Sunday, October 31, 2021
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
House panel approves PSALM extension beyond 2026
By Filane Mikee Cervantes
The House Committee on Energy on Wednesday approved the measure extending the corporate life of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation for another 30 years.
The panel, chaired by Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, approved the committee report and substitute bill to House Bill 10006.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, one of the authors of the bill, said it will help the government avoid having to shoulder around an estimated PHP198 billion worth of PSALM liabilities by 2026, when the corporation is set to expire under its original charter.
“We were supposed to have exhausted all of PSALM’s debts by 2026, if it were not for the Covid-19 pandemic. The privatization of certain assets was delayed due to this crisis," Salceda said.
Republic Act 9136, otherwise known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), was enacted in 2001 to ensure the solvency of then severely financially troubled National Power Corporation (NPC).
PSALM, which was established through the EPIRA, has the principal mandate of managing the orderly sale, disposition, and privatization of the NPC generation assets, real estate and other disposable assets, and Independent Power Producer (IPP) contracts to optimally liquidate all NPC financial obligations.
The financial obligations include stranded debts and stranded contract costs, which were transferred to and assumed by PSALM, pursuant to the EPIRA.
At the end of PSALM’s life, all its assets and outstanding debts, and IPP contract costs will revert to and be assumed by the national government.
Salceda said there are remaining power assets and real-property assets that need to be privatized by PSALM, and that the extension of its corporate life would allow more time for it to complete the privatization of its remaining power plants and IPP contracts.
He cited as an example the proposed development of the NPC property in Diliman, Quezon City into a mixed-use commercial complex, which would warrant the corporate life extension of the state-run corporation.
“The Quezon City estate is not insignificant, mind you. It’s a 5.2-hectare property owned by the National Power Corporation, and will be converted into something like BGC (Bonifacio Global City). But because of Covid, PSALM had to make certain readjustments to the development plan,” Salceda said.
He, however, noted that PSALM has to have a plan for the use of proceeds from privatization efforts over the course of the 30-year extension of its corporate life.
“I’d like to emphasize to PSALM that this is not a blank check from Congress. We want certain milestones and benchmarks," he said. “Certainly, over the course of the extension, PSALM will begin to be on the green. So, I want to know how these gains will be allocated."
He stressed the need for a radical reorientation of the power sector, away from coal and other volatile commodities, including investments in indigenous renewable energy and modernizing energy infrastructure.
“Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power plants will be critical in this regard. The PSALM continues to own them, and Napocor will continue to operate them once the rehabilitation is completed. The World Bank is already financing the project,” Salceda said.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Facebook plans to change its name - The Verge
Social media giant Facebook Inc is planning to rebrand itself with a new name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, the Verge reported on Tuesday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the name change at the company's annual Connect conference on Oct. 28, but it could be unveiled sooner, the Verge reported.
A metaverse refers to shared virtual world environments, which people can access via the internet. The term can refer to digital spaces, which are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality or augmented reality.
The rebranding would likely position Facebook's social media app as one of many products under a parent company, which will oversee groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and more, the report added.
Facebook said it does not comment on rumor or speculation. (Reporting by Shivam Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Anil D'Silva)
https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/20/21/facebook-plans-to-change-its-name-the-verge
Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name
Mark Zuckerberg wants to be known for building the metaverse
Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. A spokesperson for Facebook declined to comment for this story.
Facebook already has more than 10,000 employees building consumer hardware like AR glasses that Zuckerberg believes will eventually be as ubiquitous as smartphones. In July, he told The Verge that, over the next several years, “we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”
A rebrand could also serve to further separate the futuristic work Zuckerberg is focused on from the intense scrutiny Facebook is currently under for the way its social platform operates today. A former employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, recently leaked a trove of damning internal documents to The Wall Street Journal and testified about them before Congress. Antitrust regulators in the US and elsewhere are trying to break the company up, and public trust in how Facebook does business is falling.
Facebook isn’t the first well-known tech company to change its company name as its ambitions expand. In 2015, Google reorganized entirely under a holding company called Alphabet, partly to signal that it was no longer just a search engine, but a sprawling conglomerate with companies making driverless cars and health tech. And Snapchat rebranded to Snap Inc. in 2016, the same year it started calling itself a “camera company” and debuted its first pair of Spectacles camera glasses.
I’m told that the new Facebook company name is a closely-guarded secret within its walls and not known widely, even among its full senior leadership. A possible name could have something to do with Horizon, the name of the still-unreleased VR version of Facebook-meets-Roblox that the company has been developing for the past few years. The name of that app was recently tweaked to Horizon Worlds shortly after Facebook demoed a version for workplace collaboration called Horizon Workrooms.
Aside from Zuckerberg’s comments, Facebook has been steadily laying the groundwork for a greater focus on the next generation of technology. This past summer it set up a dedicated metaverse team. More recently, it announced that the head of AR and VR, Andrew Bosworth, will be promoted to chief technology officer. And just a couple of days ago Facebook announced plans to hire 10,000 more employees to work on the metaverse in Europe.
The metaverse is “going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg told The Verge’s Casey Newton this summer. “And I think it’s going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area.”
