Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 10503

Q4 boosts approved 2018 FDI pledges

By Christine Joyce S. Castañeda
Senior Researcher
THE GOVERNMENT approved more foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments in the country last year, fueled mostly by pledges in 2018’s last three months.
Approved commitments for 2018 grew 69.2% to P178.97 billion from P105.75 billion in 2017, which saw a 51.7% drop from 2016’s level.
Many of the commitments were approved in the fourth quarter: P91.17 billion, 321.2% more than the P21.65 billion seen in 2017’s comparable three months.
This was the biggest amount since the P125.69 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.
“The sharp increase in the value of foreign investment pledges may have to do with easing trend in inflation and interest rates that reduce borrowing costs of new investments,” said Michael L. Ricafort, economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
Last year saw inflation pick up for nine straight months, peaking at a nine-year-high 6.7% in September and October before easing to six percent in November and 5.1% in December. This brought the full-year 2018 average to 5.2% against the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2-4% target range for 2018 and was the fastest since 2008’s 8.2%.
“Long-term interest rates have already eased by about two percentage points from the decade highs posted on Oct. 22, 2018, thereby encouraging more foreign investments with much lower borrowing financing costs, especially big-ticket/capital-intensive foreign investments that are financed by loans,” Mr. Ricafort said.
For Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. (UnionBank), the increase in investment pledges last quarter was a “good sign,” saying: “It somehow validates the economic growth story of the Philippines and that, in spite of the challenges of 2018, both internal and external, investors have signified their interest in the country.”
“However, it must be noted that these are pledges and may not become actual investments.”
Last year saw pledges from China grow more than 20 times to P50.69 billion from P2.33 billion in 2017. Chinese investments accounted for 28.3% of total pledges, followed by 11.8% from Singapore and 11% from Japan.
The government counts investment pledges from seven investment promotion agencies that include free port zones in Bataan, Clark, Cagayan, Subic, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, as well as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the Board of Investments (BoI).
BoI contributed 58.1% of total FDI pledges last year at P103.97 billion, nearly five times the year-ago P21.74 billion.
Foreign direct investment commitments are different from actual capital inflows tracked by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for balance of payments purposes.
Latest available BSP data showed FDI net inflows actually dropping 3.2% year-on-year to $9.06 billion in the 11 months to November, casting doubt on the central bank’s expectation of a fresh FDI banner year with a projected $10.4 billion.
In the fourth quarter alone, manufacturing continued to get the biggest portion of approved foreign pledges with P58.85 billion, accounting for 64.5% of the total. That period also saw investments in that sector surging 611%.
This was followed by electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply with investment commitments worth P13.34 billion or 14.6% of the total, as well as administrative and support service activities at P6.91 billion or 7.6%.
The bulk of FDI commitments in the fourth quarter — 52.1% of the total at P47.52 billion — will go to projects in Northern Mindanao, followed by Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) at P20.32 billion or 22.3% and National Capital Region at P13.05 billion or 14.3%.
For UnionBank’s Mr. Asuncion: “This may be simply due to the current government’s push for the economic development of Mindanao.”
RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort gave the same assessment: “Northern Mindanao has been one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, as the country’s biggest businesses have aggressively expanded to fast-growing areas outside Metro Manila, with Northern Mindanao as one of the major gateways to Mindanao and also a major link (seaports) to the Visayas and Luzon as well.”
“It has also been a host for heavy industries such as steel manufacturing… [and] huge multinational companies for many decades, especially those in large agro-industrial ventures as Mindanao is one of the major sources of food/agriculture in the country,” Mr. Ricafort explained, adding that land and other costs of production are relatively lower in the region, therefore making it attractive for investors.
Meanwhile, combined investment pledges by both foreigners and Filipino nationals totaled P605.07 billion, more than double the year-ago P282.5 billion.
Should they materialize, foreign and local investments pledged in the fourth quarter were expected to generate 72,630 jobs across industries, more than double the 29,818 projected jobs a year ago.
Both economists expect the country’s approved investments to improve this year.
“Further improvement in the country’s infrastructure amid increased government spending on big-ticket infrastructure projects (Build Build Build Program) would also fundamentally help in attracting more foreign investments into the country,” said RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort.
For UnionBank’s Mr. Asuncion: “I expect that investments, whether pledges or actuals, to continually grow as internal challenges such as inflation come back to normal levels.”
“The external environment, though beyond the control of the current administration, I expect to be better, specifically global oil prices.”
Approved foreign investment pledges

