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Economic growth expected to fall short of target

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QUICKENING inflation can be expected to continue eating into economic growth.

OVERALL economic growth will likely fall short of the official target this year, according to the country’s Finance chief and a financial and investment advisor, partly due to quickening inflation even as infrastructure development should pick up steam.
“The second-quarter results came out and it looks like our economy took a breather,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in an interview last week with Fitch Ratings’ head of sovereign ratings for Asia Pacific, Stephen Schwartz.
The footage was given to journalists on Monday.
Gross domestic product grew by 6% last quarter from 6.6% a year ago and in 2018’s first three months, fueling last semester’s expansion to 6.3% from the year-ago’s 6.6% and against the government’s 7-8% full-year target.
“I think we will still be close to 6.8% this year. I think the momentum on our ‘Build, Build, Build’ is very strong and we are really moving quite well in our infrastructure program,” he added.
Fitch itself expects Philippine GDP growth to reach 6.8% annually from this year to 2019.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia has said that elevated inflation has weighed on growth, adding that GDP expansion will now have to hit at least 7.7% this semester in order to hit the lower end of the government target.
Latest Philippine Statistics Authority data show the overall rise in prices of widely used goods clocking in at a nine-year-high 5.7% in July, averaging 4.5% in the first seven months against the central bank’s 4.9% full-year forecast and 2-4% target range for 2018. The central bank and a BusinessWorld poll expect August inflation — to be reported tomorrow — to hover around 5.9%.
But Mr. Dominguez said that despite inflation’s spike, the economy is not in danger of overheating. Fitch in July flagged a widening current account deficit, high inflation and rapid credit growth as signs of overheating risk, as it then affirmed the country’ credit rating at a notch above minimum investment grade rating with a “stable” outlook.
“I think we can grow at a faster rate in the coming months and we believe that we’re not really in danger of overheating at the moment. We still have long ways to go,” the Finance chief said.
“I think we are still well witihin safe borders. We are looking forward to continuing our ‘Build, Build, Build’ program and we aren’t in great danger. We did pass our tax reform; we have been able to raise our revenues quite significantly.”
Latest government data show that tax revenues grew 18% year on year to P1.47 trillion as of July, while infrastructure and other capital outlays increased by 41.7% annually to P352.7 billion last semester.
He also said the central bank’s 100-basis point cumulative hike in benchmark interest rates this year, so far, should not affect growth prospects that much. “It will a bit… It’s not yet growth threatening because if it were, believe me, a lot of my friends in the industry will be calling me up everyday,” Mr. Dominguez said.
‘GROWTH WILL SUFFER’
For Denmark-based Lundgreen’s Capital, Philippine GDP growth will likely settle around 6.5% this year as inflation will likely eat into real expansion.
Moreover, progress on infrastructure projects remains “very slow” two years into the Duterte administration.
Peter Lundgreen founding chief executive officer of Lundgreen’s Capital, said the government’s 7-8% growth goal is good as missed.
“One reason is… that inflation eats up part of the growth because inflation is spiking too fast… Growth will suffer from the higher inflation because it’s how you calculate growth: gross number minus inflation,” Mr. Lundgreen said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“If inflation really were set to drop like two percentage points in the coming two months, then there will be a chance for growth to go high again. It doesn’t look like that.”
The Denmark-based financial advisor said 6.5% full-year growth may be doable, but this means that increased activity should be seen between July and December.
Mr. Lundgreen said that while growth is likely to settle below target, economic activity will remain upbeat.
“That doesn’t mean that people will feel there’s less activity, because growth before inflation will remain high,” he said.
However, Mr. Lundgreen said the government has to resolve infrastructure bottlenecks before it can unlock faster growth prospects.
“Apparently, they need to do something about the process because it’s going very slow. The money is getting allocated but the building process — particularly the approval process — somewhere in the system is delayed,” the investment manager added.
The government plans to spend more than P8 trillion on infrastructure up to 2022 on big-ticket priority projects nationwide. Around 35 of 75 projects have been approved by authorities over the last two years.
On the flipside, solid household spending continues to prop up overall economic activity.
“The private consumption story is still valid and pretty strong despite higher food prices, so it means that inflow to the middle-income class is still at a high pace,” Mr. Lundgreen added. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan and Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Philippines, Israel forge agreements on labor, science, and trade

