BusinessWorld (Philippines) articles from February 2002

BusinessWorld (Philippines) archives from February 2002

Calling a Spade...
February 28, 2002... Byline: Solita Collas-Monsod The clip was not even two minutes long (one minute and 57 seconds was how I timed it), out of an interview with former President Joseph Estrada that lasted more than an hour. And it actually came about only...

The View from Taft.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Mercedes B. Suleik On July 19, 2000, Republic Act No. 8799, otherwise known as the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) was passed into law, and took effect on Aug. 8 of the same year. The rapid changes in the global economic...

Bystander.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Dean O. de la Paz, III At first, everyone thought that it was another Erap joke and a throwback to yesterday's kind of buffoonery. The kind of self-delusion typical of mad megalomaniacs who think that their elective positions...

Upshot.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Bernardo V. Lopez The intense coverage of the US troops on Philippine soil has featured, first, questionable beheadings being labelled as propaganda, and second, night vision gear that will surely and quickly eliminate the Abu...

Street Strategist.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Thads Bentulan The Street Strategist has found again the long lost Quiz Wizard. In Singapore, of all places. I'm sure you are curious why I am talking about the wizard's return before establishing his existence and...

Selective buying props up market.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Ma. Elizabeth L. Sanchez Buying in selected shares continued to buoy the market yesterday but analysts were hardly impressed with the recent market volumes. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange composite index (Phisix)...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
February 28, 2002... Savings and time deposit accounts have long been the primary money management vehicles used by people. Although these bank products have proven effective in making money earn, the development of financial markets all over the world has paved...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Iris M. Reyes The improving Philippine economic environment bodes well for investment alternatives such as mutual funds. Compared to the past two years, encouraging individuals to look beyond the savings and time deposit accounts...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
February 28, 2002... Ayala Life Fixed Income Mutual Funds (ALFM) announced that it has garnered 47 percent of the entire local mutual fund market and 65 percent of the bond funds market. ALFM is a corporation engaged in the business of investing and...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Iris M. Reyes Money is essential in everyone's life. One problem, though, is that many refuse to carefully look at their financial situation because it's a scary prospect. But, in not taking control of one's finances, it then...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
February 28, 2002... People often get the wrong notion of "saving" - they think it is what is left of their income after having taken care of expenditures. But saving is essentially setting aside part of one's income as soon as the money comes in, instead of...

Reds say gov't bent on calling off peace talks.
February 28, 2002... The National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (NDF-CPP-NPA) yesterday accused Malacanang of scuttling the peace negotiations. In a radio interview, NDF-CPP-NPA chief political...

House extends session to pass urgent bills.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Cathy Rose A. Garcia The House of Representatives will be extending its session hours starting next week in a bid to fast-track the approval of six priority bills, including the Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV) bill and the...

Estrada defense team quits (Saguisag et al cite Sandiganbayan bias,.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Manolette C. Payumo Former president Joseph E. Estrada's team of nine lawyers has decided to withdraw from representing him in his plunder, graft, illegal use of alias and two perjury cases, saying they no longer expect to get a...

Anti-drugs measure approved by Senate.
February 28, 2002... The Senate yesterday passed on third reading a measure which seeks to impose stricter penalties for crimes related to prohibited drugs. Voting 18-1, the Senate passed the proposed Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. The...

Ocampo proven right - GMA.
February 28, 2002... Former president Joseph E. Estrada's admission that he signed bank documents using the alias "Jose Velarde" only confirmed the damning testimony of Equitable PCI Bank senior vice-president Clarissa Ocampo during his impeachment trial at the...

Erap refuses to enter plea.
February 28, 2002... Former President Joseph E. Estrada yesterday showed up at the Sandiganbayan for his arraignment on an illegal use of an alias charge but refused to enter a plea. A limping Mr. Estrada, clad in a barong, arrived in court at 10:20 a.m....

Alleged Indonesian terrorist owns up to Rizal Day blasts.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Cecille S. Visto Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi yesterday admitted to masterminding the December 2000 Rizal Day bombings, abandoning his earlier claim that he had merely financed the series of attacks. In a...

