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Solar Philippines starts building solar battery micro-grid

SOLAR PHILIPPINES Power Project Holdings, Inc. has started constructing a 4-megawatt (MW) solar-battery farm in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro province, which the company hopes to make a model for remote towns in the country.

Leandro L. Leviste, president of Solar Philippines, claims the project is set to become the world’s largest island solar-battery micro-grid that can provide power to up to 20,000 Filipinos “at zero cost to the government, and at lower cost to consumers.”

“While traditional businesses prefer to focus on larger markets like Metro Manila, we are hopeful that investing in rural areas will help uplift Filipinos from poverty, and eventually create an even larger market among the new middle class,” he said in a statement during the weekend.

He said the project in “a town so remote it had been deemed unviable by even the electric coop” would save P20 billion a year in diesel subsidies.

The Paluan project follows Solar Philippines’ launch in August of its 800-MW factory in Batangas, the first Filipino solar panel factory.

Ahead of the inauguration, the company said it had submitted proposals to electric utilities to replace coal power plants with 5,000 MW of solar farms.

Last month, Mr. Leviste disclosed an offer to supply solar power for as low as P2.99 per kilowatt-hour, the lowest rate so far of any new power plant in the country.

If accepted, the company estimates this will save over P200 billion a year, lowering electricity rates by 30%, and saving an average of P1,000 per family per month.

“We measure our success not based on profit, but our contribution to our nation’s development. We aspire not to be the biggest company, but the one that makes the biggest impact for Filipinos, and hope the entire power industry can unite to support President Duterte’s vision for cheaper, reliable electricity to make the Philippines a first-world nation,” Mr. Leviste said.

Solar Philippines said it “is discussions with various communities” to bring to bring its model “solar cooperatives” nationwide and integrate irrigation and other initiatives to create employment in rural areas.

“Around 10% of Filipinos lack access to electricity. As many as 30% of Filipinos live in areas either without electricity or with daily brownouts (scheduled and unscheduled), and around 70% of Filipinos live in areas covered by electric coops, for most of which brownouts are at least a weekly occurrence,” the company said. — Victor V. Saulon

Moon, Trump vow stronger pressure against N. Korea

SEOUL — US President Donald J. Trump and his South Korean counterpart have pledged “stronger pressure” on Pyongyang, Seoul said Sunday, after North Korea defied tough new sanctions with a missile test and said it wanted to match American nuclear strength.

The international community is scrambling to contain an increasingly belligerent North Korea, which in recent weeks has prompted global alarm by conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test and firing long-range missiles over Japan that it says could reach the US mainland.

In a phone conversation Sunday, South Korean President Moon Jae-In and Mr. Trump “gravely condemned” the latest missile test on Friday, which came just days after United Nations Security Council announced a raft of new sanctions against Pyongyang.

“The two leaders agreed on more practical and stronger pressure… to make the North Korean regime realize that further provocation will only bring stronger diplomatic isolation and economic pressure leading to a path of collapse,” the South’s presidential office said in a statement.

Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from “hostile” US forces and is determined to build a weapons system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to hit the US mainland.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who oversaw the latest missile test, has said the launch increased the “combat power of the nuclear force,” according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

He said the launch was part of the country’s plan to achieve “equilibrium of real force” with the US.

Experts believe Pyongyang’s weapons program has made rapid progress under leader Kim Jong-Un, with previous sanctions having done little to deter it.

The UN Security Council, which has condemned Friday’s launch as “highly provocative,” will hold a new ministerial-level meeting Thursday on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, focused on enforcing sanctions on Mr. Kim’s regime, diplomats said.

The meeting will be held during the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders at the UN where Mr. Trump will meet with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on the sidelines to address the crisis. — AFP

Have you finished the report?

It’s not just assignments in school that need to be submitted on time, usually before the end of the semester, for the grades. After graduation, there are even more reports that need to be completed on status of a project, accomplishments, financial results, and even minutes of a meeting.

These are expected to be handed in by a certain “deadline.” This word arises from prison usage. It is the line which when crossed indicates that a prisoner intends to escape and thus can be shot dead by the guards. Getting past the deadline invites dire consequences.

