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Makati beats 2018 revenue target in first 11 months

THE Makati City government said it collected revenue of P16.86 billion in the 11 months to November, mainly from business tax and real estate tax, beating its P15.67 billion full-year target.
In a statement issued Friday by the city government, Acting City Treasurer Jesusa Cuneta reported to Makati City Mayor Abigail S. Binay-Campos that the city’s total collections amounted to P16,864,458,483.31 for the period.
The year-earlier total was P16.07 billion.
Ms. Cuneta said the top contributor was business tax of P9.1 billion, followed by real property tax at P5.5 billion.
Fees and charges totaled P750.9 million while economic enterprises generated P246.9 million.
“We have exceeded our full-year revenue target (as of) November… we are heartened by the strong support consistently shown by our taxpayers,” Ms. Binay said in the statement.
Ms. Cuneta also reported that new business registrants in Makati City totaled 4,770 as of the second week of December, with a combined capital investment amounting to over P30 billion. Meanwhile, business permit renewals totaled 33,978 over the same period.
The city implemented a “Business One-Stop Shop” system in line with Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business law and simplified the processes for renewing and applying for new business permits.
It is also developing a computerized system, the enhanced Business Permit and Licensing System or e-BPLS, in order to provide easy access to business permits through various platforms. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

DA to build seed storage domes in Cagayan Valley

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Office No. 2 (RFO-02) said it will start operating this year a P10 million dome as a storage facility for seeds and other farm inputs, which can double as a shelter during calamities.
“We are now fast-tracking its completion so that we can already compare its advantages over the traditional warehouses,” Regional Executive Director Narciso A. Edillo said in a statement on Friday.
“This can also be used as human shelter or evacuation center during calamities, cold storage for agricultural products and many others,” Mr. Edillo said.
The so-called monolithic dome will be cast in one piece and such structures typically take weeks to construct and at lower cost.
According to DA, the dome is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Dome structures are inherently strong because of their shape.
The dome in Iguig, Cagayan will be 8.5 meters high and 15 meters wide. The structure is flat on two sides, which are 30 meters long.
Mr. Edillo said he hopes the dome will be completed in early 2019.
DA-RFO 02 Field Operations Division Chief Generoso M. Oli said that eight similar projects are about to be constructed this year at cooperatives or farmer organizations in the Cagayan region.
He also called the construction technology a “breakthrough” with a cost comparable to those of conventional warehouses.
“Eight similar projects will be constructed this year at cooperatives or farmer organizations regionwide,” Mr. Oli added.
The DA said that the concept was introduced by agricultural engineers at a conference last year. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

ICTSI wins 20-year concession for Sudan terminal

INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) signed a 20-year concession agreement with Sea Ports Corp. of Sudan (SPC) to operate, manage and develop the South Port Container Terminal (SPCT) at Port Sudan.
In a disclosure on Friday, ICTSI said that it will assume the operations and development of SPC’s container terminal infrastructure and terminal handling equipment. SPC, on the other and, will become the supervising authority and landlord of the terminal.
According to ICTSI, the transfer of control will begin this quarter.
SPC an independent state corporation in charge of the country’s ports, harbors and lighthouses.
ICTSI signed the agreement through its wholly-owned subsidiary ICSTI Middle East DMCC.
SPCT, on the Red Sea, is a 180-hectare facility with a 1,200-meter quay wall, with water depths of up to 16 meters, allowing it to receive the largest container vessels.
SPCT has eight8 Ship-to-Shore Gantry Cranes and more than 20 rubber-tired-gantry cranes, with a capacity of more than one million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
In 2017, SPCT reported a throughput of 470,000 TEU.
ICTSI reported a 18.67% rise in net profit in the third quarter to $62.92 million.
On Friday, ICSTI closed at P99, down 1%. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

