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Meralco settles fines, plans P200-M discount to poor customers in Oct.

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has settled its fines for allegedly breaching billing directives from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), while it plans to cover the distribution charges of its poor customers in October.

In the last week of August, the regulator imposed a P19-million fine on the utility giant for supposedly failing to clearly communicate to customers their bills during the height of the strict lockdown and for breaking its compliance with the mandated installment payment scheme.

The said fine “was already settled last Friday as a gesture of goodwill, with a short manifestation that the amount should be less, considering ERC’s guidelines,” Meralco Utility Economics Head Lawrence S. Fernandez told BusinessWorld on Wednesday.

Meralco was also directed to shoulder around P200 million in distribution, supply, and metering charges of its more than two million poor customers.

“On the implementation of zero distribution charges for lifeline customers, the target is to reflect this in October bills,” Mr. Fernandez said.

The power company incurred a penalty of P100,000 each day from May 5 to July 9, before it issued personalized letters explaining to customers their electricity bills between March and June, according to the ERC. The commission has based its decision on its evaluation of various billing statements.

“Our advisories were issued to aid the electricity consumers in light of the ongoing pandemic. It was supposed to provide a respite from the various financial woes of the consumers,” ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera said in a previous statement.

The issue stemmed from bill shocks reported in May when the electricity distributor started delivering consumer bills, which were based on estimates. Later, all power providers in the country were tasked to charge households based on actual electricity usage during the lockdown months.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Adam J. Ang

When times are hard, bake some cake

By Joseph L. Garcia Reporter

THE COMMUNITY quarantine has left us all to bake: we’ve all been under pressure and heat either to rise, fall, or settle. Two twenty-somethings have taken up the challenge and instead of being baked themselves, went on to bake cake.

DONE WELL BAKERY
The name Miro Capili would ring a bell in literary and development circles: Before she turned 18, Ms. Capili already had three Palanca Awards under her belt. Today, she works from home as a Data and Analytics Manager for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva — also, she bakes. Ms. Capili is behind Done Well Bakery (@donewell.ph on Facebook), a home-based operation specializing in those trendy Burnt Basque Cheesecakes.

When one says something is trendy, it’s easy to dismiss the product as one of many; mindlessly following another that has come before. Not quite the case for this one. BusinessWorld ordered the Dark Chocolate Chip Burnt Cheesecake (6” for P975) — and it was worth every penny, and then some. For starters, we asked Ms. Capili how long it would last in the fridge, and she said that it would last about a week, and doubts that it would not all be eaten long before that. We proved her wrong on both counts: the cake was so dense that a slice a day proved more than sufficient, and it lasted in the fridge beyond a week (though for safety concerns, we would not recommend this). However, Ms. Capili did say that the cake would turn better as it would age. “Pfah,” this reporter would say, but this time, it was her turn to put egg (or in this case, cake) on our face.

On the first day after receiving the cake, Ms. Capili told us to eat a slice. Rich enough, and the cheese portion, we thought, lacked drive, and was easily subsumed by the dark chocolate chips. By the third day, following her advice — well, the cheese portion had come into its own, becoming more than a backdrop for the chocolate, and becoming its true partner. In transferring their flavors to each other with maturity, it achieved a taste both foreign and familiar, one I would liken to a cup of warm Ovaltine, a familiar childhood flavor given sophistication and a new texture. This was a cake that one should get to know, approach with some care, and one that rewards for the effort of waiting.

“I guess that’s a happy accident, that our cheesecake gets better as it ages in the fridge. We only have chemistry to thank for that. Especially with our dark chocolate chip version, the flavors and textures develop over a week. The cake peaks after four or five days. There are so many factors you can’t control with baking, and in this case, that’s to our advantage. But who knows, maybe there is a parallel to be drawn here with work, skill, and craftsmanship. It certainly helps to start with a great product, but incubation gives rise to texture, new ideas, and the discipline to know when to stop. Experience is the currency of skill,” she said in an e-mail after we raved about the product to her.

PRESSURE MAKES THE CAKE
Pressure builds character, and the conditions under which Ms. Capili’s cake was made might prove this. “‘Beaten up, is a good way to put it, in the sense that making a Basque burnt cheesecake is more forgiving to make than a classic baked cheesecake,” she said in an e-mail. “No water bath needed, and you can throw everything into a smoothie blender (though I don’t recommend it). I think a burnt cheesecake is the tangible expression of my personality and approach to baking. I’m a sucker for classics and things that work — things that appear, at first glance, to be unimprovable. Chocolate chip cookies, focaccia, laing, kulawo. And I’m also pensive, introspective to the point of neurosis. I take one bite and think, how can we rework this without messing with the blueprint? Marginally, of course, I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel. So you take something that has worked for decades — a baked cheesecake — and make it less cloying, then nearly burn the top to introduce caramelization and flavor compounds that can only come from high temperatures. You get an entirely new cake that’s easy to understand but thoughtfully layered, complex. The logic of the blueprint is intact but the condition of possibility is alive and throbbing. It’s a nearly perfect invention.”

The chocolate chips that Ms. Capili uses are sourced locally, from Auro, a homegrown brand. Explaining her choice, she said, “The Philippines has some of the best chocolate in the world, and I’m glad more people are noticing. I choose local ingredients and packaging materials whenever I can to support local businesses during this tough time. But even if it weren’t from a local brand, I’d still use the single origin chocolate we use. It’s so good it makes me dizzy. The toasty, winey notes introduce a heady depth to the burnt top that I didn’t even think was necessary. It was a quick favorite among customers, so the advantage was clear taste-wise. But most importantly, I believe in this local company’s business model. They upskill farmers and cooperatives in chocolate production and provide a sustainable market for their products. We’re also developing a line specifically using local flavors, so I’m very excited about that.”

