PARIS — French comedy The Second Act will open this year’s 77th Cannes Film Festival, the organizers said on Wednesday.
The movie, whose original French title is Le Deuxieme Acte, is a comedy road-trip movie directed by Quentin Dupieux. It features Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, and Louis Garrel among its star actors.
This year’s Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14 to May 25. — Reuters
THE BOARD of Rockwell Land Corp. has approved a P5-billion term loan facility with BDO Unibank, Inc. to fund its projects, the listed property developer announced on Thursday.
The loan will have a term of up to ten years, Rockwell Land said in a disclosure.
“The proceeds of the loan will be used to fund capital expenditures, land acquisitions, and other investments,” the company said.
The latest loan funding of Rockwell Land with BDO comes after the company’s board approved a P5-billion loan facility with Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. in January.
The loan has a term of up to seven years and will be also used to fund capital expenditures, land acquisitions, and other investments.
Rockwell Land is the real estate unit of Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. The company has properties in the residential, office, retail, and leisure segments.
Some of the Rockwell Land’s properties include Rockwell Center and Power Plant Mall in Makati, as well as Rockwell Business Centers in Ortigas and Mandaluyong.
On Thursday, Rockwell Land shares were unchanged at P1.48 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
SPOTIFY Technology SA plans to raise the price of its popular audio service in several key markets for the second time in a year, a crucial step toward reaching long-term profitability.
The streaming giant will increase prices by about $1 to $2 a month in five markets by the end of April, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan, according to people familiar with the matter. It will raise prices in the US, its largest territory, later this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential plans.
Spotify shares jumped 4.6% to $281.92 at 9:35 a.m. in New York.
The higher prices will help cover the cost of audiobooks, a popular service introduced late last year. Spotify offers customers up to 15 hours of audiobook listening a month as part of their paid plan. While the company pays publishers for books, it has so far only collected additional revenue from listeners who exceed the limit.
The Swedish audio company is also going to introduce a new basic tier that will offer music and podcasts — but not audiobooks — for the current $11 monthly price of an individual premium plan, said the people. Users of that plan will need to pay for audiobooks.
The new basic tier is the first of what will be several new pricing options from Spotify. The company has also been working on a “supremium” plan, which would charge customers a higher price for access to high-fidelity audio, among other features, as Bloomberg reported last year.
For years, Spotify offered most customers two options — a free, advertising-supported music service with limited functionality and a paid listening product with unlimited access.
But the company has lost money every year since it went public in 2018, largely because it pays out about 70% of its sales in royalties to the music industry. Spotify paid record labels, artists, and others more than $9 billion last year — from $13.2 billion in revenue.
Management has attempted to reduce Spotify’s reliance on the music industry by offering other types of entertainment.
The company dabbled in video before deciding to focus on offering many different kinds of audio. It began by pouring billions of dollars into podcasts, an emerging field of on-demand audio. While management has said podcasts will turn a profit this year, Spotify also fired thousands of employees and curtailed its investment in original audio programming.
Last year, the company announced big plans in audiobooks, a field dominated by Amazon.com, Inc.’s Audible. While Audible customers must pay to listen to almost any book, Spotify offered its customers free, limited access. The results so far have been strong, at least in terms of consumption.
Spotify’s move into other kinds of programming has alarmed its partners in the music industry, who fret the company will try to reduce their royalties. As a result, major music companies have been pushing Spotify and its competitors to raise prices.
While Netflix, Inc. has doubled the price of its most popular plan in recent years, Spotify only raised prices in major markets last year for the first time since introducing its premium audio service to the US in 2011. Despite concerns that some subscribers would cancel, the company posted its best year of user growth ever, with 113 million new sign-ups to its free and paid services.
Spotify had 602 million users at the end of 2023, including 236 million paying customers.
The success of the price increase has given management confidence to seek even more. Under the new pricing, individual plans will go up by about $1 a month, while family plans and so-called duo plans for couples will rise by $2.
Spotify’s biggest competitors, Apple, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. have also raised prices for their music services.