ERC approves PEMC loan repayment plan

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved in part the application of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) to repay a loan amounting to about P817 million to build its electronic market management system through unused funds and additional transaction fees.
In an order, ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera along with three commissioners granted the motion for partial reconsideration filed by PEMC but trimmed the fees that the company can collect from market participants.
The commission said PEMC is authorized to use its other income and unutilized budget amounting to P510,138,981 to partially pay down a loan from state agency Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) of P816,858,077.95.
“PEMC shall be allowed to collect the remaining balance for a period of one (1) year but based on the recalculated amount of [P]323,994,436.65,” it said.
In its motion, PEMC was asking to collect a balance of P343,525,388.58 using a fixed interest rate of 12% to be recovered for one year, but the ERC recalculated the balance based on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) average lending rate of 5.6323% from 2012 to 2017.
The balance will be collected from market participants in Luzon and the Visayas where the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) fully operates.
PEMC’s motion is a follow-up of a previous application that the ERC approved on Aug. 31, 2017. In its motion for partial reconsideration filed on March 21, 2018, the company sought the use of its other income and unused funds to partly pay for the total loan.
ERC said it found merit in PEMC’s explanation in cutting the repayment period to one year instead of the previously approved three years as it will reduce the financial impact of the additional market fees for the market participants as interest will be collected for a shorter period.
“PSALM needed the immediate repayment to meet its other obligations. PEMC had met with the PSALM officers and they emphasized to PEMC that there is a need for immediate repayment as PSALM is also in need of funds to meet its obligations,” the company said in its explanation.
The ERC agreed, saying the loan was due and must be settled, thus a shorter period of one year “is reasonable as it would indeed lessen the amount of interest to be paid redounding to the interest of electricity end-users.”
Aside from Ms. Devanadera, the order was also signed by ERC Commissioners Josefina Patricia A. Magpale-Asirit, Alexis M. Lumbatan and Catherine P. Maceda. — Victor V. Saulon

BSP’s Espenilla goes on medical leave again

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. will be on leave for more than two weeks to seek medical treatment overseas.
In a statement on Friday, the central bank said Mr. Espenilla will be on leave from Jan. 4-21, 2019 to obtain “medical care overseas as part of his continuing treatment program.”
In accordance with the bank’s continuity protocols, Deputy Governors Diwa C. Guinigundo and Ma. Almasara Cyd N. Tuaño-Amador will take turns as officer in charge while Mr. Espenilla is away, the BSP added.
Mr. Guinigundo will start his official term as OIC immediately until Jan. 13, handing over to Ms. Tuaño-Amador who will serve between Jan. 14-21.
The Mr. Espenilla announced in February 2018 that he has recovered from early-stage tongue cancer diagnosed in late 2017.
At that time, Mr. Espenilla was expecting a full recovery “in a month or so” following radiation therapy, which he completed after the removal of the tumor.
Mr. Espenilla, now 60, took a medical leave from Sept. 19 to Oct. 2, which was extended for another two weeks.
“As an organization, the BSP remains focused on its mandate to ensure stable prices and maintain a sound financial system,” the central bank added.
Mr. Espenilla took over at the central bank in July 2017 after his appointment to succeed Amando M. Tetangco, Jr.
Prior to being named governor, he served the BSP for over 30 years, including as deputy governor for bank supervision. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Retail bonds seen as fallback if treasury auctions falter — ANZ

THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) will likely tap the retail bond market should there be any shortfall in demand in the coming government security auctions, ANZ Research said.
In a report issued Friday, ANZ Research said the Treasury might offer retail Treasury bonds if demand falters at its weekly Treasury bill (T-bill) and Treasury bond (T-bond) auctions.
Based on ANZ’s calculations, BTr’s net bond supply, or the planned borrowing after taking into account maturities, will be smaller for this quarter at P49.1 billion, compared with the P81 billion a year earlier.
The BTr offered three-year retail bonds in June, issuing P121.765 billion which carry a coupon rate of 4.875%.
For this quarter, the government is planning to borrow P360 billion, against the P270 billion it planned to borrow during the fourth quarter.
Some P240 billion will be borrowed this quarter through 12 weekly T-bill auctions of P20 billion each, broken down into P6 billion each for 91- and 182-day notes and P8 billion for 364-day securities. On the other hand, P120 billion worth of T-bonds will also be issued through six fortnightly auctions.
In a text message to BusinessWorld last week, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the BTr has a “strong cash carryover” going into 2019, and that there is an increasing appetite for long-term bonds as inflation is expected to decelerate.
ANZ Research added that banks will remain the largest buyer of Philippine government bonds. However, the projected take-up rate of net supply may ease to around 39% from the 41.1% as of October 2018.
Foreign investors, which are captured under the category of custodians, may also take up a lower share in net supply for this year at 8% from the 11.6% in October.
“With inflation likely to ease further in 2019, we expect insurance companies to take up around 8% of the net supply in 2019,” ANZ Reseach added.
The state plans to borrow P1.189 trillion in 2019 to fund its spending plans. Of the amount, 75% will be sourced domestically while the remainder will be from foreign creditors.
However, the 2019 national budget has yet to be passed by Congress and signed into law, leaving the fiscal program hanging so far.
Economic managers of President Rodrigo R. Duterte said they will reassess their assumptions and estimates by late January, according to Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Peso rebounds as Dec. inflation recedes

