The BSP hiked policy rate by 50 basis points today after the USD Fed tightened theirs by 75 bps, it’s expected that the peso would sink further.
But not by 50 centavos in one day!
I can’t remember if the currency had dipped this low within 24 hours. In all of my years reporting on the financial markets, I think this is the first time I saw the peso sink like this. 🤦♀️
This is already inflationary. The BSP should intervene in the forex market. I know this is the worst use of our dollar reserves but the forex volatility is no longer funny.
Admittedly, I earned well in this quick sinking of the peso but I am not happy because it has made a lot of Filipinos poorer. Goods continue to get more expensive by the day.
Feeling under the weather? Cook bak kut teh. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Pork bone soup cooked in my Instant Pot. Photo by CallMeCreation.com.
Lovely.
However, I’m running out of spice packets. I need to replenish when I come back to Singapore in November.
Speaking of which, I already booked my PAL flights but the hotel is a tricky one since I needed to use the SAP Concur facility so I can use the company credit card. And it’s not working because the chief of reporters has sat on my request on Concur after so many months. 😩
That occupied my entire night.
I liked my last hotel because of its location but I think I should change scenery.
Yes, I did say I didn’t want to post anything political or anything to do with current events but of course I couldn’t help it.
Who else could it be??? Like as if any Korean presidential candidate would be as brash as this… Or I could be wrong 🙄 But then the most obvious candidate is…TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Your guess is as good as mine.
Meanwhile….
The top rice importers in the world 1) China; 2) PHILIPPINES
And hellooooooo! Who is the concurrent agriculture secretary? The president who could not even make head nor tail of the economy and government.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Bravo! Bravo!
And this government cut the budget for health; we no longer have budget for Covid vaccines and support for cancer patients. All went to the confidential funds of the Department of Education Secretary, who is the Vice President, and should not have confidential funds because what does she need “intel” funds for as education secretary? Then the office of the president has billions in unwarranted “confidential funds” that can be disbursed without state auditing.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
*Sigh* I shouldn’t have clicked on Twitter. 🙄
My desk on Friday night chaos. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Been busy emailing people for meetings in Singapore in November so I can have my trip approved by London. Kinda stupid that I had to justify my trip to my own office. As if I’m there to have a holiday. 🙄 Good thing the people I reached out to were very willing to meet me and have already ordered their secretaries to send me an email invite to table the meetings.
I need to book my hotel and flights next week since the rates are already going up.
Because I was attending to these things, I wasn’t able to get off my table and to start walking again at 4pm. I opted to have indoor workout, which I’m not really a fan of. The usual core exercises and dumbbell workouts. Then stretches.
After planking.
I can’t NOT have exercise these days because I love home cooking. Just look at this!
Instant Pot 45 min kare-kare swimming in peanut sauce. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Fall-off-the-bone beef kare-kare in 45 minutes. This is part if the xxx number of kilos of beef I bought from my hometown. It’s cartilaginous but it just melted. The peanut sauce became peanut soup since it is pressure cooked, no steam escaped/no evaporation, hence, the sauce remained watery instead of transforming into a gooey sauce. I remedied this by plopping more Reese peanut butter…ah well. Lesson learned. But the kare-kare is excellent. *Chef’s kiss* 👌😘
And to cap off the weekend, here is 12-year-old Yoyoka, wowing me again with her wicked drumming skills in 1970s classic heavy rock. She’s just one year older than my girls and yet her mastery of the instrument is that of a 45-year-old professional drummer.
I’m glad that heavy rock is still alive and kicking in Japan and has not been swallowed up by Kpop/Jpop. Japan has always produced very skilled guitarists and bassists, especially women bassists, like Madoon who complements Yoyoka here.
Monoral was in heavy rotation in my iPod a decade ago.
Speaking of bassist, the best bassist for me is Billy Sheehan >>> he’s a big part why I loved Mr. Big. He could make the instrument really sing and compete with the lead guitars in terms of melodies. And with Yoyoka’s drumming, it was ear candy.
My kids are starting to appreciate some of my music now that they started listening to Up Dharma Down and Radiohead. We’re on Spotify family plan so they have started to discover music on their own. However, I don’t think they’re ready for nu metal like Korn and P.O.D. but they have an entire lifetime of listening to discover those.
Oh Up Dharma Down…smooth jazz fusion music on a Friday night. I miss them and there’s a huge void when they disbanded. I’ve only seen them live once 😥 but Armi Millare is still there creating beautiful music and she provided me with the most poignant soundtrack of my life.
