GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday tightened guidelines on wearing face masks, recommending that, where COVID-19 is spreading, they be worn by everyone in health-care facilities and for all interactions in poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
In June, the WHO urged governments to ask everyone to wear fabric masks in indoor and outdoor public areas where there was a risk of transmission of the virus.
Since then, a second global wave of the epidemic has gathered pace. In all, more than 63 million people globally have caught COVID-19 and 1.475 million died of it, according to a Reuters tally.
In more detailed advice published on Wednesday, the WHO said that, where the epidemic was spreading, people—including children and students aged 12 or over—should always wear masks in shops, workplaces, and schools that lack adequate ventilation, and when receiving visitors at home in poorly ventilated rooms.
Masks should also be worn outdoors and in well ventilated indoor spaces where physical distancing of at least one meter (3 ft) cannot be maintained.
In all scenarios, masks—which protect against transmission of the virus rather than infection—needed to be accompanied by other precautions such as hand-washing, the WHO said.
In areas of COVID-19 spread, it also advised “universal” wearing of medical masks in health care facilities, including when caring for other patients.
The advice applied to visitors, outpatients, and to common areas such as cafeterias and staff rooms.
Health-care workers could wear N95 respirator masks if available when caring for COVID-19 patients, but their only proven protection is when they are doing aerosol-generating procedures which carry higher risks, the WHO said.
It recommended that people doing vigorous physical activity not wear masks, citing some associated risks, particularly for people with asthma.
Adequate ventilation, physical distancing, and disinfection of “high-touch surfaces” in the gym must be maintained, or their temporary closure should be considered, it added. — Stephanie Nebehay/Reuters
LATEST official labor data showed the ranks of jobless Filipinos, as well as those wanting more work to augment income decreasing in October compared with those seen in July and the record-high in April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported earlier this morning.
The October rates, however, were still higher when compared with those seen in the same month a year ago.
Preliminary results of the PSA’s October 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) put the unemployment rate at 8.7%. This was lower compared with the unemployment rate of 10% in July 2020, but still higher than the 4.6% in October 2019.
This is equivalent to 3.813 million jobless Filipinos, lower than 4.571 million in July, but higher than 2.045 million in October 2019.
Nevertheless, this marks a continuing trend towards recovery in the job market following the peak unemployment rate of 17.6% in April, equivalent to 7.228 million individuals unemployed.
Likewise, the underemployment rate, or the proportion of those already working but still looking for more work or longer working hours, was 14.4% in October, down from 17.3% in July, but worse than the 12.8% a year ago.
This is equivalent to 5.747 million underemployed Filipinos compared with 7.137 million and 5.438 million in July 2020 and October 2019, respectively.
The size of the labor force was approximately 43.649 million out of the 74.307 million Filipinos aged at least 15 years old in the October round of the LFS. This means the labor force participation rate stood at 58.7%, lower than the 61.9% in July 2020 and 61.4% in October 2019.
The employment rate, which is the proportion of the employed to the total labor force, inched up to 91.3% in October from 90% in July 2020 and 95.4% in October 2019. This corresponds to 39.836 million employed Filipinos as compared with 41.306 million in July round and 45.537 million the previous year. — Ana Olivia A. Tirona
THE PHILIPPINE government on Wednesday launched another dollar bond offering aimed to raise funds to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.
The offering of 10.5-year and 25-year US dollar-denominated bonds would carry a yield of around 100 basis points above the 10-year US Treasury benchmark, based on the government’s initial guidance, Reuters reported.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon could not say at this stage how much the government aimed to raise from the bond sale, which follows a similar US dollar bond offering in April that raised $2.35 billion.
The Philippines, one of Asia’s most active issuers of sovereign debt, would use the proceeds from the bond sale to support its budget, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
Both chambers of Congress have approved a record P4.5-trillion ($93.7-billion) budget for 2021, part of which will be used to purchase coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines as the government aims to immunize a third of its 108 million population.
Credit Suisse, Daiwa Capital Markets, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS are joint bookrunners, IFR reported.
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday assigned a “BBB+” long-term foreign currency issue rating to the Philippines’ proposed dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes.
