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Government sets lower borrowing program in May

THE national government has set a P170-billion borrowing program in May, after exceeding its program in April.

In an advisory posted on its website Tuesday afternoon, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said it is planning to borrow P170 billion next month — P110 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills) and P60 billion of Treasury bonds (T-bonds).

The BTr will offer P5 billion each in 91-day and 182-day papers, and P10 billion for 364-day T-bills every Monday. It will auction off P15 billion worth of 35-day papers again on May 5 and May 19.

For the T-bonds, the Treasury will offer P30 billion in three-year notes on May 12 and another P30 billion via five-year securities on May 26.

The May borrowing plan is lower than the P222.925 billion that the BTr raised from its regular auctions of T-bills and T-bonds in April, along with five instances of opening tap facility options. The BTr had a P190-billion borrowing program for April. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Car importers expect 40% sales slump

By Jenina P. Ibañez

IMPORTED vehicle sales are expected to drop by 40% in 2020 after the car manufacturing and distribution shutdown during the Luzon-wide lockdown caused a 34.4% decline in the first quarter, the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) said.

In a report released on Tuesday, AVID said that imported car sales dropped 34.4% to 14,404 units in the first quarter compared with the level in the same period last year, as most dealerships along with their repair and maintenance facilities have been closed since the lockdown began on March 17.

“The local industry is reeling from this invisible enemy as vehicle manufacturing, importation, distribution, and maintenance have stopped completely. Demand has likewise declined as consumers spend on more urgent needs. With this disruption, we estimate that car sales may drop by around 40% for the year,” AVID President Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said.

Imported vehicle sales had steadied in full-year 2019, slipping only 0.5% to 87,984 from the year before. The 2018 drop in imported car sales was deeper at 16.8% with the impact of high inflation rates and new tax hikes on the industry.

Passenger car sales in the first quarter fell 43% to 4,506 units, led by Hyundai and Suzuki sales with 2,724 and 1,127 units sold, respectively. March sales dropped by 48% to 1,023 units from 1,954 in February.

Light commercial vehicle sales fell 29% to 9,806 units sold, with Ford leading the segment with 3,479 units and Hyundai following with 2,797 units. Sales dropped 62% to 1,620 units in March from 4,247 the previous month.

Commercial vehicle sales dropped by 62% to only 92 units in the first quarter. Sales of this segment fell 90% month-on-month to six units in March from 61 in February.

Total March sales dropped 58% to 2,649 units, from 6,262 units in February.

AVID said that second quarter sales may fall even further as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was extended to the month of April and at least half of May in major urban areas. The ECQ was extended up to May 15 in areas in Luzon, including Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

“The industry is no stranger to adversity but this pandemic will be our toughest challenge yet. We estimate that it would take at least 12 months for the local industry to recover once the ECQ is completely lifted. There will be a ‘new normal’ and we must be quick to adapt since Filipino consumers will be even more prudent and looking for more value in their purchases,” Perez-Agudo said.

“We are working closely with our stakeholders so we can resume our operations, especially our repair and maintenance services, in a manner that protects the health and safety of our workforce and customers, once the ECQs and GCQs are lifted,” she added.

AVID said that its 20 member companies have been preparing health protection and safety strategies, including social distancing, the use of personal protective equipment, and the implementation of sanitation measures.

The companies will be conducting antibody testing for its workforce before they re-enter operations, as part of Project ARK — the private sector-led initiative aimed at increasing tests for the virus.

Fitch Solutions in its country risk and industry research had downgraded its projection of automotive industry growth in the Philippines for this year, estimating a 0.4% growth to 371,456 units sold from its previous estimate of 7.4% growth.

The Fitch Solutions report said that the closure of non-essential business activity will negatively impact vehicle sales for the first half of 2020 as customers are unable to make new purchases. They said that most spending will likely go to essential goods, and consumers will hold off on spending on cars.

AVID said several of its member companies had provided free transport for frontliners, as well medical supplies and essential goods.

