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Chopra, Jonas named People’s best dressed

ACTRESS Priyanka Chopra and her pop star husband Nick Jonas — seen here during the 91st Academy Awards’ Vanity Fair party on Feb. 24 — were named the best dressed of 2019 by People magazine on Wednesday, marking the first time in the celebrity magazine’s history that a couple has shared top style honors. Chopra, 37, a former Miss World who became a star in both Hollywood and Bollywood, and Jonas, 26, topped People’s annual best dressed list in an eclectic slate that included actor Billy Porter and tennis champion Serena Williams along with style-setting veterans such as Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion. “It’s the first time ever that we have had a man or a couple on the Top 10 list, let alone as the best dressed. But it really felt like these two deserved it,” People’s style and beauty director, Andrea Lavinthal, told Reuters. “The combination of the two of them is so exciting to watch. (Jonas) is not exactly someone who just wears a black tuxedo and stands next to her on the red carpet. You can tell that he enjoys fashion as much as she does,” Lavinthal added. Chopra, who became the first Indian to headline a US TV drama series as the star of Quantico, married the younger of the three Jonas Brothers musicians in New Delhi in December 2018, becoming one of the most sought-after celebrity couples in the world. — Reuters

Large banks to show ‘greater resilience’ to risks

THE COUNTRY’S biggest banks will show “greater resilience” despite changing operating conditions compared to their mid-sized peers, Fitch Ratings, Inc. said in a report on Thursday.

According to the debt watcher’s first semester report card on Philippine banks released yesterday, BDO Unibank, Inc., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) are expected to fare better than smaller banks as operating conditions for financial institutions in the country change as they are backed by stronger franchises, generally less aggressive risk appetite and higher profitability.

“Net interest margin (NIM) trends have diverged between the three large Philippine banks — BPI, BDO and Metrobank — and their rated mid-sized peers CBC (China Banking Corp.), PNB (Philippine National Bank) and RCBC (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.). This follows higher domestic interest rates and tighter liquidity conditions over the past year,” the report said.

The report noted that the big three banks saw higher NIMs in the first half compared to their performance in the same period last year, pushing stronger net interest income growth.

In the case of the mid-sized banks however, including China Bank, PNB, RCBC, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), Fitch Ratings observed that their NIMs were generally more compressed during the same period.

“We believe this trend highlights the differences in the banks’ franchises within a highly competitive banking environment, where 46 universal and commercial banks vied for market share as of July 2019.”

“Most banks…reported steady or better net profitability regardless of NIM performance. This was helped in some cases by a rebound in trading gains, which can be volatile,” the debt watcher added.

Fitch said banks faced tighter liquidity in the first semester, with lending rates also expected to have peaked already as the central bank continues to ease monetary policy and amid competition.

“We expect some re-acceleration as public spending picks up, which should ease domestic liquidity conditions. Market interest rates have declined in recent months and gradual cuts to reserve requirements (200 basis points in 2019 so far) should be slightly positive for system liquidity and NIM,” the debt watcher said.

“Banks’ continued shift towards higher-margin SME (small and medium enterprises) and consumer loans should provide a slight tailwind for NIM over the medium term, but this will also come with greater risk,” Fitch added.

Meanwhile, Fitch noted that the default of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines (HHIC-Phil) was a one-off as it had “only a minimal effect on the affected banks’ NPL (nonperforming loan) ratios, aside from RCBC.”

On Jan. 8, the South Korean shipbuilder filed for a corporate rehabilitation before an Olongapo court, leaving some $412 million in outstanding loans from BDO, Metrobank, LANDBANK, BPI and RCBC in limbo.

“Loan quality may be tested by global growth headwinds and higher domestic interest rates in the near term, despite some policy-rate easing in recent months. However, we expect any asset-quality deterioration to be modest as GDP (gross domestic product) growth remains fairly health and less exposed to global trade uncertainties.”

“We expect credit and GDP growth to improve in 2H19 as election-related drags on public spending in 1H19 dissipate. However, the US-China trade dispute poses downside risks with potential implications for asset quality and profitability.”

The report likewise noted that the capital adequacy of Fitch’s rated local banks were better in the first half of the year, thanks to steady internal capital generation and lower loan growth which clocked in at 10% year-on-year as of end-June from a 15% finish in 2018.

