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New York rejects 11th parole bid of John Lennon’s killer

NEW YORK – The man who cut short the life and music of rock superstar John Lennon with a burst of bullets nearly 40 years ago lost his 11th bid to be freed from a sentence that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life, a New York prison system spokesperson said on Wednesday.

  A parole board denied a request for release from Mark David Chapman, who must wait two more years before he becomes eligible again, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson said.

The rationale behind the decision of the Board of Parole panel members who interviewed Chapman on Aug. 19 at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, was not immediately disclosed.

Chapman, 65, who has previously said that he long ago stopped being the troubled young man who shot one of the most famous people in the world to gain notoriety, is serving 20 years to life after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

The assassination-style murder of Lennon, a founder of the Beatles who also had solo hits such as “Imagine” and “(Just Like) Starting Over,” stunned the music world, the British-born musician’s adopted home of New York City and a generation that grew up with “Beatlemania.”

At 40, Lennon had just emerged from a musical hiatus with the release of his Double Fantasy album when he went to a nighttime recording session on Dec. 8, 1980. When he returned to his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Chapman was waiting for him and shot him four times in front of his wife Yoko Ono.

Since 2000, the first year Chapman was eligible for parole, Ono, 87, has steadfastly opposed his release. Her attorney, Jonas Herbsman, said she submitted comments to the parole board, which he would only say are “consistent with the prior letters.”

At his previous parole interview in August 2018 Chapman said he was a changed man and a religious Christian who would welcome freedom even though he said he did not deserve it.

A remorseful Chapman, whose 2018 prison photo shows a leaner man than the pudgy 25-year-old who pulled the trigger, remembered being in a “tug of war” with himself over what he was about to do before yielding to the idea of killing for fame.

“I was too far in,” he said in a transcript of the hearing.

Chapman has worked as a porter and wheelchair repairman at the prison hospital and has occasionally been visited by his wife whom he married about 18 months before the murder. — Reuters

The pivotal role of insurance in managing financial health

By Rico T. Bautista, President and CEO of Etiqa Philippines

Last July 2020, Social Weather Stations (SWS) did a survey on the adult unemployment rate in the Philippines and the results showed that it reached a record high of 45.5% or around 27.3 million adults. This means that almost half of the Philippine adult population either lost their jobs, could not find a job, or are still struggling to have an employment. Half of those who were surveyed lost their jobs during the coronavirus period, while the rest lost theirs even before the pandemic crisis hit our country.

In the midst of all these, one cannot help but ask, how can I manage my financial health? Will I be able to sustain my financial health in the middle of the pandemic and beyond? What are the things I should consider so that my financial situation will continue to be healthy? Will insurance continue to be relevant so that I can keep my finances in a very good position?

There is no single answer to all the questions above, but it is my intention to give some bits and pieces of advice which hopefully can help our readers manage their financial health.

For those who have their jobs and are currently earning during this pandemic, it is important to continually be grateful for what you have, and the situation that you are in. You need to maximize your current earning capacity. This can be done by ensuring that the following principles are considered.

  • Save for the rainy days. We do not know when the next pandemic or crisis will be. Because of this, we should find ways to set aside from our earnings an amount that we can use for the challenging times ahead. Do not splurge on nonessential things.
  • Invest and grow your money. There are several investment opportunities that you can look into. The idea is for you to ensure that your money will grow as you set them aside.
  • Get covered by your company. Employee benefit on group health insurance and group life insurance should be made available by employers. These benefits should be provided for to employees.
  • Protect your assets. One of the things that you need to do is to protect your valuable assets like your properties and vehicles. You are paying a small amount compared to the peace and security against any risks of damage to what you own.
  • Insure yourself. You should protect the most valuable asset that you have, i.e., yourself. This is one of the best and more responsible things to do. In case of unexpected demise or health emergencies, it would be helpful to have a financial support system for you and your loved ones as well.

The first two points above are reminders of how one’s earnings should be allotted. Being able to take the future into consideration, spend your income wisely, and find ways to make your money grow well are some of the most important things when it comes to managing your financial health. The last three points focus on making sure that you and your assets are well-protected. This can be achieved through health, life and even general insurance. While it may seem like an expense at first, it is also a necessary expense that would be beneficial to you and your financial well-being in the long run.

