E-vehicle org reports 500% sales hike in Q1 By Andrea E. San Juan
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ALES of electric vehicles in the Philippines reached 2,536 units in the first quarter of 2023, a 500-percent jump compared to the 426 units sold for the entire year of 2022, according to the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP). Data from EVAP showed that in January, electric vehicles sold reached 452 units; 760 in February and 1,324 units in March. From 2010 to 2022, EVAP noted that local electric vehicles sold reached 14,357 units. Meanwhile, EVAP cited data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showing that from 2014 to 2022, there are already 9,666
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electric vehicles registered. Out of the total EVs registered, 8,105 are motorcycles and tricycles; 1,168 are sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and utility vehicles (UVs); 346 are cars/sedans; 44 are buses and two are classified as trucks and trailers. Moving forward, EVAP said the total projected electric vehicle stock by 2030 would reach 6,616,750 units. Of the 6,616,750 units expected to be sold, 83.12 percent of 5,500,000 are two-wheelers; 5.29 percent or 350,000 are passenger cars; 4.53 percent or 300,000 units are three-wheelers; 4.53 percent or 300,000 units are other Utility Vehicles; 1.09 percent or 72,250 units would be Public Utility Jeepneys; 1.06 percent
or 70,000 units would be trucks and 0.37 percent or 24,500 units would be buses. At a media briefing on Wednesday held in Taguig City, EVAP President Edmund Araga revealed that “Implementation remains a big challenge as it involves extensive output and promotion.” “The EV industry is still making necessar y adjustments in terms of supplies and infrastructures. Transitions are on the way in terms of regulations being set by different government agencies involved,” the EVAP president noted. Araga pointed out that currently, the Department of Energy (DOE) is “setting the pace” in the government sector by rolling out programs especially those aligned
with the law pertaining to renewable energy sources. “Such initiatives are related to the development of local EV infrastructure. One I can cite is the e-App program that maps out locations of active EV charging stations across the country,” Araga explained in a statement on Wednesday. He also cited the Energy department for the ongoing development of the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI), which comes with interagency support. The department is also facilitating public consultations regarding the Vehicle Fuel Economy Labeling Program (VFELP) and the Fuel Economy Performance R ating (FEPR). See “E-vehicle,” A2
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PHL’S FOCUS: BILATERAL TRADE DEALS IN ASEAN T w
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Thursday, August 17, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 304
By Cai U. Ordinario
PHL ENTERPRISES TOLD: TAP A.I. TO DRIVE BIZ GROWTH
@caiordinario
HE Philippines intends to prioritize forging trade agreements with its neighbors in Southeast Asia in order to circumvent limitations in the Asean free trade agreement, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
In a Senate hearing on the proposed national budget for 2024, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the Philippines has not been as aggressive in terms of crafting bilaterals and must endeavor to fast-track these agreements. Balisacan said this is a strategy employed by Viet Nam which led to its current position as “the center of the world in terms of investment” given its aggressive efforts in forging bilateral trade agreements with various countries. “The [priority] is to speed up negotiations with many countries, not only the US [United States] or EU [European Union] but even our neighbors because there is so much limitation with Asean,” Balisacan said. Balisacan earlier said this will increase the opportunities to generate more jobs for the country’s rapidly growing labor force. He also said attracting more investments and maximizing trade opportunities with various markets globally through bilateral See “Bilateral trade,” A2
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By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28
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HILIPPINE enterprises are encouraged to leverage on artificial intelligence (AI) built on confidence and transparency that can bring real value to their entities. Businesses, especia l ly small-scale ones, are still quite afraid of AI without knowing that they will be left behind their competitors who have already embraced this cuttingedge technology, according to IBM Philippines President and Technology Leader Aileen Judan-Jiao. “They would need to put AI to work at the strategic core of their business to meet tomorrow’s elevated customer expectations. At the same time, it is critical for organizations to use AI that is explainable,
fair, robust, transparent, and prioritize and safeguard consumers’ privacy and data rights to engender trust,” she told reporters in a briefing prior to the staging of IBM’s flagship Tech Innovation Forum 2023 at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on Wednesday. As a catchup, companies ought to adopt the hottest technology trend today called the generative AI that has been quickly gaining traction amongst the businesses, professionals and consumers. In a nutshell, this type of AI refers to machine learning systems that can create text, images, code or other kinds of content usually in response to a prompt entered by a user. Unlike the traditional machine learning or deep learning that is like “the realm of data See “PHL,” A2
DBM: ₧16.95B set for ’24 govt pay hike By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
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MODERN-DAY HEROES Returning and first-time overseas workers patiently line up at their designated airline counters to receive their boarding passes at NAIA Terminal 1 in Pasay City on Wednesday, August 16, 2023. In June 2023, cash remittances from OFWs reached $2.81 billion, marking a 2.1-percent increase compared to the $2.75 billion recorded in June of the previous year. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the rise in cash remittances may be attributed to the expansion in earnings from both land and sea-based workers. NONIE REYES
HE Marcos Jr. administration is setting aside at least P16.95 billion for the salary increase of government employees next year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said. The DBM said the allocation is in line with the provisions of the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF). DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the funding allows the national government to pursue compensation adjustment starting next year. The DBM added that about P1.368 billion is included in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to bankroll the additional P1,000 in uniform or clothing allowance of over 1.3 million government employees. “The DBM has likewise been conducting a parallel review of the various benefits received across dif-
ferent ranks of the civil service to determine the need to adjust them,” it said in a statement on Wednesday. The DBM noted that the last tranche of salary hikes for government employees as mandated by the Salary Standardization Law was implemented last January. The DBM said a P48-million budget has been allocated to t he Gover nance Commission for GOCCs this year for the conduct of a comprehensive review of the Compensation and Position Classification System for the government sector. Pangandaman said President Marcos Jr. has instructed the DBM to conduct a study to determine if the compensation that civilian government personnel are receiving is “competitive” compared to those working in the private sector. “The final cost requirement [of the increase] shall be determined once the results of the study have been presented and finalized,” Pangandaman added.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.7670 n JAPAN 0.3900 n UK 72.1338 n HK 7.2564 n CHINA 7.7871 n SINGAPORE 41.8080 n AUSTRALIA 36.6374 n EU 61.9101 n KOREA 0.0425 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1350 Source: BSP (August 16, 2023)