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THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) announced on Tuesday a decision to initiate the involuntary delisting of Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. after violations were found by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“The PSE is left with no alternative except to maintain the trading suspension on Abra Mining shares and proceed with the initiation of delisting proceedings pursuant to its involuntary delisting rules,” the market operator said in a statement.
The SEC earlier imposed fines on the directors, officers, transfer agent, and certain stockholders of Abra Mining after its shares were found conducting “unauthorized and fraudulent trading” of unissued and unlisted shares from 2015 to 2019.
“Based on SEC’s statement, the violations pertain to the illegal issuance of (Abra Mining) shares and issuance of shares for a consideration less than the stock’s par value,” the PSE added.
It said that the illegal issuance of shares totaled 169.05 billion shares covering 474 stock certificates during the five-year period.
In an April 8 decision, the regulator found the company guilty of violating Section 26 of Republic Act No. 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC), and Section 61 of Republic Act No. 11232 or the Revised Corporation Code (RCC). Violators were fined at least P560 million.
“Section 26 of the SRC makes it unlawful for any person to employ any device or scheme to defraud or to engage in any act or transaction which operates as a fraud or deceit upon any person,” it said.
The SEC has authority to adjudicate complaints under FPSCPA for damages not exceeding P10 million.
“Minority stockholders of (Abra Mining) may, individually or as a group, consult their counsel and seek legal advice on available remedies under existing laws, including Republic Act No. 11765 or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FPSCPA),” it said.
The SEC also revoked Abra Mining’s registration statement and certificate of permit to sell.
In March 2021, the local bourse halted the company’s trading after it was found selling stocks beyond the number of its listed shares. — Adrian H. Halili
RENOWNED professionals will be participating in a 90-minute dance showcase through BPAD in Motion, a series of performances which spotlights original choreography by Filipino ballet dancer Tony Fabella, French-Russian ballet pedagogue Marius Petipa, and Russian instructor Vasily Vainonen. The mixed bill repertoire will include compositions in ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, and street by Nina Anonas, Gia Gequinto, Madonna Tinoy, and Mycs Villoso, along with original pieces by Benilde Experimental Dance. It will focus on the artistic abilities of 37 students from the Dance Program of the Benilde School of Arts, Culture, and Performance. BPAD in Motion will be held on April 19, 6 p.m., and on April 19, 1 and 6 p.m. Shows will be at the 6F Blackbox of the Benilde Design + Arts Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo St., Malate, Manila. Tickets are available at P350 via https://forms.gle/f6efLjvRyV8DiWP38.
IN celebration of the World Book Day on April 20, Dia del Libro, a one-day festival that celebrates reading, will be held at the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati on that day. Thousands of books will be up for grabs in the event featuring Manila’s top bookstores and publishing houses which will be selling books at a 20% discount. Following the tradition in Spain, each book purchase will come with a free rose. Visitors can also join poetry recitals, free Spanish classes, book presentations, street art, games, exhibits, storytelling sessions, Spanish food, and children’s activities. The celebration is a project of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, the Embassy of Spain, Ayala Land, and Make it Makati. Admission to all Día del Libro activities are free on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit Instituto Cervantes Manila’s Facebook page or its website: https://cultura.cervantes.es/manila/en/d%c3%ada-del-libro-2024/166509.
THE FEU Dance Company (FDC) is returning with its annual dance concert titled TAMnan: Yugto ng Pag-aani this April. Set against the backdrop of agriculture and horticulture, it will take the audience through the core stages of planting, with its title inspired by the word tamnan, which means to plant something. The concert is headed by FDC artistic director Deborah Afuang, along with folkdance coach Albert Furing. Its goal is to be a celebration of individuality through dance, but also a commemoration of the power of harvesting a culture that has been planted and continuously nurtured. The show is set for April 20, 3 p.m., at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Auditorium, Manila. Tickets for the FEU Community are P100. Tickets for other guests are P150. For more information, visit: https://feudancecompany.crd.co/#register.
