A flattened car is extracted from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Roma Norte neighborhood in Mexico City on September 24, 2017.
Hopes of finding more survivors after Mexico City’s devastating quake dwindled to virtually nothing on Sunday, five days after the 7.1 tremor rocked the heart of the mega-city, toppling dozens of buildings and killing more than 300 people. — AFP
UNIWIDE Holdings, Inc. will be delisted from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Oct. 26, 2017, the bourse said, citing the outcome of an involuntary delisting proceeding on the Gow family’s real estate company.
In a memorandum dated Sept. 26, 2017, PSE President and Chief Executive Oficer Ramon S. Monzon said the decision on Uniwide was issued on Sept. 13, 2017 directing the delisting of the company’s shares from the exchange’s official registry and the imposition of penalties.
“The delisting of the Company’s shares shall take effect thirty (30) calendar days from date hereof or on Oct. 26, 2017,” he said.
The involuntary delisting proceeding arose from the continuing violations of Uniwide of disclosure rules, particulary the non-submission or delayed submission of the company’s structured reportorial requirements, the PSE said.
It also cited the dissolution and liquidation of Uniwide assets as ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 30, 2013.
With Uniwide’s delisting, it is prohibited from applying for relisting within a period of five years from the effective date of delisting. Its directors and executive officers are also disqualified from being elected as such in any company applying for listing within five years from delisting.
The PSE enumerated the reasons for delisting to include the non-filing or delayed filing of annual reports for the years 2013 to 2016, quarterly reports for the years 2014 to June 2017, reports on the number of shareholders, foreign ownersihp reports, public ownership reports, and list of top 100 stockholders. – Victor V. Saulon
MONEY supply growth quickened in August – at an annual 15.4% – after bank lending sustained its double-digit pace, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday.
Domestic liquidity or M3, the broadest measure of money in an economy, reached P10.1 trillion from the P8.73 trillion posted during the same month in 2016. The August pace was also faster than the 13.5% reading in July.
The BSP said in a statement that sustained demand for credit remained as the “principal driver” of money supply growth.
Separate data released also on Friday showed lending activity grew by 20.4% in August from a year ago, a tad faster than the 19.7% rise seen in July.
“Growth in bank loans has remained strong on account of lending to key production sectors such as real estate activities; electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; manufacturing; and information and communication, other community, social and personal activities; agriculture, forestry and fishing; and financial and insurance activities,” the BSP said in a statement.
M3 sums up net foreign assets and domestic claims, as well as long-term deposits.
Net foreign assets (NFA) – expressed in peso terms – saw a 6.4% increase year-on-year coming from a 2.7% uptick the previous month.
“Foreign exchange inflows coming mainly from overseas Filipinos’ remittances and business process outsourcing receipts continued to be the drivers behind the increase in the BSP’s NFA position,” the BSP said.
“Meanwhile, the NFA of banks expanded due to the growth in banks’ foreign assets resulting from higher loans and investments in marketable debt securities,” it added.
Domestic claims during the period rose by 16.9% from a year ago, faster than the 15.7% growth seen in July due largely to sustained growth in credit to the private sector.
The BSP said loans for production activities accounted for 88.5% of banks’ aggregate loan portfolio.
“The growth in production loans was driven primarily by increased lending to the following sectors: real estate activities (18%); electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply (23.7%); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (15.2%); manufacturing (13.1%); and information and communication (38.1%),” the BSP said, while noting that bank lending to other sectors also increased during the month.
Consumer loans swelled by 22.8% in August due to the “expansion in credit card loans as well as sustained growth in auto loans and salary-based general purpose loans,” offsetting the contraction in other types of household loans. – Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
A CONSIDERABLE percentage of Filipinos believe that drug suspects were still killed despite surrendering to police, results from the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The same survey also showed, however, that only 17% of respondents knew of anyone who had been summoned by the police but are not known to be drug pushers, as opposed to 83% who did not know anyone in the illegal trade.
Meanwhile, Malacañang on Friday issued its most emphatic statement yet on the phenomenon of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), emphasizing there is “no culture of impunity in the Philippines,” and that President Rodrigo R. Duterte “is also appalled by misdemeanors of police scalawags.”
RESISTANCE
SWS earlier this week released the results of its June 23-26 poll, showing half of respondents doubting police claim of resistance (“nanlaban”) by suspects, particularly respondents among the poor, many of whom have been targeted in the government’s drug war.
