MANILA, June 9 –- Palace officials and the business sector have cited President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for “bringing home the bacon” from her South Korean and Russian trips last week.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo said during Monday afternoon’s press briefing at the New Executive Building (NEB) in San Miguel, Manila that many businessmen and Malacañang officials were happy over the USD 2.2 billion worth of investments which President Arroyo brought home Sunday.
Fajardo said the working visits of President Arroyo to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Russian Federation from May 31 to June 6, 2009 has brought home many investment commitments and agreements for the country.
Fajardo echoed an earlier statement by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde who said these achievements were the "highlights" of this leg of the President's trips abroad this year.
President Arroyo went to ROK to hold bilateral talks with Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and to attend the Commemorative Summit marking the 20th Anniversary of ASEAN-ROK dialogue relations from May 31 to June 2.
She then proceeded to Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum from June 3 to June 6.
Fajardo said that investments in agriculture, energy, tourism and infrastructure formed the bulk of commitments from South Korean businessmen while the long awaited opening up of direct flights between the Philippines and Russia was agreed upon by the two country’s leaders.
Of the amount, 12.970 million US Dollars which would be used to construct a rice processing complex in Luzon would come from the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and 150 million US Dollars from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) to fund wind and alternative power projects in the country.
Other investment commitments are:
- Korean firms Eco Solution Co. Ltd and EnviroPlasma Ltd. who have pledged to invest USD 475 million in alternative fuel projects in the country
- Eco Solution and its affiliate, Eco Global Bio-Oils Inc., will invest 175 million US Dollars on a jatropha plantation project in South Cotabato over the next three years.
- EnviroPlasma and its local partner, Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp., will invest 300 million US Dollars on a sugar bioethanol plant in Clark, Pampanga capable of producing 500,000 liters of bioethanol daily.
- USD 1.521 million “tourism package” from Korea’s M Castle Corporation for the construction of a resort in Subic
- USD 500 million for various agricultural projects including 14.9 million US Dollars or 700 million pesos from KOICA for the expansion of the Molinao Dam in Bohol
- USD 515 for the construction of a hotel and golf course in Clark, Pampanga
- USD 6.52 million investment for new agricultural projects
- USD 49 million coconut project
- USD 290 million in annual production from Hanjin Philippines, Inc’s ship component production facility in Subic.
On the Russia trip, Fajardo said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assured that the air pact between the Philippines and Russia will be signed soon by Moscow’s Ministry of Transportation to bolster Russian tourist visits to the Philippines.
PGMA graces job fair opening, leads flag raising rites on June 12 in Koronadal City
KORONADAL CITY, June 9 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will grace the opening of jobs fair here and lead the traditional Independence Day flag-raising rites on June 12.
Koronadal City Mayor Fernando Miguel said the President would come with cabinet members to monitor the local government unit's intervention against the impact of global recession.
President Arroyo is also expected to meet with political allies and grace the opening of the Department of Labor (DOLE) jobs fair to give the unemployed decent sources of income.
South Cotabato and Koronadal City are the fast growing economic hubs in south-central Mindanao region.
DOLE-XII Regional Director Gloria Tango said her office has launched the government's Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP)to help address the impact of the global crisis.
Tango said the CLEEP program would benefit thousands of job seekers from the region and nearby areas.
Thousands of daily wage earners in Gen. Santos City and nearby areas lost their jobs early this year due to economic crunch.
The CLEEP was a timely intervention the government has implemented to ease the impact of economic crisis even before it could fully be felt in other parts of the country, Tango said.
"This is the government's continuing efforts to provide employment opportunities to fresh college, vocational courses graduates and those displaced overseas Filipino workers," Tango said.
Mayor Miguel said the President would attend the jobs fair opening and would lead the distribution of scholarship coupons to successful and qualified beneficiaries of the flagship PGMA Training for Work Scholarship Program of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).
Miguel said while the President has been visiting Koronadal and South Cotabato in the past, her Friday's visit will be historical "because she will lead the commemoration of our independence."
"We are very grateful to the President for choosing Koronadal as the venue for leading the country's commemoration of our independence," Miguel said.
The military and the police have set all security measures in place to ensure the smooth celebration of Philippine Independence Day.
RP economy is doing pretty good –- Palace
MANILA, June 9 –- The Philippine economy is doing pretty good, according to a ranking Cabinet official.
“We're doing pretty good; the stock market rose by roughly 40 percent. The market knows of our good fundamentals moving forward,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon at Malacanang's New Executive Building (NEB).
Recto made the pronouncement after attending a lengthy Cabinet meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacañang's Music Room this morning.
”There are 500,000 jobs created by the government and many of those given jobs were through the government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP),” Recto said.
”The country's gross domestic product (GDP) posted a 0.4 percentage point gain during the first quarter of this year, indicating a slow economic growth,” he noted.
Recto said the first quarter economic standing was the best argument for the economic stimulus to counter the significant economic downturn leading to recession.
”Tomorrow, June 10, the Development Budget and Coordinating Council (DBCC) will meet to discuss cuts in the growth targets. We did not have much discussions on economic trends in the Cabinet meeting today because it will be done on the DBCC level,” he said.
Recto, who is also the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said the country’s economic growth is on the upward trend just as inflation would be on downward trend.
”It might be prudent to adjust downward but still positive we don't expect to be in a recession. We grew by 0.4 percent, and it’s not totally bad. In the process we created more than 500,000 jobs,” he explained.
”We believe that the 0.4 percent output of the domestic economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), in the first quarter this year is still a good sign given the contraction of some economies in the region during the same period,” Recto said.
The economy’s growth was attributed to continued inflows of remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as well as small contributions of agriculture, fisheries and construction, among others, he said.
