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Philippines eyeing use of digital currency in sovereign bond sales

ANDRÉ FRANÇOIS MCKENZIE-UNSPLASH

THE PHILIPPINES’ Bureau of the Treasury is looking to team up with the central bank to expand the use of digital currency to the sale of government securities as it explores the merits of blockchain technology.

The Southeast Asian nation raised P15 billion ($271 million) on Monday through its first-ever tokenized Treasury bonds, tapping the blockchain-based Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Registry.

“We’re testing the capability of the DLT,” Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana said in a phone interview late on Monday. “We are looking to collaborate with the Bangko Sentral in their central bank digital coin program. There’s room for integration between our DLT Registry and the BSP’s CBDC,” he said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has been experimenting with the use of central bank digital currency, or CBDC, for large-value financial transactions as it explores the technology’s benefits, risks and policy implications.

As it stands, the DLT registry, which points to the location where the securities are registered, addresses just half of the bond sale process.

The National Registry of Scripless Securities, or NRoSS, allows participants to monitor the cash leg of securities transactions settled on the Philippine Payment and Settlement System, or PhilPaSS. “It’s just the security leg for now. The cash component is still in the traditional NRoSS-PhilPaSS cash settlement,” the Treasury official said.

Tokenization remains a developing sector but is drawing the interest of a growing number of governments and companies. In February, Hong Kong sold HK$800 million ($103 million) of inaugural digital green bonds using Goldman Sachs’ GS DAP platform, touting the step as the first tokenized green bond issued by a government globally.

Citigroup estimates the tokenization market could swell to $5 trillion by 2030, spanning assets like bonds, property and private equity as it makes illiquid assets easier to trade, deepening the pool of buyers and improving price discovery.

Future sales of Philippine tokenized Treasury bonds may involve longer tenors, Mr. Sta. Ana said. “When you start introducing securities you go for the shorter end. As the market matures and as the technology matures, then we can explore the belly of the curve and then later on quite longer tenors.”

Monday’s one-year tokenized Treasury bond deal could also encourage more companies to follow suit. Last year, Union Bank of the Philippines sold digital bonds and listed them on the nation’s bond exchange.

Manila is also looking to widen the sale of tokenized bonds to include retail investors. “We are just starting and we will look to further take this on the retail side and that’s where we will see most of the impact of those reforms,” Mr. Sta. Ana said. — Bloomberg

Trimming the path: A barbershop’s journey towards nationwide expansion

By Miguel Hanz L. Antivola, Reporter

IN THE EVOLVING landscape of grooming services, Bruno’s Barbers has shown resilience, facing challenges and seizing opportunities to become a nationwide wellness hub, its president said.

Providing complete services from head to toe — such as hair and scalp care, facials, massages, and hand and foot care — Bruno’s Barbers started in 1989 in Ayala Alabang.

Jose Marco M. Pascual, Bruno’s Barbers president, reminiscing about the early days, said, “Well, I was much younger then. It was in 1989 when my mom and her sisters founded Bruno’s Barbers.”

The birth of Bruno’s Barbers was not solely driven by entrepreneurial aspirations but by a genuine commitment to addressing the needs of the community, Mr. Pascual told BusinessWorld.

Recalling the challenges they faced, he said, “The only option that we had was to either go to the country club or go outside of the village where you had to travel to either Las Piñas or BF Homes, which if you’re coming from inside Alabang, it’s quite a distance.”

“We weren’t members of the country club, so my mom had to really take me to those places, and at that time, for a mom, I guess the standards of the store environment weren’t up to par. So she decided to put up our first branch in Alabang Town Center,” he added.

He said that Bruno’s Barbers now has 65 shops in the Philippines.

ELEVATING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
At the heart of Bruno’s Barbers’ journey lies a commitment to elevating the customer experience, Mr. Pascual said.

Emphasizing the role of the store environment, he said, “Since the beginning, the store environment has been very central.”

