DEVELOPMENT BANK of the Philippines (DBP) has already exceeded its target of broadening its deposit base last year as it looks to include more Filipinos into the formal financial system.
In an interview, DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia C. Borromeo said the state-owned bank has already exceeded its goal of capturing one million depositors in 2018.
“Actually, we already exceeded our (target of) one million base (by the) end of [last] year,” Ms. Borromeo told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Annual Reception for the Banking Community last month.
The lender met its goal of additional one million depositors ahead of its 2022 target.
In a 2017 interview, Ms. Borromeo said DBP is eyeing to get an additional one million depositors by the end of the Duterte administration, which can be achieved by capturing at least six new depositors per day.
“As a development financial institution, if we could get one million new depositors, who have never had any experience dealing with a bank, that would be a feat,” she said.
According to the central bank’s latest financial inclusion survey, approximately 52.8 million or 77.4% of Filipinos remain unbanked, as 60% of the respondents cited that they do not have enough money to maintain a bank account.
The aggressive plan of DBP to capture more depositors is part of its bid to boost its grow its retail banking segment to 30% from the 25% as of 2017.
For this year, DBP said it is “bullish” about 2019 as it sees its loan portfolio sustaining its growth. 20% GROWTH IN LOANS
“We’re looking to expand our loan portfolio by another 20%. We will continue to support more infrastructure projects because that’s the mandate of DBP,” Ms. Borromeo added.
As of end-September last year, the bank’s loan book stood at P250.3 billion, accounting for 98% of its target of P256.6 billion by the year-end.
The infrastructure and logistics sector constituted the largest share in DBP’s loan book with P104.5 billion.
According to central bank data, DBP was the eighth-largest universal bank in the country in asset terms as of the end of third quarter with P632.6 billion. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
BRITISH COMPANIES are looking at doubling their foreign direct investments into the Philippines this year, with the government’s infrastructure push seen as its biggest attraction.
“Our outlook on FDIs is going to be two-fold,” British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (BCCP) President Chris Nelson told BusinessWorld last week in Makati City.
“I think potentially UK companies will look at the infrastructure projects. Can they be involved? We have one member who is very interested in the railways. I think there will be engineering companies. And also of course it depends on how the government goes. Is it a hybrid, where there is more private partnership, away from the ODA, then there will be more interest, “ Mr. Nelson added.
FDIs from the United Kingdom surged to $37.91 million during the January to October period, from the $8.14 million in the comparable period in 2017, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Mr. Nelson said the investments will go with the flow of the much needed liberalization of sectors which currently have foreign restrictions.
“The economic liberalization could have at least a clear path forward. Then I think that is a great incentive for companies to come,” he said.
The BCCP, for instance, had been pushing for the relaxation of requirements under Republic Act 8762 or the Retail Trade Act of 2000 to give foreign retailers greater access to the local market.
The current law requires foreign entities to have a $2.5-million capital requirement before owning 100% of a retail establishment.
Mr. Nelson also noted the need for the government to address British firms’ concerns over the second package of the tax reform law, or the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO), which diminishes tax incentives given to PEZA locators.
“We obviously have companies in the PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) zone and I want some of the points they are raising on TRABAHO taken into consideration,” he added.
The BCCP has at least 288 member-companies with interests in retail, education, tech/logistics, machineries and infrastructure. — Janina C. Lim
LONDON — British artist Tracey Emin is unleashing an “emotional timebomb” at her latest exhibition, homing in on what is important to her as she faces what she calls the third stage of her life.
Best known to many for the then sensational creation My Bed some 20 years ago — a bed surrounded by and covered with discarded condoms, stained sheets, empty bottles of alcohol — Emin’s new show A Fortnight of Tears includes paintings, sculptures, neon, and photography.
“I have had the title for about 15 years but I have never used it. A couple of years ago, my mum died, and I have cried so much in all my life and I thought this is the time to use this title,” she told Reuters television.
“Essentially the show is about big emotional moments in my life, good or bad, hell or happy, this kind of combination of this big emotional churning, reworking, awakening, a big emotional timebomb that has been let off in the gallery.”
