Global fund says Philippines new darling of global investors

The Philippines is one of the current “darlings” of global investors seeking better returns in emerging market economies and offers even bigger potential returns in the future, according to a ranking official of foreign investment firm Religare Capital Markets Ltd.

The company, which specializes in equities investments in India and the Asean region, has decided to set up operations in the country within the year to better take advantage of the nascent Philippine economic boom.

“The Philippines is a market where people want to put money into,” Religare’s global head of equity capital markets John Sturmey said in an interview with the Inquirer. “The story here is certainly better than how it was a few years ago. Everyone is saying good things about the Philippines.”

Religare, which has the bulk of its operations in India, Singapore and Hong Kong, is hoping to tap into the growing demand from the local corporate market for investment banking and equity deals.

The appetite of local corporations for more capital on both the equity and debt sides jibes with the massive amount of liquidity found offshore as central banks in the United States and Europe try to revive their economies with cheap funds, leaving investors awash with cash and few options for better returns in their home markets.

“Investors are looking for places where they can make money,” Sturmey said, pointing out that Philippine companies used to have initial public offerings worth only $60 million. “Now we see $300-400 million deals,” he said.

Religare’s equities head also said that ongoing challenges being faced by China and Hong Kong—the twin darlings of foreign investors over the past decade—also bode well for alternative investment sites like the Philippines.

“Hong Kong and China are offering less opportunities,” he said. “They’re ‘over-banked’ since there are a lot more financial institutions chasing after fewer and fewer deals.” This has made it less attractive for firms like Religare, which would have to contend with thinning profit margins.

At the same time, the China and Hong Kong markets have ongoing difficulties with corporate governance issues, which are encouraging investors to look to other emerging market nations.

Previous to its announcement that it would set up shop locally, Religare has already participated in the initial public offering of Puregold Price Club Inc. late last year as a junior partner of lead underwriter UBS (most of Religare’s senior officials are former UBS bankers). More recently, Religare also initiated research coverage on local IT gaming firm Philweb Corp.

Sturmey said that Religare was particularly interested in the spate of “re-IPOs” being undertaken by local corporations as part of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s thrust to increase the free float of listed companies.

“These re-IPOs present good opportunities to people like ourselves,” he said. “The Philippines has great companies here but they’re trading $10,000 a day [in total value turnover].”

The Religare official expressed confidence in the local market, saying the country was “in the best place it’s been for decades, with a very strong macroeconomy and a solid political situation.”

“It’s always been overlooked for many years, even by the big banks,” Sturmey said. “The bigger question is, whether it’s sustainable.”

Fil-Am Nonprofit Advocate awardee proud to be Pinoy

For businesswoman Gloria C. Rull, being part Filipino, part American is something to be proud of and should be a source of inspiration to others.

“I take pride in being Filipino-American,” said Rull, an Orange County-based entrepreneur, in her speech after receiving the Nonprofit Advocate of the Year award, which was one of the two awards she received on Sept. 14.

“I know that the reason that I’m being awarded is because in my heart, I really want to help the Asian community make themselves better,” she added.

Aside from this, Rull also received the 2012 Outstanding Filipino Americans in the US Award. “I’m very honored for being awarded for the second time again,” she said.

Rull received the awards during the 19^th National Asian Entrepreneur of the Year Awards presented by the Asian Entrepreneur Magazine at Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. She was recognized for being the:

• Community Leader for Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County,
• President of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in 2009, and
• Current President for the Asian Business Association Orange County

Rull has been holding top executive positions for the past 20 years, according to a report on the Asian Journal.

The Nonprofit Advocate of the Year award is given to individuals who have contributed greatly in pursuing ways to help the community less the profit.
 
More for the community
 
Rull, who is a member of the Board of Directors of the Small Business Financial Development of Orange County, said she enjoys mentoring people. She said she has a knack on teaching Asian American entrepreneurs and hoped that the award would be an inspiration for her to do more for the community.
 
Vice Consul Mary Joy Ramirez of the Philippine Consulate General in LA attended the banquet and congratulated Rull and the other awardees.
 
“We congratulate Ms. Rull for winning an award tonight, we are very proud of all our awardees,” Ramirez said. “We also congratulate them for their contribution to the community here in California.”

Other awardees

Aside from Rull, some of the other awardees were Senator Ted W. Lieu and Representative Judy Chu, who both received the Public Servant Advocates of the Year Award.

