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Skyrocketing London rents attract overseas landlords to housing market

THE U.K.’s struggle to secure a favorable Brexit deal may be giving Prime Minister Theresa May a headache, but it’s making London’s battered buy-to-let market attractive overseas again.
Foreign-based landlords owned 12% of the homes rented out in the capital at the end of the first half, up from 7% last year, according to a report by Hamptons International. A falling pound has made it cheaper for overseas investors to buy homes using their local currencies, and many have been lured by a red-hot rental market that’s still at record levels.
“I was convinced rents would drop as people fled the U.K. after the Brexit vote — in fact, everyone was expecting Armageddon,” said Agus Marcos Blanco, a 39-year-old pharmacist in Barcelona who shelved plans to purchase a London property immediately after Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Now, with rents having stayed buoyant, he’s looking for a buy-to-let investment in the U.K. capital.
It’s not an entirely rosy picture for foreign landlords. By some measures, growth in the rental market has cooled or even declined. According to the latest available data from the Office for National Statistics, rents in the capital slipped 0.3 percent in July from a year earlier.
Falling home values could easily wipe out any rental yields earned by landlords, as Britain’s housing market grapples with the impact of Brexit and rising interest rates. U.K. home prices fell 0.5 percent in August from a month ago, the biggest monthly drop since 2012, Nationwide Building Society said Friday.
Still, the jump in foreign interest is a boon for London’s real estate market as many domestic buyers have turned away after being priced out.
The imbalance between supply and demand in London has pushed average rents to 1,615 pounds ($2,100) a month, according to Homelet, the U.K.’s largest tenant-referencing company. That’s the highest since it began collating the data in 2011 and 72 percent above the country-wide average of 937 pounds per month.
Juan Guerrero, head of foreign-exchange trading at Banca March SA in Madrid, estimates the pound could bounce back as much as 15% against the euro if the U.K. negotiates a successful EU divorce deal. A home worth the London average of 483,000 pounds costs a European buyer 537,500 euros at the current exchange rate, and would be worth around 70,000 euros more after such a rebound.
While the pound has rallied in recent days as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has appeared to diminish, some forecasts have the U.K. currency sliding toward levels versus the euro last seen in 2009. That would mean rental returns would be worth less when converted back to a landlord’s own currency.
Marcos Blanco, who has bid an undisclosed amount for a two-bedroom apartment in Bow, East London, is undeterred by the prospect of a further drop in sterling. “I think all the negative news has been factored in, and the only way is up,” he said. “Time will tell.” — Bloomberg

Crazy Rich Asians still top of N. America box office

LOS ANGELES — It has been another crazy good weekend for rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, which topped the box office for a third straight weekend amid a pretty good summer for North American theaters overall, industry watchers said Sunday.
The Warner Bros. film, with its mostly Asian cast, took in an estimated $22.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, dropping just 10% from the previous weekend, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.
The film’s estimated take jumps to $28 million when Monday’s Labor Day holiday is included.
The adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel, starring Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, and Constance Wu, follows an American economics professor as she meets her super-rich boyfriend’s family in Singapore in a story about the clash of love, family and great wealth.
Crazy Rich also helped boost the summer box office to what Hollywood Reporter called a “spectacular year-over-year recovery,” with domestic revenue expected to be up 14% over last summer.
Warner Bros. meanwhile scored another hit with shark-thriller The Meg, in the No. 2 spot again with takings of $10.5 million. Jason Statham stars as a rescue diver trying to save scientists trapped in a submarine being attacked by a huge, prehistoric shark.
In third spot was Tom Cruise adventure film Mission Impossible — Fallout from Paramount, which took in $7 million. Globally, the action blockbuster has earned $649 million, the best performance of any of the MI films to date.
Fourth went to MGM’s new Operation Finale, at $6 million. Oscar Isaac plays an Israeli Mossad agent who tracks Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) to the Buenos Aires suburb where he is living under a false name.
And in fifth was Searching from Sony, at $5.7 million. Written and directed by filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty, it tells the story of a Korean-American man’s desperate effort to find his teenage daughter after she goes missing in California. It stars John Cho, Michelle La and Debra Messing.
Rounding out this weekend’s top 10 were: Christopher Robin ($5 million); Alpha ($4.5 million); The Happytime Murders ($4.4 million); BlackkKlansman ($4.1 million); and, Mile 22 ($3.6 million). — AFP