But she rejected the suggestion that works for this exhibition — touching on insomnia, sexual relationships and abortion as she has done throughout her career — have been produced as a response to the growth of the Metoo movement about sexual harassment.
“I have always done this, I have always been an advocate of women being able to tell how it feels. If you have been raped you scream your head off and you will be heard,” she said.
“That is what I have been talking about for the last 35 years when I have been making my work. I am really grateful to the Metoo and Times Up movement because women who never had a voice are coming forward and talking, but I have always been an advocate of it and I have always been talking about it.”
And, aged 55, she is adamant that she will continue working and speaking out in what she terms the “third stage” of her life. “I have got another 30 or so years left working, maybe 20 physically working really hard, so I’ve got to make the most of it, I can’t mess around anymore,” she said.
“When you get to my age you only have the rest of your life to get it right, you haven’t got all your life. I’m homing in on what’s really important to me now.”
The exhibition at London’s White Cube gallery opens on Wednesday and runs until April 7. — Reuters
EXPENSIVE yachts that double as floating art galleries can lead to unexpected and costly mishaps.
Priceless paintings and sculptures kept on the vessels face damage not only from storms and storing conditions, but also from random threats including breakfast cereal splashed by the owner’s kids and the yacht’s crew popping champagne on board.
Two British art historians set out to help superboat owners preserve paintings hanging on their yachts, the Observer newspaper said Sunday.
Art historian and conservationist Pandora Mather-Rees runs courses in practical care of fine arts on a superyacht — at a cost of as much as €300 a day. Mather-Rees started giving lessons for crews after a billionaire sought her help in restoring a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting ruined first by his children throwing cornflakes and then by the crew wiping them off carelessly, according to the Observer. Her course teaches the crew to understand the value of objects on board and how to seek specialist help in case of emergency.
The value of art on a yacht could be two to three times the value of the vessel, according to Helen Robertson, a conservator at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which last year hosted a symposium dedicated to “art at sea.” — Bloomberg
THE RESERVE Bank of Australia warned of risks to growth on Tuesday. — REUTERS
SYDNEY — Australia’s central bank warned of risks to growth on Tuesday but wrongfooted rate bears by steering clear from an explicit easing signal, even as data showed shoppers slashed spending during Christmas in another sign of cooling economic momentum.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left rates at a record low 1.50% for a 30th straight month, saying accommodative policy was supporting the economy and that further progress was expected in reducing unemployment and lifting inflation over time.
The local dollar jumped as the statement sounded less dovish than the markets had wagered on.
“The main message from the RBA today was that they are still positive on the growth outlook, and particularly on the labor market, and they see the economy as still on track towards lifting inflation back to their target,” said HSBC Australia’s chief economist Paul Bloxham.
Yet, interest rates futures continued to price in a 50-50 chance of a rate cut by the end of the year, reflecting the deteriorating growth momentum in the face of rising global and domestic risks.
Lowe expects Australia’s A$1.8 trillion economy ($1.3 trillion) to expand at an above-trend rate of around 3% this year. That is a slightly more cautious view compared to “a little above 3%” in its previous statement.
The RBA chief did say a pick-up in inflation would take longer than earlier expected, but stuck to his earlier prediction for the unemployment rate to fall to 4.75% over the next couple of years.
“If a central bank is forecasting above trend growth, then it is highly unlikely to adopt an easing bias,” said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans.
“Indeed the chances are still likely that the Governor will persist with his assessment that even though rates are likely to remain steady for some time, the next move is likely to be up.”
Despite his sanguine glass half-full view, Lowe did caution about “downside risks” to growth both globally and at home.
“The main domestic uncertainty remains around the outlook for household spending and the effect of falling housing prices in some cities.”
All the same, Lowe stopped short of giving an explicitly dovish signal, even after the US Federal Reserve last week all but abandoned plans for further rate hikes, citing slowing global growth as one of the reasons.
The governor also refrained from committing to the direction of the next move in policy, but investors will get further clues about his thinking at a speech Wednesday, followed by the central bank’s quarterly outlook two days later.
