THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT’S (NG) outstanding debt slipped to P15.55 trillion as of end-August due to a stronger peso and the net repayment of foreign debt, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said. Read the full story.
EAST WEST Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) could issue peso bonds early next year as they expect benchmark interest rates to decline further, its top official said.
“Most likely the first quarter because of the fresh books,” EastWest Bank Chief Executive Officer Jerry G. Ngo told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Monday. “It’s not urgent. It’s really more to match our books so that we can balance the durations. It’s risk management more than anything else, and the prices will probably continue to fall.”
The official earlier said the bank is looking to issue bonds worth up to P10 billion in several tranches and tenors.
Mr. Ngo said they expect further rate cuts from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the US Federal Reserve.
“Everyone’s very dovish at the moment,” he said, adding that further rate cuts by the BSP would support economic growth.
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. last week said the Monetary Board could slash benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) more this year by delivering two 25-bp cuts at its next two meetings scheduled for Oct. 16 and Dec. 19.
The central bank began its easing cycle in August, cutting its policy rate for the first time in nearly four years by 25 bps to 6.25% from the over 17-year high of 6.5%.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell indicated on Monday that the US central bank would likely stick with quarter-percentage-point interest rate cuts moving forward and was not “in a hurry” after new data boosted confidence in ongoing economic growth and consumer spending, Reuters reported.
“This is not a committee that feels like it is in a hurry to cut rates quickly,” Mr. Powell told a National Association for Business Economics conference, even though the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee kicked off its easing cycle with a larger-than-expected half-percentage-point reduction at its Sept. 17-18 meeting.
Mr. Powell said the baseline was currently for two quarter-percentage-point reductions by the end of this year, as indicated in policy makers’ updated economic projections released earlier this month. The Fed’s policy rate is currently set in the 4.75%-5% range.
Mr. Ngo added that EastWest Bank’s asset and profit growth will be driven by an increase in its clients.
“Our balance sheet is growing 15%, mid-teens, overall… Our net income after tax last year grew by around 30%. I think we should be able to do the same this year. The hope is to continue a long-term sustainable growth going forward rather than volatile growth,” he said. “I think steady, solid performance brought about by solid growth from clients is actually very important. The Philippines is a relatively young population; there’s an emerging affluent sector. There’ll be a lot of them as the Philippines becomes an upper middle-income country.”
“Our strategy is really this emerging affluent segment, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), entrepreneurs, and professionals. And then on the other side is consumer lending. I think that the two sides are growing very well because of the shape of our macroeconomy.”
The bank also expects to get a boost from the reserve ratio reduction that will take effect this month amid its consumer-dominant balance sheet, he said.
“Liquidity-wise, it will benefit us quite a fair bit. It gives us a few months’ worth of bookings, which is good,” Mr. Ngo added.
AUM GROWTH
Meanwhile, the bank expects a 30% compounded annual growth rate in assets under management (AUM) this year, EastWest Bank Senior Executive Vice-President and Financial Markets and Wealth Management Cluster Head Rafael S. Algarra, Jr. said, adding that they hit their P60-billion AUM target for end-2023.
The bank wants to tap the younger generation as more of them join the affluent sector, he said.
“I think there’s risk-on sentiment at the moment… particularly as interest rates are being cut. So, I think there’s going to be a bit more focus on options, particularly on higher-yielding instruments. Then you couple that with what’s going on in the country with the emerging affluent that’s coming up,” Mr. Ngo added.
EastWest Bank is also looking to expand its priority centers to 20 in the next two to three years from the current 12, focusing outside the National Capital Region.
“There’s been an over-concentration on some of the centers like Metro Manila and there is a lot of potential outside. There are a lot of cities or emerging cities coming from all over the country. People are getting richer and more diverse on where they’re getting richer. It’s not like everybody’s just rich in Metro Manila. You can see growth all over the place,” Mr. Ngo said. — A.M.C. Sy with Reuters
GOLD is what you buy when everything isn’t goldilocks. Inflation, deflation, war, pestilence — gold is a certain anxious state of mind made tangible in a seductive but mostly useless metal. In a weird spin, gold has been enjoying a goldilocks period itself, hitting a new record last week. More than that, it seems almost immune to things that would usually drag it down.
Almost.