Fitch Ratings gave the proposed bonds a “BBB” rating with a stable outlook.
In October, the BTr shelved plans to issue panda and samurai bonds this year, after it noted domestic borrowings can cover the financing requirements.
In April, the Philippines raised $2.35 billion from its dollar-denominated bond sale as it sought to boost state coffers.
Ms. De Leon earlier said the government is looking to take advantage of the low yields in global securities during the pandemic.
A trader, who asked not to be identified, said the government is returning to the global bond market to further profit from the low interest rate environment.
“Each time the government can borrow at low rates is good for the country. Especially now that we are looking forward for economic recovery. It is well-noted by many economists that the Philippines has to do more on the fiscal side,” the trader said via Viber.
Meanwhile, ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said the government is possibly seeking more funds for the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines.
“This is likely a pre-funding exercise for next year to help fund COVID-19 relief efforts with the most glaring need being funding for millions of vaccine doses for the (108 million)population,” he said in an e-mail.
“Currently, the vaccine czar (Carlito Galvez, Jr.) indicates that the budget allocated to him affords him a mere 20 million doses per year, which would mean a long wait of up to five years before we can get the target 60% of the population vaccinated,” Mr. Mapa added.
The Philippines last week signed its first supply deal for the vaccine, getting 2.6 million doses from AstraZeneca. It is also in talks with other drug makers.
As of Wednesday, the Health department reported 1,438 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total to 434,357. — Reuters with K.K.T.Jose
Grade school students in the Philippines are lagging behind counterparts in Southeast Asia in reading, math and writing, a study showed. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter
FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS in the Philippines are falling behind their counterparts in some Southeast Asian countries in reading, writing and mathematics, with a significant percentage of students still performing at levels expected in early years of primary education, a regional study showed.
Data from the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019 released on Tuesday showed the percentage of Grade 5 Filipino students who achieved minimum proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics was significantly lower than Vietnam and Malaysia. Fifth-graders in the Philippines were at par or sometimes even worse than those in Cambodia, but performed slightly better than those in Laos and Myanmar.
The study was conducted by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with technical support from the Australian Council for Educational Research. It assessed the performance of Grade 5 learners from selected schools in six countries — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia — in three learning domains: reading, writing, and mathematics.
The study anchored its assessment on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 4, which is “to ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes” by 2030.
Majority of Grade 5 students in the Philippines had a reading proficiency level equivalent to that in the first years of primary school, with 27% of the students still at the level (the lowest in band scale of 2 and below to 6 and above) where they can only “match single words to an image of a familiar object or concept.”
Only 29% of grade 5 learners in the country are at the level where they are able to “read a range of everyday texts, such as simple narratives and personal opinions, and begin to engage with their meanings.”
If ranked according to the percentage of Grade 5 students performing at or above the SDG indicator by country (band 6 and above), the Philippines is the second-worst performer with 10%, following Laos with only 2%.
Vietnam had the highest percentage with 82%, followed by Malaysia (58%), then Cambodia and Myanmar, with 11% of Grade 5 students having met the minimum reading standard.
In the band 6 and above level, students are able to “understand texts with familiar structures and manage competing information.”
WRITING, MATH In terms of writing, only 1% of Grade 5 learners in the Philippines achieved “higher levels” of proficiency, or those who met the highest level in the standards used by the study. These learners are those with the ability to “write cohesive texts with detailed ideas and a good range of appropriate vocabulary.”
Almost half or 45% of Grade 5 learners in the Philippines were in the lowest band, which means they have “limited ability to present ideas in writing.”
“In Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and the Philippines, a very limited number of Grade 5 students achieved higher levels of proficiency in writing… More than 60% of students were in the 3 lowest bands. The highest performers of this group can produce very limited writing, with simple, insufficient ideas and limited vocabulary. The weakest students have only limited ability to present ideas in writing,” the study said.
For mathematical literacy, only 5% and 1% of Philippine Grade 5 students met the highest levels (band 8 and band 9 and above, respectively) in this area of learning.
Band 8 identifies learners as having the ability to “think multiplicatively and convert between units” while students in band 9 and above “can reason about triangles to find an unknown side length using information about the perimeter, and they can solve problems using frequency distributions.”
