REACTION PAPER: March

Philippine exporters see business in Japan rehab

MANILA, Philippines - While complaining of temporary disruption in the delivery of orders to some parts of Japan, Philippine exporters are seeing opportunities in the near future in the Japanese market when rehabilitation efforts in the earthquake-, tsunami- and now-nuclear crisis-stricken country kick off.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, told the BusinessMirror that both the services and merchandise exporters in the Philippines should get ready to support the expected increase in orders from Japan.

“There will surely be a shortage in the supply of food and manpower in Japan, so the opportunities are there,” Ortiz-Luis said.

He said the exporters’ group is now getting feedback from some of its members that orders are not getting delivered due to the logistics problem in Japan, particularly in the damaged areas in northeast, right now.

Mostly affected, he said, are agricultural products, since they are perishable and the buyers in Japan need to delay the orders until the transport and communications system are already in better condition. The condition of the storage facilities also needs to improve.

“But this is only temporary. When things normalize, we are seeing opportunities,” Ortiz-Luis said.

He said when the rehabilitation starts, Japan will probably have to hook up with Philippine companies that will support the reconstruction efforts. This would mean actual employment of Filipinos in Japan, since the Japanese may not be able to fill up the need for manpower themselves.

Also, there will be Japanese companies that will be prompted to outsource some of their operations elsewhere while in the process of rebuilding.

Japan used to have a 30% share in the Philippine merchandise exports, Ortiz-Luis said. Its share in Philippine exports has now fallen to about 8% to 10%.

Exports to Japan are mostly electronics and auto components, minerals and farm products.

Earlier, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. said its member-companies are encountering problems in the supply chain because several inputs and components come from Japan-based plants.

This is also mainly due to the disruption in the transport system in the areas damaged by the major earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last Friday.

SOURCE: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/16/11/philippine-exporters-see-business-japan-rehab

The tsunami that hit Japan may have a positive effect in our country’s economy. As what we have heard they are currently experiencing shortages from their supplies like food because their agriculture was one of the most affected area and laborers for many people died. Many employers had lost their employees that day. Many are totally damaged like their communication, transportation and operation in doing business. I must say that this event is really a great help for our economy but I am not saying that I’m happy of what had happen to Japan last week because neither am I was also afraid for our country has reached the alert level 2 of tsunami.

Because of this damages and shortages that Japan is experiencing today it opens a great opportunity to us every Filipino to exports our goods and services. Because today that country really needed help to recover from the disaster that had happen to them last week. This would be good for the export company and to those Filipino who wants to have a job abroad. Due to what happen many employees from different country and different company had returned back to their homes and many have died in tsunami. This is why the country experiences shortage in labor.

As a student from my point of view this is really a great opportunity for our country to improve the economy even if this is only temporary. At least this will improve our economy for good. We must take chances in order to make help our economy as one of the concern citizen of this country.

REACTION PAPER: Feb.

PHL HAS WORLD'S HIGHEST POWER RATES
 

MANILA, FEBRUARY 23, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - The Philippines, which ranks among the most corrupt countries, also holds the unenviable record of having the highest residential power rates not only in Asia but in the entire world.

Officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) admitted as much yesterday in the course of a hearing by the House energy committee on the high cost of electricity in the country.

Responding to questions raised by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, the energy officials said the Philippines has overtaken Japan as the country that charges the highest electricity rate on residential users.

As for commercial users, the country charges the second highest rate after Singapore. Commercial users pay more here for electricity than those in Japan.

Former Pampanga Rep. Zenaida Ducut, whom former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had appointed ERC chair months before ending her nine-year presidency, and Lourdes Alzona, PSALM vice-president for finance, could not give the energy committee comparative data on the rates in Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, and other countries.

But Evardone revealed the rates to reporters based on a Department of Energy report made available to him by Batasan Rep. Henedina Abad, chair of the energy committee.

Evardone, whose Resolution 106 prompted the committee inquiry, said the residential rate here is about 18 US cents per kilowatt-hour.

It is 17 cents in Japan, 15 in Singapore, eight in Thailand, seven in Malaysia, five in Indonesia, and three cents in Vietnam, he said.

In terms of the commercial rate, it is 14 cents in Singapore, 13 in the Philippines, 12 in Japan, eight in Thailand, seven in Malaysia, six in Vietnam, and five cents in Indonesia.

“No wonder we have not been attracting foreign investors. Imagine, we beat the developed countries and largest economies like Japan in terms of power rates?” Evardone said, adding electricity rates are a big part of the cost of doing business.

The energy officials tried to justify the high cost of electricity here by saying the other countries cited are subsidizing their residential users.

“But we also have subsidies here, like the lifeline rates for poor households,” Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, one of the authors of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001, retorted.

“Our principal objective in enacting Epira 10 years ago was to bring down electricity rates. Sad to say, that did not happen. The law did not fail; it is the implementation that failed. This is not what we expected to happen,” he said.

Fuentebella hinted that the ERC and Congress should share part of the blame for the high cost of electricity here.

“The ERC has disregarded some mandatory rate reduction schemes in violation of Epira,” he said.

On the part of Congress, he said the legislature imposed a 12-percent value added tax on electricity, which used to be VAT-exempt.

