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Summer beauty

By Zsarlene B. Chua
Reporter
HOT SUMMER days loom which means it’s time to bust out the waterproof makeup and skin care products that can withstand the heat, the sweat, and everything life throws at you. So here are four products — two cosmetics and two skin care items — that may just do that for you.
L’OREAL VOLUMINOUS LASH PARADISE
Mid-March saw the launch of L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise, a mascara promising everything: volume, length, and staying power, all for drugstore pricing. Launched in the US the year prior, the mascara, with its “soft wavy bristle brush [holding] the maximum amount of formula,” got the attention of YouTube beauty gurus like Tati Westbrook who raved about Lash Paradise.
It then follows that with all the hype surrounding the product, its Philippine launch was much anticipated — this writer in particular, was very excited to try it out because if there’s anything I cannot leave out in my daily makeup routine, it’s mascara.
I have short and sparse lashes so a little mascara goes a long way in making me look awake — even when I don’t feel like I am — and ready. I had previously tried L’Oreal’s False Lash Miss Manga Mascara (P500), a volumizing mascara which claims to give you the eyes of a manga (Japanese comic) character, and I loved it because it really gave me longer and thicker lashes, but it does clump and felt a bit heavy on the lids.
For the same price, Lash Paradise is offering the same things (a “dramatic volumizing effect” according the company website) but with a promise that the product, once it goes on your lashes, will be feathery soft.
I tested the product over a two-week period in varying degrees of humidity and time of wear to see if it would really stay with me throughout the day and not move, smudge, and could maintain a curl. Once I wore the mascara for half a day and was impressed that it really was lightweight — it didn’t weigh down my lids and it wasn’t hard to remove — and it didn’t smudge. But during a full-day of wear (we’re talking more than 10 hours) under the hot sun, it did smudge a little on the lower corner of my eye, but aside from the mild annoyance, the product held up.
So is it worth the money? Yes. For P500, this is a really good waterproof mascara and is especially good if you have a long day ahead of you.
L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise is available in L’Oreal counters and at its online store.
WUNDERBROW
For the second weather-proof makeup product, we have the WunderBrow, a gel type eyebrow product from UK-based makeup brand, Wunder2.
Promising brows that can last for days and can be put on in two minutes, WunderBrow is perfect for people who believe “kilay is life.”
Launched in the Philippines on March 20, the product (SRP P1,600) comes in five shades — blonde, auburn, brunette, black/brown, and jet black. This writer tested it for about a week to see if it would really hold up and from the first swipe, I realized that this is a product that would give you a bold brow — there’s no in-between — which is perfect for people with sparse eyebrows but a bit hard to work with for people like me who just need a little color to fill some parts in.
The staying power is really impressive — it lasted a day and a half on me, though on the second day I saw a considerable amount of fading, although I would caution anybody against wearing makeup for an extended period of time as it may clog pores or irritate the skin.
For people who are used to using spoolie brushes to apply product, note that WunderBrow has a more traditional brush-type applicator which takes time to get used to.
The brand has a separate product called the D-Fine Brow Liner and Gel (SRP P1,600) which features both a pencil and a gel in a tube. This product I liked better because I can control the boldness of my brows using the pencil though the gel on the other end is determined to give me stronger brows, so use it sparingly.
While this is a good product, it might really not be for people who need very little brow product. I found myself reaching for my Detail Makeover Eyebrow Pencil with Brush (P119) most of the time — it’s far more affordable and does the job perfectly.
WunderBrow is available at BeautyMNL.com and Zalora.com.ph.
POND’S WHITE BEAUTY DAILY WHITENING SUN PROTECT FACE SUNSCREEN
The sun causes a lot of damage on the skin so putting on sunscreen should be part of everyone’s skin care routine. In the past, it was hard to find sunscreen that would go well under makeup, as many SPF-laden products are too thick and sticky.
But now there are a host of products that are formulated to be non-sticky and lightweight, and a lot of cosmetics and skin care products have SPF built in so there’s no longer any excuse not to wear sunscreen.
I recently discovered Pond’s White Beauty Daily Whitening Sun Protect Face Sunscreen (P299) during a Watsons event promoting sun care products. It is an SPF 50 PA+++ product that “helps protect skin from sun damage outside and whitens the skin from the inside,” according to its packaging.
What’s really good about this product is that it is affordable — though it only comes in a 30-gm product size (my Belo Tinted Sunscreen has 50 ml of product for P449.75, while my Holy Grail product, Biore UV Perfect Face Milk, 30 ml, is at P397). It’s also non-sticky and very lightweight.
This is a good product for those starting to introduce SPF into their skin care regimen or for those who just want to try out other options.
Pond’s White Beauty Daily Whitening Sun Protect Face Sunscreen is available in Watsons stores and other department stores nationwide. It can also be bought online via Lazada.com.
MEDIHEAL
Finally, after withstanding all the summer sun and humidity, the skin needs time to relax and repair itself and that’s where Mediheal comes in. The popular Korean mask pack was launched in the Philippines on March 20. Its complete line of mask packs are now available locally, from its best-selling N.M.F. Aquaring Ampoule Mask EX to the R:NA Proatin Mask so consumers can pick and choose which mask best serves their needs.
Currently available exclusively in Watsons (both physical stores and its online portal), Mediheal mask packs prices vary in price from P99 for the essential line — Collagen, Tea Tree Care, and Placenta — and P149 for their other masks including the N.M.F. Aquaring.
I have been using the N.M.F. Aquaring mask for more than a week now — I have gone through three mask packs — and my skin does feel very moisturized after using it but what I gravitated more towards was the N.M.F. Midnight Capping Pack — a sleeping mask that one puts on before sleeping and washes off upon waking up.
The 15-ml mask (which is also priced at P149) can be used two to three times and for me, that’s value-for-money and considerably more environment-friendly as I don’t have to throw it after I’ve used it once. I wake up with a soft-as-a-baby’s butt-face, and there’s nothing more I can ask for.
Beyond the launch of the full line, Mediheal is also offering a limited edition line done in collaboration with the Korean boy band, BTS. Four MedihealxBTS boxed sets (retailing for P1,250 for 10 masks) includes 14 photo cards of the band inside each box. Those who buy all the four sets will also get a limited edition box. The sets are available online on watsons.com.ph.

