Back To School, Back To Work
Today marks the start of school for many Filipino children, with all the attendant problems that never seem to go away, and is also the day where members of the 13th Congress return back to work to finish pending business before it adjourns on June 6th:
“On top of the priority list are the cheaper medicine bill being pushed by Sen. Mar Roxas II and reelected PDP-Laban Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City, and the proposed amendment to the Customs Broker Act, which would allow corporations to hire in-house brokers.”
The House Oversight Committee will also meet on Wednesday morning to hammer out the implementing rules and regulations for the 2007 tax amnesty law. I’m scheduled to attend this hearing, and I will post my notes as soon as I can [Now online - Ed.].
Foreign investors in the Philippines also want a raft of pet bills passed before the 13th Congress goes out of existence:
“The Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines has asked Congress to pass four pending bills that would promote global competitiveness and economic growth before the 13th Congress closes in June.
“In an open letter to House Speaker Jose de Venecia and Senate President Manuel Villar, the association of foreign businessmen asked that the bills on the credit information system, amendment of the customs brokers act, national tourism policy and the renewable energy bills be passed.”
One pending matter that will in all likelihood not be attended to in the waning days of the 13th Congress is the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Inside PCIJ thinks the JPEPA is bad news for the country.
Manuel Quezon III reiterates what I have been saying all along: that a goodly chunk of all that OFW money being remitted to the Philippines is being spent on real property instead of consumer goods and services. It could very well be, as Manolo said, that Filipino OFW’s are buying a retirement home for themselves after their years of toil abroad. I think it is more than that. Real estate is still viewed by many conservative Filipinos as the ultimate investment vehicle in which to plunk their life savings because it is the one asset that won’t go to waste, dissipate, or lose its intrinsic value. Not to mention that proceeds from the sale of real property are taxed at a preferential rate – about eight percent.
I might as well add that this preference for real estate indicates how many Filipinos continue to distrust intangible investment vehicles. Many fingers have been burned by unit investment trust funds (UITF) and pre-need plans to be so trusting of such instruments again.
So what’s the difference between a UITF and a mutual fund? Read this entry from Pinoy Money Talk.
What will happen to the Philippine stock market, which broke another record today, if the Chinese stock market bursts its bubble, as some believe, and finally tank? A chilling thought.
How much has China’s stock market grown to date? Take Shanghai’s, for example:
“The Shanghai Composite Index, one of the country’s biggest stock benchmarks, has surged 50% this year, overcoming a nearly 9% single-day plunge in late February that sent shock waves through global markets. The index made headlines again Wednesday when it tumbled 6.5% after the Chinese government tripled a trading tax in an effort to cool the red-hot markets.
“One factor driving Chinese stocks higher is a flood of money from domestic Chinese investors pulling yuan out of bank accounts and plunging them into stocks. Furious economic growth is also behind the run. The Chinese economy grew at an 11% annual rate in the first quarter, compared with a growth rate of less than 1% in the U.S.”
