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McDo’s Sharon-Gabby ad lands on top of YouTube’s leaderboard


THE REUNION of former celebrity couple Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion in a McDonald’s commercial handily beat four Jollibee ads–three of which from its ad series, “Kwentong Jollibee”–making it the most popular YouTube ad in the Philippines for the first half of 2018.
This was the first time that McDonald’s has taken the top spot in the bi-annual ranking despite being nominated consistently since the leaderboard was introduced in 2013.
“The brief was about a classic pairing (McDo’s fried chicken and fries), so we were looking for a pairing that would rival our classic pairing,” Cholo Perreras, McDo Philippines marketing manager said during the leaderboard reveal on Aug. 23 at the Google Philippines offices in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
He explained when they thought of classic pairing, the team thought of Sharon Cuneta, who has done several commercials with the brand, and Gabby Concepcion, who was Ms. Cuneta’s former husband and has starred with her in several successful romantic films in the 1980s.
The minute-and-a-half video, called “Kamusta Ka,” showed Ms. Cuneta and Mr. Concepcion reuniting on-screen and catching up.
“The reaction (to the reunion) was amazing and the views were coming both locally and from abroad,” Mr. Perreras said, noting that they also noticed that a considerable number of viewers were younger than they thought the audience would attract initially — the people who were fans of the Sharon-Gabby pairing.
The video has 4.1 million views as of this writing.
Jollibee might not have won this year’s leaderboard cycle, which counts ads from January to June, but the quick service chain managed to enter the top 10 with four entries, three of which come from the ongoing “Kwentong Jollibee” series.
The three Jollibee commercials are: “Signs” which placed second, “Status” which placed fourth, and “Homecoming” which placed fifth. Aside from the three, Jollibee’s “Alex Wassabi for Jolly Crispy Fries,” which saw the brand’s first collaboration with an international YouTuber, placed sixth on the list.
Aside from the two quick service brands, Google Philippines noted that for this cycle, the top 10 ads all come from local brands and that this year, all ads which made it to the charts are long-form videos with an average duration of three and a half minutes, with AmbiPur clocking in as this cycle’s longest ad at 11 minutes.
The chart also saw first timers putting on a good showing, with Cerelac’s “Let’s Eat Bulilit” ad, featuring toddlers enjoying the brand’s food while having fun with their mothers, placing at number three.
“What people search for are [all about] cute dogs, cute cats, and cute babies. This was the first time [the brand] didn’t focus on nutrition but on having happy meal times,” Issang Ceballos, consumer marketing manager of Cerelac, said during the event.
This was a risk the brand took, she said as they also decided to only show the brand the end of the video, but it became so successful that, Ms. Ceballos told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the event, mothers would send them photos and videos of their babies enjoying Cerelac in hope to being featured. Now the brand plans on creating a separate ad featuring these mothers and their babies.
Google Philippines noted in a press release that while this cycle’s chart still showed how much Filipinos love romantic stories, it also “showcased diversity of digital ads in their length and format.”
“The list underscores how brands are maximizing YouTube to bring out their narratives and make these even more timely and relevant for local audiences,” the company said.
Among the prominent themes of the ads which made it to the charts are in-season narratives (for Valentine’s Day), multi-video storytelling like Jollibee’s ad series, and celebrities on YouTube as AmbiPur featured Kris Aquino while McDonald’s featured Maine Mendoza, Ms. Cuneta, and Mr. Concepcion, and Jollibee featured international YouTuber Alex Wassabi.
“The most successful brands on the list maximize this approach, and had audiences leaning in first and becoming engaged, with “selling” as an afterthought,” it explained.
“YouTube brings to the foreground the role and impact of brands in the lives of their audiences, and the YouTube Ads Leaderboard shows us the many ways this can be done. Great stories elicit that strong response from audiences, enough to make millions watch on and anticipate the next episodes brands have in store,” said Gabby Roxas, country marketing Manager of Google Philippines said in the statement.
Here are the top 10 YouTube ads in the Philippines for the first half of 2018:
1. “Kumusta Ka” by McDo Philippines
2. “#KwentongJollibee2018: Signs” by Jollibee Philippines
3. CERELAC’s “Let’s Eat, Bulilit!” by Nestlé Philippines
4. “#KwentongJollibee2018: Status” by Jollibee Philippines
5. “#KwentongJollibee2018: Homecoming” by Jollibee Philippines
6. “Alex Wassabi for Jolly Crispy Fries” by Jollibee Philippines
7. “Cutiespotting” by Unilever-Selecta Cornetto
8. “Si Vivoree, may bagong crush? Watch to know more!” by Smart-TNT
9. “Heart to Heart with Kris: Entry #37 Stuck In Traffic with the Aquinos | Kris Aquino | The Aquinos” by P&G
10. “One Sweet Day” by McDo Philippines — Zsarlene B. Chua

