No fire sale. It’s business as usual at a surplus store in Baclaran as fire razes the huge Galleria Shopping Mall nearby. Assorted computer hardware and components are on sale at this store, but this mother and child are busier with hygiene routines. Related photo, details on Baclaran fire. --ROY DOMINGO

APPROXIMATELY P1 trillion worth of resources have been intentionally kept away from the broad economy in 2007 so as not to complicate monetary management and allow the government to report all was well with the Philippines.

But according to Department of Finance ((DOF) data, it was P1 trillion too many for an economy that should have approximated China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 11 percent in the third quarter last year when Manila’s own output was computed at only 7.1 percent.

THE Manila Electric Co. may collect P0.0136 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more from its more than 4 million customers that will be reflected in their January bills.

THE technical working group (TWG) tasked to monitor the litigation of all civil and criminal cases involving the tax-credit scam has been activated by the Department of Finance (DOF).

Lawyer Tomas Tagra, who represents the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the TWG, told BusinessMirror the group has been discussing what each agency can bring in, with its respective legal strength, in the task of litigating a complex web of hundreds of cases pending in several venues.

MALACAÑANG has expressed full support for a proposal to create a separate department for the maritime sector, which includes Filipino seafarers abroad who send cash home, helping spur the Philippines’ economic growth.

THE government was urged for the nth time on Thursday to do more to help the millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reeling from the impact of a strong peso continuing to rise against the dollar.

The call came from recruitment industry leader Jackson Gan, who cited the meager sums devoted to help migrant workers compared with the funds built up by the state from their contributions.

FROM the time of independence from the Americans, corrupt government officials from all levels of government have been resorting to the “mendacious practice” of hiding their ill-gotten wealth through manipulated income-tax returns (ITRs).

MALACAÑANG said on Thursday that reduced hunger levels in the country, as shown by the results of a Social Weather Stations survey, proves that the administration’s hunger mitigation program is working.

Palace officials said the easing of involuntary hunger levels in the country—from 21.5 percent in September to 16.2 percent in December—indicates that ordinary people are finally feeling the benefits of the country’s economic growth.

THE year ahead could prove challenging but the state of the economy is such that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas could manage them effectively, BSP governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said on Thursday.

In a speech before the Rotary Club of Manila, Tetangco said elevated oil prices, the US subprime mortgage crisis and the global risk aversion this spawned require elevated vigilance on the part of regulators like the BSP as well.

THE mobile telephone sector continues to be “healthy” and also can keep growing, with about 15 million potential wireless subscribers still out there without any mobile communications device.

The president of Globe Telecom, a joint venture of Ayala Corp. with SingTel of Singapore, Gerardo Ablaza, said they recorded better-than-expected subscriber take-up in the fourth quarter of 2007. “It was healthy and in line with our expectations,” he added, without disclosing the number of their new subscribers in last quarter of 2007. They have 19.2 million at end-September.

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Baclaran blaze. From an Air Force helicopter, one gets a sweeping view of the still-raging fire at the Galleria commercial building near the Light Rail Transit station in Baclaran. The fire lasted for more than nine hours Thursday, with damage estimated to have reached P50 million. --RECTO MERCENE