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Offshore investors may avail of REITs through central bank

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

NON-PHILIPPINE residents are allowed to invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) through the central bank, bourse operator Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) said.

In a memo on its website, the PSE said those residing abroad may participate in local REIT offerings by registering with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through authorized agent banks.

Following guidelines in the BSP Manual of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Transactions, the PSE said REIT securities are considered “equity securities issued onshore by residents that are listed at an onshore exchange.”

Thus, interested investors in Philippine REITs but are living abroad may avail of full and immediate repatriation of capital and remittance of earnings using foreign exchange resources of the banking system.

At least two Philippine companies have confirmed plans to launch REIT offerings since the guidelines were revised in January: Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and DoubleDragon Properties Corp.

ALI has a live REIT application with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the offering of three commercial buildings in Makati City, namely: Solaris One, Ayala North Exchange and McKinley Exchange.

The application involves the primary offer of up to 47.86 million shares, a secondary offer up to 430.78 million shares, and an over-allotment option of up to 23.93 million shares, each offered at P30.05, which would raise up to P15.1 billion in net proceeds.

DoubleDragon, on the other hand, has a plan to do an P11-billion REIT offering in the fourth quarter involving 200,000 square meters (sq.m.) worth of leasing assets.

The company plans to raise a total of P66 billion from REITs by doing an annual offering starting 2020 to 2025. It currently has 803,000 sq.m. of leasing assets and plans to keep expanding in the coming years.

The government has amended rules for REIT offerings this year in hopes of attracting property developers into launching the investment vehicle. The Philippines legislated its REIT law in 2009 but it failed to take off due to stringent requirements.

The Department of Finance believes REITs can fund property development to push economic growth. “We democratize wealth by opening access for thousands of small investors wanting to be shareholders in secure and profitable real estate projects,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in January at the launch of the new REIT guidelines.

House panel OK’s bill strengthening gov’t banks

THE HOUSE Banks and Financial Intermediaries Committee approved on Friday a bill seeking to expand the loan assistance program, rediscounting and other credit accommodation facilities of government financial institutions to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) cope with the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

House Bill 6795 or the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) Act was filed by Quirino Rep. and House banks and financial intermediaries committee chair Junie E. Cua.

The bill directs the Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PGC) to expand its guarantee program for MSMEs by increasing the maximum loan guarantee coverage per borrower and reducing guarantee fees. To implement this, the measure mandates the government to increase its subscription to PGC’s authorized capital stock by an additional P20 billion.

The bill also directs the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to expand its loan program for qualified MSMEs affected by COVID-19, provided that these enterprises are engaged in infrastructure, services and/or manufacturing businesses. DBP’s authorized capital stock will be expanded to P100 billion from P35 billion to accommodate capital infusion.

Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) is also mandated to expand its loan program to MSMEs engaged in the agribusiness value chain. Both DBP and LANDBANK are allowed to rediscount loans to eligible enterprises.

The proposed measure also authorizes the LANDBANK and DBP to create a special holding company to be named Accelerate Recovery to Intensify Solidarity and Equity (ARISE) to provide liquidity by being a “major player” in the financial and capital markets.

“For this purpose, the special holding company shall be authorized to invest or place funds in equity, execute convertible loans or purchase convertible bonds and/or other securities…as well as to incorporate subsidiaries,” part of the bill’s explanatory note read.

To ensure that funds are properly used, the bill imposes restrictions on companies to be invested in, requiring that the number of employees are not reduced by a certain level, limiting its ability to declare dividends, restricting the increase in salary and other benefits of the board officers and ensuring investments of LANDBANK and DBP are not diluted and time-bound with a definite “exit-mechanism,” among others.

Meanwhile, to ensure effective implementation, the bill grants tax exemption and reduced registration and transfer fees on the following qualified transactions: those relating to the loan assistance program, rediscounting and other programs of DBP and LANDBANK, including dation in payment (dacion en pago) by the borrower or by a third party; investment transactions of the special holding company and its subsidiaries; and sales or transfers of rediscounted loans/other credit accommodations, subject to a limited three-year entitlement period.

The bill also exempts any procurements of the PGC, LANDBANK, DBP and the special holding company from the procurement law for three years.