Lessons from history


ON DEC. 2, 1899, Filipino soldiers, led by the 24-year-old General Gregorio “Goyo” del Pilar, gave their lives in a battle to block Americans forces from advancing through Tirad Pass, a mountain gap in Northern Luzon’s Cordillera Mountains.
The much-awaited sequel to the popular historical drama Heneral Luna, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral continues the filmic chronicles of the revolution against the Americans, this time focusing on the leadership of Gen. Del Pilar, one of the youngest generals of the Philippine Revolution.
Directed by Jerrold Tarog, who also directed Heneral Luna, the film is produced by TBA Studios, Artikilo Uno Productions, and Globe Studios, and stars Paulo Avelino in the titular role.
The film employed a cast of over 2,000 and built an entire recreation of a late-1800s town in Tarlac. The team spent 60 days shooting in the provinces of Tarlac, Bataan, Rizal, Batangas, and Ilocos.
Mr. Tarog worked closely with writer Rody Vera (who also co-wrote Heneral Luna) on the script. “I wrote a very long sequence with all the details. I passed it to Rody [Vera] for him to work on a screenplay to which he added dialogue, then he passed it back to me. I then revised it to fit my style,” Mr. Tarog told BusinessWorld shortly after the film’s press launch in Quezon City’s Novotel hotel last week.
The events included in the film were those that reflected the director’s chosen theme. “[The choice] depends on which serves the theme of the film. It’s more of a mix and match of what is important in the film. It’s not a straight narration of Goyo’s birth to death. It’s more of the last seven months of his life.”
Lead actor Mr. Avelino said that the film will be both entertaining and relatable.
“Importante [para] sa atin na malaman ang historya natin, at importante [para] sa atin na paulit-ulit ipaalala sa atin itong mga nangyari sa historya natin para makita natin ang mga pagkakamali natin, at maitama ang pagkakamali na paulit-uulit hanggang sa panahon ngayon ay nagagawa at nagiging pagkakamali pa rin natin (It is important for us to know our history, and it is important for us to continuously remind ourselves of the events in our history to realize our mistakes, and correct those mistakes that we repeatedly commit until today),” Mr. Avelino told the press, noting the film’s tagline: “Tandaan Mo Kung Sino Ka” (Remember Who You Are).
Mr. Tarog said that the sequel as a more introspective film than Heneral Luna. “I always say that Heneral Luna is all fire and anger, and then when it comes to Goyo, it’s introspection,” Mr. Tarog told the press, likening the film to the element of water.
“Mas tahimik yung pelikula (The film is quieter) and, in a way, invitation siya sa audience para isipin kung ano yung mga nangyayari sa scene (it is an invitation for the audience to think about the situations in the scene).”
Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral also stars Gwen Zamora as Remedios Nable Jose, Empress Schuck as Felicidad Aguinaldo, Carlo Aquino as Col. Vicente Enriquez, and Rafa Siguion-Reyna as Col. Julian del Pilar.
Reprising their roles in Heneral Luna are Mon Confiado as President Emilio Aguinaldo, Epy Quizon as Apolinario Mabini, Arron Villaflor as Joven Hernando, among several others.
“Stories are one of the most powerful tools of influencing people. So, [you] have a big responsibility if you have something to say. You owe people a lot because [you] have the family of the historical figure, historians, teachers who may agree or disagree [with you],” Mr. Tarog told BusinessWorld in a mixture of English and Filipino.
“I have to consider many things before I tell those stories. As much as possible, I try to have clean intensions, hindi siya pang go-glorify [pero] hindi rin siya paninira (it is not meant to glorify and neither it is meant to tear them down) but it’s a straightforward examination of history.”
“I hope the engagement of the audience, not just with the film but with history, in general, grows deeper. Kasi ’yun naman ’yung isa sa mga importante, hindi lang ’yung pag-usapan yung pelikula, kung hindi pag-usapan din kung saan tayo nanggaling (Because that is one of the things that is important, not just that they will talk about the film, but to also discuss where we come from),” Mr. Tarog said.
Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral will open in cinemas nationwide on Sept. 5. For tickets, visit www.gmovies.ph/movies/goyo-ang-batang-heneral/details. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Filinvest expanding residential, office projects in Mimosa

