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The Final Pitch focuses on real estate for its 5th season

BUSINESS reality show The Final Pitch launches its 5th season with the theme, “Real Estate and Livable Cities,” a marked departure from its usual theme-less seasons where assorted start-ups pitch their way to a probable investment.

This time, the show will feature landowners and entrepreneurs who will “pitch their properties and businesses to a panel of investor-judges who are looking to own a piece of their properties or companies,” according to a press release.

“For the first time ever, we will be producing a season with a theme. [The 5th season] will be the first season focused on real estate projects, urban solutions, and property technologies that contribute to the livability and sustainability of our cities,” John Aguilar, President and CEO of Streetpark Productions, said in a release.

Mr. Aguilar also hosts the program.

The theme, he said during a press conference on Oct. 30 at the Hexagon Lounge in Makati City, has them returning to their roots as Mr. Aguilar also produced Philippine Realty TV, a real estate TV show which recently concluded its 17th season.

For this season, the show will have five investor-judges: Victor Consunji, CEO of Victor Consunji Development Corp.; Cary Lagdameo, first vice-president of Davao-based Damosa Land Inc.; Cesar Wee Jr., President of Wee Community Developers Inc.; Jet Yu, founder and CEO of Prime Philippines, a real-estate consultancy firm; and George Royeca, chief transport advocate of motorcycle-hailing service, Angkas.

Mr. Yu had previously been an investor-judge in the show’s 2nd season.

Aside from the judges, the show has also tapped two mentors to guide the finalists in the different aspects of their business proposals: Amor Maclang, public engagement head of the Urban Land Institute and co-founder of GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications Inc., and Hardy Lipana, President and CEO of Conveyance Realty Services Inc.

LOOKING FOR PITCHES
The Final Pitch Season 5 will start filming in November and will begin airing in early 2020. The show is currently looking for pitches from property owners or their representatives or business owner who may have solutions to make cities in the Philippines more liveable.

“Whether for sale or joint venture, we are looking for properties across the Philippines ranging from raw land, buildings, islands, even prime properties in the metro,” Mr. Aguilar said.

He added that their main criteria to even consider an application is that the land title should be clear and free of encumbrances.

“Properties or projects with an existing prospectus or highest and best land-use study are preferred but not required,” Mr. Aguilar said, before noting that if the plot of land is for sale, it should be “at least 20% below market value, otherwise we won’t even consider it.”

For businesses that want to pitch, they have to have technology or solutions “that make for livable cities — green and sustainable building materials and technologies, clean energy, smart homes, and property technology start-ups,” said the release.

Businesses that provide solutions that improve people’s quality of living “particularly those that address safety, hygiene, healthcare, the environment, recreation, public transport, and access to goods and services will also be considered,” the release added.

Entrepreneurs must have at least a minimum viable product or prototype to even be considered.

BEYOND FIVE SEASONS
The Final Pitch may have five seasons under its belt but Mr. Aguilar said during the press conference that they are planning to make the show regional and eventually global.

“I feel that this show is something that is going to scale not just around the region but globally,” he said.

This year, according to Monica Hipolito-Aguilar, co-executive producer of the show, they will be pitching the show to different countries in Southeast Asia as they plan to have a season next year which will have regional investor-judges and contestants from around the region.

Those who are interested in joining the show may log-on to thefinalpitch.ph/application. Deadline for submission of entries is on Nov. 11. — Zsarlene B. Chua

PLDT gets $1M training grant from USTDA

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Associate Editor

BANGKOK — The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is supporting PLDT, Inc.’s preparations for the rollout of its fifth generation (5G) network by providing the telecommunications giant with a $1-million (around P50.5 million) training grant.

The USTDA Acting Deputy Director Todd Abrajano and PLDT Vice President and Head of Core Planning Arvin L. Siena signed the letter of intent at the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum here on Monday.

The foreign assistance agency of the US government agreed to provide a $1 million training grant “to support training and capacity building for PLDT’s technical and managerial staff to support the company’s deployment of next-generation digital technologies.”

The training grant comes as PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications are in the midst of efforts to deploy a 5G network in the country.

In April, PLDT signed a deal with US technology provider Cisco Systems, Inc. for the digital transformation of its IP transport infrastructure, which will support the 5G network.

“This (training grant) will enable PLDT to utilize cutting-edge technologies that Cisco will deploy that would transform the company’s network into 5G network-ready infrastructure. We are pleased to support PLDT with this $1-million grant agreement, and look forward to working with them to ensure its success,” Mr. Abrajano said during the signing event.