Honasan may not take on DICT post

By Denise A. Valdez
Reporter
FOLLOWING his nomination by Malacañang late last year to take the reins at the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Senator Gregorio B. Honasan II seems uninterested in the post as his appointment lapsed due to his failure to submit required documents.
“(Mr.) Honasan was not able to complete all the documentary requirements because he was very busy of the several hearings and meetings in Senate,” Benhur L. Salimbangon, who heads the Committee on Transportation and Communications at the Commission on Appointments (CA), said in a mobile phone message on Tuesday when asked for updates.
The Palace submitted Mr. Honasan’s nomination papers on Nov. 22 last year, a check with the CA showed. But it also revealed Mr. Honasan had not submitted any of the required documents for the CA to evaluate when the nomination lapsed on Dec. 15 as Congress took its Christmas break.
Required documents include his resume as well as results of psychological evaluation and medical exams.
When the Congress resumed session on Jan. 14, the CA said it had not received reappointment papers for Sen. Honasan from the Palace.
Congress is currently on a Feb. 9-May 19 break and will have only May 20-June 7 to act on pending legislative measures.
Last week, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said he learned Mr. Honasan did not like the post of DICT secretary due to the department’s perceived “lack of teeth.”
“Ang alam ko, kaya ayaw niya, parang wala raw kasing teeth. Parang magfe-fail lang siya. Wala raw ngipin (From what I know, he doesn’t want it because it doesn’t have teeth and is bound to fail. He said it didn’t have teeth),” he said in a Feb. 20 interview after a press briefing.
“Sabi ko naman, eh di magpagawa ka ng Executive Order, lagyan mo ng ngipin ’yung mga suggestion mo. Pero ewan ko, hindi na ata interesado (I told him, ask for an executive order that will give teeth to his suggestions. But I don’t know, it seems he’s no longer interested).”
Mr. Honasan declined to comment.
Eliseo M. Rio, Jr., who has been the acting secretary of the DICT since former Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima resigned in September 2017, said Mr. Honasan was not reappointed because of legal restrictions.
“Hindi siya na-reappoint ng Presidente because… Alam mo, meron sa Constitution natin, Article 6 Section 13, na (He wasn’t reappointed by the President because… You know, Article 6 Section 13 of our Constitution says) a senator or congressman cannot be appointed to a government agency that was created during his term,” Mr. Rio said in a Feb. 19 interview.
Art. 6 Sec. 13 of the 1987 Constitution reads in part: “No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office or employment in the Government… during his term without forfeiting his seat” and “Neither shall he be appointed to any office which may have been created or the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.”
The DICT was formed on May 23, 2016 through Republic Act No. 10844, which was passed while Mr. Honasan was a member of the 16th Congress as a senator.
While the final decision rests in the hands of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, Mr. Rio said he is prepared to take on the role should he be appointed by the Palace. “Siguro, yes, because marami na akong naumpisahan na gusto ko ring matapos di ’ba (Probably yes, because I’ve begun several projects that I also want to finish),” he said when asked if he would accept the job.

