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DFNN to expand offshore gaming operations

DFNN, INC. is expanding its offshore gaming business with the establishment of a new unit valued at P15 million.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday, the listed firm said its board of directors has authorized the incorporation of Nico Bayan, Inc., which will have an authorized capital stock of P15 million.

DFNN said it will subscribe to P5 million worth of outstanding shares in Nico Bayan.

“The incorporation of Nico Bayan is intended to be used as a vehicle for the expansion of its offshore gaming operations,” the company said.

This move comes amid the increasing presence of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in Metro Manila, with real estate consultancy Leechiu Property Consultants expecting the sector to take up a total of 450,000 square meters of office space in the metro by year’s end.

There are currently 56 licensed POGOs, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Incorporated in 1999 originally as an IT solutions provider and systems integrator, DFNN is now involved in systems integration, programming and customization, consultancy, and gaming developments.

DFNN currently engages in online gaming services, with its subsidiary Pacific Gaming Investments Pty. Ltd. working on game developments for the firm, HatchAsia, Inc. for management and technology expertise, and iWave, Inc. for system integration software and technology development.

The company said it looks to cater to the needs of the emerging Asian gaming industry with new gaming content through a wide offering of products, systems, and solutions.

DFNN recorded a 64% drop in its net income attributable to the parent to P18.41 million in the first quarter of 2019, amid a four percent increase in gross revenues to P308.29 million.

Shares in DFNN climbed 0.17% or a centavo to close at P6.01 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

Zamboanga electric co-op pays P150M to WMPC

ZAMBOANGA CITY Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco), through its investor-managers, paid P150 million to Western Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) during their hearing at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Wednesday, the power distribution utility said.

The compromise agreement is the second in the legal dispute with WMPC, the cooperative’s investor-managers Crowninvestment Holdings, Inc. and Desco, Inc. said in a statement.

Henry Virola, Zamcelco chief management officer, said of Crown-Desco’s P2.5-billion capital infusion into power utility, P370 million had gone to WMPC. So far, he said the group had paid P370 million out of the P447 million in payables that the company was demanding “on top of our overpayments.”

The cooperative had pointed out supposed overbillings worth P441 million made from 2015 to 2018. The amount covered pending payables the cooperative incurred to the power supplier, but WMPC cut its power supply in response.

In April, Zamcelco and its investor-managers filed a motion with the ERC for a claim for refund of its overpayments. The motion also sought the withdrawal from and the ERC’s dismissal of the application for approval of the co-op’s power supply agreement (PSA) with WMPC.

The group said the motion stated that the overpayments were made as WMPC overbilled the co-op for capacity recovery fees, and operations and management. But it added that this was done without basis as the PSA between was not yet in effect.

Mr. Virola said WMPC charged Zamcelco for a fixed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW), when the utility would not use more than 25 MW a month.

“Without an effective PSA, WMPC should have only charged the cooperative for actual nominated or utilized capacity,” he said.

He said his group was still waiting for the ERC’s decision on their motion for a claim for refund and for the dismissal of the application for Zamcelco-WMPC PSA’s approval.

Crown-Desco was awarded the investment-management contract for Zamcelco in September 2018. It started managing the cooperative in January this year. — Victor V. Saulon

Industry 4.0: Advanced technologies, security key to unlock competitiveness in manufacturing

By Yeo Siang Tiong
General Manager for Kaspersky Southeast Asia

IN BUSINESS, growth is achieved either by buying or building. These are the traditional approaches.

In the 21st century though, another option that has emerged is called leveraging growth. This happens when a company ties up with trusted third-party resources to create new value and mutual synergies. The goal is for companies to drive innovation, accelerate advancement and capture the maximum economic benefits.

INDUSTRY 4.0
This is the concept behind Industry 4.0, otherwise known as smart manufacturing.

Industry 4.0 is the global trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. We’re now talking about machines, materials and products that are connected and can communicate with each other.

