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GCash extends scan-to-pay services to more countries

ELECTRONIC WALLET giant GCash is expanding its scan-to-pay services and other cross-border mobile payment and digitalization solutions to more countries.

“We want to make sure every Filipino can maximize their GCash account wherever they are across the world,”  GCash said in a media release on Monday.

“We are glad to strengthen our long-standing partnership with Alipay+ and expand GCash’s capabilities and services to more destinations in Asia and all over the globe,” it added.

GCash users can now make cashless transactions through its expanded partnership with Alipay+, a cross-border mobile payment and digitalization solution operated by Ant International.

With the expanded partnership, users can utilize its scan-to-pay feature in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), bringing the total markets to 45, GCash said.

GCash’s scan-to-pay features allow transactions with no service fee and low foreign exchange rates, it said.

GCash expects to exceed the valuation of its parent company Globe Telecom, Inc.

G-Xchange, Inc., which operates GCash, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc. (Mynt).

In July, Mynt secured fresh investments from Ayala Corp. and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, more than doubling its valuation to $5 billion from $2 billion in the 2021 funding round.

The company is also considering listing overseas while it is taking a “wait-and-see” stance on its initial public offering locally. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Yields on Treasury bills rise before BSP meeting

BW FILE PHOTO

THE GOVERNMENT fully awarded the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered on Monday amid strong demand and even as yields climbed across all tenors as investors sought to lock in higher returns ahead of an expected Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rate cut this week.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P20 billion as planned from the T-bills it auctioned off on Monday as total bids reached P51.735 billion, more than twice as much as the amount on offer. This was also higher than the P38.5 billion in tenders seen the previous week.

Broken down, the Treasury borrowed P6.5 billion as programmed from the 91-day T-bills as tenders for the tenor reached P21.415 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.444%, 3 basis points (bps) higher than the 5.414% recorded last week, with bids ranging from 5.4% to 5.5%.

The government also made a full P6.5-billion award of the 182-day securities, with bids reaching P11.92 billion. The average rate of the six-month T-bill stood at 5.668%, up by 19.4 bps from the 5.474% fetched last week, with accepted bid yields at 5.48% to 5.8%

Lastly, the Treasury raised P7 billion as planned via the 364-day debt papers as demand for the tenor totaled P18.4 billion. The average rate of the one-year debt went up by 8.3 bps to 5.623% from the 5.54% quoted last week, with accepted rates ranging from 5.6% to 5.674%.

At the secondary market before the auction, the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills were quoted at 5.0431%, 5.4469%, and 5.6166%, respectively, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL) Reference Rates data provided by the Treasury.

“The higher tendered T-bill rates today reflected the mixed market expectations on the BSP policy decision this week. In anticipation of this rate cut, investors rushed to secure better short-term rates,” a trader said in an e-mail on Monday.

The BSP will likely cut benchmark interest rates by 25 bps for a second straight meeting on Wednesday to continue its easing cycle amid an improving inflation outlook, analysts said.

A BusinessWorld poll conducted last week showed that 16 out of 19 analysts expect the Monetary Board to reduce borrowing costs by 25 bps at its policy meeting on Oct. 16 to bring the target reverse repurchase rate to 6% from the current 6.25%.

On the other hand, two analysts expect the BSP to cut by a bigger 50 bps this week, while one sees the BSP keeping rates unchanged.

The Monetary Board began its easing cycle with a 25-bp cut in August, marking the first time it reduced borrowing costs in nearly four years.

Analysts said slowing inflation strengthens the case for another rate cut this week.

Philippine headline inflation sharply slowed to 1.9% year on year in September from 3.3% in August and 6.1% a year ago.

This was below the central bank’s 2%-2.8% forecast for the month. It was also the slowest in over four years or since the 1.6% in May 2020.

For the first nine months, inflation averaged 3.4%, matching the central bank’s full-year forecast and also falling within its 2-4% annual target.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. earlier said the Monetary Board could slash benchmark rates by a total of 50 bps this quarter via two 25-bp cuts at its last two meetings for the year.

“T-bill average auction yields again corrected higher for the second straight week and are now unusually higher than the comparable PHP BVAL yields amid a weaker peso exchange rate,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

The peso closed at P57.205 per dollar on Friday, strengthening by 15.5 centavos from its P57.36 finish on Thursday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed. However, week on week, the peso sank by 91 centavos from its P56.295 finish on Oct. 4.

