Home Blog Page 1805

Plastic Bank eyeing to expand operations in PHL

CANADA-BASED for-profit social enterprise Plastic Bank said it is looking to expand its operations in the Philippines.

“We have branches that operate in Palawan, and we’re also exploring setting up branches in Cebu and now we’re exploring operating also in Mindanao,” Plastic Bank Regional Vice-President Asia Pacific Rene Guarin said during a media roundtable on Wednesday.

Plastic Bank builds recycling systems wherein collection members can exchange plastic collected for perks such as health insurance, grocery vouchers and school supplies.

“Each plastic collection is recorded using its blockchain-supported platform, ensuring a verified plastic collection journey from collection branches to processors and providing incentives for communities,” Plastic Bank said.

The company has 206 active branches spread across Metro Manila, North Luzon, and South Luzon. It operates in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, and Cameroon.

Plastic Bank offers an “impact subscription,” a monthly contribution that ensures the collection of a pre-set amount of plastic bottles by its collection communities.

“With our blockchain platform and the newly launched Impact Subscription model, we empower businesses to integrate sustainability and social impact seamlessly,” Plastic Bank Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Katz said.

“It’s time to redefine success and embark on a journey where business isn’t just about making money but making a meaningful difference,” he added.

According to Plastic Bank, subscribing to its impact subscription “positions brands among purpose-driven market leaders.” 

It enables the participants to align their businesses “with ethical practices that significantly boost consumer loyalty and enhance brand equity.” — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Roman Polanski acquitted by French court in defamation trial

Roman Polanski in a scene from the 1994 film A Pure Formality. — IMDB

PARIS — A French court on Tuesday acquitted film director Roman Polanski of defaming British actress Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of raping her when she was a teenager.

Ms. Lewis, 56, alleged in 2010 that the Franco-Polish director had sexually abused her at his Paris apartment in 1983 when she was 16 after she had traveled to the French capital for a casting session. She starred in his 1986 film Pirates.

She sued for defamation after Mr. Polanski called her allegations a “heinous lie” in a 2019 interview with Paris Match magazine.

Paris Match also wrote that Mr. Polanski cited a quote attributed to Ms. Lewis in a 1999 interview she gave to the News of the World, in which she allegedly remarked: “I wanted to be his mistress …I probably desired him more than he did me.”

Ms. Lewis disputed the quote’s accuracy.

Mr. Polanski’s lawyer Delphine Meillet hailed the verdict as “an important day for free speech and for defense rights.”

“Today a court said: yes, one can challenge accusations,” she said.

Ms. Lewis said she would appeal the verdict.

“I feel sad and let down. It’s a sad day for women and men. But it’s not over. We are going to appeal,” a tearful Ms. Lewis said.

The Polanski verdict came as this year’s Cannes Film Festival gets under way amid speculation about potentially explosive #MeToo allegations against a string of actors and directors.

Mr. Polanski, director of classic films like Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, The Pianist, and Carnage, fled California for Europe in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl but before being formally sentenced.

After the #MeToo movement gained global traction in 2017 following sexual abuse allegations against US film producer Harvey Weinstein, several women alleged that Mr. Polanski had sexually assaulted them as teenagers.

Mr. Polanski has consistently denied the allegations which never went to trial, but he has since found it hard to secure global distribution deals for his movies, even if actors are still lining up to work with him.

In 2020, Mr. Polanski won best directing for his film An Officer and a Spy at the Cesars, prompting several women in the audience walking out in protest at honoring a man facing rape accusations. — Reuters

Morong launches NGA 911 command center

THE local government unit (LGU) of Morong, Rizal is now equipped with Next Generation Advanced 911 (NGA 911) emergency response technology through a command center launched last week.

“The creation of Morong, Rizal Emergency 911 Command Center has arisen on our utmost desire to effectively and efficiently respond to emergencies and crisis situations,” Morong Mayor Sidney B. Soriano said during the May 6 launch event.

He said it aims to enhance emergency responses, improve location accuracy, authority coordination, integration of surveillance systems, and access to real-time reports.

