BusinessWorld (Philippines) articles from December 2000

BusinessWorld (Philippines) archives from December 2000

Australia invites writers for 2001.
December 30, 2000... The Tasmania Writers Centre is inviting writers to take up a residency opportunity in Australia. In 2001, the program will support one international writer and one published Australian writer residing in any Australian state or territory...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (1).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (2).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (6).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (7).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (8).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (9).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (10).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (12).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (11).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (13).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (14).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (15).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (16).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (17).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (18).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (19).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

THE ESTRADA IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NOTES FROM THE TRIAL (20).
December 30, 2000... (THESE ARE EXCERPTS from a rushed, unofficial BusinessWorld transcript of the Senate hearing of the impeachment trial. They are intended to provide the reader only an idea of how the hearing proceeded. The official transcript can only come...

Peso Cross Rates as of December 28, 2000.
December 30, 2000... one unit Phil Aussie Bahrain Cndn French of currency peso dollar dinar dollar franc Philippines 1.0000 0.0360 0.0076 0.0304 0.1416 Australia 27.7553 1.0000 0.2104 0.8435 3.9313 Bahrain 131.9221 4.7530 1.0000 4.0092 18.6858 ...

BSP Reference Rates as of December 28, 2000.
December 30, 2000... Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent of foreign of US$1 of foreign currency in in foreign currency in Currency US Dollar currency RP peso Convertible currencies with BSP US dollar 1.000000 1.000000 49.732000 Japanese yen 0.008757...

Philippine Stock Exchange as of December 28, 2000.
December 30, 2000... Stks Name Volume High Low Close Code BANKS & FINANCIAL SERVICES Banks ASIA Asiatrust Dev't Bank 1,000 8 8 8 BPI Bank of the Phil. Islands 80,700 58.5 58 58 CHTR Chinatrust (Phils.) 445,500 18.25 18 18.25 EBC Equitable PCI...

China facility to be tapped for FTI rehab.
December 29, 2000... The Department of Agriculture (DA) intends to tap a Chinese farm credit facility to finance its planned upgrade of the National Food Authority's Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig. DA agribusiness and marketing service director...

MTVi deploys Exchange 2000.
December 29, 2000... The MTVi Group, an online music entertainment company, has recently completed the rollout of Microsoft's latest messaging and collaboration platform. In a statement, Microsoft said MTVi has undertaken a full deployment of Exchange 2000...

Editorial: The View from Taft: Coincidence or miracle?
December 29, 2000... A year ago, Flor Tarriela, a co-director in FINEX, asked me if I could contribute to a compilation of little stories she was collecting for publication in a little book she was to call "Coincidence or Miracle?" She said the theme of the book...

Editorial: One Voice: A financial genius?
December 29, 2000... The weekend after the explosive testimony of Clarissa Ocampo that President Joseph Ejercito had signed the Equitable-PCIB Investment Management Agreement as Jose Velarde, the country was abuzz with news that Erap was preparing his resignation...

Upshot: Senate also on trial.
December 29, 2000... Ironically, the jurors have now themselves become defendants. After the devastating evidence of Kissa Ocampo at the "last two minutes" of the year 2000 proceedings, Erap is not the only one on trial. It is the entire Senate. And the jurors...

Street Strategist: Identity paradox.
December 29, 2000... The Street Strategist is the most famous unknown you've ever met - and that makes him a living paradox. Now, this paradox isn't an event by itself save for about 40 to 50 readers throughout the year who inquired about the person behind...

Political crisis seen to dampen sentiment on local banks.
December 29, 2000... US investment house Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) advised caution against investing in Philippine banks next year, saying the current political crisis is likely to undermine the fundamentals of the sector. "The focus on politics in the near...

Social Security System (SSS): 'We are not unloading shares in Equitable PCI'.
December 29, 2000... State-owned Social Security System (SSS) yesterday said it plans to hold on to its investment in Equitable PCI Bank, which it described as one of its "top equity earners this year". In the first 11 months, SSS claimed it earned P160...

Investments in RP papers help reduce foreign debt.
December 29, 2000... More local investors are parking their funds in debt securities - preferably dollar-denominated - rather than buy increasingly risky stocks, latest data from the Bangko Sentral show. The shift in investment preference helped trim down the...

Let private sector pick up the tab, BSP says on Landbank proposal.
December 29, 2000... State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines should sell its bad debts to the private sector instead of making the National Government pick up the tab, the Bangko Sentral yesterday said. Landbank president Margarito B. Teves the other day...

