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PNR extends line by adding five more train stations

THE Philippine National Railways (PNR) has extended its line from Manila to Laguna province by adding five more stations after Calamba City, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The new stations are Pansol, Masili, Los Baños, College which is also in Los Baños town, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

PNR extended its rail services to Los Baños, Laguna on Dec. 1.

A new set of trains from Japan has been added to the PNR’s fleet of operational train cars, DoTr said.

Included in the main line is one Kogane train set, which consists of three coaches, it said.

PNR passengers can enjoy reclining and rotating seats, stowable tables, leg rests, and a comfort room inside the new train set from Japan, which can accommodate 81 people.

The fare from Tutuban in Manila to IRRI station in Los Baños is P150, it said.

“This is just the beginning,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said in a statement, adding that more rails would be added in other parts of the country.

“With the holiday season in full effect, we might increase trip frequency the moment ridership improves,” PNR General Manager Junn B. Magno said.

“Our engineering department has certified the line to be passable, and our Operations and Rolling Stock departments made the necessary preparation for the extension of the service.”

The DoTr said two more new train sets for the PNR are expected to arrive from Indonesia next week.

The train sets will be included in the PNR line under the Tutuban to FTI and Malabon to FTI routes, it said.

The national railway ordered 37 rail cars from Indonesia. On top of the two train sets consisting of three rail cars each that are due to arrive next week, 31 more coaches will be delivered from through February 2020, the agency said.

These will form seven train sets of four- and five-car configurations, it added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Senate wants to review water utility contracts

THE Senate may review water concession agreements with utilities deemed onerous in the exercise of its oversight function, a senator said on Wednesday.

“That’s part of their oversight,” Senator Francis N. Tolentino said at a forum in Manila, noting that it was Congress that gave the franchises.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday slammed water concessionaires over contract provisions he found questionable, such as categorizing water as a commodity rather than a natural resource.

The Senate public service committee will start hearing several bills seeking to set up a Department of Water, a priority measure of the Duterte administration Senator Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares, who heads the committee, will lead the hearing that will tackle eight Senate bills that seek to address the ongoing water shortage in Metro Manila.

Mr. Tolentino, who authored one of the bills, said he hoped the measure could hurdle the chamber by the first quarter of next year.

A dedicated Water department was among the bills that President Duterte mentioned in his fourth state of the nation address, aside from proposals to create separate agencies on disaster resilience and the overseas Filipino workers. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

BIR orders shops to post new receipt notices

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has ordered commercial establishments to adopt a new format of notice informing their customers about the shops’ duty to issue receipts.

The new format is expected to enhance revenue collection by asking the public to demand receipts or sales invoices from the seller.

Shops must post the notices in their places of business, including branches and mobile stores according to a revenue regulation signed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez on Nov. 18.

The new format will take effect 15 days after the circular is published in two newspapers.

The notice will include the name of the business, its registered name, its taxpayer identification number (TIN) and the branch code.

The notices must be posted within the shop an an areas that is conspicuous, it said. Businesses who violate the order may face two to four years of imprisonment. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Broadcast of Maguindanao massacre ruling sought

SEVERAL media have asked the Supreme Court to allow the Dec.19 promulgation of the ruling in a decade-old massacre case to be broadcast live.

In a letter, the groups said the live coverage and streaming would benefit the families of the 58 victims, 32 of whom were journalists.

Most of the victims live in the Mindanao region and do not have the means to go to Manila where the decision will be announced, according to a copy of the letter.

The letter was signed by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

They also said the massacre trial has only been followed by the families mostly through reports and broadcasts.

“It is now their hope that they be allowed to hear the decision simultaneously as it is read in court,” they said. “The promulgation is the culmination of their fight for justice at the lower courtThe live coverage wont prejudice the rights of the accused,” the journalist groups said.

It would also allow the public to hear the ruling of the lower court, boosting “the public’s trust on transparency and accountability of court processes, particularly in how fair and just the case has been decided.”

