"SET index, Philippine stocks cling to meager gains" BANGKOK, January 2 -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand index and Philippine shares ended slightly higher, while other Southeast Asian markets ended in the red on Wednesday with Malaysia losing the most. Disappointing Chinese economic data and a barrage of other dismal economic indicators stoked fears of a slowdown. In China -- the region's largest trading partner -- the Caixin/Markit PMI slipped into contraction territory for the first time in 19 months in December, broadly tracking an official survey released on Monday. With the fresh data, together with a fall in industrial profits, and softer retail sales growth in November, "we can confirm that the economy is weakening," Iris Pang, an economist on Greater China at ING said in a note to clients. China's weakness spilled over to other Asian economies, with Malaysia's manufacturing activity in December shrinking to its weakest pace of expansion since it launched the survey in 2012. Adding to the worries, official economic data out of export-reliant Singapore showed its gross domestic product grew more slowly than forecast in the fourth quarter as its manufacturing sector contracted on a quarterly basis. The SET index gained 2.06 points or 0.13% to 1,565.94, in trade worth 31 billion baht. The index edged up, with financials and energy stocks underpinning gains. The Philippine stock market rose as strong gains in real-estate stocks offset losses in most other sectors. Driving the benchmark was heavyweight Ayala Land Inc's counter, which bounced back after falling for two consecutive weeks. Shares of property developer SM Prime Holdings Inc along with Ayala Land were among top boosts to the index, up 3.4% and 1.7%, respectively. The Malaysian benchmark index was the worst performer in the region, shedding 1.3%, with shares of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad falling 4.4%, while those of oil and gas services provider Dialog Group Berhad ending 3.5% lower. Singapore's index followed suit, tumbling nearly 1%. Shares of industrial conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd and lender UOL Group Ltd lost 2.4% and 1.9%, respectively. The Indonesian index also edged lower on the back of material and telecom stocks. Meanwhile, Indonesia's December annual inflation rate eased, but the pace was quicker than expected, data from the statistics bureau showed on Wednesday.
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"Malaysia shares lead Asean peers on window dressing" BANGKOK, December 21 -- Most Southeast Asian stock markets pared some losses but ended lower on Friday with Philippines losing most. But Malaysia bounced back as fund managers rushed to prop up their portfolio towards year end. Earlier in the session, all regions slipped as a cocktail of negative leads ranging from the prospect of a US government shutdown to US chastising China for economic espionage weighed on sentiment. Despite a marginal recovery, the sentiment remained subdued with most regions ending lower on economic worries, while Malaysia and Indonesia reversed course to notch gains. The Stock Exchange of Thailand index ended 1,595.33 at close, down 0.77 points or 0.05%, in turnover worth almost 47 billion baht. Malaysia's benchmark reversed course to end at a more than one-week high. It was the sole country in the region which notched a weekly gain, ending higher by about 0.5%. Shares of electric utilities provider Tenaga Nasional Berhad jumped 5.2% and those of palm oil producer Sime Darby Plantation Berhad tacked on nearly 10%. The gain on the index was likely due to a technical rebound following recent price weakness and also year-end "window dressing activities," said Syed Muhammed Kifni, chief strategist at MIDF. Window dressing is a strategy used by portfolio managers near the year or quarter end to improve appearance of a fund's performance before presenting it to clients, purchasing high-flying stocks and selling losing ones. He also noted that the benchmark had similarly jumped about 50 points during the last six trading days in 2017. Indonesian's benchmark also rose at close but failed to offset losses earlier in the week, notching a weekly loss that snapped three straight weeks of gains. Earlier in the day, the national carrier Garuda's chief executive officer said it expects to end 2018 in profit and is targeting a net profit of 1 trillion rupiah ($69.03 million) for 2019, sending shares up 0.9% at close. On the other hand, Philippine's index fell most, losing 0.6% during the week to snap five consecutive weeks of gains. Losses were largely underpinned by real-estate stocks, with property developer SM Prime Holdings Inc dropping 2.5% while Ayala Land Inc shed 1.8%. Vietnam's index posted its seventh straight session of loss, and second consecutive weekly loss. The index also recorded a weekly loss of 4.2%, its worst performance since the week ending Oct 26. Real-estate stocks were main laggards, with Vinhomes JSC's counter shedding 4.5% and that of Vincom Retail JSC off 2.7%. Singapore's index edged lower to post its third consecutive weekly loss. BANGKOK, December 20 -- Southeast Asian stock markets ended lower on Thursday with energy stocks