MANILA - Pia Wurtzbach swears by her Miss Universe crown that a local chocolate brand is better than the foreign competition, so much so that she sent a box to Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton.
And when Pacific Rim leaders converge in the Philippines this week to discuss free trade and nuclear tensions in the Korean peninsula, their spouses will get dark chocolates from Davao City, President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown.
Filipino chocolatiers are pushing back against imported candies that are being offered at cheaper prices while building niche markets abroad.
"Kapag tinanggal mo yang mga brand na yan, hindi mo talaga mapapansin yung difference kasi masarap talaga siya," Wurtzbach told ABS-CBN News.
(If you strip the brand names, you won't notice the difference because it's really delicious.)
Hilton asked for samples of the chocolate brand she was endorsing when she posted a photo on Instagram, Wurtzbach said. The gossip writer was among judges who voted unanimously for the Filipina beauty queen during the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant.
Foreign brands such as Cadbury and Meiji have been offering smaller servings at around P20 per bar to compete on price with local brands such as Goya, endorsed by Wurtzbach.
Still, Filipinos prefer local brands due to their "level of sweetness that suits local taste preferences," research firm Euromonitor International said in a study.
Chocolates and chocolate-covered bars such as Nips and Cloud 9 from tycoon John Gokongwei's Universal Robina, accounted for 61 percent of the market last year, according to Euromonitor.
Davao-based Malagos Chocolates has built a steady following abroad with its dark chocolate bars and tablets that dissolve into drinks. Spouses of ASEAN leaders will get to try both this week, courtesy of Honeylet Avancena, the President's partner.
Philippine cacao gives Malagos Chocolates its unique flavor, said lead chocolatier Rex Puentespina told ABS-CBN News.
"It has to be local because we really have to promote sustainability para magtulong-tulungan tayo (We need to help each other)," he said.
Malagos is experimenting with chocolate-covered dried fruits and more Instagram-friendly packaging to attract more clients, especially in hotels, Puentespina said.
The company's foreign clients include a Singaporean ice cream shop that uses Malagos in its concoctions, he said.
"Tourism arrivals there is very high and it's close to us, but it's a tough market also because all the major brands are there and they are price-sensitive, he said.
For Wurtzbach, international recognition for Philippine chocolates is overdue.
"I think it's about time na ma-recognize worldwide ang isang Filipino brand na kaya din naman to be at par with international brands," she said.
(I think it's about time that a Filipino brand is recognized worldwide, that it can be at par with international brands.)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SUBIC- United States President Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy and has often come in for sharp criticism both at home and overseas, but in the town of Subic in the Philippines, he's a hero.
Once home to one of the biggest US naval facilities in the world, Subic is a haven for retired servicemen who seem thrilled that Trump is visiting the Philippines, and convinced the divisive tycoon can do no wrong.
"Trump, I back him big time," said Mike McCarthy, a former master chief with the US 7th Fleet, drinking in one of the American-themed bars that line Subic's main street, with names like "Alaska", "Crazy Horse" and "Rolling Stone".
"They won't allow him to govern, but he's smarter than them, always a step ahead," he said of opponents of Trump.
The US president arrives in the capital Manila on Sunday for a summit of Asian leaders, on the last leg of a tour that has taken him to Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam.
"He's just doing things a different way, his tweeting, his strong words. But where has he made a wrong call yet?" said McCarthy.
A native of Florida who has lived in Subic for a decade, McCarthy said Trump's respect for veterans meant he's a big hit with them and among the military.
"If he asked me to come and meet him in Manila, I'd be there in a shot," he added.
Trump is set to meet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and will try to shore up relations strained by the Philippine leader's anti-US sentiment and his enthusiasm for better ties with Russia and China.
The Philippines has for decades been a key US defense ally and, although the naval base was closed in 1992, Subic has since received a regular flow of retirees and visits by US warships for repairs, resupply and exercises.
About 220,000 Americans, many of them military veterans, live in the Philippines. An additional 650,000 visit each year, according to US State Department figures.
Subic has maintained its American feel, with bars offering military discounts and restaurants serving anything from baby-back ribs, buffalo wings and steaks to burgers named "shotgun" and an omelette called "the sheriff".
It has tattoo parlors, liquor stores with signs advertising bourbon whiskey, and a Harley Davidson repair shop servicing the easy-rider motorcycles that have long been a fixture in the town of 100,000 people, about a three-hour drive north from Manila.