On the other hand, for those who are in the midst of looking for a job, my most important reminders would be the following:

  • Maximize your skillset.
  • Seek for earning opportunities.
  • Network with people who can help you.
  • Build your personal branding.
  • Be hopeful.

Although these may be trying times, there will always be a silver lining in the horizon. There will be better times ahead.

My family came from humble beginnings. My father, who used to be a house help and a mailman, worked his way up in the economic ladder by selling and getting life insurance products. When he passed away, his insurance coverage helped my mother provide for her medical and hospital bills. My mother also passed away several years back. But she left us, her seven children, with an insurance policy which allowed everybody to sustain our way of life. We did not suffer economically when our parents died, due to lingering illnesses.

As we are in the midst of a pandemic, we are continually reminded of how vulnerable we are, both to mother nature and the happenings of life. By having an access to insurance, we are taking a step towards taking better care of our lives and of those whom we love, and making sure that our assets are also well-protected.

We are not certain of the future. But we can protect our dreams and the dreams of our loved ones by getting life, health and general insurance products. Insurance is key as it plays a pivotal role in managing one’s financial health.

Stimulus package for the tourism sector

In recent years, the Philippine economy has relied on three major pillars of growth: the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, and the tourism sector. Of the three, only the BPOs have survived the pandemic since many OFWs lost their jobs while the airlines and hospitality establishments are on the brink of collapse.

What a difference a year makes. In 2019, the Philippines recorded an all-time high of 8.3 million international tourist arrivals reflecting a 15.2% increase from the year-ago level of 7.16 million based on statistics from the Department of Tourism (DoT).

Domestic tourists already numbered 111 million in 2018, surpassing the 2022 target of 89 million as projected by the DoT’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP). That year, some 8.4 million jobs were directly and indirectly supported by the travel industry, accounting for almost 20% of total employment in the country.

But the pandemic brought massive devastation to global tourism this year, and the NTDP projection of 12 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2022 is unattainable. In a DoT study titled “Insights on Filipino Travel Behavior Post-COVID-19,” the results showed that domestic leisure travel is expected to lead the recovery of Philippine tourism in the new normal.

The Senate and the House of Representatives recently ratified the consolidated version of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or “Bayanihan II” bill. During the bicameral conference committee deliberations, legislators from the two chambers of Congress agreed to allocate P10 billion for the ailing travel and tourism industry but they differed in terms of which agency would implement the rescue package. For the lower house, it should go to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), while the upper house preferred to let the DoT handle the stimulus budget.

After heated debates, they compromised to lodge P6 billion with the Department of Trade and Industry’s Small Business Corp. as loanable funds for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the travel sector. Another P3 billion was assigned to the Department of Labor and Employment for financial assistance to displaced tourism industry workers, with the remaining P1 billion given to the Department of Public Works and Highways for tourism infrastructure projects.

Senator Franklin Drilon led the Senate contingent in opposing the allotment of the entire P10 billion to TIEZA. In a media interview, he said: “House lawmakers wanted to allocate the funds for the construction of toilets and roads, while the Senate fought hard to defend the position of the DoT that the funds be appropriated as cash aid through soft loans.”

Strangely, Drilon lumped the proposed TIEZA projects together under toilets and roads. For someone who endorsed the P8.8 billion Iloilo International Airport and the P800 million Iloilo Convention Center (ICC), he seems to have developed a simplistic view of tourism infrastructure lately. Among the TIEZA board’s approved plans for Drilon’s hometown are the restoration of three public plazas in Iloilo City, the construction of a tourism information center at the Iloilo River Esplanade, and improvements on the ICC.

As a veteran legislator, Drilon should be more sensitive to the needs of island destinations across the archipelago that have infrastructure gaps limiting the overall tourist experience as well as the competitiveness of these sites and their attractiveness to investors. His home province is the prime example where an exponential growth in foreign and domestic tourism resulted from big-ticket construction projects that translated into jobs and investments.

Yet he supported the position of large companies who clamored for direct aid to their declining businesses — in other words, a bailout. Instead of being distributed equitably to MSMEs and ordinary tourism workers, public funds might be cornered by these big players to the disadvantage of the small fry.

