$1 Billion Dollars investment in the Philippines from Shell & Nestle signed

Oil industry giant Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. may increase its investments in the Philippines by as much as $1 billion, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.

In a statement, Shell said it signed a deal with the Philippine government for a joint technical feasibility study of the planned Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to be put up in Batangas.

President Aquino told reporters both Shell and Nestle discussed with him their plans to expand their operations that could provide more jobs.

 "If you remember, we went to Batangas a while back, they were talking about their expansion. They'll be awarding the contract for the construction of the expansion for Malampaya by July 2012. It is projected to produce about 7,000 jobs," the President said.

"You will witness the signing of the study for the regasification plant. That seems to be a very good prospect. We discussed a little about the resources that are off Recto Bank," Aquino said.

Purisima said in his Twitter account that Shell would invest over $1 billion in various facilities.

As regards Nestle, the President said the company indicated it would want to reverse the balance of "sourcing from the Philippines versus sourcing from abroad."

"When we initially talked about it, it seems they were doing about 25 percent of their coffee needs from the Philippines. They want to get that by 2020, to between 75 to 80 percent of their needs. So currently, it's about 30 to 35 percent of their coffee needs are already sourced in the Philippines," Aquino said.

The President said Nestle invited Filipino officials to visit Nestle headquarters in Switzerland and their agriculture research facility. They also talked about their business process outsourcing operations already in the Philippines.

"They started out 60 then now they number... but there are 3,000 more or less direct employees already," Aquino said, adding he would also be inaugurating the Nestle plant that broke ground in October.

The President and Simon Henry, chief financial officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Edgar Chua, Pilipinas Shell country chairman and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.

Henry said "this Memorandum of Understanding is indicative of our support to the Philippine government's aspiration to diversify its energy sources as embodied in its natural gas master plan."

The MOU calls for cooperation and coordination efforts between the Philippine government and Shell for a technical feasibility study which shall determine the viability for the development, construction and operation by Shell of an import and regasification terminal adjacent to its refinery facility located in Tabangao, Batangas.

Chua, for his part, said "we believe this feasibility study for an LNG terminal is a timely activity as it firmly supports the government's thrust of achieving energy security and promoting cleaner energy."

The proposed site of the LNG import and regasification terminal is adjacent to Shell's refinery facility in Tabangao, Batangas. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by 2012 with a "first gas" target date in 2016.

The Philippine government, through the DOE, is developing a natural gas master plan in order to diversify the country's energy sources to address the increasing demand for power and support the economic growth of the country.

Shell has a long-term relationship with the Philippines and continuously looks for opportunities to contribute to nation-building, it said in a statement.

Chua also informed the President that a technical study to evaluate possible modifications in the design and refining processes of Shells' refinery facility in Tabangao, Batangas was close to completion.

He explained the study aimed to determine the necessary changes in the facility that would allow Shell to meet the new Philippine National Standards (PNS) for 'Euro IV (PH)' grade diesel and gasoline set to take effect in 2016.

The signing of the deal was part of Aquino's two-day investment mission here.

On 5^th June 2012, the President witnessed the signing of $1.03 billion in business agreements between British and Filipino companies.

Shell said Chua also had the opportunity to present to President Aquino an overview of the investment program that includes the next phases of exploration in the Malampaya natural gas field in northern Palawan.

Some 40 to 50 percent of fuel for Luzon's gas-fired power plants come from Malampaya natural gas, according to the Shell Philippines' website.

"In order to maintain the project's gas production and reliability, the Service Contract 38 consortium is investing an additional $1.04 billion for Malampaya Phase 2, which will entail drilling of additional wells by 2014," Shell Philippines said.

By 2015, Shell expects Phase 3 of its Malampaya operations to get underway. This involves the installation of a new platform.

"These developments are expected to maximize the recovery of gas from the reservoir and to maintain the level of gas production as the reservoir pressure drops and as the gas depletes," the Shell website also said.

Back in January 2012, Shell turned over to President Aquino a check representing $1 billion for the government's share of the earnings of the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project, a joint venture between the Philippine government and Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.

From the Malampaya proceeds, President Aquino sourced the funds to finance the Pantawid Pasada program for public utility jeepneys and tricycles, as well as the budget for the acquisition of Philippine Navy patrol ships purchased from the United States Coast Guard.

Shell's investment commitment is in addition to the $1.030 billion worth of investments pledged earlier when President Aquino met the executives of Glencore International Plc and its Philippine partner Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation (PASAR); Cebu Pacific Air, Rolls-Royce, and Royal Aero, GazAsia Ltd., and its Philippine partner the AsiaGas Corporation.