The study said 18% and 23% of Grade 5 learners in the Philippines are in the lowest bands (band 2 and below and band 3, respectively).
“In Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and the Philippines, modest percentages of Grade 5 students have achieved the mathematical literacy skills expected at the end of primary school, as indicated by a SEA-PLM 2019 mathematical proficiency of Band 6 and above. This implies that in these countries the majority of Grade 5 students are still working towards mastering fundamental mathematical skills,” the study said.
The main survey data were collected towards the end of the 2018-2019 academic year from a “nationally representative sample of the whole population of students enrolled at Grade 5.” Testing was done in November 2019, while data collection was conducted in February 2019.
“Schools were selected following a systematic procedure with selection probability proportional to the number of enrolled Grade 5 students from the targeted population. A minimum of 150 schools were sampled from each participating country. One Grade 5 class was selected at random within each sampled school. All students of the selected class were sampled,” the report explained.
The tests were in the official languages of instruction in Grade 5 in each country.
In the Philippines, mother-tongue language is used as a medium of instruction from grades 1 to 3, while Filipino and English are used for Grades 4 and 5.
While countries are facing challenges due to the pandemic, the SEA-PLM study noted this has also given “opportunities to experiment with hybrid and flexible learning, and organizational pathways in education delivery and services.”
Among its policy recommendations are prioritizing early learning; ensuring on-time enrolment for all students; and implementing progressive learning standards in the curriculum of basic education.
In an e-mailed reply to questions, College of Education Dean Jerome T. Buenviaje of the University of the Philippines-Diliman said the assessment describes the “challenging situation of our primary education and our education system in general.”
“Early education is a crucial stage in the development of learners, thus, teachers at this level must be skillful in imparting basic functional literacies,” he said.
Mr. Buenviaje recommended that “we should place the ‘best and the brightest’ teachers at the early education stage of the Filipino learners.” Teachers should also undergo research and capacity development, he added.
“Teachers in the early grades must undergo a standard training to address this issue. When I say standard training, this should be a sort of a short course that focuses on pedagogical approaches and strategies where specific skills will be assessed for certification and a recertification after a few years.”
FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS in the Philippines are falling behind their counterparts in some Southeast Asian countries in reading, writing and mathematics, with a significant percentage of students still performing at levels expected in early years of primary education, a regional study showed. Read the full story.
Metro Manila consumers will see lower water bills in the first quarter of 2021. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter
CUSTOMERS of the two water concessionaires in Metro Manila will experience lower monthly bills for the first quarter of 2021, according to the regulatory office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
In a virtual briefing on Wednesday, MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Lester N. Ty said the agency’s board of trustees has approved the implementation of the foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA) for the first quarter, after a review of the proposals made by Manila Water Co., Inc. and Maynilad Water Services, Inc.
Mr. Ty said the FCDA adjustment will be effective from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2021.
East zone water provider Manila Water will apply an FCDA of 0.66% or P0.19 per cubic meter (/cu.m.) of its average basic charge of P28.52/cu.m.
This translates to a P0.14/cu.m. decrease from the previously set FCDA of P0.33/cu.m. in the fourth quarter.
Residential customers of Manila Water who consume 10 cu.m. or less will see a reduction of P0.76 in their monthly bills, while those who consume 20 cu.m. and 30 cu.m. will see their bills go down by P1.69 and P3.45 per month, respectively.
For west zone water provider Maynilad, the approved FCDA will be -0.39% or –P0.14/cu.m. of its average basic charge of P36.24/cu.m.
It is equivalent to a P0.05/cu.m. decrease than the previous quarter’s FCDA of –P0.09/cu.m.
Maynilad customers who consume 10 cu.m. or less will get a P0.05 reduction in their monthly water bills.
Meanwhile, those who use 20 cu.m. and 30 cu.m. will see a decline of P0.64 and P1.30 in their monthly water bills, respectively.
The MWSS announcement is welcome news for consumers after Maynilad and Manila Water said they will not implement water rate hikes in 2021.