“We expect he may choose to remind everyone that the cash rate is already at a record low, that it is delivering considerable stimulus to the economy and that further cuts might not achieve much,” HSBC’s Bloxham, a former RBA economist, said foreshadowing Lowe’s speech. SPENDING STRIKE
Household spending and the effect of falling property prices were the key uncertainties for the economy, Lowe said, a cautionary note underscored by official data earlier in the day showing retail sales fell 0.4% in December for the worst monthly outcome in a year.
That compared with expectations for a 0.1% decline and an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in November thanks to by Black Friday promotions.
The dismal reading capped a lousy quarter of disappointing data in yet another blow for the country’s economic outlook and had initially sent the local dollar below crucial chart support of $0.7200.
The Aussie, however, got a much-needed boost after the RBA’s statement and was last at $0.7261.
Sarah Hunter, economist at BIS Oxford Economics, said Tuesday’s miss added to downside risks for December quarter economic growth given household spending accounts for around 57% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“We expect momentum in household spending to remain subdued this year, with wages growth not expected to accelerate until 2020, and this will pull GDP growth down to around 2.5% this year and next,” Hunter added.
Australia’s economy expanded a slower-than-expected 2.8% in the third-quarter with private consumption one of the biggest drags. December-quarter data is due early March.
With global growth slowing and a year-long downturn in domestic house prices pointing to a further loss in economic momentum, calls from some analysts for the RBA to ease policy has intensified recently.
But Lowe showed few signs it would budge just yet.
“The low level of interest rates is continuing to support the Australian economy,” Lowe repeated.
“Taking account of the available information, the Board judged that holding the stance of monetary policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time.” — Reuters
RIPPLE, which provides enterprise blockchain solutions for payments, sees Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, as a priority market to expand its blockchain technology for cross-border payments and remittances.
“Next, we want to do is expand our networks further into local clearing, and also link the Southeast Asian markets much more tightly with other countries around the world where Ripple is available, so we want to increase the number of countries where people can send money to Southeast Asia from and to number of people than can send money to,” Marcus Treacher, senior vice-president at Ripple, said in a phone interview with BusinessWorld on Jan. 17.
“We also want to create a very powerful, very effective payment network for individuals remitting money to each other and small companies, start-up companies sending and receiving international payments from each other,” he said.
Ripple provides frictionless transactions to send money from one country to another à Ripple ensures the sending of money from one country to another through frictionless transactions. Member institutions can process their customers’ payments anywhere in an instant.
“What Ripple has done is to create a new model… to recreate a model that uses an interconnecting technology which uses some blockchain technology to enable ledgers that will hold money in one country to be connected to ledgers in another country,” Mr. Treacher said.
Aside from being platform for remitting money from one point to another, Ripple also addressed the problem of liquidity through their digital asset XRP by removing the hassle of having to pre-fund accounts in destination currencies.
“When we look at the task of making a payment between one country and another, you’ve actually got two problems. One problem in getting the payment to somebody in another country efficiently, and another problem is making sure that you have enough money in the foreign currency of that country,” he said.
“At Ripple, we actually address this liquidity as well. So, our payment network using the blockchain element enables payments to move in seconds… we support that with a pure blockchain solution that runs the digital asset, XRP. What we do is we offer XRP as a method for banks and payment companies to put enough liquidity as required into foreign currencies, into foreign countries to support the payment that goes to the Ripple,” he added.
Ripple is currently operating in over 40 countries with over 200 customers globally.
It recently announced a new milestone, in which 13 new financial institutions have signed up for its payment network, RippleNet. The new companies in the platform include Euro Exim bank, SendFriend, JNFX, FTCS, Ahli Bank of Kuwait, and Transpaygo, to name a few. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is expecting a rebound in rice production this year, projecting a harvest of 20 million metric tons (MT), Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said.
“This year, the DA is projecting a historic harvest of 20 million metric tons and this is based on the increase in the number of farmers using inbred and hybrid seed, from 48% to 60% last year,” Mr. Piñol said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Mr. Piñol said agriculture is not dying, despite claims made by newspaper columnists after targets were not met, leading to more imports of key staples.
“For as long as people eat, farmers and fishermen will always be around,” Mr. Piñol said.