Music companies and audio services are also discussing ways to generate additional money from the most ardent fans. Currently, all listeners pay the same rate for access to a musician’s catalog. But there are fans willing to pay far more to support an artist they love, as evidenced by the rising price of concert tickets, merchandise, and even vinyl for Korean artists.
Among the various options, streaming services have discussed charging people more for early access to new music. Yet the companies are reluctant to significantly alter the main paid product – such as Spotify’s $11-a-month, all-you-can-listen plan. Whether or not management figures out how to capitalize on the more-loyal fans, the cost of that main service is only going up. — Bloomberg
LISTED Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc. has opened a new distribution center in Santa Rosa, Laguna, as part of its expansion strategy in Luzon.
“The significance of this new and modern warehouse transcends more than just logistics; it is the keystone of our ambitious plan to expand our Metro Store presence in Luzon,” Metro Retail Chief Operating Officer Manuel C. Alberto said in a statement on Thursday.
The new distribution center aims to ensure more communities have access to the company’s services and products while contributing to economic growth and job creation in the region, he added.
The three-hectare distribution center can handle up to 25,000 cases daily for both inbound and outbound processes, bringing its maximum throughput to 1.5 million cases monthly, the company said.
For future growth, the distribution center has a designated expansion area within a 10-hectare property to accommodate internal requirements and possible external partners.
“The distribution center is dedicated to strengthening Metro Retail’s supply chain and servicing its current network of stores, laying the groundwork for the company’s ambitious expansion plans in Luzon over the next five years,” the company said.
“This notable capacity effectively supports Metro Retail’s extensive network of stores across Luzon and the Visayas,” it added.
According to the company, the distribution center has a selective racking system capable of accommodating pallets up to five and seven high, with a total capacity of up to 20,000 pallet positions, 20 inbound and outbound docking areas equipped with dock levelers, and over 130 closed-circuit television cameras and several laser beam smoke detectors.
It is also equipped with solar-ready infrastructure as part of reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
Metro Retail has 64 branches across Luzon and Visayas. Its store formats include Metro Supermarket, Metro Department Store, Super Metro Hypermarket, and Metro Value Mart.
On Thursday, Metro Retail shares rose by 0.69% or one centavo to P1.45 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
Movie Review
Zone of Interest
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
JONATHAN GLAZER’s Zone of Interest begins with an image of solid black held for an interminable time, Mica Levi’s sound collages growling from the big screen, then cut to a German family picnicking in a lakeside meadow. They pack up, go home, arrive after sunset, fall asleep (mother and father in separate beds). Next morning father is hurriedly dressing but the children are playing a little game, blindfolding him and leading him carefully to the front courtyard where they surprise him with a new canoe, and of course if you know anything about the film’s premise you’re waiting — but even if you don’t know anything you can’t help tense up a little, wondering why is the camera so claustrophobically locked in the direction of the house, why are we seeing the canoe only from one side and not the other? Finally, father has to leave, stepping away from the canoe, and we cut to that long-anticipated reverse shot — father climbing onto his horse, a guard tower looming over him as he rides to work.
It’s the perfect domestic situation: freshly constructed two-story house with black iron railings and tiled roof, a vast garden carpeted with immaculately manicured grass and straight limbed young trees, with bright bunches of phlox, roses, azaleas, dahlias — oddly enough flowers common to North America (you might think the film had been sponsored by House & Garden), not to mention vegetables (beetroot, fennel, kohlrabi, cabbage, even a hive for honey). Best of all, the father’s commute is a mere minute away, out past the lawn and into the gates of Auschwitz.
A brilliant conceit though Glazer can’t be credited for the idea: the title comes from Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, inspired by the life of one Rudolf Hoss, Auschwitz’s longest-lasting commandant. Glazer found Hoss more interesting and dispensed with Amis’ melodrama of a love triangle between the commandant’s wife and a German officer: the director shot much of the film not in Hoss’ real house but in a nearby building also adjacent to the camp, restored to look like Hoss’ house; he installed multiple cameras throughout to allow the actors to move freely without worrying about camera angles and blocking (basically Big Brother in Auschwitz, or a three-dimensional ant farm).
