Prime Minister lauds Cebu for choosing BRT system

By Elias O. Baquero and Princess Dawn H. Felicitas

Monday, October 22, 2012
FRENCH Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault yesterday praised Cebu officials for choosing TransCebu or the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as the future major means of transport, which is partly financed by his country.
Atty. Christopher Yap of TransCebu said that during his stint as mayor, Ayrault converted the Cathedral Square, where heavy traffic was experienced every day, into a bus way area that permanently solved the traffic problem.

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Ayrault’s system is now being copied by officials behind TransCebu, said Yap, who is also the chief of the Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operations and Management (Citom).
Ayrault proceeded to Cebu from a state visit in Manila to attend the Trans-Cebu or BRT briefing and the inauguration of the Alliance Francaise de Cebu building on Gorordo Ave., Cebu City.
Alliance Francaise de Cebu is a non-government organization (NGO) in France that promotes French culture in Cebu.
Cost
During the briefing about BRT at the Capitol Social Hall, which was also witnessed by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Presidential Political Adviser Roland Llamas and French media and businessmen, Yap told Ayrault that TransCebu or BRT will cost P9.076 billion (US$212 million), which covers the capital or physical cost (P6.694 billion or US$156 million), resettlement and land acquisition (P1.044 billion or US$25 million) and project management and coordination (P1.337 billion or US$31 million).
Yap further told Ayrault that Trans-Cebu or BRT will be jointly financed by Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) with US$52 million, the World Bank at US$110 million, Clean Technology Fund, a non-government organization (NGO) that deals with environment-friendly projects, US$25 million, and the Philippine Government with US$25 million.
Yap led Ayrault to the Capitol veranda to have a full view of Escario St. corner Osmeña Blvd., which will be part of the BRT system route.
Yap said Trans-Cebu will have 15 stations between Bulacao and the Cebu Business Park.
The system will be built in the middle of the road. Access to stations is at ground
level.
These Trans-Cebu stations, Yap said, are of a sufficient size to accommodate forecast passenger and vehicle demand. They will provide a safe, secure and comfortable waiting environment with seating for those who need it.
He said the stations will protect the traveler from the rain and wind and also have lighting that will be powered by solar panels.
Moratorium
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council imposed a moratorium on developments along the BRT corridor.
The resolution was authored by Councilor Richard Osmeña, chair of the council committee on traffic management.
Osmeña’s resolution provides for the adaptation of a development moratorium along the Cebu South Coastal Road from the boundary of Barangay Bulacao to N. Bacalso Ave. and to Osmeña Blvd.
The moratorium also applies from Osmeña Blvd. junction P. Del Rosario St. up to Capitol, then from Escario St. to the Cebu Business Park, and Archbishop Reyes Ave. up to the flyover near the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) 7 compound.
“In order not to hamper the implementation of the construction works related to the BRT project and to effectively facilitate the road-right-of-way acquisition, it is necessary to regulate any development along the corridor of the BRT project,” the councilor said
In his resolution, Osmeña said the moratorium was made upon the request of the technical working group (TWG) for the city’s BRT project during their meeting last Sept. 14.
The BRT route in the city will be from Bulacao, passing through N. Bacalso Ave., then to Osmeña Blvd., Escario St. and straight to Barangay Talamban.
Yap, who is a member of the TWG, said the moratorium covered under Osmeña’s resolution is only until the flyover of Tesda, considering that there is already an existing moratorium on the developments along the Banilad-Talamban corridor.
Asked when the moratorium will start, Yap said it should be as soon as possible so the City can control the developments along the area.
“So we won’t have a hard time implementing the BRT right away,” he said.
The construction works for the BRT is expected to start in October 2013 and the system to be operational by 2015.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 22, 2012.

Rockwell Land’s power women make a mid-career shift worth it

Category: Marketing

Published on Sunday, 14 October 2012 18:25

Written by Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent

THE success of Rockwell Land Corp. is attributed to the dedication, enthusiasm, talent and focus of the men and women who helped build the classy brand.

