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Gov’t keeps hands off legal fight between RCBC, Dhaka on heist

THE PHILIPPINE government maintained its stance to keep its hands off any developments on Dhaka filing charges against Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) next week over the $81-million bank heist in 2016.
“Our position is unchanged,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters in a mobile phone message on Monday.
This comes after a Bangladesh daily reported that Dhaka will file charges against RCBC and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Jan. 15 over their role in the $81-million Bangladesh Bank heist.
Mr. Dominguez met with Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in Manila in May last year, where he said the Philippine government will have no hand in any out-of-court settlement or developments in court regarding the charges against RCBC as it has already imposed the necessary sanctions on the bank.
Hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank in February 2016 using fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system, which were eventually wired to RCBC accounts.
Manila has returned $15 million so far, but the remaining $66 million is still unaccounted for after the money trail went cold in local casinos.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas slapped a P1-billion fine on RCBC, which was the largest penalty ever imposed by the central bank on a lender.
Local authorities have also filed money laundering charges against an RCBC branch manager involved in the heist. — E.J.C. Tubayan

Bandersnatch: a good introduction to interactive films but not the best

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Reporter
Movie Review
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Netflix
A FEW days before 2018 ended, global internet streaming service Netflix and the people behind sci-fi series Black Mirror decided to release their most ambitious project yet — an interactive film called Bandersnatch, which immediately, it caught viewers’ fancy. It presents an intriguing, yet familiar, proposition, especially for those who grew up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books published by Bantam Books from 1979.
For the Netflix show, people can make choices using their mobile devices, choices that can lead to multiple endings for the story set in 1984 and which follows Stefan Butler (played by Fionn Whitehead), the people around him, and his video game, Bandersnatch.
“Bandersnatch is a unique Black Mirror story in that it’s interactive: you the viewer, get to decide what’s going to happen,” Charlie Brooker, creator/writer/producer of the series, said in a featurette uploaded by Netflix on Jan. 3.
Black Mirror is a sci-fi anthology series which started airing in 2011 and is meant to examine the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. The episodes, usually standalones, are set in an alternate timeline and are often dark and satirical.
“Netflix asked us if we’d like to do an interactive story. I knew I wanted to do another period episode and I thought, ‘Well, what if you’re controlling somebody in the past? So it kinda spiraled from there,” Mr. Brooker said.
At first, Mr. Brooker and producer Annabel Jones didn’t want to make an interactive episode and would only do it if it made sense thematically for the show.
“We didn’t want it to feel like it was just a gimmick,” Ms. Jones said.
Thankfully, Mr. Brooker had a suitable script in mind and came up with Bandersnatch, a feat said to be equivalent to four Black Mirror episodes.
And while Netflix posits that the film itself is only an hour and 30 minutes in length, The Telegraph noted that its entire length spans more than five hours if one takes note of all the choices and all the endings.
“It’s actually complicated behind the scenes but for the viewer it’s fairly straightforward — you are given choices: will you go out the door or jump out the window? But there’s a myriad sort of timelines and story branches you can go down,” Mr. Brooker said.