PLDT is targeting to launch the rollout of its 5G network by 2020.

“A vital part of that undertaking is the task of transforming our fiber optic transport network into a 5G ready infrastructure. We have tapped Cisco to provide that leading edge technology to execute that transformation. But it is not just the network we need to transform, we also need to transform our people and our organization with new competency and skills,” Mr. Siena said.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, who witnessed the signing of the USTDA-PLDT deal, said “this is more than just benefiting PLDT but also has implications for the country in as much as connectivity is a key part of the economic growth and development.”

The telecommunications giant has yet to decide on vendors for the network hardware, telecommunications equipment and other products and services for its 5G network. PLDT Chairman and President Manuel V. Pangilinan said in July it was choosing among Cisco, China’s Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and ZTE Corp.; Sweden’s Ericsson, Inc.; and Finland’s Nokia Corp.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

Olivia Newton-John’s Grease outfit sells for $405,700

LOS ANGELES — Olivia Newton-John’s tight black pants and leather jacket from the movie Grease sold for $405,700 at a Beverly Hills auction on Saturday, more than double the expected price, Julien’s Auctions said.

The outfit that marked the transition of Newton-John’s character in the 1978 musical from demure high schooler to sexy Sandy was among 500 items for sale to help raise money for the performer’s cancer treatment center in Australia.

The infamous pants worn by Newton-John for the “You’re the One That I Want” duet with John Travolta were so tight that she had to be sewn into them to film the scene, and were sold with a broken zipper. The buyers for the pants and jacket were not revealed.

The auction raised $2.4 million in total, with many items related to the movie going for many times over estimates, Julien’s said.

A Grease poster signed by Newton-John, Travolta and other cast members sold for $64,000, compared to an estimate of $1,000. The pink lace gown the actress wore to the movie premiere in Los Angeles went for $18,750. A custom Pink Ladies jacket given to the actress by the cast and crew fetched $50,000, 25 times its original estimate.

The British-born, Australian-raised 71-year-old singer and actress said earlier this year that she was battling breast cancer for a third time since first being diagnosed in 1992.

After her first bout with cancer, she helped set up the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Center in Melbourne, which aims to support the mind as well as the body.

All of the proceeds from the Grease jacket and pants will benefit the center, as well as a portion of all the other items sold on Saturday. — Reuters

Cebu Pacific to purchase 16 Airbus aircraft for $4.8B

CEBU AIR, Inc. has signed a purchase deal with Airbus SAS for 16 new aircraft.

CEBU AIR, Inc., the listed operator of the Philippines’ largest budget carrier Cebu Pacific, has signed a purchase deal with plane manufacturer Airbus SAS for 16 passenger aircraft worth a total of $4.8 billion.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, Cebu Air said it signed a purchase agreement with Airbus SAS for the order of 16 A330-900 aircraft currently valued at $4.8 billion.

It said the aircraft have up to 460 seats in a single-class configuration.

“The order firms up the wide-body portion of a previously announced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which also includes commitments for ten A321XLR and five A320neo single-aisle aircraft,” it added.

Cebu Pacific said the aircraft offer a 25% reduction in fuel consumption compared with older generation competing passenger planes, and an extended range capability of up to 8,000 nautical miles or 15,000 kilometers.

“The A330neo is integral to our fleet modernization program. With this purchase, we aim to reduce our fuel emission and build a more sustainable operation. This will also give us the lowest cost per seat, at the same time enabling CEB to increase seat capacity and maximize valuable airport slots in Manila and other Asian megacities,” Cebu Pacific President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei was quoted as saying.

For his part, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer said: “Cebu Pacific is a pace-setter and surely one of the most respected and well managed airlines in the low-cost sector. This new order is another important endorsement for the value-based proposition that the A330neo brings to highly competitive markets. The increased capacity version of the aircraft developed for Cebu Pacific will help achieve even greater efficiencies for high density regional and long range routes.”

Mr. Gokongwei said earlier this year that the budget carrier would be investing heavily on the acquisition of new planes as it looks to recover “lost market share” over the past two years.

Based on data from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Cebu Pacific and Cebgo had a combined passenger traffic of 13.95 million in 2018, or 51% of the total 27.28 million of all local carriers.

In 2017, the two Gokongwei-led carriers had a combined traffic of 13.72 million domestic passengers, or 55% of the market total. In 2016, Cebu Pacific and Cebgo held 57% of the domestic passenger market at 13.46 million. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Getting into GOT7

By Cecille Santillan-Visto

Concert Review
GOT7 Keep Spinning 2019 World Tour
Oct. 26
Mall of Asia Arena, Parañaque

WHEN GOT7 visited Manila for the first time in December 2014, the group was still “newly minted,” having been launched only a few months earlier by JYP Entertainment.

