...the Asian bankers head

Filipino heads Asian bankers group

By MST Business
Mar. 31, 2013

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. president and chief executive Lorenzo Tan leads two of the largest groups of bankers in the Philippines and Asia.

The 51-year-old banker has been recently named president of the influential Bankers Association of the Philippines, in a concurrent capacity as chairman of the prestigious Asian Bankers Association.

RCBC president and chief executive Lorenzo Tan (third from left) attends the unveiling of the newly restored Rizal monument in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

 

Tan, widely known as “the miracle man” for dramatically turning around several local financial institutions, replaced Alberto Villarosa of Security Bank as head of BAP.

“I’m coming in as BAP president at a very good time. The economy is on an upswing and the banking industry can play a big role in sustaining the country’s progress,” Tan says. “As an advocate of innovation and change, I will push for a banking industry that is able to maximize available technologies in introducing products and services that cater to the ever changing needs of our customers.”

Earlier in November 2012, Tan was elected chairman of the Asian Bankers Association, an alliance of Asia Pacific’s most influential banks with the aim of providing a forum for advancing the cause of the banking and finance industry in the region and promoting regional economic cooperation.

“As I concurrently lead the ABA as its chairman, I intend to be sensitive to developments and trends across the region and see which learnings from other member countries can be adopted locally and bring in significant benefits,” he says.

Prior to joining RCBC in 2007, Tan was president and chief executive of Sun Life of Canada (Philippines). He also took the helm at the Philippine National Bank where he turned the formerly losing bank’s performance around in two years, ahead of its five-year schedule. He also served as president of the United Coconut Planters Bank.

A graduate of the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, Tan finished a commerce degree from the De La Salle University in 1982. He also held executive posts in Citibank New York, Los Angeles and Singapore.

Tan also spearheads the campaign of RCBC and parent firm Yuchengco Group of Companies to spread the values of national hero Jose Rizal nationwide. YGC and RCBC have recently completed the Palawan leg of the Buhay Rizal values campaign.

The YGC established the campaign as one of its core social responsibility programs with the intention of instilling a sense of nationalism among the Filipino people through two nation-building projects, the Rizalian Pride restoration and the Rizalian books donation.

Tan and Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn led the first wave of the campaign activities with the unveiling of the renovated Rizal monument in the provincial capital.

“Rest assured that the support from the local government of Palawan and its officials will be maximized so that the campaign’s main thrusts will be brought more effectively and closer to the people of this province,” says Tan.

Through partnerships with local government units and communities, the Buhay Rizal values campaign has been able to restore more than eight Rizal monuments nationwide and distribute almost 50,000 copies of Noli Me Tangere books since its founding in 2008.

 

...the Pinay in Canada's "La Voix"

Pinay to compete in quarterfinals of Canada's “La Voix” singing contest April 1

ANDREI MEDINA

GMA News

March 29, 2013

 

Maria Janice Galvez, a Filipina singer, will be competing in the quarterfinals of Canada's reality singing competition “La Voix” (The Voice) on April 1 at 7:00 a.m. (Philippine time).

 

 

 

 

Galvez, 30 told GMA News Online via email that the quarterfinals could be viewed via this live streaming website: http://www.webmaster-gratuit.com/tele/tva-quebec.htm

 

 

In February she won her 'duel' – a segment where two contestants sing the same song in parts – against Gabryelle Frappier.

 

She said she gave her best and tried to "think that there would not be a next time, that it would be the last.”

 

 

Both sang "Les Uns Contre les Autres," a French song originally by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon.

 

 

She started studying French at the Centre Champlain only in September 2011, a month after her arrival in Montréal. By August 2012, she progressed to level 6 of the course.
 

“I sang my first French song on the Christmas show at school with one of my teacher, this is when my passion for singing in French started!” Galvez said.
 

Joining La Voix

 

 

Although she loved singing ever since she was a young girl, she had to be convinced by others that she actually had a talent for it.
 

“I would say that I have always loved singing since I was young. Thing is, I was not born with that talent. In my case, the basis is the passion that I put on it,” she said.
 

A friend of her husband enjoyed one of her performances in 2012 and urged her to join the pre-auditions of “La Voix” in Québec.

 

 

“We took the details from the internet… and fortunately, got in!” she recalled.

