by admin | Feb 23, 2016 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
MANILA, Feb. 23 (PIA)–Andam na ang Malakanyang sa mga aktibidad sa pagsaulog sa ika-30 nga anibersaryo sa 1986 People Power Revolution sa Pebrero 25.
Nagdala kini sa tema nga “Pagbabago: Ipinaglaban N’yo, Itutuloy Ko!”
Matud pa ni Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Undersecretary Manolo Quezon III, magsugod ang programa pinaagi sa flag-raising ceremony sa alas 7:30 sa buntag, pagpanumpa sa bandila, sundan sa ecumenical prayer, awarding ceremony, tradisyonal nga pagsugat ug mohatag og mensahe si Presidente Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III.
Isunod ang inagurasyon ug guests tour sa People Power Experimental Museum sa Camp Aguinaldo nga magpakita sa mga kabataan sa tinuod nga kasinatiaan sa mga Pilipino niadtong panahon sa Martial Law.
Giingong mahinungdanon nga masabtan sa mga kabataan ang tinuod nga diwa sa malinawong rebolusyon ug ngitngit nga kaagi nga gibilin sa balaod sa militar.
Ang EDSA People Power Commission mi-awhag sa publiko sa pagbisita sa People Power Experiential Museum sa Pebrero 25 hangtud 26 sa Camp Aguinaldo.
Ang pagsaulog sa EDSA Uno ning tuig gigahinan og P35 milyon. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)
by admin | Feb 23, 2016 | National News
MANILA, Feb. 23 (PIA)–Gipahinumdoman sa Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) ang mga kandidato nga midagan sa nagkalain-laing posisyon sa nagkaduol na nga piniliay nga ang mga sobrang gastos sa kampanya pahamtangan nila og buhis.
Matud pa ni BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, ang maong kamanduan nahisulod sa Revenue Regulation 7-2011.
Naa sa kamanduan nga ang mga sobrang donasyon o campaign donation nga wala nagamit sa piniliay i-konsiderar nga income sa usa ka kandidato nga angay pahamtangan og buhis.
Ang maong pasidaan gihimo sa BIR aron mahatagan og igong panahon ang mga kandidato nga tarungon ang ilang mga gastohon sa eleksyon aron malikayan ang bisan unsang aberya. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)
by admin | Feb 22, 2016 | National News
Philippine specialty food products under the Food Philippines brand delighted the taste buds of the US market during the recent 41st Winter Fancy Food Show (WFFS), the largest food and beverage trade show in the American West Coast.
Held last 17-19 January 2016, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, Food Philippines highlighted 17 home-grown enterprises that had varying social, cultural, and environmental advocacies at the core of their businesses for its third participation in WFFS.
The manufacturers that took part in the food show offered premium-quality specialty food products ranging from processed fruits, frozen and canned tuna, ethnic food, condiments, sauces and mixes and snacks.
Trade Commissioner Nicanor Bautista remarked that the year 2016 was a record year for the Philippine delegation at WFFS, with Philippine specialty food products and their social responsibilities gaining attention from major American importers, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers. A total of 540 inquiries and negotiated sales amounting to over USD44 million underscored the potential of the West Coast as a market for Philippine food products.
The best-selling items included virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut sugar, frozen tuna, banana chips, frozen saba, organic muscovado sugar, upland rice and jasponica rice, and sea salts. Buyers were mostly looking for natural, organic, fair trade, and healthy products which all packaged to international standards.
“Given the warm reception of social enterprises and their specialty food products in the WFFS, Food Philippines looks forward to the continued promotion of specialty food products with added social dimension in other food and beverage trade shows abroad,” shares Rosvi C. Gaetos, Executive Director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). “We are also considering a participation in the Summer Fancy Food Show to sustain the impression we have made in WFFS, and continue positioning the Philippines as a source of high-value, fresh, healthy and natural food products.”
Food Philippines is a branding initiative of DTI-CITEM which serves to unify the promotional efforts of the government in overseas trade exhibitions and events to project one brand, one image, and one voice.
The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is the export promotion arm of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). CITEM is committed to developing, nurturing, and promoting globally-competitive small and medium enterprises (SMEs), exporters, designers, and manufacturers by implementing an Integrated Approach to Export Marketing in partnership with other government and private entities. For more information on its services and events, please log on to www.citem.gov.ph.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
by admin | Feb 22, 2016 | National News
Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado announced that the country aims to increase export targets to a high of 9%. “Our exports performance takes into account the work that we have been doing in recent years to expand market access as well as the ground we have covered to prepare our industries to gain competitive and comparative advantage,” she said.
President Benigno Aquino III recently approved the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) for 2015-2017. The PEDP is a three-year plan to create a business environment supportive of trade, growth, and innovation.
