BusinessMirror November 04, 2020

AS Supertyphoon Rolly hit the country last weekend, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) deployed a humanitarian caravan to Bicol Region, which suffered the brunt of the typhoon, on Monday, November 2. The caravan of rescue vehicles, equipment including generators, relief items and manpower, “will strengthen our response to the ongoing operations,” said PRC chairman and CEO, Sen. Richard Gordon.

Phoenix Petroleum supported the fuel needs of the caravan. PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE RED CROSS

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Wednesday, November 4, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 27

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

IN CONTRACTION ANEW DA: Farm loss from 2 typhoons now ₧4.5B

By Bianca Cuaresma

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EAK consumer demand nipped the manufacturing sector’s growth in the bud, as the country’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI)—the broad measure of the manufacturing sector’s performance— reverted back to contraction territory in October.

According to the report published by IHS Markit on Tuesday, the Philippines’s PMI in October hit 48.5, falling from the 50.1 index in the previous month.

“The latest reading dropped marginally after indicating a broad stabilization across the sector during September, to signal a contraction in operating conditions,” the IHS Markit report said.

The PMI is a composite index aimed to gauge the health of the country’s manufacturing sector. It is calculated as a weighted average of five individual subcomponents.

Readings below 50 show deterioration in the industry while readings above the 50 threshold signal a growth in the manufacturing sector.

The global think tank said manufacturing firms in October reported a quick decline in production volumes as domestic demand was muted during the month.

“Firms reporting a downturn overwhelmingly attributed it to weaker demand conditions. That said, the rate of contraction was only marginal and much slower than the

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

T

CONSTRUCTION crew work on an unfinished portion of the Skyway Stage 3 on Tuesday, as the Department of Public Works and Highways announced that the project will open to the public before the year ends, according to Secretary Mark Villar. The P44.86-billion Skyway Stage 3 will provide a direct link between Buendia, Makati City, and the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak, Quezon City. NONOY LACZA

HOTELS MAY STOP HOSTING OFWs ON OWWA’S P241-M ARREARS

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror

A

NUMBER of hotels in Metro Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu are now unable to pay the salaries of their employees, due to the burgeoning unpaid debt of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to them.

According to Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA) President Christine Ann U. Ibar-

See “Manufacturing,” A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.3960

reta, as of October 30, OWWA owes some P241.17 million to hotels being used as temporary quarantine establishments for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). These hotels include: Sofitel Philippine Plaza at P45 million; Golden Phoenix, P36 million; Seda Residences Makati, P9.5 million; Astorias Ortigas and Makati, P11 million; Linden Suites, P19.3 million; Luxent Hotel, P12.9 million; Ace Hotels, P6 million; Quest Tagaytay, P3.2 mil-

lion; Discovery Suites, P3 million; Hotel Rembrandt, P7 million; Microtel/Tryp by Wyndham, P26.5 million; Midas Hotel, P4.1 million; Azumi Boutique Hotel, P3.5 million; One Pacific Place, P11.7 million; Quest Hotel Cebu, P15.7 million; Crimson Hotel Filinvest, P5 million; Marco Polo Cebu, P473,000; and Chateau Royale, P4 million.

This is the second documented case of unpaid government See “Hotels,” A2

IBARRETA: “We will try to accommodate their needs, but at some point, we might have to do just that if OWWA continues to refuse paying our hotels.

Our establishments need the income to pay our employees.”

HE combined damage and losses brought by recent Typhoon Quinta and Supertyphoon Rolly have reached P4.5 billion, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced on Tuesday.

Despite the reported damage and losses, DA Director for Operations Roy Abaya, in a virtual briefing, assured the public of enough food supplies to cover the demand until the end of the year. “[Despite this, the damages from these typhoons on our] major crops are still minimal. Our food supplies are enough, especially the rice and corn; we have supplies to provide food for the whole year. Hopefully, we can sustain this,” said Abaya, as he reiterated that farmers were able to harvest their crops earlier due to DA’s early warning advisory.

According to Abaya, the combined damage and losses from the recent typhoons affected 77,958 famers and 115,148 hectares of agricultural areas in Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, 5, 6, 7 and 9 as of 12 noon of Tuesday, November 3.

The volume of production loss is at 262,539 metric tons (MT). The affected commodities include rice, corn, high-value crops, fisheries, livestock, irrigation and agri-fisheries, Abaya added.

Of the affected farmers and fisherfolk, he said 47,864 were affected by Quinta while the 30,094,

by Rolly.

The DA official said Quinta damaged worth P2.5 billion of commodities, while Rolly recorded P1.9 billion as of the said date.

The bulk of the losses from Rolly was incurred by rice farmers who See “Farm Loss,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4622 n UK 62.5083 n HK 6.2446 n CHINA 7.2324 n SINGAPORE 35.4679 n AUSTRALIA 34.1337 n EU 56.3523 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9049

Source: BSP (November 3, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Continued from A1

debts by a government agency to the private sector, following PhilHealth’s P1.1-billion widely reported arrears to the Philippine Red Cross. The private humanitarian organization had to halt testing returning OFWs for Covid-19 due to the unpaid debt.

Red Cross example

ASKED whether HSMA would follow Red Cross’s footsteps and stop accepting OFWs as OWWA guests, Ibarreta told the BusinessMirror, “We will try to accommodate their needs, but at some point, we might have to do just that if OWWA continues to refuse paying our hotels.

Our establishments need the income to pay our employees.”

She added that OWWA has already set up a task force within OWWA “to expedite payments, but there has been no change” in the pace by which the hotels are paid.

In her letter to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat dated November 2, 2020, Ibarreta narrated the difficulties HSMA member hotels have been encountering in seeking payment from OWWA, adding that the group has been persistently requesting administrator Hans Cacdac, and other agency officials “Judge [Rodrigo Flores] Pascual, Hermie Mendoza, and Ronald Mina to help us in facilitating payment for these listed hotels. [Even when] they pay, they [OWWA] don’t even pay the amount that is requested by the hotels to survive.”

She added, “There were companies which were unable to give the employees salaries because they were waiting for OWWA’s payments.”

She noted that the constant audit by OWWA’s finance department of billing statements have already become “unreasonable.”

For instance, she said, “Guest checks in September 20-22, as indicated in the registration form, but checks out a day or two after, when they receive their swab tests. [OWWA’s] finance questions that transaction even if the folio and swab test indicates the date of the [test] result. The registration card and folio don’t match because the swab result came in after [the registered stay].”

She stressed, all these have been explained to OWWA’s finance staff assigned to hotels, and were provided certifications of the delayed arrival of the Covid-19 test results of the guests.

“How can hotels survive if OWWA does not pay us? We want to accommodate and support them but they only think of themselves.

How about the hotels which provided what they needed?”

Ibarreta informed Romulo Puyat that the delays in payment have been “ongoing” since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns and “in spite of almost daily dialogue with OWWA, they have not been seriously heeding our call.”

In a separate letter to Tourism Promotions Board chief operating officer Ma. Anthonette VelascoAllones, the HSMA president also cited, in other cases, when an OFW has been stranded because there is no flight back to his home province, “if there is one or two cases [of that nature] per batch [of billing statements], OWWA’s finance department holds the whole amount [billed]. We have explained this over and over again, even provided certification that the guest checked out on the date indicated in the folio.”

Envoy in maid abuse returns; Locsin vows fair, full probe

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By Recto L. Mercene

MBATTLED Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro returned to the country late Monday, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., as he promised a full and fair process in the handling of allegations she had mistreated her Filipino maid.

Locsin also distanced himself from a group that reportedly threw its support behind her, but said, “the DFA stands by its resolve to respond to the matter in accordance with and to the fullest extent of the law.”

Locsin told CNN Philippines on Tuesday morning, neither the Department of Foreign Affairs nor him “are aware of the existence of a so-called Department of Foreign Affairs Career Officers Corps and the Retired Ambassadors Association.”

He said the reported organization’s statement supporting Mauro, “does not in any way reflect the position of the department nor the sentiment of its career corps.”

Recalled Ambassador Mauro

PHILEMBASSYBRASILIA.ORG

Hotels…

www.businessmirror.com.ph

AMBASSADOR to Brazil Marichu Mauro

caused an uproar when a Brazilian TV station showed her maltreating her Filipino maid, as seen in a closed-circuit television (CCTV) of her ambassadorial residence.

The video footage released by

Brazilian news outlet GloboNews showed her pinching the ear of her household staff on several occasions.

The 51-year-old maid, who returned alone to the Philippines on October 21, was not detained according to Locsin, who added that he would let Ambassador Mauro explain the circumstances of her maid’s return.

Locsin said the maid informed Mauro by text that she has arrived in Manila and is currently in quarantine. He said the unnamed helper has been given P200,000 by way of recompense as she remained out of work.

Mauro is the subject of a DFA probe and Manila’s highest envoy had earlier vowed that DFA action on Mauro would be “severe to the fullest extent of the law.”

Locsin described the video as “incontestable.”

“It is what it is. It shows her maltreating the maid,” he said.

CNN’s Pinky Webb said it is mind-boggling how a local station was able to get its hands on the video and asked Locsin whether it was leaked by some embassy staff and whether they should be punished.

The Harvard-trained lawyer said he had no idea how the video got into the hands of a local Brazilian station. “I guess we want to

know, because if they can leak out something,” it could have serious implications, citing as examples, a possible leak of meeting between a foreign secretary or an ambassador with another ambassador.

“So right now you’re looking at the video, and nobody can possibly claim that is actually fake, it’s real.

So I guess the best thing is to ask, why do we have CCTV?”

He answered his own question, saying, “I think it’s important that everything is on CCTV because if terrorists come in, I mean, none of us is going to come out alive, but we’re going to have a record of it, so it stays.”

The task force investigating the incident is expected to report its findings and recommendations to Locsin in 15 days. He will then forward it to Malacañang. He vowed that both Mauro and the household staff affected would be afforded due process.

“I’m not a summary executioner guy. I’m a lawyer…. I’ll give her all the due process and the maid as well,” he said.

Mauro, a career diplomat, joined the DFA in 1995 and served as consul general in Milan, Italy. She was also previously assigned to Manama, Bahrain; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Brussels, Belgium. She was appointed to Brazil in February 2018.

SALCEDA, GO PITCH NEW DISASTER DEPARTMENT Continued from A8

“The point is disaster preparedness should no longer be relegated to the reaches of the bureaucracy. The head of disaster preparedness should be able to propose measures straight within the Cabinet and towards the President. The logistical operation that is disaster response, and the complex planning that is required in disaster preparedness is simply too important to be consigned to a mere coordinating body,” he said.

In September, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading one of Congress’s priority measures creating the DDR.

The DDR was also approved

by the House in the 17th Congress, but was not acted upon on time in the Senate.

Earlier, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco urged the Senate to prioritize the DDR bill.

“We earnestly urge our counterparts in the Senate to pass their own version so we can subsequently work on the enrolled bill to be sent to President Duterte’s desk for his signature,” said Velasco, one of the authors and sponsors of the bill creating the DDR.

Once implemented the DDR would be an institutionalized agency coordinating national response to disasters and emergencies, replacing the ad-hoc and primary secretariat-type work of

the current NDRRMC.

Go pushes bill

MEANWHILE, administration Senator Christopher “Bong” Go also defended the bill a day after his peers spoke up against it.

The creation of a new DDR is necessary to install “a clearer chain of command, more responsive mechanisms and a more holistic, proactive approach towards disaster resilience,” said Go. In a statement, Go asserted that one aspect needing improvement is “interagency coordination,” adding this is the reason he has long been recommending and repeatedly stressing the need to set up one department with a “Secretary-

level” in charge to steer and ensure “preparedness, response, and resilience measures in times of crisis and disaster.”

Go renewed his appeal for Congress to frontload plenary consideration of Senate Bill 205 that he filed in 2019 to facilitate creation of a DDR, primarily responsible for ensuring that local communities are “well-adapted, resilient and safe from the impacts of climate change,” noting that relevant agencies, such as the Office of Civil Defense; Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration; and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology are under different departments.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz, Butch Fernandez

Manufacturing…

Continued from A1

substantial decline seen in April,” IHS Markit said in the report.

“Manufacturers saw a decline in new orders at the start of the final quarter of 2020 despite a brief uptick seen in September. The downturn was driven by subdued domestic demand which firms linked to the pandemic, while new orders from abroad increased for a second month running,” it added.

Due to the weak demand, local manufacturing firms also reduced staffing levels sharply during the month. Employment for the sector fell for the eighth consecutive month.

A renewed fall in new orders also led companies to reduce their stores of input. Stocks of both raw materials and finished goods were depleted, which firms linked to supplier shortages and uncertainty in demand.

Shreeya Patel, economist at IHS Markit, said the manufacturing sector will continue to suffer until the country can control the virus effectively.

“The reopening of businesses will support a pick-up in the economy, although infection rates in the Philippines remain high compared to regional peers. Until virus cases are tamed domestically and globally, we are likely to see a protracted recovery in manufacturing production,” Patel said.

“For now, firms remain optimistic that production will improve over the coming year; however, it remains to be seen whether the latest contraction was temporary,” the economist added.

The Philippines’s PMI was slightly below the regional average, which was at 48.6 during the month.

The sharpest contraction was recorded in Myanmar, where the headline index dropped to a nearrecord low of 30.6 and signalled a rapid deterioration in the health of the sector. Indonesia’s PMI also deteriorated for the second month running to hit 47.8 during the month. Malaysia’s and the Philippines’s PMIs were both at 48.5.

On the growth threshold were Thailand’s manufacturing sector, which hit 50.8, Vietnam’s hit 51.8 and Singapore’s manufacturing sector registered an improvement in manufacturing conditions for the first time since July 2018 during October with a PMI of 52.

“But, data are yet to provide signs of such a recovery, and with further Covid-19-related restrictions being implemented around the world, ‘second lockdowns’ may further hinder any move towards an economic rebound,” Lewis Cooper, economist at IHS Markit, said.

Locsin, Wang eye ‘template’ in talks on oil, gas in SCS Farm loss…

Continued from A1

Continued from A8

Locsin said Wang knew it was Duterte’s right to say that because the arbitral award, from Manila’s view, “is uncompromisable and can never be diminished or diluted by any passing administration.”

Locsin and Wang had talked on a wide range of subjects, including the MOU on Oil and Gas Development, in Yunnan, where Locsin flew for a three-day visit recently on the invitation of his Chinese counterpart.

Since the MOU’s signing, Locsin said, “Well, for one year, both sides exchanged ‘impossible-toreconcile’ positions and then what I felt we need here is to try with a specific project.”

And so, he continued, they tried to discuss “a project and a

disputed area—with us it is not disputed, it is ours by right—but it is the Chinese claim.”

He added, “Sometimes, you have ignorant people say, ‘Hey look, the Chinese are claiming that. Shouldn’t you protest China claiming that?’”

But, Locsin said the Chinese can say they claim the SCS because “it is a free world. They can say what they want.”

But, he said, the difference between the Chinese and the Filipinos is that, “I am saying it as a basis of right because of the Arbitral Award, but it is a free world. They can say what they want. Countries can say what they want.”

He said he broached the specific project with Wang in Madrid after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Chile was canceled.

“So then, I met him there and I said, let’s do this specifically and this specific project and then the talks have continued. Every step of those talks is cleared by me with members of the Cabinet and the President, so

IN this October 29, 2018, file photo, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are engaged in a light moment during the latter’s courtesy call in Davao City, hometown of President Duterte. AP/MANMAN DEJETO

everyone gets there.”

According to Locsin, “What’s important is the care with which we are working on the language and so that, that language and what it translates to in real actions, do not in any way constitute a surrender of our rights under the Arbitral Award and Unclos,” or the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, deemed the constitution of the oceans.

“And China, I suppose, is doing the same thing because we are still

talking,” the DFA chief added.

“That is the situation now.

But when and if it comes out, it will be precise, it will not be informed by the usual ignorance we get from the usual commentators out there who have no knowledge of law and it is going to be a template,” Locsin said.

“It is going to be a template for how you do projects between disputed parties who, however, need to move forward on mutual respect.”

lost 62,444 MT of produce worth P1.1 billion. This was followed by high-value crops, which posted P790.9 million in production loss with an estimated affected volume of 50,581 MT. Abaya said the department is closely coordinating with concerned agencies to provide assistance to affected farmers and fishermen.

Meanwhile, Abaya guaranteed the availability of P400 million in quick-response funds for the rehabilitation of affected areas.

He assured affected farmers of a total of 133,326 bags of rice seeds; 17,545 bags of corn seeds and 1,980 kilograms of assorted vegetables.

He said the agency will also provide around 10 million pieces of available tilapia and milkfish fingerlings, as well as fishing gear and paraphernalia for fisherfolk.

Abaya said the DA will also distribute animal stocks, planting materials, feeds, drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry.

Affected farmers, he said, may also access the P300-million Survival and Recovery (SURE) Loan Program of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), which provides a loan of up to P25,000 (P5,000 for emergency and P20,000 for recovery), with zero interest and no collateral, payable in 10 years.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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Troops slay 2 ASG leaders, 5 others in mid-sea clash

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ECURITY forces intercepted on Tuesday a speedboat bearing key leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), including the reported leader of the Islamic State (IS) in the country in the waters of Sulu, and killed them, military officials said.

A report from the Joint Task Force Sulu said the twin-engine speed boat bearing the seven terrorists were intercepted by elite Scout Rangers and Special Forces in Sulu Sea near Sulare Island in Parang, Sulu at around 2:15 a.m.

The top military commander in Sulu, who also heads the Army’s 11th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, orchestrated the joint operations utilizing an Augusta attack helicopter of the Air Force and a multipurpose attack craft of the Navy, both of which are among the newest assets of the military.

Killed during the operations were Mannul Sawadjaan, Madsmar Sawadjaan and five other still unidentified terrorists, according to reports from both the Joint Task Force Sulu and the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).

The military said Mannul was believed to have succeeded Hajan Sawadjaan, the leader of the Islamic State in the country, who was believed to have been killed in July this year during a

firefight with military forces in Sulu.

Madsmar, on the other hand, was a brother of Mundi Sawadjaan, whom the military tagged as among the brains behind the Jolo Cathedral suicide bombing last year and the twin suicide bombings, still in Jolo, in August this year.

Mundi is a nephew of Hadjan.

A separate report from the Westmincom indicated that the terrorists and the soldiers engaged in firefight before the speedboat bearing the terrorists was rammed by the Navy’s fast attack craft.

Retrieval operations were ongoing to recover the sunken speedboat and the bodies of the seven terrorists as of this report.

“Past 1:42 at dawn today, our troops conducted air and sea interdiction targeting members of the ASG/kidnap-for-ransom group under Mundi Sawadjaan and Radullan Sahiron,” Westmincom commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr. was quoted as saying in a news statement that the command issued through its spokesman Lt. Col. Alaric delos Santos.

“Exchanges of [gun]fires transpired which lasted for 25 minutes and resulted in the sinking of the boat utilized by more or less seven ASG members,” Vinluan said.

Rene Acosta

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, November 4, 2020 A3

Cimatu halts quarry ops in Albay as DENR sets assessment, update of geohazard map

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will look into possible violations of quarry permit holders around Mayon Volcano, which residents in Guinobatan, Albay blamed for the landslide of ash that buried houses at the height of Typhoon Rolly’s onslaught.

This developed as Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu ordered the immediate suspension of all quarry operations in the area on Monday upon the order of President Duterte who earlier conducted an aerial inspection and visited victims of the typhoon in Guinobatan town. This is not the first time that the DENR ordered the suspension of quarry operations in the province.

DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas R. Leones told the BusinessMirror that Typhoon Rolly, which caused a landslide of volcanic ash that killed at least 3 persons, bared “alarming” geological hazards that need to be investigated.

He said such geological hazards call for a comprehensive assessment

and warrants the updating of the province’s existing geohazard map.

“There’s an instruction from the President, similar to what we did the last time in 2017. We recommended and suggested to the LGU [local government unit] to suspend all LGUissued quarry permits,” Leones said.

In implementing President Duterte’s order, he said, Cimatu has also called for a thorough investigation to determine possible violations of quarry permit holders.

He said the DENR in Region 5 has been instructed to coordinate with concerned LGUs to enforce the suspension orders as soon as possible, noting that the LGUs are the ones that issue quarry permits in the province, particularly around Mayon Volcano.

According to Leones, out of the 100 or so quarry permit holders in the area, only one was issued by the DENR. All others were issued by the LGU. Leones said based on the feedback he gathered from the DENR Region 5 office, quarry operators have gone beyond their designated, or prescribed area of operation. Many quarry permits cover extraction of lahar from rivers covered with la-

har. But some operators, he said, are extracting quarry materials outside their designated quarry area.

“Some of the ‘permittees’ are getting their quarry materials outside the river bed. This also happened in Zambales. If you get quarry materials in sloping area, or upstream, this is dangerous because it causes instability,” he said.

“Our way forward is to come up immediately with a policy wherein we are confining the permittees where they can get quarry materials. Remember these are LGU-issued permits that’s why we are presuming that the LGU issued the permit based on maps provided by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau [MGB] to the LGU,” he said.

Leones said that an LGU that issues a permit inside so-called nogo zones as identified by the MGB makes local officials liable.

But Leones said generally, suspending quarry permits impacts on the country’s production capacity, and ensure a stable supply of quarry materials for the construction industry.

The problem of stopping quarry operation, he said, is that it will also affect rehabilitation efforts.

“Remember, we need to rebuild as part of rehabilitation,” he said. It is for this reason, he added, that the DENR lifts suspension orders on the condition and assurance that mitigation and corrective measures will be immediately undertaken.

Last, he said that DENR experts from the MGB and perhaps the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority will be called to reassess and update the various geological hazards in Albay and come up with an updated geohazard map for the province.

The Bicol region, particularly the Province of Albay, is known for its resilience and disaster preparedness and recognized for best practices in balancing environmental protection and natural resources conservation with development. In 2016, Albay was declared as United Nations, Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization Biosphere Reserve.

The onslaught of Rolly and typhoon-induced rainfall that dumped a huge volume of rainwater triggered the landslide of quarry materials that caught many barangays unprepared amid repeated warnings and calls for immediate evacuation made by the country’s weather bureau.

Only 5 House members have Rolly public infra damage climbs released SALN–lawmakers to ₧5.89B; casualty count at 22

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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AWMAKERS on Tuesday challenged their colleagues in the House of Representatives to show copies of their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, revealing that only five of 300 members of the lower chamber have so far released their latest SALN to the public.

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Bayan Muna Reps. Carlos Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Eufemia Cullamat and Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago said the submission of SALN is also required under the Constitution and the Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

According to Castro, all those in the field of public service should

practice transparency and accountability, which, he said, is a huge step in showing that those who currently occupy public positions have nothing to hide from the public.

“In the spirit of transparency, accountability and as stated in the RA 6713, all government employees and officials, including my colleagues, must show to the public their SALN,” Castro said.

The lawmakers’ said releasing SALN to the public helps emphasize the call of President Duterte to investigate certain public officials amid allegations of corruption rampant in the government.

Zarate also lambasted the limiting of the SALN access of the Office of the Ombudsman, saying that Ombudsman Samuel Martires himself should be at the forefront in the fight

against corruption.

Earlier, a complaint was filed against Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Director Ronnel Tan, husband of Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan, because of his reported extravagant display of wealth. But Tan already denied the allegation.

Another issue regarding SALN is the conflict of interest between government officials in their nondeclaration of goods and stock shares.

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco reportedly own shares of San Miguel Corp. based on the company report in 2017 wherein he is a part of the top 100 stockholders. Velasco also reportedly own 2-percent shares of Petron Corp. based on the firm’s 2016 annual report.

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

& Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

T

YPHOON Rolly has caused roughly P5.89 billion in damage to public infrastructure, most of which are in Bicol, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported on Tuesday.

Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said broken down, the typhoon’s damage are: P1.5 billion to roads, P2 billion to floodcontrol structures, P458.2 million to bridges, P367.3 million to public buildings, and P1.4 billion to other infrastructure.

“As expected, our assessment teams identified majority of the destruction in Bicol region amounting to P4.621 billion,” he said.

There were several roads in the region that were closed due to the damage, including fallen trees, landslides, fallen electrical posts, and among others.

“DPWH quick response teams are fast-tracking clearing operations along the affected road sections in the island as we have no alternative routes as of the moment. These roads must to be opened soonest for the relief efforts which Catanduanes badly needs right now,” Villar said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a total of 19 road sections were already cleared and opened by the DPWH quick response teams.

Officials believed that the figure could still increase as damage assessment has barely commenced in the province of Catanduanes, which was isolated for two days as a result of the super typhoon.

PET can annul, or declare failure of elections–SolGen

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Tuesday said the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has the power to annul the result of the last vice presidential elections in three provinces in Mindanao if it can be proven that there were massive irregularities that affected the outcome of the contest between former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Leni Robredo.

Solicitor General Jose Calida bared his position in his 40-page comment submitted to the SC in compliance with its directive issued last September 29.

In a resolution issued last September, the Court sought the positions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the OSG on certain issues related to the third cause of action of the election protest filed by Marcos.

Marcos’s protest has three causes of action—annulment of the proclamation of Robredo; recount and revision of ballots in 36,465 protested clustered precincts; and annulment of election results for

vice president in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Basilan on the ground of alleged terrorism, intimidation and harassment of voters as well as preshading of ballots in all of the 2,756 protested clustered precincts.

The PET has dismissed Marcos’s first cause of action for being “meaningless and pointless.”

On the other hand, the PET decided to release the committee report on the revision and recount of ballots on the three pilot provinces—Iloilo, Negros Oriental and Camarines Sur —involving 5,415 precincts.

At the same time, the PET shifted its focus on the third of action after it ordered the opposing parties to submit their respective memoranda on the issues raised therein.

Furthermore, both the Comelec and the OSG were further directed to comment on whether the tribunal is empowered by the Constitution to declare the annulment of elections without special election and declare failure of elections and order the conduct of special elections.