Debt yields consolidate

YIELDS on government securities moved sideways in the shortened trading week as the market remained in a “consolidating phase” at the close of the quarter.
Local debt yields increased by 1.75 basis points (bps) on the average week-on-week, data from the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) as of March 28 showed.
“Yields relatively have been on a consolidating phase. The only catalyst that we have so far is the finality of the actual awards that’s going to come up from the issuance [by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr)],” said Security Bank Corp. chief investment officer Noel S. Reyes.
Likewise, a bond trader said the previous week’s yield movement was “biased on the borrowing plans of the government.”
“[The] planned P325 billion bonds to be auctioned [pushed] yields higher,” the bond trader added.
Last week, the BTr announced that it wants to borrow P325 billion locally this quarter, higher than the P240 billion it offered in the first three months and the P180 billion the Treasury placed on the auction block in the same quarter last year as it now will be conducting two auctions per week, compared to once-a-week auctions held in the first quarter. It will auction off P130 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds) and P195 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills) in the April-June period.
According to Mr. Reyes, the government’s issuances will determine the movement of the bond market this week, but said market players might also take into consideration the central bank’s reluctance to hike interest rates.
“Bond market will continue to be in a range, but of course, definitely in the medium term, [it will be a bit] higher in terms of the trend because the market will try and price in the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) being behind the curve,” he said.
“They might price that in a little more… [A]ny significant reversal in yields will be taken as an opportunity to lighten positions.”
At the secondary market, yields on the three-year bonds increased 24.99 bps to fetch 4.6098%.
It was followed by the five-year bonds and the 364-day T-bills whose rates rose by 7.87 bps and 7.50 bps, respectively, fetching 5.2403% and 3.0750%.
The yield of the four-year T-bond climbed 5.07 bps to 5.0179% while that of the two- and 10-year bonds were up by 2.69 bps and 2.63 bps, respectively, to close at 4.1613% and 6%.
On the other hand, yields on the 91- and 182-day T-bills went down by 19.47 bps and 10.08 bps, respectively, ending with 3.0723% and 3.2063%.
The rate of the 20-year bond dipped 2.64 bps to 7.1625% while that of the seven-year tenor went down 1.11 bps to 6.7375%. — CAT