The NGA 911 hotline allows LGU residents to directly call and text trained dispatchers 24/7 to report disasters, accidents, and medical emergencies, among others.

A group of personnel is assigned to take calls as trained dispatchers that coordinate with authorities, such as the Philippine National Police for crime prevention, and medical and rescue services for the Bureau of Fire Protection.

It took a year to install the NGA 911 command center and an allocated P3.5 million in their 2022 budget, Mr. Soriano said.

As power and signal outages are common during climate disasters, NGA 911 ensures that its infrastructure is built on several redundancies and even uses Starlink, NGA Philippines Country Head Robert Andrew Llaguno said.

“That’s three circuits. When its first circuit fails, it will be on auto fail-safe. If everything falters and the communication system is down, our design will have the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Morong, Rizal to be the last base standing,” he said.

Mr. Llaguno said the NGA 911 Call Handling System can identify the location of the caller within a five-yard radius.

It is powered by Internet of Things capabilities to allow interaction beyond regular devices like smartphones and desktops. CCTV streams, GPS location and other early warning devices are also integrated.

Currently, the technology is currently used to monitor calls and awaits telecommunication companies to terminate sending the 911 calls to Morong’s command center, Mr. Llaguno said.

The project is a partnership between Morong’s LGU and NGA Philippines, the local subsidiary of multinational corporation NGA 911, LLC headquartered in the US, to provide emergency communication and public safety services.

After Morong and Asia, NGA Philippines aims to replicate the use of the short code in the country, aligned with former President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Executive Order No. 56, which institutionalized 911 as the emergency hotline and nationwide emergency answering point, replacing Patrol 117.

“Hopefully, the first 100 local government units adopt it — highly urbanized and component cities, as well as some first-class, second-class municipalities — and then it cascades slowly,” Mr. Llaguno said.

Meanwhile, Rizal Governor Nina Ricci Alcantara Ynares-Chiongbian said she is optimistic about the Call Handling System’s wider implementation, as it can also be helpful for criminal cases. — A.R.A. Inosante

[B-SIDE Podcast] Staying safe in the sun: tips on preventing heat-related illnesses

Follow us on Spotify BusinessWorld B-Side

The Philippines has a wet season and a dry season, or so the saying goes. Given the predictability of summer, in particular, what measures can Filipinos take to protect themselves from the heat?
In this B-Side episode, BusinessWorld speaks with Dr. Albert Francis E. Domingo, the Department of Health spokesperson, on how to both spot the symptoms of – and prevent – heat-related illnesses.

Interview by Patricia Mirasol

Editing by Jino Nicolas and Arjale Queral

Follow us on Spotify BusinessWorld B-Side

Information overload

FREEPIK

JUST FROM our social media groups of classmates, neighbors, organization members, hobby mates, and relatives, we already get all sorts of information including gossip and fake news handed from group to group. The handset has become not just a tool for communications but the reservoir of information from photos to blogs. Where is all this information going? What do we do with it?

When dealing with information overload, screening becomes a matter of survival. Some focus is applied on what posts to read, books to pick up, and streaming data to pay attention to. Even with short blogs and video clips (TikTok has contributed its share in the downpour) and the hits and passes they elicit, selectivity is essential.

Maybe, we can follow the rules of small talk. After all, it is in the exchange of personal details in an informal setting where the expression “too much information” has come from. This disdain for details, especially in private matters like intimate relationships of couples splitting up, or office politics in a particular company can be liberating. TMI is code for — can you change the topic or find another seatmate?

When dealing with the data fog, screening is essential. There is an implicit plea then to provide just sufficient information to keep conversation flowing, without sacrificing interest and overwhelming the listener with unnecessary details — she was wearing a tight headband under her helmet.

The best efficiency is achieved when specific information is requested. (What’s his real name?) If one needs to confirm the gravity of someone’s illness or the present employment status of an associate, the reply is brief and to the point. (I really don’t know.) Such a straightforward search elicits specific information. This may entail googling the source and wording of a quotation, the status of an elderly celebrity, or the top hit song of a particular year.