This is the reward for cozying up with despots like Duterte and criminal families like the Marcoses. Manuel Villar acquired the franchise of ABS-CBN (after the latter was stripped off it by the demon Duterte) in a midnight deal with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that surprised us all.
The bastards.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN and PLDT had to call off the x-deal between them (PLDT’s acquisition of a stake in SkyCable and in return ABS-CBN gets to acquire TV5) because of political pressure from the House of Representatives.
This is to make sure there would be no opposition media.
I never thought I would live to see such things happening again.
I was set to attend Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)’s meeting with journalists about “what next?” and how we can maneuver in these dangerous times. However, I was too busy that I forgot about it 😶 Geez.
On the brighter side of life, I was able to cook a dish in my Instant Pot this morning. Chicken curry (using an Ottogi curry mix) for 5 mins only in the Instant Pot. Five minutes. Perfect for very busy homemakers.
Chicken curry on rice. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The potatoes and carrots were soft and easy to eat, as is the chicken. It was lovely to have lunch within minutes of putting all the ingredients.
I’ll just have to check my power consumption since this gadget consumes 1000 watts of power. 🥴🥴🥴
Finally issued a manager’s check to my contractor for the 50% down payment through my mom this morning. Construction materials will be arriving tomorrow and I’m scared and at the same time excited that this is finally happening.
I’m scared because I will be going back home and I’m afraid of shrinking my world again. My hometown is like a nice cocoon that is very comfortable that will also stifle my personal growth.
While I was walking from my apartment to UP yesterday, I felt melancholic that I would soon be leaving the scenes I had been seeing for the last 20 years or so of living here in QC. I felt a tug in my heart when I watched the sunset and the colors that painted the sky. I will be leaving the memories of walking there in the evenings holding hands with someone, as well as the heartaches I had whenever I remembered those times while I was already walking alone. I will be leaving the pain that tore through me when I biked or walked around the campus when I was trying to recover my lost self.
Biking along University Avenue, UP DIliman. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
UP Diliman was home to me, a substitute for my hometown, minus my nosy family. I started graduate school there in 2003 and it has always been my go-to place when I wanted some comfort. It was where I brought my girls when they were still babies until now, to spend the weekend running around the grassy fields because we don’t have enough open spaces here in the city.
I will miss the convenience of having two grocery stores within 100m-200m away from my house and the many restaurants/food kiosks that dot the village. I will miss having Grab delivery just within minutes of me. Lazada and Shopee deliveries are easy because the QC hub is probably just near here.
Suddenly I have an epiphany…
I’m sad because I will be exchanging my freedom for convenience of having family nearby so my girls will grow up in a village, with a male role model (my brother), with cousins, grandma and aunties. They will help keep an eye on them while I’m away. I’m scared that I will be forfeiting a chance to have someone new in my life because my family is nosy.
I’m exchanging my personal growth for what is best for my girls.
Because it’s no longer about me. I want them to have the best childhood and teenage years I could offer them with my meager resources. I want them to have the best education I could afford and manage.
So children, if you’re already reading this when I’m already dead, I hope you realize now that I gave up my life and personal growth for you so you can have the best.
In the open fieldnear UP MassComm. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I don’t know how many times I have to say this in a span of 6 months. 🙄
First of all, this undersecretary should know that it is the job of DA to help subsistence farmers find markets and transport these to those with low supply. The prices of our vegetables here in the lowlands, especially in Metro Manila, are very high that only the middle class no can afford to eat vegetables three meals a day.
God, are we that evil to be punished by having idiots in government?
I think I lost a lot of brain cells today by engaging a supporter of Manny Pinol on Twitter. No more. I should lay off news for a while. Which is ironic since I produce day in and day out.
Oh wait, I can’t quit news. I need to read about the markets every morning. Every fucking day.
Equally stressful is swapping materials for my home construction, deciding which I can dial down and which I should reinforce, like additional beams and posts. I asked the contractor to reduce the tiles on the walls of the bathroom because I want to hang art in the bathroom. Because why not?
Photo from Apartmentherapy.comPhoto from Apartmentherapy.comPhoto from Apartmentherapy.com
I asked him to make me a niche like this because I’m tired of dealing with shower caddies. This one is easier to clean.
My contractor will fabricate me this kind of stairs.