Deadlines have been instilled in us from childhood. So, book reports, term papers, theses, and group projects need to be submitted by a certain day up to just before midnight, if e-mailed. Even exams should be finished by a certain time when the paper has to be passed when the bell rings.

Deadline dodging, honed also from childhood has promoted cleverness in coming up with excuses — the dog ate my homework just as I was working on the last paragraph. In the digital age, it is probably the cat to be blame for deleting your file, and running away with your USB. Ok, there’s the cloud to contend with here.

Can a deadline be dodged? Here are some excuses to elude a shot from the prison tower.

There are some new developments. This approach dispenses with deadlines altogether due to uncontrollable factors. Three days before the submission date, some unexpected development (bird flu or nuclear testing in North Korea) is reported to the boss. The new crisis forces the assignee to revise everything. Additional inputs are needed to update the report and make it relevant.

We need to call in more witnesses. This political excuse is merely announced. While full TV coverage of legislative hearings communicate urgency and melodrama on whatever is being investigated, the ensuing report after all this may just transcripts of the whole proceeding (and then you put on your clothes?). Is there even a report expected afterwards? Witnesses recant their earlier bombshells. They go under protective custody. Media and the public get tired of the circus, until a new scandal breaks out.

More details are needed. With the exchange of e-mails and the scheduling of further meetings to clarify or add to the “deliverables” being asked, the deadline becomes a distant blur. (Are you including the cash in the envelopes in the drawers?) The degree of detail and the timelines needed (do we go back five years?) can make the original deadline seem unreasonable.

There’s a change in the procedures. An automation study which is never finished (we are now on parallel run) is a good excuse for pushing back the deadline. We need a new audit trail. Completion of the project is in a never-ending flux, like a road project with stencilled original deadlines stripped away in the dead of night.

Still, the deadline dodger must accept that there are dates that are mercilessly immovable. These include mandated deadlines from regulatory bodies, yearend reports, and fraud investigations covered by media. Ready or not, one needs to pass his paper.

Some bosses believe that missing deadlines is a major character flaw that needs to undergo ethnic cleansing or regime change. These sticklers for rules cannot be reasoned with. If the dog ate your homework, open its entrails and pull out the table of contents.

Anyway, even government sometimes lets the deadlines slide — we’re waiting for more qualified bidders for this project. Expressing exasperation over delays only isolates a bidder as a whiner who doesn’t accept how business is done.

Meeting deadlines too consistently attracts the enmity of procrastinators who easily outnumber the deadline conformists. The prompt and punctual are viewed with contempt as paper-shufflers, and dismissed as having nothing more important to do than submit reports nobody reads — doesn’t he have clients? Sometimes, meeting deadlines can be hazardous to one’s career, especially if the report that is released has some inconvenient conclusions — why didn’t your clear this with me before submitting it to the board?

Those who miss deadlines habitually are notorious blame-passers — I would have finished the report but HR did not give me the statistics on churn. Unfortunately, a cunning talent for avoiding blame (which goes with grabbing undeserved credit) can even push the procrastinator to the top… when he requires reports of others to be submitted on time.

A. R. Samson is chair and CEO of Touch DDB.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Yields on gov’t debt flat

By Mark T. Amoguis,
Researcher

YIELDS on government securities (GS) ended flat last week amid tensions caused by North Korea as well as upbeat inflation data from the United States.

Bond yields, which move opposite to prices, decreased by 0.81 basis point (bp) on average week-on-week, data from the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. as of Sept. 15 showed.

“GS yields dipped slightly [last] week, driven by strong demand for the 3-month and 6-month tenors on Wednesday when there was a T-bill (Treasury bill) maturity,” Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan, market economist at Land Bank of the Philippines, said in an e-mail interview over the weekend.

“While short-term yields fell, long-term yields generally increased amid easing concerns over North Korea as well as developments about the US tax reform. Upbeat US reports on consumer and producer price inflation also pushed long-term yields higher, offsetting the drop in short term interest rates,” he added.

A bond trader interviewed separately noted that for the last week, “yields moved mixed, tracking the move of [US] Treasuries anew for most of the review period. Market was preoccupied with North Korea threats and important data reports from the US.”

