PSEi falls below 8,000 as foreigners turn sellers

February 13, 2019 | 9:00 pm

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
THE MAIN INDEX plunged for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, marking its worst finish in nearly a month on sustained profit taking.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slumped 1.12% or 89.68 points to close at 7,920.24 yesterday, while the broader all-shares index dropped 0.95% or 46.42 points to 4,811.99.
“(The PSEi) is an outlier in Asia today, with most neighboring bourses up on the day. We attribute the PSEi’s lagging performance to continued profit taking after a spectacular start to the year,” AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. President William Matthew M. Cabangon said in a mobile phone message on Wednesday.
The PSEi hit an intraday high for the year, so far, of 8,213.71 on Feb. 6, closing above the 8,100 level the next day at 8,100.30. It has since maintained a downward trajectory, which analysts described as a healthy correction.
For Diversified Securities, Inc. trader Aniceto K. Pangan, the market continued in correction mode due to the MSCI rebalancing. “Market continued its correction due to… portfolio adjustments related to the MSCI rebalancing, wherein it cut the weightings of key heavyweight stocks,” Mr. Pangan said via text.
Markets abroad rallied overnight on a tentative congressional spending deal to avert another US government shutdown and on optimism over Sino-US trade talks.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite index jumped 1.49%, 1.29% and 1.46% respectively.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices, Shanghai SE Composite Index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 1.34%, 1.06%, 1.84%, 1.16% and 0.50%, respectively.
Back home, most of the six sectoral indices moved into negative territory except for mining and oil, which managed to climb 0.49% or 41.89 points to 8,569.86.
The rest dropped: services by 1.44% or 23.25 points to 1,581.45, financials by 1.34% or 24.53 points to 1,803.66, holding firms by 1.18% or 94.70 points to 7,887.65, property by 1.06% or 42.75 points to 3,963.64 and industrials by 0.31% or 35.97 points to 11,438.16.
Foreign investors snapped 18 straight sessions of net buying with P246.034-million net sales.
“Upcoming corporate earnings have also led some to reduce their exposure to local equities, with about P245 million of net foreign selling today,” AAA Southeast Equities’ Mr. Cabangon said.
Turnover reached P7.27 billion after some 4.63 billion issues switched hands, compared to Tuesday’s 2.74 billion shares worth P7.24 billion.
Stocks that fell were nearly double those that gained 134 to 75, while 50 others ended flat.
Wednesday’s list of 20 most active stocks showed only three that gained: Pacifica, Inc. (30.77%), Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. (12.35%) and Jollibee Foods Corp. (1.28%).

Nation at a Glance — (02/14/19)

February 13, 2019 | 8:55 pm

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.

WATCH: AI takes on debate champion in first public debate between man and machine

February 13, 2019 | 6:09 pm

By Santiago J. Arnaiz

IBM made history on Tuesday evening hosting the first ever public debate between man and machine.
Previously debuted in a small, closed-door event in June 2018, Project Debater stepped onto the public stage for the first time in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center to take on Harish Natarajan, world-class debate champion and head of economic risk at AKE International. Each contender had only 15 minutes to prepare their arguments on whether or not pre-schooling should be subsidized — with Project Debater in the affirmative, and Mr. Natarajan opposing.
Project Debater is the first AI system designed to debate humans on complex topics using a combination of cutting-edge capabilities, including: data-driven speechwriting and delivery, listening comprehension, and modeling human dilemmas.
Moderated by John Donvan, the debate followed the Intelligence Squared format of three rounds preceded and followed by audience polls. Whichever debater changed the most minds by the end of the program won.
“Greetings, Harish,” Project Debater said, opening the evening’s debate in her charming, but unmistakably synthesized voice. “I have heard you hold the world record in debate competition wins against humans. But I suspect you have never debated against a machine. Welcome to the future.”
After three rounds of debate, Mr. Natarajan came out on top with a conclusive victory. Project Debater, however, won the second poll, with more of the audience feeling the AI better enriched their knowledge on the topic matter.
While the AI may have lost her first public debate with a human, she definitely proved her value as a game-changing resource for humans. If applied, Project Debater could potentially see use cases in advising public policy makers, helping legal teams craft cases and establish jurisprudence, and supplementing boardroom meetings with evidence-based arguments for or against potential decisions.