put pressure on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Indonesia falling the most. Regional stocks fell in line with broader Asian peers, after the US central bank hiked rates for the fourth time this year and stuck by its plan to keep withdrawing support from an economy it views as strong. "Against the backdrop of the trade war and weak economic data from major economies, people were hoping the Fed would extend a lifeline," said Fio Dejesus, an equity research analyst at RCBC Securities in Manila. "But their mandate was different from what the market hoped for." Recent disappointing data from the United States on slowing of job growth in November and a cooling housing market, along with weak manufacturing data from China heavily weighed on investor sentiment, sparking concerns over global growth. The SET index ended the day at 1,596.10, down 5.02 points or 0.31%, in turnover of 35 billion baht. Thailand's energy-heavy index suffered an additional blow after oil prices resumed their fall on Thursday amid worries of a supply glut and gloomy outlook for demand. Shares of oil and gas explorers PTT Plc and PTT Exploration and Production Plc shedding 0.5 % and 1.7%, respectively. The Indonesian index finished lower and was the worst performer in the region, with financial stocks coming under pressure. Shares of Bank Central Asia Tbk and Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk were among top losers, falling 2.2% and 1.7%, respectively. Singapore's index gave up modest gains early in the session to end lower, with shares of port operator Hutchison Port Holdings Trust losing 1.9% while those of agribusiness operator Wilmar International Ltd ending 1% lower. The Malaysian index edged lower with Sime Darby Plantation Berhad's counter closing 1.4% down, while that of IHH Healthcare Berhad ending 2.6% lower. Vietnam's index traded sideways through most of the session to edge down at close. The Philippine index lost most during early trade but pared losses to inch down at close. Industrial stocks were the biggest drag on the index, with shares of sector heavyweight SM Investments Corp closing 2.1% lower. BANGKOK, December 19 -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand index jumped more than 1% on Wednesday after the Bank of Thailand increased its policy rate, while other Southeast Asian stock markets ended mostly higher, as reports of a potential US-China meeting in January boosted sentiment. Investors took heart after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Bloomberg in an interview that the United States and China are planning to hold meetings in January to "document an agreement" on trade. The dispute between the world's two biggest economies threatens businesses throughout the region due to global value chains. "Positive signals on the trade war front are stabilising risk in Asia," Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at OANDA, said in a note. The SET index reversed course during early trade to edge higher, as gains in financial and industrial stocks offset losses in energy companies. The index gained 17.93 points or 1.13%, in turnover of 45 billion baht. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-2 to lift its one-day repurchase rate by a quarter-point to 1.75% after keeping the rate unchanged since April 2015. However, caution prevailed ahead of the highly anticipated US Federal Reserve meeting scheduled later on Wednesday amid expectations that their hawkish stance may give way to a "dovish" hike. Philippine shares, the top performers in the region, closed at their highest level in two weeks. Industrial and financial stocks were the biggest boost in the index, with DMCI Holdings Inc ending 6.8% higher, while Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc closed up 5.5%. Singapore stocks ended firmer on the back of financial stocks, while Indonesian shares snapped three straight sessions of declines to close higher. Top performers computer and electronics retailer Global Teleshop Tbk closed 25% firmer, while Bank Agris Tbk ended 24.5% higher. Malaysian stocks ended 1.2% higher, after plumbing near two-year lows in the previous session. Bucking the trend, Vietnamese stocks slipped 0.9% to notch their fifth straight session in the red, with financial stocks being the biggest drag. The slump was due to a technical sell-down, owing to the recent strength that had pushed the index to a level above 960 points, said Bui Nguyen Khoa, head of macro research, BIDV Securities Company. Macro-economic factors and local business remained sound in the country, he said, adding that global downtrend in equities could apply some psychological pressure, pushing the index to about 880 points-900 points where it would stabilise again. Shares in Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade closed 4.9% lower, while Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam lost about 1.3%. MANILA, December 17 -- Rogelio Reyes has learned to be a patient man. The 58-year-old economist is one of the longest-serving inmates in Manila City Jail. He has spent more than 14 years there but has never been convicted of a crime. I met Reyes inside the jail in October. Even in a crowd of more than 6,000 inmates, he's hard to