FILINVEST Land, Inc. is redeveloping the Mimosa+ Leisure City. — HTTP://MIMOSAPLUS.COM.PH/

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
FILINVEST Land, Inc. (FLI) is expanding its residential and office projects in Pampanga with its redevelopment of the 201-hectare Mimosa+ Leisure City.
The Gotianun-led property developer started working on the Mimosa+ Leisure City back in 2016, after the Filinvest Group was awarded the 50-year lease for its redevelopment and operation management. Its master plan now includes an office campus called WorkPlus, a residential complex called LodgePlus, hotel developments, an entertainment strip, and casino.
FLI will be building six mid-rise office towers for the 3.6-hectare WorkPlus complex, which will cater to business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, information technology, and knowledge-based companies looking to locate in the area. The first building, with a gross leasable area (GLA) of 8,409.55 square meters (sq.m.), has already been completed and is fully leased out.
The next five towers are scheduled to be completed by 2021, which will bring the total GLA in the WorkPlus complex to 101,123.55 sq.m. The company noted that it may adjust the timetable in advance depending on market demand.
Each of the buildings in WorkPlus will have one floor dedicated for retail outlets, with podium parking located in buildings 4-6. Buildings 1 & 2 will have surface parking areas.
FLI will also be developing residential units in the 2.74-hectare LodgePlus to accommodate the employees of BPO firms in Mimosa+ Leisure City. Located 450 meters away from WorkPlus, LodgePlus targets to minimize employees’ time for transportation and promote a work life balance.
LodgePlus will offer a total of 438 residential units and 119 parking slots across three buildings, which are set to be completed from the third quarter of 2019 until the first quarter of 2020.
The residential project offers studio type units covering 32.11 sq.m., which comes with single beds, bed bunks, mattresses, cabinets, table with chairs, a kitchen sink and faucet. Each room can accommodate up to six people.
LodgePlus commands lease rates of P5,000 for each bed space, P30,000 for an entire unit, and P750,000 for an entire floor with 25 units.
Amenities include a clubhouse, gazebos, and seating areas. The buildings will also have two elevators each, round-the-clock security, and standby emergency power, among others. The entire residential complex will have 119 parking slots.
Meanwhile, FLI will also develop the Mimosa Entertainment Quarter, which will consist of a lifestyle mall and convention center set to be completed in the third quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2023, respectively.
FLI’s master plan works around the 25-year-old golf course which covers more than half of the entire Mimosa+ Leisure City development. Officials noted that the golf course is the largest in the country in terms of number of players, attracting up to 600 golfers per day on peak season.

Glamorous Venice Film Festival courts controversy

ROME — Global superstars Lady Gaga, Ryan Gosling, and Vanessa Redgrave descend on Venice this week as the annual film festival kicks off Wednesday to controversy over the inclusion of Netflix productions and there being just one female director in competition.
Some 21 features will be locking horns for the prized Golden Lion, which will be awarded on Sept. 8 at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Venice Lido, the iconic setting for Luchino Visconti’s masterpiece Death in Venice.
The festival jury is chaired by Guillermo del Toro, last year’s winner with The Shape of Water.
Australian Jennifer Kent is the only woman gunning for the Golden Lion this year, with The Nightingale.
The lack of female directors was blasted by feminist associations in an open letter sent on Aug. 11 to the festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera.
The letter was a reaction not just to the festival’s male-centric selection but also to statements by Barbera, who in a recent press conference explained that he made his choices based on “the quality of the film and not the sex of the director.”
“If we impose quotas, I resign,” he said, defending a selection criticized as “politically incorrect,” especially compared to the latest edition of Canne, which saw a call for gender equality in cinema.
A number of films being shown in Venice have been picked up by streaming service Netflix, including the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Starring Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco and Liam Neeson, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs features six tales about the Wild West narrated by Joel and Ethan Coen.
The inclusion of Netflix films and their contemporaneous release in theaters and online has drawn the wrath of Italy’s two major cinema associations Anec and Anem, who feel people will stay at home rather go out to watch the movies.
“I can’t see any reason why a film by (director of Golden Lion contender Roma, Alfonso) Cuaron or the Coens should be excluded just because they’re produced by Netflix,” Berbera said during the press conference presenting the festival to reporters last month.
‘FIRST MAN’
The star-studded festival kicks off with First Man, the new film from the Oscar-winning director of La La Land Damien Chazelle.
The film, which stars Canadian Ryan Gosling, follows the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong in the years leading up to 1969, when he became the first man to walk on the moon.
However the most eagerly awaited appearance on the red carpet will undoubtedly be that of provocative pop superstar Lady Gaga, who stars in the out-of-competition A Star is Born.
Bradley Cooper plays a hard-drinking country artist who discovers a young singer played by Gaga and is also making his directorial debut with the film.
The pair also wrote and recorded new songs for the film, the third remake of the entertainment industry romance classic.
Among the major names expected on the lagoon are Frenchman Jacques Audiard — who this time is taking on the Western genre with The Sisters Brothers — and his countryman Olivier Assayas, in competition with the comedy Non-Fiction, starring his favorite actress Juliette Binoche.
Grand Prix winner at Cannes in 2015 and Oscar winner for best foreign film the following year with his first feature film The Son of Saul, the Hungarian Laszlo Nemes will return to big competition with Sunset.
Big things are also expected from The Favorite, a period drama by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos that plunges viewers into the court of Queen Anne at the beginning of the 18th century and stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
As every year, the festival will award two Golden Lions for their career to two film giants, in this case the 81-year-old British actress Vanessa Redgrave and Canadian director David Cronenberg. — AFP

