In the recently concluded 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas found that Filipinos still have a long way to go in terms of financial literacy. More than half of Filipinos have no savings, and those who do, have no idea how to make the most of their funds. The bright side is that these findings have strengthened the push for financial education programs for Filipinos.

With so many Filipinos struggling to understand basic financial concepts, financial advisors serve as both personal finance educators and guides for their clients in preparing them for major financial events. Fortunately, they are ready, willing, and more than able.

Sun Life financial advisor Rallph Jhan Aaronne L. Monzon, 2020-2021 Macaulay Club Qualifier, shares some money saving habits that can lead to financial freedom.

For young professionals who are just starting on their journey to financial freedom, Monzon stresses the importance of these three habits: creating a monthly, quarterly, and annual budget; practicing delayed gratification; and ensuring that your lifestyle is commensurate to your income flow.

“We should spend within the income we earn or live within our means. It is easier said than done,” he says, “but to successfully achieve financial freedom earlier, we should not take immediate rewards by buying luxury things.”

Monzon explains that it is better to spend only on what we need and save or invest the rest. “After all,” he points out, “we are still young and the road ahead of us is long.”

On the other hand, for people who are already preparing for the end of their professional lives, Monzon stresses the need to build habits around the following: planning for estate taxes and maximizing government benefits (SSS, Philhealth and OSCA); rebalancing your investment portfolio to fit your risk profile; and writing your will.

“They have been working throughout their life. Before retiring, they should make sure that all expected expenses like estate taxes are well-planned. The best way is to cover through a life insurance policy,” he says.

“Since there will be no active income, would be retirees should manage and maximize the government benefits due them. They must shift their investment portfolios to be more risk averse and preserve the capital of their investment. And because they love their children and grandchildren, a will has to be prepared to avoid any conflict and misunderstanding among the heirs.”

Sun Life can help both young and older professionals prepare for a financially stable future by providing a financial plan detailing set milestones and targets, says Monzon. “Our Money for Life helps you create a personalized financial plan that suits every stage of your life by recommending appropriate investment funds and educating clients on finance and the market.”

If he could recommend just one money-saving habit, Monzon would recommend creating a budget and saving at least 20% of your income for your future. “Invest in a life protection plan, health plan, and investment plan,” he says, adding that it would be best to consult a financial advisor. “You can never go wrong if you talk to a professional, a well-trained financial advisor.”

Monzon follows his own advice. “I have been practicing tracking my income and expenses since my elementary days. It truly helps,” he says. “Literally every centavo that comes in and out is accounted for. To fully monitor my income and expenses, I have a worksheet to record them.”

And how does he manage to stick to a budget and live within one’s means? Monzon leaves us with this classic: “I don’t subscribe to peer pressure to fit in.”

Rallph Jhan Aaronne L. Monzon is an Executive Vice President of the 2020 – 2021 Macaulay Club.

For more information and inquiries, visit the Sun Life website at https://www.sunlife.com.ph/en/.

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His Mr. Suave moustache is iconic not only to his Sun Life branch but in all of the company’s awarding events. You see, “suave” translates to “charming, confident and elegant,” which 67-year-old Roberto dela Cruz, continues to radiate among his colleagues, clients and prospects.

Also known as Ah Thao or Duck Head to his close friends—because of his specialty food, duck misua—Robert has been a crowd favorite even before he joined the insurance industry 33 years ago.

“I do not feel that old! But in my younger years, I used to be a singer and party host. So, I spent and invested a lot on clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry as I always wanted to look and feel good, especially during my performances. But over the years, I have changed, and it is thanks to Sun Life,” he shares.

Sun Life taught him that real investments are assets that substantially appreciate in value through the years. Jewelry is one of them, but alongside insurance, real estate, and stocks.

He learned that smart financial choices and proper investments can create ripples on one’s financial state in the future, which he has fortunately experienced firsthand. These are lessons that he is committed to share to other Filipinos as long as he can, together with his wife, Lilian, who is also with Sun Life.