CURATED by Carlomar Arcangel Daoana and co-presented by JFRII Studio, the exhibition “Mga Liham Pag-Ibig sa Lungsod” (“Love Letters to the City”) features 28 works from artists Jowee Aguinaldo, Candice Arellano, Jonas Arlegui, RC Caringal, Rap Carloto, Kendall Colindon, Sarah Conanan, Art De Leon, Eugene Dominguez, Joseph Fraylon, Kim Gaceja, Gamalinda, Siefred Guilaran, and Mark Hernandez. The show is an ode to the shared metropolitan experience. It will be on view from April 19 to May 5 at the ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum Annex, Makati Ave. corner De La Rosa St., Greenbelt Park, Makati City.
THE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has announced the start of the 19th GSIS National Art Competition 2024. The contest welcomes entries for three categories: representational, nonrepresentational (abstract), and sculpture. The GSIS will be giving cash prizes from P50,000 to P500,000 for winning entries. This year’s theme is “Bagong Pilipinas” (Rise Philippines). Eligible participants, aged 18 and above, may submit one original artwork in one category only. The deadline for submission of entries is July 6. For more details, visit the GSIS website and GSIS Museo ng Sining official Facebook page.
FROM traditional crafts elevated with modern sophistication to innovative expressions inspired by ancient rituals, the “Heritage in Bloom” exhibition at the Alliance Française de Manille (AFM) Gallery aims to celebrate Philippine heritage and creativity. The show will have interactive displays and live demonstrations of botanical printing, spinning, and weaving, represented by three local heritage brands: Maison Métisse, Artifeks, and Kanya. The exhibit opens on April 18 and runs until May 18 at the AFM Gallery, 209 Nicanor Garcia St., Makati City.
THOSE planning to watch Buruguduystunstugudunstuy: Ang Parokya ni Edgar Musical can pair their musical theater fix with a dining experience. Newport World Resorts is offering an exclusive Watch & Dine double feature that takes guests from the theater stage to the S Kitchen Buffet spread at Sheraton Manila Hotel inside the Newport complex. The ticket bundle is good for two buffet vouchers and two theater tickets. Prices start at P10,999 and are available at the Epic Rewards Shop website: https://shop.newportworldresorts.com/entertainment.html. The show runs from April 27 to May 7 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Pasay City.
THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has announced new appointments to its Board of Trustees, namely Isidro A. Consunji, Jonathan Velasco, Felix “Monino” Duque, Gizela M. Gonzalez, and Carissa Coscolluela. The new appointees will join the other trustees, namely chairman Jaime C. Laya and Junie del Mundo, who were reappointed by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., and interim trustees Maria Margarita Moran-Floirendo and Marivic del Pilar, to “lead the CCP in fulfilling its vision to be the leading institution for arts and culture in the Philippines,” according to the board’s official statement.
SILVERLENS has announced that “Rigodon,” Imelda Cajipe Endaya’s inaugural exhibition at the gallery, will be opening this April. Her abstracts from the mid-1970s will reveal a side of the artist that embraces play, experimentation, and joy, as part of her decades-long search for Filipino identity. At the same time, Silverlens will also present Stephanie Comilang and Simon Speiser’s collaborative exhibit “Piña, Why is the Sky Blue?” Previously exhibited in the UK and Canada, the exhibit is a “techno-feminist vision of a future in which ancestral knowledge and new technologies converge,” as seen in a video/virtual-reality installation and speculative documentary that features footage shot in the Philippines and Ecuador. Both shows open on April 26 and run until May 25 at the Silverlens Gallery, 2263 Don Chino Roces Ave. Extension, Makati City.
Playwright Floy Quintos and director Dexter M. Santos’ latest collaboration is Grace, a new play based on a religious controversy in 1948. Produced by Stella Cañete-Mendoza and Juliene Mendoza, it is based on the true story of Sr. Teresita “Teresing” Castillo, then a novice nun, who claimed that the Virgin Mother appeared to her in the convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Lipa, Batangas. The cast features Stella Cañete-Mendoza, Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Frances Makil-Ignacio, Missy Maramara, Matel Patayon, Leo Rialp, Dennis Marasigan, Nelsito Gomez, Jojo Cayabyab, and Raphne Catorce. Grace will run every Saturday and Sunday from May 25 to June 16, with shows at 3 and 8 p.m., at the PMCS Blackbox Theater in Circuit, Makati. Tickets are available via Ticket2Me. For inquiries, e-mail grace.spotlight.2024@gmail.com.
