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Gov’t fully awards fresh 7-year Treasury bonds

BW FILE PHOTO

By Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson, Reporter

THE GOVERNMENT fully awarded fresh Treasury bonds (T-bonds) on Tuesday amid strong investor demand.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P30 billion via seven-year bonds it auctioned off, as bids reached P107.095 billion — more than three times the offer.

The bonds were awarded at a coupon rate of 6.125%, according to auction results posted on the Treasury website. Accepted yields ranged from 6% to 6.125% for an average rate of 6.094%.

The coupon rate was 0.22 basis point above the 6.1228% quoted for the seven-year bond on the secondary market before the auction, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates data provided by the bureau.

“The auction received strong demand, going 3.6 times oversubscribed as total submitted bids amounted to P107.1 billion,” the Treasury said in a statement. “With its decision, the committee raised the full program of P30 billion.”

To accommodate the strong demand, BTr opened its tap facility to raise P5 billion more via the bonds.

Demand was driven by easing inflation and low global crude oil prices, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said in a Viber message.

Philippine inflation eased to 3.9% in December, slower than 4.1% in November and 8.1% a year earlier. This was also the slowest in nearly two years.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects inflation to average 3.7% this year and further ease to 3.2% in 2025. Last year, inflation averaged 6%.

Mr. Ricafort said the market is anticipating signals of a possible rate cut by the central bank.

Monetary Board member and former Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno last week said the central bank might cut borrowing costs by as much as 100 basis points later this year to keep in step with the US Federal Reserve.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. earlier said the central bank would only consider cutting key rates once inflation settles firmly within the 2-4% target.

BSP hiked rates by 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023, bringing the key rate to a 16-year high of 6.5%. The Monetary Board is set to meet on Feb. 15.

“After recent hints of a possible local policy rate cut, the Fed dot plot already showed a 75-bps possible rate cut for 2024, but the markets priced in a possible larger Fed rate cut of about 150 bps for 2024,” Mr. Ricafort said.

Markets widely expect a rate cut at the Fed’s March policy meeting. The Fed has raised rates by 525 bps since March 2022 to 5.25-5.5%.

“Demand was quite strong as investors seem to welcome news of a drop in vegetable prices, which may help incoming inflation data,” a trader said in a text message.

The Treasury bureau plans to raise P195 billion from the domestic market this month — 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 the gross domestic product this year or P1.39 trillion.

GCash clarifies IPO plans; aims to be ready ‘when opportune time comes’

BW FILE PHOTO

ELECTRONIC wallet platform GCash has clarified that it is working to be “ready” following its announcement of the initial public offering (IPO) target.

“We reiterate that our plan is to become push-button ready when the opportune time comes,”Oscar A. Reyes, Jr., president and chief executive officer of G-Xchange, Inc., said in a statement on Monday.

The company is focusing on its growth strategy, aiming to add more value for its users, he also said.

It also aims to “make GCash the safest and most trusted platform championing financial inclusion.”

This follows the company’s earlier statement expressing its intention to go public in a favorable market, aiming for the second half of the year.

G-Xchange is the operator of GCash. The parent firm of GCash, Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc., is an affiliate of listed telecommunications company Globe Telecom, Inc.

Currently, GCash has over 80 million registered users. It has launched its beat version allowing it operate in UK, Italy, Australia, US, Canada, and Japan to use the electronic wallet platform.

By the first quarter of the year, GCash hopes to expand its reach and operate in Middle East.  It also said that it is planning to expand in some parts of Europe and Asia.

At the local bourse on Tuesday, shares in the company closed P16 higher or 0.89% to end at P1,806 apiece. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Monumental ancient map re-emerges in new Rome museum

ROME — A marble map of ancient Rome, that hasn’t been put on public view for almost 100 years, is getting its very own museum within sight of the Colosseum.

The Museum of the Forma Urbis, enclosed within a new archaeological park on one of Rome’s famous seven hills opens on Friday — the latest offering from a city that is eager to broaden its attraction for growing hordes of tourists.

“This is a beautiful day. We are opening an archaeological park in an extraordinary part of the city and a new museum showcasing a masterpiece which has not been visible for about a century,” said Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

“We want a city where the museums and the streets are linked, and where people, while walking around, can fully appreciate and enjoy the beauty, but also better understand how our city has been transformed.”

The Forma Urbis was a monumental, highly detailed marble map of ancient Rome carved during the reign of the Emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211 AD, engraved onto 150 separate slabs and measuring 18 by 13 meters (60 by 43 feet).

