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Eight PHL companies counted among Forbes’ ‘Best Over a Billion’

EIGHT LOCAL FIRMS made it to Forbes Asia magazine’s list of “Best Over a Billion 2019,” which recognizes 200 top-performing listed companies in Asia and the Pacific with revenues of more than $1 billion.

In a statement, Forbes Asia said it evaluated 3,200 listed companies in the region with at least $1 billion in revenues in their latest financial year.

Firms with declining revenues for the past five years were removed, and those remaining subjected to more than a dozen metrics like average five-year sales, operating income growth, return on capital and projected growth over the next one to two years.

Sy-led SM Investments Corp. led the Philippine firms with revenues of $7.993 billion in 2018 and a $704-million net income.

San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. followed with sales of $5.438 billion, while Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings, Inc. and Ayala Corp. trailed with revenues of $5.327 billion and $5.22 billion, respectively.

GT Capital Holdings, Inc., which holds auto firm Toyota Motor Philippines and lender Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., was the fifth local firm with revenues of $3.794 billion.

Tycoon Lucio L. Co’s Cosco Capital, Inc. that operates leading retailer brand Puregold was the sixth in the local list with sales of $3.198 billion.

Homegrown food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. also made it to the list with sales of $3.061 billion, followed by Megaworld Corp. with $1.022 billion.

China tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited topped overall with $56.163-billion revenues.

Tencent Holdings, another Chinese Internet firms, followed with $47.308-billion revenues.

Agribusiness company Wilmar International of Singapore, semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix of South Korea, and Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison came next with sales of $44.498 billion, $36.772 billion and $35.359 billion, respectively.

This is the first year for Forbes Asia’s “Best Over a Billion” list.

The new roster complements Forbes Asia’s annual “Best Under a Billion” list of the 200-best performing small and mid-sized companies in Asia Pacific will less than $1 billion in revenues.

Forbes Asia said the list also emphasizes the connection between the companies and members of their annual rich lists.

“The ‘Best Over A Billion’ list provides an incredible insight into which are Asia’s best-run big companies,” Forbes Asia Editor Justin Doebele said in a statement.

“Nearly two-thirds of the companies on this list are controlled by or connected to families or individuals who have appeared on Forbes Asia’s rich lists.” — Arra B. Francia

Skilled labor mobility in SE Asia to ease disruptions

COUNTRIES in Southeast Asia including the Philippines should harness labor mobility to ease skill shortages caused by urbanization, technological advances and other disruptions, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released on Wednesday.

“When employers can choose from a broader talent pool, they can make better matches and make the best possible use of a scarce resource,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said in the preface of the book titled Skilled Labor Mobility and Migration.

Structural transformation, urbanization, demographic change and rapid technological advances under the Fourth Industrial Revolution could disrupt labor markets and displace workers, simultaneously spurring demand for new, more highly specialized skills that are in short supply, ADB said in the book edited by Elisabetta Gentile.

“Skilled worker mobility across ASEAN is a powerful way of alleviating skill shortages and transferring knowledge across borders,” it said. “It is also crucial to boost productivity.”

In the past 20 years, migrants within the region have more than quadrupled to 9.9 million in 2016 from 2.1 million in 1995, according to ADB. While the total volume of intra-regional migration has grown substantially over the years, the major patterns of labor mobility have not changed dramatically, it said.

The report noted that rapid economic growth of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members has led to a wealthier middle class that is willing to pay for better, higher-quality goods and services.

It has also fueled mass urbanization through both intra- and cross-country migration, as rural workers move to cities and workers from less-developed areas and countries look for better opportunities in more advanced ones.

Southeast Asia’s urban population is expected to grow by almost 100 million people to about 373 million by 2030.

Aside from demographic change due to improved living standards, rapid technological advances may disrupt labor markets, according to the ADB report.

“While industrial robots have been confined to routine and manual tasks for a long time, they are increasingly capable of undertaking non-routine and cognitive tasks,” it said.

As much as 56% of employment in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia is at risk of being displaced due to technology in the next decade or two. Occupations at high risk are largely routine tasks that can increasingly be automated — for example, as carried out by sewing machine operators, shops and salespersons, food service personnel and office clerks.

Industry experts also estimated that 47% of business process outsourcing (BPO) workers in the Philippines are focused on process-driven tasks that will be challenged by increasingly sophisticated voice, text and image recognition.

ASEAN members should introduce policies that encourage movement across a wide array of skills, the ADB report said.