The latest results by SWS in its survey, also conducted June 23-26, showed 63% of respondents believe that drug suspects were still killed even after surrendering to police, with 75% in Metro Manila in agreement, followed by 63% in Mindanao, 62% in Balance Luzon, and 53% in the Visayas.
On the other hand, 20% nationwide disagreed with that view and 17% were undecided. The results in terms of geographical areas were close to those figures.
Yet when asked if respondents knew “anyone who had been summoned by the police for ‘Oplan Tokhang’ but are not really drug pushers,” only 17% said they did and 83% did “not know anyone.”
“The highest proportion of those who know someone who had been summoned for Oplan Tokhang despite not being a drug pusher was in Metro Manila at 22%, followed by Visayas at 18%, Balance Luzon at 16%, and Mindanao also at 16%,” SWS said in its report.
For his part, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella on Friday issued a statement saying “we need to clarify again that extrajudicial killings, or EJKs, are not State-sanctioned. There are no State-sponsored killings in the Philippines.”
‘HALF-EMPTY GLASS’
Mr. Abella’s latest remarks are on the heels of renewed international focus on the country’s drug war, public feedback going by the SWS surveys this week, and a resolution by Mr. Duterte’s own allies in the Senate condemning EJKs.
On Thursday, a joint statement issued by Iceland, on behalf of member-states of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) was the latest in the global community to flag anew the EJK phenomenon in the Philippines and its war on drugs on Mr. Duterte’s watch.
Mr. Abella in response said “it is unfortunate that the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), in their desire to join the discussions on the matter, would rather look at the glass half-empty rather than half-full.”
“Unfortunately, it still appears that some parties refuse to understand certain aspects of our human rights efforts,” he also said.
Mr. Abella added in the wake of the Senate resolution, “We thus welcome the Senate investigations and inquiries on erring police personnel as a manifestation of a freely functioning and democratic State mechanism.”
With regards to “misfits” in the Philippine National Police (PNP), Mr. Abella said, “These erring persons in uniform do not have a place in a State organization which is a human rights duty-bearer, with a primary role to protect the right to life, liberty, and property of the people by way of an effective anti-illegal drug campaign.”
He also noted, “The same police operations, heavily criticized by some quarters, saw the voluntary surrender of 1,308,078 drug users, the arrest of 107,156 drug personalities, the rescue of 578 minors, and the seizure of 2,465.65 kilos of shabu worth P12.7 billion, as of August 29, 2017.” – with Rosemarie A. Zamora
THE Philippine banking system should be stable over the next 12 to 18 months as banks are strong enough to accommodate “rapid” lending growth, Moody’s Investor Service said in a report on Friday even as it flagged the likelihood of higher defaults from retail loans.
“This reflects this system’s good asset performance, strong loss buffers and ample liquidity capacity, which will allow it to accommodate current rapid loan growth amid a robust economy,” the credit rater said in the Sept. 28 Banking System Outlook report.
“The banks’ asset performance will be supported by a strong economy, and the private sector’s benign leverage and debt servicing metrics,” explained Simon Chen, a Moody’s vice president and senior analyst.
The Philippines currently has a Baa2 rating under Moody’s, and the ratings agency’s stable banking outlook was anchored on its assumption that the economy will grow by 6.5% this year and by 6.8% in 2018, according to the report.
The government has officially set a 6.5-7.5% gross domestic product (GDP) growth target this year, and a 7-8% goal for 2018.
Moody’s said it expects credit metrics for Philippine lenders’ corporate customers will remain sound. However, it noted that non-performing loans could swell amid retail loans’ growing share in banks’ portfolio.
“Such loans tend to show higher delinquency rates when compared with corporate loans,” said Mr. Chen.
Due to rising credit growth, Moody’s said that capitalization will likely weaken in the next 12-18 months, noting insufficient internal capital generation and the adoption of Philippine Financial Reporting Standards 9 by 2018.
“Moody’s stress test results show that the banks’ loss absorbing capacity is strong. And, their strong and proven access to the external capital markets will also mitigate potential pressure on their capital levels,” it said, while noting ample liquidity given banks’ strong deposits base and little reliance on short-term funding.
In effect, most banks will comply “comfortably” with the Basel III liquidity coverage ratio framework, effective next year.
The ratings agency said that profitability would remain stable as banks’ net interest margins improve given the rebalancing of loan exposure in favor of higher yielding segments. However, that will be slightly offset by a gradual increase in credit and operating costs, Moody’s said.
