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ERC urged to junk power supply deals without ECC

Photo by Victor V. Saulon

AN intervenor in the seven power supply agreements (PSA) being sought for approval by distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to dismiss outright the applications without the required environmental compliance certificates (ECC).
In a statement, Romeo L. Junia, who represents the consumer group Power for People coalition, said he had filed with the ERC a motion to dismiss what he called “defective” applications.
Mr. Junia, a consumer intervenor opposing the seven Meralco PSAs, said he made the filing after he obtained a copy of the March 20, 2018 order of the ERC, which its chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera earlier disclosed to reporters. She said the ERC had ordered about three PSAs without the required ECC to submit the document. The deadline falls due on the third week of June, she added.
Mr. Junia identified the three PSAs as those forged by Meralco with Central Luzon Premier Power Corp. (CLPPC), Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC) and Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. (GLEDC) In all, they cover a total of 1,600 megawatts (MW).
“The lack of ECC is fatal because the rules require as supporting document the [ECC] issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the generation company,” he said.
Meralco had sought approval for the PSAs ahead of an expected increase in power demand while existing contracts are set to expire.
Ms. Devanadera earlier said that she had inhibited from the deliberation on the PSA with Atimonan One Energy, Inc. (A1E), the project company developing a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon province.
She said the reason for her decision was because she hails from that province. She had served as mayor of one of its towns.
“Plus may consultancy ako noon, napakaliit naman (I have a consultancy firm before, but it’s very small),” she said about a possible conflict of interest. She did not say which Meralco entity had been her client.
The vote on the Atimonan plant’s PSA comes at a time when two of the ERC’s four commissioners are scheduled to retire on July 10, 2018.
“Remember, even if there’s a quorum there should be three approving the rate,” Ms. Devanadera said.
Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation arm of Meralco and the parent firm of A1E, is building the P107.5-billion power plant. The plant will be financed through a loan that could not be closed because of a PSA requiring ERC approval.
Meralco previously warned of the escalating cost on the distribution utility should the delay in the PSA approval stretch beyond what is acceptable to the plant’s contractors. For lenders, a PSA is an assurance that a power plant project will bring in a steady stream of revenues to guarantee loan repayment.
Meralco had agreed to buy 1,200 MW of the electrical output of A1E, which previously expected the 600-MW first unit of the project to reach testing and commissioning in December 2020. The second 600-MW unit is set to go through the same process in May 2021. Their respective commercial operation is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2025.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon

Four by three

By Noel Vera
Video Review
•Manhunt
Directed by John Woo
•Sky on Fire
Directed by Ringo Lam
•Three
Directed by Johnnie To
•Wild City
Directed by Ringo Lam
PLAYING CATCHUP: In the ever-changing landscape of World Cinema, what happened to Hong Kong’s “heroic bloodshed” movement — those action filmmakers who featured slow motion, balletic action sequences, guns pointed at each others’ faces?
Eaten up by China, is the short answer. John Woo (whose A Better Tomorrow — the most conscientiously scripted of the early films — started the trend, or at least planted the trend firmly on the international map) went Hollywood and did interesting if not superior work there (Hard Target, the most stylish of the Mission Impossible flicks, Face/Off [my second favorite], and his epic and epically underrated take on World War 2, Windtalkers). Johnnie To has kept steadily working, straying into politics (the Election movies), fantasy noir (Mad Detective), and the odd blood-drenched character piece (Vengeance). Ringo Lam has had the oddest career curve: after doing a series of dark low-budget Van Damme ventures (Replicant, In Hell) he collaborates with Tsui Hark and To on a feature (Triangle) and then — silence for eight years.
Which is how matters lay far as I knew, until I happened to stumble upon four films (all found on Netflix) from these three different filmmakers, giving me some insight on how they’re faring nowadays.
Manhunt 1
Manhunt 2
Woo’s Manhunt is his unembarrassed remake of Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive with the speed limiter removed. Wrongly accused Attorney Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu) is pursued by relentlessly cool Detective Yamura (Masaharu Fukuyama) through the teeming streets and choppy waterways of Tokyo, both portrayed by a pair of effortlessly charismatic physically eloquent actors (Harrison who? Tommy Lee what?). They’re surrounded by mostly disposable beautiful women (one of which is disposed at film’s start, hence Attorney Qiu’s predicament), but really, the relationship that matters (as in all Woo films) is the one between the two male leads — we even have the required fight sequence where the two men bond, staged with bruising intensity (a length of lumber and a strategically located rock are at one point involved).
The picture is a trip; can’t really call it a good film — there’s a line between faintly absurd and downright ridiculous that Woo likes to skip across and back (a meta form of suspense the filmmaker tossed in without charge) that unfortunately he stumbles over and faceplants on big time for his gleaming corporate laboratory finale — but even then you can’t help feeling a guilty sense of approval. Plot and logic may have been flung out a window but you can be sure Woo captures the gesture in a single balletic shot, in glorious slow motion.
Near the beginning Du Qiu helps out a young woman being harassed — actually an assassin named Rain (Ha Ji-won) waiting for him to walk away before she starts her deadly work — and they talk old movies. That’s the moment the director betrays his hand: Du and Rain — and Woo himself — are wanderers in an alien land, dreaming of a better world they once saw on the big screen. With sentiments like that presented without irony onscreen it’s hard to hold a grudge.
Manhunt’s plot revolves around the MacGuffin of a specially developed drug used to create supersoldiers (Shades of Captain America but with considerably more fun); Ringo Lam’s Sky on Fire — his first after eight years’ silence — is about a specially developed drug that can fight cancer. The plot is, if anything, every bit as complicated as Woo’s pharma thriller but Lam is, if anything, even more old-school than Woo: the car chases and fistfights are done with gritty CGI-free realism, sans slow motion and glamor; Lam of course was director of City on Fire — the great crime thriller ripped off by Quentin Tarantino to start his own more commercially successful if less artistically fruitful career.
Sky on Fire 1
Sky on Fire 2
A subplot involves a trucker (Joseph Chang) trying to obtain the drug for his dying sister (Amber Kuo) and in their scenes together you remember Lam is also skilled at understated human drama. That said, Chang is also involved in one of the film’s best action sequences, suddenly stealing the truck holding magical “ex-stem cells” (Former stem cells?) and slamming and smashing his way to freedom.
Towards the end, Lam is forced to up the ante, and finally the (poorly funded) CGI effects come into play. A dizzyingly tall superscraper named Sky One explodes (hence the title) and all loose plot ends are wrapped up in the required ball of fire (at least I assumed they were; not really keeping track). If I prefer this to Woo’s latest it’s partly because Woo may talk the talk about old-school filmmaking, but Lam for the most part walks the walk (till, say, that “explosive” climax), and does so more deftly.
Johnnie To’s Three, like the previous two, is set in the medical industry (What’s up in Asia anyway — is there some simmering health-care crisis we don’t know about?) in the ward of a large (fictional) hospital; unlike the previous two, this film has a crackerjack premise: gang boss Shun (Wallace Chung) is accidentally shot in the head; Dr. Tong Quian (Zhao Wei) wants to operate but Shun refuses — he knows the bullet buried in his head is evidence of Detective Ken’s (Louis Koo) wrongdoing.
Three is aptly named. The main characters — gang boss Shun, Detective Ken, Dr. Quian — are three oversized egos and masters of their particular domains. When their worlds collide the result is a three-way deadlock: Quian wants the bullet out, Shun doesn’t, Ken wants evidence of his misstep to somehow go away. When Shun’s gang arrives, the result is a jawdropping, eyepopping shootout where the camera swirls around the hospital ward in a single take, bullets flying, patients dropping, police officers and gangsters firing to the strain of a moody pop ballad (with bits of Mozart thrown in).
Three 1
Three 2
Quian’s character is the best-written of the three leads — actor Zhao seems genuinely concerned in her sleep-deprived way, and genuinely unsure when her professional standards end and her egotism begins. She’s so good, her performance so compelling, the climactic shootout actually feels like a letdown, dramatically if not visually: all that moral ambiguity swept aside like so many chess pieces; all that’s left is nabbing the bad guy.
Which I supposed was all — only I happened to chance upon Ringo Lam’s first film after his eight-year hiatus, the mysteriously forgotten Wild City. Ex-cop now bar-owner T-Man (Louis Koo) and his cab-driving, towtruck-racing half-brother Chung (Shawn Yue) stumble into heavy-drinking solicitor Yun (Tong Liya), who’s being hunted by a Taiwanese gang under orders of a ruthless businessman (Ma Yuke).
And here you see the mainland influence. The villains are a Taiwanese gang and a billionaire tycoon; in both Manhunt and Sky on Fire it’s Big Pharma operated by billionaire tycoons — all easy uncontroversial targets that even the Chinese government can hate. Law enforcement — the authoritarian face of government — is seen as relatively uncorrupt, if at times weak or ineffective (if weak they usually turn in their badges, as T-Man does at the start of Wild City). Interestingly Johnnie To’s Detective Ken stands out for using questionable tactics to cover up his mistakes — but then his character operates under the subtly subversive theme of Great Egos That Can Do No Wrong (In Circumstances Where Everything Does).
Right away Wild City stands out from the other films as being more leisurely paced, more willing to fill in its characters’ outlines. T-Man has a subdued presence, partly because (we learn later) of the reason he turns in his badge. Chung is something of a wild card, but likeable; the two share a father but T-Man was raised and learns to love Chung’s mother Mona (Yuen Qiu). Yun starts out as a trophy girlfriend, but when you learn her story (turns out she is a trophy girlfriend with all the advantages — and horrors — that status implies) you start warming to her.
Wild City 1
Wild City 2
What’s surprising is the time Lam also takes to fill in the blanks on the villains’ side. Blackie (Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan) treats his members as family; when one member dies the gang — in a surprisingly moving funeral scene — mourns their own, vows not just revenge but to carry on the terms of their original assignment. Which complicates matters no end.
This feels more like the old Ringo Lam: character-driven dramas that just happen to be thrillers. And because the film takes care to develop its characters first (the way Blackie nurtures his fellow gang members) you care what happens to them when bad things happen — the first rule of thrillers, or should be; goodness knows it’s the first rule to be forgotten nowadays.
As for the action setpieces: the action is realistically enough staged to make even the most stolid viewer flinch, with at least one outrageously violent act to make jaws drop (you’ll know it when you see it). Of the classic Hong Kong action filmmakers I feel Lam does the best car chases, high-revved action setpieces with small cars hurtling down narrow streets a la John Frankenheimer’s Ronin (to be fair, Frankenheimer made his film at the tail end of Hong Kong’s “heroic bloodshed” period). There’s little digital enhancement that I can see, save for the final chase — and that’s done so swiftly and furiously it’s hard to notice if you aren’t looking.
What happened to three of Hong Kong’s best action filmmakers? They’re still doing good work out there — in the case of Lam, still working under the radar — and impressing us along the way.