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
The Philippines and the State of Israel on Monday, Sept. 3, signed bilateral agreements on labor, science, and trade, Malacañang said.
In a mobile message to reporters in Manila on Monday evening, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. confirmed that President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu witnessed the signing of the following bilateral agreements in Israel:
1). Memorandum of Agreement on the Temporary Employment of Filipino Home-Based Caregivers in Israel, signed by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Secretary of Labor and Employment Silvestre H. Bello III;
2). Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific Cooperation, signed by Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano; and
3). Memorandum of Intent on the Collaboration on Promotion of Bilateral Direct Investments, signed by Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen and Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.
In his message, as posted on the official Web site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Netanyahu said: “We’re going to sign here today three important agreements, on trade, on science and, no less important, on caregiving.”
The Prime Minister noted that “there has been a remarkable phenomenon in Israel where thousands and thousands of families have taken heart from the support given by Filipino care workers to the elderly.”
He added: “I am one of those families, Mr. President. My late father, who died at the age of 102, in his later years received incredible care by a caregiver from the Philippines, Lee, a woman of exceptional compassion and intelligence. She took care of my father’s every need. And when he passed away, she took care of his brother’s needs, until he passed away.”
“I, like many, many Israeli families, am deeply moved by this show of humanity. And today, we’re going to sign an agreement that will knock off as much as $12,000 from the cost of every caregiver,” Mr. Netanyahu also said.

2nd season of OPM singing show to focus on idea of ‘homecoming’

A YEAR after its successful season, Coca-Cola Philippines comes back with the second season of Coke Studio — the musical program which makes Filipino music artists collaborate to further the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) genre.
“[Coke Studio] about collaboration, it’s about music and it’s about great output and OPM. This is what’s at the core of Coke Studio — it’s about evolving the concept [of Coke Studio], we can’t stay the same,” Stephan Czypionka, VP for marketing at Coca-Cola Philippines, told reporters shortly after the show’s media launch on Sept. 1 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The launch was followed by a free concert featuring the artists in the second season of the show. The concert was attended by an estimated 3,000 people.
In August last year, Coca-Cola brought to the Philippines its international music franchise which currently has editions in Africa and other Asian countries such as Pakistan and India. The program, which aired on TV5, featured bands and artists such as Sandwich, Noel Cabangon, Curtismith, Urbandub, Gracenote, Autotelic, The Ransom Collective Abra, Reese Lansangan, Ebe Dancel, Moonstar88, and Franco converging and collaborating to create new sounds.
The show managed to produce songs such as “Caution to the Wind,” sung and written by The Ransom Collective, Gabby Alipe and John Dinopol; and “Stargazer” by Gracenote and Abra, among many others.
This time, while the program will still feature 14 artists, Coca-Cola Philippines is focusing on creating more “emotional and personal” songs upon consulting with the show’s audience.
“They want to know more about the artists and their story,” said Mr. Czypionka before adding, “That’s why ‘Homecoming’ was the theme [of Season 2]… it’s a very relevant topic in the Philippines, we have used this in our marketing a lot, but we didn’t want to be lazy and just think about geographic homecoming.”
He explained that when the artists were asked what “homecoming” means to them, it was also about going back to a certain memory or a certain event.
“I don’t know if the songs will be better, but I know they will be different,” Mr. Czypionka said.
The artists included in this season of Coke Studio are: Quest, who sang the 2012 Gilas Pilipinas (Philippine National Basketball team) song, “Sige Lang”; IV of Spades, which is known for songs such as “Mundo” and “Hey Barbara”; Ben&Ben which sang “Kathang Isip” and, most recently, “SUNRISE”; December Avenue, which sang “Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig” among other hits; Moira dela Torre, who is known for singing “Tagpuan” and “Malaya”;
Kristine “KZ” Tandingan, who is known for singing “Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako” and singing a cover of Air Supply’s “Two Less Lonely People in the World” for the 2017 film Kita Kita; Sam Concepcion, who is known for singing “Dati”; Khalil Ramos, who sang “Kung Ako Ba Siya”; rapper Shanti Dope (real name: Sean Patrick Ramos) who sang “Nadarang”; AJ Rafael who self-produced his debut album and sang “We Could Happen”; spoken word artist Juan Miguel Severo whose performances include “Parating Palayo”; Patti Tiu, who is known for remixing tracks at music festivals in the Philippines; and Kriesha Tiu, a Filipino-born American singer who is now a K-Pop singer.
Aside from the 13 artists mentioned, Coke Studio will have a surprise 14th artist will be revealed as the show goes on. The show will also be having a holiday-themed episode.
Coke Studio Philippines Season 2 will premiere on Sept. 16, 11:15 a.m., on ABS-CBN. It will have eight episodes. Episodes can also be viewed at the official YouTube page: Coke Studio Philippines. — Zsarlene B. Chua