It was displayed on a wall in the ancient city, but over the centuries it gradually disintegrated, with locals using some slabs for new buildings.

During excavations in 1562, fragments were recovered and scholars estimate around 10% of the whole has survived, including sections showing the Colosseum and Circus Maximus, as well as floor plans of baths, temples, and private houses.

The huge carving has proved a valuable resource for understanding the layout of ancient Rome, but all the remaining pieces have not been shown together since 1924.

In its new, innovative setting, the fragments have been laid out on a reproduction of a famous map of Rome created in the 18th century by the surveyor Giovanni Battista Nolli, who is credited with making the first accurate street plan of Rome.

The marble chunks lie on top of the Nolli map, showing their relation to the developing Renaissance city.

Outside the museum, in the open-air park on the side of the Caelian Hill, archaeologists have laid out walkways lined with ancient Roman grave markers and marble columns found in excavations around the city in recent decades.

“The Caelian Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome, has remained in the shadows, unknown and inaccessible for a very long time. Today, we are finally giving it back to the city,” said Claudio Parisi Presicce, who oversees Rome’s cultural heritage.

“The hill has a special importance because it is what unites the monumental area of the Imperial Forums, the Roman forum, the Colosseum, and the area of the Appia Antica,” he said.

The €5 million ($5.5 million) project is part of a broader refurbishment of Rome, which has seen a tourism boom since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to be submerged by visitors in the 2025 Roman Catholic Holy Year. — Reuters

Digital security is national and economic security

VECTORJUICE-FREEPIK

Digital transformation is a good path to take to advance the economy — in fact it is the only path to grow the economy. Technology has become an indispensable part of Filipinos’ everyday lives, from making payments and purchases, to communicating with loved ones, to attending school and performing tasks at work. On a bigger scale, technology enables businesses to operate efficiently and expand rapidly. It also allows the government to deliver services better and run the affairs of the nation in an orderly and transparent fashion. President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is right to identify digital transformation as a priority of his administration.

But it is one thing to say we are pursuing digital transformation and quite another to make this happen. This is why the government is taking earnest steps to make investments in digital infrastructure flow more easily into the country. There are initiatives to improve the bureaucratic process so that the process of establishing digital infrastructure and connectivity would be more seamless, and so that more Filipinos would have access to better telecommunication services.

There is a menace, however, that seeks to negate all our initial gains and disrupt our way of life: cyberthreats.

Cyberattacks in the past have left varying degrees of damage. We saw the effects of the hacking of government agencies like the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, as well as Congress. In 2016, an election year, the website of the Commission on Elections was hacked. In other countries, attacks on critical infrastructure have caused massive disruption and untold difficulty for the people. Hackers have also profited from individual victims whose identities and assets were compromised. Their technological sophistication and lack of scruples makes these bad — often anonymous — actors feel emboldened with each attempt.

How, then, can we minimize this threat and make our nation and our economy resilient to the changing times?

The Stratbase ADR Institute kicked off 2024 with a two-day conference precisely to seek different ways we can achieve cyber-resilience. Today is the second day of the forum. We expect to hear more insights from representatives from the government, the private sector, the diplomatic community, and civil society on how to contain the threat to cybersecurity. The forum, entitled “Fortifying Cyber Cooperation Towards Digital Security,” was organized in partnership with the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines.

Canadian Ambassador David Hartman mentioned, as well, that this first major cybersecurity event of the year happens just as Canada and the Philippines mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. He acknowledged that the current international order is under attack by malign actors that employ various methods to achieve their ends: by force, yes, as seen in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also through diverse sophisticated covert actions and spreading misinformation and disinformation. Any citizen with a smartphone is exposed to such threats, he said, and any individual and organization could be compromised.

The threat will increase given the high degree of anonymity, and with the availability of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Thus, working together is the only way countries can achieve resilience, Mr. Hartman said. He affirmed his country’s commitment to work alongside the Philippines — the Patient Zero of the misinformation and disinformation plague. A deliberate and coordinated whole-of-society approach will ensure an open, free, and secure cyberspace where states behave responsibly.

The Secretary of National Defense, Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro, gave the keynote address at the conference yesterday, and talked about the importance of being aware of our vulnerabilities. He said that our governance ideals of openness, transparency, and competitiveness are anathema to the actual realities of cybersecurity. Thus, he said, there is a need to transition to operational security, with a focus on security for individuals, the facility, the architecture, and observance of digital hygiene.