“When people ask me why they need more than one insurance product, I always tell them that buying more is a hedge or protection against time, inflation and taxes,” the award-winning financial advisor says.

“It is this belief in the value of life insurance policies as a real investment that I personally hold several of my own. If I have the luxury of time and money, I will not hesitate to buy more.”

His personal favorite among Sun Life products is the endowment plan because of its guaranteed features. This covers insurance plans with endowment benefits, perfect for the risk-averse who prefer fixed income from their investments.

And there are clients who have high appetite for variable-linked insurance (VUL), mostly the younger ones, like the millennials and zoomers (or Generation Z).

“The most important thing about investment, which I learned from Sun Life, is that in investing, there is no way to predict the future,” dela Cruz tells.

After all, investing is a long-term commitment. Should market crash, investors should stay on the course, and not feel unnerved or frightened.

“We should never make an investment decision based on emotions. There are two major emotional investment behaviors to avoid, and these are fear and greed. It is critical that we should develop discipline to stick with one’s investment goal. When you let fear and greed take control over you, your sense of direction will be turned upside down and your plans will all go wrong,” he cautions.

Learning and experiencing are never-ending processes, he comments. And every nugget of financial wisdom that he gets, Mr. Suave will always share to everyone.

“I am sure I still have a lot to learn and experience. Here is to more years of learning and experiencing with Sun Life!”

Roberto Dela Cruz is a Gold Macaulay Club Qualifier.
For more information and inquiries, visit the Sun Life website at https://www.sunlife.com.ph/en/.

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Cocolife honors Filipinos who have overcome the current challenging times with colors of joy and hope. For its Christmas video this year, with the theme song “Kulayan ang Mundo ngayong Pasko,” Cocolife features four Filipinos’ stories of resilience and courage.

For Mary Jane Javier, a PWD artist from Lucena City, Quezon, her journey is physically challenging. As a child, she was pushed and laughed at by bullies. She was even told by a relative that she had nowhere to go in life.

But Ms. Javier has found light in her ability to draw and paint. Despite the difficulties she encountered along the way in her life, she created achievements she never thought she could accomplish with the help of her family, supporters, and the Lord.

“Sa kabila ng lahat ng ‘yun, talagang mapapatunayan ko na kahit gaano kahirap ‘yung pinagdaan mo, talagang magiging maayos po ang lahat. Magiging makulay pa rin po ang Pasko,” Ms. Javier said.

Tatay Theo has seen a dark moment in his life. “Katulad nga nung pandemic, ‘yung asawa ko nga na namatay na hindi ko naman malimut-limutan. At hindi ko natulungan sa kuwarto namin. Hindi ko maibaba sa bigat at hindi ko rin mabuhat para dalhin sa ospital. Pagbalik ko, wala na siyang buhay,” he remembered.

Still, Tatay Theo presents various colors to people’s lives through the paintings he sells.

“Magiging makulay din ang Pasko sa’kin,” he believed. “Basta ang ginagawa ko na lang, gawin ‘yung nararapat kong gawin para mabuhay ko ang sarili ko, para may pambili ako ng pang-maintenance ko, at para rin may ma-iabot din ako sa aking mga apo,” he shared.

Growing up in the slums of Tondo, Jessa Balote used to tag along with her parents to make a living by picking up garbage.

“Ang buhay namin doon po talaga nagsimula. Kumbaga sa’kin, masasabi ko na ang buhay namin walang patutunguhan,” she said.

But an opportunity fell into her lap one day in her school — a ballet audition that led her to dance in the spotlight, a real-life Cinderella of Ballet Manila.

“Simula po sa maduming paa, natungo po sa magandang buhay po. Kumbaga binago po ng pagba-ballet ‘yung buhay ko,” Ms. Balote expressed. “Nagpapasalamat ako sa Diyos kasi nabigyan Niya ko ng magandang opportunity, ng talento na magdadala sa’king mga magulang sa magandang buhay.”

