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DoubleDragon income soars in Q1

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
EARNINGS of DoubleDragon Properties Corp. soared 349.4% in the first quarter of 2018, riding on the back of higher recurring revenues.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the listed property developer said consolidated net income more than tripled to P744.56 million in the first three months of the year, from P165.67 million it realized in the same period a year ago.
The profit growth came amid a 182% increase in top-line to P1.83 billion. Of this, nearly a third or P531.38 million were from recurring revenues, a 173.7% increase year on year. This is in line with DoubleDragon’s goal to have recurring revenues account for 90% by 2020.
“This quarter is quite significant for DoubleDragon as it is the first time we have exceeded P500 million in recurring revenue in just three months’ time marking the beginning of the realization of the projects we have been building,” DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar J. Sia II was quoted as saying in a statement.
The company generated revenues from its 29 CityMalls, which recorded an average occupancy rate of 95% by the end of March. The company looks to have a total of 50 CityMalls under its network by the end of the year.
The firm also expects DoubleDragon Plaza, an office complex in the Bay Area constituting the first phase of the DD Meridian Park, to contribute to higher recurring revenues for the year. Since its opening earlier this month, the DoubleDragon Plaza is already 98.2% leased out.
Mr. Sia noted cash flows from current projects will further be invested for the expansion of its leasable portfolio.
DoubleDragon has earlier disclosed its target of having 1.2 million square meters (sq.m.) under its leasable portfolio by 2020. To achieve this, the company should have 100 CityMalls covering 700,000 sq.m., office projects covering 300,000 sq.m., hospitality developments spanning 100,000 sq.m., and industrial projects with another 100,000 sq.m. by the end of 2020.
In response to higher interest rate environment, Mr. Sia noted the company has already anticipated this to be a risk to their business early on.
“We have mitigated this risk by favoring fixed rate funding for all of our fund-raises…We have been very deliberate in all of our fund-raising activities to match tenors with the return profile of our projects. We have ensured that we have no key maturities until 2021, by then, the 1.2 million square meters of leasable space we are building is expected to fully contribute,” Mr. Sia said.
Shares in DoubleDragon gained 25 centavos or 0.8% to close at P31.35 each on Tuesday.

Petron allots P15B for network expansion, refinery upgrade

PETRON CORP. is setting aside this year a capital expenditure of P15 billion to cover its network expansion and refinery improvement, company officials said on Tuesday.
Of the amount, P10 billion is for Philippine operations, while the rest is for operations in Malaysia, said Emmanuel E. Eraña, Petron senior vice-president and chief finance officer.
“[For the Philippines] two-thirds is mostly network expansion. The remaining is [for the] refinery [improvement],” Mr. Eraña told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City.
He said the capex for the year is about the same as the previous year.
Lubin B. Nepomuceno, Petron general manager, said this year the company is looking at 200 new stations, of which 150 would be in the Philippines and 50 in Malaysia. Each station requires an investment of about P20 million.
In Malaysia, the company is targeting to have a total of 1,000 stations in five years. It now has 600 stations in Malaysia, after it acquired a company with existing operations.
“We have an organization that continues to look for opportunities,” Mr. Nepomuceno said.
He noted Petron takes about three to five years in putting up a station in Malaysia. The existing count after the acquisition allowed the company to be present in that country right away, Mr. Nepomuceno said.
Mr. Nepomuceno said the refinery expansion should have firm numbers once the company completes the studies for the project by year-end. He declined to give the projected capacity or the required budget for the expansion ahead of the study.
“What is known is that it is a CCRU (catalytic cracking reforming unit) project,” he said, adding that its output would be a combination of fuels but mostly petrochemicals.
“We’re going through basic engineering design. The execution requires [us] to look at all aspects of the plant,” Mr. Nepomuceno said.
Petron owns and operates a petroleum refining complex in the Bataan town with its own piers and two offshore berthing facilities. It also has a power plant that serves the needs of the refinery. Its refined petroleum products are marketed and distributed in the Philippines and Malaysia.
On Tuesday, shares in Petron rose 0.21% to close at P9.62 each. — V.V. Saulon

