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Friday, February 24, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 135
business news source of the year
P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week
RESORTS READY TO OPEN IN SAN VICENTE, PALAWAN, AS AIRPORT OPENING HANGS
motoring
‘New Boracay’starts attracting investors ₧3.73B T By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
2016 ejap JOURNALISM awards
@akosistellaBM
Special to the BusinessMirror
OURISM investors in San Vicente, Palawan, are fervently waiting for the opening of the municipality’s new airport before they push their resort-development activities to full scale.
car of the month: 2016 Ford EcoSport Trend at Black Edition »E1
The investments needed to develop the San Vicente Tourism Economic Zone
This developed as the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) announced about P3.73 billion in investments are needed to develop the San Vicente Tourism Economic Zone (TEZ).
Aguila Glass soars on its 62nd birthday »E2-E3
See “New Boracay,” A2
BMReports
‘Breaking hearts’ legally costly for many Filipinos By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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@joveemarie
Conclusion
ODAY’S the right time for a law on absolute divorce. That’s the belief of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman of Albay. The 17th Congress is the right time for the enactment of a law on absolute divorce, as the Philippines is the only country in the world that has no law on absolute divorce, according to Lagman, the principal author of the reproductive-health law. “It is because of the existence of failed marriages beyond redemption that all countries in the world, except the Philippines, have legislated the grant of divorce in varying liberality and stringency,” Lagman added. “In fact, it is said the advent of divorce is contemporaneous with the institution of marriage.” Presently, Lagman said the grounds for legal separation and annulment of marriage provided for in the Family Code of the Philippines have been adopted as among the grounds for absolute divorce. The law said the existing grounds for legal separation are marital abuse; sexual infidelity; attempt against the life of the other; abandonment; de facto separation; conviction for a crime when the sentence is more than six years; contracting a subsequent bigamous marriage; drug addiction or habitual alcoholism; and lesbianism or homosexuality.
Isuzu provides transport solution to Interpacific »E2
Skypixel | Dreamstime.com
Impact of two-tier tax on cigarette, health, competition
Annulment grounds
THE current grounds for annulment of marriage are Continued on A2
Firms more optimistic on Q2 economic outlook By Bianca Cuaresma
B
@BcuaresmaBM
usinesses are more optimistic about the country’s economic prospects for the second quarter of the year, as consumer demand is expected to pick up and government spending accelerates, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). In its latest Business Expectations Survey (BES), the overall con-
fidence index (CI) is seen rising to 47.2 percent, from 34.5 percent in the last quarter’s survey. “The next quarter CI suggests that economic growth could accelerate for the next quarter,” the BSP report read. The BSP said respondents cited the following factors as reasons behind their more optimistic outlook: anticipated increase in demand during summer and sustained increase in orders and proj-
PESO exchange rates n US 50.2400
The next quarter CI suggests that economic growth could accelerate for the next quarter.”—BSP ects leading to higher volumes of production. Also, the expansion of businesses and new product lines and the introduction of new and enhanced business strategies and processes were cited by respondents as
sources of their optimism. For the first quarter, the BES showed that business optimism on the economy was broad ly steady, with the overall CI declining slightly at 39.4 percent, from Continued on A12
Make Sense Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza
A
s an advocate for the cause of consumers and local industries, I am humbled—although perplexed—at a full-page advertorial of Mighty Corp. Executive Vice President and Spokesman retired Judge Oscar P. Barrientos refuting my earlier statement that a two-tier cigarette tax is against the antitrust law, saying that my position on the proposed two-tier cigarette tax is without basis.
As a backgrounder on Judge Barrientos’s refutation, and with all due respect to his interpretation of the antitrust law, he cited the following anticompetitive behaviors as provided for in Republic Act 10667, more commonly known as the Philipine competition law: Continued on A10
n japan 0.4444 n UK 62.6041 n HK 6.4736 n CHINA 7.3043 n singapore 35.5832 n australia 38.7200 n EU 53.0936 n SAUDI arabia 13.3984
Source: BSP (23 February 2017 )