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PLDT targets mainstream adoption of premium fiber internet

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PLDT Inc. is planning to extend its gigabit fiber plan to Cebu and Davao following its initial deployment in Metro Manila, a company official said.

“Yes, Cebu and Davao will also be actually in our rollout list,” Jeremiah M. de la Cruz, PLDT senior vice-president and head of consumer business, told reporters on Monday.

For now, the Pangilinan-led company offers the service only in some areas in Metro Manila such as Makati City,  Mr. De la Cruz said.

The offer, which ranges from P7,000 to P49,000 for one gigabit and 10 gigabits, respectively, is marketed to high-end customers, significantly higher than its P1,699 fiber plan offering.

Mr. De la Cruz said that the company expects the product to become more mainstream over time as more customers seek faster and more reliable internet connections in line with the expanding digital landscape.

“Gigabit fiber… is a little bit more expensive than the average. That’s true. Like all new technologies and all the changes, it starts off in a certain segment. It is something that will start off in the premium segment, but we are looking forward to it over time, actually making its way to becoming a very mainstream product,” Mr. De la Cruz said.

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

Two Madrid insiders share itineraries for the perfect day in town

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IN A CITY that runs on tapas, it’s only logical to get recommendations from plugged-in members of the food and beverage scene. Here in Madrid, two such luminaries offer their best bites of local intel — intended as a chaser to our Two-Night Minimum city guide to the Spanish capital.

Raised in London and Madrid, Boris Olivas has spent the last five years working as the wine critic for the Peñín Guide to Spanish Wines; he also hosts private tastings at wine shops throughout the city, bookable via luxury tour operator Madrid & Beyond.

Diego Cabrera, on the other hand, moved to Spain from his native Argentina in 2001. By 2019 he took home a National Gastronomy Award from the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy, which named him the best cocktail professional in the country. The bar that propelled his reputation, Salmon Guru, remains one of our favorite places to drink almost anywhere in the world — not just for its stellar Asian tapas and unconventional mixed drinks, but for the fervor it stirs in Madrileños. (Don’t just take our word for it; the bar is No. 16 on this year’s World’s 50 Best bars list.)

Here, Olivas and Cabrera dish on the spots they’d prioritize on a perfect day in town. Among them: Madrid’s most underrated museum, the best place to try small-batch Spanish wines, and a visit to the city’s real-life Willy Wonka.

MORNING MARKETS, MIDNIGHT DANCING

Edited from an interview with Boris Olivas

“As the main cook in the house, my morning kicks off with a visit to the Mercado de Vallehermoso in Chamberí. Despite its distance from the sea, Madrid is — after Tokyo — the city that receives the freshest fish each day. At the mercado, I get my poultry from Pollería Hermanos Gómez Ortiz, my fruit and vegetables from Frutas Peña, plus any seafood from Pescadería Martín de los Ríos. (It’s well worth stopping by in the evenings as well, when the arcades turn into makeshift restaurants selling Spanish, South American, and Asian tapas.)

After the mercado, I cross the road for a fresh hogaza de campaña (“country loaf”) and maritozzo (cream-stuffed brioche bites) at Cientotreinta Grados; at Labirratoriuma round the corner, I stock up on Spanish beer. A couple of blocks farther is Black Pepper & Co., a library of rare spices and fermented goods from all over the world — the vadouvan curry blend is my favorite — and 24 Onzas, an artisanal chocolate shop selling candies with inventive flavors like mole and corn. The owner is the Willy Wonka of Madrid; all of her creations are solid magic.

If my wife and I manage to find a babysitter, we’ll take an evening stroll around the Templo de Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple [gifted to Madrid from the Egyptian government]. It was moved piece by piece from Aswan and reassembled in the Parque de la Montaña.

Later, we’ll head to the Chueca neighborhood and grab a drink at Angelita, where David Villalón and his brother Mario offer an impressive assortment of wines by the glass and ingeniously designed cocktails. Many of their Spanish pours are from small producers, which are not so easy to find. We like the Las Migas 2018 from Vicky Torres (a white wine from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands), 69 Arrobas from Xurxo Alba (a Galician Albariño aged in oak) and Lousas from Envinate (the best Galician red, in my opinion).

We love to dance, so we usually end up in Lavapiés, the least posh of Madrid’s central neighborhoods, dancing the night away to funky music at El Juglar, a disco bar where you can find all different types of people. In summer, the crowds pour out onto the street.”

A NEXT-LEVEL CULTURE-AND-STYLE CRAWL

Edited from an interview with Diego Cabrera

“A great day in Madrid begins early, by which I mean 9 a.m. — with a hot chocolate and a side of churros at La Churrería Santa Ana in the Barrio de la Latina. Next, I love taking visiting friends to the Museo Cerralbo, easily the most underrated museum in the city. Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, the namesake Marquis of Cerralbo, was an avid collector of antiques, sculptures, animals, and anything else that caught his eye — the overly ornate property is still arranged as though the aristocrat lives there.

After, it’s off to the bohemian Barrio de las Letras, my favorite neighborhood in Madrid. Stroll down Calle del León to check out some memorable shops, including Casa González, which has been selling exquisite cheeses and sausages for almost a hundred years, and La Compañía Polar, the self-dubbed “anti-gentleman” brand, which makes smart updates to classic menswear designs. (I also love the sustainable, mod outdoor apparel line Ecoalf, which has locations all over the city.) A visit to Wilde is a must to check out the vintage-inspired eyewear. The owner, my friend Cao Wilde, creates most of the collection himself, including a variety of one-of-a-kind pieces.

Even though flamenco is from southern Spain, it’s fun to witness the thrilling zapateao (shoe-tapping dance) and live singing at Cardamomo, also in Barrio de las Letras before checking in on Guru Lab across the street. Marked only with ‘Sapiens’ written into the mosaic tile flooring at the entrance, this speakeasy space is where my team and I do our research and development for future cocktail and culinary recipes — we invite guests in on the weekends to sit around our large communal table and sample our latest creations. Lately in the lab, we’ve been working with unusual flavors: some veggies, fermented stuff, cocktails inspired by a dish. … Of course it has to be something you like — if our experiment doesn’t work for you, we always let you change it for something else.” — Bloomberg

Political deepfakes will hijack your brain — if you let them

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REALISTIC artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images and voice recordings may be the newest threat to democracy, but they’re part of a longstanding family of deceptions. The way to fight so-called deepfakes isn’t to develop some rumor-busting form of AI or to train the public to spot fake images. A better tactic would be to encourage a few well-known critical thinking methods — refocusing our attention, reconsidering our sources, and questioning ourselves.

Some of those critical thinking tools fall under the category of “system 2” or slow thinking as described in the book Thinking, Fast and Slow. AI is good at fooling the fast thinking “system 1” — the mode that often jumps to conclusions.

We can start by refocusing attention on policies and performance rather than gossip and rumors. So what if former President Donald Trump stumbled over a word and then blamed AI manipulation? So what if President Joe Biden forgot a date? Neither incident tells you anything about either man’s policy record or priorities.

Obsessing over which images are real or fake may be a waste of time and energy. Research suggests that we’re terrible at spotting fakes.

“We are very good at picking up on the wrong things,” said computational neuroscientist Tijl Grootswagers of the University of Western Sydney. People tend to look for flaws when trying to spot fakes, but it’s the real images that are most likely to have flaws.

People may unconsciously be more trusting of deepfake images because they’re more perfect than real ones, he said. Humans tend to like and trust faces that are less quirky, and more symmetrical, so AI-generated images can often look more attractive and trustworthy than the real thing.

Asking voters to simply do more research when confronted with social media images or claims isn’t enough. Social scientists recently made the alarming finding that people were more likely to believe made-up news stories after doing some “research” using Google.

That wasn’t evidence that research is bad for people, or for democracy for that matter. The problem was that many people do a mindless form of research. They look for confirmatory evidence, which, like everything else on the internet, is abundant — however crazy the claim.

Real research involves questioning whether there’s any reason to believe a particular source. Is it a reputable news site? An expert who has earned public trust? Real research also means examining the possibility that what you want to believe might be wrong. One of the most common reasons that rumors get repeated on X, but not in the mainstream media, is lack of credible evidence.

AI has made it cheaper and easier than ever to use social media to promote a fake news site by manufacturing realistic fake people to comment on articles, said Filippo Menczer, a computer scientist and director of the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University.

For years, he’s been studying the proliferation of fake accounts known as bots, which can have influence through the psychological principle of social proof — making it appear that many people like or agree with a person or idea. Early bots were crude, but now, he told me, they can be created to look like they’re having long, detailed, and very realistic discussions.

But this is still just a new tactic in a very old battle. “You don’t really need advanced tools to create misinformation,” said psychologist Gordon Pennycook of Cornell University. People have pulled off deceptions by using Photoshop or repurposing real images — like passing off photos of Syria as Gaza.

Pennycook and I talked about the tension between too much and too little trust. While there’s a danger that too little trust might cause people to doubt things that are real, we agreed there’s more danger from people being too trusting.

What we should really aim for is discernment — so people ask the right kinds of questions. “When people are sharing things on social media, they don’t even think about whether it’s true,” he said. They’re thinking more about how sharing it would make them look.

Considering this tendency might have spared some embarrassment for actor Mark Ruffalo, who recently apologized for sharing what is reportedly a deepfake image used to imply that Donald Trump participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual assaults on underage girls.

If AI makes it impossible to trust what we see on television or on social media, that’s not altogether a bad thing, since much of it was untrustworthy and manipulative long before recent leaps in AI. Decades ago, the advent of TV notoriously made physical attractiveness a much more important factor for all candidates. There are more important criteria on which to base a vote.

Contemplating policies, questioning sources, and second-guessing ourselves requires a slower, more effortful form of human intelligence. But considering what’s at stake, it’s worth it.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Ayala Land sets P100-billion capex budget for 2024

AYALALAND.COM.PH

AYALA Land, Inc. (ALI) has allocated P100 billion for its capital expenditure (capex) budget this year, with plans to launch P115 billion worth of projects, the property developer’s chief financial officer said.

The company’s capex budget for 2024 is 16% higher than the P86.2 billion allocated for capex last year, ALI Chief Finance Officer Augusto D. Bengzon said during a briefing on Tuesday.

“In terms of the 2024 capex breakdown totaling P100 billion, 34% would go to the residential business, 24% for estate development, 19% for land acquisition, 10% for malls, 8% for offices, and 5% for hotels and resorts,” he added.

He also said that ALI aims to launch projects worth P115 billion this year, comprising P100 billion in residential projects and P15 billion in commercial and industrial projects.

Mr. Bengzon added that 44% of the launches will be in Metro Manila, 38% in Southern Luzon, 11% in Visayas, and Mindanao, and 7% in Central Luzon.

“We will launch 52% as horizontal projects and 48% as vertical projects,” Mr. Bengzon said.

For commercial leasing, he said that ALI will complete 68,000 square meters (sq.m.) of gross leasable area consisting of Ayala Malls Vermosa (38,000 sq.m.), Ayala Malls Evo City (18,000 sq.m.), and Park Triangle (22,000 sq.m.).

The company will also add 98,000 sq.m. of gross leasable area for office spaces.

ALI President and Chief Executive Officer Anna Ma. Margarita Bautista-Dy said that 80% of the launches will be in the premium segment while the remaining 20% will be in the core segment.

“The market that we feel is more robust is really the premium segment, which is why we are ready and really improving all our quality, our specification to make sure that we continue to lead in that particular segment,” she said.

“The core segment is very reliant on mortgage, while the premium segment is less reliant on mortgage. Inflation and everything that has happened since the pandemic, it’s usually the middle market that is more vulnerable to changes while the premium segment is a little more resilient,” she added.

ALI is continuing to improve on its core brands such as middle-income brand Avida, she noted.

“Over the medium term, with a country like the Philippines, we need the core to come back, which is why now we continue to nurture our Avida brand. We have the land bank and the projects. We continue to plan and we intend to have projects on push-button mode, so that if there should be opportunities, we will be very quick in being able to capture market changes,” she said.

“We need the core to grow. That’s really where most of the Filipinos are. That’s a segment that we will continue to participate in a big way just as soon as market conditions improve,” she added.

ALI posted a 32% increase in its 2023 net income to P24.5 billion led by strong property demand and consumer activity. The company’s consolidated revenue climbed by 18% to P148.9 billion.

On Wednesday, ALI shares rose by 1.86% or 65 centavos to P35.55 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Singapore lures Taylor Swift with grant for sold-out March concerts

TAYLOR SWIFT in the concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

SINGAPORE — Singapore has awarded Taylor Swift a grant to perform in the city-state, government authorities said on Tuesday, acknowledging efforts to persuade the pop superstar to perform on the island — her only stop in Southeast Asia — and the potential boon to the economy from her concerts.

Ms. Swift is set to perform six sold-out shows in Singapore early in March.

The tourism board and culture ministry did not disclose the amount of the grant, but in a statement referred to the economic benefits brought by Ms. Swift’s concerts around the world due to her popularity and said the ministry had worked with concert promoter AEG Presents to get Ms. Swift to perform in Singapore.

“It is likely to generate significant benefits to the Singapore economy, especially to tourism activities such as hospitality, retail, travel and dining, as has happened in other cities in which Taylor Swift has performed,” they said.

Singapore has seen a boom in concerts since pandemic lockdowns ended, with big names like Blackpink, Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran playing sold-out shows.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told a business forum on Friday that Singapore had paid Ms. Swift 100 million baht ($2.77 million) per show, allegedly on condition that Singapore would be Ms. Swift’s only show in Southeast Asia.

The Singapore government did not comment on the exclusivity clause, though AEG has said Ms. Swift’s sole concert stop in Southeast Asia will be on the island nation, with VIP tickets going for S$1,228 ($913.55).

In the broader Asian continent, Ms. Swift also performed in Tokyo, earlier in February.

Her Singapore concerts will span March 2 to 9. Over 300,000 tickets were sold to fans who queued overnight in the blistering tropical heat. — Reuters

The 7th edition?

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Do we really need to change the 1987 Constitution? The Philippines has had six constitutions since the declaration of independence in 1898. And now, legislators are considering an exercise that may yet lead to a seventh one by next year. The present call for constitutional change is anchored on the perceived need to remove supposedly restrictive economic provisions.

If we look at the reasons for constitutional change in the past, they were all for political reasons, particularly for the “change” in government administration. And all the revisions or amendments were also political in nature, except in 1947 when economic-related provisions were considered to introduce “parity” rights or equal rights to Philippine resources by Filipinos and Americans.

Based on the Official Gazette, with the Philippine proclamation of independence from Spanish rule on June 12, 1898, the Malolos Constitution was drafted by the “First Republic” to become the first Philippine Constitution, and it lasted from 1899 to 1901, or until the start of the American Occupation in 1902.

From 1902 to 1935, after Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States, the country was governed by US laws. But instead of drafting a new constitution, the United States Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, which provided for a Philippine Assembly composed of Filipino citizens; the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916; and the Philippine Independence Act of 1934. These laws served as the “second” constitution.

And in line with the 1934 independence law, a constitutional convention was convened to draft a new charter. The convention finished its work in February 1935 and its draft charter was ratified in a national plebiscite in May 1935. The new “third” constitution came into effect in November 1935 with the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. It was intended to remain in effect even after independence from the US in 1946.

The 1935 Constitution underwent amendment by the National Assembly in 1940, to shift the legislature from the unicameral National Assembly to a bicameral Congress composed of the House and the Senate; and to change the term limit of the president to four years with the possibility of reelection for a second term, from six years without reelection.

But in 1941 war came to Philippine shores and during the Japanese Occupation from 1941 to 1945, the Japanese-sponsored government junked the 1935 Constitution and initiated the drafting of the 1943 Constitution, or the “fourth” constitution, that was used by the “Second Republic” under President Jose P. Laurel. But with liberation by the US in 1945, the 1935 Constitution was put back in place. And then the Philippines was granted independence by the US, as legislated, in 1946.

In 1947, under Philippine administration, Congress amended the 1935 Constitution to give US citizens equal rights with Filipino citizens to develop natural resources in the country and to operate public utilities. This was known as the parity amendment. Other than this, the 1935 Constitution remained untouched until the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.

Even before Martial Law, in 1971, a constitutional convention was called (the second since 1934) to consider changes to the 1935 Constitution. The draft was completed in 1972. And in 1973, then President Marcos created citizens assemblies to ratify the proposed charter into what became the 1973 Constitution or the “fifth” constitution, which was in place until 1987.

After Marcos was removed from office in 1986, then President Cory Aquino suspended certain provisions of the 1973 Constitution. She also created a constitutional commission to draft a new charter, which was ratified in February 1987 as the 1987 Constitution or the “sixth” constitution. Other than changes in government structure, economic provisions were also introduced in the new charter that are now the target of proposed changes.

Since 1898, the country has had six constitutions. And in 126 years, those constitutions were amended only twice, in 1940 to install a bicameral congress and to change the presidential term limit; and in 1947 to give US citizens parity rights. The 1940 change prompted a similar change in the US Constitution in 1947. Prior to 1947, US presidents did not have term limits.

When one thinks about our present situation, it seems that every time there is an urge to amend the constitution, we end up revising it into a new charter altogether. Perhaps, first and foremost, we should consider an amendment on how we could “amend” the charter? One option is to look into how other countries amend their constitutions.

In my opinion, amendments should be piece-meal, not like what we did in 1971 and in 1986 when we overhauled the 1935 and 1973 constitutions wholesale. The need of the times is not for a complete revision or the drafting of a “new” constitution, but rather a “revision” of the existing basic law to allow for greater flexibility in managing particularly the economy. Why rewrite the entire 100-page book when we need to edit only one page?

Moreover, we should reconsider constituent assemblies and constitutional conventions and people’s initiatives. As I noted in a previous column, in the US, constitutional amendments may be proposed and sent to the states for ratification by either the US Congress, whenever a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives deem it necessary; or a national convention, called by Congress for this purpose.

An amendment must be also ratified by three-fourths of the states by either the legislatures of three-fourths of the states; or state ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states. To date, only one amendment has been ratified through the state convention method. All others were ratified through votes of state legislatures.

This is a process that we can consider here, but we need to change our laws to allow something similar. The House and the Senate can propose specific amendments to certain provisions in the Constitution, vote on them separately, and then submit them for ratification through a national plebiscite. No need for a constituent assembly or a constitutional convention with elected delegates.

As I noted previously, if the present constitution will not allow this, then we need to first propose a change in the amendment process, then propose specific amendments to the charter after. We can ratify any proposed changes to the amendment process alongside the 2025 national and local elections.

Incidentally, the US Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789. There have been 33 proposed amendments to it, with 27 passed so far. The US Constitution has never been rewritten or redrafted in whole, but only amended in parts in the last 235 years. The Philippines, on the other hand, has had six constitutions since 1898 or the last 126 years. Obviously, we do not need a new Constitution. But perhaps we need to revise it to make it more attuned to the times.

 

Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council

matort@yahoo.com

SPX Express Laguna sorting hub set to serve key regions

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SPX Express, a logistics partner of the e-commerce giant Shopee, has introduced its inaugural automated and largest sorting center in the country, located in Calamba, Laguna.

“There’s a lot of focus for SPX Express to really push speed, reliability, and productivity, efficiency — all of these together. And I think part of that requires some of this engineering,” SPX Express Head Martin Yu told reporters on Wednesday.

With a warehouse space of 25,000 square meters, the sorting center boasts a processing capacity of over three million parcels per day.

From inbound to outbound, the processing time can take up to three minutes for bulky parcels and up to one hour for sacks.

Specifically designed to cater to shoppers in key regions, including the National Capital Region, Greater Manila Area, south Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the sorting center is poised to significantly contribute to SPX Express’ regional delivery network, according to Mr. Yu.

“There are people who are designated to deal with error parcels, and they have to check it, and it involves calling the buyers, calling the sellers, and checking how we can best manage such issues,” he said.

“And I think that’s the benefit that this state-of-the-art technology gives us. It helps us catch those much better,” he added.

Currently, the company has two sorting centers in the Philippines, with one equipped with an automatic sorting machine.

The company said that the sorting efficiency has increased by 60%, and the lead time for every parcel going through the new facility has been reduced by approximately two hours.

SPX Express, launched in 2018, offers delivery services across Southeast Asia, supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises, brands, and sellers.

The company operates a nationwide network of delivery centers across more than 300 hubs.

“The e-commerce industry remains to be the main growth driver of the local digital economy,” SPX Express said in a statement.

“With the Philippines being among the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia, there is a necessity to enhance infrastructures to meet the growing demands of customers,” it added.

E-commerce is expected to drive the Philippines’s digital economy, which is seen to expand by 21% annually to hit $24 billion by 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company.

It is seen to reach $60 billion in gross merchandise value by 2030. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Term deposit yields inch down as demand slows

YIELDS on the term deposit facility of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) slipped on Wednesday, with the two-week papers going undersubscribed amid the government’s ongoing retail Treasury bond offering and as market players continue to bet on rate cuts this year.

The central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) attracted bids amounting to P342.737 billion on Wednesday, above the P310 billion on the auction block but lower than the P353.976 billion seen a week ago for the same offer.

Broken down, tenders for the seven-day papers reached P235.287 billion, higher than the P180 billion auctioned off by the central bank and the P196.214 billion in bids the previous week.

Banks asked for yields ranging from 6.5% to 6.5835%, lower than the 6.57% to 6.6% band seen a week ago. This caused the average rate of the one-week deposits to decline by 1.17 basis points (bps) to 6.5756% from 6.5873% previously.

Meanwhile, bids for the 14-day term deposits amounted to P107.45 billion, lower than the P130-billion offering and the P157.762 billion in tenders seen on Feb. 14.

Accepted rates were from 6.58% to 6.625%, a tad wider than the 6.588% to 6.625% margin recorded a week ago. With this, the average rate for the two-week deposits inched down by 0.7 bp to 6.6041% from the 6.6756% logged in the prior auction.

“The BSP maintained the total TDF volume offering at P310 billion, with the same allocation mix of P180 billion and P130 billion for the 7-day and 14-day tenors, respectively, as in the previous week,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said in a statement.

“The undersubscription in the 14-day TDF indicated participants’ preference for the shorter tenor in anticipation of loan releases and the settlement of the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) retail Treasury bond (RTBs) issuance by end-February,” Mr. Dakila said. “Looking ahead, the BSP’s monetary operations will continue to be guided by its assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and market developments.”

The government raised an initial P212.719 billion from its first RTB offering for 2024. This is more than nine times the P30 billion on offer.

The public offer period for the five-year retail bonds started on Feb. 13 and will run until Feb. 23, unless closed earlier by the BTr. The issue and settlement date is scheduled on Feb. 28.

The BSP has not auctioned off 28-day term deposits for three years to give way to its weekly offerings of securities with the same tenor.

The term deposits and the 28-day BSP bills are used by the central bank to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market rates.

TDF yields went down on Wednesday as market players continue to expect rate cuts from the BSP and the US Federal Reserve this year, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

“Odds of Fed rate cuts for 2024 have been reduced recently,” he said, adding that market players see a 60% chance of the US central bank cutting borrowing costs by June or July this year, which the BSP could match.

The Fed has kept its target rate steady at 5.25%-5.5% since the second half of 2023 after it tightened by a total of 525 bps from March 2022 to July 2023.

Meanwhile, the BSP last week kept its policy rate steady at a 16-year high of 6.5% for a third straight meeting, but said it remained cautious amid lingering upside risks to inflation.

The Monetary Board has raised benchmark interest rates by 450 bps since it began its tightening cycle in May 2022. — Keisha B. Ta-asan

AI use regulations should evolve along with technology — experts

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By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

REGULATIONS on artificial intelligence (AI) should be “flexible and mature” to consider the continuous evolution of the technology, according to officials of universities.

R.F. Shangraw, Jr., president of Cintana Education and a faculty member at Arizona State University (ASU), said AI technology will continue to evolve, and thus will require changing regulations.

“I think it’s important that those regulations be flexible and mature as the technology matures,” Mr. Shangraw said in a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.

He said things on the ground change fast, noting how universities previously banned the use of ChatGPT but now allow it within specific perimeters.

“[AI] is going to be evolving. Just like any other technology, it is going to evolve. And I don’t think we can get set on a fixed set of regulations that will last forever,” Mr. Shangraw said.

“I think you are going to have to constantly review those policies and a constant review by the faculty and other members,” he added.

According to Mr. Shangraw, ASU has a governing board composed of faculty and administrators that reviews policies weekly because things are rapidly changing.

“I think that policies need to be put in place now, and I think there are some frameworks that are out there… but I think the worst thing you can do is not have a framework at all,” he added.

Cintana is ASU’s global implementation partner that handles ASU’s plans to work outside the US and makes sure that the university’s programs and activities are well coordinated.

Mapúa University, ASU’s exclusive partner in the Philippines, also has a governing body working on their policy on the use of AI.

“Just recently, we finalized our academic policy on the use of AI, and in fact, we are fine-tuning it. We are also creating a policy for the whole conglomerate (iPeople, Inc.),” said Dodjie S. Maestrecampo, president and chief executive officer of Mapúa.

Mapua’s governing body is currently composed of its academic council, and the school is targeting to involve other groups such as students, administration, teachers, and personnel.

“[AI] will continually evolve, and I think that is the reason why we cannot finalize it (rules) because we are trying to actually have a final version of it. So, I think we should just have a living document that we can continuously upgrade as [AI] evolves,” he added.

Mr. Maestrecampo said the establishment of policies will help in harnessing the benefits of AI in a responsible way.

“We have to do this. We have to define policies — the dos and don’ts — for the use of AI. And I think that is the first step to make sure that this will be an innovation that is centered around principles and around the proper use of this technology,” he said.

Amid calls for AI regulation, Mr. Shangraw said the government must converse with stakeholders.

“I think out of those conversations will come a set of broad parameters around how to coexist with AI,” he said.

“It is a challenge because you don’t want too many regulations in place that stymie innovation in the field, and on the other hand, you don’t want technology to work in ways that are detrimental to the general public,” he added.

Dining In/Out (02/22/24)

A special night at The Bar at The Pen

THE PENINSULA Manila will host Masahiko Endo, Group Beverage Director of Mizunara: The Library, Hong Kong (ranked No. 86 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars for 2023 list) — for one night only at The Bar on Feb. 23. He is an award-winning mixologist from Japan who manages the specialist whisky and cocktail bar Mizunara: The Library. With over 20 years of experience, he regularly conducts masterclasses and tasting sessions for whiskies, spirits, and cocktails. From 8 p.m. to midnight on Feb. 23, catch him at The Bar as he prepares his four signature cocktails featuring Chivas Regal. For inquires on the Mizunara: The Library, Hong Kong Pop-up at The Bar, call 8887-2888 (ext. 6694 for Restaurant Reservations and 6740 for The Bar), or visit peninsula.com/manila.

Michelin Star chefs at Solaire

SOLAIRE Resort Entertainment City is bringing Michelin Star chefs to the Philippines. For its anniversary month in March, Solaire will have three renowned Michelin Star chefs presenting their signature dishes for dinner at Solaire’s Finestra, Yakumi, and Red Lantern restaurants on March 13-16, followed by a buffet brunch on March 17. Cristina Bowerman, the Chef Patron at Glass Hostaria in Rome, a bastion of contemporary Italian cuisine which she has led for 17 years, will present a six-course dinner at Finestra featuring her signature dishes. Chef Goh Fukuyama delved into the world of French cuisine right out of high school, opening La Maison de la Nature Goh in 2002, a discreet yet stylish establishment renowned for its imaginative French Japanese omakase. He will present an eight-course dinner at Yakumi. A maestro of Sichuan cuisine, Xu Fan is the visionary behind the Michelin-starred Xujia Cuisine in Chengdu and the Black Pearl 1 Diamond restaurant. He will take charge of the Red Lantern kitchen, presenting an eight-course dinner.  Joining the chefs are certified Sake Samurai and Sake Master Brewer Akihiro Igarashi, Luis de Santos, the first and only Master Sommelier of Filipino descent, and Max Solano, one of the West Coast’s most respected and creative mixologists and spirits educators. For details and more information, e-mail restaurantevents@solaireresort.com, visit https://www.solaireresort.com or Solaire’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Starbucks’ Spring offerings

THE SPRING offerings of Starbucks are available from Feb. 20 to April 15. This starts off with the French Vanilla Mille-Feuille Oatmilk. Inspired by the classic French dessert, this has light buttery notes and flaky pastry toppings, available in hot, iced, and blended, ranging in price from P225 (Tall) to P255 (Venti). As for food pairings, there’s the Mango Coco Sans Rival Cheesecake, sans rival layered with cheesecake and mangoes, finished with mango buttercream icing and crushed roasted almonds. Prices range from P295 for a slice to P2,495 for the whole cake. The Sakura Doughnut has a pink chocolate ganache glaze with hints of cherry blossoms, priced at P95. The Black Sesame Crepe Cake consists of layers of paper-thin crepe with roasted black sesame filling and topping, sprinkled with roasted black sesame seed, and is priced at P275 for a slice, and P2,195 for the whole cake. The Plant-based Chocolate Chip Cookie is made with Belgian chocolate and is priced at P105. Other choices include the Cheesy Brioche Bun (P115), the Sausage Ragu (P235), and the Mushroom Melt sandwich (P195). Cap it all off with assorted lollipops, with different flavors ranging from caramel to grenadine (P45 each). Get them in store, along with the other spring merch like cherry blossom tumblers. Starbucks products are also available via Grabfood, Foodpanda, and Pick.A.Roo.

Shake Shack brings back Gochujang Chicken

SHAKE Shack brings back the hit Gochujang Chicken sandwich, Chicken Bites, and Fries, now available for a limited time in all Manila Shacks and at shakeshack.ph. Gochujang is a go-to ingredient in Korean cooking, made with red chili peppers, sticky rice, fermented soybeans, and salt. Inspired by Seoul’s fried chicken scene, the limited-time Gochujang Chicken (P370) features a gochujang-glazed crispy chicken breast topped with toasted sesame seeds over a white kimchi slaw. Completing the K-food experience are the Gochujang Chicken Bites (crispy, whole white meat; P255 for six; P365 for 10) and the Gochujang Fries (crispy crinkle-cut fries served with spicy-sweet gochujang mayo sauce; P275). Share a favorite K-inspired story at shakeshackph on Facebook and Instagram for a chance to win prizes. Skip the line and order ahead at shakeshack.ph.

 

BSP, PDIC ink information-sharing deal

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) signed a revised memorandum of agreement (MoA) on information sharing earlier this month.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. and PDIC President and Chief Executive Officer Roberto B. Tan led the signing of the revised MoA on information exchange on Feb. 8 at the BSP’s head office in Manila.

“The MoA signing signifies the two agencies’ strong collaboration and shared vision for a resilient and responsive financial sector,” the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr. Remolona said regulation and supervision have changed over the years for both the BSP and the PDIC.

“We have moved from a very prescriptive examination and supervision style to a risk-based, more principles-based supervision. We do not tell banks specifically what to do. We tell banks to take risks seriously, and that is the reason for all these regulatory standards,” he said.

He also noted the crucial role of deposit insurance in managing runs, which is considered the biggest risk for banks.

“I enjoin everyone, as stewards of this Revised MoA, to follow through on your commitments to keep the Revised MoA updated, relevant, and operational in pursuit of our primary objective of promoting financial system stability,” he added.

According to the BSP, the revised MoA updated the agreement dated Nov. 12, 2002 and the supplemental MoA signed in 2004.

The agreement covers information, data, and reports shared between the central bank and the PDIC.

It also includes continuous information sharing through digital platforms and rationalized processes, the use of the BSP Electronic Information System between the two agencies, and the periodic review of the MoA to consider evolving supervisory requirements.

The prudential reporting requirements of banks will also be streamlined, as banks are no longer required to submit some reports separately to the PDIC, the BSP said.

“Transparent communication between us provides opportunities for a comprehensive understanding of potential risks, enabling us to draw up preemptive measures, detect challenges early, and promptly intervene to immediately address problems among banks to make it responsive to the changing times,” Mr. Tan said.

“The collaboration between our institutions becomes even more paramount and imperative to protect the depositing public, especially from frauds and scams that have become even more elaborate and complex,” he added.

The BSP and PDIC jointly conduct examinations of banks to ensure the stability of the financial system.

The PDIC also issues rules and regulations to help protect the deposit insurance system and the depositing public. – Keisha B. Ta-asan

The nuclear trade mission to Canada

The Canadian embassy in the Philippines has organized a Philippines Nuclear Trade Mission to Canada in early March this year. Officials from the Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, private energy companies, and some media people were invited.

Canada is a good place to learn more about nuclear power technology and economics. As of 2022, it had 19 operable nuclear power reactors with a capacity of 13,624 megawatts (MW). In comparison, the US had 93 operable reactors with a capacity of 95,835 MW, France had 56 reactors with 61,370 MW, China had 55 reactors with 53,286 MW, Japan had 33 reactors with 31,579 MW, Russia had 36 reactors with 26,802 MW, South Korea had 26 reactors with 25,829 MW, and India had 22 reactors with 6,795 MW.

Canada also plans to build 11 new reactors with a capacity of 6,100 MW. But China plans 42 new reactors with 46,110 MW, Russia plans 25 reactors with 23,525 MW, and India plans to build 12 reactors with a capacity of 8,400 MW. See this column’s piece last week, “The nuclear option for Asian industrialization” (Feb. 15).

The bulk of power generation in Canada comes from hydro, which made up 60% of the total in 2022, while nuclear contributed 13%. The most nuclear-intensive country in the world is still France with 63% of its total electricity production coming from nuclear plants. The big Asian countries remain coal-intensive in their power generation, including India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines with at least 60% of their power generation coming from coal. South Korea is the most nuclear-intensive Asian country with 28% of its power generated from nuclear energy (see Table 1).

If the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) had been allowed to operate from 1985 until today, it could have generated at least 4,600 megawatt-hours or 4.6 terawatt-hours (TWH) yearly assuming a low-capacity factor of 85%, up to 5+ TWH at a higher capacity factor.

Among the activities that are planned for the nuclear trade mission to Canada by the Philippine delegation is a visit to McMaster University – University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE). It houses world class nuclear research facilities anchored by the McMaster Nuclear Reactor — a multi-purpose research reactor that provides neutrons for medical isotope production and scientific research. Their nuclear research facilities enable discoveries in medicine, nuclear safety, and materials and environmental science, while providing cancer treatments for more than 70,000 patients every year.

The delegation will also attend the NextGen2NetZero Nuclear Technology Forum, organized by the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries, at Ajax Convention Centre. They will also be meeting with Bruce Power at its Toronto Headquarters. The biggest nuclear plant in Canada and the world, it has eight reactors with combined capacity of 6,358 MW. In 2020 it generated 43.23 TWH.

The delegation will be making a site visit to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station and meeting with Ontario Power Generation (OPG). Darlington station is Canada’s second largest nuclear facility with a capacity of 3,512 MW. It generates up to 31 million MWh (or 31 TWH) yearly. Its four CANDU pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR), 878 MW each, are owned and operated by OPG.

There will be meetings with other groups: the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, OntarioTech University, New Brunswick Nuclear, ARC Clean Technology Canada, Inc. which develops Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and with the University of New Brunswick – Centre for Nuclear Energy Research (CNER).

The combined electricity production of Bruce Power and Darlington Station was 74.2 TWH (43.2+31.0). In 2020, the total amount of power generated in the Philippines was 101.76 TWH, and in Luzon grid, 72.42 TWH. So, if the Philippines had only one-half of the capacities of Bruce and Darlington, almost one-third of the whole country would have cheap, stable electricity with no blackouts — except when the problems are on the transmission and distribution sides.

Among the questions that people ask about nuclear power generation — aside from the safety issue — is the price. How cheap or expensive will nuclear power be compared to other sources? Well, it is cheap, the reason being that nuclear has very high energy density — one pellet of 20 grams can produce the same amount of electricity as 410 liters of oil, or 400 kgs of coal (see Table 2).

More than half of the cost of nuclear power is due to construction of the facility due to redundancy of safety features, but once it is built, it has very low fuel cost and low maintenance because a nuclear plant has a lifetime of 60+ years. SMRs is bringing down the cost.

The Philippines would be interested in SMRs, especially for off-grid islands and provinces that are currently dependent on big gensets running on oil, a fossil fuel. Canada is now commercializing SMRs, up to 300-MW plants. Federal agencies like the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and Canada Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) are investing to accelerate the development of SMRs, Integral Molten Salt Reactors (IMSR), and Micro Modular Reactors (MMRs).

The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) should consider funding some SMR projects in some parts of the country. If they bring down the cost of electricity in the provinces, reduce or abolish the threat of blackouts, then we can attract big commercial and manufacturing plants.

While Canada has offered and hosted this trade mission, perhaps other nuclear-generating Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and China can make similar programs and invite Philippines energy agencies and power companies to see what they have got.

The Philippines has had an average increase in power generation of 5-6 TWH yearly until 2022. By 2023 it should have increased to 6-7 TWH. From 2024 to 2030, we should target an increase of 8-9 TWH yearly to sustain a GDP growth of 6-7% yearly.

More energy supply, more electricity generation from more sources, agnosticism in energy source, coupled with an improvement in transmission and distribution of electricity — we need these to propel the country towards more industrialization, and more growth and prosperity.

 

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

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

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