THE CAVITE government has extended the deadline for prospective bidders of the Sangley Point International Airport project to buy bid documents due to the quarantine restrictions imposed on the province. “In response to written requests and in view of the recent ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) status declaration in NCR (National Capital Region) Plus including the province of Cavite, please be ...

The Office of the Ombudsman has cleared Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia of criminal liability over alleged anomalies in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). The P830 million project was built in 2006 to house events for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit. Also cleared of criminal charges were Eduardo Habin, the former chairperson of the provincial ...

DAVAO CITY – Air travelers have been cautioned against fake laboratories in Metro Manila offering cheap coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests after the local government of Davao reported that majority of the passengers who presented invalid test results upon their arrival at the Davao International Airport since August were scammed, City Tourism and Operations Office head Generose Tecson said. During an ...

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered agencies under the executive to post on their social media accounts and official website information as to the procurement of goods and services. Administrative Order 34 dated October 23 obtained by the media on Tuesday directed all agencies under the executive to strictly comply with transparency, accountability and good governance policies and measures in the ...

Photo shows the Bureau of the Treasury building in Manila. On Monday, the BTr fully awarded P20 billion in Treasury Bills as it saw continuing strong demand for government securities in the local debt market. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Monday fully awarded P20 billion in Treasury Bills (T-bills) as demand for government securities remains strong. The auction ...

The Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) on Wednesday assured Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto that the procurement process for fire trucks and the fire station needs of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is on track. The assurance came after Recto voiced concerns on the government’s alleged failure to deliver “P3.27-billion worth of supplies, materials, and buildings” to the ...

The first step toward attaining financial freedom is to save. For an economy like the Philippines, saving continues to be a key development challenge. According to the World Bank, the gross domestic savings of the Philippines as a percentage of gross domestic product was only at 14.263 percent as of 2019; the figure was significantly lower than the global percentage ...

The Department of Finance (DOF) is not amenable to the proposed legislative franchise granting tax exemptions for San Miguel Aerocity Inc.’s Bulacan airport project. Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa S. Habitan said the DOF will not support any tax exemptions for the San Miguel airport as this, if enacted into law, would set a precedent for future unsolicited proposals to the government ...

THE GOVERNMENT did not award the 20-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it offered on Tuesday as investors wanted higher returns, pushing up rates. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) rejected tenders worth P46.921 billion for the reissued 20-year T-bonds yesterday even as this exceeded the government’s plan to raise P30 billion from the offering. The bonds have a remaining life of ...

I first heard of the term work-life balance when I was a high-school student. Our school’s guidance counsellor told us during a career orientation seminar, that college and life after will be challenging. And above most things, it’s important to maintain proper work-life balance. He emphasized that it’s not good to spend too much time working. And we better make ...

OVER 10,000 viewers tuned in Sun Life Philippines’ biggest virtual event so far this year dubbed “Sun Talks Virtual Conference” which gathered multi-disciplinary experts in wealth and health. Rallying the theme “Rise Together to a Bright New World,” the event was created to encourage Filipinos to begin their journey to recovery from the impact of the pandemic by channeling their ...

An umbrella group of agriculture stakeholders have appealed to the Senate agriculture committee to immediately investigate the allegedly overpriced fertilizer supply contracts that are part of a P5.69 billion emergency procurement to help farmers weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura chairman Rosendo So said a probe on what he described as a fertilizer fund mess ...

YIELD TRACKER YIELDS ON government securities (GS) ended flat last week after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it will keep an accommodative policy over the next two years as well as the recent outcome of the retail Treasury bond (RTB) offering. Debt yields, which move opposite to prices, inched up by 0.1 basis point (bp) on average week ...

THE Makabayan bloc in Congress filed House Resolution 992 urging the Committee on Agriculture and Food to investigate the Department of Agriculture’s (DA’s) fertilizer procurement, amid allegations that its purchase price was inflated. On April 28, the DA posted an invitation to bid for the supply and delivery of 5.69 million bags of urea fertilizer with an approved budget of ...

Agriculture chief William Dar  THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has remained firm that its emergency procurement for fertilizer followed the law to the letter and pointed out that its purchase caused retail prices of the farm input to go down. This was the answer of the DA amid allegations that its negotiated procurement for its fertilizer project for rice farmers ...

