He's back: Pacquiao batters Rios to win lopsided decision

Yahoo PH Sports - MACAU - NOVEMBER 24: Manny Pacquiao (R)
of the Philippines punches Brandon Rios of the U.S. during
their 'Clash in Cotai' WBO International Welterweight title fight
on November 24, 2013 in Macau. (Photo by Nicky Loh/Getty Images)

Manny Pacquiao turned back the hands of time with a virtuoso performance against Brandon Rios. Pacquiao dominated Rios from bell to bell en route to an easy unanimous decision victory. His comeback, Pacquiao hopes, will signify the comeback of his people, specifically those devastated by the recent typhoon.

“He’s not an easy opponent. He’s a good fighter, he’s a strong fighter,” Pacquiao said about his opponent to the wild cheers inside the Cotai Arena in Macau. “I considered this fight as one of the most difficult in my career.”

The judges thought it was easy for Pacquiao as they scored the fight 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110. Judges Lisa Giampa and Manfred Kuchler both gave Rios the eighth round, with the latter also giving him the third round.

“This is not about my comeback,” he said during the post-fight interview. “This is about my people’s comeback from a natural disaster and a natural tragedy.”

“I’m so happy,” Pacquiao shared. “Because my time is not over.”

The first telling blow Pacquiao landed was a lightning quick lead left. Pacquiao’s glove landed flush on Rios’ face and when he was ready to retaliate, Pacquiao was already long gone.

The moment dictated the entire tempo of the fight. Pacquiao flustered Rios with lead lefts and fast combinations while Rios could not do anything but shake his head and smile, trying to tell Pacquiao he was not hurt.

 

“I never got hurt, I never got stung,” Rios said at the post-fight press conference. “But he was quick. I did train for quickness but he was much quicker than my sparring partners.”

 

Rios admitted that as early as the third round, he already knew Pacquiao would be too fast for him. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Philippines, Rios admitted being frustrated. “I just wanted to land one big punch. I know that can change the fight,” he said. “But he was just too fast, man. He’s fast and awkward. He was coming from all angles.” 

 

With the win, Pacquiao is now the WBO international welterweight champion. He raised his record to 55 wins against five losses and two draws with 38 knockouts. Rios on the other hand suffered his second straight defeat against 31 wins.  

Pacquiao thoroughly outpunched the taller Rios, landing 281 out of 790 punches (36%) compared to 138 out of 502 for Rios (27%). 

“Manny was fast,” said Rios' trainer Robert Garcia. “We thought he was going to stand and exchange with us but he didn’t. Manny fought a good fight. But I’m proud of Brandon. He tried all he could.”

As the fight wore on, the story stayed the same. Pacquiao used his superior speed to score on Rios while the American tried to rough things up and goad the Filipino to brawl with him. Pacquiao, however, stuck to his game plan. He refused to get careless perhaps still thinking about his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.

“Manny Pacquiao is back,” announced Roach during the press conference after the fight. “But I really didn’t think he went anywhere.”

Source: By Carlo Pamintuan | Yahoo PH Sports

BSP sees pickup in economic activity

Economic activity is expected to get a boost
in the remaining weeks of the year
as the Christmas season fuels demand
for consumer goods.

Holiday season to fuel demand for many consumer goods

Economic activity is expected to get a boost in the remaining weeks of the year as the Christmas season fuels demand for consumer goods.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said retailers and wholesalers have started stocking up in anticipation of higher sales in December, which could offset a drop in demand coming from areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

“Domestic demand conditions remain fairly buoyant,” the BSP said in a statement on Thursday.

“Output expansion is expected to be sustained over the coming quarters with higher-frequency indicators of demand, including vehicle sales, energy sales and manufacturing output still growing robustly,” it said.

The BSP noted that the purchasing managers index (PMI), which serves as a reliable indicator for business activity, for the manufacturing sector remained above the 50-point threshold. Any PMI score above 50 indicates the expansion for a specific industry in the coming months.

Latest data showed the composite PMI for all domestic businesses stood at 57.7 points in August, slightly higher than the 57.3 points in June. For the manufacturing sector, the PMI was at 56.1 points, better than 55.3 points at the end of the first semester.

“Purchases of the retail and wholesale sector were in expansion mode in preparation for the Christmas season,” the BSP statement read.

The BSP likewise noted that seven of 11 leading economic indicators tracked by the central bank supported the expectation that business activity would continue to pick up. Among the indicators monitored by the BSP include the composite PMI, inflation, car and electricity sales, and remittances from overseas Filipino workers.

Source: By Paolo G. Montecillo / Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:40 am | Friday, November 22nd, 2013

Manila’s gaming push seen to boost tourism

Manila’s tourism market is taking a decided turn away from a vanilla offering to boost visitor numbers. This Southeast Asian casino dreamscape is setting up a battle between established gaming giants and independent operators in a high stakes contest.

Malaysia’s Resorts World integrated resort at Newport City was the first to break the ice with a mix of in-house hotel brands and one international managed property under Marriott.

Accommodation demand in the domestic and overseas corporate sector outpaced gaming-generated room nights.

According to hospitality consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, the current conundrum facing the sector is that a massive pipeline of incoming mega-hotel projects at Pagcor Entertainment City and Resorts World are likely to cannibalize the existing industry’s leading market source, which is domestically generated business.

A prime example of the trend has been demonstrated at the much-touted Solaire project, which has seen a strong shift away from gaming guests and is now tracking market share growth with MICE (meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions) and corporate visitors becoming the dominant end users. This has resulted in downward pressure on room rates on the broader set of Manila Bay area hotels, the company said in its Manila Hotel Update.

