Passive engagement on social media is just as important as active engagement when it comes to quantifying success, according to Hootsuite, a social media management platform.
Passive engagement is defined as a consumer’s consumption of online content, such as reading a post or watching a video. Metrics for this form of engagement include video completion rates, link clicks, and website traffic. Active engagement, on the other hand, is often more popular among marketers, who measure success by the number of a post’s likes, shares, and comments.
“[Marketers are] still chasing virality and vanity metrics like retweets, comments, and shares, when the data tells us that the majority of online content is consumed passively,” said Sarah Dawley, content manager at Hootsuite.
Ms. Dawley cited Hootsuite’s digital data forOctober 2020, which found that the average Facebook user shared only one post a month and that Twitter’s unique website traffic was three times larger than its monthly active users—meaning there are a lot of people who passively consume content on these platforms (sometimes without even signing up).
To engage this large but silent audience, marketers should explore the lighter side of their brand, said Ms. Dawley, who cited astudy by Global Web Index which found that finding funny or entertaining content is one of the top reasons people use social media.
“I’m not saying you desperately have to be funny… or go against your brand tone or personality… Just remember that creativity, fun, and lightheartedness is what will help your content really break through that wall of indifference that people have towards brands on social media,” she said.
In the United States, for example, Coors’ Light asked customers to nominate someone who #CouldUseABeer to cope with the “sucky, suck, suck, suckiness” of the pandemic. At the end of the social media campaign, they sent 500,000 beers to customers.
“You’re asking people to go out of their way to engage with your brand… You really need to give them a reason to engage with you if you are asking them to do that,” said Ms. Dawley.
2021 Social Trends is a webinar hosted by Hootsuite on November 19. — Mariel Alison L. Aguinaldo
He still wakes up at 4 a.m., as he usually does, to prepare the kids for school. And he half-expects to see her in her corner of the room, painting, doing calligraphy, recording songs, or editing videos. He is the early riser between them, but when his wife gets an urgent call in the middle of the night, she finds it hard to go back to sleep, so she indulges her hobbies.
But Dr. Kathlynne Anne Abat-Senen is no longer in her corner. She is no longer singing or writing or taking hospital calls. And her husband, Dr. Jerome Senen, is still waking up early and trying very hard to live the life she had wanted for them.
Dr. Kathlynne Senen
“It’s still a bit surreal for me. Every time I wake up, I still half-expect that I will see her next to me. That’s one of the first things I missed—’yung may katabi ako sa pagtulog and ‘yung routine namin na we have breakfast with the kids, then attend to our patients,” Jerome said.
Jerome is a pediatric pulmonologist while his wife Karen, as she is called by family and friends, was a neonatologist and lecturer at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). They have a private clinic in Valenzuela City and in several hospitals in Bulacan. When the pandemic hit and doctors began to get infected, the couple decided to continue attending to their patients, despite the risk, because that was what they were called to do as doctors.
“Sabi namin, it would be a disservice to everybody kung magtatago tayo, so we continued seeing patients,” Jerome said. “We did extra precautions: naka-full PPE (personal protective equipment) kami kahit sobrang pawis, hindi kami makainom, maka-CR, makahubad kasi ang init ng PPE. It’s a good thing our house has a small shower outside so we would clean up before seeing the kids.”
Because many pregnant women were unable to have their regular check-ups during the lockdown, there were a lot of premature and complicated births, which meant Karen’s services as a neonatologist were very in-demand. This took a toll on her health.
In late June, Karen was one of the medical frontliners infected with COVID-19. She recovered in July and remained in high spirits, even recording a song to celebrate her discharge from the hospital. But just a week later, she tested positive for COVID-19 again and had to be readmitted to PGH but this time, her situation did not look good.
In August, after 44 days in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), Karen lost her battle with COVID-19.
To honor Karen’s memory and fulfill their promise of service, Jerome will continue to be a doctor to the kids who need him.
