Imperial Palace opens facility

AFTER three years of construction, the P4.5 billion-peso hotel Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort & Spa opened its facilities yesterday.

Lee Cheol-hee, president of Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort & Spa, said that what makes their hotel unique are their spacious rooms, unique cuisine in their restaurants and a water adventure facility.

The facility, a 10-minute drive away from the Mactan Cebu International Airport, features six 11-story buildings, 557 rooms, and first-class amenities including a water park, Jacuzzi, pool villas, a golf course and business center.

The hotel was developed by Philippine BXT Corp. The water park, which is the hotel's main attraction, is divided into different zones with corresponding adventure themes.

Imperial Palace general manager Richie Kang said the facility tightened it security in the water adventure zone to make sure its users, especially children, are safe.

Kang said he is confident that although the facility is the first business venture in the country by the Korean hotel chain, it will attract both local and foreign tourists. He said Cebu is a world-class destination both for business and vacation.

Kang said Imperial Palace now has 900 employees, 860 of which are Filipinos.

Source: The Sunstar Cebu

Aboitiz sees strong potential for condominiums in Cebu

THE real estate arm of the Aboitiz group sees a strong potential in condominium development in Cebu as more residential units are being built farther from the cities.

“We are seeing a very good uptake of our sales, especially in our condominium units. Some years ago, we made a judgment call that Cebuanos are going to move towards condominium living because house and lot (units) are located farther and farther away (from the cities),” said AboitizLand Inc. chief operating officer Andoni Aboitiz

Buyers

The uptake is shown in the profile of buyers of Persimmon West-the first tower with 157 units that was built at AboitizLand’s The Persimmon. About 80 percent of the buyers are locals, 10 percent are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and about seven percent are foreigners.

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“Initially, the target was the international Filipino market but the locals bought units very quickly so we are now building the second tower, Persimmon North, to (also) cater to the OFWs,” Aboitiz said in a press conference yesterday at The Persimmon in Mabolo, Cebu City.

The Persimmon is AboitizLand’s first venture into “vertical development” project.

‘Urban village’

Covering 1.4 hectares of prime property, the “urban village” is comprised of four 15-storey towers complemented with a commercial area and various amenities.

The continuous construction of The Persimmon will take up a huge share of Aboitizland’s P2 billion capital expenditures (capex) for 2010, said Aboitiz. He said that each tower is estimated to cost about P400 million.

AboitizLand is already scouting for new and “good” areas in Cebu City where they can build another skyrise project.

Aboitiz said their next condominium project would be after the completion of The Persimmon in two to three years.

Although it sees strong potential in condominium development, the property developer continues to plan on building horizontal residential development projects.

Recently, AboitizLand closed a sale of 15 hectares of land in Cordova, Mactan where it plans to launch a mid-end inland residential development next year.

Aboitiz disclosed that the P2-billion capex also include the launching of the commercial plot and series of townhouses in its high-end integrated community Pristina North, in Talamban, Cebu City as well as continuation of other projects, including Kishanta in Lagtang, Talisay City.

He said that most of the capex would be sourced through bank loans.

“If you think we are busy in 2009, wait what we will do in 2010. We are going to change (the landscape of) the city,” Aboitiz said.

Source: The Sunstar Cebu

Company starts work on 2nd tower

IN response to the strong demand for condominium units, property developer AboitizLand Inc. started building the second tower of its first residential condominium development this month.

While construction is going on, the real estate arm of the Aboitiz group is already pre-selling units of Persimmon North, the second of the four towers composing The Persimmon in Mabolo, Cebu City.

AboitizLand marketing manager Leorelei Ylaya said there is still a huge potential market for Persimmon North, following the fast sales take-up of the first tower, Persimmon West.

Persimmon North is already 15 percent complete while the West tower is already 38.59 percent complete. Ylaya said they are on target.

Turnover of the West and North Tower units are set for third quarter of 2010 and fourth quarter of 2011, respectively.

Persimmon North, which will be formally launched next week, is comprised of 157 residential units, studio, one- and two-bedroom, and loft units, in Asian contemporary design. It will have its own administration and security offices as well as function and boardrooms.

“The main difference between the North and West tower is that the North has maid’s quarters in its two-bedroom units. This (feature) is what the market demands,” said Ylaya.