In November, both water concessionaires deferred their respective water rate increases for 2021 under the rate-rebasing adjustment approved by the regulatory office of the MWSS, as part of efforts to help customers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In 2021, Maynilad was supposed to implement a P1.95/cu.m. increase in its basic charge while Manila Water was set to impose a price hike of P2/cu.m.
Under the current five-year rebasing period, Manila Water is eligible to increase rates by P6.22 to P6.55/cu.m., while Maynilad is allowed to increase rates by P5.73/cu.m.
The rate hikes will be implemented in tranches through 2022.
The two concessionaires also waived their respective rate increases this year, after they drew the attention of President Rodrigo R. Duterte regarding the “onerous” provisions in the concession agreement with the government.
Mr. Ty said the rate adjustments will be deferred to the next rate rebasing period.
“The failure to implement any tariff adjustment will push the tariff upwards in the next rate rebasing. But it is not automatic that it will have an upward adjustment. It is just a pressure to push it up,” Mr. Ty said.
“We also have the option of spreading it out in the next rate-rebasing,” he added.
The FCDA is a tariff mechanism which allows water concessionaires to regain losses or return gains caused by the movement of the peso against other foreign currencies.
The water providers pay foreign currency-denominated concession fees to MWSS, as well as loans that are used to fund projects to expand and improve water and sewerage services.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) owns a controlling stake in Maynilad. MPIC is one of 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.
The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines referred to potential investments in several sectors, including outsourcing, manufacturing and infrastructure. — BW FILE PHOTO
THE JOINT Foreign Chambers of the Philippines is targeting to generate $50 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) and three million new jobs in the next decade.
“The target is substantially above the current annual FDI of $8.3 billion for the five-year period of 2015 to 2019. We can achieve these targets, but only with the support of our many partners in government and with the Philippine business groups,” American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Peter Hayden said at the Arangkada press conference on Wednesday.
The foreign chambers referred to potential investments in several sectors, including outsourcing, manufacturing and infrastructure.
The Philippines can continue to attract business process outsourcing (BPO) investment, with the sector potentially growing as companies look to reinvest economic savings after the pandemic, Mr. Hayden said.
“Through the challenges of the pandemic, one of the things that has been great for the Philippines is how resilient the BPO industry has been through this global black swan event. I think there is additional opportunity ahead as companies look to create really great service options with great economic advantages,” he said.
European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Nabil Francis said that manufacturing has room to develop because the Philippine economy is driven by private consumption.
“If we want the Philippines to become a magnet for foreign investors, it’s essential to act quickly and decisively because the competition is fierce,” he said.
“We are extremely anxious looking at what’s happening in the neighboring countries, especially countries like Vietnam that seems to be bouncing back much better than the Philippines in this COVID-19 crisis.”
According to a September survey done by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), 13.5% of foreign firms with operations in China are planning to move their operations to another country. Among them, more than 60% are looking to transfer to Vietnam, when choosing among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. This was followed by Thailand at 23%, while the Philippines was tied with Malaysia at 15.4%.
“It’s essential for the Philippines to be attractive for foreign investors so we get stable and predictable regulatory framework, level playing field competition, and to be more attractive than our neighbors.”
Japanese Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Keiichi Matsunaga said that infrastructure should drive foreign investment in the country, citing transportation projects.
“There is a big potential for the railway system,” he said.
The joint chambers in 2010 set $10-billion FDI and one million new jobs targets over the decade, which Mr. Hayden said was achieved.
TAX REFORM The foreign chambers announced the $50-billion target after the measure cutting corporate income tax and rationalizing tax incentives was approved by the Senate.
Foreign chambers in previous press conferences and statements have said that the potential loss of fiscal incentives through Senate Bill No. 1357, or the “Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE)” would worsen unemployment and risk investment attractiveness.
The Finance department had been pushing to make tax incentives performance-based and time-bound, noting the country has been giving some investors the special rate of 5% on gross income earned (GIE) in lieu of all taxes with no time limit.
Under CREATE, exporters and domestic industries will now be given between four to seven years of income tax holiday. Exporters and critical domestic industries may later pay the 5% on GIE for 10 years in lieu of all local and national taxes. The bill also increased the sunset provisions to 10 years from the initial proposal of four to nine years.
