https://www.scmp.com/rss/502144/feed Elyssa Lopez is a business writer based in Manila. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Since a Filipino-American woman was attacked in New York City on her way to church earlier this week, academic Patricio Abinales – who migrated from the Philippines to the US more than three decades ago – has been pondering his family’s future. At the heart of the matter is his 17-year-old daughter, who is finishing high school soon and is set to enter an American college later this year. Abinales, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, said the recent wave of violence... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3128146/filipino-americans-despair-new-york-stomping-attack-us-still-land?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3128146/filipino-americans-despair-new-york-stomping-attack-us-still-land?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Apr 2021 10:36:24 +0000 Jen Armado, a 32-year-old mother of two, was supposed to mark her 10th year as a secretary in a private school in Tanza, Cavite, a coastal town south of Metro Manila, when she was laid off in August. While troubled and downtrodden, Armado quickly thought of a way to recoup the lost income. “I don’t have a laptop or even broadband internet to apply for a remote job. Good thing I love cooking, so I sold home-cooked meals instead,” she said. Her main delicacies were lumpiang shanghai (the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3124960/coronavirus-filipinos-go-hungry-amid-rising-pork-prices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3124960/coronavirus-filipinos-go-hungry-amid-rising-pork-prices?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Mar 2021 05:00:04 +0000 When the Philippine government started allowing local beach resorts to reopen to domestic tourists late last year, Evanika Makabali, a full-time graphic designer, was one of the first to book an extended stay. “Being a travel junkie during a pandemic is really hard,” Makabali said. “I needed a breather.” So to celebrate her 30th birthday in January, Makabali spent two weeks at a resort in Zambales, a coastal town north of Manila. While she spent most of her mornings working and attending Zoom... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3123423/hit-coronavirus-philippine-beach-resorts-target-local?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3123423/hit-coronavirus-philippine-beach-resorts-target-local?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Feb 2021 02:30:14 +0000 The Philippines will receive its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines this weekend from China’s Sinovac Biotech, allowing it to start its inoculation programme next week and lifting hopes for an economic revival after lengthy lockdowns that have fuelled job losses and substantially cut consumer spending. Harry Roque, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, said 600,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine would arrive on Sunday out of the 25 million doses that have been ordered, while 10,000 doses of a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3123303/philippines-set-roll-out-sinovac-covid-19-jabs-some?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3123303/philippines-set-roll-out-sinovac-covid-19-jabs-some?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Feb 2021 10:00:18 +0000 A former speaker of the Philippines’ House of Representatives has sparked outrage on social media after announcing his intent to form a new political grouping named after world-famous South Korean boy band BTS. Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte who was ousted as speaker in October, said he would form the BTS sa Kongreso (BTS in Congress) bloc with six fellow lawmakers – Representatives Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jnr, Dan Fernandez, Raneo Abu, Mike Defensor, Jose... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3117574/bts-philippines-congress-duterte-allys-plan-name-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3117574/bts-philippines-congress-duterte-allys-plan-name-political?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 09:09:27 +0000 Michelle de Guzman has had her life upended by the coronavirus pandemic. In March, just as the number of cases in the Philippines began to grow, she was managing an upscale restaurant in Quezon City that was about to undergo a change of ownership. She had run the restaurant’s day-to-day operations for more than a year and was looking forward to working with its new owners, until they suddenly withdrew their bid to buy the place and she was abruptly let go, along with the rest of the staff. The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3113557/coronavirus-asian-women-pay-price-pandemic-covid-19-ravages?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3113557/coronavirus-asian-women-pay-price-pandemic-covid-19-ravages?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Dec 2020 00:30:17 +0000 During a normal year, Camille Peredo, 31, would be spending her weekends hiking mountains or strolling on some of the Philippines’ best beaches. But 2020 is not like any other year. Instead, she has mostly stayed at home for the past eight months as the country grapples with one of the world’s longest lockdowns imposed to combat Covid-19. “The farthest I’ve been is the office, which is just a few minutes away from my house,” Peredo said of her limited wanderings during the lockdowns, which have... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3112584/philippine-homeowners-power-furniture-stores-through?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3112584/philippine-homeowners-power-furniture-stores-through?