The pre-auditions for the first ever “La Voix” in Canada were held in September 2012 where Maria was screened with over 4,000 candidates.
 

She became part of the 140 contestants who went on to the blind auditions in January. She was eventually chosen to be part of Jean-Pierre Ferland’s team.
 

“My blind audition was very emotional for me because my coach, Jean-Pierre Ferland was the only one who turned around. He must have been curious to know where the accent of the voice singing in french came from,” she said.

 

 

Galvez won the ‘duel’ and 'chante de bataille' segments respectively held in February and March.

She is grateful to all the people who supported her, including those who liked her official Facebook fan page and followed her Twitter account.

 

 

Most recently, she was saved by her coach during the “en direct” (live show) segment of the show on March 17 which pushed her to the quarterfinals.

“I am being recognized a lot because of the way I learned French, how quickly I adapted, that in less than two years of speaking the language, I manage to be in this competition,” she said.
 

A difficult life

 

 

Although Galvez is experiencing success now in Canada, she recalls how she had a difficult life in the Philippines.

 

 

“My life in the Philippines was not easy. I have experienced a lot of difficulties but I have always been positive. Like everybody else, I have had ups and downs,” she admits adding “ Well, I guess I managed mine good enough.”

 

 

She said her family inspired her to continue with her dreams despite life's difficulties.

 

 

Her husband and children left the Philippines and went to Canada in 2010. She followed in 2011.

Galvez said what she misses about the Philippines are eating kwek-kwek and watching "Eat Bulaga’s" Juan for All, All for Juan program.

 

 

She is planning to go on vacation with her whole family in the Philippines soon. - VVP, GMA News

 

 

...the new "hot, young thing", TIMP

Move over BRIC, here comes TIMP - Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, PH

 

By Conrad de Aenlle

Reuters

03/29/2013

 

 

LONG BEACH, California -- One day you're a hot young thing and everybody loves you. Then suddenly you're more mature, move a bit slower, and some hotter thing is threatening to replace you.

That cruel reality confronts the four large emerging stock markets known as the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India and China. These erstwhile ingénues have struggled - the MSCI BRIC Index fell 6.5 percent in the 12 months through March 25 - while four smaller markets with an acronym of their own - Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines, the TIMPs - have excelled, recording gains ranging from 9.4 percent for Indonesia to 37.7 percent for the Philippines.

Brazil

Russia

India

  

China

The TIMPs are blessed with rapid growth, as are many emerging economies. The International Monetary Fund forecasts inflation-adjusted increases in gross domestic product this year of 3.5 percent for Mexico and Turkey, 4.8 percent for the Philippines and 6.3 percent for Indonesia.

Turkey

 

Indonesia

 

Mexico

 

Philippines

What made the TIMPs stand out to Bob Turner, who coined the term and is chief investment officer of Turner Investment Partners, a Berwyn, Pennsylvania, asset management firm, is that they possess qualities that should keep them and their stock markets expanding rapidly and profitably. These include favorable demographics and strengthening economies and political institutions.

"They have young populations, with a high number of workers to retirees," Turner explained. "They also have infrastructure that needs to be built out and banking systems that are underleveraged." He meant that individuals and governments are not overextended on credit, unlike in many mature countries, leaving room to borrow more to fuel growth.

But not every fast-growing small economy qualifies as a TIMP for Turner. He dismissed other countries that also have young populations and fast growth potential because they lack liquid stock markets, diverse industrial bases or adequate financial and legal systems.

APPEALING IDIOSYNCRACIES

Each TIMP country has some idiosyncratic feature that adds to its appeal, Turner said. He highlighted Turkey's location, which allows it to bridge Asia and Europe along one axis and Russia and the Arab world along the other; Mexico's "manufacturing renaissance"; Indonesia's middle class, which is growing swiftly by Asian standards; and the Philippines' booming call center industry.

Rick Schmidt, co-manager of the Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Fund, identified many of the same pluses in the TIMPs as Turner. However, Schmidt prefers to order a la carte, as it were, rather than taking the whole set menu.

"The demographics are clearly more attractive in those countries," he said. "I like the markets. I just don't like the concept of grouping them together."

Viewing them as a single entity might keep investors from scouting around for more productive markets if conditions in any of these four become less favorable, he cautioned. He also wonders if their returns are too good to last.

"All of these stories are true, and the markets have done extremely well as a result," Schmidt observed. "Is past performance a guarantee of future results?" He doesn't think so in the Philippines, which he said he's avoiding due to high valuations, although he has holdings in the other three. The MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index recently traded at a price-earnings ratio of 19, compared to 14 for the Standard & Poor's 500.

Scott Klimo, co-manager of the Amana Developing World Fund, expressed similar concerns about the Philippines, but he finds the TIMPs' collective future sufficiently bright to say that they "are certainly among the countries I feel more enthusiastic about." He encourages small investors to get exposure through funds rather than individual stocks, however, because the markets are relatively obscure.

Exchange-traded funds that focus on the TIMPs include iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund; Market Vectors Indonesia Index ETF; iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index ETF; iShares MSCI Turkey Investable Market Index Fund and iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index Fund.

Investors who would like to give individual issues a try can find several TIMP stocks with American depositary receipts, shares denominated in dollars and traded on U.S. markets.

Klimo is a fan of phone service providers across the TIMPs, including Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk PT and Indosat Tbk PT in Indonesia; Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS in Turkey and America Movil SAB de CV in Mexico.

America Movil could face additional competition as the government proceeds with plans to deregulate the industry, Klimo said, but he expects the company to benefit as broadcasting is deregulated at the same time.

He professed mixed feelings about another telecom, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. He likes it, but not at Wednesday's price of $71, or about 18 times earnings. "I think it's a fine company, but I'm looking for a little bit better entry point," he said.

Schmidt's selections include Astra International Tbk PT, an Indonesian car manufacturer, and the Turkish bank Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS. Both have ADRs, although trading is very thin.

He is heavily invested in Mexico through such companies as Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, SAB de CV, which runs the Cancun airport and is, in his view, "a fantastic business that turns the airport into a shopping mall." Other Mexican holdings include the beverage maker Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV and its subsidiary Coca-Cola Femsa SAB de CV.

Turner likes Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico SAB de CV, a subsidiary of a Spanish bank; Jasa Marga Persero Tbk PT, an Indonesian toll road builder and operator, and Turkcell.

As high as his hopes are for the TIMPs, Turner acknowledges potential hazards.

"With emerging countries, there is always sovereign risk - for instance a new leader who comes in and is less capitalistic," he said. Also, "any global slowdown has a bigger effect on emerging countries."

He expects the TIMPs, nevertheless, to stay hot for the foreseeable future as they travel the same path to progress as earlier generations - until some other hip, young things come along to replace them.

 

...the international dance fest host

Puerto Princesa hosts int’l dance fest

 

 

By Alex Wong

The Philippine Star

March 28, 2013

 

 

The Halili-Cruz School of Ballet is one of the dance companies featured in Dance Xchange on April 11 to 14 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - Puerto Princesa City, led by Mayor Edward Hagedorn, will host a grand gathering of world-class performers billed as Dance Xchange: The Philippine International Dance Workshop and Festival on April 11 to 14.

Artistic director Shirley Halili-Cruz

The National Committee on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) National Committee on Dance, under the leadership of Shirley Halili-Cruz, established the annual big event five years ago.

Its 2013 edition will feature leading dance companies and experts from Japan, Hong Kong, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan. Also participating are 22 Filipino dance companies.

One of the said groups, the Halili-Cruz School of Ballet, will represent the country at the Dance Excellence USA in Los Angeles, California, from March 30 to April 7, before joining the Dance Xchange at Puerto Princesa. With its artistic director Shirley Halili-Cruz, the company won the coveted grand prize Dance Excellence trophy in the international contest participated by 50 American states, 30 countries and more than 10,000 dancers. A potential National Artist for Dance awardee, Shirley’s company has brought home top honors in several dance competitions, all over the world, in the last four years.

Meanwhile, on the welcome dinner alone of Dance Xchange, hosted by Mayor Hagedorn, more than 1,200 delegates are expected to attend.

With dance being the new and creative form of connecting people, culture and nations, Dance Xchange, one of the biggest events of the art, has proven very effective.

Only a leading tourism attraction, Puerto Princesa’s hosting the Dance Xchange will further attract more visitors to Palawan from all over the globe.

 

One of the highlights of the dance festivals is a tour of one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, Puerto Princesa’s underground river.

