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DTI seeking to cancel permits of traders found selling only premium rice

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will seek to revoke the business permits of rice retailers who do not offer more affordable types of rice.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the proposed policy will help increase the supply of regular-milled.
“Our DTI Regional Directors and Provincial Directors (ask) Mayors (with help of DILG) to issue an Executive Order as Chief Executives that they shall revoke business permits of rice retailers who do not sell regular (as well as) well-milled rice,” Mr. Lopez told reporters in a mobile message over the weekend.
“Applications for business permits for rice retail shall not be approved without a sworn undertaking from the applicant to sell regular and well-milled rice,” he added.
Domestic rice offered by the National Food Authority (NFA) comes in three grades for well-milled rice, between WD1 and WD3 in decreasing levels of price. For regular-milled the grades are RD1 to RD3. There is also a seventh grade of well-milled rice known as WD1-A, which commands the highest price, wholesaling for P30 per kilogram according to the NFA website.
Imported rice, on the other hand, is graded by percentage of broken grains.
The NFA offers low-cost rice to shield the poor from higher prices sold by commercial traders, and an order to commercial traders to sell rice in grades carried by the NFA appears intended to expand the availability of rice most commonly bought by the poor.
The DTI has also requested the NFA to “exert authority [in the form of] higher penalties or cancellation of license to require Rice retailers to always sell regular and well-milled… if they sell fancy premium rice.”
In a phone interview yesterday, NFA Deputy Administrator for marketing operations Judy Carol L. Dansal, a lawyer, confirmed the proposed policy, saying “it is part of a commitment” to make NFA-grade rice more available in the market.
The DTI said some outlets only offer premium rice which retails for at least P44 per kilo, against the P38 and P40 at which regular-milled and well-milled are respectively and currently being sold at the retail.
“[T]hat is why consumers find rice prices higher,” Mr. Lopez added.
The DTI also asked Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association Inc. to serve as outlets of NFA-grade rice.
“They will pick up from NFA warehouses,” and the NFA’s Ms. Dansal “has agreed,” Mr. Lopez added.
Ms. Dansal said the NFA will identify today, Monday, the supermarkets that can serve as NFA outlets.
The DTI will sign this week a memorandum of agreement with the NFA, which has sole authority to issue licenses to retailers selling rice sourced from the NFA’s warehouses. — Janina C. Lim