“It was very challenging at every stage. There were points where when working stuff out, it got like trying to do a Rubik’s cube in your head, and I had to literally get up from the desk and kind of walk around the house holding my head,” he said.
This is actually not Netflix’s first time to create an interactive film since in 2017, the company produced a children’s interactive show called Puss in Book.
“Part of the excitement in working in Netflix is constantly inventing what is internet TV. There’s a lot responsibility because we are innovating in this whole new form and so one of the things we talked about was interactive content,” Todd Yelin, VP for product at Netflix, said in a separate featurette uploaded in the same account.
He described Bandersnatch — the service’s first interactive film for an adult audience — as a film which combined “technology and design and innovation with incredible storytelling.”
MIXED REVIEWS
While the film received generally favorable reviews — Rotten Tomatoes gave it an average rating of 7.5 out of 10 based on 52 reviews as of Jan. 9 — critics have pointed out that “while Bandersnatch marks an innovative step forward for interactive content, its meta narrative can’t quite sustain interest over multiple viewings — though it provides enough trademark Black Mirror tech horror to warrant at least one watch,” said the review aggregator site.
The interactivity aspect garnered favorable to mixed reviews, with David Griffin from IGN calling the decision points “smooth and unobtrusive” while Roisin O’Connor of The Independent called the same points “wearisome” and said it “pulls you out of the story.”
This writer spent the better part of three hours navigating the film on Sunday and is inclined to agree with O’Connor — the decision points do sometimes get tedious and interfere with immersion, especially because of the card which cuts the screen every time a decision has to be made — a card which doesn’t disappear until the timer runs out even if you made your choice in less than two seconds.
It might be nitpicky, but this writer had the chance to play Tobias Weber’s Late Shift (2016), a downloadable movie/game (available on online game store Steam) billed as “The World’s First Cinematic Interactive Movie,” which succeeds in making the choices unobtrusive and in which the reaction time is suitably paced — meaning the viewer doesn’t have to wait another second before seeing the character perform the choice, especially if the choice is a critical one.
Late Shift, which was screened at the New York Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival (the audience voted for their choices through the smartphones, and the majority vote became the choice used), follows the story of Matt (Joe Sowerbutts), a night shift parking lot attendant who gets roped into a high-stakes heist in a London auction house.
Late Shift scores more points in “rewatchability” and complexity as the endings, and how you get to the endings, really vary depending on the most miniscule of choices made in several parts of the film — many gaming accounts on YouTube dedicated hours to creating video walkthroughs on how to get to all of the endings. It is a really good film, both as a suspense-heist film and an interactive one, though I do have misgivings about the film’s continuity issues.
I can only hope that, like Telltale Stories’ interactive video series Minecraft: Story Mode (2015), Late Shift also makes it way to Netflix because it deserves to be experienced by a wider audience.
But what I do like about Bandersnatch is, with a streaming giant behind its back, it pushes forward the idea of interactive stories to break the monotony of linear and passive viewing for audiences.
(It became such a hit that flowcharts upon flowcharts from fans have appeared on the internet showing how choices affect the endings.)
Oh, and I also do like the Bandersnatch ending that’s reminiscent of Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) and because it also mirrors the joke endings from Konami’s Silent Hill horror game franchise.

Amaia Land launches third building at Pasig project

AMAIA LAND Corp. is set to begin construction on a third building at Amaia Steps Pasig within the first quarter, after the success of the first two towers.
In a statement, the economic housing unit of Ayala Land, Inc. said turnover of Amaia Steps Pasig Blanca is targeted by June 2021.
The project is located along Eusebio St. in Barangay San Miguel, Pasig City.
Amaia Land said it launched the new tower at Amaia Steps Pasig, after selling 220 units at its Aria building, and another 122 units at its Esperanza building.
Blanca is a mid-rise condominium with nine floors with studio, de luxe, and premier units. The tower offers 256 units with sizes ranging from 23 square meters (sq.m.) to 42 sq.m. Some units will have their own balconies.
Among the project’s amenities include a swimming pool, a courtyard garden, a children’s play area, jogging path, and a clubhouse, which were completed early 2018.
Blanca is less than six kilometers away from Ortigas business district, and four kilometers away from C-5, which makes the development ideal for professionals working in central business districts.
Amaia Steps Pasig is also near Tiendesitas, SM Supercenter Pasig, Robinsons Galleria, and the Pasig Public Market, as well as educational institutions, hospitals, and restaurants. — VMPG

2 reports show women still struggle in Hollywood, black men make strides

LOS ANGELES — African-American men made measurable progress in gaining top jobs in Hollywood last year, though women — and particularly non-white women — continue to miss out.
The state of women in movies was borne out in a study by the San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, released on Thursday, which showed that only 8% of Hollywood’s top films in 2018 were directed by women, down from 11% the prior year, despite high-profile efforts to improve gender equality.
The percentage is roughly unchanged from two decades ago, according to the annual study, which found a “radical underrepresentation” of women in the industry.
“The study provides no evidence that the mainstream film industry has experienced the profound positive shift predicted by so many industry observers over the last year,” study author Martha Lauzen, executive director of San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, said in a statement.
The center has been producing the “Celluloid Ceiling” report for 21 years.
Allegations of sexual harassment in Hollywood became public in late 2017, prompting calls for more women at all levels of the entertainment business.
Yet in 2018, women accounted for just 8% of directors of the 250 highest-grossing Hollywood films, less than the 9% in 1998.
The overall percentage of women in behind-the-scenes movie roles rose to 20% from 18% in 2017. Women were most represented as producers, making up 26% of the total. Just 4% of cinematographers were female.
“This radical underrepresentation is unlikely to be remedied by the voluntary efforts of a few individuals or a single studio,” Ms. Lauzen said. “Without a large-scale effort mounted by the major players — the studios, talent agencies, guilds, and associations — we are unlikely to see meaningful change.”
Movies directed by women in 2018 included Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time and Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?
GOOD YEAR FOR BLACK MEN
Meanwhile, according to the latest annual survey from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, 16 of the top 100 movies produced last year were made by black directors, a historically high figure that shows Hollywood can improve diversity. However, only one of those directors was a woman: A Wrinkle in Time’s Ms. DuVernay. That’s one of many signs of slow progress for women and Asians, the study said, with a scant percentage of directing jobs going to those groups over the past dozen years. That was especially true for women of color.
The progress for African-American men in Hollywood comes after years of pressure. The #OscarsSoWhite campaign that emerged in 2015 drove the motion-picture academy to increase the diversity of its membership by highlighting awards shows that routinely overlook noteworthy performances by black actors. Against the backdrop of sexual-harassment scandals rocking Hollywood, the new Annenberg report shows women continue to confront a lack of opportunity.
“Women of color are nearly invisible in film production — whether as directors, producers, or in below-the-line crew positions,” said Stacy Smith, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s founder and director, as well as author of the study.
For the first time, the University of Southern California study looked at data on producers and so-called below-the-line positions — film crew jobs — across the top 300 movies from 2016 to 2018.
‘PRODUCED BY’
Just 11% of the “Produced by” credits over the last three years went to individuals from underrepresented groups. Men held 97% of the cinematographer jobs and 84.5% of the editing jobs, the report said.
“Only one woman of color worked as a composer across the 300 films we examined and there were no underrepresented female directors of photography,” Ms. Smith said.
Not surprisingly, the study also found that films with underrepresented producers were more likely to be directed by an individual from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. That was true, though also less pronounced, with female producers and female directors.
On the other hand, women fared much better in lower roles: They accounted for 34% of second assistant directors and 32% of unit production managers. Few women worked as first assistant directors, at 9%.
The researchers also looked at the executive and board ranks of seven major entertainment companies. Women made up 25% of board members, an improvement from 19% last year. The study found 17% of top management positions were held by women.
Looking more deeply at the film divisions, women held 23% of the president and chairperson roles, with higher percentage in the executive vice-president, senior vice-president and vice-president ranks. Women of color held just 6% of film executive team roles, the report said.
Sony Pictures distributed five films with black directors last year, the highest-performing company in the analysis. Walt Disney Co. released two films with an African-American director, the first ever for the company across the 12-year stretch the researchers have looked at. — Reuters/Bloomberg

