Stocks snap 2-day slump; Peso falls to 55.17 a dollar

PSEi February 15, 2023

STOCKS recovered Wednesday from a twoday slump, after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced that remittances from Filipinos working overseas grew to a record $32.54 billion last year.

The PSE index, the 30-company benchmark of the Philippine Stock Exchange, rose 30 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 6,882.09 the Philippines from the date of the filing of this petition up to the time of my admission to Philippine citizenship.

Wednesday, as four of the six subsectors advanced, led by property shares.

The broader all-share index picked up 4 points, or 0.12 percent, to settle at 3,636.18, on a value turnover of P5.26 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 113 to 71, while 46 issues were unchanged.

Five of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Universal Robina Corp. which climbed 4.54 percent to P147.40 and SM Prime Holdings Inc. which rose 2.70 percent to P38.00.

The peso, however, slipped 0.62 percent Wednesday to finish at 55.17 against the US dollar from 54.83 Tuesday. The local currency was still up 1.05 percent since the start of this year’s trading.

14. My character witnesses are Rochelle L. Ongchap and Alan L. Tan both Filipino citizens, of legal age, and residing at Quezon City and Quezon City respectively, who have executed sworn statements attached hereto in support of my instant petition, together with: (a) brief biographical data about themselves; (b) detailed statements on the dates they first came to know me, the circumstances of our initial acquaintance and the reasons and extent of our continuing familiarity; and (c) the number of times they have acted as character witnesses in other petitions for naturalization.

Most Active

Meanwhile, other Asian markets sank Wednesday as a mixed US inflation report did little to soothe investor worries that the Federal Reserve will continue to ramp up interest rates, which many fear could cause a recession.

The much-anticipated figures from January’s consumer price index showed a slight slowdown from the previous month, but the 6.4 percent reading was higher than forecast, suggesting a return to normality will take longer than hoped.

A number of top Fed officials also lined up to restate that borrowing costs will likely need to go higher and for an extended period if they are to bring inflation down to their two percent target.

Recent data had suggested the bank’s almost year-long rate-hike campaign was beginning to show results, providing fuel for a healthy run-up in global markets in January as traders began factoring in a possible cut towards the end of 2023.

But that optimism has taken a severe hit, with a blockbuster jobs report confirming that the world’s top economy remains robust, narrowing the scope for the Fed to ease up.

After the figures were released, monetary policymakers reiterated their determination to stay the course, with expectations that rates could go well above five percent, from the current 4.5-4.75 percent. With AFP

Twitter to name new CEO by end of 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—

Twitter boss Elon Musk said

Wednesday that a new CEO might be running the online platform by the end of 2023, after a “rollercoaster” since he took full ownership last year.

“I’m guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company,” he told the World Government Summit conference in Dubai via video.

“I need to stabilize the organization and make sure it’s in a healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out... I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year.”

Musk paid $44 billion for his favorite social media platform and exiting day-to-day operations would allow him to deflect criticism that he is neglecting his other ventures, especially car company

Grab set to bolster dominance of domestic taxi service business

SINGAPOREAN ride-hailing app Grab seems to be an entitled service provider in the Philippines.

The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is clearing the way for Grab Philippines to obtain 100,000 more slots in tranches for its fourwheeled vehicles (or transport network vehicle service)—a move that will surely raise eyebrows in the sector. LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III reasoned out that Grab’s additional and future franchises would help create 500,000 new jobs as part of an investment deal with the government.

But allocating more franchises to Grab is tantamount to promoting unfair competition in the TNVS taxi business. It would make more sense if the LTFRB opted to open the market to new players instead, given the complaints of overcharging and abuse lodged against Grab.

A group this early criticized the decision of the LTFRB to grant 100,000 TNVS slots to Grab. Digital Pinoys national campaigner Ronald Gustilo called the LTFRB decision an abuse of dominance and could lead to outright monopoly. He urged the government to help other transport network companies that can fill the gap in demand instead of granting the slots to just one company.

“Why is LTFRB giving Grab special treatment when it is taking them too long to decide on complaints against the overpricing and surge pricing abuse? LTFRB should first decide on the pending complaints before handing out new franchises. It seems that they are tolerating this kind of practice,” says Gustilo.

