BusinessMirror August 18, 2022 by BusinessMirror

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is not keen on implementing penalties for banks that are lending to activities that emit greenhouse gases. Speaking in an economic forum hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC), BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said the Philippines will not likely follow the footsteps of central banks in other jurisdictions that penalize lending to economically harmful companies or activities. Medalla said this is because overall, the Philippines is deemed to have a minute contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. “In other countries the banks are being forced to reduce lending to activities that emit greenhouse gases. We are not doing that because we are a ‘rounding error’ in the production of those gases,” Medalla said. e governor, nonetheless, urged banks to continue pricing in the eﬀects of climate change in their overall risk assessment. “We are telling the banks: include climate change in your calculation of risks. I used to think this was not important until EV [a senior BSP oﬃcial] told me she was not able to leave the BSP and she had to wait there for a few hours because the BSP became a little island surrounded by water,” Medalla said.

B B C @BcuaresmaBM

B S P. M @sam_medenilla

In the 2022 Economic Journalists Association of the PhilippinesSan Miguel Corporation Economic Forum on Wednesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the sugar situation is a matter that needs the economic team’s attention as it will impact local producers and food manufacturers.esituation, Balisacan said, could also aﬀect lowly vendors selling Filipino street food favorites such as banana cue and kamote cue, and who rely on aﬀordable sugar prices to continue operating their microenterprise.

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. said the government is now negotiating with traders to bring down the price of sugar to as low as P70 per kilogram.isas the government is now trying to address the local sugar supply shortage, which is now hampering the operations of local food manufacturers and causing the price of the sweetener to rise. During an ambush interview after the PinasLakas vaccination drive in Manila on Wednesday, he said he already engaged in talks with traders in an effort to stabilize the price of sugar. “ ey fi rst offered to make it P80 [per kilogram]. But I appealed to them to make it P70 instead since the people are suffering [from high prices]. And we are getting there,” Marcos said in Filipino. Market impact BASED on its regular market monitoring, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reported the price of sugar in Metro Manila supermarkets was at P93.01 per kilogram, while that being sold in public markets in the region was at P95 per kilogram. e price of refi ned sugar in Metro Manila was even higher, reaching P115 per kilogram in supermarkets and P100 per kilogram in public markets. Sugar became more expensive since local supply of the sweetener cannot keep up with market demand due to lower cane production and delay in import arrivals. Marcos said the sugar supply shortage has also caused some food manufacturers to reduce the days of their operations. “ ey are starting to cut down the days of the week of their work and we are very worried of course about jobs,” Marcos said. On Tuesday, major beverage manufacturers issued a joint statement confi rming they are now facing a shortage of premium refi ned sugar. Reorganized SRA TO address the supply issue, he said he is now reorganizing the SRA to conduct stakeholder consultations to determine the current sugar supply inventory. “We’ll reorganize the SRA and then we will come to an arrangement with the industrial consum-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 55.9660 ■ JAPAN 0.4169 ■ UK 67.6853 ■ HK 7.1372 ■ SINGAPORE 40.5992 ■ AUSTRALIA 39.2937 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 14.9084 ■ EU 56.9174 ■ KOREA 0.0427 ■ CHINA 8.2436 Source: BSP (August 17, 2022) S “E,” A BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business www.businessmirror.com.ph P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK■ Thursday, August 18, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 314 ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS 2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS PBBM: Govt, traders talking on P70 sugar ECONOMIC TEAM: SUGAR MESS TO WEIGH ON POOR FROM left, Finance Undersecretary Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe M. Medalla, EJAP President Cai U. Ordinario, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan and Budget Undersecretary Joselito R. Basilio after a panel session during the 2022 EJAP-SMC Economic Forum at the Ayuntamiento de Manila on Wednesday, August 17, 2022. PHOTO COURTESY OF EJAP NEDA CLEARED TO REVISIT IRR OF BOT BIDEN SIGNS MASSIVE CLIMATE AND HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION THE WORLD »A10 S “N,” A S “BSP,” A B C U. O @caiordinario THE AuthorityDevelopmentEconomictomore,theeconomytocouldsugarthatexpressedteameconomichasconcernthecountry’ssituationspillovertheinformalandhurtpoorevenaccordingtheNationaland(Neda). C  A BSP not keen on penalizing bank lending to GHG emitters

Employment impacted “SO there is a lot of employment that will be affected by soaring prices. So it should be a concern for us as a watcher of the economy and manager of the economy, you need to have a kind of balancing act,” Balisacan said. “While we protect our farmers from headwinds, we also have to ensure that the tools that we employ to protect our farmers do not harm the rest of the economy, especially that we are trying to get poverty reduced, the economy moving at a high growth trajectory,” he Balisacanadded.said local prices of both raw and refi ned sugar have been rising at over 5 percent a month since the beginning of the year. is rate of increase is “quite fast.”“ at would have an impact not just on our local producers but also for our food manufacturers, our SMEs, banana cue, kamote cue and they are all users. So there is a lot of employment that will be affected

T HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has received the “go signal” from the President to again review the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) Law. Addressing the 2022 Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-San Miguel Corporation Economic Forum on Wednesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the review seeks to address the weaknesses of the IRR.Balisacan said an Executive Order (EO) is currently being prepared to officially jumpstart the process. He said the economic team has discussed the IRR “a number of times” and the President has already been briefed on the “Weissues.havereceived several private sector stakeholders’ comments expressing their concerns over specific provisions of the IRR. Of course, the careful review of the rules requires that we perform a balancing act: encouraging private investment to promote job creation, technological innovation, and product competition while protecting the public interest,” Balisacan said in his presentation. Balisacan said the Neda and other key agencies including its attached agency, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center, are ready to start the review process. ey have already taken initial steps to consult stakeholders. However, Balisacan assured the public that the review to be conducted will not be limited to the concerns of certain stakeholders. He stressed that there remains a need to perform a balancing act. e Neda chief said they are hoping that by next week, the EO to jumpstart the review process can be “Wereleased.havetolook at the economics, all the angles to make sure that in the end it is socially beneficial, it is economically beneficial, it’s fi nancially viable. In the end, it’s all about viability and

F2F classes C  A Neda... C  A Economic... C  A BSP... C 

Earlier this year, the BSP said there is a need for more “climate change-related” disclosures among banks and other local fi rms in order to move forward the country’s fight against global warming. In a report on fi nancial stability, the Central Bank said there is little understanding of the country’s actual exposure to climate change agents because there is limited data disclosure involved. “ ere is an urgent need for better climate change-related disclosures. e lack of granular data limits our appreciation of the financial costs of climate change and the shift to greener energy sources,” the BSP said in the report. Among the examples of granular data the BSP cited are numbers such as physical risk metrics per fi rm or household, or the exposure of banks to carbon vs. renewablesbased energy producers. by soaring prices,” Balisacan said. What is needed right now, Balisacan said, is for the government to sit down with industry players and planters to ensure sufficient supply and prevent any further spikes in prices. Efforts to also “put producers to task” is also needed considering that the rise in prices were mostly supply-driven. Balisacan said the country’s sugar supply must grow in order to stabilize prices. is could also mean allowing importation since, the Neda chief said, the demand for sugar is expected to increase along with the growth of the economy. However, Balisacan said it was still difficult to say whether he agreed with the importation order that programmed the purchase of 150,000 metric tons of the sweetener.He said he needs to get more updated information to be able to say whether the level of importation is sufficient. is information, he said, must include the level of inventory there is. “ at’s the ongoing discussion now: how do we assist the industry? What do we need to do now? What measures? at’s an ongoing exercise now so in the next—we’ll hear something about that,” Balisacan said. FEF weighs in ON Tuesday, the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) raised concerns that the rising prices of sugar is a serious economic concern that affects consumers and food processors, including small food vendors.eeconomists said these vendors depend much on sugar to process the products they sell to the market, all for a meager income. “High sugar prices are frittering away the already meager incomes of the millions of our food vendors selling banana and camote cues, turon, and various types of native delicacies,” FEF said. e FEF also said jobs could also be lost as a number of bottling and fruit juice companies have cut down on the number of workers to reduce their production costs and make up for the rising prices of sugar.“A number of these food processing companies had already decided to relocate their operations to neighboring countries because of the high cost of raw materials in the Philippines, particularly sugar which is a basic ingredient in food processing,” FEF said. FEF said it is high time to fi nally implement policy reforms toward boosting the competitiveness of our sugar industry. A number of constructive suggestions have already been made in a Neda study. e Neda-commissioned study recommended a phased shift to a cane purchase system that begins on a voluntary basis and the phased segmentation of the sugar market, which classifies sugar for export and for domestic use. e study also recommended efforts to strengthen the sugar industry’s institutional support mechanisms, including maximizing the engagement of block farms and other small farmers in planning and program identification and implementation. for of A with the planters, the millers, suppliers of the sugar to coordinate [to determine] what we have available [sugar] and release it to the market. en we will be forced to import to offset any shortage,” Marcos said. He said the reorganization of SRA is expected to be completed thisTwoweek.members of the Sugar Regulatory Board (SRB)—Hermenegildo R. Serafica and Roland B. Beltran—resigned last week for the issuance of Sugar Order (SO) No. 4 without the approval of Marcos, who chairs the saidSOboard.4would have allowed the importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar. e parallel investigations of Malacañang and Congress on the possible liability of the SRB members, who signed the unauthorized order, are still ongoing.

F OREIGN ministers of Japan and the Philippines, Hayashi Yoshimasa and Enrique Manalo, spoke over the phone Wednesday morning to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Hayashi pitched Japan’s “Free and Open IndoPaci c” strategy—an idea rst broached by slain Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—to suit the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Japan’s idea of FOIP is to develop a free and open Indo-Paci c region as “international public goods,” ensuring that a “rules-based international order” is observed. Japan’s sees ASEAN as the center of this diaspora of two oceans. The Japanese Embassy in Manila quoted Manalo as committing to “continue communication on a wide range of agenda and further enhance the bilateral relations.” Manalo regards Japan as an “important partner in the region.” Hayashi said Tokyo would like to identify a “new scope” of cooperation to support Manila’s post-pandemic economy recovery and its ambition to elevate its status as “upper middleincome.”“Minister Hayashi expressed his intention to advance cooperation in agriculture, energy transitions, disaster risk reduction, and digital elds,” the Japanese Embassy said. Both ministers aagreed to advance relations on defense cooperation such as enhancing or facilitating military exercises between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “Moreover, the two ministers exchanged views on regional and international issues including Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the situation in the East and South China Seas, and that surrounding Taiwan and in Myanmar, and afrmed that they would work together in dealing with these issues,” the Embassy added. Malou Talosig-Bartolome

ursday, August 18, 2022A2 News BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph LTFRB rushes special permits

THE Land FranchisingTransportationandRegulatory Board (LTFRB) has authorized the resumption of prepandemic non-Edsa bus operations as well as a number of jeepneys and utility vehicle (UV) express services. A

ers,

During the weekend, Marcos said he decided to defer additional sugar importation until October since he said the country still has suﬃcient sugar supply for now.BM reported sugar producers and millers have been pushing for the importation of 200,000 MT to 300,000 MT of sugar prior to the issuance of SO 4 to augment the country’s dwindling sugar supply and keep the price of sugar stable.