Tadashi Shoji: Making all women beautiful


I’D LIKE you to imagine what it’s like to be Octavia Spencer — or any other woman who has had to go against the flow, for that matter. Ms. Spencer was born in 1972, with the backdrop of the South’s racial attitudes. Her mother worked as a maid in the American South. Her father died when she was 13, and she graduated from university with a degree in English — despite being dyslexic. She would spend the next years of her life climbing her way up Hollywood’s ladder. And in 2012, when she swept the awards season of 2012 for her work in The Help, designers refused to dress her for her big nights. “I’m just a short, chubby girl,” she was quoted as saying in Elle magazine.
Who would fly in to save her but a similarly unconventional designer, Tadashi Shoji.
Mr. Shoji was born in Japan in 1948, a few years after the end of the Second World War in the Pacific theater. He studied Fine Arts in Tokyo, but eventually moved to the United States. In the process of refining his work, he became a fashion designer. He launched his own label in the 1980s, and in the early 2000s, designed gowns for the Miss Universe pageant. With Octavia Spencer as a leading example: black, middle-aged, and large, he has dressed other women who aren’t exactly in the mold of what Hollywood holds to an ideal: young, thin, and white.
Mr. Shoji was in the country last week to open his new boutique on the second floor of Rustan’s Makati. More than 700 other department stores in the world carry his brand. Amazingly, Rustan’s has had him in its roster for 24 years, while Mr. Shoji’s career has only spanned a little above 30 years.
“At the time, he was doing almost all-black,” said Reggie Aguinaldo, Buying Director for Rustan’s in New York. It’s just their luck then, that Mr. Shoji would hit it big, and as he expanded his own line, so did his displays at Rustan’s. “What’s fantastic about him is his fit. All his dresses fit any woman’s frame and size.”
“Any nationality, any size, any age, I can design,” said Mr. Shoji in an interview with BusinessWorld. Dressed in a varicolored seersucker suit, one can see the streak of unconventionality that makes his designs so attractive. It’s not that his designs are avant-garde or anything: what makes his clothes revolutionary is his philosophy for any woman in his dresses somehow becomes classically beautiful, but keeping their own identity.
“I can make all of them beautiful. This is our company’s dressmaking philosophy.”
As we’ve mentioned above, he first trained as an artist, but ended up becoming a fashion designer. In a way, the two disciplines are intertwined, and Mr. Shoji explains, “Women’s bodies are a canvas. Painting is art; painting is beautiful: it’s proportional. Women’s figures are beautiful when everything is proportional.
“Same thing. I’m sculpting [with] fabric on the woman’s figure.”
Other designers say that they take inspiration from a certain thought, or a memory. While Mr. Shoji does the same, a few of his recent collections have been inspired by something more urgent: the news. For his Autumn/Winter 2018 collection, he was inspired by the #MeToo movement, which had women in high places battle sexual harassment on their way to the top.
He shakes his head at the thought that some women are harassed because of what they wear. “It doesn’t make any sense. Women can wear anything.” In a subversive move, as beautiful and chic a middle finger can be, he then designed a collection that clung to the body and emphasized the figure. “You can wear anything to treat yourself. That’s my statement.” he said as a message to women.
Big business makes a lot of money telling women that they’re not enough. Never thin enough, never smart enough, never white enough, never beautiful enough. Mr. Shoji takes the opposite route. His clothes are telling women that they are enough, and the dress serves to reward this. “I’m a designer for every woman. I don’t have one particular muse.
“Any woman is beautiful. They are entitled to be beautiful. They can wear any kind of dress.” — Joseph L. Garcia

AEV to start Davao City bulk water project in Oct.

ABOITIZ Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) expects to start constructing its P14-billion Apo Agua bulk water supply project in Davao City by next month, after having secured all the necessary permits.
“The contractors have already begun site preparations. Next month we’ll start doing some constructions. We’re complete already [with the permits], ready to go na talaga (surely),” AEV Chief Finance Officer Manuel R. Lozano told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s media event in Makati City last week.
Initially expected to be operational by 2019, the company had pushed back the target completion date for Apo Agua to 2021 due to delays in securing permits.
The Apo Agua project is expected to provide 300 to 350 million liters of potable water every day, making it the largest bulk water project in the country. The water for Apo Agua will be sourced from Tamugan River, prompting the firm to build 30 to 52 kilometers of pipes to bring the water from the river to the water treatment plant.
Aside from the water treatment component, the project will also include a hydropower plant with an expected output of 2.2 megawatts (MW), which is enough to run the bulk water facility.
The project is being undertaken by Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc., a 70-30 joint venture between AEV and J.V. Angeles Construction Corp. (JVACC). The group has also signed the bulk water supply agreement with the Davao City Water District (DCWD) back in 2015.
DCWD currently sources its supply from 60 production wells for ground water extraction. Apo Agua will serve as an alternative source of water in Davao, and will allow half of the production wells to be rested.
Mr. Lozano said financing for the project will be finalized by the end of September.
“The financing is about P9 billion, we’re getting a 15-year loan for that. We’re funding the remainder using our equity,” Mr. Lozano said.
Funding for AEV’s Apo Agua project forms part of its P77-billion allocation for capital expenditures in 2018.
Bulk of the capital for the year will fund the listed conglomerate’s power unit, Aboitiz Power Corp. at P60 billion. This is in line with the company’s target to add 500 MW of installed capacity by year end.
AEV’s food, cement, and land segments will each receive around P4-5 billion, while the balance will go to Union Bank of the Philippines for its investments in technology.
The conglomerate recorded a net income of P10.1 billion in the first six months of 2018, 2% lower year-on-year after suffering from non-recurring foreign exchange losses on its dollar-denominated debt. Meanwhile, gross revenues went up by 16% to P83.4 billion during the period. — Arra B. Francia

