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Benguet Corp. returns to profitability, earns P42 million in second quarter

BENGUET CORP. posted a net income of P41.98 million in the second quarter, a turnaround from its losses a year ago, as the mining company recorded increased shipments and higher revenues.

In the same three-month period last year, the company incurred a net loss of P7 million.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday, it said revenues in the second quarter this year rose 23.1% to P293.13 million against P238.08 million a year ago while costs and operating expenses fell 6.2% to P245.09 million.

For the first half, Benguet Corp.’s net income reached P98.68 million, reversing its net loss of P67.56 million a year ago, while revenues went up 65.2% to P701.60 million.

Its wholly owned subsidiary Benguetcorp Nickel Mines, Inc. (BNMI) exported five boatloads of nickel ore during the first semester, with an aggregate volume of 265,255 tons and at an average price of $25.71 per ton.

Further, the company’s Acupan gold project posted revenues of P308.7 million for the semester, after its contract mining project sold 3,720.46 ounces of gold with an average price of $1,637.31 per ounce.

On Wednesday, shares in Benguet Corp. “A” rose 1.38% or P0.03 to close at P2.20 apiece while Benguet Corp. “B” was unchanged at P2.24 per share.

UNITED PARAGON
Meanwhile, United Paragon Mining Corp. widened its net loss to P16.86 million in the second quarter compared with P11.94 million in the same period last year.

In a separate disclosure, the company said its net loss in the first half expanded by 21.5% to P32.46 million against a net loss of P26.72 million previously due to accrued interest expense on outstanding loans.

The total liabilities of United Paragon for the six-month period amounted to P1.20 billion.

“Due to the suspension of mining and milling operations and limited sources of funds, the company failed to meet payments within the stated terms to majority of its suppliers, contractors and creditors,” the disclosure said.

“However, the company has been continuously paying the accounts that relate to its current working capital requirement, and the old accounts due to its suppliers, contractors and creditors remain unchanged,” it added.

Shares in United Paragon were unchanged at P0.0055 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

RC Cola bottler’s parent firm to enter food service business

MACAY HOLDINGS, INC., the parent of RC Cola’s bottler in the Philippines, announced its deal to fully acquire the biggest canteen concessionaire in the country.

The deal to buy Artemisplus Express, Inc., also known as Kitchen City, will be the first entry of the listed beverage investment firm into the food service space, fulfilling its vision to expand its portfolio to other consumer products and services.

“Our priority is to accelerate the growth of Kitchen City and support the company’s vision to provide high-quality but affordable meals to its clients which mirrors Macay’s mission to provide superior value for its customers in the Philippines,” it told the stock exchange, late Tuesday.

The payment terms are yet to be negotiated but Macay will be paying in cash. The deal is subject to the fulfillment of agreed closing conditions.

Macay is advised by AlphaPrimus Advisors for the transaction, while Kitchen City is advised by PwC Philippines.

Kitchen City runs 90 service outlets in Metro Manila. The company primarily engages in cafeteria operations in business process outsourcing, manufacturing, corporate, and hospital segments. It is also into catering services and the sale of packed and frozen meals.

Macay’s unit ARC Refreshment Corp. is the Philippine bottler of RC Cola, as well as Seetrus, Fruit Soda Orange and Juicy Lemon. — Adam J. Ang

Delivery service focuses on the top tier

From S&R groceries to hotel food delivery

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Senior Reporter

BEFORE THE COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, delivery services were slowly, but surely becoming a fixture in the retail space. When the pandemic struck, these services became a necessity instead of just an option as restrictions on movements and gathering made it nearly impossible for people to go to stores physically. And while the need for delivery options cuts across almost every retail segment, it is most apparent in food and groceries.

With the current surfeit of choices, including some stores’ in-house delivery websites, Pick.A.Roo is trying to get its piece of the business by onboarding more “premium” options like delivering food from hotels, to groceries from S&R.

“Even before this pandemic, we spent the entire year researching and planning a fresh concept that bridges the gap between premium offline brands and the growing online segment. With this vision in mind, we decided that to be able to create a unique all-in-one and on-demand premium delivery experience, we had to build our own homegrown startup and redefine the Filipino’s shopping experience,” Kevin Tan, founder of Pick.A.Roo, said in a statement.