It also asked the Comelec and OSG to comment whether the tribunal’s declaration of failure of elections and then the ordering of special elections, will infringe upon

the Comelec’s mandate and power provided for in Article IX (C) (Section 2) of the Constitution.

Calida said that while the PET has the power to annul elections, or declare a failure of elections, it has no power to order the conduct of special elections.

He noted that the PET’s power to declare the annulment of elections, or a failure of election, is provided in Section 4 (7), Article VII of the 1987 Constitution.

Jurisprudence, according to Calida, has also established and recognized PET ’s sole and exclusive power to hear election protests involving the President and Vice President.

Likewise, Calida said the PET is allowed by the Constitution to promulgate its rules, issues subpoena, take depositions, issue order to arrest witnesses to compel their appearance, production of documents and other evidence for the purpose of deciding election contests.

On the other hand, Calida said the power of PET to declare a failure of elections is also implied in its mandate under the Constitution as the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of the President or Vice President to the

exclusion of others.

However, Calida said the PET does not have the power to call for special elections.

He noted that the Constitution is silent as to whether the PET has the power to order the conduct of special elections after annulling an election or declaring a failure of election.

Section 4 (7), Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, according to Calida, limit the jurisdiction of the PET to contests relating to the elections of the President and Vice President.

“It would be thus fair to conclude that the jurisdiction of the PET, as defined by Section 4[7], Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, would not include the power to call for special elections. The reason is obvious: what if the losing candidate in such special elections will again question the result of the elections? It will be a vicious and never-ending cycle,” Calida said.

On the authority of the Comelec to order the conduct of special elections, the Solicitor General pointed out that the Omnibus Election Code dees not give the poll body the power to conduct any special election in cases of vacancy in the presidential or vice

presidential seats.

Calida said the Constitution merely mentions regular elections insofar as the election of the President and Vice President is concerned.

He explained that Section 14 of the Omnibus Election Code on Special Election for President and Vice President has been amended, or superseded by Section 10, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution.

The provision, he said, speaks of special elections in the event of vacancy in the offices of the President and Vice President that will be called

by Congress.

“In the case at bar, it is indubitable that even if the votes cast in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Basilan are declared null and void, there is no failure of election to speak of. On the contrary, the ultimate winner, or the one with the majority [or plurality] of the valid votes, is easily determinable,” Calida said.

“All told, it is respectfully submitted that the Honorable Tribunal has the power to declare the annulment of elections or a failure of elections without infringing upon the Comelec’s authority, but it has no concomitant power to order the conduct of special elections,” he added.

Catanduanes and the province of Albay, both in Bicol region were hardest hit by Rolly, which battered Luzon over the weekend, leaving much of Region 5 still without power.

The Office of Civil Defense-5 reported that at least 79,638 houses were damaged as some areas in Albay and even in the province of Camarines Sur, which has already declared a state of calamity, are still flooded.

Based on the report of the Philippine National Police (PNP), at least 22 people have been killed while the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) officially put it at 17.

The PNP’s figure was a consolidation of the various reports coming from its regional, provincial, city and municipal police offices, which are also involved in disaster response operations.

MRT 3 hikes train operating speed at 50 kph, reduces headway by half

T

HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced on Tuesday that it has increased the operating speed of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 to 50 kilometers per hour, reducing headway by half.

The speed increase will result in a cut in travel time between North Avenue Station and Taft Avenue Station by 10 minutes to an hour and five minutes. Headway—or the amount of time between the arrival of trains— was also reduced to about four minutes to five minutes from eight minutes to nine and a half minutes.

“With the increased operating speed, MRT 3 passengers can now expect faster travel time, shorter waiting time for train arrivals, and better and comfortable riding experience,” MRT 3 Director for Operations Michael J. Capati said.

He noted that the improvement in train speed is a result of the installation of the new long-welded rails in all the train stations as part of the massive rehabilitation program of the rail line, which is being implemented by Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Japan. Lorenz S. Marasigan

A4 Wednesday, November 4, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Exporters lose ₧6-B sales after Covid cancellations

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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HILIPPINE exporters lost more than P6 billion worth of sales from the cancellation of trade fairs abroad, and they are bound to miss out on all of them next year with minimal government subsidy in hand.

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) under the Department of Trade and Industry reported at least

12 expos overseas were called off due to the ban on mass gathering amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Likewise, the government deferred three signature trade fairs in the Philippines as a precaution against the contagion.

With these cancellations, Citem told the BusinessMirror that exporters lost a total of $137.21 million, or about P6.63 billion, in potential sales.

Worse, Citem disclosed it will get a decreased funding of P141.88 million for 2021 allocated by the

Department of Budget and Management (DBM). This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the agency to subsidize sending delegation of exporters to trade fairs next year.

“With the substantially reduced DBM-recommended budget of P141.885 million for fiscal year 2021, Citem will not be able to organize overseas trade fair participations in 2021,” the agency said in an e-mail.

What the Citem will do with its operations funding of P94.01 million is pour it in in its regular and new lo-

cal expos. These events are: Manila FAME, IFEX Philippines NXTFOOD Asia, Create Philippines and the new Sustainability Solutions Expo (SSX).

“Citem will also continue to implement its digital marketing platforms initiatives that were started in 2020, specifically for the digital trade community platforms for Manila FAME, Food Philippines, IFEX Philippines NXTFOOD Asia, SSX and Create Philippines,” the agency said.

“With the very limited government subsidy for 2021, these digital projects

will be implemented with the leanest version of content development and distribution efforts,” it added.

According to Citem, the canceled trade fairs abroad are: Foodex Japan and South by South West in March; Food Hotel Asia in April; Fuorisalone, Taipei International Food Show and Summer Fancy Food Show in June; SIAL Middle East, Interior Lifestyle China, Index Dubai and Maison&Objet in September; SIAL Paris in October; and Nordic Organic Food Fair in November.

For next year, the Citem will focus on implementing hybrid events involving physical events with digital platforms. This will give exporters and organizers the opportunity to adjust to the new normal, wherein mass gatherings are expected to be regulated to avoid the transmission of the virus.

“Citem will implement hybrid events in 2021. The agency’s signature and local events will be implemented physically together with an online version of the events,” Citem explained.

Govt lays down initial Covid-19 vaccination plan After Typhoon Rolly, children, families face

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HE government is now targeting to conduct a nationwide Covid-19 immunization by the first quarter of next year.

This according to the proposed Philippine National Vaccine Roadmap (PNVR), which was presented by chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 and now vaccine “czar” Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday.

Based on the road map, Galvez said, they plan to wrap up the procurement, shipping, storage, and the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine

by March 2021.

The timeline is based on the government’s assumption that the Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials will start

by December and will be completed on March next year.

Galvez said the PNVR will be officially presented to President Duterte for approval on Thursday during the next Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) meeting.

Logistical challenge

GALVEZ’S designation as vaccine czar was made official on Monday after it was announced by President Duterte during a live Cabinet meeting.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President opted to give the task to Galvez instead of a medical expert due to the massive logistics requirement the vaccination drive will entail.

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, meanwhile, said the Department of Health (DOH) and Inter-Agency Task Force on Infectious Diseases welcome the news appointment of Galvez.

“We at the DOH and IATF welcome it and give our full support to Secretary Galvez for the success of our Covid-19 vaccine/immunization program,” Duque told the BusinessMirror when he was asked for his re-

action on the designation of Galvez.

Duque, however, was mum on criticisms questioning the capacity of Galvez, noting that he is not even a health expert.

“The vaccine is still not manufactured in the Philippines so it will have to be imported. It will then have to be stored in cold storage facilities before being distributed in different areas of the country,” Roque said. “So it’s more of a logistics challenge than a medical challenge.”

Galvez stressed that it will still be the vaccine expert panel and the DOH, which will play a lead role in the vaccination drive.

“My boss is still the DOH secretary considering that the DOH is the IATF chairman and whatever their policy pertaining to the vaccine will be implemented by me,” Galvez said.

said, they are also preparing cold storage facilities they will be needed to store the purchased Covid-19 vaccine.

Instead of constructing such facility, he said, the government is more inclined to just rent existing cold storage facilities from local pharmaceutical companies.

The government is eyeing to buy P20 billion worth of Covid-19 vaccine.

“There will be a unity of effort with the private sector so that the government will not spend anymore on the production of the cold storage,” Galvez explained.

He said he will be meeting pharmaceuticals business consortium to get access to their “robust and very effective logistics supply chain.”

Bilateral talks

Like an election

AS his first task as vaccine czar, Galvez said he is now seeking bilateral talks with countries and private companies, which are now developing potential Covid-19 vaccine to ensure the country will have access to it once it becomes commercially available.

Among the countries he is considering engaging in talks are China, Russia, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

Galvez said these are the countries which will likely distribute, or manufacture, Covid-19 vaccine based from his consultation with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

“So we really need to have diplomatic arrangements so that we could have some sort of equitable access to the vaccine that may be produced,” Galvez said.

He said they plan for finalized the road map as well as the said bilateral talks before the end of the year.

Cold storage

ASIDE from access issues, Galvez

ANOTHER challenge for the vaccination drive, Galvez said, will be the massive undertaking it will take to distribute the vaccine as well as the selection of beneficiaries, which he likened to organizing a national elections.

For this purpose, he said, they will be tapping local government units (LGU) to determine, who among their constituents be included in the first batch of Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Among those to be given priority for the vaccine are health-care workers, vulnerable groups, as well as the poor and the indigents.

To prevent possible “politicization” of the said determination, Galvez said, health officials, police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines will also assess the decision by LGUs on vaccine beneficiaries.

“Majority of the information that we will need for the implementation will be coming from the health sector and LGU,” Galvez said.

Samuel P. Medenilla and Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

disaster of education, diseases, group warns

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

C

HILDREN and their families in Bicol are at risk of experiencing a secondary disaster of education delays and diseases in the wake of Typhoon Rolly, according to Canada-based humanitarian organization, Save the Children.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Save the Children Humanitarian Manager Jerome Balinton said the initial estimate is that 450,000 children are at risk in the Bicol region alone. This represents about 38 percent of the population of the region.

But more could be at risk because of the limitations of local governments to reach certain towns isolated by the storm. Many communities remain isolated due to impassable roads caused by lahar flows, storm surge, soil erosion from mountains, and electricity posts that fell due to strong winds and rain.

“This is a serious humanitarian concern for the children and their families on the direct path of the typhoon,” Balinton said. “We are calling for the action of the national and local government units to really address this concern because this will [lead] to a secondary impact, or secondary disaster to children and their families.”

Balinton noted that there are actually three secondary risks for children and these involve their ability to continue their education given the situation; water-borne diseases that could cause diarrhea and cholera; and psychosocial risks that could lead to physical and sexual abuse as well as poor mental health.

The risk involving education is

now more complex given the Covid-19 pandemic. In the pre-Covid-19 era, Balinton said, humanitarian organizations as well as governments were able to provide makeshift classrooms, or designate areas where education can continue.

However, given the current remote or blended learning set up to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and the lack of power and telecommunication services in Bicol, there could be a definite lag in the education of children in these areas.

Further, with the difficulties of access to water, food, and other necessities, this could lead to psychosocial risks that will ultimately affect the physical and mental health.

“What we are trying to avoid right now, and this has happened in the past emergencies in the country, is the gender-based violence and exploitation which could happen when families are faced with a desperate situation or psychosocial concerns. Because of desperate conditions, families could resort to desperate measures,” Balinton said in Filipino.

Apart from these, Balinton said based on their experience when it comes to disasters, water-borne diseases such as diarrhea and poor sanitation risks that lead to cholera could start three weeks into the crisis.

This highlights not only the continuous need for clean water supply in affected areas but also the possible decline in the health capacity of the government and humanitarian organizations.

These are the problems that Save the Children will be focusing, he said, adding the organization currently has two teams in the Bicol region assessing the situation.

The focus of their work will be

on the continuation of the education of children in the affected areas as well as the delivery of life-saving essentials.

These life-saving essentials include the provision of face masks; alcohol and sanitizers; water kits that are composed of containers and water purifying tablets; and possible emergency shelter facilities.

The Save the Children aid workers were deployed on Tuesday to the worst affected provinces along the east coast of Luzon.

The aid workers underwent Covid-19 tests to ensure they are virus free, highlighting the new and complex challenges faced by aid agencies amid the pandemic.

“It’s essential that our aid workers don’t cause harm to the communities they will help,” Save the Children CEO Alberto Muyot said in a news statement.

“We are very concerned that towns may have been cut off and destroyed during the weekend’s storm.

It is vital that we do a rapid assessment of the humanitarian needs so that our relief supply lines meet the needs of children and their families,” he added.

Typhoon Goni, locally known as Typhoon Rolly, is classified as this year’s most powerful storm to hit the Philippines since Haiyan that killed more than 6,300 people in 2013, as a category 5 typhoon.

Based on initial assessment by the Philippine government, the hardest hit provinces are Catanduanes and Albay. Data show there are 372,653 affected families, or 2,068,085 individuals, in 12 regions, including the Bicol region.

Presently there are 2,039 families sheltering in evacuation centers in the Bicol region.

Bill cites agri output of Catanduanes, Davao City, Batangas town LGUs can tap NDRRMF

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE House Committee on Agriculture and Food on Tuesday approved three bills declaring the Province of Catanduanes as the abaca capital of the Philippines, City of Davao as the chocolate and cacao production capital of the Philippines and the municipality of San Jose in Batangas as the egg basket of the Philippines.

During the committee hearing presided by House Committee on Agriculture and Food Vice Chairman Francisco Benitez, members of the panel approved House Bill 6149 for Catanduanes, HB 7460 for Davao City and HB 7660 for the Municipality of San Jose in Batangas.

The three bills will now be transmitted to the plenary for another round of deliberations.

Largest producer of abaca

TGP Party-list Rep. Jose Teves Jr. said he filed his HB 6149 to give the province of Catanduanes its proper title by being the largest producer of abaca fiber in the country.

Citing the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (Philfida) in 2019, Teves said Catanduanes remained as the top pro-

ducer of the natural plant fiber in the entire country.

“Considering Catanduanes as the top producer of abaca product in the Philippines, it highly contributed in the standing of the country as the world’s largest producer of Abaca, supplying 87 percent of the world’s requirement in natural fiber,” he said.

“Abaca is also considered as the primary product of Catanduanes as the Catandunganons are widely known in producing high quality fibers which are patronized not only in the Philippines but also internationally. In fact, the province is celebrating every fourth week of May of every year the Catanduanes Abaca Festival,” he added.

The lawmaker said the main source of livelihood of the greater population living in Catanduanes is farming and production of abaca, which constitutes 12,679 abaca farmers of total 33,097 hectares of abaca lands in 11 abaca producing municipalities.

World-class chocolate

FOR his part, Deputy Speaker Conrado Estrella III said he filed his HB 7469 as Davao City has gained international recognition for producing world-class chocolate products.

He said the Davao City-based Malagos Chocolate won for the country the honor of winning second place for its 100 percent unsweetened dark chocolate drink category, and third place for in the sweetened dark chocolates category in the international chocolate competition conducted in 2017 by the Academy of Chocolate in London.

To date, he added, Malagos has won seven major international awards for its chocolate products, thereby earning for the country international recognition as a worldclass chocolate producer.

“The City of Davao and the provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley produce at least 81 percent of the country’s total cacao production,” he said.

“The success of Davao Citybased Malagos Chocolate and the high cacao production in Davao City and contiguous provinces gives the Philippines a competitive advantage in high-quality chocolate and cacao production in the Asian region,” he said.

Estrella said his bill seeks to recognize the achievement of Davao City in attaining high volumes of quality cacao production and in producing high-quality chocolate

products that gained for the country international recognition as well as opening a new frontier for higher trade and economic productivity in the country that can generate more employment, provide higher incomes and improve the quality of life of our people, especially in the countryside.

Egg basket

FOR her part, Batangas Rep. Lianda Bolilia said the Municipality of San Jose should be recognized as the “Egg Basket of the Philippines” for generating about 7 million eggs per day.

Bolilia, citing Batangas Egg Producers Association (BAEPA), said Batangas has an estimated 30 million daily chicken egg production with San Jose, Batangas as leading egg producer.

She said the town has 342 registered independent poultry farms as of June 2020. In recognition of San Jose’s booming egg industry, the town launched the country’s first “World Egg Day Celebration” on October 18, 2018.

On August 28, 2020, the lawmaker said Agriculture Secretary William Dar signed an executive order declaring San Jose as the “Egg Processing Capital of the Philippines.”

to replenish calamity fund

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

T

HE government still has P3.62 billion, which could be tapped by local government units (LGU) to replenish their calamity funds that may have been exhausted by the recent string of typhoons.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said this is the current amount of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) from the additional budget of Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2).

The fund is currently distributed to the following government agencies: Department of Agriculture (P1.5 billion); Department of Education (P2.1 billion); Department of Health (P600 million); Department of Public Works and Highways (P1 billion); Department of Social Welfare and Development (P1.25 billion) and the National Electrification Administration (P100 million).

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said concerned LGUs could get additional budget for their calamity response through these government agencies.

“The replenishment will not come directly from DBM. It could be requested from the line agencies which have quick response funds,” Roque explained in an online news briefing on Tuesday.

Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, however, said the agencies will still have to notify them in case it will providing funding to some LGUs. As of Monday, he said they have to receive any such notification although they are already anticipating it after typhoons Quinta and Rolly devastated many parts of the country.

Once the NDRRMF is depleted, Avisado said, the concerned LGUs may have to wait for the approval passage of the 2021 national budget for fresh funding for their calamity response.

“We will work this out with Congress on how to address this since talks for the 2021 national budget is still ongoing,” Avisado said during televised Cabinet meeting on Monday evening.

For this year, Avisado noted the government has a P16-billion NDRRMF, which is now nearly exhausted following the onset of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic last March.

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

US presidential polls: Trump combative, Biden on offense

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ITTSBURGH—In the closing hours of a campaign shadowed by a once-in-a-century pandemic, President Donald Trump charged across the nation on Monday delivering an incendiary but unsupported allegation that the election is rigged, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden pushed to claim states once seen as safely Republican.

America stood at a crossroads. Never before in modern history have voters faced a choice between candidates offering such opposite visions as the nation confronts a virus that has killed 230,000 Americans, the starkest economic contraction since the Great Depression and a citizenry divided on cultural and racial issues.

The two men broke sharply Monday on the voting process itself while campaigning in the most fiercely contested battleground, Pennsylvania. The president threatened legal action to stop counting beyond Election Day. If Pennsylvania ballot counting takes several days, as is allowed, Trump charged that “cheating can happen like you have never seen.”

Going further, Trump even tweeted about electionrelated“violence in the streets,”though none has occurred.

Asked about it, Biden said, “I’m not going to respond to anything he has to say. I’m hoping for a straightforward, peaceful election with a lot of people showing up.”

Biden, earlier in Pittsburgh, delivered a voting rights message to a mostly Black audience, declaring that Trump believes “only wealthy folks should vote” and describing Covid-19 as a “mass casualty event for Black Americans.”

“We’re done with the chaos, we’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility,” said Biden, whose campaign has focused on increasing turnout by Black voters, who could prove the difference in several battleground states.

Both campaigns insist they have a pathway to victory, though Biden’s options for winning the required 270 Electoral College votes are more plentiful. Trump is banking on a surge of enthusiasm from his most loyal supporters in addition to potential legal maneuvers.

Trump spent the final full campaign day sprinting through five rallies, from North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. Biden devoted most of his time to Pennsylvania, where a win would leave Trump with an exceedingly narrow path. He also dipped into Ohio, a show of confidence in a state that Trump won by 8 percentage points four years ago.

Biden emphasized the pandemic. He declared that “the first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump,” and he promised he would retain the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom the president has talked of firing.

Trump, meanwhile, made only passing mention of what his aides believe are his signature accomplishments—the nation’s economic rebound, the recent installation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett—in favor of a torrent of grievance and combativeness. He angrily decried the media’s coverage of the campaign while complaining that he also was being treated unfairly by, in no particular order, China, the Electoral College system and rock singer Jon Bon Jovi.

“I have been under siege illegally for three-and-ahalf years. I wonder what it would be like if we didn’t have all of this horrible stuff. We’d have a very, very calm situation,” said Trump at an evening rally in Michigan.

“People see that we fight and I’m fighting for you. I’m fighting to survive. You have to survive.”

Later in Wisconsin, he stopped himself short in midsentence: “This isn’t about—yeah, it is about me, I guess, when you think about it.”

Biden announced an unusual move to campaign on Election Day, saying he would head to Philadelphia

and his native Scranton on Tuesday as part of a get-out-the-vote effort. His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, will visit Detroit, a heavily Black city in battleground Michigan, and both of their spouses will hit the road too. Trump told reporters he would be visiting his campaign headquarters in Virginia, and he is also hosting family and friends on Election Night in the East Room of the White House.

Nearly 100 million votes have already been cast, through early voting or mail-in ballots, which could lead to delays in tabulation. Trump has spent months claiming without evidence that the votes would be ripe for fraud and refusing to guarantee that he would honor the election result.

Trump also rallied in Scranton on Monday, underscoring the importance of the state’s vote-rich northeast counties, and zeroed in on the state’s process to count votes. He has used stark terms to threaten litigation to stop the tabulation of ballots arriving after Election Day—counting that is allowed with earlier postmarks in some states.

He has said that “we’re going in with our lawyers” as soon as the polls close in Pennsylvania and on Monday spoke ominously about the Supreme Court decision to grant an extension to count the votes after Tuesday.

“They made a very dangerous situation, and I mean dangerous, physically dangerous, and they made it a very, very bad, they did a very bad thing for this state,”Trump declared. He said of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf,“Please don’t cheat because we’re all watching. We’re all watching you, Governor.”

There is already an appeal pending at the Supreme Court over the counting of absentee ballots in Pennsylvania that are received in the mail in the three days after the election.

The state’s top court ordered the extension, and the Supreme Court refused to block it, though conservative justices expressed interest in taking up the propriety of the three added days after the election. Those ballots are being kept separate in case the litigation goes forward.

The issue could assume enormous importance if the late-arriving ballots could tip the outcome.

One of Biden’s top legal advisers Bob Bauer pushed back at Trump’s promise of mobilizing his lawyers to challenge certain ballots.

“It’s very telling that President Trump is focused not on his voters but on his lawyers, and his lawyers are not going to win the election for him,” Bauer said. “We are fully prepared for any legal hijinks of one kind or another.”

Democrats also celebrated a decision by a federal judge to reject another last-ditch Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centers established during the pandemic.

Biden’s team pushed into states Trump won handily in 2016, hoping to deliver an Election Night knockout blow that could prevent further Republican challenges.

Biden said he returned to Ohio at the urging of Sen. Sherrod Brown and other Ohio Democrats in Congress, suggesting a final, late visit could win. And the Democrats’ most popular surrogate, former President Barack Obama, made one of his final campaign stops in Georgia.

“I didn’t originally plan to come to Georgia. I told Michelle, I’m sorry, Baby, I got to go to Georgia. This is a big deal,” said Obama. “Georgia could be the state, Georgia could be the place.”

But even as Biden enjoyed strong poll numbers, the move to expand the map revived anxiety among Democrats scarred by Trump’s 2016 upset over Hillary Clinton, whose forays into red states may have contributed to losing longtime party strongholds. AP

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

A5

China’s race for coronavirus vaccine raises safety issues C

hinese companies have made a seemingly unstoppable push to the front of the race for a coronavirus vaccine. Yet their speedy ascent has been unhindered by common scientific setbacks being reported by Western rivals, raising questions about how stringently they are vetting and reporting potential safety issues. The lack of clarity over the standards and safeguards used by Chinese developers is drawing concern because some of their vaccines are being distributed in China under an emergency use program before full regulatory approval. In the US, President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed a working shot would be available there ahead of the November 3 election.

That hasn’t panned out as the most optimistic timelines for US emergency use authorization now go into late November and December, well behind China on this front. There are potentially far-reaching implications for the way China goes about its vaccines.

The Asian country has the largest number of candidates in late-stage trials, and Chinese shots could be used by millions worldwide because President Xi Jinping has pledged to share successful ones overseas.

The UK’s AstraZeneca Plc and US-based Johnson & Johnson temporarily halted testing earlier this year after a single participant in each trial got sick, in order to examine the cause. In contrast, China’s science ministry has said its companies have inoculated about 60,000 volunteers in final-stage trials, but there have been no reports of serious adverse events.

One front-runner, China National Biotec Group Co., says it’s vaccinated hundreds of thousands of people under the emergency use program, a sign of how widely Chinese shots are being administered without reports of serious adverse events. Yet scientists say the discovery of health problems are inevitable when tens of thousands of people across ages and with varying conditions are tested—even if the vaccine isn’t causing the illness.

“Biology is fundamentally messy and you will always get heart attacks, neurological events and other toxicities by pure random chance,” said Michael Kinch, a vaccine specialist at Washington University in St. Louis. “In a large enough population you’re going to see that and so it seems odd, maybe even suspicious, that nothing has been reported at all.”

The author of a 2018 book ‘Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity,’ Kinch said he’d be concerned about data that are “really, really clean.” He pointed to research published in 2015 in the journal BMC Medicine that examined 202 late-stage trials, and found that only about 10% didn’t mention serious adverse effects. Even this number likely under-represents the pervasiveness of major adverse effects in testing, Kinch said.

G lobally, worries about the safet y of coronavirus vaccines are rising as researchers across nations work at an unprecedented pace, buffeted by political pressures and an urgency to end a pandemic that’s killed more than 1 million.

China’s companies and officials say their vaccines have been found safe in the research that’s being conducted. The companies have so far said they’ve seen only mild effects, such as low fevers, pain at the injection sites, itchiness, fatigue and dizziness, symptoms consistent with a regular flu vaccine.