THE GOVERNMENT rejected all bids for the reissued 20-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it auctioned off on Tuesday as investors asked for higher yields amid signals of delayed rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) did not accept any tenders for its offer of P30 billion in reissued 20-year bonds on Tuesday despite total demand reaching P37.555 billion, higher than the amount on the auction block.
Had the Treasury made a full award, the bonds, which have a remaining life of 14 years and nine months, would have fetched an average rate of 6.987% as tendered yields ranged from 6.8% to 7.299%.
This average rate is 39.4 basis points (bps) higher than the 6.593% quoted for the papers when they were last offered on Nov. 22, 2023 and 23.7 bps above the 6.75% coupon fetched for the series.
It is also 18 bps above the 6.807% seen for the same bond series and 21.5 bps higher than the 6.772% quoted for the 15-year bond at the secondary market before Tuesday’s auction, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates data provided by the Treasury.
“Participants requested for higher rates today after BSP Governor Remolona hinted of domestic policy rate cuts in early 2025 rather than the initially expected cuts in late 2024. This knee-jerk reaction has likely compelled BTr to reject bids for today due to lingering uncertainty on near-term central bank policy expectations,” a trader said in an e-mail on Tuesday.
The window for the Philippine central bank to start reducing the key rate in the second half of 2024 is narrowing as the risk that inflation may breach its target for a third straight year rises, according to BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr., Bloomberg reported.
“The upside risks have become worse than before, and that’s the reason we’ve stayed hawkish,” Mr. Remolona said in an interview on Monday at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Manila. “The policy rate is on the tight side. So by being hawkish, what we mean is we will stay where we are,” he said.
Monetary easing will more likely begin in the first quarter of 2025, and the cuts won’t be “huge” — just enough to bring the benchmark closer to the neutral rate of about 6% from the current 6.5%, the governor said.
As things stand, the odds are “over 56%” that inflation may breach the BSP’s 2%-4% target again this year and “that’s a reason to be hawkish,” Mr. Remolona said. “That has to change significantly before we decide to cut,” he said.
“Things have gotten worse in terms of inflation. So yes, if the trend continues, it won’t happen this year,” the governor said of the rate cut.
An escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict that could impact global oil supplies is a potential risk to the Philippine economy, Mr. Remolona said. The Southeast Asian nation imports nearly all of its fuel needs and is among the world’s top buyers of rice.
The BSP last week kept its target reverse repurchase rate unchanged at a near 17-year high of 6.5% for a fourth straight meeting.
The central bank hiked borrowing costs by a cumulative 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023 to help bring down elevated inflation.
Headline inflation picked up to 3.7% in March from 3.4% in February. This was slower than the 7.6% clip in the same month last year and marked the fourth straight month that the consumer price index was within the central bank’s 2-4% target.
For the first quarter, headline inflation averaged 3.3%, below the BSP’s baseline forecast of 3.8% and risk-adjusted forecast of 4%.
T-bond rates rose amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.
The BTr is looking to raise P195 billion from the domestic market this month or P75 billion from Treasury bills and P120 billion via T-bonds.
The government borrows from local and foreign sources to help fund its budget deficit, which is capped at 5.6% of gross domestic product this year. — A.M.C. Sy with Bloomberg
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ROME — The return of water to Rome’s ancient baths of Caracalla after more than 1,000 years was greeted on Friday by ballet dancers performing on a platform over a newly installed pool.
One of the largest thermal complexes ever built, the baths were begun by Emperor Septimius Severus in 212 AD and completed four years later by his successor Caracalla. The ruins are now a popular tourist destination and host concerts and theater.