“For the record, the Duterte administration posted the highest harvest of rice in the history of the country with 19.28 million MT in 2017, higher by over one million MT than the last production of the Aquino administration. Even when the rice sector suffered over one million MT in losses in 2018 because of the almost monthly tropical disturbances, the harvest was still a very high 19.066 million MT,” Mr. Piñol added.
The rice tariffication bill is expected to become a law this year. With its passage, quantitative restrictions on rice imports will be removed, while tariffs will be used to help the domestic rice farmers through the creation of the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
On Monday, SL Agritech Corp. said that P10 billion is not enough to support rice farmers across the Philippines. The company also noted that hybrid seed should be included in the assistance the RCEF will be providing.
“Hybrid rice must be included because that is the latest technology that can help the farmers,” Frisco M. Malabanan, SL Agritech Senior Technical Consultant, told reporters.
“It is now that we in the industry are asking that we plant 1.5 million hectares of hybrid rice in one year. This is the solution to be self-sufficient, so we do not keep relying on our neighbor countries,” Mr. Malabanan said.
In fisheries, Mr. Piñol said that the industry is expected to grow as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) started establishing post-harvest facilities for fishermen.
“Fisheries which for years posted negative growth, leveled off this year and it is expected to grow with the establishment of ice-making, cold storage and post-harvest facilities this year in the fishing communities,” Mr. Piñol said.
“Also, the closed fishing season program is showing positive results with the big fish like tuna and others swimming close to shore to feed on the pelagic species which have multiplied because of the conservation program,” Mr. Piñol added.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the total volume of fisheries production in 2018 was an estimated 4.38 million MT, up 0.92%. Among the three subsectors — aquaculture, municipal and commercial fishing — only aquaculture posted an increase.
Aquaculture fisheries production rose 2.98% to 2.30 million MT in 2018. The subsector had a 52.95% share of fisheries production.
Municipal fishing production meanwhile was 1.11 million MT in 2018, down 1.78%. The subsector accounted for 25.41% of fisheries output.
Commercial fishing production declined 0.71% to 941.59 thousand MT in 2018, comprising 21.64% of total fisheries output. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
HOUSE Appropriations Committee Chair Rolando G. Andaya, Jr. doubled down on earlier statements that the P3.757-trillion budget bill for 2019 will be ready by Feb. 6 and will be up for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature by “next week.”
“All talk of a reenacted budget is baseless. The 2019 national budget will be ready for the President’s signature next week,” Mr. Andaya, who represents the 1st district of Camarines Sur, said in a statement Tuesday.
“The House of Representatives is sticking to the Wednesday target of approving the Bicameral Conference Report on the GAA (General Appropriations Act) for 2019. At this point, we are still on target,” he added.
His timeline follows Senate Finance Committee Chair Loren B. Legarda’s remarks on Tuesday evening that the bill will be finalized on Wednesday, but will be ratified on Feb. 8 instead.
The government is currently operating under a reenacted budget, after Congress failed to pass the General Appropriations Bill by the end of 2018.
Congress is scheduled to adjourn on Feb. 6 until May 19 for the election campaign period. It will resume for three weeks on May 20 after which the 17th Congress will close on June 7.
In the same statement, Mr. Andaya disclosed he had gathered proof the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had P370 billion in savings in 2017, which he alleged was the “DBM’s pork.”
“Documents in our possession show that for 2017, a total of P370 billion was generated in savings. This amount was at the full disposal of Secretary (Benjamin E.) Diokno,” he said.
“We also know that the amount for 2018 savings is higher. More than enough to sway the outcome of the 2019 elections, if he wants to.”
Mr. Andaya on Sunday said the House contingent to the Bicameral Conference Committee demanded that the DBM report the unused balances for the national budgets of 2017 and 2018.
At one point he threatened that the committee report on the budget will not be submitted without the DBM report, but later retracted his statement. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
THE SENATE will caucus today, Feb. 6, to discuss the final provisions in the proposed P3.757 trillion national budget for 2019 that the bicameral conference committee is expected to have reconciled and approved on the same day.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III called the caucus during session on Monday evening after Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, a member of the budget bicameral committee, asked whether senators will be given the opportunity to review the contents of the final version of the budget bill before ratification.