Rule of law in PHL one of Asia’s weakest

PHILIPPINE rule of law has remained one of the weakest in East Asia and the Pacific, according to an annual survey of more than a hundred economies that showed the country’s score steadying from last year even as it rose in rank amid a global slide.
The WJP Rule of Law Index 2019 — which evaluates adherence to the rule of law based on more than 120,000 household and 3,800 expert surveys in 126 countries — showed the Philippines rising three steps to 90th place, even as its score stayed 0.47 on a 0 to 1 scale on which 1 indicates strongest adherence to rule of law. The scale describes any score up to 0.50 as reflecting “weaker adherence to the rule of law.”
The Philippines actually placed 88th out of 113 countries on the 2017-2018 list.
In a press release accompanying its report, the World Justice Project (WJP) explained “that this change in ranking was calculated by comparing the positions of the 113 countries measured in the 2017-2018 edition of the index with the rankings of the same 113 countries in 2019, exclusive of 13 new countries indexed in 2019.”
The Philippines’ score places it at 13th out of 15 countries in the East Asia and the Pacific (same as in 2017-2018) and 14th out of 30 among lower middle income countries (compared to 17th/30 previously).
The top three overall performers were Denmark, Norway and Finland, while the bottom three slots were occupied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (124th), Cambodia (125th) and Venezuela (126th).
In East Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand (eighth globally), Australia (11th) and Singapore (13th) occupied first to third rungs, respectively, while the Philippines, Myanmar (110th) and Cambodia languished at the bottom.
Countries were assessed in 44 indicators grouped into eight primary rule of law factors, namely: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice.
The Philippines’ score per factor: worsened to 0.53 from 0.55 in the 2017-2018 survey in terms of “constraints on government powers”; was flat at 0.47 in terms of “absence of corruption”; improved slightly to 0.53 from 0.52 in terms of “open government”; was sustained at 0.42 in terms of “fundamental rights”; rose to 0.57 from 0.51 in terms of “order and security”; worsened to 0.47 from 0.51 in “regulatory enforcement”; slipped to 0.44 from 0.47 in “civil justice”; and stayed at 0.31 in terms of “criminal justice.”
Sought for comment, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra contested the description of Philippine rule of law as weak, asserting that law enforcement is a priority of the administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte. “Tougher enforcement of the law is not equivalent to ‘weaker’ adherence to the rule of law. That’s precisely why we moved up three ranks overall,” Mr. Guevarra said in a mobile phone message. “(Strict enforcement of laws) has always been the standing order since day one.”
“The new WJP Rule of Law Index scores show that more countries declined than improved in overall rule of law performance for the second year in a row, continuing a negative slide toward weaker rule of law around the world,” the group said in its press release.
“In a sign suggesting rising authoritarianism, the factor score for ‘constraints on government powers’ declined in more countries than any other factor worldwide over the last year (61 countries declined, 23 stayed the same, 29 improved). This factor measures the extent to which, in practice, those who govern are bound by governmental and non-governmental checks such as an independent judiciary, a free press, the ability of legislatures to apply oversight and more,” it added.
“The second largest decline over last year was seen in the area of ‘criminal justice’, followed by ‘open government’ and ‘Fundamental Rights.’”
At the same time, WJP said, more countries improved in terms of “absence of corruption” than declined for the second year in a row. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Captain Marvel stars roll out female-led action flick

LONDON — Marvel Studios brought its first female-led superhero movie to London on Wednesday, where the stars of Captain Marvel said they hoped to inspire with a different kind of action flick.
Oscar winner Brie Larson takes the charge in the highly anticipated movie, playing US fighter pilot Carol Danvers as she becomes a powerful superhero.
Samuel L. Jackson, a regular in Marvels Avengers films, returns, albeit as a younger superspy Nick Fury in the movie set in the mid-1990s during a galactic conflict.
“I’m sure the effect of what the character does and how she is perceived is going to be really a kind of wonderful boost for the female empowerment movement,” Jackson told Reuters at the film’s London premiere.
Captain Marvel, a prequel to the Avengers films made by Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios, tells a story of self-discovery, but also touches on a female friendship.
“It’s nice to just show two women hanging out, supporting each other and that being the love in the movie instead of a romantic love,” said Lashana Lynch, who plays Danvers’ friend and fellow pilot Maria Rambeau. “It’s nice to just show women standing their ground using their voices, using their intelligence, and using the fact that they’re fighter pilots, which is never represented really in cinema, especially for us women.”
Trailers for the film show Larson — who won a best actress Oscar for the 2015 drama Room — leaping onto trains, fighting and showing off some mighty powers.
“What I’m excited about is the representation in this film, but what that means to people, how they interpret it or in which ways they feel seen in this movie is up to them,” she said.
The film begins its worldwide cinema rollout next week, some four months after the death of comic book superhero creator Stan Lee, who also appeared in Marvel films in cameo roles.
It was “always a joy to see Stan at these premieres and (you) always wonder where is he going to pop up,” Jackson said. “It was as much fun for him to do his cameos as it is for us to be on the inside of this thing.” — Reuters