Toym’s Labyrinth


By Menchu Aquino Sarmiento
Art Review
Super Robot — Suffer Reboot
May 11 to July 11
Bulwagan ng Dangal-Main Library,
UP Diliman, Quezon City
FOR 10-year-old Toym Imao, then in the third grade, the appearance on local TV of the first Japanese “Super Robot” cartoons or anime 40 years ago was a seminal, even religious experience. Their starkly graphic narratives were 180 degrees removed from Hanna Barbera and Disney. He was blown away.
Each day after school, the little boy paid homage at a different shrine: Mondays, Mekanda Robot; Tuesdays, Daimos; Wednesdays, Mazinger Z; Thursdays, Grendizer; and on Fridays, the mightiest of all, i.e., Voltes V. In the foyer of the UP Bulwagan ng Dangal hang their naif style portraits like the centuries-old folk church retablos, flanked by nubile nymphs as scantily clad angels in attendance. But far larger is the panoramic photograph covering the entire opposite wall, of president Ferdinand Marcos with his first lady Imelda. It was he who had the power to banish Voltes V and his cohorts from Philippine TV screens — just before the last four episodes could be broadcast. Those would show how the various robots would unite or “volt in” to form a robot large and strong enough to depose an evil tyrant. Sounds familiar or even similar to real life? That cartoon concept was deemed subversive. A certain Polly Cayetano, the self-appointed guardian of public morals then, led a public outcry that the shows were too violent for the kiddies thus justifying the Apo’s ban.
The boy was shaken by this run-in with censorship and totalitarian rule. As the growing opposition to Marcos tried to “volt in,” he came of age, tagging along to political meetings with his mother Grace de Leon and family friend Alejandro Roces, later a National Artist for Literature. An uncle associated with the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) was shot in the back and killed. It was the only time Toym Imao saw his father, Abdulmari Asia Imao, weep. The elder Imao (National Artist for Sculpture), being a friend of Nur Misuari, was on Marcos’s “watch list.” Now middle-aged, Toym Imao agonizes at the realization that our history is repeating itself, hence the “Suffer Reboot” in this show’s title. His public art is a form of creative protest. The pen is mightier than the sword and for Mr. Imao, his art is his sword.
Several of the pieces have been exhibited at other venues — in the University of the Philippines, at Ayala Museum, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines — before. Having them all together in one space is overwhelming in the density and scale of the narratives and the crash course in our recent history for Filipinos too quick to forget. It is a major exhibition that deserves to be shown in a much larger physical space with higher ceilings, and better lighting. But for now, let us cherish our fragile democratic space which still allows us to experience this compendium of works conceptualized and executed over the last decade, in response to urgent realities. A response is called for from the viewer too.
“Even vandalism is a valid response,” Mr. Imao half-jokes, as there are no barriers between the art and the audience — except for a sturdy plexiglass showcase containing his fanboy-geek collection of Super Robot toys and anime reliquaries. There is a low-slung, scaled-down black tomb with running lights around the mock presidential seal, representing a midget Marcos’s controversial resting place. Gallery visitors are welcome to plunk their asses down on its impermeable surface, to loll about and lounge as they please.
Mr. Imao’s own idiosyncratic iconography is excruciatingly subject to interpretation. The American writer Toni Morisson famously said that “All good art is political.” For Mr. Imao, the political is very personal as well. The first installation recalls the Metro-Aide (the yellow-and-red uniformed street sweepers) salakot-topped lampposts of his boyhood, now skeletal structures mounted on pedestals: a supporting panel of painted corrugated steel echoes the fences Imelda ordered built to hide slums from visiting foreign dignitaries, or a bartolina (solitary confinement cell). A peephole on top reminds us that Big Brother is watching. The other side is made of flimsy, makeshift doors which evoke tokhang (the “knock and plead” visits by police) which are the current scourge of the Filipino poor.
The street lights are historical guideposts with strings of three dimensional peso to dollar indicators at key points. In 1966, as Marcos completed his first year as president, it was P4 to $1. The year 1968 marks a personal milestone with Toym Imao’s birth. A cradle in the shape of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) trophy dangles from this street light. At the 1968 TOYM awards, President Marcos told the very pregnant Grace De Leon-Imao that she should name her first born Toym so her husband, as the first Filipino Muslim TOYM awardee, would have a second trophy.
Two years later — 1970 — marks the First Quarter Storm. The exchange rate is now P5:$1, and continues to fall. Cages and tiny figures with red flags are permanent fixtures on the street lights. After Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino’s assassination in 1983, the peso:dollar rates fluctuated and floundered from P8 to P20.
Beyond the lampposts are other disturbing but recognizable, grotesque depictions of the Conjugal Dictatorship as literal nightmare, with zombies, vampires, tikbalang, ghouls and other creatures of our real-life lower mythology. Behind them is a sprawling work-in-progress, a joint mural with UP College of Fine Arts alumnus Luigi Almuena of Ugat Lahi, an artists’ collective whose works give off youthful sparks of ingenuity, irony, and humor against the hoary rage of street protest art. Many First Quarter Stormers are now pushing 70. Across the exhibition hall is another work in progress by UP College of Fine Arts students. They are the generations whom we would look “to make masterpieces more powerful than monuments,” in Mr. Imao’s hopeful words.
The second half of the gallery is dominated by three massive carrozas (processional carriages), all crafted from 2014 to 2016 in a frenzy of activity that hints at the artist’s despair over, or desperation at, current events. Collectively, these were the original Super Robot-Suffer Reboot. Each one is so heavily laden with symbols, one must carefully circle them to make sure one has not missed anything noteworthy. Coping with a Couple’s Copious Cupboard of Curios, Cops, Cuffs and Corpses depicts the conjugal dictatorship with Mazinger Z and a giant disco mirrored glass slipper. On top is a Filipino pieta, while below, four versions of the sympathetic anime character Aphrodite A hold the dismembered parts of Marcos martial law murder victims: a leg to symbolize the loss of mobility or freedom; a wing for the destruction of dreams; a broken sword for a shattered peace; and bloody hands for talents made inutile by death. Last, Lost, Lust for Four Forgotten Episodes eulogizes Voltes V with a fierce Marcos, surrounded by predatory American eagles. The Fright to Fight or Flight with Freights of Plights has Daimos and various aircraft which have played significant roles in key events of our history.
The show is so crowded it may take more than one visit to give the myriad objects the attention and understanding these deserve. It’s like a living history of the last 40 years compressed in a very limited exhibition space. One must cram to learn its lessons, or be doomed to forever keep repeating a nightmare from which we cannot awake.

