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Peso rises as RTB sale ends

THE PESO climbed against the greenback on Friday following the end of the government’s retail Treasury bond (RTB) offering the day prior.

The local unit closed at P48.56 per dollar on Friday, gaining six centavos from its Thursday finish of P48.62. It also appreciated by three centavos from its P48.59-per-dollar close on Feb. 26.

The peso opened Friday’s session at P48.66 a dollar. Its weakest showing was at P48.67 while its intraday best was at P48.525 against the greenback.

Dollars traded increased to $933.45 million on Friday from $817.23 million on Thursday.

The peso strengthened after the closure of the RTB offering, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.

“[This] could have entailed some foreign buyers and inflows of dollars despite higher inflation data,” Mr. Ricafort said in a text message.

The Bureau of the Treasury on Thursday said it raised P463.3 billion in three-year retail Treasury bonds, marking its second-biggest issuance for the securities so far following the record P516.3 billion in five-year RTBs sold last year.

Broken down, P411.8 billion were fresh funds or “new money” while P51.5 billion were issued under the bond exchange program.

Meanwhile, a trader said profit-taking ahead of the US jobs report also fuelled the peso’s strength on Friday. — LWTN

Over 3,000 COVID cases logged on Friday, highest since Oct. 16

THE health department reported on Friday 3,093 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily case rate in almost five months, and more cases of the new variants.

The March 5 tally was the highest since the 3,139 reported in October 16, 2020.

This brings the country’s total coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases to 587,704, including 40,074 active cases.

Over 89% of the active cases are mild while 5.6% are asymptomatic. For critical, severe, and moderate cases, the Department of Health (DoH) said they are at 2.0%, 1.9%, and 0.77%, respectively.

Additional recoveries were at 178, putting the total at 535,207. Total deaths were at 12,423, including the additional 19 deaths on Friday.

The DoH also reported on Friday that its targeted sequencing detected 52 additional cases positive for the South Africa Variant; 31 new cases for the UK Variant; and 42 new cases with mutations of potential clinical significance.

These were among the 350 samples tested by the University of the Philippines Philippine Genome Center.

Health officials again cautioned the public that minimum health protocols must be strictly followed despite the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country this week.

“Yes, vaccines are here but it will take some time before it is our turn (to get vaccinated)… The next best thing to do is to continue to wear our face masks and shields. They are just as effective as vaccines,” John Q. Wong, adviser to the national task force handling the coronavirus response and a member of the Technical Working Group on COVID-19 Variants, said in a virtual briefing on Friday.

He noted that in a recent monitoring exercise, it was observed that 91% of people wore face masks properly but only 31% did so with face shields.

DoH Health Promotion and Policy Head Rodley M. Carza said COVID-19 cases would have increased higher than its rate now if people still doubt the efficacy of using face shields along with their face masks.

“I think that highlights why face shields are important because we are imposing face shields now and we are still seeing increasing cases. What more if we remove face shields,” he said in the same forum.

Emerging cases of the new variants, which are more transmissible, has also contributed to the recent rise of daily COVID-19 cases, according to Mr. Wong, citing that a similar trend has been seen in other countries. — Gillian M. Cortez

Ambassadors assure more COVID vaccine supply coming by mid-year

THE Philippines is expected to receive the initial batch of coronavirus vaccines developed by Amerian firm Moderna Inc. by June or earliest in late-May, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said on Friday.

“We’re hoping to have the first delivery by either end of May or early part of June,” he said in a televised news briefing. “That’s our target.”

The Philippine government earlier announced that the possible arrival of Moderna vaccines will be in the third quarter of the year.

Mr. Romualdez said Manila has already concluded its supply agreement with the American pharmaceutical company. He is confident that the delivery would be no later than the second quarter as Washington has doubled up its vaccine production.

“We’re threshing out the supply kung kailan nila puwedeng i- (when they can) deliver itong  Moderna,” he said.