This focus on providing a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere has been pivotal in attracting and retaining customers, he noted.

Training workers and staying ahead in the industry are also important. “We try to make sure we’re on top of [it].”

Bruno’s Barbers saw a 9-13% growth in month-on-month transactions across its 65 branches across the country this year, according to Mr. Pascual.

“The whole industry is now at $5.6 trillion,” he said, citing the report of the Global Wellness Institute on its industry revenue worldwide, which valued the personal care and beauty segment in Asia Pacific at $273 billion. “I am very optimistic.”

“After COVID, people’s mindsets have changed. People now care more about themselves, are self-conscious about how they look, and want to feel more confident,” he added.

Mr. Pascual said the company has plans to open 10-15 branches each succeeding year, onboarding 200 barbers and therapists on a rolling basis to its nationwide network. “Generally, if there’s an applicant willing to apply, we’ll find a way.”

“They’re already skilled,” he said. “From that point on, we just try to engage them and enhance customer service, so it’s just fine-tuning.”

NAVIGATING CHALLENGES
When asked about how the company stayed afloat during the strict pandemic lockdowns from March to June 2020, Mr. Pascual said it all came down to financial prudence, or making sure everything was in check.

“We were closed the entire time, so the whole network was not operating,” he said.

“We only got our first signs of life in June 2020, when we had different capacities allowed by the government.”

Bruno’s Barbers was fortunate enough to not shut down and keep all its stores, he added.

“In entrepreneurship generally, there’s no one way. It takes a lot of hard work and determination,” he noted as key traits for an entrepreneur.

“You got to enjoy what you’re doing because not every day will be a good day. You’ll have some setbacks, but you even have to find that enjoyable as well,” he added.

PHL fintech growth may be driven by ESG

THE GROWTH of financial technology (fintech) companies could be driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, a study by consumer finance company Digido showed.

“More investors and consumers are becoming aware and interested in such investments, which are not only profitable, but also considered social and environmentally responsible,” Digido said in an analysis on Tuesday.

The Philippines’ sustainable technology (sustech) sector is likewise expected to grow steadily to track the trend in other Southeast Asian (SEA) countries, it said.

“The share of Philippine sustech companies in SEA will maintain its pace for the foreseeable future, landing between 10 to 11%,” Digido said.

As of 2022, the 216 sustech companies in the Philippines accounted for 10.1% of firms in Southeast Asia.

The identification of sustech companies for the analysis was based on the Tracxn global database of companies.

Companies included in the study were from sectors related to the green agenda and sustainable development, namely: green funds; sustainable e-commerce; agritech; green transport; green energy; eco manufacturing; air, water and waste pollution management; sustainable finance; circular economy; human resources; and green buildings. 

Companies that integrate ESG into their operations will likely get more support from investors if they promote sustainable investments, Digido said.

Firms should develop recommendations for integrating ESG into the investment decision-making process, it said.

“Moreover, they can play an important and tangible role in the sustainable development of the economy and the fight against climate change, as they expand their influence beyond business interests,” Digido added.

There is room for more sustainable investments in the Philippines, with only $4 million invested in 169 sustech companies from 2014 to 2022, it said, which is very small compared with the $8 billion in funds poured into the fintech microfinance sector globally during the period.

“The global sustech industry, characterized to have a key role in achieving ESG goals, has so far attracted about $400 billion in investments, with main growth occurring from 2014 to 2022, according to Tracxn,” Digido added. — AMCS

FDC first tranche bond offer set on Jan. 30 

GOTIANUN-LED Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) has set Jan. 30 next year as the issue date for the first tranche of its planned peso-denominated fixed-rate bond offering of up to P32 billion. 

In a preliminary prospectus posted on its website, FDC said the public offer period for the bond issuance is from Jan. 15 to 19 next year. The first tranche of the offer is up to P7 billion in fixed-rate bonds with an oversubscription option of up to P3 billion due 2026.   

The registration statement for the bond offering was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 21.   

