Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) / Philippine
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News Articles
> P9.2-BILLION AIRPORT MODERNIZATION
WASTED; RED TAPE BLAMED
> GMA LED INAUGURATION RITES OF NEW DAVAO INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
> PINOY IN CANADA BEATEN TO DEATH BY INDIAN-CANADIAN
YOUTHS
> PRESIDENT WELCOMES PM OF BAHRAIN, CITES SUPPORT
OF RP AND OUR OFWs
> AT CLARK DUTY-FREE SHOPS, IT'S P39.90 TO $1
> ROCO, FPJ, ATE GLO SHOULD VISIT INDIA
P9.2-BILLION AIRPORT MODERNIZATION
WASTED; RED TAPE BLAMED
MANILA, DECEMBER 1, 2003 (STAR) -
Red tape had caused a P9.2 billion six-airport modernization project
to go to "waste," and two donor agencies to fine the government
P138 million, a congressman said yesterday.
The Third Airports Development Project, launched in
November 1998, was meant to upgrade to world-class standards the airports
in the cities of Puerto Princesa, Cotabato, Dipolog, Butuan and Pagadian,
and Sanga Sanga in Tawi-Tawi.
Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra said the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the financiers,
had issued a stop-disbursement order after the government failed to
start work on the project on time.
"Not a single pail of cement was ever poured on
a single meter of runway, and not even a single waiting shed was built
for passengers," he said.
Once the project was completed, the six airports would
have had longer runways, refurbished passenger terminals, and new
navigational equipment, he added.
Mitra said the ADB had granted the government a "concessional
loan" of $92 million in addition to the EIB’s contribution
of 25 million euros.
The remainder of the total cost of $16 million or P9.185
billion was supposed to have been funded by the government, he added.
However, Mitra said the project posted in August an
"anemic overall completion level of less than 20 percent"
five years after the ADB and EIB had given the green light to begin
work.
The airport project would have been implemented by the
Department of Transportation and Communications, he added.
Mitra said the expropriation of lands for the extended
runways had "hit a snag," with some cases ending in litigation.
"Contracts for civil works were hobbled by the
usual disease that strikes local infrastructure projects like complaints
by losers and allegations of bribery," he said.
Mitra said drawdowns from loans proceeded at a "snail’s
pace" that only $11.95 million or 12.85 percent of the total
ADB loan was disbursed.
"This is not the case of the government having
more than it could chew as this is not a case of absorptive capacity,"
he said.
"We can only invoke that excuse if the government
(is) implementing many infrastructure projects at the same time, but
it is not."
The EIB loan had expired on Nov. 30, 2002, and that
from the ADB was deemed canceled last May 31, he added. — Paolo
Romero
TOP
GMA LED INAUGURATION RITES OF NEW
DAVAO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
DAVAO CITY, DECEMBER 2, 2003 (STAR) By Edith Regalado
-
P5.5-B Davao int’l airport to boost Mindanao growth
After waiting over a decade, this city now has its
own international airport and with it comes the promise of economic
growth in Mindanao.
President Arroyo led the inauguration rites for the
newly completed, P5.5-billion Davao International Airport (DIA) yesterday,
which she said was the realization of the dreams of Davaoeños
and Mindanaoans
"This is the start of our getting into new horizons
for the development of Mindanao," the President said, as she
expressed elation over the state-of-the art navigational instrument
and airport facilities.
The DIA, she said, is the culmination of many years
of dreaming and will maximize the potential of Mindanao as a food
basket and its role in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East
Asean Growth Area
(BIMP-EAGA).
"I have been with you in your dreams from the beginning,"
the President told the crowd that gathered to witness the inauguration
of the new airport. "We must always be together to make those
dreams come true because our ultimate dream is for Mindanao to be
united and victorious over the problem of poverty."
The new airport can handle 1.2 million passengers and
84,600 tons of cargo a year.
Besides an expected increase in flights to Davao City,
the DIA is also expected to pave the way for the revitalization of
the EAGA geo-economic grouping, which has a ombined market of 50 million
consumers and encompasses the subnational economies of East Indonesia,
East Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Mindanao and Palawan.
"EAGA slowed down during the Asian economic crisis
in 1997 and it is now again time to revive it, especially with infrastructure
such as the new Davao airport," Mrs. Arroyo said.
The DIA will directly complement the thrust of the BIMP-EAGA
grouping to open more trade and tourism routes between Palawan and
Mindanao and the federal states of Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia;
the provinces of North, Central and South Sulawesi, East, South and
Central Kalimantan, Irian Jaya, Maluku, North Maluku and Gorontalo
in Indonesia and the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam.
The President said investments and tourism are expected
to increase in Mindanao now that the DIA is operational.