P1.2-B block sale of Chinatrust shares carried out.
December 29, 2000... Chinatrust Commercial Bank Corp. of Taiwan yesterday formally bought out its local partners in listed Chinatrust Philippines Commercial Bank Corp. for P1.2 billion, effectively raising its stake in the local commercial bank to over 93%. ...

PDIC takes over Jade Bank.
December 29, 2000... The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has placed Jade Progressive Savings Mortgage Bank under receivership effective yesterday. The takeover came a week after the policy-making Monetary Board issued a resolution forbidding Jade...

Demand Rates as of December 26, 2000.
December 29, 2000... The interbank demand rate weighted average was 13-19/32%, according to the Bangko Sentral treasury department. Rates quoted by 17 participating institutions ranged from 13-9/16% to 14%,with lenders outnumbering borrowers at 10 to 7. Total...

Sun Network Storage leads UNIX disk storage market.
December 29, 2000... International Data Corp. (IDC), in a report soon to be released, forecasts that Sun Network Storage will be the worldwide leader in terabytes of UNIX disk storage systems shipped with a 25.5% market share in 2000. This was announced in a...

Seagate to supply hard drives for Microsoft's game console.
December 29, 2000... Seagate Technology recently announced it has been chosen as a strategic supplier of hard drives for Microsoft's future-generation Xbox video game console which is due to hit retail stores in the third quarter of 2001. US-based Seagate is...

Need for tripartite discussion group on wireless R&D noted.
December 29, 2000... The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) is seeking to tie up with the academic community and the private sector in coming up with a road map for research and development (R&D) for wireless technologies. This challenge was raised...

Think tank releases IT management guidelines.
December 29, 2000... As dot-com consolidations and CEO/CIO turnovers confirm, skills of a business executive and an information technology (IT) expert are rarely combined in one person. Yet managers must direct international enterprises dependent on IT, and...

Nortel eyes consumer market for wireless modems.
December 29, 2000... US-based Nortel Networks hopes to capture the consumer market when it introduces its wireless modems in the middle of year 2002. The development of the modems results from the communication equipment firm's separate alliances with Xircom...

Calling a Spade: It has been a good year.
December 29, 2000... During this period when year-enders - reviews and analyses of the past, discussions about the present, predictions about the future - are a dime a dozen, one doubts anyone would make the claim that 2000 was a very good year, at least as far...

HP, Intel to deliver NetStructure products to service providers.
December 29, 2000... Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and Intel Corp. recently announced in a joint statement that they will work together to offer Intel's NetStructure appliances to their existing and potential customers. As early as March next year, HP is also...

DENR starts implementation of $4.8-M land mgmt program.
December 29, 2000... A long-term project (15 to 20 years) that will develop an efficient system of land titling and administration in the Philippines has been started by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) following the signing of a...

Cerilles warns unscrupulous dep't employees asking for bribes.
December 29, 2000... Environment Secretary Antonio H. Cerilles is advising the public to immediately report employees of the Environment department who ask for bribe money in exchange for the speedy processing of applications for land titles. Mr. Cerilles...

Express distributor eyes Asian network in tie-up.
December 29, 2000... TNT, a worldwide global express distribution, logistics and international mail company, has signed an agreement with Fujitsu Computers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. to implement a state-of-the-art wireless terminal system throughout Asia. The...

Telecom company awards groups for innovative ideas.
December 29, 2000... Five charitable and nonprofit organizations from Australia, Fiji, South Africa and the United States received awards for their innovative ideas on how Internet technology can be used to improve life for the individuals and communities they...

Gov't agency bags ISO 9002.
December 29, 2000... The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), was conferred an IS0 9002 quality standards certificate yesterday, the first bureau in the National Government to earn the distinction of having...

Major banks use card machine.
December 29, 2000... The DataCard 9000 Series System - a high-volume card issuance machine which offers a full range of in-line card personalization options - is available locally. It can generate 700 to 1,000 cards per hour - a total of 10,000 cards per...

Briefs: Forest parks.
December 29, 2000... Rustan's Marketing Corp. is supporting the development of Luntiang Pilipinas Forest Parks at the interchange of Cabuyao and Calamba (Laguna) along the South Luzon Expressway. Luntiang Pilipinas is a nationwide urban tree-growing program that...

Briefs: Virtual store front.
December 29, 2000... Monark, the Caterpillar distributor in the Philippines, embraces the Internet with the unveiling of eLink. eLink provides a suite of software solutions that brings together a virtual dealer store front. The system links Monark Caterpillar and...

Briefs: Holiday treat.
December 29, 2000... Citibank introduces a new privilege for card holders. This Christmas, cardholders can give themselves and their loved ones Nike items as Citibank offers exclusive privileges and discounts on the popular sports label. Citibank cardholders will...

