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Speedy zombies inhabit Red’s latest horror outing

TOUTED AS the “first full-scale zombie film by a Filipino studio,” Mikhail Red’s Block Z promises action and gore and thrills as it hits cinemas on January 29.

“When I was doing Eerie, Star Cinema went up to me and asked if I can do a zombie movie for them because it’s been a while since the country had a film from the genre,” Mr. Red said during a press conference on Jan. 12 at the ABS-CBN offices in Quezon City.

The film’s premise revolves around several pre-med students who are trapped inside a campus where a patient exhibiting rabies-like symptoms attacks and infects people.

Both Mr. Red’s prior horror and thriller films — Eerie and Dead Kids — have stories revolving around students and their schools.

Making a zombie film is not a new experience for the director. “Back in high school, I used to make zombie movies with my classmates using ketchup as blood and a mini-dv recorder,” Mr. Red said in a release.

The film’s cast include Julia Barretto, Maris Racal, McCoy de Leon, Yves Flores, and Joshua Garcia alongside Ian Veneracion, Dimples Romana, and Ina Raymundo.

“We have fast zombies [in this film]… the running in this film is full-speed, so it adds excitement and thrills because you really need cardio, these are not slow zombies you can slam with a frying pan,” the director said.

He added that he was inspired by the 2007 horror film 28 Weeks Later by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (the sequel to Danny Boyle’s 2002 film, 28 Days Later), and anime series High School of the Dead which aired in 2010 and which was adapted from the manga of the same name by Daisuke Sato.

“Block Z is a horror film but it also has adventure-thriller elements… horror is a visual language and it’s not something that can be done through dialogue… it’s almost like a graphic novel [when sequencing shots],” he said.

Block Z screens in cinemas nationwide starting Jan. 29. — Z.B. Chua

As firms hold back, US consumers seen boosting big banks’ profits

NEW YORK — Consumer lending is expected to propel profits for big US banks when they unveil fourth-quarter results this week, though stress in corporate lending and uneven capital markets may cast a shadow over results.

Balances for individual borrowers keep reaching new records as the US job market has stayed robust, prompting people to spend, and as interest rates have declined, prompting them to borrow — especially on credit cards.

Overall, US consumer-loan balances at the 25 largest banks reached $1.19 trillion the last week of December, up 13% from a year earlier, according to Federal Reserve data. The biggest annual increase came from cards, where outstanding debt rose 16%.

The banks held another $1.46 trillion in residential mortgage loans.

That spells good news for quarterly profits at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup, Inc., which have been working to grow their card businesses in recent years. The Fed’s decision to lower rates in 2019 boosted mortgage activity, which will help major home lenders like Wells Fargo & Co. Those three banks are scheduled to report results on Tuesday.

“The consumer-lending business is going to be very profitable for the banks,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy said in an interview.

Americans borrowing to buy cars and pay for vacations has been a mainstay for industry profits recently. Consumer strength has helped offset weakness in trading, underwriting or business-loan demand at various points, with bank executives cheering it as a sign that the US economy is not on the brink of recession.

Analysts expect tepid business borrowing to have continued through the fourth quarter. Global trade disputes, political uncertainties and market fluctuations have left CEOs wary of seeking financing to buy competitors or invest in operations, they said.

However, those issues could take a back seat to the thriving US consumer.

As Americans’ loan balances have climbed, their incomes have grown even faster. That debt is now about equal to disposable personal income after climbing to as much as one-third higher in 2007.

Analysts say they are also encouraged that banks appear to be lending more responsibly to consumers, partly due to new regulations. Consumer delinquency rates are low at 2.8%, compared with an average of 4.3% since 2003, according to Fed data. In the recession, the rate reached 8.2%.

However, analysts cautioned that credit mistakes often occur in the best of times and that it is hard to see them with the economy growing for the 11th straight year.

Higher real-estate values have allowed property owners to raise cash by selling or refinancing. As competition has heated up in cards, some borrowers have been transferring zero-interest balances from one bank to another for a small fee, without paying off the debt.

And although unemployment is at a 50-year low and wages are higher, there are still lots of consumers living paycheck-to-paycheck.

A Fed survey last year found 39% of Americans would have a hard time handling an unexpected $400 expense. People with credit cards generally are not at such risk, but still about 16% said they would put the expense on a card.