FDC said it expects to generate P9.87 billion in net proceeds if the oversubscription option is fully exercised.

Some P6.87 billion of proceeds will be used to partially finance the full redemption of the company’s P8.8 billion fixed rate bonds issued in January 2014, while P3 billion will be used to partially fund FDC’s capital expenditure in renewable energy and water projects, hospitality, and digitalization projects. 

FDC tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., and SB Capital Investment Corp. as the joint lead underwriters and bookrunners.   

As of the third quarter, FDC logged a 57% increase in its attributable net income to P5.9 billion from P3.8 billion a year ago. The company’s total revenues and other income grew by 26% to P64.6 billion compared to P51.1 billion last year.

FDvC’s subsidiaries include Filinvest Land, Inc., EastWest, and FDC Utilities, Inc.   

Shares of FDC were last traded on Nov. 20 at P5.13 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Israel risks winning the battle in Gaza but losing the war

TAYLOR BRANDON-UNSPLASH

SOON after Oct. 7, when Israel suffered the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, US President Joe Biden gave the nation’s leaders some remarkably good and personally chastening advice: Don’t let rage drive you to the mistakes the US made after a terrorist attack on America killed almost 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

So far, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored that counsel. As the civilian death toll from Israel’s invasion of Gaza soars — above 13,000, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government — the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) face rapidly rising levels of opposition and outrage around the world. It now risks learning the hard lesson that America’s “shock and awe’’ invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq taught the US: Winning on the battlefield can lose you the war.

As I’ve written, Hamas shares full responsibility for current Palestinian suffering, as it was an essential part of the tactics behind its Oct. 7 attack, a terrorist spectacular that was more provocative than 9/11 in terms of both its per capita death toll and deeply personal barbarity. Yet that neither exonerates Israel in moral or legal terms, nor helps it strategically.

On Oct. 26, the United Nations General Assembly voted by 121 nations to 14, with 45 abstentions, for a resolution that failed to condemn Hamas and called for a sustained and durable truce in Gaza. Such a ceasefire would halt the Israeli invasion and risk leaving Hamas in place, intact, and with its status as the primary representative of the Palestinian people enhanced. Small wonder that Israel has resisted the idea, but now even the US — Israel’s critical supporter — has abstained in a vote to enable humanitarian pauses in Gaza, and it has threatened to sanction extremist Jewish settlers.

This international pressure will only grow the more it appears Israel exaggerated its claims of Hamas using civilians as human shields — claims the IDF used to justify the high rate of collateral damage and casualties caused by its invasion. A week after taking control of Gaza’s main al-Shifa hospital, the finds that the IDF say it’s made — a few aging assault rifles, a tunnel, and CCTV footage of one wounded and one healthy hostage brought to the medical facility on Oct. 7 — fall short of earlier claims that Hamas was using al-Shifa as a major command center and military hub. Israel may yet find more evidence to support this; the complex is large. But the IDF increasingly risks suffering the fate of the US military in Iraq, sent by politicians to find weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there.

Combined with Washington’s deceit and lack of coherent exit strategies, the disproportionate nature of the US response to 9/11 quickly emptied the well of international sympathy it had gained. The two decades of war and tens of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi casualties that followed spawned new terrorist threats and left the US geopolitically weakened. US coffers were sapped, alliances strained, strategic focus was diverted from Beijing and Moscow, and American credibility and soft power were incinerated.

This was the backdrop to Biden’s advice to Israel, and he can’t have given it lightly in such a public forum. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time, Biden was not only a vocal advocate for the US response to 9/11, but also a key enabler of the Iraq war, as the Senate hearings he oversaw helped shape support for the invasion. It took two years for him to stop defending that decision, as the initial US military victory soured. It also fell to Biden to conduct a humiliating US withdrawal from Afghanistan that left the Taliban back in power after two decades of war aimed at keeping them out.

