BPI offers loan program for livestock, poultry raisers

THE Bank of the Philippines Island (BPI) formally launched on Friday the BPI Agribusiness Solutions that offers loan program to livestock and poultry raisers in Mindanao.

BPI executive vice president and corporate banking group head Alfonso Salcedo Jr. expressed his optimism on the potential of agribusiness, especially in the coming Asean integration by 2015 where there will be a demand in the global market.

KCGP, students ink MOA to ‘grow trees’

MINING firm King-king Copper-Gold Project (KCGP) and students of the Nestor Fausta Memorial College Inc. (NFMCI) partnered in a tree-planting activity in Pantukan, Compostela Valley last May 22.

Placing more importance on "growing trees rather than planting," KCGP and NFMCI signed a memorandum of agreement and agreed to do more activities in the future that would sustain the growth of the planted trees.

PH ‘not strong economy yet’

DESPITE the country’s continued growth, the Philippines is not a strong economy yet, according to Philam Life and Philam Asset Management Inc. (Pami) fund manager Junie Banaag.

Unemployment and the continued deployment of Filipinos overseas continue to challenge the country’s economic prosperity, Banaag said.

Startup Weekend experience unlike any other: student

AFTER being encouraged by her mentors, Holy Name University student Ashley Uy overcame her fears and went on stage to pitch her idea during last year’s Startup Weekend Cebu.

As an IT student, Uy wanted to learn more things outside the classroom and experience real IT work when she signed up for the event.

Smart logs 24% growth in postpaid subscribers in Q1

SMART Communications, Inc. grew its postpaid subscriber base by 24 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same period last year, leading the industry in this hotly-contested segment of the cellular market, the company said in a press statement.

To help sustain its strong start this year, Smart is launching a new set of postpaid offers called Flexibundles, which aims to give postpaid subscribers better control of their usage through a simple process.

Globe launches ‘next-generation plan’

GLOBE launched yesterday its MySuperPlan, which it described as a “next-generation postpaid plan with new features that will allow subscribers to further customize and personalize their postpaid plans.”

With the MySuperPlan, subscribers get more than what they pay for with a plan value that is almost twice the value of prepaid load, the company said.

Go public, companies told

ASIDE from gaining access to capital, there are a few other reasons for companies to go public.

Miguel Felipe Evangelista of the marketing services department of the Philippine Stock Exchange said companies also opt to enlist with them to save on their cash reserves and improve on their credit ratings, especially when they have maxed out on their credit limits.

Almirante: Willful disobedience

PETITIONER Rowena De Leon Cruz was the Assistant Branch Manager of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) of its Ayala Branch in Makati City. She was in-charge of the trading section.

NCCC launches ECPay

NEW City Commercial Center (NCCC) has introduced in the market its Electronic Commerce Payment (ECPay) in a bid to provide convenience to its shoppers during a press launch at Royal Mandaya Hotel on Thursday.

The new e-payment service is in partnership with Electronic Commerce Payment Inc. (Ecpi) and Gate Distribution Enterprise Inc., according to NCCC Department Store president Jennifer Ang.

Tesda-WNAS eyes cocoa bean fermentary facility

TWO years after Acdi/Voca, an agri-focused non-profit organization, granted Tesda-WNAS a P1.2 million budget to set up a CoCoPal Agri-business Model (CBAM) in their school, its teachers and students are making their way to a new project: a fermentary.

With Tesda's promising site in Calinan, Davao City, the Wangan National Agricultural School (WNAS) believes that this move will be very helpful in their educational programs for cocoa processing.

Food exporters told to comply with US policies

PHILIPPINE exporters who wish to market their food and beverage products in the United States must be completely aware and compliant of the requirements to avoid project rejects.

This was the advice of Benjamin L. England, Founder and CEO of FDA Imports.com Inc., a consulting firm combining the services of Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and US Department of Agriculture (Usda) during a recent seminar at the International Food Exhibition (Ifex).

Gas firm pours P1.35-B for Clark air separation plant

CLARK FREEPORT -- A leading Japanese industrial gas firm will be investing P1.35 billion for the establishment of an air separation facility here, the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) announced.

Masahiko Kitabatake, president of INGASCO, Inc., on Monday led the groundbreaking ceremony for the establishment of an air separation facility project of Taiyo Nippon Sanso Clark, Inc., a whole subsidiary of INGASCO, Inc.

Corn production in Soccsksargen valued at P15.6B

KORONADAL CITY -- The value of corn produced in Soccsksargen Region last year reached a staggering P15.6 billion, a regional Department of Agriculture (DA) official said.

Zaldy Boloron, DA regional corn program coordinator, said in the 130-page "Regional Corn Roadmap CY (Calendar Year) 2012 to 2017" presentation that corn production volume in the four-province, five-city region last year was 1.20 million metric tons (MT), up 2.63 percent from 2011's 1.2 million MT.

Keep the good going via payITfwd

EXTRAORDINARY deeds by ordinary people can make a positive difference in this world. It can be the retiree who trains the unemployed women in the community on livelihood crafts, or the group of athletes that holds sports clinics for street children.

Wireless leader Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) is giving these acts of kindness a further boost by way of payITfwd, a new social development initiative that aims to enable the spread of social good acts or "smart acts."

BPI posts P8.4B income in Q1

BANK of the Philippine Islands (BPI) continued to deliver sustainable growth as it reported a net income of P8.4 billion for the first quarter of 2013. This was 43 percent higher than last year’s P5.8 billion.

At the end of first quarter, BPI's total resources were P940 billion, 16 percent higher year-on-year as deposits grew by the same rate to P748 billion. In addition, the Bank was able to increase its assets under management to P758 billion or 6 percent more than same period last year.

Sweeter future awaits Mindanao's coco sugar

BARELY five years in operation, an agrarian reform community's coconut sugar products or more popularly known as "coco sugar" are already reaching the international markets - something that the Linabu Agrarian Multi-purpose Cooperative (Lampco) never thought would happen in the near future.

Lampco, a community-based enterprise in Barangay Linabu, Misamis Oriental, was hailed as the top grosser during the Market Week Philippines 2012, a trade fair and showground of on-sale world-class items and products.

Lexmark expands in R&D, services

LEXMARK is expanding in Cebu in research and development and will continue to hire highly-skilled professionals.

The company recently shifted to the mixed hardware-and-software business, following their decision to let go of its inkjet business last year to improve profitability.

Peugeot set to inaugurate showrooms

AFTER sharing space with another automobile maker for a few months, French car maker Peugeot has opened its new home in Cebu.

The Peugeot showroom on Ouano Ave. in the Mandaue Reclamation Area began operating last April 8.

Construction, car, food shows open in CICC

TRADE shows on construction, auto and food and beverage are ongoing at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) until Sunday.

Worldbex Services International (WSI) is holding this year’s “Beyond the Southern Vibe” with the 10th Philippine Building and Construction Exposition (Philbex), 7th Cebu Auto Show (CAS) and 5th Cebu Food and Beverage Exposition (Cefbex) from May 23 to 26 at the CICC.

Ng: Top global brands

ACCORDING to BrandZ, Apple is the most valuable global brand. It is followed by Google, then IBM. It is refreshing to note that most of the top global brands were technology-based. The top consumer brand is McDonalds, at number four, followed by Coca-Cola, at number five. At number six is AT&T while at number seven is Microsoft.

I.Protect: Confusingly similar sounds

Clint Fabiosa & Ana Liza Villamor

Aboitiz, GazAsia to produce bio methane

PUBLICLY-listed Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) announced it entered into a joint venture agreement with UK-based company GazAsia Ltd. to build and operate plants to produce liquid bio methane to be used by vehicles.

Liloan cosmetics company gets Halal certification for products

LILOAN-based GT Cosmetics Manufacturing is bullish in their expansion abroad on the back of a strong overseas Filipino market.

The company recently penetrated the US market and is now poised to grow big in the Middle East, following the product’s Halal certification.

Pages: Putting it all together

Bunny Pages Business Is A Team Sport

ONE of my missions in writing a column is to share with others what I’ve learned in the hope that they would benefit from my experience. Another is to enhance what I’ve learned through the experiences, comments and suggestions of other people that can be emailed to bunny@pages.ph.

Trading post for organic farmers

A TRADING post worth P1.5 million will be constructed in the city to assist local organic farmers find easy access to market their poduct.

Caity Agriculturre Office (Cao) acting chief Valente Turtur said the trading post will be constructed near the Pasalubong Center.

Ayala eyes to raise P1.2 million for classrooms

THE Ayala Business Club of Davao is eyeing to raise P1.2 million for the construction of two classrooms in San Alfonso Elementary School in Cateel, Davao Oriental.

Ayala is spearheading the relaunding of Hour Run 2 on June 2 to raise the amount for the benefit of Children's Hour, which will facilitate the construction of the two classrooms.

Pampanga real estate booming

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The real estate business in the province is now booming with the advent of top developers in the industry initiating major projects all throughout Pampanga.

Engineer Joliber Mapiles, president of Pampangahouses.com -- a leading local real estate website -- said that among the companies which already invested in the province are Pro-Friends, Ayala Land Inc (ALI), Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) and Filinvest Land.

'Best time to invest in PH'

NO matter how small the amount, a personal finance expert assures that setting aside some money for savings and investment can go along way.

American Emmy award-winning TV host Suze Orman, who was in Cebu last week, told Cebuanos that now was the best time to invest in the Philippines.

Cebu tourism stakeholders seek diplomatic end to row with Taiwan

TOURISM stakeholders in Cebu appealed to the government to immediately solve through diplomatic channels the strained relationship with Taiwan to save trade and tourism relationship of both countries.

Robert “Bobby” Joseph, chairman emeritus of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), fears that if the row is not resolved in a diplomatic manner, the tension might lead to something similar to what happened after the Hong Kong hostage crisis in 2010.

Construction materials firm moves to Consolacion

A GLOBAL provider of construction materials and services expanded its business in the Philippines, crediting the country’s buoyant real estate and construction sector.