The finance committee chair, Sen. Loren B. Legarda, said earlier during session that there will be a final bicameral conference committee hearing on Wednesday morning on the budget bill, with ratification targeted for Friday, Feb. 8. A small-group bicameral meeting has also been convened as per usual Congress practice.
Later in the evening Senate session after Ms. Legarda left the plenary, Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri said Ms. Legarda relayed to him that the Senate contingent to the bicameral conference committee is scheduled to meet on Friday morning, so the ratification of the budget bill could come by the afternoon of that day.
Congress adjourns session on Feb. 6, Wednesday, but the legislative calendar allows for an extended session until Feb. 8. Session will resume between May 20 and June 7 before the 17th Congress ends.
“So it is the business-as-usual practice that on Friday, we’ll just be given the copy of the bicam(eral) report. It is as good as being routed. That is what we’re trying to avoid because we want to be accorded of the opportunity to review first the contents of the bicam(eral) report before it is routed at least to the members of the bicameral conference committee of the Senate, meaning the Senate panel. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anymore time to read what’s contained in that document,” Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said.
Mr. Sotto then called the caucus in response to Mr. Lacson’s concerns.
“The Majority Leader and the Secretariat are hereby directed to call an all-senators caucus at 2 p.m., Wednesday in the Senate President’s conference room. Make sure that the chairman of the committee of Finance is present,” Mr. Sotto said.
Ms. Legarda said earlier in Monday session that a “breakthrough” has been reached between the Senate and House panels on the 2019 budget. She added that the technical staff of both chambers of Congress are “working on the fine print and the details” of the budget bill.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lacson is also appealing to President Rodrigo R. Duterte to use his veto powers to remove the “pork” inserted by lawmakers in the 2019 national budget.
“Mr. President, you have displayed your strong political will on several occasions. This time, use your line-item veto power over the 2019 appropriations measure by removing all the “pork” inserted by lawmakers who are incorrigibly insatiable and simply ‘beyond redemption,’” he said on Twitter on Tuesday, as issued in a statement.
Both chambers of Congress are still reconciling their versions of the 2019 budget, which has been delayed by amendments to the measure. Legislators have been accused of “inserting” allocations in the budget, which Mr. Lacson alleges is “pork.”
The Senate has said that its budget realignments are “institutional amendments” brought about by government agencies’ requests for additional allocations. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives maintained that the allocation for congressional districts’ projects was itemized in the budget bill, unlike the previous system before the 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruled the previous Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) system as unconstitutional. — Camille A. Aguinaldo
THE Tariff Commission will ask the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to explain the imposition of tariffs on imported cement and explain to those opposing the measure the need to implement duties.
The move was an apparent reaction to the request of Laban Konsyumer, Inc. (LKI) and cement manufacturers, who questioned the DTI for not participating in the hearing.
LKI President Victorio A. Dimaguiba said DTI’s representative, particularly Luis M. Catibayan who heads the Bureau of imports Services which conducted the motu proprio review of cement tariff, should explain its decision to implement tariffs.
While the Commission has no power to cite parties in contempt for non-attendance, Tariff Commissioner Ernesto L. Albano said that the presence of DTI representatives could give weight to its backing for tariffs, as contained in documents it submitted to the Commission.
“At most, the appreciation of evidence will be less compared to if they are here,” he said. “At best for consumers, we will take the evidence they gave us at face value.”
In a mobile message, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said “I wasn’t aware of the sched(ule),” but expressed willingness to send representatives to the next hearings in May.
Tariff Commission Chair Marilou P. Mendoza said the commission’s investigation will involve data verification in order to assess the benefits and damage in imposing such duties, which are meant to protect domestic industry.
“We’re required to look at the effects of the recommendation,” Ms. Mendoza told reporters on Monday.
The Tariff Commission has 120 days to complete its investigation to affirm or reject the DTI’s provisional measure.
After determining that the influx of imported cement was injuring the domestic cement industry, the DTI decided to impose a tariff of P210 per metric ton (MT) on imported cement.
The measure is to be implemented for 200 days starting Feb. 9. During this period, cement manufacturers are required to maintain their current retail price levels.
Under Republic Act 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act of 2000, a provisional duty can be imposed under “critical circumstances where a delay would cause damage which would be difficult to repair, and pursuant to a preliminary determination that increased imports are a substantial cause of, or threaten to substantially cause, serious injury to the domestic industry.”
