BusinessWorld (Philippines) articles from October 2001, page 2

BusinessWorld (Philippines) archives from October 2001

To Take a Stand.
October 30, 2001... Yesterday, my maid had to ask for leave to rush to Las Pinas to pick up the dead body of her four-year-old niece who had died in a hospital where she had been rushed for a serious case of measles. The girl's parents were still in Cavite...

Fence Sitter.
October 30, 2001... It's not certain if horoscopes affect the circulation of periodicals. Who reads them? And is behavior affected by their prescriptions (Avoid making any major decisions today)? Now and then, I confess to reading horoscopes. Like someone...

Dear Editor.
October 30, 2001... I read the letter of Rosario Bella Guzman, Executive Editor, IBON Foundation, in the letters to the editor in your issue dated October 22, 2001 arguing for a Php125.00 increase in the minimum wage. I heard that the IBON Foundation is the...

The Listening Post.
October 30, 2001... The brouhaha over the opposition's walkout in the House over the "unconstitutional" passage of the 2002 national budget in extended time is yet another instance of senseless obstructionism by the minority. Coming so soon after the...

Dear Editor.
October 30, 2001... I was deeply disturbed and saddened by the article of Dean O. de la Paz, III (BusinessWorld 10/17/01) which was full of insinuations that PAREF- Northfield, in cahoots with the former QC mayor and council, in the guise of "lofty ideals," were...

Dear Editor.
October 30, 2001... Such an embarrassment for the Philippines. Six months in arrears. Banks would have initiated a foreclosure procedures of Real Estate and/or Auto loans collaterals much earlier than that. It must be the responsibility of Service Providers...

Stock prices end two-day rebound in.
October 30, 2001... Stock trades were sluggish yesterday, in sympathy with sharp losses in the region, brokers said. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange composite index (Phisix) fell 7.68 points, or 0.77%, yesterday to close at 994.84, cracking a...

CORPORATE FILES.
October 30, 2001... US retailer S&R Price Membership Shopping could not have entered the Philippine market at a better time. In May, when it finally opened the wide doors of membership shopping to Filipino consumers, the country had just gotten out of a...

Meralco expects 50% drop in net.
October 30, 2001... Power distribution firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) yesterday said it expects a 50% drop in net income in 2001 compared with that of last year. The latest assessment came after it reported early last week a 45% drop in net income for...

SMC third-qtr results within.
October 30, 2001... San Miguel Corporation (SMC), the country's largest food and beverage firm, is starting to feel the pinch of its acquisitions this year as it reported a sharp 35% drop in its net earnings for the third quarter. Sources who attended the...

PAL to reopen flights to Melbourne.
October 30, 2001... Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will restart flights to Melbourne, Australia, this week after a three-year suspension despite a downturn in the global airlines industry, the airline said yesterday. Airbus A330-300 aircraft will...

Picop Resources resumes operations.
October 30, 2001... Timber company Picop Resources, Inc. will resume operations by the middle of next month even with one hand tied down by government requirements, a ranking official of the company said. Picop yesterday said it has received approval from...

Investigation on Philex trades.
October 30, 2001... The corporate regulator has ordered the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to look into the "unusual price movements" of Philex Mining Corp. shares of stock and investigate on possible insider trading by RCBC Securities, Inc. Jose P. Aquino,...

Credit ring agreement.
October 30, 2001... The Securities Clearing Corp. of the Philippines (SCCP) is pushing for a two-week extension on the Oct. 31 deadline for the enforcement of the credit ring agreement to be forged by its 145 member brokers. In a letter to the Securities and...

Cable firms' subscription fees.
October 30, 2001... The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is investigating the planned subscription rate hike of merging cable operators SKY Vision Corp. and Philippine Home Cable Holdings, Inc. "The cable (firms) are being investigated. A letter from...

Demand Rates as of October 26, 2001.
October 30, 2001... The interbank demand rate weighted average was 9-1/32%, according to the Bangko Sentral treasury department. Rates quoted by 53 participating institutions ranged from 8-3/4% to 11%, with lenders outnumbering borrowers at 35 to 18. Total...

