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Honda dealerships under ACMobility to close by Dec. 31

PHOTO FROM HONDA CARS ALABANG

ACMOBILITY, the mobility solutions unit of the Ayala group, is ending its dealership network with Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) by Dec. 31 as it shifts focus to other ventures, including its electric vehicle (EV) business.

After more than three decades, ACMobility, through its dealership arm Iconic Dealership, Inc. (IDI), will turn over its Honda dealerships to new dealer principals starting Jan. 1, 2026, Ayala Corp. said in a statement on Thursday.

“This transition reflects our ongoing effort to optimize our portfolio and focus on new growth areas,” ACMobility Chief Executive Officer Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala said.

“Among these are our initiatives in advancing sustainable mobility and electrification, where we continue to build solutions that benefit communities, businesses, and the environment,” he added.

The transition covers dealerships such as Honda Cars Makati, Pasig, Shaw, Bacoor, Cebu, Mandaue, Iloilo, Negros, and Cagayan de Oro.

“To ensure a smooth transition, the dealerships will directly contact customers with active reservations to guarantee car delivery without disruption,” the company said.

Upon the turnover, ACMobility’s portfolio will consist of its BYD and Kia distribution businesses, Isuzu dealership operations, as well as its EV charging infrastructure and Bosch Car Service units.

The move follows Ayala’s exit from distribution deals with two other vehicle brands, Volkswagen and Maxus.

Since 1990, Honda dealerships operated by ACMobility have sold more than 220,000 vehicles.

In the first half, ACMobility’s net income surged by 400% to P122 million from P24 million on higher dividends from Isuzu, equity earnings from Honda, and continued positive contribution from BYD, the company said.

Ayala Corp.’s first-half attributable net income rose by 5% to P23.36 billion from P22.29 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Ayala Corp. on Thursday climbed 0.91% or P4.40 to close at P486 apiece. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

BPI Wealth targets 20% AUM growth

THE WEALTH management arm of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) aims to grow its assets under management (AUM) by 20% this year as it looks to increase its customer base, targeting retail consumers and the high-net-worth market.

“In terms of AUM, so as a business, we’re typically looking at about 20% growth in AUM. That’s across private banking segment, institutional segment, and the retail segment,” BPI Wealth President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Theresa D. Marcial said at a briefing on Thursday.

BPI Wealth’s AUMs stood at P1.7 trillion at end-August, representing a 21% market share, while BPI as a whole, or including other legal entities and private banking clients, has AUMs worth P1.9 trillion, she said.

“And then there are other subclasses of published market share: For union investment funds, that’s close to 30% as well. And for mutual funds, that’s over 50% market share,” she added.

BPI Wealth’s AUM growth will be driven by its parent bank’s aggressive drive for customer acquisition.

“We have big goals for the bank in terms of customer acquisition. We have been communicating that we want to reach 50 million customers, and I think that continues to be the goal,” Ms. Marcial said.

BPI has 18 million customers, 1.3 million of which are BPI Wealth customers. Meanwhile, BPI Private Wealth has about 6,000 customers.

Ms. Marcial said the private wealth segment targets to add 1,000 customers by the end of the year and another 1,000 by end-2026.

“The upside is still large because based on a study,… there is a much higher number of high-net-worth and older high-net-worth individuals in the addressable market for the Philippines. And we’ve only barely touched that surface.”

BPI Wealth is also focusing on the retail segment to grow its customer base, she said as the bank on Thursday launched its Wealth Wellness Month campaign.

“Our focus really is on the retail segment. Because with all of this that we’re doing, this Wealth Wellness Month, it’s really to target retail investors and to want to help them to grow their investments and have that mindset of saving and investing and reaching more Filipinos to think about goals-based investing approach.”

BPI’s net income increased by 7.02% year on year to P16.44 billion in the second quarter, bringing its six-month profit to P32.96 billion, up by 7.83%.