“What really struck me was the potential value of Project Debater when synthesized with a human being, in that the amount of knowledge she is able to grasp, but more than that, the ability to contextualize that knowledge by saying ‘this information tells us this,’” said Mr. Natarajan. “I think if you take some of those skills and and add to that a human who could use them in more subtle ways, I think that could be incredibly powerful.”
Within the next few years we could see versions of IBM Project Debater organizing massive amounts of public and private data into clear, easy-to-digest formats for human decision-makers.

Trade deficit narrows in December

February 13, 2019 | 12:33 am

By Marissa Mae M. Ramos
Researcher
THE COUNTRY’s trade-in-goods deficit narrowed in December to the smallest in three months as merchandise imports fell for the first time in 17 months, although this did not prevent the full-year gap from surging faster than in 2017, according to data the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on Tuesday.

In a preliminary report, the PSA said merchandise exports dropped 12.3% to $4.721 billion in December — marking the biggest fall in 11 quarters or since the 13% decline in March 2016 — from $5.384 billion in December 2017, and were similarly down 15% from $5.569 billion in November.
For full-year 2018, merchandise exports were down 1.8% to $67.488 billion from $68.713 billion in 2017. This was below the two-percent target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
On the other hand, the merchandise import bill fell by 9.4% to $8.473 billion in December from $9.356 billion in the same month in 2017.
The import decline was the first since July 2017’s 0.3% and was the largest in 3 years, or since December 2015’s -26%.
For the year, merchandise imports rose by 13.4% to $108.928 billion from $96.093 billion in 2017, topping the DBCC’s nine-percent projection for the year.
These flows brought the country’s trade deficit to $3.752 billion in December, 5.5% smaller than the year-ago $3.972 billion. It was also the smallest trade gap in three months.
Meanwhile, the country’s total external trade in goods — or the sum of export and import goods — shrank 10.5% to $13.194 billion in December, marking the weakest activity in three years, or since the 15.15% plunge in December 2015.
Cumulatively, the country’s trade balance posted a record-high $41.440-billion deficit in 2018, 51.3% more than the $27.380 billion recorded in 2017 which itself saw a 2.5% increase.
The export of manufactured goods, which made up 84.8% of total sales in December, went down 13.2% to $4.002 billion from $4.610 billion in the same month in 2017.
The bulk of the decline was seen in electronic products, which made up around 57.2% of the total exports, plunged 15.2% to $2.703 billion from $3.186 billion. Full-year 2018 saw sales of these products edge up just 2.8% to $37.569 billion.
Mineral products (-42.8%) and petroleum products (-59.8%) registered sharp declines as well during the month.
Bucking the trend were growth in the export of agro-based products (40.1%) and forest products (0.8%).
For imports, capital goods — which accounted for 33.6% of total imports — declined 10.6% to $2.846 billion. Meanwhile, raw materials and intermediate goods — with a 36.3% share — went down by 5.8% to $3.075 billion from $3.266 billion.
Imports of consumer goods and mineral fuels, lubricant and related materials were also down, contracting 12.1% (to $1.351 billion) and 14.4% (to $1.137 billion), respectively.
HEADWINDS
In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) attributed the trade performance in December to “external headwinds.”
“Merchandise trade in all the monitored Asian economies continued to weaken in the last month of 2018 as the region began to feel the impact of the weakening Chinese economy and the US-China trade tension,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, who is NEDA’s director-general, was quoted in the agency’s statement as saying.
