...the "More Fun" wins award

Philippines ‘More Fun’ wins Yomiuri Advertising Award

SunStar

Thursday, July 25, 2013

THE "It's more fun in the Philippines" branding campaign of the Department of Tourism (DOT) was awarded the Readers' Choice for the "Fun" category of the Yomiuri Advertising Award 2013.

The award was conceptualized with the goal of inviting the readers' participation in the selection of winners.

 The award is composed of two main parts: (1) advertisements created by the readers and (2) advertisements selected by the readers. It was established in 1984.

The awarding ceremony was held last June 14, 2013 at the Prince Tower Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.

"It may be beginner's luck as this is the first time that the DOT has advertised in Yomiuri, one of Japan's leading newspapers. We were told that the DOT is the only national tourism organization (NTO) recipient under this category which could mean one thing: we are undisputedly FUN," said DOT Tourism Attaché to Tokyo Valentino Cabansag in a statement.

The "fun stuff" of the website has engaged browsers and supporters to contribute their own versions of the memes. Through the apps, some of the best products have been utilized as materials for above-the-line and below-the-line advertising.

For his part, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., in a separate interview said, "It's more fun in the Philippines is more experiential, dwelling on real and palpable experiences. Indeed, what started as a simple slogan has now become a country statement and a badge of pride among travelers, Filipinos, and foreigners alike."

Japan remains the third biggest generator of tourists to the Philippines, contributing 179,984 visitors or 8.95 percent of the total 2.011 million from January to May this year.

"Japan's economy is slowly on the rebound and the shift from long-haul to short-haul destinations augurs well for our country which is a favorite resort destination in Asia," added Tourism Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon Jr., head of the Market Development Group. (FP/Sunnex)

...the Moody's likely upgrade

Moody’s reviews Philippines for likely debt upgrade

Agence France-Presse

Friday, July 26th, 2013

 

 

MANILA, Philippines—Moody’s Investors Service signaled Thursday it was likely to elevate the Philippine government’s debt rating to investment-grade, citing the former basket-case nation’s robust economic growth and political stability.

Two other major credit rating agencies, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, have already upgraded Philippine government securities to investment-grade earlier this year.

“Moody’s Investors Service has placed the Ba1 foreign and local currency long-term issuer and bond ratings of the Government of the Philippines on review for upgrade,” the US ratings agency said in a statement.

The next-highest rating on its scale is “Baa3,” considered the lowest in the investment-grade ranks.

Moody’s said a rating in the “Baa” ranks is “subject to moderate credit risk,” while “Ba” rates entail “substantial credit risk.”

The Philippines last defaulted on its foreign debt in the early 1980s.

‘Exceeded Moody’s expectations’

“The Philippines’ economic performance has exceeded Moody’s expectations; supporting the view that the economy will grow significantly faster than similarly rated peers over at least the next two to three years,” it said.

This growth came despite a global economic slump and with no signs that the economy was overheating or facing “imbalances,” it added.

It credited the improvement to the reform agenda of President Benigno Aquino, who has put fighting corruption at the fore of his priorities.

Moody’s also said an upgrade could come if there is evidence that the government’s debt burden will decrease and that investment spending will increase.

The Philippines posted annualized growth of 7.8 percent in the first quarter, the highest in Asia.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the Moody’s announcement showed Aquino’s good governance priority was making a difference.

“I am confident that as Moody’s continues to evaluate the Philippines they will see that the foundations for sustained, resilient growth have been laid,” he said in a statement.

In another development, Philippine monetary authorities decided to keep key rates unchanged on Thursday amid signs that inflation would remain under control while the country’s economy continued its “robust” performance.

“The manageable inflation outlook and strong domestic growth support keeping policy settings steady,” a central bank statement said.

The overnight borrowing rate remained at 3.50 percent while the overnight lending rate stayed at 5.50 percent, both all-time lows.

...the World's most confident consumers

Confident market, high job hopes

Malaya Business

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 00:00

Written by RICHMOND MERCURIO

 

 

The Philippines is now home to the second most confident consumers in the world, according to the results of a recent study conducted by Nielsen.

The Nielsen survey of consumer confidence and spending intentions showed that the Philippines recorded a three point surge in the second quarter of the year with an index of 121 after registering a consumer confidence indexed at 118 in the first quarter.

Nielsen said that this is the highest consumer confidence index for the Philippines since the fourth quarter of 2010 when it recorded an index of 120.

It also placed Filipinos as the world’s second most confident consumers after Indonesia, after being ranked third during the first quarter of the year.

Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore were placed behind the Philippines with an index of 114, 103, 95 and 95, respectively.

