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Federal Land’s Met Park: Bringing residents closer to what matters most

Aerial View of Met Park in Manila Bay Area

Modern living is all about prioritizing what matters most. Ever since the pandemic upended how people all over the world live and work, society has moved on to create better, more convenient ways for people to live their lives.

Met Park, a 36-hectare multi-use township in the heart of Bay Area in Pasay City, is poised to become a modern urban district. Developed by premier real estate developer Federal Land, Inc., Met Park encapsulates the essence of a complete and dynamic community, offering residents a seamless blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces within reasonable distance from each other — ensuring that people spend less time commuting, and more time doing what matters most.

Tailored Healthcare Services

Roving Med, a mobile diagnostics feature under the Wellness by Design initiative

Federal Land partnered with Manila Doctors Hospital (MDH) to introduce a comprehensive wellness program to bring healthcare services closer to its communities. The “Wellness by Design” program aims to not only meet the primary care needs of the community, but also make everyday healthcare effortlessly accessible, ensuring that well-being is always within reach.

Six Senses Residences in Met Park, Manila Bay Area

The program had its first run with residents of the Six Senses Residences, where it successfully integrated MDH’s Homecare Plus services. These services include home care visits, teleconsultations, and nursing. Additionally, the “Roving Med” mobile facility provides immediate diagnostic and laboratory services, further enhancing offsite and remote care options for the community.

Green Social Spaces

As a beacon of wellness and well-being, Met Park also aims to be a community that emphasizes the importance of sustainability in everyday life. It aligns with the government’s Green, Green, Green program, an initiative by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to transform public spaces into verdant, sustainable areas, improving public’s quality of life. Part of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, this program showcases the government’s dedication to enhancing public open spaces.

Roxas Promenade Phase 1’s Light Park adjacent to Met Park

The fruition of the Roxas Promenade Park Areas 1 & 2 by MMDA complements Met Park’s social spaces, offering residents more place to relax, exercise, and connect with nature, contributing to their overall well-being. This effort, alongside the President’s Build Better More program and Federal Land’s commitment to creating dynamic communities, showcases the power of public-private partnerships in building sustainable, vibrant, and well-connected communities for Filipinos.

By supporting and collaborating with these initiatives, Met Park augments and synergizes with its surroundings. This holistic approach ensures that current and future generations can enjoy a balanced, healthy, and sustainable lifestyle within the city.

A complete and dynamic community

Met Park exemplifies modern urban living by integrating green infrastructure throughout its development. The township is home to upscale resort-style condominiums, vibrant shopping centers like Blue Bay Walk and Met Live, dynamic business hubs, diverse event venues, an elite college, and a picturesque park. This harmonious blend of amenities ensures that residents experience a balanced lifestyle, where work, leisure, and nature coexist effortlessly.

Strategically located for seamless connectivity, Met Park residents have easy access to major highways, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, business districts, and entertainment hotspots such as SM Mall of Asia, IKEA Pasay City, PAGCOR City, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This prime location ensures that everything residents need is within reach, enhancing the convenience of daily living.

Move-in ready homes

From left: Federal Land, Inc. Chairman Alfred Ty, Pasay City Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano, MMDA Acting Chairman Don Artes, and DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman pose for a photo inside a light tunnel at the light park of Roxas Boulevard Promenade.

For those looking to move in immediately, Met Park offers a range of ready-for-occupancy (RFO) properties. The Six Senses Residences, with its unique design and extensive amenities, includes a swimming pool with pool bar, dance studio, and karaoke room, to name a few. Available RFO units come in one-, two-, three-bedroom, and penthouse unit variations, sized 56 to 172 square meters (sq.m.).

The latest addition, Mi Casa, is an upmarket vertical residence that provides Hawaiian-inspired leisure living spaces with generously cut spaces in studio, one-, two-, three-bedroom, and penthouse in 32 sq.m. up to 279-sq.m. unit cuts.

Meanwhile, Palm Beach West offers a tropical condo experience through Federal Land’s smart value brand, Horizon Land, with an expansive amenity deck and comfortable living spaces in studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units ranging from 23.5 sq.m. to 87.5 sq.m.

Met Park is more than just a residential complex; it is a community in the process of transformation. Through partnerships with the government and initiatives like the Green, Green, Green program, Federal Land is committed to enhancing open spaces and public areas for the benefit of residents and its community.