Domestic chocolate processors propping up cacao industry

By Carmelito Q. Francisco
Correspondent
DAVAO CITY — Domestic processors of cacao, some of which are operated by farmers themselves, have propped up bean prices, offering a safety net for growers at a time of fluctuating global prices for the commodity.
Valente D. Turtur, Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao, Inc. (CIDAMI) executive director, said while the world market price for cacao has been volatile, farmers “have been enjoying better prices” because of the increasing number of processors buying their harvest directly.
“This is the product of us going around the country promoting value adding for cacao. In processing chocolates, (farmer-)processors will earn three times than selling beans. We hosted a series of chocolate-making sessions” with the aid of foreign chocolate buyers, Mr. Turtur said at the media forum Habi at Kape.
In Davao City, he said, there are now about 70 processors who have become the main buyers of cacao beans.
Farmers, meanwhile, have organized 15 cooperatives to strengthen their negotiating position and to collectively move towards industry growth.
“We empower them in terms of market and price negotiation… We are trying to avoid too many middle men by empowering cacao farmers through a series of seminars on price management and improving productivity, and we encourage them to organize to improve volume of production,” Mr. Turtur said.
CIDAMI and other cacao stakeholders have also been pushing now for quality and gradual upgrades rather than rapid expansion.
“We are in that direction now,” he said.
Mr. Turtur said raising the volume of the harvest has been difficult given the crop’s five-year gestation period as well as the needed interventions.
The government has set a production goal of 100,000 metric tons (MT) by 2022, which has been adjusted from the original target year of 2020.
Total cacao output as of 2016, based on Philippine Statistics data, was only 6,263 MT. of this, 5,073 came from the Davao Region.
The CIDAMI official acknowledged the increase in government assistance to the industry in the form of planting materials and other farm implements, but said the target volume will still take longer to achieve.
Three government agencies — the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, and the Philippine Coconut Authority — have distributed about 70 million seedlings in the last two years, he said.
“We just need to find ways to make our quality better and ensure that both foreign and local buyers will continue to patronize us,” he said, noting that niche markets for high-quality beans with “complex flavors” are becoming a more important income source.
“Slowly we are able to convince both local and international buyers that we have better beans,” Mr. Turtur said in a separate interview with BusinessWorld.
One example, he said, was a European trader who was ready to buy up to 200 MT a day.
“But we don’t have that kind of volume, so we told him to give us more time to reach that kind of production… This Czech trader is consolidating cacao beans from all over the world to supply the European market,” he said.
In the meantime, the cacao industry is also aiming to grow support from local consumers.
CIDAMI will be joining the Davao Agri Trade Expo 2018 through the Chocolate Festival on Sept. 22, where more than 20 chocolate brands from Davao City will be showcased.
“We want the public to know of the capacity of the cacao industry to engage in the global market,” Mr. Turtur said.
The Kakao Konek 2018, the biggest annual industry gathering, will also be held in Davao City on Oct. 18-20. — with a report from Maya M. Padillo