The Philippine government, along with the private sector, has signed a deal with Moderna to secure 20 million vials of its vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). 

The supply agreement was financed by the World Bank.

Mr. Romualdez said the doses will be divided among private firms, the central government, and local governments. 

“Almost half of that will go to the private sector and their employees. And then the other half will go to our health workers and the rest of the Filipinos that will be receiving the Moderna through the LGUs (local government units) and other entities in the Philippines,” he said.

At the same briefing, the envoy said Manila will take delivery of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines developed by another American drugmaker, Pfizer Inc., “within the next couple of weeks.”

Mr. Romualdez said Johnson and Johnson has also committed to provide six million doses to Manila, although it has yet to give a definite date of delivery as vaccine manufacturers in the US have answered to the call of President Joe Biden to inoculate all American adults by the end of May.

The envoy assured that Washington will deliver on its commitment to supply coronavirus vaccines to other countries as it is “back in the WHO (World Health Organization) and they are also contributing to the COVAX facility (which) will give access to most countries especially the Philippines.”

BRITISH ENVOY

The Philippines on Thursday received its first shipment of AstraZeneca shots, consisting of 487,200 doses, supplied under the WHO’s global initiative for equal vaccine access.

British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel R. Pruce said the arrival in the Philippines of the COVID-19 vaccines developed by British-Swede drugmaker AztraZeneca will be followed by over 20 million more doses.

“Around 23 million doses of AztraZeneca vaccine should arrive in the country this year,” Mr. Pruce said in a video message on Friday.

The total includes around five million under the COVAX facility and the rest are covered by the tripartite agreements with the national government and local governments, or private sector.

The British government is one of the largest donors of COVAX, giving £548 million to the facility.

“I don’t know how to express my gratitude to the donor countries that you remembered the poor nations is in fact already a plus for humanity,” said President Rodrigo R. Duterte during the AstraZeneca arrival ceremony late Thursday.

 

PAL, Cebu Pacific transport COVID vaccines to provinces

THE country’s two biggest air service providers, Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Air, Inc. (Cebu Pacific), have been delivering the country’s first batch of coronavirus vaccines to areas outside the capital region.

In a statement on Friday, PAL said a total of 145,520 doses of CoronaVac vaccine donated by the Chinese government to Manila were delivered to various parts of the country.

The vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd arrived in the country on Feb. 28 and were initially brought to cold chain storage facilities at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila and Metropac Logistics in Marikina City.

PAL, through its commercial flights, said it carried 10,580 doses to Iloilo, 17,480 doses to Cebu, 6,600 doses to Bacolod, 17,940 doses to Cotabato , 8,940 doses to Butuan, 2,680 doses to Tagbilaran, and 6,900 doses to Tacloban.

Earlier this week, the flag carrier flew 17,400 doses to Cagayan de Oro, 21,600 doses to Davao, 12,000 doses to Legazpi, and 4,200 doses to Cotabato.

Another 12,000 doses were brought to Davao and 7,200 doses to Cebu.

“PAL continues to be of service to the nation by doing its share towards healing and recovery,” it said.

Also on Friday, CebGo, operator of Cebu Pacific’s turboprop fleet, delivered 21,000 vials of CoronaVac to Zamboanga and Tuguegarao .

“We are happy to support the rollout of the government’s vaccination program. As a public service with the widest domestic network, we will do all we can to help ensure the timely and successful distribution of vaccines across the country, as we all work together to pave way for the recovery of our economy,” CebGo President Alex B. Reyes said in a statement.

Meanwhile, coronavirus response team deputy chief implementer Vivencio B. Dizon said President Rodrigo R. Duterte wants the simultaneous rollout of the CoronaVac vaccine and the shot developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc, which arrived in Manila on Thursday.