PLDT opens Cebu data center, its 10th in PHL

By Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo, Reporter
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — PLDT, Inc. has launched its tenth data center in the country.
The telecommunications giant on Tuesday launched the P1-billion VITRO data center in this city, aimed at serving the 10,000 businesses in the province and in the Visayas.
VITRO Cebu 2 has 800 racks, bringing ePLDT’s current rack capacity to 9,150. The new facility is built from the ground up and has new technologies and features, including finger-vein scanning features, special closed-circuit television cameras, and 24/7 monitoring and surveillance.
PLDT Chief Revenue Officer Ernesto R. Alberto said the data center is targeting companies from banking and insurance, retail, government, and business process outsourcing (BPOs) industries, as well as small and medium enterprises.
“Before, companies are not really going into data centers, but now a lot of companies, even small and medium enterprises, see the value… as more companies rely on servers,” PLDT Enterprise head Juan Victor I. Hernandez said in a press conference here.
Mr. Alberto said for the data center, they target a utilization rate between 40-50% by year-end from the current 35%. He said when the utilization rate goes over 50%, the company will be looking at building an eleventh data center.
“International companies have more racks. There are more local companies but we feel there’s still room for improvement in terms of number of racks to be offloaded,” Mr. Hernandez said.
The VITRO Network of Data Centers includes facilities in Makati, Pasig, Clark economic zone, and Davao, the first in Mindanao. The 10 sites are interconnected through a software-defined network, which allows data-centric services to be available across all facilities.
PLDT Enterprise is eyeing more ventures and investments in infrastructure expansion and information and communication technology (ICT) this year.
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.

