UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday welcomed the reopening of a hot line between North and South Korea, and voiced hope for more diplomatic initiatives to end the peninsula’s nuclear standoff.
North and South Korea earlier Wednesday reopened the communication channel that had been shut since 2016, following an offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to send a team to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.
“It is always a positive development to have a dialogue between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
Mr. Guterres “welcomes the reopening of the inter-Korean communication channel,” he added.
UN Security Council resolutions call for the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula and “we hope that enhanced diplomatic initiatives will help to achieve that goal,” said Mr. Haq.
South Korea has offered to hold talks with the North on Jan. 9 to discuss “matters of mutual interest” including the North’s Olympic participation.
Mr. Guterres’ support for inter-Korean dialogue stood in contrast to remarks from US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who on Tuesday dismissed the overtures between Pyongyang and Seoul as a “Band-Aid.”
The US, backed by Japan, is pushing for sanctions and total isolation of Mr. Kim’s regime in response to a series of missile launches and nuclear tests.
Russia, and North Korea’s sole major ally China, have repeatedly called for talks to de-escalate tensions, but the US has been adamant that Pyongyang must first freeze its military programs.
Ms. Haley warned on Tuesday that if Pyongyang carries out another missile test, it would face the likelihood of even more sanctions.
The Security Council adopted a new raft of sanctions on Dec. 22 to restrict oil supplies to North Korea — the third set of measures imposed on Pyongyang in a year. — AFP
CANDIDA and Paula’s struggle to hold on to their father’s painting (and, in turn, hold on to their ideals) as many people try to convince them to sell it to save them from destitution, closely mirrored what the creators of Ang Larawan went through just to get the film a nationwide release.
And the stuggle was ultimately fruitful for the film, which has gone on to garner prizes, a wider run, and a life after the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
“From the beginning, we wanted to do Ang Larawan because of all it stood for — it was art versus commerce. If we can get the young people of today to discuss the story, even if they disagree, we just want them to open their minds to the possibility that things aren’t always about money. And the funny thing, that’s what happened to us,” Girlie Rodis, one of the film’s executive producers, told the media on Dec. 30 at the Via Mare restaurant in Quezon City.
“At the start of the Metro Manila Film Festival, we had 53 theaters, then it went down to 26 after few days. After the awards night, we went up to 56, which is more than when we started,” she added.
The film’s official Facebook page announced on Jan. 2 that the film is currently being screened in 77 cinemas nationwide.
Ang Larawan, which was based on National Artist Nick Joaquin’s play, Portrait of an Artist as Filipino, with a libretto by fellow National Artist Rolando Tinio, was one of the big winners at this year’s MMFF, taking home the Best Picture, Best Actress (Joanna Ampil), Best Musical Score (Ryan Cayabyab), and Best Production Design (Gino Gonzales) trophies, and also garnering a posthumous Special Jury Prize for Nick Joaquin and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award.
It was a continuous uphill climb for the team to get the film to where it currently is, from being rejected during the first round of MMFF entry selections to being pulled out of theaters the first few days of the festival, but, like the Marasigan sisters whose battle cry was “Contra Mundum (defy the world),” the film likewise did defy the odds.
Looking back, Ms. Rodis said their rejection during the MMFF script selection was a blessing in disguise as it served to publicize the film among millennials.
“It helped a lot as millennials became aware of the film,” she said, adding that many audience members from that generation watched the film multiple times in order to help the film not be pulled out of cinemas.
“A good portion of our sales are [from] repeat viewers,” said actress Rachel Alejandro, who played Paula and is also one of the film’s producers, remarked during the same press conference.
While the MMFF which will end its run on Jan. 7, the team behind Ang Larawan is determined to bring the film to as many people as possible. Ms. Alejandro said they will be touring schools including University of the Philippines Los Baños and the University of Cebu.
ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel (TFC) is also bringing the film to US theaters starting Jan. 12, according to a company press release.
The film’s producers are also looking at restaging the original sung-through play version, a plan originally set for 2017 but pushed back because of the film.
Ms. Rodis also revealed that they plan on adapting other Filipino musicals to film, like Jose Javier Reyes’s Katy! The Musical, about the life of the “Queen of Philippine vaudeville and jazz” Katy dela Cruz, as well as Ryan Cayabyab’s Alikabok, about a Katipunera who left her comfortable life in order to fight for her country.
