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Today on the Business Roadshow Asian Markets, trading mixed following Tuesday's broad sell-off.

Seven jurors picked in the hush money trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Here at home, the power grids of Luzon and Visayas still under alert despite a more stable power supply today, Wednesday.

Plus, later on the show, we talk to the animation studio that brought to life Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes.

Join us in the next hour as we bring you the latest in the financial world.

I'm Stanley Palisada. Let's get this show on the road.

We take you straight to financial markets.

Regional equity struggling for direction after Asian markets saw deep cuts on Tuesday

due to rising geopolitical tensions that kept sentiments in check.

The mixed market movement also follows hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell

that dragged the S&P 500 to a third straight drop overnight.

The Fed chief signaled in a forum in Washington on Tuesday,

policymakers are in no rush to cut rates and it will take longer to have confidence in the U.S. inflation's downward trajectory.

Taking a look at the board now, Japanese shares on the decline down by 1.3%.

It is now trading at a low level.

It is trading below the 38,000 level for the first time since February.

Chinese markets back in the green after China's economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter, beating market expectations.

Let's take a look at futures in Europe now.

They are set for a subdued open following a hawkish comment from Fed Chief Jerome Powell.

In the U.K., investors will be reacting to the country's inflation data which showed the consumer price index eased to 3.2%.

In March, slightly missing the 3.1% forecast.

Stateside now, futures are pointing to a negative open just a day after the Dow Jones snapped its six-day losing streak.

The United Nations Security Council set to vote on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state on Thursday.

Amid Israel's offensive in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority in early April revived a membership application

it first made to the world body.

In 2011, Algeria, a non-permanent Security Council member, put forward a resolution that recommends Palestine's admission.

But a vote is expected to face opposition from the veto-wielding United States, which has repeatedly opposed the proposal.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump back in a Manhattan courtroom for the second day of his hush money trial.

The jury taking shape with seven people selected.

On Monday, dozens of potential jurors were dismissed after they admitted they could not fairly decide on Trump's case.

A panel of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates will ultimately be chosen.

Before leaving the court, Trump again slammed Judge Juan Merchan and blamed the Biden administration for his legal troubles.

He's a conflicted judge, as you know, we're in appeal.

He's a conflicted judge, as you know, we're in appeal.

More conflicted than this one, so we'll see how that all works out.

We're having a hard time.

We're having a hard time with the New York State system.

It's under watch by the whole world.

And it's not looking very good.

So we think we have a very conflicted, highly conflicted judge who shouldn't be on the case.

And he's rushing this trial.

And he's doing as much as he can for the Democrats.

This is a Biden-inspired witch hunt.

And it should end.

And it should end very quickly.

The trial will resume Thursday.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 elections.

He has pleaded not guilty and has denied the encounter.

The hush money case is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces.

Back home, Philippine energy officials seeing more stable energy supply today.

That's Wednesday.

The Energy Department said some power plants in Luzon and Visayas that went into forced outage are now back online.

Despite this, the power grids of Luzon and Visayas remain under yellow alert as demand for electricity remains high due to the scorching heat.

Thank you.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for its part says it expects the peak demand for power next month.

The NGCP calling for a holistic approach in dealing with the power issues.

We are expecting the peak demand by mid-May.

Okay.

So we are expecting more demand.

We really need to approach energy planning in a holistic manner, not just transmission, but the entire industry, including generation and distribution.

The operator of the Philippines says Malampaya Natural Gas Field says it has exceeded export capacity with the Luzon grid on alert status.

Enrique Razon's Prime Energy said today gas supply to customers hit its peak at 290 million standard cubic feet per day.

It said this was beyond the maximum capacity of Malampaya wells and just 262 standard cubic feet per day.

Prime Energy gave the assurance it's committed to providing domestic gas supply to mitigate the impact of the grid alert scenarios.

The Malampaya gas field off Palawan supplies some 20% of Luzon Island's power requirements.

A check on the Philippine peso now.

The local currency is still hovering at a 50 cent.

It's at a 57 level in intraday trading following its closing at 57 pesos to the dollar on Tuesday.

This figure marks the peso's weakest level since November 2022.

The peso's record low versus the greenback is at 59.

The Philippine Central Bank attributes the depreciation to tensions in the Middle East and hawkish comments from the Fed.

The Central Bank, however, notes it does not see these developments affecting its monetary policy so far.

In its second policy meeting of the year, the BSP maintained its benchmark rate at a near 17-year high of 6.5%.