The dollar index was just above 103 and closing in on last week’s peak, its highest since mid-August, on the back of traders reducing bets on further jumbo rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve at its remaining meetings this year, Reuters reported.

Traders have priced out any chance of a 50-bp rate cut from the Fed in November after data last week showed consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in September and recent economic releases have also underscored strength in the labour market.

Mr. Ricafort added that the repricing of Fed rate cut bets also caused T-bill yields to rise on Monday.

On Tuesday, the Treasury will offer P15 billion in reissued 10-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) with a remaining life of six years and nine months.

The BTr is looking to raise P145 billion from the domestic market this month, or P100 billion via T-bills and P45 billion through 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 this year. — A.M.C. Sy with Reuters

It’s getting harder to study fake news

JORGE FRANGANILLO-UNSPLASH

RESEARCHERS who study misinformation are confronting a new problem: public scorn. And it’s not just in the form of online trolling. These scientists are losing funding, watching their research centers close down, and getting barraged with subpoenas.

Given the rapid changes to news, social media, and information sharing, you’d think there’d be more support for studying how people learn about the world. Instead, critics are wrongly conflating their work with censorship.

In the New York Post, for example, a story hammered a group of psychologists as concocting “fake science” to justify censorship. It’s easy to see why their paper, published last week in the journal Nature, hit a nerve. The researchers found that conservatives shared more information from low-quality news sites on social media than liberals did.

While the idea of news quality sounds subjective and prone to bias, the scientists didn’t make that judgment themselves. The researchers asked three groups to weigh in: professional fact checkers, a politically mixed group of laypeople, and a group of Republicans. Each group determined what was a high-quality source (a news organization that mostly gets it right, but can sometimes make mistakes) or a low-quality one (a publisher that tends to make things up out of whole cloth). After each group determined what counted as low-quality news, the team looked at who typically shared that type of news. Each time, they found that extreme partisans on both sides were more likely to share this misleading content. And each time, those on the far right contributed more garbage to the information effluent.

The study doesn’t justify censorship of conservative views, although it does offer an explanation as to why right-wing social media accounts are more likely to be suspended. It shouldn’t be attacked just because it’s offending people. That flies in the face of the spirit of free inquiry.

Edward Tenner, a historian and lecturer on technology and culture, explained to me that the pushback against the paper could be what’s known as reactance — a tendency for people, when told they’re wrong, to double down. Stirring up antipathy is always going to be an occupational hazard for people who study misinformation, rumors, pseudoscience, and quackery.

Adding to that is the problem that many people don’t mind lies — they only abhor lies spread by their political opponents. In a recent article in The Ohio Capital Journal, Minjae Kim, an assistant professor of management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, called this acceptance of certain lies “moral flexibility.” Citing recent research he collaborated on, he wrote that some supporters of former President Donald Trump recognized that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, but justified Trump’s claims to the contrary because they believed “the political system is illegitimate and stacked against their interests.”

And people on the left didn’t seem upset with President Biden’s erroneous 2021 claims that people vaccinated against COVID couldn’t spread the disease to others. That had been the hope, of course, but the Delta variant had already shown that not to be the case. Partisans may have considered Biden’s statement acceptable, though, reasoning that because the vaccines had the power to save lives, the details didn’t matter.

Tenner considers the relevance here of the Italian saying, “Se non è vero, è ben trovato” — even if it is not true, it is a good fabrication, or good story. That’s attributed to 16th century philosopher Giordano Bruno who had some forward-thinking ideas … and was burned at the stake.

The expression might describe the way JD Vance reacted to Donald Trump’s statement that immigrants in Ohio were eating cats and dogs. There were no documented incidents of such activity, but Vance attempted justify the rumor by saying that it called attention to problems surrounding immigration.

These kinds of wild stories are the very type social media algorithms tend to amplify with the help of foreign intelligence agencies and automated “bot” accounts. Yet there are ways to moderate the information stream other than taking things down.

“Part of the research that we’re doing right now is to develop models so that we can evaluate intended and unintended consequence of different moderation schemes,” said Filippo Menczer, a professor of informatics and computer science at Indiana University. But he said these efforts have gotten much harder due to political attacks. Meta and X have also restricted data access to many researchers.

Instead of deleting posts or “shadow banning” users who express non-mainstream views, social media companies can fight incorrect or disputed information with additional information. In dynamic areas such as science and medicine, moderation should be transparent because fact-checkers have mistaken legitimate minority opinion and insightful dissent for misinformation. In some tests, the crowdsourcing-based “community notes” feature on X helped diffuse medical misinformation.

Picking fights with scientists won’t make our information problems disappear. A more consistent view for those who are pro-free speech and anti-censorship would be to embrace free inquiry into our information ecosystems — and to applaud those who scrutinize the algorithms that influence what we think and how we vote.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial set for May

Sean “Diddy” Combs on the talk show Late Night with Seth Myers. — IMDB

NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs will stand trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges starting on May 5, a US judge decided during a hearing on Thursday, and the jailed hip-hop mogul blew kisses to his family in the courtroom afterward.

During the hearing before US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court, Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo also raised concerns about what he termed improper leaks by federal agents about the case. Prosecutor Emily Johnson called the claim baseless.

Mr. Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 to a three-count indictment charging him with using his business empire — including record label Bad Boy Entertainment — to transport women and male sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs.”

Thursday’s hearing marked the third court appearance for Mr. Combs since his September arrest.

Wearing tan prison garb, Mr. Combs stood and blew kisses toward his family members seated in the courtroom’s audience after the hearing ended. His mother and children attended the hearing, defense lawyer Anthony Ricco said in court. Mr. Combs was then led out a side door by members of the US Marshals Service.

Ms. Johnson told the court the prosecution’s case at the trial will last at least three weeks. Mr. Combs’ defense case will last around one week, Mr. Agnifilo said.

Mr. Combs has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest. The Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied his request to be immediately released while he appeals another judge’s decision to deny him bail. A three-judge 2nd Circuit panel will hear that appeal at a later date.

The rapper and producer faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of the three counts he faces: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Prosecutors said Mr. Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support or promises of career support, or a romantic relationship. Mr. Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.

The indictment contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of physically assaulting them. Mr. Agnifilo has called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.

In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr. Agnifilo asked Subramanian to impose a “gag order” prohibiting prosecutors and federal agents from disclosing evidence to the media. Mr. Agnifilo cited what he called unlawful leaks that included a videotape showing Mr. Combs striking and dragging a woman in 2016.

At the hearing, Ms. Johnson called the defense request an attempt to “exclude a damning piece of evidence.” She said prosecutors would have no problem affirming their obligations not to disclose confidential evidence to the press, but said the defense should be bound by that as well.

Ms. Johnson also raised concerns about Mr. Agnifilo’s statement in a September interview with entertainment news outlet TMZ calling the case a “takedown of a successful Black man.” She said the comment amounted to an accusation that the government was “engaging in a racist prosecution.”

“Statements of this sort seriously risk a fair trial in this case,” Ms. Johnson said.

Mr. Subramanian asked Mr. Agnifilo to propose an order that would govern public statements by both sides. — Reuters

PLDT teams up with Hong Kong-based HGC to boost data center connectivity

EPLDT.COM

PLDT Inc., through its unit VITRO, Inc., has tapped HGC Global Communications Ltd. to help enhance data center connectivity in the Philippines, the Pangilinan-led telecommunications company said on Monday.

“This strategic partnership will unlock new possibilities for VITRO and further expand our reach through HGC’s global network,” VITRO Chief Commercial Officer Gary F. Ignacio said in a statement.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, HGC is a fully-fledged fixed-line operator and ICT service provider.

The tie-up between HGC and VITRO — a subsidiary of ePLDT, Inc. — aims to provide digital infrastructure to meet the growing demand for faster and more efficient data center connectivity.

The partnership will also expand HGC’s services to VITRO Sta. Rosa, ePLDT’s 11th data center, by providing connectivity and telecommunications services to hyperscalers and enterprises co-locating at VITRO Sta. Rosa.

“This partnership creates an ecosystem that will enable HGC to further expand its data center connectivity and reinforce its position in the Philippines’ rapidly growing technology and digital infrastructure landscape,” the company said.

To date, PLDT, through its subsidiary ePLDT, has 11 data centers, including the 50-megawatt hyperscale data center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

In August, its parent firm said that it hopes to conclude the sale of ePLDT to a new foreign entity for more than $1 billion after dropping its negotiation with Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

At the local bourse on Monday, shares in PLDT fell by P8, or 0.53%, to close at P1,502 apiece.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Central Luzon’s real estate potential: Tilted to the upside

ALFRED VALENCIA

CENTRAL LUZON remains a major economic center outside of Metro Manila. Its property market has substantially evolved over the past few years with national players seizing opportunities by aggressively land banking in the region. We see tremendous upside potential for its real estate market. Outside of residential, we see opportunities for office and industrial sectors.  This dynamism should be supported by vital public projects due to be implemented beyond President Ferdinand R. Marcos’ term.

Comprising of Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, and Aurora, Central Luzon is perhaps best known for its excellent culinary tradition; its vast expanse of farmlands, which earned it the nickname “Rice Granary of the Philippines”; the secluded coves of Zambales and Bataan, which are popular weekend destinations; and the adventure spots of Baler and the rest of Aurora. But aside from these, Central Luzon is also an economically buoyant regional hub with significant contributions to the national economy.

Central Luzon accounted for 13% of total overseas Filipino workers deployed in 2022. In our view, this is likely to ensure that the region’s economy will continue to be sustained by remittances from Filipinos working abroad.  What’s also interesting is that the central Luzon region accounted for 13% of residential loans granted by Philippine banks in 2023, up from 8% in 2019. This indicates continued rise in central Luzon residents’ appetite for residential units whether for end use or investment.

CENTRAL LUZON  ATTRACTS LARGE BPO PLAYERS
Talent availability remains to be the top consideration of outsourcing firms. Bulacan, Pampanga, and Tarlac produce about 15,000 graduates annually, according to the Commission on Higher Education.  This makes central Luzon a fertile ground for the business process outsourcing (BPO) expansion outside of the capital region.

Latest Colliers Philippines data showed that areas outside of the national capital region covered 21% of office space deals closed in the first half of 2024. This translates to about 122,000 square meters (sq.m.) of office space transactions during the period. Metro Manila accounted for the remaining 79% or about 459,000 sq.m. of office space deals. Pampanga remains one of the most active after recording 36,000 sq.m. of office space transactions during the period. Some of the notable BPO companies already in Pampanga include iQor, Asurion, Concentrix, and Cloudstaff. Other major outsourcing players in central Luzon include Foundever in Tarlac, TaskUs in Bulacan, and Emapta in Benguet.

Pampanga continues to dominate in terms of supply of high-quality office space and is ready to accommodate BPO companies that are on expansion mode.  From 2025 to 2026, among the buildings due to be completed are Four and Five West Aeropark campuses, 5 Workplus by Filinvest Land, and Pasudeco Tower 1 by Megaworld.

A COMPETITIVE INDUSTRIAL HUB
The Department of Trade and Industry is actively promoting Central Luzon as a manufacturing and logistics hub, highlighting growth opportunities in Pampanga, Bataan, and Tarlac. For instance, foreign industrial locators have expressed willingness to invest in New Clark City. These businesses are involved in logistics, e-commerce, light manufacturing, and data center operations. In our opinion, the development of New Clark City (NCC) in Capas will likely spur business opportunities in Central Luzon. The NCC is being primed as one of the major business districts north of Metro Manila. This also shows that industrial players have options outside of Clark Freeport in Pampanga. This should result in further diversification of central Luzon’s industrial landscape.

Colliers believes that the operation of the newly modernized  Clark International Airport should further raise the attractiveness of Central Luzon for more manufacturing and logistics investments. The development of the Manila-Clark Railway should also spur growth in the region. A cargo railway should further stoke central Luzon’s competitiveness as an industrial zone in Luzon.

PUMP-PRIMING CENTRAL LUZON  PROPERTY THRU INCLUSIVE INFRA
Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge will be built over Manila Bay and will reduce travel time between Bataan and Cavite from five hours to just 30 minutes once completed. Construction is expected to start in 2025 with full operations projected beyond 2028. The Bulacan International Airport is a 2,500-hectare, P736 billion ($15.3 billion) aviation hub with three modern passenger terminals, four runways, and eight taxiways, which will serve as an alternative airport to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The airport project is expected to be completed by the end of 2028. Meanwhile, Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) aims to cut travel time from Quezon City to Bulacan from two to three hours to 35 minutes. MRT-7 can accommodate 300,000 passengers during its first year of operation and may reach 850,000 in its 12th year. Another project that will complement these is the Central Luzon Link Expressway,  a 66.4-kilometer road project that will connect Tarlac City and San Jose, Nueva Ecija. As I previously stressed, these should further raise land and property prices in the region.

Central Luzon is primed for more property investments and these should excite residents and investors in the years to come!

 

Joey Roi Bondoc is the director and head of Research of Colliers Philippines.

joey.bondoc@colliers.com

PBCom looks to raise at least P2 billion from maiden bond issuance

BW FILE PHOTO

PHILIPPINE BANK of Communications (PBCom) is looking to raise at least P2 billion though its first offering of peso-denominated bonds, it said on Monday.

“Philippine Bank of Communications announces the public offering of its maiden peso bond issuance, with an initial size of P2.0 billion with an oversubscription option,” the lender said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

“Proceeds from this bond issuance will be utilized for general corporate purposes, including refinancing debt obligations, diversifying funding sources and supporting loan growth,” PBCom said.

The Series A bonds have a tenor of one-and-a-half years and carry a fixed interest rate of 6.076% per annum.

They will be issued out of PBCom’s P15-billion bond program, which was approved by its board in March.

The bond offer period began on Monday and is set to run until Oct. 28, unless ended earlier by the bank.

The Series A notes are expected to be issued and listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. on Nov. 5, PBCom said.

PBCom appointed ING Bank N.V. Manila Branch as the sole arranger and bookrunner for the transaction. ING Bank will also serve as a selling agent for the bonds along with PBCom.

Development Bank of the Philippines’ Trust Banking Group was appointed as trustee for the offering.

PBCom’s net income grew by 16.08% year on year to P532.3 million in the second quarter amid higher revenues.

This brought its net earnings for the first half to P1.03 billion, up by 2.85% from the same period in 2023.

PBCom’s shares were last traded on the stock exchange on Oct. 10, closing at P15.20 each. — A.M.C. Sy

NEA, Batelec, Nordeco and other electric cooperatives

One of the more wasteful agencies in the government, one that needs an endless subsidy from Philippine taxpayers, is the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

Consider these points:

1. In 2020 alone, taxpayers nationwide sent P12.9 billion to NEA, then another P2 to P3 billion/year from 2021 to 2025. The NEA subsidy, on average, is larger than the annual budget of its mother agency, the Department of Energy (DoE), and at least three times the annual budget of the Energy Regulatory Commission (see the table).

2. The NEA is sending billions in taxpayers’ money to inefficient, if not failing, electric cooperatives (ECs) which are in need of capital expenditures (capex) or working capital, short-term (S-T) credit, etc. See these reports from the NEA website itself: “NEA Loans to ECs Reached P1.2 Billion in 2022” (Feb. 18, 2023), “NEA Loans Extended to ECs Exceed P1-Billion for 2023” (Jan. 11, 2024), “27 Electric Cooperatives Access Loans Worth P1.28-Billion — NEA” (Sept. 26, 2024).

In 2022, 35 ECs used up P1.2 billion of the NEA’s subsidy — P561 million for capex loans, P506 million for calamity loans, and P10 million for the S-T credit facility. In 2023, 28 ECs used up P1 billion plus of the subsidy — P475 million for capex loans, P465 million for working capital, and P63 million for S-T credit. And this year, up until August, 27 ECs used up P1.28 billion — P780 million for capex loans, P482 million for working capital, P13 million in calamity loans.

3. The NEA is a political institution that gives political patronage to ECs, which are allowed to incur system losses of up to 12% which are passed on to the consumers while private distribution utilities (DUs) are capped at 6% in system losses. That 6% difference between the two could be hundreds of billions of pesos yearly in additional payments by consumers in the provinces.

There is no “market failure” in electricity distribution to justify this continued patronage. I have argued in the past for the abolition of the NEA someday, and that all ECs should become corporations, monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and not entitled to any taxpayer subsidy.

TWO CASE STUDIES OF INEFFICIENCIES
Let us look at the Batangas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Batelec) I and II.

Consider the Ganire sa Batangas Facebook page which listed regular blackouts by Batelec 1 on Oct. 8, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.; Oct. 9, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Malvar; Oct. 11, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and on Oct. 13, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

I read a statement, “Batangas Mayors issue resolution, officially back Meralco-Batelec I joint venture.” It mentions many mayor-members of The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) — Batangas Chapter. They passed and issued a resolution supporting a joint venture between Meralco and the EC to help stabilize the power supply in the area. Signatories include the mayors of Agoncillo (Cinderella V. Reyes), Nasugbu (Antonio Jose A. Barcelon), San Luis (Oscarlito M. Hernandez), Calaca (Sofronio Leonardo C. Ona, Jr.), Calatagan (Peter Oliver M. Palacio), Sta. Teresita (Norberto A. Segunial), Taal (Fulgencio I. Mercado), Lian (Joseph V. Peji), and Tuy (Jose Jecerell C. Cerrado). Some 72% of the population of the Batelec I franchise area also support improvement of the power supply and the avoidance of frequent and prolonged blackouts.

The mayors declared that they “urge Batelec I’s management and Board of Directors to actively engage with Meralco executives and representatives to explore potential partnership opportunities, ensuring that such collaboration prioritizes the protection of employment for current Batelec I workers, enhance electric services and commit to providing transparent and regular updates on the progress of partnership.”

Meralco Senior Vice-President and Chief External and Government Affairs Officer, Arnel Casanova, said that “We welcome this development. This is an acknowledgment that we are one with LMP-Batangas in the mission to provide reliable and affordable electricity for the consumers. It is urgent and important that our partnership with Batelec I is equally supported by the stakeholders so we can all move forward with credible solutions. Meralco is positioned to lend technical expertise and infuse capital to Batelec I to jointly provide better service to Batanguenos.”

I also saw a Facebook video post of the chairman of the Batangas Forum and former Tanauan mayor, Francisco Lirio. He lamented that in the 47 years of Batelec presence in the province, there is little and very slow improvement in its services, saying that the problems before are still the problems today, and that he welcomes a joint venture between Meralco and Batelec II.

Rep. Joey Salceda, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, emphasized in a statement that “Meralco provides the most reliable service among all major electric cooperatives and distribution utilities (EC/DUs), with outages suffered by the average consumer totaling to mere minutes in an entire year, versus days’ or weeks’ worth of blackouts for other neighboring EC/DUs.”

Good luck, people and local leaders of Batangas. Your province is rich — it had a provincial GDP of P671 billion in 2022 which is among the top 10 in the Philippines, but it is lower than Laguna’s P1.023 trillion and Cavite’s P780 billion. The whole of Cavite and portions of Laguna are under the Meralco franchise area. A good power supply at competitive prices can spur more growth, and more businesses and jobs, in a province.

Then there is the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco).

Last week at the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Franchise, legislators questioned Nordeco over its repeated failure in delivering quality and reliable power to consumers within its franchise area, and opposed the planned expansion of the franchise coverage area of Davao Light and Power Co. which includes 16 municipalities and two cities in Davao del Oro and Davao del Norte.

Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Rep. Margarita I. Nograles argued that Nordeco’s arguments were just repeated, and that private DU Davao Light, which has a good track record, is willing to improve the reliability of the power supply to the consumers in the area.

Rep. Gustavo Tambunting of Paranaque’s 2nd District, the panel chairman, said that the committee had given enough time to Nordeco: “so much leeway has been given, and it has been a very transparent and open hearing.”

Rep. Cheeno Miguel Almario of Davao Oriental’s 2nd District corroborated the suffering of the consumers from “terrible electricity.”

Many ECs were formed through the forced merger, consolidation, and nationalization of private DUs. A friend told me that one Visayas-based private energy corporation alone lost two utilities in Ormoc and Jolo, and lost Dipolog and Dumaguete franchises.

Franchising was devolved from being a purely legislative prerogative and was granted to the NEA. Construction and development loans to ECs pre-EPIRA or during the 1990s have interest rates of 3% a year, while operating loans, mostly unpaid bills to NPC, are charged 7%. Plus, they pay no taxes and enjoy subsidies. So, it is ironic that some ECs want to be protected from private DUs when they were created at the expense of the private DUs in the past.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. Research Consultancy Services, and Minimal Government Thinkers. He is an international fellow of the Tholos Foundation.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Live Nation wants ticket resale prices capped after Oasis issues

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC. Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino predicted the British band Oasis will be the biggest concert tour of the year in 2025, but said surging sales of tickets on the secondary market illustrate the need for the US Congress to step in and regulate the industry.

“Multibillions” of robots targeted the tickets for the band’s upcoming tour when they went on sale, Mr. Rapino said. Other ticket sellers immediately began offering seats at higher prices. He urged government officials to regulate the business by capping ticket resale prices at a 20% markup.

“You shouldn’t have a middleman that has nothing invested in the business make any money from it,” he said.

Mr. Rapino spoke on Wednesday evening at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles. His company, the world’s largest concert promoter, is often the target of complaints from fans over the difficulty in getting tickets to shows from artists like Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, as well as the prices of the tickets.

Also adding to Live Nation’s pains, it was sued last year by the US Justice Department and a group of states for allegedly monopolizing the concert ticket business. According to the complaint, the company’s Ticketmaster platform, the largest concert ticket sales site in the US, exercises power over performers, venues and promoters, narrowing the options for artists and forcing consumers to pay more in fees.

Mr. Rapino said he believed the company will win the case, which he attributed to overaggressive antitrust enforcement.

“We’re a 2% margin business, so we must be the dumbest monopoly alive,” Mr. Rapino said. “We give 90-plus percent of the door to the artist.”

Mr. Rapino has served as CEO of Live Nation since 2005, a period when the company acquired other local concert promoters and in 2010 merged with Ticketmaster. Among the music festivals Live Nation oversees are Lollapalooza, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Napa’s BottleRock.

Sales at Live Nation surged as venues reopened after the pandemic and consumers looked to get out and see shows again. Revenue last quarter rose 7% to more than $6 billion and operating income climbed 21% to $466 million. The company said it sees no signs of a slowdown.

Mr. Rapino said he tried to talk the Irish band U2 out of playing at the new Sphere theater in Las Vegas because he was afraid the globe-shaped venue with screens all around would make some concertgoers nauseous.

“I said to Bono, ‘My job isn’t to figure out what can go right. It’s what can go wrong,’” Mr. Rapino said.

Ultimately, the band opened the new venue to multiple sold-out shows.

“We sat there opening night and it was fabulous,” Mr. Rapino said. — Bloomberg

Engkanto Brewery goes solar with AboitizPower

THE NEW SOLAR ENERGY system is expected to generate 130,293 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in its first year of operation and a total of approximately 2.6 million kWh over the 20-year contract term with APx.

ABOITIZPOWER Distributed Renewables, Inc. (APx), a unit of Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower), has installed 97.09-kilowatt-peak solar panels at the brewing facility of Engkanto Brewery in Carmona, Cavite.

The construction of the solar project started earlier this year, and the system was tested and commissioned by the second quarter of 2024, the company said in a statement on Monday.

“We are happy to help our partner, Engkanto Brewery, create enjoyable drinking experiences and in the process, power their facilities more sustainably,” said James Byron Yu, first vice-president and head of retail of AdventEnergy.

APx is part of the solutions arm of AboitizPower retail unit Advent Energy, Inc.

Engkanto Brewery’s new solar energy system is expected to generate 130,293 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in its first year of operation and a total of approximately 2.6 million kWh over the 20-year contract term with APx.

APx said that the solar panels will provide renewable energy supply to their operations, “significantly reducing the brewery’s reliance on conventional energy sources, decreasing their carbon emissions, and bolstering their commitment to eco-friendly practices.”

“This marks an important chapter in our mission to brew quality beers while supporting environmental sustainability,” said Ian Paradies, founder of Engkanto Brewery.

“We believe that embracing renewable energy is not only beneficial for the environment but also sets an example for other businesses in the craft beer and manufacturing industries,” he added.

