Phl records all-time high influx of business missions

The unparalleled record of inbound business missions to the Philippines this year manifests the strong confidence of foreign investors in the country’s business environment, the DTI said.

“Consistent with positive reviews of international rating agencies on the Philippines, this influx of business missions is a strong affirmation of the Aquino administration’s economic reforms that have resonated prominently to foreign investors worldwide,” Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Cristino L. Panlilio said in a statement.

The Board of Investments (BOI) recorded a total of 487 inbound business corporation visits from January to October 2012. These missions are composed of 147 individual company visits and 34 multi-company delegation missions, where each mission is composed of at least 5 corporations’ executives, according to the DTI.

To date, inbound business mission for this year increased by 56.6 percent from last year’s 311 inbound mission. There is also an increase in multi-company delegations, which rose to 112.5 percent from a total of 18 last year to 34 in 2012.

Panlilio noted that the increase in inbound business missions can be attributed to the revival of interest of markets such as United Kingdom, France and Canada, and the growing interest coming from non-traditional markets like Russia, Europe (particularly, Turkey), Middle East (namely, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi), and Africa (particularly, Nigeria).

“Traditional markets such as Japan, US, Taiwan, and Korea remained a major source of foreign investor visits,” Panlilio added.

These inbound mission’s sectors of interest are information technology–business process outsourcing (IT-BPO), power including green energy, infrastructure or public-private partnership projects, tourism, agribusiness and aquaculture, and manufacturing of aerospace parts, electronics, garments and textiles, steel, machineries, automotive, shipbuilding, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

The BOI also recorded a total of 13 outbound missions and four Presidential state visits this year. President Benigno S. Aquino III led three of these state visits, which include: United Kingdom (UK) and US that brought back at least 2.5 billion dollars in investments last June, New Zealand and Australia that pitched investment opportunities in the Philippines last October, and Cambodia to attend the ASEAN Business Advisory Council meeting during the ASEAN Summit last November. For the fourth and recent state visit to India to keynote the ASEAN-India Business Fair and Forum and meet with executives of Indian companies and leaders of a trade organization in the Indian software industry during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, Vice President Jejomar C. Binay represented President Aquino.

Last year, there were 18 outbound mission conducted. Out of this number, 13 were BOI-led missions and five are Presidential state visits.

This year’s 13 outbound missions were in Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Australia, and Cambodia. The areas of interests are maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, electricity generation and transmission, hydropower power, tourism, energy, e-vehicle, agro-business, shipbuilding, business process outsourcing (BPO), duty free shops, and investments in economic zones and in Mindanao.

“In 2013, we expect this trend to continue with numerous investor queries and requests for assistance in the conduct of our due diligence activities. We are also anticipating a considerable increase in realized investment projects with value propositions from the industry roadmaps developed this year,” Panlilio said. (DTI)

source: PIA

7 Dies in Christmas Day Tragedy

Tragedy struck a family on Christmas Day when fire broke out in a row of apartment units owned by a veterinarian in Quezon City, killing the animal doctor and six members of his household.
Senior Superintendent Aderson Comar, assistant regional director for operations of the Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region (BFP-NCR), said that fire brokeout at about 5:24 a.m. in the row of apartment units owned by the family of veterinarian Dr. Carlos Filamor Sr. on Rest Haven Street in Barangay Bungad.

At the time of the fire, Senior Fire Officer 3 Jose Felipe Arreza said that there were seven persons inside the unit occupied by Dr. Filamor, including himself. With him are his wife Korina, 50; their two children, Carlos Jr., 25, and Eva, 26; Eva’s two sons, Miguel Andrei Mutuc, 13, and Mateo Aaron Mutuc, 14; and the family housemaid Marina Ayon, 48. All the victims were burned beyond recognition and investigators may resort to dental recognition to identify the recovered remains.
Apart from the victims’ bodies, investigators also found a burned dog and cat at a veterinary clinic owned by Dr Filamor.

The Filamors occupy one unit of the row of 16 apartment units. Its only two windows have steel grills.

Comar said two bodies were found in each of the two entrance doors of the Filamor unit located within the compound.

The other bodies were found in a room on the second floor, one in the kitchen, one in the ground floor comfort room, and one in the living.

Quezon City Deputy Fire Marshall Samuel Tadeo said that the seventh body was found at around before 2 p.m. yesterday at Unit 16-B, located two units from the Filamor’s. Tadeo said the seventh body could be that of Carlos Jr., a special child, who jumped out from a second floor window.

Read the full story @ Manila Bulletin