The electronics exporters industry group has already indicated pessimism about longer-term growth prospects once CREATE is signed into law.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Julian Payne said that the FDI target can be achieved with the right policies, in addition to CREATE.
“That includes many other things despite CREATE. It includes FTAs(free trade agreements). That includes infrastructure, the labor code, you can go on and on. It includes moving CIT (corporate income tax) down to the ASEAN average of 20%,” he said.
“What the target represents is a potential with all the appropriate policies put in place. The concerns expressed with CREATE was what was gonna be the immediate impact without this longer term potential being taken into account.”
Mr. Francis said that despite the pandemic, Philippine economic fundamentals remain healthy. To achieve the target, he added, the private sector and government must collaborate.
FDI inflows in the first eight months dropped 5.6% to $4.432 billion from $4.693 billion in the same period last year, data from the central bank showed. — Jenina P. Ibañez
NIELSEN expects growth in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in the Philippines during the holidays, led mostly by food and baking product sales.
Nielsen Retail Intelligence Managing Director for the Philippines Patrick Cua said the current lockdown protocols will mean that Filipinos will continue contributing to a “homebody economy” as they celebrate from home.
“With cooking being central to festivities, we predict a growth in baking and food category this year,” he said in a press release on Wednesday.
The firm expects sales growth in ham, all-purpose cream, pasta, and canned goods.
With a projected rise in FMCG sales, Mr. Cua said manufacturers need to adopt different strategies to appeal to shoppers who have experienced financial losses during the pandemic as well as those restricted by the lockdown.
“Packaging, promotions and bundled deals would be key to win the Christmas shopper. With a slowly stabilizing economy, we predict that discount value shopping will power holiday consumer behavior in 2020,” he said.
Nielsen said consumer behavior will change, led by online shopping, self-care spending, and single-serve or smaller sized purchases, even for celebrations. Products defined as “gifts” will also change.
“Holiday spending and gifting will be refined based on what and who are considered essential for each consumer… From a necessity that can no longer fit the budget, to a product that has been harder to get in stores this year, there will be big shifts in what defines a ‘gift.’”
Christmas holiday sales from 2017 to 2019 amounted to P96.7 billion, bigger than the P91 billion during the back-to-school season or July and August, Nielsen said.
Philippine retailers expect subdued sales during the holidays, even after overall sales improved as lockdown restrictions were eased. The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) said they expect December to maintain its position as the top sales month for the year through online selling, but shopping will be relatively limited.
The surge in FMCG sales during the holidays will be lower than the usual 20% seen in previous years, market research company Kantar Worldpanel Division Philippines said last month.
Kantar said this will be caused by reduced shopper mobility, limited outlet operations due to the quarantine, limited consumer purchasing power, and uneven availability of products in stores.
THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has approved the joint venture (JV) between Ayala-led AC Energy Philippines, Inc. (ACEPH) and the Philippine energy unit of Japan-based Marubeni Corp. that is looking to build a diesel-fired plant in Rizal.
ACEPH told the stock exchange on Wednesday that the PCC said the venture would “not likely result in substantial lessening of competition” and it “would resolve to take no further action with respect to the transaction.”
In the Nov. 24 decision, PCC said that there are competitive restraints from other electricity players throughbilateral contracts and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
“Bilateral contracts set fixed power supply generated by the project to pre-identified clients, while the regulation of the power bids in WESM disallows any room for the plant’s excess power to be rigged for profit,” the commission said.
“This joint venture supports the company’s strategic objective to be the growth platform of the AC Energy Group in the country,” ACEPH said.
“The company will have the opportunity to develop a greenfield project which will provide peaking and reserve power in partnership with Axia, which has extensive experience in the local and international power sector,” it added.
ACEPH in July signed a shareholders’ deal with Axia Power Holdings Philippines Corp., which will buy half of both shares and economic rights in Ingrid Power Holdings, Inc., the Ayala unit’s corporate vehicle for the 150-megawatt Ingrid diesel-fueled power plant project in Pililla, Rizal.
It also agreed to provide 5% of the economic rights in the project to ACE Endevor, Inc., one of its subsidiaries, while the company will hold the remaining 50% of the shares and 45% of the economic rights.