Japan onministerforeigncallsManalo C 

PUVs ahead

PBBM: Govt, traders talking on P70 sugar it’s the government’s objective. In the end, we don’t want projects that [are] quite risky for the government,” Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of the EJAP-SMC forum. Earlier, Balisacan said addressing the weaknesses of the BOT Law and the “problematic” IRR, which was just revised by the previous administration, will encourage the private sector to undertake these PPPs. He cited a need to enhance the capacity of the PPP Center, one of seven attached agencies of the Neda. It is the central coordinating and monitoring agency for all PPP projects in the Philippines. It champions the country’s PPP Program by enabling implementing agencies in all aspects of project preparation, managing of the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF), providing projects advisory and facilitation services, monitoring and empowering agencies through various capacity building activities. Cai U. Ordinario

B L S. M @lorenzmarasigan

NCAP...

“Worse, the persons implementing the NCAP are impervious to valid reasons interposed by motorists and they continue to this day demand payment of exorbitant nes and unconscionable penalties,” the petitioner said. Paa also noted that the tra c nes and penalties being imposed by the Manila City government for obstruction of pedestrian lanes are 100 to 300 percent higher than those imposed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation O ceFor(LTO). obstruction of pedestrian lanes, Manila City Hall imposes a ne of P2,000 for rst offense, P3,000 for second o ense and P4,000 for third o However,ense. the MMDA and LTO both impose a P1,000 ne for rst up to third o ense. Paa said the 56 percent penalty imposed on unpaid nes in Manila is “unconscionable” compared to the legal interest of 12 percent. He argued that NCAP violates the provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2021 as it can be used to conduct unlawful surveillance and monitoring of people’s movements by private individuals. Aprivate company is performing the functions of MTPB and its employees have access to public CCTVs and data base, he explained. The petitioner noted that the NCAP web site reaily shows the violations committed by motorists just by searching the database using the vehicle plateHenumber.added that the sharing of registration database of LTO to the Manila city government and any private entity provider, without the consent of data subjects, violates Sections 12 (Criteria for Lawful Processing of Personal Information) and 13 (Sensitive Personal Information and Privileged Information) of the Data Privacy Act ofOn2012.Tuesday, the SC ordered the MMDA, LTO, the City of Manila, Quezon City, Valenzuela City, Parañaque City and Muntinlupa City to

comment on petitions led by transport groups seeking to enjoin the implementation of the NCAP and declare it unconstitutional. Among the petitioners were the Kilusan sa Pagbabago ng Industriya ng Transportasyon Inc., Pangkalahatang Sangguniang Manila and Suburbs Drivers Association Nationwide (Pasang-Masda), Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization. The petitioners said NCAP has no basis in the Republic Act 7924 that serves as the enabling charter of the MMDA and the RA 4136 which created the Land Transportation O ce (LTO). The petitioners said LGU ordinances allowing NCAP are invalid since there are no existing laws passed by Congress that allows their implementation.RA4136,according to the petitioners, allows only face-to-face apprehension of tra c violators and that tra c violations are liability of the erring drivers, and not the registered owners.Transport groups are also complaining against the unreasonable provisions of the NCAP that include non-renewal of the vehicle registration until such time that nes are settled and for including innocent third persons liable for tra c violations.

In a press briefi ng on Wednesday, LTFRB Chairman Cheloy Garafi l said her office has issued two separate memorandum circulars that aim to augment the capacity of public utility vehicles (PUVs) for the resumption of on-site education. “We want to beat the opening of classes on Monday, so we are issuing special permits. Once the situation has normalized, only then will we issue franchises,” she said. e two memos provide for the resumption of the following routes: 68 routes for public utility jeepneys (PUJs); 32 routes for UV Express; and 33 routes for PUBs. e circular for PUJs and UV Express covers units with valid certificates of public convenience (CPCs) or provisional authorities (PAs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Metro Manila. It also covers operators with expired CPCs, provided that an application for extension of validity was fi led timely; and those with pending motions for the extension of the PAs. For buses, special permits will be issued within the week. e regulator will open its office for applications until the weekend. Garafi l explained that the 133 routes will see the addition of 11,000 PUV units serving commuters in the metro. “We are confident that these routes will be enough. For the city bus routes, it will cover 90 percent of the prepandemic coverage, while jeepneys around 70 percent,” she said. e government had to limit the operations of PUVs for more than two years to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. But with the easing of pandemic restrictions, commuters are now demanding for the resumption of routes and the deployment of additional units, as the current capacity of the public transport system is not enough to meet commuter demand.Commuter groups, civil society organizations, and transport stakeholders have long been asking the government to resume the operations of more PUVs, saying that this could help not only provide relief to commuters, but also allow transport workers to earn a living.

These are just two of the benefits that Lemery Pilot Elementary School (LPES) located in Brgy. Bagong Sikat in Lemery, Batangas enjoys as a recipient of the Sinag Schools Program, a social good collaboration between Maxeon Solar Technologies and SM Foundation Inc (SMFI). W ith the savings on electrical consumption, the school may realign their budget to more efforts and other innovations that will give the students an environment more conducive to learning. It can be recalled that in 2017, SM Foundation donated the SM school building at the LPES in partnership with SM Prime Holdings (SMPH). The Sinag Schools Program is part of the numerous follow up projects of SMFI to sustain their social development impact in grassroot communities.