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has denied any anomaly in the procurement of more than P5 billion worth of fertilizers being conducted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) under its P8.5-billion Rice Resiliency Project (RRP). Agriculture Secretary Dr. William D. Dar . (KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU, MB Photo) In a statement, the DA said that it strictly followed the procurement protocols for ...

The 7-day term deposit facility (TDF) auction attracted bigger tenders this week of P328.68 billion while the average yield fell to 2.2510 percent versus the previous week’s 2.2516 percent. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) offered P170 billion TDF this week – still a lone tenor – compared to P150 billion last May 27. BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has ...

Bureau of Treasury building in Intramuros The Bureau of Treasury awarded P26 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills), which still enjoyed overwhelming response from investors looking for a safe haven for their cash. Monday’s auction was oversubscribed by more than four times the initial P20-billion offering as tenders reached P83.995 billion. With the acceptance of more non-competitive bids for the 91-day ...

MANILA – Demand for government securities continues, resulting in the doubling of the award for non-competitive bids for the Philippines’ 91-day and 364-day Treasury bill (T-bill) Monday.  The average rate of the three-month paper declined to 2.046 percent, the 182-day to 2.118 percent, and the one-year to 2.42 percent.  These were at 2.058 percent, 2.114 percent, and 2.508 percent during the ...

Philippine budget airline Cebu Pacific is reportedly seeking sale-and-leaseback arrangements for its entire owned A320ceo fleet, sources confirmed Monday. It is considered a liquidity exercise, but also a strategic calculation to match deliveries with redeliveries so as not to increase the fleet’s size during the COVID-crisis. Cebu Pacific wants to sell 17 A320ceo aircraft for leaseback.  Sale-and-leaseback of 17 A320ceo ...

The government of the Philippines will go back to the global reinsurance market to invite fresh bids to provide the capacity to underpin its roughly US $19.6 billion insurance of state-owned assets and infrastructure, with the application process now simplified somewhat.Last December we reported the Philippines government had entered into a 1 trillion pesos insurance cover with its own Government Service ...

The Philippines will invite reinsurers for the re-bidding of the planned P2-billion national indemnity insurance program to insure and protect public assets in disaster-prone areas, this time with less stringent documentary requirements. In Resolution No. 10-2020, the interagency Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) said it this month amended the bidding documents for procurement of international brokers and reinsurers for the ...

In investing, there are two types of risks that any investor must always be aware of, the business risk and the market risk. The business risk pertains to the uncertainty that a company may not be able to generate enough revenue to cover its expenses, while market risk relates to the possibility that the company may incur losses as a ...

THE Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) told procuring entities (PEs) to review their planned and ongoing procurement for this year to determine which will be discontinued following the orders to tighten their belts issued by the Budget department earlier. “For those to be continued, PEs shall review the existing project requirements to ensure that the same cover only what they ...

WE have reached this point of collective paralysis where everything seems to depend on government. Outside of health organizations (whose capacity has been pushed to the limit by the coronavirus pandemic) where private healthcare facilities have equally shared the burden of caring for the sick, people have come to look at government for solutions like they never did before. As ...

Diwata-1, the Philippines’ first microsatellite, has ended its four years in Earth orbit, burning up in the atmosphere on April 6.The microsatellite captured more than 17,000 images of the Philippines, covering 38% of the country’s land area.Diwata-1 ushered in an age of Earth satellite observation in the Philippines, contributing to science-based approaches to planning, conservation, risk management, and mapping.Scientists involved ...

Monday’s auction of Treasury bills (T-bills) reflects the continuous allure of government securities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) upsized again the volume of T-bills it awarded to P22 billion from its P20-billion initial offering. National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told reporters on Monday the Treasury decided to go for the full award as “average ...

THE GOVERNMENT upsized its award of Treasury bills (T-bills) on Monday due to strong demand following central bank’s remarks on further monetary easing and the Treasury’s announcement of a dollar bond issue. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P24 billion via T-bills yesterday, larger than its initial plan to raise P20 billion, after total bids reached P91.1 billion or ...