The beverage firm was originally in Makati but later moved to its larger facility in Cavite. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Architects push Filipino identity in modern builds

COCONUT PALACE, CCP Complex, Pasay City — WIKIMEDIA.ORG

By Edg Adrian A. Eva

ORIGINAL Filipino food like the globally acclaimed adobo opens up a world of flavors, much like how fashion brings to mind iconic Filipino pieces like the Barong and Terno that showcase Filipino heritage and have even been featured at international fashion events. However, Filipino architecture presents a more complex discussion, with some Filipinos questioning whether notable Filipino architecture, like the “Bahay Kubo” and “Bahay na Bato,” stands as uniquely Filipino or merely a blend of external influences.

But a more pressing question surfaced during the event of Ashton Design Dialogues titled “Facades of the Future,” which addressed how modern buildings in business hubs like Makati and Taguig often follow the global trend of sleek glass structures, seemingly leaving behind elements of Filipino identity. For some of the country’s renowned architects, a growing shift toward embracing modern Filipino architecture and incorporating it into new structures is now happening.

“There is such a dynamism and vitality in Philippine design right now, and even clients are responding positively when you would like to make an impact not just on the façade but the entire architecture and materials as well,” Cathy S. Saldaña, a Filipino architect said during the event. Ms. Saldaña is renowned for her expertise in island and resort development. She defines modern Filipino architecture by incorporating modern tropical design elements.

The integration of light and air in architecture enhances the mood through natural light while balancing natural light and artificial ventilation, thereby creating an effective combination of passive cooling technologies and artificial cooling.

“You can also have that outdoor feel that atmosphere of plants, bamboo all that is strongly Filipino. All that is ‘maaliwalas’ into your home or your building,” Ms. Saldaña said. Ms. Saldaña also told BusinessWorld that modern Filipino architecture draws inspiration from nature or other Filipino thumbmarks, reflecting elements such as the embroidered fabric of the Barong, the patterns created by tides on sandy shores — as being an archipelagic country — and even motifs from the Philippine flag.

“We are seeing the uniqueness of facades, the Filipino character already,” she added. The Philippines is gaining increasing attention in the global architectural scene, Ms. Saldaña noted, and this recognition is expected to grow as current design leaders forge change in the architectural landscape and instill a strong commitment among future architects. “Our skylines will be better, we will have more parks, more open spaces, and better urban designs because the stalwarts of design right now are pushing for it strongly,” she said.

Ms. Saldaña said that more needs to be done, such as bolstering education related to Filipino architecture, to ensure that the Filipino identity is preserved and that more Filipinos take pride in their heritage.

Pru Life UK launches new investment-linked product

PRU Life Insurance Corp. of UK Philippines (Pru Life UK) has launched a new investment-linked insurance product available for a limited time, it said on Monday.

“Pru Life UK introduces its latest investment-linked insurance product, PRUMillion Flex. This limited-time offer allows customers to pay premiums over just two years through various payment modes, giving them flexibility to manage their finances more effectively,” the life insurer said in a statement.

“We listened to our customers’ needs for a product that offers short-term payment with potential long-term gains. This inspired us to create PRUMillion Flex. With flexible payment options, high premium allocation, access to expertly-managed funds, and substantial coverage, customers can start building their million coverage in just two years,” Pru Life UK Vice-President and Chief Product Officer Garen U. Dee said.

PRUMillion Flex has a minimum annual premium of P250,000 and gives customers access to a range of managed funds.

“PRUMillion Flex combines flexibility, financial protection, and investment potential… The high premium allocation to the investment component can potentially grow wealth faster,” Pru Life UK said.

The product provides a death benefit coverage of five times the annual premium or 105% of the fund value, whichever is higher.

“Customers can still get 105% of the fund value once the policy reaches maturity at 85 years old as long as the insured is alive,” it said.

Clients can choose to pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.

“PRUMillion Flex is perfect for those who prefer short payment terms and avoid a significant one-time payment; those who are looking for alternative ways to grow their wealth… PRUMillion Flex addresses the growing demand for financial solutions that ensure both wealth security and growth, at a flexible pace,” the insurer added.

Pru Life UK has over 170 branches and general agency offices in the Philippines, with a life insurance agency force of more than 38,000 licensed agents.

It booked a premium income of P46.19 billion and a net income of P4.36 billion in 2023, data from the Insurance Commission showed. — A.M.C. Sy

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