BusinessMirror Thursday, August 18, 2022 A3www.businessmirror.com.ph

BATANGAS SCHOOL: RECIPIENT OF THE SMFI -MAXEON SINAG SCHOOLS PROGRAM

By Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

A schoolelementaryPUBLIC fitted with solar panels and a team of school officials and equippedtrainedteachersandto raise awareness among the next generation on the basics of solar energy and how it can be used and transformed.

Maxeon volunteers prepping up to install solar panels at LPES

The Lemery Pilot Elementary School is now equipped with a 21-solar panel system.

SM Foundation and Maxeon Solar Technologies teamed up to spread social good in Batangas.

THROUGH its education information campaign component dubbed as Sinag Ed, SMFI and Maxeon also open the door to critical thinking and discussions about renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and electricity generation.

SMIC AVP for Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Victor Persius Chan discussed the importance of partnerships in providing social development in grassroot communities.

ASIDE from the solar panels, SMFI also turned over eight desktop computers, 200 bags with school supplies, and more than 160 pieces brand new kinder and elementary books

The Nation

“

The development of PCC’s digi tal forensics capacity is a major asset for our enforcement team. The use of digital forensics allows our inves tigators to uncover trails of electronic transactions or documents that point to cartels or collusions,” PCC Officer in Charge Johannes R. Bernabe said. Under the Philippine Competi tion Act (PCA) and Supreme Court A.M. No. 19-08-06-SC, the PCC is empowered to conduct unannounced inspections of premises as part of its investigative tools. I n a ceremony on Wednesday, PCC’s Bernabe and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Direc tor Medardo G. de Lemos, sealed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to institutionalize a partnership in enforcing the Philippine Competi tion Act between the antitrust au thority and the primary investigative body of the country. Bernabe underscored the win-win deal formed between the two agen cies in terms of enforcement capacity.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

With PCC’s expertise in market in vestigation and processing of economic data, and NBI’s extensive network and experience in on-the-ground investi gations, this partnership will mutually strengthen our enforcement capacity towards our shared goal of cracking down on cartels and other violations of the PCA,” Bernabe said. T he partnership broadens PCC’s long-time cooperation with the De partment of Justice (DOJ). With the inclusion of the DOJ’s investigating arm in the cooperation framework, PCC may now enlist the aid of NBI in a more comprehensive investigation of anti-competitive conduct. PCC and NBI will first form a Com petition Task Force to work together within their respective mandates. The two bodies will then conduct joint case conferences, monitoring, specialized trainings, and capacitybuilding activities. In a bid to crack down on cartels, the antitrust body had earlier en tered into partnerships with other government bodies such as the Of fice of the Ombudsman (OMB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a statement in 2018, the anti trust authority said PCC’s collabora tion with the Ombudsman and DOJ could boost the detection, investiga tion, and prosecution of anti-com petitive practices, monopolization, corruption in the private sector, and combinations in restraint of trade in thePcountry.CC’sprimary mandate is to pro mote and to maintain market compe tition by regulating anti-competitive agreements like bid rigging, abuses of dominant position, and anti-com petitive mergers and acquisitions.

PCC and NBI sign accord to break cartels, anti-competitive practices

BrahMos missile deal not covered by US sanction vs Russia–envoy

By Andrea San Juan THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) will create a digital forensics laboratory to maximize the use of electronic evi dence for the prosecution of cartels or abuses of dominance by big businesses. I n news statement issued on Wednesday, PCC said, “The labo ratory is composed of specialized forensics equipment, software, and other tools useful for operatives.” T he antitrust authority added that PCC investigators would un dergo proficiency trainings and accreditation on the use of digital forensics equipment.

Thursday, August 18, 2022 •

A4 BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

THE $375-million BrahMos su personic missile system that the Philippine government has acquired from the Indian government is not covered by the US sanctions against Russia, even if components of its technology came from Russia, the Indian ambassador to Manila told the BrahMosBusinessMirrorisabilateral contract between the Philippine government and the Indian government. Russia has nothing to do with it,” Indian Am bassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran said in an interview at the sidelines of India’s 75th Indepen dence Day celebration in Taguig City on Monday night. T he US has imposed sanctions on Russia for initiating the war against Ukraine. Countries which purchase major defense hardware from Russia are covered by US sanctions too as transactions would allegedly provide financial support to Russia’s war. Recently, the Department of Nation al Defense had to scrap a deal with Russia for the purchase of 16 MI-17 helicopters for fear of sanctions from the US. BrahMos cruise missiles, touted as the fastest supersonic missiles, are being manufactured in India by Brah Mos Aerospace Private Limited. BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India’s defense research organi zation, Defence Research and Develop ment Organization, and Russia’s rocket design bureau NPO Mashinostroyenia. The company was created after India sought for long-term defense relation ship with Russia to enable India to pro duce its own missile defense system and lessen imports from Russia. Kumaran said there had been talks lately about the implication of the US sanctions to the BrahMos contract, but both countries agreed that they could proceed with the P18.9-billion cruise missile deal. He said it is expected that the ini tial delivery of the BrahMos Aerospace would start by next year. I ndia’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi even made particular mention of the BrahMos deal as testament to realization of India’s vision on de fense indigenization and exporter of defense platforms. Be it manufacturing of electron ic goods, manufacturing of mobile phones, today the country is progress ing very fast. When our BrahMos goes to the world, which Indian’s mind will not touch the sky,” Modi said in his speech during India’s Independence Day in New Delhi. Under the contract, Manila will get shore-based anti-ship supersonic missiles from BrahMos. A supersonic missile has a speed that is 35 percent faster than the speed of sound. BrahMos’ supersonic speed that the Philippines will purchase has a speed of 2.8 Mach or at least almost 1 kilo meter per second—the fastest cruise missile available in the world. The Philippine Marines will get four BrahMos missiles which can be launched anywhere, with a fast deployment of half an hour from the time of detection of intrusion with a range of 2.9 kilometers. Manila is planning to buy more BrahMos missiles for the Philippine Army in a bid to expand the areas of its defense capability around the Phil ippine archipelago. India is facing sanctions from US for the purchase of S-400 missile de fense system from Russia. T he US House of Representatives has recently passed a legislation that exempts India from the punitive sanc tions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The US Senate has yet to pass a similar CAATSA waiver, before President Joe Biden signs it into law.

THE latest CDC travel advisory puts the Philippines, along with Russia and Nepal, to the Covid Level 3 “high risk” group. Along with most of Eu rope, the number of Level 3 countries number almost 130, or over half of the 235 countries monitored by the CDC for Covid infections. “If you are not up to date with your Covid-19 vaccines, avoid travel to the Philippines,” said the CDC advisory on Tuesday. “Even if you are up to date with your Covid-19 vaccines, you may still be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19,” the agencyTCP’sadded.Clemente noted, If you look at the other Level 3 countries on the CDC list, these include It aly, France, Germany, the United Kingdom…and yet people are still traveling there,” he said. “So we’re in good company.”

Health, safety protocols remainin place FOR her part, Tourism Secretarydesignate Christina Garcia Frasco assured travelers that health and safety protocols continue to remain in place in Philippine tourism desdes tinations The global pandemic continues to expose the tourism industry to challenges, but our travelers can rest assured that the Philippine government continues to ensure that minimum public health and safety standards are in place, coupled with the precautionary measures observed by our partners from the private and public sectors. Therefore, our guests can safely en joy any of our 7,641 islands even in the time of Covid-19.”

DAVAO CITY—A small busi ness enterprise that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has assisted in making bread and pastry bagged the most outstanding small business venture award from another govern ment agency. Prangels Bakeshoppe bagged the Most Outstanding Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) in Re gion 9 for the Small Category. The awards activity was conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) during the annual Regional MSME Week Celebration. T he DTI said the award was based on the product competitiveness, enterprise development, resiliency, pandemic alleviation initiatives and community involvement. This year’s MSME week highlighted local prod ucts and entrepreneurs. The Prangels Bakeshop specializes in various pastry products and it was assisted by DOST 9 through the de ployment of experts and consultants to increase its market competitive ness in terms of price and quality. T he enterprise was also a recipient of innovation funding assistance un der the DOST Small Enterprise Tech nology Upgrading Program (SETUP), which helped to upgrade its produc tion using cookies and cake deposi tor and to improve its efficiency and raise it product quality. Meanwhile, the 18th Congress of the Philippines passed Republic Act 11914 directing the DOST’s Provin cial Science and Technology Offices (PSTOs) to identify the needs and opportunities in science and technol ogy in the provinces and implement DOST programs in rural areas. T he PSTOs were the converted of fices from the previous Provincial Sci ence and Technology Centers, whose resources were requisitioned “to de velop institutional linkages with pro vincial offices of other departments, local government units, academe, and non-governmental offices to ef fectively implement S&T programs in the provinces and perform other duties determined by the DOST Sec retary and its Regional Director,” the DOST information office said. PSTO Davao del Norte Head Engr. Judy Donna Nueva Ecija said that the law’s passage “heightens the re sponsibilities and strengthens the programs implemented by the pro vincial centers in the communities.” CDC travel advisory, tourism group expects 2M tourists by year-end and pastry biz bags DTI’s most outstanding MSME award

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror T OURIST arrivals are pro jected to reach 2 million by year-end, despite Tuesday’s US government advisory against travel to the Philippines. Tourism Congress of the Philip pines (TCP) President Jose C. Clem ente III expressed optimism the lat est pronouncement of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moving the Philippines back to the high-risk Level 3 group of coun tries, “will have minimal effect on our tourist arrivals,” which had already reached 1.1 million from February 10 to August 7. “My fearless forecast is that we will probably be nearing 2 million [tourists] by year-end,” judg ing by the continued increase in book ings from overseas clients, as per TCP member travel agencies. W hile 2 million is still a far cry from the 8.26 million foreign guests who arrived pre-pandemic in 2019, other data point to a quick rebound in the tourism sector. (See, “�� b�y�ns’ push dem�nd for ��r tr�ve� to Ph��pp�nes,” �n the Business Mirror , June 21, 2022.) “[Tourists] seem to not care any more about Covid, even if they have to quarantine in the destination they are headed,” said Clemente, who is also president of the 50-year-old Ra jah Tours Philippines. “Personally, I am getting more bookings now from the Netherlands, who are probably on revenge travel mode, and Canada.” He also noted that the balikbay an (homecoming Filipinos) market continues to remain strong, and will keep being so, whether or not there is a CDC advisory. Data provided by the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed 400,007 overseas Filipinos arrived as tourists as of August 7, 2022. (See, “Tour�st �rr�v��s �n PHL bre�ch 1 M m�r� �n 6 months,” �n the Business Mirror, August 15, 2022.)