During the quarantine, people took up gardening, or else cooking, or sewing. Asked why she chose to bake, she said, “Baking cheesecakes wasn’t a conscious decision just as starting a business wasn’t a conscious decision. I have a full-time job and was preoccupied. I baked my tita (aunt) a burnt cheesecake for her birthday and posted it on Instagram stories. Then my best friend asked how much I’d charge for a cheesecake for her boyfriend’s birthday, and I posted again, and more people asked. I focused on these cheesecakes because this is my favorite type of cheesecake, and I got obsessed with getting it right. It was an intellectually satisfying process but also an excuse to eat my favorite thing over and over,” she said.

“I started this business at a point in my life where I’m quite secure about who I am, what I want to contribute, and whether any of it matters. I think that’s important in business, knowing what you want. It certainly enabled me to stand by my product, choosing which constructive comments to implement and which parts were nonnegotiable. My work in the development sector also taught me to be creative with solutions and constantly innovating, which is useful to weather setbacks in business especially when ingredients aren’t available due to the lockdowns. And growing up, I loved experimenting with flavors, but based on a certain blueprint of how certain flavors and chemical interactions work with each other. It couldn’t be like ketchup and mustard ice cream — it still had to have some internal logic to it. I also disliked following recipes, opting instead to understand the general proportions of ingredients and why they were mixed in a certain arrangement. All of this to say, it took me all but 27 years to develop the creativity, maturity, and sensibility that I (hope to) bring to Done Well now,” she continued.

For many who have been affected by the pandemic, life freezes. One might find it hard to slog through the days because of a death of a loved one, or the death of a way of life. As a consequence, a lot of people picked up new skills or polished old ones. “I’m amazed by how resilient and enterprising people have been. This could be our generation’s Great Depression,” said Ms. Capili. “Only this time, you have social media as a digital marketplace and a closely-knit network of relationships as a market. I’m not saying it’s easier to succeed in business in this climate, but there are certain advantages given where we are in mainstream technology. People my age have been filling their homes with plants, knitting, baking for fun or profit, selling all sorts of things. There’s a lot of hopelessness around, but we have insisted on hope.”

Ms. Capili could have chosen to do a million other things to do during quarantine, but she chose to bake. “Baking gave me a sense of control during an intractable situation. COVID is our new leviathan and it crippled me, the mental load. My job requires me to handle global operations data on humanitarian aid. A few months ago, there was an outbreak in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. One million people I had to worry about in addition to the problems we had in our country. That night, I lay in bed, paralyzed by the growing sense that nothing could be done. A friend said it’s fine to feel that way, it means you’re human, but also don’t run your life into the ground over something you can’t control. Well, what could I control? My work, though I’m sure we help many, didn’t feel enough. Donating to frontliners and the needy didn’t feel enough. I realized what I needed wasn’t something to do, but an alternate headspace. Baking gave me that. I could disappear for hours in the realm of heat and salt and sweet, standing over my mixer and tweaking the batter. It appealed to a primal zone of the body, all that tasting, but also required a lot of thinking, or no thinking at all. The stakes were close to zero.”

Asked what baking did for her, she said, “It was the little piece of earth that was mine.”

FLUFFED
With a glossy surface that promised so much, it was easy to fall in love with the chocolate cake from Fluffed (P550 for an 8”x8” square). It was easy to understand: just a quick chocolate ganache over some dark chocolate cake. The dark chocolate ganache made one’s tongue move forward in anticipation, due to that rich, smoky cocoa taste. The friend who recommended Fluffed to me said it would take about three days to finish the cake — it’s been about a week, but there are still two slices in my fridge. The chocolate crinkles meanwhile, were aggressive. Dusted in powdered sugar, a bite bled beautifully dark gooey chocolate, a pleasant and messy surprise that makes one smile.

“The ingredients are pretty straightforward as for chocolate cakes. It really does not differ much, so we have to leverage on the quality of the ingredients used. We use Dutch processed cocoa powder and 100% dark Belgian chocolate. We chose these ingredients because it delivers the kind of rich flavor we are looking for,” said Gail Royeca in an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld. Asked why she concentrated on chocolate-based products, she said, “It started as a craving and most of the time when I buy myself chocolate cakes, it is often too sweet for my liking. So I decided to bake my own as I can control the kind and the amount of sugar I put.”

Of course, her’s isn’t the only chocolate cake on the market, and one can name several dozen at the drop of a hat. What sets her’s apart is the flavor. “Our goal is to make sure consumers enjoy the rich chocolate flavor in less sugar and less guilt. We believe that despite the larger market and competition, it is what makes us stand out. Although we will not stop with chocolates, we are exploring more options for sophisticated flavors that can also be our staple.”

We asked Ms. Royeca how the pandemic has changed hers, but also how an old life influenced the new: “I was a Business Consultant, and the nature of my job was to assess business concerns and offer solutions, primarily streamlining business operations. I finished my contract just few days ago, but I would say that it has been incredibly fulfilling and insightful. With this, I have a better understanding on SME business operations which I can apply to implement initiatives and activities to make our business better.”

As with Ms. Capili, we also asked Ms. Royeca about her thoughts about young people like her improving on old skills, or picking up new ones. “Before the pandemic struck, I have been giving myself a lot of excuses as to why I [could not] develop or practice new skills even if I wanted to, and [had] the most popular excuses of all: ‘I have no time’ or ‘I am too busy.’ When the pandemic prompted a lockdown, I realized the amount of time in my hands. I remember asking myself, ‘So what’s your excuse now?’ It’s when I decided to take advantage of it to develop and acquire new skills.”

She added, “I would like to emphasize that time is the most valuable commodity. Decide to use it well and decide not to waste it. Every single day is a decision whether we will slouch on the couch or get up and do something significant that can make up for our goals, dreams and future.”

Order from Done Well Bakery at https://web.facebook.com/donewell.ph/ on Facebook, and from Fluffed at https://web.facebook.com/Fluffeddesserts.ph/.