Workers with regional qualifications can be prioritized in job applications in an industry that mutually benefits source and destination economies, it said. “These schemes can be devised to maximize efficiency in sharing talent.”

And since workers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are more likely to be self-employed and hold a portfolio of jobs, work visa policies and procedures in the region must be reformed, ADB said. The process of obtaining a visa cannot take longer than the stay itself and workers’ visas cannot be tied to a single employer or make it difficult to transfer to a different one.

The need to promote cross-border labor mobility goes beyond the realm of just the highly skilled, according to the report.

The demand for semi- to lower-skilled workers is already high and may increase to meet the growing need in services, healthcare and household services.

“ASEAN countries should encourage one another to work together to develop a regional human resource development plan and strategy,” the report said.

The plan can assess the adequacy of labor supply and come up with measures to fill possible gaps, it added. — Norman P. Aquino

ERC approves Meralco’s withdrawal of 3 PSAs

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) application to withdraw its power supply agreements (PSA) with three power generating companies after the Supreme Court ordered them to first go through competitive bidding before forging the deals.

In separate orders promulgated on Aug. 23, 2019, the agency approved Meralco’s three withdrawal applications, which it applied jointly with Global Luzon Energy Development Corp., Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. (RP Energy), and Atimonan One Energy, Inc. (A1E).

The ERC order provides closure to Meralco’s plan to move forward the development of the new energy sources by entities that it is affiliated with. The proposed power plant projects are supposed to meet the power distribution utility’s future requirement.

“In view of the Supreme Court decision cited by [Meralco] and A1E as the ground relied upon for their withdrawal, the Commission hereby grants the withdrawal of applicants’ joint application,” the commission’s order states.

The ERC similarly phrased its order for the two other companies. The applications to withdraw the PSA applications were filed on June 14, 2019.

A1E is the project company of Meralco subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen). It is building a two-unit ultra supercritical coal-fired power plant, each with a capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) in Atimonan, Quezon province.

MGen is also behind RP Energy, which is building a two-unit power plant, each with a capacity of 300 MW using the circulating fluidized bed technology.

Meralco forged the PSAs with the entities and jointly filed with their application for ERC approval on April 29, 2016. Hearings were conducted on Nov. 14, 2016, Nov. 28, 2016, and March 6, 2017 for the determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, pre-trial conference, among others.

The withdrawal of the applications came after the Supreme Court on May 3, 2019 granted the petition of Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, Inc. (ABP) to disapprove the PSAs and implement the competitive selection process (CSP). The process is meant to reach the least-cost power for consumers.

The court decision required all PSAs submitted by distribution utilities to the ERC on or after June 30, 2015 to comply with the CSP as called for by Department of Energy (DoE) Circular No. DC2018-02-003.

“Thus, in the light of the said Supreme Court Decision on the ABP Petition, applicants are constrained to move for the withdrawal of the instant Joint Application,” Meralco said in its application.

After the court ruling, Meralco has since invited bidders keen on supplying energy to the utility under three separate notices and to be conducted under a CSP as called for by the DoE circular.

For power supply from the “brownfield” power plant, or one that is already existing, Meralco sought 1,200 MW starting on Dec. 26, 2019 up to Dec. 25, 2029. The submission of bids is until Sept. 9, 2019.

For the mid-merit power, which can be supplied by power plants with ability to adjust its power output as demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day, Meralco sought 500 MW under a five-year contract. The bid submission is until Sept. 11, 2019.

Meralco also sought bids for another 1,200 MW with a target commercial operation date by March 2024 for the first unit, and full contract capacity by September 2024. In case a power plant has four units, two of them must attain commercial operation date by March 2024. The bidder must offer fuel source from high efficiency, low emission technology.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon

Raw Honesty: Found In Sashimi

By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

THE WORD “raw” can capture an image of boorishness. We humans think that something is only worthy of attention when it has been touched by our numerous complications. It takes a certain elegance and skill to present food safely and tastily in its rawest form, for example, sashimi. In sashimi, there is a communion between nature and humanity, the tongue getting a taste of what the universe has created in its truest, most honest, and yet proudest form, aided with minimal intervention by the human hand.

With more than 20 years of experience under his belt, Chef Keiichi Hirukawa has a deep understanding of his canvas: in this case, fish. Mr. Hirukawa, the new Head Sushi Chef at Nobu in City of Dreams, introduced himself by preparing a luncheon on Aug. 15.