“Even if it’s few and far between, we would like to make movies that are authentic and true to form,” she said. — Zsarlene B. Chua
MANILA WATER Corp. has started the construction of a 100-cubic-meter underground reservoir that will serve as a potable water source in evacuation centers such as a school in Cainta town, Rizal province.
“Manila Water aims to construct these emergency reservoirs in 22 cities and municipalities within Metro Manila’s East Zone and the Province of Rizal in its commitment to assure water service reliability even during times of calamities such as earthquakes and flooding,” Manila Water said in a statement on Thursday.
The listed company said the reservoir project, which had its groundbreaking recently, will be built at the Cainta Elementary School in Barangay San Roque. It will become a potable water source in the aftermath of disasters and calamities.
Aside from the one in Cainta Elementary School, the company also plans to construct a 50-cubic-meter reservoir in Francisco P. Felix Memorial National High School in Barangay Sto. Domingo.
Manila Water said the emergency reservoirs are designed to provide 10,000 evacuees with potable water up to three days.
In October last year, Manila Water also broke ground on an emergency reservoir project at the Sto. Rosario Elementary School in Barangay Sto. Rosario-Kanluran, Pateros.
In Pateros, reservoirs will also be installed in Pateros Elementary School in Barangay San Pedro and Masikap Covered Court in Barangay Sta. Ana.
Manila Water provides water and wastewater services to Metro Manila’s east zone concession area covering the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig and Marikina. It is also in charge for the southeastern parts of Quezon City and Sta. Ana and San Andres in Manila. — V.V. Saulon
DOHA — World number five Dominic Thiem eased through to the quarter finals of the Qatar Open on Wednesday to become the only seeded player left in the tournament after the first two rounds saw the seven other highest-ranked players eliminated.
Four seeds crashed out in the first round and a further three lost in the second, ensuring that the Doha tournament will have its first non-seeded finalist since Gael Monfils in 2014.
French veteran Richard Gasquet and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez — seeded five, seven and eight — lost on Wednesday as the surprises continued in Doha.
They joined second seed Pablo Carreno Busta, as well as Tomas Berdych, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Filip Krajinovic — numbers three, four and six respectively — who all fell at the first hurdle.
The carnage among the seeds comes after the tournament was shorn of three major stars before it even began, with Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulling out as they try to recover from injuries. — AFP
The ability to remember, memorize, and to retain ideas, numbers, and facts is a fascinating function of the brain. The individual can grasp multiple concepts and interconnect them.
Memory is defined as stored experiences — happy, mundane, sad ones, sometimes remembered. These often need provocation for its remembering.
What happens when one forgets? It is normal to have memory lapses as one grows up and becomes preoccupied with many things to the point of filling up the memory bank.
As we mature (and add chronological years), we notice little quirks. Our short-term memory plays tricks. Stress and age are factors that affect the memory. Beyond a certain age, people joke about “senior moments” and being forgetful about little things. “The disc is full.”
Memory is about what has transpired. We have a data bank that stores details from the time we are in the womb. Thus babies can remember sounds — classical music or loud noise, words, and feelings. They respond to the same stimuli when they are children and adults. Toddlers can recall celestial phenomena such as the solar eclipse, earthquake, falling stars, full moons, Mars, the red planet. They are sensitive to exuberant fireworks — bursts of color and explosions.
Kids absorb everything they hear and see like a sponge absorbs water. Their memory is fresh and uncluttered. Learning and retention are easy. (It is important that we keep our promises and do what we say because children do not forget.)
“Where are those reading glasses?” (They’re on top of one’s head. “Where are the keys?” (In one’s pocket.) “Who is that person?” (The face is familiar but ummmmmmm….) These are awkward moments that occur occasionally. One takes them in stride, with poise and a sense of humor.
Forgetting is normal. When one is still a teenager, it is panic time during exam week. A bright student suddenly forgets the algebraic formula or the chemical composition or the important historical date. At a thesis defense, he forgets a critical explanation for a theory. It is a lapse that happens due to nerves, cramming, lack of sleep or all of the above.
A person can recall minute details about a childhood adventure but she cannot remember a trauma or people associated with that event.
