BSP urged to remain hawkish in next 2 years

November 24, 2023 | 12:33 am

Ayala Triangle Gardens -Park-goers-wc — Achieving the government’s 6-7% economic growth target this year could be a “tall order,” as consumer spending slows. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

By Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson, Reporter

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) should retain its tightening bias as forecasts show inflation will remain elevated until 2025, GlobalSource Partners said.

“All in all, we believe the BSP should remain hawkish in both its policy moves and policy pronouncements. The forecasts indicate above-target inflation for this year, and we agree as to its likelihood, and the next,” GlobalSource Country Analyst Diwa C. Guinigundo said in a report dated Nov. 22.

The BSP’s baseline inflation forecast this year is at 6%, still well above its 2-4% target band. It sees inflation easing to 3.7% for 2024 and 3.2% for 2025.

The Monetary Board kept its key policy rate unchanged at a 16-year high of 6.5% at its Nov. 16 meeting, after hiking by 25 basis points (bps) in an off-cycle move last month.

Since May 2022, the BSP has raised rates by a cumulative 450 bps to tame inflation. The Monetary Board is set to have its final policy-setting meeting this year on Dec. 14.

“For 2025, we argue for sustained tightening for at least two reasons. One, inflation forecasts are quite close to the upper end of the inflation target and two, credit and economic growth remain intact. There is enough space for monetary cautiousness. The biggest risk is the inability of those nonmonetary interventions to make a difference,” Mr. Guinigundo added.

Mr. Guinigundo, a former BSP deputy governor, said that risk-adjusted inflation forecasts are more “realistic.”

The central bank’s risk-adjusted inflation forecast is higher at 6.1% for 2023, 4.4% for 2024, and 3.4% for 2025.

“These (risk-adjusted) forecasts incorporate potential game changers including higher power and petroleum prices, and higher minimum wages in areas outside Metro Manila, including the impact of prolonged El Niño conditions. Transport fare adjustments and nonmonetary interventions were also considered,” he said.

In a follow-up Viber message, Mr. Guinigundo said that the BSP could potentially “start pausing and ultimately reducing the policy rate” if its risk-weighted forecasts show inflation in 2025 would fall within the 2-4% target.

“Monetary policy works with a long and variable lag — so they need to act fast as soon as they see a clear trend of inflation moderating to within target. Otherwise, they should remain cautious or at least pause. Again, their move will be driven by data and forecasts,” he added.

‘TALL ORDER’
Meanwhile, GlobalSource said that achieving the government’s 6-7% economic growth target this year will be a “tall order.”

“Based on the third-quarter outcome, it is difficult to share the optimistic view of the country’s economic managers that the current (growth) target of 6-7% is still achievable,” Mr. Guinigundo said.

The Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 5.9% in the third quarter, faster than 4.3% in the second quarter but slower than 7.7% a year earlier.

For the first nine months, economic growth averaged 5.5%. The economy would need to grow by 7.2% in the last quarter to hit the lower end of the government’s target.

Mr. Guinigundo said that the economy’s demand-side drivers have been weak, particularly in private consumption, which accounts for about three-fourths of GDP.

“There has been a perceptible slowdown in household final consumption since the first quarter of 2022, an obvious result of base effects and revenge spending after the pandemic lockout. Since then, private consumption growth has consistently decelerated,” he said, adding that high prices of food and other goods have also curbed consumer spending.

Despite the rebound in government spending, Mr. Guinigundo said that there is “very little left” to fuel growth in the last quarter.

The government’s 6.5-8% growth target for next year will also be hard to reach, GlobalSource said.

“The downsides are just too great, coming from the depressed global economic scenario, unavoidable slowdown from the peak of the credit cycle, COVID scarring in education and the labor market, AI’s negative impact on overseas Filipino workers’ business process outsourcing potential, and the challenge of converting those official government-sponsored investment roadshows into actual foreign direct investments,” Mr. Guinigundo said.

Multilaterals list imperatives for PHL to sustain momentum

November 24, 2023 | 12:32 am

CONTINUED fiscal consolidation, implementation of reforms to boost private sector competition, and more investments in human capital are crucial if the Philippines wants to continue its strong growth momentum, according to multilateral lenders.

World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand Ndiamé Diop said there are three key areas the Philippines could focus on to ensure growth remains robust, and prosperity is spread across the population.

“It will be really important to further enable private investment and innovation to keep growth… Second is to double down on investment in human capital. Third is to bridge the digital divide and invest in adapting and integrating climate change,” he said at BusinessWorld Forecast 2024 economic forum on Wednesday.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director for the Philippines Pavit Ramachandran said these “imperatives” will be able to drive near-term development and support the Philippine growth outlook.

“It’s important that this growth momentum can be harnessed and enhanced in a way that really brings good opportunities for the private sector. I think you’ve got to have more of the private sector driving and serving as the engine of growth,” he said at the same forum.

