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Makati mass transport bid to face Swiss challenge

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
IRC Properties, Inc. said its proposed $3.7-billion Makati Mass Transport system will now undergo Swiss challenge after securing approval from the Makati city government.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Tuesday, the listed firm said it has received the go signal from the local government for the competitive bid process. The company was awarded the original proponent status (OPS) for the project last month.
“IRC wishes to inform the investing public that pursuant to Makati City Ordinance No. 2014-051… a joint certification was today executed between the Makati City Government and IRC, certifying, among others, that IRC, as the proponent, is eligible to participate as the original proponent in the unsolicited proposal and competitive/Swiss Challenge process,” the company said in a statement.
Under a Swiss challenge, other parties are invited to match the bid of the original proponent. The party with the OPS will then have the advantage to outmatch the lowest proposal in order to secure the project.
IRC has partnered with several foreign firms, namely Greenland Holdings Group, Jiangsu Provincial Construction Group Co. Ltd., Kwan On Holdings Ltd., and China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. for its proposal to construct an 11-kilometer intra-city mass transport system with up to 10 stations.
The project is expected to connect key points in Makati and will be built at no cost to the government.
The company’s proposal comes alongside the government’s accelerated spending for infrastructure spending under President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s administration. IRC said the Makati mass transport system is expected to complement other mass transport projects such as the Metro Rail Transit, the proposed Metro Manila Mega Subway and the Pasig River Ferry.
To support its foray into infrastructure, the company is changing its corporate name to Philippine Infradev Holdings, Inc., alongside a change in its primary purpose to that of a holding firm with main interests in infrastructure and real estate development.
The company on Monday also increased its authorized capital stock to P19.5 billion, consisting of 9.5 billion common shares with a par value of P1 per share, and one billion preferred shares with a par value of P10 per share. The shares may be issued through private placement, preemptive rights offering, or other arrangements.
A fourth of the IRC’s increase in capital stock will be issued through private placement at a price of P1.10 to P1.40 per share, depending on the terms and conditions to be set by the company’s executive committee.
Incorporated in 1975, IRC’s core investments was initially in the acquisition, reclamation, development, and exploration of land, forests, minerals, oil, gas, and other resources. The company halted all exploration activities following the global recession in the 1970s, and bounced back as a property developer in 2013.
IRC’s attributable profit jumped 407% to P25.4 million during the first quarter of 2018, driven by a 47% increase in revenues to P75.17 million.
Shares in IRC went down seven centavos or 4.58% to close at P1.46 each yesterday.

CEDC seeks nod for P258-M capex

CLARK ELECTRIC Distribution Corp. is seeking regulatory approval for its spending plan. — HTTP://WWW.CLARKELECTRIC.PH/

CLARK ELECTRIC Distribution Corp. (CEDC) is seeking approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for its capital expenditure program for 2018 amounting to around P258 million.
CEDC, a unit of the country’s biggest power distribution utility Manila Electric Co., placed the bulk of the outlay at P125 million, for the implementation of its enterprise asset management system.
In its application, the company listed a number of “residual” projects, the biggest of which is allocated for the growth of its consumer metering network. The cost of putting up meters, instruments and metering transformers was placed at P29.98 million.
The spending program is meant “to ensure reliable operation of its distribution network and continuous distribution service and connection to meet the growing and future needs of its more than 2,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers inside the CSEZ,” the company said.
CEDC, which has a franchise to distribute electricity within the Clark Special Economic Zone, is under the performance-based regulation rate-setting methodology of the ERC. Its third regulatory period was supposed to have started on Oct. 1, 2015 and end on Sept. 30, 2019, but it is still waiting for the go-ahead from the commission to file its “reset” application.
The company said in the meantime, it was filing the application to seek prior approval from the ERC before it can construct, operate and maintain new distribution facilities, noting that as it has no authority to undertake and implement capital expenditure projects after Sept. 30, 2015, it is seeking the commission’s approval for its capex program for regulatory year, which spans Oct. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018.
In its application, the company said the lack of an approved capex projects from the start of the third regulatory period on Oct. 1, 2015 would “severely hamper” its operations and affect its ability to deliver electricity service to its customers.
It said it is “imperative” on the company to undertake the expansion and rehabilitation of its network facilities through acquisition of new assets to ensure continuous compliance with safety, performance and other statutory or regulatory requirements.
Ahead of the approval of its proposed capex, CEDC is asking the ERC to grant provisional authority to implement its projects for 2018. — Victor V. Saulon