Fluidity and mastery of colors


By Nickky F. P. de Guzman, Reporter
THE WORKS of Filipino artist Edgar Doctor heal. In his ongoing exhibition at the Conrad Hotel’s Gallery C called Master of Colors, he showcases the power of vibrant colors and how they have the ability to cure the tired eyes of the viewers, caused by the bleakness and monotony of the everyday life. His subjects — which range from mangoes and fish to a bowl of sinigang (sour soup) — are about the mundane and simple, but they show his mastery in watercolor: they are fluid and without edges, and aesthetically therapeutic.
“I don’t know,” Mr. Doctor said when asked of the repeated appearances of fish and fruits in his latest exhibitions.
But what he does know is that the idea that watercolor is a difficult medium is a misconception he’d like to debunk. Mr. Doctor says that a mistake in watercolor can still be “cured” (pun intended) like oil and acrylic, but entails mastery in stroke.
“All I can say is that doing an artwork is not about its difficulty, but creating an artwork lies in the artist’s enjoyment and satisfaction while creating a piece. Para kang nanliligaw (It’s like wooing a woman). When you do it in haste, there is no glory in it. So paghirapan mo, ’yun ang masarap (You work hard for it — that is what feels good),” Mr. Doctor said.
Born in 1941, Mr. Doctor is recognized as one of the country’s finest visual artists. Besides watercolor — which is what he is best known for — he does metal and wood sculptures, print, and oil and acrylic paintings.
“Being an artist requires you to be always in the mood. As they say, art is the first love of an artist. His wife is second, a mistress. Art is our lifeline, we’re like fish taken out of water [if you take away art],” said the 77-year-old artist who works on “at least drawing” every day to keep his art alive.
“The passion is there. ’Pag gusto mo yung trabaho mo walang kasawaan (if you love your work you will never tire of it). I make it a point to at least draw every day. The discipline is there. Art is jealous, iwanan mo ’yan, iiwan ka din nyan eh (leave it, and it will leave you, too),” he said.
A member of the Saturday Group of artists, he shuttles between Manila and New York twice a year. He was listed in the 2,000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century published by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, England.
Conrad Hotel’s Of Art and Wine series, featuring 30 works by Mr. Doctor, is on view until June 8.

Pilipinas Shell earnings decline by 20% in Q1

HTTP://PILIPINAS.SHELL.COM.PH/

PILIPINAS Shell Petroleum Corp. reported on Tuesday a first-quarter net income of P2.32 billion, lower by 20% compared with the P2.89 billion recorded in the same period last year after a slide in revenues.
In a regulatory filing, Pilipinas Shell said net sales during the period rose 19% to P49.54 billion, as prices of fuel products rose due to the increase in average global oil prices.
Cost of sales grew at a faster clip of 23.5% to P42.46 billion, as a result of higher purchase costs.
The company in a statement said it hit an “industry-leading” 27% return on capital. It also recorded growth in operational cash flow by 23% on a trailing 12-month basis.
“Pilipinas Shell’s performance in the first quarter demonstrates the strength of our brand. Amidst the challenges brought by higher excise taxes, customers continue to patronize our products,” said Cesar G. Romero, Pilipinas Shell president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
“We even saw an increase in V-Power uptake of 2% vs Q1 2017. We remain pleased with our marketing businesses which continue to demonstrate strong underlying performance both financially, and operationally,” he added.
Pilipinas Shell also said operational cash flows during the period increased 23% to P3.5 billion year on year, “mainly driven by total sales volume growth of 4%, higher premium fuel penetration and better working capital management.”
While softer regional refining margins during the quarter contributed to the roughly 20% decrease in overall earnings, Pilipinas Shell said its marketing business increased profitability by 13%.
“In retail, sales volumes were sustained while increasing premium fuel sales, closing the quarter with 27% V-Power penetration,” it said.
Pilipinas Shell opened four new stations in the first three months of the year, ending the quarter with 1,047 retail sites.
On Tuesday, shares in the company slipped 1.39% to close at P53.05 each. — V.V. Saulon

