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Vessel-monitoring measures seen adding teeth to closed fishing season

THE CLOSED fishing season declared over the Visayan Sea and the Zamboanga Peninsula will be more adequately enforced once the rules on sardine management and vessel monitoring are implemented, environmental non-government organization (NGO) Oceana said.

“The declaration of closed fishing season by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) this year takes a more significant turn because the National Sardines Management Plan was signed and up for implementation. Secondly, we have the rules on vessel monitoring measures also ready for implementation that will help in effectively enforcing the closed season,” according to a statement from the organization, quoting its vice president Gloria Estenzo Ramos.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, in Fisheries Administrative Order no. 167-3, closed off the Visayan Sea on Nov. 15 to all fishing activity involving sardines, herring and mackerel, while the ban on the Zamboanga peninsular waters was imposed on Dec. 1, covering sardines. The closed seasons end on Feb. 15 and March 1, respectively.

“With the spatial and temporal closure in the portion of the Visayan Sea, it is imperative for Fisheries Management Area 11 and pertinent Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) through the Management Body to put in place a monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will look into the biological condition of the fisheries resources, and socio-economic impact of this harvest control measure. This science-based intervention of policies and plans that are developed through the participatory mechanism of the Fisheries Management Area will be most helpful,” Ms. Ramos said.

Oceana touted the Sardines Management Plan as an opporunity to take a more participatory approach to fisheries management, engaging fisherfolk, local governments and civil society groups.

Sardines are important for food security going forward, in the context of the pandemic and climate change, she said, adding that the needs of fishing communities must be looked after.

On the enforcement side, Ms. Ramos said Oceana backs the use of technology like Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suites (VIIRS) to detect violators, as well as tracking devices in commercial fishing vessels.

VIIRS is used to determine vessel locations at night.

Joyce Sierra, the Oceana Communications manager, told BusinessWorld that Oceana is asking for FMAs and law enforcement agencies to enforce the commercial fishing ban in municipal waters alongside the closed seasons in the Visayas Sea and Zamboanga Peninsula.

“Part of the plan is to determine the impact of the close season and support the provision of job opportunities during the close season. As we continue to grapple with the challenges of the pandemic, climate change and fisheries management, our fisherolk bear the heavier burden than any other sections of our population. Ironically, they are our food producers that suffer the most from hunger, barely able to give their children their basic necessities of shelter and education,” Ms. Ramos said. — Angelica Y. Yang

Metro Manila Film Festival 2020: Tarnishing the Superstar

By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

MOVIE REVIEW
Isa Pang Bahaghari
Directed by Joel Lamangan

YOU’VE got a problem in your hands if Superstar Nora Aunor can’t quite get you to focus on a movie.

Isa Pang Bahaghari sounds like a follow-up to Joel Lamangan’s 2018 hit Rainbow’s Sunset. Not having seen that movie, we won’t be able to compare Bahaghari to that 2018 MMFF Best Picture awardee. Suffice it to say that we don’t think this movie could stand up to its predecessor.

Dom (played by Philip Salvador), is an aged and ailing seaman who, after a maritime accident, disappeared for 20 years. He had been marooned in Cuba and came to live with his rescuers. In that span of time, he had been with a common-law wife, and her death and his release from that life prompts him to return to the Philippines. His wife, Lumen (Nora Aunor), believing him to be dead, raises his children in squalor by a seaside town, where she makes tuyo (dried fish).

Before I get angry at the rest of the film’s details, let me first commend the Superstar for an entrance that is a testament to her powers. She’s shuffling fish, dishevelled and disabled; but still managing to elicit a gasp from the audience. That’s the last time in this film that I could say I loved her’ because I would say this film painfully underutilized its cast. Right after her entrance, any love or sympathy I may have had for her character has disappeared. Even The Superstar is no match against unimaginative camerawork and a lack of texture; the film appears to be a long Sunday TV drama, fit only for the small screen. The cast is also a victim of unlikely writing: after seeing my spouse whom I had long believed to be dead, without prior knowledge of his soap-operatic circumstances, I wouldn’t run up to him and try to beat him up with my crutch. Lumen’s crutch is explained as a consequence of a workplace accident (how Dickensian!), but frankly, I think she hobbled from trying to carry the whole movie on her back.