Fred Cannon, research director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said a rise in unemployment in the next recession would expose bad loans. “There certainly could be some problems,” he said. — Reuters

China backs drive vs gambling, says Pagcor

THE Philippines and China are working together to combat Chinese nationals involved in illegal offshore gaming operations in the country, the head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte gave his assurance that Beijing is not meddling in local law enforcement.

In a mobile message sent to BusinessWorld, Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo said the two countries “respect each other’s sovereignty and laws” and were teaming up in the drive against Chinese-led Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).

“[Pagcor] and the Chinese Police assigned at their embassy here are in close coordination in the fight against illegal gambling/POGO operations,” she said.

“We agreed in a meeting that the fight we must wage is against illegal gambling or illegal POGO operations and we have cooperated to make this fight successful,” she added.

Pagcor has the mandate to regulate the operations of POGOs.

On Monday, Mr. Duterte said in a television interview that Chinese officials would not interfere in his administration’s strict laws governing POGOs amid the influx of Chinese working in the offshore gambling industry.

He added that China had been urging the Philippines to arrest or deport Chinese nationals if necessary.

All forms of gambling are prohibited in China, which has called on Southeast Asian countries to address the issue of online gambling involving mainland Chinese, which is believed to be the reason why hundreds of millions of yuan are illegally released from its economy.

The Philippines has lead an aggressive crackdown against illegal POGOs, many of which were found to have illegally recruited Chinese workers.

Based on data of the Bureau of Immigration, majority of the 2,000 illegal aliens arrested and deported in 2019 were Chinese who are involved in unlicensed gaming operations. — Gillian M. Cortez

Why one Friends fan in the US now has 236 episodes recorded on her DVR

WHEN Friends vanished from Netflix in the US on Jan. 1, Amy Smeltzer was ready. She watches the old sitcom almost every day and just couldn’t wait until May for it to resurface on a new streaming service, HBO Max.

So a month ago, her husband began recording the episodes on cable TV. All 236 of them.

“It’s still funny to me, even as many times as I’ve seen it,” said Smeltzer, 33, who lives outside Atlanta. With the entire library on her DVR, “the only annoying part is the commercials.”

The show about six friends in Manhattan, which first aired in 1994, was one of the most popular programs on Netflix. Its departure has sent subscribers scrambling for other ways to watch. Google searches for “How to watch Friends” have spiked in the new year. Media outlets have published articles on where to find Friends. Many fans have turned to old-school technology, like cable or DVDs.

The plight of disgruntled Friends fans reflects the mixed blessings of the streaming era. It’s a paradise for TV junkies, with classic shows and hundreds of new series available at the click of a button. But with new streaming services coming online this year — leading to bidding wars for popular sitcoms — consumers will have to look harder to find their favorite programs and may be forced to buy additional subscriptions.

The cable networks TBS and Nick at Nite still air Friends. TBS saw a sevenfold increase in online viewing of the show last week. Nick at Nite saw Friends viewership rise 33% last week compared with the previous four weeks.

Friends is still streaming on Netflix outside the US, prompting international viewers to gloat on social media. The show itself is owned by Warner Bros., a division of AT&T Inc., which also owns TBS and the upcoming HBO Max.

“Enjoying every second in Brazil bc Friends is still on Netflix here,” one Twitter user said this week. “I don’t know what I’ll do when I go back to the US and have to figure out another way to watch it.”

Both TBS and Nick at Nite, owned by ViacomCBS Inc., will still have Friends after it begins streaming on HBO Max, which is paying $425 million over five years to Warner Bros. for the exclusive streaming rights. On the other hand, a five-month streaming blackout could boost interest in HBO Max among Friends fans who don’t get cable.

“Having exclusive content is very important,” said Amanda Lotz, a professor of media studies at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology. “But Friends has been around 25 years and is readily available. That’s what makes this case so unusual.”

The departure of Friends from Netflix shows how the balkanized world of streaming is sowing confusion among consumers. For decades, programs aired on broadcast channels and then moved to cable networks in syndication. Consumers never had to search beyond the channel guide.

Now, TV fans need to figure out which streaming services carry their favorite shows as rights are bought and sold, not to mention juggle multiple subscriptions. And because they expect to have their entertainment available at all times, the departure of programs on Netflix “feel like ruptures,” Lotz said.

Smeltzer said she was prepared to subscribe to NBCUniveral’s upcoming streaming service, Peacock, because she assumed Friends, which originally aired on NBC, would be there.

But after learning it won’t be, Smeltzer said she will probably subscribe to HBO Max. Her DVR is almost full from recording every episode.

“The subscriptions are getting out of control, but Friends is one of my favorite shows and I watch it every day so I’ll pay for it,” she said. — Bloomberg

Law firm applying for a special audit of Wirecard

SCHIRP SAID it is applying for a special audit of Wirecard amid fraud allegations.

FRANKFURT — Law firm Schirp said on Monday it was applying for a special audit of German payments company Wirecard, which is facing allegations of fraud and false accounting, on behalf of its shareholders.

Wirecard was hit a year ago by allegations in the Financial Times that its Singapore office made fake book-keeping entries to “pad” its revenues. In-house auditor EY investigated those claims and gave Wirecard management a clean bill of health. The company denied the allegations and sued the FT, which stands by its reporting.

Thomas Eichelmann, the board member overseeing an outside audit of Wirecard, has been elected as chairman after Wulf Matthias, 75, resigned for personal reasons, Wirecard said in statement on Friday. — Reuters

Ayala group in relief efforts after Taal eruption

THE Ayala group has mobilized its units to assist local governments in relief operations for the affected communities by the Taal volcano eruption.

In a statement Monday, the conglomerate said its water arm Manila Water Co., Inc. has ordered its operating units in Laguna and Batangas to work with the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to deliver 30 water tankers in evacuation centers. This is on top of the 2,000 five-gallon bottled water that MWC is sending initially to the area.

Manila Water affiliate Laguna Water through wholly owned subsidiary Manila Water Philippine Ventures has also ordered its employees to evacuate its Silang office on Sunday night.

The property arm of the Ayala group, listed Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), likewise joined in the efforts by waiving overnight parking fees and offering free Wi-Fi connection in Ayala Malls in Metro Manila and Calabarzon yesterday.

In the more closely affected Ayala Malls Solenad and Ayala Malls Nuvali in Tagaytay, ALI has offered its cinema building ground floor to customers that need a place to stay.

Ayala-led telecommunications firm Globe Telecom, Inc. also helped in the group-wide efforts by running its network at full capacity in all affected areas by the calamity.

Healthcare unit Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. has also been told to stay alert to supply medicine, medical supplies, first aid and medical consultation in case the situation worsens.

“More relief efforts are underway as the Ayala group continues to work with relevant LGUs to meet the immediate needs of the affected communities,” the company said in the statement.

Taal Volcano, the Philippines’ second most active volcano located south of Metro Manila in Batangas, erupted Sunday afternoon and has remained active through Monday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has ordered total evacuation of residents in high-risk areas within a 14-kilometer radius from the volcano’s main crater. — Denise A. Valdez

ICTSI’s Colombia port takes in largest capacity vessel

INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) said Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce S.A. (SPIA), its joint venture container terminal project with PSA International Pte Ltd. (PSA) in Buenaventura, Colombia, has received the “largest vessel ever to call Colombia” this month.

“Coming from Asia, the large-scale vessel, APL Esplanade, recently arrived at Puerto Aguadulce with a capacity of 13,892 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs),” ICTSI said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the vessel would continue to other ports in South America.

“The shipping companies continue to build larger and larger capacity vessels. For Puerto Aguadulce, receiving this type of vessel is an honor and a great responsibility. We work continuously under our vision of being a strategic ally of the Colombian economy. At the end of last year, we received what is now, after APL Esplanade, the second largest capacity container vessel that has docked in the country,” Miguel A. Abisambra, Puerto Aguadulce general manager, was quoted as saying.

He said these calls affirm that the terminal, which began operations in November 2016, has “global service standards, technology, infrastructure and security.”

ICTSI had posted a 7% increase in its net income attributable to equity holders in the July-September period last year.

The Razon-led company attributed the profit growth to strong operating income contribution from the terminals in Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mexico, and Manila and Subic in the Philippines; new contracts with shipping lines and services at Victoria International Container Terminal in Melbourne, Australia; continuing ramp-up at the new terminals in Papua New Guinea; and a decrease in equity in net loss at Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce.

Revenue from port operations went up by 3% to $355.6 million during the third quarter, and by 10% to $1.1 billion during the January-September period.

The company has said it spent $177.7 million out of the $380-million capital expenditure budget as of end-September. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Korean entertainers coming to PHL in February

KOREAN actor Yeo Jin Goo, DJ HYO, and singer/actor Ong Seong Wu will all be coming to the Philippines in February.

Yeo Jin Goo — fresh from the success of his latest TV series, Hotel del Luna, which is currently airing on Abs-Cbn and is one of the highest rated Korean drama in cable TV history — will be coming to Manila for the first time and will be staging his first fan meeting tour, Memory Line. This will be held on Feb. 1 at the New Frontier Theater in Cubao, Quezon City.

Yeo started as a child actor in 2006 before played the title role in the 2013 movie Hwaji: The Monster Boy and his first leading role in a TV drama on Orange Marmalade in 2015. He went on to star in TV dramas Circle and Reunited Worlds, and the film Warriors of the Dawn before starring in three TV dramas in 2019 — The Crowned Clown, My Absolute Boyfriend, and Hotel del Luna.

Tickets to Yeo Jin Goo’s Memory Line — First Fan Meeting in Manila 2020 are on sale via TicketNet.com.ph, TicketNet outlets or by call 8911-5555 for more information.

DJ HYO IN MANILA
Hyoyeon of the Korean girl group Girls Generation struck out on her own and made a name for herself by becoming a DJ.

Now called DJ HYO, her set includes not only her solo songs but also the hit songs of Girls Generation. She will be presenting her exclusive DJ set at House Manila, Resorts World Manila on Feb. 8 10 p.m.

The P5,000 tickets are available at Ticket2Me.

For more details visit the social media accounts of FanLive, Istudyo ni Pipay, and House Manila.

ONG SEONG WU FAN MEET
After taking home the Best New Actor and Hallyu Star Award at the 12th Korea Drama Awards and the AAA Rookie Actor Award at the Asian Artist Award 2019, and finishing his recent drama At Eighteen, Ong Seong Wu returns to the music scene with his newest single “We Belong.”

Ong Seong Wu will hold his Asia Fanmeeting <“WE BELONG”> in Manila on Feb. 25 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. Tickets are available at all TicketNet outlets and online (https://ticketnet.com.ph/events/detail/Ong-Seong-Wu-Asia-FanMeeting-In-Manila).

Agency banking transactions rose in 2019

THE COUNTRY’S digital agency banking in 2019 took a leap as transactions ballooned by more than fivefold, fueled by withdrawal transactions of conditional cash transfer beneficiaries.

Data from the Digital Enterprise and Innovation Group of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) showed that transaction count surged by 564% year on year to 1.2 million in 2019.

The total amount of money which went through the system skyrocketed by 521% year on year to P3.3 billion in 2019.

“The strategy behind the exponential growth was based on the recalibration of the business model including the data-driven device distribution in areas with propensity for high transaction volume,” RCBC Executive Vice- President and Chief Innovation Officer Angelito “Lito” M. Villanueva said in a text message to BusinessWorld on Monday.

Among transactions, withdrawals saw the largest growth surge of 610%, followed by fund transfers (226%), cash-in (221%), and bills payment (93%).

More than half (51%) of the withdrawal transactions are made by conditional cash transfer (CCT) beneficiaries. With this, a total of 284,000 CCT beneficiaries have accessed digital agency banking.

Data also showed that the areas with the highest transaction volumes are in Bataan, Aklan, Quezon City, Davao City, and Antique.

Land Bank of the Philippines automated teller machine (ATM) cards were the most frequently used for transactions, the data showed. ATM card users from Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., BDO Unibank, Inc., RCBC, and the Development Bank of the Philippines also rounded up the top five users of digital agency banking.

Despite the 94% successful transaction rate, RCBC noted that 6% of transactions were declined due to insufficient balances.

Mr. Villanueva, who is also the founding chairperson of the Fintech Alliance Philippines, said they are targeting to keep the fivefold growth or over 500% expansion rate of digital agency banking in 2020.

“To further sustain its growth is the onboarding of over 100 rural banks, cooperatives, MFIs (microfinance institutions), pawnshops, and sari-sari stores,” he said.

It was in 2017 when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rolled out its guidelines for lenders in conducting agency banking, which taps outlets, groups, or individuals with technology to perform basic banking services including account openings, cash deposits, withdrawals, and even bills payment in far-flung areas where bank branches may be a rarity or are absent. — L.W.T. Noble

Davao manufacturer ventures into hotel business

DAVAO CITY — The family behind weighing scale manufacturer First Philippine Scales Inc. (FPSI) has ventured into the hotel business, taking advantage of a 2,000-square meter prime property in Davao City where the new Blue Lotus Hotel now stands.

The lot along Quimpo Boulevard, one of the main roads in the city, was originally planned by the Policarpio family for an FPSI showroom for its Fuji line of weighing scales and other products.

“Nanghihinayang ako rito sa puwesto kung showroom lang (I felt it would be a waste if we just put up a showroom here),” Amparo U. Policarpio, president of Blue Lotus Hotel, said in an interview.

“Maganda naman ang location dito sa Davao at maganda ang surroundings kaya naisipan namin na gumawa ng hotel (The location in Davao is good and the surroundings are nice, that’s why we thought of building a hotel),” she added.

The seven-floor, 133-room hotel is being positioned not just for leisure and business travelers, but as a venue for small and medium-sized meetings, seminars, conferences, and special events with its eight function rooms.

The hotel also have an eco-friendly facilities such as LED lighting, solar power, rainwater harvesting system, and energy-saving air-conditioning system.

The hotel is being positioned and more. It offers eight function rooms that can accommodate up to 400 people theatre-style.

Ms. Policarpio said they do feel a bit nervous going into a new industry, and appreciate customer feedback so that they can keep on improving the service.

“This is our first time to venture into hotel business. There may be something that still needs improvement, we appreciate your feedback. There may be imperfections during your stay here, please accept our apology,” she said.

FPSI started as a trading firm in 1968 for weighing scales from Taiwan, Japan and the US. It started manufacturing its own Fuji brand in 1975 with its first plant in Caloocan. Its first branch in Davao City was opened in 2002. — Maya M. Padillo

Local stocks start year as Asia’s unloved market

WHEN it comes to Philippine stocks, 2020 so far isn’t looking better than 2019.

Barely two weeks into the new year, and the market is the worst performer among major Asian peers, with overseas fund withdrawals reminiscent of January 2008. Back then, fears of a US recession roiled global shares and pummeled Manila into a bear market. Last year, Philippine equities were already among the region’s laggards.

After foreign outflows in 2018 and 2019, Philippine stocks remain out of favor.

Expectations of a weaker peso and fears of regulatory risk over a contract dispute between the government and Manila’s water utilities could be holding back investors from scooping up Philippine equities, even amid the prospects of faster economic growth, according to Rachelle Cruz, an analyst at AP Securities, Inc. An added factor is the uncertainty over the passage of measures cutting corporate taxes and incentives, she said.

After clocking a 4.7% gain in 2019 (the regional benchmark surged 16%), the Philippine Stock Exchange Index has retreated 0.5% this year as overseas funds have pulled $44 million, one of the biggest outflow in Asia. Foreign investors dumped almost $100 million over a similar period at the start of 2008, just as the index was about to sink into a bear market.

The Philippine stock exchange suspended trading Monday after the government said there’s an imminent threat of a hazardous eruption of the Taal Volcano, now rumbling and spewing ash and smoke just 65 kilometers south of the capital Manila.

Foreign investors have pulled more than $1.3 billion from Philippine equity funds in the last two years as the nation was hit by rising inflation and slowing economic growth, coupled with sell-offs triggered by a US-China trade war. While the shares have traded at a premium to Asian peers for most of the past decade, the rout shrank valuations to the lowest since 2011 relative to the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, feeding hopes bargain hunters will come in.

“This outflow isn’t a reflection of deteriorating fundamentals, but the tail-end of a portfolio re-balancing,” said Cristina Ulang, an analyst at First Metro Investment Corp. “This could be an inflection point for there are many arguments why foreign investors will come back this year. Economic growth and corporate earnings will be stronger. We are again in the league of Asia’s fastest growing markets.” — Bloomberg

Hollywood made 532 TV shows in 2019, and it’s going to make more in 2020

THE US TV industry released 532 scripted shows last year, an annual increase of 7%, as the competition for viewers intensified with the introduction of new streaming services like Disney+.

John Landgraf, who runs Walt Disney Co.’s FX networks, has tracked production for years and predicts 2020 will see another increase, which he lamented as “just bananas.”

The surge is raising the cost of making TV shows, while the growing volume means many programs don’t get the attention or audience they need to be successful, according to Landgraf, who spoke last Thursday at the Television Critics Association meeting in Pasadena, California.

Landgraf has held senior roles at FX since at least 2004 and has shepherded popular hits such as The Americans and Atlanta. He’s been particularly critical of the funding flowing in from technology companies that don’t need to make money from the shows they back.

“The danger of the internet is that everything becomes junk food,” he said.

Over the past decade, AT&T Inc.’s HBO released 19% of the shows on critics’ top 10 lists, while FX was second with 18% and Netflix Inc. fifth with 10%, Landgraf said.

New streaming services set to launch this year include Peacock from Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and AT&T’s HBO Max. — Bloomberg

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