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Food and relationships at the center of new HBO Asia series

IN ITS SECOND anthology series, HBO Asia presents eight episodes from eight Asian countries telling stories about their connection to food. The pilot episode, Island of Dreams, directed by the Philippines’ Erik Matti from the Philippines, presents a tale of a woman who searches for a better life than what her small island offers.

“As much as this episode is about food, it’s about filmmaking in the Philippine context and also everything about our country — our country has stopped being ambitious… we always settle, we don’t go for perfection even if we can never get there,” Mr. Matti told reporters in a press conference on Oct. 23 at Delgado.112 restaurant in Quezon City.

The episode which premieres on November 3, is a story about a woman, Nieves (played by Angeli Bayani) the eldest of several children who has to settle for meager helpings because her father is a poor fisherman.

“I was born hungry. They say you need to eat to live but if that’s the case, then why can’t everybody eat?” she mused at a young age while watching an elder woman running a carinderia (roadside food stall). She gets tips on how to cook better food for her family despite a small budget, something her father chides her for doing.

“It’s better to put the extra money into buying rice instead of better ingredients. Good food is only for the wealthy,” he says.

As an adult, she goes to Manila to work for a wealthy family whose patriarch (played by Joey Marquez) teaches her how to cook good food, making her realize that food isn’t just for survival.

She comes home to the small town for fiesta (a festival celebrating the feast day of a patron saint) boarding a boat and eating a cream cheese bagel and soon realizes that despite her efforts to try and teach her family how to cook better food, they seem happy with the way things are.

An offer to go to Hong Kong with her employers makes her realize that she may have grown apart from her husband (played by Yul Servo) and her sister (played by Ina Feleo) as she dreams to have a better life and send her children to Manila for formal schooling.

“Food Lore is a drama anthology series and not a cooking show. It’s about human conditions set in the backdrop of food,” Karen Lai, vice-president for communications at HBO Asia, said during the press con.

This is the second anthology series from the cable channel after last year’s Folk Lore which revolved around mythical creatures from Asia though this is the first anthology where the Philippines is included.

The show is the brainchild of Singapore filmmaker Eric Khoo and aside from the Philippines, includes episodes shot in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Japan, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

Mr. Matti’s Island of Dreams and Vietnamese filmmaker Phan Bang Di’s He Serves Fish, She Eats Flower premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

And because this is the first Philippine entry in the anthology series, Mr. Matti noted that “a lot was riding on a food story about Filipinos.”

“Because we’re the most un-Asian in the Asian region — we’re more Spanish, we’re more Latin American rather than Asian. So those are the things we took into consideration,” he said.

And to make it universally Filipino, Mr. Matti decided to feature food from all over the country and not just focus on Negrense food (the film was shot in the small island of Cartagena in Negros Occidental) but focus on different Filipino dishes like kare-kare (pork tripe stewed in peanut sauce), lechon (whole roast pig) which they stuffed with batuan (a sour fruit native in Negros), sinigang (sour soup), and adobo (meat cooked in vinegar and soy sauce).

Mr. Matti made it a point to make the island “like any other small island in the Philippines” and not emphasize that it’s an island in Negros.

He also noted the importance of showing international viewers how Filipinos celebrate fiestas because it’s something “international audiences would be excited knowing.”

“We have to include the fiesta and how food brings together communities because for us it’s a communal thing,” he said.

But at its core, Mr. Matti said that the episode is him railing against what he calls the penchant of Filipinos to settle and how his main character is someone who doesn’t.

“There’s a lot of people who settle, but here’s [Nieves] who wants to see things, she’s curious… and she doesn’t settle,” he said.

Food Lore premieres on Nov. 3, 10 p.m. on HBO Asia and HBO Go. The first episode is Island of Dreams. HBO is available on SkyDirect ch. 22 (HD), Cignal TV ch. 53 (SD) and ch. 210 (HD), Sky Cable ch. 54 (SD) and ch. 168 (HD), and in various cable TV providers. HBO Go is HBO’s streaming service exclusive for Sky Cable subscribers in the Philippines and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Silly Season

Movie Review
Tisoy
Written by Severino “Nonoy” Marcelo
Directed by Ishmael Bernal

By Carmen Aquino Sarmiento

THE NEWLY RESTORED Tisoy (1977) which premiered during the recent QCinema International Film Festival, was a happy choice by Sagip Pelikula, ABSCBN’s film restoration arm.

