The grant was promised for release as far back as the third quarter of last year when exports started retreating at an average of 30 percent a month due to a sharp decline in international demand particularly from the United States, Europe and Japan, the biggest destinations of Philippine products.

The presidential assurance during the PBC gave relief to exporters whose projects have already been lined up. -- Abe P. Belena, PHILEXPORT News and Features <--back

2. PCCI calls for immediate action to avert looming power crisis

The biggest organization of businessmen the other day asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue an executive order putting together a private-public Energy Program Commission (EPC) tasked to come out with an action program to solve two big problems in the energy sector – high electricity rates and a looming electric power shortage.

The call was made through a resolution passed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) handed over to President Arroyo on the second day of the 35th Philippine Business Conference (PBC) that culminated Friday.

In handing over the set of resolutions to the chief executive, PCCI President Edgardo Lacson said that those resolutions were written after extensive consultations with all industry members and field chapters of PCCI.

The energy program commission, the resolution outlined, should be tasked to study how to achieve regionally competitive power rates and draw a program to assure the reliability of supply within the shortest possible time.

To be composed of energy experts from the PCCI, Department of Energy, Department of Finance, Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority, the group was to be given 150 days to come out with solutions to the twin problems of expensive electricity and a looming power shortage crisis.

The biggest business chamber, in a similar conference last year, had already warned that power shortages will hit the Visayas this year, will expand to Mindanao next year and hit Luzon in 2011.

Brownouts have actually hit the Visayas, but due to a slowdown in economic growth as an offshoot of the global recession, energy experts have adjusted projections such that power outages may hit Luzon to 2012.

On the other hand, all business organizations in the country, from small industry associations to the federation of foreign chambers, have been pining over the high cost of electricity in the Philippines, only second highest to Japan, in the whole of Asia.

More than any other factor, the high cost of electricity that the bill on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) failed to solve has been blamed as the culprit behind the eroded competitiveness of Philippine goods sold domestically and abroad.

In his own estimate, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, said that a total of 4,000 megawatts is needed to be installed in the country between now and 2011 to avert a nationwide power shortage crisis. Luzon will require 3,000 megawatts of additional generating capacity while the Visayas and Mindanao will need 500 megawatts each.

While there are new power generating projects in the Visayas and Mindanao, none has yet been started in Luzon. It takes three to five years to build and connect big power plants with at least 300 megawatts in capacity.

The absence of any project in Luzon has prompted Congressman Mark Cojuangco, in an earlier presentation during the PBC, to propose the commissioning of the mothballed 600-megawatt nuclear power plant in Limay, Bataan. -- Abe P. Belena, PHILEXPORT News and Features <--back

3. P3.5M assaying office to boost jewelry industry

The P3.53-million assaying and hallmarking laboratory project for the jewelry industry, scheduled for implementation mid-December this year, is expected to contribute to the improvement of quality of Philippine-made jewelry products and thus enhance their competitiveness both in the local and foreign markets.

The necessary tools and equipment worth 13,895.64 euros (around P972,695) purchased in Spain are scheduled to arrive in November, according to the Guild of Philippine Jewellers, Inc. (GPJI).

The facilities will be installed in the San Eligius Jewellery Training Center in one of the buildings of the Cottage Industry Technology Center (CITC) located in Marikina City. The CITC is the project’s implementing agency.

As the industry gears up for the laboratory’s operation, the center is now providing training to an expert in jewelry assaying, said Heidi Torrecampo, account officer of the jewelry center.

Torrecampo said different jewelry tests will conform to the Philippine National Standard (PNS) on jewelry.

After the creation of the center, GPJI will take the lead in establishing a hallmarking system applicable to the Philippine jewelry industry, including the accreditation of the laboratory with the Philippine Accreditation Office of the Department of Trade and Industry.

GPJI President Mia S. Faustmann said the assaying and hallmarking center can help boost the growth of the jewelry industry.

