The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) is set to sign today a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) nationwide to launch the implementation of the Republic Act 10931 or the Free Higher Education Law.
The law, according to its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), covers all Filipino students who are either currently enrolled at the time of its effectivity, or shall enroll at any time thereafter, in courses leading to a bachelor’s degree in any SUC and LUC.
“All students availing themselves of the free higher education provision shall be entitled to: (a) free tuition for all courses/subjects/classes enrolled in during a particular semester/term, as part of the curriculum and are essential to obtaining a degree. This includes approved petitioned classes, but not non-credit, within-semester tutorial or review classes, nor review and enhancement classes offered by the [higher education institution]; (b) free miscellaneous and other school fees,” the IRR also said. — Arjay L. Balinbin
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) said it is expecting the completion of the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) by July.
“The Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) is now at 91.54% completion rate and is targeted to be inaugurated next month,” it said in a statement.
It added, the terminal will “resemble an airport terminal with multi-level platforms” when finished. “It is also equipped with an Online Bus Ticketing System, an online and on-site booking and ticketing system for a faster and easier commuting experience. The terminal will also be equipped with Wi-Fi and charging points.” — Denise A. Valdez
The Supreme Court on Wednesday received a second petition questioning the constitutionality of President Rodrigo R. Dutete’s decision to withdraw the Philippines’ membership from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), this time submitted by the non-government organization that helped lobby for the treaty’s ratification.
In their 49-page petition, the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC) said, “the President gravely abused his discretion in an act tantamount to an absence or a lack or jurisdiction, when he unilaterally decided to withdraw the membership of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court, as his act violated the Constitutional system of checks and balances in treaty-making under Art VII, Sec. 21 of the 1987 Charter, which prescribes a shared duty towards that end between the Executive and the Legislative branches of the government.”
Mr. Duterte, through Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., submitted before the international body its formal withdrawal on March 16 in response to the ICC’s preliminary examination against him for alleged crimes against humanity committed under his administration’s drug war.
BusinessWorld reported on the filing of the first petition last May 16 by opposition Senators Francis N. Pangilinan, Franklin M. Drilon, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, Leima M. De Lima, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, and Antonio F. Trillanes IV which claimed Mr. Duterte’s withdrawal was unconstitutional as it did not pass through Congress. — Dane Angelo Enerio
As housing prices spiral in Hong Kong, young professionals are living in ever-shrinking spaces, with box-like “nano-flats” and co-shares touted as fashionable solutions.
Blocks of sleek miniature apartments packed with mod cons are springing up around the densely packed city, pitched as an attractive and more affordable lifestyle choice, but still at an eye-watering cost.
Finance worker Adrian Law, 25, paid more than HK$6 million ($765,000) two years ago for his tiny studio apartment in a new development in the gentrified Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood.
The slim glass building squeezes four apartments onto each floor and includes “nano-flats”, a new term for homes of under 215 square feet (20 square metres).
Law’s studio is a fraction bigger at 292 square feet, with a price per square foot of nearly HK$20,000.
He has adapted to the limited space by buying transformable furniture — his bed folds away against the wall to reveal a desk tucked underneath — and he keeps most of his belongings at his parents’ home.
But with a fingerprint-activated door lock, washing machine, TV, fridge and even curtains, Law says the flat came with everything he needed.
“Property developers are marketing the concept to buyers that they only need a place to sleep and can do anything else outside,” he told AFP, admitting he eats mostly take-away food as the kitchen is too small for cooking.
Law’s parents helped him put down a 30 percent deposit when he bought the apartment and he sees it as an investment. He pays HK$24,000 per month for the mortgage, around 40 percent of his salary.
“One can only get into a winning position by owning a place,” he said. In this photo taken on May 23, 2018, finance worker Adrian Law, 25, lowers his bed, which is affixed to a hinged desk (bottom) in the bedroom of his studio apartment, for which he paid more than 765,000 USD two years ago in a new development in the gentrified Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood of Hong Kong. As housing prices spiral in Hong Kong, young professionals are living in ever-shrinking spaces, with box-like “nano-flats” and co-shares touted as fashionable solutions. / AFP PHOTO / Anthony WALLACE
“If you’re renting, you are spending all your money without gaining anything at the end.” Health threat
Hong Kong’s real estate is the most expensive in the world, with median house prices at 19.4 times median incomes — the worst ratio globally according to the Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey 2018.
Property prices have been fuelled by an influx of money from wealthy mainland Chinese investors and developers, and the city government stands accused of failing to control the red-hot property market.
More than 60 percent of new flats under 430 sq ft are taken up by investment buyers, according to government figures.