As for BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, it expects the Philippine peso to stay volatile in the short term due to the constant repricing of interest rate expectations in the U.S.

It says despite weakening by around 2% year-to-date, the peso has held up.

In fact,

the peso has held relatively well compared to its regional peers, even defying its expectations for an appreciation in the first quarter.

It expects the volatility to ease once the U.S. Federal Reserve embarks on its first cut in July, with the peso seen stabilizing at 56.50 to the dollar.

Denise Insay now joins us with the latest corporate stories. Hi, Denise.

Hi, Stanley.

Now for some corporate stories, as you mentioned.

Prutas Holdings completes its first private placement.

Of 200 million pesos in corporate notes.

It said these were issued to qualified individual or institutional buyers with proceeds to be used for capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

Still, in transactions, Globe Telecom closes out the sale of more towers.

It sold Tuesday some 90 more to digital shared infrastructure provider Phil Tower.

The price tag was at 1.3 billion pesos.

Globe says it has closed.

It closed out 1,000 out of the 1,350 towers to be acquired by Phil Tower.

In all, it expects 20 billion pesos from the undertaking.

Also today, more company earnings starting with Vista Land.

The property developer's net income climbed to 10.3 billion pesos last year, higher by 39% year-on-year.

Revenues were also up to 35 billion pesos, mainly on robust growth.

In its real estate segment.

Shang Properties also reporting higher profit in 2023.

Net income attributable to shareholders stood at 5.51 billion pesos, while gross revenues were up to 9.81 billion.

The main drivers, hotel operations of the famed Shangri-La Condominium, Shangri-La Manila Condominium Unit Sales, and Better Rental and Cinema Operations.

From SB New Energy, it's not lost.

The cost widened to 105 million pesos last year on higher expenses.

Income was at 7 million pesos from the 2.3 in the first six months of 2022.

SBNAC came under new ownership last year after tycoon Maning Pangalinan through MGM Renewable acquired a firm's controlling stake for 16 billion pesos from Leandro Leviste.

As for this news channels, parent firm, ABS-CBN.

It posted revenues of 18.5 billion pesos in 2023.

That's as core regular advertising revenue for the year grew 16% hitting 6.7 billion pesos.

This helped offset the 7% decline in consumer sales revenue, mainly due to Sky Cable's lower subscription sales.

Net loss before impairment, one-time gain, and taxes amounted to 4.4 billion pesos.

Lower than 2022's 5.8 billion pesos.

But including impairment loss, a significantly smaller one-time gain, and taxes, total net loss stood at 12.8 billion pesos.

To the Philippine Benchmark Index now, the local boor snaps a nine-day losing streak.

It closed higher at 64.50 after gaining seven-tenths of a percent.

Value turnover was at 5.9 billion pesos.

Joining us on the Business Roadshow to assess today's trading, we have Ariel Santos of Regina Capital Development Corporation.

Hi, Ariel.

Hi, thank you for having me again.

Okay, today we did well, but in the past few days, we were battered, actually.

What is the right mindset seeing a market that's down and has wiped out gains for the year?

The right mindset in a down market is to maintain a long-term perspective,

focusing on fundamental factors rather than shortcomings.

So, we're going to look at the short-term fluctuations.

Warren Buffett even said that be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.

Right now, I think it is an opportunity to reassess investment strategies, review asset allocations,

and identify potential buying opportunities amid the downturn.

Ariel, when you look at that chart, you'd see a very, very sharp drop in share prices just in the past days.

And we were climbing slowly.

And very meticulously, days, I mean weeks before that when we had the rally.

When you look at other markets, they were also down, but ours seems to be severely battered or very steep at the very least.

Is this indicative now of the recent rally being fragile?

And through our path to 7,000 when we were nearing it in the past few days,

we still have not seen volumes of these kinds of market rallies in the past.

We've had more than 10 billion.

But really, even if you were rallying weeks ago, we were just hitting about 5 to 7 billion on average.

I think we're not isolated when it comes to the recent market rally.

Even the global markets have faced significant downturns.

And of course, we weren't immune to it.

During the rally last March, investors were on the lookout for a potential pullback,

but didn't really.

We foresee a series of negative factors, which, just to mention a few,

are the delayed rate of expectations and the Middle East tension that's ongoing,

causing a steep drop in the index.

Historically, the 7,000 mark has often been where investors decide to take profits,

thus finding the demand weakened as we enter the April.