AFP chief to retire on schedule.
February 28, 2002... Malacanang is not likely to extend the term of Gen. Diomedio Villanueva as Armed Forces chief of staff. During an informal luncheon with reporters yesterday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said keeping Mr. Villanueva would jeopardize...

GMA's TV show.
February 28, 2002... President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may cancel her weekly television program May Gloria ang Bukas Mo and instead use cheaper means of communicating her administration's programs to the people. In an informal meeting with reporters yesterday,...

Catch-up proposal.
February 28, 2002... DAVAO CITY - Contractors of delayed government projects here in Mindanao are now required to submit "catch-up" proposals for approval by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Public Works Secretary Simeon Datumanong said the...

Counterfeiter nabbed.
February 28, 2002... CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Iligan City has arrested the suspected brains behind a dollar counterfeiting ring in Northern Mindanao. Patricio Bernales, NBI Iligan District Office head, said Dr. Maria...

Illegal firearms.
February 28, 2002... Senator Gregorio Honasan yesterday said he will propose the death penalty against law enforcers and government officials who are found to be selling smuggled and loose firearms to criminal syndicates. He expressed concern over reports that...

Medicine demand.
February 28, 2002... DAVAO CITY - Demand for medicines in Zamboanga City has gone up since the arrival of American soldiers and military advisers last month. Rodel Magsalin, Unilab consumer health marketing supervisor for Mindanao, said Zamboanga City has...

RCBC's P3.6-B capital raising set in first half (Despite PEACe bond.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Cecille E. Yap Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is going ahead with a plan to issue as much as P3.6 billion in 10-year capital notes to the domestic market in the first half of the year despite the controversy generated by...

PERA bill will not result in big revenue loss for gov't, says PIDS.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Cathy Rose A. Garcia The tax incentives granted to the proposed voluntary retirement fund for government, private and self-employed individuals will not result in a significant revenue loss for the government, state-run...

Palace amenable to dirty money law changes.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Norman P. Aquino Malacanang is amenable to a proposal to amend the newly enacted Anti- Money Laundering Law, specifically to lower the ceiling for bank deposits subject to state inspection. During an informal briefing with...

Tricycle groups set to receive funding.
February 28, 2002... As part of government's efforts to provide assistance to small entrepreneurs, the Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) and the Philippine Postal Savings Bank, Inc. will sign next week a memorandum of agreement to provide a P50-million...

Generali Pilipinas eyes top 10 spot in insurance sector.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Earl Warren B. Castillo Generali Pilipinas Holding Co., Inc. wants to grow into one of the country's 10 dominant insurers. Generali Pilipinas president Alfonso P. Garcia, Jr. said his firm hopes to achieve this via organic...

1 of 4 gov't nominees in PNB seen as bank's next president.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Dymphna R. Calica The Department of Finance (DoF) is likely to limit its choice for the next president of beleaguered Philippine National Bank (PNB) to the four existing government nominees in the bank. "That is under...

BSP pleased with new UCPB board.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Daxim L. Lucas Banking regulators yesterday welcomed the smooth management transition at the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), saying it was ready to assist the controversial financial institution. "(We are) ready to...

Demand Rates as of February 26, 2002.
February 28, 2002... The interbank demand rate weighted average was 7-3/8%, according to the Bangko Sentral treasury department. Rates quoted by 25 participating institutions ranged from 7-1/4% to 7-1/2%, with lenders outnumbering borrowers at 17 to 8. Total...

Sonicwall cites advantages of appliance-type security system.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Lawrence D. Casiraya More companies are expected to adopt "appliance-type" firewall security systems rather than those based on software alone, Amos Tio, Sonicwall Inc. ASEAN/South Asia manager, said in a recent interview. ...

Informatics college to open in Alabang IT zone this June.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Helen A. Jimenez Computer education provider Informatics Holdings Philippines, Inc., will open in time for the new school year this June the Informatics International College (IIC) at the Northgate Cyberzone in Filinvest Alabang,...