With more access to data, smart machines become real and smart factories take shape, which are far more efficient, productive and generate less wastage than conventional manufacturing plants as we know them.

Way past the era of mechanization, electrification, and automation, the industrial digitization promises an entirely new way to produce and market goods straight to the consumer.

Here in Southeast Asia, the manufacturing industry is on the upswing. Truly a uniquely diverse region, the 10 different countries that make up the ASEAN bloc are all at varying stages of development, too. And the world’s attention has shifted to this burgeoning economic zone that is poised to become the largest economy by 2030.

INDUSTRIAL DIGITIZATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
What also sets Industry 4.0 apart from its previous industrial revolutions are its wider scope and impact.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution includes cyber-physical systems (or industrial control systems), the Industrial Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing. If harnessed successfully, the potential financial impact of digitization for Southeast Asian nations is projected to be worth $216 billion to $637 a year by 2025, according to a McKinsey study. We in the region seem to be in the right place at the right time.

It’s interesting to note that just five years ago, ASEAN’s top three — Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were making significant headway as far as manufacturing progress is concerned. Back then, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia were recognized as emerging players.

Fast forward to this year, the manufacturing conditions across the region has been showing fast improvement and growth in every aspect. So much so that a few advanced markets are now embarking on strategic initiatives to unlock their full potential.

Leading the pack is Singapore, which is capitalizing on Industry 4.0 to transform its existing industries and catapult itself into its vision of advanced manufacturing trailblazer in Southeast Asia.

INDUSTRY 4.0 IN THE PHILIPPINES
But how do we really challenge the traditional business models? What steps do we need to take to fully adopt Industry 4.0 to work in favor of our economies?

Let’s take the case of the Philippines. As one of the emerging market economies in Southeast Asia, the growth prospects for the Philippines is optimistic. In the next five years to 2023, the country’s gross domestic product is projected to grow at 6.6% annually. Both government and industry sources credit the manufacturing sector as a key economic growth driver.

While the latest Nikkei ASEAN Purchasing Manager’s Index shows the Philippines registered a very high reading of 52.3 compared to its regional counterparts, improvements are still marginal though.

This is not surprising. Unfortunately, the Philippines is classified as a legacy country which possesses a robust production base at the moment but faces grave economic risks in the future.

Currently, it needs tremendous improvement first in areas such as institutional framework, investments in human capital and boosting technology platforms and innovation capacity before the country’s manufacturing sector can reap the benefits from adopting Industry 4.0.

CHOOSING PARTNERS
From a technological perspective, jumping in the Industry 4.0 trend will not be without any drawbacks in terms of security. The level of ultra advanced technologies that goes into industrial control systems requires an equally sophisticated degree of cybersecurity policies and measures in place.

Aside from manufacturing, Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are very much in use in other critical industries such as power grid, transportation, oil and gas, chemical, nuclear power and water treatment. The potentially massive business disruption and damaging effect on the public and governments arising from breaching such industrial environments has been very attractive for cybercriminals.

In fact, social engineering tactics targeted at the human component of industrial environments has been proven to expose the systems to cyberattacks many times in the past. Our research at Kaspersky shows 54% of industrial organizations have had more than cyber incident in the past 12 months.

What’s the worst that could happen when confronted with a cyberattack? A business would have to deal with financial losses, theft of trade information or damage to reputation.

Our security experts have revealed that Southeast Asia leads the ranking of regions worldwide when it comes to the highest numbers of ICS infections blocked. There were 61.6% of machines attacked in the first half of 2018 and another 57.8% attacked in the second half of last year.

The Philippines ranks fourth among countries in the region with the most percentage of ICS attacks (41.6%) during the second half of 2018. The same period showed the internet was the top source of threats blocked on 26.1% of ICS computers. It was also this time when a slight increase in the percentage of ICS computers on which malicious email attachments were blocked.

Building an Industry 4.0-ready ecosystem as in the manufacturing sector means serious investments in talent, machinery and technology. That’s why choosing technology providers and supply chain allies are very crucial decisions to make.

