MANILA, Philippines?Despite recent stumbling blocks, the bulls are still in play in the Philippines and the current ?buyer?s market? presents an opportunity to load up on quality stocks at a cheap price, stock experts from online brokerage CitisecOnline said.

April Lynn Lee-Tan, head of research at CitisecOnline, said in a press briefing last week that as the factors that had led to the recent sell-offs are temporary, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index should still be on track to hit 5,300 later this year or by next year.

Among the good buys in the market, she said, were local banking giants Bank of the Philippine Islands, Banco de Oro Unibank and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., as well as property giants Ayala Land Inc. and Megaworld Corp.

Other ?growth plays? cited by CitisecOnline were DMCI Holdings, Semirara Mining, Nickel Asia, ICTSI, Alliance Global and Energy Development Corp.

?The weakness of the market was brought about by concerns that interest rates would have to go up to address the threat of rising inflation. Commodity prices have been increasing, raising inflation concerns,? Lee-Tan said.

?Foreign funds also started to flow back to developed markets such as the US given growing evidence against a double-digit recession,? she said.

CitisecOnline chief technical analyst Juanis Barredo said short- to medium-term corrections were necessary to ?build the next platform for the following upward swing.?