Different technologies

A spokesman at China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. said the lack of any reports of serious side effects doesn’t mean the company isn’t being transparent. He pointed to comments from the Instituto Butantan, Sinovac’s trial partner in Brazil, which has said fewer adverse reactions were seen in its coronavirus vaccine than in others tested in the country.

Different methods being used to develop vaccines are leading to the variations in adverse events, the Sinovac spokesman said. Based on its earlystage studies, inactivated vaccines—a traditional technology used by Sinovac that uses a killed version of the pathogen—have been shown to have a low incidence of adverse events, he said.

CanSino Biologics Inc.—a Chinese company developing a shot using a cold-causing adenovirus as a vector, a similar type of vaccine as J&J and AstraZeneca—declined to comment. In a statement published on its official WeChat account late October it said its vaccine has good tolerability and safety and there were no serious adverse reactions among participants in clinical trials. China National Biotec Group didn’t respond to request for comment.

Assessing rigor

Some scientists aren’t convinced. They say that the transparency of Chinese trials doesn’t appear to be at the same level of those in the West, making it hard to assess their rigor.

“Any statement that says when you vaccinated over 100,000 people and see no serious or severe effects cannot be true,”said William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School researcher who chairs the non-profit Access Health International and has been a key player in understanding novel viruses including HIV. “If they want their vaccines to receive international credibility they’ve got to be forthcoming.”

“If there is any country in the world that has the luxury of time to make sure a vaccine is safe and effective, it’s China,” Haseltine said.

Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives and co-director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, said there are questions about the way some of the Chinese studies are being run. “There is appropriate skepticism and hesitancy about whether you ought to adopt them,” Emanuel said.

Under a microscope

Vaccines typically take years to develop, and that process is now being whittled down to months globally, not just in China. Yet Kinch said it can sometimes take the immune system three or four months, and in rare cases years, to show the effects of toxicity and any damage caused by the vaccination.

China’s latest rules require that suspected and unexpected serious adverse events in clinical trials be reported to regulators. However, it isn’t mandatory for a Chinese company to communicate such problems or related trial pauses to the general public. Neither is that a common practice in the US, though the US FDA would definitely be made aware, Haseltine said.

Pauses like those taken by AstraZeneca and J&J are drawing unusual attention because the scale of the pandemic and the speed of the trials are putting vaccine developers under the microscope.

The term adverse event can encompass everything from fever, pain, and itching to more serious problems like cancer, heart attacks and even death. They don’t necessarily mean a vaccine is doomed to fail as the benefits of each shot are weighed against its risk. Severe side effects do occur, though rarely, after a vaccine is approved and distributed to the general public.

Resumed trials

AstraZeneca and J&J have resumed the trials that had been halted. Regulators and teams of outside experts combed through the existing data on the vaccines and concluded that the unexplained illnesses weren’t triggered by the immunizations.

J&J Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels said the company has found no evidence that the adverse event was linked to its vaccine or the technology that underscores it. “When we have 60,000 people [in a clinical trial], it’s a small village, things happen,” Stoffels said in an interview.

AstraZeneca said its trials had resumed globally, with regulators in several countries confirming it was safe to do so.

China’s expanded emergency use program launched in July is also raising questions. Originally intended for front-line workers—such as medical staff treating Covid-19 patients or customs officers with exposure risk—the use of two shots from China National Biotec and one from Sinovac has since been expanded to employees from state-owned companies with missions overseas. Discussions are underway to offer them to students headed abroad. Local media are now reporting that ordinary people can sign up. That has researchers wondering how such large numbers are being tracked. Ding Sheng, director of Beijing-based Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, which has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said the absence of severe adverse effects among the Chinese companies shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. Ding said that emergency use programs differ from controlled trials and the vaccines being given widely “doesn’t necessarily mean bad things will happen.”

Yet he had questions about how people in the emergency program were being assessed. “This is a huge number of people but they are not in clinical trials. How exactly these people are being followed up is unknown,” Ding said. “If they could be more transparent about how they do that, that’ll probably be a better assurance.”

Emergency use

Zheng Zhongwei, a director who oversees coronavirus vaccine development at China’s National Health Commission, said on October 20 that there had been no reports of serious adverse events in the emergency use program so far, and that there is a tracking system for following up with those who receive the shots this way. The National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulator, declined to comment beyond the Oct. 20 press conference.

That hasn’t been the experience of one Beijinger, who told Bloomberg he received two shots of a coronavirus vaccine earlier this year, and his family was vaccinated too. The man, who didn’t want to be named

because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement, said he experienced no adverse effects, but that there was no follow-up after the vaccination. There was a phone number on the vaccination certificate, but no indication what it was for.

Others Bloomberg spoke to, including an employee at a state-run company, said it was made clear he should contact the developer if there was a serious adverse reaction to the vaccine he received under the emergency use program, but his case wouldn’t be actively tracked.

China National Biotec didn’t respond to queries on the emergency use program. The Sinovac spokesman said emergency use of its experimental shots is provided by the country’s existing inoculation system, which has a monitoring mechanism in place, and that monitoring isn’t done by the company.

Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca, J&J—the major US and U.K. firms in final stage testing—have all published detailed protocols with the methods and procedures being followed in those trials. Only one of the three Chinese companies Sinovac—now in phase III testing said it’s making its protocol publicly available. That means independent academics have no way to assess how well designed some of the Chinese late-stage trials are. CanSino declined to share its protocol when requested by Bloomberg, while China National Biotec didn’t respond to a Bloomberg query for its trial protocol.

Overseas program

China has said it will make successful shots internationally available through bilateral deals and the Covax initiative to distribute shots.

Yet Chinese vaccine developers face added scrutiny because of the industry’s mixed record at home. Government bodies have in the past spotted issues such as the improper storage of some inoculations. In 2018, consumers protested outside government offices after regulators said two drugmakers, Changsheng Bio-technology Co. and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., had sold ineffective vaccines.

Sinopharm Group Co., the parent of China National Biotec, is also the parent of Wuhan Institute. At the time, it removed an executive from the subsidiary in charge of production and issued stern warnings and fines to others. Changsheng said it halted production of problematic vaccines and felt deep remorse and shame.

Chinese executives say regulatory scrutiny has tightened and so have the vaccine industry’s standards. China’s drug regulator has publicly said it will require no or extremely low incidence of serious adverse reactions to approve any coronavirus vaccine. The industry’s quality control and clinical studies are now fully in line with international standards, said Zhang Lan, a vice president at Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting Co, which is running a trial for one of the Chinese coronavirus vaccines, although she didn’t specify which one due to disclosure rules.

“Does the situation arising out of Johnson & Johnson trial have to happen to these Chinese vaccine candidates?” Zhang asked. “I think it’s too early to make a call and we have to wait for the results and data.” Bloomberg News

Vatican breaks silence, explains pope’s gay civil union comments UN: Libya’s warring sides meet,

R

OME—The Vatican says Pope Francis’ comments on gay civil unions were taken out of context in a documentary that spliced together parts of an old interview, but still confirmed Francis’ belief that gay couples should enjoy legal protections.

The Vatican secretariat of state issued guidance to ambassadors to explain the uproar that Francis’ comments created following the October 21 premiere of the film “Francesco,” at the Rome Film Festival. The Vatican nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Franco Coppola, posted the unsigned guidance on his Facebook page on Sunday.

In it, the Vatican confirmed that Francis was referring to his position in 2010 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires and strongly opposed moves to allow same-sex marriage. Instead, he favored extending legal protections to gay couples under what is understood in Argentina as a civil union law.

While Francis was known to have taken that position privately, he had never articulated his support while as pope. As a result, the comments made headlines, primarily because the Vatican’s doctrine office in 2003 issued a document prohibiting such endorsement. The document, signed by Francis’ predecessor as pope, says the church’s support for gay people “cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”

The recent uproar gained even more attention because it turned out director Evgeny Afineevsky

misled journalists by claiming Francis had made the comments to him in a new interview. A week before the premiere, when he was asked about the civil union comments, Afineevsky told The Associated Press that he had two on-camera interviews with the pope. In comments to journalists after the premiere, he claimed that the civil union footage came from an interview with the pope with a translator present.

It turned out, Francis’ comments were apparently taken from a May 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa that were never broadcast. The Vatican hasn’t confirmed or denied reports by sources in Mexico that the Vatican cut the quote from the footage it provided to Televisa after the interview, which was filmed with Vatican cameras.

Afineevsky apparently was given access to the original, uncut footage in the Vatican archives.

The guidance issued by the secretariat of state doesn’t address the issue of the cut quote or that it came from the Televisa interview. It says only that it was from a 2019 interview and that the comments used in the documentary spliced together parts of two different responses in a way that removed crucial context.

“More than a year ago, during an interview, Pope Francis answered two different questions at two different times that, in the aforementioned documentary, were edited and published as a single answer without proper contextualization, which has led to confusion,” said the guidance posted by Coppola.

In the film, Afineevsky recounts the story of Andrea Rubera, a married gay Catholic who wrote Francis asking for his advice about bringing into the church his three young children with his husband.

It was an anguished question, given that the Catholic Church teaches that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” The church also holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman, and as a result, gay marriage is unacceptable.

In the end, Rubera recounts how Francis urged him to approach his parish transparently and bring the children up in the faith, which he did. After the anecdote ends, the film cuts to Francis’ comments from the Televisa interview.

“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said. “You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

Francis’ comments about gays having the right to be in a family referred to parents with gay children, and the need for them to not kick their children out or discriminate against them, the Vatican guidance said.

Francis was not endorsing the right of gay couples to adopt children, even though the placement of the quote right after Rubera told his story made it seem that Francis was.

The pope’s comments about gay civil unions came from a different part of the Televisa interview and included several caveats that were not included in the film.

In the Televisa interview, Francis made clear he was explaining his position about the unique case in Buenos Aires 10 years ago, as opposed to Rubera’s situation or gay marriage as a whole.

In the Televisa interview, Francis also insisted that he always maintained Catholic doctrine and said there was an “incongruity” for the Catholic Church as far as “homosexual marriage” is concerned.

The documentary eliminated that context.

The Televisa footage is available online, and includes an awkward cut right after Francis spoke about the “incongruity” of homosexual marriage. Presumably, that is where he segued into his position as archbishop in favoring extending legal protections to gay couples.

Neither the Vatican nor Afineevsky have responded to repeated questions about the cut quote or its origin.

The Vatican guidance insists that Francis wasn’t contradicting church doctrine. But it doesn’t explain how his support for extending Argentine legal protections to gay couples in 2010 could be squared with the 2003 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which says “the principles of respect and non-discrimination cannot be invoked to support legal recognition of homosexual unions.” AP

discuss implementing cease-fire

C

AIRO—Military leaders from Libya’s warring sides met on Monday in the oasis town of Ghadames, the United Nations said, for the first face-to-face talks inside Libya since last year’s months-long attack on the capital by forces loyal to the country’s east-based military commander.

The discussions are also the fifth round of UNbrokered talks, less than two weeks after the two sides inked a permanent cease-fire in Geneva on October 23, a move the UN billed as historic after years of fighting that has split the North African country in two.

The UN mission in Libya said the meetings would last through Wednesday and discuss implementing and monitoring the Geneva cease-fire, along with details on how to verify possible violations.

Libya is split between a UN-suppor ted government in the capital, Tripoli, to the west of the North African country, and rival authorities based in the east. The two sides are backed by an array of local militias as well as regional and foreign powers. The country was plunged into chaos after the 2011 NATObacked uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Then, in April 2019, east-based commander Khalifa Hifter and his forces launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli, a campaign that stalled after months of fighting and eventually collapsed in June. Hifter’s forces have since withdrawn to the coastal city of Sirte.

Fighting has died down over the past months amid international pressure on both sides to avert an

attack by the Tripoli forces on Sirte, the gateway to Libya’s major oil export terminals, and to start talks aiming at ending the years-long conflict.

The Geneva cease-fire deal included the return of armed groups and military units “to their camps” and that all foreign mercenaries be out of the oil-rich country within three months.

However, the pullback from the front lines could take longer. Brig. Gen. Khaled al-Mahjoub, the head of the mobilization department at Hifter’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, said in comments aired by the satellite news channel Al-Arabia on Monday that their units would return to their camps “in parallel with” the exit of foreign mercenaries.

Thousands of foreign fighters, including Russians, Syrians, Sudanese and Chadians, have been brought to Libya by both sides, according to UN experts. In Geneva, the two sides also agreed on exchanging prisoners and opening up air and land transit across the country’s divided territory.

Television footage showed the head of the UN support mission for Libya, Stephanie Williams, landing in Ghadames, to attend the talks. The two sides also arrived in Ghadames, a UNESCO World Heritage site known as “the Pearl of the Desert.”

The UNSMIL said the talks kicked off and posted photos on the mission’s Facebook page showing military officials from both sides in face masks, sitting around a negotiating table with Williams leading the meeting. AP

A6 Wednesday, November 4, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

Preparing for the risks of climate change

S

even years after the strongest typhoon in recorded history struck the Philippines, the country was again visited by another monster storm. Supertyphoon Rolly (international name Goni)—the strongest storm in the world so far for 2020—first unleashed its fury in the eastern part of the country. Packing winds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, Rolly barreled through the Bicol region and almost flattened areas that were ill prepared for strong typhoons (See, “Bicol, South Luzon bear brunt of ‘Rolly’ as ‘Siony’ enters PAR,” in the BusinessMirror, November 2, 2020).

The storm, which first made landfall in Catanduanes, destroyed houses and rendered thousands of families in the Bicol region homeless. Many of the houses knocked down by the typhoon were made of light materials, but the monster storm did not spare sturdy ones. Thousands of houses made of strong materials were also damaged, forcing families to flock to evacuation centers at a time when Covid-19 cases nationwide continue to rise.

The nightmare that is Rolly is once again reminding people in countries vulnerable to climate change, like the Philippines, that they can no longer afford to overlook the importance of building disaster-resilient homes. Investing in houses that can withstand winds of up to 250 kph is now a must, particularly in areas that are directly in the path of typhoons. Shelters that will protect Filipinos from pandemics must also be able to withstand nature’s wrath, given the increasing frequency of strong typhoons that the country has been experiencing in recent years.

The challenge may be daunting, given the staggering number of Filipinos who could not afford to buy their own homes (See, “The mass housing mess: Why Filipinos continue to struggle with owning a home,” in the BusinessMirror, January 3, 2019). It may require huge resources, but investments in disaster-resilient houses will pay off in the long run. Aside from the fact that it will help prevent deaths, disaster-resilient houses also spare taxpayers of an additional burden because the government would no longer have to shell out billions of pesos to rebuild flattened towns every time a strong typhoon hits the country.

Policy-makers must push initiatives that will protect Filipinos and families from the ill effects of climate change. Scarce resources must be invested in programs and projects that will enable cities and towns to withstand strong typhoons and other natural disasters. Lawmakers who approve the annual budget of the national and local governments must demand this from concerned agencies and officials.

Instead of channeling scarce resources to beautification projects, the government must invest taxpayers’ money in building disaster-resilient homes, fortifying existing structures against earthquakes, and data collection and establishment of databases that local governments can use in planning. Rolly is not the last monster storm that will visit the Philippines and inflict damage on the economy (See, “Disasters’ 10-year toll in PHL: P463-billion damage, 12,000 lives,” in the BusinessMirror, October 29, 2020). While preparation may be costly, it is the only way to minimize the adverse impact of strong storms on local farms and industries and prevent deaths.

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Aurora C. Ignacio

All About Social Security

A

ccording to the biblical verse in Ecclesiastes, “for everything there is a season.” True enough, there is a season of joy, sadness, triumph and defeat. The loss of a loved one is an emotional toll wherein grief can be so overwhelming for those who were left behind. Nothing hurts more than losing a loved one.

While we may have different coping mechanisms, the outpouring of love and support from family and friends certainly ease one’s pain.

Aside from the emotional ordeal, one of the things that come in dealing with the death of a family member is handling the financial aspect of death. The loss of a loved one, who happens to be the breadwinner of the family, for instance, may cause potential financial issues to the bereaved family. This is where the Social Security System comes in as mandated by law to provide social protection to its members and their beneficiaries, specifically the SSS Death Benefit Program. The program comes on top of the funeral benefit, which I have already tackled in previous columns.

The SSS Death Benefit Program is a cash benefit granted to the beneficiaries of a deceased member in

either the form of monthly pension or lump sum. The monthly pension is granted to the beneficiaries of a deceased member who has paid at least 36 monthly contributions prior to the semester of contingency or death. The primary beneficiaries are the dependent legal spouse until s/he remarries and the dependent legitimate, legitimated or legally adopted and illegitimate children who is unmarried, not gainfully employed, and has not reached 21 years of age or if over 21 years of age, he/she is suffering from a congenital disease or while still a minor has been permanently incapacitated and incapable of self-support, physically or mentally.

Meanwhile, a lump sum is granted to the rightful beneficiaries of the deceased member who has paid less than 36 monthly contributions prior to the semester of contingency or

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Dennis Gorecho

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From January to September 2020, SSS has disbursed P40.88 billion to more than 1.03 million beneficiaries. This only proves that SSS has assisted these people in one way or another with the death expenses of their loved ones. One of the legacies that members can give to their family is being a member of the SSS.

death. For deceased members who have no primary beneficiaries, the parents as the secondary beneficiaries will be granted the lump sum.

However, in the absence of both the primary and secondary beneficiaries, the designated beneficiaries and legal heirs will be qualified to receive the lump sum.

To apply for this, the claimantbeneficiary must submit the duly accomplished SSS Death Claim Application, the filer’s affidavit and the claimant’s photo and signature card.

The death certificate of the deceased member duly registered with the Local Civil Registrar or issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a validated deposit slip of the single savings account of the claimant is also among the basic documentary requirements. Unlike other shortterm and long-term benefits, which are already being filed online, death claim applications are made through the no contact Drop Box System. Such

protocol is set as a precautionary measure in serving our members amid the pandemic. Their application and supporting documentary requirements should be sealed in an envelope with the member’s information such as complete name, SS number and the claimant’s name and contact numbers, which are important for their branch appointment schedule.

For the efficient and convenient disbursement of the benefit, claimants who are also SSS members are required to enroll their bank account or mobile number in the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module in the SSS web site. They have the option to register their PESONet participating bank, e-wallet account such as PayMaya or Remittance Transfer Companies/Cash Payout Outlet like MLhuillier.

From January to September 2020, SSS has disbursed P40.88 billion to more than 1.03 million beneficiaries. This only proves that SSS has assisted these people in one way or another with the death expenses of their loved ones. One of the legacies that members can give to their family is being a member of the SSS. With SSS, we are always protected from such contingency.

Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.

We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss. gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.

The ‘David and Goliath’ legal battle for seafarers’ death benefits

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror

MEMBER OF

SSS: Helping families cope with death

Pinoy Marino Rights

T

he maritime profession has always been identified as a perilous job replete with health and safety hazards in relation to the risks of accidents, illnesses and mortality.

The seafarer is often mentally, physically and emotionally stressed, aside from being constantly exposed to a variable environment while working on board vessels that cross ocean boundaries.

The European Maritime Safety Agency declared in a report that there were 745 work-related fatalities among maritime workers and nearly 9,000 persons injured between 2011 and 2020, among other tragic statistics of this sector.

The job of a seafarer is, indeed, not exactly a walk in the park.

However, the right over death benefits has also become a long legal battle for some families of deceased Filipino seafarers.

Under the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration standard employment contract (POEA SEC), in the case of a seafarer’s workrelated death during the term of his contract, the employer shall pay his beneficiaries the Philippine currency equivalent to the amount of $50,000 and an additional amount of $7,000 to each child under the age of 21 but not exceeding four children.

The amount usually is higher if the death is covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Every labor dispute for monetary claims is a David and Goliath battle as it involves two opposing parties: the seafarer (or his heirs) on one

side and the employer on the other.

As the employer does not hesitate to harness the company’s immense resources to limit its liability, the claims process has become more litigious, allowing employers to question how the seafarers’ fate and misfortunes are work-related.

For disability or death to be compensable before and under the 1996 POEA contract, it was sufficient that the seafarer suffered injury or illness during the term of his employment. The cause of illness or death is immaterial.

Deaths or injuries need only to occur during the seafarer’s employment, which begins at the time of his departure at the point of hire and ends on his return to the said point upon the end of the contract.

However, through the lobbying of the principals and their manning agencies, the restrictive clause “work-related” was added under Section 20 (B) of the 2000 POEA SEC to limit their liabilities.

The 2000 POEA SEC defined “work-related injury” as “injury resulting in disability or death arising out of and in the course of employment” and “work-related illness” as

“any sickness resulting to disability or death as a result of an occupational disease listed under Section 32-A of the contract.”

Being included in the list is not enough, since the following conditions must still be satisfied: (a) the work must involve the risks described; (b) the disease was contracted as a result of his exposure to the described risks; (c) the disease was contracted within a period of exposure and under such other factors necessary to contract it; and (d) there was no notorious negligence on the part of the seafarer. These same conditions were reiterated in the 2010 POEA SEC. Two elements must concur for the death to be compensable. First, that the injury or illness (that caused the death) must be work-related; and second, that the cause must have existed during the term of the employment contract. The first requirement appeared in the 2000 and 2010 POEA SEC but is absent in the 1996 version.

The heirs are given the burden of proving that a death is work related, which turned to be very disadvantageous on their part in terms of See “Gorecho,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Every child has the fundamental right to quality education

Ambassadors should not be violent Susan V. Ople

Scribbles

By Atty. Alberto T. Muyot

A

lmost a month since classes reopened in all public schools, an estimated 22 million children and youth were not able to go to school to learn, play, and socialize with friends, schoolmates, and teachers because of the health risks of Covid-19.

Instead, learners began attending classes at home through various learning modalities such as distance, blended, or modular, as well as online and TV/Radio-based instruction.

Adapting to these learning modalities has not been easy. While attending online classes at home, children rely heavily on parents and guardians to support them.

However, parents and guardians are also facing different challenges to make ends meet. Some have difficulties in their current work set up while others experienced loss of income and employment due to the lockdown and prolonged quarantine measures imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Most of the 800,000 public school teachers struggle with the technological difficulties of conducting classes in the digital platforms, compared to the ease of using blackboards and whiteboards. Teachers’ access to laptop and desktop computers, including Internet connection, is also a major challenge in conducting online classes.

According to the Department of Education, at least 13 percent or 99,155 public school teachers have no computers at home. The DepEd also said that even for 687,911 teachers with computers at home, 41 percent or 280,531 of them do not have access to the Internet, and 10 percent of them—71,128—said there is no Internet signal in their area.

Learning must continue

Amid all the challenges, children’s rights to inclusive and quality education, and to be safe from the health risks of Covid-19 must be fulfilled.

There are 1.6 billion learners globally, and 91 percent of them were out of school, including children and youth from the Philippines, because of the school closures due to the pandemic.

This is the first time in human history that an entire generation of children have had their education disrupted.

By being out of school, children can feel anxious and can perceive time differently from adults. A few weeks or months out of school may seem a longer period to them. This means children tend to feel anxious about any period of time they are out of school and the learning and socialization they are missing. They fear they will not be able to catch up and start to worry that the longer schools are closed, the more likely they are to forget about the lessons.

Going to school is critical to children, especially to those living in the toughest places on Earth.

For a period of five years, Save the Children has asked at least 1,215 children in six countries about their priorities during crisis. Nearly one in three or 29 percent ranked education as their top priority, over

Gorecho. . .

continued from A6

presentation of proofs.

The perilous nature of their work, however, must be considered in determining the proper benefits to be awarded which, at the very least, should approximate the risks they brave on board the vessel every single day (Seagull Maritime Corp. v. Dee, 520 SCRA 109).

The Supreme Court stressed in Wallem Maritime Services Inc. v.

NLRC, (318 SCRA 623) that the POEA contract is designed primarily for the protection and benefit of Filipino seafarers in the pursuit of their employment on board

food, clothing and shelter. These are children who were struggling to survive in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda in the Philippines; child refugees from Syria and Afghanistan; children living in conflict zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Rohingya children in refugee camps in Bangladesh; and Children displaced by fighting in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Classes may have resumed, but millions of children may not be able to return to school.

These are children pushed into poverty because of Covid-19 as their families are having a hard time putting food on the table and roof over their heads. These are adolescent girls who face risk of gender-based violence, early pregnancy or child marriage, trapped in a cycle of violence and poverty, and denied the chance to fulfill their potential.

These are children living in conflictaffected areas who are at risk of being recruited into armed groups; children with disabilities; those living in places prone to extreme weather events; and children from indigenous people community.

The current pandemic exacerbates their dire situation, putting them behind and exponentially impacting their lives.

This year marks the 30th year of Philippine ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC), once described by South African leader Nelson Mandela as “that luminous, living document that enshrines the rights of every child without exception, to a life of dignity and self-fulfillment.”

One of the guiding principles of the convention is for all governments to consider the best interest of the child in all decisions affecting them.

The reopening of classes will meet the learning and well-being needs of children during these times. To ensure the success of distance learning during the pandemic, children, parents and teachers must be provided with support, through an effective feedback mechanism that will help the Department of Education come up with context-based and evidencebased solutions.

The fulfillment of the rights of every child to education during the pandemic can be supported in three ways: keep learning alive during school closure through inclusive distance learning; support every child to return to school when it’s safe to do so; and build back better and more resilient education systems.

Schools give children a sense of normalcy, and the routine of attending classes calm their souls amid adversities.

Education gives children hope and empowers them to build better lives.

The author is the Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines.

ocean-going vessels.

Its beneficent provisions must be construed and applied fairly, reasonably and liberally in favor or for the benefit of the seafarers for these to be fully carried into effect.

If construed otherwise, it would not only transgress prevailing constitutional policy and deride the bearings of relevant case law but also result in a travesty of fairness and an indifference to social justice.

(Canuel v. Magsaysay Maritime, GR 190161 October 13, 2014).

