VERSAILLES/PARIS — France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, told parliament in a ceremonial address on Monday that he would seek direct approval from voters in a referendum if parliament failed to sign off his intended institutional reforms quickly enough.
French President Emmanuel Macron walks through the Galerie des Bustes (Busts Gallery) to access the Versailles Palace’s hemicycle for a special congress gathering both houses of parliament (National Assembly and Senate), near Paris, France, July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Elected only two months ago by a hefty majority, Mr. Macron told the lawmakers of both houses, summoned especially to the Palace of Versailles, that he wanted to cut the number of lawmakers by a third, curb the executive’s role in naming magistrates, and introduce a “dose” of proportional representation.
Mr. Macron’s upstart Republic on the Move party has secured a comfortable majority in the National Assembly — but France’s youngest leader since Napoleon made clear his impatience to complete the reshaping of the political landscape that he has begun.
“The French people are not driven by patient curiosity, but by an uncompromising demand. It is a profound transformation that they expect,” Mr. Macron told the specially convened joint session of parliament.
“I want all these deep reforms that our institutions seriously need to be done within a year. These reforms will go to parliament but, if necessary, I will put them to voters in a referendum.”
Mr. Macron also pressed his case for reform of Europe.
An ardent advocate of deeper European Union integration who put reviving Europe’s Franco-German axis and treaty reform at the center of his presidential campaign, Mr. Macron said excessive bureaucracy had fueled euroskepticism among the public.
“The last 10 years have been cruel for Europe. We have managed crises but we have lost our way,” Mr. Macron said.
“I firmly believe in Europe, but I don’t find this skepticism unjustified.”
Mr. Macron, whose centrist platform has routed both the traditional rightist and leftist parties of government, is not the first French leader to convene a so-called Congress of both houses, though past presidents have tended to use it in times of crisis or for constitutional reforms.
Mr. Macron’s aides had said that, by bringing parliament’s 925 lawmakers to the 17th century palace built outside Paris by Louis XIV — the ‘Sun King’ — the president was seeking to restore old-fashioned grandeur to the role.
‘JUPITERIAN’ PRESIDENT
Mr. Macron himself has said he plans a “Jupiterian” presidency — as a remote, dignified figure, like the Roman god of gods, who weighs his rare pronouncements carefully. It would be a marked break from his unpopular and often-mocked predecessor Francois Hollande’s man-of-the-people style.
While many in France still hold dear the trappings of presidential power, Mr. Macron’s style has grated with others who lament the strong powers that the constitution drawn up by the war hero Charles de Gaulle bestows on the presidency.
A commanding parliament majority, including dozens of legislators who are new to politics, has tightened Mr. Macron’s grip further still.
Nonetheless, his opponents said his address was light on details.
“We’re none the wiser coming out than we were going in,” said far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who Mr. Macron defeated in the presidential run-off vote. “He speaks of a dose of proportional representation, but we don’t know if he’s talking about a small dose or a big dose.”
Ms. Le Pen blames France’s electoral system for her National Front party’s poor representation in parliament.
Beyond the plans for institutional reform, which had been outlined in his campaign manifesto, there were few concrete announcements and no specifics on the far more controversial measures that he plans, most notably in liberalizing a highly regulated labor market.
Many of those were likely to be sketched out by Mr. Macron’s prime minister, Edouard Philippe, when he addresses parliament on Tuesday. — Reuters
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were due to hold formal talks Tuesday against a backdrop of mounting tensions over North Korea ahead of G20 summit talks with Donald J. Trump.
The meeting in Moscow comes as North Korea claimed the launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile, and US President Trump urged China to “end this nonsense once and for all.”
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Messrs. Putin and Xi “agreed to jointly push for a proper settlement of the peninsula issue via dialogue and negotiation” at a closed Kremlin meeting Monday evening on the eve of the official talks.
Beijing — North Korea’s closest diplomatic ally — and Moscow have called repeatedly for calm on all sides, but Mr. Trump has warned Washington’s patience with Pyongyang is nearing an end.