An advice I can share is for companies to look for technology partners with unmatched expertise, an impressive track record of success, round-the-clock local support, and whose solutions have been subjected to independent tests which they have passed consistently with flying colors.

I recommend the following to organizations which may have started establishing an Industry 4.0 environment:

• Regularly update operating systems, application software and security solutions.

• Apply necessary security fixes and audit access control for ICS components in the industrial network and boundaries of an enterprise.

• Provide dedicated training and support for employees as well as partners and suppliers with access to your network.

• Restrict network traffic on ports and protocols used on edge routers and inside the organization’s OT networks.

• Use ICS network traffic monitoring, analysis and detection solutions for better protection from attacks potentially threatening technological processes and main enterprise assets.

• Deploy dedicated security solutions on ICS servers, workstations and HMIs that secure OT and industrial infrastructure from both random malware infections and dedicated industrial threats.

• Form a dedicated security team for both IT and OT sectors.

• Equip these security teams with proper cybersecurity training as well as real-time and in-depth threat intelligence reports.

Cashalo hits client goal

CASHALO has surpassed its goal to have a million clients by the first semester. — HTTPS://WWW.CASHALO.COM/

MOBILE LENDING platform Cashalo breached its target to hit a million clients in the first half of the year as the firm moves into the credit business.

Cashalo General Manager Hamilton C. Angluben said the lending firm ended the first semester with about 1.5 million registered users, greater than one million it earlier targeted.

Cashalo also had more than a million financial identities and four million application downloads as of end-June.

“Because of our two new products, we cannot have a real accurate forecast given the growth is exponential, not incremental,” Mr. Angluben told BusinessWorld in a recent interview.

He added that Cashalo is “moving more into credit business” and “not much in cash loans,” as it seeks to address the need of Filipinos for credit.

“It’s really what we see the need of Filipinos right now. Less than two percent of the population have a credit card. Imagine the problem we’re addressing and we’re trying to solve,” Mr. Angluben said.

In April, Cashalo launched in beta mode its air ticket financing, wherein customers can book domestic Cebu Pacific flights which can be paid in installments.

According to Cashalo’s website, the loan limit is P7,000 and can be paid within three or six months. Loans can be approved in as fast as four hours.

“This will move on to other e-commerce players. Once we’ve done it with Cebu Pacific, it’s easy to implement it to other retail players,” Mr. Angluben told reporters during its anniversary banquet.

Apart from this, the digital lending firm last month also launched on beta mode its micropayment financing, wherein clients can borrow starting at P200, which can be used to pay in convenience stores, groceries, and drug stores, among others.

“With this product, we will be able to approve anyone as long as you see the data you send to us is consistent. Maybe 80-90% who applied will get this one,” Mr. Angluben said.

Cashalo started operations last year as a joint venture between Hong Kong-based financial technology firm Oriente and Gokongwei-controlled JG Summit Holdings, Inc.

It offers cash loans and consumer basket financing through its mobile platform. Application is done online, requiring clients to submit documents and IDs digitally.

In December, Cashalo became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oriente after it increased its stake in the fintech firm to 100% from 50%. However, JG Summit continues to be “an important strategic partner and investor” of Oriente. — K.A.N. Vidal

The fluidity of Glenfiddich

FLUIDITY, as a term, expresses the ability to change. Fluids take the shape of their containers; and can be seen in various forms, either in a liquid state, or as a solid or gas. Glenfiddich, as a single-malt whisky (and thus a fluid), is expected to do the same.

During the preliminary round of Glenfiddich’s World’s Most Experimental Bartender 2019 in the Philippines, Glenfiddich was made into solids (as jelly or as pastry), or enjoyed in its liquid form. The preliminaries were held earlier this week in Makati.

