Amidst calls on the reduction of the 12 percent value added tax (VAT)by the different to alleviate the effect of continuing oil prices, Malacañang remained firm on its stand that the VAT will stay. Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas said during a recent visit to Zamboanga that the Aquino administration has no plans of supporting to [...]

The San Miguel Corp. projected that by 2014, it will be finished with its construction of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 line, and by 2015, the new highway to La Union. San Miguel said in its disclosure to the Philippine Stocks Exchanges (PSE) that before the year ends, it would start work on the [...]

Local transport firm Green Frog Zero Emission Transport Corp. dared to take the huge risk in the electric vehicle industry and expressed interest to buy some 3,000 electric buses in the next seven years, with the initial 38 units coming in from China within the year.
Green Frog director Philip Apostol said the 36-passenger buses will [...]

Chery Automobile Ltd. announced it will build a manufacturing facility in the Philippines which will be the company’s left hand drive manufacturing hub in the Southeast Asia. Chery Philippines sales marketing manager Raymond Tribdino said the manufacturing facility will be constructed in the next three years. He said, aside from serving the local market, the [...]

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) sent invitations to qualified parties to submit an expression of interest for the interim contract (4+1 years) of the operations and maintenance of Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 system.

Local oil companies raised their prices anew, even before the fuel subsidy for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and tricycles could even be implemented. The prices for gasoline and diesel were increased by P1.50 to P1.75 a liter and kerosene by P1.40 a liter.
The first to implement the latest price increase were Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., [...]

Stradcom Corp., the exclusive IT service provider for the Land Transportation Office (LTO) warns of a possible shutdown of the database and computer system it operates for the agency if the LTO continues to refuse remitting payments to the private firm. Stradcom provide and maintains LTO’s information technology facilities, including its database and licensing functions.
The [...]

Because of the transport strike scheduled today by major transport groups, the authorities deployed before dawn the first batch of buses to give free rides to commuters who were affected. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino said their personnel also started monitoring as early as 4 a.m. The Armed Forces of the Philippines [...]

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) granted a P1 provisional fare increase for Metro Manila buses. The resolution was signed last Friday approving the fare adjustment for the first five kilometers. There will be no provisional increase on the succeeding kilometers though.
The increased fare would be P10 for the first five kilometers and [...]

A group of foreign businessmen is expressed their support for the implement of an open-skies regime by the Aquino administration via Executive Order (EO) 29. The Joint Foreign Chambers says this would better allow market forces to come into play and ultimately boost tourist arrivals in the country. The group said that the policy was [...]

As some small players reduced their prices of gasoline by P1 a liter last Monday, the big 3 oil firms in the country raised their diesel. Chevron Philippines, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Petron Corp. raised their by P0.60 per liter their diesel prices as of 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
However, just like their small players [...]

Executive Order 29 (EO 29) or the “open skies” policy was signed by President Benigno Aquino III on March 14, authorizing the Philippine air panels to offer third, fourth and fifth freedom rights to the country’s airport other than the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) without restrictions as to frequency, capacity, type of aircraft and [...]

A Philippine delegation, headed by the Department of Tourism (DoT), will be flying to India, particularly in New Delhi and Mumbai, to conduct a sales presentation in time for the production of tour packages for the April-June Indian travel season. The DoT is looking to capture a bigger market share of the 15 million outbound [...]

A P499 seat sale, which it called the “Go Lite” is being offered by the Cebu Pacific (CEB) for select Luzon destination and another “Go Lite” package amounting to P999 is also up for Taipei seat sale. These seat sale promotions of CEB will run from June 22 to 24, 2010.

Cebu Pacific was able to break passenger loads for April. The country’s low-fare airline flew 903,118 passengers for the previous month, which broke its own record of its best performing month, which was March 2010 with 857,041 passengers. To celebrate this, CEB announced a seat sale to select domestic and all international destinations from May [...]

The San Miguel Corp. (SMC) formalizes its entry into the airport business with its acquisition of a majority stake in consortium operating the Caticlan Airport in Aklan province, which is the gateway to the popular Boracay Island. The diversifying conglomerate said in the acquisition was executed through its wholly owned subsidiary San Miguel Holdings Corp. [...]

Cebu City can expect additional boost in its tourism industry as the Shanghai Airlines launched its maiden direct chartered flights to Shanghai from Cebu starting Wednesday. It will be a twice-weekly shuttle that is expected to bring in an estimated 9,000 additional Chinese tourists to Central Philippines annually.
The charter group will also go out to [...]

The Lucio Tan-led Air Philippines will now be known under its new brand name – Airphil Express, as it was re-launched last Saturday.
The new Airphil Express now boasts of the addition of two A320-200 aircraft in its fleet. The two A320s sports the new Airphil Express livery and configured mono-class with 177 seats will start [...]

If food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation (SMC), would have its way, it will redevelop the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), as it being geared to become the country’s premier international gateway.
San Miguel, in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), that it is evaluating the viability of investing in the redevelopment of [...]

Because of the difficulty in obtaining a franchise from Congress, the Gatchalian Group has temporarily shelved its planned airline business.
Atty. Miguel Varela, one of Gatchalian’s partners in the proposed airline company, told reporters they cannot operate yet because they failed to get a franchise, which is an act of Congress. “It is difficult to get [...]