“The rollout will start immediately, as based on the instructions of our President, that he wants the rollout to be simultaneous so that also our healthcare workers are given a choice,” Mr. Dizon told CNN Philippines. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Prisoners in priority list of vaccine recipients—DoH

PRISONERS, or formally referred to as persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), are included in the government’s priority groups for vaccination against coronavirus, the Health said on Friday.

“Groups at significant higher risk including all PDLs as determined by (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) and (Bureau of Corrections) are included under the Priority Eligible Group B-9,” Department of Health-National Vaccine Operations Center Chair Myrna C. Cabotaje said in a letter to Kapatid, a group representing families of political prisoners

She also assured that every consenting Filipino will be vaccinated, “including all Political Prisoners.”

Kapatid earlier appealed to the government for elderly inmates and those with grave illnesses to be given priority in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) inoculation program “as part of the most at-risk groups to directly control the spread of sickness and deaths inside prison facilities, which also affects the communities surrounding them.”

The also previously asked for the inclusion of about 215,000 inmates in the country’s crowded jails in the priority list of groups to be vaccinated.

TEACHERS
Meanwhile, a lawmaker on Friday called on the government to also prioritize public school officials and employees for COVID-19 vaccination.

BHW Party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co in a statement said the Department of Education (DepEd) should look into vaccinating its personnel as discussions are ongoing for the resumption of face-to-face classes.

“By now, DepEd should be checking on the health status and vaccination readiness of all its 900,000 personnel and the personnel of the private schools preparing to inevitably reopen,” she said.

Over 2,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel under DepEd were tested positive for the COVID-19, the lawmaker noted.

Ms. Co also said the Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority should likewise look into its capability to vaccinate its personnel. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago and Gillian M. Cortez

PHL receives list of weaponry to be donated by US

THE Philippine defense department has received a list of military equipment that will be given by the Pentagon, the country’s envoy to the United States said on Friday.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte recently demanded that Washington must provide payment for the continuation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries. 

Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel G. Romualdez said the list of weaponry to be donated by the US would be enough to “satisfy” the President’s concern regarding the modernization of the Philippine Armed Forces.

More arms and “whatever hardware” the country needs from the US will be coming soon, he said in a televised news briefing. 

He said a “long list” was given to Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana, “which is technically what we programmed for the past five years, since 2016 actually,” Mr. Romualdez said.

Manila will also receive ten more Blackhawk helicopters within this year, the diplomat said. 

The tough-talking Duterte last month said the US should pay a certain amount if it wants to keep its VFA with the Philippines. Mr. Duterte suspended the military pact, which sets the rules for troop deployment during war games, last year.

Mr. Romualdez said the VFA and Mutual Defense Treaty were discussed in a virtual bilateral strategic dialogue between the two countries in late February, which involved US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and a certain American defense official in charge of Asian areas. 

“Yung sinabi ni President Duterte tungkol doon sa pagbayad, ang interpretation namin ay dahil kailngan i-modernize nga ang ating armed forces (What President Duterte said about payment, our interpretation is that it’s because there is a need to modernize our armed forces),” Mr. Romualdez said.

“I think we will continue to have good relations with this country and so all of these problems (will be sorted out) in a way that is mutually beneficial to all of us,” he added.

The Philippines this year celebrates its 75th diplomatic relations with its former colonizer. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Court junks De Lima’s motion for reconsideration

A REGIONAL court in Muntinlupa denied on Friday the motion of Senator Leila M. de Lima and her co-accused Ronnie P. Dayan for reconsideration of the decision to proceed with the illegal drug trade case against them.

“The Court stands with its Omnibus Order that accused De Lima and Dayan must present their evidence to prove their innocence of the crime charged,” reads the latest ruling from the Regional Trial Court Branch 205 relating to Criminal Case No. 17-165.

It further said that it is the discretion of the court to summarize the facts of the case after reading all the records, and that “it does not deprive accused De Lima the opportunity to exculpate herself if she can convincingly refute this Court’s initial findings.”

