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Philippine builders may benefit from state’s renewed infra dev’t plan

A construction site is seen in Cubao, Quezon City. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter

LISTED construction companies are expected to post better results this year amid a growing state focus on infrastructure development and with the Philippine central bank widely expected to start cutting interest rates, analysts said.

“There will be faster growth this year as government public-private partnership projects pick up and easing inflation lowers construction and funding costs,” Cristina S. Ulang, research head at First Metro Investment Corp., said in a Viber message on Tuesday.

Infrastructure spending increased by 66% to P122.1 billion in August from a year earlier as the government fast-tracked projects, the Budget department said in October.

“If the government maintains or increases its focus on infrastructure development, as indicated by ongoing projects and future plans, listed construction companies may experience positive growth,” Globalinks Securities and Stocks, Inc. head of sales trading Toby Allan C. Arce said in a Viber message.

“Continued government support often translates to a steady flow of projects, contributing to the construction sector’s overall performance. Conversely, economic challenges or uncertainties may impact the willingness of both public and private sectors to invest in construction projects,” he added. 

Construction industry growth could improve this year amid faster economic growth, easing inflation and possible Fed rate cuts, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., separately said via Viber.

Inflation likely eased to 4% in December, according to a median estimate of 13 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week, amid lower prices of fruits and vegetables, electricity and fuel.

The Monetary Board in December kept its benchmark rate at a 16-year high of 6.5% for a second straight meeting. From May 2022 to October this year, it raised borrowing costs by 450 basis points to tame inflation. 

“The government’s budget on infrastructure continues to be significant, while a potential drop in interest rates that would result from a sustained decline in inflation could encourage the private sector to boost capital expenditures,” April Lynn Lee-Tan, chief equity strategist at COL Financial Group, Inc. said in a Viber message. 

Listed construction companies had mixed earnings results in the third quarter. Megawide Construction Corp.’s net loss narrowed to P29.85 million from P319.58 million a year ago on higher revenue.

Megawide’s attributable net income in the nine months to September hit P333.31 million, a turnaround from the P445.25-million net loss a year earlier. 

EEI Corp. reported an attributable net income of P406 million for the third quarter, higher than P33.08 a year earlier, while revenue rose by 5.3% to P4.35 billion. But it posted an attributable net loss of P294.97 million in nine months from a P149.68-million profit a year ago.

During the quarter, Phinma Corp.’s attributable net income rose by 40.5% year on year to P582.77 million on higher revenue. Its attributable net income fell by 3.7% to P791.53 million in nine months.

The growth of construction companies would also be driven by renewable energy projects, Mr. Arce said. “If the government’s commitment to increasing the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix continues, construction companies involved in renewable energy projects may see increased opportunities.”

Gov’t upsizes award of T-bills as bids soar amid pent-up demand

STOCK PHOTO | Image by RJ Joquico from Unsplash

THE GOVERNMENT upsized the volume of Treasury bills (T-bills) it awarded on Tuesday, even as rates rose across all tenors, amid pent-up demand for debt following the holiday break and with interest rates expected to remain elevated in the near term.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P17 billion via the T-bills it offered on Tuesday, above the initial P15-billion program, as total bids reached P39.945 billion or more than twice the amount on the auction block.

Broken down, the Treasury made a full P5-billion award of the 91-day T-bills as tenders for the tenor reached P13.36 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.14%, 14.4 basis points (bps) above the 4.996% seen at the last T-bill auction on Dec. 4. Accepted rates ranged from 5.4% to 5.88%.

The BTr likewise borrowed P5 billion as planned via the 364-day debt papers as bids for the tenor reached P12.225 billion. The average rate of the one-year T-bill went up by 9.7 bps to 5.829% from 5.732% previously. Accepted rates were from 5.498% to 6.7%.

Meanwhile, the government raised P7 billion through the 182-day securities, above the original P5-billion program, as bids for the paper reached P14.36 billion. The average rate for the six-month T-bill stood at 5.578%, jumping by 31.1 bps from the 5.267% quoted the previous auction, and with accepted yields ranging from 5.328% to 5.85%.

At the secondary market on Tuesday, the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills were quoted at 5.244%, 5.518%, and 5.867%, respectively, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates data provided by the Treasury.

“The Auction Committee fully awarded bids for Treasury bills at today’s auction… The auction was 2.7 times oversubscribed, attracting P39.9 billion in total tenders, prompting the committee to double the accepted volume of non-competitive bids for the 182-day T-bills. With its decision, the Committee raised P17 billion compared to the P15-billion initial program,” the BTr said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The substantial amount of awarded volume today represented some catch-up placements by investors after the prolonged pause in weekly issuances last December,” a trader said in an e-mail on Tuesday.

The Treasury did not hold auctions of government securities after the first week of December after completing its domestic borrowing plan.

T-bill rates rose due to hawkish signals from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) chief, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

“T-bill rates moved up from last auction due to lingering expectations of elevated BSP policy rates for the earlier part of the year, which affect local short-term yields,” the trader likewise said.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. last month said the central bank is unlikely to cut rates in the coming months and is leaning towards keeping borrowing costs higher for longer until inflation is comfortably within their 2-4% annual target.

The central bank raised benchmark interest rates by a cumulative 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023, bringing the policy rate to a 16-year high of 6.5%.