“We expect capital ratios to decline gradually as loan growth re-accelerates and outpaces internal capital generation in the medium term,” the ratings agency said in the report.

Meanwhile, Fitch believes local lenders’ asset quality will remain healthy despite the heightened watch on Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), which may affect the property sector.

“Increased scrutiny from the Chinese authorities on offshore gaming operators…may have knock-on effects for domestic property demand,” the debt watcher said, with POGOs cornering about 30% of Manila’s office space from 2017-2018.

“Any impact on banks’ asset quality is likely to be indirect. We understand that most major property developers have placed internal limits on their direct exposure to such operators in light of the potential policy risk,” Fitch said. — L.W.T. Noble

PCC monitors impact of safeguard duty on cement

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is monitoring the impact of the safeguard duty imposed on imported cement on the prices of consumer products, its top official said.

“We are, of course, monitoring the development of the sector,” PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of the launch on Thursday of a preliminary manual for competition assessment of regulations in Makati City.

He declined to discuss further the results of its observation, citing an ongoing case in the commission relating on the cement industry.

“It’s true that the safeguards are supposedly addressing some concerns. The agencies involved with that have that authority, have that mandate. So what is necessary is to ensure that when we have policies like that, that it would not undermine the competitive process and it would not result in high prices for consumers,” he said.

“Of course, we have to take care also of our producers, but we [should] also be very mindful of the effects of such policies on consumers and the overall common good, the public interest,” he added.

Mr. Balisacan was reacting to the imposition of a definitive safeguard duty on cement for three years, which the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced on Tuesday.

The DTI said it had “established that the imposition of the definitive general safeguard measure shall be in the public interest.” It imposed a safeguard duty of P250 per metric tons (MT) or P10 per 40-kilogram (kg) bag for the first year of the implementation to encourage and challenge the local cement industries to be globally competitive.

The amount of safeguard duty is to be reduced for the next two years, P9 per 40-kg bag for the second year and to P8 per 40-kg bag for the third year. A yearly review will be conducted to determine the appropriateness of the safeguard duty.

The DTI said the imposition of a safeguard measure is not expected to cause a shortage of cement in the domestic market considering that the cement manufacturers have sufficient capacity to meet domestic demand.

Mr. Balisacan said there is a need to understand where the high prices were coming from, including “poorly informed regulatory controls” that have prevented the entry of players.

“Price control may not be the best instrument,” he said, adding that opening up the market could be another option.

Sought for comment, Isidro A. Consunji, president and chief executive officer of DMCI Holdings, Inc. said in a text message: “I think the amount is not big and probably tolerable though many do not accept the premise that the cement industry needs it.”

Mr. Consunji is a former president of Philippine Constructors Association, Inc., which counts as members engineering, building, trade and specialty contractors, including construction materials and equipment suppliers and allied organizations.

Other private entities with ongoing construction projects did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the impact of the safeguard duty on their businesses.

“Obviously it’s a concern because when you have an ongoing investigation and there are other government actions that influence the outcome of the investigation, that would be an issue, but I’m not saying now that there is an issue,” Mr. Consunji said.

Mr. Balisacan said the ideal process is to undergo a regulatory impact assessment. He added that such exercise has “good scientific basis” to identify the options, the associated costs and benefits, and the best option that benefit the consumers, producers and the domestic economy.

“It’s okay to protect the industry but we have to do it in such a way that overall efficiency and economy is improved, productivity is advanced and the consumer welfare is not sacrificed,” he said.

He said questions should be raised on whether the granting of safeguards and standards are the appropriate tool to address the objective of promoting the viability of domestic companies and their ability to compete in the global market.

IPO hopeful WeWork adds woman to board, CEO returns $5.9 M

NEW YORK — WeWork owner of The We Company took some steps on Wednesday to burnish its appeal to investors ahead of its initial public offering by adding a woman, Frances Frei, to its all-male board and announcing that its CEO would return a $5.9 million payment for use of the trademarked word “We.”

The moves follow investor criticism of We Company’s IPO filing last month, which revealed extensive and unusual ties between the office space sharing start-up and its controlling shareholder, CEO Adam Neumann, including him being a landlord to the company on some properties.