Ayala Land’s AREIT buys office building in Cebu

AREIT, Inc., the real estate investment trust (REIT) of Ayala Land, Inc., has bought an office building in Cebu City using P1.45 billion from the proceeds of its recent public offering.

In disclosures to the exchange on Wednesday, AREIT said it signed a deed of sale with ALO Prime Realty Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayala Land, to buy Teleperformance Cebu.

Teleperformance Cebu is a 12-story building located at the Cebu I.T. Park, Cebu City. It has a total gross leasable area of 18,092 square meters that is 100% occupied.

“This maiden acquisition will increase AREIT’s dividend yield consistent with its growth strategy of acquiring prime real estate assets with stable occupancy,” it said.

AREIT is paying quarterly dividends starting this month, where the payout should be at least 90% of its income.

With the acquisition of Teleperformance Cebu, AREIT’s portfolio has expanded to a gross leasable area of 172,000 square meters from nearly 153,000 square meters before the deal.

“The acquisition in Cebu is strategic for AREIT,” Carol T. Mills, president of AREIT, said in the statement. “Most BPOs (business process outsourcing firms) in Metro Manila have expansion sites and operations in Cebu because of its strong talent pool. Like in Metro Manila, Ayala Land has a significant share in the Cebu office market.”

AREIT has paid an initial P290 million to ALO Prime Realty upon the signing of the deed of absolute sale. The balance of P1.16 billion will be paid after the transfer of the building’s Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) registration to AREIT.

AREIT did a P12.33-billion initial public offering in August to mark the country’s first REIT offering. Prior to the acquisition of Teleperformance Cebu, AREIT’s portfolio consisted of three Makati-based office buildings: 24-story commercial building Solaris One, two-tower mixed-use development Ayala North Exchange and five-story commercial office McKinley Exchange.

As required by REIT guidelines, proceeds from a REIT offering must be reinvested back to the country within a year. AREIT said then it is eyeing other real estate properties in Metro Manila and key regions.

Shares in AREIT at the stock exchange climbed five centavos or 0.19% to P25.70 each on Wednesday. — Denise A. Valdez

Gaita Fores cooks Hokkien Mee and Chicken Claypot Rice as the 27th Singapore Food Festival goes virtual

IF 2020 were a normal year, the 27th Singapore Food Festival would have been like it has always been: a grand celebration of food and culture featuring many food and beverage partners showing off their dishes in front of a live audience. But 2020 is not a normal year and thus the grand food festival has migrated to a safer space — online — but still continued to dish out virtual food tours, live masterclasses, chef collaborations, food bundles, and limited edition food merchandise across two weekends in August.

“As we took the Singapore Food Festival online and virtual for the first time, we wanted foodies the world over to rediscover Singaporean cuisine from wherever they may be,” Ruby Liu, Singapore Tourism Board’s Philippines area director, said in a release before adding that this year’s programming had “something for everyone.”

While the festival is over — it ran from Aug. 21 to 23 and Aug. 28 to 30 — the various masterclasses and virtual tours can still be accessed through the festival’s website, https://www.singaporefoodfestival.sg/.

One of the masterclasses featured the Philippines’ own Margarita “Gaita” Fores and Singaporean chef Ming Tan as they prepared Hokkien Mee, a noodle dish using prawn stock; and Chicken Claypot Rice, a well-loved rice casserole, live from their respective countries.

Ms. Forés, ambassador of Filipino cuisine who was voted Asia’s Best Female Chef for 2016, is the owner of restaurants Cibo, Lusso, and Grace Park, and caterer Cibo di Marghi. Chef Ming Tan, meanwhile, has over 10 years in the hospitality industry and is presently the managing partner of the Slake Collective which includes homegrown brands like KIAP and Tokidon, and is as well the consultant chef for JAM at Siri House, and is the part of Channel News Asia’s top-rating series For Food’s Sake.

The masterclass, called “2Fast, 2Delicious,” showed off Slake Collective’s Damn Easy Hokkien Mee and On-the-Spot Claypot Chicken food kits and used these to make the dishes without all the fuss in 15 minutes — but of course, each chef added their own flair to elevate the experience. (View the masterclass at https://www.singaporefoodfestival.sg/virtual-cook-along.)

Ms. Fores, for her Hokkien Mee dish, added pork belly, chicharon (pork cracklings, crispy fish, river prawn, and aligue (crab fat) for that tangy Filipino touch, while for her Claypot rice, she added Filipino chorizo for a “distinct and delectable taste,” according to a press release.

Mr. Tan’s take on Hokkien Mee featured the Filipino native lime calamansi, and added blow-torched, soy-marinated pork shabu with crispy fish. For his Clay pot rice, he added goose liver sausage, lap cheong (a type of Chinese sausage), and aged chai poh (preserved radish).

“Filipino cuisine, like Singaporean cuisine, enjoys strong flavours and we like our sour things too,” Mr. Tan noted about the similarities between Filipino and Singaporean cuisines before adding that the two cultures “have similar taste preferences, use similar ingredients like herbs and spices.”

And Ms. Fores agrees as she said “the similarities are more evident with food with strong Malay influences from the South of the Philippines like curries and rendangs,” and that “the Chinese slant in Singaporean dishes is something you can find in both countries.”

GIR climbs to fresh record at end-August

THE COUNTRY’S dollar reserves hit a new record at end-August on the back of gains from the central bank’s investments abroad.

Gross international reserves (GIR) rose by 15% to $98.95 billion as of August from $86.03 billion a year earlier, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Wednesday showed. GIR also climbed by 0.36% from the $98.6 billion logged at end-July.

The end-August tally is already above the central bank’s $90-billion projection for this year. BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno last week said the country’s dollar reserves could go beyond $100 billion by year-end.

Ample foreign exchange buffers protect the country from market volatility and ensure the country can pay its debts in the event of an economic downturn.