In the first 11 months of 2023, headline inflation averaged 6.2%, still above the BSP’s 6% forecast and 2-4% goal for the year.

A BusinessWorld poll last week yielded a median estimate of 4% for December headline inflation, within the BSP’s 3.6-4.4% forecast for the month. This is slightly slower than the 4.1% in November but significantly below the 8.1% in December 2022.

If realized, December could mark the first time that inflation met the central bank’s 2-4% target after 20 straight months. It would also be the slowest since the 3% print in February 2022.

This would bring the 2023 inflation average to 6%, matching the BSP’s baseline forecast.

The Philippine Statistics Authority will release December consumer price index data on Friday.

On Wednesday, the BTr will auction off P30 billion in fresh three-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds).

The Treasury wants to raise P195 billion from the domestic market this month, or P75 billion via T-bills and P120 billion through T-bonds.

The government borrows from local and foreign sources to help fund its budget deficit, which is capped at 5.1% of gross domestic product this year. — A.M.C. Sy

Steady hearts, steady hands as Vatican experts restore masterpieces

DAVID at its current location in the Galleria dell’Accademia. — MARCUSOBAL/EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

VATICAN CITY — Whenever Alessandra Zarelli, a restorer at the Vatican Museums, works on a masterpiece by an artist such as Michelangelo, she steadies her heart so her mind can concentrate on the task at hand.

The standing order for Ms. Zarelli and her colleagues is to work with just chemistry, physics, and history and leave any excitement and awe at the door.

“The emotion of working on something like a Michelangelo is truly indescribable,” said Ms. Zarelli, 56, who helped restore a fresco by the Renaissance master in the Pauline Chapel.

“But I try to remain detached while I am working. I have to concentrate on the material and the work that I have to do, otherwise the emotion would paralyze me,” she said while working on a painting from 1550 called Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints by Italian artist Moretto da Brescia.

“At the end of the day I keep some moments for myself to contemplate and enjoy the emotion of being so close to marvelous masterpieces,” she said

She is one of about 36 members of an elite team at the Vatican Museums’ restoration lab for paintings and wood.

The team is responsible for looking after thousands of square meters of wall paintings, including the Sistine Chapel frescoes, as well as some 5,300 framed oil paintings and dozens of wooden statues.

A CENTURY OF RESTORATION
The restoration of the Moretto painting included a new internal frame, smoothing out deformations caused by humidity, removal of oxidized varnishes and retouches on both the painting as well as the gilded external frame.

The painting and wood restoration lab, one of eight specialized units in the museums, allowed a few news organizations rare access in December to mark its 100th anniversary.

Restoration techniques are constantly changing and today’s restorers often have to repair or remove mistakes of their predecessors who worked decades or even centuries ago with rudimentary techniques.

Another problem, usually from the distant past, is that restorers were not technicians but artists in their own right, some of whom thought they could “improve” the original by adding highlights or contrasts, according to the lab’s director, Francesca Persegati.

“It’s important to be humble in this job, to respect the work but also to have a scientific background to understand the materials,” she said.

Before a painting even reaches the lab, it already has undergone tests using ultra-violet, infra-red and other non-invasive methods to detect paint added later, pigmentation and any underlying sketches.

In another part of the lab, Caterina Manisco was restoring an 1895 painting called Madonna and Child Between St. Theresa and St. Francis, by Emma Richards. The Italian-born artist worked in the court of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, a rarity for a woman at the time.

“Because she was a woman, I somehow feel very close to her,” said Manisco, 40, an external restorer at the lab.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the paintings and wood lab, the museums have placed QR codes near 37 works of art, allowing visitors to see beyond the surface and experience the many layers in the life of a restoration. — Reuters

Global Ferronickel renews supply deal with Baosteel

GLOBAL Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. on Tuesday said it plans to sell 1.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore to Baosteel Resources International Co. Ltd.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company said units Platinum Group Metals Corp. and Ipilan Nickel Corp. have renewed the purchase deal with the China-based company.

Global Ferronickel said the ore would come from the company’s operating mines in Surigao del Norte and Palawan. The price of the ore would be determined monthly based on the prevailing market price.

“This agreement and our long history together demonstrate our customer’s confidence in our business and provide further recognition of our efforts in maintaining a reliable supply chain to meet the demands for Baosteel products throughout the Asia-Pacific region and internationally,” Global Ferronickel President Dante R. Bravos said in the statement.

Global Ferronickel’s share price rose by 0.49% or a centavo to close at P2.07 apiece.

The Philippine miner said two-thirds of its ore to be sold this year is expected to be low-grade with 0.90% nickel content and 48% iron content,

It said a third of the shipment would be composed of low-grade nickel ore with 0.9% nickel and 49% iron. The remainder will be medium grade with more than 1.4% nickel content and an iron content of 12% to 23%.

Meanwhile, Global Ferronickel said it shipped 4.76 million WMT of nickel ore last year — 3.297 million WMT from PGMC and 1.466 million WMT from Ipilan. It sold 0.38 million WMT to Baosteel last year.

Baosteel, a unit of China Baowu Steel Group, has interests in mineral resource investment, trading, and logistics services.