Analyzing the ills of Philippine Cinema

IN EARLY February, one of the country’s most prominent film directors — Erik Matti — bemoaned the state of Philippine cinema, saying that despite the “industry being the busiest [it has been] in the past three years” only a handful of movies have achieved box office success. He called his lengthy Facebook post on Feb. 7 a “plea for help” for the government to intervene to save the industry.
“In terms of what direk Erik Matti said that the government should intervene, that is also what [my] book hopes to do… to inform and influence policy development,” Michael Kho Lim, a professor at De La Salle University (DLSU) and an independent film producer said during the launch of his book on Feb. 21 at the DLSU campus in Manila.
Titled Philippine Cinema and the Cultural Economy of Distribution (published by Palgrave MacMillan). The book takes an in-depth look at the problems plaguing the industry and offering solutions on the “business side of things” or the problem of distribution.
“The perennial challenge for independent filmmakers has always been to get their content out in the market — to become visible and accessible to a bigger audience. Piracy provides that visibility and accessibility, albeit informally. Therefore, the real threat to filmmakers is not piracy but invisibility and obscurity,” states an excerpt of the book which was sent to BusinessWorld via e-mail.
The book is said to examine “the complex interplay of culture and economics in the context of Philippine cinema. It delves into the tension, interaction and shifting movements between mainstream and independent filmmaking,” in an attempt to address the “big question of sustainability of the independent sector based on the premise that distribution is its weakest link,” according to the book’s summary and excerpt.
“How will people know about your film if you don’t market it?” said Mary Liza Diño-Seguerra, chairman and CEO of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) said in response to Mr. Matti’s post at another press conference in February outlining the agency’s projects of the year.
The answer might be as simple as having a bigger marketing budget for a film.
But film director and producer Babyruth Villarama, who directed the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 Best Picture, Sunday Beauty Queen, said that very few independent outfits have the machinery to create a huge marketing plan when “we barely have enough to fund the films in of itself” using the film grants.
“What we need is political will, the answers are all in front of us, if we only take measures,” she said.
Agreeing with Ms. Villarama, Mr. Lim said what the Philippine film industry needs is a cultural policy on film.
“In one of the chapters, I emphasized strongly about cultural policy… in terms of development [of the industry], institutionalizing or putting certain rules [is important,]” Mr. Lim said.
He pointed out that rules such as content quotas, where the government will set limits on how much foreign content can be shown in cinemas so local content doesn’t get the short end of the stick, and the changing of the opening day of a film’s run from Wednesday to Friday, are some of the measures he sees will benefit the industry.
(He said that while the Philippines has a cultural policy crafted in 1973, no focus is put on film and the policy is outdated.)
In response, Ms. Diño-Seguerra said they are currently in the process of crafting a film policy and that her agency is planning to hold meetings with all the stakeholders — from filmmakers to exhibitors to producers — in order to answer the challenges of the industry.
“We acknowledge that the government needs to step in and we are doing it,” she told reporters during the awarding ceremony of the first Animation du Monde Asia on Feb. 22 at the French Ambassador’s residence in Forbes Park, Makati.
Now that she is on her third year as the chairman and CEO of the FDCP, she said it is time for them to create the policy — her first few years in the role were dedicated to building the confidence of the industry stakeholders that the agency is working hard to help the film industry.
Mr. Lim, for his part, told BusinessWorld during the book launch that if the FDCP were to craft a policy now, it would be a step in the right direction although he fears that Ms. Diño-Seguerra might not finish it with the three years left in her term. But he remains hopeful that what the agency is doing is a start. — Zsarlene B. Chua
The book is available at the Palgrave website and costs $79.99 for the e-book version and $99.99 for the hardcover. It is also available on Amazon.

Fiennes cousins, actor and explorer, adventure on the Nile for television

LONDON — Squeezing through tiny tunnels into a mummy’s tomb is not something to rattle veteran British explorer Ranulph Fiennes.
Yet for his younger cousin, who brought him to Egypt to film a TV show, the experience was stirring.
“I constantly felt I was in an Indiana Jones set. I keep (saying): ‘Oh no, not snakes’!” actor Joseph Fiennes told Reuters of the scene in Fiennes Return to the Nile, a three-part documentary airing on the National Geographic channel this month.
The program marks the 50th anniversary of an expedition that Ranulph, now 74, made up the River Nile and explores whether his actor cousin is cut from the same cloth as the man sometimes known as the greatest living explorer.
The show is at times like an upper-crust version of car show Top Gear, with the two Englishmen charging over desert sand dunes in a four-wheel-drive, trading banter in a Cairo traffic jam, or learning how to charm deadly snakes.
But if the viewer is in any doubt of Ranulph’s bona fides as an intrepid adventurer, at one point he uses a workbench and a rusty saw to demonstrate how he cut off his own frostbitten fingertips after an ill-fated walk to the North Pole.
For good measure, he shows off what look like tiny cigar stubs but are actually his severed digits. “There’s four,” he tells Joseph. “I don’t know what happened to the other one.”
Joseph, 48, known for The Handmaid’s Tale and the title role in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love, compared his unflappable elder cousin to the slower but ultimately victorious character in the Aesop fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
“I was just racing off and gallivanting up here and into this tunnel and down a pyramid there and actually getting very exhausted at the end of the day,” he told Reuters.
“Ran just has this ability to keep the energy on a very even keel.”
If the program is a success, Ranulph would be keen to take his cousin on another adventure.
“I’m not quite so sure that he’s terribly keen on my idea but there you go,” he said, as Joseph gritted his teeth and replied: “As long as it’s not ice and water, I’m okay.” — Reuters