Despite

In a news statement issued late Tuesday night, Frasco stressed the Philippines boasts of a 92.3-percent vaccination rate, equivalent to more than 72 million fully-vaccinated Fili pinos as of August 14, 2022, citing the latest DOH bulletin. She added, “ We are confident of the measures and guidelines that we have instituted to strike a bal ance between safety and travel in the new normal.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, August 18, 2022 A5BusinessMirror Economy

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By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao@awimailboxBureauChief

As of August 15, the DOH has re ported 3,484 new Covid cases, with active cases reaching 38,982 nation wide. The positivity rate across to the country is now 14.8 percent. ‘In good company’

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Despite

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao@awimailboxBureauChief

www.businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, August 18, 2022 A5BusinessMirror Economy

As of August 15, the DOH has re ported 3,484 new Covid cases, with active cases reaching 38,982 nation wide. The positivity rate across to the country is now 14.8 percent. ‘In good company’

5. YANA SUSANTO Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent); preferably in finance or accounting. English control,Experienceupper-intermediate.itmanagementorrelatedwith budgeting, planning and forecasting. Experience working with and supervising numerous teams. Advanced excel skills. Must bring long experience directly in cfm Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: With good oral and communication skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 ASUS PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 401-404 Hanston Bldg., F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig 15. HUANG, WEI-HSIANG a.k.a. JAMES HUANG Country Product Manager Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forcountry’s product introduction and portfolio management Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Marketing or Related Course Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 AVANTICE CORPORATION 19/f Pbcom Tower, Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati 16. KHOO KIET SHEN Marketing Executive Brief Job Description: Conduct and analyze market research Basic Qualification: Must be native Cambodian/ Vietnamese/ Thai/Indonesian/Korean/Chinese/ Japanese/ Taiwanese, fluent in English and respective native language; with at least 2 years experience in similar field Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE BusinessMirrorA6 www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, August 18, 2022 ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ALLIANZ PNB LIFE INSURANCE INC (ALLIANZ) 9/f Pnb Makati Bldg., 6754 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

38. SONG, YALEI Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: At Least 10 Years of Experience in the Actuarial Area, Preferably Including Risk Management, and 5 Years of Risk,ExperienceManagementinFinance,orActuarialArea.

Basic Qualification: Must be native Indonesian / Vietnamese / Cambodian fluent in English and respective native language; proficient in Salaryapplications.MicrosoftRange: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 BOSKALIS PHILIPPINES INC. Unit 3701, 3801 The Orient Square, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig 20. KUMARASAMY, CHINNATHAMBI Mechanic Specialist Brief Job Description: Responsible for compiling mechanical equipment

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

3. STEVEN Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

24. DONG SY THAI Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

2. NETY Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

8. YANG, GUANGCHENG Mandarin Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.

Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

7. HU, ANPING Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication Mandarin speaking. Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

9. MAJHI, DILIP KUMAR Lead Application And Commissioning Consultant Brief Job Description: Prepare, schedule, coordinate and monitor the control system integration

Basic Qualification: Take the lead role with repairs Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 CLICKPLAY SOLUTIONS CORP. 11 Ab Cyberzone Plaza Bldg., Eastwood Ave., 3, Bagumbayan, Quezon City 21. LI, WEIDONG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: A customer service representative supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. They’re the front line of support for clients and customers and they help ensure that customers are satisfied with products, services, and features.

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 DOMINUS VISA CONSULTANCY INC. 37th Floor Lkg Tower,, 6801 Ayala Avenue,, Bel-air, City Of Makati 29. ZHUANG, ZEJUN Chinese Speaking Technical Consultant Brief Job Assist/helpDescription:customers, give customers information about product and services.

4. WENDI SUSANTO Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

36. MA, CHENGLONG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Must be native Indonesian / Vietnamese / Cambodian fluent in English and respective native language; proficient in Salaryapplications.MicrosoftRange: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 19. JESSICA STEFANIE Operations Executive Brief Job Description: Serves as a liaison between the customer and various departments & ensures that basic CS functions are performed.

FIRSTSOURCE SOLUTIONS LIMITED 5/f Firstsource Building Plaza D, Northgate Cyberzone, Alabang, City Of Muntinlupa 30. MALHOTRA, PIYA Associate Director - HR Brief Job Description: Create strategy and action plan for HR department which helps meet organizational goals and objectives

7 PRIME TECH, INC. 10/f Ewestpod, Eton Westend Square, Yakal St. Cor. Don Chino Roces Ave., San Antonio, City Of Makati

10. MANJHI, ROSHAN KUMAR Senior Application And Commissioning Consultant Brief Job Description: Prepare, schedule, coordinate and monitor the control system integration

Strong Analytical Skills, and Independent Thinking. Actuarial and Risk Qualifications - Minimum Associate & Preferably Fellow of Local Actuarial Body Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 ALLRAY FASHION INC. Unit No. U-42 3/f Baclaran, Bagong Milenyo Plaza, Barangay 76, Pasay City 14. HAREENDRAN, SREEKANTH Marketing Executive Brief Job ImplementsDescription:marketing and advertising concerns.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 DATACLICK INTERNATIONAL CORP. E. Rodriguez St., Roxas Blvd. St., Barangay 3, Pasay City 23. DO VAN TIEN Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5-10/f Tower 1, Pitx Kennedy Road, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

FLYING DRAGON NETWORK PHILIPPINES INC. Ri Rance Ii Bldg., Block 2 Lot 3 Aseana City, Tambo, City Of Parañaque 31. FU, CHUANXING Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

37. QUAN, JINGSHENG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Must be a College graduate; Can Prepare product or service reports by collecting and analyzing customer information; Can contribute to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed; Can Manage large amounts of incoming calls Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 22. SONG, JUNLONG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: A customer service representative supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. They’re the front line of support for clients and customers and they help ensure that customers are satisfied with products, services, and features.