Gold’s investment case tends to morph over time but is often framed in relative terms: Gold versus stocks, the dollar, bitcoin, whatever. The one that makes intuitive sense is gold’s relationship with real Treasury yields: When the latter are positive or rising, gold, which yields nothing, should suffer and vice-versa. This relationship broke in 2022.
A multifactor model of gold prices maintained by Longview Economics, a London-based analysis firm, diverged sharply from the market price of gold in 2022 after tracking it closely since 2008. By early 2024, the model indicated a price below $1,000 per ounce whereas gold was then trading at more than $2,000. Similarly, physically backed gold exchange-traded funds began liquidating their stockpiles in earnest in mid-2022, likely taking their cue from the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening. But that barely weighed on prices and then gold actually rallied even as ETF liquidation continued.
Gold was saved by central banks stepping into the breach. Russia’s new invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sparked sanctions by the US and its allies, prompting a wave of gold stockpiling by central banks as a geopolitical hedge and in order to diversify reserves away from the dollar. The amount of gold bought by central banks more than quintupled between the first and third quarter of 2022 and has since remained elevated relative to the prior decade, with China playing a prominent role.
China’s role in the gold rally may not end at the central bank. The country’s economic slowdown, concentrated in an overcapitalized real estate sector, is reflected in household confidence and housing transaction volumes that have been in free fall since 2022. Similarly, Chinese stocks have had a “biblically awful run” since their post-pandemic peak in 2021, as my Bloomberg Opinion colleague John Authers puts it.
Renewed stimulus efforts from Beijing have lifted stocks but may be pushing on a string when it comes to reviving construction activity. Notably, Rory Johnston, who publishes the Commodity Context newsletter, opines that 2024 is likely to mark only the second year in more than three decades where Chinese oil demand actually declines, in part because of weaker construction hitting diesel consumption. As an aside, gold now trades at its highest level relative to oil since early 2021, during the acute phase of the pandemic.
With 70% of Chinese household wealth tied up in real estate, stocks and yields dropping, and cryptocurrencies banned, gold makes for an obvious alternative asset. And there’s evidence that Chinese investors have been buying in the form of an uptick in the local premiums paid for physical gold there for much of the past year or so. The World Gold Council’s “over-the-counter and other” line item for global demand — essentially a plug to reconcile it with supply — has also seen a sustained increase in recent quarters, suggesting unobserved stockpiling of gold has picked up.
The Fed’s pivot to easing and rumblings about a potential US recession being in the offing have added further fuel of late. With geopolitics having allowed gold to skirt the tightening cycle, it looks set to benefit further from its traditional ally, falling real yields.
Yet the US economy looks to be in rude health and expectations for another 200 basis points of Fed easing are baked into market pricing already. Geopolitics remain a wildcard from Kyiv to Beirut, of course, but even these flashpoints are now part of the established backdrop. Central bank buying of gold was still elevated in the first half of the year but had eased somewhat from the frenetic pace of 2022. Meanwhile, Chinese physical gold premiums have flipped to discounts, suggesting the appetite there is sated for now.
The risks on which gold thrives are all still there, to some degree, but gold’s rally appears to have priced them in already and then some. Chris Watling, Longview’s founder and chief executive, observes drily with regards to a gold market that looks overcooked: “Everyone owns it and everyone wants to know what you think of it.” When there’s that much optimism around gold itself, maybe it’s time to worry.
BLOOMBERG OPINION
ABOITIZ Land, Inc. has named Rafael Fernandez de Mesa as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective Jan. 1 next year.
The new appointment marks the return of Aboitiz Land’s leadership to the Aboitiz family, as Mr. Fernandez de Mesa is a fifth-generation family member, the real estate company said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.
He will succeed current president and CEO David L. Rafael, who will retire by yearend after leading Aboitiz Land for five years.
Aside from being Aboitiz Land’s CEO, Mr. Fernandez de Mesa will also continue his current responsibilities as the head of economic estates in Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., the infrastructure arm of the Aboitiz group.
He holds various directorships within the Aboitiz group, serving on the boards of Aboitiz Land, Aboitiz InfraCapital, and Aboitiz Construction.
Mr. Fernandez de Mesa spent ten of his 15 years with the Aboitiz group at Aboitiz Land, where he served as first vice president of operations from 2016 to 2020. He held leadership roles across various areas, including business development, project management, technical services, construction, property management, and the residential, industrial, and commercial business units.
