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Viloria, Trinidad rule Go For Gold skateboarding Luzon leg qualifier

ABIGAIL VILORIA and Arianne Mae Trinidad have trained their sights on the 2019 Go For Gold Skateboarding National Championships as their passport to bring their act in the Southeast Asian Games.
Both earned the rare opportunity to be in the national finals on Aug. 24-25 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna after topping the women’s downhill and game of skate events during the Luzon qualifying leg recently.
Trinidad defeated Jennica Eunesse Gulapa and Gwen Cabangon in the game of skate held in Robinson’s Place Novaliches while Viloria, who hails from Cavite, was the fastest competitor in the women’s downhill race.
Airish Tenorio of Camarines Norte and Julieann Hilario of Batangas placed second and third behind Viloria, but they also booked a ticket to Sta. Rosa since the podium finishers are all qualified to the national championships.
“I believe skateboarding is a great sport to encourage our youth. It’s not so expensive and can be done almost anywhere,’’ said Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go.
“We hope that our athletes can serve as role models to keep Filipino kids in sports and out of trouble,’’ added Go, also the vice president for marketing of Powerball Marketing and Logistics Corp., the company behind the Go For Gold program.
The national finals of the 2019 Go For Gold Skateboarding Championships also serves as the national qualifier for the SEA Games, which the Philippines will host on Nov. 30-Dec. 11.
In the men’s division, Charles Louise “CL’’ Paje ruled the game of skate after eliminating the equally talented and fearless Christian Louie Enconado and Mark Garcia.
Tomas Romualdez of Laguna was dauntless in the men’s downhill held in Taysan, Batangas to subdue fellow Laguna skater Sebastian Chanco and Duke Pandeagua of Camarines Norte.
According to skateboarding chief Monty Mendigoria, the Visayas leg will be held in Cebu City on April 6-7 where Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal will inspire the participants right in her hometown.
Mendigoria, president of the Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines, said they will discover the best skaters in Mindanao when the regionals travel south to General Santos City on May 25-26.

Alvarez, Johnson not short in motivation heading into respective ONE Japan fights


By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
TOKYO — Doing mixed martial arts for quite a long time now and succeeding and having practically won everything in it, one would think that it is all going through the motions now for legends “The Underground King” Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
But that is hardly the case, more so that they are embarking on a new journey in their illustrious careers.
Part of ONE Championship’s first-ever event in Japan, “A New Era,” happening at the Ryogoku Kokugikan here on March 31, Messrs. Alvarez and Johnson said they remain go-getting and excited to showcase their talent in this part of the world.
The two fighters, who last fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), are to take part in the ONE Championship Grand Prix in the lightweight and flyweight divisions, respectively.
Mr. Alvarez (29-6) of the United States will battle Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia while American Johnson faces up with hometown bet Yuya Wakamatsu.
“So 13 years ago I had my first trip to Japan. I was a 23-year-old kid and I just remember being in a plane going here, excited to go on another country to fight to a different audience and see you new things. Fast-forward to 13 years and I still have the same excitement inside, There is a new feeling inside and the excitement of winning another world title,” said Mr. Alvarez of his upcoming fight, his first with ONE after signing with the promotion last year, at the press conference for A New Era held on Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here.
“I would like to thank ONE for bringing me back here. This is where I made a name for the first time, in front of the Japanese audience, representing America. This is where exactly I’ll be, right here,” he added.
The 35-year-old Alvarez went on to say that the “mission” is still the same for him, which is to dominate and win.
“It’s always my intention to dominate my opponent. I’m here to dominate from start to finish. I’m super focused on the grand prix. I’m not thinking of anything. I have my eyes on the world title. It’s something that I don’t have,” said Mr. Alvarez, who was last seen fighting in the UFC in July 2018 against Dustin Poirier.
For longtime UFC flyweight champion Johnson (27-3-1), meanwhile, his fight with Mr. Wakamatsu is something he is viewing with much significance, particularly how it is part of his evolution as a fighter.
“For me this is the next step as an evolution of an athlete. My opponent is a great athlete and it’s going to be interesting. It’s long time coming to fight in front my Japanese fans,” said Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson, 32, said that he is not leaving anything to chance and is working hard with his team to come up with a favorable result in his ONE debut.
Like Mr. Alvarez, the Kentucky native Johnson hooked up with ONE Championship last year after spending eight years with the UFC where he spent majority of the time as the flyweight champion, successfully defending his title 11 straight times before losing it to Henry Cejudo in August last year.
Headlining ONE: A New Era is the world lightweight title clash between champion Eduard Folayang and challenger and former champion Shinya Aoki of Japan.
Co-headliner of the fight is the champion-versus-champion battle between women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan of China and women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee of Singapore for the former’s belt.
Also part of the card is the middleweight world championship collision of champion Aung La N Sang of Myanmar against Ken Hasegawa of Japan as well as the world bantamweight title clash of champion Kevin Belingon of the Philippines against Brazilian Bibiano Fernandes.
Filipino flyweight Danny Kingad is also set to see action in one of the brackets in the flyweight grand prix.
The event will be available live for viewing on the ONE Championship app while in the Philippines it can be seen at ABS-CBN S+A beginning at 6 p.m. and iWant Sports.

Business Expectations Survey

INVESTOR and consumer sentiment received a huge lift as the year opened, riding expectations of more business and job opportunities, according to latest results of quarterly surveys which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Thursday. Read the full story.
Business Expectations Survey

Business, consumer sentiment improves

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez
Senior Reporter
INVESTOR and consumer sentiment received a huge lift as the year opened, riding expectations of more business and job opportunities, according to latest results of quarterly surveys which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Thursday.
Business confidence recovered in the first quarter to end four consecutive quarters of decline, while Filipino households grew less pessimistic towards prospects for 2019.
Business Expectations Survey
“Business confidence is supported by strong domestic demand with brisker business due to election-related spending, increase in orders and consumer purchases, and continued infrastructure and development projects,” Redentor Paolo M. Alegre, Jr., director of the BSP’s Department of Economic Statistics, said in a press briefing at the central bank headquarters yesterday.
Investor sentiment improved to 35.2% in January-March from 27.2% last quarter to mark the highest level since the second quarter of 2018, according to the Business Expectations Survey (BES) results released yesterday.
The central bank said companies were more bullish across the board, riding on expectations for more business activity ahead of the May 13 midterm polls which will trigger increased orders and consumer purchases.
“The election definitely encourages economic activity and also encourages more positive sentiment among business respondents,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said in the briefing.
Bigger government infrastructure spending also contributed to the rosier outlook, despite delays in enacting the P3.757-trillion national budget. Other factors were perceived enhancements in business strategies, as well as expansion plans and new product lines.
Across businesses, importers were the most upbeat during the quarter as they see more raw materials become available and increased demand for construction equipment, the BSP said. Exporters’ outlook also improved as they see increased orders from abroad, while firms serving the local market said they will likely ride the tide given robust consumer demand and better prices, as inflation sustains its descent.
From a nine-year-high 6.7% in September and October, inflation went down to 3.8% in February to return to the state’s 2-4% goal.
Across sectors, construction firms emerged as the most bullish as they expect more projects rolled out during the dry season. Most other industries reported better prospects for the quarter expect agriculture, fishery and forestry which expect lower production during the lean season.
CONSUMERS LESS PESSIMISTIC
Meanwhile, more households grew positive about their finances during the quarter, but were still outnumbered by pessimists this quarter.
This drove the consumer confidence index to -0.5%, rising from -22.5% in the fourth quarter to log the biggest quarter-on-quarter leap since the Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) started in 2007.
The better-but-still-negative outlook stemmed from anticipated additional or higher income, more jobs, a better peace-and-order situation, and “good governance,” Mr. Alegre said, citing survey responses.
Filipinos from low, middle and high-income groups all said they see improvements in the overall economy, household finances and family income. They also see better conditions for April-June, as well as the year ahead.
More respondents even said that they see the current quarter as a good time to make big-ticket purchases, particularly real property, cars and motorcycles.
The better consumer and investor sentiment is expected to lift overall economic prospects, possibly buoying gross domestic product growth this quarter.
“This suggests that if the expectations of business is rising, 67% of the time, growth may follow in the same direction,” Mr. Alegre said.
Businesses had a more favorable view on the economy, seeing credit conditions still tight but accessible, inflation slower, and the peso stronger. In contrast, consumers expect inflation to keep rising, interest rates to go up and the peso to weaken further.
The BES was conducted Jan. 22-March 19 among 1,496 firms, while the CES covered 5,396 households on Feb. 5-16.