She can sing, but can she act? Critics hail Lady Gaga: movie star

VENICE, ITALY — Most of the critics avoided the obvious headline to describe Lady Gaga’s performance in A Star Is Born, but they seemed to agree that the singer showed what it takes to lead a major movie.
For audiences familiar with the pop diva known for high-concept outfits and extraordinary hair and make-up, Gaga is barely recognizable as Ally the girl-next-door who has given up on a music career until she is discovered by grizzled rock star Jackson, played by first-time director Bradley Cooper.
“Given the extravagance of the pop star’s usual costumes, it’s almost like you’re seeing her for the first time,” wrote IndieWire’s Michael Nordine.
“She instantly makes you believe in her Ally as a no-name talent despite already being one of the most successful singers on the planet. Unassuming but obviously special.”
Reverting to form, Lady Gaga donned an off-the-shoulder dress made of long pink feathers as she accompanied Cooper in his tuxedo to the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.
“Gaga completely sheds her pop persona and exhibits a scrubbed-clean, relaxed appeal and a deft balance of toughness and vulnerability,” The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney wrote, in his review, adding that Cooper has “real warmth and a sexy spark in his onscreen chemistry with Gaga that makes their characters’ instant connection believable.”
From noodling on a piano at home, to huge concert scenes filmed for real at Coachella and Glastonbury festivals that Rooney found “electrifying,” the songs were recorded live, putting Gaga’s best-known talent in the spotlight.
Gaga is the third diva to tackle the story and couldn’t possibly have more fabulous shoes to fill: Judy Garland made the original musical version in 1954. The 1976 remake starred none other than Barbra Streisand.
But critics said Gaga soared to the occasion. In his five-star review in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called her performance “sensationally good.” The movie was “hokum,” but “outrageously watchable and colossally enjoyable.”
Gaga’s “ability to be part ordinary person, part extraterrestrial celebrity empress functions at the highest level at all times.”
Critics were also impressed by Cooper’s debut as director.
“To say that he does a good job would be to understate his accomplishment,” wrote Owen Gleiberman in Variety. “As a filmmaker, Bradley Cooper gets right onto the high wire, staging scenes that take their time and play out with a shaggy intimacy.
“The new Star Is Born is a total emotional knockout, but it’s also a movie that gets you to believe, at every step, in the complicated rapture of the story it’s telling.”
NOT BEAUTIFUL
Lady Gaga spoke of her painful road to fame after she shone in her big Hollywood movie debut
“Many times at the beginning of my career I was not the most beautiful woman in the room — but I wrote my own songs,” she told reporters.
The story of an “ugly” girl who thinks her nose is too big and hides behind layers of outrageous makeup had obvious autobiographical echoes for US star.
Lady Gaga said she dug deep into her own experiences for the role.
When she was trying to make it “they often wanted me to give my songs to other singers but I held onto my music with my cold dead fingers, ‘You are not going to take my songs from me’,” she said
“They made suggestions about how I should look,” said the superstar, who thanked a journalist for comparing her nose to that of another great diva, the soprano Maria Callas.
Lady Gaga she said had to be “very strong to negotiate” the music industry’s attempts to remake her.
“I would always take a left turn. I never wanted to be sexy or to be viewed like other women. I wanted to be my own artist and my own woman,” she added.
Gaga, 32, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, plays an Italian-American waitress and singer who meets a country music star on the slide in a drag club where she is performing Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”.
Sparks fly and soon this odd couple are making romantic and musical fireworks.
Gaga said her biggest fear was “being completely vulnerable and bare” on screen.
The first thing Cooper did at the screen test was wipe the makeup from her face, “and I was only wearing a little bit”, she said.
“I always love to transform myself and shape shift, it is part of my art and my music. But he wanted to see me with nothing… and he brought out this vulnerability in me, in someone who doesn’t necessarily feel safe to be vulnerable… he made me feel so free,” she added.
Cooper, 43, said their shared Italian-American roots helped weld the “amazing connection” between them.
“I got to live my dream, I always wanted to be an actor,” said Lady Gaga.
A Star Is Born screened in a non-competition slot at the Venice festival which runs to Sept. 8. — Reuters/AFP

RRHI hikes stake in Ministop PHL as Mitsubishi Corp. exits venture

ROBINSONS Retail Holdings, Inc. is planning to open 20 to 30 Ministop stores this year.

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
ROBINSONS Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) has tightened its grip on the chain of Ministop convenience stores in the company, as Mitsubishi Corp. exited the venture.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, the Gokongwei-led retailer said its wholly-owned unit Robinson’s, Inc. will purchase Mitsubishi Corp.’s 161.05 million shares in Robinsons Convenience Stores, Inc. (RCSI), equivalent to an eight percent stake in the exclusive master franchisee of Ministop in the country.
The transaction raised RRHI’s effective ownership in RCSI to 59.1% from 51%. The company did not disclose the deal’s value due to a non-disclosure agreement.
Mitsubishi also unloaded its remaining four percent stake to Japan-based partner Ministop Co., Ltd., which hiked the latter’s stake to 40.9%.
Robinson’s, Inc. and Mitsubishi have entered into a share purchase agreement for the transaction.
“We remain fully committed in keeping and growing our convenience store business. The CVS format is the fastest growing retail channel in the region and we intend to take advantage of this trend,” RRHI President and Chief Executive Officer Robina Y. Gokongwei-Pe was quoted as saying in a statement.
RRHI partnered with Mitsubishi and Ministop Co., Ltd. back in 2000 to establish Ministop in the Philippines. Aside from a wide assortment of merchandise, the 24-hour convenience store also features an in-house kitchen facility for its freshly-prepared meals.
Ministop reported P4.5 billion in system-wide sales for the first six months of 2018, with P3 billion in merchandise sales.
RRHI currently operates 492 Ministop branches in key areas in Metro Manila, Luzon, and Visayas. Ms. Gokongwei-Pe earlier said there are plans to open 20 to 30 convenience stores this year.
This forms part of the company’s planned spending of P3.5 billion this year to finance the opening of 100 to 120 new stores. Aside from convenience stores, RRHI has scheduled to open 13 supermarkets, three department stores, 10 to 15 do-it-yourself (DIY) stores, 25 to 30 South Star Drug stores, and 30 to 35 specialty stores.
On top of this, RRHI will also open 100 new franchised stores from The Generics Pharmacy (TGP).
By end-June, RRHI had a total of 1,742 stores in its network, excluding the franchised brands of TGP. Its portfolio includes Handyman Do It Best, True Value, Toys R Us, Ministop, Daiso Japan, Costa Coffee, Savers Appliances, and South Star Drug.
RRHI’s net income attributable to the parent grew 14.9% to P2.62 billion in the first six months of 2018, following a 13% increase in revenues to P60.46 billion. The company’s same store sales growth stood at 6.5% for the period.
Shares in RRHI rose 40 centavos or 0.49% to close at P89 each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

Mexican films based on great books screened at Instituto Cervantes

A SCENE from Pedro Páramo

THIS MONTH, the Instituto Cervantes and the Embassy of Mexico will treat moviegoers to “La Literatura en el cine mexicano,” a series of Mexican films based on classic literary works. The film cycle, to be held every Saturday at the new Instituto Cervantes branch in Intramuros, is an invitation to discover the richness and variety of Mexican literature and cinema.
The classic films from the “Golden Period” of Mexican Cinema — La rosa blanca (1961), Los albañiles (1966), Doña Bárbara (1943), Santa (1931), and Pedro Páramo (1943) — will be screened at the Instituto Cervantes de Manila Intramuros every Saturday of September, at 6 p.m.
The film series kicked off last Saturday with La rosa blanca, and continues on Sept. 8 with Los albañiles. Directed by Jorge Fons in 1976, the film explores several cases of corruption linked to some unsolved crimes.
The drama Doña Bárbara, based on the classic novel by Rómulo Gallegos, will be shown on Sept. 15. After studying law in Caracas, Santos Luzardo returns to take charge of his herd in Altamira, in the Venezuelan plain controlled by Doña Barbara. The woman has the peasants under her thumb, through a mixture of guile, a firm hand, and witchcraft. The encounter between Doña Barbara and Santos causes her to fall in love with the young man and to try to make him her’s whatever the cost.
The melodrama Santa will be shown on Sept. 22. Based on a novel by Federico Gamboa, it was directed by Antonio Moreno in 1931. It tells the story of Santa, a humble girl who lives happily with her family in a small town until Marcelino, a soldier, seduces and abandons her. Because of this she suffers the shame of being thrown out of her home and being condemned to prostitution.
The film series will conclude on Sept. 29 with the drama Pedro Páramo, directed by Carlos Velo in 1966. Based on the novel by Juan Rulfo, it is about Juan Preciado, who, walking through the Jalisco mountains, arrives at Comala looking for his father, Pedro Páramo, to demand what is rightfully his, due to a promise given to his mother on her death bed.
All the films are in Spanish with English subtitles. Entrance is free on a first-come, first-served basis. For details visit http://manila.cervantes.es or www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila.
The new Intramuros, Manila branch of Instituto Cervantes is located at Casa Azul, Plaza San Luis Complex, next to San Agustin Church.

