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Retail to make fastest rebound in property market — Colliers

RETAIL spaces are seen to make the fastest recovery in the property market due to the reopening of the economy and eased mobility restrictions, according to Colliers Philippines.

“Retail will be the fastest rebound in the property sector, with sales returning to pre-pandemic levels,” Colliers Philippines Managing Director Richard T. Raymundo said in a briefing on Thursday.

“We’re seeing greater consumer traffic, with mall operators saying that 60% of mall traffic is back… so that should be positive for mall space absorption,” Colliers Associate Director Joey Roi H. Bondoc said.

In its first-quarter report, the property consultant said that it is anticipating revenge shopping, which will fuel the growth in the retail sector.

“Colliers is closely looking at the return of malls as Filipinos’ de facto public spaces, especially now that consumer traffic is reverting to pre-COVID levels and restaurants and activity centers are starting to welcome more guests,” the report read.

“Aside from revenge shopping and dining, which we project to kick in starting the second quarter, we see more opportunities in the market given mall operators’ and retailers’ propensities to innovate amid a liberalized playing field,” it added.

Colliers projected new supply to reach 409,000 square meters (sq.m.) in 2022. From 2022 to 2025, it sees the annual delivery of about 250,500 sq.m. of new supply.

Among the sectors, it sees Food and Beverage (F&B) retailers leading physical space take-up for the remainder of 2022.

“We project demand from non-F&B segments such as clothing and sports apparel will be picking up,” it said.

From 2022 to 2025, the firm projected the completion of new retail space in business districts such as Makati CBD, Fort Bonifacio, Bay Area and Araneta Center, which will likely cover 58% of the new supply.

In the first quarter, retail vacancy continued to rise albeit at a slower pace in Metro Manila at 15.2%.

“Despite the threat of the Omicron variant and low consumer traffic in January 2022, some retailers have announced store openings in selected super-regional malls,” Colliers said.

By the end of the year, the firm expects retail vacancy reaching 16%, which is slightly down from its previous forecast of a 17% vacancy.

“While this is still higher than pre-pandemic vacancy of between 9% to 10% in Metro Manila, the slight improvement indicates the start of slow rebound for Metro Manila’s brick-and-mortar retail segment despite persisting challenges brought about by the popularity of online shopping and potential threats of a new COVID variant,” the property consultant said.

In terms of retail rent, Colliers said it sees this slowly recovering by about 1% from a cumulative 15% drop in 2020 and 2021.

It said that the gradual pickup in retail space absorption by the latter half of 2022 should partly support the projected rebound in lease rates, as more retailers will be encouraged to occupy physical mall space as consumer traffic starts to improve.

“Colliers sees a pickup in discretionary spending as consumer confidence improves and footfall in malls reverts to pre-COVID levels. The election-related spending should partly contribute to a hike in household expenditures leading to the May 9 national polls. With the enactment of Retail Trade Liberalization and Foreign Investment Acts, we expect the entry of more foreign retailers,” Mr. Bondoc said.

“This should chip in to greater retail space take-up, a further diversification of offerings, and differentiation amongst mall operators which should eventually redound to the benefit of Filipino consumers,” he added. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Opensignal: Smart dominates PHL mobile experience in Q1

PLDT, Inc.’s wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc. dominated Opensignal’s first-quarter ranking of mobile network experience among the country’s three largest mobile operators.

Smart was the market leader in terms of download speed experience and fifth-generation (5G) download speed, with scores of 19.7 megabits per second (Mbps) and 149.9 Mbps, respectively, Opensignal senior analyst Sam Fenwick said in his report for the first quarter.

Smart outperformed DITO Telecommunity Corp. by 4.9 Mpbs (32.8%) in terms of download speed and Globe Telecom, Inc. by 38.8 Mbps (35%) in terms of 5G download speed.

Mr. Fenwick said Smart 5G users also spent the most time on 5G and found a 5G signal in the most locations.

