For printing in general (not newspaper printing) and taking into consideration the present environment in the printing industry in the Philippines, I would recommend thermal Ctp for the following reasons.
1. The top 3 selling CtP brands in the Philippines are thermal - Heidelberg, Kodak and Screen. Furthermore, the preferred used/refurbished brand is also thermal - Screen Platerite and its rebrands (Heidel Topsetter, Agfa Avalon and Fuji Accento). This gives the user a wide range of equipment to choose from. Service support is also more readily available.
2. There is a large variety of thermal plate brands available in the Philippine market.
3. Prices of thermal plates are lower than violet polymer plates.
4. Thermal platesetters are cheaper than UV platesetters. Considering that prices of ps plates are no longer cheaper than thermal plates; UV platesetters have lost their advantage.
5. There must be a reason why most service bureaus in Manila use thermal CtP. I only know of one that uses violet and one that uses UV.
Incidentally, I am now in Vietnam, having just visited the CtP plate factory of Mylan. I was privileged to meet the CEO of Mylan, Dr. My Nguyen who has a PhD in Chemistry. Dr. Nguyen, who was part of the original team that developed thermal CtP technology, showed me his new water washable thermal plate. After exposure on a thermal platesetter, the non-image area is simply washed off with water and gummed. This new plate is not only easy to process; but is also environmental friendly. I am convinced that this plate will be the preferred plate in the near future.