Her parents and siblings, who had last seen her in March before the government-enforced lockdown, could not hold her. Her children could not say goodbye and even her husband, who stayed at the hospital the entire 44 days, could count the times he was allowed to see her in the ICU.
“Ito yung hindi nakikita ng regular na tao. It’s not only the dread na baka mamatay ka. There’s also the emotional stress of family members—being away, not being able to say goodbye except through a video call,” Jerome said.
“The price of the virus is not just the life of the person but also the people that she will leave behind. My kids are still small, 8 and 11 (years old), at lalaki silang walang mom. Doon ako naiiyak eh,” he said.
Moved by the outpouring of love from fellow Filipinos, the Senen family will continue to live the life Karen wanted for them.
The children have received counseling and support from their school, and are currently preoccupied with their online classes. Jerome’s mother, a retired teacher, and his brother, an IT specialist, help look after them. On weekends, they visit Karen’s parents in Las Piñas to play with their cousins, or they bring flowers to Karen’s resting place.
Outpouring of love
Karen’s was one of the high-profile COVID-19 cases among medical frontliners, not just because it raised the issue of COVID-19 reinfection, but because in the darkest of times, it showed the amazing ways people came together to support her family.
“Sa financial, thankful kami na andami- daming tumulong sa amin. Lahat ng networks ng mga kilala namin or kilala namin in passing, or even mga hindi namin kilala at all, even from the other side of the world, helped us in their own little ways—mga small things that if you add up have helped us tremendously,” Jerome said.
His classmates from Philippine Science High School volunteered to make digital portraits to raise funds for Karen’s medical bills, as did Karen’s friends from grade school and high school. A Facebook group of fountain pen collectors, of which he and Karen were members, did a fundraising auction of their collectible pens. A pediatrician’s artist friend did caricatures and donated the proceeds to them, as did a batchmate in medical school (University of the Philippines Manila) who sold her paintings for Karen.
A US-based ninong and friends abroad raised $25,073 through GoFundMe for the ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine Karen needed. The machine had to be rented from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute for PHP 750,000, plus PHP 20,000 per day of use. Karen used the ECMO machine for over 30 days. She was also hooked to a ventilator and had to undergo dialysis using another machine that was not available in PGH and hence, had to be rented. These are on top of the daily medication and blood transfusions Karen required.
“The cost is very, very staggering. Good thing talaga na andaming tumulong sa amin,” Jerome said. “Parang nagkaroon ng spirit of bayanihan, not just sa finances but even in other aspects like blood donation. One example: meron kaming medication na hindi mahanap anywhere, so we posted on Facebook asking for help. Meron na lang nag-contact sa amin—friend namin ni Karen na doctor na matagal na naming hindi nakikita—she bought the medicines from St. Luke’s (Medical Center),” he said.
Jerome was also grateful to PGH for giving him a place to stay while Karen was in the ICU, and for coordinating with other hospitals for everything they needed. He also mentioned Sen. Richard Gordon, who through the Philippine Red Cross, provided blood supply for Karen’s needs.
Above all, Jerome said he could not have done it without Karen’s siblings. They sought and facilitated assistance through Facebook, driving people to PGH to donate blood. While they knew how friendly their sister was, even they were astounded by the outpouring of love from strangers. They realized it was the payback for the earnest service Jerome and Karen had given people through the years.
“We had no regrets seeing our patients kasi kung di kami titingin, paano na sila?” Jerome said. The parents of premature babies Karen had helped save have sent not just financial aid but also letters and prayers for their doctor.
“Minsan may magpapadala sa GCash namin ng PHP 50, mga hindi mo aakalain na magpapadala kasi alam ko naman na mahirap din buhay nila. Baka yung PHP 100 or 200 na padala sa akin iyon ay pantawid na nila ng meal, but they opted to send it to us,” he said.