“Smart wins 5G availability with a score of 14.7%, 5.8 percentage points ahead of Globe’s 8.8%. Smart’s lead is smaller in 5G reach as it wins with a score of 4.4 points, while Globe comes second with 3.5 points,” he noted.

At the same time, Smart dominated the games and voice application experience.

“Smart’s margin of victory is impressive for both games experience and 5G games experience — for the former, its score of 54 points is 12.9 points (31.5%) higher than that of second placed DITO. Smart wins 5G games experience with a score of 68.1 points, ahead of Globe’s score of 56.8 points by an impressive 11.3 points,” Mr. Fenwik said.

Meanwhile, Globe won the excellent consistent quality award with a 7.8 percentage points margin over Smart.

“In core consistent quality, Globe beat DITO by 12.8 percentage points,” Mr. Fenwik said.

Opensignal’s measures of consistent quality quantify how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements.

Meanwhile, excellent consistent quality analyzes the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended thresholds for watching high-definition video, completing group video conference calls, and playing games. Moreover, core consistent quality uses thresholds for less demanding applications.

DITO dominated the upload speed experience category, with its users seeing the fastest average upload speeds in the country of 4.8 Mbps.

“DITO commanded a lead of 0.3 Mbps (7.6%) over second placed Smart’s score of 4.5 Mbps. Globe is in third place with a score of 3 Mbps,” Mr. Fenwik said.

“However, Smart is the sole winner of the 5G upload speed award with a score of 14.6 Mbps — 3.6 Mbps (32.5%) ahead of second-placed Globe.”

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

Live Nation launches in the Philippines

INTERNATIONAL live entertainment giant Live Nation Entertainment is now in the Philippines through the acquisition of Music Management International (MMI), one of the country’s premier talent provider and concert promoters.

“We have a long-standing and successful relationship with MMI, and the launch of Live Nation Philippines is the natural next step in our committed growth in the Asia Pacific region,” President of Live Nation Asia Pacific Roger Field said in his speech at the launch of Live Nation Philippines on April 25 at The Fifth at Rockwell in Makati City. “MMI adds another part to our network and our vision to deliver exceptional live entertainment experiences to music fans and more opportunities for artists to grow their audience across the world.”

Rhiza Pascua founded MMI in 1996 at a time when many of the world’s more prominent artists would skip Manila while on the Asian leg of their concert tours. The company’s operation involved negotiating with artists, managers, and agents to put the Philippines on the global touring map of Asia.

“Back then, we promoted [American boy band] 98°, and [Irish band] The Corrs and we continued promoting bigger and better shows,” Ms. Pascua said in her speech during the launch on April 25 at The Fifth at Rockwell, Makati City .

“Until one day in 2013, I got a call from Live Nation, arranged a meeting in LA and then they arranged a meeting in Hong Kong. I met with Alan Ridgeway who is the Chairman of Live Nation APAC,” Ms. Pascua said. The meeting led to a partnership between the companies in 2014 which allowed MMI to promote concerts of Madonna (2016), Coldplay (2017), and U2 (2019) in Manila.

With Live Nation’s acquisition of MMI, Ms. Pascua has been appointed to the role of Managing Director Live Nation Philippines.

“Over the years, MMI has delivered industry-leading world-class services to attract the biggest and best talent to the Philippines. Through the launch of Live Nation Philippines, the sky’s the limit, and we look forward to bringing even more of the globe’s biggest stars and connecting fans with the artists they love and the magic of live music,” Ms. Pascua said.

Live Nation mounts 40,000 shows and more than 110 music festivals each year. It operates in more than 270 venues in 40 countries, bringing 5,000 touring artists, and selling about 500 million tickets worldwide.

CONCERT SAFETY
In an interview with members of the press after the launch, Mr. Field assured that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health protocols will be a priority with the return of live events. “Whatever we have to do in the moment for safety of our fans will be put in place,” he said.

Mr. Field also said that they are “working on lots” of potential tours of international artists, but mentioned no specific acts.

“The challenge has been [with] everybody (regions) opening (up) at different speeds,” he said.