As Met Park evolves, it aims to become a model for future urban projects, blending urban conveniences with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. Whether seeking a home or a vibrant community, Met Park is set to become the ideal choice.

For more information on Federal Land’s move-in ready condos in Met Park community, visit www.federalland.ph or email invest@federalland.ph.

 

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T-bond yields go down as market awaits BSP cut

WIKIPEDIA/JUDGE FLORO

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the reissued 20-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it offered on Tuesday at a lower average rate than the previous award, as the market expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to kick off its easing cycle by next month.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P30 billion as planned via the reissued 20-year bonds it auctioned off on Tuesday as total bids reached P62.603 billion, or more than double the amount on the auction block.

The bonds, which have a remaining life of three years and one month, were awarded at an average rate of 6.009%. Accepted yields ranged from 5.97% to 6.034%.

The average rate of the reissued three-year bonds dropped by 55.9 basis points (bps) from the 6.568% fetched for the series’ last award on Nov. 29, 2022, and was also 261.6 bps lower than the 8.625% coupon for the issue.

This was likewise 6.2 bps below the 6.071% quoted for the three-year bond, the tenor closest to the remaining life of the papers on offer, at the secondary market before Tuesday’s auction, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates data provided by the BTr. However, this was 2.7 bps higher than the 5.982% seen for the same bond series at the market.

The Treasury made a full award of its T-bond offer amid strong demand and as the average rate fetched for the papers was below the prevailing secondary market benchmark, it said in a statement after the auction.

“With its decision, the committee raised the full program of P30 billion, bringing the total outstanding volume for the series to P91.1 billion,” the BTr added.

The awarded yield for the bonds was within market expectations as investors await a possible rate cut by the BSP next month, a trader said by phone.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. earlier said the Monetary Board may deliver its first rate cut in over three years at its Aug. 15 review — the only policy meeting scheduled in the third quarter — as they expect inflation to continue easing this semester.

The Monetary Board could reduce borrowing costs by 25 bps in the third quarter and by another 25 bps in the fourth quarter, he said.

The BSP last month kept its policy rate at a 17-year high of 6.5% for a sixth straight meeting after raising interest rates by a cumulative 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023 to help tame elevated inflation.

The central bank last slashed benchmark borrowing costs by 25 bps in November 2020 to bring the policy rate to a record low of 2% to boost economic activity during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Remolona also said the better-than-expected June inflation print gives them “a bit more scope for easing” by next month.

Headline inflation eased to 3.7% in June from 3.9% in May. This was within the BSP’s 3.4-4.2% forecast and also marked the seventh straight month that inflation settled within the central bank’s 2-4% annual target.

For the first six months, the consumer price index averaged 3.5%, slightly faster than the BSP’s 3.3% full-year forecast.

The central bank chief also said the BSP does not need to wait for the US Federal Reserve before it begins cutting rates.

T-bond yields declined ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting this week, where it is widely expected to keep rates steady but set the stage for monetary easing by September, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort added in a Viber message.

The BTr is looking to raise P220 billion from the domestic market in August, or P80 billion from Treasury bills and P140 billion via T-bonds.

The government borrows from local and foreign sources to help fund its budget deficit, which is capped at P1.48 trillion or 5.6% of gross domestic product for this year. — AMCS

PHL 5G stand-alone network faces performance challenges — Ookla

FREDERIK LIPFERT/UNSPLASH

THE PHILIPPINES’ fifth-generation (5G) stand-alone (SA) network performance worsened in the second quarter (Q2) despite surpassing that of its select Emerging Asia-Pacific (EMAP) peers, according to Ookla.

In its report, Ookla said that the Philippines recorded a median 5G SA download speed of 375.40 megabits per second (Mbps) for Q2, leading the EMAP region for that period.

5G SA networks are a specific kind of 5G mobile network that functions without relying on 4G LTE infrastructure. These networks are designed to fully leverage the benefits of 5G technology, offering numerous advantages and enabling advanced features that earlier network generations cannot support.

For comparison, India reported a median 5G SA download speed of 298.44 Mbps, while Thailand recorded 223.61 Mbps for the same period.

However, the Philippines’ median 5G SA download speed decreased yea on year from 446.98 Mbps in Q2 2023. India and Thailand also saw declines in 5G SA speeds, with median speeds falling from 436.3 Mbps and 263.99 Mbps, respectively, in 2023.

Regarding median upload speeds, the Philippines trailed behind Thailand in the second quarter, with Thailand achieving 24.81 Mbps, while the Philippines and India recorded 22.77 Mbps and 15.96 Mbps, respectively.

Ookla reported that Globe Telecom, Inc. continues to expand its 5G outdoor coverage, reaching approximately 97.44% as of the first half of 2024.

“Countries in EMAP have experienced a more substantial decline in 5G SA network performance compared to Q2 2023,” Ookla said.

“The fast coverage expansion and continued adoption have likely increased the load on 5G SA infrastructure, putting pressure on the operators to scale up network capacity in the future to at least maintain a similar performance level,” Ookla said.

Ookla anticipates continued growth in the adoption of 5G SA across Southeast Asia, India, and the US, driven by the demand for more reliable connectivity. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

IHG’s luxury InterContinental brand returns to the Philippines at Hann Reserve

Illustrative perspective of Hann Reserve at New Clark City, Tarlac.

250-key InterContinental Clark to open in 2031

Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, PHILIPPINES — 30 July 2024: IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world’s leading hospitality companies, announces the return of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts — the world’s first and largest international luxury hotel brand — to the Philippines in a franchise agreement with Hann Philippines Inc., an emerging leader in the local luxury integrated resort (IR) sector with its Hann Resorts brand.

InterContinental Clark will sit at the heart of the 450-hectare Hann Reserve luxury estate in New Clark City. The development will feature three 18-hole championship golf courses designed by Nicklaus Design, KJ Choi, and Sir Nick Faldo, along with the country’s only PGA-affiliated player development facilities. Hann Reserve will also include exclusive ultra-luxury residences, lifestyle commercial centers, gaming, international school, and a 10-hectare public park.

Construction will start on the 250-key property in 2027, ahead of it welcoming guests, including IHG One Rewards members, in 2031.

Chris Anklin, Senior Director, Development, IHG Hotels & Resorts said: “With its bustling megacities, natural wonders and warm and friendly hospitality, the Philippines is a beautiful country where IHG has a rich history of delivering great stays for guests in Manila, Cebu and Makati.

“The country has an ambition to become a regional tourism behemoth with rapid infrastructure development to promote ease of travel and strong growth potential. Hann Reserve represents one of the new waves of development growth in the market, which IHG is supporting. We are confident that InterContinental Clark will enhance its attractive mix of leisure, lifestyle and business offerings and we look forward to working alongside our partners to bring more of our much-loved brands to new and exciting locations across the country.”

Photo shows (from left) IHG Senior Director for Development–Southeast Asia and Korea (SEAK) Chris Anklin, IHG Managing Director for SEAK Vivek Bhalla, Hann Philippines Chairman and CEO Dae Sik Han, and IHG Vice President for Development–SEAK Patrick Finn.

Dae Sik Han, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hann Philippines Inc. said: “We are delighted to partner with IHG to turn our vision for Hann Reserve into reality and return the InterContinental brand with its over 75 years of heritage back to the Philippines. I have always enjoyed my stays at InterContinental hotels, especially appreciating their unmatched heritage and history in luxury travel.

“The InterContinental brand will bring a fresh take on luxury at Hann Reserve, an ultraluxe mountain resort getaway, and I’m confident it will elevate New Clark City as a world-class leisure destination. We hope this is the first of many collaborations through which we leverage IHG’s world-class Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio and introduce new tourism concepts and stay experiences for all travellers together.”

InterContinental Clark will be a 15-minute drive from Clark International Airport and a two-hour drive from Manila. Facilities are set to include two restaurants and two bars, meeting spaces for 600 people, the brand’s signature Club InterContinental Lounge, a Health Club and Spa, swimming pool, Kids Club and a retail outlet.

The InterContinental brand, which has been pioneering luxury travel experiences for more than 75 years, is undergoing a transformative end-to-end evolution, reimagining the luxury travel experience for the modern luxury traveller. InterContinental Clark will join more than 200 InterContinental Hotels & Resorts properties globally, each of which celebrates bold exploration, travel and cultural discovery.

As of March 2024, IHG has five open hotels in the Philippines — four of which are part of the Holiday Inn brand family — and will introduce new brands in its pipeline including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Six Senses.

 

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Making personal finance fun and digestible

FOR personal finance content creator He Ruiming, easing people into the world of money was something he never expected to do for a living.