Bats give French winegrowers a helping hand in moth war

HUNGRY MOTHS are the bane of French wine growers’ lives due to their ferocious ability to feast on vines, but producers have discovered an unexpected ally in their fight against the insects: bats.
A study commissioned by the wine industry committee of Bordeaux, published Tuesday, found that bats were observed swooping to hunt more often towards vines where the bugs were present — meaning they could potentially be used as a natural pesticide.
A genetic analysis of the bat droppings showed they were indeed eating the moths rather than other insects.
“For the first time these results show in a formal way the capacity of bats to feed themselves on grapevine moths and cochylis moths,” the group said in a statement.
The study was carried out by France’s Animal Protection League and Bird Protection League, along with the consultancy Eliomys and the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
It observed bat activity over 23 plots of land in the winegrowing Gironde region of southwest France around Bordeaux between May and October 2017.
Yohann Charbonnier of the Bird Protection League said the conservation groups had been surprised to find as many of 19 of the 22 local bat breeds feasting on the grape-loving moths.
“We weren’t expecting so many species of bats to be frequenting the vines, which were not previously known for their biodiversity,” he told AFP.
He noted, however, that bats still appear to prefer hunting in more natural environments such as hedgerows.
The study could lead the way for vineyards to look at encouraging bats to hunt there, to allow winegrowers to reduce their pesticide use.
Currently, growers faced with an infestation have no choice but to spray their vines with chemicals.
But Charbonnier said another study would be needed to determine “whether the bats eat enough of the pests to allow reduced use of pesticides.” — AFP

MCWM builds road to improve access to landfill in Clark

By Victor V. Saulon,
Sub-Editor
METRO CLARK WASTE Management Corp. (MCWM) expects its profit to double from P200 million once the company has completed the construction of a private road leading to the integrated waste management facility that it operates within the area’s special economic zone.
“We have had very rapid progress in the last three years. Four years ago we made measly P10 million. This past year, we made probably P120 million. And this year, close to P200 [million],” said MCWM Chief Executive Officer Rufo B. Colayco.
“And once that road opens, it (profit) could double,” he said, referring to a private road that the company is about to build that connects to a separate road being built by state agency Bases Conversation and Development Authority (BCDA).
The private road will make access to the company’s landfill easier and faster — from the North Luzon Expressway to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway then to the Bamban exit that BCDA is building in Tarlac province.
“That will enable us to move garbage from a place like Quezon City or Caloocan [City] far more cheaply than those people who are now bringing that stuff to Montalban,” he said.
Mr. Colayco called the business, which is a partnership with German companies BN Ingenieure GmbH and Heers & Brockstedt Umwelttechnik GmbH, a “natural sequence” from his previous job. He is best known for being the man behind the first three Shangri-La hotels built in the country — Makati, EDSA and Mactan.
“In its core, the business really is the landfill which we built,” he said.
MCWM operates 80 kilometers away from Metro Manila. It currently serves around 90 municipalities and collects an average of 1,600 tons of municipal solid waste per day. The Clark Integrated Waste Management Facility, which is said to be patterned after European technology, earns from the fees paid by the local governments.
“It’s not just finding a piece of land and dumping garbage on it. You build a proper facility, with all the multi-layer and the treatment of the waste so that the water that’s finally disposed in the stream is clean,” Mr. Colayco said.
“It’s not rocket science but it is a worthy engineering. It has to be done properly. And that we do very seriously to the extent that we’ve acquired ISO certification,” he said.
MCWM currently has 200 workers and an annual payroll of about P50 million, he said. The company’s revenues last year reached almost P1 billion, he said, adding that this year the company will “certainly” hit P1 billion.
He differentiates the company’s approach in hauling garbage by building “transfer stations” in the cities where it has secured a contract, freeing waste collectors from the costly mode of bringing the garbage all the way to the Montalban landfill.
From the transfer stations, the garbage is loaded onto the company’s trailers, which are pulled by diesel-fueled tractor heads, similar to the trucks hauling waste to Montalban, but with better fuel efficiency because they travel via the expressways.
“But once that road is finished at the end of this year and if we succeed in getting a contract from a Quezon City or Caloocan, those people generate at least a thousand tons a day, and that will literally double our business overnight,” he said.