EastWest Bank raises P2.45B via LTNCDs

EAST WEST Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) has raised P2.45 billion from the first tranche of its long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD) program, which will support its funding needs.
At the ceremonial listing of the investment instruments at the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp. on Thursday, the Gotianun-led EastWest Bank said it raised P2.45 billion in fresh funds from the first tranche of its P15-billion LTNCD program.
The notes will mature in 5.5 years and carry an interest rate of 4.625% to be paid quarterly until Dec. 7, 2023.
Like regular time deposits offered by banks, LTNCDs offer higher interest rates. However, LTNCDs cannot be pre-terminated but can be sold on the secondary market, making them “negotiable.”
In a phone interview, EastWest Bank Senior Executive Vice-President Rafael S. Algarra, Jr. said the listing of the long-term notes was just a “rollover.”
“The LTNCD is a replacement of the maturity we had last May 23. In effect, we just actually rolled over our LTNCD that we already issued five years ago,” Mr. Algarra told BusinessWorld on Thursday.
EastWest Bank said in a disclosure that the LTNCDs will be used “to expand EastWest’s long-term deposit base, as well as support major funding needs of the bank.”
“What we try to do when we issue LTNCD is to make sure that there’s prudent balance sheet management practice. We’re trying to match our long-term assets with our long-term liabilities in order that the balance sheet is properly structured,” Mr. Algarra added.
He also noted the number and the date of the next tranches are dependent on the situation of the market, as well as the bank.
“The timing will be dependent on how our business continues to evolve and how the current market situation evolves,” Mr. Algarra said. “If ever we see our balance sheet requires additional LTNCD, then we have to check what proper timing on when there is a demand in the market for these kinds of instruments.”
Unicapital, Inc. served as the sole issue manager, while EastWest Bank acted as the selling agent for the long-term notes.
EastWest Bank’s LTNCDs bring the total volume of outstanding listings at the PDEx to P875.33 billion.
Meanwhile, the Filinvest group’s cumulative listed outstanding securities stand at P56.25 billion or 6.4% of the total volume of listed issues.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved EastWest Bank’s P15-billion LTNCD program on May 16.
Apart from EastWest Bank, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc., BDO Unibank, Inc. and Security Bank Corp. have also rolled out LTNCD offerings this year, raising P3 billion, P8.2 billion and P5.78 billion, respectively.
EastWest Bank, the twelfth-biggest commercial bank in the country in asset terms as of end-2017, saw its net income drop in the first quarter by 22% year-on-year to P945.4 million.
EastWest Bank shares went down 0.54% or eight centavos to P14.80 apiece on Thursday. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Teriyaki Boy-Yellow Cab merger secures regulatory approval