Bank broadens online services for SMEs.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Eleanore C. Sanchez The Internet arm of a local development bank plans to expand services for its e-commerce community, composed mainly of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Robert S. de Guzman, general manager of...

Competition to boost RP-based wireless applications development.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Lawrence D. Casiraya Local wireless application developers can now vie for the chance of having their programs distributed to the global market. Sun Microsystems Philippines, Globe Telecom and worldwide gaming distributor...

L@wyer.com.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Jovi Tanada Yam "The wheels of justice," said Barbara Corcoran, "they're square wheels." That's exactly the frustration I felt when I used to attend court hearings as a budding associate lawyer of a large law firm. After...

GADGETS & DEVICES.
February 28, 2002... Pioneer recently released its third-generation DVD Recorder DVR-7000, the first global model of its DVD-R/RW home DVD recorder lineup. The arrival of this durable and compact-sized DVR-7000 allows playback of high quality picture and...

Greenpeace backs labeling.
February 28, 2002... Greenpeace recently took its demand for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food to the streets of Metro Manila. Armed with leaflets containing a full list of GMO products available in Philippine supermarkets and samples of...

Courtside.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Anthony L. Cuaycong It's not supposed to end this way. The fairy tale that Michael Jordan began to weave as soon as he chose to make an improbable - not to mention ill-advised - comeback at age 38 and after three whole years of...

Comeback win shows heart of RP squad; Phone Pals tackle Beermen.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Ferdinand O. Lucero Game today (Makati Coliseum) 6 pm - Talk 'N Text vs SMB Hapee Toothpaste-RP Team's come-from-behind 87-77 win over the Coca- Cola Tigers in the 2002 Samsung-PBA Governors Cup made national team head...

X-Type at stake at Jaguar golf fest.
February 28, 2002... Jaguar Philippines will give away a brand-new Jaguar X-Type as the Hole-in-One prize at the 3rd Annual Jaguar Golf Invitational at the exclusive The Country Club in Canlubang, Laguna. The X-Type is the first compact sports sedan to come...

Briefs.
February 28, 2002... Wine label contest Wild Vines Wines, bottled by E & J Gallo, appeals to artistic young minds for a new Wild Vines Challenge: "Chill Factor: Flair!" The exhibit, on view from March 6-9 at the Shangri-La Mall in Ortigas, will feature the...

Lepanto gives meaning to good corporate citizenship.
February 28, 2002... Long before the concept of good corporate citizenship became an epigram in the boardrooms of the country's biggest corporations, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. was already deep into it. The company operates the oldest gold mine in the...

Making the switch to digital photos.
February 28, 2002... Sometimes it does pay to be the guinea pig. Sure, taking a chance at something that's untested could be risky, but it could also be very fulfilling. Take premier photographer John Chua for instance. He was almost on the brink of giving...

Pinoy na Pinoy.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Edilbero Alegre The Tale of the Nine Bangaran We are blessed here in Tacloban City with freshness of food - marine products, vegetables, bananas. Every morning an ambulant vendor still comes to our neighborhood shouting,...

Abu Dhabi hosts building trade fair.
February 28, 2002... Construct Light+Building - International Trade Fair for Architecture and Technology is the name of the first Light+Building fair to be organized by Messe Frankfurt outside Germany. The three segments - building materials, building equipment...

Restaurant Row.
February 28, 2002... Alba Restaurante Espanol Alba Restaurante Espanol will open its 2nd branch at Tomas Morato in Quezon City on Saturday. The outlets will carry the traditional Spanish recipes culled from the recipes of Don Anastacio de Alba. The...

A taste of Asia in QC.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Raoul J. Chee Kee In the next few months, Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City will experience a renaissance of sorts. Long before there was Libis with its numerous restaurants and nightspots, Morato was known as the city's...

Chewing the Fat.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Ned Ryan Details can make or break a restaurant. Or, at the very least, spell the difference between a so-so dinner and a memorable dining experience. I have to admit that I have become cynical when it comes to ambience. I...