Economic managers are targeting 6-7% gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year and 6.5-8% in 2024.

The World Bank gave a 5.6% GDP forecast for the Philippines this year and 5.8% for 2024. The ADB, on the other hand, expects the Philippine economy to grow by 5.7% this year and by 6.2% in 2024.

Mr. Diop said continuing orderly fiscal consolidation will enhance private investment and innovation in the Philippines, as this affects investor and trade sentiment.

The government is aiming to bring its debt-to-GDP ratio to below 60% by 2025 and the deficit-to-GDP to 3% by 2028.

Mr. Diop also said it is crucial to ensure that recent economic reforms to increase market competition such as the amended Public Service Act are fully implemented.

“Competition is really critical in the Philippines. If you look at many markets, limited competition is one of the reasons why prices are high. So, these reforms are really critical and if they’re fully implemented, they will really support the competitiveness of the economy,” he said.

Under the new law, telecommunications, domestic shipping, railways and subways, airlines, expressways and tollways, and airports were no longer subjected to the 40% foreign ownership cap under the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ramachandran said the Philippines still has a lot of potential to attract more foreign direct investments.

Closing the physical infrastructure gap in the Philippines will also allow for faster transport mobility, facilitate access to opportunities, reduce travel costs, and boost productivity in the economy, Mr. Diop said.

He also noted that continued investment in upskilling the Philippine workforce will help sustain the economy’s growth momentum.

“Effective safety nets remain crucial in these times of high prices and hardship coming out of the pandemic. So, it’s really important to strengthen the system and focus on food security and improve existing social protection programs,” he said.

Mr. Diop said the Philippines needs to invest more in education and improve the quality of learning.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Representative to the Philippines Ragnar Gudmundsson said the government’s infrastructure program, opening up sectors to foreign investments, and private sector participation should help realize a growth potential of about 6.5% over the medium term.

“Boosting the country’s growth potential requires sustained efforts to raise productivity by reducing infrastructure and education gaps while promoting foreign investment,” Mr. Gudmundsson said.

“Sustaining significant growth gains over the past few decades and reaping the benefits of the demographic dividend will depend on further investments to diversify exports, promote the acquisition of new skills, and enhance connectivity across the archipelago,” he said.

According to the IMF, efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “gray list” should be ramped up to reassure foreign investors and reduce financial transaction risks.

Since June 2021, the Philippines has been included in the global “dirty money” watchdog’s gray list of countries subjected to increased monitoring to prove its progress against money laundering and terrorist financing.

In its latest assessment in October, the FATF said the Philippines should continue to work on implementing action plans to address strategic deficiencies. — Keisha B. Ta-asan

PHL needs to boost digital infrastructure to ensure growth

November 24, 2023 | 12:31 am

By Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson and Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporters

THE PHILIPPINES’ digital economy can be used as a catalyst to boost economic growth, but the government must ensure the development of digital infrastructure to support connectivity and inclusion, according to experts.

“If there is one thing that the public sector should focus on, I will pinpoint infrastructure as that will drive connectivity. For the business sector, it is making sure that they have [to give importance] to digital inclusion, meaning new users,” Google Philippines Head of Data & Insights Nikki L. Del Gallego said during the report’s launch on Tuesday.

The Philippines’ digital economy is projected to reach between $80 billion and $150 billion in gross merchandise value by 2030, according to the e-Conomy report by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Executive Vice-President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer and Fintech Alliance PH Chairman Angelito “Lito” M. Villanueva said the growth of the digital economy is just as important to the country’s economic growth.

“Due to the rapidly rising adoption of digital payments and the global e-commerce boom, it is obvious that digital is the way to go if we want to see exponential growth,” he said in a Viber message.

“In this era of smartphones, tablets, and advanced technology, focusing on how to grow our digital economy should be the priority of all governments right now. We must take full advantage of this cash-lite, digitization movement, and capitalize on people’s new post-pandemic, digital-dependent behavior for basic financial transactions,” he added.

In 2022, the share of digital payments in the total volume of retail transactions in the country rose to 42.1% in 2022 from 30.3% in 2021. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is targeting 50% of retail payments to be done digitally by the end of the year.

In order to optimize the opportunities from the digital economy, Mr. Villanueva said there is a need for stronger collaboration between the private sector and the government. With the government’s support, he noted the private sector can accelerate the reach of digital financial innovations and make digital payments accessible for more Filipinos.

“To be a thriving digital hotspot, we must push for the necessary regulations and regulatory frameworks to be mandated by the government, such as the Open Access in Data Transmission Act, E-Governance, National Broadband Act, and many more. These laws in action will drive our digital economy to greater heights,” he said.

Bain & Company Partner Bennett S. Aquino said the Philippines will be able to further accelerate the growth of its digital economy if the government and private sector work together.

