLOC BARES 3 BETS FOR SPEAKER

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MAYNILAD, MANILA WATER WARNED

JOSE ANTONIO T. BANSON Chairman Monark Equipment Corporation

NewsA3

THE country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games later this year will push through despite an ongoing row over who should be running the show.

Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chairman Alan Peter Cayetano said on Thursday that they were ready for the November 30 to December 11 event amid the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) board’s

Where corruption begins, command responsibility must end

BY MAURO GIA SAMONTE Columnist

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Eddie SEAG hosting to push through Garcia, 90

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Praying to win

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed retired general Ricardo Morales as the next Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president, senatorelect Christopher Lawrence “Bong� Go

,AST OF PARTS AFTER six days of detention at the NBI headquarTERS "RYAN #HRISTOPHER 3Y WAS kNALLY RELEASED

posting bail in the amount of P72,000. By then FORMAL CHARGES HAD PRESUMABLY BEEN kLED IN COURT

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BY CHRISTINA ALPAD

JUNE 20, 2019 was a dark day for the Philippines as one of the pillars of the country’s entertainment industry, Eddie Garcia, breathed his last. He was 90.

Garcia accidentally fell while shooting for his latest GMA show, “Rosang Agimat,� in Tondo on Saturday, June 8. A heart attack and a stroke were initially blamed,

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Q Screen legend Eddie Garcia in this file photo from July 2018 when he was named an Icon of Philippine Cinema at the Entertainment Editors’ Choice awards or Eddys.

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Business Times

PSEi 8,022.42 UP 0.07%

P51.64 TO $1

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FRIDAY JUNE 21, 2019 ASIAN STOCKS: V S h a n g h a i 2 . 3 8 %

What’s inside BREAKTHROUGH SELLING SKILLS – FINEX FILES

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IMPORTS NOT HURTING PH CEMENT MAKERS

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SHAKEY’S AIMS FOR DOUBLEDIGIT PROFIT GROWTH IN 2019 Corporate NewsB3

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Bangko Sentral keeps interest rates steady Policymaking Monetary Board cuts 2019 inflation forecast to 2.7%

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

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ONETARY authorities on Thursday decided to pause on reducing interest rates on the back OF A gMANAGEABLE INlATION OUTLOOKu AND gkRM DOMESTIC GROWTH PROSPECTS u 4HE "ANGKO 3ENTRAL NG 0ILIPINAS (BSP) overnight borrowing, lending and deposit rates remained at 4.50 percent, 5.00 percent and 4.00 percent, RESPECTIVELY AFTER THE -ONETARY "OARD held its fourth policy meeting for 2019.

During a briefing, BSP Governor "ENJAMIN $IOKNO SAID gTHE -ONETARY Board believes that the manageable

INlATION OUTLOOK AND kRM DOMESTIC GROWTH PROSPECTS SUPPORT KEEPING monetary policy settings steady for the time being.� g,ATEST BASELINE FORECASTS INDICATE THAT INlATION REMAINS LIKELY TO SETTLE within the target range of 3.0 percent ¹ 1.0 percentage point for both 2019 and

WHILE INlATION EXPECTATIONS HAVE

moderated further,� he added.

2ISKS TO THE INlATION OUTLOOK WERE also observed to be “broadly balanced� for 2019 and 2020, according to the CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR (E ALSO SAID THIS OUTLOOK CONTINUED TO BE TEMPERED BY WEAKER GLOBAL ECOnomic prospects amid a possible easing in global demand and increased trade tensions.

-EANWHILE THE POTENTIAL ADVERSE effects of a prolonged El NiĂąo remain A KEY UPSIDE RISK TO INlATION BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo also announced that monetary authorities had also cut its 2019 inflation forecast to 2.7 percent from

2.9 percent. The 2020 projection was also trimmed to 3.0 percent from 3.1 percent.

He pointed out that two major reasons for the reduced projection were the lower global oil prices and peso appreciation.

Guinigundo said there was a reduction in the BSP global oil prices ASSUMPTION THIS YEAR FROM BARREL TO BA AND FOR FROM BA TO BA The peso, on the other hand, was EXPECTED TO END AT 0 BEFORE FURTHER APPRECIATING TO 0 in 2020.

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900-B yen railway loans yet to be released PH savings up 4.4% to P4.4T last year JAPAN is yet to release the 900 billion yen in loans that it had pledged for the Philippines to fund the country’s railway projects, according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). !T A BRIEkNG IN -AKATI #ITY ON 4HURSDAY

JICA Senior Representative Kiyo Kawabuchi said the aid agency had so far released only 400 billion yen out of the 1.3 trillion yen it had committed to give. “So for the railway sector, we still have 900 billion yen to [release]‌.â€? she added. +AWABUCHI S STATEMENT COMES AFTER -ANILA AND 4OKYO SIGNED A MILLION Japanese yen loan agreement for the Road .ETWORK $EVELOPMENT 0ROJECT IN #ONlICT !FFECTED !REAS IN -INDANAO IN #LARK 0AM-

panga province, on Tuesday.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd and JICA Senior Vice President Yasushi 4ANAKA SIGNED THE DEAL ON BEHALF OF THE Philippines and Japan, respectively.