Promoting wine appreciation.
February 28, 2002... The folks behind Il Ponticello Italian restaurant have soft-launched its new wine room, with the idea of not just serving premium wines at affordable prices, but also to create awareness of food and wine pairing. The restaurant has...

PSE board defers OK of list for non-broker nominees.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Ma. Elizabeth L. Sanchez The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) board has deferred giving its nod to the list of non-broker nominees prepared by the special nominations committee the other day. Sources said some board members...

Gov't, ADB in talks for online power spot market funding need.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Earl Warren B. Castillo The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is in talks with government for a $20-million to $50-million loan to fund the establishment of an online electricity spot market. "We're in discussions with the DoE...

Task force set up to decide on John Hay deal.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Shirley L. Flores The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has put up a special task force that will decide on the fate of Camp John Hay Development Corp.'s (CJHDevCo) existing lease agreement with the government. ...

PLDT not likely to make further investments in cellular subsidiary Piltel.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Reena J. Villamor Comeback kid Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) will be on its own starting this year as parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will no longer fund the mobile phone company's operations. In...

Local investment house, HK firm finalize joint-venture agreement.
February 28, 2002... Local investment house Exchange Capital Corp. (ECC) has finalized a joint-venture deal with Hong Kong-based CLSA Emerging Markets to set up an investment banking unit in the country. Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA) Hong Kong bought...

EPHI on the lookout for new ventures.
February 28, 2002... EDSA Properties Holdings, Inc. (EPHI) is now bullish about the property market, as it points out that the economy is recovering and cash flow observed to be returning to positive levels. In a disclosure, the property development company...

PALEA to hold pre-election meet.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Filipe F. Salvosa II Labor Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas has ordered the Department of Labor and Employment's National Capital Region (DoLE-NCR) officials to convene a pre-election conference for the 4,000-strong Philippine...

AEV posts 40% profit increase.
February 28, 2002... Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) reported an unaudited net income of P1.58 billion for 2001, reflecting a 40% increase from the previous year. In a disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), AEV said power companies under...

EU mulls lowering tariff on imported tuna from RP.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Allen V. Estabillo GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The European Union is considering the possibility of lowering its taxes imposed on imported canned tuna from the Philippines. Domingo Teng, president of the General Santos City Chamber of...

DA sees low farm production in 2003 due to El Nino this year.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Iris C. Gonzales The Department of Agriculture (DA) sees lower production output next year following the onset of the El Nino season this year. Agriculture Secretary Leonardo O. Montemayor said that while the department has...

Power Act's IRR approved, but amendments pushed.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Jennee Grace U. Rubrico and Iris C. Gonzales The 14-man Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) yesterday signed the approved implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA)....

Business group FPI asks Congress to review AFMA.
February 28, 2002... Byline: May Czarina A. Baetiong Business group Federation of Philippine Industries, Inc. (FPI) wants Congress to evaluate the effectiveness of the Republic Act (RA) 8435 or the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) first...

Napocor, Indonesia ink deal on energy cooperation.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Iris C. Gonzales The state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) yesterday announced that it firmed up bilateral agreements with Indonesia on energy cooperation. The power utility firm will bid out two supply contracts for...

Monitoring of GI sheets by BPS resumed.
February 28, 2002... Byline: May Czarina A. Baetiong Department of Trade and Industry's Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) has resumed monitoring prevalence of substandard galvanized iron (GI) sheets in the market after Court of Appeals lifted an earlier...

Efficient use of information key to business success in new economy.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Helen A. Jimenez It is not just about having information but knowing how to use information more efficiently through the strategic application of information and communications technology (ICT) that would drive the success of...

Gov't asset mgmt facility.
February 28, 2002... A bill proposing an asset management facility for the government, similar to those proposed for the private sector, got a boost from three government agencies which agreed "in principle" to support the said legislation. In yesterday's hearing...