National Artist for Film Ishmael Bernal has always had a wicked sense of humor: in his first film Pagdating sa Dulo (1971), he had Rita Gomez scratch her armpits as she listens to Eddie Garcia (playing a director purportedly based on Lamberto Avellana) tell her how he will make her a star. This light-hearted comedy has the skimpiest of plots: Tisoy’s (Christopher de Leon) haphazard and lackadaisical search for his elusive American father.

The ridiculousness of it all is established with Moody Diaz as Aling Otik leading her fellow salakot-wearing and broom-wielding Metro-Manila Aides in a Busby Berkeley-like dance number atop the Intramuros walls. Her son Clipetty Clap (Jun Morales) is Tisoy’s best friend. Bernal is not above just letting Bert “Tawa” Marcelo (playing the probinsyano Tikyo) tell actual jokes, some so shamelessly corny that one cannot help but laugh at their sheer atrociousness. The director’s friends are in on the fun, as Tisoy’s wanderings with his barkada are the perfect opportunity for numerous playful cameos by characters from their films.

Early on is Bembol Roco as Julio Madiaga from Lino Brocka’s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), leaning against that iconic lamppost in Chinatown, as he waits for a glimpse of his beloved Ligaya. Here, Roco deadpans that the camera unit is taking forever to arrive. Hilda Koronel has her cameo later but as herself.

Later, Dranreb Belleza pops up as Bindoy from Eddie Romero’s Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon (1976) where De Leon had his introductory breakout role. His then-wife Nora Aunor produced Tisoy. She appears as the nurse Corazon from Minsa’y Isang Gamu-Gamo (1976) by Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara.

Bernal’s confidence in his film contemporaries was such that he was sure the characters from some of their best work would be memorable even then. For the mid-’70s to ’80s were our own nouvelle vague, when Filipino artists had to find new ways to express their creativity under the Marcos Martial Law climate of fear and repression. Bernal did not take himself and his confreres too seriously though: Tisoy and his barkada read film history and theory books while waiting out a traffic jam.

Nonoy Marcelo based his comic strip drawing of Tisoy on the young, beardless Alfredo Roces, who gave him his first break with the FEU college paper, then later, introduced him to his cousin Chino Roces, publisher of the Manila Times, where Marcelo’s political cartoons, as well as Tisoy appeared. That paper was shut down during Marcos Martial Law, but Marcelo was already working in New York by then. In the title role, the young Boyet De Leon, with his abs perpetually on display, lights up the screen. Jay Ilagan is appropriately supporting and low key, as Boy Biglang-yaman, Tisoy’s friendly rival for the affections of the colegiala Maribubut (Charo Santos). Today’s more sexually uninhibited young people will find quaint Maribubut’s insistence on placing a fat throw pillow between her chest and Tisoy’s back, whenever she rides with him on his big Easy Rider-style trike. She first appears with other youths, all in Kabataang Barangay (KB) shirts.

Marcelo had a friendly working relationship with the KB’s first chairman Imee Marcos. She produced the documentary Da Real Makoy (1976) about her father Ferdinand E. Marcos, which Marcelo scripted and directed, “at a time when details of a much-mythified tale were difficult to verify,” as writer Sylvia L. Mayuga pointed out. Marcelo also made the animated Tadhana based on the histories commissioned by Marcos. The original film seems to have been lost.

Marcelo’s other memorable characters such as Gemmo (Soxy Topacio; the character was named after the first Filipino Miss International Gemma Cruz Araneta, because he was so much her opposite), and Pomposa (Lorli Villanueva) take sly digs at the Filipino art scene, including then First Lady Imelda Marcos’s role as the First Patroness of Philippine Art. Dexter Doria as Marjorie Pa-cute wears a bikini in most of her scenes, much like Goldie Hawn’s sock-it-to-me girl in the American TV comedy Laugh-In (1968-1973) which may have inspired Tisoy’s manic quality as well. There are also uncredited cameos by Johnny Delgado and Angie Ferro as faith healers.