Before joining the Aboitiz group, Mr. Fernandez de Mesa worked in the banking sector with BBVA and Banco Santander in the United States.
Aboitiz InfraCapital has economic estates in Batangas, Cebu, and Tarlac spanning nearly 2,000 hectares. These host more than 250 global industry leaders and employ over 100,000 Filipinos. The economic estates have also attracted over P155 billion in investments.
Aboitiz Land is the real estate arm of listed conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV).
The conglomerate also has a presence in other segments such as power, banking and financial services, food, construction, and data science and artificial intelligence.
On Tuesday, AEV stocks rose 1.62% or 60 centavos to P37.75 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
PHILIPPINE micro and small enterprises are having a hard time meeting the requirements from government and private lenders, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said on Monday.
PCCI President Enunina V. Mangio said these entrepreneurs often lack the capacity to produce documents showing their capacity to pay.
“Our microenterprises don’t have financial statements,” she told a news briefing. “They don’t have the documents needed by the banks and Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) to avail themselves of the financial programs.”
Even small corporations encounter the same problem, she pointed out. Once banks see that they have a negative or very low net income, their loan application will get rejected, she added.
Ms. Mangio said that some loan applications are being shut down without them being able to share how they plan to expand their business.
SB Corp. is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry that provides financing to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines.
On its website, it lists government-issued IDs and permits, proof of sales, proof of value of fixed assets, and financial statements filed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue showing positive income in the past years as requirements for first-time borrowers.
This presents a problem since most microenterprises are in the informal sector, PCCI Vice-President for International Affairs Jude Aguilar told the same briefing.
“We all agree that 99.5% of our businesses are MSMEs. Out of the MSMEs, 90.5% are microenterprises, 8.6% are small and 0.4% are medium-sized,” he pointed out. Of all the country’s microenterprises, more than 80% are in the informal sector, he added.
He said there is a push from the Trade department to encourage microenterprises to move to the formal sector.
“Because when they do that, they will have access to financing, and they will be able to apply for benefits for their employees, but of course, that is expensive,” he said.
“And how do you get financing when you are in the informal sector? Maybe they can, but it will have larger interest rates,” he added.
Trade Undersecretary Blesila A. Lantayona said the agency seeks to create more focused training programs to help MSMEs learn how to prepare financial statements.
“Our MSMEs should be trained also, and that is where we can have collaboration on the ground,” she said. “They have to be trained on how to prepare simple financial statements.” — Justine Irish D. Tabile
Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
REGISTRATION on Tuesday opened in the Philippines for midterm elections next year, headlined by what could be a bitter proxy battle between President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and his firebrand predecessor Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Seventeen senatorial and 15 party-list hopefuls formalized their candidacies at a Commission on Elections (Comelec) satellite office inside the Manila Hotel, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia told a news briefing.
The May 2025 elections will be a litmus test of Mr. Marcos’ popularity and a chance to consolidate power and groom a successor, which the influential Duterte family has signaled it is determined to stop after an acrimonious falling out.
Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term.
Though 317 seats at the House of Representatives and thousands of regional and city posts are up for grabs among 18,000 positions, the attention is on 12 spots in the 24-seat Senate, a high-profile chamber with outsized influence and typically stacked with political heavyweights.
Speculation has swirled that Mr. Duterte, 79, and two of his sons will contest the senatorial race to try to weaken Mr. Marcos. Mr. Duterte’s office and that of his daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The midterms come after the collapse of what was an unstoppable alliance between the two families that delivered a landslide election win for Mr. Marcos in 2022. Ms. Carpio had been the frontrunner for president in surveys but opted instead to become Mr. Marcos’s running mate.
But their relationship has since turned hostile, owing to policy differences, the unravelling of Mr. Duterte’s pro-China foreign policy and investigations into his bloody war on drugs, plus other scandals implicating his associates.
Ms. Carpio resigned from the Cabinet and last week suffered a humiliating two-thirds slashing of her office’s budget by a House led by the President’s cousin, after she refused to attend hearings and objected to scrutiny of her spending.
Senate seats could give the Dutertes a powerful platform in the Philippines’ personality-driven politics to shore-up support, challenge Marcos legislation and initiate investigations into his government.