Pag-IBIG mulls cutting housing loan.
October 30, 2001... The Macapagal-Arroyo administration plans to bring down the interest rates on government housing loans to as low as 9% per annum from the present 12% to 18% given the prevailing economic crisis. In a statement, Housing Secretary Michael...

Peso slightly up, ends at P51.93.
October 30, 2001... The peso slightly strengthened against the dollar in yesterday's trade buoyed by the lackluster demand for the greenback and a shorter trading week. At the Philippine Dealing System (PDS), the country's electronic currencies exchange,...

BSP to tap banks to provide 'seed'.
October 30, 2001... The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) plans to tap the country's commercial banking system for possible funding to encourage the establishment of microfinance institutions in the countryside. BSP managing director Ricardo P. Lirio, in a...

SSS launches savings plan for.
October 30, 2001... State-run Social Security System recently launched in Hong Kong a voluntary savings program for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that would allow them to set aside a portion of their income to meet their future needs. Called the...

P650-M China Bank shares change.
October 30, 2001... A total of P650 million worth of China Bank shares were crossed at the stock market yesterday, fuelling talks a strategic investor may have come into the Henry Sy-controlled bank. Some 1.25 million China Bank shares were crossed at an...

House set to probe banks' inability.
October 30, 2001... The House committee on agrarian reform is set to investigate the alleged failure of banking institutions to allocate part of their loanable funds to agrarian reform beneficiaries. Quririno Rep. Junie E. Cua filed House Resolution no. 208...

CMDC proposes new bankruptcy law to.
October 30, 2001... The Capital Markets Development Council is proposing a new bankruptcy law for legislation to replace the country's 92-year old Insolvency Law. The so-called "Corporate Recovery Act" aims to streamline the process of declaring bankruptcy,...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... The telecommunications industry has definitely gone a long way since the era of digging roads in the name of progress. Copper cables, then the staple of the industry, are now becoming less and less popular in answering the need for...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... Mobile Internet and wireless data services have taken a major step forward with the launch of the GPRS service by Smart Communications, Inc. GPRS is short for General Packet Radio Service, a new technology that sends information through...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... 3Com Corporation recently announced the OfficeConnect Gateway family to help service providers and businesses leverage the high speed connections of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) for data and voice access. Available worldwide, the new...

[0] SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... Pixo, Inc., a leading provider of platforms and applications for mobile devices, announced its plans to work with Hewlett-Packard Company to demonstrate and market a mobile download platform solution leveraging the new Pixo Mobile Download...

[0] SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... The 20th century saw massive strides in the advancement of computers and electronics. Computers broke the 1 GHz barrier before the close of the century, video phones became commercially available, and cars that were driven by GPS became more...

[0] SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... "Health is wealth." This saying cannot be more apt during these difficult times, when one can simply grateful just for having good health for himself and his loved ones. One of the ways of assuring that one could get immediate quality...

[0] SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... Health care is everyone's concern. In the Philippines though, keeping one's health or recovering from an illness could very well be one's financial death. The cost of health care in the Philippines remain disproportionately high in the face...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... Fourteen years ago, a group of doctors from Makati Medical Center founded a health maintenance organization with the aim to provide the highest quality health care to people who normally would not be able to afford it. Today, Maxicare...

SPECIAL FEATURE.
October 30, 2001... People are the most important and key asset in any organization. To take care of them and treat them well is good not just for the employees but also bodes well for the employer. Aetna Healthcare, Inc., one of the largest health...

Need to revive professionalism in.
October 30, 2001... One of the greatest ironies in the field of communications is that public relations (PR), the profession that has become identified with the deepest recesses of corruption and unprofessionalism, needs some spinmeistering to rehabilitate a...

Yes, advertising can thrive during.
October 30, 2001... Should any right-thinking manufacturer advertise amid an economic crisis, when consumer demand is supposedly at its weakest? If market research is to be believed, the answer is "yes." A myriad of opportunities still exist despite an...

