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| 16 OCTOBER 2007 | ||
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| 16 OCTOBER 2007 | ||
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| PGMA formally launches Ayala Land's P3.5-B TriNoma Shopping Mall in QC |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo formally
launched on Monday night property giant Ayala Land Inc.’s P3.5-billion
TriNoma Shopping Mall in Quezon City, a signal that the property market is
now again bullish after it suffered a slump about 10 years ago.
The President, assisted by Ayala Land Chairman
Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Land President Jaime Ayala, Quezon City Mayor
Feliciano Belmonte and Rep. Vincent Crisologo, switched on the light button
to signal the formal launching of the TriNoma. With a gross floor area of 195,000 square meters, TriNoma houses 597 retail shops, including high-end stores like Zara, Lacoste, Topshop and Mango. The mall will also offer fine dining restaurants. Landmark, which has been in Makati City for 18 years, is also one of the tenants of TriNoma. It operates a supermarket and a department store inside the shopping mall. The TriNoma, located at the corner of North
Avenue, Mindanao Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, would cater to
both the low and high-end markets, including those riding the Mass Railway
Transit (MRT) Line-3. TriNoma provides a major inter-modal transport hub for almost all types of public transport mode and a parking area for 3,500 vehicles. Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is the property development arm of the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate Ayala Corp. It operates the Glorietta and Greenbelt malls in Makati City. |
| PGMA to kick off Camiguin's Lanzones Festival anew |
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MAMBAJAO, Camiguin - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
will visit this picturesque volcanic island anew tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct.
17) to grace the 28th Lanzones Festival, one of Mindanao’s cultural and
tourism offerings. The President had, in the past, always taken time from her hectic schedule to join the local residents in the colorful thanksgiving festivities in this province aimed at further enhancing Camiguin’s tourism program. A thanksgiving mass will kick off the festival, followed by a parade from the provincial capitol to the Camiguin Tourism Center. The thanksgiving festival is in gratitude to the abundance of the lanzones fruit, one of the major components of the island province’s economy. During the festival, houses, carriages, street poles and even people are decorated with lanzones and its leaves. Camiguin Gov. Jordin Jesus Romualdo and Rep. Pedro Romualdo will lead the ribbon cutting of the Agro-Industrial Technology Trade Fair, one of the activities during the kick-off ceremony. There will be street dancing on Saturday (Oct. 20) to commemorate ostensibly the legend of a beautiful, unknown maiden who took away the former bitter taste of the fruit, leaving only its luscious and sweet flavor Camiguin’s name was derived from "Kamagong,” meaning hardwood tree which grew abundantly in the pear-shaped volcanic island lying in the Bohol Sea. Lanzones fruit production is a major component of Camiguin island's economy. From here, the President will fly on the same day to Esperanza, Agusan del Sur to launch some livelihood assisted projects and inspect the Agusan del Sur hospital. |
| PGMA to grace CARAGA Peace, Security Assembly |
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BUTUAN CITY - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
will be the guest of honor during the Local Peace and Security Assembly (LPSA)
in the Caraga Region that culminates here Wednesday. The President is expected to arrive here in the afternoon after her working visit to Esperanza, Agusan del Sur and attendance at the Lanzones Festival in the island province of Camiguin earlier in the morning. The National Security Council (NSC) earlier announced the conduct of the two-day Local Peace and Security Assembly in the Caraga Region which started Tuesday. The assembly is a multi-sectoral undertaking aimed at strengthening local mechanisms to address peace and security problems with the active participation of various stakeholders in the region. The outcome of the peace and security assembly would be adopted in CARAGA to promote stronger cooperation and complementation between the national and local governments to promote progress and development particularly in the countryside. CARAGA Region is composed of the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat Island. |
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Highlights of the National Economic and Development
Authority -- Cabinet Group Meeting Malacanang’s Aguinaldo State Dining Room, October 16, 2007 |
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Measures to reduce elementary & high school