“The private sector will need to supply the talent. It will really need to develop their own technologies and really understand the customer pain points,” Mr. Aquino said during the report’s launch event on Thursday.

“There will be limitations to this. The private sector is also in charge of infrastructure, but it is dependent on the government,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila economics professor Leonardo A. Lanzona cautioned that there is still not enough sufficient digital infrastructure to benefit the majority of the population.

“Hence, while many are covered by and exposed to the internet economy, their impact is quite limited to only a few savvy and educated individuals. These same individuals are reaping these benefits from their continual and expanded utilization of the internet,” Mr. Lanzona said in an e-mail.

Mr. Lanzona said that innovations must be “adapted equally to the needs of the general public and the major economic sectors such as industry and agriculture.”

“As these individuals and sectors are being left behind, the unrelenting acceleration of the internet technologies are making it more and more difficult for these laggard individuals and sectors to catch up. In the end, we will end up with a very polarized economy, hardly one that can be seen as a driver of economic growth,” he said.

Mr. Lanzona recommended that the government should come up with an innovation system that will incorporate digital transformation, environmental resilience, and inclusion.

“As the market relies and focuses on digital transformation, the other social concerns are being ignored and may prove to be impossible to achieve. If individual self-interest and social welfare diverge, then clearly government intervention is justified. This lack of regulation in the internet economy is what makes us different from other higher income countries like Singapore,” he added.

RISKS TO GROWTH
Meanwhile, Google’s Ms. Del Gallego said a global slowdown is one of the risks to the growth outlook for the Philippines’ digital economy.

The e-Conomy SEA report projected the internet economy of the Philippines to grow by an annual 20% to reach $35 billion by 2025. For 2023, it is projected to grow by 13% to $24 billion in gross merchandise value.

“Much like many industries, one of the standard risks will be the state of the global macroeconomic environment. We are optimistic and hopeful that the high interest rate stabilizes at some point,” Mr. Aquino said.

“If this stays at the current level and if gross domestic product (GDP) growth does not pick up as we have projected it to, that will impact our projections as well,” he added.

Ms. Del Gallego said they are optimistic the Philippines’ digital economy will achieve 20% annual growth through 2025 despite the global headwinds.

“With our GDP still growing even faster than Southeast Asia and inflation easing, it all goes back to the fundamentals that make us confident that the estimate of 20% will continue its momentum while the risks will always be there,” she said.

The Philippines is widely expected to be one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia this year and in 2024.

Ms. Del Gallego said one of the challenges to the growth of the digital economy is consumers’ low confidence in digital platforms.

“There are certain hesitations from those who might be new to the digital economy. They are likely looking for signals to allow them to trust certain digital platforms or maybe get the confidence to even try it,” she said.

The lack of confidence could be rooted in fears of fraud.

“I think from a consumer level, that remains to be one of the things that needs to be addressed because if everything happens, but the consumers are not ready, then we will not be able to maximize the potential growth,” Ms. Del Gallego said.

MPTC continues to champion safer roads for children in celebration of World Children’s Day

November 24, 2023 | 12:10 am

Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the leading mobility infrastructure and solutions provider in the Philippines, is one with UNICEF Philippines in its unwavering commitment to champion the rights and well-being of children on World Children’s Day 2023, last Nov. 20.

To celebrate World Children’s Day, several prominent structures under MPTC in north, south Luzon, and the Visayas— NLEX Corporation’s headquarters in Balintawak, Caloocan; motorists rest stop NLEX Drive and Dine in Valenzuela; MPT South’s LEED Gold Certified green headquarters South Hub in Imus, Cavite and the iconic Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in Cebu—were lit in blue to symbolize hope and a promise of safer roads and sustainable business practices that benefit children.

“MPTC and our group of companies have road safety at the core of our construction, maintenance, and operations. We are on a mission to contribute to the country’s economic and social growth to provide a better life to our customers, communities, employees, and of course, their children. This partnership with UNICEF allows us to further live up to our life-long commitment to road safety,” said MPTC President and CEO Rogelio Singson.

“Every child has the right to a safe and healthy environment where they can play, walk, and move, without harm. We hope to further our joint effort and collective action to ensure that more children have access to their basic rights, including having a role and voice for a more sustainable world,” said UNICEF Fundraising Chief Cristina Bertolino.

In a study by UNICEF, on average, more than 600 children and adolescents become casualties of unsafe roads every day — that’s one casualty every two minutes. This fuels the organization to strengthen its ties with different sectors to make efforts that will benefit the next generation.

MPTC and its business units have been at the forefront of integrating child safety into road safety campaigns, as well as “green highways”. Solar-powered toll plazas and rainwater catchment systems also promote energy efficiency and set the gold standard for sustainable expressway operations.

