A top official of the Land Bank of the Philippines yesterday urged rural banks in the country to synergize their forces with their institution to bring development in the countryside.

Stella Maris Yusay, first vice president for Visayas operations, was the keynote speaker in behalf of LBP acting president Gilda Pico, at the opening program of the 2006 Visayas Management Conference yesterday at the L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City.

There are more than 800 countryside banks, or more than 1,800 branches covering over 85 percent of the municipalities in the Philippines.

RP internet users
to double by '08

MANILA - The number of Internet users in the Philippines is expected to more than double to 13.5 million by 2008, an information technology research firm said yesterday.

The projection is a sharp increase from the estimated current 5.6 million Cesar Tolentino, senior analyst of XMG, a Canada-based IT market research firm, said.

"The increasing shift of Internet users to broadband connectivity is the driver behind this," even though 65 percent of subscriptions in the Philippines still use dial-up connections, Tolentino said in a presentation.*AFP

Asian Spirit starts int'l flights

MANILA - Small Philippine carrier Asian Spirit announced yesterday that it will launch international services starting with flights to the Pacific island of Palau.

Asian Spirit will fly from Davao City to Palau three times a week, using a new 100-seater British Aerospace 146 jet starting on Sunday, the airline said in a statement.

The 10-year-old airline will invest over P100 million ($1.94 million) for this international venture.

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