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2020 05:00:17 +0000 The Covid‑19 pandemic is upending the economic futures of young people across the Asia-Pacific. As economies across the region plunge into their worst recessions in generations, workers in their 20s and 30s are facing the brunt of lay-offs as workplaces shed employees on a last-in, first-out basis. The Asian Development Bank and the International Labour Organisation have predicted that up to 15 million youth jobs in the region’s 13 countries will disappear in 2020. Those who can find work face... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109535/generation-c-young-asians-coronavirus-defines-bleak-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109535/generation-c-young-asians-coronavirus-defines-bleak-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Nov 2020 00:00:14 +0000 As the Philippines battles a coronavirus pandemic that has cost it nearly 8,000 lives out of more than 400,000 cases reported, it is banking on several of the Covid-19 vaccines in late-stage trials by other countries for future respite. Earlier this week, the country’s newly appointed vaccine tsar, Carlito Galvez, said the government was in talks with 17 vaccine manufacturers from 10 different countries or regions, including China, the US and Russia, about providing a potential vaccine. No deals... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3109729/russia-china-lead-philippines-seeks-deals-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3109729/russia-china-lead-philippines-seeks-deals-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Nov 2020 04:30:17 +0000 In March, Melody Fernandez only had one thing to look forward to for the month: taking a break from her full-time job as a fast-food worker at a chain restaurant. So she took an eight-hour bus drive from Manila, where she works, to Camarines Sur, the province her sister lives in, for a quick holiday. And then the country was put in lockdown. “I was only supposed to take a holiday,” the 22-year-old said. “Now, I’m having a baby.” The extended time in a new environment gave her the opportunity to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3105856/amid-coronavirus-lockdown-philippines-sees-pregnancy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3105856/amid-coronavirus-lockdown-philippines-sees-pregnancy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 2020 01:00:15 +0000 Fake social media accounts that promoted news content in the Philippines had by far the highest number of followers and interactions of those shut down on Tuesday by Facebook – a finding that activists said underscored the extent of the country’s disinformation problem. The network analysis firm Graphika, which specialises in disinformation detection, said in a 50-page report analysing fake accounts flagged by Facebook that two fake pages on the site focusing on the Philippines had attracted the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3102765/philippines-fake-accounts-shut-down-facebook-promoted-duterte?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3102765/philippines-fake-accounts-shut-down-facebook-promoted-duterte?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2020 14:18:27 +0000 A debate over national security has reopened in the Philippines after the country’s defence chief revealed he had signed a contract allowing a mobile phone network powered by a Chinese state telecoms giant to install communications equipment on army bases. The Philippine military made a preliminary agreement last year with Dito Telecommunity, a consortium formerly known as Mislatel that is part-owned by China Telecom, to install cell site towers at its camps. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3101316/philippines-gives-china-backed-telecom-firm-green-light-build?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3101316/philippines-gives-china-backed-telecom-firm-green-light-build?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Sep 2020 03:00:07 +0000 Over the past five years, summertime has been one of the busiest seasons for Patty Marabut, who co-owns a dessert shop called The Lost Bread. Its Instagram-worthy concoctions often draw long queues at its branches in and out of Metro Manila in the Philippines. This year, however, Marabut’s anticipated sales melted away as Covid-19 forced most of her would-be patrons to stay home. “Before the pandemic, we’d done several studies on how to transport our products and came to the conclusion that it... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3099333/can-philippines-shopping-centres-survive-post-coronavirus-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3099333/can-philippines-shopping-centres-survive-post-coronavirus-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Aug 2020 05:00:24 +0000 As a working mother of two toddlers, Rovi Calonge is always on the lookout for a good deal when shopping for her children. These days, that means tuning in to e-commerce platform Shopee’s noontime show on its app, in the hope of winning discount vouchers. “I don’t even shop for my baby’s essentials in the grocery store any more,” she said. “It’s cheaper to buy them online.” With the coronavirus pandemic forcing millions of people across Southeast Asia to stay home, e-commerce live-streams like... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3095587/how-coronavirus-helped-shopee-and-lazada-bring-chinas-live?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3095587/how-coronavirus-helped-shopee-and-lazada-bring-chinas-live?