SMIC profit jumps 13% in 2018

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
SM INVESTMENTS Corp. (SMIC) increased its earnings by 13% in 2018, as the company’s property, banking, and retail units continued to show steady growth.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Sy family’s listed holding company said net income rose to P37.1 billion last year, higher than the P32.9 billion it posted in 2017. Consolidated revenues likewise went up 13% to P449.8 billion.
“Our very good results in 2018 were driven by all three core businesses, retail, banking and property, each of which delivered strong revenue growth and also strong earnings growth,” SM President Frederic C. DyBuncio said in a statement.
“We remain optimistic about the economic environment and growth opportunities for the group in 2019.”
Sought for comment, Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Associate Japhet Louis Tantiangco said SMIC’s 2018 performance was “impressive.”
“The 13% year-on-year growth in net income to P37.1 billion was far beyond its five-year compounded annual growth rate of 5.94%,” Mr. Tantiangco said via text.
The listed conglomerate’s property unit provided 41% of the group’s earnings in 2018, followed by banks and retail which accounted for 38% and 21%, respectively.
SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the holding firm for SMIC’s property investments, saw its net income climb 17% to P32.2 billion after a 14% uptick in consolidated revenues to P104.1 billion.
The property unit benefited from the provincial expansion of its shopping malls, which delivered revenues of P59.3 billion, 11% higher year on year. Rental income gained 11% to P50.5 billion, also due to higher contributions from new and expanded malls in the provinces.
SM Prime ended 2018 with a total of 72 malls in the Philippines covering a gross floor area of 8.3 million square meters (sq.m.), while seven malls spanning 1.3 million sq.m. are located in China.
BDO Unibank, Inc. reported a net income of P32.7 billion, 17% higher year on year. This was attributed to a 20% expansion in its net interest income to P98.3 billion, driven by the performance of its core lending and deposit-taking businesses.
Total deposits at BDO Unibank stood at P2.4 trillion by the end of 2018, 14% higher year on year.
Meanwhile, China Banking Corp. exhibited a seven percent profit growth to P8.1 billion, on the back of a 17% increase in net interest income to P22.9 billion.
SM Retail, Inc. posted a net income of P11.3 billion, eight percent higher than its P10.4 billion record in 2017. Total revenues rose by 12% to P335.6 billion in the same period. The firm covers SMIC’s food and non-food businesses.
SM Retail added 335 new stores in 2018, ending the year with a total of 2,328 outlets consisting of 63 The SM Stores, 1,383 specialty retail outlets, 56 SM Supermarkets, 53 SM Hypermarkets, 195 Savemore, 52 WalterMart, and 526 Alfamart stores.
Asked for his outlook on SMIC, Philstocks’ Mr. Tantiangco said he expects the firm to have a good year, with its property arm being the main contributor to its bottomline.
“Stronger contributions are also seen from its retail segment given that commodity prices are already stabilizing,” he said.
Shares in SMIC plunged 2.69% or P26 to close at P940 each, in tune with the main index’s 2.33% drop for the day.