Nestlé said it would expand its current operations in the country. Nestlé Philippines employs 3,400 people in its manufacturing operations and 400 more in its backroom operations, which handle employee and financial services.

At 10 Downing Street, President Aquino asked British Prime Minister David Cameron to visit the Philippines as he sought more investments including in the Public-Private Partnership program of the country.

President Aquino told Cameron his administration was rolling out projects in the fields of infrastructure, energy, tourism, business process outsourcing and information technology. Read more in ABS-CBN

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Chinese' – Asia’s largest Mega Plant of Illegal drugs found in Parañaque

"This is a drug-free workplace. Let's keep it this way."

The Philippines has been ranked for the largest source for Illegal drugs [methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu"] in Asia; the recent discovery will prove that the mega plant of Chinese drug syndicates operates the largest ever found drug manufacturing  in the Philippines.

The warehouse is allegedly being rented by a Chinese businessman identified as Tam Cheuk Kwan for ₱400,000 a month which operating started January 2011.

For more than 1 year operation with a capacity of ₱2 Billion Peso monthly production; the newly found mega plant have destructed thousands of human lives not just in Asia but also around the world.

Were its operators just imbued with a sense of humor or were they merely trying to put authorities off their scent?

Agents of the Southern Police District (SPD) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Wednesday raided a drug laboratory located under a warehouse in Parañaque City (Manila, Philippines) where a sign read: "This is a drug-free workplace. Let's keep it this way."

Policemen stumbled on Tuesday onto the warehouse—located in a compound at Kilometer 19, East Service Road in Barangay (village) San Martin de Porres, Parañaque City—when they responded to a report about a robbery on South Superhighway.

Aside from bagging three suspected thieves, the lawmen also discovered a facility for making methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" in the basement of the abandoned warehouse.

"The police responded to a reported robbery incident but instead found … the abandoned shabu lab," Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, SPD director, told reporters.

Armed with search and arrest warrants, PDEA and SPD agents returned on Wednesday to the compound.

To get to the basement, they went in through the backdoor of the sprawling 100-sq m  warehouse which contained a huge amount of litter, including  discarded paper towels, cardboard, wooden planks and tin cans.

Corridors led to the basement which was accessible only through a single door. Once inside, the policemen found a still undetermined number of drums containing what was believed to be unprocessed shabu.

They also discovered a number of "industry-grade" flasks, burners and other drug manufacturing equipment.

"These pieces of equipment could produce about 50 to 100 kilograms of shabu per week," said one of the PDEA members who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to media about the operation.

Estipona said they were able to take the caretaker of the warehouse into custody.

Through the caretaker, the police learned that the warehouse used to store textiles and garments.

Estipona, however, said that they would also be going after the owner of the warehouse who was identified as Juanito Que.

Que reportedly leased the compound to one Annie Chua last year.

"We will be tracking these persons down. Definitely, they [should be held liable for this]," Estipona told reporters.

He added that it would probably take days for them to determine the value of the equipment and chemicals found at the warehouse.

Chinese businessman Tam Cheuk Kwan is now hiding from the Philippines authorities 

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World’s newest & stealthiest $3Billion USD destroyer will counter China in West Philippines

This file image released by Bath Iron Works shows a rendering of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy's next-generation destroyer, which has been funded to be built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and at Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. (AP/Bath Iron Works)

A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. navy's China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.

But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet. One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.

With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon as the most advanced destroyer in history -- a silver bullet of stealth. It has been called a perfect fit for what Washington now considers the most strategically important region in the world -- Asia and the Pacific.

Though it could come in handy elsewhere, like in the Gulf region, its ability to carry out missions both on the high seas and in shallows closer to shore is especially important in Asia because of the region's many island nations and China's long Pacific coast.

"With its stealth, incredibly capable sonar system, strike capability and lower manning requirements -- this is our future," Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, said in April after visiting the shipyard in Maine where they are being built.

On a visit to a major regional security conference in Singapore that ended Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Navy will be deploying 60 percent of its fleet worldwide to the Pacific by 2020, and though he didn't cite the stealth destroyers he said new high-tech ships will be a big part of its shift.

The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake, electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles. They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers -- but will have half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.

Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.

But cost overruns and technical delays have left many defense experts wondering if the whole endeavor was too focused on futuristic technologies for its own good.

They point to the problem-ridden F-22 stealth jet fighter, which was hailed as the most advanced fighter ever built but was cut short because of prohibitive costs. Its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has swelled up into the most expensive procurement program in Defense Department history.