Moody’s rates nine commercial banks here whose combined assets represent about 75% of total banking system. – Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
ALSONS Consolidated Resources, Inc. is investing P1 billion in a 15.1-megawatt (MW) run-of-river hydropower project, the company said on Friday, marking its move towards developing renewable energy.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the publicly listed holding firm of the Alcantaras placed the project cost at P3.7 billion. The facility will be located at the Siguil River basin in Maasim, Sarangani province.
The project is under subsidiary Alsons Renewable Energy Corp., the direct owner of project company Siguil Hydro Power Corp.
“Construction of the Siguil Hydro plant will commence shortly within this year upon completion of all necessary permitting and formalities,” it said.
It said the power plant is expected to begin commercial operations within the first half of 2020. It will provide power to Sarangani, General Santos City and municipalities of South Cotabato, it added.
Alsons also disclosed the approval of a performance undertaking to be issued to its long-time partner Toyota Tsusho Corp. in support of the sale to the Japanese government of half of the Siguil hydro project’s carbon credits.
“This was done under the auspices of the Japanese government’s Joint Credit Mechanism (JCM) for the reduction of world-wide carbon emissions. A JCM project is typically implemented by Japan and a host country through bilateral agreements,” it said.
Under the credit mechanism, in projects using advanced low-carbon technology – such as the Siguil project – the resulting greenhouse gas emission reductions may be credited to the project proponents of both participating countries. It allows the project to receive additional revenue through the sale of carbon credits.
Alsons said an international consortium agreement had been signed on Sept. 26, 2017 by it and its subsidiary Alsons Renewable, Toyota Tsusho and Siguil Hydro.
Toyota Tsusho is the company’s partner in Sarangani Energy Corp., which began construction of the second 105-MW section of its 210-MW coal-fired plant in Sarangani.
On Friday, shares in Alsons rose 0.71% to close at P1.41 each. – Victor V. Saulon
By Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
THE management of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-3 said it is readying a transition team, pending the decision of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) on the termination of the contract with current maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI).
”We are just waiting, we are preparing just in case the Secretary cancels the contract… We are coming up with a transition team for the MRT,” MRT-3 General Manager Rodolfo J. Garcia told reporters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony of the Common Station project.
DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez had filed a position paper and supplementary paper recommending that the DoTr terminate the contract with BURI due to failure to provide proper maintenance service to the train system, citing recurrent glitches in the system and unloading, and at times minor injuries, of passengers.
BURI has repeatedly denied the claims of Mr. Chavez, saying that the MRT’s malfunctioning is due to “design flaws.”
Government and private sector partners yesterday broke ground on the Common Station that will link four railway lines in Metro Manila.
The P2.8-billion Common Station project has been delayed for about eight years, with the long impasse between Ayala Corporation and SM Prime Holdings, Inc. regarding the location of the station.
The DoTr sees completion of the project in two to three years.
“In two and a half to three years, the Common Station [will be operational],” DoTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said in English and Filipino.
Mr. Tugade thanked the private sector partners for “setting aside interests” to work for “the common good.”
“Without our private sector partners, this would not have happened,” he said in his speech.
Light Rail Manila Corp. President Rogelio L. Singson called the project a “game-changer.”
The common station will link the Light Rail Transit (LRT)-1, MRT-3, MRT-7 (under construction), and the recently approved Metro Manila Subway.
It will cover approximately 13,700 square meters of concourse area and will be located between Ayala-owned Trinoma Mall and SM North EDSA. It is expected to serve around 478,000 rail passengers by 2020.
In January, the government and private companies involved in the project signed a memorandum of agreement after years of deadlock on the issue of the location of the Common Station.
This happened after a dispute that even reached the Supreme Court in 2014, when SM Prime sued the government for breach of contract and secured a Supreme Court (SC) stay order stopping the transfer of the Common Station’s site to Trinoma.
In 2009, the government and SM Prime entered into an agreement for the Common Station to be located at a junction near SM City North EDSA. In 2013, the then Department of Transportation and Communications, citing construction costs, decided to transfer the Common Station to a site in front of Trinoma.
THE Philippine government has tapped the Bank of China in its bid to get China’s approval of a plan to raise $200 million from the sale of yuan-denominated securities, or “panda bonds,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.
