Transport strike’s a go despite extension By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
C THE Department of Agriculture and Nestlé Philippines have embarked on a five-year partnership to grow the local coffee industry. They signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly undertake the Mindanao Robusta Coffee Project, where they will work to boost coffee yield to 1000kg/ha, make farmers more resilient to climate change and coffee farming more profitable through training on regenerative agriculture and agripreneurship. In photo are Domingo F. Panganiban, Senior Undersecretary, Department of Agriculture; and Kais Marzouki, Chairman and CEO, Nestlé Philippines. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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OME hell or high water, transport groups are determined to paralyze public transportation starting today (March 6) to sustain their opposition to the government’s modernization program. Jeepney group Manibela, whose chairman Mar Valbuena leads the week-long transport strike, said the protest involves some 40,000 transport workers from different sectors: jeepneys, UV Express, tricycles, and ride-hailing. “We are meeting with jeepney and UV organizations left and right and they understand the truth behind the modernization program,” Valbuena said. “We will continue with the transport strike as planned.” The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is bent on
defusing the effect of the weeklong transport strike, which has already prompted several organizations, companies, and even schools to cancel in-person activities and rely on remote work and learning solutions to continue with their day-to-day business. LTFRB Technical Division Chief Joel Bolano said the agency decided to issue special permits to other PUVs to ply routes that will be affected by the transport strike. Special permits allow drivers and operators to operate routes outside of their franchises. “All of our offices nationwide are ready to issue these special permits,” he said.
Propeople modernization
TRANSPORT group Piston is also joining the strike, saying it opposes current policies of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). “Extensions are not enough. We cannot
allow the massacre of franchises of individual operators that results in the monopolization by big corporations. Our call is for the outright cancellation of the franchise consolidation, but we are for a propeople modernization,” Piston National President Mody Floranda said. The group, along with its supporters, Floranda said are “demanding” that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “immediately issue an executive order junking” the Department of Transportation (DOTr) order on the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG) and its implementing memorandum circulars issued by the LTFRB. Floranda said modernization can be implemented in the form of rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys. The group also called for “more subsidy and support for PUV drivers and small operators.” See “Transport,” A2
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Monday, March 6, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 142
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’22 TOTAL ROSE TO P200B T By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
Crying bias, labor wants Neda to skip pay hike talks
@jearcalas
HE total amount of subsidies extended to state-run firms by the national government rose by 8.5 percent on an annual basis to P200.41 billion in 2022, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
Treasury data showed that total government subsidies to state-owned and -run agencies was P15.643 billion higher than the P184.767 billion recorded in 2021. The overall increase was driven by the higher subsidies to other government corporations, which offset the 70-percent year-on-year decline in subsidies to government financial institutions. Total subsidies extended to other government corporations reached P122.458 billion, almost 15 percent over the P106.586 billion allocated in 2021, based on Treasury data. The other government corporations accounted for 61 percent of the total subsidies spent by the national government last year. Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) topped the list of government corporations with the biggest subsidy last year at P80.048 billion, followed by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) at P40.622 billion. The national government’s subsidies to PhilHealth last year, however, fell by 1.15 percent from P80.979 in 2021 while subsidies to NIA grew by 6.14 percent from P38.311 billion, according to Treasury data. The total amount of subsidies received by major nongovernment financial institutions last year slightly increased to P77.514 billion from P76.709 billion, based on Treasury data. Subsidies received by power-related agencies such as those of National Electrification Administration and the National Power Corp.—at P3.613 billion and P6.587 billion, respectively—rose last year. See “GFI,” A2
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
A
‘CLASS PICTURE’ President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Speaker Martin Romualdez grace the 23rd International Cable TV and Telecommunications Congress at the Manila Hotel on Friday (March 3). The event was organized by the Federation of International Cable Television and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP). Here, they pose for an end-conference photo with exhibitors that included Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, led by its chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon (below stage, first row, sixth from left), and Aliw23, the newest digital TV channel in the Philippines. RUDY ESPERAS
NTMs STILL A ‘MAJOR HURDLE’ FOR EXPORTERS IN REGION By Andrea E. San Juan
N
ON TA R IFF measures (NTM) remain a “major hurdle” for exporters in the Philippines and other Asia-Pacific countries, according to a joint report by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Eco-
nomic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). According to the report published in February 2023, two-thirds (66 percent) of the reported nontechnical measures are rules of origin (ROO) requirements. “Exporters find ROO reg-
ulations burdensome largely due to associated procedural obstacles such as having to present many documents, high fees, delays, and informal payments while obtaining the required certificates of origin,” the report stated. For instance, garmentexporting countries with
“less vertically developed value chains” find it difficult to comply with local content requirements. Meanwhile, in the case of the Philippines, the report traced the hardship largely to the increased local use of imported textiles in their markets. See “NTMS,” A2
LABOR group wants the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board representative in the regional wage board in the National Capital Region (NCR) to skip deliberations of the pending P100 wage hike petition, citing bias by the Neda chief. Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa (Kapatiran) questioned the objectivity of the representative after Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, also Neda director general, warned Congress last week of the “harmful” effects of a legislated wage hike to the country’s economy. Balisacan said wage hikes should be based on labor productivity and worker demand instead. BusinessMirror sought out the country’s chief economist for his response to the labor group’s call for recusation on account of Neda’s alleged bias, but no response was obtained from him as of press time. “Neda Director General Arsenio Balisacan has already prejudged the wage hike petition by his declaration that a salary increase is detrimental to the economy,” Kapatiran president Rey Almendras said in a statement. “The Neda NCR Director who is vice chair of the NCR regional wage board cannot be expected to be impartial on the P100 wage hike petition given the very public opposition by his or her boss,” he added. See “Crying bias,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.9840 n JAPAN 0.4020 n UK 65.6784 n HK 7.0048 n CHINA 7.9465 n SINGAPORE 40.8105 n AUSTRALIA 36.9987 n EU 58.2830 n KOREA 0.0420 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.6503 Source: BSP (March 3, 2023)