The contest was a battle between nine pairs, with one bartender and one person from a creative industry (there was a photographer, a grooming expert, a tea master, and a tattoo artist, and then various chefs). Three pairs were selected to go on to the finals, and the sole winner from the finals will be flown to Scotland for the championship. The three pairs that stood out at the preliminaries were Faye Fernando, a bartender from Cove Manila, and James Llamera, Research and Development, EDSA Beverage Design Group; John Lorenzo Luna, bartender from Run Rabbit Run and Don Carpio, a freelance baker and pastry chef; and finally, Kathrin May Osmillo, Head Bartender at Oto, and Fonso Sotero, owner and pastry chef at Lampara.

Tradition doesn’t normally mix well with experimentation; tradition being a series of rituals perfected and performed again and again over time. But Brett Bayly, Regional Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich in Southeast Asia, then pointed to the brand’s history of pushing boundaries. “The concept came around based solely in the fact that we’ve broken boundaries so many times,” he said. In the 1960s, they were one of the first distillers (if not the first) to create the single malt category as a premium brand, and today Glenfiddich is the world’s bestselling single malt, making the gamble pay off. Mr. Bayly also spoke about the brand’s various experiments in recent times such as finishing off whiskies in IPA casks, or else sherry casks, or ice wine casks.

Speaking about bartending as its own creative industry, Mr. Bayly said, “You’re going to always have to try and come up with new drinks, new things to keep the customers entertained.”

On a deeper note, he compares mixing a drink to painting. “It comes down to balance. It’s kind of like that… it’s kind of like someone doing a painting — at what point do you say enough is enough?”

Every drink, no matter how similar, will come with a bartender’s unique signature: “As long as there’s similarity and personal expression in that… that’s where I see the artistic side of bars.” — Joseph L. Garcia

Zalora PHL breaks ground for new warehouse in Muntinlupa

FASHION e-commerce site Zalora Philippines (ZPH) broke ground for a new warehouse facility in Muntinlupa City Wednesday, which will significantly boost its storage capacity in order to handle the anticipated growth of e-commerce sales over the next few years.

In a statement Wednesday, the company said the 3.7-hectare fashion e-fulfillment center will be the largest facility of its kind in the country. The center, located in the Daang Hari and Daang Reyna Junction of Muntinlupa, will have 40,000 square meters (sq.m.) of racking space and a 7.2-million item storage capacity.

“This new facility will further strengthen Zalora’s capabilities and grow its business across the archipelago, housing thousands of fashion brands, and reaching more cities and towns in the Philippines, solidifying our commitment to provide Filipino consumers the best online shopping experience possible,” ZPH Chief Executive Officer Paulo Campos III said in a statement.

ZPH currently operates a similar e-fulfillment center, with a capacity of 1.2 million items, in Carmona, Cavite.

The company said the new facility will double its productivity given its investments on automation, new technologies and software, as well as improvements in business processes in line with the Global Fashion Group’s fulfillment centers across the world.

Aside from its storage capabilities, the facility will also house 5,000 sq.m of office space to be occupied by ZPH’s customer service and e-production teams. ZPH said at least 1,000 new jobs will be created for the surrounding Muntinlupa-Cavite communities.

ZPH looks to complete the facility by the first quarter of 2020.

The company earlier said that Ayala-led AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. is financing the construction of the facility. ZPH will then lease out the property from the company. To note, the Ayala group has a 49% stake in the e-commerce platform.

ZPH ended 2018 with a total of nine million e-mail subscribers, 7.4 million app downloads, 7.7 million Facebook fans, and 100 million website sessions.

It continues to grow its website with the addition of more local and international fashion brands such as Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, J. Crew, Jack Wills, Pomelo, and designer Josie Natori’s sleepwear brand Josie and clothing line N Natori. — Arra B. Francia

Indonesia drafting rules to apply VAT on online products and services

JAKARTA — Indonesia is drafting new rules to impose value added tax to online products and services provided by offshore companies, as authorities target a bigger slice of revenue from the country’s fast-growing digital market, a top tax official told Reuters.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country with 260 million people and, according to a joint study by Google and Temasek Holdings, the value of its internet economy reached $27 billion last year and is poised to grow to $100 billion by 2025.