NLEX and Paramount Consumer Products had the ‘Nickelodeon Safety First with PAW Patrol’ campaign showcasing messages of safety for children. A full awareness campaign for motorists of NLEX and SCTEX was launched on NLEX’s extensive road network.

MPT South, which operates and manages CAVITEX and CALAX, has its Bayani ng Kalsada (BayaniKa) program that teaches kids about road signs and familiarizes them with road safety, in and out of expressways. The program has benefitted over 800 school children from host communities since 2022.

Aside from MPTC’s existing road safety efforts for children, it entered into a multi-year agreement with UNICEF to share resources and committed to building sustainable models for safe school zones and child road traffic injury to support 100 schools in high-risk areas that will benefit over 20,000 children. This partnership project on child road safety has been recognized by the Department of Health with a prestigious Healthy Pilipinas Gold Award for advancing health promotion strategies to help shape a healthier future for Filipino children.

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Wish commemorates Disney’s past and present magic

November 24, 2023 | 12:10 am

LOS ANGELES — Wish, the new animated musical movie marking Walt Disney Co.’s 100^th anniversary, reaches back to its modest beginnings to inspire future generations.

The lavish folk tale draws from the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the 1940 cartoon film Pinocchio, about a puppet wishing to become a real boy.

The “power and importance of wishing” is key to storytelling, magic and possibility in the studio, said Walt Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee, who wrote the new film, in an interview.

“A simple word … unlocked a complex story from such a simple idea that’s at the heart of Disney itself,” said Ms. Lee, who wrote and directed Disney’s Frozen, one of the highest grossing animated movies with box office receipts of $1.28 billion in 2013 when it was released.

In Wish, which opens in theaters on Nov. 22, 17-year-old Asha makes a passionate plea to the stars after she senses a darkness in the Kingdom of Rosas. A magical Star responds and helps her challenge the powerful King Magnifico, a sorcerer, after sensing his evil intentions.

Actor Chris Pine, who provides Magnifico’s voice, said he was moved by “the elegant way of celebrating the 100-year anniversary by making a film that’s all about probably the most iconographic part of the Disney brand, which is ‘When You Wish Upon a Star.’”

“So, to make a movie where one of the stars is that star, we’re talking about dreams, dreams that are personified by these stars, I think is really beautiful,” Mr. Pine added.

Walt Disney Studios was founded in 1923 in Hollywood, California, by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney, making it the world’s oldest running animation studio. Disney movies are usually based on classic fairy or folk tales, mixing romance, humor, sadness, high-stakes action, and self-discovery.

“It’s just in the Disney DNA,” said Ariana DeBose, who lends her voice to Asha. “Not just to wish, but usually sing to their heart’s desire, and so I think it’s important to this movie obviously. I think it will be important to many Disney movies in the future too.” — Reuters

Disney’s Wish faces reality of post-pandemic Thanksgiving

November 24, 2023 | 12:09 am

RECENT box-office history is working against Walt Disney Co.’s newest film, the animated musical Wish.

Thanksgiving has historically ranked among the most lucrative dates on Hollywood’s calendar, with studios releasing some of their biggest films as millions of American families gather for the long weekend.

But a number of factors have conspired to make the holiday less of a feast for theater owners. Hollywood isn’t making many mid-budget family comedies, like Three Men and a Baby, which ruled the weekend in 1987. Christmas-themed films, such as 2004’s top Thanksgiving release, Christmas with the Kranks, now go straight to streaming services.

Animated movies, a staple of the weekend with so many kids out of school, aren’t drawing the big crowds they used to. During the pandemic, families learned to wait a few weeks to watch them on streaming services such as Peacock or Disney+.

“Thanksgiving in the post-pandemic era has gone from a $200 million — and as high as $300 million — overall domestic juggernaut to a much slower corridor,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore, Inc.

Hollywood’s biggest Thanksgiving was in 2018. Films in theaters that weekend included Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet, MGM’s Creed II, Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Universal Pictures’ The Grinch. They helped power a five-day, box-office haul of $315.6 million, according to Comscore.

Last year’s total was less than half that due to the weaker performance of films like Disney’s animated Strange World. It also didn’t help that the sequel to Knives Out, a surprise hit for Thanksgiving 2019, appeared in theaters for only one week before moving to Netflix the following month, a schedule that likely prompted many fans to wait.

Disney has released some of its biggest films on Thanksgiving weekend, among them Toy Story in 1995 and Frozen in 2013. The sequel Frozen II holds the record as the biggest Thanksgiving release, bringing in $125 million over five days in 2019.

This year’s entry, Wish, may not live up to those standards. The musical about a teenage girl who wishes upon a star is timed to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of the Disney company. It has scored only 47% approval from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

“It’s high on complicated magical rules and low on genuine magic,” Daily Beast critic A.A. Dowd wrote in his review.