Help health workers
Karen’s case has turned the spotlight on health workers fighting a battle that seems to have no end in sight. Jerome is thankful for all the post-humous recognition Karen had received, especially from the Valenzuela City government and its congressional office. But his biggest desire is for the country’s leaders to realize that health workers need help, and for the people to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Medical frontliners really, really need help kasi hindi lang kami ang kailangan to stop the virus. Everybody has to do their part; if we don’t, walang mangayayari sa Pilipinas,” he said.
“Don’t go out of the house if not needed,” Jerome practically pleaded. “The story of Karen is a precautionary tale, na kahit gaya ni Karen na grabeng pag-iingat na, sinunod lahat ng precautions, pero tinamaan pa rin and hindi sya naka-recover. It’s a lesson na dapat matutunan ng lahat.”
Jerome, who chairs the pediatric department of Marymount Hospital in Meycauayan, plans to resume working in November when he’s done with Karen’s paperwork. Some have questioned this decision but it was what Karen would have wanted him to do, he said.
“It’s a promise I made to Karen—that I would continue to be a doctor to the kids who need me. It’s my way of honoring her memory and the pact we made during the pandemic,” he said.
Is he scared?
“Yes, but if magpapadala ka sa takot—if every physician ay matatakot—walang mangyayari sa atin. Pupulutin tayo kung saan-saan, magkakasakit tayo pare-pareho,” he said. “I just have to be prepared mentally, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally because that’s what Karen wants me to do— to work but to also be prepared.”
Dr. Kathlynne Anne Abat-Senen was one of the InLife Sheroes featured by Insular Life for its Mothers’ Day 2020 special: Mothers on the Frontline. When asked what it is that drives her to do what she does, she answered: “I have always been motivated by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote ‘The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.’ I am fortunate to have a family that encourages me to live a life of purpose.”
The central bank cut policy rates to a record-low 2%, as the economy continued to struggle with the impact of the pandemic and recent typhoons. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
By Luz Wendy T. Noble, Reporter
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) unexpectedly cut benchmark rates to new record lows on Thursday, the fifth reduction this year, citing the continued uncertainty caused by a fresh surge in coronavirus cases globally and the impact of recent typhoons on the struggling economy.
The Monetary Board on Thursday trimmed the rates on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase, lending, and deposit facilities by 25 basis points (bps) to 2%, 2.5%, and 1.5%, respectively.
“With a benign inflation environment and stable inflation expectations, the Monetary Board sees enough policy space for a reduction in the policy rate at this juncture to uplift market sentiment and nurture the country’s economic recovery amid increased downside risks to growth,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in an online briefing.
The latest easing move followed a “prudent pause” by the central bank since its June meeting. The central bank has already cumulatively lowered interest rates by 200 bps this year.
“The Monetary Board assessed that there remains a critical need for continuing policy support measures to bolster economic activity and boost market confidence,” Mr. Diokno said.
Mr. Diokno said uncertainty remains high amid a resurgence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases around the world.
“However, the Monetary Board also observed that global economic prospects have moderated in recent weeks. At the same time, the Monetary Board noted that while domestic output contracted at a slower pace in the third quarter of 2020, muted business and household sentiment and the impact of recent natural calamities could pose strong headwinds to the recovery of the economy in the coming months,” he said.
A BusinessWorld poll last week showed five out of 16 analysts expected the BSP to cut rates by 25 bps.
BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said the latest easing will provide support to hasten the economy’s recovery by boosting bank lending.
“What this interest rate cut does is provide the impetus so that people will be much more likely to have confidence to get into the financial system again, when interest rates are on the accommodative side,” Mr. Dakila said.
Despite the BSP’s rate cuts earlier this year, lending growth eased to 2.8% in September, the slowest in more than 13 years or since the 2.4% seen in June 2007, as banks tightened their credit standards while borrowers’ confidence remained low due to the pandemic.
“So we emphasize that controlling the virus would be the most important factor that would lead to a pickup in the loan demand, but should that happen, the necessary liquidity is there in the system,” Mr. Dakila said.