"Now, more than ever, the world will be able to
climb Mount Apo or visit the orchid farms or eat the fruits, or pay
homage to the Philippine eagle, or lay around the beaches of Davao,"
she said. "Now, more than
ever, BIMP-EAGA can be revived for the good of Mindanao."
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte also stressed the importance
of the new airport in attracting investors and tourists to the city.
"We can compete in the global market with structures
like this airport," Duterte said.
The DIA now services international flights, including
direct flights to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Local
tourism and business leaders are planning to establish Hajj flights
to the Middle East for the Muslim communities in Mindanao.
The President said the government also plans to use
the Davao airport as an aviation training center for EAGA.
Local airlines already using the DIA include the flag
carrier
Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Airways. International airlines
SilkAir and Indonesia’s Merpati now also land at and take off
from the DIA.
The airport took over 10 years to build — the
project was first announced in 1992 by then President Fidel Ramos.
The actual construction of the DIA, however, only began in 2000, during
the term of then President Joseph Estrada.
Touted as the crown jewel of the Davao Integrated Development
Plan, the DIA was built through budgetary allocations and loans from
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank
that Mrs. Arroyo ensured and safeguarded during her stint as senator.
TOP
PINOY IN CANADA BEATEN TO DEATH
BY INDIAN-CANADIAN YOUTHS
MANILA, December 3, 2003 (STAR) By Marvin Sy -
A Filipino student was beaten to death by a group of Indian-Canadian
youths in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend, sparking fears of racism
among the members of the Filipino community there.
The Canadian press reported that Mao Jomar Lanot, a
17-year-old student attending the Charles Tupper Secondary School
in Vancouver, died in hospital Saturday after he was beaten up, some
two hours before he was confined.
The Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (FCYA) expressed
outrage over the incident and called on the Vancouver School Board
to be more proactive in addressing the needs of Filipino youths who
suffer from racism.
"We see the violence as being systematic of the
greater problems that are going on and which are not being addressed
in the school system and in the communities," FCYA’s Yvette
Stephenson said in a statement.
Stephenson added that she was not aware of any specific
tensions between Filipino and Indo-Canadian youths.
Police spokeswoman Constable Anne Drennan was also
quoted as saying that the police department’s youth squad was
not aware of any tensions between the two groups.
Drennan would not say whether or not the beating was
racially motivated, though she confirmed that the incident started
with racial slurs and taunts hurled by the Indo-Canadian youths against
Lanot and his companions.
According to the report, Lanot and his three Filipino
companions walked past the Indo-Canadian youths and "responded
in kind." A verbal tussle ensued and continued until more Indo-Canadians
stepped out of their cars and joined the fray.
Lanot and his companions fled when they saw they were
outnumbered, but they were chased by the Indo-Canadians. The group
apparently caught up with Lanot and started beating him with a blunt
object.
Drennan said they have identified a key suspect in
the incident, reportedly a student expelled from Lanot’s school.
School principal Jennifer Palmer said Lanot went home
from school Friday to help his mother cook dinner. He then went to
play basketball at a local community center and spoke to his mother
over the phone at around 9:30 p.m.
It was reported that Lanot’s mother rushed to
the hospital but was not able to see her son alive. Lanot and his
family were said to have moved to Canada only recently.
"Violence such as this is tragic and shocking
to all of us in our city. It is an unpredictable part of society that
has touched our school community," Palmer said.
When asked if the incident was racially motivated,
Palmer said she really wants "to focus on supporting our students
today. We have had a tragedy in our school and bigger issues are not
appropriate for today."
The Filipino community in Canada has, in the past,
raised concerns about racism, which has targeted not only Filipinos
but other minorities residing in this country.
Statistics from the Canadian government’s website
show that Indians rank as the second largest group of immigrants in
Canada, while Filipinos comprise the fourth largest group.
As of 2002, there were 28,815 Indian immigrants, nearly
13 percent of the total of 229,091 immigrants in Canada, while Filipino
immigrants number about 11,000 or 4.8 percent of the total immigrant
population.
Immigrants from China form the largest immigrant group
in Canada, while Pakistani and Iranian immigrants comprise the third
and fifth largest groups, respectively.
TOP
PRESIDENT WELCOMES PM OF BAHRAIN,
CITES SUPPORT OF RP AND OUR Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
MALACANANG, December 3, 2003 (BULLETIN) -
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo received Bahrain Prime Minister
Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa in Malacañang the other
day to personally thank him for Bahrain’s continued support
for the Philippines and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) there.
The President particularly thanked Shaikh Khalifa for
granting monetary assistance to boost the development of the Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The Bahrain Monetary Authority also opened its doors
to the Philippines by expressing its willingness to train Bangko Sentral
ng Pilipinas officials on Islamic banking theories and practices to
pave the way for the country’s wider participation in Gulf economies.
