Business
B3
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com
Arthaland to boost projects by 5 times By Jenniffer B. Austria
SMART-STARMOBILE TIEUP. Mobile services provider Smart Communications and local phone manufacturer Starmobile renew their
partnership to bring richer digital experiences to more Filipinos via exciting smartphone and data bundles. Shown are (from left) Smart public affairs head Ramon Isberto, Smart mobile nusiness head Kathy Carag, Starmobile chairman and chief executive Joey Uy and Starmobile president Ulysses Lao.
Semirara to restore Panian mine’s ecology By Alena Mae S. Flores
S
emirara Mining and Power Corp. is in talks with the Energy Department and the local government unit of Antique on the final land use plan for Panian mine.
“We want to turn over something that will continue to benefit the government and host community. Island sustainability is our main concern,” Semirara president and chief operating Victor Consunji said in a statement. Semirara said it was now working to restore the ecological balance of Panian pit, which was recently closed following the depletion of its mineable
Russia to buy $2.5-b PH crops By Othel V. Campos THE Philippines and Russia agreed to strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties, starting with the importation by Russia of agricultural crops. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said both countries agreed to set up a joint commission to work on details of cooperation and follow through negotiation during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Peru. “The President [Rodrigo Duterte] has a good first meeting with President [Vladimir] Putin. They offer discussing trade and investments in the field of energy, machine engineering, hardware, energy equipment, modernizing retro fit machines, long range railway building, port infrastructure and monorails,” he said. Lopez said at the onset, Russia was willing to import about $2.5 billion worth of agricultural products from the Philippines. The huge import commitment will be one of the major discussion points by the Philippine and Russian agriculture ministers in the next meeting. “They are coming from a low base of imports from the Philippines. But we can supply their agricultural requirement,” said Lopez. Both countries also agreed to cooperate on law enforcement training and trade of supply for the military to be used for counter-terrorism, war on drugs and for national emergency. Other areas of cooperation include finance, education and market access. “There is a huge room for cooperation for both the Philippines and Russia,” Lopez said.
coal reserves. The depletion was certified by the Energy Department after its visit to Semirara Island on Sept. 20 to 21. “Our goal is to restore the topography of Panian and promote flora and fauna growth in the area,” Consunji said. Prior to pre-mine operation, Panian area was characterized by rolling hills of open grasslands and numerous gullies
with shrubs and trees. Semirara has begun filling Panian pit with overburden materials from Molave and Narra Mines, its two operating pits to restore the ecological balance of the area. Initial progressive rehabilitation was also started in 2005 near Casay Lake at the western part of Panian. To date, over 250 hectares of the area have been planted with nearly 2 million trees. Once the Panian mine pit becomes a stable landform, Semirara will cover the area with humic acid, compost and other materials to add nutrients to the soil. Semirara said a massive
reforestation program would involve endemic and suitable plant species. “The in-pit of Panian mine would no longer look like a depleted mine since the final elevation would be around -10 meters at the northern side and +30 meters at the central barricade and +10 meters at the southern side,” said Consunji. The over 10-meter elevation is planned to be a fresh water reservoir while the bottom part is being eyed as a possible beach resort, grazing land, pearl farm or marine sanctuary that will be turned over to the local government unit for possible development into an ecotourism spot.
Financial resources grow 10% to P16.2t By Julito G. Rada TOTAL financial resources in the country increased 10 percent to P16.197 trillion as of endSeptember from P14.779 trillion a year ago, data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show. Resources of the banking sector climbed 10.4 percent to P13.099 trillion from P11.863 trillion a year ago. Universal and commercial banks accounted for P11.804 trillion, up 10.6 percent from P10.670 trillion. Thrift banks’ resources grew 9 percent to P1.071 trillion from P979.6 billion, while rural banks’ assets improved to P223.4 billion from P212.8 billion. Resources of non-banks financial institutions, meanwhile,
rose 6 percent to P3.097 trillion from P2.916 trillion in the same period last year. These institutions include investment houses, finance companies, investment companies, securities dealers/brokers, pawnshops, lending investors, non-stock savings and loan associations, venture capital corporations, and credit card companies which are under the regulation of Bangko Sentral. Also included are private and government insurance companies, such as the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System. Bangko Sentral said the total number of financial institutions under its supervision and regulation increased to 27,561 in the second quarter from the previous quarter.
Banking offices in the second quarter increased to 10,936 from 10,849 in the first quarter, amid the continuous expansion of big lenders in their bid to widen their presence nationwide. Of the total number, universal and commercial banks accounted for 6,133 branches, higher than 6,094 offices a quarter ago. Currently, there are 41 head offices of universal and commercial banks in the entire banking system. The number of thrift banks’ offices, however, declined to 2,124 in the second quarter from 2,130 as of end-March, following consolidation and exit of weaker players from the industry. There are 64 head offices of thrift banks to date, down from 66 a quarter ago. STEEL INDUSTRY STUDY.
The Board of Investments and Department of Science and Technology agencies— Metals Industry Research and Development and Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development—sign a memorandum of agreement for the conduct of a feasibility study designed to boost the local production of iron using the country’s indigenous mineral resources. Shown during the signing of the agreement are (from left) MIRDC executive director Robert Dizon, Trade undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo and PCIEERD deputy executive director Raul Sabularse.
