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PHL stocks surge on strong data before Fed meet

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PHILIPPINE STOCKS continued to rally on Tuesday amid strong economic data and growing expectations of an outsized rate cut by the US Federal Reserve this week.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) increased by 1% or 71.16 points to end at 7,175.36 on Tuesday, while the broader all shares index surged by 0.79% or 30.17 points to close at 3,850.17.

This was the PSEi’s highest close in over 29 months or since it ended at 7,203.47 on March 31, 2022. Year to date, the main index is now up by 11.25% or 725.32 points from its end-2023 close of 6,450.04.

“The local market extended its gains this Tuesday. Investors showed appreciation for the July cash remittances data and the Board of Investments’ (BoI) approved investment pledges as of Sept. 16, both of which have shown good figures,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.

Cash remittances climbed by 3.1% to $3.085 billion from $2.992 billion a year ago, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed. This was the highest monthly level since the $3.28 billion recorded in December 2023.

Meanwhile, the BoI has approved 225 investment pledges worth P1.35 trillion this year, already surpassing 2023’s total, it said on Monday.

“Hopes of a dovish monetary policy outlook for both the Federal Reserve and the BSP also helped in keeping the market’s upward movement,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

“The local bourse extended its rally… as optimism grew around an expected rate cut from the Federal Reserve following tomorrow’s policy meeting,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

Markets are now pricing in a 67% chance that the Fed could ease rates by half a percentage point at the conclusion of its Sept. 17-18 monetary policy meeting, after a slew of media reports revived the prospect of more aggressive easing, Reuters reported.

Most sectoral indices closed higher on Tuesday. Holding firms went up by 1.84% or 111.20 points to 6,133.17; property rose by 1.48% or 42.11 points to 2,879.67; industrials climbed by 1.39% or 131.17 points to 9,560.68; mining and oil increased by 1.22% or 98.37 points to 8,103.18; and financials added 0.77% or 16.82 points to end at 2,199.91.

Meanwhile, services fell by 0.76% or 16.91 points to 2,208.50.

“Ayala Corp. led the index members, jumping 4.1% to P660. Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. was at the bottom, falling 2.89% to P16.14,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Value turnover surged to P6.69 billion on Tuesday with 712.81 million issues switching hands from the P3.96 billion with 724.3 million shares traded on Monday.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 117 versus 94, while 41 names closed unchanged.

Net foreign buying climbed to P806.45 million on Tuesday from P158.29 million on Monday. — R.M.D. Ochave with Reuters

Immigration looking at P200-M bribe for Guo escape

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By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday said it is investigating a lead on one of its high-ranking officers who allegedly accepted a P200-million bribe from a former town mayor in exchange for her escape in July.

“We have received intelligence information regarding this amount, but we are still validating if a person associated with the BI received this,” bureau Intelligence Division chief Fortunato S. Manahan, Jr. told a Senate hearing.

The Senate is looking into ex-Bamban Mayor Alice l. Guo’s alleged links to Chinese criminal syndicates. She has been accused of having links with illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO). She has denied the allegations and insists she is a natural-born Filipino.

Ms. Guo left the Philippines in July but was deported after she was arrested in Jakarta this month.

Mr. Manahan said the bureau would immediately file criminal charges if it finds proof that the Immigration officer colluded with the former mayor.

At the same hearing, retired General Raul P. Villanueva, senior vice president of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) security and monitoring cluster, said a former national police chief might have also helped Ms. Guo escape.

“There were discussions [about the bribe], including a Philippine National Police (PNP) official who was involved but I cannot confirm this yet,” he told senators in mixed English and Filipino.

Ms. Guo, who was arrested in Jakarta on Sept. 4, earlier told senators that she fled the country via a yacht.

She has been accused of coddling an illegal POGO in Bamban, Tarlac, where she ran and won for the first time as mayor in 2022. Raided by authorities in March, an illegal hub on land she partially owned had been linked to scamming operations.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said he is seeking a probe into banks failing to flag suspicious transactions linked to POGOs, which are companies that operate online casinos and target Chinese clients.

“The failure of these banks to report these dubious transactions raises the matter of the effectiveness of their internal controls and procedures for identifying and reporting suspicious transactions,” he said in a statement, citing Senate Resolution 1193, which he filed on Sept. 11.

He cited 2020 banking transactions in the hundreds of millions of pesos from companies supposedly owned by Ms. Guo.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and several other agencies in late August jointly filed multiple complaints of money laundering against Ms. Guo and 35 others before the Justice department.

On top of this, Ms. Guo is facing lawsuits before the Ombudsman and Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The National Bureau of Investigation earlier matched her fingerprints with a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping.

In his third address to Congress, Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered Pagcor to shutter POGO companies by the end of the year, citing their links to human trafficking and torture.

A former national police chief helping the dismissed mayor escape would show that POGO money could influence the highest ranks of the government if proven true, Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros said at the same hearing.

“If we don’t stop the plague, the next President, senators, the next government leaders of our country may be bankrolled by POGO money,” she told the hearing in mixed English and Filipino.

DHSUD to finish 12,000 housing units by yearend

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THE DEPARTMENT of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is set to finish over 12,000 housing units under the state’s flagship socialized housing program, a congressman said on Tuesday, a far cry from the one million units annually promised by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his first year in office.

The Human Settlements department is expected to complete 12,731 socialized housing units out of about 198,000 units currently being constructed, Navotas Rep. Tobias Renald “Toby” M. Tiangco said as he sponsored department’s budget before the House of Representatives.

“The target for housing units, under the 4PH (Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program), is 198,111 units. However, only 12,731 units are expected to be delivered,” he said during the House plenary deliberation on the agency’s proposed national budget for next year.

In 2022, Mr. Marcos vowed to build one million housing units per year until the end of his term to settle the government’s 6.5 million socialized housing backlog.

The Human Settlements department in April said before a House panel that it is looking at finishing around 80,000 housing units before yearend. “We’re projecting to finish at least 80,000 housing units, if we’re not being conservative,” DHSUD Director Frank Lloyd C. Gonzaga told congressmen in Filipino.

The government finds it difficult to accomplish building one million housing units annually due to construction delays and a lack of a budget, Mr. Tiangco said, resulting in the agency recalibrating its housing target.

“The housing backlog is six million units… but only 3,236,100 units will be completed by 2028,” he added.

It would cost about P4.07-trillion to accomplish the housing backlog, which would be funded in tranches through sovereign guarantee, according to Mr. Tiangco.

“For 2024, the sovereign guarantee required is P108 billion; for 2025, the required guarantee is P783 billion; in 2026, it’s P1.468-trillion,” he said. “For 2027, the requirement is P1.212-trillion, and for 2028, it’s P507 billion.”

Mr. Marcos in August approved the use of a sovereign guarantee as a funding mechanism for the government’s flagship socialized housing program due to slow private financing.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) and Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) would use the sovereign guarantee as developmental loans to fund the construction of public housing infrastructure, Mr. Tiangco said. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Explain 2018 net worth, Roque told

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EX-PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson Herminio “Harry” L. Roque should explain the increase in his net worth from 2016 to 2018 before a House of Representatives committee looking into the operations of illegal online casinos, a congressman said on Tuesday, urging him to surrender to authorities.

“Harry Roque appears to be acting weird and strange by mocking the Lower House’s Quad Committee instead of justifying the sudden but unexplained increase of his wealth — from P125,000 in 2016 to P125,000,000 in 2018 — which were believed to have possibly come from POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators),” Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers said in a statement.

Mr. Roque, however, argued in a Viber message that “that has no relation in aid of legislation to POGO.”

The former presidential spokesperson was tagged by the House’s so-called “quad-committee,” consisting of the public order and safety, dangerous drugs, public accounts, and human rights panels, as having ties to illegal POGO through a firm owned by his family.

The panel cited Mr. Roque in contempt for failing to submit documents requested by lawmakers, which they said could explain the wealth boom. They subsequently served an arrest warrant against him following a detention order. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Printing digital Nat’l IDs illegal

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THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday warned against the illegal printing of the digital Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) card or the National ID in plastic cards.

“The PSA informs the public and relying parties that the printing of the Digital National ID in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or plastic cards is strictly prohibited,” the local statistics office said in a statement.

