Chaitanya Kalbag LOS BANOS, Philippines, May 24, Reuter – Asia’s rice producers, reeling from the effects of the worst drought in decades, are grappling with depleted stockpiles and soaring world prices for the continent’s staple food. Experts at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) here said on Tuesday last year’s drought came close to shattering…
25 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 25, Reuter – The Philippine economy is growing strongly well into the third year of President Corazon Aquino’s rule but growth is accompanied by painful adjustments to make up for years of depression, analysts say. Under Aquino more than 100 state-owned firms have…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, May 27, Reuter – Philippine Airlines Inc’s loss in the 1987/88 fiscal year may delay government plans to privatise the state-owned carrier, industry analysts say. PAL posted a net loss of 67.98 million pesos in the year ended March 31, a sharp decline from its 318 million peso net profit in 1986/87,…
31 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 31, Reuter – There are no magical solutions to the Philippines’ heavy foreign debt burden, Finance Secretary Vicente Jayme told a businessmen’s meeting. Earlier this month the Philippine Senate issued a flurry of tough proposals on the country’s $28.7 billion dollar foreign debt…
5 June 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 5, Reuter – To pay or not — that is the question facing the Philippines, only Asian nation on the World Bank’s list of 17 highly indebted, middle-income countries. The Philippines, with a foreign debt of 28.7 billion dollars, has received no new…
6 June 1988 The Toronto Star FIN B4 English Copyright (c) 1988 The Toronto Star MANILA, Philippines – “No one’s talking new money, so we must reduce external outflows,” Economic Planning Secretary (Minister) Solita Monsod said in a newspaper interview. “Confrontation is a state of mind. We’re not saying that we won’t pay, just that…
19 July 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 19, Reuter – Philippine officials said on Tuesday that It was up to President Corazon Aquino to interpret an anti-nuclear constitutional clause that could affect the future of the two main U.S. bases in the country. A joint executive-legislative panel set up by…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, July 26, Reuter – The Philippines welcomes a decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase its 1988 sugar import quota to 158,640 short tons from 110,600 tons, Agriculture Secretary Carlos Dominguez said. “We welcome the opportunity … and we will try our best to meet the increased quota,” Dominguez…
28 July 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 28, Reuter – The Philippines plans to approach its creditor banks for a new-money loan package and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new funding program this autumn, central bank governor Jose Fernandez said on Thursday. He told a news conference that…
28 July 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 28, Reuter – Philippine President Corazon Aquino, secure in power near the end of a coup-free year, is trying to get tough with her problems. “The president feels she has to use some form of brass knuckles now where she was all sweetness…
3 August 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 3, Reuter – The Philippines has told its commercial bank creditors they must help bridge a 1.8 billion dollar financing gap in 1989, a senior official close to talks held in New York last month told Reuters. The official said Philippine officials had…
20 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, NOV 20, Reuters – Whoever wins this week’s Indian elections will face some knotty economic problems, but analysts believe the nation will continue to open up to the world. “Liberalisation will have to continue whichever government comes in. This is economic reality,” said…
21 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Nov 21, Reuters – The leader of an increasingly powerful rightwing Hindu party said on Tuesday that India faces instability if the opposition alliance he backs wins this week’s elections. Lal Krishna Advani of the revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was harsh in…
21 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited Calcutta, Nov 21, Reuters – The six Bengalis splashing around a fire hydrant inches from cursing bus-drivers in the evening traffic are worried about their daily bath. “Election? What election? I have a holiday on polling day and plan to visit my mother,” says Barun…
22 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, NOV 22, Reuter – Political instability likely to result from this week’s elections could dangerously slow India’s economic growth, economic analysts said. They said the new government could also face a resource crisis brought on by plunging foreign exchange reserves, unbridled domestic demand…
22 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Reuter – Political instability likely to result from this week’s elections could slow India’s growth dangerously, analysts said on Wednesday. They said the new government would also face a resource crisis brought on by plunging foreign exchange reserves, unbridled domestic demand and a…
Chaitanya Kalbag CHAMKAUR SAHIB, India, Nov 23, Reuter – Long before Bimal Kaur Khalsa’s motorcade churns into dusty view across the Punjab countryside, the waiting crowds are chanting militant Sikh slogans. Khalsa, widow of one of prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins, has come to symbolise the anger and alienation that have plunged the north Indian…