Glazer made the decision not to let us see Auschwitz but hear it. Sound designer and longtime collaborator Johnnie Burn spent a year building a library of sound effects — collecting testimonies and events, studying a map of the camp to determine distance and possible reverberations. Burn’s magic culminates with the moment where Hoss’ mother-in-law looks at the glow from the windows and listens to the muted roar of crematorium flames; she leaves the next day with only a scribbled note as explanation.
Oh, there are weaknesses. Glazer, possibly to contrast with the implied grimness, inserts the story of a Polish girl planting apples along the way for camp workers to find and eat; he surrounds this note of hope with Levi’s rumbling collages. The note feels oddly out of place; Glazer’s grip on the film is so remarkably tight any loosening feels like a compromise of the director’s uncompromising approach.
A more serious flaw I couldn’t quite articulate till Glazer introduced his most audacious conceit (skip this paragraph if you haven’t seen the film): Hoss experiences a kind of time-slip and senses — perhaps even hears — the camps’ ultimate fate: to become museums dedicated to the memory of the victims, attendants conscientiously putting out stanchions, sweeping the floor, polishing display glass exhibiting thousands of abandoned shoes.
Maybe that’s my problem. Glazer likely intended his film to be a way of tearing off the scar tissue we’ve formed over the memories — approach from an angle we haven’t quite seen before, the everyday point of view of those either responsible or complicit — but the unintended result at least for me is of sanitizing the memory, keeping it at arm’s length so we can regard it from a position of safety, behind display glass. There’s intelligence and care and perhaps sincerity in Glazer’s approach, but I submit he doesn’t transform his material so much as render it appetizing for the arthouse circuit, maybe horticulture enthusiasts (Are those dwarf banana trees and Majesty palms in the greenhouse?).
Can’t believe Hoss is merely the super-bureaucrat depicted in this film either — he was a virulent anti-Semite who rose to the position of commandant through the force of his enthusiasm, an innovator who streamlined the killing process and suggested Zyklon B as the most efficient way to eradicate thousands. I’d say Hoss had more to do on his office phone than dictate a memo promising punishment to any officer damaging the camp’s beloved lilac bushes.
And it isn’t as if this hasn’t been done before: Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog — working from a script by camp survivor Jean Cayrol — is an impassioned plea to learn from previous lessons and beware of upcoming fascists, but also a levelheaded unflinching look at the work put into the camps, from the government contractors (hired with a bribe or two) to the medical experiments (usually without anesthesia) to the matter-of-fact bulldozing of bodies into mass graves — and instead of silence or experimental music, Resnais deploys shockingly cheerful compositions from Hanns Eisler, almost the kind of tune you’d hear playing in a grade school science documentary. All done in 30 minutes, and no less forceful for being so brief.
THE operations of Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC), a unit of Razon-led International Container Terminal Services, Inc., will now be part of Ocean Network Express’ China-Thailand-Philippines (CTP) service.
“The service links the Port of Subic to East Asia, complementing the existing route between the Philippines and Singapore by further enhancing convenience for customers,” SBITC said in a media release on Thursday.
The service will link the port of Subic to East Asia while also complementing existing routes from the Philippines to Singapore.
The CTP service is a 2,741 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) boxship, which uses four 2,400 to 2,700 TEU vessels.
As the unit of ICTSI joins Ocean Network’s regional services, it will also provide a direct link between Thailand and Subic through the Laem Chabang port.
The company said the service will move around the Laem Chabang (Thailand), Cai Mep (Vietnam), Manila (Philippines), Subic (Philippines), Qingdao (China), Pusan (South Korea), Shanghai (China), Laem Chabang with a turnaround time of 28 days.
SBITC is the subsidiary of ICTSI that manages New Container Terminals 1 and 2 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
At the local bourse on Thursday, shares in the company shed P8.20 or 2.49% to end at P321 apiece. — A.E. O. Jose
Who was it who said that it is difficult to predict especially the future? Talk to an economist and before he does a forecast, he would need a plethora of data points, facts, and information about the past, the present, and the future. And, yes, it is not a walk in the park. The economist’s value added is his empirical tools to put all those data points together and extract a valid relationship that can be replicated and tested for significance.