The definition of what we consider elegant shifts through time: sushi was once simply a way to preserve fish using the fermentative properties of rice. Now, sushi can be the most elegant meal one can have. In the same vein, all-too-familiar Filipino food has reached an elegance known now not only in homes, but on the palates of gourmands around the world. Mr. Hirukawa married both disciplines in his luncheon, a skill that he might have achieved growing up Japanese in Florida. He carved his career as Sushi Chef in Kiyoshi’s Japanese Restaurant in Florida from 1998 to 2006; and as a co-owner and Head Chef at Florida’s Kanpai Sushi and Sake Bar from 2007 to 2010. He also served as a Head Chef in California’s Wokcano from 2010 to 2014, and in Cho Cho San from 2014 to 2016. Mr. Hirukawa’s culinary career also led him to be the Sushi Chef at The Izakaya by Katsuya from 2015 to 2017 before finding his way to Nobu Malibu as the Sushi Chef from 2017 to the early months of 2019, immediately before joining Nobu Manila.

For the luncheon, which served as a preview to Nobu’s eight-course Omakase dinner (there are two menu options: a seasonal one featuring new creations which changes every month, and another featuring Nobu signatures), Mr. Hirakawa opened with Salmon with Gata (coconut milk) sauce and Amazu, a Japanese sweet and sour sauce. It had a freshness that shocked the tongue into life, perfect for opening up the palate for the next course, a three plate special featuring Tuna Sisig, Emperor Adobo, and Belt Fish with Chimichurri. A small bite of the Tuna Sisig conjured a memory of a full meal replete with a beer. The Emperor Adobo, meanwhile, had a memory of crispness in it despite not being crispy at all. The Belt Fish, meanwhile, was unbelievably fresh, as if one had just scooped the fish out of the water just prior to the luncheon.

The third course was a Yellowtail Kare-Kare with Karashisumiso Bagoong (think bagoong with an infusion of miso, mustard, vinegar, and yuzu — though frankly, I’m not sure what the chef’s recipe was).

Well, that was — amazing. The fish of course had a silky texture, and who knew the taste of raw fish could be so… proud? Despite the improvement from the Kare-Kare, it still stood out — forgive the pun — swimmingly.

A Grilled Umami Chicken with Tomato Salad, an aggressive dish unlike its precedents, ended the savory courses, and Nobu’s signature Miso Cappuccino served as dessert, and made the guests beg for seconds.

An intimate knowledge of his chosen medium is needed for his craft, and BusinessWorld asked if it was difficult for him to work with the fish in the country. Mr. Hirakawa answered, “I don’t want to put down the Philippines, but it’s a little bit different. You still find [it] fresh, because you’re surrounded by the ocean. Quality-wise, you can get quality fish here. But sometimes with the culture difference, the way they handle it, in the heat — you know, that makes a little bit of difference.”

Asked if working with fish is a different game from working with other ingredients, he said, “As long as the fish is fresh. There’s no difficulty. Once you learn the basics of how to play with fish, then you determine by the meat, whether it’s soft, or oily — you learn as you do this for a long time.”

“Tuna is my favorite,” the chef answered gamely in an interview with BusinessWorld, despite a reticence we observed during the course of the luncheon. “Oily fish is my favorite. Oily — it just melts. Tuna — something about its rustic taste, I guess. A kind of steely taste. I like it a lot.”

As we’ve mentioned, the preparation of raw food is a communion of nature and human skill, a responsibility that Mr. Hirukawa does not shrug off casually. Asked if raw food is more difficult to prepare, he said, “Of course it is. To maintain that, to handle it, to store it, whatever, at a certain temperature… It has to be fresh, it has to be fast. It doesn’t sit in room temperature. Fresh, fresh, fresh.”

In Muriel Barbery’s Gourmet Rhapsody, food critic Pierre Arthens is dying in bed, and takes the reader down his memories of his best meals. In a reverie about sashimi, he compares the skill of the chef to a sculptor and then says, “The sculptor merely unveils the shape — for talent consists not in inventing shapes but in causing those that were invisible to emerge.”

“Skill — you have to have a heart. You have to love this. You have to be passionate about it. I think that’s more important. Skill and stuff, little by little it will come, if you want it,” said Mr. Hirukawa. “If he has skill, he’ll get paid. But if he doesn’t have passion, he’s not going to create.”

“Taste is just something I play with. I play around and if I see you smiling, and you have a reaction from it, that’s all I need.”