24 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited LUDHIANA, India, Nov 24, Reuter – At least 26 people were killed on Friday on the second day of India’s general election, taking the death toll in the three-stage poll in the world’s largest democracy to 60. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi meanwhile brought his campaign…
Chaitanya Kalbag LUDHIANA, India, Nov 24, Reuters – Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi wound up an exhausting election campaign on Friday, addressing a sparse crowd standing up to its ankles in mud. Chief rival Vishwanath Pratap Singh ended his campaign jubilant. “Congress will be routed,” Singh told an impromptu roadside news conference in Uttar Pradesh…
Chaitanya Kalbag CHANDIGARH, India, Nov 26, Reuters – India’s bloody general election entered its final stage on Sunday with an exit poll from earlier voting predicting that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi faces major losses. The survey, conducted by the independent India Today magazine, forecast neither Gandhi nor the opposition National Front alliance would get a…
27 November 1989 Reuters News English (c) 1989 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Nov 27, Reuter – A giant petrochemical project could hold a clue to whether India’s main communist party will throw its weight behind Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as he heads towards an election defeat. Gandhi’s Congress party appeared on Monday to be…
Chaitanya Kalbag NEW DELHI, NOV 28, Reuters – Political instability in India may be in prospect after inconclusive national elections, but industrialists and economists said they expected business to carry on as usual. They said industry’s energetic growth over the past five years had generated its own momentum. “This country, fortunately, is not run by…
Reuter News Agency 18 December 1984 BHOPAL, India (Reuter) – More than half the poison chemical remaining at a Union Carbide plant has been neutralized, but thousands of city residents refuse to return home to the site of the world’s worst industrial disaster. Arjun Singh, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh State, told reporters yesterday that…
REUTERS 8 September 1985 The Seattle Times THIMPHU, Bhutan_ “Do not give pens, sweets or medicine to villagers,” warns a Bhutanese government guidebook for tourists and mountaineers. For a country described in official brochures as ‘ ‘perhaps the last of the Shangrilas,” Bhutan is not in a hurry to modernize its tourist image. Called ”Druk…
Reuter News Agency 9 March 1986 The Toronto Star SRINAGAR, INDIA — “The large-scale arson, pillage, plunder and desecration of our temples in last month’s attacks was aimed at creating conditions for the mass exodus of Hindus,” says Hindu Action Committee leader Bal Krishna Handoo. “If we quit Kashmir we will be handing it on…
Reuter 19 January 1987 Sydney Morning Herald MANILA, Sunday: President Corazon Aquino flew to the violence-racked island of Mindanao today, apparently unruffled by a night of tension triggered by warnings that a fanatical military group was plotting a new attempt to topple her Government. In Manila, soldiers, backed by water cannon and armoured cars sealed…
19 January 1987 The Toronto star MANILA, PHILIPPINES — He told a press conference Manila would not resume talks on restructuring $3.6 billion of its $28.6 billion debt until a “better than Mexico” offer was made. Bankers consider the Mexican deal the most lenient a major debtor nation has received from creditor banks. Ongpin said…
REUTERS 16 April 1987 The Seattle times MANILA _ Weeks of fierce fighting between government troops and communist insurgents have highlighted a deep rift between radical left-wing priests and conservatives in the Philippines’ powerful Roman Catholic church. Amid some of the worst violence in the 18-year revolt, high Church leaders have moved to sever the…
21 May 1987 The San Francisco Chronicle Manila President Corazon Aquino’s ambitious plan to distribute land to more than half the country’s peasants is in danger of falling victim to the Philippines’ return to full legislative democracy. Pressure has been mounting on Aquino to use her sweeping legislative powers and sign the Accelerated Land Reform…
1 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 1- The head of Philippine National Oil Co said the proposed privatisation of Petron Corp, a fully owned subsidiary, would rob the government of a valuable and profit-making asset and suggested reconsideration of what he termed a strategically unwise move. “Petron is PNOC’s…
1 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 1 – Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) chairman Jose Romero said he would visit Brussels later this month to lobby against a proposed 100 pct European Community (EC) levy on vegetable oil imports. “I intend to visit Brussels and talk to whoever is…
2 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 2, Reuter – The Philippine economy’s impressive growth in this year’s first quarter suggests the government’s ambitious economic targets are within reach, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said today. “I don’t see anything on the horizon that should cut (growth) short,” Fernandez said…
2 June 1987 Chaitanya Kalbag/ Reuters English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 2, Reuter – The World Bank’s policies prevent it lending money to the Philippines for the transfer of land from landowners to the poor, but it can help finance subsequent development costs, a bank official said today. “The World Bank by its…