VAT exemptions.
February 28, 2002... A group of local manufacturers and importers of agriculture inputs yesterday proposed to a technical working group (TWG) of the Senate to expand the coverage of a Senate measure, which seeks to exempt from value- added taxes (VAT) all...

Bohol and tourism.
February 28, 2002... CEBU CITY - The Department of Tourism (DoT) Central Visayas office moves to make Bohol and other provinces in the region major tourism destinations. "Cebu will just be the grand central (station). We will bring the tourists to Bohol and other...

T-bond rate down to 13%; peso weakens.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Leilani M. Gallardo The five-year Treasury bond rate yesterday fell 325 basis points to 13% from 16.25% when the bonds were last auctioned in November last year. Traders said the decline signals that long-term interest rates...

Manufacturing production indices decline.
February 28, 2002... Byline: D'Laarni A. Ortiz Manufacturing production continued to head south in December 2001, with petroleum and tobacco manufacturers leading the losers, data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show. Based on the latest...

SMC shareholders, gov't okay P27.88-B Kirin deal.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Shirley L. Flores and Norman P. Aquino Shareholders of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) approved yesterday Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd.'s purchase of some P27.88 billion in SMC shares equivalent to a 15% stake in the food and beverage giant. ...

Japan aid totaling $290M to finance 7 dev't projects.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Dymphna R. Calica Seven infrastructure projects in Metro Manila and other rural areas will be financed by a special yen loan package from Japan, documents from the Department of Finance (DoF) show. Some $290 million in loans...

Supreme Court junks appeal on levy case.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Cecille S. Visto The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed separate appeals by the government and United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) for a recast of votes in a case where the Court declared some P130 billion in coconut levy funds...

Camacho confirmed.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Jennee Grace U. Rubrico The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed yesterday the ad-interim appointment of Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho. Voting unanimously, the CA approved Mr. Camacho's nomination a week after it...

RP aid donors question plan to securitize Malampaya gas.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Earl Warren B. Castillo and Iris C. Gonzales Two major lenders of the country have joined the World Bank in questioning the government's plan to use earnings of the Malampaya gas project in Palawan to back up state borrowings. ...

IMF warns of dangers of high RP unemployment.
February 28, 2002... Byline: Daxim L. Lucas, Felipe L. Salvosa II and Cathy Rose A. Garcia The Philippines continues to suffer from a relatively high unemployment rate compared with its peers in the region despite having reported consistently high economic...

BSP wants say in sale of banks (To prevent another Unitrust fiasco).
February 27, 2002... Byline: Daxim L. Lucas with Jeffrey O. Valisno To prevent a repeat of the Unitrust Development Bank fiasco, the regulator of banks is seeking an amendment to the Central Bank Act of 1993 which will allow it to stop bank owners from...

No renegotiation of ADB's Manila air quality loan release conditions.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Earl Warren B. Castillo There will be no renegotiation of the conditions for the release of the last tranche of the $200-million Metro Manila Air Quality (MMAQ) loan of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The government had...

Five new gov't nominees take SMC seats to okay Kirin deal.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Shirley L. Flores Five new government nominees to the board of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will officially assume their posts today and take on as their first task the approval of the P27.88-billion buy-in of...

PSE trims to 10 list of non-broker nominees.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Ma. Elizabeth L. Sanchez The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has narrowed to 10 the list of private sector nominees to its board. The list originally contained at least 18 non-broker nominees. BusinessWorld learned that the...

'You can't please everyone'.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Daxim L. Lucas The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has cut its benchmark interest rates by an unprecedented 7.75 percentage points over 14 months. In fact, its overnight borrowing rates have now fallen to a seven-year low of...

P1.6B needed to implement gov't projects under MTPIP.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Romulo T. Luib A total of P1.614 billion is needed to implement 1,777 programs and projects listed in the 2001-2004 Medium-Term Public Investment Program (MTPIP), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in its...

A Matter of Conscience.
February 27, 2002... Byline: Enrique Zobel Today I am appearing at the second hearing for DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez. I failed to make it the last time because I was indisposed but I intend to be there today. In fact, I have to admit that I am raring to...