Recto said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) forecasts inflation to average at 3.4 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2010, well within the government’s 2.5-4.5 percent and 3.5-5.5 percent targets for this and next year.
Monetary officials, on the other hand, projected inflation to continue its downward path but stressed that risks like volatilities in the prices of oil, among others, remain, according to Recto.
He also said that the Philippine economy can expect more positive growth in the second quarter and the rest of the year as actual spending on government infrastructure projects, for one, starts in the second quarter of the year.
The government is frontloading its infrastructure and social spending this year to ensure economic growth amid the global slowdown, Recto added.
With the mild growth registered in the first three months of the year, economic officials said they are open to increasing the government’s expenditure program to further boost the economy.
Recto: RP’s 0.4% Q1 GNP growth forecast, compared to negative figures of neighbors, is not bad
Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Ralph Recto said the 0.4 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for the quarter is “not totally bad,” modest as it is.
The projection was “very conservative” but in the course of things “we have created more than 500,000 jobs, based on the report of the National Statistics Board, mostly coming from the services and agriculture sectors since the manufacturing sector contracted during the period,” Recto said during a briefing for Palace reporters today.
Recto, however, said the Cabinet did not take up the first quarter growth forecast to be discussed first at the level of the Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) tomorrow which will be attended by all economic managers.
Only after then will we “make a presentation to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and then to the Cabinet,” Recto explained.
He expressed confidence the growth will assume an upward trend while inflation will go downward. Some of these assumptions will be discussed at the DBCC level tomorrow, he added.
Comparing the country’s growth with those of its neighbors, Recto disclosed that South Korea posted a -4.3 percent growth; Malaysia, -6.2%; Thailand, -7.1%; Hongkong, -7.8%; Singapore, -10.1%; and Taiwan, -10.2 %.
“At 0.4 real growth, ours is not that bad. It is still higher than our neighbors,” he explained.
Recto said the GNP (gross national product) growth of 4.4 percent, already above our growth forecast and a GDP of 0.4, that mostly went into savings is again “not bad because at least people now have more savings reserve.”
“We have very high savings rate compared to the US and Europe, both western and eastern Europe. So we are doing pretty good and that is why the stock exchange rose by 39 percent since its dip on March 9. It has now gone up by around 40 percent,” he added..
He pointed out that “clearly the market shows our fundamentals pulling forward.” Today in the Cabinet meeting, the country’s 10 largest banks also showed double digit increases in their savings deposits. “That means people have savings,” he said.
Many of the OFWs, he noted, brought with them fear stories of the countries where they worked, including stories of people who lost their jobs, banks collapsing and even the giant General Motors filing bankruptcy proceedings and so forth. “So together with the remittances they send back home they also brought with them fear stories,” he said.
Recto also observed that OFWs now spend their money wisely. Where before they spent on non essentials, now they are buying houses that is why private consumption went up by 13 percent even as they tell their families to scrimp a little because of all these fear stories.
Eventually, he said, all these things will end up positively in the form of more investments and more consumption.
“For as long as inflation goes down, we can expect a higher positive growth,” he enthused.
On reports that NEDA is overly optimistic in its forecast, Recto said: “I would rather be an optimist than a pessimist. Looking at our blessings as well as the negatives. our projections are realistic,”
If we were negative six or negative seven like Taiwan, I think we should be pessimistic, he added.
On the deficit projection, he said, right now the P1.4 trillion budget is roughly 15-16% more than last year’s budget. The deficit could be higher because revenue collections may contract like in the first four months of the year.
“All of these will be looked into,” he assured.
Duque said DOH starts mitigation activities with WHO expert advice
Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III today reported 8 more confirmed cases of A (H1N1) over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of the country’s cases to 54.
The eight new confirmed cases include seven Filipinos and one foreigner. Four are males and 4 are females with an age range of 16-44 years old. Six of the cases are students of the De La Salle University, while one is the first confirmed case from the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde. Two of the 8 new confirmed cases had a history of travel. The said cases travelled to the US.
Duque also disclosed that he met with World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Adviser Dr. Hiroshi Oshitani and discussed plans and recommendation on how to go about the shift from containment to mitigation.
“We also talked about the country’s surveillance capabilities, laboratory capacity, and other measures such as school closures and contact-tracing to mitigate the effects of A (H1N1)”, Duque added.
“We repeat that there is no need to wear masks, quarantine entire rooms or floors and suspend business activities. I reiterate, however, that all businesses should have a contingency plan to ensure the continuity of their operations,” Duque said.
Duque enumerates that the following high risk individuals will be given treatment priority: 1) Those who have flu-like symptoms and have recently travelled from affected countries; and 2) Symptomatic individuals who were known close contacts of confirmed cases.
In their latest report dated June 8, the WHO reported 25,288 cases and 139 deaths from 73 reporting countries. The case fatality rate is .55%. Cayman’s Islands, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and United Arab Emirates are the newest countries with confirmed A (H1N1) cases.
No Security threat due to Con Ass issue- AFP
MANILA, June 9 -- The Armed Forces said it does not foresee any security threat emanating from protest rallies that would be conducted by multi-sectoral groups on Wednesday to protest the Constituent Assembly as the mode to amend the Charter.
“We would like to emphasize that there is no destabilization moves from the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines this time. We would like to make it clear that the Armed Forces of the Philippines is solid and united behind the Constitution,” said Brawner.
“The stance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is that we are vigilant against any group that may create chaos because of the situation that we are facing, specifically on the issue of Con-Ass...We are not seeing any threat,” the official also said.
Protesters are expected to gather in Makati City to protest the passage of the House resolution calling for Con-Ass.
“We are emphatic on that,” said Brawner. “This is a political exercise which we are going to leave to our political leaders,” he added.