INFLATION OUTLOOK REVISED Meanwhile, the central bank upgraded its inflation forecast this year to 2.4% from the 2.3% it gave in the October meeting, Mr. Dakila said.
“We have revised it upwards by 0.1 percentage point due to the transitory impact of the higher-than-expected inflation in September end of this year,” Mr. Dakila said, noting higher inflation was seen in the food and non-alcoholic beverage component of the consumer price index.
On the other hand, the inflation outlook for 2021 and 2022 were lowered to 2.7% (from 2.8%) and 2.9% (from 3%), respectively, due to the slower-than-expected pickup in domestic activity, the decline in global crude oil prices, and the strengthening of the peso.
For UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, the third- quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data may have been the crucial factor for the rate cut call.
“I guess the signs were on the wall: a lower-than-expected third-quarter GDP print, a quintet of unexpected destructive storms and a coronavirus that is still there. We expected a continuation of the BSP’s prudent pause, but it seems an overflow of warning signs may be too much to handle if a cut is not done,” he said in a text message.
GDP declined by 11.5% in the third quarter, slightly better than the record 16.9% contraction seen in the April to June period.
Analysts said near-term recovery prospects appeared bleaker.
“Despite the fresh round of easing, we are not confident that bank lending will pick up anytime soon given the dimming growth outlook with unemployment elevated and consumer sentiment still negative,” ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in a note.
Meanwhile, Alex Holmes, an economist from Capital Economics, said recovery prospects for the Philippines are still hinged on how well the government controls the spread of COVID-19.
As of Thursday, the Health department reported 1,337 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 413,430.
“With the virus still not under control, restrictions will need to remain in place for longer, which will further hold back the recovery. Promising news on vaccine development looks unlikely to change the situation in the near term,” he said.
“Given the likely weakness of the economic recovery, we suspect the BSP will cut rates further next year.”
Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act allocated around P9 billion to assist the transportation industry, which was affected by the pandemic. — PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN
THE BUDGET department has released less than two-thirds of the P140-billion stimulus package under Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan II), a month before the law expires.
At the same time, an economist warned further delays in the release of stimulus funds would hamper economic recovery this quarter.
Data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed it released P87.907 billion or 62.8% of the P140-billion budget under Bayanihan II. The funds were released between Oct. 1 and Nov. 17.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Bayanihan II into law on Sept. 11.
Bayanihan II, which expires on Dec. 19, allocates P140 billion for relief programs for sectors hit hard by the pandemic and another P25 billion in standby funds.
The latest tally inched up by 0.02% from P87.892 billion released at the end of Nov. 10, after P15 million was released for the establishment of a computational research laboratory in the University of the Philippines (UP).
So far, the government spent P481.634 billion for its pandemic response.
Colegio de San Juan de Letran Graduate School Dean Emmanuel J. Lopez said the slow pace of the release of stimulus funds will hurt the economy’s recovery.
“It will not only directly affect the people and citizens who will be severely affected by both the pandemic and other disasters but likewise the much needed injection of funds needed that should generate employment and bring back the economy into normal activity,” Mr. Lopez said in an e-mail Thursday.
“The delay in release, if not immediately addressed, will negatively affect local economic performance that will hinder the growth in our GDP which as of the last quarter is still experiencing a double-digit contraction,” he said.
The release of Bayanihan II funds was delayed when the DBM had to seek the President’s approval. Mr. Duterte then gave the DBM the authority to release the funds without prior approval from his office to speed up the process.
“The release of funds under the Bayanihan II will depend on the submission of the departments/agencies of their Special Budget Request with supporting documents. The DBM will make sure to act within 24 hours upon receipt of the request of departments/agencies,” Budget Assistant Secretary Rolando U. Toledo said in a Viber message on Thursday.
Government spending, which contributes around 20% of the total economic output, failed to give the needed boost to the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter. Growth in state expenditures eased to 5.8% from 8.8% in the second quarter.