“For every adversity, ika nga, may opportunity,” said Rolando Quiambao, owner of lantern-making business Rolren’s.

“Lahar, bagyo, baha sa Central Luzon, pandemya. Naranasan na naming lahat ‘yan,” he said. “Pero hindi kami pwedeng tumigil kasi nga, ‘yung mga kulay ng mga parol na ito ay nagbibigay ng pag-asa sa lahat ng mga tao.”

With his vibrant parol giving joy and hope to people, Mr. Quiambao eventually became known as the Parol King of Pampanga.

“Ang ganda sa pakiramdam mo dahil napapasaya mo ‘yung mga tao. Para bang nagkaroon ng inspirasyon ‘yung mga tao na magbalik ulit sa mga buhay-buhay nila,” he said.

Cocolife’s Christmas video for 2021 pays tribute to those who have endured and prevailed. It highlights the Filipino values and heritage that are greatly evident during this season.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis nearly two years ago, many people’s lives have been overcast with uncertainties. Christmas season, as Cocolife’s tribute video reminds, is a time when colors of joy and hope will once again surround the night.

“Kasama niyo kami sa pagharap sa mga hamon ng buhay,” said Cocolife President and CEO Atty. Martin Loon. “Haharapin natin ang mga laban na ito gamit ang pag-asang walang hindi kayang gawin ang pag-ibig. Ito ang Pasko para sa mga Pilipino. Likas sa ating mga puso ang tunay na diwa ng Pasko.”

A believer of Filipinos and their dreams, Cocolife supports the Filipino people amid uncertain times and in planning for their future through its comprehensive suite of insurance solutions. This includes providing quality life insurance, healthcare programs, group insurance, special markets insurance, and asset management to Filipinos in all walks of life

As a Filipino company, Cocolife is and will always be all-hands in helping its fellow countrymen. For more than four decades, Cocolife continues to uphold its commitment as an insurance company Filipinos can trust as their partner in achieving their dreams.

For more information, visit www.cocolife.com.

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There are many ways to succeed, but for Owdylyn L. Lee, who at 27 is the Macaulay Club topnotcher, it paid to start early.

“I was in college when I decided to join Sun Life,” she shares, “I decided to do so because I saw the freedom it gave to my mother, Susan Lee, and sister, Zzlleenn Lee.” Both women were already successful Sun Life financial advisors.

It was a Sun Life trip to Brazil with her mother that convinced Lee to go on the same path, even if she was already pursuing a career in law. “I told my mom that I wanted to join Sun Life because I saw what it had done for our lives and I wanted to have a similar way of life,” she adds, “And I wanted to start earning money while still in college.”

After Lee made up her mind, there was no looking back. Seven years later, she finds herself at the top.

It was not an easy climb, especially because she started so young. First, she had to balance her academic and extracurricular activities with Sun Life work. “The transition was difficult, because of the learning curve. I had to open myself up and push myself to be less shy and see the importance of insurance,” she explains. “It really did not help that I was so young. No one would believe a 20-year-old on the importance of insurance because for them, what does a 20-year-old know about the difficulties of life? So the best I could do was to help inform my peers and people I already knew.”

What helped was that Lee was working with mother and sister, who were also her mentors. “I had to ask help from my branch manager and unit manager to understand what I was doing wrong,” she says, “They’re my sister and mother respectively.”

What was it like working with family? “Patience is key,” Lee reflects, remembering that, being young, she initially believed she could learn everything her way by simply reading the necessary documents. “It was a difficult relationship at the beginning. But later on, I realized that experience is the best teacher. No matter what I read, it will never beat the experience that my mentors had. And it is their sharing of their experience that I got to learn how to deal with my frustrations and valuable tips on closing a big sale. Again, I had to learn to be patient.”

