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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is seeking the deferment of Customs Administrative Order (CAO) 4-2007, which implements the collection of container security fees for the use of x-ray machines at the Bureau of Customs.

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MANILA, Philippines — The vacancy rate of the Makati Central Business District continues to drop and, as of end of 1st Quarter 2007, is pegged at 1.3%. The reason behind this drop is that after the build-to-suit office buildings had been built by Ayala Land for Convergys and People Support, there has not been any new office building coming on-stream in Makati to augment the dwindling supply plus the continuous take-up of space from BPO companies, both from new entrants and expansion.
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MANILA, Philippines — In a recent public disclosure of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), the Philippines diverted over 500,000 foreign visitors to other destinations in 2006 due to lack of accommodation facilities in most of the key tourists spots in the country. This resulted to income loss amounting to about US$400 million due to lack of hotel rooms and flights into the tourist destinations of the Philippines.
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MANILA, Philippines — The average bank lending rate on all maturities fell to 8.85% in the first quarter of 2007. Remittances from OFWs channeled through formal financial institutions rose 19 percent to $12.76 billion in 2006 from $10.69 billion in 2005. OFW deployments to the US increased from only 4,128 in 2005 to 11,406 in 2006, or an increase of 7,278.
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