Atty. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, send an e-mail to info@sapalovelez. com or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 A7

“Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”—Winston Churchill

W

ords are a diplomat’s best arsenal. Diplomacy involves tact, and tact means knowing when to speak, and how and what to say without compromising your country’s position. Diplomats are called in so States can arrive at peaceful destinations, with agreements that can be signed in front of History and the World. Violence does not have a chair in a seasoned diplomat’s living room.

To see a Philippine diplomat in a video hitting her domestic worker without any provocation is destabilizing to the senses. What? Wait?

She did that? And, then the video is played again, and shared, multiple times, on social media. The ambassador involved has been silent. I understand that she has already consulted a lawyer and is preparing for her trip home in compliance with the recall order issued by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Her track record, based on the embassy web site, shows that she had quietly and slowly risen from the ranks. Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro has been in the Foreign Service since 1995.

She was assigned to the Economic Diplomacy Unit until 1996 when she was appointed Acting Director at the Office of Middle East and African Affairs. In 1997, Ambassador Mauro was assigned as Third Secretary at

the Embassy of the Philippines in Manama, Bahrain and then as Second Secretary and Consul to the Embassy of the Philippines in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2001 until 2003.

In 2006, Ambassador Mauro was assigned as First Secretary and Consul at the Embassy of the Philippines to Belgium and Luxembourg, and Philippine Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium and later on as Career Minister and Consul General. In 2014, Ambassador Mauro was assigned as Consul General to the Philippine Consulate General in Milan, Italy. This was the first time Ambassador Mauro was given a Head of Post position. During her stint as Consul General, Ambassador Mauro oversaw the needs of more than 150,000 Filipinos living and working in Milan and Northern Italy.

Ambassador Mauro presented her credentials to the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, His

Excellency Michel Temer, on April 25, 2018 at the Planalto Palace. The news video that came out in Brazil and other parts of Europe would make it difficult for her to return to that very same Post unless there is substantial proof that the incriminating video was fabricated.

The only defense that Ambassador Mauro can lean on is that the video was false. It was not her. Somebody maliciously edited and spliced the video to make it appear that she was of a violent disposition. Other than that, there can be no excuse for harming anyone, especially a person under your employ. That the video involves several acts of physical abuse and intimidation committed against a domestic worker makes the matter extremely worse. For how can a Filipino diplomat speak for our domestic workers overseas, when her own household staff was being mistreated all this time?

Ah, but the good ambassador deserves to be heard. She is entitled to due process, which I am sure the department will make sure is obtained. Perhaps, the video leak also constitutes a security lapse that requires further investigation. It is not uncommon for subordinates to find ways to reveal the “truth” about an unpleasant boss, out of revenge or vindictiveness. The video revealed oppression in its vilest form by a person of authority. It needed no narration.

Her former boss who has since retired from the DFA, Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, expressed surprise over the incident.

In his text message to journalist Roy Mabasa of the Manila Bulletin, Seguis said: “I know her personally

as she worked with me in the Office of the Undersecretary for Special Concerns as Vice-Chair of DFA Overseas Voters Secretariat and, in that position, she displayed professionalism and competence in her assigned tasks. She was soft-spoken and slow to anger.”

I would be interested to know the following facts. Who had possession of the domestic worker’s passport?

Was she entitled to the mandatory days-off? Is there a contract between the ambassador and the domestic worker and where is this contract lodged? Was there also verbal abuse and other forms of physical intimidation and harassment other than what was shown in those videos? Was the domestic worker able to freely move around, and maintain contact with her family? For these facts to be established, the testimony of the domestic worker is key.

If the video is false and the ambassador has never lifted a finger against her domestic worker then a popular Czech proverb comes to mind: “The moon does not care if the dog barks at it.” The good ambassador, with her solid credentials, needs only to prove that the video was false. And that she had never caused her domestic worker to shed a tear. Ever.

Let this be a lesson to all of our diplomats. Treat your workers and staff well. Arrogance has no place in the chancery and especially in your homes. When you are posted abroad, you are the Flag. You are us.

Susan V. Ople heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with labor and migration issues.

She also represents the OFW sector in the InterAgency Council Against Trafficking.

The six emerging desirable traits of successful entrepreneurs Dr. Carl E. Balita

Entrepreneurs’ Footprints

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ntrepreneurship is the process of creating and seizing an opportunity and pursuing it regardless of resources currently controlled. This is a generally acceptable definition of entrepreneurship, which evolved from the work done at Harvard Business School cited by Timmons in 1994.

Tracing back its roots, the term entrepreneurship was coined and popularized in 1800 from the two Latin words “entre,” to swim out, and “prendes,” to grasp, understand or capture. Entrepreneurs were “resource hackers” who were able to scant resources to create innovative products. Say wrote that “the entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of the area of lower into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” As early as 1755, Richard Cantillon already cited that entrepreneurs are non-fixed income earners who take risk and pay unknown costs of production to earn uncertain incomes. And during the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, the Theory of Economic Development (1934) cited entrepreneurs as drivers of change and progress.

Six desirable traits of successful entrepreneurs

AN analysis of more than 50 studies across decades found a consensus around six general desirable traits found among successful entrepreneurs. This analysis by Timmons (1994) clustered the essential entrepreneurial characteristics around these common themes established by researches.

The first theme is commitment and determination, which is the discipline that entrepreneurs carry to manifest the relentless personal sacrifice of time and energy. The entrepreneurs exhibit decisive nature and persistence making them stand by their decision no matter how unpopular it may be. Their passionate optimism does not succumb to failure easily making them resilient amid adversity.

Leadership is an entrepreneur’s outstanding ability to achieve results through the power of influence. Visionary as they are, entrepreneurs see the desired future much ahead than the others. That vision is communicated and shared as a powerful source of motivation and influence to rally people towards the goal. Entrepreneurs lead from within, set example and win the trust which is vital in leadership.

Opportunity obsession refers to the special sensitivity of the entrepreneurs to detect and seize, or even create, opportunities around them. They are not opportunists who victimize others but opportunityseekers who give a chance to what is apparently negative and transform it into positive. Successful entrepreneurs propose the solutions to the pain-points of a target market and offer it for its value.

Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty is a central feature of the calculated risk-taking entrepreneur who will take the road less traveled. Confident of their innate gut feel of possibilities and resilient enough to see failure as a welcome partner in learning, entrepreneurs feed and thrive with risk. Ambiguity and uncertainly drive the coward away but attract the interest of the entrepreneurs.

The creativity, self-reliance and ability to adapt of the entrepreneurs roll in one what they use as powerful tool to be unique and different. The open-mindedness and nonconventional thinking allow the entrepreneurs to learn quickly and adapt to, if not to bring about, changes. They are restless with the status quo. Their creative mental process leads to the

innovative and useful application that clearly defines the uniqueness of its product or service.

Lastly, the motivation to excel is what drives entrepreneurs to be highly competitive. Entrepreneurs have vivid vision and know what they really want. They set high goals and demand measurable results. They may tolerate mistakes and allow failures but they demand perfection through excellence by doing the right thing right from the beginning and all the time, by everyone. They set high standards, which become their personal discipline and eventually radiate it as an organizational culture—a silent internal rule that governs everyone.

The pandemic challenge

The pandemic is imposing a challenge to these traits that once were established as probable factors to entrepreneurial success. It is noteworthy that these desirable traits may all be learned. They may also be unlearned and relearned.

The learned helplessness experienced as part of the safety measures in the pandemic experience may potentially dampen the commitment and determination of the entrepreneurs. The optimism shifting to realism may have hampered the decisive nature of some entrepreneurs.

The gloomy present may have painted an uncertain state of the future which makes visioning, hence leadership, more difficult for many entrepreneurs. The team around the entrepreneurs may have suffered from crisis that makes motivating and leading much more tough. The recession has impaired economic activities making opportunity-seeking much more limited. The opportunity obsession may be paralyzed by the fact that everyone, even those big businesses, are declaring crisis situation.

Risk, ambiguity and uncertainty have placed the tolerance of the entrepreneur to its toughest test, and some have publicly declared their saturation points. The VUCA world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity has taken the toll on the resilient entrepreneurs. The fear along the journey into the unknown may paralyze creativity and may retard entrepreneur’s ability to adapt.

Amidst the disruptive environment that continually led to limita-

tions and failures in the pandemic journey, many entrepreneurs may have reduced their motivation to excel, and shifted to the motivation only to survive.

The winning traits emerging

The pandemic experience is purging the business eco-system for fittest to survive. There are traits emerging from the six desirable traits that are derived from the pandemic crisis which will “sharpen the saw” of the entrepreneur for the new normal.

Resilience results from the traits of commitment and determination.

The adversity quotient becomes the source of indomitable spirit not only to survive but also to thrive.

Leadership transforms into a sense of community where the leader acknowledges the vital role of every interdependent member of the team as a dynamic contributor towards the attainment of the shared vision.

Opportunity obsession surrenders itself to purpose-driven vision where the end-in-mind becomes the more meaningful anchor because the purpose is greater than a perfect plan.

The tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty transform to the powerful concept of agility, which enables the entrepreneur to change strategies while sticking to the same stabilizing vision. Agility is how entrepreneur makes sense of chaos.

Creativity, self-reliance and ability to adapt are traits that are consolidated by the entrepreneur with value creation in its core towards a marketdriving (not market-driven) strategy of finding and serving the unserved market. Motivation to excel becomes an entrepreneurial social construct of collaboration where competition does not exist and where synergy finds its greater productive value.

Entrepreneurs need to be very introspective of the lessons learned and be cognizant of the learning footprints through this experience.

They need to upgrade their traits to the next level because the desirable traits of the past may not be enough.

The new normal will only become a better normal for the entrepreneurs if they move towards it by choice and not by chance.

For feedback, please send e-mail to drcarlbalita@ yahoo.com.

A8 Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Locsin, Wang eye ‘template’ in talks on oil, gas in SCS

By Recto Mercene

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@rectomercene

OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Tuesday he had proposed with his Chinese counterpart a template in the ongoing joint negotiation to exploit oil and gas in the contested waters of the South China Sea (SCS).

He said the template will govern how he and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will decide whether any specific project by any other department follows the law, the Constitution, and the Philippines’s rights under the 2016 arbitral award.

“It says best effort for one year, but it can go on forever until one party or the other gets rid of it, [and] says ‘No, we don’t want it anymore’ so it would continue,” Locsin told CNN Philippines’s The Source host, Pinky Webb.

According to Locsin, whether the template goes through or not, “we should not give up on the Memorandum of Understanding of oil and gas which I don’t see why we can, it’s of an indefinite term,” referring to the MOU he signed with his counterpart Wang Yi last year, agreeing in principle to negotiate a possible joint project for oil and gas.

He said he is using this as a test case, but insisted no one should talk about it because he does not want to see the slightest sign of manipulation in the stock market.

“I am not going to allow any government official to make money in the stock market because of this. I’m not gonna give in to anybody. I don’t care how influential they think they are,” stressed the DFA chief.

When will we find out what this is all about? Webb asked.

According to the envoy, “if it ever comes to something or nothing. If it comes to nothing, again, I would come out with it. I said we have done best efforts under the Memorandum of Understanding on oil and gas where we substitute negotiations, talks, with—substitute that with confrontations.”

He said he and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang understand each other because they are both frank in dealing with the issue.

“The one thing that two foreign ministers like with each other is we’re very frank. He talks there for China, I’m there for the Philippines. And we’re not trying to make a [rough talk of confrontation]...

So that’s how it proceeded.”

Asked if Wang had raised with him President Duterte’s invoking the arbitral ruling in his historic address to the UN General Assembly last month, Locsin replied: “No, he did not. I guess the point that I wanted to make is that you can say, friends don’t talk tough to each other.”

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10-month Customs take 15% lower over lockdown impact

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

EVENUE take by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from January to October 2020 was nearly 15 percent lower compared to the same period a year ago as the Covid-19 pandemic forced lockdowns that hobbled the economy.

Citing a preliminary report from its Financial Service, the BOC said it collected P448.950 billion for the 10-month period this year, reflecting 88.7 percent of its revised target amounting to P506.150 billion.

However, the latest revenue figure is still lower by 14.92 percent compared to the P527.701 billion it collected from Janu-

ary to October last year, based on separate data obtained by the BusinessMirror.

For the month of October alone, BOC also said it had total revenue of P50.9 billion, exceeding its P48.4billion target by 5.2 percent or P2.5 billion.

The bureau said this is the fifth consecutive month that it surpassed its monthly target.

Nonetheless, the total revenue collected by BOC for October dropped by 11.71 percent yearon-year as the bureau collected P57.652 billion in the same month in 2019.

Nonetheless, the BOC said its “positive collection performance” owes to its improved valuation and intensified collection efforts of all the ports, gradual improvement of importation volume, and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally, given the pandemic situation.

As revenue collections are down amid the pandemic, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) projects the country’s budget deficit to more than double to 9.6 percent of GDP or P1.815 trillion this year, from only

Duterte asked to redirect P16-B anti-rebel funds for typhoon relief-rehab efforts

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RESIDENT Duterte's administration was asked to redirect "a portion" of the

P16-billion anti-insurgency fund for urgent relief and rehabilitation efforts to help victims of the destructive supertyphoon that struck the country at the weekend.

"Let us first help typhoon victims and extend fund assistance for their early recovery, not the agencies focused only on 'red tagging and circulating fake news,’” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a mix of English and Filipino.

In a statement, the opposition senator stressed the urgency to "allot a portion of the P16 billion anti-insurgency fund to relief and rehabilitation efforts of communities badly-hit by Supertyphoon Rolly, instead of funding a controversial program under the National Task Force for Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict [NTF-Elcac]."

Hontiveros noted that in the agency’s budget proposal for 2021, at least P16 billion has been allocated to its Barangay Development Program (BDP), which several senators slammed for being akin to "pork-barrel” and prone to abuse.

At a Senate Defense Committee hearing, she pointed out that NTF-Elcac was allocated P19 billion in the 2021 budget bill, of which P16 billion was earmarked for its BDP. Hontiveros had earlier suggested that P8 billion of the P16-billion BDP fund be allocated to health, adding that the budget for NTF-Elcac is "questionably astronomic" compared to the proposed budgets of key agencies like the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (P632 million), Office of the Ombudsman (P3.36 billion), Department of Budget and Management (P1.9 billion), and even the Department of Finance (P17.46 billion).

The lawmaker lamented that “we should not spend such an inordinate amount of time and money on an agency running after ordinary citizens using the communist bogeyman," noting that this is "on top of the NTF-Elcac's bad track record of spreading fake news and silencing critical and dissenting voices.”

E a r l i e r, t h e s e n a t o r defended enter t a i nment

p e r s o n a l it ie s a nd w ome n’s r ights groups from red-tagging by Lt. General Antonio Parlade, chief of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and NTF-Elcac spokesman. “I cannot begin to imagine the a ng u ish a nd emot iona l tol l this must have taken on these women who have been directlyhit by these accusations, as well as their families. I am certain that it has also caused a chilling effect on citizens who only want to weigh in on issues of national importance and hold the government to account for its failures to the people,” the senator said.

At the defense panel hearing, Parlade denied red-tagging celebrities Liza Soberano, Angel Locsin and former Miss Universe Catriona Gray.

Hontiveros, meanwhile, said: “The issues of the communist insurgency are not new to me. My party Akbayan historically has called for human-rights accountability of non-state actors, and this includes the NPA. I will not hesitate to speak against the violations of the NPA,” added Hontiveros, who was a member of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) — National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panel on the side of the GRP. Hontiveros also noted that the Department of National Defense should direct the Armed Forces of the Philippines to address more pressing external national security threats, such as China’s continued incursions in our seas as well as its 40-percent ownership of a telecommunications company inside our military camps.

For instance, she cited the statement of former AFP chief Emmanuel Bautista, who warned that China will seize the Philippines by force if a war were to break out between Beijing and Washington. “Is this not a more imminent and more compelling threat? They are totally focused on the CPP and the NPA—the rem n a nts of a n i nsu rgenc y facing imminent defeat in the battlefield—but are allowing in, without any complaint, a foreign country. Who is the biggest threat to national security?

A waning insurgency, or an external threat from a superpower country?” the senator wondered aloud. Butch Fernandez

3.4 percent of GDP or P660.2 billion last year.

As of end-September, the budget deficit of the national government swelled to P879.2 billion, almost three times the P299-billion shortfall recorded a year ago.

A budget deficit occurs when expenditures exceed revenues.

To cover the budget deficit as well as its spending requirements for Covid-19 response, the government has more than doubled its borrowing program for 2020 to an all-time high nominal P3 trillion from P1.4 trillion originally.

As of end-September, gross borrowings of the national government have already reached P2.56 trillion, equivalent to more than 85 percent of the program.

For next year, the government also plans to borrow another P3 trillion.

Salceda, Go pitch new disaster department

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LEADER of the House of Representatives on Tuesday assured senators that the House will find funding for the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), saying the proposal “does not merely create an agency.”

Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, a principal author of the bill creating DDR, made a statement after Senators Richard Gordon, Franklin Drilon and Panfilo Lacson opposed the proposal, saying there is no money to set this up, and the move contradicts the “rightsizing” efforts to cut bureaucratic costs.

Administration Senator Christopher “Bong” Go appealed to his peers to let the legislative process run, insisting that the separate department was necessary.

Salceda said creating the DDR will ensure that the country can anticipate and proactively respond to emergencies and disasters.

“The criticism misses the point.

The proposal for a DDR does not merely create an agency. It institutionalizes disaster preparedness, response, and future-proofing as a national responsibility with an institutionalized framework. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is exactly what it sounds—a council, merely ad-hoc and coordinative in nature,” Salceda said.

“We can be efficient in funding the DDR. We can find the funds for the new agency. But, if the problem is funding, then let’s find the funding, and not deny the problem,” he added.

According to Salceda, his House Committee on Ways and Means continuously raises funds for the national government through tax policy reforms.

“But, institutionalizing disaster response is not a mere option for the country. We have to do it. Make no mistake, this is not a recent proposal that just came out of nowhere.

This is the product of the Albay experience. When I was governor of Albay, our province did not merely rely on our Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council [PDRRMC],” he added In his province, Salceda said they institutionalized their own Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO), an office that created a culture of preparedness in the province.

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Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Market shifts boost 9-month income of Century Pacific

By VG Cabuag

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@villygc

entury Pacific Food Inc., a company known for its canned tuna and corned beef products, on Tuesday said its income in January to September reached P3.3 billion, some 27 percent higher than last year’s P2.6 billion.

The company did not state its revenues but said it grew 21 percent during the period. With last year’s P30.4 billion in revenues, that puts its top line for this year at about P36.74 billion.

The maker of Century Tuna and 555 canned goods said the

branded business of its marine, meat, and milk business units continued to account for a chunk of the company’s overall sales at 81 percent of total top line.

Year-to-date, branded revenues rose 28 percent, outperforming the company’s revenue growth.

The balance of its sales of 19 percent came from its commodity-linked OEM export business, which it said has seen top line decline year-on-year as a result of softer commodity prices, reallocation of capacity to domestic requirements, and a strong peso.

“In spite of easing restrictions, we continued to see healthy growth in the third quarter due largely to the essentials and staples nature of our portfolio.

Demand was robust amidst a more challenging environment and weaker consumer sentiment given our value for money positioning,” said Oscar Pobre, the company’s CFO. “As a result, our products continue to take a sizable portion of the consumer basket across all income classes and have proven resilient regardless of the macro-

@llectura

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iticore Energy Solutions, Inc. (CESI), the retail electricity supply (RES) arm, of Citicore Power Inc., will start supplying renewable energy (RE) to the Bench headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

A power supply deal was signed last October 26 between Ground 18 Realty Corp. for Bench and CESI. “We thank Bench for entrusting us their power needs. We are delighted to partner with Bench in advocating corporate sustainability,” Citicore President Oliver Tan said.

This move of Bench in utilizing

First Metro recognized for gender balance

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IRST Metro Investment Corp. was feted as the top investment bank that promotes gender balance as its female employees account for more than half of its total workforce, according to Asiamoney’s Leaders for Women 2020 survey.

Of its total workforce, women comprised 54 percent of employees hired by First Metro.

The investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group also had 41 percent of women in senior management positions, with 50 percent of vice presidents being female.

What’s more, its recent hires from the last graduating batch were all women.

The number of women in First Metro’s labor pool is significant, especially in an Asian country where investment banking was considered a “man’s world.”

Per the Asiamoney report, “sexism, gruelling hours and a drinking culture are among the hurdles that senior female investment bankers in Asia have had to clear.”

These barriers, however, are starting to come down, according to the study. Issuers, whether corporations or financial institutions, are becoming more aware of the importance of gender equality in terms of choosing banks to deal with, the report added.

“The investment banking market in the Philippines has been quick to recognize that women are just as hungry as men to get mandates, if not hungrier,” said Abigail Magpayo, First Metro first vice president and division head for equity capital markets and corporate finance and advisory.

She recalled that she once led a team composed predominantly of women, while the rival groups from other banks were mostly composed of men, for an account pitch. Eventually, First Metro won the mandate and helped its client to list in 2019. Roderick L. Abad

clean and renewable energy is in line with the numerous green initiatives already implemented in their 22-storey commercial building. A LEED Certified for Gold Standard that incorporates in the design a rain collector for water recycling, virtual garden wall, green pockets and properly oriented glass windows that allow natural lighting to penetrate make the Bench Tower one of the first green buildings inside Fort Bonifacio.

“Citicore Power has a wide menu of energy solutions to address the evolving energy demand of customers and works with their client closely to help them reduce electricity cost,” said Bryan Lim, Vice President for

Business Development of Bench.

CESI secured its RES license in January 2017 from the Energy Regulatory Commission, supplying contestable customers with a total demand of up to 55megawatts (MW) under its portfolio.

Citicore Power, through its wholly owned subsidiary Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC), owns and operates eight solar farms located across the Philippines.

Earlier, CREC said it will develop a new solar plant in Central Luzon with a capacity of up to 75MW. The P3.3-billion renewable energy project in Arayat and Mexico, Pampanga is a joint venture with AC Energy Philippines.

The 58-hectare facility is expected to start its power generation in the fourth quarter of 2021.

When completed, the new solar plant will be added to the company’s eight operating solar plants that will total up to 238MW capacity.

Citicore has a robust pipeline of solar projects totaling to 1.5 gigawatts to be rolled out in the next 5 years.

Citicore is a Filipino-owned company involved in sustainable ventures, such as power generation from a diversified mix of pure renewable energy sources, woody biomass production through management of energy plantations and a total water solutions provider.

Aboitiz unveils expansion plans for West Cebu Industrial Park

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ebu Industrial Park Developers Inc. (CIPDI)—a joint venture between the Aboitiz Group and the Tsuneishi Group of Japan—is set to expand West Cebu Industrial Park (WCIP) to take advantage of strong demand from foreign and local locators for industrial spaces.

WCIP is currently a 540-hectare mixed-use development, anchored by a 283-hectare Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) registered zone that has complementary commercial, institutional, and residential components. It hosts 11 locators from medium to heavy industries, some of which are the biggest shipbuilding firms in the world, making Balamban the Shipbuilding Capital of the Philippines.

WCIP is strategically located in the west side of Cebu, known to be a major industrial belt with its proximity to various access points. It is accessible by land via the Transcentral Highway and South Coastal Road via Manipis Road or Naga City from the province’s capital, as well as sea through a private shipping port for common logistics support.

To help support locators’ manpower requirements, nearby is the Balamban Campus of the University of San JoseRecoletos, which offers basic education up to Senior High level, and Don Bosco Balamban Technological Center, which offers skills training programs on welding (arc and smaw), practical electricity, sewing, automotive mechanic, and soon AutoCAD. “Like other Aboitiz Integrated Economic Centers, WCIP is thoughtfully planned and masterfully designed so people can work, live, and play within a secure, interconnected, and engaging

West Cebu Industrial Park is a 540-hectare mixed-use development in Balamban, Cebu, which hosts 11 locators from medium to heavy industries. Contributed Photo environment,” the company said.

With the proposed new development, WCIP is set to grow by an additional 30 hectares over the next three years. It will allow for more industrial spaces, commercial centers, transport terminals, dormitories, and even leisure components for tourists. New locators and businesses that will be brought in are expected to yield up to 5,000 new jobs for the community.

“Our vision is to transform WCIP into a fully integrated economic center that will spur further economic growth in the area, similar to our two developments LIMA Estate in Batangas and Mactan Economic Zone II in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu,” said Rafael Fernandez De Mesa, First Vice President for Operations of the Aboitiz Integrated Economic Centers.

“With its strategic location, skilled population, lower cost of doing business, and well-established ecosystem of infrastructure, we believe that WCIP is the ideal location for light, medium, and heavy industries looking to expand or locate in Cebu.”

With the expansion on the horizon, CIPDI has been in talks with several potential locators amid the pandemic for the last few lots in WCIP’s existing

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SM malls remain open for stranded customers

economic conditions.”

The company said it is seeing strong demand growth in its coconut business. It claims to be the leading supplier of high-value coconut products such as coconut water, virgin coconut oil, coconut flour and coconut milk for export.

“A s we enter t he l ast few months of 2020, we are pleased to see continued double-digit growth which should allow us to end the year with a north of 20-percent increase in earnings,” Pobre said.

“We are also now setting our sights on 2021, wherein healthy demand for our core branded products brought about by shifts in consumer behavior, alongside our aggressive pipeline of new product innovations, should allow us to grow again by double digits in spite of our high 2020 base.”

Bench, Citicore ink RE supply deal

By Lenie Lectura

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

inventory. These are among the only PEZA-proclaimed inventory left in Cebu.

It recently landed Advanced Catamaran Composites, its third shipbuilding firm, which is targeting to start its operations in the first quarter of next year.

“We are excited to have Advanced Catamaran Composites as our newest locator in the West Cebu Industrial Park.

With our 30 hectare expansion set to break ground next year, we are hoping to attract more locators to Balamban,” shared Eduardo Aboitiz, Vice President for Business Development of the Aboitiz Integrated Economic Centers.