“Policy uncertainty remains a threat to global trade, investment, and output, especially as US-China trade tensions continue,” Mr. Pernia said, adding that the government should continue to work on legislative reforms that will open up the economy further to foreign investment in areas like retain trade and utilities.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters in a mobile pone message that “[Since the Philippines] as well as 10 other Asian economies, suffered from an export decline in December, it is quite apparent that the downward trend in exports was brought about by softening global demand induced by global growth slowdown as well as increased uncertainty amid escalating US-China trade tensions.”
“Electronics supply chain in the region was adversely affected as lower orders from one country can lead to lower orders in other supplier countries.”
The country’s non-electronics exports, he said, were “still affected by production capacity issues.”
For Michael L. Ricafort, economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), external developments like the US-China trade war, the 35-day US government shutdown, the slowdown of China’s economic growth and Brexit concerns “may have also led to some slowdown in Philippine trade with the rest of the world.”
ERODED INVESTMENT MOMENTUM
On the local front, Mr. Ricafort cited last year’s elevated domestic inflation and the raising of interest rates by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as factors that may have led to lower demand for imports as well as lower production by exporters.
For ING Bank N.V Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, December’s trade data showed a “surprise contraction in capital goods imports and raw materials, which could signal that the recent tightening of the BSP is starting to bite into investment momentum.”
“With more than [a] 15% drop in electronics exports, this posed a drag on overall exports while all other subsectors of outbound shipments were also in contraction. This could mean that the ongoing trade spat between superpowers is starting to feed into our supply chains,” Mr. Mapa added.
Economists expect the trade deficit to persist this year.
“The sustained drag of net exports will be noted in 2019 as exports fail to even get close to our import numbers,” said ING’s Mr. Mapa, adding that this could affect economic growth for the year through a decline in capital formation if import growth “continues to be skewed less to capital goods”.
“Overall, we’d likely see [a] slight narrowing of the trade gap, but still quite substantial to drive a current account deficit,” he added.
“For 2019, we expect imports to grow by single digits but not likely to see extremely strong growth from inbound shipments as a whole…”
“Exports, on the other hand, are expected to remain lackluster given the fears about a global slowdown in trade, once again owing to the US-China trade spat.”
For RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort, “increased government spending, especially on mega infrastructure projects under the Build Build Build Program… could still sustain the country’s relatively wide trade deficit for 2019, though this may [be] offset by the decline in global crude oil prices that still linger among the lowest levels in more than a year…”
Despite such headwinds, DTI Assistant Secretary Angelo B. Taningco said in a recent interview that the department targets growth of foreign sales of goods and services to be at an “achievable” 9-10% on the back of improved factory output.
DTI chief Lopez said separately: “[W]e reiterate our views to focus efforts… in building our capacities for a more robust, innovative, competitive manufacturing sector that will allow us to do more import substitution as well as improve our export performance in the long term…” — with Janina C. Lim