Global Ferronickel is a holding company engaged in nickel ore mining, logistics, cement and steel production and port operations. — Adrian H. Halili

No reason to be complacent: Helping the illiterate

BW FILE PHOTO

(Part 3)

In his Message for the 2023 World Day of the Poor celebrated on Nov. 19, 2023, Pope Francis recalled the 60th anniversary of the encyclical Pacem in Terris of Pope Saint John XXIII by quoting the following from the encyclical: “Every human being enjoys the right to life, to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, including food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally the necessary social services. In consequence, every individual has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from work; widowhood and forced unemployment; as well as in other cases when, through no fault of his own, he or she is deprived of the means of livelihood.”

From these words of Pope Francis, we should be careful not to pooh-pooh “dole-outs” citing the well-known phrase “it is better to teach someone to fish than to give him fish.” Even Our Lord had to perform a miracle to give instant relief to thousands of hungry people by providing them some fish (and bread) to eat. There are many situations in which immediate relief is needed. In many of the cases, it should be the Government (through the Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD) who should decide who are the ones entitled to instant relief such as in the cases of cash gifts through the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) itinerant program. This is the reason why the DSWD recently admonished private individuals to refrain from giving street beggars the usual cash gifts because such direct help may just encourage dependency even among those who are healthy enough to do some productive work. Let the DSWD decide who are the really deserving poor. For the others, the most effective help is to provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills to be productively employed.

It is heartening to see many business organizations like the SM group, the Metrobank group, the Madrigals, the Aboitizes, the Ayalas, and the Lucio Tan group and many others organizing educational foundations supporting the school-related expenses of numerous deserving but poor young people so that they can acquire quality education in some of the leading private educational institutions. These scholarship programs go a long way to uplift the lives of many poor households. Also very commendable are individuals or organizations that help establish skills training institutions like the Don Bosco Technical Schools, the Dualtech School, the MIF Institute of Technology (formerly the Meralco Foundation), the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Cebu, and other Technical Educational and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-certified technical training institutes that produce technically qualified people that are in great demand in the business sector.

In fact, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian recently called out TESDA for supposedly pushing training programs that do not align with today’s most-in-demand jobs. In his statement, the Senator lamented that TESDA’s programs with the highest enrollment do not align with the most in-demand jobs until 2025. It seems that none of the top five most popular courses offered by TESDA are aligned with industries that will grow in the next three to five years. It is important then for the big private donors supporting scholars to make sure that their beneficiaries are actually enrolled in the right courses. The right technical or vocational schools turning out people with skills needed by industry are even more needed than the run-of-the mill colleges or universities that often turn out college graduates who have no skills that are marketable. Often, there is a big mismatch between what is demanded by industry and the products of college degree programs. We have to re-examine the K-to-10 as well as the K-to-12 programs so that, as President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced in his second state of the nation address, we can encourage more of our high school students to follow the tech-voc track and acquire more relevant technical skills (e.g., in the construction and hospitality sectors) instead of aspiring for a college degree that leads to nowhere.

But what do we do with the numerous poor who are illiterate and cannot qualify for formal education, whether college-oriented or tech-voc? The most recent data reveal that there are 363,683 illiterate youth in the Philippines and 2.8 million illiterate adults. Nine out of 10 Filipino children struggle with reading at the age of 10. The first solution is obviously to address the problem of Filipino children who have difficulties reading. This is where the Department of Education, i.e., the Government, has the primary responsibility of addressing this serious problem.

Let us quote Pope Francis again: “How much still needs to be done for this to become a reality, not least through a serious and effective commitment on the part of political leaders and legislators! For all the limitations and at times the failures of politics in discerning and serving the common good, may the spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity continue to grow among citizens who believe in the value of voluntary commitment to serving the poor. Certainly there is need to urge and even pressure public institutions to perform their duties properly, yet it is of no use to wait passively to receive everything ‘from on high.’ Those living in poverty must also be involved and accompanied in a process of change and responsibility.”

There are numerous individuals, both young and old, who can lend a hand to the efforts of the Department of Education to improve the reading ability of the youth. Vice-President Sara Duterte has launched a “reading along” program for children who will be grouped according to their reading ability. Private individuals can volunteer to help the public-school teachers in this initiative in very much the same way that for generations (including my own), students from Catholic schools and colleges volunteered a great deal of time to teach the Catechism of the Catholic Church to pupils and public elementary and high schools. I hope this practice continues unabated. The generosity of young people can be fostered by having them help in the improvement of the reading ability of public-school pupils, especially among the disadvantaged. Needless to say, even more important is the spiritual welfare of these children who need doctrinal formation in their faith. There are also many commendable efforts of NGOs to address the reading deficiency of Filipino children. One example is the Read Along program of the Metrobank Foundation in cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This is one example of private individuals not just waiting for the solutions to the reading problem to come from “on high.”

Since the solution to the problem of illiteracy will take time to implement, there must be short-term ways of helping the illiterate to still become productive members of society. Here, the example of an award-winning “Hero of the illiterate” in India, named Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, is worthy of emulation. Roy firmly believes that illiteracy is not a barrier to achievement. His motto: “Illiterate people may not be able to read or write but they are not stupid.” How true. On many occasions, I would rather depend on an illiterate person to replace a bulb, fix a faucet, or change a tire than on a Ph.D. in mechanical or electrical engineering, much less on a Ph.D. in economics. Under the guidance of Roy, for 50 years, illiterate and near-illiterate people from the poorest of India’s rural poor have achieved marvels, built houses (using recycled plastic), repaired machinery, given reign to their artistry, and trained to become barefoot doctors, along similar lines to the model used in China. Most importantly, these illiterate people now know their worth and human dignity.

