PHL to WTO: Rice trade lib regime stays as is B J E Y. A @jearcalas
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HE Marcos Jr. administration will not amend the country’s current rice trade regime, which was liberalized in 2019, according to the Philippines’s official communication to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In a statement to the WTO Committee on Agriculture, the Philippines said it is “not considering” any modifications on its current rice trade regime. “We would like to inform the Committee that the Philippines is not considering modifying its import regime on rice,” Manila said recently. Manila’s statement was an ac-
tual response to a query raised by Washington regarding publicized proposals or plans by previous Philippine government authorities about reviewing the country’s rice trade regime. The Philippines liberalized its rice trade regime in March 2019 following the enactment of Republic Act 11203 or the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law. Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is conducting a mid-term review of the RTL law to determine its impact on the rice sector after three years. Sombilla added that a review of the entire RTL law will be conducted in 2024.
“Right now, we don’t see any amendments to the provisions. What we are seeing in terms of the impact of the law has been really positive,” she said in a recent press briefing. Monetary Board member V. Bruce J. Tolentino said the Philippines’s communication to the WTO shows the country’s commitment of “maintaining” its “gains” from the liberalization of its rice trade regime. “This is an official affirmation to the international community that the Philippines will maintain its reform gains in rice trade,” Tolentino told the BM.
‘Vaguely worded’
(FFF) national manager Raul Q. Montemayor said the Philippines’s statement is “vaguely worded” and does not entirely close the doors on the possibility of amending the RTL law. Montemayor argued that the national government could still put in place various mechanisms that would allow it to have “better” control over rice imports while keeping the rice tariffication in place. These mechanisms, Montemayor said, include restoration of import licensing, strengthening usage of trade remedies such as safeguard duties, tighter import controls to curb smuggling, underC A
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11-MO BUDGET GAP DIPS ■
7.2% ON HIGHER REVENUE NCR, environs to get priority in 6-yr mass housing—PBBM
B J E Y. A
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@jearcalas
HE national government’s budget deficit through November declined by 7.2 percent on an annual basis to P1.236 trillion as government revenues continue to rise by doubledigit growth rates.
Latest figures released by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that the country’s budget deficit from January to November was P96.3 billion lower than the P1.332 trillion recorded a year ago. The national government’s total revenues during the 11-month period rose by 18.13 percent to P3.277 trillion from last year’s P2.774 trillion. The increase in revenues was driven by the higher tax and non-tax collections during the reference period. The national government’s tax revenues grew by 17.48 percent year-on-year to P2.959 trillion while non-tax income rose by a fifth on an annual basis to P317.7 billion. C A
MARCOS JR.: “That is 1 million homes a year. If we achieve that, that will be a thing in addressing the housing problem of our citizens” B S P. M @sam_medenilla
P BLESSED TAKAYAMA UKON Cardinal Jose F. Advincula, Archbishop of Manila, blesses the statue of Blessed Justo Ukon Takayama at its enthronement on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at the National
Shrine of St. Michael and the Archangel San Miguel Pro Cathedral in Manila. The enthronement rites marked the 40th anniversary of the arrival in Manila of Blessed Takayama and 350 exiled Catholics from Japan. Tokyo’s Ambassador to Manila Koshikawa Kazuhiko and his wife Yuko Kazuhiko attended the Enthronement. They were joined by Dr. Ernesto de Pedro, who is doing research on Takayama Ukon, and Mr. Seiji Takano, president of the Japanese Association, Manila, Inc. Shrine Rector Rev. Msgr. Mario D. Enriquez celebrated the mass after the enthronement. ROY DOMINGO
RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the government said Metro Manila and its surrounding areas will be prioritized under the government’s 6-year mass housing initiative. Marcos made the announcement during the groundbreaking of the Palayan City Township Housing Project in Nueva Ecija last Wednesday. “We just started in Metro Manila and around Metro Manila because that is where the greatest S “NCR,” A
Typhoon, pandemic cited in P48-B PLDT overrun B L S. M @lorenzmarasigan
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HE management team of PLDT Inc. admitted fault on oversight functions over the P48-billion budget overruns it recently unearthed within the organization, an irregularity that they blame on Typhoon Odette and the pandemic. One of the analysts who joined the company’s briefing for investors and analysts on Wednesday disclosed that PLDT bigwig Manuel V. Pangilinan personally explained, in part, how the company incurred billions of pesos in budget overruns. “They explained the decisions on the capex. The explanation
they gave was the typhoon and the pandemic. They needed to install broadband to houses quickly due to pressure from Duterte and competitors. Vendors have been installing equipment even before asking approval. So they deploy first even before being budgeted in the capex. That’s the only explanation that I understood,” said an analyst who requested anonymity. The analyst further explained that they were told that when personnel requested for capex disbursement, the management “did not ask if this was within the budget.” “The management acknowledged that they failed to ask. Then at the same time, those who requested for the capex did not pro-
vide anything,” the analyst said. Pangilinan did not welcome reporters who camped near the analysts’ briefing room at the Dusit Thani Manila on Wednesday. Security personnel quickly blocked media off inside a makeshift holding room inside the hotel’s gym when PLDT Spokesman Cathy Y. Yang went ahead of Pangilinan. Shortly after Yang left, reporters were allowed to go out of the hotel gym. PLDT officials have been mum on the real reason behind the socalled budget overruns. Friday last week saw PLDT announcing that it had a “budget overrun” of P48 billion, which represents 12.7 percent of its total capital expenditures (capex) spend
of P379 billion over the last four years. The overruns, uncovered through “ongoing internal forensics,” were incurred when PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan was the concurrent president and CEO of the telco titan. He stepped down in mid-2021 and was replaced by Alfredo S. Panlilio, who was then chief revenue officer and president of subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. Despite this, the telco highlighted that, as far as initial investigations are concerned, “fraudulent transactions, procurement anomalies, or loss of assets arising from the capex spend” are “not uncovered.” S “T,” A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 55.3330 ■ JAPAN 0.4201 ■ UK 67.4233 ■ HK 7.1055 ■ SINGAPORE 40.9905 ■ AUSTRALIA 36.9458 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 14.7162 ■ EU 58.7858 ■ KOREA 0.0431 ■ CHINA 7.9490
Source: BSP (December 21, 2022)