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To comply with PCC order, Grab to keep Uber app running until April 15

GRAB Philippines (MyTaxi.PH, Inc.) on Monday said it will extend the operations of Uber Philippines’ app to April 15, despite the former’s objections to the order of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for the two ride-sharing companies to continue operating independently pending the antitrust body’s review.
In a statement, Grab Philippines said it will bear the costs of keeping the Uber app operational until April 15. Grab had already shouldered the costs of Uber operations from March 25 to April 8. The Uber app was initially scheduled to go offline on April 8.
“Considering that Uber has exited the region on 25 March and clearly stated during the public hearing its incapacity to fund the operations in the Philippines, the parties have agreed to keep the Uber app operational with Grab bearing the costs, to give drivers and consumers time to adjust to Uber’s departure,” the company said.
“In the spirit of cooperating with the PCC, Grab has also agreed to bear the costs of the Uber app extension (from March 25 to April 8) until April 15, 2018. Our understanding from the PCC is that this interim arrangement, which was fully explained to the PCC, is not a breach of this order,” it added.
Grab, however, said that even with the operation of Uber, it has “limited functionality and little or no support.”
Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu said they are only funding the activation of the system and not the manpower.
Mr. Cu said Grab cannot continue bearing the costs of keeping Uber app operational for a longer period of time. Grab has been funding operations of the Uber app only to allow for the transition of drivers to the new system.
“We cannot bear the costs. Even if we bear the burden, it’s as if we’re operating the app, which diminishes the point of what they want to [happen], it’s a circular argument,” he said in a press conference.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) over the weekend questioned the PCC order, and expressed concerns over continued operation of the Uber app.
The PCC ordered Uber to continue operating the app for the entire duration of the motu proprio review, and for Grab and Uber to maintain independence of operations. PCC said the acquisition leads to a “virtual monopolization” of the ride-sharing market.
PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan had said that Uber is “capable of operating its ride-hailing app in the country, despite its claims that it had already exited the Southeast Asian market.”
Mr. Cu said they will meet with the PCC to discuss further particularly with the “contradiction” of the PCC order.
He noted the PCC should ask the LTFRB to fast track the application of four ride-sharing companies, which are seeking accreditation.
“If they want more competition, they need to discuss with the LTFRB to speed up the application of the new entrants. I don’t think they’ve done that yet, and they’re focusing on a half-baked solution,” Mr. Cu said. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Mariah Carey returns to Manila in October


AMERICAN chanteuse Mariah Carey is coming back to Manila for a one-night engagement on Oct. 26 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
The concert one stop on the Number 1’s Tour, which will see Ms. Carey performing her iconic hits in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Originally scheduled for February, the tour was pushed back to October following “a necessary realignment of international engagements in 2018,” according to a statement on her tour website.
Ms. Carey is known for a bevy of hits since she broke into the industry with her self-titled debut album in 1990 which included hits “Vision of Love,” “Love Takes Time,” “Someday,” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” all of which got to the top of the Billboard Top 100.
Known for her signature five-octave vocal range and her use of the whistle register as well as her unapologetic and glamorous style, she became the best-selling female artist of all time with more than 200 million records sold to date and 18 Billboard number one singles including “Hero,” “Without You,” “One Sweet Day,” “Touch My Body,” “All I Want for Christmas,” and “We Belong Together.”
She also won five Grammy Awards, nine American Music Awards, Billboard’s “Artist of the Decade” in 2001, and the World Music Award for “World’s Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium” in the same year.
She previously performed in Manila two times — in 2014 on her Elusive Chanteuse tour and in 2003 on her Charmbracelet tour.
Tickets will go on sale starting April 20, 10 a.m. via Ticketnet (ticketnet.com.ph). Call 911-5555 for more details. — Z. B. Chua