The special holding company will also be exempted from the government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC) Governance Act of 2011 and the Philippine Competition Act for three years.

The measure appropriates P55 billion to infuse additional capital to PGC (P5 billion), LANDBANK (P35 billion) and DBP (P15 billion).

“Enterprises, whether MSMEs or large enterprises, were heavily impacted by the disruption in travel and transport of goods and services as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. These enterprises which belong to or operate in certain industries or sectors that are strategically important to economic recovery would require financial assistance in order to ensure their continued viability and, in turn, create a ripple effect to reverse the economic downturn,” Mr. Cua said in his explanatory note.

The measure will be transmitted to the House Defeat COVID-19 Committee for its consideration. Once approved, it will go to the plenary for debates. — Genshen L. Espedido

PSE reopens trading floor on relaxed lockdown

THE Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) is reopening its trading floor today as quarantine measures in Metro Manila are eased.

In a statement over the weekend, the operator of the local bourse said stockbrokers may return to the trading floor for operations in an effort to boost investor confidence.

“While our floorless or offsite trading from March 19 to May 29 has proven to be efficient and seamless, we decided to reopen and resume trading on the floor to convey a strong message to the investing public that things are back to ‘normal’ in the capital markets,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said in the statement.

“Hopefully, the optics of the reopening will contribute to the restoration of the general public’s much needed confidence in the recovery of our economy,” he added.

Metro Manila and parts of the country will be under a relaxed lockdown starting June 1 after calls from various stakeholders to restart the economy. However, the decision was amid a continued rise in local coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, which stood at 16,634 as of Friday.

The PSE trading floor has been closed since mid-March to observe regulations in containing the spread of COVID-19. Brokers have since been monitoring market trading remotely.

Mr. Monzon said as brokers were pushed out of the trading floor, many had to rent alternative sites to keep operating during the lockdown period. Now that they are allowed to return, the PSE hopes it helps them recover from expenses for rental, employee board and lodging and connectivity costs.

As the trading floor reopens, the PSE will be observing safety regulations for those entering the building, such as temperature checks, submission of daily health declarations and required wearing of masks.

A one-trader-per-booth policy will also be observed, against the previous two to three traders per booth, to maintain physical distancing. Any form of gathering in the trading floor will not be allowed.

“The…measures may be inconvenient and troublesome but we trust the traders will understand and appreciate that all these are being done to safeguard their health and well-being,” Mr. Monzon said.

Should it find necessary, the PSE said it may suspend trading operations at the trading floor again.

Trading hours during the relaxed lockdown will remain shortened as observed since March: market opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 1 p.m. — Denise A. Valdez

About 10–15% of city land viable as urban farms

SOME 10–15% of the land area in cities could be converted for use as fruit and vegetable farms, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar made the estimate while discussing a model urban farm project run by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) at the end of National Farmers and Fisherfolk Month.

The DA is pushing urban agriculture as a possible strategy to relieve pressure on supply chains after major cities were cut off from the food-producing hinterland during the quarantine.

“Many people live in urban areas and about 10 to 15 percent of those areas have enough space that can be utilized for the production of vegetables and fruits,” Mr. Dar said.

The model farm features edible landscaping and sustainable cultivation strategies suited for maximizing limited land in urban areas.

The DA’s Urban Agriculture Project involves the distribution of garden starter kits by the ATI and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) as well as the extension of technical assistance by these agencies to households and communities.

“As of May 21, a total of 675,773 individuals/households and 62 local government units and institutions have received seed and planting materials from the project. More than two million individuals also participated in the training and advisories conducted by the ATI,” the DA said.

Mr. Dar also encouraged the public to raise poultry and livestock where allowed.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to bring the opportunity of urban agriculture to Metro Manila and other areas of the country with the basic objective of ensuring household food security,” Mr. Dar said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Treasury bill rates to end sideways on rate cut bets

RATES OF Treasury bills (T-bills) on offer this week will likely move sideways on expectations that strong bids will continue and of a policy rate cut by the central bank.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) will offer P20 billion in T-bills on Monday, broken down into P5 billion each for the 91- and 182-day papers and P10 billion in 364-day instruments.