“There will be rogue actors in any organization,” he said, and they should be weeded out, dealt with properly, and made a public example of.

He also said the solutions are collaborative and long term, and the results should cover securing information to prevent the exploitation of children online.

I am thankful that a wide range of players from every sector of society recognizes the importance of cybersecurity to our digital transformation, and to our national security in general. In fact, the National Security Policy Framework 2023-2028 has identified cyber, information, and cognitive security as a national security interest and agenda.

The shared appreciation of the importance of digital security makes collaboration between the public and private sectors paramount. Indeed, increasingly, cybersecurity is taking a prominent place in conversations on security in general, alongside defense security and economic security. Our world is changing, it is now multi-polar and beset with both traditional and non-traditional threats. And, as always, we recognize that no single country and no single sector bears the full responsibility for this. It is cooperation that gave birth to the existing rules-based order, and it is cooperation that will ensure that this order is maintained.

 

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

BSP’s 10-month income plunges by 75% due to higher expenses

THE PHILIPPINE central bank’s 10-month net income ended October fell by 75% to P21.59 billion from a year earlier due to higher spending, according to data posted on its website.

Expenses rose by 65.9% to P174.48 billion, while interest expenses more than doubled to P138.77 billion.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) did not provide income data for October alone.

It recognized P51 billion in net gain from foreign exchange (FX) rate fluctuations during the 10 months, 33.8% lower than a year ago.

The BSP records gains or losses from fluctuations in FX rates arising from its foreign currency-denominated transactions.

Meanwhile, revenue rose by 24.9% year on year to P145.1 billion, much of it coming from interest income from foreign investments and government securities.

BSP’s 10-month interest income rose by 29.8% to P162.98 billion from a year earlier.

The central bank posted a miscellaneous net loss of P17.89 billion as of end-October, compared with P9.44 billion in net loss a year earlier.

Total central bank assets went up by 2.3% to P7.483 trillion in January to October from a year ago, while liabilities inched up by 1.9% to P7.363 trillion.

BSP’s net worth stood at P119.8 billion at the end of October, 40.4% higher than a year earlier.

The central bank’s net income rose by 87.6% to P63.73 billion in 2022 from a year ago. — Keisha B. Ta-asan

PSE, PDSHC on Go’s investment czar appointment: ‘An Ideal fit’

Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick D. Go — PHILIPPINE STAR/KRIZ JOHN ROSALES

THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) and the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) expressed their support on Tuesday for the appointment of former Robinsons Land Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick D. Go as the investment czar.

In a joint statement, PSE and PDSHC board directors said that Mr. Go is an “ideal fit” for his appointment as special assistant to the President for investment and economic affairs and concurrent head of the economic development group of the Marcos cabinet.

“PSE and PDSHC believe that Mr. Go is an ideal fit for this position given his business acumen, extensive experience and visionary leadership in the corporate sector. Mr. Go exemplified these traits in his position as president and chief executive officer of a publicly listed company that experienced substantial growth and expansion in the last decade or so,” they said.

“We express our full trust and support in the leadership of Mr. Go. We hope to work with him on initiatives that will help deepen the Philippine capital market,” they added.

The joint statement was signed by PSE Chairman Jose T. Pardo, PDSHC Chairman Cezar P. Consing, and PSE and PDSHC President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Monzon.

“(Mr. Go’s) exposure and involvement in various sectors, including property, air transportation, banking, power, among others, also gives him a unique perspective of vital industries in the country,” they said.  

Mr. Go heads the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, which is responsible for providing strategic advice on economic concerns, including inflation and investment opportunities. The office was created under Executive Order No. 49 issued in December last year.

In early 2023, Mr. Go was appointed as Presidential Adviser on Investment and Economic Affairs. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

St. Peter’s centerpiece to get makeover in time for 2025 Holy Year

ST. PETER’S BALDACHIN — WIKIPEDIA

VATICAN CITY — A giant bronze canopy at the center of St. Peter’s Basilica will get its first major makeover in more than 260 years to restore its luster in time for Holy Year celebrations in 2025, the Vatican said on Thursday.

Experts will spend €700,000 ($770,000) to clean up and repair St. Peter’s Baldachin, which was built in the 17th century by a team led by renowned Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The almost 30-meter-high canopy covers the high altar of the basilica, and was built on the spot where St. Peter, the first pope, is believed to have been buried after dying as a Christian martyr under the reign of Roman Emperor Nero (54-68 AD).