Cinema-going is over, says director Cronenberg

VENICE, ITALY — Hollywood director David Cronenberg has predicted that cinema-going will die out — and says he “does not care” in the least.
The maker of The Fly, Crash, and Naked Lunch told a talk at the Venice film festival Saturday that “television screens are getting bigger and bigger and therefore the difference between theater and domestic viewing has become really flimsy.”
But the Canadian auteur said cinema itself would survive streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon and that it was “just evolving.”
He also revealed that he is working on a new television series himself, but said that he “can’t talk about it yet.”
Cronenberg said the visual language directors were using now was also moving away stylistically from the big screen.
“The rule used to be that close-up shots were only done for TV, and not for movies. But today that’s no longer the case,” Variety reported him as saying
In July Cronenberg told students at a Toronto university that streaming was “shattering the big screen into many little screens. This is causing much stress amongst movie-nostalgia hardliners. It does not matter to me. In fact, it pleases me.”
The Cannes film festival has found itself locked in conflict with Netflix over the last two years for its support of cinema owners.
It demanded that the streaming giant show the films it wanted to premiere at the festival on the big screen before releasing them online.
Rival Amazon often gives films it finances a cinema run before they are streamed. — AFP

PAL equity restructuring gets SEC green light

PHILIPPINE Airlines is hoping to end the year with a “modest” profit. — AFP

THE operator of Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Monday said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the equity restructuring plan to partially wipe out its deficit.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, PAL Holdings, Inc. said the SEC issued a certificate of approval of its equity restructuring on Aug. 23.
PAL said the approval means the company may now use its additional paid-in capital of P25.340 billion from its 2017 financial statement to partially wipe out its deficit of P29.074 billion in the same year.
The flag carrier’s application for equity restructuring is a repeat of what it did in October 2007. At that time, the company had also sought the SEC’s approval to use its additional paid-in capital to wipe out its deficit. SEC approved PAL’s application then, allowing the company to remove a deficit of P253.73 million using its additional paid-in capital of P4.03 billion.
At that time, PAL said the regulator required the company to get approval from the SEC before using its remaining additional paid-in capital to erase any losses in the future.
In September last year, the SEC approved a similar application from PAL, again crafted to remove its deficit in its financial report. It requested to decrease its authorized capital stock and increase the par value of each of its shares.
PAL said then the removal of its deficit was part of the company’s intentions to welcome a new strategic investor that will buy “less than 40% of the company.”
PAL President Jaime J. Bautista told reporters in July discussions with prospective investors have not progressed.
The flag carrier saw its net attributable loss from January to June go up 7.19% to P1.398 billion from last year’s P1.304 billion due to higher losses in the first quarter.
Mr. Bautista told reporters in June that the company is hopeful to end the year with a “modest profit,” as it seeks to impose a fuel surcharge, having made an application at the Civil Aeronautics Board. — Denise A. Valdez