Valerie Jane Lopez-Soliven, vice president for sales and marketing; and Maria Lourdes Pineda, vice president for retail and general manager of the Power Plant Mall, are two of the people who have helped establish the Rockwell brand to the public.

Soliven has worked with the company for 15 years. She is a licensed broker, but holds a Bachelor of  Science degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from the University of the Philippines. It is her job to ensure that  residential sales and leasing teams will reach and even exceed their revenue target. She is also called the guardian for branding and mentor of the marketing team for Rockwell Land.

Pineda, who has been working with the company for 12 years, also graduated with a hotel and restaurant management degree from UP. Prior to joining Rockwell Land, she worked for four years at Jewelmer International, a French-Filipino company specializing in exquisite jewelry.

She handles marketing, operations and leasing for Rockwell.

In separate e-mail exchanges with the BusinessMirror, Soliven and Pineda share their working experiences in the company they call home.

You were deep into what would be a promising career with  a popular hotel chain, yet you switched careers. What prompted the change from hotel to real estate?

Soliven: I studied Hotel and Restaurant Administration in UP Diliman, so it was the usual track that I was to follow. The opportunity for opening Shangri-La here in the Philippines presented itself, [along] with extensive training abroad, so I took the position. I was in the hotel industry from 1990 until 1996.

I was in hotel operations, and the hours were taxing. In 1996 I was already married with a child, so with the demanding schedule, a career move was a clear choice at that time. Rockwell presented the opportunity through a head hunter [who] offered me a job in Rockwell, which presented itself as also in the high-end luxury market, in the same field in which I had the training and the background. More important, it was the excitement of working with a pioneering property-development company that attracted me to Rockwell.

Please describe your working years in Rockwell Land. Can you recall the exciting, as well as the challenging, times with the company?

Soliven: The most exciting time to be with Rockwell is now. In the past, we have been sequential with the way we [proceed] with our developments. Now, Rockwell is undergoing a rapid expansion, venturing into new markets and different types of developments. It is very different from how we began in terms of pace, but it also brings new opportunities and challenges.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997—at its worst from 1999 to 2001—was the most challenging time for the company. Being the main revenue generator for the company, the pressure on the sales and marketing team was very strong. It was a difficult time, but because our shareholders were very supportive, and our leaders strategic and driven, the company was able to recover. With the introduction of The Manansala, Rockwell was able to succeed amid the unfavorable market conditions.

One of your responsibilities is to be the guardian of branding. Please describe what exactly that is. What are its components?

Soliven: Rockwell has remained an impressive and reputable name for 17 years, and it is the job of the sales and marketing team to preserve that. By leading my front liners, ensuring that they understand and embody what it is to be part of Rockwell, so that they are able to champion the brand. Each sales executive, events associate and digital artist at any level is a testimony to the quality that Rockwell delivers and defines. The way we communicate with our audience and the way we provide utmost service to our clients and customers is what I direct and, through this, I ensure that our market is able to be aware of, understand and receive the matchless quality that Rockwell delivers. In the same way that our project development and design and planning teams work to create products that are of a high caliber, we safeguard that quality of the Rockwell name.

What adjustments did you have to make when you moved to the real-estate industry?

Soliven: Moving from the hotel industry into property development, there were a lot of differences. The hotel industry is basically service-oriented. While I was in operations I was heavily into customer service. When I moved to property development, I took a career in sales and marketing. However, I was very fortunate to join the company at that time because the property-development industry was at its peak in 1996. There was very strong demand for residences.

How would you differentiate the current working environment in the company now and 15 years ago when you joined them?

Soliven: The growth of the company has indeed changed the way we work. Fifteen years ago, the sales and marketing team was composed of a small group of five. Now, as the team head, I lead a group of 120. While working for a company composed of only 30 is very different from working with a group of 536, it has always been a dynamic and stimulating working environment.

