MODELS of oil barrels and a pump jack are displayed in this illustration photo taken on Feb. 24, 2022. — REUTERS
Private equity firm I Squared Capital, through its Philippine affiliate, will buy Philippine Tank Storage International from Singapore’s Keppel Infrastructure Trust and Metro Pacific Investments Corp in a $296 million deal.
Hong Kong’s First Pacific said on Wednesday its Philippine affiliate, Metro Pacific, will sell its 50% stake in Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corp, which is owned by Philippine Tank Storage International, the company that runs the biggest petroleum products import storage facility in the country.
The other 50% stake in the Philippine firm is owned by Keppel’s infrastructure trust.
Keppel Infrastructure Trust, in a separate announcement, said it would sell its stake in Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation alongside Metro Pacific for $460 million, including debt.
The Philippine affiliate of global investor I Squared Capital is Coral Terminal Holdings Corporation.
Philippine Coastal operates the petroleum storage and pipeline facilities of the Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Force Base — former U.S. military bases — according to its website.
Its 160-hectare facility includes a marine terminal, fuel storage tank farms and tank truck loading facilities.
In late August, Reuters reported that the owners of Philippine Tank Storage International were seeking to bring a strategic investor into the company.
According to the report, the deal could have been valued at up to $500 million.
Keppel Infrastructure Trust counts Singapore’s state investment company Temasek as its biggest shareholder, while Manila-listed MPIC is majority-owned by First Pacific Co’s Metro Pacific Holdings Inc, data from LSEG showed.
I Squared is an independent global infrastructure investment manager with over $40 billion in assets under management. — Reuters
A weather forecaster from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) explains their forecast of Tropical Depression Kristine track throughout the country during a press conference at the PAGASA head office in Quezon City, Oct. 21. PHOTO BY MIGUEL DE GUZMAN, The Philippine Star
MANILA (UPDATE) – The Philippines suspended government work and shut schools as Tropical Storm Trami (local name: Kristine) barrelled towards the country’s eastern coast, with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday ordering responders to prepare ahead of its landfall.
State weather forecaster Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) bulletin Trami’s centre was last estimated at 200 km (124 miles) off the eastern town of Casiguran in Aurora province. The storm is forecast to make landfall between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning.
Mr. Marcos ordered government agencies to closely monitor the volume of rainfall in the coming days, preposition government resources and anticipate people’s needs.
“The worst is yet to come, I’m afraid. Let’s all prepare,” Mr. Marcos told a situation briefing.
“The volumes of water are unprecedented. We should closely monitor that.”
Ahead of the storm’s landfall, Trami dumped heavy rain in the central region of Bicol on Tuesday, forcing residents to flee their homes as floodwaters reached as high as the roofs of bungalow houses. Rivers overflowed and triggered flash floods, a disaster official said.
“We got almost two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours,” Albay provincial disaster chief Cedric Daep said by phone.
The civil defence office said at least one person was reported dead in Palanas town in Masbate province after being hit by a falling branch. Five others were injured and seven were reported missing.
PAGASA warned of strong winds, heavy rain and storm surges in coastal towns within the typhoon’s path.
The storm, which was packing winds of 85 kph (53 mph), also shut down government work and schools across the main island of Luzon.
The Philippine central bank on Wednesday suspended currency trading and monetary operations for the day. Stock market trading operated as normal.
Agencies involved in disaster response and vital services remained open, the office of the president said. — Reuters
A vendor tends to a customer at a public market in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, Oct. 4, 2024. — REUTERS
By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINES is expected to be one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia through 2029, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), the IMF kept the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook at 5.8% this year, which is below the government’s 6-7% target. This is the same forecast given after the Article IV Consultation Mission briefing earlier this month.
This would make the Philippines the second-fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia, behind Vietnam (6.1%) and ahead of Cambodia (5.5%), Indonesia (5%), Malaysia (4.8%), Laos (4.1%), Timor-Leste (3%), Thailand (2.8%), Singapore (2.6%), Brunei (2.4%) and Myanmar (1%).
For 2025, the IMF kept its GDP growth projection for the Philippines at 6.1%, which is lower than the government’s 6.5-7.5% goal.
The Philippines and Vietnam are expected to post the fastest growth in the region in 2025, ahead of Cambodia (5.8%), Indonesia (5.1%), Malaysia (4.4%), Laos (3.5%), Timor Leste (3.1%), Thailand (3%), Brunei (2.5%), Singapore (2.5%) and Myanmar (1.1%).
“Growth in 2024 and 2025 is driven by a pickup in domestic demand, supported by gradual monetary policy easing,” a representative of the IMF said in an e-mail.
“Consumption growth will be buoyed by lower food prices and the upcoming midterm elections, while investment growth is expected to pick up on the back of a sustained public investment push, and gradually declining borrowing costs.”
Philippine growth will be faster than emerging and developing Asia, which is projected to expand by 5.3% and 5% in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
“Emerging Asia’s strong growth is expected to subside from 5.7% in 2023 to 5% in 2025,” the IMF said, adding that this reflects the sustained slowdown in China and India.
“Absent a strong drive for structural reforms, output growth is expected to remain weak over the medium term.”
The IMF sees growth in the region to be supported by sustained demand for semiconductors and electronics, as well as increasing investments in artificial intelligence (AI).
The IMF also expects Philippine GDP to expand by 6.3% until 2029, still the fastest in Southeast Asia, ahead of Cambodia (6%) and Vietnam (5.6%).
“Growth over the medium term at 6.3% is expected to be supported by investment, on the back of an acceleration in the implementation of PPP (public-private partnership) projects and FDI (foreign direct investments), following recent regulatory and administrative reforms,” the IMF representative said.
However, the IMF representative said potential risks that could weigh on economic growth include new supply shocks, escalating geopolitical tensions, tighter-for-longer monetary policy and an unexpected slowdown in major economies.
“Domestically, the pickup in private investment may be weaker than projected if reform momentum stalls or payoffs from reforms generate lower-than-expected returns. On the upside, the pickup in investment and productivity gains from reforms could be higher,” the IMF representative said.
Meanwhile, the IMF maintained the Philippine inflation forecast at 3.3% in 2024, which is above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) revised inflation projection of 3.1%.
