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PHL external debt service up 160% as of end-May

REUTERS

THE PHILIPPINES’ debt service burden on its external debt more than doubled as of end-May amid high global interest rates.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed the Philippines’ debt service burden on its external debt increased by 160% to $6.5 billion from $2.5 billion a year ago. 

The debt service burden refers to the amount of money a country needs to pay back to its foreign creditors. It includes both the principal and interest payments on its external debt. 

BSP data showed principal payments climbed by 164.3% to $3.7 billion from $1.4 billion a year ago.

Interest payments jumped by 145% to $2.7 billion in the first five months of the year from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

Principal external debt service is mostly fixed medium- to long-term credits, while interest payments are on fixed and revolving short-term credits of banks and nonbanks.

“Increased bond issuance by the National Government, which is part of the borrowing program, may have pushed up the principal payments to $3.7 billion,” ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in an e-mail.

He said the recent spike in global interest rates is the likely reason behind the 145% increase in interest payments.

Central banks across the world have tightened monetary policy to curb inflation.

“Higher external debt service burden may be attributed to higher prices/inflation that increased government expenditures, increased budget deficits and foreign borrowings,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said, adding that the weaker peso could also be a factor.

Headline inflation eased to 6.1% in May from 6.6% in April and brought the five-month average to 7.5%. May also marked the 14th straight month inflation breached the BSP’s 2-4% target.

Based on the latest central bank data, the Philippines’ outstanding external debt rose by 8.25% to $118.8 billion as of end-March from the $109.75-billion level a year earlier.

External debt refers to all types of borrowings by Philippine residents from nonresidents, following the residency criterion for international statistics.

The external debt as of end-March was equivalent to 29% of gross domestic product, higher than 27.5% from end-December and end-March 2022.

The debt service ratio also increased to 12.9% as of end-March from 4% a year ago. — KBT

MPIC keen on handling MRT-3, cable cars for urban transport

Manuel V. Pangilinan (right), MPIC chairman, president and chief executive officer, signs a memorandum of agreement with Tan Sri Ravindran Menon, Hartasuma’s group executive director.

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter

METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is considering cable car systems for tourism and urban transport while proposing to operate a metro rail transit system but declining a project to upgrade an international airport.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, MPIC chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a briefing on Monday that the company is forging a partnership with Malaysian infrastructure firm Hartasuma Sdn Bhd.   

“If you look at other modes of transport, the cable cars… that is also a good opportunity. It’s a start today when we signed a partnership agreement with Hartasuma. The country should be open to more efficient modes of transportation with the traffic situation in the Philippines,” Mr. Pangilinan said.   

Some of the areas considered for cable car systems are those that have challenging terrains such as Tagaytay, Baguio, and Antipolo.   

MPIC’s partnership with Hartasuma involves the refurbishment of existing cars used by Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1).

In July, Malacañang announced that a three-day visit of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to Malaysia had accelerated the finalization of the P3-billion agreement between MPIC and Hartasuma.   

Tan Sri Ravindran Menon, the Hartasuma group’s executive director, said the company is looking at the value of the collaboration while assisting MPIC in achieving its goals. 

“The construction market in the Philippines is expected to grow by some 7% in 2023 following a growth of 12.1% in 2022,” he said.

“There is a lot of demand and interest in rail infrastructure projects as the government looks to improve regional connectivity through the development of transport infrastructure. We look forward to participating in some of this growth,” he added.   

In the same briefing, Mr. Pangilinan said MPIC is not keen on participating in the public bidding for the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

He said the company is generally not interested in an airport after he was asked about whether it would bid for the NAIA project.

“No. But it doesn’t mean that other groups cannot bid. They should. It is up to them to do that,” Mr. Pangilinan said.   

Last month, the government invited bidders for the P170.6-billion public-private partnership to upgrade and operate the aging airport.

The contract term for the project is 15 years and is extendable by another 10 years. The rehabilitation project seeks to increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity to at least 62 million from 35 million.    

In 2020, MPIC pulled out of the consortium consisting of conglomerates that aimed to rehabilitate NAIA, which was then pegged at P102 billion, citing issues faced by the proposal.   