Corporate governance advocates cautioned the We Company’s latest steps may not be enough to quell concerns about Neumann’s grip on the company, cemented by a multi-class share structure designed to give him operational control.

“These are positive steps,” said David Erickson, a senior fellow and finance lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“The challenge is, from my vantage point, you’ve got a CEO who is going to control decision making that has to date not demonstrated the good judgment that I would expect from the CEO of a public company.”

Frei, a professor of technology and operations management at Harvard Business School, will join WeWork’s board once it completes the IPO, planned for later this month.

The We Company had originally planned to go public with an all-male seven-member board, a practice major investors such as BlackRock Inc. frown upon saying more diverse boards make better decisions.

The We Company also said in an amended filing it will add another director to its board within a year of the IPO, “with a commitment to increasing the board’s gender and ethnic diversity.”

The deal to pay Neumann for use of the “We” trademark came after the decision to rebrand WeWork as the We Company earlier this year.

WeWork, which rents desks to companies and individuals with a focus on start-ups and entrepreneurs, has helped popularize the concept of shared office space. It was valued at $47 billion earlier this year.

Despite the company’s breakneck growth, there are investor concerns over a mismatch between its cash flow and liabilities, given that it rents workspace to clients under short-term contracts, but pays rent for them itself under long-term leases.

New York-based We Company, founded in 2010, saw its revenue double to $1.54 billion in the first half of this year, though its losses were 25% higher during the period than a year earlier, at $900 million. — Reuters

Presumed innocent

John Denver Trending
Directed by Arden Rod Condez

DON’T LET the rather innocuous-sounding title of Arden Rod Condez’s debut feature John Denver Trending fool you: this is a harrowing film, a horror film, entirely plausible yet nightmarish in feel.

It starts with a bit of bullying: John Denver Cabungcal (Jansen Magpusao) is a klutz at a school dance rehearsal, annoying classmates to the point someone depants him on-camera (the rehearsal is being recorded on a laptop); he’s accused of pocketing someone’s iPhone (a pricey commodity in the USA, an even more valuable prize in the Philippines), his backpack taken away from him to look for the stolen good. John Denver snaps; he knocks the snatcher down and beats him, and this last — fateful act — is recorded, posted online, goes viral.

You can see where this is going. Condez’s achievement is to depict the rippling effect of John Denver’s impulsive act of vengeance throughout the town, a collective state of willful insanity strong enough and persistent enough to weary the soul and break the spirit.

Condez complicates matters and partly explains the pile-on by making John Denver unpopular, something of an outcast, hardly an angel. He’s known in school for his quick temper — a classmate posts a picture online on how John Denver bloodied his forehead with a stone; a girl relates how John Denver once stole her lunch. The boy doesn’t deny those accusations, apparently they did happen; but he persists in denying this particular act of theft.

John Denver has no friends, or at least none that stand up for him online, much less in school. His only real defender is his mother Marites (Meryll Soriano) who fights for her son tooth and claw to the school administration, the barangay captain, even the town mayor. Why not? His father, a soldier, has passed away (we see a photo of him in a makeshift shrine); they have each other (and a sister, sitting in the sidelines) and no one else.

And John Denver isn’t exactly cybersavvy, or sophisticated, or financially or intellectually resourceful (the best he can do in reply to online threats and condemnations are threats and condemnations of his own). If, as in the recent case of a high school bullying video posted online, the upper class at least have their wealth to console them, families like John Denver’s have little to none. His mother, aside from earning enough for them to eat, has to service a debt she owes her richer neighbor Mando (poet-playwright Glenn Mas), because of a prank her son once pulled on the man’s carabao — the youth had set off a firecracker and the animal later died of an infection. Was her son really responsible? Who knows? Marites wasn’t in a position to argue. The margin between survival and ruin for the poor is razor-thin, and John Denver has little room to do much of anything — to play, to goof off, to be an ordinary boy.

Nice touch, by the way, Condez naming his protagonist “John Denver” — the kind of faintly cheesy moniker a young woman from a small town would give her child. Helps make the film’s title more memorable, gives much of the dialogue (“John Denver come here!” “John Denver what did you do now?!”) an absurd charm — you keep having to quell the urge to look for the country singer when she calls out his name.