It isn’t too late for Israel’s government to understand that it has walked into a trap. Recent indications that the IDF plans to turn south and attack in areas of Gaza where it evacuated civilians only weeks ago underscore that. Israel now believes that Hamas commanders moved south from Gaza City before the IDF sealed it off, suggesting that like the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Hamas may have withdrawn a substantial part of its forces in advance to ensure it can fight another day.

There are no good or easy options for Israel. Yet Netanyahu has a chance to rescue his strategy by embracing a deal, reportedly close to agreement, to swap about 50 of the 239 hostages Hamas is believed to have taken on Oct. 7. In exchange, Israel would give up jailed Palestinians and allow a humanitarian pause in the fighting of several days. That would create at least the opportunity to start turning the tables on Hamas’ nihilistic goals and shift international focus from Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians to Hamas’ refusal to give up all the hostages.

Israel should not be afraid if that leads to a longer ceasefire, because the IDF would remain in place and defeating Hamas requires more than killing its fighters. To win, Israel needs to make the group’s ideology — one that offers Israel’s destruction as the only viable future for Palestinians — redundant.

Netanyahu already hinted at one alternative end-state for Gaza, in the form of “indefinite” military occupation by Israel. Some of his more extreme cabinet ministers have hinted at another: the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, an act that no matter the means or rationalization would amount to ethnic cleansing. Both alternative futures are morally and legally unacceptable.

Just as important, neither offers long-term security for Israel, because as the current conflict shows, the Palestinian question is not just a domestic issue, but one that has the power to draw the entire Middle East into its vortex, amid a balance of power that may not always favor Israel. Both of these paths would put the Jewish state at greater risk than anything Hamas has the power to do.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Possession author A.S. Byatt, 87

A-S-Byatt —PENGUIN.CO.UK

LONDON — Booker-prize winning British novelist Antonia Susan Byatt, known most commonly as A.S. Byatt, has died aged 87, her publisher said in a statement on Friday.

Ms. Byatt, whose career spanned nearly 60 years, was best known for her 1990 novel Possession: A Romance. She was the sister of the novelist Margaret Drabble, and the siblings drew parallels with the Brontes, a comparison they tended to spurn.

Her publisher Chatto & Windus, part of Penguin Random House, described her as “one of the most significant writers and critics of our time.”

“She died peacefully at home surrounded by close family,” it said in a statement. “Antonia had a remarkable mind which produced a unique creative vision.”

A mother of three daughters, Ms. Byatt was struck by tragedy when her only son Charles was killed crossing the road in the week of his 11th birthday.

Ms. Byatt was born on Aug. 24, 1936, in the northern English city of Sheffield and was educated at a Quaker school in nearby York. She studied at Cambridge and Oxford before going on to teach English and American Literature in London from 1972.

Her first novel Shadow of a Sun was published in 1964, and told the story of a young girl growing up in the shadow of a dominant father.

More works followed, some of them frantically written in university vacations. Ms. Byatt eventually gave up teaching to write full time in 1983.

Seven years later came her breakthrough with Possession, which became a bestseller and won the coveted Booker Prize for Fiction the same year.

The tale, an academic treasure hunt which pits a wicked US biographer armed with a check book against a downtrodden English scholar, was seen by critics as a move away from the style of her earlier works to a more commercial approach.

Possession was made into a feature film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and her next book, Angels and Insects, also made it to the silver screen.

Ms. Byatt won a number of awards and titles including a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) and DBE (Dame of the British Empire).

She courted controversy in 2003 when she questioned adults reading the hugely successful Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.

“Ms. Rowling’s magic world has no place for the numinous. It is written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated … mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip,” she wrote. — Reuters

Inflation comeback in Japan prompts investors to tear up old playbooks

WIKIPEDIA.ORG

LONDON/TOKYO — Global inflationary forces are finally seeping into Japan’s economy after decades of falling prices, forcing investors to radically rethink their Japan bets as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) considers a major policy shift.