This month local authorities unveiled a project to re-introduce water to the site, installing a large, shallow pool which reflects the towering walls of the ancient buildings.
The pool, dubbed the Specchio, or mirror in Italian, is a rectangular structure 42 meters by 32 meters and 10 cm deep, designed by architects Hannes Peer and Paolo Bornello.
It is meant to evoke the so-called Natatio, the largest of the several pools in ancient Roman baths, usually found at the center.
“Water, an element that has been absent for more than 1,000 years, returns in a decisive yet respectful way to the ruins,” Mirella Serlorenzi, the site’s director, said.
The installation, which is fitted with submerged water jets and lighting effects, is part of a broader project by Rome’s cultural authorities to make the city’s ancient sites more similar to how they were originally conceived.
Friday’s opening show by Aterballetto, choreographed by Iratxe Ansa e Igor Bacovich, will be the first of a string of dance, theater, and classical music performances to be hosted in Caracalla this spring and summer. — Reuters
TENSIONS between the Philippines and China over competing maritime claims have added to pressures on the peso that has slumped to a seven-month low, and “an escalation would be a big concern” for investors, according to the Southeast Asian nation’s central bank chief.
“There’s a risk whenever there’s an incident in the Philippine sea, the peso depreciates a bit,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said in an interview on Monday, in possibly the first official confirmation that the escalating South China Sea dispute is already manifesting in the markets.
“A few of the episodes of peso weakness came right after” incidents in the disputed waters, Mr. Remolona said. The BSP had been looking at the correlation between the currency and the sea spat over the past year and noticed a mild negative impact on the peso during encounters between Philippine and Chinese vessels, he said. Much of the pressure is due to a strong dollar, he added.
The peso touched a two-month low against the dollar on March 25 after a weekend clash between Philippine and Chinese ships where a Filipino boat was damaged and some of its crew members were injured when two Chinese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons at it.
Still, Mr. Remolona said the central bank has hardly intervened in the currency market in recent weeks and that he’s comfortable with current levels.
“If the peso is weakening along with other currencies, then we don’t really try to intervene,” he added.
The central bank’s intervention strategies have changed, Mr. Remolona said, after it spent billions of dollars from its reserves when the peso plunged to a record low of 59 against the dollar in September-October 2022.
When asked about the BSP’s support level for the peso, Mr. Remolona said “there are support levels, and there are support levels.”
He described 57 as a “weak support level,” meaning it’s not a key level that authorities are looking at. — Bloomberg
(Part 2)
On March 16, the UA&P academic authorities awarded some 20 agribusiness executives with certificates of participation in the six-month Agribusiness Executives Program described in the first article of this series. I was asked to give some remarks to the graduating executives who completed six months of online and face-to-face sessions of lectures, case discussions, live-in workshops, and field trips related to their management responsibilities as executives of agribusiness enterprises, large and medium-sized. I was glad to see among the graduates some top and middle-level executives working not only for the large companies, but also self-employed entrepreneurs engaged in farming, transport and logistics, trading and agribusiness financing.
I am reproducing here the remarks I made which I am now addressing to all Philippine and foreign managers and entrepreneurs involved in some way or another with the Philippine agribusiness sector.
I started by reminding them of what the strategic planning process that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. must have gone through with his high-level board of advisors, composed of the most experienced businesspeople in the Philippines in food security. I know a good number of them and am impressed with the quality of these private sector advisors. I am also gratified to see evidence that President Marcos Jr. not only has chosen the most experienced and successful agribusiness advisors but also actually listens to their advice, as can be seen from his initial successes in moving the agricultural sector forward.
The year 2023, his first full year as President, saw the reversal of the negative experiences of the last five or six years of the Philippine economy as regards agricultural production. In the six years preceding the Marcos Jr. Administration there was no year in which agricultural production did not drop during one or more quarters. In contrast, in 2023, there was not a single quarter in which we saw a decline in agricultural production as a whole. In fact, the whole 2023 saw a small increase of 1.2% in annual agricultural production. Because of the large investments being made by both the public and private sectors in agribusiness, I see the great possibility that from 2024 to 2028, we can expect an annual growth rate of at least 3% in agricultural production, boosting the chances that the Philippine GDP can see accelerated growth at 8% annually in the last years of the Marcos Jr. Administration.