They have since returned for two more fan meetings, both of which did relatively well in terms of attendance. Fast forward to five years, four studio albums, and two world tours later — GOT7 was far from the nervous and less-than-confident Korean pop singers who graced the SMX Convention Center to introduce themselves to Filipino fans at the Philippine K-Pop Convention 6.

With their infectious charm and charisma known to K-Pop fans around the world, JB, Jinyoung, Youngjae, Yugyeom, Mark, Bambam, and Jackson easily filled up the Mall of Asia Arena and definitely did not disappoint. They delivered a full-packed, three-hour concert that left their Philippine Ahgases (their local fandom) clamoring for more.

“Walang uuwi, walang uuwi! (No one goes home!)” fans chanted, which prompted the boys to reciprocate the overwhelming reception.

“Babalik kami. Mahal namin kayo (We will return. We love you),” said Jinyoung. To this, Youngjae added: “Maraming salamat sa pagpunta nyo ngayon. Magkita tayong muli sa susunod (Thank you for coming. We will see you again next time).”

GOT7 is among the first multinational K-idol groups to reap worldwide success. Jackson is from Hong Kong, Bambam is Thai, while Mark is of Taiwanese-American origins. With their confident English skills coupled with their endearing attempts to speak in Filipino, including the catchphrase “Sana all,” it was no wonder that 27-song repertoire, several VCRs, and numerous set fillers went by like a breeze.

Keep Spinning was their first full concert in Manila, which sold out within eight hours from the opening of the box office. The fans who managed to secure tickets definitely got their money’s worth as the set list was arranged to highlight the songs from their latest album, Spinning Top: Between Security & Insecurity, with a mix of some oldies but goodies. Weaved with new chart-toppers “Eclipse,” “1 Degree,” and “Page” were some fan favorites like “Girls Girls Girls,” “Hard Carry,” “Skyway,” “Just Right,” and “Stop Stop It.”

The unit stages were also well-applauded, including the trio of Bambam, Jackson, and Mark, who joined forces in “God Has Returned” and “Mañana.”

Not to be outdone, Jinyoung and Yugyeom had their own dance showdown, while JB sang “Solo” and Youngjae owned the stage with “Gravity.”

Pulp Live World went the extra mile in set and lightning design, not only extending the stage to get the artists closer to the audience, but adding a hydraulic-controlled elevated second stage. The LED screens enhanced the concert experience, particularly in “Thank You” where all seven members were stunningly projected on all five massive panels.

One of the highlights of the concert was when they sang “Miracle,” and the fans chanted along while waving their lit mobile phones and banners especially prepared for the show. GOT7’s followers also surprised the group with a well-made three-minute video that had the members impressed.

“We have never seen such a video prepared for us in a long time,” said Bambam.

A bit of a downside was the interpreter who may not have been able to accurately translate what the Korean-speaking members were saying. But this did not make the concert any less enjoyable although there may be room for improvement in future K-Pop events.

While many idol groups have been rocked by controversies, GOT7 remains solid.

The secret perhaps is the obvious camaraderie and the fun they have while performing. And, yes, let’s not forget the one-of-a-kind fan service. It was a lucky day for a male fan at the VIP standing area when Mark gave him his jacket. Jackson, meanwhile, teased the audience that “walang uuwi” will be their comeback song. In between, GOT7 doused the audience with bottles of mineral water and even threw some towels — soaked with their sweat — as souvenirs.

GOT7 just launched a new album yesterday, which they heavily promoted during the Manila concert. As they expect to spend considerable time to market the new release, the Philippine leg of Keep Spinning was their last concert for the year.

Many Filipino fans were mere disinterested onlookers when GOT7 first came here in 2014. When they shot to fame, K-Pop fans readily got into GOT7. They have not looked back since.

Pryce earnings up 8% on LPG sales

PRYCE CORP. reported an 8.01% increase in its consolidated net income in the nine months to September to P1.204 billion largely because of the growth in its sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the listed company said on Monday.

Revenues during the period rose by 4.18% to P7.887 billion, the company said in a disclosure. The company did not release its income and revenue figures for the third quarter alone.

“The above growth in revenues was achieved mainly due to a 9.0% growth in sales of LPG content, the company’s principal source of revenues,” the listed company told the stock exchange.

Sales volume of LPG content rose to 162,560 metric tons in 2019 from 149,160 metric tons in 2018.

“The completion of certain refilling plants and the increase in bulk sales in the Vis-Min areas contributed to the said rise in sales volume,” the company said.

During the nine-month period, the average LPG contract price dropped by 18.85% to $439 per metric tons from $541 per metric ton in the same period last year.

Pryce said its LPG sales revenues, which include sales of LPG content, cylinders, LPG generators, and LPG stoves and accessories, accounted for the bulk of its revenues at 93.64% in 2019, equivalent to P7.386 billion.

Revenues from other product lines such as industrial gases, real estate, and pharmaceutical products contributed P501.43 million or 6.36% of total revenues.

Sales of industrial gases rose by 6.68% to P341.46 million from P320.08 million, while those of pharmaceutical products climbed by 18.01% to P37.32 million from P31.62 million.

“Although a modest contributor to total revenues, this pharmaceutical business of the company has consistently grown in terms of revenues and income over the past recent years,” Pryce said.

The company said it was optimistic of meeting its 2019 projected net income of P1.6 billion “plus or minus 10%.”

“The last quarter is usually the strongest in terms of LPG sales and income for the company because of the December festivities/holidays. In addition, incremental LPG volume is starting to be generated from the expansions of the company’s refilling plants and sales centers,” it said.

On Monday, shares in Pryce rose by 1.85% to P5.50 each. — Victor V. Saulon

Gov’t makes partial award of T-bills as rates rise

THE GOVERNMENT made a partial award of the Treasury bills (T-bill) it auctioned off yesterday as rates of the shorter tenors increased despite the recently implemented cut in banks’ reserve ratio and expectations of easing inflation.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) just raised P9.8 billion out of its P20-billion program on Monday, even as its offer attracted bids worth P36.5 billion.

The BTr rejected all bids for the 91-day papers even as it attracted P8.82 billion in tenders, above the P8-billion program.

Had the Treasury made a full award of the papers, they would have fetched an average rate of 3.281% or 28.6 basis points (bp) higher than the 2.995% fetched during the auction last Oct. 21.

For the 182-day T-bills, the government raised just P3.8 billion out of total bids of P9.85 billion as the securities fetched an average rate of 3.198%, 2.4 bps higher than the 3.174% quoted in the previous auction.

As for the one-year securities, the Treasury awarded P6 billion as planned at an average rate of 3.513%, 6.3 bps lower than the 3.576% fetched previously.

At the secondary market, the three-month, six-month and one-year papers were quoted at 3.177%, 3.344% and 3.601%, respectively, on Monday, according to the PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the government rejected all the bids for the three-month papers as rates jumped despite an expected decline in inflation last month.

Inflation likely slowed further in October as a continued easing of prices of rice and fuel offset any upside pressure from pork substitutes amid the onslaught of African swine fever, according to a BusinessWorld poll of 14 economists conducted late last week.

The analysts also noted that base effects from the nine-year-high 6.7% headline inflation recorded in September and sustained in October last year also pushed inflation lower last month.

At the same time, they expect price pressures to pick up in this year’s remaining two months as base effects subside and consumption picks up ahead of Christmas.

Last week’s poll bared an estimate median of 0.8% for October inflation that, if realized, would mark October as the fifth consecutive month of cooling inflation, the second month that the pace clocked in below one percent, and the slowest clip in nearly three-and-a-half years or since April 2016’s 0.7%.

It is also within the lower half of the 0.5-1.3% October estimate which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Department of Economic Research gave on Thursday last week.

The Philippine Statistics Authority is scheduled to report October inflation data on Nov. 5.

Ms. De Leon said despite strong liquidity, there might be “competing supply” in the market as banks issue more bonds and with the market looking for higher rates and preferring longer tenors instead.

“I guess also there are competing supply in the market with additional issuance from the corporates and the bank bonds that are coming up even with the flush in liquidity coming from the [reserve requirement ratio (RRR)] cut for this month and another cut coming in December. I think, still, the market is looking for higher yields so they are going for longer tenors,” Ms. De Leon told reporters after the auction.

Ms. De Leon added that rates for the longer T-bill tenors ended mixed as the market reacted to the RRR cuts this month and in December.

The reserve ratio of universal and commercial banks now stands at 15% following the effectivity of the 100-bp cut in RRR announced in September. Likewise, the RRR of thrift banks is now at five percent, while that for rural banks stands at three percent.

The BSP announced last month that the reserve ratio of universal, commercial and thrift banks will be slashed by another 100 bps effective December, bringing total reductions to their reserve ratios for this year to 400 bps. This cut will also apply to the reserve ratio of non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions (NBQBs).

