The peso rate closed at P54.34 to the US dollar last Friday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines. The weighted average rate stands at P54.222.
BIR collection up 12.7%
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said its collections in January and February rose 12.7 percent from the same period a year ago. The agency expects its revenues this year to rise 17 percent, compared with 10.2 percent growth in 2004, helped by a new law that raised taxes on alcohol and tobacco products and some administrative measures. The budget deficit in 2004 was P186.1 billion or 3.9 percent of GDP. The BIR, which makes up about two-thirds of all taxes, said revenue collected in the two-month period reached P73.693 billion ($1.4 billion), with a target of P111.13 billion for the first quarter. The tax agency is struggling to rid itself of rampant corruption that has depressed revenues over the years, with the country’s ratio of tax effort to gross domestic product falling to about 13 percent in 2004 from 17 percent in 1997. The BIR launched a campaign this month to chase prominent tax cheats, filing charges against a military general who faces separate graft cases, a professional basketball player, and two health and fitness celebrities. Collections from large taxpayers, who pay more than half of total revenues, climbed 14.45 percent in the first two months of the year from a year earlier, the BIR said in a statement.
CIAP, PICA set seminar
The Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) and the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitrators will be holding a seminar on March 30, 2005 at the CIAP office at Jupiter I Building, Jupiter St., Makati City. Lawyer Victor P. Lazatin, Senior Law Partner of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz Law Offices, and president of the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitration (PICA) will handle the morning session of the orientation seminar on "Construction Dispute Resolution" on March 30, 2005. The whole day seminar (9 am - 4 pm) is jointly organized by the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) and the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitrators for the benefit of architects, engineers, accountants, lawyers, contractors, project owners and all personnel involved in the construction industry and is designed to update the participants on alternative modes of dispute resolution, such as mediation and arbitration. For registration and inquiries, the CIAC Secretariat Office may be contacted at tel. #897-0853/ telefax #: 897-9313.
Aranetas selling smelter plant
Araneta Properties Inc. said it has agreed to sell its smelter plant to Platinum Group Metals Corp for 150 million pesos, payable in five years. Araneta Properties said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that it decided to sell the facility since its main activity is now its real estate business.
Korean trade delegation due
A Korean Trade Delegation from Suwon City will visit Manila for a series of business meetings with the local community on promising products from Korea. The Korean companies seek business opportunities and wish to meet Philippine importer-distributors and buyers. Some of the major products to be presented are various medical and dental equipments, health and beauty products, sex therapy device for men, household safety gas controller, nano technology-based protective coating for all kinds of application, quartz crystal units and ceramic SMD oscillators, car DVD and overhead LCD monitors. Security issues will be addressed by the fingerpint door lock systems while magazine loaders and unloaders for the SMT/PCB assembly line aims to provide support to the electronic industry. The event is being organized through the Korea Trade Center Manila in cooperation with FFCCI, CFBCI, PCCI and other industry associations.
UST, Magsaysay Maritime tieup
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Graduate School has partnered with Magsaysay Maritime Corporation (MMC), the country’s leading overseas shipboard employment agency, for a Micro Enterprise Development Program for Overseas Filipinos Workers aimed at promoting entrepreneurship or business creation as the key to economic development. This corporate social responsibility project is designed to give the OFW participants a broad knowledge of the current Philippine business environment, which should lead to enterprise identification and selection, market research on global competitiveness. A joint undertaking with MMC’s Crew and Family Affairs Office, the program will be managed by a team of UST graduate school faculty members who have distinguished themselves as practitioners in their own fields and represent the best from both the private and public sectors. MMC, for its part, will be assisting the participants with financial capital they need to put up their micro-enterprise through its Magsaysay Employee, Crew and Allottees Development Cooperative (MECADEC).
Amalgamated sells Semirara stake
Asia Amalgamated Holdings Corp said it sold its shares in Semirara Mining Corp for P6.9 million and will lend the amount to affiliate company USWCI. Asia Amalgamated said the one-year loan to USWCI would carry an annual interest rate of 12 percent. The company did not provide other details in its disclosure to the stock exchange.
GEN automation inks deal with German firm
Promising partnerships between the Philippines and Germany can start at the level of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). GEN Automation Technologies Corporation officially signed a partnership agreement with Germany’s AVIRA GmbH, in an effort to further provide the country’s SMEs the affordable and reliable security solutions much needed in today’s business world. The agreement makes GEN Automation the official partner and distributor of AVIRA products in the country. These products include security solutions such as AVIRA Desktop Family, AVIRA Mailserver Family, AVIRA File Server Family, as well as AVIRA Webgate (for proxy servers), all of which are compatible for companies using either Windows or Linux operating system (OS) platforms. GEN Automation President and General Manager Glen SA. Celis said, "We are confident about the response that AVIRA will be generating from Philippine companies. As an SME ourselves, GEN Automation knows what our clients need, and our partnership with AVIRA is aimed exactly at this — addressing the growing needs of SMEs in the security for their desktops and servers. AVIRA products make excellent alternative solutions because of their affordability, while at the same time tested for their reliability."
BEIJING, Mar. 17 (AFP)—A fledgling private Chinese airline is planning to provide luxury business travel between the capitals of Southeast Asian countries to Yunnan province, state press said Thursday. Ying’an Airways hopes to launch its maiden flight in June, flying a 19-seat Y12E business jet to the capitals of Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Xinhua news agency said. "Ying’an hopes to become the first ‘air taxi’ in China," Li Guiying, chairman of the airline’s board, was quoted as saying. The carrier is also in talks with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for more routes to and from Yunnan, which has become a popular regional tourist and business destination. China’s first private airline, Okay Airways, last week launched its maiden service, flying a Boeing 737-900 with 72 passengers on board from eastern Tianjin to central Changsha. Up to 10 groups of private investors are planning to take advantage of a new opening in China’s aviation industry, originally a semi-militarized sector that still presents awe-inspiring odds to newcomers, reports have said. Among other private carriers waiting in the wings to begin operations are United Eagle Airlines in the southwestern city of Chengdu, Spring International Airlines in the eastern city of Shanghai and Huaxia Airlines in China’s west.