Editors and officers and other journalists from several media networks, publications, signed the letter in support.

Those who signed were MindaNews, Philippine Press Institute, Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mindanao Times, Philippine Star and Interaksyon, Vera Files, ABS-CBN, Mindanao Gold Star Daily/GMA News 7 Network Cagayan de Oro, News5, Rappler, Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp., Radyo ni Juan Network and The Mindanao Cross.

Quezon City Judge Jocelyn A. Solis-Reyes has set the promulgation for Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The court was supposed to rule on the case before the 10th year anniversary of the massacre on Nov. 23 but it asked the high court to give it more time due to “voluminous records.”

The ambush took place when family members, supporters, and members of the media were accompanying Esmael G. Mangudadatu, who was then running for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, for the filing of his certificate of candidacy.

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the Maguindanao massacre is the “worst single incident of journalist killing” in its records. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

House body approves bill on cooperatives

A HOUSE committee yesterday approved a consolidated bill that seeks to make the position of a cooperative officer mandatory in municipal, city and provincial levels.

The panel consolidated six measures and adopted House Bill 287 authored by Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing and Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio P. Suansing Jr.

The House of Representatives approved a similar bill on third reading in the previous Congress, but the Senate failed to pass a counterpart version for lack of time, Sabiniano S. Canama, who heads the committee, said.

Under the bill, a cooperative officer must “formulate measures for the consideration of the Sanggunian; provide technical assistance and support to the governor or mayor; and assist in the organization of cooperatives.”

“To further assist our cooperatives and further their development, there is a need to make the position of a cooperatives officer in local government units mandatory,” Ms. Suansing said. — Genshen L. Espedido

Cebu is the most typical place in the world

By Tyler Cowen

I’VE LONG wondered what might be the most typical place in the world, and I believe I now have an answer. It is Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, from which I have just returned.

What do I mean by the world’s most typical place? On a variety of measures — economic, demographic, and cultural, to name a few — Cebu is remarkably representative of the world as a whole.

First, the most typical place should have an income not too far from the world’s median. According to Gallup, world median household income was almost $10,000 in 2013 (though it is by now somewhat higher). The average family income in the Philippines is about $5,340 at current exchange rates, but as a major city Cebu is richer, and at any rate life is especially cheap in the Philippines.

The world’s most typical place also should have a fairly high degree of income inequality, and Cebu does. There are gleaming shopping malls and skyscrapers, but also considerable poverty.

As for its economy, Cebu is a major center for business outsourcing, such as call centers, and thus has a close relationship with the global technology industry. Those tech ties will become increasingly typical, even if they are not quite the dominant mode of production in emerging economies. In addition to tech services, real estate, shipbuilding and international trade are important economically.

Now consider some non-economic factors. What is the world’s most important and widely spoken language? English. Along with the native Cebuano and Tagalog, English is widely spoken in Cebu, and present on most of the signs. And what about religion? Christianity registers as the most common religion in the world, and the dominant religion in Cebu is — you guessed it — Christianity. Islam, Hinduism, and various native religions are also represented, as well as variants of folk Catholicism and folk Islam, mirroring the syncretic nature of religious belief in so many other countries.

Asia is the world’s most populous continent by far, and the Philippines (of course) is in Asia. Score another point for the typicality of Cebu. Yet there are also Spanish and Spanish colonial influences, and at times I felt like I was in Latin America more than Asia. That broadens the global connections of Cebu.

Also notable is Cebu’s North American heritage, as the Philippines was a de facto US colony from 1898 to 1935. The native culture is still very much its own, but there are more superficial markers of US cultural influence in Cebu, and in the Philippines more generally, than in almost any other emerging economy. There are lots of fast food restaurants, American casual dress is widespread, and basketball is much beloved.