The film spins on the axis of the friendship between Dom and an old gay man, Rhey (Michael de Mesa), who tries to reconcile both his old friends. Lumen was his high school best friend, while Dom was an old flame he couldn’t quite put out. This is problematic: I can forgive Rhey being an old gay trope: he does hair, he speaks with an old-fashioned gay lisp, he lipsyncs kundimans in drag. Fine. He is a product of his times. What I find hard to forgive is that despite him being a main character, he serves only as an accessory to a heteronormative storyline: fixing up his two best friends. Isn’t he a little bit too old for that?

Well, Rhey has a lot on his plate either way: that plot! In the first 40 minutes (the movie runs for two hours), he is supposed to help the pair with the following: Dom’s estrangement from his wife and kids; his son being a drug pusher in this climate (he constantly receives warnings about his death in the hands of the law — more on this later), his daughter as an exotic dancer (she defends herself by saying she never took all her clothes off), and his other son in jail due to a false accusation of rape. Add this to the fact that everyone is quite poor and miserable. In one scene, Dom reveals to Rhey that he also has stage 4 cancer, and I said the same thing as Michael de Mesa’s character: “Ha?! Cancer?!”

From this plot comes my praise for MMFF’s streaming service for this year: in the time I spent trying to avoid the plot, I had time to reorganize my jewelry and try two different hairstyles. I wouldn’t have had that freedom had this been shown in the theaters.

(Spoilers ahead!)

I say that the film doesn’t optimize its stars — and in hindsight, its material. For example: there’s the son’s subplot involving his trade in drugs, and his death at the hands of the law. In one scene, where he’s almost killed, it’s implied that the bounty on his dead head was set by his bosses, and not the tentacles of the law with which he is constantly threatened. Really? As for my commentary about the stars: you’ve got Nora Aunor in there. There were several opportunities for monologues, but they were either unceremoniously interrupted; or else given up to badly-shot flashbacks. Instead, Nora Aunor’s most memorable line in the movie is, “Puki mong fake!,” translated as “You’re a fake, Rhey!” in the subtitles.

Speaking of the subtitles, whenever Rhey is called “bakla” (gay) onscreen, it’s translated as the six-letter F-word slur in the subtitles. Surely we can find a much better word? Even just removing the last three letters would soften the blow. I don’t know if I’m reading far too much into it, and I’ve become too PC for comfort, but problematic gay tropes are just everywhere in this movie, leaving one to label the film as regressive and reductive. For example: Dom meets up with an old childhood friend, who turns out to have been gay for him in their youth. “Lagi kitang binobosohan noon (I used to peep at you),” said his friend, a line that made me stop polishing a ring, because it was played for laughs. Another scene, a flashback, shows a young Rhey feeling up a sleeping Dom. Dom says that he wasn’t that drunk when he was felt up, so there was a measure of consent there; and that encounter was supposed to prove their love for each other. They do admit their love to each other, albeit on different planes: Dom loves Rhey as a very dear friend who has given him so much (because he helped pay for his tuition, helped raise his kids) while Rhey loves Dom romantically, spiritually, physically, etc. (because he is Dom). Any and all gravity this scene might have had been killed. I’ll spare you the details and tell you that Nora and Philip both die, and their young selves run towards the sea.

Why should you watch this film? Well, watch it for Nora, but lower your expectations, and just remember her as a living, imperfect relic. Otherwise, there’s a bevy of other, better choices for learning about being both queer and old; and they won’t make you smirk.

Investors rethink role of bonds, tech after chaotic year

THIS has been a year like no other.

Hammered by an unprecedented health crisis, global stocks tumbled into a bear market at record speed, and then rallied to new highs thanks to a flood of central bank money. Bond yields tanked to uncharted lows and the world’s reserve currency surged to all-time highs, only to then retreat to its weakest level in more than two years as 2020 draws to a close.

Global asset allocators from BlackRock, Inc. to JPMorgan Asset Management have outlined their takeaways for investors from the volatile year. Here are some of their reflections:

RETHINK BONDS’ ROLE IN PORTFOLIOS
The massive stimulus doled out by global policy makers when markets seized up in March led to one instance of a breakdown in what has long been a negative correlation between equities and bonds. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose from 0.3% to 1% within a week, and simultaneously equity markets continued to fall.

