BIZ BUZZ: SMC river cleanup goes north

It’s not his responsibility, but he will take on the challenge anyway.

We’re talking about San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang, who addressed the flooding issue in Pampanga that happened late last month due to the incessant rains.

This flooding in a short section of the North Luzon Expressway resulted in vehicular traffic slowing to a crawl and inconveniencing thousands upon thousands of motorists and travelers.

Ang said that the main culprit for the flooding was the clogged underside of the Tulaoc Bridge in San Simon, Pampanga, which caused water to go over it [thus flooding NLEx] instead of flowing freely under it.

The San Miguel chief said that he has sought the permission of Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda for the conglomerate to take it upon itself to restore the river’s proper water flow and the latter has agreed to expedite the needed approvals.

Strictly speaking, of course, the cleanup job is nowhere near Ang’s area of responsibility “but we will do it ourselves so that people will not be inconvenienced,” he said.

Having already spent P3 billion over the last three years to clean up the Pasig, San Juan and Tullahan Rivers, Ang said he would now devote an equal amount of resources to dredging and desilting waterways in Bulacan and Pampanga to prevent a repeat of the recent flooding.

—Daxim L. Lucas

DFNN and Space Week

For the first time this year, the Philippines celebrated “Philippine Space Week” from Aug. 8 to Aug. 14.

President Marcos issued the proclamation last month to highlight the “substantial influence of space science and technology applications” on the country’s development.

To help build the country’s capability to take advantage of the opportunities in the space industry, Ramon Garcia, executive chair of listed DFNN Group, signed on Aug. 14 at the end of Philippine Space Week a Pledge of Support with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) headed by Director General Joel Joseph Marciano Jr.

Under this agreement, DFNN commits to, among others, provide scholarships every year for two deserving students who want to pursue courses related to space technology and space sciences.

DFNN will also facilitate two-month internships for another two Filipinos with DFNN’s partner space agency facilities. Plus, it will donate a Learning Management System Platform that will provide payment solutions for space industry courses.

With these in place, DFNN hopes to help PhilSA achieve its goal to establish a pool of trained space scientists, engineers and communicators who will be instrumental to the success of the country’s national space programs.

—Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Athleisure driving Toby’s growth

Retail firm Quorum International Inc., known for its popular store brands Toby’s Sports and urbanAthletics, said that the growing demand for “athleisure” is fueling its growth in the Philippines, saying that more people are going for this hybrid style of wearing athletic clothing as everyday wear.

Quorum International chair Roberto Claudio said they plan to open four more stores next year, two in Luzon and one each in Visayas and Mindanao, to meet the growing demand brought by this trend.

“Because of the pandemic, because of work from home, people are dressing down. They are no longer dressing up. You can see people going to the office in jogging pants, in shirts,” Claudio told reporters in a recent interview, where he also said that they have 75 stores nationwide.

“With that dressed down (trend), the demand for athleisure wear has really increased,” he added.

To date, the retail firm has 75 stores across the country, 51 of which are in Metro Manila.

Claudio said that in-store purchases still account for the majority of their sales, with online sales accounting for just 25 percent of the total.

– Alden M. Monzon