Economic perspective is crucial but looking at the future also requires contributions from the other sciences.
International organizations such as the European Commission, European Parliament, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (better known as the OECD) have found it strategic to task multidisciplinary groups to think about the future based on current trends, risks, and challenges as well as on how to manage the transition. Likewise, the governments of Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Singapore have long been worrying about the next few decades about issues that could impose unnecessary social burdens if their societies are not properly tuned to what may likely occur.
A quick search of academic publications shows that foresight studies, together with strategic planning activities, have evolved into a new public management paradigm that has its origin in some European countries with the aim of what Chile’s Paola Acituno Olivares described as “flexibilizing and reorganizing public management in general, yet also offering greater political control and better results.”* The motivation is imperative — that is to find ways to achieve higher modernization of the State through the design of appropriate public policy.
It is obvious that we badly need this in the Philippines where, admittedly, some planning for the future was undertaken in the past up to today but which hardly advanced to gain the critical mass to make a difference.
Segue to Chile which, in 2014, established a non-profit institution called the Chilean Foresight and Strategy Council that brought together specialists in foresight studies, strategies, and future studies from both government and the private sector. This is the highlight of many years of foresight studies in conjunction with planning theory and other recent innovations in public management. As Olivares observed, planning initiatives in Chile date back to the 1950s originating mostly from production activities, and later, institutionalized planning. The resulting output covered such broad areas as economic globalization in the 1970s, geopolitics in the 1980s and 1990s, research methodologies in the 1980s, technology development and innovation in the 1990s, and energy policy in the 2000s.
Are we seeing this and similar exercises elsewhere in our part of the world?
Writing this piece benefitted enormously from our quarterly engagement last month with the Advisory Panel of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), based in Singapore, and its leadership. AMRO’s assessment of the region and its forecasts of the next two years were quite optimistic, with sufficient recognition of both the short-term and long-term risks. Most important, as this will also be covered in next week’s presentation of the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO) by its chief economist, my friend Dr. Hoe Eeh Khor, the AREO is properly risk-based and cognizant of the future.
Beyond saying that the ASEAN+3 economic growth is expected to remain generally resilient due to strong domestic demand, improving exports, and moderating inflation, AMRO prescribed the rebuilding of fiscal buffers and anchoring inflation expectations. Such a prescription was anchored on short-term risks identified by AMRO as the spike in global commodity prices, a weaker Chinese economy, adverse spillovers from a possible Trump 2.0 presidency, and a sharp slowdown in both the US and Europe.
Long-term risks were also listed down including geo-economic confrontation and policy uncertainty, climate change, cyber risks, weak public health facilities, and demographic issues.
Our panel commended AMRO for covering three major future issues: population aging, global trade reconfiguration, and rapid technological change. Significant demographic shifts are projected to happen in less than 10 years when the working-age population begins to taper off. We cannot overemphasize its implications on labor, productivity, public finance, and, ultimately, economic growth.
This future issue, which has actually begun to fan out, would make the determination of the potential areas for strategic public and private investments extremely urgent. Investment can be optimal in ensuring productive and healthy aging, high-level services trade, and infra development. It would be painful to see a whole generation potentially aging without reaching a higher level of prosperity because poverty and income inequality remain prevalent.
On global trade, regional free trade agreements and further expansion in cross-border trade in services could mitigate the impact of geo-economic fragmentation. This is so because export strategies in the region are challenged, and market concentration of global trade has in fact increased. Fortifying the region’s growth and resilience should rank high on the agenda for the future.
Finally, on super-fast global technological advances, a wild card is the infrastructure gap which remains wide in many economies in the region. This is quite urgent if technology is to be harnessed to drive and sustain productivity gains across the ASEAN+3 economies. Given that the appropriate technology could be helpful in managing the demographic transition and trade reconfiguration, AMRO was indeed strategic in drawing up the potential dynamics of these long-term future issues and optimal policy mix.