3 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 3, Reuter – The latest draft of the Philippines’ ambitious land reform program delays final land distribution until 1997, details options for compensating landowners, and holds out imprisonment for violators. Teodoro Benigno, spokesman for President Corazon Aquino, told reporters a cabinet meeting today…
3 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 3, Reuter – Japan will expand its assistance to the Philippines and encourage Manila to increase its exports, the head of a Japanese economic mission said today. Former foreign minister Saburo Okita told a news conference the aid would be in line with…
8 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 5 – The Philippines’ interest payments on its foreign debt will increase by 157 million dollars this year if the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) climbs to an average of 7.5 pct, Central Bank Deputy Governor Edgardo Zialcita said. “Assuming that the uptrend…
8 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 8, Reuter – The closure last month of the Manila Banking Corporation, one of the Philippines‘ nine largest banks, highlights the weaknesses still plaguing the country’s financial institutions, bankers and analysts said today. Manila Bank was declared insolvent by the Central Bank of…
8 June 1987 The Toronto Star Copyright (c) 1987 The Toronto Star MANILA — The government is aiming at GNP growth of between 6 and 6.5 per cent for the whole of this year. The first-quarter figure was the best in three years. GNP grew a modest 1.5 per cent last year after contracting more…
10 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 10 – The Philippines’ Omnibus Investment Code was approved by the cabinet and a final draft will soon be prepared for decree by President Corazon Aquino, Trade and Industry Secretary Jose Concepcion said. “The cabinet approved the investment code in principle and within…
10 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 10 – Japan feels the political and economic situation in the Philippines has stabilised and will encourage its businessmen to invest here, a Japanese official said. “Now the appreciation of the yen has added a new element and it is logical for Japanese businessmen…
11 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 11 – Proposed land reforms that would limit all holdings in the Philippines to seven hectares are likely to scare away private entrepreneurs, said Deogracias Vistan, president of the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines. The government should carefully study minimum land needs…
11 June 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 11 – Philippine Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said he welcomed a compromise reached by Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin and the Philippines’ bank creditors over Manila’s demand for improved debt repayment terms. “If he (Ongpin) has come to an agreement I accept that…
17 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 17 – The Philippines” Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has ordered all its reserve stocks and sugar earmarked for the world market to be diverted onto the domestic market in a bid to bring down rising domestic prices, SRA board member Bibiano Sabino told Reuters. Under…
20 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 20 – The speedy and cordial conclusion of a 13.2 billion dollar debt rescheduling package by Philippine officials and bank creditors apparently was intended to pre-empt the country’s new Congress which convenes on July 27, bankers and economists polled by Reuters said. Omar Cruz,…
21 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 21 – The Philippines’ foreign debt was 28.58 billion dollars at the end of March, up from 28.25 billion at the end of 1986 and 26.35 billion a year earlier, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. In a report to President Corazon Aquino on…
22 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 22, Reuter – Held out as a radical step that would end decades of war and poverty in the Philippine countryside, President Corazon Aquino’s land reform program was instead greeted by a chorus of criticism. Today‘s presidential order, the 229th since Aquino came…
23 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 23 – A row over the proposed privatisation of Petron Corp, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Philippine National Oil Co (PNOC), intensified as the Committee on Privatisation (COP) said overwhelming arguments favour the sale. PNOC’s board of directors last month opposed Petron’s sale,…
23 July 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 23, Reuter – Protests by both landowners and poor farmworkers mounted today over the Philippines’ land reform program, while the country’s new Congress threatened to review all decrees signed by President Corazon Aquino. Hours after Aquino signed the land reforms into law yesterday,…
27 July 1987 English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 27, Reuter – President Corazon Aquino lashed out at the Philippines’ creditor banks today, charging they coerced her government into signing an unfavorable debt pact, and vowed to fight enemies of both the right and the left. In a State of the Nation speech, one…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, July 29, Reuter – U.S. military bases in the Philippines are vital to the security of both countries but America would respect any decision by Manila to remove them, a senior U.S. diplomat said today. “The bases are of vital importance,” U.S. Charge’ d’Affaires Philip Kaplan told the influential Makati Business Club. …