JICA is supporting the government’s transport infrastructure developments, including THE kRST PHASE OF THE -ETRO -ANILA 3UBway and North-South Commuter Railway .3#2 PROJECTS AS WELL AS THE kRST PHASE OF THE -ETRO 2AIL 4RANSIT ,INE 2EHABILITATION

,IGHT 2AIL 4RANSIT ,24 ,INE #AVITE %XTENSION AND ,24 ,INE %AST %XTENSION PROJECTS These projects, Kawabuchi said in a STATEMENT COULD BOOST AREAS OUTSIDE -ETRO -ANILA ENTICING MORE INVESTMENTS AND generating jobs for Filipinos.

“Once completed, these transport infrastructure projects will help realize the shared vision of JICA and the Philippines TOWARD REDUCED TRAFkC CONGESTION SEAMLESS mobility, and better quality of life of many Filipinos,� she was quoted as saying in the statement.

Amid the projection that the country is poised to become an upper middle-income economy by next year, Kawabuchi also told reporters that, while JICA will continue “to support the development of the railway system of the Philippines,� terms and conditions would be changed.

JICA currently offers the Philippines loans with 0.1-percent interest and a 40-year

Budget utilization of govt agencies rises in Jan-May THE budget utilization of state agencies imPROVED IN THE kRST kVE MONTHS OF DATA FROM THE $EPARTMENT OF "UDGET AND -ANAGEMENT $"- SHOWED ON 4HURSDAY Agencies used P1.050 trillion of the P1.136 trillion released under the Notice of Cash AlLOCATION .#! IN *ANUARY TO -AY This translates to a utilization ratio of 92 percent, compared with the 83 percent recorded in the same period in 2018.

NCAs refer to disbursement authorities ISSUED BY THE $"- TO GOVERNMENT SERVICING BANKS SUCH AS $EVELOPMENT "ANK OF THE 0HILIPPINES ,AND "ANK OF THE 0HILIPPINES AND 0HILIPPINE 6ETERANS "ANK TO COVER THE CASH REquirements of agencies’ programs, activities and PROJECTS .#!S ARE VALID UP TO THE LAST WORKING day of the quarter covered. “The higher NCA is tied to the delayed budget signing, as agencies play catch-up with expenditures programmed for the year that WENT UNRELEASED -OST OF THIS MIGHT CONSTITUTE

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THE -//% -AINTENANCE AND /THER /PERATING %XPENSES AND WAGES OF GOVERNMENT OFkCES u 3ECURITY "ANK #ORP !SSISTANT 6ICE 0RESIDENT and chief economist Robert Dan Roces told The -ANILA 4IMES A dispute between the Senate and the House of Representatives over alleged insertions resulted in a four-and-a-half-month delay before LEGISLATORS kNALLY AGREED TO APPROVE THE outlay.

Before the approval, the government was forced to operate on last year’s budget, unable to spend on projects and programs supposed to be implemented this year. g-OVING FORWARD WE EXPECT UTILIZATION TO improve to initiatives tied to the infrastructure programs for the second half of the year, as the touted [infrastructure] spending program gets underway,� Roces said.

The country’s economic managers said LAST MONTH THEY WOULD EMBARK ON A BOLD

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PLDT’s 666,056,645 outstanding capital stock

APITAL stock. 0,$4 Inc. has authorized CAPITAL STOCK !#3 OF million shares consisting of 234 million common shares with par value of P5 per common share, 150 million voting preferred shares with par value of P1 per preferred share, and 387.5 million non-voting serial preferred shares with par value of P10 per share. /F THE COMPANY S MILLION !#3 0,$4 HAS ISSUED TO &ILIPINO STOCKHOLDERS

0,$4 COMMON SHARES OR PERCENT OF WHICH

0,$4 COMMON shares were held by the public. Only three STOCKHOLDERS HELD

NON VOTING serial preferred shares, or 45.04 percent.

0,$4 SAID IN A GENERAL INFORMATION SHEET ')3 THAT ONLY ONE &ILIPINO STOCKHOLDER owned 150 million voting preferred shares.

4HE PUBLIC STOCKHOLDERS owned none of the company’s 150 million voting 0,$4 PREFERRED SHARES OR 22.52 percent. Three Filipinos owned 300,000,870 0,$4 NON VOTING SERIAL preferred shares, or 45.04 percent, of which the public held 870 shares..

In its 2019 GIS, 1,496 foreigners were limITED TO OWNING

0,$4 COMMON SHARES OR PERCENT /F 0,$4 S FOREIGN ownership, the public held 55,992,526 common shares.

0#$ .OMINEE #ORP HELD FOR BENEkCIAL OWNERS

0,$4 COMMON SHARES

or 36.25 percent of 216,055,775 outstanding common shares. When computed, the same PCD-held common shares were then

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THE country incurred savings of P4.4 trillion last year, based on current prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Thursday.

In a report, the state-run statistics agency said the amount represented a 4.4-percent increase from the P4.2 trillion posted in 2017.

Among the four institution sectors, nonfinancial corporations had the highest share of the savings in 2018, with P2.55 trillion or 57.6 percent of the total.

Financial corporations came next with P1.26 trillion; general govern-

ment, P503 billion; and households, INCLUDING NONPROkT INSTITUTIONS SERVING households (NPISH), P116.5 billion.

In terms of contribution to gross DOMESTIC PRODUCT '$0 NONkNANCIAL corporatons’ share remains the highest at 51.8 percent. “This was followed by households including NPISH at 32.7 percent; kNANCIAL CORPORATIONS AT PERCENT and general government at 7.5 percent,�

PSA said.

The data came from consolidated accounts, as well as income and outlay

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