Officials of the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), as well as owners of
business establishments in Subic, yesterday warned
that the Supreme Court decision approving the
collection of excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco
products here may degrade the integrity of the free
port regime in Subic.
“This is a worrisome development,” SBMA Administrator
Armand Arreza said, pointing out that Subic’s free
port status “necessarily allows the free flow of goods
within the separate customs territory of Subic.”
“If we were to slap excise taxes on the merchandise
imported by Subic-registered companies, it would be
like changing rules in the middle of the game,” Arreza
said.
“How are we going to attract more investments to Subic
if we cannot defend the special incentives granted to
investors under the law?” he asked.
“This is a big blow to our efforts to develop Subic as
a premier logistics hub in Southeast Asia, as
envisioned by President Arroyo in her 10-point
development program,” he added.
“We have just signed in Philip Morris to put up a
$20-million tobacco leaf warehouse in Subic. Now, what
will happen to that?” the SBMA official rued.
Arreza said about 30 importers, retailers and
warehousing firms in Subic would be directly affected
by Republic Act 9334, or An Act Increasing the Excise
Tax Rates Imposed on Alcohol and Tobacco Products.
He pointed out that under Republic Act 7227, or the
Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, these
free port-registered establishments were granted
tax-exempt privileges for the goods they brought into
the Subic Bay Freeport.
The imposition of excise taxes, the SBMA official
stressed, may also affect the operations of other
investors in tourism-related industries here.
“The effect could snowball,” Arreza warned.
“Curtailing the operations of certain locators would
certainly affect both their horizontal and vertical
industry linkages. And for want of some tax pesos, we
could lose entire industries,” he said.
Business leaders in the Subic Bay community echoed
Arreza’s sentiments about the need to preserve Subic’s
attractiveness as a free port.
“It’s okay for the government to seek additional
sources of income, and at the same time to eliminate
technical smuggling in Subic. But what happens then to
the duty-free concept embodied in RA 7227?” said
Aurelio Pineda, executive vice-president of the
Olongapo City Business Club.
Meanwhile, Ariel Indigo, owner of Indigo Distribution
Corp. here, said business locators in Subic will be
consulting with their lawyers on the Supreme Court
ruling to implement RA 9334.
“In the meantime, we will abide by the ruling of the
court,” Indigo said, adding that some of his fellow
locators are planning to file a motion for the
reconsideration of the ruling.
Subic traders have been fighting against RA 9334, or
the “sin tax” law since it was made effective on
January 1, 2005.
Fourteen Subic locator-companies had earlier convinced
the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Olongapo City to
issue a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the
implementation of the said law, pointing out that some
of its provisions were “unconstitutional”.
The Subic firms also contended that RA 9334 cannot
repeal RA 7227, which considers Subic a separate
customs territory and grants free port locators tax
exemptions.
However, the Supreme Court, in a decision penned by
Associate Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, nullified
the RTC order, saying that the lower court committed a
grave abuse of discretion by stopping the government
from enforcing the “sin taxes” law.
With the implementation of RA 9334, the Supreme Court
said, companies may now “opt not to import, or to
import less of, those items which no longer enjoy tax
exemption.”
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
SBMA GUNS FOR RUSSIAN INVESTMENTS IN SUBIC
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Eyeing a part of the projected $2 billion bilateral trade between Russia and the Philippines, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said it has linked up with the Philippines-Russia Business Council (PRBC) to explore business opportunities with members of the Russian Federation.
SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the SBMA is interested establishing links with Russian investors in the fields of logistics, shipbuilding, port operations, manufacturing, information and communications technology, and tourism.
Arreza said the SBMA has joined the PRBC as a corporate member even before a Russian trade delegation visited Malacañang to express interest in investing in the country.
The delegation, headed by Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Mikhail Nikolaev, said Russia will expand its investments in the Philippines from the current $200 million to at least $2 billion.
“This is a huge opportunity for us, especially since Russia wanted the Philippines to coordinate its trade relations with members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Arreza said on Wednesday.
“As a commercial port that lies dead center in the Asian region, Subic is in a position to corner much of the action in both trade and tourism,” he said.
The potential for Subic to play a major role in the development of Russian trade with the ASEAN lies in its strategic location in the region, echoed PRBC chairman Roberto de Venecia, who invited the SBMA to join the council in July.
De Venecia said the council is offering the Subic Bay Freeport “for possible Russian trading in the eastern and far eastern Asian region.”