Grab asks LTFRB to reconsider P10-million fine

GRAB PHILIPPINES has appealed the fine imposed by the regulator. — WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/GRABPH

By Denise A. Valdez
GRAB PHILIPPINES (MyTaxi.PH) filed last week a motion for reconsideration to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for the P10-million fine it received earlier this month on alleged “overcharging.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the transport network company (TNC) maintained its adherence to the Department Order (DO) 2015-01 — which allows a TNC to set its own fares — was in “good faith.”
“On June 5, 2017, pursuant to DO 2015-011, the prevailing government issuance at the time, Grab imposed its P2.00 per minute fare to ensure that its hard-working TNVS partners would earn a decent living despite the worsening traffic conditions,” it said.
It added, “Grab maintains its position that the LTFRB has no authority under existing laws and jurisprudence to declare DO 2015-011 as invalid, especially given that the LTFRB is merely an attached agency of the issuing department — the Department of Transportation.”
The company also insisted that the LTFRB was informed and had acknowledged the company’s fare matrix, specifically the contested P2-per-minute charge.
The motion for reconsideration was submitted on July 19. Schedule for its hearing is yet to be set.
Sought for comment on Grab’s filing, the LTFRB told BusinessWorld “The board is carefully studying the motion for reconsideration. We’ll give you an update in a week.”
Regulators slapped a P10-million fine on Grab on July 9 and ordered it to reimburse through rebate the P2-per-minute waiting time charge it implemented from June 5, 2017 to April 19, when the charge was suspended.
Grab earlier said the suspension of the per minute charge was affecting passenger difficulty to book rides as it influences driver income.
Last week, the LTFRB likewise issued a show-cause order to TNC Hype Transport Systems, Inc. for allegedly also imposing a P2-per-minute travel time charge without authority from the Board. It said the ride-hailing company must explain its fare structure or else face suspension.

PSBank starts offer of P3-billion LTNCDs

PSBank
PHILIPPINE Savings Bank began offering its deposit certificates.

By Karl Angelo N. Vidal, Reporter
PHILIPPINE SAVINGS Bank (PSBank) has started its offer of long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD), which will be used to expand its consumer banking segment.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the listed thrift banking arm of Ty-led Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) said it is offering at least P3 billion in LTNCDs with an option to upsize.
The LTNCDs will be offered from July 24 to Aug. 2, while the issue date will be on Aug. 9.
The instruments will mature in five years and six months and carry an interest rate of 5% to be paid quarterly.
PSBank said in a previous disclosure that its board of directors approved the issuance of up to P15 billion worth of LTNCDs. The offerings will be conducted over a year in two or more tranches.
LTNCDs are similar to regular time deposits which offer higher interest rates but cannot be pre-terminated. Being “negotiable” means these can be sold at the secondary market prior to maturity date.
In a chance interview, PSBank President Jose Vicente L. Alde said the lender will offer long-term papers to expand its consumer banking segment brought about by its “robust” growth.
“[Proceeds of the fund will go to the] expansion of the consumer business,” Mr. Alde told BusinessWorld in June. “We have been growing our consumer business for past years, and we still expect the consumer business to be robust in the next years, so we’re preparing for that expansion.”
Minimum investment for the LTNCDs is at P50,000 and in increments of P50,000 thereafter.
ING Bank, N.V. and Standard Chartered Bank will serve as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners of the issue, while First Metro Investment Corp., Metrobank and PSBank serve as selling agents.
Earlier this month, China Banking Corp. and Robinsons Bank Corp. likewise conducted LTNCD offerings, raising P10.25 billion and P1.78 billion, respectively, to support loan growth and stabilize cost of funding.
In the first quarter, PSBank’s net profit stood at P641.1 million, up 25% from the P511.1 million in the same period last year supported by its retail loan business.