In 1992, Balamban, Cebu was a simple coastal town which transformed into a first-class municipality when CIPDI began operations in the area to develop WCIP. The initial success of WCIP enabled the estate to grow from 202 to 540 hectares. More than 14,000 skilled workers are being employed by its industrial and commercial locators. The expansion hopes to continue WCIP’s growth story and turn Balamban into a vibrant city.

As a Special Economic Zone, import and export businesses in WCIP enjoy tax incentives and other privileges. It also offers a secure location and ease of doing business.

BusinessMirror file photo

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he SM group on Tuesday said its shopping malls in Metro Manila and Luzon remained open to stranded customers and to nearby residents who were affected by Supertyphoon Rolly (international name Goni).

Overnight parking charges have been waived, while it provided free use of WiFi, charging stations and a help desk were made available, it said.

SM Supermalls, together with SM Foundation, will deploy approximately 15,000 Operation Tulong Express Kalinga packs to families in areas that bore the brunt of Rolly. These include Naga City, Iriga, Baao, Buhi, Nabua, Bula, and Tinabac in Camarines Sur; Legazpi City, Daraga, Polangui, Oas, Ligao, Guinobatan, Libon, Pio Duran, and Jovellar in Legazpi province; Barangays Lag-on and Bagasbas in Camarinas Norte; and in Sorsogon City, in Sorsogon province.

“Our malls in typhoon-hit areas will remain open to those who need shelter. Rest assured that we will extend as much relief assistance as

we can to help rebuild our communities,” SM Supermalls President Steven Tan said.

In an announcement, SM malls in Metro Manila and select parts of Luzon closed early last November 1 but will accommodate anyone seeking shelter from the typhoon.

SM’s grocery stores will remain open to serve as many customers as possible, the company said.

Briefly developing into a Supertyphoon earlier on Sunday morning, Rolly made landfall twice— first in the vicinity of Bato, Catanduanes, at 4:50 a.m. and in Tiwi, Albay, around 7:30 a.m. A third landfall was recorded 12 noon in the vicinity of San Narciso, Quezon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration reported.

The government said at least 1.3 million individuals were exposed within the 60-km radius of Rolly’s track while another 2.4 million are exposed within the 120 km radius, although the supertyphoon has affected Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. VG Cabuag

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Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Petron net loss hits ₧12.6B but sales slowly improving

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

etron Corp. on Tuesday reported a net loss of P12.6 billion from January to September this year as against a net income of P3.6 billion in the same period a year ago due to lower revenues because of a slump in sales.

The oil refiner earlier reported a net loss of P4.9 billion in the first quarter and a P9.3-billion net loss in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, Petron said it registered a consolidated net income of P1.63 billion. This was primarily driven by retailing margins as the company’s refining segment continued to incur losses due to thin refining margins. It, however, did not say how much of the P1.63 billion can be attributed to its Malaysia operations.

During the nine months of this year, consolidated revenues declined 43 percent to P216.4 billion from last year’s P381.7 billion. Consolidated sales volume from the Philippines and Malaysia for the period contracted by 24 percent to 59.5 million barrels from last year’s 78.7 million barrels.

“The company’s year-to-date performance continue to bear the impact of the significant 40-percent drop in domestic volume and the P13 billion inventory losses during the first four months of the lockdown,” it said.

For the third quarter alone, Petron’s consolidated retail volume registered a 48.6-percent improvement versus the second quarter.

Philippine volume jumped 33 percent with most Petron stations in the country operating under normal hours since August.

Petron saw its sales volume improve as quarantine restrictions became more relaxed and economic activities picked up in the third quarter after months of decline due to the pandemic.

“While the oil industry continues to face major challenges, we are beginning to see signs of recovery thanks to our government’s decision to gradually and safely restart

the economy,” said Petron President and CEO Ramon S. Ang. “Aside from retail, we can also expect the reopening of local tourism to influence higher demand for aviation fuel which really took a hit because of the pandemic. We’ve also seen some improvements in Malaysia with a notable upturn in our domestic volume to almost pre-pandemic levels.”

Global oil prices remained depressed with the benchmark Dubai crude averaging $41.5 per barrel during the last three months while refining cracks have barely recovered from its lowest point of $2.20 per barrel in September to current levels of around $2.80 per barrel.

Petron is also faced with arduous taxation not necessarily encountered by fuel importers. It earlier warned that it might close down its refinery business.

“We have several tax-related concerns which we have already raised with the government. Under the current regime, refiners are faced with the burden of paying so much more taxes than importers making it more difficult for us to preserve the viability of operating a refinery in the country. Of course, we want to keep our refinery running and hopefully with the government’s support, we will be able to do this more efficiently,” said Ang. The Petron Bataan Refinery plays a crucial role in ensuring the country’s supply security and in providing employment opportunities particularly in the province of Bataan. Beginning this October, it has resumed normal operations after being on scheduled turnaround since May.

Economic contribution

Based on data from the Department

ATN to start producing pre-mixed concrete

A

TN Holdings Inc., the operator of one of the country’s largest rock-extraction sites, on Tuesday said it will commence mass production of top-quality pre-mixed concrete products within the month.

The 5-storey level batching plant features a new technology equipped with a mixing efficiency of around 60-cubic meters per hour, the company said.

“This facility complements and extends our range of products as a vertically-integrated maker of premium construction materials. At this point, we are finalizing test runs to ensure optimal efficiency and technical stability,” Arsenio T. Ng, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

This move will allow ATN to diversify its revenue streams and better serve the massive requirements of the robust construction sector, he said.

Initially, ATN is targeting a yearly production of approximately 77,000 cubic meters of pre-mixed concrete products to be made out of high-grade rock aggregates from its crushing plant.

“We are uniquely positioned to contribute to this so-called golden age of Philippine infrastructure. Alongside our government, ATN is prepared to play its role in terms of economic resiliency and nation-building,” Ng said.

ATN earlier said it has delivered rock aggregates to be used as construction materials for the North-South Commuter Railway project, a 148-kilometer railway flagship project that will connect New Clark City to Calamba, Laguna. VG Cabuag

of Finance (DOF), Petron leads all other oil companies in terms of volume marked under the government’s Fuel Marking Program.

Of the 12.32 billion liters of fuel products marked from September 1, 2019 to September 10, which yielded P129 billion in import duties and taxes, Petron held the biggest share with 2.84 billion liters or 23.07 percent. For the period covered, Petron paid nearly P55 billion in duties and taxes.

Together with its parent company, San Miguel Corp., Petron also continued to support health workers and underprivileged communities affected by the pandemic.

Petron has donated free fuel, personal protective equipment, and other donations to medical frontliners, its scholars, and communities. Through SMC, Petron also provided fuel subsidy for the Department of Transportation to help medical frontliners avail of free transport. Petron also partnered with Hyundai Philippines to help transport frontliners and locally stranded individuals.

The chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, meanwhile, said he is worried about the looming shutdown of Petron’s Bataan refinery.

“Now is not the right time to shut

mutual funds

down businesses. This is very crucial.

Employment is very important during this pandemic,” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said.

Petron employs in its refinery nearly 1,000 organic personnel and over 2,500 additional personnel through over 25 local third-party service providers.

Petron’s rivals—Caltex Philippines and Pilipinas Shell—have already ceased refinery operations in the country. The total number of direct jobs lost as a result of the closure of the Caltex and Shell refineries stand at 380. The figure does not include indirect jobs pertaining to suppliers and contractors providing services to the oil refiners.

Gatchalian said the eventual shutdown of Petron’s refinery would place the country at the mercy of foreign suppliers and prices. He called on the government to “do everything” to prevent the closure of Petron refinery.

Data from the Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOE-OIMB) showed that Petron accounts for more than half of the country’s total refinery production last year at 59.5 percent.

Petron’s refinery supplied 20.61 percent of the country’s total demand for petroleum products last year.

November 3, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 3, 2020

Net Foreign Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Stocks Buy (Sell) FINANCIALs

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH VANTAGE

44.4 89.95 74.5 22.8 5.92 9.7 40.7 16.84 27 53.2 17 97.8 55.75 0.77 28 3.45 1.15 0.3 770 0.56 160.6 1.06

44.9 90 74.8 22.95 8.19 9.71 40.85 17.18 27.05 53.4 17.16 98.5 55.9 0.8 28.1 3.59 1.16 0.31 777 0.58 166 1.09

45 89 71.35 21.85 8.19 9.55 40.75 17.1 27.2 53.3 17.16 96.7 55.75 0.76 28 3.49 1.13 0.29 777 0.59 162.5 1.06

45 90.55 74.8 22.95 8.19 9.73 41.7 17.1 27.45 53.4 17.16 98.5 55.75 0.79 28.1 3.59 1.16 0.31 777 0.59 166.5 1.06

45 88.85 71 21.85 8.19 9.45 39.5 17.1 26.9 53 17 96.5 55.55 0.76 28 3.45 1.13 0.29 770 0.56 160 1.05

45 90 74.8 22.95 8.19 9.7 40.7 17.1 27.05 53.4 17.16 98.5 55.75 0.79 28.1 3.59 1.15 0.3 770 0.59 166.5 1.05

300 5199240 3932120 280500 400 493500 2215900 100 504900 15450 25000 172710 22320 27000 68400 21000 51000 1530000 30 354000 780 141000

13500 468791453.5 287901373 6271250 3276 4750188 89959175 1710 13679830 822089 427866 16900127.5 1241008.5 21280 1915290 73530 58420 466350 23170 201740 126895 148460

INDUSTRIAL

AC ENERGY ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE AXELUM BOGO MEDELLIN CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA JOLLIBEE MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VICTORIAS CONCRETE A CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA EUROMED LMG CORP MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS PANASONIC SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

3.8 1.34 26.7 0.228 29.4 64.1 299 14.24 3.03 3.45 12.92 16.2 10.92 8 2.86 70 11.12 16.78 4.99 6.24 9.9 62.8 0.65 1.36 45.5 174.4 7.61 5.76 6.93 1.2 4.84 1.85 0.108 139.3 0.78 2.2 52 51.25 1.59 4.39 15 7.29 5.78 7.35 8.13 0.75 0.77 1.98 1.92 4.4 4.23 4.13 20.8 2.43 6.7 1 5.4 1.5 5.37

3.85 1.35 27 0.229 29.5 64.5 299.8 14.26 3.04 3.6 13.16 16.24 10.96 8.05 2.88 77 12.1 16.84 5 6.25 9.98 63 0.66 1.37 45.8 174.5 7.8 5.78 6.95 1.21 4.94 1.92 0.118 139.5 0.79 2.33 54.9 55.85 1.6 4.49 15.1 7.3 5.89 7.36 8.27 0.78 0.78 2.02 1.93 4.48 4.37 4.24 21.4 2.44 6.75 1.01 5.58 1.51 5.38

3.76 1.34 27.5 0.23 28.5 63.45 300 14.2 3.07 3.33 12.98 16.6 10.88 8.05 2.85 70 11.9 15.76 4.98 6.23 10 63.75 0.65 1.26 45.7 170 7.8 5.9 6.86 1.24 4.72 1.86 0.113 138 0.8 2.2 52.15 52.05 1.58 4.41 14.9 7.16 5.72 7.57 8.11 0.78 0.78 2.03 1.93 4.27 4.39 4.12 21.6 2.41 6.48 1.03 5.59 1.52 5.49

3.87 1.36 27.7 0.236 29.5 64.2 300.6 14.28 3.1 3.6 13.18 16.6 10.98 8.07 2.88 77 12.02 16.9 5 6.39 10.02 64 0.66 1.38 46 175 7.8 5.9 7.25 1.27 4.84 1.86 0.118 139.5 0.8 2.21 52.15 56 1.61 4.41 15.1 7.3 5.94 7.58 8.35 0.81 0.78 2.03 1.93 4.48 4.4 4.21 21.7 2.44 6.7 1.05 5.6 1.53 5.51

3.76 1.32 26.7 0.228 28.2 62.65 295 14.1 3.03 3.3 12.72 16.18 10.86 7.94 2.83 70 11.9 15.76 4.98 6.23 9.83 62.55 0.65 1.25 44.8 169 7.8 5.74 6.86 1.18 4.72 1.86 0.108 137 0.77 2.2 52 51.15 1.58 4.38 14.88 7.08 5.72 7.28 8.11 0.72 0.76 1.98 1.88 4.27 4.2 4.12 20.55 2.38 6.41 0.99 5.59 1.46 5.33

3.8 1.34 26.7 0.228 29.4 64.1 299.8 14.24 3.04 3.6 13.16 16.24 10.96 8.06 2.88 77 12.02 16.84 5 6.24 9.9 62.8 0.66 1.36 45.7 174.5 7.8 5.78 6.93 1.21 4.84 1.86 0.108 139.3 0.78 2.2 52 56 1.6 4.39 15.1 7.3 5.89 7.36 8.35 0.75 0.77 1.98 1.92 4.48 4.37 4.21 21.4 2.44 6.7 1.01 5.59 1.51 5.38

15317000 1888000 811600 2420000 1197800 138820 173290 706600 3183000 76000 588300 454600 117100 129900 952000 540 13800 2930500 34000 6332900 1240200 413940 975000 56459000 7600 889400 500 338200 3379000 15874000 5000 16000 5230000 582840 1898000 38000 330 200 8217000 40000 604300 696000 5041700 2481600 2600 1320000 565000 25000 158000 11000 21000 17000 11000 6687000 676200 1072000 20300 1123000 955900

-231172361.5 20046595.4996 -9120 187128 -29380345 336025 49524 -2885515.5 11150 42709.9999 43460

58777160 2530900 22055960 556960 34945935 8868816 51838220 10039184 9713580 263560 7624338 7385514 1282404 1042236 2717470 41300 165836 48653472 169950 39667990 12297693 26003480.5 639550 74522550 347180 153991798 3900 1960697 23414655 19144010 24080 29760 601120 81100770 1484450 83700 17164.5 10372 13119930 175770 9075738 5011556 29512019 18380847 21642 1038210 431080 50540 303060 47310 89830 71120 230785 16146490 4468847 1080860 113478 1666940 5142433

10235560 -8526135 22900 -6254750 -2778789.5 -29116774 -3018054 -2559060 -3390386 283357.9999 -73580 12577322 -45000 2232222 -10432945 -16544373 -972870 62810 -2588137 315741 2807027 -3723860 -27080 8926833 40000 9600 -2633956 -180000 -3149941 -6117575 25260 80 -2943730 -328210 59400 33966

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.485 0.49 0.48 0.49 0.475 0.49 8080000 3919350 7.69 7.92 8.29 8.29 7.64 7.92 67500 521736 ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP 750 752 746 760 746 750 277120 207820730 43.8 44.8 44.95 45 43.6 43.8 688400 30329690 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 7.75 7.76 7.95 7.97 7.71 7.76 9036600 70426032 2.69 2.7 2.76 2.76 2.7 2.7 2868000 7786720 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 6.3 6.99 6.25 6.28 6.25 6.28 498700 3125382 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.62 0.61 0.62 126000 77290 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.93 0.95 0.9 0.95 0.9 0.95 8348000 7838710 ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B 0.95 0.96 0.92 0.98 0.91 0.95 311000 291980 5.13 5.14 5.14 5.2 5.1 5.13 2319600 11938668 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 4.45 4.46 4.41 4.55 4.41 4.46 3198000 14300550 9.08 9.5 9.68 9.69 9.68 9.69 300 2906 FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE B 2.88 3.94 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 1000 3500 0.22 0.232 0.215 0.242 0.215 0.232 2090000 476910 FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL 432.8 434 430 435.8 425 434 179040 77183032 HOUSE OF INV 3.34 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.4 3.4 67000 230300 63 63.15 64.8 64.8 63 63 739570 46700334.5 JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 3000 13500 5 5.39 5 5 5 5 2000 10000 KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR 0.76 0.77 0.79 0.8 0.75 0.76 3571000 2725760 2.56 2.57 2.55 2.62 2.54 2.57 1548000 3973370 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 11.84 11.88 11.6 11.88 11.56 11.88 1858800 21735230 MABUHAY HLDG 0.52 0.54 0.51 0.55 0.51 0.54 690000 367940 4 4.01 4.01 4.01 3.97 4 10843000 43300610 METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG 3.11 3.42 3.11 3.11 3.11 3.11 2000 6220 0.79 0.83 0.8 0.84 0.79 0.83 159000 127850 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1 1.01 0.99 1.01 0.99 1.01 89000 89280 163.2 171 171 171 171 171 80 13680 SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS 974 974.5 969 975 931.5 974.5 459690 441509730 100.7 100.9 102 104.5 100.7 100.7 196610 20198932 SAN MIGUEL CORP 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 0.69 0.71 211000 147030 SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER 124 126 126 126 126 126 1000 126000 0.248 0.25 0.222 0.275 0.222 0.25 41110000 10449420 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.141 0.143 0.141 0.142 0.141 0.142 380000 53770

-45500 1560 -24927265 -14134475 -38166000 1422220.0003 -26650 1241459 -2932030 1938 10874926 -205900 -9397730.5 -2576920 -10861238 -10199860 -42805360 -819186 -2500 -

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 206.17 -19.84% -10.99% -4.22% -18.13%

PROPERTY ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.0881 -27.32% -12.32% -3.32% -21.27% ARTHALAND CORP 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.61 0.59 0.6 1085000 650600 30000 ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8003 -28.65% -15.04% -6.51% -23.87% 32.8 32.95 31.8 33.05 31.8 32.8 5523900 180373155 -68325050 AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP 1.03 1.05 1.07 1.07 1.04 1.04 59000 62390 32100 Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7095 -25.41% -11.12% n.a. -20.99% 25.55 25.6 25.65 25.7 25.5 25.6 1180600 30187530 -15346420 AREIT RT BELLE CORP 1.42 1.43 1.43 1.43 1.41 1.42 200000 283110 -5660 First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6832 -21.79% n.a. n.a. -19.56% 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.84 0.81 0.83 1483000 1222230 A BROWN First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.4123 -19.19% -9.56% -4.56% -17.19% CITYLAND DEVT 0.79 0.81 0.79 0.82 0.79 0.79 48000 38190 0.131 0.133 0.134 0.134 0.131 0.131 7810000 1033410 452920 CROWN EQUITIES First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6927 -21.19% -10.59% n.a.

5.8 5.98 5.8 5.98 5.8 5.98 20300 117794 CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS 4.54 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.55 4.57 322000 1469990 -776260 -18.85% 0.36 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.36 0.365 7720000 2787450 CENTURY PROP MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

86.57 -23.94% n.a. n.a. -16.13% CYBER BAY 0.36 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.365 0.375 230000 86250 19000 13.96 14 14.06 14.5 13.94 14 616600 8642208 -4980570 DOUBLEDRAGON PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 41.6224 -20.99% -9.52% -2.96% -18.84% DM WENCESLAO 5.28 5.3 5.36 5.4 5.3 5.3 129500 688676 53600 0.285 0.29 0.295 0.295 0.285 0.285 1300000 371250 -102700 EMPIRE EAST Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 443.66 -18.93% -8.96% -3.28% -16.73% EVER GOTESCO 0.085 0.089 0.088 0.089 0.085 0.089 720000 61270 Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.9558 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-7.21% 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.96 0.96 31516000 30316370 -25888440 FILINVEST LAND 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75 233000 174750 GLOBAL ESTATE Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0506 -20.68% -9.27% -2.9% -18.36% 8990 HLDG 7.94 8 7.75 8 7.7 8 148600 1181596 1.54 1.55 1.54 1.58 1.52 1.55 3933000 6099610 152380 PHIL INFRADEV Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 30.8946 -20.75% -8.88% -2.51% -18.48% MEGAWORLD 2.98 2.99 3.03 3.04 2.98 2.99 21004000 63091020 -36581810 Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8184 -21.79% n.a. n.a. -19.61% 0.42 0.425 0.42 0.425 0.41 0.42 45390000 19008650 669200 MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES 0.4 0.41 0.355 0.45 0.355 0.4 6820000 2772300 59500 Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.2527 -20.62% -9.04% -2.29% -18.59% PRIMEX CORP 1.2 1.22 1.24 1.25 1.17 1.22 232000 281390 -17110 15.2 15.3 15.06 15.42 15.02 15.2 3165200 48302876 13431980 ROBINSONS LAND Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 711.17 -20.5% -8.96% -2.41% -18.44% PHIL REALTY 0.234 0.235 0.234 0.234 0.234 0.234 250000 58500 Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6417 -29.19% -12.78% -6.35% -24.63% 1.47 1.53 1.52 1.53 1.46 1.53 1052000 1581740 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.66 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 13000 35100 10800 Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.2417 -25.35% -10.76% -4.01% -22.98% 33 33.25 32.05 33.35 31.65 33 10374600 340,910,785( 119,293,014.9997) SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 4.2 4.23 4.2 4.7 4.18 4.23 1526000 6763600 -193670 Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8146 -20.7% -9.23% -2.48% -18.61% 1.28 1.3 1.27 1.33 1.25 1.28 8319000 10676930 SUNTRUST HOME United Fund, Inc. -a 2.966 -20.93% -8.35% -1.98% -18.81% 3.39 3.4 3.36 3.44 3.35 3.4 3769000 12790500 -1646430 VISTA LAND Exchange Traded Fund

SERVICES ABS CBN 11.04 11.06 11.2 11.2 11 11.04 245200 2707328 First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 95.5528 -20.32% -8.65% -1.64% 5.06 5.07 5.07 5.13 5.04 5.07 203400 1032980 GMA NETWORK -18.3% MANILA BULLETIN 0.4 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.4 0.4 60000 24200 2020 2024 2032 2082 2012 2020 56460 114335700 -65107220 GLOBE TELECOM Primarily invested in foreign currency securities PLDT 1325 1328 1327 1333 1322 1325 121425 161089120 -80010405 0.051 0.052 0.052 0.053 0.051 0.052 17710000 907830 20700 APOLLO GLOBAL ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0805 10.49% -0.01% 3.55% 5.07% CONVERGE 14.54 14.56 14.78 14.86 14.22 14.54 29622100 429486388 -26033166 Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.4988 6.69% n.a.

8.71% 14.39% 3.1 3.18 3.1 3.2 3.08 3.1 106000 329010 -62000 DFNN INC 6.62 6.64 6.82 6.85 6.54 6.62 87956300 585154595 7543933 DITO CME HLDG Balanced Funds IMPERIAL 1.33 1.42 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.33 6000 7980 0.093 0.095 0.088 0.098 0.088 0.095 18460000 1727880 -48000 ISLAND INFO Primarily invested in Peso securities JACKSTONES 1.62 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.63 1.65 34000 55760 ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5457 -3.56% -5.97% -2.93% -1.09% 4.41 4.42 4.67 4.67 4.37 4.41 21346000 95774390 2191500 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.265 0.27 0.26 0.28 0.255 0.27 27040000 7299350 -514000 ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0883 -8.26% -5.22% -1.38% -4.25% 2.96 2.97 2.87 2.96 2.84 2.96 1575000 4582750 1484550 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.75 8.8 8.75 9.88 8.6 8.8 242700 2171325 -18900 First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4513 -8.05% -3.91% -2.62% -6.85% ASIAN TERMINALS 15.38 15.78 15.34 15.34 15.34 15.34 10300 158002 First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1861 -21.51% n.a. n.a.

5.57 5.59 5.47 5.7 5.2 5.57 16967500 93167634 1400780 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 38.05 38.1 38.8 39.25 37.9 38.1 863300 33,026,655( 20,523,569.9996) -18.56% 115 116.7 115 117.8 114 115 1069020 123890160 -2627106 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 14.62 15.68 14.32 15.68 14.32 15.68 3300 48766 NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. - a 1.8739 -5.12% -1.85% 0.5% -4.47% 0.97 1 0.97 1 0.97 1 184000 182100 LORENZO SHIPPNG PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5552 -7.2% -3.24% -0.62% -6.17% MACROASIA 5.14 5.15 5.13 5.14 5.1 5.14 2846600 14598693 82156 METROALLIANCE A 1.91 1.92 1.94 1.94 1.89 1.92 410000 787500 Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.917 -7.19% -3.31% -0.65% -6.15% 6.9 6.94 7 7 6.85 6.95 40700 280998 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 1.46 1.47 1.36 1.46 1.35 1.46 13400000 19034260 -261800 Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.969 -8.86% -0.77% -7.21% -4.33% 1.5 1.58 1.39 1.75 1.37 1.58 2912000 4644250 -56500 ACESITE HOTEL Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.336 -15.09% -5.75% -2.01% -13.65% BOULEVARD HLDG 0.027 0.028 0.028 0.029 0.028 0.028 21500000 602600 28000 1.61 1.8 1.62 1.8 1.5 1.8 35000 56940 DISCOVERY WORLD Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9573 -7.11% n.a. n.a.

-5.75% WATERFRONT 0.68 0.69 0.59 0.74 0.54 0.68 154490000 106,838,600( 1,349,000.0003) 6.49 6.99 6.49 6.49 6.49 6.49 100 649 649 CENTRO ESCOLAR Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8634 -15.26% n.a. n.a. -13.35% 555 560 560 560 560 560 40 22400 FAR EASTERN U Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.843 -17.03% n.a. n.a. -15.12% IPEOPLE 8 8.2 7.67 8 7.67 8 18100 140168 0.33 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.33 0.34 1530000 512750 3350 STI HLDG Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8175 -18.05% -6.86% -2.94% -16.14% BERJAYA 4.18 4.2 4.2 4.25 4.03 4.2 730000 3013440 7.38 7.39 7.25 7.38 7.2 7.38 3249300 23708496 -7233701 BLOOMBERRY Primarily invested in foreign currency securities PACIFIC ONLINE 1.83 1.89 1.85 1.87 1.81 1.86 113000 207890 Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03893 2.15% 2.51% 1.93% 1.91% 1.57 1.58 1.57 1.59 1.53 1.57 1320000 2071820 -228200 LEISURE AND RES 0.325 0.33 0.32 0.34 0.32 0.33 19910000 6571050 -3554200 PREMIUM LEISURE PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.0627 6.31% 0.96% 5.01% 3.22% PHIL RACING 6.65 7 7 7 7 7 1600 11200 6.76 6.8 6.71 6.86 6.65 6.76 680500 4613744 1556906 ALLHOME Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.1247 8.97% 4.83% 5.47% 5.47% METRO RETAIL 1.49 1.5 1.45 1.5 1.43 1.5 3336000 4918850 4320 Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.158 4.5% 2.53% n.a.