On his part, Secretary of Agriculture Francis Tiu Laurel — a hands-on and street-smart executive — is well qualified to carry out the primary responsibility of helping the small farmers and fisherfolk improve their meager incomes by providing them with better infrastructure and more inputs to improve their productivity. The role of the public sector today in agriculture is mainly geared towards the most important goal of poverty reduction while that of the private sector is the significant increase in productivity through the strategies described below.
To help the graduating executives identify very specific ways in which they can fully support through their agribusiness operations what the officials led by President Marcos Jr. would like to attain during their term in office, I simulated for them (and for all the agribusiness managers and executives who are reading this article) the strategic planning process which I surmise the President, his advisers, and Department of Agriculture staff must have gone through to make agriculture one of the economic engines of growth of the Marcos Jr. Administration. The Vision is easily stated as “A Philippines that is food-secure.” The Mission is to increase the productivity of all the factors of production used in the agricultural sector: land, labor, and capital through the appropriate entrepreneurial and innovation activities of both the public and private sectors.
I also know for a fact that the four strategic directions identified by the President, working with his advisors from both the public and private sectors, are farm consolidation, product diversification, digitalization, and industrialization. These were the strategies contained in the Transition Report given to the President by the former Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar. It was providential that one of my co-speakers in the “Graduation ceremonies” of the AEP participants was agribusiness expert, Dr. Fermin Adriano, who served as Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and Research under Secretary Dar. Dr. Adriano was one of those primarily responsible for formulating that Transition Report received by President Marcos Jr. from former Secretary Dar.
Land consolidation refers to undoing some of the harm done by the failed agrarian reform program of past Philippine Presidents. Although the intention to provide each farmer with a small-sized farm he could call his own was a good one, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Unlike in our neighboring countries like Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam in which land fragmentation was aggressively accompanied by the building of farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, and the provision of such inputs as farm credit, fertilizers, pesticides, etc., Philippine small farmers were left completely on their own after they received their small farms and thus ended even poorer than before.
At least when the large landowners monopolized the ownership of land, they provided their tenants with the necessary inputs and facilities to make their farms productive.
Today, it would be imperative to re-consolidate some of the millions of hectares of land through cooperativism or the nucleus estate model to reach the necessary economies of scale needed for increased land and labor productivity. This land consolidation is especially urgent in the coconut sector which represents some three million hectares of farmland. With significantly improved productivity of land in coconut farming, a good portion of these three million hectares can be diverted to other high-value crops as described below.
Product differentiation refers to replicating the success story of pineapples and bananas in providing both the domestic and export markets with these high-value fruits which are increasingly in demand as a country transitions from being a low-middle income economy to a high-middle income economy.
China, even with a much reduced population because of very low fertility rates resulting from very aggressive birth control programs in the past, will have huge demand for high-value products like fruits, vegetables and livestock as most Chinese join the middle class, which will happen in the next decade or so, even if the Chinese GDP growth has slowed down significantly. We could be one of the potential suppliers of these food products to China, as Vietnam and Thailand already are.
Like Malaysia, we should have not put all of our resources in trying to be self-sufficient in rice but rather diversified into many other high-value crops like coffee, cacao, avocado, mango, durian, palm oil and other high-value crops. We can use the revenues from exporting these products (together with bananas and pineapples) to import whatever rice we cannot cost-effectively produce from Thailand and Vietnam that have a great cost competitiveness in producing rice because of their almost unlimited supply of water from their ocean-like rivers. As an archipelago, the Philippines can never accumulate as much water as these two ASEAN neighbors of ours.