Messrs. Xi and Putin once again slammed the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system installed in South Korea to protect against the North, Xinhua said. Both leaders argue that it threatens the strategic balance in the region.
The Kremlin gave no details on what was discussed at the “informal” tete-a-tete Monday.
While the latest tensions over North Korea figured high on the agenda, the main focus of the Putin-Xi meeting was set to remain boosting growing trade and political ties between the two increasingly close partners.
The giant neighbors are expected to oversee the inking of a raft of deals worth billions of dollars as Moscow continues a pivot towards China it has ramped up since ties with the West slumped over Ukraine.
Ahead of his arrival in Moscow Mr. Xi said that relations with Russia were currently enjoying their “best time in history” as he and Putin have struck up a close relationship.
The Kremlin strongman is set to present Mr. Xi with a prestigious Russian state award at the Kremlin.
After their meeting in Moscow the two leaders are set to head to the G20 summit in Hamburg where they will come face-to-face with Mr. Trump, a first meeting for Mr. Putin with the US president. — AFP
FRANKFURT — Austria has moved four armored vehicles close to its border with Italy to guard against migrants and will likely set up controls on a key trade crossing “very soon,” defense ministry officials said on Tuesday.
The planned controls will include the busy Alpine Brenner pass, a defense ministry spokesman said — a move that Italy warned last year would break European Union (EU) rules on free movement.
“I expect border controls will be introduced very soon,” Defense Minister Peter Doskozil told daily newspaper Kronenzeitung in an interview published on Tuesday.
Both Italy and Austria are members of the EU’s Schengen open-border zone, but free movement has been jeopardized by the reimposition of controls at many crossings across the bloc since the surge in migrants seen in 2015/16.
Mr. Doskozil’s spokesman said there was no concrete timetable for the new controls.
“But we see how the situation in Italy is becoming more acute and we have to be prepared to avoid a situation comparable to summer 2015.”
Italy has taken in more than 80,000 refugees and migrants so far this year. — Reuters
SEOUL — North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Tuesday as the US prepared to mark its Independence Day, triggering a Twitter outburst from President Donald J. Trump who urged China to “end this nonsense once and for all.”
Analysts said the rocket could bring Alaska within range of the North’s devices.
The launch was the latest in a series of provocations that have ratcheted up tensions over the nuclear-armed North’s weapons ambitions, and came days after Seoul’s new leader Moon Jae-In and Mr. Trump focused on the Pyongyang threat in their first summit.
The “unidentified ballistic missile” was fired from a site in North Phyongan province, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and came down in the East Sea, the Korean name for the Sea of Japan.
It flew for “more than 930 kilometers,” they added.
The device may have come down in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, a spokeswoman for Tokyo’s defense ministry told AFP — waters extending 200 nautical miles from its coast.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew “for about 40 minutes” — an unusually long flight time, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe telling reporters: “This launch clearly shows that the threat has grown.”
The US, Japan and South Korea will hold a summit on the sidelines of this week’s G20 meeting on the issue, he added. “Also I will encourage President Xi Jinping and President Putin to take more constructive measures.”
The United Nations has imposed multiple sets of sanctions on Pyongyang over its weapons programs, which retorts that it needs nuclear arms to defend itself against the threat of invasion.
It has a goal of developing a missile capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland — something that Mr. Trump has vowed “won’t happen.”
There are doubts whether the North can miniaturize a nuclear weapon sufficiently to fit it onto a missile nose cone, or master the technology needed for it to survive reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But analysts say the isolated, impoverished country has made great progress in its military capabilities in the years since young leader Kim Jong-Un inherited power.
TRUMP TAKES TO TWITTER
In response to the latest launch, Mr. Trump asked on Twitter: “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”
US Pacific Command confirmed the test and said it was a land-based, intermediate range missile that flew for 37 minutes and did not pose a threat to North America.
But David Wright, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the available figures implied a significant increase in the range of Pyongyang’s missiles.
The missile would have had to have flown on a “very highly lofted trajectory” and reached a maximum altitude of more than 2,800 kilometers, he said.
“If the reports are correct, that same missile could reach a maximum range of roughly 6,700 km on a standard trajectory,” he wrote on the organization’s allthingsnuclear blog.
