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PAL Holdings names new president

PAL Holdings, Inc. named Lucio K. Tan, Jr. as its new president, after the resignation of Gilbert Gabriel F. Santa Maria just three months after his appointment.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the parent company of Philippine Airlines (PAL), Inc. said Mr. Santa Maria resigned on Oct. 28 due to “personal reasons.”

During a board meeting on the same day, PAL Holdings elected Mr. Tan as its new president.

However, PAL Holdings later clarified that Mr. Santa Maria “remains as president and COO (chief operating officer) of the operating company, PAL, Inc.”

“Furthermore, at the joint Board of Directors meeting of PAL Holdings, PAL, Inc. and Air Philippines Corp. (APC) held yesterday, 28 October 2019, Mr. Sta. Maria presented his 90-day report on PAL, Inc. as well as his turnaround plan for PAL, Inc. which is due for implementation this coming year 2020. His presentation was well received by the joint Boards,” the listed company said.

In late July, PAL Holdings named Mr. Santa Maria as its president. He was handpicked by PAL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lucio C. Tan to replace Jaime J. Bautista who retired in June.

Mr. Santa Maria was previously the chief operating officer of DC-based IBEX Global Solutions PLC, and California-based IQ BackOffice, Inc.

PAL Holdings’ attributable net loss widened to P3.33 billion in the first half of 2019, from P1.4 billion during the same period a year ago. Consolidated revenues rose 8.6% to P81.25 billion during the period, mainly due to additional flight frequencies.

Shares in PAL Holdings fell 1.24% to close at P7.90 apiece on Tuesday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

REP 2020: A year of many firsts

 

AFTER 52 years and 82 seasons, Repertory Philippines (Rep) opens 2020 headed by a new artistic director, three first-time directors, and a new staging concept that is separate from Rep’s regular season.

Actress Liesl Batucan, formerly the theater group’s managing director, leads her first season — Rep’s 83rd — as REP’s artistic director with the aim of reaching younger audiences.

“I want to shake things up and infuse a new creative energy. I want to start a conversation with the audience to come to the theater. And also to know the concerns that matter to you and how we can present something that connects,” Ms. Batucan told BusinessWorld at the season’s press launch on Oct. 14 at Rep’s home, the Onstage Theater in Greenbelt 1, Makati.

“[W]e have our loyal audiences and they have grown with us,” Ms. Batucan said. “When I was entrusted [with the role of] artistic director, I told myself to make it my goal to reach the younger generation. I want to connect with you guys,” referring to millennials like this writer, as well as the Gen Z audiences.

THE 83RD SEASON LINEUP
Opening the season is The New York Times’ Critic’s Pick of 2014, Stage Kiss, written by American playwright Sarah Ruhl. The romantic comedy takes place backstage with former lovers “She” and “He” who have been cast as lovers in a 1930s melodrama. Directed by Carlos Siguion-Reyna, it stars Missy Maramara, Tarek El Tayech, Andres Borromeo, Justine Narciso, and Mica Pineda.

“My objective as a director is to have the audience share the journey of these characters,” Mr. Siguion-Reyna said in a video shown during the launch.

Stage Kiss will run from Feb. 7 to March 1, 2020.

The second play is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics by Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz. It is set in 1929, in a cigar factory in Tampa, Florida. Juan Julian is hired as a lector, someone who reads to the employees, mostly Cuban immigrants, as they hand roll each cigar. Reading aloud from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, he influences the workers’ lives more than expected. Directed by New York-based production designer Joey Mendoza, the play stars Ana Abad Santos, Jake Macapagal, Paolo O’ Hara, Brian Sy, Gab Pangilinan, Gie Onida, and Madeleine Nicolas.

“I’d like people to walk out of this show thinking of how powerful literature can affect our lives. Things can change. We go into modernity. We like things fast. We look at our cellphones every moment and we stop communicating with each other. But the constant here is I think art and literature will always pull us together,” Mr. Mendoza said of the story in a video shown during the press conference.

