Philippine Weekly Update - for the week ending 23 July 2011
In-Focus - July 29, 2011

Political

While more and more business groups and think tanks see the need to amend the Constitution to attract more foreign investments and  allow greater competition for the benefit of consumers, Malacanang unfortunately maintains that there is no need to amend the Constitution. The consequence will be that the Philippines will not catch up with the economies of its neighbors.

 
Economic

The ERC is unyielding in its decision to implement open access and retail competition (OARC) on December 26, despite opposition from stakeholders, including the Dept. of Energy. Industry stakeholders and the DOE have pointed out that the infrastructure rules and systems have to be put in place first before OARC can be implemented.

Listed firms saw aggregate earnings decline by nearly a fourth in the first quarter amid slower economic growth.

The country’s balance of payments surplus jumped 53% to US$ 5.016 billion in the first semester.

The PSE has joined PLDT’s appeal against a Supreme Court ruling redefining foreign ownership limits.


Business

Honda Philippines Inc. got the nod of the BOI for its P2.46 billion motorcycle expansion project, increasing the capacity from 400,000 to 600,000 units.


Investments

SunPower Philippines Mfg. Limited, a branch of US-based SunPower Corp, is planning to invest US$ 2 billion for a third facility for solar panels in the country.


Infrastructure

The government is still optimistic that it will be able to still bid out 5-7 PPP projects this year. According to USec Panlilio of the BOI, the feasibility studies for 5 projects have been completed. In order to spur investor interest in PPP projects, the government will be putting up a dollar-denominated equity fund from which winning bidders may draw.

A consortium composed of power distributor Meralco, Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration Corp. is investing US$ 1.28 billion to put up a 600-MW clean coal-fired power plant within the Subic Bay Freeport zone. The first 300-MW are expected to come on stream by 2014.

The consortium operating the Malampaya deepwater, gas-to-power project off Palawan plans to further hike investments by US$ 1.5 billion to increase production and tap more gas reserves within Service Contract 38.


CongressWatch

The House committee on public works convened its technical working group to review RA 7718 or the BOT Law to help boost the Aquino administration’s PPP program.