In July, the National Economic and Development Authority approved NAIA’s rehabilitation under a solicited proposal scheme, superseding an unsolicited bid by the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) valued at P267 billion.    

MIAC consists of Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Alliance Global-Infracorp Development, Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and US-based Global Infrastructure Partners.   

Meanwhile, Mr. Pangilinan said MPIC had submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation (DoTr) for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3). 

“I think about a week ago or so,” he said about when the company put in an unsolicited proposal to handle MRT-3.

Juan F. Alfonso, Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) president and chief executive officer, said the unsolicited proposal involves the MRT 3’s O&M.   

He added that MPIC partnered with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. for the proposal. He declined to disclose specific figures.

Jointly owned by MPIC and Ayala Corp., LRMC has a 32-year concession to operate and maintain the 20.7-kilometer LRT-1 in Metro Manila with 20 stations.   

In November last year, Mr. Pangilinan said MPIC was interested in taking over the O&M of MRT-3 and LRT-2 if the government opted to bid out the contracts.   

In 2017, the DoTr gave the consortium consisting of MPIC, Ayala, and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., the original proponent status for its unsolicited proposal for MRT-3’s O&M. The consortium withdrew the proposal in 2020.   

On Monday, shares of MPIC at the local bourse dropped one centavo or 0.19% to finish at P5.16 apiece.

MPIC is one of the three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority share in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

Emotional Tony Leung wins lifetime award at Venice

TONY Leung (L) with Tang Wei in 2007’s Lust, Caution.

VENICE — Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai received a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, brushing away his tears as he was given a prolonged standing ovation.

“It is like a dream come true,” Mr. Leung told Reuters TV.

Mr. Leung gained international recognition for his roles in movies made by Wong Kar-wai, such as In the Mood for Love, which came out in 2000, and 2046, which hit the screens four years later.

He also appeared in a trio of movies that won the top Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival — A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007), directed by Ang Lee, who handed him his award on Saturday.

Talking to reporters ahead of the ceremony, the 61-year-old Mr. Leung said acting had helped him become less shy. “I used to suppress all the feelings inside. I didn’t show all my feelings in front of others,” he said.

He also discussed his upcoming work, including the Hong Kong crime thriller, The Goldfinger, which opens at the end of the year and will reunite him with Andy Lau, his co-star from the 2002 hit Infernal Affairs.

On that occasion, Mr. Leung played the hero, while Mr. Lau was the baddie. This time their roles are reversed. “I think it’s very challenging to me to play the bad guy,” he told reporters.

In another major challenge, Mr. Leung said he was about to make his first European film, Silent Friend, directed by Hungary’s Ildikó Enyedi.

“I plan to spend like eight months (preparing for it) because I’m playing a neuroscientist. I have no idea about what neuroscience is. So I have to read a lot of books and I have to do a lot of university hopping,” he said. — Reuters

SEC to align with Asian markets on short-selling

NICK CHONG–UNSPLASH

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) is aligning the country’s short-selling environment with other markets in Asia to boost the local equities market.

“We are pushing to align the short selling environment with the major Asian markets, which has the potential to promote liquidity, stabilize the market, protect investors, and further unlock the value of shares of Philippine corporations,” SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said in a statement on Monday.

The commission said it had looked at the adoption or non-adoption of existing practices in other markets to advance short-selling in the Philippines.

Short-selling — or betting on the decline of a stock’s price to make a profit — is allowed in other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The SEC said it is looking at requiring the submission of a regular report on activities relating to short-selling and securities borrowing and lending (SBL), and their compliance with existing rules and policies to guide future policies. 

“We will balance our role as regulator and market innovator, imposing the necessary restrictions and safeguards while ensuring that they will not stifle investors and trading participants from fully taking advantage of this trading strategy,” Mr. Aquino said.

Short-selling happens when an investor sells a security that he or she does not own, the SEC explained. It is consummated by the delivery of a borrowed security, “with a commitment to return the borrowed security or its equivalent on a determined or determinable future date.” 

In 2018, the SEC approved the guidelines of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on short-selling transactions. The rules mandate that only the PSE index and exchange-traded funds are eligible for short-selling. Companies should also maintain a ratio of short interest to outstanding shares of at least 10%.