The economy remained in a recession in the third quarter after contracting by 11.5% to follow the record 16.9% slump in the previous three months.
Meanwhile, the government’s economic recovery package should focus on helping people, instead of banks, especially after the country has been hit by several typhoons, former National Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito F. Habito said in an online forum on Thursday.
“The way to have much impact is to put it on the demand side. Put it in the people’s hands or pockets and not in the banks, where we expect the banks to lend it to small businesses who are not even in the mood to borrow perhaps, because their customers aren’t even back,” Mr. Habito said, of the current administration’s stimulus package.
Mr. Habito said there should be more cash transfers to low-income families, particularly those affected by the recent typhoons.
He said the stimulus funds should be used to invest in effective testing, tracing and treatment for COVID-19-cases, as well as purchasing domestic goods so money can circulate within the economy. — withAngelica Y. Yang
A rebound in rents and residential prices in Makati City is seen by the third quarter of 2022. — REUTERS
RENTS and residential prices in the Philippines are expected to start recovering by 2021, except in Makati City which may continue to see a decline for a longer period, a recent survey of real estate agents found.
In a Property Survey and Index Q4 2020 report, published by real estate technology group Juwai IQI on Thursday, 192 real estate agents in the Philippines were surveyed and found to anticipate a bounce back in the industry by next year.
On a nationwide basis, residential prices are expected to grow 2.3% by the third quarter of 2021, and by 16.9% by the third quarter of 2022.
However, Makati City will continue seeing a 2.3% decline in residential prices over the same period next year, and will only record a growth of 14.8% by the third quarter of 2022.
“After Makati City CBD (central business district) residential prices rose nearly 132% in the nine years to 2018, the capital city market is now weaker than much of the rest of the nation. The industry expects this weakness to continue, with Makati City prices and rents trailing the national trend over the next two years,” Juwai IQI said.
The national residential rent rate is expected to improve by 1.9% in the third quarter of 2021, and by 13.2% in the third quarter of 2022. However, Makati City is seen to post a decline of 6.6% next year, before growing 12.3% in 2022.
“Several factors are probably at play with the lower price expectations in the capital city. COVID (coronavirus disease 2019) has cut foreign buying, the majority of which is focused on the capital city. Also, the price lag is a continuation of the trends from earlier in the year,” Juwai IQI Group Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel said in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.
“(Makati City) has had a tremendous run-up in prices in recent years, and is now taking a breather. Potential buyers aren’t sure if they can still expect the rapid price gains of recent past, so many more are willing to sit on the fence until they have a better expectation for gains or can get a better bargain,” he added.
Meanwhile, the improvements in rents and residential prices in the rest of the country will depend on “a return to near normalcy,” Mr. Chmiel said. “Economic growth, employment, construction, and foreign travel will all bounce back and drive new buyer interest.”
The survey also found that most real estate agents expect foreign investors to be the primary source of buyers next year. They also expect to see demand from local investors, local buyers that are upgrading their properties, and first-time local buyers.
Among the foreign buyers, most are expected to come from Mainland China, followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan, America and Singapore.
“The industry believes that foreign buyer demand remains relatively robust. Approximately half of all agents in the survey report that mainland Chinese are likely to complete more transactions in the fourth quarter than earlier in the year — both nationally and in Makati City,” it said.
Most of these transactions will be driven by offshore gaming companies, while others by retirement-driven motivations.
The strong demand for residential properties in Makati City, the Bay Area, Ortigas, and Quezon City last year was attributed to the influx of Chinese nationals employed by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
However, more POGOs are exiting the country due to the pandemic, slowing demand and the Chinese government’s crackdown against offshore gambling. — Denise A. Valdez
RENTS and residential prices in the Philippines are expected to start recovering by 2021, except in Makati City which may continue to see a decline for a longer period, a recent survey of real estate agents found. Read the full story.
POWER DISTRIBUTOR Tarlac Electric, Inc. (TEI) aims to raise P603.75 million in a public offering, in order to comply with requirements under its legislative franchise.
