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Singlife Philippines and UNO Digital Bank team up to democratize access to life insurance

(From left) UNO Digital Bank customer franchise director Lester Cruz, president and CEO Manish Bhai, and chairnan Kalidas Ghose with Singlife Philippines co-founder and executive director Sherie Ng, and deputy chief commercial officer Kame Amado-Gomez

Digital insurance provider Singlife Philippines and UNO Digital Bank announce their partnership aimed at simplifying financial control and protection. This partnership marks a crucial move towards empowering every Filipino to assert control over their finances and improve their living and lifestyle.

Singlife’s commitment to accessible protection

Singlife Philippines is on a mission to democratize access to life insurance in the country. The company does this by developing innovative life insurance products that are tailor-fit to meet customers’ needs and budgets.

The company is teaming up with top finance companies in the country to ensure that obtaining insurance is straightforward and available to more people.

“Singlife Philippines and Uno Digital Bank are aligned in our all-digital approach, leveraging cutting-edge technology to solve customer pain points. This partnership empowers every consumer to be in control and have access to cost-effective and convenient ways to procure insurance policies and further accelerate our mission to democratize access to financial protection,” Sherie Ng, co-founder and executive director of Singlife Philippines, said.

Elevated banking experience: UNO Digital Bank

UNO Digital Bank, known for its array of digital banking services, shares a vision parallel to that of Singlife Philippines. Committed to delivering simpler, better and more accessible banking experiences, the bank empowers individuals with seamless financial control.

Through this strategic partnership, the bank’s customers can now access a range of affordable and comprehensive Singlife insurance plans directly within the UNO app, which include the following:

  • Cash for medical costs: This product provides financial coverage for hospitalization and 125 critical conditions, ensuring that individuals and families can access quality healthcare without financial strain.
  • 3-in-1 protection plan: This product provides affordable financial coverage against dengue, COVID-19 and accidents for as low as ?79/month. This gives meaningful coverage of up to ?750,000 to you and your family at an affordable cost.
  • Cash for income loss (accidents): This product provides monthly cash support of up to seven years in the event of income loss arising from death or disability due to accidents. This helps individuals and their loved ones maintain financial stability during challenging times.

Holistic financial solutions

This collaboration strengthens Singlife’s and Uno Digital Bank’s commitment to making financial protection products more accessible by reaching more audiences. Both companies aim to offer individuals holistic financial well-being, empowering them to make informed decisions that secure their future.

“Uno inspires to be at the leading edge of financial innovation and bring best-in-class products and services to the tens of millions of ordinary Filipinos who are served by the traditional banks. The access to products and services is expected to help them improve their life by offering them flexibility, convenience, personalization and control. Our partnership with Singlife will serve a significant step towards achieving our mission,” Kalidas Ghose, chairman of Uno Digital Bank, shared.

“Uno is on a mission to provide one trusted platform to meet your entire life’s financial needs. This means one place that allows you to save, borrow, transact, protect and invest. We have already started our journey in offering multiple options to our customers to save, borrow and transact in the past years and we are very excited to introduce the phase of protect and to take the first step with Singlife Philippines. With this partnership we are one step closer to making a holistic experience for our customers,” Manish Bhai, president and CEO of Uno Digital Bank, added.

Singlife’s products are now available on the Uno app. Download the app at https://unobank.onelink.me/kSCw/c9klm1bm.

To learn more about Singlife Philippines, visit www.singlife.com.ph. For more information about Uno Digital Bank, visit https://uno.bank.

 

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Blinken says authoritarian regimes using tech to undermine democracy

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Official White House — CAMERON SMITH VIA FLICKR

SEOUL – US Secretary of Sate Antony Blinken said on Monday technology should be employed to sustain democratic values in the face of efforts by authoritarian and repressive regimes to deploy technology to undermine democracy and human rights.

Like-minded governments and their people were working together to promote free and fair elections, Blinken said, noting safeguarding democracy was a collective effort.