The Rizal plant will supply peaking and reserve power to the Luzon grid. It is expected to go online in the first quarter of 2021.
The Ayalas and the Marubeni unit had jointly run the coal-fired power plants of South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. in Batangas until AC Energy bought Axia’s stake in the project in November 2019.
In October last year, ACEPH, formerly Phinma Energy Corp., acquired the shares of AC Energy, Inc. in ACE Endevor, which is then AC Energy Development, Inc., and Ingrid Power, in a share-swap agreement. In December 2019, the listed energy company infused P570 million into Ingrid for the construction of the said power generator.
ACEPH shares closed at P6.23 apiece on Wednesday, down 13 centavos or 2.04%. — Jenina P. Ibañez with a report fromA.Y. Yang
NETFLIX, Inc. is planning to double its spending on original content in Asia next year to help stay ahead in a crowded streaming market, where billionaires including China’s Pony Ma and Hong Kong’s Richard Li are seeking to expand their presence.
After producing widely watched Asian shows such as the Korean zombie period thriller “Kingdom” and reality series “Indian Matchmaking,” the world’s largest streaming platform is seeking to cement its stronghold in a region that’s seen the fastest growth in subscribers, said Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vice president of content.
Kim declined to elaborate on what the 2021 budget for originals would be beyond saying Netflix is looking to double its investment from this year on securing exclusive content. Research firm Media Partners Asia said the amount is likely to be at least $1 billion. The US giant said it has spent almost $2 billion since 2018 on original and licensed local content. Since its Asia launch in 2015, Netflix has released over 220 original titles.
By stepping up its investment, the Los Gatos, California-based company is not only gearing to tackle its main rivals Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+ and Amazon.com, Inc.’s Prime Video, but also regional challengers such as Viu, backed by tycoon Li, and WeTV from the house of Ma’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. The higher spending in the region also comes at a time when Netflix is trying to lure users with cheap packages, a strategy followed by rivals at the expense of profit.
GREAT STORYTELLERS “Where we have been ahead of our competitors is being closer to the local markets, finding great storytellers and seeing things from a local perspective,” Kim said in an interview. “Our primary goal is local impact.”
Streaming revenue in Asia Pacific, excluding China, will more than double to $15 billion by 2025, Media Partners estimates. Netflix, with a 35% share of streaming revenue in the region by the end of 2020, already corners the largest slice. Amazon Prime Video is second with a 10% market share, according to the research agency.
Asia Pacific added 46% of the Netflix’s new subscribers in the quarter to September —making it the largest contributor —while its revenue rose 66% compared to last year, Netflix said in an Oct. 20 letter to shareholders.
JAPANESE ANIME Netflix, on Tuesday, said that it’ll be making a Korean adaptation of its hit Spanish series, “La Casa de Papel,” or “Money Heist” in English. In October, Netflix announced five new anime projects including “Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan,” a spin-off from the popular Japanese manga series “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.”
The company will also look to invest in content from India and Southeast nations such as Thailand and Indonesia, Kim said.
Netflix’s sub-$5-a-month, mobile-only plans have won it more users in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. That helped push its Asia-Pacific subscriber base to 23.5 million, making it the fastest growing among the firm’s four global market clusters. But the region is also the only market for the firm that saw average revenue per user dropping in the past three quarters.
‘PRICING PRESSURE’ While cheaper plans help Netflix widen user base in emerging markets, the streaming giant may “continue to face pricing pressure over the next two to three years in India and Southeast Asia” amid intense competition, said Singapore-based Vivek Couto, executive director of Media Partners.
Streaming companies are also facing increased regulatory scrutiny in many countries. India last month brought the platforms under the purview of its Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, raising fears of censorship.
Indonesia and Vietnam are also mulling similar moves. A Vietnamese minister last month accused Netflix of avoiding local taxes.
“We want to be as compliant as possible to the regulations in those markets,” Kim said. “But it doesn’t change the core philosophy of how we approach content.” — Bloomberg
FOOD AND BEVERAGE kiosk operator Fruitas Holdings, Inc. has opened its first franchised store in Dubai under the House of Desserts brand.