What else? Most of the world’s population now lives in cities, and Cebu is the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines. The largest, Manila, was an obvious rival for the world’s most typical place, but it is a little too big and too central to the governance of the Philippines to be my first choice. If you look at such populous nations as China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan, most of their urban populations do not live in the country’s single largest city, nor do they live in its capital. So Cebu is a nice compromise in this regard, with a 2015 estimate putting the region’s population at almost three million.

One nice feature of Cebu is that, like most of the Philippines, it has been growing rapidly. Parents can plausibly expect their children to have much better lives. This hope is typical of most of the world, too.

I wouldn’t say that Cebu has many tourist sites that are major draws for the foreign visitor, although you can see where Ferdinand Magellan died on nearby Mactan Island, and there are wonderful beaches and aquatic activities. Some tourism — but not too much — also seems pretty typical.

Along the lines of this inquiry, I’ve also wondered who is the world’s most typical human. Such a concept is hard to pin down, but might it be someone who lives in Cebu? Although the median age in the Philippines is 23.5, for the world as a whole it is about 30. I therefore nominate a 30-year-old Cebu mother as the epicenter of human existence.

In any case, one thing is for sure: The most typical place in the world is by no means the least interesting.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Retired and rehired

Kudos to McDonald’s Philippines for giving senior citizens, presumably retirees, a “second” chance. Golden Arches Development Corp. (which operates McDonald’s Philippines) has said it has signed agreements with the Manila and Pasay City governments for the employment of senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in McDonald’s branches in these cities.

The initiative, I believe, actually started in McDonald’s in the US last year and was carried over here. The US market was ripe for it, considering that younger people were reportedly no longer interested in working in fast food and similar industries, and that a lot of older people were looking for means to boost their pension and retirement savings.

In Pasay City, the company commitment was to hire at least two senior citizens and one PWD in all stores, after given them training as “order presenter, drink drawer, table manager or overall guest relations.” I believe the same commitment was made to Manila, and McDonald’s Philippines added that it was looking at similar agreements with more cities.

I have long been advocating for what I refer to as “anti-retirement,” or for people to retire not by age but by choice. This is considering that even at an advanced age, a lot of people are still interested, willing, and capable of productive work. Also, there is great pressure on the pension system now, which can be partly addressed by pushing back retirement age.

As I had noted in a previous column, for the Philippine military and police services, the mandatory retirement age is 56, or 35 years of service. On the other hand, the US Army has raised the retirement age from active service from 55 to 62, and the age limit for enlistment from 34 to 39. Retirement pay requires at least 20 years of active service. So, with the new age limits, one can still opt to enlist at 38 and then retire with a pension at 58. Can we not do the same here?

After all, we have no mandatory retirement ages for presidents, vice-presidents, senators, congressmen, and Cabinet members, or appointed heads of agencies. While in the Philippine judiciary, the mandatory retirement age is 70. But at the US Supreme Court, and all other US federal courts, there is no mandatory retirement age.

However, of those who decide to retire voluntarily, available online data indicate an average age of 78. In this line, can we not raise to at least 75 our own judiciary’s retirement age? Moreover, if we believe that members of our judiciary can still function productively and effectively until 70, why should the rest of the government bureaucracy retire at 65?

Of course, mandatory retirement age will have to depend on the type and volume of work required from an individual. In this line, studies and research should be done to help set a baseline as well as a standard that can be applied across the board in certain industries. Benchmarking will help in this regard, particularly in relation to professional or intellectual work.

Let us consider the practices in other countries, for this revolution of seniors is a worldwide phenomenon. In Australia, the retirement age is reportedly to be increased gradually to 67 from 65 by July 2023. In Belgium, the retirement age is also to be increased gradually to 67 by 2030. In France, the minimal retirement age has gradually increased from 60 to 62, and the full retirement age is to be increased gradually to 67 by 2023.

In Germany, the retirement age is to be increased gradually to 67 by 2029. In Denmark, the retirement age will be increased gradually to 67 by 2022. And from 2030 onwards, it will be increased a maximum of one year every five years, depending on increases in average lifespan. In Ireland, Taiwan, and Japan, the retirement age is to be increased gradually to 68 years.