Saving the coffee industry from.
October 30, 2001... INDANG, Cavite - Melquides Resureccion, 62, has been diversifying his crops since 1998. Coffee alone, he said, can no longer sustain his family. The price of coffee now stands at P30 per kilo, while production cost is P28. Mr....

Getting the Edge in Professional.
October 30, 2001... About 20 years ago, I was lucky enough to work for a company that saw the value of computers for business purposes. Although the desktop machines provided to each manager were by no means sophisticated (and certainly a far cry from the sort...

Battle for last quarterfinals (PBA.
October 30, 2001... With several teams formalizing their seats in the quarterfinals round, the focus of league observers appears to have shifted on those still battling to survive the elimination phase of the PBA Governors Cup. The Shell Turbochargers and...

Courtside.
October 30, 2001... If there was anything just about every interested quarter agreed on after Arizona posted a lopsided victory in Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series the other day, it was that New York wasn't going to simply wither and die as a...

Chess Piece.
October 30, 2001... Garry Kasparov, the highest-rated chessplayer ever in the history of mankind, took on the Czech national team in a simultaneous two-game match last Oct. 18-20, October 2001 in Prague. The Czech National Chess Team is composed of super-GM...

GADGETS & DEVICES.
October 30, 2001... Epson Philippines Corp. (EPC) recently launched four new high resolution and high speed inkjet printers for home users, small business and graphic enthusiasts c the Epson Stylus C50, C60 and C80 and the PRINT Image Matching (PIM)-enabled...

Local firm teams up with US.
October 30, 2001... Local IT solutions provider Ayala Systems Technology, Inc. (ASTI) has been tapped as a partner by a US-based software firm for the development of electronic commerce applications, company officer Rizalino Gerardo B. Favila, Jr. said in a...

Compaq sees 8% growth in RP.
October 30, 2001... Compaq is confident of achieving its target of at least 8% growth in revenues in the Philippines this year, after sealing a number of contracts to provide desktop computer units to various government agencies. Vicky Cabrillas, Compaq...

Knowledge and People.
October 30, 2001... Knowledge networks are powerful tools; they can leverage and synergize knowledge held among their members. This is the basic reason why organizations set up IT-enabled internal networks, which is what "intranet" literally means. The...

NBK presents a Halloween rave.
October 30, 2001... DJ group NBK and nightclub seveneightorange on Makati Ave. in Makati come together again to bring their brand of music and wicked fun this All Hallow's Eve with their absolutely "Raving Madhatter's Party" featuring UK DJ Simon Blackjack along...

The four elements inspire a student.
October 30, 2001... For the graduating class 2001 of the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID), primal forces rule. The class is holding its annual exhibit at the 9th floor of the Urban Bank Plaza utilizing the forces of nature as its theme. Dubbed as...

Nov. 1 traffic advisory.
October 30, 2001... The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will close some streets of Metro Manila to manage traffic and provide parking spaces near cemeteries on All Saints' Day. On Nov. 1, the stretch of A. Bonifacio from Calavite Street to Del...

Cotabato grenade blast.
October 30, 2001... Three civilians were killed and two others were wounded in a grenade explosion Sunday night in Pigcauayan, North Cotabato, the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Southern Command (SouthCom) yesterday said. SouthCom chief Lt. Gen. Roy A. Cimatu,...

Seizure proceedings.
October 30, 2001... The Department of Justice (DoJ) has initiated seizure proceedings to confiscate P20 million worth of foreign currencies a businessman attempted to smuggle out of the country last week. Justice Undersecretary Manuel A.J. Teehankee said he has...

Police on 24-hour alert.
October 30, 2001... The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday placed on alert its troops throughout the country in preparation for All Saints' Day. PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Crisencio Maralit said police troops have been assigned to provide security in bus...