On Tuesday, the BTr is set to borrow P15 billion via the 35-day T-bills.

ATRAM Trust Corp. Head of Fixed Income Jose Miguel B. Liboro said strong demand for the short-term papers will continue and will push rates slightly lower than yields fetched in the previous auctions.

Mr. Liboro said the market already considered the possibility that Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board will cut benchmark interest rates anew.

“We expect the auctions to continue to be well-bid with demand potentially driving yields on the front-end marginally lower. At current market levels, we believe that an additional 25- bp (basis point) cut from the BSP (down to 2.5%) has already been fully priced in,” he said via e-mail on Friday.

Noel S. Reyes, first vice-president and chief investment officer of the Asset Management Group at Security Bank Corp., said rates will also move sideways for shorter tenors and marginally lower for the one-year tenor.

“I think we could see sideways movement on the award rates for the 35-day to 182-day tenors. The 364-day may come out slightly lower still as the gap between this and 6 months is still wide vs. its mean differential. We expect these marginal moves as the yield curve has come off more on the shorter end than the longer dates already,” Mr. Reyes said in a text message on Friday.

The BTr raised P24 billion in T-bills last week, higher than the programmed P20 billion, as demand soared and rates declined across-the-board.

Broken down, it borrowed P5 billion each via three-month and six-month papers at lower average rates of 2.058% and 2.114%, respectively. It hiked the award of one-year securities to P14 billion from its P10-billion plan on strong bids. The one-year papers also yielded a lower average rate of 2.508%.

Meanwhile, the last time the Treasury offered 35-day papers was on May 19 where it raised P15 billion as planned at an average rate of 2.024%, down from 2.042% previously.

“The yield curve is now extremely flat and we feel the front-end (1- to 3-year) now offers the best risk-reward proposition, despite being fairly valued already,” Mr. Liboro said.

“While we believe that there is the potential for a retracement on the longer-tenor securities, liquidity is likely to keep short-tenor securities well-bid given expectations of BSP action,” he added.

The BSP Monetary Board has brought down interest rates to record lows after delivering a total of 125 bps in reductions so far this year to follow the 75 bps in cuts in 2019.

The next rate-setting meeting for the year is scheduled on June 25.

The government plans to borrow P170 billion from the local market in June: P110 billion via weekly T-bill auctions and the remaining P60 billion in Treasury bonds to be offered fortnightly. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Agoda hopeful domestic tourism will recover soon

THE ongoing pandemic has brought the tourism industry to its knees, with multiple countries imposing travel restrictions, halting flights, and closing accommodations to stem the tide of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) infections. But online booking platform Agoda is hopeful, banking on domestic tourism to pick up and recover long before international travel does.

“While we cannot say when the industry will fully recover, we anticipate it will be years and not months before things get back to the level they were in 2019, but we are seeing some encouraging signs of recovery in domestic travel bookings,” Agoda said in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

In its latest earnings report, Booking Holdings, Inc. — of which Agoda is a subsidiary along with other booking platforms such as Booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com, Kayak, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable — announced “bookings for new room nights were down by 85% year on year in April.”

Things are not looking up worldwide as in an updated May impact assessment report, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), noted that the tourism sector saw a 22% decrease in international arrivals in the first quarter of 2020 with March, in particular, down by 57%.

“This translates to a loss of 67 million international arrivals and about $80 billion in receipts,” the organization said.

UNWTO forecasts that the overall decline for the year can range from 58% to 78%, which will mean putting more than 100 million tourism jobs at risk in what it calls “the worst scenario” — one which will put an abrupt end to a “10-year period of sustained growth since the 2009 financial crisis.”

Agoda, in a May 18 letter from its CEO John Brown, said it will be reducing its workforce by 1,500 while senior leadership members will be taking a temporary 20% pay cut starting June 1.

All of this is bad news, but Agoda is still optimistic about domestic travel recovering and has adopted measures to deal with the changes that will come once travel starts up again.

“We are seeing green shoots of growth in domestic travel in some key markets and anticipate that domestic travel will return before international travel,” the company told BusinessWorld, echoing the UNWTO report that “domestic demand would recover faster than international demand.”