With the ability to buy a flat increasingly out of reach for the majority of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million residents, developers are creating smaller spaces to reach a wider market.
Under Hong Kong law there is no limit to how small a flat can be.
Ryan Ip, senior researcher at public policy think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, describes it as an “unhealthy” trend with developers putting profit above quality of life.
“If you count the per-square-foot price for smaller-size flats, it is even higher than larger flats,” said Ip, who believes mental and physical health will suffer if properties continue to shrink.
Rental prices have also rocketed and the wait for government-subsidised public housing can be five years.
Ip says expanding land supply by any means, including reclamation from the sea, is the only way to solve the affordable housing shortage.
But other local land research groups argue Hong Kong should develop under-utilised brownfield sites and idle government land first.
The government is considering a host of options, from new artificial islands to developing the city’s cherished country parks.
Designers are also putting forward their own new concepts, including converting concrete pipes into living spaces and transforming shipping containers into homes. Sharing space
Many poorer Hong Kong residents resort to renting dingy “subdivided” flats — apartments carved up into multiple living spaces.
But even for those on a good salary, a decent home is often unaffordable.
Jezz Ng, 29, earns a monthly wage of HK$32,000 as a teacher and has chosen to live in a new co-share housing set-up, rather than shelling out for her own rent. At weekends she goes home to her parents.
Ng shares a unit with seven other women where she has her own small room, which can fit a single bed and a desk.
Housed in a revitalised residential building in the working class neighbourhood of Yau Ma Tei, privately owned Bibliotheque offers 166 bed spaces across 15 units, with monthly rents ranging from HK$3,500 to HK$6,200.
All tenants have access to communal facilities, from shower areas and a kitchen to activity rooms and study rooms.
“When I started to look for places to rent, my maximum budget was $8,000 including utilities, but a simple, decent studio room could easily go over this price,” Ng told AFP.
She now pays $5,600 per month, which she says allows her to support her parents financially and pay her sister’s tuition fees for a master’s degree — a common practice for young adults who are working.
Ng adds she feels less cramped than when she lived at home.
Founder of the co-share, Keith Wong, says it is designed for young professionals who need time to “accumulate wealth” by limiting their outgoings.
For now it is an ideal solution, says Ng.
“I want to strive for an apartment, but at the moment, there’s no way for me to achieve that goal,” she explained.
“Even though I have a stable job and the salary goes up steadily, it will never catch up with the increase in property prices.” — Yan Zhao, AFP
Global stocks were mixed Tuesday as markets began looking past an historic US-North Korea summit towards major central bank decisions in the coming days.
Markets moved little following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with some analysts lauding the positive tone of the event but uncertain of whether it would result in significant change.
“The general reaction in the markets has been fairly muted,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.
“While the outcome of the summit is generally positive and gives reason for optimism, there may also be an element of skepticism from investors in regards to what denuclearization means, the timescale and whether the deal will be sustained.”
Investors fixated on a Federal Reserve decision on Wednesday in which the central bank is likely to hike interest rates, a case strengthened by data showing higher US consumer inflation.
The Fed announcement will be followed by a European Central Bank decision on Thursday that could mark the end of a bond-buying stimulus program.
“We have so many major events for the rest of the week. Most investors are sitting on the sidelines,” said Karl Haeling of LBBW.
London and Paris finished modestly lower, while Frankfurt was flat. Earlier, both Tokyo and Hong Kong notched modest gains.
In the US, the Nasdaq finished solidly higher and at a fresh record of 7,703.79 following strong gains by leading technology companies. But the Dow was essentially unchanged.
The British pound was under pressure as British Prime Minister Theresa May avoided a major blow to her Brexit strategy after lawmakers rejected a plan that would have given parliament a veto on the final deal negotiated with Brussels.
However, May’s government offered a last-minute compromise to pro-European lawmakers, further illustrating the challenges it faces in shepherding through Brexit.
Oil prices were mixed, with Brent slipping and US benchmark contract West Texas Intermediate rising after OPEC said the oil cartel’s production had risen slightly in May.
OPEC and its partners are to meet in Vienna next week to decide on a possible extension of a production cut deal — which crucially includes giant producer Russia — that has been key to the oil price recovery.
The oil market is on high alert ahead of the June 22 meeting, sector analysts reported, saying there were signs that Saudi Arabia and Russia would push for higher production ceilings at the meeting. Key figures around 2100 GMT
New York – Dow Jones: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 25,320.73 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 2,786.85 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.6 percent at 7,703.79 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,703.81 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 5,453.37 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: FLAT at 12,842.30 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,475.01 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 22,878.35 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 31,103.06 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,079.80 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1746 from $1.1784 at 2100 GMT
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3374 from $1.3379
Dollar/yen: UP at 110.36 yen from 110.03 yen
Oil – Brent Crude: DOWN 58 cents at $75.88 per barrel
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP 26 cents at $66.36 per barrel — AFP
Bitcoin, the star of the cryptocurrency world, is widely seen as a freewheeling tool as open as the internet itself.
But analysts have cast doubt on the veracity of that perception, highlighting that the bulk of bitcoin is in fact heavily concentrated in the hands of a powerful few.
Some 1,000 bitcoin holders — out of a total 11 million — hold some 35.4 percent of currency, according to BitInfoCharts.
These bitcoin “whales” — a word popularly used for big money players in financial markets — “literally control the currency”, said Bob McDowall, an expert in cryptocurrencies.
They can “dictate monetary policy, which is normally the function of a central bank or a government”, he said.
Unlike central bank-issued denominations, virtual currencies are produced, or “mined,” by banks of computers solving complex algorithms and freely traded online.
The other key difference with typical currencies is that the number of bitcoin in existence can never exceed 21 million.
There are currently some 17 million bitcoins in circulation.
Bitcoin’s surge in value from a few cents to a peak in December 2017 of $19,500 turned some of its first investors into billionaires.
The BitInfoCharts study also found that the top 10 account holders held 5.96 percent of the bitcoins.
Experts cautioned that the statistics should be taken with a pinch of salt, however, as several individuals could be behind a single account and one person could hold several accounts. ‘Whales’ with power?
In a 24-hour period between Monday and Tuesday, the 100 biggest bitcoin transactions out of 200,000 accounted for 24 percent of the money volumes — an unimaginable level of concentration compared to other markets.
“In the currency market for example it’s such a huge market with so many transactions in a day that a pure actor can’t have any influence on a market,” Craig Erlam, an analyst for Oanda, a currency trading platform, told AFP.
Big bitcoin players, by contrast, can hold a lot of sway over the market.
To try and prevent excessive falls in the value of the currency, observers believe that the “whales” may be checking with each other first before putting in major orders, leading to suspicions of fraud in this unregulated market.
US authorities in May opened a criminal investigation into possible market manipulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, suspecting traders of “spoofing” — putting in false orders and quickly withdrawing them to move the currency.
But Aaron Brown, former director of AQR Capital Management, who runs a bitcoin fund, said the role of “whales” is being exaggerated.
He admitted that a coordinated sale of bitcoin by the biggest accounts could cause the value of the currency to plunge but said that the risk was theoretical and that major historical investors in the currency have a strong sense of community.
Since the end of 2017, the concentration of bitcoins has decreased, according to a study by Chainalysis, a think tank.
Several long-term investors have sold their bitcoins and a new type of player has entered the scene — speculators, who tend to hold fewer bitcoins but carry out more transactions.
“The supply of bitcoin available for trading has increased by 57 percent since December 2017,” the Chainalysis study found. — AFP
Shares in Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE collapsed 39 percent Wednesday as trading in the company resumed after it reached a settlement with the United States over its handling of a sanctions violation.
Dealing in the firm was suspended in April after Washington said it had banned American companies from selling crucial hardware and software components to it for seven years.
The decision came after US officials said ZTE had failed to take action against staff who were responsible for violating trade sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The company was fined $1.2 billion last year for those violations.
The move in April put the company’s future in doubt and it became a key issue in a wider trade spat between Washington and Beijing.
But last week the two sides reached a deal to replace the sanctions with a $1 billion penalty, plus another $400 million in escrow to cover possible future violations.
Shenzhen-based ZTE will also be required to change its entire board of directors and hire outside legal compliance specialists who will report to the US Commerce Department for 10 years.
While the firm’s future was ensured, it dived 39.22 percent to HK$15.56 during Hong Kong morning trade, while it also plunged by its 10 percent daily limit to 28.18 yuan in Shenzhen.
“While the nightmare is now over, ZTE will likely have to deal with many changes,” analysts Edison Lee and Timothy Chau at Jefferies wrote in a note. “We expect significant near-term selling pressure and a volatile stock price.”
The ZTE settlement came days after Beijing reportedly offered to ramp up purchases of American goods by $70 billion to help cut the yawning trade imbalance with the United States — moving part-way towards meeting a major demand of US President Donald Trump.
Trump has demanded a $200 billion reduction in its trade deficit with China over two years.
Despite the settlement, there was no sign Trump had veered from plans to impose billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese imports to punish Beijing for its alleged theft of US technology and know-how.
“The US agreement with ZTE with fine and change of management, in other words, is a political deal,” said analyst Dickie Wong at Kingston Securities.
