December 16 - 31 , 2017 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY IMMIGRATION 11
Life etc .
by Jun Cordero
Well , another Christmas , another year , but amid the buzz and hysteria of the season comes the wonderful feeling of time well-spent with the family - grandkids to be more specific .
At that time when we upgraded our dining table we only had a couple of grandkids , but after a couple of years that number more than doubled , and inversely our table simply shrunk . This year I made a removable extension that allowed everybody to sit at the same time . It ’ s so fascinating to see how my wife ’ s well-adorned festive dining table turns into a bedlam of littered food and spilt drinks in a matter of seconds .
Christmas Day is done but instead of calling the next day Boxing Day they should instead call it Clean-up Day . We only have a few days of respite before New Year ’ s Eve comes .
I ’ m not sure about others but if your kids grew up here in Canada you ’ d notice that they - and their own kids - do not eat a lot anymore and their idea of party food has become so Canadianized they can get by with simple veggie and taco dips , hot dogs and some pasta salad . My wife simply would not agree that she prepared a big pot of beef stew , six pounds of ham , about thirty chicken legs and ordered a couple of sisig bangus . I was glad she agreed we don ’ t do turkey this time . For desert we had four trays of different cheesecakes , two trays of polvoron and two trays of pichi-pichi . I won ’ t even elaborate on the many kinds of cheese we had .
After the feast when one would expect a few left-overs , but instead we were left with almost the same amount
Peso touches 49 :$ 1 level
The peso on Wednesday touched the 49 :$ 1 level before closing at 50.04 :$ 1 , 10 centavos stronger than it was before the Christmas holiday break . At the Philippine Dealing System , the peso reached an intraday high of 49.96 :$ 1 and a low of 50.05 :$ 1 after opening at 50.03 :$ 1 . It closed at 50.14 :$ 1 on Dec . 22 .
After a two-day break , the peso closed at its strongest since June 19 ’ s 49.91 :$ 1 , after which it slipped to 11-year low levels before recovering towards yearend .
The total volume traded slid to $ 523.1 million from $ 740.8 million last Friday .
In a note to clients , Metrobank Research said it expects the pesodollar pair to trade within the range of 49.8-50.5 :$ 1 this week .
For Bank of the Philippine Islands vice president and chief economist Emilio S . Neri Jr ., the peso ’ s strength was “ unsustainable and largely a result of what looks like a temporary tightness in domestic liquidity arising from the recent RTB [ retail treasury bonds ] issuance of the Bureau of the Treasury .”
The Treasury this month raised P255.4 billion from its sale of five-year RTBs to small investors , the government ’ s biggest RTB sale to date .
“ The market also appears to be
too pessimistic about the expansionary impact of the US tax reform package . We should see a correction towards the 51 :$ 1 level by February 2018 , if not earlier ,” Neri added .
For another economist at a leading bank , the peso strengthened as “ traders were pointing to foreign flows into the local equity market , which is still on Train-related buying ,” referring to Republic Act No . 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act .
President Duterte last week signed into law package 1A of the Train , which starting January next year will slash and restructure personal income tax rates that stayed the same for two decades , while also jacking up or slapping new taxes on consumption of oil , cigarettes , sugary drinks and vehicles .
“ Expectations for faster growth going into next year with the tax break for lower wage earners are seen to drive consumption further , while infrastructure spending is seen to boost investment numbers and improve efficiency ,” the economist added .
Also , “ remittance flows are also seen helping boost the pair as the dollar per se is moving sideways ,” according to the economist . ( B . O . De vera / jpv , inq )
Happy New 2018 - good luck with your resolutions
of food - a slightly less big pot of stew , a few less than thirty chicken legs , still four trays of cheesecakes , slightly less than two trays of polvoron , and still many kinds of cheese .
So on Clean-up Day I asked my wife what we ’ re going to do with all the left-over food . I don ’ t want to eat beef stew and chicken legs for the rest of my life , so eventually they go into the garburator . The cheese , polvoron and cheesecakes , well perhaps I can manage with that .
In our younger days we always had ambitious New Year ’ s resolutions , like hopefully becoming a better person or achieving a higher financial objective , or something crazy like that . Often we
WWW . PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY . COM fail , then wait for the next year again .
Now in my age I look at those objectives as simply foolish . For the past years my only New Year ’ s resolution was to keep my blood pressure , sugar and cholesterol levels safe , and often time I fail . But 2018 is another year and I was hoping to have another shot at it , but I ’ m pretty sure I have to wait for 2019 now - cause I have a lot of those cheesecakes and polvoron to clean up !
I ’ m pretty sure each of you have your own New Year ’ s resolutions - or some cheesecakes to clean up . Whatever they are , all the best !
To you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year !