BusinessWorld (Philippines) articles from March 2011

BusinessWorld (Philippines) archives from March 2011

PSEi surges by 116 pts on PLDT-Digitel deal.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Neil Jerome C. Morales PLDT's acquisition of a majority stake in Digitel propelled the main index to spike by more than 100 points yesterday. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged by 2.98% or 116.51 points to close at...

Online gaming event slated.
March 31, 2011... PUBLICLY LISTED online gaming publisher IP e-Game Ventures, Inc. is going overdrive with the preparations for "Domination V," its fifth year anniversary celebration which will be held on April 2 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City. ...

Hyundai partners with EastWest Bank.
March 31, 2011... HYUNDAI ASIA Resources, Inc. (HARI), the authorized distributor of Hyundai automobiles in the Philippines, and East West Banking Corp., now come together to indulge the market to a premium motoring experience with the Hyundai Sonata. Titled...

'Orange Card' holders reach 7,000.
March 31, 2011... MORE THAN 7,000 individuals are now enjoying the perks and privileges of the "Orange Card" - Pancake House Group's first-ever loyalty card which was just launched in November 2010. All Orange Card holders are now enjoying exclusive offers...

CONSUMER GUIDE.
March 31, 2011... McCann CEO retires; new leaders appointed MCCANN WORLDGROUP Philippines Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patricia "Ricki" Arches announces her decision to retire from her top-level post at the agency effective April 30. Ms. Arches...

BRIEFS.
March 31, 2011... Writing workshop offered UNIVERSITY PRESS of First Asia (UPFA) invites educators to participate in its second Summer Academic Writing Orientation and Workshop entitled, "How to be an Effective Author in Educational Publishing: A...

Top cue artists join 2011 RP Open Pool Championships.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Marlon Bernardino MARLON "MARVELOUS" Manalo, Lee Vann "The Slayer" Corteza, Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo and Jeffrey "The Bull" de Luna will lead Filipino cue artists who will participate in the Philippine Open Pool Championships schedule...

COURTSIDE.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Anthony L. Cuaycong What's a win for the Cavaliers? The bottom line shows that it isn't much. Given current trends, one here or there won't keep them out of the 2011 draft lottery; they've been losing four of every five outings, and...

Xavier outsteadies St. Mary's to capture B-League crown.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Marlon Bernardino XAVIER SCHOOL's young pool bets pocketed the 1st National Collegiate Billiards League (B-League) title. The Greenhills-based cue artists had to go down the wire before pinning down tough rivals from St. Mary's...

Is it safe to eat at a Japanese restaurant?
March 31, 2011... Byline: Camille Erika R. Sarte Should we keep eating at Japanese restaurants? In light of Japan's current situation since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, countries around the world have...

Kiddie cooking classes offered.
March 31, 2011... THE CENTER for Culinary Arts (CCA) is offering a one-of-a-kind summer program that aims to mold children to become future "chef-preneurs." The Young Chef's Boot Camp (YCBC) is a certificate program designed for kids, aged 10 to 16 years old....

It takes more than 10 minutes to whip up these dishes.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Camille Erika R. Sarte The star of GMA 11's Quickfire: 10-minute Kitchen Wonders and a kitchen wonder herself, Rosebud Benitez and her team are cooking up some tasty dishes for InterContinental Manila's Cafe Jeepney - sans the 10-...

Cooking & Living Healthy Workshop.
March 31, 2011... MARGARITA FORES of Cibo and Cibo di M Signature Caterer will hold a Cooking & Living Healthy Workshop on April 2, 7 p.m., at the Eastwood Mall Atrium. Admission is free. For reservations and inquiries, call the Eastwood Concierge at...

RESTAURANT ROW.
March 31, 2011... Big Buddha Roast Kitchen BIG BUDDHA Roast Kitchen has a promotion billed "Special Toast to the Graduates" running until April 20, which groups with a graduate who dine in are treated to one complimentary order of any of the Chef's Specials....

SPECIAL FEATURE: health guide.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Victoria T. Vizcarra ONCE CONSIDERED the preserve of the wealthy, non-communicable diseases (NCD), which have been rising steadily in middle- and poor-income countries, are raising fresh alarms in global health care. The World Health...