PLDT denies seeking compromise agreement with DoLE

PLDT, Inc. denied on Monday reports it is seeking a compromise agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on its dispute over regularization of employees of the telecommunications giant’s service contractors.
“PLDT has not sought a compromise agreement and is pursuing a fair and just resolution of this case on the basis of the 31 July 2018 decision of the Court of Appeals which substantially altered the pertinent orders of the DoLE,” the company said in a statement.
PLDT noted it was granted by the Court of Appeals (CA) on July 31 an injunction on the DoLE order demanding the company to issue regular employment status to more than 7,000 of its service contractors.
It noted the CA agreed that “the DoLE’s appreciation of evidence leaned in favor of the contractor workers, and that the Secretary had ‘lost sight’ of distinctions involving the labor law concepts of ‘control over means and methods,’ and ‘control over results.’”
The July 31 order of the appellate court said the DoLE was being speculative in its order versus PLDT, and the order had no substantial evidence.
In response, the DoLE said last month it will file a motion for reconsideration through the Office of the Solicitor General to argue its case.
“While it is true that there are functions or activities that may be contracted out, our position is that (they) should be contracted to a legitimate contractor,” DoLE officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said then.
But PLDT noted it still has a motion for partial reconsideration with the appellate court concerning the regularization of its workers doing installation, repair and maintenance (IRM) services.
“PLDT argued that the fact-finding process contemplated by the Court’s remand order is not actually part of the visitorial power of the DoLE (i.e., the evidence that will need to be assessed cannot be gleaned in the ‘normal course’ of a labor inspection) and is therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Labor,” it said.
PLDT also questioned the CA ruling, which appears to conclude all IRM jobs are “irregular,” noting the law allows some of these jobs to be “project-based” or “seasonal” in nature.
“Assuming the CA will affirm the remand, PLDT argued that instead of the DoLE it should be the National Labor Relations Commission — a tribunal with more comprehensive fact-finding powers — that should take over to determine whether the jobs are in fact IRM, and if so, whether they are ‘regular’ or can be considered ‘project- based’ or ‘seasonal,’” it added.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez

Interest rate hikes in store for Thailand, Indonesia

THE OUTLOOK for interest rates in Southeast Asia’s two biggest economies is upward even after mixed inflation data on Monday.
In Thailand, rising food and energy costs boosted inflation to 1.6% in August, the highest in almost four years, adding to the case for the Bank of Thailand to deliver its first rate hike since 2011.
The policy rate of 1.5% is now below inflation, making the economy only the second one in Southeast Asia, alongside the Philippines, to have a negative real interest rate.
Separately, data showed consumer price growth in Indonesia was little changed at 3.2% last month. While that’s well within Bank Indonesia’s (BI) 2.5-4.5% target band and should offer some respite to policy makers, the rupiah’s slide to a two-decade low against the dollar will put pressure on the central bank to hike rates for a fifth time this year.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. economist Euben Paracuelles sees both central banks hiking rates this year. Inflation isn’t the “main driver of BI’s policy decisions at the moment” and the subdued figures don’t change his forecast of another increase at the September policy meeting, he said.
Nomura’s base case is also for a 25-basis-point increase in the Bank of Thailand’s policy rate on Sept. 19, although recent comments from Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob have lowered the probability. Veerathai said in an interview on Aug. 29 that the central bank doesn’t face immediate pressure to tighten monetary policy like other emerging market peers.
Indonesia’s rupiah has slumped more than 8% against the dollar this year, while the Thai baht is down 0.4%. — Bloomberg

How ‘fragile’ is the Philippines?

How ‘fragile’ is the Philippines?

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 3, 2018

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Monday, September 3, 2018.

