PAL, Cebu Pacific cut flights to and from China

January 31, 2020 | 6:54 pm

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific will be reducing their regular flights to and from China beginning February.

Their announcement came after the Health department confirmed the Philippines’ first case of a new coronavirus strain that killed more than a hundred in China and sickened thousands.

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific, operated by Cebu Air, Inc., will be reducing its regular flights to and from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong from Feb. 5 to March 29 as it begins contacting passengers who were seated close to the coronavirus-positive Chinese passenger on Jan. 21.

“In light of developments related to the Wuhan Coronavirus, Cebu Pacific will be reducing flights between the Philippines, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau from February 5 to March 29, 2020,” the budget carrier said in a statement issued late Thursday.

Cebu Pacific currently has 68 weekly flights from the Philippines to five cities in mainland China, namely: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Shenzhen. It also has flights to Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the occasional charter, which has been suspended, from China to Kalibo and Cebu.

Flag carrier PAL, operated by PAL Holdings, Inc., said in a statement on Friday: “Beginning February 1^st, 2020, we are reducing our flights between Manila and mainland China by more than 50%.”

PAL noted that there is still a need to maintain “a number of its flights on the various Manila-China routes” to serve the “urgent travel needs” of its passengers, “including many Chinese nationals returning to the mainland following their Lunar New Year holidays, and Filipinos who are returning home from their stays in China.”

The flag carrier added that it will reduce more China flights “in the coming weeks,” depending on its assessment of the situation and “subject to guidelines and instructions” of government authorities.

The company has already suspended its charter flights between Kalibo and Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shanghai in line with the travel restriction being imposed by the government of China.

PAL operates 69 weekly flights to and from China, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Fujian and Xiamen.

In a separate statement issued on Friday, Cebu Pacific said it was working closely with Philippine authorities on necessary measures after they identified one of its passengers on Jan. 21, a 38-year-old female Chinese, as coronavirus-positive.

“We are in the process of contacting passengers seated in the vicinity of the positive NCoV (novel coronavirus) patient and are taking the necessary precautions to inform them so they can have themselves checked in case they show flu-like symptoms,” it said.

Both PAL and Cebu Pacific have advised passengers to postpone their flights if they feel unwell amid the coronavirus outbreak. Passengers with flights to China are also given the option to rebook and refund their tickets until Feb. 29.

The coronavirus outbreak started in Wuhan, China, with the death toll rising to 170, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Some 7,711 people in China were also infected, on top of the 104 confirmed cases in other countries, namely: Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, Australia, Malaysia, United States, France, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Canada, Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Finland.

Manila Water board approves capital increase to P4.4B

January 31, 2020 | 6:54 pm

Ayala-led Manila Water Co., Inc. is raising its authorized capital stock to P4.4 billion or an equivalent increase of 900 million common shares, which is the same number of shares it is carving out “for cash, properties, or assets” to carry out its business.

“This move will give flexibility to the company to raise additional capital and funding when needed. Our access to different funding sources will allow us to be deliberate and to take decisive actions as needed. The present circumstances require us to be proactive and ready with different alternatives and options,” the Ayala-led company told the stock exchange on Friday.

It said the move was approved by its board on Friday afternoon. It will change items in its articles of incorporation, which previously set the company’s authorized capital stock at P3.5 billion.

Manila Water is also increasing its carved-out shares to 900 million unissued common shares from 300 million as approved by the board, which set the minimum selling price of P10 per share for the issuance of the common shares.

The carved-out shares are reserved or allocated for issuance in one or more transactions or offerings. The proposed amendment of its incorporation papers will be presented to shareholders for approval at the company’s annual meeting on April 17, 2020.

Earlier in the day, Manila Water has requested for voluntary trading suspension of its shares at the stock market starting on Friday until after the weekend break without giving more details on the reason.

“In view of material events that could reasonably be expected to occur from today until prior to the start of trading on Monday, February 3, 2020, we request for a voluntary trading suspension,” the company said.

A representative of the company did not respond to a request for comment on the trading suspension and additional information on the reason for doing so.

“The request is made to ensure that our shareholders and the investing public would have equal access to information and are afforded the opportunity to consider this in their trading activities,” Manila Water told the stock exchange.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiango, research associate at Philstocks Financial Inc., said he was still waiting for further disclosures from the company aside from the increase in its authorized capital stock.

“Judging from MWC’s (Manila Water’s stock symbol) share price movement in the past trading days, especially yesterday (Thursday), seemingly, investors are speculating that a deal to extend their contract may already be on the table,” he said.

The trading suspension comes after Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III addressed questions about Manila Water, Metro Manila’s east zone water concessionaire, and its counterpart in the west zone, Maynilad Water Services, Inc.