Ethanol producers oppose biofuels law suspension

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-editor
ETHANOL producers are seeking an audience with the Department of Energy (DoE) after a call from independent oil companies to suspend the Biofuels Act of 2006 to cushion against rising inflation, a move which they say could put at risk their P30-billion investment.
Gerardo T. Tee, president of the Center for Alcohol Research and Development (CARD), said suspending the biofuels law or Republic Act No. 9637 is akin to changing the rules in the middle of the game.
“[W]e are scaring the foreign investors away, we are sending a negative, wrong signal to these companies,” he said in a statement on behalf of the organization of potable alcohol producers in the country.
Mr. Tee, who is also chief operating officer of Absolut Distillers, Inc., said bioethanol investors spent about P3 billion to P5 billion for a distillery with capacity of 100,000 liters per day, depending on the technology used.
He said the biofuels law is not about lowering the prices of gasoline, but about rural development and the diversification of the sugar industry that empowers marginalized farmers, including sugarcane farmers.
“It is about putting the people, making the people go to agriculture, developing our farms, providing livelihood in rural areas rather than them moving away to Metro Manila,” he said.
His statement comes after the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA) earlier this month called on the DoE to suspend the Biofuels Act of 2006 instead of directing them to bring back Euro 2 into their retail stations.
The department’s call came after the inflation rate in recent months had risen in part because of the imposition of the excise tax on diesel, which jacked up fuel prices. Diesel is largely used by public utility vehicles.
“The government should think twice before suspending a law after asking for investments,” Mr. Tee said.
He said the biofuels law, which mandates a 10% bioethanol blend in gasoline, can only be amended by Congress.
Mr. Tee noted the bioethanol industry is also still in its infancy stage as the first bioethanol plant was put up only in 2013 and requires strong support from the government.
“We are the solution, we are not the problem. We are trying to promote renewable energy, we are trying to plant our own fuel and we are in its infancy,” he said. “You have to nurture the industry and let it grow. There has to be a time for our biofuels to develop because it is the future of the country.”
The CARD president also questioned statements claiming that imported bioethanol is cheaper than locally produced bioethanol.
He said bioethanol in the US is cheaper by P26 per liter because the US government subsidizes its corn farmers. Local producers do not enjoy subsidies for their investments in bioethanol production.
“It is not true that we are increasing the prices of gasoline, that’s wrong. There are instances that we even help bring down the price of gasoline depending on the price of ethanol. Bioethanol is not indexed to petroleum,” he said.
Mr. Tee said bioethanol provides energy security as gasoline is a finite resource whose prices are likely to go up when demand rises while supply stays constant.
“Bioethanol would free us from bondage from imported oil, from our addiction to imported oil. Gasoline is a finite resource, sooner or later it will be used up. The prices are now is just temporary, once demand stays like this and supply starts diminishing that’s the end of oil and the prices will go up. We are doing it now so that when that scenario happens we are already quiet independent, we don’t need much oil anymore,” he said.
Domestic ethanol producers produce about 300 million liters per annum, equivalent to 60% of the 500 million liters per year demand. The remaining 200 million liters of bioethanol, equivalent to 40% of demand, is imported by the oil companies.
CARD is established to promote research and technological advancement in the industry.