International investors, who have long favoured stocks benefiting from Japan’s aging population or a weakening yen, are tearing up their playbooks to focus on expected higher interest rates, more generous dividends and a revival in consumer spending.

The policy switch has been slow in coming but could herald an entirely new way of investing in Japan if a predicted long-term inflation rate of 2% in 2024 really happens.

Japanese shoppers who no longer expect prices to keep falling may make big purchases. If the BoJ pulls interest rates above zero for the first time in years, banks’ lending margins could rise.

Japanese stock markets have already rallied to around their highest since 1990, with consumer and financial stocks outperforming domestic indexes. On the downside, inflation creates a bleak outlook for Japanese government bonds (JGB).

“Interest rate policy is undergoing a historic change,” said Shigeka Koda, chief executive of the $500-million Singapore-based hedge fund Four Seasons Asia Investment.

“Something new is in the offing.”

BANKS UPSTAGE CREMATORIA AND CAKE-MAKING ROBOTS
Japan’s aging demographic has made a Japanese crematorium company one of the top picks for foreign investors, with its shares up almost 700% in five years.

Koda’s top positions have included the crematorium operator — Kosaido Holdings — as well as Rheon Automatic Machinery, which sells cake-making robots to help food manufacturers deal with a shrinking workforce.

But in August, for the first time in the 17-year history of his fund, Koda picked a Japanese bank, Kyushu Financial, as his largest position, because he believes Japanese interest rates will rise.

Steve Donzé, deputy head of investment at Pictet Asset Management in Tokyo, said he had also been buying Japanese bank stocks.

For Junichi Inoue, head of Japanese equities at Janus Henderson, consumer businesses with the pricing power to increase revenues and profits by passing higher energy and food costs on to customers were the focus.

“I do like convenience stores,” he said. “Margins have really been going up, earnings have been good — positively surprising.”

NEW DYNAMIC?
Japanese wages, adjusted for inflation, fell in the 18 consecutive months to September. But big employers are expected to agree bumper pay hikes in the spring.

“You really need to see services inflation come through in order for inflation to be sticky, and that’s driven by wages,” said, James Halse, portfolio manager at Platinum Asset Management in Sydney.

Data out on Friday is expected to show core consumer prices accelerated again in October, staying above target for a 19th straight month.

Global fund managers are the most positive on Japanese stocks since March 2018, a Bank of America survey published on Nov. 14 showed. And Warren Buffett is buying.

Japan’s Topix index, one of the key indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has jumped 26% this year, helped by corporate governance reforms.

David Hogarty, senior portfolio manager at Dublin-based KBI Global Investors, said he had turned positive on Japan partly because higher inflation would pressure companies to boost dividend payouts.

“Typically, if you increase your dividend in inflationary times, people like that,” he said, noting Japan currently has the highest dividend growth globally at about 20% year on year.

BOND PAIN
Japanese inflation means bond investors could suffer. Rising inflation reduces the appeal of fixed interest-paying bonds.

The BoJ has also long supported the bond market by buying government debt to cap yields and suppress domestic borrowing costs. But investors are cautious about this so-called yield curve control policy ending as the BoJ is forced to tighten monetary policy.

Inflation “probably isn’t transitory” for Japan because it had not been in the United States or Europe, said Jon Day, global bond portfolio manager at Newton Investment Management.

“And of course the bond market isn’t fully priced for it.” The five-year JGB yield is around 0.35%. Even a long-term inflation rate of 1% in Japan would make that a “terrible return,” Mr. Day said.

US Treasuries are facing a third year of hefty price falls after aggressive Federal Reserve tightening took rates to 5.25%-5.5%. At minus 0.1%, the BoJ is the only major central bank with negative rates.

GrÈgoire Pesques, CIO for fixed income at Europe’s largest fund manager Amundi, said he holds a short position on the 10-year JGB as he expects yields to rise from around 0.8% currently, as bond prices fall.

Rising yields could finally lift a battered yen.

The yen, which surged to 133 per dollar in December 2022 when the BoJ hinted it would review yield-curve control, dropped as low as 151.92 last week.

