Philippines drops 5 notches in global financial dev't index

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines dropped five notches in this year’s edition of an annual survey of countries monitoring financial development, which saw the country fell in terms of financial stability and services.
Despite retaining its score of 3.1 from last year, the country fell to 49th out of 62 nations from 44th on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Financial Development Report released this month.
The report, a copy of which was uploaded at WEF’s website, was conducted for the fifth year by the WEF’s Industry Partnership Programme, which grouped together chief and senior executives with academicians and public sector representatives as well as civil society organizations.
It aimed “to identify the factors that play a crucial role in achieving much-needed economic growth” to enable stakeholders to “prioritize, implement, and assess any necessary reforms.”
It used the Financial Development index in rating countries, gauging seven pillars namely institutional environment, business environment, financial stability, banking financial services, non banking financial services, financial markets and financial access.
The Philippines, for this year, fell on five of the seven pillars led by banking financial services, where it plunged to 49th place from 36th last year. This was after its score worsened to just three from 3.4. This segment measures the size, efficiency and information on banks available to people.
The country also fared worse in financial stability sub-index, inching down three notches to 47th from 44th with its score dipping by 0.2 points. The drop was led by a 14-place fall in the currency stability sector to 32nd rank from last year’s 18th “because of the significant weakness in the change in real effective exchange rate.”
The pillar also looked into the health of the banking system (to 54th from 51st) and the risk of developing a sovereign crisis (to 39th from 40th).

The Philippines, on the other hand, retained its 2.7 score on financial services, but fell three rungs to 53rd place this year. It inched down one place in both non-banking financial services (21st) and development of financial markets (34th).

Improvements were, however, noted on the institutional and business environment pillars with Philippine firms seen to have tighter corporate governance.
WEF said the country improved its score by 0.02-point in institutional environment, allowing it to rise three notches to 39th place. Corporate governance, under this segment, posted the best performance to 27th from 34th.
Meanwhile, the Philippines climbed one place in the business environment ranking to 54th with a retained score of 3.4. The country’s infrastructure under this sub-index however fell in the list to 55th from 53rd despite sustaining its 3.4 marking.
Hong Kong continued to top the list for the second straight year, while Venezuela was at the bottom.

Read More

Good weather over PHL, but light rain and big waves expected from NE monsoon

Most of the country will experience sunny weather, but the northeast monsoon or "Hanging Amihan" will bring light rains to eastern areas. Small seacraft in Northern Luzon have been warned of big waves, also due to the monsoon.

 

"With no development of any tropical weather disturbance expected for the next several days, the whole country will continue to experience generally clear skies except over the eastern sections of the archipelago, where light rains will prevail due to the prevailing northeasterly wind flow. Coastal waters over the seaboard of northern Luzon will be very rough and dangerous to small seacraft," said GMA resident meteorologist Nathaniel "Mang Tani" Cruz.

 

PAGASA forecaster Buddy Javier said there is no potential cyclone or weather disturbance near the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) at this time.

 

"Maganda ang panahon natin. Ang nakakaapekto lang sa atin ang amihan sa Luzon. Ang buong bansa magiging maaraw maliban sa pagulan sa dakong hapon o gabi sa silangang bahagi," he said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

He said waves as high as 3.4 to 4.5 meters may threaten fishermen and small seacraft at the seaboards of Northern Luzon.

 

This is due to the northeast monsoon triggering such waves, he said.

 

PAGASA's 5 a.m. bulletin said the whole country will be generally sunny aside from light rain in the afternoon or evening over the eastern section.

 

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough.

 

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the northeast with slight to moderate seas.

 

On the other hand, PAGASA said strong to gale-force winds associated with the northeast monsoon may affect the northern seaboard of Northern Luzon.

 

"Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves," it said. — TJD, GMA News

