Some Good News...

[mazdamazda]

Wow... another multi billion dollar investment...

Cosco to invest $3B in RP

Shipping giant, China Ocean Shipping Company, is looking to invest $3 billion in a shipping complex south of Manila, a government official said Tuesday.

COSCO president Wei Jia Fu outlined company plans during a meeting with President Arroyo on Monday, said Francis Chua, special Philippine envoy on China trade and investments, told reporters.

"They hope to sign a contract with when President Gloria Arroyo visits China in August," Chua added.

Among the facilities that COSCO is eyeing at Sangley Point is a ship-building and repair facility, a school to train maritime workers and a cargo hub for shipments to Europe and North America, said Chua.

[lightning099]

Ford launches P1.1-B plant; job creation: 100

Inquirer
Last updated 05:57am (Mla time) 06/21/2007


SANTA ROSA, Laguna, Philippines -- Ford Philippines has started production at its new engine plant costing P1.1 billion, which has generated about 100 jobs.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attended the plant's launch with Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes, and US acting deputy chief of mission Rick Haynes.

The plant will produce E20 Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV) engines, which use traditional gasoline or a mix that contains up to 20 percent bioethanol fuel.

The engines will be exported to ASEAN markets, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, and to Africa, said Cherry Ramirez, assistant vice president for corporate and government affairs.

In a statement, Ford said production of FFV engines would reach 105,000 units, worth about P6.5 billion.

Ramirez said that FFV engines are capable of reducing vehicles’ carbon emission by up to 60 percent.

Dave Alden, vice president of marketing, sales and service, said: “This new facility will further strengthen the Philippines as a linchpin in our FFV strategy for the ASEAN region.”

He said Ford would continue to develop the use of biofuels though the FFV technology.

Ramirez said that once production volume increased, Ford would definitely hire more workers.

[lightning099]

US medical transcription firm to open office in RP

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:07pm (Mla time) 07/04/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Major US-based medical transcription firm MxSecure is set to open a representative office in the Philippines in an effort to tap into the country's medical transcription industry.

MxSecure would be the first major US medical transcription firm to have an office in the Philippines.

The MxSecure office will subcontract projects from the US to Philippine medical transcription providers. There are currently four MxSecure partners in the Philippines but this number is expected to grow when the company opens its office here.

The company has also hired Evelyn Abat, former managing director of eData Services and former president of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI).

As MxSecure Philippines Country Manager, Abat shall be responsible for managing the company's operations in the country. In an interview with INQUIRER.NET, Abat said the presence of an American medical transcription office would push the Philippines' own industry to be recognized in countries where medical transcription is high in demand, particularly in the US.

She admitted that in the past year, medical transcription firms have struggled to find projects from the US.

Likewise, the level of quality is not yet at par with current demands, which further discourages US clinics and hospitals to pass requirements to Philippine firms.

Abat said that prior to her departure from MTIAPI, there were about 50 members in the group. It had grown its membership base to almost 100 but soon declined as some members failed to find more projects to sustain their businesses.

"By getting a US medical transcription company to be present here, our own industry can learn from the foreign firm's experiences with US medical institutions. We can still improve our quality of work and then get more projects eventually," Abat said.

[mazdamazda]

The PHISIX posted its highest daily gain of 9%+ for the last 7 years. :clap:

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Holcim will invest $200M to put up a new kiln plant.

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Three different investors will spend $250M to upgrade Cebu's Toledo power plant.

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Korean firm to invest $210M on jatropha venture

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PAGCOR posts a $13.3B income for 2007 H1.

[pup2]

Ford launches P1.1-B plant; job creation: 100

Inquirer
Last updated 05:57am (Mla time) 06/21/2007


SANTA ROSA, Laguna, Philippines -- Ford Philippines has started production at its new engine plant costing P1.1 billion, which has generated about 100 jobs.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attended the plant's launch with Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes, and US acting deputy chief of mission Rick Haynes.

The plant will produce E20 Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV) engines, which use traditional gasoline or a mix that contains up to 20 percent bioethanol fuel.

The engines will be exported to ASEAN markets, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, and to Africa, said Cherry Ramirez, assistant vice president for corporate and government affairs.

In a statement, Ford said production of FFV engines would reach 105,000 units, worth about P6.5 billion.

Ramirez said that FFV engines are capable of reducing vehicles’ carbon emission by up to 60 percent.

Dave Alden, vice president of marketing, sales and service, said: “This new facility will further strengthen the Philippines as a linchpin in our FFV strategy for the ASEAN region.”

He said Ford would continue to develop the use of biofuels though the FFV technology.

Ramirez said that once production volume increased, Ford would definitely hire more workers.

Billions in investment and sales pero 100 jobs lang? Tama ba yun?

[mazdamazda]

Billions in investment and sales pero 100 jobs lang? Tama ba yun?

That's because that is a high technology (not to mention highly automated) field.