“The assay office will provide all stakeholders a way to check the fineness of metals. In the long term, it will help our exports because exporters can regularly test what they ship,” she said.

However, Faustmann raised the need for the government to make such test mandatory.

Torrecampo, for her part, said the hallmarking system will erase the stigma that Philippine-made jewelries are under karat.

She said once buyers trust the country’s jewelry standard, this will eventually increase revenues of jewelry makers from local and foreign sales.

The assaying center was one of the projects funded under the P280-million Export Promotion Fund (EPF) of the government. The GPJI has allotted P860,000 in counterpart funds for the project. -- Danielle Venz, PHILEXPORT News and Features <--back

4. PCASTRD manages P300 million worth of R&D program

The Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD) is running this year a research and development support program involving more than 20 projects worth about P300 million.

Engr. Nelson P. Beniabon, chief PCASTRD’s R&D Management Division, in an interview bared that financial support is provided for research projects along their priority areas.

These are nanotechnology, biotechnology, information communications technology (ICT), electronics technology, photonics technology, space technology applications and materials science, he said.

“The amount (we provide) could range from P500,000 to several millions of pesos. The money will be enough to support a project for one year. But sometimes, we have two to three-year projects,” he added.

Beniabon said projects eligible for funding are those with socioeconomic impact, R&D capability, available requisite human resources, environmental impact, cultural acceptability, technically and financially feasibility and must quality as advanced technology.

He said of the P300-million budget, bulk of the amount went to research projects in the areas of electronics, microelectronics, nanotechnology, ICT and biotechnology.

On top of this budget, Beniabon said a consortium of universities Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) has an allocation of another P300 million.

The consortium of universities that offer mature engineering graduate courses include Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Mapua Institute of Technology, the Central Luzon State University, San Carlos University, the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, the University of the Philippines-Diliman and UP Los Baños.

It provides scholarships for graduate studies in engineering and science and technology and pursues research studies for technological advancement. “It is like they were given a window where they can get money but the proposals will be evaluated by the DOST (Department of Science and Technology),” he said.

Beniabon said R&D support program aims to boost the competitiveness of the country’s productive sector and enhance the know-how of Filipino scientists and technologies. -- Danielle Venz, PHILEXPORT News and Features <--back

5. PCCI pushes Council for private sector in trade talks

Local businessmen are urging President Arroyo to appoint a permanent trade negotiator and create an Industry and Services Advisory Council (ISAC) to institutionalize private sector participation in trade negotiations.

The request was contained in a resolution submitted to the President during the 35th Philippine Business Conference organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

The PCCI believes that the ISAC system will ensure there is a specific mechanism, including pertinent timelines, area coverages and specific parameters for regular consultations from the time requests for a free trade agreement (FTA) are entertained up to their ratification.

With the appointment of a permanent trade negotiator and institution of ISAC mechanism, various stakeholders would be “assured of a trade policy regime that is coordinated, cohesive and complimentary – able to pursue the general welfare, create jobs, ensure food security, and rural and industrial development for the country”, it earlier said.

To boost international trade, the business executives likewise asked the government to create and organize a permanent organization that would advance the interests and concerns of the private sector on the various economic and trade-related strategies and initiatives of the government.

Such group shall serve as the counterpart of government in articulating the position of the various industries specifically on the impact of the different trade agreements entered into by the Philippine government with other countries.

To protect the local sectors, it will develop a database specifically on sectors that have offensive and defensive interests on the various trade agreements both in ASEAN and World Trade Organization (WTO).

“(The organization will also) look into the current consultation structure and identify its flaws and loopholes and provide a solution on how to implement reforms,” said the PCCI.

The business group also stressed the need to unify the government’s trade negotiation system.

To this end, it pushed for an Executive Order (EO) backing up the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as the lead agency in all trade negotiations.

Moreover, the PCCI’s proposed group shall champion the introduction of key legislation on competition and investment practices that would minimize if not eliminate the monopolies and cartels in the country. -- Danielle Venz, PHILEXPORT News and Features <--back