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URC income up 15% to P11.6B

GOKONGWEI-led Universal Robina Corp. (URC) posted a 15% increase in net income last year to P11.6 billion due in part to lower debt and interest expenses, it said on Tuesday.

In a regulatory filing, the listed food company said the onset of the pandemic early last year hit trading conditions and consumer sentiment, “with contractions seen in several snack food and beverage categories the company competes in.”

“Despite these challenges, URC has gained significant market share and performed ahead of competition,” it added.

Net sales for the year amounted to 133.1 billion, a 1% drop from 2019 on a reported-peso basis but up 1% on a constant currency basis.

URC said operating income rose by 7% to P16 billion, with improved margins. It said the growth was driven by better cost management and favorable input prices. It said these factors offset brand-building investments, among others.

Sales of URC’s branded consumer foods business reached P103.6 billion in 2020, which consists of its domestic and international branded consumer products.

From the figure, the company said its domestic revenues were flat at P61.2 billion, as growth of products such as snacks, noodles, and other filler type categories offset the decline of products such as ready-to-drink beverages and candies.

The company’s international revenues amounted to P41.2 billion, a decline of 5% against 2019 in peso terms, but flat on a local currency basis.

“Growth in Oceania was able to offset the slower recovery of other ASEAN markets,” the company said.

Meanwhile, URC said the sales of its agro-industrial and commodities businesses rose 7% year on year to P29.6 billion.

Its commodities food group grew 21%, with its sugar and renewables unit improving 33% due to the company’s acquisition of Central Azucarera de La Carlota and Roxol Bioenergy Corp. from listed sugar company Roxas Holdings, Inc.

In contrast, sales of the company’s agro-industrial group fell 10% as a result of downsizing in its hog farming operations.

URC President and Chief Executive Officer Irwin C. Lee said the company remains well-positioned for the long term and will push forward to meet customer demands despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We are focused on better serving our consumers, our customers, and our communities. Consumption of our products is not likely to dissipate; in fact, the relevance of our categories in consumers’ lives potentially increases as we adjust to changing consumer and shopper trends,” Mr. Lee was quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, URC shares at the stock exchange rose 2.79% or P3.60 to finish at P132.70 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million

LONDON —  In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent almost $67,000 on a 10-second video artwork that he could have watched for free online. Last week, he sold it for $6.6 million.

The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by Blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work.

It’s a new type of digital asset —  known as a non-fungible token (NFT) —  that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online.

Blockchain technology allows the items to be publicly authenticated as one-of-a-kind, unlike traditional online objects which can be endlessly reproduced.

“You can go in the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it doesn’t have any value because it doesn’t have the provenance or the history of the work,” said Mr. Rodriguez-Fraile, saying  he first bought Beeple’s piece because of his knowledge of the US-based artist’s work.

“The reality here is that this is very, very valuable because of who is behind it.”

“Non-fungible” refers to items that cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis, as each one is unique —  in contrast to “fungible” assets like dollars, stocks or bars of gold.

Examples of NFTs range from digital artworks and sports cards to pieces of land in virtual environments or exclusive use of a cryptocurrency wallet name, akin to the scramble for domain names in the early days of the internet.

The computer-generated video sold by Mr. Rodriguez-Fraile shows what appears to be a giant Donald Trump collapsed on the ground, his body covered in slogans, in an otherwise idyllic setting.

OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, said it has seen monthly sales volume grow to $86.3 million so far in February, as of Friday, from $8 million in January, citing blockchain data. Monthly sales were at $1.5 million a year ago.

“If you spend 10 hours a day on the computer, or eight hours a day in the digital realm, then art in the digital realm makes tons of sense —  because it is the world,” said OpenSea’s co-founder Alex Atallah.

Investors caution, however, that while big money is flowing into NFTs, the market could represent a price bubble.

Like many new niche investment areas, there is the risk of major losses if the hype dies down, while there could be prime opportunities for fraudsters in a market where many participants operate under pseudonyms.