Ms. Pascua said that MMI and Live Nation Entertainment “usually do at least two acts in one month.”

Live Nation Philippines has yet to announce details of its first live event. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

UNO Digital Bank targeting to capture unbanked in big cities

UNO Digital Bank is looking to capture underserved and unbanked individuals in the country’s big cities in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ financial inclusion goals.

UNO Digital Bank wants to capture the underserved and unbanked in the country’s biggest cities as it gears up for its targeted second-quarter launch.

“The opportunity itself in the big cities first — in the NCR (National Capital Region), in Davao — is huge,” UNO Digital Bank Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Manish Bhai said in a media roundtable held in Makati on Tuesday evening.

“First, you need to get that fixed and then kind of expand. It’s the same in many countries today. I think people are getting comfortable with digital even on small islands — everywhere,” he added.

The bank targets to start operating within this quarter after finalizing regulatory matters with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

UNO Digital Bank’s goal to help bridge the financial inclusion gap will go beyond account creation as they aim to ensure credit will become more accessible to previously unbanked and underserved individuals, Mr. Bhai said, noting that only 10% of Filipinos currently have access to loans from banks.

“I think within the mass market, we’re talking about credit [for the] underserved, the underbanked, which, again, are significant buckets. [There are] different products being mentioned, different age classifications, different scales of employment — some are self-employed, some are professionals, income levels vary,” said Vivek Kumar, UNO Digital Bank head for Loans, Payments & Ecosystems.

Mr. Kumar said the bank also wants to make loan applications “cheaper and faster.”

“There shouldn’t be any reason their loan application should take more than a few minutes if they qualify,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bhai said they will tap alternative credit data, including those on mobile behavior, social media, and online consumption behavior in ride-hailing and food ordering platforms, among others.

Amid emerging cybersecurity risks, the bank said it is putting in place safeguards to protect their potential clients from fraud and losses from unauthorized transactions.

Chito Africa, head of Technology at UNO Digital Bank, said they will use biometrics to ensure clients are protected, among others.

“If it’s (transaction) out of [usual] behavior, maybe questionable, [then] we will not allow the transaction to push through. We will also do a different monitoring to tell us if there are people trying to get into our system that are not supposed to be there,” Mr. Africa said.    

Meanwhile, Mr. Bhai said their services will only be available via an app as it will not set up a web platform to prevent cybersecurity risks.

“We are only going to have the app, we are not going to have a web version because a lot of research showed the app is much more secure than a web interface,” he said.

“It also boils down to a lot of consumer education, which is our plan,” Mr. Bhai added, noting information on cybersecurity risks will be integrated in their app.

UNO Digital Bank is backed by Singapore-headquartered DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd. It secured its digital banking license from the BSP in June 2021.

Digital banks offer services via online platforms and do not need to establish branches.

The central bank expects these lenders to help it reach its goal to have 70% of Filipino adults become part of the formal financial system by 2023. — L.W.T. Noble

Sotto enters NBA Rookie Draft

KAI SOTTO — ADELAIDE 36ERS

By John Bryan Ulanday

KAI SOTTO has thrown his hat to the 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie Draft, officially catapulting his treasured dream to become the first-ever Filipino homegrown player in the world’s biggest basketball stage.

The 7-foot-3 prodigy announced his much-awaited decision on Thursday in a heartfelt social media post, making himself available for the draft proceedings on June 23 in Brooklyn, New York.

“I have declared for the 2022 NBA Draft. Please pray for and support me during my quest to fulfill my ultimate dream,” said Mr. Sotto, who will turn 20 years old on May 11.

Mr. Sotto is coming off a decent stint with the Adelaide 36ers in the Australia National Basketball League, which he thanked for serving as a gateway to his NBA dream.

“Thank you, Adelaide. Thank you, Australia. It has been an unforgettable year,” said Mr. Sotto, who became the first Pinoy cager in the Land Down Under last year.

“To the 36ers Management, my teammates, my coaching staff and my agent Joel Bell, I am a better man and a better professional player than a year ago because you all took me under your wing and challenged and mentored me to live up to expectations.”