Complicating matters is that, while Facebook has been heavily promoting the idea of the metaverse in recent weeks, it’s still not a concept that’s widely understood. The term was coined originally by sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson to describe a virtual world people escape to from a dystopian, real world. Now it’s being adopted by one of the world’s largest and most controversial companies — and it’ll have to explain why its own virtual world is worth diving into.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/19/22735612/facebook-change-company-name-metaverse
Friday, October 15, 2021
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
SM to open new mall in Daet, Camarines Norte on Oct. 15
SM Prime Holdings said it will open SM City Daet on Oct. 15, Friday.
The new mall will be the company's first in Camarines Norte, and its third mall in the Bicol Region, the company disclosed to the stock market.
SM City Daet will be situated along the bustling Vinzons Avenue in Barangay Lag-on and will have three levels of shopping, dining, and entertainment destinations, SM Prime said.
“The opening of SM City Daet marks another milestone for SM Prime as we continue to weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that the opening of this mall, with safety protocols in place, will provide convenience, comfort, and entertainment to our fellow Bicolanos in Camarines Norte,” SM Prime President Jeffrey C. Lim said.
The SM Cinema and other amusement centers will be open to the public once allowed to operate by the Inter-Agency Task Force, the company said.
Cinema operators have called on the government to allow theaters to accept fully vaccinated people subject to health protocols.
SM Prime's consolidated net income hit P11.6 billion in the first six months of 2021, up 12 percent from P10.4 billion in the first half of 2020.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/13/21/sm-to-open-new-mall-in-daet-camarines-norte
Monday, October 11, 2021
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Megaworld earmarks P98B to build business district in Bulacan
By TED CORDERO, GMA News
Tycoon Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp. on Wednesday announced its plan to develop a 85-hectare land along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in the municipalities of Marilao and Bocaue in Bulacan into a “global business district.”
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Megaworld said it is allocating P98 billion to develop the new integrated urban township in the said areas in the next 15 to 20 years.
The property giant said the planned development, Northwin Global City, will give Bulacan its first-ever metropolitan hub for business and lifestyle.
Megaworld said Northwin Global City will be strategically located 20 kilometers north of Metro Manila and can be accessed via the Marilao Exit of NLEX.
The planned township project will be 20 minutes away from the proposed New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, and five minutes away from the Philippine Arena.
The township project will have its own themed commercial district, high-rise residential condominiums, hotels, malls, mixed-use commercial buildings, educational institutions, and state-of-the-art office towers, according to Megaworld.
The property developer added that 40% of the entire township development will be dedicated to green and open spaces such as landscaped parks.
The company said it will also be integrating “future-proofing” features into Northwin Global City such as the installation of solar-powered and LED streetlights, underground cabling system, fiber optic cabling, bike lanes, storm water detention facility for flood prevention, intermodal transport terminal, and other sustainable infrastructure for mobility and connectivity.
“Finally, our vision of having a truly modern and global business district for Bulacan is coming to a reality. This is like building a new city that will put the province of Bulacan in the global business map because we envision huge multinational companies to be operating here once our commercial district and our office towers will be completed,” said Kevin Tan, chief strategy officer, Megaworld.
“Northwin Global City’s close proximity to Metro Manila and its ideal location just along NLEX and the major transport infrastructure will be very favorable for the future locators and residents of this township,” Tan said.
Northwin Global City will also host one of the stations of the Manila-Clark Railway Project, Megaworld.
“Once completed, Northwin Global City will have convenient access to three international airports in Bulacan, Clark, and even in Metro Manila,” Tan said.
From the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Makati Central Business District, and Bonifacio Global City, Northwin Global City can also be easily accessed via the Skyway 3 towards NLEX, which will only take around an hour during normal traffic. —KG, GMA News
Friday, October 1, 2021
Fresnedi to push for creation of 2nd Muntinlupa congressional district
Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, who is running for congressman in the upcoming elections, said he will aim for the creation of a second congressional district in the city.
Fresnedi and Rep. Rufino Biazon have teamed up under the One Muntinlupa unity party and have switched places for the May 9, 2022 elections.
Fresnedi, who is in his third and last term as city mayor, is seeking to become the next congressman of the lone district of Muntinlupa.
Biazon, who is serving his second term as congressman, opted to run for mayor to succeed Fresnedi.
According to Fresnedi, the creation of a second congressional district in Muntinlupa will be his top priority if he wins next year.
“The population of our city is enough to have an additional congressional district. That will be my top priority for the City of Muntinlupa,” he said Friday when he accompanied Biazon when he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Muntinlupa office.
Fresnedi filed his COC at the Comelec NCR office in compliance with the guidelines set by the poll body.
Under Section 5 of Article 6 of the Constitution, “Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative.”
Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2020 Census of Population and Housing, Muntinlupa has a total population of 543,445, which qualifies it to have a second legislative district under the constitutional guidelines.
The legislative district of Muntinlupa was created on March 1, 1995, when then-President Fidel Ramos signed Republic Act 7926, which converted the Municipality of Muntinlupa into a highly urbanized city.
However, the law mandated that Muntinlupa would only have its first election of its first representative in 1998.
Before this, Muntinlupa and Las Pinas were grouped under one legislative district. Prior to this, Muntinlupa, Taguig, and Pateros were under one legislative district.
https://mb.com.ph/2021/10/01/fresnedi-to-push-for-creation-of-2nd-muntinlupa-congressional-district/