Early screenings for Wish on Tuesday grossed $2.3 million in the US and Canada, in line with Disney’s 2017 hit film Coco. Boxoffice Pro is projecting $49 million to $66 million in ticket sales over the extended, five-day holiday stretch.

The twin strikes by Hollywood writers and actors wreaked havoc on studios’ scheduling and marketing plans. The actors ended their walkout on Nov. 9, the very night of the Wish premiere in Los Angeles. Due to union restrictions, the stars weren’t able to appear and promote the film, although many attended a London premiere this week.

Other films opening this weekend include Napoleon, a biography of the emperor directed by Ridley Scott for Apple Inc., and Saltburn, a thriller from MGM, now part of Amazon.com, Inc. — Bloomberg

Napoleon: The film’s fashion tells a story of its own, from cropped hair to ribbon chokers

November 24, 2023 | 12:08 am

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby in Napoleon (2023) — JOAQUIN Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby in Napoleon.

IN HIS epic historical drama, Ridley Scott depicts Napoleon Bonaparte’s career not only through a military lens but a romantic one, suggesting that Napoleon’s global conquests were driven by a desire to conquer his wife Josephine’s heart.

The film’s trailer offers a glimpse into the couple’s coronation in 1804, a moment immortalized by the artist Jacques-Louis David.

David’s work emphasizes that the coronation broke with traditional royal protocol. Traditionally, queens were not crowned directly after the king. In doing so, Napoleon was signaling the start of a new dynasty. He also invoked a historical parallel. The last queen to receive such treatment was Marie de’Medici, crowned in May 1610.

Josephine wore a sumptuous, high-waisted white satin gown with a red velvet train. Her fan-shaped lace collar invoked a second reference to Medici. Known as a chérusque, Medici is seen wearing the design in Ruben’s depiction of her coronation in 1624. Josephine was therefore sartorially linked to the leading figure of a powerful dynasty.

Josephine’s journey to becoming empress of France was marked by tumult and tragedy. Raised in Martinique, she moved to Paris as a teenager and married Alexandre Beauharnais, a French viscount. Josephine experienced the trauma of the Revolution first-hand. Beauharnais was executed in 1794. Shortly after, she was sent to Les Carmes prison where she lived under the fear of a similar fate. By the time she was released, she found herself in a society attempting to redefine its political and cultural identity.

In such a period of uncertainty, a new fashionable set emerged. Referred to as the les Merveilleuses (the wonderful), they captivated the post-revolutionary social scene with their radical approach to dress. Corseted dresses and all their elaborate padding were eschewed for a streamlined silhouette.

Embroidered silks and ruffled sleeves were disregarded for cotton muslin and flaxen linen. The towering, powdered hairstyles favored by the old royal court were replaced by a shorn cut known as the coiffure à la victime, paying tribute to guillotined prisoners whose hair was lopped off before execution.

Paris was both enthralled and scandalized. As fashion magazines breathlessly depicted the new styles in beautiful, hand-colored plates, other newspapers featured doctors pleading with the Merveilleuses to forsake their diaphanous dresses for fear of catching ill.

At the forefront of this movement was Josephine, who wielded such influence in fashion that she and her fellow Merveilleuses would often exchange letters before social functions, methodically planning their attire. They knew their garments would be eagerly followed, replicated and reported in painstaking detail in the French press.

Napoleon’s appearance contrasted sharply with his wife’s. His contemporaries often derided him for his lackluster style, marked by dust-ridden boots and ungloved hands. He refused to attend social functions in anything other than his uniform.

His letters to Josephine after their first meeting in 1795 show him to be utterly enamored. In his eyes, Josephine was worldlier, older, and effortlessly charming. Most importantly, perhaps, she was emblematic of two worlds: the French aristocracy of a bygone era and the new, sophisticated glitterati set he now wished to enter.

Ridley Scott’s depiction of their first meeting shows Josephine sporting the popular coiffure à la victime. She’s also wearing a red ribbon — another staple of the “guillotine aesthetic.” The ribbon emphasized where the blade would have landed on a loved one’s exposed neck.

The differences between them — Napoleon, stubbornly clad in his uniform, Josephine impeccably attired in the styles she and her fellow Merveilleuses heralded — is sartorially punctuated.

Newly wedded, Josephine visited Napoleon in Italy where she began what became a lifelong enthusiasm for cameos (a hard or precious gemstone carved with a raised relief, often depicting a person, animal or mythical scene). Attaching pieces to her belts, jewelry, and headwear, she sparked a revival of the trend.

Napoleon’s gifts of Kashmiri shawls during his 1798-99 Egyptian campaign turned these garments into coveted luxury staples. A shawl was often included as an item of prestige in the gift basket for affluent 19^th-century brides. Josephine boasted over 400 in her personal collection and wears the shawl in several paintings.

