Good News....

[tackielarla]

The peso regained its strength when it reached P51.87. After the president's SONA, it seems the stock market and the peso-dollar exchange rate increased, owing to the fact that the business sector approved what the president presented before the Congress. The business sector was satisfied since the speech focused to a better economy for us.

wow! that is definitely good news! thanks dude! :mrgreen:

[grabehbebe]

Southeast Asian countries to ink pact on visa-free travel within region

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) - Southeast Asian countries were set to sign an agreement Tuesday allowing their citizens to travel within the region for up to two weeks without a visa.

Most of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations currently have bilateral agreements with some or all of the members of the bloc allowing their citizens to visit without visas.

The new agreement aims to "strengthen and further develop the friendship and cooperation in ASEAN," according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption will group the bilateral arrangements into a uniform rule, allowing people of the region to visit member nations for up to two weeks without a visa. It will be signed later Tuesday by the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries gathered here for an annual meeting.

"Member countries ... shall exempt citizens of any other member countries, holding valid national passports from visa requirements for a period of stay up to 14 days from the date of entry," said the agreement.

The pact will have the most impact on military-ruled Myanmar, which requires citizens of every ASEAN country except the Philippines to enter with a visa.

Vietnam has visa exemption agreements with all ASEAN members except Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei. Citizens of other ASEAN countries are allowed visa-free travel for up to 30 days.

Cambodia requires citizens of Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to get a visa. Philippines is the only country in the regional grouping that does not ask for a visa from any citizen from an ASEAN member nation.

ASEAN comprises Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and Vietnam.

According to the agreement, member countries have the right to refuse admission or shorten the duration of stay of anyone "considered undesirable," it said, a reference to people with criminal record or those considered a political threat.

Member countries are also allowed to temporarily suspend the implementation of the agreement for reasons of "national security, public order, and public health," it said.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEW...2006550_13.htm

[grabehbebe]

Finance says ODAs may be tapped for infra projects . . .

THE government plans to tap overseas development assistance (ODAs) from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies to realize the massive infrastructure projects it outlined in President Arroyo’s State of the Nation address.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the total cost of these projects is estimated to be around P290 billion, allaying fears that the government would resort to “excessive” borrowing, which would further bloat its outstanding debt.

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said earlier that in addition to foreign borrowings, the government may utilize funds raised by its various revenue-collecting agencies.

The government plans to further improve the Cordillera region’s Halsema Highway by adding roads that would connect Mount Data to Bontoc and Bontoc to Banaue, which will start next year and 2008, respectively. However, the plan is still subject to Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) approval.

The World Bank funds the construction of the Halsema Highway from Benguet to Mount Data. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), on the other hand, will provide financing for the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway interconnection next year. The project is still in the relocation identification stage.

The NorthRail project funded by the Chinese government is currently procuring the services of consultants.

Meanwhile, the Korea Exim Bank will support the SouthRail project connecting Alabang to Caloocan—currently in its preconstruction stage—while the Alabang to Calamba route is still to be approved by the ICC.

Some irrigation projects such as the Agno River project that will start this year will be funded by JBIC, while the China National Construction and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corp. will inject funds to the Bannawag irrigation construction.

For its part, the Philippine government will shoulder the construction of the Bagabag Airport, SouthRail squatter relocation, farm-to-market roads and small irrigation projects in North Luzon.

source: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/...60728bus2.html

[baron]

Secretary Gary Teves recently announced that there will be no new taxes imposed but the government will work more to improve collections. Now, that's certainly good news.

As much as our government agencies involved in revenue collections have been reaching and exceeding their monthly targets, the budget program is said to good and stable until 2008. As such, with improve tax collections and not necessarily higher imposition of taxes, we can reach our economic goals in line with our economic policies.

[grabehbebe]

Increased use of hydro plants eyed for Luzon

The government is targetting the massive use of hydroelectric power plants in Luzon to reduce generation of power in the major grid to an unprecedented 6 percent of total demand, according to state firm National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Critical reforms are being implemented in the hydro power units owing to their cheaper cost in generating electricity, the state firm said in a press statement.

The generation mix for 2006 has been set with an increase in the use of geothermal and natural gas power plants to almost 31 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

full story: http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20060802bus2.html

[wak_wak]

nice na project, unta diri sa visayas daghan napud itukod na power plant para mas stable and power supply

[grabehbebe]

Hotel, convention center to rise at SM Mall of Asia

A new hotel and a convention center will soon rise at the sprawling SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City to cater to both international and domestic visitors.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said the construction of the two tourist facilities along Roxas Boulevard would help accommodate the influx of international tourists to the country.