At first it was called SWRC — Social Work and Research Centre — but soon everyone around knew it as Barefoot College. It has been thriving since 1972, offering a cornucopia of good things, from clean water (collected and filtered from rain, not pumped from environmentally damaging wells) to basic education. Traditional skills and knowledge are blended with modern solutions — as long as those solutions are simple and kind to the environment, and work. Showing belief in people, giving encouragement and drawing out their best so that they could earn a living wage. I know that in the rural areas in the Philippines, there are already many initiatives of private individuals that are replicating the example of Bunker Roy. Let’s stop the futile lamentations about our illiterate Filipinos. Let us do something about it as Bunker Roy has been doing for more than 50 years among the rural poor in India.

(To be continued.)

 

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

An economically secure 2024

JANOON0028-FREEPIK

It is not uncommon to say “have a Prosperous New Year” when we greet friends and acquaintances at the start of the year. But what exactly do we mean by “prosperous”? Do we mean that we want the recipients of our greetings to be awash with cash (or its equivalent), more than they know how to spend?

More likely, we only mean that they should not want for anything, that they would be able to consistently meet their daily necessities — and perhaps have something extra for their reasonable wants with a little amount put away for emergencies. We could mean that they should not worry about whether they would continue to have an income in the foreseeable future, and that they are able to live the kind of life they envision for themselves.

This is the very definition of economic security.

It seems so basic, written down and spelled out, but unfortunately, this is an aspiration — not the actual situation — of millions of Filipinos. In the most recent Pulse Asia survey in December 2023, as commissioned by the Stratbase ADR Institute, economic issues remain the top-of-mind concern of Filipinos. Controlling inflation, cited by 72% of respondents, was at the top of the list. Other concerns include increasing the pay of workers (40%), creating more jobs (28%), reducing the poverty of many Filipinos (25%), and fighting graft and corruption in the government (19%).

That Filipinos should be concerned with the rising prices of goods is well-founded. To be sure, macroeconomic numbers are seeing marginal improvement. For example, headline inflation slowed to 4.1% versus 4.9% in October, driven by the lower year-on-year growth of the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.7%, followed by transport at 0.8%. This brings the national average inflation from January to November 2023 to 6.2%, making the 6% full-year target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) likely. And then, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that in October 2023, the unemployment rate eased to 4.2% from the 4.5% recorded in October 2022 and the 4.8% in July 2023.

Still, these are results from short-term, month-to-month data. The fact is that the cost of living remains a big concern in the long run, and 2.09 million persons remain unemployed. It is no surprise that consumer outlook in the Philippines for the fourth quarter of 2023 worsened and significantly became more negative at -19% from -9.6% in the third quarter, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

This weaker confidence among consumers stemmed from their concerns about the following: 1.) faster increase in the prices of goods; 2.) lower income; 3.) fewer available jobs; and, 4.) the effectiveness of government policies and programs on inflation management, public transportation, and financial assistance to low-income households.

What must be done to improve the confidence of consumers and the general sentiment of Filipinos that things will be better for them in the future? Economic security, after all — and economic security alongside defense is an essential part of national security — goes beyond month-to-month improvements. Security, rather, is a long-term concern that affects the direction of the lives of families, and enables parents, for instance, to assure their children that their needs would be taken care of, and that they can actually contemplate a secure future ahead of them.

Going beyond individuals and families, the economic security of a nation hinges on structural reforms that make a difference years down the line. Achieving economic security means that our nation will be resilient and self-sustaining despite disruptions and other challenges that may arise from geopolitical and geoeconomic developments around the world, and will be able to achieve sustained, inclusive growth that would be felt by as many people in society as possible.

We know the challenges all too well, being a consumer-driven economy with a greater volume of imports than exports, resulting in a trade deficit. During the pandemic, when mobility restrictions disrupted the global supply chain, our economy suffered heavily with prices of goods increasing. Today we remain on edge as we anticipate further challenges in flashpoints and other areas, specifically China’s continued aggression and adventurism in the West Philippine Sea, and the conflict in Ukraine and in Gaza. We are also at the mercy of other developments like climate change and more erratic weather patterns, resulting in constant threats to our agricultural output.

A logical, strategic step, as Stratbase has been espousing and supporting for quite a time now, is to shift from consumer-driven to investment-led growth. Investments, in their essence, are all about the long term. They bring in infrastructure, jobs, income — all of which will be realized not today, not next month, but in the years and generations to come. Specifically, investments in the manufacturing sector will do much to make our economy resilient and less vulnerable to the complications of geopolitics. Imagine the jobs that such investments would generate, communities that would be empowered, and prosperity that would be attained.

Of course, a lot is demanded of our government to be able to effect this shift to investments, even though its initiatives thus far have been commendable. Investments come to countries where the regulatory environment is encouraging and conducive, where policies are fair, consistent, and evenly applied, where transactions and costs are transparent, and where officials are accountable.