“All eyes will be indeed on who among them would run… or all of them,” said Ederson Tapia, professor of public administration at the University of Makati. “The Dutertes, notwithstanding the controversies hounding VP Sara, remain a formidable force.”
Mr. Marcos is bolstering his base by endorsing big local names for the Senate, including three former movie actors, the daughter of the country’s richest man, plus two of his presidential election rivals, among them global boxing icon Emmanuel “Manny” D. Pacquiao, Sr.
A notable absence from his Senate slate will be sister Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos, who is seeking reelection but declined her brother’s endorsement, which she said was to avoid putting him in a difficult position.
Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said success for Mr. Marcos in the midterms could be vital to his legacy.
“If the majority of those he endorsed win in the Senate and the House, it ensures that his legislative agenda will push through,” she said. “It ensures that he will have enough clout to anoint someone who he is going to support in the 2028 (presidential) elections.”
Senator Francis N. Tolentino, who is running under the ruling Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, was the first among seven reelectionists to file his bid.
Bayan Muna party-list, which lost its re-election bid in the previous election, is seeking a comeback with human rights lawyer Neri J. Colmenares as its first nominee, followed by ex-House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Isagani T. Zarate and for representative Ferdinand R. Gaite.
Meanwhile, at a separate filing office in Makati, outgoing Senator Ma. Lourdes “Nancy” S. Binay-Angeles filed her certificate for Makati mayor. Her sister, outgoing Mayor Mer-len Abigail S. Binay-Campos, has said her husband was eyeing the post.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez in a Facebook post said he is gunning for his sixth term in the House as Leyte’s representative. He filed his certificate in the province.
MAGIC 12
Meanwhile, senatorial candidates from the ruling coalition got 10 of 12 spots in the race, according to a survey by the Social Weather Stations.
The study, commissioned by Stratbase Group, showed that leading the race was Party-list Rep. Erwin T. Tulfo with 54% of Filipinos likely to vote for him.
He was followed by former Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III with 34%, and Senator Pilar Juliana “Pia” S. Cayetano with 31%.
Hansley A. Juliano, a political science professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said Senate independence is unlikely to be affected in case most administration candidates win.
“Independence wise, we have seen before that the Senate, depending on their composition, can choose to be as supine to the President as the lower House or try to fight out its institutional independence,” he told BusinessWorld in a Facebook Messenger chat.
Mr. Duterte’s preference rate dipped to 25% in September from 36% in March, putting him in the 4th-5th place from second. Tied with him was Senator Marcos, whose support increased by 3 points to 25% in September.
In the sixth and seventh spots were Senator Ramon “Bong” B. Revilla, Jr. and ex-Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, Sr.
House Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Lydia A. Villar-Genuino climbed to the eighth spot in September with 21% from 20th-24th place in March.
Ms. Binay-Campos entered the “magic 12” on the ninth to 10th spot, tied with Senator Manuel “Lito” M. Lapid at 20%.
“Dynastic names continue to dominate Senate races both due to name recall, incumbency and previous publicity record,” Mr. Juliano said. “This clientelist standard continues to persist to the detriment of newer and more professional voices, even if young people may be inclined to vote for progressive candidates.”
From the administration slate, only Mr. Tolentino (14th) and Interior Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos, Jr. (16th-17th) failed to make it to the top 12.
The filing of candidacies will end on Oct. 8. — with Reuters
MANILA should pursue bringing its sea dispute with Beijing to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, a Philippine senator said on Tuesday, adding that China should stop “dangerous actions” that risk the lives of Filipino fishermen and maritime authorities.
“It’s high time that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) heed the Senate’s call and take a decisive step in pursuing the filing of a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly to call for the immediate cessation of all activities by China against our maritime authorities and Filipino fisherfolk,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” P. Estrada, Jr. said in a statement.
“Are we going to wait for something more serious to happen before we act?” he added in Filipino.
The DFA and Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to separate WhatsApp and Viber messages seeking comment.
Beijing’s military conducted combat readiness patrols in parts of the South China Sea on Monday and Tuesday, Chinese state media reported on Tuesday.
At the weekend, Manila conducted joint patrols in the waterway with Washington, Canberra, Tokyo and Wellington to improve interoperability of their military forces.