This will bring the reserve ratio of universal and commercial lenders to 14% by December, while the RRR of thrift banks will stand at four percent.

On the other hand, the reserve ratio of NBQBs will be cut to 14% next month.

Meanwhile, The bond trader interviewed by phone yesterday said the auction result for the one-year tenor was “in line with market expectations,” adding that the market wanted higher rates for the 91-day T-bills since the supply is enough.

“The total issue size on the 91-day T-bills were too big, P8 billion compared to 182-day and one-year. There’s already enough supply in the 91-day — that’s why they prefer higher rates. Since 2019 will be ending soon, we just have to accept the current schedule of BTr,” the bond trader explained in a mix of Filipino and English.

Ms. De Leon said the BTr will maintain its borrowing program for the quarter despite its recent rejections on bids and partial awards.

“For next week, the bond offering would be 10 years so there would be longer tenors. The succeeding issuance will be 20 years…which will be in time for the redemption that’s about P190 billion for this month,” she said.

The government is set to borrow P220 billion from the local market this quarter, broken down into P100 billion in T-bills and P120 billion via Treasury bonds. — BML

City & Land tops off Taft condominium

CITY & LAND Developers, Inc. has topped off its latest condominium project in Taft Avenue last week, three years since it was launched in 2016.

The listed subsidiary of Cityland Development Corp. (CDC) said in a statement yesterday it held a topping off ceremony for its One Taft Residences project last Oct. 28.

The 40-storey building is the newest project of City & Land following the topping off of CDC’s One Premier project in Alabang in September.

The company said the location of One Taft Residences, which lies a few steps away from the university belt, makes it a prime spot with heavy foot traffic. It is accessible to transportation hubs, shopping centers and commercial and government offices.

Residential units of the property are offered in studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom cuts with sizes ranging from 19.55 square meters to 60.76 square meters.

City & Land is one of the two subsidiaries of CDC, the other being pre-need company Cityplans, Inc.

The Cityland group operates various residential and commercial developments across the country, of which five are under City & Land, namely: North Residences in Quezon City, Grand Emerald Tower in Pasig City and Manila Residences Bocobo, The Pacific Regency and One Taft Residences all in Manila.

City & Land booked an attributable net income of P75.02 million in the six months to June, up 18% from last year on the back of a 15% rise in revenues to P306.86 million.

The attributable net income of its parent CDC stood at P346.7 million during the period, soaring 44% as revenues increased 22% to P1.25 billion.

Shares in CDC traded flat on Monday, closing at 87 centavos apiece. — Denise A. Valdez

This girl is on fire

By Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

Movie Review
UnTrue
Written and directed by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo

MARA VILLANUEVA’s skull cap of fire engine-red hair is like a red flag, a warning that anyone who would choose the same shade as the Ronald McDonald clown, but in an asylum patient’s buzz cut, can’t be all right in the head. It is a signal flare for disaster. Mara (played by Christine Reyes) is not whom she appears to be: just another Filipino OFW, toiling away in the kitchen of a bistro in Tbilsi, Georgia. Why Georgia? Because, as the director Sigrid Andrea Bernardo explains, it is one of the few places left on planet earth where we are unlikely to run into a Filipino, or into anyone else for that matter. Although the Philippines has approximately five times Georgia’s land mass, our population of 110 million Filipinos is 30 times that of their around only 4 million Georgians. There were probably fewer than three dozen Pinoys living and working in Georgia during the two weeks that the UnTrue crew spent shooting there.

The social isolation of UnTrue’s protagonists is key to nudging its plot along — no usisero’s (busybodies) with tiresome questions tracing past common acquaintances and finding connections: Taga-saan ka? (Where are you from?) Kilalala mo ba si ___? (Do you happen to know so-and-so?) A well-meaning but intrusive barkada (group of friends) might awkwardly distract the protagonist from festering psychotic or murderous inclinations, then down the tubes this story goes.

Bleak, dreary, and wintry Georgia is a fitting setting for the theme of revenge, a dish which is best served cold. Director Bernardo’s phenomenally popular Kita Kita (2017) had a seemingly benign and cuddly, though when you really think about it, he was actually creepy, stalker in Tonyo (Empoy Marquez), the former mascot and alcoholic vagrant whom Lea (Alessandra De Rossi) compassionately nurtures when she finds him, drunk and destitute on a Sapporo sidewalk, instead of turning him over to the authorities of law-abiding Japan.