For 2025, the IMF sees inflation at 3%, which is below the BSP’s 3.2% projection.
‘ALMOST WON’ The IMF said global growth would likely remain “stable yet underwhelming,” as it kept GDP growth projections at 3.2% this year and next year.
It noted the global economy has remained “unusually resilient” and avoided a recession.
“The global battle against inflation has largely been won, even though price pressures persist in some countries,” IMF Economic Counsellor Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in the WEO report.
Global inflation is forecast to reach 3.5% by end-2025, slightly below the 3.6% average between 2000 and 2019.
In emerging Asia, inflation is projected at 2.1% this year and 2.7% in 2025, “in part thanks to early monetary tightening and price controls in many countries in the region,” the IMF said.
“While the global decline in inflation is a major milestone, downside risks are rising and now dominate the outlook: an escalation in regional conflicts, monetary policy remaining tight for too long, a possible resurgence of financial market volatility with adverse effects on sovereign debt markets, a deeper growth slowdown in China, and the continued ratcheting up of protectionist policies,” he said.
With the return of inflation to near central bank targets, Mr. Gourinchas said a policy triple pivot is now needed.
The pivot on monetary policy has started, as major central banks began cutting policy rates, he said. However, vigilance is key amid a resurgence in inflationary pressures due to high food prices and supply disruptions, he added.
The Philippine central bank began its easing cycle in August with a 25-basis-point (bp) cut, followed by another 25-bp reduction at its Oct. 16 meeting. This brought the target reverse repurchase (RRP) rate to 6%.
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. has signaled another possible 25-bp rate cut at the Monetary Board’s last meeting for the year on Dec. 19.
Mr. Gourinchas said the second pivot is on fiscal policy, as now is the time “to stabilize debt dynamics and rebuild much-needed fiscal buffers.”
“The third pivot — and the hardest — is on structural reforms. Much more needs to be done to improve growth prospects and lift productivity, as this is the only way we can address the many challenges we face: rebuilding fiscal buffers, aging and declining populations in many parts of the world, young and growing populations in Africa in search of opportunity, tackling the climate transition, increasing resilience, and improving the lives of the most vulnerable,” he said.
THE MONETARY BOARD (MB) approved $3.81 billion of public sector foreign borrowings in the third quarter, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday.
Approved public sector foreign borrowings in the July-to-September period jumped by 36% from $2.81 billion a year ago, the BSP said in a statement.
Quarter on quarter, it fell by 2.31% from $3.9 billion in approved public sector foreign borrowings in the April-to-June period.
The central bank approved a bond issuance worth $2.5 billion, two project loans worth a combined $535.97 million and a program loan worth $778.59 million.
Proceeds from the bond issuance will be used for the National Government’s general budget financing and to fund or refinance assets in line with the Philippines’ Sustainable Finance Framework.
“Meanwhile, the other loans will cover projects on maritime safety/support ($448.41 million) and agrarian reform ($87.56 million) and a program on economic recovery, environmental protection and climate resilience ($778.59 million),” the BSP said.
The 1987 Constitution requires the Monetary Board to approve all foreign loan agreements entered into by the National Government.
The BSP must also approve in principle any foreign borrowing proposals by the National Government, government agencies and government financial institutions before negotiations.
“The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas promotes the judicious use of the resources and ensures that external debt requirements are at manageable levels to support external debt sustainability,” the central bank said.
Latest BSP data showed that the country’s external debt service burden went down by 7.6% to $7.693 billion at end-July from $8.329 billion a year ago.
The debt service burden refers to the amount of money a country needs to pay back its foreign creditors.
As of the second quarter, the debt service burden as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 3.1%, slightly lower than 3.6% in 2023.
The country’s total outstanding external debt rose by 8.3% to a record $130.18 billion as of end-July.
The country’s total outstanding external debt had risen by 10.4% to a record $130.182 billion as of end-June, separate BSP data showed, bringing the external debt-to-GDP ratio to 28.9%.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) also showed that the National Government’s outstanding debt had slipped by 0.9% month on month to P15.55 trillion as of end-August.
The National Government’s debt as a share of the GDP stood at 60.9% in the second quarter, from 61% a year ago and 60.1% in the previous quarter.
The government is targeting a 60.6% debt-to-GDP ratio by yearend. This is still slightly above the 60% threshold deemed manageable for developing economies.
It seeks to further bring down the ratio to 56% by 2028. —Aaron Michael C. Sy
A view of nickel ore stockpiles at a port in Sta Cruz, Zambales, Feb. 8, 2017. — REUTERS
By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE government should ensure that its plan to incentivize the processing of critical minerals would benefit local players and prioritize domestic value chains, analysts said.
Jose Enrique “Sonny” A. Africa, executive director at think tank IBON Foundation, said the incentive plan — whether in the form of tax breaks or subsidies — should strictly serve national interests, including efforts for national industrialization.
“Incentives for mineral processing will support industrialization only if they prioritize Filipino firms over foreign ones and if they’re part of a more comprehensive industrial policy,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
Mr. Africa lamented that a general incentive policy would benefit foreign companies more than the local ones since domestic firms are weak in terms of their processing capacity.
“Absent real support for domestic firms, the main beneficiaries of incentives will be foreign transnational companies that have processing capacity and advantages to begin with,” he said.
Mr. Marcos has been highlighting efforts to make the Philippines a manufacturing hub in many public and business events.
But the ambition has been anchored on foreign direct investments (FDI), with Mr. Marcos consistently citing liberal economic reforms including efforts to further cut corporate income tax to encourage the entry of foreign firms.
Mr. Africa said the government should not conflate the entry of foreign investments with industrialization. “Getting this right would enable the great leap forward for Filipino industry that has been so elusive for so long,” he added.
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga last week told BusinessWorld the Trade department was geared “towards incentivizing processing because that’s what will enable us to be a participant in the electric vehicle (EV) market.”
The two departments are working together to harness the potential of the mineral industry in line with the country’s goal of manufacturing EVs and other green technologies, she said.
“We need to establish what is critical to us in order to move the mining industry forward,” she said. “We are working on, to say, for the EV push, what do we need and what materials do we have for our own consumption?”
Ms. Loyzaga said in a separate briefing that potential incentives could cover the processing of nickel, which is needed for the processing of clean energy technologies, and copper, which is key to making EV batteries.