“People will travel again, but there may be changes in how they travel,” Agoda said.

One of the changes, the company said, is there may be a need for more flexible booking options “in case [travelers] need to cancel in the last minute,” and so it introduced the EasyCancel feature which offers travelers free cancellation options should their plans change.

Agoda is also doing a campaign called GoLocal, focusing on domestic travelers and accommodations, to entice said travelers to “get the best deals they can when they are ready to travel,” the company said in the e-mail.

In the meantime though, the company compiled a list of virtual tours available online so people can still “experience the world” while they stay at home.

The tours it recommended are based on its travelers’ favorite destinations in 2019. The list includes a virtual tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/met-360-project) and virtual tours of the Namhansanseong World Heritage Center, Jeongak Pre-history Museum, and Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, all in South Korea (https://artsandculture.google.com/search/streetview?project=gyeonggi-1000-years-of-art-and-history).

In the Philippines, which placed 7th in the list of Agoda’s top destinations of 2019, the company listed a virtual tour of the Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur (http://360virtualtourist.com/caramoan-islands/). — Zsarlene B. Chua

P30-B CCLEx more than halfway complete

THE Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway is expected to be completed in 2021. — COMPANY HANDOUT

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter

THE P30-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx), one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects that is expected to ease the worsening traffic in Metro Cebu and help spur economic growth in the Visayas, is now more than halfway complete, its developer said.

“As of April 30, 2020, the overall Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway project stands at 56.86% while construction progress alone is at 42.04,” Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC) President and General-Manager Allan G. Alfon told BusinessWorld in an e-mailed reply to questions on May 29.

He added that only a skeleton workforce was fielded to undertake necessary work at certain portions of the 8.5-kilometer toll bridge project during the enhanced community quarantine period.

“As to the project’s timeline, we are reviewing the pandemic’s impact on the target date of completion. Rest assured that all the teams involved in the CCLEx project continue to work hard towards completing it next year. Projecting, however, the exact month in 2021 is a challenge considering the current conditions,” Mr. Alfon said.

The whole bridge was originally scheduled to open in the month of March, in time for the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the country.

“With the transition to a more relaxed community quarantine, though, we can already accelerate work on the project’s different components,” Mr. Alfon added.

The toll bridge project, which is expected to benefit around 50,000 vehicles daily, will connect mainland Cebu in Cebu City to Mactan Island through Cordova, a coastal town in the province.

CCLEC is a subsidiary company of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), the tollways arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), one of the three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and 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.

Irrigated land area up 2.6% in 2019 at 1.97 million hectares

IRRIGATED land in 2019 expanded 2.6% year-on-year to 1.97 million hectares, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its Agricultural Indicators report, the PSA said the current land area serviced by irrigation facilities accounts for 63% of all irrigable land, estimated at 3.13 million hectares.

CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) and MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) regions had the biggest increases in irrigated land at 7.4% and 6.7%, respectively.

“The country’s total service area equipped with an irrigation system increased yearly by an average of 3.3% for the period of 2015 to 2019,” the PSA said.

Between 2015 and 2019, the National Irrigation System (NIS) was the top irrigation provider with an average share of 45.5%.

Other irrigation providers include the Communal Irrigation System (CIS) at 35.5%, private irrigation systems at 9.8%, and other government agencies at 9.2%.

The NIS provides water for the Cagayan Valley, Davao Region, BARMM, and SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City), among others. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Abracadabra, Azkarra!

‘Virtual’ is the new vehicle vernacular

THERE’S NO doubt about it, the auto industry is not just back; it’s now gaining momentum as well. After opening dealership doors (albeit cautiously) to customers over the last couple of weeks, brands are starting to take the perceived next step: the presentation of new vehicles.

Last Thursday, Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP), authorized distributor and service provider of the Geely marque in the Philippines, took that leap and digitally unveiled to the media the second vehicle of its portfolio here. The Geely Azkarra compact SUV now joins the previously launched Coolray.

The public launch, also in digital form, subsequently happened last Saturday, 6 p.m. — streamed through the Geely Philippines website, and on the company’s social media accounts on Facebook and YouTube.

