The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

The UAAP women’s volleyball Season 84 is seeing the rise of a new superpower – National University (NU) who stayed in the sidelines for more than half a century. NU is now reaping the rewards of a low-key, long-term program, surprising the traditional heavyweights on its way to an undefeated record in Season 84. NU coach Karl Dimaculangan warned his …

Attention 31-M+ BBM voters: Outgoing President Digong Duterte has telegraphed to his successor to increase taxes or create new ones – that will go against the President-elect’s emphatic campaign promise – to be able to pay the country’s record-high national debt that so far runs to more than P12 trillion (that’s a T). The ginormous debt is attributed to government’s …

Manila Water, an industry pioneer in sustainability practices, has released the first series of its medium-term sustainability goals that outlines its progress and plans on embedding Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) into their business strategies. The ESG goals highlight Manila Water’s belief that long-term viability is dependent on management of environmental impacts and commitment to improve social outcomes in the …

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. discussed last May 23 with South Korea Ambassador Kim Inchul the possible revival of the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant which was one of the pet projects of his father, Ferdinand Sr.  The mothballed nuclear plant cost some US$2.3billion to build and was abandoned nearly 40 years ago. The Bataan plant never got operational amidst …

Holcim Philippines, a leading building solutions provider, has partnered with Build Change Philippines, an organization focused on building disaster-resilient homes in developing nations, to strengthen local structures against natural calamities. Holcim Philippines Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Zoe Sibala and Build Change Philippines Country Director Arnel Capili sealed the partnership last May 11 to work on disaster-resilient housing  …

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will continue to investigate big property developers after the agency received reports that they failed to remit the correct taxes to government. The BIR made the announcement following a directive from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to continue its tax review of real estate developers. Dominguez gave the BIR the authority to conduct the tax …

Incoming Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Arsenio Balisacan said he plans to “reinvigorate” public-private partnership (PPP) projects under President-elect Bongbong Marcos’ administration. Balicasan said the President-elect believes the private sector plays a very strong role in economic development. Balisacan explained: “We should reinvigorate, reexamine and bring back PPPs. We’ll reach out to the private …

To ensure that public-private partnerships (PPP) will not be disadvantageous to Filipinos, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) under Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua approved the amended implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law. Chua said the approval of IRR will ensure that project proponents applying for the BOT scheme are qualified to implement properly designed PPP …

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is expected to decide on the petition filed by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Inc. to remove the Ramon Cojuangco Building from the status as an Important Cultural Property (ICP). In its petition, PLDT said that it plans to “redevelop and transform [the building] into a modern, ecologically sustainable, and …

For the first four months of 2022, the Pag-ibig Fund has financed 5,411 socialized homes for minimum-wage and low-income members. From January to April 2022, socialized home loans make up 18 percent of the 29,310 units financed by the agency amounting to P2.35 billion out of the record-high P31.97 billion home loans released by the agency. The Pag-ibig Fund’s Affordable …