European civil servants retire at the age of 66 since 2014. And in the United States, retirees are eligible to receive reduced Social Security payments by 62, while people 65 and over are eligible to receive some free Medicare benefits if they paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years. The full retirement age is to be increased gradually by 2023 and will be 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later.

As I had argued in a previous column, raising the retirement age can ease the pressure on public and private pension systems, as well as the pressure on the public welfare system. But more important is the fact that it can also improve independence and self-reliance as well as combat loneliness among the elderly, and boost their morale and the sense of self-worth.

When I was a teen and McDonald’s just newly opened in Makati, it was a source of pride for most of our peers to be working at McDonald’s as part-time crew. We would go into the store to eat, but also watch with envy our “working” friends who were earning money for themselves. That was then, when fast foods were populated mainly by teens.

Nowadays, places like McDonald’s are populated mostly by seniors, especially in the mornings. Mall-based stores, particularly on weekdays, rarely have students in them. Students are all in school. But seniors are all over the place, having meals, reading the newspaper, and hanging with other seniors. In this sense, I guess it is only appropriate that McDonald’s have more seniors working in the place.

Kudos again to McDonald’s for taking the initiative to employ particularly seniors and PWDs. These marginalized sectors need all the help they can get. But the question now is whether other cities will follow Manila’s and Pasay’s lead and sign a similar agreement with the chain. And, will other businesses also follow suit? Can we expect more companies and industries to start rehiring retirees?

 

Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.

matort@yahoo.com

Business bureaucracies and regulations

“There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.”

— Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations (1776),
Book V, Chapter II, Part II

Last week, on Nov. 28, I attended a conference on Cutting Red Tape for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) organized by the AIM Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) held at Discovery Primea in Makati. A very interesting paper, “Cost of Regulatory Compliance for SMEs in the Philippines: Methodology and Survey Results,” was presented by the authors Jamil Paolo Francisco and Georgina Gonzales.

The authors and their team made a survey and they covered 300 SMEs from Metro Manila, 145 each from Cebu and Davao cities, for a total 590 SMEs, with average employment of 29 for Metro Manila, and 18 for Cebu and Davao. The survey was done from August to October this year.

The study had some interesting or troubling results. I summarize many charts and sub-topics into a table which accompanies this column.

The study made the following Summary from their survey results:

• SMEs find regulatory compliance, on average, moderately burdensome and they consider compliance as a concern as soon as the business is being established.

• Tax and local government regulations are perceived as most burdensome, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and local government units (LGUs) as most difficult to deal with.

• On average, SMEs spent 30 hours to comply with regulations, about a third of which was spent on tax compliance.

• The burdens on SMEs are more on time and effort, so to save time and effort, almost a fifth of SMEs surveyed reported making informal payments of an average of 2% of their total expenses.

• When it comes to monetary costs, businesses spend around 17% of their total expenses for regulatory compliance and 20% for tax requirements. Figures include both direct and indirect payments such as salaries, transportation, supplies, etc.

There, Adam Smith’s words from some 243 years ago are still spot on.

Bureaucracies in SMEs can expand as companies become large. Take the case of transport network companies (TNCs). Recently, PBA Partylist Jericho Nograles unleashed a political attack on one private company, saying that “Grab owes government P15 billion in fines for overcharging 3 million riders.”

Again, the term “overcharging.” When people fly business class or first class instead of economy class, they do so voluntarily and pay for the ticket, do not cry about being over-charged. When people watch a concert or sports game with a ringside ticket instead of lower box or upper box, they just pay and do not cry that they are being over-charged.

