Cebu logged P27.9B investments

By Mia A. Aznar

Sunday, March 25, 2012

CEBU benefitted from P27.904 billion in investments and 144,253 new jobs last year, a report from the Cebu Investment Assistance Network of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) showed.

The Board of Investments (BOI) registered around P12.237 billion for 19 projects while the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) recorded some P15.66 billion from projects in economic zones and IT parks and IT buildings.

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The DTI also registered 12,750 new business names for the year.

The 19 projects registered at the BOI include mass housing, tourism-related projects, steel bars and steel billet, cement and motorcycle assembly, providing 4,110 new jobs.

New mass housing projects totaled P5.9 billion and provided 3,026 jobs. Steel bars and steel billet investments cost P4 billion and employed 350 workers while cement manufacturing cost P1 billion and provided jobs to 431 workers.

Economic zones accounted for P8.837 billion in investments and 103,593 new jobs.

The electronics sector saw two new original projects, two expansions and four new projects by existing locators. As for the other manufacturing sectors, these brought in 12 new projects and companies, six expansions and 17 new projects by existing locators.

New projects

IT parks and IT buildings contributed P6.830 billion in investments, with the IT-BPO sector seeing 24 new projects, two expansions and five new projects by existing locators.

These 24 new projects include three in data encoding and transcribing, five in software development, three in engineering, architecture and other design services, six in business process outsourcing, four call centers, and three other IT-enabled services, which allowed for 36,550 new employees.

Peza reported P4.017 billion in exports and P3.380 billion in imports last year.

Economic zones accounted for P3.6 billion in export values, with 61.54 percent of the amount coming from the Mactan Ecozone I.

Of the 398.49 million in exports from IT parks and IT buildings, three IT parks contributed 71.31 percent while 16 IT buildings forked out 28.69 percent of the exports.

As for the imports, economic zones contributed P3.369 billion while the IT parks and IT buildings imported a combined P10.51 million.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 26, 2012.

Agdao coop increases authorized capital to P2-B

By Antonio L. Colina IV

Monday, March 26, 2012

THE Agdao Multi-Purpose Cooperative announced Saturday that it will increase its authorized capital to P2 billion from P100 million the previous years.

The increase came after the ratification of the proposed amendments on its constitution and by-laws by members during its 18th general assembly on March 18.
Elpidio Origenes, chairman of the board of directors of AMPC, in press conference said the proposed amendments were presented before the general assembly attended by some 5,000 members.

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The revised constitution and by-laws stated that P2 billion will be divided to some 8,000 common shares with voting rights.

AMPC is also seeking for nationwide expansion anytime as soon as they will have enough funds to carry out its plan.

Meanwhile, Romeo Fabian, the incumbent director, said the number of members already reached 46,000 as of Saturday. He said that there's an increase of at least 7,000 since 2011.

Fabian also boasted the AMPC's surplus income reaching to over P44
million compared to last year's P40 million only.

"Pasalamat ta nga nagtaas og sobra 4 miliones (Let's be thankful that
it increased to over P4 million)," Origenes said.

This year, the Agdao Multi-Purpose Cooperative officers are optimistic to hit the P50-million benchmark.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on March 26, 2012.

Startup Weekend set in Cebu

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Fleire Castro & Mark Abella
Contributors

TO SUPPORT local entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts, Cebu’s tech community, through TechTalks.ph, is organizing the first Startup Weekend in Cebu on May 11-13, 2012 in University of the Philippines Cebu.

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Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event where participants share ideas, carve out business plans, complete prototypes, and discover if their ideas can become viable businesses.

This hands-on experience happens over the course of one weekend -- starting Friday 6pm and ending Sunday night.

These 54-hour events are supported around the world by the Startup Weekend organization, a nonprofit based in Seattle, Washington, USA.

There have already been 468 events, with 190 events in planning. Almost 5000 teams have been created since it began. Startup Weekend Manila is scheduled on April 27-29.