THE peso rebounded against the dollar on Friday following the release of weaker-than-expected December inflation data.
The peso ended the week at P52.51 against the dollar, against its P52.65 finish on Thursday.
The peso was stronger the entire day, opening the session at P52.62 per dollar. It went to as low as P52.63 before closing the trading to its best showing for the day.
Volume thinned to $684.95 million from $797.5 million the previous day.
Foreign exchange traders attributed the strengthening of the peso to the December inflation data.
Prices of basic goods and services continued to ease for a second month in December at 5.1% as growth in food and transportation prices slowed.
December inflation was lower than the 6% recorded in the previous month, and was below the 5.7% consensus estimate in a BusinessWorld poll as well as the 5.2-6% forecast band of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
“The peso appreciated today following the release of softer-than-expected Philippine inflation data,” a trader said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, another trader said the peso was kept at around the P52.50 level by offers from the offshore market.
“We also saw some flows for the Philippine index, so we saw the equity index trading higher,” she added.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed the session at 7,761.11, up 80.51 points, on turnover of P8.39 billion. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

November MISSI

By Mark T. Amoguis, Researcher
Manufacturing output eased further in November, the government reported this morning.
Preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries, showed factory output — as measured by volume of production index — increased by 1.0% year on year in November, slower than October’s revised 3.6% but a reversal from last year’s 10.1% decline.
So far, this was the slowest reading for 2018.
The PSA attributed November’s increase to double-digit gains in textiles (45.8%), miscellaneous manufactures (25.6%), petroleum products (22.0%), tobacco products (21.1%), paper and paper products (15.0%), beverages (11.7%), and electrical machinery (11.0%).
Factory output volume averaged 10.1% in the 11 months to November, higher than the 0.8% recorded in last year’s comparative period.
In comparison, the Nikkei Philippines Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved that month to 54.2 from October’s 54 but lower than last year’s 54.8, signaling “notable improvement” in the manufacturing sector’s health.
A PMI reading above 50 signals improvement in business conditions from the preceding month, while a score below that point indicates deterioration.
Average capacity utilization — the extent by which industry resources are used in the production of goods — was estimated at 84.3%. Eleven of the 20 sectors registered capacity utilization rates of at least 80%.

December inflation slowest in seven months

By Carmina Angelica V. Olano, Researcher
Inflation eased for the second straight month in December by the slowest pace since May’s 4.6%, helped by slower increases in food and transport prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Headline inflation dropped to 5.1% last month from 6% in November, the PSA said this morning. This, however, is still faster than the 2.9% posted in December 2017.
Inflation had picked up for nine straight months to a nine-year-high 6.7% in September that was sustained in October before dropping to six percent in November.
The latest inflation pace is lower than the 5.7% median in a BusinessWorld poll late last week and falls below the 5.2-6% estimate given by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for last month.
Full-year inflation came in at 5.2% against the central bank’s 2-4% target range for 2018 and was the fastest since 2008’s 8.2%.
Stripping out volatile prices of energy and food, core inflation clocked 4.7% in December, slower than November’s 5.1%, fueling a 4.2% average for 2018.
In a press briefing this morning, National Statistician Lisa Grace S. Bersales noted “slowdowns” in the year-on-year increases of food and non-alcoholic drinks, which eased to 6.7% in December from 8% in November; and transport to four percent from 8.9%.
In particular, food inflation declined except for other cereals, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pasta and other bakery products, which accelerated 4.1% in December from 3.9% a month ago. Rice prices eased to six percent overall in December, slower than the 8.1% pace posted in the preceding month. Increments of fish prices also moderated to 9.9% from 12.5%, meat to 5.5% from 6.3%, and vegetables to 8.1% from 11.5%.
Meanwhile, transport costs also slowed at four percent from November’s 8.9% pace.
PSA noted that the overall increase in prices of widely used goods slowed in all regions of the country. In Metro Manila, inflation eased to 4.8% in December from 5.6% a month ago, while overall price hikes similarly dropped to 5.3% from 6.2% in areas outside the National Capital Region.
For the full year, inflation in Metro Manila outpaced the national average at 5.5%, while it was slower in areas outside the capital at 5.1%.