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Aug 2020 06:00:12 +0000 As hospitals in the Philippines were struggling with a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) earlier this year amid a global shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s fashion houses sprang into action. Supplies had got so low by March that pictures of doctors wearing nothing better than garbage bags as virus protection began circulating on social media, prompting prominent Filipino designer Rajo Laurel, closely followed by fellow fashionistas Mark Bumgarner and Debbie Co,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3095040/philippines-fashion-forward-ppe-coronavirus-wary-office-workers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3095040/philippines-fashion-forward-ppe-coronavirus-wary-office-workers?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jul 2020 01:00:09 +0000 An ale that rewards drinkers with a healthy gut may sound like an idea devised during a night of heavy boozing. Combine that beer with durian – the spiky, smelly, sometimes polarising fruit popular throughout Southeast Asia – and it’s a concept bordering on the absurd. This sheer novelty value – and a love of beer – inspired Kriza Calumba, a food and science technology instructor from Davao in the Philippines, to create her unusual but healthy concoction. “We already know how good probiotics are... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3091762/how-philippine-researcher-combined-durian-and-beer-create-healthy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3091762/how-philippine-researcher-combined-durian-and-beer-create-healthy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2020 04:00:10 +0000 When Metro Manila went into lockdown in mid-March, Rhea Muyargas, a medical technologist at one of the largest private hospitals in the Philippine capital, had to start walking to work. Public transport was halted and hundreds of frontline health care workers like Muyargas had no other option but to walk for hours in many cases, as few employers provided shuttle buses. But as the coronavirus pandemic has shown, the worst of times can sometimes bring out the best in people. When the plight of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3088904/philippine-coronavirus-lockdown-boosts-calls-bike?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3088904/philippine-coronavirus-lockdown-boosts-calls-bike?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jun 2020 05:00:14 +0000 Before much of the Philippines was placed under coronavirus lockdown in mid-March, working from home was an alien concept to many employees. Yet as Metro Manila neared its 80th day of “community quarantine”, some of the country’s largest firms will emerge from it more open to embracing remote work – even if the going was tough at the beginning, and some industries have struggled to adapt. Manila emerges from virus lockdown into economic uncertainty PLDT, the Philippines’ largest internet... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3087028/philippines-months-long-lockdown-forces-firms-embrace-remote?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3087028/philippines-months-long-lockdown-forces-firms-embrace-remote?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Jun 2020 03:00:15 +0000 Manila resident Pam Pastor thought getting a cake for her mother’s 61st birthday was going to be easy. But when she called the bakery on Tuesday morning all the Mango Bravo cakes were already sold out. That’s when Pastor noticed posts on the shop’s Facebook page offering her mother’s favourite cake for sale. Reluctantly, she agreed to buy, even though there was a 20 per cent mark-up. “I was desperate,” she said. The posts had been written by personal shoppers, resellers who had queued up at the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3084539/philippines-shopping-strangers-offers-gig-workers-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3084539/philippines-shopping-strangers-offers-gig-workers-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 May 2020 09:00:15 +0000 Elyssa Lopez Elyssa Lopez With her neighbourhood south of Manila locked down due to the coronavirus, Dolly Pelle had been planning to close her sari-sari convenience store – until customers convinced her they couldn’t do without her. Pelle’s store is one of a handful of similar shops all on the same street, but her’s has a crucial difference: it is the only one able to process local remittances. Lock down, start up: the digital firms cashing in on coronavirus in the Philippines In the past four years in the Philippines,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3083535/coronavirus-how-cash-mad-philippines-learned-love-digital-money?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3083535/coronavirus-how-cash-mad-philippines-learned-love-digital-money?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2020 02:30:21 +0000 In just a matter of days, Jimwel Himor has gone from waiting tables for a catering company in Metro Manila to waiting in line at the supermarket as he does other people’s shopping. “It’s a good gig and helps me get the money I need,” said the sole breadwinner for his family. “At least while I don’t have regular work.” Himor is one of the thousands of Filipinos who recently signed up as a personal assistant on MyKuya, an on-demand services app based in Manila, after being furloughed by his... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3081478/lock-down-start-digital-firms-cashing-coronavirus-quarantines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3081478/lock-down-start-digital-firms-cashing-coronavirus-quarantines?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2020 05:00:07 +0000 Abigail Bautista is used to being out of the house by nine in the morning to catch meetings in the office before noon. But for the past two weeks, the Manila-based consumer brand manager has not been anywhere near the office. Instead, she has been holding court with clients from the comfort of her dining room, in front of a 13-inch laptop. Like millions of other office workers across the world, Bautista has been forced to work from home (WFH) as governments across the region impose lockdowns and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3078368/coronavirus-asias-emerging-economies-working-home-still-work?