Swamped

Kangkungan
Directed by Mike de Leon
FIRST the title: Kangkungan — literally, swamp (or water) spinach patch. A highly nutritious green that flourishes in canals and fishponds all over the Philippines, often sautéed with fermented shrimp paste and minced garlic. What’s the significance?
Filmmaker Mike De Leon — one of the last surviving filmmakers from the great period of 1970s Philippine cinema — breaks out of his self-imposed retirement again (he’d been inactive since Bayaning Third World [Third World Hero], but came out recently with Citizen Jake) to release this short, on the eve of the 1986 EDSA Revolt anniversary.
It starts off briskly enough: “Countrymen this is the President of the Philippines”: a quick montage of Duterte cussing, flipping his finger, pulling a woman onto his lap — basically using the man’s own words and actions to describe himself.
After Duterte’s words, a precis of his actions: the massacre of thousands (some putting it at tens of thousands) for his war on drugs. The harassment, silencing, arrest of critics and political figures who oppose his agenda including Senator Leila de Lima, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Sister Mary Fox, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, and other human rights champions. The declaration of martial law in Mindanao — a stage rehearsal, De Leon darkly warns, for the nationwide expansion.
De Leon reserves his most withering contempt for Duterte’s open and unapologetic support of the Marcoses — of ousted president Ferdinand Marcos’ widow and children. One can question the filmmaker’s priorities — isn’t he flogging a long-dead horse? — till you realize, with a brief insert of son Bong Bong (yes, that’s his name, and, yes, he’s taken seriously as a possible presidential candidate) and daughter Imee that they’re poised to make a comeback, poised to re-establish a regime that (in terms of long-delayed vengeful malice) would make Duterte’s wrecking-ball administration look like a Boy Scout jamboree.
As De Leon looks to the future so does Duterte, who is attempting to fill the senate — the last bastion, as De Leon points out, of political resistance — with folk singers, former strippers, weeping police chiefs, personal assistants, anyone and everyone supportive of his cause regardless of qualifications, in a bid for “absolute power.” To underline the last two words De Leon inserts a brief clip from his film Kisapmata, of the murderous psychopath Sgt. Diosdado Carandang (Vic Silayan), yelling and brandishing a Colt .45 hand cannon.
De Leon mentions Federalism — Duterte’s plan to break up the central government into regions, on paper a way to distribute prosperity to outer provinces, in practice a way to break up the aforementioned central government so that political dynasties (like the Marcos clan and the freshly minted Duterte clan) can further consolidate their already considerable power.
De Leon saves mention of our humiliating subservience to a foreign power for last — possibly Duterte’s saddest and most damning legacy. If Trump is said to have sold the United States to Putin what more can we expect from a man who professes to hate America but apes (consciously or unconsciously) its most ignominious chief executive? Here De Leon strikes a more melancholic note, cross-dissolving onscreen images of the heroes of 1890s — Apolinario Mabini, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio — as he mourns the loss of the country these heroes gave their lives for, comparing our nation at its very best with our nation at its lowest point. The contrast is, to say the least, vertiginous.
Finally, De Leon explains the title: stark white letters against a black screen intercut with shadowy black-and-white images remind us of the old idiom “itinatapon sa kangkungan” (dumped in a swamp patch) — the convenient way of disposing a murder victim and what, De Leon asserts, Duterte is doing to the country.
Five minutes of exposition and lecture — presumably De Leon left it at only five because in this ADHD social-media world five minutes of straight talk is the most he can expect any of us to sit still long enough and listen to — and, no, he doesn’t tell us exactly who to vote for, but does leave us with this suggestion: vote as if your lives depend on it. Because, as this (on the surface direct and in-your-face, under the surface witty and richly allusive) video explains, it does.