As Empress, she became synonymous with the Empire style, marked by high-waisted dresses with tiny sleeves. White remained her preferred color for dresses, its pale aesthetic often contrasted with a red Kashmiri shawl.

Napoleon relied on Josephine’s sartorial influence: what his wife wore, he knew, would be replicated. The fabric of her dresses changed, from the English cotton muslin she wore as a Merveilleuse to Lyonnais silk satin brocade. Her fashion choices were not only personal, they were strategic, stimulating the French luxury industry and contributing to the post-revolutionary national economy.

In 1810, after 14 years of marriage with no offspring, Napoleon and Josephine divorced. Josephine retreated to her beloved Malmaison, a country chateau outside of Paris, where she continued to receive flocks of guests and admirers until her death in 1814.

“You want to be great, but you are nothing without me,” Josephine tells Napoleon in the trailer. An apt sentiment, perhaps, for a woman whose fashion sense is imbued with historical significance and endures in cultural relevance to this day. — The Conversation via Reuters Connect

Tania Sheikhan is a PhD candidate on History of Art at UCL.

Denise Julia aims to level up Filipino R&B

November 24, 2023 | 12:07 am

A DEBUT album has been in the works for R&B singer-songwriter Denise Julia for over a year now, following the success of her viral single “NVMD.” After much anticipation, the album finally hit streaming platforms on Nov. 17.

“I learned that you cannot rush art. It comes with years, time, and experience, plus fans can feel it more if it’s something you connect to,” Ms. Julia said in an interview with BusinessWorld at the launch party.

“I made sure that this album doesn’t have a track I don’t like. Every single one is from the heart,” she added.

With seven tracks, the album, Sweet Nothings (Chapter 1), tackles the various facets of love in today’s age of never-ending screentime and short attention spans. It combines R&B with a modern touch of jazz and hip-hop beats.

The singer cites Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child, and Aaliyah for her musical style.

“Growing up, I didn’t find artists from my country to represent morenas like me. They’re my skin color. They show that little girls like that could make it,” she said.

Her album features a lot of collaborators, from Nigerian producer Joel Tracks to Norwegian-Filipina multi-instrumentalist Hillari. J.Greg and Duaneinsane helped bring her vision to life while Neo Cruz was behind the sultry melodies of “Butterflies.”

“Bum 2 Me” was a track she was particularly excited about because it involved working with the alt-R&B experimentalist Jason Dhakal.

“I was such a big fan of his since high school. It was a full circle moment for me when he wanted to work with me. The sky’s really the limit,” she said.

Meanwhile, both the crossover hit “B.A.D.,” featuring acclaimed rapper P-Lo, and the album’s airy focus track “Lackin’,” have quickly become fan favorites.

For Ms. Julia, the goal is to let listeners explore love in all its ups and downs. She said: “Love has so many aspects to it, and I really strive to tell the different stories involving that emotion.”

Now that the album is out, the future of Filipino R&B is her next target. Through more music and collaborations, it could “cross borders, defy norms, and level up.”

“It’s time to make more space for more women who are stepping up and dominating,” she added.

Sweet Nothings (Chapter 1) is available on all streaming platforms nationwide. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

SPNEC moves to comply with minimum public float

November 24, 2023 | 12:06 am

SOLAR PHILIPPINES Power Project Holdings, Inc. (SPPPHI) has donated additional shares of its listed subsidiary to Asia Pacific Institute for Green Development, Inc. (Green Development) to comply with the stock exchange’s minimum public ownership (MPO) requirement.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Leviste-led SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) said its parent firm executed a deed of donation on Wednesday for an additional 1.58 billion unlisted and fully paid common shares of SPNEC to Green Development.

The donated shares represent 4.6% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of SPNEC.

As of November, SPPHI held 74.38% ownership of SPNEC’s outstanding common shares.

SPPPHI first executed a deed of donation for 550 million unlisted and fully paid common shares of SPNEC to Green Development on Oct. 25, which represented 1.6% of the issued and outstanding shares of its unit.

“The shares donated by SPPPHI to Green Development in total represent 6.20% of the issued and outstanding shares of SPNEC, and SPNEC would thereby comply with the MPO requirement,” the listed energy company said.

It said that the taxes on the additional donation had been paid, and the application for the certificate authorizing registration had been filed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue over the transfer of shares.

The activities that SPNEC has undertaken and intends to undertake are part of its MPO requirement.

Separately, SPNEC said that it plans to “pursue several transactions to increase its public float further after the lifting of its trading suspension.”

Under the listing rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange, listed firms must maintain an MPO of at least 20%. Those that would fall below “shall be suspended from trading for a period of not more than six (6) months and shall be automatically delisted if it remains non-compliant with the MPO after the lapse of the suspension period.”