Read More

Comelec disqualifies Mikey Arroyo’s Ang Galing Pinoy

MANILA, Philippines—The party-list group of Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, Ang Galing Pinoy,  is the latest to get the axe along with Alab ng Mamamahayag (Alam), the Commission on Elections announced Tuesday.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the two failed to meet the requirements for representing marginalized sectors in the House of Representatives.
Ang Galing Pinoy claims to represent security guards, tricycle drivers, farmers and small businessmen. Its representative is Mikey Arroyo, son of former president and incumbent Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is among the wealthiest party-list lawmaker in the 15th Congress.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, in a separate interview, said that Ang Galing Pinoy was denied accreditation because its new nominees did not represent the marginalized sectors.
Based on the documents submitted by Ang Galing Pinoy, it has five new nominees.
“This is a recognition that the nominees should belong to the marginalized and underrepresented. Number two, you should prove your track record,” Sarmiento said. He did not name the five.
The Comelec earlier barred from joining next year’s midterm elections the following: Ako Bicol, 1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy (1-Care) and the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (Apec), Aangat Tayo, and Kapatiran ng mga Nakulong na Walang Sala (Kakusa).
It had also disqualified the following existing party-list groups: AGRI, AKMA-PTM, AKO AGILA, AKO BAHAY, PACYAW, PASANG MASDA, COFA, ARARO, KATUTUBO, OPO.
Aside from ALAM, three new applicants — RAM GUARDIANS, Alyansa para sa Demokrasya, and Association of Airline and Airport Workers — had also been denied accreditation.
Brillantes said that the formal resolutions on the disqualification of these party-list groups would be released Tuesday.
The decision of the poll body was final and appeals should be made at the Supreme Court, he said.
The Alab ng Mamamahayag party-list, meanwhile, did not have a track record prior to its application to run for the 2013 polls. Alam, whose top nominee is former National Press Club president Jerry Yap, claims to represent  professional media and that it has different regional chapters in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.
Sarmiento said that Alam “alleged to represent the multi-sectors but they have no track record in representing these multi-sectors.”
He also noted that alam figured in a controversy with the Comelec when it alleged that two of the poll body’s commissioners had asked for P3 million in exchange for its accreditation. An investigation, however, revealed that two workers from the Comelec, who claimed to be working for Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph, were behind the alleged solicitation. Comelec dismissed the erring workers.
“Plus the allegation of the bribery. That there was bribery committed, but that was not proven in the hearing, because there’s none really,” he said.
“It does not speak well of the party list organization to make a serious allegation of bribery only to state openly that there is none, there is no evidence. Be careful with your allegations, names are involved,” Sarmiento said.
The Comelec has been reviewing the qualifications of new and old party-list groups in a bid to cleanse the party-list system, which has been criticized as being dominated by bogus organizations or by groups whose nominees are either multimillionaires, former government officials or members of powerful political clans.

Read More

Police gear up for Arroyo’s arraignment on plunder

POLICEMEN have been deployed as early as Sunday to secure the premises of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in Quezon City, where former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to be arraigned on plunder charges on Monday.
Radio reports said bomb disposal units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been stationed at the Sandiganbayan while some policemen will be tasked to secure the route between the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), where Arroyo is currently detained, and the court.
“The PNP will be on hand to make sure that everything will go well. If there will be pro and anti (Arroyo) protests, the PNP will be there to keep the peace,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over government-run Radyo ng Bayan.
The arraignment is set at 8:30 a.m. as the Sandiganbayan earlier asked reporters and media crew to confirm attendance due to space limitations of the court's first division.
Valte said they will just monitor news about the arraignment, where Arroyo is expected to plead not guilty in connection with the alleged misuse of some P366-million funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Set to be arraigned as well are former PCSO chairman Sergio Valencia and PCSO assistant manager for finance Benigno Aguas, who have since been under police custody.
Last week, the Pampanga lawmaker sought for a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court to further stop the Sandiganbayan from hearing the case.
She also asked the justices to junk the resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan dated October 3, 2012, which was the basis for the issuance of the arrest warrant weeks ago.
Arroyo’s participation in the allocation of funds, her lawyers pointed out, was just limited to merely approving it. (Virgil Lopez/Jill Beltran/Sunnex)

Read More

3 Marines Killed In Sulu Clash

MANILA, Philippines --- Five were killed, including three Marines and two armed men believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), in an encounter yesterday morning in Patikul, Sulu.
Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman, said 10 soldiers were also wounded in the firefight that took place around 6:30 a.m. at Barangay Bakong in Patikul town.
According to Cabangbang, elements from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 (MBLT6) engaged an undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf men under Radullan Sahiron and armed followers of Tahil Sali.
“The Marine company was conducting patrol to verify reports of the presence of kidnap victims in the area,” said Cabangbang.
The spokesman further said one of the two slain armed men was identified as a certain Kaisar.
Wesmincon commander, Maj. Gen. Rey C. Ardo has ordered the dispatch of all available air and naval assets to support the engaged troops and to ensure that the soldiers killed in action are recovered and those wounded brought to the nearest medical facility.

Read More

Philippines urged to recall ‘cancer-causing’ Korean noodles

CHEMICAL watchdog EcoWaste Coalition called on the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to also follow the recall order of the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) over Korean noodles found positive for a cancer-causing substance.
Similar actions have already been made by Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong authorities as the group said there is no reason for the Philippines not to pull out the items from store shelves.
“We request our local FDA to look into this food safety issue and take appropriate action,” said EcoWaste Coalition's Project Protect Aileen Lucero in a statement.
Last week, the KFDA announced the recall of nine types of instant noodles, including six products manufactured by Nongshim Co. Ltd., after detecting concentrations of benzopyrene in the powdered seasonings.
EcoWaste’s call was made after they were able to purchase some of these products, namely: Mild Neoguri, Spicy Neoguri, Neoguri Cup Noodles (small), Saewootang Cup Noodles (large), and Seng Seng Udong from local Korean stores.
The benzopyrene-containing noodles were found being sold in Korean specialty stores, particularly in Makati City and Quezon City.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children’s Health (Teach), benzopyrene is “a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) that is a byproduct of incomplete combustion or burning of organic items, e.g., cigarettes, gasoline, and wood, and is commonly found with other PAHs in cigarette smoke, in grilled and broiled foods, and as a by-product of many industrial processes.”
The US EPA classifies benzopyrene as a probable human carcinogen based on studies in several adult animal species demonstrating that the substance can increase the incidence of tumors.
Similarly, EcoWaste also called on Korean shop owners to immediately r

Read More