The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) lauded a recent ruling by the Supreme Court to increase the share of all national taxes allotted for local government units (LGUs).
DILG officer-in-charge Eduardo M. Año welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, claiming the increase will vastly improve the economic standing of LGUs, allowing them to better serve their communities.
“The increase in [internal revenue allotment], which has already been evident since President Duterte’s term plus the Supreme Court ruling, means better chances for the local governments to create positive change within their jurisdiction, especially in addressing illegal drugs and other social needs,” he added.
— Gillian Cortez

The Supreme Court has disbarred Atty. Dionisio B. Apoya, Jr. for “violating Canon 1, Rule 1.01 and Rule 1.02 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Section 2, Rule IV of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice.”
“Apoya’s name was ordered stricken off the Roll of Attorneys effective immediately,” the Supreme Court announced.
Rule 1.01 reads that lawyers must “not engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct.” Rule 1.02 reads that lawyers are mandated to “not counsel or abet activities aimed at defiance of the law or at lessening confidence in the legal system.”
Mr. Aboya was found to have authored a fake decision to Ms. Leah B. Taday, the complainant for whom he won an annulment case. — Gillian Cortez

Electricity consumers in the capital region should expect an increase in their next monthly bill, as distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) just announced an increase of P0.316 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The rate hike follows two straight months of reductions, due to an increase in generation charge, Meralco claimed.
“The higher July rate is mainly due to the P0.2823 pe kWh increase in generation charge,” the company said.
For a typical household consuming 200 kWh, the increase this month means a hike of roughly P63 in their total monthly bill. — Victor Saulon

With cornerstone reforms set, the economy is now building “strong momentum” as one of the fastest growing economies in the region, with a focus on driving down poverty, top government officials said.
The Duterte administration’s economic development and infrastructure Cabinet clusters — led by the Secretaries of Finance and Public Works and Highways, respectively — kicked off the first of three pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forums on Friday to tout their achievements over the past year.
“Our economic strategy is anchored on two major programs:The comprehensive tax reform program and the Build, Build, Build infrastructure modernization already in place,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in a speech during the forum held at the Philippine International Convention Center.
“We are clearly building on a strong momentum,” he said.
“Notwithstanding, our numbers all point to a positive direction,” Mr. Dominguez said. “We are doing the right things at the right time. There is reason to be confident in the Philippines’ growth story.”
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, meanwhile, said that the Philippines will “join the ranks of upper middle-income countries by end-2019.”
The economic managers also sought to tame down concerns over rising inflation, assuring that the spike is only temporary and natural for a fast-growing economy.
“While slightly elevated, the inflation rate during the first six months of the year is understandable,” Mr. Dominguez said. “Economies expanding at a fast clip tend to put pressure on supply. This is particularly true of our economic performance.”
“We can pull back the inflation rate to within target range,” he added.
Mr. Dominguez explained that the tax reform program stoked consumer spending, in turn driving demand up. This is also supported by more consumer savings from the free tuition and free irrigation programs. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Lawmakers eyed liberalizing rice importation in the country after inflation rate accelerated to 5.2% in June.
“Kung mayroong intervention ang gagawin, isa sa pinakamahalaga ay ang pagpasok ng murang bigas,” Senate Economic Affairs Chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said in a radio interview, Friday.
“Importante ang bigas, isa sa dahilan kung bakit tumaas ang presyo ay ang kawalan ng NFA (National Food Authority) rice,” the Senator said.
For his part, Representative Arthur Yap, who chairs the Economic Affairs Committee, called for the quick passage of the Rice Tarrification Act.
“With the inflation rate breaching higher end targets, Congress must now pass the Rice Tarrification Act,” Mr. Yap said in a statement, Thursday. “Our people need the breathing spell to contend with the high prices of rice brought about by the lack of NFA buffer stocks and the weak peso.” — Charmaine A. Tadalan