miss. He's usually marching through Dorm 7, organising the prisoners, announcing the day's activities, and shouting for his deputy, 'Mamu'. With his round belly and booming laugh, Reyes is popular among the inmates. In fact, they elected him to be their 'mayor'. All 14 dorms in the jail have mayors, who appoint their own deputies and 'marshals' to guard the dorms. "We have a system where we share the governance," said Jayrex Bustinera, the jail's chief records officer. "We delegate some of the authority to the inmate leaders where inmates can police co-inmates … They help us institute peace and order." Mayors like Reyes do more than just keep the peace. They prevent the jail from being overrun. Prisons in the Philippines are the most congested in the world. Manila City Jail, for example, is operating almost 600 percent over capacity. "Our ideal capacity should be around 1,100 inmates. But the actual jail population is up to 6,300 inmates," said Bustinera. Conditions are so cramped that inmates sleep side-by-side on every inch of floor space. The unlucky ones sleep sitting up. Illnesses like tuberculosis and skin diseases are rampant. After spending two weeks inside the prison, every member of our crew fell ill.In such extreme conditions, it doesn't take much for tempers to boil over. "We should be scared, because we can be outnumbered anytime," Bustinera admitted. International guidelines recommend one guard for every seven inmates, but here the ratio is one to about 200.
It's the job of mayors like Reyes to keep a lid on this potentially volatile situation. He advocates for inmates with the prison authorities and ensures that all the new arrivals respect the rules. "If you are angry, you will not survive," he said. "If your heart is full of anger, most probably you will be in the stockroom … because you will quarrel with the many inmates. Here you have to control yourself." BANGKOK, December 13 -- The sentiment across broader Asia seemed less pessimistic about the trade deal, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edging up 0.8%. Optimism about improving relations between the two superpowers grew after China made its first major US soybean purchases in more than six months on Wednesday, two US traders said, and its first since US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce in early December. The SET index closed 19.89 points or 1.22% lower to 1,614.99, in trade worth 52.5 billion baht. The market hit their lowest since Nov 22. Shares of PTT Plc plunged to their lowest in more than four months at 47.50 baht, while those of PTT Exploration and Production PCL fell 6.7% to 125 baht. Oil prices were flat on Thursday under pressure from high inventories but buoyed by a drawdown in US crude stockpiles. Indonesia's benchmark index climbed to a more than seven-month high, aided by consumer staples and telecom stocks. Shares of cigarette maker Gudang Garam Tbk PT added 1.8%, while those of Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Perusahaan Perseroan PT rose to its highest in more than a week. However, the Southeast Asia's largest economy is expecting foreign direct investment to the country to be around $11 billion to $13 billion this year, less than the average in recent years of $20 billion per year. Philippines benchmark index eked out their third straight sessions of gains, rising to one-week high. Meanwhile, the Philippine central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady on Thursday, as expected, in line with the outlook for the inflation rate to cool. The apex bank had raised rates by a total 175 basis points so far this year, at the past five consecutive meetings to tame inflation. Singapore benchmark index climbed a near one-week high, while that of Malaysia added 0.8%.
MANILLA, November 9 -- A Philippine court found former first lady Imelda Marcos guilty of graft and ordered her arrest on Friday in a rare conviction among many corruption cases that she is likely to appeal to avoid jail and losing her seat in Congress. The special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court sentenced Marcos, 89, to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law when she illegally funneled about $200m to Swiss foundations in the 1970s as Metropolitan Manila governor. Neither Marcos nor anyone representing her attended Friday's court hearing. During the US-backed dictatorship of Imelda's husband, Ferdinand Marcos, the family is said to have amassed an estimated $5bn to $10bn in hidden wealth. No one has issued any reaction on her behalf, although her lawyers were expected to appeal the ruling, which anti-Marcos activists and human rights victims welcomed as long overdue. The court disqualified Marcos from holding public office, but she can remain a member of the House of Representatives while appealing the decision. Her congressional term will end next year but she has registered to run to replace her daughter as governor of northern Ilocos Norte province. "I was jumping up and down in joy in disbelief," said former Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales, who was among many activists locked up after Imelda's husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos, declared martial law in the Philippines in 1972.