ATN to supply MPTC with rock aggregates

ATN Holdings, Inc. has signed a deal with Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) for the supply of 250,000 cubic meters (cu.m.) of rock aggregates for five infrastructure projects.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday, ATN Holdings said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with MPTC on Tuesday that would support the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

MPTC’s projects that require rock aggregates include the Harbour Link Project, Cavite Laguna Expressway, Light Rail Transit- Line 1 Cavite Extension, North Luzon Expressway (NLEx)-South Luzon Expressway Connector Road Project, and the NLEx expansion project.

ATN Holdings said it already has an existing 500,000 cu.m. of aggregate stockpile. It is banking on the government’s infrastructure program to boost demand for their products in the future.

The company earlier said it has P240 billion worth of high quality rock reserves in its 256-hectare property in Montalban.

It has also partnered with Alpha Rock Mining Corp. to double the volume of rock aggregates it produces. Under the deal, Alpha Rock should deliver 2.4 million tons of rock aggregates in the next five years. This could potentially generate P12 billion in revenues over the next five years.

The company noted that its Montalban property has the shortest distance to several infrastructure projects, boosting its advantage against other providers of rock aggregates.

ATN Holdings recognized a net loss of P2.604 million in the three months ending June, after a 34% drop in gross revenues to P6.837 million.

Incorporated in 1961, ATN Holdings was previously a mining and oil company before it changed its primary purpose to that of a holding company with interests in real estate, land development, energy, and health care services. The company’s market cap stood at P4.736 billion at the end of Wednesday’s trading.

Shares in ATN Holdings jumped 1.56% or two centavos to close at P1.30 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

Deceptively simple food

THAILAND’S CLIMATE — social and meteorological — makes for perfect culinary theater. Spices and herbs grow in abundance, while influences are gathered from high and low, from different regions like China, India, and Portugal through trade; to different classes: from the royal family itself down to the common people.

Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, presents the culinary jewels of Amazing Thailand in a week-long epicurean celebration entitled “Flavors of the World: Jewels of Thai Cuisine.” Featuring guest Thai Master Chef Anurak Kanittharat, Executive Chef of sister Accor property Grand Mercure Phuket Patong Resort & Villas, this limited gastronomic series will run from Aug. 26 until Sept. 1 at Spiral and is set to bring the vibrant, flavorful, and healthy specialties that make Thai cuisine one of the most beloved in the world.

Thai food is known as being deceptively simple, using simple techniques like grilling, frying, and steaming. “I think cooking Thai food is actually easy and still present unique flavors. For example with salads, the main seasonings are sugar, fish sauce, and lemon juice — those are used for all salads. For curry, the main seasonings are fish sauce, sugar, curry paste, and coconut juice. It’s very easy! It just varies depending on which region in Thailand the dish is made,” said Mr. Kanittharat. Thailand, after all, has several culinary regions: Bangkok is characterized by its proximity to the royal family’s residences, for example, while Northeastern Thailand takes cues from Laos, and then Southern Thai cuisine can take inspiration from Chinese cuisine.

Speaking about how Thai food speaks about its people, he said, “Thai people like to cook at home and are not too fond of dining in Thai restaurants. We have our own personal versions and flavors which we cannot find in Thai restaurants. The recipe is similar, yes, but we have varying taste in how the food is prepared.”

Mr. Kanittharat specializes in reinventing Asian classics through his innovative culinary techniques. His extensive career has spanned 20 years with stints in Anantara Hotels & Resorts in Phuket, Bangkok, and the Maldives; the Marriott Hotel in Phuket and Bangkok; and AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa in Africa. In 2016, he made his homecoming as the Executive Chef of Grand Mercure Phuket Patong Resort & Villas, a beachside Accor property located at the heart of the island of Phuket in the Andaman Sea. He finds himself in the Philippines through the Flavors of the World culinary series, which has seen Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian food festivals featuring a visiting guest chef from a sister Accor group property.

Travel through the culinary landscape of Thailand with modern interpretations of classic favorites like Gaeng Keow Wan Gai (Thai green curry with chicken), Goong Pad Peaw Waan (stir-fried prawns with sweet and sour sauce), Pla Neung Manow (steamed sea bass with spicy lime sauce), Massaman Nuea (beef in Massaman curry), Gai Yang Essan (Northeast-style roast chicken with dried chili sauce), Tom Yum Goong (traditional Thai soup with aromatic herb and tiger prawn), Som Tam (papaya salad with prawns), Pad Thai Goong (stir-fried rice noodles with prawns), and dessert specialties like Khao Niew Mamuang (sticky rice with sweet mango), and Kluay Muah Chee (warm banana in coconut milk syrup). Lunch at Spiral is available at P2,750 nett while dinner rates start at P3,200 nett. The Sunday brunch with free-flowing champagne is available at P4,215 nett.