“We are facing a giant, and therefore everything we do will be a titanic undertaking,” Pietro Zander, head of the art heritage unit of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the department in charge of the basilica, said about the restoration.

Mr. Zander told reporters that the structure is in a “degraded state of conservation,” with its gilded decorations obscured by heavy patina caused by dust and particulate matter, and paint peeling off its wooden parts.

Its last major restoration dates back to 1758, he added.

Alberto Capitanucci, another expert at the Fabbrica di San Pietro, said the work will not interfere with religious services, allowing Pope Francis to continue celebrating Mass from the high altar.

He said the restoration — funded by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charity — should take about 10 months, so the baldachin will have “a new splendor” when Francis inaugurates the 2025 Holy Year.

The holy year, also known as a Jubilee and held in Rome at least every 25 years, starts on Christmas Eve 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of the basilica. The event usually attracts millions of pilgrims seeking the remission of their sins. — Reuters

Poorer countries will find it harder to get richer

VECTORJUICE-FREEPIK

FOR THE BILLIONS of people around the world who live in countries that are not yet fully economically developed, I have some disturbing news: The very last chance for their nations to reach developed status might come in this generation.

And I do mean “very last chance.” Economists used to write about “convergence” — the idea that the gap between poorer countries and richer ones is narrowing — and indeed a lot of convergence has occurred, in such places as South Korea, Ireland, and parts of China. But the conditions for such growth are more and more rare. It is already the case that poorer countries are not growing more rapidly than wealthier countries, contrary to trends in the 1990s.

The main culprit could be the fertility crisis. In Latin America, for instance, fertility rates are coming in much lower than had been expected. Uruguay, Costa Rica, Chile, Jamaica, and Cuba all have fertility rates of about 1.3. In one decade, Mexico had a 24% drop in births. Brazil, by far the region’s most populous nation, has a fertility rate of about 1.65, and those are likely to fall further. The UN had predicted Brazil’s population to be 216 million this year, but it turns out to be only 203 million. Over time, most Latin American countries can expect shrinking populations.

Most middle-income countries are seeing similar drops in the birth rate, so it is not being driven by cultural or contingent forces. The core causes seem to be reliable birth control and the emancipation of women around much of the developing world, factors which probably will not — and, to be clear, should not — be reversed.

The upshot, to put it in macroeconomic lingo, is that most underdeveloped countries will be seeing simultaneous contractions in aggregate demand and aggregate supply. That is bad news for economic growth. A national economy can deal with a smaller population, but a continuously shrinking population is very difficult.

More concretely, there will be no demographic dividend to help drive economic growth. Instead, caring for the elderly will become a major economic activity. The taxes and transfers necessary to support retirements will be an additional burden on already weak economies, which in turn may help to keep fertility rates low. Children will not become easier to afford. There could be a low-fertility trap, or even a vicious downward circle. As the young spend more time caring for their aging parents, that too may lower the number of children women wish to have.

Countries with falling populations will produce fewer inventors and entrepreneurs. Smaller domestic markets will make it harder to crack export markets. Toyota succeeded, for instance, because it first did well in Japan (a relatively populous country), and then refined the quality of its products and competed overseas. When the home market is smaller, economies of scale are more difficult and it is harder for companies to gain purchase.

Populations in these once-emerging economies may be hit harder than birth rates will indicate. After all, North America, Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea have falling birth rates, too. Many of these countries will find it economically necessary to take in more immigrants, if only to pay for their retirement systems or to work as caregivers. That could be a further drain on populations in the less wealthy countries. Japan is already preparing its immigration plans.

None of this may feel like a sudden jolt or crisis. Just as the poorer economies gradually stopped catching up to the wealthier ones, they might slip into slower and slower growth rates, including for per capita incomes.

It won’t be all bad: Poorer countries, like wealthier ones, will benefit from biomedical advances. And as societies age, their crime rates may fall. Yet while life in many of these countries may feel more secure, they won’t be able to follow the dynamic paths of Japan and South Korea, or even those of Greece or Portugal. Memories of radical economic growth may begin to fade, which may make it harder to reboot growth.

The coming years and decades will bring other challenges to developing countries, of course — climate change and war, to name two. In addition, AI may make it harder for low-wage economies to perform basic services, such as call centers. It’s not just low birth rates that endanger faster growth.

