Tag: Featured2

A SENATOR called for online gaming companies, known as Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), to locate their operations away from military bases.

In her column last Wednesday, my friend Tess Abesamis attempts to understand why we seem to “elect so many undesirables.” She is no psychologist, having taken only the basic three units in college, according to her, but she came across Abraham Maslow’s paper on the Hierarchy of Needs. Tess finds in Maslow’s theory the explanation for the “atrocious kind of leaders we have today.”

There is more proof that Metro Manila traffic is among the worst in the world. Numbeo has quantified a “traffic index” for major cities around the world, shown in the table below. For brevity, I removed two columns -- Time expended index and CO2 emission index.

CHICAGO -- Justin Thomas faltered in the final round at the BMW Championship on Sunday but held on for an ultimately comfortable three-stroke victory at Medinah in suburban Chicago.

SINCE ITS official release on Apple Store and Google Play last June, Mobile Legends: Adventure (MLA) has become the number one downloaded game in several countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Cambodia. It has garnered over six million downloads and counting.

REGINA Paz “Gina” L. Lopez, the former Environment secretary who rattled the mining industry after she shut down erring large-scale operations, has died. She was 65.

THE Philippines has threatened to fire off diplomatic protests after another over Chinese warships in its territorial waters.

A BILL creating a special fund for the implementation of programs and projects to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Ambisyon Natin 2040 has been filed in the Senate, with sweepstakes, gaming and sin taxes proposed as the sources of funding.

SULU SEA Energy Resources Development Corp., a new entrant in the energy and petroleum exploration sectors, may well be the first local company to come forward under the present administration with plans to put up a nuclear power station.

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it requires more interagency cooperation to properly estimate the number of workers employed by the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) industry.

THE CIVIL Aeronautics Board (CAB) is crafting a penalty scheme to punish airlines for “chronic delays.”

STATE-OWNED Philippine Normal University has overpaid P1.72 million to faculty members whose teaching overload occurred during regular work hours, state auditors said.

THE PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS Employment Administration (POEA) has blacklisted 21 foreign recruitment firms and direct employers to protect Filipinos seeking to work abroad.

CHICAGO -- Justin Thomas enjoyed “one of those freaky days in the zone” as he carded a course-record 11-under-par 61 to vault to a six-stroke lead in the third round at the BMW Championship in suburban Chicago on Saturday.

INTERNATIONAL Master (IM) Paulo Bersamina, one of the country’s top bets in this year’s Manila Southeast Asian Games ruled via tiebreak the qualifying round of the Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas Jr. Memorial Chess Tournament was held at Alphaland Makati Place in Makati City on Saturday.

AYALA-LED AC Energy, Inc. has advanced by a year its plan to build new energy capacity in the Philippines as it expects energy supply and demand in the country to reach equilibrium by 2021, or earlier than its previous forecast of 2022.

DELGADO BROTHERS (Delbros) Group said it hopes to double its fleet of Cane Express (CaneX) line of farming machinery through a P90-million investment for the next two years.

CULT-FAVORITE Japanese skincare brand Hada Labo has finally launched in the Philippines, a feat which took years to do, according to a brand representative.

PROPERTY developers generated mostly higher earnings in the second quarter of 2019 due to strong sales and leasing revenues, as well as lower project costs.

A COMPLETELY new Roadster creature. A tribute to scientific research, beauty, and uniqueness. An unprecedented technical challenge. To exceed the customer’s expectations. This is the mission and how, in 2017, the idea of the Huayra Roadster BC came to life. From a curious set of circumstances, a demanding research project was launched with a meticulous, almost obsessive focus on details and design in order to create a highly distinctive, street-legal Pagani hypercar that would combine the unparalleled sensations of driving a roadster with the most advanced technology available today.

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said it distributed 120.5 hectares of land to 50 coconut farmers in San Francisco, Quezon.

I HAD previously used Hada Labo products from the core line when they were sent over from Japan by relatives, and while I remember that my skin loved the products, it was a problem getting them regularly enough to become staples so I stopped using them for a couple of years.

MOTOR IMAGE PILIPINAS, Inc., the exclusive distributor of Subaru vehicles in the Philippines, is pleased to announce that its comprehensive warranty coverage for new Subaru cars will be increased to five years or up to 100,000 kms (whichever comes first) from July 2019.

THE PESO is seen to trade sideways this week as the market awaits developments in the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

WITH interest rates on 30-year US debt hitting all-time lows last week, the government is once again considering whether to start borrowing for even longer.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno has been rightly hailed for reclaiming public space by removing illegal vendors plying their trade by occupying streets and sidewalks. However, some critics have pointed out that these vendors are merely trying to earn a living and would suffer tremendously if they were removed or relocated.

Last week, the Department of Tourism (DoT) announced that foreign arrivals breached the 4.1 million mark in the first semester of the year, an 11.43% increase from last year. It expressed confidence that it would meet its whole year target of 8.2 million visitors.

LUZON International Premier Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD) on Friday formally took over the operations and management of the Clark International Airport.

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), together with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), has arrested 12 people who are allegedly involved in investment scams.

DEFENSE Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Friday expressed his annoyance over the continuous presence of Chinese warships in Philippine waters.

SINGAPORE — Buyout firms KKR, Blackstone and CVC are among bidders competing for a stake in the hospital unit of Philippines’ Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

CROWN Asia Chemicals Corp. reported a 53% increase in its net income in the second quarter, driven by improved infrastructure operations, higher sales, and wider market reach.

THE PESO ended stronger on Friday as traders took profit after favorable July retail sales data from the United States.

SPENDING CATCH-UP was under way as of July, according to data the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released on Thursday, as state offices moved to make up for subdued expenditures for much of last semester due to the four-month delay in enactment of this year’s national budget.

THE BILL reducing the corporate income tax and streamlining fiscal incentives will likely be approved on second reading in the House of Representatives in two weeks, the head of the chamber’s Ways and Means committee said on Thursday.

MEGAWORLD Corp. is aiming to generate P12 billion in sales from three residential towers in its Arcovia City township in Pasig City.

FIRST GEN Corp. increased its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent firm by 87.4% to $84.67 million in the second quarter, as the Lopez-led company recorded a strong growth in its power sales.

AFTER a sold-out concert in June, Filipino rock band Mayonnaise is reprising its Akalain Mo ’Yun concert in September due to insistent public demand, according to the band’s frontman.

ANNE CURTIS Smith-Heussaff is returning to her roots as a sexy, romantic drama actress in Jason Paul Laxamana’s Just a Stranger, a film about infidelity and its consequences. The film hits theaters nationwide on Aug. 21.

PHILIPPINE BANK of Communications (PBCom) and its subsidiaries booked higher earnings in the second quarter on higher income from service charges, fees and commissions and a recovery in trading gains.

DEUTSCHE BANK AG Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner is searching for his successor after overseeing a tumultuous period marked by multiple restructurings, top management changes and a slumping share price.

JAPANESE shipping firm NYK Line said it sets up an e-money platform targeted at Filipino seafarers along with a local partner.

We are in a bind in introducing a new performance appraisal system for our employees. Some managers think it’s best to focus on team performance, while others believe we should prioritize measuring individual accomplishments. In your opinion, what should be the best approach and priority in assessing performance – team or individual? – Serviam.

SENATOR Cynthia A. Villar said the funds set aside for sugar industry development have been poorly utilized, but added she still backs a budget of P2 billion for 2020.

ILOILO City has signed an agreement with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center for assistance in three projects that it plans to offer as PPPs.