Old Spanish maps may yet boost PH claim to Panatag

Spanish and Filipino delegates to this year’s Tribuna España-Filipinas forum have agreed to embark on acoordinated “archiving program” of historical documents, especially those involving the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines more than 400 years ago.
As the sixth edition of the annual multisectoral forum between the two countries drew to a close on Wednesday, an official of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport told the Inquirer that some of the Spanish archives, once catalogued and translated, may even help the Philippines in its claim to the disputed Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal.
Luis Enseñat Calderon, director of the ministry’s Ibero-Archivos Program, said Spanish historical archives contained documents and maps on the Spanish colonization of the Philippines from the 16th to 19th century.
 
Possible proof
 
“The archives may be important in this way to demonstrate that in the 19th century, the Chinese did not control these group of islands,” Calderon said, when asked how Spanish archives could help the Philippines in its territorial dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal.
He quoted colonial Spanish officials in the 1800s, saying these islands “were controlled, more or less, by the Philippines from Manila.”
While these documents are available at the National Historical Archive of Spain, he said it is not yet accessible to the public because his office is still digitizing the documents.
“But little by little, we can make progress and publish this on the website,” he said, referring to Spanish archives website www.pares.mcu.es.
Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Domecq denied reports he made a categorical statement about Spain turning over old maps to the Philippines to help strengthen the country’s claim on Scarborough Shoal.
“The majority of the maps are here in the Philippines in private collections. We did an exhibition last year of all the important maps of the Philippine geography from 1598 to 1898—four centuries—at the Metropolitan Museum,” Domecq said.
“Those maps are also in Spain in our archives, which are open to experts from any place in the world,” he added.
Calderon said during the forum’s second day that an “exchange program” of Spanish and Philippine archivists was discussed, with one Filipino archivist going to Spain, and vice versa, hopefully by the latter half of the year.
He also invited Filipino archivists to help catalogue Spanish archives.
Calderon said they are also working with the National Archives of the Philippines to make digital copies for Spain of colonial documents preserved in the country.
Calderon’s office uploads the Spanish archives catalogues at www.pares.mcu.es.
He said the website contains documents sent by Spanish colonial officers in the Philippines to the King of Spain. Some Philippine maps from the 16th to 19th centuries have been uploaded, but some entries only contain descriptive references.

East Asian imperial point
 
“It contains information about the Philippines [during the Spanish colonization], and expeditions from Manila to Formosa, Siam, Moluccas, Ternate, Tidore. Manila was the imperial point of Spain in East Asia.  Formosa was part of the Philippines. The Moluccas was part of the Philippines. Micronesia, Marianas, Carolinas were part of the Philippine Islands. And all was centralized in Manila and Spanish officers sent regular reports to the King,” Calderon said.
The forum closed with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology and the Spanish State Secretariat for Telecommunications and the Information Society of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism of the Kingdom of Spain.
The MOU was designed to encourage the “exchanges of experiences and best practices” between the two countries on information and communication technology.
Signing the MOU for the Philippines was Elizabeth Buensuceso, assistant secretary of European Affairs of the foreign affairs department and Domecq for Spain(Inquirer.net)

Early Easter gift for PH (Fitch raises credit rating to investment grade BBB-)

“It’s an early Easter for the market,” said a fund manager after Fitch Ratings raised the Philippine credit rating to investment grade on Wednesday, a move expected to boost investments and lift the country’s long-term growth potential.

The upgrade is the first for the country, prompting a euphoric President Benigno Aquino III to highlight the dramatic shift of a largely impoverished nation from the “perennial laggard of Asia” to an economy finally “taking off.”

Amid the news, the Philippine peso edged higher versus the dollar and local stocks extended modest early gains to more than 3 percent at one point, hitting a record high.

Fitch announced the upgrade, saying the Philippine economy is resilient and now experiencing a level of foreign currency inflows that is even more comfortable than those of many industrialized nations.

The inflow of foreign currency, underpinned by dollar remittances from expatriate Filipinos, has helped the country become a net external creditor, it said in a statement.

The country has also had stronger and less volatile growth than its peers over the last five years, and expects the value of its economy—as measured by the gross domestic product of GDP—to grow at an average of 5-5.5 percent in the coming years, Fitch pointed out.

Credit to anticorruption
 
Fitch—one of three major international debt watchers that include Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investor Service—credited the Aquino administration’s anticorruption program, which is believed to have improved sentiment of businesses in the country.

It also cited the previous administration’s role in improving the fiscal management, to wit: “Improvements in fiscal management begun under President Arroyo have made general government debt dynamics more resilient to shocks.”

The credit rating firm’s move came as a surprise catalyst that revitalized the bulls into scaling unprecedented heights before the long Lenten break.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index rallied by 182.35 points or 2.74 percent toward its best ever finish of 6,847.47 on Wednesday. A new intra-day peak was also hit at 6,873.89 close to the end of the session.

Floodgates of investment
 
This marked the 24th record finish for the index this year. The local stock market upswing, which is now on its fifth year, has added to the index a total of 1,034.74 or 17.8 percent at the end of the first quarter.

Astro del Castillo, managing director at investment management firm First Grade Finance, said the upgrade would open the floodgates of investment, both foreign direct investment and the more volatile kind known as “hot money.”

“The most conservative funds are really just waiting for this feather in our cap before plowing back money to our country,” he said.

The fund manager said “it seems that the Philippines is no longer carrying its cross.”

In a statement read by presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, Mr. Aquino said:

“We are pleased to hear that this afternoon, the Fitch group announced that they upgraded the status of the Philippines from BB+ to BBB-.”

“It is one among many other positive developments that demonstrates the reclamation of our national pride: Truly, what was once known as the perennial laggard of Asia is taking off, and is accelerating towards its goal of an equitably progressive society,” said Mr. Aquino.
 
Benefits
 
The President lost no time in enumerating the benefits to the Philippines of having an investment grade status in a world dominated by ailing economies and soaring national debts.

“This means much more than lower interest rates on our debt and more investors buying our securities. Greater access to low-cost funds gives us more fiscal space to sustain and further improve on social protection, defense, and economic stimulus, among others.

“More companies in the real economy can now consider us an investment destination. Investment grade for sovereign debt should also lead to lower borrowing costs for Philippine companies in the international markets, consequently allowing for higher valuations for their securities,” Mr. Aquino said.
 
 ‘Virtuous cycle of growth’
 
This, he said, would in turn enable industries to expand and generate more jobs for our countrymen.
All these would foster “a virtuous cycle of growth, empowerment and inclusiveness that will redound to the benefit of Filipinos across all sectors of society.”

“The upgrade represents the perception of lessening risk in our markets; it formalizes the investment grade level at which the Philippines has already been securing credit,” he said.

“This is an institutional affirmation of our good governance agenda: Sound fiscal management and integrity-based leadership has led to a resurgent economy in the face of uncertainties in the global arena. It serves to encourage even greater interest and investments in our country,” he added.

Fitch also assigned a “stable” outlook on the rating, which indicates that it is unlikely to change over the short term.

Why PH deserving
 
It cited several economic indicators that, according to it, make the Philippines deserving of an investment status.

One of these was the country’s strong GDP growth rate achieved despite global economic problems. Last year, when developed countries like the United States and those from the euro zone struggled with serious debt and financial problems, the Philippines registered one of the fastest growth rates not only in Asia but in the world.

“The Philippine economy has been resilient, expanding 6.6 percent in 2012 amid a weak global economic backdrop. Strong domestic demand drove this outturn,” Fitch said.

The credit-rating agency noted that the favorable growth performance of the Philippines happened while prices of basic goods and services, as measured by the inflation rate, were kept relatively stable. Consumer prices increased by an annual rate of 3.2 percent last year, well within the 3-to 5-percent range that the government considers manageable.

While problems in developed countries weighed down on export revenues of many emerging market economies, the Philippines managed to offset the lower-than-target export earnings last year by registering a significant growth in household consumption and government spending, aided by private-sector investments.

Another encouraging indicator, according to Fitch, was the country’s ability to pay its debts to foreign creditors as determined by its level of US dollar reserves.
 
$84B in reserves