SPECIAL FEATURE: health guide.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Anna Patricia G. Valerio AN ONLINE SURVEY commissioned by Kimberly-Clark across six Asian countries in 2009 revealed that Filipino women still subscribe to old wives' tales and hearsay about sex: For one, 78% of Filipinas, according...

SPECIAL FEATURE: health guide.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Katrina Paola B. Alvarez PREGNANT WOMEN have increased blood circulation to thank for their happy glow. But childbearing is far from easy, and there is some truth to the old wives' tale that mothers-to-be have one foot in the grave....

SPECIAL FEATURE: health guide.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Hannah M. Muralla SHORTLY AFTER an 8.9-magnitude earthquake shook Japan on March 11, destructive tsunami waves hit its northeastern coast, causing several reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to malfunction. News of...

Peso closes little changed sans leads.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio THE PESO again closed hardly changed against the dollar due to lack of market leads. It firmed up by just two centavos to settle at P43.44 per dollar yesterday against its P43.46-per-dollar close on...

BPI completes acquisition of ING fund management unit.
March 31, 2011... THE MONETARY Board has green-lighted changes to the plan rules of the unit investment trust funds (UITFs) managed by ING Bank in Manila, paving way for the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) to complete its acquisition of the Dutch bank's fund...

Local governments pressed to include coco coir, peat among investment.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Joel B. Escovilla DAVAO CITY -The first National Coconut Summit held here yesterday adopted a resolution urging local governments to include coco coir and peat processing in their investment priority plans in order to provide tax and...

Spanish firms eye infrastructure, food, IT.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Ana Mae G. Roa SPANISH COMPANIES are looking for opportunities in sectors like infrastructure, energy, food and information technology (IT), officials from that country said during a business forum yesterday. In the first...

Mindanao dev't body to identify programs.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Carmelito Q. Francisco DAVAO CITY - Programs and projects, specifically those related to conflict settlement and poverty alleviation, under the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework will be identified when the Mindanao...

Transparent pricing sought.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Michael D. Banos CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Civil society groups in Mindanao will submit next month a petition asking the Energy Regulatory Commission to order the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities...

Cost a key barrier to climate change steps.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Eliza J. Diaz HIGH CAPITAL COSTS are a main barrier for Philippine-based businesses "to take sufficient action on climate change," even as partial results of a survey among 72 respondents showed that more than half were "very...

Gov't further defers release of renewable energy pricing.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Emilia Narni J. David THE GOVERNMENT has further postponed its release of the pricing for electricity generated from renewable energy sources. The National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) has once again asked for an extension of the...

International food exhibit slated.
March 31, 2011... ABOUT 400 local and foreign exhibitors are expected to participate in the International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines on May 12-14, the Trade department said in a statement yesterday. "We want to capture a bigger share of the...

'Green' cafe intent to educate consumers on buying locally.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Eliza J. Diaz IN AN effort to educate coffee consumers and entrepreneurs to go local and buy organic, a "green" coffee shop chain plans to expand to four provinces by 2012. The aim of Le Bistro is to cut costs and carbon footprints...

Housing firm eyes public listing this year.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Neil Jerome C. Morales ACM LANDHOLDINGS, Inc., a niche player in the property industry that caters to families of seafarers, is looking to sell up to 30% of the company on the local bourse later this year to complement other fund-...

Miner posts profit hike.(Financial report)
March 31, 2011... Byline: Eliza J. Diaz BENGUET CORP., a listed miner, reported a surge in net income to P2.4 billion last year from P160.54 million in 2009 due to improved gold and nickel mining operations and aggressive settlement of old debt, the company...

RLC funnels bulk of funds to land acquisition plans.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Neil Jerome C. Morales GOKONGWEI-LED Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) will spend a bulk of the proceeds from a planned P13.57-billion share sale to buy more lots for its projects, the property giant said in a disclosure to the local bourse....

Piatco blocks auction of NAIA-3 terminal.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Kathleen A. Martin THE PHILIPPINE International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco), builder of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3), said the government should compensate the firm first before bidding out the...

Philex inches towards closing gold mine deal.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Neil Jerome C. Morales PHILEX MINING Corp., the country's largest miner, is close to bagging the rights over Manila Mining Corp.'s gold and copper reserves after both finished ironing out the basic terms, a ranking official said late...