“As authoritarian and repressive regimes deploy technologies to undermine democracy and human rights, we need to ensure that technology sustains and supports democratic values and norms,” he said at the opening of the Summit for Democracy in South Korea. – Reuters

North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul

SEOUL – North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday for the first time in two months, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol on advancing democracy.

South Korea’s military said several short-range missiles flew about 300 km (186 miles) after being fired between 7:44 a.m. and 8:22 a.m (2244 to 2322 GMT Monday) from Pyongyang, the North’s capital, landing off the east coast.

It condemned the launches as a “clear provocation” and said it was sharing information on them with the United States and Japan.

Japan’s defense ministry said three missiles were launched and travelled about 350 km, with a maximum altitude of 50 km.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launches after his country’s coast guard also reported the firing of what it said appeared to be a ballistic missile and specified that it had already ended its flight.

Japan later said that it had detected what appeared to be a second ballistic missile launch by the North, and that both fell outside its exclusive economic zone area.

“North Korea’s series of actions threaten the peace and security of our region and the international community, and are absolutely unacceptable,” Mr. Kishida said, calling the launch a violation of U.N. resolutions.

North Korea’s military has been conducting exercises using conventional weapons in recent weeks, often personally overseen by the isolated state’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

The show of force by Pyongyang comes just after the militaries of South Korea and the United States finished 10 days of large-scale annual joint military drills last Thursday.

On Sunday, the South Korean military also mobilised marines, attack helicopters and amphibious assault vehicles in drills aimed at surging troop numbers to reinforce western islands near the sea border with North Korea. The North shelled the islands in 2010.

Mr. Blinken is among senior officials from around the world attending the Summit for Democracy conference, which opens on Monday. He will also meet his South Korean counterpart, foreign minister Cho Tae-yul.

The summit is an initiative of US President Joe Biden aimed at discussing ways to stop democratic backsliding and erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.

In its last ballistic launch on Jan. 14, North Korea fired what it said was an intermediate range hypersonic missile using solid fuel on to test new booster engines and a maneuverable warhead.

A month later, it launched multiple cruise missiles off its east coast, including what it said was a new anti-ship missile. – Reuters

DBP opens new office of Lipa Lending Center in Lipa City

Photo shows DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Michael O. de Jesus (right) leading the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Batangas Province Provincial Administrator Wilfredo Racelis (left) and Cabuyao City Mayor Dennis Felipe Hain during the inauguration of the DBP South Luzon Lending Group and the DBP Lipa Lending Center.

State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has opened the new lending offices of DBP Lipa Lending Center and DBP South Luzon Lending Group in Lipa City, Batangas as it aims to bring its suite of financial services, particularly its development financing programs, closer to the people of Batangas and Laguna provinces.

Located at the 4th Floor of the FNR Building along CM Recto Avenue in Lipa City, the DBP South Luzon Lending Group and DBP Lipa Lending Center are tasked to extend much-needed credit assistance to key sectors in the region such as social services, agriculture, and infrastructure and logistics.

 

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Putin warns the West a Russia-NATO conflict is just one step from WW3

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three but said hardly anyone wanted such a scenario.

The Ukraine war has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Putin has often warned of the risks of nuclear war but says he has never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron last month said he could not rule out the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine in the future, with many Western countries distancing themselves from that while others, especially in eastern Europe, expressed support.

Asked by Reuters about the Mr. Macron remarks and the risks and possibility of a conflict between Russia and NATO, Putin quipped: “everything is possible in the modern world.”

“It is clear to everyone, that this will be one step away from a full-scale World War Three. I think hardly anyone is interested in this,” Mr. Putin told reporters after winning the biggest ever landslide in post-Soviet Russian history.

Mr. Putin added, though, that NATO military personnel were present already in Ukraine, saying that Russia had picked up both English and French being spoken on the battlefield.

“There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they are dying there and in large numbers,” he said.