Despite seeing limited action (15.2 minutes), Mr. Sotto made his mark in the NBL that served as his international pro league debut with averages of 7.52 points on 50% clip, 4.48 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 22 games.

But Australia was not the lone stage where Mr. Sotto showed a glimpse of his potential.

Mr. Sotto took his talents to the United States in 2019 that attracted interests from US NCAA schools led by Kentucky and Auburn as well as overseas programs like Germany’s Alba Berlin, Spain’s Real Madrid, Estudiantes and Barcelona.

He trained with The Skill Factory in Atlanta and ended up committing with Ignite in the NBA G League as a new professional pathway program to the NBA for high school prospects before landing in Australia.

At home, Mr. Sotto captured MVP honors for Ateneo High School in the UAAP juniors while anchoring Gilas youth to multiple FIBA Asia podium finishes and World Cup appearances.

Mr. Sotto, who debuted with the Gilas seniors team last year, is hoping for these experiences at a very young age paired up with his high ceiling to serve as his best assets in landing an NBA team.

Though Mr. Sotto could be the first homegrown Pinoy there, he would be a welcome addition to Fil-American aces Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz and Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets as the country’s proud representatives.

PXP trims losses as oil lifting brings revenues

PXP ENERGY Corp. trimmed its net loss in the first quarter to P2.7 million from the P4.3-million loss to parent firm equity holders as it recorded higher profit from its Galoc operations while reducing overhead costs.

In a disclosure on Thursday, PXP said its core net loss during the first three months of 2022 was also lower at P1.4 million or a quarter of the P5.6 million recorded a year ago.

Petroleum revenues were recorded during the period at P18.8 million from none previously. These came from one completed lifting of 144,897 barrels at $78.1 per barrel in Service Contract (SC) 14C-1 Galoc.

SC 14 is in offshore northwest Palawan and spans an area of 720 square kilometers. Block C-1 Galoc covers 164 square kilometers and contains the producing Galoc oil field development.

PXP said cost and expenses during the quarter rose by 13.2% to P20.4 million because of higher petroleum production costs in SC14C-1 at P9.4 million. Overhead expenses were down 38.9% to P11 million.

The listed firm’s quarterly financial performance precedes developments in April, including its receipt on April 6 of a directive from the Department of Energy (DoE) to put on hold any exploration activities for SC 72 and 75 until such time that an interagency panel has issued the necessary clearance to proceed.

SC 72, which is within Recto Bank, is located in the West Philippine Sea, west of Palawan island and southwest of the Malampaya gas field. SC 75 covers an area of 6,160 square kilometers in the offshore northwest Palawan basin.

PXP and its subsidiary Forum (GSEC 101) Ltd. have put on hold activities for the two petroleum exploration service contracts as directed by the Energy department until the issuance of the necessary clearance.

On April 8, PXP and Forum advised the DoE that in compliance with the agency’s directive, they “have suspended (or caused the suspension of) all activities in the West Philippine Sea beginning April 6, 2022, in the process, incurring substantial stand-by and other costs.”

In the same letter, they also advised the DoE that they were prepared to resume operations immediately provided they receive written confirmation from the DoE by April 10 that they can resume their exploration activities.

On April 11, they told the department that without their receipt of the DoE advice, they had stopped all exploration activities, and that they had been constrained to terminate their agreements with suppliers and incurred substantial liabilities for termination costs and penalties.

They also affirmed their declaration of force majeure under SC 72 and SC 75 effective April 6 “arising from what appeared as an indefinite suspension” by the DoE of the exploration activities under the two service contracts.

“Each of PXP and Forum will continue to coordinate with the Government on the resumption of activities in both SC 75 and SC 72,” PXP said in its disclosure.

It added that the group would continue to pursue exploration work with respect to its other projects in the Philippines, including SC 40 in the Visayan basin and SC 74 in northwest Palawan.