Top 10 takeaways from New York Fashion Week


NEW YORK — New York Fashion Week wrapped up with Rihanna’s outre Brooklyn party unveiling her new Savage X Fenty lingerie line, snatching an honor traditionally the preserve of creme-de-la-creme designer Marc Jacobs.
As the spring/summer 2019 season flits to Europe, with style fests in London, Milan, and Paris, here’s a quick round up of the top 10 takeaways from the Big Apple.
1. HAPPINESS IS THE TRUTH
Dark times be damned was the vibe this season. Why suffer in unease about the Trump presidency, global warming or threat to Western liberalism when you can put on a yellow frock?
There were bright colors galore. Yellows, mustards, and chartreuse were on display at Carolina Herrera and Kate Spade. Michael Kors dubbed his show “Sunny Side Up.” Matthew Adams Dolan sported flourescent yellow.
“Especially today, when things are heavy and dark and difficult and we don’t know the way through, it’s good to deal with that with a light touch,” said Niall Sloan, the creative director at Escada.
2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY
T’was the season of anniversaries. Ralph Lauren marked half a century in the business, by inviting A-list stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Kanye West to a black-tie do in Central Park.
France’s Longchamp turned 70, hosting celebrities at the World Trade Center, while Germany’s Escada also jetted Stateside to celebrate 40.
3. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL
Models of color were center stage like never before. Pyer Moss went for an all-black line-up. Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, and Tory Burch had diverse casting. Older women also strutted their stuff at Sies Marjan and Maria Cornejo. Friends and relatives of the designers walked at Vaquera. Women of all shapes and colors frolicked for Rihanna.
4. BROOKLYN
New York’s most populous borough, so big that if it was independent it would be the fourth largest city in the United States, has been the den of hipsters and international cool for years.
This season it hosted Rihanna’s underwear bash. Pyer Moss took the glitterati to a heritage center to honor a collection that embodied black power and Eckhaus Latta took over an industrial space.
5. GO VOTE
New York’s Democratic primaries were on Thursday and a few of the more politically minded urged their guests to head to the ballot box.
Red-carpet favorite Christian Siriano endorsed Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon in her attempt to unseat Governor Andrew Cuomo (She lost — Ed.) while Maria Cornejo exhorted guests to “use your voice and vote.”
6. WORKING WOMEN
Keep it powerful, keep it comfortable, and keep it straightforward. Those are the mantras for clothes for women juggling careers, families and everything else life flings at you.
Escada reimagined the 1980s power suit, making it softer and more modern. There were shades of the same at Marc Jacobs. Tom Ford went back to the pencil skirt. Kate Spade opted for comfort with platforms and dresses that go seamlessly from day to night.
7. RAPPER CAT FIGHT
Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two of America’s most prominent rap and hip-hop artists, nearly came to blows, separated by their security detail as Cardi B curses her rival and lobs a shoe at her.
Cardi B was photographed with a large bump just above her left eye, later complaining that Minaj had criticized her qualities as a mother.
8. KAIA GERBER
The now 17-year-old daughter of Cindy Crawford and model husband Rande has officially arrived. She was everywhere, walking for Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Longchamp to Proenza Schouler.
9. FRINGES
Tassels and fringes were everywhere from Coach to Michael Kors to Longchamp, adorning sleeves, bags, skirts, and shorts.
10. UP AND COMING
Critics love to complain that New York isn’t daring enough, that Europe is more creative, but there was a smattering of new talent.
Sies Marjan has been going from strength-to-strength since being founded in New York by Dutch designer Sander Lak in 2016. Independent brand Vaquera has won plaudits for its originality.
Kerby Jean-Raymond is putting Pyer Moss on the map and Wes Gordon injected modernity into his debut collection for Carolina Herrera, a staple with the Park Avenue set. — AFP

Davao Oriental asks PCA to help arrest decline in coconut, copra

DAVAO CITY — An official of Davao Oriental province, one of the leading coconut producers, has called on the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to address the plummeting prices of coconut and copra.
coconut
Davao Oriental Chief of Staff Ednar G. Dayanghirang, speaking at a media forum here last week, said farmers have sought the province’s help in addressing the 50% drop in prices, which is dictated by processors.
Mr. Dayanghirang, who is also a coconut farmer, said the copra price was around P40 per kilo in the first quarter, but is now at P20. The buying price for a whole nut, meanwhile, has dropped to P5 from P10.50 previously.
“It’s a 50% reduction… We are talking here of 103,000 coconut farmers in the province of Davao Oriental alone and most of the farmers are small farmers or CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform) beneficiaries,” Mr. Dayanghirang said.
He noted that Davao Oriental produced 140 million kilos of copra in 2017.
“The PCA already knows that this is somehow a big problem that is killing the farmers but a big opportunity for the processors. Is this legal, what the processors are doing?” he said.
He noted that the whole nut produces coconut oil, as extracted from copra, but other food products such as desiccated coconut and coconut water.
“We want the PCA to do something since they have, as reported, been talking to the processors. Within the bounds of the law,” he said.
To mitigate the impact of the low coconut prices, Mr. Dayanghirang said the provincial government recently convened and asked government agencies to assist through programs such as alternative livelihood opportunities for farmers in public construction projects.
He said the province will roll out a coastal clean-up program for farmers, who will be paid for their work.
“We will pay the coastal farmers. Funding will come from the disaster funds. We cannot eliminate (the problem), we have to mitigate. We are asking the national agencies to follow,” Mr. Dayanghirang said. — Maya M. Padillo