“The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected inflows mainly from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad,” the BSP said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the rise was partially offset by foreign currency withdrawals use to pay debt obligations of the national government as well as revaluation losses from the central bank’s gold holdings amid a decrease in prices of the metal.

The BSP said the end-August tally is equivalent to nine months of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

It is also about 7.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.8 times based on residual maturity.

Broken down, gold reserves stood at $12.039 billion, 50.19% more than the $8.015 billion seen a year ago but down 4.41% from the $12.595 billion logged as of July.

Gains from investments abroad, which made up the bulk of the reserves, jumped 12.1% year on year to $82.446 billion from $73.522 billion and by 1.56% from the $81.177 billion logged the month before.

On the other hand, foreign currency deposits dropped by 9.27% to $2.505 billion from $2.761 billion in the same period last year. It also decreased by 12.62% from the end-end-July level of $2.867 billion.

The country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by 33.8% to $753.7 million from $563.3 million a year ago and by 0.41% from $750.6 million the prior month.

Special drawing rights — or the money the Philippines can tap from the IMF — stood at $1.209 billion, 3.51% higher than the $1.168 billion seen a year ago and up a tad from the end-July’ level of $1.168 billion.

The continued rise in the country’s dollar reserves will help boost the peso, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.

“Stronger recovery of OFW remittances may also contribute to higher GIR to uncharted highs in the coming months,” Mr. Ricafort added.

Cash remittances rose 7.8% year on year to a seven-month high of $2.783 billion in July, mainly fuelled by inflows from land-based overseas Filipino workers. However, the seven-month level of $16.802 billion was still 2.4% lower year on year.

The BSP expects a 5% decline in cash remittances this year due to the coronavirus crisis. — L.W.T. Noble

Cebu Pacific, Axa to offer ‘non-travel’ insurance 

BUDGET CARRIER Cebu Pacific and insurance company Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp. have partnered to offer non-travel insurance products.

“The lifestyle insurance packages are available for everyone. People won’t need to have a Cebu Pacific flight scheduled in order to purchase an insurance product,”  Candice A. Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and customer experience, told BusinessWorld in a phone message on Wednesday.

The non-travel insurance products can be viewed by anyone on Cebu Pacific’s official website, and he or she will be redirected to AXA’s website for fulfillment of purchase.

“Starting September 8, Cebu Pacific is launching the CEB Health Protect which provides coverage for top three critical conditions, namely cancer, stroke, and heart attack,” the low-cost airline said in a statement.

It also said it provides insurance benefits of up to P1 million, “allowing families to receive up to 20% coverage for nine minor critical conditions.”

“Families and individuals can tailor fit the insurance coverage according to their personal needs and budget, with coverage available for as low as P535 monthly, along with flexible payment terms of up to 20 years,” the airline added.

Cebu Pacific likewise said it will be launching more lifestyle insurance packages in the coming months.

“Our passengers have always been at the heart of our business and now more than ever, we strive to always give them peace of mind when flying with us. Our commitment to ensuring they have a safe and seamless journey with us does not only cover their actual flight, but even beyond,” Ms. Iyog said.

For her part, AXA Philippines Chief Customer Officer Amor T. Balagtas said: “We are very excited over this partnership because now, we are able to reach out to more Filipinos who will have access to insurance and financial services.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Apple rolls out virtual fitness service, subscription bundle

APPLE INC. rolled out a new virtual fitness service and a bundle of all its subscriptions, Apple One, focusing a holiday-season product launch on services that are the backbone of Apple’s growth strategy and that cater to customers working at home during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Apple also introduced a new Apple Watch Series 6 that monitors blood oxygen and will cost $399 and a more basic Apple Watch SE for $279.

But the bevy of incremental updates to existing hardware and subscription price tinkering disappointed investors, with Apple shares closing up 0.2%.

The Apple One bundle will cost $15 per month for an individual plan or $20 per month for a family plan and includes television, music and games. Apple is also offering a bundle for $30 per month that adds news, the fitness service and more storage.

“It’s a lot more aggressive pricing than I thought,” said Ben Bajarin, principal analyst for consumer market intelligence at research firm Creative Strategies, adding that Apple customers already paying $15 a month for family plans to some of the company’s content servers would likely find the largest bundle a “no-brainer.”

Apple’s top streaming music rival Spotify Technology criticized the bundle, saying Apple was abusing its dominant market position to favor Apple Music. Spotify, which is pursuing an antitrust case against Apple in the European Union and has spoken with US authorities probing the iPhone maker, charges $10 a month for its streaming service that competes with Apple but will not be eligible for Apple’s bundle.

In a statement responding to Spotify’s criticism, Apple said the bundle was aimed at existing users of its services and that “customers can discover and enjoy alternatives to every one of Apple’s services.”

Apple said both new watches and a new eighth-generation iPad can be pre-ordered starting Tuesday and will be available on Friday. Apple also introduced the Apple Fitness+ service, powered by its watches, that will deliver virtual workouts for $10 per month or $80 per year and be available before the end of the year.

Apple’s fitness service puts it closer to competition with Peloton Interactive Inc., which makes connected exercise gear and sells subscriptions to online fitness classes. Apple said that most of its workouts were designed to be conducted with either no equipment or minimal gear such as a set of dumbbells. Peloton’s workouts typically require either a bike or a treadmill. Shares of Peloton closed up 4%.

The ability of the Apple Watch to monitor blood oxygen seeks to beat a similar feature already available on watches from rival Fitbit Inc., which Alphabet Inc.’s Google is buying for $2.1 billion. Apple said its watch will be able to take absolute blood oxygen measurements on-demand while the user is still, while Fitbit’s devices currently show either variations in blood oxygen levels or a set of measurements taken while the user is sleeping.

Apple also for the first time offered a way to use an Apple Watch without pairing it one-to-one with an iPhone, offering what it calls “Family Setup.”