Cielo D. Magno, who served as Finance undersecretary under the Marcos government, noted a global trend restricting the exportation of critical minerals.
“When you incentivize, that means you forgo the government’s power to tax,” she said via Messenger chat. “The thinking of other countries is that instead of incentivizing, you discourage exporting raw minerals by imposing additional tax — you penalize.”
She cited the case of Mongolia, which imposes additional taxes if minerals are unprocessed when exported.
Indonesia, meanwhile, banned the export of raw ore and required processing within the country, she added.
“The idea is for a country rich in mineral resources to take advantage of its ownership and maximize the benefits for its people,” said Ms. Magno, the point person for the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI).
“Providing incentives to process is the opposite. You are giving away potential government revenue so companies will process,” she added. “It doesn’t make sense. There is no need to give incentives when a country controls its resources.”
Mr. Africa said restrictions on mineral exports could include export taxes, export quotas, various licensing requirements or an outright ban.
“The most widely used restrictions are export taxes, because taxes are technically restrictions because they are government-induced increases in prices,” he said.
Mr. Africa said private domestic industrial capacity is so weak that the most expedient way to develop national processing capacity is with a state-owned enterprise.
“Filipino firms can, however, also be spurred with incentives like subsidies or tax breaks… A national program for developing indigenous industrial capacity in critical minerals will have to go far beyond just incentives,” he added.
He said the government should support research and development for processing critical minerals to develop indigenous technological capacity and reduce reliance on imported technologies.
“Combined with export restraint, Filipino firms will ensure control over and maximum economic benefits from critical mineral resources like nickel,” he added.
Ms. Loyzaga said while the mining sector only accounts for 0.5% of the country’s economic output, it is critical to helping the country achieve its infrastructure and green ambitions.
“Export restrictions on raw minerals are important to encourage value-added domestic processing by Filipino firms before export. Industrialization is most of all about higher-value production by Filipino enterprises.”
When asked how the economic benefits of mining are weighed against the impact on local communities, Ms. Loyzaga said: “It’s not black or white. You have to contextualize what the country needs in terms of development — how we can mitigate these environmental impacts and how we can deliver the social goods.”
Mr. Africa said aiming for cleaner, more efficient mining and processing technologies is easiest with state-owned firms, “although support for private firms can be contingent on using green technology.”
He said foreign companies could also be offered incentives but with conditions on technology transfer and domestic skill development, especially in the context of joint ventures.
“In any case, the general direction should be towards developing Filipino mineral processing capacity and not just attracting foreign firms to do this for us in-country,” he said.
Beyond just processing, Mr. Africa said Philippine industrialization should aim for vertically integrated Filipino firms handling everything — from mining to final product manufacturing — to ensure that more of the value chain remains within the country and embedded in the national economy.
GREATER TRANSPARENCY Meanwhile, Ms. Magno said transparency in the extractive sector remains a key issue.
“The government attempted to review the sector’s compliance with government regulation. These reports have not been made public,” the former Finance official said, referring to reports of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC).
The MICC was an inter-agency body created to review all mining operations concerning their compliance with existing laws and regulations.
“Greater transparency is needed in the sector to ensure we prioritize national interests,” she added.
Ms. Magno said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Mines and Geosciences Bureau should also include the disclosure of beneficial owners of mines in the country “so we can remove conflict of interest.”
“A number of politicians are involved in mining that is why it is not surprising to see policies that favor companies rather than the public,” she said.
Leonardo A. Lanzona, who teaches economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said revising property rights is an important step to expanding the mining sector and ensuring that it will serve national interests.
“In regions with weak property rights, mineral extraction can be prone to corruption, with illegal mining operations or bribery undermining governance,” he said via Messenger chat.
“Strong, transparent property rights frameworks reduce the chances of illicit activities and corruption by establishing clear rules for who can mine and how they are held accountable,” he added
The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines earlier expressed support for the incentive plan but said fundamental problems “that ail our industry should first be solved” before “we take the leap to value-added mineral processing.”
“Only then can we be able to produce enough minerals to feed the mineral processing facilities we aspire to build,” Chairman Michael T. Toledo told BusinessWorld.
THE PHILIPPINES slipped to 13th place among 30 economies engaging in sustainable trade best practices, according to a report by the Hinrich Foundation and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The Hinrich-IMD Sustainable Trade Index (STI) measures 30 economies’ readiness and capacity to participate in the global trading system in a sustainable manner through 72 data points categorized into three pillars: economic, societal and environmental.
This year, New Zealand topped the index, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia. The worst performers were Russia (30th), Papua Guinea (29th) and Pakistan (28th).
The Philippines fell a spot to 13th place as its score dropped to 54.8 out of 100 from 61.4 points last year. The Philippines ranked 12th in the 2023 survey.
The Philippines slumped to 19th place in both economic and societal pillars.
The country’s best performing areas under the economic pillar are growth in the labor force (fourth), tariff and nontariff barriers (11th), and real gross domestic product growth per capita (third), according to the report.
However, the country performed worse in areas such as trade costs (18th), technological infrastructure (21st) and consumer price index (22nd).
Under the societal pillar, the country performed best in stance against trade in goods at risk of modern slavery (14th), government response against human trafficking (second), and labor standards (12th).
However, the IMD said the country performed worse in areas such as inequality (18th), educational attainment (23rd), political stability and absence of violence (25th), and goods produced by forced or child labor (25th).
Meanwhile, the Philippines ranked third in the environmental pillar in this year’s index, one place higher than last year. This measures how much importance a country gives to sustainability within the trade framework.
“Countries that rank highly in this area, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Mexico, and Australia, are distinguished by their strong environmental regulations and commitments to international environmental agreements,” the report said.
“These nations effectively manage carbon emissions, maintain low pollution levels, and prioritize renewable energy (RE) sources,” it added.
The Philippines performed best in the environmental standards in trade (first), ecological footprint (fifth), and RE (sixth), which are indices under the environmental pillar.
However, the country scored lower in the areas of deforestation (19th) and air pollution (18th).
“Notably, the Philippines witnessed a significant improvement in carbon indicators, rising from 18th to ninth place, and holds 10th place in energy intensity,” the report said.