All right.

Now, having said that, Ariel, of course, we breached 6,500,

which was the critical support.

So, we're going to move on to the next level of resistance levels for the PSE.

Do you think how deep, I mean, how deep do you think this could go?

For the PSE, our analysis suggests that the next support level lies around 6.4 to 6.2.

And its resistance level is marginally just above 6.5.

And then, should it be broken, the next resistance level sits around,

around 6.7.

Of course, this assessment is grounded in the index potential to enter the oversold territory,

which historically corresponds with a rebound around the 6.4 mark.

We're really looking for catalysts, one of which, of course, is earnings.

Some of them have been trickling in.

Are you seeing upcoming earnings?

Something that could arrest this dip?

I mean, which companies as well do you think should deliver good numbers

to ease the waning investor confidence in corporate performance?

Well, the upcoming earnings season presents an opportunity to shift focus

to local market dynamics, potentially alleviating current dips.

Investors will be mostly watching for companies that deliver strong earnings

and revenue growth, as well as positive guidance for future partners.

So, for one, I think that the banking sector will still pose great results

for the first quarter of 2024, given the absence of PSE.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's talk about another one on the agenda today.

Currency.

You know, fish solutions seeing peso volatility until some Fed rate cutting really happens.

Now, what else do you see that might make the currency hit its weakest point

in the next couple of months?

And what are the peso-dollar ranges that you're seeing?

The Philippine peso is very sensitive when it comes to factors like oil price fluctuation,

and domestic inflation sensitivity also contribute to this volatility.

Political and policy uncertainties also affect investor confidence.

Now, regarding the PHP performance, we're actually seeing it that it's already

within the upper band of our projection.

So, that's around, our initial projection is around 56.5, but then again, it's a moving target.

At 57, we feel that there might be support coming from the BSP,

and foreigners may see the currency then as cheap.

All right.

Lastly, Ariel, what is today's investors' guidance at Regina?

Investors might want to consider accumulating already at these levels,

should the support at 6.4 hold.

After strong profit-taking and nine days of declines from the 7K mark,

investors would seem to now be looking to build their positions,

again.

We would also recommend investors to monitor situations in the Middle East

and the Fed's free cut path.

All right.

On that note, Ariel Santos, Equity Analyst at Regina Capital Development Corporation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We're stepping aside for a short break, but stick around,

because when we return, we have a discussion on reducing packaging waste

generated by Filipino households and communities.

Stay where you are.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We will buy zero-waste products that include spices, condiments,

cooking essentials, snacks, superfood, and even personal and home care products.

While the other initiative that we have actually is called Salon Cup,

and it's our plug-and-play reusable cup for events,

where we offer coffee cart and local coffee shops and event organizers

a capability to offer usable cups without the hassle of maintaining them.

What are some?

What are some of the biggest challenges you see or and you face

in encouraging Filipinos to shift towards refillable products?

Right.

So, actually, you can think of three things.

The first one is that consumers actually think that it's inconvenient,

and I think it's coming from their perception that when we say refilling,

it's actually like going to a physical store and bringing their own containers for refills.

But little do they know that there are actually different ways

in order to do refilling and reusing.

So, we can think about, like, how water refilling stations do it right now.

Now, if we don't have water at home, we call the refilling station,

and then they go to our house, and we swap the empty containers.

So, it's something that actually we can also do, aside from asking people to go to our store.

And the second one is they think that actually it's expensive.

And with the recent reports,

we are actually getting from our friends in Greenpeace,

because they had a refilling initiative lately.

One of their reports actually said that there is 201% savings on the side of the consumers

if they adopt this refill and reuse initiatives.

And I think the last one is that the perception that it might be contaminated or hygiene issues.

But I believe with proper measures and handling,

the cleanliness,

the cleanliness problem will be resolved.

So, tell us more about, you know, that last issue of people, of consumers, about it being clean.

How do you ensure the efficient management of that inventory,

product freshness and hygiene across all your product lines?

Right.

So, even when we started, like, four years ago, it has been a big problem.

Even with work, trying to work with the bigger companies,

it's actually what they're,

what they're concerned about.

So, what we actually did is we actually partnered with a chemical engineer and industrial engineer

to help come up with SOPs,

Standard Operating Procedures,

for both the initiatives, Salon Tingi and Salon Cup.

So, currently, we actually follow strict quality guidelines that are based on GMP and GH.

And how does Salon PH also source your refillable products?