Lee attributes her success to her family–specifically her upbringing. “Our family has always had a go-getter attitude. We were raised to have to know everything and to learn everything,” she says. “It was difficult and sometimes it got very frustrating, but I realize now that this is what gave me the drive and ambition to do more and be more. It was the ability to deal with so many things happening and handle an incredible amount of stress that allowed us to juggle so many things at a time.”

Lee sums up her work ethic as a Sun Life financial advisor with this simple line: “If you can do it now, just do it.” We lose so many opportunities by waiting, she adds, or we tend to forget and let the opportunity pass and then it is too late.

To other financial advisors who want to achieve the same level of success, Lee stresses the need to stay in a positive space. “Keep your spirits up,” she says. “I found it very difficult to work whenever I felt down with my surroundings. I think trying to keep a positive attitude or trying to see the good with what you have helps in pushing you to have what you want in life.

Owdylyn Lee is a President of the 2020 – 2021 Macaulay Club.

For more information and inquiries, visit the Sun Life website at https://www.sunlife.com.ph/en/.

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

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What does it take to be the longest qualifier to Sun Life Financial’s Macaulay Club, an elite group of the top five percent of financial advisers in the agency force? For Lily Co Ang, who has qualified for the Macaulay Club for a record-setting 36 times now, it can be summed up in one word: karma.

“I strongly believe in karma,” Ang says, stressing the importance of doing good deeds to reap good rewards. Now 64, she is a radiant reminder of how a life of service is its own reward.

Ang’s interest in sales was sparked early. “Even while in college, I would dabble in some sort of buy and sell of RTWs and selling non-life insurance to some of my classmates and friends,” she shares. After completing her college degree, Ang worked as a money market trader, promoting the investment products and financial services of an investment house. “It was there where I honed my skills in dealing with people from all walks of life.”

The path to a career in the insurance industry was already set alight for Ang. “My father had a great influence in my choice of career. He was engaged in the non-life insurance business,” she says, “He was successful in his field and that made an impact on me.”

It was another power woman, however, who fanned the flames and opened the door for Ang to Sun Life in 1984. “When I came to know Ms. Mary Chan, I was inspired by her success in the life insurance business. Her diplomacy, determination, and persuasion skills made me reflect on my own capability,” she recalls, “So I decided to emulate her and be one of her protégées.”

With her sales background, Ang found it easy to get referrals but was challenged in meeting potential clients because she didn’t know how to drive. “At first, I had the support of my husband, who would sometimes drive me to my clients. At other times, I had to hire a driver,” she shares. “Through sheer determination, I took on the challenge of knowing how to drive by myself to address my problem with mobility. And it certainly paid off.”

Ang credits her success to this strong sense of determination, but only after divine providence and the unwavering support of her mentor. “With the will and support of God, everything is possible. And whenever I encounter problems, Ms. Chan has always been there to assist me. Without her, I would not be where I am today,” she says, adding, “With God’s grace and a mentor’s support, personal drive and aspiration will be the final determining factors for success.”

What keeps the fire going for Ang in her 37 years with Sun Life is her sense of service. “Through my work, I believe that I have been able to assist many people to become financially independent and be prepared for the eventualities of life. The financial reward that comes after serving my clients is the icing on the cake.”

For Ang, selling insurance is both a commitment and a responsibility. “It is important that after consummating a sale, the salesperson should still be around if and when the client has a problem,” she stresses. “A good salesperson knows the responsibility that comes after the financial reward and the commitment to serve even after the sales is consummated.”

Ang also wants more Filipinos to learn the value of life insurance. “I do hope that more people appreciate the importance of life insurance, not only as a form of investment but more for protection against life’s eventualities. The pandemic has made everyone realize how uncertain life is and how important it is to be prepared.”

At this point in her life, with her material dreams achieved and her children all grown up and settled, Ang already considers herself a fulfilled sales executive of Sun Life and is now thinking of building her personal legacy. “My further goal is to be able to train more sales people to become what they want to achieve in life,” she says.