TV5 eyes e-sports promotion with pro tournament

TV5 NETWORK, Inc. is looking to lead the way for online gaming to flourish as a professional sport in the country with the introduction of a franchise-based tournament starting next month.
TV5 President Vincent “Chot” P. Reyes said in a media briefing in Makati City on Tuesday it is starting on August 4 “Road to the Nationals,” an e-sports tournament gathering about 32 million online gamers all over the country.
“(Our computations show) 14 million are actual [e-sports] participants. But the bigger audience is about 32 million. You know, from the casual gamers… to the actual e-sport athletes who actually compete. So we hope to capture a big chunk of that,” Mr. Reyes told reporters after the briefing.
He added, the project is expected to generate new content for the PLDT Group’s media units, which in turn is hoped to tap new advertisers and a younger demographic of digital audience different from that which its traditional television caters to.
“For us, that’s very important. It is on those ends that we see that we will really benefit the entire group,” he said.
Six firms have already signed up to own team franchises in the tournament, namely TNC Pro Team; HappyFeet eSports; BrenPro, Inc.; Cignal TV, Inc.; PLDT/Smart Communications, Inc. and STI Education Systems Holdings, Inc.
The Road to the National will host three gaming divisions, categorized into PC games for DOTA2, mobile games for Mobile Legends and console games for NBA 2K19 and tentatively, Tekken 7.
“We are using the Road to the Nationals as the pool of talent to build the teams in The Nationals… Aspiring e-sports athletes now have a chance to get into a sustainable playing career,” Mr. Reyes said in a statement.
He said in an interview that monthly salaries for players are priced at P40,000 to P50,000, noting the intention is to make e-sports a professional career.
Meanwhile, the TV5 president also said its performance in the first half of the year was “pretty good.”
“We’re right on target. We’re hitting our numbers. We’re very hopeful that the rest of the year will be okay,” Mr. Reyes said. This keeps the company on track for its goal to break even by the end of 2019.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez

A problem of language and art

By Nickky F.P. de Guzman, Reporter
IT SAYS something about the place of English as a language and medium of discourse in this country that for the first time since it started in 2014, the annual Ateneo Art Awards-Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism has received an essay written in Filipino. And despite any merits it may have, it cannot win precisely because of the language it is written in.
Meanwhile, six essays written in English are still vying for the prestigious award, which will be presented on Aug. 26 at the Ateneo Art Gallery at the Ateneo campus in Quezon City.
The Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism honors the memory of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, art patron and founder of the Art Association of the Philippines. Each year the foundation calls for entries reviewing exhibits held over the previous year that it has chosen.
Maria Lourdes Garcellano’s entry, “Sinehan sa isang museo: Karatula o Obra?,” which discusses the exhibit Vic Delotovo: Posters for Philippine Cinema at the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman, has received a special citation from the awards body.
“[It is our] first time to receive an entry in Filipino. But because our partner-publications are English, she is not eligible [for the award]. The panel decided to give her a special citation instead,” Ateneo Art Gallery’s director and chief curator, Boots Herrera, told the media at the sidelines of the announcement of the finalists on July 18.
The partner-publications are the Philippine Star and Art Asia Pacific magazine, which will choose two winners who will regularly contribute art stories to the publications; twice a month for a year for the Philippine Star, and six stories for the bimonthly Art Asia Pacific magazine.
“Malakas ‘yung entry (it was a strong entry), so we couldn’t disregard it because of the language,” said Ms. Herrera.
The problem is not just that the award-giving body does not have a partner-publication that prints stories written in Filipino — it is that there are few publications that do.
“Do you publish in Filipino?,” Ms. Herrera asked us, writers from BusinessWorld, Art Plus magazine, and ANC, who were interviewing her.
“We don’t have an art publication that is open to Filipino essays,” she said.
She added: “We are looking in the possibility of looking for a publication partner that will print in Filipino. Philippine Star is not doing that, although it will print a special case in August, after the awarding ceremony. It’s just that I guess it is also in the system.”
She said the criteria for an essay submission to the Ateneo Art Awards-Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism does not specify the language it must be written in. “We’re silent in the language, but our publication-partners print English essays only. I think we will remain as is so that we will not discriminate writers who want to write in Filipino,” she said.
Ateneo has yet to sit down with the Kalaw Ledesma Foundation to see how they can encourage more writers in Filipino and look for partners that can publish in Filipino, or other languages.
“We can only offer our blog site,” said Ms. Herrera.
Called the “Vital Points: Essays from the Purita Kalaw Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism,” the Ateneo’s blog site will be operational starting Aug. 26, and will publish shortlisted art criticisms, which will be reviewed by an editorial committee first.
The impetus behind the blog is the limited space and platform for art writers to share their thoughts. Ms. Herrera said the blog “is more flexible,” which means it can publish Filipino essays.
“It would be great to have someone writing about the art scene in the regions. That, by itself, is an important contribution to the art scene. We need to have publication-partners. What does that say [about our system], di ba?,” she said.
The shortlisted English writers and their essays are:
• Alec Madelene Abarro, “An Organized Chaos: Navigating the Looban” about Rodel Tapaya’s Urban Labyrinth at the Ayala Museum;
• Juan Paolo Colet, “Life in the Labyrinth,” on Rodel Tapaya’s Urban Labyrinth at the Ayala Museum;
• Jayvee Del Rosario, “Ossifying the Abstract” on Alfonso Ossorio: a survey 1940-1989 at the Ayala Museum;
• Jose Carlos Joaquin Singson, “Bread and Circuses in Time Roiling and Churning” on Vic Delotavo: Posters for Philippine Cinema at the Vargas Museum;
• Mary Jessel Duque, “Pacita Abad: A Million Times a Woman” on Pacita Abad: A Million of Things to Say at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design;
• and, Sabrina Jeongco, “Pacita Abad Has a Million Things to Say” on Pacita Abad: A Million of Things to Say at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.
Together with the art criticism award is Ateneo’s Ateneo Art Awards-Fernando Zobel Prizes for Visual Arts, which also announced its 12 shortlisted artist exhibits. They are: Mars Bugaoan’s Becoming in Art Informal; Bea Camacho’s Memento Obliviscere at MO_Space; Ronson Culibrina’s Talim at Blanc Gallery; Dina Gadia’s Situation Amongst the Furnishings at Silverlens; Johanna Helmuth’s Makeshift at Blanc Gallery; Ian Carlo Jaucian’s Viral Automata at 1335 Mabini; KoloWn’s Low Pressured Area at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP); Robert Langenegger’s Only Dog Can Judge Me at MO Space; Issay Rodriguez’ ... at Silverlens; Ciron Señeres’ Gray Horizon at the CCP; Jel Suarez’ Traces by Which We Remember at West Gallery; and, Elias Miles Villanueva’s What’s Left of It at the Pinto Art Museum.
Three artist-winners will have residencies at partner institutions, namely La Trobe Art Institute in Australia, the Artesan Gallery + Studio in Singapore, and the Liverpool Hope University in United Kingdom.
Also, for the first time, the Embassy of Italy in the Philippines will give a special award called Embassy of Italy Purchase Prize, where the winner’s work will be displayed at the embassy’s office.