In a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, TEI said it wants to register four million issued and outstanding common shares, from which it will offer 1.75 million shares at P345 each.
A copy of the prospectus was sent by the SEC to reporters on Thursday.
The company expects to generate net proceeds of P558.47 million from the offering, which will be used to support its expansion plans, refinance maturing loans, and fund general working capital.
The public offering is in line with the company’s franchise, legislated through Republic Act (RA) No. 10795, which requires it to offer to the public 30% of its outstanding capital stock before the fifth year of its operations.
This provision is in accordance with RA No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, which requires that generation companies and distribution utilities sell at least 15% of their common shares of stock to the public if they are not publicly listed. Newly formed companies must make this offering within the first five years of the issuance of their certificate of compliance.
TEI’s shares will not be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The company tapped Penta Capital & Investment Corp. as its sole underwriter for the offering.
TEI is a private electric distribution firm that serves residential, commercial and industrial consumers. It had 82,632 customers as of end-2019.
Among its plans for expansion are building a three-story headquarters, constructing network projects, acquiring and installing network equipment, and investing in information technology and communications projects. Disbursements of offer proceeds for these projects are scheduled in 2021. — Denise A. Valdez
AYALA-LED AC Energy Philippines, Inc. will need up to $2 billion to exceed its 2025 target 5-gigawatt of installed energy capacity, which will also see the completion of its corporate transformation and restructuring, its top official said on Thursday.
“We estimate that we will be requiring around $1.8 [billion] to $2 billion of equity to help realize that vision,” Eric T. Francia, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a virtual media briefing.
“We already have lined up the sources of that capital requirement, that equity requirement, which is close to $2 billion,” he added.
Mr. Francia said AC Energy Philippines — or ACEN to differentiate it from its parent firm AC Energy, Inc. — will become the Ayalas’ integrated platform in the energy sector.
ACEN now houses the group’s local thermal and renewable energy investments ahead of the infusion of projects in Australia, India, and Vietnam and other parts of the region. Its parent, AC Energy, will become AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp. (ACEIC). AC Energy currently owns around 81% of ACEN.
“But that shareholding will move around over the next couple years [because of the] corporate restructuring that’s happening in ACEN,” Mr. Francia said.
Mr. Francia said by the end of next year, AC Energy’s stake would go down to around 65%, with Singapore-based GIC Pte. Ltd. holding 17.5%, and the public owning 18%. The board of ACEN last week approved the proposal of GIC affiliate Arran Investment Pte. Ltd. to invest around P20 billion for a 17.5% ownership stake.
“So basically, we’re five steps away from the completion of the restructuring,” Mr. Francia said.
The five steps will start with a stock rights offering in the first quarter next year, the GIC private placement of 4 billion shares by the end of the second quarter, a follow-on public offering at the stock market soon after, then the infusion of the international energy assets, and finally the sale of the secondary shares from ACEIC to GIC.
“At the end of all that, ACEN would have raised $500 million to $600 million of additional cash for growth capital to add to the $700 million of unappropriated cash or cash reserves to really fuel the 2025 plan,” Mr. Francia said.
The 2025 plan is to exceed 5,000 megawatts, or 5 gigawatts, of attributable capacity and generate at least 50% of energy from renewables. — A. Y. Yang
JANUARIUS Holdings, Inc., the holding company of businessman Januario Jesus Gregorio B. Atencio III, has taken a 13% stake in housing developer Ovialand, Inc. which seeks to expand its business nationwide over the next 10 years.
In a virtual media briefing Thursday, Mr. Atencio announced his agreement with Olivares family-owned Ovialand, which allows him to raise his stake in the company to up to 20% over the next three years. The deal value was not disclosed.
Ovialand seeks to expand its portfolio across the three major islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao until 2030, by which time it targets an annual capacity of 8,000 to 10,000 units from 400 to 600 units at present.