SC 72 had been under force majeure since 15 Dec. 15, 2014 while SC 75 had been under the same since Dec. 27, 2015, due to the West Philippine Sea maritime dispute.

In October 2020, Forum said that it had received a letter from the DoE that the force majeure for SC 72 and SC 75 had been lifted effective immediately and that exploration activities were to resume.

At the stock exchange, shares in PXP remained unchanged at P4.74 apiece on Thursday. — VVS

NetEase’s Cloud Music sues Tencent Music, claims unfair competition

UNSPLASH

HONG KONG/BEIJING — NetEase’s Cloud Music unit has sued Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), accusing it of unfair competition and plagiarizing its app design, the company said on Wednesday.

The move is the latest development in a long-running rivalry between the two Chinese tech giants who are vying to add users and sign popular musicians.

Features of TME’s suite of music streaming apps allowed its users to sidestep copyright protection and play songs licensed by NetEase Cloud Music, the company said, accusing TME of copying the design and some features of its app.

“We urge TME to immediately rectify its products and businesses and stop all behaviors of unfair competition,” NetEase Cloud Music said in a statement on its account on the Weibo social media platform.

In response, Mo Chen, head of branding and public relations at TME, made a post through his personal account on WeChat, Tencent’s social networking app, on Wednesday, saying: “We at TME will not engage in the war of words … Related evidence has been preserved, and we have been filing for relevant legal proceedings.”

TME declined to elaborate on Mr. Chen’s statement.

Last year, Tencent was fined on anti-trust grounds and barred from signing exclusive music copyright pacts, prompting it to end all such deals. — Reuters

BoJ sparks yen slide after doubling down on bond-buying

WIKIPEDIA.ORG

THE BANK of Japan (BoJ) sparked a sharp slide in the yen by doubling down on its promise to defend a rock-bottom yield target that leaves it as a dovish outlier as other major central banks move to tighten monetary policies.

The central bank said it would buy an unlimited amount of bonds at fixed-rates every business day to protect a 0.25% ceiling on 10-year government debt yields as part of its stimulus measures.

The bank kept its main yield curve control settings and the scale of its asset purchases unchanged, according to a statement Thursday. That decision had been widely expected by economists despite speculation the BoJ might take action to bolster the yen.

The currency weakened sharply against the dollar after the decision and breached the 130 mark mid-afternoon in Tokyo compared with around 128.67 immediately before the BoJ issued its statement. Stocks in Tokyo continued to gain during the afternoon session.

With the decision, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his board pushed back more aggressively than expected against the market chatter that it will have to tweak policy to help stop the yen from weakening more and to ease the upward pressure on yields.

Looking ahead, the BoJ also stuck with its view that rates would stay low or go even lower.

Economists see further slides in the yen as inevitable, but say the government is more likely to ramp up its relief measures for soaring energy and food prices before considering intervening in markets to prop up the currency.

“The BoJ wants to make it abundantly clear that it will stick with stimulus and that the yen is not part of its considerations,” said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at Credit Suisse Securities. “This also sends a clear message that the bank is not joining the US Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank on tightening moves.”

With the Fed and others racing to push up borrowing costs to keep a lid on accelerating prices, the divergence in interest rates with the BoJ is growing. That’s helping drive the Japanese currency down against the dollar to a level that is causing pain for some households and businesses.

“The BoJ has shown some concern over the rapid fall of the yen, but when it comes to its level, it seems very tolerant,” said Mari Iwashita, chief market economist at Daiwa Securities Co. “I don’t think the BoJ is thinking 130 against the dollar is going to be some terrible inflection point.”

For now the central bank and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration appear committed to a division of labor that sees the BoJ stimulating a fragile economy while the government tries to offer relief for the effects of soaring energy and food prices amplified by the weaker yen.

“Instead of intervening in the currency markets, Japan is more likely to add to its economic support policies,” said S&P economist Harumi Taguchi, adding that gaining support for forex intervention would be very difficult. “Kishida has already announced additional measures, but depending on how much more the yen weakens Japan could add to its support measures.”

