Car sales rose 33% in July, extended growth to 17 months

By Othel V. Campos

VEHICLE sales grew 33.3 percent in July 2023 to 37,086 units from 27,813 in the same month last year, two industry groups said Tuesday.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report all automotive segments posted incremental increases in July.

Vehicle sales also went up by 2.1 percent from 36,311 units sold in June 2023.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said “the auto industry is notably going strong despite the consumer spending slowdown attributed to the risks of inflation.”

“In fact, the auto industry is sustain- ing its positive growth trend as sales of new motor vehicles recorded a continued year-on-year growth for the past 17 consecutive months—since March 2022. The industry hopes to maintain this trend for the year,” he said.

Passenger car sales went up by 49.8 percent to 9,509 in July from 6,346 units a year ago and 5.82 percent from 8,986 units in June 2023.

Commercial vehicles sales grew 28.5 percent to 27,577 from 21,467 units last year. All categories under the commercial vehicle segment registered incremental sales increases.

Month-on-month sales of commercial vehicles went up 0.9 percent from 27,325 units in June.

Total sales in the first seven months reached 239,501 units, up by 31.1 per-

Electric co-op opposes franchise area expansion of Davao Light

By Alena Mae S. Flores

NORTHERN Davao Electric Cooperative on Tuesday expressed opposition of proposed bills that aim to expand the franchise area of Davao Light and Power Company Inc.

Nordeco legal counsel Jeorge Rapista warned of a possible “constitutional crisis” if the four bills seeking to amend the franchise areas of electricity distributors in Mindanao were passed.

House Bill Nos. 5077, 6740, 6995 and 7047 proposed to expand Davao Light’s franchise area.

The bills were deliberated upon by lawmakers for its alleged violations to the Constitution and the Electric Power cent from 182,687 delivered in the same period in 2022.

Industry Reform Act of 2001.

“The Constitution does not allow laws that impair contracts. With HBs 5077, 6740, 6995 and 7047, existing contracts of Nordeco will be substantially impaired. For example, power supply contracts will be servicing a much smaller franchise area,” said Rapista, who attended the session of the Committee on Legislative Franchises.

“If these HBs are passed, it would create a disastrous precedent that can be abused. It encourages cutthroat behavior among competitors for the same franchise areas. Essentially, it overwrites the due process required by the EPIRA law to suspend or revoke franchise rights,” Rapista said.

Passenger cars sold in the sevenmonth period went up by 33.1 percent to 60,501 from 45,349 units a year earlier, while commercial vehicles sales increased 30.4 percent to 179,144 from 137,338 units.

Toyota Motor Philippines led the market with 45.99-percent share, followed by Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. with 18.30 percent.

Completing the top 5 are Ford Motor Philippines Company Inc. with 6.94-percent market share, followed by Nissan Philippines Inc. with market share of 6.54 percent.

Suzuki Philippines Inc. displaced Honda Cars Philippines Inc. on fifth place with 4.25 percent market.

Pse Index Closing

Tuesday, ponent status.

SMC’s unsolicited proposal for the CBEX and NBEX was also approved by the Cavite and Batangas provincial governments. Both projects share the common goal of connecting the provinces of Cavite and Batangas through Tagaytay City.

MPTC and SMC agreed to come together as partners in the significant ventures.

Aside from CALAX, MPTC holds the concession for several vital expressways including the Manila-Cavite Expressway, its C5 Link Segment, the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway, NLEX Connector Road and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in Cebu.

By Julito G. Rada

REMITTANCES reached a six-month high in June, driven partly by higher inflation that required the sending of more money by Filipinos working overseas to their dependents in the country.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Tuesday showed that cash remittances coursed through banks amounted to $2.81 billion in June, up by 2.1 percent from $2.75 billion posted in the same month last year. This was also the highest value since it hit $3.159 billion in December 2022.

“The expansion in cash remittances in June 2023 was due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said in a statement. This brought cash remittances in the first half of the year to $15.79 billion, up 2.9 percent from $15.35 billion a year ago.

“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Singapore and United Arab Emirates contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first half of 2023. Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Japan,” the BSP said.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the continued growth of remittances could be considered “a good signal or bright spot for the overall economy… as the Fed recently signaled reduced odds of recession in the US, which is the world’s largest economy.”

Ricafort said the continued growth in remittances might have to do with the relatively higher prices or inflation that also required the sending of more OFW remittances to their families in the Philippines.

“For the coming months, a singledigit growth in OFW remittances could still continue as OFW families still need to cope up with relatively higher inflation locally that would require the sending of more remittances, as well as some normalization of spending by consumers for both essentials and non-essentials as the economy reopened towards greater normalcy,” Ricafort said.

Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also increased 2.2 percent to $3.13 billion in June from $3.06 billion a year earlier.

“The rise in personal remittances in June 2023 was due to higher remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.

Cumulative personal remittances grew 3.0 percent to $17.59 billion in the first half of 2023 from $17.09 billion in the comparable period in 2022.

He said APEC Partylist Rep. Sergio Dagooc and PHILRECA Partylist Rep. Presley De Jesus agreed with his opinion.

The lawmakers noted the non-impairment clause (Article III, Section 10) under the 1987 Constitution as a key challenge to the bills as well as Section 27 of the EPIRA which provided that “all existing franchises be allowed to their full term.” Rapista said if the measures were passed into law, it would substantially amend the current franchises held by distributors such as the Nordeco, which is serving most of the municipalities and cities that were proposed to be transferred to Davao Light.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

GT CAPITAL Holdings Inc. said Tuesday second-quarter net income attributable to parent company surged 152 percent to P9.94 billion from P3.94 billion in the same period last year, boosted by higher revenues from property and automotive businesses.

Second-quarter consolidated revenues jumped 21 percent year-on-year to P60.6 billion, the company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

“Our key businesses in banking, financial services, automobile and property development delivered un- precedented gains on the back of tempered inflation, resilient consumer spending and political stability,” GTCAP president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said.

“Despite lingering threats of rate hikes, foreign exchange volatility and global recession, we are optimistic that our domestic economy remains somewhat insulated and that the growth momentum will help carry us forward for the rest of the year,” Bautista said.

The strong second-quarter financial results pushed first-half net income to P16.6 billion, exceeding 2019 pre-pandemic earnings by 130 percent