John Hutagaol, a tax department official, said while a global debate continued on how best to tax corporate income in this area it was generally accepted that VAT, or in some cases sales tax, could be placed on digital goods and services.

“It’s the low hanging fruit and can be applied as per every country’s rules,” said Hutagaol, who heads the international department at the tax office.

However, to charge VAT, Indonesia would need new “implementation rules to decide on the mechanism, because the current rules only apply to conventional transactions, while digital ones are not limited by space and time,” he said.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy currently levies 10% VAT on all goods and services, but any business whose turnover is below a threshold of 4.8 billion rupiah ($345,000) is exempted.

The new VAT rules would be imposed on e-commerce, content providers, start-ups and other internet-based economic activities, Hutagaol said, adding authorities were looking to learn from the experience of Japan and Australia in applying such digital taxes.

He declined to say how long it might take to draft and bring in the new rules.

Indonesians are avid users of social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, while the popularity of streaming services like Spotify and Netflix are growing.

In 2016, Indonesia investigated Alphabet Inc’s Google for alleged tax evasion, including missing VAT payments on advertising revenue, but authorities eventually reached an undisclosed settlement. — Reuters

Virtual banking to gain ground in emerging markets

VIRTUAL BANKING in emerging markets (EM) is seen to pick up as large unbanked populations and greater adoption of technologies present opportunities for the success of digital banks, S&P Global Ratings said.

In a report titled “The Future Of Banking: Virtual Banks Chase The Dream In Asia-Pacific,” the global debt watcher said the underbanked population in EMs is a key factor in driving the growth of digital banking in the region.

“Primarily a factor in emerging markets, virtual banking facilitates the introduction of simple banking products through accessible means other than branches,” S&P said in the report published Tuesday.

“Emerging market nations in Asia-Pacific are home to vast numbers of ‘underbanked’ customers, which provides opportunities for virtual banks to gain a foothold and scale up their business models,” it added.

In the case of the Philippines, only 22.6% or some 15.8 million Filipino adults maintain formal bank accounts, citing the lack of money and of the need to have an account as the main reasons, according to the latest Financial Inclusion Survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2017.

S&P added that current and future trends affecting demographics, urbanization and customer behavior across the region are “supportive” of digital banking.

“A young demographic pool, greater openness toward adopting new and innovative technologies in banking services — especially in China — and increasing consumerism provide tailwinds for the success of virtual banks.”

Dutch financial firm ING Bank N.V. and Malaysian lender CIMB Bank both entered the local retail banking industry earlier this year as all-digital banks, offering saving accounts with high interest rates and without maintaining balance.

In CIMB’s case, S&P said it debuted in the local market as digital-only arm and partnered with 8,000 convenience stores to serve as cash agents.

On the other hand, virtual banking puts forward an opportunity in developed markets to “provide customers with greater banking convenience at a lower cost,” it said.

“From a government standpoint, there is an interest in providing customers with cheaper, more competitive basic banking services in markets that small numbers of large and well-established traditional banks typically dominate,” S&P said.

The credit rater believes that big banks with large and well-established client bases and greater resources can better weather possible competition from digital banks compared with the smaller banks.

However, smaller lenders are expected to partner with technology firms to “rise up the digital learning curve,” it said.

S&P said virtual banking “may not lead to rating or outlook changes” for lenders in Asia-Pacific over the net two years. However, ratings differentiation is “greater” over the long term as digital banking strategies take hold and disrupt the traditional banking segment. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Have some not-so-great red wine? Add Coke

COCA-COLACOMPANY.COM

AS THE weeks wear on, and the comedown from Memorial Day, Pride Month, and the Fourth of July starts to settle in, there’s no better cure for summer ennui than a movie in the park. Thanks to inflatable screens and digital projectors, you don’t necessarily need to be in a big city to catch a classic with hundreds of your neighbors (although it helps). But you do need something to sip on as the late-evening sun slips below the horizon, and Back to the Future II starts rolling.