Now, as investors face lower-for-longer rates even as growth picks up, doubts are emerging whether developed-market government bonds can continue to provide both protection and diversification as well as satiate investors seeking income gains. There’s also a debate over the traditional investing policy of putting 60% of funds in stocks and 40% in bonds, even though the strategy proved to be resilient during the year.

“We expect more active fiscal stimulus than any other modern period in history in the next economic cycle, as monetary and fiscal policy align,” said Peter Malone, portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset’s multi-asset solutions team in London. “Future returns from a simple, static stock-bond portfolio will likely be constrained.”

Some Wall Street giants recommend investors take a pro-risk stance to adapt to the changing role of bonds. Among them, BlackRock Investment Institute advised investors to turn to equities and high-yield bonds, according to a note published in early December.

‘DON’T FIGHT THE FED’
Few would have expected the swift turnaround in markets we saw in 2020. As COVID-19 spread, the S&P 500 Index plunged 30% in just four weeks early in the year, a much faster tumble than the median one-and-a-half-years it had taken it to get to the bottom in previous bear markets.

Then, as governments and central banks shored up economies with liquidity, stock prices rebounded at an equally astonishing pace. In about two weeks, the US benchmark was up 20% from its March 23 low.

“Normally you get more time to position your portfolio in a correction,” said Mumbai-based Mahesh Patil, co-chief investment officer at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd.. With markets moving so fast, someone in cash “would have been caught napping on this rally and it would have been difficult to catch up.”

Being a bit contrarian helps, Patil said, adding that it’s better for investors not to take too large a call on sitting on cash. They should also focus on a bottom-up portfolio so they can go through both up and down cycles, he said.

SooHai Lim, head of Asia Equities ex-China at Barings, said the speedy market recovery proved the soundness of the old saying “Don’t fight the Fed.”

That said, some fund managers warned that investors should not take swift central banks support as guaranteed.

“It was a flip of a coin where it went from there and whether they’d stepped in early enough,” said John Roe, head of multi-asset funds at Legal & General Investment Management in London. “The downside could have been unprecedented.”

TEFLON TECH
This year’s dizzying rally in tech stocks gave investors an opportunity of a lifetime. Anyone who missed out on this theme that benefited greatly from stay-at-home and digitization trends in the pandemic would most likely find their portfolios lagging benchmarks. The top 10 US companies that have contributed the most gains to the S&P 500 Index this year are all technology-related stocks, ranging from cloud-computing pioneer Amazon.com Inc to chip maker NVIDIA Corp.

Even with a short pause in November when positive trial results from a Covid-19 vaccine spurred a rotation into lagging cyclical shares, technology has ended as the top-performing sector in Asia and Europe. Adherents of the value strategy saw multiple false starts during the year, as investors bet that the group of shares, defined by cheapness and mostly comprising names sensitive to economic cycles, would finally have their day. They were disappointed.

“Never underestimate the impact of technology,” said Alan Wang, portfolio manager at Principal Global Investors in Hong Kong. Thanks to cheap borrowing costs, “a lot of new technology has been re-rated and this (pandemic) just created a great opportunity for them to re-invent our lives.”

Innovative stocks now are being valued on intangible factors such as goodwill and intellectual property rather than traditional methods like price-to-earnings ratios, Wang said, adding that investors should adopt such valuation strategies.

CASH IS KING FOR COMPANIES
The pandemic and the speed with which it roiled markets showed investors they should stick with companies with strong balance sheets that can ride the waves of uncertain times.

“The resilience of stocks in a year like this helps to prove their worth and justify their higher valuation multiples in a low rate world,” said Tony DeSpirito, chief investment officer of US fundamental active equity at BlackRock.

2020 reaffirmed two important lessons DeSpirito has learned over the years: investors should undertake stress tests on companies to see if those firms’ earnings and balance sheets are strong enough to survive recessions during normal times; and they should diversify investments risks and also increase sources of alpha potential.

BE MINDFUL OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Policy makers’ decisive rescue plans came at a cost for investors in some sectors. European banking shares tanked after being ordered to halt dividends to preserve capital. In Asia, real estate became the second-worst-performing industry after energy shares this year, weighed down by property owners when some markets like Singapore’s passed laws asking landlords to provide some tenants with rent relief.

“The government this time around has been quite heavy-handed,” said SooHai Lim, head of Asia Equities ex-China at Barings. “They have been more coordinated, a lot faster and more decisive.”