“The direction of travel is clear and away from unsustainably easy (monetary) policy,” Pictet’s Mr. Donzé said, forecasting “a stronger currency as we move into 2024.” — Reuters

PHL startups seen optimistic despite talent, capital hurdles

FREEPIK

MANY STARTUPS in the Philippines remain optimistic about their prospects despite facing talent and capital challenges, according to industry players.

“The startup ecosystem is persisting amid these headwinds,” Katrina R. Chan, executive director at IdeaSpace Investments and QBO Innovation Hub, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Philippine Startup Week 2023 press conference on Tuesday.

“The people and the government are already paying attention, but in times like these, it’s really about synergistic collaboration and executing plans, policies, and incentives,” she added, emphasizing the importance of opening access for all local startups.

Ms. Chan noted strengthening business education, funding mechanisms, mentoring programs, and international exposure opportunities as key ingredients for growing the local industry.

“We want more people driving the future of the economy,” she said, emphasizing the expansion of investors’ valuations and advocating for multiple kalabaw, not just one unicorn.

Startup investment in Southeast Asia declined after an uptick in 2021, as reported by Deal Street Asia and Kickstart Ventures. The first quarter of 2022 recorded about $5 billion in deals, down from a peak of $8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Startup tech fundraising declined this year due to adverse market conditions, according to Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, which provides early-stage venture capital.

In its Philippine Startup Ecosystem Report, Gobi-Core said that the year-to-date fundraising in the Philippines is running 40% below the year-earlier level.

“It was super high during the pandemic, given the urgent demand for digital solutions,” Ms. Chan said regarding the current decline in investments, causing a conservative stance for investors.

“It has become more level-headed now, and it’s not something to be scared about,” she added.

Gobi-Core identified the five biggest challenges that founders or startup owners face as inadequate infrastructure, talent and manpower shortages, government and regulatory hurdles, access to funding, and cultural challenges.

Ana Yang-Calubad, founder of enterprise software-as-a-service (SAAS) startup Britana, urged the government to make it easy for aspiring and existing startups to run their businesses through streamlined processes and tax incentives.

Dennis Velasco, founder and chief executive officer of the real estate SAAS startup Prosperna, said fostering global partnerships among startups is one of the vital strides the local industry needs to take. “This is going to make the Philippines an exciting [investment] place in the next 10 years.”

Beyond top-down support, Mr. Velasco added the need for bottoms-up initiatives at the local government unit (LGU) level. “We need to help them understand programs and initiatives for business sustainability and give them access to our tools and services.”

Lorena Flores, founder of the digital community hub startup Hey Roomie, said startups should be seen as an opportunity or an extra arm for LGUs to extend their services. — Miguel Hanz L. Antivola

AIA Philippines selects new CEO as Ang retires

AIA PHILIPPINES has selected a new chief executive officer (CEO) after incumbent CEO Kelvin Ang announced his retirement.

AIA Singapore’s former chief customer and digital officer Melita Teo will replace Mr. Ang starting Jan. 1, subject to regulatory approvals, AIA Philippines said in a statement on Monday. Mr. Ang will stay as advisor to the CEO until Feb. 29.

Ms. Teo has held various positions in strategy and planning, business development, corporate solutions and operations in AIA since joining the group in 2001.

“I’m excited to be joining the AIA Philippines team. These are exciting times for our business. Powered by the legacy of our 76 years in the market and the strength of the AIA Group, we are well positioned to bring Filipinos the best AIA has to offer. Our recent acquisition of Medicard furthers our ability to help more customers address their health and protection needs,” Ms. Teo said.

AIA Philippines in March completed its acquisition of health maintenance organization MediCard Philippines, Inc. after securing all the required regulatory approvals. The company did not disclose the value of the acquisition.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ang will leave the company after 26 years. He previously held leadership positions in AIA in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China.

