CHICAGO — US biodiesel production rose to 144 million gallons in October from 142 million gallons a month earlier, the US Energy Information Administration said in a report on Tuesday.
Soybean oil remained the largest biodiesel feedstock, with 558 million lbs used in October, or about 51 percent of the total. In September, soyoil used in biodiesel production was 599 million lbs. — Reuters
US LINGUISTS on Friday chose “they” as their Word of the Decade, recognizing the growing use of third-person plural pronouns as a singular form to refer to people who identify their gender as neither entirely male nor entirely female.
Separately, the American Dialect Society bestowed its Word of the Year honors on the increasingly common practice of introducing oneself in correspondence or socially by the set of pronouns one prefers to be called by — declaring in an e-mail, for example, “pronouns: she/her.”
The two awards were decided by some 350 members of the society at its annual meeting of academics, graduate students, and word lovers who voted by a show of hands, said Ben Zimmer, a linguist and lexicographer who chairs the group’s New Words Committee.
The most popular pick for Word of the Year was “(my) pronouns,” a reflection of “how the personal expression of gender identity has become an increasing part of our shared discourse,” the society said in a statement announcing the outcome.
The same trend was behind the selection of “they” as the Word of the Decade, recognizing its growing use to refer to a person whose gender identity is non-binary. The singular use of “they” was previously designated as the 2015 Word of the Year.
“People want to choose something that stands the test of time and sums up the decade as a whole,” said Zimmer, who writes a language column for the Wall Street Journal.
Social media has turbo-charged the way words or phrases become popular, leading to some recent multi-word champions for Word of the Year, including “tender-age shelter” (a detention facility for young undocumented migrant children separated from their parents) in 2018 and “fake news” in 2017.
Other decade nominees considered on Friday included:
• “#BlackLivesMatter,” the hashtag used to protest alleged disparities in police use of force against African Americans.
• “Climate,” reflecting increased interest in the impact of climate change.
• “#MeToo,” the movement that has highlighted widespread patterns of sexual abuse and harassment that women have faced at the hands of men across many spheres of life, including business, politics and entertainment.
The society, founded in 1889 and dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, started selecting its “Word of the Year” in 1991 and since then has picked only two other “Word of the Decade” winners. Top choices were “web” for the 1990s and “Google” as a verb for the 2000s.
Other “Word of the Year” nominations for 2019 included:
• “OK Boomer,” described as a retort to someone older, typically a member of the Baby Boom generation, who expresses views that are out-of-touch or condescending to young people and their concerns.
• “Cancel,” meaning to withdraw support from someone or something that is considered problematic or unacceptable, used in the phrase “cancel culture.”
• “Karen,” the stereotype of a complaining, self-important, demanding white woman, typically a member of Generation X or “Generation Karen.” — Reuters
A new year is typically the time to turn a new leaf — but maybe not before past accounts have been settled. While the administration has earned plaudits from some quarters for the economy’s performance under its watch (which, to be honest, could have been better), nagging questions continue regarding the social, civil, and human cost accompanying that success. Was it a vital component, even “a necessary evil” in the words of one economic manager? Or was it a purely incidental and gratuitous — and lethal — diversion? In other words, would the economy and society have prospered anyway without a mounting pile of bodies (more than 7,000 drug suspects to date)?
This will not be the first time such questions are raised. One might similarly ask: were the 30 million who died of starvation in the Great Leap Forward a “necessary evil” to be taken in stride in explaining China’s current roaring success? And of course, Hitler failed because of his territorial aggression, but if Germany had succeeded economically (as it was doing until 1938) or had emerged victorious, would the Germans have regarded the 17 million Jews, communists, and other victims who died in the Holocaust as an unfortunate but acceptable cost?
Germans have a quaint little word — Vergangenheitsbewältigung — to describe the difficult process of coming to terms with their past. Present-day Filipinos may yet live to see their country upgraded to upper middle-income status and the finally behold a future “A” credit-rating with misty eyes — but those who survived and thrived under Duterte will still have to justify their opinions, behavior, and speech with respect to the bloody toll of this regime.