Lim said he will price in a higher risk level when investing in certain sectors like banks, which are “definitely more exposed to regulatory intervention.”

DOUBLING DOWN ON ESG
ESG-related assets managed to outperform in many pockets of the market during volatility, proving skeptics wrong. For example, an FTSE index of global stocks with significant involvement in environmental markets is up 35% this year, outperforming the global equity benchmark by more than 20 percentage points.

“The Covid crisis has brought the need for more rapid change into sharp focus and we are seeing clients of all types reassess their long-term objectives and the outcomes required of their investments,” said Harriet Steel, head of business development at Federated Hermes.

In fact, the pandemic has prompted massive inflows to ESG-related products. Global funds investing in or adopting strategies related to clean energy, climate change and ESG have grown their assets under management by about 32% from a year earlier to a new record $1.82 trillion in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. — Bloomberg

Philippines ranks 110th in internet speed

THE PHILIPPINES ranked 110th out of 139 countries in mobile internet speeds in November, according to the Speedtest Global Index run by American internet testing and analysis firm Ookla.

The country’s ranking inched up one spot with average mobile connectivity download speeds of 18.49 megabits per second (Mbps). In contrast, the top ranked United Arab Emirates saw 170.30 Mbps on average.

Southeast Asian neighbor Singapore ranked 16th, followed by Thailand (44th), Vietnam (63rd), Malaysia (88th), and Cambodia (102nd).

The Philippines also went up four spots to rank 103rd out of 176 countries for fixed broadband download speeds, with 28.69 Mbps compared with top-ranked Singapore’s 241.10 Mbps.

Thailand ranked third, while Malaysia came in 43rd followed by Vietnam at 49th. Cambodia came in 113th with 25.31 Mbps.

While lockdowns had affected internet speeds due to surging traffic, Ookla by July said that global internet speeds had mostly stabilized to pre-pandemic levels.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte in July threatened to shut down telecommunications companies Globe Telecom, Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. if they fail to improve services by the end of the year.

National Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba earlier this month said that telecommunications companies had improved services since then, noting that the average fixed download speed in the country was at 25.07 Mbps and mobile download speed was at 16.95 Mbps in July.

He said that internet connectivity demand increased by 500% during the stricter lockdown in March and April. — Jenina P. Ibañez

China to import record 100 million tons of soybeans in 2020 — COFCO

GUANGZHOU — China is expected to import more than 100 million tons of soybeans in 2020, a record high, said an executive with leading state-owned grains trader COFCO on Tuesday, as rebuilding of the country’s huge hog herd boosts demand for the protein.

The country is expected to crush 92.6 million tons of the beans this year, Zhou Jishuai, deputy general manager of the hedging and trading department of COFCO Oils and Oilseeds, a unit of COFCO Group, told a conference in Guangzhou.

After being decimated by African swine fever, China’s agriculture ministry has said the country’s pig herd recovered to more than 90% of normal levels by the end of November, even though some analysts remain skeptical about the extent of the recovery.

Mr. Zhou said soymeal demand will remain strong this quarter and into the first quarter of next year.

Demand for soybean oil is also set to rise more than 6% this year, thanks to increasing use of the oil in biodiesel and animal feed. — Reuters

Don’t let the door hit you on your way out, 2020

We should never let go of hope, and good news indeed appears to be on the horizon

AND SO it is upon us: the last breath of 2020.

The seemingly interminable year of heartache, disappointments, death, sickness, violence, natural calamities is coming to its inevitable close. A year marked by pain and suffering inflicted upon us by both ourselves and nature is now ready to be torn off from our walls and discarded in the trash bin like the much maligned 2020 planner that we almost never needed to use.

The recent deluge of news offers both hope and even more reasons to rue the year that should have been a lucky one. Yes, there are several vaccines available, but we don’t know when the Philippines will get any of them. While we wait with bated breath, social media exploded with a viral video of a double murder, starring a police officer. The long parade of horrors seemingly never ends.

As we plod on to Jan. 1, the irony is that we never quite managed to get, well, 20/20 vision on 2020. It was a rollercoaster ride that just jarred us from the get go. We got all the G forces and very little straights. How could we enjoy the view or even get a breather to focus when it was one haymaker after another?