The Philippines’ BRP Antonio Luna and BRP Emilio Jacinto, America’s USS Howard, Australia’s HMAS Sydney, Japan’s JS Sazanami and New Zealand’s HMNZS Aotearoa participated in the joint patrols, according to the US Naval Institute website.
On Sunday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said Chinese navy vessels had kept an eye on and tailed the ships that participated in the joint patrols.
Tensions between the Philippines and China have worsened in the past year as Beijing continues to block resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila has a handful of troops stationed at a beached vessel.
In 2016, a United Nations-backed tribunal based in the Hague voided China’s claim to more than 80% of the South China Sea for being illegal.
The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo said in his speech at the UN General Assembly at the weekend that Manila would pursue peaceful and diplomatic means to resolve disputes, citing the importance of upholding a rules-based international order.
He earlier said the Philippines plans on raising its dispute with China with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when it heads the agency in 2027.
The ASEAN and China have been in talks as far back as 2002 to craft a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
“By bringing this matter to the attention of the UN, we emphasize that this issue extends beyond just two countries,” Mr. Estrada said. “It is about upholding international law and the sovereignty of all nations, regardless of their size.”
Manila and Beijing on July 2 reached a “provisional arrangement” for Philippine resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin.
About $3 trillion worth of trade passes through the South China Sea annually, and it is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, apart from fish stocks. — John Victor D. Ordonez
By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter
THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Tuesday said it would roll out programs that seek to boost the credentials of Filipino college graduates and allow senior high school and technical vocational school graduates to earn degrees through work experience.
“We are also in the process of finalizing the crafting of the guidelines for micro-credentials, as well as the enhancement of the implementation of the expanded tertiary education equivalency accreditation program,” CHED Director Cherrie Melanie Ancheta-Diego told a Senate hearing.
Last month, the Senate passed a bill setting up the accreditation program, which will credit relevant work experience to school credits for a bachelor’s degree.
The program allows applicants who are at least 23 years old and have at least five years of work experience in an industry to pursue these degrees in their chosen industries.
At the same hearing, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian pushed an increase to the P23.38-billion budget for free college education programs, saying it would help more students earn degrees and find quality jobs.
“Free higher education is an investment,” he said. “Free higher education will yield the country more students who will graduate with a diploma, and that will enable them to look for meaningful jobs in or outside the country.”
Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva urged CHED to do something about four in 10 college students nationwide dropping out of school last year. CHED Chairman Prospero E. de Vera said many students dropped out last year because their families were still recovering financially from the coronavirus pandemic.
About 37% of students dropped out in 2021-2022. The college dropout rate spiked to 41.03% in the following school year before settling at 29.4% in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) urged CHED to shut down poorly performing training programs for teachers that fail to get them licensed.
“With systemic issues plaguing the current teacher education framework, updating policies and ensuring quality standards are critical in restoring trust and ensuring that only well-prepared educators enter the profession,” PBEd Executive Director Justine B. Raagas said in a statement.
More than half of teacher education institutions in the country performed below the national average in the board licensure exams for professional teachers between 2010 and 2022, she said, citing a PBEd study.
Maria Ella Calaor-Oplas, an economics professor who specializes in human capital development research at De La Salle University, said the government should lighten teacher workloads and lessen the number of students per teacher.
“Teachers are less effective in delivering their lessons if there are too many students since this is physically and mentally draining,” she said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
The government should also provide more subsidies and incentives for research papers to encourage teachers to publish more academic work, Ms. Oplas said.
The Department of Education earlier said it is looking at hiring about 26,000 teachers next year to close the gap in the country’s shortage of 46,000 educators to serve 43,000 schools nationwide.
The agency’s proposed P793.177-billion budget next year has allotted P3.43 billion for nonteaching positions to ease the administrative load for teachers.
Filipino students were among the weakest globally in mathematics, reading and science, based on the 2022 PISA. The Philippines ranked 77th out of 81 countries, performing worse than the global average.
“Teachers play a pivotal role in developing the foundational skills of our learners,” Ms. Raagas said. “Therefore, we must continuously update our strategies to ensure we recruit and train only the best educators for our students.”