The event is perfect for developers, designers and business people who want hands-on experience building a business. Startup Weekend’s motto is “No Talk. All Action. Launch a Startup in 54 hours.”

Through working together, participants learn new skills, build their network, and find out the best ways to launch a business.

Mentors for the event include Jay Fajardo from ProudCloud, Christian Besler from Globe, Chris Ducker from VBS, Eric Su from Piclyf, Albert Padin from SpellDial and Paul Villacorta from Cebu Directories.

Judges include Winston Damarillo from Morphlabs, Jean-Patrick Bisson from ClickingLabs.com, and Harm Rietjens from CareSharing.

Startup Weekend Cebu also has a growing list of sponsors including Globe, Microsoft Bizspark, UP Cebu, CebuinIT, Third Team Media, Startupr, Sym.ph, Caresharing, TechTalks.ph, Devcon, Nextcue, Cebu Bloggers Society, and Zero Three Two. For more information visit cebu.startupweekend.org

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

1st building in Amalfi Oasis done

Thursday, March 22, 2012

BUYERS of units in the first building of Amalfi Oasis can now look forward to moving into their new homes. The first building of the Italian-inspired retreat by the sea is now 100 percent complete and is undergoing punch listing before delivery.

“Our teams are meticulously inspecting every detail of the project to certify that the requirements of unit buyers are met,” said Filinvest Land Inc.’s First Vice President for Visayas-Mindanao Tristan Las Marias.

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“Construction of utility lines for power, water, sewer treatment, and cables for telephone, TV and Internet is also underway. These will be available for the first batch of residents by June,” he said.

The Amalfi Oasis in the Citta di Mare in Cebu is a resort-style mid-rise residential community that conjures the charm of its namesake - the Costiera Amalfitana in Campania, Italy. Famed for its dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery, it was a popular holiday destinations among European upper class and aristocrats in the 1920s to 30s.

Just like its namesake, Amalfi Oasis captivates the discerning tastes of home buyers who indulgences in grand vacations and lives for the sweet pleasures of life.

The first cluster to be developed on the 390,484sqm joint venture properties with the Cebu City Government, Amalfi Oasis is an “aspirational retreat by sea.”

“Construction of the second Amalfi Oasis building is also underway. With 100 percent of the structural works completed, it had its topping off in October last year and is now undergoing architectural finishing works,” said Las Marias. “It will be ready for turnover by the last quarter of 2012.”

With 20-meter-wide landscaped walkways and bike lanes and car-free zones, Amalfi Oasis is a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood perfect for those who yearn for a carefree lifestyle. (PR)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

BPO workers to fortify investor base

By Katlene O. Cacho

Thursday, March 22, 2012

THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is reaching out to the business process outsourcing (BPO) workers to draw in more retail investors in the stock market.

PSE president Hans Sicat said tapping the growing techno-savvy BPO workers has been one of the goals of the PSE’s market-education team.

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Sicat said they are targeting the BPO workers to grow the stock market’s retail investor base because they have bigger disposable incomes, which they can use to invest. Also, most BPO employees have their own savings and checking accounts and are familiar with technology.

“Retail penetration is low and we are trying to address that. One of the efforts in increasing participation is to tap the BPO workers,” Sicat said at the sidelines of the recent Economic and Investor Confidence Forum held here.

PSE’s current retail base is estimated from 550,000 to 600,000 investors.

PSE recently opened its Cebu satellite office to strengthen its presence in some key cities outside Manila.

Curriculum

Apart from this, the PSE has also launched various projects meant to give the stock market a lift.

Sicat, in his presentation said, they are helping the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) in designing a curriculum for the high school level, which would give students a glimpse of how the stock market works. The stock market also launched the PSE Academy Website, where people can learn about the stock market.

Some other initiatives also include the launching of the PSE’s own online trading platform, dubbed Online Service Bureau (OSB) in the second semester this year targeting tech-savvy retail investors.

Innovation

Sicat explained that the OSB will capitalize on the continuous growth of online transactions by allowing investors to place their orders to brokers online. The move is also an innovation from the usual modes of stock trading, which are done through phone calls or physical interaction.

“This is an active year for the stock market. We are expecting a lot of exciting opportunities for the country in general,” Sicat said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

Eight new firms to open in Cebu

By Katlene O. Cacho

Thursday, March 22, 2012

ABOUT eight new international firms are set to begin operations in Cebu this year, a top official of the Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) said.

In an interview last Wednesday, CIPC managing director Joel Mari Yu said these new firms are mostly knowledge-process outsourcing (KPO) firms that do knowledge-based activities such as medical billing, data mining, and medical encoding.

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“With the opening of these new firms we are looking at around 5,000 new job opportunities with close to 400 to 500 employee requirements for each company,” he said.

High-value work

“What we found surprising is that we are getting a lot of international-based companies not only from the US but also from Singapore, Japan, Canada and Australia,” he added.

Among these new companies that will expand operations in Cebu are United Health Care, EXL, HCCA, PROMET International Inc. and Talleco.

Unlike the usual outsourcing activities that involve dealing with the concerns of customers, a KPO service deals with knowledge-based services or those that involve high-value work carried out by highly-skilled staff.

“These companies will be hiring nurses for healthcare related outsourcing services, professionals with MBA degrees, economists and statisticians among others,” Yu said.

Yu, however, declined to disclose further details as to the timeline of the opening of each foreign company here.

Important player

Yu said these companies chose to operate in Cebu because of the increasing market for outsourcing, and Cebu being one of the successful hubs for outsourcing in the world.

India is currently the major hub for the KPO activity but the Philippines is seen as an emerging KPO service location, according to international research firm Ovum in its report last November.

Ovum said that along with China and Sri Lanka, the Philippines is also becoming an increasingly important player in the KPO market.

Yu noted the expansion of these foreign-firms in Cebu also downplays threats to the outsourcing industry, with US President Barack Obama’s “in-sourcing” campaign.

“Outsourcing is the only way to become competitive in this period of globalization.

Obama cannot stop outsourcing, because for one, it will be the American companies that will first complain,” he said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

Titles of FLI’s SRP lots ‘still clean’

By Princess Dawn H. Felicitas
Friday, March 23, 2012

FILINVEST Land Inc. (FLI) titles on the lot it purchased at the South Road Properties (SRP) are still “clean titles,” a City Hall official said.

This, despite the notice of levy and notice of “lis pendens” issued by Sheriff Eugenio
Fuentes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 on the SRP lots.

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“A mere notice is not an encumbrance nor is it a lien, as what they (FLI) believed. It is just a notice. Just because a matter is annotated on a particular title, it doesn’t mean it already constitutes as a lien. That perception is wrong,” said City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez, in an interview yesterday.

Bernaldez said the notices of levy annotated on the titles of FLI property at the SRP do not affect the ownership of FLI on their lots.

“An affidavit of loss can be annotated on a title if the lot owner losses his or her title. She can request the Registry of Deeds to annotate the affidavit of loss to the title. Is it an encumbrance or a lien? Does that affect the interest of the lot owner on his or her property? Of course not,” Bernaldez said.

The same logic applies to the notices of levy annotated on the titles of the FLI property, he added.

“Before the eyes of the law, the FLI titles are still very clean,” the city attorney said.

FLI’s lot at the SRP with titles PT-15971 and PT-15972 have been annotated with notice of levy and notice of lis pendens, which means there is pending litigation involving the properties, as a result of the City’s court battle with the heirs of Fr. Vicente Rallos.

PT-15971 is the first title issued to FLI in exchange for its payment to the City in 2009 for the 10.6-hectare property at Pond F that it purchased. PT-15972, on the other hand, is the fourth title that is to be released in exchange for their 2012 payment.