Back to the Philippines where, in August 2019, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) celebrated 84th year of development planning after it was concluded that the NEDA Board actually originated from the National Economic Council or NEC. It was President Manuel L. Quezon who rolled out to Congress the proposal to create the NEC and established development planning in December 1935. Clearly, Quezon was ahead of President Marcos Sr. — who created the NEDA by PD No. 7 in 1973 — by 38 long years.
In short, development planning in the Philippines predates those in many jurisdictions around the world.
The country’s current long-term development plan is the AmBisyon Natin 2040; no doubt, “a picture of the future, a set of life goals for the country.” On involving various disciplines and skills sets, this long-term plan resulted from a long-term visioning process that started in 2015. Over 300 citizens participated in various focus group discussions and, based on the NEDA information, some 10,000 respondents participated in the national survey. Technical studies were conducted to pinpoint strategic options to reach the national vision. We could not ask for more; it was a whole-of-society exercise.
Reading through this inspiring visionary document, we are convinced by its infographics, one of which is the catchy “’yung feeling na may chance pala tayo.” AmBisyon 2040 correctly identified as an overarching priority the upgrade of public administration in order to achieve the lofty goals of AmBisyon 2040. In addition, addressing child malnutrition, climate change and disaster threats are Priority 1; peacebuilding and closing the learning gap are Priority 2; building quality infrastructure and opening the economy to competition are Priority 3. If we could show a substantial fraction of progress in the overarching and three priority areas, the Filipino people should be more optimistic.
Obviously, this would be difficult if we are to consider the latest macroeconomic developments and the people’s perception.
The NEDA yesterday announced the downgrade of the growth target for both 2024 and 2025, that inflation has been on an uptrend in the last three months, that the current account was not doing very well in the beginning of this year, and that public finance in terms of both the deficit and debt is quite shaky. If these persist, they are weak foundations for the future.
The people’s perception is not very encouraging either. Pulse Asia’s survey in December 2023 showed that the public continues to consider as being of urgent national concern the control of inflation, the increase in workers’ pay, job creation, and poverty reduction. Our international scores in corruption perception, ease of doing business, education, competitiveness, and rule of law, among others, can still be improved many times over.
Five years after launching AmBisyon Natin 2040, we may consider ourselves fortunate if we are closer to the lofty goals of our long-term plan.
So what happened to future studies and strategic plans?
Olivares’ conclusion of her study is more than true to the Philippines. She argued that “the absence of binding policies, the force of some global transformations that have a local impact, the political climate, the diversion triggered by personal agendas given the authority turnover, centralism, lack of resources of advanced human capital, and the difficulty to generate indicators that monitor the progress… are problems that impede a good performance of the policy.”
Isn’t it that Ambisyon Natin 2040 identified as its overarching priority the restructuring of public administration?
*Paola Acituno Olivares, “Foresight studies and their assessment in the public policy of two Chilean regional development strategies,” in University of Del Valle’s Cuadernos de Administración, 2020
Diwa C. Guinigundo is the former deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was alternate executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.
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GUY RITCHIE’s The Gentlemen (2024) is the latest series to reimagine the age-old trope with which it shares its name.
So what exactly is a “gentleman”? And why has this trope remained so pervasive throughout history, both off and onscreen? Psychology provides some answers.
THE ORIGINS OF THE GENTLEMAN
The term comes from Middle English, spoken in England from about 1100 to 1500. It relates to the English gentry, which was the class below nobility but above farmers, and is a direct translation of the earlier French term gentilz hom, denoting a man of high status.
Studies of linguistic psychology from the 1980s found the word “gentleman” is associated with higher competence and warmth, and rated as having more positive connotations, including of goodness and morality, than just “man.”
Today, the concept of the gentleman remains ingrained in Western culture and is widely reflected in film and television. And while it could be considered outdated (given its association with class), there are many positive lessons we can learn by delving into the psychology and representation of this ideal.
A GENTLEMAN IS POWER RESTRAINED
We’ve seen countless gentlemen characters feature in popular shows such as Suits, Mad Men, Sherlock, Highlander, and Downton Abbey, to name a few. And all of these characters share the common trait of having some form of power — whether it be physical, political, economic, or social.