Do you prioritize partnerships?

With local and sustainable producers?

So, currently, we prioritize manufacturers that are supplying both locally and globally.

Like, depends on the products.

Like, for example, our loose leaf tea, they're actually sourced globally since we don't have it available here in the Philippines.

And you mentioned about partnerships, right?

It's a very interesting topic.

And hopefully, at some point, we will actually be able to partner with other bigger producers.

With other bigger FMCG companies so that we will be present in grocery stores.

So, that's actually our hope in the future.

Now, we talked about the challenges that you usually face when it comes to these refillable products.

But beyond, you know, Salon PH and your push for environmental impact,

this time around, what are the key value propositions that Salon uses to offer to attract and also retain your customers?

Okay.

So, as I actually mentioned, just like two weeks ago, we have actually celebrated Earth Hour.

And we were actually present in WWF's Earth Hour in Manila.

And the consumers are actually surprised that our products are on the cheaper level, they said.

So, it's specific to the nuts and the superfoods that we're selling.

So, it really is possible to make it cheaper.

And, of course, like really breaking the inconvenience.

Inconvenient perception of people.

Like we really can do swapping mechanism of the containers rather than them going to us.

And I think one other value proposition that we can offer is that we're a one-stop shop for all of the grocery needs that you may have.

So, you don't have to jump from a different refilling store just to get your other essentials that you might need.

And aside from offering, you know, those refillable household goods,

are there any new innovative product categories that the company is exploring, you know, to cater to a more eco-conscious market?

Yeah.

It's actually the main reason why we explore the initiative Salon Cup, which I mentioned.

Because there has been a demand in terms of reducing the waste from the coffee shops, right?

Like I'm a coffee lover.

And sometimes I really can't help to buy outside.

But then there's this disposable cups.

Even if it's like paper, made from paper, it's still disposable.

We still throw it.

That's why we're looking into the Salon Cup.

So, we're in the early stages of talking with coffee shop owners.

And even in one of the co-working spaces here in BGC, they're actually open to having the Salon Cup made available on their coffee shop inside the co-working place.

And when it comes to refill businesses, you know, they utilize subscriptions for those regular deliveries for the regular consumers.

Does Salon also see any potential in implementing a subscription model for, you know, specific products or all products or for different customer segments?

Yes.

So, it's actually part of our timeline.

It will be on the second phase of what we're trying to implement in Salon Tingin.

And then again, like thinking about the water refilling mechanism.

Like imagine if we are able to deliver the products regularly to our customers, it's actually inevitable that they will subscribe and like continually buy from us.

Lastly, Krisha, beyond Metro Manila, are there specific regions or demographics that Salon is prioritizing for expansion?

So, at the moment, we are actually focusing on Metro Manila first.

Because there's so much.

Okay.

Demand here right now.

And we don't even have other alternatives available.

So, there's so much opportunity to grow here.

But at some point, we actually want to expand to Iloilo and on the southern part of Luzon.

Because there seems to be lots of support for sustainability initiatives in those areas.

Krisha Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Salon PH.

Krisha, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for the invitation.

Now, we're going on another quick break.

But stay tuned when we come back.

Telco Giant Globe warrants Filipinos against a news scam victimizing cellphone users.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back.

Did you know that some of the animators of all-time favorite cartoons like Scooby-Doo, Teen Titans Go, and Looney Tunes are Filipinos?

Well, Snipple Animation Studios has been giving life to some of the most iconic cartoon characters.

For 13 years running.

Here to tell us more about Snipple Animation is James Arboleda of Snipple Marketing.

Good afternoon to you, James. And welcome to the business, Rojo.

Hello. Good afternoon, Stanley.

And congratulations to Snipple, by the way, for 13 years.

Snipple Animation Studios has quite a portfolio of great work by Filipinos not too many people know about.

Tell us first what these are.

We've done most of the revival work.

We've done most of the revival work like mostly from Warner Brothers and Walt Disney like Scooby-Doo, Looney Tunes.

From Disney, we did the TV series for Big Hero 6 and DuckTales.

Also, we did some part of Klaus in Netflix and also the series Green Eggs and Ham for Warner Brothers.

All right.

That's just part of it.

Yeah.

And I'm sure there's a lot.

Maybe you can give us an idea of what types of work or aspects in the animation ecosystem are Filipinos most involved in?

Yeah.

We're doing mostly Western-style animation.

That's because of our, I think, Western inclination, our culture.

Our humor is always towards the Western type of humor.

