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Holcim completes new facilities for Norzagaray plant

HOLCIM PHILIPPINES, Inc. has completed new storage and loading facilities in its Bulacan plant that will boost production moving forward.

The listed cement manufacturer said in a statement that it inaugurated on Sept. 11 a new warehouse with six additional loading bays and new packing and loading machines in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

The company said this will improve its storage capacity and speed up the transfer of products on truck for faster customer service. The facility mainly serves the National Capital Region and Central Luzon, areas whose construction industry saw double-digit growth in 2018, Holcim Philippines noted.

Holcim Philippines’ de-bottlenecking activities for the Bulacan plant started in January 2018 as it sought to ramp up operations amid the expected increase in cement demand due to the government’s infrastructure program.

“This is the third site we are holding inauguration activities this year as our company continues investments to strengthen our ability to support our customers nationwide,” Holcim Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer John Stull said in a statement.

Holcim Philippines introduced new facilities in its Bacnotan, La Union and Davao City plants in March and August, respectively.

“This is part of our greater commitment to provide a reliable supply of cement especially at this time of strong construction activity, which we will continue to meet to contribute to building a better future for the Philippines,” Mr. Stull said.

The company previously said it will spend $300 million to expand its operations in Misamis Oriental and Bulacan, which should boost total capacity to 13 million metric tons.

Holcim Philippines is currently being acquired by diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. for $2.15 billion as part of parent LafargeHolcim Group’s exit strategy in Southeast Asia. The Philippine Competition Commission is still reviewing the deal.

Holcim Philippines’ net income attributable to the parent dropped nine percent to P1.42 billion in the first half of 2019, after gross revenues also fell 18% to P15.38 billion.

Shares in Holcim Philippines climbed 1.13% or 16 centavos to close at P14.32 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

Security Bank issues P6.06-billion LTNCDs

SECURITY BANK Corp. has raised P6.06 billion via long-term negotiable certificates of deposit, higher than its initial P5-billion program. — BW FILE PHOTO

SECURITY BANK Corp. has raised P6.06 billion via long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD), with the proceeds meant to diversify its funding sources and support expansion plans.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Monday, Security Bank said it successfully raised P6.06 billion via its LTNCD offering, which was upsized from the initial plan of P5 billion amid “solid demand from both retail and institutional investors…despite rising interest rates and broader market volatility.”

The LTNCDs, which have a tenor of five-and-a-half years, were priced at 4%, at the higher end of its initial indicative pricing of 3.75%-4%.

The debt papers were issued yesterday.

“This issuance has firmly placed our credit amongst retail investors — the LTNCD gives the investing public the chance to further express their confidence in Security Bank’s stability and ability to grow,” Security Bank Executive Vice President and Treasurer Raul Martin A. Pedro was quoted as saying in the statement.

The P6.06-billion issuance marks Security Bank’s first drawdown from its P20-billion LTNCD program announced in June.

Like regular time deposits offered by banks, LTNCDs offer higher interest rates. However, LTNCDs cannot be pre-terminated but can be sold on the secondary market, making them “negotiable.”

Deutsche Bank AG’s Manila Branch served as the issue’s sole arranger and also acted as a selling agent in cooperation with Security Bank.

The LTNCD issue marks the second time the bank has tapped debt capital markets this year.

Security Bank in June raised P18 billion via the issuance of two-year bonds, well beyond the initial program of P5 billion as the offer was oversubscribed.

The fixed-rate two-year peso bonds were priced at the lower end of the range at 5.875% per annum.

Security Bank posted a higher net income in the second quarter following the expansion of its core businesses.

The bank booked a P2.57-billion net profit last quarter, up 31.79% from the P1.95 billion posted in the same period last year.

This brought its first-half net earnings to P4.95 billion, up 15.38% from last year’s P4.29 billion.

Overall, Security Bank’s total assets increased 8% to P776.78 billion at end-June from P766.86 billion as of December 2018.