Modigliani sells for $157.2M in New York — Sotheby’s

NEW YORK — A stunning nude that is the largest painting produced by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani sold for $157.2 million in New York on Monday, becoming the fourth most expensive work of art sold at auction.
Painted a century ago, Modigliani’s masterpiece Nu couche (sur le cote gauche) fetched the highest price in Sotheby’s history and was the star single lot in the May art auction season in New York.
Modigliani follows Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso as the third highest-selling artist at auction. Monday’s sale failed to eclipse the $170.4 million paid for another Modigliani nude at Christie’s in 2015.
Nearly 58 inches (147 centimeters) wide, the picture was the cover star of a recent retrospective at the Tate Modern gallery in London.
Modigliani reinvented the nude for the modern era, and when his series of paintings were first exhibited in 1917, they were considered so shocking that police closed the show in Paris.
Bidding was restrained, lasting three to four minutes and opening at $125 million before auctioneer Helena Newman brought the hammer down at $139 million. The final price includes a buyer’s premium.
The price chalks up a healthy profit for its seller, who acquired the picture in 2003 for $26.9 million.
Modigliani completed 22 reclining nudes and 13 seated nudes between 1916 and 1919. Most of the former are found in museums, such as The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Simon Shaw, co-head of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby’s, said the painting sold Monday, while rooted in tradition, reflected the changing status of women during World War I.
“This is a nude of a very self-possessed, sexually confident woman who is not looking out from a distance. She’s absolutely meeting our gaze,” he told AFP prior to the sale.
Modigliani’s dealer Leopold Zborowski gave him a stipend of 15 francs a day and paid the models five francs to pose in a Paris apartment. — AFP

Higher passenger revenues boost Cebu Air profit in 1st quarter

CEBU AIR, Inc., the listed operator of Cebu Pacific, reported its net income increased by 12% to P1.437 billion, driven by higher passenger revenues from a 10% increase in average fares.
In a regulatory filing, the Gokongwei-led company said revenues went up 8.3% to P18.261 billion for the three month period. The bulk came from passenger revenues, which rose 11.4% to P13.676 billion.
“This increase (in passenger revenues) was largely due to the 10.0% increase in average fares to P2,805 for the three months ended March 31, 2018 from P2,551 for the same period last year,” it said.
Cebu Air reported passenger volume grew to 4.876 million from 4.813 million last year. The budget carrier is currently has 2,622 flights a week.
The company saw a 26% increase in cargo revenues to P1.279 billion in the first quarter, while ancillary revenues fell 7.5% to P3.3 billion due to lower baggage and pre-ordered meals with the suspension of Middle East operations in 2017.
Higher fuel prices, weak Philippine peso and the airline’s purchase of new aircraft drove the company’s operating expenses 11.8% up to P15.997 billion.
“The increase was primarily attributable to the rise in fuel prices in 2018 coupled with the weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar…. The growth in the airline’s seat capacity from the acquisition of new aircraft also contributed to the increase in expenses,” Cebu Air said.
Expenses from flying operations increased 15% to P6.91 billion, mainly due to a 18.9% increase in aviation fuel expenses to P5.853 billion.
Cebu Air also recorded net foreign exchange losses of P838.619 million for the three months, as the Philippine peso weakened against the US dollar. The Philippine peso averaged P52.16 per US dollar for the three months ended March 31, from P49.93 per US dollar for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2017. — D.A. Valdez

Under the hammer: record art auctions

NEW YORK — A stunning nude that is the largest painting produced by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani sold for $157.2 million in New York on Monday, becoming the fourth most expensive work of art sold at auction.
The exact value of private sales are often not revealed. But a Willem de Kooning painting and a Gauguin were reportedly sold separately for $300 million each in 2015, according to US media.
Below is a list of the 10 most expensive art works ever sold at an auction. All are paintings and all were sold in New York, the capital of the global art market.
1. Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi or Savior of the World, sells for $450.3 million at Christie’s in November 2017.
2. Pablo Picasso’s The Women of Algiers (Version O) fetches $179.4 million at Christie’s in May 2015.
3. Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couche of a reclining naked woman draws $170.4 million at Christie’s in November 2015.
4. Modigliani’s Nu couche (sur le cote gauche), another work from his series of nudes, sells for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s in May 2018.
5. Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud sells for $142.4 million at Christie’s in 2013.
6. Edvard Munch’s pastel The Scream, fetches $119.9 million at Sotheby’s in 2012.
7. Picasso’s Young Girl With a Flower Basket sells for $115 million at Christie’s in May 2018.
8. Jean-Michael Basquiat’s 1982 Untitled sells for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in May 2017.
9. Picasso’s Nu au plateau de sculpteur (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust) lures $106.4 million at Christie’s in May 2010.
10. Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), sells for $105.4 million at Sotheby’s in November 2013. — AFP

Gov’t makes partial award of Treasury bills

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT made a partial award of the P15 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered yesterday, as market players largely preferred shorter-termed papers and demanded higher rates for the one-year tenor.
Bids received during Tuesday’s auction reached P28.724 billion, nearly double the amount the Bureau of the Treasury wanted to raise. However, the bureau only awarded P11.236 billion worth of papers, as bulk of the demand went to the three-month and six-month instruments.
Rates saw mixed movements during the offering.
The Treasury raised P5 billion by offering 91-day papers as bids reached triple the auction size at P15.086 billion. Rates moved slightly higher to average 3.451% coming from the 3.439% fetched the previous week.
Demand for the 182-day tenor also remained strong as the offer was oversubscribed, attracting P10.492 billion and allowing the Treasury to fully award the P4 billion it eyed to raise. The average rate even slipped to 3.934% from the 3.958% recorded during last week’s offering.
In contrast, demand for the 364-day notes remained sluggish as investors only put forward P3.146 billion in bids versus the P6 billion the government was programmed to raise. The Treasury even rejected some bids and awarded only P2.236 billion, as it capped bids at 4.35% even as offers went as high as 4.9%.
This brought the average yield to 4.226%, higher than the 3.986% seen a week ago which were rejected by the Treasury.
At the secondary market yesterday before the auction, the 91-, 182- and 364-day papers were quoted at 3.4965%, 3.8272% and 4.0853%, respectively.
After the auction, yields on the three-month, six-month and one-year papers closed at 3.4413%, 3.8306% and 3.9187%.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said market preference towards the shorter T-bills is due to the decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise benchmark rates by 25 basis points last Thursday.
“Still, rates continue to trend upwards given expectations from some that there will still be additional rate hikes coming from the BSP,” Ms. De Leon told reporters following the auction.
The Monetary Board tightened policy settings last week as inflation continues to trend higher. It now expects prices to maintain its ascent until the end of the year.
Sought for comment, a trader said yesterday’s auction results were expected.
“Most investors are still asking for higher premiums on the longer tenors like the one-year… Concerns regarding domestic inflation and domestic budget deficits lead to supply risks,” the trader said via phone.
Inflation has averaged 4.1% as of end-April, already beyond the 2-4% target set by the central bank for the full year.
Work is also underway for additional bond offerings for investors, the National Treasurer said, in anticipation of the government’s increased funding requirements.
Ms. De Leon said plans to offer dollar-denominated notes before the year’s end will be for pre-funding as well as for debt management.
“[W]e are more proactive given that we already expect what would be the emerging developments in the market next year, so we are just seeing if we can have more lead time in terms of preparation for our funding for 2019,” she told reporters.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has said the dollar bond sale will be timed ahead of future tightening moves by the United States Federal Reserve, which are expected to push global yields higher.
Meanwhile, the government has also engaged five banks for its planned issuance of yen-denominated debt papers.
Ms. De Leon said they have already mandated the following lenders for the maiden issuance of samurai bonds: Mizuho Bank, Ltd., The Daiwa Bank, Ltd., Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and the Mitsubishi UFJ Group.
Plans for a fresh offering of retail Treasury bonds are likewise on the table, she added.
The government plans to borrow a total of P888.23 billion this year to plug its budget deficit that is capped at 3% of the country’s gross domestic product, or P523.7 billion.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee raised the share of foreign borrowings to 35% this year in a bid to diversify its financing base, from 26% previously expected for 2018 and 20% in 2017. The government will then maintain the borrowing mix at 75-35% for 2019 to 2022, still in favor of domestic sources.