“I distinctly remember forgetting that,” remarked writer Clara Barton. Someone reminded her about an offense done to her, years earlier.
One would rather remember the happy times. When one undergoes a devastating experience, the brain has a protective mechanism that blocks certain painful memories. There is a coping mechanism that makes one “forgets” the sad, heart wrenching moments of grief and loss. Victims of abuse suppress the memory. It is a defense mechanism the individual use so he can function. Psychological therapy and spiritual counseling are needed to deal with such traumas.
An individual with a photographic memory has the gift and advantage of remembering innumerable images, numbers, and details. However, he may find it exasperating occasionally when he cannot recall dates and names. This could be due to stress, anxiety, worry, or a simple overload of things happening too quickly or simultaneously. One needs to use an internal sieve to sift through the overwhelming, assorted, distracting stimuli, and objects.
The brain’s memory bank can only store so much information. Overload can cause “brain freeze.”
For example, at a business forum or social gathering, one sees a familiar face. But it is a struggle to recall his name. The solution is quite simple. Practice memory enhancing exercises. Introduce yourself and shake hands. Hopefully, the other person is polite enough to identify himself, too.
Memory experts say that one can thaw the freeze with practice.
De-clutter the brain. Relax and visualize pleasant scenes. Do crossword puzzles. To remember names: Pay attention. Visualize the name. Remind yourself. Make it a habit. Start a ritual. Sing it. Tie a string around your forefinger.
Notice how the “older seniors” (the elders) have excellent long-term memory. They can recount clearly what had happened several decades ago — the war, the first meeting, the first trip, the neighborhood, the first day in school and so forth. However, they forget what happened yesterday, a few hours or minutes ago.
A script writer commented, “Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose.” Thus, the seniors hold reunions to prepare for their jubilee celebrations. Getting together is a chance to reminisce and enhance the good old days, and how perfect things seemed to be. The Barbra Streisand poignant song goes,
“Watercolor memories of the way we were…”
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
THE task of rebuilding from the ruins is slow and difficult for Marawi City, but simple steps help the effort along. For one, the reopening of the Philippine National Bank Marawi Branch recently, the first bank to open in the city after the siege. The branch is located inside the Mindanao State University (MSU) campus. A day before it reopened, the bank was also the first to resume operations of ATM units — one machine in the MSU campus branch and another in the Capitol area. PNB Marawi Branch operates from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. As of September 2017, PNB has more than 680 branches and over 1,000 ATMs nationwide.
DRIVERS and operators in Iloilo City and Iloilo Province are enticing more of their fellow operators to join a cooperative they formed late last year in response to the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) planned implementation of the jeepney modernization program. Established in September 2017, the Western Visayas Transport Cooperative is comprised of the Iloilo City Loop Alliance of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (ICLAJODA) and the Confederation of Iloilo Provincial Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (CIPJODA). As of January this year, the cooperative already has 16 individual operators as members. Boyet Parcon, ICLAJODA president, said the cooperative expects more operators to join following the initial implementation of the phaseout in other regions. The cooperative is scheduled to have a seminar with the Office of Transport Cooperatives on Jan. 12. — Louine Hope U. Conserva
INTERNATIONAL budget hotel chain, ZEN Rooms, has introduced ZEN Homes — its solution to what the company sees as a current lack of affordable accommodations in one of the country’s most prominent central business districts, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig.
“Until now, there were simply zero professional affordable options for travelers in BGC — only luxury hotels and amateur Airbnbs,” Nathan Boublil, ZEN Rooms cofounder and global managing director, told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview late-December 2017.
The dearth of options, he said, puts travelers in a tight spot: luxury hotels are expensive and while amateur Airbnbs are “clearly more affordable, it is not the most reliable or the safest options.”
“[Airbnbs are] not even necessarily cheap as there are no economies of scale on the service,” he explained.
So, in order to provide a more affordable and reliable option, ZEN Rooms has introduced serviced apartments which can cost as low as P2,000/night all-in and includes facilities like pools, gyms and fully functional kitchens.
“ZEN Homes [has] the service level of a mid-range hotel and is cheaper than an Airbnb. We are able to achieve such low prices thanks to the economies of scale of managing many units and hotels (unlike amateur Airbnbs who cannot spread their cost across units),” Mr. Boublil said.