He was 29 when he and his co-founder Wei Choon Goh started the webcomic The Woke Salaryman in 2019, putting their visual marketing skills to good use. Through short narratives and tidbits of money-related advice taking the form of monochromatic comics, the two combine principles of economics, sociology, and psychology to build financial know-how.

Now in their mid-thirties, with The Woke Salaryman page garnering over 500,000 followers on Facebook and nearly 480,000 on Instagram, the two have released a book compiling the best and most insightful of their comics.

Woke Salaryman: Crash Course on Capitalism & Money is essentially Personal Finance 101 for the youth, and it is now available outside of Mr. He and Mr. Wei’s home country of Singapore.

“Six months into it, we realized there’s a global reach. People were taking the comics and translating it into their native language, be it Vietnamese or Filipino. I thought, ‘wow, there’s universal appeal’,” Mr. He told BusinessWorld in an interview on July 28 following the book’s launch in Manila.

“It goes to show that what Singaporeans face is not a country-specific problem. It’s a big city problem, and there are many young people living in big cities around Southeast Asia that struggle with expensive rent and burnout and the like,” he said.

A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY
The Woke Salaryman comics tackle a wide range of topics, from the historical reality behind the privilege of work-life balance to the practical ways young people can deal with their parents’ growing health problems.

It was the latter that kickstarted personal finance as a lifelong passion for Mr. He — his mother suffered a stroke in 2014 and lost much of the money she earned over the years in the medical aftermath.

“I wanted to pursue this thing called FIRE, meaning ‘Financially Independent, Retire Early.’ I basically practiced the lifestyle for like seven years, so along the way, I learned personal finance,” he said.

He and Mr. Wei bonded over the desire to have a better relationship with money, and The Woke Salaryman was born.

BEYOND THE TRENDS
The book has sold 10,000 copies so far since its launch in Singapore in May. Its ongoing book tour in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines has brought a wide variety of fans out from the woodwork.

“Our core audience was Singaporeans ages 25 to 35. Now it’s obviously beyond that,” said Mr. He. “It’s not about whether you’re Millennial or Gen Z. It calls to people of whatever age that they start to care about money.”

He added that reaching a large following was definitely not a product of following online trends. While The Woke Salaryman makes money through brand sponsorships, the two founders still carefully choose what to make.

“I think people have this weird expectation that social media pages must echo their every opinion. But if we were forced to echo popular opinions then we wouldn’t enjoy what we’re doing, and we wouldn’t be making anything of importance.”

Today, the webcomics — and now the book — are a source of comfort and advice for disillusioned youth who feel that the odds are stacked against their favor and somehow want to turn the tide.

Woke Salaryman: Crash Course on Capitalism & Money is available in the Philippines through Fully Booked. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

Empowering communities: One Meralco Foundation energizes homes in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan

One Meralco Foundation’s Household Electrification Program has benefited 255 residents of Doña Remedios Trinidad (DRT), Bulacan. Seen in photo are the beneficiaries together with the volunteers from Meralco’s Sta. Maria Business Center and Plaridel Sector, and the local government of Doña Remedios Trinidad.

One Meralco Foundation (OMF), the corporate social responsibility arm of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Company (Meralco), has energized 255 homes in several barangays in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan, allowing low-income families to have access to stable electricity service.

Through OMF’s flagship initiative Household Electrification Program, Meralco’s Sta. Maria Business Center and Plaridel Sector partnered with the Municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad to provide assistance and install individual service entrances for residents of Barangays Pulong Sampaloc, Camachile, and Camachin — enabling them to have their own electricity connection and minimize the risk of fire hazards due to illegal connections and use of candles for lighting at night.

Doña Remedios Trinidad Mayor Ronaldo T. Flores lauds the program that brought stable electricity access to low-income households across seven barangays in the municipality.

OMF and its partners recently held a community launch at the Doña Remedios Trinidad Municipal Hall led by Doña Remedios Trinidad Mayor Ronaldo T. Flores.

“Our residents greatly benefitted from this program, allowing their homes to have its own electric meter. One Meralco Foundation, Meralco, and its contractors’ efforts to ensure access to reliable electricity will improve their daily living conditions,” Mayor Flores said.

The program allowed the residents to better manage their consumption and budget for electricity bills now that they have their own electric service.

With own access to electricity, it is now more convenient for Ana Marie Galvez to use her nebulizer at home.

