Dispatch for october 11 , 2013 friday , 2 pia calabarzon prs , 11 weather watch,

This statement came after the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that merchandise exports grew by 20.2 percent in August 2013 to $4.6 billion, from $3.8 billion a year ago.

NEDA officer-in-charge (OIC) and Deputy Director-General Rolando G. Tungpalan said this growth was supported by brisk overseas sales in all major commodity groups. ―We are now reaping the benefits of our efforts to diversify the country‘s exports base as seen in the increasing revenues from agro-based, forest, mineral and petroleum products. This, when combined with strong performance of manufactured goods, will bring our exports industry to full recovery and sustained growth,‖ he said.

Manufactured goods, which contracted in July, posted a turnaround last month as it rose 8.7 percent to $3.7 billion in August 2013. Hike in exports of garments, wood manufactures, chemicals, and machinery and transport equipment offset the slight decrease in electronic exports during the period.

Robust growth in mineral products (183.2%), total agro-based products (83.8%), petroleum (115,374.8%) and forest products (86.5%) also contributed to the strong export performance in August. ―With this growth, the Philippines was the strongest performer among its East and Southeast Asian neighbors in terms of export growth in August 2013,‖ Tungpalan said.

Following the Philippines as top export performer, Viet Nam recorded an annual increase of 15.5 percent. Most tradeoriented economies in the East and Southeast Asian region showed positive export performance in August 2013, except for Japan and Indonesia.

Japan remained as the top exports destination of the Philippines in July 2013, accounting for 25 percent of the country‘s total export receipts. This was followed by the US (12.6%), China (10.5%), Singapore (8.5), and Hong Kong (7.6%).

For the first eight months of 2013, Philippine export earnings decreased marginally by 0.8 percent to $35.0 billion from $35.3 billion in the same period in 2012.

Tungpalan, who is Deputy Director-General for Investment Programming, is OIC of NEDA while Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director-General Arsenio M. Balisacan is on official business abroad. |TOP| 15. 5 GSIS branch offices get excellent rating in 2013 anti-red tape survey Source: http://www.gsis.gov.ph Five branch offices of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) have recently been rated "Excellent" for exemplary service and for complying with the provisions of Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA).

The Civil Service Commission (CSC), the bureaucracy's personnel agency conducting ARTA survey among government offices, has conferred on the GSIS Bacolod Branch Office the CSC's Seal of Excellence last 13 September 2013 for obtaining a 91.57 ARTA rating. It is the first GSIS office to receive the award.

As the CSC continues conducting the survey, four other GSIS branch offices have rebounded from "failed" ratings in 2012 and earned "excellent" scores to date: Bohol (93.28%), Bulacan (93.01%), Laguna (93.21%), and Masbate (90.34%). From a final grade average of 63% for 13 branches surveyed in 2012, the current average for the same branch offices is 89.70%. These include Palawan (89.35%), Tuguegarao (89.28%), Batangas (89.12%), and Lucena (89.11%).

The ARTA passing grade is set at 70%, with no grade falling below 70% in any of the five core areas - conformance with ARTA provisions, frontline service, service quality, physical working condition, and overall (client) satisfaction.

"Receiving those ratings is a welcome indication that the reforms toward service breakthroughs that we initiated in 2012 and started implementing in 2013 are paying off," GSIS President and General Manager Robert Vergara said.

He added that the ARTA ratings only affirm, among others, that "pursuing improved service and benefits for our members and pensioners remains, as it should, the pension fund's overarching goal."

In a related development, Vergara said that the Commission on Audit recently released its unqualified opinion on the financial position of GSIS as of December 31, 2012.

"This is the second time in a row that GSIS has received an unqualified opinion."

An unqualified opinion means that COA believes that the financial statements of GSIS are sound and are presented fairly "in all material respects".

He said that 2012 was a "banner year for the pension fund" with total comprehensive income reaching Php93.2 billion, from Php73.2 billion in 2011 and Php63.9 billion in 2010.