BSP to use regulatory and supervisory technology

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez
Senior Reporter
THE CENTRAL BANK is looking to roll out digital tools within the year to tighten its watch on the banking sector, an official said, having sought the help of a global network for the service.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said last week that they are eyeing to employ regulatory and supervisory technology (RegTech), which comes at a time of increased activity in the digital space.
Ms. Fonacier said the BSP has partnered with the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A), a global initiative that provides technical assistance for financial sector regulators to “develop and test the next generation of digital supervision tools and techniques.”
The R2A engages regulators to build capacities and employ new supervisory tools within a 20-month period. Apart from the BSP, the R2A is also providing aid to regulators in Mexico and Ghana in terms of using financial technology (fintech) solutions or enhanced oversight of their respective financial markets.
“Currently, the BSP is exploring two RegTech solutions for implementation within the year,” Ms. Fonacier said in an e-mail interview.
BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said last year that the central bank is testing two platforms that make use of artificial intelligence for the conduct of bank supervision, which include the collection of industry data by way of electronic submissions as well as chat bots to process consumer complaints.
Ms. Fonacier provided more details, noting that an Application Programming Interface (API) will allow financial service providers to connect directly with the BSP for data sharing. Meanwhile, chatbots will automate the handling of complaints from the public which are sent via text message and online platforms.
“By improving data quality and access and developing new tools for data visualization and analysis, R2A will help the BSP implement a risk-based supervisory approach that reduces compliance costs and promotes financial inclusion while ensuring financial stability and integrity,” according to the R2A project description on its Web site.
“Moreover, the BSP will be able to capture crisper insights on the Filipino financial sector that will be used to develop policies such as the financial inclusion strategy.”
The R2A is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Omidyar Network, Ms. Fonacier added.
The shift to fintech-based regulatory tools come as the BSP pushes for increased use of electronic payment platforms, as captured by the National Retail Payment System project which kicked off in 2015.
The central bank targets to lift the share of digital payments to 20% of total transactions by 2020, coming from a measly 1% recorded in 2013.
Reuters reported on Saturday that the BSP alerted local banks to be “extra careful” following a foiled cyber attack at the Bank Negara Malaysia, where hackers tried to steal money using fake wire transfer requests sent to the foreign central bank.
The scheme sought to mimic the attack on the Bangladesh central bank in 2016, where $81 million was stolen by still-unidentified hackers which were transferred to a Philippine bank and local casinos before they were pocketed by thieves.