Philippine trade year-on-year performance (December 2018)

February 13, 2019 | 12:33 am

THE COUNTRY’s trade-in-goods deficit narrowed in December to the smallest in three months as merchandise imports fell for the first time in 17 months, although this did not prevent the full-year gap from surging faster than in 2017, according to data the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)released on Tuesday. Read the full story.

Infrastructure delay, high interest rates to weigh on capital formation — ING

February 13, 2019 | 12:32 am

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez
Senior Reporter
CAPITAL FORMATION will likely hit a snag this year amid higher interest rates and delays in infrastructure projects, which in turn will pull growth below the state’s 7-8% goal.
ING Bank N.V. Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said investments may decelerate due to delays in the enactment of the national budget, and as the impact of last year’s increases in benchmark interest rates feed into commercial borrowing costs.
“We’re seeing that election boost, but it doesn’t come necessarily from your consumption numbers — it comes from capital formation,” Mr. Mapa said during the ING Economic Briefing held yesterday at the Fairmont Makati hotel.
“Capital formation is indeed hampered by rate hikes by the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) and delays in the budget. We’ve had six percent-plus growth for 15 quarters and if we see that coming slightly below that, maybe that’s a good sign that it’s time to ease on [monetary] policy.”
The bank economist said that higher borrowing rates have crept their way into the wider financial system, with signs that both consumer and corporate clients have begun to feel the pinch.
Investments have been taking a bigger share of overall economic growth, with its slice expected to grow to 31% in 2019 from just 24% in 2015. Economic activity remains largely consumption-driven, although its share has eased to about 66% this year from 69% four years ago.
Capital formation grew by 3.3% in 2018, which helped drive the full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6.2%.
Mr. Mapa said he expects a steady pace in 2019, contrary to some market bets that growth will receive a boost this year owing to the May 13 mid-term polls. Citing data, previous election years saw capital formation grow faster at 4.4% in 2010, 4.3% in 2013 and 4.9% in 2016.
“I don’t think you can have that kind of capital formation this year. One, the BSP hiked rates by 175 basis points (bp) — capital formation will take a hit. Second… you don’t have that public construction boom,” Mr. Mapa said, referring to the delayed enactment of the 2019 budget.
“We’ll still get a decent number — maybe 3.3% — but it’s not gonna be enough to bring you back to close to 7% growth just because it’s an election year.”
ING sees 2019 growth at 6.3%, which if realized will slightly pick up from last year’s pace but will miss the 7-8% target set by the Duterte administration.
He added that the delayed enactment of the national budget — which cleared Congress just last Friday – will “definitely hit” investment growth.
The national government is currently operating under a re-enacted budget, since the proposed P3.757-trillion spending plan yet to be signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, hence, leaving new programs and projects unfunded.
Mr. Mapa clarified that his forecasts assume that the government will have to pause all public works during the 45-day ban ahead of elections.
Economic managers have said that they will ask the Commission on Elections to exempt priority construction projects from the ban.
Mr. Mapa is projecting a slow start for the Philippine economy, with GDP growth expected to ease to 5.8% this quarter, pick up to 6.1% in the second quarter, then 6.3% in the third quarter and at 6.4% for October-December.
The bank expects tempered GDP growth to result in a 25bp rate cut in May, followed by another reduction next semester. The reserve requirement ratio is also expected to be slashed by 200bp this year, Mr. Mapa added.

Hanjin rehab draws interest of three ‘major’ shipbuilders

February 13, 2019 | 12:31 am

By Janina C. Lim
Reporter
THREE MAJOR shipbuilders have signaled interest in the rehabilitation of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines, Inc. by asking for meetings on the matter.
In an interview in Olongapo City on Friday last week, HHIC-Phil’s former rehabilitation receiver Stefani C. Saño said he has received three letters of intent from “big players” in the shipbuilding industry, with one meeting scheduled this week.
“Tatlong letters na na-receive ko (I have received three letters), but they still have to go through due diligence,” Mr. Saño said.
The letters of intent were “only general expressions of interest and proposals for initial meetings to discuss possible investments in the shipyard,” which defaulted on its loans to domestic creditors, worth about $412 million, Mr. Saño said.
He declined to identify the shipbuilders concerned, saying only that they are based in Asia and the United States.
Asked if the companies were open to a joint venture, merger or acquisition, Mr. Saño said, “all of the above were mentioned.”
Mr. Saño resigned as receiver last week, but will stay put until his replacement is appointed.
He said he will proceed with the meeting scheduled this week with one of the interested parties.
A HHIC-Phil official, who asked not to be named, said negotiations to seek further bank financing are under way.
“Lay-offs will happen if no banks will help us,” the official said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
The company is set to shed more than 3,000 workers on Feb. 15, leaving the yard with a reduced staff of about 300.
Mr. Saño has said such numbers will not be sufficient to operate the yard.
HHIC-Phil last month defaulted on $412 million worth of debt to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. ($145 million); Land Bank of the Philippines (reported at $85 million); Metrobank ($70 million); BDO Unibank, Inc. ($60 million) and the Bank of the Philippine Islands ($52 million).