Located at the ICON Plaza and Forbeswood Parklane, ZEN Rooms currently operate 70 “homes” and plans to introduce 50 more by the first quarter of 2018.
ZEN Rooms, a budget hotel brand backed by Rocket Internet SE of Germany, was founded in the middle of 2015 by Nathan Boublil and Kiren Tanna, who built FoodPanda.com in 2012 — also backed by Rocket Internet — which has become the largest food delivery service in Asia.
Unlike budget hotel brands which typically construct properties from the ground-up, ZEN Rooms operates by taking over existing rooms in already-built buildings such as condominiums or hotels and re-branding them and furnishing them with all the fixtures of a hotel: a front desk, a restaurant, etc.
The serviced apartments are also bigger spaces — from 40 square meters for studio rooms to 60 square meters for apartments which can house four people. And because of the added amenities, Mr. Boublil said guests stay for around one week on average.
“Professionals having meetings in BGC would have to stay in Makati and then commute. Amateur Airbnbs is often not an option for them given the lack of reliability and planning needed to check in/out,” he said of the rationale behind the apartments.
“Given this lack of budget hotels that we could possibly franchise and work with, we decided to create the offering ourselves from scratch, by taking apartment units under management and operating them,” he added.
ZEN Rooms first introduced the service in Makati in the first quarter of 2017 and decided to replicate it in BGC during the last quarter of the same year, noting that since opening in BGC, its current customer demographics are skewed towards professional/business travelers (60% profession and 40% leisure.)
“Given the excellent customer satisfaction ratings, we are now growing our ZEN Home division fast, benefiting travelers and real estate owners — and essentially turning into the largest budget serviced apartment business in the Philippines, in addition to our budget hotel franchise,” he said.
ZEN Rooms entered the Philippine market in 2016 and is now currently operating more than a thousand rooms in 10 cities nationwide. In Asia, the company is currently operating more than 5,000 rooms in over 35 locations including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
NEW DELHI, INDIA — She may have returned to publishing fiction after a two decade hiatus, but Indian writer Arundhati Roy says she has no plans to sheath her polemical sword anytime soon in a world where the vulnerable are still being “smashed.”
Sitting in a café in the bowels of Old Delhi’s labyrinthine streets on a chilly winter’s afternoon, the 56-year-old still simmers with the kind of fiery political rhetoric that has made her one of her homeland’s harshest modern day critics.
“I would find it very hard to live with myself in this country if I didn’t talk about what was going on,” she says.
“Not only in India but all over the world, an economic system is being created that is driving people apart,” she adds.
“I’m writing about how this system is actually smashing up the vulnerable in this country.”
Roy has spent much of the year publicizing her new novel — The Ministry of Utmost Happiness — a sprawling and lavish tale published in June.
But inevitably conversations stray onto the kind of political issues she is now equally well known for: Kashmir, Maoist insurgents, environmental activism, and the rising communal tensions in modern day India.
The novelist and the polemicist is a duality she has worn for 20 years and she’s not going to stop now. The new book’s dedication after all reads: “To, The Unconsoled.”
FAME AND ACCLAIM
After years of struggling to find her voice, penning television and movie screenplays in Mumbai, the daughter of a Syrian Christian from Kerala and a Hindu Bengali burst onto the scene in 1997 with her debut novel The God of Small Things.
The story of twins Rahel and Estha and their traumatic childhood in Kerala was a publishing sensation, selling more than six million copies worldwide, scooping up the Booker Prize and turning Roy somewhat uncomfortably into a darling of the global literary set.
Many favorably compared her at the time to South Asia heavyweight writers like Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth. But those hoping for a swift series of fiction follow ups were disappointed.
Instead she turned herself into something resembling India’s moral conscience, churning out essays on a broad range of topics that riled the country’s elite and — when it came to her harsh criticism of India’s treatment of Kashmir — even earned her a sedition charge.
“I get into so much trouble so many times and I keep promising myself I won’t write another (essay),” she explains. “But it comes from a place where just keeping quiet just doesn’t seem to be an option.”
Her essays, she says, are written with a “kind of pacy restlessness.”
But the new novel afforded her an opportunity to write more cautiously and slowly.
“When I write fiction I’m the exact opposite. I’m just completely relaxed, completely take my time.”
