MAP asks ARTA: Review new travel rules B B F @butchfBM
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HE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has urged the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to review the 2023 Interagency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) revised guidelines on departure requirements for Filipino passengers traveling abroad to ensure that Filipino travelers are not “unnecessarily burdened” with additional documentary requirements. In the Senate, days before the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is to roll out the controversial new departure guidelines for travel-
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ers, senators upped the ante on Wednesday and threatened to carve out from the BI’s 2024 budget a special fund to reimburse over 30,000 Filipinos wrongly offloaded by BI in past years. Subsequently, the senators also adopted a resolution urging relevant agencies to suspend enforcement of the IACAT guidelines. They also approved a motion by Minority Leader Koko Pimentel for senators, led by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, to file a separate petition—“if court intervention is still necessary”—to stop the rollout of the IACAT guidelines “for being unconstitutional.” Sen. Chiz Escudero made the suggestion to make the BI repay those wrongfully offloaded for
their expenses, as he and several others made manifestations following a strongly worded privileged speech by Zubiri on Wednesday, supporting his colleagues’ serious concerns over the rules to be enforced starting September 3. In his speech, Zubiri cited data showing the BI in recent years had offloaded 32,404 outbound travelers for various reasons—a huge number he compared to Thailand’s less than 400 people barred from departing. Manifesting strong support for Zubiri’s speech, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said that of the 32,404 who were offloaded, the BI’s data showed only 472 were found to be victims of human trafficking. This indicated, he said, that the
blanket, arbitrary bans on departures imposed by BI barely dented the human trafficking syndicates. What happens, Villanueva asked, to the 98 percent who were wrongly offloaded? Reacting to this, Escudero made his pitch to compel BI to reimburse the wrongly offloaded persons. “Let it hurt them so that they will learn their lessons, and exercise their discretion better.” Escudero said the reimbursement fund can be inserted as a “special provision in the 2024 budget” of the agency when the Senate deliberates on this. Zubiri promised to support Escudero’s proposal. Earlier, Sen. Grace Poe strongly C A
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Thursday, August 31, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 318
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TRADE GAP, RATE JITTERS CHINA’S NEW B C U. O
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@caiordinario
MAP FOR ’23 BEARS 10-DASH LINE
HILE the country’s economic growth targets remain attainable, the Philippine peso is expected to take a beating in the third quarter as trade deficits swell, uncertainty looms on interest rates, and the US dollar strengthens, according to a local think tank.
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HINA’S mapping agency has released an updated version of its standard map Monday, drawing the ire of India. The Philippines, other Southeast Asian countries claiming the South China Sea, and Taiwan have yet to issue a statement. According to China Daily, the official publication of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the 2023 edition of Chinese standard map was released during the awareness publicity week of the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources. The map includes the 10 dashes that formed like a broken U-shape around the South China Sea and extend until the Bashi Channel and Taiwan. This is not the first time that China has published the 10-dash line in the South China Sea, but a strong reiteration of their historic claim despite a ruling by the United Nationssanctioned Arbitral Tribunal that invalided their nine-dash line claim. India has lodged a “strong protest” over the inclusion of the north-eastern state of Runachal Pradesh and the Aksai Cien plateau, which India claims as part of its territory. “We reject these claims as they have no basis,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
In its latest Market Call report, First Metro Investment Corp.University of Asia and the Pacific (FMIC-UA&P) Capital Markets Research said the country’s GDP growth target of 6-7 percent remains attainable despite the lackluster 4.3-percent growth in the second quarter of 2023. However, the think tank said its technical analysis for August “showed that actual dollar-peso has exceeded both the 30-day moving average [MA] and the 200-day MA.” “Q3 [third quarter] won’t treat the peso kindly as interest rates abroad will remain high while Philippine balance of trade deficits should again balloon due to the surge in crude oil prices,” FMICUA&P Capital Markets Research said. On Wednesday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) showed the peso closed at P56.725 to the US dollar. The peso traded at a high of P56.79 and a low of P56.6 to the greenback. The peso’s close on Wednesday was better compared to the P56.75 to the dollar close on Tuesday. On that day, the peso traded at a high of P56.81 and a low of P56.55 to the dollar. FMIC-UA&P Capital Markets Research said the uncertainty over policy rates and the “renewed bullish greenback” caused the volatility in the peso throughout the month of July compared to June. “USDPHP continued to move C A
@maloutalosig
SEIPI ADJUSTS TO 0% GROWTH GOAL IN ELECTRONIC EXPORTS
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ABOVE, a Philippine supply boat, center, maneuvers around Chinese coast guard ships as they tried to block its way near Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on August 22, 2023. (Top) China’s new 10-dash-line map AP/AARON FAVILA, MAP COURTESY OF GLOBAL TIMES
HE Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) has revised its growth target for electronics exports from 5 percent to zero percent for 2023 due to the ongoing geopolitical conflicts such as the trade war between the United States and China. “So as of June we’re 7 percent down and we have, however, revised our growth forecast from 5 percent for the year to flat, zero, because realistically we’re down 7 percent,” SEIPI President Danilo C. Lachica told reporters on the sidelines of the Knowledge Exchange Forum: Competency Standards Development for Industries and Learners, organized by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) on Wednesday held in Makati City. But, the SEIPI chief said, “We see a recovery in the third and fourth quarter. So that’s why we are aiming for at least flat.” Lachica still pointed to the geopolitical conflicts such as the US trade war as the reason behind the decline in electronics exports in the first half of the year. Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), SEIPI said electronics exports
covering the period of January to June 2023 went down by 6.99 percent from US$22.78 billion in 2022 to US$21.19 billion in 2023. This is equivalent to 60.63 percent of the Philippine exports pie. Notwithstanding the decline experienced by the industry in the first half of the year, Lachica expressed optimism as he is banking on the last quarter of the year’s festivities to drive the growth of the industry. “The demand is still there. And so we’re hoping that the thanksgiving demand, the Christmas demand, will propel the recovery of the industry,” the SEIPI chief stressed. Moving forward, Lachica divulged the overseas markets that will help drive the growth for the remainder of the year, highlighting that most of SEIPI’s exports go to Asia. In particular, he said, “China and Hong Kong, but Hong Kong is a clearing house. It goes to Europe, and then the next strongest market would be at about 12 percent that would be for the USA, and Japan and SinC A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 56.6580 ■ JAPAN 0.3883 ■ UK 71.6610 ■ HK 7.2209 ■ SINGAPORE 41.9907 ■ AUSTRALIA 36.7031 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 15.1043 ■ EU 61.6496 ■ KOREA 0.0430 ■ CHINA 7.7831 Source: BSP (August 30, 2023)