Also known as the Geely Boyue Pro, the Azkarra goes by various names in different territories — taking the Emgrand series and Proton brand badges elsewhere. The version that makes its way here “is completely redesigned from its first-generation model (launched in 2016),” said Geely Philippines in a release.

Reported Geely Design China Vice-President and General Manager Guy Burgoyne, “After listening to consumer feedback, we also wanted the user to have easier access to Azkarra’s technology and storage spaces by further refining our interior design… When it was first launched, it was given the nickname ‘the most beautiful SUV in China’ — with such high praise we knew we had to work harder on the second and third generations.” During the media sneak peek, he confessed to being fascinated by our jeepneys, and executed a design interpretation of a rather modern-looking “Geely Jeepney” which he presented to the (virtual) audience.

Back to the Azkarra, of note in the model is the mild hybrid technology on one of its two variants. Said SGAP President and CEO Mikihisa Takayama, “Right now, we see that the auto industry is gearing towards hybrid and electric vehicle technology as it becomes increasingly popular.” The Azkarra is said to be the first in its segment equipped with this technology.

The Azkarra’s all-wheel-drive 48V EMS (Electric Motor Synergy) Luxury variant (priced at P1.598 million) is motivated by a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine “complemented” by a 48V belt-starter generator (BSG), a 48V-12 DCDC converter, 48V lithium-ion battery module, and battery management system (BMS). It returns 190hp and 300Nm of torque, and enables the Azkarra to reach 100kph from standstill in less than 10 seconds.

According to Geely, the BSG assists the gasoline engine, ultimately promising up to 15% in fuel savings. The 48V battery is charged by the engine during cruising and through kinetic energy when the brakes are engaged. Fuel is saved as the engine shuts down when the vehicle is stationary, and the 48V battery can provide up to 225Nm of torque from 1,000rpm “for a powerful start,” and deliver “maximum assistance of 10kW and 50Nm.”

Geely Philippines recently announced that all its vehicles (which now include units of the Azkarra, of course) sold here are already equipped with CN95 filters — designed to “filter out dust, harmful gases, particulate matter (PM) 2.5 particles, droplets with diameters larger than 0.74 microns which are often attached to coronaviruses.” Previous buyers of the Coolray without the CN95 filters can bring in their vehicles to a Geely dealership, and these will be fitted with those for free.

The other variant of the Azkarra is the more affordable Premium trim (P1.438 million), which is front-wheel driven. Geely Auto Group CEO An Conghui described the Azkarra as “an affordable luxury SUV. With its technological power, refined interior, healthy space, and safety features.”

By the way, Geely is sweetening the pot further by throwing in a hefty P100,000 discount for people plopping down reservations until the end of July.

Former Goldman Sachs trader plans a credit fund

NOT MANY Goldman Sachs partners seek out citizenship in a tiny Caribbean island to speed through airports. Ali Meli wasn’t your typical Goldman partner.

Couch-surfing inside the investment bank, an almost $10-million paycheck as a junior trader and clashing with peers are all parts of the legend of Meli, described by colleagues as an unlikely figure in Wall Street’s most elite club: Abrasive but brilliant, subversive but successful, and above all one of its most “eccentric” figures.

Now, after exiting the investment bank last year, Meli is setting up his own venture in some of the most treacherous markets in generations. The 38-year-old plans to recreate a model of doing business that he learned in an especially profitable part of Goldman’s trading division, putting together complex financing deals.

“Everything about Ali was unusual but he was one of the most incredible people we’ve ever hired,” said Ram Sundaram, who brought Meli into his team, which went on to become the Principal Funding & Investments group. “He could think through all aspects of a deal to a degree that was abnormal. He was in a league of his own.”

Meli is now seeking the backing of many of his former mentors as he looks to raise money for a structured credit fund, ramping up at a time of severe economic disruption.

As companies seek out capital amid market distress, Meli hopes he finds himself in the center of transactions, borrowing a playbook from his Goldman days.

Born in the shadow of the Iran revolution, Meli’s earliest memories of Tehran, where he spent 20 years, was the conflict with Iraq, as his family shuttled between houses to shield themselves.

Meli’s ticket to escape the mandatory deployment in Iran’s army was a world physics competition. He later left the country altogether on a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After a delay in his security clearance, Meli landed in Boston on Sept. 10, 2001. Terrorists attacked the US early the next morning, prompting unprecedented scrutiny of recent arrivals from the Middle East. Meli soon had to submit to a government registry tracking his movements. But it didn’t end there.

Every time he flew, the Iranian emigre was singled out for more rigorous checks. Even years later, while jet-setting with Goldman bankers to set up billion-dollar trades, the airport ordeals continued. So he solved it in a way only the wealthy would — he went passport shopping.

For Meli, the worry of being sent back to Iran was paramount. His response was insane work hours.

During his early days at Goldman, after other traders went home, Meli would sneak into one of the plush partner offices to sleep. He often found refuge on the office couch belonging to Harvey Schwartz, then a senior deputy to trading co-head Gary Cohn. Both men nearly went on to become the bank’s CEO.

Meli’s justification: “Harvey had an open-door policy.”

“I was worried about losing my job because it would have meant deportation to Iran,” Meli said. “I didn’t want to risk that. But I wasn’t stupid — I never slept on Gary’s couch.” Cohn, known for his hard-charging ways, eventually joined President Donald Trump’s White House.

Yet Meli charted quick success, becoming a pillar of Sundaram’s group. Known as PFI, it had latitude to use Goldman’s own money to take on positions that wouldn’t be easy to quickly offload. Some of its big-ticket financings around the 2008 credit crisis generated massive gains for Goldman even as the rest of Wall Street struggled.

Just a few years into his banking career, Meli was already eyeing big risks. He encouraged his team to pile on short positions as the housing market headed into the 2008 credit crisis.

Meli also had a hand in another incident that reverberated across financial markets. He helped his team come up with the valuation for marking down positions in its swaps transaction with AIG, which forced the insurer to put up more cash as others followed suit. AIG insisted for years that Goldman’s aggressive move was what led to its failure.

Some of the most profitable transactions were trades Goldman designed with the likes of CIT Group and European banks. That helped Meli score his giant paycheck for 2009. But as his success mounted, so did his skirmishes. Often passionate, he wouldn’t hold back in disagreements over transactions — incidents that sometimes left more-senior colleagues red-faced.

Meli gave up butting heads at Goldman and officially exited the bank last year.

This year, markets are presenting a once-in-a-century opportunity for brave credit traders. Meli’s firm has already announced a transaction, a credit line to a fintech company in Colombia. — Bloomberg

VLF 2020: Escapism in the virtual world

PLAYWRIGHT Luis Nario and director James Harvey Estrada had just finished their first few technical rehearsals for their Virgin Labfest play Gin Bulag when they spoke with BusinessWorld.

Ang hirap. Hindi mo alam kung kailan mapuputol at babagal ang Internet mo (It’s difficult. You do not know when your Internet connection will get cut or slow down),” Mr. Estrada said about rehearsals during a Zoom interview on May 29. “Interesting siyang gawin (It was interesting to do),” he added, noting that the team earlier considered tweaking the play for the current situation since it involved drinking.

Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, Gin Bulag and the other plays in this year’s Virgin Labfest (VLF) — the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ theater festival which focuses on new, unstaged one-act plays — are going to have live streamed performances on the VLF YouTube page.

Mr. Estrada said that it was a challenge to present a story on alcoholism and physical violence (stabbing, in particular) in the time of COVID-19. The team decided to present the play as originally written, and intend for it to be a source of escape from the daily life in lockdown.

Gin Bilog is a tragicomedy following Entong, a Batangueño drunkard whose brother-in-law Dune joins him for a drinking session. Entong’s wife, Lorna, joins them too. As the night stretches over bottles of gin, tulingan (tuna), and videoke singing, things become more miserable despite having a good time.

The story, playwright Luis Nario said, was inspired by a childhood friend who lives near the train tracks in Batangas where drinking and physical violence are rampant.

Si Lorna at si Dune ay nagpaplano na ipatumba na yung asawa niya kasi naiinis na rin siya. Tapos ‘yun pala, lahat sila nag-iisip ng ganoon. (Lorna and Dune were planning to get rid of her husband because she was irritated by him. As it turns out, all of them were thinking of doing the same thing). They wanted to get rid of each other in a drinking session,” Mr. Nario said.

The playwright pointed out that there can be ideas in one’s subconscious which come to the surface when imbibing alcohol.

ON REALITIES
Through the play, Mssrs. Nario and Estrada hope to show the universal hardships of life, the power dynamics between men and women, and tendency to normalize violence, and how we deal with them.

Gusto ko rin tignan yung angulo kung paano tayo makakatulong at uunawain [sila] (I want to look at it from the angle of how we can help and understand them),” Mr. Nario said.

Mr. Estrada, the director, said that for the play he has tried to adopt the working environment of Tiktok where the music is embedded all throughout and includes stingers. He originally considered writing a storyboard for the live performance. He dropped the idea since “Baka maging rigid ‘yung directorial (The directions might turn out rigid),” he said.

Mr. Estrada’s goal is for the audience to enjoy the play, and afterwards reflect on life’s difficult reality. “We are trying to escape for a time, but [afterwards] there are realities we have to face,” he said.

The play’s cast members are Rhon Mercado, Robert “Buboy” Villar, and Lovely Abella.

Gin Bilog will stream live on June 12, 3 p.m., and June 25, 2 p.m.

Aside from the plays and staged readings, viewers can also catch the VLF Playwright’s Fair online, with this year’s playwrights talking about their work on June 11-14, 17-20, 25-27 at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, the Virgin Labfest 2020 Writing Fellowship Program will culminate in an online staged reading of the fellows’ works on June 28 at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

For more details and show schedules, visit https://www.facebook.com/culturalcenterofthephilippines/ and https://www.facebook.com/thevirginlabfest/, or join https://www.facebook.com/groups/VLFTambayan/. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Boss UP among four investment groups flagged by SEC

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is warning the public against four groups that are offering investment opportunities without authorization from the government.

In separate advisories on its website, the corporate regulator identified four unlicensed investment operators that the public must watch out for: Boss Ultimate Program (Boss UP), IPayOutWeekly/IP Weekly Advertising Services, Commodore Agri-Ventures Holding Corp. and XM Trading Marketing Services/XM Trading Official.

It said all of them do not have the secondary license required by the SEC for anyone soliciting investments from the public.

Boss UP, which the SEC said is run through the collaboration of Building Our Success Stories Network, Inc. (BOSS Network) and 101Upper Class Corp. (Upperclass), engages in multi-level marketing.

The group offers 10 ways to earn, most of which rely on referrals and bonuses which the SEC classified as selling securities to the public. Under the Securities Regulation Code, such activity requires that a company has a secondary license from the SEC.

The SEC said BOSS Network and Upperclass are both registered as corporations with the commission. However, their joint venture Boss UP is unregistered and none of them has a secondary license to sell securities.

Similarly, IPayOutWeekly is not registered with the SEC and does not have a secondary license to sell securities. The SEC said it operates by enticing the public to invest P1,000 in exchange of P1,400 in seven days.

The group claims it is registered with the Department of Trade and Industry under the name IP Weekly Advertising Services. But the SEC said it has no records with the commission, which regulates the solicitation of investments.

Commodore Agri-Ventures also offers easy-money by inviting individuals to become “shareholders” starting with a P3,500 investment, after which they are guaranteed a payout of 10% of shares in one to two weeks.

The SEC said the company is registered as a corporation, but did not secure the secondary license needed to offer, solicit, sell or distribute securities.

Lastly, XM Trading operates by promising investors, which it also calls “shareholders,” a 25% profit of their investment capital every 20 days. It claims involvement in pro-gaming advertising, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange trading, perfume manufacturing and wholesale, and car loan financing, among others.

But the SEC said XM Trading is neither registered with the commission nor does it have a license to sell securities, making its operations unauthorized.

The SEC warned the public not to invest or stop investing in these four groups as they violate the Securities Regulation Code. Anyone that acted as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents for these groups may be penalized with a fine of up to P5 million, imprisonment of up to 21 years, or both. — Denise A. Valdez