30 July 1987 Reuters news (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 30 – Foreign debt has suddenly become a dirty phrase in Manila, but any repudiation of the Philippines’ debt could isolate the country financially, economic analysts said. Spurred by President Corazon Aquino’s scathing attack on creditors in her speech at the opening of Congress…
4 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 4, Reuter – The killing of a top official known for his strong anti-communist views has shocked the Philippines and revived a debate over armed vigilante groups. Local Governments Secretary Jaime Ferrer’s murder by three gunmen on Sunday was the latest in a series…
7 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 7, Reuter – The growing call in the Philippines for a repudiation of some of the country’s 28.4 Billion dollar foreign debt was strongly attacked today by the finance minister and the leader of an influential business group. Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin told reporters…
7 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 7, Reuter – Extra bodyguards were assigned to top Philippine officials today after a congressional leader and the country’s election commission chief received death threats from Communist and Moslem guerrillas. Amid rising public outrage, police admitted they were no nearer solving the murders…
12 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 12, Reuter – About 500 families were evacuated today from the central Philippine city of Legaspi as Typhoon Betty, threatening to be the strongest to hit the country since 1964, approached with wind speeds of up to 220 km (140 miles) an hour. …
13 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 13, Reuter – President Corazon Aquino was not kept fully Informed throughout a prolonged dispute between the Philippines and a consortium of Western banks, Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin told Reuters in an interview today. The dispute Involved a commercial debt incurred by a private fertiliser…
13 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 13, Reuter – Typhoon Betty slammed into the central Philippines today, killing a boy, blowing down power lines and damaging crops, but the weather office said the storm was veering away from Manila. A spokesman for the Philippine Red Cross said a six-year-old boy…
18 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 18 – Foreign companies will be allowed to list their stock on the two stock exchanges In Manila in a move expected to attract foreign investors, Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commissioner Monico Jacob told Reuters. Jacob said the decision followed an Inquiry by…
20 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 20 – Last week’s 20 pct rise in the prices of petrol, diesel and fuel oil in the Philippines is likely to cause a small increase in inflation, analysts told Reuters. Omar Cruz, a senior economist at the independent Center for Research and…
21 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 21 – Elders Finance, a division of (Elders IXL Ltd), is interested in buying a minority stake in either Union Bank of the Philippines or the Philippine Commercial International (PCI) Bank as part of a major thrust into the country, banking sources said. They…
25 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 25, Reuter – A major coalition of Philippine landowners today labelled President Corazon Aquino’s land reforms “communistic” and said violence might erupt if the program was pushed through. “This is a polarisation of classes,” Eduardo Hernandez, chairman of the Council of Agricultural Producers,…
28 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 28, Reuter – Buildings blazed and streets shook in Manila today in the capital’s heaviest fighting since World War Two. “Advance, advance,” civilian spectators shouted to soldiers backing Corazon Aquino as they moved on comrades-in-arms dedicated to overturning the president’s government. Gunfire cracked and…
28 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 28 – The Philippines’ latest coup attempt, the most violent in President Corazon Aquino’s 18 months in office, will severely affect business confidence and create renewed uncertainty for investors, analysts said. Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin, asked for his reaction to the takeover of parts of…
31 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 31 – Manila’s stock markets held steady in the first session after Friday’s coup attempt, but businessmen and analysts polled by Reuters said the most serious threat so far to President Corazon Aquino’s rule was a warning to her to quickly assert control of…
1 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 1, Reuter – “Who goes there — friend or foe?” That traditional challenge has acquired new meaning here after last week’s uprising by elite soldiers who helped President Corazon Aquino to power last year, analysts said on Tuesday. A senior army officer who…
4 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 4, Reuter – President Corazon Aquino said on Friday democracy had taken one step forward and two steps back since she took power in the Philippines but vowed to continue fighting for her ideals. Ringed by tight security, the embattled leader visited military…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Sept 4, Reuter – Low pay and poor working conditions have fuelled unrest in the Philippine military and laid the ground for further coup attempts, analysts said on Friday. “Most soldiers barely manage to survive,” a Western military attache told Reuters. “Housing is almost non-existent, except for senior officers. Privates are forced…