With or without the Bayanihan 2 bill, industry recovery must happen soon to break the current impasse. For instance, the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA) Philippines is set to launch an online travel mart next month. Dubbed SOS or “September Online Sale,” it will offer huge discounts from participating HSMA member-hotels.

Air Asia, Cebu Pacific, and Philippine Airlines are also doing their part by offering low fare deals. The state-run Civil Aeronautics Board has suspended the passenger fuel surcharge on domestic and international flights in a bid to restart the local aviation industry.

Such efforts from both the private and public sectors could energize demand in the near-term and provide relief to tourism-related businesses until the industry returns to normalcy. Thus, it is imperative for stakeholders to draw up a holistic and comprehensive plan that will resuscitate this vital pillar of our economy.

 

J. Albert Gamboa is the CFO of Asian Center for Legal Excellence and Chairman of FINEX Publications.

Measure modernizing security industry welcomed by guards

SECURITY GUARDS said Thursday they welcome a bill proposing to modernize the industry and improve training for workers.

In a statement, the Private Security Industry Personnel Employees and Guards Credit Cooperative (PSIPAGC) said the Private Security bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives will strengthen the industry.

“The number of security guards currently employed is equivalent to almost double the combined number of police and military personnel deployed today. It is, therefore, important that we improve not only the conditions of their employment, but also standardize their training to professionalize the industry,” PSIPAGC Chairman Neil Estrella said.

The House Committee on Public Order and Safety subcommittee last week approved in principle the draft consolidation of various bills that will address the concerns of private security guards and improve their working conditions.

The substitute bill also aims to repeal the 51-year-old Republic Act No. 5487 or the Private Security Agency Law.

The bill will address working conditions such as low pay and illegal contractualization, as well as subsidized training. — Gillian M. Cortez

DMCI offers workers bike loans, shelter

DMCI Project Developers, Inc. (DMCI Homes) said it would offer shelter and bicycle loans to more workers amid a coronavirus pandemic.

The residential arm of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings, Inc. has expanded the barracks capacity at its building sites to 4,202 workers from 3,108 in March, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The company would also provide vitamin supplements and a loan program for bicycles that workers may use to report for work while public transportation remains limited.

“We understand the mobility limitations and health risks faced by our workers,” DMCI Homes President and Chief Executive Officer Alfredo R. Austria said in the statement.

“By increasing our barracks capacity, we hope to attract more workers and contain the spread of the coronavirus,” he added.

The company expects about 5,000 workers to avail themselves of the program. Employees can pay the bicycles through salary deductions for six to seven months. About 322 workers have already signed up for the program, it said.

Construction work was suspended for about two months starting mid-March, when the government imposed strict quarantine measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

DMCI Homes has commissioned a 180-cubic meter-per-hour concrete batching plant in Pasig City to help speed up concreting works to address the backlog.

It also started to use modularization — a method where building components are made in advance and then assembled for construction — to “allow the company to rationalize manpower deployment without compromising project turnover schedules.”

It is also investing in material handling equipment to reduce the need for manual labor.

“This pandemic has affected the real estate sector in many different ways,” Mr. Austria said. “The best way forward is really adaptation. We need to learn to live with this virus.”

DMCI Holdings, which also has interests in mining, construction, water and power, reported a 69% drop in income in the first half to P2 billion. DMCI Homes contributed P38 million to the group’s core profit, 97% lower than a year earlier.

Shares at DMCI Holdings closed 0.25% or a centavo lower at P3.92 each on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez

Stuff to do at home (08/28/20)

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde Masterclass on Ballet Philippines

PRIMA ballerina and artistic director and CEO of Ballet Manila Lisa Macuja-Elizalde will be holding a free ballet masterclass on Aug. 28, 3 p.m., as part of the ongoing BP OnStream Masterclass series. To join the masterclass and for more information, visit ballet.ph

Gavel & Block’s Art and Design Auction

SALCEDO Auctions subsidiary Gavel & Block will be holding an art and design auction on Aug. 29, 11 a.m., via salcedoauctions.com. The pieces up for auction include an untitled Mauro Malang Santos piece, a Vincente Manansala painting titled Binangonan, an untitled Roberto Chabet piece, and a Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera piece called Boxed Object III. To view the entire catalogue and register to bid, visit bit.ly/GB_artanddesign.

