The United States government announced the increase in its law enforcement aid to the Philippines. From nearly P495 million in 2010, the country will be getting close to P630 million in 2011, according to the US Embassy in Manila. This support will come in the form of “technical assistance, training, facilities, and supply of equipment.”

The Philippine Development Foundation-USA (PDF), newly formed US-based Filipino development group is pushing for Philippine government to grant incentives for the creation of technology business incubators and business parks in order to nurture start-up investments in commercially-viable research and development fields in drug-making, food production and software.

It’s called BOSS, short for business one-stop shop, an initiative by the Quezon City Government that aims to lessen the burden of businessmen when securing business permit. Launched last Friday, officer-in-charge for the Business Permit and Licensing Office Pacifico F. Maghacot, Jr. said they are expecting to have at least 12,000 new businesses within the [...]

Investment banker Philip Sevilla has been appointed by President Aquino as Finance undersecretary for Privatization and the Corporate Affairs Group, as confirmed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima recently. Sevilla will be taking over the portfolio which was previously handled by Crisanta Legaspi. He will be handling the difficult task of helping raise revenues for the [...]

The second Philippine-Russian business forum exhibition will be held on October 21 to 24, 2010 and will be hosted by Cebu City. The business forum, which aims to promote tourism, trade, investment and greater economic and socio-cultural exchanges between the Philippines and Russia, will take place at the Cebu International Convention Center (ICC) in Mandaue [...]

The United Kingdom government plans to beef up its investment in Asia by promoting business opportunities in the region, particularly in the Philippines. UK Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable said it noted the importance of these business opportunities to the British businesses’ emerging markets. “If we were looking for growth, we should be [...]

Texas Instruments (TI), one of the world’s leader in the semiconductor industry, has been doing business in the Philippines for more than 30 years, and the company plans to stay longer in the country. In fact, TI has earmarked $1 billion in new investments for its planned expansion of its operation in the country for [...]

Starting next week, the National Statistics Office (NSO) will again be going house to house conducting the 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). The census will run from May 17 to June 14. The move is in pursuant to Batas Pambansa Bilang 72, which provided NSO the authority to undertake an integrated census every [...]

As Senator “Noynoy” Aquino III posted a surprisingly strong lead in the early counting of the first automated election returns, many of his rivals for the position of president have conceded defeat.
Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro, who expressed his support for the new presidency said, “I have a supportive family, the best one.” A statement in Teodoro’s [...]

The Metro Pacific Group is confident that it has won the bidding for the concession to operate the country’s longest expressway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx). Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) believed it virtually clinched the hotly contested concession after it has submitted an “improved” bid package to the government. “We have submitted a final improved [...]

A new $100 bill has been unveiled by the United States government, and this time, the new bill will give counterfeiters a hard time as it has a unique security feature not seen in any other US dollar bills. According to the US Embassy and the US Secret Service officials, the redesign of the $100 [...]

The Philippine government received offers from five companies to import sugar at a state auction held recently to complete the below 45,100 tons volume it required. The offers submitted totaled to about 33,400 tons, however the government may only award up to 22,400 tons for sugar imports from the auction due to the restrictions related [...]

A new company may be take over the operations of the Manila North Harbor this week as the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) lifted the order for the suspension of the turnover of said port to Manila Harbor Port, Inc. (MNPHI).
MNPHI said it received the notice of turnover from the PPA dated April 8. It has [...]

Because of the electricity shortage brought on by a long drought, the government will ask malls to shut down to help alleviate the effect of the shortage. The government said it will be asking shopping mall, as well as some factories to consider shutting down operations for several days in order to ensure the uninterrupted [...]

The sale of $500 million in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) has been launched by the government. This investment instruments are intended for overseas Filipino workers. They are the Fixed Rate Multicurrency Retail Bonds and they will be auctioned on April 20 and will be offered to investors on the same day until April 27, according [...]

The world’s tallest tower located in Dubai was reopened to the public, with dozens of tourists lining up last Sunday for tickets to take an elevator to the 124th floor of the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa, where the tower’s observation deck is located.
The observation deck of the tower was closed for two months after an elevator [...]

The losses in the agricultural sector brought about by the El Niño have already reached P9.58 billion as of the end of March. Report shows 12 regions are experiencing dry spell conditions which affect production of rice, corn, fruits, flowers, high-value commercial crops and livestock.
But in spite of this, the government continues to downplay the [...]

The move against the imposition of the 12 percent value added tax (VAT) on toll found an ally in the person of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Enrile opposed the imposition of 12 percent VAT on toll, saying that the tax would only bring additional burden for motorists who also pay the road users’ tax. The [...]

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 [...]

Aside from running after big, private companies, the Bureau of Internal Revenue is now after government agencies that do not pay their taxes. This is all in line with the revenue agency’s effort to meet its collection target of P830 billion in 2010.
BIR Commissioner Joel L. Tan-Torres said that they are determining the total amount [...]