Security Bank shares lost P1.50 or 0.75% to close at P197.50 on Monday. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino: Disorder in the court

By Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

MOVIE REVIEW
Verdict
Directed by Raymund Ribay-Gutierrez

VERDICT, about the trial of a wife-beater, is the Philippines’ official entry to the 2020 Oscars for the Foreign Language Film Category. The shaky hand-held camera and harshly lit settings, give it the noisome, nitty-gritty feel of raw reality in the developing world. This has its charms for many of the culturati in the antiseptic First World film festival circuit. However, if you are prone to motion sickness, the prolonged exposure to so much juddering and bobbing up and down, or jerkily weaving left to right, may cause your gorge to rise.

Men’s violence against women is a universal problem which crosses boundaries of geography and social class. A UN study found that perpetrators are overwhelmingly male, so as Jackson Katz said in his TED talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue): society should pinpoint who’s responsible by always putting the word ‘men’s’ before the words ‘violence against women and children,’ as in MVAWC. In the Philippines, Philippine National Police data from January to June 2016 alone had 22,257 male perpetrators, mostly between 18-40 years old. Only around 1% or 244 cases of domestic violence complaints for that same period named female perpetrators, most of whom were over 40. Ribay-Gutierrez offers wry insights into the peculiar dynamics of Philippine society and culture, and especially of the family. When the barangay tanod (village police) enter Dante’s (Kristoffer King) house in order to arrest him, they deliberately ignore the small packets of shabu (crystal metamphetamine or poor man’s cocaine) lying around. It becomes clear why they went easy on Dante during a later scene where he visits his maternal uncle, who happens to be the Barangay Captain. The uncle’s barely disguised contempt for his ne’er-do-well nephew shows how the demands of family support and solidarity which our culture so values, only go so far. Dante has just about reached his quota for nepotistic privilege, although a tanod still grudgingly agrees to serve as a witness to his being an upright citizen.

Dante’s mother and older sister though, steadfastly stand by their bad boy. The mother in particular exhibits the codependent enabling behavior which keeps so many Filipino men in a state of arrested development — Pinoy Peter Pan’s who never mature beyond being self-centered, entitled, and petulant children. Dante doesn’t even have the sense to dress up for his court hearing and shows up in shorts. He is so full of himself, that he blames his lawyer for not warning him there was a dress code. It is left up to his mother to buy him a pair of long pants from a nearby ukay-ukay (second hand clothing stand) so that he might enter the courtroom.

On the other hand, the behavior of Joy’s (Maxine Eigenmann) parents is initially inconsistent with Filipino cultural mores. Fine that they immediately show up at the community hospital to pay their battered daughter’s medical bills. However, after this they leave her all by herself to tangle with the stress of filing a criminal complaint under R.A. 9262 against her abusive husband. The father uses his wife’s hypertension as an excuse for their both being unable to accompany their injured only daughter to the police station. Weirdly, they do not take their injured granddaughter home with them either. It would have been more in keeping with Filipino social conventions for the hypertensive grandmother to have gone home with her little grandchild so both could rest, while the able-bodied father accompanied Joy. But then she wouldn’t have looked as pathetic. And so, in the dead of night, Joy and her little Angel (Jordhen Suan) must tangle with the bureaucracy and tape as red as the blood seeping through the bandages over their freshly dressed wounds. This plot device makes her seem oddly friendless and isolated though — no extended family or posse of old classmates, kumares, or even neighbors to give her moral support during such a trying time. Thankfully, her mother does accompany her during the succeeding trial scenes.

Joy’s social isolation works against her when the female fiscal (Lourdes Javelosa Indunan, playing herself in an office where her case files are simply stacked high against a wall) tells her she needs witnesses to testify in her behalf. Apparently, her obvious injuries which were fully documented with photographs and a medical certificate aren’t enough to make her case. Joy does not call on the two neighbors who appeared at their window to complain about the noise in the opening scene where Dante is beating her up, to serve as her witnesses. Dante was not charged under said RA 9262 for also injuring his daughter Angel seriously enough for the child to also require treatment at their community hospital. Surely, that “C” at the end of MVAWC would have made Joy’s case stronger, but the cinematic intent seems to be to stack the deck against her. She must be as fully victimized as possible. Verdict is quite educational though about the steps one must take in pursuing a court case against MVAWC. No fixers appear.