“Challenges for the Philippines include wastewater treatment, air pollution and deforestation. However, its overall strong performance underscores the country’s commitment to environmentally sound trade practices,” it added.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the country’s lower ranking this year could be a result of slower rollouts of RE projects, less developed infrastructure and higher power costs.
“It may be due to a relatively slower rollout of and transition to more renewable power sources such as solar and wind,” he said in a Viber message.
The Philippine government saw increased investments in renewable energy projects after it allowed full foreign ownership in the sector last year.
Opening Day Speakers and Panelists (from left): April Tan, Mignon Ramos, Deputy Ambassador Alistair White, Jonathan Back, Vince Perez, Augusto Bengzon, Gay Santos, Mharicar Reyes, Rizza Latorre
The Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) recently concluded its 56th Annual Conference, a week-long event that highlighted the theme “Empower Progress, Inspire Change: Transformational Growth through Sustainability, Diversity, and Digitalization.” Held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 this year’s conference gathered thought leaders, industry experts, and policymakers to discuss the intersection of economic progress and innovation.
Co-Chair of the FINEX Week 2024 Committee and Asticom Technology Inc. President and CEO Mharicar Castillo-Reyes, reflected on the journey of organizing the conference: “This year’s FINEX Conference has been the result of months of preparation, driven by a clear mission: to provide not just ideas, but a platform for actionable insights. Early in the planning process, we realized that sustainability, diversity, and digitalization are not separate trends but are closely intertwined. By addressing them together, we aim to empower Filipino businesses to foster transformative growth in a rapidly evolving global economy.”
Ms. Castillo-Reyes is joined by Co-Chair Rizza Blanco-Latorre, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. Head of Strategy Management Office and Liaison Director Mignon Ramos, and Roadmaps + Beyond, Inc. Managing Director and Principal Consultant of in leading this year’s FINEX Week Committee.
Augusto D. Bengzon, FINEX President and CFO of Ayala Land Inc., shared his thoughts on the evolution of the FINEX Annual Conference over the years. Reflecting on the changes, he said, “In 2022, we were addressing the height of COVID; and by 2023, we were beginning to recover from its effects. This year, we’ve completely come on the road to recovery, which is why our focus shifted to transformational growth through sustainability, diversity, and digitalization. The topics we’re exploring this time are all tied to these themes, providing us with a comprehensive framework for navigating the complexities of change.”
Mr. Bengzon also emphasized the importance of the collective efforts of the FINEX teams and the outstanding support from sponsors, attributing the conference’s success to their dedication.
Global perspectives on sustainability, diversity, and digitalization
The conference kicked off at the Fairmont Makati with a global perspective on sustainability, diversity, and digitalization. British Embassy Manila Deputy Ambassador Alistair White set the tone with a keynote address that outlined the United Kingdom’s strategies for economic development, transition to renewable energy, and the importance of neurodiversity in the workplace. He emphasized the ongoing partnership between the UK and the Philippines in areas such as energy transition, climate finance, and biodiversity.
In the following panel discussion, Vince Perez of Alternergy Holdings Corp and Jonathan Back of ACEN Corp. shared their insights into the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in the Philippines. Griselda Gay Santos, Southeast Asia Regional Director of Water.org, moderated the session. They discussed the critical need for sustainability, inclusivity, and digital transformation, emphasizing the role of international collaboration in tackling these global challenges. The day concluded with a resounding message on the need to drive change through sustainable practices and innovative solutions.
Building resilience against climate risks
Day 2 of the conference, titled “Climate Risks and Opportunities: Building Climate Change Resilience,” featured discussions on the financial, environmental, and operational challenges posed by climate change. Benjamin Villacorte of SGV & Co. underscored the importance of integrating climate resilience into organizational strategies. Ann Adeline Dumaliang of Masungi Georeserve highlighted gaps in biodiversity financing and environmental law enforcement in the Philippines, pointing out that nature-based solutions like reforestation could play a pivotal role in mitigating disaster risks. Rudi Ramin of PCX Markets stressed the need for extended producer responsibility in tackling plastic pollution, while Paco Magsaysay of Carmen’s Best Ice Cream shared some best practices in sustainable packaging in their company. The day ended with a call to action from FINEX Week Co-Chair Rizza Latorre, urging participants to take small yet significant steps toward sustainable growth, reaffirming the idea that collective actions can lead to meaningful global transformation.
Navigating generational gaps for transformative growth
On Day 3, themed “Navigating the Generational Gap Towards Transformative Growth,” Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr. of PHINMA Corp., alongside his daughter Danielle Del Rosario, COO of Union Panel Insulated Corp., delved into the evolution of PHINMA’s mission-driven approach. They emphasized human capital as the key asset of the Philippines, highlighting how investing in education and talent development can lead to transformative growth. Paviter Kaur of Deloitte discussed the importance of generational diversity in leadership, advocating for inclusive strategies that merge traditional principles with modern technologies like AI to prepare organizations for future challenges. The interactive session underscored the idea that while AI and other digital tools are critical for progress, core values such as integrity and professionalism remain fundamental to achieving sustainable transformation.
AI’s role in national development
Day 4 focused on “Practical Applications of AI to Achieve Philippine Development Goals,” with Dr. Christopher Monterola highlighting AI’s transformative potential in sectors like education, agriculture, and healthcare. The panelists, including Atty. Rose Marie M. King-Dominguez and Reynaldo Lugtu, discussed the ethical and regulatory landscape of AI adoption, emphasizing the need for upskilling the workforce to embrace these technological changes. The day’s discussions called for a comprehensive AI strategy that promotes innovation, supports MSMEs, and ensures the ethical use of technology.
Empowering progress through collaboration
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala delivered the opening keynote during the culminating day of the 56th FINEX Conference.
The final day of the summit began with a keynote by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman of Ayala Corp. He emphasized the need for transformational growth through sustainability, diversity, and digitalization. Mr. Zobel de Ayala discussed the importance of inclusive practices and technological advancements in driving lasting change. He highlighted the Philippines’ leadership in climate action and detailed Ayala’s milestones in sustainable financing and net-zero commitments. The presentation also focused on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the transition from automation to augmentation in digital transformation to empower people and promote sustainable growth.