WORKS FROM the 12 shortlisted exhibits for the annual Ateneo Art Awards are currently on view at the main atrium of the Shangri-La Plaza mall in Mandaluyong. The exhibition is on view at the mall until July 30 and will move to the Ateneo Art Gallery in Quezon City where they will be on view from Aug. 10 until Nov. 4.
The shortlisted exhibits are:
• Becoming at Art Informal
Mars Bugaoan transforms trash into art. He finds new meanings for plastic trash as he reshapes and restructures plastic bottles and plastic bags into installations, sculptures, and prints.
• Memento Obliviscere at MO_Space
For artist Bea Camacho, memories can be massaged. She said: “Our memories define our experience, our reality, and our identity, but our memories are also fragile and vulnerable. They are malleable and easily manipulated.” This being said, she highlights objects — typewriter, old photographs, and newspaper dummy — that can serve both ways: help us remember and/or forget.
• Talim at Blanc Gallery
Ronson Culibrina takes inspiration from his hometown, Talim Island in Laguna de Bay for this exhibit. Talim, incidentally, also means sharp in Filipino. Taking these ideas, Mr. Culibrina suggests the sharp contrasts between industrial development and a sound ecosystem; images of busy fisher folks versus the quiet lakeside environment; and nature and the tools that change people’s lives.
• Situation Amongst the Furnishings at Silverlens
Dina Gadia makes collages in her all-painting exhibition. Most of her subjects are disfigured bodies in the wrong places or going through objects.
• Makeshift at Blanc Gallery
Johanna Helmuth grew up in a neighborhood where pedicabs were the sources of livelihood in the morning, and were turned into makeshift homes for the drivers come nighttime. This becomes the artist’s theme: how people adapt and survive to make ends meet.
• Viral Automata at 1335 Mabini
Ian Carlo Jaucian invents ways to integrate art and science. He presents this in an interactive exhibition that features robots that show light and movements as they are programmed by computer viruses.
• Low Pressured Areas at the Cultural Center of the Philippines
KoloWn plays around the vicinity of the Cultural Center and makes these areas their canvas. The exhibition is site-specific, which lets the audience navigate their way around the building. It is also a critique of art institutions and art productions.
• Only Dog Can Judge Me at MO_Space
In a world where judgments are easily given, sometimes without basis and regard, artist Robert Langenegger believes that dogs are the better judges than human beings because they have no biases and predispositions. He believes dogs are loyal, honest in their actions, have strong instincts, and are pure in spirit.
• … at Silverlens
In …, artist Issay Rodriguez features a series of framed sheets of tracing paper, layered within each frame. The papers are punctured to produce dots, which looks and act like Braille signs, inviting the audience to “read” the images.
• Gray Horizon at the Cultural Center of the Philippines
Ciron Señeres presents scenes in Tondo, Manila, a populous district, through his depictions of dumps and deteriorating structures.
• Traces By Which We Remember at West Gallery
Jel Suarez grew up in Caloocan near a construction site, and she has fond memories of collecting pieces of chipped cement. At the same time, she recollects the summers she spent in Batangas as she stacked stones and built mounds of rough stones. In Traces By Which We Remember, the artist constructs collages with layers of contrasts, images, and textures. She sees this layering as a form of remembering.
• What’s Left of It at the Pinto Art Museum
Elias Miles Villanueva creates art through collected glass shards, which he painted, stacked, assembled, and given titles taken from books, movies, comics, and trends. Each glass shard is encased in a glass box.

