Marbury opts for final season with Beijing Fly Dragons
NEW YORK — Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury said Wednesday he is headed back to Beijing for one final pro season, but will not be playing for the same Chinese Basketball Association squad.
Morality and good in The Game of Thrones
Trade Tripper
Jemy Gatdula
Jemy: It is best that virtue permeates public life, particularly in government, as seemingly private acts can — if done habitually and by a significant number of the population — have an effect in the conduct of government.
Solar Philippines eyes supply contracts with Taiwanese, Chinese companies
By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
SOLAR PHILIPPINES Power Project Holdings, Inc. is planning to expand overseas with contracts to deliver solar panels to Taiwanese and Chinese companies, its president said.
In a statement on Thursday, Solar Philippines President Leandro L. Leviste, said “around half of our planned projects for 2018 will be outside the Philippines, in countries where utilities and regulators may be more progressive about solar power, showing that the Philippines truly needs to synchronize with the world in terms of embracing solar over coal.”
On Wednesday night, he told reporters the company’s factory at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Sto. Tomas, Batangas has a capacity to produce solar panels to supply 200 megawatts (MW).
He said the plan is to ramp up production to reach a capacity of 800-MW within the year.
“Eventually we’re gonna build many, many more factories for local and for foreign [customers] because the Philippines is competitive,” he said, citing labor as the largest component in the modular assembly.
“Filipinos are not just competitive in cost but also very productive compared to other Southeast Asians,” he added.
Mr. Leviste said the company is expected to complete what he called the first large-scale solar battery projects in Asia in the coming months.
The Solar Philippines executive also noted the company is scheduled to inaugurate solar rooftops and microgrids within the year, which would show how consumers can save around 30% on electricity at zero cost.
Earlier this month, Mr. Leviste offered to replace all planned coal-fired power plants with solar farms equipped with battery storage in a move that it expects to significantly cut electricity rates.
His 5,000 megawatt (MW) solar plan includes details on the target sites of the solar farms, integration of batteries for grid reliability, and the cost of batteries and panels from Solar Philippines’ factory in Batangas, which is now operating.
Mr. Leviste said his company had submitted to the country’s electric utilities a plan to reduce power rates by 30% through his proposed solar-for-coal swap.
Solar Philippines is awaiting approval of a power supply agreement with a distribution utility for P5.39 per kWh. This compares with the current rate of P8.17 per kWh in Metro Manila from a mix of generation sources.
On Thursday, Mr. Leviste said the company would pursue the replacement plan “with or without the utilities, via the RCOA (retail competition and open access) and behind-the-meter markets, and for which increasing public awareness is essential to give consumers the power to choose electricity 30% cheaper than the status quo.”
UCPB to deactivate non-EMV cards by next month
THE United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) is set to deactivate cards that are not yet microchip-enabled by next month pursuant to central bank regulations on migrating to the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) technology.
In a statement e-mailed to reporters on Thursday, the bank said its automated teller machine (ATM) cardholders have only before Aug. 1 to secure and upgrade their cards to the UCPB Visa Debit/EMV Card as part of the lender’s tighter security measures.
“The bank’s new Visa Debit Card provides our cardholders more security through the EMV chip,” UCPB Vice-President and Marketing Group head Charina D. Balanquit was quoted saying in a statement.
In 2014, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through BSP Circular 859, announced it will impose the EMV standard on card-issuing entities, originally setting the deadline on Jan. 1, 2017.
However, with most banks yet to fully shift to the platform, the central bank in June gave Philippine lenders up to June 30, 2018 to adopt the EMV technology.
UCPB, the 12th largest bank in asset terms, already finished shifting its systems to EMV technology, with the lender already prepared to issue and process its microchip-enabled cards.
The regulator had warned banks that non-compliance with its tighter EMV guidelines would constitute a “serious offense” that would warrant penalties.
The EMV platform makes use of microchips rather than the traditional magnetic strip found at the back of cards, which are prone to skimming — usually done by illegally tapping into ATM terminals to steal client data. As a result, EMV makes depositors and credit card holders “more secure” against fraud.
In June, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said shifting to the EMV platform is the “long-term” solution against card skimming.
According to BSP data, there are around 76 million debit and prepaid cards in the country while there are 8.5 million credit cards.
Local banks also operate 19,084 ATMs across the country.
In the first quarter of the year, UCPB saw its bottomline reach P958.13 million, higher than the P929.19 million booked in the comparable period a year ago, on the back of robust lending and strong investment activities during the three-month period.
Its total loan portfolio in the first quarter of the year stood at P149.52 billion, 18% up from P126.62 billion logged in the comparable 2016 period. The bank’s total deposits also grew 10% to P255.74 billion in the first three months.
For this, UCPB eyes to book a 20-25% growth in profits versus end-2016’s figures to be driven by higher deposits despite not putting up new branches for the year. — Janine Marie D. Soliman
San Miguel subsidiary gets SEC approval
THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light for the incorporation of a San Miguel Corp. (SMC) subsidiary that will handle the importation and distribution of BMW vehicles in the country.
SMC told the stock exchange it received the SEC approval for the incorporation of SMC Asia Car Distributors Corp. on Thursday.
SMC Asia Car is 65% owned by San Miguel, with the remaining 35% owned by Palawan Governor Jose Ch. Alvarez, who currently chairs Asian Carmakers Corp. (ACC) — the exclusive importer and distributor of BMW vehicles in the Philippines.
“The investment of SMC in the business is expected to be fully implemented within this year, subject to ongoing finalization of the commercial aspect of the transaction,” the diversified conglomerate said.
SMC Asia Car still has to secure other regulatory requirements, including its registration with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs, and the relevant local government units, for the necessary permits and licenses.
SMC posted a net income of P13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2017, on the back of strong growth across the firm’s food, beverage, oil, and infrastructure businesses. The company’s profits was supported by a 23% jump in revenues to P195.8 billion.