Pick.A.Roo is the brainchild of Mr. Tan, CEO of Alliance Global which operates property giant Megaworld and Resorts World Manila, among others, and Crystal Gonzalez, the former country head of Honestbee Philippines.

Honestbee is a Singapore-based online food and grocery service that used to operate in eight markets including the Philippines from 2017 until 2019 when they had to suspend operations except in Singapore.

Pick.A.Roo is the first startup company of AGILE Digital Ventures, the technology and digital investment arm of Megaworld.

In April 2019, Honestbee stopped its Manila operations and, according to a timeline in Pick.A.Roo’s press packet, the idea to create a new food and grocery delivery service started that October.

To date, the service has “over 300 Pick.A.Roo approved brands” including “Apple products, gourmet hotel food, local [Instagram] trends, and Michelin-star restaurants” alongside daily essentials such as groceries and medicine, according to Ms. Gonzalez in a statement.

“When we were thinking of the various products, most of the products we got requests on from our marketing study… a lot of the products people were requesting, all of them are already available in different platforms,” Ms. Gonzalez said during the press launch on July 28 via Google Meet.

This led the team to “curate” brands and products into one “seamless platform,” instead of going to different platforms.

Ms. Gonzalez also said that they charge lower commissions than “other delivery players in the market” and said theirs is “20% and less” when other platforms are said to be charging “25% to 35%.”

Some of the brands already on Pick.A.Roo are S&R Membership Shopping, Central by Landers, Marriott Hotel Manila, Shangri-La at the Fort, Beyond the Box, Las Flores, Tim Ho Wan, The Grid Food Market at Powerplant, Coco Milk Tea, Fresh Options, Hawker Chan, and Kam’s Roast, among others.

Deliveries can be made for stores within a customer’s 10 kilometer radius and Ms. Gonzalez promised to introduce a function where a customer can shop from different stores and put it all in one cart.

The company has also onboarded about 1,400 shoppers and riders. The app will be charging an introductory delivery and shopping rate of P168 (P80 delivery and P88 shopper fee).

The Pick.A.Roo riders and shoppers are said to “earn on a per hour basis,” according to a separate e-mail to BusinessWorld shortly after the launch. But the crew members can earn more through incentives: riders earn an extra fee for “every successful delivery” and shoppers earn extra “for every line item shopped.”

The app is currently on open-beta mode and no full-scale roll-out has been announced yet, but Pick.A.Roo said that the full version should arrive “not too long” after the beta launch.

THE PICK.A.ROO EXPERIENCE
Pick.A.Roo had a by-invitation only beta launch from Aug. 16 to 18 and had 188 users try out the app and this writer was one of them.

(The invitation-only beta access was originally going to be held on Aug. 8 but had to be moved because of the stricter lockdown which was imposed until Aug. 18.)

As someone who previously used Honestbee as her go-to grocery delivery options and was sorely disappointed when it had to cease operations in the Philippines, Pick.A.Roo felt like meeting an old friend — but this friend who used to be a bee turned into a unicorn.

What differed between the two is the presence of premium brands including Joseph Joseph and hotels like Shangri-La at the Fort.

Upon opening the app, stores are already categorized into Groceries, Snacks and Sweets, Premium Eats, Everyday Eats, etc.

The shopping experience was pretty seamless, though I did encounter a few glitches including removing a product from my cart and the app removed a different product, but let’s chalk it up to test run blues.

I bought groceries from S&R and while the beta selection was scanty, navigating through different sections: meat, vegetables, etc., was pretty clear-cut, and I appreciate that they have separate sections for leafy vegetables and root crops.

After checking out, customers are asked to pick what day or time (between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) they want their items delivered.

What I did appreciate with Pick.A.Roo is how they give you the option to contact your shopper if there are changes you want to make instead of just waiting for the shopper to call. They did call after they found that several of my items were out of stock.

The app also gives a rundown of the process — from accepting the order, to shopping the order, and finally delivering the order. Payments could be made via credit card and debit card during my beta run.

In all, the app is clear cut and easy to use, bonus points on the overall look of the app — that mint green palette with a unicorn riding a motorcycle is cute. Will I be using it again? Yes, but I will have to wait for the full-app rollout first to see if improvements in both the app and selections have been made.

