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MANILA, Philippines — A total of P2.88 billion in relief aid has been prepared for those affected by the combined effects of the southwest monsoon and Typhoon Carina, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday.
Sen. Idol Raffy Tulfo is set to file a Senate Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate to suspend the PUV Modernization Program because of its failure to make public transportation in the Philippines reliable and safe for everyone.
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government suspended work in government offices and classes at all levels in the National Capital Region on Wednesday due to heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon.
DigiPlus Interactive [PLUS 14.82 unch; 244% avgVol] [link] released a statement after yesterday’s close to reassure investors that its business is “unaffected” by President Marcos’s ban on POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) companies. In its statement, PLUS said: “DigiPlus is not a POGO or an Internet Gaming Licensee (IGL) as defined under Philippine laws.” PLUS CEO Andy Tsui said that PLUS’s “platforms will continue running without interruption, unaffected by the recent presidential announcement.” Shares of PLUS traded down by nearly 4% midday, but closed even after a surge in buying interest after the lunchbreak rescued the stock.MB BOTTOM-LINE: It seems fitting that an industry that was born amid a shroud of secrecy and confusion would have this kind of impact even as it is being phased out. There’s a lot of confusion in the market right now coming from the lack of clarity from the government on what exactly is happening, but that’s probably a natural consequence of the President announcing the ban during a speech. It seems to have caught a lot of people (even in government agencies) flat-footed. Now would be a great time for PAGCOR to clarify both the licensees that will be impacted by the ban, and how it plans to phase those affected licensees out over the course of the next five months. I’m looking to get better clarity on the POGO/IGL situation, and when I understand it better, I’ll be sure to pass on what I’ve learned to MB readers. Until then, kudos to the PLUS team for getting out in front of its shareholders with useful information.
As reported yesterday (MB link), President Marcos has banned POGOs and instructed PAGCOR to phase them out completely by the end of the year. That announcement was made after the close on Monday, so the first opportunity for POGO stocks (and POGO-adjacent stocks) to react was during the trading session yesterday. The biggest POGO-related declines were in DoubleDragon [DD 11.30 ?5.2%; 442% avgVol] and its REIT subsidiary, DDMP [DDMPR 1.10 ?5.2%; 1236% avgVol], but other developer/REIT pairings saw significant selling pressure in the early hours, like Filinvest Land [FLI 0.69 unch; 76% avgVol] and Filinvest REIT [FILRT 3.01 ?2.6%; 40% avgVol]. Ayala Land [ALI 31.60 ?0.9%; 113% avgVol] and Robinsons Land [RLC 14.98 ?2.1%; 24% avgVol] were down, as were SM Prime [SMPH 29.90 ?2.5%; 80% avgVol] and Megaworld [MEG 1.84 ?1.6%; 134% avgVol]. There may have been something of a “flight to safety” in the REIT sector, as AREIT [AREIT 36.90 ?1.2%; 89% avgVol] pumped and some of the non-POGO stocks like Citicore Renewable Energy REIT [CREIT 2.85 ?0.3%; 77% avgVol] saw an uptick in buying interest. MB BOTTOM-LINE: The carnage was considerable for Injap Sia and Tony Caktiong’s DD and DDMPR, but it’s not like a potential POGO ban hasn’t been kicking around in the halls of power for years now. There’s been plenty of notice. If I were a shareholder of DD (I’ve never owned this stock) or especially of DDMPR (I owned this stock for 6 months following the IPO) I’d be expecting my management team to put out some kind of communication to shareholders to help contextualize this news for existing investors. It’s also important for these companies to make the case to other non-shareholder investors, too, as the price action of the stock depends on bringing more people into the tent. Past behavior would suggest that DDMPR will likely remain silent here, which I think is another example of this management team neglecting its responsibilities to its shareholders and the perception of the company.
The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) lauded the key issues noted during the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., focusing on ease of doing business, food security, infrastructure, cybersecurity, among others.
MANILA, Philippines — Muling nakipagtambalan ang MILO Philippines sa isa sa kanilang longest-running partners na Association for the Advancement of Karatedo (AAK) sa isang partnership reinforcement ceremony sa Makati City.
WASHINGTON, United States — Vice President Kamala Harris is narrowly beating rival Donald Trump in a national presidential poll released Tuesday, one of the first conducted since US President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign.