US Moves To Plug "de minimis" Trade Loophole

United States President Joe Biden administration said a few days ago that it was moving to curb low-value shipments entering the U.S. duty-free under the US$ 800 "de minimis" threshold that has been exploited by Chinese e-commerce firms such as Shein and PDD Holdings' Temu.

White House officials said they will propose a new rule to deny the exemption to packages that contain low-value goods subject to Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products and Section 201 on "safeguard" tariffs on products including solar products and washing machines.

China-Japan Trade Ties Waned After Chip Supply Was Curbed

The battle of two ecoonomic giants is looming high in the horizon after China allegedly warned Japan of severe economic retaliation if it further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms.

Bloomberg News, citing several sources, reported that Toyota Motor privately told Japanese officials that Beijing could react to the curbs by cutting Japan's access to minerals required for automotive production.

Up To 10k Jobs Will Be Cut By Nokia

It will be another hard year in Sweden this year after Finnish telecoms group Nokia said lately that it plans to cut between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs within the next two years to trim costs and invest more in research capabilities.

The company said in a statement it expects about 600 million euros (US$ 715 million) to 700 million euros of restructuring and associated charges by 2023.

Till Death Do Us Pay

Even in death the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will haunt you. This after they have decided to look into the bank accounts of dead people to reach their target collection goal of PhP 50 billion by 2016.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said they will take advantage of a loophole in the Bank Secrecy Law to check taxable inheritance and boost estate tax collections from about PhP 1 billion a year to an average of PhP 12.5 billion.

"BanKo para sa Pangarap Ko" To Help 4Ps Families

It is expected that by year's end, about 200,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) families are expected to benefit from the series of financial literacy trainings being conducted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), and BPI Globe BanKo (BanKO).

This is one of the agreements in the memorandum between DSWD and BanKO in their partnership project entitled "BanKo para sa Pangarap Ko" which started last may 2014.

Move Over BRICS, PPICS is Taking Over

Way back in 2001, all of the world’s eyes were on the BRICS in 2001 when it comes to promising economic growth in the next ten years. What do you expect from five nations comprising of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa when they hold most of the world's population (43 percent). It’s a sleeping economic power waiting to explode, and so it did from 2001 and the next decade, the something came along.

Due to the lack of response to demand, statistically, the economic development of BRICS will decline by a massive 3.2 percent as compared to its rate for the last 10 years. This is according to an analysis entitled "Coface identifies 10 emerging countries hot on the heels of the BRICS." Aside from this projection, it is further anticipated that other economies will balloon this year.

BIR is Passing The Buck

I was one of those who got in line on 15 April 2014 at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) District Office to beat the deadline for filing the Income Tax Returns (ITR).

I was one of those who witnessed how undermanned and overworked the people of the Bureau and I also witness how inefficient the system is adopted by the country's tax collection agency. The main reason why there is a need to file the ITR on the said date was to avoid paying the 25 percent surcharge of extra charge imposed by the government on those who filed late.

Decreased Working Hours Not For PHL

If the French can do it, why can’t we? Most probably because some Filipino feels that to avoid becoming a slave to your work, then you should become a slave driver to your employees to stimulate growth.

When France approved the new labor agreement that deemed all work-related emails after 6:00 P.M. are unlawful, local labor groups thought of lobbying for the same measure in the Philippines as well. Unfortunately, this is not viable at this time.

PHL Among the 10 Emerging Economies

The country is really on a roll when it comes to economic growth. We have not seen rapid development in years, which could be attributed to President Benigno Aquino III's policy of getting rid of several corrupt officials, agencies and practices as well as cracking the whip on illicit black market trading.

Recent reports from Aurélia End of Agence France-Presse revealed that Philippines is among 10 countries set to take over as emerging economies from the powerful BRICS nations as they struggle with growing pains, a French credit body.

