...the PH new upgrade

Phl due for new upgrade – BSP

              

By Kathleen A. Martin

The Philippine Star

 March 12, 2014

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines may get a further credit rating upgrade as early as this year on the back of the economy’s rosy prospects, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said yesterday.

“Given that one of the credit rating agencies has given us a positive credit outlook and given that Fitch (Ratings) will also provide some positive review after they came here, it’s possible that we can have another upgrade,” Guinigundo said.

The Philippines enjoys investment grade ratings from the world’s three major credit rating agencies which all cited the strong growth achieved by the economy, improved governance, and structural reforms being put in place by the current administration.

Guinigundo said Fitch has already concluded its annual visit and assessment of the country last month. The other two rating agencies are expected to conduct their reviews within the first half of the year.

Fitch in March last year upgraded the country’s credit rating to ‘BBB-’ with a stable outlook from junk, while Standard & Poor’s in May gave the Philippines a ‘BBB-’, also with a stable outlook.
Moody’s Investors, delivered its Baa3 in October with a positive outlook.

The positive outlook means another upgrade may be on the horizon for the country in the next 12 to 18 months, Guinigundo said.

Guinigundo said that the Philippines is deemed “better” than other similarly-rated or higher-rated countries in the region.

“In fact there are many higher-rated jurisdictions in Asia but we enjoy a lower debt spread and lower CDS (credit default swap) spread which means the market already priced in a possible upgrade,” Guinigundo said.

“It can also be a recognition that risks are much lower in the Philippines because of the good macroeconomic fundamentals,” he added.

The economy expanded by 7.2 percent last year, while inflation averaged three percent. The country also boasts of a balance of payments surplus and a sound banking system.

“Our external to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio has also been coming down significantly in the last 10 years not only because the economy has expanded in the last 10 years but also because the national government has been prepaying its debts,” Guinigundo explained.

“Remember that in the past, this was the issue, the challenge of the Philippine economy – reducing the debt to GDP ratio,” he added.

 

...the Selfie Capital of the World

Makati, Pasig are 'Selfie Capital of the World' according to TIME study

By TJ DIMACALI

GMA News

March 11, 2014

 

 

TIME Magazine on March 11 (PHL time) released the results of an in-depth study of thousands of Instagram photos from around the world, showing that Makati City and Pasig City combined have the most people who take selfies per capita —the Selfie Capital of the World:

^{_{Source: TIME Magazine}}

Cebu City also made the cut, ranking 9th in TIME's global rankings:

^{_{Source: TIME Magazine}}

TIME's Chris Wilson said that the researchers used Instagram's API to download data on five separate 24-hour periods, scouring the globe for all photos tagged "selfie" with geographic coordinates.

"For every city in the world of at least 250,000 residents, we then counted the number of selfies taken within 5 miles and divided by the population of that city," Wilson explained.

According to the study, the top ten 'selfie' cities worldwide are:
 

1. Makati City and Pasig City, Philippines: 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

2. Manhattan, NY, USA: 202 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

3. Miami, Fla., USA: 155 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

4. Anaheim and Santa Ana, Calif., USA: 147 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

5. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: 141 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

6. Tel Aviv, Israel: 139 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

7. Manchester, England: 114 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

8. Milan, Italy: 108 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

9. Cebu City, Philippines: 99 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

10. George Town, Malaysia: 95 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

Wilson was cautious to outline the limitations of the study, and the researchers' careful attempts to address these limits. He pointed out that not all photos are unique selfies, and some supposed "selfies" aren't selfies at all.

 

 

"Not all photos tagged as 'selfie' are in fact selfies. Informal tests found that the vast majority of the photos were of a single person. We also made several attempts to find international versions of the word 'selfie,' but none of the suggested translations showed up in any appreciable volume," Wilson said.
 

"While the metric of 'people who take selfies per capita' is far from a perfect measure, it was far and away the most comprehensive means of comparing the 459 world cities that turned up at least 25 individual users in the database," he concluded. — GMA News

 

...the greatest photos of all time

Filipino’s Pinatubo photo named among greatest of all time

By Bert Eljera
INQUIRER.net US Bureau

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

 

The driver of a pick-up truck desperately tries to overrun a cloud of ash spewing from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. ALBERTO GARCIA/CONTRIBUTOR

• Several publications have honored Alberto Garcia’s photo

• Picture captured a pick-up truck running away from ash storm

• Photographer took the shot while running for his life

 

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A photograph of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo has been selected as one of 38 emotion-packed pictures of all time by an American online publication.

 

In an article titled, “32 Heart-Stopping Moments You Can Only Experience Thanks To A Camera,” the Huffington Post picked the iconic picture of a driver in a pick-up truck running away from a storm of ash spewing from the volcanic eruption in 1991.

 

It was the latest accolade for photographer Alberto Garcia, former chief photographer of Tempo, a Manila tabloid affiliated with the Manila Bulletin.

 

” I am happy and grateful. At least after more than 22 years, they still remember how I captured the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,” said Garcia when reached from his home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he is now based.

 

Even though the eruption happened those many years ago, Garcia said he feels like it happened yesterday, and his capture of the event is still vivid in his mind.

 

He said that when the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs), raised the alert level on Mt. Pinatubo, he immediately informed his photo agency based in New York about the situation.

 

“It took me 30 minutes to prepare my things and headed back to Zambales where the Philvolcs[1] people were stationed,” he said. “When I took the picture, my heart didn’t stop, it beat so fast and my body was shaking.”

 

He said that during the major eruption, they were about 20 to 30 kilometers away from the mouth of the volcano, and suddenly were being pursued by tons of hot ash.

 

” So everybody jumped into our vehicles and I was trying to put on my gas masked when I saw a blue pick-up ahead of that beautiful wall of gray,” Garcia said. “I opened the door and tried shooting the picture with my 50mm lens but it was too tight, so I decided to change the lens and used the 24mm instead and made sure my setting was correct and shot eight frames.

 

He said they finally outran the hot ash, and “although I had only eight shots, I rewound the entire roll of film, keeping it safe in my pocket.”

They spent more days documenting the aftermath of the major eruption before going back to Manila. He called a friend to process the film.

 

“I went straight to the airport international cargo and shipped the negatives to Time Magazine office in New York. The following week, the Mt. Pinatubo picture ran in a two-page Time Magazine spread,” Garcia said.

 

Time, Newsweek, and Asiaweek all included the picture in the 1991 great images of the year. In 1992, the picture won first place in the nature and environment category in the World Press Photo competition held in Amsterdam.

So far Garcia is the only Filipino photographer to have won the World Press photo competition. In year 2001, the National Geographic Magazine published a book called “100 Best Pictures,” which included Garcia’s Mt. Pinatubo photograph.

 

Also in 2001, Time published a book called “Time: Great Images of the 20th Century” featuring powerful images as Ali’s knockdown of Sonny Liston, the US Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, the fall of Saigon and the JFK assassination.

 

Garcia’s photograph was there too.

 

” When I took the pictures, I was praying hard that I got the right shot,” Garcia said. “I knew we might die and before I die, I wanted to tell a story using my camera.”