News Report 11 March 2019
Local
1. House accepts budget veto
Manila Bulletin, 11 March 2019, p. 1, continued on p. 6
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando An-daya, chairman of the House Commit-tee on Appropriations, said the House of Representatives will accept a veto if the President is convinced that the budget that was ratified “is constitutionally infirm and legally flawed” as claimed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson.
President Rodrigo Duterte may veto the inclusion of P79 billion worth of projects in the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) but should spare from rejection the rest of the budget.
Korea
2. S. Korea-backed project for Panay upland farmers may be replicated elsewhere Business World, 11 March 2019, p. 6/S2
The Panay Island Upland–Sustainable Rural Development Project (PIU-SRDP) funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is now on its third and final stage, which focuses on local food marketing and building an integrated mechanism between marketing and finance in 11
municipalities of Panay Island.
According to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, this program will be replicated in other parts of the country.
Economic
3. Easing of foreign equity limit pushed Philippine Daily Inquirer, 11 March 2019, p. B3
According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the economic team is aware of the negative effects of our very restrictive policies with regards to foreign investments in the Philippines and that they are opening up as much as we can administratively, but there are portions in the Constitution that still limit the opening up of foreign investments.
On the other hand, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in a statement last week that amendments to the Public Service Act, the Foreign Investments Act of 1991 and the Retail Trade Liberalization Law were “vital” to attract new investments and cut expansion costs here amid slowing manufacturing growth.
4. Israeli energy firm eyes Palawan exploration Business Mirror, 11 March 2019, p. A12
Israeli firm Ratio Petroleum Ltd. wants to partner with Philippine National Oil Company-Explo- ration Corp. (PNOC-EC) to jointly explore possible petroleum reserves in the east Palawan basin.
Ratio Petroleum was awarded Service Contract (SC) No. 76 covering Area 4 of Eastern Palawan, as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) fifth Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR),
launched in May 2014. SC 76 spans 416,000 hectares across the east Palawan basin for potential oil and gas resources. The seven-year exploration project is expected to cost $34.35 million, which will be used for studies, data gathering and drilling activities over the initial seven-year contract period.