In a press release quoting what transpired during a forum on Thursday, the Finance department said the government’s contracts with the water concessionaires have “one apparent lopsided provision that favored the contractors.”

It said the contracts surrendered the state’s regulatory powers in empowering the companies to seek arbitration abroad to challenge or oppose policies enforced by the government.

“(So) why is it (then that) in the water concessions, (they) can go to Singapore and ask to challenge a regulation here in the Philippines? Now isn’t that onerous?,” the release quoted Mr. Dominguez as saying.

He noted that while such an action could have been taken by the board of state-led Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), there had not been any change in the current contracts of the water service providers.

“But really, have we cancelled the contracts?” he said.

“There was a board resolution issued by the MWSS. Has it been acted upon? No,” he added.

Mr. Dominguez did not identify the resolution, but the MWSS in December last year said it had issued a resolution cancelling the extension of the concessionaires’ contracts that would run from 2022 to 2037.

The overseas arbitration he was referring to favored Maynilad for losses amounting to P3.4-billion, later adjusted to P3.2 billion, after its rebased water tariff was not implemented by the MWSS.

Manila Water also secured a favorable ruling in a separate arbitration proceedings in Singapore. The tribunal ordered the government to indemnify the company up to P7.39 billion for losses suffered from June 1, 2015 until 22 Nov. 22, 2019, plus other costs.

Officials of both companies had said they were willing to waive the collection of the separate arbitral awards.

Shares in Manila Water traded as low as P5.01 each on Dec. 17, 2019 at the height of speculations on its uncertain future after government officials questioned supposed “onerous” terms on its concession contract. The company’s shares have since recovered to close at P12.16 each on Thursday. — Victor V. Saulon

New round of bidding set for Malaya power plant

January 31, 2020 | 6:54 pm

A THIRD round of public bidding has been set for the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya thermal power plant in Rizal, the state agency tasked to privatize government energy assets said on Friday, after previous rounds resulted in failed bids.

In a statement, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it had started on Friday the publication of its “invitation to bid” to encourage interested parties to participate in its bidding activities starting on Feb. 3 until March 12, 2020.

“PSALM is determined to privatize the asset, which is sold on an ‘as-is-where-is’ basis, by taking the necessary steps to adjust the minimum bid price. It has also conducted valuation studies on MTPP (Malaya thermal power plant) and its underlying land in determining the reserve bid price,” it said.

Only parties that submitted letters of interest and have been issued PSALM’s bidding package will be allowed to participate in the privatization of the assets, the agency said. The bidding procedures can be downloaded from its website.

It has scheduled a pre-bid conference on Feb. 13, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. to solicit comments and concerns that interested bidders may have on the bidding requirements and asset sale provisions. The bid opening is set on April 15, 2020.

In November last year, the second attempt to auction the plant failed as most of the pre-qualified bidders retreated, and a lone bidder submitted an offer below the floor price, the agency said.

PSALM said back then that it would take the “necessary steps” to lower the minimum bid price. It had said the four entities that were prequalified to bid for the power plant and the underlying land in in Brgy. Malaya, Pililla, Rizal all backed out even after passing the initial bidding stage.

Fort Pilar Energy, Inc., Panasia Energy, Inc., and AC Energy Philippines, Inc. sent letters saying they could not meet the minimum bid price (MBP) of P4,481,796,017. One other bidder, D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc., submitted a sealed bid.

PSALM declared a failure of the second round of bidding because there was only one bid. As called for by the bidding rules, the agency then proceeded to go through the process of a negotiated sale with D.M. Wenceslao.

“Nonetheless, when PSALM opened the lone bid from D.M. Wenceslao, it was below the MBP. Thus, PSALM was constrained to also declare a failure of the negotiated sale process,” it had said.

The Malaya plant remains operational and is being dispatched as a “must-run” unit, or a power plant that is compelled to run and provide the needed power to ensure reliability of supply in the Luzon grid, especially during times of supply shortfall or when required for system security and voltage support.

Based on a directive from the Department of Energy, once the plant is privatized, it would no longer be required to be a must-run unit. — Victor V. Saulon

Globe, Puregold team up for shoppers’ mobile app

January 31, 2020 | 6:54 pm

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. and Puregold Price Club, Inc. launched on Friday a mobile app that enables Puregold shoppers do online shopping.

Features of the new Puregold Mobile app include “item barcode scanning, store pickup, and real-time updates on order status and stock replenishing,” Globe said in a statement on Friday.

The new app also allows Puregold shoppers to link their perks card for them to easily monitor their points and get access to discounts.