...the PH first investment grade

PH gets first-ever investment grade rating

 

by Kathleen A. Martin, 

ABS-CBNnews.com

27 March 2013

 

 

 

 

 

MANILA (2ND UPDATE) -- The Philippines got its first long-coveted investment-grade rating on Wednesday, as Fitch Ratings gave the country a 'BBB-' with a stable outlook.

An investment grade status opens up the country to more investments that can lead to additional jobs and funds for infrastructure, and help create sustainable economic growth.

"The Philippine economy has been resilient, expanding 6.6% in 2012 amid a weak global economic backdrop. Strong domestic demand drove this outturn," Fitch said in a statement. (For the full statement, click here.)

But the credit rater expects the economy to slow down to 5.5% this year, lower than government estimates of a 6-7% growth.

Fitch lauded the improvements in Philippines' fiscal management that began under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that made "general government debt dynamics more resilient to shocks."
These improvements, the debt watcher said, made the country's strong economic and moderate budget deficits in line with investment-grade status.

Efforts of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, meanwhile, were also not in vain as Fitch stressed the inflation management mechanism and policy-making framework of the central bank gave way to the country's current favorable macroeconomic conditions.

However, Fitch pointed out more governance reforms should be put in place as the Philippines lag behind other BBB countries in this aspect.

"Governance reform has been a centerpiece of the Aquino administration's policy efforts.

Entrenching these reforms by 2016 is a policy priority of the government," Fitch noted.

The credit rater also recounted the low fiscal revenue of the Philippines maybe below investment-grade standard, but the recent sin tax law should allow the government to rake in more tax revenues.

A further positive rating action on the Philippines is possible if the country can sustain its economic growth or broaden its fiscal revenue, Fitch said. But a downgrade is also possible if the country sees a reversal of the reforms in place, a higher fiscal debt, an unstable banking sector, or a deterioration in monetary policy management.

Reactions

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) soared to a new high on Wednesday, lifted by the news of the Philippines' investment grade rating.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., in a statement on Wednesday said "The investment grade upgrade should inspire the entire government bureaucracy and the Filipino people to capitalize on the opportunities that will arise from the rating upgrade."

"From our end at the BSP, we will remain committed to our mandate of maintaining a stable inflation environment supportive of economic growth, and on enhancing governance standards of financial institutions in line with the national priority of good governance," he continued.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima also welcomed the rating upgrade, saying this "opens up more sources of financing for our businesses, lowers the cost of borrowing, and encourages more investments, which in turn will lead to more jobs and greater incomes for our people."

"The Aquino administration remains committed to eliminating corruption, investing in our people, and enhancing our infrastructure and overall business climate. We have already done so much in the past 3 years, with greater cooperation from our people, we can do so much more," Purisima added.

Two other credit raters, Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, rate the country a notch below investment grade. S&P awarded the Philippines a BB+ with a positive outlook, while Moody's gave it Ba1 with a stable outlook.

Economists noted there are still a lot to be done following the rating upgrade to sustain and boost economic growth.

"Fitch's rating upgrade of Philippines to investment status will certainly boost investment confidence in the country, which is seeing strong growth momentum and improved public finances," Bernard Aw, economist at Forecast PTE in Singapore, said.

"However more work needs still need to be done, particularly in terms of pushing through reforms to increase investments as well as government revenue," he added.

Jose Vistan, research head at AB Capital Securities in Manila, said for his part: "It's something that was already expected by the stock market but I think investors will welcome it and that will push the main index to 7,000 possibly next week. We're just 200 points away from that level."

"The question now is what's next after the ratings upgrade. There's a lot of concern about valuations," he pointed out.

Norio Usui, country economist at the Asian Development Bank, said the rating is "unprecedented in the Philippines and can trigger the kind of investment that will help carry the country into its next phase of development."

"Prudent measures to attract investment, improve the business climate and diversify the economy have paved the way for growth. Now it's up to the authorities to make that growth more inclusive by creating more and better jobs," Usui added.-- with Reuters

...the Azkals goes to AFC Challenge Cup

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Philippines top Group E as rivalry with Turkmenistan grows

Roy Moore

GMA News

March 27, 2013

 

On to Maldives - the Philippines topped Group E to advance to the next phase of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. Roehl Niño Bautista, GMA News Online

With a 3-0 default win from Brunei, an 8-0 thrashing of Cambodia, and 1-0 victory over Turkmenistan, the Philippines won nine points with the highest goal difference of the competition to top their group and the qualification period as a whole. Defeating Turkmenistan for the very first time, the Philippines is now the team to beat come 2014 on the main stage of the Challenge Cup in the Maldive Islands.

