OFW remittances still saving the day

Yes! Finally, it looks like the stock markets are rebounding and the market is reacting more positively, overcoming the panic that engulfed nations across the globe. Only China seems to still be deeply mired, their bourses not yet recovered, but knowing the Chinese, they will find their way out of it. The double whammy that hit China will take its toll. Products made in China are all suspect, and I guess will remain so for quite a time, pushing back the gains and the capitalist momentum it made in the last decade. For a while there, several manufacturing firms set up their tents in labor-cheap China, sidestepping the Philippines, but I guess there will be a lot of re-thinking.

While we seem to be coasting along, our economy is still propped up by foreign remittances from our OFWs. The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) forecasts 2009 remittances along the lines of $18.9 billion. That’s a 10 percent increase, notwithstanding the fact that the United States is still the second biggest market for foreign remittances, topped by the Middle East. The huge windfall from oil profits, the construction boom, and the healthy banking sector in the Emirates make deployment over there of our Filipino workers more feasible.

Lately, though, the profile of Filipino workers has changed. It has become more professional, and there is a need for deployment in the medical field, restaurant and hotel industries. This probably accounts for the increase in the BSP forecast because these jobs pay higher than the construction, care-giving, domestic jobs we filled a few years back.

Anyway, it looks like this last quarter of the year is still going to see us through because, traditionally, the 4th quarter is always the peak of remittances. So expect our OFWs to send back their hard-earned money for Christmas. Let’s see what’s in store for us in January.

Tariff-less cement-good or bad?

The CEMAP (Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines) is again looking down the barrel of a shotgun. The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is mulling the removal altogether of the five percent tariff on imported cement. 

The cement makers are naturally disturbed by this. They are up in arms, in fact, because this is going to kill this sector which is considered a vital industry. Scrapping the tariff is inviting countries with excess production to dump their cheap products here, virtually killing the local industry. Actually, now that the Olympics is finished in China, they expect a surplus of cement to come in from that country, and this DTI move is very timely indeed for Chinese cement makers.

1. Who will monitor the quality of cement coming in?

2. How does the government recover the tax revenues it stands to lose when these local manufacturers fold up? So we lose the five percent tariff and the taxes these manufacturers pay right now? Last year, 270,000 tons of imported cement came in. This year, so far, 115,000 tons of cement has entered the country.

3. What do we do about the thousands who stand to lose their jobs when these companies fold up?

At five percent tariff, we are the lowest. Other countries like Malaysia, India and Thailand protect their local industries with much higher tariffs, up to 40 percent. Our cement is also one of the lowest, internationally. It now stands at P190-195/bag, depending on the brand, because the price of cement went up by 7.6 percent this year. In Russia, cement prices went up by 78 percent in the last 18 months; Taiwan 15 percent in four months; Indonesia 34 percent and Malaysia 25 percent in one year; Pakistan 31 percent in three months. Our rate of increase is not bad at all at 11.4 percent in 18 months.

Not expecting cement prices to increase at all is unrealistic, considering the world-wide inflation. All construction materials went up in cost. NSO records from January to August this year attest to this: deformed bars were up by 73.91 percent, from P127.94 in January to P222.50 in August; corrugated G.I. sheets up 10.59 percent; hollow blocks up by 10.78 percent; G.I. wire up by 31.58 percent; plywood by 8.87 percent.

World prices of coal also went up by a staggering 85 percent, and CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez says that, if one goes by weighted average, their price increase should be at least 22 percent if you consider current coal prices.

No doubt, the DTI has the interests of the consumer in mind in considering the zero tariff for imported cement. Less tax would mean cheaper cement for the Filipinos. How much cheaper could that be? If it means losing a vital industry and thousands of jobs, would it be a commensurate move? By all means, let’s not tolerate profiteering, but let’s not squeeze a legitimate local industry to death. If we lose our manufacturing plants, we are at the mercy of other countries that can dump their sub-standard products and dictate their prices, and we can’t do much about it. 

Memories....and more

Here’s a good one from Mar de Valleros: “I was in my early teens when I got exposed to the daily radio stations that formed our household’s daily fare. One of these was an early morning show, Rafael Yabut’s ‘Gumising Sa Pagsikat Ng Araw’ on DZRH, followed by the mid-morning ‘Tayo’y Mag-aliw’, also by the irrepressible late Paeng Yabut. My dad always needed to listen to these.

Back then, television was not yet the fare, so we had to have our daily radio dramas. We had Eddie Junior Detective (our version of action-drama!) which had the late advertising man Eddie Claudio portraying the lead role; Kapitan Kidlat, our drama-fantasy with Gus Gonzalez who later also ended up in Advertising;’ Salamat Po Doctor’ (sorry, I can’t remember much of this one because it was my mother and aunts who followed this); and ‘Mga Kwento Ni Lola Basyang’ with its unforgettable line: Efren, wag ka nang malikot.”

Super! Really precious. If you guys have memories of other radio/TV shows of yesteryears, do share them. We’d love to hear from you. Write them all in now.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be Filipino.

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