Philippines AirAsia passenger volume down 9% in Q1

PASSENGERS flown by low-cost airline Philippines AirAsia, Inc. declined by 9% to 1.8 million in the first quarter of the year amid the suspension of its commercial flights due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Philippines AirAsia flew 1.8 million passengers during the quarter, down 9% in comparison to the same quarter last year,” the Malaysia-based AirAsia Group Berhad said in its report e-mailed to reporters on Tuesday.

The group added that the airline’s capacity also reduced by 1% year-on-year “as domestic routes and international routes were halted beginning mid-March 2020.”

The load factor for the first quarter of 2020 was “solid” at 84%, the group said, although it was 7 percentage points lower than the 91% posted during the same period last year.

On the general performance of the AirAsia Group, it said its load factor of 80% for the first quarter was better than its expected 77% “despite the weak travel demand amid increasing and unprecedented travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“This was achieved through proactive capacity management, particularly in the months of February and March, with the cuts most notable in AirAsia Malaysia and AirAsia Thailand,” it said further.

The group announced on Monday the new rules that its passengers have to follow when flight operations resume after the government-imposed lockdown period.

It said guests will be required to bring and wear their own masks before, during and after flight. Guests without masks will be denied boarding.

Also, only one piece of cabin baggage not exceeding 5 kilograms will be allowed for each guest.

The Air Carriers Association of the Philippines, Inc. has said airlines in the Philippines suffer losses of P7 billion for every month of lockdown apart from their accumulated losses of around P4 billion from travel refunds because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association expects that local airlines will see their passenger revenues drop by $4.481 billion this year. It also expects passenger demand to decline by 47%. — Arjay L. Balinbin

International art fairs go online amidst virus outbreak

By Michelle Anne P. Soliman, Reporter

WHEN COVID-19 started to spread across the globe early this year, big public events in the arts industry were either postponed or canceled. As much of the world went under quarantine, the arts moved online with performers, musicians, theater and entertainment companies offering shows via streaming. This led international art fairs, such as this year’s edition of Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Dubai, to cancel the physical fairs but to push through via their respective virtual viewing platforms.

VIRTUAL ENGAGEMENT
After canceling its scheduled fair at the Hong Kong Convention Centre on March 19 to 21, the 8th edition of Art Basel Hong Kong launched its Online Viewing Rooms which were open from March 20 to 25. The Online Viewing Rooms debuted with an international lineup of 235 leading galleries from 31 countries presenting over 2,000 artworks.

“We have brought forward the launch of the first edition of the Online Viewing Rooms in an effort to provide our Art Basel Hong Kong 2020 exhibitors with an alternative platform and opportunity to showcase the works of art they were planning to bring to Hong Kong at no cost,” Adeline Ooi, Director Asia for Art Basel in Hong Kong, told BusinessWorld in an e-mail.

The pieces in the recently concluded virtual exhibition had an estimated value of $270 million, with 70 items priced at over $1 million.

“As the art market continues to evolve, Art Basel is continually investing into new technologies and opportunities to support its galleries and to foster a healthy art world ecosystem. Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms is designed to provide an additional platform for galleries to engage with the highest caliber of audiences worldwide — including Art Basel’s global network of patrons, as well as new collectors and buyers — and promote their artists,” Ms. Ooi wrote.

Meanwhile, the 14th edition of Art Dubai — which was originally scheduled to run from March 25 to 28 at the Madinat Jumeirah resort — also launched a digital program on March 24. This year, it’s programs took a total shift to the digital space with the 2020 Online Catalogue of artworks of more than 500 works, a Global Art Forum live broadcast, and an online performance program curated by Marina Fokidis.

RECEPTION TO GOING DIGITAL
Art Basel Hong Kong’s Online Viewing Rooms were attended by more than 250,000 visitors from across the globe within its seven-day duration (including VIP previews). In 2019, it attracted 88,000 visitors.