The Department of Agriculture has received from the South Korean government a $2.43 million grant to be used in beefing up smart greenhouse projects in the country.
The Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. PInol said the agency signed a memorandum of agreement with the Korea Agency for Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (EPIS).
“The Smart Greenhouse Project is aimed at ‘Enhancing Productivity and Producing High Quality Tomato Through Smart Greenhouse in the Philippines’ and implemented with the assistance of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA),” Mr. Pinol said in his Facebook post on Friday. — Janina C. Lim

Hong Kong stocks opened flat on Friday as nervous investors took to the sidelines ahead of steep US tariffs on Chinese goods due to take effect in the middle of the Asian trading day.
The Hang Seng Index edged up 0.18 percent, or 49.58 points, to 28,231.67.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.09 percent, or 2.53 points, to 2,731.35 while the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, added 0.07 percent, or 1.14 points, to 1,529.81.
Tokyo stocks opened higher Friday tracking gains on Wall Street led by optimism on trade talks between the US and the European Union.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.89 percent or 190.70 points to 21,737.69 in early trade while the broader Topix was up 0.89 percent or 15.00 points at 1,691.20.
“The Tokyo market took the positive lead from New York,” said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.
“A possible compromise between the US and EU is good news for Japan as well,” Sato told AFP.
The US ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, told bosses of Germany’s biggest car firms that Washington was calling on the EU to bring tariffs to zero on car imports — in exchange for equal treatment by the US. The US is studying the possibility of imposing tariffs on autos on national security grounds.
“The market has already factored in the impact of the present stage of the US-China, but the issue can affect the market positively or negatively any time in the future,” Sato said.
The dollar fetched 110.71 yen in early Asian trade, compared with 110.64 yen in New York.
Automakers were higher as Toyota jumped 1.77 percent to 7,212 yen and Honda surged 2.01 percent to 3,248 yen. — AFP

South Korean telecom giant Samsung Electronics on Friday flagged a 5.2 percent rise in its second quarter operating profit from a year earlier, missing analyst estimates.
Samsung’s operating profit is expected to come to 14.8 trillion won ($13.2 billion) for the April-June period, higher than the 14.07 trillion won in the same period in 2017, but down from the record 15.64 trillion won of the previous quarter.
The forecast came in at the low end of the market consensus, which averaged 15.3 trillion won.
“It’s a bit disappointing,” Ko Gyeong-beom at Yuanta Securities Korea told AFP, noting the company had posted expectation-beating operating profits in several previous quarters.
Sales are estimated at 58 trillion won, down 4.9 percent from 61 trillion won a year earlier.
Industry sources said smartphone sales were weaker in the face of mounting competition from rivals and increasing marketing costs for new mobile products.
Weak LCD display prices and a slow display screens sector are also blamed for the disappointing results, they said.
“The shipment and prices of the flagship smart phone Galaxy 9, rolled out in the first quarter, fell shy of expectations”, said Yoo Jong-woo, an analyst with Korea Investment & Securities.
The company’s strong semiconductor business filled the gap as robust sales of TV sets also helped, analysts said.
Samsung’s chipmaking unit — currently dominating the global market after the firm invested tens of billions of dollars to build and expand factories — provides chips for Samsung devices as well as those of competitors including Apple.
The semiconductor sector will remain strong in the third quarter with DRAM chip prices maintaining an upward swing due to strong demand for servers, analysts said.
But IT and mobile business is expected to remain slow due to rising competition from Apple and Chinese rivals, they said.
“With semicondcutor and display sectors taking the lead, Samsung will see a drastic improvement in results in the third quarter”, Greg Roh of HMC Investment & Securities told AFP.
“We expect the third quarter operating profit to hit 17 trillion won”, a new all-time record, he added.
Park Won-jae of Mirae Asset Daewoo was also optimistic, citing solid semiconductor prices and stable demand for display screens.
Regardless of the 5.2 percent on-year increase, the second quarter operating profit fell far short of the all-time record high of 15.6 trillion won tallied for the first quarter this year.
It thus failed to stretch on-quarter operating profit growth into the seventh consecutive quarter.
Samsung withholds net profit and sector-by-sector business performance data until it releases its final earnings report, which is expected later this month.
Samsung Electronics shares were down 1.96 percent in mid-morning trade, reflecting the let-down.
Samsung Electronics’ stock value has fallen more than 13 percent following a 50-1 stock split two months ago aimed at allowing smaller investors to buy into the giant company.
Adding to this stress, regulators pressed Samsung Life Insurance Co., a financial arm of the Samsung Group, to sell a large portion of its 8.23 percent stake in Samsung Electronics as the government attempts to cut back the influence of the country’s family-controlled conglomerates.
Samsung’s reputation was dealt a blow by the bribery conviction of Lee Jae-yong — the son and heir of the group’s current chairman Lee Kun-hee.
Lee Jae-yong was a key figure in the scandal that ousted former South Korean leader Park Geun-hye following massive nationwide protests, and was sentenced to five years in jail last year.
But the sentence was reduced on appeal in February to a suspended jail term, and the 49-year-old scion was released after spending nearly a year in prison.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to attend the opening ceremony of a new Samsung Electronics $650 million smartphone plant in Noida, India, next week, where he is expected to meet with Lee Jae-yong for the first time since he took power in May last year. — Park Chan-kyong, AFP