Onscreen gentleman show us real power is restrained. In the first episode of The Gentlemen, although Eddie (Theo James) is combat-trained, he restrains himself from violence, even when mugged or threatened by thugs. This portrayal is rooted in the historical notion of the “gent” as a man of authority whom others ask for help. (The fact that his character is later corrupted remains a different story.)
Physical restraint requires emotional restraint, or avoiding extreme emotional reactivity in adverse situations. Psychology studies indicate men who demonstrate emotional restraint are viewed as more intelligent and competent. Restrained power fits neatly into the gentleman trope and is considered a positive value in Western culture.
Another example of restrained power is seen is the character Harvey Specter, from Suits (2011-2019). As a boxer, Harvey is physically strong, but he also commands power through his wealth and skills as a lawyer. While he leverages his reputation in aggressive legal tactics, this is often done to help less privileged clients fight corporations.
Other examples are Mycroft Holmes from Sherlock, Aziraphale from Good Omens, and Raymond Reddington from The Blacklist.
A GENTLEMAN HAS HONOR
Another trait shared by gentleman characters is “honor.” Cultural psychology has defined honor as maintaining reputational status through “integrity, honesty, being true to one’s principles […] not tolerating disrespect and insults, and protecting oneself and one’s family, group, or clan from face loss and reputational harm.”
This is exemplified in Jamie Fraser from Outlander (2014–ongoing), who is consistently loyal to his family. He also embodies physical strength and political authority as the lard (chief) when fighting for Scotland and his clan. John Watson from Sherlock, Jim Halpert from The Office (US), and Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS also come to mind.
These characters can help to remind young boys and men of a pervasive cultural logic: that their behaviors determine their social acceptance, and that using their skills and strengths for others’ benefit will positively impact how others perceive them.
A GENTLEMAN IS CLEVER
A third quality of the gentleman is that of mastery or cleverness. In the new series Shōgun (2024), a Japanese feudal lord called Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) shows great cleverness in evading his enemies. Early on in the series, he says: “A leader must write clearly and beautifully. He must be the very best in all things.”
This demonstrates one aspect of our cultural understanding of the “gentleman,” wherein we associate competence and intelligence with power.
Patrick Jane from The Mentalist also typifies this through his ability to cleverly gain information from criminal suspects.
We don’t have to delve far into psychology to understand why intelligence is a likeable trait. It helps us learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations, benefiting both us and the people we associate with.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ONSCREEN GENTLEMEN
The gentleman can be considered an archetypal figure: an ideal example of a certain kind of person that we can all recognize. The reason for our universal recognition of such archetypes comes from psychologist Carl Jung’s (1875-1961) idea of the “collective unconscious.”
Jung theorized certain types of characters or concepts represented in images (such as in art or on TV) are innately recognized by humans, rather than consciously learned (and rejected the idea that people are born as a blank slate). These concepts, he said, provide a framework to interpret the world that’s shared across peoples and cultures.
Of the 12 archetypes Jung proposed, the gentleman could be considered an example of “the ruler” — a person driven by their desire to control in order to somehow help or provide for their clan or community. Others include the “trickster/jester” and “the sage.”
The application of archetypes to onscreen characters is well established. Depictions of a “ruler” provide a short-hand to represent the world. In recognizing them, viewers can tap into their own innate understanding of particular patterns of behavior.
Gentleman characters represent an ideal of positive masculine behavior, embodying honor, strength and cleverness in their actions, which are generally directed at helping others.
And while the class-based roots of this concept can’t be ignored, delving into the underlying psychology at play reminds us we could all learn a thing or two from this trope.
Jayden Greenwell-Barnden is a Cognitive Psychology researcher at The University of Western Australia.
JETSTAR Asia is set to resume its direct flights to Clark by June, the Singapore-based low-cost carrier said on Thursday.
“Clark Airport has always been a home to Jetstar and we are happy to serve their passengers again. This partnership provides passengers the opportunity to experience a seamless and memorable airport journey,” said Noel F. Manankil, president and chief executive officer of Luzon International Premiere Airport Development (LIPAD) Corp.
LIPAD is the operator of the Clark International Airport.
