Infra projects for Asean hosting limited to NCR By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
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JAPAN’S AGRICULTURE MINISTER RESIGNS OVER TONE-DEAF RICE COMMENTS AMID PRICE SURGE
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AJOR infrastructure projects related to the country’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit next year, including the rehabilitation of Edsa, will be focused in Metro Manila, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). “Our focus is Metro Manila because the preliminary meeting will have to take place by early 2026,” DPWH Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan said in a press briefing in Malacañang. He said among their major
infrastructure projects is the rehabilitation of the 7.9-kilometer segment of Edsa from Pasay to Shaw Boulevard, which is expected to start by next month. “The priority sections that we will be undertaking will be from Pasay to Shaw Boulevard, southbound and northbound. And our timetable here is we hope that we can complete those segments, those segments, towards the end of the year,” Bonoan said. The rehabilitation, he said, can be expanded to other parts of Edsa next year, once the country starts hosting the Asean Summit. The Philippines will host the
Asean Summit Meetings next year in lieu of Myanmar due to the ongoing civil war in the latter. Bonoan said they are coordinating with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to minimize the possible inconvenience to motorists and commuters caused by the rehabilitation of major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region (NCR). “I think, MMDA and DOTr are actually having the protocols and the traffic management plan laid out already so that we can see what will be the alternate routes that are available and how to manage
DPWH Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan
actually the internal traffic in Edsa during the construction,” Bonoan said, partly in Filipino.
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Thursday, May 22, 2025 Vol. 20 No. 221
P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 24 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
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@reine_alberto
TATE-RUN firms remitted more than P76 billion in dividends to the national government as of mid-May, boosting non-tax revenues to fund the country’s expenditures without imposing new taxes. According to the Department of Finance (DOF) on Wednesday, dividends collected from government-owned and-controlled corporations (GOCCs) amounted to about P76 billion in the first five months of the year. The dividends were sourced from around 50 GOCCs, with about 13 of them contributing at least P1 billion each to the government. The top contributor among GOCCs was the state-run bank Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) with P26 billion in dividend remittances. Trailing LandBank was the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation with P12.6 billion and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation with P10.13 billion. They were followed by the Philippine Port Authority and the Manila See “GOCC,” A2
SEISMIC RETROFIT FOR GUADALUPE The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to close the decades-old Guadalupe Bridge in October 2025, but made it clear this won’t come until after the completion of a temporary bridge. Built
in the 1960s and widened in the 1970s, the vital Edsa span will undergo a 17-month structural and seismic retrofitting as part of a P7.8-billion Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project—largely funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). The closure is expected to worsen traffic flow on Edsa, but real estate experts project it would boost demand—from commuters wishing to be close to work—for housing in nearby Makati and Taguig cities. NONOY LACZA
DBM OKAYS P1.4B FOR CCAP sees slow headcount growth due to AI DSWD LIVELIHOOD PLANS By Andrea E. San Juan
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
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@reine_alberto
VER P1.4 billion has been approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to fund livelihood and community development projects focused on supporting peace-building efforts and rebuilding conflictaffected and vulnerable communities in the country. Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman approved the Special Allotment Release Order (Sara) of more than P1.4
billion for the implementation and monitoring of the PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn (Pamana) Program. The initiative, implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is composed of microlevel interventions to respond to conflict, strengthen peacebuilding efforts and support reconstruction and development in conflict-affected and vulnerable areas. “We immediately approved the release of Sara, amounting See “DBM,” A2
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@andreasanjuan
HE Philippine Contact Center industry projects a slower growth rate in employee headcount in the next few years due to the adoption of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), which require “higher value” of work and skills that are not yet well developed in the Philippines, according to Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) officials. “What we’re seeing now is we will continue to see growth slowly. A lot of companies that we serve are waiting and seeing, you know, the AI is there, the
technology is there. It’s becoming better, but now companies are more cautious about delving into these types of new technologies,” Tonichi Achurra-Parekh, CCAP Board Director, told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. “So do we project that we will see a reduction in [full-time employees] FTEs in the next one, two years? No, maybe. Slower, yes. But farther than that, we don’t know, just because of the fast-paced or the development of the technology,” Achurra-Parekh also noted. CCAP data showed employment rose in 2024, reaching 1.62 million workers, an 11-percent jump from 1.51 million in 2023. For this year, however, CCAP President Haidee Enriquez said
the contact center industry is only gunning for around 5 to 7 percent growth rate for both revenues and employment. In 2024, the contact center industry posted $31.5 billion in revenues, up 6.8 percent from the $29.5-billion projection previously set for 2025. Contact centers accounted for 83 percent of the IT and Business Process Management (ITBPM)’s $38 billion in revenues in 2024. Looking ahead, Enriquez said the industry has to be “very aware” of the new roles that the emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) bring about, pointing out that these roles would require higher sala-
ries amid the limited supply of professionals with such skills in the market. “For example, cybersecurity professionals or AI analysts, designers, AI coaches or even prompters, the AI trainers. These are roles that are hard to find because the skills are not yet very well developed in the Philippines,” Enriquez added. The CCAP president explained: “Because there’s not a lot of professionals that are very proficient, then of course these types of job command quite high levels of salary in the market.” In fact, Enriquez underscored that recent new hires, or those who have just graduated, are “not ready” See “CCAP,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.6580 n JAPAN 0.3853 n UK 74.5094 n HK 7.1123 n CHINA 7.7126 n SINGAPORE 42.9891 n AUSTRALIA 35.7324 n EU 62.8045 n KOREA 0.0400 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8405 Source: BSP (May 21, 2025)