Business

Power failure has affected access to calls, text and data connectivity in several towns in Visayas as Tropical Depression Agaton continued to cross the Philippine land mass.As of 9 a.m. on Monday, April 11, call and text service outages were reported in 24 towns in Leyte, 16 in Southern Leyte, 10 in Bohol and 4 in Cebu while data connection (3G and LTE) were affected in 24 towns in Leyte, 15 in Southern Leyte, 10 in Bohol, and 2 in Cebu.The initial landfall of slow-moving Agaton hit Guiuian, Eastern Samar as a tropical storm early Sunday morning. It has since weakened into a tropical depression, but state weather bureau PAGASA is expecting a second landfall.Globe is also readying its Libreng Tawag and Libreng Charging stations in storm-hit areas as soon as it is safe to do so. ...

City PIO photoBacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia unveiled a comprehensive relief package for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the last two years at the Bacolod City Government Center on Saturday, April 9.Those to be granted relief from payment of their business taxes covering fiscal years 2020 and 2021, include the thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises operating in the city, said Leonardia, who keynoted the MSME Support Program launching dubbed, "Ipadayon ang Negosyo kag Trabaho".Travel operators and tourism stakeholders, accredited cooperatives, taxi and jeepney operators as well as sari-sari store, carinderia or restaurant owners, welcomed the good news, a press release from the Bacolod City Public Information Office said Sunday.Businesses with a...

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri is calling on the Sugar Regulatory Administration not to push through with a new importation program supposedly proposed by the administration, after already receiving two injunctions for Sugar Order No. 3 in February.“Our local sugar farmers are again approaching our office, deeply concerned over talks of a new SRA proposal that would green light the importation of 350,000 metric tons of sugar into the country,” Zubiri said in a press release Thursday, April 7.“Our courts have already landed on the side of our sugar farmers last February, so it’s disheartening that we are having the same conversation about importation again”, he said.“Lest the SRA will be accused of this being a midnight deal bereft of propriety and due process. They s...

Cebu Pacific announces changes to its checked baggage policy, in line with the airline’s goal to improve its processes for a more efficient and seamless customer experience.The per piece baggage allowance for all new bookings started Wednesday, April 6. When booking flights, passengers have the option to purchase either a 20kg or a 32kg – both equivalent to only one piece of check-in luggage. A maximum of two options can be purchased per traveler, now enabling every Juan to carry up to 64 kg worth of bags from the previous 40 kg limit, a press release from CEB said.“We have been continuously reviewing our processes to ensure we are able to provide the best customer experience for everyJuan while remaining at par with our global counterparts. This new rule makes the process simpler ...

MREIT, the REIT vehicle of township developer Megaworld, is set to acquire four prime, grade A, office properties in PEZA-accredited zones with a total value of P5.3-billion, ramping up the company’s portfolio value to P65-billion. This only makes up the initial tranche of the company’s P20-billion property for shares acquisition plan for 2022.The new acquisitions will have a total gross leasable area of 44,567 square meters, which will increase the company’s asset portfolio by 16% to 325,000 square meters GLA from the current portfolio of 280,000 square meters.The property infusions include Festive Walk 1B and Two Global Center in Iloilo Business Park, and One West Campus and Five West Campus in McKinley West, Taguig City.“This will be the first time that we infuse office asse...