9 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 9, Reuter – The Philippine cabinet resigned on Wednesday, giving President Corazon Aquino a free hand to reorganise her government as she faces the worst domestic crisis of her 18-month rule. The mass resignation by 26 government ministers mirrored an identical move last…
10 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 10 – Philippine President Corazon Aquino has been given a final chance to cobble together a cohesive government thanks to the resignation of all 26 of her cabinet ministers, bankers, businessmen and stockbrokers said. They said the turmoil of the past two weeks,…
16 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 16 – A veteran development banker and the former head of one of the Philippines’ five biggest commercial banks are tipped to occupy the country’s two top economic posts, bankers and officials polled by Reuters said. They said Public Works and Highways Secretary…
17 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 17, Reuter – Philippine President Corazon Aquino, under pressure from a disgruntled military, dropped two of her closest friends and advisers on Thursday as she continued to rebuild her battered government. Fighting to contain the after effects of a coup attempt three weeks…
18 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 18, Reuter – President Corazon Aquino’s shake-up of top posts in her government will restore waning investor confidence in the Philippines, Trade and Industry Secretary Jose Concepcion said on Friday. “The new team will be a rallying force. It will bring investments in,” Concepcion…
22 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 22 – Philippine food and beverage giant San Miguel is doing “magnificently well” despite de facto governmental control, executive Vice-President Ramon del Rosario told Reuters In an interview. “We will have a banner year — there is no question of that,” del Rosario…
24 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 24 – Any ceiling on debt repayments imposed by the Philippines would cut off trade credits, drive up inflation and halve the exchange rate of the peso, an independent Manila research organization said. Sergio Andal, a forecaster at the Center for Research and…
28 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 28 – The Philippines is poised for a risky showdown with its creditors that could take the global debt crisis into new territory, bankers and economic analysts polled by Reuters said. Over the past week, a combative Congress has made a series…
25 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 25 – The Philippines’ recent debt restructuring hangs in the balance after a Senate panel ruled that an executive order issued by President Aquino in July should be repealed. That order allowed the government to take over a loan made to a private…
30 September 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Sept 30, Reuter – Charges of widespread human rights violations in Asia met silence or official denials on Wednesday but a Reuter poll showed personal liberty is still a prized possession across much of the sprawling continent. The charges were made by the London-based…
1 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 1, Reuter – The Philippine Congress on Thursday pushed forward an ambitious program to break up estates and give the land to peasants, filing two bills ahead of a presidential deadline. The legislature also proposing setting up a panel to shape a new…
1 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 1 – Members of the Philippine Congress want to set up a commission to shape a new national debt policy. Six senators, all members of the ruling coalition, have introduced a bill saying economic growth should dictate debt repayments. “Growth, equity and social…
2 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 2, Reuter – The number of strikes in the Philippines is down this year, but analysts say rising labour militancy promises a confrontation that could hobble economic recovery and scare off badly-needed investments. In the eye of the storm is the aggressive left-wing…
8 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 8 – The Philippine peso plunged to a record low of 20.850 against the dollar on Thursday from 20.697 on Wednesday in its biggest single-day fall in President Corazon Aquino’s 19-month rule. A Bankers’ Association of the Philippines spokesman said only one million dollars…
12 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 12 – Short-term speculators have switched their attention from Manila’s once bullish stock markets to a suddenly booming illegal trade in dollars, brokers and analysts said. They said the black market rate of the U.S. currency has risen alongside a progressive fall in…