Ang wants to keep the fire burning, and her desire now is to spread the light. “Sharing the thoughts and knowledge that I have about insurance to people I know, regardless of nationality,” she concludes, “provides me with personal satisfaction and is preparation for good karma.”

Lily C. Ang is a Gold Macaulay Club Qualifier. She is also the longest Macaulay Club Qualifier.

For more information and inquiries, visit the Sun Life website at https://www.sunlife.com.ph/en/.

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

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Thanks to the McDelivery Share to Many feature, you can share the light this holiday season by staying virtually connected with loved ones.

Friends and family that eat together, stay together! Although big, chaotic, and fun face-to-face gatherings are put on hold, McDonald’s found a way to brighten up the festivities even when celebrated apart.

With the McDelivery Share to Many, you can bond with friends and family over your McDonald’s favorites in the comfort and safety of your homes and despite being miles apart. This feature, exclusively available in the McDelivery App, can simultaneously deliver favorite McDo meals in multiple locations!

Whether you want to send your virtual guests individual menu items, Happy Meal orders for the little ones, or even food bundles via Holiday Group offers for a big feast, the McDelivery Share to Many feature will make sure the meals will arrive at everyone’s houses safe and ready to be devoured!

Celebrate and share the holiday cheer with family, friends, and colleagues by sharing and sending their favorite McDo meals via the McDelivery Share to Many! Head on over to the McDelivery website or download the App now through the App Store or Google Play, and make sure to follow McDonald’s on Facebook for more McDo announcements.

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For over two decades, the Philippines has crafted a reputation as the top call center outsourcing destination on the planet. In fact, it has earned the moniker “Business Process Outsourcing Capital of the World,” largely due to the country’s success in delivering high-quality contact center solutions. There are many reasons for this, such as an educated workforce and ongoing government support. The biggest factor, however, is that premium call center providers in the Philippines have mastered a pricing structure that enables them to deliver world-class service consistently.

What many organizations looking for call center outsourcing in the Philippines fail to understand is that the cost structure of outsourcing has a direct impact on quality. An hourly rate for a premium call center outsourcing vendor average approximately US$12 to US$14 per hour. In contrast, a low-cost call center costs about US$6 to US$8 per hour. The difference? The premium call center delivers reliable, world-class service in the form of highly skilled agents and robust infrastructure. The low-end call center may be hard-pressed to even deliver the same agents on a week-to-week basis.

In the Philippines, demand for the best, brightest, and most highly skilled agents is fierce. In fact, the demand far outweighs the supply for call center staffing in the Philippines. “This imbalance has coincided with the explosive growth of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines over the years and has led to steadily increasing salaries. The country’s leading call center outsourcing providers and captive operators understand that they need to pay top dollar to attract and retain top talent,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, an award-winning, mid-sized call center outsourcing provider in the Philippines.

For the last twenty years, agent salaries have steadily increased at a rate of US$20 (P1,000) per year. Now, the Philippines’ premium BPO providers, third-party outsourcers and captive operators, pay a premium for top agents, with salaries of US$600 to US$800 (P30,000 to P40,000) per month. The days of hiring highly skilled, experienced, and English-proficient agents in the Philippines for US$2 to US$2.50 per hour are long gone.

Yet a low-cost call center in the Philippines that charges US$6 to US$8 per hour can only afford to allocate US$2 to US$2.50 for an agent’s salary, since there are other costs that must also be covered, such as the operating margin of 30%, cost of management, support, infrastructure, technologies, telco, utilities, etc. These low-cost contact centers simply do not generate enough revenue to be able to hire and retain the country’s top agents, who are needed to make programs work and to deliver a truly world-class Customer Experience (CX).