MAX’S GROUP, Inc. (MGI) secured the green light from the corporate regulator to merge two subsidiaries as part of its reorganization.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, the country’s largest casual dining restaurant operator said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the merger of Teriyaki Boy Group, Inc. (TBGI) and Yellow Cab Food Corp., with TBGI as the surviving entity.
“The resulting transaction is part of the continuing corporate reorganization activities to derive operational efficiencies and does not cause any adverse impact to existing shareholders,” MGI said.
Before undertaking the merger, MGI inked definitive agreements last year to secure the remaining 30% equity interest of minority shareholders in TBGI, allowing the listed company to fully consolidate operations of the Teriyaki Boy and Sizzlin’ Steak restaurant systems under MGI.
TBGI owns and operates Teriyaki Boy and Sizzlin’ Steak.
Max’s Group has been reorganizing the company since taking over Pancake House, Inc. in 2014. Since then, the company has shut down underperforming stores and folded franchising units in North America and Middle East into the company.
MGI operates 673 outlets across the country, North America, the Middle East, and Asia under different brands namely Max’s Restaurant, Pancake House, Yellow Cab Pizza, Krispy Kreme, Jamba Juice, Max’s Corner Bakery, Teriyaki Boy, Dencio’s, among others.
MGI’s net profit fell by nearly a third to P123.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 from P176.0 million in the same period a year ago on the back of escalating raw material prices and larger manpower costs due to new labor policies.
Systemwide sales, on the other hand, increased 13% to P4.4 billion in January to March from P3.9 billion last year.
The company is pivoting to franchising as the preferred mode of expansion, both at home and overseas, leveraging on brand equity, operational expertise, and scale to propel store network expansion and boost fee-based collections, which generally equate to better profit translation.
Shares in MGI added two centavos or 0.16% to close at P12.28 apiece on Thursday. — Krista Angela M. Montealegre

‘Look Away’: Songwriter sued over Chicago hit

LOS ANGELES — Thirty years after the band Chicago hit number one with the ballad “Look Away,” a man who was just a teen back then is suing to say that he wrote the song. Brendan Greaves from northern Britain filed suit Tuesday seeking $20 million in damages from Diane Warren, the prolific songwriter who is credited with penning “Look Away,” which topped the US singles chart in late 1988. Greaves said he had submitted the song to a British school music competition in 1987 when he was a 14-year-old student. He did not win the contest sponsored by now defunct EMI Records, but alleged that Warren acquired the tune through the contest. On why it took him so long to complain, Greaves in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles said that he lived in a “quiet village” in Yorkshire and had not heard the Chicago song until 2015. Representatives for Warren did not immediately comment. The number of copyright lawsuits has been proliferating in recent years in the United States, especially since a ruling in favor of the family of Marvin Gaye. — AFP

Facebook to help train OFWs in setting up digital businesses

FACEBOOK Philippines will partner with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to provide training in small businesses management and online literacy for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“OFWs use Facebook to connect with their friends and loved ones back home,” according to Clair Deevy, Facebook’s Director of Community Affairs for the Asia Pacific.
“Together with OWWA we want to help OFWs to have a positive and authentic experience online, and gain business skills that would help their families and communities,” she added.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said that the agency hopes cooperation with Facebook will help “uplift the quality of life of our modern day heroes — both through digital literacy and small business training.”
Departing OFWs will be offered a one-hour module in digital literacy, in which Facebook hopes to train them to safeguard their privacy and safety online, and be more aware of fake news.
“We recognize that when we used to teach digital literacy, it was just learning how to use the computer. Now digital literacy is how do you understand all this information coming out here,” Ms. Deevy said.
OWWA and Facebook will also provide digital marketing workshops to prepare OFWs to set up their own businesses.
“We wanted to go one step further by not only providing these skills but also to create opportunities when they come back to the Philippines,” Ms. Deevy said. “We’ll now be partnering with OWWA in training more than 1,500 OFWs on how to start a business online with Facebook.”
She added, “Facebook has a series of modules that could help you start a business like how to start a page, how to take good picture of your products, and how to attract an audience and how to get a business started, and we do that by having trainers based in the Philippines. We’ll now be working with OWWA to provide training with the OWWA staff.”
The programs can be accessed at www.pilipinas.fb.com or www.owwa.gov.ph. — Gillian M. Cortez