CHRISTIE’S EMBRACES TERRIFYING
Nonetheless, auction house Christie’s has just launched its first-ever sale of digital art — a collage of 5,000 pictures, also by Beeple — which exists solely as an NFT.

Bids for the work have hit $3 million, with the sale due to close on Mar. 11.

“We are in a very unknown territory. In the first 10 minutes of bidding we had more than a hundred bids from 21 bidders and we were at a million dollars,” said Noah Davis, specialist in post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s.

His division has never seen an online-only sale top $1 million before, he added.

In a decision that could help push cryptocurrencies further into the mainstream, the auction house that was founded in 1766 will accept payment in the digital coin Ether as well as traditional money.

“I think that this moment was inevitable and whenever institutions of any kind try to resist inevitability, it does not work out very well,” Mr. Davis said of accepting crypto payment. “And so the best thing you can do is embrace the terrifying.”

$208K FOR LEBRON JAMES SLAM DUNK
NFTs could be benefiting from the hype around cryptocurrencies and blockchain, as well as virtual reality’s potential to create online worlds. The growing interest also coincides with a surge in online retail trading during lockdowns.

The start of the rush for NFTs has been linked with the launch of the US National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Top Shot website, which allows users to buy and trade NFTs in the form of video highlights of games.

Five months after its launch, the platform says it has over 100,000 buyers and nearly $250 million in sales. The majority of sales take place in the site’s peer-to-peer marketplace, with the NBA getting a royalty on every sale.

The volume is rapidly rising: February has seen sales totalling $198 million as of Friday, heading for a fivefold increase from January’s $44 million, Top Shot said.

Each collectible has “a unique serial number with guaranteed scarcity and protected ownership guaranteed by blockchain” the site says. “When you own #23/49 of a legendary LeBron James dunk, you’re the only person in the world who does.”

The biggest transaction to date was on Feb. 22, when a user paid $208,000 for a video of a LeBron James slam dunk.

One major NFT enthusiast, who goes by the pseudonym “Pranksy” told Reuters he had invested $600 in an early NFT project in 2017 and has now built that up to a portfolio “worth seven figures” in NFTs and cryptocurrencies. He asked to be anonymous to protect his family’s privacy.

Pranksy said he has now spent more than $1 million on Top Shot and made about $4.7 million by reselling purchases. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figures, although NBA Top Shot confirmed he is among the site’s biggest buyers.

“I see them as investments really, much like any other collectibles and NFTs that currently exist,” he said in an interview conducted via Twitter. “I’d never watched a game of basketball before Top Shot launched.”

EMERGENCE OF THE METAVERSE
Nate Hart, a Nashville-based NFT investor who, like Pranksy, has been involved in the market since it first developed in 2017, has seen some popular digital art NFTs such as Autoglyphs and CryptoPunk surge in value.

Mr. Hart said he bought a LeBron James Cosmic NFT on NBA Top Shot for $40,000 in January, then sold it for $125,000 in February. “We’re in awe, it just doesn’t feel real. We were in the right place, right time, got lucky, but we also took that risk,” he said.

“The space has been growing a lot. I do think that this is a little bit of a bubble. It is a bubble,” he

said. “It’s hard to predict what the top will be.”

Andrew Steinwold, who launched a $6 million dollar NFT investment fund in January, warned that the majority of NFTs could become worthless in future.

But, like many backers, he is confident that some items will retain their value and that NFTs represent the future of digital ownership, paving the way for a world in which people live, socialize, and make money in virtual environments.

“We’re spending a lot of our time digitally, always online, always plugged in. It makes sense to now add property rights to the mix and suddenly we have the emergence of the metaverse,” he said.

“I think it’s going to reach into the trillions of dollars one day.” — Reuters

Robinsons Land ends 2020 with P5.3-B profit

ROBINSONS LAND Corp. closed 2020 with a net income of P5.26 billion, the property developer said on Tuesday without disclosing a comparative figure for the year when it “exhibited resilience and agility.”