On June 2, trading of SPNEC shares at the stock exchange was suspended for falling below the MPO requirement after a series of acquisitions that involved swapping of shares.

To recall, SPNEC’s board approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock on Jan. 10, 2022 to 50 billion from 10 billion shares previously, to support the expansion of its project portfolio.

The company greenlit on May 5 the modified acquisition by SPNEC of the shares of SPPPHI in various entities from the proceeds of its parent firm’s subscription of 24.37 billion shares.

With a public afloat of 47% prior, SPNEC’s increase in authorized capital stock was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1.

As a result, SPNEC’s total number of nonpublic shares increased to 29.62 billion, with the total number of shares owned by the public at 4.75 billion, which represented a public ownership of 13.82%.

To increase its public ownership, the company said it plans to conduct a follow-on offering (FOO) to support the expansion of its project portfolio.

“In the meantime, the Company is having discussions with its advisors and potential underwriters for the FOO,” SPNEC said.

The company and its parent firm are also in talks with institutional investors for private placement, provided that its shares resume trading.

“The measures outlined in this Compliance Plan are intended to ensure the Company’s compliance with the MPO requirement. With this, the Company hopes that its shares may be an attractive investment for the benefit of its public shareholders,” it said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Spoilers can’t ruin true enjoyment of your favorite book series, TV show or sports team — here’s why

November 24, 2023 | 12:06 am

AS I WRITE THIS, my wife is desperately trying to avoid spoilers for the latest episode of Strictly Come Dancing. Having missed the original broadcast, she has been frantically logging out of all forms of social media, lest a stray Facebook status or retweet give the game away. Add to this the possibility of a friend innocently revealing what happens, and it’s clear just how difficult it is to live spoiler-free.

And it’s not just difficult for those watching television. For followers of sports, too, there is a longstanding problem of avoiding the final score before being able to watch the game.

Popular book series also face the problem of key twists being revealed too early. When J.K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released in 2005, a banner was hung over a bridge over the A442 in Shropshire revealing an important character’s death.

Council officials swiftly removed the banner — although possibly because it was likely to fall, rather than out of fear of ruining people’s enjoyment.

Spoilers, then, seem to be everywhere — and the general view is that they are bad. In its extreme form, “toxic” spoilers arise from both the pleasure some take in spoiling others’ surprise and the use of plot ruining as a form of vengeance.

This ire can be aimed at specific people or the series itself. The latter happened with the Star Wars prequel films, as some fans spoiled the endings for those who hadn’t seen it yet as “immunization against disappointment.”

Spoilers can be weaponized in this way because of some of our assumptions about them. Most fundamentally, that they ruin enjoyment. But is it that simple? In a series of psychological experiments published in 2011, researchers in California found that knowing the end of a story did not diminish readers’ enjoyment. In fact, readers preferred the stories where they had the ending revealed to them beforehand.

The researchers theorized that we think of spoilers negatively because we are unable to compare spoiled and unspoiled experiences and therefore assume that the unspoiled is better. They argued that: “It is possible that spoilers enhance enjoyment by actually increasing tension. Knowing the ending of Oedipus Rex may heighten the pleasurable tension caused by the disparity in knowledge between the omniscient reader and the character marching to his doom.”

These experiments focused on classical literature, which often requires some kind of explanation in order to follow the plot at all. The spoilers in this research were therefore arguably able to complement the plot, at least for a contemporary readership unfamiliar with the complexities of ancient Greek tragedy.

Perhaps the experiments may have reached different conclusions if they had used, say, screenings of the Succession finale.

Also, because the research involved texts that were all written a long time ago, their experiments removed the issue of the timeline of when information does and does not count as a spoiler.

These boundaries are debatable. In 2008, Vulture, an entertainment news website, published a satirical “statute of limitations” on spoiler reveals. They ranged from “as soon as the episode finished” for reality TV to 100 years after its debut performance for operas.

The speed of the spoiler is significant because it is inherently linked to the digital platforms that carry them to both willing and unwilling readers.

In other words, finding out things too soon raises more fundamental questions about how we engage with the rapid availability of information across digital media today.

Consider the controversy when a Wikipedia article on Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap was created. According to Wikipedia guidelines, a summary of the plot was required. But the question was whether the twist of who the murderer is should be revealed in this summary, given that theater audiences are historically sworn to secrecy at the end of each show.

It was agreed, in the end, that users of Wikipedia should expect this information to be revealed. We do not need to be Poirot to deduce from this that our expectation of information being easily and readily available creates the conditions for a constant threat of spoilers.

This points to the real problem with spoilers. Whether they ruin plot twists or not depends on the idea that presenting reductive summaries — pure information — somehow replaces or equates to an understanding of the film, show, or story.

In his book Spoiler Alert, literary theorist Aaron Jaffe argues that the threat of the spoiler hinges on the idea that everything can be translated into information and that information can be found everywhere. But this is — he clarifies with a spoiler alert — a myth. In truth, information is rarely fully accessible or complete, due to the different ways it is stored and connected.