Ms. de Lima and Mr. Dayan have asserted that the prosecution failed “to prove beyond reasonable doubt” their alleged involvement in illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison.

The senator, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, is on trial for alleged involvement in illegal drug trade in the country’s national penitentiary when she was still Justice secretary, and for allegedly using the millions of pesos from the trading to finance her senatorial campaign in 2016.

She has been jailed at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since February 2017. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago

Solon wants probe on food delivery apps’ failure to give senior citizen discount

A LAWMAKER seeks to investigate the alleged non-compliance of food delivery app companies to providing a 20% discount to senior citizens.

In a statement on Friday, Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera-Dy said she filed House Resolution No. 1626 which calls for a probe in aid of legislation by an appropriate House committee on food delivery service providers violating Republic Act (RA) 9944 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

“There is an increasing number of complaints from the senior citizens who could not avail of the 20% discount mandated by law for food deliveries using applications like Food Panda and Grab, among others,” she said in a statement on Friday.

The law states that seniors , or those at least 60 years old, are entitled to a 20% discount and exemption from paying value added tax for applicable goods and services from all establishments.

Food delivery service is covered under Section 3 of the law, which states, “For delivery orders, the 20 percent discount shall likewise apply subject to certain conditions, i.e. senior citizen ID card number must be given while making the order over the telephone.”

Non-compliance to the law warrant a penalty of P50,000 to P200,000 and imprisonment of two to six years, depending on the number of violations. — Gillian M. Cortez

DoubleDragon REIT sets final IPO price at P2.25

DDMP REIT, Inc. (DDMPR), the real estate investment trust of DoubleDragon Properties Corp., on Friday priced its initial public offering at P2.25 per share, the high end of its indicative pricing.

“We would like to notify the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that the final offer price for the public offering of DDMPR is P2.25 per share,” DDMPR President Ferdinand J. Sia told the stock exchange.

The company has applied for the listing of some 17.83 billion common shares on the main board of the PSE. Of this, 5.94 billion common shares with an over-allotment option of nearly 594.25 million common shares will be offered to the public.

With the IPO priced at P2.25 per share, DDMPR is poised to raise P14.71 billion.

The offer period will run from March 10 to 16. DDMPR shares are tentatively scheduled to debut on the exchange on March 23.

This will be only the second real estate investment trust to be listed on the PSE, after Ayala Land, Inc.’s AREIT, Inc. which raised P13.6 billion from its IPO last year.

In November, the company said the majority of the proceeds from the sale would be poured as equity into CentralHub Industrial Centers, Inc.

DDMPR is working with joint global coordinators Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd., DBS Bank Ltd., Nomura Singapore Ltd., and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. for the offering.

The company also named CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, Investment & Capital Corp. of the Philippines (ICCP), Macquarie Capital Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte. Ltd., and RCBC Capital Corp. as the sale’s bookrunners. — K.C.G. Valmonte

7-Eleven operator rolls out cash-recycling ATMs in its Philippine stores

Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC) said it is targeting to install 320 cash-recycling ATMs in its 7-Eleven stores around the country within the first half of 2021.

PSC, the exclusive licensor of 7-Eleven in the Philippines, told the stock exchange it has already installed more than 30 cash-recycling ATMs in select convenience stores in Metro Manila last month.

Cash-recycling ATMs can accept cash deposits via high-speed bill readers and then dispense those same bills for withdrawals.

“There are few (cash-recycling ATMs) in the Philippines, because they are considerably more expensive than withdrawal-only ATMs. Seven Bank’s model of allowing several banks to share the ATMs so that more customers could use them without fees, and then installing them in a safe and convenient location like our stores made tremendous sense for us, which is why we have been wooing them for several years now,” PSC Chief Executive Officer Jose Victor P. Paterno said in a statement.

Once the 320 ATMs are installed, PSC said this would become part of the “largest cash-recycling ATM network” in the country.