Globe said customers may use their GCash accounts for payment. The app, which is already free for download on Google Playstore and App Store, also has other payment options such as credit card and cash upon pick up.

“In-store pickup is currently available in select Puregold branches in Greater Manila Area,” Globe added.

Ernest L. Cu, Globe president and chief executive officer, said: “Puregold Mobile is one of our efforts in partnership with Puregold in enhancing the grocery shopping experience for Filipinos.”

“We are happy to collaborate with the country’s most digitally advanced and well-known grocery brand in co-developing an app that enables customers to maximize mobile connectivity in doing basic and essential everyday things with utmost convenience,” he said further. — Arjay L. Balinbin

San Miguel buyout of Holcim worries competition watchdog

January 31, 2020 | 6:54 pm

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has raised concerns regarding San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) proposed $2.15-billion acquisition of Holcim Philippines Inc. (HPI), saying the deal could lessen competition in the grey cement market in Luzon.

In a statement on Friday, PCC’s mergers and acquisitions office (MAO) found that “the buyout by SMC subsidiary, First Stronghold Cement Industries, Inc., of Holcim Philippines will result in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for grey cement,” in greater Metro Manila as well as in northwest, central and northeast Luzon.

SMC and HPI announced in May last year the $2.15-billion deal, which is considered a notifiable transaction under the Philippine Competition Act of 2015.

First Stronghold, a subsidiary of San Miguel Equity Investments, Inc., will buy 85.73% of the local arm of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, Ltd.

“First Stronghold, a holding company created for this transaction, is wholly owned by San Miguel Equity Investments, Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of SMC—all under Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Inc.,” MAO said.

It added that Top Frontier has two cement plants set to begin commercial operations within the next two years: Northern Cement Corp. and Oro Cemento Industries Corp.

MAO said that in northwest Luzon, the merger would “eliminate Top Frontier’s only competitor in the area, resulting in a monopoly in the market for grey cement.”

It said the merger “increases the likelihood of firms to engage in coordinated behavior” in greater Metro Manila, central and northeastern Luzon.

“No new players are likely to or can timely counteract the parties’ market power” in northwest Luzon, it said.

MAO also said that “any entrant has little to no ability to constrain the exercise of market power of the parties” in greater Metro Manila, central and northeast Luzon.

The review also covered Northern Cement and Eagle Cement Corp. as part of the Top Frontier group.

SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang is the majority owner and chairman of Eagle Cement Corp.

MAO found that Top Frontier “exercises control and influence over Northern Cement’s policies and operations despite its 35% minority stake shareholding in the latter.”

It said Top Frontier and Northern Cement have “coordinated marketing strategies and exert influence on the board of directors of each other.”

Top Frontier, MAO also said, has access to Northern Cement’s “sensitive” corporate information.

“Sellers, distributors, and hardware owners in the relevant markets viewed Eagle Cement and Northern Cement as ‘sister companies’ and part of the Top Frontier group,” it noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Claims held by non-bank financials rise 14.4% in third quarter

January 31, 2020 | 6:53 pm

DOMESTIC claims of non-bank financial firms rose in the third quarter of 2019 supported by their investments and loans disbursed to the private sector, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Net foreign assets (NFA) held by these other financial corporations (OFCs) also rose in the quarter, supported by reduced debt security issuances and an increase in their deposits to non-residents.

Preliminary data from the central bank’s Other Financial Corporations Survey (OFCS) released Friday showed that domestic claims grew 14.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2019 to P6.208 trillion. Domestic claims rose 1.5% from the P6.117 trillion in the second quarter.

“The rise in the domestic claims of the OFCs was largely on account of the OFCs’ additional investments in equity and debt securities issued by local banks and the expansion of loans extended to the private sector,” the BSP said in a statement Friday.

Net claims on the central government (CG) rose 21% year-on-year to P1.471 trillion and by 2.9% fromthe second quarter of 2019.

“This growth was due to the 2.6 % increase in the sector’s holdings of debt securities issued by the CG and the 16% decline in the OFCs’ liabilities to the CG during the quarter,” the BSP said.

Claims on depository corporations grew 21.7% year-on-year to P1.619 trillion in the three months to September. Claims grew 0.4% from the P1.613 trillion in the second quarter of 2019.

NFAs held by OFCs rose 19.5% to P100.135 billion in the third quarter. They rose 19.6% from P83.697 billion a quarter earlier.

“The upturn in the sector’s NFA balance was due to the continued reduction in the debt security issuances of OFCs to nonresidents and the rise of the sector’s deposits to nonresidents,” the BSP said.