US playwright, ‘king of comedy’ Neil Simon, 91

PLAYWRIGHT Neil Simon speaks onstage during the 2006 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour for PBS in Pasadena, California on July 27, 2006. — AFP

NEW YORK — Neil Simon, the prolific and Pulitzer Prize-winning US playwright celebrated as the king of comedy who won more Oscar and Tony nominations combined than any other showbiz writer, died on Sunday. He was 91.
The brains behind more than 30 plays, 20 screenplays, and five musicals, Time magazine dubbed him the “patron saint of laughter.”
Many of his works are classics of 20th century American theater and Simon has been credited with playing a seminal role — along with film director Woody Allen — in re-crafting US humor in the 1960s and 1970s.
His influence has been felt through the generations, The New York Times drawing a line between Simon’s early comedies and the character-based comedy in the 1990s hit sitcom Seinfeld.
Longtime friend Bill Evans announced his death early Sunday in a New York hospital of complications from pneumonia.
His wife, a daughter and grandson were at his bedside, Evans told AFP. He had represented Simon for three decades from 1976 to 2006.
Simon was the author of critically acclaimed and commercial hits such as Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965), The Sunshine Boys (1974), and Lost in Yonkers (1990).
Much of his work, peppered with witty one-liners, explored the everyday struggles of the middle-classes and inter-family conflict, influenced by his troubled upbringing during the Great Depression.
“The good mechanic knows how to take a car apart; I love to take the human mind apart and see how it works. Behavior is absolutely the most interesting thing I can write about. You put that behavior in conflict and you’re in business,” Simon told The Paris Review in 1992.
ODD COUPLE
Barefoot in the Park turned Robert Redford into a star. Redford also appeared in the 1967 hit movie version opposite Jane Fonda.
Other plays that went on to become major Hollywood movies included The Goodbye Girl in 1977 that won Richard Dreyfuss an Oscar for best leading actor, and The Odd Couple in 1968 about two friends sharing an apartment starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
“Dilemma is the key word. It is always a dilemma, not a situation,” Simon told The Paris Review.
Born on July 4, 1927 in the Bronx, he grew up in northern Manhattan, the son of a skirt-chasing salesman who left the family home multiple times, forcing his mother to rent out her room to make ends meet.
Simon served in the military and then worked with his older brother Danny on producing jokes for television and radio scripts.
Barefoot in the Park, about a bickering couple inspired by his first marriage, and The Odd Couple that followed, were credited with capturing the zeitgeist of the 1960s.
“He was a writer and an artist who couldn’t stop going inside of himself and finding new things. Like any creative artist, there was a compulsion to explore and go deeper,” Evans told AFP.
“He found a connection in all of us,” he added.
“The phrase ‘odd couple’ is now used in so many different contexts. It was a privilege knowing him.”
‘AMERICANA’
In the 1960s, at the height of his success, with four plays running on Broadway, Simon was earning about $60,000 a week and easily double that thanks to royalties, The New Yorker reported in 2010.
In the 1980s, he produced the semi-autobiographical trilogy of plays Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound starring a young Matthew Broderick as the playwright’s alter ego Eugene Jerome.
Broderick is now a celebrated stage actor married to film star Sarah Jessica Parker. Evans called the trilogy a “slice of Americana.”
Simon described his craft as catharsis.
“It’s like analysis without going to the analyst. The play becomes your analysis,” he told The Paris Review
In 1991, Simon achieved the highest honor in US drama, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers, an autobiographical comedy about a mother and her daughter that was his last big splash on Broadway.
Such was his wealth that he produced many of his plays and in 1983 he was given the rare accolade of having a New York stage, the Neil Simon Theater, named in his honor.
In addition to his Pulitzer, he won a Golden Globe and three Tonys. He chalked up 17 Tony nominations and four Oscar nods.
He was married five times to four different women — he married his third wife twice — and had three children. — AFP