BIR checking drink firms’ tax compliance

By Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT is now checking beverage makers’ compliance with tax laws, the Department of Finance (DoF) said in a press statement on Thursday, citing a shortfall in excise tax collections in the 10 months to October last year.
“The Department of Finance has directed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to determine whether beverage manufacturers are paying the correct amount and type of tax, as mandated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law (TRAIN), after uncovering possible discrepancies in their tax payments which left a P10-billion shortfall in the excise tax collection target for the first 10 months of the year,” DoF’s press release read.
The statement quoted Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua as saying that the BIR collected P29.92 billion in excise tax from sugar-sweetened drinks as of October against a P40-billion target for those 10 months.
Some beverage firms, he said, may be paying the lower P6 per liter rate that is meant for those using caloric or non-caloric sweeteners, instead of the P12 per liter for those using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Sought for comment, the Beverage Industry Association of the Philippines (BIAP) insisted that its “members have declared truthfully and accurately the tax payments made for sweetened beverages,” adding that they “will continue to work with DoF and BIR on this.”
Milk, three-in-one coffee and medically prescribed beverages are exempted from this tax.
“My hunch is that those that are supposed to pay the P12 tax are only paying P6,” Mr. Chua said in the statement.
He said that only one company, Coca-Cola Co., has secured approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to convert its sweetener from HFCS to sugar or other caloric or non-caloric sweeteners, which is charged the P6-per-liter tax. The DoF explained that the FDA should first approve beverage manufacturers’ shift in the sweetener content before they pay the lower rate. “The FDA approved only the conversion for Coke, and that was just last August. So I think many are paying P6 when they should be paying P12,” said Mr. Chua. “That is our concern. I suggest the BIR conduct an audit. They cannot just change the content, per the FDA.”
BIAP said its members have followed the law on the sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax.
“The members of the Beverage Industry Association of the Philippines operate with the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We act responsibly and comply with all laws related to how we operate and conduct our businesses in the Philippines,” BIAP said in a statement e-mailed to journalists.
“Since the TRAIN law was enacted on January 1, 2018 BIAP members have declared truthfully and accurately the tax payments made for sweetened beverages. We have consistently followed the Implementing Rules and Regulations released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue last August 2018. All necessary documents needed to ensure the accurate declaration of the ingredients being used in our beverages, as well as the tax payments being made, have been submitted and/or approved by the Food and Drugs Administration and by BIR, respectively,” it added.
“As partners of the government, BIAP members are committed to ensuring robust tax governance across individual companies, as well as transparency and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. We will continue to work with DoF and BIR on this.”
The group consists of 13 beverage manufacturers including Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc.; Asia Brewery Inc. and Del Monte Philippines, Inc.
The sugar-sweetened beverage tax under Republic Act No. 10963, or TRAIN, is a new levy that serves as a health measure.
TRAIN imposed higher tax rates on drinks with HFCS also to favor local sugar cane farmers.
The DoF is under pressure to prove TRAIN’s effectiveness in raking in additional taxes, as programmed, with the House of Representatives Committee on the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program scheduled to review the law’s implementation when Congress resumes session on Jan. 14.
DoF said TRAIN yielded P33.7 billion in revenues in 2018’s first half against a P30.1-billion target for that period, 53.23% of a P63.3-billion full-year 2018 goal.