Despite limitations, Ms. Ooi noted that the online platform received a positive reception.

“While the Online Viewing Rooms cannot replace the physical fair, we received positive feedback from galleries across all levels of the market in terms of sales and the ability to stay connected with existing and new contacts. For small and mid-sized galleries, the platform provided them with the opportunity to explore the concept of an online viewing room, to cultivate new relationships and to generate positive business leads,” Ms. Ooi wrote.

As online viewing explores other methods of viewing art, Ms. Ooi stressed the value of face-to-face interaction. “Collectors don’t come to fairs exclusively to buy work, just as gallerists don’t solely participate to sell the works on display. Both collectors and gallerists attend our shows to exchange ideas, deepen existing relationships, and to develop new connections and new projects. In a market built on trust, face-to-face interaction remains essential.”

In an e-mail to BusinessWorld, International Director of Art Dubai Chloe Vaitsou noted that during the art fair’s first week, “more than 300 sales enquiries were received for individual works with a number of sales confirmed” and that the 2020 Online Catalogue has received “close to three times more traffic compared to 2019, with over 40,000 views” since its launch on March 24.

Likewise, Ms. Vaitsou agreed that the digital fair “cannot fully replace the physical encounter of attending and experiencing an art fair in person.”

“We already had an Online Catalogue ready to be launched so this didn’t prove challenging. Changing the live physical conference format of the Global Art Forum to a live streamlined experience required the application of relevant technologies and a shift in coordination tactics, which we were quick to achieve. The Performance Program organically shifted to online artist projects, with both existing works and new works created to be available publicly through widely used platforms. We are in ongoing discussions to evolve our digital scope, which will require different solutions and approaches,” she wrote.

The Philippines’ Silverlens Galleries, which had participated in previous Art Basel fairs previously, participated in both art fairs’ online iterations. It featured works by Southeast Asian artists Santiago Bose, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Mit Jai Inn, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Maria Taniguchi, and Yee I-Lann at Art Basel Hong Kong; while Pio Abad, James Clar, and Nicole Coson were featured in Art Dubai.

“We had about the same number of inquiries on both Art Basel and Art Dubai. Confirmed purchases were by clients already familiar with the artists’ works,” Silverlens Galleries co-founder Isa Lorenzo told BusinessWorld in an e-mail, on their participation this year.

In Art Basel’s Online Viewing Room, exact or price ranges per artwork were presented. “Research shows that works online with price information are exponentially more likely to be sold. We have had great feedback from collectors who appreciated the price transparency,” Ms. Ooi wrote.

“The inclusion of prices provides transparency,” Ms. Lorenzo wrote. “In the primary market, it protects the artists from unscrupulous dealers.”

Ms. Lorenzo also noted, however, that the experience of a virtual and actual art fair cannot compare to the real thing as there are “a lot of casual browsers online” and that most of their previous Art Basel Hong Kong sales were made “on the floor with the clients standing in front of the artwork.”

ART FAIRS POST COVID-19
Ms. Ooi and Ms. Vaitsou remains optimistic about the art fair’s future endeavors, despite uncertainties thanks to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally scheduled in June, the 2020 edition of Art Basel has been rescheduled on Sept. 17 to 20, 2020 at the Messe Basel.

“The decision to move the show to September was made in close consultation with a wide range of gallerists, collectors, partners, and external experts. While it is impossible to predict precisely what the situation will be in September, we are currently moving forward with our planning,” Ms. Ooi wrote. “Similarly, we are still planning to host our Miami Beach show from Dec. 3 to 6, 2020.”

Meanwhile, the 15th Art Dubai will be held on March 17 to 20, 2021.

“We have to be realistic about the impact the current situation and the ripple effects it will have globally and across industries. The art market is not immune to this. The majority of cultural events around the world are not going forward which will no doubt have implications to trade and industry as a whole at this moment,” Ms. Viatsou wrote. “However, it is inevitable that there will also be adaptation and we are optimistic that the future will see the art market adjust and continue diversifying and growing.”

DTI’s Lopez to firms: shoulder your staff’s virus test

TRADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said companies must pay for the testing of their employees for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which he said will be included in new business health protocols.

“Hindi po sagot ng gobyerno subalit ‘yun na rin po ang magiging practice ng mga kumpanya na gusto masigurado,” he said in a television interview on Tuesday.

(The government will not shoulder the testing cost, but that will become the practice of companies that want to be certain).

He said companies can ask employees to fill out health declaration forms noting travel and contact history, adding that those who have possible COVID-19 symptoms or who have had contact with patients can be prioritized for the PCR test.

The PCR or polymerase chain reaction test checks for the presence of the virus in individuals, unlike rapid tests that check for the presence of antibodies.

“Ine-encourage po ‘yung PCR test, pero ‘yun po ay limitado ang gamit sa ngayon — du’n lang sa may symptoms o kaya PUIs at PUMs,” Mr. Lopez said.

(We encourage using the PCR test but its use is limited to those who have symptoms or are persons under investigation or monitoring).

Mr. Lopez over the weekend said the private sector can set up testing facilities, with the guidance of the Health department.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey A. Concepcion had launched Project ARK (Antibody Rapid test Kits), a private sector-led project to increase COVID-19 testing.

Mr. Lopez said in the same interview on Tuesday that while some mall operations are now allowed in moderate or low-risk areas under the more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ), senior citizens and young people under 20 may be given a window or time period during the day when they will be allowed to leave their homes. Those groups are not allowed to leave their homes under current GCQ guidelines.

He said barber shops and salons are allowed to operate under the GCQ, with “very strict health standards.”

He added that there will be guidelines on minimum health protocols, including the wearing of masks and the use of sanitation stations. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Kominers’s Conundrums: The Warden Has a Brainteaser

By Scott Duke Kominers, Bloomberg Opinion

SOME puzzles are solvable in a blink (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SWgSZdSBjc). Others require deeper dives (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/eyos-submarine-dive-to-challenger-deep-bottom-mariana-trench). The tale of the prisoners and the light switch is a classic brainteaser that takes several steps to unravel. Are you ready?

One hundred people are being held prisoner. The warden, who is slightly benevolent — and also a mathematician — proposes to have the prisoners play a game in exchange for their freedom. He shows them a room with a single light switch, and explains: “Each day, I’m going to choose one of you at random and bring you into this room. When the first prisoner walks into the room, the switch will be ‘off.’ While you’re in the room, you can flip the switch if you want, and I’ll leave it however you set it for the next prisoner. Any one of you can declare at some point that all the prisoners have been in the room at least once; if you’re right, all of you go free; and if you’re wrong, you stay here until I come up with an idea for a new puzzle!”

Being bizarre, but fair, the warden lets the prisoners confer beforehand to agree upon a strategy — but once the game has started, the prisoners have no way to communicate except (possibly) by flipping the switch.

Can you figure out a strategy that guarantees the prisoners their freedom?

The word “guarantees” is important in this puzzle: It means that the full solution is not just a strategy the prisoners should use, but also a logical argument (a “proof”) convincing us that the strategy will work for every sequence of room entries that might arise.

(If you want to try the problem yourself without any hints or guidance, stop reading here for now.)

So how to even start figuring this out? First, try making the problem smaller. If there’s only one prisoner, they can just declare victory upon entering the room for the first time. If there’s two, the problem becomes more subtle: Each prisoner knows when they’ve been in the room, but nothing else.

(Again, perhaps pause here and try to work it out for yourself.)

But what if the prisoners decided beforehand that one would flip the switch as soon as he or she entered the room while the other would merely wait until that happened? This strategy might take a long while to work. But there’s no time limit in this game. At some point, the first prisoner will enter the room, and sometime after that, the second prisoner will enter and learn that the first prisoner has already been there.

This is- the first major logical leap in solving the puzzle: Prisoners can have different roles.