Changing house-hunting habits fuel growth of property portals

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran
THE country’s real estate sector is facing disruption as pressure from changing consumer habits push developers and agents online, according to property services portal Dot Property.
Dot Property, which has recorded over one million monthly visits in both May and June, found that home buyers are now utilizing property portals to facilitate their search for new homes, disrupting one of the country’s last remaining offline-focused industries.
Millennials, in particular, are leading this shift, as more than 60% of property searches in June reportedly came from users aged 25 to 36.
“The real estate industry is moving online. This is a global trend and Filipinos have been quick to join, especially millennials,” Tanya Peralta-Yu, country manager for Dot Property Philippines, said in a recent press conference.
“More Filipino home buyers, both domestically as well as those overseas, are now using online property portals. That’s because they are quicker and easier to navigate than offline methods. Portals also offer home seekers a better selection of homes to choose from.”
Data recorded by Dot Property showed that majority (67.97%) of its over one million visits in May and June were made within the country, with 27.63% of visitors coming from Quezon City, 21.77% from Makati, and 8.38% from Manila.
Visits made from abroad mostly came from the United States, which accounted for 11.23% of international visits, and Canada, with 1.90%.
Ms. Peralta-Yu noted the property seekers included middle-income workers who are looking for homes near their workplace, overseas Filipino workers, expatriates, and corporations eyeing investment opportunities.
These users aren’t simply “window shopping,” either.
Dot Property data found that its users were willing to reach out to a seller directly if they find a property they like. The number of leads — when a person inquires about a specific property — coursed through Dot Property Philippines rose 33% in May and 26% in June when compared to the same months in 2017.
In addition to recording an all-time high in website visits, the company also saw a significant increase in members of its agent network. The number of agents partnering with Dot Property Philippines grew by 92% in June.
Ms. Peralta-Yu pointed out that property portals will continue to grow with more people coming online and an increase in millennials’ spending power.
“We’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible. Searching online for property was the first step, but we can see that Filipinos are not simply browsing or window shopping. They are reaching out to and negotiating with sellers whenever they see a property that they like on Dot Property Philippines,” she said.
Moreover, Dot Property remains optimistic about the Philippine market’s appetite for real estate, as interest and inflation rates affect prices.
“The fundamentals are good,” Dot Property Editor-in Chief Cheyenne Hollis said. “Obviously, there’s always some concerns from foreign investors in emerging markets, but in the Philippines everything looks solid. Everything looks to be pointing up, and we’re very confident moving forward that the market will continue to perform well.”
Launched in September 2016, Dot Property Philippines is one of the leading property websites in the country in terms of traffic and is one of nine country property portals operated by Dot Property Group. Dot Property operates property portals across nine Southeast Asian countries, namely Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia.
Dot Property Philippines recently added home listings in the Philippines from the Mitula Group, its parent company, to the website. Mitula Group receives 85 million visits per month across 100 vertical search sites and 10 property portals under the Dot Property banner in more than 50 countries.

Camella to introduce ‘COHO’ brand for new condominium projects

DAVAO CITY — Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc.’s Camella brand will be introducing the CondoHomes (COHO) lifestyle concept in its three upcoming condominium projects and existing properties in Davao City.
The COHO lifestyle combines amenities such as coffee and bake shops, 24/7 convenience store, and other commercial shops within the condominium complex.
“The plan is every project there is the mall, grocery store All Day Supermarket, Bake My Day, and Coffee Project will be set up… That’s what sets us apart from other developers,” Rey C. Montoya, Mindanao operations head for Camella Condo Homes, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
Mr. Montoya said the first of these new developments would be the COHO Terraces project in Ma-a, scheduled for groundbreaking within the fourth quarter this year.
The COHO Terraces will sit on a 1.8-hectare area consisting of five buildings, each with 486 units.
Pre-selling for the project already started last year and “so far, it is very good,” he said.
Another project is the COHO Acropolis, to be built on a 1.6-hectare property in Lanang.
Mr. Montoya said the general plan is to use one hectare for the residential component, which would all be studio-type units, and 600 square meters for the shops.
Start of construction is targeted by the second quarter of 2019.
Plans for the third COHO project, to be located in the Buhangin area, will be finalized this month.
For existing projects, Mr. Montoya said they will be opening a Coffee Project shop at the Camella Northpoint along J.P. Laurel Avenue and a mall at the subdivision in Mintal.
“When we speak of launching, what we just do is usually a sellers’ launch, but we will launch it in a big way hopefully this quarter along with the three projects,” he said.
In Cagayan de Oro City (CDO), a Coffee Project has recently been opened at the Loop Towers, a two building development with units in the first building set for turn-over by December.
“We launched the brand COHO last year because in the major cities Davao and CDO, there is a high demand for residential, especially… (from) the young professionals, but the problem is there is not much house and lot available, we see condominium as a future home-buying (segment),” Mr. Montoya said. — Maya M. Padillo

Peso may weaken on Fed chief’s speech

THE PESO is seen to move sideways this week as the dollar may strengthen a tad following the US Federal Reserve chair’s speech and amid lingering geopolitical tensions overseas.
The peso closed at P53.465 versus the greenback on Friday, climbing slightly from its P53.48-per-dollar finish on Thursday amid lack of fresh leads.
Week on week, however, the local unit declined from the P53.425-per-dollar finish last Aug. 17.
A foreign exchange trader said on Friday that the speech of Fed chair Jerome H. Powell will be the main driver of dollar-peso trading as markets reopen on Tuesday.
“A September hike is a pretty done deal. Investors are awaiting the tone of his speech, but it will likely be hawkish,” the trader said in a phone interview on Friday.
Mr. Powell on Friday defended the US central bank’s push to raise interest rates as healthy for the economy and signalled more hikes were coming despite President Donald Trump’s criticism of higher borrowing costs.
The Fed, which began to tighten monetary policy in 2015, has raised rates twice this year and is widely expected to do so again next month and in December.
Speaking at a research symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mr. Powell said he wanted to “explain today why my colleagues and I believe that this gradual process … remains appropriate.”
“The economy is strong. Inflation is near our 2% objective, and most people who want a job are finding one … If the strong growth in income and jobs continues, further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate will likely be appropriate.”
Mr. Powell made no mention of Mr. Trump’s criticism of the Fed’s monetary policy. In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Mr. Trump said he was “not thrilled” with Mr. Powell’s Fed for raising rates and said the central bank should do more to help boost the economy.
In his speech, Mr. Powell simply made the case that gradual rate hikes are the best way to protect the US economic recovery and keep job growth as strong as possible and inflation under control.
Land Bank of the Philippines market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said the dollar may move sideways versus the peso with an upward bias as Mr. Powell’s speech is seen to support the greenback.
“US Fed Chair Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium is expected to support the greenback as it affirmed views of gradual US rate increases ahead,” Mr. Dumalagan said in an e-mail on Saturday.
The Fed has raised benchmark rates twice this year and is widely expected to hike again in September and December.
This will be reinforced by safe-haven buying amid geopolitical noise concerning US relations with China and North Korea.
“US President Donald Trump recently cancelled the upcoming trip to North Korea of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo due to lack of progress on the disarmament issue,” Mr. Dumalagan noted.
To add, Washington and Beijing pushed through the imposition of tariffs against each other’s imports following their lower-level meetings last week which ended with no major accomplishments.
However, the dollar’s appreciation might be tempered by last Friday’s weaker-than-expected US durable goods orders data.
Toward the end of the week, Mr. Dumalagan said the dollar may bounce back supported by “possibly firm” US data on second-quarter economic growth as well as personal consumption expenditure inflation.
“The second quarter economic expansion of the US is expected to be affirmed at 4.1%, a huge leap from the 2.2% growth in the first quarter,” he said, adding that the PCE (personal consumption expenditure) inflation, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, might remain steady at 2.2%, above the 2% target.
For this week, Mr. Dumalagan sees the peso moving between P53.15 and P53.65 versus the dollar, while the trader gave a P53.30-P53.55 forecast range. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Reuters

Tequila sends George Clooney to top of best-paid actors list

ACTOR George Clooney speaks after receiving the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award on June 7. — AFP

LOS ANGELES — George Clooney on has soared to the top of an annual list of the world’s highest-paid actors, thanks largely to the sale of his tequila company.
Clooney, 57, earned an estimated $239 million between June 2017-June 2018, marking the highest earnings of his 35-year career in film and television, Forbes said last week.
Clooney, who hasn’t starred in a Hollywood movie since 2016 crime thriller Money Monster, sold the Casamigos tequila company he co-founded to British spirits company Diageo in June 2017.
His on-and-off screen earnings eclipsed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who came in at No.2 with an estimated $124 million thanks to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and other projects.
The top 10 actors earned some $784 million collectively, according to Forbes, once again dwarfing the top 10 women who earned a cumulative $186 million in the same period. Scarlett Johansson topped the annual list with $40.5 million in pre-tax earnings.
Forbes attributed part of the gender gap to the dominance of superhero and action movies that tend to have more parts for men and earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.
Forbes compiled its 2018 list estimating pre-tax earnings from June 2017-June 2018, before deducting fees for managers, based on data from Nielsen, movie database IMDB, and interviews with industry experts and celebrities themselves.
Iron Man star Robert Downey, Jr. was third on the list, with an estimated $81 million, followed by Avengers: Infinity War actor Chris Hemsworth with $64.5 million. — Reuters

DHMC to address job-skill mismatch in PHL hotel industry

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
MANAGEMENT COLLEGE LARS ELTVIK has opened, managed, and taught in several schools in different parts of the world — from Chile, Dubai, Finland, Brazil, and more — in the past three decades. Now, he’s bringing his knowledge and expertise in the hotel industry to the Philippines, this time as the managing director of the Dusit Hospitality Management College (DHMC) at The Fort in Taguig City.
The 51-year old executive was tapped to open the Dusit Thani Group’s first hotel management school in the Philippines back in 2015. Among his first impressions was the popularity of hospitality education in the country, what with more than 1,000 schools licensed to train students in the industry.
“The competition here is much higher and there are some very good schools, some of them also with good international linkages. We are coming in to the premium segment of hotel and tourism management schools, really aiming to bring the top international partners,” Mr. Eltvik told BusinessWorld in a recent interview.
DHMC has partnered with Switzerland-based École hôtelière de Lausanne for the Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management. To ensure high standards in cuisine, the school has engaged Institut Paul Bocuse, named after the renowned French chef.
Students at the DHMC will experience on-the-job training as the college stands on the first nine floors of the dusitD2 Hotel The Fort Manila. The 27-storey tower offers 125 rooms for the hotel component, and 108 serviced residences.
The tower also houses five restaurants, providing students with the necessary facilities for professional advancements in culinary work. Students are able to witness a hotel’s day-to-day operations, allowing them to learn through hands-on experience.
Mr. Eltvik said this will help address the job-skill mismatch in the industry.
“What we find, when we talk to industry leaders and how they feel when they recruit young people, the challenges are that what they learned are not updated. There’s a gap with what they learned in school… This unique education concept will be very important to bridge this gap between operations,” he said.
Mr. Eltvik noted that with this kind of training, students would be qualified to enter management trainee or supervisory roles by the time they leave DHMC.
For this school year, DHMC will welcome around 12 to 20 students. While this is still a small group, Mr. Eltvik said they are happy with their recruitment for the year, noting that the focus is always on quality.
Since the group has yet to finish construction of the dusitD2 Hotel, Mr. Eltvik said they will first hold classes at the Dusit Thani Manila in Makati City.
“We’re fitting out learning kitchens here are Dusit Thani. We’re fortunate that the space is available,” he said, adding the DHMC facility will be ready by the second semester of this year.
The Dusit Thani Group is banking on the expected influx of tourists here in the following years.
The Department of Tourism reported last July that tourist arrivals hit an all-time high of 3.7 million visitors in the first half of 2018, 10.4% higher from a year ago. The tourism department earlier projected that international tourist arrivals could hit 7.4 million this year, higher than the 6.6 million seen in 2017.
With this in mind, Mr. Eltvik said the country needs more operators that could not only handle the growing number of tourists but also provide quality that’s at par with international hotels.
“These days people travel more often and more widely, so when an international traveler comes to the Philippines and they stay in a hotel that has a certain standard, they have the same expectation as if they are going to Bali or Hawaii or Paris. I think we have a great opportunity in the Philippines to strive to have the same standards here,” he explained.

SMC says Bulacan airport project to generate one million jobs

SAN MIGUEL Corporation (SMC) on Monday said its proposed P736-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan will generate as much as one million jobs in its construction phase.
In a statement on Monday, SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said the company will hire “the best workers from here and abroad,” once it secures the go-signal for the airport construction.
“It’s a massive undertaking. We will need Filipino talents in engineering, construction, hospitality, and airport-related services. Hopefully, this will give many of our OFWs countrymen a reason to come home, be with their families, and at the same time help in building a better future for our nation,” Mr. Ang was quoted as saying.
SMC is proposing to build an airport that will be built on a 2,500-hectare property with up to six runways and modern terminals, and to be configured to handle about 100 million passengers a year.
The project was approved by the NEDA Board — chaired by President Rodrigo R. Duterte — in April, subject to the condition of another approval round for the concession agreement to address concerns about the proponent’s financial and technical capability to deliver.
SMC has already submitted the revised concession agreement along with the risk allocation matrix. The Department of Finance and NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) forwarded their comments earlier this month. SMC is now considering the comments.
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) will then start negotiations with SMC to finalize the draft concession agreement which will be submitted to the NEDA-Investment Coordination Council, and will jump-start the Swiss Challenge.
Under a Swiss challenge, third parties can submit competing offers but the original proponent will be given the right to match these offers.
Last week, the DoTr said two airport projects are now being prioritized — the construction of an airport in Bulacan and the development of an airport in Sangley, Cavite — to ease congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

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