Indie cinema fests Cinemalaya, QCinema announce finalists

TWO OF the country’s most prominent independent film festivals are gearing up for their respective runs with both the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and the QCinema International Film Festival releasing their respective rosters of films for their 2018 editions.
CINEMALAYA 2018 ENTRIES
For its 14th edition, Cinemalaya — considered the country’s premiere independent film festival — is producing 10 independent full-length films which will be featured in August at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and select cinemas.
Each film will be given a P750,000 grant from the CCP and the Cinemalaya Foundation.
The entries are:
• Ang Mga Bisita ni Mamang by Denise O’Hara, which delves into the story of Mamang, an old woman who hangs on to her memory to be with her unmarried middle-aged son.
• Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago by Martika Escobar, a fantasy about Leonor Reyes, the only female writer of Filipino action movies, who falls into an irreversible coma after an accident and is transported into the 1980s classic Filipino action flick which is playing on a TV at the hospital lobby.
• Babae At Baril by Rae Red, about a girl’s life which changes drastically after finding a strange gun on her doorstep.
• Kung Paano Hinihintay Ang Dapithapon by Carlo Enciso Catu which revolves around Teresa, an elderly woman living with her longtime partner Celso, who receives a call from her estranged husband who is seeking forgiveness from her and their son.
• Kuya Wes by James Robin Mayo, is about a man working in a money transfer company who finds himself “in a relationship” with a regular client, a married woman who suffers from marital woes.
• Liway by Kip Oebanda, is about a notorious NPA rebel in Negros whose beauty is legendary and her tactics, unparalleled.
• ML by Benedict Mique, Jr., is about a young man who meets an old former soldier who, it turns out, cruelly tortured student activists during the Marcos regime. The young man’s life changes as he experiences all the martial law cruelties in one night.
• Pan De Salawal by Che Espiritu tells the story of Sal, a lonely baker suffering from a chronic kidney stone who wants nothing but to die. Sharing his life along the riles (railroad tracks) are his neighbors — a barber with severe shakes, a former beauty queen with emphysema, a dancer paralyzed by stroke, and a macho meat vendor with tumor in his breast — who are all battling for dear life, hoping a miracle comes along the riles.
• Pilot by Dexter Hemedez and Allan Ibañez deals with the challenging, painful, rewarding yet unrewarding world of soap opera writing.
• Pinay Beauty by Jay Abello, a man with a huge debt to a loan shark learns he can settle the bill if he finds Lovi Poe and introduce the loan shark to the actress. How does a regular guy who knows no one in show business meet a celebrity?
QCINEMA
Despite being one of the newer independent film festivals in the country, QCinema managed to make a name for itself for producing award-winning films such as Sheron Dayoc’s 2016 film Women of the Weeping River which went on to win six awards at the Gawad Urian in 2017 including Best Picture and Best Director.
This year, QCinema is aiming to continue its success with the announcement of the five full-length entries and three documentary features. Full-length features each get P1.5 million in funding while documentary features each get P300,000.
This year’s QCinema runs from Oct. 21-30 in select cinemas.
The full-length film entries are:
• Billie and Emma by Samantha Lee, looks into the depths of female friendship between a rocker girl forced to move to the province where she meets a model student and perfect daughter who suddenly gets pregnant. Together they go through the experience of first love and explore what it means to be a family.
• DOG DAYS: Pinoy Hoop Dreams by Timmy Harn follows a half-black half-Filipino wannabe basketball star chase his hoop dreams.
• Hintayan ng Langit by Dan Villegas, revolves around a woman coming to grips with her past while waiting for a spot in purgatory.
• Masla A Papanok by Gutierrez Mangansakan II is a period film that goes back to 1892 when a giant bird mysteriously appears in Maguindanao foretelling the rise and fall of colonial empires.
• Panata sa Bundok Gulsuk by Jordan dela Cruz is a dark coming-of-age story about a naive teenage boy who climbs to the peak of the mythical Mount Gulsuk to search for a cure for the mysterious, incurable disease that afflicts his pregnant girlfriend.
• Sila-Sila by Giancarlo Abrahan’s follows a gay man, who, while at a high school reunion, tries to avoid confrontations with people from his past, especially his drunk ex-boyfriend. And so he escapes through his dating app, meeting “strangers” in the vaguely familiar campus.
Meanwhile, the three documentary grantees are:
• All Grown Up by Wena Sanchez which tells a story about what it means to help the people you love the most. After years of nurturing and protecting her younger brother, a filmmaker is forced to question her ability to help the people she loves when her own daughter begins to have troubles of her own.
• Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala by Hiyas Baldemor Bagabaldo shows the journey of a third-generation master carver in transforming blocks of wood into a gigantic Jesus crucified on a 12-foot-tall cross, all set in a surreal portrait of Paete, a small artisanal town in the Philippines.
• LUZVIMINDA by Shallah Montero looks into the Philippine drug war through the eyes of women. — Z. B. Chua