Aboitiz Power to bear entire P25B for Davao coal plant.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Carmelito Q. Francisco DAVAO CITY - Aboitiz Power Corp. will generate internally the entire P25 billion it needs to set up the proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the city, Manuel M. Orig, Aboitiz Power first...

Hilton Cebu to be rebranded next month after deal expires.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Marites S. Villamor CEBU CITY - Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, an upscale hotel management company from Switzerland, will take over effective April 1 the management of the pink hotel towers currently known as Hilton Cebu Resort &...

Robinsons Land taps celebrity designers.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Neil Jerome C. Morales ROBINSONS LAND Corp. of the Gokongwei conglomerate has started the construction of the company's first designer residences, it said in a statement. The P4-billion development under the Robinsons Luxuria brand...

Filipino drug traffickers executed by lethal injection in China (Anti-.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Noemi M. Gonzales and Johanna Paola D. Poblete THREE FILIPINOS convicted of drug trafficking in China were executed by lethal injection yesterday, a situation the government said has strengthened its resolve to curb narcotics...

Gov't to give anti-dengue kits to locals.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Darwin T. Wee ZAMBOANGA CITY - The government will introduce tomorrow anti-dengue kits for households in an effort to curb the deadly disease. The departments of Science and Technology (DoST) and Health will distribute tomorrow...

Operator files petition for new toll in road extension project.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Kathleen A. Martin THE OPERATOR of a toll road extension project south of Metro Manila has filed a petition for rates in the run-up to the opening in April or May, a regulatory agency said yesterday. In a published notice, the Toll...

Supreme Court reverses ruling on new province.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Nathaniel R. Melican BAGUIO CITY - The Supreme Court has upheld a law making Dinagat Island a province, reversing an earlier decision in a rare move after a final decision has been rendered on the case. "The Supreme Court, in a...

Army beefing up troops in Leyte vs NPA.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Reyan L. Arinto TACLOBAN CITY - The Philippine Army has deployed two battalions to augment counter-insurgency operations in Leyte amid increasing rebel attacks. The 78th Infantry Battalion (IB) from Cebu and 2nd Special Forces from...

Commitment to deliver key to success of talks, says NGO.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Darwin T. Wee ZAMBOANGA CITY - Hurdles in pursuing a comprehensive Mindanao peace plan will be addressed if the government and Moro rebels will commit to deliver on any future agreements, a nongovernmental organization said in its...

Strike downgraded to 'protest caravan'.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Noemi M. Gonzales and Emilia Narni J. David A MUTED mass transport action is expected today after militant group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) failed to generate support from other groups in Metro...

Maintenance procedure review for trains ordered.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Kathleen A. Martin A REVIEW of maintenance procedures for all elevated railways systems is under way following a series of service interruptions in one of the lines. "[Transportation] Secretary Jose P. de Jesus has ordered on...

Palace-Church talks resume over RP measure.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Johanna Paola D. Poblete CATHOLIC CHURCH leaders yesterday returned to the negotiating table with Palace counterparts in Malacanang after a month of suspended talks, resuming efforts at ironing out a compromise over the controversial...

CALLING A SPADE...
March 31, 2011... Byline: Solita Collas-Monsod One doubts whether any of the 42,000 barangay councils in the country, past or present, can match the speed with which Barangay Ayala Alabang (BAA) passed its now famous/notorious first ordinance (No. 01-2011)...

THE VIEW FROM TAFT.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Michael Joseph What types of management meetings tend to be postponed? What items on the agenda get passed over but keep coming back? Too often, many of these have to do with longer-term development-oriented decisions and activities....

CORE.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Benjamin E. Diokno What should President Aquino do when his "no-new-tax" policy gets in the way of meeting his administration's goal of achieving sustained, strong, and inclusive growth? What should he do when this inappropriate tax...

STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Rene B. Azurin The attention now focused on the prospective impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez - for what may be variously characterized as incompetence, complicity, or irrelevance - serves to highlight yet again the...

VAT windfall expected from higher oil prices.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Diane Claire J. Jiao A WINDFALL of around P4 billion could be realized this quarter by the government as higher oil prices lead to increased value-added tax (VAT) collections, a Finance official yesterday said. The amount, which...