Nielsen said that the Philippines’ continued display of economic resilience and on-going growth reflected why Filipino consumers remain as one of the world’s most optimistic.

“The high confidence levels continue to sweep across Southeast Asian consumers compared to the rest of the world,” said Stuart Jamieson, managing director at Nielsen Philippines.

“Similar to its neighbors in Southeast Asia, foreign investments are coming in and a growing number of consumers are entering the middle class in the Philippines, driving the positive outlook we are observing,” Jamieson added.

The Nielsen survey further revealed that more Filipinos believe that their prospects of landing jobs will be better in the next 12 months.

Nielsen said that Filipino respondents are the most positive about local job prospects over the next year with 77 percent saying that local job prospects are excellent or good.

This makes Filipino consumers the most optimistic in the world on local job prospects followed by Indonesia at 75 percent and India 71 percent.

Meanwhile, the survey also revealed that Filipinos are among the world’s biggest savers as seven out of 10 or 70 percent of respondents said that they are saving their spare cash.

Filipinos join an all-Asian list of the top 10 savers in the world as Indonesians top the list with 71 percent of respondents said that they save after covering essential items.

The other top savers include Hong Kong (70 percent), Vietnam (68 percent), Thailand (63 percent), China, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia (61 percent) and Singapore (60 percent).

The survey further showed 19 percent of Filipino respondents said they utilize their spare cash to invest in shares and mutual funds.

“Despite the general optimism that Filipinos are feeling they are still protecting themselves against future fluctuations in the global economy and other external factors. The increase in disposal income gives them opportunities to consider augmenting their savings and investing in mutual funds,” said Jamieson.

“The decision on Filipino consumers on how they will spend their cash will remain to be strongly influenced by caution as financial security continues to be a high priority,” Jamieson added.

The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions was conducted between February 17 and March 8, 2013, and polled more than 29,000 online consumers in 58 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and North America.

 

...the Grand Champion Performers of the World

 

Pinoy singers win top prizes at 'Talent Olympics'

By XIANNE ARCANGEL,

GMA News

July 23, 2013

 

 

Two Filipina singers took home the top honors in the recently concluded World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA), a global singing competition also known as “The Talent Olympics.”

 

See http://www.wcopa.com/winners

Aldeza Ianna Dela Torre and Beverly Caimen were hailed as the Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World and the Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World respectively at the event held from July 12 to 22 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

 

Aldeza Ianna dela Torre and Beverly Caiman

And they were not the only Filipino performers taking home gold medals from the event. The singing group Gollayan Sisters clinched the Senior Grand Champion Vocal of the World title while Filipino model Reynaldo Gorospe was awarded the Male Model of the World.

Recording artist Jed Madela, who became the first Filipino to win the top prize at the WCOPA in 2005, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame after garnering multiple awards in the competition in previous years.

Madela said on Twitter that 2013 marks the first time Filipino singers bagged the top two awards in the contest.

In an interview with GMA News Online, the Philippine team’s manager Charie Vega said the entire contingent went through a grueling audition process and training prior to the competition.

According to Vega, she and another talent scout screened more than 100 singers from December 2012 to choose who to send to California for the WCOPA.

“Our criteria for selecting contestants obviously included the person’s voice quality. But more than that, he or she also has to have a powerful stage presence to make him or her stand out among the crowd. After all, the WCOPA is not just some local contest but a global competition,” she said.

More than vocal prowess, Vega believes it is the Filipino singers’ “quiet confidence” that impressed the WCOPA judges.

“The singers are really very talented but they can also be very shy. But what you notice about them is when they get on stage, they suddenly gain confidence. Unassuming lang sila but when they sing, they sing with all they’ve got,” she said.

Following WCOPA rules, all performers were only given a minute to sing in front of the judges.

According to a post on Caimen’s Facebook fan page, the petite singer from Batangas “owned the stage with a riveting version of ‘One Moment in Time.’”

The post, which was originally written by one Gerry Mercado, said Caimen “convinc[ed] everyone in the room that she needed just that, a moment in time. She hit the high notes and people applauded.”

The Philippine team’s manager said the singers made such an impact on the audience that some talent agencies in the United States have offered to sign them up as contract artists immediately.

She expressed hope, however, that Philippine recording studios will be equally as enthusiastic about taking the singers under their wing when they return to the Philippines.

Hall of Famer Madela echoed the same sentiment for his co-winners when he tweeted, “Sana pagbalik ng mga Pinoy na nanalo sa WCOPA, bigyan naman ng pansin ng kapwa Pinoy dyan sa atin.”