Ayala Land to form JV for projects in Aurora, Quezon

AYALA LAND, Inc. (ALI) is teaming up with two companies headed by businessman Romeo G. Roxas for two projects in Aurora and Quezon province.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Tuesday, the listed property giant said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Green Square Properties Corp. (GSPC) and Green Circle Properties and Resources, Inc. (GCPRI) for the establishment of a joint venture company.
ALI is set to own 51% of the joint venture (JV), while 49% will be split between GSPC and GCPRI.
The JV firm will be tasked to develop 27,852 hectares of land located in Dingalan, Aurora, and General Nakar in Quezon province.
“The long-term vision for the properties is to support the government’s initiative of developing the country’s eastern coast and promoting inclusive growth through the phased development of a master planned mixed-use estate, principally oriented towards tourism, commercial, residential, and institutional uses,” ALI said in a statement.
The company noted it will incorporate environmental and ecological programs in the development of the properties to conserve the forest and to protect its biodiversity.
One of the projects developed by GSPC and GCPRI is the 1,000-hectare Taal Volcano Ridge in Tagaytay.
ALI is known for developing mixed-use estates that house residential, office, commercial, and retail developments. So far, it has 25 such estates under its portfolio. Its 25th is the P53-billion Parklinks, a 35-hectare project along the C-5 corridor being developed with Lucio C. Tan, Sr.’s Eton Properties Philippines, Inc.
ALI booked a 17% increase in earnings in the first quarter of 2018 to P6.52 billion, supported by 17% revenue growth to P36.98 billion.
This year, the company is spending P111 billion in capital expenditures to help achieve its 2020 goal of having P40 billion in net income. For the first quarter alone, it has already rolled out P26.7 billion for residential developments, commercial leasing projects, estate development, and equity investments.
Shares in ALI climbed 3.05% or P1.25 to close at P42.25 each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday. — Arra B. Francia

Ready for another spin?