Started some 10 years ago, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness absorbs many of the leftist political subjects she has written about, forming “part of the foundation” of the book.
Copies of Arundhati Roy’s novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness are stacked up at a book store in New Delhi. — AFP
Among the vast cast are Maoist guerrillas and Hindu nationalist mobs, a transgender community struggling against poverty and prejudice in Old Delhi and a love story set against the backdrop of the Kashmir’s long-simmering insurgency.
‘CONSTRUCTED CHAOS’
Compared to her widely acclaimed debut, the reviews for her belated follow-up are more mixed, with some saying the work is long and chaotic.
It is a criticism Roy partially accepts, but brushes off.
“I know a lot of people describe it as chaos, but that chaos is constructed,” she explains.
She expects her readers to spend time exploring the new book.
“It’s looking at the story as though it’s a big city like Delhi,” she says. “You can’t really just read The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, you have to get to know it, like you get to know a city: walk through big roads, small roads, courtyards, barren places.”
Politics comes fairly easily to Roy, but fiction less so.
“It took me a lot of time to recover from The God of Small Things,” she admits. “Not just because of the worldly success, but to write something that I dredged up from some place that was quite deep.”
It is unlikely she will shelve her polemical pen anytime soon.
Roy says under the stewardship of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi, India is at its most polarized place in years.
She reels off a list of ills, from protesters recently blinded by police shotgun pellets in Kashmir, to the ongoing prejudice against India’s “untouchable” castes and rising fundamentalism.
“There are mobs running around wanting to burn down cinema halls, there are mobs of huge mustachioed men celebrating sati,” she fumes, referencing the historical but extinct tradition where a widow would throw herself onto her husband’s funeral pyre.
Critics of Roy’s essays say they can be hysterical and narcissistic. But Roy is unrepentant, seeing herself as a much needed canary in the coal mine.
“It can’t go on like this,” she warns. “Something will arise either out of complete destruction or some kind of revolution. But it can’t go on like this.” — AFP
For all the ink Isaiah Thomas received in returning to the court after a seven-month absence, the National Basketball Association matches on tap the other day were largely forgettable. For longtime followers of the pro scene, it’s telling that only a set-to between two lottery-bound teams saved the schedule from being a total laugher, with the outcome in doubt until the very last second. And the Suns won in grand fashion, overcoming a 12-point Hawks lead with four minutes and change left in the contest to protect home court by the slimmest of margins.
That said, the match truly stood out for one thing: the questionable decision by Dennis Schroder to go for two points in the Hawks’ last offensive set even though they were down by three. Ignorance couldn’t have been the excuse; he knew there were only six and a half ticks remaining on the clock, which was why he let the leather roll near quartercourt off an inbounds pass following two made free throws by the Suns’ Devin Booker. Judging from the way he sprinted to the basket after picking the ball up, however, a trey wasn’t in his mind at all. Never mind that those around him were ready to take the pass and launch from beyond the arc.
Not surprisingly, Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer was livid in the aftermath. He didn’t have any timeouts left to call, so he had to rely on Schroder to exercise good judgment — as expected of all points guards — in order to devise, on the fly, a play that would send the contest to overtime. As things turned out, all the play did was get them close. And for fans, his bizarre decision is further highlighted by his teammates’ incredulous looks at the buzzer.
Brain farts are, admittedly, nothing new in the NBA. In fact, they occur more often than conventional wisdom would dare admit; due to a variety of reasons that include pressure and fatigue, even the best of the best fall prey to lapses in judgment. Nonetheless, Schroder’s misstep was startling and pronounced, its modest effect on league standings aside. The Hawks could have further built on the momentum of three victories in their last four outings; instead, they absorbed disappointment.
If there is any silver lining, it’s that the setback managed to cement the Hawks’ bottom-of-the-barrel position, which should augur well for them come the 2018 draft on the assumption that they continue their losing ways. Considering Schroder’s faux pas, it’s safe to say they will.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
WOMEN suing Google, Inc. of systemically paying male employees more than their female counterparts added a plaintiff and narrowed the definition of the proposed class in an amended lawsuit filed Wednesday.