The decision comes just two days after the prime minister unveiled 6.2 trillion yen ($48 billion) of spending to help relieve the burden of soaring fuel and commodity prices on businesses and households.

In updated price projections, the BoJ also raised its inflation forecast closer to its 2% goal in the fiscal year that started this month on the impact of energy prices but projected it to weaken the following year.

The bank now sees inflation accelerating to 1.9% this year from its 1.1% forecast just three months ago. That means the bank is predicting the highest price growth in three decades outside the tax hike years of 1997, 2014 and 2019.

Still, its updated forecast for the following year shows inflation weakening to 1.1%. That fits in with Mr. Kuroda’s view that inflation without solid wage gains won’t be sufficient to achieve the positive cycle of growth and prices he seeks. Its forecast for the year to March 2025 also showed inflation averaging well below its price goal.

The yen’s rapid movements have placed Mr. Kuroda in an awkward position. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has recently been stressing the “bad weak yen” aspects in a stance that is at odds with Mr. Kuroda’s long-held assessment that a weak yen is positive for the economy overall. Mr. Kuroda stepped up his own warnings over the currency’s abrupt moves a few days after Mr. Suzuki’s remarks.

While the BoJ has pushed back strongly for now, it is likely to continue to face speculation that it will have to adjust policy in the coming months.

The number of economists who said the bank is likely or very likely to take policy steps in response to a weak yen or inflation this year more than doubled to 45% in a Bloomberg poll this month. — Bloomberg

Letran Knights battle San Beda Lions before live audience at Filoil Arena

By Joey Villar

MVP candidate Rhenz Abando admitted he and the Letran Knights have been thinking of their bitter rivals, the San Beda Lions, since Day One. And they have concluded that the only way to beat their archenemy is to play ready and stay focused.

“We always think of San Beda since the start,” said Mr. Abando on the eve of the San Beda-Letran NCAA Season 97 final elimination round game set at 3 p.m. on Friday before a season-first live audience at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

“We knew San Beda will make it difficult for us, that’s why we have to be always ready and we need to be more focused than them,” he added.

Apart from the pride and bragging rights staked between the age-old rivals, the Knights and the Lions will battle for the top seed, and for the latter, the other twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.

The defending champion had already claimed the important semis incentive after it romped to its eighth straight win following a pulsating 73-69 triumph over San Sebastian at the La Salle Greenhills Gym on Tuesday.

San Beda, for its part, edged College of St. Benilde, 67-63, the same day to stay at No. 2 and would forge a tie for first with Letran and eventually snare the semis bonus due to the winner-over-the-other rule in breaking a two-way tie if it could emerge victorious.

Between the two, the stakes are higher for the Lions as a defeat would mean it would fall to a tie for No. 2 with the Mapua Cardinals and eventually to No. 3 since the former succumbed to the latter, 68-54, on Saturday.

If it happens, San Beda would have to go through the rigors of playing in the play-in where it will play No. 4 team St. Benilde (5-4) with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

The loser though would tackle the winner between Arellano University (AU) (4-5) and the winner between University of Perpetual Help (3-5) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) (3-5) in their 12 p.m. duel also on Friday.

Aside from Mr. Abando, the Knights should draw strength from Jeo Ambohot and Fran Yu, who were vital cogs in their title conquest of the Lions in the league’s last season three years ago.

It will also be extra special for James Kwekuteye, JB Bahio and Franz Abuda, who are all remnants from that San Beda squad, as they look to exact revenge and erase the stigma of that painful defeat.

Three-way cooperation key to safety at work during pandemic — ILO

WORK SAFETY during the pandemic will require effective collaboration among the government, employers, and labor, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said.

“As the world continues to grapple with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the uneven recovery, occupational safety and health remains at the forefront of countries’ responses,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said in a statement on Thursday.

“The lessons learned from this crisis about the importance of social dialogue in strengthening safety and health at the national and workplace level need to be applied to other contexts,” he added. “This would help reduce the unacceptable level of occupational deaths and disease that occur every year.”

Citing a study it compiled, the ILO found that governments that prioritize active participation from employers’ and workers’ organizations developed and implemented effective emergency laws, policies and interventions against the pandemic.

“The collaboration between and among actors in the world of work has been essential in ensuring that the measures put in place were acceptable to and supported by employers and workers — and were, therefore, more likely to be effectively implemented in practice,” it said.

In the Philippines, the national tripartite structures dealing with OSH were involved in the drafting of guidelines ensuring the quality of ventilation in workplaces and public transport.

Authorities were also able to explain the benefits of mobilizing emergency volunteer workers to warn employees at high risk for infection of available social protection measures.

The ILO noted the need for further consultation at the regional or sectoral level to ensure that solutions are adapted to a specific context.

In Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking posted on Wednesday, the Philippines rose one place to 48th of 53 countries, with the top ranked countries judged to have had the least social and economic disruption. It drew on 11 indicators including virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and progress toward restarting international travel. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

Manila South Harbor capacity to rise with upgrades

THE Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI) on Thursday said it expects the Manila South Harbor’s annual capacity to increase to nearly 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 1.5 million TEUs currently as a result of ongoing infrastructure projects.

“Ongoing infrastructure projects are underway in South Harbor. We added new examination areas and continue to develop more container spaces to support our growth,” ATI President Eusebio H. Tanco said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.

He noted that the construction of pier 3 has started and that five new yard cranes arrived last year, to be followed by two ship-to-shore container cranes.

“These will enable us to handle more cargoes and bigger vessels, with an annual capacity of nearly 2 million TEUs from the present 1.5 million TEUs,” he said.

The company has said it will be spending more than P5 billion this year, lower than last year’s around P6 billion, for the continuous upgrade of its major port gateways.

The “planned investment for the year will support ongoing ports and logistics infrastructure projects across key sites in Manila, Batangas and Laguna as well as the acquisition of more modern and eco-friendly equipment in step with [the company’s] growth strategy and in line with its investment commitment with the port authority,” it said in a recent statement.

“Part of this investment program is the continuing expansion of yard and berth facilities in Manila South Harbor to handle growing container volumes and bigger ships deployed by freight carriers,” it added.

ATI’s 2021 income attributable to equity holders of the parent company declined 24.1% to P2.24 billion from P2.95 billion in 2020.

This is “due to volume-driven expenses, rising fuel prices, sustained coronavirus resiliency measures, and unfavorable foreign exchange rate impact,” it noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Stuff to do (04/29/22)

CCP presents Earth Day art installation

TO CELEBRATE Earth Day 2022, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is launching a unique conceptual art installation by visual artist Jinggoy Buensuceso titled KAINGIN on April 30, 5 p.m., at the CCP Front Lawn and fourth floor. A performance will be rendered by Ea Torrado during the launch. The installation will transform the CCP Front Lawn into a burnt forest through the use of more than a thousand contemporary bulul.

Celebrating Earth Day at Arroceros Park

CELEBRATE Earth Day at Arroceros Park in Manila on April 30 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) with a yoga class, a mindfulness talk, and live art and music. There will be food booths and environmental products on sale. It is suggested to bring picnic or yoga mats and mosquito spray. Attending organizations include the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, and The Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society. The event is held cooperation with the City of Manila and the Department of Tourism. For more details, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/402124318056329/.