The duty, equivalent to P8.40 per 40-kilo bag, is expected to put pressure on cement importers who claim an P8.25 profit margin per bag.
The Philippine Cement Importers Association warned of a shortage due to the measure, saying that even domestic manufacturers have themselves been importing to fill shortages with their shipments accounting for 36% of total cement imports in 2018.
Any disruption to cement supply may slow down the government’s infrastructure program, the PCIA has said.
However, Mr. Lopez said supply will be sufficient, noting that domestic capacity is at 35 million MT a year and current demand at 25 million MT.
Mr. Lopez, nevertheless, recognized the need to increase capacity, given the growth in demand which is expected to double by 2025.
He encouraged the industry to build additional facilities to ensure stable supply in the long run. — Janina C. Lim
AN organization of retired economic managers said the government needs to make upgrades to the agriculture sector in order to ease inflation.
“Low agricultural productivity and anemic agricultural growth will increase the risk of a return to high inflation and will drag down the economy as it did in 2018,” the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) said in a statement on Monday.
The agriculture sector posted output growth of 0.56% in 2018 due to adverse weather and inadequate irrigation.
However, the FEF said the drop in the agriculture sector’s growth should not be blamed on the weather as other ASEAN countries also experience the same disruptions.
“Climate change and weather disturbances cannot be blamed because our ASEAN neighbors are posting healthy growth rates despite similar weather disturbances,” FEF said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday, that inflation declined to 4.4% in January from December’s 5.1%.
FEF, whose fellows include technocrats like former Prime Minister Cesar E. A. Virata and Gerardo P. Sicat, the first director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), noted that poor agricultural activity will also drag down the economy.
“High food costs translate into high wages and uncompetitiveness of our manufacturing and export sectors. Agricultural products also serve as inputs into food manufacturing,” the FEF said.
“Therefore, high agricultural input costs mean high manufacturing costs and poor competitiveness.”
To enhance agricultural productivity, FEF proposed the amendment of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law “to reverse the fragmentation of farmlands, make CARP lands bankable, and enable efficient farmers to expand beyond the legal ownership limit of five hectares.”
The FEF also noted that there should be a budget increase for research into climate-change resistant crops.
The group also proposed to liberalize sugar imports in order to force the sugar industry to become more competitive and to lower the input costs of the food export manufacturing sector.
The FEF also called for the proper use of the P10 billion competitiveness fund for rice farmers under the Rice Tariffication Law to increase their productivity.
FEF added that the government should make rural infrastructure a significant component of its flagship construction program and attract more foreign investment in shipping and ports to lower logistics costs for farmers. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said revenue rose 18.3% to P67.85 billion in 2018.
According to its statement of comprehensive income posted on its website, PAGCOR said income from gaming operations in 2018 was P67.85 billion, against the year-earlier P57.34 billion.
Meanwhile, PAGCOR’s net profit rose 536% to P31.49 billion, boosted by a one-time gain.
PAGCOR President and Chief Operating Officer Alfredo C. Lim said net profit in the first half received a boost from the sale of a 16-hectare site in Entertainment City for P37.3 billion to Bloomberry Resorts Corp.
“Because of the sale of the property and the increase in revenue in our license fees and casino operations, we are exceeding our target,” Mr. Lim told reporters in August 2018.
“In [the] Bloomberry [deal], we made a lot of money there because we bought that for so much only and yet we were able to sell it at P37 billion, plus the expenses were shouldered by the buyer.”
Bloomberry is the owner and operator of Solaire Resort & Casino in Parañaque.
Overall, PAGCOR’s assets at the end of 2018 rose to P75.71 billion from P38.62 billion reported a year earlier.
At deadline time, PAGCOR had not replied to a request for further comment.
Last week, PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrea D. Domingo said in a Bloomberg report that she will ask President Rodrigo R. Duterte to relax a ban on new casino licenses as the country is losing out on opportunities amid a gaming boom in Asia.
In August, Mr. Duterte said there will be no more casinos apart from the current establishments after sacking officials of Nayong Filipino Foundation and shelving a $1.5-billion casino project. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