Throughout the day’s sessions, notable speakers addressed key challenges in healthcare, food security, education, and digital transformation. The “Towards a Healthy Filipino” session, featuring Usec. Dr. Emmie Liza Perez-Chiong of the Department of Health; Jaime E. Ysmael, president and CEO of Healthway Philippines; June Cheryl “Chaye” Cabal-Revilla, president and CEO of MWell; and Joselito G. Diga, SVP for Finance of Unilab, Inc., focused on collaborative efforts between public and private sectors to enhance healthcare services. Michael Arcatomy H. Guarin, partner at KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co. moderated the session.
In the “Critical Filipino Challenges of Hunger and Food Security,” experts such as Usec. Roger V. Navarro of the Department of Agriculture; Asec. Baldr H. Bringas of the Department of Social Welfare and Development; Kristine Go of Kain Tayo Pilipinas; and Jovy I. Hernandez, president and CEO of Metro Pacific Agro Ventures, discussed strategies to combat hunger and improve food distribution. The session was moderated by Dr. Cielito F. Habito, chair of Brain Trust.
The session “Educating the Brighter Filipino,” led by Sec. Sonny Angara of the Department of Education, joined by Atty. Angelo A. Jimenez, president of University of the Philippines; Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea, chairman and CEO of iPeople; and Aurelio R. Montinola III, vice-chair of Philippine Business for Education, highlighted innovations to develop a brighter future for Filipino students. John B. Balce, vice-chairman of Junior FINEX Committee, moderated the session.
And, the final session on “Developing the Digital Filipino” emphasized the need for IT skill development and digital strategies, with insights from Usec. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue of the Department of Information and Communications Technology; Robert Yu, chief finance officer of Converge ICT Solutions; Tek Olano, chief finance and risk officer of GCash (Mynt – Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.); Margot Torres, managing director of Golden Arches Development Corp.; Rubie Casana-Villamor, practice head for Business Management Solutions of IT Group; and Harsh Vardhan, chief strategy officer for Asia Pacific of Planview. This was moderated by Atty. Mark S. Gorriceta, managing director of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra.
FINEX Week Officers with IAFEI Chairman Tsutomu Mannari
The discussions underscored the importance of collaboration between government, private sector, and educational institutions in driving progress across these critical areas. The conference was wrapped up with a talk from Tsutomu Mannari, chairman of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes (IAFEI).
A platform for actionable insights
The diverse lineup of speakers and topics ensured that the discussions were not only relevant to the local business landscape but also aligned with global best practices. The discussions on AI, climate resilience, and generational diversity emphasized that innovation and inclusivity are crucial for achieving the Philippines’ development goals. The conference’s focus on sustainability, digital transformation, and diversity was not merely a discussion of trends but a strategic approach to positioning Filipino businesses for long-term success.
Lorelie Quiambao Osial delivered the closing keynote during the culminating day of the 56th FINEX Conference.
The 56th FINEX Annual Conference successfully highlighted the crucial link between sustainability, diversity, and digitalization, presenting a clear roadmap for Filipino businesses to drive transformative growth. With a strong focus on collaboration between the public and private sectors, the event underscored the importance of inclusive practices and innovation in tackling the challenges of today and tomorrow.
As FINEX and its partners continue to champion these causes, the collective efforts of industry leaders, policymakers, and the business community will play a pivotal role in shaping a resilient and progressive Philippines. The conference served not just as a gathering of minds but as a catalyst for change, inspiring actionable steps toward a sustainable, diverse, and digitally empowered future for all Filipinos.
ALTERNERGY Tanay Wind Corp., a subsidiary of Alternergy Holdings Corp., has applied for approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to construct a transmission facility that will link its Tanay Wind Power Plant Project (TWPPP) to the Luzon grid.
Alternergy Tanay aims to construct dedicated point-to-point limited transmission facilities at an estimated cost of P2.2 billion, the company said in its filing with the ERC.
Based on the application, Alternergy Tanay is proposing to build a 112-megawatt (MW) wind farm with a dispatchable capacity of up to 99.2 MW.
The project has a total cost of P10 billion, of which up to P8 billion in funding came from the Bank of the Philippine Islands and Security Bank Corp.
To connect the wind farm to the Luzon grid, the company is proposing to construct a bus-in connection along the existing San Jose/Balsik – Tayabas 500-kilovolt transmission line.
Alternergy Tanay first proposed to link the Tanay Wind Power Plant Project to the grid via a direct connection to the proposed Baras Substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
However, in its first system impact study, it was found that NGCP’s proposed Baras Substation is scheduled to be completed only by 2034, which is nine years after the target commercial operations of the Tanay project in 2025.
“Thus, [Alternergy Tanay] sought an interim connection scheme because the first proposed connection of [Tanay Wind Power Plant Project] was not technically feasible by 2025 due to the construction timeline of the NGCP Baras Substation,” the company said.
Hence, the company proposed to NGCP an interim connection for the TWPPP via a bus-in connection along the grid operator’s existing transmission line.
The wind project’s transmission will be transferred to the final connection scheme once NGCP’s proposed Baras Substation has been completed, which will be subject to a new system impact study.
“The [Tanay Wind Power Plant Project] is targeted to be operational by the year 2025. Hence, there is an urgent need for the immediate issuance of a provisional authority to start the construction of the interconnection project,” the company said.
Alternergy aims to develop up to 500 MW of additional wind, solar, and run-of-river hydro projects.
At the local bourse on Tuesday, shares in the company dropped by 1.05% to close at P0.94 each. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
JOSE TENCE RUIZ’S Ikearus, done in collaboration with Danilo Ilag Ilag, Raul Ugbamen, Rosario “Chie” Cruz, Amihan Ceres Ruiz, Pete Jimenez, Jr., 2023-2024, resin, epoxy, rubber, copper, metal, narra, polyurethane paint.
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JOSE TENCE RUIZ’S Ikearus, done in collaboration with Danilo Ilag Ilag, Raul Ugbamen, Rosario “Chie” Cruz, Amihan Ceres Ruiz, Pete Jimenez, Jr., 2023-2024, resin, epoxy, rubber, copper, metal, narra, polyurethane paint.
JOSE TENCE RUIZ stands beside his painting The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic.