Jetstar Asia will start operating its Singapore to Clark flights four times a week from June 16-17, then increase its frequency by five times weekly beginning Oct. 18, the company said.
“The route will be operated on Jetstar Asia’s growing fleet of Airbus A320s and supported by Jetstar Asia’s significant recruitment drive aimed at meeting the growing demand for travel within the region,” Jetstar Asia said.
The decision to reinstate the route was part of the company’s commitment to expand its Southeast Asian network and provide enhanced connectivity to its customers.
“We’re excited to add this popular destination, responding to demand, providing our customers with more incredible low-cost travel options and supporting the travel and tourism industries in these two critical markets,” Jetstar Asia Chief Executive Officer John Simeone said.
Jetstar Asia has started operating flights to Clark in 2017 but some of the flights it operates has been halted during the pandemic. — A.E. O. Jose
THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Thursday that it is projecting sustained growth in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Europe.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported record remittances overall last year with $37 billion, of which $3.8 billion came from Europe, DMW Undersecretary for Policy and International Cooperation Patricia Yvonne M. Caunan said at a virtual briefing on Thursday.
“From 2022, we can see that there was a 3-5% increase in remittances. We can see that with the number of engagements we’re having (in Europe), it will definitely increase in 2024,” she said.
The DMW signed a labor agreement with the Czech Republic last month, which raised the visa quota for OFWs to 10,500 from 2,000.
“Upon signing, we were able to see the demand from Czech companies for Filipino workers,” Ms. Caunan said.
She said that individual Philippine ambassadors in Europe have also attested to the demand for Filipino workers.
The Philippines signed a labor deal with Austria in Vienna last year. The undersecretary said the agreement was ratified last month.
“We are looking at (developing) a sustainable recruitment framework, especially in the recruitment of healthcare workers, in particular, our nurses. The DMW is focused on the cooperation framework, where we’ll work together (with partner countries) in ensuring, not just the supply of workers, but also in increasing the supply here in the country,” she added.
The DMW has also partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for the training of workers in industries other than healthcare.
DMW Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo J. Cacdac, a former administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, said: “We know for sure that European governments are more than ever opening up (to Filipino workers).”
“We welcome this openness of European governments in the heightening or enhancing of the protection of our OFWs,” he added.
Ms. Caunan said Hungary, Portugal, and Spain are among the European nations the DMW signed labor partnerships with. Hungary, specifically, is asking for 10,000-20,000 more OFWs.
Finland and Denmark also visited the Philippines to explore possible labor agreements, Ms. Caunan said. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
THE Philippine banking sector’s total assets climbed by 9.6% year on year as of end-February, data from the central bank showed.
Preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed banks’ combined assets rose to P24.95 trillion as of end-February from P22.77 trillion in the same period a year ago.
Banks’ assets are mainly supported by deposits, loans, and investments. These include cash and due from banks as well as interbank loans receivable (IBL) and reverse repurchase (RRP), net of allowances for credit losses.
The banking industry’s total loan portfolio inclusive of IBL and RRP stood at P13.07 trillion in the period, 9.1% higher than the P11.98 trillion a year prior.
Net investments — or financial assets and equity investments in subsidiaries — climbed by 10.3% to P7.4 trillion at end-February from P6.71 trillion a year ago.
On the other hand, cash and due from banks dropped by 12% to P2.44 trillion from P2.78 trillion.
Net real and other properties acquired edged up by 2.9% to P107.097 billion from P104.106 billion in the year-ago period.
Other assets were recorded at P1.93 trillion in the period, surging by 61.8% from P1.193 trillion a year prior.
Meanwhile, the total liabilities of the banking system also increased by 9.4% to P21.86 trillion from P19.99 trillion in the year-ago period.
Security Bank Corp. Chief Economist Robert Dan J. Roces said that the end-February asset level indicates that the banking sector is showing signs of growth.
“This can be attributed to a bigger loan portfolio, suggesting increased lending activity, and higher net investments, indicating lenders seeking better returns,” he said in a Viber message.
“While cash holdings dipped slightly, the overall rise in assets and liabilities points towards a potentially growing economy,” he added. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