TISOY’S RESTORATION
Restoring Tisoy turned out to be a more daunting task than the local Sagip Pelikula laboratory could manage: “The film presented numerous defects such as dust/dirt, flicker, patches, stabilization, continuous line scratch, single frame scratches, gate hair, mis-light, vertical band, frame tear, continuous dust, fungus, frame jerk, reel changeover mark, bump, squeeze, mold, splice, stain and lead frames before its picture restoration process.”

Hence, the restoration process was completed in Thailand’s Kantana Post Production for another 3600 restoration hours, and with more than 250 artists and technicians working on it. Then the film was scanned in 4K using its 35mm print source, which is preserved in the ABS-CBN Film Archives.

42 years after, Tisoy still makes us laugh, but also weep, as the bluesy sequence by the band The Vanishing Tribe (they also did the music for Bernal’s Manila by Night: City After Dark, 1980) on Metro-Manila traffic makes us realize: if it was already that bad, way back then, is this our permanent, ever-worsening situation, now and forever? The flat fare for the air-conditioned Love Bus 40 years ago was P7.50, still less than the lowest jeepney fare now. The modernized jeepneys would be 50% smaller than the old Love Bus. It’s the law of diminishing returns or maybe it’s just that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

MGen to swing to profit in 2020

MERALCO PowerGen Corp. (MGen) is expected to swing to profit next year with the full operation of its first power generation plant, reversing the losses that it had incurred after the delays encountered by some of its projects.

“MGen I think taken as a whole will be profitable next year, so that’s the good news,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of MGen’s parent firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), told reporters when asked about the prospects of the energy generation arm of the distribution utility.

Asked about how he would quantify the profit expectation for MGen, he said: “We have an idea. I think the board has still to see the budget, which is being finalized by management so we should present the budget Nov. 25.”

MGen formally inaugurated on Oct. 15, 2019 its P56.2-billion San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL), the country’s first supercritical coal-fired power plant, which now provides additional supply to the Luzon grid.

It describes the plant as the country’s “most advanced coal plant using a high efficiency, low emissions coal technology that allows operation at increasingly higher temperatures and pressures to reach higher efficiencies, while significantly reducing emissions.

In September, Meralco secured provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to start operating the 500-megawatt (MW) plant.

SBPL started commercial operations on Sept. 26, and currently generates power for Luzon, which accounts for about 72% of the country’s gross domestic product.

“There’s a modest impact in the fourth quarter,” Mr. Pangilinan said. There are profits for the fourth quarter alone because you started COD (commercial operation date) end of September so production is ramping up. It’s profitable in the fourth quarter, but still small.”

The plant’s cost was partly funded by a P42.15-billion project finance facility, which is said to be the Philippines’ largest all-peso transaction to date. A consortium of local banks put together the facility.

The power plant was built by the consortium of South Korea’s Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp., which MGen described as “experienced engineering, procurement and construction contractors with very strong track records.”

The SBPL plant is a partnership between MGen, with a 51% stake, and New Growth BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Electricity Generating Company of Thailand, the first independent power producer in Thailand. It has the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand as a controlling shareholder.

“We may get a bit of reimbursement from the contractor. On the whole our share might be around more or less P500-600 million so it will reduce the loss of MGen, small loss na lang for the year,” Mr. Pangilinan said. “Next year ang full impact talaga.”

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

Sony Pictures acquires Yellow Rose starring Noblezada, Salonga

SONY PICTURES Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA), the acquisition arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has announced that they have bought worldwide rights (excluding the Philippines) of Fil-Am director Diane Paragas’ debut feature, Yellow Rose.

The film tells the story of a Filipino teen from a small Texas town who fights to pursue her dreams as a country music performer while facing the threat of deportation.

The film stars two-time Tony Award Nominee Eve Noblezada in her feature film debut, Tony Award Winner Lea Salonga, Princess Punzalan, Dale Watson, Gustavo Gomez, Libby Villari, and Liam Booth.

“Yellow Rose has been a labor of passion for over 15 years and I’m thrilled that we can now share this very relevant story with the world,” Ms. Paragas said in a press release.

“We have the added honor of representing the real experiences of Filipino-Americans, Asian-Americans, and all immigrants seeking a better life in America,” she added.

The film was produced with the help of a seed grant from ABS-CBN’s Cinematografo Originals program which provides co-production financing for select film projects (both narrative and documentary which “aims to foster, mentor, nurture new filmmaking talent from the Filipino diaspora,” its website said.

Yellow Rose features original songs developed for the film, written and composed by Mr. Watson, Ms. Paragas, Ms. Noblezada, and Thia Megia. The film is written by Ms. Paragas, Annie Howell, and Celena Cipriaso, based on a story written by Paragas and Andy Bienen.

The film premiered at this year’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival where it received the Grand Jury Award and the Breakout Performance Award for Ms. Noblezada’s outstanding performance.

Yellow Rose will be distributed in theaters in the Philippines by ABS-CBN. — ZBC

Liquidity growth picks up in September

MONEY SUPPLY growth picked up in September as demand for credit inched up and following the recent cut in banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR).

Domestic liquidity or M3, the broadest measure of money supply in an economy, grew 7.7% year-on-year to P12 trillion, a faster pace than the upward-revised 6.3% growth seen in August, preliminary central bank data released yesterday showed. Month-on-month, money supply rose by 1.5%

“Demand for credit remained the principal driver of money supply growth,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.

Net claims on the central government rose six percent year-on-year, picking up from the upward-revised 2.4% pace in August. Meanwhile, domestic claims, which were mainly supported by the private sector, rose 7.4%, slower than the upward-revised 7.8% seen in August.

The central bank said loans for production activities continued to be driven by lending to key sectors such as real estate activities; financial and insurance activities; construction; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.

Meanwhile, net foreign assets (NFA) in peso terms climbed 8.3% in September from the 8.9% print logged in August. The BSP said this was supported by foreign exchange inflows coming mainly from overseas Filipinos’ remittances and business process outsourcing receipts.

On the other hand, NFA held by banks slipped by 3.2% year-on-year in September from a growth of 17.9% in the preceding month.

“The NFA of banks decreased as their foreign liabilities rose due to increased placements and deposits made by foreign banks with their local branches and other banks,” the BSP said.

Analysts said the increase in liquidity was partly driven by the RRR cuts implemented by the central bank during the period.

The BSP in May announced a phased 200-basis-point (bp) cut in the RRR of universal, commercial banks and thrift banks. This brought the reserve ratio of big banks to 16% effective July 26, while the RRR of thrift lenders was cut to 6%.

The central bank has since announced more reductions in banks’ reserve requirements.

In a statement last week, the BSP said its policy-setting Monetary Board (MB) decided to slash the RRR of universal, commercial and thrift banks by another 100 bps effective December, bringing total reductions to their reserve ratios for this year to 400 bps.

The MB said the cut will also apply to the reserve ratio of non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions (NBQBs).

This latest cut will follow the 100-bp reduction in all banks’ RRR announced on Sept. 27 which takes effect next month and will bring the reserve ratio of universal and commercial lenders to 14% by December, while the RRR of thrift banks will stand at four percent.

Meanwhile, the reserve ratio of rural banks, which will go down to three percent next month, was untouched.

On the other hand, the reserve ratio of NBQBs will be cut to 14% by December.

“The growth rates were observed after the period of the phased 200 bps reserve requirement ratio cut from May to July 2019 as extra liquidity slowly found its way into the financial system. The cuts have released approximately P200 billion into the system, and was expected in part to enable the private sector to help finance the infrastructure program by the government via loans,” Security Bank Corp. Chief Economist Robert Dan J. Roces said in a note sent to reporters.

LENDING STEADY
Despite the boost in liquidity, bank lending growth was flat in September amid steady production loans, the BSP reported separately on Thursday.

Outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks grew 10.5% year-on-year in September, steady from the August print. Inclusive of reverse repurchase agreements, bank lending rose 10.2% in September, slightly picking up from the 10% seen the previous month.

Production loans comprised 87.4% or the bulk of banks’ total lending, growing nine percent in September, also flat from the previous month.

Construction loans continued to see the highest expansion at 36.2%, followed by credit for real estate activities at 18.3%; finance and insurance activities at 17.6%; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply at 9.2%; and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles at 4.8%.

Lending to other sectors also picked up in September, except credit for other community, social and personal activities which plummeted 39.8%, and the professional, scientific and technical activities, which fell 35.7%.

Meanwhile, loans for household consumption climbed 26.2% in September, picking up from the 25.4% growth in August, fuelled by the faster growth in motor vehicle, credit card, and salary-based general purpose consumption loans.

“Analysts are pointing out to the reluctance on the part of corporates to take on hefty loans as they wait for rates to hit rock bottom,” ING Bank N.V.-Manila Branch Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in an email.

“They also cite the dovish Governor [Benjamin E. Diokno] and expectations for further rate cuts for the hesitation and thus we may not see bank lending pick up regardless of additional RRR reductions as CFOs (chief financial officers) await possible further rate cuts from the BSP,” he added.

Meanwhile, Security Bank’s Mr. Roces said the current bank lending growth pace is still “reasonable in the interim”.

“The third policy rate cut of 25 bps was announced by the BSP at the end of September during its regular policy meeting, with a possible pause to the cuts telegraphed by the central bank the following day,” Mr. Roces said.

“The uncertainty of further policy cuts until then may have caused borrowers to hold off taking out loans. Second, money supply growth, in theory, should precede loan growth due to a lag in liquidity absorption,” he added.

“We expect both loan growth and liquidity levels to accelerate towards year-end as government ramps up spending, with a pause in monetary easing communicated by the central bank,” Mr. Roces said. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

SEC issues warning vs 4 ‘investment’ firms

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is advising the public against investing in four companies which have been operating without proper licenses.

The SEC issued advisories against Max4Unlimited Co.; Max4 Unli Corp.; Lion City Finance Group, Inc.; and Hybrid Gamefowl Holdings, Inc., which it identified as groups engaged in the unlicensed solicitation of investments from the public.

It said Max4Unlimited and Max4 Unli are both registered with the SEC as a partnership and as a corporation, respectively, that are supposed to be in the business of trading goods, commodities, wares and merchandise.

However, neither of them have licenses to offer or sell securities. The SEC said the two companies have been collecting investments from the public in exchange of a 50% return on investment every six months.

The SEC also flagged the operations of Lion City, which was found to offer a “pure passive income of 10% interest or more per month.” The investment it collects from the public is supposedly for real estate, foreign exchange, cars and casino financing.

But the SEC noted the Articles of Incorporation of Lion City states it is a financing company that offers credit facilities for industrial, commercial and/or agricultural enterprises. It also showed the company “shall not solicit, accept or take investments/placements from the public (and) neither shall it issue investment contracts.”

Hybrid Gamefowl likewise solicits investments from the public without a license but through a different scheme that involves texas chicken. It entices the public to pay at least P998 for two “Texas chickens,” which will not be delivered to the buyer, who instead will get a return of P3,000 after 90 days.

The SEC said while Hybrid Gamefowl is registered with the Commission, it does not have a license to offer or sell securities, which the government requires from companies that seek to operate as investment firms.

Under Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code, securities shall not be publicly offered for sale or distribution in the Philippines without a registration statement filed with and approved by the SEC.

The SEC said these companies’ salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents that are found to have been soliciting investments or recruiting investors face a maximum fine of P5 million or a 21-year imprisonment. — Denise A. Valdez

Calabarzon, Davao female farm workers paid more in 2018

SALARY inequality persisted in the agricultural sector between male and female workers except in Southern Luzon and Davao despite a rise in the overall wage rate, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said, citing the findings of a survey.

In a statement Wednesday, PSA said: “The country’s nominal wage rate of agricultural workers in 2018 averaged P306.28 per day. Male farm workers were paid P310.16 per day, higher than the wage rate of female farm workers at P285.51 per day.”

This was a finding of the “2018 Agricultural Wage Rate Survey (AWRS)” study. The survey took in input from 5,582 households which hired farm workers in four major crops: palay, corn, coconut, and sugarcane.

The nominal wage rate of P306.28 was higher compared to the 2017 rate of P280.37 daily but inequality between female and male farm workers’ pay was also evident, with men being paid P284.72 in 2017 compared to the women’s P255.80.

PSA also reported that lower wages for female farm workers was the norm in all regions except Region 4-A (Calabarzon consisting of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Region 11 (Davao Region).

Female Calabarzon farm workers earned P376.84 while men earn P373.82. In the Davao Region, the nominal wage for female farm workers was P328.88 and P293.02 for men. Calabarzon also had the highest recorded nominal wage value for women workers among all the regions.

The lowest wage rate for women in agriculture was P237.14 in Region 7 (Central Visayas), where men earned P269.74.

PSA also reported across out of all the major crops, palay farm workers had the highest wages compared to the other three studied with P324.81 compared to the P264.29 of corn farm workers; P317.27 of coconut farm workers; and P273.38 of sugarcane workers.

Pay rates among the four major crops also reflected gender disparities: In the rice industry, men were paid P329.86 and women P300.36. In the coconut industry, men were paid P317.62 and women P296.98. In the sugarcane industry, men were paid P276.15 and women P256.25. In the corn industry, men were paid were P269.23 and women P249.70. — Gillian M. Cortez

US Fed cuts key rates to boost economy, signals it is on hold

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates for the third time this year to help sustain US growth despite a slowdown in other parts of the world, but signaled there would be no further reductions unless the economy takes a turn for the worse.

“We believe that monetary policy is in a good place,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference after the US central bank announced its decision to cut its key overnight lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a target range of between 1.50% and 1.75%.

“We took this step to help keep the economy strong in the face of global developments and to provide some insurance against ongoing risks,” he said. “We see the current stance of monetary policy as likely to remain appropriate as long as incoming information about the economy remains broadly consistent with our outlook.”

Powell’s comments clash with President Donald Trump’s demands that the Fed cut rates even deeper to boost economic growth that ebbed to a 1.9% annual rate in the third quarter, well below the 3% level Trump pledged would flow from a round of tax cuts and other actions nearly two years ago.

But the Fed’s new stance also vouched for both the seeming durability of a US economic expansion that is now the longest on record.

In his news conference, Powell ticked off an extensive list of reasons why he feels the economy is doing well, and likely to continue to do so under the current stance of monetary policy — from robust consumer spending, strengthening home sales, and asset prices he considered healthy but not to a level of excess.

The S&P 500 index closed at another record high on Wednesday.

As well, Powell said, some of the risks that had most unnerved Fed officials, and convinced them lower rates were needed if only as “insurance,” have seemed to abate in recent weeks.

The US-China trade war was “a step closer” to resolution, Powell said, and it looked less likely that Britain would crash out of the European Union.

The outlook for the US economy continues to be for “moderate” growth, a strong labor market and inflation rising back to the Fed’s 2% annual goal, he said, and only “a material reassessment” of that outlook could drive the central bank to cut rates further from here.

DISSENTS
In the statement accompanying its decision to cut rates, the Fed dropped a previous reference that it “will act as appropriate” to sustain the economic expansion — language that was considered a sign for future rate cuts.

Instead, the central bank said it will “monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path” of its target interest rate, a less decisive phrase.

Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren dissented from the decision. They have opposed all three Fed rate cuts this year as unnecessary.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who had dissented in September because he supported a bigger rate cut then, voted with the majority on Wednesday, an indication that views within the Fed may be coalescing around standing pat for now.

The rate cut was widely anticipated by financial markets, but expectations for additional cuts after October have diminished significantly in recent weeks. Contracts tied to the Federal Funds rate indicate an expectation of perhaps one rate cut next year.

While yields on longer-dated bonds showed little reaction, those on shorter-dated maturities that are more closely influenced by Fed policy expectations initially moved higher. The yield on the 2-year note rose to the highest since Oct. 1 at about 1.67% before settling back to earlier levels as Powell spoke.

“It’s pretty much what was expected,” said Jim Powers, director of investment research at Delegate Advisors.

“The more important outcome is they removed the phrase ‘act as appropriate.’ It looks like the market is taking that to mean that there will be a pause in the declining rate path they were on beforehand. That’s what was expected, and that’s generally a good thing,” Powers said.

UNUSUAL JUNCTURE
The central bank and US economy are at an unusual juncture.

Unemployment is near a 50-year low, inflation is moderate, and data earlier on Wednesday showed economic growth in the third quarter slowed but not as sharply as many economists expected and some Fed officials feared.

But parts of the economy, particularly manufacturing, have stuttered in recent months as the global economy slowed. Businesses have pared investment in response to the US-China trade war that both raised tariffs on many goods, and also made the world a riskier place to make long-term commitments.

While that has not had an obvious impact yet on US hiring or consumer spending, Fed officials felt a round of “insurance” rate cuts was appropriate to guard against a worse outcome. The Fed cut rates in July and again in September, and by doing so hoped to encourage businesses and consumers with more affordable borrowing costs.

The approach was successful in the 1990s when risks developed during another prolonged period of economic growth. — Reuters

Horror and alienation at Cinema One Originals World Cinema section

CINEMA ONE Originals brings multitude of new takes on storytelling through its exciting World Cinema section lineup for its 15th year, featuring the films The Lighthouse, The Father, The Invisible Life of Eurice Gusmao, Knives Out, Matthias and Maxime, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Truth, and The Two Popes.

Opening the festival on November 7 is the much-awaited sophomore film from The Witch (2015) director Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse, which stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as lighthouse keepers slowly going insane on a black rock. David Sims of The Atlantic commended the film for capturing its audience in its strangeness. He wrote, “It’s a bracing squall of a movie, a briny delight that’s as amusing as it is mesmerizingly strange.”

Thematically kindred in many ways, Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes while about the often tenuous relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, is also about two men negotiating their estrangements. The Netflix film stars Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce.

Alienation shadows two other films in the lineup, this time, between parent and offspring, with Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s tragicomic road movie The Father centers on a father who takes a trip with his son after their neighbor claims his dead wife has been making phone calls from beyond the grave; and Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s follow-up to his Palme D’Or-winning Shoplifters, and first feature outside his native Japan, The Truth. The film stars Catherine Deneuve as a French movie star whose tumultuous relationship with her daughter gets even more fractious when her revealing memoir goes into publication.

Xavier Dolan’s present day Matthias And Maxine is about two friends who try to reconcile dormant and kindled feelings during a summer abroad; while Celine Sciamma’s period drama Portrait Of A Lady on Fire is about a young painter who falls in love with her subject, may be generations apart in their settings, but both are incisive and poignant evocations of desire. The film won both the Best Screenplay award as well as the Queer Palm at the 2019 Cannes International Film Festival)

Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz’s describes his sprawling and expansive The Invisible Life of Eurice Gusmao. Based on Martha Batalha’s 2016 novel, is a tropical melodrama with all the emotional upheavals the descriptor suggests. The film won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2019 Cannes

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is an Agatha Christie riff that lovingly reconstructs it while cleverly deconstructing it and being fiendishly entertaining in the process. The film stars Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

The 15th Cinema One Originals opens on Nov. 7 (Thursday), 7 p.m. at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay Cinema 7. The festival runs from November 7 to 17 at Trinoma, Glorietta, Ayala Malls Manila Bay, Gateway, and Powerplant Makati. There will also be screenings at Vista Cinemas in Iloilo and Evia Lifestyle and in Cinema Centenario, Cinema ‘76, Black Maria, UP Cine Adarna, and FDCP Cinematheque Manila. For more information, visit @CinemaOneOriginals on Facebook.

Federal Land to develop condominium in Bay Area

FEDERAL LAND, Inc., the property arm of GT Capital Holdings, Inc., is developing a four-tower condominium in the Bay Area of Pasay City.

Mi Casa is located within Federal Land’s 40-hectare mixed-use development Metro Park.

In a statement, Federal Land said it launched the first tower, Hawaii, which offers 158 units ranging from one-bedroom units to three-bedroom units. Each floor has an average of 14 units.

The unit sizes will be at 45.5 square meters (sq.m.) for a one-bedroom unit, 61.5 sq.m. to 66 sq.m. for a two-bedroom unit, and 113 sq.m. to 137.5 sq.m. for a three-bedroom unit.

The Hawaii tower will feature various indoor amenities, including a lounge area, gym, kids’ play room, a function room with a culinary station, and a movie room.

Mi Casa will have outdoor amenities such as swimming pools and kids’ play areas.

“Mi Casa is set to be a vibrant community that will complement Filipino lifestyles and afford them ample opportunities to learn, thrive, and savor the good things in life,” the statement said.

Federal Land said Mi Casa’s concept and design, which was inspired by the tropical environment of the Bay Area, is a collaborative effort with CallisonRTKL, and Aidea, Inc.

CallisonRTKL is an architecture, planning, and design firm behind the Dubai Creek Harbour in the United Arab Emirates and the Four Seasons Los Angeles Private Residences in California.

Aidea, Inc. is an all-Filipino design firm known for Canvas Boutique Hotel in Palawan and the Marriott Hotel in Pampanga.

The Metro Park estate currently has resort-themed condominiums, offices, shopping and dining centers, entertainment hubs, institutional establishments, and a garden.

The estate is set against Manila Bay, and is close to the area’s malls and convention centers.

The Hawaii tower is targeted to be ready for turnover in 2023. — Jenina P. Ibañez

HR firm sees opportunities for health workers in Japan, UK, Canada

HUMAN RESOURCE firm Q2 HR Solutions said it sees opportunities in the healthcare industry in Japan, the UK, Sweden and Canada due to aging populations there.

Q2 HR, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2020, is a full-service HR company that offers sourcing and HR services, HR outsourcing, managed services, background investigation, organizational consultation and development, assessments, and other bespoke HR solutions.

“The demand right now goes beyond borders. We can do this in Australia, in Japan, in the UK, Sweden, and Canada. So I look at the needs around the world,” Trixie L. Whyte, founder, chairwoman and president of the Philippine-based firm, said during a roundtable discussion with reporters in Makati City Monday.

The company is looking at offering its services to companies in Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Canada beginning 2020.

Ms. Whyte said the company started in 2000 with her late husband Brendan and six people on staff.

Since 2000, the company has deployed over 50,000 workers to clients, including business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

In 2019, Q2 HR Solutions has over 250 clients in the Philippines, a lineup expected to increase by 20% to 30% by 2020, Ms. Whyte said. “With our expansion, it’s going to be higher,” she added.

This year, the company projects revenue “north of P600 million,” which is “25%” higher than last year, Ms. Whyte said. In 2020, she added, “My aim is really to grow no less than 25%.”

This year, the company will also be adding additional services. “We are looking at payroll outsourcing and benefits administration outsourcing,” Ms. Whyte said.

She also said the company established a presence in Australia early this year through its subsidiary, The People Expert, which deploys healthcare workers. — Arjay L. Balinbin

HBO orders Game of Thrones prequel

HBO HAS given a 10-episode, straight-to-series order to House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel co-created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal. Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal will partner as showrunners and will also serve as executive producers along with George R.R. Martin and Vince Gerardis.

The announcement was made during the WarnerMedia Day by Casey Bloys President of HBO Programming on October 29.

Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the series is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and tells the story of House Targaryen. Sapochnik will direct the pilot and additional episodes.

“The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories,” Bloys said in a release. “We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George.”

Sapochnik previously directed the Game of Thrones episode, Battle of the Bastards, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series as well as a Director’s Guild of America awards. He won another Emmy — for Best Drama Series for the series’ final season where he served as an executive producer.

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