The landscape of the property-development industry has also changed. It is more competitive now, with the number of developments being offered to the market steadily increasing. I see this as a good sign, because it is an indicator that the performance of property developers has impressed the audience, and that we can continue to provide them with quality residences.

Why do you consider Rockwell Land a home?

Soliven: Having been in Rockwell since 1996, I have seen this company grow in number of employees, in its impressive portfolio and as a brand, and I feel that I have grown with it, as well. In the same way that I care for my own home, I also make it a point to pay attention to how well the company is doing. I make sure that for sales and marketing, everything is going smoothly, so both our clients and our employees have a great experience. I also treat my team much like my family. I care for them, make sure that they are excelling, and that there are supportive relationships within the team.

How do you balance career and parenting?

Soliven: Managing both career and parenting is a tough act. It’s a cliché but it’s true. The key is to just spend quality time. I’m able to manage both by just spending as much time with my husband and my children as I can. When I’m at work, I am completely focused on it, but when I get home I try to shut everything else out and make sure that all of my time is spent for myself or with my family.

What made you stay with Rockwell for the past 12 years?

Pineda: I remained in Rockwell because I was able to see how the company consistently delivered quality in various aspects of its operations and in different business units. I started in the Rockwell Club, but because my background was really in sales, eventually I was moved to sales and marketing, where I stayed for close to four years. Nestor J. Padilla, our president, offered me the position as general manager of the Power Plant Mall, and by January of 2005, I was already in retail. In my experience working with these different teams I saw how Rockwell had a clear vision and deep understanding of what the market wanted, and was able to provide luxury in all areas—residential, commercial and leisure. Most of all, I believe in the vision of the company and in the leadership of our president, Tong Padilla.

How would you compare the scenario when you joined the company and the current environment?

Pineda: The year I joined the company was the most difficult times for Rockwell. We were debt-ridden. It also was the height of the Asian financial crisis. We struggled in sales but despite all those hindrances, we saw the company through its debts and now we are a publicly listed company and remains stronger than ever with the prospects of a lot of growth.

What is it like to manage the Power Plant Mall?

Pineda: Managing the Power Plant Mall is a very rewarding experience. While I am trying to balance time for meetings, making presentations and tenant concerns, I have a team of highly competent and driven managers who are able to lead their own teams and keep the Power Plant Mall running smoothly. I find that it is important to focus on who our market is, and what they want, in order to make better decisions on how to provide residents and mallgoers with the Rockwell experience.

Do you think marketing the Rockwell brand, particularly the Power Plant Mall, has an edge over the competition since it has a niche market?

Pineda: In the Power Plant Mall, we believe that luxury is not only material but also largely about the experience. We have a balanced mix of mainstream concepts and brands along with our select home-grown unique concepts. Everyone needs a hardware store, a supermarket, a cinema, a bookstore, but the Power Plant Mall levels it up in terms of the customer-service experience and the interiors. It’s in the way the service is delivered that makes it extraordinary. By doing more to provide customers with quality experience, I think is what helps us to remain a step ahead.

Since Rockwell belongs to the high-end market, do you have an advantage in attracting new clients?

Pineda: I think since we continue to work on strengthening the community we created and consistently elevate the service and quality we offer our clients, the attraction of new clients will always be there. If you have a good track record and credibility built on trust and dependability, admiration from around will come.

What adjustments did you make when you joined Rockwell? Did it require you to unlearn previous work styles?

Pineda: I started my career in the jewelry business, which is synonymous with luxury. My training brought me to different parts of Europe and Asia. For four years I was trained to develop the eye for the finer things in life, which is something that helped me when I began my work in Rockwell. Both the jewelry business and Rockwell are focused on the quality.

How do you balance career and parenting?

Pineda: My children are already grown up, and are beginning careers for themselves, but during the weekends, my husband and I make it a point to always go out and unwind with the family. My husband is also very busy, and he’s as stressed as I am, but we make sure that the family allots time for each other.