“That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska.”
INDEPENDENCE DAY
The North has carried out multiple launches since Mr. Moon — who backs engagement with the North but also stresses the need for sanctions — was elected in May, and he summoned the South’s National Security Council in response to the latest firing.
Shea Cotton, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the US, suggested the launch was deliberately timed to coincide with the anniversary of the US declaration of independence.
“It’s already 4th of July in North Korea,” he said on Twitter. “I somewhat suspect they’re shooting off some fireworks today specifically because of that.”
Washington, South Korea’s security guarantor, has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its Communist neighbor, and fears of conflict reached a peak earlier this year as the Trump administration suggested military action was an option under consideration.
There has also been anger in the United States after Otto Warmbier, an American student detained in North Korea on a tourist trip around 18 months ago, was returned home in a coma in June, dying days later.
Mr. Trump has been pinning his hopes on China — North Korea’s main diplomatic ally — to bring pressure to bear on Pyongyang.
Last week he declared that Beijing’s efforts had failed, but returned to the idea on Twitter following the launch:
“Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!”
But a former foreign policy adviser to Hillary Clinton warned that his comments risked undermining the credibility of both the US deterrent, and its assurances to its allies in Seoul and Tokyo. She added: “Picking a twitter fight with a nuclear-armed dictator is not wise — this is not reality TV anymore.” — AFP
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were due to hold formal talks Tuesday against a backdrop of mounting tensions over North Korea ahead of G20 summit talks with Donald J. Trump.
The meeting in Moscow comes as North Korea claimed the launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile, and US President Trump urged China to “end this nonsense once and for all.”
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Messrs. Putin and Xi “agreed to jointly push for a proper settlement of the peninsula issue via dialogue and negotiation” at a closed Kremlin meeting Monday evening on the eve of the official talks.
Beijing — North Korea’s closest diplomatic ally — and Moscow have called repeatedly for calm on all sides, but Mr. Trump has warned Washington’s patience with Pyongyang is nearing an end.
Messrs. Xi and Putin once again slammed the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system installed in South Korea to protect against the North, Xinhua said. Both leaders argue that it threatens the strategic balance in the region.
The Kremlin gave no details on what was discussed at the “informal” tete-a-tete Monday.
While the latest tensions over North Korea figured high on the agenda, the main focus of the Putin-Xi meeting was set to remain boosting growing trade and political ties between the two increasingly close partners.
The giant neighbors are expected to oversee the inking of a raft of deals worth billions of dollars as Moscow continues a pivot towards China it has ramped up since ties with the West slumped over Ukraine.
Ahead of his arrival in Moscow Mr. Xi said that relations with Russia were currently enjoying their “best time in history” as he and Putin have struck up a close relationship.
The Kremlin strongman is set to present Mr. Xi with a prestigious Russian state award at the Kremlin.
After their meeting in Moscow the two leaders are set to head to the G20 summit in Hamburg where they will come face-to-face with Mr. Trump, a first meeting for Mr. Putin with the US president. — AFP
Austria blocks migrants at border FRANKFURT — Austria has moved four armored vehicles close to its border with Italy to guard against migrants and will likely set up controls on a key trade crossing “very soon,” defense ministry officials said on Tuesday.
The planned controls will include the busy Alpine Brenner pass, a defense ministry spokesman said — a move that Italy warned last year would break European Union (EU) rules on free movement.
“I expect border controls will be introduced very soon,” Defense Minister Peter Doskozil told daily newspaper Kronenzeitung in an interview published on Tuesday.
Both Italy and Austria are members of the EU’s Schengen open-border zone, but free movement has been jeopardized by the reimposition of controls at many crossings across the bloc since the surge in migrants seen in 2015/16.
Mr. Doskozil’s spokesman said there was no concrete timetable for the new controls.
“But we see how the situation in Italy is becoming more acute and we have to be prepared to avoid a situation comparable to summer 2015.”