Tax bureau sets targets, priorities for this year

February 13, 2019 | 12:30 am

THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) expects to collect nearly P80 billion from the tax reform law this year, which should help boost total revenues to a fresh record high.
Revenue Memorandum Order 9-2019 spells out the bureau’s collection targets for the year.
The BIR, which is the government’s biggest tax collector, is tasked to raise P2.331 trillion, 14.3% more than the P2.044-trillion target in 2018 and 18% more than the P1.962 trillion that the bureau actually collected last year.
For 2019, the BIR is counting on Republic Act No. 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law that took effect in January 2018, to bring in an additional P79.012 billion this year. That law reduced personal income tax rates for those earning below P2 million and put in place a simpler system for computing donor and estate taxes. These foregone revenues will be offset by the removal of some value-added tax (VAT) exemptions; increased tax rates for fuel, cars, tobacco, coal, minerals, documentary stamps, foreign currency deposit units, capital gains for stocks not in the stock exchange, and stock transactions; and new taxes for sugar-sweetened drinks and cosmetic surgery.
Actual 2018 BIR collections of P1.962 trillion fell four percent short of program even as they were a tenth more than 2017’s tax haul of P1.781 trillion. Income tax and VAT collections went down from 2017, with faster inflation discouraging household spending and, in turn, leading to lower consumption tax collected.
This year, the tax bureau expects to collect P1.06 trillion from income taxes to account for nearly half its collection goal.
This is followed by VAT which is expected to contribute P506.825 billion, while excise taxes are projected to bring in P400.51 billion.
Revenue from percentage taxes are targeted at P112.366 billion, while other taxes are projected to add P177.453 billion. Meanwhile, taxes from non-BIR operations — consisting of final withholding and documentary stamp taxes on government securities transactions — are seen to bring in P73.206 billion.
By office, the Large Taxpayers Service that covers big businesses is projected to generate bulk of collections at P1.441 trillion, while revenue regions — the bureau’s various offices nationwide — are seen to raise P816.115 billion.
The administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte expects to raise P3.2 trillion in total revenues this year.
Together with borrowings and official development assistance, these funds are expected to fuel a planned boost in state spending to as much as P3.8 trillion, including for more aggressive infrastructure development. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Globe hikes capex to P63B

February 13, 2019 | 12:06 am

GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. is raising its capital expenditure (capex) by 45% to P63 billion (about $1.2 billion) this year as it continues to expand its network to address rising demand for data services.
As a new telco player prepares to enter the market, Globe said its plan to expand and enhance its data network this year will require additional investments. In 2018, it spent P43.3 billion (around $821 million) in capex, the 77% of which was used for data-related services.
“We’re seeing increased demand from our consumers with respect to the data network and the data consumption… You saw our numbers, when it comes to data growth, 59% year-on-year in terms of volume. That has to be supported somehow, if not, the whole thing falls apart in terms of momentum,” Globe President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu said in a briefing on the company’s 2018 financial results.
Globe said the capex will be funded by its operating cash and additional debt to be incurred this year.
The Ayala-led telco reported a 22% rise in its net income after tax for the full year 2018 to P18.447 billion, from P15.084 billion in 2017. Core net income, which excludes forex, mark-to-market gains/losses and non-recurring items, likewise grew 37% to P18.555 billion from P13.546 billion the previous year.
Globe said its fourth-quarter net income fell 21% to P3.809 billion from P4.85 billion in the third quarter, while core income also dropped 21% quarter on quarter to P3.789 billion.
Service revenues increased 10% to P140.232 billion for the full year. The bulk or 61% of service revenues came from data-related services as Globe customers grew 8% to 37 million.
Mobile revenues rose 9% year-on-year to P106.925 billion, with mobile data accounting for P55.3 billion, 28% up from the previous year.
Home broadband generated P18.5 billion in revenues (up 19%), while corporate data added P11.8 billion (up 15%).
On the other hand, revenues from fixed line voice services dropped 15% to P2.982 billion.
Globe said it continued to see a shift in demand for data-related services, as revenues from mobile voice fell 6% to P30.348 billion and for mobile SMS by 8% to P21.281 billion in 2018.
“Consistent with global trends, voice revenues declined given the migration of voice traffic to alternative internet-based applications… Similar to voice, mobile SMS declined with the continuous migration of mobile messaging traffic to over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps,” the telco said in a statement.
Globe’s mobile subscriber base ended 2018 at 74.1 million from 60.7 million in 2017, and home broadband subscribers to 1.6 million from 1.3 million the previous year.
HUAWEI PARTNERSHIP
In the same briefing, Mr. Cu addressed questions on growing concern in other countries over telco partnerships with Chinese technology company Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
“For us Huawei is the partner simply because they’re the ones ready… What we are seeing is that their technology is more than a year ahead of their competitors. So it enables us to have an advantage out there using their equipment on our network,” he said.
Globe has a partnership with Huawei for the upgrading and expansion of its networks, including fourth and fifth generation (4G and 5G), and the formation of a mobile innovation center in the Philippines.
Since last year, United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand prohibited their telcos from tapping Huawei for their network expansion over cybersecurity concerns involving the Chinese government.
But Mr. Cu said they’ve been assured by Huawei they will “continue on with their business” despite the allegations.
“We have had multiple conversations with them… We’ve been assured that from whatever accusations have been levied against them, they find that completely baseless,” he said.
Shares in Globe fell 1.21% or P24 to P1,956 each on Tuesday. — Denise A. Valdez

DICT to tweak common tower plan

February 13, 2019 | 12:05 am

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter
THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is looking to fine-tune the shared telco infrastructure initiative.
DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo M. Rio, Jr. said they organized a forum on Feb. 18 for Smart Communications, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc., and the eight tower companies that have already signed memoranda of agreement with the DICT.
“Ang gagawin namin is to fine-tune, kasi this is the first time we did a common tower dito sa Pilipinas. Pati yung mga telcos (nao-overwhelm) sila… Kinakausap sila ngayon ng common tower providers.. in other words may learning curve pa rin sila [What we’ll do is we’ll fine tune the plan, because this is the first time we’re doing common towers in the Philippines. Even the telcos are overwhelmed. The common tower providers are talking to them but they are unable to sign contracts. In other words they have a learning curve],” he told BusinessWorld after the DICT signed its eighth MoU with a local tower provider on Monday.
Mr. Rio noted that despite having welcomed several tower companies since December, none have secured an order with any of the telcos for the shared tower facilities.
“As of now wala pang bumabalik sa amin to sign an MoA [As of now none has come back to us to sign an MoA],” he said, noting that the forum is expected to address this.
The MoUs guarantee that as soon as the tower providers receive orders from the telcos, the DICT will assist them in securing permits, which Mr. Rio said is a major hurdle encountered by Smart and Globe.
The DICT signed its eight MoU with MGS Construction, Inc. on Monday, which aims to provide at least 500 towers priced at P5 million per tower.
MGS Construction has a background of constructing buildings, hospitals, and condominium units, mostly for the Villar Group of Companies. The firm’s president Jerry M. Navarrete noted the Villar group has no stake in the incorporation. Mr. Navarrette was previously the president of Villar’s Starmalls.
Mr. Rio said they are expecting to sign deals with two more tower providers in the coming weeks, one of which will be with American Tower Corp.
The companies that have so far registered are ISOC Infrastructures, Inc.; ISON ECP Tower Pte. Ltd.; IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS Towers); edotco Group Sdn Bhd; China Energy Equipment Co. Ltd.; RT Telecom Sdn Bhd.; and Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.
Smart is the wireless unit of PLDT, Inc. 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.