DO YOU often feel that Philippine politics is simply taking you for a ride? A series of paintings by a political cartoonist is set up like a carousel to show that we’ve been going around in circles, on the same darn ride, for the past 50 years or so.
The paintings were executed as part of Jose Santos P. Ardivilla’s MFA degree exhibition, titled Kahayupan. It consists of seven paintings formed in a circle, each depicting a political cartoon measuring six feet by six feet. Each giant cartoon is a summary of the administrations of the seven most recent presidents of the Philippines: Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III, and Rodrigo Duterte.
During the exhibit’s opening on May 2 in UP’s Bulwagan ng Dangal, Mr. Ardivilla discussed his work. Commenting on their size, he says that he wants the works to serve as an immersive experience: “I wanted it elevated, bigger than us, because I have this notion: what if you can step inside a political cartoon?”
Adding to the experience is a recording in the background, played as if it were a safety reminder in a theme park, inviting guests to come to “Impunity Land.”
As for the arrangement of the paintings in a circle, designed to be viewed counterclockwise beginning with the political cartoon depicting the Duterte administration and ending with the Marcos years, Mr. Ardivilla said: “There’s something counterintuitive about it… something regressive.”
“My point here is that nothing really change[s], except for the people in power.”
Each painting displays a common theme, that of a horse on a carousel. A spoke pokes through the horse, and is built on a base of people in restraints and certain agony. This certainly isn’t Disney. The background, meanwhile, displays the color of flesh, with blushes of purple — the effect is supposed to call to mind aging newspaper, or else bruised flesh, according to the artist. The presidents, as objects of our derision, are actually quite tiny figures in the grand scheme of things, while the issues that plagued their administrations are spread like webs, rashes, filth, or traces of decay on the horses. “My point is, all of us are part of this system in which we produce a Marcos, a Cory…,” he said, then lists off the presidents who came after them. “Not just through elections, but because of systemic abuse, organizational chaos… we just keep on repeating the same thing.”
“I don’t subscribe to the school that powerful people make history.”
The exhibit was titled Kahayupan, according to Mr. Ardivilla, due to the use of animal imagery in political cartoons. For example, he cites the use of the word and image of the buwaya (crocodile) to describe corrupt politicians in the Philippines, or else the use of the Democratic Donkey or the Republican Elephant. As well, there’s also the use of animal imagery to ascribe a certain trait of an animal to a person: for example, ascribing serpents to the treacherous, or the lamb to the innocent. As well, Mr. Ardivilla runs to the Filipino word, “kahayupan,” which we sometimes use to describe indescribable brutality. “It’s like we’re reduced to animals because of how people are like animals, in terms of political greed, etc.”
More than cynicism, which implies some acceptance of the situation of going around in circles, what one may see in Mr. Ardivilla’s work is raw anger. Mr. Ardivilla, who also teaches at the College of Fine Arts in UP Diliman, has been a political cartoonist since 1999, which means he has been on this ride before, and over and over, too. Mr. Ardivilla says he is “Angry, as opposed to just apathetic. I always tell my students that love and hatred are not opposites, really. They’re just the same emotions going in different directions. What is opposite of these feelings… is apathy. If you’re apathetic, that means you will let these things happen.”
On another note, the paintings also add to the question of political cartooning as a serious art form. In A Gentleman in Moscow, a novel by Amor Towles, Mishka, a Communist, a writer, and the titular gentleman’s friend, says: “Every country has its grand canvas… the so-called masterpiece that hangs in a hallowed hall and sums up the national identity for generations to come.” To this, he cites Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, and for the Americans, it’s supposedly Washington Crossing the Delaware. This might be true, but these images are reverent of their subject of the state. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the cartoons from Charlie Hebdo and the satirical stylings of The Simpsons, both of which poke fun at figures in power, their irreverence empowering the common man, as well as making sure that their images are seared in the minds of the collective consciousness. In the race of which gets the word out more, and which messages stay, which one wins?
“If you ask the art market, there is a huge disparity between the cartoonist and the artist. The fact that I always insist on being called a cartoonist is my way of defying the art market. The art market would like it [to be an] elevated discourse. They still rely on this very ancient… notion of high art versus low art,” said Mr. Ardivilla. “What I like about cartoons, they’re very transgressive, in terms of message and format. It’s not ‘high art’: oil paintings and gorgeous paintings. These (cartoons) are implements of mockery.
“This allows you to make fun of people who deserve to be made fun of.”
Kahayupan is on show in UP Diliman’s Bulwagan ng Dangal until June 28. — Joseph L. Garcia