In a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday, the company said its first overseas kiosk is located inside BurJuman, a prime shopping mall in Dubai, and offers several products such as fruit shakes, pearl shakes, milk tea, fresh fruit desserts, halo-halo, and fresh lemonades.
“We are excited to bring Fruitas to Dubai. The Fruitas brand, with its suite of fresh and healthy products, is universal and exportable to a lot more territories outside the Philippines,” Fruitas President Lester C. Yu said.
Fruitas also announced that back home, it has 60 new kiosks and community stores in the pipeline as part of its domestic expansion plans moving forward.
“Fruitas continues to reach more cities in Mindanao, having recently opened its first kiosk in Koronadal and adding more kiosks in Butuan and Zamboanga City,” the disclosure said.
Meanwhile, the expansion of the company’s community stores under the Babot’s Farm and Soy & Bean brands is targeted to reach at least 30 stores by the end of the year and around 100 stores in 2021.
Fruitas trimmed its net loss to P19 million in the third quarter of the year due to better consolidated revenues and lower operating expenses.
Compared to the previous quarter, the company said its consolidated revenues rose 90% to P167 million, while its operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization fell 56% to P102 million.
From January to September, Fruitas posted a net loss of P32.2 million against a net income of P53 million in the same period in 2019.
Shares of Fruitas in the stock exchange fell 1.30% or two centavos to end at P1.52 per piece on Wednesday. —Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
Santa Ana Gin combines traditional and Filipino botanicals
PRE-WAR Manila was glamorous. Plans drawn up by urban designer and architect Daniel Burnham saw a city combining neoclassicism and Art Deco, the aggressive modern style that emerged after the First World War. From this milieu emerged the modern Filipino: chic, well-dressed, and dancing away at clubs such as the Santa Ana Cabaret, which was then one of the world’s biggest dance halls.
Cabaret culture of the 1920s is informing a new product by Bleeding Heart Rum Company (the company behind Don Papa), in a new spirit: Santa Ana Gin.
It’s distilled in France, and uses traditional gin botanicals like juniper, coriander, lemon, bitter orange, angelica root, orris root, and fennel. But then, it also uses Filipino ingredients such as ylang-ylang, alpinia, calamansi, and dalandan. This results in a cosmopolitan product that still somehow has a Filpino imprimatur — much like the glamorous Manila of yore.
BusinessWorld had a taste of Santa Ana Gin during a tasting last week. The packaging is certainly beautiful: a velvet-lined leather trunk; while the fluted blue-tinted bottle itself resembles a barrel with a neck. It looks handsome on a bar cart at home, or else on a glass shelf.
The gin itself is very fragrant — you can smell it from an arms length away, a greeting of white florals, then something quite indolic (an animalic scent that’s a note in ylang-ylang; read by some as sexy, hence its presence in Chanel No. 5), ending with a bit of a note of aniseed at the end. It is still a clean, calming and sophisticated scent — say, Elizabeth Arden’s 5th Avenue or Estee Lauder’s White Linen. I spent a good few minutes sniffing it — it smelled that good. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind smelling it on somebody’s neck. I’m amused to note that it’s like Dior Poison without the cream and plum aspects of it.
As for the gin itself — it’s incredibly smooth, with even a bit of a creamy slide in the mouth. The heat is mild really, like a drop of wax from a votive candle on your skin. I use the language of the church in describing it because as soon as the spirit moved around in my mouth, the white floral notes present in its scent made the image of white lilies and sampaguitas in church indelible. It’s a very, very pleasurable sensation, but I couldn’t serve this at a party. My guests would turn too solemn. I suggest serving this to someone you’re trying to woo (either for the first time, or again) to suggest erudition behind your bon vivant ways.
AJ Garcia, Managing Director of The Bleeding Heart, cited the reasons for creating a gin. Of course he mentioned the huge consumption of gin in this country (one of the biggest in the world), but there was more. “It’s a pretty simple, straightforward distillation process, but at the same time, aside from juniper, which is the key botanical, you have such an array of different options to be able to create new flavors and profiles. That makes the category exciting.”
Santa Ana is available at Boozy.ph for P1,699. — Joseph L. Garcia