The two titles are part of the six titles for FLI’s 10.6-hectare property at Pond F, which have been placed on escrow with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP). The titles are turned over to FLI each time it pays the City.

Based on the records of the City Treasurer’s Office, FLI is due to pay P245.2 million, which will serve as the fourth amortization for the lot it purchased at SRP.

It is also due to pay the P600 million, which represents the City’s, share of profit plus percentage premium from the sale of FLI’s condominium units for its joint venture at the SRP.

FLI is withholding its payment to the City until the notice of levy and notice of lis pendens annotated on their SRP lots will be removed.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

We got better water deal

By Oscar C. Pineda

Friday, March 23, 2012

ONE is better than the other.

Capitol spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda said the bulk water supply project that the Cebu Provincial Government will implement together with an Ayala-led consortium is more advantageous than the proposal made by the same group to the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) in 2002.

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Capitol entered into a joint investment agreement with a consortium—composed of Manila Water, Stateland Inc. and Vicsal Development Corp.—to tap Luyang River in Carmen town and produce 35,000 cubic meters of water a day.

In 2002, the consortium led by Ayala-led Manila Water made the same proposal to MCWD.

The proposal did not take off after MCWD disagreed with the condition set by the proponent to be able to recover development costs if it (consortium) loses the project to a challenger.

Sepulveda pointed out that the recently signed investment agreement between the Capitol and the consortium will produce water priced at P13.95 per cubic meter.

The water offered to MCWD then had a base price of P25.55 per cubic meter.

Sepulveda said Capitol’s investment—it agreed to put up a 49-percent equity for the water supply project—is governed by the Joint Investment Ordinance 2009-04, adopted by the Provincial Board.

Protection

The ordinance, he said, protects the Province’s interests in unsolicited offers, like the water supply project.

He added that the ordinance allows the Province to set “advantageous” provisions in transactions with private firms.

The proposal to MCWD, on the other hand, was governed by the build-operate-transfer (BOT) law, which grants proponents of unsolicited proposals to recover expenses
incurred in technical studies and other costs, if the project does not push through.

Under the BOT law, original proposals also have to undergo multi-level evaluation by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Under the provincial ordinance, Sepulveda said, the private proponent cannot demand reimbursement for expenses like technical studies and travel fare, among others.

The same ordinance governs the Capitol’s transactions for the Ciudad project and the business process outsourcing complex to be undertaken by Filinvest in Barangay Apas, Cebu City.

In these projects, Sepulveda said, the private firms develop Capitol-owned lots but the Province maintains ownership of the property. The private developers are also required to pay rent and give Capitol a share of their revenues.

The consortium initially proposed to Capitol to sell water from Carmen at P24 per cubic meter. But the consortium decided to match the bid of a challenger in the Swiss price challenge and lowered the water rate to P13.95 per cubic meter.

“This is business sense,” Sepulveda said.

Manila Water consultant Manuel Reyes said the firm could have lowered the water rate it proposed to MCWD but the consortium had to consider the penalties it was going to pay when it fails to deliver the promised volume.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 23, 2012.

DTI launches PBR in Cebu

By Mia A. Aznar

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

AFTER acquiring the rights to operate a beauty salon in Tayud, Liloan, a 34-year-old woman expected to work on all her business requirements for several days.

When Elsa Canonigo dropped by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7’s National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (Nerbac) to work on her business name registration, she was surprised to accomplish five requirements in just 10 minutes.

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Canonigo happened to walk into the launching of the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) and was the first to benefit from the quick process of applying for a business name.

She also acquired her Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tax identification number, Social Security System (SSS) number, Home Development Mutual Fund (Pagibig) and PhilHealth registrations.

‘Important step’

“Wa ko nagdahum ingon ani diay ka-paspas (I didn’t think it would be this quick),” Canonigo told reporters. She added that she even expected that she would have to go keep on returning to the Nerbac and visit each agency to complete her requirements before heading to the Liloan Municipal Hall to get her business permit.