Good friend Romy B. is fond of ribbing me for my criticism of the administration’s drug war. According to him, the rationale for the drug war can be explained in two ways: Duterte is either a brutal and murderous despot — or an economist. The facetious point of the latter, of course, is that physically eliminating drug addicts is more cost-efficient than the lengthy course of counselling, medication, and social services that a proper rehabilitation program might require. From benefit-cost considerations alone, therefore, EJKs (extra-judicial killings) should be something an economist should appreciate.
The ultimate cost-benefit calculus underlying the drug war, however, is simply that some human beings are worth more than others. To the famous playwright and Fabian socialist Bernard Shaw is due this flippant but horrific quote: “You must all know half a dozen people at least who are no use in this world, who are more trouble than they are worth. Just put them there and say Sir, or Madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence? If you can’t justify your existence, if you’re not pulling your weight in the social boat, if you’re not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.” Essentially, the criterion is that one’s marginal product is less than the living wage — funny how that translates into being “poor” by definition.
The argument attains even greater force if we assume — as Duterte has asserted on numerous occasions — that drug addicts are “not human.” This convenient assumption allows the loss to society from the demise of drug addicts to be calculated with somewhat greater accuracy. Viewed in purely physical-chemical terms — as consisting of 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, plus trace amounts of other elements — the value of a human body was calculated at around $1 in 2018. This increases to about $5 or about P263 (in 2018 pesos) if one sells the skin for leather — although the Nazis, being meticulous Germans, would have also saved gold tooth-fillings and hair for wigs. Multiplied by some 7,000 killed, that amounts to only about P1.8 million. Even if one takes the high estimate of 17,000 killed, that’s still only P3.2 million. (The police effort to hunt down and kill suspects can be regarded as a fixed overhead and so does not figure.)
So, from one viewpoint, this amount might represent what society loses by disposing of drug addicts and not “mining” them for resources. Drop in the bucket.
Of course, this all changes if one regards drug addiction as a health problem, drug addicts as human beings, and human beings as intrinsically equal by rights.
You spoil everything, Leni Robredo.
Emmanuel S. de Dios is professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines.
OFFICIALS of closed rural banks in Visayas have been convicted on charges filed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Former bankers from the defunct Rural Bank of Badiangan (Iloilo), Inc (RBBI). and Rural Bank of Sebaste (Antique), Inc. (RB Sebaste) have been found guilty of fraudulent bank transactions.
“The cases stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by the BSP’s Office of Special Investigation against the three RB Sebaste officers for their participation in the creation of fictitious loans aggregating to about P63 million as of March 2007,” the BSP said in a statement on Friday.
The BSP found that the said bogus loans were included in the lender’s financial statements and reports, making it look as if the bank was in sound financial state.
“The bank, however, was actually incurring huge operational losses and was unable to pay its liabilities as they become due in the normal course of business. The bank also had insufficient assets to meet its liabilities,” the central bank said.
A decision by the Regional Trial Court of Culasi, Antique dated July 9 found former RB Sebaste chairman and president Eugene T. Estrella guilty on eight counts for violating the General Banking Law of 2000 due to fraudulent transactions. Because of this, he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for each count.
Moreover, Mr. Estrella, together with RB Sebaste’s former director Luis T. Estrella, Jr., were also found guilty by the Municipal Trial Court of Kalibo, Aklan on seven, four, and two counts of falsification of public documents, respectively.
The Kalibo court also sentenced the three bank officials to minimum imprisonment of six months and one day to a maximum of two years, four months, and one day. They were also slammed with fines of P1,000 for each count.
Meanwhile, three officers from RBBI were convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Iloilo City for 20 counts of violation of the General Banking Law of 2000 also on the grounds of fraudulent transactions.
In its decision dated Sept. 18, the court sentenced RBBI’s former chairman, president and manager Bella A. Buscar, as well as Cynthia A. Taconloy and Leni A. Abordaje, who were loans and savings clerks, to imprisonment of two to four years for each count.
It was in 2016 when the BSP filed a criminal complaint against the three persons for defrauding clients by soliciting deposits but willfully omitting said transactions in the books of the bank.
“Investigations revealed that high interest rates were offered to entice the public to make such deposits,” the central bank said.
In Aug. 24, 2007, the Monetary Board placed the RB Sebaste under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corp. The same fate happened to RBBI on July 5, 2012.