"Whether the Navy can afford to buy many DDG-1000s must be balanced against the need for over 300 surface ships to fulfill the various missions that confront it," said Dean Cheng, a China expert with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research institute in Washington. "Buying hyperexpensive ships hurts that ability, but buying ships that can't do the job, or worse can't survive in the face of the enemy, is even more irresponsible."

The Navy says it's money well spent. The rise of China has been cited as the best reason for keeping the revolutionary ship afloat, although the specifics of where it will be deployed have yet to be announced. Navy officials also say the technologies developed for the ship will inevitably be used in other vessels in the decades ahead.

But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that was cut to 24, then seven.

Now, just three are in the works.

"Costs spiraled -- surprise, surprise -- and the program basically fell in on itself," said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "The DDG-1000 was a nice idea for a new modernistic surface combatant, but it contained too many unproven, disruptive technologies."

The U.S. Defense Department is concerned that China is modernizing its navy with a near-term goal of stopping or delaying U.S. intervention in conflicts over disputed territory in the South China Sea or involving Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

China is now working on building up a credible aircraft carrier capability and developing missiles and submarines that could deny American ships access to crucial sea lanes.

The U.S. has a big advantage on the high seas, but improvements in China's navy could make it harder for U.S. ships to fight in shallower waters, called littorals. The stealth destroyers designed to do both. In the meantime, the Navy will begin deploying smaller Littoral Combat Ships to Singapore later this year.

Officially, China has been quiet on the possible addition of the destroyers to Asian waters.

But Rear Adm. Zhang Zhaozhong, an outspoken commentator affiliated with China's National Defense University, scoffed at the hype surrounding the ship, saying that despite its high-tech design it could be overwhelmed by a swarm of fishing boats laden with explosives. If enough boats were mobilized some could get through to blow a hole in its hull, he said.

"It would be a goner," he said recently on state broadcaster CCTV's military channel.

Foxnews

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Washington marking another milestone in the West Philippines

Counting the power following for US Pivot in Asia and the Pacific to counter China

• 3 DDG-1000 Zumwalt – World's Stealthiest and newest $3 Billion USD/ea priced destroyer
• 11 aircraft carriers with attached strike groups
• 61 guided missile destroyers and 22 guided missile cruisers
• 72 submarines
• 24 frigates
• 9 amphibious attack ships
• 7 amphibious transport docks
• 12 dock landing ships,
• 4 littoral combat ships and several other vessels.

United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's visit to Cam Ranh Bay on Sunday was an act of scent-marking – if there is such a thing in the world of international diplomacy. And its leitmotif will be keenly studied by strategic pundits the world over.

A range of interpretations becomes possible. Surely, when a US defence secretary visits the Cam Ranh Bay naval base over three decades after the Vietnam War, it is an act pregnant with possibilities. Cam Ranh Bay sits tantalizingly close to China and finds itself right in the middle of the epic drama unfolding in the South China Sea.

And these are times when the US is racheting up its "assertiveness" toward China. The US State Department just taunted China with another rude missive on the anniversary of Tiananmen Square uprising.

Only the day before he arrived in Cam Ranh Bay, Panetta announced in Singapore that the US would shift the bulk of its naval fleet to the Pacific as part of the strategy of "pivot" to Asia. No doubt, it was a sort of marking of territory.

However, varying interpretations can be made, including that Panetta was actually endeavoring to hold out an olive branch to China – "suggesting that the two often-feuding world powers must learn to work better together for the benefit of the entire region." At this point, interpretation becomes really hard, if one were to get into details.

Panetta said, "By 2020, the Navy will reposture its forces from today's roughly 50/50 split between the Atlantic and Pacific to about a 60/40 split between those oceans – including six aircraft carriers, a majority of our cruisers, destroyers, littoral combat ships and submarines." 

That is indeed a massive power projection. Thus, China has drawn the appropriate conclusions: A) No matter Panetta's assurance that no harm is intended to China, the US strategy "must be watched closely"; B) The US reposturing is neither "desperately serious" nor altogether insignificant; C) China should hope for the best, but "prepare for the worst"; D) China has the capacity to hit back if its interests are threatened.

In sum, China's reaction is as ambiguous as the US intentions. This is where Panetta's Cam Ranh Bay visit makes things very, very interesting. Enter Vietnam.

Hanoi has a deal with Russia for the refurbishment of Cam Ranh Bay (which used to be a Soviet base). Is it that Vietnam is looking beyond that exclusive deal with Russia and contemplating a move to make Cam Ranh Bay available to the US Navy, too? As the East Asia Summit in Hanoi was drawing to a close in October 2010, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the surprise announcement that Cam Ranh Bay would once again be open to port calls by foreign navies.

