STANDS AT P42.62/$1 / NOY REACHES OUT VIA YOUTUBE, NOV. 4
MANILA,
NOVEMBER 3, 2011 (BULLETIN) The peso exchange rate stands at
P42.62 to the US dollar, the closing rate last Friday at the Philippine Dealing
& Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at P42.608.
T-bills rise, 90-day at 0.919%
Treasury bill yields were mixed at the auction yesterday, with yields on the
three- and six-month debt paper rising to catch up with interest rates in the
secondary market for government securities.
The 90-day paper fetched 0.919% at yesterday's auction, up from 0.690% in
September, while the 181-day bill rose to 1.115% from 0.682%. Yield on the
363-day paper declined to 1.079% from the 1.75% fetched during the Oct. 18
auction, when the government rejected all bids for the three- and six-month
treasury bills to keep yields from rising too sharply from their levels below
1%.
The government had rejected yields of more than 2% sought by banks in the two
treasury bill auctions in October. Total tenders for the P9 billion offering
reached P21.46 billion.
Petron sues dealer for dumping
Petron Corporation has filed an anti-dumping case against its dealer in Bogo
City, Cebu after uncovering several violations of the existing dealership
contract with the company.
In a statement, Petron said a criminal case for Trademark Infringement,
Unfair Competition, and False Designations of Origin was filed against Edilberto
M. Dilao, Madil service station dealer, before the Office of the Provincial
Prosecutor.
The dealer was found by Petron to be getting fuels from other suppliers,
violating its Dealer and Sublease Contracts. (JAL)
Typhoons to push inflation higher
Supply shocks in the Philippines caused by several typhoons likely spurred
inflation to a quicker pace in October, although economists doubt that higher
consumer prices would force a policy tightening from the central bank amid
dimmer global economic growth prospects.
The median forecast of 10 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires is for the
consumer price index, the country's main inflation barometer, to have risen 5.1%
in October from a year earlier.
Honda to suspend R.P. production
Honda Motor Co. plans to reduce production in Brazil, England and the
Philippines because of parts shortages stemming from the floods in Thailand,
Keitaro Yamamoto, a spokesman for the company, said yesterday.
Production will be cut in England this week and Brazil the following week, he
said. In the Philippines, output will be halted today, he said.
Aquino reaches out via YouTubeBottomline By
MICHAEL ALLAN HAMLIN November 2, 2011, 3:00am
MANILA,
Philippines -- On Friday, November 4, Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III
will be the first Asian head of state to be interviewed live on the online video
social network YouTube.
Moderated by APAC Google Policy Director Ross LaJeunesse, YouTube World View
provides the opportunity for 30 million Filipinos who regularly access the
Internet to ask Mr. Aquino a question. Filipinos proposed questions and then
voted to rank the most important.
According to the World View website (www.youtube.com/worldview), the top
question Friday will be, "NAIA is now tagged by a party as the 'world's worst
airport.' NAIA is named after your late father and is a historical landmark so I
think it is valuable to you personally.
What are your plans (and DOT) to improve
its current state?"
Recent reports suggest that Department of Science & Technology Secretary
Manuel A. Roxas II will have some input for the response.
NAIA is of course the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and the site of the
assassination of Mr. Aquino's father, former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. The
"party" the questioner referred to is a website, Sleeping in Airports. It ranked
NAIA Terminal 1— in operation since 1981 and operating overcapacity since 1991—
as the worst airport in the world and in Asia.
Mr. Roxas plans to turn Clark International Airport (CIA) into the
Philippines' principal international port of entry. But the airport is 100
kilometers away from the country's central business districts, and has no
high-speed rail access. The heavily trafficked North Luzon Expressway doesn't
have the capacity to handle the anticipated increase in traffic if CIA is
upgraded.
Perhaps as a result the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) is
recommending a R1 billion upgrade of Terminal 1, which it says can be completed
in 12 months. According to NCC co-chairman Guillermo M. Luz, the proposal is
awaiting the approval of the Manila International Airport Authority. Mr. Luz
believes that even if CIA is upgraded and access improved that the principal
international airport should be physically closer to the business community.
He probably has a point. Narita International Airport in Japan is 70
kilometers from Tokyo, making travel to the airport time-consuming, hectic, and
annoying. According to figures cited in a news report by Mr. Luz, the Hong Kong
and Bangkok airports are about 50 kilometers from their central business
districts. Hong Kong's Airport Express is just fast-enough and reliable-enough
to be endurable.
So it makes sense that Filipinos will want to know where Mr. Aquino stands on
this issue. Not so much because of his family history, but because Terminal 1
really is the worst airport in Asia and it needs fixing.
Speaking on behalf of Mr. Aquino at the recent launch of YouTube Philippines,
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky
Carandang explained why his boss is embracing online video as a communications
medium. "Open and transparent governance has always been one of our priorities,
and we have been actively exploring the ways through which social media can
deepen democracy.
"And so, knowing that it can be difficult for the ordinary Filipino to view
his government as accessible and transparent, we are taking the first step in
coming to you." Mr. Carandang also announced two presidential YouTube channels,
govph and rtvmalacanang.
The move makes a lot of sense. The Philippines' online population is growing
rapidly as access is made increasingly available to far-flung provincial areas.
In the same way that Filipinos dominate SMS—with close to 1.5 billion messages a
day—they dominate social networks. An August 2010 comScore study showed that
Filipinos spend more time on social networks than users anywhere else in the
world.
The Philippines is the eighth-largest Facebook population in the world, with
more than 90% of Internet users regularly accessing the site. More people visit
brand communities on Facebook than brand websites, according to studies by
Universal McCann. The top five brands in the Philippines are Smart
Communications, Hair Experts, Starbucks Philippines, Nescafe Philippines, and
Red Horse Beer.
Smart has more than 1.1 million fans on Facebook, who visit the site for
product announcements, promotions, and to meet other users. Filipino Internet
users are also among the top viewers and uploaders of video. According to
Universal McCann, virtually every Filipino who uses the Internet watches online
video. Globally, as of March last year, 24 hours of video are uploaded to
YouTube every minute, and views exceed two billion every day.
Although Google — which owns YouTube — doesn't release country-specific
information, executives do say that views from the Philippines are among the
highest in Asia. The platform is there. It's relevant. It's popular. Now let's
see how well Mr. Aquino leverages it.
(Disclosure: Google is a client of my firm, TeamAsia,
and TeamAsia was involved in the recent launch of YouTube Philippines. This
column was not reviewed by Google executives.)
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing director of
TeamAsia and a Manila-based author. His latest book is High Visibility:
Transforming Your Personal and Professional Brand. Write him at
mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2011 Michael Alan Hamlin. All Rights
Reserved.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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