Agriculture trade deficit widens in Q4

By Ranier Olson R. Reusora
Researcher
THE TRADE DEFICIT in agricultural commodities widened in the fourth quarter of 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
Data from the PSA released last Wednesday indicated outbound shipments of agricultural goods worth $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter, down 15.34% year on year.
Meanwhile, around $2.89 billion worth of farm products were shipped into the country during the period, up 2.72% from a year earlier.
As a result, the agriculture trade deficit was at $1.59 billion in the three months to December, up 24.37%.
Agriculture accounted for 9.74% or $4.194 billion of total trade, which was $43.043 billion in the fourth quarter.
The Philippines incurred its biggest agriculture deficit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at $838.33 million followed by the United States ($305.5 million), Australia ($99.92 million), and the European Union ($14.25 million).
On the other hand, trade in farm goods with Japan was in surplus by $129.54 million.
Animal or vegetable fats and oils were the top agricultural export at $340.07 million or 26.15% of the total goods shipped.
Other top farm goods exports include edible fruit and nuts ($330.33 million); fish and crustaceans ($126.04 million); preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans ($107 million); preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants ($93.84 million); and tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes ($83.53 million).
The country’s top import, meanwhile, were residues and waste from the food industries at $355.85 million, followed by miscellaneous edible preparations ($353.15 million); cereals ($348.48 million); animal or vegetable fats and oils ($323.51 million); and meat and edible meat offal ($255.66 million).
“The increase in imports might not have been enough to offset the decline in exports. Although, the rise in imports may indicate a growing domestic demand as intended imports may have been consumed domestically,” said Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines.
Nevertheless, trade in agricultural goods may improve this year: “I expect better [agriculture] exports with more external demand. At the same time, I expect [agriculture] imports to rise as well as domestic demand is anticipated to increase,” he said.

ABS-CBNmobile losses ‘contained’ in 2017

ABS-CBN Corp. said it has managed to contain the losses for its mobile business in 2017, while the multimedia giant holds discussions with Globe Telecom, Inc. on the future of ABS-CBNmobile.
“We contained the losses this year for ABS-CBNmobile. We are still in discussion with our partner. In the next few weeks, we’ll probably have some decision on mobile. But we are still in discussion with Globe in terms of the plan into the business,” ABS-CBN Chief Finance Officer Aldrin M. Cerrado told reporters after a company briefing in Taguig City on March 23.
ABS-CBNmobile is a mobile virtual network operator launched in 2013 in partnership with Globe Telecom. Mr. Cerrado said losses from the segment amounted to P560 million in 2017, around the same level it reported in 2016.
With the Globe deal set to expire in June this year, the two parties are currently discussing what to do with the business.
This year, the company is banking on the expansion of its digital terrestrial television (DTT) business, broadband services through Sky Broadband, direct-to-home (DTH) business, and international markets to drive its growth.
“The Sky Broadband business is really growing for us. And the third driver is direct to home, these are cable homes. Homes that can buy cable, but with the satellite offering… in less than two years, our DTH subscribers have grown to close to 400,000, so that’s a driver,” Mr. Cerrado said.
The ABS-CBN executive also said the international market is a potential growth driver for the company, given partnerships with streaming services such as iFlix.
“All our content that’s sitting in our library, now we are able to monetize them because there are   markets that are looking for content that they can actually use,” Mr. Cerrado said. — Arra B. Francia