Gov’t to borrow less next quarter

By Karl Angelo N. Vidal
Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT plans to borrow P315 billion from the domestic market next quarter through a mix of short and long-term securities, lower than the amount offered in January-March and in last year’s second quarter.
In a memorandum posted on its Web site on Thursday, the Bureau of the Treasury said it will auction off P195 billion in Treasury bills (T-bill) and P120 billion worth of Treasury bonds (T-bond) between April and June.
The planned borrowing next quarter is lower than the P360 billion the government offered in January-March as well as the P325 billion placed on the auction block in last year’s second quarter.
Broken down, the Treasury plans to raise P15 billion per offer through T-bills — P4 billion in 91-day tenor, P5 billion in 182-day debt, and P6 billion in 364-day bills — which will be sold in five auctions in April and four each in May and June.
This quarter, the Treasury offered P20 billion worth of T-bills weekly, divided into P6 billion each for the three- and six-month debt papers and P8 billion for the one-year instruments.
The government will also issue a mix of T-bonds next quarter worth P20 billion per auction. The Treasury will offer 10- and 20-year papers on April 11 and 25, followed by seven- and 10-year notes on May 16 and 30, as well as 20- and seven-year instruments on June 13 and 27.
The state plans to borrow P1.189 trillion in 2019 to help fund its P3.757-trillion budget. Of the amount, 75% will be sourced domestically while the balance will be from foreign creditors.
The national government borrows from local and foreign sources to fund increased spending — especially on infrastructure and social services — and boost economic activity.
Sought for comment, a bond trader said the preference of the Treasury to offer debt papers with longer tenors “will help the yield curve since the issuance for the second quarter is on the long term… Clients would like to lock in the rates in the long end.”
Another trader said that the demand for longer tenors reflects expectations that inflation will be contained within the central bank’s 2-4% target range.
“Given that view, people would rather lock in rates for longer tenors than have a reinvestment risk when you invest on short-term placements,” the trader explained in a mobile phone message.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which sees inflation continue a softening seen since November last year from a nine-year-high 6.7% clocked in September and October, last week trimmed its full-year forecast average for 2019 to three percent from 3.1% previously.
“The inversion of the yield curve is turning out to be a global scenario. Global growth slowdown is triggering demand for safe-haven assets such as bonds,” the second trader added.
The budget deficit is projected to widen to an equivalent of up to 3.2% of gross domestic product in 2019, from a programmed three percent and actual 3.2% last year, to accommodate increased government spending particularly on infrastructure.

February registrations pull down BoI approvals in first two months

THE BOARD of Investments (BoI) — the government’s lead investment promotion agency — saw total value of projects approved drop in February, which one official attributed to high base effects and one economist blamed on “spillover effects” of fast inflation, government moves to change the fiscal incentives system and a generally trying global economic environment.
Preliminary BoI data showed total project cost dropping 95.21% to P3.848 billion in February from P80.309 billion a year ago, with foreign projects nearly halved to P340.33 million from P669.2 million and local ones falling by 95.6% to P3.508 million from P79.64 million.
Total number of projects was halved to 15 from 34, with projected employment down 61.89% to 1,561 jobs from 4,096.
Projects approved last month were led by the Allied Care Experts Medical Center’s P970-million new general hospital in Tacloban City; Pueblo de Oro Development Corp.’s P835.62-million expansion of its low-housing project in San Fernando, Pampanga; Asian Alcohol Corp.’s P824.82-million bioethanol production project in Negros Occidental; Megaworld Corp.’s P338.18-million tourist accommodation, Hotel Lucky Chinatown, in Binondo, Manila; and Cebu Landmasters, Inc.’s P323.18-million low-cost housing project in Cagayan de Oro City.
BoI-approved projects dropped 22.71% to P101.718 billion in this year’s first two months from P131.611 billion a year ago, with local projects down a third to P90.791 billion from P130.909 billion but foreign projects growing more than 15-fold to P10.927 billion from just P702.28 million.
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, BoI chairman, said the decline was due to a “timing issue”, as some projects failed to make the monthly cut and were instead credited to March, and high base effects from last year.
He downplayed February’s drop saying: “Ang mahirap kapag, kunyare, four months ka na in a decline — ’yun ang may problema (What will be worrisome would be, for instance, four straight months of decline — that would be a problem).”
In a press release, Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo explained that “We have key projects in the pipeline, particularly in the area of power, that are still undergoing BoI’s rigorous evaluation process on technical and financial aspects; and equally important, on their compliance with requirements for BoI registration.”
“Given the projected investment costs, we are very optimistic of a renewed surge in total approvals in the next months,” he added.
“We remain optimistic of meeting the P1-trillion target set by our chairman… Secretary Ramon Lopez, for BoI this year. It is a timing issue as we cannot and we do not rush project approvals. The BoI makes sure that every peso of approved investments is qualified and is deserving to be registered.”
Sought for comment, Michael L. Ricafort, head of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s Economics & Industry Research Division, said in an interview that the decline may have been caused by spillover effects of last year’s high inflation and interest rates “as investors may wait for borrowing/financing costs to go down further before aggressively borrowing again to finance new investments and expansion projects in able to further save on costs.” Other factors included uncertainty from government moves to change investors’ fiscal incentives and muted global economic prospects due to the Sino-US trade war, among others. — Janina C. Lim

PHL resilient to global slowdown — BSP official

THE PHILIPPINES should be able to weather a US recession and global economic slowdown, a senior central bank official told reporters on Thursday, citing scope for monetary authorities and economic planners to sustain rapid domestic-driven growth.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said robust domestic consumption should carry the economy through a potential US recession and an economic slowdown in Europe and China.
Signs of a possible US recession — as borne by inverted US Treasury yield curves as longer tenors fetched lower rates — and of a looming economic slowdown elsewhere have battered financial markets lately.
“The Philippines has sufficient space to address these important global challenges. In the broader sense, the economy continues to be resilient,” Mr. Guinigundo said in a press briefing yesterday.
“The trend of monetary policy is of course towards easing, and many countries with flexibility, I think, are more sanguine about being able to address these challenges.”
The United States Federal Reserve dialled back with dovish signals in last week’s policy meeting, saying it was no longer eyeing rate hikes for the rest of 2019 in order to support US economic activity. A low interest rate environment is expected to support economic activity by encouraging businesses to invest and households to spend.
For the Philippines, Mr. Guinigundo reinforced signals from newly seated Governor Benjamin E. Diokno that the BSP also sees ripening conditions for interest rate cuts.
“Assuming that inflation continued to come down and is firmly entrenched in the 2-4% target of both the BSP and the government, that will provide some flexibility for the monetary authorities to consider easing monetary policy. But of course, this is something that will require careful assessment of the data,” Mr. Guinigundo said.
The BSP kept interest rates wthin the 4.25-5.25% range in its March 21 policy review, saying that monetary authorities need to observe price trends even as inflation has been on a decline since November last year.
From a nine-year peak of 6.7% in September and October last year, inflation slowed in succeeding months to a one-year-low 3.8% in February, the first time in 12 months that the rate returned to the target band.
Mr. Diokno has said that he sees room to ease key rates, even as he noted that the BSP will first have to watch if the slowdown in price increases will be sustained. The BSP now expects full-year inflation to average three percent, a sharp drop from 2018’s 5.2%.
Mr. Guinigundo also said some $82.78-billion reserves and a “flexible” peso exchange rate provide buffers against external shocks, while a healthy, “sustainable” fiscal balance should help sustain overall economic expansion. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Coal-fired plant classified ‘of national significance’

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
GNPOWER KAUSWAGAN Ltd. Co. has secured approval from the Energy department for its application to be certified as an energy project of national significance, making it the biggest Mindanao-based coal-fired power plant to enjoy the benefits of an executive order that assures a faster approval process.
“There were some additional NPC (National Power Corp. or Napocor) projects and then a couple of hydro projects,” said Patrick T. Aquino, a director at the Department of Energy (DoE) and head of the Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) secretariat.
“From the batch of NPC and NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines) the Secretary [Alfonso G. Cusi] endorsed one coal power project, several renewable energy projects — there’s solar, there’s hydro,” he said in a chance interview during a forum on disaster risk reduction on Thursday.
Mr. Aquino was not able to give an enumeration of the renewable energy projects that were approved by Mr. Cusi before he left for China with the government’s economic officials.
A certificate of energy project of national significance (CEPNS) entitles project proponents to all the rights and privileges provided for under Executive Order 30 series of 2017, including action on the application within 30 working days.
Certified projects also enjoy presumption of prior approval, that is, they are presumed to have already complied with the requirements and permits from other government permitting agencies.
It will be deemed approved if no action is made five days after the lapse of the 30 working-day period for processing of the application.
GNPower Kauswagan, a project of Ayala-led AC Energy, Inc., is building a four-unit “clean” coal-fired power plant, each with an identical capacity of 138 megawatts (MW) or a total of 552 MW in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. Its certification was granted on March 13, 2019.
Based on data from the DoE, the four units of the power plant are set for commercial operation within the year, respectively in May, July, September and October.
The power plant is listed under the DoE’s “committed” projects or those that have closed project financing. It was able to secure a financial arrangement on May 28, 2014, and obtained and signed commitments from several lenders on Dec. 23, 2014. Documents for additional funding were signed on Dec. 17, 2015.
GNPower Kauswagan has also received provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission for its power supply agreements with 20 participating electric cooperatives.
In January, up to 32 small capacity diesel-fired power plant projects by Napocor and 29 projects by NGCP were issued certification by the EICC, an interagency panel led by representatives from the DoE.
The EICC was created pursuant to EO 30, which was issued on June 28, 2017, in order to spearhead and coordinate efforts to harmonize, integrate and streamline the regulatory processes and relevant forms in the development of nationally significant energy investments.

iflix’ new original movie to be streamed on Twitter

ASIAN video-on-demand (VOD) service iflix has finally launched Mystified, the company’s first foray into creating original content from the Philippines, with a special arrangement for it to be streamed on Twitter tonight.
The fantasy film, directed by Mark Reyes, is about four sorceress played by Maria Izadora “Iza” Calzado, Ana Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon, Rosemarie Joy “Diana Zubiri” Garcia-Smith, and Margaret Sunshine Dizon, who were sent to the mortal world to guard a magic portal to protect mankind from an encroaching great evil — all without using their powers.
It is to be noted that the four actresses and Mr. Reyes previously worked in GMA’s original Encantadia series which aired in 2005. Mr. Reyes also directed the series’ remake in 2016 which ran on the same network.
“We have been ‘fantasizing’ (get it? fantaserye) about this project since 2017,” said Sherwin de la Cruz, iflix Philippine country manager, in an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld on March 27. “It’s been on and off thinking of a project with the four girls, mostly because Karylle and Iza are both our celebrity investors who have supported the company and shared the vision since day one,”
It was some time in early 2018, Mr. De la Cruz said, that they “locked on the storyline, agreed on the budget and greenlit the show, pending scheduling with all of them — the four girls plus [Mr. Reyes].
“The decision for [doing Mystified] was super simple — data. Encantadia was a strong performer on iflix,” he said.
STREAMING ON TWITTER
The film will drop today, March 29, on the platform for free and will be streamed via Twitter starting 8 p.m.
“The iflix team is so proud of how Mystified turned out and we want to give the largest possible audience the chance to experience the film for free. Our collaboration with Twitter allows us to cast a wider net so more fans can see the film, with the added bonus of our stars interacting directly with their fans through the platform,” Mr. De la Cruz said in a press statement.
But whether other original content from iflix will also be streamed on the social media platform is still up in the air, although Mr. De la Cruz said that it’s “particularly interesting as this is the first time it has been done in the country.”
He added that they had done this in Malaysia previously and the results were “amazing,” especially because Malaysia is not a “Twitter country.”
Statistics portal Statista expects the number of activer Twitter users in the Philippines to breach the 10 million mark by 2019 from 9.5 million in 2018. In comparison, Malaysia only had 2.2 million active Twitter users in 2018 and this is expected to reach 2.4 million in 2019.
Mystified will only be shown on iflix (and the one-time Twitter stream) and there are no plans to have a theatrical release.
“When we do co-productions, we will be open to it, but depends on the requirements of partners and such,” he said.
In comparison, global VOD service Netflix typically runs a theatrical release with a concurrent streaming option on its app, which is what they did with Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma in 2018.
MORE IFLIX ORIGINALS
Soon, other iflix originals will be available for viewing outside the platform’s pay wall as Mr. De la Cruz said that they will be “going hard on showcasing high production value originals (on top of licensed content) in the iflix free tier.
“We are increasing the funnel to get more people on the platform and locking their attention in with phenomenal content,” he said.
The iflix free tier, called iflixFREE, started in the fourth quarter of 2018 and gives users free access to content such as Encantadia (both the original version and the remake).
Aside from Mystified, iflix Philippines plans to release “15 to 20” original productions including series and films within the year, though Mr. De la Cruz said they have “much more content that hasn’t been greenlit yet” slated in the near term.
“The challenge for us now is [how] to scale productions well given the business climate (i.e. some actors, actresses, and directors have projects or have priority jobs with networks). Now it becomes a decision on timing vs aspiration on the talents we want to cast,” he said. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Century Properties prices 3-year bonds at 7.8203%

CENTURY Properties Group, Inc. (CPG) has set the coupon rate for its P3-billion fixed-rate retail bonds at 7.8203% per annum.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Antonio-led property developer said it will offer the three-year bonds from April 1 to 5, after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved its permit to sell on March 27. The bonds, which are unsecured, will be issued on April 15.
The offering consists of a base size of P2 billion, with an oversubscription option of up to P1 billion. The bonds will mature in 2022.
China Bank Capital Corp., the offering’s issue manager, lead underwriter, and bookrunner, said the bonds are already more than twice oversubscribed.
“The issuance was more than twice oversubscribed and the first corporate Philippine bond deal to price for 2019,” CPG quoted ChinaBank President Ryan Martin L. Tapia as saying in a statement.
CPG Chief Finance Officer and Head for Investor Relations Ponciano S. Carreon said they are “very pleased” with the market reception, given that this is the firm’s first debt capital deal since 2014.
“We priced the deal at the tighter end of the indicative credit spread given significant interest in this offering,” Mr. Carreon said in a statement.
The listed firm plans to use the proceeds to partially finance its affordable housing projects under Phirst Park Homes, Inc., its joint venture firm with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. It will also procure project construction and contract to sell credit facilities in case there’s additional needs for funding.
CPG has five affordable housing projects lined up for 2019, located in San Pablo, Laguna; Pandi, Bulacan; Calamba, Laguna; General Trias, Cavite; and San Fernando, Pampanga.
These projects will deliver a total of 7,026 housing units across a total of 76.5 hectares.
CPG plans to launch 33,000 units valued at about P57 billion within the next four to five years for its affordable segment. Meanwhile, it plans to add 133,000 square meters (sq.m.) to its commercial leasing business in order to reach its goal of have 300,000 sq.m in leasable spaces by 2020.
To support its expansion program, CPG has allotted to spend P8-10 billion in capital expenditures to finance residential and office projects as well as land acquisitions.
The company’s net income reached P1.1 billion in 2018, 72% higher than the P650 million it reported in 2017. This came amid a 60% increase in revenues to P10.7 billion. CPG benefited from its diversification into affordable housing projects and office leasing, since it previously focused only on high-rise residential condominiums in Metro Manila.
Shares in CPG jumped 1.92% or a centavo to close at 53 centavos each at the stock exchange on Thursday. — Arra B. Francia

Chicago mayor demands answers after Smollett hoax charges dropped

CHICAGO MAYOR Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday he wanted to “find out what happened” to cause prosecutors to abruptly drop charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a hoax hate crime to boost his career.
The saga began in January when the actor, who is black and gay, said two men had attacked him on a Chicago street, putting a noose around his neck and shouting racist and homophobic slurs.
Prosecutors on Feb. 21 accused him of paying two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, $3,500 to carry out an attack they called a hoax to advance his career but abruptly dropped the charges on Tuesday.
“Let’s get to the bottom of this,” Emanuel said in an ABC News interview. “Let’s find out what happened.”
Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Smollett had “abused” the city of Chicago, a day after the actor walked out of court saying he had been vindicated in insisting he had not staged a racist assault against him in January.
Mr. Smollett, who plays a gay musician on Fox’s hip-hop TV drama Empire, had been charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct alleging he gave false accounts of an attack on him to police investigators.
On Tuesday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said it stood by its accusation against Mr. Smollett but was dropping all the charges, saying the actor’s prior community service and his agreeing to forfeit his $10,000 bond was a just outcome.
“The state’s attorney’s office is saying he’s not exonerated, he actually did commit this hoax,” Mr. Emanuel said in the ABC interview. “He’s saying he’s innocent and his words are true. They better get their stories straight, because this is making fools of all us.”
Chicago’s chief prosecutor, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, defended her office’s decision in an interview with WBEZ on Wednesday as proportionate to the charges. “There’s some people who were never gonna be satisfied unless Mr. Smollett spent many nights in prison, and then there were others who believed that the charging of 16 counts of disorderly conduct was excessive,” she said in the interview. She said the charges Mr. Smollett faced were unlikely to have led to a prison sentence if he had been convicted. “What I can tell you is that most people who come through the criminal justice system don’t give up $10,000 of their hard-earned money, or engage in volunteer services connected with an alleged offense, without viewing that as a way of being held accountable,” she said.
Mr. Smollett initially earned widespread sympathy from celebrities and some Democratic presidential candidates over his account of the alleged assault.
The Chicago Police Department released what it said were all its records from the case on Wednesday, totaling 61 pages, with some names and other personal details redacted. The records conformed with the information included in court filings, including summaries of interviews with the Osundairo brothers who said Smollett gave them a $3,500 check and $100 in cash to buy the rope, ski masks, gloves and red baseball caps used in the attack.
Mr. Smollett had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and told reporters on Tuesday he had been “truthful and consistent” in maintaining his innocence.
His lawyers said he hopes to move on with his acting career, but it remains unclear whether he will return to Empire after being written out of the last two episodes of the most recent season. — Reuters

TV show on growing passion for tigers

IN 2017, Academy award-winning documentary director Ross Kauffman (Born in Brothels, 2004) and his team worked through extremes of temperature — -27° Celsius in Far East Russia and 35° C in India — on a very different kind of project. For the first time in his career, Mr. Kauffman was filming a documentary about animals — specifically, tigers — a break from telling stories about people and their struggles. The documentary, Tigerland, is meant to raise awareness of a project to create preserves for the rapidly dwindling population of great cat.
In 2016, the Discovery Channel launched Project C.A.T, a fund-raising initiative to preserve acres of land for tigers in partnership World Wildlife Fund US (WWF-US). Its first phase covered nearly 2 million acres of land in India and Bhutan. The project aims to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022. According to a WWF-led study on tigers published in the Climate Change journal, the population of tigers worldwide has declined by 96% over the last century, with poaching and habitat loss as the main causes of extinction.
Discovery and WWF-US have now set their eyes on Russia’s Bikin National Park. The project aims to preserve the local tiger population in the 3.7 million acre site. According to a press release, “Discovery will match donations received through this campaign up to $250,000 through Dec. 31, 2019.”
BALANCE OF NATURE
Mr. Kauffman’s documentary was done to raise awareness for the cause. Tigerland follows two subjects from Russia and India who have dedicated their lives to caring for tigers.
“I had never made a film about animals. Most of my films have to do with people and usually people in difficult circumstances but also films about hope,” Mr. Kauffman told members of the South East Asian media in a phone interview. He added that he was inspired to challenge himself and pursue the project when he encountered his young son working on paper cutouts of tigers and being told how he was fascinated by the species.
“As an apex predator, if we cut out the tiger from the top of the pyramid, the pyramid collapses. The balance of nature shifts and our ecosystem slowly but surely collapses as well,” Mr. Kauffman said of the importance of tigers in the wildlife and ecosystem.
In the film, Mr. Kauffman focuses on the expertise of Pavel Fomenko who leads conservation efforts for WWF in the Amur Region in Far East Russia. From him the director learned that one Siberian tiger needs hundreds of square kilometers to catch prey. He also focuses on conservationist Kailash Sankhala, known as the “Tiger Man of India,” who headed a government initiative called Project Tiger in 1973 to save endangered Indian tigers.
“I learned about what it takes to help start a conservation movement. It really comes down to the individuals who are fighting and who have put themselves on the frontline of conservation,” Mr. Kauffman said.
“I felt that one of the best ways for us to engage in any topic is to engage with people who are passionate about that topic. If I can get our audience to care about the people who are passionate in this cause about the tiger, then hopefully I can get the people to care about the tiger itself.
“I want my audience to know the people in my film and get to understand and become emotionally attached to these people. If I can create an emotional attachment to the people in the film, then my audience will understand what the people in the film care about,” he said.
Tigerland premieres on the Discovery Channel on March 31 at 10 p.m. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

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