Gov’t moving to allow work to resume at gas field in disputed waters

THE DEPARTMENT of ENERGY (DoE) is recommending to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) the end of the suspension of exploration in a disputed South China Sea area covered by Service Contract (72), after PXP Energy Corp. — the company with the biggest stake in the project — submitted its request to pursue its work program, Energy officials said on Thursday.
Asked by reporters if the DoE has acted on PXP’s request, Ismael U. Ocampo, assistant director of the DoE’s Energy Resource Development Bureau, told reporters “Alam ko na i-forward na,” explaining that “kailangan dadaan… sa DFA” (As far as I know the DoE has forwarded PXP’s request to the DFA).
Asked separately what prompted the DoE to endorse to the DFA the lifting of the suspension on gas exploration in the disputed waters, Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella said: “We have to explore some more.”
SC 72 is covered by the decision handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands on July 12, 2016. Reed Bank or Recto Bank, where SC 72 is located, lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as defined under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The arbitration court struck down Beijing’s vague historical basis for preventing the Philippines from exploring for and exploiting resources in that area of the South China Sea.
On March 2, 2015, the government placed SC 72 under force majeure because the contract area lies within the disputed area, which was the subject of arbitration. Under that status, exploration work at SC 72 is suspended from Dec. 15, 2014 until the government lifts such suspension.
On Dec. 21, 2018, Forum (GSEC 101) Ltd., or Forum GSEC, sent a letter of request to the DoE for the government to end suspension of work in the area.
Forum Energy Ltd., in which PXP Energy holds a 78.98% direct and indirect interest, has a 70% interest in SC 72 located northwest of Palawan, through its wholly owned subsidiary Forum GSEC.
PXP Energy has a total economic interest of 53.1% in SC 72.
Mr. Fuentebella said that the DoE’s “explore, explore, explore” campaign is necessary since the country lags behind its neighbors in terms of number of exploration projects.
“… [S]a Philippines, we have only five (exploration projects),” he said.
“We are number one in energy sustainability, but in the other factors — in access [to energy] and affordability — hindi mataas ang ranking natin (our ranking is not high).”
In terms of energy security, which he said factors in use of indigenous energy sources and reliance on imported fuel, the country has not been faring well either.
Mr. Fuentebella said these are among the reasons why the country needs to pursue more exploration projects. — Victor V. Saulon