Its shares climbed by 30 centavos or 0.27% to end at P112.30 each on Thursday. — A.M.C. Sy

Broadway actors prepare to strike, union says

BROADWAY ACTORS are preparing to walk off the stage in a strike that would shut down 32 stage productions as theater attendance approaches its peak season, according to their union.

Actors’ Equity, a union that represents 900 current Broadway performers and stage managers, said it has yet to reach agreement on a new labor contract with the Broadway League, the trade association that represents theater owners, producers and operators. Negotiations continue, though the three-year contract ended on Sept. 28.

A central issue in bargaining is healthcare and the contribution the Broadway League makes to the union’s health care fund.

Al Vincent, Jr., executive director and lead negotiator for Actors’ Equity, said the union is asking Broadway’s employers to increase their contribution to the health care fund, which is projected to fall into a deficit by next May.

The rate of contributions has been unchanged for more than a decade, even as smaller regional theaters in Kansas and Idaho oftentimes pay more, Mr. Vincent said.

“Asking our employers to care for our bodies, and to pay their fair share toward our health insurance is not only reasonable and necessary, it’s an investment they should want to make toward the long-term success of their businesses,” Actors’ Equity President Brooke Shields said in a statement to Reuters, adding that she tore her meniscus on a Broadway show and continued dancing on it, “painfully,” for three months.

“That’s just math. There are no Broadway shows without healthy Broadway actors and stage managers. And there are no healthy actors and stage managers without safe workplaces and stable health insurance.”

The Broadway League issued a statement saying it continues to work toward an agreement.

“We all want to sustain the magic of Broadway for our audience,” the Broadway League said in its statement to Reuters. “We are continuing good-faith negotiations with Actors Equity to reach a fair agreement that works for Broadway shows, casts, crews and the millions of people from around the world who come to experience Broadway.”

Other sectors of the entertainment industry have been roiled by labor unrest, with Hollywood actors and writers striking in 2023, as they fought for better compensation in the streaming TV era and curbs on the use of artificial intelligence. Video game actors staged a nearly year-long walkout as they sought protections against the use of artificial intelligence.

Stage actors have already authorized the bargaining committee to call a strike. On Friday, the union began delivering “strike pledge cards” to the stage door, asking performers and stage managers to commit to a walkout.

Kaylin Seckel, an ensemble cast member of Disney’s The Lion King and understudy to Nala and Sarabi, said she ruptured her Achilles tendon during a 2022 performance and had to be carried off-stage by her scene partner. She underwent surgery to repair the injury, and lengthy physical therapy to help her return to the stage. Although workers’ compensation covered many of her medical expenses, she relied on her union’s health care to pay for acupuncture and other treatments.

“That was three years ago, and I require, to this day, other procedures and more physical therapy that I was denied under workers’ comp,” said Ms. Seckel. “So for performers and stage managers in this industry, where your jobs are dangerous, … without really good health insurance, it’s difficult for us to do our jobs.”

The last major Actors Equity strike was in 1968, when a three-day dispute closed 19 Broadway shows. The New York City mayor intervened, and helped both sides come to an agreement. — Reuters

Peso up as uncertainty weighs on dollar

BW FILE PHOTO

THE PESO continued to climb on Thursday as the dollar remained under pressure due to concerns over the US government’s shutdown.

The local unit closed at P58.08 versus the greenback, strengthening by four centavos from its P58.12 finish on Wednesday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

The peso opened Thursday’s session slightly stronger at P58.05 versus the dollar. It dropped to as low as P58.30, while its intraday best was at P58.007 against the greenback.

Dollars exchanged fell to $1.16 billion on Thursday from $1.72 billion on Wednesday.

The peso rose as the dollar was mostly weaker, with markets remaining wary about the US government’s shutdown, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

“The dollar-peso was steady as market players traded cautiously amid monetary developments of the US budget bill and the absence of US economic data,” a trader said in a phone interview.