“For 15 years, we relied on our neighbor for electricity access. The arrangement was to split the bill equally among three households regardless of power consumption. To limit this, we only use one electric fan and essential lights. Now, we can conveniently use more appliances at home including a nebulizer which helps me with my asthma,” resident Ana Marie Galvez shared.

Stable electricity access allowed Leah Laron to expand the family’s sari-sari store business now that she can also sell ice and frozen products.

The electrification program also helped improve the lives of residents, like that of Leah Laron, who shared: “We bought a new freezer so we could also sell ice and other frozen products in our sari-sari store. With internet access, my children can now research online for their homework and we can easily communicate with our loved ones.”

OMF’s community electrification program paves the way for basic services to be available to more underserved Filipinos, said Meralco Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer and OMF President Jeffrey O. Tarayao.

“Bringing electricity to homes is at the heart of One Meralco Foundation’s mission. We empower not just the family by illuminating their homes, but we also unlock a world of possibilities for the community by enabling and enhancing productivity through new businesses which they can start, expand and evolve. Through this, we contribute positively not just to the community but to our country’s growth and development,” he said.

OMF has already energized more than 2,600 homes in other barangays in Doña Remedios Trinidad since 2015. In fact, seven out of eight barangays in the municipality are beneficiaries of the Household Electrification Program. The effective partnership with the local government was also recognized at the 2023 Meralco Luminaries, which honors outstanding customer-partners in nation-building efforts.

Meralco and OMF are one with the government in its pursuit of 100% electrification. Aside from its Household Electrification Program, it also powers remote, off-grid public schools and helps communities become more productive by energizing livelihood facilities, rural health centers and water access facilities, and drive sustainable development opportunities to underserved communities in the country.

 

Life-saving medical services within reach in mountain communities

In many rural communities in the Philippines, rural health centers are the go-to institution for basic medical needs and emergency medical services. However, some of them do not realize their full potential because there was no electricity to power simple medical equipment that may save lives. One Meralco Foundation helps address this challenge by energizing rural health centers — enabling the delivery of improved medical services in the community.

With the newly energized barangay health station, Janna Dalde can now keep her sons’ vaccines up to date and have access to nebulizer services.

Janna Dalde soothes her crying two-month-old, John Anthony, after he received his second shot of vaccine inside the Barangay Laiban Health Station in Tanay, Rizal. The 19-year-old mother carried him across three rivers for vaccine shots that would protect him from diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis or whooping cough.

Janna’s eldest son is also a frequent visitor to the barangay health station. The toddler has asthma, and she brings him in for puffs using the health station’s nebulizer.

“We don’t have to cross 11 rivers and travel to town for more than an hour for John Anthony’s vaccines and for Arjohn’s nebulizer needs because we have our rural health station here in the barangay,” Janna shared.

Prior to electrification, health services that need electricity like nebulizers for patients with asthma and refrigerators for vaccine storage were only an impossible dream for the community consisting of more than 3,500 residents, including members of the Dumagat Remontado tribe.

For almost two years, Nurse Zander Noche had to meticulously ferry vaccines three times a week to the health station because there was no cold storage available. A shift in temperature can spoil the vaccine and a wrong move atop his motorcycle can break the vials. Worse, he must cross rocky terrains and eight flowing rivers to reach the health station.

 

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BSP’s deposit machines collect P831.77M in coins as of July 15

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

THE CENTRAL BANK’S coin deposit machines (CoDMs) have collected currency valued at P831.77 million as of July 15.

This was 6.1% higher than the P783.63 million worth of coins collected as of June 23, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a social media post.

A total of 223.02 million pieces of coins were deposited in the machines, up by 5.4% from 211.69 million a month prior.

The BSP said there were 202,110 transactions made through the machines as of July 15.

The central bank and its retail partners launched the deposit machines in June 2023 to help promote efficient coin recirculation in the country.

The initiative aims to address the artificial coin shortage in the financial system and help ensure that only fit and legal tender currency is available for public use.

All denominations of the BSP Coin Series and New Generation Currency Coins Series are accepted by the CoDMs. Unfit and demonetized coins, foreign currency, and foreign objects are rejected by the machines.

The value of coins deposited in CoDMs may be credited to an individual’s e-wallet account or converted into shopping vouchers.

Earlier this year, BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the central bank wants to roll out another 25 deposit machines this year.

There are currently 25 deposit machines available in the Greater Manila Area. They are found in select retail establishments of the SM Store, Robinsons Supermarket and Festival Mall. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

PH1 World secures P500-M financing for Bulacan project

REAL ESTATE company PH1 World Developers, Inc. has signed a P500-million loan deal with the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) for its Northscapes housing project in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan.