Jose Tence Ruiz engages with the tedium through art
By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
DESPITE having just released a book that serves as an inventory of his career that spans 50 years, Filipino artist Jose Tence Ruiz has found that there is still a lot left in the world to confront.
In a solo exhibition presented by Silverlens Manila, titled The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic, he does just that, in the form of mixed media installations, self-portraits from his earlier years, and new works on canvas.
The entire gallery space is utilized in this show, with the small gallery looking inward through varied self-portraits across the years. Meanwhile, the works in the main gallery look outward in the form of visual metaphors that use religious iconography and Mondrian’s geometric abstractions.
Mr. Ruiz’s creative practice, known to reflect contempt for the cruelties and hypocrisies of Philippine society, now spans themes of disillusionment, genocide, and the death of utopia.
The centerpiece of the exhibition, Ang Pila Balde ni Ning, Charie, Rochit, Rose, Sari, Rosie, Saring, Chayong atbp., is a baptismal font encircled by several hundred empty containers in a pointless queue for water, a carbon footprint of the entire world lining up to drink from the source of power. It is also named after people in his life who are named Rosario, or any variation of it.
At the exhibit opening on Oct. 17, gallery co-director Isa Lorenzo noted that the concept of a dried-up living rosary is yet another memorable piece in Mr. Ruiz’s storied career of works filled with social commentary.
“We’re glad he was able to realize it in this space,” she said. “That whole room of self-portraits is also something new to see.”
The small gallery shows an interesting journey — from a psychedelic drawing on paper made in his youth back in 1973, to the more depressive mixed-media Alienation Suite: Kaluluwang Kalawangin from 1976 reflecting a brief phase of depression, then Sarilarawan in 1985 depicting himself being pulled out of the torpor (represented by a carcass) as he discovered activism.
Jumping forward to 2024, Mr. Ruiz’s new painting, The Surfer, shows himself as a surfer tattooed with obligations and encumbered by Mondrian-style waves. Finally, the Ikearus installation concludes the narrative with the artist’s body modeled in resin, reclining on a massage chair and drowning under a mass of cable wires, illustrating the tragic inertia of life in the digital age.
For the artist, these last two self-portraits are a culmination of years of trying not to drown. “The nicest part is, at the end of the day, after all the struggles, I’m still going to drown — in connectedness with every shitty thing that I want to get connected to,” he said as he toured BusinessWorld around the space.
CONFRONTING THE WORLD Mr. Ruiz’s paintings in the main gallery are a result of his stoicism. The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic, the painting after which the show is titled, is one of a handful there that utilize Mondrian’s visual language to symbolize the degradation of utopia in a time of genocide. It depicts a penitent lady in a bestida (dress) being embraced by a fire, becoming the embers.
The style aims to “contemporarily show debris,” he explained, like it is a structural facade broken apart. “This is the utopia of modernism that Mondrian described would work itself out in the asymmetrical equilibrium of humans, all broken apart.”
His recurring preoccupation, the reina de vestida (the queen of dressing) appears in the exhibit as well in the form of Mondrian’s Denouement: The Vestida of Carcasses. The painting depicts a lady adorned in destruction, inspired by the horrific and systematic elimination of one race by another, taking place in Gaza.
Current controversies within the Philippines also fuel Mr. Ruiz’s imagination. The painting Morion, Miron, Moron, Meron, showing the Moriones* figure with gay, erotic elements played up, came about after drag performer Pura Luka Vega faced condemnation for their drag performances involving Catholic imagery. It tackles “this saga of identity politics and conservatism,” the artist said.
Considering current political events, the title of the painting My Heart Will GUO On catches one’s attention. But it is also a visual feast — it features an image of a lifeboat hosting a Last Supper of sorts, with world leaders, archetypes of machismo, and sexual figures scrambling to occupy space on the last Titanic. “If the world is sinking, this is a situation we might find ourselves in,” said Mr. Ruiz.
This body of work which channels despair about social realities into striking visual metaphor is his “best way of putting up with the world,” he believes.
“You have to express it. You have to bring it outside of yourself, now in an aesthetic manner,” he said. “That’s the way to deal with just the complete tedium that J.D. Salinger described, that we should not accept, but that we should always dynamically engage with.”
On Oct. 26, at 1 p.m., Mr. Ruiz will host an exhibition walkthrough and book signing of his monograph Litanya: 1972-2022, published in conjunction with his exhibition last year at Ateneo Art Gallery. The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic is on view until Nov. 16 at Silverlens Manila.
Silverlens Gallery’s address is 2263 Don Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati.
* Moriones are traditional Holy Week characters depicted by residents of Marinduque wearing costumes replicating the garb of Roman soldiers.
MEGAWORLD Corp. expects P3 billion in sales from a residential condo project in Puerto Princesa, Palawan set for completion by 2030.
The company is building the 12-storey The Bellagio Palawan inside the six-hectare Baytown Palawan township, Megaworld said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
The Bellagio Palawan will have 188 units equipped with balconies and lanais. It is the first upscale residential condo within the township. Unit sizes reach up to 109 square meters for the three-bedroom suites.
“The Bellagio Palawan will serve as the gateway to Baytown Palawan. Once completed, it will become a vibrant lifestyle estate that will mirror the excitement that characterized Forbes Town in BGC through the years. We envision Baytown to be the ‘new lifestyle capital’ of Puerto Princesa,” Megaworld Palawan Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Javier Romeo K. Abustan said.
The tower’s second floor will have coworking spaces, a function hall, fitness center with a yoga studio, outdoor lounge and seating areas, kiddie play area, and a daycare center.
In terms of sustainability features, the Bellagio Palawan will have bicycle parking, low flow rate fixtures for water conservation in toilets and kitchen, occupancy sensors in hallways, and energy-efficient equipment, according to the company.
It will also have its own sewage treatment plant, rainwater harvesting facility, and materials recovery facility.
The Baytown Palawan township is being developed by Megaworld and Suntrust Properties, Inc.
The township’s other planned projects include more residential condominium developments, hotels, and commercial retail developments.
Megaworld is also developing the 462-hectare Paragua Coastown ecotourism township in San Vicente, Palawan, which features residential condominium projects, commercial retail developments, and hotels.