Focusing on common interests guides small talk. Would you discuss office politics and the perfidy of associates or impossible KRA’s being foisted on you by your boss with your cousin from Sydney in a family reunion? He couldn’t care less about your career challenges, or even successes. In small talk, we need to instinctively avoid imposing on the attention span of the other party. Maybe gossip on other relatives and effective ways to avoid diabetes may be more engaging.

In social media groups, is small talk limited to common interests? Even defining what is common to the group is a challenge. Classmates go their separate ways and hold very different beliefs.

Posts wander off into international subjects in the current news, like the war on Gaza, the increased provincial enrollment of a certain nationality of students with short hair, and religious miracles and various conspiracies to suppress supernatural phenomena. If the performance of the equity market comes up, for example, it is enough for the conversation to meander into what the Fed is up to and when the reduction of interest rates is likely to happen.

The best way to handle information overload is to simply ignore what does not interest us. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it needs to be digested or even browsed. Like packing for a vacation, needs determine the clothes and items to bring to avoid taking along too much and being weighed down by too many towels.

Still, the functional use of information only applies to surfing the computer or the smart phone. The pragmatic approach to information can be discernment, especially when it comes to fake news (he fainted twice in his office) and conspiracy theories — there are foreign gardeners even in military camps.

However, an avid reader is prepared to be surprised and delighted with areas of knowledge some may consider worthless like stoicism, behavioral economics, or landscape architecture which is supposed to be the oldest profession. We should not be deprived of the joys of understanding how the Roman Empire was ruled, the lessons from the 2008 sub-prime loan crisis, and the progress of the Ukraine invasion.

Information which serves no immediate practical use can still be put in mental storage. Data which turns knowledge into wisdom is never wasted. From some remembered lines from Robert Frost, I may in old age finally understand that… “I have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.”

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Philippines slips in 2024 Chandler Good Government Index

THE PHILIPPINES’ ranking in a global good governance index dropped four spots to 67th out of 100 countries — its worst showing in three years — as it scored lower in several indicators including leadership and foresight. Read the full story.

 

Philippines slips in 2024 Chandler Good Government Index

Alliance Global Group Q1 profit declines 10% on higher expenses

ANDREW L. Tan-led holding company Alliance Global Group, Inc. (AGI) saw a 10% decrease in its first-quarter attributable net income to P4.2 billion from P4.7 billion last year due to higher expenses.

“Higher input costs, marketing expenses, and interest charges, as well as unrealized foreign exchange losses capped profitability,” AGI said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday.

AGI’s first-quarter revenues rose by 1% to P50.6 billion from P50.3 billion last year.

Megaworld Corp. took up 37% of revenue, followed by Emperador, Inc. at 26%, Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC) at 23%, and Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc. at 14%.

“First-quarter results remained driven by the surge in real estate sales, and healthy contribution from quick service restaurants and tourism-related businesses which benefitted from resilient discretionary spending,” AGI said.

AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld Corp. saw an 8% increase in its first-quarter attributable net income to P4.4 billion as revenue climbed by 16% to P18.9 billion.

“Residential segment continued to benefit from sustained housing demand and higher project completion due to increased construction activity,” AGI said.

Liquor manufacturer Emperador saw a 25% drop in its attributable net income to P1.7 billion. Revenue fell by 16% to P13.1 billion.

“Brandy sales were weighed down by continued shift to value brands amid prevailing high domestic inflation. Whisky sales were affected by changes in sales mix as global demand for spirits turned soft,” AGI said.

GADC, the master franchise holder of fast food giant McDonald’s in the Philippines, saw a 19% increase in its attributable net income to P0.5 billion. Systemwide-sales rose by 13% to P19.5 billion.

“Sustained improvement in system-wide sales supported by continued product promotions, expanded store count and resilient discretionary spending,” AGI said.

Meanwhile, Newport World Resorts owner and operator Travellers International saw a 97% drop in its net income to P0.1 billion as gross revenue fell by 13% to P9.2 billion.

“AGI maintains its optimistic outlook for the rest of the year, supported by its sound business strategies and superior product/service offerings,” AGI said.

On Wednesday, AGI shares improved by 1.25% or 12 centavos to P9.70 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Senate OK’s anti-financial account scamming bill on second reading

THE SENATE on Wednesday approved on second reading a bill seeking to impose tougher penalties on those using financial accounts to commit crimes.

Under Senate Bill No. 2560, or the proposed Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) filed by Senator Mark A. Villar, individuals found guilty of money mule schemes would face jail time of at least six years and a fine as much as P500,000.

Those found guilty of fraud face jail time of as many as 12 years and a fine of not more than P1 million.

Individuals found guilty of economic sabotage face life imprisonment and a fine of at least P1 million but not more than P5 million.

At Wednesday’s plenary session, Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel proposed an amendment entailing the civil forfeiture of all properties and other non-liquid assets of individuals involved in cases of economic sabotage, which Mr. Villar, the bill’s sponsor and author, accepted.

The release of these assets will be done only by order of a local court, Ms. Hontiveros said, noting that the amendment was crafted in consultation with the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The Supreme Court will be tasked to craft rules on carrying out the proposed provision, which would include releasing a portion of the assets to the DoJ that would be used for support and protection for human trafficking victims, the senator said.

“This amendment is being proposed to address the difficulties currently being encountered by our government bodies targeting large-scale trans-national scamming syndicates that usually operate on the backs of human trafficking victims,” she told the Senate floor.

“The victims rescued after a raid the complex, run in the thousands per scam complex, and government lacks resources and capacity for operations and assistance.”

The measure is one of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council’s priority bills of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s administration.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in January said the bill, which the House of Representatives has already approved, would help address the rise in crimes involving banks, e-wallets, and other types of financial accounts. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

Alice Munro, Canadian Nobel Prize-winning author, 92

INSTAGRAM.COM/MCCLELLANDSTEWART

OTTAWA — Nobel Prize-winning Canadian writer Alice Munro, whose exquisitely crafted tales of the loves, ambitions, and travails of small-town women in her native land made her a globally acclaimed master of the short story, has died at the age of 92, her publisher said on Tuesday.

Ms. Munro had died at her home in Port Hope, Ontario, said Kristin Cochrane, chief executive officer of McClelland & Stewart.

“Alice’s writing inspired countless writers … and her work leaves an indelible mark on our literary landscape,” she said in a statement.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing family members, said Ms. Munro had died on Monday after suffering from dementia for at least a decade.

Ms. Munro published more than a dozen collections of short stories and was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.

Her stories explored sex, yearning, discontent, aging, moral conflict, and other themes in rural settings with which she was intimately familiar — villages and farms in the Canadian province of Ontario. She was adept at fully developing complex characters within the limited pages of a short story.

“Alice Munro was a Canadian literary icon. For six decades, her short stories captivated hearts around Canada and the world,” Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said on the X social media network.

Ms. Munro, who wrote about ordinary people with clarity and realism, was often likened to Anton Chekhov, the 19th century Russian known for his brilliant short stories — a comparison the Swedish Academy cited in honoring her with the Nobel Prize.

Calling her a “master of the contemporary short story,” the Academy also said: “Her texts often feature depictions of everyday but decisive events, epiphanies of a kind, that illuminate the surrounding story and let existential questions appear in a flash of lightning.”

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. after winning the Nobel, Ms. Munro said, “I think my stories have gotten around quite remarkably for short stories, and I would really hope that this would make people see the short story as an important art, not just something that you played around with until you’d got a novel written.”

Her works included: Dance of the Happy Shades (1968), Lives of Girls and Women (1971), Who Do You Think You Are? (1978), The Moons of Jupiter (1982), Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001), Runaway (2004), The View from Castle Rock (2006), Too Much Happiness (2009), and Dear Life (2012).

The characters in her stories were often girls and women who lead seemingly unexceptional lives but struggle with tribulations ranging from sexual abuse and stifling marriages to repressed love and the ravages of aging.