Condez’s staging and direction is clean, the editing (Benjo Ferrer) assembled coherently so that you get the cumulative sense of various fingers busy on various keyboards, bringing about John Denver’s ruin. The cinematography (Rommel Salas) manages to evoke a feeling of encroaching dread every time John Denver walks past the security guard at the gate into school. Like the biblical Daniel walking into the proverbial den, the poor boy doesn’t know what to expect — if people will stare at him or whisper behind his back or someone run past smacking him upside in the head. Maybe worse.

Condez makes the case that cyberbullying is wrong, not necessarily because you might be tormenting an innocent — John Denver has been guilty of past indiscretions — but because the victim has little chance to fight back. Attackers are mostly anonymous, with only a feeble means of recourse (I’ve tried, on Facebook — believe me it’s feeble); there’s no guarantee that all or any of the accusations are true (in John Denver’s case some are, some flagrantly manufactured). I’m reminded of Churchill’s quip “democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other(s)” — the Philippine legal system with regards to libel cases is cumbersome and slow, prone to manipulation by those with the cash to manipulate, but this is no better.

Philippine culture is a culture of connections, with everyone and his cousin’s sister-in-law’s younger brother getting into everyone else’s (and their mother’s) business; what social media has apparently done is exacerbate the tendency, extending tendrils to family and Filipino communities in other countries, so that one provocative video has the worldwide effect of a stone flung through sheet glass — a loud shattering crash of what you used to call your life.

The rage and pity the film inspires is very much deserved except perhaps for the finale (skip the rest of this paragraph if you haven’t seen the film!) which I think is a tribute to the skill with which Condez has maintained tension up to this point: suicide releases that carefully built tension, puts John Denver (though not his mother) past any further suffering. I would have rather seen a more ambiguous end — him running home, finding the house empty, maybe running on to an uncertain future, to suffer even more humiliation and anguish. May be the sadist in me speaking, but that’s my two cents.

John Denver Trending is a chilling effectively wrought parable that makes one pause before posting a particularly hurtful meme — the film at least made me mull that much on the issue (I’ve sometimes found myself backing down and deleting the meme; sometimes — mostly when it involves Trump or Duterte — I post anyway). One of the best films of the year so far, Filipino or otherwise.

John Denver Trending is being shown along with other Cinemalaya Films at the UPFI Film Center in UP Diliman until Sept. 14. Visit the UPFI Facebook page for schedules.

PSBank to hike authorized capital stock to P6 billion

PSBank
PHILIPPINE Savings Bank will hike its capital stock to P6 billion. — BW FILE PHOTO

PHILIPPINE Savings Bank (PSBank) is looking to raise its authorized capital stock to P6 billion in a bid to strengthen its capital structure and provide the lender flexibility.

In a disclosure to the local bourse yesterday, the thrift banking arm of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has okayed the amendment of its Articles of Incorporation (AoI) last Aug. 8 to increase its capital stock to P6 billion from the previous P4.25 billion.

The capital stock hike will consist of 600 million common shares with a par value of P10 per share.

“The increase in authorized capital stock will provide the bank more flexibility for any potential business opportunities in the future that would need sufficient authorized and unissued shares that can be issued promptly,” it said.

Its stock dividend rate currently stand at 11.42%.

The bank said it will expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the amendments to its AoI on Sept. 11 for the regulator’s approval.

The capital hike was approved by PSBank’s board of directors on March 12, while its stockholders okayed the proposal during its annual stockholders’ meeting on April 15.

Meanwhile, PSBank said on Thursday its board of directors also approved the declaration of stock dividends to all of its stockholders worth P437.5 million equivalent to 43.75 million common shares.

The payment date will be set after PSBank gets SEC’s nod on its capital stock hike, the lender said.

PSBank’s net income went up 2.5% year on year in the first six months to P1.4 billion on the back of its growing consumer lending portfolio and efforts to improve operational efficiencies. Its loans and receivables grew by 6.8% to P160.8 billion in the first half.

PSBank closed at P57.95 per share on Thursday, gaining five centavos or 0.09% from the previous day’s finish. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Pru Life partners with SLMC on critical claims processing

PRU LIFE UK has partnered with St. Luke’s Medical Center. — PRULIFEUK.COM.PH

PRU LIFE UK has partnered with St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) to improve the processing of critical illness claims of its policy owners.