Alzona admitted that despite the already high cost of power here, PSALM would push through with asking the ERC to approve an adjustment of up to 15 centavos per kilowatt-hour to enable it to pay its loans.

Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy urged PSALM and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to collect billions from private power distributors and cooperatives before making the public pay more.

“They should collect from Meralco and electric cooperatives,” he said. Arroyo was energy committee chairman in the previous Congress.

Energy officials admitted that Meralco owes Napocor about P36 billion incurred between 2001 and 2003.

They said Meralco, the largest power distributor in the country, is disputing the billings and the case is now pending in court.

They said among distribution utilities in the provinces, the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative has the biggest debt owed to Napocor, which amounts to P4.6 billion.

Rep. Maximo Rodriguez of the party-list group Abante Mindanao shared Arroyo’s call for PSALM and Napocor to compel private distribution firms to pay their debts before petitioning for a rate increase.

“Meralco can afford to pay. It is making billions every year in net profits,” he said.

http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/be/be004362.htm

Our country Philippines belongs to a Third World Country but has the capacity to have the highest residential power rates in the entire world. In this case we beat the country that belongs to a first world country which is Japan. As we can that country has fully developed they are now leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research.By the way what is a third world? It refers to the economically underdeveloped countries with common characteristics, such as poverty, high birthrates, and economic dependence on the advanced countries. 

Upon reading this article I felt bad because it seems that we are proud that we beat the Japan in terms of power rate. We must not be proud for something like this because this means the country is really not a well developed that is why we still belong to the third world. This would also mean that we more becoming undeveloped for this affects the economy and this would pull down the country’s economy. As of now our country’s economy is not that good so we must help as one of the citizen of this country by conserving energy. Because they are some places here like the Metro Manila that lacks energy source sometimes. That is why last year some places in Mindanao experienced rotating brownout.

As commerce student I am really concern on our country’s economy for this has something to do also with my course. And our place was one of the affected places that experience the rotating brownout. Our country belong to a third world so as a concern citizen we must try our best to help in enhancing our economy for this will benefit us all not just those who are in high position but it would be us the Filipinos. 

REACTION PAPER

Diane D. Penados
BSC - MA 3D
MWF 12:25 - 1:25 PM

Tourist arrivals up 19% in 2010 despite scares

MANILA, Phlippines - The country saw a rebound in visitor arrivals last year despite a deadly tourist bus hijack and foreign warnings of terror attacks, the government said on Monday.


A total of 3.45 million foreigners went through the country’s main ports of entry in 2010, up from 2.89 million in 2009, interim Immigration chief Ronaldo P. Ledesma said in a statement.


Data from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), meanwhile, showed that the number of passengers on international flights to the country rose by 6.4% to 3.59 million last year, reversing 2009’s 6.2% slump.


International passenger traffic, or total inbound and outbound passengers, increased by 6.3% to 7.3 million people in 2010 from 6.87 million a year earlier.


"These numbers send a very clear message that the confidence of the international community in the Philippines and the government of President [Benigno S.C.] Aquino [III] is very strong," Mr. Ledesma said.


Mr. Aquino had protested publicly last November after Australia, Britain, Canada, France, New Zealand and the United States warned their citizens that a terrorist attack on the Philippines was imminent.


The Philippines has long been troubled by an Islamic militant movement engaged in bombings and kidnappings, mainly in the south of the country.


The country’s international reputation took a hit in August when a botched police rescue effort to end a bus hijacking stand-off in Manila left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.


The immigration bureau said visitor arrivals fell to 188,028 in September, amid the immediate fallout of the hostage fiasco. But it said the numbers picked up strongly to an average of nearly 230,000 visitors for each of the last three months of the year.


MIAA data supported immigration’s tally, with arrivals rising by 5.5% to 377,659 people last December from 358,055 people a year earlier.


"The figures were driven up by overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East and China who were returning home for the holidays," MIAA chief Jose Angel A. Honrado told BusinessWorld.


In a separate interview, Tourism Secretary Alberto A. Lim said last year’s controversies did not affect the Philippines’ 2010 target of 3.3 million tourists.


Mr. Lim did not elaborate but Tourism Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon told AFP the government was optimistic that arrival numbers for 2010 would be about the same as the immigration bureau’s figures. -- with a report from AFP


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/01/11/11/tourist-arrivals-19-2010-despite-scares

Reaction:

While reading this article I feel happy for our country’s tourism was not really affected by the incident that scared some foreigner. That was August last year when a tourist bus was hijacked by Ronald Mendoza, a police officer who got fired from his job. That left 8 Hong Kong national dead. This incident made warning to different countries specially the Hong Kong. But in spite of this incident, scarcity and economic world problem we are facing still the number of foreigner who went through the country’s main spots is going higher.

An increased in tourism is really big news for us Filipino’s for this will help our economy grow. The more foreigners who will come and visit our country the better it is for our country. This won’t only benefit the businessman but the entire Filipino and the foreigner who come for they have seen and witnessed how beautiful and rich our country is in resources.

As a student and a citizen of this country I myself is affected to what anything will happen to the tourism because we are talking here of the country’s tourism which I belong and this affects the economy of our country. If whatever happens to the economy the whole Philippines will be affected an increased in our necessities and fare might happen.