Over the last two decades, as the outsourcing industry has grown and matured in the Philippines; it has become one of the most highly desirable employment sectors for Filipino professionals. The industry enjoys full government support as well as highly focused curricula in the country’s leading universities dedicated to high-value specializations such as IT, AI, and R&D. As a result, the market for jobs at the leading outsourcing service providers in the country is thriving. “For Filipino professionals, it is also a point of pride to work for or represent some of the biggest brands in the world, such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Likewise, these leading Fortune 500 companies and SMEs are perfectly willing to offer top compensation packages to hire and retain the most talented and skilled agents in the country. They understand that doing so will allow them to deliver world-class CX and roll out higher-level business processes.”

Low-cost vendors cannot compete with this level of quality and service, and as a result, they are unable to hire and retain the top agents. When a low-cost call center in the Philippines can compete only on price, they will experience a revolving door of low-quality labor. “For low-cost vendors, it then becomes a race to the bottom, and for the companies that partner with them, the result is frustration, additional (unplanned) costs, and in most cases, program failures.

“However, for the organization that understands the value of working with a premium outsourcing call center in the Philippines, the result is quite the opposite. A slightly higher cost is directly proportional to the long-term success of the program and ultimately equates to outsourcing done right,” explains Mr. Ellspermann.

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Globe and multinational companies stressed the importance of integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices in business operations as nations come out of the pandemic. It is necessary to put ESG at the core of every institution to build a better world.

ESG, as aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), aims for everyone to have equal opportunities to live a life that respects humanity and allows future generations to do the same.

Industry leaders spoke about the power of ESG integration on the future of enterprises at the 12^th Globe Business Leadership Innovation (Lead-In) Forum, which carried the theme “Bigger Picture, Greater Future: Redefining Success Beyond Business.” The annual event was attended by over 900 guests, including C-Level executives and heads from various industries.

Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said more Filipino consumers and companies are now embracing new ways of doing things under the ‘Great Reset.’ As a result, ESG targets are being placed alongside financial targets as top corporate priorities.

She said stakeholders worldwide, including employees, customers, shareholders and investors, are expecting businesses to be transparent and to stand for sustainable practices and ethical standards.

“There is no time to lose. We must evolve from outdated principles of unlimited access to resources and the primacy of shareholders to one that recognizes the limits and consequences of everything we extract, manufacture, consume, and put to waste. Above all, we must recognize our impact on humanity. Just like any transformative change, it begins within our organizations,” Ms. Crisanto pointed out.

Underpinning ESG is technology, which serves as a great enabler. Companies that are more mature in the digital space are winning the future because digital transformation has become a life essential. However, digital transformation with compassion for humanity will create more value moving forward, she added.

Globe is determined to do its part to help the country meet its commitment to the UN SDG 2030 agenda by making connectivity accessible for all, preserving the environment, creating economically viable jobs, and protecting human rights.

Lucas Joppa, Microsoft Corporation’s Chief Environmental Officer, also underscored the responsibility of enterprises to include ESG in their operations. “Building a solid society, working to improve the human experience, working to ensure that our economic systems don’t degrade our environmental systems — those are jobs for every type of organization,” he said.

On the other hand, Cesar Romero, President and CEO of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, said that the environmental challenges, mainly global warming, are too big to be handled by just one sector of society, thus, the need for collective effort.

Just like Globe, Royal Dutch Shell has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. “We believe that in due consideration to nature and society, we need to work hand in hand with our customers in helping them achieve the net-zero emissions target. And similarly, allow our company to be a net-zero emission business by 2050,” he said.

For instance, Shell pushes the use of eco-bricks through a livelihood project in Cagayan de Oro City, which at the same time addresses plastic waste. The company also provides the community with renewable energy and solar power.

For his part, Managing Director, Member of the Management Committee of Ayala Corporation and Chief Operating Officer of iPeople, Inc. Alfredo Ayala said businesses can still pursue profit with purpose. “You can attract really passionate people when you have that purpose at the core of your organization. You can achieve a similar Return on Equity, but you have other dividends from the community, from HR, coming from retention and attraction. There are different types of profit, and there could be a lot of benefits above and beyond the numbers,” he explained.

Ayala Education has committed to providing quality and affordable education to significantly enhance the employability of graduates. Job creation is key to a nation’s success, thus, the importance of equipping students to become great employable citizens.

“Fast-forward today. I think we can say that we’ve dramatically reduced our environmental footprint and our footprint going forward. I think we’ve significantly increased our societal impact, all because of digital and our partners like Globe,” Mr. Ayala said.

Globe has maintained its status as among the world’s most socially and environmentally responsible companies, having been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series for six consecutive years. The index, administered by the Financial Times Stock Exchange Russell Group, measures the performance of businesses around the world that demonstrate strong ESG practices.

For more information about Globe Business, visit www.globe.com.ph/business/enterprise.

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One of Japan’s leading chu-hi drinks bound to make waves as Coca-Cola introduces its first alcoholic drink in the country

Lemon-Dou®, one of Japan’s growing chu-hi drinks, is now available in the Philippines in three different variants. The entry of Lemon-Dou® in the country is seen as a response to the increasing demand for refreshing lemon alcoholic drinks and marks the first alcoholic beverage brand in the growing beverage portfolio of Coca-Cola in the Philippines.

“At Coca-Cola, we’ve always strived to deliver innovations that center around what our consumers want, while ensuring that we evolve our business responsibly and sustainably as well. We continue to be bullish on our business here in the Philippines amidst the ongoing challenges of the pandemic — and the launch of Lemon-Dou, our first alcoholic brand in the country, is a tangible proof of that commitment. We are confident that Lemon-Dou will help further accelerate the high-growth trajectory of flavoured alcoholic drinks in the country,” said Tony del Rosario, President of Coca-Cola Philippines.

Inspired from the southern province of Kyushu, Japan – the birthplace of shochū over 500 years ago – Lemon-Dou was first introduced by Coca-Cola in 2018. After two years, the lemon-flavored alcoholic drink became one of Japan’s Nikkei Trendy top 5 trends in 2020.

Martyn Ferguson, Marketing Director for Emerging Brands of Coca-Cola ASEAN & South Pacific shared, “Lemon-Dou uses a closely-guarded traditional recipe from Coca-Cola. True to the Japanese philosophy of Kodawari, we’re very proud of how we have tapped into the strength of our global network to ensure that the quality of Lemon-Dou remains consistent when served to the Filipino legal age drinkers.”

Lemon-Dou is a play on “lemon,” the drink’s main ingredient, and the Japanese word “dou,” meaning house. Literally translated to “The House of Lemon,” Lemon-Dou uses crushed whole lemons, infused in alcohol and mixed with bubbles, which creates the great tasting, refreshing and full-bodied lemon-sour experience for the alcohol drinkers.

This newest Japanese-crafted chu-hi drink comes in three different variants: Honey Lemon– sweet taste & mild flavor with 3% alcohol level, Signature Lemon with the classic taste, bold lemon flavor and 5% alcohol level, and the Devil Lemon, a wickedly good taste with 9% alcohol content.

Globally, Coca-Cola adheres to a strict Global Responsible Marketing Policy to ensure that the company grows their alcohol brands, such as Lemon-Dou, in a responsible and sustainable way. This policy includes championing responsible consumption and marketing that does not appeal to people under the legal purchase age (LPA).

People of legal drinking age can now enjoy Lemon-Dou. It is available in major supermarkets nationwide, which includes SM Hypermarket, Waltermart, Robinsons Supermarket, Shopwise, Landmark Supermarket, Royal Duty Free, S&R, Lander’s, Alfamart, Puregold, as well as convenience stores such as 7-Eleven, Mini Stop, Family Mart, and Lawson. Lemon-Dou may also be ordered online via Boozy.ph, CokeBeverages.ph, Shopee, and Lazada as long as you are 18 years old and above.

For more information on Lemon-Dou, visit facebook.com/LemonDouPH/. 

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