• San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary E. Wiss dismissed the lawsuit last month, saying the proposed class, covering “all women employed by Google in California,” was too broad. The judge allowed the women to file an amended complaint
• The lawsuit claims that Google pays women less for equal or similar work and puts women on career paths with lower pay ceilings
• The amended complaint defines the class as women in more than 2 dozen specific job titles including software engineer, project manager and sales representative
• The complaint adds Heidi Lamar as a named plaintiff, who was employed by Google as a preschool teacher at Google’s Children Center from about July 2013 to August 2017
• She joins Kelly Ellis, who worked for Google from 2010 to 2014; Holly Pease, who performed a variety of managerial roles at two Google offices from 2005 to 2016; and Kelli Wisuri, worked as a sales communications specialist and “brand evangelist” from 2012 to 2015
• A copy of the amended complaint was obtained by Bloomberg News and couldn’t immediately be verified in the docket The case is Ellis v. Google, Inc., CGC-17-561299, Superior Court, San Francisco County, California — Bloomberg
Foreign buying of local stocks is considered a sort of anomaly. Smart money is supposed to stay in its more developed home country, especially when the global stock rally is led by the first world. Why would they come to a volatile market such as ours? Well, emerging markets do have their appeal. Are these funds just parked and looking for a permanent place? Is the rally they engender meant to be short-lived?
Economists designate the temporary flow of outside funds as “hot money.” As in the movie with Tony Curtis regarding fugitives and gender benders, some investors like it hot.
“Hot money” is defined as fund flows from outside that seek temporary havens in search of high returns in the short run. Economic planners are uncomfortable with these motel-like guests that check in using probably fictitious names, do their thing, and then check out without staying for the breakfast buffet.
The ease with which such funds enter and exit the local bourse causes concern as they tend to inflate currency and stock values only to let them fall back in a hard crash when other investment opportunities beckon elsewhere. Critics of hot money liken such portfolio investors to those dealing with the oldest profession (after landscape architecture). The metaphors can get mixed. It is after all the customer looking for fleeting pleasure and not the host providing the opportunity that describes the so-called hot money. The heat (or friction, in this case the lack of it) in this economic application is provided by the customer. Hot money should not invite comparison then to temporary partnerships, but to parking space.
The term “hot” has overtones of desire. The expression, “having the hots” for somebody, uses the word in its slang meaning of physical, in this case fiscal, attraction. As in all things hot, the interest, as well as the interest rate, is short term. Portfolio investments can make money for the investor. But do they create jobs outside of the researchers that push certain stocks and fund managers that make money (or lose it) for their clients?
The critics of hot money prefer the longer staying funds invested in factories, call centers, manufacturing, casinos, and resort hotels. These are not really called “cool” money. Economists refer to this type of funds more drily as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). These amounts are used more handily to gauge the attractiveness of a country as an economic “hot spot,” though not in the sense of a troubled place that attracts foreign correspondents and travel advisories.
In the matter of FDIs, the November 2017 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Manila, cites the Philippines as having registered the highest increase of 41.6%, from $5.6B in 2015 to $7.9B in 2016. The other gainers after the Philippines were Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Vietnam. This metric seems to be considered more reliable in terms of designating a hot economy.
The difference between hot money in local stocks and bonds, and finds going to FDIs can be likened to a tryst for the former and a long engagement (even marriage) for the latter. As one will note, the two need not be mutually exclusive. A date, even a hot one, can sometimes lead to a more permanent arrangement. Thus, hot money may be the introduction to a longer type of romance, beyond mere fleeting fascination in the economic sense.
There’s nothing wrong with designating certain economies, like we seem to be at this time, as “sexy.” The imagery of having some fiscal appeal may be a passing thing that generates enough allure to attract hot money. Is that so bad?
Achieving investment grade status, and even improving it, is apt to turn the once hot tomato into a respectable date. She can be introduced to the staid investors taking care of the retirement fund of public school teachers and municipal workers.
There is also a “ripple effect” when the country somehow gets into the radar screen of first world investors. The foreign interest goes beyond the stock portfolio and spills over to Philippine art auctions as well as local tourist destinations. The slogan then for the tourist industry of it being more fun here can be heated up — it’s hotter in the Philippines. And we’re not talking about the weather or the traffic.
Like the meteoric rise of a rock star attracting adoring crowds, an economy too can be hot… until it’s not.
