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BusinessWeek
YOUR LOCAL ONLINE BUSINESS PAPER
www.businessweekmindanao.com Issue No. 25, Volume III • November 18-20, 2011
Market Indicators
AS OF 5:40 P.M., NOV. 17, 2011 (Thursday)
6 cents
;
PHISIX 4,334.66 points
6.96 points
;
FOREX US$1 = P43.50
Briefly Ravaged farms
DAVAO City -- The government is willing to allocate the necessary budget to contain the disease that affected a total of over 600 hectares of banana plantation in Mindanao. This was announced Wednesday by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala during a faceto-face meeting with regional officials of the department here and banana industry sector in Mindanao to discuss measures on how to contain fusarium wilt, also known as Panama disease, that ravaged banana plantations in the island. Alcala said the meeting served as a consultation and presentation of recommendations from the DA to the private sector on the strategies to take to contain the disease.
5% growth target
THE Philippine economy is likely to grow at least 5 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, according to a market report. “Because of the continuously strong industrial sector, decent national government spending and OFW remittances, strong growth in China and US and the easing euro-zone crisis, it has become more likely for GDP [gross domestic product] to reach a growth of at least 5 percent in the third quarter,” First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said in its latest research note. GDP is the total value of final goods and services produced in the country. In the second quarter, the economy, as measured by GDP grew by only 3.4 percent.
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Development of smaller ‘feeder’ ports pushed By ALLAN MEDIANTE, Executive Editor
F
ORMER Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. has expressed concern over the reported plan by the Department of Transportation and Communication’s (DOTC) to prioritize the development of fewer, but larger ports, saying that while having large ports would allow the movement of greater volume, neglecting the development of smaller “feeder” ports would stifle the flow of goods from a significant part of the country, and possibly lead to “inefficiencies across the whole ports system strategy.”
Pimentel said that while developing feeder ports would indeed entail increased operating and maintenance costs, the same would contribute two major benefits that may help offset this increase in expense. FEEDER/PAGE 7
Gov’t eyes 6 more ports in Visayas, Mindanao THE Philippine Ports Authority needs to build six more ports, mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao, to complete the country’s roll-on, roll-off (Roro) transportation system. PPA assistant general manager Raul Santos said that the agency will spend for the construction of the ports, which will continue the previous administration’s thrust of investing in far-flung areas even if it has very little or no financial viability at all. “The PPA is convinced that except for about six other sites, the existing Roro transport system is adequate to provide seamless connections between PORTS/PAGE 8
Child scavengers dig into the pile of garbage for anything that can be recycled to help feed their family. About 10.4 million Filipino households believe they are still poor, the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey says. PHOTO BY MIO CADE
More Pinoys think they’re poor: SWS AN estimated 10.4 million Filipino households believe they are poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey conducted in the last quarter. The survey, conducted last September 4-7 and published first on BusinessWorld, showed 52% of the respondents saying they are poor, up from 49% in June.
SWS said self-rated poverty jumped by 15 points to 53% in Balance Luzon, while dropping in the Visayas (53%), Mindanao (57%) and Metro Manila (39%). Self-rated poverty also rose to 62% in rural areas while staying at 43% in towns and cities. The survey also showed that 41% or 8.2 million families claimed to be poor in terms of food, up from
36% or 7.2 million families in the second quarter. SWS said poor families continue to lower their living standards. The median poverty threshold for poor families in Metro Manila rose by P4,000 to P15,000, and by P2,000 to P10,000 in the Visayas. The amount stayed at P6,000 in Mindanao and fell by P200 to P7,500 in Balance Luzon. SWS/PAGE 10
Davao, Caraga areas chosen for rice production projects By CARMELITO Q. FRANCISCO Correspondent
DAVAO City -- The National Food Authority (NFA) has identified Davao and Caraga regions as possible rice production hubs. Angelito T. Banayo, administrator of the agency, said during his recent visit to Davao del Norte capital Tagum City that the two regions could attract inRICE/PAGE 10