OFCs claims on non-residents slipped by 10.4% to P253.168 billion in the third quarter of 2019 from P282.434 billion a year ago. However, it inched up by 0.4% from the P252.141 billion seen in the preceding quarter.

On the other hand, liabilities to non-residents decreased by 23% to P153.033 billion from P198.657 billion in the third quarter of 2018. Likewise, it dipped by 9.1% from the P168.444 billion traced in the April to June 2019 period.

The study took in individual financial statements from some 117 insurance firms, 25 holding companies, six government financial institutions, five investment companies, and two other financial intermediaries.

It also evaluated consolidated financial statements from trust institutions, three trust corporations, 18 financing firms, 13 securities dealers, four authorized agent banks’ foreign exchange firms, 11 investment houses, 1,013 pawnshops, five credit card companies, a lending investor, and an offshore banking unit.

The OFCS is an analytical survey of the assets and liabilities of the OFC sector. It uses standardized report forms as required by the International Monetary Fund.

Peso stronger as coronavirus fears recede

January 31, 2020 | 6:53 pm

THE PESO closed stronger Friday amid perceptions China has taken effective measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The currency closed at P50.83 against the Thursday finish of P50.96, according to data provided by the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines.

However, the peso fell week-on-week after finishing at P50.815 to the dollar on Jan. 24.

The currency opened at P50.93 against the dollar, its which weakest level for the day. The high was P50.82.

Dollar volume rose to $958.8 million from $948.5 million Thursday.

A trader said that the peso rose on dollar profit-taking.

“The peso strengthened today as market participants opted to take profits near the P51 level,” the trader said in an email.

Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak gave the market a boost.

“Investors can be seen as still weighing the potential short-term impact of the virus spread. However, (sentiment seemed to tilt) to positive with the WHO (World Health Organization) declaration including the commendation of China’s efforts to stop the disease,” he said in a text message.

China’s National Health Commission said confirmed coronavirus cases totaled 9,692 Thursday with deaths at 213, according to a report by Reuters.

On Thursday, the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

In a statement, WHO said that it welcomes China’s “commitment to transparency, and the efforts made to investigate and contain the current outbreak”.

In the Philippines, a 38-year old Chinese traveler from Wuhan has been confirmed as the country’s first coronavirus case by the Department of Health. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Virus fears further pull down stocks

January 31, 2020 | 6:53 pm

By Carmina Angelica Valeroso-Olano, Researcher

LOCAL shares slipped further on Friday to its lowest in 14 months as the novel coronavirus rapidly spreads prompting the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak as a global health emergency.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) plunged 2.59% or 191.89 points to close at 7,200.79 on Friday, while the broader all shares index fell 100.34 points or 2.28% to end at 4,292.21.

The PSEi was last seen at this level since the 7,083.34 close in Nov. 16, 2018.

“The sentiment for the trading session last week mainly revolved around the fears of the rapid spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus which caused concerns on its potential impact in the global supply chain, given that China is our largest trading partner,” said Charlene Ericka P. Reyes, officer-in-charge of trading and research at First Resources Management and Securities Inc., in an email.

“The downward pressure could remain in the medium-term, however we note that the timeline for the virus spread remains an uncertainty in the future,” she added.

Jeff Radley C. See, analyst at Mercantile Securities Corp. noted that as the PSEi went south, the benchmark index is trading at an “alarming” level.

“At times like this, investors should stay in cash. We still do not know how the virus will spread as the affected area and death toll keeps on growing,” he said in an email referring to this period of an outbreak.

In a statement on Thursday, the World Health Organization said the coronavirus outbreak had spread to at least 18 countries, with the number of deaths reaching 170, constituting for a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”

At the PSE, five out of six sectoral indices ended in red territory yesterday. Industrials slumped 370.09 points or 3.98% to 8,921.44; holding firms lost 159.88 points or 2.26% to 6,900.31; property slipped 79.22 points or 2.02% to 3,838.74; financials shed 61.7 points or 3.45% to 1,724.93; and services dropped 26.53 points or 1.76% to 1,475.16.

Meanwhile, mining and oil climbed 146.28 points or 1.94% to 7,663.26.

Value turnover stood at P8.30 billion with 2.89 billion issues switching hands, up from Thursday’s P5.449 billion worth of 562.84 million issues.

Stocks that declined outnumbered those that advanced, 168 against 49, while 33 names ended unchanged.

Net foreign selling grew to P1.70 billion from the P513.05 million seen on Thursday.

In the short-term, First Resources’ Ms. Reyes said: “[Although] the local market registered a new 52-week low…we think that the sharp decline is overplayed. We anticipate that a rebound…is possible supported by some bargain hunting…”

“…[A]s we remain our cautious stance, we are recommending to sell during strength. Immediate support is seen at the psychological level at 7,000,” she added.