“It’s great to be honored by the Asian Entrepreneur Magazine especially since I’m on the House Small Business Committee, and a ranking chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Contracting,” Chu said.

She also said small businesses will play a big role in the future of US immigrants.

 “We need to have more access to capital and more access to programs that are offered by the small business administration,” Chu said.

“Small business has always been the key to the American Dream for immigrants,” she added.
Other awardees present at the banquet were Khanie and Tom Nguyen from WinCorp Solutions for the High Technology category, Dr. Marissa Pei for the Less Than 50 Employees category, to name a few. — Drei Medina/KBK, GMA News

Saudi lifts ban vs. hiring of Filipino maids

MANILA, Philippines - The Saudi Arabian government is lifting a ban on the hiring of Filipino domestic helpers effective October 1st.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Manila said its government has finally agreed to granting the Philippines' demand for a minimum monthly wage of US$400 and more protection for Filipino maids.

The ban has been in place since July last year as Saudi Arabia refused to grant those concessions.

“There is no problem concerning the resumption of opening of the working visa,” said Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the Philippines, Abdullah al Hassan, with the help of an interpreter.ANC News Now

Derrick Rose becomes emotional during a promotional event for his new Adidas shoe

Derrick Rose is never one to show much emotion on the court. But the Bulls guard was overcome with emotion off the court on Thursday during a promotional event for his new Adidas shoe.

Moments after a video played showing him tear his ACL during last season’s playoff game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Rose sat with his head in his hands and cried. When asked a question, Rose continued to sob before taking almost a minute to compose himself.

“It’s truly a blessing, man,” said Rose, still fighting back tears. “With all this stuff that’s going on in this city. A kid from Englewood has something positive going on. That makes me feel so good. The shoe is great. All this is great. I can’t explain this. I can’t.

“I went through so much. To have, like, true fans, that means a lot to me. And I know it means a lot to my family. Because we aren’t suppose to be here at all. But God made the way. This is truly unreal. I’m just happy to have true fans out there.”

It’s not the first time Rose has broken down off the court. Upon receiving his 2011 MVP award, he cried when speaking about his mother.

Rose said the rehab from the ACL surgery on his left knee is going good and that he started jumping a “couple days ago.”

“Everybody says All-Star break [to return], but we don’t tell him that,” older brother Reggie Rose said. “It’s really just his mental psyche. That’s the major thing we have to work on and his [confidence] playing with the injury, just knowing it was an injury and it’s not still an injury.”

Rose talked about some of the Bulls’ offseason moves and the hopes for next season.

“That’s my only goal is to win a championship,” Rose said. “Hopefully, it’s soon. I’m going to put my heart into it, whatever I do on and off the court. With the team that we have now, we have a good chance. We have a good shot with the players that we have coming in. With the players that we lost, I’m definitely going to miss them.”

Rose, who is about to have a child with his girlfriend, also touched on the teachers strike in Chicago.

“It hurts you,” he said. “I’m going to have a kid, so this is one of the reasons why I’m thinking about it. I hope they change it soon. I’m praying for them.”

Contributing: AP

Phl jumps 16 places in global economic freedom rankings

The Philippines leapfrogged to 61st place from 77th in the annual rankings on economic freedom around the world.

The country’s score also jumped to 7.12 from 6.84, said the Economic Freedom of the World: 2012 annual report.

Out of 144 countries and territories surveyed for the report released by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think tank, Hong Kong topped the field with a score of 8.9 out of 10.

Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: size of government (big government reduces the space for free exchange), legal system and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor, and business.

Fred McMahon, vice-president international research of the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, said the Philippines’ big improvement came in sound money, particularly allowing people to own foreign currency bank accounts.

There were also relatively small improvements in two other variables in this area: money growth and inflation variability.

“The Philippines also saw an increased score in size of government, in other words, government got slightly less intrusive in the economy,” he said.

“Overall, these factors led to an increase in the Philippines’ score from 6.84 to 7.12 out of 10. Because nations are tightly packed around these scores, this led to a move up in the ranks from 77 to 61,” he added.

The rankings in this year’s report are based on 2010 data, the most recent year for which comprehensive figures are available.

The other top 10 nations listed in descending order after Hong Kong with their scores in brackets were: Singapore (8.69), New Zealand (8.36), Switzerland (8.24), Australia (7.97), Canada (7.97), Bahrain (7.94), Mauritius (7.90), Finland (7.88) and Chile (7.84).

Rankings (and scores) of other large economies in this year’s index included: United Kingdom, 12th (7.75); United States, 18th (7.69); Japan, 20th (7.64); Germany, 31st (7.52); Russia, 95th (6.56); China, 107th (6.35); and India, 111th (6.26).

Venezuela was in last place with a score of 4.07 among the countries surveyed.

Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Republic of the Congo and Angola rounded out the bottom five nations.

Singapore was the best performer among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in the world rankings in 2nd place, followed by the Philippines (61st), Malaysia (71st), Indonesia (76th), Thailand (87th) and Vietnam (96th).

Following were the economic freedom scores and world rankings in brackets for the Philippines: Size of government 8.31 (9), Legal system and property rights 4.37 (110), Sound money 9.29 (39), Freedom to trade internationally 6.69 (97), and Regulation 6.92 (74).

(Story courtesy of Jose Katigbak STAR Washington Bureau)

SWS: 800,000 fewer Pinoy families who consider themselves 'poor'

800,000 fewer Filipino families consider themselves "poor," according to the latest survey of pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS).  It's a significant drop (or about 8 percent) from an estimated 10.3 million families who considered "poor" in a SWS survey just three months before.

The latest survey, conducted from August 24 to 27, found that 47% of 1,200 respondents nationwide (equivalent to around 9.5 million families) considered themselves "poor." The difference between 10.3 million and 9.5 million is approximately 800,000 families. 

Malacañang said the improvements in poverty ratings were a sign that the Aquino government’s efforts "to achieve inclusive growth were being felt." The SWS, on the other hand, attributed the gains to "further belt-tightening" by Filipinos.

The results of SWS' third-quarter poll were first published in BusinessWorld.

The latest figure is four percentage points down from 51% (an estimated 10.3 million families) based on the results of an SWS survey in May this year.

BusinessWorld said the last time that self-rated poverty fell below 50% was in December 2011 when the poverty rating was at 45%.

The lowest recorded self-poverty rating stands at 43% -- March 1987 and March 2010.

Food poor

 

Meanwhile, the SWS' latest survey found that fewer families claimed to be "food-poor."

The SWS said only 35% of the respondents (around 7.2 million families) counted themselves as food poor.

This figure is four points lower than the August rating of 39 percent (around 7.9 million families).
 

March 2010 saw a record low food poverty rating of 31%. 

Signs of improvement

 

Meanwhile, according to BusinessWorld, Malacañang said the improvements in poverty ratings were a sign that the Aquino government’s efforts "to achieve inclusive growth were being felt."

The SWS, on the other hand, attributed the gains to "further belt-tightening" by Filipino families.

The SWS said "poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening." 

Poverty scores

SWS said poverty scores generally improved, except in the Visayas:

• Mindanao (57% from 65%),
• Metro Manila (35% from 41%),
• Balance Luzon (38% from 43%), and 
• Visayas (63% from 57%).

 

Poverty scores fell in both rural and urban areas:

• by five points in urban areas to 37%, and
• by three points to 58% in rural areas.

 

Self-rated food poverty, from three months earlier, improved throughout the country except the Visayas: 

• Mindanao (45% from 53%),
• Balance Luzon (29% from 32%),
• Metro Manila (24% from 25%),
• Visayas (47% from 46%)

 

Median poverty threshold
 

Meanwhile, the median poverty threshold remained steady only in Metro Manila and the Visayas:

• P15,000 in Metro Manila, and  
• P10,000 in the Visayas.

On the other hand, median povery threshold fell in Balance Luzon and Mindanao:

• P8,000 in Balance Luzon, and
• P7,000 in Mindanao.

- VVP/KG/HS, GMA News

How to achieve your goals and live a life you love

Whether you’ve always dreamed of running a marathon, long to start your own business or aspire to see your name in lights, we all have ambitions and goals in life. However, often we don’t feel good enough, lucky enough or talented enough to get what we want, so too often our dreams go unrealized. To make sure your aspirations don’t remain a distant dream, check out these 10 steps for achieving your goals.

1. Prioritize

Most of us have hundreds of things on our wishlist of things we want to do, from losing our muffin top to buying our dream home. However, if you want to effectively tackle an important goal, it is important not to overload yourself and to go after one ambition at a time, starting with the goal most important to your overall happiness. Also, while it is good to aim high, it is also important to choose a goal that is attainable and which fits with your talents, lifestyle and who you are as a person – don’t go after a goal just because it is something you feel you should do.

2. Get specific

We often make broad declarations about what we want out of life, such as “I wish I was fitter”, “I’d love to have more money” or “I want to make a difference to the world”. However, these vague, intangible goals are hardly ever accomplished as, in order to achieve your goals, you need to be specific about what exactly it is you want; how do you want to make more money? What could you do to make a difference? Set specific and measurable goals such as “I want to start exercising three times a week” or “I want to become the manager of my company” so that you have something to aim for and can measure your progress.

3. Research your goal

In order to get where you want in life, you need to understand exactly how you can get there, and the best way to do this is to ask those who know. Whatever your ambition, there is bound to be someone out there who has already achieved it, and their advice and experience could prove invaluable. Browse the Internet, take a course, read books on the subject and get in contact with people who have achieved your goal. By getting a clear of understanding of how others have achieved the same ambition, you will be well equipped to follow in their footsteps.

4. Break it down

When you first look at your goal it may seem slightly overwhelming. How on earth are you ever going to score your dream job/run a marathon/write that novel? However, by breaking your overall ambition down into “mini goals” (such as completing a 5K race or writing 200 words a day) you will not only make your goal seem more achievable but you will give yourself specific things to aim for along the way. Write down your plan of action – what you want to achieve and how you can get there, step by step. Then tick off each “mini goal” as you achieve it to give yourself a visual representation of your progress.

5. Take action

Often the reason we don’t achieve our goals is because we keep putting them off until a “better time” in the future. However, this better time may never come, and in actual fact the best time to start chasing your dreams is right now. Ask yourself what you can do this week to make your dream happen. What can you do right now? Also, evaluate what it is that is stopping you from going after your goal (such as lack of time or financial restraints) and see how you can work around these things. Don’t leave your goal as a distant dream; take action and start pursuing it right now.

6. Believe in yourself

It may sound cheesy, but to achieve your goals in life you have to get in the right frame of mind, and that means believing you can do it. Confidence in yourself and your abilities can get your far, and setting out with a positive mind set is important. However, while many of us start out brimming with confidence, setbacks and perceived failures can soon diminish this, so it is important to take measures to stay motivated. Reward yourself and take pride in every little achievement, and remember that everyone who has achieved anything difficult has had little setbacks from time to time, so don’t let this take away from your successes.

7. Share your dream

To help boost your motivation and stay on track towards your goal, it can help to share your ambitions and tell people about your goal. The more people you tell the more committed to the goal you will be, and the more people you will have to help you. Not only can friends and family offer you support when you need it, but they may be able to keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities and people who can help you to achieve your goal. Also, if you know someone else who is striving for the same goal, sharing your experiences and offering each other support is an even better way to boost your motivation.

8. Clear your schedule
It can be easy to get so caught up in day-to-day life that there’s no time to strive for anything out of the ordinary. However, if you want something enough, it is important to make time for it. We often spend far too much time on things that aren’t that important to us or that don’t really need doing, but by cutting back on these times you will give yourself more time to go after your goal. Write down all the things currently clogging up your schedule and then identify those things you can cut back on. You can also maximize your time by getting up earlier or using your lunch hours more effectively.

9. Be flexible

Sometimes, no matter how much background research you do, how many hours you put in and how meticulously you plot your route to success, things just don’t quite go to plan. However, the key to achieving your goals is to be flexible and ready to come up with a plan B (or C or D) when this happens. Rather than focusing fixatedly on minor setbacks in your plan, try to formulate several backup plans to help you bounce back from any setback and stay on track towards your ultimate goal.

10. Remind yourself why you want it

While rewarding your progress and striving towards mini goals is a great way to stay motivated towards your overall dream, if you still find yourself feeling disillusioned from time to time it is important to remind yourself why you want to achieve this goal. Picture yourself having achieved this goal already and consider what it means to you. What will you gain from achieving this goal? How will it make you feel? If you do find along the way that you have forgotten why you want your goal at all, then perhaps this is a good time to reassess your goals and strive for a new ambition. Read more at www.realbuzz.com.