 
Philippine Stock Exchange’s most active stocks by value turnover — September 3, 2018

Duterte apologizes to Obama for 2016 insult

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte has apologized to Barack H. Obama Jr. whom he had frequently criticized in his past remarks, even calling the former US president at one point a “son of a whore.”
“Well, then it would be appropriate also to say at this time to Mr. Obama that you are now a civilian and I am sorry for uttering those words,” Mr. Duterte said in his remarks during his meeting with the Filipino community in Jerusalem on Sunday night, Sept. 2. Mr. Duterte is in Israel for a state visit.
It will be recalled that in 2016, before his departure to attend the ASEAN summit in Laos, Mr. Duterte remarked “son of a whore” when asked about Mr. Obama’s flagging the human rights situation in the Philippines amid the government’s drug war. He later said the expletive was not directly aimed at Mr. Obama, as video recordings would bear him out, he noted, although reports asserted the contrary.
But despite his apology, Mr. Duterte in Jerusalem also recalled: “[Mr.] Obama in public, in a press briefing…he was talking about me….He castigated me about human rights.”
“If you have qualms, if you have complaints against me, go to the United Nations. File your complaint there and ask for a hearing,” he added.
“Kaya…nagalit ako sabi ko (That’s why I got mad), ‘P________, Obama you can go to hell. You son of a _____.’ Sinabi ko ‘yan (I said that) because he was not a civilized person anyway,” he continued.
But he explained that “it was just a plain ‘talkatese,’” adding, “We have learned our lessons very well. Nag-ano tayo — nagkakaintindihan tayo (We now understand each other).”
He also said that “being a president,” Mr. Obama “ought to know the basic rules.”
“You do not criticize, especially if it is a problem of the country that you are criticizing. You do not know anong solusyon mo (what your solution is),” he added.
Mr. Durterte also said he has already “forgiven” Mr. Obama. “I have forgiven you just like ‘yung lahat ng mga girlfriend ko noong binata pa ako (I have forgiven all my girlfriends when I was young),” he jokingly said.
In the same speech, Mr. Duterte said he is in good terms with the current US President, Donald J. Trump, whom he first met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, in November last year. Mr. Trump visited the Philippines the same month to attend the ASEAN-US Summit and East Asia Summit in Manila.
“Trump is a good friend of mine,” he said, adding that he gets confused with the treatment he gets from Mr. Trump and his predecessor.
“Here is one guy, president, and another, president. I cannot understand you. Two presidents — [one is] praising you and [the other] one is condemning you,” he said.
Last month, a US defense official cautioned the Philippines against from buying submarines from Russia, prompting another of Mr. Duterte’s anti-American rhetoric.
Mr. Trump’s Cabinet officials, Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo, Defense Secretary James Norman Mattis, and, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Louis Ross, Jr., then wrote him a letter asking the Philippine government to purchase US military equipment like “upgraded surveillance and aircraft system such as Bell combat utility helicopters and ScanEagle, Gulfstream and Cessna 208 aircraft” for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
However, Mr. Duterte was not impressed with the offer. “Prove to me first that you are in utter good faith,” he said in his speech in Davao City on Aug. 23 in response to the letter from the US.
Agence France-Presse has reported that Mr. Duterte is also in Israel to seek new sources of military hardware and to nail down protections for overseas Filipino workers.