The loan will finance the development of Northscapes, a 4.6-hectare residential project launched in September last year, PH1 said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

“This partnership with BPI will ensure that we will deliver on our promise and is a testament to the collaborative mindset of both our organizations to promote accessible green and modern living,” PH1 General Manager for Horizontal Developments Eric Gregor G. Tan said.

PH1 is the real estate unit of the listed engineering conglomerate Megawide Construction Corp. The loan will help accelerate PH1’s value creation drive, as it is expected to become a growth driver for Megawide in the next two years, according to the company.

PH1 President Gigi G. Alcantara said the loan supports the company’s goal of bringing energy-efficient communities to emerging locations such as San Jose del Monte City.

Northscapes will feature 338 housing units. The townhouses at Northscapes range from 53 square meters (sq.m.) to 70 sq.m., while the single-attached house models can have up to 95 sq.m. of space.

Megawide acquired PH1 from Citicore Holdings Investment, Inc. in July last year for P5.2 billion, as the conglomerate targets the below-middle-income and middle-income segments of the real estate market.

Other PH1 projects include Modan Lofts Ortigas Hills condo project in Taytay, My Ensō Lofts in Quezon City, The Hive Residences condo in Taytay, and the Northscapes housing development in Bulacan.

It also has a joint venture with Property Company of Friends, Inc. to build the One Lancaster Park condo project in Imus City, Cavite.

On Tuesday, Megawide stocks dropped by 0.69% or two centavos to P2.86 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Private initiatives fostering marriage inviolability: The Educhild Foundation, PAREF, the Riverbed Program

FREEPIK

(Part 4)

As we have seen in specific cases of private initiatives, organized by both secular and religious associations, programs that foster the right attitudes to marriage as an inviolable, lifetime institution can begin as early as the teenage years of the Filipino youth.

For this reason, the lecturers, case discussion leaders, and other resource persons are ordinarily taken from parents and educators, following the principle that in the inculcation of values and virtues, the first responsibility rests on the parents, then the teachers and only in the third place the students themselves.

A leading source of speakers for these programs is the Educhild Foundation which was founded by concerned parents some 50 years ago. Educhild stands for Education for the Upbringing of Children, based on the philosophical principle that the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children. The Educhild Foundation is the leading organization in the Philippines in the field of parenting. It is affiliated with the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD), a non-governmental organization that aims to provide training in parenting. IFFD has General Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

In the major regions of the country, parents from all walks of life volunteer, after getting the appropriate training from experts, to deliver parenting courses to fellow parents in a variety of topics. Among them are First Steps, offered to parents of children ages zero to three or those planning to have children, enabling them to maximize these years of early development. For parents with children aged four to seven years old, First Letters consists of sessions helping parents to start developing the personality of the children as they reach the age of reason. Then Middle Childhood parenting courses are for those couples with children eight to 12 years old, showing them how to build a foundational set of values that steer their children’s decisions and actions.

Much importance is given by Educhild Foundation to helping parents guide their teenage children on how to navigate the very difficult years of adolescence, especially considering the very challenging moral environment in these times of the so-called “woke” culture.

As life expectancy has significantly been prolonged, there is an increasing role of grandparents in the upbringing of their grandchildren. That is why the Educhild Foundation has started offering Grandparenting courses that help participants in the new phase of their relationship with their children and grandchildren.

In addition to these courses focusing on the appropriate upbringing of children and grandchildren, the Educhild Foundation — borrowing from the art of management to which a good number of parents belong — has been offering for some time now workshops on Family Visioning which are aimed at helping families set a desired future state for themselves and the common values and principles that will guide them toward that vision.

Other auxiliary courses aimed at strengthening the institution of marriage are Life Endeavors and Projects (LEAP), the Married Love Course, Beyond I Do and several courses in the vernacular for the families of farmers and factory workers called Pinoy Educhild and Gabay Pamilya.

LEAP is a program for single young professionals providing principles for decision making in the different areas of life, including the decision to marry. The Married Love Course is designed for married couples who want to strengthen their marriage, deepen their personal growth, enhance their knowledge of family life, and reflect upon true and everlasting love. Beyond I Do is a fun-filled weekend of rediscovery aimed at reinvigorating and enriching the marital bond.

Another foundation established almost a half century ago is called Parents for Education Foundation or PAREF. As can be read on its website, PAREF was founded in 1976 by a group of parents who gathered to address the challenge of the integral education of their children with the twin thrust of academic excellence and sound character formation.

Inspired by the teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei, these founding parents had the strong belief that the proper education of their children is best realized through the integral formation first of parents, and secondly of teachers — the two most important agents of child education.

It is no surprise that PAREF found a great deal of synergy with the Educhild Foundation.

In no time at all, PAREF started to establish grade and high schools which adopted the educational philosophy of Parents First, then Teachers Second, and Pupils being the ultimate beneficiaries in the Third place. Since the first school for girls, called Woodrose, was established in 1979, today PAREF is a big family with 13 schools, having graduated more than 8,000 students, most of whom are already engaged in the world of work equipped with the values and virtues that were inculcated in them through the educational philosophy of “Parents First.”

Needless to say, the philosophy behind PAREF is that of the inviolability of marriage as a social institution and the family as the basic foundation of society, as enunciated in the Philippine Constitution of 1987.

All the schools of PAREF aim to give their students complete human, intellectual, cultural, moral, spiritual, aesthetic, and physical formation in an atmosphere of personal freedom and responsibility. All academic courses in the PAREF schools follow the curricula required by the Philippine Government. The schools profess and honor the values and ideals of the Filipino culture.

The religious instruction is based on the Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church. The formation offered by the PAREF schools consists of:

a. Demanding and whole-person academic program.

b. The mentoring system as the distinctive feature of personal formation and collaboration with the parents.

c. Imparting broad humanistic and cultural formation.

d. Encouraging the practice of human virtues towards the development of personal maturity, leading each person to achieve perfection in his work according to his or her ability.

There are also private initiatives sponsored by the business community. An example is the Riverbed Program supported by some members of the business community of Pampanga.

The program is addressed to some segments of the student body of the Pampanga High School, such as the club presidents, special classes in the physical sciences, specific student organizations, etc. The objectives of the Program are to form the youth as persons, responsible students, and patriotic citizens. It helps these students to make good and responsible day-to-day decisions in family and family life; friendships and social responsibility; love, courtship and marriage; and teenage lifestyle.

Each student has a personal mentor. In addition, there are four regular workshop forums in the year on current moral social issues (e.g., family structures, sexuality and sexuality education; social media and teenage lifestyle; faith and Filipino values; and special sessions on provincial and national history and culture.

(To be continued.)

 

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

American artist Feuerman aims to inspire with her Diver sculpture

INSTAGRAM.COM/CAROLEFEUERMAN

PARIS — American artist Carole Feuerman, renowned for her super-realist sculptures of swimmers and divers, has a larger-than-life work on exhibit center stage at the Olympics in Paris.

Her sculpture The Diver, made in 2011 of bronze with a black patina and a polished bronze cap, was selected out of thousands of applicants to be exhibited at the Eiffel Tower for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.

The mayor of Paris was familiar with Ms. Feuerman’s work, already having seen the work on display years earlier at a Parisian intersection.

“This is a perfect piece for the Olympics,” Ms. Feuerman said, explaining that she was inspired many years ago by diver Gareg Louganis when they met at the Swimming Hall of Fame.

“When I watched him dive, I knew I had to make a sculpture of a diver in that position, in that beautiful curve.”

The sculpture, which weighs approximately 1,200 pounds, almost didn’t make it to Paris. It is one of an edition of only three, the first of which Ms. Feuerman’s gallery sold, apparently unaware of its Olympic destiny.

Luckily, Ms. Feuerman had already started on a second one, and the foundry hurried to finish it. But it got held up in customs and missed its flight. They managed to get it on the next flight out, and two days later it was installed directly in front of the Eiffel Tower.

“The Olympics is the sport of perseverance, of integrity, trust, honesty and striving to achieve the impossible,” she said, “and I really believe that it fits in with that theme and that spirit.”

Ms. Feuerman has been making her art for more than 60 years. “In my own struggles and striving to persevere, I came up with the themes from the heart to do my own stories.”

In 2011, she founded the Carole A. Feuerman Sculpture Foundation, which fosters innovative artistic expression and the creative process by organizing fine art exhibitions that showcase the work of under-represented artists.

“I just want to be an inspiration for athletes and for young people to never give up.” — Reuters

​Igloo launches digital platform for sales intermediaries in PHL

INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY firm Igloo on Tuesday has launched digital insurance sales intermediary Ignite in the Philippines, it said on Tuesday.