Author Elena Ferrante supervised screen version of My Brilliant Friend

VENICE, ITALY — The mysterious Italian writer Elena Ferrante pulled the strings behind the first screen version of her Neapolitan novels, the producers said Sunday, as it was premiered at the Venice film festival.
Ferrante closely vetted and approved the eight-part Italian TV adaptation of the first book, My Brilliant Friend, they said.
The first episodes will shown in the United States on HBO in November, with 24 further episodes planned for the rest of the saga.
The four novels following two friends Elena and Lila from their dirt-poor childhoods in postwar Naples have become an international publishing sensation, with millions of copies sold.
Screenwriter Francesco Piccolo said Ferrante — who has tried to keep her real identity secret — was “very close to the project from the beginning,” even choosing director Saverio Costanzo.
“We can’t tell you who Elena Ferrante is because we don’t know ourselves despite the fact that we worked with her.
“She followed the project very closely from the beginning, like a kind of supervisor,” Piccolo added.
“You can see in the e-mails she had with Saverio (Costanzo, the director) that her confidence in him grew as it went on,” he told reporters after the first two episodes were show at the festival.
Costanzo said that although he used the first book “as a compass, I had to change the order of events, and lump things together. Elena uses a pen to order things and I had to use a camera.”
But he said he hoped “readers take up the film at the point where they put down the book. If that happens the credit will not be ours, but the brilliance of the books.
“They were so coherent that adapting them was easy. It was like slipping into old shoes that they keep you grounded.” — AFP

Why DMW is limiting exposure to PHL offshore gaming operators

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
D.M. WENCESLAO & Associates, Inc. (DMW) is limiting its exposure to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to around 30% of the company’s tenant mix in the Bay Area.
“We’re in the entertainment area, we’re focusing at somewhere between 30%. We just don’t want to be exposed to one specific industry,” DMW Chief Executive Officer Delfin Angelo C. Wenceslao told reporters after a tour of the company’s mixed use estate called Aseana City in Parañaque last Friday.
Mr. Wenceslao noted majority of their tenants are traditional companies, consisting of shipping, logistics, manning, and banks. These types of firms occupy around 50 to 60% of DMW’s existing office space in Aseana City.
Meanwhile, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms account for around 20-30%. Mr. Wenceslao said the buildings in the pipeline in Aseana City are mostly targeted towards BPOs, since they are built with the highest specifications and provisions for telco, data, and back-up power, among others.
DMW will be developing nine projects in Aseana City in the next five years. This includes three residential developments with a total saleable floor area of 88,000 square meters (sq.m.), the first of which called Pixel Residences is due for completion in October 2019. The other six projects will be commercial areas spanning 280,000 sq.m.
DMW previously disclosed that it will be spending P11 billion until 2020 for these projects.
To-date, DMW has seven completed projects in Aseana City, with a total leasable floor area of 59,027 sq.m. Among these are commercial projects called Aseana One, Aseana Two, Aseana Three, Aseana Town Center, and Aseana Square, all of which are already fully leased out.
The company recently broke ground for its fourth office building, 8912 Aseana Avenue which will offer around 68,900 sq.m of gross leasable area. The 15-storey building will have retail, office, and parking components.
For the residential segment, DMW is set to launch its next project with a total of 670 units offering units ranging from studio to three-bedroom units.
Aside from its own projects, the company has also leased out parcels of land in Aseana City to other companies, including Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI).
The Ayala-led property developer is currently developing 9.5 hectares of land in the area for Ayala Malls Bay Area, which will house a mall with supermarket operator Landmark, ALI’s homegrown hotel brand Seda, as well as office spaces. The project stands across integrated resort and casino City of Dreams Manila.
DMW has asked locators and developers inside Aseana City to build arcade walkways and canopies where necessary, for their employees and the public.