For Friday, the trader expects the peso to move between P57.90 and P58.30 per dollar, while Mr. Ricafort sees it ranging from P56.95 to P58.20.

Global stocks gained on Thursday as investors digested the potential ramifications of a US government shutdown, while a weak private US labor market report bolstered bets for Federal Reserve rate cuts, Reuters reported. While US stocks have performed well, uncertainty about the credibility of US institutions more generally has manifested in a weaker dollar.

The US dollar index languished near the one-week low of 97.459 reached overnight. It last stood at 97.578, down 0.1% from Wednesday’s closing level. — AMCS with Reuters

Anscor exits The Bistro Group with P1.91-billion sale to Inoza

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INOZA BUSINESS HOLDINGS, INC., an affiliate of Progeny Global Holdings that operates the Bounty Fresh brand, has acquired listed holding company A. Soriano Corp.’s (Anscor) minority stake in The Bistro Group (TBG), a casual dining restaurant operator, for P1.91 billion.

“Anscor extends its best wishes to the Bistro and Inoza teams. We are confident they will continue delighting Filipino consumers with their quality dining experiences for many years to come, and we look forward to seeing their continued success,” the company said in a disclosure on Thursday.

The deal follows the Philippine Competition Commission’s approval in August of Inoza’s acquisition of a majority stake in TBG.

Inoza is linked to Progeny Global Holdings, which has interests in agribusiness, food manufacturing, and limited-service restaurants such as Bounty Fresh, Chooks-to-Go, and Uling Roasters.

In November 2024, Anscor acquired its minority stake in TBG Food Holdings, Inc. — the operator of The Bistro Group — from private equity firm Navegar I (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. for P1.61 billion.

TBG is one of the country’s leading premium casual dining operators, managing more than 200 full-service restaurants across 23 brands, including Italianni’s, TGI Friday’s, and Texas Roadhouse.

“The transaction represents value realization by Anscor of its investment in TBG. Anscor realized gross annualized returns greater than 25% on its investment in TBG, through a combination of distributions and capital gains,” the company said.

Anscor’s core holdings include Phelps Dodge Philippines Energy Products Corp., a wire and cable manufacturer, and Seven Seas Resorts & Leisure, Inc., which owns and operates Amanpulo Resort.

It also holds investments in companies involved in aviation, business process outsourcing, and real estate.

On Thursday, Anscor shares fell by 0.13% or two centavos to P15.04 apiece. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno

Sanctions urged vs BPOs that kept employees at work after Cebu quake

PIXABAY

A LEGISLATOR called for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies to be sanctioned after they allegedly kept employees at work after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Cebu province earlier this week.

“They’re insensitive for forcing their employees to return to work just a few minutes after a massive earthquake,” Akbayan Party-list Rep. Percival V. Cendaña said in a statement on Thursday.

At least 10 Cebu BPOs compelled staff to report to work despite safety concerns and appeals to attend to their families following the earthquake that shook Cebu province late Tuesday, the BPO Industry Employees Network-Cebu said in a statement.

“Multiple incidents of employees insisting on not reporting to work were met with notices-to-explain, administrative sanctions, loss of attendance incentives and benefits, among many retaliatory actions,” the association said.

Mr. Cendaña said companies should not put employees in danger during emergencies. “In situations like that, human life should be the top priority.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) needs to investigate BPOs that allegedly compelled staff to report to work following the earthquake, he said.

“DoLE needs to monitor and act on this immediately,” Mr. Cendaña said. “We can’t allow this to become a normal and accepted practice in any workplace.”

The quake struck during the night shift, when BPOs are typically providing services to clients in other time zones. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Generative AI might end up being worthless — and that could be a good thing

STOCK PHOTO | Image by Vectorjuice from Freepik

In the rush to cash in on the generative artificial intelligence (AI) gold rush, one possible outcome of AI’s future rarely gets discussed: what if the technology never works well enough to replace your co-workers, companies fail to use AI well, or most AI startups simply fail?