PPO Instrument Petting Zoo features the flute

THE Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s Instrument Petting Zoo continues its live online program as it features flutist Hercules Mauricio Santiago on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 4 p.m., via the PPO Facebook page. Mr. Santiago will talk about the flute and demonstrate how it is played during the session. He will also perform classical pieces suited for the instrument. The Instrument Petting Zoo is an ongoing program by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the PPO to promote appreciation for musical instruments of the orchestra and its music among children and families.

MUJI Online workshop

ON Aug. 29, MUJI Philippines will be conducting its first online workshop to bring the MUJI experience to customers nationwide. The event will premiere in the MUJI Philippines official Facebook page and will feature three workshops that were developed to help customers achieve a simpler and more pleasant life. Customers who complete the various challenges will receive a special MUJI Loot bag that will be delivered directly to them. This exclusive loot bag contains some of MUJI’s best-selling items such as MUJI gel ink pens, highlighter, nylon mesh pen case, notebook, and health and beauty items such as PE tubes and cases. For more information about the Experience MUJI Online event and promo, customers can register for MUJI Membership for free at https://woobox.com/vhqgji and visit MUJI Philippines’ official social media accounts.

Fully Booked Local Lit Fest

FOR the last week of Fully Booked’s Local Lit Fest, the bookstore will feature Ngumiti si Andoy as its final entry to the Storytelling Saturdays by Adarna House. The storytelling session will be at 2 p.m. on Aug. 29 via the Fully Booked Facebook page. Fully Booked will also have a poetry-writing workshop with poet Leandro Reyes on Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. which will be held via Zoom. Registration costs P400.

World Vision Virtual Concert

WORLD Vision, a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization, will be holding a one-night virtual concert on Aug. 29, 7 p.m., at the World Vision Facebook page. The concert is meant to entertain and raise funds to support the organization’s efforts to distribute school kits, and its other education projects. The artists performing in the concert include Christian Bautista, Ogie Alcasid, the rapper Quest, and singers Christian and Jesse Perkins.

Do you have a protection mindset?

What’s the difference between a “protection mindset” and an “investment mindset”? An “investment mindset” includes self-benefitting goals and actions. What’s in it for me? For the risk involved, what is MY rate of return?

There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. We all need to plan for our own future.

A “protection mindset,” on the other hand, involves your loved ones, or those who depend on you and whom you may be leaving behind. That’s why, it is believed that insurance is the most unselfish purchase a person can ever make.

Renato A. Vergel de Dios, President and CEO of BDO Life Assurance Company, Inc., explains that “there are individuals who feel cheated when the event that they have insured against did not take place. They feel that the premiums they paid for over time was like money down the drain.

“Does that make sense? Should an individual feel bad about paying anew at renewal date because his house did not burn down? Or that his car was not totaled? Or that he lived to retire fully, and in the process realized his entire income potential?

Ready for Life’s What Ifs. BDO Life launches a new online video about the value of life insurance in facing life’s ‘what ifs.’ It is available on the official YouTube page of BDO Unibank.

“Paying for the cost of protection is never a waste of money. You pay for your premium so that the potential financial consequence is borne by an institution and not your family. ‘A wife may object to how much life insurance her husband bought, but a widow never does,’ goes an old insurance salesman’s quote. It remains just as valid today as it did nearly a hundred years ago.”

Having life insurance is no different from what risk managers refer to as contingency planning or business continuity planning (BCP). In this case, it’s called income continuity planning.

To fully appreciate this, a person needs to ask himself this question: If I walked into a speeding truck last night, how much time do I want to give my family to adjust to their new financial circumstances? Six months? Twelve months? Thirty-six months? Sixty months? Pick a number and multiply it by the family’s monthly maintenance budget. That’s the amount of insurance he should be talking about with a BDO Life Financial Advisor.

The morning after your burial or inurnment, what would you want your family to be asking themselves over breakfast: How do we survive now? Or, how do we best continue to honor Dad?

Vergel de Dios concluded, “It’s time for a paradigm shift. Life insurance is bought not because someone will die, but because others must continue to live.”

 

BDO Life provides clients with life insurance products that assure a more comfortable, dignified, and secure family life. Especially in times of a crisis, BDO Financial Advisers are on standby to help clients find the protection and security they need. You can get in touch with them at www.bdo.com.ph/bdolife/connect-financial-advisor. 

Best of all, BDO Life is backed by the country’s largest bank network. This means clients get the support they need by simply going to their bank branch or through online transactions.

Empowering people working from home

We are part of a small enterprise. Our 65-year-old CEO clings to old-school ways, believing that workers need to be closely supervised to get the best out of them. I’ve been telling him that it doesn’t always work that way. Now that we’re in a pandemic, all of us are forced to work from home with the CEO wanting all department managers to continue with close supervision. Everyone is constricted by this distrust. The managers spend a lot of time checking the work of our respective workers at all hours. Is there a better way? — Golden Girl

Among the five thousand who were fed with the two fish and five loaves of bread were people who without a doubt still complained about the bones in the fish. What I’m saying is — this is not the right time to complain when many businesses are trying to keep afloat due to the recession cause by COVID-19.

Indeed, you are right to talk about empowerment. Unfortunately, these are trying times when management can’t afford to experiment with different approaches. This is not the right time to talk about management styles, if only to avoid conflict with top management. There’s no other way but for you and other department managers to adapt to the old style of the CEO.

In other words, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. You can’t control or change the style of the CEO. Therefore, you should focus on your own style and how you can blend with that of others, including your boss. Review your motivation in a team setting. Maintain a calm working relationship with the CEO. Other than attempting to change his management style, think of and establish many ways to control your own style.

That way you can strengthen your credibility and hope that future circumstances afford you the opportunity to bring up the matter again. In the meantime, reflect on the following questions: How do I accept the old style of management and reconcile it with my current style? What’s the best way to communicate my ideas to the CEO, other department managers, and the workers?

What are the reasons why my ideas are usually misunderstood? Do I make decisions without facts to support them? Am I fast or a slow thinker? Am I arrogant for ignoring other people’s ideas, even without hearing them? Do I need to first listen to all information or respond to other comments immediately throughout as they arise?

ALTERNATIVE MOVES
Remember, nobody likes working with a pessimist who focuses on the bones of the fish. That doesn’t mean you have to act like an overrated motivational speaker who talks about all the good things in life using humor to catch people’s attention. You just need to show that you’re an upbeat person despite the recession and the pandemic. In other words, take the time to foster positive interactions with the CEO and other managers and their workers. You can do all of this, by exploring the following ideas:

One, act and think like the CEO or the business owner. This doesn’t mean you should be cocky or make independent decisions beyond your authority. Instead, think of many initiatives or programs that will help your organization move forward despite the crisis and its limited resources. If you do that, chances are, with a CEO mindset, you may be able to discover big-picture opportunities.

Two, be a proactive trouble-shooter. Instead of rocking the boat by continuously promoting employee empowerment, you need to find problems that have been ignored in the past. With the help of your team, you can generate many cost-effective solutions that have not been addressed. Think of many inexpensive and common-sense solutions out there. You’ll be surprised how many eureka moments you come across.

Three, perform difficult tasks with a smile. Rise to the big challenges and the impossible tasks to establish your credibility. The temptation to perform only small, mundane tasks won’t bring you to greater heights. If you take this challenge, you’ll come across as a leader instead of an egomaniac who always wants to impose his ideas on people, no matter how good they are.

Last, play for the CEO, your colleagues and your team. Sure, teamwork is an overused corporate virtue. Even when people are forced to work from home, there is no better way for all of us to work as a virtual team. Try initiating a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for the organization. With many ideas coming from all fronts, you can visualize what’s in store for your business in the years to come.

DETAIL-ORIENTATION
Details can make or break big or small organizations. You can always think of and create ground-breaking programs, but if you don’t tie up the loose ends, you won’t make a positive impact. And you’ll be sabotaging your own efforts without even knowing it. After all, what good is a monumental project if the grammar and the budget numbers in your report are wrong?

What else? How can you ever complete a project on time, if you don’t even have a time line? How can you seek the support of your workers when they are blind to, if not ignorant of what you’re trying to do? How can you delegate those little things if there are no objective standards and performance measures?

Now that you’re primed to act like a positive thinker, business owner, problem-solver, team player and a detail-oriented manager in a crisis like this, just the same, don’t forget to resurrect the idea of empowering your own workers subject to certain reasonable limitations, when the time is right.