In a message to reporters sent on Friday, Mr. Dominguez said the Philippine government is currently working with the Beijing-based state-owned lender to gain approval from China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
“The Panda Bond market is regulated by China’s central bank, PBOC. As such, any potential issuer first applies through the PBOC prior to any Chinese regulator,” Mr. Dominguez said.
“As of the moment, we are working with the Bank of China on the internal and external approval by the PBOC,” he added.
However, the terms attached to the sale “have to be discussed further,” according to the Finance chief.
This comes as Philippine economic managers concluded a Sept. 27-29 non-deal roadshow for the offshore bond offering in Beijing and Shanghai.
Mr. Dominguez said earlier that the bonds could carry three- and five-year tenors and will be offered in the fourth quarter of this year “depending on market conditions.”
He also said that the government will “consider issuing Samurai bonds in the future,” but he did not elaborate.
Samurai bonds are debt papers denominated in Japanese Yen.
“Our plan of borrowing 80% from the domestic market & 20% in foreign currencies remains unchanged. We will therefore remain active in the foreign markets,” added Mr. Dominguez.
The government plans to borrow P727.64 billion this year, hiked from the P631.29 billion earlier programmed for 2017. – Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
THE railway systems unit of Hitachi Ltd., is interested in constructing the Metro Manila subway and Tutuban-Malolos railway projects.
“We are very much interested in the… Tutuban-Malolos railway, and the Metro Manila Subway,” Shinya Mitsudomi, Asia-Pacific managing director for Hitachi Ltd.’s Railway Systems unit told reporters in a media roundtable.
Mr. Mitsudomi said that the company sees “a lot of opportunities” in the Philippines, particularly with the Japanese government supporting infrastructure projects in the country.
“We [want to apply] our technology solutions to contribute to improving quality of life [in the Philippines], Mr. Mitsudomi said.
Both the Metro Manila Subway and the Tutuban-Malolos railway are projects funded through overseas development assistance (ODA) from Japan. Under the funding scheme, Japanese companies, or joint ventures involving Japanese companies, will be tapped for the projects.
“This could be a very big opportunity for us,” Mr. Mitsudomi added.
Mr. Mitsudomi said the company is in talks with “several local partners” to bid for the railway projects. “In every infrastructure business, we need to have the right local partner.”
Mr. Mitsudomi also said the company is interested in participating in the New Clark City development project.
By Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan, Reporter
THE peso rallied against the dollar on Friday on profit-taking typical of month-end trading, ignoring the upward revision to US gross domestic product reading.
The local currency closed at P50.815 to the dollar on Friday, 16 and a half centavos stronger than the P50.815 finish on Thursday.
The volume of the pair’s trading slid to $740.3 million from the $881.5 million recorded in the previous session.
Traders interviewed separately said that the market was still on a profit-taking stance.
“The correction to the rally continued, so we saw some downward pressure on dollar peso,” a trader said.
“We opened lower and actually peso traded heavy even into the close,” he added.
This is despite the US revising its second quarter gross domestic product to a final 3.1% from an initial 3%.
Land Bank of the Philippines market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said progress in lawmakers’ deliberation on the Philippines’ tax reform program helped.
“The peso appreciated today, despite the upward revision in second-quarter US GDP growth, due to profit taking amid some positive news about the Philippines’ tax reform,” he said in an email.
Another trader said that the market had already anticipated the revision so the dollar did not budge even as the greenback usually strengthens when key US data yield positive results.
“It’s not so different from the markets’ expectations. It is just one tick,” he said in a separate phone call.
“SORRY, Mr. President, but this Office shall not be intimidated.”
So went a statement by the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday, Sept. 29, in response to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s threat in a television interview that he will organize a “commission” to investigate “corruption in the Ombudsman.
“The President’s announcement that he intends to create a commission to investigate the Ombudsman appears to have to do with this Office’s on-going investigation into issues that involve him,” the statement said, adding:
“This Office, nonetheless, shall proceed with the probe, as mandated by the Constitution.”
“This Office, all the same, welcomes, as it has always welcomed, efforts to help it cleanse its ranks. Its Internal Affairs Board has, in fact, entrapped and removed Ombudsman officials and employees for various offenses.”
“As to the documents in its possession, the Office stands by its word.”
“If the President has nothing to hide, he has nothing to fear,” the statement finally said.
Mr. Duterte has time and again criticized Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, an appointee of former president Benigno S.C. Aquino, for what he described as her “partiality” and “selective justice” in the exercise of her functions.