“Amid the challenges of 2020, we adopted new ways of working and embraced a mind-set of innovation to continue serving our customers,” Robinsons Land President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick D. Go said in a statement.

The real estate investment arm of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. previously disclosed its 2019 net income at P8.69 billion.

In Tuesday’s disclosure to the stock exchange, the company placed its consolidated revenues at P25.40 billion, lower by 17% compared with the level in 2019.

“We capitalized on new opportunities for growth and accelerated our digital transformation initiatives to become more agile,” Mr. Go said.

In the fourth quarter last year, it said net income reached P863 million, up 20% from the third quarter to post “improvements in key operating indicators across its business units.” No fourth-quarter 2019 profit number was given.

For full-year 2020, Robinsons Land said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to P13.68 billion.

Its development portfolio increased by 30% to P12.26 to partly offset the 38% decline in its investment portfolio to P13.15 billion.

Up to P22.15 billion in capital expenditure was used for land acquisitions, development of malls, offices, warehouse facilities, and hotels for the year. Some funds were also allocated for the construction of residential projects.

The company’s commercial centers division maintained the improvement in gross leasable area in the fourth quarter. The number of tenants and foot traffic also improved.

Revenues from the company’s commercial centers amounted to P5.96 billion in 2020, while its EBITDA totaled P4.11 billion.

“[Robinsons Land] is optimistic that the mall business will continue to rebound as quarantine restrictions ease and vaccinations start,” the company said.

Meanwhile, its office buildings division saw a 10% increase in revenues to P4.1 billion. The division’s EBITDA rose by 11% to P5.08 billion, while its EBIT rose 12% to P4.11 billion.

Robinsons Land said it would continue to expand its leasable space. It also aims to grow its portfolio of flexible workspaces under its workable brand, which has branches in Pasig, Taguig, and Quezon City.

Revenues of its residential division grew by 33% to P12.13 billion. Its EBITDA spiked by 40% to P4.17 billion, while the division’s EBIT amounted to P4.07 billion, soaring by 41%.

Three new projects were launched in early 2020, costing the company some P10 billion. The Sapphire Bloc South was opened in Ortigas Center, as well as the Sierra Valley Gardens Buildings 1 and 2 located in Cainta, Rizal.

Sales from its residential division totaled P7.29 billion.

In China, the company sold out all of its residential condominium units and townhouses in its Chengdu Ban Bian Jie project. Robinsons Land said it would recognize revenues from the project’s first phase after its handover this year. The second phase of the project is under construction.

For the company’s industrial and integrated developments division, revenues grew by 90% to P262 million, which was mainly driven by its two warehouse facilities.

Revenues for Robinsons Land’s hotels and resorts division, meanwhile, grew by 16% in the fourth quarter, allowing the company to close the year with revenues totaling P1.08 billion.

“Heading into 2021, we expect to sustain the gradual recovery of our businesses as quarantine restrictions ease and consumer confidence starts to bounce back. We will continue to provide relevant real estate solutions, while prioritizing health and safety,” Mr. Go said.

This year, the company plans to put its mature office assets into a real estate investment trust (REIT). It currently has 25 office buildings with a net leasable area of over 600,000 square meters. It aims to secure regulatory approval to be listed as an office REIT later this year.

Robinsons Land shares at the stock exchange declined by 0.71% on Tuesday, closing at P19.68 apiece. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

4th Ortigas Arts Festival: A film contest, on-site and virtual workshops

ORTIGAS Malls is pushing through with the fourth year of the Ortigas Art Festival, both on-site and virtually until Mar. 31. The onsite venue is the East Wing of Estancia at Capitol Commons, Pasig City.

Launched in 2018, the Ortigas Art Festival has the goal of “making art accessible to everyone.” Its first run featured over 60 local artists. In 2019, the roster of participating artists grew to over 130 Filipino artists from all over the country. The number of participants increased to over 200 including artists from other Southeast Asian countries  in 2020.