Pick.A.Roo’s beta version can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

PayMaya seeks to shift transport chain to cashless system

DIGITAL PAYMENTS firm PayMaya Philippines, Inc. is hoping to lead the country’s entire transport chain to full digitization through its end-to-end payment platforms.

In a virtual briefing on Wednesday, PayMaya Enterprise Head for the Public Sector Marvin C. Santos said an effective way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is to implement cashless payments in the transportation ecosystem.

“We must implement contactless payment acceptance (either through card or e-wallet) across the entire transportation chain,” he said.

The ecosystem, which consists of service providers, commuters, transport hubs, government entities, delivery companies and petroleum firms, has started its digitization journey with the adoption of contactless payment systems, Mr. Santos noted.

He said PayMaya has partnered with UBE Express (point-to-point and airport shuttle services), hirna and EKR Taxi (taxi services), and Hype (transport network vehicle service or TNVS).

The company has also enabled the Araneta City Bus Port to accept both QR code and card payments.

Petrol, Shell, Seaoil, Unioil, Cleanfuel and Rephil, among others, are also using PayMaya’s payment platforms, Mr. Santos said.

Lalamove accepts cashless payments through PayMaya, he added, noting that the payments firm continues to encourage other delivery service providers to go cashless.

PayMaya has signed an e-payment deal with the Land Transportation Office and the Bureau of the Treasury for motor vehicle registrations and renewals.

The company is in talks with air and water transport providers for a possible partnership.

“Our complete suite of cashless payment solutions can help empower all modes of transportation, from tricycle drivers, to jeepneys, all the way to premium taxis, buses and other forms of mass transportation around the country,” Mr. Santos said.

Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Steven C. Pastor said a department order is being prepared for the standardization of cashless payments in the transportation sector.

He said the Transportation department is also pushing for an integrated card that commuters can use not only for transportation but also for other transactions.

“We don’t want the transport sector to be a potential transmission sector for the virus and ayaw na natin ang cash payments talaga (we don’t want the cash payments anymore), so we are pushing for this. We are finalizing a department order… for the standardization of this,” Mr. Pastor added.

PayMaya is a subsidiary of Voyager Innovations, Inc., the digital innovations company of PLDT, Inc.

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

From Pinoy shaman’s cacao to Indian temple cuisine: Maximum Foodie explores Asia

FILMING sensibilities and food meet in Asian Food Network’s show, Maximum Foodie. While the show premiered last week, opening in Hong Kong, the show’s second episode, shot in the Philippines, will premiere on Aug. 22.

For the Philippine episode, host Sashi De travels to Davao, Dumaguete, and Siquijor to visit cacao farms and take in the local street food, taken around by chef Chele Gonzales — the man behind Gallery by Chele. In an interview for the AFN website, Mr. De said, “I am astounded at his genuine passion for food, and his pursuit in being a better chef: by focusing on the story behind the ingredients, the anthropology, history, and the ties to culture. He then takes all this research and curates a menu based around these new ingredients. This means creating an interest in a specific endemic ingredient, bringing awareness and education, creating a supply chain, and letting the dining masses know about this discovery!”

Other locations to be explored in the show are Hanoi, Mumbai, and Bali. During a webinar on Aug. 13 promoting the show, Mr. De told us a bit more about it. “The show has no set theme. It’s basically cataloguing my journey so, each episode is a particular story about the culinary world. So, for example in India, I was in Mumbai in one of the best restaurants there called Mask. They had an eight hands event where the chef brought in eight of his friends from all around the world, very prominent chefs,” he said. “I wanted to show what Indian chefs are doing to push the boundaries of the cuisine and so that was what the episode was about — and the very next episode in India was about the most old-school cooking in India which is found in one of the oldest temples in the Eastern side of India. It’s a temple cuisine which hasn’t changed for a millennia. So, it’s a contrast to show what Mumbai was doing at its best restaurant versus what a temple is doing where the meals they serve haven’t changed for over a millennia. That should give you an example of the diversity of each episode,” he said.

“In Vietnam, I was in the city of Hanoi and I went there with no research, no nothing and I just went there to learn what the Vietnamese eat. That was a quest to satisfy my own curiosity and sort of bolster my own knowledge of what Vietnamese Cuisine is and what people eat on a daily basis,” he said. “The episodes have a big variation. It’s not just ingredient-based. It’s my experiences and they all carry out a different theme.”

His goal , he said, is “to show people, the armchair travelers, that ‘look, besides what you know about a particular destination, there is so much more.’ And because we focus on food and some of the best chefs in the world, we provide that insight into their lives, into their personal projects that’s going on. It’s a good way to sort of be a fly on the wall and learn more about the culinary world, not only in my vantage point but also from the vantage points of the chefs.”

Mr. De is not stranger to filmmaking, which comes in handy for the show. “My background is a filmmaker and that’s allowed me to travel since 2005 officially as a filmmaker, as a producer of travel content. I’ve literally been to every single spot you can imagine in South America, Africa, Antarctica, most of Asia, most of Europe. So through those diverse experiences, when you’re on the road for the better part of the year, you’re obviously eating three times a day in these various destinations, eating with different people in different walks of life, different professions and you’re ingrained into their culture and their way of life because of the manner that we film — breaking bread with a Berber family in a tent in Morocco or yak herders in northeastern India, not by choice but just because I’m traveling. I’ve had all these outstanding, life-altering experiences going about my way, filming and hanging out with people and when it comes to having a meal, I’m having a meal with the locals so it’s giving me this tremendous background into food [and] food culture since back in 2005.”

In the Philippines, aside from marveling at the street food culture of Davao where sikwate, our version of hot chocolate, is readily available, the magic of Siquijor seemed to touch him too. “What really floored me was to learn how the ancestral variety (of cacao) Criollo… is used by the shaman and faith healers found in Siquijor Island because their potions are meant to be extremely potent,” said Mr. De. “They only work with this ancestral variety which is Criollo. To see Criollo naturally growing in healers’ backyards was amazing enough, but to learn that they actually use it in their actual potions for its healing properties was totally unbelievable,” he exclaimed.

“I’m on a complete cacao kick as of that episode. I love sikwate, I love the health benefits of it, I love the flavor profile and I can’t recommend it enough. In terms of the finished product of the chocolate bar, I tried a couple and it’s hard to explain the taste profile. It’s definitely very unique. I just can’t recommend it enough. It’s hard to explain the taste of chocolate. They all have this universal taste but it takes a unique tinge, a unique profile that’s a little bit accurate, a little more bitter than you’d like, but it was so cool to see chocolate readily available throughout Davao,” he said.

Maximum Foodie airs on Saturdays at 10 p.m., and four days after each premiere, the episode will become available online at AFN.com. The Asian Food Network is available on Sky Cable Channel 248 and Cignal TV Channel 62. — Joseph L. Garcia

SMC adds mud crab in mangrove project

SAN MIGUEL CORP. (SMC) plans to grow around 100,000 mud crabs per month at its 10-hectare mangrove plantation site in Bulacan as part of the company’s efforts to protect the environment and create a new source of livelihood for the residents.

In a statement, SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said the company’s mud crab growing project will be in the town of Hagonoy. The area is included in the priority locations of SMC’s mangrove planting program that deals with flooding issues.

“Along with our goal to help address flooding through the planting of mangroves in these priority areas identified by the Department of Environment of Natural Resources (DENR), we are seeding 100,000 mud crabs monthly at Hagonoy’s mangrove plantation area to help boost the country’s mud crab production,” Mr. Ang said.

SMC said mud crabs are a culinary delicacy both in local and international markets and can be a major source of work for local fishermen and fishpond owners.

Under the program, 190,000 mangroves will be planted in the coastal areas covering Bulacan and Central Luzon.

Being one of the lowest-lying areas in Bulacan, SMC said the project will directly benefit Hagonoy as it will help address floods during the rainy season, tidal floods, and water from the Pampanga basin.

Further, SMC said the mangrove-planting program is part of its flood mitigation plan ahead of the construction of Manila International Airport in October.

“These flood-mitigation measures are all integral to airport development. It’s very important to address these environmental concerns before investing over P700 billion for the airport,” Mr. Ang said.

The airport project will be capable of accommodating up to 100 million passengers and can generate jobs while boosting tourism and local businesses in the area. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Oracle joins investors’ bid for TikTok’s US operations: sources

ORACLE CORP. has joined some of the investors of TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, in pursuing a bid for the popular short-video app’s operations in North America, Australia and New Zealand, according to people familiar with the matter.