In a taped and as-yet unaired television interview with journalist Erwin Tulfo, Mr. Duterte further stepped up his attacks, claiming corruption and bribery on the Ombudsman’s part in deciding cases against officials.
To be sure, the Ombudsman is also pursuing charges against Mr. Aquino in connection with the 2015 Mamasapano police operation. But Mr. Duterte has belittled this effort as being “designed to fail.”
CLARIFICATION
In a related development, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Friday issued a statement that sought to clarify it had not provided any documents to a pending complaint on hidden wealth against President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his family.
The statement came on the heels of remarks early this week by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang that the Office of the Ombudsman is investigating the complaint that Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV filed in 2016, at the close of the election campaign that year.
The AMLC in its statement said it had received a letter by Mr. Carandang “requesting it to initiate investigation on subject accounts (in Mr. Trillanes’s complaint).”
But the statement also said, “We have categorically stated before that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is not the source of the documents and information attached by Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV in his Complaint, regarding the alleged bank accounts of President Rodrigo Duterte.”
“It has neither provided the Office of the Ombudsman with any report as a consequence of any investigation of subject accounts for any purpose,” AMLC also said, adding:
“We have yet to evaluate the request, and the initiation of an investigation, as well as the release of any report on the subject(,) will depend on such evaluation.”
AMLC also noted that, in the attachment to Mr. Trillanes’s complaint, “the alleged debits and credits representing outflows and inflows of funds were added together, thus, the resulting total amounts are wrong and misleading.”
“Meanwhile, we cannot make further comments considering the confidential nature of the matter,” AMLC said.
Mr. Trillanes, in response to the AMLC’s statement, said also on Friday: “Instead of issuing unnecessary statements, the AMLC should just expedite its final report regarding Duterte’s questionable bank transactions as requested by the Ombudsman, so that the public would know the truth about the Duterte bank accounts.”
“Now, as to its content, the supposed AMLC statement is improper in its necessity for release and in its tenor, which sounded like the AMLC was defending and absolving Duterte,” the senator also said. – with Mario M. Banzon
NOMURA Global Research reiterated its view that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will keep policy rates unchanged until mid-2018 amid broad-based government reforms, but added that it no longer believes the BSP will cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) in the near term.
“On monetary policy, we maintain our view that BSP will keep its policy rates unchanged before hiking them in H2 2018,” according to a report by Nomura economist Euben Paracuelles.
The central bank has kept its monetary policy stance unchanged since a rate hike in September 2014, aside from procedural cuts introduced in June last year connected to the introduction of an interest rate corridor scheme designed to better siphon off excess liquidity and influence market rates.
Nomura said that it no longer sees a possible cut in the bank reserve requirement due to low inflation levels in its previous forecast.
“We no longer judge this to be the case, given the emphasis on tying these moves with longer-term financial sector reforms,” Mr. Paracuelles said.
The Nomura analyst cited the central bank’s deepening of the peso bond market, as well as the planned derivatives framework in repurchase markets.
Nomura said that the outlook for the Philippine economy remains positive given the government’s “better” execution of reforms and the rolling out of infrastructure projects, after analysts attended the government’s economic roadshow in Tokyo last week.
“The key messages in the briefing and panel discussions reinforce our long-held positive view on the growth outlook for the Philippines,” the report said.
“What also came across clearly to us was a comprehensive approach to deliver a broader reform agenda and a strong sense of coordination among policymakers,” he added.
Moreover, Nomura sees the two major market movers – the tax reform program and infrastructure projects – to be on track, “given the strong commitment of economic managers to see them through.”
It also noted that there is a “very strong” sense of priority and urgency on the implementation of infrastructure projects.
“The coordination between the various cabinet members – the economics team and implementing agencies alike – appears to be very solid, and this should augur well for more progress on implementation.”
The government plans to spend P8.4 trillion on infrastructure over the medium term equivalent to 7.1% of gross domestic product, from a 5.4% level set this year. Such a spending plan is intended to grow the economy at an annual 7-8% from 2018 to 2022.
“But beyond these catalysts, what also came across clearly to us was that the reforms look more broad-based than is likely appreciated by investors.”
Mr. Paracuelles was referring to reforms intended to cut red tape and corruption and to speed up business and government processes; significantly cuts to the foreign investment negative investment list, the one-year shelf life of appropriations in the Budget reform bill, as well as the trimming of bureaucracy through a government rightsizing program. – Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