“Aside from the commitment to provide spaces and communities where life, work and leisure integrate, it is also our goal to continue to provide enriching experiences such as the Ortigas Art Festival,” said Jaime E. Ysmael, president and chief executive officer of Ortigas & Co., during the opening ceremonies on Feb. 24, which was also streamed via Facebook Live. “With the goal of democratizing art and supporting the Philippine art community, we decided to work together with renowned artists in different fields to turn Estancia into an art hub for everyone,” he said.

“Art is an important part of society, it is food to the soul. As long as the community continues to remain dedicated to pursuing the craft and enthusiasts continue to support [it], the art industry will thrive,” artist and festival exhibit head Renato Habulan said in a press release.

Adding to photography, sculpture, and painting exhibits, the Ortigas Art Festival ventures into film this year with a contest and workshops.

The first Vertical Cinema Contest done in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). Participants are to submit a two-minute short film in a portrait orientation shot on a smartphone. The film theme is “The Beauty of Everyday.” The top three finalists will win cash prizes. Deadline of entries is on Mar. 11.

The festival will also host virtual and on-ground workshops such as the FDCP Film Talks on “Editing with Cha Escala” on Mar. 7 (online); Agos.studio will have workshops with Renato Habulan on “Materiality and Illusion” on Mar. 13 (online) and “Watercolor for Beginners” on Mar. 27 (on-site); Born on Film will hold online workshops with Franz Lopez on “Visual Storytelling” on Mar. 19 and “Darkroom Developing” on Mar. 26.

One of the on-ground exhibitions showcases photography by the non-profit organization Born in Film. The photos include works by Filipino photographer Alberto Garcia, best known for his photo of the Mount Pinatubo eruption.

Participating galleries and artists include Agos.studio, Art Relief Mobile Kitchen, PhotoNation, Richard Buxani, Arnel Borja, La Maison D’ David Art Gallerie, and vMeme Contemporary Art Gallery.

Visitors must observe health and safety protocols such as wearing a mask and face shield, observe social distancing, and have a Pasig Pass upon entry.

Exhibits and on-ground workshops will be held at Estancia G/F East Wing in Pasig City. For more information and schedule of events, visit Ortigas Art Festival 2021’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ortigasartfestival. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Security Bank profit down 27%

SECURITY BANK Corp. saw its net income drop by 26.7% to P7.4 billion in 2020 as it set aside more loan loss reserves amid the crisis. — BW FILE PHOTO

SECURITY BANK Corp. saw its net income drop by 26.7% last year as it hiked its loan loss provisions to manage risks amid the coronavirus pandemic, the lender told the local bourse on Tuesday.

The bank’s net profit went down to P7.4 billion in 2020 from P10.1 billion it logged a year ago, based on its financial statement for 2019.

Return on shareholders’ equity was 6.16%. while return on assets was at 1.03%.

It set aside P26.4 billion as provisions for an anticipated surge in credit losses last year or over six times as much as the P4.2 billion recorded in 2019.

The lender said it set aside more loan loss reserves in 2020 on expectations that nonperforming assets would surge amid a pandemic-induced economic recession.

Security Bank’s net interest income went up by 14.2% to P30.65 billion last year from P26.84 billion in 2019. It booked a net interest margin of 4.77%, up from 3.93% the year prior.

Its loan portfolio inched up by 1.5% to P456.244 billion from P449.525 billion as retail loans went down by 10% while wholesale loans inched up by three percent.

Security Bank’s gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio climbed to 1.97% in 2020 from 0.56% in 2019. Its NPL reserve cover was at 115.47% last year, down from 129.2% previously.

Total revenues, meanwhile, jumped by 48% year on year to P50.4 billion.

On the funding side, the bank’s total deposit liabilities went down 12% to P440.41 billion from P499.61 billion a year ago due to reduced time deposits.

Low-cost savings and demand deposits grew 19% and increased to 60% of total deposits, up from 45% a year ago. High-cost deposits decreased 37%.