Angel is called to give her testimony in the privacy of the judge’s chambers. The fiscal pointedly asks the little girl whether she realizes Jesus will get angry at her if she doesn’t tell the truth. This exchange highlights the inseparability of the Christian Church and the Philippine State, and the social acceptability of using Jesus as a threat against children. Although an earlier scene has Joy wondering at how she will coach her six-year-old daughter through the lengthy list of questions which the fiscal has prepared, it turns out that the child only has to deal with two rather lame questions. It seems a wasted opportunity to build up Joy’s case, but again the plot is set to show her as a hapless creature caught in the net of our inept system of justice which is enmeshed with the overpowering rule of patriarchy. No spoilers ahead on what the actual verdict is. The last scene which shows Joy’s files unceremoniously placed in a storage area that does not seem to have any coherent or logical filing system, is a damning indictment of the Philippine courts. It may not quite be hell, perhaps just endless limbo. But still be advised to abandon all hope, those who enter here.

DMCI Homes close to selling out Pasig condo

DMCI Homes has almost sold out its three-tower residential condominium called Prisma Residences in Pasig City, generating about P11.4 billion in reservation sales.

The Consunji-led property developer said in a statement that it is now down to the last 214 units for the project, thanks to high demand in the area.

Citing a study by property consultant Colliers International, DMCI Homes said high residential demand in Pasig is seen to continue in the next three years due to the entry of offshore gaming firms.

“Colliers expects leasing to remain firm over the next three years as the entry of offshore gaming firms in Quezon City and Ortigas Center should boost residential demand in these areas,” Colliers International said in its 2nd quarter property market report.

The company also noted a study by Santos Knight Frank, which said that Ortigas and Makati booked the fastest take-up rate at more than 20 units per month, compared to almost 150 units per month in the Bay Area in the second quarter.

The continued demand for units in Pasig City has prompted DMCI Homes to launch another project in the area.

“We are currently exploring product designs that could better address the needs of homebuyers in the area,” DMCI Homes Assistant Vice President for Project Development Dennis Yap said in a statement.

DMCI Homes targets to complete Prisma Residences’ Astra building by April 2022. The Celeste tower is set to be finished in April 2023, while the Kiran building will be complete by April 2024.

Huawei denies interest in acquiring Oi or any other Brazilian carrier

SAO PAULO — Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. said on Sunday it was not interested in acquiring struggling Oi SA or any other Brazilian carrier.

Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported on Saturday in its online version that Huawei was joining forces with China Mobile to potentially enter a dispute to buy Oi SA.

“Huawei has no plan or interest in acquiring Oi or any other Brazilian carrier. In Brazil for more than 20 years, the company is working with all major Brazilian carriers supplying the best products and solutions to support digital transformation in Brazil,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

According to O Globo, the two Chinese companies expect the Brazil business to grow significantly once the country starts deploying its fifth-generation wireless technology (5G), and Oi’s 360,000 km (224,000 miles) of fiber infrastructure is seen as an attractive asset.

China Mobile did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, and Oi declined to comment.

Brazil’s largest fixed-line carrier has been struggling to turn around its business since it filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2016 to restructure approximately 65 billion reais of debt.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that, while negotiating its mobile network with Spain’s Telefonica SA and Telecom Italia SpA, Oi is also involved in preliminary talks with AT&T, Inc. and another Chinese company. — Reuters

Deutsche Bank seals deal to transfer prime assets to BNP

DEUTSCHE BANK AG has finalized a deal with BNP Paribas SA to transfer its prime brokerage business to the French bank as part of the German lender’s biggest overhaul in recent history.

About 1,000 Deutsche Bank employees will transfer to the French bank through 2021, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The two lenders expect that client balances — which halved to about $80 billion at the German bank — will recover now there’s more certainty on the future of the business, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

The two firms had agreed on a deal in principle in early July as Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing retreats from equities trading, which includes the prime business serving hedge funds. But finalizing the accord has been complicated by a flood of client defections. For Sewing’s counterpart at BNP, Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, a deal could bring the scale needed to compete with the bigger players.

The agreement could vault BNP Paribas into the global top 4 of prime brokerages over the next 12 months, one that may eventually have between $250 billion and $300 billion in client balances, according to the people. Deutsche Bank will continue to manage the platform until clients can be passed over to the French lender, the two banks said on Monday.

“Now that the deal has signed we believe we have the basis to regain and expand on the business,” Deutsche Bank Chief Operating Officer Frank Kuhnke said in a telephone interview. The deal “provides tangible real benefits for our customers and gives our staff a way forward.”

The deal comes just a few days after Deutsche Bank sold the first portfolio of equity derivatives, which is another key plank of its plan to close equities trading and get the associated assets off its balance sheet quickly and without incurring restructuring costs or write-downs. The bank has said it will provide details about its progress during its third-quarter results presentation on Oct. 30.

Ashley Wilson is one of the co-heads overseeing the German lender’s unwanted assets as part of Deutsche Bank’s retreat. When the two European banking giants first discussed the deal, Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage business was set to move about €150 billion ($165 billion) of balances, people familiar with the matter have said previously. Yet clients put off by the uncertainty pulled about $1 billion of funds per day at one point, the people said at the time.

Prime-brokerage divisions cater specifically to hedge funds, lending them cash and securities and executing their trades, and the relationships can be vital for investment banks. The prime business generated about $18.3 billion in fees in 2018 industrywide, about the same as revenue from trading corporate debt and currencies combined, data from Coalition Development Ltd. show.

TOP THREE
Deutsche Bank, which became a force on Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis, has struggled to keep hedge-fund clients in recent years as it lurched from one problem to another. US rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are the top three firms in the business, while Deutsche Bank wasn’t among the top seven prime brokers in 2018, Coalition data show.

BNP, based in Paris, has sought to profit from crisis before. The lender bought Bank of America Corp.’s prime-brokerage business in June 2008 as the credit crunch raged, acquiring more than 500 clients and 300 employees. Still, the firm has one of the smallest prime units among global banks, according to Coalition.

Deutsche Bank’s hedge fund balances have been declining throughout the year as speculation swirled around Sewing’s intentions for the prime brokerage unit.

One major client — Renaissance Technologies — has been pulling money from the firm, people familiar said earlier. — Bloomberg

Tagaytay Highlands focuses on holistic living

TAGAYTAY Highlands wants residents to take a break from the hustle and bustle of city living with Horizon Terraces, a luxury community featuring Asian-inspired homes.

The SM Group is offering two types of townhouses in Horizon Terraces. The first is the Garden Suite, which are one- to two-bedroom units featuring large panel windows and an expansive balcony for small families or individuals.

Garden Villas are targeted toward large families, with three bedrooms and a multi-purpose den on the ground floor that can be covered into another bedroom or an entertainment room.

The development sits on a 3.2-hectare terrain with several amenities including a resort-style swimming pool, outdoor fitness zone, children’s playground, sensory garden, walking path, and pocket gardens.

On top of these amenities, Horizon Terraces offer a view of the Midlands Golf Course, Taal Lake and Volcano, Mount Makiling, and a lush central park.

“Horizon Terraces provides refined living options in nature that are worry-free and convenient, whether for a weekend home or for everyday living,” the company said.

Residents will further have access to the nearby Country Club, where they can enjoy more indoor and outdoor sports facilities such as the Aerial Walk, Sporting Arrow, and Pedal Go Kart Racing.

They can also dine in Tagaytay Highlands’ specialty restaurants Highlander Steakhouse and Highlands China Palace.

Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino: Whack Job

By Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

MOVIE REVIEW
Watch Me Kill
Directed by Tyrone Acierto

Watch Me Kill got the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino award for Best Director, and is the only Filipino film which will be shown at the Warsaw International Film Festival this October.

CINEMA as an art form is show and tell. As for visuality, Watch Me Kill is as purely and poetically cinematic as it gets. The film was not shot digitally but with a classic Kodak 16mm film camera. This is evident in the richness and the careful craftsmanship of the somberly elegant cinematography by Marvin Szocinski, the director Tyrone Acierto’s long-time collaborator. As Acierto wrote in his director’s statement: “There’s a certain texture that cannot be duplicated when shooting with film versus digital. Our test shoot revealed this when we compared the results side by side. We made the decision to shoot the whole film on Super 16mm primarily because the texture we so wanted to exalt is heightened with the use of actual film negative.”

The film’s logline: “Life is precious. Never kill for free,” is more observed in the breach. The opening scene has a bereaved grandfather paying assassin Luciana (Jean Garcia) a wad of P500 bills — easily half a million from the thickness of the envelope — to execute the purported killer of his grandson who has been exonerated by the court. The target turns out to be a mere panadero (baker) in a hole-in-the-wall bakery. When we see how pipichugin (what a powerless nobody) the victim is, we are struck by how overpriced Luciana’s services are. Contract killers for the much-vaunted EJKs targeting similar nobodies (petty pushers, runners, users or even the shirtless istambay and siga — neighborhood toughies) in the slums, are said to do the job for as little as P10,000.

Luciana goes literally for overkill to make up for her exorbitant fee. Her clients get more than they pay for. She wields heavy firearms as well as a wicked machete against the unarmed and peaceful panadero whom she surprises while he is innocently kneading dough in his steaming hot kitchen, wearing just his sando (sleeveless undershirt) and shorts. As lore has it, that is how pan de sal gets its distinctive flavor. As a bonus or a Buy-One-Take-One deal, she also takes out another guy who just happened to open the door for her. As proof of service, she has the poor panadero’s severed head couriered to her client, the vengeful grandfather.

Still jacked up, Luciana goes after the police detective (Bodjie Pascua) investigating the double killings of the panadero and the kitchen helper. She ignores his quietly reasoning with her that he is willing to drop to the case even if she was all over the CCTV surveillance video, since he is about to retire and would like to live out his remaining years in peace. She even kills the SPO1-driver who brought the detective’s take-out upstairs to his apartment. It is then that we realize we are not dealing with an ordinary killer, but a total psycho.

The altered state of reality is further evidenced by the visually compelling, Ansel Adams-like scenes of an ancient long-haired hermit panning, not for gold, but incredibly, for diamonds — a geological impossibility. A gemologist certifies a whopper which the hermit has found in a shallow stream, and an underworld mob boss (Jay Manalo) buys it. When the gemstone turns out to be just quartz, Luciana is again contracted to finish off the hermit and to get back the real diamond, if that even ever existed. Reality is never as it seems here.

This style of filmmaking is unusual in Philippine cinema, so Acierto explained: “The composition of each shot is carefully considered, leaning more towards efficiency of a single long take as opposed to multiple angles of coverage. Scenes are not quickly disrupted by the unnecessary cut. I allowed the pressure of time to build up to its zenith. This technique, perfected by the great Film Director Andrei Tarkovsky, has allowed me to unveil the characters’ weakness, strength, fear and motivation.”

The bar scene where Luciana meets with the mob boss hints at her world’s discrepant synchronicity. The setting is a sleazy bar, with a-go-go dancers in mini-skirts doing the jerk and the frug, as though they had stepped out of a New Wave film or one of those jukebox dance-o-rama musicales which were so popular in the 1960s. Tellingly, they are dancing to “Tintarella dela Luna,” an Italian novelty song of that era, which is about a girl who gets her unique tan under the moon, not the sun. Just as those who are mad are also known as lunatics, Luciana does not have it all together up there.

