The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) declined to USD108.45 billion in January from USD108.79 billion in December but an economist said an increase or a record-high is possible as structural inflows remain strong. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed the drop in the country’s dollar reserves, which is based on preliminary data, to payments of the government’s foreign currency-denominated debt and the decline in the prices of gold in the international market, which affected the value of the central bank’s gold holdings. Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, Michael Ricafort, in a report on Friday, said the country’s current

The Department of Science and Technology in Bicol (DOST-5) through its Catanduanes provincial office will soon build desalination facilities that will provide clean, potable water to two barangays. In an interview on Friday, Marie Grace Molina, DOST-Catanduanes director, said their regional office is allocating PHP2.9 million for the development of a desalination project in Pandan town. “The project is under the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) program and Pandan is one of our CEST communities in Catanduanes, aside from that, the beneficiary barangay has a scarcity in water supply,” Molina said. She said the municipality of Pandan has

Two remote barangays in Maco, Davao de Oro received new health centers worth PHP5.6 million from the government’s Barangay Development Program (BDP) this week, the provincial government said Friday. Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy said barangays Magangit and Sangab in Maco town acquired the health centers on February 8 and 9, respectively, with the hope of providing residents with their health care needs. Uy said the villages were former strongholds of armed rebels, but with the help of the “whole-of-nation approach” or the convergence of national and local government agencies and the security sector, they are insurgency-free. In 2021, the province

Some PHP172 million worth of road networks leading to trades, industries, and economic zones have been completed in Eastern Visayas, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported Friday. DPWH Eastern Visayas regional director Allan Borromeo said three out of seven projects under the Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade (ROLL IT) program included in the 2021 budget have been completed. “This convergence between the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and DPWH seeks to link priority economic and manufacturing zones here in Eastern Visayas to potential investors and market,” Borromeo said in a statement. Completed projects under

An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has come to the defense of the ruling of its First Division denying the three petitions to disqualify presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from running in the May 9 polls. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez made the remark saying some who are reacting to the ruling are taking it out of context, emphasizing the First Division has not stated it is okay not to file an income tax return (ITR). “That has been said, the decision does say that but the decision was saying that in the context of trying to explain

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported on Friday the completion of six road improvement projects in the towns of San Isidro and Cabiao in Nueva Ecija that are expected to provide faster and more convenient travel to motorists and commuters. Engineer Elpidio Y. Trinidad, head of the DPWH-Nueva Ecija 2nd District Engineering Office, said the accomplished projects that were funded under the agency’s 2021 budget were two asphalt overlay and two road reblocking projects in the different sections of Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA), which is a high-volume road, and two local road concreting projects. Trinidad cited