The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Set hearts ablaze this Valentine season with a romantic retreat to Richmonde Hotel Ortigas (RHO). 

By Luis Leoncio  There may yet be a happy compromise to end the raging controversy over the P2,000 increase for pensioners of the Social Security System (SSS) that was aborted by a presidential veto that now seriously threatens the electoral chances of the ruling party’s candidates in next May’s elections, from its presidential candidate down. 

By Riza Lozada  While most Filipinos, particularly car owners, public-transport operators and drivers and commuters, have benefitted greatly from the decline in the world prices of oil, the development has become a nightmare for the country’s estimated 2.2 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East, the world’s main oil source, who are now in danger of losing their …

By Jerry Maglunog  A wave of mergers is expected to engulf local banks after integration has become the norm, with the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) last December. 

Malacanang said it was saddened by the deaths of 14 Filipinos in a hotel fire in Iraq’s Kurdistan region Friday and that it was working with Iraqi authorities to bring home the remains of victims. 

Manila—A fire at a hotel in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Friday has killed 17 people, including 14 Filipinos, a Philippine Embassy official said. 

By Luis Leoncio The minority in the House of Representatives plans to question before the Supreme Court the “railroading” of President Aquino’s pet bill, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act, on the final session of Congress before it went on recess for the election period. 

By Riza Lozada Globe Telecom recently reported consolidated earnings before income tax depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for 2015 at P45.8 billion, 17 percent higher from a year ago.

Listed Cebu Pacific (CEB), flew 18.4 million passengers in 2015, an increase of 9 percent from 16.9 million passengers flown in 2014. On average, CEB flights were 83 percent full during the year.

Laguna Water, the largest water and used-water service provider in Laguna, is set to spend P1.4 billion this year in pursuit of expanding its service reach to more customers within the province. Last year, Laguna Water’s concession agreement was amended, allowing the company to extend its water and used-water services from the original concession areas covering the cities of Biñan, …