Senators' foreign trips.
October 30, 2001... Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson and 10 other senators have taken advantage of the 16- day congressional recess to take trips abroad. Mr. Lacson left for Hong Kong the other day, where he was reportedly proceeding to the United States to deliver a...

Water rate hike.
October 30, 2001... Two solons yesterday questioned the decision of Manila Water Co., Inc. (MWCI) to increase its average water rate in the east zone of Metro Manila next month. Quezon City Rep. Ma. Theresa T. Defensor said MWCI should explain to the public the...

Estrada lawyers predict victory in.
October 30, 2001... The Sandiganbayan yesterday barred the special prosecution panel from presenting bank records and witnesses that could prove that former President Joseph E. Estrada committed perjury. Sandiganbayan first division chairman Francis E....

Abu Sayyaf behind Zambo blasts.
October 30, 2001... The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday blamed the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group for the powerful bomb explosion in Zamboanga City Sunday evening that left five civilians dead and 39 others wounded. In a chance interview at Camp...

GMA kicks off China visit.
October 30, 2001... President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo flew yesterday afternoon to Beijing for a three-day state visit on the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The President came from Hong Kong, where she delivered the keynote address at the 10th...

OFWs face layoffs in KL.
October 30, 2001... Around 15,500 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be affected by Malaysia's decision to deport foreign workers, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday. The decision came after the Malaysian government decided to cut...

Palace hand in ARMM polls?
October 30, 2001... DAVAO CITY - A candidate for governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) claimed Malacanang tried to bribe him in exchange for withdrawing his candidacy. Ibrahim "Toto" Paglas also appealed to the Palace not to intervene...

... as Chinese ships seen in.
October 30, 2001... Four suspected Chinese vessels were spotted near the Philippine-claimed territories within the Spratly island group over the weekend. A military official who asked not to be named said a possible Chinese naval vessel, a supply vessel and...

High Court not seen to meddle in.
October 30, 2001... The Supreme Court is not likely to interfere in the row between minority and majority solons over the 2002 budget bill. This, as minority congressmen threatened to question before the High Court the passage on second reading of the 2002...

De Venecia to minority solons:.
October 30, 2001... The row over the passage of the proposed P780.8-billion 2002 national budget on second reading continues at the House of Representatives, as Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, Jr. yesterday urged the minority bloc to abandon plans to question the...

ICC approves P1B worth of water.
October 30, 2001... The interagency Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) recently approved P1 billion worth of projects that respond to potable water supply needs in provinces as well as step up crop production in areas with limited irrigation facilities. ...

A 'LEAP' toward a solution.
October 30, 2001... DAVAO CITY - Pundits and armchair strategists have been saying that the peace and order problem in Mindanao could be best quelled through economic development. A government program may be strengthening the argument for this theory. The...

Davao gunning for Cebu's status as.
October 30, 2001... DAVAO CITY - Davao is turning out to be not only a fertile ground for bananas and durian, but also for a nascent information technology (IT) sector. Oliver Robillo, president of the IT Society of Mindanao, said the city is now home to...

Appeals court junks TRO vs.
October 30, 2001... The Court of Appeals (CA) has issued a resolution effectively barring a lower court from implementing its decision nullifying a law protecting local players from unfair trade competition. The appellate court brought down its decision last...

Cebu traders hopeful P125 pay hike.
October 30, 2001... CEBU CITY - Businessmen here are optimistic that Congress will eventually reject the bill proposing a P125 daily wage increase because of projections it will only mean bad news for the economy. Sabino R. Dapat, president of the Cebu...

RP industries should adopt 'Silicon.
October 30, 2001... With the country's declining competitiveness, a former Cabinet secretary has recommended clustering the same industries in one area, where they can provide further value-added on the products thus boost competitiveness. The clustering...

Davao advisory body.
October 30, 2001... DAVAO CITY - Bracing for more difficult times ahead, the city government has created an economic advisory council, composed of private sector leaders, to help local administrators in crisis situations. Top city officials described the...