Prices range from P1.8 million to P2.4 million for studio units, P3.1 million to P4 million for one-bedroom units, and P5 to P6 million for two-bedroom units.

“We are now (offering) pre-selling prices. After the launch, we might increase them,” said Ylaya.

The Persimmon, the firm’s 15th project, stands on 1.4 hectare of prime property in M. J. Cuenco Ave., Mabolo, Cebu City.

According to its management, its “impressive” uptake is attributed to its combination of strategic location, amenities, and “value-for-money” construction.

The urban village’s commercial-entertainment strip, called The Persimmon Plus, will be launched before the end of 2009.

It will house more than a dozen concessionaires, including a coffee shop, dental clinic, laundry shop, food outlets, salon, spa, and services.

Source: The Sunstar Cebu

RP urged to expand BPO sector to draw foreign investments

MANILA, Philippines - To continuously attract foreign direct investments (FDIs), the Philippines needs to accelerate the expansion of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the immediate future, a foreign economist said yesterday.

“As an immediate response, the Philippines must accelerate the growth of the BPO sector,” MasterCard economic advisor for Asia and Pacific region Yuwa Hedrick-Wong said in an economic briefing.

He said global investors are looking for investment opportunities

in the emerging Asian market, particulary India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

He added that the Philippines must also shift its export focus from the United States to China and the rest of Asia.

In 1997, 35 percent of Philippine exports found its way to the US, just one percent of to China, and 42 percent to the rest of Asia. Last year, the US market settled for 17 percent of Philippine exports, a larger 11 percent to China and 50 percent to the rest of Asia.

The MasterCard economist said the Philippines also has the potential to grow by 2.5 percent this year, and four percent next year.

However, Wong said the Philippines needs to lift some restrictions on FDIs and domestic investments if it hopes to take advantage of a strong emerging Asia and the global economic recovery next year.

In the recent 2010 Doing Business study conducted by the World Bank and the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the Philippines further went down in ranking to 144 out of 183 nations included in the study.

When the study started in 2007, the Philippines was ranked 136, and slipped to 140 the following year.

The study indicated that the Philippine government must have an extensive and long-term plan for the country’s economy to improve its ranking.

“The government must make it clear what kind of regulatory environment it wants, and it must design a long-term plan,” it said.

The MasterCard economist said bringing in FDIs will not only mean investments, but the technology to run the business, the experience, and the marketing and distribution network.

FDIs in the Philippines fell from 24.4 percent of GDP in 1997 to 21.2 percent in 2000. It further dipped to 16.1 percent of GDP in 2004 to 14.7 percent last year.

The regional economist said “some of the private monopolies need to be dismantled, and the government controlled companies and industries must be privatized.”

Strategically, the Philippines must also look at developing the agricultural sector if it is to grow and remain competitive in the region.

“Thailand is selling mangoes, and other fruits and vegetables to China, and they are selling them in US dollars. They are considered premium products there, yet the Philippine has the same or better agricultural products,” Wong pointed out.

Source: The Philippine Star

Microtel Inn and Suites Mactan

CEBU, Philippines - A modernly designed hotel with an airy lobby facing the beachfront, Microtel Inn and Suites Mactan offers “easy breezy” accommodations with fantastic prices to suit your taste.

With a total of 160 hotel rooms, Microtel Mactan has 3 room types – a standard with two beds and a sitting area, a double with two beds plus a balcony overlooking the sea/pool and a suite with one bed plus a sofa sleeper, balcony and other extra amenities such as coffee/tea making facilities, kitchen counter with sink, refrigerator, microwave oven and bath tub – rooms with all good use of space.

Guestroom features and amenities are inclusive of complimentary breakfast (intercontinental buffet), chiropractor-approved mattresses, flat TV with cable channels, individually controlled air conditioning units, multi-function telephone system with IDD/NDD, toilet and shower with hot and cold water, electronic keycard entry system, clock, in-room safe, fully automated fire safety system, baby cribs available upon request plus children under 12 years old stay free in parents’ room.

