In order to solve the issue of competencies, be at par with the world’s education standards and at the same time respond to the demand of foreign companies outsourcing in the Philippines, the Department of Education is set to implement the K+12 basic education program starting next year 2012-2013 with the Department starting on converting first year high school to Grade 7.

The K+12 basic education plan consists of kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school (Grade 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school.

A bill that plans to create the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has already passed on for third reading in the House of Representatives. The DICT bill or House Bill 4667 seeks to boost and improve the country’s IT facilities by being the agency tasked in developing and implementing IT policies and government programs.

Chairman of the House ICT Committee and Taguig 2^nd District Representative Freddie R. Tiñga, said that the approval of the bill would also be the answer for the country’s need for an agency responsible for IT and communication facilities.

Philippine real estate firm, KMC MAG Group has released its real estate market report Philippines or the real estate market research Manila for the Q3 of 2011.

The report contains summaries of the trends in commercial and residential real estate, as well as an office market overview in Metro Manila .

According to the report, the trend for the Q3 of 2011 are that rental rates of commercial spaces rose due to the increasing demand and low vacancy rates while the demand for residentials spaces surpassed the supply in the luxury residential market due to investments of the OFW and expat community. Also, the continuous construction of residential real estates has increased the overall vacancy rate in Metro Manila.

In the mid-year economic briefing last September 30, 2011, Economic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga said that the Aquino government has now committed to allow foreigners to invest more in the industries under the negative list and allow more foreign professionals to practice in the Philippines.

Paderanga said that the government would be working on the Foreign Investment Negative List to make the local investment environment more attractive to foreign investors.

“Our aim is to make the Foreign Investment Negative List as short as possible. Those that will remain on the list are those that are covered by constitutional restrictions,” Paderanga said.

The rise of the Philippine BPO Industry has seen an accompanied increase in staff leasing services, including the recruitment of SEO Specialists, Web Developers, Webmasters, Copywriters, Programmers, Data Encoders, Virtual Assistants, and Contact Center Agents.  Staff leasing is considered a hassle-free hiring solution for foreign and local companies doing business in the Philippines. Not only does it eliminate Human Resource (HR) costs and payroll, staff leasing also minimizes administrative responsibilities, and enables small and medium-sized companies to expand their business operations to different client markets. Larger companies also benefit from the arrangement, which offers cost-effective human resource management, employee payroll, compensation services, risk management assistance, training, and development.

by: Austin Shi

If not done correctly from the outset, registering a business in the Philippines can be a complicated and tedious process. That is why it is important for foreign companies to be 100% compliant from the very beginning, and to familiarize themselves with the procedures in setting up and registering a business in the Philippines. In order to successfully incorporate a business in the Philippines, a number of things must first be taken into consideration. The appropriate investment vehicle must be chosen, whether it is a fully-foreign owned branch office, a fully-foreign owned domestic corporation, a fully-foreign owned representative office, or a 60/40 subsidiary, and the business must be registered with the relevant government agencies, including the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), as well as with investment bodies like PEZA and BOI.