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With limited travel, plane cafes a big hit in Thailand

BANGKOK—With millions around the world stuck at home due to the pandemic, “plane cafes” in Thailand are offering customers the chance to pretend they are in the sky—and the idea seems to have taken off.

On board a retired commercial airplane in the coastal city of Pattaya, coffee drinkers make themselves comfy on first-class-style seats and pose for photos by the overhead lockers.

Boarding passes in hand, some “passengers” even opt for a tour of the cockpit.

“With this cafe I can sit in first class and also mess around in the cockpit pretending to be the captain of the plane,” 26-year-old Thipsuda Faksaithong told AFP.

“It’s a lot of fun.”

Chalisa Chuensranoi, 25, said her visit was as good as any trip she had taken before the pandemic, which shuttered Thailand’s borders in March.

“Sitting right here in the first-class section... really gives me the feeling of actually being on a plane, cruising through the air,” she said.

In another cafe at the headquarters of national carrier Thai Airways in Bangkok, hungry diners appear even to have missed plane food as they gobble up spaghetti carbonara and Thaistyle beef served on plastic trays by cabin crew.

But for Intrawut Simapichet, 38, who came to the cafe with his wife and baby, the experience is about more

“Normally I’m a person who travels very often, and when we are forced to stay at home... it’s kind of depressing,” he said as fellow passengers posed with luggage by a fake airplane door.

“(The cafe) relieves what’s missing.”

Thailand was the first country outside China to detect a coronavirus case, but it has since registered a low toll, with about 3,400 infections and 58 deaths.

Travel restrictions have nevertheless eviscerated the tourism-reliant economy, while Thais have founded themselves stuck due to quarantine requirements in other countries.

The government is currently mulling travel bubbles with select countries that also have low tolls. AFP

Stock market may trade past 6,000

By Jenniffer B. Austria

SHARE prices at the Philippine Stock Exchange will likely track a sideways movement this week with an upward bias on improving sentiments as the government moves to reopen the economy further.

Analysts said investors were merely waiting for positive catalysts that would support expectations the economy is indeed on the way to recovery before plunging into the equities market.

“Although narrowing trading bands can mean many things from a technical standpoint, it is most commonly of ‘indecisiveness,’ that is the market is left wanting for a ‘shove’ strong enough to break out from the current trend,” said online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia. com.

“Caution is therefore warranted, especially with the catalysts in the near term not particularly inspiring of a run above the 6,500,” it added.

Among these near term catalysts are third-quarter corporate earnings and the Monetary Board policy meeting scheduled late this month.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index last week advanced 3.2 percent to 5,967.96 on bargain hunting and stock positioning as the government continues to open the economy.

Except for mining and oil which ended flat, all sector indices ended in the positive territory. The property index led gainers with a 3.7-percent increase, holding firms rose 3.6 percent, while industrial climbed 3.3 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the week P2.1 billion, while the average daily value traded stood at P5.9 billion from the previous week’s average of P4.7 billion.

Weekly top price gainers were Philippine National Bank, which jumped 21 percent to P23.90; AC Energy Philippines Inc., which advanced 17.8 percent to P3.18; and Eagle Cement which climbed 14.8 percent to P14.22.

Weekly top price losers were Anchor Land Holdings Inc., which dropped 17.1 percent to P7.04; 8990 Holdings Inc., which declined by 4.5 percent to P7.34; and Filinvest Land Inc., which fell 4.3 percent to P0.89.

World stock markets, meanwhile, were mixed Friday as European traders mulled over Britain’s increasingly acrimonious war dance with the EU, while in the United States technology shares continued to pull back.

Sterling remained under pressure as Britain sparred with Brussels, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw controversial Brexit legislation but agreeing to extend talks next week.

On the plus side for British industry, a stuttering cur rency―which hauled itself off multi-month midweek lows―has been helping to boost share prices of index multinational’s earnings in dollars.

Those increases helped London’s FTSE index gain ground on Friday.

After Thursday’s sterling selloff, the pound was stable on Friday amid news the British economy expanded 6.6 percent―albeit still well off pre-coronavirus levels.

“Ultimately UK investors will probably thank the UK government for pushing down sterling and allowing the FTSE the room to recover 6000 (points),” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

With AFP

Kyala Brown (right) and her husband Danny Benjamin have lunch with their sons Levi than a meal.

Benjamin-Brown, 5, and Luca BenjaminBrown, 2, at their new home in El Cerrito, California on September 11, 2020. Brown’s family previously lived in San Francisco but recently moved to the East Bay in order to be closer to family because of COVID-19 and babysitting needs.

AFP

San Francisco tech workers moving to other US areas

By Julie Jammot

SAN FRANCISCO―Real estate agent Kilby Stenkamp sees moving vans on San Francisco streets where she used to see building cranes and tech company hipsters.

A work-from-home trend kicked into overdrive by the pandemic is disrupting a city long a mecca for tech talent.

“People are leaving San Francisco, and they’re taking their jobs with them,” Stenkamp said.

“There used to be cranes in the landscape, now it’s U-Haul trucks.”

Tech workers who flocked to San Francisco to be near Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other internet firms are moving to parts of the US where life is slower and the cost of living cheaper.

Tech titans are encouraging the trend.

Facebook is changing its hiring practices to recruit talent far and wide instead of needing workers to live near campuses.

The social networking giant said it even might save money, since it adjusts the pay for positions based on local cost of living.

Back in March, San Francisco became one of the first US cities to implement restrictions of moving around for work, school and other activities.

Nearly six months later, life shows little sign of returning to the way it was before the pandemic, causing some residents to question whether to stay.

“Once upon a time, a reason why we wouldn’t have wanted to move was because we had friends who had kids the same age as ours and we saw them all the time,” said consultant Kyla Brown, who left the city for a town about 25 kilometers (16 miles) away.

“Practicality right now was the number one priority; social life has all gone down the drain thanks to Covid.”

The family moved closer to Brown’s parents for babysitting needs, and work is done by telecommute.

Move bytes not atoms

Twitter and online work collaboration tech firm Slack have announced employees can work from home indefinitely.

Online bulletin board Pinterest announced recently that it spent $90 million to cancel a lease for more Silicon Valley office space, saying it will stick with its current San Francisco offices.

“As we analyze how our workplace will change in a post-Covid world, we are specifically rethinking where future employees could be based,” said Pinterest head of business operations Todd Morgenfeld.AFP

PSEi September 11, 2020 TOP GAINERS

TOP LOSERS

PATRICK DAVID CENON Green Li ht

THE TV series “I Should Not Be Alive” invites survivors to narrate how they overcame the odds in life-threatening survival situations like being trapped on a mountain cliff, being lost in a jungle, or being adrift at sea. After watching over a dozen episodes, I realized that there are valuable lessons that we can learn from their survival experience. Here are some of the salient lessons which you may find useful in business and management as we try to make it through the COVID-19 pandemic.

1) Do not panic and control your emotions.

There comes the point when the survivors realize that they are in a bad situation, and they may not be able to make it out alive. They often feel fear and hopelessness about their situation. However, many of them made a conscious effort to control their emotions. Once they have placed their emotions in check, it was easier for them to think logically, consider their options, develop a plan, and take action that could save their lives. This lesson helps us make good business decisions. Take time to reflect so that your decisions are driven by facts and strong business logic rather than emotions like fear, anger or frustration. 2) Think logically and develop a plan. Survivors based their strategies and decisions on known facts, which helped them set objectives and manage risks. Having a plan kept them focused and guided them in making decisions and allocating resources. This lesson reminds us to make plans or business decisions based on facts. This will also help us evaluate and manage the risks associated with each potential course of action. Having a plan will help us prioritize and respond to business challenges appropriately.

3) Focus your energy and resources to solve

one problem at a time. It is easy to be overwhelmed when we are faced with many pressing items at the same time. Most of the survivors were confronted with many urgent problems. However, their physical condition or limited resources could only allow

Lessons in Survival

them to attend to the most urgent and important issue. By prioritizing issues, they were able to focus their energy and allocate their resources effectively to solve the most urgent and important problem. This lesson calls our attention to the way we manage our time, energy and resources. Focusing on the most critical and vital problem may be more effective instead of trying to solve several trivial problems at the same time.

4) If one solution does not work, try a dif

ferent solution. It was an eye-opener to see how simple tasks become complicated when you are in a survival situation. Conventional approaches were not possible and did not yield the expected results. Survivors began thinking of solutions to solve their problems. If a solution did not work, they thought of another solution and began trying it to check if it was effective. After numerous attempts, they eventually find a solution that solves their problem. This lesson invites us to unleash our creativity when finding business solutions. Trying new ideas and new ways of doing things can help us find solutions to help improve our situation. 5) Take action and keep moving. In a survival situation, things are likely to get worse before they get better. As soon as they assessed their situation and developed a plan, all of them decided to take action to achieve their survival objectives. Taking action in a survival situation is not always easy because of many factors like physical injuries, bad weather, fear and a lack of motivation. Survivors had to muster the courage and strength to make difficult decisions and take calculated risks. By taking action, survivors took control of their fate instead of letting circumstances dictate the outcome of their ordeal. This lesson encourages us to keep moving despite the challenging business situation. Progress may be slow but take consolation in the fact that you are taking a step towards the right direction. By taking action, you take control of your destiny instead of being a victim of circumstance. 6) Help and support each other. In some of the survival situations, survivors had to work together and support each other to survive. There were times during the ordeal when one person was physically injured and had to rely on his friend for support. There were times when one person would lose hope, but his friend would give him words of encouragement to help him persevere and survive. This lesson reminds us to find ways to help and support each other. It may be an excellent opportunity to explore ways to collaborate with others. When possible, consider supporting other stakeholders like customers, employees, and suppliers.

7) Never lose your will to fight and survive.

Despite having physical injuries, limited resources, and harsh conditions, most survivors had with them a strong reason to survive during their ordeal. They thought about their family and the things they still wanted to accomplish in life. They also made a conscious effort to remain optimistic and maintain a positive attitude. This gave them a reason to live and strengthened their resolve to survive their ordeal. This lesson encourages us not to give up. Use this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of your business. Reflect on the purpose of our business and what your products and services mean to your customers and society.

I hope that the lessons I shared in this article give you a sense of hope by highlighting the fact that people have survived difficult situations and have overcome harrowing odds. There are no guarantees of success, but we can always give our best effort in taking control of our life, career and business to increase our chances of surviving during trying times.

Patrick David Cenon is an Assistant Professorial Lecturer at De La Salle University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate subjects in the Behavioral Sciences Department, College of Liberal Arts and the Marketing and Advertising Department of the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business. Before joining DLSU, he worked for Toyota for over 13 years, supporting various projects in the Philippines, Asia-Pacific and Europe regions. He can be contacted at patrick.cenon@ dlsu.edu.ph

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Manila Standard TODAY NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF MAGANDEST PROPERTY HOLDING, INC.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that (i) on August 5, 2020, the members of the Board of Directors and the stockholders of MAGANDEST PROPERTY HOLDING, INC. (the “Corporation”) unanimously approved the dissolution of the Corporation and the amendment of its Articles of Incorporation shortening its corporate term up to September 30, 2020, and (ii) a copy of the said Amended Articles of Incorporation will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

All parties with valid objection/s to the dissolution of the Corporation are requested to present the same before the SEC within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

This announcement will serve as notice to all concerned of the dissolution of the Corporation.