Having visited Microtel Mactan a few times now, I have sampled almost everything on their menu without any complaints at the lobby restaurant/café called Rice. Favorites include plain or chili and coriander roti (an Indian flat-bread), Nasi Goreng (an mildly-spiced Indonesian rice dish with a mixture of prawns topped with chicken skewers and an egg), Tom Yum Goong (a Thai soup dish with a Philippine twist using sinigang) and all of the starters listed in the menu – no doubt you should try all these. If you opt for room service instead, food served up to your room is delivered in styrofoam containers and plastic cutlery, which indeed are easy to clear up and easy to dispose of – what a brilliant idea!

The resort facilities and activities in this designer beach include the 3 pools (one for adults, the other for children and one for wading located by the beach bar), kayaking, water biking, banana boating, island hopping and scuba diving. If you choose to have some quiet time, you could just laze around lying on the sunbeds under the beach umbrellas by just reading a book and sipping a cold drink – what more can you ask for?

As quoted on their flyer, “Fantastic beachfront view. Amazing blue sea. Great beds. Warm and friendly staff that treat you like family. Nothing could be better.” I couldn’t agree more!

In this colourful resort, one tip during your planned stay is to request for a top floor room facing the sea.

Microtel Inn and Suites Mactan (www.microtel-mactan.com) has a current promo available until the end of this month, the Leisure Within Reach for P2,900*, a standard room for two adults with breakfast. *promo is only available to locals.

Source: The Freeman cebu

Microsoft urges government to intensify anti-piracy law

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the government’s constant effort in curbing piracy in the Philippines, Microsoft Philippines reiterates its call to intensify the implementation of anti-piracy laws here as the country remains in the piracy “watch list”.

Microsoft Philippines Inc. license and compliance manager Fortune Abelo-Magsadia said the government should put in place stringent implementation of the intellectual property (IP) laws here as well as shorten the resolution of cases pending to improve awareness of IPR in the Philippine market.

For its part, Microsoft had been introducing programs that will help curb the high piracy rate in the Philippines, especially in using software products, through introducing affordable and easy payment scheme for corporations in availing of genuine Microsoft software.

“We are still in the watchlist, [as among those having the highest piracy rate in the world],” said Magsadia, thus there is a need for the Philippine government to intensify its IP Laws implementation.

However, Magsadia said although the piracy rate in the country has plateaud at 69 percent since 2007, companies like Microsoft are also making its move to promote IP in the Philippines.

Microsoft’s Software Asset Management (SAM) program for instance, has helped improve the awareness of Filipinos to use only genuine software. However, this could be boosted if complemented by strong government stance in fighting piracy.

She said enforcement is just one aspect of fighting piracy, “what happens after the enforcement?”

The Philippines should also exercise to seriously put curbing piracy as priority. Longer time in resolving piracy cases is one of the problems that need to be addressed, she added.

According to Magsadia, the introduction of SAM program in the Philippines, has also helped the improvement of awareness especially among companies to use only genuine software.

SAM, enables companies to maximize software investments by letting them identify their needs and match these with the necessary software program available.

SAM is a set of policies and procedures which allow organizations to capitalize on their software resources. This involves conducting software needs analysis and software inventory, comparing installed software with licenses and creating a budget, appointing a software manager and conducting regular audits, and issuing a company policy statement and reminders.

“[Most] Filipinos don’t treat software as an asset. We want customers to practice SAM to maximize their investments,” she said.

Starting this year, Magsadia said SAM will be actively rolled out to other areas outside of Metro Manila, to drum up awareness on using genuine software, and its impact to the businesses.

Magsadia revealed that aside from SAM, Microsoft will also be introducing attractive packages, and programs that will attract different sectors in the society to use only “genuine software”, thereby helping the Philippine improve its piracy rate.

The Bill Gates-led company is on its way to offer special software pricing for Internet Cafes, companies in the economic zones, and intensify its offerings to the academe sector, and good packages for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) players.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

Cebu BPO industry

First the good news, according to the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA) latest NewsBriefs, “the Cebu business process outsourcing (BPO) segment is targeting to take hold of 20% of the Philippine BPO market by 2010. Currently, the BPO industry in Cebu is organizing an Information and Communications Technology 2009 Conference aimed at realizing these goals through partnerships with emerging BPO markets and infrastructure development.”

Likewise, corporate giant, San Miguel Brewery, Inc. raised US$800 million with its corporate bond offerings. It priced its three-part peso bond at around 250 basis points higher than reference Treasury bonds. The brewery was able to sell its three-part peso bonds with three-, five-, and ten-year durations to finance its purchases of beer brands and land from its parent company, San Miguel Corporation. The corporate bond offering was the largest in the Philippines. In addition, Japanese brewery Kirin Holdings has expressed its interests in buying a stake in the Filipino brewery in light of Kirin’s goal to expand its market to Asia and Oceania.

Furthermore, the government sold its benchmark seven-year Treasury bonds this week at an average interest rate of 6.05%. The bidding brought in Php8 billion which would help in funding the budget deficit. Overall, the Treasury is optimistic over the demand for benchmark government papers.

However, per same published report, “the country’s external financial position has weakened in February 2009. In the said month, the Philippines had a balance of payments (BoP) surplus of US$469 million, almost a three-quarter drop from the January position of US$1.735 billion surplus. The current position was also more than 50% weaker compared to the same month last year which posited the BoP to US$1.05 billion. Income from investments, National Government loans from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, and foreign exchange transactions by the Bangko Sentral were the factors for the positive status of the country’s BoP surplus.

Finally, the sad news was that, the unemployment rate soared to 7.7% in January, equivalent to about 2.85 million jobless people. The increase in unemployment was due to the weakness of the electronics and manufacturing sectors, which suffered from low export demand amidst the global economic crisis. The unemployment rate is the highest since April of last year which reached 8%. Export targets are expected to downgrade even further as outlook in the electronics sector is growing bleaker for the coming months. Electronics exports are seen to decline by about 20% to 30% in 2009. The forecast adjustment implies an estimated total export contraction of about 6% to 8%, according to IDEA.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

Cebu bankers strengthen monitoring of borrowers

CEBU, Philippines - The local network of bankers in Metro Cebu is strengthening its monitoring program to easily spot delinquent borrowers or blacklisted clients through the Automatic Credit Information System (ACIS) of the Cebu Bankers Club (CBC).

In an interview with CBC former president Prudencio Gesta, he said that the organization is going to enhance the capability of the ACIS system that will add more listings of blacklisted borrowers from each bank member, in order to protect the banking business from delinquent borrowers.

Although the rate of non-performing loans (NPL) in the local scene has been declining significantly, after hitting its highest during the 1997 regional economic crisis, Gesta said there is still a dire need for the banking system to strengthen its monitoring program to spot clients that have mishandled their accounts in their respective banks.

Aside from the local network of member banks, the exchange of credit blacklisting is not only limited in Metro Cebu, as the ACIS system is also connected with the national information exchange through the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP).

“We are trying to improve the monitoring technology through the ACIS. We have to protect the credibility of the banking industry, as well as the individual banking business,” Gesta said.

CBC will be managing the system. In fact, it has created a committee that will solely look into the implementation of the enhanced ACIS tool, so that all member banks can easily access the listing of questionable borrowers of clients.

The improvement of ACIS technology is one of the priorities of the CBC this year, including its active stance on strengthening the security issue of each bank members, on the light of rampant bank robberies.

While the banking sector has remained very strong amid the global recession, Gesta said it has to continuously protect its business from being victimized by clients who have bad credit histories in other banking institutions.

This means that unlike the pre-1997 period that banking credit availability was so laxed, this time, although the economy is already on its recovery road, Gesta said the banking sector remains prudent, and very strict in terms of providing credit to customers.

“We learned a lot from the 1997 crisis. The reason why the banking sector in the Philippines remained strong amid the global recession, because we have put everything in place to protect the system from being crippled again,” Gesta said.

ACIS or the facility that allows banks to exchange information on list of delinquent borrowers

was initiated by CBC about nine years ago. This time, Gesta said CBC had decided to enhance the technology that will also include other applications related to client monitoring and background check.

However, Gesta noted that over the years, the number of delinquent borrowers has declined significantly, as traders as well as banking clients are also now cautious in availing loans from the bank, and also becoming very conscious in protecting their credibility to their banking partners.

“Unlike in the pre-1997 times, where there were a lot of risk-takers or gamblers. Now, borrowers are also become more conservative,” he concluded.

Source: The Freeman Cebu