So what happens with three prisoners? And can we get from saving three prisoners to 100? Brett Berry of Math Hacks has a beautiful write-up (https://medium.com/i-math/100-prisoners-and-a-light-bulb-573426272f4c) of a solution (along with a slightly different approach to solving).

For a modern — and very nearly post-modern — version of the puzzle, here’s one from my personal vault. In 2008, Paul Kominers (my brother), Justin Chen and I asked what happens when the warden gets a prison so large it feels like something out of a Greek myth:

Now the warden has a labyrinthine prison with 111 indistinguishable rooms, each of which has the same number of light switches in them — and all the switches in all the rooms start “off.”

He’s going to lead his 100 prisoners into the rooms at random (one at a time, like before) and the prisoners win their freedom if — and only if — one of them correctly declares that each prisoner has been in each of the 111 rooms at least 17 times each.

The question is: How many switches do the prisoners need to have per room in order to find a strategy guaranteeing them their freedom?*

As before, the solution will involve developing a strategy and a proof that the strategy works. But now there’s the additional wrinkle that you can adjust the number of switches to make the game easier or harder for the prisoners.

Give it a try. We’ll go over the solution next week.

In the meantime, if you come up with something — even partial progress — please let me know at skpuzzles@bloomberg.net before midnight EDT on Wednesday, April 29. (If you’re stuck, there’ll be a hint announced in Bloomberg Opinion Today on Tuesday, April 28. Sign up here.)

LAST WEEK’S CONUNDRUM
The Fudd was the word. Our foray into wordplay included two puzzles challenging readers to fill in the blanks with words that are spelled the same way but have different meanings. First, we were “BEFUDDLED” that any hunter would want to “BE FUDD-LED” — Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes never quite manages to catch the wascally wabbit, irrespective of whether it is rabbit or duck season.

Then, I challenged you to find a seven-letter word that could fill in both blanks in a second verse:

Stuck at home another week:

a child past SEVEN?

“Not at all,” he said to me,

“I’ve got my game SEVEN!”

In total, 13 people came up with the intended solution, “CONSOLE.”** Zoz and James Flynn were first — within minutes of each other, and less than two hours after the column hit the web. Other solvers (selected randomly***) included Matthew Dickstein, Nancy Glaeser, Alex Newman-Smith, and Rianne Rowlands.****

THE BONUS ROUND:
MORE PUZZLES AND PASTIMES

A perpetual energy paradox puzzle (https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-to-design-a-perpetual-energy-machine-20200401/). You can turn colored pencils into a gigantic doughnut (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0aNETdn6sw) and/or subdivide certain right triangles into more right triangles (https://twitter.com/AlgebraFact/status/1252573276867624961?s=03). Try your hand at Roy Leban and Emily Dietrich’s Almanaq adventures (https://www.almanaq.com/), or this sudoku with only four given digits (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAyZ9K2EBF0). Celebrate Sondheim’s birthday (https://www.broadway.com/buzz/199128/jaw-dropping-lineup-of-stars-to-salute-stephen-sondheim-in-broadwaycom-birthday-concert-event/) (hat tip: Ellen Kominers); dance with Tabla Maestro Sandeep Das (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE78dVzV2SM); or watch a world-class Julie Andrews impersonator perform SuperBadTransmittableContagiousAwfulVirus (https://web.facebook.com/watch/?v=832790830549840). Explore Quanta Magazine’s map of mathematics (https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-map-of-mathematics-20200213/), or just have some fun at home with dominoes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5ZVMVyN6Bc). And inquiring minds want to know: Did supernovas really kill off the megalodon? (https://www.quantamagazine.org/did-supernovas-kill-off-the-monster-shark-megalodon-20190115/)

*As in the one-room puzzle, the prisoners can confer beforehand to agree upon a strategy.

**Admittedly, I took a bit of poetic license in the second line.

***If you don’t see your name listed here, please don’t despair — we’re keeping track of all the solvers and will feature callouts to both new and recurring solvers as Conundrums continues.