On Tuesday, Megaworld shares dropped by 0.43% or one centavo to P2.34 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
DR. REY ISIDTO and Dr. Elvie Victonette Razon-Gonzalez, winners of the Creative
Non-Fiction and Short Story categories of the 3rd Rotor Literary Awards.
PHYSICIANS do not just write prescriptions, reports, and journal articles. Some also write short stories and creative non-fiction, and these works were once again recognized at the 3rd Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature.
The annual ceremony, which the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) started in 2022, honors the intersection of medicine and literature and provides internists across the country with the chance to showcase their writing. It is named after Dr. Arturo B. Rotor, a physician known for his contributions in both the medical field and literature spanning the 1930s up to the ’70s.
This year, the categories were creative non-fiction and the short story.
Dr. Rey Isidto, a nephrologist from Iloilo City, won the former with his heartfelt essay “To Remember,” dedicated to a childhood friend who had passed on.
“It’s a very personal piece because it reflects on the friendship between two people and talks about memory, loss, and the impact of illness,” he told BusinessWorld at the sidelines of the awarding ceremony on Oct. 17.
On why doctors seem to be natural storytellers, he said, “Part of diagnosing our patients comes from not taking things at a surface level. We need to dig deep, and that attention to detail helps a lot.”
Dr. Elvie Victonette Razon-Gonzalez, a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist from Iloilo City, won the short story category with “Munificence,” about a young mother diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
“I wrote it from the perspective of a patient instead of a doctor. I’ve always been fascinated by works that dive deep into the human spirit, and how man confronts death,” she explained.
She told BusinessWorld that because medicine is a demanding job that requires discipline, her writing would usually take a backseat. “It was the pandemic that revived my passion for writing. But it has always been my natural inclination: to observe, to introspect, to meditate.”
Both winners took part in the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Workshop for Doctors, which also began during the COVID-19 pandemic, helmed by poet Marjorie Evasco with Dr. Lance Isidore Catedral and Dr. Joey Tabula in the panel.
As fellow doctors from Iloilo City, the two winners also regularly consult with each other on their writing. “My advice for doctor-writers is to find a good writing buddy. We check each other’s stuff and it helps with our craft,” Dr. Isidto said.
HEART AND SOUL OF MEDICINE The Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature, while relatively new, documents a long tradition of “doctors reclaiming their heart and soul in the lens of literature,” said Dr. Noel Pingoy, one of the screening judges.
“This is the confluence of two powerful forces, medicine and storytelling,” he told the press at the event. “It is a reflection of the humanity, vulnerability, and wisdom that underpins our practice.”
He and the two winners emphasized how doctors must be both healers and human beings, with empathy and compassion as important tenets.
Dr. Rotor, for whom the award was named, may be best known for discovering a rare form of jaundice called the Rotor Syndrome and for serving as the postwar secretary of the Department of Health, but the PCP aims to convey that his literary works are equally important.
His contributions to literature include Confidentially, Doctor (1965), Selected Stories from the Wound and The Scar (1973), and The Men Who Play God (1983). His writing earned him a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1966.
“These awards carry his legacy,” Dr. Pingoy said, “But they also serve as a reminder that, with literature, we not only heal bodies but also touch souls.”
The entries from the 1st Rotor Literary Awards were compiled by the PCP in an anthology titled Rx Narratives: Anthology of Creative Nonfiction of Filipino Internists, edited by Dr. Joey Tabula, Dr. Noel Pingoy, and Dr. Sandra Tankeh-Torres. It is a finalist for the Best Anthology in English category in the upcoming 42nd National Book Awards. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
Winners of the 3rd Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature
CREATIVE NON-FICTION 1st Prize — “To Remember” by Dr. Rey Isidto
2nd Prize — “To Tita, My Patient” by Dr. Boby Jay Cueva
3rd Prize — “I am a 58-Year-Old Ballerina Doctor” by Dr. Maria Angeli Pamintuan
SHORT STORY 1st Prize — “Munificence” by Dr. Elvie Victonette Razon-Gonzalez
2nd Prize — “Nap9” by Dr. Lance Isidore Catedral
3rd Prize — “The Road Not Taken” by Dr. Marie Louise Emille Largoza
Before we describe in detail what is called the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) let us consider the greatest roadblock that prevented our having a thorough going industrialization, with manufacturing a lead sector, unlike the largecountries such as England, the US, France, Spain, and Italy that preceded us in transitioning from a predominantly agricultural to an industrialized economy.
One historical fact that was drummed into our heads by Professor Alexander Gerschenkron, my Economic History professor at Harvard, was that the first ever industrial revolution that occurred in England during the period 1770 to 1840 would not have been possible without a previous agricultural or green revolution. As we can read in Wikipedia, the British Agricultural Revolution consisted of an unprecedented increase in agricultural production between the mid-17th and late-18th centuries. Agricultural output grew faster than the population over the hundred-year period ending in 1770, which, not coincidentally, was the official start of IR 1.0.Thereafter, agricultural productivity in England remained among the highest in the world.
This increase in food supply in turn resulted in rapid population growth in England and Wales, from 5.5 million in 1700 to over 9 million in 1801. As the population grew even faster than the food supply, tripling during the 19th century, food imports also increased. Such population pressure actually had a positive dimension: it led to more innovative practices in agricultural technology.
If we use 1700 as a base year, agricultural output per farm worker in Britain steadily increased from about 50 in 1500, to around 65 in 1550, to 90 in 1600, to over 100 by 1650, to over 150 in 1750, rapidly increasing to over 250 by 1850. With this rapid rise in agricultural productivity, less manpower was needed in the farms, thus making the surplus labor available for the burgeoning industrial sector. For this reason, it has been said the agricultural revolution was the cause of the industrial revolution.
There are historians, though, who prefer to refer to the productivity improvements in agriculture as an evolution rather than a revolution since the changes were incremental and took centuries to transpire.For example, one important change in farming methods that led to higher output per hectare was the change in crop rotation to planting turnips and clover instead of leaving the land fallow or empty for the soil to recover the atmospheric nitrogen used by the plants as nourishment. Turnips could be grown in winter and are deep-rooted, allowing them to gather minerals for later use by shallow-rooted crops. Meanwhile, clover (and peanuts) fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form of fertilizer. These simple discoveries permitted the more intensive cultivation of light soils on enclosed farms and provided fodder to support increased livestock numbers whose manure added further to soil fertility. It cannot be overemphasized that this simple change in farming practice — not leaving the land empty (or fallow) for it to absorb nitrogen from the air — multiplied significantly the volume of crops that could be grown on the same amount of land. These changes happened over longer periods of time and therefore may not be considered “revolutionary” as the subsequent increases in manufactured products were during the industrial revolution. Some historians thus would rather use the term “evolution.”