Subic’s tourism industry could also benefit from an upswing in the trade relations between the Philippines and Russia, he added.
De Venecia also pointed out that Russia’s yet “untouched” market offers enormous opportunities for the Philippines, especially since both countries are located in the Asian continent.
“Russia is emerging as a big oil source, and it is currently the second in the world in terms of oil production. Aside from this, Russia is gearing towards the development of the huge untapped resources in Siberia, which has a land area as big as Canada,” he said.
De Venecia said SBMA’s membership in the PRBC is expected to bolster Subic’s attractiveness as a vehicle for trade promotion in the region.
“A lot of entities have signified interest in joining the PRBC, but as of now we limit our membership to dominant business players and individuals who are in the know in so far as the Russian market is concerned,” De Venecia said.
He said that the PRBC also has an overseas-based auxiliary group that contributes in the aspects of banking and finance, cooperation and tie-ups, and advisory.
De Venecia said the PRBC is now focusing on the development of seven areas in RP-Russia trade relations. These are: oil, gas and mineral resources, food and agribusiness, tourism, manpower services, general trading, forestry, and communications.
SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the SBMA is interested establishing links with Russian investors in the fields of logistics, shipbuilding, port operations, manufacturing, information and communications technology, and tourism.
Arreza said the SBMA has joined the PRBC as a corporate member even before a Russian trade delegation visited Malacañang to express interest in investing in the country.
The delegation, headed by Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Mikhail Nikolaev, said Russia will expand its investments in the Philippines from the current $200 million to at least $2 billion.
“This is a huge opportunity for us, especially since Russia wanted the Philippines to coordinate its trade relations with members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Arreza said on Wednesday.
“As a commercial port that lies dead center in the Asian region, Subic is in a position to corner much of the action in both trade and tourism,” he said.
The potential for Subic to play a major role in the development of Russian trade with the ASEAN lies in its strategic location in the region, echoed PRBC chairman Roberto de Venecia, who invited the SBMA to join the council in July.
De Venecia said the council is offering the Subic Bay Freeport “for possible Russian trading in the eastern and far eastern Asian region.”
Subic’s tourism industry could also benefit from an upswing in the trade relations between the Philippines and Russia, he added.
De Venecia also pointed out that Russia’s yet “untouched” market offers enormous opportunities for the Philippines, especially since both countries are located in the Asian continent.
“Russia is emerging as a big oil source, and it is currently the second in the world in terms of oil production. Aside from this, Russia is gearing towards the development of the huge untapped resources in Siberia, which has a land area as big as Canada,” he said.
De Venecia said SBMA’s membership in the PRBC is expected to bolster Subic’s attractiveness as a vehicle for trade promotion in the region.
“A lot of entities have signified interest in joining the PRBC, but as of now we limit our membership to dominant business players and individuals who are in the know in so far as the Russian market is concerned,” De Venecia said.
He said that the PRBC also has an overseas-based auxiliary group that contributes in the aspects of banking and finance, cooperation and tie-ups, and advisory.
De Venecia said the PRBC is now focusing on the development of seven areas in RP-Russia trade relations. These are: oil, gas and mineral resources, food and agribusiness, tourism, manpower services, general trading, forestry, and communications.
Monday, October 01, 2007
So, Do you Want To Win An Ipod?
Fellow blogger Jason from Success for Your Blog is giving away an iPod video Nano.
Yep, you read it right, an iPod Video Nano.
You can read about the details here.
Success for Your Blog is a blog about creating a successful blog with great tips, tricks resources and money makers. I have a great chance of winning and so could you. All you have to do to enter is write a post about the contest.
Success for Your Blog is a great website with insight and guidance to help you create your own successful blog. The tips and resources can take you to the next level in their blogging career. If you haven’t been there I suggest you check it out right now and Subscribe to the RSS feed so you don’t miss a single post.
A couple other great sites I think you should check out are:
Noemi Lardizabal's Touched By An Angel, where you can get a few good reads, reviews and what nots.
Dean Alfar's Notes from the Peanut Gallery, which offers good literary reviews.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
$100 Laptops To Be Made Available To Needy Kids
Inexpensive laptop computers designed for students in developing countries will be sold to the public in a buy-one, give-one scheme, a non-profit organization behind the project said Monday.
The "100 dollar laptops" -- which currently cost nearly twice that amount -- will go on sale for two weeks starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) said in a statement.
The non-profit group was organized by Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who came up with the idea of providing low-cost computers for students in underdeveloped countries as key step to promote education.
The sales program is designed to give the overall OLPC project more publicity, and to encourage open-source software developers to write programs for the laptop's operating system, the non-profit said.
The program is "a terrific opportunity for the public to help eliminate poverty and make the world a better place by inoculating children against ignorance," said Negroponte in the statement.
The laptop -- dubbed the XO -- is a shock-and water-resistant device with a high-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight and in the dark, and has no moving parts aside from a rabbit ear antenna to connect to a wireless network.
The XO consumes about one-tenth of the energy a regular laptop uses, its designers say, and can be powered by solar energy or manually by pulling cords and hand cranks. It comes with a built-in video camera, a word processor, music and art software, and can be used as an electronic book reader.
From November 12-26 US and Canadian customers can pay 399 dollars for two XOs on a first-come, first-served basis. One laptop goes to the buyer, the other to a needy student the non-profit group will determine.
OLPC said in May it hopes the price will come down to 100 dollars by 2009.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced earlier that it is putting its education content on all the laptops shipped.
The "100 dollar laptops" -- which currently cost nearly twice that amount -- will go on sale for two weeks starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) said in a statement.
The non-profit group was organized by Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who came up with the idea of providing low-cost computers for students in underdeveloped countries as key step to promote education.
The sales program is designed to give the overall OLPC project more publicity, and to encourage open-source software developers to write programs for the laptop's operating system, the non-profit said.
The program is "a terrific opportunity for the public to help eliminate poverty and make the world a better place by inoculating children against ignorance," said Negroponte in the statement.
The laptop -- dubbed the XO -- is a shock-and water-resistant device with a high-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight and in the dark, and has no moving parts aside from a rabbit ear antenna to connect to a wireless network.
The XO consumes about one-tenth of the energy a regular laptop uses, its designers say, and can be powered by solar energy or manually by pulling cords and hand cranks. It comes with a built-in video camera, a word processor, music and art software, and can be used as an electronic book reader.
From November 12-26 US and Canadian customers can pay 399 dollars for two XOs on a first-come, first-served basis. One laptop goes to the buyer, the other to a needy student the non-profit group will determine.
OLPC said in May it hopes the price will come down to 100 dollars by 2009.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced earlier that it is putting its education content on all the laptops shipped.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Apple issues warning: Hacking iPhone may harm it
IPhone owners who have unlocked their handsets so they could use carriers other than AT&T Inc. may end up with a phone that does not work after the company's next software update, Apple Inc. warned.
Since the iPhone debuted in June, hackers have posted a number of methods online to make it possible to use the iPhone on cellular networks other than AT&T, which is the exclusive official carrier for the iPhone.
Apple executives say they have discovered that many of those unauthorized unlocking programs cause some software damage to iPhones.
Now, a software update that Apple plans to issue later this week that will add features such as accessibility to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store may end up making the touch-screen cell phone completely inoperable if it has been hacked into.
"This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,'' Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview Monday. "It's unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for ... those consequences.''
Schiller said he did not know how many iPhones are operating on different carriers.
The programs -- including several that can be downloaded for free, and at least one that costs $25 (euro18) -- appear to be particularly popular with consumers in Europe. Many Europeans have bought iPhones in the United States, but Apple will not be selling them or providing service for them in Europe until November.
"From the consumer point of view, this is extremely concerning to anyone who has unlocked their phone -- especially people outside the U.S., where this is the only way to use the iPhone with any carrier,'' said Erica Sadun, a Denver computer programmer who developed a graphic interface for one software program that unlocks the iPhone. "Apple has essentially told them, 'Sorry, we cannot work with you.'''
John McLaughlin of Uniquephones.com, in Northern Ireland, has developed unlocking software, but his Belfast-based company has not sold or distributed it. He called Apple's warning "something of a scare tactic.''
Anyone who has already unlocked their phone could get it back in working condition, he said.
"We have reviewed the source code of a number of these applications and to the best of our knowledge any changes made to the software can easily be reversed,'' McLaughlin said in an e-mail. "After unlocking the iPhone, minimal effort is required to get it in to its previously locked state.''
As with any Apple product, hacking into the iPhone voids its warranty, Apple said. Apple has sold more than 1 million iPhones since the product hit the market June 29.
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