And all of our, even of our…

Some of our mannerisms are Westernized.

So, US studios mostly come to us not just for the talent that we have,

the skills of our animators, but mostly for the same…

There's no…

How would you call this?

There's no language barrier between us.

Okay.

Now, James, I'm sure you've seen a lot of Filipino talent in animation.

Why do you think Filipinos can really…

Can really go a long way and excel in the field of animation?

Oh, as early as the late 80s, animation has been a big industry here in the Philippines.

As I said, the humor and all of our artistic skills, our creative skills.

By the way, that's how we founded Snapple Animation.

We believed in the Filipino talent.

That's why we pursue this.

That's why our creative team right up until now, since its inception, are purely Filipinos.

That's something that you could consider as an advantage on our part.

All right.

Is there something big you're working on right now?

Of course, there's always something big, but it's…

We're not yet at liberty, but we have…

Okay.

I think an 80-episode project right now ongoing.

We've done some teasers on it.

It's mostly…

Mostly, the children from the 90s or towards the first part of 2000s are familiar with the title.

They just look into our Snapple Facebook page.

All right.

What kind of talent are you getting for Snapple?

I would imagine you'd be getting more from the younger generation.

Or am I wrong?

When we pursue artists, especially for our training, we don't look at…

We don't really have an age bracket.

Just as long as they are within the legal working age.

And although most of our trainees are in the 20s, early 20s.

Because I think it has been somehow opened up within the school system.

A lot of multimedia schools.

Yeah.

A lot of animation courses are being opened up.

So, the age range is from 20 to around 27.

Okay.

And all of these are employed in Snapple.

Perhaps you can give us a sense of how big the organization is right now.

And maybe even tell us how the journey was like in the last 13 years.

Oh, well.

Currently, we have around 250 regular artists.

Around 500 freelancers.

It has been a fruitful journey from the start.

We started with a 150 square meter office with just 20 workstations and 40 animation tables.

But currently, we're working in a studio that's around 2,600 square meters.

Okay.

So, you just imagine the people coming in and out here.

Okay.

Clearly, there is a lot of growth there for Snapple.

When you look back, James, how different is the business now that we have?

You know, AI and a host of other technology that really helps create content better.

Yeah.

When we started, there were still some traditional aspects of production.

People were still drawing on paper.

But right now, we're totally digital.

As for the aspect of technology,

the aspect of artificial intelligence,

I just wish that there'd be some regulations established within our, at least our country.

Because I've heard the U.S. and Japan have already looked into regulating these.

Because we should consider that this is our resource.

The talent, the skills of the Filipinos, these are major resources.

We are doing all of this for them.

So, we must assure that these are not trampled upon.

AI can be helpful in many other aspects.

But when it comes to, say, maybe taking your style or taking your whatever the artistic style of the artist,

there's still some line there that must not be crossed.

That's our position regarding AI.

Okay.

So, Snipple has, of course, a clientele of international nature.

You have a lot of U.S. assignments and accounts.

But what about the Philippines?

What kind of future are you seeing for Snipple as regards Philippine animation?

Are we also as, well, as robust as international markets?

What's the demand like?

Okay.

Well, for now, when we started Snipple, we had the idea of producing our own, right?

But as the time passed by, we have started to establish Snipple Originals.

That's a conceptualization arm for Snipple animation.

We're looking for IPs so that we could develop and market.

And although we haven't found or mostly we haven't gotten any contribution from any Filipino suggestions,

we have gotten two projects.

Already airing or projected to air in U.K.

So, we're just looking for the proper project to develop.

So, we're opening newer horizons.

So, more chances for different types of work within the animation industry,

which comes from conceptualization, production design, maybe storyboarding and maybe script writing,

up until the editing part of the production pipeline.

All right, James.

You know, as with any other business, business continuity is important.

It's important that for longevity, you have to have a steady pool of talents through the years.

What kind of talent now, what kind of capacity are you seeing as far as the future is concerned?

I mean, the education sector, are there adequate policies and even programs that can help develop fresh talent?

For animation?

We're constantly working with schools with regards to their curriculum.

They're trying to streamline their curriculum.

I think there should also be government involvement, especially with CHED,

so that we could assure that all of the graduates are production ready when they come out.

I haven't personally, we haven't seen a graduate who is production ready.

That's why we have instituted them.

And our trainings that require around six months before we could really make use of the skills of the student.

Okay.

Now you mentioned training.

Talk to us about that now.

If there are interested students who would like to learn more about animation and you offer training, how does that work?

We just look for talents, raw talents.

You don't necessarily have to be, you don't need to have any idea about animation.

Because this is an animation training, so we're looking for people who could draw.

Draw good, not just draw.

So when you come in, we train you.

But of course, since this is free, it's always been free since 2014 when we started this.

Because it's free, we have our quota.

I mean, we have our limited slots that's available for training.

So you just have to apply.

And then I suggest everyone be aware of our posts on Snipple Animation in Facebook.

So that's where they can follow you?

Yes, Snipple Animation Studios in Facebook and in Instagram.

Okay, we do wish you well and we do hope you can find more talent in the Philippines in the field of animation.

Again, James Arboleda, Marketing for Snipple Animation Studios.

It was a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Moving on, Telco Giant Globe warning the public against clicking links sent to them via text messages amid the rise of so-called spoofing.

The scheme, the firm says, is run by scammers posing as network companies to access the credit card details and other sensitive information of mobile users.

Ang nangyayari po, gumagamit po sila ng makina na tinatawag po in-si-catcher.

Nag-i-impersonate ng cell tower.

Yung mga scammer, nasa backpack nila yan o nasa loob ng mga van, umiikot po sila.

Tapos nun, ang radius niyan, ang lahat ng mga cellphone na malapit dun sa van, po-connect po dun yung mga cellphone.

Pag-connect po yung cellphone dun, kahit anong sender po, pwede na nilang i-spoof.

Pwede po nilang gawin ang sender, Globe.

Wala na po kaming ipapadalang mensahe kahit na official message ng Globe, wala na pong link yan.

A Philippine telco firm that's over a century old, eyeing nationwide expansion.

Jackie Pascual tells us how Eastern Communications intends to catch a bigger market share outside Metro Manila.

The 145-year-old Eastern Communications is expanding further in the technological space.

The telco is allotting 1.15 billion peso in capital expenditures this year to upgrade its equipment

and expand network coverage.

Most of the CAPEX right now is under refresh, improving network technology

and everything that we have in terms of the network component.

Well, we still have a lot for expansion also.

After X number of years, your equipment becomes obsolete.

Technology becomes obsolete quite quickly

and we intend to upgrade and refresh our network.

It is eyeing to raise its revenue from 4.3 billion pesos last year

to 4.8 billion pesos this quarter.

And one way to do that is by expanding to so-called digital-ready provincial cities like Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Bacolod.

Where BPOs are heading towards because they're economic magnets.

And those are the areas where we are expanding to cover the SMEs that are born out of these areas.

Eastern Communications is banking on the commencement of the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network,

which is considered the longest in the country, to roll out its services to more islands.

The company, however, is only focused on business clients for now, as it offers ICT solutions and not just internet connectivity.

You sell connectivity together with ICT because they will be able to experience and enjoy connectivity only,

and interrupted connectivity.

And with all the applications and whatnot, if they have ICT.

Data centers. We provide both data center hosting and as well as cloud hosting.

So we have our own cloud offering called Eastern Cloud.

And we also have other things such as cyber security.

Eastern Communications is seeing double-digit growth this year as it also plans to grow.

It's a 6.1% market share in the B2B segment this year.

Jackie Pascual, ABS-CBN News.

The Philippines' merchandise exports surged by 15.7% in February 2024.

That translates to $5.9 billion, up from $5.1 billion the previous year.

The Trade Department attributes this growth to the robust upturn in the semiconductor industry,

which it said grew by nearly 32%.

The Philippines' top export markets are the U.S., Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and the Netherlands.

A Philippine government is hopeful this growth momentum will be sustained in the coming months.

And before we go, here's our numbers that matter today.

The Philippines expects to generate 489 million pesos in sales from this year's ITV Travel Trade Fair in Berlin.

The Tourism Promotions Board touts this is doable in last year's negotiated sales revenue of 271 million pesos.

The annual event at the German capital saw the participation of dozens of travel companies and tour operators from the Philippines.

Tourism Secretary Cristina Frascos welcomed the higher sales leads.

In a statement, she said this speaks of the government and the private sector's commitment to boosting tourism development in the country.

And those are the latest in all things business.

I'm Denise Nansay.

You can watch highlights, recaps, and exclusive content of our shows online.

And I'm Stanley Palisada.

Subscribe to the ANC YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter,

and join us again tomorrow for another edition of the Business Roadshow.