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In Photo:Valerie Jane Lopez-Soliven and Maria Lourdes Pineda

Online and offline sales

Category: Marketing

Published on Sunday, 14 October 2012 18:47

Written by Marjorie Teresa R. Perez / AdMix / marjorieperez711@gmail.com

This columnist was asked, “Can online efforts contribute to offline sales?” My answer would be yes because that’s been proven time and again. Just look at the data around digital advertising, affiliate marketing programs, and web-site conversations.

However, it’s usually difficult to directly attribute the increase to the contribution of social media. This is partly because the best social-media campaigns are deeply integrated with in-store messaging and partly because there are few ways to explicitly measure the effect because the final action—in-store sales—is, by definition, occurring in an offline channel.

One of the many things social media, in particular, has done is give people an opportunity to participate in conversations around a specific product, service and so on. The organizations that are smart, that are winning, are aggregating those conversations in places where they are easily accessible through a search. That creates a natural flow that brings people to a level of awareness of these products or services and that leads to purchase, either offline or online.

There are a number of cases we can point to where social media was a direct driver for purchases from stores or businesses that are traditionally considered offline, and which data is powerfully in favor of a strong effect on the bottom line.

The positive trends around engaging in social media for business are overwhelming. Companies from coffee shops to automobile dealers to computer shops have demonstrated success and deepened relationships through their expansive social-media efforts.

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Best practices for using online efforts to get offline sales include the following: Proactive customer service based on monitoring to build relationships with customers and prospects; Online drivers to offline events, sometimes held in-store; and brand ambassador programs, which leverage and empower enthusiasts to “spread the word” to their personal networks and influence others to purchase goods.

I spoke before a digital marketing class about the day we are going to have to decide how much privacy we expect to have. It probably is not too far away that one day we will walk into a store and clothing will be automatically recommended for us, or we will approach the counter of a coffee shop and they will already know what we want to order.

Look at what Foursquare is doing already. When I check in somewhere, Foursquare will tell me if there’s a special event happening down the block.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the increasing importance of going digital into the formerly offline purchasing arena. When you go to a makeup counter, for example, you might see YouTube testimonials from people who used a specific makeup product. Or you might even see a Twitter screen with tweets from people who were satisfied with tax preparation when you go to the office of a government agency to do what is expected of you as an upright citizen.

Just look at the work Google has done to capture consumers at the most important moment in purchase, what is called the “zero moment of truth”—the moment when consumers are deciding what to buy, even before encountering a particular product.

The possibilities such technologies open for brands to understand and influence customer purchase behavior really are staggering. And I just don’t mean consumer purchase behavior in general. Brands will be able to personalize the digital experience around a purchase based on who and where individual customers are.

As far as company size goes, I think the essential challenges are always the same, I do see size giving companies different advantages. A rowboat turns faster than a cruise ship, as they say, and I think smaller companies can apply the insight they gain from listening to conversations much more easily than large ones.

On the other hand, larger companies have more resources, which means they can listen to more of the conversation, and use more sophisticated filters and metrics in doing so. But again, for any company, the essential skill is not keeping up, but understanding how to listen.

Social media is, well, social. And social engagement often takes a more frivolous or consumer-based tone. But the simple fact is, no one makes any decision—especially a costly business decision—without first going online to conduct research about a company or category. Used right, social-media channels can enable businesses to “own” that search with relevant content and keywords. As they say, if you’re not on page one of Google or Yahoo, you simply don’t exist.

So, to me, online and offline are becoming indistinguishable. And from a brand perspective—and from a personal perspective, too—I find the possibilities that creates extremely exciting.

***

Bubuwit Squeaks

Talent Spotter

Food shows are perennially popular on TV, because the viewers like to see good food presented well, and because they are effective programs for selling advertising to supermarkets. One manufacturer decided to recruit a celebrity chef to promote their products. The clever part was that it was not someone who was already famous—they identified a relatively unknown newcomer to the celebrity chef scene and signed him up, while he was still relatively unknown. They got him to use upmarket, state-of-the-art utensils on the show, and to pose for photo shoots. Photos were sent to magazines with stories and where it was appropriate—recipes. The celebrity chef was the glue that held together the components of a big campaign and signing up the chef early in his career meant they did the campaign relatively cheaply compared to using a high-profile and already famous face.