“In line with its mandate to promote financial stability, the BSP continues to foster high standards of governance and risk management among institutions it supervises,” the central bank said. — L.W.T. Noble
METRO MANILA’S west zone water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. said its non-revenue water management (NRW) program has recovered 979 million liters per day (MLD) since its launch in 2008, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
“Our almost P25-billion capital investment in NRW Management over the past 12 years enabled us to recover a water volume that is equivalent to constructing a new dam,” said Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph T. Estrellado said. “This additional supply has gone a long way in supporting our drive to expand services to previously unserved areas.”
The recovered water is enough to supply about 1.7 million households with potable water, and fill a volume equivalent to a roughly 390 Olympic-size pools every day, the company said.
Aside from the water recovery program, the tapping of Laguna Lake as an alternative raw water source besides Angat dam added supply for distribution to households.
Maynilad started drawing water from the lake in 2010 after constructing its Putatan water treatment plant in Muntinlupa. It currently has two treatment facilities in the area that have a combined output of 300 MLD.
With the rising population within its coverage area, Maynilad has been boosting its water network through pipe replacement and leak repair activities. The initiative is aimed at enhancing efficiencies while making more water available to expanding customer base.
At present, the concessionaire serves around 9.6 million people, up from 6.1 million in 2006 before Maynilad’s re-privatization.
“These infrastructure enhancements, as well as the two additional treatments plants we built in Putatan, helped to boost available supply and stave off water shortages,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez.
However, he said Metro Manila’s continued over-reliance on Angat dam as its single major raw water source is a supply risk that the government is now seeking to address.
Maynilad is the country’s largest private water concessionaire in terms of customer base. It is the agent and contractor of state-led Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for greater Metro Manila’s west zone.
The company serves certain portions of the cities of Manila and Quezon, the side of Makati City west of South Super Highway, and other Metro Manila towns Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon.
Maynilad also supplies water to the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite province. — VVS
Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, January 3, 2020.
By Raju Mandhyan
IT IS WELL understood that S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. In my book, The HeART of the Close, there is an offer to make goal-setting SMARTer.
What do we mean when we say specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound? Let’s look at the illustration as we speak.
First, let’s talk about specificity from the perspective of your true intentions. Answer the question: What do you want? Take the necessary pause, think deeply, and answer the question again. What is it that you truly want?
Answering “I don’t want to be living on a month-to-month income” does not help. Your triune brain will have an internal conversation and will bring up an image of, “living on a month-to-month income.” The triune brain will not know how to negate an idea or image. It does not know the concept of “do not” want. For example, if I tell you do not think of a pink elephant, what does your triune brain do? It conjures up a picture of a pink elephant in your mind. It can try but will be unsuccessful in erasing it.
So, when stating a goal, state it as a positive statement. Instead of the above negative statement, recast the thought to something like “I want enough personal cash reserves to sustain my living style for at least five months.” Now that is positively stated, but it is ambiguous. You need to give it specificity.
Question: What is it that you truly want?
Wrong answer: “I don’t want to be living on a month-to-month basis.”
Right answer: “I want to have enough to live by for five months.
Right, specific answer: “I want consistent, available cash of P100,000 in my bank.” Specify the answer by stating P100,000.
That now is a specific want expressed as a goal. It can get more detailed by expressing the name of the bank but we can settle for this much specificity for now.
Now, let’s talk about the measurability of a set goal. With measurability, we need to answer the question of “How?”
Question: How do you get that P100,000 as a consistent cash reserve?
Answer: We get there by saving up P5,000 every week. The goal setter has answered the specific and measurable part of the goal setting process.
The next detail we need to fill in is the question of being attainable.
Question: Can you save up P5,000? Answer: Yes.
Question: How exactly? Answer: I will dine out twice a month instead of twice a week. I will take the bus to work every day instead of a cab. I will limit personal shopping expenses from P20,000 a month to P10,000 a month. I will move into an apartment costing P35,000 a month instead of the one I am currently renting at P50,000 a month. I will connect with 20 new prospects every week. This is how you probe and detail answers to the question “Is the goal attainable?” The more drilled down to finer details it gets, the better it is for it to be etched into your triune brain: Rational, Romantic, and Reactive.
The Relevancy portion of the goal setting taps into the Romantic and the Reptilian brain parts of the triune brain and it answers the question “Why?” in the goal setting process.
Question: Why is the goal important to you?