Animals rights groups scent blood as fashion labels go fur-free

IS THIS the beginning of the end for fur?
With more and more fashion houses going fur-free, San Francisco banning fur sales in the city and British MPs considering outlawing all imports of pelts after Brexit, the signs do not seem good for the industry.
After decades of hard-hitting campaigning against fur, animal rights activists believe they scent victory.
Last month Donna Karan and DKNY became the latest in a flood of luxury brands to say they were planning to go fur free, following similar announcements by Gucci, Versace, Furla, Michael Kors, Armani, and Hugo Boss in recent months.
US-based animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which is famous for its spectacular anti-fur protests, declared that “2018 is the year that everyone is saying goodbye to fur.
“Times are changing and the end of fur farming is within reach!” it told its 687,000 Instagram followers.
The British-based Humane Society International said the tide turned when Gucci declared it was going fur-free in October. Another hammer blow came this month when Donatella Versace said that “I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Such influential brands turning their backs on cruel fur makes the few designers like Fendi and Burberry who are still peddling fur look increasingly out of touch and isolated,” said the society’s president Kitty Block.
Fendi’s Karl Lagerfeld shows little sign of second thoughts, however, and has said he will use real fur as long as “people eat meat and wear leather.”
‘LEATHER IS NEXT’
But PETA, which also campaigns for veganism, has warned the leather industry that is also in its sights, saying “You are next…”
And Professor Nathalie Ruelle, of the French Fashion Institute, told AFP that it was telling that the new fur-free brands “did not say anything about exotic leathers (such as crocodile, lizard, and snakeskin).”
Of the big designers, Stella McCartney, a vegetarian and animal rights activist herself, has pushed the ethical envelope the furthest, refusing to use fur, leather, or feathers.
But vegans want to go further still, with a ban on all animal products, which for some also means wool.
But the fur industry is not taking this lying down and has become much more vocal in its bid to counter animal rights groups’ social media campaigns.
The International Fur Federation (IFF) took Gucci to task when it went fur-free, asking if it “really wanted to choke the world with fake plastic fur…”
Philippe Beaulieu, of the French fur federation claimed fur-free was a marketing gimmick “trying to surf on emotion” to please millennials.
Fake fur, he said, was the real danger to the environment. “Brands who stop fur push synthetic fur which comes from plastic, a byproduct of the petrol industry, with all the pollution and harm to the planet that entails.”
FAKE FUR
In contrast, fur is natural and more and more durable and traceable, he said.
Arnaud Brunois, of the Faux Fur Institute, which he set up to counter the IFF, disputes this.
He insisted that “from an ecological point of view it was better to use a waste product from oil… than farm 150 million of animals then skin them and finally treat the pelts with chemicals.”
“It is part of the real fur industry’s marketing campaign to denigrate faux fur,” he added.
These days imitation can sometimes pass for the real thing as the British designer Clare Waight Keller proved in her fake fur-heavy Givenchy show at Paris fashion week earlier this month.
Luxury brand expert Serge Carreira at Sciences Po university in Paris said “fur was marginal for most of the fashion houses who have stopped using it.”
For instance, it only accounted for €10 million ($12.3 million) of Gucci’s six-billion turnover in 2017, or 0.16%.
While fur coats are now rarer on the streets of cities in the West, coats with fur collars — either fake or real, and sometimes a mixture of both, activists claim — are everywhere.
In China, however, the picture is very different.
Fur sales grew “phenomenally” there over the last decade, said IFF CEO Mark Oaten, and despite levelling off still dwarfs all those elsewhere combined.
The world’s biggest fur consumer is now also far by its it largest producer in a industry worth $30 billion globally in 2017. — AFP

Gov’t to tap panda bond market anew

THE GOVERNMENT will “most likely” tap the renminbi debt market as one of its regular financing sources after it saw robust demand at its maiden offer.
Asked whether the Duterte administration will regularly participate in the panda bond market, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said “most likely” in a mobile message to reporters last week, without elaborating.
On March 20, the government raised 1.46 billion renminbi, or about $230 million, in three-year debt papers, with bids reaching more than six times that brought the coupon to the low end of the 5.00-5.60% price guidance.
The proceeds of the government’s issuance will be converted into peso and will be deposited with the BSP, and will help fund the government’s infrastructure projects and other financing requirements.
The government plans to spend about P8 trillion in infrastructure until 2022, the end of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s six-year term, in a bid to grow the economy by 7-8% until then from the 6.7% logged in 2017 and the 6.3% average in 2010-2016.