On Aug. 29, Mr. Kanittharat helms an exclusive wine dinner featuring a six-course menu paired with a premium selection of international wines from St. Hallett Barossa. His signature creations include Yum Som-O Hoi Sell (seared Queen scallop with pomelo salad and crispy coconut meat), Larb Ped Yang (grilled duck breast with spicy mint and lime berry sauce), Thai Tom Yum Goong, Pad Thai Kai (chicken Pad Thai), Tom Kha Panang Nua (ghar-grilled beef tenderloin with aromatic herb coconut lemon sauce), and Kluay Kaek (fried banana and coconut ice-cream). The Thai Wine Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m., and costs P3,500 nett. — J.L. Garcia

Google develops new machine learning model for phones

GOOGLE, INC. has introduced federated learning, a new approach for machine learning through user interaction.

Invented by Google in 2017, federated learning allows machine training to take place within the mobile phones of users without collecting any personal data or information.

“Rather than thinking about how to reduce the amount of data needed for the algorithm to learn, we think instead how to distribute the learning algorithm across devices, in such a way that Google does not have to see any of the data,” Google Distinguished Scientist Blaise Aguëra y Arcas said in a roundtable discussion.

“With federated learning, what if you were to do something, like a giant distributed supercomputer out of every device, out of everybody’s phone? Your own data stays your own and your phone learns from those data,” Mr. Aguëra said.

Mr. Aguëra added that the learning process only takes place when the device is idle or in a charging state.

The model will run locally on the phone, improving and updating the model from data currently in the device. The data is then summarized or compressed. After summarizing the data, the updated model is encrypted and sent to the cloud where it will be averaged with other model results from other users.

The averaged data will be used to update the current shared model phones have through additional training. An improved model will be sent and integrated to the existing model of the user’s mobile phone.

The new approach will allow the user’s model to learn from the interaction of the user and from other users as well.

“When you plug it in, and it does not have anything else to do at night, it adjusts its own neural net weights and then the adjustments to the weights can be sent back to the cloud and combined with everybody else’s adjustments in order to generate a better neural net and that is then sent back out to all the devices and the cycle repeats,” Mr. Aguëra said.

Currently, Mr. Aguëra said the learning model has been implemented in Gboard or the Google Keyboard application on Android. The model learns when users interact or select the suggested words in the application’s search bar.

“We wanted an application that intelligence could really benefit, that works across all apps not just with Google services and where it was important for us to preserve the sovereignty and privacy of whatever you type,” Mr. Aguëra said when asked why the new learning model was first used in Gboard.

“I think the opportunities for federated learning are just as big, if not bigger, in IoT or Internet of Things devices, as in phones,” he added.

DATA SECURITY
Meanwhile, he said federated learning assures tighter security in the collection and processing of data from updated models sent from phones.

“In this way, we don’t have to make a trade-off between privacy and functionality with AI (artificial intelligence). You can have both. The federated learning can apply AI to a huge volume of information that is accessible on phones. [Data] can be learned from but in a way that Google cannot see any of those data,” Mr. Aguëra said.

The new learning technique only allows the shared model to gather the summarized changes made in the user’s device, leaving out any of the user’s direct interactions with the model, he said.

Likewise, the encrypted data summary is only decrypted when there are available summaries from other users that are available for averaging. Once averaged, the user’s summarized data are deleted.

Data privacy leaks struck Google in 2018 after the application Google+ contained a bug that allowed third-party app developers to access data of users and their friends.

However, Google said a blog that they found no evidence that any developer was aware of the bug and found no profile data misused.

Google later shut down consumer access to the application after failing to disclose the leak to the public and sought to improve data privacy against third-party apps. — Marc Wyxzel C. Dela Paz

BPO firm plans to expand operations in provinces

BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) firm Transcom Worldwide AB is expanding its operations in the provinces, amid the moratorium on new economic zones in Metro Manila.

“The fact that new PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) registrations are no longer available in Metro Manila, that now changes the landscape. We were not aware of that last year when we were starting to look at new sites but clearly with that being the case and PEZA real estate being at a premium, then moving forward we will be outside of Metro Manila,” Mark Lyndsell, Transcom CEO for Global English Region, told reporters at the launch of the company’s new Pasig site on Tuesday.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 18 last June, banning new economic zones in Metro Manila to encourage the development of special ecozones in the countryside.

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) noted last month that the BPO industry could lose 50,000 job opportunities because of the moratorium on new ecozones in Metro Manila.

BPO companies prefer setting up shop in PEZA-accredited office buildings in order to avail of incentives. The BPO industry accounts for 30% to 35% of the total office space take-up in Metro Manila. More than half or 56.17% of the 381 PEZA-registered IT economic zones nationwide are in Metro Manila.

Transcom, which has offices in Bacolod and Iloilo, had been considering adding more sites outside Metro Manila even before the moratorium. The company is currently looking at areas just south of Metro Manila, and is prioritizing safety, ease of access, and transport links in selecting new locations.

The company is also concerned about the transition timeline of changes in fiscal incentives proposed in the Comprehensive Income Tax and Incentive Rationalization Act (CITIRA) bill.

“Most of the contracts we have with our clients are typically three-year contracts, so anything that happens to the incentive program which is immediate could have a detrimental impact in our business,” Mr. Lyndsell said.

The CITIRA bill would allow firms who already avail of income tax holidays to do so for three more years, and caps additional incentives at five years. They can also pay the five percent tax on gross income earned in lieu of national and local taxes for two to five more years.

Mr. Lyndsell agrees with the two to five-year transition period being proposed, and said that immediate changes in the incentive program would mean that they would “review the situation.”

“It is a very competitive landscape. There’s emerging markets all ‘round, different countries in Southeast Asia are now providing significant incentives. But that said, [the] Philippines does provide a unique solution to many of our clients so we’re hoping there will be a sensible solution moving forward,” he said.

Amid the challenges, Transcom aims to retain its nearly 12,000-employee headcount.

“It’s a challenging environment for our industry so our expectation is to maintain our headcount level into 2020 and to see the business grow next year,” Mr. Lyndsell said.

Operating in 20 countries, a third of Transcom’s operations are done in its five Philippine locations. Transcom provides customer care, sales, technical support, and credit management services.

Transcom’s new office at The 30th Corporate Center in Pasig City can accommodate up to 1,000 employees. — Jenina P. Ibañez

US officials fear ransomware attack against 2020 election

WASHINGTON — The US government plans to launch a program in roughly one month that narrowly focuses on protecting voter registration databases and systems ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

These systems, which are widely used to validate the eligibility of voters before they cast ballots, were compromised in 2016 by Russian hackers seeking to collect information. Intelligence officials are concerned that foreign hackers in 2020 not only will target the databases but attempt to manipulate, disrupt or destroy the data, according to current and former US officials.

“We assess these systems as high risk,” said a senior US official, because they are one of the few pieces of election technology regularly connected to the Internet.

The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, a division of the Homeland Security Department, fears the databases could be targeted by ransomware, a type of virus that has crippled city computer networks across the United States, including recently in Texas, Baltimore and Atlanta.

“Recent history has shown that state and county governments and those who support them are targets for ransomware attacks,” said Christopher Krebs, CISA’s director. “That is why we are working alongside election officials and their private sector partners to help protect their databases and respond to possible ransomware attacks.”

A ransomware attack typically locks an infected computer system until payment, usually in the form of cryptocurrency, is sent to the hacker.

The effort to counter ransomware-style cyberattacks aimed at the election runs parallel to a larger intelligence community directive to determine the most likely vectors of digital attack in the November 2020 election, according to current and former US officials.

“It is imperative that states and municipalities limit the availability of information about electoral systems or administrative processes and secure their websites and databases that could be exploited,” the FBI said in a statement, supporting the Homeland Security initiative.

CISA’s program will reach out to state election officials to prepare for such a ransomware scenario. It will provide educational material, remote computer penetration testing, and vulnerability scans as well as a list of recommendations on how to prevent and recover from ransomware.

These guidelines, however, will not offer advice on whether a state should ultimately pay or refuse to pay ransom to a hacker if one of its systems is already infected.

“Our thought is we don’t want the states to have to be in that situation,” said a Homeland Security official. “We’re focused on preventing it from happening.”

Over the last two years, cyber criminals and nation state hacking groups have used ransomware to extort victims and create chaos. In one incident in 2017, which has since been attributed to Russian hackers, a ransomware virus was used to mask a data deletion technique, rendering victim computers totally unusable.

That attack, dubbed “NotPetya,” went on to damage global corporations, including FedEx and Maersk, which had offices in Ukraine where the malware first spread.

The threat is concerning because of its potential impact on voting results, experts say.

“A pre-election undetected attack could tamper with voter lists, creating huge confusion and delays, disenfranchisement, and at large enough scale could compromise the validity of the election,” said John Sebes, chief technology officer of the ESET Institute, an election technology policy think tank.

The databases are also “particularly susceptible to this kind of attack because local jurisdictions and states actively add, remove, and change the data year-round,” said Maurice Turner, a senior technologist with the Center for Democracy and Technology. “If the malicious actor doesn’t provide the key, the data is lost forever unless the victim has a recent backup.”

Nationwide, the local governments that store and update voter registration data are typically ill-equipped to defend themselves against elite hackers.

State election officials told Reuters they have improved their cyber defenses since 2016, including in some cases preparing backups for voter registration databases in case of an attack. But there is no common standard for how often local governments should create backups, said a senior Homeland Security official.

“We have to remember that this threat to our democracy will not go away, and concern about ransomware attacks on voter registration databases is one clear example,” said Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos. “We’re sure the threat is far from over.” — Reuters

Hakata Ton-ichi: When you want decent ramen but don’t want to splurge

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Reporter

Restaurant Review
Hakata Ton-ichi
SM North EDSA in Quezon City

RAMEN-YA or ramen restaurants have become so popular in the country that most malls have more than one offering some form of noodle soup from some region of Japan. Such is the focus of these restaurants to maintain that authentic taste, a bowl of good ramen will set one back around P500 so it was a pleasant surprise to find a good ramen restaurant offering a complete meal for the same price.

Hakata Ton-ichi currently has two branches: one in Glorietta in Makati City and another at the North Towers at SM North EDSA in Quezon City, and it offers what it calls “essential ramen” for P180.

The restaurant interior has booths for people eating alone. The furniture are mostly wood and it has an open kitchen concept.

Their “essential ramen” is a Hakata-style bowl which comes from the Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. Hakata ramen is known for using pork bone broth (tonkotsu) boiled for hours until the soup turns into its signature cloudy white color. It also uses thin noodles and is typically garnished with green onions and braised pork belly (chashu).

Hakata Ton-ichi’s P180 bowl is topped with jelly ear mushroom (kikurage) and a soft-boiled egg (aji tamago) and a thin slice of pork belly. Of course, if one compares this bowl to another Hakata-style ramen chain restaurants like Ippudo (whose most basic Shiromaru Motoaji retails for P385), it lacks the depth that comes from a high-quality bone broth, but if one considers its really affordable pricing, the bowl is a really good steal — the serving size is big and it has a good umami flavor with a hint of sweetness from the broth. I also found that the noodles were cooked al dente which is how I order my bowl from Ippudo.

They also offer a Red Ramen version which has a bit of spice due to the chili oil added, a Black Ramen version which has squid ink, and Miso-ichi Ramen which as miso added. Each of the specialty ramen is priced at P220.

The menu also has a selection of rice dishes like Curry Rice which starts at P260, and fried rice variants.

Those who want to splurge but don’t want to do so on a single ramen bowl can go for the Hakata King’s set for P500 which comes with a choice of any of ramen, Hakata Fried Rice, a choice of salad (potato or Hakata salad) or a sushi roll (Sunny California Roll or Teriyaki Pork Roll), a side dish (gyoza or chicken karaage), iced tea, and fruits.

This writer went to the restaurant in early August and tired out the set, choosing the Hakata salad and gyoza. The potsticker dumpling (gyoza) was cooked really well with generous fillings of pork and a crunchy bottom layer and a soft upper layer. It also has a lot of black pepper which gave it a bit of a spicy bite. The salad was basically a cabbage salad with a little bit of lettuce and tomatoes dressed in mayonnaise. It wasn’t mind-blowing but it was adequate — the same goes for the rice which was cooked well and had a generous serving.

What I did appreciate is the quick serving time as the set arrived at my table in less than 10 minutes.

I returned on another day because I felt that I wouldn’t give the restaurant a proper review if I didn’t try the other ramen types. This time I went with the Black Ramen. While I didn’t taste a lot of the squid ink flavor, I did like the garlicky addition to the broth.

I also ordered the Salmon Roll (mango and cucumber roll topped with a fresh salmon fillet) for P250. Again, the serving size is generous at eight slices, and while I found the salmon still too cold, I did enjoy it nonetheless.