The SEC also approved the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. (CMIC) implementing guidelines on SBL and short-selling in 2019, which cover the recording of SBL and short-selling transactions on trading participants’ books and records. The guidelines call for trading participants to ascertain transacting parties have entered into the necessary borrowing arrangements prior to entering a short sale transaction.

Meanwhile, the SEC said in a separate statement that there is a need for digital transformation to improve the ease of doing business in the country.

“Over the years, we have adopted — and we continue to explore more — innovations in the way we receive, process and approve applications for company registration and corporate filings, as well as in the way we offer our other services to the public,” Mr. Aquino said during a seminar in Davao City on Aug. 30. 

The SEC said it is focused on digitalizing and streamlining its internal systems and direct interfaces with the transacting public and boosting digital external links with partner agencies and the private sector.

“Our digital transformation has been calibrated and tempered to the requirements of the transacting public and stakeholders,” Mr. Aquino said. “We need to adjust to our customers.” — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Producer bemoans no buyers for Polanski film in France, US, and UK

VENICE — The producer of Roman Polanski’s latest movie, The Palace, bemoaned the fact that no one wanted the distribution rights for the film in the United States, Britain, and France, saying morality should not weigh on art.

One of the most successful directors of his generation, Mr. Polanski fled the United States over a conviction for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, a crime he admitted.

After the #MeToo movement gained global traction in 2017 following sexual abuse allegations against US film producer Harvey Weinstein, a number of women alleged that Polanski had sexually assaulted them as teenagers as well.

Mr. Polanski, a dual French-Polish national, denied the allegations which never went to trial, but he has since found it hard to secure global distribution deals for his movies, even if actors are still lining up to work with him.

The Palace, a comedy set in a Swiss hotel peopled with a cast of grotesque characters, stars Mickey Rourke, John Cleese, Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, and Joaquim De Almeida.

The producer Luca Barbareschi said he had sold distribution rights across continental Europe, but not in France, Britain, or the United States, despite the fact well-known actors from all three countries appeared in the film.

Mr. Barbareschi said Mr. Polanski’s last movie An Officer And A Spy, which opened at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 to critical acclaim, had also never been seen in cinemas in the United States, Britain, Australia, or New Zealand.

“And we ask ourselves why there are wars. The Anglo-Saxon world has to respect artists like the rest of the world does,” he said, adding: “There is no moral judgement on art.”

He added that Polanski movies were shown on numerous streamers, such as Netflix, “making millions” for those platforms. “Someone explain to me the logic for that,” he said.

Mr. Polanksi, who turned 90 last month, is not in Venice for the premier of his film, which is not in the running for the main Golden Lion prize. Among his previous credits as director are Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown. — Reuters

Generika Drugstore targets 1,000 stores by 2025

AYALA HEALTHCARE Holdings, Inc.’s (AC Health) Generika Drugstore is looking at expanding its store network to 1,000 by 2025, from its current network of 750 outlets.

“This will be in Visayas and Mindanao because the need is also as big there. What we are banking on are the franchisors from Visayas and Mindanao. We will try to open where we can,” Generika President Josette Adrienne A. Abarca said in an interview on Friday.

“We try to make sure that around 10% of our store network will be company-owned. So out of the 1,000, around 100 will be company-owned,” she said, adding that most of the new drugstores will be through franchises. 

To date, the drugstore has around 750 stores in its network nationwide, which was just around 521 stores in 2015 before it became part of AC Health.

According to Ms. Abarca, the franchise package of a Generika drugstore costs around P800,000. It is a member of the Philippine Franchising Association.

However, she said drugstores like Generika face a lack of skilled workers to support their network expansion.

“It is a requirement for every drugstore to have one pharmacist. So if you will open more stores, of course, you will need more pharmacists,” she said.

She added the shortage has become a problem as some pharmacy graduates tend to go abroad, just like the Filipino nurses.

“Meanwhile, others who would go to a medical profession do not take pharmacy, so we need to keep up with the demand for pharmacists,” she said.

To address this, Ms. Abarca said the Department of Health has been partnering with companies like AC Health and educational institutions to put up scholarship programs to encourage more students to enroll. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

‘Why is there no sex in movies anymore?’ asks Yorgos Lanthimos

MARK RUFFALO and Emma Stone in a scene from Poor Things.

