Global Financial Crisis – Philippines

THE results of the latest survey among members of the Makati Business Club showed that the majority expects the brunt of the global financial crisis to hit this year.

A NUMBER of hotels and resorts have started dropping their rates by 20 to 30 percent to entice guests amid a global economic slowdown that has slashed consumer spending, an industry leader said.

More companies in the electronics sector announced cutback plans yesterday while the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) estimates up to 300,000 persons could lose their jobs over the next six months as the global financial crisis deepens.

MANILA, Philippines — A glut of office space has hit the Philippines property sector as cash-hungry foreign companies cut back on their export of back-office operations, an international property consultant said Thursday.

Makati City, Philippines — Leading cement company Holcim Philippines said today that it has no plans to cease operations in any of its cement plants. 

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Department of Labor and Employment here said the worldwide economic crisis has already displaced some 5,000 workers in Central Luzon since November, but the local call center industry remains in need of thousands more of agents.

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Tuesday said the Department of Labor and Employment’s (quick reaction teams (QRTs) have been reactivated in all regions to assist displaced workers.

MALOLOS CITY—The government is rushing a stimulus package to bail out threatened economy to save and create jobs in private companies, but the National Food Authority (NFA) will lay off 800 regular employees.

CLARK FREEPORT – The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) has allocated P82 billion for a pro-poor “stimulus package,” mostly for housing projects.

Expanded student cash doles, power refunds sought MANILA, Philippines—Labor groups and economic experts are pressing the Arroyo administration to bail out workers displaced by the global economic crisis by expanding the government’s cash subsidy programs.

Hundreds of people in the country are losing their jobs everyday as the global economy slows, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said yesterday

The bicameral conference committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives approved yesterday the P1.415-trillion national budget for this year, including P50 billion for the “economic stimulus package.”

We can keep telling each other until we are blue in the face that the world financial crisis won’t affect us that badly or worse, still to land on our shores. But the facts of the matter are: the economy has already retreated sharply, exports have declined, there are more factory closures and job layoffs…

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque today said some displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwan would soon organize themselves to put up their own business enterprise under the DOLE contingency plan for workers affected by the global financial crisis.

The private sector component of the P100-billion infrastructure fund is nearly complete, with the first project expected to start within the first quarter, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.

GFIs to contribute P100B MANILA, Philippines—The Social Security System (SSS) is chipping in P12.5 billion to the P300-billion economic stimulus fund meant to help tide the Philippines over this year when the global downturn is anticipated to worsen.

THE average occupancy rate in Metro Manila hotels fell to 70.34 percent in November 2008 from 78.91 percent a year ago, though that was up from 69.76 percent in September, the Tourism Department said over the weekend.

The outgoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in Manila said yesterday the Philippines is in “a much better position” to confront the challenges posed by the global economic crisis.

No new investments investments are expected in the local electronics industry as a result of a sharp cut in demand due to the global economic downturn, the Semiconductors and Electronics Industries of the Philippines (SEIPI) said yesterday.

Local businessmen expect a further drop in exports while profitability and sales of firms will be lower this year as the full effects of the global financial crisis hit the business sector this year.

MANY privately held businesses expect 2009 to be worse than last year, as they brace for the full effects of the global financial crisis, according to Grant Thornton International Business Report 2009.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) closed on Thursday two more rural banks—this time in Pampanga—after they declared a bank holiday.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) vowed it will implement ways to support industries specifically the automotive industry in light of the slowdown in the global demand.

The government plans to spend 60 percent to 80 percent of its P1.415-trillion budget for the year during the first semester as part of plans to pump-prime the economy, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Ralph Recto said.

A run among Rural Banks (RBs) appear to be spreading after three banks, one in Dumaguete and two in Pampanga, recently declared holidays after experiencing massive withdrawals.

ILIGAN CITY – President Arroyo has ordered the expansion of the administration’s emergency employment and livelihood program to create at least one million jobs for the poor by July.

The global financial crisis has taken its toll even among the country’s biggest firms, a labor group said.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this year would focus on assisting those who might lose their jobs here and abroad in starting their own businesses in the country instead.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) yesterday reported that at least 1,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have lost their jobs in Taiwan and other countries due to the global financial crisis.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada are calling on Malacañang and Congress to hold a summit with the business sector to discuss ways and means to create more jobs in the country in the midst of an impending global financial crisis.