ABS-CBN, GMA claim top ratings in 2018

RIVAL networks ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network, Inc. both claimed the top spot in television ratings in 2018, using different audience measurement reports.
Citing Kantar Media, which measured ratings from 2,610 urban and rural homes, ABS-CBN said it trumped all networks in 2018 with an average audience share of 45%, excluding data during the Holy Week.
In a statement, the Lopez-led company said it dominated the Metro Manila and Mega Manila markets where it gained an average audience share of 42% and 36% respectively.
Across islands, ABS-CBN said it also won over the households in Total Luzon with an average audience share of 40%, Total Visayas at 53% and Total Mindanao at 52%.
But challenging ABS-CBN’s claims is GMA, which said its total day people audience share for the whole year reached 40.8% in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM), using data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.
In a statement, GMA noted Nielsen’s data covers “a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to Kantar Media,” with around 900 more households surveyed in Total Urban and Rural Philippines.
GMA said aside from NUTAM, it also dominated Urban Luzon where it tallied a 45.9% total day people audience share for the full year, and Mega Manila with 47.7% share from the start of 2018 to Dec. 22.
But in terms of time block ratings, ABS-CBN said it led the market across all time slots: the morning block (6 a.m. to 12 p.m.) with 38% average audience share, noontime block (12 p.m. to 3 p.m.) with 44% share, afternoon block (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) with 43% share and prime time block (6 p.m. to 12 a.m.) with 49% share.
It also noted that 16 of its shows made it to the country’s 20 most watched programs in 2018, led by its three-year-old prime time drama “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,” with 41.2% average national TV rating.
GMA did not present its time block ratings, but noted its magazine program “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” ranked first in most-watched shows of 2018. — Denise A. Valdez

PBB to acquire Insular Savers Bank

PHILIPPINE Business Bank (PBB) is set to acquire Insular Savers Bank, Inc. (A Rural Bank) (ISBI) for some P575 million to boost its retail finance business.
In a disclosure to the local bourse on Monday, the Yao-led PBB said it will acquire ISBI, as approved by the central bank’s Monetary Board.
The thrift lender’s board of directors approved the acquisition of ISBI’s all outstanding shares, with an agreed purchase price of P575 million.
The merger is still subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“This transaction gives PBB an opportunity to further strengthen its consumer lending business while establishing a foothold in microfinance market,” the bank said in the disclosure.
It added that PBB’s acquisition of ISBI will add approximately 10% to its bottom line.
According to its website, ISBI started operations on Feb. 14, 1997. It offers banking services such as deposit-taking, loans and trade financing, as well as micro-lending.
ISBI also acquired Filipino Savers Bank in 2012 “to gain foothold in the salary loans business” that was offered to public school teachers.
The bank currently operates 10 branches located in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna, Iloilo as well as Albay.
As of October 2018, ISBI’s net loans and receivables amounted to P1.25 billion, with shareholder’s equity at P667.2 million.
With the acquisition, PBB aims to use ISBI’s existing teacher’s loan license and offer the “Magkaguro Loan” to its clients through select branches.
PBB posted a P262.09-million net income in the third quarter, up 162.1% from the previous year, boosted by the robust growth in its core businesses.
Shares in PBB stood at P12.86 apiece on Monday, up 48 centavos or 3.88% from the previous session. — K.A.N. Vidal

Manhattan home prices fall under $1 million in 4th quarter as sellers cut deals

MANHATTAN home prices fell in the fourth quarter, with the median slipping to less than $1 million for the first time in three years, as ample inventory continued to allow buyers to demand sweeter deals.
Condo and co-op prices declined to $999,000 in the three months through December, a drop of 5.8 percent from a year earlier, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report Thursday. Many apartments were sold for less than sellers originally sought, with an average discount of 6.2 percent from the last list price. That’s up from price cuts of 5.4 percent a year earlier.
It was the first time the median was less than $1 million since the third quarter of 2015, when it was $998,000.
The price decline is largely the result of shoppers having options. The inventory of existing homes on the market was up 17 percent from a year earlier. That’s given buyers greater negotiating power, and left sellers with no choice but to cut overly optimistic listing prices if they want to move properties.
“We had a number of cases where a lot of people came back for second and third visits, and never made an offer, and it’s totally and completely tied to pricing,” Steven James, chief executive officer of Douglas Elliman’s New York City division, said in an interview. “Many sellers still have not gotten the message. I think many more sellers in 2018 got the message, and those who got the message sold.”
Studio and one-bedroom units continued to see the most inventory gains. For all apartments, it took 15 percent longer to sell a home in the fourth quarter than it did a year earlier, according to Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.
On top of a still-strong pipeline of newly built homes swelling inventory in the city, 2018 saw rising interest rates, new U.S. tax laws that further strained some homebuyers’ finances through caps on property-tax deductions and a stock market unkind to many investors.
“All that kind of created almost a perfect storm to drive down prices farther than people anticipated,” said Matthew Hughes, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens. “The market was very hot in 2015, 2016, and we needed a natural correction.”
As developers try to sell new homes, some are offering to pay transfer or mansion taxes, cover attorneys’ fees, or provide buyers such perks as a year of free butler or car service — giveaways “that you’ve never even heard of just a couple years ago,” Hughes said. “I’ve seen it all.” — Bloomberg

Is consumption growth broad-based and sustainable?

Is consumption growth broad-based and sustainable?

How PSEi member stocks performed — January 7, 2019

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Monday, January 7, 2019.

Philippine Stock Exchange’s most active stocks by value turnover — January 7, 2019

DA expects to meet 2019 rice production goal

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said that rice production target for 2019 is likely to be met as rice farmers are expected to recover from the agricultural damage brought by tropical depression Usman.
“The damage was to low-yielding varieties, and we will try to make up for it with high-yielding varieties. So whatever the target is, we might go higher,” DA Undersecretary Ariel T. Cayanan told BusinessWorld after a news conference on Monday, when asked about the expected output for rice this year.
Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that damaged rice crops are at their vegetative stage, and that the DA was quick to intervene by providing farmers high-yielding variety seed.
The DA reported a total of P957.63 million agricultural damage from Usman, with 9,385 metric tons (MT) of lost volume over 47,529 hectares. The department estimates that the storm affected 42,683 farmers and fisherfolk.
Rice accounts for 88% of the total storm damage, with the value of lost production at P840.40 million on volume loss of 15,883 MT, affecting 41,143 hectares of land and 35,385 farmers.
Mr. Piñol said that he is expecting that the damage to eventually breach P1 billion.
“Our stocks in Bicol will last for about 40 days, that is the P27 National Food Authority (NFA) rice. Also, there is a prepositioned 5,000 bags of rice seed. We lack another 5,000 but we’ll be able to secure this hopefully this week,” Mr. Piñol said.
“I told the President during the briefing that while there is a huge damage to the rice crop as quantified today, that will not necessarily translate to losses because with the delivery of seed, the farmers will be able to recover because their plants are just in their vegetative stage. They will be able to replant,” Mr. Piñol added.
Mr. Piñol said that P175 million has been committed by DA for loans to farmers.
Meanwhile, the NFA said that it issued 13,730 bags of rice for Usman victims in Regions IV, V and VIII as of Monday.
A total of 8,343 bags were released to Region V which suffered the most.
“We will make sure that our accredited rice retailers will continue to sell NFA rice at P27 and P32 per kilogram in the areas affected by the typhoon. The availability of affordable and quality NFA rice will be a great help to all those affected by the calamity,” Tomas R. Escarez, NFA Officer-in-Charge Administrator, said in a statement. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

Senate panel wants quicker response to fuel price shocks

THE Senate committee on economic affairs will consult with the government’s economic team in coming up with a mechanism that will help government quickly react to external price shocks.
Committee chair Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian earlier said in a radio interview on Sunday that he wanted the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law to be amended in order to remove the suspension provision on fuel excise tax when the average Dubai crude oil price for three months prior to the scheduled increase reaches or exceeds $80 per barrel.
“The committee will review and consult the economic team as to what is the most appropriate mechanism to mitigate external price shocks,” he said in text message to BusinessWorld when asked about the possible replacement to the law’s $80 fuel price threshold.
The Senate committee on economic affairs has been conducting public hearings on the TRAIN law since February of last year to monitor the implementation of the law’s social mitigating measures and its inflationary pressure to the prices of goods.
“Based on our observations in 2018 when global oil prices suddenly surged, a sustained $80/bbl (per barrel) created adverse ripple effects in the prices of basic goods, such as food and transportation cost,” Mr. Gatchalian said.
He added that TRAIN law’s $80 fuel price suspension provision on fuel excise tax should be removed to allow the government to be “given the flexibility to react quickly in cases of sudden fluctuations oil prices.”
The law imposes an excise taxes on gasoline and diesel of P9 per liter and P4.50 per liter, respectively, starting in 2019.
Malacañang on December approved economic managers’ recommendations to go ahead with the increase in fuel excise tax in 2019 under the TRAIN law, reversing the Palace’s Nov. 8 order for its suspension. However, several lawmakers urged the President to reconsider his decision.
The House committee on ways and means began deliberating in December as well several bills and resolutions seeking to suspend the increase of excise tax on fuel.
Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chair of the Senate committee on ways and means, has also said that the committee “will act immediately” on measures seeking the suspension of the fuel excise tax increase once the House of Representatives transmits the measure to the Senate. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

DoF says Road Board abolition part of tax reform package

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) said that the proposal to abolish the Road Board is part of the succeeding package of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP), contrary to remarks by a House leader saying that the agency will be retained.
“We want the current and future funds now earmarked for the Road Board to be part of the General Fund which will then be appropriated by the legislature as part of the normal budgeting process and not allocated by an un-elected Board, which lessens the transparency on the use of the funds,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in a statement on Monday.
“Both the House and Senate passed the bill on the abolition of the Road Board, which was in response to our proposals as outlined under Package 1-B of the CTRP. As the Congress already passed this proposal, the DoF’s Sept. 20, 2018 letter to the House leadership requesting it to pass the remaining tax packages expectedly does not include the Road Board abolition,” Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said.
House Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya, Jr. in a committee hearing claimed that the DoF backs the proposal to retain the Road Board, as its abolition was not contained in the letter listing the DoF’s legislative priorities.
The DoF also seeks to raise and simplify MVUC rates, or Road User’s Tax, to account for inflation and reduce the multitude of rates to a single amount.
The fees, which are collected by the Land Transportation Office, have been unadjusted since 2004
On Sept. 12, the Senate adopted the House version on the Road Board abolition measure which is now up for bicameral conference committee approval. The House, however, recalled its approval of the bill after President Rodrigo R. Duterte supposedly wanted the House to retain the Road Board.
But Malacañang said that Mr. Duterte was actually for abolishing the Road Board, to reduce opportunities for graft.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno has said that he has not released funds from the MUVC — with a P45 billion balance currently — despite pressure from legislators to do so ahead of the election campaign.
Mr. Diokno said that the MUVC is supposed to be earmarked for road maintenance works, but past administrations used it on street sweepers.
In a separate statement on Monday, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said that Mr. Andaya’s allegations of ghost flood-control projects of the Department of Works and Highways (DPWH) worth P332 billion were baseless.
The DBM said that Congress approved the fund allocations in the 2017 and 2018 budget.
“The DBM believes that citing these amounts to present a picture of a ‘flood control scam’ facilitated by the DBM is irresponsible and misleading. First, the amount representing the proposed allocation for FY 2019 cannot be accounted for yet. There are no existing projects for 2019 as the 2019 budget has yet to be legislated, much less implemented. Second, the amounts allocated in the FY 2017 and 2018 GAA (General Appropriations Act) were reviewed, amended, and approved by both Houses of Congress before approval of the President,” the statement read.
“The DBM would also like to refute claims that it has allocated funds with preferential treatment to certain areas or districts. The DBM has no hand in determining the projects that should be implemented and in which areas or districts,” it added.
The Budget department said that it is actually the job of the implementing agency to specify line-item allocations on specific projects in specific districts.
“Even then, the DBM is not privy to the specific project listing for the projects under each program and region during budget preparation. The agency budget proposal submitted by the DPWH will only present their target allocation for the upcoming fiscal year by program (i.e. roads, bridges) and total allocation per region. The DBM evaluates each program based on the program’s budget utilization rates in previous years,” the DBM said. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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