In other words, start with the workers under your control.

 

Send anonymous questions to elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.consulting

Philippines remains one of the most restrictive to FDI

Philippines remains one of the most restrictive to FDI

How PSEi member stocks performed — August 27, 2020

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Thursday, August 27, 2020.

Peso weakens on ‘hot money’ data

THE PESO declined further versus the dollar on Thursday on data showing more foreign portfolio investments exited the country in July.

The local unit closed at P48.63 versus the greenback on Thursday, depreciating by 11 centavos from its P48.52-per-dollar finish on Wednesday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.

The peso opened Thursday’s session at P48.57 against the greenback. It reached a peak of P48.55 while its intraday low was at P48.68 versus the dollar.

Dollars traded climbed to $776.07 million on Thursday from Wednesday’s $481.5 million.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the peso weakened following the release of “hot money” data.

Foreign portfolio investments left the country for the fifth straight month in July on weak investor confidence amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hot money — called as such due to the ease by which these funds enter and leave an economy — yielded a net outflow of $453.17 million in July, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released yesterday showed. This was the fifth consecutive month of net outflows since March.

The year-to-date tally likewise yielded a net outflow of $3.8 billion, surging from the net $706-million that exited the country in the January to July 2019 period. The central bank expects $2.4 billion in net inflows of hot money this year.

Mr. Ricafort added that the dollar strengthened on improved appetite for the dollar amid progress in the clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine being conducted in the United States.

For today, Mr. Ricafort expects the peso to move within the P48.55 to P48.75 levels versus the dollar. — K.K.T. Jose

Local shares drop further on coronavirus worries

THE MAIN INDEX closed nearly flat on Thursday, trading with a negative bias as investor sentiment remained tepid due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slid 9.78 points or 0.16% to close at 5,921.55, while the broader all shares index picked up by just 0.17 point to end at 3,544.41.

Investors were trading conservatively during Thursday’s trading as COVID-19 uncertainties continued to weigh on the outlook for the economy, AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said in an e-mail.

“This is a trend that we are seeing worldwide. The difference is that markets abroad are at multi-year and all-time highs, recovering almost all losses for the year, while our market still reflects losses caused by pandemic,” Mr. Mangun said.

“Our market has tracked the economy more realistically compared to markets abroad,” he added.

US markets continued their uptrend at the close of Wednesday’s session: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices all increased 0.30%, 1.02% and 1.73%, respectively.

In Asia, most markets were going up in the past days before economic data tempered their climb on Thursday.

These developments came despite global COVID-19 cases still rising every day, hitting 24.18 million based on data from Johns Hopkins University. The Philippines reported 5,277 new cases on Wednesday, reaching a total of 202,361.

Besides growing COVID-19 cases, the “perceived notion of a lack of stimulus from the government” was another factor that brought the PSEi down, Mr. Mangun said.

Eleven of 30 PSEi members ended Wednesday’s trading in red territory, led by Manila Electric Co. (-3.19%), Bloomberry Resorts Corp. (-2.91%), Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (-2.49%), LT Group, Inc. (-1.78%) and SM Investments Corp. (-1.58%).

“Market was slightly down despite the positive market breadth after it was dragged lower by the SM block,” Diversified Securities, Inc. Equity Trader Aniceto K. Pangan said in a text message.

Four of six sectoral indices also closed the session with losses. Holding firms went down 37.81 points or 0.61% to 6,148.30; services shed 6.05 points or 0.41% to 1,464.72; property trimmed 9.04 points or 0.32% to 2,758.96; and industrials slid 20.80 points or 0.26% to 7,832.04

Gainers were mining and oil, which rose 236.65 points or 4.06% to 6,054.86; and financials, which went up 18.89 points or 1.69% to 1,132.42 at the end of trading.

Value turnover on Thursday stood at P17.46 billion with 5.08 billion issues switching hands, up from P4.91 billion with 1.22 billion issues during the previous day.

Advancers outnumbered decliners, 98 against 86, while 57 names ended unchanged.

Net foreign selling continued for the eighth straight day and ballooned to P1.11 billion on Thursday from P614.1 million on Wednesday. — Denise A. Valdez

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