Meralco in talks with ALI to put up microgrids in resort areas

MANILA ELECTRIC Co. (Meralco) is studying the viability of putting up microgrid systems in popular tourist destinations outside its franchise area and replicate the hybrid energy system it is installing on Cagbalete Island in Quezon province.
“Ayala has been approaching us for their resorts,” Alfredo S. Panlilio, Meralco senior vice-president, told reporters. “They’re asking us to look at Lio resort. They also want us to look at Sicogon.”
He was referring to Lio Tourism Estate, a project being developed by Ayala Land, Inc.’s (ALI) subsidiary Ten Knots Philippines, Inc. in El Nido, Palawan, and ALI’s tourism estate Sicogon Island in northern Iloilo.
Mr. Panlilio said the discussions with ALI are at an “early stage.”
“Without looking at numbers yet, I would think they’re bigger than Cagbalete,” he said.
Meralco is doing surveys to assess the resorts’ power requirement and the size of the distribution system.
“They just shared with us the plan. They’re asking us whether we could have a solution for them,” said Mr. Panlilio, who is also the power distribution utility’s head of customer retail services and corporate communications.
“[The projects] might be at least parang (like) Cagbalete. These are prime areas for resorts,” he added.
Meralco is keen on acquiring a congressional franchise to put up microgrid systems, which Mr. Panlilio said should be open to all should there be one granted to a specific entity. But for now, he said the distribution utility would rather work with the existing electric cooperatives in the area.
“We already have a hybrid solution, solar panels, with batteries and gensets (power generation sets). I think it’s a very good solution to address the requirements of Cagbalete,” Mr. Panlilio said.
When fully rolled out, the Cagbalete hybrid solution will have a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic capacity of 2.5 megawatt-peak, a battery energy storage system capacity of 4.2 MW-hour, diesel generator sets of 1.9 MW.
The project will be done in phases and will serve about 600 households and at least 10 resorts until 2024. The commercial operation date of the initial phase is by yearend.
Mr. Panlilio said Meralco is set to apply with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the capital expenditure and electricity rates to reflect the funding outlay in Cagbalete.
“It’s much cheaper than what they (customers) are paying,” he said, about the power rate to be applied for. “I think they are paying between P35 to P40 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). [Ours] I think is a range of about P20-P22 per kWh.”
Mr. Panlilio said eventually when battery systems become cheaper, the company might be able to phase out the diesel-fired gensets.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon

Inarritu to head Cannes Film Festival jury

PARIS — Birdman and 21 Grams director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will head the jury at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in May, becoming the first Mexican to do so, organizers said on Wednesday. Inarritu, 55, won the best director award in Cannes in 2006 for Babel, a film with a web of narratives spanning three continents and exploring cultural prejudices. He also won back-to-back best director Oscars in 2014 and 2015, for Birdman, a black comedy about a washed-up actor starring Michael Keaton, and The Revenant, which featured Leonardo DiCaprio as a bear trapper battling the elements in the American wilderness. “Cannes embraces all types of cinema, and through the presence of… Babel’s director, it is Mexican cinema that the Festival will be celebrating,” organizers including Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival de Cannes, said in a statement. Other jury members for the 72nd edition of the festival, which runs from May 14 to 25, will be announced at a later date. — Reuters

PCC green-lights sale of Splash to Bangalore firm

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said it has approved a Bangalore-based company’s plan to acquire Philippine personal care manufacturer Splash Corp.
In a statement, the anti-trust agency said Wipro Enterprises Private Ltd. is planning to buy Splash, maker of Maxi-Peel and SkinWhite lotion, from Ang Hortaleza Corp.
“After the acquisition, Wipro Enterprises Private Limited, through a wholly owned subsidiary, will own the domestic and international retail personal care business of Splash Corporation which will include the related inventories, plant, property and equipment, intangible assets such as patents and trademarks, as well as its foreign subsidiaries,” the PCC said.
The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
In the PCC decision approved on Feb. 19, the agency’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office (MAO) found that the transaction will not result in substantial lessening of competition in the market for manufacturing and distribution of whitening lotions. It noted there are many other firms selling whitening products in the market.
Splash’s business includes personal care and food manufacturing, as well as marketing, and distribution of products such as Maxi-Peel, SkinWhite lotion and Flawlessly U soap in the Philippines and in the international market.
Wipro Enterprises’ business includes manufacturing of personal care products in India such as Enchanteur lotion, Santoor soap and Chandrika soap. It also owns Wipro Infrastructure Engineering.
Under the Philippine Competition Act of 2015, the PCC is mandated to review mergers and acquisitions to ensure that these deals will not harm the interest of consumers. — Janina C. Lim

Shakira to face Spanish tax fraud accusation in June

MADRID — Colombian singer Shakira has been called to appear in a Spanish court on June 12 to face accusations of failing to pay €14.5 million ($16.5 million) in tax, the court in the Catalonia region said on Tuesday. A court statement dated Jan. 22 summoning her was published on Tuesday. Prosecutors filed charges in December claiming Shakira had failed to pay tax on income earned between 2012 and 2014, during which time they say she lived in the region. Shakira’s representatives said in a statement after the accusation was filed that the singer did not live in Spain until 2015 and had met all of her tax obligations. The singer of “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Clandestino” regularly attends football matches of her partner, Gerard Pique, who plays for Barcelona. Pique and Shakira, a couple since the start of the decade, have two children. Spanish authorities have pursued other major celebrities over tax. — Reuters

1...10,50210,50310,504...13,447Page 10,503 of 13,447
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube