EIGHT of 10 Filipinos thought credit was accessible in 2023 even as borrowings fell, according to a survey by Digido.
Of the 80%, 38% said their access to formal credit improved in 2023 from a year earlier, while it stayed the same for 42%, the consumer finance company said in a statement on Tuesday.
All respondents had either formal or informal credit at the time of the survey, with 57% having at least one outstanding loan from a formal lender. Digido surveyed 1,500 Filipinos nationwide aged 18 and above.
It said 31% of respondents borrowed from nonbank financial institutions with an online component, followed by traditional banks (25%), digital banks (14%) offline nonbank financial institutions (13%) and through the apps or websites of traditional banks (9%).
Digido said 48% borrowed from friends or family members.
Most, or 60% of the respondents, said credit was accessible from formal lenders due to an easy application process, while 50% cited convenient repayment methods and 47% cited high probability of approval.
“Other positive factors include a convenient repayment schedule (43%), application through mobile app (42%) and attractive interest rate (30%),” Digido said.
It said 64% of the respondents said they paid their loans on time, while the remaining 36% said they missed payments.
Filipinos mostly preferred personal loans for formal credit, citing flexibility and the variety of use (54%). This was followed by “buy now, pay later” (12%), credit cards (6%), and business loans (6%).
Digido said borrowings fell in 2023, with only 76% of respondents taking out loans from 85% in 2022. Filipinos who did not apply for formal credit rose to 24% from 15% in 2022.
The survey also showed that 28% of the respondents said their loans increased in 2023, with 41% demanding to raise the borrowing limit.
Digido said 57% of Filipinos intend to apply for loans this year, while 38% said they would only take out a loan if needed. It added that 12% had no plans to borrow this year.
Digido also said 76% were satisfied with their borrowing experience with formal lenders. It said 56% of respondents preferred to apply online, compared with 37% who preferred offline channels.
“Demand for online channels is highest in the National Capital Region and the middle-income group, likely due to the higher standard of living and degree of digitization,” Digido said.
Filipinos demand improved customer experience from formal lenders, with respondents seeking better loan rates (48%), repayment schedules (35%) and more repayment methods (33%). — Aaron Michael C. Sy
A SCENE from the 2021 documentary The Lost Leonardo
SOTHEBY’S abused its “privilege, power and reputation” to help dupe a Russian billionaire out of millions of dollars as he amassed a world-class art collection, a lawyer for the businessman argued on the first day of a closely watched trial in New York.
But the auction house says billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev partly has himself to blame for allowing his old friend and Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier to overcharge him for four rare works, including Salvator Mundi, a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci that set a record for the most expensive artwork ever sold in 2017.
The trial in Rybolovlev’s lawsuit against Sotheby’s began Monday before US District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan. The billionaire is seeking more than $232.5 million in damages.
“But money is not the only issue,” Rybolovlev’s attorney Daniel Kornstein said. “This is about public interest, it’s about people who are not just wealthy. Anyone could be a victim.”
The case will offer a rare glimpse into an often-opaque industry where middlemen broker art transactions between ultra-wealthy buyers and sellers who don’t always know each other’s identities. It also marks one of the final chapters in a long line of legal challenges Rybolovlev has launched around the world, attempting to hold Bouvier liable for defrauding him.
In its defense, Sotheby’s argued it had no idea Bouvier was lying to Rybolovlev about protracted negotiations with sellers in a bid to inflate the prices Rybolovlev would pay for artworks, including $184 million for Klimt’s Water Serpents II painting.
“He has good reason to be angry at himself for what happened to him,” said Sara Shudofsky, an attorney for the auction house. While Rybolovlev had amassed immense wealth running profitable companies, when it came to purchasing art, he didn’t take basic steps to protect his interests, she added.
That included trusting that Bouvier was acting as his agent without putting the terms in writing. As a result, Rybolovlev claims, he didn’t know Bouvier was buying artworks through Sotheby’s and then turning around to sell them to him at significant markups.
On top of the $6.4 million commission Bouvier made in relation to the four artworks at the heart of this case, Bouvier also pocketed $164 million from secret markups, Kornstein said.
THE LOST LEONARDO The legal saga began in February 2015 when Bouvier arrived at Rybolovlev’s residence in Monaco, thinking he was completing a deal for Mark Rothko’s No. 6 (Violet,Green and Red), which the billionaire had purchased for €140 million ($153 million) in August 2014. Instead, he was arrested on a complaint from the oligarch accusing Bouvier of overcharging him by about $1 billion for works by Da Vinci, Rene Magritte and others. In the Salvator Mundi case, a company controlled by Bouvier bought the piece for $83 million and two days later, he sold it to Rybolovlev for $127.5 million.
The piece set the art world on fire in 2011 when it was publicly revealed at The National Art Gallery in London, several years after it was discovered at an estate sale in New Orleans. The story became the subject of the documentary The Lost Leonardo.
The two men tangled in court proceedings in New York, Singapore, and Switzerland over the next eight years before resolving their dispute last month. The criminal charges against Bouvier in Monaco were eventually thrown out in 2019 by a judge who found that the arrest was tainted, and Rybolovlev was charged with corruption in 2018 by newly appointed prosecutors after friendly messages between the billionaire’s lawyers and authorities were revealed.
Two companies controlled by Rybolovlev sued Sotheby’s in October 2018 in federal court in New York, contending that it “materially assisted the largest art fraud in history.” The auction house in March won dismissal of most of the billionaire’s suit, but still faces claims that it aided and abetted fraud in the purchase of five works, including the Da Vinci.
“The question here that has broader implications beyond this case is whether an art advisor is a fiduciary of a collector,” said Judith Wallace, a partner at Carter Ledyard and chair of the firm’s art practice. “That’s often an issue that, if poorly defined, can lead to misunderstandings after the fact.”
ART DEALERS Several well-known New York art dealers, including Nicholas Acquavella, Warren Adelson, and Sandy Heller, are expected to testify, alongside Samuel Valette, who was Bouvier’s relationship manager at Sotheby’s.
Rybolovlev contends Sotheby’s provided Bouvier with valuations and helped the dealer acquire the works and sell the pieces at inflated prices. Bouvier had maintained he wasn’t Rybolovlev’s agent, but bought the paintings on his own and resold them to the Russian businessman.
Sotheby’s argues that it was unreasonable for Rybolovlev to rely on the broker’s statements without seeking documentation and that the company simply facilitated purchases of art by Bouvier from private sellers. The auction house contends it didn’t know about Bouvier’s alleged fraud or any lies he told about prices and didn’t help him commit misconduct.
“Sotheby’s sold the artworks at issue in this case to Bouvier’s company, who paid for them and took title,” an attorney for the auction house, Marcus Asner, said in a statement before the trial.
“If Mr. Rybolovlev has a valid gripe, it’s against Bouvier, not Sotheby’s, because Mr. Rybolovlev is claiming that Bouvier’s the one who allegedly lied to him about the prices he, Bouvier, paid to buy the art.”
Federal prosecutors spent more than a year building a case against Bouvier, but closed the investigation after the billionaire sold the Da Vinci work in November 2017 for $450 million, more than triple what he paid, Bloomberg reported in May 2018, citing people familiar with the probe.
An attorney for Bouvier didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Rybolovlev, 57, who has a net worth of $11.5 billion, made his fortune in the potash industry, selling two fertilizer producers for more than $7 billion in 2010 and 2011. He owns a majority stake in the AS Monaco football club and has been a resident of Monaco for more than a decade.
The case is Accent Delight International Ltd. v. Sotheby’s, 18-cv-09011, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). — Bloomberg
A WHARF is being built on Yongxing Island of the Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands, in South China Sea,
Sept. 17, 2010. — REUTERS
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the quintessential intergovernmental organization catering to its member-states’ national interests. It has no enforcement mechanisms. It relies primarily on the relative interpretations of its flexible and ambiguous rules and norms based on annual consultations and non-intervention in each member state’s domestic affairs. Consequently, the ASEAN is prone to institutional drift, making it vulnerable to its member states’ foreign policy agendas that can circumvent potential veto players.
Despite its structural and institutional weaknesses as a regional organization, member-states still view ASEAN as expedient in protecting and advancing their national interests in a changing Indo-Pacific region. This is the case of the Philippines as it changed its foreign policy objectives on the South China Sea imbroglio.
During the 18th East Asian Summit last September in Jakarta, Indonesia, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. raised the issue of China’s violation of the rules-based international order in the South China Sea. He warned of the rising tension in the disputed waters that might spiral into an armed conflict. During his intervention at the summit meeting, he said, “We must not allow tension in the South China Sea to escalate further.” Without mentioning China, he added, “the Philippine government is concerned over consistent (Chinese) actions that violate obligations under international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Conventions of the Law of the Sea) and the DoC (Declaration of the Code of Conduct).”
PURSUING THE APPEASEMENT POLICY IN ASEAN President Marcos’ direct criticism of Chinese behavior in the South China Sea dispute during the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September 2023 was in total contrast to how his predecessor, President Rodrigo Duterte, prevented any criticism of China when the Philippines hosted the 30th ASEAN summit in 2017.
President Duterte, as the summit’s chairperson at the time, avoided any adversarial statements directed at China. He reduced and diluted any references to the South China Sea dispute in the Chairman’s statement. He ensured that the chairman’s communiqué did not include any reference to Chinese island-building and weapons deployment on the reclaimed land features nor touch on the ruling that declared China’s excessive claim in the South China Sea a violation of international law.
The Duterte administration’s appeasement policy toward China included his administration’s decision to set aside the July 12, 2016 arbitral ruling despite the ruling having rendered China’s historical claims to sovereignty without any solid legal foundation. This prevented ASEAN from having a remedy for legally resolving the South China Sea dispute.
The Duterte administration’s appeasing behavior toward China during the 2017 ASEAN summit meetings was supposed to have created a magnetic field that firmly pulled the entire regional association towards Beijing.
DEFYING CHINA IN ASEAN In contrast to his predecessor, President Marcos Jr. pursued his diplomatic agenda of challenging China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta. In his intervention at the 18th East Asian Summit, he stated the Philippines’ concern over consistent actions that are violations of obligations under international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS and under the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. He raised the need for all parties to exercise self-restraint and refrain from unilateral and assertive activities that would increase regional tension, misunderstanding, and miscalculation in the South China Sea.
He warned of the dangerous use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels, and the illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing and militarization of reclaimed features in the South China Sea. In direct criticism of Chinese expansion, he also warned against hegemonic ambition in the maritime area. President Marcos Jr. also rejected China’s misleading narrative that framed the disputes solely through the lens of strategic competition between two powerful countries, the United States and China.
In comparison, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a speech to an Indonesian think tank in September 2023, blamed an unnamed “backstage manipulator” for preventing consensus between China and ASEAN on the South China Sea and accused “individual external forces” of “sowing discord in the region.”
At the 43rd ASEAN Summit, President Marcos Jr. stated: “as tension and mistrust between the great powers escalate, so too does the prospect of miscalculation that threatens to engulf the region, with severe consequences for all of us.” He declared that the Philippines would continue supporting the freedom of navigation, overflight, and the rules-based maritime order in the South China Sea.
CHALLENGING ASEAN’S COMPLICITY During the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, the Philippines did not propose a joint statement on the South China Sea. This stemmed from Manila’s recognition of the difficulty of generating a consensus on territorial disputes which only affect the maritime Southeast Asian states, not the entire ASEAN.
In 2024, the Philippines must persevere in raising China’s naval expansion in the South China Sea at ASEAN summits and other ASEAN-related events in Laos. This is in the expectation that the region’s security landscape will become more fluid and potentially dangerous, considering China’s coercive behavior in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits, and the East China Sea.
In an increasingly multipolar region, pursuing a policy of challenging China’s expansionism will guide the Philippines to steer the course of its foreign and security strategy. As a middle power, it should move from a small-state narrative to one focused on active engagements with like-minded states inside and outside ASEAN.
Hopefully, some ASEAN member states will break their deafening silence on China’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea in 2026 when the Philippines, under President Marcos Jr., becomes chair of ASEAN. These ASEAN member states, led by Manila, will impress upon Beijing that this regional organization will not be complicit in its efforts to undermine the rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific region.
Dr. Renato Cruz De Castro is a trustee and convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program of the Stratbase ADR Institute.
THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has formally asked the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to keep its water allocation at 50 cubic meters per second for continued water supply, an official said on Tuesday.
“Right now, we are still requesting the NWRB to approve the monthly raw water allocation of 50 cubic meter per second from Angat to maintain the existing water supply,” Patrick James B. Dizon, head of the MWSS Angat/Ipo operations management division, said in a Viber message.
Angat Dam is the primary water source for Metro Manila, providing approximately 90% of the capital’s potable water.
In preparation for El Niño, Mr. Dizon said that the agency has implemented augmentation measures through water treatment plants (WTP) and projects undertaken by their concessionaires, Maynilad Water Services, Inc., and Manila Water Co., Inc.
These measures include the Anabu modular WTP, Poblacion WTP, East Bay WTP, and deep wells capable of supplying 120 million liters of water per day (MLD).
Mr. Dizon also said that the agency is managing releases from the Angat Dam to prevent the water level from decreasing.
“Based on the historical elevation trend, when summer arrives, the reservoir’s elevation decreases. That is what we are preventing,” Mr. Dizon told state media PTV in Filipino.
“As of now, the water coming from the Angat Dam is sufficient, including the augmentation measures that we have done,” he said.
As of Tuesday morning, the water level of Angat Dam was 213.45 meters, lower than the 213.64 meters recorded the previous day.
Mr. Dizon said that the MWSS Board of Trustees had advised its two concessionaires to conduct repairs at night when water usage is typically lower, and most people are asleep.
“This approach aims to minimize the impact on customers during the repair process.”
Asked about the actions taken for water interruptions due to leak repair and maintenance, he said, “The ongoing leakage remains a persistent issue, particularly in the Maynilad areas.”
As of December 2023, the recovered volume stands at 130 MLD, surpassing the MWSS and Maynilad target to recover 100 MLD by the end of 2023, he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
THE BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) started its soft launch of the International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) this week, requiring banks to submit reports of all transactions between residents and nonresidents through a sandbox.
In a memo signed by BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. on Jan. 8, the central bank said lenders must submit the reports using an application programming interface (API) in extensible markup language (XML) format.
“The banks may submit their reports through the sandbox or production portals of the ITRS system upon soft go-live,” BSP said. “Banks may continue setting up their systems and are encouraged to continue using the sandbox to test report submissions until further advised to ensure readiness upon full implementation of the ITRS system.”
The central bank said Philippine banks must submit reports via the ITRS portal upon full implementation of the reporting system, set for June 28.
The ITRS is a data collection system that obtains information from banks on peso and foreign currency transactions between a country’s residents and nonresidents, and transactions between residents that pass through the domestic banking system.
BSP earlier said the ITRS would monitor cross-border transactions and collect data for the country’s balance of payment statistics based on international standards.
The ITRS system will also serve as a platform for supervision and monitoring of foreign exchange transactions by the BSP.
The central bank started pilot-testing the reporting system in November after briefing lenders a month earlier.
RTGS SYSTEM Meanwhile, the Philippine central bank has selected a nonbank electronic money issuer (EMI) to become part of the roster of financial institutions that settle high-value transactions through the Philippine Payment and Settlement System (PhilPaSS) Plus.
In a statement on Tuesday, BSP said OmniPay, Inc. would be the first nonbank EMI in its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) payment system.
“The extension of PhilPaSS Plus access signals an era of a more inclusive national payment system, where nonbank financial institutions can make efficient and low-risk fund transfers without an existing RTGS participant sponsoring them into settlement,” it said.
It added that direct access to PhilPaSS Plus also allows nonlenders to efficiently and safely manage funds and transactions with no less than the central bank.
The RTGS system provides instant settlement of payments, transfer instructions and other obligations individually on a transaction-by-transaction basis. It allows low-risk settlement of large fund transfers between financial institutions.
PhilPaSS Plus is an RTGS system that processes and settles high-value transactions between banks through the demand deposit accounts of the lenders maintained with BSP.
The growing number of settlements by financial institutions prompted the BSP to upgrade the PhilPaSS system to PhilPaSS Plus on July 26, 2020.
“Giving nonbank electronic money issuers access to the RTGS system is in accordance with the National Payment Systems Act, which authorizes the BSP to determine the institutions that are allowed to participate in payment systems owned and operated by it, and those that can open an account with the BSP for settlement purposes,” BSP Assistant Governor Mary Anne P. Lim said.
“As direct participation in the Peso RTGS payment system is expected to become more diverse based on global trends, the BSP has rules in place to safeguard the entire Peso RTGS payment system,” she added.
There are 236 institutions using the PhilPaSS Plus to settle large transactions and retail payment clearing results arising from automated teller machines, InstaPay, PESONet and check transactions, the central bank said.
These institutions include universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, digital banks, nonbank quasi-banks, clearing switch operators, financial market infrastructure and nonbank EMI participants.
The Philippine central bank also said it is among the first to have initiated direct access of nonbank entities to settlement services.
“International standard-setting bodies have started developing access guidelines to ensure that the attendant risks remain manageable while payment systems continuously evolve amidst the emergence of new players and breakthrough financial technologies,” it added.
Based on BSP data, transactions done through PhilPaSS Plus reached P129 trillion in the third quarter, 0.5% higher than a year earlier. Transaction volume settled and processed by PhilPaSS Plus climbed by 3.22% to 374,986 .
The BSP wanted 50% of the volume and value of retail transactions to be done digitally by the end of last year.
THE CURRENT Israel-Hamas war has dominated the news for the past few months. As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war.
For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed the departure of Anishinaabe-kwe curator Wanda Nanibush from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The departure was apparently related to her expressed opinions on the war.
After the Royal Ontario Museum tried to change a Palestinian American artist’s work, Jenin Yaseen staged a sit-in and others protested.
I have been teaching and writing about the “art world” — what sociologist Howard Becker calls the network of artists, art institutions, funders, patrons and audiences — for years, and researching how artists navigate their thorny relationship with contentious political moments.
Policies and regulations can serve artists, but can also engender a lack of trust and create administrative burdens that impact the healthy functioning of artists and organizations.
ENDEAVORING TO SPEAK TRUTHFULLY, MEANINGFULLY The Globe and Mail reported some Canadians “active in a support group of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem” expressed concern to the AGO, and that one signatory to a letter said the letter didn’t call for Nanibush’s departure but rather for “antisemitism training and for the AGO to make use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.”
If the gallery did try to silence Nanibush, critics have reason to be concerned about how they reacted as the curator and others in the art world endeavored to speak truthfully and meaningfully in a time of crisis.
In a statement, the AGO’s director and chief executive officer Stephan Jost expressed the gallery’s support for Indigenous artists and a need to “reflect on our commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report …”
He acknowledged cultural institutions are “being asked to better define the rights and limits of political and artistic expression in a locally diverse but globally complex environment” and that “intense discussion” also raises questions about good governance.
Rights, limits, regulation and the purpose of artists’ work are what is at stake in this discussion. An investigation is underway to see how the gallery’s policies may have impacted the board’s decision-making.
PEOPLE TRYING TO CREATE AND SPEAK TRUTH How people assess the value of policies and regulation affecting the art world depends on how much they feel the art world should, or should not, reflect political realities.
Some might suggest that artists should entertain and enlighten us but stay away from contentious issues.
I believe artists have a unique role, different than that of journalists, political leaders, or even documentary filmmakers. Beyond parsing the facts of a situation or deliberating and brokering political solutions, artists work to bring human richness and complexity to experiences like conflict and strife.
ART AND OUR LIVES Thinking about “art worlds” as “patterns of collective activity,” as Becker does, helps us to think about art in relationship to our social and political lives, and the conditions under which artists create.
Art schools, professional organizations, galleries and performance spaces all play a part in enabling some artists and their messages to shine, whether through financial support, attention or time — while constraining or even silencing others.
Museum and gallery spaces, frequently dependent on government and philanthropic funding, curate and elevate certain artworks and in so doing mediate relationships and foster cultural dialogue between governments and pluralistic communities of citizens. At the same time, they prescribe behaviors and actions that constrain both artists and the public perception of their work.
In this way, the support systems around artistic work have political implications, just as much as the art itself may have.
DISCIPLINE VIA FUNDING As I examined in my doctoral research, the Summerworks Theatre Festival briefly lost funding from Canadian Heritage in 2011 after staging playwright Catherine Frid’s controversial play Homegrown.
The play critiqued the reach of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the use of solitary confinement as it examined the story of one man convicted of participating in a terrorist group. This was after a high-profile 2006 RCMP investigation saw 18 Muslim individuals accused of terrorism. (Charges against seven people were stayed or dropped, while four people were convicted). Some accused the play of being pro-terrorist.
Artists responded to this institutional censure by staging readings of the play to support the festival.
The art world will find pathways to speak its own truth in the face of such pressures.
For instance, as the Globe and Mail reported, the Belfry Theatre in Victoria made a recent decision to cancel its run of the Israel-set play The Runner. But Vancouver’s PuSh Festival is sticking by plans to run the play as a part of its program along with other works, including the immersive installation Dear Laila that depicts a model of one artist’s former home in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
When political pressure closes one door, the art world will often seek to open another, though we have yet to see how this might play out in the case of the AGO and Nanibush.
WHAT DO WE WANT FROM OUR ARTISTS? In the face of numerous wars, the climate emergency, housing and food insecurity, this is a challenging time. People around the world face what some scholars and activists have called a “polycrisis.”
Artists represent and reflect this social and political upheaval. Banksy scrawls murals on the blasted Ukrainian cityscape. Theaters across the world stage performances or screenings — like The Gaza Monologues — to try to represent Palestinian voices.
Especially in a time when trust in our political leaders and institutions continues to wane, artists, arts leaders and policymakers face daunting but critical questions about making ethically sound decisions.
If the public trusts the art world to do their work with rigor and honesty, artists and arts institutions can be a community of voices expressing diverse perspectives on our collective humanity, reflecting suffering and the power of resistance to violence in this polarizing conflict.
We must critically assess the value of the arts and of artists to perform this important work. And we should be mindful of desires to discipline the art world at a time when its voices are so deeply needed.
Lowell Gasoi is an instructor in communication studies at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, Carleton University.
THE e-commerce industry in the Philippines needs to build a strong community of skilled entrepreneurs, alongside tech talent and regulators, to support its growth, according to an industry player.
“The majority of e-commerce people right now are focusing on profitability, not on the spirit of entrepreneurship,” Nani Razon, co-founder of the Ecommerce Thrive Asia-Philippines Movement and chief executive officer of Gencys Digital Trading, Inc., said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“[We’re] still a baby,” he added on the current state of Philippine e-commerce. “The community is still small in terms of numbers. When it comes to technology, we are still behind.”
“In e-commerce, you just have to learn what buttons you’re pushing and you can sell. But we want to put the essence of entrepreneurship because there are a lot of people who just want money making.”
According to the e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Co., the Philippine e-commerce market reached a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $16 billion last year, matching that of Vietnam.
Indonesia saw the highest GMV with $62 billion, followed by Thailand ($22 billion), it added.
It projected a $24-billion GMV for the Philippine e-commerce next year, rocketing to about $60 billion by 2030.
Raffy G. Canare, Ecom Thrive co-founder, noted the rapid development of trends in the e-commerce space, which necessitates training and open knowledge sharing for market players for sustainability while recognizing its huge potential for both business and economic growth.
“If they are still not online and maximizing online platforms, their business will really die,” he said on traditional businesses who refuse digital adoption.
“The industry can really help the economy in terms of GDP,” Mr. Razon said, eyeing a 30% e-commerce contribution upon full cooperation of stakeholders.
HOW THE MOVEMENT STARTED When he was invited by his mentor and co-founder Charlie Gengos to shift to retail e-commerce from network marketing in 2018, Mr. Razon witnessed firsthand the problems faced by the industry.
“The scarcity mentality that time was higher,” he said on the overwhelming amount of entrants, who simply brag about their achievements during knowledge-sharing events. “They are not genuine in their sharing.”
“The majority of e-commerce companies earn, but their income doesn’t last that long, and they jump to different industries,” he added.
“So why not establish a training platform and initiatives that not only focus on sales and marketing but also on building an enterprise?”
With this advocacy, Mr. Razon started Gencys Digital Trading, Inc., which is built on doing its own product and market research, creating automated systems for improved processes, and management training.
“We created a small internal community where we provide training for business longevity… What if we opened it to the public?” he said on inviting all e-commerce players to local and international events and trade missions through the Ecom Thrive movement.
“Profitability, sustainability, and leverage,” he added on the three core values imbibed by the movement, which need to be upheld through the community.
Currently, the meetings and events of Ecom Thrive are freely attended by up to 1,000 people, with participation from startups, corporations, and even banks, Mr. Razon noted.
CHALLENGES However, building an industry-wide community begs an acknowledgment of the gaps that prevent it from realizing its full growth potential.
Mr. Razon noted that the country needs to hone its technology talent, regulations, and overall mindset to elevate its place in the region.
“The majority of the tools that we use here in automation, around 80%, is Vietnamese software,” he said.
“Based on our observation and case study, e-commerce in the Philippines is behind by five to six years in terms of technology, community, and mindset from that of Vietnam,” he added on Vietnam being the Philippines’ closest competitor.
“There are a lot of good Filipino programmers, but they are still programming on the software of international companies,” he noted on their integral role in hoisting the industry.
The e-Conomy SEA report projected Vietnam’s continued manufacturing and exports as drivers for overall digital economy growth.
For the Philippines, the shift to organized e-commerce platforms, from those informal and unorganized, is expected to benefit the industry, it added.
Mr. Razon has seen an opportunity for the government to collaborate with the private sector and build a sustainable ecosystem for e-commerce, which includes the necessary tech talent for its software, alongside a community of skilled entrepreneurs.
When reviewing the Philippine seller base of the top Vietnamese e-commerce software, Mr. Razon saw only 9,000 subscribers, which he said is indicative of only a small volume of e-commerce businesses in the country. This pales in comparison to the 200,000 in Vietnam.
“There are still a lot of people who don’t know about e-commerce,” he noted traders, who have been around for almost 30 years, failing to innovate and maximize online platforms.
“Consumers also lack awareness, and there are a lot of sellers who are scammers, contributing to the stigma toward online platforms,” he added.
OUTLOOK Mr. Razon also urged the government to establish regulations for e-commerce sustainability and consumer safety, focusing on proper systems and processes.
The Internet Transactions Act, a priority of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., which aims to tighten e-commerce regulations, was approved by the Senate on second reading in September last year.
It will classify entities involved in e-commerce in the Philippines as businesses operating within the country, making them subject to domestic laws, alongside the establishment of an e-commerce bureau at the Department of Trade and Industry.
“They didn’t bring it close to stakeholders. Who they consulted more are the big players,” Mr. Canare said on the bill.
“It’s about time that we also include the MSME sector because they are more influential and part of the ecosystem,” he added.
“The government should also benchmark on the countries like Vietnam, Singapore, and India in terms of e-commerce, so they can see how they can regulate or help grow our industry.”
Mr. Razon also advocated for international collaborations to elevate the industry. “We need to reshift to the mindset that the e-commerce industry is played by skilled businesses and professionals, including the programmers.”
“We need to spread awareness, hold trainings, and have a solid community in the Philippines because that is what we see other countries do,” he added.
“Nowadays, a lot of people are inspired to do business. And the best way to do business without entailing too much cost and expertise is doing e-commerce properly.”
It’s a different picture in Asia. Granted, KKR & Co. managed to raise $1.1 billion for its first fund in the region and Blackstone, Inc. saw “incredible” subscription for its flagship offering in Japan. But with only about $90 billion in assets under management, private credit is still in its infancy.
However, there are good reasons to believe that the asset class can finally take off in 2024, starting with the sharp disruption in high-yield corporate dollar bond issues. For years, this space was a fertile ground for wealthy Asians, who gobbled up the yield and were drawn to the perceived safety of the investments.
The serial defaults of China’s real estate developers that started with China Evergrande Group’s spectacular blowup in 2021 changed the entire landscape. In notional terms, this market has shrunk by 47% since 2020 to about $154 billion. Last year, junk-rated companies raised only $6.3 billion, a fraction of 2021’s record $26 billion. Once we exclude notes that trade at distressed levels, the actual investible space amounts to just $70 billion, according to Barclays Plc estimates. This ATM is broken.
There are other aspects that have eroded junk bonds’ lure. Those on major indices on average yield about 12%, near par with returns on direct-lending deals that the likes of Blackstone participate in the US. Their trading volumes have also declined markedly, therefore diminishing the argument that investing in private-credit funds is less liquid.
But it’s not just US asset managers luring Asian money away. In recent months, large direct-lending deals have started to be struck in the region. For instance, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte and KKR have joined a A$950-million ($638 million) loan deal for Silver Lake Management Llc’s TEG Pty, an Australian firm that sells tickets to concerts, musicals, and sporting events. Last month, Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal’s mining operation Vedanta Resources Ltd. reportedly raised $1.25 billion in private loans — at between 18% and 20% — from funds such as Cerberus Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management to refinance outstanding dollar bonds.
These are green shoots, but very classic examples that demonstrate private credit’s potential in the region. The TEG loan was a dividend recapitalization transaction that gave Silver Lake a payout after earlier talks to sell TEG stalled. This type of financing is on the rise again as buyout firms struggle to exit their investments, and are looking for ways to extract cash from companies they control.
Meanwhile, the Vedanta deal was a typical distressed investment that dominates Asia’s private-credit landscape. In January, Vedanta won majority investor backing to extend the maturities of $3.2 billion of bonds, which S&P Global Ratings said could be perceived as a selective default.
One pushback against private credit in Asia is that banks still dominate because they have been less hampered by tighter regulations after the Global Financial Crisis. Difficulties with legal enforcements in emerging markets also mean dealmaking is less scalable compared to the US.
However, plenty of private-credit deals are meant to serve the interest of private-equity firms. Overseeing about $2.9 trillion in assets under management, private equity has blossomed in Asia. But with the public offerings market shut and exit deals sparse, PE firms will want to lever up their portfolio companies and boost equity value to appease impatient investors. Private credit will be a useful tool for the PE titans.
RL Commercial REIT, Inc. (RCR) announced on Tuesday that its board of directors had elected Faraday D. Go as chairman.
In a regulatory filing, Robinsons Land, Inc.’s real estate investment trust said Mr. Go’s election as board chairman took effect on Jan. 8.
Mr. Go is the brother of Frederick D. Go, who recently stepped down as president and chief executive officer of Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), as well as RCR’s chairman and member of the board after being appointed as special assistant to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for investment and economic affairs.
RCR is the real estate investment trust arm of Gokongwei-led RLC.
For the first nine months of 2023, RCR logged a 4% increase in its revenue to P4.1 billion.
RLC recorded an attributable net income of P3.06 billion for the third quarter, higher by 49.3% compared to P2.05 billion a year ago, as the company’s third-quarter gross revenue jumped by 27.9% to P10.58 billion from the P8.27 billion previously.
On Tuesday, RCR shares rose by three centavos or 0.6% to P5.05 apiece while RLC shares improved by 38 centavos or 2.4% to P16.24 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
DIGITAL LENDER Maya Bank, Inc. has launched its time deposit product that it says offers users high returns.
In a statement on Tuesday, Maya said users could now open Maya Time Deposit Plus accounts starting Jan. 5. Clients can set a savings target and select a period that aligns with their financial conditions.
“This level of flexibility is unprecedented in traditional time deposits,” the bank said. “This innovative approach allows users to steadily enhance their savings while enjoying attractive rewards with interest rates of up to 6% per annum.”
Users can open up to five time deposit accounts with a maximum balance of P1 million per account. Customers can select three term options, three months at 5.5% a year, six months at 6%, or 12 months at 5.75%.
The time deposit product allows instant cancellations, giving users immediate access to their funds.
Clients can directly transfer funds from their Maya wallet for free or through other payment channels such as InstaPay or PESONet.
The digital bank has also introduced a motivational tool that customers can use to earn badges. These badges would serve as milestones that track and encourage a user’s progress, Maya said.
“The Maya Time Deposit Plus represents our latest innovation to make financial growth widely accessible and empowering for all,” Maya Group President Shailesh Baidwan said in the statement.
The time deposit product allows users to reinvest in diverse financial services such as Maya Funds, stocks and crypto, or facilitate daily transactions.
Maya Bank was launched on April 29, 2022, six months after it got a digital banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The PayMaya Philippines platform was rebranded to Maya to include online banking services alongside e-wallet, cryptocurrency trading and micro-investments.
Maya Bank is one of the six entities with digital banking license in the Philippines.
Maya Innovations (formerly Voyager Innovations), is the fintech company behind Maya Bank, Inc. and Maya Philippines. PLDT, Inc. is one of Maya Innovation’s shareholders. 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. — Keisha B. Ta-asan
Movie Review The Boy and the Heron Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
IT IS impossible to watch this film without wondering why it came to exist. The great Hayao Miyazaki, the 82-year-old co-founder of the beloved animation company Studio Ghibli, came out of retirement yet again to deliver his “final” film, The Boy and the Heron.
Seven years after it was announced and a full 10 years after his 2013 magnum opus The Wind Rises, many now doubt if this is truly the end of his illustrious career, especially after he has claimed it was over several times before. But who can blame him? Animation is his life, and many artists are known for creating more personal yet complex works in their old age.
The Boy and the Heron’s original Japanese title, How Do You Live?, is taken from the 1937 novel that inspired it, only appearing in the film as a book that is left to the protagonist by his deceased mother. It also poses a question that perhaps Miyazaki himself is answering, or suggesting we answer on our own.
The film follows 12-year-old Mahito (voiced by Soma Santoki in Japanese, and Luca Padovan in the English dub), still devastated by the tragic death of his mother during World War II. His journey of acceptance is made difficult by his father moving on with his mother’s sister, as they relocate to her countryside estate. The titular heron (voiced by Masaki Suda in Japanese, and Robert Pattinson in the English dub) is an ominous gray nuisance inhabiting the grounds and serves as Mahito’s guide into a fantasy world.
This synopsis alone is exciting, but in the context of Miyazaki’s life and work a bit puzzling. It’s more dreamlike than what people might expect for an artist’s swan song. The Wind Rises seemed the perfect note to end on — a profound biopic-slash-self-portrait about a wartime engineer who grapples with the reality that makes his creations possible (no, it’s not Oppenheimer, but that would indeed make an excellent double feature).
Miyazaki is a legend in the industry but is also awfully cynical about the madness of this world being necessary to create the most astonishing things, be it stunning animation or weapons of war (see his musings in the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, essential viewing material for Studio Ghibli fans). After churning out a 2013 masterpiece that sums up his perspective, think on why he comes back with a seemingly random fantasy adventure featuring a boy and a heron.
Except this new journey he brings us on isn’t as random as it appears. For one, it is also set in the period of Miyazaki’s boyhood during the war. It even features his lifelong fascination with flight, seen in the sheer number of birds in the film.
The Boy and the Heron can also be mistaken for a mere hodgepodge of Miyazaki tropes. Mahito’s coming-of-age fantasy adventure to find a parent mirrors Chihiro’s in Spirited Away. The cute, tiny proto-human blobs in the magical world look like the forest spirits in Princess Mononoke. Himi’s cottage is very similar to Howl’s in Howls Moving Castle, Himi herself mysteriously traversing time like Sophie does.
Of course, the self-reflecting narrative is akin to The Wind Rises. And the epic scenery of green, grassy fields under a picturesque blue sky evokes Nausicaa, Kiki, and, heck, much of the aesthetic that Studio Ghibli is now known for.
Still, it has its own unique additions, all spectacularly animated.
(Mild spoilers from this point on!)
Most visceral is the first sequence with Mahito running through a Tokyo being ravaged by flames. Most bizarre is the army of colorful parakeets that have overrun the tower’s secret world, all moving parts in a totalitarian system. The most thrilling is the ritual of tiny blobs floating up to the sky, being threatened by hungry pelicans, then eventually saved by a fire princess.
But the most poignant are Mahito’s surreal visions following the loss of his mother. They border on psychological horror — frogs that slowly climb all over his body, a sleeping woman on the sofa melting away into water, the falling of blocks causing the eventual crashing down of an imagined world.
It’s all impressionistic and dreamlike, somewhat underwhelming after all the narrative buildup. Admittedly, as a whole, it is far from Miyazaki’s best work. There is so much value hidden within it, though, in each painstakingly and intricately animated sequence. Here is a magical yet violent world that doesn’t completely make sense, but does if you dwell on how much of life is struggle, seen through the eyes of a mourning child not quite ready to move forward.
The Boy and the Heron is animation at its best, but also at its most expansive and overwhelming. It lacks the powerful, cohesive punch of The Wind Rises, which feels like the solid goodbye in a letter whereas this feels like the rambling, endearing P.S. trailing the end of it. (If Miyazaki comes up with another film, who knows how else this analogy may continue.)
At 82, he is creatively at his most restless yet preparing for the worst. Perhaps no one can truly carry on his legacy, the way he was afraid he couldn’t carry on the legacy of his good friend Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, The Tale of Princess Kaguya). It seems he has accepted that his own tower of blocks he has carefully built may also fall down with no one to stop it from happening.
In a world full of difficult truths that can easily crumble due to the folly of man, a chaotic ode to love, loss, and memory seems a most fitting goodbye.
AJINOMOTO Philippines Corp. (APC) on Monday introduced its first SariCycle single-use plastic (SUP) collection and incentive program for sari-sari stores in Quezon City to manage their waste output.
The pilot initiative aims to collect 40 metric tons of flexible SUPs within the next six months, Ernie S. Carlos, APC chief sustainability officer, said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
It will provide “environmental points” for flexible plastic packaging collected by sari-sari store and market stall owners, which can be exchanged for goods from partner establishments. Additional points will be granted for Ajinomoto packaging exchanges.
“Sari-sari stores play a very vital role in sustainability because of their demand,” Mr. Carlos said.
Sari-sari stores are small retail shops commonly found in residential areas in the Philippines, selling a wide range of consumer goods, from food and beverages to household items, especially in small quantities.
There are about 1.3 million sari-sari stores in the Philippines, which 94% of consumers depend on for daily needs, according to the Asian Preparedness Partnership.
Excluding those without paid employees, there are 40,549 sari-sari stores in the country, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“In production, the cost of packaging material is more costly than content,” Mr. Carlos said. “If you get rid of the packaging material, then you get more value for your product.”
However, he noted that this is a closer reality for non-food and beverage products, hence Quezon City’s refilling station initiative in sari-sari stores for cleaning agents and detergents only.
“We would like to use it soon. Can you imagine vetsin being sold in a one-gallon bottle by the gram? It’s a possibility,” he added.
“But we are a sachet society, and that would remain. We needed to make a program to help manage this kind of development.”
APC has partnered with Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies, Inc. to collect and process the collected plastic. “It can be converted into pallets and used for coprocessing in cement factories as fuel,” Mr. Carlos noted.
It aims to evaluate its pilot run before expanding the program to other municipalities, eyeing neighbors in the metropolitan area such as Taguig and Pasig, he added. — Miguel Hanz L. Antivola