“It has been quite a journey for me working these past five years alongside our people and partners at AIA Philippines, through the challenges of a worldwide pandemic and back to regaining our footing thereafter. I will leave with a grateful heart knowing that we have done much to bring more focus on the importance of protection…,” he said.

AIA Philippines’ premium income stood at P3.88 billion in the first quarter, Insurance Commission data showed. It posted a net loss of P1.11 billion in the period.

Vista Land sets rates for fixed-rate bonds

VILLAR-LED property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc. (VLL) has set the interest rates of its bond offering as part of its funding initiatives.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, VLL said the interest rate for its peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds is at 7.5426% per annum with a tenor of three years due December 2026 Series F, and a 7.6886% interest rate per annum with a tenor of five years due December 2028 Series G.   

On Nov. 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the VLL’s certificate of permit to offer securities for sale. 

The offering consists of P6 billion with an oversubscription option of up to P4 billion, which is the first tranche of the company’s three-year P35-billion fixed-rate bond offering.

According to VLL, the bonds will be offered from Nov. 21 to 29 and will be issued on Dec. 6. 

The joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters, and joint bookrunners are China Bank Capital Corp., SB Capital Investment Corp., and Union Bank of the Philippines.

Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos serves as VLL’s counsel while Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles serves as counsel to the joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners.

“VLL has been rated AAA by Credit Rating and Investors Services Philippines, Inc. (CRISP), while the bonds have been rated PRS Aaa by the Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings), which are both the highest ratings assigned by PhilRatings and CRISP,” the company said.

VLL is tycoon Manuel B. Villar, Jr.’s listed holding firm engaged in developing residential subdivisions and construction of housing and condominium units.

For the nine months through September, VLL logged a 70% jump in net income to P8.2 billion from P4.82 billion last year as the company’s consolidated revenue rose 18% to P27.4 billion.

“We are delighted with our results, as we remain optimistic with the industry for the rest of the year with the strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.9% coupled with sustained growth in overseas Filipino remittance and revenge spending from consumers, all of which contributed to the positive performance of the group,” Mr. Villar said.   

Shares of VLL at the local bourse rose two centavos or 1.22% to P1.66 apiece on Tuesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Privacy body sheds light on dark patterns

BENJAMIN DAVIES-UNSPLASH

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) recently issued NPC Advisory No. 2023–01 dated Nov. 7 entitled “Guidelines on Deceptive Design Patterns” (Guidelines). The Guidelines serve to apprise data subjects about the use of Deceptive Design Patterns (DDPs), also called Dark Patterns, in order to obtain their consent.

Under the Data Privacy Act (DPA), the processing of personal information is allowed when the data subject has freely given his or her consent. Consent is not freely given when there is an element of pressure, intimidation, the possibility of adverse consequences for refusal to give consent, or any other inability to exercise free will.

DDPs refer to design techniques embedded on an analog (offline point of interaction) or digital interface that aim to manipulate or deceive the data subject to perform a specific act relating to the processing of their personal data. DDPs may force or mislead the data subject to consent to the processing of his or her personal information when in fact he or she does not intend to. The consent given may thus be considered to be vitiated and, therefore, the processing of information is unlawful.

The NPC further categorizes DDPs into either Appearance-Based DDPs or Content-Based DDPs. Appearance-Based DDPs refer to design patterns that manipulate or deceive a data subject through the display or presentation of information. This may take form in the use of an interface that makes it easy for the data subjects to give consent, such as an enormous and bright colored “I Agree” button, while making it hard for them to withdraw their consent, i.e., hidden option to withdraw consent with repeated “Are you sure?” prompts.

Content-Based DDPs, on the other hand, refer to design patterns that manipulate or deceive a data subject through the actual contents, including the language and context, of the information made available to them. An example of this is when data subjects are persuaded to take the “best alternative” which, in fact, is the most prejudicial to their privacy, or those that use ambiguous, complex, or confusing language to obtain their consent.