De Castro: ‘We demand respect’ from co-equal branches of government

CHIEF JUSTICE Teresita Leonardo-De Castro on Monday called for “respect” from the other co-equal branches of government.
Ms. De Castro spoke before the staff of the Supreme Court at her first flag ceremony as its chief justice.
Also on Monday at the House of Representatives, the committee on justice said it will look into the liability of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in qualifying Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno when she vied for the chief justice post.
At the Supreme Court, Ms. De Castro affirmed the independence of the judiciary, saying the high court must be “left alone” with its decisions.
“We demand respect from the other members co-equal and coordinate branch of the government,” she said.
“The other members of the co-equal and independent branches of the government should understand that based on our constitutional order, the decisions reached by the justices of the Supreme Court, whether unanimously or by majority vote, must be respected,” Ms. De Castro also said.
She added: “We should be left alone to decide the fate of this institution without interference. We, more than anyone else, will be affected if we decide wrongly a case which will affect the integrity and the fate of this institution, and each of the justices have done that, studying meticulously the Constitution, the law and the evidence on record.”
“People outside will like to judge us from what they see from afar but it is us, the justices and the employees and officials of the court, (who) know what is happening inside the Supreme Court.”
“And we should be left alone to decide for ourselves,” Ms. De Castro said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte appointed Ms. De Castro chief justice on Aug. 24, following the JBC’s submission of its shortlist of candidates. She took her oath before the SC on Aug. 28 and before the President on Aug. 31.
Ms. De Castro is set to retire on Oct. 8 when she turns 70, the mandatory age for retirement.
TE RESIGNS
Also on Monday, Assistant Court Administrator and Supreme Court Chief Public Information Officer (PIO) Theodore O. Te confirmed he has resigned.
Mr. Te said Ms. De Castro has accepted his resignation.
He will introduce on Tuesday, Sept. 4, acting chief PIO Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra.
In his resignation letter dated Aug. 29 addressed to Ms. De Castro, Mr. Te said he would tender his “irrevocable resignation as Assistant Court Administrator and Chief of the Public Information Office.”
“I believe that Your Honor should be given a free hand to craft your own media policies and to appoint a person whom Your Honor believes could best implement those policies,” he also said, adding:
“I am returning to full-time academic life, which I had put on hold starting 2013 to be able to serve the judiciary and the Supreme Court. I respectfully believe that I would be of greater value to the judiciary and the Court in the academic world at this time.”
Mr. Te posted on his social media account “I dissent!” on May 11, when Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Sereno was ousted by her associates through the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor-General Jose C. Calida.
Mr. Te is coterminous with Ms. Sereno, who appointed him in 2012.
INVESTIGATION
At the House, justice committee vice-chairperson Vicente S. E. Veloso said in a press briefing on the plan to look into the JBC, “They should be held liable… all of those who conspired in qualifying Sereno for an interview when in fact she was not qualified.”
“It has been established that there was fraud in including Sereno in the list of interviewees of applicants for the position of chief justice. That was established on record, and I think there was a position taken by the chair na dapat ihabla sila (that they should be charged),” Mr. Veloso also said.
The remarks came ahead of the initial consideration for the impeachment complaints filed by opposition lawmakers against the seven associate justices, including Ms. De Castro, who granted the quo warranto case that invalidated Ms. Sereno’s appointment as chief justice.
The committee is set to hold on Tuesday the initial consideration of the seven individual complaints for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
Justices de Castro, Diosdado M. Peralta, Lucas P. Bersamin, Andres B. Reyes, Francis H. Jardeleza, Noel G. Tijam, and Alexander G. Gesmundo were among those who voted for the quo warranto petition. Not included is Ombudsman Samuel L. Martires as he is no longer an associate justice of the high court.
The complaints were filed by Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, Magdalo Rep. Gary C. Alejano, Ifugao Rep. Teddy B. Baguilat, Jr. and Akbayan Rep. Tomasito S. Villarin. — reports by Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Charmaine A. Tadalan

Mary Jane Veloso appeals to High Court

THE CAMP OF Mary Jane F. Veloso appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) which denied her from testifying against her traffickers via deposition through written interrogatories.
In a 37-page petition for intervention filed by Ms. Veloso’s parent’s, Celia and Cesar Veloso, with the assistance of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, said the CA should have dismissed the petition for certiorari by Ms. Veloso’s alleged recruiters, Maria Cristina P. Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, claiming that there is “grave abuse of discretion” in allowing Ms. Veloso to testify via deposition through written interrogatories.
“In this case, the fact that the Honorable Trial Judge disagree with Respondents’ arguments does not mean that the former demonstrated grave abuse of discretion,” the petition read.
The petition also claimed that the CA “gravely erred and gravely abused its discretion” as it deprived Ms. Veloso of her right to fair trial.
“To bar Mary Jane from testifying will prevent the prosecution from fully presenting their case by means of crucial material evidence, thereby denying the victim of her opportunity to finally be heard,” the petition read.
The petition also stated that there are “reasonable and compelling grounds” to allow the deposition, arguing that Ms. Veloso is the “key witness” in the case against her, as she can prove that she is a victim of human trafficking by Ms. Sergio and Mr. Lacanilao.
It also added that the prosecution of the case “is an effort to fulfill the commitment of the Philippines as a State Party to the Trafficking Protocol.”
Ms. Sergio and Mr. Lacanilao are both facing charges for human trafficking, illegal recruitment, and estafa.
Ms. Veloso was apprehended upon her arrival at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where 2.6 kilograms of heroin was found in her luggage. She was sentenced to death by firing squad in 2015.
She was granted a last-minute reprieve in 2015, following then President Benigno S.C. Aquino III’s appeal to Indonesia. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Nationwide round-up