Tax court drops utilities firm’s bid for review

THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) En Banc has dismissed the petition for review filed by First Philippine Utilities Corp. for lack of jurisdiction over the case.
In the decision promulgated Sept. 4, the court stated that it only has jurisdiction over cases that have already been decided and not in “interlocutory orders.”
The First Philippine Utilities filed the petition at the CTA En Banc seeking the reversal of the resolutions of the CTA Second Division dated Feb. 27, 2017 and May 4, 2017 which denied its motions to declare the alleged deficiency tax for the taxable year 2009 as null and void amounting to P289, 733,393.79 as assessed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
“The Court En Banc finds the filing of the instant case premature, and must perforce be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” the decision read.
The court has cited a previous Supreme Court decision that the CTA En Banc “has jurisdiction over final order or judgment but not over interlocutory orders issued by the CTA in division.”
According to the cited Supreme Court decision on the case titled Commissioner of Internal Revenue vs. Court of Tax Appeals and CBK Power Co. Ltd., a “‘final’ judgment” is an order which “finally disposes of a case” and leaves “nothing more to be done by the Court in respect thereto.”
An interlocutory, on the other hand, is an order that does not finally dispose a case and continues the “task of adjudicating the parties’ contentions and determining their rights and liabilities as regards each other, but obviously indicates that other things remain to be done by the Court.”
“And in instances where an interlocutory order is appealed before the Court En Banc by way of a Petition for Review under Section 4(b) of Rule 8 of the Revised Rules of the Court of Tax Appeals, the Court En Banc has no jurisdiction to review said interlocutory order/s issued by the Court in Division because the Court En Banc may only review decisions, resolutions, or orders of the former in a case that has been resolved with finality and in effect already finally disposed of,” the decision added.
The decision also stated that the corporation is aware that the resolutions assailed are interlocutory because the court still proceeded with trial, until the case was submitted for decision on Nov. 16, 2017, after the issuance of a Feb. 27 resolution which denied the corporation’s omnibus motion.
The May 4 resolution, likewise, is an interlocutory order because it denied a motion for reconsideration on the Feb. 27 resolution.
Section 1, Rule 1 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, interlocutory order is among which no appeal should be taken from.
Rules of Civil Procedure Section 1, Rule 50, which is also applicable to Revised CTA Rules, states that an “the fact that the order or judgment appealed from is not appealable” is a ground for dismissal.
First Philippine Utilities is a subsidiary of First Philippine Holdings Corp., which is listed in the Philippine Stocks Exchange. — Vann Marlo Villegas