PHL investment-grade hopes dim

Published on Thursday, 18 October 2012 21:26

Written by Jun Vallecera | Reporter

Some of the country’s weak fiscal underpinnings and the perception that President Aquino’s reform momentum has stalled have prompted the sovereign ratings firm Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to cite potential delay in the country’s bid to attain investment-grade status.

The hoped-for credit upgrade, which would make future foreign borrowings significantly cheaper than possible right now, may be delayed as long as two-and-a-half years.

In a report originating from its Singapore offices on Thursday, S&P cited the country’s “weak fiscal profile and high interest burden on its public debt” as potentially damaging to the country’s bid for investment-grade status.

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Such weakness was attributed to the country’s “narrow revenue base and the large portion of expensive commercial debt,” which act as the proverbial Damocles sword ready to swing down and cut short the search for a more prestigious standing among countries generating part of their funding requirements from overseas markets.

While the Philippines does not seek foreign funds for now, a credit upgrade would help elevate the country’s status as borrower of good standing and help highlight its macroeconomic achievements, as well.

But according to S&P, the Philippines and neighboring Indonesia “both have some weaknesses to address before they are likely to break into the investment-grade rating category.”

“For both sovereigns, low per-capita income levels remain a rating constraint. The wealth levels in Indonesia and the Philippines imply a low revenue base for the government to draw on, significant human and physical capital shortcomings, and hence, less fiscal and political flexibility to modify policy to avoid default in the event of adverse economic developments,” S&P said.

This has particular significance, for example, to current efforts by President Aquino to generate more excise revenue from the alcohol and tobacco industries, efforts acknowledged to have been at risk of serious revenue erosion based on the quality of legislative proposals at various stages of deliberation in the halls of Congress at present.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima has pushed for P60-billion annual incremental revenues from excisable products, for instance, but had to fight in recent days for a potentially larger tax take as his prime supporter in the Senate came up with an excise plan significantly inferior to what they had in mind.

Purisima and others in the President’s Cabinet economic cluster fear the allegedly watered-down excise plan proposed in the Senate would undermine the reform momentum, thus far attained and have fought for its revision.

S&P noted the improvements in the country’s political backdrop and policy settings led it to raise the country’s sovereign rating to “BB+” from “BB” in July this year, putting it a notch short of investment grade, or from a rating of “BBB-” and above.

“The stable outlook on the Philippines indicates that risks to the ratings are balanced,” S&P analyst Agost Benard said.

“The Philippines has narrowed its fiscal deficits, lessened its reliance on foreign savings, and rationalized the public sector. A more conducive political setting has replaced the turbulent and obstructionist environment that prevailed for well over a decade,” he said.

House okays 'K to 12' bill

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated October 19, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has approved on second reading the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2012 or the “K to 12” program, which seeks to institutionalize the new basic education curriculum the government implemented starting this school year.
The K to 12 program added two years to the 10-year basic education curriculum. The government has required all five-year-olds to finish kindergarten education before entering Grade 1.
House Bill 6643 will “enhance the quality of basic education in a manner that is least disruptive to the current curriculum, most affordable to government and families and aligned with international practice,” the authors said.
The measure also aims “to change public perception that secondary education is just a preparation for college and allow students to take advantage of opportunities for gainful career or employment and/or self-employment in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment.”
The bill prescribes one year of kindergarten, six years of elementary and six years of secondary education, consisting of four years junior and two years senior high school.
It also seeks to integrate subjects being offered in college into high school, aside from the general subjects to be determined by the Department of Education (DepEd).
The measure also empowers the DepEd, in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, to formulate the design and details of the enhanced basic education curriculum.
The bill seeks the creation of a curriculum consultative committee to be chaired by the DepEd secretary to oversee the review and evaluation of the implementation of the program and recommend the necessary refinements.