VENICE — Poor Things, a gothic comedy that feeds off the Frankenstein fable, premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, bringing wit, surrealism, and large dollops of sex to the Lido.

The picture was made by Yorgos Lanthimos and stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life after committing suicide in Victorian London.

It chronicles her dramatic voyage of self discovery and liberation, and involves a lot of sex, first with an immoral lawyer, played by Mark Ruffalo, then with a succession of clients in a Paris brothel.

A strike by Hollywood actors meant Stone could not come to Venice to discuss her role, but MR. Lanthimos said he was sorry that most films appeared to veer away from showing sex these days.

“Why is there no sex in movies anymore?” he said.

“It’s a shame Emma can’t be here to speak about it, because it’s weird that all of it will be coming from me,” he added.

He told reporters that the film, based on a novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, had used intimacy coordinator Elle McAlpine to help actors with the sex scenes.

“She made everything so much easier for everyone,” said Mr. Lanthimos, whose previous credits include The Lobster and The Favorite, which also starred Stone.

“The great thing about myself and Emma is that now we’ve completed like four films together. So you can understand that there is a shorthand,” Mr. Lanthimos said, adding this meant the actor understood why the myriad sex scenes were needed.

“She said, ‘yes, of course I understand. You know, it’s Bella. Like we’ll do what we need to do’.”

Stone also produced Poor Things, which meant she was involved in the decision-making from the word go.

“Emma had to have no shame about her body and the nudity when engaging in those scenes. And she understood that right away,” said Mr. Lanthimos.

Poor Things is one of 23 movies competing for the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, which runs until Sept. 9. — Reuters

ICTSI’s Baltic port now linked to South Korea, China

THE BUSINESS unit of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) at the Port of Gdynia in Poland is now connected to Chinese and South Korean ports as it received the first direct call of Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s (MSC) SWAN service on Aug. 23.   

In a statement on Monday, ICTSI said its Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) received MSC’s first direct call of the SWAN service marked by the arrival of the 318-meter box ship KURE, which discharged 1,320 containers and will take almost 2,000 containers on the return journey.

The SWAN service, restored by MSC in May, connects ports in Europe and the Far East and offers a direct connection to Chinese and Korean ports.   

According to ICTSI, the recently revised port rotation is Qingdao – Busan – Ningbo – Yantian – Tanjung Pelepas – Antwerp – Gdynia – Gdańsk – Klaipėda – Bremerhaven – King Abdullah Port – Singapore – Qingdao, with the addition of Busan allowing a direct connection between the port of Gdynia and South Korea.   

“Further direct calls to Gdynia, in addition to the already existing connections to North America and India, open up new prospects for the development of container transport for customers in Poland and the extension of the intermodal offer to new markets, including Ukraine and other Central European countries,” BCT Chief Executive Officer Wojciech Szymulewicz said.

Meanwhile, ICTSI said MSC DOMNA X, which is also operating the SWAN service and sailing directly from the Far East, also called on BCT on Aug. 28.   

“I would like to congratulate MSC and the Port of Gdynia, for this historic moment in which we inaugurate the first-ever direct container connection with Chinese and Korean ports. This milestone redefines the status of BCT and the entire Port of Gdynia. We are changing its role from the current feeder port to a full-fledged maritime import and export gateway,” Mr. Szymulewicz said. 

In May 2003, ICTSI was awarded a 20-year concession by the Port Authority of Gydnia for the development, operation, and management of the container terminal in Pomerania, Gydnia in Poland. ICTSI bought Baltycki Terminal Kontenerowy Sp. z.o.o., which had held the lease to the terminal.

In December last year, ICTSI and the Port Authority of Gdynia signed a new 30-year lease for the BCT. The new lease will run until 2053.

Shares of ICTSI at the local bourse closed unchanged on Monday at P206 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave 

Make-up artist explains thinking behind Bradley Cooper nose

BRADLEY Cooper and Carey Mulligan in Maestro.

VENICE — The make-up artist for Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro apologized on Saturday for offending people by giving the lead character a prosthetic nose, but said he only wanted authenticity.