“If the US didn’t ‘free’ ZTE in this way, US companies would find it very difficult in any moves in China, including decisions on mergers and acquisitions,” Wong added.
Citi analyst Bin Liu warned in a note that the firm “should have a significant loss” in its full-year earnings because of the penalty as well as the impact of its management changes.
Despite several US lawmakers’ warning against easing sanctions on ZTE, citing national security concerns, Trump said earlier last month that he was looking at alleviating the tough sanctions on ZTE “as a favour” to Chinese President Xi Jinping. — AFP
US President Donald Trump’s Commerce Department on Tuesday announced another trade action involving Chinese imports, with producers of steel propane tanks accused of dumping and unfair subsidies.
It is the latest in a series of disputes the Trump administration has taken up against Beijing, the largest of which are the looming 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods amid complaints the country is stealing US technology.
The frictions with the Asian giant, as well as the latest conflict will allies like Canada and the European Union have threatened to spill over into a global trade war.
The latest complaint, lodged by US manufacturers in Ohio and Tennessee, argues that China is dumping and unfairly subsidizing the steel cylinders, which allegedly land on the US market at below cost, creating unfair competition for US companies, including two that filed a complaint with the Commerce Department.
The complaint says China subsidizes production by 55 to 109 percent through a variety of programs including taxes, grants and export credits for nearly $90 million in exports.
If Commerce determines the China provides the industry with unfair subsidies and is dumping the products, it will impose antidumping and countervailing duties to make the prices similar to US competitors.
The case also alleges dumping of the steel tanks by Taiwan and Thailand at lower rates.
Last year, the United States imported a little over $100 million in the propane cylinders from the three countries combined, according to the Commerce Department. — AFP
The Nasdaq finished at a fresh record Tuesday following strong gains by Tesla and some other tech companies, while the Dow treaded water ahead of a Federal Reserve decision.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.6 percent to close at 7,703.79, resuming its upward climb after notching three straight records last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped a hair to end the day at 25,320.73, while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 2,786.85.
Karl Haeling of LBBW described the investor mood as one of “cautious optimism” with low trading volumes ahead of Wednesday’s Fed announcement.
Investors are anticipating an interest rate hike from the Fed, followed by a European Central Bank decision Thursday that could mark the end of a bond-buying stimulus program.
“We have so many major events for the rest of the week. Most investors are sitting on the sidelines,” Haeling said.
Tesla Motors shot up 3.2 percent after announcing that it would cut nine percent of its staff in a push towards profitability. The electric-car maker said the move would not affect production workers or production targets of the Model 3 sedan.
Other large technology companies, including Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet, climbed between 0.5 and 1.0 percent.
Time Warner rose 0.1 percent and AT&T 1.0 percent ahead of the US judicial decision approving the mega merger between the two media companies. — AFP
WORK is under way for fresh easing of foreign exchange restrictions, with changes being prepared by the central bank meant to simplify the entry and withdrawal of investments.
“It is about further liberalization of investment rules… Basically it is similar to what we did for external debt — we want to make it easy for investments to come in,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. told reporters recently.
Last month, the BSP announced that banks will no longer have to seek central bank approval to convert foreign currency-denominated loans to peso.
The central bank has been relaxing restrictions on currency conversion as part of overall government efforts to improve the ease of doing business. Such changes are also meant to encourage the public to transact with banks rather than informal channels.
Mr. Espenilla declined to give details, but said the latest wave of easing will tweak the “administrative requirement” of reporting investments and will simplify the process for repatriating investments held by foreign businesses.
He said the BSP has been soliciting bank comments on the planned changes.
Foreign direct investments reached $2.175 billion in the first quarter, 43.5% more than the $1.516 billion the Philippines got in 2017’s first three months on the back of sustained confidence in the country’s growth prospects.
More flighty foreign capital also entered the country as of April with $6.396-billion inflows outweighing $5.395 billion in withdrawn portfolio funds, according to latest available BSP data.
The central bank has been liberalizing foreign exchange rules since 2007.
Significant changes include a higher limit for over-the-counter dollar purchases at $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for companies.
Dollars acquired through Philippine lenders may likewise be kept as dollar deposits with the banks concerned.
Mr. Espenilla has cited the need to pursue reforms on currency trading rules, saying that stiff registration requirements set back in the 1970s were necessary at a time dollars had to be “rationed” given limited supply.
But liquidity has improved since then, with banks now well-armed with cash to service both peso and dollar transactions. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez
THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has pushed back the implementation of tighter standards for banks in reporting real estate loans and project financing agreements.
