The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

F resh business graduates should become “servant-leaders” by helping impoverished communities develop micro and small enterprises that will serve as catalysts for growth and save society’s marginalized sectors from the poverty trap, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

By Riza Lozada The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has launched a lending program to assist Filipino inventors called the “Innovation and Technology Lending Program” or “I-TECH”.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Japan Center (AJC) co-sponsored a seminar entitled “Changing Trade and Investment Landscape in ASEAN and the Philippines” to highlight the importance of global value chains and non-equity mode (NEM) in the growth of Philippine exports.

By Riza Lozada The Philippine Payments Management, Inc. (PPMI), which was established to facilitate electronic payments, will assist the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in implementing initiatives for the National Retail Payment System (NRPS).

A new tourism estate worth P2.6 billion will soon rise in a 2.3-hectare area inside the Clark Freeport Zone.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) will rebid the resettlement project contract worth P800 million awarded to JC Tayag, the main contractor of the Yolanda housing projects in Eastern Samar.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is seeking the extension of validity of Korean-funded US$20.63 million loan for the Samar Pacific Coastal Road.

Minor and major ports in the country will now be more secured and guarded following the accreditation of the National Maritime Safety and Security Agency ( NAMSSA ) for Domestic Maritime Security by Department of Transportation Office for Transportation Security (DOTr-OTS).

Following the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte to increase transparency and eliminate corruption, Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar is instituting reforms in the department which includes the national use of a new monitoring system with a built-in geotagging feature.

It looks like the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) is measuring up to public expectations and delivering on the promises it made.