After leaving the WCOPA judges breathless with their talent, the award-winning performers now have to face the challenge of winning over the hearts of their fellow Filipinos. — BM, GMA News

 

 

...the investment choice

Top Morgan Stanley fund manager recommends PH

 

ABS-CBNnews.com

07/24/2013

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - A well-known fund manager said the Philippines is one of the emerging markets to bet on, as the end of US stimulus raises social pressures in others.

According to Bloomberg, Ruchir Sharma, the Morgan Stanley fund manager who wrote the book "Breakout Nations", recommended investing more in the Philippines and Mexico than recommended by benchmarks, and less in countries like Brazil, Russia and China.

Bloomberg reported that many emerging markets will suffer more than developing countries as the Fed tightens up because they need continuous growth to satisfy citizens who have just emerged from poverty or trigger protests similar to those in Brazil and Turkey.

"There are positive stories as well. The selloff has been indiscriminate, but once the dust settles, the attention will turn back," said Sharma.

But Sharma said there's opportunity in countries trying to fix their finances, instead of giving in to populist pressure. - ANC

 

...the most resilient SEA market

Nomura says Phl is most resilient market in SEA

            

By Prinz P. Magtulis

The Philippine Star

July 23, 2013

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign investors should go back to Philippine financial markets as Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economy in the first quarter boasts of resiliency against potential threats to growth versus its neighbors, an investment bank said in a report.

“We find ourselves more comfortable with the macro-momentum in the Philippines compared with Thailand or Indonesia. This serves as a usual backdrop to our allocation,” Nomura said in its report titled Asean Navigator released yesterday.

“We are now overweight (for) Singapore and Philippines. We are neutral (in) Thailand and Indonesia. And we are underweight (in) Malaysia,” it added.

The countries mentioned in the report comprised five of the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

According to Nomura, investors should place 10.2 percent of their Asean assets in Philippine financial markets, including bonds and equities. The bank’s recommendation is higher than the benchmark of 6.3 percent.

Across the region, the bulk of the placements is still recommended to be invested in Singapore at 43.9 percent, higher than benchmark’s 33.7 percent. Nomura, meanwhile, was “neutral” for Indonesia and Thailand at 17.3 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

The lone “underweight” was Malaysia, where the Japanese bank told investors to just set aside 13.5 percent of their total Asean portfolios, much lower than the benchmark of 25 percent.

On the stock market, Nomura said investors should infuse more money in local holding companies and other services, wind down on banks, property and mining, and stay neutral on utilities, consumer firms and telecommunications.

In defending its advice, Nomura noted that the Philippines has the “most resilient” economy in the region now, characterized by a 7.8-percent growth in the first three months of the year, beating market expectations.

The country’s bright prospects, it said, easily showed during the financial market volatility from May to June when signs of recovery in the US prompted policymakers there to signal a tapering of stimulus measures.

Signals of scaling down of the $85-billion bond buying program provoked investors to reposition their holdings back to the US, hurting Asean markets where outflows persisted for months.

The Philippines, Nomura said, was “hurt the most” with a 25-percent drop in the local equity markets just from May to June. This however was survived by the country’s “solid fundamentals.”

 

...the positive economic indicators

Indicators point to strong PHL growth — NSCB

By SIEGFRID O. ALEGADO,

GMA NewsJ

uly 23, 2013

 

 

The economy is seen to remain robust in the second and third quarters of this year, according to an index of 11 key data collated by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

In a report released Tuesday, the NSCB said the composite leading economic indicator (LEI)—a short-term forecasting tool made up of data tracking the expansion the economy—increased to 0.152 in the third quarter from an upwardly revised 0.064 in the second quarter.

The LEI “continued its upward trend in the third quarter of 2013, indicating a positive outlook for the country’s economy,” said the NSCB.

“The latest LEI computations show the index in positive territory signifying firmly well for the domestic economy,” it added.

For the third quarter, eight of the 11 indicators, which account for 82.4 percent of the total from 71.9 percent in the second quarter, contributed positively.

Starting with the largest positive contributor, these are: (1) total merchandise imports, (2) visitor arrivals, (3) money supply, (4) electric energy consumption, (5) terms of trade index, (6) hotel occupancy rate, (7) number of new businesses, and (8) stock price index.

Negative contributors, beginning with the largest negative contributor, were: (1) foreign exchange rate, (2) wholesale price index, and (3) consumer price index.

Sought for comment, University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics dean Peter U said in a telephone interview, “Factors are looking positive for the Philippines.”

U said he is “unsure if the Philippines can sustain the first quarter growth, but I wouldn't discount a possibility of brisker growth.” The economist projected “at least 7 percent growth for the year.”

Philippine output expanded by 7.8 percent in the first quarter, the fastest in Southeast Asia, compared to a revised full-year 2012 gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.8 percent.