We can take heart in the business sentiment as reported by the BSP: it remained upbeat in Q4 2023 as the overall CI stood at 35.9%, slightly higher than the 35.8% in Q3 2023. If the private sector can remain this optimistic about their prospects, then they must be given additional reasons for being upbeat about the Philippine economy.

With this, I wish our country and our people an economically secure new year and beyond.

 

Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.

GoTyme Bank expects continued growth in customer base this year

GOTYME BANK expects to expand its customer base further this year as it plans to deploy more kiosks outside the Gokongwei ecosystem, with a focus on provincial areas.

“We are expanding our regional play and deploying to more provincial areas.  That said, we will maintain our urban and peri-urban track to reach Gen Zs and millennials,” GoTyme Bank Co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Commercial Officer Albert Raymund O. Tinio said in an e-mail last month.

The bank’s customer base is expected to continue growing this year, even as inflation and interest rates remain high, Mr. Tinio added.

“Customers will continue to look for a simple, straightforward approach to meet their financial transaction needs. Our commitment to human digital banking doesn’t end just because interest rates change,” he said.

The digital lender on Dec. 22 reached its end-2023 target customer base of two million, 14 months after it began commercial operations.

GoTyme Bank President and CEO Nathaniel D. Clarke said this was driven by the bank’s competitive savings interest rate and debit program.

This also came despite the economic headwinds the country faced during the year, he added.

“There is huge pent-up demand for a preferred banking experience that has previously been reserved for the top 5% of the population. Because of this, we are quite insulated from the macro environment,” he said.

GoTyme Bank’s product base will continue to expand this year to support customer growth, Mr. Clarke added.

“In the first half of 2024, we plan to launch several new investment products to include term savings and equities trading,” he said.

The online lender will also launch a buy now, pay later product, and will expand the micro, small, and medium enterprise loan product that it launched in partnership with PayMongo in November.

It is also planning to launch a person-to-person quick response or QR payment feature in February 2024, as well as an earned wage access payroll lending product, it previously said.

GoTyme Bank is a partnership between the Gokongwei group, which holds a 60% stake, and Singapore-based digital banking group Tyme, which has 40%.

It is one of the six online banks that got licenses to operate from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. — A.M.C. Sy

5 under-appreciated crime novels you should read

IT’S HARD for writers to break into the crime fiction market. It’s especially hard for authors who write in languages other than English or write on the anglophone periphery. Unless they are the big names of Nordic noir, translated crime novels are rarely advertised or placed in prominent positions in bookshops.

This is a shame because there is a lot of great crime writing going on around the world. Below we offer a list of five novels by writers from Italy, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, and Finland. They might have passed you by, but are well worth reading.

1. Out of Season by Antonio Manzini

Out of Season (Harper, 2018), translated by Anthony Shugaar, is an engaging novel from bestselling Italian author Antonio Manzini. This is part of a crime series centered on police chief Rocco Schiavone, who has been exiled to the town of Aosta in the Alps after a dust up with his superiors in Rome.

A city lover who likes the sun and light clothing, Schiavone finds it very hard to get used to a mountainous, gossipy town and its constant cold weather. Grumpy and endowed with a “Roman” (that is, very cynical) sense of humor, Schiavone is an “outsider” police detective. He is surrounded by a group of loyal subordinates, including the young and efficient Italo Pierron and Caterina Rispoli, but also the hopeless D’Intino who provides light moments in a series featuring gritty and violent crimes.

In this novel, spring has finally arrived and Schiavone investigates a kidnapping and brutal murder that intersect with a mysterious car accident. The chapters move between the point of view of Chiara, a young woman from a rich and influential family who has been kidnapped, and Schiavone’s efforts to find her before it’s too late.

Like much Italian crime fiction, this novel delves into the topical issues of gender violence, criminal organizations, and extortionate moneylending in an Italy experiencing a crippling economic crisis.

Despite the serious issues tackled, Out of Season makes for engaging and easy reading due to the character of Schiavone, his biting sarcasm, and his confronting (and irresistible) way of dealing with others.

2. The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda

Crime fiction has a long history in Japan, something anglophone publishers are just starting to discover.

Pushkin Vertigo have published the classic detective novels of Seishi Yokomizo and Yukito Ayatsuji to great acclaim. Penguin has also gotten in on the act, releasing Seicho Matsumoto’s Tokyo Express in its Modern Classics series.

The focus on classic detective novels hasn’t distracted publishers from translating more contemporary works. Riku Onda’s The Aosawa Murders, published by Bitter Lemon in 2022 and translated by Alison Watts, is one remarkable example. Onda is the pen name of Nanae Kumagai, one of Japan’s leading contemporary crime writers.

The Aosawa Murders is one of the most interesting, innovative crime novels of recent years. The murder at the heart of the novel is the mass poisoning of 17 people who attend a party hosted by the Aosawa family. Only two people survive: the housekeeper and Hisako, the attractive, blind daughter.

The novel doesn’t follow the usual pattern of much crime fiction. It doesn’t directly offer an investigation into the murders. Rather, an unnamed narrator investigates an early true crime account of the murders by Makiko Seiga, a neighbor.

The novel consists of a series of interviews with Seiga, her brother, witnesses, police officers, and, finally, the surviving family member and prime suspect, Hisako.