FASTER IPAD CHIP
Apple added a faster chip to its base model iPad, which it priced at $329 for consumers and $299 for education customers. Apple’s new iPad Air will cost $599 and look more like its iPad Pro models and a new A14 processor chip that Apple says will be the first to use a 5-nanometer chip manufacturing process.

An update of Apple’s biggest seller — the iPhone — is expected to be announced next month after executives have said its launch will be delayed by several weeks because of pandemic-related disruptions.

Apple said flu investigators in Washington state will study heart rate and blood oxygen data from Apple Watch for potential early signs of respiratory conditions like influenza and COVID-19.

Apple shares have soared this year even as the virus has crippled economies around the world, thanks in large part to booming sales of work-from-home items.

Apple shares gave up gains to trade flat on Tuesday after climbing more than 50% for the year, well ahead of the 23% gain for the Nasdaq. Even though Apple stock has fallen from a record high earlier this month, it remains near a $2-trillion stock market valuation. — Reuters

No pandemic can keep The Pen from marking its 44th year

AS THE coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns in the metro slowly ease, certain industries are still tightly restricted, particularly the hotel and restaurant industry. But this can’t keep a good hotel down. The Peninsula Manila is bent on celebrating its 44th year with special promos and menus — and if people can’t come to its popular restaurants to dine on their specialty dishes yet, then the dishes will come to the diners.

The Pen, opened in 1976 in time for the hosting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference in Manila, marks its anniversary until the end of the month by offering some of its most popular dishes at prices that take note of the date its doors first opened — all for takeout and delivery.

The “Our Birthday – Your Birthday” offers include dishes from The Lobby, Spices, and Old Manila; cocktails from Salon de Ning and The Bar; and cakes, breads, French pastries, and packed lunches from the bakery. They will be available for takeout and delivery at The Peninsula Boutique from Sept. 14 to 30.

“We have missed having our guests these past few months. As we celebrate our 44th anniversary on Sept. 14, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude by taking them traipsing down memory lane with our nostalgia-laden signature Peninsula dishes that our talented Food and Beverage team has created just for them,” said The Peninsula Manila General Manager Masahisa Oba in a statement.

To mark the occasion, The Peninsula Boutique’s assorted French pastries, 70% Dark Chocolate Cigar, Coffee Eclair, banana bread, sourdough ciabatta loaf, and a whole lot more are priced at P197.60. Whole cakes, including Truffle Chocolate Cake and Strawberry shortcake are P1,976. Also on the menu are The Lobby favorites like Pancit Luglug and Grilled Schüblig Sausage, Oven-baked Lasagna, Pen US Beef Burger, and Kimchi Fried Rice, and Spices classics like Nasi Goreng and Phad Thai, Murgh Makhani and Salmon Fillet Tikka Masala, among many others, for P444. Old Manila’s Angus Beef Ribeye Steak and Beef or Salmon Wellington are a veritable steal at P1,976 (they come with a choice of one side), while starters like Old Manila’s Nicoise Salad, Salmon Rillettes, and Steak Tartare are available for P444.

And one must have drinks to enjoy with the dishes — so Beverage Manager Rico Deang’s bottled batched Aperol Spritz, Margarita, and Negroni can be enjoyed for P1,976.

Complimentary delivery within Makati City will be extended to guests making a minimum single-receipt purchase of P2,000. For inquiries and orders, call 8887-5747, 8887-2888, e-mail penboutiquepmn@peninsula.com, or do so through PenChat, The Peninsula Manila’s 24-hour e-concierge (https://bit.ly/PenChatFacebook).

Yields on BSP’s term deposits inch down ahead of bond offer

YIELDS ON term deposits auctioned off by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) mostly fell on Wednesday ahead of the central bank’s maiden offering of securities on Friday.

Tenders for the BSP’s term deposit facility (TDF) reached P527.984 billion on Wednesday, well beyond the P350 billion on the auction block. However, it failed to beat last week’s P541.442 billion, which was against P360 billion up for grabs.

Broken down, for the seven-day papers, tenders totaled P212.569 billion yesterday, going beyond the P160 billion auctioned off by the central bank as well as the P197.394 billion in bids logged a week ago.

Accepted yields ranged from 1.785% to 1.89%, a narrower band compared to the 1.7788% to 1.9% recorded on Sept. 9. This caused the one-week paper’s average rate to rise to 1.8377%, inching up by 1.01 basis points (bps) from the 1.8276% seen in the previous auction.

Meanwhile, the 14-day papers attracted bids worth P265.685 billion, higher than the P170 billion on the auction block and the P250.278 billion in tenders logged the previous week for the P160 billion on offer.

Banks asked for yields within the 1.8% to 1.87% range, a slightly lower band compared to the 1.82% to 1.875% seen last week. This brought the average rate of the 14-day papers to 1.846%, down by 0.19 bp from the 1.8479% logged on Sept. 9.

On the other hand, demand for the 28-day papers amounted to P49.73 billion, more than the P20 billion on offer but lower than the P93.77 billion in bids logged for the P50-billion offering a week ago.

Rates for the one-month paper ranged from 1.783% to 1.8522%, a wider band compared to the 1.825% to 1.87% recorded a week ago. This caused the tenor’s average rate to settle at 1.8409%, decreasing by 1.09 bps from the 1.8518% seen last week.

The TDF is currently the central bank’s primary tool to shore up excess liquidity in the financial system to better guide market interest rates.

Yields were mostly lower at yesterday’s auction as investors were looking ahead to the offering of the central bank securities, said Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort.

“The markets are anticipating the BSP’s 28-day debt auction on Friday as this would lead to the phaseout of the 28-day TDF tenor,” Mr. Ricafort said in a text message.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the central bank will auction P20 billion worth of 28-day securities on Friday, marking its first issuance of its own debt papers.

Mr. Diokno added the 28-day term deposits and BSP bills will be offered simultaneously on different days for now but the one-month deposits will soon be phased out.

“The inclusion of BSP securities issuance in the standard monetary operations of the BSP provides an additional instrument for managing liquidity in the financial system and supports the implementation of monetary policy under the interest rate corridor framework,” the BSP said in a statement last week. — L.W.T. Noble

Search for top finance exec returns in November

THE ING-FINEX CFO of the Year Award is coming back in November to mark the 14th year of the annual search for the best chief finance officer, who has now evolved into a dynamic, multifaceted game changer.

“As a strategist and catalyst, the CFO plays a significant role in creating value for the corporation. As steward and operator, the CFO is expected to protect the reputation of the finance function, and that of the company as a whole, with both internal and external stakeholders,” said Jose Jerome Pascual III, president of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), in a statement.

FINEX, the country’s premier organization for finance and business professionals, and Dutch financial giant ING Bank N.V, are behind the CFO of the Year Award to honor today’s top finance executive who needs to fulfill four roles: strategist, catalyst, steward, and operator.

Introduced in 2006, the ING-FINEX CFO of the Year Award has become the most prestigious honor for the country’s finance chiefs with a different theme every year.

“Today, the CFO has become even more critical,” said Domingo C. Go, liaison director of ING-FINEX CFO of the Year Award committee. “That goes not only for the all-encompassing financial function, but also for the critical stewardship of the company’s assets, and to navigate the sea of uncertainty in this time of a pandemic.”

The committee said this year’s theme — “Game-Changing CFO” — refers not only to the awardee’s winning character of being able to make a difference “but also serves as a challenge for the winner to live up to the title in this time of a global crisis when the world, the industry, or the very game itself, has changed.”

FTC prepares possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, source says

US COMPETITION enforcers are preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating Facebook for more than a year over whether the social media giant has harmed competition and could file a case by the end of the year, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the inquiry is confidential. No final decision has been made, the person added.

A lawsuit by the FTC would mark another major escalation by US officials in their campaign against America’s technology giants, which have come under intense scrutiny in Washington over their dominant market positions. The Justice Department is preparing to sue Alphabet Inc.’s Google in a matter of weeks.

Facebook and the FTC declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the agency’s lawsuit preparation. It is standard practice for antitrust enforcers to prepare for litigation as part of an investigation, and filing a lawsuit would require a majority vote of the FTC’s five commissioners.

Technology giants are grappling with sprawling inquiries by federal agencies, Congress, and state attorneys general. The US House antitrust panel is preparing recommendations for reining in the power of tech companies like Facebook after a yearlong investigation of the industry. On Tuesday, a Senate Judiciary panel laid out a case for how Google has used its dominance in search and digital advertising to benefit its products and harm competition.

The FTC opened the Facebook investigation in June 2019 just as it leveled a $5 billion penalty against the company for privacy violations. The probe is focused in part on whether Facebook’s past acquisitions, like its deals for Instagram and WhatsApp, violated antitrust laws. Facebook Chief Executive Office Mark Zuckerberg was questioned last month by FTC officials.

To critics, the Instagram and Whatsapp takeovers allowed Facebook to acquire two smaller companies that could have have emerged as real competitors to the company. Although the FTC investigated and approved both deals, it has the authority to revisit past transactions and go to court to unwind them if it determines they were anticompetitive. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said last year he is prepared to take such action.

At a hearing in July, House lawmakers investigating US tech giants accused Zuckerberg of acquiring smaller companies as a strategy to eliminate competition from rivals. Documents showed Zuckerberg internally discussed how Instagram “could be very disruptive to us.”

He countered that Instagram succeeded because of investments Facebook made after the 2012 acquisition and that it was far from certain that the photo-sharing site would become as big as it is today.

In addition to the FTC, Facebook is facing an antitrust investigation by a nationwide group of attorneys general led by New York’s Letitia James. The states could join any FTC lawsuit against Facebook or pursue their own case against the company. — Bloomberg

Dining In/Out (09/17/20)

The Peninsula marks 44th year with special offers

THE Peninsula Manila is celebrating its 44th birthday from Sept. 14 to 30 with signature dishes at nostalgia-laden prices for takeout and delivery. The hotel is offering a slew of “Our Birthday – Your Birthday” offers at The Peninsula Boutique for those who — despite much of the city sheltering in place — find themselves missing the cuisine of The Lobby, Spices, and Old Manila; cocktails from Salon de Ning and The Bar; and cakes, breads, French pastries, and packed lunches from the bakery that are synonymous with The Peninsula name. They are now available for takeout and delivery at The Peninsula Boutique until Sept. 30. The hotel’s Executive Sous Chef Xavier Castello is offering many of The Pen’s most beloved culinary creations and libations at prices evocative of that day 44 years ago when the iconic Peninsula pages welcomed their first guests through The Lobby’s doors. The Peninsula Boutique’s assorted French pastries, 70% Dark Chocolate Cigar, Coffee Eclair, banana bread, sourdough ciabatta loaf, etc. are priced at P197.60. Also on the menu are The Lobby favourites like Pancit Luglug and Grilled Schüblig Sausage and Spices classics Nasi Goreng and Phad Thai for P444. Old Manila’s Angus Beef Ribeye Steak and Beef or Salmon Wellington are on offer at P1,976.  Beverage Manager Rico Deang’s bottled batched Aperol Spritz, Margarita, and Negroni can be enjoyed for P 1,976. Complimentary delivery within Makati City will be extended to guests making a minimum single-receipt purchase of P2,000. For inquires and orders, call 8887-5747 8887-2888, e-mail penboutiquepmn@peninsula.com or through PenChat, The Peninsula Manila’s 24-hour e-concierge by clicking https://bit.ly/PenChatFacebook.

Greenhills Shopping Center now hosts a weekend market

ORTIGAS Malls has partnered with Barangay Greenhills to bring a weekly Weekend Market at the V-Mall Parking at Greenhills Center. This initiative started on Aug. 22 and is being held every Sunday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Greenhills Weekend Market aims to support small business enterprises (SMEs) during this unpredictable time, as well as to bring household essentials closer to Greenhills’ community. Food such as frozen and fresh seafood, meat and poultry, and vegetables can be found at the market from vendors such as Candy and Ronnie Vegetables, Alvin’s Fish, Eharvest Trading, D&G Fruits, and others. Some familiar vendors are Auntie Annie’s pretzels, Nacho Bravo, The New Albergus’ frozen foods, Hap Chan’s Chinese food, Sabroso’s Lechon, Ramen Nagi’s frozen Japanese food packs and many more. Aside from fresh produce and baked goods, the Weekend Market offers other souvenirs and household items, plus a variety of plants and florals. The arrangement of the stalls at the Weekend Market encourages social distancing to protect shoppers. Greenhills is also implementing thermal scanning as mandated by the IATF. Face masks and face shields are also required upon entry. For more information, visit Greenhills’ Facebook and Instagram pages and subscribe to Ortigas Malls’ newsletter.

Grab Food, Grab Express now operating 24/7

GRABEXPRESS and select merchants on GrabFood resumed their 24-hour operations across Metro Manila starting Sept. 16. The two services will be observing local government’s curfew policies, and will not be delivering liquor beyond curfew hours. The list of participating GrabFood merchant partners who will resume operating 24/7 can be found at  http://grb.to/gf247

September deals and more from Max’s Group

WITH the start of the “‘ber” months, Max’s Group continues to offer diverse dining experiences from its various brands. Max’s offers its fried chicken re-engineered into a juicy, no-frills sandwich that can be assembled at home yourself with the Build-Your-Own-Fried-Chicken set for P839 for takeout and P923 for delivery. From Sept. 16 to 20, customers who buy Yellow Cab’s Large Charlie Chan pasta dish will get a Regular Charlie Chan for an additional P20. Its Free 9” Cheese Pizza + Free Delivery promo is also back from Sept. 21 to 30 for every minimum purchase of P799 worth of Yellow Cab products — available in all Yellow Cab delivery stores nationwide. Pancake House has a new dish: Taco Chips with Baked Dip. For P399, enjoy a combination of crunchy taco chips served with specially-baked dip and taco salsa. Krispy Kreme’s best-selling Signature Coffee now comes iced. Starting at P75, choose from three variants — Iced Classic, Kremey Iced, and Kremey Iced Blend. Then there is the Perfect Together bundle — a combination of Original Glazed Doughnuts and a Brew Box Jr. starting at P599. Chocolate lovers can opt for one 12oz. Hot Chocolate and one Original Glazed for P135. To kick-off the holiday season, Jamba Juice introduces its new #BlendAnywhere frozen products: Live Fruitfully Kits and Superfood Smoothie Tubs.  The Live Fruitfully Kits are frozen fruit mixes that can blend with other ingredients to make the perfect smoothies at home. It comes in daily packs which starts at P300 for five days, and 500g packs which starts at P299. The Superfood Smoothie Tubs (P225 per pint) come in four different flavors: Banana Berry Blush, Creamy Strawberries Wild, PB is a Moo’d, and Mango-A-Go-Go. Meanwhile, Dencio’s celebrates its 30th year by offering free delivery for every minimum order of P1,000 done through Dencio’s website (https://www.dencios.com.ph/) until Oct. 3. This promo is available for all stores including Cloud Kapitloyo and Jupiter (except EDSA Eats). Over at Teriyaki Boy, Teriyaki Boy’s Donburi for 2 lets you enjoy two rice bowls from the following choices: Teriyaki Boy Chicken Tendon, Tonkatsu Tendon, Tori Karaage Tendon, and Teppanyaki Tendon, all for P499. Good things come in twos, especially with Sizzlin’ Steak’s Beef Salpicao Duo. For 499, get two orders of Australian Beef Salpicao served with plain rice and egg. Place orders for these deals and products by calling the delivery hotline 888-79000 or by placing an order via Grab, foodpanda, and LalaFood. You can also use the delivery website https://maxsgroupdelivers.com to place your order and to check out the list of available stores open for dine-in.

Hendrick’s Gin offer limited edition Midsummer Solstice variant

HENDRICK’S Gin launches Hendrick’s Midsummer Solstice, a limited-edition gin that captures the bright, aromatic intensity of a midsummer day. Midsummer Solstice contains an infusion of deeply floral essences that enhance the drink’s existing botanical bouquet: the result is a floral and refreshing gin that blossoms on the palate while remaining unmistakably Hendrick’s. Midsummer Solstice’s fragrant notes include zesty juniper with an initial brightness that melts to reveal hidden undertones of orange blossom and exotic ripeness. For recipes for cocktail mixes using Midsummer Solstice, visit the Hendrick’s Gin website. Meanwhile, Hendrick’s Gin has teamed up with the S&R supermarket chain where Midsummer Floral displays located within the aisles of selected S&R stores. Bring a Hendrick’s Gin Midsummer Solstice Twin Pack home (limited quantities which will be available starting Sept. 21) or search for QR codes hidden within the displays to watch some Midsummer magic come to life. Following Midsummer Solstice, additional new and unique gins will be released, replacing the previous expression and each variant will only be available exclusively during its launch year.  For more information on Midsummer Solstice, visit www.hendricksgin.com