Anna in the Tropics will run from March 13 to April 5, 2020.

Rep traditionally presents a musical to cap the season and this year the choice was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s well-loved Broadway musical — and TIME Magazine’s Best Musical of the 20th Century — Carousel. The musical — first performed in 1945 — revolves around the romance between millhouse worker Julie Jordan and carousel barker Billy Bigelow. After losing their jobs because of their love affair, Billy resorts to theft to provide for their unborn child. Directed by Toff de Venecia, the cast is led by Nikki Gil and Gian Magdangal who are both making their REP debuts.

“The themes are universal, timely, and relevant,” Mr. De Venecia said, citing themes of love and redemption. “We’re excited to be able to excavate all of that and be able to bring that to our 2020 staging.”

Carousel will run from May 1 to 24, 2020.

REP 2020 ends with REP Theater for Young Audiences’ musical Snow White and the Prince by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman. Directed by Joy Virata, the musical will run from Sept. 12, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

SITE SPECIFIC PLAYS
Due to a blackout during one show of Father’s Day last season (Ms. Batucan was in the cast), the audience was given the option to either have their tickets refunded or stay and watch the show in the dark — and the audience agreed to the latter.

“We had to perform with no lapel microphone and then they all chose to stay, and when the lights came on, they were unhappy,” Ms. Batucan recalled. After the show, the experience sparked an idea for a new staging concept which she described as “bare bones, stripped, and unamplified.”

Directed by Ed Lacson Jr., REP Unplugged is alternative theater, and will be performed in unconventional performance spaces. It is independent from the rest of the season and will be launched on June 2020 during the interval between REP’s first three plays and its children’s production.

“It’s a work in progress,” Mr. Lacson said. “We’re doing it in an unconventional space. It’s not a reading or a rehearsal. [It’s a] fully realized production but in an unconventional, site specific space. We’re still finding the right material for the right venue. I can’t wait to start working on it. “

For updates, show schedules, ticket inquiries, and season passes, visit www.repertoryphilippines.ph, and repertoryphilippines on Facebook and Instagram. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Hong Kong’s Suncity acquires majority stake in Suntrust

A SUBSIDIARY of Hong Kong’s Suncity Group Holdings, Ltd. has acquired a majority stake in Suntrust Home Developers. Inc., which is co-developing a resort and casino in Entertainment City.

At its stockholders’ meeting yesterday, Suntrust Chairman and President Ferdinand B. Masi announced that Fortune Noble, a subsidiary of Suncity Group, is now the majority shareholder with a 51% stake in the company.

The board of directors also increased Suntrust’s authorized capital stock to P23 billion, from the current P3 billion. Fortune Noble is subscribing to 2.55 billion common shares in Suntrust, while tycoon Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp. is subscribing to an additional 2.18 billion common shares.

After the transaction, Megaworld, which had a 42.48% stake in Suntrust, will have its stake reduced to 34%.

“We believe that the tourism sector, which has seen significant growth in recent years, will continue to show sustainable growth and attract more investments which will be able to drive more growth to the company,” Mr. Masi said at the briefing.

At the same time, Suntrust said its board of directors had approved a co-development agreement with Westside City Resorts World, Inc., another company owned by Mr. Tan that is developing the 31-hectare integrated resort and casino in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (PAGCOR) Entertainment City in Parañaque.

Reuters reported that the Suntrust deal marks the Hong Kong group’s first step in tapping Manila’s gaming industry, which has grown rapidly over the past decade, attracting foreign entrants and generating tax revenue.

“Outside of Macau, the most decent city for gaming is Manila because of the scale, three international brands and facilities, airport. Quite convenient,” Andrew Lo, executive director at Suncity, told Reuters.

Alvin Chau, the founder of Suncity, has grown the company from operating a high roller table in Wynn Macau’s casino in 2007 to a sprawling conglomerate with businesses ranging from property to autos and thousands of employees.

In a separate statement, Suntrust said it signed a deal to develop and exclusively operate the main hotel casino portion of an integrated resort in the capital. Suntrust would operate the casino and a hotel with at least 400 rooms, around 400 gaming tables and 1,200 slot machines for both mass market and high rollers.