“We’re expecting to open our first regional development in the area of Visayas around 2024-2025, on which we intend to start our township communities as well. We are also intending to venture into four-story mid-rise buildings in more congested areas of Metro Manila. The vision is to bring premier family living in a vertical space. That’s where we intend to go in the next 10 years,” Marie Leonore Fatima O. Vital, president of Ovialand, said.
After Mr. Atencio’s equity investment, Ms. Vital said Ovialand will “seriously consider” doing an initial public offering to support its expansion plans.
The company is expecting to finish 600 houses by the end of the year, and targets to do 1,000 houses by next year. It expects revenues to grow to P4 billion over the next three years to be supported by its 32-hectare land bank.
“Despite the pandemic, we are still looking forward to a 30% growth this year. We were able to deliver to our clients the new houses that we were looking forward to,” Ms. Vital said.
Ovialand’s existing projects are mostly located in Southern Luzon, such as in San Pablo, Laguna and Candelaria, Quezon. These are all horizontal house and lot projects priced between P2.2 million and P2.8 million.
“I think this scale is already sufficient, proof of concept that the business model works and everything that happens from thereon is just a continuation of the basic fundamental structure of the company… (It can do a public offering) any time after COVID,” Mr. Atencio said.
Ovialand is chaired by Giovanni J. Olivares, who has been in the real estate development business since 1991 focusing on socialized and low-cost housing. Ovialand was formed in 2015 to focus on the premier housing market.
Mr. Atencio was the president and chief executive officer of listed mass housing developer 8990 Holdings, Inc., from which he retired in 2017.
CHINESE cloud computing company Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, said Thursday that it is targeting to support 5,000 Philippine enterprises on their digital transformation journey.
“We aim to support at least 5,000 enterprises, train at least 50,000 talents, and certify 10,000 clouders till the end of 2023,” Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Country Head of the Philippines Allen Guo said at an online briefing.
Alibaba Cloud Intelligence President Selina Yuan said the company has trained more than 5,000 local talents.
“The Philippines is a very important market for us, even now that we are just very newin this market,” she said.
Ms. Yuan also stressed that it is important to support local enterprises with technology solutions during a pandemic crisis to help them continue their businesses.
“In the next three years, Alibaba Cloud will continue to invest another 200 billion yuan to build a data center and support cloud operation systems, servers, chips, internet, and other core projects” in the region, Ms. Yuan added.
In the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud offers retail & e-commerce, fintech, and digital media solutions, Mr. Guo said.
The company also offers data intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI) services such as chatbox and data analytic platforms.
Alibaba Cloud said its technologies also supported this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, which generated $74.1 billion in gross merchandise value over an 11-day period.
“In the cloud-native era, it is even more pivotal for businesses to be able to take advantage of innovative Database as a Service (DBaaS) offerings to enhance and support high-concurrency and high-volume web applications such as e-commerce, online gaming, and financial technology. Many Fortune 500 firms are already using our Cloud DBaaS for mobile apps, backups and tests, and the most recent impressive performance of our proprietary solutions during the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is yet another strong endorsement on our capability,” said Li Feifei, president of Database Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
The company said its real-time computing platform “processed data streams totaling 4 billion items per second during peak time, a considerable surge from 2.5 billion last year.”
“MaxCompute, Alibaba’s proprietary data warehousing platform, handled 1.7 exabytes (an exabyte is equal to 1 billion gigabytes) of data on average per day during the 11-day festival from November 1 to 11, equivalent to processing 230 high-res photos of each of the 7 billion people in the world,” it added.
THE POPULAR Japanese Film Festival (formerly known as Eiga Sai) has shifted to online for this year’s edition, though the opening film will follow in the steps of Cine Europa and be shown at the new SM Cinema by the Bay drive-in theater at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City on Nov. 20 and 22.
“In this time when we can’t go out and visit places, films allow us to take glimpses into new worlds, experience things, see places and gain new perspectives while staying safe in the confines of our homes. Online movies have become the trend because of the pandemic and the Internet as its venue for instant exchange of information and culture,” Ben Suzuki, director of the Japan Foundation Manila, said during a press conference held via Zoom on Nov. 11.