C9’s managing director Bill Barnett said that “hotel gaming properties which have established connections to foreign visitors such as Resorts World in Malaysia and Singapore and the City of Dreams from Macau work in strong fundamentals.”

“They have a database of existing regional clients who have credit lines which can be extended to the new Philippine properties. Freestanding operations such as Solaire and the upcoming Okada project are likely to be challenged to draw overseas guests to their properties.”

In C9’s market analysis, perhaps the largest challenge for Manila to become competitive with the likes of Singapore and Macau is mainland China. Last year over 80 million Chinese travelers headed overseas and, by 2018 the number is estimated to rise to 400 million.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

3:37 am | Friday, November 22nd, 2013

World Bank offers $500-M loan to PH

Fund for reconstruction of typhoon-hit areas

The World Bank is preparing a $500-million emergency loan to help the government’s reconstruction efforts in areas affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” earlier this month.

This is the latest in the flood of foreign aid coming into the Philippines in the last 10 days following the devastation of the strongest typhoon to ever hit land tore through parts of Visayas on Nov. 8.

The emergency loan from the World Bank matches a similar financing package announced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), another multilateral lender, last week.

“In the aftermath of the typhoon, we have seen courageous efforts by the people of the Philippines to get back on their feet,” World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. “We are committed to supporting the government in its effort to recover and rebuild, and to help Filipinos strengthen their resilience against increasingly frequent extreme weather events.”

On top of the half-a-billion-dollar loan, which is still being finalized, the bank said it was also ready to provide other forms of support, including a conditional cash transfer program that provides funds to poor families.

Its resources can also be directed to providing temporary shelters and to helping with debris clean-up, providing short-term jobs to poor families.

The lender said it was discussing with various government agencies on other ways it could help in reconstruction efforts. These departments and agencies include the departments of finance, social welfare and development and science and technology, as well as the Office of Civil Defense and the National Economic and Development Authority.

The bank said it would send a technical team this week to help the government assess the damage and gather information for a comprehensive reconstruction plan.

“Given the scale of this disaster, the country will need a long-term reconstruction plan. We can bring lessons learned from our work in reconstruction after disasters hit Aceh, Haiti and other areas that might be helpful in the Philippines,” World Bank vice president for East Asia Pacific Axel von Trotsenburg said.

“Remote sensing images are being obtained for use by the assessment team in geomapping activities to help determine the cost of the destruction,” he said.

Trotsenburg said the main focus of the reconstruction plan would be to provide technical assistance on disaster-resistant design options for housing, health facilities, schools and public markets that can withstand wind speeds of 250 to 280 kilometer an hour. These new structures should also be resistant to flood damage, he said.

Meanwhile, International Finance Corp. (IFC), the World Bank’s private investment arm, said it was also working with its client banks and financial institutions in the typhoon-affected areas to ensure risk share facilities and advisory services are extended to private sector banks in order to help small-and-medium enterprises recover.

“IFC is in discussions with international banks, rural banks and microfinance institutions to develop specific programs to help the private sector recover from the devastation,” IFC resident representative Jesse Ang said.

Source: By Paolo G. Montecillo / Philippine Daily Inquirer

11:20 pm | Monday, November 18th, 2013

PH seen to defy slowdown

Most emerging markets may not do as well, says think tank

The Philippines, considered to be Asia’s fastest-growing economy, may buck the growth downtrend seen for most developing countries in 2013, according to international think tank Oxford Analytica.

The Philippines may be one of the few countries to register growth faster than that reported in 2012 despite the lingering uncertainties in the global economy, Oxford Analytica said.

It described the Philippines, along with a few others, to be a “notable exception,” as growth of most emerging markets are likely to decelerate this year.

Average growth in 2013 looks set to be “lower than the 2012 rate of just below 5 percent, with few hot spots visible,” the think tank said in a report on economic growth projections.

The expansion rates of developing countries have been dampened this year by external problems, led by fiscal problems in the United States and relatively weak demand from Europe that could dampen exports revenues, it explained.

The expected tapering of the US Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing (QE) program also will adversely affect emerging markets.

“Recovering growth momentum may be a slow process, especially for those countries in need of capital inflows to boost funds for investment,” Oxford Analytica said.

The think tank’s projection for the Philippines bolstered claims of the government that the country’s favorable macroeconomic fundamentals would ease the effects of adverse economic developments abroad.

Arsenio Balisacan, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, earlier explained that the country’s benign inflation would serve to attract more investments to the country.

Also, the country’s manageable budget deficit, would allow the government to pump-prime the economy if needed, Balisacan added.

Rising foreign exchange reserves may also make the peso less vulnerable to external shocks.

The Philippine economy expanded by 7.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, and an average of 7.6 percent in the first semester.

This made the country the fastest-growing economy in Asia, apart from China.

The growth rate this year was attributed to higher government spending on infrastructure, rising investments in the manufacturing sector, and household consumption.

But economists said that the Philippines continues to be saddled with the problem of “non-inclusive growth.”

The benefits of an expanding economy have yet to result in substantial poverty reduction, they explained.

An economic growth rate of at least 7 percent should be sustained over the long term so that the country can effectively reduce poverty incidence, the economists said.

The poverty rate in the country stood at 27.9 percent in the first semester of 2012, said to be one of the highest in Asia.

Source: By Michelle V. Remo / Philippine Daily Inquirer

3:22 am | Friday, November 8th, 2013