TATTOOS AND TANK TOPS
Veteran James Goodman, 51, has owned six bars during his 13 years in Subic. His latest venture, "Sit-n-Bull", has bar games, live sports and rock music that competes with the lively chatter of tattoo-clad patrons in tank tops.
The walls are adorned with vehicle license plates from Florida, Ohio, California and Nevada, next to a neon-lit USA sign in red, white and blue. A guitar hangs next to a wood carving of a native Indian and an American Football playoff schedule offering hot dog promotions.
"I'm very glad Donald Trump is coming here, I believe he and President Duterte will get along," said Goodman, from New Jersey.
"He's for the American people ... I look forward to his leadership, I look forward to his re-election.
"I'd love to meet Trump, I'd love to buy him a beer."
His business partner Ronn Oliver, 54, who runs a nearby restaurant of the same name, says veterans appreciate Trump and recognize his shrewdness.
"He knows what he's doing, he shocks, but he sets up his opponents, he plays them, he knows what reaction he's gonna get," said Oliver, a former serviceman and commercial fisherman from Seattle, Washington.
"He needs to build more support, so people can catch up with what he's doing. They've gotta give him a couple of years to get into it."
Christopher Lamb, 48, a fisherman who said he is from Florida, says he shook Trump's hand four decades ago. Wearing a baseball cap and white vest, he offers a few slurred words that show his pride in Trump's rise to the presidency.
"I met this man, he was nothing then, and now he's the most powerful man in the world," said Lamb.
Retiree Mike Allen, 66, from Ohio, has lived in Subic for a year and recognizes he might be the lone dissenter when it comes to Trump.
"The military guys here, they love him," he said, with a shake of the head.
"He says one thing one day and another thing the next. He's isolating us and he loves white supremacists. An American president can't be like that."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday described North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "fool" and a "son of a bitch," just days before Manila hosts an international meeting certain to address Pyongyang's long-range missile tests.
Duterte held nothing back in rebuking Kim for "playing with dangerous toys," setting the stage for next week's rare get-together, to be attended by foreign ministers of all the countries involved in the standoff on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea is determined to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and officials in Washington said Saturday's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile showed it may be able to reach most of the country.
"This Kim Jong Un, a fool ... he is playing with dangerous toys, that fool," Duterte told tax officials in a speech.
"That chubby face that looks kind. That son of a bitch. If he commits a mistake, the Far East will become an arid land. It must be stopped, this nuclear war.
"A limited confrontation and it blows up here, I will tell you, the fallout can deplete the soil, the resources and I don't know what will happen to us."
This year, Duterte is chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and on Monday his foreign minister will host the ASEAN Regional Forum, which brings together 27 countries that include Australia, China, India, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea and the United States.
It was not the first time Duterte has criticiZed Kim over his nuclear ambitions. In April he questioned his sanity and urged the United States to show restraint and not be baited by a man who "wants to end the world."
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is due to attend the Manila meeting, on Tuesday said he wanted dialogue with North Korea at some point, stressing it was not the enemy and the United States did not seek to topple the regime. (Reporting by Martin Petty and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Saturday skipped mention of China's arbitration loss and its militarization and land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea.
The ASEAN Chairman's statement however "reaffirmed the shared commitment to maintaining and promoting peace, security and stability in the region... in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."
The joint statement, which was issued early Sunday, was silent on China's defeat before the Hague-based arbitration court, which invalidated the basis of Beijing's sweeping claims over the South China Sea.
It also avoided any mention of Beijing's island-building activities in the disputed waters, or of Chinese militarization of these islands.
Several ASEAN leaders had reportedly called for the joint statement to mention the need to avoid "land reclamation and militarization that may further complicate the situation."
ASEAN member-states Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have claims that overlap those of China in the South China Sea.
The Philippines was earlier urged to take advantage of its chairmanship of ASEAN and use its arbitral victory as reference during discussions on a maritime code of conduct.
But 2 ASEAN diplomatic sources earlier on Saturday told Reuters that Chinese embassy representatives in Manila had lobbied the Philippines to keep tacit references to Beijing's island-building and arming of artificial islands out of the statement.
At least 4 drafts on the issue were readied by other ASEAN delegates in case the Philippines opened discussions on the matter, a senior diplomat familiar with the deliberations told ABS-CBN News.
But President Rodrigo Duterte insisted the arbitral ruling was a"non-issue" during the ASEAN meetings this year, a position that apparently prevailed over his peers and frustrated some of them.
The ASEAN joint statement is usually released within just minutes of the conclusion of the summit.