Mr. Bernstein, the son of Jewish immigrants to the United States, was a celebrated US conductor and composer, who wrote classical musical and hit musicals like West Side Story.

Mr. Cooper directed, produced, co-wrote, and stars in Maestro, which received its premiere in Venice on Saturday.

When the first trailer of the film surfaced last month, some critics complained that the nose pandered to Jewish stereotypes.

Mr. Bernstein died in 1990 but his adult children have defended the make-up in the film, saying their father had had a “nice, big nose.”

Mr. Cooper is not in Venice to present his Netflix production because of a Hollywood actors’ strike that prevents promotional work. But his make-up designer Kazu Hiro met the press and said he was surprised by the nose criticism.

“I feel sorry that I hurt some people’s feelings. My goal was, Bradley’s goal was to portray Lenny as authentically as possible, and Lenny had an iconic look that everyone knows. There are so many pictures out there,” he said.

“We wanted to respect and love that look,” he said.

Hiro said it took two hours to fix the nose onto Cooper when he was portraying the younger Bernstein, but up to five hours as the character reached old age.

Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, said that Cooper had involved the family closely in the development of the film, which focuses on the composer’s relationship with his wife, played by British actor Carey Mulligan, and his bisexuality.

“He chose to tell this very intimate story about our parents and to really include my brother, sister and me in his process. And really, we didn’t expect that,” Jamie Bernstein said.

“We never dreamed that he would go to the lengths that he did to include us in his process and to go to these incredible lengths to maintain authenticity,” she added.

Maestro will play on Netflix from Dec. 20. It is one of 23 movies competing for the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, which runs until Sept. 9. — Reuters

Global house price downturn fades; markets may rise in 2024

A VIEW of the public housing apartment estate in Singapore Sept. 1, 2021. — REUTERS/EDGAR SU

BENGALURU — The recent downturn in global property prices is mostly over with average home prices in major markets now expected to fall less than anticipated at the start of the year and rise into 2024, according to a Reuters poll of property analysts.

Double-digit price falls that the analysts forecast earlier this year due to rising mortgage rates haven’t materialized in full as higher household savings, tight supply and rising immigration limited declines.

Sharply higher mortgage rates, as a result of more than a year of interest rate rises by key central banks, haven’t affected everyone, either.

Many homeowners who locked in cheap mortgages during a long period of near-zero rates, particularly in the United States, have decided to stay put. That has restricted supply and housing market activity.

But that’s more bad news for aspiring first-time homebuyers left on the sidelines for years by tight supply and priced out during the COVID pandemic when existing homeowners outbid them, pushing up house prices at double-digit annual rates.

The latest poll results — particularly for economies with the fastest house price inflation in recent years such as the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia — challenge the assumption the next move from most central banks will be to cut rates.

Indeed, much of the optimism around the unexpected early stabilization in these markets has stemmed from speculation interest rates have topped out and that as soon as the first half of next year, they’ll be coming down again.

“Probably over the last two months there has been a little bit too much positive thinking around the impact of a peak rates scenario. I think we haven’t really felt the full impact yet of higher rates. Fixed rate mortgages have meant many owners of property are being kind of shielded from the impacts,” said Liam Bailey, head of research at Knight Frank.

“I think the reality is you’ve got very low supply and house building volumes in most markets because of COVID disruption and supply chain disruption … You’ve also got quite strong demand in most Western markets. The fundamental point is strong demand meets weak supply.”

That was already a serious challenge across global housing markets before the pandemic, which only a few markets like India missed.

The Aug. 14-31 Reuters poll of over 130 housing analysts covering property markets in the US, Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and India showed analysts broadly upgrading their forecasts for this year and next. China is a notable exception to the optimism.

Average US house prices were forecast to stagnate this year and next. In the May and March polls, 2023 values were forecast to fall 2.8% and 4.5%, respectively.

New Zealand and Canadian home prices, which soared 40-50% during the pandemic, were predicted to fall around 5% this year and then rise about 5% and 2%, respectively, in 2024.

Those were upgrades from the 8%-9% drop expected in 2023 and a 2%-3.4% rise next year in the last poll.