A polished remake

By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
IT’S BY DESIGN that Vanillaware is best known for stylistic two-dimensional action-adventure games. In an industry proliferated with 3D titles, the Japanese developer has made a conscious effort to trod the less-beaten path. And, to its credit, it has had much success in this regard; via a proprietary programming process, it enables its artists to render pixel sprites in such a way as to uniquely project depth. It’s why gamers instantly took to Odin Sphere for the PlayStation 2 in 2007, as well as Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii in 2009.
Dragon’s Crown, released in July 2013 for the PS3 and PS Vita, was very much of the same vein. The 2D side-scrolling, beat-’em-up role-playing game had players facing off with all manner of creatures in a medieval fantasy setting. And, to no one’s surprise, its over-the-top art style, responsive controls, and compelling design has held up well over time, leading to — what else? — a remake that takes advantage of current-generation technology. Indeed, Vanillaware has seen fit to rely on the same blueprint that resulted in Muramasa Rebirth and Odin Sphere Leifthrasir.
In Dragon’s Crown Pro, gamers play as one of several characters and navigate the many dungeons and labyrinths that infest the Kingdom of Hydeland. They get to confront foes through a heady combination of magic, weapons, and projectiles, in the process gathering resources to be used to improve skills and equipment. Needless to say, the latter allow them to better prepare themselves for the harder dungeons, not to mention ultimately claiming the mysterious relic that is the Dragon’s Crown.
Even considering Vanillaware’s impressive body of work, it’s hard not to view Dragon’s Crown Pro as the best in the developer’s library by far in terms of visuals. As good as it may have looked on the PS3, it’s enthralling on the PS4. The console’s engine gives the hand-drawn characters a level of richness that highlights their over-the-top, if endearing, qualities. Monsters, in particular, stand out; from goblins to kobolds to mushrooms to dragons, the brightness, color, and vibrancy underscore the artists’ attention to detail and cohesive style.
Meanwhile, the gameplay remains no slouch. As a 2D beat-em-up crawler, Dragon’s Crown Pro harks back to Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom. Move right, defeat everything visible on the screen, and keep going until the end of the stage is reached. Along the way, players can make use of special abilities and weapons, including those that enemies have wielded and dropped, to accentuate unique fighting styles. The warrior and the dwarf, for instance, use their strength to take down enemies. The sorceress uses magic to blast her foes from afar, while the elf uses a mixture of fast attacks and solid bows to prevail. Responsive and fluid controls amp up the fun factor, with a nice bit of variety on the side to keep things interesting.
Certainly, Dragon’s Crown Pro features a few changes to the mechanics and design of the original, but as subtle as the improvements are, the polish to the presentation makes for an outstanding experience the PS3 could not have been able to provide. The art style, and graphics are smoother by comparison, and the soundtrack has been reworked. And it’s no small matter that previous owners of Dragon’s Crown are free to sync their save data and follow their character’s progress in Dragon’s Crown Pro with little to no hassle. On the flipside, those looking for new content will be disappointed.
All told, Dragon’s Crown Pro is a solid remaster that’s a no-brainer pickup for gamers who haven’t experienced it before. Painstaking care has been given to ensure that the spirit of the original game remains intact, but in a flashier and technically superior manner. Not everyone will be willing or able to double dip, but those who do so will find it a worthy investment.

Video Game Review

Dragon’s Crown Pro
PlayStation 4
THE GOOD

• Smooth and compelling gameplay, with responsive controls and outstanding design