****Ross Berger came up with an alternate solution — “CONTENT” — which doesn’t fit the verse quite as well but isn’t too far off.

In addition to solutions, please send paradoxes, paraphernalia and/or your favorite puzzles to skpuzzles@bloomberg.net.

MVP Group, partners build quarantine center at Philippine Arena

MVP Group of Companies, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and religious group Iglesia ni Cristo have partnered to complete a 300-bed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quarantine center at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, NLEX Corp. said.

“Under the leadership of DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar and Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, the latest large-scale health and safety initiative made available by the Iglesia Ni Cristo in Ciudad de Victoria, Bocaue, Bulacan, will be completed on schedule by Wednesday, April 29, as part of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” NLEX Corp. said in a statement on Tuesday.

The quarantine center intended for returning overseas Filipino workers will be turned over to the Inter Agency Task Force on COVID-19 (IATF) medical teams once completed, NLEX Corp. added.

Mr. Pangilinan, who heads the business group, was quoted as saying: “This is another testament to the effective collaboration among the public and private sectors. Our group will continue to support the government’s COVID-19 emergency response programs and help the country recover from this pandemic. During this health crisis, everyone must pitch in.”

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and NLEX Corp. also vowed to provide “special and exclusive access” along the North Luzon Expressway to the Philippine Arena quarantine center for the IATF quarantine teams and medical support groups.

NLEX Corp. said the North Luzon Expressway will be toll-free for medical frontliners, ambulances, medical service vans and buses of the Health department.

The center will be managed by the government with personnel from the Health department, Armed Forces, and the National Police, NLEX Corp. said.

“The MVP Group is the country’s leading conglomerate of infrastructure utilities with diverse assets in power, electricity distribution, water supply, logistics, tollways operations and management, telecommunications and digital services,” it also noted.

NLEX Corp. is under MPTC., a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is one of the three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. The two others are PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp.

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

PETA launches YouTube channel

THE Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) has launched its YouTube Channel featuring works by and inspired by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare in the Time of COVID is online series celebrating the works of William Shakespeare, in commemoration to the renowned poet and playwright’s 404th death anniversary on April 23, 1616.

The series includes Sonnets & Songs, a reading of Shakespeare’s sonnets and their reimagining into Filipino songs. Participating artists include Michael Williams, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, Noel Cabangon, Myke Salomon, and Bituin Escalante. The series culminates with the streaming of Ron Capinding’s 2011 play William, directed by Maribel Legarda.

Set in a high school in Metro Manila, the story focuses on five young students who are forced to study Shakespeare’s plays by their terror class adviser. While studying, the students realize the beauty of Shakespeare’s works and also re-discover themselves through the Bard’s characters.

The show features 10 original rap songs composed by Jeff Hernandez and choreographed by John Tan.

William won Outstanding Play, Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Original Script at the 2011 Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards.

Viewers can access the free 72-hour livestream of William on PETA’s YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/petatheateronline) starting April 26, 7 p.m.

Sessions of PETA’s Let Get Creative! online workshops, which stream live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and highlights of #TalkTuesdays, which stream live every Tuesday on PETA’s Facebook page, will be available after the livestreams at the PETA YouTube channel.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/PETATHEATER/. — MAPS

Pryce’s first quarter profit up 9.4%

PRYCE CORP. on Tuesday said it saw its net income rose by 9.4% to P396.36 million in the first quarter, driven by the increase in sales of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products.

In a disclosure sent to the stock exchange, the listed firm noted that its consolidated revenues went up 24.2% to P3.18 billion in the January–March period, compared to P2.56 billion recorded in the same period in 2019.

Revenue growth came on the back of strong LPG sales which went up 15.1% to 58,745 metric tons (MT) from 51,047 MT it previously posted.

The company primarily sells LPG cylinders and accessories and generator sets which accounted for 95.3% of its total revenues.