Current estimates suggest big AI firms face an $800-billion  revenue shortfall.

So far, generative AI’s (genAI) productivity gains are minimal and mostly for programmers and copywriters. GenAI does some neat, helpful things, but it’s not yet the engine of a new economy.

It’s not a bad future, but it’s different from the one currently driving news headlines. And it’s a future that doesn’t fit the narrative AI firms want to tell. Hype fuels new rounds of investment promising massive future profits.

Maybe genAI will turn out to be worthless, and maybe that’s fine.

INDISPENSABLE OR INDEFENSIBLE?
Free genAI services, and cheap subscription services like ChatGPT and Gemini, cost a lot of money to run. Right now, however, there are growing questions about just how AI firms are going to make any money.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been candid about how much money his firm spends, once quipping that every time users say “please” or “thank you” to ChatGPT, it costs the firms millions. Exactly how much OpenAI loses per chat is anyone’s guess, but Altman has also said even paid pro accounts lose money because of the high computing costs that come with each query.

Like many startups, genAI firms have followed the classic playbook: burn through money to attract and lock-in users with a killer product they can’t afford to miss out on. But most tech giants have not succeeded by creating high-cost products, but rather by making low-cost products users can’t quit, largely funded by advertising.

When companies try to find new value, the result is what journalist and author Cory Doctorow coined “enshittification,” or the gradual decline of platforms over time. In this case, enshittification means the number of ads increase to make up the loss of offering the free service.

OpenAI is considering bringing ads to ChatGPT, though the company says it is being “very thoughtful and tasteful” about how this is done.

It’s too soon to tell whether this playbook will work for genAI. There is a possibility that advertising might not generate enough revenue to justify the massive spending needed to power it. That is because genAI is becoming something of a liability.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF AI MODELS
Another looming problem for genAI is copyright. Most AI firms are either being sued for using content without permission or entering costly contracts to licences content.

GenAI has “learned” in a lot of dubious ways, including reading copyrighted books and scraping nearly anything said online. One model can recall “from memory” 42% of the first Harry Potter novel.

Firms face a big financial headache of lobbying to exempt themselves from copyright woes and paying off publishers and creators to protect their models, which might end up a liability no matter what.

American AI startup Anthrophic tried to pay authors around $3,000 per book to train its models, adding up to proposed settlement that added up to $1.5 billion. But it was quickly thrown out by the courts for being too simple. Anthrophic’s current valuation of $183 billion might get eaten up pretty quick in lawsuits.

The end result of all this is that AI is just too expensive to be owned, and is becoming something like a toxic asset: something that is useful but not valuable in and of itself.

CHEAP OR FREE GENAI
Meta, perhaps strategically, has released its genAI model, Llama, as open source. Whether this was meant to upset its competitors or signal a different ethical stance, it means anyone with a decent computer can run their own local version of Llama for free.

Open AI models are another corporate strategy to lock in market share, with curious side effects. They are not as advanced as Gemini or ChatGPT, but they are good enough, and they are free (or at least cheaper than commercial models).

Open models upset the high valuations being placed on AI firms. Chinese firm DeepSeek momentarily tanked AI stocks when it released an open model that performed as well as the commercial models. DeepSeek’s motives are murky, but it’s success contributes to growing doubts about whether genAI is as valuable as assumed.

Open models — these by-products of industrial competition — are ubiquitous and getting easier to access. With enough success, commercial AI firms might be hard pressed to sell their services against free alternatives.

Investors could also become more skeptical of commercial AI, which could potentially dry up the taps of seed money. Even if open access models also end up being sued into oblivion, it will be much harder to remove them from the internet.

CAN AI EVER BE OWNED?
The idea of genAI being worthless might recognize knowledge is intangibly valuable. The best genAI models are trained off the world’s knowledge — so much information that the true price may be impossible to calculate.

Ironically, these efforts by AI firms to capture and commercialize the world’s knowledge might be the thing damning their products; a resource so valuable a price cannot be attached. These systems may be so indebted to collective intellectual labor such that their outputs cannot truly be owned.