Italy has taken in more than 80,000 refugees and migrants so far this year. — Reuters
BRUSSELS — The European Union (EU) and Japan expect to commit to signing a free trade deal on Thursday, the EU said, in what both see as a push back against a feared US turn toward protectionism under President Donald J. Trump.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to the media upon arrival at his official residence in Tokyo on July 3, 2017. Abe on July 3 acknowledged a major defeat in Tokyo assembly elections, as the official result showed his ruling party lost more than half of its seats in the July 2 vote. / AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI
Confirming on Tuesday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would meet heads of EU institutions in Brussels on the eve of a G20 summit with Mr. Trump and other world leaders in Germany, the European Council said: “Leaders are expected to announce a political agreement on the EU-Japan free trade agreement.”
That would be short of a final accord ironing out all the commercial intricacies between two of the world’s biggest economies and EU officials said on Tuesday that some key issues still needed to be settled before Thursday’s EU-Japan summit.
However, confirming Mr. Abe’s attendance is a sign of confidence that a deal will be ready for his signature and also puts pressure on trade negotiators to secure at least outline agreements on opening up each other’s markets, including in the trickiest areas such as Japanese cars and European farm produce.
Both sides, having seen Mr. Trump pull back from free trade relationships, are keen to show they remain committed to removing barriers they say hamper growth.
“It is important for us to wave the flag of free trade in response to global moves toward protectionism by quickly concluding the free trade agreement with Europe,” Mr. Abe told ministers at a meeting on Tuesday about the EU negotiations.
“This agreement is also important for our growth strategy. We will negotiate with all our energy until the very end to achieve the best deal for Japan.”
Mr. Abe will meet European Council President Donald Tusk, who speaks for the 28 EU national leaders, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the bloc’s executive head.
Mr. Juncker’s Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was in Japan at the weekend and said after her talks that she was “quite confident” that a broad agreement could be announced on Thursday. EU officials had said that Mr. Abe would only visit Brussels if both sides were certain that the political agreement would be signed.
Ms. Malmstrom said: “You can do good, fair, transparent and sustainable trade agreements where you win and I win, and not the American view, which seems to be, ‘You lose and I win.’”
Messrs. Abe, Tusk and Juncker will go on to Hamburg on Friday for the G20 summit.
The host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is expected to lead calls for Mr. Trump to keep trade open. He pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with Japan and 10 other states on his first day in office in January. US-EU talks on a trade pact called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP have been in limbo since then.
Volker Treier, head of the foreign trade unit of Germany’s DIHK Chambers of Commerce, said on Tuesday that the state of world affairs was such that a trade war with the United States could not be ruled out.
Japan and the EU launched their bilateral negotiations in 2013 but have been struggling to achieve breakthroughs in key areas, such as Japan scrapping tariffs on EU cheese and wine and Europe giving greater access for Japanese cars and car parts.
Although Japan and the EU account for about a third of global gross domestic product, their trade relationship has room to grow — also by a third according to EU officials, who see a deal boosting the EU economy by 0.8% and Japan’s by 0.3% long-term. — Reuters Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — AFP
(Below is the keynote speech delivered by Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum at Shangri-La at the Fort on May 19)
PANGILINAN: We hope for a Philippines that provides opportunities for our people, without regard to privilege or pedigree. (Photo: Bernard Testa/InterAksyon)
I would like first to thank BusinessWorld and Miguel Belmonte for this opportunity to be with you today. No, I did not invite myself to speak – but I guess it helps to be a proud owner of the paper.
Our group invested in BusinessWorld six years ago. So yes, technically our reporter janina lim works for me! God bless you, hija!
Let me congratulate Miguel, the editors, reporters, and staff of BusinessWorld. For the first time in many years, BusinessWorld has turned profitable for the full year 2016 — a feat, which Prime Minister Virata and Professor Raul Fabella noted took more than a decade to accomplish!
So I guess there is hope for TV 5!
Let me also thank the sponsors of this forum. And special congratulations to sponsor Turkish Airlines in particular.
Turkish airlines has been named Europe’s best airline for six years straight. But now it has a new title: Turkish Airlines — official airlines of the Asean.
I understand the Ambassador of Turkey is here. Welcome, Ms. Ambassador.