But Vietnam seldom conveys its desires openly. There have been reports previously that Moscow too would love to "get Cam Ranh Bay back." After all, it is one of the finest deep-water anchorages in the entire southeast Asia.

The US would be mighty pleased to secure regular access to Cam Ranh Bay for its ships to undertake repairs and resupply. However, Panetta will have to weigh how estranged from China his hosts in Hanoi could be so as to fall into Uncle Sam's arms – and, indeed, if the estrangement is for real and, more important, whether it would prove durable.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese hosts also would need to carefully interpret the import of Panetta's scent-marking. There is apparently an old Vietnamese saying, "A distant water can't put out a nearby fire."

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Transit of Venus dot once in 1 century visible in the Philippines

• Watching Venus - June 5, 2012 06:09 am t0 14:49 PM +8GMT (Philippines Time)

Turning on the alarm clock is not required for those who wake up late in the Philippines because Venus is visible for more than 6 hours all over Philippines archipelago.

Filipinos can view a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical spectacle tomorrow, when the planet Venus makes its way across the sun.

The so-called Transit of Venus won't happen again until 2117.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)-Space Sciences and Astronomy Section officer-in-charge (OIC) Dario Dela Cruz said the passage of Venus will be best observed from 6:09 a.m. to 12:49 p.m. facing the eastern horizon this Wednesday.

"This event will not occur again until the next lifetime. We will have to wait for another 105.5 years to witness it," Dela Cruz said.

According to PAGASA Administrator Dr. Nathaniel Servando, Mercury and Venus transits are the only passages that are seen from Earth.

"Since the planets Mercury and Venus orbit inside the path of the Earth around the sun, they too can come between the Earth and the Sun. However, since these planets have a tiny apparent diameter as seen from Earth, the transit is seen as a small black disk moving across the face of the sun," he explained.

On the average, there are 13 transits of Mercury in a century.

Dela Cruz explained that transits of Venus occur in pairs, with more than a century separating each pair.

There are only eight events that occurred since the invention of the telescope – 1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, 2004, and the upcoming June 6 event.

Dela Cruz pointed out that the 2004 and 2012 transits form a contemporary pair separated by eight years.

The next two transits of Venus will occur on 2117 and 2125.

Aside from the Philippines, the entire transit will be visible in Greenland, North and Central America, Pacific Island, Australasia, Asia, East Africa, and most of Europe, Servando said.

He advised skywatchers that the safest way to observe a transit is to project the image of the sun through a telescope, binoculars, or pinhole onto a screen, but the event can be viewed with the naked eye using filters specifically designed for this purpose, such as an astronomical solar filter with a vacuum-deposited layer of chromium, eclipse viewing glasses, or Grade 14 welder's glass.

"An earlier method of using exposed black-and-white film as a filter is no longer regarded as safe, as small imperfections or gaps in the film may permit damaging UV rays to pass through. Also, processed color film (unlike black-and-white film) does not contain silver, and is transparent to infra-red. This may result in burns to the retina," Servando said.

"Observing the sun directly without filters can cause a temporary or permanent loss of visual function, as it can damage or destroy retinal cells," he added.

Venus transits have been significant in gaining the first realistic estimates of the size of the solar system, and it continue to be of relevance to other ongoing scientific exploration.

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International Court of Justice may cancel judgeship of Senator Merriam Santiago

Group of individuals which lodged petition for rejection and reconsideration for Miriam Defensor-Santiago's assumption of her International Criminal Court (ICC) judgeship.

Malacanang Palace expressed rutted feeling after "That's a private initiative. I did see it on the news... and that will be up to them because we nominated Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

"It's a free country, the senator's verdict should be respected in the same way that the opinion of the other people should also be respected," Valte said.

She said the nomination had been borne out of the record of the senator and that the government did push for Santiago and "she's already there."

"I think it should end there... She has been accepted, she will be assuming her post –I'm not sure if within the year – but that is something that is already done," Valte said.

She added there was no truth to reports that the administration would strike back at the senators who did not vote for the conviction of chief justice Renato Corona.

Valte said it would be up to Santiago to decide when to assume her post because she wanted to finish the impeachment proceedings. "That was upon her own request to defer her oath taking and her assumption of duty... Her only reason given was that she wanted to finish the trial," she said.

The petition addressed to the ICC said: "We have taken the liberty of writing to you on behalf of concerned Filipino organizations and individuals in the Philippines and overseas who subscribe to and actively advocate the goal of competent, honest and progressive governance of our homeland.

"We are respectfully bringing to your attention a serious matter that affects the image and reputation of the Philippines and, potentially, the image and reputation of the International Criminal Court," it said.