Briefs: Landline service.
December 29, 2000... Christmas is the time of get-together for family and friends, especially among Filipinos. And for those in far away places who can't make it to their yearly gathering, Globelines, the telephone service of Globe Telecom GMCR, Inc., provides...

Briefs: Bank net profits.
December 29, 2000... Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), which owns Venezuela's largest bank through the recent fusion of Banco Venezuela and Banco Caracas, said it expected net profits from Latin American units of the banking and financial group to...

Briefs: Power supply backup.
December 29, 2000... Power shortages could be addressed by a reliable and efficient backup power supply. Coleman Asia recently introduced its new line of Coleman Powermate portable generators at the Richmonde Hotel in Mandaluyong City. The new models of one of...

Ice cream alternative BTIC turns 10.
December 29, 2000... All the goodness of ice cream; none of its bad stuff. This was what dessert and confection aficionado Butch Bonoan dreamed of soon after his quadruple heart bypass. Four years later, Mr. Bonoan not only got his wish, he got something better....

New Filipino cookbook out.
December 29, 2000... Cooking with Filipino Chefs, a book project of the Center for Culinary Arts Manila (CCA) with text by Michaela Fenix was launched to commemorate the schools 4th anniversary. Released by Anvil Publishing, Inc., the book features recipes of...

Restaurant Row: CPK.
December 29, 2000... Original Chicken Barbecue is CPK's most popular pizza. First introduced in 1985 at CPK's first restaurant in Beverly Hills, the pizza's barbecue sauce and smoked Gouda cheese were an instant hit. All CPK pizzas are made with its traditional...

Restaurant Row: Dusit Hotel Nikko.
December 29, 2000... Available daily until Jan. 7, from 3-8 p.m., at the Deli Shop are holiday season treats bibingka and puto bumbong, served with a choice of coffee, tea or salabat. The bibingka is P145++ per order and P185++ with coffee, tea or salabat, while...

Restaurant Row: French Baker.
December 29, 2000... Celebrate the season with French Baker's cinnamon squares, cinnamon rolls, brownie squares, mini Danish pastries and classic fruit cake. Following the traditional French-baking techniques, French Baker products are preservative and...

Restaurant Row: Manila Diamond Hotel.
December 29, 2000... A do-it-yourself poolside cookout is offered from 5 to 9 p.m. For a minimum of four persons, the following menu packages are now available: tanguigue fillet, chicken and frankfurter at P500 person; boneless bangus or squid, pork and sliced...

Restaurant Row: Jack Daniels.
December 29, 2000... This year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Jack Daniels, the man behind the popular whisky. Customers who purchase three shots of Jack Daniel's at Stars, San Mig, Vincent's, Cable Car, Venezia, East St, Louis, Republic of Malate, 67T, Ten...

Restaurant Row: Remy Martin Silver.
December 29, 2000... Remy Philippines recently introduced Remy Silver a mixture of 43% cognac, 43% vodka and the remaining 14% as its secret ingredient. A fusion drink, Remy Silver can be enjoyed with ice, with tonic or with cola. Distributed by Maxxium...

Restaurant Row: SunCafe/Asian Diner.
December 29, 2000... In celebration of their first anniversary, the two restaurants are giving their customers the chance to win a trip with their Great Boracay Sun Escapade raffle promo. Until Feb. 15, every P100 spent at SunCafe, and P50 at The Asian Diner,...

Restaurant Row: Tequila Joe's.
December 29, 2000... For the cold and rainy months Tequila Joe's, home of Southwestern cuisine suggests Flame-Grilled Chicken Pizza and Philly Cheese Please sandwich. The restaurant's Grilled Chicken Pizza is extra crisp and made with the blend of freshest...

Restaurant Row: Zushi-san.
December 29, 2000... Storeys at The Fort welcomes Zushi-san Japanese restaurant. The newly opened outlet serves a wide selection of both cooked and raw sushi, from all-time favorite California Maki to the very exotic soft shell crab Temaki. Zushi-san is the...

Dining around Manila on New Year's Eve.
December 29, 2000... Want to start the New Year right? How about kicking it off with a fabulous dinner? Or cap-ping the night's revelries with a buffet brunch? Here are some of the options available this week-end. Fabulous five-star holiday feasts are...

BSP Reference Rates as of December 27, 2000.
December 29, 2000... Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent of foreign of US$1 of foreign currency in in foreign currency in Currency US Dollar currency RP peso Convertible currencies with BSP US dollar 1.000000 1.000000 49.443000 Japanese yen 0.008808...