So when people take an expensive ride, the fare they already know before clicking “Book a ride,” they just pay for reasons of safety and comfort and do not cry about being over-charged. Otherwise they can take the ordinary taxi, or motorcycle taxi, or an aircon van, jeepney, bus, the MRT/LRT and save money. A person carrying six or seven-digits in cash, or important documents, or rushing to the airport and paying P500 for a safe TNC ride instead of P300 for a regular taxi or P150 for a motorcycle taxi will not cry that they are being over-charged. People decide what rides are important for them, not politicians or bureaucrats.

So when politicians like Mr. Nograles charge billions of pesos that a private company “owes” to the passengers they have safely and comfortably served, there is clear malice.

The more political harassment from politicians, the more restrictions from agencies like the LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) on expanding the supply of accredited cars or players, then the more public suffering via long waiting time for the few accredited cars, or shorter waiting times but more expensive rides.

Can new government regulations like the Anti-Red Tape Act address problems that government agencies themselves created? Perhaps yes.

Methinks that one lasting solution is to limit government people from staying in government, for a maximum of 20 years combined work in local and national agencies, appointed and elected positions. Many government officials intend to be regulators and politicians until retirement, meaning the hardships they create and implement will not apply to them and their friends. If they know that their taxation, regulations, and prohibitions will apply to them someday, they will think two times or ten times about crafting legislation for irrational taxation and regulations.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Crab mentality

The performance evaluation has been the traditional way a superior gives feedback to staff. But as I have observed, this evaluation sheet is not the true representation of one’s work. It is either very subjective or objective depending on the situation or on the superior’s opinion. Yes, it is not only a tool to evaluate one’s performance but also a measure of one’s motivation and productivity. However, I find it odd that rank and file employees, even if they worked hard and persevered, may not get the credit for their work. We want to believe that our work speaks for itself. But then, in reality, someone else gets the credit.

Often times, we attribute such behavior to crab mentality. One of the definitions of crab mentality in Definitions.net is that it is a phrase popular among Filipinos, and was first coined by writer Ninotchka Rosca, in reference to the phrase “crabs in a bucket.” It describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless “king of the hill” competition which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is that members of a group will attempt to “pull down” any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.

Crab mentality is common not just in the workplace, but in our everyday lives. There is always someone who treats us as competition and would not like to see us grow in our craft.

But inspite of that, we all should be motivated to improve our performance in the workplace. We should try our best to improve ourselves professionally, to move up. While there are factors that hinder us from performing well, including lack of growth, lack of benefits, low compensation, cultural differences, and poor working environment, I believe that it is in the person’s mindset if these factors will indeed hinder them from moving forward.

I think that a poor working environment, for example, a very bureaucratic or seniority-based system, is the biggest factor that hinders growth. How can we, the millennials, prove that we can also have an idea or a message that can contribute to the growth of our organizations? Often, if we lack seniority, it is very difficult to get our opinions heard. As a result, the traditional performance evaluation with its very general criteria to evaluate the quality of work, does not reflect the value or the results of our work.

My friends reflect the same sentiments. But they don’t think that there is a quick solution to this problem. Senior staff come first, they have more experiences and knowledge about the work. Traditional top-down management styles reinforce this fact in the way decisions are made.

However, if a bottom-up management style is adopted, it can challenge the younger staff to share and collaborate, resulting in higher employee involvement and increased job satisfaction. Because employees are treated as partners who are involved in decision making, their motivation and commitment is increased, ensuring their contribution to the organization’s well-being. Overall, employees feel appreciated.

Management can initiate this bottom-up approach irrespective of organizational size. Being given a voice and being respected for their opinions is important to every employee. It is an important step to eliminating crab mentality. When people are treated fairly, instead of pulling others down, they will, instead, lift each other up, ensuring not just growth for the employees but allowing for the flourishing of the entire organization.

 

Noellen DelosSantos is an MBA student at De La Salle University’s Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business. This essay was written as part of the requirement in her Strategic Human Resource Management class.

noellen_delossantos@dlsu.edu.ph

This brewing habit

By Tony Samson

Rising coffee consumption and the proliferation of coffee shops have little to do with nutrition or the alleviation of hunger. Coffee is seldom the main course, even when accompanied by chocolate chip cookies.