T-bill rates seen to rise

RATES OF Treasury bills (T-bill) on offer today will likely climb as demand is seen to remain subdued as investors await rate hikes from the local and US central banks.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) is offering P15 billion worth of T-bills on Monday. Broken down, the Treasury plans to raise P4 billion through the three-month papers, P5 billion via the six-month T-bills and another P6 billion in one-year debt.
Traders interviewed before the weekend said yields on the T-bills on offer today will pick up from the previous auction.
The Treasury partially awarded the T-bills it placed on the auction block last week, raising just P13.47 billion out of total tenders amounting to P21.9 billion.
At that auction, rates of the three-month, six-month and one-year papers rose to 3.549%, 4,353% and 5.137% respectively.
At the secondary market on Friday, yields on the 91- and 182-day papers were quoted at 3.5332% and 4.4497%, respectively, while the 364-day T-bills fetched a 5.1748% yield.
A bond trader said rates of the T-bills may climb by 10-15 basis points (bp) from the previous auction as demand is expected to diminish.
“Most likely the tendered volume will be smaller. It has been that way for about three weeks. The demand should be lower and yields should be higher,” the trader said in a phone interview.
Another trader concurred, saying the T-bills will likely fetch rates 5-10 bps higher from last week’s offer as investors await the policy actions of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the US Federal Reserve later this month.
“It’s more of the monetary policy meetings, both of which the BSP and the Fed will be hiking,” the first trader said.
Earlier this month, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. hinted on another round of tightening, saying the central bank will “take strong immediate action” to respond to the emerging threats to prices and inflation expectations.
Inflation quickened to 6.4% in August due to higher food and oil prices. This was faster than July’s 5.7% and August 2017’s 2.6%.
Meanwhile, a September Fed rate hike has been almost fully priced in by the market as the benchmark 10-year US Treasury on Friday passed the 3% mark for the first time in more than a month at 3.003%, Reuters reported.
“For the BSP, it’s more of a 50bp hike, but a 25bp hike is also possible. Definitely, there would be a hike the way I see it,” the first trader said. “For the Fed, it’s priced in already.”
Aside from another round of tightening, the second trader attributed the climb in yields to the weakening peso.
The local currency has been hovering its 13-year lows for the past few weeks, closing Sept. 12’s session at P54.13 against the dollar.
“In terms of currency play given the weak peso, the tendency of the investors is to move out of short-tenored securities to sell pesos and to buy dollars,” the trader said.
The Treasury is raising P300 billion from the domestic market this quarter through auctions of securities, offering P195 billion in T-bills and another P105 billion in T-bonds.
The government plans to borrow P888.23 billion this year from local and foreign sources to fund its budget deficit, which is capped at 3% of the country’s gross domestic product. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Reuters

Philam Life plans microinsurance venture

By Karl Angelo N. Vidal, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) is looking at venturing into the microinsurance business as it works towards narrowing the protection gap among Filipinos.
In an interview, Philam Life Chief Marketing Officer Leonardo D. Tan, Jr. said offering microinsurance products “has been part of the plan” of Philam Life.
“That has always been part of the plan. It’s just a matter of timing and prioritization,” Mr. Tan told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the life insurer’s product launch in Makati City on Thursday.
Mr. Tan added that Philam Life might need to team up with certain firms that specializes the microinsurance segment.
“But microinsurance might entail a different distribution platform. That’s where probably be need to partner with certain institutions who have a captive markets when it comes to that segment.”
The life insurer is looking to help narrow the country’s protection gap or the amount of insurance needed by Filipinos.
Mr. Tan said the country currently has a protection gap of around P1.5 trillion which could balloon up to P2.7 trillion by 2020 if not addressed.
Rather than expanding its distribution network, Mr. Tan noted that Philam Life is now focused on improving customer experience.
“For so many years, [it] has been distribution-centric, so our expansion right now is actually how to improve the customer experience,” he said. “What we want to do is improve that entire journey from learning, buying, after-sales, claiming and hopefully referring us to our customers’ friends and family.”
Philam Life added it is using digital platforms to “enhance the experience of the customers” as it veers away from the strategy of other life insurers using e-commerce platforms as a distribution channel.
“In Asia, face-to-face transaction is still important since insurance is highly emotional… Digital will form a part, but customers will still opt to sit down with advisers and have that honest conversation.”
Currently, Philam Life has 8,000 agents. Aside from this, the branches of its bancassurance partner Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) also serve as distribution channels.
“You can expect more groundbreaking products. What’s important is you keep on innovating,” Mr. Tan added.
On Thursday, Philam Life launched “Active Joint Critical Protect,” a health and life insurance product that protects two related individuals.
Data from the Insurance Commission as of end-2017 showed Philam Life and its bancassurance affiliate BPI-Philam Life Assurance Co. posted a combined total premium income of P40.2 billion, making the Philam Group the biggest life insurer in the country.
It is serving almost 600,000 individual policyholders and over 2.2 million insured group members.