The other strategic directions adopted by this present Administration in the agricultural sector are digitalization and industrialization. By the first, we mean the application of all forms of IT or digital technology at the various links of the agribusiness value chain, from using drones and robots in farming to digitalizing warehousing, storage, logistics, and transport, to the use of data analytics in retailing and marketing. Industrialization means avoiding as much as possible the export of raw materials. If we are going to produce a lot of cacao or coffee beans, for example, let us go all the way to the finished products of chocolate candies and coffee drinks. We already have some anecdotical examples of chocolate candies manufactured from cacao beans produced in Bohol or Mindanao that can equal the quality of European chocolate products. What we have to do is to scale up these MSMEs to the equivalents of Nestlé and Hershey’s.
(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.
AYALA-LED ACEN Corp. has secured a $150-million green term loan from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Singapore Branch (SMBC) through its subsidiary ACEN Renewables International.
“This strategic financial move is in line with ACEN’s ongoing efforts to finance investments in renewable power projects across the region,” the energy company told the local bourse on Tuesday.
The loan has a tenure of five years and was arranged by SMBC, which serves as both lender and green loan coordinator, the company said.
Through the loan, the energy company seeks to expand into several key international markets, including Australia.
“This benchmark deal not only lends support to our momentum in expanding our international business, but is also a testament to the faith our banking partners place in our ability to execute on our vision,” ACEN Group Treasurer Cecile T. Cruzabra said.
“This facility is a strategic addition to ACEN’s portfolio of Green Financings aimed at fulfilling our contribution to achieving Net Zero commitments,” she added.
Zia Azeez, head of renewables, utilities, and infrastructure sector of Sector Banking Asia, said: “This financing is a continuation of our partnership with ACEN across multiple renewable projects in the region, commencing with their first overseas project in Indonesia some years back.”
“We look forward to continuing this journey with ACEN as they march towards 20 GW (gigawatts) of green power by 2030,” she added.
To date, ACEN has around 4,800 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in operations and under construction across its key markets in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
ROME — A black-walled dining hall with 2,000-year-old paintings inspired by the Trojan War has been discovered during excavations at the Roman city of Pompeii, authorities said last week.
The size of the room — about 15 meters long and six meters wide — the quality of the frescoes and mosaics from the time of Emperor Augustus, and the choice of characters suggest it was used for banquets, Pompeii Archaeological Park said.
“The walls were painted black to prevent the smoke from the oil lamps being seen on the walls,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, head of the park, said.
“People would meet to dine after sunset, and the flickering light of the lamps had the effect of making the images appear animated, especially after a few glasses of good Campanian wine.”
Pompeii and the surrounding countryside was submerged by volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius exploded in AD 79, killing thousands of Romans who had no idea they were living beneath one of Europe’s biggest volcanoes.
The site has seen a burst of archaeological activity aimed at halting years of decay and neglect, largely thanks to a €105-million ($112 million) European Union-funded project.
The dominant theme of the newly discovered paintings is heroism and fate.
One fresco depicts Paris and Helen, whose love affair caused the Trojan War, according to classical accounts. Another one shows doomed prophetess Cassandra and the Greco-Roman god Apollo.
According to Greek mythology, Cassandra predicted the Trojan War after receiving the gift of foresight from Apollo, but no-one believed her. This was because of a curse Apollo put upon her for refusing to give herself to him. — Reuters
LISTED food and beverage kiosk operator Fruitas Holdings, Inc. recorded a 37% increase in its consolidated net income to P113 million in 2023 from P82 million in 2022, led by higher revenues across its subsidiaries.
The company’s revenues rose by 37% to P2.47 billion in 2023 from P1.8 billion in 2022, Fruitas Holdings said in a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday.
Fruitas attributed the higher revenues to the same-store sales growth and expansion of its e-commerce business.
“Revenue growth was broad-based across our subsidiaries, led by Balai ni Fruitas and Fruitasgroup. Balai ni Fruitas is anchored by Balai Pandesal, while Fruitasgroup houses our beverage brands. We also completed the acquisition of Ling Nam in March 2023, which significantly contributed to our revenue growth and profitability,” it said.
Fruitas saw a 42% increase in its gross profit to P1.49 billion from P1.05 billion in 2022. Gross profit margin also rose to 60.5% from 58.5% in 2022.
