THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) is now on a five-day road show in Taiwan along with officials of the Subic and Clark free ports to entice Taiwanese firms to take advantage of the improved investment opportunities under the  Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor agreement.

The investment mission started Tuesday and is slated to cover both Taipei and Kaohsiung.

The Philippine delegation is headed by Meco chairman Tomas Alcantara and Ambassador Antonio Basillo, the Meco resident representative in Taiwan.

Confirmed delegates include Meco board members, Armand Arreza, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) administrator and chief executive officer; Philip Jose Panlilio, Clark Development Corp. executive vice president and chief operating officer; and Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp.

Dita Angara-Mathay, Meco director for commercial affairs, said the mission, particularly the investment seminar today, will highlight investment opportunities in the Philippine ICT (information and communications technology), light manufacturing, aviation, logistics and shipbuilding sectors in Clark and Subic.

During the investment seminar in Kaohsiung, the SBMA will present its master plan of development, “and the existing and nascent investment opportunities for Taiwanese business inside the Subic Freeport,” Mathay added.

The Philippine delegates are expected to meet key officials representing topnotch industries in the island economy after Meco secured the support of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for the five-day mission.

Mathay said among the largest Taiwanese business organizations to join the economic conference are the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association, Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taipei Hsien Computer Association, Taipei Computer Association, and Taiwan Shipbuilding Association.

She added that various associations of Taiwan’s tourism and flight charter operators will also be present in the forum.

Taiwanese investments have been flowing briskly since the country started to offer numerous incentives to companies from Taiwan when they set up shop in Clark or Subic.

In 2005 Philippine and Taiwan officials signed a memorandum of agreement for the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor, which would allow Taiwanese and Filipino firms interested in locating in Subic, Clark and Kaohsiung to enjoy tax and fiscal incentives.

Mathay said aside from the perks, Taiwanese locators preferred to locate in the free ports of Subic and Clark because of the natural logistics advantage and relatively lower power rates.

THE House Committee on Ways and Means on Tuesday endorsed for plenary approval the proposal to use the P16.7-billion tax windfall in subsidizing electricity, fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption to ease the severe economic burden of Filipinos in the wake of the relentless increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.

THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) is now on a five-day road show in Taiwan along with officials of the Subic and Clark free ports to entice Taiwanese firms to take advantage of the improved investment opportunities under the  Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor agreement.

BAGS and belts made of plastics— materials that usually end up clogging our canals and causing flood. Keychain, table organizer, card and pen holder, picture frame and other cool home or office accessories made of recycled paper or plastic waste, such as tetra packs.

THE unabated spike in the price of fertilizer can pose a threat to the rice self-sufficiency target of the Philippine government by 2010.

DAVAO CITY—A business chamber executive here said member companies have “scrimped, saved and recycled” to stay afloat amid the hard times, and said he was “appealing to everybody to do the same.”

INDEPENDENT power produ-cer Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp.,the power arm of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp., is looking at undertaking a prefeasibility study for its proposed wind farm in Guimaras.

CLARK FREE PORT, Pampanga—Two airliners based at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) are expected to provide the much-needed service to ferry overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Middle East amid the reported high cost of booking and the shortage of flights.

THE House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs has scheduled a bill extending credit assistance to Filipinos who want to work abroad but don’t have enough means to process their work papers for plenary deliberation.