Equity

At this time, the word from the chairman of the Senate finance committee, Sen. Franklin Drilon, a staunch ally of President Aquino, is that he isn’t quite buying the appeal of the social services secretary for an additional P2 billion for the already controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT), although bets are on that when Aquino…

THE combined net profits of listed companies grew 22.2 percent to P440.72 billion in 2010 against the P360.63 billion posted the year before, according to data from the annual financial statements that those firms filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange.

MANILA, Philippines –  Aggregate net earnings of companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) rose 22.2 percent to P440.72 billion last year amid improvements in the macro-economic environment, especially the lower interest and inflation rates.

CEBU, Philippines – Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) warned the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya program that cash grants should not be subjected to any abuse, such as using them as collateral or guarantee for loans.

MANILA, Philippines – Two lawmakers are calling for a review of the implementation of the government’s multi-billion Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.

SOCIAL WATCH Co-Convener Marivic Raquiza considers it “very one-sided” that the government monitors compliance by beneficiaries – the so-called demand side – of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, but not the supply side, which the national and local government should take care of.

SHE HAD neither bought a lotto ticket nor joined a TV game show. But Marissa felt like she won the jackpot anyway late last year, when her family was chosen as one of the recipients of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program.

Manila, Philippines – The 2.3 million beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will receive cash grants from the government as early as September this year.

It is known in different names in different places. In Mexico where it began and has been equally successful at reducing poverty, it is Oportunidades. In Brazil, where it is even bigger, it is known as Bolsa Familia. In the Philippines, it is Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino or 4Ps.

Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) should be made to account on how the funds allotted for the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program are being disbursed before making any increase in the project’s funding.

P2B AUGMENTATION MAY BE ILLEGAL — LAGMAN Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Budget Secretary Butch Abad may likely find themselves in hot water after House members bared their intention to hold an inquiry into the P2-billion additional budget allotted for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program bloating its appropriation this year to P23…

Some militant groups have recently asked President Aquino to stop the rise of oil prices. Fact is, world markets dictate oil prices; a Philippine president can’t have any impact on this. The whole world is suffering due to the conflicts in the Middle East that affect oil supply and future assuredness of supply. That has…

A ranking member of the House opposition said the minority in the chamber may seek an inves-tigation into the alleged additional P2 billion infused into the contro-versial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

It really pays to be one of the President’s most favored men. Yesterday, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman admitted that her agency’s budget for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for 2011 was raised from the originally approved P21.19 billion to P23.39 billion. This despite the fact she did not raise the number…

The government will stop offering low-priced rice and instead the Palace said it will require those seeking to buy subsidized rice to undergo processing through a so-called National Household Targeting System which is supposedly a scheme to ensure that only those who really need the staple will receive it.

MANILA, Philippines – President “Benigno” Aquino III asked businessmen to consider creating a profit sharing or productivity incentives plan, a measure he has been advocating since he was part of Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino yesterday called on employers to be more generous to their workers by way of profit sharing.

Amid the unabated rise in the process of oil and other petroleum products, legislators yesterday urged Malacañang to look into the possibility of reducing the P4.35 per liter excise tax on gasoline as a way of cushioning the effects of the soaring gasoline prices used by tricycles, taxi cabs, farm equipment and fishing boats.

BRANDS SUAREZ CHALLENGE OF BIR AUDIT AS ‘OBFUSCATION’ The Palace cried harassment and branded as “political obfuscation” the suggestion of oppositionist Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez for President Aquino and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to check the financial books of companies of big businessmen who are members of Aquino-backer Makati Business Club (MBC).

A direct challenge has been flung by a minority leader at President Aquino, which may well be the warm-up from the political opposition in the House of Representatives that had earlier announced a full-scale offensive against the Aquino administration.

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As critics of President Aquino spotlight the failure of his administration’s P21.5 billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program after the recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing an increase in the number of poor and hungry Filipinos, the Palace yesterday went on a publicity overdrive, saying the program is being stepped up and had claimed…

BENEFICIARIES of the P21-billion Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program had been misidentified by the government, a House leader said on Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines –  Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles has asked Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman to submit quarterly reports on the implementation of the P22-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business organization in the country, has expressed concern over the differences in the treatment of taxes for corporate entities and sole proprietors in Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – It’s been called a “life-saver” to impoverished families but to former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and 2 barangay officials, the P21 billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program allocation in the 2011 national budget is an unconstitutional campaign and a “grave abuse of discretion of the Executive Department.”

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The implementation of the national government’s conditional cash transfer under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps to help alleviate the living conditions of the country’s poorest of the poor is being set back by the fact that some beneficiaries do not belong to marginalized families.

EMBOLDENED by the 33-percent rise in net income the past year, chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala III, his brother Fernando and the rest of the board of the Bank of the Philippine Islands are seeking stockholders’ approval to please grant them higher bonuses.

Four Filipinos made it to the latest Forbes billionaire list, which has ballooned to a record 1,210 personalities in the wake of the global economic recovery.

NEW DELHI—India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani said Tuesday the country needed equitable growth at all levels to include millions of Indians residing in slums and villages in the mainstream of progress.