Tensions continued to rise in the region after the North Korea fired a missile over Japan late last week, the second testing for this month, despite heavy sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) earlier last week.

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim Jong Un’s leadership as it accelerates a weapons program designed to give it the ability to target the US with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile.

Reuters reported last Friday that following the latest missile launch, White House National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster said the US was fast running out of patience with North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.

The UN Security Council late last week also condemned the “highly provocative” missile launch by North Korea.

Meanwhile, US consumer prices accelerated in August amid a jump in the cost of gasoline and rents, signs of firming inflation that could allow further monetary policy tightening from the Federal Reserve this year, as planned.

The US Labor Department said on Thursday its Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% last month after edging up 0.1% in July. August’s gain as the largest in seven months and lifted the year-on-year increase in the CPI to 1.9% from 1.7% in July.

At the secondary market last Friday, yields rose slightly higher across the board except for the 182-day T-bill’s rate, which dropped by 43.55 bps to 2.5116%.

The yield on five-year Treasury bond (T-bond) rose the most, climbing by 8.22 bps to close at 4.5643%. It was followed by seven-, four-, two-, and three-year T-bonds, whose rates went up by 6.78 bps, 4.37 bps, 3.82 bps, and 3.09 bps, respectively, to 4.3449%, 3.7542%, 3.8786%, and 3.6316%.

Similarly, the yields on 20- and 10-year notes increased by 3.05 bps and 2.52 bps, respectively, to 5.1135% and 4.5631%.

Likewise, 91- and 364-day T-bills gained 2.39 bps and 1.24 bps to yield 2.9139% and 2.8978%.

Sought for their outlook for this week, the analysts said the market will watch out for statements coming out of the policy-setting meetings of the US Federal Reserve and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“GS yields might increase [this] week due to likely hawkish remarks from the US Federal Reserve and the BSP,” said Mr. Dumalagan.

The bond trader agreed, adding that market participants will also look to the Bureau of the Treasury’s auction of P15 billion worth of reissued 10-year notes — with remaining life of nine years and seven months — for direction this week. — with Reuters

London Fashion Week opens with boost from big brands

LONDON — London Fashion Week opened on Friday with the arrival of two heavyweights on the catwalk, Emporio Armani and Tommy Hilfiger, to challenge rival cities on the global style circuit.

“London — dynamic, energetic and cosmopolitan — represents global culture,” designer Giorgio Armani said in a statement, describing the British capital as the “perfect setting” to unveil his new collection.

Armani’s Sunday evening slot was a highlight of the 66th London Fashion Week, showcasing a ready-to-wear women’s collection for spring/summer 2018.

The giant of Italian fashion, more used to the catwalks of Milan, will also take the opportunity to open Emporio Armani’s revamped store in the upmarket Mayfair area of central London.

Tommy Hilfiger will close Fashion Week on Tuesday evening, with a show hosted by the Roundhouse arts venue, known for concerts by stars including Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and David Bowie.

“London’s inspiring heritage of fashion and music creates the perfect place to celebrate our next show,” the New York designer told the Web site Women’s Wear Daily.

BREXIT PLANS
Armani and Tommy Hilfiger will go some way to boosting the status of London Fashion Week, known for a vibrant community of young designers but apart from Burberry often lacking big names.

“We are extremely proud when international brands choose to show in London,” said Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council which organizes the event.

“The international brands showing here is a proof that our city is an international cultural and creative hub and that it has an important role to play in the global fashion business arena,” she added, in a written note to AFP.

Their inclusion this year is especially welcome given the uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union, bringing with it fears of a flight of capital and talent.

While womenswear seems untouched so far by Brexit — sales role by 1.3% to £27.25 billion in 2016 — Rush said there is no room for complacency.

“We are in constant conversation with the government and with the other creative industries when it comes to the Brexit negotiations,” she said.

Rush also has plans to launch a “industrial strategy for fashion” to support the trade in the UK, which employs 880,000 people.

AMAZON FASHION
Coming hot off the heels of New York Fashion Week, London will host 85 catwalk shows across the capital. There will be 5,000 guests, among them journalists, buyers and fashionistas all looking at one another.