What brings people to coffee shops? And why do they stay longer there than in restaurants where they don’t tarry after finishing a meal?

An unpublished survey whose validity we cannot vouch for examines the behavior patterns and inclinations of coffee drinkers and provides insights into the human psyche and its ties with the bitter brew.

Most respondents (62%) state that lunch is usually over too fast and needs to be extended to coffee to prolong a meeting where business is not necessarily discussed since this part is already done before soup is served. The invitation to move to a coffee shop offers the advantage of allowing certain parties to go back to the office. Of the sample that extends the lunch meeting this way, over half (51%) convince the targeted counter-party to take coffee and dessert in another place within walking distance from the lunch venue.

The intent in this reduction of the attendees to just a couple and moving to another venue becomes clear as a non-related agendum is proposed with the coffee mate, hence the expression — Do you want to have coffee? This invitation for sharing a brew has Freudian overtones as coffee is considered both a stimulant and a diuretic. All coffee places are therefore near toilets or have one in the premises which is usually open to all gender classifications, though not at the same time.

Coffee by itself is a drink that is bitter which later describes how a relationship turns, even when sweeteners such as doughnuts are added to the mix. In most of these bonding coffee moments, the couple are work mates and seldom have coffee together in the office. Seventy-one percent of such pairings have a ready template for text messages: Do you want another cup?

What about solo coffee drinkers? This significant segment of the “true brew” accounts for 17% of the sample. It is useless to check if these percentages add up to 100% even with a margin of error of plus or minus 3%, since the categories sometimes overlap. It is possible that certain coffee couples are reduced to becoming solos with either a late cancellation (sorry, I am switching to tea) or even a walkout, usually by the female. (I’m not comfortable with the way you look at me when you sip your coffee, especially the way you hold the stirrer.)

As for determined soloists, 42% camp out at a table in the coffeeshop, working on their notebooks or phones. They choose a location near an electric plug. Most (53%) use the coffee place with its available wi-fi as an office where they answer e-mails and send out job applications. Their average stay in the shop is two hours and 13 minutes. Their orders are usually calibrated to the minimum amount needed for wi-fi access, consisting of plain coffee (small) and a bagel or corned beef croissant. These food items serve as props to show that they are paying customers. They avoid locking eyes with the plate clearers.

A minority of soloists (12%) emulate coffee drinkers who merely want to sit back and relax like those who sip coffee at the Champs Elysees in Paris. They sit outside the air-conditioned store where human traffic is higher. They observe the ebb and flow of varied characters as they meditate on the drug menace (26%), safety of bonds (12%), and the keto diet (3%).

Most male solo drinkers not busy with computers are just watching out for svelte ladies in short skirts, and below the age of 30. Many of them (38%) are retired and unemployed and easily mistaken for predatory old men, who may or may not be morally upright. There’s nothing wrong with longevity, except for the absence of appointments.

Coffee is ritualistic more than nutritional, though the brew is thought to have medicinal properties to prevent throat cancer but possibly harmful to pregnant women as the unborn babies may be affected by the brew’s attribute of preventing drowsiness and stimulating alertness. (Stop kicking.)

The brewing habit may move back to the home… as the traffic gets worse.

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Ayala Malls and MRM//McCann awakens amazing in small moments

The “Small Moments” campaign of Ayala Malls produced by MRM//McCann is a brave material. The whole set is taped on miniature-scale models of the Ayala Malls making it an adventure visual eye candy.

The campaign launches the newest tagline of Ayala Malls: “Awaken Amazing.” It conveys that small moments do not necessarily equate to insignificance but it has all the potential to be extraordinary and amazing. The work, while brave and fresh, also follows in the footsteps of Ayala Malls’ history of beautiful visual campaigns set against timeless music, dating back to their “Waters of March” piece.