Bench and CCP join forces to create the terno for the 21st century


IF THE spirit of the Filipina could be contained in one item, perhaps it’s in the terno. The popular adage goes that the Filipina spent 300 years in a convent, and 40 years in Hollywood, and it’s evident in the manner by which the terno falls on the body. The length and the sleeves suggest a certain demureness, but the flamboyant butterfly sleeves achieve a certain sense of pride and action, while the flattering, form-fitting cut and silhouette suggests a confident woman with an ability to stand tall.
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in cooperation with clothing conglomerate Bench, has been hard at work with 30 regional designers and several mentors, including Inno Sotto, JC Buendia, Len Cabili, and Cary Santiago. Since last year, this project, called Ternocon, has seen sewing machines whirring in the CCP. The project finally comes to a close on Nov. 11 with a fashion show at the CCP Main Theater. According to Cris Millado, Vice-President and Artistic Director of the CCP, the fashion show will showcase not only the best of Philippine fashion, but also the nation’s performing arts: the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philippine Madrigal Singers will perform as the dresses (numbering 90) move on the runway, while several dance performances will be interspersed in between. “What we bring in is to engage it with performance,” said Mr. Millado. It’s the design coming alive onstage on the bodies of performers.”
Ben Chan is founder and Chairman of the Suyen Corp., which holds his namesake brand Bench, along with international brands Aldo, Pedro, Charles and Keith, and American Eagle in the Philippines. Bench by itself is a local brand, but is in itself highly westernized, to the point of getting international endorsers to promote its clothing. But according to Mr. Chan himself, the soul of the company is still Filipino.
“It’s our advocacy,” he said in an interview with BusinessWorld, responding to a question about the company’s collaboration with the CCP. “We wanted to promote anything local, even if we brought in… other foreign brands. We still believe in anything that is local, that hopefully, can go global.”
Speaking about the urgency of teaching young designers about the terno, he said, “It’s something that if you don’t do it now, it just might go away.”
“It’s about history,” said Mr. Millado about educating younger designers about the terno. “I believe you should have a solid background of your history: history that makes your identity specific and unique, which sets you apart.”
“If you look at the silhouette of the terno… to a certain degree — a lot of critics say — it even constricts movement. To me, it puts the body in a certain state of gracefulness, where your body, to a certain degree — it’s not limited — but your movement becomes so nuanced, shaped by that whole silhouette,” he noted.
The terno, then, is not just about a matter of national dress, or Filipino pride: it’s a matter of presenting yourself and your own values. Mr. Millado said, “Sometimes, how we move, how we relate to people depends on how we suit ourselves.” — Joseph L. Garcia