If genAI can’t generate sustainable profits, the consequences will likely be mixed. Creators pursuing deals with AI firms may be out of luck; there will be no big checks from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google if their models are liabilities.

Progress on genAI could stall, too, leaving consumers with “good enough” tools that are free to use. In that scenario, AI firms may become less important, the technology a little less powerful — and that might be perfectly OK. Users would still benefit from accessible, functional tools while being spared from another round of overhyped pitches doomed to fail.

The threat of AI being worth less than anticipated might be the best defense against the growing power of big tech today. If the business case for generative AI proves unsustainable, what better place for such an empire to crumble than on the balance sheets?

THE CONVERSATION VIA REUTERS CONNECT

 

Fenwick Mckelvey is an associate professor in Information and Communication Technology Policy at Concordia University. He receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.

Nirvana again defeats child pornography lawsuit over Nevermind cover

FACEBOOK.COM/NIRVANA

A FEDERAL JUDGE again threw out a lawsuit by a man who accused iconic grunge rock band Nirvana of distributing child pornography by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album Nevermind.

US District Judge Fernando Olguin tossed out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.

“Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover,” nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” Mr. Olguin said.

Attorneys for Mr. Elden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.”

The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, and photographer Kirk Weddle.

The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photo taken by Mr. Weddle at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California that depicted Mr. Elden swimming naked toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. Mr. Elden, now 34, first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him through his depiction on the cover and causing him continuing personal harm.

Mr. Olguin dismissed the case in 2022 after finding Mr. Elden’s claims were time-barred without addressing the substance of his allegations. The 9th Circuit reversed that decision in 2023.

Mr. Olguin determined on Tuesday that the image could not be considered child pornography, comparing it instead to a “family photo of a nude child bathing.” — Reuters

ACEN extends P900-M loan for large-scale wind farm in Quezon

ACENRENEWABLES.COM

ACEN CORP., the listed energy platform of the Ayala group, has extended P900 million in fresh funds to its subsidiary developing a 553-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Quezon province.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, ACEN said it has inked a short-term loan agreement with Giga Ace 6, Inc., the project company for the Quezon North Wind Power Project.

Spanning across the municipalities of Real and Mauban in Quezon province, the P70-billion wind farm began construction of the first phase with 334.5 MW, targeted to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2026. The second phase with 208 MW is expected to be finished by the fourth quarter of 2027.

In April, Giga Ace 6 obtained a green term loan facility worth P34.4 billion from the Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank, Inc., and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

At present, ACEN holds 7 gigawatts (GW) of attributable renewable energy capacity across operational, under-construction and committed projects. It operates in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Laos and the US.

The company is aiming to operationalize power projects situated within and outside the Philippines with a combined capacity of approximately 1.2 GW by end of next year.

For the first six months, ACEN saw its net income decline by 88% to P763 million, citing a large impairment from its wind farms in Vietnam.

Revenues decreased by 18.5% to P15.71 billion versus the P19.29 billion generated in the previous year.

ACEN President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Francia cited macro and sectoral headwinds this year as challenges the company continues to face in its energy transition.

“The company’s underlying health and long-term prospects remain robust, and we have been leveraging opportunities to increase contracted capacities and expand investments in energy storage,” he said.

At the local bourse on Thursday, shares improved as the company rose by 0.83% to close at P2.44 each. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Managing an incompetent boss

I’m the environment compliance manager of a small factory. During my first month, I was surprised to learn of the plant manager’s many leadership issues. I was expecting to learn from him, and yet, it appears that I should be the one teaching him. What can I do? — Cookie Crunch.

Teach him what you know without being arrogant about it. Be humble. Give your boss the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, protect yourself. Many of us expect leadership to flow from the top down. But what happens when the person at the top is, let’s be honest about it, out of his depth?