Wrong answer No. 1: Well, as I said, I don’t want to be living on a month-to-month cash flow. Wrong answer No. 2: I want to be more successful than the Joneses.
Right answer: I believe the security of having cash easily available will keep me peaceful, happy and more productive.
The Relevancy part of the goal setting process must have meaning and value to the goal setter and must be an intention and desire initiated by her. You, as a sales manager, can set business targets and quarterly sales quotas for your salesperson, but the desire needs to be ignited by her. You can assess the potential and coach her into clarity of thought and creativity of planning, but she needs to take all the actions — internal and external.
The question of a goal being time-bound is partially answered when we test the size and the attainability of the goal.
So your salesperson needs to put aside an exact amount of P100,000 in 10 weeks. This is her personal goal. And, part of the work that needs to be done to attain this goal falls under your guidance and management. That is the part about her making connections with 20 new prospects every week. This is important to you as far as your client or your team’s performance is concerned.
Now, let’s move on to the “er” part in SMARTer goal setting. “er” stands for “Ecologically Right” goals. For goals to be SMARTer we need to consider the principles of congruence and ecology of systems.
By the SMART process of goal setting, we’ve covered the internal values and the external actions the goal setting salesperson needs to take towards congruency. The Ecologically Right parameter of goal setting means as the individual passionately and persistently chases after and achieves her goal, it should not cause stress, suffering or damage to herself, to her relationships and to all her systemic linkages.
For example, while chasing the goal of saving up P100,000 in 10 weeks, she takes up commuting rather than taking a cab or driving. This is physically challenging and exhausting for her. At the end of the 10 weeks, say she does save up P100,000 but gets ill and needs medical care. Say that medical care uses up P70,000 of her savings. Her goal was achieved but collateral damage has been done. Or, let us say she does not fall ill but her commuting takes up thrice as much time as taking a cab or driving and that time becomes quality time taken away from her loved ones and that strains her relationships. In both cases the goal set was SMART but not SMARTer.
The New Year is here and whether you are setting new goals for yourself or helping others move up in life, do not just think SMART but set SMARTer goals and change lives for good.
Raju Mandhyan author, coach and learning facilitator.
TRADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the sugar regulator needs to allow the food industry that sells to domestic markets to import sugar if local sugar prices cannot match import prices for the sweetener.
“SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration) assured us they’ll make available lower-priced sugar especially for exporters. Kailangan ma-include (They should include) competitive prices of sugar for food processors for the domestic market,” he told reporters after the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. general meeting on Saturday.
Mr. Lopez said food processors need to be able to purchase domestic refined sugar at P1,900 per bag, instead of the P2,500 or P3,000 they sometimes pay.
SRA reported that the millgate price of refined sugar rose 3.47% year-on-year to P1,514 per 50-kilo bag in the first week of December, while retail prices ranged from P45 to P50 per kilo, down from P54 to P62.
Mr. Lopez said that SRA must grant import permits to food processors if the buying price of domestic sugar remains above that price.
“The principle is, we prefer local supply. Pero (But) give it at this price. Kung hindi niyo mabigay (If you cannot offer it) at this price, allow them to import. So ibig sabihin (This means) the local suppliers will be compelled to sell at a competitive rate of P1,900 per bag.”
“The challenge to the sugar industry (is) how can you be competitive, increase productivity, modernize… so that your sugar price can (fall) below P2,000 at least,” he said at the meeting.
The Department of Finance in September formally proposed sugar import liberalization. The Confederation of Sugar Producers opposed the proposal to remove import restrictions, saying that doing so would damage the sugar industry. — Jenina P. Ibañez
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has set its production target for palay, or unmilled rice, at 19.6 million metric tons (MT) for 2020, with production receiving a boost from seed distribution backed by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
The DA’s 2019 estimate is 18.4 million MT worth of palay, well short of the 19 million target, subject to adjustment pending damage reports from calamities late in the year.
“For this year, our target is about 19.6 million MT,” Andrew B. Villacorta, assistant secretary for Operations, Agribusiness and Marketing, said in a news conference in Quezon City, noting that this estimate incorporates the shift by rice farmers to other crops due to the decline in palay prices.
He noted that RCEF, specifically the seed distribution component, will help producers meet the DA’s target.