“There’s no better time to harness the power of art than now,” he added.
The festival, called Japanese Film Festival Plus, runs from Nov. 20 to 29 and will feature 28 classic and contemporary Japanese films which will be streamed for free on the festival website (https://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp/).
For those wondering why the change in the festival’s name, the Japan Foundation Manila said that the festival — which has iterations in other Southeast Asian countries, Australia, India, China, and Russia — started rebranding under one unified name: Japanese Film Festival. The Philippines bid goodbye to Eiga Sai in March and welcomed the new festival name. The festival is organized by the Japan Foundation Asian Center in partnership with JT International (Philippines), the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, and SM Cinema.
The opening film is the live action adaptation of well-loved mecha anime Mazinger Z which aired from 1972 to 1974. The 2020 film, Project Dreams — How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar by Tsutomu Hanabusa, revolves around a group of office workers who decide that they will build the Mazinger Z and thus begin living in an imaginary anime world as they continue their quest of building the robot. While all of the other films in the festival are free, the opening film has a P100 admission fee which includes popcorn, beef franks, and bottled water.
The film festival slate includes films from several genres, from classic and contemporary Japanese films, anime (Japanese animations), and documentaries. The film selection, according to Mr. Suzuki, was designed to let people enjoy because “in this situation, we have to stay at home, so maybe you have many stresses and a depressed mood already.”
“I think the tendency in selecting films this year is more entertainment-oriented. So please enjoy,” he explained.
Some of the films in the festival are: Our 30-Minute Sessions (2020) by Kentaro Hagiwara, Little Nights, Little Love (2019) by Rikiya Imaizumi, The Great Passage (2013) by Yuya Ishii,
Sumikkogurashi: Good to be in the Corner (2019) by Mankyu, and several animated films by Takeshi Yashiro: Gon, the Little Fox (2015), Moon of a Sleepless Night (2015), Norman the Snowman – The Northern Light (2013), and Norman the Snowman – On a Night of Shooting Stars (2016).
Some of the documentaries in the festival are: Peace (2010) by Kazuhiro Soda, Tora-san in Goto (2016) by Masaru Oura, and Tsukiji Wonderland (2016) by Naotaro Endo.
To reserve tickets for the drive-in screening of Project Dreams — How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar,visithttps://www.smtickets.com/events/view/9516. The Japanese Film Festival runs from Nov. 20-29. Each film will be available for 24 hours on the festival website (https://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp/). To view the full schedule of the films, visithttp://jff.jpf.go.jp/ or the JFM website (http://www.jfmo.org.ph) or follow their social media accounts. — Zsarlene B. Chua
SWEDISH furnishing retailer Ikea plans to hire nearly 500 employees for its first Philippine store in Pasay City, which it said will be the largest Ikea branch in the world.
Ikea Philippines will run online operations by the second quarter next year, ahead of its physical opening at the Mall of Asia Complex.
Its local operations will include a call center and a warehouse for its ecommerce sales, Ikea Southeast Asia and Mexico said in a press release on Thursday.
The company plans to hire 496 people for a range of jobs, including sales associates, food assistants, and customer service associates, as well as part-time work. New employees will join a local team of 73 people at its Makati office and the project office in Pasay.
Ikea will also transfer 20 Overseas Filipino Workers from stores in other countries to work at the local site. The company plans to continue hiring for local positions until June 2021.
“Part-timers are treated like full-time members of the family, with all the same benefits as full-timers on a prorated basis—including health insurance, annual leave, subsidised meals and Ikea discounts,” Ikea Philippines Market Development Manager and Store Manager Georg Platzer said.
The local store was initially set to open this year, but construction delays postponed the opening to 2021.
The Philippine branch will be the retailer’s 10th store in Southeast Asia. — Jenina P. Ibañez