In UnTrue, the genders switch: it is the gaunt loner Mara who does the stalking. Talk about holding a grudge. She traveled 5,000 miles to the south of the Caucasus Mountains, with her dead kid sister Ana’s (Rhenz Escano) more-than-a-decade-old, unwashed high school uniform, for the sole purpose of wreaking an insanely complicated revenge on the former guidance counselor Joachim Castro (Xian Lim), a sexual predator and S&M bondage aficionado who done her baby sister wrong. That is surely some baggage to keep lugging around. Ms. Reyes heroically runs around outdoors, dressed only in the late Ana’s thin, wine-stained cotton blouse and skirt (no bulky thermals or other obvious protective gear), in freezing Georgia weather. She is supposed to be crazy after all.

The bright, richly saturated colors of Sapporo, Japan are the other side of the spectrum of UnTrue’s grim palette of dingy grey’s (there are a couple of pretty nature scenes of running horses), except for Mara’s scarlet pate. Even the gorgeous Xian Lim is prematurely aged and scruffied-up, with a coarse beard and a greatly increased BMI (Body Mass Index), which actually made him look manlier and still not unattractive.

Ms. Bernardo’s genius is her ability to get her audience to play along, to suspend our disbelief and allow ourselves to just be entertained. In Kita Kita, we do not question the transformation of Empoy from a drunken street dweller to the secret Prince Charming next door, a solid renter with no visible means of support or legal documentation in expensive Japan. In fact, the charming couple have all the time and means to go sight-seeing. Similarly, in UnTrue, we accept the evolution of Mara, from an orphan of lower middle-class origins with no apparent financial resources (her sister Ana desperately needed a scholarship to attend private school), into a globe-trotting Valkyrie with MacGyver-like abilities. Joachim previously spent five years in the States, where he met his business associates from Georgia, and ended up in Tbilsi as the prosperous owner of several vineyards. Logically, Mara must have known that, which was how she ended up in Georgia herself. Why didn’t she whack him in the States? Too many Pinoys.

Like a cruel cat toying with its prey, Mara gets Joachim to fall in love with her and even to marry her. Afterwards, she seems to have become a stay-at-home wifey which conveniently gives her the time and opportunity to set up an elaborate system of wireless speakers broadcasting her dead sister’s voice to guilt-trip and gaslight her hubby. She also has the abilities of a doppelganger and a quick-change artist as she flits in and out of his peripheral vision in said cherished uniform. There are incidents which establish Joachim’s volatility and violent tendencies so he was probably already on the verge, and maybe even deserves what he gets in the end. To his credit, he was undergoing therapy, proving his willingness to change, but which gave Mara the opportunity to spike his medication. Another of director Bernardo’s strengths is in her use of symbols. In Kita Kita, it was the daruma cat which Tonyo gifts Lea with. Here, it is Kartlis Deda, venerated as the Mother of Georgia, who holds a bowl of wine in one hand to welcome her friends, and a sword in the other to smite her enemies. Mara swipes the tiny sword, from a figurine of Kartlis Deda (from the scale, it’s under a foot tall) conveniently set on the police inspector’s desk. The original monument is aluminum, so this mass-produced touristy souvenir is probably of much cheaper material like a polymer resin. In the film’s final scene, as Mara confronts Joachim in the police headquarters, with law enforcement present or at least close by, she dramatically lunges with this teensy sword, like a cocktail skewer, at Joachim’s eye. She might have succeeded in partially blinding or mutilating him, but she didn’t go for the jugular and that itty-bitty thing could not inflict a lethal wound. Dare we hope: can this marriage be saved?

Traditional businesses fuel office space demand

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran
Special Features Writer

TRADITIONAL businesses have overtaken the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and IT-business process management (IT-BPM) companies in terms of office space demand in the third quarter.

In its Q3 Metro Manila Office Market Overview and Full Year Outlook, Pronove Tai International Property Consultants tracked a total of about 305,000 square meters (sq.m.) of pre-leasing and leasing transactions from July to September 2019.

Traditional offices accounted for 40% or 122,000 sq.m. of total transactions, followed by IT-BPM sector at 32% or 96,000 sq.m., POGOs at 23% or 71,000 sq.m., and flexible workspaces at 5%, or 16,000 sq.m.

“The third quarter proved to be an exceptionally strong period for the traditional firms with a significant 61% growth YoY (year-on-year) from only 76,000 sq.m. last year” Monique Cornelio Pronove, president and CEO of the property consultancy firm, said.