Saturday saw shows by British prodigies Gareth Pugh and J.W. Anderson, followed by the hot ticket Burberry at the end of the day.

It was the first collection by the quintessentially British brand since the arrival of new president Marco Gobbetti, former chairman of French luxury brand Celine.

Gobbetti has been tasked with reviving Burberry which has suffered from stagnation.

New York brand Nicopanda was to unveil a six-piece streetwear collection on Saturday, created for Amazon Fashion, a new initiative for the online marketplace which will see the clothes go on sale at the end of the show.

In addition to Armani, Sunday will see shows by Topshop, Versus Versace — the Italian company’s second brand — as well as contemporary line MM6 from Parisian label Maison Martin Margiela. — AFP

Mining application permit process to be streamlined

THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said it plans to reduce the documentary requirements for applicants seeking various mining permits.

“Following the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to all government agencies to reduce the number of requirements in applying for permits, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has proposed to rationalize the requirements for the different types of mining applications,” the agency said in a statement over the weekend.

The streamlining will cover applications for exploration permits (EP), mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA), Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF) reports, mineral processing permits (MPP), industrial sand and gravel permits (ISGP), operating agreements (OA), and deeds of assignment (DoA) for MPSAs.

From 19 and 10 documentary requirements for new and renewal of EPs, respectively, the requirements will be reduced to 15 and eight, respectively.

For renewal of MPSA, 16 documentary requirements will be lessened to six.

The 16 and nine documentary requirements for DMPFs for integrated MPSAs and EPs, respectively, the final requirement before an operation can start, will be cut to 15 and eight, respectively.

For renewal of MPPs, the 13 required documents will be reduced to 10.

For new and renewal of ISGPs, the 20 and 13 documentary requirements, respectively, will be cut to 16 and four, respectively.

Meanwhile, the seven documents required will be reduced to five for OAs; while the 13 documents required for DoAs will be cut to 10.

The streamlining proposal is being reviewed by MGB regional offices prior to publication. — Janina C. Lim

Security stepped up as Siargao hosts two surfing events

THE CARAGA Region and Surigao del Norte provincial police, in tandem with the Philippine Army 30th Infantry Battalion, have stepped up security deployment in Siargao as the island province hosts back-to-back national and international surfing tournaments in Cloud 9, General Luna. The 19th Siargao National Surfing Cup, sanctioned by the Philippine Surfing Championship Tour, is being held from Sept. 16 to 21, to be followed by the World Surf League’s 23rd International Surfing Cup on Sept. 23 to 30. — interaksyon.com

See the full story.

NBA to rule on DNP-Rest

In a meeting at the end of the month, the National Basketball Association Board of Governors is expected to approve a measure restricting the capacity of franchises to: 1) make healthy scratches on the road; 2) rest more than one vital cog able to suit up on any given contest; and 3) sit out stars on nationally broadcast matches. Needless to say, the league’s competition committee made the recommendation in an effort to address stakeholders’ mounting criticism against the practice of sidelining marquee names even though they’re fit to play.

Under the circumstances, it’s fair to argue whether the NBA would have done anything had the issue not been magnified by the absence of top draws in prominent set-tos shown on prime time. No doubt, the stink raised by network partners who literally paid billions to showcase the best of the best of the league spurred the Commissioner’s Office to action. Even so, head honcho Adam Silver initially urged owners to police themselves, only to be prodded by a significant faction to take the lead in the matter.

The result is one that hopefully minimizes, if not altogether eradicates, the exercise. To be sure, no one policy can prevent crafty executives from declaring a certain star to be injured enough — say, by an ankle sprain incurred during a scrimmage — to have to sit, with the net effect being the same as a DNP-REST (or, as progressive head coach agree Popovich once reported of top dog Tim Duncan, DNP-OLD). Which is why Silver wisely fixed the schedule as well; in increasing the number of rest days between, and decreasing the flight times to and from, games, he went for the root of the problem.