Manila Land Prices Are At All-Time High

Philippine economy has slowly shed off the bad image brought about by past administration’s corrupt-laden policies and the country is finally getting the promised rewards of the current President Benigno Aquino III. More is needed to be done to address inequality, but the foundation to address this in the coming years has already been implemented.

To highlight the vast improvement in economic scene, land prices in some areas of Manila just surged by as much as 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, which is a 16-year high. This is the highest since the Asian financial crisis as accelerating economic growth, rising remittances from Filipino expatriates and record-low borrowing costs fuel demand.

The favourable scenario even prompted the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the largest Philippine pension fund, to plan for a possible biggest-ever sale of real estate assets this year.

With about 730 billion pesos (US$ 16.3 billion) in investable assets, GSIS has initially identified eight properties to sell through public auctions this year, according to President Robert Vergara. They are part of a 31 billion-peso real estate portfolio, based on historical prices, that isn’t earning income. The fund is supposedly turning to real estate sales to bolster returns, anticipating that gains from domestic equities will slow after the benchmark index rose the most among Asian peers since 2008.


“Property prices have increased phenomenally in the past three years,” Vergara, 53, said in a 14 March interview with Ian Sayson and Cecilia Yap. “It seems a good level to finally realize some value while liquidity is plentiful and a lot of investors are interested in land and looking for strategically located properties.”

Assets identified by GSIS for sale account for less than 5 percent of its land holdings include the fund’s former 2,429 square meter (26,145 square foot) office site in Makati and a 3,200 square meter raw property in Fort Bonifacio, a former Army camp adjacent to Makati that’s being turned into a commercial and residential district.

Manila was ranked the fourth most-popular real estate investment destination for 2014, behind Tokyo, Shanghai and Jakarta, according to an Asia Pacific survey by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Among the areas in Metro Manila land prices in Makati registered the highest jump. Home to the nation’s financial district and some of its richest businesspeople, Makati land prices have jumped 28 percent over the last three years to an average 341,505 pesos per square meter, according to U.K.-based Colliers International Plc. That’s the highest level since 1997, said Julius Guevara, the firm’s head of research in the Philippines.

The country’s US$ 250 billion economy expanded 7.2 percent in 2013 and 6.8 percent in 2012, the fastest two-year pace since the 1950s. The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at an all-time low of 3.5 percent since October 2012.

Unjustifiable Bonuses of SSS Commisioners (Last Part)

There are several questions that we were trying to answer yesterday regarding the bonuses accorded to several senior Social Security System (SSS) officials, but failed to find a justifiable good answer. We will try to do that again in this post.

Susie Bugante, SSS vice president for public affairs, keep on mentioning Executive Order No. 24 signed by President Benigno Aquino III to defend the large bonuses amounting to about PhP 10 million for Chairman Juan B. Santos, Chairman; SSS President and SSC vice chairman Emilio S. De Quiros, Jr.; Diana V. Pardo-Aguilar; Daniel L. Edralin; Eliza R. Antonino; Marianita O. Mendoza; Ibarra A. Malonzo, and Bienvenido E. Laguesma.

Unjustifiable Bonuses of SSS Commisioners (First Part)

Let's examine again the issues hounding the country's Social Security System (SSS) at this time by stating the following facts first:

• SSS has an unfunded liability of about PhP 1.07 Trillion as of December 2011.
• The unfunded liability of SSS is expected to increase by about 8 percent annually.
• SSS registered a double-digit growth in its net revenue in the first semester of 2012.
• SSS Investment Reserve Fund (IRF) now stands at close to PhP 390 billion from PhP 290 billion.

About Time to Privatize MRT

Business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan has made an offer to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to invest between PhP 4.5 billion to PhP 8 billion for the purchase of brand-new trains and rehabilitate the facilities of the EDSA-based Metro Rail Transit (MRT).

It is about time that the public transport system gets the support to overhaul the depreciating capacity of the MRT. It was estimated that the daily capacity of the MRT line is about 360,000 passengers but it is currently serving a ridership of 488,000 passengers a day.