 

BUFFER ZONE

Ahead of the March 15-17 Russian election, Ukraine stepped up attacks against Russia, shelling border regions and even used proxies to try to pierce Russia’s borders.

Asked if he considered it necessary to take Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Putin said if the attacks continued, Russia would create a buffer zone out of more Ukrainian territory to defend Russian territory.

“I do not exclude that, bearing in mind the tragic events taking place today, we will be forced at some point, when we deem it appropriate, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ in the territories today under the Kyiv regime,” Mr. Putin said.

He declined to give any further details but said such a zone might have to be big enough to preclude foreign made armaments from reaching Russian territory.

Mr. Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering major European war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.

Mr. Putin said he wished Mr. Macron would stop seeking to aggravate the war in Ukraine but to play a role in finding peace: “It seems that France could play a role. All is not lost yet.”

“I’ve been saying it over and over again and I’ll say it again. We are for peace talks, but not just because the enemy is running out of bullets,” Mr. Putin said.

“If they really, seriously, want to build peaceful, good-neighbourly relations between the two states in the long term, and not simply take a break for rearmament for 1.5-2 years.”

 

US DEMOCRACY

Mr. Putin dismissed US and Western criticism of the election, which the White House said was not free and fair, saying US elections were not democratic and criticizing the use of state power against Donald Trump.

“The whole world is laughing at what is happening there,” Putin said of the United States. “It is just a catastrophe – it is not democracy – what on earth is it?”

When asked about the fate of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in unexplained circumstances at a Russian prison in the Arctic on Feb. 16, Putin said he had simply “passed away” using Navalny’s name for one of the first times in public.

Mr. Putin said he had agreed several days before Navalny’s death to swap him. Reuters reported in February that a prisoner exchange deal had been agreed for Mr. Navalny shortly before his death.

“I said: ‘I am agreed’,” Mr. Putin said about his approval for the prisoner swap. “I had one condition – we exchange him but he never returns.”

Mr. Navalny’s widow, Yulia, has accused Mr. Putin of killing her husband. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that claim was simply wrong. – Reuters

 

Uber to pay $178 million to settle lawsuit with Australia taxi drivers, law firm says

STOCK PHOTO | Image by freestocks-photos from Pixabay

SYDNEY – Uber has agreed to pay A$271.8 million ($178.3 million) to settle a lawsuit in Australia brought by taxi operators and drivers, who alleged they lost income when the ride-hailing company moved into the country, a law firm said on Monday.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers filed the class action in 2019 in the Supreme Court of Victoria state on behalf more than 8,000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers, which the law firm said “Uber fought tooth and nail at every point along the way.”

“Since 2018, Uber has made significant contributions into various state-level taxi compensation schemes, and with today’s proposed settlement, we put these legacy issues firmly in our past,” an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed response.

Uber did not disclose the proposed settlement in its response.

“What our group members asked for was not another set of excuses – but an outcome,” Maurice Blackburn said. – Reuters

Reactions abroad to Russia’s presidential election

UNSPLASH

Following are reactions from foreign governments and officials to Russia’s presidential election, which handed Vladimir Putin a landslide win and another six-year term in office, according to first official results on Sunday.

 

WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON

“The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”

 

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY

“These days, the Russian dictator is simulating another election. It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure, as it has already often happened in the course of history, is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever.”

“There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be. This person should be on trial in The Hague. That’s what we have to ensure.”

 

GERMANY’S FOREIGN MINISTRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM X

“The pseudo-election in Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence. The “election” in the occupied territories of Ukraine are null and void & another breach of international law.”

 

UK FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID CAMERON ON X

“The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) monitoring. This is not what free and fair elections look like.”

 

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

“From March 15-17, 2024, so-called presidential elections took place in Russia. The voting took place in conditions of extreme repression against society, making it impossible to make a free, democratic choice.”

BYD Cars Philippines and Harmony Auto Inaugurate BYD Global City

Taguig City, Philippines — A new era in electrified mobility dawns upon Metro Manila as BYD Global City opens its doors to the public on March 9, 2024.

Owned and managed by Harmony New Energy Auto Service, the new BYD facility sits in the heart of the country’s premier commercial and business district along 28th Street in Bonifacio Global City. It will cater to BYD electric vehicle customers with its extensive display and services.

Featuring the latest BYD Global Brand Identity standards, the 620-square-meter showroom showcases up to 12 vehicles and houses a dedicated customer lounge with food and beverage services. Through informative displays, the new dealership will also feature the latest design and safety technologies available in the BYD electric vehicle lineup.

Aside from highlighting the various models across the local BYD range, the new facility has up to eight service bays that can accommodate general Preventive Maintenance Services and general repairs for BYD electric vehicles.

BYD Global City provides services such as wheel alignment, under-chassis inspection, and repairs to complement the low-maintenance requirements of every brand-new BYD electric vehicle.

From left to right: Toti Zara III — MAPVI / BYD Cars Philippines President; Jack Feng — Chairman, Harmony Auto; Liu Xueliang — General Manager Asia Pacific Sales Region, President BYD JAPAN; Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala — CEO ACMobility; Yang Guoliang — Minister Counselor, Chinese Embassy in the Philippines; and James Ng — Managing Director for BYD Singapore and BYD Philippines

“We are proud to welcome BYD Global City to the growing network of premium BYD dealerships across the country,” says Antonio Zara III, President of Mobility Access Philippines Ventures Inc., the Ayala Corporation company that exclusively distributes BYD cars in the country.

“The opening of BYD Global City signifies the strong commitment of the BYD brand in the Philippines. Our partnership with Harmony Auto is just the beginning of many more opportunities to expand the reach of BYD across the country. The impressive scale of BYD Global City’s launch and the extensive services it offers shows how BYD Cars Philippines intends to serve the needs of Filipino electric vehicle buyers,” adds Zara.

“BYD Global City marks the beginning of our entry into the Philippine automotive market,” says Jack Feng — Chairman of China Harmony Auto Holding Limited, the parent company of Harmony New Energy Auto Service.

“We believe in the promise of an electrified mobility future that BYD champions. Through BYD Global City, we are determined to showcase the clear benefits of owning a BYD to a growing number of Filipino motorists who believe in the brand. With our extensive experience in luxury and premium brands in the region, and with the dedication of our sales and after-sales teams, we intend to provide the best purchase and ownership experience for every BYD customer.”

James Ng, Managing Director of BYD Philippines and Singapore, welcomes the collaborative partnership with Harmony Auto as an authorized dealer of BYD Cars Philippines. “We congratulate BYD Global City as it opens its new dealership facility in the heart of the country’s business capital,” says Ng.

“Together with Ayala Corporation and MAPVI, we are constantly searching for the right dealer partners to help grow the BYD brand in the Philippines. Harmony Auto’s background in the luxury car market in Hong Kong and its familiarity with the BYD brand make it a natural fit for our business objectives in the Philippines. With BYD Global City and Harmony Auto, we look forward to a productive future as we aim to make the BYD brand a top-of-mind choice in the Philippine automotive market,” adds Ng.

BYD Global City is the first automotive venture of China Harmony Auto Holding Limited in the Philippines. It is engaged in luxury and ultra-luxury passenger vehicle sales, maintenance, and research and development in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

BYD Global City is located at 938 28th Street Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. The dealership may be reached through +63 917-629-0462 or via email at philippines@hexieauto.com. Customers are also encouraged to follow the BYD Bonifacio Global City social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram for more information about its services.

BYD Cars Philippines is the distributor of BYD passenger cars in the country. Operating under ACMobility, Ayala Corporation’s electric mobility platform, BYD Cars Philippines accepts test drive bookings and reservations through its authorize dealers in Quezon Avenue, Makati, and Bonifacio Global City. Customers may also inquire through the brand’s official website, www.bydcars.ph, or through the BYD Cars Philippines Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube social media accounts.

 

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ASEAN Gaming Summit kicks off tomorrow

After months of building anticipation, Asia’s premier gaming event is kicking off on Tuesday, March 19th, with speakers, exhibitors and participants already flooding into the Philippine capital to meet at the Shangri-La the Fort.

The exhibition starts at 9 a.m., while on the conference side, Tuesday is kicked off by a special State of the Industry address by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco, immediately followed by a Keynote Address by the President and Chief Operating Officer of Bloomberry Resorts Corp, Thomas Arasi.

But delegates will be glued to their seats, as the conference continues with a special Fireside Chat with Pronet Gaming CEO Alex Leese, who then joins a C-Level panel alongside Fast Track’s CEO and Co-Founder Simon Lidzén and Entain’s Asia Pacific Director Michael Charlton.

A deep dive into the gaming landscape in the Philippines, also on Tuesday, will count with the insights of Philippine Congressman Hon. Gus Tambunting, PAGCOR Board Member Gilbert Remulla and other top experts.

The excitement doesn’t end there, as the rest of the day is packed with incredible panels ranging from AI to cashless, omnichannel strategies, CRMs, AML and so much more — all topped off by networking drinks.

Day 2

Returning for the second day of the conference, participants get key insights from the Administrator and CEO of the continually growing Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Katrina Ponce-Enrile, followed by a further dive into the online world.

Later, the CEO of the Grand Ho Tram Resort, Walter Power, sits down for a Fireside Chat, followed by a special panel which focuses on Asia’s hottest emerging and developing markets.

Non-gaming and tech will be key topics of discussion, while later a special top panel of operators in the Philippines point out the nation’s leading growth — including Newport World Resorts’ COO Hagan Dagtas; PH Resorts’ COO Angel Sueiro and Dowinn Group Corporate COO Lorraine Koo.

A packed day of panels will be capped off by another networking drinks session, followed by the Asia Gaming Awards, where this year’s key industry players will see who takes home the prize!

Where to go

The fun doesn’t stop: the Conference and Exhibition run for the first two days of the event, Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Bonifacio Halls on Level 4.

On Thursday, the action shifts to the Grand Ballroom on Level 3. The last morning of the event is reserved for the Workshops and a Networking Luncheon ahead of the delegates’ departure.

Wednesday evening’s Asia Gaming Awards 2024 will take place at the Grand Ballroom on Level 3.

The Closing Party follows the awards, at BSK Manila, just five minutes away from the Shangri-La Fort.

For the full program please visit https://aseangaming.com/#asean2024agenda.

 

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Remittances up by 2.7% in January

Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose by 2.7% year on year in January, central bank data showed. — PHILIPPINE STAR/WALTER BOLLOZOS

By Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson, Reporter

CASH REMITTANCES from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose by 2.7% year on year in January, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Data from the BSP showed cash remittances coursed through banks increased by 2.7% to $2.836 billion in January from $2.762 billion in the same month last year.   

However, the amount of money sent home by migrant Filipinos was the lowest in two months or since $2.719 billion in November.

Month on month, the growth in cash remittances slowed to 2.7% from 3.8% in December. It was also the slowest pace of remittance growth since 2.6% posted in September.

“The growth in cash remittances in January 2024 was primarily due to increased receipts from both land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said.

Land-based workers sent home $2.253 billion in January, up by 3.1% from $2.186 billion in the same month last year.

Remittances from sea-based OFWs grew by 1.1% to $582 million in January from $575.7 million a year earlier.

The BSP said that inflows from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Singapore mainly contributed to the growth in remittances during the month.

Nearly half (41.8%) of total remittances came from OFWs in the United States. This was followed by Singapore (7.3%), Saudi Arabia (6%), Japan (5.8%), the United Kingdom (4.8%), and the UAE (3.3%).

Remittances from the top 10 countries accounted for 80% of overall remittances in January.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said that growth in remittances, despite being slower than a year ago, remained a “bright spot” for the economy.

“Further reopening of the economy towards greater normalcy also led to increased spending with some pent-up demand or even some revenge spending by OFW families and dependents,” he said.

Mr. Ricafort noted that remittance growth eased in January from December due to seasonality factors. December is typically when cash remittances are the highest as OFWs send home more money for their families during the holidays.

Mr. Ricafort said remittances could continue to post modest growth for the rest of the year as OFW families “still need to cope with relatively higher prices locally that would require the sending of more remittances.”

Inflation accelerated for the first time in five months in February to 3.4% from 2.8% in January.

For the first two months of 2024, headline inflation averaged 3.1%. This year, the BSP expects inflation to average 3.6%.

“Lack of a global downturn in the developed markets despite the persistent drag of high interest rates and the preference of young, mobile Filipino workers to work offshore because of better compensation  and other career opportunities in the post-pandemic period support our forecasts of OFW remittances up by 3% in 2024 and by 2.8% in 2025,” Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said.

The BSP expects remittances to grow by 3% this year and next year.

Mr. Asuncion said the annual remittance forecasts assume quarterly remittance flows would likely surpass $8 billion every quarter, “leading to more than $9 billion in the fourth quarter.”

Meanwhile, BSP data also showed that personal remittances, which contain inflows in kind, increased by 2.7% to $3.153 billion in January from $3.071 billion in the same month a year ago.

“The increase in personal remittances in January 2024 was driven by increased remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP added.

In 2023, cash remittances hit a record-high $33.491 billion, up by 2.9% year on year. However, this fell short of the BSP’s 3% estimate and was slower than the 3.6% expansion in 2022.

MIC explores investments in coconut oil mills, refineries

A Filipino worker inspects coconuts at a plantation in Quezon province in this picture taken on Aug. 11, 2004. — REUTERS

THE MAHARLIKA Investment Corp. (MIC) is looking into investing in the agro-industries sector, specifically coconut oil mills and refineries.

“The MIC Board approved discussions with the Department of Finance-Privatization Management Office to explore investment opportunities in government assets, particularly in coconut oil mills and refineries,” it said in a statement over the weekend.

In a Viber message, MIC Chief Executive Officer and President Rafael D. Consing, Jr. said that the corporation is “seeking to identify strategic opportunities within the agri sector.”

No other details were provided.

“Proceeds of the Coco Levy Trust fund go to programs for farmers, an investment in line with the government’s socioeconomic development program,” the MIC said.

In 2021, then-President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11521 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act.

The law puts coconut levy assets into a trust fund that finances rehabilitation and modernization projects for the coconut industry.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the value of coconut oil exports jumped by 26.9% to $138.17 million in January from $108.92 million in the same month a year ago.

Around 80% of the country’s total coconut production is processed into copra, the feedstock for coconut oil mills, according to the Agriculture department.

However, the average annual capacity utilization rate of the coconut oil mills from 2009 to 2013 was only recorded at 49.8%.

Meanwhile, Danilo V. Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., said that the sovereign wealth fund’s interest in investing in coconut oil mills and refineries is a welcome move.

“I think we have several coconut oil mills which are part of the assets of the coconut levy funds. They are supposed to be liquidated within five years from the date the law was passed,” he said in a Viber message.

“We need these coconut mills whether public or private in order to increase our share of the export market for coconut products. The Maharlika fund is a good outlet in liquidating these assets so that benefits could be given to coconut farmers out of the proceeds of sale,” he added.

On the other hand, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura Executive Director Jayson H. Cainglet said that the MIC’s “big business approach” is unlikely to prioritize coconut farmers.

“Value-adding economic activity should be at the farm level. We’d rather see public investments in coconut processing so that farmers can benefit,” he said in a Viber message.

“Promoting value chain development with the farmers having a central role from supply to processing and marketing would ensure that they are able to capture the bigger share of the pie,” he added.

He cited the production of virgin coconut oil, edible oil, coconut water, charcoal briquette and other value-added products that can be produced by farmers.

The MIC earlier identified its priority sectors such as energy, physical and digital infrastructure, food security, aviation and aerospace, mineral processing, transportation and tourism.

Earlier this month, Mr. Consing said that the MIC is seeking to raise $1 billion for energy projects. The bulk of its initial investments will be focused on energy, he said.

The MIC has an authorized capital stock of P500 billion. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Archivers make up for lost time in preserving Philippine past on film

Philippine Film Archive employees inspect the vault containing film reels — BRONTE H. LACSAMANA

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

TEDDY CO, a 64-year-old film curator, cinephile and advocate of archiving and regional cinema, helped shape Philippine film history.

Many Filipino archivists turned to him for information on lost films, including anecdotes about their origin and possible location. He was more of an oral historian, the people around him scrambling to take notes as he went off on a tangent about tidbits that led to long-forgotten reels.

People who knew Mr. Co felt the hole he left behind when he died in November.

“He found a missing reel of Gerardo de Leon’s 1961 film The Moises Padilla Story,” Don Gervin T. Arawan, head of the Philippine Film Archive (PFA), told BusinessWorld. “The film was shown back in 1985, but with a questionable arrangement of scenes due to possible censorship.”

PFA consulted film scholar Clodualdo “Doy” Del Mundo, Jr., the film’s own assistant director Dik Trofeo and Mr. Co, who spent a whole day discussing the film’s original contents, to come up with a decent edit, Mr. Arawan said.

The film premiered in September 2022 and was shown in December 2023 in a tribute to Mr. Co’s life and work.

Mr. Arawan said PFA is trying to catch up with lost time.

“We only recently started archiving even though Philippine cinema has existed for over a hundred years,” he said. “We do recover a lot, but it still hurts to have lost a lot already, especially those with missing or damaged parts.

The law that created the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) mandated film archives to keep film negatives safe. PFA was born in 2011 to preserve and promote the country’s cinema, but it only began digitizing old analog films in 2018.

About 20-40% of film cans retrieved from depositors are unsalvageable due to poor storage conditions, according to the agency. The acetate-based reels suffer from extreme vinegar syndrome, called such due to the intense vinegar-like fumes they emit.

Before the internet and online streaming, there was no reason to care for films after their theatrical release. In the Philippines, humid weather and high maintenance costs also shortened their lifespan — each film costs at least P1 million ($17,900) to restore.

“Archiving here isn’t known as a profession,” Mr. Arawan said. “Very few people understand what it means, so it really takes effort to tell people about it so they know that money needs to be allocated.”

Last year, PFA managed to restore six films — two more than target — using part of its P308-million budget.

Private institutions have been filling the gaps all the while, with the ABS-CBN Film Archive at the forefront.

The archive’s head, Leonardo “Leo” P. Katigbak, has led the network’s film restoration campaign Sagip Pelikula since 2011. ABS-CBN’s first-ever digitally restored film under the project was Ishmael Bernal’s 1982 classic Himala, which was screened in 2012. It has restored more than 200 films since then.

“We have state-of-the-art facilities, vaults that are temperature- and humidity-controlled,” Mr. Katigbak said at a free screening of Ibong Adarna, LVN Pictures’ 1941 film adaptation of the Filipino epic, in November. “For restoration, we deal with 24 frames per second of film, which is about 200,000 frames that we painstakingly fix.”

The denial of ABS-CBN’s broadcast frequency franchise in 2020 was a major setback for the archive, which was forced to downsize amid a coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic also brought supply issues, with some imported chemicals or equipment failing to arrive, while extra restoration work paused due to lockdowns.

Spreading the advocacy online became a big priority, too. “We have to make sure the things we do are seen by many,” Mr. Katigbak said.