Imagine reporting directly to a boss who appears lost, indecisive, or worse — completely unaware of what leadership is all about. It’s like you’re stuck answering to a captain who can’t tell port from starboard, yet the ship must still sail.

If this is your situation, then take a deep breath. You’re not powerless. Managing under an incompetent boss is tricky, but it’s also an opportunity to strengthen your own leadership muscle.

SURVIVAL TIPS
It’s not easy. But you’ll surely survive — and even thrive when your boss doesn’t know what he’s doing. And as long as you’re honest about your strengths and weaknesses, you can manage the situation with the following:

One, gently cover the gaps for your boss. Whatever happens, keep the factory running. If your boss isn’t providing direction, you must step in to prevent chaos. Just the same, ask e-mail permission so that you can have proof later on in case something bad happens.  ​

Take quiet control of the tasks that matter the most — safety protocols, health checks, and more. Your unit shouldn’t suffer just because leadership above you is weak. By stepping into the void, you ensure stability and demonstrate your own value.

Two, save your boss without causing him to lose face. You’ll be in danger if your boss feels you’re exposing him. Instead of confronting his incompetence, help him make better decisions by packaging solutions in a way that lets him save face.

Offer at least three possible courses of action to an operational issue. “I studied the situation carefully. I recommend options A, B, C or D, in that order of priority. Which would you approve?”

Three, protect your team from fallout. Your workers look up to you for guidance. If you send mixed signals, filter the confusion before it hits the floor. Summarize clear, actionable instructions for your team so they can stay focused.

If your people see leadership as a circus act, morale will tumble. But if you act as a buffer — providing balance and shielding the boss from unnecessary drama — you become the leader that your boss and your workers will surely trust.

Four, document every major issue and solution. This can be tedious, but better  than being blamed later on. Keep a record of important e-mails on major decisions. If your boss denies giving certain orders, or tries to shift blame, your notes will protect you.

In case of a verbal order, summarize all salient things that you have understood through an e-mail. This prevents miscommunication. It also helps you build a track record of the responsibilities you’ve quietly assumed.

Five, build allies other than your boss. Incompetent managers often isolate their teams, whether by accident or design. Don’t let your professional reputation be tied solely to his. Build relationships with people in other departments, senior leaders, and cross-functional teams.

When others in the organization recognize your competence and reliability, you create a safety net. If your boss falters or leaves, you’ll have a strong network that can tout you as a replacement.

Six, anticipate when to escalate. Not all incompetent managers are created equal. Some are merely indecisive or disorganized, while others create real risk without anticipating the danger. If you notice problems that threaten operations or people’s well-being, you must escalate through formal channels.

But do so factually, not emotionally. Instead of directly blaming your boss, frame the situation as follows: “Here’s our three-month data to prove a major issue affecting our health and environmental safety.”

Seven, prepare for the long haul. Ask yourself: “Is this situation temporary or permanent? If your factory manager’s weaknesses are tolerated indefinitely by the CEO, you must decide on a strategy.

Stay and survive. Continue covering gaps and growing your influence. Sometimes, being the reliable number two makes you the natural successor when higher management finally takes notice. If that’s not the case, then plan for your exit.

THE SILVER LINING
Dealing with an incompetent boss isn’t fun. But it can be a blessing. It forces you to sharpen skills many managers refuse to practice: managing upward, navigating politics, protecting your team, and leading without authority.

Think of your situation as a leadership boot camp. When the time comes for you to take the top role, you’ll be more resilient and pragmatic than other managers who had it easy. You’ll understand firsthand the damage a weak manager can cause — and you’ll be determined never to repeat the same mistakes.

You can’t choose your boss, but you can choose your response.

 

Ask questions and receive free management advice. DM your story to Rey Elbo on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or e-mail elbonomics@gmail.com. Anonymity is guaranteed.

Sustainability goes hand in hand with ethics

Sustainability is more than a buzzword. The United Nations defines it as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” At its core, sustainability means balance — protecting the environment, ensuring social equity, and driving economic growth in harmony, not in conflict. It is about building systems that last, grounded on trust, resilience, and responsibility.