Of the traditional businesses driving demand, banking and financial firms accounted for the largest share at 20% of transactions; food and beverage firms followed at 15%, while insurance firms, government offices and NGOs, and real estate companies accounted for 14%, 8%, and 7% respectively.

POGOs demand, which took up the lion’s share of leasing transactions last quarter and accounts for about 386,000 sq.m. of total office space take-up in Metro Manila as of September, was dented by an announcement by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation in August that it will no longer grant licensing permits to new POGO applicants until the end of the year.

Expansion of IT-BPM companies, meanwhile, has been limited by the government moratorium on new economic zones in Metro Manila as part of a decentralization plan to push stronger economic activity in suburban areas. IT-BPM companies prefer to locate in office buildings that have been declared as ecozones to take advantage of tax perks and other incentives.

“Amidst these challenges, the office leasing market remained strong and we project it to reach 1.2 million sq.m. by the end of December 2019. This would breach last year’s record performance by 9%,” Pronove said.

“Makati, the country’s premier business district, accounted for the most leasing transactions at 28%. The Bay Area accounted for 20%, characterized mostly by POGOs and then Quezon City at 17% with IT-BPM accounting for most of the leasing transactions there this quarter,” Pronove added.

From July to September, 15 new buildings were completed adding 402,000 sq.m. to Metro Manila’s office stock, bringing office stock to 11.4 million sq.m. Much of the new supply (82%) was located in Quezon City and Taguig City, adding approximately 230,000 sq.m. and 101,000 sq.m., respectively.

Despite this, vacancy levels dipped to 5% from 6% in the previous quarter. Due to robust demand, Pronove Tai expects vacancy to dip further to around 4-5% by the end of this year.

Districts with the lowest vacancy rates are in the Bay Area (Pasay and Parañaque) as well as Makati City at a staggering 0.4% and 2%, respectively. Only three districts‚ Ortigas Center, Muntinlupa City and Taguig City registered a vacancy of 5-6% this quarter.

“This has been Quezon City’s highest recorded supply in a quarter. We saw a 10% growth year-on-year in Quezon City coming from nine buildings. This alone accounted for 57% of the new supply in Metro Manila this quarter,” Ms. Pronove said.

“Though the office vacancy decreased from 12% in Q2 to 11% in Q3, Quezon City still had the highest vacancy in Metro Manila at over roughly 150,000 sq.m. This could be attributed to the slow leasing absorption for its new building completions in the past two years as it only recently opened its market to POGO occupiers.”

Makati and Taguig recorded the top rents in the city, with Makati still at a 21% premium over Taguig rents. Additionally, both business districts have recorded the highest rental growth over the year.

Security Bank net profit climbs 22% in Q3

SECURITY BANK Corp. booked higher earnings in the third quarter. — BW FILE PHOTO

SECURITY BANK Corp. recorded a higher net profit in the third quarter, driven by double-digit growth in its income from loans and deposits.

In its quarterly report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, the bank said it booked a net income of P2.74 billion in the July-September period, 22% higher than the year-ago figure of P2.246 billion.

This brought its bottom line for the first nine months of the year to P7.695 billion, up 18% from P6.539 billion in the same period in 2018.

Return on assets was at 1.33%, while return on equity stood at 8.14%.

Security Bank’s total revenues for the quarter climbed 35% year-on-year to P8.8 billion, driven by earnings from its core businesses.

The bank’s net interest income from customer loans and deposits climbed 49% year-on-year to P5.9 billion, fuelled by the growth in retail loans, low-cost deposits, and pricing in wholesale loans.

Retail loans comprised 27% of the bank’s total loans at end-September, up from a 19% share last year, as retail loans increased 54% from a year ago.

With this, Security Bank’s total net interest income climbed 33% to P7.019 billion from P5.258 billion in the third quarter of 2018.

Security Bank saw its total loans rise 11% to P444 billion as of September, while total deposits went up 4% to P487 billion.

“Asset quality remained healthy, with gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at 1.4%, lower than the industry’s 1.7% as of August 2019. Under the new BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) regulations implemented last year requiring Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provisioning by banks, the bank set aside P1.1 billion for provision for credit losses in Q3-2019,” the bank said.

The bank’s NPL reserve cover stood at 110% as of September, with its provisions for credit losses in the first nine months of the year at P1.75 billion.

Its net interest margin increased to 4.05% in the third quarter, up by 77 basis points from the same period last year.

The lender’s service charges, fees, and commissions also jumped by 44% to P1 billion, driven by credit cards, loan fees, deposit charges, bancassurance, and stock brokerage, while securities trading gains in the quarter amounted to P369 million. Total non-interest income increased 43% to P1.8 billion.