Non-interest income also rose by 178% to P19.723 billion from P7.105 billion in 2019 driven by strong gains in securities trading which surged 793% year on year to P13.4 billion in 2020.

It also reported a 249% increase (to P1.7 billion) in miscellaneous income after it sold 50% of its consumer finance arm SB Finance, Inc. to Thailand-based Bank of Ayudhya Public Co. Ltd. (Krungsri) in October 2020.

Meanwhile, income from service charges, gees and commissions went down by 11.1% year on year due to fewer transactions.

Operating expenses inched up by 13.5% to P19.7 billion. Still, its cost-to-income ratio improved to 39.1% from 51.1% a year ago.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio ended higher at 20.09% last year from 17.88% in 2019, showing that its buffers can support the current level of its risk assets, Security Bank said. The ratio was higher than the 10% minimum requirement of the central bank and 8% based on global standards.

Meanwhile, its common equity Tier 1 ratio rose to 18.84% from 16.39% the year prior.

However, Security Bank’s assets fell by 17% to P653 billion from P788 billion the year earlier

“Our 2020 results reflect the fundamental strength of Security Bank amidst a very challenging pandemic-impacted environment. Our retail and wholesale teams maintained their steadfast support of our core clients. Our financial markets team nimbly navigated significant market movements. We supported our employees through the necessary operating model pivots as well as fortified the Bank’s balance sheet with credit provisions,” Security Bank President & CEO Sanjiv Vohra said in a statement on Tuesday.

Security Bank has a total of 313 branches and 787 automated teller machines to date.

Shares in Security Bank went up by three centavos or by 2.31% to close at P133 each on Tuesday. — B.M. Laforga

Manila museums, library reopen amidst ongoing pandemic

AFTER being closed to the public since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns in 2020, the National Museum of the Philippines’ three component parts —  the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the National Museum of Natural History —  will be welcoming visitors again beginning March 2, albeit with many restrictions and regulations. Also opening are the National Library and the San Agustin Museum in Intramuros.

The National Museum buildings will be open on Tuesdays to Saturdays (9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.). The number of visitors will be limited to 100 guests at a time. Only persons aged 15 to 65 years old will be allowed entry (they must bring a valid ID).

The National Planetarium will remain closed until further notice.

According to a post on the National Museum’s official Facebook page, visitors are required to pre-book online at reservations.nationalmuseum.gov.ph at least one day prior to their planned visit. An online confirmation will be sent through e-mail. A health declaration will also be facilitated along with the online reservation process.

Groups and group reservations are limited to a maximum of five people. Walk-in visitors without prior reservation will not be granted admission.

A temperature scan will be taken upon entry. Persons with a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius and above will not be allowed to enter. Likewise, any person with a fever and flu-like symptoms will not be allowed to enter.

Guests must observe health and safety guidelines such as wearing face masks and face shield, and a distance of two meters between persons at all times. Hand sanitizers are available inside museum premises.

The use of elevators shall only be allowed for persons with disabilities and senior citizens. Guided tours are not allowed.

For inquiries, e-mail inquiry@nationalmuseum.gov.ph; or call 8298-1100 ext. 3000 or 8527-7889. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/nationalmuseumofthephilippines.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Meanwhile, the National Library of the Philippines on Kalaw St. in Manila has also reopened, welcoming a maximum of 100 visitors per day.

The library’s reading room is open Mondays to Fridays (9 a.m. to 3 p.m). Appointments must be booked online prior to the date of visit through the online reservation form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPjRDlI0PSROm7VhZNqGmM6pv4qQ0vVMGv7pSZl2tZbm7fHA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3TUx1yPvzLu7GIjQKNGScFSCjUlsAOVmkGUTL20K4osK4fHMe07CZKYJA). A confirmation will be sent via e-mail with the user’s reservation code (LURC) and seat number.

Visitors are encouraged to browse the NLP Online Public Access Catalog (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPjRDlI0PSROm7VhZNqGmM6pv4qQ0vVMGv7pSZl2tZbm7fHA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3TUx1yPvzLu7GIjQKNGScFSCjUlsAOVmkGUTL20K4osK4fHMe07CZKYJA) for titles they are interested in. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/NLP1901.

SAN AGUSTIN MUSEUM
The San Agustin Museum in Intramuros has also opened its doors to visitors. It will be open Wednesdays to Sundays (8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.).

Only visitors ages 15 to 65 will be allowed in the museum. The museum will accommodate a maximum number of 100 persons at a time. The museum will also implement a no-touch rule to all museum artifacts and exhibits.

Entrance fees are P200 for adults, and P160 for students, PWD, seniors and frontliners. — MAPS

AboitizPower begins public offer of P8-B retail bonds

ABOITIZ Power Corp. has started selling its five-year fixed rate bonds worth P8 billion to retail investors after its receipt of the corporate regulator’s permit to offer the securities for sale.

“The certificate of permit to offer securities for sale was issued in relation to P8 billion in aggregate principal amount, including the oversubscription option, of five-year fixed rate bonds due 2026 with an interest rate of 3.8224% per annum to be offered to retail investors,” the company said in a disclosure on Tuesday.

AboitizPower said that it had received the certificate to sell its first tranche bonds from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.

It opened the public offer on Tuesday, and the selling would end on March 8, Monday. The bonds are targeted to be issued on March 16, and would mature five years from its issue date.

The securities would be issued in scripless form in minimum denominations of P50,000 each, and in multiples of P10,000 after.

“Interest shall be paid quarterly in arrears on March 16, June 16, Sept. 16, and Dec. 16 of each year, commencing on June 16, 2021, until and including the maturity date,” AboitizPower said.

The joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters, and joint bookrunners of the first tranche are BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., and First Metro Investment Corp.

BDO Unibank, Inc.-Trust and Investments Group was assigned as the trustee, while the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp. will act as the registrar and paying agent of the bonds.

The bonds earlier received the highest rating of “PRS Aaa” from Philippine Rating Services Corp., assuring the obligor’s “extremely strong” capacity to meet its financial commitment on its obligation.

Obligations rated “PRS Aaa” are said to be of the highest quality with minimal credit risk.

On Monday, the SEC also granted an order of registration for AboitizPower’s shelf registration of debt securities of up to P30 billion.

In its disclosure, AboitizPower said that the remaining tranches of debt securities under the shelf registration program may be issued “from time to time” over the next three years, and these would be subject to market conditions and funding requirements.

Shares in AboitizPower at the local bourse inched down 2% or 0.5 centavos to close at P24.50 apiece on Tuesday. — Angelica Y. Yang

To improve public health, focus on OFWs, seniors, and other community leaders  — expert

By Patricia B. Mirasol

SHARPENING the focus on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and blue-collar workers will improve population health outcomes, according to Hilton Y. Lam, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies (IHPDS).

“These populations are important to the public health ecosystem because of their de facto community leader status,” Mr. Lam said — referring particularly to OFWs and seniors — at a virtual event on the health of future Filipinos. As it stands, low infrastructure investments in these populations translate to low reciprocal public expectations. 

“Their low opinion of public health will have consequences on the perceptions of people who value their opinions,” he said, adding that health programs that rely on participation by these groups — such as vaccination, nutrition, and blood donation — are put at risk.

Public health in the Philippines also suffers from its reliance on technologies that are not patient-centered, said Mr. Lam, which, in turn, leads to a slow response to epidemiological changes.

“The current programs are myopic due to an over-reliance on biomedical science to the point of rejecting the fields of data science, artificial intelligence, pharmaceutical manufacturing science, engineering science, and others,” said Mr. Lam. “Thus, when the pandemic hit the country, we could not do anything but shut down and pray we get the vaccines soon.”

He cited Taiwan as a country whose surveillance systems, which incorporates data science and artificial intelligence, enabled it to shut its borders as soon as it picked up “pneumonia-like symptoms with an unknown etiology.”

The island nation has, to date, kept its total number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases under 1,000 and is conducting Phase 2 clinical trials of its own COVID-19 vaccine. Taiwan was also one of the few economies to post positive GDP growth in 2020.

To improve the Philippine public health ecosystem, the IHPDS proposed a proof-of-concept program that develops a set of patient-centered quality assurance tools. The program will describe the baseline health-related quality-of-life of Filipinos; train provincial-level researchers on health technology assessment; and test telehealth innovations to increase the value proposition for OFWs, senior citizens, PWDs, and blue-collar workers.

“We need to do better,” Mr. Lam said. “We don’t know when the next pandemic will hit.”

RCBC’s digital banking app records increase in deposit transactions, usage

THE all-digital banking app Diskartech owned by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has seen an increase in deposit transactions as more clients continue to join the platform.

The platform saw a 42% rise in savings volume in January from the December level while deposits per user picked up by 38%, RCBC said in a statement.

Pressed for details, RCBC said more than half (52%) of Diskartech users belong to the 21-30 age bracket. This was followed by those aged 31 to 40 (30%), 41 to 50 (10%), 18 to 20 (3%), and 61 to 70 (1%).

Nearly half of their platform’s users reside in Luzon (49%), specifically in Metro Manila (31%). This was followed by customers in Visayas (10%) and Mindanao (9%).

The usage volume of the app also surged by more than four times (274%) in January from the average seen last year.

“These numbers are very promising showcasing Filipinos’ resiliency amidst this challenging time. We hope to be a partner of every Filipino in our collective quest towards economic recovery,” RCBC Executive Vice-President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Angelito “Lito” M. Villanueva was quoted as saying.

Diskartech was launched in July. Its offerings include a basic deposit account that does not require an initial deposit amount and a maintaining balance. It also features card-less ATM withdrawals and allows deposits and cash-outs from agent partners.

The bank hopes to attract more users into using the platform through its 3.25% annual interest on savings.

Mr. Villanueva earlier said they hope to attract Filipinos who are either underbanked or unbanked to the platform which has a Tagalog-English interface.

Central bank data showed only 29% of Filipino adults had formal bank accounts in 2019, leaving behind 51.2 million still unbanked.

RCBC’s net income decreased 7% to P5 billion last year from P5.388 billion in 2019 as the bank ramped up provisioning for credit losses to manage risks during the crisis.

Its shares closed unchanged at P17.50 apiece on Tuesday. — L.W.T. Noble

Lady Gaga’s dog walker says he is recovering from ‘very close call with death’

LOS ANGELES —  The man who was shot while caring for Lady Gaga’s French Bulldogs said on Monday he was recovering after nearly dying from the attack by assailants who kidnapped two of the pop singer’s pets.

Ryan Fischer, in his first public comments since the incident last Wednesday evening in Hollywood, detailed his recollections from that night and thanked family, friends, first responders and Ms. Gaga, who has been in Italy to shoot a movie.

The two stolen dogs were turned in to police unharmed on Friday but two men suspected of stealing them remain at large.

“I am still in recovery from a very close call with death,” Mr. Fischer, 30, wrote on Instagram alongside pictures of him in a hospital bed, including one that showed him connected to a ventilator.

Describing the episode, Mr. Fischer said he let out panicked screams as blood poured from his body from a gunshot wound. Kidnappers had taken two of Gaga’s three dogs —  Koji and Gustav —  but a third, Asia, remained with Mr. Fischer.

“I cradled Asia as best I could, thanked her for all the incredible adventures we’d been on together, apologized that I couldn’t defend her brothers, and then resolved that I would still try to save them … and myself,” Mr. Fischer wrote.

Koji and Gustav were returned unharmed to police on Friday by an unidentified woman and reunited with Ms. Gaga’s representatives. Ms. Gaga had offered a $500,000 reward for her dogs’ return.

To Ms. Gaga, Mr. Fischer said: “Your babies are back and the family is whole … we did it! You have shown so much support throughout this whole crisis to both me and my family.”

“A lot of healing still needs to happen,” Mr. Fischer added, “but I look forward to the future and the moment when I get bombarded with kisses and licks (and maybe even an excitement pee?) from Asia, Koji, and Gustav.” — Reuters

DITO may start to offer home broadband services in 2022

TELCO startup DITO Telecommunity Corp. may start offering home broadband services next year, a company official said.

“Ang balak namin, perhaps by next year, mago-offer na kami ng broadband services. ‘Yung sa bahay (We plan to offer home broadband services next year),” Adel A. Tamano, DITO’s chief administrative officer, told a news briefing on Tuesday.

Mr. Tamano also clarified that DITO’s commercial launch of its mobile services will take place in 15 areas, instead of 17, in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao on March 8.

Ten areas identified in Metro Cebu are: Carcar, Cebu City, Consolacion, Danao, Liloan, Mandaue, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando, and Talisay. Areas covered in Metro Davao are Panabo, Tagum, Carmen, Davao City, and Digos.

“DITO will eventually make its way to the rest of the country (located within, of course, the more than 37% population coverage) in just a couple of months,” Mr. Tamano noted.

He said the company chose Mindanao and the Visayas as its priority areas for the commercial launch due to a “sentimental reason.”

“It was actually set up to serve the underserved areas,” he noted.

The National Telecommunications Commission announced last week that DITO was compliant with its commitments to cover 37.03% of the country’s population and provide a minimum average broadband speed of 27 megabits per second (Mbps) in its first year of service.

PHL FIXED BROADBAND
Also on Tuesday, Ookla, the company behind Speedtest, said the Philippines’ fixed broadband average download speed for February “registered its highest jump since the beginning of the Duterte administration.”

“The 5.73 notch up from 32.73 Mbps… to 38.46 Mbps in Feb. 2021 represents a monthly increase of 17.51% and a 386.22% increase from the country’s download speed of 7.91 Mbps back in July 2016,” it said in a news release.

Ookla added that mobile networks’ overall performance also improved last month.

The country saw an average download speed of 26.24 Mbps, an increase of 252.68% from 7.44 Mbps back in July 2016, it noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Dashboard streamlines COVID-19 information

PROJECT MOSES, a health dashboard, aims to address misconceptions and streamline information for Filipinos seeking answers to their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) concerns.

Apart from its news aggregator feature, the website also includes a self-assessment tool and a hospital directory. All data in Project Moses is open to the public. “It is important to have open data accessible to the public so people can become well-informed and not ill-informed citizens,” said Rejiel “Rage” A. Gonzales, chief executive officer of Bridge360, the social technology enterprise that created the dashboard. “It helps researchers and other app developers build on the ideas of others.”

“Back in March 2020, information about COVID-19 was all over the place. Myths and fake news had been spreading,” she added. “We are trying to create a platform that we hope could streamline information and processes.”  

Started solely as a news aggregator, it was named Project Moses because of the company’s collaboration with Catholic Media Network, a network of Catholic radio and television stations.

To scale up the platform, Bridge360 had to join contests to get funding. It won first prize from Stat Zero, an impact investor in Silicon Valley, as well as second prize in Australia’s HackForBetterDays, in partnership with Here Technologies.

But Project Moses’s bigger ambitions are on the back burner for reasons outside the dashboard developers’ control. The platform wanted to help local government units streamline the transfer of COVID-19 patients from Level I hospitals (which aren’t required to have intensive care units) to hospitals with better facilities.

“We consulted several doctors and even collaborated with the Office of the Vice-President to see which hospitals we can onboard there. We were able to present Project Moses with the Philippine General Hospital and Lung Center,” Ms. Gonzales said. “Unfortunately, streamlining hospital transfers from one hospital to another was such a big vision. There were too many factors.”

The World Health Organization and the Department of Health also have online resources that individuals can peruse for accurate information. — Patricia B. Mirasol

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