“We see the effect of RCEF this dry season, yung pinapamigay natin ng mga binhi… and then papatong pa yung P3 billion for seeds for this year (we see the impact of seed distribution in the dry season… overall we expect P3 billion worth of seed for this year) so actually 19.6 million MT is a conservative estimate,” he said.
The DA through the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) started the distribution of inbred rice seed to farmer beneficiaries in November 2019 for dry season 2019-2020, which will end April this year.
The P3-billion budget for seed distribution is one of the components of the P10-billion RCEF, which is funded by tariffs collected from rice imports. The program aims to reduce cost of production by half from the current P12 per kilo to narrow the competitiveness gap with imports. Yield per hectare is also expected to increase to 6 MT from 4 MT.
As of Dec. 23, 705,165 bags of seed were distributed to 471 of 985 targeted municipalities.
Mr. Villacorta said that the DA’s regular program, which is to promote the use of hybrid seed, will also help achieve the production target.
“We are targeting about 500,000 hectares for hybrid for this year,” he noted.
During the news conference, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said that the rice inventory at the end of 2019 was sufficient for 100 days’ consumption.
“At the end of 2019, ang inventory level natin sa rice ay nasa 100 days. Mayroon ka ng cover for three months. (At the end of last year, the rice inventory was good for 100 days, which means we have enough cover for three months) Rice is now available in the country in the warehouses of importers, plus the farmers, plus the households,” he said.
Mr. Dar also said that the imposition of safeguard duties to control imports is always an option. He noted that the department is currently studying the impact of imports on all stakeholders.
“There is an ongoing study… We are not (ruling out any options),” he said. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
FEDERAL RESERVE officials downplayed concerns about the impact of geopolitical uncertainty on the US economy amid flaring tensions with Iran, even as a record of the central bank’s meeting last month showed that downside risks remain on their minds.
“That’s one of the great things about the US economy, is it does have this resiliency to it,” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “Obviously we can’t know what is going to happen in the Middle East at this point, and it adds to the uncertainty surrounding things, but fundamentally, the economy is sound.”
Mr. Mester’s comments, coming from the sidelines of the annual American Economic Association meeting in San Diego, echoed those of her Chicago Fed counterpart Charles Evans, who spoke earlier in a Bloomberg TV interview.
Stocks fell Friday following news that the US had killed a top Iranian general in an airstrike in Baghdad, escalating tensions in the Middle East and sending oil prices soaring. In the US, a widely-followed gauge of business activity in the manufacturing sector published Friday unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level since 2009, signaling a worsening contraction.
“We’ve found that the economy can continue to grow even when manufacturing is contracting just a little bit, so I’m hopeful that we’ve got a really resilient economy at the moment,” Mr. Evans said.
The US unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% in November, matching a half-century low, and has spent most of the last two years below 4%. Yet inflation remains under the Fed’s 2% target, as it’s been throughout most of the last decade, a development that’s confounded policy makers who expected a tighter job market would put more upward pressure on consumer prices.
Mr. Evans reiterated his call for keeping interest rates low for long enough to drive inflation above the Fed’s target.
“I think at this point in the cycle we really need to get inflation up to 2%, and above 2% somewhat,” Mr. Evans said.
Robert Kaplan, president of the Dallas Fed, said he’s not looking to adjust his forecast for economic growth in the US in 2020 based either on disappointing manufacturing numbers for December or the rising tensions between the US and Iran.
MATCHING OUTLOOK
Speaking in an interview in San Diego, Mr. Kaplan said the manufacturing data were “consistent with my outlook” for slowing global growth and sluggish business investment. Despite that he still expects strong US consumer spending to drive 2% to 2.25% growth this year.
While conceding that geopolitical tensions could hurt some financial markets, he took a measured view of the risks.
“A repricing of risk assets could be healthy,” Mr. Kaplan said. “What I would watch for is a severe tightening in financial conditions, particularly the availability and cost of money.” Kaplan said he thought the Fed should hold rates steady through 2020.
“That’s subject to change but I don’t see any reason to change that yet,” he said.
Minutes of the Fed’s Dec. 10-11 meeting released Friday showed that officials viewed monetary policy as likely to remain appropriate “for a time” amid what they saw as persistent downside risks.