What stands out is the one-sided nature of these interviews. One of the significant features of crime fiction is the strong voice of the detective. Think Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Yet, in The Aosawa Murders, readers almost always receive the interviewees’ responses. Rarely do we hear the questions or comments made by the interviewer.

Readers, thus, have to piece together the mystery behind the writing of the true crime story before making sense of the crime itself. This allows the story to focus on the broader impact of the crime. The Aosawa Murders is literary crime fiction at its best.

3. Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur

The last instalment of Batya Gur’s Michael Ohayon crime series, Murder in Jerusalem, delves into Israeli society’s internal divisions and the troubled history of the state of Israel.

Ohayon is quiet and introspective and looks more like an intellectual than a policeman. His bookcase is filled with works by Chekhov, Gogol, Flaubert, Balzac, and Faulkner. He has a masters degree in Medieval history and started a PhD but abandoned a university career to marry his pregnant girlfriend. He is always in charge of complicated mysteries in which he makes use of his education to clear the smokescreen created by the villain.

In Murder in Jerusalem (Harper Collins, 2006), translated by Evan Fallenberg, the investigation starts with the death of Tirzah Rubin, a set designer for Israel’s state television station, who is found dead on the set of a film adaptation of a classic of Jewish literature, SY Agnon’s story “Iddo and Eynam.”

The tragedy is initially treated as an accident, but when the head of production, Matty Cohen, also dies, it becomes apparent the deaths are not accidental.

Ohayon is called to investigate what eventually becomes a multiple murder investigation with its roots in the Six-Day War. Ohayon’s investigation reveals the crimes are the consequences of past violence and injustice never acknowledged or addressed. This thought-provoking novel offers insight into the world of TV journalism while condemning state propaganda and extreme nationalism.

Murder in Jerusalem is also a powerful endorsement for a peaceful coexistence with a Palestinian state. Sadly, it provides very topical reading in these troubled times.

Readers may also be interested in Palestinian writer Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette and published by Text (2020). Minor Detail recounts a historical crime during the war of 1948 and its present-day investigation by a Palestinian woman.

4. The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave

A cold case involving a home invasion in which two people died nine years earlier in Christchurch, New Zealand, is at the center of the intricate plot of The Pain Tourist (Orenda Books, 2022).

The victims’ son, James, has revived from a coma with memories that might provide clues to the crime, and police detective Rebecca Kent is assigned the case.

Things get complicated for Kent, as she is also investigating the rape and murder of a woman by a notorious New Zealand serial killer, The Cleaner. Or is it a copycat murder?

The novel alternates between different perspectives. These include Kent’s investigations, the villain’s thoughts, and the memories James lived with during his years in a coma.

Readers of The Pain Tourist also become acquainted (or reacquainted) with Theodore Tate, the detective protagonist of four novels by Paul Cleave who ran the original investigation into the murder of James’ parents. Tate is now working as a consultant for true crime television shows. Thus, the novel explores the fascination of audiences with the dark side of the human mind and media exploitation of crime, (hence the title).

Moving between past and present, The Pain Tourist is a beautifully written page turner with a final twist.

5. The Healer by Antti Tuomainen

Crime fiction has always responded to the burning issues of its time and place. Currently, these are the crisis of democracy, social and economic inequality, gender and sexuality, legacies of colonialism, and environmental degradation.

Finnish novelist Antti Tuomainen’s The Healer (Harvill Secker, 2012), translated by Lola Rogers, is one of the first crime novels to have tackled climate change.

The Healer is set in the near future in Helsinki. Yet, the Finnish capital is unrecognizable. Unrestricted economic development has accelerated global warming. Floods, rising sea levels, plagues, pandemics, and war have led to the mass displacement of over 650 million refugees. Waterfront suburbs are under water.

This provides the setting for the search for a missing journalist, Johanna, who was investigating a number of brutal murders by a self-styled Healer. His motivation is to punish individuals who have contributed to the ensuing disaster.

Unsurprisingly, given the social breakdown, the police are uninterested in spending time looking for a missing woman. Instead, it falls to her husband, Tapani, a poet, to find his wife. He is assisted in this by a North-African climate refugee called Hamid.

The Healer is an example of “crimate” fiction. That is, novels that attempt to narrate the climate crisis through a criminal framework. The climate catastrophe is not a mere backdrop. It is a fundamental part of the story.

By setting the story in the near future, Tuomainen makes visible the slow violence caused by everyday practices. In doing so, he wants readers to reflect on how current acceptable behaviors may – in the fullness of time – be viewed as criminal.

Stewart King is an Associate Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities at Monash University. Barbara Pezzotti is a Senior Lecturer, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University. Both receive funding from the Australian Research Council.

Keeping the parol tradition alive

WORKERS of Rolren’s Lanterns and General Mdse. race to meet the all year round’s demand. Photo uploaded by Rolando S. Quiambao on Facebook on Oct. 6, 2022.

Ex-OFW’s venture into Filipino crafts draws global appeal

By Miguel Hanz L. Antivola, Reporter

MORE THAN its radiant appeal during the Christmas season, the parol persists as a handmade product etched with passion, skill, and unwritten Filipino traditions, according to lantern maker Rolando S. Quiambao.

“The parol is a tradition, and we play it by heart. Ang isang produktong walang kwento ay walang kwenta [A product without a story has no value],” Mr. Quiambao, co-owner of Rolren’s Lanterns and General Mdse., said in an interview with BusinessWorld.

“The parol characterizes our attitudes and lifestyles as Kapampangan,” he added. “There is no course or book on the parol. It was only passed down to us from generation to generation.”

When Mr. Quiambao retired as an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) and returned to the Philippines in the 1980s, he became an electrical repairman, who also offered to make a number of parol for rich households.

It did not take long for his friends to notice his creations and convinced him to sell his work on the street and make a living out of his childhood flair. The encouragement was measure enough for him to give it a shot, officially starting his parol-making venture in 1986.

“I tried it and enjoyed, even if [the parols were] in small quantities. You need big investments to make parols,” he said.

THE BIG BREAK
For Mr. Quiambao, the big break for the business came in 1995 when the local government of San Fernando, Pampanga commissioned him to decorate and enliven the city centers with his parols. The greater mission was to lift the spirits of people and traders forced to relocate due to the devastation caused by lahar from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
The plan worked and so, beyond the Christmas season, the mayor at the time assigned him and his two craftsmen to make more decorations for the city during festivals, graduations, and other celebrations.

“When our city suddenly became happy and the people returned, that is when we earned our break,” said Mr. Quiambao, who has since been called the “San Fernando Lantern King.”

This allowed him to seek financial support and guidance from government agencies for the business’ next move — hiring contractual workers for its large scale “decorative” arm, serving corporate clients beyond retail.

His brand, Rolren, continued to grow in popularity by traditional means: word of mouth. With the dawning of social media, his works became popular posts by local and international bloggers drawn to the annual San Fernando Giant Lantern Festival — the stage that crowned his business as champion many times over.

“We were suddenly visited by customers and traders who knew us as a legitimate factory where they can get their parols for cheap [prices],” said Mr. Quiambao, even going as far as to export to the United States and Canada. “We don’t stop. Our production is continuous all year round.”
At this point, Rolren expanded its product offerings to table lamps, corner lights, and chandeliers, partnering with architects, hotels, and local government units. His products were now tailored according to requests.

DEMAND: THE MAIN CHALLENGE
Even with a slight drop in retail sales, Mr. Quiambao noted how the market for the business is too big for them to accommodate, compounded by crunched time frames for orders.

“We pick our clients because we can’t cater to the whole market,” he said. “We don’t even have a website.”

“It is difficult to teach a laborious handcrafted skill — from cleaning and cutting the capiz (shells), to assembling, painting, and electrifying,” he added on preserving tradition and product quality. “It’s hairsplitting!”
A little innovation does offer solutions and Rolren came to adopt modern techniques. “We devise systems to lessen time and cost of production, said Mr. Quiambao. “We use some machines now, but the bending is a long handcrafted process.”
At present, the business has about 25 regular craftsmen — men and women with specific expert skills — for retail orders. It also has over 30 contractual workers for decorative orders and commissioned works.

“We only accommodate what our labor force can handle,” said Mr. Quiambao. “When we can’t [accommodate] any more, especially with decorative orders from LGUs, malls, and private companies, we disperse the tasks to subcontractors, offering them jobs.”
Even for exports, he said he prefers accepting orders from the United States and Canada due to ease of adapting to its supply voltage.

“It’s also difficult because the exporter or buyer sometimes chooses to get all the stocks of one design, so you don’t have anything to show for the next customer,” he said.

“What we do is we just keep stocking and never stop. We choose to see it as planting rice to harvest for the next season, per se,” he added.

HONORING TRADITION
More than its business component, Mr. Quiambao is keen on honoring the rich history behind the parol, even being researched and interviewed as a historian of such a tradition.

“It grew from small and simple candle covers during a religious activity we called the lubenas,” he said of the nine-night procession before Christmas, involving the patron saint of each barangay.

According to Mr. Quiambao, this parol display later evolved into the “royal rumble” called Ligligan Parul, or today’s Giant Lantern Festival, where the lanterns are bigger and more intricately designed.

“Our story is deep, from the shapes and parts of the parol, to its overall architecture, symbolic of the well-defined practices, attitudes, and colorful lives of the Kapampangan,” he asserted.

“The terminologies of the elders for the different parts make sense,” he added, noting the parol’s center star as siko-siko, named after the star-shaped angle of the elbow.

He also noted parol components such as the palimbon — from the word “procession” and is the part surrounding the main star like a procession; and the puntetas (from the word “end”), the decorative outer layer signifying the non-conformist attitude of the Kapampangan.

“There is a story and tradition behind the parol, which is why I think it persists even up to today,” said Mr. Quiambao.

VLL International to sell $2-B notes

VILLAR-LED property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc. said its unit had approved a $2-billion medium-term note program as part of capital raising efforts. 

In a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday, Vista Land said VLL International, Inc. approved the program on Dec. 29 and hired DBS Bank Ltd. and HSBC as dealers for the offer, sale, and issuance of the notes.

The notes are guaranteed by Vista Land and units Brittany Corp., Crown Asia Properties, Inc., Camella Homes, Inc., Communities Philippines, Inc., Vistamalls, Inc., and Vista Residences, Inc.

Vista Land posted a 70% increase in net income to P8.2 billion in the first nine months, as consolidated revenue jumped by 18% to P27.4 billion.   