“Last month I reread all of Alice Munro’s books. I felt the need to be close to her. Every time I read her is a new experience. Every time changes me. She will live forever,” leading Canadian author Heather O’Neill said in a post on X.

Ms. Munro’s story of a woman who starts losing her memory and agrees to enter a nursing home titled “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” from Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, was adapted into the Oscar-nominated 2006 film Away From Her, directed by fellow Canadian Sarah Polley.

‘SHAME AND EMBARRASSMENT’
Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, writing in the Guardian after Ms. Munro won the Nobel, summarized her work by saying: “Shame and embarrassment are driving forces for Munro’s characters, just as perfectionism in the writing has been a driving force for her: getting it down, getting it right, but also the impossibility of that. Munro chronicles failure much more often than she chronicles success, because the task of the writer has failure built in.”

American novelist Jonathan Franzen wrote in 2005, “Reading Munro puts me in that state of quiet reflection in which I think about my own life: about the decisions I’ve made, the things I’ve done and haven’t done, the kind of person I am, the prospect of death.”

The short story, a style more popular in the 19th and early 20th century, has long taken a back seat to the novel in popular tastes — and in attracting awards. But Ms. Munro was able to infuse her short stories with a richness of plot and depth of detail usually more characteristic of full-length novels.

“For years and years, I thought that stories were just practice, ’til I got time to write a novel. Then I found that they were all I could do and so I faced that. I suppose that my trying to get so much into stories has been a compensation,” Ms. Munro told the New Yorker magazine in 2012.

She was the second Canadian-born writer to win the Nobel literature prize but the first with a distinctly Canadian identity. Saul Bellow, who won in 1976, was born in Quebec but raised in Chicago and was widely seen as an American writer.

Ms. Munro also won the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 and the Giller Prize — Canada’s most high-profile literary award — twice.

Alice Laidlaw was born to a hard-pressed family of farmers on July 10, 1931, in Wingham, a small town in the region of southwestern Ontario that serves as the setting for many of her stories, and started writing in her teens.

Ms. Munro originally began writing short stories while a stay-at-home mother. She intended to someday write a novel, but said that with three children she was never able to find the time necessary. Ms. Munro began building a reputation when her stories started getting published in the New Yorker in the 1970s.

She married James Munro in 1951 and moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where the two ran a bookstore. They had four daughters — one died just hours after being born — before divorcing in 1972. Afterward, Ms. Munro moved back to Ontario. Her second husband, geographer Gerald Fremlin, died in April 2013.

Ms. Munro in 2009 revealed she had undergone heart bypass surgery and had been treated for cancer. — Reuters

Overseas Filipinos’ Cash Remittances

MONEY SENT HOME by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in March recorded its slowest pace of growth in nine months, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed. Read the full story.

 

Overseas Filipinos’ Cash Remittances

How PSEi member stocks performed — May 15, 2024

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.


PHL gross gaming revenue up 18.5% in first quarter — PAGCOR

PHILIPPINE STAR/KRIZ JOHN ROSALES

THE Philippines’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) rose 18.5% year on year to a record P81.7 billion in the first quarter, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the gaming regulator said the first quarter total was nearly on pace to hit the full-year GGR target of P336 billion.

“The latest GGR is another new record, sustaining an upward trend for the gaming industry since the post-pandemic recovery started in the last quarter of 2022,” it said.

PAGCOR said that the bulk of first-quarter revenue was generated by licensed casinos, which raised P49.7 billion, though this was 8.2% lower year on year.

Meanwhile, e-games revenue surged 543% to P22.5 billion.

“The e-games revenue performance continues to exceed our projections, and this reflects how gaming technology and the proliferation of mobile devices is influencing not only our daily lives but our entertainment choices as well,” PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alejandro H. Tengco said.

Revenue from PAGCOR-operated casinos under its Casino Filipino brand dropped 8.6% to P4.69 billion.

PAGCOR said this was due to the “challenge faced by the segment as more players continue to migrate to online platforms.”

Meanwhile, bingo revenue fell 21.5% to P4.81 billion. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson