TV empire bullish. Officers of television network ABS-CBN (from left)—board members Federico Lopez and Presentacion Psinakis; president and COO Charo Santos-Concio; and Eugenio L. Lopez III, chairman and CEO—huddle after the annual stockholders’ meeting on Thursday in Quezon City. The absence of revenues from political ads notwithstanding, the listed multimedia conglomerate said its net income from January to May this year grew 13 percent. Lopez III said stable ratings and the strong performance of its global business, through The Filipino Channel, drove the growth. --NONOY LACZA

Peso, SDAs cost BSP P89-B loss

THE official tally is out: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) lost money in 2007 to the tune of P89.22 billion.

This represented a complete turnaround from net earnings of P1 billion the year before.

The BSP lost money last year on account of the appreciation of the peso by 11.19 percent to P46.1484 per dollar versus the P51.3143 per dollar in 2006.

NDCC’s count: 498 dead, 263 missing

DISASTER officials Thursday said the death toll from tropical storm Frank that visited the country over the weekend has already reached 498 with 263 people still missing, excluding the more than 700 feared dead from MV Princess of the Stars that capsized off Romblon.

You may feast on Romblon’s fish

FISH from Romblon is safe for human consumption, said the Department of Health (DOH). “Fish don’t eat dead bodies,” said Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the National Epidemiology Center in a telephone interview Thursday.

Tayag was allaying fears of people on and around Sibuyan Island where a passenger ship capsized last weekend; they worry that fish caught in the area have eaten human flesh.

Pagasa to give hourly weather bulletins  

AFTER the severe destruction brought by Typhoon Frank, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Thursday announced it would soon come out with hourly weather bulletins.

In a media briefing Thursday, Pag-asa director Prisco Nilo said the move would fill in the gaps of the present forecast and dissemination of meteorological conditions that take place every after six hours.

Tap P6.6-B impounded funds–Chiz

SEN. Francis Escudero is asking President Arroyo to free over P6 billion in “impounded funds” in the 2008 national budget which he said can be used for relief and rehabilitation of areas ravaged by tropical storm Frank, which caused damage thus far estimated at more than half a billon pesos in crops, school buildings,  homes and vital infrastructure.

China’s big appetite worsens paper crunch

MARKET leader Trust International Paper Corp. (Tipco) is not keen on increasing its capacity even with the possible supply problems that the local publishing industry might encounter due to the financial and operational woes of its competitor Picop Resources Corp.

Alfredo Chan, Tipco senior vice president, said even if the company would consider hiking its production output, its biggest constraint would be the tight supply of waste paper, which is the main raw material being used by Tipco.

Airline surcharges to rise

LOCAL and foreign airlines have asked the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to allow them to charge their passengers additional fuel fees for every one-way trip.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines is seeking an increase of between $5 and $15 from current fees imposed for flights to China, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, and the US and Canada.

Food-production plan better than subsidy

AN increased food production program that can be continued year to year, particularly on rice, and not the government’s one-time subsidy program to allow poor families to buy subsidized rice, is the answer to the rice crisis.

PNOC arm gets gear for jatropha oil

UNDERSCORING the need to speed up the development of biofuels in the country amid volatile world crude-oil prices, the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC)-Alternative Fuels Corp. (AFC) said Thursday it recently acquired equipment to draw oil from jatropha to develop biodiesel, a biofuel. The equipment was cofunded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

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With veterans. President Arroyo receives a standing ovation at the reception of the Philippine-US Friendship Caucus at the Veterans Committee Hearing Room, Cannon House Office Building of the US Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. Directly behind her is Rep. John Filner while at right is Rep. Darrel Issa, two of the leading supporters of the Filipino veterans bill in the US House of Representatives. Also shown are some of the Filipino officials and World War II veterans who attended the affair. --RODOLFO MANABAT OPS-NIB