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By Riza Lozada  As is his wont, President Aquino again blamed the Philippines media for sensationalizing and blowing out of proportion much of the country’s problems under his administration. In the “A Meeting of Minds” dialogue with Forbes Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes at the closing of the 15th Forbes Global CEO Conference in Manila, Mr. Aquino was asked about his …

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or Bangko Sentral) scored a victory in a long legal battle as the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in its favor in its case against Orient Commercial Banking Corp. (OCBC), Jose C. Go and corporations connected with him—Gotesco Properties Inc.; Go Tong Electrical Supply Inc.; Ever Emporium Inc.; Ever Gotesco Resources and Holdings Inc.; Gotesco …

By Luis Leoncio  Had the Aquino administration not scrimped and spent the annual budgets as stipulated in the General Appropriations Act, the economy could have grown from 8 percent to 10 percent, which was what was required to eliminate poverty in the country, according to noted economist Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas. 

By Jerry Maglunog  Asian conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has identified power and cement as its major growth drivers in the growing Philippine economy. SMC President Ramon S. Ang said SMC is spending $800 million to build two new cement plants in Pangasinan and Quezon.

By Riza Lozada  Big foreign investors continue to bypass the country, despite government claims of improved business perception, as shown by the country’s measly 4.6-percent share in the total foreign direct investments (FDI) that flowed into the economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in the first half of 2015. 

By Lito U. Gagni  Local market players, as well as employees of top snack producer Liwayway Marketing Corp., are opening bank accounts in Hong Kong, preparatory to the projected listing of the company’s shares in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. 

By Luis Leoncio The Lee family of South Korea that controls the Samsung Group, tops the list of Asia’s richest, with a combined wealth of $26.6 billion, Forbes Asia said during the launch of its inaugural ranking of the top 50 Asian business dynasties. 

By Luis Leoncio  Another technical glitch marred operations at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) last week and raised fresh jitters in the local bourse, as this was the fourth time the PSE halted operations since migrating to a new trading system. 

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has cited several “problematic factors” hampering the Philippines’ business environment, even as it reported that the country rose five places to the 47th spot in the recent World Economic Forum-Global Competitive Index (WEF-GCI). 

By Riza Lozada  The government, finally heeding the growing demand to lower the cost of electricity—reputed to be the highest among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)—has announced a plan that requires power distributors to hire foreign auction managers who would make sure that electricity is bought from suppliers at the lowest price.