Philippine Business Today

Passenger shipping industry drowns while budget airlines fly high

Wednesday, 25 June 2008 15:50 administrator

While overloading used to be an easy culprit in most sea mishaps in the Philippines involving passenger liners, the case of the recently capsized Princess of the Stars shows that traveling by sea is not the primary choice to reach any of the archipelago's over 7,100 islands anymore.

The ill-fated Sulpicio Line ship plying the primary Manila-Cebu route had a capacity of 1,992 passengers, excluding crew members. But when it encountered rough waters during a typhoon and capsized in June 21, it was only carrying over 700 passengers and more than a hundred crew members.

It means the massive 23,824-ton ship was going ahead with an expected business-as-usual day with just about 40 percent load.

PhilCall joins IT gab in Singapore

Wednesday, 25 June 2008 15:45 administrator

THE Philippine Call Center Alliance (PhilCall), an association of small and medium-sized call centers in the Philippines, joined the 19th International Information and Communications Technology Conference and Exhibition in Singapore.

Dubbed as the Communic Asia 2008, the international event is being held at the Singapore Expo from June 17-29. The event is said to be the biggest considering that it occupied Halls 1-6 of the largest exhibition and convention center in Southeast Asia.

The summit consisted of three 2-day streams and 5 one-day forums discussing both technology and business insights.

Philippine president says ferry company accountable for capsizal

Wednesday, 25 June 2008 15:41 administrator

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the authority is holding Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the capsized MV Princess of the Stars, "accountable" for the accident in which 744 people are still missing while 70 have been confirmed dead, local media reported Wednesday.

"We are holding the ferry company accountable to ensure that we find how this ferry tragedy could have occurred so we can take steps to make sure it never happens again," the on-line news network INQUIRER.NET quoted Arroyo as saying.

On its way from Manila to Cebu, the 23,800-ton M/V Princess of the Stars sank off the Philippines' central province of Romblon at the height of Typhoon Fengshen which lashed the archipelago from east to west over the weekend.

Oil, food price increases threatens RP growth

Saturday, 14 June 2008 04:23 administrator

The rise in the prices of petroleum products—the 15th time this year—was made worse by the simultaneous increase in food costs, threatening to slow down the Philippine economy.

As oil giants Petron and Shell raised their pump prices by P1.50 on Saturday, prices of commodities in Metro Manila also went up, Radio dzMM reported.

Increasing food and fuel prices may force the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise interest rates anew, a decision which will curb economic growth. An interest rate hike will make lending more expensive and difficult, discouraging companies to borrow money for expansion.

Two weeks ago, the country’s central monetary authority raised rates for the first time in nearly two years, hoping to prevent inflation from spinning out of control. In tightening the country’s monetary policy, BSP pointed to May inflation rates, which surged to 9.6 percent, the fastest in nine years.

Software provider eyes treasury departments

Saturday, 14 June 2008 04:19 administrator

The local unit of software solutions firm Misys Plc. is planning to tap the treasury departments of large corporations to expand its business in the country.

"Another area of interest to us is corporate treasuries. We will come up with products that will help them manage structured products and maintain their corporate treasury activities," Misys Managing Director for Asia Pacific Graeme Beardsell told reporters in a briefing Friday.

Mr. Beardsell Friday conducted a seminar on the basics and implications of International Accounting Standards (IAS), the implementation of which, he said, was not only "accounting-intensive" but also "IT-intensive."

More Articles...