For Mercantile’s Mr. See, “It is hard to distinguish the length of this bearish sentiment. As long as the virus is spreading, investors should stay very cautious.”

In terms of fundamentals, he said: “[I am] not optimistic as of the moment as investors focused on the issue regarding the epidemic. Selling pressure would slow down somewhere between 7000-7200 level.”

Facebook has big plans for APAC, and digital businesses need to be ready

January 31, 2020 | 5:16 pm

In December 2019, Facebook brought in journalists from across Asia-Pacific to its Marina Bay offices in Singapore for APAC Press Day 2020. The event, a first for the tech giant’s regional headquarters, marked not only the announcement of a slew of new products and practices, but also a recognition of APAC as both the fastest growing market in Facebook and a clear focus region in the coming years.

Currently, Facebook (the company) is still best known for its flagship platform, Facebook (the app). But standouts in the company’s portfolio include Instagram and WhatsApp. Across these platforms, Facebook is seeing massive growth.

With over a billion monthly active users and likely home to the next billion too, nowhere is that more prevalent than in the Asia-Pacific.

According to Cathy Yum, Facebook APAC’s product marketing manager, that regional dominance is due in no small part to the millions of businesses thriving in the platform’s cross-border, digital marketplace.

Whether buying and selling on Groups or peddling goods over Instagram, small and medium enterprises are driving business through these social media platforms at unprecedented rates. Facebook officials shared that the platform currently supports over 140 million small and medium businesses across the globe.

“People in different markets are discovering new businesses and new brands in countries that they don’t live in,” she said. “Where we see the most impact from this trend is with our small businesses.”

Tackling the paradigm shift

Christine Chia, Facebook APAC’s head of commerce partnerships, describes her team’s mission at “the world’s largest social marketplace” as honing their platform to become “a space to experience the pleasure of shopping, without the chore of buying.”

Commerce in the social media age has truly transformed the way people buy and sell products or services. But Chia says this paradigm shift has come at a price.

“We’re not here to build warehouses, we’re not creating products,” she said. “We want to enable connections between businesses and people around the world.”

“And while buying has been made a lot easier, shopping hasn’t been. What we possibly gained in efficiency, we’ve lost when it comes to connections.”

She’s referring, of course, not only to the impersonality and anonymity of selling sans physical storefronts, but also to the difficulty sellers have meeting the new expectations of online commerce.

The need for on-demand information and same-day deliveries mean that automation-friendly businesses able to operate at scale win biggest. To paraphrase Chia, what we get in digital convenience, we lose in human connection.

To solve this, Facebook looked to another rising trend: the number of messages coursing through their platforms. In 2019, an average of over 20 billion messages were exchanged every month between people and businesses using Facebook’s different services, more than double the eight billion messages exchanged per month in 2018.

In 2019, the number of global users of messaging services on Facebook’s platforms surpassed the number of social network users. And while that should indicate a pronounced shift in focus for global businesses and e-marketers, it’s important to note that this is not new news for businesses operating in Asia-Pacific. In APAC, that same shift happened in 2017–and local entrepreneurs have been adapting to what’s become the new primary platform for commerce ever since.

All this leads to what Facebook refers to as the rise of conversational commerce.

In essence, conversational commerce is when people and businesses connect through chat or voice assistance with the intent to drive purchase of goods or services. Today, c-commerce plays a central role in not only facilitating business inquiries, but managing transactions and continued engagement with customers.

According to the company’s commercial insight platform, Facebook for Business, two out of three surveyed users claim to have messaged a business on one of Facebook’s platforms over the 2018 holidays. Of that number, 63% came from Asia-Pacific.

In the Philippines, specifically, these statistics paint a clear preference for personalized communication:

42% of c-commerce buyers use chat to make purchases, primarily via social and messaging platforms.
Similarly, 42% of c-commerce buyers say that chat was how they first started shopping online.
And a whopping 97% of c-commerce buyers plan to increase or maintain their c-commerce spending in the future.

Filipino buyers utilize chat not only to quickly and conveniently glean information from buyers, but to interact with them–looking for personal insights and negotiating prices. At the end of the day, buyers chat to establish trust, a currency that in many ways went out of circulation in the age of e-commerce, now resurging through c-commerce.

“At the core of messaging from a consumer perspective, is that people want to be able to express themselves, but they also want immediacy,” said Sarah Bennison, director of product marketing at Facebook. “For businesses, we’ve developed a lot of advertising tools and functionalities to make it easier for them to incorporate messaging in their strategies.”