The higher quarter-on-quarter average price in the international benchmark LPG contract price of $527 per MT, which is reflected in the price of local LPG, also contributed to its revenue growth.

As of April 2, local oil companies slashed LPG prices by P9.60 to P10.70 per kilogram (kg) or about P106-P118 per 11-kg cylinder. In Metro Manila, prices of household LPG ranged from P493.00–P689.00 per 11-kg cylinder.

Pryce said its first quarter performance was slightly impacted by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic since March.

Should the global health crisis persist throughout the year, the company said, its sales volume could drop between 5% to 10% compared with the previous year.

“The government’s Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) only slightly affected the Company’s first quarter performance since the ECQ was implemented near the end of the quarter (3rd week of March 2020),” it said in a statement.

“However, the Company expects the succeeding quarters to be adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. A fall of anywhere between 5% to 10% in sales volume (compared to 2019 levels) could result if the pandemic continues throughout the year. It is our hope that this disrupting phenomenon will be resolved soon,” it added.

The listed company primarily imports and distributes LPG under its major unit Pryce Gas, Inc., aside from producing industrial gases, owning real estate developments, as well as selling generic drugs through Pryce Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

On Tuesday, shares in Pryce inched up 0.24% to close at P4.21 each. — Adam J. Ang

TV viewing up 27% under ECQ

Being under quarantine has led Filipinos to watch more TV as global measurement and analytics company Nielsen Media reported that television viewing has increased 27% since the quarantine started.

“Forced confinement coupled with concerns on the rapid increase in the number of cases in the country were key factors to why Filipinos tuned in more to media sources such as television and online media,” Ernestine Amper, executive director of Nielsen Media in the Philippines, said in a release.

“In these times of uncertainty, Filipinos want to get as much information as they can about COVID-19 and its impact [on] their lives, work, and community that is why it is not surprising that their need for COVID-19 information extends from on-screen to online,” she added.

In a recent State of the Media in the Philippines report, Nielsen noted that television has seen an increase of 3.8 million viewers in any given minute of the day compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers.

Nielsen’s report considered the period of January to March 7 as the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period and March 8 to April 15 as the COVID-19 period.

While the viewing trend remains largely the same in that a day has two prime times — one at noon and another at night — it has shifted a bit with morning shows garnering a viewing bump of 60% because more people are staying at home.

Viewing has also changed in terms of demographics as those at the top of the socio-economic ladder (A and B) are adding an hour of screen time from their usual six-hour TV screen time. Those in classes C to E have also seen an uptick in screentime hours, though at a more modest 30 minutes, on average.

Professionals who are working from home are spending an hour more watching TV (from 4.1 hours to 5.2 hours a day on average) while manual workforce including laborers and farmers have posted minimal increases: farmers and farm managers increased their TV viewing from 4.3 hours to 4.5 hours a day while laborers increased theirs from 4.3 to 4.8 hours a day.

It should be noted that television is not the only screen getting a surge of viewers as streaming service Netflix announced last week that they added 15.77 million new paid global subscribers, more than double what they predicted for the year as much of the world has employed similar lockdowns and quarantine procedures.

But what are they watching? Nielsen’s study reported that people largely want to learn about developments regarding the pandemic and that has led to networks ramping up their news content. There’s also a greater focus on “thoughtful programming” as “major networks re-aired hit drama series on primetime that presented a common theme of ‘hope’ and a strong sense of ‘community,’” said Ms. Amper.

Networks are also re-airing educational programs for students dealing with cancelled classes.

“Based on the ratings performance of these shows, it seems that broadcasters are well attuned to the type of content the Filipino audience needs at these trying times,” she explained.

AD-SPENDING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
The pandemic has led to a softening of TV and radio ad spending as year on year the first quarter spending declined by 5% for TV and 22% for radio. Despite the decline, TV still gets the lion’s share of advertisements at 74% in the first quarter of the year.