Pop, country singers reimagine Elton John hits on two new albums

LOS ANGELES — More than two dozen Elton John songs have been reinterpreted by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, and Willie Nelson on two albums of past hits released on Friday.
The pop-focused Revamp and country-inspired Restoration highlight the British singer’s long collaboration with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, which includes enduring hits such as “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” and “Candle in the Wind.”
“Bernie and myself are thrilled when singers we admire and respect as much as those on Revamp choose to add their own unique twist in the process,” John, 71, said in a statement. “It means that our music is still relevant and ultimately that our songs continue to reach new audiences.”
Revamp features a hip hop rendition of “Bennie and the Jets” with John, pop singer P!nk and rapper Logic; British indie rockers Florence and the Machine perform the soaring “Tiny Dancer”; and Sheeran does a folk version of mourning song “Candle in the Wind.”
“The first time I heard ‘Candle in the Wind’ would have been (Princess) Diana’s funeral,” the 27-year-old Sheeran said in a statement.
“I was six at the time, I remember my dad bringing me in and sitting me in front of the TV and being like this is really important — you have to watch this and you have to remember this,” Sheeran added.
Cyrus, who has roots in country music as the daughter of singer Billy Ray Cyrus, performs on both albums as John handed songs on Restoration over to country artists Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town, Dolly Parton and others.
“Elton is a deep musicologist,” contributor Rosanne Cash, the daughter of Johnny Cash, said in a statement. “He loves everything from the deepest, most obscure Appalachian songs through George Jones through deep folk music, gospel, early blues.”
John and Taupin began working together in 1967 after they both answered the same Liberty Records advertisement seeking songwriters. They last collaborated on John’s 2016 album Wonderful Crazy Night.
Other singers and groups on the albums include Sam Smith, Mary J. Blige, Mumford & Sons, Demi Lovato, The Killers, Dierks Bentley, and Emmylou Harris.
“Because of our love of all kinds of music, we’re not stuck in one genre,” Taupin, 67, said in a statement. “From day one we borrowed from everything that’s good about American music.”
Both albums are released through record labels owned by Vivendi’s Universal Music Group. — Reuters

‘He’s Funny That Way’: Bob Dylan, Kesha lend voices to LGBT songs

LOS ANGELES — Bob Dylan, Kesha and Valerie June are among the musicians and singers reimagining classic love songs as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender anthems in a new album released on Thursday.
The six-song Universal Love album is meant to give the community songs that reflect their own gender identity by flipping pronouns or having male and female singers reverse traditional roles.
Dylan, the Nobel Prize-winning composer and performer, covers “He’s Funny That Way,” a standard sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Ross that has also been part of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby’s songbooks as “She’s Funny That Way.”
Guitarist and singer St. Vincent, who has said publicly she identifies as neither gay nor straight, performs “And Then She Kissed Me,” a version of girl group The Crystals’ 1963 hit “Then He Kissed Me.”
“The great thing about music is that it transcends all the barriers and boundaries, and goes right to peoples’ hearts,” St. Vincent said. “And everyone has a heart.”
Other songs on the album include pop star Kesha’s “I Need a Woman to Love Me,” a version of Janis Joplin’s “I Need a Man to Love” and blues-folk singer Valerie June’s “Mad About the Girl,” a cover of Dinah Washington’s “Mad About the Boy.”
Singers Ben Gibbard of indie rock groups Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service, and Keke Okereke of British rock group Bloc Party also contributed to the album.
The album is backed by MGM Resorts International, Interpublic Group of Companies’ ad agency McCann and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music.
The hospitality company was a backer of same-sex commitment ceremonies at its properties prior to the legalization of gay marriage across the United States in 2015. — Reuters

Japan anime giant Isao Takahata, 82

TOKYO — Oscar-nominated Japanese anime director Isao Takahata, who cofounded Studio Ghibli and was best known for his work Grave of the Fireflies, has died aged 82, the studio said on Friday.
The winner of many awards domestically and internationally, Takahata was considered one of the greats of Japanese animated film and is often linked with long-term Studio Ghibli collaborator Hayao Miyazaki.
He enjoyed a career spanning several decades, producing both films and work for the small screen and his latest production, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, earned him an Academy nomination for best animated feature. An adaptation of a popular tale from the 10th century — considered one of the founding texts of Japanese literature — the film was also selected for a slot in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar to the main Cannes film competition in 2014. It also won rave reviews, with the New York Times in 2014 describing it as “exquisitely drawn with both watercolor delicacy and a brisk sense of line.”
However, most consider Takahata’s 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies, a moving tale of two orphans during World War II, to be his best work. In 2000, famed reviewer Roger Ebert wrote that the movie “belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made.”
FRIENDS AND RIVALS
Born in 1935 in Mie prefecture in central Japan, his early life was marked with violence when US forces bombed his hometown in June 1945 as World War II was coming to a close.
In an interview with the Japan Times, he described fleeing with his sister barefoot and still in his pyjamas. On his way back to the family house, he recalled seeing piles of bodies in the street. “We were lucky to get out alive,” he told the newspaper.
Takahata started his career in animation at the Toei studio in 1959, where he eventually met long-term collaborator and rival Miyazaki.
With Miyazaki, he cofounded in 1985 the Japanese animation Studio Ghibli, which went on to produce several blockbusters.
With more complex and occasionally more violent plots than depicted in the average Disney cartoon film, these films have at times confused audiences outside Japan, who largely consider animation to be primarily for young children. However, this has not stopped the films being lucrative box-office smashes.
Takahata and Miyazaki were often described as friends and rivals at the same time. “We would never criticize each other face-to-face because it would just cause a fight. However, I know he has criticized my work,” Takahata told the Japan Times.
Over a long and distinguished career, Takahata produced around 20 films, including Only Yesterday (1991) and Pom Poko (1994). He also produced the Miyazaki-directed 1984 film Kaze no Tani no Naushika (The Valley of the Wind), a science fantasy adventure that describes the relationship between nature and human beings. He is also well-known for animation series Alps no Shojo Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) and Lupin Sansei (Lupin the Third).
Perhaps inspired by his early trauma, he was an avid anti-war campaigner and in 2013 co-signed with around 250 other film celebrities a petition against a controversial state secrets law.
According to a statement from Studio Ghibli, he died in the early hours of Thursday in a Tokyo hospital after a battle with lung cancer.
“We pray that he rests in peace,” the studio said, adding that he would be buried in a private ceremony attended by close family. — AFP

Rebellious jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, 89

NEW YORK — Cecil Taylor, the rebellious pianist whose dissonant, nearly percussion-like approach to the keys helped set the stage for the free jazz movement, has died, his representative said Friday. He was 89.
The New York native, who lived more than three decades in a brownstone in Brooklyn, died late Thursday, his legal guardian Adam Wilner said without specifying a cause.
Taylor startled the music world in 1956 with his first album Jazz Advance, with the pianist wildly sweeping through ostensibly jarring chords and merging clashing rhythms.
With saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who would become his collaborator, Taylor opened the way of free jazz, which removed itself from the structures and toe-tapping rhythms that had underpinned the genre. “Part of what this music is about is not to be delineated exactly. It’s about magic and capturing spirits,” Taylor once told the jazz writer Nat Hentoff.
Taylor followed up with a well-regarded live album in 1957 recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Unlike the legendary Coleman, who died in 2015, Taylor was a more divisive character to audiences, some of whom found his hard-hitting, often atonal playing to be off-putting.
But Taylor found an unexpected fan in 1978 when he was invited to play at the White House as part of a jazz festival. After performing for his designated time of a mere five minutes, Taylor was unexpectedly approached by president Jimmy Carter, who clasped the artist’s hands and said: “I’ve never seen anyone play the piano that way.”
Taylor was trained classically in piano, encouraged by his mother who was a musician and dancer, but first found his calling as he made his way into jazz clubs in Harlem.
He later obtained financial stability by taking visiting teaching positions, including at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and his recordings enjoyed popularity in Europe and Japan.
Taylor set his music to choreography, including of Min Tanaka, who experiments with Japan’s intricate butoh dance. He also worked closely with Amiri Baraka, one of the leading African American poets of the late 20th century, with Taylor also penning his own verse for their work together. — AFP

Actress Susan Anspach of Five Easy Pieces, 75

LOS ANGELES — Actress Susan Anspach, who appeared in the 1970 classic Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson and other films, has died at the age of 75.
Her son, Caleb Goddard, confirmed her death to The New York Times. He said she died on Monday last week of coronary failure at her Los Angeles home.
Anspach was best known for her role as an icy pianist who sleeps with the character played by Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces. Her other film credits included The Landlord with Beau Bridges, Blume in Love with Kris Kristofferson, and as Woody Allen’s ex-wife in Play It Again Sam.
Anspach was married from 1970 to 1978 to actor Mark Goddard, who adopted her two children from other relationships. She claimed that Nicholson was the father of her son Caleb although the actor has never publicly acknowledged his paternity. — AFP

UnionBank sees growth in retail banking

UNIONBANK of the Philippines (UnionBank) said that retail banking will continue to grow as more Filipinos enter the work force.
In an interview with BusinessWorld, UnionBank President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin R. Bautista said the country’s growing population will continue to boost retail banking.
“The bigger influence in our growth moving forward is population growth — the [demographic] sweet spot,” Mr. Bautista said last week.
A demographic sweet spot is a period where a chunk of a country’s population is already in the work force.
This means that more young people will be working. This earning capacity makes the local market more attractive.
“We have one of the most perfect combinations of demographics, growth rate and low base. Our productive work force is growing at a rate of 3-4%. Which means that, 18 years ago, our [population growth] was in that range… Now it’s paying off,” Mr. Bautista added.
“There’s still a lot of room to grow. What’s important is that the economy will not overheat along the way.”
Mr. Bautista added that due to rising household incomes as a result of the growing work force, financial products such as loans and insurance are in demand.
“That’s why insurance is hot, credit cards, cars and personal loans will be hot. Consumer [banking] will [continue to] be hot — that’s why that’s going to be a battlefield.”
With the foreseen growth in retail banking, Mr. Bautista said doing business digitally is necessary in order to remain relevant.
“The question is, will you still be approaching it the old-fashioned way of selling it in your branch, or you’ll find the customers in the digital space? That’s the behavior now,” he added, noting that customers are now reluctant to go to bank branches since transactions such as availing car loans and providing signatures can be done digitally.
In a previous forum, Mr. Bautista said a bank should operate as an “IT (information technology) company with a banking franchise” to keep up with the times.
UnionBank logged a lower net income in 2017 despite positive recurring income across all its business segments. It earned P8.4 billion last year, down by 16.9% from the P10.1 billion in 2016.
Shares of UnionBank closed at P90.50 on Friday, down 50 centavos or 0.55% from the previous close. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

A Quiet Place makes a lot of noise in North American debut

WASHINGTON — Horror-thriller A Quiet Place, a movie featuring barely three minutes of dialogue, made a resounding debut in North American theaters over the three-day weekend, taking in an estimated $50 million, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said on Sunday.
That gave the Paramount film the second highest domestic opening of the year, behind only the Disney/Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, in one of the top openings ever for a horror flick. A Quiet Place is built around a simple but chilling premise: flesh-eating creatures have invaded Earth, but they are blind and can track their prey only by sound.
So actor/director John Krasinski, his wife (in the film and in real life) Emily Blunt and their children must adapt — through sign language and ingenious adaptations — or die.
The film has drawn rave reviews, with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Last week’s box-office leader, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One — a futuristic homage to films of the 1980s — came in second this weekend at $25.1 million. The Warner Bros. film tells the story of a teenage gamer (Wade Watts) who finds himself inside an addictive virtual reality world.
In third was another new release, Universal’s Blockers, at $21.4 million. A raunchy comedy starring John Cena and Leslie Mann, the movie drew considerable buzz at the South by Southwest film festival.
Still flourishing in its eighth week out, Black Panther netted $8.4 million for fourth spot. Already the highest-grossing superhero film in US history, its cumulative total in the US and Canada now exceeds $665 million. The film stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, and Lupita Nyong’o.
In fifth was faith-based drama I Can Only Imagine from Roadside Attractions, at $8.4 million. The movie, starring J. Michael Finley as lead singer in a popular Christian band, was made for a modest $7 million and now has a North American net of $69 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were: Tyler Perry’s Acrimony ($8.1 million); Chappaquiddick ($6.2 million); Sherlock Gnomes ($5.6 million); Pacific Rim: Uprising ($4.9 million); and, Isle of Dogs ($4.6 million). — AFP