A MANILA court convicted 10 fraternity members guilty of violating the Anti-Hazing Act in connection with the September 2017 hazing of University of Sto. Tomas (UST) law freshman Horacio Tomas “Atio” T. Castillo III that led to his death.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 11 on Tuesday said ten members of the Aegis Juris fraternity were guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the death of Mr. Castillo. They were sentenced to reclusion perpetua.
The 1995 hazing law provided that a penalty of up to 40 years imprisonment will be imposed on those who actually participated on the hazing or other forms of initiation rites that lead to death, rape, sodomy, or mutilation.
Acting Presiding Judge Shirley L. Magsipoc-Pagalilauan also ordered the fraternity members to pay over P680,000 in damages, which covers the actual expenses for the death and burial of Mr. Castillo, civil indemnity, moral damages, and exemplary damages.
“The untimely death of Atio caused pain, agony, anxiety, suffering, and mental anguish to his heirs because it deprived them of his company, love, support, and companionship,” the ruling explained in demanding moral damages.
The 22-year-old freshman law student died due to hazing injuries after he was punched and paddled for four hours as part of the fraternity’s initiation rites. He was declared dead on arrival at the Chinese General Hospital on Sept. 17. His death paved the way for the enactment of the 2018 anti-hazing law.
UST law school dean and Aegis Juris alumnus Nilo T. Divina, who previously faced a lawsuit from Mr. Castillo’s parents, said he “acknowledges the court’s decision.”
“It underscores the importance of the rule of law and our trust in due process and the legal system. I continue to pray for all parties concerned,” he told BusinessWorld in a Viber message on Tuesday, noting his sympathies for the parents of Mr. Castillo.
Mr. Divina, however, stood firm that the University and the Faculty of Civil Law did not fail to protect Mr. Castillo.
“The university and the faculty have always implemented and upheld policies that promote the safety and welfare of all students. Unfortunately, no institution is spared from the actions of individuals who choose to disregard these measures,” he said.
“We remain committed to ensuring a safe environment and continuously improve our efforts to prevent a repetition of such tragedy.”
This followed the statement of Mr. Castillo’s parents, calling for accountability from UST, as they spoke to members of the media at Manila City Hall.
“I would like to say that I am holding UST responsible for the death of our son. It has been proven that Aegis Juris has been practicing hazing and it is time to check your policies and laws in the school,” his mother, Carmina, said.
“I would like to reiterate that the school, the university, the civil law department, the dean himself failed to protect our son,” she added. “They should have prevented the hazing, the crime of hazing from happening.” In the same briefing, Mr. Castillo’s father said “heads should roll” in the university. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
NEW NAIA Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC), the operator of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) said the hike in parking fees is part of its overall plan to help improve airport flow.
“[This order] is the result of a comprehensive review of fees for various regulated airport services,” NNIC said in a statement on Tuesday.
The previous parking fees unintentionally invite the misuse of the airport’s limited parking spaces, NNIC said, adding that this created a parking shortage for passengers which resulted in congestion.
“Many individuals, including those from nearby establishments and with no airport-related business, were taking advantage of the low rates for overnight or long-term parking,” NNIC said.
The NAIA operator said the newly implemented higher parking fees were meant to prioritize passengers as it is “designed” to discourage nontravelers from using airport facilities for long-term parking.
“By discouraging long-term and overnight parking, the new rates will reduce the number of vehicles circling the airport to search for spaces, easing traffic flow and improving the overall airport experience,” NNIC said.
In an administrative order effective Oct. 1, NNIC said the standard parking fees for cars will increase by 25% to P50 from P40 for the first two hours; while it will also impose P25 charge for succeeding hours or a fraction thereof.
Standard overnight parking fees for cars also increased fourfold to P1,200 from the previous P300, according to NNIC. For motorcycles, NNIC said it will impose P480 parking fees for 24-hour stay; and P2,400 for buses.
“The goal is to optimize parking for our passengers. While the previous rates may have been convenient for some, they created significant disadvantages for travelers. We believe these changes will create a more efficient and passenger-friendly airport experience,” NNIC said.
NNIC, led by San Miguel Corp., took over the operations and maintenance of NAIA on Sept. 14, outlining modernization efforts that include road improvements, terminal expansion, and new parking facilities to improve passenger experience and airport capacity.
“NNIC plans to increase parking capacity by building new facilities, starting with Terminal 3, which currently accommodates 65,000 to 68,000 passengers daily,” it said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