“We understand that insurance is still very relationship-based in the Philippines and most insurance sales here are being facilitated in person by insurance intermediaries and brokers. The lack of technology integration or a consistent platformized approach has posed multiple challenges — most of the process is being conducted via a single insurance intermediary, single product, single insurer, leading to limited ability to earning more and referring more product,” Igloo Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Raunak Mehta said in a statement.

“By launching Ignite in the Philippines, Igloo is on a mission to help boost the efficiency and productivity of nearly 271,000 active life and nonlife insurance intermediaries in the country,” he added.

Ignite is meant to enhance sales processes, streamline client management, and improve customer service, Igloo said.

The digital platform was initially launched in Vietnam in 2022 and then in Indonesia the following year. It features 42 products across nine categories, including travel, pet, and motor protection plans from leading insurers.

Ignite features a user-centric interface for browsing, a quote system that allows for premium calculations and quote generation, secure payment processing, and team and data management tools for manual reporting and analysis.

Users can also track and report referral fees in real time directly to their bank accounts.

“Through Ignite, we are addressing these pain points by consolidating product offerings from multiple insurance companies, helping them digitalize their processes, and providing a secure all-in-one platform for all they may need as insurance intermediaries,” Mr. Mehta said.

“We see Ignite as a key product in furthering the region’s insurance penetration,” Mr. Mehta said. “Despite rapid digitization, agents remain crucial in Southeast Asia’s insurance sales. Ignite provides them with the tools and skills they need to succeed. We’re also looking to improve the app with new product offerings and features. We’ve received very positive feedback from insurers across multiple markets, especially about Ignite’s partner onboarding, management, and performance functionality, which benefits both general and life insurance sales.”

Igloo will also be launching iLearn, which will give agents access to training to improve their insurance product knowledge, technical skills, sales strategies, and customer handling skills.

To increase partner recruitment, it will also launch a microsite to provide a centralized platform for potential partners. — AMCS

Robinsons Retail Q2 net income up 36.2% on higher sales

LISTED Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) grew its attributable net income by 36.2% to P1.72 billion in the second quarter  (Q2) from P1.26 billion last year, driven by higher net sales.

Second-quarter net sales increased by 3.1% to P47.82 billion from P46.39 billion in 2023, RRHI said in a statement to the stock exchange on Tuesday.

Core net earnings for the April to June period rose by 15.3% to P1.46 billion, while operating income increased by 7.3% to P2.21 billion.

For the first half of the year, RRHI’s attributable net income surged by 3.8 times to P6.8 billion from P1.8 billion a year ago, following a one-time gain from the merger between Bank of the Philippine Islands and Robinsons Bank Corp. in the first quarter.

Net sales during the first six months grew by 3% to P93.71 billion from P90.98 billion in 2023.

“The standout segments in terms of revenue growth for the quarter were food, drugstores, and department stores,” RRHI said.

“Blended same store sales growth (SSSG) in the second quarter still rose by 0.5% even with persistent inflation while first half blended SSSG registered at 0.7%,” it added.

Core net earnings increased by 12.1% to P2.65 billion, while operating income rose by 5.5% to P4.1 billion.

“Operating income continued to accelerate relative to the top line, attributed to improvements in the sales mix, higher vendor support, and optimized costs,” RRHI said.

Robina Y. Gokongwei-Pe, president and chief executive officer (CEO), said that the company is optimistic about maintaining its earnings momentum through the latter part of 2024, driven by accelerated store openings.

She noted that the easing inflationary pressures are expected to positively impact consumer spending.

“We continue to generate earnings growth by focusing on controllable factors such as opening stores in strategic locations, enhancing our merchandise mix, and streamlining costs,” she said.

Last week, RRHI announced that Ms. Pe will step down as company president and CEO effective Jan. 1 next year. She will be replaced by Stanley C. Co, who currently serves as chief operating officer.

In turn, Ms. Pe will become RRHI’s chairman, replacing her brother Lance Y. Gokongwei, who will step down as chairman and member of the board to become board adviser.

As of end-June, RRHI has 2,401 stores consisting of 755 food stores, 1,082 drugstores, 49 department stores, 224 DIY stores, and 291 specialty stores. It also has over 2,100 franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy.

RRHI stocks dropped by 1.1% or 40 centavos to P36 per share on Tuesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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