[mazdamazda]

For H1 2007, the National Gov't saved around P30B by taking advantage of the higher peso:dollar exchange rate and prepaying maturing debts.

[Imau]

For H1 2007, the National Gov't saved around P30B by taking advantage of the higher peso:dollar exchange rate and prepaying maturing debts.

Nice move.

[maverickjazzy]

Economy posts highest growth in 20 yrs The economy grew by 7.5 percent in the second quarter, the fastest rate in 20 years as government spending and private consumption boomed, President Arroyo announced yesterday.

“Our economic plan is working. Today we have the latest glowing indicators to show it,” a beaming Mrs. Arroyo told a nationally televised news conference on the better-than-expected data.

The second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5 percent beat a market forecast of 6.5 percent and took the first half performance to a galloping 7.3 percent, among the highest in the region, encouraging officials to speculate that a seven-percent growth is not impossible for the year.

Mrs Arroyo said gross national product (GNP), which includes income from abroad, rose 8.3 percent for the second quarter from a year ago.

First-quarter economic growth, excluding the overseas income, was revised upward to 7.1 percent from the original 6.9 percent, pushing first-half GDP to an average 7.3 percent from a year ago, she added.

“We’re confident of meeting our full year growth forecast of 6.1 percent to 6.7 percent,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

The Philippines has defied expectations by increasing revenues, cracking down on tax cheats, strengthening the peso, boosting the stock market, balancing the budget, prepaying its debts and creating more jobs, the President said.

The services sector remained the economy’s linchpin, registering a strong growth of 8.4 percent, while industry posted an eight percent growth, said Estrella Domingo, secretary general of the National Statistical Coordination Board.

Mrs. Arroyo said newfound money for investment has allowed the economy to increase its growth pace.

“While our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with one of the strongest macro-economic fundamentals in two decades, we should not rest, but push forward and sustain the momentum,” she said.

The President said revenue and deficit targets must be achieved to maintain investor and creditor confidence and keep the flow of low-interest capital strong.

Tax and customs agencies must hit their targets, she said, and business concerns over power costs and red tape must be addressed, while investments in small and medium industries, tourism and infrastructure must be intensified.

For his part, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr said the second quarter economic growth performance gave the Monetary Board the confidence that the economy would grow within the target of 6 .1 and 6.7 percent in 2007.

“The good combination of strong economic growth coupled with manageable inflation is consistent with the maintenance of our neutral policy stance at this point,“ Tetangco said. “At the end of the day, our fundamentals will see us through,“ Tetangco added, referring to the fallout from the subprime crisis in the US.

Overall, the construction industry posted a growth rate of 21 percent for the second quarter, up from the four percent expansion in 2006.

Another industry that registered remarkable growth during the period was mining and quarrying with a double-digit growth rate of 33.3 percent from just 3.3 percent a year ago.

“Ours is the only administration that has not experienced any negative growth in any quarter. And it has been a six year administration. So it has been sustained. In fact, the regular boom and bust cycle is three years so we should have gone through two boom and bust cycles by now but we never did,” Mrs Arroyo said. .

For the second half of the year, the President’s economic team expressed confidence that there would be no slowdown and that the full year GDP target would be attained.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos said that the second quarter growth indicates that the 6.1 to 6.7 percent full year growth target is attainable notwithstanding some possible uncertainties.

He noted that the continued weakness of the US economy as well as the volatile oil prices would continue to pose a downside risk.

On the other hand, he argued that the steady economic expansion in Europe and Japan as well as the fairly strong performance of other Asian economies are positive developments for the Philippine economy.

Agriculture, which traditionally is a major contributor to GDP, grew by a slower pace, expanding by only 3.5 percent, according to Santos.

Palay and corn in particular, grew by just 4.4 percent and negative 2.5 percent respectively from 10.3 percent and 49.2 percent over the same period in 2006.

“Effects of the prolonged dry spell may possibly drag the performance of agriculture in the second half but we expect a recovery in the second half,” Santos said.

Merchandise exports were also down, growing by just 5.5 percent in the second quarter from 21.7 percent over the previous year.

Santos also noted that the second quarter growth reflects stronger demand for labor and consequently pushed the unemployment rate lower to 7.4 percent in the April labor force survey from 8.2 percent during the same period last year.

“All of this would seem to say the macroeconomic reforms implemented have been effective so far. But with the positive development, we cannot afford to be complacent. We have to continually raise the bar to ensure the country’s solid growth so that economic gains increasingly benefit Filipino people,” Santos said.

He said the government must push for policies to sustain macroeconomic stability, modernize agriculture and effectively transform it into agri-business.

The government would also focus on strengthening small enterprises, expanding export markets, protecting the environment and realign the national budget to spend more on social services, particularly education and health.

“The government must implement reforms to improve productivity and boost the investment climate- this involves upgrading infrastructure, cutting lose from policies that distort market competition, sustaining fiscal reforms and achieving political stability,” Santos said.