Tips before buying a condo unit

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran
Special Features Writer
THE INEVITABLE outcome of being recognized on a global scale for economic development, like the Philippines has been, is an impetuous rush for property. Investors are locking in investments, middle-class professionals are moving to districts where the jobs are, and competition between real estate developers become even tighter.
The Philippine real estate market is seeing that rush now.
According to the residential quarterly report made by Colliers International Philippines senior research manager Randwil Dinbo Macaranas, the take-up of pre-selling condominium units throughout Metro Manila reached a new record high in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“Take-up of pre-selling condominium units throughout Metro Manila, including fringe locations, reached 52,600 units in 2017, 24% higher than the prior year and the highest historically for the country’s capital,” the report said.
This rapid uptake is despite the ballooning prices and declining yields of each unit of property, Mr. Macaranas said.
Clearly, the Philippine property market is more dynamic than ever before, and it is all too easy for young, hopeful homeowners to get lost and manipulated.
In order to avoid this, here are some things you should keep in mind, according to real estate experts Pronove Tai and KMC Savills.
ACCESSIBILITY
The best option would be to secure a residential location within walking distance to their place of work. Another consideration is the condominium’s accessibility to different modes of transport, from train stations to bicycle lanes.
“Traffic normally causes inconvenience due to more stoplights present within the commercial districts. As much as possible, young professionals should consider the accessibility to different modes of transport,” Pronove Tai CEO Monique Cornelio-Pronove told BusinessWorld in an e-mail.
KMC Savills, Inc. Research Manager Fredrick Rara said buyers should also consider the traffic in the area.
“Either it’s walking distance from the office or one to two jeepney or bus rides away. Traffic will be a key condition to get a place nearby,” he told BusinessWorld.
CONSIDER LOCATIONS OUTSIDE CBD
As demand for locations within central business districts like Makati, Ortigas, and Bonifacio Global City drives up the price of residential condominiums, it may be worthwhile to look for more affordable units elsewhere. These include areas near CBDs, where the value may appreciate in the future.
Mr. Rara noted gentrification in the fringes of most CBDs is already happening.
“Certain pockets outside of Makati CBD and Ortigas Center have welcomed high-density residential buildings which were once bungalow units. In the BGC fringe, we have seen dormitories rising which offer more affordable housing units. We believe this influx of new residents has caused most of the upgrades in the fringes,” he said.
DO YOUR RESEARCH
As buying a property requires long-term commitment, it pays to exert effort into studying the finer details of the purchase, from looking for flexible payment terms to doing a background check on the property and its developer.
“While there are banks that offer low interest rates, the flexible payment terms must always be on top of consideration for young professionals. The young professionals must take into account their financial capacity to pay the downpayment and monthly amortization,” Ms. Cornelio-Pronove said.
“The track record of developers’ ability to deliver on time and the quality as promised impacts on the attractiveness of the development. Property maintenance and preventive maintenance track record through interviews with the occupiers of the buildings they are considering to buy should be on their top list,” she added.
WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS
Take into account your needs. A checklist identifying your needs from luxuries might help you decide on a suitable place of residence.
For instance, perhaps having an elevator means less to you than an indoor gym, or having more floor space is not as important as having natural lighting. Choose what suits you best.
The layout, security, and amenities of an establishment should be factored into this. Ms. Cornelio-Pronove suggested considering condominium layouts with more space as they will allow for more comfort and practicability in the long run.
For those with an interest in outdoor activities, it might be worthwhile to consider condominiums with gyms, swimming pools, a mini-garden, or a rooftop sports area.
“Condominium buildings that are less dense contribute to better elevator efficiency, maintenance, and wear and tear of the building amenities,” she said.
“Moreover, look for condominiums with a friendly neighborhood as well as an accommodating administration. Well-maintained facilities are also a must since nobody wants to have a crowded elevator, poor water-pressure, and no emergency gen-set.”