It may seem obvious to say that should I accidentally discover the score of a football game before I get to watch it, it would spoil my entertainment. But the score would not tell me if my team deserved to lose, if they were robbed by a referee’s decision, if my favorite player had improved, and so on. In short, the spoiler does not allow me to interpret the meaning of the game.

So while spoilers seem to require us to log out of X or avoid low bridges on the A442, there is still a part of our enjoyment that blunt information cannot remove.

Tom Grimwood is a professor of Social Philosophy, University of Cumbria.

K-Pop band BLACKPINK receives honorary MBEs from Britain’s King Charles

November 24, 2023 | 12:05 am

LONDON — King Charles on Wednesday presented K-Pop band BLACKPINK with honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs) medals in the presence of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during his state visit to the United Kingdom, Buckingham Palace said.

The quartet — Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, and Rose — chatted, laughed and took photographs with the British monarch as he presented the medals.

“It’s amazing you’re still talking to each other after all these years,” King Charles jokingly said to the band at the ceremony. “I hope I shall be able to see you perform live at some point.”

BLACKPINK received the MBEs in recognition of the band members’ role as COP26 Advocates for the United Nations climate summit held in Glasgow in 2021, Buckingham Palace said.

BLACKPINK made history in July, becoming the first K-pop group to headline a major UK music festival and took to the stage at the BST Hyde Park summer festival in central London in front of a crowd of 65,000 for a sold-out concert.

Since their debut in 2016, BLACKPINK has become one of the most successful girl groups in the world, breaking records such as becoming the most subscribed to music artists on YouTube. — Reuters

Real estate’s return to pre-pandemic levels seen

November 24, 2023 | 12:05 am

BGC-buildings skyline — OJ SERRANO-UNSPLASH

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter

SURGING demand across various sectors is expected to drive the Philippine real estate sector’s return to pre-pandemic levels, industry experts said.

“The country’s real estate sector will continue to grow next year. We’re actually going back to pre-pandemic levels in 2024,” McKinsey & Company Philippines Managing Partner Jon Canto said during the BusinessWorld Forecast 2024 economic forum in Taguig City on Nov. 22.

“Philippine real estate has been resilient but sustained demand and investments will take it to the next level,” he added.

Mr. Canto said that optimism for the real estate sector is driven by increased foreign tourists, surging investment pledges, higher property prices, and sustained demand in the office and retail segments.

“We are optimistic about real estate. It is one of the sectors that is going to rebound fully next year. It has been resilient in the wake of COVID-19, inflation, and rising construction costs,” Mr. Canto said.

Noli D. Hernandez, Megaworld Corp. executive vice-president for sales and marketing, said the Philippine real estate sector has been doing well despite rising inflation.

“Overall, despite the surging inflation, I would like to say to you that the Philippine real estate sector has been doing very well,” Mr. Hernandez said.

The country’s inflation rate decelerated to 4.9% in October from 6.1% in September amid the slower increase in food prices.

“For our office and hotel businesses, we have also seen a surge of investor confidence and as far as retention levels of tenants are concerned, these have been steady and even increasing,” Mr. Hernandez said.

“Similarly, we’re seeing a very huge demand coming from the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry. We have been seeing not just an increase in occupancy rates but also an increase in room rates,” he added.

According to Mr. Hernandez, the risk posed by inflation to the real estate sector’s recovery could also become an opportunity.

“While inflation poses a threat, it also can serve as a boon to the industry because we know that real estate investment still remains to be a very good hedge against inflation. On one hand, there is the threat posed by inflation as a deterrent to the impulse to invest but on the other hand, it can be the same impulse that will generate more interest in the industry,” Mr. Hernandez said.

Meanwhile, Federal Land, Inc. President William Thomas F. Mirasol said the company is seeing increased consumer confidence and “favorable opportunities in the high income and luxury market segments.”

“Higher interest rates naturally bring down demand. But as the economy is growing, we see more consumers that are more confident in the future. They’re saying that the interest rate is higher than it used to be, but it is not that scary,” Mr. Mirasol said.

Mr. Mirasol also called for better infrastructure such as roads in order to bring down property prices.

“No developer wants to raise its costs more than absolutely necessary. Developers also want to reach a broader market. If the nation had better infrastructure, like if you live in Cavite and you work in Metro Manila and it was only a 20-minute drive, then we would see lower property prices,” Mr. Mirasol said.

“The key to making sure that prices don’t rise unreasonably is going to be infrastructure. One of the biggest cost drivers for real estate is the cost of land, and while land remains isolated, it is very difficult for people to move around from one place to another. That’s why you see pockets of development that tend to rise at a much faster rate than any other area,” he added.

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