The Ibong Adarna screening was part of a set of restored Filipino cinema classics shown at the Manila Pop Culture Convention.

Archivers stressed the importance of online services, special screenings and talks to increase public access, Rosemarie O. Roque, board president of the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SOFIA), said in an interview.

“Archiving is a selfless act,” she said. “That’s why collectors are not archivists. The act of preserving doesn’t stop with a person or institution’s collection; it should go beyond one’s lifetime.”

In 2023, films by the late national artist Ishmael Bernal, Lino Brocka and Marilou Diaz-Abaya hit the big screen thanks to the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Cine Icons program.

Many of these digitally restored gems are also available online, allowing Filipinos to see them. Online platforms include FDCP’s Juanflix, ABS-CBN’s iWantTFC, Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video, KTX.ph, Facebook and YouTube.

Probe Archives, which focuses on documentaries produced by the Probe Team from 1988 to 2004, is working on digitally converting its collection of 14,000 U-matic, mini DV, Betacam and magnetic tapes by 2025.

LONG-LOST FILMS
“Probe produced stories that are documentary-based and evidence-based, the preservation of which will help with fact-checking in the modern age,” Julie Ann S. Nealega, Probe Archives’ head, said at a talk on film preservation at FDCP in November.

The team uploads on social media its fact-checking shows that use footage from old documentaries as context.

SOFIA also held campus talks as part of their 30th founding anniversary in 2023 to spread awareness about audiovisual heritage among students.

SOFIA is set to hold a summit where member groups like the Mowelfund Film Institute, Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) Archives and the University of the Philippines Film Institute can discuss their initiatives.

“We have to strengthen the archiving community,” Ms. Roque said. “Our summit for 2024 will be based on surveys conducted at the pre-summit, so we know if we need workshops on topics like copyright or ethics.”

Archives may involve a filmmaker or students making thesis films, and the jury is still out on an autonomous, exclusively mandated national audiovisual archive.

PFA is bound by being a unit of FDCP, unlike the National Library, National Museum or National Archives of the Philippines, which all stand on their own.

In 2023, the Senate public information committee heard a bill that seeks to set up a National Film Archive of the Philippines. The House of Representatives had also discussed having a separate archiving agency as proposed by Pangasinan Rep. Christopher de Venecia.

Mr. Arawan said they wish to jumpstart the archive’s move to FDCP’s Philippine Film Heritage building in Intramuros, which broke ground in October.

“Unlike our current building, the Film Heritage building will actually be designed for the archives,” he said. “It will also have a cinematheque and a gallery, which will make it an essential part of the Intramuros museum tour.”

This is a major push to increase public access to film archives, but much needs to be done. In other countries, audiovisual archives are housed in old bunkers and protected by heavy vault doors — a staple of few private archives in the Philippines.

A number of Filipino archivists are active in international networks like the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio-Visual Archive Association and the International Federation of Film Archives.

There, they exchange information on archiving processes and comparative research. Filipinos learn from best practices abroad and, most importantly, locate long-lost films, Mr. Arawan said.

He recounted how the Venice Film Festival Archive called PFA one day to say that they had stumbled on a copy of National Artist for Film Manuel Conde’s 1950 biopic Genghis Khan. “We asked for it and restored it since it is a landmark film that introduced Filipino creativity to the world,” he said.

SOFIA’s Ms. Roque said it’s impossible to archive alone because finding material takes many referrals.

This was true for the discovery of Mike de Leon’s 1984 film Sangandaan, which is the original, uncut version of Sister Stella L that was only ever screened in France.

It started with the late Teddy Co chatting with other cinephiles after an event. He had revealed that the movie as Filipinos know it had a different title, a factoid Ms. Roque then pursued with the help of European archivist friends, she said.

It eventually led her to Cinémathèque Française, where she found the 35-mm film in good condition.

“Archiving is collaborative,” she said. “No one can ever do it alone. That’s why we have to bring the community together.”

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