Geopolitical threats were on that list, though the headwinds from trade tensions and a potential no-deal Brexit were judged to have receded, while policy makers remained concerned about inflation running below their 2% target.
Officials left rates unchanged at the meeting following three cuts in 2019 and signaled policy would stay on hold through 2020, keeping the central bank on the sidelines during a US presidential election year. — Bloomberg
THE Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture has asked the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to assist in the accreditation of 15 local government-run universities and colleges to make them eligible to offer free education.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the panel, said the intent was expand the pool of student beneficiaries of the free-tuition law.
“Mahalaga ang papel ng mga lokal na pamantasan at mga kolehiyo upang gawing abot-kaya ang de-kalidad na edukasyon (Local government-run universities and colleges play a valuable role in making quality education attainable),” Mr. Gatchalian was quoted as saying in a statement Sunday.
“Ang layunin natin ay masigurong naipapatupad natin nang wasto ang batas upang makinabang dito ang bawat kabataang Filipino (The goal is to ensure proper implementation of the law to benefit all Filipino youth).”
Mr. Gatchalian was among the authors of Republic Act No. 10963, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
He noted that 76 local universities and colleges (LUCs) started offering free tuition and other educational subsidies since the law’s enactment in 2017.
Recently, the Commission signed an agreement with the Unified Student Financial System for Tertiary Education and 27 LUCs that will be offering free education for academic years 2019-2021.
This leaves 15 LUCs, which Mr. Gatchalian said CHEd should work with “to help them meet their prerequisites and become eligible to offer free tuition and subsidies.”
The law requires LUCs to comply with certain standards before they can offer free tuition. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
THE prize pool for the government’s retail-investor targeted Premyo Bonds has been expanded to P4.5 million every quarter from the initial P3 million, according to the Department of Finance (DoF).
“Because of the good reception of Premyo Bonds, the issue size was increased from the initial P3 billion to close to P5 billion, and the total prize pool was likewise increased from the initial P3 million to P4.5 million to be raffled out quarterly,” the DoF said in a statement Sunday.
Bondholders will be eligible for cash prizes of up to P1 million. The DoF said one winner per quarter will be awarded a raffle prize of the P1 million prize.
It said the prize pool will now consist of one winner of P1 million, 15 winners of P100,000 (from 10 winners previously) and 100 winners of P20,000 (from 50 winners) during each of the quarterly draws.
“From 61 winners, there will now be a total of 116 winners per draw,” it said.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P4.961 billion during its three-week offer period that ended in December from the issue of the one-year bonds, following oversubscriptions to the initial issue size of P3 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon has said the agency will propose to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III to continue with the Premyo bonds following the first issue’s strong reception.
Mr. Dominguez said in the statement that Premyo bonds will now be a “part of the government’s proactive financing strategy” supporting the government’s efforts to achieve financial inclusion.
The one-year bonds carry a 3% annual rate, payable quarterly.
Apart from the cash rewards, the DoF said the quarterly raffle prize pool will also include condominiums and a house, all net of taxes, fees and charges.
In the statement, it said more than 44% of total investments were valued at P5,000 and below, “indicating that the Premyo Bonds successfully reached retail investors.”
BTr said online investors were 13% more numerous and the value of investment 6% better than the performance of the 22nd issue of retail treasury bonds (RTB).
BTr said the offer expanded its retail investor base overseas with online orders received from 12 other countries.
“The Premyo Bonds were intended to build on the momentum from the recent issuances of Retail Treasury Bonds, or RTBs, in which we saw an increasing trend of participation from individual investors. By designing the Premyo Bonds to include a cash and non-cash reward (component), our aim was to entice more individuals and institutions to directly invest in government securities,” Ms. de Leon was quoted as saying in the statement.
As of Dec. 13, 2019, over 1,700 new bank accounts were opened, attributed to the Premyo bond offer, which contribute to financial inclusion “by encouraging unbanked Filipinos to start saving and investing,” BTr said.
The proceeds from the fund-raising activity have been added to the national government’s financing pool for health and educational programs, among others.
“By way of a proactive financial literacy campaign and enhancing access via over-the-counter and online channels, we hope to promote financial inclusion by educating investors not only about the economics of smart investing, but also about our individual roles as Filipinos in contributing to nation building by participating in government securities,” Ms. de Leon added. — Beatrice M. Laforga