The move would represent a strategic departure for Oracle, which caters mostly to corporate customers and generates the bulk of its sales from cloud offerings and software licensing.

Its co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison is one of the few top technology executive to openly support US President Donald Trump, who has ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok amid concerns over the safety of the personal data of US consumers.

Oracle is working with some of ByteDance’s investors, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, on making an offer for the TikTok assets that would challenge a rival bid from Microsoft Corp., the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ByteDance, TikTok, Oracle, General Atlantic and Sequoia declined to comment. The Financial Times first reported Oracle’s interest in TikTok.

Oracle shares closed up 2.2% on the news on Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalization of $169 billion.

Twitter, Inc. has also approached ByteDance to express interest in acquiring the US operations of TikTok, though its chances are seen as remote because of its smaller size and the antitrust scrutiny for such a combination, sources said earlier this month.

Mr. Trump has said he would support an effort by Microsoft to buy TikTok’s American operations if the US government got a “substantial portion” of the proceeds, but he has also said there are other interested potential buyers. He has given ByteDance 45 days to agree to a sale of TikTok, before transactions with either TikTok or ByteDance are prohibited.

“I think Oracle is a great company,” Mr. Trump said on a visit to Yuma, Arizona, adding that it could take over TikTok’s US operations.

The White House has stepped up its efforts to purge what it deems “untrusted” Chinese apps from US digital networks. Beyond TikTok, Trump has also issued an order that would prohibit transactions with Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat. — Reuters

Canon launches new full-frame mirrorless cameras EOS R5, R6

CANON PHILIPPINES has launched two new entries to its full-frame mirrorless camera line, the EOS R5 and R6, promising quality for those who want to “future-proof [their] creative expressions,” according to a Philippine executive.

“With breakthrough technologies and powerful features, Canon’s newest cameras are designed to future-proof your creative expressions and enhance the possibilities of better visual imaging and video storytelling. We could not be any prouder as we usher you, our dear Filipino visual storytellers, into the cinematic future with the first-ever full-frame mirrorless camera with 8K capability — the Canon EOS R5,” Kazuhiro Ozawa, Canon Philippines president and CEO, said in a statement.

The R5 packs 8K raw recording capability via its 45-megapixel CMOS sensor and is said to be the first EOS camera to feature 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization.

The R5 also has a DIGIC X image processor which allows “quick, smooth and intelligent focusing performance using 1053 selectable points that cover the entire field of view,” according to the product description. The focusing system also has improved subject tracking as well as precise eye, face and head detection for both people and animals.

The R5 has a high-resolution 0.5-inch 5.76m-dot electronic viewfinder which is capable of 120 fps refresh rate while the 3.2-inch rear touchscreen LCD monitor has a vari-angle design for people who want to use it for vlogging or working from high and low angles. The camera also has dual memory card slot — a CF Express Type B and a SD UHS-II — alongside a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity.

The camera body is also said to be durable and weather-sealed to handle tough working conditions and inclement weather.

The Canon EOS R5 body is priced at P254,498 while the EOS R5 with the RF24-105mm L IS USM lens is priced at P321,498.

Meanwhile, the Canon EOS R6 is considered as the R5’s little cousin as it packs a 20-megapixel sensor, 20 fps silent continuous shooting and can record 4K up to 60p. The camera can also shoot up to 240 RAW images or 1,000+ JPEGS in a single 12 fps burst. It also has dual memory card slots for UHS-II SD cards and 1,053 focus points.

The EOS R6 body is priced at P165,998 while the EOS R6 with the RF24-105mm L IS USM lens is priced at P232,998.

A pre-selling package is available until Aug. 31 where the R5 package includes P101,530 worth of products and services, including in-depth workshops with Canon ambassadors and lens loan coupons. The R6 pre-selling package, meanwhile, includes P54,220 worth of services and products including workshops and lens loan coupons.

The Canon EOS R5 and R6 are available in select dealers nationwide. For more information, visit the Canon Philippines Facebook page or its website at http://ph.canon. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Aboitiz units remit P26 million to Davao

ABOITIZ POWER CORP.’s power generation units in Davao have remitted about P26 million to the city through a program that allows host communities to directly access funds derived from the operations of power plants in their areas.