The key takeaway here is to go for the ramen and go for the value it offers — affordably priced ramen with a selection of side dishes. It’s perfect for days when you just want to have ramen but don’t want to splurge.

TDF yields rise on weak demand

By Mark T. Amoguis, Senior Researcher

WEAK APPETITE for term deposits pushed yields higher on Wednesday as bids for the facility continued to fall below the central bank’s offer for this week.

The central bank received bids amounting to just P76.753 billion for its term deposit facility (TDF) on Wednesday, falling short of the P80 billion it wanted to sell.

This amount was also lower than the P102.994 billion the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) received last week against a P100-billion offering.

The BSP only awarded P72.431 billion on Wednesday compared to the P91.875 billion it awarded in the previous auction.

Broken down, demand for seven-day papers amounted to P19.228 billion, failing to fill the P20 billion on offer and also declining from last week’s P35.820 billion worth of bids for the P40-billion offering.

Rates for this tenor ranged from 4.25% to 4.74%, a wider margin compared to last week’s 4.3-4.55% range. The average rate settled at 4.4852%, 2.55 basis points higher than last week’s 4.4597%.

Appetite for the 28-day deposits was likewise lower at tenders reached only P33.203 billion against the P40-billion offer. This amount was also lower than the P41.119 billion tendered last week for the BSP’s P30-billion offer volume.

Accepted yields under this term played between 4.375% and 4.7%, also wider than last week’s 4.3-4.55% range. The average settled at 4.4832%, up 2.19 bps from 4.4613% previously.

Banks meanwhile flocked the 14-day papers as bids amounted to P24.322 billion against the BSP’s offering of P20 billion, with the central bank only awarding the programmed amount despite the oversubscription. However, the total tenders were still lower than the previous session’s P26.055 billion tenders for a P30-billion program.

Rates sought by lenders ranged from as low as 4.375% to a high of 4.6% compared to the 4.3-4.65% margin seen last week. The yield for this tenor averaged at 4.375%, higher by 1.17 bps from 4.4938% fetched the previous auction.

“Demand for TDF yields weakened on the 7-day and 28-day tenors as the maturities coincides the release of the official August inflation report next week and the monetary policy decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas later this September,” a bond trader said via email.

“The timing of these critical market movers might have influenced strong demand for the 14-day facility,” the trader added.

The TDF is the central bank’s primary tool to shore up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market interest rates.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said on Tuesday that the central bank is looking to cut benchmark rates by another 25 bps before the end of the year.

The central bank has cut interest rates by a total of 50 bps so far this year — by 25 bps each on May 9 and Aug. 8 — to 4.25% for the overnight reverse repurchase rate, 4.75% for overnight lending and 3.75% for overnight deposit, partially dialing back the 175-bp cumulative hikes triggered last year by successive multi-year high inflation that peaked at a nine-year high.

The BSP is also looking to trim banks’ reserve requirement ratios further, Mr. Diokno said.

Aboitiz unit inks deal with Austal

SHIPBUILDING firm Austal Philippines Pty Ltd. is tapping Aboitiz Construction, Inc. as its local contractor, once the former bags the contract to build vessels for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The company said in a statement Wednesday it recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the local unit of the Australian shipbuilder. Under the contract, Aboitiz Construction will be the local contractor of Austal should it win the project from AFP.

“We believe that we can pursue the bid with Aboitiz Construction as our preferred local contractor for this endeavor,” Austal Philippines President Wayne Murray was quoted as saying in the statement.

Austal earlier said it expects the AFP to decide by the end of the year on its bid to provide six offshore patrol vessels to the Philippine Navy.

For the partnership, Aboitiz Construction said it will handle the cutting and fabrication of the steel hulls of the vessels that Austal will build.

Aboitiz Construction President and Chief Operating Officer Alberto A. Ignacio, Jr. said the company’s record of repeat international orders for its fabrication services will prove its capability to deliver for the project.

“We are equally optimistic about this partnership as we further demonstrate our growing capability as a trusted local contractor for international customers, further enhancing our brand promise to advance business and communities,” he was quoted in the statement as saying.

Last year, Aboitiz Construction and Austal also entered a partnership for the expansion of the latter’s shipyard in Cebu, which covered the design and build of six assembly bays for the facility. The project was completed last month.

Aboitiz Construction is targeting to boost its revenues by the end of the year to P6.5 billion from P5.5 billion last year, driven by the continuous expansion of its client base. — Denise A. Valdez

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