Cebu Pacific to launch new Australia route

CEBU PACIFIC (Cebu Air, Inc.) will be opening a new destination in Australia next month as it looks to maintain its dominant market share of flights in the region.
In a statement on Tuesday, the local airline said it will be launching direct flights for passenger and cargo from Manila to Melbourne on Aug. 14.
“Bookings for our Manila-Melbourne-Manila service are healthy. The bookings comprise of travellers who want to visit Melbourne and Filipino-Australians who want to visit friends and relatives in various parts of the Philippines,” Cebu Pacific Vice President for Marketing Candice Jennifer A. Iyog said in the statement.
Its Manila-Melbourne route is the airlines’ second route going to Australia, after it launched flights to Sydney in 2014.
The Gokongwei-led carrier said tourism between the two countries has increased by an average of 16% as of April this year since it opened a Manila-Sydney route in 2014.
“The Philippines is fast gaining popularity among Australian travelers as a holiday destination, rivaling Bali and Thailand… Filipinos are among the largest immigrant groups in Australia, numbering about 300,000 as of 2017,” it added.
Cebu Pacific initially targeted to launch direct flights to Melbourne by June 2018. When the flights finally roll out next month, fares between the two locations are set to start at P9,539.
The listed operator of Cebu Pacific, Cebu Air, saw its first quarter earnings reach P1.437 billion, 12% higher than in the same period last year. It targets to fly 22 million passengers by the end of 2018, which is 12% higher than its record of 19.7 million passengers flown last year.
Cebu Air shares closed unchanged at P70 apiece on Tuesday. — Denise A. Valdez

Cosmos, Legos, and Jinggoy Buensuceso’s distortions

A MAN WHO works in multiple mediums, artist Jinggoy Buensuceso demonstrates in his ongoing exhibition how he marries materials and methods.
In the exhibit called Distortions of Reality, the artist is both the narrator and the architect of his imagined universes, where he challenges our views on the birth of parallel universes and galaxies, our concepts of time, life, and God — all the while keeping his art pieces aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eyes.
Known to ditch the traditional canvas, Mr. Buensuceso instead uses molten aluminum, powdered black sand, charcoaled century-old mango wood, and handmade paper in his works while incorporating objects like his child’s Lego blocks, Gundam toys, and his own hair to add texture, character, and depth in his stories.
Distortions of Reality is a 17-piece solo exhibit which is on view at Galleria Duemila until Aug. 25.
In Our Time Folds, Unfolds, and Accelerates, the artist creates a black metal two-piece work that is made to resemble crumpled Origami paper. As explained by Johanna Labitoria, Galleria Duemila’s assistant art director during BusinessWorld’s visit to the exhibit, one must imagine God planning the universe — he draws on paper what the galaxies look like, but when he does not like what he’s made, he crumples the paper and throws it away to work on a new one. She explained that the artist feels that the scratch paper already has living organisms in it. Here, the landscapes of the galaxies are the results of the creation of a god whose capricious and finicky character gives birth to a universe that is bent and folded by his divine will.