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3078368/coronavirus-asias-emerging-economies-working-home-still-work?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2020 04:30:12 +0000 Kuuma Kaakao Cafe in Tagaytay City, about 60 kilometres south of the Philippine capital of Manila, used to be buzzing with customers around this time of year. Especially in the early evening, when visitors would flock to watch the colours of sunset play across the nearby Taal Volcano. “But ever since the eruption, very few tourists have come,” said the cafe’s owner, Mariellie Casauay. Taal spewed ash and hot rocks into the sky on January 12, triggering a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3076184/coronavirus-just-what-post-taal-volcano-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3076184/coronavirus-just-what-post-taal-volcano-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Mar 2020 03:00:10 +0000 A decade after becoming the world’s call-centre capital, with the most agents employed, the Philippines may risk losing this title if it does not adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies fast. This is the reality the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is coming to terms with, as its two-decade growth is threatened by the emergence of AI systems in companies everywhere. AI, in this case, is largely identified with its machine learning capability, the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3073999/artificial-intelligence-friend-or-foe-philippine-call-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3073999/artificial-intelligence-friend-or-foe-philippine-call-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2020 01:30:15 +0000 Caviar Acampado is a Sea Games gold medallist – and he did not even need to leave his computer screen. After a decade as a professional gamer, Acampado, 27, landed the Philippines its last gold medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games’ e-sports category as he beat Singapore’s contender in the computer game Starcraft II. By the end of the campaign, the Philippine e-sports team had won three gold medals, the most of any team. The regional championship, which took place last December, was the first... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3050700/e-sports-and-philippines-electronic-love-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3050700/e-sports-and-philippines-electronic-love-story?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Feb 2020 02:00:06 +0000 Lyka Trinidad was in the 10th grade when she started wondering what courses to take in college – but like most teenagers, she was unsure of what career to pursue. Should she be an accountant, as her parents suggested? What course would best give her financial stability? “My first plan was to take accounting, so I took it [in high school]. Upon further research, though, and with the current demands of companies, I thought marketing would be a better fit for me. It’s the more flexible choice,” she... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3048458/philippine-education-technology-start-ups-help-choosing-uni?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3048458/philippine-education-technology-start-ups-help-choosing-uni?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Feb 2020 01:00:20 +0000 When farmers in the highlands of La Trinidad, Benguet – 250km north of Manila – welcomed the new year, it was more with a whimper than a bang after a series of typhoons in the last few months of 2018 had repeatedly forced them to push back the harvest. By the time January hit, hundreds of them were gathering the same crops simultaneously.  Philippines becomes world’s deadliest country for land rights activists Prices plummeted, with vegetables like cabbages and carrots selling at a 70 to 90 per... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3042042/how-home-grown-tech-firms-and-bayanihan-spirit-rescued?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3042042/how-home-grown-tech-firms-and-bayanihan-spirit-rescued?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Dec 2019 02:00:16 +0000 Merlita Manicad knows a thing or two about creating something from nothing. Ten years ago, she lost her home to flooding caused by one of the most powerful storms ever recorded: Super Typhoon Haiyan. As her family’s sole breadwinner, Manicad knew she had to turn her life around and fast. So she scraped together what little money she could – 500 pesos (US$10) – and started the business she had long dreamed about, selling fashionable apparel and accessories. A decade on and her creations are... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3037973/green-new-black-philippine-firms-making-high-fashion-recycled?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3037973/green-new-black-philippine-firms-making-high-fashion-recycled?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Nov 2019 01:00:22 +0000 It should be on a par with its neighbours. After all, it is home to 106 million people – the second-largest population in Southeast Asia. The country has a median age of 24.4, making it one of the youngest nations in the region. Powered by its English proficiency, it has risen to become the home of business process outsourcing, with the world’s largest companies tapping it for their labour needs. The young, robust market is internet-savvy, with its members spending an average of 10 hours a day... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3027171/no-country-unicorns-why-philippine-start-ups-are-struggling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3027171/no-country-unicorns-why-philippine-start-ups-are-struggling?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2019 05:00:08 +0000