If you’ve been a constant reader of this space, first, please accept my gratitude. You should also know that I’ve wanted to see how 2020 would pan out for the auto industry. From the direst days of the ECQ lockdown, we’ve seen the path to recovery — not a very clear-cut trajectory, but definable as it was directly impinged by the quarantine level and natural disasters (specifically a volcanic eruption and a slew of typhoons).

“There’s no way to go but up,” said dealer principal Vincent Licup, who is involved with the following brands (in alphabetical order): Chery, Chevy, Foton, MG, and Nissan. “The industry has stayed buoyant amid the waves. But of course, a lot is anchored on banks’ appetite to lend to consumers.”

If you talk to industry executives, this remains a common concern as loan facilities enable (depending on who you talk to) up to 80% of vehicle purchases. The role of finance institutions cannot be overstated. On the side of car distributors and brands, Mr. Licup said, “New models and better promos will propel the comeback.”

Continued the executive, “I’m confident that banks will renew their confidence on consumer financing next year, because it has the highest yield backed by a collateral (a vehicle). Second, they are in the business of banking; the only way to recover from losses is to lend. In fairness, interest rates were maintained.”

Meanwhile, Southgatemotors Ventures Corp. President and Auto Transport Ventures Managing Director Tey Sornet shared with “Velocity,” “Overall, the industry from January to November 2020 had a monthly average of 14,492 units or a -41.8% decline compared to the same period last year. We expect the total industry to finish the year 2020 at around 240,000 units or a decline of 42% compared to the full 2019 results of 410,000 units.”

Mr. Licup observed that the shuttering of hotels and schools in 2020 also negatively impacted vehicle sales. “The demand for vans disappeared. The number coding was also lifted, so the need for additional cars also dissipated.”

2021 HERE WE COME
Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines President Atty. Rommel Gutierrez confirmed to “Velocity” that 2021 will be a year of recovery for the auto industry, with a projected growth rate ranging from 20%-30%.

Mr. Sornet shared, “Our forecast for 2021 is at 320,000 units level or a growth of +33% compared to the result this year. It would be recovery year for the industry that has been greatly affected by the pandemic but would still be 22% below the peak level of 2019. This is mainly due to the continued weakness of the economy continuing to affect the demand and the appetite of the banks in approving auto loans.” I must add that the industry veteran has consistently been very vocal about how important it is for banks to loosen up and, well, start lending out to people again.

“Similar to the trend the past two years, we expect the top three next year to remain Japanese brands: Toyota, Mitsubishi and the brand we carry, Nissan. Their strong brand presence, proven quality and top-notch reliability is expected to keep them atop a very competitive market situation,” he continued.

Having said that, Mr. Sornet averred, “Chinese brands like MG, Foton, Chery, Geely would continue to be strong players next year with their striking designs, strong crossover lineup and attractive pricing. We expect the commercial vehicle segment to continue to increase its ratio of 34.60 versus passenger/SUV vehicles. Trucks, buses, van, and pickups will continue to be in strong demand.”

He also observed that smaller cars are now back to selling “at almost pre-pandemic levels.” This is indicative of a segment of the population “avoiding the use of public transportation.” Mr. Sornet anticipates this trend to continue next year.

For Atty. Gutierrez, the availability of that much-coveted COVID-19 vaccine can be the game changer — one that can enable the industry to realize a sharper growth trajectory. “It will definitely help restore confidence in the buying public,” he concluded.

Let’s cross our fingers and keep praying that tomorrow will be infinitely better than yesterday. We’ve had more than our share of sufferings this year.

Happy holidays, everyone. Keep safe!

Metro Manila Film Festival 2020: A whole new world

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Senior Reporter

MOVIE REVIEW
Magikland
Directed by Christian Acuna

CHRISTIAN ACUNA may have helmed Magikland, but for all intents and purposes, the fantasy-adventure film was a Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes film, harkening back to more than two decades ago when Magic Temple premiered at the Metro Manila Film Festival in 1996, winning 14 of the festival’s prizes.

Magikland, while a tribute to the cinematic career of Peque Gallaga (fondly called by some the “Steven Spielberg of the Philippines” for his ambitious works) is also a look at what the Filipino industry is capable of: that with enough time and a big enough budget, it is possible for a film to almost completely be done with great computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Mr. Gallaga passed away in May of this year.