The petition said as an independent court that "tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and as a court committed to the observance of the highest standards of fairness and due process, we respectfully assume that you require those you have elected to your roster of judges to meet the most stringent standards."

In addition to mastery of international jurisprudence and forensic skills, the petition stated "we assume that you also require a sound mind, emotional and psychological stability, unsullied integrity and incorruptibility, as well as patience, civility and impeccable decorum."

"We submit that a person who is emotionally or psychologically unstable, prone to fits of uncontrollable rage, lacking in patience and empathy, ruthless with the feelings of fellow human beings, bereft of civility and uncaring about decorum does not deserve a place in your honorable court," it said. "We further submit that an individual who has admitted to having publicly lied and who has demonstrated partiality, prejudice, lack of principles and questionable integrity as a public official does not deserve to be a judge, much less a judge of the International Criminal Court," the petition added.

In this regard, the petitioners said they "regret to inform" the ICC that such an undeserving individual like Santiago had been elected to the ICC, in a lapse of good judgment on the part of the Philippine government.

"We are bringing this matter to your attention for fear that you may construe her uncivilized behavior and her loose ethics as epitomizing the Filipino people. While, ironically, it should be a source of pride for Filipinos to have one of our own elected to your honorable court, we are embarrassed by the ill-considered nomination of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Far from representing the best of us, she typifies the worst. We fear that her presence in the International Criminal Court will make us the laughing stock of the world," the petition said.

"While it is entirely your prerogative to determine how to deal with Senator Defensor-Santiago, in light of these revelations, we respectfully submit that the onus will also be on your collective heads should she, as a judge of the International Criminal Court, display the kind of boorish and bizarre behavior that has been her trademark in the Philippine Senate and in other public fora. We, therefore, respectfully submit that a reconsideration of her election to the International Criminal Court is called for and that her nomination be rejected upon reconsideration," the petition read. 

Read more in PhilSTAR 

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Rising Philippines, Prosperous Britain – Aquino will meet Queen Elizabeth for Investments?

Queen Elizabeth wants to meet President Benigno Aquino in his June Kingdom Visit

President Aquino's official visit to the United Kingdom is expected to yield some "big-ticket" investments to the Philippines in energy and infrastructure, a Department of Foreign Affairs official said on Wednesday.

Foreign Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Buensuceso also said in a Palace media briefing that the President's trip from June 4 to 6 comes at a time when Europe is looking at Asia, particularly the Philippines, as a "safe haven" for investments.

"Expect big-ticket investments from the United Kingdom," Buensuceso said when asked about the potential investments to be generated by the trip, which will be the President's first official visit to Britain and Europe since he assumed office in 2010.

"Several business meetings have also been lined up for the President with top British investors, who have an interest in doing business in the Philippines and participate in the Aquino administration's Public-Private Partnership Program. As you know, the UK was one of the first countries to show support for the PPP," Buensuceso said.

She said the President is scheduled to meet with executives of various "big name companies" like Shell.

When asked, Buensuceso said the President's meeting with Shell would not involve possible investments in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) on energy exploration.

She said several Cabinet members and Filipino businessmen were joining the President's trip "to look into enhancing reciprocal investment, trade and tourism opportunities between the Philippines and the United Kingdom."

Buensuceso said some of the Filipino businessmen with the President are from the banking sector.

The trip—whose theme is "Rising Philippines, Prosperous Britain: Forcing a new era of mutual prosperity and partnership" seeks to "expand opportunities for closer economic cooperation" between the two countries.

It also seeks to "build up cooperation toward global peace, conflict-resolution and combating international crime; deepen people-to-people linkages from the grassroots to the highest levels of the government; and celebrate shared values of democracy, free speech, good governance, transparency and countercorruption."

Asked about the timing of the President's trip, Buensuceso said it will be a "historic moment" since "European countries and, in this instance, under the leadership of the United Kingdom are now looking for alternative places; safe havens."

There is a crisis going on in Europe, and now it is looking at Asia, Buensuceso said, noting that while in the past, Europe's reference to Asia was often limited to China, India and Singapore, "this time, the focus is on the Philippines."

"So we are gaining recognition and with this visit, I think…the Philippines will be in the radar of European investors," she said.

Buensuceso said British investors are apprised of developments in the Philippine economy, and that the UK and the Philippines are members of the Open Government Partnership Program.

"The UK is now vice chairman of the steering committee. So these things are a confluence of factors that make the UK, in this specific instance, look back, look again at the Philippines as a possible partner," she said.

Buensuceso said the assumption of the British coalition government led by Prime Minister David Cameron in May 2010 "reinvigorated the bilateral relationship between the Philippines and the United Kingdom, especially as the latter sought to re-engage emerging powers, including the Philippines."