The PEDP aims to enable domestic industries to establish their niches in regional and global market to boost the performance of the country’s exports in the next two years. The plan seeks to increase the competitiveness of Philippine export goods and services in the global arena, both in areas where local products are already strong and in emerging products and services with huge potentials for growth. The PEDP has also identified sustainable Philippine products with established markets, and sectors whose competitiveness in global trade have shown encouraging patterns.
“One of the strategies in the PEDP is to take advantage of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as well as the tariff free scheme for more than 6,000 products offered by the EU-GSP+,” said newly appointed Undersecretary for Industry Promotions Terrado.
The top five destinations of Philippine exports are Japan, US, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Nearly half of the export revenues in 2014 are from these countries.
AEC aims to establish a single market and production base and a competitive economic region. Terrado cited the benefits of free trade agreements such as the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 2010. She cited companies such as Vitarich, Mama Sita, and Universal Robina Corporation who have managed to innovate and enjoy zero duties when exporting their products to partner countries.
Terrado explained that the ongoing Industry Roadmap Program of the DTI and the Board of Investments has identified cross cutting issues and action plans to address impediments to growth. She said that these same issues are articulated in the PEDP. These are: strengthened monitoring and evaluation; streamlined domestic regulations that unnecessarily raise the costs of production and cause delay in market delivery; regulatory reforms and promotion of market competition; upgrade of the quality of export goods and services; increased access to finance for market prospection, product development, and market diversification; collaboration of government agencies and the private sector to exploit the opportunities offered by the ASEAN economic integration and other preferential trading arrangements; a well-coordinated and sufficiently funded export and investment promotion campaign to exploit the nexus of foreign direct investment (FDI) and export activity; and, a national innovation system to enhance the innovative capacity of domestic producers.
“Central to the success of the PEDP is the successful implementation of these measures in partnership with other government agencies, academe and the private sector. Our collaboration aims to establish the country as a reliable player in the global trading network,” Terrado said.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
by admin | Feb 22, 2016 | National News
Japanese businessmen continue to show keen interest in further investing in the country as a 29-man delegation, composed of companies in the fields of manufacturing and services industries, was in the Philippines for a four-day mission to explore investment opportunities.
Led by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) executive vice president Tatsuhiro Shindo, the Japanese delegation paid a courtesy call to Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) Secretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. and attended an Investment Briefing with the Board of Investments (BOI) recently.
Secretary Cristobal welcomed and expressed his gratitude to the JETRO delegation. He said that when President Aquino visited Tokyo last June 2015 and met JETRO Chairman Hiroyuki Ishige, the latter proposed several steps to promote our trade and investment relations with Japan. JETRO, so far, has delivered the first step – dispatching a very important business delegation to the Philippines.
Secretary Cristobal said the Japanese delegation’s visit is timely as the government is now working on revving up the resurgence of the Philippine manufacturing sector through its Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP) which aims to rebuild the existing capacity of industries, strengthen new ones, and maintain the competitiveness of industries with comparative advantage.
Secretary Cristobal also cited the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program, a subsumed program under the MRP, which provides a comprehensive package of fiscal and nonfiscal incentives. The government is allocating PhP 27 billion fiscal support for the next six years for investments in the manufacture of automotive whole body large plastic parts, other strategic parts that are not currently produced locally, and provides variable incentives to induce both volume production and logistics efficiency.
The Trade Secretary also assured the Japanese delegates and JETRO of the agency’s continuing support and assistance to their business endeavors. “Our investment promotion offices led by the BOI, the Foreign Trade Service Corps, and our Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Tokyo are more than ready to provide assistance to Japanese companies who would want to set up shop or expand their operations in the country,” he said.
For her part, DTI Undersecretary for industry promotion Nora Terrado expressed her admiration to Japan’s strong leadership, Abenomics, and its desire in increasing gender diversity, where women are encouraged to participate in the government, business and other areas. She personally conveyed her gratitude to the Mayor of Yokohama who visited the Philippines and participated in the APEC 2015 Women and the Economy Fora. She mentioned that Yokohama and Manila are sister cities, and cited such valuable connection as an indication of another dimension of friendship between the Philippines and Japan.
During the investment briefing, BOI Director for International Investments Promotion Service Angelica Cayas also presented before the Japanese delegates the Philippine advantage, showcasing the competitive reasons why Philippines is the investment destination of choice. This was followed by BOI Director for Manufacturing Industries Service Evariste Cagatan who presented an overview of the Philippine manufacturing industry.
Japan remains as the country’s second top performing investment partner, with investment commitments amounting to US$338.88 million or 14.3 percent of the total Investment Promotion Agency (IPA)-approved foreign investments from the January to September 2015 period. In 2014, Japan was the country’s top source of IPA-approved foreign investment with pledges amounting to US$803.24 million.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