French investors.
October 30, 2001... CEBU CITY - French Ambassador to the Philippines M. Gilles Chouraqui said it was easier in the past to promote the Philippines as an investment site among French companies. "Honestly, it was easier (to promote the Philippines among French...

Filipino workers in HK.
October 30, 2001... The Filipino community in Hong Kong is expected to feel the impact of the economic crunch after the former British colony issued a policy prioritizing locals and those from mainland China in job placements. Still, the accession of China to...

NG rejects all bids for all T-bill.
October 30, 2001... The Bureau of Treasury rejected all bids across all tenors in yesterday's Treasury bill auction, moving to keep local interest rates below double-digit levels. Bids for the 91-day T-bill went up as high as 23 basis points, the 182-day...

Power rate to rise P0.05/kWh.
October 30, 2001... Starting November, the cost of electricity to consumers will go up five centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) tries to recover some P2.4 billion in charges deferred earlier. "We have started...

'Gov't to get $870M in fresh loans.
October 30, 2001... Some $870 million in fresh loans will be made available to the National Government next year by multilateral lending institutions, the Department of Finance (DoF) said yesterday. The new loans, in the form of project and program...

Groups join hands to ask for coco.
October 30, 2001... DAVAO CITY - Warring coconut groups joined hands last Sunday in asking the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to immediately create a coconut trust fund, not significantly different from the one proposed by the previous administration. In a...

GMA asks ASEAN leaders to push for.
October 30, 2001... President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday asked leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to lobby for "sustainable development" at the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha next month. In her...

Slower economic growth in 3rd.
October 30, 2001... Government economic planners have observed slower economic growth in the third quarter, estimating that the economy expanded during the period by just about 2.8% - as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) or the sum of goods and services...

Briefs.
October 30, 2001... GMA donates P5M The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) board of governors, chaired by Justice Leonor Ines Luciano, paid a courtesy call recently on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Malacanang, to reiterate their gratitude for the...

WWF top honcho flies in to sign.
October 30, 2001... In between a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International director general Claude Martin found time to...

ABS-CBN wins 10 CMMA awards.
October 30, 2001... ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. and its subsidiaries took home 10 awards in the 2001 Catholic Mass Media Awards, held last Wednesday evening at the Irwin Theatre of the Ateneo de Manila University. Dolphy's long-running sitcom Home Along da...

Louis Vuitton joins yacht race.
October 30, 2001... The America's Cup Jubilee held in Cowes brought together 205 of the finest yachts to celebrate the 150th birthday of the oldest sporting trophy in the world. Undoubtedly one of the most remarkable events of the summer, the Isle of Wight was...

Dole Phils. to stay.
October 29, 2001... KALSANGI, Polomolok, South Cotabato - Dole Philippines is definitely staying put and is not getting cowed by the protest that nearly tore the collective bargaining agreement between its management and the workers. In fact, Christopher...

Agribusiness keeps economy afloat.
October 29, 2001... DAVAO CITY - Agribusiness is keeping Southern Mindanao's economy afloat amid the economic storm. Interviews with local business leaders indicate that while the business mood is generally apprehensive over recent developments, the...

Banks seen to push up T-bill rates.
October 29, 2001... The local debt market's apprehension that government will increase its local borrowings in the fourth quarter is seen to push benchmark interest rates back to double-digit levels in today's Treasury bill auction. The projected increase...

House to finish budget bill changes.
October 29, 2001... The House committee on appropriations will finalize amendments to the P780.8-billion national budget bill for 2002 during the two-week congressional break. During its approval of House Bill No. 2840 or the General Appropriations Act of...

Finance backs down on 10% FCDU.
October 29, 2001... The Department of Finance (DoF) is backtracking on a plan to hike to 10% the tax on interest income from foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs), worried by possible flight of such deposits from local banks. This is despite prodding by the...

GMA keynotes East Asia economic.
October 29, 2001... President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo flew to Hong Kong yesterday morning where she will deliver the keynote address at the three-day 10th East Asia Economic Summit which opens today. The President's address at the economic summit, organized...