He said he can make the mid-landing wider so I can have sort of a deck. I’ll think about it first. My concern is, can a small dog manage this? And when I’m already a senior citizen, can I still manage this?
I have to keep costs down because as construction progresses, there would be hidden costs that would surprise me. And it’s quite stressful. I don’t want to skimp on quality but I don’t want to be extravagant on things that can be simplified without sacrificing structural integrity.
He will start laying down the materials in my mom’s garage by next week. Preliminary work like clearing the construction area and removing the balustrades in the existing structure etc.
It’s finally happening. OMG.
I am doing something very adult now. Building my home. I never thought I could but I’m finally doing it now. By myself. Alone. It’s so empowering.
So maybe a condo in Makati or BGC and a beach house in Anilao could be possible. My tiny house was just a dream a year ago…it’s finally coming true.
This is a big FUCK YOU to all the men who hurt me and treated me like dirt. Damn you, I am capable of so much, much more. I am more than a human appliance. I can make things happen. I can make my dreams come true. Even if it’s just small, this is mine. I am having this built by myself.
Ah, Megawide has de-risked itself because it plays fair; because of that it is now being eased out of the dirty, regulated infrastructure business of the Philippines. And the best entity to sell to is a Marcos crony—Aboitiz. Group CEO Sabin Aboitiz is super chummy with Marcos Jr so I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes out as the “next Dennis Uy”, the favorite businessman of a sitting president. During Duterte’s reign, Uy was like Pacman, gobbling everything in is his path. Government contracts were his for the taking. Now he is being chased by creditors and is set to sell most of his assets because NONE of the promised support from China pushed through. His telco, DITO Telecommunity, is looking for a buyer for Uy’s stake. The problem is, no one wants to sleep with China Telecom, Uy’s JV partner.
I can’t write such things as straightforward as this but I try my best to inject some of these insights in my stories—but I know I’m pushing the envelope. I take that risk because the investing community should be aware of the political dynamics we have here. That’s a service that cannot be quantified by our CRM but is valuable to our readers, as I was told by some of them.
It has been raining nonstop even in the absence of a typhoon. I feel I’m ballooning again so I need to walk tomorrow or something. I need to be back in shape for a marathon networking in Singapore in November. The big bosses will be flying down from London. And oh, I must bring an evening dress (*OMG I need one that fits me) because there would be an awards night for ***.
Speaking of work, my most senior but least productive reporter told me he would like to step back and have a different arrangement, like a per-article basis freelancer status because he acknowledged that he could not meet his quota.
Now this poses a big problem for me because since top management is NOT prioritizing hiring of new reporters or editors (only a senior North America editor), losing one headcount means it would not replaced. I lose it, then I lose it. As it is, competition in the region is heating up. Other news organizations are finally catching on and realized my niche is lucrative so they’re building up their own team dedicated for this niche.
I cannot lose more people.
I was having back-to-back calls today with my seniors to solve this conundrum. I also need to arrange to have my team fly to Singapore in the first week of December for a year-end training that I would be conducting. 🥴
Because I was preoccupied with admin concerns, I wasn’t able to write again my stories that have been pushed back a couple of weeks and months now. I also need to see a doctor for my left knee that has been hurting now. I don’t know if this is an old football injury that I aggravated during my walks in my hometown the a few weeks ago. I also need to bring Twin I to a pediatrician for her nosebleeds. They’re getting worse now.
How to shoehorn these doctor visits in between all these work pressures? I need to attend a conference tomorrow or on Thursday and I have a lunch meeting with some bankers and another set of bankers in the evening on Friday.
Oh geez and I need to book that resort in Batangas for that beach holiday at the end of the month.
Wait, I still need to follow up my travel arrangements and visa application for Korea.
I need to breathe.
What have I been doing? I don’t know, I haven’t been keeping track. I’m having a hard time finding mental space for all the important things to do. I only have two hands and finite amount of brain cells to balance being a manager for Southeast Asia (which is a lot of work), being a specialized journalist, a mother, and a future homeowner who needs to build her home, and at the same time I must take care of myself if I want to live beyond the age of 42.
Maybe I should cancel that Korea trip. Maybe I just take a week off in October and just go to Palawan to go island-hoping and dive for a week and burn to a crisp.
Yes, I think I should do that.
I don’t think that Korea trip with my friends is that compelling anyway. They’re planning to go to Busan when I haven’t even explored Seoul. 😶 Maybe I’ll just do that next year when it’s less hectic.