The decision of the LTFRB may also pave the way for more slots in the app-based motorcycle-taxi hailing service. I am not sure, though, if the LTFRB has the jurisdiction to grant franchises to the motorcycle taxi business. The regulator is part of the Department of Transportation’s Technical Working Group (DOTrTWG), along with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and some members of the Senate and Congress.

The TWG was formed to oversee the government’s motorcycle taxi pilot program in aid of legislation. Three motorcycle taxi companies are part of it—Angkas, Joyride and Move It. The program aims to create and develop a comprehensive motorcycle taxi law that will

Tesla, which has seen its share price plummet since he took over Twitter.

Musk has given few clues as to what type of leader he is looking for. On December 21, when he first announced he planned to step down as CEO, he said only that he would limit his own duties to software and server engineering once “someone foolish enough” had taken his place.

Since Musk took full ownership of Twitter on October 27, the platform has been riven by chaos, with mass layoffs, the return of banned accounts, and the suspension of journalists critical of the South African-born billionaire. Musk’s takeover also saw a surge in racist or hateful tweets, drawing scrutiny from regulators and chasing away big advertisers, Twitter’s primary source of revenue. AFP benefit both riders and commuters.

Can Guadiz grant franchises to MC taxis when the program is still in its testing stage? Granting MC taxi franchises to Grab in itself is contentious. For the sake of argument, those MC taxi franchises should be given to Move It, and not Grab

To recall, Grab recently acquired 99 percent of Move It’s business operations. Both Grab and Move It, in all of their media interviews, said the merger would not affect Move It’s business operations because Move It remained independent from Grab.

Move It, says general manager Wayne Jacinto in an interview with DZMM on September 13, 2022, will remain as Move It regardless of the investments and shares bought by Grab.

Grab Philippines country head Grace Vera Cruz echoed Jacinto’s statement in a CNN interview on September 15, 2022. “Move It exists as a separate entity and Move It has the license for the pilot or the accreditation for the pilot. It doesn’t automatically mean that Grab is going to participate in the pilot through Grab as the shareholder. What it means is Grab is a shareholder of Move It and Move It continues to be the participant in the motorcycle taxi pilot,” says Cruz.

Meanwhile, complaints against the backdoor entry of Grab into the MC taxi pilot study through its acquisition of Move It remains unresolved.

Lawmakers, thus, should pass the motorcycle taxi law now to serve as basis for rules and regulations of the industry. The legislation will foster competition and lead to better services for the riding public.

Grab’s growing dominance, meanwhile should be checked. The Philippine Competition Commission has complained during a recent congressional hearing that Grab continued its fare increases despite the fines it received for overcharging.

Marikina 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo reminded the PCC during the same hearing that it had the power to investigate Grab Philippines about its abuse of dominance.

E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com

PAL reopens more flights to China after 3-year pause amid pandemic

By Darwin G. Amojelar

PHILIPPINE Airlines said Wednesday it reopened more flights to mainland China after halting operations for almost three years amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are forging ahead with the restoration of PAL’s Greater China flight network, an investment that will strengthen our connections to the economic hubs in the mainland and help boost bilateral relations between the Filipino and Chinese people,” said Capt. Stanley Ng, president and chief operating officer of PAL.

“We hope that our relaunch of flights to Beijing and Shanghai will help fuel a rebound in tourist and business travel. Our goal is to once again operate the largest network of flights on multiple routes between mainland China and the Philippines,” he said.

The Lucio Tan-led airline is resuming direct flights to Shanghai on Feb. 14 and to Beijing on Feb. 21.

The long-awaited resumption of passenger flights linking Manila with Shanghai’s Pudong Airport and Beijing’s Capital Airport came nearly three years after most services were paused because of pandemic-related border restrictions.

Mainland China was the second largest source of tourists to the Philippines, with 1.74 million Chinese residents visiting in 2019.

Shanghai and Beijing join Xiamen and Guangzhou (Canton) in the roster of PAL’s mainland Chinese destinations.

PAL is also increasing its ManilaXiamen-Manila flights from weekly to three times weekly starting Feb. 25 and its Manila-Guangzhou-Manila flights from weekly to twice weekly starting Feb. 16, and progressively increasing to daily flights on March 26.

Quanzhou (Jinjiang) and Macau are next in line for resumption in March 2023, PAL said.