THE Wound That Never Heals, The God That Never Dies, 2018 — NICKKY FAUSTINE P. DE GUZMAN

If God has created multiple galaxies as a result of his unpredictable moods, in Ancient Cities of Children, the children are the master-creators of a bygone civilization. Mr. Buensuceso is fascinated with his son’s Legos, which he uses in the art work, said Ms. Labitoria. He noticed that after his son was done following the instructions on how to build a Lego model, he’d destroy his creation and proceed to create his own design, based from his own whims and imagination. The small art piece — 33 x 26 x 25.80 cm — is made of a century-old mango tree with a Lego sculpture resting beside it.
In two black metal canvases which he calls The Worlds Between Us series, Mr. Buensuceso lays out cloud-like formations. According to Labitoria, the clouds represent our beings: Where are they headed? If we parted the clouds, there are worlds beyond and farther than our eyes can see. What lies ahead? The clouds, and their different shapes and sizes, also resemble the cells in the body and how they evolve and renew. Another interpretation would see the cloud-figures as the cells are human beings drawn to each other, defining what humanity means.
“He has expanded imaginations,” Ms. Labitoria said of the artist.
A Fine Arts graduate from UP with major in Visual Communication, Mr. Buensuceso has held exhibits at Galleria Duemila before, namely Unfamiliar Landscapes in 2016, where he used black sand and powder-coated metal for his works of art, and Rebellion in 2014 where he highlighted burnt charcoal, cement, and graphite. He continues his use of powder-coated metal in his current exhibition. In Dystopian Future Overture, the artist creates a series of black, distorted metal reminiscent of thumbprints. The pieces of metal twist and turn, as if in a maze, and without concrete direction of where to go. The metal’s movements mirror the rise and fall, the destruction, construction, and evolution of our civilizations, said Ms. Labitoria of the artist’s explanation.
Mr. Buensuceso is also a sculptor and furniture designer who won the Mugna award — a recognition given to outstanding furniture designers and makers— three times. He is also a co-founder of Epoch, a group of Filipino furniture designers. He won the Outstanding Designer of the Year award by Wallpaper Magazine in Thailand in 2016, and last year he was hailed as one of the Rising Asian Talents at Maison et Objet Paris.
The centerpiece of his current exhibit is an installation called The Wound That Never Heals, The God That Never Dies. It is a sculpture of a man made of powder-coated molten aluminum, charcoaled century-old mango wood, and black sand. Here, the artist associated himself as a Christlike figure said Ms. Labitoria, but not for worship and of divinity, but one that is at the altar of tribulation. The sculpture looks like Jesus in crucifixion except that he is lying down and not hanging on a cross. The installation includes a little pump that must be plugged in so that water runs through the entire piece. Ms. Labitoria said that according to the artist, the water symbolizes God’s blood that flows from his body. The blood, or the water, gives life to the soil it reaches, nourishing it in return. The installation is about resurrection, catharsis, and the cycle of life.
Mr. Buensuceso, who sports a long hair that reaches below his waist which he keeps up in a bun, incorporated long strands of his hair in some of art works, including Silent Lucidity and Chaotic Dissonance. For the two pieces he afixed Gundam toys and hair onto handmade paper made with salago (a kind of shrub) and abaca fiber pulp. The artist, said Ms. Labitoria, believes that the juxtaposition of the organic and inorganic make up his own version of a universe. The universe is part of us, and vice versa. He believes that long hair is a metaphor for strength, like the Biblical figure of Samson. In indigenous beliefs, warriors also wear their hair long, so long that it touches the ground which is supposesd to help them “feel” if enemies are near.
Distortions of Reality may seem like a disparate showcase of mediums, methods, and materials, but novelty is the element that binds them together. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman

TrueMoney partners with WorldRemit

ELECTRONIC payments service provider TrueMoney Philippines has partnered with WorldRemit to launch an international remittance service in the country.
In a statement on Tuesday, TrueMoney said it has joined forces with remittance service firm WorldRemit to allow Filipinos overseas to send home money digitally.
Xavier Marzan, TrueMoney Philippines founder and president, said the tie-up will enable Filipinos living in urban and far-flung areas alike to receive remittances from more than 50 countries.
Funds will be available for collection at TrueMoney’s network of 14,000 receiving centers nationwide.
“Today, overseas Filipino workers can now make secure and fast money transfers to the Philippines in just a few clicks directly from their mobile devices,” Mr. Marzan was quoted as saying in the statement.
TrueMoney Philippines said it has grown its network in the last two years, offering financial services such as remittance, bills payment and prepaid loading.
The Thailand-based firm already has more than 50,000 financial services centers across six Southeast Asian countries. Its shareholders include the C.P. Group from Thailand as well as Ant Financial from China.
TrueMoney Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Van Den Ende said the launch of the international remittance service is a strategic priority for TrueMoney in the Philippines, citing World Bank’s study saying that the country ranked third for receiving remittances in 2017 at $33 billion, after India and China.
“We have been offering domestic remittance in our network since a year ago in the Philippines; we now open up our extensive network of branches for international remittance,” Ms. Van Den Ende added.
The partnership between TrueMoney and WorldRemit also builds on the latter’s expansion in the country since it launched its money transfer service in the Philippines in 2011. Founded in 2010, WorldRemit currently remits money from 50 countries to over 150 destinations, with the Philippines as its largest receive market.
“[TrueMoney] will give our customers an even wider choice,” said Bryce Currie, WorldRemit’s global business development director. “In particular, it will enable those who live outside major cities and towns to receive international money transfers safely and securely.”
Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad surged to $2.469 billion in May, up 6.9% from the $2.31 billion received in the same period last year. By source, remittances from the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore were the “main drivers of growth” that month, the central bank said. — K.A.N. Vidal

Pryce posts higher profit

PRYCE CORP. recorded a 22.3% increase in consolidated net income in the first half to P711.89 million, the company told the stock exchange on Tuesday, as it ends the semester reaching nearly half of its full-year target profit of P1.55 billion.
“Growth in the company’s consolidated revenues drove the improvement in net income for the comparative period,” the company said.
Shares in the company were trading higher by 3.33% at P6.20 each just after it disclosed its income for the first six months of 2018, from P581.90 million in the same period last year.
The first-half figure came out short of the net income expected by its Chief Executive Officer Salvador P. Escaño, said earlier the company probably posted P750 million during the period.
However, he said the company makes 55-60% of revenues and income in the second half because the rainy season augurs well for the sale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), its main business.
In the first half of the year, gross revenues reached P4.83 billion, up 14.2% from P4.23 billion. LPG sales accounted for 91.6% of the group’s total revenue, while the sale of industrial gases, real estate and pharmaceutical products made up the rest.
In volume, LPG sales were strong in Visayas and Mindanao at a combined 13.5% growth. Luzon recorded an increase of 2.35%.
Pryce said collectively, LPG sales grew by nearly 7% to 97,590 metric tons (MT) in the first half from 91,243 MT a year ago.
“The growth in sales volume was achieved despite the rising LPG prices mainly because of the growing demand in fuel for household cooking,” it said.
Average LPG contract prices, which affect LPG consumer behavior, increased by roughly 8% to $515 per MT from last year’s $477 per MT, Pryce said.
“Sale of real estate likewise contributed to the group’s increase in revenue with a 166.6% growth due to the sale of office condominium units of Pryce Tower in Davao City,” the company said.
The company said its other subsidiaries also recorded “positive growths” at 10.1% for industrial gases and 47.1% for pharmaceutical products.
During the review period, operating income rose 46.9% to P815.67 million from P555.40 million, attributed largely to the increase in revenue and efficient management of operating expenses.
“The ongoing expansion projects on the company’s marine-fed terminals and refilling plants nationwide are expected to encourage growth in LPG sales volume in the second half of the year as the LPG product becomes available over a wider area and brought even closer to the market dealers and consumers,” Pryce said.
Net income after tax at first half stood at P711.89 million, equivalent to P0.3229 earnings per share.
The company said it remains positive of achieving a 15% rise in LPG sales volume in the Visayas-Mindanao area, and meet its projected net income of P1.5 billion “plus or minus 10%” for this year. — Victor V. Saulon

Art dealer ‘finds’ six de Koonings in New Jersey storage unit

THE IMAGE of Excavation by Willem de Kooning is seen an electronic billboard during the Art Everywhere US: A Very Very Big Art Show in Times Square on Aug. 4, 2014 in New York City. — AFP

