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AirAsia mounts more recovery flights

PHILIPPINES AirAsia, Inc. on Monday mounted 16 recovery flights for those who have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.

The low-cost carrier said in an advisory that there were eight recovery flights from Manila to Davao, Zamboanga, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro on Monday for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

It mounted another eight recovery flights on the same day to Manila from Davao, Zamboanga, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro.

The recovery flights were arranged by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

From March 16 to May 23, Philippines AirAsia had mounted a total of 26 domestic recovery flights and international recovery flights to and from the Philippines, which were arranged by various government agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Tourism, and Philippine embassies.

“More special recovery flights are being arranged as required,” the airline said.

“AirAsia is complying with advice and regulations from the local government, civil aviation authorities, global and local health agencies, including the World Health Organization,” it added.

Also on Monday, the carrier outlined the enhancements it made in its contactless check-in procedures.

“To initiate a contactless transaction at kiosks, guests are advised to check-in first on the AirAsia.com website or mobile app. The generated QR code on their mobile device or printed document after checking-in may then be scanned at the kiosk, which will always be on ‘active mode’ to read QR codes,” it said.

Passengers may also self check-in on the official website of AirAsia and its mobile app 14 days up to one hour before the scheduled departure time.

“AirAsia’s mobile app will also see an enhancement soon where guests can scan their passports via the app itself, facilitating a more streamlined user experience and a seamless and contactless self check-in process,” it said.

The airline said further that there are plans to include a travel-visa scanning feature in its mobile app.

Philippines AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Ricardo P. Isla was quoted as saying: “We look forward to flying with our guests as soon as circumstances allow it. With the hope that the global community is on its way to recovery, we continue to put in place measures that will safeguard the health and wellbeing of our passengers and crew. One way AirAsia is doing this is by maximizing the power of technology in line with our vision of becoming a fully digital company.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

China fixes yuan at weakest since 2008

CHINA SET its daily yuan reference rate at the weakest level since 2008 after the currency hit a seven-month low in onshore trading Friday amid increasing political tensions with the US.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) put the yuan fixing at 7.1209 per dollar. That compares with the 7.122 average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts. The fixing limits the onshore yuan’s moves to 2% in either direction.

While Monday’s fixing was roughly in line with expectations, it was with “marginal downward bias,” said Trang Thuy Le, macro-strategy analyst at Macquarie Bank Ltd. in Hong Kong. She added the PBoC “thinks it can manage depreciation pressure as long as there are no big, disorderly moves.”

China’s central bank will be keeping a close eye on whether the yuan will test 7.2 against the dollar soon, said Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore. “There would probably be more volatility on the yuan for the time being as we wait to see how Trump reacts to the Hong Kong situation,” said Zhou, referring to the US president.

Beijing’s latest move to tighten its grip on Hong Kong has set up another showdown between Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. The US-China relationship has worsened dramatically in the past few months as the world’s two biggest economies have clashed on a range of issues from the coronavirus pandemic to trade and human rights.

The onshore yuan was 0.1% weaker Monday from Friday’s close in Shanghai of 7.131. The daily fixing is calculated with formulas that take into account factors such as the previous trading day’s official close at 4:30 p.m, the yuan’s move against a basket of currencies and moves of other major exchange rates.

The offshore rate, which edged toward the weakest level on record last week, was 0.26% weaker at 7.1514 per dollar as of 11:05 a.m. Monday. — Bloomberg

Venice Film Festival will go ahead in September — Veneto governor

ROME — The Venice Film Festival will go ahead as scheduled at the beginning of September, Luca Zaia, the governor of the region around the Italian city said on Sunday as the spread of the new coronavirus in the country slows.

Organized by the Biennale di Venezia company, Venice is the world’s longest running film festival. In January it announced that actress Cate Blanchett would preside over its 77th edition.

Due to the lockdowns imposed on the film industry across the world to limit the spread of the virus, the festival will probably be attended by fewer productions, said Zaia, who is also a board member of the Biennale di Venezia.

The Cannes Film Festival, the world’s largest, was forced to postpone its latest edition in May due to the virus epidemic.

Italy plans to lift all travel curbs from June 3 and travelers from European Union countries will be able to enter without going into quarantine.

The country recorded 119 new deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic on Saturday, bringing the death toll in Italy from the outbreak to 32,735, the third highest total in the world after the United States and Britain. — Reuters

Seda Hotels continues to serve guests

AMID the lockdown, Seda Hotels continues to serve guests, particularly long-term guests and business process outsourcing (BPO) employees.

Seda Hotels had to reduce their services and facilities to comply with government directives, but has implemented strict health protocols to keep its guests and employees safe.

The security team makes sure only registered guests enter the hotel and conduct daily temperature checks. Front desk staff wear masks and stand behind a protective barrier at the counter.

Inside the elevator, the hotel provides tissues for pressing buttons, as well as a waste bin. Only in-room dining is allowed with orders individually packed for the guests to pick up at the restaurant.

Senior Group General Manager Andrea Mastellone said limitations in facilities and amenities are temporary, with operations expected to resume when restrictions are eased.

Under government’s guidelines, hotels are not allowed to accept bookings from other guests not covered in the exceptions until further notice. Seda properties in Cagayan de Oro and Lio in El Nido, Palawan have been temporarily shut.

“Seda is a homegrown brand with a long-term view. We have the flexibility to reset profit targets over certain periods for long-term gains like cementing our relationship with our most valued clients and supporting the Philippine economy in our own way,” Mr. Mastellone said.

Singapore firm keen on First Gen shares

A SINGAPOREAN firm has informed shareholders of Lopez-led First Gen Co. of its plan to acquire up to 323.81 million shares of the energy firm.

The board of Valorous Asia Holdings Pte. Ltd. said in a newspaper ad over the weekend that it intends to present a public and voluntary tender offer to acquire at least 215.87 million common shares of First Gen.

It said the minimum number of shares it plans to buy represent about 6% of First Gen’s issued and outstanding common shares. At the maximum number, it plans to acquire shares accounting for 9% of shares held by stockholders.

It said the tender is “subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.”

The company based in Singapore was incorporated just this year in March, according to business directory RecordOwl.

The holding company said a tender offer report will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange on May 26, containing its application and terms and conditions, among others.

Valorous expects its offer to begin on May 27. — A. J. Ang

In the lockdown economy, our old measures of inflation get it wrong

INFLATION is one of the great question marks of the coronavirus era, with some economists predicting it’s poised to take off and others warning of a deflationary slump.

For the technicians of inflation, there’s a more immediate challenge: how to measure it properly. Right now, the cost of lockdown living is higher than headline gauges suggest.

The broadest price measures are based on a “basket” of the goods and services that consumers typically spend their money on. And that basket has gotten cheaper during the pandemic. In the US, for example, the main price gauge posted its biggest month-to-month drop for more than a decade in April.

The problem, according to Alberto Cavallo — an associate professor at the Harvard Business School who specializes in inflation — is that “the basket for a typical consumer during lockdown is very different.”

With swaths of the economy shut down, some goods and services, such as restaurant meals or hotel rooms, are barely available at all. Others are temporarily out of favor, like gasoline as car travel dropped. Some may be available at bargain-basement prices: plane tickets, say, at a time when few want to fly.

In each case, people aren’t buying nearly as much of this stuff as they used to — but when it comes to measuring the inflation rate, the items count for just as much as they did pre-virus. They still have the same weighting in the basket, in other words.

When you measure the prices of the things Americans are in fact spending money on, “it turns out that the actual inflation rate is not as low,” says Mr. Cavallo, the co-founder of the Billion Prices Project, a global initiative to keep track of online prices. He has constructed a basket for the COVID-19 economy.

It shows that prices did fall last month — but not as much as the headline numbers suggest. “The reason is that, on average, people are now consuming relatively more in categories that are experiencing higher inflation,” he says. Meat prices, for example, have jumped as the epidemic disrupted supply chains.

These kinds of measurement issues aren’t academic: They can directly affect living standards and contribute to income inequality. Americans who rely on Social Security benefits get a cost-of-living adjustment to their payments every year, based off headline inflation measures.

If consumers quickly return to their pre-virus habits as the economy reopens, the gap in inflation may prove to be a blip. But if some shifts are permanent, it could take years before official measures adjust.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reassesses its consumer-price basket each year based on a wealth of data. Thousands of Americans help out, by keeping diaries that list everything they buy.

The catch is that this happens with a lag of at least two years. That’s not a big problem in normal circumstances, because consumer behavior tends to change fairly slowly. But some of this year’s shifts — from eating out to eating at home, for example — have been dramatic.

“We definitely need better real-time data, not just on prices, but on consumer-expenditure shares as well,” Cavallo says.

The pandemic has raised other difficulties for the price watchdogs.

For a start, the BLS had to stop sending its data collectors into stores — where most transactions still occur, even under lockdown. As of March 19, it’s been relying on phone calls and e-mails instead.

That means “they’re getting a smaller subset,” said Randal Verbrugge, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Center for Inflation Research. “It can’t be good for accuracy.”

With the Department of Labor closed, employees are collecting data from home instead of in their offices. Usually processing errors are minimal. But the upheaval is putting statisticians under pressure like everyone else — as glitches in jobs data this month have illustrated.

It’s not unusual, of course, for some prices to jump around. Policy makers who rely on such data, including central bankers, often look at measures of so-called core inflation, which strip away volatile items such as food.

The Cleveland Fed has developed measures that go even further in removing outliers, in order to provide a better signal of the underlying inflation trend. One gauge looks at whatever is in the middle of the distribution of price changes. Another cuts out about 8% of items at either end.

There are workarounds for other virus-era dilemmas, too. If some items just aren’t available to purchase, for example, the technicians in charge of producing inflation data can find others and use them as a substitute. — Bloomberg

WFH during quarantine: FRS Construction Corp.’s Cheryl V. Feliciano

Like most businesses, construction abruptly stopped once enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was enforced.

“I left a bit early a day before the ECQ,” FRS Construction Corp. managing director Cheryl V. Feliciano wrote in an e-mail to BusinessWorld. “We also sent the staff home a little bit earlier than usual.”

All their construction projects — the majority of which are DMCI projects — in Metro Manila have stopped, while their provincial projects continued but only until the end of March when quarantine was gradually imposed in the provinces.

As the lockdown passed its 70-day mark and restrictions have been modified in some areas nationwide, she continues to work from home and begins her day at 9 a.m.

What is your preferred meeting method and why?
We don’t do video meetings as I only need to talk to our president (my dad) or specific staff individually. Viber and e-mail is what we normally use to send documents and get approvals.

Where is your home office?
I have a small room which has always been my office room at home even before the ECQ.

Do you take breaks?
I read the news; help with my daughter’s school work (because her school year ended on April 30); do some crafts; meditate; and pray.

What difficulties or challenges did you experience? Any distractions?
Wi-Fi connection has been excellent so I didn’t have any problems with that. It was mostly the added process of e-mailing back and forth since we’re not physically at the office.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from working from home?
Make sure all physical files/data have an electronic version and are updated regularly. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Robinsons Malls’ frontliners receive bicycles from Life Cycles PH

FRONTLINERS of three Robinsons Malls recently received a donation of 65 bicycles from Life Cycles PH.

In a statement, Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) said recipients of the bicycles included mall security guards, housekeeping personnel, supermarket baggers and cashiers.

“The bicycles donated to Robinsons Malls frontliners have been very helpful as an alternative mode of transportation to the beneficiaries. The bicycles provide multiple health benefits and allow our frontliners to save on transportation costs,” the company said.

Life Cycles PH expressed hope there would be more acceptance of cycling as a sustainable mode of transportation in Metro Manila.

Trolls attack ABS-CBN online signature drive

WORKERS’ groups at ABS-CBN Corp. on Monday said their online signature campaign for the renewal of the legislative franchise of the media giant had been “sabotaged” by trolls.

In a statement, the ABS-CBN Rank and File Employees’ Union and the ABS-CBN Supervisory Employees’ Union described the online attack as an “organized effort” by those seeking to permanently close the media company.

They said the attacks were carried out by bots and fake accounts.

“We are cleaning up our database right now and will relaunch with proper security to prevent another attack. We will not give up because we are fighting for our family, for our children and their future,” ABS-CBN Rank and File Employees Union President Jon Villanueva said.

ABS-CBN Supervisory Employees’ Union President Raul de Asis said: “Our intentions are clean in conducting this online petition. To those who are discrediting us, please do not sabotage the efforts of the people working in ABS-CBN.”

ABS-CBN, whose franchise expired on May 4, halted its broadcasting operations after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a cease-and-desist order on May 5.

Ordered closed are five AM radio stations, which include DZMM-AM in Obando, Bulacan; 18 FM radio stations; 42 TV stations; and 10 DTTB stations for implementation. — Arjay L. Balinbin

GCash registrations up 250% in first month of ECQ

GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. on Monday said its mobile wallet arm GCash saw its registration volume more than triple during the first month of the enhanced community quarantine.

In a statement, Globe said its GCash app “saw a 200% increase in the number of installations from March 15 to April 15 and a 250% growth in the number of app registrations for the same period, making it one of the top five most downloaded apps in android.”

Globe said the surge in user registrations was driven by the consumers’ need for contactless alternatives to sending money and paying bills.

GCash is also working with the government in the distribution of its financial assistance for motorcycle taxi bikers whose operations have been halted because of the coronavirus lockdown.

GCash also serves as a donation platform for some private and non-government organizations.

Last Friday, the Transportation department announced that it has partnered with GCash to carry out cashless transactions in taxis and transportation network vehicle services.

Taxi operators and transport network companies are now allowed to resume operations in areas placed under the more relaxed general community quarantine.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has been pushing for the use of digital payments to limit or prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.

The Transportation department is also in talks with other electronic payment providers such as Squidpay, Paymaya, and Beep, among others. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Premium Leisure Corp. sets online stockholders’ meeting on June 22

Gaming investments company Premium Leisure Corp. will hold its annual stockholders’ meeting virtually on June 22.

Please see revised notice of annual stockholders’ meeting below:

 

TO ALL STOCKHOLDERS:

The annual meeting of the stockholders of Premium Leisure Corp. (the “Corporation”) will be held on June 22, 2020, Monday, at 11:00 a.m. Given the current circumstances, the meeting will be conducted virtually and voting conducted in absentia through the Corporation’s secure online voting facility.

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order
  2. Proof of Notice of Meeting and Quorum
  3. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on April 22, 2019
  4. Approval of 2019 Operations and Results
  5. Ratification of all Acts of the Board of Directors and Management during their term of office
  6. Election of Directors for 2020-2021
  7. Appointment of External Auditors
  8. Other Matters
  9. Adjournment

The Board of Directors has fixed the end of trading hours of the Philippine Stock Exchange on May 21, 2020 as the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to the notice of, participation via remote communication, and voting in absentia at such meeting and any adjournment thereof.

The conduct of the meeting will be streamed live, and stockholders may attend the meeting by registering via asmregister.premiumleisurecorp.com and submitting the supporting documents listed there until June 19, 2020. All information submitted shall be verified and validated by the Corporate Secretary.

Stockholders who wish to cast votes through a proxy may accomplish the proxy form (which need not be notarized) and submit the same on or before June 19, 2020. In view of the community quarantine, scanned forms will be accepted. Paper copies shall be sent to the office of the Corporate Secretary at the 33rd Floor, The Orient Square, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City once the community quarantine is lifted.

 

Stockholders who successfully registered can cast their votes in absentia through the Corporation’s secure online voting facility for this meeting. In order to participate remotely, they will also be provided with access to the meeting that will be held virtually. The “Guidelines for Participation via Remote Communication and Voting in Absentia” as appended to the Definitive Information Statement labeled as Schedule A will be posted in the Corporation’s website: www.premiumleisurecorp.com/ASM2020 and PSE Edge.

For complete information on the annual meeting, please visit www.premiumleisurecorp.com/ASM2020.

Thank you.

Pasig City, May 18, 2020.

 

(Sgd.)
ELMER B. SERRANO
Corporate Secretary

Belle Corp. announces virtual stockholders’ meeting on June 22

Premium tourism and leisure property and destination developer Belle Corporation will hold its annual stockholders’ meeting virtually on June 22.

Please see revised notice of annual stockholders’ meeting below:

 

TO ALL STOCKHOLDERS:

The annual meeting of the stockholders of Belle Corporation (the “Company”) will be held on June 22, 2020, Monday, at 2 p.m. Given the current circumstances, the meeting will be conducted virtually and voting conducted in absentia through the Company’s secure online voting facility.

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order
  2. Proof of Notice of Meeting
  3. Certification of Quorum
  4. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on April 22, 2019
  5. Approval of 2019 Operations and Results
  6. Ratification of all Acts of the Board of Directors and Management during their term of office
  7. Election of Directors for 2020-2021
  8. Appointment of External Auditors
  9. Other Matters
  10. Adjournment

The Board of Directors has fixed the end of trading hours of the Philippine Stock Exchange on May 21, 2020 as the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to the notice of, participation via remote communication, and voting in absentia at such meeting, and any adjournment thereof.

The conduct of the meeting will be streamed live, and stockholders may attend the meeting by registering via asmregister.bellecorp.com and submitting the supporting documents listed there until June 18, 2020. All information submitted shall be verified and validated by the Corporate Secretary.

Stockholders who wish to cast votes through a proxy may accomplish the corresponding proxy form (which need not be notarized) and submit the same on or before June 10, 2020. In view of the community quarantine, scanned forms will be accepted. Paper copies shall be sent to the office of the Corporate Secretary at 2704 East Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange Centre, Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City once the community quarantine is lifted.

 

Stockholders who successfully registered can cast their votes in absentia through the Company’s secure online voting facility for this meeting. In order to participate remotely, they will also be provided with access to the meeting that will be held virtually. The “Guidelines for Participation via Remote Communication and Voting in Absentia” as appended to the Definitive Information Statement labeled as Schedule A will be posted in the Company’s website: www.bellecorp.com/asm2020 and PSE Edge.

For complete information on the annual meeting, please visit www.bellecorp.com/asm2020.

Thank you.

Pasig City, May 19, 2020.

 

(Sgd.)
A. Bayani K. Tan
Corporate Secretary

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