With these performances, the Philippines is set to jump to their highest FIFA Ranking ever, possibly within the 130s, when they are released next time. So with a growing rivalry with Turkmenistan, Phil Younghusband back to his scoring ways, seven clean sheets in nine games, but more controversy off the pitch, we dissect the Philippines’ route to the 2014 Challenge Cup main stage.

‘Like a Final’

In the post-match press conference, the Turkmenistan coach, Hojageldiyev Yazguly, said, “It was a very interesting game…I think this match was like a final.” Similar sentiments followed from Coach Weiss who added, “For me, Turkmenistan will be the team to beat again and on neutral soil it will be different.”

Ladies and gentlemen, what we have is a rivalry.

There wasn’t much in this game, and the Turkmenistan coach pointed out, “The last two games against the Philippines, the luck was on our side but this time the luck was with [the Philippines].”

However, this is the advancement the Philippines has made. Turkmenistan was rated 121st in the world in the previous FIFA Rankings, dropping 19 places that month due to a lack of games and the natural cycle, rather than any statement of their quality. Turkmenistan was considered by many to be the best team in the Challenge Cup Qualifiers, as runners-up to North Korea in the previous two editions, and the Philippines went and beat them.

Whatever you think of the style of play, who should or shouldn’t start, how Neil Etheridge wasn’t even among the subs, or the lack of substitutions from those who were on the bench, valid concerns, there is no doubting the progress of this team. Turkmenistan has now been defeated in a continually growing list of countries the Philippines have beaten for the very first time under manager Dan Palami and coach Michael Weiss.

This list includes India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Palestine, Singapore, and a couple more if you don’t include the Olympic Games forty years ago as full international matches. That list, that progress, and this line-up, is the best the Philippines has ever had. The biggest challenge now is keeping them together.

Phil rediscovers where he put his Golden Boot

Phil Younghusband finished as the leading scorer of the 2012 Challenge Cup, with two more than anyone else, totaling six in that competition. Here, the top scorer of the Philippines scored five goals, again two ahead of everyone else, to take his tally to 33 for his country. It seems he really enjoys playing in the Challenge Cup, and for the rest of the teams left in the competition, their challenge will be to keep him quiet.

In the Suzuki Cup, he hit a dry spell as teams had scouted the Philippines, identified him as the major threat, and bullied him out of the game. It was effective and his only goal came against Myanmar at the start of the second half, in a tournament where he was pushed and elbowed into anonymity.

While this tactic may prove effective again for the other teams in the Challenge Cup, it will be too much of a price for other teams to pay now. Committing two defenders to bully Younghusband would leave space for Javier Patiño, who has proven himself worthy of a place in the starting line-up with a brace in his debut and an enterprising performance against Turkmenistan. That means the Philippines are top dog and can go out playing to win every single game come March 2014.

The only caveat for Younghusband is he got sent off versus Turkmenistan. A yellow card in the first half for deliberately handling the ball was followed by a second for holding onto his man and dragging him back in the 85th minute. He will therefore be unavailable for the first group game in the 2014 Challenge Cup.

Stalwart defense and team spirit

The unsung heroes of the Azkals was their defense. If the defense goes unnoticed, they’ve done their job well and Rob Gier in particularly never put a foot wrong. After the game the veteran Azkal said, “I think today the game was all about the defenders… I think we’ve proved we have all the right ingredients to show we can be a very good team”.

Of the squad as a whole, he said, “When people keep asking about what’s special about the team I keep coming back to it; it’s the team spirit.” And with Rob Gier and Juani Guirado solid in defense, the Philippines have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine games (not including the default win against Brunei).

This has been part of an overall defensive unit where Dennis Cagara and Carli De Murga have thwarted the wing play, offering offensive options too, and seen fourteen clean sheets in the twenty games since the last Challenge Cup. During the Suzuki Cup, the defensive strength came at the expense of the attack, but now the Philippines look much more balanced with, as Weiss said, “the best still yet to come.”

Stadium half-full or half-empty?

On the pitch, the Philippines was superb and has been constantly improving. But off the pitch there is so much more that needs to be done – and a lot of it is just common sense.

The most prestigious tournament in South East Asia, the Suzuki Cup, sold their most expensive tickets for the Final at around P700. Yet somehow the organizers of these qualifiers thought that charging almost four times that amount for some seats was appropriate.

Group D hosts Nepal had an average of 16,000 for their group matches, more than twice the Philippine attendance. The Philippines has the potential to average similar figures quite easily and this would build a sustainable financial picture for Philippine football, something essential for the continued growth of the sport. But if ever decisions like ticket prices here are repeated, it will not only choke the National team, but the UFL and grassroots football too.

Who makes it to the Maldives?

As Group E winners, the Philippines will join the other four group winners for the final stage of the Challenge Cup, namely Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Palestine.

Turkmenistan made it as the best runners-up while Bangladesh are the second best runners-up and these seven nations will join host country Maldives in March 2014, for the group stage.

Of interest in the qualification stage, 2006 winners Tajikistan and 2008 winners India, who the Philippines beat in the group stage last year to qualify for the semifinals, will not be in the final stage for the first time since the competition began as both finished as runners-up in their groups. With weaker goal differences than Turkmenistan and Bangladesh, it was simply the luck of the draw as those who qualified could rack up the goal difference against Cambodia and the Northern Mariana Islands, respectively.

The Challenge Cup has certainly had its share of challenges so far, and we can probably expect a new and hopefully fairer system of qualification next time around. But for 2014, the Philippines have just put themselves in top contention to win their first ever internationally sanctioned trophy. Come March, 2014, everyone will be looking out for the Philippines. - AMD, GMA News

 

 

...the PHL vision

Gov't aims to make PHL a major hub in SE Asia


Philippine Star
March 26, 2013


MANILA, Philippines - Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima reiterated the Aquino administration’s goal to turn the Philippines into a major hub in Southeast Asia.

During Standard Chartered’s 2013 Singapore Forum, Purisima highlighted the Philippines’ commitment to integrate with Asean members and enhance its business environment to become a major hub in the region.

“We in the Philippines look forward to Asean Integration in 2015. Our hope is that the Philippines will be the Northern and Pacific Gateway to Asean. The Aquino Administration is committed to ensuring that we continue to invest in infrastructure, our people, and address the constraints to growth to ensure that our people are ready to take full advantage and be part of an integrated Asean,” Purisima said.

The Southeast Asian region, with a population of over 600 million people, is seen to become a major economic growth force in Asia when the planned regional common market of Asean countries is established by 2015.

This will significantly reduce the cost of production for the businesses and economic growth of member-countries.

“The ASEAN demographic places the region in a very strong position for growth. It is important that ASEAN integrates because our collective strengths are more formidable than our individual competencies,” Purisima said.

The region, comprising the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar, collectively makes up the world’s third largest population behind only China and India. Its population is also one of the youngest in the world, with an average age of 27, which Purisima said puts the region at an advantage versus the rest of the world.

 

Purisima likewise underscored the importance of Asean’s initiatives in connectivity, “we have to be connected with each other, not just through infrastructure, but also connectivity through common standards for trade and investments.”

...the manufacturing hub

‘PH can be manufacturing hub’

 

 

By Katlene O. Cacho
Sunstar Cebu

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

CHINA’s loss of competitive edge as a low-cost manufacturing base presents opportunities for the rest of Asia to become manufacturing hubs, particularly the Philippines, a real estate expert said.

Professor Enrique Soriano, program director for real estate of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, said there is need for the Aquino government to pour in more money for infrastructure development and manufacturing to achieve inclusive growth.

“2013 is a banner year for the Aquino administration. The economy is moving forward.
There will be so much leapfrogging this year until 2016,” Soriano said during a recent economic briefing.

But to sustain the economic momentum, Soriano believes government should start releasing and spending its money and implementing long-overdue projects such as those under the public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“PPP will flood markets with jobs and will eventually increase the purchasing power of consumers,” Soriano said. “President Aquino, under his term, was able to stabilize the market. Jobs grew under his watch but he should start spending money to further lift the economy.”

