FILINVEST Land Inc. and Megaworld Corp. paced a four-day climb among Philippine property stocks, the longest rally in more than two months, on speculation bank lending will boost home sales and office rents will rise.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Property index of 22 stocks advanced 2.5 percent Tuesday, capping a 9.3-percent advance since March 17. The measure has rebounded from an 18-month low after dropping on fears a recession in the US, the biggest overseas market for Philippine goods and labor, would squeeze consumer spending in the Southeast Asian economy.

“The property sector isn’t very dependent on the US, contrary to what many investors fear,’’ said Alex Pomento, strategist at the Philippine unit of Macquarie Group Ltd.  “The sector has it own legs domestically that it could stand on its own even with a US recession.’’

Funds sent home by Filipinos working abroad, which the central bank expects to reach a record $15.84 billion this year, are spent on durables such as homes, helping spark a building spree in the past three years. About half of the remittances come from the US, home to the biggest Filipino population overseas.

A push by banks to increase lending and  “generally low interest rates’’ will help soften the impact of a US slump on domestic demand for homes, Pomento said. A shortage of office space will support rents amid demand from call centers and other providers of outsourced business services, he said.

Filinvest Land, the nation’s fifth-largest homebuilder by market value, rose 7.1 percent to P1.06 at the noon close of trading. Megaworld, the biggest provider of call-center space and the No. 2 homebuilder by value, jumped 5.3 percent to P2.38.

The US accounts for no more than 5 percent of Filinvest Land’s total home sales to overseas Filipinos and less than 10 percent for Megaworld.

Ayala Land Inc., the largest Philippine builder, climbed 2.3 percent to P11.

“Ayala Land and SM Prime are good defensive plays,’’ Pomento said.

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the nation’s biggest shopping mall operator, was unchanged at P8.30, after rising 5.1 percent over the previous two days. (Bloomberg)

FILINVEST Land Inc. and Megaworld Corp. paced a four-day climb among Philippine property stocks, the longest rally in more than two months, on speculation bank lending will boost home sales and office rents will rise.

Metro Pacific turns around from loss

METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. said Tuesday it made a core net income of P194.9 million last year from a net loss of P25.4 million a year earlier.

FOUR companies that raised capital by selling shares in the market have deviated from how they said they would spend the money from the shares sale, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said Tuesday.

IP E-GAME Ventures Inc. (IP E-Games), a subsidiary of publicly traded IPVG Corp., has entered into a game-publishing and distribution deal with Korean game developer EST Soft.

VSSC Distribution Inc., an enterprise security-solutions provider, launched Tuesday the ForeScout Technologies clientless network access control (NAC) solutions in the Philippines.

NATIONAL Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines said Tuesday its net income for 2007 rose 121 percent to P609 million from P275 million a year earlier.

Well-entrenched is the rule that by reason of the special knowledge and expertise of administrative departments over matters falling under their jurisdiction, they are in a better position to pass judgment thereon and their findings of fact in that regard are generally accorded respect, if not finality, by the courts (Palele v. Court of Appeals, 362 SCRA 141).