Children, as well as the elderly, are the most vulnerable to DDPs. In a case before the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (In the matter of Epic Games, Inc., Docket No. C-4790), the FTC ordered Epic Games, Inc., the maker of the popular Esports game Fortnite, to pay $245 million for its use of DDPs in Fortnite for deceiving consumers (mostly children) to make unintended purchases. Some of the DDPs reported to the FTC include designs where the checkbox and text are too small, leading the consumer to subscribe to continuous transactions instead of limiting the transaction to a single purchase; the game page design where the notification that in-game purchases are incorporated is discreetly positioned way below the page; and the interface where the refund request is placed in the settings menu which is far removed from the purchase menu as well as requiring several unnecessary steps to process refunds, discouraging consumers from pursuing them.

For the processing of personal information based on the data subject’s consent, what is proper is that the consent must be obtained from, and may be withdrawn by, the data subject through a user interface that provides a concise statement in clear, plain, consistent, and straightforward language with respect to the personal data to be processed, nature, purpose, extent, duration, and scope of processing for which consent is used as basis, risks and safeguards involved, the identity of the Personal Information Controller, the existence of data subject’s rights, and how these rights can be exercised.

At the end of the day, even if data protection safeguards are strictly upheld and remedies are readily available, data subjects must always be extra careful of the transactions that require them to provide personal information, whether such information refer to them or to other people.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not offered and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.

 

Andrew Stephen S. Lota is an associate of the Intellectual Property department of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW).

aslota@accralaw.com

8830-8000

Shakira reaches deal to avoid $15 million tax fraud trial in Spain

SHAKIRA — WIKIPEDIA

BARCELONA — Colombian pop star Shakira on Monday reached a settlement to avoid a trial in Barcelona over charges she failed to pay €14.5 million ($15.7 million) in Spanish income tax between 2012 and 2014, arguing it was triggered by personal reasons.

As part of the deal, she accepted the charges and a fine of half the amount owed, more than €7.3 million.

She also accepted another fine of €438,000 to avoid a three-year prison sentence, the judge said during the trial’s first hearing.

“This decision to reach a deal responds to personal, emotional and sentimental reasons that have nothing to do with legal (reasons),” Ms. Shakira said in a statement released by her Spanish communication agency, adding she was ready to defend her innocence but decided to prioritize her career and kids.

“I have reached the conclusion that winning is not a victory if the price is that they rob you of so many years of your life,” she said.

“Do you recognize the facts and conform with the new penalties that have been requested?” asked Judge Jose Manuel del Amo Sanchez at the start of the trial.

“Yes,” Ms. Shakira responded softly, wearing a pink suit matching her pink handbag.

She arrived minutes before the start of the trial accompanied by her lawyers, amid a media frenzy and the support of some fans outside.

On Thursday night, Ms. Shakira won two Latin Grammy awards in Seville.

Previously, the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer, who also has a second tax fraud investigation pending with Spanish authorities, had vowed to fight what she called false accusations.

The prosecutor’s office was seeking up to eight years in prison and to claim back the taxes it says she owes.

It alleged that Ms. Shakira spent more than half of each of the years in question in Spain and was therefore ordinarily resident in the country. It also said that a Barcelona property she bought in May 2012 served as a family home.

“It is logically a ruling of conformity that involves a recognition of the facts. But the decision has been motivated by personal issues,” Miriam Company, one of Shakira’s lawyers, told reporters outside the courthouse.

She said the legal team was convinced it could prove Ms. Shakira’s innocence but that the circumstances had changed.

Ms. Shakira, 46, lived with former Barcelona and Spain soccer star Gerard Pique for 11 years and the couple have two children. The singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, moved to Miami after their separation.

Spanish authorities have pursued other major celebrities over tax evasion, including soccer players such as Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, and Brazilian-Spanish player Diego Costa. All settled and paid large fines.

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso refused to settle and eventually won a trial against the tax agency. Spain’s Supreme Court last month upheld his acquittal. — Reuters

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