“Ayala Malls’ Awaken Amazing campaign is an invitation to everyone, encouraging them to rediscover how small moments can make life amazing. The kind that one can only experience within the world of Ayala Malls.” Shares Eunice Velasco, Ayala Malls Marketing Director. “This charming film hopes to bring these moments to life in a fresh new way.”

This world-class material was directed by Joel Limchoc. Each miniature that went into individual scenarios were brilliantly crafted and shot by the Cirkus New Zealand team. The song, “God Only Knows” by the beach boys was rendered beautifully by Hit Productions.

“More than anything, we wanted to capture the innocence of simple situations,” mentions Film Pabrika director Joel Limchoc. “We opted for simple snippets of life that represent joy in its magical realism form. By using miniatures, we eliminated variables otherwise present in usual spots and stripped them down to their most basic message.”

MRM//McCann is known to simplify the complex but still standing out from what is usual. Manny Fernando, MRM//McCann Managing Director shares, “The team was really excited working on this new campaign. We had to ensure that the image of an established brand like Ayala Malls can be seen in a very refreshing way. Our client was brave in allowing us to do a different story telling which aims to connect to its audiences. This is a start of a new way to experience the brand moving forward. There is more to come as we roll out the efforts in the next few months.”

Watch the video here:

 

The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck: spreading joyful mornings to Filipinos

Nutella®, The Original Hazelnut Spread®, is going to new lengths to inspire as many Filipinos as possible to enjoy Nutella in new creative ways in the morning.

The unique taste of Nutella – made from the highest quality ingredients is a perfect complement to bread.

With the Christmas season rapidly approaching, there is exciting news for the Filipino food enthusiast. The globally popular hazelnut spread, Nutella, is bringing inspiration to the breakfast experience of Pinoys with The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck.

The All Day Breakfast Truck will introduce delicious ways to incorporate this delicious product with local foods. In Europe, Nutella is enjoyed with French croissants, in the U.S. and Australia it’s spread on waffles and pancakes, and now it’s arrived here in the Philippines! This will be the first stop in the food truck’s Southeast Asian tour, and the good news is that our very own pandesal perfectly complements the taste of Nutella.

“Our mission is to inspire Filipino families to start their day happy with a bit of taste of Nutella”. We see a lot of growth potential here in the Philippines, because of the growing breakfast culture among Filipinos. There’s heightened enthusiasm and appreciation about the fusion of global and local flavors so we see an opportunity to become a part of it,” comments Cheryl Que, Cluster Brand Head of Nutella.

“We are happy to be present here in the Philippines and aim to become a part of the delightful Filipino All-Day breakfast culture. Our products are present and sold in more than 160 countries and most of them, like Nutella, have become part of the collective memory and lifestyles of many countries where they are truly loved and often considered as cultural icons” adds Fabrizio Barbin, Ferrero Sales Manager.

The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck provides a unique experience to people from the moment they step into the space. Visitors get to choose from a variety of all-day breakfast menu items designed to take their taste experience to new and delicious heights.

The whole family will enjoy putting together fun breakfast creations and can discover how Nutella can help make a breakfast into something exciting and memorable. Adding a little something new to traditional breads across the globe is a great way to reinvent breakfast and making meals tasty and exciting is what Nutella is all about.

The best thing about the arrival of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck is the ability to take fun snapshots while enjoying the food. Snap a photo of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck or the food, upload it on your instagram, include the hashtag #nutellaPH and tag @NutellaSEA to be in with a chance of snagging some cool Nutella items.

The Food truck will make its exclusive and limited appearance in Metro Manila at a series of different Bazaars, Valle Verde Christmas Bazaar at Valle Verde 1 on December 7-8 and Minkle Bazaar at The Grove on December 14-15. To follow the truck’s journey and updates, follow Nutella on Instagram @NutellaSEA and like the Facebook page – http://www.nutella.com or NutellaPH.

 

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