Kidlat Tahimik: the technocrat and his duende

By Menchu Aquino Sarmiento

At age 76, Kidlat Tahimik (aka Eric De Guia) is among the younger National Artists, and happens to be the only one alive for Cinema. Further, among this tiny elect group, he is the only Wharton MBA holder, with a c.v. which includes a stint as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This was before he symbolically tore up his Wharton diploma (he didn’t totally trash it though), and followed his bliss as an artist. Or as he has stated elsewhere, he let his duende come through. This duende is not the squeaky voiced gnome of lower Philippine mythology, but the inner demon or the spirit of genius which inspires and animates true artistry. See the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Theory and Play of the Duende.” As Kidlat Tahimik declared in his film Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare) which is essentially his artist’s manifesto: “When the typhoon blows off the cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun.”
During De Guia’s transition to Kidlat Tahimik (K.T.) some 40 years ago, he grew his hair long, the better to style this into an Igorot bowl cut. He has since grown this out into silvery shaman tresses. During formal occasions, he dons the Ifugao bahag (loin cloth), effectively mooning other dignitaries. Since he is not an I.P. (indigenous person), he has been accused of cultural misappropriation and, even, of slumming it. Patrick Campos of the UP Film Institute believes though, that since De Guia has lived among the Ifugao for significant lengths of time in the last three decades, he has organically connected his work to his life. He also started the Sunflower Film Collective in his adopted Ifugao community. During the scant hours when there is electricity, they edit films on a Macbook.
As K.T. the protagonist jeepney driver in his seminal film, Mababangong Bangungot, who dreams of crossing the bridge out of his pretend hometown Balian, Laguna, declares: “I choose my vehicle; I choose my bridge.” Crossing the bridge is a metaphor for the way to a better world. In the film, an American businessman becomes K.T.’s way out: as an OFW, he drives around Paris in his Sarao jeepney, refilling the American’s Chiclet vending machines.
With his unique coiffure and vehicle, the cinematic K.T. wonders: “Why is everybody staring at me? I feel I am becoming smaller. I am Kidlat Tahimik. I am not as small as you think. Nothing can stop me from crossing my bridge.” For sure, because by Philippine standards, De Guia is one of the big people, and alien to the social class who rides the jeep. His mother Virginia “Gene” Oteyza De Guia was the only female mayor of Baguio City. Before she died, the De Guia family donated 95-hectares in Sto. Tomas, Apugan-Loakan to the Baguio LGU for its environmental management programs.
Mababangong Bangungot won multiple awards in the Berlin Film Fest, around the time that Lino Brocka was making waves in Europe. A Brocka champion in France has refused to recognize De Guia’s film as “Filipino.” Its tongue-in-cheek whimsicality, and light-hearted political commentary about the yawning gap between the secular First World with its “floors that walk for you” (the airport walkalator) and “doors which open for you,” and the charmingly backward and traditional Third World full of talking religious images, lively flagellants, unsanitary circumcision rites, ridiculous beauty pageants, and laughably ignorant science, are seen from the amused perspective of the educated, Westernized observer. The pioneering Philippine cinema archivist Agustin “Hammy” Sotto saw elements of exoticization, e.g., villagers cradling an unlikely menagerie of farm animals on their laps as they crowd onto K.T.’s jeep; a young woman and K.T. simultaneously and openly urinating on the ground, on either side of his jeep.
Nonetheless within the tacit superiority of De Guia’s point of view, there is a sweetness and sincere concern for these Third World curiosities. When he reflects that one less vendor in the traditional market, means one more parking space, one senses the conflict within the Wharton MBA who gave up the dogma of neoliberalism for the whispered lessons “on the quiet strength of bamboo,” which the Yoda-like craftsman Kaya promised he would one day understand. K.T. realizes that Kaya’s art is doomed to extinction, because “one cannot build rocket ships from bamboo,” and despite himself, building rocket ships is what K.T. wants to do. In Mababangong Bangungot, he is the president of the Wehrner Von Braun Fan Club. Towards the end, he resigns, declaring independence from those “who would build bridges to the stars.”
However, in the 1982 follow-up Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? (Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?), K.T. shoots for the moon. He is the president of the Yodelberg Yoyo Society which aims to send a chicken to the moon for starters. That done, it would be on to bigger things: for K.T. to reach the dark side of the moon and there, play with his yoyo. Acknowledging the absurd grandiosity of this mission, its acronym is POMP, for Philippine Official Moon Project. Overall though, the film is a reflection on the creative process.
De Guia has defined independent film-making as making films that only the filmmaker could make. Not surprisingly, his films are also unabashed home movies, often featuring his wife and children. His eldest son Kidlat Gottlieb Kalayaan, then four years old, is his sidekick in Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy?, which also has actual home movies of De Guia’s parents. For his 10th birthday, his mother gave him silver ballet slippers and sparkly balletomane pantaloons. Her brother was the painter Victor Oteyza, and in 1939, she had appeared in the movie Nagkaisang Landas under the screen name Lydia Leynes. De Guia’s father, Victor, an engineer, gave him a slide rule and a boxed model of a tower as his birthday gifts. He was also expected to become an engineer. When young Eric did not follow the tower model’s assembly instructions, his father called him a dilettante, and urged him to always strive for exactitude.
De Guia does not have a prepared script when making his films. National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cinema Committee Chair Teddy Co describes his style as more of a reflective essay, rather than a conventional, plot-driven narrative. De Guia has called it “straying on track.” Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? also has archival footage of the 1956 Philippine Soap Box Derby where 13-year-old Eric had entered “Pine Cone Fury.” The body of his car bristled with pine cones. His engineer father told him a race car had to be aerodynamically smooth to overcome wind resistance. Young Eric lost the race but got a special trophy for the most original design. His father was not impressed and simply said that “friction was stronger than beauty.” From such incidents of family drama, art and artists are made.