“Nagtuo gyud ko nga lisod. Wa gyud ko nagdahum nga makalusot nako sa tanan (I expected it to be difficult and to take long),” she said.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo called the PBR an “important step” in President Benigno Aquino III’s pledge to ease the way of doing business in the country.

The PBR system links the systems of the DTI, SSS, Pagibig, PhilHealth, Securities and Exchange Commission and BIR in real time, allowing the applicant to go to just one office, in this case, the DTI Nerbac, and complete the requirements by filling up just one application form.

The DTI is also partnering with the local governments of Cebu City, Moalboal, Compostela, Alcoy, Cordova, Toledo City, Balamban, Carcar, Dalaguete, Liloan, Barili and Lapu-Lapu City.

Next month, they will be putting up a PBR kiosk at the Cebu City Hall to make it even easier for applicants to complete their business permit applications and applicants will no longer have to drop by the DTI office.

Domingo also announced that once they complete the government’s e-payment system within the middle of the year, applicants will no longer have to personally appear at these agencies. This system will allow applicants to use their credit cards in transacting.

“Soon the service will be available online and there will be no need to come here. You can register in your own house,” he said.

Besides easing the workload of a starting entrepreneur, Domingo added that the system also absorbs many functions within the Nerbac, releasing employees of the workload required by business name registration.

Domingo hopes to introduce the PBR system in major cities in the country.

Some P20 million was spent in configuring a system that would interconnect all agencies in real time.

As for the cost to interconnect the system with a local government unit, he admitted the amount would depend on how much an LGU has invested in technology.

Security

As for the security aspect, Domingo assured many security procedures have been put in place to prevent hackers from accessing the system.

However, he believes the data encoded in the system will not be interesting to hackers because the data is not confidential.

“We don’t mind them looking at the data. We mind if they change it,” he added.

With the PBR system, the DTI expects a more streamlined process of business registration, could become attractive to investors and improve the country’s competitiveness.

DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte said the business registration facility of the PBR also has a business registry search that clients can use to check if the name they chose for their business is already registered.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 21, 2012.

Micro-financing has room for growth: BSP

By Mia A. Aznar

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

WITH 37 to 40 percent of municipalities in the country without banks, an official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said there is room for more financial institutions to “reach out” to these areas in micro-financing.

Zeno Ronald Abenoja, BSP economic and financial learning director, said financial institutions have now shown interest in engaging in micro finance.

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He said micro finance services are no longer limited to rural banks and cooperatives as commercial establishments and other smaller institutions can also provide access to these services.

Abenoja said they have observed that financial institutions have become aggressive in offering micro finance products, although specializing in these are cooperative banks and micro finance institutions.

He assured that the country has enough regulatory frameworks to ensure micro-finance products being offered by licensed institutions are safe and well-managed.

“The response has been positive. We have been recognized internationally as running the best micro-financial programs,” he said.

Ranking

The Economist Intelligence Unit of London made a study on micro-finance in 54 countries in 2010 and ranked the Philippines second in having the overall best micro-finance business environment.

National Credit Council Director Joselito Almario said the country would have been first, but it was dragged down because it ranked low in its investment climate ranking. Almario explained that peace and order problems in Mindanao, issues of graft and corruption in government and poor infrastructure led to a rank of 18 in investment climate.

However, he said in a later study released in October last year, the Philippines now ranked first in overall micro-finance business environment.

As the micro finance industry has “grown significantly” in the past five years, Abenoja believes the lack of banks in some municipalities of the country allows more room to grow.

He noted that an informal survey showed that less than 20 to 30 percent of the population are deemed eligible to open a bank account and that on average, a person holds only two deposit accounts.

He said that if this is the case, the country could use more institutions that could offer micro financing.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 21, 2012.