2.6% 41.15 41.25 41.5 41.9 41.15 41.15 3698300 153108670 -114389775 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 64 64.05 64 65.85 63.55 64.05 307850 19722920 -14354416.5 Bond Funds 111 114 115.9 115.9 111 112 195190 21666299 2299 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.46 1.47 1.33 1.5 1.32 1.46 29489000 41878190 -968000 Primarily invested in Peso securities WILCON DEPOT 14.68 14.7 14.4 14.94 14.4 14.7 5228500 76873062 -15680036 ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 368.89 3.75% 3.12% 2.64% 3.06% 0.32 0.325 0.33 0.33 0.32 0.325 1480000 479950 6600 APC GROUP EASYCALL 6.86 6.95 6.9 7 6.72 6.83 19300 131886 ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9532 1.57% 0.91% 0.35% 2.69% 348 369.8 354 369.8 354 369.8 280 102280 -65300 GOLDEN BRIA IPM HLDG 3.24 3.77 3.7 3.7 3.22 3.22 12000 43440 37000 Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2058 3.58% 4.66% 4.89% 2.82% 2.15 2.19 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 12000 25800 PAXYS Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2891 3.39% 2.73% 2.18% 2.95% SBS PHIL CORP 4.16 4.19 4.18 4.18 4.16 4.16 4000 16690 First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4449 4.28% 3.31% 1.94% 3.64%

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.81 10 10.08 10.1 9.8 10 141400 1406268 4.21% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6168 6.62% 2.67% 5.58% APEX MINING 1.85 1.86 1.87 1.89 1.82 1.86 5363000 9991400 120270 Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3119 5.3% 4.34% 2.46% 4.39% 0.001 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 3125000000 3430900 -78100 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 4.1 4.12 4.12 4.12 4.06 4.06 54000 220620 Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9516 5.4% 4.15% 2.34% 4.31% 3.13 3.18 3.15 3.2 3.02 3.18 873000 2703020 BENGUET A BENGUET B 3.1 3.15 3.05 3.15 2.96 3.1 246000 756190 Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0347 8.38% 3.71% 2.03% 7.3% 0.26 0.27 0.265 0.265 0.26 0.265 590000 156100 COAL ASIA HLDG Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.175 4.15% 4.53% 2.9% 3.23% 7.7 7.98 7.95 7.98 7.8 7.98 500 3966 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 1.33 1.34 1.31 1.35 1.31 1.34 1591000 2116980 Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7392 3.12% 3.87% 2.33% 2.24% 0.239 0.244 0.245 0.245 0.239 0.239 90000 21570 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.152 0.153 0.153 0.153 0.15 0.152 7410000 1127800 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 0.0097 0.0099 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 3000000 30000 MANILA MINING A ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $480.09 3.03% 2.57% 2.8% 2.5% MANILA MINING B 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.011 17300000 182100 0.93 0.94 0.92 0.95 0.91 0.94 1375000 1276820 263120 MARCVENTURES ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є217.73 -0.93% 0.68% 1.15% -0.94% NIHAO 2.52 2.53 2.53 2.57 2.51 2.52 407000 1026580 3.75 3.76 3.8 3.8 3.71 3.75 2712000 10164400 2858600 NICKEL ASIA ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2475 3.77% 3.22% 2.63% 3.34% 0.335 0.35 0.34 0.35 0.335 0.35 140000 47350 OMICO CORP First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0264 2.33% 1.83% 1.59% 2.33% ORNTL PENINSULA 0.65 0.68 0.66 0.68 0.66 0.68 410000 274960 33000 5.38 5.39 5.41 5.51 5.3 5.38 1409600 7601372 436761 PX MINING PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0881 -0.49% 0.21% 0.37% -0.5% SEMIRARA MINING 10.78 10.8 10.64 10.9 10.64 10.78 1931900 20798792 -2706624 0.0051 0.0053 0.0051 0.0052 0.0051 0.0052 7000000 36300 UNITED PARAGON Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5022 4.45% 3.7% 3.3% 4.11% ACE ENEXOR 6.25 6.29 6.25 6.3 6.2 6.25 49600 309862 Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0618254 2.6% 2.46% 2.18% 2.53% 0.0097 0.0098 0.0099 0.0099 0.0097 0.0097 27000000 263700 ORNTL PETROL A 0.0087 0.0088 0.0087 0.0087 0.0087 0.0087 2000000 17400 PHILODRILL Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1724 0.33% 1.75% 2.22% -0.09% PXP ENERGY 12.46 12.48 12.3 12.76 11.92 12.48 4178300 51914990 148426

Money Market Funds PREFFERED Primarily invested in Peso securities HOUSE PREF A 101.3 102 102 102 101.3 101.3 10110 1024150 101.4 103.4 103.2 103.5 103.2 103.2 470 48528 ALCO PREF B ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.37 3.41% 3.32% 2.53% 2.81% DD PREF 100.7 101.9 100.7 100.7 100.7 100.7 20 2014 First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0461 1.88% n.a. n.a.

1.93% 108 109 108 109 108 109 3520 380310 16350 FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P 512 518.5 512 512 512 512 480 245760 10240 Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2927 2.73% 3% 2.61% 2.19% 1002 1005 1005 1005 1005 1005 500 502500 GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B 1029 1030 1030 1030 1030 1030 250 257500 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 101.5 101.6 101.6 101.6 101.6 101.6 140 14224 MWIDE PREF Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0508 1.58% n.a. n.a.

1.2% 101 102.1 101.1 102.1 100.4 101 2740 276848 33611 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 992 995 992 992 992 992 1200 1190400 Feeder Funds 1062 1063 1062 1062 1062 1062 25950 27558900 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1090 1099 1080 1090 1080 1090 655 712225 Primarily invested in Peso securities 1.65 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.8 27000 48700 SFI PREF Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 0.9899 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

SMC PREF 2C 78 78.25 78.2 78.25 78 78.25 45260 3539318.5 76 76.6 76 76 76 76 4500 342000 SMC PREF 2E Primarily invested in foreign currency securities SMC PREF 2F 78.7 78.8 78.7 78.8 78.7 78.8 25750 2026550 75.9 76 76.45 76.45 76 76 10800 821145 SMC PREF 2G ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.92 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-7.07% 76.5 76.95 76.05 76.95 76 76.95 167480 12846506 -38000 SMC PREF 2J

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

"While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www. pifa.com.ph to see the

latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10.78 11 10.78 10.78 10.78 10.78 700 7546 4.95 4.99 4.8 4.99 4.8 4.99 2000 9682 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.84 0.85 0.86 0.86 0.84 0.85 259000 219850

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 12.88 13 13 13.2 12.62 13 438000 5697954 2.85 2.87 2.78 2.94 2.72 2.87 4917000 13969120 -134050 ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH 5.5 5.61 5.45 5.8 5.45 5.61 123700 690486 -26928 3.68 3.69 3.48 3.7 3.46 3.68 51273000 185428020 -4683970 MERRYMART

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 95.7 96 95.45 96 95.1 95.7 11710 1119883.5 159080.5

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

IC retreat on net worth rule called ‘unfortunate’

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he regulator’s rule withdrawing the temporary relief on the quarterly compliance to the P900-million net worth requirement “will definitely create undue additional burdens to industry players,” the Philippine Life Insurance Association Inc. (PLIA) said.

PLIA President and Sun Life Philippines CEO and country head Benedict C. Sison said they find the move by the Insurance Commission (IC) “unfortunate” given that the relief was hailed by the industry as a “timely and responsive action that recognized the significant financial challenges that business players are presently contending with because of the pandemic.”

“This measure was viewed by the industry as a reasonable exercise by the Commission of its powers [but] The withdrawal of this relief will definitely create undue additional burdens to industry players,” Sison said.

Sison added that “instead of being otherwise able to use all their available financial resources to drive their business back to speedy recovery and continue to serve the insuring public, [industry players] would instead have to set a significant amount of these resources aside to comply with the unimpaired minimum net worth requirement.”

In its October 30 Circular Letter (CL) 2020-103 amending CL 2020-60 signed by IC Commissioner Dennis B. Funa, the IC removed the grant of relief it gave to insurers who have already complied with the net worth requirement as of end-2019. Funa said that the granting of relief “runs contrary to principles of the existing risk-based capital framework” adopted under Section 194 of the Insurance Code of the Philippines.

In justifying its decision to remove the said regulatory relief, the IC argued in its latest circular that “a number of regulatory reliefs that have a significant impact on the net worths of insurance and professional reinsurance companies doing busi-

ness in the Philippines have already been granted under various circular letters issued by the Commission.”

On top of this, the IC said the quarterly unaudited financial reports, from which the quarterly compliance of net worth requirements is determined, are still subject to final adjusting and closing entries at year-end.

But Sison said the PLIA believes the regulatory relief “was reasonably flexible, as it applied only on the quarterly financial compliance check and not to the final reckoning by end of the year when companies have to ensure they retain the Php900 million net worth level.”

“It was in our view a practical acceptance that all companies need to be afforded some time to make operational and investment adjustments in order to turn things around amid the unprecedented and very difficult business landscape,” he added.

Sison said the PLIA “would have preferred the granted relief remained in effect.” Nonetheless, he said they “fully respect the considerations of the IC in arriving at this decision on its withdrawal and will advise our members to exert best efforts to comply.” The new circular comes several months after the IC granted in May the said regulatory relief to insurance companies compliant with the net worth requirements as of end2019 but were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To recall, IC CL 2020-60 stated that the temporary relief on implementation of net worth requirements and risk-based capital requirements for this year was requested by the insurance industry “in order for insurance companies to better utilize their capital as they continue to work on their recovery vis-à-vis the Philippine economy.”

Under Republic Act 10607 (the Insurance Code), insurance companies must have a minimum net worth of P900 million by end-2019 and P1.3 billion by end-2022. Bernadette D. Nicolas

Govt sells ₧2B more T-bills on low rates across tenors

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

E

Finex free enterprise Joseph Araneta Gamboa ments have been made in RA 9856’s implementing rules and regulations during the administrations of former President Benigno Aquino III and incumbent President Duterte.

Finally, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued the enhanced IRR in January 2020, paving the way for the implementation of the REIT Act of 2009.

REITs are basically similar to common shares of stock since both are equity products that have the potential for capital gains. However, REITs have a defined yield or return and under RA 9856, they are required to distribute dividends of at least 90 percent of distributable income to their shareholders.

To encourage more Filipinos to invest in REITs, the 4th Asia-Pacific REIT Investment Summit was organized by Singapore-based PCM Asia Conventions last week. It brought

@BNicolasBM

he Bureau of the Treasury awarded on Tuesday P22-billion in Treasury Bills (T-bills), an upsize from its initial P20-billion offering.

Rates across all tenors were all lower than the previous auction and secondary-market benchmark rates.

The auction was oversubscribed by more than 4.8-times with total bids reaching P96.7 billion, prompting the auction committee to double the accepted non-competitive bids for the 182-day tenor to P4 billion.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said they were satisfied with the auction results. “[We] got what we wanted: more

than P20 billion at lower rates,” De Leon said.

Sought what pushed the rates lower, she pointed to the inflation outlook, which remains benign; still within [the] 2-percent to 4-percent band, [the] sustained ample liquidity and bias for shorties.” T-bills are peso-denominated short-term, or “shorties,” fixed-income securities issued by the Republic of the Philippines through the Bureau of the Treasury.

De Leon added the Treasury also opened the tap facility for an additional P5 billion for 364day T-bills.

The 91-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 1.058 percent, 2.1 basispoints lower than the previous auction rate at 1.079 percent.

Tenders for the security amounted to P24.987 billion, almost five times the P5-billion offer.

Meanwhile, the average rate for the 182-day T-bills settled at 1.499 percent, falling by 4.4 basis points from 1.543 percent.

Bids for the tenor reached P31.12 billion, more than six times the initial P5-billion offering.

The 364-day T-bills also posted a lower average rate at 1.759 percent, sliding by 3.2 basis points from 1.791 percent previously.

The amount tendered for the security was recorded at P40.62 billion, four times the P10-billion offer.

For this month, the Treasury

is set to borrow P140 billion from the local debt market, the same amount it programmed to borrow in October.

The government has more than doubled its borrowing program this year to an all-time-high nominal P3 trillion from P1.4 trillion originally to cover the expected doubling of budget deficit as well as to fund its spending requirements for its Covid-19 response.

As of end-September, gross borrowings of the national government have already reached P2.56 trillion, equivalent to more than 85 percent of this year’s program.

As tax collections are down amid the pandemic, the Development Budget Coordination Committee is projecting the country’s budget deficit to more than double to 9.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or P1.815 trillion this year from only 3.4 percent of GDP or P660.2 billion last year.

UITF boosts BDO unit’s assets under portfolio

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DO Unibank Inc. said on Tuesday its Trust Group is now managing P1-trillion worth of assets, which is supported by the unit investment trust fund (UITF) segment.

BDO Senior Vice President and Trust Officer Rafael G. Ayuste Jr. said in a disclosure that the group’s UITF business grew by nearly 35 percent as of end-September.

Ayuste said clients are availing the fund investment because it is readily available for both subscriptions and redemptions, and easily accessible through branches and digital platforms.

“The clients see and appreciate

Unlocking the value of property assets

leven years ago, a brand-new asset class was created in the Philippines when Republic Act 9856 lapsed into law without being signed by then President Gloria M. Arroyo. Also known as the Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 2009, RA 9856 provides the legal framework for REITs that are essentially stock corporations established for the purpose of owning income-generating real property assets.

Last August, the Philippine Stock Exchange approved the initial public offering of Ayala Land Inc. subsidiary Areit Inc.—the first-ever REIT firm in the country to be listed in the PSE. Initially ALI transferred ownership of three existing commercial buildings in Makati City to AREIT, namely: Ayala North Exchange; McKinley Exchange Corporate Center; and, Solaris One. These office buildings have commercial tenants and are accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as special economic zones with fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.

It took more than a decade for REITs to take off in the Philippines due to several issues, notably involving public ownership requirements and value-added tax exemptions on the transfer of properties. Amend-

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 B3

together prominent decision-makers and thought leaders from the local property sector in an online conference that offered market intelligence from industry experts.

Keynoted by Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II, the first virtually-integrated REIT event in the Philippines featured four sessions with the following speakers: SGV & Co. Tax Partner Veronica Santos on issues in REIT structuring and IPO preparation; SGV & Co. Strategy Partner Stephanie Tan-Hamed on REIT listing and status maintenance; AREIT President and CEO Carol Mills on the journey to the first Philippine REIT; and, Double Dragon Properties Corp. Chief Investment Officer Hannah Yulo-Luccini on the benefits of investing in REITs. Summit attendees also had a virtual networking forum where they forged new business relationships and participated in thoughtprovoking conversations with peers while gathering the latest insights from industry leaders. Among PCM Asia’s partner organizations were the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) and the Investment House Association of the Philippines.

the opportunities that the current market presents, which will potentially result to significant growth in their investment returns as the market recovers,” he explained.

The BDO Trust group is offering both peso-denominated and dollardenominated UITFs in a bid to diversify the portfolio and address the risk appetites of the investors.

Apart from this, the bank is also offering an easy investment plan, which only requires an investment as low as P1,000 monthly to build up the investors’ wealth.

Meanwhile, Ayuste said that the majority of the bank’s clients shifted their funds to relatively safe

A key takeaway from the conference was that the REIT laws in Thailand and Vietnam were enacted later than ours but they already have more listed REITs in their respective stock exchanges compared to our one and only listing so far.

We certainly have a lot of catching up to do in the REIT sector considering that the market leaders in Asia–Japan and Singapore–currently have 64 and 35 listed REITs, respectively.

Property consultants believe that REITs have the power to sustain the economy’s long-term growth and could unlock opportunities such as greater access to real estate investments as well as the revitalization of the country’s capital markets. They allow small investors to participate in high-value assets along with large corporations, while new capital raised through REITs will enable the expansion of property developers nationwide and generate jobs across multiple sectors.

Joseph Gamboa is the co-chairman of the Finex Week 2020 Annual Conference, chairman of the Finex Business Columns Subcommittee, and director of Noble Asia Industrial Corp. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror.

money market funds amid the uncertainties due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“This way they are able to generate positive albeit lower returns particularly during the height of the pandemic when there was so much uncertainty,” he said. “We have likewise seen some long-term clients factoring in recovery and are taking the opportunity to buy more equities at current market prices which really presents great upside potential.”

At the same time, BDO is continuing its efforts to maintain if not further increase its market share of 25 percent. “We continue to enhance our product and service

delivery to ensure ease of access and simplification of client experience,” Ayuste said.

In the first three quarters, the Syled bank saw its net earnings drop by 48 percent to P16.6 billion yearon-year because of high provisions for bad loans. As of end-September, its capital stood at P378.6 billion, translating to capital adequacy ratio and common equity tier 1 of 14.3 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

BDO shares climbed by 1.24 percent, or P1.10, to finish at P90 each amid the 0.18-percent uptick for the benchmark index on Tuesday.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

SHFC provides housing loans to Cavite families

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @Tyronepiad

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he Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) inked a memorandum of understanding with the local government of Carmona, Cavite, to provide housing for 2,300 families.

In a statement on Tuesday, the SHFC said that the deal covers the implementation of the community mortgage program in the municipality.

The SHFC explained the program allowed the families borrow funds for land acquisition and site development. The lending program is aimed at providing “decent housing for informal settler families in Carmona who are living along the riverbanks are occupying government-owned lots,” SHFC said.

Carmona Mayor Roy M. Loyola said that providing affordable housing is much more important now amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Sa memorandum of understanding na lalagdaan ngayong araw, makikipagtulungan ang local na pamahalaan sa SHFC upang mabigyan ng

pagkakataon ang mga informal settler families sa ating bayan na magkaroon ng mga lupa at bahay na matatawag nila na mismong sa kanila at sa abotkayang halaga,” Loyola said. (With a signed memorandum of agreement, the local government is working with the SHFC to give the informal settler families an opportunity to have a house and lot that they can call their own at an affordable price.)

SHFC President Arnolfo Ricardo B. Cabling, meanwhile, vowed to continue working with local government units to provide more housing loans.

“SFHC continues to provide shelter for the homeless and to those situated in informal setups wherein social distancing is really impossible, especially those in the riverbanks and crowded communities,” Cabling said.

So far, the SHFC has inked the same deal with around 100 local government units, including over 20 new partners this year.

The housing loan provider said that it has extended P24-billion in loan assistance to 400,000 families to date.

LandBank support cited by co-op to produce line of pineapple-based products

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ABO, Camarines Norte—From its humble beginnings as a small group of public market vendors who started an informal savings-andlending group back in 1987, the Labo Progressive Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LPMPC) has since grown to become one of the largest cooperatives in Camarines Norte and a leading force in pineapple farming and trading in the province, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) said.

The co-op’s turning point happened in 1995 when a powerful typhoon devastated the province. It was also that year when its partnership with the LandBank came into fruition, the state-owned bank said.

“When Typhoon Rosing tore down LPMPC’s office that year, LandBank helped us out with a loan to purchase the 1.3-hectare piece of land where our new office now proudly stands,” LPMPC General Manager Mario Espeso was quoted

in a statement as saying.

Today, LPMPC’s main headquarters now features a training center and several other buildings for its financing and agribusiness projects such as organic fertilizer, virgin coconut oil and handmade paper production, according to the LandBank.

The bank said that LPMPC is a recognized pioneer in integrated pineapple production and processing. Knowing fully well the importance of value chain,

the group purchases pineapples produced by farmer-members, which are then processed into various pineapple products under the brand name “Queench,” LandBank said.

The Queench line includes pineapple juice drinks, jams, dried pineapple and jellies. Trained LPMPC craftsmen also produce pineapple fiber from the leaves that are then made into handmade paper and hand-woven cloth marketed as Formosa Manos, LandBank said.

Even at the height of the governmentimposed lockdowns for the Covid-19 health crisis, LPMPC continued to safely buy the produce of farmer-members or match them with buyers, LandBank said. This provided its members a steady source of income, the pandemic notwithstanding.

The LPMPC also provides job opportunities for locals, hiring employees for their credit and savings operations and workers for the various agri-enterprises,

including weavers and hand scrapers of pineapple leaves. Inmates of three nearby district jails serve as fiber knotters and are given an extra source of income while serving time, LandBank said.

The co-op has expanded to include four branches and one satellite office across the province catering to its more than 7,000 members. It also took over the management of the Agri-Pinoy Trading Center, the Provincial Agricultural Trading Center in Camarines Norte.

B4

Show BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

British court rules against Johnny Depp in libel case

FAMILY FEUD

IF you’re following these two celebrities on social media, you’ll know they have problems with each other. They used to be so close but now, they’ve unfollowed each other on all platforms.

These days, they indirectly respond to each other’s posts.

When the younger one will post about her past traumas, the older one will counter with a saying that sort of counters it. It’s actually sad to see it because they’re family. But you cannot invalidate what a person has been through and what she’s feeling at the moment. The younger celebrity is also not on speaking terms with other members of her family, who feel that her new relationship is the reason behind this. Somehow, the younger celebrity has changed since she got involved with this guy. Right now, the rift between the celebrity and her family is too deep to be repaired but maybe in time, they will make their peace with each other.

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

SO this actress has a side hustle that’s quite popular because she is famous and known to be good at arts and crafts. Is she really good at it though? Those who have bought products from her business have complained that they are overpriced and look better in pictures than in real life. Many of the buyers of her products are her moneyed colleagues, friends and supporters so they don’t really care about prices or quality of the goods. But when regular people buy the products, which aren’t inexpensive at all, they will naturally complain. Some of the complaints include the products looking cheap and of low quality.

STILL HOPING

THIS host was taken out of the program without her knowledge but she should have expected because of her and her husband’s politics. What is surprising is that she was surprised by what happened and even questioning when she would be back. She should know by now that her replacement is there to stay. Everybody working on the program behind the scenes are happy that she is gone. We’re not sure about the other cohosts as some of them are on the same page as the host and her husband.

NOT A SCANDAL

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THIS young actress was reported to have given birth in another country. That’s not really scandalous. She is in love, and she and her boyfriend are adults. The young actress deserves love just like any other person. What is scandalous is the attempt of people who run their careers to cover up what happened. It is 2020, not 1930, and people in relationships can have babies. It’s neither surprising nor scandalous. What is scandalous is the boyfriend posting pictures of the young actress and an infant and being asked to delete it.

By Pan Pylas | The Associated Press

L

ONDON—A British court ruled on Monday against Johnny Depp in his libel case against the owner of the Sun tabloid newspaper, which labelled him a “wife beater.”

Justice Andrew Nicol said that the defendants had proved that what they published was “substantially true” during a high-profile trial in London over the summer that included lurid—and irreconcilable— accounts from Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard in which accused the other of abuse. Depp’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision.

“I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved to the civil standard,” Nicol wrote in his ruling.

Depp sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the newspaper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article that accused him of assaulting fellow actor Heard. For now, the ruling represents a big blow to Depp’s reputation and to his finances that could seriously damage his lucrative movie career.

A lawyer for Depp, 57, described the decision as “perverse as it is bewildering.”

“The judgment is so flawed that it would be ridiculous for Mr. Depp not to appeal this decision,” Jenny Afia said in a statement.

An attorney for Heard, meanwhile, said the verdict was “not a surprise” for anyone who followed the trial.

The Sun called the decision a “stunning victory for press freedom” and said that it had stood up and campaigned for victims of domestic abuse for more than 20 years.

“Domestic abuse victims must never be silenced, and we thank the Judge for his careful consideration and thank Amber Heard for her courage in giving evidence to the court,” a spokesperson for the tabloid said in a statement.

At the heart of the Sun’s characterization of Depp as a “wife-beater” were allegations it printed that the actor had assaulted Heard 14 times in locations around the world, including a “three-day hostage situation” that Heard said took place in Australia while Depp was filming a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Heard, 34, said the abuse was fueled by Depp’s drug and alcohol use and that he could turn into “the monster” when under the influence.

She alleged that at various time between 2013 and 2016 he hit, slapped and shoved her, pulled her hair

THE Korean drama Woman of Dignity now on Heart of Asia digital channel.

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Sean Combs, 51; Matthew McConaughey, 51; Ralph Macchio, 59; Markie Post, 70.

Happy Birthday: Stick to a script this year. If you deviate from the blueprint you have in place, you will find it challenging to get back on track. Set reasonable goals, and don’t waste time on trivial matters that don’t contribute to the results you are trying to achieve. Be honest with yourself and those you love. Progress will be yours. Your numbers are 4, 12, 21, 32, 37, 43, 48.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Express your feelings and opinions, and find out who is in agreement with you. Once you establish your position, it will be easier to make decisions to help you move forward. Personal improvements will lead to positive changes. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Pay close attention to the way others react to the information you share. It’s important not to exaggerate facts or fall victim to someone’s overrated opinion of something you’re considering doing or purchasing. Play it safe. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Size up situations and take action. It’s better to be a participant if you want to have a say in what happens. Ask challenging questions, and support whoever shares your values. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make a difference. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t let an emotional matter escalate. At the first sign of trouble, address issues swiftly and make positive suggestions. Don’t take chances with your health. Choose protective measures and virtual options over in-person gatherings. HHH JOHNNY DEPP

and threw bottles at her.

Depp acknowledged in court taking marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and magic mushrooms, and became addicted to opioid painkillers. But added: “I am certainly not a violent person, especially with women.” The judge found that 12 episodes of domestic violence had occurred and dismissed charges made by Depp’s legal team that Heard had “constructed a hoax.”

