Chaitanya Kalbag Manila (Reuter) — The armed forces, the institution that has held the Philippines together over the past year, has emerged at war with itself after Thursday’s face-saving solution to an insurrection by 400 rebel soldiers, analysts said. Western diplomats and military experts said that Tuesday’s coup attempt and its compromise with a rump…
Chaitanya Kalbag Manila (Reuter-Kyodo) “Who goes there — friend or foe?” That traditional challenge has acquired new meaning here after the recent uprising by elite soldiers who helped President Corazon Aquino to power last year, analysts say. A senior army officer who did not wish to be identified said the coup bid had proved loyalty to…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters The Philippine economy is expected to continue to grow in 1987 after a modest upturn in 1986, but a major revival depends on an end to political uncertainty, bankers, economists, diplomats and businessmen said. Economic Planning Minister Solita Monsod has said the gross national product (GNP) grew 0.13% in 1986 after declining…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters When Corazon Aquino pledged retribution Tuesday for the latest coup attempt against her, she also proclaimed the finality of her transformation from hesitant housewife to leader of a tumultuous nation. For a woman who said her family was her greatest pleasure and agonized over entering politics in the shadow of her slain…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters News Service MANILA — The Philippines, once Southeast Asia’s second-richest nation but now its second-poorest, claims it is poised for an economic boom in 1987 after three years of precipitous decline that has drained millions in poverty. Government officials, buoyed by rising foreign exchange reserves and single-digit inflation, have begun the new…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA: A government-appointed special prosecutor yesterday ordered the filing of corruption charges against Philippine Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez, who said he would contest them. Ombudsman Raul Gonzalez said there was evidence to indicate that Mr. Fernandez had misused his office in ordering the closure of the private Pacific Bank in July,…
By Chaitanya Kalbag The Philippines is poised to write a new and dangerous chapter in the global debt crisis, bankers and economic analysts warned on Monday. Over the past week, a combative Congress has set in motion plans likely to pit the heavily indebted nation against its foreign creditors and rupture economic recovery. The analysts…
US ‘interference’ charges spur soul-searching in Manila MANILA —The recall of a US military diplomat from the Philippines underlines the love-hate ties between the two countries but also points to a new direction in Manila foreign policy, analysts said Wednesday. The US Embassy’s announcement that assistant army attache Lt Col Victor Raphael would depart this…
Philippine investigators recover millions by seizing funds of ex-leader’s ‘cronies’ Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Reuters: Former President Ferdinand Marcos and his associates still control vast amounts of funds circulating in the country’s economy, the head of a government panel tracking the ousted leader’s “hidden wealth” said Sunday Ramon Diaz, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, March 15, Reuters – A 288 million dollar syndicated loan for the Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co marks a major initiative by Manila’s commercial bank creditors to recycle existing debt, bankers said. BOT International (HK) Ltd, Citicorp International Ltd and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp are lead managing the loan.…
6 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 6 – The options available in solving the global debt crisis had broadened dramatically with U.S. government backing of a Mexican plan to retire a large part of its foreign debt, Philippine Finance Secretary Vicente Jayme said. “I feel that the Mexican package…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Jan 17, Reuter – Monday’s local elections are billed as President Corazon Aquino’s last step in returning the Philippines to democracy, but bloody campaigning has left many here wondering if there has been genuine change. Analysts polled by Reuters said the elections would bring about a realignment of political forces, hasten the…
19 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 19, Reuter – The Philippines has emerged from a tumultuous year with democracy apparently firmly in place after Monday’s local elections, but there is no euphoria among analysts over the country’s economic prospects. The economy has turned in its best growth in seven…
20 January 1988 The Globe and Mail B24 English All material copyright Thomson Canada Limited or its licensors. All rights reserved. The Philippines has experienced its best growth in seven years, but it still faces a daunting array of problems. Analysts say President Corazon Aquino must now demonstrate that she can manage the economy. …
22 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 22, Reuter – The United States is committed to helping the Philippines achieve economic recovery by stepping up investments, keeping its doors open to imports, and maintaining the flow of aid, Ambassador Nicholas Platt said on Friday. He told a meeting of American…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Jan 22 – Sugar industry officials said the Philippines might not be able to sell extra sugar to the U.S. because the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) was delaying the issue of guidelines for a re-export plan approved by the U.S. Congress. Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Chairman Arsenio Yulo said he asked President…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Feb 16, Reuter – West German Minister of Economics Martin Bangemann is expected to explore ways of expanding trade and investment ties with the Philippines in talks here this week, a West German diplomat said on Tuesday. Hans-Wilhelm Verbeek, First Secretary in the West German Embassy, told Reuters Bangemann was also likely…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, March 22, Reuter – Falling sugar and coconut production is expected to lead to little or no overall growth in Philippine agriculture in 1988, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its annual report on the Philippines. It forecast overall growth of 0.5 pct against an estimated four pct decline in 1987. …