• Marked improvements in graphics and sound

• The ability to port saved data for previous owners of the game on the PS3

THE BAD

• No additional content from that offered by the original

• Over-the-top art style can be off-putting for some

• Gameplay can, at times, require grinding and repetition

RATING: 8.5/10

UHC champions

THE 2018 Health for Juan and Juana Forum (HJJ Forum) held last week gathered the country’s healthcare thought leaders and experts and galvanized their commitment to make Universal Health Care (UHC) happen for all Filipinos. Among the health champions who graced the forum were luminaries who are at the forefront of the UHC advocacy in the country.
Prior to his appointment as Presidential Spokesperson in October 2017, Representative Harry Roque (Kabayan Party-list, 17th Congress) authored House Bill No. 225, one of the precursor bills of what is now known as the UHC bill. Addressing the participants of the HJJ Forum, Mr. Roque reiterated his support for the enactment of the UHC bill currently pending in the Senate. He acknowledged Dr. Ernesto Domingo and the University of the Philippines-Universal Healthcare Study Group for their invaluable inputs in crafting the various UHC bills that have been filed in both houses of Congress through the years.
“The proposed UHC bill promotes and gives realization to the right to health, which is an acknowledged obligation of the state. UHC recognizes the duty of the state to take all positive steps to ensure that all of its citizens shall have the right to health,” Mr. Roque said. He expressed hope that by the end of the year a truly responsive UHC law would be enacted that provides for the health needs of all Filipinos.
Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography and author of Senate Bill No. 1458 or the “Universal Health Care for All Filipinos Act,” expressed confidence that they will be able to pass the measure before the end of 2018.
Mr. Ejercito said that the regional public consultations were instrumental in shaping the UHC bill. He was referring to the series of public consultations that his committee held in Cebu City, Davao City, Legazpi City, and Pangasinan where they gathered inputs from local government units (LGUs), healthcare practitioners, and citizens. “Of the various issues that we noted [during the public consultations], health facilities, financing and service delivery were the more pressing concerns… I welcome your recommendations on how to further improve this legislative measure, which I believe we will be able to pass before the end of 2018,” he declared.
During the Legazpi City public consultation, the committee found out that the Bicol Medical Center has a 200% overcapacity rate and Sorsogon province has an average public hospital bed capacity rate of 155%. “This experience and data allowed us to prioritize the passage of local health bills that will increase the bed capacity of various government hospitals in the country,” said the 48-year-old senator, who served as San Juan City mayor for three consecutive terms from 2001 to 2010.
Mr. Ejercito lauded the Sin Tax Reform Act for its groundbreaking impact on health financing, enabling the health sector budget to increase from P57 billion in 2012 to P151 billion in 2017, which has subsidized the PhilHealth coverage of an additional 10.1 million poor families and 2.8 million elderly Filipinos. He believes that financing could make or break the UHC bill as a landmark legislation. “I filed SBN 1605, which aims to increase the cigarette excise tax to P90 by 2018 and stipulate a 9% annual increase in the excise tax thereafter. This proposal is expected to reduce the country’s smoking prevalence rate to 16.6%, which is comparable to that of Singapore, which currently has the lowest smoking prevalence rate in ASEAN.”
Mr. Ejercito highlighted the important role that the private sector will play in the health service delivery network. “For the UHC model that we are pushing to pass, we need to strengthen the linkages between the government and the private sector as its partner in providing basic social services such as health.”
 
Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). Medicine Cabinet is a weekly PHAP column that aims to promote awareness on public health and health care-related issues. PHAP and its member companies represent the research-based pharmaceutical and health care industry.
medicinecabinet@phap.org.ph

Your Weekend Guide (June 8, 2018)

Lecture on art restoration

THE Ayala museum, in conjunction with the Alfonso Ossorio: A Survey exhibition, presents a talk on the restoration of the artworks at the Saint Joseph the Worker Chapel with Liliane “Tats” Manahan on June 9, 3 p.m. The session is free with museum admission. For more information, contact research@ayalamuseum.org.

G-Force Project 2018

THE G-FORCE dance center presents the G-Force Project 2018, a summer dance workshop concert on June 8, 7:30 p.m. at The Theater at Solaire. For tickets, visit TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Young Choreographer’s showcase

BALLET PHILIPPINES showcases versatility and artistic excellence in a double program that is the culminating activity of the 49th CCP Summer Dance Workshop and opening of the company’s 49th season at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on June 9 and 10. Up and coming choreographers will showcase their new works that define the company’s mission to develop artists. For tickets, call 551-1003.

SOLO Breakout Room

GLOBE and Breakout Manila present Solo: A Star Wars Story Breakout Room. Breakout Manila runs a number of themed mystery rooms where patrons are locked in and must solve a series of clues before getting released. Globe customers can take on the challenge for free every Friday to Sunday from June 1 to 24 at the Breakout Manila branches at Serendra in Bonifacio Global City, and Greenbelt 5 in Makati City. Movie passes and limited edition packs are in store for teams who finish the challenge. Solo: A Star Wars Story is the latest movie from the Star Wars franchise, which traces the origin of Han Solo and his best bud, Chewbacca, as they acquire the Millennium Falcon.

