HONG KONG, June 6 (Reuters) — The Philippines has asked investment banks to bid for the right to arrange an offshore sovereign bond issue, a banking source said. The deadline for proposals was Tuesday, June 6, the source said, adding that the government did not specify the issue size or maturity it was looking to raise. Manila had sent out a request-for-proposals last Friday, the source said. The Philippines, Asia’s most active sovereign debt issuer outside of Japan, sold about .1 billion in dollar and euro bonds in January. It needs to raise a further billion to meet its foreign borrowing requirements this year. The Philippine government sells bonds at home and abroad to fund its budget deficit, which is targetted to reach P125 billion (.37 billion), or 2.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2006. Manila had a budget gap of P146.5 billion, or 2.7 percent of GDP, in 2005. The January bond issue was arranged by Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and UBS. The Philippines is rated BB-minus by Standard & Poor’s.

The National Food Authority will likely take delivery next year of -million worth of rice under a US commodity loan program, a senior government official said yesterday. Gregorio Tan, NFA Administrator, said the interagency Investment Coordinating Council had approved of the commodity loan, empowering the Department of Finance to sign the agreement with US Department of Agriculture. According to Tan, the loan will consist mainly of rice to shore up the country’s local inventory for next year. "The Department of Agriculture sees no problem in allocating the entire loan for rice," Tan told Dow Jones Newswires. The million could translate to around 65,000 metric tons of 5 percent broken rice for shipment early next year, he said. Commodity loans under the US Department of Agriculture’s Public Law 480 program are monetized and the cash proceeds are used for agricultural development programs. The law was established in 1954 to provide the US with a means to distribute humanitarian food aid worldwide. The loan carries a concessional interest rate of 1% per year payable within 30 years with a grace period on the first five years.

Sales of pre-need firms continued to be weak in April, falling 45.59 to P1.21 billion from P2.22 billion from the same month last year, as the industry continued to be plagued by negative sentiments. Pre-need sales figures collated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that the number of plans sold plunged 56.75 percent to 14,380 from 33,252. Pension plans accounted for the bulk of sales (55.55 percent) at P670.44 million, down 53.33 percent from P1.44 billion last year. Education plans accounted for 27.76 percent of sales but was 29 percent lower at P335.04. million from P472 million while life plans fell 35 percent to P201 million from P309.27 million. In terms of plans sold, pension plans accounted for 42 percent at 6,074 plans (down 62.21 percent), followed by life plans at 5,609 (down 56.27 percent), and education plans at 2,697 (down 38 percent). (JAL)

The Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) has extended a 1,397 grant to the the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) to boost the efficiency of the country’s non-government organizations. The World Bank which administers the fund is jointly undertaking the project with the government and PCNC in helping deliver a range of basic services and development activities for the poor and vulnerable sectors. World Bank’s country director Joachim von Amsberg said: "The World Bank recognizes the important role that NGOs and CBOs play in helping communities develop their capacity to chart their own development priorities. " This grant will strengthen their capacity to perform this role, help build mechanisms for greater accountability, and reward good practices among the NGOs," says Von Amsberg. The PCNC certification process has evolved into a self-regulatory mechanism that determines whether the funds entrusted to NGOs and CBOs are utilized for the intended social benefits. This mechanism is implemented while maintaining the autonomy and flexibility in the NGO movement. The government recognizes the value of this process and has entrusted to PCNC the authority to evaluate and certify NGOs applying for donee institution status based on specific standards. The certification serves as a basis for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to grant tax benefits to entities donating funds to the certified institutions.