Basic Qualification: 3-5 Years of Experience in Power Project Execution Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

18. BUDIONO THIO Operations Executive Brief Job Description: Serves as a liaison between the customer and various departments & ensures that basic CS functions are performed.

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Accountable for managing resources, service delivery and process / tool deployment to ensure GAAP compliant and high-quality, cost-effective customer service across client teams within the relevant regions / geographies. Contribute to the development and lead implementation of the cfm operating strategy and initiatives to improve service delivery and cost effectiveness. Develop, implement and provide ongoing oversight of cfm quality management activities for client teams within the relevant geographies. Ensure an effective regime to support compliance with us GAAP and internal controls, leveraging technology as appropriate to reduce risk and cost of compliance.

26. LUONG THU BINH Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

13. RIAMRATANAKORN, WASUT Chief Risk Officer Brief Job Description: The Chief Risk Officer role is to direct and organize the company’s risk management function

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

17. VU THI HONG TRINH Marketing Executive Brief Job Description: Conduct and analyze market research Basic Qualification: Must be native Vietnamese / Chinese / Thai / Indonesian / Korean / Japanese / Taiwanese, fluent in English and respective native language; with at least 2 years experience in similar field Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree Post graduation/master’s degree (Preferred). 12-15 years of industry and management experience w/ expertise and wide range experience in handling different facets of HR in an ITES/BPO set-up on global scale. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

28. NGUYEN VAN DUC Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

25. HOANG VAN TRONG Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

35. LUO, LEI Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

34. LING, YIZHONG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: 20 +years of Experience in Power Project Execution Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

1. HADI SAMSUDI Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

6. YUNI UTAMI Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.

12. KHOURY, HONG CHANG Client Financial MGMT Senior Manager

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ACCENTURE, INC. 7f, Robinsons Cybergate Tower 1, Pioneer St, City Of Mandaluyong 11. STOLTZE, OLIVER BRUNO BRAMMER App/cloud Support Senior Analyst Brief Job Description: • Communicate with the client functional design incharge about the detail of requirement definition and function design. • explain development status and issue with the team leads of the client• understand the clients’ original develop/runtime architecture and develop standards (including deliverable flow, template, description level) • perform knowledge transfer about business requirement/functional design written in required language to the team lead and members

27. NGUYEN DANG THUONG Gaming Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer experience/goodservice in oral communication and written.

ABB, INC. Km 20 West Service Road, South Super Hi-way, Marcelo Green Village, City Of Parañaque

Basic ExcellentQualification:communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science or other relevant fields; must be able to communicate effectively, verbally and written, in both English and required language; experience in any of the following: o java (jave ee, java se, spring, nodes) o JavaScript o sap i.net o Cobol o angular; knowledgeable in back-end programming language/ framework; willing to work on holidays, weekends, etc. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

32. JIANG, GUANGYUAN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

33. LI, CallZHENYANGCenterAgent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

80. DUONG HOAI NAM Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

45. CHIONG SING CHEK Mandarin Accounts Staff Brief Job Description: Assist in determining pricing quotes for customers Basic Qualification: Can Speak Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror A7www.businessmirror.com.ph Thursday, August 18, 2022

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

82. HA VAN TAI Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

83. SU CHOI PHAT Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

87. MICHELLE Indonesian Language Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problems Basic Qualification: Graduate of 4 Years Bachelor Degree With Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 NETLINGO SUPPORT SERVICES, INC. 15/f 6780 Ayala Ave. Bldg., 6780 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 INFOSYS BPM LIMITED - PHILIPPINE BRANCH 19th-23rd Flr., Bgc Corporate Center, 11th Ave. Corner 30th Sts., City Of Taguig 56. MDIMAGH, HAMDI Customer Service Process Specialist

Basic Qualification: College Graduate/Level and Fluent in Mandarin/Basic English. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

60. LIN, SHIH-YING Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions; suggesting information about other products and services

64. SHPILKO, RADY Multilingual - Product Development Specialist Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forproducing information, transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving and transmitting test data and graphics from English to another language such as Hebrew, Malay and MonKhmer.

JIU ZHOU TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. U-3401 34/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati 59. CHEN, CHUN-YU Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions; suggesting information about other products and services.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower, C4 Rd. Edsa Ext., Barangay 76, Pasay City 65. AYE SHUAN Burmese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

70. CAI, XIAOXIN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires.

72. HUO, JIANLONG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin project consultant, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

69. LIM CHAI YANN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service.

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th/f, Pearl Marina Building Pacific Drive, Don Galo, City Of Parañaque89.BAI,ChineseXIAOWEICustomer Service

42. YANG, HUI Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

66. CHAN MYAE MO MO Burmese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

78. CHONG JUN HOCK Malaysian Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: French Bilingual, Clear Communication Skills, College Graduate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 JINXI PHILIPPINES REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Unt No. U-705, Flr. No. 7/f Eastfield Center Bldg., Macapagal Ave. St., Barangay 76, Pasay City 57. LIN, MandarinKEZHONGProject Consultant Brief Job Description: The mandarin project consultant will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