G.A.M.E. for kids

ALWIN REAMILLO’s Bayanihan Hopping Spirit House is currently on view at the Ayala Museum in Makati.

AFTER THE successful run of G.A.M.E. (Greenbelt Ayala Museum Experience) last year, featuring renowned Lulu Tan Gan with her Yarn Bomb Knit Bomb exhibition, Ayala Malls Greenbelt hosts another initiative just in time for Independence Day. On June 10, children up to the age of 12 can come visit Ayala Museum for free when they donate a toy, which will be given to the kids of Hero (Help Educate and Rear Orphans) Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to help the families of fallen soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Ayala Museum will also be giving 50% of the day’s museum admission to the organization. The children of the Hero Foundation will also be treated to a day of arts and culture plus fun-filled activities and surprises. There will be booths from Hobbes & Landes and Color Me Mine, as well as sweet treats from Elait! Ice Cream and other concessionaires. In addition, museum-goers can enjoy the Bayanihan Hopping Spirit House, an art installation by Alwin Reamillo. The collapsible bamboo-framed hut on stilts is emblematic of the Filipino value of bayanihan — when townspeople would help carry a neighbor’s bahay kubo when moving to a new site. Reamillo’s Bayanihan Hopping Spirit House has made its own travels, from Sydney to Manila, where it currently resides at the Ayala Museum Plaza. For more information, visit www.ayalamuseum.org

Tom Cruise makes 5-mile skydive in Mission: Impossible movie stunt


LONDON — Tom Cruise has jumped off buildings, slid off skyscrapers, and clung onto the outside of a plane during take-off in his roles as action movie hero. Now he can stake a claim to being the first actor to perform a “HALO” skydive on camera: a “high altitude, low opening” jump, usually done only by highly trained military professionals as a way of avoiding detection by the enemy. The 55-year-old filmed the stunt for Mission: Impossible — Fallout, the latest installment of the high-grossing action movies in which he plays agent Ethan Hunt. In a video released ahead of the movie’s release next month, Cruise leaps from the cargo door of a plane at 25,000 feet (7,600 meters) — almost five miles — opening the parachute less than 2,000 feet (600 meters) from the ground, according to the filmmakers. To prepare for the stunt, which carries a risk of decompression sickness, or “the bends,” during the 200 mph (320 kmh) fall, Cruise trained in a custom-built wind machine and used a special helmet. Cruise broke an ankle last year filming another stunt for Mission: Impossible — Fallout, when he jumped between two buildings and landed against a wall. — Reuters

Beach town Glan aims to make its ancestral homes another tourism highlight

By Maya M. Padillo
Correspondent

GLAN, SARANGANI — This coastal town, home of the annual Sarangani Bay Festival every May, is popular in the tourism circuit for its long, pristine white sand beach.
But the municipal government now wants to tap the heritage and historical treasures of Glan, the oldest town established in the province, as another major attraction.
“Everyone can walk around our poblacion (town center) and [go down] a memory lane with our ancestral houses that are more Spanish- and American-inspired,” said Municipal Tourism Officer Lodar Dagoy Escobillo in an interview during a recent tour of the province.
Ms. Escobillo said they have already initiated discussions with families to encourage them to undertake restoration work.
These families are locally referred to as “colonos,” short for colonizers, who are among the first Filipinos from Cebu City who migrated here about a century ago, making Glan among the first Christian towns in Mindanao.
Only four homes are considered in “good condition,” and “the rest of the houses need to be restored, (as these are) around 90% to 100% dilapidated,” she said.
The tourism officer said the local government unit (LGU) is ready to provide assistance by tapping researchers, architecture students, and other locals to take part in the restorations.
“We make them (private sector) feel that the public and LGU are supporting them,” she said.
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has also committed to give technical assistance, she added.
“We are praying and hoping that more would be enticed to come and visit our place,” Ms. Escobillo said, noting that they have an ambitious target of attracting a million visitors this year from about 370,000 last year.
To complement the ancestral houses, the building of the municipal dispensary of Glan, constructed in the 1940s, will be converted into a museum in partnership with the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP)-Soccsksargen Chapter.
“This will be the first museum in Glan and this will be a good ground for us,” Ms. Escobillo said.
The town’s indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage is celebrated every mid-April with the Mahin Festival, which also serves as the kick-off event for the summer beach activities.
“We deem it necessary to depict our town, despite its sleepiness, (as) an experience of simple living, provincial living, for our tourists to rest and relax not only with our white sand beaches, but we have black sand beaches, ecotourism resources, and waterfalls,” she said.
Glan also has elevated areas that serve as viewing sites for the migratory birds who come every September and October.
The Lubi-Lubi Festival, a street dancing festival and parade, is held every year on Oct. 8 in celebration of the town’s main agricultural product, the coconut.