“We need to speed up the pace of implementing key reforms to ensure increase in growth over the medium term,” he added.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila, for his part, said that the second quarter performance “only shows that business has ignored politics.”

Roger Dallas, president of the American Chamber of Commerce, said that the continued growth of the Philippine economy is what many American industries and companies looked at and considered in their decision to invest in the country.

The country’s second-quarter GDP performance outshone neighbors such as Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia but trailed Singapore’s 8.6 percent and China’s 11.9 percent. It was the highest annual growth rate since the 7.7 percent growth rate recorded in the third quarter of 1986. – With a report from Des Ferriols



I just hope that this is the start of something good for the country, although I believe that the unexpected high GDP growth rate of 7.5% is only seasonal and was due to election spending, still it is something to start with and maybe from there the Philippines will experience unprecedented growth in the economy.

The government must stay its course on economic policies implementation and restructuring. A great deal must be done against smuggling and corruption. If we can only eliminate it to a negligible level, the country would receive massive foreign investments, especially that good economic policies are already in place (ex. e-vat to lessen budget deficit, capital expenditures on infrastructure, taming the inflation, etc.)

[mazdamazda]

Coca-Cola Phil to add 1,000 new jobs! :clap:

source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=90989

[lightning099]

Youths in Mindanao cash in on call center boom

Mindanao Bureau
Inquirer.net

DAVAO CITY -- Jade Suaybaguio wants to send his sick mother to the hospital, but this is just wishful thinking for a 19-year-old son of a laborer.

His father had stopped supporting the family, leaving the responsibility to him and his elder sister, who, unfortunately, lost her job recently.

Jade no longer goes to college because no one was financially assisting him. He now works as a liaison officer for the employees’ cooperative of Tagum City government and earns P100 daily.

Sam (not his real name), 27, on the other hand, has not been regularly employed for almost a year now. The son of a carpenter, he supports himself and his family from the small fees he gets doing corporate shows and community events.

The difficulty of being a free-lancer is that events do not happen regularly, forcing him to even try writing thesis and other research works for high school and college students, he said.

Both Jade and Sam now see a glimmer of hope when they joined the Training for Work Scholarship Program, a multimillion-peso skills development initiative of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). They enrolled at the Academia de Davao Inc. to learn the basics of the call center industry.

Job prospects

The two are among some 2,000 people from Southern Mindanao who are benefiting from the program. Graduation will give them opportunities to find jobs in the booming call center industry, like the 1,600 people from the region who have already become call center agents.

That life is difficult is something that Jade avoids to think, as this will only make things worse for him and his younger siblings. He said he would rather see the brighter side of his family’s condition and the opportunities coming his way.

Sam has availed himself of a government scholarship program when he enrolled.

Working during the day, Jade is finishing the 100-hour course for call center agents at the school through night classes.

Jade, who took up an agricultural engineering course at the state-run University of Southern Philippines in Tagum, was described by his call center mentor, Lorna Rasay, as intelligent.

During a job fair for call center agent aspirants in Tagum last week, Jade passed the interview given by Link2Support, a progressive business outsourcing company.

“Well, I’m really happy. Things are turning really well for me and my family. I learned that I was able to pass the interview level and that alone is already a huge thing for me,” he told the Inquirer by phone.

TESDA scholarship

Getting the scholarship program from TESDA “is very important for me,” Jade said.

“Remember that I have to stop going to school because nobody was supporting me. This one is a major opportunity opening doors for more opportunities for me.”

Mafel Negrido-Gamale, information officer of TESDA-Southern Mindanao, said the program, especially the one for call center agents, had attracted a lot of undergraduate students and job seekers.

“Another factor, of course, is the fact that one applicant can easily pass the exam given to aspiring individuals. Another is the fact that the training is for free,” Gamale said.

The program was launched here in May last year with a nationwide budget of P1.06 billion. Next year, another P1 billion will be allocated to benefit those enrolling as welders, medical and legal transcriptionists, animators and software developers, and those who want to be in the household services, hotel and restaurant management and other critical skills.

‘Employables’

Gamale said the beneficiaries were labeled as “employables” and “near-hires” or those who possess the required technical skills and competencies.

“Near-hires and employables are the top priorities as they need only enhancement of certain competencies to be given assurance of employment after choosing their desired finishing courses,” she said.

TESDA data showed that the employment rate among those who entered the Work for Scholarship Program, especially in the call center sector, was 23.3 percent for Compostela Valley, 25.2 percent for Davao del Norte, 13.1 percent for Davao Oriental, and 20.6 percent for Davao del Sur, which includes Davao City.

Prospects for skilled workers, like call center agents, are bright and the demand is expected to rise each year, Gamale said.

In 2006, Department of Trade and Industry records indicated that the region needed at least 1,000 call center agents, 90 medical transcriptionists, more than 3,000 animators and 88 software developers.