Only the PSA is authorized to print and issue the National ID cards, it said.

Those found guilty of illegally printing the digital National IDs will be imprisoned for up to six years and will be slapped with a fine of up to P3 million, according to the law.

Of the 89.7 million total registrations for the National ID, around 55 million have received their physical cards, PSA Assistant National Statistician Emily R. Pagador told reporters on Monday.

This leaves a 35-million backlog of physical cards yet to be delivered.

While the ID cards have yet to be printed, PhilSys registrants may avail digital versions of their IDs for government and bank transactions, PSA said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently mandated all BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions to accept all forms of the National ID, including the digital version. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

Mining tax bill reaches Senate floor

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SENATOR Joseph Victor G. Ejercito on Tuesday sponsored in plenary a measure that may increase the government’s share from mining profits by imposing a five-tier margin-based tax system on the mining industry.

Under Senate Bill No. 2826, the five-tier margin-based royalty rate would range from 1-5%, with the measure also seeking to establish a five-tier windfall profit tax system that ranges from 1-10%.

“This proposed concept will enable the government to have a larger share of the profits in cases when metal prices are high, and mining companies are earning more,” Mr. Ejercito said in his sponsorship speech.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the measure in September last year.

Under House Bill No. 8937, large-scale miners in mineral reservations must pay the government only 4% of their gross output. It also sought to set up a margin-based royalty rate of 1.5-5% with eight tiers, and a 1-10% windfall profit tax with 10 tiers.

The Senate bill seeks a royalty rate of 5% from large-scale miners inside mineral reservations based on gross output, with those outside reservations following the proposed five-tier margin regime.

Citing estimates from the Department of Finance, the government is expected to generate P6.26 billion in additional yearly revenues from the new mining tax regime. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

Bataan oil spill lawsuit pushed

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A PHILIPPINE senator on Tuesday urged the Justice department, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Maritime Industry Authority to speed up its efforts to sue the owners of the oil tankers that capsized and leaked oil in waters near Bataan province, citing the need to hold them accountable over environmental damage.

“Because that is permanent damage to the environment and country, it is not right to do nothing,” Senator Cynthia A. Villar said at a senate hearing on Tuesday in Filipino.

“I want a commitment from the agencies to prosecute them.”

She also agreed with Senate Majority Leader Francis N. Tolentino who sought stricter regulation on the registration of vessels and the need to address state negligence in allowing them to sail during heavy rains.

MTKR Terranova was carrying 1.4 million liters of fuel when it capsized and sank about seven kilometers east of Lamao Point in Limay municipality, Bataan shortly after midnight on July 25, while Super Typhoon Carina (Gaemi) battered Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The Office of Civil Defense earlier said 352,000 people were affected by the spill across Southern Luzon. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

PHL to start P7.9-B vaccine program

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THE PHILIPPINE government will conduct a P7.9-billion catch-up immunization program that seeks to vaccinate elementary students against measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, and human papillomavirus infection.

The catch-up vaccination program, which covers Grade 1 to 7 students, will start on Oct. 7 and will be held every Friday during the month, Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

He said Grade 4 female students will receive anti-cervical cancer vaccines.

Students in private schools would be allowed to get vaccinated in public schools, he said, noting that private schools only need to have tie-ups with them.

Mr. Herbosa said the catch-up plan is part of the Department of Health’s national immunization program, which seeks to give out a total of 11 vaccines for babies from birth to about 12 months of age.

The routine immunization for children, according to UNICEF Philippines, includes the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, the Hepatitis B vaccine; the pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, haemophilus influenzae type b and hepatitis B.

These also include the oral polio vaccine and the inactivated polio vaccine; the PCV vaccine against pneumonia and meningitis; and the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella.

Mr. Herbosa said the number of fully immunized children was low or that the immunization rate was “decreasing” largely due to school disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Due to COVID-19, there were no classes, no school-age vaccination,” he said in Filipino. “Many children missed out on the needed vaccines.”

Health workers during the pandemic were also focused on giving out COVID-19 vaccines, he added.

He said the rate of fully immunized children in the country was at 71%, adding that Central Visayas in central Philippines and the Bangsamoro region in the country’s south were among the laggards.

Logistics issues remain a major obstacle to the delivery of vaccines, he said.  — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

6 Filipino interns begin work at Japan dock

SIX FILIPINO technical interns began work at the Sanwa Dock, Hiroshima earlier this month marking a contribution to the diversification of human resources in the maritime industry.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Sanwa Dock Co., Ltd. said the Filipino interns will focus on engine maintenance as the companies focused on ship repair for over six decades.

“At Sanwa Dock, they will be engaged in finishing work in the engine department and will learn Japanese skills and techniques,” the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sanwa Dock in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, has been accepting Vietnamese technical interns for about 15 years. It aimed to diversify its front-line human resources by employing Filipino trainees this time.

The Filipino trainees spent five months at a facility in the Philippines to study the Japanese language and culture. They were hired in February and arrived in Japan last August. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana

Blaan kids get school supplies

KORONADAL CITY — A total of 790 ethnic Blaan grade school pupils in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat were provided with school supplies and bags by a private firm and local officials.

Lady Bai S. Mangudadatu, projects monitoring officer of the Columbio local government unit, and their vice mayor, Bai Naila M. Mamalinta, separately told reporters on Tuesday that the school supplies were donated by the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), which was awarded the contract to operate the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

The two officials said 155 pupils in the Polomolok Elementary School, 245 in the Elbebe Elementary School and 50 others in the Kafingol Elementary School benefited from the series of joint outreach missions of the Columbio LGU and the SMI in the past two weeks.

Ms. Mamalinta said they are expecting the expansion of the Columbio LGU and SMI’s joint community-empowerment projects once the firm starts exploring copper and gold in 2025. — John Felix M. Unson

Bomb kills 2 in Zamboanga del Sur

STOCK PHOTO | Image by kjpargeter from Freepik

COTABATO CITY — Two individuals were reportedly killed in a powerful explosion that ripped through a beach resort in Barangay Lower Bayao in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur before dawn Tuesday.

In initial statements released on Tuesday, the Tukuran Municipal Police Station and the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office said the victims got killed after still unidentified bombers set off an improvised explosive device placed inside a utility box of a motorcycle parked near a store.

Flash reports by radio stations here and in nearby cities early Tuesday stated that the victims who perished in the explosion died instantly from injuries caused by the blast.

Police and Army intelligence officials had told reporters there are indications that the home-made bomb was rigged with a blasting contraption detonated from a distance using a mobile phone.

The commander of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, said he has ordered the officials of the 1st Infantry Division that has jurisdiction over Tukuran and all other towns in Zamboanga del Sur to help the police put a closure on the deadly bombing. — John Felix M. Unson

DoF: Revenue from privatized NAIA eases pressure to tax

NINOY Aquino International Airport (NAIA) check-in counters. — BW FILE PHOTO

THE REMITTANCE of the P30-billion upfront payment by the proponent of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) modernization project represents the start of a revenue stream that will relieve the pressure on the government to impose new taxes, Department of Finance (DoF) said.

“We are hitting two birds with one stone on this project. This will not only transform NAIA into a world-class airport, but also guarantees the government a healthy income stream from the private-sector operator,” Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said in a statement.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) remitted the upfront payment to the Bureau of the Treasury on Sept. 16, the DoF said. Responsibility for NAIA operations and maintenance (O&M) was turned over to the San Miguel Corp.-led New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) on Sept. 14.

The government is expected to generate around P900 billion in revenue or P36 billion annually from the deal over the 25-year concession period.

As of the end of July, the government collected P368.8 billion in non-tax revenue, or 92.2% of its P400 billion target for this year.

The DoF is keen on maximizing non-tax revenue to stave off the need for new taxes.

The MIAA Board awarded the project contract to the NNIC on Feb. 16. Under the deal, the proponent will make a P30-billion upfront payment, a P2-billion annual payment, and an 82.16% National Government revenue share, excluding passenger service charges.

The NAIA rehabilitation will cost P170.6 billion, making it the largest public-private partnership deal of the Marcos administration.

It is expected to increase the airport’s capacity from 35 million passengers to 62 million annually, and improve aircraft movements per hour from 40 to 48. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

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