"This unprecedented focus on deepening Philippine-British bilateral ties, especially in economic and political/security matters, has even led the British government to describe the Philippines as an 'emerging power in East Asia,'" she said.

Asked why the UK was chosen among other countries as the host of the President's first trip to Europe, Buensuceso said, "The biggest attraction here really is the potential of the UK as a very important political and economic partner of the Philippines." Buensuceso said the President will meet with Cameron at 10 Downing Street to discuss bilateral political and economic cooperation, the Britain's participation in the International Contact Group (ICG), regional and international issues, and anti-corruption and good governance practices in their respective countries.

Asked about the planned discussion on political and security matters between the two leaders, Buensuceso said the President will brief Cameron on the peace process in the Philippines, and will thank Britain for its important contribution as a member of the ICG.

"We are also going to announce the entry into force of the Mutual Legal Assistance treaty between the Philippines and the UK, which has just been concurred by the Senate after ratification by the President. So this is a very good development," she said.

Mr. Aquino will attend a luncheon feted by Queen Elizabeth, where she will be represented the Lord of Mayor of London Alderman David Wooton, a recent Manila visitor, and where several business agreements are expected to be signed, Buensuceso said.

He will also meet with the Duke of York Prince Andrew, as the official representative of the queen, who will be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee on that day.

The President will meet with representatives of the 250,000-strong Filipino community in Britain, which will also feature the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" tourism campaign of the government.

Buensuceso said the President's message to the Filipino community in Britain is that "we care for them; they are important in our economic and political development and that the Filipino government, the Philippine government is giving high priority to improve their welfare and to help them in times of need."

Asked whether the President would ride one of the public buses bearing the Philippine tourism campaign poster in London, Buensuceso said, "We will see if that is logistically possible."

She said during the President's visit, the Daily Telegraph will run a special feature focusing on his programs and on the President himself. The BBC will also have an interview with the Chief Executive.

From London Mr. Aquino will head for the United States for an official visit to Washington, where he will meet with US President Barack Obama, and Los Angeles from June 6 - 8 2012.

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2012 Philippines economic growth level up at 6.4 percent in Quarter 1

 It's more fun in the Philippines; it's more fun to invest in the Philippines.

In spite of shaky economy in the US and in Europe; Philippines  economic jump shows it's more fun to invest the Philippines.

The Philippine economy grew a faster-than-expected 6.4 percent in the first three months of the year, boosted by increased government spending.

The National Economic and Development Authority says the pickup from a sluggish 3.7 percent growth in 2011 also shows renewed business confidence in the Philippines.

The growth was fueled by a surge in public construction as the government splashed out on new roads and airports.

The government late last year announced a 72 billion peso ($1.66 billion) stimulus package to cushion the economy from Europe's debt crisis.

The services sector, which accounts for more than half of the economy, was supported by a rise in real estate and tourist arrivals.

The government expects full year growth of 5-6 percent.

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Philippine infrastructure planners have dreamt for years of building an elevated highway above the traffic-clogged streets of metropolitan Manila and linking the capital with the fast-growing cities and ports to the north and south.

Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, the president, last week approved not one but two toll road projects across the city and instructed ministers to speed up the tendering process so they could be completed by the time he steps down from office in four years. He was hoping, he joked, for an easier journey to the beach.

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The proposed toll road projects, together worth 48bn pesos ($1.1bn), are adding to growing business optimism about the Philippines' medium-term prospects. Analysts say the country is on the cusp of its first investment boom since the Asian financial crisis of 1997, after more than a decade of political instability.

Many of the country's biggest conglomerates are rolling out their most ambitious spending plans in years to build shopping malls, office towers and residential projects.

The president is inviting private companies to build infrastructure projects, such as airports and light rail systems, through public-private partnerships that bind the government to help ensure investors recover costs and earn minimum returns through user charges or direct government payments.

Ramon del Rosario Jr, chairman of the Makati Business Club, a grouping of the country's biggest companies, believes foreign investors are also expressing confidence in the Aquino administration's efforts to tackle corruption.

"The main thing that has changed is this idea that we are now serious about good governance, about integrity in government, about fighting corruption," he said in a television interview, shortly after the Senate voted to remove the chief justice of the Supreme Court for failing to declare US dollar deposits in his asset disclosure statements.

Shares in listed companies betting big on infrastructure, including San Miguel and Metro Pacific – the two proponents of the highway project – have surged since late last year, making the Philippines one of the best performing equities markets in the world. Despite market volatility triggered by the risk of a Greek exit from the EUROZONE, the Philippine Stock Exchange index is up 14.8 percent this year after hitting record highs 19 times in the first five months of 2012.