Gov't soliciting offers for initial PPP projects.
March 31, 2011... THE BIDDING PROCESS for the first public-private partnership (PPP) projects has been opened by the Transportation department. Up for grabs are four-to-five year maintenance contracts for the Light Railway Transit (LRT) Line 1 and Metro Rail...

Japanese firms say disaster to have an impact.
March 31, 2011... Byline: Ana Mae G. Roa MANY JAPANESE FIRMS in the Philippines are now feeling the impact of the earthquake and tsunami that hit their home country earlier this month. A little over tenth (11.7%) of the 163 firms that participated in a...

Revenue worries to be addressed by tax take gains.
March 31, 2011... A VISITING Fitch Ratings team has expressed concerns over the viability of this year's revenue targets but economic managers have provided assurances of improved collections, officials yesterday said. "Fitch said the targets were relatively...

P9B raised from T-bonds.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio THE GOVERNMENT made its first full award of Treasury bonds yesterday after five auctions, selling P9 billion worth of seven-year papers. It was also the government's last auction for the first quarter. ...

RCBC Capital expects more debt issuances.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio COMPANIES will continue to issue debt to take advantage of the low interest rate environment this year, even as some have shelved plans for public listings given the stock market slump, according to RCBC...

Peso closes sideways without leads.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio THE PESO slipped by just a centavo yesterday with no leads to guide market players. The local currency shed one centavo to settle at P43.46 per dollar yesterday against its P43.45-per-dollar close last...

Arangkada Phils. workshop set.
March 30, 2011... THE JOINT Foreign Chambers (JFC) will hold a whole-day workshop today on Arangkada Philippines at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City. The workshop will discuss the "Seven Big Winner Sectors" in detail through simultaneous...

inContact opens Asia-Pacific HQ in Phils.
March 30, 2011... INCONTACT, leading call center software and optimization tools provider, recently inaugurated its Philippines headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, marking the opening of the company's first center in the Asia-Pacific region to better...

GE lights up Baguio City Burnham Park.
March 30, 2011... BAGUIO CITY steps up in the promotion anew of this colorful and beautiful tourist destination by partnering with GE in adopting a new lighting technology for its premiere attraction, Burnham Park, which is now awashed with vibrant and...

CONSUMER GUIDE.
March 30, 2011... Pacsafe products offer anti-theft technology DESIGNED FOR travelers, by travelers, Pacsafe is known worldwide for its smart anti-theft technology. And with its new collection that is now available together with its new brand thrust to...

BRIEFS.
March 30, 2011... Yoga workshops offered THE SECOND quarter of the year kicks off at ECHOyoga Community Center with a series of workshops that support health for body, mind and spirit. Yoga and other related practices are perfect tools for calming us as we...

COURTSIDE.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Anthony L. Cuaycong Carmelo Anthony was in high spirits throughout the Knicks' first game- day shootaround of the season, but his very presence at Madison Square Garden in light of the significant change in routine underscored the...

ONSTAGE.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Juan Antonio Lanuza I just got back from Hong Kong with information I would like to share with you regarding cultural presentations scheduled there. If you are planning a trip to HK, you may want to catch one or two of them. * April...

The shape of the earth.
March 30, 2011... Photographer Wawi Navarroza hates the kitschy Hallmark sentiments of postcards. Dominion, her latest show, abandons the highly staged performance photographs of previous exhibits in favor of stark volcanic landscapes. After her studio was...

Too serious to be a dilettante.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Sam L. Marcelo Jonathan Olazo often receives flak for his schizophrenic approach to art. Case in point: after creating light boxes for a tribute exhibition to conceptual artist Roberto Chabet, he has just opened a solo show that...

ARTS & CULTURE.
March 30, 2011... Cultural Center of the Phils. THE CULTURAL Center of the Philippines (CCP) Library and Archives will be closed from April 1 to May 31 for its annual physical inventory and general cleaning/reorganization. Meanwhile, the Literary Arts Division...

Factory production picks up (... in anticipation of rising demand).
March 30, 2011... Byline: Dionna Fe M. Falamig FACTORY OUTPUT accelerated by more than a quarter in January, the government reported yesterday, with economists and industry officials attributing the growth to inventory buildup by manufacturers. The National...