Steep American tariffs on Chinese goods worth tens of billions of dollars are due to take effect at midnight Thursday, as US President Donald Trump fires the decisive salvo in a trade war between the world’s top two economies.
Beijing has vowed to retaliate dollar-for-dollar, “immediately” imposing counter-tariffs on American exports despite warnings the burgeoning conflict will send shockwaves around the global economy and strike at the heart of the world trading system.
En route to Montana aboard Air Force One on Thursday, President Donald Trump erased any hope of a last-minute change, confirming the China tariffs would indeed kick in at the stroke of midnight.
But in a fresh sign of industry’s unease, a business survey on Thursday again showed the US services sector already has experienced supply chain interruptions and rising costs due both to the looming tariffs and those already in place.
“We’re starting to see signs of inflation, not sharp inflation, but definitely inflation,” Anthony Nieves, head of a services industry survey committee for the Institute for Supply Management, told reporters.
White House trade officials say the current strength of the US economy means the US can withstand more pain than its rivals if the battle escalates further.
But economists also say the trade war comes as the expansion of the world’s largest economies — which is bolstering demand for US goods and services — may be starting to run out of steam, raising the risks that tariffs could harm growth.
But the Trump team has paid little heed to such warnings, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week slamming them as “premature and probably quite inaccurate.”
The US will levy a 25 percent tariff on more than 800 Chinese product categories, worth around $34 billion in annual imports, and has warned of more to come if China retaliates.
Trump’s round two to follow
Trump has threatened to progressively ratchet up US penalties to a total of $450 billion in goods, which would represent the lion’s share of all of China’s exports to the United States.
The tariffs target a broad spectrum of Chinese goods — such as passenger vehicles, radio transmitters, aircraft parts and computer hard drives — from industries Washington says have benefited from unfair trade practices.
A second tranche of 284 goods worth $16 billion a year is currently under review and could be added to the US list.
China is expected to retaliate as soon as the US tariffs go into effect, imposing duties on goods worth roughly the same amount but with a greater emphasis on politically sensitive agricultural products.
“The US has provoked this trade war. We do not want to fight it, but in order to safeguard the interests of the country and the people, we have no choice but to fight,” said China’s commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng.
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde already sounded the alarm about the cycle of retaliation, saying it would only create “losers on both sides.”
And Gao noted that of the $34 billion in taxable products on the US list, about $20 billion — or nearly two thirds — are made by firms with foreign investment, including a “significant portion” from America.
US ‘firing at itself’ ?
“The US’s measures are essentially attacking the global supply and value chain. Simply put, the US is opening fire on the whole world, and also firing at itself,” Gao said.
But Trump tweeted this week that the American economy is doing “perhaps better than ever” even “prior to fixing some of the worst and most unfair Trade Deals ever made by any country.”
And in New York, stocks shrugged off their persistent trade war jitters to post solid gains ahead of Friday’s highly anticipated employment report. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 percent.
Under the banner of his “America First” policy, Trump has also targeted other traditional trade partners of the United States, such as Canada, the European Union, Japan and Mexico.
Prices are rising, especially for steel and aluminum, and companies are starting to feel reticent about investments or planning to shift production overseas to avoid retaliation against US exports.
There have been immediate job losses at America’s largest nail manufacturer, Mid-Continent Nail Corporation, due to rising steel prices amid warnings the company may have to shut down operations altogether.
Iconic American motorcycle brand Harley Davidson has announced plans to move production overseas to evade the retaliatory tariffs from the EU, drawing a barrage of attacks on Twitter from Trump.
The influential US Chamber of Commerce urged Trump this week to reconsider his actions, saying the counter-tariffs now affected $75 billion in American exports and endangered US jobs.
While Trump touts announcements of jobs created in steel plants due to the tariffs, manufacturing industries warn many more jobs will be lost in companies producing autos, auto parts, appliances and other goods that depend on imported components.
One study said as many as 400,000 jobs could be lost. — Heather Scott with Ryan McMorrow, AFP

Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher Thursday, with technology shares especially strong as markets looked past trade war worries.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 percent to end at 24,356.74.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.9 percent to 2,736.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 percent to 7,586.43.
Private US firms added 177,000 employees last month, according to payrolls firm ADP, a bit below the pace in May but a level that was still seen as solid. The figures come ahead of Friday’s government jobs report.
Data also showed solid growth in US services sector activity in June, but companies raised more concerns about trade tariffs that are raising costs and uncertainty in many sectors, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
New minutes from the Federal Reserve also showed rising concerns about trade conflicts.
New US tariffs on more than $30 billion in Chinese imports are slated to take effect at midnight, a move that is expected to spark retaliation from Beijing.
The market’s advance suggests “perhaps that the tariff action has been priced in already and that market participants still don’t think a full-fledged trade war will break out on the other side of it,” said Briefing.com.
Large technology companies were strong, with Facebook jumping 2.9 percent, Google-parent Alphabet 2.0 percent and Apple 0.9 percent.
Consumer staples also advanced, such as Procter & Gamble, which gained 1.6 percent and Mondelez International, which climbed 2.5 percent.
Dow member Boeing ended flat after announcing a joint deal under which it would take control of the commercial plane division of Brazil’s Embraer. — AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the Russian economy was showing “positive trends” but called on improving the “quality of people’s lives” during a meeting with government ministers.
“The macro-economic situation in our country over the last five months is on the whole stable. Positive trends are seen in key ares,” Putin said in televised comments.
But the Russian leader stressed that these “should not calm us”.
“We always have to tell ourselves in these instances that not all people feel this, we need to be aware of this,” he said.
He called for “setting a long-term trend to increase the sustainability and growth of quality in people’s lives”.
Putin named “increasing the wages of citizens” and “improving the effectivity of social support” as key issues.
Wages in Russia have fallen for four consecutive years as the Russian economy reeled from a crash in oil prices in 2014, along with international sanctions imposed over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Putin’s approval ratings slumped by a record 14 percentage points according to a state pollster following a government proposal to raise the state pension age to 65 for men and 63 for women, the first such hike in almost nine decades.
After his March re-election, Putin issued a decree setting targets for his next six years in power. These included halving Russia’s poverty rate, increasing pensions and boosting the average life expectancy to 78 by 2024.
While Russia returned to growth in 2017 after two years of recession, the country’s economy pales in comparison with growth figures due to soaring oil prices seen during Putin’s first two terms in office from 2000 to 2008.
Vladimir Putin has led Russia since 1999. — AFP