“What we encourage brands to do is incorporate messaging not for messaging’s sake, but to really strive to make being helpful core to what they’re trying to achieve,” she said.

You can learn more about the tools Facebook is developing around facilitating meaningful conversational commerce here.

Beyond c-commerce

This is just one of many examples of how Facebook’s users are influencing how the company sees their platforms growing. According to Christine Chia, just as her group’s decisions shape how users interact on the platform, they too take cues from the myriad of ways the community uses their tools.

“For years people have been hacking our tools to be able to buy and sell,” Chia said. “In buy-and-sell groups, people would be creating post templates for things they’d need to sell and how to notify when they were no longer available. These user requirements are driving how we enable these people and ultimately improve Groups.”

Those who frequent local buy and sell groups may be familiar with some of the local templates Chia refers to. Posts bookended by “LF” (Looking For) or “RFS” (Reason For Selling) provided a shorthand for readers to quickly assess whether or not they’re interested. These informal templates have informed how Facebook designed the fields for product posts today.

“We want to keep making Groups useful for people and that’s led to developing special post formats for selling things, highlighting active users and so much more,” Chia said. To date, over 650 million people in the APAC region are active members of roughly 27 million Facebook Groups.

Recognizing digital businesses as primary drivers of their growth in APAC, Facebook has also launched a number of successful initiatives to support entrepreneurial ventures, many piloted here in the Philippines.

Among them is #SheMeansBusiness, an educational program that aims to empower women as they build their own digital businesses. Since launching in the Philippines in 2017, #SheMeansBusiness has facilitated the training of 92,000 women through online resources and in workshops across 10 cities.

By cultivating new businesses in APAC, funneling them into their social marketplace, and equipping them with the tools they need to succeed, Facebook is ensuring that SMEs continue to be a primary driver of growth in the region.

And on the buyer’s side, Facebook’s new unified commerce stack–a system designed to facilitate frictionless, secure transactions across all of the company’s different apps and platforms–promises a social shopping experience that’s never been easier or safer.

But user growth isn’t Facebook’s only goal. Dan Neary, vice president of Facebook APAC, says the company isn’t stopping at simply being a platform for transactions, it wants to play a role in facilitating those transactions as well.

This year, Facebook is launching a payment solution called Facebook Pay, that will be available within the Messenger app, WhatsApp, and as its own standalone mobile application. The wallet promises to standardize the transaction process across the entire ecosystem, turning their unified commerce stack into a truly end-to-end system.

And with ongoing developments around Libra, the cryptocurrency that will eventually be made available on Facebook’s social marketplace, as well as Calibra, Libra’s digital wallet product, Facebook may not just be facilitating transactions in the future, but owning the currency being exchanged as well.

Facebook Pay will only be available in the US come launch later this year, with no concrete news for when it will be coming to Asia-Pacific. Similarly, Libra and Calibra continue to be in development limbo for the time being.

But with their plans for the next decade laid out, it’s clear that Facebook continues to look at Asia-Pacific as their epicenter for innovation

“You see a lot of the trends that are global in nature, you see are much more pronounced in Asia-Pacific,” Neary said. “The things that drive connections and drive community-building are way more prevalent here than anywhere else.”

“We believe that the next billion people that are going to use our platforms will be coming from Asia-Pacific, and that’s the way that we’re going to be investing.”

Converge ICT cited as Philippines’ Fastest Growing Fiber Internet Service Provider

January 31, 2020 | 2:57 pm

Converge ICT Solutions, the broadband services provider behind the country’s first pure end-to-end fiber internet network, has been cited as the ‘Fastest Growing Fibre Internet Service Provider’ by the International Finance Awards.

The recognition comes from London-based global business and finance magazine, International Finance. According to the publication, Converge ICT is recognized to be true to its mission to upgrade the overall digital experience of the country. International Finance also lauded the company’s growth from the grassroots to become a budding powerhouse provider of pure end-to-end fiber internet.

Since the launch of Converge ICT’s fiber packages, the Philippines saw a steady and noticeable internet speed improvement. According to the world-renowned digital delivery network Akamai, the Philippines’ average internet speed in the third quarter of 2016 was only at 4.2Mbps. By the first quarter of 2016, the average download speed in the Philippines has increased by 135.90 percent to 18.66Mbps, Akamai reported.

One of the most recent milestones of Converge ICT is the introduction of the country’s first 400Gbps backbone built by ZTE to augment existing domestic network capacity. This allows 400G per channel at 64 channels or the equivalent of 25.6Tbps at capacity.

The backbone is considered a boost to major businesses and institutions such as business process outsourcing companies and financial institutions, which require high capacity connectivity or bandwidth. The rollout also allowed individual subscribers and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to enjoy faster connection without any data cap for high bandwidth capacity.