NEW YORK — When an American art dealer dropped $15,000 on what he thought was “junk” in a New Jersey storage locker, he never imagined it could be the deal of a lifetime.
But he now believes stashed in the unit were six paintings by Dutch-American abstract master Willem de Kooning, which could be worth millions of dollars.
The auction record for a De Kooning is $66.3 million, set for large canvas Untitled XXV at Christie’s in 2016, while another sold privately for a reported $300 million in 2015.
Another piece of luck, according to New York gallery owner David Killen, is a painting by Swiss modernist Paul Klee that he says was also found in the unit.
The works originally came from the studio of Orrin Riley, a superstar in the art restoration business who died in 1986, leaving everything to his partner, Susanne Schnitzer, who was killed in a traffic accident in 2009.
Her executors — friends in New Jersey — spent years trying to find rightful owners for the art, but no one came forward to claim the 200 pieces languishing in the storage unit, near the Ho-Ho-Kus township.
“Honestly all I knew was (an)other auction house passed on it, so my feeling was it was a bunch of junk,” Killen told AFP by telephone.
“All these things are boxed up. I said, ‘Look, I’ll give you $15,000 for it. I’ll take a chance,’” he said. If nothing else, he thought the items would pad out auctions he holds every two weeks.
It was only once the items were being unloaded that he spotted what he believes to be De Kooning paintings.
‘BLOWN AWAY’
The work is not signed, but Killen said a restorer based on Long Island, who used to work for both Riley and De Kooning, also believes they are genuine.
“I can see in his eyes, he’s shaking,” Killen told AFP. “He said ‘this is exactly what de Kooning was doing in the ’70s, one after the other.”
Art conservator Lawrence Castagna says he “absolutely” believes the six oil-on-paper works to be De Koonings, but stressed it was “just my opinion.”
“I’m just blown away by the whole discovery to tell you the truth,” he told AFP.
Castagna said he did “minor repair work” but otherwise the works would be sold as they were found, anticipating significant interest when they go on display for the first time publicly in nearly 35 years.
Killen is hosting a party on Tuesday to unveil the paintings, which he believes could fetch anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million when he offers them for auction later this year and next January.
“I’m excited. Believe it or not — and people will laugh when they hear this — it’s not about the money. I want some publicity for my auction house,” he said.
But what would he do with a bonanza check? New doors for his gallery and a “really nice apartment,” he replies.
The New York Post first reported the story on Sunday. Since then, the telephone has been ringing off the hook, he said. “The reaction’s been tremendous.” — AFP

Online payment adoption still low among small firms

FEW SMALL businesses are using online payment systems.

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
ONLY a tenth of small businesses use online payments for their operations as additional costs and safety concerns prevent them from embracing the platform.
A recent survey funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) showed that only one in 10 micro and small enterprises are using e-payments. This is a far cry compared to the over 93% usage rate among medium and large corporations, and 90% for state-run firms.
The study, conducted from December 2017 to February 2018, found that while there is substantial awareness among these small players, only 10% of micro firms reported to using online payment platforms over the past year. Among small-scale firms, the usage rate clocked in at 26%.
What’s more, only 11% of customers of micro-sized business ventures reported to being open to e-payments. Instead, clients largely prefer cash transactions.
“Businesses, especially small and micro, primarily transact with traditional instruments,” according to the USAID’s E-PESO Institutional Payments Baseline Survey report released yesterday.
“For micro and small businesses, increasing ATM (automated teller machine) usage would be the low hanging fruit; and for medium, large and GOCCs, it would be increasing digital channels (via mobile or computer).”
ATMs, pawnshops and bayad centers see the biggest traffic for retail transactions, according to the 2017 financial inclusion survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). A fifth of Filipino adults said they are “not aware” that electronic fund transfers are an option.
For its part, USAID said the main platforms for shifting to digital payments will be ATMs, fund transfers, credit cards and mobile money transfers. However, limited awareness and access among these small businesses stand in the way of embracing new technology.
Regardless of company size, the survey found that all firms consider limited Internet connectivity and “too much” effort needed to set up these new channels as barriers. In particular, small and micro firms think they “don’t need it.”
To push more people into going digital, USAID said firms need to highlight the improved speed, safety and convenience of transacting online versus paying with cash.
“Incentives by government and utility companies to switch to e-payments as well as making it attractive to do payroll through e-payments in banks can potentially drive e-payments growth,” the agency added.
The BSP targets to raise the share of digital payments to 20% of total transactions by 2020 from a measly 1% recorded in 2013 through its National Retail Payment System project.
Studies show that gross domestic product could increase by more than 14% if the financial inclusion gap was closed in the Philippines.

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