Céleteque relaunches its anti-aging skincare line

IN TAKING control of yourself, you begin to control the world, so perhaps, in controlling the appearance of your skin, you can begin to control the ravages of time. Céleteque relaunched it’s anti-aging skincare line during a party in Pasig last month, during which guests were invited to get to know their skin a little bit more.
The line consists of five products. The first is the Anti-Wrinkle Collagen Gel (P779, 50ml) which contains hydrolyzed collagen that reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, as well as soya bean protein, that makes skin soft and supple. It is a light textured gel that can be used day and night, and during tests by the company it effectively minimized fine lines and wrinkles by up to 68% within the first two weeks of use, according to Céleteque Product Associate Grace Benedicto.
Meanwhile, the Advanced Anti-Aging Tightening Pore Serum (P849, 30ml) is a pre-makeup or night serum, with the triple action of niacinamide (Vitamin B3) that improves skin’s firmness and elasticity, alpha-lipoic acid that reduces oiliness for a more refined smoother-looking visage, and salicylic acid that removes dead skin cells that can clog and stretch pores further.
The Rejuvenating Night Cream (P899, 50ml) contains PhytoCellTec™ that is said to protect the longevity of skin stem cells to combat skin aging, and uses the company’s unique Aqua-Shuttle technology which is supposed to deeply penetrate skin to provide intense hydration overnight. This intense nourishing cream is also enriched with sodium hyaluronate and tocopheryl acetate (Vitamin E) that protect the skin from free radicals which prematurely age the skin — all these to give dull and dry skin a nightly makeover.
Aside from these creams, Céleteque has also developed other beauty products. The new Line Reducing Eye Mask (P105) is a night mask said to help reduce fine lines up to 89% in four weeks as it contains niacinamide that tightens the skin, D-Panthenol that rehydrates sensitive skin around the eyes and tocopherol acetate. The Rejuvenating Facial Mask (P165) can be a nightly treat that is said to reduce wrinkles up to 84% with continued use for four weeks as it contains Bio-Peptides — composed of amino acids, peptides, and vitamins that rejuvenate and brings back the skin’s glow — and sodium hyaluronate, a tried-and-tested moisturizing agent for the skin.
Speaking about the product’s efficacy, Ms. Benedicto noted that the problem with one-size-fits all solutions is that they could possibly dilute the ingredients. “To make our products more effective, each product will resolve a specific skin concern,” she said.
Meanwhile, a guest at the event, Dr. Heidi Chan, a dermatologist, said that after the age of 25, skin begins to sag and shows the signs of skin aging. While she advises certain lifestyle changes, such as getting more sleep, drinking a lot of water, reducing exposure to the sun, and eating food rich in Vitamin E and other antioxidants, really, it all boils down to, “When you have a positive outlook on life, it will show on your face.” — Joseph L. Garcia

Smart says it makes 1st Voice over Wi-Fi call

SMART Communications Inc. said it has made the first successful Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) call over its network, as it plans to introduce the service to its customers soon.
In a statement, the wireless unit of PLDT, Inc. said it has made the VoWiFi call with its technology partner Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
VoWiFi or Wi-Fi Calling is a feature where customers can make calls while connected to a Wi-Fi network using the native dialer of their Wi-Fi calling-capable mobile phone, without having to install any third-party application.
This allows customers to make voice and video calls wherever there is Wi-Fi connection. The feature, however, is not yet available commercially.
“With this breakthrough, we are leading the way to making more communication options available to our customers. We look forward to letting our customers make Wi-Fi calls on PLDT Home and Smart Wi-Fi soon,” Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT and Smart senior vice-president for Network Planning and Engineering said in a statement.
Last year, Smart made the a Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) mobile call, which uses LTE or 4G to transmit calls. With VoLTE, customers with VoLTE-capable devices can stay on the fourth generation (4G)/LTE network when making and receiving calls.
PLDT earlier this year partnered with Huawei Technologies to improve the group’s wireless services. The $28.5-million partnership is part of the continuing overhaul of PLDT’s fixed and wireless infrastructure, and information technology systems.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Bunge struggles to sell sugar trading operation