Cosby back on trial for sex assault in #MeToo world

NORRISTOWN — Disgraced US megastar comedian Bill Cosby returns to trial Monday for alleged sexual assault, a tougher legal fight the second time around and the most high-profile criminal case so far in a #MeToo world.
The now frail and isolated 80-year-old could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of drugging and molesting former university employee Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004.
The pioneering black entertainer’s first trial ended in a hung jury on June 17, with a sequestered panel hopelessly deadlocked after six days of testimony and 52 hours of deliberations.
The case forever tarnished the legacy of an actor once adored by millions as “America’s Dad” for his seminal role as a lovable father and obstetrician on hit 1984-92 television series The Cosby Show.
In recent years, some 60 women have accused the Emmy winner, who today claims to be legally blind, of being a serial predator, alleging that he drugged and assaulted them over a span of 40 years.
Yet three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Constand, who now lives in Canada, are the only criminal charges to stick, with most of the alleged abuse having occurred too long ago to prosecute.
But the second trial is likely to be dramatically different from the first when opening statements begin at the courthouse in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown.
Judge Steven O’Neill has agreed to let five other Cosby accusers testify, compared to just one the last time, handing a major victory to prosecutors, who will seek to paint Cosby as a serial predator.
MICHAEL JACKSON’S LAWYER
“This is the most significant difference between the two trials and is a substantial problem for the defense,” said Melissa Gomez, a Philadelphia-based jury expert.
The most well-known of the five is 63-year-old model Janice Dickinson, who says Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1982.
“More accusers creates a consensus,” Gomez told AFP. “It is much easier to attack the credibility of one person than it is six.”
The defense team has also changed, now headed by Los Angeles celebrity import Tom Mesereau, with his distinctive mane of thick white hair, known for getting Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation.
Last time, Cosby did not testify and the defense spent just minutes presenting their case, arguing that there was no evidence to convict.
This time, O’Neill has warned the trial may last a month. He also handed a win to the defense in allowing testimony from a former co-worker who alleges that Constand schemed against Cosby.
Lawyers may also be able to make public the amount of money that Cosby paid Constand in a civil suit to settle her claim in 2006, which could strengthen efforts to portray her as a scheming money-grabber.
Mesereau’s hardball tactics have already been in evidence in a failed attempt to get the judge booted off the case for alleged bias because his wife works with sexual assault victims.
The defense has also moved to strike one juror from the trial for being allegedly overheard saying: “I just think he’s guilty, so we can all be done and get out of here.”
#METOO FOG
Permeating the entire case is the #MeToo movement, which erupted in October and has seen the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey shamed and stripped of their positions for alleged sexual misconduct.
Experts say the cultural watershed may make jurors more inclined to believe victims.
“It’s like a fog,” said William Brennan, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer who has followed the trial.
At the time of the alleged assault, Constand was the director of women’s basketball at Temple University, where the actor sat on the board of trustees. She will take the stand again second time around.
In a 2005 deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand an over-the-counter antihistamine to relieve stress and that they had consensual relations, but admitted obtaining sedatives with a view to having sex.
The case boils down to he-said, she-said. There is no physical evidence, and many still remember Cosby as a beloved entertainer.
Twelve jurors — five women and seven men, 10 white and two black — together with six alternates, are to be sequestered.
Cosby, who was lauded as a hero by African Americans and revered by whites for smashing through racial barriers, is best remembered for his role as Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show.
One of the most popular television series in history, it propelled the son of a maid and a US Navy cook into a life of fame and wealth. — AFP

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