I still expect most of the world to be better off several decades from now. But the era of radical transformation through domestic economic growth may already be behind us.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Kickstarting future entrepreneurs: The growing virtual assistant industry in the PHL

COURTESY OF ATHENA

By Miguel Hanz L. Antivola, Reporter

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS (EAs) who work virtually in the Philippines can kick start the next generation of entrepreneurs once given direct exposure to C-level tasks and employer support, according to an industry player.

With previous experience as an executive in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, Robert Hayes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Athena, saw an opportunity to harness local talent and propel their routinary work into higher level tasks.

“People compare our industry to freelancers and other VA [virtual assistant] companies, but the difference in the stance we’re taking is we are forcing a high level and subtracting BPO,” Mr. Hayes said in an interview with BusinessWorld.

Athena is a startup that hires virtual/executive assistants, with its largest market being the Philippines.

Mr. Hayes explains that tasks taken on by EAs are far from simple.

“Oftentimes, they are acting as CEOs where they’re looking for investments, processing government reimbursements, chasing leads, etc. — incredibly complex things,” he added EAs can also assist executives based overseas.

“We’ve turned away a lot of BPO-style work. We aggressively insist that our clients delegate tasks and open up their calendars for both business and personal,” he says.

“It always focuses on the end goal as opposed to what the job description for a specific role is. Think of it more as a partner trying to achieve great things than a person taking on a particular job.”

HOW IT STARTED
Mr. Hayes, alongside his business partner and Athena co-founding chairman Jonathan Swanson, have first-hand experience on what leverage an EA can give businessmen, having been assisted by a Philippines-based EA, present at every stage of their business and personal development.

Veering away from the turbulence of EA freelancing, this prompted them to establish Athena in 2021 where EAs are protected, able to work in a fully-remote environment, be well-compensated with a full range of benefits, and poised for long-term success.

Athena specifically offers a one-on-one EA and client arrangement via a fixed monthly subscription, where both parties build a high-trust relationship and work together to achieve goals, according to Mr. Hayes.

“Certainly from a business and process standpoint, it’s completely different. It’s a brand new outsourcing industry,” Mr. Hayes said on its distinction from BPO.

“I think it’s going to stay that way as long as we can continue to build that long-term bond,” he added. “On the flip side of those freelancing companies, you have scammers, abuse, not paying taxes, no healthcare benefits, no protections.”

“We don’t think it’s really fair for somebody to have to work five hours this week, and then ten the next, then two the next. It’s really hard to live that way.”

Mr. Hayes says the company aims to find “a sweeter middle spot” for the EA industry, where long-term goals and work flexibility become drivers of sustainability.

“We’re really focused on trying to create this kind of long-term relationship for these folks so that we can put them in a really great position,” he said.

“It is incredibly hard to do the work that we do, but with anything tough comes great learning, great opportunity, great potential,” he added. “In that exchange, I think we’ve got to take incredible care of the people who work with us.”

EMPOWERING THE NEXT ENTREPRENEURS
Among the benefits of working at Athena is a phantom equity program, where all employees are entitled to be a part of the company’s ownership after a certain number of years.

Additionally, Athena recently opened its globally recognized P2.7-million Metis College Master of Business Administration program, which offers free tuition for all its employees and advances their credentials upon completion.

“In the future that I envision, if you work with a CEO for five years, who is successful running multiple businesses, and you watch and learn how that CEO runs a company, you will get a really good idea of what it takes to run your own,” Mr. Hayes said.

“And you get that capital. You get that money at the end of the five- or ten-year mark at Athena,” he added. “You’ve now got two of the primary things you need.”

“I think this is a great and exciting startup mentality for a lot of folks in the Philippines.”

“And wouldn’t it be nice if Filipinos felt like they didn’t have to leave the Philippines to get great opportunities?” he noted, tapping the potential of returning overseas Filipino workers with such working conditions and arrangements.

“How many times have we seen the best and brightest leave for a different country, right? So this might be an opportunity to bring a lot of that talent back.”

INVESTMENTS
With almost three years under its belt, Mr. Hayes noted that the company’s employee base has grown to about 1,600, with 1,500 coming from the Philippines, from its initial 80 headcount.

“We’re going to double the size of the company this year. Over 2,500 people is the goal,” he said, with the company’s recent market expansion to Kenya.