Time will tell whether the Board’s likely okay of the ruling will bring about its desired outcome. Certainly, the grant to Silver of the power to discipline erring franchises should give them pause. At the same time, the bet is that he will carry a big stick but not wield it unless absolutely necessary. His thinking, and rightly so: It’s best to deter and not to discipline.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

Uber looking to revive motorcycle service

UBER Technologies, Inc. is considering reviving its motorcycle service in Southeast Asia, where traffic jams are a common occurrence in major cities.

Using Indonesia as an example, Uber General Manager for Southeast Asia Chan Park said most commuters prefer motorcycles as a mode of public transport, which they plan to integrate in their services soon.

“We have not only thought of launching motorbikes, but we absolutely have to think about how traffic is such a big thing (in Southeast Asia). Your usual pick-up locations are usually in malls and offices so (we have to understand) what does that mean for your pick-up experience,” Mr. Park said in a presentation at the recent 2017 CEO Conference at Makati Shangri-La hotel.

Early last year, Uber launched UberMoto in Bangkok but this was suspended after three months along with Grab’s similar service, due to competition with other motorcycle taxi companies. GrabBike, however, still operates in some parts of Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) had also rejected Uber’s plan to launch UberMoto in Cebu last May, and suspended operations of GrabBike.

Meanwhile, Uber is looking to replicate in Asia the subsidized commuter program it launched in Summit, New Jersey.

Under the program, Uber offered cheap rides to and from the Summit station for commuters who opt not to use their parking passes. The program, which was subsidized by the town’s government, was aimed at reducing congestion at the station’s parking lots.

“It’s like every partnership we have to find what they are trying to achieve and what they care about and what we care about. We will talk to some senators […] for the government and Uber to work together and the subsidization is only one part of it,” Mr. Park said.

Uber said the town saved $15 million to be used in building parking lots, in exchange for $167,000 allocated for subsidized Uber rides for commuters. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 15, 2017

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, September 15, 2017.

What were the best-paid jobs of 2016?

Stocks to test fresh highs after last week’s record

POLITICAL ISSUES here and abroad are set to take center stage this week as the country observes the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law at a time when tension in the region remains high after North Korea’s missile test.

Last week, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed Friday’s session at a new high of 8,180.85, up 35.94 points or 0.44% from Thursday’s record close of 8,144.91.

“Notably, the PSEi bottomed out at our indicated support of 8,105 before rallying all the way to the top,” said RCBC Securities, Inc.

The all-shares index also finished higher at 4,836.33, up by 20.42 points or 0.42%. Five of the six sectoral counters closed higher, led by the property sector’s 1.29% gain. Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.18 billion with 1.18 billion shares traded.

Since the start of the year, the PSEi has gained 19.6%, the bourse said.

In the coming days, analysts said investors will continue to focus on geopolitical issues, with the PSEi also likely to retest new highs following last week’s records.

“Attention would gyrate between geopolitical headlines in the region … as well as trail from local headlines on the possibility of Martial Law,” said the research team of 2TradeAsia.com, the online arm of F. Yap Securities, Inc.

Focus would be on the next move of the 15-member United Nations Security Council, which on Monday last week passed a resolution unanimously approving sanctions aimed at responding to North Korea’s latest missile and nuclear test.

This came after Kim Jong Un’s regime tested what is believed to be its most powerful nuclear bomb yet.

The resolution is seeking to slash imports of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year, ban textile exports and tighten inspections of ships that are believed to be loaded with cargo in breach of sanctions.

In the Philippines, various groups have urged Filipinos to participate in various protests on Sept. 21, a move that has drawn the Palace to say that it might consider declaring martial law in the whole country if street movements become fiery.

“Having breached as much as 8,180 however, local equities could re-test trouncing 8,300 with strong support pegged at 8,000,” said 2TradeAsia.com.

It said the “macro driver is still on the Philippine’s growth story.”

“Immediate support is 8,100, resistance 8,200-8,270,” it said.

2TradeAsia.com said domestic liquidity indicators remain upbeat, as the Treasury bureau’s latest Treasury bill auction was 3.5 times oversubscribed.

It said the extra boost in the local capital market would come from completion of Energy Development Corp.’s tender offer, the block sale in Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and the sale of International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s treasury shares.

“All these coincide with the end of the ‘ghost month’ period, which should improve investors’ appetite to accumulate,” it said. — Victor V. Saulon

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