The central bank issued Memorandum No. M-2018-019, signed on June 11 by BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier, which “rationalized” deadlines for lenders in submitting more detailed reports on project finance and real estate exposure. This pushed back the implementation of tighter rules originally set for this quarter.
Through Circular 976, signed in October 2017, the central bank required more detailed data from universal, commercial and thrift banks to enhance oversight on the volatile real estate sector at a time of continued double-digit credit growth. The circular also covers rural banks that are subsidiaries of big lenders.
These measures add to existing rules limiting the property exposure of banks, which include a cap on real estate loans equivalent to 20% of total loan portfolio net of interbank borrowings, as well as stress test limits that assume a 25% write-off in outstanding property debts.
The latest rules require banks to report details of real estate loans covering mid- and high-end housing units, as well as socialized and low-cost housing within a month after the end of every quarter starting 2018.
Full implementation has been pushed back to the third quarter, with loan data on solo basis (parent bank) due Oct. 19 and consolidated loan reports of banks and their subsidiaries due on Nov. 13.
Extensions were also given for big banks in reporting project finance deals. The BSP has set July 31 as the new deadline for the pilot run covering credit handed out in the first and second quarters while “live implementation” has been pushed back to Oct. 19 covering project funding as of end-September on solo basis.
Consolidated project financing reports for banking groups are due Nov. 13.
More detailed information on banks’ real estate exposure is meant to help the BSP make “a comprehensive assessment of the quality of bank loans and vulnerability of banks on risks arising from these exposures.”
The central bank has been closely monitoring the property market since the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. The latter particularly was triggered by widespread mortgage defaults in the United States which developed into a bank industry-wide crisis that, in turn, damaged financial institutions worldwide.
In April, however, the BSP eased lending ceilings imposed on banks by allowing construction firms implementing major infrastructure projects to have a separate borrowing limit as they secure funding from banks and quasi-banks, in order to support the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure development program of the current administration. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez
A TECHNICAL working group (TWG) of the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means committee hopes to finalize the general tax amnesty bill this week, before it is presented to the entire panel for approval when Congress resumes session late next month.
“We will have the third TWG meeting this week (hopefully the last) to come up with a substitute bill for consideration of the mother committee,” House Ways and Means committee Chairman Rep. Dakila Carlo E. Cua of Quirino said in a mobile phone message on Tuesday.
He declined to give details of specific issues being discussed, saying only that the TWG has been consolidating the suggestions of all affected sectors.
The measure — filed as House Bill No. 7105 — seeks to impose an eight percent tax on the net worth of those applying for amnesty covering taxable year 2017, or P10,000-10 million depending on the type of taxpayer, in exchange for immunity from civil, criminal and administrative penalties. The measure also includes relaxation of bank secrecy to allow the Bureau of Internal Revenue to check the bank accounts of those seeking amnesty in order to verify their declarations during the amnesty period.
The Senate version, Senate Bill No. 942, offers a five percent tax.
The Department of Finance (DoF) hopes to implement the general tax amnesty program before yearend.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said on Monday that the government is ready to offer tax amnesty following the sale of a local tobacco manufacturer found to have evaded taxes that is now paying the correct levies.
“We have already established our strong commitment to collect taxes. May credibility ang government,” Mr. Diokno told reporters, adding that he is confident that the measure could be implemented this year.
The general amnesty follows Republic Act No. 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, that slashed personal income tax rates but either added or raised tax rates on several items, besides removing value added tax exemptions of a number of sectors.
The government is looking at up to four more tax reform packages, with the entire effort designed to help fund an P8-trillion infrastructure development drive until 2022, when President Rodrigo R. Duterte ends his six-year term. The reform program is also designed to shift the tax burden away from the poor and increase collections besides.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee has estimated that TRAIN and the package that includes both the planned general tax amnesty and an increase in the motor vehicle users charge to yield some P124.9 billion in additional collections this year.
The amnesty itself is designed to bring more taxpayers into the system.
Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said it helps that state tax collectors have lately been surpassing their targets.
“So far, our revenue performance has been very good. In fact our revenues have exceeded targets. So in terms of being able to finance our spending program, ok pa naman,” Mr. Lambino said in an interview last week.
“But the expectation was really that the amnesty would enhance revenues. The committee is still working, we don’t know what the final components will be.”
The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P827.91 billion in the five months to May, exceeding its P803-billion goal for that period by 3.1%, while the Bureau of Customs topped its P50.628-billion target for the same period by 3.9%, raking in P52.601 billion.
Overall tax revenues are targeted at P2.677 trillion this year, while total state revenues are programmed at P2.846 trillion. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