For whatever lessons we may learn from a listing of the developments and innovations associated with the so-called British Agricultural Revolution (or Evolution), let me briefly describe the complex interaction of social, economic, and technological changes that brought it about. These developments and innovations include:
• Four-course crop rotation: fodder crops, particularly turnips and clover, replaced the practice of leaving the land fallow or empty, especially during the winter.
• The Dutch acquired the heavy, Chinese mold-board iron plough so that it could be pulled by fewer oxen or horses.Note that the Europeans also farmed with animals equivalent to our carabaos or water buffaloes. What is tragic is that at this late stage of our industrialization efforts, we still see carabaos working farms in the rural areas.
• Enclosure: the removal of common rights to establish exclusive private ownership of land. As we shall explain below, this was the opposite of agrarian reform. From small farms tilled by the serfs in the feudal manorial system, the feudal lords were able to consolidate the farms into bigger estates, thus attaining economies of scale in farming. This was referred to as the enclosure movement. In the process, a good number of those who used to work on the land became available as factory workers in IR 1.0.
• Development of a national market free of tariffs, tolls, and customs barriers. Before IR 1.0, the feudal system consisted of disjointed feudal fiefdoms that did very little trade with one another, militating against the creation of a mass market.
• Transportation infrastructure, such as improved roads, canals, and, later, railways (during IR 2.0). The most notorious failure in our efforts to develop was the utter neglect of farm-to-market roads for decades.
• Land conversion, land draining and reclamation. Engineering technologies of draining vast swamps resulted in more available arable land.
Let us elaborate on some of the main innovations that made up the so-called agricultural revolution. Crop rotation was the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons to help restore plant nutrients and mitigate the buildup of pathogens and pests that often occur when there is monoculture, i.e., only one plant species is planted over and over again. Another advantage of crop rotation is the fuller use of human resources: labor is employed at times when demand was not at peak levels. Then there was “convertible husbandry.”This was the alternation of a field between pasture and field.Because nitrogen builds up slowly in a pasture, ploughing up the pasture and planting grains resulted in high yields for a few years. A big disadvantage of convertible husbandry was the hard work of breaking up pastures and difficulty, in turn, of establishing them. The significance of convertible husbandry is that it introduced pasture into the rotation.
The most relevant feature of the agricultural revolution in England for our present efforts to increase agricultural productivity was the so-called “enclosure movement.” All over Europe during the Middle Ages, agriculture was feudal. In the feudal open-field system, peasant farmers were assigned individual narrow strips of large fields which were used for growing crops. For the right to work this land, they would pay a percentage of the yield to the aristocracy or the Catholic Church, who owned the land. A separate section of land in the same area would be “held in common” as grazing pasture. Periodically the grazing land would be rotated with the crop land to allow the land to recover nutrients.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, civil authority mandated the enclosures of these fragmented lands through acts of Parliament. The more productive enclosed farms meant that fewer farmers were needed to work in the same area, leaving many villagers without land and grazing rights. Many of them moved to the cities in search of work in the emerging factories of the Industrial Revolution 1.0. This “enclosure movement” should be the model of a very strategic move that the Marcos Jr. Administration has adopted:consolidating a large part of those farms, especially in the coconut sector, that were fragmented by the former Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) law that expired in 2014. To attain economies of scale in coconut, cacao, coffee, mangoes, avocado, durian, bamboo, palm oil, and other high-value tree or fruit crops, we need our own version of the enclosure movement. Only then can our agriculture take a significant productivity leap.
These commercial plantations — following the successful banana and pineapple models — are the only means to attain growth in our agricultural sector that can equal that of Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.The continuing duty of the State to do everything possible to help the small farmers (e.g., in rice, corn, vegetables, livestock) improve their productivity is aimed at a goal more important than economic growth, which is to eradicate poverty. To go beyond poverty eradication, however, there is no alternative to increasingly consolidating some of the small farms to attain the necessary economies of scale so as to significantly increase the productivity of the agricultural sector.
This consolidation can be done through cooperatives, the nucleus estate model perfected by the Malaysians, and the conversion of denuded forests and grasslands into commercial plantations.
(To be continued.)
Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.
The conference kicked off at the Fairmont Makati with a global perspective on sustainability, diversity, and digitalization. British Embassy Manila Deputy Ambassador Alistair White set the tone with a keynote address that outlined the United Kingdom’s strategies for economic development, transition to renewable energy, and the importance of neurodiversity in the workplace. He emphasized the ongoing partnership between the UK and the Philippines in areas such as energy transition, climate finance, and biodiversity.
On Day 3, themed “Navigating the Generational Gap Towards Transformative Growth,” Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr. of PHINMA Corp., alongside his daughter Danielle Del Rosario, COO of Union Panel Insulated Corp., delved into the evolution of PHINMA’s mission-driven approach. They emphasized human capital as the key asset of the Philippines, highlighting how investing in education and talent development can lead to transformative growth. Paviter Kaur of Deloitte discussed the importance of generational diversity in leadership, advocating for inclusive strategies that merge traditional principles with modern technologies like AI to prepare organizations for future challenges. The interactive session underscored the idea that while AI and other digital tools are critical for progress, core values such as integrity and professionalism remain fundamental to achieving sustainable transformation.
Throughout the day’s sessions, notable speakers addressed key challenges in healthcare, food security, education, and digital transformation. The “Towards a Healthy Filipino” session, featuring Usec. Dr. Emmie Liza Perez-Chiong of the Department of Health; Jaime E. Ysmael, president and CEO of Healthway Philippines; June Cheryl “Chaye” Cabal-Revilla, president and CEO of MWell; and Joselito G. Diga, SVP for Finance of Unilab, Inc., focused on collaborative efforts between public and private sectors to enhance healthcare services. Michael Arcatomy H. Guarin, partner at KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co. moderated the session.