Giant Quiccs installation at Robinsons Galleria

FILIPINO toy designer, illustrator, and graffiti artist Quiccs has made waves worldwide for his unique creations.  Now they can be found at various malls as Quiccs partners with Robinsons Malls. There will be a larger-than-life Quiccs installation, R-TEQ63, on view at Robinsons Galleria’s Level 2 Atrium from April 30 to May 31. The massive, 25-feet inflatable figure takes after the design elements of the toy designer’s signature TEQ63 character. “TEQ” is short for “technique,” while “63” is the Philippines’ country code. Aside from the inflatable figure, there will be a Quiccs’ toy booth up from April 30 to May 1 where visitors have a chance to meet the artist himself. Visitors have a chance to win a random Quiccs toy every week through the R-TEQ63 Selfie Raffle Promo. To join the contest, take a selfie with R-TEQ63 at Robinsons Galleria, and follow and tag the official Facebook and Instagram accounts of both Robinsons Galleria and Quiccs. Winners will be announced every Friday. The promo runs from April 30 to May 31. R-TEQ63 is set to visit other Robinsons Malls such as Robinsons Magnolia and Robinsons Place Manila. For more information, visit www.robinsonsmalls.com or follow Robinsons Malls’ social media pages.

Redraw Your Summer program at a mall

THE CARTOON Network and Ayala Malls launch the Redraw Your Summer program from May 1 to June 30. The program starts with a meet and greet with iconic Cartoon Network characters. Children can also participate in designing community art murals featuring specially made Tweety 80th anniversary artwork at select Ayala Malls. The SoFA Design Institute will offer workshops in Glorietta, Alabang Town Center, TriNoma, Greenbelt, and Market! Market! to encourage kids to jazz up their summer style by crafting their own Cartoon Network themed mask lanyards, headgear, tops, and tote bags. Steps Dance Studio will hold workshops for children to groove to their favorite Cartoon Network tunes at Glorietta, Alabang Town Center, TriNoma, Greenbelt, Market! Market!, UP Town Center, and Ayala Malls Cloverleaf. Marquee, Abreeza, and Solenad will also work with community partners for dance and martial arts workshops. International art enrichment program Global Art will lead workshops for children to discover their inner artist by coloring their favorite Cartoon Network stars at Alabang Town Center, Glorietta, Ayala Malls Manila Bay, Abreeza, and Greenbelt. UP Town Center, Solenad, Ayala Malls Serin, Centrio Mall, and The District Imus will also work with various artists and organizations. Make Believe Productions will hold Cartoon Network theater workshops at Alabang Town Center, Glorietta, Trinoma, Ayala Malls Manila Bay, Feliz, and Market! Market! The Mind Museum will partner with Glorietta, The District Imus, Marquee, and Harbor Point for science shows for children looking for fun ways to learn about science. There will also be plenty of games, prizes, and opportunities to meet characters from We Bare Bears, Ben 10, The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, and The Amazing World of Gumball. Visit www.ayalamalls.com for full details. Health and safety measures will be implemented.

2nd fireside chat on youth and elections on May 3

WITH a few days left before the 2022 elections, the J. Amado Araneta Foundation (JAAF), the social development arm of the Araneta Group, will hold a second YoVote fireside chat on the importance of elections and the youth. YoVote 2.0 will be held at the Happening at the Gateway Gallery on May 3, 2 p.m. It will delve into the decision-making process for the upcoming May elections. Invited resource speakers are Eugene Kaw, a Professor of Law at the Ateneo de Manila University, and Dr. Clarita Carlos, a Political Science Professor from the University of the Philippines. Admission to this event is free. To register, visit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JxI2J8NeasbVXThXEyA5CDP_oxyd9_mXWrox4KXf7mo/edit?usp=sharing.

Spanish musician holds concert

INSTITUTO Cervantes presents a concert by Spanish artist Pedro Bonet on May 3, 3 p.m., at the National Museum of Fine Arts (3rd Floor, old Senate Hall). Titled From the first circumnavigation to the Manila Galleon: Music on the Iberian circumnavigation routes, the concert is organized in the framework of the Quincentennial celebration of the first circumnavigation. The musical pieces, which will be played on 14 different flutes, have been selected to represent a site in the journey or a historical figure relevant to the expedition. A music professor specializing in the recorder, Mr. Bonet is a founding member and director of the baroque music ensemble La Folía. Prior to the concert, there will be a guided tour through the exhibit “The Longest Journey: The First Journey Around the World.” Admission is free but prior registration is required by sending an e-mail to cenmni@cervantes.es. For more information, visit the Instituto Cervantes Facebook page (www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila).

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