ARTHALAND Corp., a property developer controlled by the Po family, aims to grow its real estate portfolio by nearly five times over the next six years amid a positive outlook for the industry. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Arthaland was expecting residential and office projects to hit 520,000 square meters in gross floor area by 2022, up from the current 110,000 sqm of GFA. “Arthaland believes that while the outlook for the entire real estate sector is positive, the real estate sub-sectors will be in varying stages of growth from 2016 to 2022. Given recent trends in the industry, ALCO has identified opportunities in the office sub-sector following
the continuous strong demand for office space in key locations. In the residential sub-sector, ALCO has identified pockets of the market segments that are promising,” the company said. It said of the expected 520,000 sqm portfolio by 2022, about 50 percent or 260,000 sqm would be in the office segment and the balance would be in upper middle to high-end residential segment. The company also plans to expand its presence in various areas in the country. Arthaland said for the planned office space, 40 percent would be located outside Metro Manila through the Cebu Exchange project. The remaining 60 percent will be developed in Metro Manila’s several business districts including Fort Bonifacio, Makati, Ortigas and southern Metro Manila.
FVR scorecard on Duterte: Strike 2 I CANNOT claim to know Fidel V. Ramos very well, but I know him well enough to be able to say that he does not suffer fools gladly and he has a very low level of tolerance for people who, as he said recently in his newspaper column, are peddlers of sh_t. With this in mind, I would have given anything to be able to hear what the 12th President of the Philippines said to President Rodrigo Duterte in the course of their wellpublicized meeting in Malacanang last week. FVR minced no words in addressing, in his column, the positions taken by Rodrigo Duterte on two very important national issues. I refer to the gamut of relations between the Philippines and the US and the United Nations-sponsored treaty on climate-change mitigation that went into effect on Nov. 4 upon its ratification by the acquired minimum number of signatories. Mr. Duterte must have gotten an earful from FVR. Why is it likely that FVR spoke last week to Rodrigo Duterte in forthright, you’re-full-of-it terms? Several reasons. The 12th President is a respected and admired – not feared and despised – citizen of this Republic. He was the principal hero of the Edsa Revolution – the glorious event of Feb. 22-25, 1986 that the family and supporters of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos want to reduce to historical insignificance – and he left the presidency after six years of governance that witnessed the removal of the institutional and policy roadblocks to national economic efficiency and placed the Philippine economy on the road to more rapid and sustainable growth. FVR did it all and has nothing more to prove. The second reason why I am inclined to believe that Mr. Duterte received an earful from FVR was that the 12th President is a firm believer in solid staff work and has no patience for people who open their mouths and say things that have not been thoroughly studied and, worse, are full of the four-letter word that he mentioned in his column. When one spouts hot air, one gets a steely look from the Man from Asingan (Pangasinan). The third, and by no means least important, reason is that FVR feels entitled to speak his mind to Mr. Duterte in the wake of Duterte’s claim – since denied by FVR – that the 12th President flew down to Davao last year to persuade Mr. Duterte to make a run for the presidency. On at least two occasions the incumbent president introduced FVR and then expressed thanks to FVR for having encouraged him to make his presidential run. FVR probably thought, if you say that I was partly responsible for your having become president, then I have every right to upbraid you for the foolish things that you have been saying and doing. And foolish, in FVR’s view, have been Duterte’s actions and utterances on Philippine-US relations and climate change. He has said so in no uncertain terms in his column. Why quarrel with the US, the Philippines’ longtime defense ally and economic partner, in your quest for an “independent foreign policy”, FVR asked Duterte in his column. Why must such a policy be exclusive of longtime friends? Your foreign policy moves are “discombobulating,” FVR told Mr. Duterte. FVR had very sharp words for Duterte with regard to the UNsponsored climate change treaty, which Duterte had declared he would not respect. “All the reasons you have advanced for not honoring the treaty are full of sh_t,” the straight-talking 12th President told Duterte. If I were asked to liken the recent turn in relations between Rodrigo Duterte and FVR to a sporting event, I would choose a baseball game, with Duterte as batter and FVR as pitcher. At this point the score is Strike 2. In baseball, Strike 3 means that the batter is out. Is Strike 3 on the way? E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com
Customs, BIR authorities confiscate P1-b illegal cigarettes By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE government said Monday over P1 billion worth of illegal cigarettes and paraphernalia were seized in separate operations by the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue. Separate teams from Customs and BIR, the government’s largest revenue collecting agencies, seized fake cigarettes worth over P1 billion, fake tax stamps worth P175 million in taxes, along with
raw materials, machines for cigarette manufacturing and other paraphernalia in separate raids in Pangasinan, Pampanga and Bulacan. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III lauded the two agencies for intensifying their unified campaign against the illicit tobacco trade and said such raids proved that the Duterte administration was serious in its resolve to fight corruption and other illegal activities on all fronts. “The BOC and BIR deserve to
be commended for conducting without letup their campaign to rid our country of the illicit tobacco trade, which deprives the government of hundreds of millions of pesos in revenues yearly and eats up the market of legitimate manufacturers who abide by the law and pay their taxes regularly,” Dominguez said. “These sustained efforts show that the Duterte administration’s campaign against corruption and other illegal activities would be
pursued with the same zeal as its war against narco traffickers and illegal drugs,” he said. Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon said four warehouses were found to be counterfeiting popular cigarette brands in Villasis, Pangasinan. The raid by a composite team led to the seizure of various materials for cigarette manufacturing and the arrest of 24 undocumented foreign nationals. Faeldon said the raid on the warehouses inside the Villasis
compound yielded over P1 billion worth of fake cigarettes, along with 11 units of cigarette making/ packaging machines, 1,453 sacks of cut-filter, 27 containers of menthol solution, 1,149 master cases for assorted brands of cigarettes, 22 trays of filter, 378 rolls of inner liner, 469 rolls of clear wrap, 2,173 reams of counterfeit BIR tax stamps, 88 pales glue, 1,251 packs of cigarette brand soft labels, 4 units of air compressor and 3, 244 bundles of assorted master cases.