drop-out rate (Department of Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador) • Top cause of drop-out: children without good pre-school experience are prone to drop out within Grades 1-3. • President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on DepEd to concentrate on early childhood investment particularly Grades 4 to 6 students. • About 4 million of these children are on the streets and are working. • PGMA also called for focusing on the 10 poorest provinces. • DepEd to continue to integrate day care & pre-school. • PGMA called for expansion of universal coverage of 5-year-old kids to be put either in day care or pre-school. Economic impact of weak exports, oil process and remittances. Acting NEDA Director-General • Decelerating merchandize exports growth - Electronic products dominate exports production - For exports, the impact, as simulated using the 2000 input-output model represents a 3 percentage points (ppts) reduction in exports from 11 percent to 8 percent in 2007. • Oil prices escalated to 70 percent in July 2007 - percentage point impact on inflation of every 1 percent increase in the following: sugar (0.017576), flour (0.004952) and retail fuel (0.0658) • Declining OFW deployment/remittances - strong peso • LBP (Land Bank of the Philippines) has a branch in Panorama City and two weeks from now the branch in San Francisco will be opened to service almost half of OFWs in the US. A partner branch that allows remittances is also present in Saudi Arabia which hosts around 1.02 million OFWs. Summary assessment • Overall, the declining exports will have a significant impact on GDP growth • The impact of increasing food and fuel prices remains benign given increases are within expectations, thus expected inflation remains unchanged • The impact of inflation will most likely be felt in 2008 • Remittances remain on-tract despite recent slowdown and is expected to pick up in the 4th quarter • Continue to encourage placement of OFWs to high-end skills job. Proposed Action Programs • Possibility of reducing cost remittances. DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) and LBP shall explore the possibility of having partnership with Smart and Globe, and pawnshops to reduce cost of remittances. • DOF (Department of Finance) shall look into the possibility of issuing bonds, the proceeds of which are to be lent out to exporters. • DOF to study the proposed discounted taxes. • Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will be invited to the Cabinet Meeting next week to report on possible assistance to reduce cost of financial transactions. (validate) • DOF to look into the issuance of peso-denominated bonds for infrastructure. On Flour • DOF to touch base with Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines if it is possible for them to open a Letter of Credit to a flour supplier to increase his share in the market from 8 percent to 12 percent. If, for any reason, the supplier is not qualified to open an LC, the PITC (Philippine International Trading Corp.) shall be asked to provide the necessary intervention or financing. • DOF to study the revenue-neutral tariff reduction on flour. On Sugar • Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Chairman (Romulo) Neri to discuss how the farmers and LGUs can plant sorghum, taking into consideration the 2 million hectares upland distribution and development for agri-business as well as the necessary financing for qualified beneficiaries under this program. |
| Gov't moves to address economic impact of rising prices of oil, flour and sugar |
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The government has drawn up measures that would
address the economic impact of rising prices of oil in the world market, the
slippage in the value of dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs),
declining exports, rising prices of flour and sugar during the National
Economic and Development Authority-Cabinet Group meeting presided over by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning in Malacanang. The government’s main concerns included the increasing oil prices as well as such commodities as sugar and flour, and the decelerating merchandize exports growth that would have an overall impact on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. It was noted that although the very strong peso has managed to offset the impact of rising oil prices and reduced debt servicing costs, the families of OFW suffer the slippage value of remittances they received. On the rising prices of flour, the Department of Finance (DOF) was instructed to coordinate with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) on the possibility of opening a Letter of Credit (LC) to a flour supplier in a move to increase his share in the market from eight percent to 12 percent. If the supplier is not qualified to open an LC, then the Philippine International Trading Corp.(PITC) would be asked to provide the necessary intervention or financing. The DOF would also study the possibility of a revenue-neutral tariff reduction on flour similar to that applied on oil. The Philippine Federation of Bakers had earlier said the price of a 25-kilo bag of flour rose to P780 last week from P600, while that of a 50-kilo bag of sugar increased to P1,800 from P1,600. On sugar, Department of Agriculture Secretary
Arthur Yap would explore the possibility on how farmers and local government
units could plant sorghum, a cereal plant with high sugar content, on the
two million hectares of upland identified for agri-business distribution and
development by the President. As to the slippage in the value of dollar remittances and impact of the peso on exporters, the following are the proposed action programs : Possibility of reducing cost remittances with the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines exploring a partnership with telecommunications providers Smart and Globe as well as pawnshops to reduce the cost of remittances; The DOF shall also look into the possibility of issuing bonds, the proceeds of which would be lent out to exporters; DOF to study the proposed discounted taxes; and DOF to look into the issuance of peso-denominated bonds for infrastructure. |