During a press conference for the Metro Manila Film Festival in November, Mr. Acuna and Mr. Reyes (who, along with Mr. Gallaga and Albee Benitez, served as the film’s executive producers) noted that the film is “95% CG” and that it took about three years to complete — post-production alone took two years said Mr. Acuna. The budget for the film also went beyond P100 million.

And it’s easy to see why. This is the best-looking made-in-the-Philippines CGI film I have seen — the movements of the dragons (there are two) were smooth and the detailing for the world of Magikland was beautiful.

It is such a pity that the film cannot be shown in theaters this year as it clearly was meant for a bigger screen than my smartphone.

Inspiration was clearly taken from fantasy series and film franchises like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones (the title scene of Magikland is especially reminiscent of the HBO series based on George R. R. Martin’s books). The film’s main villain is called Mogrodo-or (played by Jamir Zabarte) — in the Lord of the Rings, Mordor is the base of the main villain Sauron, though interestingly, Mogrodo-or’s styling is very similar to Grima Wormtongue, the slimy spy of the evil wizard Saruman.

But while I have nothing but praise for the film’s production design and special effects, it has its shortcomings, mainly its actors, and, in part, the story itself.

It’s a very simple story: four children are summoned to Magikland to help save that world from the clutches of Mogrodo-or who wants to sow discord and chaos. Each of the children has their own issues: Boy Bakunawa (played by Miggs Cuaderno) has a dying mother and an unsympathetic family; two sisters Mara Marapara (Elijah Alejo) and Pat Patag (Princess Rabara) have had their lives torn apart by the acrimonious separation of their parents; and Kit Kanlaon (Josh Eugenio) lives on the streets. Each of these issues are brought forward in the first few minutes of the story. After the children earned high scores on the video game Magikland, the four are summoned to the in-game world to actually save it. The bulk of the film focuses on the trials the four children undergo as they try to obtain powers and attempt to reconcile their issues in the real world.

But while the story is simple and uses much of “the savior of the world also has issues” trope, the child actors sadly, didn’t deliver. It was a lot of stilted dialogue and the most emotional scenes felt emotionless. Not even the presence of award-winning actors such as Jaclyn Jose (as Boy’s mother) and Bibeth Orteza (as the summoner and the children’s guide) was able to make the emotional scenes effective.

It should be worth noting that none of the leads of Magikland were nominated for Best Child Performer in the Metro Manila Film Festival Awards.

Acting issues aside, Magikland is worth a watch if only to see how a Filipino was able to finally create a beautiful CGI world and film.

And do stick around after the end-credits because there is a very poignant tribute to Mr. Gallaga that I think is, ironically, the most emotional scene of the entire film.

PLDT sees revenue boost from home broadband market

PLDT, Inc. expects the biggest percentage of revenue increases to come from the home broadband market next year.

“There is going to be a big push in the home broadband,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a press release on Saturday.

“Wireless, we expect to grow, even in the enterprise, despite the impact of the pandemic on the enterprise sector of our economy. They grew this year by three percent and by 2021 they should grow by a percentage higher.”

The PLDT group will be using its integrated telecommunications in wireless and fixed connectivity as well as pay TV to compete, Mr. Pangilinan said.

Dito Telecommunity Corp., led by Dennis A. Uy, is scheduled to launch in March next year after it had put up almost 1,900 cell towers.

Moody’s Investors Service earlier this month said that it expected telecommunications revenue growth of emerging economies like the Philippines to remain stable in 2021. It said that increasing data consumptions and broadband use would continue to drive revenue growth, although this would be offset in part by lower demand in voice and messaging services.

Moody’s added that competition from the entry of Dito Telecommunity would weigh on growth. It said that telco revenue would grow 3.5%-4% next year for the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The PLDT group allocated P92 billion in capital expenditures (capex) for next year. The company expects P70 billion in capex for 2020, while its capex from 2011 to September 2020 reached P432 billion.

Smart Communications, Inc., PLDT’s wireless arm, plans to upgrade 40% of its sites to fifth generation (5G) by the end of next year.

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. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Bond traders close out year with 1% in sight

TREASURY traders are buzzing about 1% yields again, with all eyes on whether a massive slate of auctions next week and two key US Senate runoff elections in early January could get them there.

Rates on 10-year notes got as high as 0.971% on Wednesday after investors shifted out of bonds as Brexit negotiations looked headed for resolution, something that did indeed arrive on Christmas Eve. And major catalysts ahead — a trio of US auctions totaling a record $176 billion amid low liquidity in a holiday-shortened week, plus the Jan. 5 vote in Georgia — could further diminish the appeal of Treasuries, increasing rates.