Converge ICT has received the award last January 31, 2020 at Waldorf Astoria, Bangkok, Thailand.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s new sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

An icon of Philippine media

January 31, 2020 | 9:25 am

The all-encompassing wave of change has hit Philippine media, well before renowned business magnate Manuel “Manny” V. Pangilinan had come in. Digital media were supplanting newspapers, and both television and radio networks as the Filipino consumer’s main and preferred source of information and entertainment.

Even then, for the Filipinos who still preferred television, it was a two-network town. No one would have imagined that another television network could rise to prominence anymore, especially given how fast the Internet was taking over people’s lives.

Now, Mr. Pangilinan was recently given a special award for his Outstanding Contribution to Asian Television at the 24^th Asian Television Awards for championing the television network TV5, which through innovation and shrewd leadership had successfully undergone a revival.

“It’s a validation of a journey [which started] about a decade ago, many thought as foolish to embark. We invested as a third player in a two-network town at the crux of unpredictable times and rapid seismic changes in content creation, consumption, and human behavior,” Mr. Pangilinan said in a speech read by TV5 Chief Executive Officer Jane J. Basas, during the ceremony.

A committed leader

Being one of the country’s most prominent businessmen, Mr. Pangilinan is known throughout the Philippines. The telecommunications giant PLDT, Inc. and the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) are household names to the common Filipino family, and his dedicated patronage to sports has shaped Philippine basketball.

Yet, the award was the first instance which formally acknowledged his critical role in the Philippine media industry.

Mr. Pangilinan or MVP as he is commonly known, serves as the esteemed head of local media conglomerate MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. (MediaQuest), which is the mother company of some of the biggest names in Philippine media.

Established in the 1990s by PLDT, Mediaquest holds under its banner The Philippine Star, BusinessWorld Publishing Corp., TV5 Network, Inc., Nation Broadcasting Corp., and Cignal TV, Inc.

Before Mediaquest announced its acquisition of TV5 in 2010, TV5 was previously known as ABC Development Corp., and had an interesting role in the country’s history. Going back to the 1960s, TV5 has been serving the public with its own brand of journalism even before the Marcos era until it was forcibly shut down in 1972. The network made a remarkable comeback however after the People Power Revolution, growing to the point that it was dubbed the “Fastest Growing Network” in the 1990s.

Nowadays, TV5 is known as one of the three top television networks in the country. Its programs can be viewed worldwide through Kapatid TV5 and is currently available in the Middle East, Guam, North Africa, Europe, Canada, and the United States. The network is based in the 6,000-sqm TV5 Media Center headquarters in Mandaluyong City.

A commitment to charting the future

Meanwhile, The Philippine Star, another historic icon under Mediaquest’s belt, is one of the country’s most widely-circulated newspapers, one of the biggest names struggling under the disruption brought about by digital media.

The paper was first published seven months after the 1986 People Power Revolution. Its founders Betty Go-Belmonte, Max Soliven and Art Borjal were integral in the famous revolution, and as veteran journalists wanted to continue their legacy of serving the country’s return to democracy through honest, accurate reportage.

Through that ideal, The Star has grown and built around it a network of other publications covering a variety of topics, including the monthly magazine People Asia and the Sunday magazines Starweek, Gist and Let’s Eat. The PhilStar Media Group’s sister publications include business newspaper BusinessWorld; Cebu-based, English-language broadsheet The Freeman; Filipino-language tabloids Pilipino Star Ngayon and Pang-Masa; Cebuano-language tabloid Banat, and online news portal InterAksyon.

Eventually, the company caught the eye of Mr. Pangilinan, who, showing his commitment in entering the media industry, acquired The Philippine Star and all its sister publications through MediaQuest in 2014.

The link between Philstar Daily, Inc. and the 5 Network under MediaQuest Holdings has allowed new, innovative forms of journalism to come into existence. Right as digital media have overtaken the lives of Filipinos, flooding them with a variety of informative, entertaining, and sometimes malicious content.

Realizing that the need for credible sources of news and information was greater than ever, MediaQuest announced its flagship news channel One News on CignalTV in 2018. The new channel aimed to draw from the authority and vast amount of experience of MVP’s media networks — some of the biggest and most trusted media organizations in the Philippines, namely The Philippine Star, BusinessWorld, TV5, and Bloomberg TV Philippines — and provide an ambitious and concentrated effort to reinvent the way Filipinos consume and discuss news and current events.

Through the strength and capabilities of established names in print with respected broadcast news institutions, One News sought to keep the ideals of journalism alive in Philippine media, notably values centered around fostering critical discussion about the country’s most pressing issues, analyzing them from different and balanced points of view.

