The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Riza Lozada The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently allowed mi­crofinance-oriented small bank to convert into a regular thrift bank.

Salary-based general-purpose consumption loans (SGPCL) con­tinue to expand bank lending, according to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) reported an unaudited consolidated net income of P3.5 billion for the first nine months.

The Monetary Board (MB) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has closed the operations of the Community Rural Bank of Dingras (Ilocos Norte) Inc.

The Duterte administration will soon launch the big­gest infrastructure push in Philippine history to propel economic growth in the next five-and-a-half years.

The Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) is working on a roadmap that will include engi­neering services as a new growth area for the country’s Informa­tion Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector.

Interior and Local Govern­ment Secretary Ismael ‘Mike’ D. Sueno instructed local gov­ernment units (LGUs) to carry out proactive measures and implement temporary closure of roads, bridges, and oth­er critical thoroughfares not limited to rivers, streams and other bodies of water that are being used for public trans­port upon alert of impending disasters.

Thirty six contractors were or­dered blacklisted by the Con­struction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) for var­ious offenses committed in the implementation of government infrastructure projects.

Only smart-ass law­yers, hucksters and politicians have the gall to split hairs, in­voke quantum physics they do not understand and eventually create razor-thin fine distinc­tions between hard and soft corruption. As if there really was a great and discernible dif­ference for the people who are its victims. Hard or soft, cor­ruption is corruption. The stat­utes make no distinctions and neither …

Social media observers say there has been a significant rise in the number of rants in the internet against President Duterte during and after his visit to the People’s Republic of China.