Shares of Vista Land at the local bourse gained 0.6% or a centavo to P1.69 each.  — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Shift to parliamentary system

WIRESTOCK-FREEPIK

Although I happen to know Speaker Martin Romualdez’ admirable mother from college days, I really have no particular opinion about him as yet. I only see that he seems to be preparing for more important posts in the future, with the politicking that he is already doing this early.

However, it happens that I am of the same mind when it comes to the need to change our system of governance. I think that we should seriously consider and work towards a system where a unicameral parliament determines National Government policy; and perhaps, a president, elected by governors and mayors of chartered cities who coordinates execution of policy at the local levels.

In a recent direct-vote presidential election, we ended up electing a president who publicly and blatantly flaunted his powers and encouraged uniformed personnel to kill, kill, kill. In many respects, he acted irresponsibly, including suddenly doubling the salaries of these uniformed personnel by announcing it on television: a decision we are having to deal with today with budget shortfalls, including from huge retirement benefits of these uniformed personnel which we really can’t afford. Meanwhile, nurses and other critical medical personnel in this time of infectious diseases are underpaid or paid too late and so we are suffering from a shortage of health professionals who prefer to work overseas. Teachers are overworked and have difficulty being effective in their real work of developing their students’ learning skills. Even many of the best of them have gone abroad for better pay.

We also now have a senate that, with a few exceptions, is comprised of many weird characters, including ex-convicts, a killer police head, publicly exposed grafters, and relatives of famous and infamous characters. No less than one fourth of our senators are related to one another: there are two Villars, two Cayetanos, and two sons by different mothers of the notorious Erap Estrada.

The same thing seems to be happening to the world’s leading “democratic” power with an ex-president who, while facing all kinds of civil and criminal cases in court, continues to lead in political polls. The notorious Donald Trump, who even violated the US Constitution, could be re-elected as president once more in the American voters’ direct presidential elections.

With a few exceptions, it seems to me that Parliamentary systems seem to produce leaders who tend to be more intelligent and responsible than ordinary politicians. Look at Japan, France, Australia, New Zealand, and many European countries. Also, such systems seem to strengthen political parties, rather than just be led by popular personalities, qualified or not. It seems that leaders who are chosen by their elected peers tend to be more responsible than those chosen these days directly by the citizenry.

The rapidly evolving media situation, where social media are becoming more and more influential, and more and more available to even the rural poor, is making it difficult to ensure more accurate appreciation of the character of public personalities, including politicians. And those able to fund social media campaigns, including the use of fake news, have become more and more influential in shaping public opinion.

In our Constitutional Commission of 1986-87, the presidential system won over the Parliamentary system by only one vote: that of delegate Felicitas Aquino who became the wife of Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo. The Senate, of course, will do its best to prevent a conversion to a parliamentary system since they would naturally lose their jobs. And they are not sure they can win a seat in Parliament.

Voters are more likely to choose local leaders who will work with their party to select the Prime Minister and President. Chances are, these leaders, elected by their peers, will tend to be more intelligent and responsible than those elected directly by voters who, given the media situation, would not know any better.

Bad policy making and poor governance by the chosen leaders will be easier to reform since political parties and their allies can elect new leaders in less time than a national election would require. This means government could become more responsive.

It will not be easy to make the change happen to a Parliamentary-cum-presidential system. It will certainly not pass the Senate if the votes are separate as in legislation. It might take a people’s initiative.

Can the private sector mobilize and support such a campaign?

 

Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.

tsabesamis0114@yahoo.com

Collections from BSP’s coin deposit machines reach P297.78 million

Bangko Sentral ng Plipinas Governor Felipe M. Medalla (left) and Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Robina Gokongwei-Pe (right) inspect the coin deposit machine located in Robinsons Place Ermita in Manila. — KEISHA B. TA-ASAN

THE VALUE of coins collected though the coin deposit machines (CoDMs) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reached P297.78 million as of Dec. 15, the central bank said in a social media post on Tuesday.

This was 39.8% higher than the P212.94 million coins seen a month prior, central bank data showed.

A total of 93.62 million pieces of coins were deposited in the machines, up by 30.7% from the 71.62 million coins recorded a month before, the BSP said.

There were also 89,690 transactions made through the machines as of Dec. 15. 

The BSP and its retail partners launched the CoDMs earlier in June to promote efficient coin recirculation in the country. 

Through the project, the central bank aims to address the artificial coin shortage in the financial system and help ensure that only fit and legal tender currency is available for public use through the project. 

The BSP has deployed 25 coin deposit machines in retail establishments across Metro Manila and other nearby provinces in partnership with Filinvest Lifemalls Corp., Robinsons Supermarket Corp., and SM Retail, Inc.

All denominations of the BSP Coin Series and New Generation Currency Coins Series are accepted by the coin deposit machines.

Unfit and demonetized coins, foreign currency, and foreign objects are rejected by the machine and returned to the depositor.

The value of coins deposited in CoDMs may be credited to the depositor’s e-wallet account or converted into a shopping voucher for over-the-counter transactions.

The rollout of the machines in select retail establishments of the SM Store, Robinsons Supermarket, and Festival Mall is part of the first phase of the project’s implementation.

The BSP will determine if the project will be expanded to other regions and if the number of machines will be increased after one year. — Keisha B. Ta-asan

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