The widely watched 10-year yield has largely trended higher this month, but has failed to break through the 1% level last seen early in the pandemic.

Democrats winning both Senate seats — and therefore control of Congress — could cause this rates barrier to fail, since the party appears more willing to unleash fiscal stimulus that gets the US economy on solid footing.

The elections’ outcome “could increase movement in that direction, but 1% is a big point of resistance,” said Tom Martin, a senior portfolio manager at Atlanta-based asset manager and investment adviser Globalt Investments. Still, “Georgia is the next big news item to watch.”

There’s plenty of reasons why the 10-year rate, a benchmark for long-term borrowing costs and weather vane for investor sentiment, might miss the mark once again. One is that the Federal Reserve is keeping policy rates near zero for a prolonged period, while reserving the option to hold down long-term rates if needed. Another is that the still-raging coronavirus is casting doubt on the ability of the US and global economies to return to normal anytime soon.

Over the past week, the Treasury options market has seen increased activity for the time period covering early 2021, which captures the Georgia runoffs in which voting is already underway. Higher levels of implied volatility in the market reflect the view that a Democratic win of both races, which would give the party full control of Congress plus the White House, would put more aggressive fiscal stimulus on the radar — and raise the risk of a sharp selloff in the long end of the bond market.

Meanwhile, aggressive contrarian bets have emerged, leaning against a Democratic sweep that produces a rout. Those wagers stand to pay out if there’s just a small rise in the 10-year rate, capped at around 10 basis points from the current level of 0.92%. That may still be enough to put the yield over 1%, though just barely.

Those options expire toward the end of January and into mid-February, so the coming week’s auctions could also impact those positions. That should give bond traders a lot to ponder on their return from the Christmas holiday.

A key level to watch for the 10-year rate is around 0.973%, according to William O’Donnell, a Citigroup Inc. rates strategist. “There’s been a ‘barrier of demand’ there in the recent past and the question is, ‘will it emerge again during holiday-like dealing conditions?’” — Bloomberg

Mayor of major French fishing port warns of Brexit deal risks

PARIS — The Brexit trade deal still leaves French fisherman facing a host of unknowns, warned the mayor of the major northern fishing port of the Boulogne-sur-Mer on Friday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday, as he presented the last-ditch accord, that his country had agreed a “reasonable” five-and-half-year transition period with the Eurepean Unioin (EU) over fisheries, longer than the three years Britain wanted but shorter than the 14 years the EU had originally asked for.

But Boulogne-sur-Mer Mayor Frederic Cuvillier said the agreement left much obscured.

“Relief for our fishermen, but what will be the impact on stocks? Who, for example, will be handling the controls? And over what time?” he told Europe 1 radio.

“The only certainty today is that we need to find, during the transition period, more deals within the deal.”

Mr. Cuvillier’s views were echoed by French politicians Loïg Chesnais-Girard and Herve Morin, whose responsibilities cover the Normandy region bordering the English Channel.

Mr. Chesnais-Girard and Mr. Morin issued a joint statement welcoming the fact that a Brexit “no-deal” had been averted, but also calling for a meeting with French Prime Minister Jean Castex to analyze more of the details.

French fishermen had lobbied President Emmanuel Macron not to give an inch over fishing rights, but his government dropped initial demands to maintain the status quo.

French Seas Minister Annick Girardin issued a statement to say the government would set up financial measures to help French fishermen affected by the Brexit trade accord.

There has also been discontent across the English Channel, with Britain’s fishing industry expressing disappointment that the deal did not represent more of a reduction in the access that the European bloc currently has to British waters. — Reuters

Metro Manila Film Festival 2020: All in the family

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Senior Reporter

MOVIE REVIEW
Coming Home
Directed by Adolf Alix, Jr.

WHILE I wrote in the Magikland review on this page that it was a pity that the movie wasn’t able to get a full theatrical release as the film was absolutely meant to be seen on the big screen with high quality surround sound, in contrast, the family drama Coming Home is perfect as a TV movie or afternoon drama as the cluttered storyline often left me wondering if I had missed something.