“Why are we doing this? It’s really for all of us to pursue the truth (against) fake news and so forth… that must be our paramount goal,” Mr. Pangilinan said, stressing that in the media business, it is everybody’s duty to tell the truth.

“In our business, or in our group… we should always tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts or how much it damages potentially,” he said. — Bjorn Biel M. Beltran

The steadfast third player in a ‘two-network town’

January 31, 2020 | 9:20 am

Earlier this January, the Asian Television Awards gave TV5 chairman Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) a special award for his Outstanding Contribution to Asian Television. This has much to do with the efforts of making TV5 a competitive player on Philippine television under his chairmanship.

“[This award] is a validation for a journey that — about a decade ago — many thought as foolish to embark,” Mr. Pangilinan recalled on his speech read by TV5 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jane J. Basas during the awards night.

“We invested as a third player in a two-network town at the crux of unpredictable and rapid seismic changes in content creation, consumption, and human behavior. It would not have been a worthwhile adventure though if we did not have moments of trepidation.”

Since its acquirement by MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., TV5 joined an industry ruled by few, yet it has grown into a network that serves as an alternative yet worthwhile choice for the viewing public.

Under a new management in 2010, TV5 picked up from its humble yet defining beginnings when ABC 5 became TV5 back in 2008. Unfazed by the country’s reigning networks, it stepped further by providing unique programming along with fresh talent.

The revamped TV5 identifies itself as the “Kapatid” (sibling) network, with a fresh lineup of programs encompassing news, drama, comedy, and sports. Most of these have actually made a mark among viewers, such as TV5’s flagship news program Aksyon; series like Pidol’s Wonderland and Midnight DJ; and reality/game shows such as Face to Face, Talentadong Pinoy, and the Philippine version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Also, in its aggressive venture to be a competitive player among the “two-network town”, TV5 was able to get a large roster of talent that brightened up the network’s offerings. These include Maricel Soriano, the late Rodolfo “Dolphy” Quizon, Sr., Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, Paolo Bediones, Ryan Agoncillo, and Amy Perez, among many others.

Its initial years as the “Kapatid” network has seen TV5 as a fine choice for entertainment. Nonetheless, it is also remarkable for its uniquely delivered news and current affairs through News5.

It was TV5 that launched the first news-oriented station on the FM band, Radyo5 92.3 News FM in November 2010. A year later, TV5 launched AksyonTV, the first 24-hour Filipino language news channel on free-to-air TV (UHF channel 41).

TV5 has also become a household name for sport, serving as the broadcaster of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Philippine SuperLiga (PSL), among other major games in the country.

The network also carried many of the world’s big sporting events, such as the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics; 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics; 2014 Summer Youth Olympics; 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia; and the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Furthermore, with entertainment being a quite difficult area to win among viewers, TV5’s focus have gradually shifted to sports as the network’s leadership transferred to basketball coach Vicente “Chot” P. Reyes.

It was under his helm that the network partnered with the sports broadcasting giant ESPN to reinforce TV5’s sports division as ESPN5.

With this tie-up, which was kicked off in 2018, TV5 integrates its local programming with ESPN’s large roster of live sports coverages, original productions, and studio programs. It also began airing the Philippine edition of ESPN’s flagship newscast SportsCenter.

Continuing this shift, TV5’s sister channel, AksyonTV, was later on relaunched as 5 Plus, carrying non-mainstream sport and sport-related content geared towards a younger audience.

These brave moves from TV5 in the recent years not only kept the network an alternative choice on local TV. It also helped the station move forward in spite of tough competition, as Ms. Basas, who took over as TV5’s CEO and president in 2019, noted.

“TV5 has improved on a year on year basis. In terms of losses, we have been able to manage the losses again because the decision to go into sports has actually allowed us to become more efficient on how we program the grid,” Ms. Basas, who is also the president and CEO of Cignal TV, was quoted as saying in a BusinessWorld report last October.

Nonetheless, an opportunity to make TV5 more engaging to the public is seen. According to Ms. Basas, the network currently plans “to really maximize the other blocks in our daily grid to make sure that it appeals to more and more customers.” Among these blocks, entertainment programs are the priority.

“Right now we do have the primetime dedicated to sports and that will stay. News will also have to stay at the current block, but everything else, from morning to late night, is open to entertainment,” Ms. Basas said.

With the franchise of the network recently renewed, TV5’s journey continues with the determination to remain relevant and be engaging to Filipinos. — Adrian Paul B. Conoza

1...9,9789,9799,980...14,282 Page 9,979 of 14,282