The bank’s earnings in the quarter increased even as its total operating expenses climbed to P5.718 billion from P3.612 billion in the same period in last year.

Total assets held by the lender stood at P807 billion as of September, up from P766.66 billion as of end-2018.

Meanwhile, the bank’s common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 17.1%, up from 16.8% in the second quarter, while its capital adequacy ratio was 18% compared to 19.2% a quarter ago.

Security Bank shares finished trading at P204 each on Monday, up by P4.80 or 2.41% from the P199.20 close last Oct. 31. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

The lovable Lee Seung Gi

GIA ALLANA SORIANO

By Cecille Santillan-Visto

Fan Meeting
Vagabond Voyage in Manila
(2019 Lee Seung Gi Asia Fan Meeting)
Oct. 12
New Frontier Theater, Cubao, QC

KOREAN STAR Lee Seung Gi is one of the few celebrities who can really do almost everything. He is a multi-awarded actor, singer, host, and a favorite guest of reality shows and is also known in K-entertainment circles as a “triple threat.” The 32-year-old entertainer is also among the most bankable K-endorsers, selling almost anything from milk tea and ready-to-wear, to cosmetics and coffee. He was also at one point the face of Mercedes Benz, proving that while he can appear to be reckless in many television appearances, he also exudes class. He is a screen idol that appeals to almost all age groups, and his squeaky clean image has earned him the tag, “Nation’s Little Brother.”

And Korea allowed this little brother to finally visit the Philippines via a fan meeting at the New Frontier Theater on Oct. 12. He has been making the rounds of Asian countries as part of his Vagabond Voyage tour and Manila was among his stops.

This writer has been a fan of Mr. Lee since the onset of his career, having watched him in Shining Inheritance, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, King 2 Hearts, and Gu Family Book, among others. It was heartbreaking to see him take a mandatory hiatus to serve in the military but he returned with a vengeance upon his discharge two years ago. He went on to star in Korean Odyssey and his latest blockbuster, Vagabond, on which his Asia tour is anchored.

His Manila fan meeting can be summed up in one word — it was fun.

He unabashedly answered the questions of host Sam Oh, gamely played with his fans, went down from the stage to take photos at a select part of the venue, and, at the tail end of the event, dished out a concert-level performance to the delight of the audience. In fact, the “Ballad Prince” brought down the house with his live rendition of “Let’s Go On A Vacation.”

For his opening song he sang “Because You’re My Woman,” which was his debut single. While it was a bit disappointing that he did not perform the rather cheeky “Losing My Mind,” he made up for it by dancing excerpts of Trice’s “T T” and “Honey” by Park Jinyoung (JYP).

The former Strong Heart host, where he moderated a free-for-all talk show, and ex-mainstay of 2 Days and 1 Night, a travel-cum-challenge TV program, was very amiable in person and even accommodated several members of media for one-on-one interviews.

The All the Butlers headliner, when prodded, even prepared a special Korean lunchbox from scratch. He made a kimbap with eggs and grapes, which a lucky winning fan described as “delicious.”

The fan-celebrity interaction during the segment was nothing less than hilarious. Fans dissuaded him from using plastic gloves while handling the food. He reluctantly gave in but warned the fans that they must have a “strong stomach” to eat his lunchbox.

During the fan meeting, he intimated that while he appeared to be very fond of children in Little Forest, where he was seen taking care of kids, he said the toddlers could be too much for him to handle.

“I like working with children, but not too much,” said Mr. Lee, who always kept his composure even during the most trying episodes.

His latest project, Vagabond, has actress-singer Suzy Bae as co-star. Unlike the usual Korean dramas that are normally shot as they are shown, the 16-episode series available on Netflix was pre-produced and reportedly took a year to finish given the intense scenes and the execution of the complicated plot.

Seung Gi said he did most — if not all — of the action scenes himself to make the delivery more realistic

After the fan meeting, VIP ticket holders were treated to a photo opportunity with the actor-singer-host-model. However, due to the restrictions set by his entertainment company, Hook, hi-touch sessions were not approved.

It was the first time Lee Seung Gi had a show in the Philippines. With the rousing reception, his fans — including this writer — are hoping that he will return soon for a full concert. Acknowledged as an excellent singer, he has performed in sold-out arenas worldwide.

But for now, his Airens (his fandom’s name) will have to content themselves with the sweet memories of his fan meeting in Manila as they await for that soon-to-be-staged concert which they already expect will be just as awesome.

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