Sugar planters offer concessions on imports, retail prices

SUGAR PLANTERS have offered to sell refined sugar at P48 per kilo, and agreed to the import of up to 300,000 metric tons of sugar to bring down retail prices, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said in a statement Sunday.
Mr. Piñol said the planters want to confine the imports to the consumer market only.
“The sugar planters said that they will not ask for royalty payments unlike in previous importations,” Mr. Piñol added.
Mr. Piñol said the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued import permits to planters associations only for the permits to be sold on to traders, allowing some of the latter to control the price of imported sugar.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI) has called on the SRA through the Department of Agriculture (DA) to allow domestic food processors to import 50% of their sugar requirements, or an initial volume of 100,000 metric tons.
“Imported sugar-based food products from ASEAN now enjoy preferential tariffs of 5% under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA). These food processors buy their sugar at the equivalent of P26 to P28 per kilo. These ASEAN products have been coming into the country and threatening similar domestic products with sugar inputs priced from P60 to P65 per kilo,” PCCI Agriculture Committee Chairman Roberto C. Amores said in a statement.
“There are approximately 4,000 to 5,000 domestic food processors using sugar as an ingredient, who are part of more than 90% of MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), and benefiting 50 to 60 million consumers and stakeholders that would bear the brunt of high cost of sugary products, compared to the 50,000 to 60,000 farmers, who can be shifted to high-value crop production. We sincerely hope that the SRA will heed our request to import,” Mr. Amores added.
Asked if it is possible to agree to the request, Mr. Piñol replied, “[It] depends if we have shortages. We cannot just import sugar if there is no shortfall in production,” he said.
“We do not want to jeopardize the interests of our sugarcane farmers by carelessly allowing importation beyond what is actually needed,” Mr. Piñol added.
In a statement on Sunday, SRA Board Planters’ Representative Emilio Bernardino L. Yulo said that in their decision to allow the importation, they require the SRA to still be in charge of the situation, and emphasized that the imported sugar should only benefit the consumers.
“We have agreed to a calibrated and pre-emptive importation program if the situation so warrants, provided that the Sugar Regulatory Administration will be on top of the situation and provided further that it will continue to exercise its mandate as provided for by law. However, and as stressed by Secretary Manny Piñol in his announcement, this measure will directly benefit only the consuming public,” Mr. Yulo said.
“Sugar milling season has already started and we are confident that we have enough sugar supply in the country, but we are agreeable to this measure in order to avoid a situation similar to what has happened to the rice industry recently,” Mr. Yulo added.
According to the latest data of the Philippine Statistics Authority, sugarcane production was reduced by 26.2% year-on-year to 6.44 million metric tons in the three months to June.
The decrease was due to reduced planting area due to low sugar prices in the Western Visayas; smaller cane due to reduced fertilizer application in Central Visayas; and a reduced harvest due to an early cut-off of milling operations in Northern Mindanao.
According to PSA data, 49.6% of sugarcane production came from the Western Visayas, followed by Mindanao at 15%. Central Visayas and Calabarzon accounted for 13.3% and 10.4%, respectively. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

ABS-CBN launches indoor theme park

ABS-CBN Corp. is expanding its portfolio with the introduction of a new indoor theme park that banks on its line of business as a media company.
The company on Sunday launched ABS-CBN Studio Experience (ABS-CBN Studio XP), a 1,400-square meter amusement park inside Ayala Malls TriNoma.
The new venture joins KidZania Manila in ABS-CBN’s theme parks under its consumer products and experiences business segment.
Cookie S. Bartolome, head of ABS-CBN’s themed experience, told reporters in a media launch on Friday that while ABS-CBN Studio XP costs “significantly lower” than KidZania, it is eyed to one day be a key driver in boosting revenues.
“We’re able to serve the market that KidZania is not able to serve here, so it’s complementary to that business,” she said.
She said for senior and junior high school students, especially those pursuing the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) track, the park is a good immersion should they decide to pursue media arts because it is a hyper real experience.
The ABS-CBN Studio XP features a total of 15 attractions grouped into three studios: fantasy, reality and retail. The fantasy studio is an augmented reality set-up that mimics experiences and stunts of action stars; the reality studio replicates shows such as “The Voice,” “Minute to Win It” and “Pinoy Big Brother” and allows visitors to take part in the show; and the retail studio showcases various ABS-CBN souvenirs and merchandise.
The themed store also has an 80-seater, four-dimensional (4D) theater for screening of short films and shows, or hosting live events. It could be used as an “interactive multiplayer hub” for game simulation with themes from shows “Ang Probinsyano” and “La Luna Sangre.”
Ms. Bartolome said if the ABS-CBN Studio XP in TriNoma becomes successful, it might be expanded or replicated via similar experience stores in other locations.
“We just wanna see first how the business goes in terms of the mix between retail and attractions,” she said.
“So we’re trying to understand what can drive the [revenue] — can attraction drive it or will the attraction drive the retail revenues?” she said.
A ticket to ABS-CBN Studio XP costs P375 for guests visiting for the first time and P350 for succeeding visits.
In the first half, ABS-CBN reported a 41% plunge in net income to P849.88 million due to higher production costs in the second quarter. KidZania Manila, which follows a similar product pattern as ABS-CBN Studio XP, contributed P231 million in revenues during the semester. — Denise A. Valdez

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