'Conjugal dictatorship'
Government prosecutor Ryan Quilala told reporters that Marcos and her husband opened and managed Swiss foundations in violation of the Philippine Constitution, using aliases in a bid to hide stolen funds. Marcos' rule was often referred to as a "conjugal dictatorship", because of his wife, Imelda's political influence. The Marcoses have been accused of plundering the government's coffers amid crushing poverty. They have denied any wrongdoing and have successfully fought many other corruption cases. Imelda Marcos was acquitted on Friday in three other cases, which were filed in 1991 and took nearly three decades of trial by several judges and prosecutors. She was once convicted of a graft case in 1993, but the Supreme Court later cleared her of any wrongdoing. President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses, said last year the Marcos family had indicated a willingness to return a still-unspecified amount of money and "a few gold bars" to help ease budget deficits. Duterte indicated the family still denied that the assets had been stolen as alleged by political opponents, and has often praised the dictator. Ferdinand Marcos had placed the Philippines under martial rule a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress, ordered the arrest of political rivals and left-wing activists and ruled by decree. A Hawaii court found Marcos liable for human rights violations and awarded $2bn from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Duterte has acknowledged that Imee Marcos, the couple's daughter and a provincial governor, backed his presidential candidacy, and she is running for senator under Duterte's political alliance. He has also allowed the late dictator's body to be buried in the country's heroes' cemetery in 2016. Phuong Khanh Nguyen of Vietnam is greeted by other contestants during the coronation night of the Miss Earth 2018 in Pasay City, the Philippines, on Nov. 3, 2018. Phuong Khanh Nguyen of Vietnam won the crown of Miss Earth 2018, beating other contestants from across the world.
Executive Order No. 53
Strengthening the Committee for the Special Protection of Children, Amending for this Purpose Executive Order No. 275 (s.1995) Role of the CSPC The CSPC is hereby strengthened and reorganized to effectively function as the body principally responsible for coordinating and monitoring the investigation and prosecution of cases involving violations of R.A. No. 7610 and other child-related criminal laws. Vision All children in the Philippines and Filipino children elsewhere are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation and discrimination. Mission Statement Guided by the principles of non-discrimination, best interest of the child, respect for the views of the child, and the right of the child to life, as well as Article 19 of the CRC, as codified under RA 7610, the SCPC shall ensure that all children in the Philippines are provided legal protection, within a child sensitive justice system. Functions and Duties The Committee shall have the following responsibilities:
Composition The Committee shall be chaired by the Secretary of Justice and co-chaired by the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, with the following as members:
MANILLA, October 17 -- The Philippine rebel group Abu Sayyaf has extended the deadline by two hours for the beheading of a German hostage, who is being held for ransom in southern Philippines. The Muslim rebel group, which recently expressed allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), told a local radio station that Stefan Okonek, 71, will be killed at 5pm local time (09:00 GMT) unless their demands were met, Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, who is in Zamboanga City, reported. The Abu Sayyaf group demanded a $5.6 million ransom in exchange for Okonek's release. The German doctor was seized together with his partner Henrite Dielen, also a German national, by the Abu Sayyaf rebels in April when their yacht broke down near the southern island of Palawan en route to Sabah in eastern Malaysia. They are being held on Jolo island, a hotbed of separatist rebellion, in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines. Video footage A video released on Wednesday showed Okonek being held in a hole in the ground, which he had been told would be his grave if ransom is not paid. The rebel group also demanded that Germany halt its support for US-led air strikes in Syria and Iraq against ISIS. "They told me on Friday they will kill me," the doctor said in a radio interview monitored in Zamboanga City. "I'm here in a hole. It's a big hole, three metres (by) five metres. They told me this is my grave. They push me inside the hole. "I hope I will still get out from here ... but I have not seen anyone from the government to get into the situation that tries to get us out." He said he was losing weight because there was not enough food and 10 gunmen were watching over him 24 hours a day. He was separated from the woman on Monday. This was the second time the German has spoken to commercial radio since last Friday's deadline passed. The Abu Sayyaf also sent a video to a radio station late on Tuesday showing a group of men manhandling a handcuffed foreigner who was apparently the captured German man. The man in the video was saying that his handcuffs were too tight as armed men made him sit in front of black flag, which appeared to be the flag used by ISIS. Earlier, the group called on Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to negotiate, offering hope for a possible solution. |
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