I have only one request if Turkey is to become a member of Asean. Turkey can join Asean — but it may not join SEABA!
Growth drivers
This forum seeks to identify the engines which could drive long-term growth of our country.
I may suggest three drivers:
First, the government’s tax reform for acceleration and inclusion; second, infrastructure; and third, investment in businesses which could propel growth. There could be a fourth game changer – gas in the south china sea.
Let me now speak about the first driver: the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program or CTRP.
CTRP will reconstitute our tax system to make it:
Simpler and fairer — by decreasing the number of income tax brackets from 7 to 6, reducing the rate in most brackets, especially for those with lower incomes, simplifying requirements for small taxpayers; more efficient — limit exemptions of VAT to necessities like raw food, education, and healthcare; raise excise tax on fuel and automobiles; more friendly for business — lower the tax rates for corporates.
With these changes, CTRP aims to raise the requisite funds to finance infrastructure in part, as well as education, social safety nets, and health. The goal is to raise incremental resources by P2.2 trillion over six years – or P366 billion a year.
CTRP is central to dutertenomics; it is in fact the catalyst to the government’s 10-point economic program. That is why I believe the business sector should support it.
President Duterte and [Finance] Secretary Dominguez, and the DoF team, should be congratulated for crafting this pivotal tax policy.
Second growth driver – infrastructure.
The fiscal space which CTRP could provide, complemented by ample liquidity here and abroad, could mean financing available for infrastructure – the 2nd growth driver I turn to now.
We all know the government plans to spend a massive P8.4 trillion on infrastructure until 2022, with spending rising from 5.4 percent to 7.4 percent of GDP by the time president Duterte leaves office.
To cover this prodigious outlay, the plan is to combine the resources raised by CTRP with local borrowings and ODAs, in the proportion of 80-20, respectively. The budget deficit will therefore rise from 2.7 percent of GDP in 2016, to about 3 percent between now and 2022.
Central to this financing plan is the assumption that GDP will continue rising robustly over the period, to accommodate government’s rising debts. The plan is of course not totally without risks — if for some reason, our growth targets are missed, the 3% debt cap could get breached, with possibly unpleasant consequences. That’s why it’s important for business to support in whatever way it can to keep the GDP engine going at 6 to 7%, or better.
Hybrid PPP approach
As well, government has decided to adopt the “Hybrid PPP approach” to infrastructure — government to build the projects and, upon completion, bid out the operations and maintenance of it.
This hybrid approach has prompted some conversation: First, do we have the capacity to execute these large projects? Are there enough local contractors and sub-contractors with the necessary size, experience, and skills to execute them? And within the contracting and supply context, can the private sector participate and help?
Second, considering that a good portion of infra spend will be financed by debt, how can these be effectively serviced?
In regard to this Hybrid PPP, let me speak about the subic-clark expressway model. This tollway was built by government on JICA financing, and ultimately privatized by way of a concession agreement, not O&M.
From our perspective, this was a win-win formula for both government and business: first, the tollways got done; second, tollway fees paid to government are sufficient to service JICA’s long-term loan; third, the concessionaire and not the government, shoulders the O&M expenses; fourth, the concession agreement enhances the equity value of our tollways group because it confers a quasi-ownership interest in the business — which an o&m contract doesn’t.
We’re also aware that certain existing infra requires immediate attention – NAIA and MRT-3, in particular. The government appears to be leaning towards Clark Airport — frankly, this is the only viable option we have for now. NAIA is filling quickly to the brim, and a new airport will take years to complete.
As to MRT-3, what more can be said? In 2016: 2,619 trains removed from daily run due to glitches, 63 service shutdowns, 586 emergency passenger disembarkations.
Third growth driver — investing in business
The third driver refers to those businesses that infrastructure and CTRP intend to support. Remember that both infrastructure and taxes are enablers of business — an airport is built or expanded if tourism and other businesses in its vicinity can be established or developed. Investment in the tourism ecosystem — in hotels, inns, restaurants, markets, entertainment — has to be made principally by the private sector. Without these investments, an airport by itself cannot be economically justified.