The Mall of Asia complex, which sits on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land in what is called “Bay City,” is envisioned to be the next tourist attraction in Metro Manila.

Durano said the SM Group had relayed its plans to construct a deluxe hotel and a convention center in Bay City that would make the Mall of Asia a complete tourist center.

He said the country needed more hotels and convention centers to achieve its target of attracting three-million tourists in 2006 and 5 million tourists by 2010. Some 2.6-million foreign guests visited the country in 2005.

The tourism chief said more than 2,000 staff and employees of Amway China, one of the world’s largest direct sales companies, were arriving this month for both business and leisure.

Durano said the Amway employees would come in four batches, each composed of 500 individuals, and would stay in Manila, Cebu and Boracay.

Other foreign companies, he said, had also indicated their plans to hold seminars in the country, but the problem was the lack of hotel rooms that meet the standard of foreign tourists.

The tourism chief said nine out of 10 foreign tourists in the country preferred to stay at deluxe hotels, but only 15 percent of all 16,000 hotel rooms in the country met their standards.

He said the construction of a hotel at the Bay City and another deluxe resort hotel in Cebu by a Korean company would help ease the problem.

Phil BXT, a Korean real estate developer, has committed to invest P3 billion for the construction of a 616-room resort hotel, a retirement village and a golf course in Mactan Island, Cebu.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?...s03_aug03_2006

[baron]

^ This is really good news.

What could be more? How about a proposed P8B supplemental budget for DepEd? This could be very well translated to services that will improve the quality of education. More than this, there is also a proposal to put up call centers near state colleges and universities. Fresh graduates may find their jobs closer than they expected.

It seems that the administration is really focused in improving the quality of education.

[grabehbebe]

9 abducted Filipinos back from Nigeria



Nine Filipino seamen who were kidnapped in Somalia last March arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Saturday night on two separate flights from Hong Kong.

Officials of the Manila International Airport Authority said six seamen arrived onboard a Cathay Pacific flight CX919 at 5:30 p.m. while the three other seamen came via Cathay Pacific flight CX903 at 6 p.m.
They were among 20 Filipino seamen onboard a Panama oil tanker commandeered by pirates in Mogadishu, Somalia, for more than 100 days and released last July 15.

MIAA general manager Alfonso Cusi said more Filipino seamen who were released by their kidnappers in Somalia are set to come home this week.

news: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?...e04_aug07_2006

[grabehbebe]

No hiring ban of RP nurses in UK

CONTRARY to earlier reports, the British government has not imposed a ban on the hiring of Filipino nurses seeking jobs in the United Kingdom.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) made the clarification Tuesday based on report submitted by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in London in connection with the UK’s new hiring policy that will take effect starting August 14, 2006.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion explained that under the new policy, UK employers intending to recruit nurses from abroad are first required to advertise in the UK their job vacancies, particularly for “General Nurses,” based on the UK’s recent removal of the said category from its “Shortage Occupation List.”
The new policy, Brion added, would mean that UK employers, both the National Health Service (NHS) and independent health providers would have to satisfy first the resident labor market test before they can recruit general nurses from abroad, including Filipino nurses.

“Employers recruiting general nurses will have to demonstrate that they cannot fill up the requirement or that no resident nationals were considered suitable,” Brion said.

The new policy does not cover the following categories of nurses which were still included in the shortage occupation list: audiology, sleep/respiratory physiology, neurophysiology, operating theater nursing, clinical radiology, pathology and critical care.

Brion also cited the earlier pronouncement of the UK health minister, Lord Warner, that the change will make no difference to foreign nurses currently working in the UK.

“Thus there is no truth to reports that Filipinos have been displaced in the UK even as our POLO in London has confirmed that not a single Filipino nurse there has lost her job as a result of these developments,” Brion said.

Labor Attaché Jainal T. Rasul, in his report, quoted the projection of the UK’s Royal College of Nursing that some 150,000 UK nurses are due to retire in the next five to 10 years, and foreign nurses are expected to continue to complement the UK’s own nursing workforce into the future.

Rasul further said that aside from specialist nurses, there are other skills categories that remain on the UK’s Shortage Occupation List, which include midwives, railway engineers, structural/bridge engineers, transportation/highway engineers, CAA-licensed aircraft engineers and veterinary surgeons.
At present, Rasul said, there are some 40,000 Filipino nurses working in the UK’s health-care system, half of whom are already permanent residents or British citizens.
--William B. Depasupil

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/...60809met4.html