The Philippines faces climate extremes — typhoons, floods, droughts and earthquakes that destroy lives and livelihoods. This year alone, millions of Filipinos have been affected, with billions of pesos worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure. Rising heat indices, erratic rainfall, and food security risks paint a sobering picture: climate change is no longer a future threat but a present reality. Sustainability and climate action can no longer be afterthoughts. They are strategic imperatives for resilience.

To adapt, billions of pesos were poured into flood control projects. But recent developments have revealed “ghost” and substandard projects due to some entities asking for huge “commissions.” Instead of protecting communities, these projects erode trust and waste resources that could have saved lives — the very opposite of sustainability. Sooner or later, corruption is exposed — undermining resilience, wasting public funds, and deepening inequality. Corruption destroys not just infrastructure but the public’s trust upon which lasting development is built.

Ethics is about doing the right thing even when no one is watching. We cannot have sustainability without ethics — they go hand in hand. It ensures that decisions made today will not harm tomorrow. A project may be labeled “green” or “sustainable” but if is riddled with dishonesty, it cannot truly serve the people or the planet. Ethics is the soil in which sustainability grows. Without it, resilience cannot take root. Integrity, transparency, and accountability are not add-ons to sustainability — they are its foundation.

We stand at a crossroads today. Let’s stop the “business as usual” where corruption (it’s so scandalous that it’s beyond the imagination of the telenovelas and Netflix combined) eats away at progress. Let’s choose and move towards the path of ethical sustainability, where ethics guide our decisions, resources are managed wisely and resilience becomes our legacy.

The private sector also has a vital role in shaping a sustainable future. A recent example is the Philippine National Bank’s  2025 Summit for Sustainable Growth held last August with the theme “Inspire, Innovate, Ignite,” led by PNB Sustainability Head Jean Marie Baruelo. The bank reaffirmed its commitment to people, planet and prosperity — the three cornerstones of a holistic approach to development. The summit also underscored support for the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and the Philippine Development Plan or Ambisyon 2040. highlighting that sustainability is both a business imperative and a national mission.

Speakers included BSP Sustainability Officer Pia Roman-Tayag, who said that sustainability must move from framework to behavior and emphasized three key imperatives: recognizing climate risk in financial planning, embedding sustainability into daily operations and mobilizing financing for climate adaptation. She pointed out the use of blended finance models to support ESG initiatives, particularly for SMEs. “Adaptation finance is not just a moral imperative — it’s a strategic one,” she said.

PNB President Edwin Bautista urged the bank to revisit its business models by embracing both digital transformation and sustainability as key growth drivers, adding that financial discipline must go hand in hand with governance and a strong digital strategy to keep the bank competitive and relevant, and stressing that sustainability requires leadership that sees beyond quarterly earnings to create long-term impact and shared value for stakeholders. PNB Director and Corporate Governance Chair Geocel Olanday highlighted the importance of collective responsibility in future-proofing the bank.

Sustainability is not just a theory — it is a call to action. It calls on the government to ensure that every peso of public funds is spent honestly and effectively. It calls on companies to embed sustainability into their DNA and not just their marketing. Let us be vigilant and engaged, demand transparency, and support ethical leadership. After all, sustainability is not just about planting trees or building infrastructure — it is about reshaping systems to serve the common good for the long term.

The views expressed herein are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of her office as well as FINEX.

 

Flor G. Tarriela is a banker and an environmentalist/gardener. She founded Flor’s Garden in Antipolo, an events destination and an accredited ATI National Extension Service Provider.

Why this China shock will hit close to home

STOCK PHOTO | Image by Brgfx from Freepik

By Daniel Moss

DURING the salad days of global supply chains, the benefits of being on cordial terms with China were barely questioned. Being in the same neighborhood was considered better yet. It was a ticket to ever-greater prosperity.