Speaking to reporters at the launch of the partnership at SLMC Bonifacio Global City, Pru Life UK President and CEO Antonio G. De Rosas said the tie-up allows its policy owners with critical illness claims to authorize St. Luke’s to release their medical records by signing a consent form.

Mr. De Rosas said this is a departure from the original process where patients have to get their medical history files by themselves and submit it to Pru Life for verification, where approval usually takes a few days.

He added that policy holders still need to file for reimbursements as insurance firms do not work like health maintenance organizations where patients only need to bring their cards for their medical transactions.

“So when you file reimbursement, ang daming documents na kailangan i-collate (you need to collate many documents). Tapos ikaw mismo (And then) you have to go the hospital and get the medical records and then send it to Pru Life UK [which] will do an independent verification… It takes a long time,” he explained.

With the partnership which allows St. Luke’s to send patients’ medical data directly to Pru Life, the process will be faster and the reimbursement cheque will arrive by the time of the patients’ checkout, Mr. De Rosas said.

The consent form which allows St. Luke’s to release the policy holders’ medical records to Pru Life can be accessed through the insurer’s website or through the International Patients’ Lounge in the BGC and Quezon City branches of SLMC.

Patients will also be able to verify about the progress of their claims through Pru Life.

St. Luke’s is a strategic partner for Pru Life as 11% of the insurer’s policy claimants were clients of the hospital in 2018, according to Pru Life Assistant Vice-President and Head of Product Management Daryl Adigue.

In total, the insurance firm disbursed a total of P190 million benefit payouts to more than 300 policy holders with critical illness claims, Pru Life said. Most of these cases involved cancer, stroke, heart attack, brain tumor, and renal failure.

Aside from faster reimbursement claims, policy holders will also have executive benefits in St. Luke’s, including special onsite assistance and discounts on selected hospital services and various treatment packages, according to SLMC President and CEO Arturo S. De La Peña.

Mr. Dela Peña said volume discount rates will be applied, depending on the number of policy holders who will utilise the service tie-up.

The six months exclusive partnership with St. Luke’s — which remains open for possible renewal — is Pru Life’s first tie-up with a hospital.

Mr. De Rosas said on Thursday that the insurer could forge similar partnerships with more hospitals in the future.

“At some point in time, we will have to make it available for other medical providers also,” he said.

During his speech at the event, SLMC’s Mr. Dela Peña said apart from their partnership with Pru Life, SLMC is also looking towards expansion, with their Davao branch set to be fully completed by the first quarter of 2020 and fully operational by around the second quarter of 2022.

Mr. Dela Peña said negotiations for another branch in the Visayas are ongoing.

Pru Life approved a total of 2,737 claims amounting to P644 million in 2018, Ms. Adigue said.

More than 50% of the insurer’s market of policy holders belong to the millennial generation, Mr. De Rosas added.

Pru Life was the fourth biggest life insurer in the Philippines based on premium income in 2018 with P22.03 billion, according to data from the Insurance Commission. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Uniqlo to open store in SM City Olongapo

JAPANESE apparel retailer Uniqlo is opening its first large store in Central Luzon next week.

In a statement, Uniqlo said it will open the 1,320-square meter (sq.m.) store in SM City Olongapo Central on Sept. 13.

“With the recent opening of our first roadside store in the country, we are excited to launch another Uniqlo store located here in SM City Olongapo Central,” Masayoshi Nakamura, chief operating officer of Uniqlo Philippines, said.

The new store is located at the SM mall’s first floor. It will carry the complete line of Uniqlo Lifewear, plus the 2019 Fall/Winter collection.

Uniqlo, a brand of Fast Retailing Co. Ltd., has 2,000 stores in 22 markets including Japan, Australia, China, France, Singapore, Spain and United States.

Saudi’s Rumayyan takes control of Aramco IPO steering committee

DUBAI/RIYADH — The head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was made head of an executive committee overseeing plans to float shares in Saudi Aramco before he was named new chairman of the state oil giant this week, five sources familiar with the matter said.

Yassir al-Rumayyan took over control of the committee from Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan in July, the sources told Reuters, as preparations for the listing speed up.

A spokesman at wealth fund the Public Investment Fund referred queries to Aramco, which declined to comment. The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee reports directly to de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to sell a 5% percent stake in Aramco as part of an ambitious plan to transform the economy of the world’s top oil exporter and wean it off crude revenues.

The move is a significant indication that the kingdom is gearing up to fast-track a local listing of Aramco, by bringing in Rumayyan who has great experience with local IPOs at both government and private sectors.

The past few days have seen Rumayyan replace Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih as Aramco chairman and Falih lose his seat on the company’s board as momentum builds to prepare for the sale.

Falih said on Twitter that Rumayyan’s appointment was “an important step to prepare the company for the public offering.”

The IPO, initially slated for 2017, has faced repeated delays. Saudi authorities say it is now slated for 2020 or 2021 and one source said Rumayyan pushed for that timeline.

Rumayyan’s time as head of securities listing at the Saudi stock market regulator between 2004 and 2007 qualified him to take over the process from Jadaan, a veteran lawyer, another source told Reuters.

The new Aramco chairman, a former investment banker, had also served on the board of the local stock exchange.

The finance minister remains on the IPO executive committee, which also includes Economy Minister Mohammed al-Tuwaijri and royal court adviser Fahad Toonsi, two of the sources said.

In August, sources told Reuters that the plan was for a domestic listing on the Riyadh bourse which would be followed by an international offering at a later stage.

Aramco has already asked major banks to submit proposals for potential roles in the IPO, Reuters has reported. — Reuters

What to see this week

4 films to see on the week of September 6 — September 12, 2019

IT Chapter 2

A FILM still from IT Chapter 2

AFTER 27 years, the clown Pennywise returns to the town of Derry, deadlier than ever. The now grown-up members of the Losers Club reunite in the place where it all began in an effort to conquer their fears and defeat the clown. Directed by Andy Muschietti, the movie stars Bill Skarsgård, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone. The New York Post’s Johnny Oleksinski writes, “What it’s not is very scary. Speaking as somebody who’s afraid of spoiled milk, I was not unnerved by anything other than Bill Skarsgård’s still-freaky Pennywise the Clown. You get Stranger Things-style spooks here, and that’s just fine.”

MTRCB Rating: R-16

Princess in Wonderland

PRINCESS BARBARA finds a magical book which transports her to Wonderland — a place filled with fantastical creatures. The Russian animated feature is directed by Marina Nefyodova.

MTRCB Rating: G

Polaroid

A HIGH SCHOOL loner finds a vintage Polaroid camera. She soon discovers that the lives of those who have taken their photo with it end in tragedy. Directed by Lars Klevberg, the film stars Kathryn Prescott, Tyler Young, Samantha Logan

MTRCB Rating: R-13

Sanggano, Sanggago’t, Sanggwapo

AN OLD-SCHOOL comedy follows Andy and Dondon who find out that their friend Johnny is the son of a recently deceased business tycoon. Upon arriving at the deceased businessman’s mansion, Johnny — as a way of relieving himself of responsibilities — announces to everyone in their town that Andy is the heir and therefore must take responsibility for the family business. Andy and Dondon decide to play along. Directed by Al Tantay, the movie stars Andrew E., Janno Gibbs, Dennis Padilla, and Eddie Garcia.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Reducing risk through tech innovation

PAJU CITY, South Korea — The threat of a nuclear conflict in the Korean Peninsula has greatly diminished with the adoption of the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Reunification that includes a commitment to denuclearization.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un signed the declaration during the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit held at the Peace House’s southern side within the joint security area of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which is geographically a part of this border city.

As a buffer zone measuring two kilometers wide on each side, the 250-kilometer long DMZ was established along the 38th parallel through an armistice agreement at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The DMZ’s western portion lies on the boundary between Paju City and its northern neighbor, Kaesong City.

With the warming of bilateral relations in the divided peninsula, the Korea Harm Reduction Association (KHRA) has turned its attention to public health hazards such as narcotics, alcohol, smoking, gambling, and obesity.

Last week, KHRA co-hosted the 3rd Asian Harm Reduction Forum (AHRF) in Seoul together with Yayasan Pemerhati Kesehatan Publik of Indonesia. Attended by hundreds of experts from 18 countries, the theme of AHRF 2019 was “From Global to Local: Public-Private Partnerships in Harm Reduction Policies.”

One of the keynote speakers was Canadian lawyer David Sweanor, who is also a professor and advisory board member of the Center for Health Law, Policy, and Ethics at the University of Ottawa. Since the 1980s, he has focused on policy issues concerning the risk of smoking, which he referred to as a public health catastrophe killing one person every 4.5 seconds.

According to Mr. Sweanor, “the problem is not the nicotine but the delivery system. There are over a billion people in the world who seek nicotine by smoking cigarettes, which kills people because they breathe in smoke. If we get rid of the smoke, we get rid of the disease.”

He said Asian innovators have the capacity to improve the technology behind non-combustible tobacco products similar to how Korean automobile makers and Japanese electronics manufacturers became dominant in the global arena. These innovations have a tremendous impact on public health by dramatically reducing the rate of smoking cigarettes as experienced in Japan, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.

Greek cardiologist Konstantinos Farsalinos, concurrently a researcher at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in the University of Patras’ National School of Public Health, agreed that harm reduction is an absolute necessity because eight million people die prematurely every year from smoking-related diseases.

“It is a huge burden for the whole world. Due to the difficulty in quitting smoking, tobacco harm deduction represents a historical opportunity to eliminate smoking globally. Governments should realize that harm reduction is a human right enshrined in the World Health Organization’s 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion,” he said.

Consumer groups across the region have formed the Coalition of Asia Pacific Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) to address public health issues and encourage smokers to shift to safer alternatives if they could not quit outright.

During the AHRF 2019, coalition representatives signed the Seoul Declaration calling on the governments of the Philippines, Thailand, and India to reconsider plans of banning or imposing restrictive polices on e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices, and Swedish “snus” or teabag-like smokeless powder products made of tobacco, salt, and sodium carbonate.

CAPHRA executive coordinator Nancy Sutthoff urged the Philippine government to recognize that non-combustible products provide smokers with an option to quit smoking and could hasten the demise of cigarettes. She cited annual reviews of Public Health England, which have consistently concluded that e-cigarettes are significantly safer than tobacco burning.

“Safer nicotine products should be encouraged, not attacked with the same vehemence as cigarettes or, worse, banned. The government of the Philippines should avoid being perceived as promoting the interests of the cigarette and pharmaceutical industries,” the declaration stated.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, technological innovation is disrupting risk management in many industries. A recent survey conducted by global insurance broker Marsh found 91% of risk professionals believe that understanding technology innovation is essential for them to remain at the forefront of their industry.

Firms and individuals thus have to make a hard choice in the digital era: innovate or perish. This applies to everyone, whether in banking, financial services, health care, manufacturing, government, or other sectors. In other words, one should disrupt — or risk getting disrupted.

 

J. Albert Gamboa is CFO of the Asian Center for Legal Excellence and Chairman of the FINEX Golden Jubilee Book Project.

Property firms rally as Duterte bucks China ban on online gaming

PHILIPPINE property shares got a boost after President Rodrigo Duterte said his country benefits from online casinos, standing pat on the industry despite China’s call for a total ban.

“I decide that we need it. Many jobs will be lost. Anyway, it’s government-controlled,” Mr. Duterte said in a televised briefing late Wednesday, when asked what he told Chinese President Xi Jinping about Philippine online gaming operators, or POGOs.

The rally in property companies was led by Filinvest Land, Inc. and Megaworld Corp., among the country’s top landlords, which each gained as much as 5.6% in early trading in Manila on Thursday. Other builders exposed to online casinos also climbed, with D.M. Wenceslao & Associates and DoubleDragon Properties Corp. gaining more than 3% each.

Investors have dumped Philippine property stocks amid concern Mr. Duterte will clamp down on the offshore gaming industry, which is overtaking business process outsourcing companies as Manila’s top source of office demand.

China wants the Philippines to stop all forms of online gambling, as it continues cracking down on a practice it says causes an illegal outflow of money. Online and phone betting has exploded in countries such as the Philippines and Cambodia over the last few years due to demand from gamblers in mainland China.

Mr. Duterte also said that he and Xi had long agreed on a 60-40 revenue-sharing arrangement that would favor the Philippines should joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea proceed.

Still, the Philippine leader said the territorial dispute between the two nations “will remain a problem” after Mr. Xi insisted that China doesn’t recognize Manila’s victory in an arbitration case that nullified some of Beijing’s claims in disputed waters. — Bloomberg

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