As her reality becomes ever more fragmented, Garcia’s stony-faced demeanor starts to crumble as well. There are flashbacks which attempt to explain her madness as being the result of deep trauma: she was abducted and trafficked as a young girl, or given how crazy she is, at least she believes that she was. Trapped in her own darkness, Luciana renames the little girl (Junyka Santarin) whom she encounters “Aurora,” for the dawn. Luciana’s violence grows ever more compulsive. Unfortunately, most of its victims are the poor: the good Samaritans who stopped to check on the fallen hermit, even the vegetable farmer who had nursed and sheltered her after she escaped from the mob boss. For the latter, she not only shoots him, but when she has run out of bullets, she does not reload, but bludgeons him to death instead. Then she takes over his land. The cruel and senseless deaths of these hapless supernumeraries might be taken as a veiled commentary on similar collateral damage in the Philippines’ ongoing war on drugs, four years long and still going strong.

Watch Me Kill is tagged as a psychodrama cum action thriller. It was an official selection in the 2018 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in Bucheon City, South Korea under the film market event: Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF). It will be shown at the Warsaw International Film Festival this October.

Given the film’s complexity, the director may further explain: “My concept for this film is one that pushes the traditions of observational cinema, posing questions of craft, utilizing formal devices that shatter the illusion of reality, while honoring the potential for naturalism inherent in working with a professional and non-professional cast and real environments. I’m influenced by cinema that maintains an aesthetic style of storytelling, blends documentary and narrative technique and succeeds with vigor and precision at painting rich portraits of human beings in their time.”

Like other works of art, it is beautiful, baffling and frightening all at the same time.

Cebu Landmasters partners with AboitizLand to develop mixed-use condominium in Mandaue

CEBU Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) has partnered with the property arm of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) for the development of a mixed-use condominium complex in Mandaue City.

In a statement Monday, the listed property developer said it has sealed a deal with Aboitiz Land, Inc. (AboitizLand) for the formation of Aboitiz CLI Developers, Inc.

The joint venture firm will develop a mixed-use, multi-tower condominium targeted toward the mid-market segment. They plan to launch the project by next year.

“With our roots in Cebu, AboitizLand and Cebu Landmasters understand the Cebuano market well. Our partnership is a first and a milestone for both companies. We have decided to collaborate for the betterment of Cebu contributing to quality housing needs of the community,” CLI Chief Executive Officer Jose R. Soberano III said in a statement.

Meanwhile, AboitizLand sees the project as an opportunity to further expand its presence in the country.

AboitizLand’s first residential project called North Town Homes was also developed in Mandaue City back in 1994. It has since expanded to other parts of the Visayas region, Luzon, and Metro Manila.

“As AboitizLand continues its aggressive expansion in Luzon and Metro Manila, we remain grounded in our Cebuano roots. This partnership aligns with our goal to continue to strengthen our presence here with current and future developments,” CLI quoted AEV President and Chief Executive Officer Erramon Aboitiz as saying in a statement.

For its part, CLI has been bullish with its expansion in the Visayas and Mindanao region. It recently announced a P1-billion investment for residential projects in Bacolod City, in addition to a P1.4-billion serviced residence in the area carrying the Citadines brand.

The company currently has 58 projects in the region in different stages of development.

With its aggressive launches, CLI generated a 155% increase in reservation sales to P2.87 billion in the first half of 2019. Its net income attributable to the parent grew 13% to P854.34 million in the same period, on the back of a 34% jump in revenues to P3.495 billion.

AboitizLand saw a 79% decline in earnings to P60 million in the first half of the year, after revenues also dropped 28% to P1.4 billion. The company traced the decline to the deferred revenue recognition of industrial lot sales in its industrial business unit.

Shares in CLI slipped 0.81% or four centavos to close at P4.91 each at the stock exchange on Monday, while AEV shares gained 0.09% or five centavos to P55.65 apiece. — Arra B. Francia

Banks worth $47 trillion adopt UN-backed climate principles

UNITED NATIONS — Banks with more than $47 trillion in assets, or a third of the global industry, adopted new United Nations-backed “responsible banking” principles to fight climate change on Sunday that would shift their loan books away from fossil fuels.

Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Barclays were among 130 banks to join the new framework on the eve of a United Nations summit in New York aimed at pushing companies and governments to act quickly to avert catastrophic global warming.

“These principles mean banks have to consider the impact of their loans on society — not just on their portfolio,” Simone Dettling, banking team lead for the Geneva-based United Nations Environment Finance Initiative, told Reuters.

Under pressure from investors, regulators and climate activists, some big banks have acknowledged the role lenders will need to play in a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy.

Financing for oil, gas and coal projects has come under particular scrutiny as climate scientists step up calls to change the global economy’s deep reliance on fossil-fuels to avert disastrous warming.

The principles, drawn up jointly by UN officials and banks, require lenders to:

• Align their strategies with the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb global warming and UN-backed targets to fight poverty called the Sustainable Development Goals;

• Set targets to increase “positive impacts” and reduce “negative impacts” on people and the environment;

• Work with clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices; and

• Be transparent and accountable about their progress.

The principles’ main backers say the norms will encourage banks to pivot their loan portfolios away from carbon-intensive assets and redirect capital to greener industries.

Critics argue that banks should go much further by explicitly committing to phasing out financing for fossil fuel projects and agribusiness that drive deforestation in the Amazon, Southeast Asia and other regions.

However, the new standards could also force participating banks to choose between foregoing business from clients in high-carbon sectors and the risk of being accused of backsliding on the principles if they continue to finance such firms.

Although the initiative is voluntary, Dettling, who played a central role during 18 months of negotiations with a core group of 30 founding banks, said lenders would be reluctant to accept the reputational risk of losing their signatory status.

“They need to demonstrate that they are making progress — and progress within a given timeline,” Dettling said.

“Ultimately, banks that are not in line with their commitments and do not make progress can be stripped of their signatory status,” she said.

Banks in Europe, in particular, also face growing regulatory pressure to disclose their exposure to the potential impact of climate-related disasters and a low-carbon energy transition on their asset base.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who has joined counterparts in France and the Netherlands to push for better supervision of climate risk, was due to address the UN climate summit on Monday, according to a draft agenda.

Other banks to join the “Principles for Responsible Banking” initiative included Danske Bank, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Lloyds Banking Group and Societe Generale, according to a statement. — Reuters

The Ascott expands to the south with Citadines Cebu City

THE Ascott Limited looks to boost the hospitality experience in the Visayas region with the opening of Citadines Cebu City.

“Ascott Limited is thrilled to welcome guests into the newly-opened Citadines Cebu City to elevate the Cebu experience,” The Ascott’s Country General Manager for the Philippines Daniel Wee said in a statement.

Located in Base Line Center, Citadines Cebu City offers 180 serviced residences, which aim to combine the elements of a modern home and the services of a hotel. Its lobby features furniture and accent pieces by Cebuano artists such as Kenneth Cobonpue, Bobby Lagdameo, and Inky Livie.

Units range from studio queen, studio twin, and one-bedroom suite, which all come with their own kitchen, wireless internet access, home entertainment system, individual air conditioning, and built-in washer and dryer.

Guests will also have access to concierge and housekeeping services, a 24-hour reception and guest service team, and a fitness gym.

The Ascott has tapped The Abaca Group for the property’s food and beverage services, including the daily breakfast, banquet facilities, and in-room dining.

The apartment-hotel stands close to several tourist spots like the Magellan’s Cross, Basilica del Santo Niño, Fort San Pedro, Casa Gorordo Museum, Fuente Osmeña circle, the Taoist temple, and the Provincial Capitol.

Developed in partnership with listed property developer Cebu Landmasters, Inc., Citadines Cebu City is the first out of The Ascott’s strategic partnership with the company. The two firms plan to develop more hospitality projects in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao region such as Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dumaguete, and Iloilo.

Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino: Feel good

By Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

MOVIE REVIEW
LSS (Last Song Syndrome)
Directed by Jade Castro

IN THESE troubled times, there’s something sweetly subversive about serving up a film with a happy ending that could believably happen. LSS daringly does just that. True, life isn’t always easy for its protagonists: the aspiring singer/song writer Sarah (Gabbi Garcia) and Zack (Khalil Ramos), the wholesome boy-next-door. Among the film’s highlights is his good-natured sparring with his larger than life, blue-haired and tattooed mother Ruby (Tuesday Vargas) as they routinely but affectionately curse each other out.

After a charmed first meeting on a P2P bus, we follow the pair’s initially divergent paths. Ms. Garcia is especially moving as the self-sacrificing big sister to Cedie (Elijah Canlas). She works at a series of minimum wage menial jobs and sells herbal supplements on the side, to send him to college. When she gets fired, she swallows her pride and even becomes a busker. Then, she learns that Cedie has dropped out and used her hard-earned money to record his own rap songs. Her hurt is palpable but she forgives him. She understands what it is to have dreams, even if hers must be on hold. It’s so refreshing to see decent people behaving with genuine love and concern for one another on-screen for a change, even if family dysfunction and neurosis are supposed to be the stuff of “serious” art. Sometimes, just entertainment is fine.

The pair’s paths briefly and tangentially cross months later at a coffee shop. Zack is there to meet his half-sister Cindy (Ameera Johara). Sarah mistakenly thinks they’re romantically involved, so she keeps her distance. The entire Ben&Ben, a popular indie folk/pop band whose songs are a veritable soundtrack to our protagonists’ lives, is at this coffee shop too. Their lead vocalists, the cousins Paulo and Miguel Guico, look like benignly dorky followers of Macario Sakay, the last Filipino general to hold out against the invading American imperial forces. (Fun fact: Sakay planned to kidnap President Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite daughter Alice who was supposed to visit Baguio. As ransom, our country would be granted independence in exchange for her release.)

In a playful riff on the ritual introduction of band members after a gig, the coffee shop barista loudly announces the names of each of the Ben&Ben band members as their orders are readied. Hey, they are among this film’s producers after all, so they’re entitled. Sarah bravely approaches the band as they are leaving, and asks if she can work for them as a humble roadie. She is gently rejected. Months later, she does get a job with their manager as a production assistant, really a gofer. Among her duties is handing cold drinking water to the other bands under the same management outfit, including Deux Ex Machina, her now successful younger brother’s band. But there is neither bitterness nor shame for either sibling. LSS has a paucity of true villainy. The closest to being bad guys are the narcissistic Cha (Iana Bernardez) and Sarah’s ex, Elmer (Eian Rances), who had insensitively scoffed at her artistic aspirations. He believed her future was in direct selling. Spoiler alert: he later inspires her first hit song.

Meanwhile, long-suffering Zack sees his best friend-without-benefits Cha, through a series of sexually fluid romantic entanglements since their college days yet. He’s just the sort of nice guy who doesn’t deserve to finish last, and one can’t help rooting for him. The director patiently shows us Zack’s and Sarah’s humanity, so that when both get their hearts broken, we truly do feel for them and weep with them too.

Their story unfolds over three years. It quietly teaches lessons in perseverance and kindness. Despite the initial rejection, Ben&Ben do give Sarah a break. They are unselfish as artists — no divas or angry angsty geniuses here. There’s no crab mentality either. Indie film fans will get a kick out of spotting other filmmakers in cameos, such as: Kip Oebanda as the P2P conductor; Keith Sicat as Ruby’s date; Quark Henares as Sarah’s boss who pleads with her not to unfriend him, even as he fires her.

Even Ruby comes around and forgives Zack’s father Buboy (Bernard Palanca) for abandoning them. It was she who had urged him to go work in the US when Zack was still a baby, which was how he ended up falling in love with Cindy’s mother. Long distance relationships is not for ordinary mortals. Love the one you’re with, as the song says.

Thus, when Zack as a good son accompanies his cancer-stricken father to the States for his treatment, Sarah and he disengage as lovers and become friends again. Their coming together at the end, in the magical setting of a music festival where Sarah is a star draw is just that much more satisfying. It’s not an ending but hopefully, a bright new beginning.

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