Pharmaceutical companies are said to be “maximizing the heightened media consumption” by spending more on TV ads during the COVID-19 period, according to the Nielsen report, while some advertisers are said to have boosted radio ad spending as they lessened their TV advertising budgets.

Ads from on-site businesses such as cinemas, hotels, restaurants, and department stores declined during the COVID-19 period while food products like seasonings and canned goods increased their ad investment alongside cough and cold remedies, sanitation products, and vitamins which increased their spending in the first quarter of the year.

“This pandemic is pushing the industry against the wall — it’s forcing us to abruptly shift our focus, [adopt] a different mindset, and experiment with new things. It is by experiencing all these that we are able to carry on and come out stronger post-pandemic,” said Ms. Amper. — ZBC

MBC urges companies to review post-lockdown plans

COMPANIES must prioritize projects and review short-term plans as the business community prepares for the lifting or modification of the lockdown, the head of the Makati Business Club (MBC) said.

In an ANC interview on Tuesday, MBC President Edgar O. Chua said companies have been using the extended lockdown to plan for how they will be starting their operations.

“In terms of prioritizing the projects of the company, cash now really becomes king. It’s very, very important. And companies need to review their short-term and medium-term plans — like do you pause in terms of your expansion plans? For some this presents opportunities for expansion,” he said.

The enhanced community quarantine is extended in areas, including Metro Manila, until May 15.

“Demand, for most, except for some areas, will actually be very low… there will be a slowdown in that so people need to start thinking of how do you manage in such a situation,” Mr. Chua said.

He said companies must be prudent in prioritizing projects, work with the government to ensure that the supply chain runs smoothly, and plan for several scenarios.

“When things do not develop as you have anticipated, you have already thought of other possibilities and you can react quickly.”

He said the country must be careful in how it lifts the lockdown so that public health gains made during the quarantine will not be lost.

Mr. Chua said companies have been preparing for the lifting of the lockdown, but noted that they may still face challenges in terms of the limitations in public transportation, the main mode of transport for workers in many industries.

“The more difficult aspect which government may have been wanting to better prepare are the healthcare infrastructure system and this included quarantine, and this included testing, and hospital beds. I think we need to be moving towards — by the time we open up — we should have better facilities for quarantine, for hospitals, and also for testing,” he said. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Gov’t makes full award of T-bond offer on low rates, strong demand

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the reissued Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it offered on Tuesday on the back of low rates and strong demand, as investors flocked to safe-haven assets.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P30 billion as planned via the two-year T-bonds that have a remaining life of one year and eight months.

The tenor attracted bids worth P109.546 billion, making the offer more than three times oversubscribed.

Strong demand prompted the BTr to open its tap facility to raise another P15 billion.

The two-year notes fetched an average rate of 3.052%, with the highest rate at 3.08%, both lower than the 3.232% quoted for the bonds at the secondary market.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said they made a full award to take advantage of low rates and strong bids.

“Auctions have been on full awards and are able to mobilize more from tap because of low rates and oversubscription,” Ms. De Leon told reporters via Viber.

A bond trader said investors are opting to cash in on the shorter end of the curve as there is “too much liquidity but people have no appetite for more risks” due to concerns on the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Bonds, in general are attractive because it is the safest asset. And right now, we can see that there is appetite…in the longer tenors. But just goes to show in this auction there’s too much money looking for safety,” the trader said via Viber.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been firing off stimulus measures to cushion the blow of the pandemic on the economy, with BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno saying earlier this week that further monetary easing is “still in the agenda.”

The central bank has slashed policy rates by 125 basis points (bps) this year, the latest being the 50-bp off-cycle cut on April 16.

Following this, rates for the overnight deposit and lending facility have also been trimmed to 3.25% and 2.25%, respectively.

These rates are the lowest on record and also since the BSP shifted to an interest rate corridor in 2016.

It has also injected fresh liquidity to the market after it trimmed universal and commercial banks’ reserve requirement ratio by 200 bps to 12%. — B.M. Laforga

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