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Philippines Becomes Regional Star As Gloom Descends Around Asia


cavanami
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Good to have a look around SE Asia

 

Philippines becomes regional star as gloom descends around Asia

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-news-bc-philippines24-20150824-story.html

 

MANILA, Philippines — It's more what the Philippines doesn't have than what it does have that's making the country Southeast Asia's safe haven amid an emerging-market rout.

 

Relatively low levels of foreign investment in its bonds and stocks are shielding the Philippines from an intensifying selloff, while a comparative lack of raw materials means it's less vulnerable than Indonesia or Malaysia to sliding commodities prices. Stability under President Benigno Aquino stands in contrast to Thailand, ruled by the military since May 2014, and Malaysia, where the prime minister is facing calls to resign amid a political scandal.

 

Philippine local-currency sovereign bonds returned 2.9 percent over the last three months, the most in Southeast Asia. The peso has held up better than its peers, losing 4.5 percent, compared with drops of 8 percent in Thailand's baht, 12 percent in Indonesia's rupiah and 18 percent in Malaysia's ringgit. The benchmark Manila stocks index has also declined the least in the region over the period.

 

"It's definitely the regional star," said Edwin Gutierrez, who helps oversee $13 billion as the head of emerging-market sovereign debt at Aberdeen Asset Management in London. "In a world starved of growth, Philippine growth -- albeit slowing -- is holding up relatively well," he said, adding that a relative lack of foreign participation had protected the country from capital flight.

 

The economy expanded 5.7 percent last quarter from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg survey before data due Aug. 27. That would be an improvement from 5.2 percent expansion in the first three months, although slower than 6.1 percent in 2014. Indonesian and Malaysian growth slowed to 4.67 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, last quarter, while Thai gross domestic product increased 2.8 percent.

 

A burgeoning business-process outsourcing industry is aiding the Philippine economy. Revenue from BPO, which includes customer call centers as well as the farming out of accounting tasks, will rise to $21.2 billion this year and $25 billion in 2016 from $18 billion in 2014, according to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines.

 

Money sent home by Filipinos living abroad, which makes up about 10 percent of GDP, increased 5.6 percent to $12.1 billion in the first half from a year earlier. A net oil importer, the Philippines has also benefited from falling crude prices. The country ran a $3.3 billion current-account surplus in the first quarter, compared with $1.5 billion in the same period of 2014, according to central bank data...

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Philippines has never really appealed to me after a few visit. When you have guards outside KFC or McDonalds armed with shotguns it kind od gives off a sense of danger.

Cambodia is my new destination.

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The peso has held up better than its peers, losing 4.5 percent, compared with drops of 8 percent in Thailand's baht, 12 percent in Indonesia's rupiah and 18 percent in Malaysia's ringgit.

 

So lets get this right

 

My $100 in Philippines 3 months ago now gets me equivalent of $104.50

My $100 in Thailand 3 months ago now gets me equivalent of $108.00

My $100 in Indonesia 3 months ago now gets me equivalent of $112.00

 

Now using my working knowledge of applied mathematics the Philippines is giving me less of a return on my hard earned foreign currency than both Thailand and Indonesia so how is it a regional star for expats whom earn in hard currencies?

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The just have typhoons and hurricanes - and the PRC building islands a stone's throw from their beaches.

 

Flash - you forgot volcanoes. And - it is the only place I've been where there are more guns at street level than in the USA. In Thailand, every building security guard is constantly blowing a whistle. In Manila, every building security guard regularly discharges a few "warning shots".

 

I love the ladies there. But - economic powerhouse?? I think not.

 

Cheers!

SS

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  • 6 years later...

This just in - Philippines - Catholics - Exorcisms - Facebook - -   "there's your problem"....

 

Apparently, the ‘first exorcism center in Asia’ will be built in the Philippines

Exorcisms are not just the stuff of horror movies, and some people take them very seriously. In fact, the Philippines will soon be home to what the Archdiocese of Manila claims is the “first exorcism center in Asia,” which is exactly what it sounds like.

Construction on the Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism broke ground in Makati City in May, a milestone that the archdiocese said was over seven years in the making.

“Peace and joy in the Lord! We are excited and humbled to share with you that the groundbreaking ceremony of the Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism was held last May 17, 2022 at Bernardino Street corner EDSA, Guadalupe Viejo, Makati,” the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism wrote on their Facebook page.

“A product of more than [seven]  years of prayers, planning and fundraising, this religious structure will be the first of its kind in Asia, if not the world,” it added.

The Manila archdiocese said the Saint Michael Center will house the Archdiocese of Manila Commission on Extraordinary Phenomena, the Ministry of Exorcism Office, the Ministry on Visions and Phenomena Office, and will serve as the headquarters of the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists (PACE).  PACE is directly under the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and affiliated with the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) based in Italy.

“This Center will minister to those in bondage to the devil who are therefore the poorest of the poor and are usually overlooked,” the archdiocese wrote.

ICDYK, Saint Michael in Catholic liturgy is an archangel, the defender of the Catholic Church and Satan’s opponent, who also assists people in the hour of their death. The saint is invoked in a prayer during an exorcism.

The Catholic Church only allows certain priests to perform exorcisms, with the ritual performed with a bishop’s permission. Exorcisms will only be performed after a doctor has ruled out a mental or physical illness during an evaluation.

https://coconuts.co/manila/news/apparently-the-first-exorcism-center-in-asia-will-be-built-in-the-philippines/?mc_cid=0b4236ccd1&mc_eid=503e28128a

 

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