Peso Cross Rates as of December 27, 2000.
December 29, 2000... one unit Phil Aussie Bahrain Cndn French of currency peso dollar dinar dollar franc Philippines 1.0000 0.0363 0.0076 0.0305 0.1425 Australia 27.5602 1.0000 0.2101 0.8415 3.9274 Bahrain 131.1555 4.7589 1.0000 4.0045 18.6900 ...

Peso, stocks softer after previous day's euphoric surge on Erap trial testimony.
December 29, 2000... After Tuesday's euphoria over the possibility of a quick end to the ongoing impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada, the financial markets yesterday came back to earth and gave back some of the previous day's gains. The peso failed...

Interest rates to rise as gov't debt swells.
December 29, 2000... Interest rates are expected to be higher in 2001 as the government borrows heavily from local sources to finance the big gap between its projected income and planned expenses for the year, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Felipe M. Medalla...

Top business group paints bleak picture for new year.
December 29, 2000... The Makati Business Club (MBC) forecasts a bleak business outlook for the Philippines next year, with the domestic economy growing at a rate even lower than what the government expects. The group, whose membership includes the country's...

Fuel prices may fall next month, DoE chief says.
December 29, 2000... Local prices of oil products may yet be cut by an average of one peso per liter next month, Energy Secretary Mario V. Tiaoqui said yesterday. "Yes, that (cut) is a good possibility. In fact, maybe later on we can even have a bigger price...

Brisk growth in new business loans seen.
December 29, 2000... Despite rock-bottom business confidence in the economy at present, the Bangko Sentral expects commercial loans to grow at an aggressive clip next year. "Our best-case scenario for loan growth is 8.0%-10% for next year," Bangko Sentral...

Prosecutors in impeach trial look to abbreviated proceedings.
December 29, 2000... Prosecutors in the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada panel may drop the charges of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution against the Chief Executive if their evidence on the charges of bribery and...

Stock exchange eyes new probe into BW trades.
December 29, 2000... The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) will resume its probe on brokers involved in the alleged price manipulation of BW Resources Corp. stocks once an appellate court restraining order on the investigation lapses or is lifted. Thus said...

Text messaging cr8ts a hul nu cltur: Is that gud or bad?
December 29, 2000... The proliferation of text messaging, as short message service (SMS) is known locally, has created a whole new culture in the country - it changes the way we communicate in more ways than we are aware of. Yet, even as this phenomenon seeps...

New Japan yen loan less than this year's.
December 29, 2000... Japan is expected to formally commit next month to lend another $1 billion to the Philippine government under the 24th Yen Loan Package, a National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) official said yesterday. The amount is smaller...

ECONOMIC INDICATORS: 89% of program area irrigated as of October.
December 29, 2000... Areas irrigated by the national irrigation systems as of October 31 covered 485,633 hectares (has.) or 89% of the total program area for the wet cropping season. This was slightly lower compared with last year's 90%, data from the...

Central Luzon 'Jose Velarde' emerges.
December 29, 2000... A Central Luzon resident claims that he owns the P500-million trust account with Equitable PCI Bank allegedly opened by President Joseph Estrada using a fictitious name. The resident claims to be "Jose Velarde," the fictitious name...

Taxwise or Otherwise: Notice on issuance of invoices/receipts.
December 29, 2000... To improve revenue collection through the strict implementation of Tax Code provisions on the issuance of sales/commercial invoice and/or official receipt, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO)...

ANZCham warns increased cattle tariff to hit consumers.
December 29, 2000... An organization of Australia and New Zealand businessmen warned the Department of Agriculture (DA) that increasing the import duty on live cattle may only hurt local consumers. In an e-mail to Agriculture Undersecretary Arsenio M....

NFA rice imports to be sold to the poor.
December 29, 2000... The National Food Authority (NFA) will focus the sale of imported rice to poor consumers next year. NFA deputy administrator Gregorio Y. Tan, Jr. said this will become the state-owned trading firm's main strategy in implementing its new...

Income tax holiday needed to lure investments, says BoI.
December 29, 2000... The Board of Investments (BoI) will continue pushing for the inclusion of the income tax holiday (ITH) incentive in the Senate bill amending Executive Order 226 or the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987. Lobbying for the ITH will come with...

New economy not part of growth data.
December 29, 2000... If Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla could have it his way, he would have predicted an economic growth rate bolder than the 4% expansion forecast for the year. The catch, however, is that there is no mechanism in place to...

Speedy tax case resolution sought to improve revenues (Measure in reform program to be endorsed by Palace).
December 29, 2000... Desperate to raise additional revenues to fund next year's budget gap, the National Government now wants to expedite the decision of tax cases at the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), the Department of Finance (DoF) said. Finance Secretary...