Shares in Suntrust were suspended from trading on Tuesday. Its shares surged 37% on Monday.

Suntrust will lease the site for the casino-hotel from the developers of the larger Westside City Resorts World project, including Genting Hong Kong Ltd HK, which will also include a retail center and residential apartments.

As of end-June, the Westside developers had spent P96.5 billion ($1.89 billion) on the project that will start operations before 2023.

Philippines’ gross gaming revenues rose 14% to P120.48 billion ($2.36 billion) in the first half, government data showed.

The industry includes 10 private casino firms operating 1,785 gaming tables and 10,799 electronic gaming machines, according to government data. The state gaming regulator PAGCOR also operates several casinos totalling 477 tables and 9,751 gaming machines.

Suncity’s acquisition of Suntrust is subject to regulatory checks. — Denise A. Valdez and Reuters

Gov’t makes full award of bonds, opens tap facility on strong bids

THE GOVERNMENT fully awarded the P20 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bond) it auctioned off yesterday, and decided to open the tap facility for another P20-billion offer due to strong liquidity.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P20 billion via seven-year reissued T-bonds on Monday as the offer was more twice oversubscribed, with bids totalling P56 billion. Amid strong demand for the securities, the Treasury opened its tap facility to raise another P20 billion.

The bonds, which have a remaining life of six years and three months, fetched an average rate of 4.322%, 18.1 basis points (bp) lower than the 4.503% quoted during the previous auction held on Sept. 10.

At the secondary market on Tuesday, the seven-year bonds were quoted at 4.533%, according to the PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates published on the Philippine Dealing System’s website.

Following the auction, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said rates declined following the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) move to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) anew as well as expectations of further easing by the US Federal Reserve.

“We expected…that we will be receiving strong offers coming from the announcements of central bank governor about additional liquidity that will be flushed into the system with the cut in RRR this November, then yung sa December na naman (then there’s the December cut, too),” Ms. De Leon told reporters.

“Also, the banks, they are also expecting the maturities coming in mid-November — that’s P190 billion in maturities. We’re awash, flushed with cash. That bodes well for the reduction in terms of the rates, and of course the good reception we’re getting,” she added.

A bond trader said by phone that rates were at the lower end of market expectations following the RRR cut announcement.

“For the auction, it’s in line within expectations — just at the lower end of the market expectations. The drivers were the recent cut in the RRR and also in anticipation in upcoming maturity, so most market players are repositioning themselves ahead of that,” the trader said.

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 a 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 government is set to borrow P220 billion from the local market this quarter, broken down into P100 billion in Treasury bills and P120 billion via T-bonds.

PRIZE BONDS
Meanwhile, the Treasury is set to launch its planned prize bonds in mid-November, but will only be limited to individuals, associations and cooperatives to attract them to invest ahead of the holiday season, Ms. De Leon said.

Prize bonds are like the lottery bonds issued in Pakistan and other countries. Through this scheme, bonds are randomly selected within an issue and are redeemed at a higher value than the face value of the debt paper.

Ms. De Leon said the bonds will have a tenor of one year and will be offered for three weeks until December. They will be offered in multiples of P500, while the maximum investment will be announced when the Treasury announces the mechanics, which she said are already being finalized and will hopefully out by the first week of November.

The coupon rate will be “market-based,” the official said.

Aside from coupon payments, the Treasury will also set aside a part of the amount raised for jackpot prize.

Draws will also be done every three months, Ms. De Leon said, with prizes amounting to P20,000, P100,000 and can reach as much as P1 million.

“You don’t get the full coupon, but you have the opportunity to be able to get higher earnings coming out of your investment of as low as P500,” she said.

She said that unlike other cash prizes, the offer is “principal-protected,” which means investors can redeem their initial investment after it matures in one year, “so you’re not throwing away any good money at all.”

The last time the government offered a prize bond was around 1970s called the “Premyo Savings Bond,” but compared to the previous offer, Ms. De Leon said investors will still receive the coupon since only a part of it will be allotted for prizes.

State-run banks Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines will be in charge of marketing the bonds to other selling agents, the official said.

For the Treasury’s marketing strategy, Ms. De Leon said they can do provincial road shows as well as via online so they can brief their targeted market. — B.M. Laforga

Intrigue over absent masterpiece as Da Vinci show opens doors

PARIS — A major exhibition marking 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci opened in Paris on Thursday but there was intrigue over whether the Salvator Mundi painting of Christ, one of the best-known works attributed to the master, would make a late appearance.

The exhibition at the Louvre Museum brought together in one place works by the Renaissance master, many of them loaned from institutions in different parts of the world.

But Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450.3 million in November 2017, was a notable absence. The New York auction house that sold it said it was acquired by an Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre, but it has not gone on display there or been seen publicly since the sale.

The exhibition in Paris featured a version of the same painting made by one of da Vinci’s disciples.

“The Louvre Museum has no announcements to make about that,” a Louvre spokeswoman said on Thursday when asked if the real Salvator Mundi might make an appearance in the exhibition, which runs until Feb. 24 next year.

The Louvre is already home to the artist’s most famous artwork, the Mona Lisa. That work is not part of the exhibition and has remained on display in a different part of the museum.

Da Vinci left his native Italy when his patron died and spent his last years in France as the guest of the French monarch. He died in May 1519 at the Loire Valley chateau that had become his home.

One of the loaned artworks, Vitruvian Man, was the subject of a political tussle, with some groups in Italy, where the work is kept, saying it should not go to France.

But the piece took its place among the artworks in the exhibition on Thursday, after a judge in Venice authorized the loan. It will stay at the Louvre for just eight weeks before going home. The Louvre cited its fragility as the reason for the curtailed stay.

The exhibition has been an instant hit. According to the museum, 260,000 tickets have already been sold.

“It’s supposed to be the biggest, best exhibition on Leonardo that’s taken place in an awfully long time,” said Alan Kanzer, from New York, who was in the Louvre’s courtyard on Thursday. — Reuters

Meralco rejects condition set by Cusi for new CSP

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) will call for bidders to supply 1,200 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity by using one set of terms for new power plants and a different one for existing facilities, going against the suggestion of the Department of Energy (DoE) to open the competitive selection process (CSP) without such distinction, its president said.

“We’ve considered the DoE proposal and are minded basically to proceed on the basis of what we have set out originally, which is to differentiate the brownfield [existing power plants] from the greenfield [new power projects],” Ray C. Espinosa, Meralco president and chief executive officer, told reporters.

He said the power distribution company is scheduled to publish the terms within the week for the second round of competitive bidding for its energy requirement.

“There are financial and economic differences between brownfield and greenfield plants,” he said, referring to respectively to existing plants and new ones.

“PSAs (power supply agreements) that are awarded to these types of plants vary and differ [in their] financial and economic terms,” he added.

Mr. Espinosa said a major difference between the two is that greenfield plants contract their generated power through a 20-year PSA to allow the investing company to recover its capital outlay.

“[For] brownfield, it’s a very different template. The PSA typically runs from five to 10 years as demonstrated by the successful CSPs we have conducted,” he said.

On Sept. 11, Meralco held a competitive bidding for 500 MW of mid-merit capacity effective Dec. 26, 2019 for a term of five years. The winning bidders are First Gen Hydro Power Corp. for a contract capacity of 100 MW, Phinma Energy Corp. for 110 MW, and South Premiere Power Corp. for 290 MW.

They signed the PSA on Sept. 16 subject to regulatory proceedings and evaluation by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Earlier on Sept. 13, Meralco also signed 1,200 MW of baseload capacity. Phinma Energy will supply Meralco with 200 MW, while San Miguel Energy Corp. and South Premiere will deliver 330 MW and 670 MW, respectively. The 10-year contract will run from Dec. 26, 2019 to Dec. 25, 2029.

“What we have to clarify is what is being regulated by the DoE is the process — that the CSP has to follow certain guidelines to ensure it is transparent, it is truly competitive and basically attain its objective of securing supply at the least cost,” Mr. Espinosa said.

The first round of competitive bidding for the 1,200 MW was for supply by a greenfield power plant. It was declared as a failed bid.

“But it does not mean there will be no potential bidders again especially since we have also relaxed some of the requirements,” Mr. Espinosa said.

The relaxed requirements include breaking down the plant configuration to 150-MW units from the previous blocks of 600 MW. A power plant can therefore have 150-MW units and go all the way up to 1,200 MW.

“We have done that, and that was in response with the comment made by SMC (San Miguel Corp.) when we signed the CSP,” he said, referring to the group behind South Premiere.

“We have also moved away from single location requirement, basically allowing multiple requirements, again to make sure those who are willing to bid for a 1,200-MW greenfield have the ability to put up these plants in multiple locations,” Mr. Espinosa said.

He said what Meralco is trying to emphasize to the DoE is that all the comments the company had received from prospective bidders during the pre-bid conference up to the awarding of power supply contracts had been addressed.

“We feel that our position is reasonable and that we basically have the basis upon which to go for a second round of CSP for the 1,200 MW,” he said.

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

BPI boosts digital services as more clients go online

BANK of the Philippine Islands is ramping up its digital services.

BANK OF THE Philippine Islands (BPI) has boosted its digital ecosystem by sealing partnerships for open banking and allowing more services to be accessible through its mobile app and online banking, as well as its pilot of a conversational banking app.

The said initiatives came amid the growing number of their bank clients that have been going mobile, with 42% of them or 3.2 million out of 8.5 million account users doing online banking, BPI officials said Tuesday in a media briefing held in Makati.

With the added features to their online banking service, the lender targets to see 50% of their customer base to go online, BPI Chief Operating Officer Ramon L. Jocson told members of the media.

“It has taken us three to four years to do this journey,” Mr. Jocson added.

Among BPI’s partners are GCash, Lazada and PayMaya, beep Card, AutoSweep, and EasyTrip RFID. With the tie-ups, BPI online banking users will be able to load their e-wallets through their BPI app.

Meanwhile, bank users can also download the BPI Express Assist (BEA) app to access the lender’s conversational bank app, which processes requests such as cash transfers and balance inquiry, among others, through voice or in-text commands.

Amid the bank’s digital transformation, Mr. Jocson said that their customers can be assured that their cybersecurity is taken cared of.

“We track around 22,000 events per second [in our cybersecurity center]. [This includes] when you access your app, when you access the ATM and so forth…,” he said.

Mr. Jocson however said 50% of BPI’s clients still prefer to do traditional banking, so the bank’s approach is to do both high-tech and high touch.

“There will always be people who won’t go online. We need to make sure that there are people in the branches equipped to have high value discussions with you.” Mr. Jocson said.

BPI President and Chief Executive Officer Cezar P. Consing told reporters last week that the bank utilizes seven to eight percent of their revenues per year on technology.

“Two-thirds is spent on running the bank and one third of the technology spending is on building [technology],” Mr. Consing said.

BPI’s net income in the third quarter climbed 38.6% year-on-year to P8.29 billion. This brought its bottom line for the January to September period to P22.03 billion, climbing 29.5% from the P17.01 billion seen the previous year.

The Ayala-led lender’s shares rose 0.05% to close at P99.05 on Tuesday. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Long-lost Italian Renaissance painting sells for €24 million

SENLIS, France — A long-lost painting by 13th century Italian master Cimabue that was found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman was sold for €24 million ($26.6 million), more than four times the pre-auction estimate, auction Acteon house said on Sunday.

The Christ Mocked painting by early Renaissance artist Cimabue discovered earlier this year had been valued at €4 million to €6 million.

“When a unique work of a painter as rare as Cimabue comes to market, you have to be ready for surprises. This is the only Cimabue that has ever come on the market,” said Dominique Le Coent, head of auction house Acteon in Senlis, north of Paris.

Acteon did not reveal the identity of the bidder but said a foreign museum had been among the bidders.

Costs excluded, the painting sold for €19.5 million.

The tiny painting, measuring just 20 by 26 cm (10 inches), is believed to be part of a diptych consisting of eight small panels.

Born in Florence, Cimabue, also known as Cenni di Pepo, was a pioneering Italian primitive painter, of whom only about 10 known works have survived. He was one of the first to use perspective and paint in a more natural style that broke with medieval and Byzantine traditions. — Reuters

The artist who tried to sink his own market — and almost succeeded

CLYFFORD STILL was not an easy man.

He called the paintings of fellow abstract expressionist Barnett Newman “pathetic” and referred to influential art critic Clement Greenberg as “a small and lecherous man.” He destroyed one of his own canvases by cutting a chunk out of it after a collector dared to disobey his wishes. He turned down sales, rejected exhibitions, and forbade reproductions.

The artist’s uncompromising life and the toll it’s taken on his reputation and market is the subject of Lifeline, a new documentary premiering in New York on Nov. 12.

“It’s about what you give up in your life to make art the way you chose to,” says Dennis Scholl, the film’s director and an art collector. “He gave up acclaim and attention. He would not let the art world commodify him.”

Yet the art world might have had the last laugh. Sotheby’s will offer PH-399, painted in 1946, by Still at its marquee evening auction of contemporary art on Nov. 14, two days after Lifeline’s premiere. It’s estimated to sell for $12 million to $18 million.

Widely considered one of the greatest postwar American artists, Still has remained an enigma since he died in 1980.

The film tells his story through archival material, interviews with contemporary art stars such as Julian Schnabel and Mark Bradford, and insights from the artist’s two daughters. We see Still, always impeccably dressed in a white shirt and a tie, get into his Jaguar or approach a canvas that fills the entire field of vision.

His grave pronouncements, preserved in reel-to-reel audio, augment the narrative.

“When I hang a painting, I would have it say: ‘Here am I,’” Still says in one recording. “This is my presence. My feeling. My self. Here I stand. Implacable. Proud. Alive. Naked. Unafraid. If one doesn’t like it, he should turn away because I am looking at him.”

Still was just as dogmatic in death. His will stipulated that his estate be given to an American city willing to establish a permanent museum housing only his work. For the next three decades, hundreds of canvases remained rolled up, sealed away from the public and researchers, until the city of Denver finally won his widow’s approval.

To raise endowment funds, the city put several paintings from Still’s estate on the block, going against the artist’s wish that none should ever be sold. Legal battles ensued, but the auction was allowed to proceed; one painting sold for $61.7 million. The sale brought in more than $100 million.

The artist’s market has since been erratic, in part because so few significant works are in circulation. Those that do circulate are not always in line with contemporary tastes. PH-916, a six-foot-tall painting that carried a high estimate of $20 million, failed to sell at Christie’s last year.

The tension between Still’s art and the art world is one of the main themes of Lifeline. A pioneer of abstract expressionism, along with Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Newman, Still split from most of his peers, his gallery, and then New York altogether. He spent the last two decades of his life in rural Maryland.

“He had to get away from what he called ‘the corruption of the art world,’” says his daughter, Sandra Still Campbell.

The title of the film refers to the word Still used to describe the bands of color that snaked up and down his monumental canvases. Still’s backstory for the term, though, is less poetic.

“I asked him one time, ‘What is this thing about a lifeline?’” says Henry Hopkins, the former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The artist told Hopkins that when he was a young boy, his father farmed “on very bad land up in Canada.” One day, Still’s father dropped him down a new 30-foot-deep well, head first, to check if the water was reached. Still was held by a rope tied around his ankle.

“And he said, ‘It was such a traumatic experience, it remained with me all of my life,’” recalls Hopkins (who died in 2009), in archival footage.

Still wanted to exercise total control over his works inside and outside of the studio. Museum directors recount how he drove them crazy installing exhibitions, including a sprawling solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shortly before his death.

He could also be ruthless. On a rainy day in 1958, Still walked into a home of Alfonso Ossorio, a wealthy artist and collector, who was planning to send a Still painting overseas against the artist’s wishes. Still found the painting, pulled out a knife, and cut out a piece in the middle of the canvas.

“He did refer to it as ‘I cut the heart of the painting out,’” says his daughter.

The cutout now resides at the Clyfford Still museum in Denver, along with the artist’s archive, about 830 paintings, and more than 2,300 works on paper and sculpture. The museum holds approximately 95% of Still’s total output. “He knew that at some point the world would come to him,” says Scholl, the film’s director. “And, of course, it did.” — Bloomberg

PHL nickel miners seen to get a boost from Indonesia export ban

By Vincent Mariel P. Galang, Reporter

NICKEL ore producers in the Philippines are expected to get a boost, after Indonesia announced that it will suspend nickel ore exports for the rest of the year.

Mining stocks got a lift at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), where the mining and oil subsector was up 143.91 points or 1.57% to close at 9,285.91 on Tuesday. The PSE index closed 44.66 points or 0.56% higher at 7,991.19 on Tuesday, while the broader all shares index added 12.92 points or 0.27% to 4,787.17.

Nickel Asia Corp., the Philippines’ top nickel ore producer, rose 5.15% or 20 centavos to close at P4.08 each. Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc., another nickel ore miner, also jumped 3.57% or 6 centavos to close at P1.74 each.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Indonesia suspended nickel ore exports immediately, as the country aims to become a processor of its mineral resources.

Indonesia was the top nickel-producer in 2018 with 560,000 tons, followed by the Philippines, with 340,000 tons. Both Indonesia and the Philippines’ top export market for the mineral is China.

Timson Securities, Inc. Equity Trader Jervin S. de Celis said Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban will benefit Philippine nickel ore miners.

“The move of Indonesian government in the ban of nickel exports will cause the price of the metal rise in the world market and that may translate to higher revenues for Nickel Asia, Global Ferronickel and other nickel-exporting firms from the Philippines,” he said in a text message.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) has lined up proposed amendments for the Philippine Mineral Reporting Code (PMRC) 2007.

“‘Yung process namin na ‘to [This process] is really to benchmark and see where appropriate… revisions or upgrades in our reporting framework for mining companies would have to be introduced,” PSE Chief Operating Officer Roel A. Refran told BusinessWorld via phone.

“It’s been a long time. It’s been more than ten years… and the world is changing,” he added.

The code was adopted by the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2008, which sets minimum standards, recommendations, and guidelines for public reporting of listed mining companies.

At that time it was compatible with the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee Code 2004 and the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards International Reporting Template 2006. The implementing rules and regulations of PMRC 2007 was issued by the SEC and the PSE in October 2010.

The PSE said that a Philippine Mineral Reporting Code Committee (PMRCC) was formed November 2018 to lead the process of revising the PMRC 2007 which started February this year.

The PMRCC members include the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers, Geology Society of the Philippines, and the Society of the Metallurgical Engineers of the Philippines, along with the PSE and other minerals-industry stakeholders.

A public hearing on the amendments to the PMRC will be held the Mines and Geosciences Bureau Central Office in Quezon City on November 9.

BSP invests $150 million in BIS green bonds

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has invested $150 million in the open-ended green bonds launched by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).

In a statement released Tuesday, the central bank said its investment in the green bonds launched by the Switzerland-based lender will help diversify the BSP’s reserves.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno told reporters in a text message that BSP invested $150 million to the said green bonds.

“The BSP is proud to be a member of the advisory committee created by the BIS to give guidance on the objectives of the initiative and the features of the fund, which is designed to help central banks incorporate environmental sustainability objectives in reserve management,” the central bank said in the statement.

“The BSP is one with the BIS in its broader commitment to support environmentally responsible finance and investment practices,” the central bank added.

The BIS launched the open-ended fund in September and is structured according to Swiss law. It is part of the BIS Investment Pool family, a format used by BIS for its fixed income investment products.

The BIS acts as a bank for central banks. It is owned by 60 central banks around the world.

In a forum by The Asian Banker held earlier this month, Mr. Diokno said the central bank has acknowledged the repercussions of climate change as well as the banks’ role to drive initiatives related to sustainable financing.

“In particular, a number of banks have put up Sustainable Energy Finance Desks, which serve as a point of contact in evaluating and monitoring sustainable energy projects. These encourage enterprises to engage in renewable energy projects,” Mr. Diokno said in his speech at the event held in Taguig, also noting lenders that have issued green bonds such as BDO Unibank, Inc.’s $150 million green bonds and Bank of the Philippine Islands’ $300 million ASEAN green bonds.

Mr. Diokno also said the BSP will conduct a study on the role of central banks in addressing climate and environment-related risk to monetary, financial, and broader macroeconomic stability. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Experiencing Van Gogh on-screen

“I CAN’T change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.” Artist Vincent Willem van Gogh — whose painting The Red Vineyard (1888) is the only work known to have been sold in his lifetime — wrote those prophetic lines in a letter to his brother, Theo in 1888. Today, his works are sold for millions in auctions and private sales worldwide.

But one does not have to have millions, or visit a museum far from our shores to enjoy the Dutch post-impressionist painter’s works thanks to Van Gogh Alive, multi-sensory exhibition of selected masterpieces which is running until Dec. 8 at the fourth level of One Bonifacio High Street in BGC.

The exhibition is created and promoted by Grande Exhibitions, an Australian company specializing in the installation of large-scale exhibitions; and presented by the Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. (BAFI), the non-profit organization behind The Mind Museum, the BGC Arts Center, and the BGC Public Art Program.

“It was a natural partnership with BAFI in redefining what can be creatively done inside indoor spaces. It was a coming together of how BGC can be a game-changer in its creative approach to community life and how to punctuate our collective experiences of a place,” Myra Ocampo, Head of Commercial Operations of Bonifacio Global City, was quoted as saying in a press release.

BAFI previously worked with Grande Exhibitions on the Da Vinci The Genius exhibit at the Mind Museum in 2013.

“We belong to the same organization of science museums and exhibition related organizations. We always know what each other is up to so we always know what they are offering,” Bonifacio Art Foundation managing director and curator Maria Isabel Garcia, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines at last week’s press launch.

“They wanted to present Van Gogh in a different light. They bring in that added value of digital prowess in order to present classical content in a contemporary way,” she added.

LIFE STAGES
The exhibition takes up a 500-square-meter space in One Bonifacio High Street, which can accommodate 270 visitors at a time. A life-size replica of Van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles, France welcomes visitors at the venue’s entrance, followed by a display and descriptions of his famous paintings.

Guests then enter the main exhibit space, a 45-minute presentation of over 3,000 paintings, portraits, photographs, and letters projected on a scattering of walls in the space, set to 23 pieces of music from composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Franz Schubert, and George Frederick Handel.

Show is presented through SENSORY4, a system developed by Grande Exhibitions which “combines multi-channel motion graphics, cinema quality surround sound and up to 40 high-definition projectors.”

The stages of the artist’s life are told through a selection of his paintings done in the Netherlands, Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy, and Auvers-sur-Oise, including The Potato Eaters (1885), Flowering Plum Tree (1887), The Yellow House (1888), Starry Night (1889), and Wheat Fields with Crows (1890).

“We would really like viewers to pay attention [to the presentation] before taking selfies,” Ms. Garcia said.

Van Gogh Alive is on view at the 4th floor of One Bonifacio High Street, 28th St. cor. 5th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For information, visit the official website www.vangoghalive.ph. Tickets are priced at P750 (adult) and P450 (student) and are available on a first come, first served basis at the Van Gogh Alive ticket booth, Mondays to Sundays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and The Mind Museum ticket booth on Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Senior citizen and PWD discounts are not available on online purchases. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

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