Business

Emperador Inc. is further expanding its brandy business across North and South America next year as its brandy portfolio continues to dominate market shares in several countries in this part of the world.In the United States, volume of Don Pedro and Presidente have been growing in the last five months even as the country faces the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Both brandy products are part of the Casa Pedro Domecq portfolio in Mexico, which is now under Grupo Emperador Spain and currently controls 57 percent of the Mexican brandy market, a press release from the company said.Don Pedro recorded "double digit" volume growth particularly in Nevada, New Jersey, and Illinois while Presidente also enjoys rapid growth in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.“We see brighter pro...

State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) announced it will start to release PHP3.3 billion in Christmas cash gifts to 330,496 old-age and disability pensioners starting December 1.“Every year, our pensioners look forward to receiving the cash gift which they call their Christmas bonus. Thus, we made sure that the cash gift will be credited to their electronic card (eCard) before Christmas this year to somehow relieve them of the additional financial expenses during the Christmas season,” GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said in a press release today, November 29.Qualified pensioners who received a Christmas cash gift of P10,000 in 2019 will be granted an amount equivalent to their one-month pension up to a maximum of P10,000.Pensi...

The Social Security System (SSS) through Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has already released its December pension and 13th-month bonus amounting to P23.1 billion to Philippine Electronic Fund Transfer System and Operations Network participating banks and other checkless disbursements channels to be credited to pensioners’ bank accounts starting December 1, but not later than December 4.Also, the SSS has released around P2 billion for non-PESONet participating banks, which is expected to be disbursed to pensioners on December 4.“We are happy to inform our pensioners that they will be receiving their 13th-month bonus earlier than our usual schedule, which is usually released every 7th of December. We have allocated P25.2 billion for their bonus, including their December pe...

Under the Bayanihan 2 to Recover as One Program, the Office of Rep. Francisco Benitez is coordinating with the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the implementation of Special Training for Employment Program or STEP in the Third District of Negros Occidental this November.A series of livelihood skills training seminars will be conducted in the cities of Victorias, Silay and Talisay and the municipalities of EB Magalona and Murcia for priority target beneficiaries – locally displaced workers and overseas Filipino workers directly affected by the pandemic, a press release from the office of Benitez today said.Orientation sessions started last week in Victorias City for the Produce Organic Fertilizer (leading to organic agriculture production NC II) p...

Twenty-five farmers from the upland barangays of Moises Padilla received water buffalos with plows and harrows from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Thursday, November 19, at the town's Livestock Auction Market.This is part of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program of the DA.The distribution was led by Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo, who thanked the DA for the project. She also urged the beneficiaries to take care of the animals and encouraged them to breed them so that other people from their areas may benefit as well.The government is always ready to help people improve their lives, she said.The 13 recipients were from the Mamballo Tibubong Integrated Farmers Association, while 12 were from the Barangay Macagahay Integrated Farmers Association....

Councilor Derek Palanca, DICT Project Officer Cresile Lozano, Mayor Francis Palanca, Councilor Junb Bantug and Benjie Villa of the Office of Rep. Francisco Benitez (l-r) during the turnover of equipment at the Tech4Ed Center inside the Victorias City Public Library.The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) launched two Tech4Ed Centers in Victorias City today, November 19.A ribbon-cutting ceremony and turn-over of equipment packages for the Victorias City Public Library that will host one techno hub and another in Barangay 5 that will be housed in the barangay multi-purpose building was held, a press release said.Leading the turn-over program were DICT representative Cresile Lozano, Negros Occidental project officer, Victorias Mayor Francis Frederick Pal...

Consumer group Power Watch Negros has expressed its disappointment over Central Negros Electric Cooperative’s alleged lack of transparency.Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of Power Watch, in a letter to CENECO president Dwight Carbon today (November 18), said that they believe that the mutual understanding between CENECO and its member-consumers necessary for transparency was neglected.“The consumers suffer from the loss of representation. This atrophied system has left the consumers more vulnerable to domination by others. The decision-making process is now confined to the board room and they are difficult to discern amid all the bewildering technical facts and figures. They represent the real source of the consumers' general discontent, as to how and why some interests are allowe...

Residents of Bacolod City can settle their real property tax (RPT) for 2021 at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central.The Land Tax Division of the Bacolod City Treasurer’s Office recently opened a temporary satellite office on the first floor of Ayala Malls Capitol Central to accept advance payments for the RPT.Residents can avail of the 20 percent discount if the RPT due for the whole year of 2021 or the first and second quarters of 2021 are fully paid before December 31, 2020, assistant city treasurer Arlene Memoria said.While the City Treasurer’s Office at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) will continue receiving these RPT payments too, this service at the mall is to provide an additional venue for it so that payors need not all flock to the BCGC to pay for their RPT, she s...

Twenty-three Negrense micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) joined the recent five-day Panublion Heritage Trade Fair organized by the Department of Trade and Industry in Western Visayas.Rachel Nufable, director of the Department of Trade and Industry in Negros Occidental, said that the online trade fair promoted the products, mostly wearables and the homestyle sector, of the local MSMEs as there were many buyers from the region who joined the show.Only a few from the food sector were able to join the virtual trade fair due to the requirements needed from the Food and Drug Administration, she added.She said that the Negrense MSMEs generated P900,000 in sales from the fair, which run from November 14 to 18.Overall, the MSMEs in the region made a profit of about P9 milli...