In India, which did not have a pandemic boom, home prices are set to rise steadily over the coming years.

Average prices in the German housing market were forecast to fall 5.6% this year and flatline in 2024. UK home prices will drift down a modest 4% this year with no growth next year, according to the poll.

Affordability is set to remain a problem globally.

Overall, a majority of respondents, 55 of 103, who answered a separate question said purchasing affordability for first-time homebuyers would worsen over the coming year. The remaining 48 said it will improve.

“Mortgage rates have continued to rise, and that is putting increased pressure on affordability. Sales volume is low, which obscures exactly how bad the pressure is on home prices,” said Brad Hunter of Hunter Housing Economics.

But with demand for housing outstripping supply, average rents were expected to rise and rental affordability to worsen.

A near two-thirds majority of analysts, 65 of 101, who answered an additional question said rental affordability would worsen over the coming year. The remaining 36 said it will improve. — Reuters

JFC completes acquisition of brand’s Hong Kong franchisee

JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. (JFC) has completed the acquisition of the majority stake in the Jollibee brand’s master franchisee in Hong Kong, which it considers an important market.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Monday, JFC said its Singapore-based unit Golden Plate Pte. Ltd. finalized the deal on Sept. 1 to acquire 60% of master franchisee Meko Holdings Ltd. for $16.08 million.   

Golden Plate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd., which is owned by JFC.    

The remaining 40% of Meko’s shares will still be owned by the franchisee’s shareholders.   

JFC announced the acquisition in April, saying that Hong Kong is an important market for the brand. With the finalized transaction, JFC gets 60% ownership in the once 100% franchised market.

In a previous disclosure, the company said Hong Kong is an important part of JFC China’s strategy “to elevate the Jollibee brand in a general population or mainstream market. Hong Kong is renowned for its relationship with a vast variety of food and attracts both a strong base of local consumers and tourists.”   

As of June, the JFC store network increased by 5.1%. The group has 6,617 stores worldwide, with 3,287 stores in the Philippines and 3,330 international stores across various brands. 

On Monday, shares of JFC at the stock exchange dropped P1.20 or 0.5% to finish at P238.80 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

RLC breaks ground for Le Pont Residences

RESIDENCES in Bridgetowne Destination Estate, Pasig City. From left to right: Advanced Foundation Construction Systems Corp. Managing Director Mario Rossi, RLC Residences Vice-President for Project Management Emmanuel Arce, RLC Residences Senior Vice-President and Business Unit General Manager John Richard Sotelo, RLC Residences Senior Director, Marketing Head and Chief Integration Officer Karen Cesario, and RLC Residences AVP and Business Development and Design Head Stephanie Anne Go.

RLC Residences recently broke ground for the first tower of its premium project Le Pont Residences in Bridgetowne Destination Estate, Pasig City.

“We are excited to start constructing Le Pont Residences and see how this development will unfold. This is RLC Residences’ very own development in the premium category that we designed and thought of from the ground up,” said John Richard B. Sotelo, senior vice-president and business unit general manager of RLC Residences.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by executives from Robinsons Land Corp.’s residential division, construction partner Advanced Foundation Construction Systems Corp., and architectural expert W.V. Coscolluela and Associates.

“For Le Pont Residences, we will be installing a diaphragm wall which we brought here in the country in 2012 and is present to different premium developments. This specific technology creates a barrier that provides strong soil and hydraulic support to control and protect the surrounding environment against settlement and water drawdown. It provides more protection against earthquakes and other outside forces because it is between 800 mm to 1200 mm thick,” Advanced Foundation Construction System Managing Director Mario Rossi said.

Mr. Rossi noted that diaphragm walls allow for deeper basements, which means more parking for tenants.

Le Pont Residences offers units ranging from 46 to 380 square meters. This includes one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, as well as bi-level top-floor units with an iconic curved staircase connecting both floors.

The development’s amenities include gyms, indoor and outdoor activity areas, swimming pools, private function rooms, a game room, and a work lounge.

“In designing Le Pont Residences, we took inspiration from the needs and lifestyle of our market. Because for us to provide a place where they can be their best every day, it’s all about incorporating these things in their future home and be made accessible to them whenever they need it,” Mr. Sotelo said.

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