Australian nun appeals deportation order before DoJ

AFP

AUSTRALIAN MISSIONARY nun Patricia Fox has filed a Petition for Review before the Justice department, seeking a reversal of the deportation order issued against her by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Inakyat natin ngayon sa Department of Justice (DoJ) ‘yung kaso ni Sister Pat na deportation on the ground na siya raw allegedly ay isang undesirable alien (We brought the deportation case of Sister Pat to the DoJ, which is based allegedly on the ground that she is an undesirable alien) for having participated in so-called political activities,” said Sister Fox’s lawyer, Kathy Panguban, during an interview with reporters on Monday.
Before filing the petition, the Australian nun also filed for a renewal of her missionary visa at the BI, which is “is set to expire this September 5,” according to her lawyer.
Ms. Panguban added that Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told them that Ms. Fox can also opt to apply for a tourist visa, which they tried to clarify with the BI.
Ms. Fox said that the way the government has tried to deport her is “a chilling message I think to missionaries.” — Gillian M. Cortez

Duterte makes no apology on another rape remark

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte on Sunday defended his recent remark on the rape of “beautiful” women in Davao City, saying that “this is democracy, freedom of expression.” “Hindi ko naman sinabi ni-rape lahat ‘yan (I did not say that all of them were raped). But you are almost mesmerized or tempted kasi (because) that’s how you control yourself,” he said in a speech during his meeting with the Filipino community in Israel on Sunday night, Sept. 2. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo, in a statement on Monday, brushed aside the issue saying critics are just “nitpicking.”
“The human rights critics and PRRD’s detractors are nitpicking again and making a fuzz about a statement about many beautiful women being raped in Davao making it a basis for accusing him of misogyny.” He said the President’s critics “always distort the intended meaning” of his comments. “The President reveres his late mother and as Davao City Mayor had undertaken projects and measures protective of the rights of women and advancing their cause. As President he has given recognition to women of distinction by appointing them to his Cabinet and in other high offices in the government, the latest of which is putting a woman at the helm of a male dominated Supreme Court,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Coast guard, Army boats at Masbate Port damaged by bombing

THE PHILIPPINE Coast Guard (PCG) reported an explosion at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 3 that occurred about 100 meters from the PCG station at the Masbate Port, damaging two of its aluminum boats and wrecked a recently-procured rescue boat of the Philippine Army. In a statement, the PCG said witnesses saw a small motorized banca roaming the vicinity of the incident before the explosion. Investigation is ongoing. The Philippine National Police, in a media conference yesterday, pointed to the communist New People’s Army as behind the bombing.

Hefty hike on fuel prices this week

OIL COMPANIES will implement a hefty price increase for all petroleum products this week, with diesel registering the biggest hike at P1.20/L. It is diesel’s biggest price jump so far this year, matching the same rise during the second week of May. Gasoline and kerosene prices will increase by P0.95/L. All the companies that sent their advisories as of 5:00 p.m. on Monday scheduled the adjustment at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The price increase follows the movement of prices in the international market, from which local companies source their petroleum products. During the weekend, oil firms that sell liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) advised of a P1.95 per kilogram increase, or a P21.45 jump in the price of each 11-kilogram cylinder. AutoLPG also increased by P1.10/L on Saturday. — Victor V. Saulon

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