Gov’t makes full award of Treasury bills

THE GOVERNMENT fully awarded P15 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bill) on Monday even as yields rose across- the-board amid expectations that inflation picked up further in August.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P15 billion as programmed at its auction yesterday, with total tenders reaching nearly twice as much the offer at P27.5 billion.
Broken down, the BTr awarded P4 billion as planned in the 91-day debt papers. Tenders reached as much as P6.225 billion, with average yields ending 0.7 basis point (bp) higher at 3.225% from 3.218% in the previous auction.
Meanwhile, the government borrowed the programmed P5 billion via 182-day T-bills, with demand reaching more than twice the offer at P11.601 billion. The papers fetched a 4.101% rate, climbing 3.1 bps from the previous auction’s 4.07%.
The Treasury also raised P6 billion as planned from the one-year papers, with overall tenders at P9.64 billion. The T-bills were quoted at 4.899%, up 2 bps from the previous week’s 4.879%.
At the secondary market yesterday, ahead of the auction, the 91-day T-bills were quoted at 3.6518%, while the 182-day papers fetched 4.096%. The 364-day debt, meanwhile, yielded 5.0867%.
At the close of trading on Monday, the three tenors rallied to fetch lower rates. The three-month papers were quoted at 3.192%, while the yield on the six-month securities inched down to 4.0958%. The one-year papers, on the other hand, yielded 4.881%.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the rise in rates was within its own estimate, noting this signals that market expectations of further monetary tightening may have already eased.
“The rates are within our own assessment, given we have our own internal models. In terms of the increase, it’s like just 1-3 basis points… And at the same time, coming from the 100 basis points of the hike of the Monetary Board, I suppose there’s already some comfort from the market about the current rates,” Ms. De Leon said after yesterday’s auction.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board has hiked rates by a cumulative 100 bps this year, delivering a strong 50-bp increase at its August meeting as inflation continued to scale multi-year highs.
However, traders interviewed yesterday said they expect another round of policy hikes in the central bank’s next rate-setting meeting as inflation has yet to slow down.
“The market still is anticipating one last hike from the BSP. Even if [inflation] nears its peak, it is still above target,” a trader said in a phone interview.
Another trader said separately that the greater volume of bids for the shorter-dated securities shows interest rates are likely to increase further, which is also supported by similar moves by the US Federal Reserve.
“Nobody wants the one-year [T-bills]. The expectation is they (BSP) will hike again. You can see a lot of pooled funds more of in the middle. Ideally, it should be in the three months, but the yields are not that attractive as the six months,” the second trader said in a phone interview.
“Even in the US, they will also hike. So because of the tightening of rates widely expected in September with the Fed, and for us, it’s more anticipated. So the volume is more focused on the six months. Nag play safe sila (They played safe),” the trader added.
The government will release August inflation data on Wednesday. A BusinessWorld poll of economists yielded a median estimate of 5.9% for headline inflation, faster than the 5.7% in July and 2.6% in August last year.
The BSP, meanwhile, said August inflation could have settled within a 5.5-6.2% range.
The Treasury wants to raise P300 billion from the domestic market this quarter through auctions of securities, offering P195 billion in T-bills and another P105 billion in Treasury bonds.
The government plans to borrow P888.23 billion this year from local and foreign sources to fund its budget deficit, which is capped at 3% of the country’s gross domestic product. — E.J.C. Tubayan

Semirara on track to complete Panian pit rehab by mid-2019

SEMIRARA Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) said it remains on track to finish backfilling activities for the southern part of Panian pit in Antique by June 2019, as part of the company’s efforts to restore ecological balance in the open-mine pit.
The Consunji-led integrated energy company said in a statement that it has already filled South Panian with 62.7 million bank cubic meters (BCM) of overburden materials as of end-June, comprising more than half its year-end target of 120 million BCM.
BCM refers to the volume of earth lying naturally that is neither loose nor compact due to mine-site activities such as excavation.
“The company is on track in terms of the progress of the southern part of Panian pit’s rehabilitation. Given our pace, we expect to finish filling up South Panian in June next year, and then we can proceed with preparing the soil for plants and trees,” SMPC President and Chief Operating Officer Victor A. Consunji was quoted as saying in a statement.
Mr. Consunji said they are dedicating 25 dump trucks and four excavators for the rehabilitation work in South Panian.
SMPC stopped mining operations in Panian last September 2016 after securing certification from the Department of Energy for the depletion of the pit’s mineable coal reserves.
It has since embarked on the Panian pit’s rehabilitation program as per a five-year work program and budget submitted to the energy department. This will restore Panian’s original landscape that had open grasslands with a variety of trees and shrubs.
The company plans to blanket the area with humic acid, compost, and other materials to add nutrients to the soil once the Panian pit becomes a stable landform. It will also undertake a massive reforestation program where endemic and suitable plant species will be planted.
As of end-June, SMPC has already planted more than a million trees in the area, including beach agoho, narra, and molave, among others. Surviving mangroves planted in Semirara Island’s shorelines have also reached over 650,000 across more than 196 hectares.
Meanwhile, SMPC’s environmental project called Semirara Marine Hatchery Laboratory has also produced more than 144,000 giant clams in the area as of the first half of 2018. The company noted that giant clams are very sensitive to water quality, and thus cannot thrive in polluted areas.
SMPC’s net income attributable to the parent went up by three percent to P8.13 billion in the first six months of 2018, after gross revenues jumped by a fifth to P23.96 billion during the same period.
Shares in SMPC went up 55 centavos or 1.9% to close at P29.55 apiece at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

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