Magikland’s faults rests on the ineffectiveness of its child actors, but Coming Home has no such issues — in fact, the whole cast (with the exception of its lead star Jinggoy Estrada, playing the sick father) delivered and proved their acting chops, especially Sylvia Sanchez as the long-suffering matriarch and mother to five children.

The story is straightforward — or it should have been: A sick father, who abandoned his family for a decade (an OFW in Saudi Arabia, he fell in love with a nurse and lived with her), returns to his legal family and his wife welcomes him with open arms while four of the five children, traumatized by his leaving, are understandably angry.

Complications arise as each person in the family has their own issues as well: one daughter (played by Shaira Dizon) is a newly married yet battered wife; a son (Martin del Rosario) is having an affair with a married woman; another son (Edgar Allan Guzman) has just returned after being lost at sea after his ship was attacked by pirates; and the mother is hiding an issue of her own. Oh, and actually there were six children — the oldest one died prior to the events in the movie (to make it worse, the eldest child donated a kidney to his father who eventually abandoned them for another woman.)

The remaining two children — played by Vin Abrenica and Julian Estrada — have no complications in their lives. Interestingly, the only child who doesn’t have an issue with the return of their father is played by Julian Estrada, Mr. Estrada’s son in real life. The eldest child who died is played by Jake Ejercito, a half sibling of Mr. Estrada.

There was a lot of build-up over the animosity and reconciliation of the family but none of the scenes ever explained why Mr. Estrada came back (or maybe this writer missed it because streaming on Upstream wasn’t the smoothest experience — I had about six crashes while watching the film), or why the mistress (Ara Arida) even gave him back when he had a child with her too.

The multiple issues surrounding the children were also rushed through and the resolutions half-baked, which made one wonder if the script was originally intended as a multi-part drama series.

Ms. Sanchez delivered some of her best work in Coming Home, as a protective mother to her abused daughter and a mother grieving over her lost child, she was very real and raw. The same goes for all the children, whose anger and resentment against a missing father shone through the screen.

The same cannot be said for Mr. Estrada who could not even summon a tear upon hearing of the death of his eldest, the one who gave him his kidney. His best friend, played by Smokey Manaloto, showed grief better in the same scene.

Coming Home wanted to be a heartfelt film about how family must stick together and that family is best, and it was — if you take out Mr. Estrada’s character out of the picture and focus instead on how Ms. Sanchez kept her family together even though the father left them. That, to this writer, would have been a more compelling story.

Updated Toyota Yaris now available for reservation

TOYOTA MOTOR Philippines (TMP) closes 2020 by revealing the 2021 update to the Yaris hatchback. “It’s been a jam-packed year for Toyota this 2020,” said TMP Vice-President of Marketing Services Elijah Marcial in a release. “But we’ve got one last exciting model this year that we’re sure many Filipinos will enjoy.”

Ms. Marcial added that the Yaris appeals to “many married professionals in their mid to late 30s looking for a modern fun-to-drive vehicle that offers the great cargo space a hatchback offers.”

A longtime nameplate, the Yaris, continued the executive, “has amassed quite a loyal fan base for being synonymous with fun driving and flashy looks, and this year we’ve elevated it with a new premium eye-catching design to suit our customers’ evolving style. All without, of course, compromising on the power, convenience, and safety we’ve all come to expect from every Toyota.”

The Toyota Yaris sports a new front grille, flanked by new LED fog lamps across all variants. The 1.5 S CVT variant’s headlamps are LEDs complemented by new daytime running lights (DRL). All trims get new 15-inch two-tone machine-finish alloy wheels. The updates extend up to the interiors with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, now a standard feature across all variants, and synthetic leather seats for the 1.5 S CVT variant. A new exterior color, Cyan Metallic, also makes its debut.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto now comes standard. Customers who opt for the 1.5 S CVT variant get smart entry and a push start system. The variant also comes with new synthetic leather seats and boasts a six-speaker system.

Toyota dealerships are now accepting reservations, with retail sales in the 70-strong network starting on Jan. 13, 2021. Check out the Yaris’ full specs and product highlights, plus calculate payments, and submit inquiries direct to any preferred dealer via https://toyota.com.ph/yaris.

For more information on the New Yaris, visit TMP’s official website at www.toyota.com.ph and follow the official social media pages at ToyotaMotorPhilippines (Facebook and Instagram), @ToyotaMotorPH (Twitter), and Toyota PH (Viber and Telegram).

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