Fruitas has 817 stores as of end-2023, up by 44 from the 773 stores recorded as of end-2022.
The company’s brands include Fruitas Fresh from Babot’s Farm, Buko Loco, Balai Pandesal, Buko ni Fruitas, De Original Jamaican Pattie, Johnn Lemon, Juice Avenue, Black Pearl, Friends Fries, Sabroso Lechon, Ling Nam, and Fly Kitchen.
On Tuesday, Fruitas Holdings shares dropped by 1.28% or one centavo to 77 centavos. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
The much-awaited trilateral summit among the Philippines, United States, and Japan finally took place last Thursday, April 11, at the White House in Washington DC. The top-level meeting could not have happened at a better time — just when the Philippines is facing increasing aggression from China in the West Philippine Sea.
On the day before the summit, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and United States President Joseph Biden met and agreed to strengthen their security and economic partnership. During the one-on-one, President Biden reaffirmed the ironclad commitment of the US to the defense of the Philippines, as embodied in the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951.
Moreover, Mr. Biden requested the incorporation of an additional $128 million for infrastructure projects in the nine sites of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement for fiscal year 2025. Five sites were originally designated in 2016, but four more were added last year. The additional funding will enable the sites to become hubs for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other crisis responses.
During the summit proper, the three leaders issued a joint statement that it was a gathering of equal partners united by the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order. Together with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Mssrs. Biden and Marcos expressed serious concerns on the increasingly aggressive behavior of China in the West Philippine Sea.
Japan and the US reiterated their support for the Philippines’ 2016 victory before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Security and stability in the West Philippine Sea, they said, has direct effects on the economic security of the Indo-Pacific region.
Meanwhile, China has continued to dismiss the arbitral body’s decision and its jurisdiction over it, even as it is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It has also used different tactics in justifying its acts in the West Philippine Sea, twisting the Philippines’ legal victory and the basis for such, even modifying its claim of a nine-dash line into a 10-dash line.
During the summit, President Marcos Jr. called the United States and Japan our friends and partners.
On the following day, the US and the Philippines held an inaugural 3+3 meeting, consisting of the top State/Foreign Affairs, Defense, and National Security officials of the two countries. US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro, and National Security Advisor Eduardo M. Año discussed the situation in the South China Sea and underscored the interest to increase support for the modernization of the Philippines’ armed forces.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In these perilous times, complicated by the situation in the Middle East, what does such a summit mean for the Philippines and for its people?
First, we have the US’ and Japan’s word. There have been countless instances where these like-minded nations and their leaders have expressed their commitment to the rules-based order. But now that there is an actual case of threat and doublespeak from China, which is even claiming to abide by the law, it is reassuring to think that the lofty principles we speak of will be put into practice. We are, indeed, in good company.
Of course, we will not stop at mere pronouncements and reiteration. Concrete actions such as increased assistance or joint activities are all tangible manifestations of our friends’ commitment.
This is not about any single player, or the supremacy of one power or two or several. Rather, what we are asserting is the supremacy of the rules-based international order that every nation, big or small, commits to uphold.
The Philippines is proud to belong to the community of nations that recognizes the supremacy of international law and lives by the values that ensure balance, security, respect, and prosperity. This community will certainly not tolerate any attempt to upset the order.
Citizens of all nations have the right to security, to sleep soundly at night, trusting that their way of life would not be disrupted or that they would wake up to find their territory usurped by another country.
Economic security is just as important, because without the assurance that they would have enough to eat or have all their basic needs covered, people will also not feel safe enough to go about their daily existence. Thus, support in the form of investments from other countries will go a long way in generating a virtuous cycle that upgrades infrastructure, empowers people, improves their quality of life, and gives them dignity.
Finally, while there are numerous multifaceted threats, traditional, nontraditional, and emerging, that confront the Indo-Pacific region, the more important thing is that there are also numerous avenues for cooperation to address and meet these threats head-on.
The just-concluded trilateral summit gives us reason to be optimistic, albeit with caution. We are always grateful for our friends and partners.
Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.