The units — Hedcor and Therma South, Inc. — remitted the funds under the Department of Energy’s (DoE) policy Energy Regulations 1-94 (ER 1-94). The amount may be fully used for initiatives to fight the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In a statement on Wednesday, AboitizPower quoted Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as saying: “This funding relief couldn’t have come at a more opportune time when resources are badly needed by local governments to battle COVID-19.”

The company said Therma South had also generated funds for its other host communities. It said the unit along with the Energy department had completed its remittances of P17.5 million to Brgy. Binugao, P4 million to Brgy. Inawayan, and P9 million to the province of Davao del Sur.

It added that the unit had also generated P4.6 million for the municipality of Sta. Cruz, with the DoE still set to deliver P1.1 million more.

AboitizPower said beyond Davao City, its hydro unit Hedcor is completing the ER 1-94 remittances for its other host communities within the Davao region, including Brgy. Kapatagan, Brgy. Sibulan, Brgy. Darong, Brgy. Astorga, the municipality of Sta. Cruz, and the province of Davao del Sur.

Hedcor is also host to areas within the Bukidnon province in Mindanao, as well as in Northern Luzon, it added.

Young (and new) bakers unite in a bake sale for many causes

AFTER over half a year of COVID-19-induced quarantines, many Filipinos have discovered the joys of baking. Now that burgeoning community of Pinoy home bakers has given rise to a movement for good, built on the back of that old reliable in fundraising efforts: the humble bake sale.

Two college students — Kia Alampay and Jaime David, both from Ateneo de Manila — have, over Instagram, organized amateur and small-bakery owners to raise funds for a variety of beneficiaries — from displaced jeepney and tricycle drivers and beleaguered journalists, to homeless elderly LGBTQs.

Ms. Alampay and Mr. David’s Bake Sale for Better PH (BSFB-PH) raised nearly P132,000 in a weeklong bake sale in July, of which every centavo went to the above charities. Now, for the August round of BSFB-PH, they hope to outpace that effort, and raise funds for IT gadgets for students in the provinces, food supplements for young mothers, a COVID-19 dashboard for the youth, financial aid for children of Katipunan jeepney drivers, and a shelter for stray dogs.

Equally noteworthy for Bake Sale for Better PH is the growing community of young and new bakers that have gathered around the cause of helping others. The first round of the bake sale raised funds on the back of goods donated by 30 bakers. This August, 40 volunteers are making cakes, cookies, pastries, bottled coffee, and pies both savory and sweet. The bakers donate the goodies, Ms. Alampay and Mr. David take care of the marketing and sales, and all the money raised will go to the list of charities ultimately selected by the buyers.

The August bake sale started on Aug. 19, and will run until Aug. 25, for limited batches baked up by the volunteer and donor bakers. Follow @BakeSaleforBetterPH on Instagram.

Bakers who are interested in donating and volunteering for subsequent bake sales — monthly week-long runs are being planned — may send an e-mail at bakesaleforbetterph@gmail.com.

How it works

Around once a month, the BSFB-PH team holds a week-long virtual bake sale on Instagram to raise funds for relevant issues. Donors are given the freedom to decide which funds they would like to donate to, and purchase products using their donation receipts. The catalogue of goodies, which includes treats from bakers, bakeshops, and baristas, is available every bake sale on the Instagram page.

Bake Sale for Better PH, which is currently operating in Metro Manila, is the little brother of Canada-based fundraiser Bake Sale for Better, which was founded by 28-year-old Mia David. Ms. David drew inspiration from similar Instagram projects such as @bakesaleforbail, and sought to implement a similar idea in Toronto. Her younger brother, fresh Ateneo graduate Jaime David, found an opportunity to bring the project to the Philippines, and partnered with fifth-year Ateneo undergraduate Kia Alampay to establish and run the fundraiser.    

BSFB-PH aims to create continuous assistance, and community engagement for various social causes in the country.

July 8 marked the end of the first week-long bake sale. The fundraiser raised P131,848  in donations, made to The Golden Gays, Project Kaagapay (COVID-19), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, TODA Pansol Tricycle Drivers, and the South Jeepney Drivers Donation Fund (Sucat-Baclaran).

Kaspersky says malicious files, applications detected rose to 400,000 daily amid coronavirus pandemic

THE NUMBER of new malicious files that internet security firm Kaspersky collects daily rose to 400,000 during the coronavirus pandemic, its chief executive officer Eugene Kaspersky said on Tuesday.

