They say ‘eat the rich,’ and it seems that the widespread corruption allegations among high-ranking government officials are eating into the luxury property sector.
Colliers Philippines research director Joey Bondoc on Wednesday addressed the elephant in the room without needing a raised hand from the audience.
‘You’re probably wondering: has the flood control issue affected the take-up?’ Bondoc asked during their third quarter briefing. ‘Well, we believe that the flood control mess has had some impact on the more expensive condo segments luxury and ultra luxury.’
These are the residential condominium units worth at least P20 million each.
As we’ve previously learned, some buyers are shying away from the more expensive units because of the mess. After all, who would want to buy a unit that may be tied to a corrupt contractor?
On the other hand, the middle-income sector is thriving and improving, after many years of being cited as the main reason behind the supply glut.
How the tables have turned! Meg J. Adonis
Century comes to the fore
The Philippines’ true 1-percenters have a new ultraluxury vehicle brand to check out Century, touted as ‘a car in a class of its own.’
The brand that had long been known in certain exclusive circles used to be housed within Toyota, but the group’s ultimate symbol of luxury has been spun off to stand on its own and stand out in the upscale market.
And just to show how special Century is to the Toyota family, Toyota chair Akio Toyoda himself introduced the brand that combines elegant design with high-tech features during the ongoing Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo, Japan.
Toyoda waxed sentimental about the brand, referring to Century which bears the phoenix emblem as a car ‘born carrying Japan on its shoulders,’ as its history also reflects that of Japan’s vital car manufacturing industry itself.
But at the same time, Toyoda has his eyes firmly fixed on the future.
‘Century is not just another brand within Toyota Motor Corp. We want to cultivate it as a brand that brings the spirit of Japan the pride of Japan out into the world,’ Toyoda said, ‘The next Century begins with us.’
There is no fixed schedule yet on when the top-tier Century models each costing around $170,000 or P10 million will be distributed in the Philippines, but that should not stop those who have the means and the desire from eventually getting their hands on a Century. Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Salmon Bank retires 8.88-percent interest rate on deposits
Salmon Bank has stopped offering its eyebrow-raising 8.88-percent interest on deposit accounts and has ratcheted this down to 6.5 percent. Still, the rural bank touts the yield as a benchmark for deposits.
Co-founder and chair Raffy Montemayor says this still beats other banks which at best offer 5 percent or as little as 1.5 percent.
But wait, there’s more. The 6.5 percent is just the nominal rate as the effective annual rate is 7.02 percent.
‘Your P1 million earns P70,200 in one year with Salomon more than twice what traditional banks pay,’ Montemayor says.
Shortly after Taguig City-based Salmon Group secured regulator approval of its acquisition of a majority stake in Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (in Laguna), they started in February 2024 to offer the 8.88-percent interest on deposits. But this stopped last month September amid an environment of receding interest rates.
Montemayor says that at the end of the first quarter of 2024, deposits totaled at P372.9 million. At the end of the third quarter of 2025, this has reached P1.77 billion ballooning by 375 percent.
Pavel Federov, one of two other co-founders (George Chesakov), says that starting this month, new customers that will open deposit accounts will get an interest rate of 6.5 percent.
‘We live in a very dynamic world and the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has brought down (its benchmark) interest rate by 75 basis points over the last three quarters,’ Fedorov.
He says that, in that context, they had to bring down their interest rate also.
Still, deposit accounts that were opened before this month would enjoy 8.88 percent.
‘They [those depositors] are really lucky,’ Fedorov says. Ronnel W. Domingo
Golden Arrows for everyone
Good governance is steadily becoming the standard among Philippine corporations, and it always shows this time of the year.
We’re talking about the Institute of Corporate Directors’ annual Golden Arrow Awards, which recognizes the performance of companies when it comes to governance, including equitable treatment of shareholders, sustainability and resilience, and transparency and accountability.
The ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard is the main gauge, composed of 193 questions based on the publicly available disclosures of companies. A one-arrow award is awarded to those that achieve a score of at least 75 points, while a five-arrow recognition is given to those with 115 to 130 points.
SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the country’s largest conglomerate, was among the recipients of the latter. Apart from SMIC, another Sy family-led company that received the 5 Golden Arrow Award is real estate giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. Other awardeed were China Banking Corp., Belle Corp. and BDO Unibank Inc. (four arrows); Pacific Online Systems Corp. (two arrows); and APC Group Inc. and Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. (three arrows).
‘Receiving this award for the second year in a row reflects the dedication of our board, management and employees across the SM Group,’ SMIC chair Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement on Tuesday.
Also bringing home honors are companies under the Gotianun-led Filinvest Group.
Conglomerate Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), Filinvest REIT Corp. and EastWest Banking Corp. each received two arrows, while Filinvest Land Inc. received one.
Meanwhile, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Aboitiz Power Corp. and Union Bank of the Philippines all three listed companies of the Aboitiz Group each took home a 4 Golden Arrow Award.
For its part, Ayala Land Inc. also earned a 4 Golden Arrow Award, while subsidiaries AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp. and AREIT Inc. each received a 3 Golden Arrow Award.
DandL Industries Inc. wasn’t far behind the big conglomerates.
The food ingredients and plastic manufacturer took home a 3 Golden Arrow recognition, an improvement from last year’s two-arrow award.
This is also its sixth consecutive year receiving the award.
Megawide Construction Corp., which is emerging as one of the high-potential infrastructure firms of the bourse, bagged a 2 Golden Arrow Award, marking its fifth straight year of being recognized.