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The Philippines is announcing first-quarter gross domestic product results on Thursday, and analysts predict that economic growth year-on-year may have accelerated to 4.6 per cent from 3.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, according to a Reuters poll.

Most economic forecasters say the Philippines will expand 5 per cent or more next year, giving the country a fighting chance of hitting the government's growth target of 7-8 per cent in 2016.

In the short term, however, the country's economic prospects are more subdued amid continuing sluggishness in the US and Europe, and a slowdown in China.

Exports, which are equivalent to about a third of the economy, fell 1.2 per cent from a year ago in March as deliveries to East Asia dropped sharply.

Some of the country's exports to China, such as bananas and other fruits, have been affected by the dispute between the two countries over the Scarborough Shoal reef in the South China Sea. However, Philippine trade officials do not expect the diplomatic dispute to affect deliveries of electronics parts and minerals, which Chinese companies need to produce other goods.

Mr Aquino also faces the challenge of improving regulatory capacity across government agencies and units, and resolving policy conflicts that are slowing down the approvals for large investments, say business leaders.

A case in point is plans by the Philippine unit of Xstrata' to spend up to $5.9bn in the next five years to develop one of the world's largest untapped mining deposits in the southern Philippines. The project is potentially the country's single-biggest inward foreign investment but is being stalled by a local government ban on open-pit mining.

Milagros Reyes, who heads PetroEnergy Resources, an exploration group, complains that investors often get caught between different government agencies with overlapping mandates. "We bring in foreign drill ships that are leased per day only to be told to wait for days for permits by maritime authorities" seeking to protect the domestic shipping industry, she said.

More Fun! Incredible Economic Jump of the Philippines in Q1 2012

Incredible! Amazing! While other Asian countries describe themselves with superlatives, the Philippines national ad campaign promises only "more fun."

Filipinos have reasons to smile. Asia's perennial underachiever is outperforming. This week saw more successes: Moody's upped its outlook on the country's credit rating to "positive," citing prudent fiscal management. An anti-graft drive notched a win with a guilty verdict in the impeachment trial of a former chief justice. And first-quarter gross domestic product growth of 6.4%, announced Thursday, defied most forecasts as well as the mood in the global economy.

But to build on the promise, the Philippines must deliver on three main growth drivers.

Business-process outsourcing is already booming due to strong English skills, cheap rent and low wages. A fondness for basketball and Hollywood movies is an advantage, too, when it comes to staffing call centers with workers who can make a cultural connection with U.S. customers. Starting from scratch a decade ago, the sector generated revenue of $11.25 billion last year. CLSA says that could double by 2015.

Government officials say tourism is a low-hanging fruit. They aim to triple arrivals to 10 million by 2016. A $5 billion gambling hub under construction will help. So too a surge in new planned hotel rooms and a rising tide of Chinese visitors, whose numbers were up almost 30% last year.

Arrivals hit a record high 1.2 million in the first quarter. But there are challenges. A regional economic slowdown would hurt. Manila's spat with China over potentially resource-rich areas of the South China Sea has raised diplomatic tensions that could stymie Chinese tourism too.

Poor infrastructure is a bigger issue. Security concerns at the country's airports have led to restrictions on its carriers. International aviation regulators won't let the nation's major airlines fly new routes to South Korea or the U.S.—their top two markets for visitors—until domestic airports improve.

Indeed, infrastructure spending is the third leg of the country's growth agenda. The government has pledged an extensive public-works program. The first quarter saw public construction jump 62% over last year. That pace must be sustained. Private investment activity also needs to pick up. RBS says weak private investment was a factor in disappointing first quarter construction overall, which was up just 0.3% from a year earlier.

Manila is more fun these days. But the Philippines must get serious on infrastructure to make the most of its time in the sun.

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End of Arab Oil Supremacy is the alternative Energy?

By ZOILO P. DEJARESCO III

The Middle East, since the "petrodollars" phenomenon in the 1970's, somehow dominated the world, in the economic and energy sense.

If world oil demand falters, they reduce production; if it surges, they hike prices in tandem.

The oil-producing nations had enough petrodollar reserves to lend and invest in many overseas nations, advanced their political agenda and some even used their money to export terrorism to the nations they hated.

Hopefully, that dire situation will change.

The Arab nations are lucky that there is a new surging demand for oil like populous countries like China and India enabling them to keep the average Brent crude oil price in 2011 at a high US$111/barrel.

This surge was balanced by the reduced demand resulting from the pockets of recession in Europe and the mild one in the USA. Added to that were the technological advances that made vehicles, gadgets and plants more oil-usage efficient and the rise of substitutes for oil in transport and electric power usage.