Chocolate, coffee, tea take centerstage in DOT’s KAIN NA! food festival

THE FOUR-DAY KAIN NA! Food and Travel Festival 2020 kicked off on Sept. 15 with chocolate, coffee and tea taking the spotlight. Filipino products highlighted the launch of the virtual festival’s thematic approach in partnership with Ayala Malls. Virtual symposiums during the Sept. 15-18 Food Tourism Exchange will feature some of the most prominent chocolatiers, inspiring coffee entrepreneurs, and new and relaxing tea experiences around the country. One of the key features this year is the “KAIN NA!” Trading Post, the online store featuring Filipino products. The online store will go live at www.kainnastore.com for one month. The online learning modules will offer e-commerce training for food and farm tourism stakeholders and other micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) CTRL+BIZ Reboot Now program with the help of enablers Google, Facebook, Zomato, Eat In, GrabFood, Gcash, Air21, and Lazada. The Food Tourism 101 will feature Margarita Fores, JJ Yulo, Ivan Man Dy, and Michelle Cruz of Klook, who will present share-worthy food tourism experiences from food walks, market tours, foodie hotspots, and other inspiring food tourism experiences. Grab will roll out a Kain Na! tile on the homepage of the Grab app to increase the discoverability of partner merchants. To further promote the project, Guide to the Philippines (link to https://guidetothephilippines.ph/) published an extensive guide on places to try chocolate, coffee, and tea around the country. Zomato will also highlight Kain Na! in their Collections feature.

Conrad Manila launches ‘Meetings To Go’ packages

CONRAD Manila has launched “Meetings To Go,” a pioneering initiative which brings the hotel business meeting experience online and right to its guests’ doorsteps. The Meetings To Go package includes a Signature Takeaway Hotbox meal specially prepared by Executive Chef Daniel Patterson. It also houses an eco-tumbler, handcrafted bamboo utensils, among other stylish innovations that bring virtual meetings closer to home. Event attendees get to enjoy their meals hot and fresh “together online” with their colleagues. Virtual meetings at Conrad Manila are made more convenient with the hotel’s dedicated Events professionals taking care of every detail, high-speed Internet connection and Hilton’s EventReady with CleanStay that highlights elevated cleaning and sanitation best practices. For Meetings To Go inquiries or packages, call 0917-846-2282 or 8833-9999, or e-mail mayeth.gopez@conradhotels.com.

Mooncakes from New World’s Jasmine

THE NEW World Hotel Makati celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncakes from its Jasmine restaurant. The mooncakes are available in four classic flavors: red bean, red lotus, white lotus and five kernel (watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, Terminalia seeds and almonds). Sealed in an elegant tangerine box with gold accents, these make a perfect gift to family and friends. A box of two is priced at P1,088 nett while a box of four is priced at P1,588 nett. Jasmine is offering a 20% discount for bulk orders with a minimum of 30 boxes. Dine-in guests for the restaurant’s dim sum buffet likewise can avail a 30% for a minimum of 10 boxes. Club Epicure members likewise can avail a discount of 15% while supplies last. For more information or to place an order, call Jasmine at New World Makati Hotel at 8811-6888 ext. 3679 or 0917-888-4194. To place orders online, the online form is available at https://tinyurl.com/yy4cbk2u.

Lung Hin sticks to tradition

AT A TIME when new habits are formed and practised, traditions remain treasured. Marco Polo Manila’s award-winning restaurant Lung Hin’s Executive Chinese Chef Ken Leung presents a new line of Hong Kong Chef’s Recommendations and a special selection of dishes for intimate dining groups. Until Oct. 31, guests may look forward to enjoying the featured dishes of Pan-fried minced pork chive dumplings topped with dried Sakura shrimp, Sauteed squid with three-kinds of onion, Steamed garoupa fillet with olive and ginger in soy sauce, and Chilled red bean with coconut milk jelly. This limited selection is available for dine-in only. Dine-in guests may also enjoy a special set menu while overlooking the cityscape in one of Lung Hin’s private dining rooms. For a minimum dining party of five adults, chef Leung presents a seven-course meal which includes the restaurant’s favourites: Deep-fried Japanese oysters in wasabi sauce, Crispy roasted baby duck in black pepper sauce, and Steamed live crab in Chinese wine and egg white served with e-fu noodle. This limited-time promotion is available at P3,888 per person, which includes the use of any of the restaurant’s private dining spaces. Advanced reservation of at least three days is required. For more information about Lung Hin and its ongoing dining promotions, call 7720-7777 or e-mail lunghin.mnl@marcopolohotels.com.   

Newport City holds farmers’ market this weekend

AS PART of Resorts World Manila’s 11th anniversary celebration, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls brings the fifth leg of “Harvest to Goodness” to Newport City this weekend, Sept. 18 to 20. The weekend farmers’ market — a collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DA), non-profit group Resto PH — is offering a wide range of fresh, locally grown produce and lots of other healthy items. There will be premium lowland and highland vegetables straight from the farmers from Benguet, Baguio City, Bulacan, Quezon, and Batangas. Also available at affordable prices will be fruits such as lemons, pineapples, avocados, and lanzones, among others. The weekend market will also feature fresh seafood picks, including Dagupan boneless bangus (milk fish), salmon belly strips, crabs and prawns; fresh dairy products like milk and yogurts; and farm-to-table dishes from the members of Resto PH. Special and exclusive deals from participating hotels, mall merchants, and dining outlets including Hush Puppies, Pacsafe, Sunglass Haven, Hilton and Sheraton will also be offered in pop-up stores at The Plaza in Newport Mall. Guests can opt for cashless payment options powered by PayMaya and contactless transactions. As an added perk, Newport Mall will be offering free parking to guests until Sept. 30. Guests can also shop from home and have their orders delivered via personal shopping service app MyKuya. Cashless personal deliveries for all purchases from participating merchants can also be made via Lalamove and Mr. Speedy with exclusive promo codes (NEWPORTFAVES for Lalamove and NEWPORTVIBE for Mr. Speedy). The Harvest to Goodness farmers’ market is located at 81 Newport Blvd., Newport City, beside Savoy Hotel Manila and across Plaza 66. To ensure everyone’s safety, the weekend market will implement government-mandated health and safety protocols, such as mandatory temperature checks, footwear and hand sanitation, wearing of face masks and face shields, and strict observance of physical distancing.

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