Of course, infrastructure breeds its own collateral businesses to feed its requirements — cement and steel plants, aggregates, labor and contracting services.
So, which businesses? I say those which create jobs – businesses with significant labor input:
First, businesses unique to their geographic and resource advantages, such as tourism and mining. These are located in rural areas where most poverty exists. Tourism is labor-intensive and plays to the strength of our people’s service orientation. Mining is capital intensive, has significant export potential, and is located in outlying areas.
Stop redistributing poverty
Speaking of mining, we welcome a break in the impasse on policy with the appointment of a new DENR secretary. I’m told Secretary Cimatu went to NU before going to PMA, then took his MBA at the Ateneo. Hopefully, we can have an open dialogue with him, beginning with this topic – how to dethrone La Salle.
A second category are by-products of our people’s migration abroad, and of global ageing. These are medical tourism and retirement homes, both of which are labor-intensive.
Third, agriculture.
Despite its critical place in our economy, it has regrettably been accorded step-child attention. Agriculture accounts for about 27% of our labor force, but only 8.8% of our GDP. Most importantly, 70% of our poor live in rural areas. Of the estimated 21.6 million poor, some 17 million are directly and indirectly dependent on agriculture.
The anemic performance of agriculture must be attributable mainly to the comprehensive agrarian reform program, or CARP.
There are many reasons why CARP has failed in its almost 30 years of life.
With its five-hectare ownership limit, CARP has effectively discouraged private capital from agriculture. It has presumed that farmers will become entrepreneur-businessmen by owning their land. But with no more than a hectare under cultivation on average, how on earth can we expect our farmer-entrepreneur to make a living?
Dr. Fabella once wrote – “to everything there is a season, and now is the time to let go. We now have to redirect our agricultural focus from land equity to farm efficiency. Private capital must be attracted back into agriculture.”
It is time, in other words, to stop redistributing poverty.
Areas for commercial farming – to coconuts, cocoa, rubber, coffee and staples such as rice, sugar and corn – must be opened up and leased.
When I was in China recently, I was told that China can buy all the fruits we can produce. And right on our doorstep, Indonesia imports about 4.0 million tons of raw sugar each year.
Investing in productive, diversified agriculture will bring in agri-processing plants and our ability to export agri-products. These will provide sustainable jobs to the countryside and deploy excess labor from small farms. We’re doing this by propagating coconut oil mills in various parts of the country where coconuts are abundant. Remember world population will grow from 7.5 billion people this year to 11.2 billion by the year 2100. Food therefore must figure into our long-term planning.
Resources in the South China Sea
Finally, the South China Sea, and its resource potential.
We know that Malampaya will start depleting in 2024. It is imperative that we start looking for alternative sources of gas now — failing which, gas has to be imported. We simply cannot leave the three gas plants of 3,000 MWs in Batangas stranded — brownouts will ensue, for certain. The first critical step is to determine if there are indeed commercial gas resources in the area.
In 2012, Philex petroleum disclosed the highlights of an interpretation report of new 3D and 2D results, together with the vintage data acquired earlier, over service contract 72. A best estimate of contingent resources in the north bank was reported — equivalent to about 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas — about the size of Malampaya — plus oil and condensate gas of 65 million barrels.
There is of course no assurance at this time that these estimates are accurate until further drilling and technical evaluations are made.
But we’re encouraged that the Duterte government has provided an accommodating environment with its open, constructive approach to China. A bilateral consultation mechanism has recently been formed to agree a code of conduct in the region.
It is time to close. But before I do, let me congratulate the two Gilas teams for winning the SEABA tournament. Dutertenomics seem to represent a workable, actionable plan for the economy and its growth prospects. Combined with the President’s strong political will and bias for action, supported by his continued high trust rating, it stands a good chance of execution. So this inspires hope.
Leaders after all should be merchants of hope.
We must hope for a great future for our country – a future in which we can match our strength with our moral values, our wealth with wisdom, our power with purpose.
We must hope for a Philippines that provides the opportunities for, and raises the welfare of all our people, without regard to privilege or pedigree.
We must hope for a country which protects our environment, rewards fulfillment in sports, recognizes achievements in business, in arts, and in our armed services.
And we must hope for a Philippines that commands respect in the world – for our people, for our culture and our history.
INFLATION slowed to a five-month low in June — missing estimates — on softer food, utilities and transport price increases, giving the central bank room to continue keeping policy steady for now. Read the full story.
HE IS a muralist and she is an illustrator. He is drawn to geometric shapes and pastel colors while she is fond of women, cats, and muted hues. Kris Abrigo and Soleil Ignacio — lovers and lovers of urban art — create contrasting yet complementary artworks. And together, they have an ongoing month-long exhibit collection in partnership with Habitat Manila on view at Abensons, BGC.
Habitat Manila, a European furniture and accessories store, commissions local artists to create exhibits that enhance and harmonize with its home products. “Design is a lifestyle, and artistry and personal style is expressed most comfortably in our homes and most private spaces,” said Habitat director, Walter Lim, in a statement.
With this in mind, the two artists have created and imagined their studio love nest using Habitat furniture and accessories while also highlighting their own creations.
WHO ARE THEY?
Before becoming a full time creative illustrator, Ms. Ignacio, 27, was a designer and art director for a fashion magazine. Her work has appeared in Nylon magazine and some international young adult fiction books, among others. Because her background is fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, the subjects of her paintings are focused on fashionable women “in the everyday life… my works are nothing too deep [because] what you see is what you get.”
She said she is currently in love with cats and women with mysterious personas, often looking pensive and wearing a “RBF” (resting bitch face). “I like my subjects with a hint of feminism: I like them strong and feline-like,” she said.
KRIS ABRIGO (R) and Soleil Ignacio at their exhibit at Habitat; one of Abrigo’s murals at BGC (below left) and one of Ignacio’s illustrations with her signature cat. — NICKKY FAUSTINE P. DE GUZMAN
While her boyfriend describes her artwork as “organic, gestural, and refined,” Mr. Abrigo’s own creations, on the other hand, are the opposite. His are linear, angular, and calculated.
The two artists, who are Fine Arts batch mates in University of the Philippines, Diliman, said there is no competition between them, but they share ideas and thoughts that will help them together as two different artists.
Mr. Abrigo’s works “have grids and work with a system,” he said, adding that he is obsessive-compulsive and his artworks are reflections of his frustrations with society, which he describes as “loose, no order, and without finesse,” from the way we disobey traffic rules to escalator etiquette.
Mr. Abrigo is the creator behind some of the Instagram-famous murals among the BGC building walls, which are often used as backgrounds for #OOTDs (outfit of the day). He has also done another commissioned mural in Hong Kong, painting the walls of the hip Ovolo Southside Hotel which used to be a warehouse along Wong Chuk Hang Road.
His other creations are found in restaurants like the Early Bird Breakfast Club.
According to Habitat marketing director, Mundi Ocampo, they discovered the two artists on Instagram. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
WASHINGTON, DC — A soaring exhibit of stacked cardboard tubes shaped into three hive-like interconnected structures will make its debut on Thursday at a Washington, DC, museum as part of its annual interactive art installation series.
A MAN enters Studio Gang’s Hive, the latest Summer Block Party interactive installation, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC on July 3, — REUTERS
The Hive exhibit, designed by architect Jeanne Gang, will take over the Great Hall of the National Building Museum, standing more than 60 feet (18 meters) tall. It is open to the public through Sept. 4.
Its three domed chambers are made from 2,700 lightweight cardboard cylinders ranging from several inches to 10 feet (3 meters) in height, painted silver and magenta and stacked in an interlocking fashion.
Gang told Reuters that Hive is similar to the vaulted structures of cathedrals, designed to hold their own weight.
“We thought this is such a big space, we wanted to go high,” she said. “We wanted to make something that had some monumentality but at the same time, inside, a certain intimacy.”
Hive can be explored from the museum’s 4th floor balcony as well as on the ground level, where visitors can enter the dark, intimate interiors and interact with the work’s multiple acoustic elements such as chimes and small drums. — Reuters