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, April 18, Reuter – Filipino and foreign businessmen have launched a sharp attack on the Philippines’ 20-month-old debt/equity swap program, charging it is too restrictive and arbitrary and actually deters investors. “Disillusioned investors are the worst possible advertisement for the Philippines,” said a statement issued jointly by the Philippine, American, European, Japanese…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, April 27, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has found it difficult to identify suitable projects to assist in China because of Peking’s centrally planned economy, bank president Masao Fujioka told Reuters in an interview. China became the 47-member bank’s newest member in 1986 and received two loans totaling 133.3 million…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, April 29, Reuter – The Soviet Union’s interest in joining the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is part of Moscow’s move to restructure its economy, a senior official said. “The ADB’s major field of cooperation with its members bears a relation to Soviet efforts to restructure the economy aimed at expanding our export…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, April 29, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank’s lending policies came under fire at its annual meeting and there were calls for a re-examination of its role. Indonesian Finance Minister J.B. Sumarlin said he was concerned that although loan approvals rose to a record high of 2.4 billion dollars in 1987, the…
By Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, April 30, Reuter – Afghanistan appealed on Saturday for the Asian Development Bank to help resettle refugees and repair its war- damaged economy. Afghan Finance Minister Mohamad Kabir urged the Manila-based bank to resume lending to Kabul, suspended after Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan in 1979, and to send a mission…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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. …
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…
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…
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,…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 24 – The Philippines has moved to defend its foreign exchange reserves by curbing U.S. dollar trading between banks, easing bank deposit rules for overseas workers and cutting purchases of debt paper with foreign exchange. The new rules were announced as the peso stumbled to a 20-month low of 20.938…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Nov 24, Reuter – Private groups in Australia and West Europe are supplying Philippine communist guerrillas with aid, a military intelligence report said on Tuesday. The report said 14 private groups in Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, West Germany and Belgium were sending aid to the 23,000-strong communist New People’s Army. “The governments of…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Nov 25 – The Philippines has been warned that the United States is planning to slash its 1988 sugar import quota but is not very worried, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chairman Arsenio Yulo told Reuters in an interview. “The signal given to us is that they (the U.S.) will reduce the…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Nov 25, Reuter – The communist rebel killings of three Americans near a U.S. military base in the Philippines last month will strengthen ties between the two countries and speed up aid from Washington, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. “These killings will have the opposite effect from that which the terrorists…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Nov 27, Reuter – Rescue workers battled through floods in the central Philippines on Friday after Typhoon Nina killed at least 361 people, 275 of them in a coastal town smashed by giant tidal waves. President Corazon Aquino declared 11 provinces in the south of Luzon island calamity zones and ordered emergency rehabilitation…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Dec 1 – Short-term interest rates have shot up in the Philippines as the peso has come under increasing pressure and the central bank has been forced to intervene heavily to defend the local currency, bankers said. Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (BAP) figures show the central bank was a net seller…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Dec 7, Reuter – Former Philippine finance minister Jaime Ongpin was found with a bullet wound in the head in his Manila office on Monday in what his son and police said looked like suicide. Police investigator Romeo Urbana said a guard at the building housing Ongpin’s office found the former minister slumped…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Dec 13 – South-east Asian leaders gather in Manila this week to try to refurbish an organisation that has rarely moved from rhetoric to reality on its main goal of economic cooperation, analysts said. The threat of a recession in the United States, a slowdown in the world economy and rising…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Dec 14 (Reuter) – The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) criticised rising protectionism, called for new commodity agreements and urged creditors to ease the burden of foreign debt in a draft communique to be signed by leaders of the regional bloc. ASEAN officials said they expect few changes in the…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Dec 15, Reuter- South-East Asia’s leaders cemented their alliance on Tuesday, ending a summit meeting with a declaration short on political contention and long on the urgency of forging economic unity. Political analysts said the smooth passage of the two-day Manila summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations had also served…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters MANILA, Dec 16 – A 23 pct cut in the 1988 U.S. sugar import quota for the Philippines is deeper than expected, but Manila is banking on a U.S. proposal to import extra sugar under a re-export plan, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Chairman Arsenio Yulo told Reuters in an interview. The U.S. Agriculture…
16 December 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Dec 16 – Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita promised President Corazon Aquino he would speed up assistance to the Philippines and soften terms for bilateral aid, a Japanese government spokesman told reporters. Takeshita and Aquino signed an agreement on an 80.2 billion yen loan…