Increased remittance inflows stoking retail spending as well as improving investments will be the main factors for growth this year, U said. — BM, GMA News

 

 

...the emerging retail destination

Time to promote Philippines retail to the world - British retail expert

Malaya Business

Category: Entrepreneur

Published on Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Written by Jennifer A. Ng

 

“The Philippines offers much better value for money than Hong Kong. It has a greater variety of stores than most countries, some of the biggest malls in the world are all in one city. From a retail point of view, the Philippines has a lot to offer, but you don’t tell the rest of the world,” - Ian Wade, Sainsbury

THERE has never been a better time than now to position the Philippines as one of the top destinations for shopping, according to a British retail expert who will deliver a keynote speech during the 22nd National Retail Conference and Stores Asia Expo (NRCE) organized by the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA).

 

 

Ian F. Wade, executive advisor of sainsbury’s—the second-biggest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, said the Philippine retail scene has many advantages compared to its Asian counterparts.

 

 

“The Philippines offers much better value for money than Hong Kong. It has a greater variety of stores than most countries, some of the biggest malls in the world are all in one city. From a retail point of view, the Philippines has a lot to offer, but you don’t tell the rest of the world,” Wade emphasized.

 

 

Wade noted that five of the biggest shopping malls in the world where affordable and quality products can be sourced are in Metro Manila. “It’s time to promote the Philippines and make people more aware that it has a lot more to offer.”

 

 

The former group managing director/chairman of health, beauty and lifestyle retailer A.S. Watson Group has been visiting the Philippines for the past 27 years. Wade was instrumental in the setup of Watson’s stores in the country.

 

 

“The Philippine retail industry used to be sleepy. It has transformed itself from being ordinary a few years ago to pretty damn good today. Stakeholders are more knowledgeable and more aware of what they’re doing,” Wade explained.

 

 

Wade served as group managing director of A.S. Watson group from 1982 to 2006. Under his leadership, the number of Watson stores grew from 16 to around 7,700 stores, which are found in more than 30 countries worldwide.

...the President's report

President Aquino's Sona (State of the Nation Address)

ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 07/22/2013

 

Complete Text Link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/07/22/13/english-version-president-aquinos-sona-2013-full-text

 

 

...the Philippines to the World

Noy: World in love with Philippines

            

By Camille Diola

(philstar.com)

July 22, 2013

 

 

A beach in the island of Palawan, cited by President Benigno Aquino III as a top tourist spot in his State of the Nation Address on Monday. RANDY FERGUSON/MALACANANG PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines - For President Benigno Aquino III, the world has "fallen in love" with the
Philippines, which has been dubbed "a paradise."

In his fourth State of the Nation Address on Monday, Aquino cited international publications that recently hailed the as country among the top tourism destinations around the globe.

"Kulang na nga lang po ay tawagin na tayong paraiso," Aquino said, mentioning tourism accomplishments including the 21.4 percent surge in tourist arrivals in the past year.

Aquino mentioned Chinese dailies Oriental Morning Post and Shanghai Morning Post that named the Philippines as the "Best Tourist Destination of 2012" and the "Most Romantic Destination of 2012," respectively.

"Hopefully they will love us more," Aquino said.

He also quoted US-based Travel + Leisure magazine that chose Palawan as the world's "Best Island" and the Scuba Diving Magazine that saw the country's diving sites as the "Best Diving Destination."

 

The Department of Tourism said that 4.3 million visitors arrived in 2011 as it launched its viral advertising campaign "It's More Fun in the Philippines," departing from the 3.1 million arrivals in 2010.

 

Aquino lauded the agency for being on track in its target of 10.0 million tourist arrivals by 2016. The country aims to receive 5.5 million tourists by this year and as of 2012, the country has already recorded 4.3 million tourist arrivals.

Grabbed from SONA technical report at www.gov.ph

"Sa momentum nating ito, tiwala tayong maaabot ng bagong target na 56.1 million bago matapos ang 2016," Aquino said in his speech.

He added that the sector also generated jobs, claiming that 3.8 million positions have been created not only in areas marked as tourist destinations but also surrounding "tourism support communities."

"Ang mga lugar na pinanggagalingan ng pagkaing inihahanda sa mga resort, ng mga souvenir na ibinebenta, at ng iba pang mga produkto’t serbisyong nagsisilbing bukal ng kaunlaran para sa ga lalawigan," Aquino explained.

Best selling American author Dan Brown, however, also made headlines in the country in June for calling Manila as the "gates of hell" in his newly released novel Inferno.

A character in the book described the capital city as one rife with traffic jams, child prostitution, terrible poverty and pollution.