Lisa King, director of communications and external relations at the charity Refuge, which provides support for victims of domestic violence, expressed hope that the ruling sends “a very powerful message” that every single survivor of domestic abuse “should be listened to and should be heard.”

Mark Stephens, a media lawyer at the law firm Howard Kennedy, called the decision “absolutely devastating” for Depp. “Johnny Depp is only going to be able to rehabilitate himself if he accepts this judgment,” he added. n Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.

Powerhouse November lineup of programs, movies Viewers are in for a treat as GMA’s digital channel Heart of Asia proudly airs some of the biggest and well-loved dramas all over Asia, as well as various hit Filipino and foreign movies.

Relive the compelling story of the iconic television drama Anna KareNina starring Barbie Forteza, Joyce Ching, and Krystal Reyes. In the story, Donya Carmela (Sandy Andolong) offers a big reward for whoever finds her granddaughter, Anna Karenina Monteclaro.

Hundreds of 15-year-old girls claim the identity of Anna Karenina but most of them are fake— except for three girls with authentic birth certificates and other proof. All three girls bear the same name yet they have different motives.

Watch out for the drama-adventure Super Twins, which follows the exciting journey of two young girls Sha-sha and Tin-tin. They

Today’s Horoscope

possess mysterious rings that transform them into teenage superheroes: Sha-sha becomes Super S (Jennylyn Mercado) and Tin-tin is transformed into Super T (Nadine Samonte).

Heartwarming and engaging South Korean and Chinese series also await viewers.

Travel back to 1993 in the romantic comedy series Hit The Top, where pop idol Kenji (Yoon Shiyoon) accidentally travels through time to 2017. Discovering that he mysteriously disappeared in 1994 and is presumed dead, he begins to looks into the reason for his disappearance while trying to adjust to life in the future.

Meanwhile, in the fantasy romance series The Fox Fairy, the adorable and mischievous fox spirit named Xiao Cui (Janice Wu) is freed by Wang Yuan Feng (Wang Chuang Jun) after being sealed in captivity

inside the fairy court for a very long time. Out of gratitude and a liking for Yuan Feng, Xiao Cui figures out a way to marry him in return. They become a married couple who share a room but not a bed.

All set to captivate hearts anew is Kim Soon-Ah (of My Name is Kim Sam Soon) in the riveting Korean drama Woman of Dignity. She portrays Joanna, a cold-blooded and ambitious woman who will seduce her way into a rich family’s fortunes. Completing the stellar lineup of programs are Philippine TV’s first-ever epicserye Amaya, and Asianovelas Marrying My Daughter Twice and Wicked Angel.

Viewers can also look forward to their all-time favorite movies on the GMA’s digital channel. The Heart of Asia channel can be seen on the GMA Affordabox and on other digital TV boxes on free-to-air broadcast.

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Speak up if you don’t agree or like something. Trying to please everyone won’t help you reach your goal.

Take better care of yourself physically, and say no to anyone enticing you. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t let an emotional matter stop you from taking care of your responsibilities. Keep busy, and it will ease stress and ensure productivity. Welcome a change to your routine, as well as to the way you do things. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Pick up the pace.

Put an end to complaints and criticism by taking charge and making things happen.

Share your vision with someone you love or work alongside, and the input offered will encourage you to proceed. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A change someone close to you makes will be a wake-up call. Don’t ignore the signs. Ask questions, show interest and include those you love in your thoughts and plans. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Spend less time pondering over the impossible and more time focused on achieving. Spending time with someone who supports and encourages you will bring you closer together and help you accomplish what you set out to do. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t lose sight of what you are trying to achieve because you face opposition. Allow others the freedom to do as they please, and it will buy you time to put your plans in motion. Working alone will have its advantages. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You are in a better position than you realize. Don’t let someone downplay what you have to offer.

Know your strengths and how best to utilize them to get ahead. Pay close attention to medical, financial and legal matters. Romance is favored. HHHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Mixed emotions will lead you down a rabbit hole. Check your ego at the door when dealing with joint ventures or people who try to manipulate you. Use your imagination, and you’ll come up with a game plan you can call your own. HH Birthday Baby: You are imaginative, enthusiastic and sophisticated.

You are speculative and practical.

keep celebrating’ by mochael hawkins The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Cake section 5 The Princess Bride actor Cary 10 ___ Wednesday 13 Lot measure 14 String instrument that’s also a name 15 Start of a play 16 Dogs beg for it 18 CBS show with special agents 19 Grew disillusioned 20 Practice exercise 22 Belief in a nonintervening God 24 Truffle seasoning 26 One has one cell 28 What a tease might give you, with “a” 29 Word after “sticky” or “cinnamon” 30 Parting word in France 32 Seeing a raven may be a bad one 33 Go casual 36 Farming prefix 39 Back of a hit record 40 By what means 43 Basketball court marking 46 Withstand 48 The Hunger Games author Suzanne

9 Mummies’ resting places 4 50 Handed out hands 51 “See you ___!”

54 Person without manners 55 Post-prom event, or where each word in 16-, 28-, 33- and 43-Across can go 59 Encumbrance 60 Genetic copy 61 Ditty 62 Dripping 63 Errors like “yhis” 64 911 responders, briefly DOWN 1 Beer source 2 Zamboni’s surface 3 Cliff face process 4 Resting state 5 “All I ___ wanted...”

6 Popular cereal or board game 7 Fireplace stack 8 “Telephone Line” group 9 Feeling more down 10 Kudos 11 Words after a failed call transfer

2 Not hers or theirs 1 15 Jennifer of Friends 17 Kind of support some chairs provide 21 “Totally tubular!”

22 Dance move that resembles covering a sneeze 23 Australian bird 24 Resident of Riyadh 25 Card that a jack beats 27 Suffix with “Gator” 28 “Siddhartha” novelist 31 Library IDs 33 Cents’ counterpart 34 Keats poem 35 Ascended 36 Buffalo Bills’ group 37 “Hilarious!”

38 Exclude from consideration 40 Monotonous 41 Ball or globe 42 Moonrise Kingdom director Anderson 44 ___ Wayne (“Uproar” rapper) 45 Undamaged 47 Contribute to a pledge drive

51 Perched upon 52 Nevada’s third most populous city 53 Minecraft finds 54 It’s tightly strung 56 One having trouble getting off the web?

57 Demolition letters 58 “Absolutely!”

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Image BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Wednesday, November 4, 2020

How the needs of monks and empire builders helped mold the modern-day office

BY NICOLE KAY PETERSON Iowa State University THE coronavirus pandemic has forced most people to create an office space of their own—whether by devoting a room in our homes for work, sitting socially distanced in common areas or just creating a “Zoom worthy” corner in a bedroom.

As a scholar who researches and designs learning and workspaces, I’m aware how the modern-day workplace was shaped over several centuries. But few people may know that the origins of the office can be found in the monasteries of medieval Europe.

Being a step ahead O

NE of the pitfalls of organizations is being reactive rather than proactive. This results in catching-up plans rather than forging new ways of doing things. They also end up scrambling to address one issue after another with little time to decide on or adjust to emerging issues and opportunities.

As leaders, we need to encourage a proactive mindset so we do not get flat-footed when times become unpredictable, or even to take advantage of new opportunities. For our team to be proactive, we need to take it upon ourselves to be so. And while there are naturally proactive people, you often need to create the right environment for people to step forward and lead. You know your team is proactive when the amount of discretionary effort they put into their projects exceeds expectations, and when they are not afraid to try creative solutions to address issues in the workplace.

To encourage proactive thinking and for you to be responsive to your team’s needs, keep communication lines open. Create an environment where employee feedback is welcomed and pursued. Remind your team that you need to improve in your leadership and their feedback will help you identify which areas you need to improve. The communication lines should not just be a mechanism where people can tell you issues with their work but also a means by which you address their concerns until it is resolved. What use is employee feedback when they are not acted on? As

with any communication channel to succeed, there needs to be dialogue until an agreement is reached.

You may need to look also at the organizational culture and the leadership style you perpetuate in your organization. When leaders are perceived as the end-all and be-all of every decision, team members have a tendency to withhold suggestions and opinions because they know that they will be ignored in the end. In this case, management has to decide what kind of leaders they need in place for their people and follow through with a process and structure to reinforce the behavior.

To promote proactivity, you need to trust your employees by empowering them. Do not micromanage. This destroys creative thinking for your team because they will end up deferring to you for every decision. Instead, let them think of solutions and allow them to explore how they can resolve their work issues on their own. Your role as a leader is to make sure they understand what is required of them and allow them to achieve it through their own efforts. Setting clear goals will help them visualize what needs to be done and allow them the freedom to get there the best way they know how.

Part of empowering your team is to delegate responsibilities to others. You do this so people can become accountable for results rather than just following orders. This also prepares high-potential team members to step up and acquire the needed experience to make decisions for themselves and support them when needed. By demonstrating how to delegate, you effectively prepare them to empower others when they lead their own team.

To jump-start proactive thinking, post what-if scenarios to your team and brainstorm possible solutions during your team meeting. This practice helps people think one step ahead of potential issues which might escalate into a problem. This will also give you alternative solutions to common problems and also help you identify dependencies on other resources in your organization. This has the added benefit of providing you several options to address

issues as they come up.

For issues that your team has not foreseen, encourage them to think of solutions before they go to you for your decision. When your team goes to you with a problem, ask them first how they would have addressed the concern if it were up to them. Before providing your own recommendation, try to exhaust their ideas by asking follow-up questions to make sure they have considered all possible remedies. By setting this expectation, they are forced to provide their own recommendations. In time, this will become their habit and you develop a proactive mindset in your team.

Develop a growth mindset by creating an environment of learning. While your team has their own individual development plans, allow them to enlist in training programs they want to attend.

Whether they like to or not, they will unconsciously apply the principles they will learn in the training to their own work. It will also help them see other perspectives and help them generate other ideas from different fields.

You can maintain a team with initiative by rewarding proactive actions and behavior. Praise publicly those team members whose ideas have made a significant contribution to the team. This shows your team how important everyone’s ideas are and fosters a solutions-based mindset. For team members whose initiative did not work, privately discuss with them what went wrong and how they can improve. Value effort more than results so your team can push themselves to do better next time, rather than needlessly berate themselves on their failed attempt.

Having proactive members depends on how we deal with our team and the leadership style we embody. When a team member is not contributing as much to the success of the team, it falls upon you as a leader to reel them in and help them find their place in the team. Ultimately, the success of each member of your team is not just your responsibility but also your achievement. ■

Body treats now online THE coronavirus continues to rage, but it behooves everyone to keep up with the fight—and keep their spirits up. Global feel-good brand The Body Shop is helping consumers to that end, as its cruelty-free essentials are now just a few clicks away 24/7 at www. thebodyshop.com.ph.

Add to your cart The Body Shop’s new products your skin will absolutely thank you for.

■ Autumn is coming, and the brand has copncocted its coziest scent with Special Edition Vanilla Pumpkin collection. Like sugar, spice and everything nice, these body care treats are sure to keep you feeling toasty-warmed with notes of pumpkin, hazelnut caramel, maple syrup and almond milk.

■ Refresh your body care and bath time routine with The Body Shop’s instantly cooling new collections. The Special Edition Cool Cucumber range feels instantly cooling on skin and smells unbelievably refreshing; while the zingy Special Edition Zesty Lemon range keeps things fresh and is the perfect way to kick-start your morning.

■ Inspired by superfood ingredients from around the world. the new The Body Shop Hair & Body Mist collection are cute and colorful feel-good spritzes for that give instant uplift.

■ The new Ginger Scalp Serum is the latest addition to the Ginger Haircare collection. A few drops of this potent formula will help rebalance, nourish and soothe dryness of the scalp.

■ Your skin will be ready to take on the day with

THE Zesty Lemon Shower Gel to leave skin smelling refreshingly zingy and squeaky clean.

THE new Ginger Scalp Serum is the root to healthier-feeling hair.

CUTE and colorful feel-good hair and body mist spritzes: in Lime and Matcha for a refreshing citrusy boost, Coconut and Yuzu for a tropical scent that feels like the holidays, and Apricot and Agave when you need a little on-the-go sweetener.

round-the-clock protection against UVA and UVB rays, and pollution with the new and improved.

The Body Shop Skin Defence Multi-Protection Lotion SPF 50+ PA++++, a lightweight triple threat facial lotion that contains red algae extract and the antioxidant vitamin C to leave skin looking healthy and radiant.

■ Give skin some love and hydration with the new Tea Tree In-Control Hydrator. This new addition to the Tea Tree range is perfect for giving hydration to those with oily and blemish-prone skin. Made with Community Fair Trade tea tree oil from Kenya and natural salicylic acid from wintergreen.

EARLY ORIGIN IN MONASTERIES BEGINNING around the fifth century, monks that lived and worked in monasteries preserved ancient culture by copying and translating religious books, including the Bible, which was translated from Hebrew and Greek to Latin.

The workspaces during this time consisted mainly of a table, covered with cloth to protect the books, and a writing room, or “scriptorium” in Latin. It was common for monks to stand before their writing desks in the scriptorium—a practice that has come back into fashion with the advent of the standing desk in recent years.

Only during the Renaissance did the chair-andtable combination start to be seen in workspaces.

In 1560, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who later became the grand duke of Tuscany, wanted a building in which both the administrative and judiciary offices of Florence could be under one roof. So he commissioned the building of the Uffizi, which in Italian means “offices.” The lower two floors of the Uffizi were designed as offices for the Florentine magistrates that were in charge of overseeing production and trade, as well as the administrative offices. The top floor was a loggia—an area open on one or more sides.

The Medici family grew an art collection on the top floor of the Uffizi. The loggia underwent various renovations to house statues and paintings, until it grew into a vast art collection and gallery. Today the entire building is an art museum.

GOVERNMENT, MERCHANTS AND COMMERCE IT wasn’t until the 18th century that buildings with dedicated office spaces were constructed.

The process started in London when the growth of the British empire required office administration.

Two buildings were designed to handle paperwork and records related to office administration, the navy and the increased commerce. These included the Admiralty Office, a building for the Royal Navy and a building for the East India Company.

The Old Admiralty Office, built in 1726, housed government offices and meeting rooms, including the Admiralty Board Room. Today it is known as the Ripley Building, named after the architect who designed it. Rebuilt in 1729, the headquarters for the East India Company is an early example of a multipurpose building with offices. An expansion of the East India House in London, the reconstruction was designed so the company could conduct public business and manage the trade of spices and other goods from Eastern trade.

The public areas within the building included a spacious hall and courtyard used as a reception for sales and meetings, with large rooms for the directors and offices for the clerks. An elite group of established clerks at the East India Company administered the growth of company commerce in London and thousands of miles away in East Asia.

NEW YORK AND THE MODERN OFFICE IT was in the United States that the modern offices that most people are familiar with today were developed. The number of clerks in North America increased tenfold between 1870 and 1930. At first, insurance, banking and finance sectors led the need for skilled clerks with good penmanship. Later, clerks performed specialized, though routine, tasks such as typewriting while sitting next to each other in an open office floor plan. At that point, offices grew larger and began to resemble factories.

Women’s share of clerical employment increased from 2.5 percent to 52.5 percent due to the emergence of the typewriter, drastically altering the work environment. Women entered the workforce as typists, which introduced an opportunity for independence and a break away from solely domestic responsibilities.

Skyscrapers were designed during this same period, using iron or steel frame structures borrowed from factory buildings. The advances in building technology and the open office workspaces paved the way for architects and designers in the 1950s and 1960s to develop the offices and office furniture we recognize today.

While we don’t know what the office of the future holds, we can look back at how necessity molded office space. Today, the same necessity is helping us carve out workspaces in small nooks and makeshift offices.

THE CONVERSATION

B5

B6 Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Electronic voting considered the cheapest and most secure way of participating in elections

LINDA Lainvoo votes online in the European elections from the comfort of a cafe in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, Thursday May 16, 2019. Estonia is the only country in the world to allow internet voting for the entire electorate, in every election. (AP Photo/David Keyton)

D

R. Robert Krimmer of University of Tartu said this was based on the cost of casting a vote in Estonia, a country in Northern Europe where most people have adopted digital or electronic transactions in various sectors.

“Basically, electronic voting or internet voting is the cheapest with a little bit more than two Euros (2.32 EUR) while voting in the polling stations costs about twice as much,” Krimmer said in a presentation during a virtual forum organized by Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute on October 27, 2020.

Estonia, which has a population of 1.3 million, is fully covered with broadband connection that equips 100 percent of schools and government agencies. About 75 percent of homes in the country have broadband, while almost all government and bank transactions are done electronically.

“I myself have half a gigabit of internet synchronous fiber for about US$55 (P2,700 monthly),” Krimmer said.

“All of the bank transfers in Estonia are done electronically. That means that they appear within seconds at the other bank account. That doesn’t sound so spectacular but it has been like that all the time, so basically a bank transfer that takes a day or more days is completely unheard of in Estonia,” he said.

He said 95 percent of income tax declarations are also done electronically.

“Why do they do that? Because when you do it online, you get your money two weeks later and not half a year later when you do it on paper,” he said.

Krimmer said Estonia is also a leader in electronic or internet voting. “Every second person (47 percent) voted online in the last European Parliament elections here in Estonia. It is a gradual growth that has reached this very high number now, and that was pre-COVID,” he said.

He said the electronic system has reduced cases of harassment during elections by allowing voters to vote as often as they wanted.

“In an electronic system, that’s not really a problem because you can override your vote and it’s only the last vote that counts. That’s what matters…

So if you feel not safe while using the online channel, you can actually go and vote in the polling station. If you vote on paper, it cancels any electronic vote. So, this multiple voting is really the best way to counteract voter intimidation, vote buying, voter coercion and is really a nice solution to the remote voting problem that you have if you would vote by mail,” Krimmer said.

The Estonia e-voting system has end-to-end verifiability, as it is cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded, according to Krimmer.

It is seen as a model for other countries that still rely on manual means of counting votes.

In the Philippines, Dr. Ador R. Torneo and Prof. Topin S. Ruiz of the Department of Political Science at De La Salle University said the “automation of elections has improved the transparency of certain aspects of the electoral process.”

Stratbase ADR Institute managing director Dindo Manhit said modern technology can enable the Philippines hold the 2022 elections successfully despite the threat of the pandemic.

“It is contended by some that we as a nation must make the hard choice between democracy and health.

This need not be the case. With proper coordination across sectors, transparent policies, and the use of appropriate technology, we can have both,” Manhit said in the same forum.

“Entire economies, educational systems, and daily customs have gone on pause because of the pandemic. We cannot afford to let the same happen to elections, the cornerstone of our democratic governance,” he said.

Grab, DTI, and Mayani join forces to help farmers & drive agri sector’s inclusion in digital economy

I

N a collaborative bid to accelerate the Filipino smallholder farmers’ and the broader agriculture sector’s inclusion in the digital economy amidst the new normal, Southeast Asia’s super app, Grab, through its leading e-wallet GrabPay, announced its major team-up with the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) -Region 2 and fast-growing digital farmto-table platform, Mayani.

With the transport of fresh produce being a key challenge throughout the pandemic, farming communities and agripreneurs across the Philippines’ Cagayan Valley Region were left unable to market and sell their fresh produce to a wider customer base, causing its oversupply in a region considered as the “food basket” of Luzon and an integral part of Metro Manila’s food supply chain.

Through Tripartite Partnership Memorandum of Understanding, GrabPay, DTI Region 2, and Mayani will work together to promote a safe, seamless, and cashless farm-to-table e-commerce experience to more Filipinos and help boost rural incomes among thousands of farmers, farming communities, and agripreneurs across the Cagayan Valley Region.

“As many of our communities look towards economic recovery, it is undeniable that digitalization and cashless payments adoption will remain key for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses to thrive and be more resilient. Our partnership with DTI Region 2 and Mayani is a shining beacon of how GrabPay can help farmers and farming communities recover from the crisis, and grow sustainably,” said Jonny Bates, Head of GrabPay Philippines.

Mayani will spearhead the consolidation and activation of a whole range of produce from 4,761 smallholder

farmers and 501 agri-MSMEs in Region 2 and manage orders through its e-commerce platform with GrabPay as its digital payments solution. Likewise, GrabPay will also be providing wider market access to Mayani’s farming communities through a sustained campaign on the Grab app starting November 5, 2020, and users can also earn GrabRewards points whenever they use GrabPay to shop for fresh produce on Mayani’s platform.

In order to ensure broad inclusivity within the farming communities, DTI Region 2 will facilitate region-wide linkage of Cagayan Valley Region’s farmers cooperatives and agri-MSMEs to the Mayani platform.

“Even in these uncertain times, our mission in Mayani has stayed the same: uplift the lives of our Filipino smallholder farmers by changing how people buy their food through e-commerce,” said JT Solis, Co-Founder and CEO of Mayani, who led the negotiation and structuring of the

three-way partnership deal. “This top-shelf collaboration is another step in our efforts to bridge the gap between our own agroentrepreneurs and potential customers in Metro Manila and eventually, all around the nation.”

Mayani currently has 1,200 farmers connected to its platform while serving over 6,000 B2C customers and huge B2B clients such as Shell, UCC Group, Healthy Options, Cara Mia, and Amici among others.

Serving as the conduit for facilitating private sector relations with farmer cooperatives, DTI Region 2 will continue to provide the necessary support for techenabled, multi-stakeholder initiatives in agro-entrepreneurship. “Creating better access to quality produce from all around the country continues to be our priority, and we hope to expand our service by replicating the partnership we’ve established here in more areas,” said Leah Pulido Ocampo, DTI Region 2, Regional Director.

CEREMONIAL HAND-OVER OF 425 METRIC TONS OF RICE DONATION FROM JAPAN. On October 26, 2020, in Batangas City, Economic Minister Nakata Masahiro of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines attended a ceremonial turn-over of 425 metric tons of rice donation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan under the framework of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR). Also present were National Food Authority Administrator Judy Carol L. Dansal and Department of Social Welfare and Development Bureau Director Emmanuel P. Privado, and Province of Batangas Provincial Administator Levi G. Dimaunahan. Victims affected by the eruption of Taal Volcano last January are the recipients of the rice donation. APTERR is a regional cooperation among ASEAN+3 countries, which aims to strengthen food security, alleviate poverty, and eradicate malnourishment. This initiative started in 2002 during the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF+3). In 2019, Japan provided 560 metric tons of rice under the APTERR to households from Ilocos Norte affected by Typhoon Ineng (international name Bailu) and those from Pangasinan affected by Typhoon Jenny (international name Podul).

#TimeToEndBreastCancer inspires unity, hope

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ROUND the world, we are experiencing challenging times as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is true for all of those impacted by the disease, especially the breast cancer community who now faces more risk and vulnerability. That’s why The Estée Lauder Companies remains dedicated to The Breast Cancer Campaign (The Campaign) and its mission to create a breast cancer-free world.

This year, The Campaign’s creative features a single, bold Pink Ribbon—the globally recognized symbol for breast cancer.

However, what it represents goes much further—it’s more than a ribbon, it unites us.

It’s a movement, a representation of the global community, and it honors everyone touched by this disease. Every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer —and that is far too many. We are united in hope around the shared goal: it’s #TimeToEndBreastCancer.

The Estée Lauder Companies has been a leader in the global breast cancer movement since Evelyn H. Lauder cocreated the Pink Ribbon and started The Campaign in 1992.

Now more than ever, The Estée Lauder Companies champions the wellbeing of the global breast cancer community and will continue to drive funds and inspire action.

The Campaign has raised more than $89 million globally for lifesaving research, education, and medical services, with more than $73 million funding 293 medical research grants through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF), the highest-rated nonprofit breast cancer organization in the U.S. founded by Lauder in 1993. The BCRF research The Campaign supports in seven countries across the globe spans the entire continuum of cancer research – from basic biology of how healthy cells go awry and become cancer, to developing new diagnostic tests and new treatments, to research to improve a patient’s quality-of-life both during and after treatment.

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., affirms The Campaign’s mission and honors the legacy of his late mother stating, “Our mission to create a breast cancer-free world was the vision of my mother, Evelyn H. Lauder, who started The Breast Cancer Campaign and co-created the Pink Ribbon in 1992, bringing a global

level of awareness to the disease through our employees, consumers and partners. Citizenship and sustainability have always been part of The Estée Lauder Companies’values and The Breast Cancer Campaign represents the best of who we are as a company. Today, I am more proud than ever of the positive impact we have made in the breast cancer community and against the disease. Our dedication remains unwavering, uniting our global community in action, to bring us closer to a cure.”

Elizabeth Hurley, The Campaign’s longtime Global Ambassador shared, “Being a part of the movement to end breast cancer is my most meaningful work. With people around the world still being diagnosed with breast cancer every minute of every day, the disease remains a challenge that we are dedicated to. I joined Evelyn to work on The Campaign shortly after she started it in the early in 1990s, when women still did not talk openly about the disease. She would be so proud of how far we have come and the positive impact we have had! I’ve seen the tremendous progress made through the research we have funded, and spoken to many leaders in the field who all tell me the same thing— that we must continue to fund research to advance science, treatments, and care, to bring us closer to a cure.”

“The culture and values of The Estée Lauder Companies are exemplified by the inspiring work of The Breast Cancer Campaign, one of our most recognized citizenship initiatives and the cornerstone of our commitment to social responsibility.

Particularly during challenging moments, we are reminded of our responsibilities as global citizens to protect the health and wellness of our employees and the communities in which we operate. Our values continue to guide us as we create positive change by supporting all those touched by breast cancer,” said Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Together, The Campaign will continue to raise funds, educate, support, and make a real impact to bring us closer to our mission. To learn more about The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, visit ELCompanies. com/BreastCancerCampaign.

Malabon helps transform stay-at-home moms into‘E-Nanays’

AT THE SIGNING OF THE AGREEMENT FOR THE E-NANAY TUTORIAL LED BY MALABON MAYOR LENLEN ORETA (SEATED, CENTER).