“We can expect that bilateral ties between the
Philippines and Bahrain will further flourish,” Special Envoy
to the Gulf Cooperation Council Ambassador Amable R. Aguiluz said.
It was upon the ambassador’s invitation that the Prime Minister
of Bahrain is here.
“Both countries are very keen on bolstering trade
and economic relations,” he said.
Bahrain hosts more than 35,000 Filipino workers whom
President Arroyo will visit in the middle of December as part of her
official trip to the Middle East countries.
It is to be recalled that during the Prime Minister’s
previous visit to the Philippines in November 2001, he was conferred
the Sikatuna Award by President Arroyo, in recognition of his efforts
to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Bahrain and the Philippines
and in appreciation of his commitment to bolster education in the
Middle East.
TOP
AT CLARK DUTY-FREE SHOPS, IT'S
P39.90 TO $1
CLARK FIELD, PAMPANGA, December 3, 2003 (STAR) By Ding
Cervantes —
The peso may be plunging to all -time lows against the dollar in other
currency markets, but in duty free shops in this former American air
base, the peso can be worth less than 40 to the dollar.
Desperate for survival, duty free shops here are resorting
to all sorts of promotional gimmicks to lure early christmas shoppers
by offering rates of as low as P39.90 to the dollar and discounts
as high as 70 percent.
The strategy seems to be picking up during weekends
as residents of towns around Clark and even from Metro Manila and
other provinces fill up parking areas at the shops for Christmas decorations
and noche buena
fare this early.
"I don’t know how they survive on such promotional
strategies but it is possible that some of the duty free shops have
calculated their rates and discounts in a way that would still yield
profits," said Oliver Cagungun, officer-in-charge of the enterprise
operations and management department of Clark Development Corp. (CDC),
which runs the Clark special economic zone.
Still, prices of many goods, particularly Christmas
decors, have been noted to be much lower at the 16 duty free shops
which have survived heavy losses through the years.
Christmas lights that sell as much as P300 at malls
in nearby Angeles City fetch only P100 at one duty free shop, which
also recently imported assorted Christmas trees from China in time
for the holidays.
While there have been nagging reports that some of
the shops have survived by smuggling out imported items for sale in
markets elsewhere, the CDC has initiated moves to curb illegal activities
by strictly imposing import quotas and establishing close links with
the Bureau of Customs in the monitoring of movements of imported goods
within the 4,500-hectare economic zone.
Cagungun stressed, however, that frozen meats are no
longer sold at the shops, although cigarettes are again being sold
after an import ban earlier this year.
"With the country’s trade liberalization
commitments to the World Trade Organization, these duty free shops
are likely headed towards being ordinary groceries," Cagungun
said. Six duty free shops have already shut down in recent years.
Meanwhile, the shops have not lost hope of at least
recouping investments with the lure of low peso-dollar rates and considerable
discount offers to the thousands of residents of Angeles, Mabalacat
and Porac in Pampanga, and Capas and Bamban in Tarlac, who are entitled
to purchase a maximum of $10 worth of duty free items daily.
Those outside these areas are also entitled to purchase
a maximum of $25 per month while foreign tourists can buy as much
as $1,000 worth of goods within 48 hours upon arrival in the country.
Balikbayans are given the bigger privilege of a maximum
of $2,000 purchases also within 48 hours of arrival.
Apart from Christmas decors, the duty free shops remain
stocked with liquor, household wares, canned goods, candies and chocolates.
TOP
ROCO, FPJ, ATE GLO SHOULD VISIT
INDIA
MANILA, December 3, 2003 (STAR) DEMAND AND SUPPLY By
Boo Chanco -
India remains visibly Third World, Businessweek reports. "Per-capita
income is just $460, and 300 million Indians subsist on $1 a day or
less. Lethargic courts can take 20 years to resolve contract disputes.
And what pass for highways in Bombay are choked, crumbling roads lined
with slums, garbage heaps, and homeless migrants sleeping on bare
pavement."
If that sounds so much like home, here’s more
from Businessweek. "More than a third of India’s one billion
citizens are illiterate, and just 60 percent of homes have electricity.
Most bureaucracies are bloated, corrupt, and dysfunctional. The government’s
10 percent budget deficit is alarming."
Now, that should really make you think that the ordinary
Pinoy will feel right at home or feel a notch superior. But before
you start sneering at that strange smelling Bombay in his motorcycle
doing his "5-6" rounds in your area, you should know that
Indian brainpower is fast transforming the world’s second most
populous country into a world-class new economy superpower.
McKinsey Consultants predict,
according to Businessweek, that by 2008, IT services and back-office
work in India will swell fivefold, to a $57-billion annual export
industry employing four million people and accounting for seven percent
of India’s gross domestic product. That growth is inspiring
more of the best and brightest to stay home rather than migrate."