LONDON — Bunge is struggling to sell its sugar trading operations, according to two sources familiar with the matter, frustrating the 200-year-old agricultural merchant’s strategy of slimming down to focus on core areas and improve profitability.
German sugar refiner Nordzucker and Singapore-based agribusiness firm Wilmar International were among parties that had been initially interested, but nothing has materialized, according to the sources.
Sale difficulties risk complicating Bunge’s plan, announced by CEO Soren Schroder in February, to exit global sugar trading and distribution to concentrate on its core grain and oilseed operations. It said at the time it had identified “a few interested parties” in the sugar division.
US firm Bunge, which itself has been a reported takeover target from rivals Archer Daniels Midland and Glencore over the past year, declined to comment.
Wilmar said it had not held talks with Bunge over the sugar trading business, but declined to comment when asked if it had considered acquiring the unit. Nordzucker declined to comment.
Bunge’s move to exit sugar trading followed a $69 million group loss in the fourth quarter, which compared with a profit of $262 million a year earlier, the latest in a series of poor results.
The lack of strong buyer interest in the sugar unit also illustrates the wider malaise facing the industry, where a supply glut has driven down prices, squeezing Bunge and its global competitors. Louis Dreyfus Co is restructuring its sugar subsidiary in Brazil, for example, while German sugar group Suedzucker issued a profit warning this week.
The two sources, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private, said Bunge targeted a value for the unit, excluding debt, of around $75 million, which suitors deemed too high for what was on offer. One said if Bunge could not find a buyer, it would have to wind down the operation.
The lack of appetite for sugar assets and tough market conditions could also complicate separate plans by Bunge to divest its larger Brazilian sugar-milling business via a flotation, according to the same source. The business is expected to be valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion.
“The IPO of the sugar mills also seems unlikely as in this market environment, it would be difficult to find investors ready to support it,” said the source. “Bunge had been trying to sell the mills and the trading unit at the same time, but the price expectations were a stumbling block.”
Narrowing margins for sugar and other food commodities like grains in recent years have squeezed the finances of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus — dubbed the “ABCDs” of the agricultural world because of their initials.
They have responded to the tough sugar market conditions in different ways.
Bunge has sought the exits. Its sugar and bioenergy divisions, which have been bundled together in financial results, posted a loss of $8 million in the fourth quarter versus a profit of $30 million a year before.
“We’ve been struggling over the last year to generate enough gross margin to cover our cost,” Schroder said last month. “We simply decided that it was time to really focus on what’s core to us, which is agribusiness, foods, grains and oilseeds and get on with it in a good way.”
Morningstar Equity Research analysts said Bunge’s expansion in sugar over the past decade, including the acquisition of five Brazilian sugar mills in 2010, had been ill-advised. “Bunge’s sugar business has suffered chronically,” it said in a report last month. “This has been a disappointing endeavor.”
ADM took a similar path, but did so earlier; it wound down its global sugar trading unit in 2015.
Cargill, meanwhile, has looked to scale. It teamed up with Brazilian player Copersucar in 2014 to form joint venture Alvean, the world’s largest sugar trader.
Louis Dreyfus has been restructuring its Brazilian sugar subsidiary Biosev after years of losses and faces the prospect of investing $1 billion in a capital increase at the unit. Reporting 2017 results last week, Dreyfus said its overall sugar business had experienced a “difficult” year.
All of the companies have also been investing in higher-margin businesses, such as food ingredients, to make up for the slump in trading and processing operations.
One of the two sources, plus a third source, said any sale of Bunge itself could be also be affected by the sugar business, which is considered non-core to potential buyers.
Bunge has been the center of takeover rumors for almost a year, with the reports of approaches from ADM and Glencore.
A fourth source close to Glencore said the group was not interested in Bunge’s sugar interests.
“The fertilizer and sugar divisions will continue to be a drag on earnings and valuations remain expensive. Moreover, structural changes to the grain-trading sector in the form of new entrants will constrain long-term earnings,” Cole Martin, commodities analyst with BMI Research, said in a report.
“The acute outlook for the sector is, indeed, so weak that horizontal M&A activity (for Bunge) is being actively discussed.” — Reuters

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