With him are, from left: Marissa Cristobal, Principal of Ninoy Aquino Elementary School; and Engr. Sheila Ibay Villanueva, Vice President for Institutional Development External Affairs, and OIC-Dean, College of Engineering and Technology, City of Malabon University. Standing are the CMU Board Members.

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URING this pandemic, moms have become “all-around” moms, becoming the cook, the nurse, the discipline officer, and most especially, the teacher.

Moms ensure that their households are not only functional, but safe and free from the virus. Moms are doing all these tasks and are expected to guide their kids as they undergo remote learning, using electronic gadgets, mobile apps, and digital tools. The reality, however, is not all moms are equipped to help their kids with online learning.

“Moms are also the heroes of this pandemic as they have multiple roles. So it is just appropriate and timely to give back to them by equipping them with the necessary skills to survive the digital shift in education,” says Malabon Mayor Lenlen Oreta during the recent launch of the “E-Nanay Tutorial” project.

The project – a first among local government units (LGUs) – is specifically focused on assisting non-tech-savvy moms.

The City of Malabon University Research and Extension Services Office (CMURESO), together with the Ninoy Aquino Elementary School (NAES), is facilitating the program.

The first day of the class was held last October 12 at the computer laboratories of the City of Malabon University (CMU).

Participants of the 10-day “E-Nanay Tutorial” learned the basics of operating a computer or

laptop, which is useful especially to those who do not have any background in using modern technologies. They were also taught on how to use various Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel, and how to help their children in online learning, such as the mechanics for a Zoom meeting, or how to record and edit basic videos. There was also an extensive training on the use of PowerPoint so that they could also help their children do presentations.

“This tutorial doesn’t only benefit the moms and their children, this would also benefit the entire family as they would be able to adapt to the new normal way of life, where digital transactions will be the norm, and where they can be involved in the online economy,” explained Mayor Oreta. “We want them to utilize the opportunities and available resources to develop new skills. As long as we work together – the LGU and the academe, and with the support of the community – we can find ways to help each other surpass the challenges that this pandemic has brought us.”

Another positive aspect of the program is that the 50 senior CTE students who are helping with the “E-Nanay Tutorial” are now fulfilling the time requirements for their OJT. They don’t have to find other venues to fulfill their OJT requirements or wait for the pandemic to subside, as their assistance in the program ensures that their education is not delayed.

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Avida Land lists properties in Lamudi

By Roderick L. Abad

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NLINE property platform Lamudi has tied up with Avida Land through the listing of the developer’s property projects on its portal.

The partnership aims to tap a wider audience, even those based outside of the country, for Ayala Land ’s mid-range brand through a better online presence.

Based on Lamudi’s data, the interest from abroad in Philippine properties remain strong amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

In fact from January to June 2020, the United States accounted for most of the overseas pageviews on the property web site at 47.23 percent.

This was followed by the Middle East at 18.28 percent; Canada, 12.05 percent; England, 9.57 percent; Australia, 9.93 percent; and Japan, 2.93 percent.

These findings will be helpful for Avida Land since overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are among its strongest markets.

The real-estate portal allows potential homebuyers to choose among properties listed based on their lifestyle needs,

location, aesthetic preferences and budget.

OFWs will find a range of Avida Land offerings—from house and lot developments to lot-only projects, condominium units, and even preselling units.

Currently, Aldea Grove Estates, Avida Towers Ardane, Serin East Tagaytay, Avida Settings Batangas, Avida Towers Atria, and Avida Towers Riala are all available for inquiries on the platform.

Lamudi helps the Ayala Land subsidiar y showcase highquality pictures and videos, as well as location maps and landmarks to aid home seekers in envisioning what it’s like living in its property projects.

What’s more, it provides Avida Land with an official partner badge on its developer page, easing the worries of property buyers who are keen on starting business transactions online.

With their par tnership, Lamudi believes that they can propel the property industry forward, serve the market better, and make “dream homes” more accessible even in the middle of a health crisis and challenges ahead.

Live your passion At sky arts manila

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he modern urban dwellers and students in Metro Manila want to have it all. They want to enjoy their passions without losing focus on their goals and their daily grind in an environment that allows them to live the life they want.

With this, Vista Residences, the condominium arm of the country’s largest homebuilder Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., is offering its much sought-after condominium property in Manila.

Sky Arts Manila is a residential condominium property situated along the historic Manila where the highest concentration of educational institutions, collegiate centers, historical sites, nightlife outlets and business establishments are located.

The 45-story tower that sits on a 3,750 square meters of prime real estate has its pre-selling phase already under way.

Taking a cue from the Manila’s historical value, Sky Arts Manila is seen to be a vertical community that combines the beauty and allure of the past with the forward sensibilities of the future.

Sky Arts Manila is a place that fosters the passions of its residents to help them live the life they want and deserve to live. It is perfect for the urban dwellers looking for the comforts of city living all packed into one. Situated a few minutes away from the central business centers of Makati, Bonifacio Global City, and Bay City, Sky Arts Manila is perfect for the upwardly mobile professionals and young entrepreneurs who want to be close to their passion.

The property is also a few minutes away from the city’s top shopping destinations (Robinsons Manila, SM Manila and Mall of Asia Complex), well-respected

educational institutions (University of the Philippines Manila, St. Paul University, Philippine Christian University and Philippine Women’s University), worldclass hospitals (Manila Doctors Hospital and Philippine General Hospital) and entertainment and gaming complex (Entertainment City).

Sky Arts Manila offers a variety of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units providing an ideal layout and square footage option to cater to the different needs and lifestyles of the unit owners.

As with all Vista Residences properties, Sky Arts Manila boasts of indoor and outdoor amenities—swimming pool, fitness center, function rooms, landscaped gardens, to name a few—that let its future residents enjoy a well-integrated live-work-play lifestyle.

Future residents of Sky Arts Manila are afforded the luxury of enjoying the most breathtaking views the city has to offer. Watch as the glorious sunset give way to a glittery evening full of city lights from the South units or choose the view from the West units and invigorate your mornings as the captivating sunrise reveals the calming scenery of Manila Bay. The view from the top will never be more enticing than it is in Sky Arts Manila.

Sky Arts Manila is just one of the exciting project developments the public can look forward to this year with Vista Residences.

For more information on Sky Arts Manila and other Vista Residences properties, visit www.vistaresidences. com.ph, like the Facebook page @vistaresidencesofficial or call Vista Residences Marketing at 0908-9148457.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 B7

Tagaytay Highlands brings back the ‘P’ in Live-Work-Play concept

In one of Tagaytay Highlands Country Club’s multiple pools, one can either swim a few laps or simply soak up in luxury.

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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@brownindio

he advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the LiveWork-Play concept of Tagaytay Highlands to revive the play element.

Nevertheless, Tagaytay Highlands revived the “Play” in the L-W-P setup to a whole new level of engagement by introducing a variety of stress-busting outdoor and indoor activities available at designated times while keeping everyone’s safety a top priority.

While playing a round of golf in two of its lovely golf courses, golfers will have an opportunity seeing the stunning vistas of Taal Lake, Laguna de Bay, and Mount Makiling at a distance. In line with the times, the management requires golfers to use face mask and face shield during tee time. To further ensure the safety of caddies, club employees, and members/guests playing out in the open, the fairways remain a social distancing zone. Players are urged to bring their own towels and water jugs, and be responsible for

handling and cleaning their golf equipment and golf carts.

To reinforce protective measures, the management ordered all locker rooms and showers off-limits as per Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines. Failure to follow the guidelines will result in stern warnings and/or players’ suspension to be issued by the clubs.

Notwithstanding the pandemic, the management said Tagaytay Highlands International Golf Club continues to safely challenge players to a game of dare with its demanding 13th tee, set no less than 84 meters above the greens, and its 18th hole, which presents a test of a 150-yard-wide gully.

Meanwhile, Tagaytay Midlands Golf Club has allowed players to bring their A-Game while adhering to safety rules. Situated amid

Take the kids to the pedal go-karts to make up for lost time with your little ones.

a dense forest 1,000 feet above Taal Lake, the 400-hectare, 27-hole championship golf course strongly appeals to the sport’s more competitive enthusiasts.

“The fun is just getting started as homeowners and guests have the option to indulge in non-golfing pursuits that promote an equally active lifestyle,” the management said in a press statement.

Families will have the opportunity to experience precious bonding moments at the Tagaytay Highlands Country Club. It has sports and recreation facilities for youngsters and adults’ every persuasion. In its three-level sports center, there are multiple pools to swim or just relax in luxury. There are also basketball and badminton courts, billiards hall and a 14-lane disco bowling center.

For nature tripping, there is an ATV trail challenge and trek the mountainside, or just go pedaling around Tagaytay Highlands’ bike trail. For boding moments with the children, there is the fishing pier and pedal go-karts. Moreover, there’s also a fitness gym at the member’s disposal.

The same government-mandated health protocols are enforced at the Tagaytay Highlands Country

Club. “Homeowners and guests are expected to wear face masks and face shields outside their homes; maintain a 1-meter distance from one another; and to wash hands often,” the management said. It added that all club personnel also strictly follow sanitation procedures and safety protocols at all facilities in Tagaytay Highlands, such as contactless temperature scanning, regular disinfection and social distancing. To reinforce safety protocols, hand sanitizers and disinfecting foot mats are also installed in all public entrances/ exits at all facilities.

“For ward-thinking Filipinos who are starting to heed the call of the great indoors and outdoors will find comfort in knowing that Tagaytay Highlands has proven to be extremely efficient in complying with health and safety measures and in its delivery of quick crisis responses during adverse natural and high-risk events,” explained the management.

The management said access to such world-class sports and recreation amenities is one big way of coping with the new normal, and to even find a permanent home space where play is integral to life more than ever.

Sail away into the sea of luxury

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ith the Mall of Asia (MOA) Complex becoming a fast-rising community in Metro Manila, it is no surprise that its property value has been increasing and is expected to continue to do so in the next few years. If the second-quarter update of Santos Knight Frank showing the Bay area commanding the highest in property value among Metro Manila’s CBDs were any indication, this Pearl-ofthe-Seas of a location might just surpass Makati and Ortigas to become the most sought-after real-estate haven.

The MOA Complex has become one of the most dynamic mixed-use developments in Metro Manila. From a quiet bayside strip, it has been transformed into a hub for some of Metro Manila’s biggest institutions, including government offices, private organizations, multinational BPO and tech firms and medical and educational institutions. It has become the take-off point for an ocean of international and local destinations, being close to the international airport. With the government’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, it is now the gateway to the rapidly developing provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. Because of its unprecedented growth, major real -state players have begun navigating their ships toward the Mall of Asia Complex.

Being situated near three of Manila’s major thoroughfares—Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Roxas Blvd. and Edsa—the Mall of Asia Complex makes a trip to the Makati Central Business District, the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, and even Quezon City a breeze. It is also highly accessible to some of Manila’s cultural institutions, such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines and The National Museum.

Despite this progress, the MOA Complex remains one of the least congested areas of Manila, with a master-planned community made

up of open spaces and the picturesque Manila Bay promenade. As such, the Mall of Asia has become the ideal location to get away from the city’s maddening crowd while still being in the center of it all.

Luxurious resort-like living

The MOA Complex provides the perfect setting for a home that offers modern urban dwelling anchored on luxury and convenience. And SM Development Corp. (SMDC), the country’s premier real estate developer, knows that all too well.

Taking inspiration from international seaside resorts and luxurious waterfront homes, SMDC’s Sail Residences offers the experience of modern-luxe island-resort living through nature-inspired hues of sandy whites and ocean blues. Its architectural elements are akin to the fluidity, the crest and the fall of a wave, giving you the relaxing, tranquil atmosphere of the sea.

Go on a luxury cruise without ever sailing the seas through its perfectly sized unit layouts made extra-special by ocean-themed amenities and furnishings. Go for a meditative walk in the manicured gardens of the Pacific Park.

Have an early morning jog outdoors or work out in the state-of-the-art gym or relax by the still waters of the Serenity Pool. Take a dip in the Deluxe Jacuzzi after a long day at work.

Spend your celebratory milestones and family affairs at Sail Residences’ designer cabanas or its Tropical Clubhouse.

Embrace the wide, open spaces and the well-appointed amenities of a safe, secure and well-maintained environment managed

by SMDC’s professional property management.

Whether you are simply lounging with family or working from home, living at Sail Residences makes life so much more pleasurable.

Sit back, relax and experience luxurious

SAIL Residences balcony view

living by the bay every single day.

The world is your home

With Sail Residences, the world becomes your home. It is the perfect dock from which to set off to your destinations. Navigate the world through the nearby transport hubs and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, or explore the Mall of Asia Complex on foot while reducing your carbon footprint. Hop from your favorite restaurant to the movie house, from the bookstore to a concert, from your office to your home—within a 15-minute time frame, without ever leaving your neighborhood. Give yourself more time for things that matter and people who truly matter while nurturing Earth.

That’s convenience and environmental steward-

ship combined.

Get close to some of Manila’s landmarks— the MOA Arena, SMX, the E-Com Buildings and the Mall of Asia—and experience art coming to life. Immerse yourself in modern architecture created by Arquitectonica, a Miami-based architectural firm known for its groundbreaking modernist approach to design, which has designed some of the world’s most iconic edifices.

Indeed, there is nothing quite like the MOA Complex. And with Sail Residences giving you the most elegant and pleasurable living style with its grandeur and opulent offerings, you are sure to sail away into a sea of luxury with a Sail Residences investment.

For more information on Sail Residences, visit https://smdc.com/properties/sail-residences/

B8 Wednesday, November 4, 2020 | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao

WHERE’S THE DANCE? S

By Josef Ramos

EAN MISCHA ARANAR and Ana Leonila Nualla just couldn’t TikTok the pandemic time away to keep their gold medalwinning form on the dance floor grooving.

Dancing competitions, let alone in dance halls, remain prohibited while the Covid-19 pandemic threat exists, and because of this, the doting dancing couple stressed, is making them rusty.

“There are no competitions to motivate us. We are hungry for competitions,”Aranar, 23, told BusinessMirror on Monday. “Without competitions, we feel stagnant. I feel our hard work in training is going to waste.”

Aranar and Nualla won three of the 10 gold medals the Dancesports Council of the Philippines Inc. (DSCPI) raked in all in a day’s work in last year’s 30th Southeast Asian Games. The duo topped Tango, Viennese Waltz and All Five Standard Dances events Going online has become a trend in almost all aspects of daily life during the pandemic. But for the partners, that’s a no-no in dancesports.

“Online competition is just good for solo

competition, but not for couple,” said Aranar, a graduating Business Management student at Far Eastern University. “It’s not recommendable.”

Joining live tournaments, Aranar said, is a tried and tested training ground for world-class dance athletes.

“We need to go back to actual competitions.

Internationally, there’s no competition yet, maybe in December,” Nualla, the 28-year-old Chemistry graduate at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila, said. “There’s a competition abroad but that’s only limited to their dancers, they’re not allowing foreigners to join.”

Nualla said Filipino dancers have been left behind by athletes abroad because of more relaxed quarantine protocols in their countries.

“That’s the reality, we are at a disadvantage.

We are left behind because other countries now allow dancing,” Nualla said. “The confidence we had in last SEA Games is gone. The groove, timing, connection and consistency, they’re all lost because we haven’t trained for a long time now.”

If worse comes to worst, they will settle

with a simulation competition—complete with costumes and rules but without judges—in a studio next month.

The government only allowed professional sports whose organizers could afford a bubble environment to return to action. Except for one professional boxing card in Mandaue City early this month, contact or combat sports— dancesports included—are still banned.

Aranar said that through the DSCPI headed by Becky Garcia, they were able to train after the general community quarantine was relaxed in Metro Manila.

But there are not enough dance studios which suits the caliber of dance athletes like Aranar and Nualla.

“We trained at home in Balut [Tondo] starting in June,” said Nualla, adding they were relieved when they were able to return to their training center in San Juan City after the facility secured a permit to operate last September.

The couple, now proud owners of a food delivery service called Healthy Appetite which they established at the height of the pandemic, said they are focused on the Asian Indoor Games

Lady Bulldogs inspire next generation of champs

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IX-TIME University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s basketball champion National University (NU) became the newest addition to the roster of inspiring athletes in the Milo Home Court Campaign.

The Lady Bulldogs will take over some

of Milo’s online programs and social-media activities to help parents continue their children’s champion journeys at home.

“Our commitment to nurture kids through sports never stops,” said Lester Castillo, assistant vice president of Nestlé Philippines-

Globe rolls out Prepaid Virtual Hangouts

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LOBE rolled out a new platform called Prepaid Virtual Hangouts that allows gamers to love, pursue their passion and discover new ones through exclusive online events.

Virtual Hangouts offers four events catering to the Gen Z youth with eSports as one of the most exciting. Dubbed Go ESports, the hangout allows aspiring Filipino gamers to join

Milo. “To keep our children engaged and inspired to play and be active, we have tapped the Lady Bulldogs to join the campaign.”

“The rare combination of heart and skill that these ladies have shown on and off the court make them the perfect role models for kids and aspiring tournaments and apprenticeship workshops that offers a chance to be part of the team to the Super Gamerfest (SGF) 2020.

The SGF is a first-of-its-kind live streamed online festival set December 5 and 6 and 11 to 13. It is created by, with and for gamers in Southeast Asia, combining eSports, awards, and fun.

set from May 21 to 30 in Bangkok and the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in December.

“We are now in the first level of our training because we stopped for too long,” said Nualla, adding the other SEA Games gold medalists— Mark Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen (Waltz and Foxtrot), Wilbert Fajardo and Pearl Marie Cañeda (Samba, Rumba and Chachacha) and Michael Marquez and Stephanie Sabalo (Paso Doble and All Five Latin Dances)—should be shaking off the rusts from the long layoff.

“We will survive and fight and try to bring back that confidence we had in the last SEA Games,” Nualla said.

athletes. We are delighted to have the NU Lady Bulldogs be part of the Milo family,” he added.

The Lady Bulldogs are unbeaten in 96 games in the UAAP, the longest streak in the league, and in last year’s 30th Southeast Asian Games, some members of the squad played for the national team that won the gold medal.

“We are happy to be part of a campaign where we can utilize our abilities to motivate young girls Launched via an online event last October 18, the SGF will feature tournaments, watch parties, interviews with top eSports personalities, workshops and behind the scenes training, as well as the region’s first gaming and eSports awards.

The event is presented in partnership with Singapore’s top telco, Singtel, through PVP ESports 2020 community tournaments.

Cindy Tan, head of Business and Marketing of Singtel’s International Group,

Aranas dismisses ‘hard sell’ scheme in POC elections

THAT’S ALL AL MENDOZA alsol47@yahoo.com

Plodding on vs pandemic

SEAN MISCHA ARANAR and Ana Leonila Nualla want to regain the confidence and form that won them three gold medals in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

and boys to pick up a basketball and pursue their dreams,” Jack Animam, NU’s center and SEA Games gold medalist said.

The Lady Bulldogs will energize the social-media sphere with the Milo Challenge on Tiktok. Animam will be joined by Monique Del Carmen and Camille Clarin as they teach kids the fun ways to practice drills at home, as well as creative exercises stay fit and healthy. said that the SGF is a way to create a holistic and fun environment that is beyond just tournament gameplays.

“It’s about all things gaming that we enjoy, and not stopping at just competition when it comes to us presenting eSports in an engaging way,” Tan said.

One of the highlights and most anticipated events of SGF is the PVP ESports 2020 Community Championships hosted by Singapore.

MOALA JUMPER San Miguel Beer’s

Moala Tautuaa catches Blackwater’s Maurice Shaw flatfooted for an easy jumper during their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup eliminations match at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga. The Beermen luckily escapes with a 9088 overtime victory.

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ESUS CLINT ARANAS is not purely relying on numbers and left his fate to the voters as he challenges incumbent Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino in the organization’s elections on November 27.

“I will leave that to your best judgment,” the president of the World Archery Philippines said in addressing the 54 voters in the political exercise.

Aranas, a tax lawyer and former government official, said he’s not trying to “hard sell” his bid to become POC president in this most challenging period for sports.

“That’s not ho w we campaign,” he told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and powered by Smart.

Tolentino, who became POC president in July last year completing the unfinished term of boxing chief Ricky Vargas, welcomed Aranas’s challenge.

“We’re all free to run and aspire for that position... if they want to give contributions to Philippine sports,” said Tolentino, who is seeking a full four-year term.

The 54 voting members in the POC include the regular 51 national sports association heads, Athletes’ Commission representatives Hidilyn Diaz and Jesse Lacuna and International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

Aranas hinted that “two, three or four” NSAs with issues regarding their registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission are up for deliberation.

Aranas has his own platform that is based on transparency and unity.

“For those who have known me, I’m a very simple person. I have nothing to hide. And we should be unified. Otherwise, it will never work,” he told the forum that has Upstream Media as official webcast partner.

Aranas said changes are needed in Philippine sports.

“We are at a critical turning point. We see the POC as a house divided. What do we really want? What do you need? What do we want to achieve?” he told the weekly forum. “That’s why I was put here at the forefront. Somebody has to carry the fight.”

Aranas’s ticket includes Steve Hontiveros (chairman), Dr. Philip Juico (first vice president), Ada Milby (second vice president), Julian Camacho (treasurer), Monico Puentevella (auditor) and Robert Bachmann, Charlie Ho and Robert Mananquil (board members).

Tolentino’s team is compised of Tom Carrasco (chairman), Al Panlilio (first vice president), Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez (second vice president), Cynthia Carrion (treasurer), Chito Loyzaga (auditor) and Pearl Managuelod, Dave Carter, Rep. Prospero Pichay and Dr. Jose Raul Canlas (board members).

HERMANS

PFF taps futsal legend Dutchman Hermans

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By Rick Olivares

EGENDARY Dutch national futsal team player and multi-titled coach Victor Hermans has agreed to help develop the Philippine futsal program.

“Vic Hermans is very well versed and experienced with the Asian and Asean futsal landscape,” said Philippine Football Federation futsal department head Kevin Goco. “As for national team development, he knows the styles, strength and weakness of each team and has beaten most of them having conquered titles coaching Iran and Thailand and having won numerous titles coaching both.”

The 67-year-old Hermans—who managed teams in Europe, Asia and the Middle East—goes on board as a technical consultant for futsal. He will be tasked to help rebuild the national teams from the national, senior and youth levels.

As a player, his teams in the Netherlands won the futsal title five times. He also

COVID-19 is that vicious, indeed.

Surfacing worldwide in February after its discovery on December 17 last year in Wuhan, China, the virus virtually stopped all the biggest tournaments across the universe. It spared no one, from the British Open golf to Wimbledon to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

When the NBA (National Basketball Association) resumed, officials chopped down some 32 games to fit in its restart on July 31. Thankfully, the world’s No. 1 basketball tournament concluded its season some four weeks ago minus a major hitch, with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Miami Heat 4-2 in the seven-game Finals for their record-tying 17th NBA crown with the redoubtable Boston Celtics.

And then the World Series was next, with the Dodgers defeating the Tampa Bay Rays of Florida by a similar 4-2 series victory to finally win the world baseball trophy in their third Finals appearance in the last four years.

But while the victory meant a lot more for Los Angeles—like establishing the California city of Hollywood glitz and glamor as the sports capital of the world—it was somehow marred by the inordinate indiscretion of Dodger Justin Turner.

The red-bearded third baseman was pulled out by team officials in the eighth inning, Dodgers leading 3-1, after he tested positive for infection.

He was whisked to an isolation room in Arlington, Texas, site of the baseball bubble.

But in a burst of madness that defies logic, Turner reduced his 14-day quarantine to just an hour or so, bolting his quarters and—horror of horrors—joining his teammates in the Dodgers’ victory celebration at the Texan diamond.

And, shocker of shockers, he was mostly without a mask when he hugged his teammates, his teammates’ wives and children, his coaches and the entire Dodgers’ staff. His wife, Kourtney, could only look in disbelief.

One thing I’m sure of: Turner wasn’t only selfish, he was unprofessionally reckless and disrespectful of his teammates’ rights to live safely amid the pandemic curse.

I pray there’s not a single person inside the Philippine Basketball Association bubble in Clark Freeport, Pampanga, who could be as wildly immature as Turner. Oh, yeah, none yet, even as the PBA has had to endure two postponements already due to false alarms on infection rumors. I hope it stays that way up to November 11, the targeted date of completion for the compressed eliminations leading to the Finals.

Let’s be serious, fellas. The virus is no frigging joke.

THAT’S IT I watched San Miguel Beer’s 90-88 overtime win over Blackwater on Tuesday, the super lucky Beermen escaping the upset scare again when Elite Ed Daquioag lost his footing while trying to drive for the hoop against man mountain Mo Tautuaa. Too bad because Daquioag tied the count at 84 with his banked three-point shot at the 1:17 mark of regulation in the first morning game in 45 years of Asia’s first play-for-pay league. Von Pessumal was SMB’s co-hero with Tautuaa (26 points, 14 rebounds), making it 90-88 with a free free throw after plucking Daquioag’s flubbed go-ahead open-wide jumper and next drawing a foul with 1.7 seconds left. Mike Tolomia missed Blackwater’s winning three from behind the centerline at the buzzer, giving the next-round bound Beermen their solid 5-2 record.

represented the Oranje, as the national Dutch team nicknamed, 50 times.

He coached Iran to the Asian Football Confederation Futsal Championship in 2001 and his native country to the European championships. The Dutchman’s biggest success came while coaching in Thailand where they won four Asian championships from 2012 to 15 and a Southeast Asian Games gold medal in 2013.

“Being one of the pioneers of world futsal, Vic brings so much into the table,” said Philippine futsal patron Danny Moran of the Moran Foundation that is ably supporting the Philippine Football Federation.

“His experience as a player, coach and well respected senior Fifa futsal instructor will be highly beneficial for us in forming a wellstructured development program which will be spread nationwide.” Moran said. “Sharing his knowledge and deep understanding of the sport will not only produce quality players, but effective coaches, as well.”