“Before COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), we had just more than 300,000 new malicious applications a day. Right now, we collect more than 400,000 a day,” Mr. Kaspersky said at the Asia-Pacific Online Policy Forum.

He said cybersecurity has become a more important issue during the pandemic as more people are staying at home and more enterprises are allowing their employees to work remotely.

David Koh, chief executive officer of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, said the pandemic demands governments, industries and individuals to fundamentally change the way they do things overnight.

“Literally, overnight, we have to change,” he said.

“What this means is that we have to employ new technologies overnight, and these technologies are a lot less secure than the ones we used to have. The amounts of controls we have (over our personal information) have changed, literally overnight,” he added.

Consequently, the way cybercriminals behave has also changed.

“They are now focused on using the COVID-19 pandemic information as tools for scams, phishing, ransomware attacks…. Now that we are more interested in the vaccine, it’s also something that’s of high interest to them,” Mr. Koh said.

In its latest survey in Southeast Asia, Kaspersky found that 82% of online users in the region believe their digital lifestyle is safe for the privacy of their data.

The global security firm said the number is 7% higher than the global average of 75%.

The company conducted its survey in May, covering 760 respondents in Southeast Asia.

“Despite the high confidence in the region, survey respondents also admitted to being hacked online. Users acknowledged that their social media accounts (21%), their e-mail accounts (20%), their mobile devices (13%), their Wi-Fi networks (12%), and their banking accounts (12%) have been hacked,” the report noted.

“There’s another 2% who even confirmed their accounts have been compromised more than three or four times, while 24% are certain that their data had never been leaked. Almost 2-in-10 of the respondents also confessed they are not sure if their accounts were compromised ever as they do not know how to check (18%) while another 14% revealed they have never checked at all,” it added.

Yeo Siang Tiong, Kaspersky general manager for Southeast Asia, noted people’s devices are now extension of offices, banks and shopping malls, so there is a “need to look into how we keep our accounts and devices locked safely to keep our digital lives and assets away from the hands of cybercriminals.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

TDF yields inch down as demand rebounds

YIELDS ON term deposits auctioned off by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) dropped on Wednesday, with liquidity levels normalizing after the settlement of the government’s retail Treasury bonds (RTBs).

Bids for the BSP’s term deposit facility (TDF) hit P372.23 billion on Wednesday, surpassing the P230-billion offering. It also beat the P264.94 billion in tenders seen in the previous auction versus the P320-billion offering.

The one-week papers attracted tenders totaling P135.31 billion, going beyond the P90-billion offering, as well as the P98.58 billion in bids logged the previous week.

Accepted yields for the seven-day deposits ranged from 1.75% to 1.8%, a thinner margin than the 1.75% to 2.25% seen on Aug. 12. With this, the average rate of the papers stood at 1.7708%, down by 1.02 basis point (bps) from the 1.781% seen a week ago.

For the 14-day term deposits, bids totaled P157.75 billion, higher than the P90 billion up for grabs and the P104.13 billion in tenders last week for the P130 billion on the auction block.

Banks sought returns ranging from 1.75% to 2%, a slimmer band compared to the 1.75% to 2.625% seen in the previous auction. This brought the average rate of the two-week deposits to 1.8347%, decreasing by 3.11 bps from the 1.8658% logged at last week’s auction.

Meanwhile, demand for the 28-day papers totalled P79.17 billion, surpassing the P50-billion on offer as well as the P62.23 billion in tenders seen last week.

Banks asked for returns ranging from 1.7532% to 2%, a wider range than the 1.7527% to 1.8125% margin logged on Aug. 12. This brought the average rate for the tenor to 1.8232%, rising by 4.62 bps from the 1.777% seen a week ago.

The TDF is the central bank’s main tool to gather excess liquidity in the financial system to better guide market interest rates.

“The auction results show that liquidity conditions have normalized following the temporary effect of the scheduled settlement of the Retail Treasury Bonds last week, and remains ample,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said in a statement.

The government sold a record P516.3 billion in RTBs in a three-week offering which closed on Aug. 7. Proceeds from the transaction will fund the government’s pandemic response amid falling revenues from tax collections due to business disruptions. — L.W.T. Noble

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