Resorts World Manila opens travelers lounge

February 13, 2019 | 12:04 am

RESORTS World Manila (RWM) has opened a travelers lounge at the Newport Mall, where passengers of Cebu Pacific can check in for their flights departing from Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
During the official launch of the RWM Travelers Lounge on Tuesday, RWM and Cebu Pacific officials said the new facility offers check-in services for Cebu Pacific passengers during mall hours, or up to eight hours before their scheduled flights.
The lounge is located on the ground floor of Newport Mall, which offers free shuttle service to the Runway Manila entrance. Runway Manila is an elevated walkway connecting Newport City to NAIA Terminal 3.
“We’ve been working extensively with Cebu Pacific, we forged a relationship over a number of years…. we have the Runway (Manila)… that links all of our hotels to Terminal 3, so the ease of access to guests when they come to our property,” Stephen Reilly, chief operating officer of RWM, told reporters after the launch.
Javier Massot, Cebu Pacific vice-president for airport services, noted that the check-in facility at the lounge uses the airline’s new system.
“What we provide is a check-in facility…. It’s flexible. We can go with the demand. We have now deployed a new system… which enables us to provide check-in facilities anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in a specific location… So, we are coming from a very static way of doing business to complete sandbox concept where we go where they need us,” Mr. Massot told reporters after the event.
Passengers can get their boarding passes before going to NAIA Terminal 3. Real-time flight status is also provided in the lounge.
“It’s great for our guests, it’s also great for Cebu Pacific because at the same time for them… NAIA Terminal 3 does get very congested at certain times. They are actually very grateful as well for an alternative site for people come and check-in, and then sit back and relax and wait for their flights,” Mr. Reilly said.
Mr. Massot said the new facility allows Cebu Pacific passengers to avoid the long queues at the airport.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for passengers that want to avoid queueing at the airport. They can come here with enough time. They can get their boarding passes, and they can spend their time having some fun using the facilities of this fantastic area… hassle free… It’s also a good opportunity for us because it will decongest the airport,” he said.
Mr. Massot said Cebu Pacific may consider opening other similar facilities in the future. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

Treasury fully awards seven-year bonds

February 13, 2019 | 12:04 am

THE government made a full award of the seven-year Treasury bonds (T-bond) it placed on the auction block on Tuesday, indicating strong investor demand for medium-term instruments.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P20 billion as planned from the seven-year securities yesterday. Demand for the notes amounted to P66.917 billion, more than thrice the amount the government wanted to raise.
The seven-year bonds fetched a 6.25% coupon, with an average rate of 6.087%, slumping by 100.3 basis points from the 7.09% raked in the previous auction last December.
Meanwhile, market players asked for returns ranging from 5.75-6.25%.
Based on the PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates, the market rate of the seven-year bonds stood at 6.193%.
To capture excess demand, the Treasury decided to open a tap facility to raise another P10 billion, carrying the same rate.
The facility was offered from 2 to 4 p.m. to select financial institutions who have been named as market makers.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the surging investor appetite for seven-year T-bonds came as market players took advantage of current spreads, as they see interest rates tapering down further.
“I think their preference is on the belly of the curve. At the same time, they are taking advantage of the rates right now because they see that rates will eventually taper down given that they would expect inflation to really go on a downtrend,” Ms. De Leon told reporters yesterday.
Headline inflation eased further to 4.4% in January, marking the third straight month of decline from a nine-year high of 6.7% in September and October, although still above the 2-4% target band, as food and beverage costs grew at a slower pace.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) now expects inflation to trend even slower until next year, with price movements seen to return to target as early as next month.
“They would expect inflation… to decline significantly coming from the pronouncements also from the BSP. They see that it would be going back to the target path of 2-4%,” Ms. De Leon added.
Sought for comment, a bond trader said the auction results were within expectations.
“Of course, the rates went down from last year given the low inflation, stronger peso as well as the dovish Fed (US Federal Reserve),” the trader said in a phone message.
For the first quarter, the government is planning to borrow P360 billion. Some P240 billion will be borrowed this quarter through 12 weekly T-bill auctions. On the other hand, P120 billion worth of T-bonds will also be issued through six fortnightly auctions. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

1...11,36011,36111,362...14,237 Page 11,361 of 14,237