13 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 13, Reuter – The Philippine peso has been battered over the past month as speculators moved from once- bullish Manila stock markets to a booming illegal trade in dollars, analysts said on Tuesday. They said the black market rate of the U.S. currency has…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Oct 14, Reuter – The Philippine government is considering setting up a special police force to enforce return-to-work orders at strike-hit companies, Secretary of Labour Franklin Drilon said. Labour unrest had declined this year but was still simmering because workers were testing their new-found freedom, he said. Drilon said in an interview…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Oct 14 – The Manila International Futures Exchange Inc (MIFE) hopes to start trading coconut oil, copra and coffee contracts later this month to enhance its sugar and soybean trading base, the president of the company which manages the exchange, Uisdein McInnes, said in an Interview. He said he hopes permission for the…
19 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 19, Reuter – Philippine President Corazon Aquino can expect a volley of anxious questions about her government’s economic direction when she faces members of 13 major business groups on Tuesday, analysts said. It will be her first economic speech since she came close…
22 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 22 – The Philippine Central Bank and creditors of a private fertiliser firm are racing to finalise a new compromise over a 56.5 million dollar debt that is holding up the country’s recent debt rescheduling agreement, sources close to the talks said. A…
22 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 22 – The Philippine government has made major changes in its debt-to-equity conversion program to take into account a sharp drop in value in the country’s debt paper, Central Bank Senior Deputy Governor Gabriel Singson said. He told reporters at a news conference…
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – Gunmen shot dead three Americans, including two airmen, and a Filipino near an U.S. air base on Wednesday and authorities immediately urged tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen and dependents in the Philippines to stay indoors. The four were killed…
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – The recall of a U.S. military diplomat from the Philippines underlines the love-hate ties between the two countries but also points to a new direction in Manila’s foreign policy, analysts said on Wednesday. The U.S. Embassy’s announcement that Assistant Army…
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – The United States said on Wednesday it was withdrawing a military attache from the Philippines following accusations that he interfered in a failed coup attempt in August. A U.S. embassy statement said assistant army attache Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Raphael would depart…
29 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 29, Reuter – Philippine Communist guerrillas appear to have launched a major offensive with the killings of 14 people in two days, political analysts said on Thursday. For the first time in the 18-year-old Communist insurgency, the victims included U.S. servicemen, two serving…
30 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 30 – The Philippine government and creditors of a private fertiliser firm have reached agreement on a 56.5 million dollar debt that has held up the country’s recent debt rescheduling agreement, bankers and officials said. A senior foreign banker told Reuters that lawyers…
4 November 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Nov 4, Reuter – The new customs chief of the Philippines says he frowns on blatant graft but has told his poorly-paid officers they can accept “tokens of appreciation” because they are a part of Filipino culture. “I am looking at this in a…
5 November 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Nov 5 – The heads of national oil companies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said firm world crude prices make the oil outlook for the near future optimistic, but they warned that regional cooperation must improve in order to meet a…
9 November 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Nov 9 – Any fall in commodity prices resulting from the crash in world stock markets could badly affect the Philippines, Central Bank governor Jose Fernandez said. “Probably far more important than exchange rates and interest rates are commodity prices,” he told reporters. ‘Because then…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 11 – Near the end of her second year in office, Philippine President Corazon Aquino remains at the controls of an economy that continues to lumber down the runway but refuses to take off. Aquino said in a fighting speech last month that her reforms had ended a three-year recession,…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 19 – National Statistics Office (NSO) figures show the Philippines’ trade deficit stood at 674 million dollars in the January-September period, up from 168 million dollars in the same 1986 period, and wider than the 574 million dollar deficit reported by Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez last week. The NSO said…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 20 – The Philippines’ restructuring of 13.2 billion dollars of foreign debt has again been plunged into uncertainty following calls from a leading senator for the abrogation of a July agreement with the country’s creditor banks. Senator Alberto Romulo, Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Currency and Financial Institutions,…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 20 – The Philippines will borrow between 30,000 and 100,000 tonnes of raw sugar from Thailand to meet a sudden increase in demand after a shortfall caused by a severe drought, a government official said. Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chairman Arsenio Yulo told Reuters the transaction, called a time swap,…