The thing is under the law, confidential funds (that don’t need to be audited by the state auditor) SHOULD only be applied to intelligence funds. There are specific uses for this kind of confidential funds and SHOULD NOT be abused for other purposes, like TRAVEL. WTF are they going to use it for during their travels???
Confidential funds may also be used to pay rewards to informers; uncover or prevent illegal activities that pose a clear and present danger to the agency, its personnel and facilities; and others that may be authorized in the General Appropriations Act.
The circular provided that the conduct of confidential activities, as far as practicable, be done in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.Confidential funds may also be used to pay rewards to informers; uncover or prevent illegal activities that pose a clear and present danger to the agency, its personnel and facilities; and others that may be authorized in the General Appropriations Act.
The circular provided that the conduct of confidential activities, as far as practicable, be done in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.
And because there is zero checks and balances in this government because everyone else is under the Marcos machinery (The House Speaker is Marcos Jr’s uncle, the deputy speaker is his son, the brainless Sandro Marcos, and Senate is basically a Duterte-Marcos upper chamber), what can you expect? Budgets are hardly deliberated on.
Good morning, Philippines! LIZA ARANETA MARCOS has a huge wardrobe budget.
And this is another thing that happened today:
For USD earners like me (but don’t give a fuck), this is good on a myopic level because you get more pesos on your dollar.
But for those who think about the bigger picture like me, this means that all goods and services are going to be a lot more expensive. We are a net importer of oil = transportation costs will be much higher. As it is, Grab is more expensive here now compared to Singapore or just about the same.
Double whammy! OMG!
This redounds to cost of food because our goods are transported by trucks, not trains. We are an archipelago so goods are either flown or shipped by vessels fed by oil, not LNG. We also import rice, flour, and other basic commodities. Even onion and garlic! And salt! It’s quite ironic the we are surrounded by millions of km of coastlines and yet we are importing salt!
Cost of power is also climbing because our base load power plants are fed by imported coal and diesel. As it is, gasoline is cheaper than diesel nowadays. And the Filipinos pay electricity through our noses because we pay market rate. Our power is not subsidized, unlike our neighbors. That’s why Indonesia’s inflation rate is artificial in the sense the true cost of goods and are not reflected in the prices that they pay for because its government is shouldering a good part of their expenses (from power to medicines) through state-owned enterprises that own own almost everything. How can you even have three state-owned pharmaceutical companies? Their train fares are subsidized. Just about everything is subsidized.
Anyway, I digress. The point here is, the peso is weakening at a faster rate than expected because it could not shadow the actions of the US Fed. The gap between the USTr and our own benchmark rates has widened, thus, hot money from emerging markets have fled faster. We couldn’t shadow the latest actions (and future actions of FOMC given their latest hawkish stance) because any sizeable rate hikes (like a 75-100-basis-point hike) would kill our very fragile economy now. The BSP has to prioritize the economy before tempering the sinking peso.
This faster fall of the peso will kill our exports as well. Why? Half of our exports is comprised of electronics and semiconductors. Traditionally, these exporters order raw materials (because we don’t process our own minerals like silicon, silver, gold, nickel, and copper) abroad around third quarter in preparation for the orders for Christmas (hello iPhones and iPads). With the way things are, the raw materials have become more expensive now. Then this makes the cost of manufacturing semicon and electronics more expensive = costlier exports.
So I will punch any Marcos apologist right smack on their face if they say that this is good for the economy and that Marcos is making us richer by making us earn more pesos to the dollar. 🙄 Spare me this stupidity. A former reporter (who is now a lawyer) messaged me about this forex thing and she told me that an uncle of her brother-in-law said that this is great and in any case Marcos will make things better because the Marcoses will bring out their gold stash (a.k.a. the mythical Tallano Gold) to help the Philippines. And the sad part here is he was being serious about it, my friend said. Then multiply that to the 31 million who voted for Marcos. This is the level of stupidity reigning over the country today.
Social media has made Filipinos more stupid.
AND THE FUCKTARD MARCOSES ARE ROBBING US RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES! Legalized stealing.
OMG 🤬
How can I even…
I need a drink.
On the brighter side of life, my 10-hour nilaga is stupendous!
Lots of veggies and peppercorns. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The soup is 👌 *chef’s kiss*
I’m keeping the broth again for future dishes like pho or some egg noodle dish? Ramen? Soba? I can’t wait for my Instant Pot so I can experiment with new dishes I can cook with it.