Cue up the Kalimotxo (Calimocho).

Everyone has heard of rum and coke. It’s right up there in the pantheon of simple cocktails you don’t need to be a trained bartender to pull off, and it can be surprisingly tasty with a few tweaks. Think of the Kalimotxo as a rum and coke having a semester abroad: It’s equal parts red wine and cola. That’s it. That’s the drink. And it’s exceptionally easy to tote to the park in a bag.

“Some people look down on the drink, but putting on our bar-owner hats, it’s actually well-balanced,” says Brianna Volk, co-owner of Little Giant in Portland, Maine, which has a Kalimoxto on its menu made with Moxie, a gentian-flavored soda. “The tannins in the wine balance out the too-sweet Coca-Cola. It just makes a refreshing and incredibly accessible cocktail.”

Plus, she continues, “It’s just a fun, but kind of weird drink. It makes us want to eat lots of seafood or grill steaks for a picnic. We know when we start making them, we are going to have a great night.”

The Kalimotxo has been around since the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the first Coca-Cola factory opened in Spain in the 1950s that the drink started to gain popularity in Spain’s northern Basque region, where it originated as a way to drink not-so-great red wine.

You might see variations with additional wine or with such garnishes as a lemon or lime wheel, but equal parts offers the right balance of buzz — caffeine and wine — to keep you relaxed but alert, so you can stay film-focused. Here we swap out plain cola for Cherry Coke Zero; its restrained sweetness and fruity flavor are a better match for the tannins in the wine. This drink will be tasty with any red wine you have handy, but big and bold Spanish reds work best.

TXERRY KALIMOTXO

Serves 1

6 oz. red wine, such as Spanish Rioja or temperanillo

6 oz. Cherry Coke Zero

Combine in a large, park-friendly (unbreakable) cup filled with ice. One standard 750 mL bottle of wine will make four cocktails. — Bloomberg

A choice of wine openers

OPENING wine bottles with cork closures can be quite challenging. And breaking a wine cork could be one of the most frustrating — and embarrassing — moments for any wine lover. Yet, we encounter this quite often at home as well as in restaurants where waitstaff struggle to open wine bottles with their different wine openers. While drinking wine is relaxing, opening a wine bottle can be stressful to many. I think it is about time we take a more serious look at the different kinds of wine openers and see how each one functions in removing the cork that protects and preserves our wines.

SEVEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF WINE OPENERS

• The Waiter’s Friend Corkscrew — As far as I am concerned, any self-respecting wine person needs to have this as their basic wine opener. Other openers can be part of a wine accessory collection. There are several models for this type of opener, but my favorite is the double-lever version. This type of Waiter’s Friend allows the cork to be pulled out in two steps, leveraging each lift to avoid cracking the whole cork as the wine is being opened. There is still no guarantee of that you will not break a cork with this opener, but the more you use it, the more you will become adept at it. The Waiter’s Friend is not very expensive, but if you long for the “Rolls-Royce” of this kind of corkscrew, there is the French-made Laguiole corkscrew — it is made in Auvergne, France, hand-crafted individually by artisans like an expensive Swiss watch, and uses traditional craftsmanship dating back to 1829. The Laguiole cost more than many premium wines, and is easily between P5,000 to P10,000 per corkscrew.

• The Winged Corkscrew, a.k.a. Butterfly Corkscrew — This is probably the most common opener you will see in restaurants, supermarkets, and liquor shops here in the country. All of these winged corkscrews are made in China and available cheaply at between P150 to P200. I really despise this opener as it is by far the most unreliable of all cork pullers. First, there is no sharp blade or knife in this corkscrew, so removing the foil of the bottle is already a challenge. Then the “screw part” or spiral bit is too course and, more often than not, tears the cork apart. After the screw enters the cork, the butterfly wings go up in synchronized form, than you have to push both the wings down to release the cork. It may look aesthetically nice, but this opener sucks.

• The “Ah-So,” a.k.a. Two-Prong Cork Puller — This is a German engineered wine opener, using two unequal steel prongs to pull the cork out. The concept is to insert the two prongs in between the cork and the bottle, and then to twist and pull the cork until the cork slides out. I am not a huge fan of this opener in general, but for old vintage wines that have brittle corks, the Ah-So is by far the best opener to get the entire cork out. This opener can also rescue corks that break in half inside the bottle by pulling out the remaining cork piece better than other openers that tend to further shred the rest of the cork. Sadly though, this opener can be used by dishonest wine traders to substitute something else for the actual wine in the bottle, as the opener can leave no trace, nor hole in the original cork when being opened or closed. You can rarely find these openers in wine shops but it should not be that expensive.

• The “Rabbit Ear” or “Bunny Ear” Wine Opener — There are mounted and un-mounted versions to this brilliant piece of mechanical ingenuity. The screw/spiral bit from the rabbit ear penetrates through the cork and pulls the entire cork out in one swift motion. After the wine is opened, the second motion from rabbit ear opener releases the cork. I used this quite a lot when I was operating a wine bar several years back, and my mounted Rabbit Ear also looked quite aesthetically pleasing. My only beef with this opener, and this same argument applies to the two openers that follow in this list, is that the spiral bit touches the wine as it penetrates the cork to pull the entire cork out. As a wine purist, I hate that my wine gets touched by anything foreign. The un-mounted version costs around P1,000, while the mounted version can be more expensive.

• The Screwpull Opener — Screwpull is a trademark for a wine opener created in 1979 by owner-designer Herbert Allen of Hallen International Inc. Hallen International and its very successful Screwpull line of wine openers and accessories were sold in 1991 to French cookware and kitchen tools company Le Creuset. Screwpull openers are designed to hold and cover the neck of wine bottle and feature Teflon coated screws/spiral bits that easily pierce and penetrate through the cork till the cork is thoroughly released. I bought my first Screwpull in the mid-1990s, and I still marvel at this simple, yet extremely efficient wine opener until now. The model I got is the Le Creuset Travel Screwpull that has a removable and extendable handle, aside from its compact size. I rarely use my Screwpull now (as I mentioned above, I do not like my wine being touched by the screw), but I still show it to my class when I conduct my wine seminars as an example of a very good kind of wine opener. The Travel Screwpull costs around P1,500 to P2,000 each.

• The Electric Wine Opener — There are now many electric wine openers, and they actually all function similarly. The one I have experience with is the Oster brand rechargeable electric wine opener. This is very convenient and easy to use. It even comes with a foil cutter. After removing the top foil and exposing the cork, the Oster electric wine opener is simply placed on top of the bottle and, pushing two control buttons, the cork is removed hassle free and in seconds. To uncork the wine, the downward button is pressed to force the build-in spiral bit through the cork. The electric opener automatically stops when the cork is completely released from the bottle. After this, the upward button is pressed to release the cork from the electric opener. It is a wonderful gadget to show off to your friends. It is slightly noisy however, but the feeling of opening something electronically is still exhilarating. The Oster wine opener is cordless, but needs to be recharged after every 30 bottles uncorked. You need not sweat it out just to open your favorite wine. You can ask your local Oster distributor if this is available in the country. The Oster electric wine opener retails at around $40 in the US, but there are several copycat versions made in China that are easily half the price.

• The Coravin System — Coravin is the recent craze among oenophiles. Created in 2013 by American “medical needle” expert Greg Lambrecht, the Coravin shot to fame among wine aficionados in the last two years. Coravin is a high-tech wine opener and wine preservation device that uses a hollowed needle — similar to an epidural needle — which is inserted through the cork (even with the foil capsule intact) to pour the wine out. At the same time, the bottle is being filled with pure argon gas to prevent oxidation. Once the needle is removed from the bottle, the cork reseals automatically and the wine can be preserved as if it was never opened. It is basically a wine opener that does not remove the cork. Replacement argon gas capsules are sold separately when the build-in argon gas is used up. Coravin replaces the foil cutter, the cork opener, the pourer, and any wine preservation system that is available, whether it be the wine pump, the inert gas can or even the big dispensing machines like the Enomatic system. Coravin is, however, quite expensive, and one of its latest models — the Coravin Eleven — is going to cost you around $1,000.

While the wine openers are merely means to an end, opening wine in comfort and style are probably as important in preparation for wine appreciation. Why stress out before de-stressing?

The author is a member of UK-based Circle of Wine Writers. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.

MGB approved feasibility study for Mabilo project — RTG Mining

By Vincent Mariel P. Galang, Reporter

THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has approved the feasibility study for the Mabilo project in Camarines Norte, according to mining and exploration company RTG Mining.

“Following a review by the Technical Committee on Mining Project Feasibility Studies, the evaluation confirmed the project is technically and economically feasible after consideration of the environmental, social and fiscal costs prescribed under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations as amended,” RTG said in a disclosure to the Toronto Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange dated July 17.

The feasibility study was conducted by Mt. Labo Exploration and Development Corp., one of the partners of RTG Mining for the project. RTG Mining has an indirect interest in the Mabilo project through Mr. Labo.

The mine site has a near-surface deposit and has the potential for directly shipping ore. This is a proposed open-pit mining and processing project based in the joint venture. It has a mining life of 10 years as of Jan. 1, 2016.

MGB Director Wilfredo G. Moncano confirmed that the feasibility study was approved, but noted that Mt. Labo is still covered by an exploration permit, not a mineral production sharing agreement.

“Since there is still a moratorium in the processing of new MPSA (Mineral Production Sharing Agreement) under EO (Executive Order) 79, Mt. Labo cannot yet proceed to development and extraction. It has to wait for the lifting of the moratorium in EO 79 which could happen if package 2 of the Trabaho Bill will be approved by Congress,” Mr. Moncano told BusinessWorld in a text message.

EO 79, issued in June 2012, imposed a moratorium on new mining permits.

While Republic Act No. 10963, which went into effect in January last year, doubled the excise tax on mineral products to four percent, the Finance department said this did not satisfy EO 79’s requirement for the lifting of the moratorium on new permits. The Department of Finance has been pushing for an overhaul of the mining industry’s fiscal regime, which should also cover royalty, windfall profit and other taxes and fees, as well as incentives.

Game on! Fiverr International offers coaches for Fortnite, PUBG players

FIVERR International Ltd is tapping into the phenomenal success of Fortnite and PUBG by hooking up players with online gaming experts, who will help them up their game while helping the company make some money in the process.

Fiverr last week unveiled an online store focused on the booming interest in video and mobile games that will let game experts sell their special skill sets to prospective players.

Fortnite and PUBG have been worldwide runaway successes. Both games have an arena-style survival concept, called “battle royale,” where 100 gamers are dropped onto an island to fight each other for survival.

From as little as $5, players can enroll on the site to learn survival skills and how to choose the best landing spots and guns.

Founded in 2010, Fiverr makes money from commissions by connecting people with professionals offering various services on its freelance services platform.

Along with game coaching, buyers and sellers can trade “gigs,” or services in 30 categories ranging from developing a game to polishing game streaming on platforms such as Twitch.

The gaming industry, which has seen massive growth in the past few years, is now dominated by last-man-standing multiplayer games that generate hundreds of millions in revenue by selling character outfits and add-ons.

Fortnite was launched in 2017 and its popularity has pushed the valuation of its publisher Epic Games to $15 billion in a funding round last year. Gamers have also flocked to Electronic Arts Inc.’s Apex Legends and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG).

The numbers of gamers is expected to rise more with the launch of Apple Inc.’s subscription-based game service Apple Arcade this fall and Alphabet Inc.’s browser-based video game streaming service Google Stadia.

“We want to help power the current growth that exists in the broader gaming industry, with the freelance talent and services to help game creators meet their needs,” Fiverr Chief Executive Officer Micha Kaufman said. — Reuters

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