That’s right. They don’t even have to line up for visas
at the US Embassy because they can do work for Corporate America without
leaving home.
The sad part about reading this
report is that we could have very well done what India did. We could
have leapfrogged development into the new economy because we have
pretty much what India has – a college educated, English speaking
workforce. Our being more culturally attuned to the American market
is also one big advantage we have over India. But we
blew it.
Compared to our young people today, Businessweek reports
that "now, many talented Indians feel a sense of optimism India
hasn’t experienced in decades." The younger generation
feels they can deliver the country from poverty through this boom
in IT. They are beyond mere call centers that Mar Roxas passes off
as IT outsourcing. We should have recognized our competitive advantage
in our educated manpower and given it all out support to make it a
leading forex earner and jobs creator in this globalized world.
We should require our presidential hopefuls to take
a break from their current campaign and visit India, specially Bangalore.
They may pick up an idea or two or just get challenged enough to be
useful to the country after the May elections. They are likely to
see the new Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore.
The campus, according to Businessweek, is completely wired for Wi-Fi
and boasts classrooms with videoconferencing to beam sessions to 300
other colleges.
Businessweek reports that confidence in India "is
finally spurring the government to tackle many of the problems that
have plagued India for so long. Since 2001, Delhi has been furiously
building a network of highways. Modern airports are next. Deregulation
of the power sector should lead to new capacity. Free education for
girls to age 14 is a national priority."
Education is top priority in India in its effort to
meet future demand for knowledge workers at home and abroad. Businessweek
reports that India produces 3.1 million college graduates a year,
but that’s expected to double by 2010. The number of engineering
colleges is slated to grow 50 percent, to nearly 1,600, in four years.
Nothing was reported about graduating more lawyers.
Indians apparently have a strong sense of nationhood
such that overseas Indians are helping out. "India’s rich
diaspora population is chipping in, too. Prominent Indian Americans
helped found the new Indian School of Business, a tie-up with Wharton
School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School
of Management that lured most of its faculty from the US. Meanwhile,
the six ITT campuses are tapping alumni for donations and research
links with Stanford, Purdue, and other top science universities."
I really think the Makati Business Club and the PCCI
should organize a tour of India for the key political personalities
in next year’s election. This would be money well spent if a
visit to Bangalore would once and for all knock some sense into the
heads of our leaders after seeing what the Indians, who are facing
the same if not worse adversities as we are, have managed to do.
Sentiment
It was wrong for Sen. Tito Sotto to say that Malacañang
manipulated the exchange rate to make the FPJ announcement appear
in a bad light. But
Tito can be forgiven because he does not know what he is talking about.
A supposed professor of business of La Salle also came out with something
that tried to minimize the negative impact of the FPJ announcement
by giving a very technical explanation of how supply and demand affects
the exchange rate. Thanks for the condescending Eco 101 lecture, but
the professor misses the point.
Of course the element of supply and demand determines
the exchange rate but the supposed business professor must go beyond
that and look into the forces that influence supply and demand. The
peso’s exchange rate the day after the FPJ announcement plummeted
not just because companies demanded more dollars that day to pay obligations.
Sentiment is the more important underlying factor.
In fact, in normal times, the peso’s value should
be improving at this time of the year. Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFW) remittances are pouring in and most companies
area done with their Christmas inventory buildup. There should be
a flood of dollars from abroad to overwhelm normal domestic demand
for dollars. Except for one thing: FPJ and our increasingly deteriorating
political environment.
In today’s freely convertible regime for the peso,
people vote their fears very quickly. That was why both the exchange
rate and the stock market were negatively affected the day after FPJ’s
announcement. There is some amount of speculation, as is par for the
course in the world currency market. But even speculation works with
sentiment. Those with money will not wait for the day FPJ is proclaimed
President. They will act at the mere hint that FPJ could be president.
I am not saying that their fears are justified. That
is another subject of debate. The important reality is that they are
afraid our voters will mess up again. So they sell their pesos and
protect themselves from another drastic devaluation. Expect something
even more drastic in the weeks before the election if surveys show
a definite Poe victory. Or if it looks like massive cheating is going
to happen.
Don’t look at the Bangko Sentral to try to protect
the peso by burning its dollar reserves trying to keep the peso’s
value up. Tio Paeng would be guilty of gross incompetence and criminal
negligence if he did that. For one thing, our reserves are puny. A
couple of weeks of really bad market sentiment and that’s it
for our reserves. Besides, our rules prescribe free market determination
of the peso’s value. We screw up our politics, we get punished
in the currency market. This is because there is no free lunch. Our
politicians talk and act as if there is no retribution. I have news
for them. There is always a time of reckoning and that happens every
day in the free market for currencies and stocks.
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