Exporters reminded on free trade benefits.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Ana Mae G. Roa EXPORTERS will again be urged to explore opportunities opened by free trade agreements (FTAs) during the second round of seminars on this topic which the Trade department will start today at the Philippine Trade...

Town in Leyte to showcase interagency cooperation.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Sarwell Q. Meniano JAVIER, LEYTE - The municipal government here will be the first in Eastern Visayas to experience close coordination by three departments in supporting farm production, a recent official statement read. Mayor...

Advanced driving tool.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Tito F. Hermoso THE ULTIMATE Subaru Impreza, the WRX STI, is an apt intro into the world of supercars. It teaches the budding high-performance driver to be precise and be quick at that. But lately Subaru has moved closer to the...

NOT SO FAST.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Tito F. Hermoso It is almost a certainty that this year's Shanghai Auto Show will have the largest in everything; new model launches, crowds, participants, etc. Frankfurt will always have a lot for the world to take interest in as...

BRIEFS.
March 30, 2011... Hyundai sets April 2 fun run HYUNDAI ASIA Resources, Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai automobiles in the Philippines, will launch the first-ever automotive-sponsored fun run in the country dubbed "Hyundai Run for a Cause" on...

No reprieve for Filipino drug mules; execution today - DFA.
March 30, 2011... EXECUTION OF three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking in China will be carried out today after Beijing rejected Manila's last-minute appeal for a commutation of the sentence to life imprisonment, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said...

Palace warns strikers against paralyzing public transport.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Johanna Paola D. Poblete THE PALACE yesterday took a hard-line stance on those who will join tomorrow's planned strike in Metro Manila, warning participating groups of possible suspension of license should their actions result in...

Oil majors raise prices.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Emilia Narni J. David THREE MAJOR oil companies yesterday implemented new prices to track the international market which continues to be spooked by civil unrest in the Middle East and the war in Libya. Chevron Philippines, Inc.,...

Radioactive particles not harmful - DFA.
March 30, 2011... Byline: With AFP MOVEMENT OF radioactive particles from Japan's heavily damaged nuclear power plant is not dangerous to human health even as these have been tracked beyond the East Asian country's boundaries, the Department of Foreign Affairs...

Justice dep't to pursue murder probe.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Noemi M. Gonzales and Johanna Paola D. Poblete THE JUSTICE department will pursue its probe on the decade-old double murder case of a publicist and his driver, even as Malacanang has adopted a hands-off policy on the matter. ...

SC refers to Court of Appeals hearings on closed pipeline.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Nathaniel R. Melican BAGUIO CITY - The Supreme Court (SC) will refer to the Court of Appeals hearings on an order that closed a damaged fuel pipeline so that tests can be conducted after completion of repairs, according to a...

Former law firm of Tupas eyed for trial.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Noemi M. Gonzales A FORMER law firm of the lead congressman-prosecutor has been considered to assist in the impeachment trial of Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez. The Belo Gozon Elma Parel Asuncion & Lucila Law Offices...

Delinquent manpower agencies facing penalty over repatriation.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Vanessa J. Jimenez MEMBERS OF a labor exporter group are facing the prospects of license cancellation for failing to foot the bill of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from war-torn Libya, an official said yesterday. ...

Senate panel frees ex-general.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Vanessa J. Jimenez THE SENATE Blue Ribbon committee has freed a former military comptroller involved in an ill-gotten wealth case after he cooperated in yesterday's public hearing. Retired Lt. Gen. Jacinto C. Ligot left the Senate...

Mines bureau joins efforts vs child labor.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Reyan L. Arinto TACLOBAN CITY - The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Eastern Visayas has urged local government units to stop small-scale mining operators from employing children. MGB Regional Director Roger A. de Dios said...

30,000 voters in Bacolod to be inactive.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Chrysee G. Samillano BACOLOD CITY - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Bacolod City will deactivate 30,520 registered voters for failure to vote in the presidential and barangay elections last year, election officer Mavil V....

No temporary restraining order on bank closure.
March 30, 2011... Byline: Noemi M. Gonzales THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has not issued a stay order against the closure of a failed bank, and instead ordered the regulator to comment on the matter. In a resolution dated March 28 and released to media...