Creativity — talent or skill?

THE debate on whether artificial intelligence (AI) will replace human jobs or not is heating up. While the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that five million jobs will be lost by 2020 because of automation, other experts prognosticate that more jobs will be created than destroyed.
But we can’t deny that AI is indeed shaping the future of jobs — from office to factory work. Then what career and life skills are needed to cope with the changing profile of the labor market in the age of AI.
Findings of a study by the employer-led Partnership for 21st Century Learning describe the foundation skills for worker success as the 4Cs: collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. As I’ve written about the importance of collaboration, communication, and critical thinking in past articles, we will focus on the oft-misunderstood last component — creativity. The WEF listed creativity as the third “skill your child needs for the jobs of the future” in 2020, with complex problem solving and critical thinking as first and second, respectively.
What is creativity exactly? Dictionary.com defines it as “the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.” This is where our misconception stems from — that creativity is associated with artistry. That’s why the Philippines has always been branded as probably one of the most creative countries in the world. Our country produces the best singers, dancers, painters, web designers, and animators. That’s why we associate creativity with talent — that it’s innate or natural to a person and can be developed.
But is creativity a talent that’s inborn or it’s a skill, as WEF calls it, that can be learned, practiced, and become an expert of? Part of the problem is how creativity is defined by many. But actually, creativity is the use of imagination and original ideas to solve problems.
In the recent creativity workshops we ran for organizations, a simple exercise we conducted was to ask the audience, in three minutes, to list down as many “ways on how to attract voters to he precinct,” taking off from the recent barangay elections. The longest list would get a prize.
On the average, each participant listed twenty ideas. But interestingly, the first 5 to 10 ideas were the things anyone would normally suggest, like provide free food, free wi-fi, comfortable seats, nice toilets, and so on — those that are relevant to the problem at hand. In workplace brainstorming sessions, we tend to give the most relevant ideas that will address a problem.
As the list reached 10 ideas, each participant showed a slowing down of ideas until it bottomed out. This was the point when each participant looked blankly at nowhere for a lack of ideas. Then, with a light bulb moment at the bottom, the participants started to write ‘crazy’ and ‘stupid’ ideas like ‘get some models to attract voters,’ ‘put some live band music in the precinct,’ and so on until they added 10 more ‘crazy’ ideas. These next 10 ideas are the original and novel ideas — those that are ‘out-of-the-box and innovative.
This exercise brought out two important lessons to participants. Firstly, creativity is a process — one that goes through the generation of relevant ideas first then goes through a wave of novel ideas. Secondly, creativity is a capability that can be learned and a skill that can be developed, given the right conditions, like motivation or incentive. In the exercise, the participants were motivated and incentive to list as many ideas to solve the problem of attracting voters to the precinct because there’s a prize.
Since creativity is a skill, its one that we can practice and develop through exposure to solving problems may it be in everyday life and the workplace. If we want employees to be creative in brainstorming sessions, we provide the conditions of ‘incentive’ and ‘no idea is stupid’ so that they generate novel and original ideas that can potentially solve problems.
What’s unique about Filipinos is that we innately possess the creative talent, but we manifest this in artistry and as evidenced by the novel ideas during the workshops. There is huge potential for Filipinos to develop creativity into a skill that can be applied in many areas such as in putting up tech start-ups or proposing novel ideas to address societal issues.
What is sorely missing and fast declining among Filipinos is critical thinking — an important skill alongside creativity, both needed to solve problems. In fact, the Filipino people are cited as the third “most ignorant” regarding their nation’s key issues in The Perils of Perception 2017 study. I’ve written previously that this is due to the declining critical thinking skill, brought about by the age-old rote learning pedagogy in schools and widespread social media use.
We as a nation are naturally creative, we just need to enhance it to become a worthy skill. But alongside, there’s an urgent need to develop critical thinking as well.
 
Reynaldo C. Lugtu, Jr. is President & CEO of Hungry Workhorse Consultancy Inc, a digital and culture transformation firm. He is the Chairman of the ICT Committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX). He teaches strategic management in the MBA Program of De La Salle University. He is also an Adjunct Faculty of the Asian Institute of Management.
reylugtu@gmail.com

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