That idea is now getting some welcome scrutiny. Asia’s years of runaway expansion are behind it, and being in China’s economic orbit is more of a mixed blessing. While that nation’s export juggernaut has encountered stiff resistance in the US, its factories are sending increasing volumes of cheap products to the rest of Asia. Consumers will find that attractive, but domestic manufacturers may come to loathe it — if they don’t already.

And while it’s good that inflation has been contained, there is a risk that economies get too much of a good thing. Price gains are below target in many places, and a sustained move south from here would be detrimental.

Don’t expect torrents of loud criticism directed at Beijing. It’s far easier, diplomatically, to level complaints against Washington than to point at the nearby power. China has also been growing in stature as an investor. Asian leaders constantly say they don’t wish to choose between the two economic heavyweights. In practice, they’re disinclined to speak ill of President Xi Jinping. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad once put it this way: “Whether we like it or not, China is there and China is going to play a bigger role in world affairs. So one has to learn to live with China… we realize we are a very weak nation, and China is a very powerful nation.”

US tariffs have been almost universally decried. For good reason: Southeast Asia grew rapidly as barriers to trade were dismantled in the 1980s and ’90s. For a while, even the protectionist instincts that surfaced during President Donald Trump’s first term looked like they could be turned into at least a partial win. For large corporations that wanted to hedge their bets, switching that planned assembly line to Vietnam or Thailand made some sense. It was fairly inexpensive and not a great distance to the rest of the operations in China.

Now, there is a double hit. The White House is wary of the transshipping of products through third countries like Vietnam. Levies on such goods, which are deemed to have only minimal final assembly before moving on to the US, have been significantly dialed up. And with the steep duties attached to Chinese exports to the US, a decent portion of what was once destined for America must find buyers elsewhere. China’s overall trade surplus is on track to exceed $1.2 trillion this year; in the first eight months it widened to $785 billion. With the US market cooling, where does it go? Sales to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have exceeded their post-pandemic peak. Shipments to the European Union continue to climb, and those to Africa have jumped.

Should this trend continue, the consequences may be profound. Even before Trump dramatically raised the level of tariffs in early April, regional manufacturers were feeling squeezed. The textile industry in Indonesia has been under particular pressure, with job losses and business failures becoming commonplace, and workers blaming competition from China. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who depicts himself as a populist, tried to salvage at least one large employer. The issue is clearly on his radar.

Sound familiar? It echoes the experience of segments of American industry after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Landmark academic work on the erosion of factory jobs, by David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson, has often been cited to explain the social dislocation that fueled Trump’s ascent. The title of their paper summed it up pithily: “The China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade.”

Do they see similar seeds of discontent today? “This is China Shock 2.0 or China Shock 3.0,” Hanson, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, said earlier this year. “China has this immense manufacturing capacity, and the goods have to go somewhere.”

Chinese industry suffers from significant overcapacity and ruthless competition at home. Profits have suffered, and authorities have wrestled with deflation.

Much policy energy is devoted to dealing with the fallout from tariffs. One solution often trotted out in moments of economic stress is for Asian economies to become more integrated, with the EU, perhaps, serving as a role model. That is easier said than done. The bloc’s success stems from the pooling of sovereignty in hyper-sensitive areas like exchange rates, the price of money, and antitrust. But one of the golden rules of getting along in Southeast Asia is the idea that you don’t interfere in what other countries regard as internal affairs.

Criticism of China in its neck of the woods will be subtle. You may strain to hear it. Beijing is also alive to the potential kudos of presenting itself as a defender of free trade, however rich some might find that packaging. The government will, for example, no longer claim the benefits available to developing nations at the WTO. That will address a point of contention with Trump and, possibly, keep a lid on resistance to export diversion.

Mahathir’s central point was right. China’s footprint in Asia isn’t getting smaller, and not always for the better. Textile workers in Java and North Carolina, whose factories have been hit hard by competition from China, can certainly relate.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

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