Chinese-Filipino traders may stop school program after tax evasion allegations
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Chinese-Filipino businessmen are still smarting from President Aquino’s allegations that some of its members have been evading taxes.
Chinese-Filipino businessmen are still smarting from President Aquino’s allegations that some of its members have been evading taxes.
To the President: Make agriculture and tourism the priority sectors for infrastructure support and development to create more jobs.
Hounded by criticism that economic growth has not resulted in jobs, President Aquino said on Tuesday that jobs have always been available, but that job applicants have not been able to provide the skills required for employment.
Thousands of workers of a Korean shipbuilder may lose their jobs because of the European financial crisis and the government’s failure to make good on its commitment to provide power incentives, a top official of the company said.
After hours of meeting, President Benigno Aquino III and his Cabinet approved, on Thursday night, 11 infrastructure projects worth more than P100 billion, including a key project connecting the North Luzon Expressway with the Southern Luzon Expressway and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway.
The Philippines beat expectations in the third quarter with 7.1 percent growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), ahead of other economies within Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The country’s top economist said this would translate to more jobs and better incomes for Filipinos.
The proposed government takeover of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) train line, which deviates from the existing policy of privatizing infrastructure projects, is now up for the President’s approval.
Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya on Thursday said the MRT takeover, spearheaded by the Department of Finance, was now “in its advanced stages and just a few steps away from fruition.”
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares denied on Wednesday that they favored the House of Representatives’ version of the sin tax bill that imposed much less taxes on beer and alcohol, as alleged by Sen. Ralph Recto.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has implemented about three quarters of the blueprint for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), with a little over two years left until the self-imposed deadline by the end of 2015.
A banker and a business analyst said they got what they wanted to hear from President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address, or Sona, on Monday, when it came to establishing an economic environment hospitable to fresh investments.
The Department of Tourism (DoT) has identified the 78 eco-tourism sites that has been declared as off-limits to mining under President Aquino’s newly released executive order.
The President is set to announce his administration’s new mining policy on Monday (July 9) but the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has already started a signature campaign calling for a moratorium on its implementation.