Confidence

It is also high time for the Aquino government to be aggressive in bringing back manufacturing now that confidence in the business is picking up, he added.

Soriano said the country is standing on solid ground in terms of attracting more investments for the labor-intensive sector, considering that the world’s manufacturing hub, China, is no longer known as the “factory of the world” due to labor issues and its ageing population.

“Philippines should campaign for inclusive growth with manufacturing,” Soriano said.

But the Philippines still has a lot of catching up to do with other Asian neighbors in terms of increasing the share of manufacturing to its gross domestic product (GDP).

GDP refers to the total market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country in a specific period of time.

In his presentation, Soriano said Thailand was able to grow the share of its manufacturing sector from 23 percent in 1970 to 43.3 percent in 2009, whereas the Philippines managed to grow from 27.5 percent share to 30.2 percent during the same period.

But Soriano said there have been positive developments in the past years. He said this is reason for government to be aggressive in attracting more foreign direct investments, particularly for the manufacturing sector, as it create more jobs.

He said that the country has so much potential to be the world’s next manufacturing hub, given the quality and quantity of its workforce and its economic standing as one of the Asian countries that managed to grow despite the economic slowdown in the USA and Europe.

 

...the Chase in Manila

JPMorgan to transfer more operations to Philippines

 

 

Sunstar

Monday, March 25, 2013

THE largest US-based financial holding firm by assets, JPMorgan Chase & Co., will likely transfer more business support functions to its global in-house center (GIC) in Manila in the months ahead, a legislator said on Monday.

“Under tremendous pressure to slash costs, we see JPMorgan moving more business support activities to its back office in Manila over the next 24 months,” said House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo, a supporter of the Philippines’ booming business process outsourcing industry (BPO).

“This augurs well for our fresh college graduates and young professionals looking for gainful outsourcing service jobs,” Romulo said.

Romulo’s congressional district of Pasig City is home to 16 Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered information technology (IT) parks that in turn host a growing number of BPO firms.

New York-based JPMorgan earlier bared plans to cut 17,000 jobs in America, or almost seven percent of its 258,965 global workforce by 2014, in a bid to generate at least $1 billion in annual operating cost-savings.

By revenue, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.–Philippine Global Center has emerged as Manila’s largest GIC of a global corporation.

Established in 2005, the center generated almost P10 billion in revenues in 2011, and has a staff of more than 10,000 at The Net Plaza in Taguig City and at The Asiatown IT Park in Cebu City.

The center provides strategic support, including voice-based customer services, to JPMorgan’s various lines of business 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It supports card services, retail financial services (home lending, auto finance, education finance, telephone banking, business banking), and treasury and securities services.

The center also assists in human resources, performance improvement, quality assurance, IT, accounting, account servicing, collections, operations management, project management, and risk and compliance.

Global corporations have aggressively conveyed non-core, labor-intensive and IT-enabled business support jobs to the Philippines, a lower-cost location with ample supply of fluent English-speaking college graduates.

They have either established their own GICs in Manila, or contracted out the jobs to independent multinational BPO providers operating here.

The other GICs in the Philippines include Citigroup Business Process Solutions Pte. Ltd.; Wells Fargo Philippines Solutions Inc.; Bank of America Continuum Philippines Inc.; Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd.; Emerson Electric Asia Ltd.; IBM Daksh Business Process Services Philippines Inc.; IBM Business Services Inc.; IBM Solutions Delivery Inc.; HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines Inc.; Shell Shared Services Asia B.V.; Thomson Reuters Corp. Pte. Ltd.; Lexmark Research & Development Corp.; Chartis Technology & Operations Management Corp. Philippines; Manulife Data Services Inc.; and Dell International Services Philippines Inc.

The BPO industry is projected to produce $25 billion in revenues and directly employ 1.3 million Filipinos by 2016.

With a labor force of 780,000, the sector posted $13 billion in revenues in 2012, up by $2 billion, or 18 percent, from $11 billion in 2011.

This year, the industry is expected to generate $16 billion in revenues and add 146,000 full-time jobs, according to the IT and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

The industry includes contact center services; back offices; medical, legal and other data transcription; animation; software development; engineering design; and digital content.

Romulo is author of the new Personal Data Privacy Act of 2012, which has helped to drive outsourcing to the Philippines. (PR)