“We want to take some really big investments on artificial intelligence (AI) and technology integration,” he added. “We really see a huge opportunity to supercharge our people with AI.”

He mentioned that Athena has credit with AI platforms Humanloop and ChatGPT for its EAs, recognizing how the technology has allowed them to grow and learn tasks faster.

“AI might end up being one of the big moments for the Philippines where it democratizes the world and what you’re able to do is dramatically higher,” he said.

“We have people who really don’t have a STEM background at all, able to do advanced programming now because of AI,” he added. “It helps them learn faster and code.”

“The companies that get the most excited about it and invest in it are going to be just heads above everybody else.”

UnionBank allocates P11B of stock rights proceeds from 2023 for loans

BW FILE PHOTO

UNION BANK of the Philippines, Inc. (UnionBank) has allotted P10.96 billion of the P11.82-billion net proceeds from its stock rights offer last year for loans.

The lender used more than 90% of the proceeds for loans, while the rest was infused into its digital arm, Union Digital Bank, Inc., it said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.

“The net proceeds of the stock rights offer are intended for capital infusion to UnionDigital, loan availments and/or other business growth opportunities,” it said.

UnionDigital is the listed lender’s digital bank, which got a license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in July 2021. It started operating a year later.

The Aboitiz-led bank in January last year offered 210.97 million shares to raise P12 billion with an entitlement ratio of one rights share per 10.1536 common shares as of Jan. 12, 2023.

In November last year, the lender infused P1.8 billion in capital into UnionDigital to support its growth and operations.

This was in addition to the P900 million capital infusion into the bank’s digital arm last year, approved by UnionBank’s board of directors in June.

UnionBank’s net income dropped by 58.99% year on year to P1.65 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier as it set aside more loan loss provisions.

Its shares were unchanged at P45 each. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

Cebu Landmasters expands hospitality portfolio with opening of lyf Cebu City  

LISTED property developer Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) expanded its hospitality portfolio with the opening of lyf Cebu City hotel on Tuesday.

In a regulatory filing, the company said that lyf Cebu City offers 159 rooms with various sizes, including studio queen, studio twin, two-bedroom, and four-bedroom units. The newly opened hotel is the company’s third operational hotel.

“The opening of lyf Cebu City brings CLI’s operational hotel count to three, following the launch of The Pad Co-Living last month with 258 rooms and Citadines Cebu City in 2019 with 180 rooms,” the listed property developer said.   

The new hotel is under the lyf brand of the global hotel operator The Ascott Limited, which caters to “young and dynamic travelers.”

It is located at CLI’s Base Line Center mixed-use property in mid-town Cebu near Fuente Osmeña Circle, a venue for the Sinulog Festival.

According to CLI, lyf Cebu City is the first lyf property in the Visayas and Mindanao (VisMin) region and the second in the country, joining lyf Malate in Manila.

“We are excited for the opening of lyf Cebu City that offers young travelers an exciting blend of modern accommodations and a dynamic environment unmatched in Cebu. CLI’s hotel portfolio is growing and we are happy to offer a unique experience to VisMin’s growing tourism market,” CLI Hotels & Resorts Director Mathias Bergundthal said.

Following the opening of lyf Cebu City, CLI now has ten projects under its hospitality portfolio, which features over 1,700 keys, with 316 rooms currently completed.

The property developer is set to open more hotels, such as the 200-room Citadines Bacolod City and the 144-room Radisson Red, which are expected to open in March and at the end of 2024, respectively.

“Unaudited revenue from the listed company’s hospitality business shows a 67% increase year on year in 2023,” CLI said.

Aside from The Ascott Limited, CLI also has partnerships with international hotel operators such as Radisson and Accor, as well as local players like the Abaca Group to strengthen its hospitality business.

Shares of CLI at the local bourse closed unchanged at P2.63 apiece on Tuesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig charged with child sexual offenses

LONDON — Acclaimed British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has been charged by police in London with child sexual offenses, authorities said on Friday.

Mr. Latham-Koenig, 70, was arrested at Victoria train station in London on Wednesday and charged the following day with arranging or facilitating a child sexual offense and sexual communication with a child, police said.

He was due to appear in a London court later on Friday. An agent for the conductor did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Mr. Latham-Koenig began his career as a concert conductor with the BBC, before going on to hold a number of music director positions at orchestras and opera theaters across Europe, including in Russia.

In 2020, Britain awarded him an OBE, a national honor, for services to music and UK/Russia cultural relations. — Reuters

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