Many countries like the USA, Australia, China, Brazil and Canada have been driven to look for alternative sources of fuel over the years. The end of Arab oil supremacy could be at hand .

Fortune disclosed that America is now the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" – in fact, it has new domestic natural gas supply worth 100 years usage based on today's consumption. The natural gas production in that country had risen by 28% since 2005.

Exxon which bought XTO Energy (master in the new oil mining technology called "fracking") – and helped by high oil prices- shot to No. 1 in Fortune 500, eclipsing heretofore leader Wal-Mart with Exxon sales in the USA at US$486 billion and profits at US$ 41-Billion, the second largest in its corporate history.

In a few years time, oil experts predict that the USA will be able to sell natural gas to North Asia, Europe and South America (even with shipping costs) at 40% less price than the conventional crude oil. China and Australia are forecast to produce the same natural gas as well.

Western-friendly Canada now boasts of the second largest crude oil reserve in the world. The combined oil reserves of China, South America and Europe are still 250 years.

The world is moving away from "energy dependency" on crude oil and so its research has gone into – more efficient vehicles (buses, trains, cars, jeepneys, motorcycles) run by electric batteries and even by hydrogen and water. Many countries are now using CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) sources for public and private transportation by converting engines with ready tools, substituting engines with compatible ones and building new CNG0-based means of transportation.

Cheaper and cleaner than conventional gas- CNG is the wave of the future in many countries.

Exxon forecasts that by 2040 with hundreds of millions of people joining the middle class ( from the poor side) the world over- the demand for electricity will shoot by 80% from the present level. But the world is moving away from having its electric power moved by crude oil-based products alone.

In fact by 2025- the USA electricity will be powered by the following (in order of volume): crude oil, natural gas and coal- with natural gas showing the biggest increase in percentage share.

In the same USA, shale gas production which was only 11% in 2008 is now a bigger 33% of total production with the HIS Global Digest predicting that shale gas shall be 60% of total energy source production by 2035.

Newsweek reported in its "Truth about Oil" – there are about a staggering 1.459 trillion barrels or new discovered recoverable oil reserves in various forms and mining methods that should alter both the economy and the politics of the coming decades.

For instance, Light Crude Oil in Texas and North Dakota –produced by the hydraulic "fracking" method- is teeming with 300 billion barrels of reserves. The prevailing climate change has also impacted a positive benefit- the melting of the Artic Ocean lately opened new potential drilling and shipping opportunities of 90 billion barrels of oil just there.

Brazil , headed by the huge state-owned oil giant Petronas is leading the mining of Presalt Deep Water oil variety off the shores of Brazil with a potential of 50-100 billion barrels of oil reserves of this type. The Oil Shale (from solid ketrogen) is huge off the states of Wyoma, Utah, Colorado and Michigan with a mind-boggling estimate of 800 billion barrels.

Meanwhile, oil from the Oil Sands (sandstone saturated called bitumen) is a big thing in Canada with 169 billion barrels in recoverable reserves.

Many electricity-intensive countries are likewise moving away from dependency on crude oil as power source. Its natural rival would be the use of natural gas since coal and nuclear are allegedly on their death throes.

Environmentally-hostile coal plants are no longer manufactured commercially while Germany has banned all its nuclear reactors as it followed Japan which grounded 53 of its 54 nuclear plants –for reasons the Great Tsunami Tragedy in Japan exposed so vividly.

Even in the Philippines, the medium-term energy plans presented by Energy Secretary Rene Almendras include the growing use of geothermal, hydrothermal and solar and wind to a lesser degree while coal , it seems, is no longer the favored power source.

More than that –the recent Scarborough Shoal grew more significant by the research findings done by Brig General Edwin G. Nemenzo , deputy Commander of the 3rd Force Division Philippine Air Force based in Zamboanga City-as told to the Philippine News Agency-that the country (particularly near the Spratlys Islands) sits on a gargantuan oil reserves worth US$ 26-Trillion dollars.

That is enough to pay off the entire Philippine external debt and provide basic services to over 90million Filipinos many in dire poverty.

Such PAF findings were earlier confirmed by the China Ministry of Geology that the area has reserves of 17 billion barrels of oil- larger than the remaining 13 billion barrel reserves of Kuwait- a major oil producing country.

All these new discoveries of oil reserves and energy source substitutes should bring a smile to the rest of the world who always looks forward to the day that the dependency on Arab crude oil will become a thing of the past.

***

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of FINEX. The contents of this article have not been reviewed nor approved by FINEX. Read more in Manila Bulletin

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