The company said it is working with Pito AxM Platform, Inc. (PAPI), a Philippine subsidiary of Seven Bank, Ltd. of Japan (Seven Bank), on the roll-out of the ATMs.

PAPI has currently partnered with BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) for the project.

“BDO account holders can withdraw and perform balance inquiries free of charge from the ATMs in 7-Eleven stores and will soon be able to use the deposit function that is currently limited to 7-Eleven store cash only,” PSC said.

“Other bank account holders through BancNet can also do withdrawal and balance inquiry transactions subject to the ATM fees charged by their issuing banks,” the listed firm added.

Philippine Seven said PAPI is planning to expand the number of its partner banks.

“We have seen the increased demand for ATM access in the Philippines, especially under the current environment. By installing ATMs in 7-Eleven stores, we hope to make access to cash more convenient for numerous Filipinos and play our part in increasing financial inclusion,” PAPI president and director Tsuneo Nagashima was quoted as saying in a statement.

PSC operates 2,978 convenience stores in the Philippines as of Dec. 31, 2020.

PSC shares were unchanged at P98.55 apiece on Friday. — Angelica Y. Yang

Cebu Landmasters expands in 4 more cities in Visayas, Mindanao

Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) is expanding its economic housing brand to four more cities in the Visayas and Mindanao, after seeing a spike in demand amid the pandemic.

The listed real estate developer told the stock exchange it is launching a Casa Mira community in Dumaguete this month. Casa Mira communities will also be built in Ormoc, Puerto Princesa, and Davao City within the year.

“Many new residential seekers met that need by purchasing Casa Mira homes. As demand in other parts of the region continues to be largely unmet, we’ve made it our mission to roll out more Casa Mira projects in more VisMin cities to fill that gap,” CLI chief executive officer Jose R. Soberano III said in a statement on Friday.

The Casa Mira brand made up for 69% of CLI’s record reservation sales worth P14.23 billion during the height of the health crisis last year, higher than its usual contribution of 30%.

“We believe that an expansive mood and lessons learned from the pandemic–where homes in well-planned communities provided a safe haven–will drive Casa Mira forward for the balance of the year,” Mr. Soberano added.

Casa Mira communities include a clubhouse with multi-purpose halls, a chapel, a swimming pool, a basketball court, and a children’s playground.

There are currently ten Casa Mira communities with a combined development cost of P10.24 billion in in Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental.

Cebu Landmasters shares rose by 2.97% at the stock exchange on Friday, closing at P5.5 apiece. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Cebu Pacific taps local banks for P16-B loan

Cebu Air, Inc., operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, on Friday said its board approved a P16-billio, ten-year loan from local banks.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Friday, the company said that its board of directors approved the loan from state banks Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, in partnership with private banks.

The private banks include Asia United Bank Corporation, Bank of the Philippines Islands, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company, and Union Bank of the Philippines.

The loan will be used to fund the firm’s capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.

“The loan will also provide a cushion against unexpected working capital requirements that may stem from fuel price and foreign exchange rate volatility,” Cebu Air said.

The commercial airline industry was hit hard by the pandemic. Cebu Pacific currently operates less than a quarter of its pre-pandemic network at 32 domestic destinations as it runs half of its 73 aircraft.

The budget carrier said that it sustained severe revenue declines during the pandemic, but its net debt-to-equity ratio was still at 2.34x as of the end of September.

“Cebu Pacific remains focused on its business transformation to reduce its unit cost so as to continue to offer affordable flights,” Cebu Air President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said.

The company swung to a net loss of P14.69 billion for the first nine months of 2020 from the P6.77-billion profit in the same period a year earlier.

The fundraising adds to the company’s convertible preferred shares offering, where it plans to raise around P12.5 billion, Cebu Pacific Director for Financial Analytics and Investor Relations Trina E. Asuncion said on Wednesday.

Shares in Cebu Air went up 1.01% or 45 centavos to close at P45 each on Friday. — Jenina P. Ibañez

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