But for the first time in its history, the ASEAN Summit wrapped up without issuing the chairman's statement on the same day as the conclusion of the meetings.
The ASEAN joint statement meanwhile called for the "full and effective implementation" of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea "in its entirety."
It also cited "the progress to complete" a framework document by June this year, a target that would "facilitate the early adoption of the code of conduct."
The statement also said ASEAN leaders "took note of the improving cooperation between ASEAN and China."
-- with a report from Christian Esguerra, ABS-CBN News
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte faced pushback on Saturday at a regional summit over his efforts to weaken Southeast Asian resistance to Chinese expansionism in the contested South China Sea, diplomats said.
Duterte was due to release a chairman's statement at the end of the one-day Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) leaders meeting that ignored an international tribunal ruling rejecting China's sweeping claims to the strategically vital waterway.
Ahead of the summit, Duterte said the Philippines and other nations were helpless to stop Chinese artificial island building in areas they claimed, so there was no point discussing it at diplomatic events such as Saturday's summit.
But diplomats said other ASEAN nations, unhappy with intense Chinese lobbying of the Philippines, had sought to toughen up the chairman's statement and there were hot debates on the issue leading up to Saturday's summit.
"It can't be seen that ASEAN has totally given in to Chinese pressure," a Southeast Asian diplomat in Manila for the event told AFP.
China has been turning reefs and shoals in areas of the sea claimed by the Philippines and other nations into artificial islands, and installing military facilities there.
The United States has criticized the construction work, warning against militarization in the waterway where $5 trillion in annual trade passes.
ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the sea, but China insists it has sovereign rights over nearly all of it.
The Philippines, under previous president Benigno Aquino, had lobbied hard at ASEAN summits for the bloc to voice its strong opposition to the Chinese expansionism, and official statements at those events often reflected that.
Aquino also filed a case at a UN-backed tribunal asking it to reject China's claims and artificial island building.
The tribunal last year ruled largely in the Philippines' favor. But the ruling came after Duterte took power.
CHINA WIN
Duterte steadfastly refused to use the verdict to pressure China, instead pursuing warmer relations and billions of dollars' worth of trade and aid.
In a speech to open the summit, Duterte made no reference to the South China Sea.
Duterte's chairman's statement, which is meant to reflect the views of all ASEAN leaders, will voice concern but not mention the ruling nor China directly, according to excerpts of the latest draft on Saturday obtained by AFP.
China, through its ambassador to Manila, had this week been campaigning to weaken it further, delegates and diplomats told AFP.
"The lobbying is quite intense. They (China) want it further watered down," one diplomat told AFP.
China had wanted ASEAN to remove a reference to "respect for legal and diplomatic processes", and it was taken out of the South China Sea section of the latest draft of the chairman's statement.
Filipino diplomats said the phrase was important because "legal and diplomatic processes" encompassed the entire process of the filing of the case in the tribunal until its resolution.
Nevertheless, the new draft statement reintroduced a call for no further "land reclamation and militarization" of the sea.
Diplomats said the reinclusion of the reference to land reclamation and militarization meant that some ASEAN countries were not comfortable with "total acquiescence" to China.
"This has to be reflected in the statement," one diplomat, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
Another diplomat said Vietnam had insisted the references to the land reclamation and militarization be reintroduced.
The chairman's statement was due to be released on Saturday afternoon, after the ASEAN leaders finished their meetings and ahead of an informal dinner.
The summit was also being closely watched for how Duterte, who has shocked with curse-laden tirades against the United States and other critics of his deadly drug war, handles hosting his first major diplomatic event.
Duterte's drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives and led to warnings by rights groups about a possible crime against humanity, has been widely condemned in the West.
But he has enjoyed support from some of his Southeast Asian guests this week, including Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
President Duterte leads other heads of state in a group photo at the
opening ceremony of the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC)
in Pasay City on Saturday.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA – Share prices opened higher on Wednesday as strong corporate earnings in the US fueled a rally on Wall Street.
The Philippine Stock Exchange was up 0.11 percent to 7,708.85. The peso opened at P49.67 to the dollar from P49.675 on Tuesday.
Foreign investors are returning to the Philippines and other emerging markets on expectations the Federal Reserve would raise rates twice more this year, instead of three times as some feared, BPI Securities research head Haj Narvaez said.
“It’s really fund flow driven,” Naravez told ANC’s “Market Edge with Cathy Yang.”
The local stock rally has room to extend since foreign funds are net sellers year to date, Narvaez said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