47. ZHANG, YU Mandarin Operations Specialist Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record Basic Qualification: Can Speak Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

40. TRAN MINH HIEU Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

39. SUN, PAN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

GUTIERREZ, HUGO ALFONSO Development Director Brief Job Description: In charge of the USD cross-country projects, supervise the energy project development project execution and power generation Basic Qualification: Engineering and Master’s Degree; 30 years experience in energy project development, project execution with at least one cross-country project valued at at least USD100,000,000.00 Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above 55. PEREZ DE BLAS, GONZALO International Junior Analyst Brief Job Description: In charge of project control and financial modeling, provide critical input for planning the existing and future technical and staff resources to ensure sustainability of operations Basic Qualification: Engineering Degree; 5 years experience in energy projects with one project having at least andknowledgeablecross-countryUSD20,000,000.00projects;inSpanishPhilippinelaws;

Basic Qualification: College Graduate/Level and Fluent in Mandarin/Basic English. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 MPOTECH DIGITAL SYSTEM INC. 47/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin project consultant, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ProficiencyQualification:inEnglish, Hebrew, Malay and MonKhmer language. Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

58. MA, MandarinXIAOPINGProject Consultant Brief Job Description: The mandarin project consultant will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.

Basic Qualification: Graduate of 4 Years Bachelor Degree With Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

44. ZHUANG, ZHIHONG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

50. LIN, MandarinXIAOFANGSpeaking Project Manager Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project Basic ExcellentQualification:oralandwritten com. Both English and Mandarin Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

84. ENJELES YOHAN Indonesian Language Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problems

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

41. XIONG, JUNTAO Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

77. FENI Indonesian Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

SINGH, VIKRAM KUMAR Delivery Head Brief Job Description: At least 15 - 20 years experience in as managerial personnel in the BPO industry Basic Qualification: Responsible for managing customer service operations delivery which will include but not restrict to-client Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above 52. SUBRAMANIAN, GOPINATH Operations Manager Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forBPOoperations from all the Hexaware facilities in the Philippines Basic Qualification: At least 15 - 20 years experience in as managerial personnel in the BPO industry Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above HUBWOO.COM 16/f, Insular Life Tower Ii, Alabang, City Of Muntinlupa 53. BRISEMUR, PATRICK REMY It Customer Care Specialist Brief Job Description: Promptly responding to customer queries via email, live chat, video, phone and social media channels

46. CHAW JIEN HONG Mandarin Operations Specialist Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record Basic Qualification: Can Speak Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

93. LI, ChineseLI Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

79. BUI THI NGOC TRINH Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

68. CHEN, WEI-YUAN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service.

71. CHEN, YIN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic positionnativeEnglishreadingProficientQualification:inspeaking,andwritinginandtheirrespectivelanguagefortheappliedfor,Fluent in Chinese Mandarin is an advantage. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 JP & L BEAUTY PRODUCTS INC. 22 The Trade And Financial Tower, 7th Ave. Cor. 32nd St., Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 63. FADLON (SHAGABAEV), JENNY TALYA (GENI) Multilingual - Product Development Specialist Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forproducing information, transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving and transmitting test data and graphics from English to another language such as Hebrew, Malay and MonKhmer.

86. M ILHAM FAHZAR Indonesian Language Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problems

48. TAY PEI MandarinJINTeam Leader Brief Job Description: Maintain and drive program knowledge for self and team Basic Qualification: Can Speak Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

67. ZAW THET HTOO Burmese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries.

73. JIA, TIANPENG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming calls and customer service inquires. Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 74. LI, FEILONG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: Graduate of 4 Years Bachelor Degree With Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

90. CHEN, ChineseJIANFENGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

81. GIANG A SAN Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: With background in a related position, college graduate, proficient in speaking, writing in English & Korean Hangul. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic positionNativeEnglishreadingProficientQualification:inspeaking,andwritinginandtheirrespectiveLanguagefortheappliedfor;Fluent in Chinese Mandarin is an advantage Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ProficiencyQualification:inEnglish, Hebrew, Malay and MonKhmer language. Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

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91. DU, ChineseBIAOMINGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

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FLYING FUTURE SERVICES INC. 3/f Salcedo One Center, 170 Salcedo St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD-PHILIPPINE BRANCH 16f, The Curve Building, 3rd Ave Cor., 32nd St Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig51.

Basic Qualification: Must be college graduate or college level, someone who’s dedicated to going above and beyond for the customer and knowledge of French standard in I.T. fields. Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 IGNIS ENERGY PHILIPPINES, INC. 12 West Tower The Podium, Adb Avenue Cor Ortigas, Wack-wack Greenhills, City Of Mandaluyong54.BARRIALES

88. YOON, YOUNGKUK Customer Support Representative Brief Job CustomerDescription:servicerepresentative to manage customer queries and complaints.

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92. JIANG, ChinesePINGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

62. CHIU, HSIN-YI Chinese Technical Support Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions; suggesting information about other products and services.

75. TAN, MENGYAO Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

61. CHANG, CHIN-YUN Chinese Technical Support Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions; suggesting information about other products and services.

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85. HELENA VALENSYA Indonesian Language Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problems

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

FUJIAN ELECTRIC POWER ENGINEERING COMPANY 5, West Lawin, Phil-am, Quezon City 49. CHEN, MandarinYU Speaking Project Manager Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project Basic ExcellentQualification:oralandwritten com. Both English and Mandarin Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

43. ZHANG, SHENGYOU Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Review French and Portuguese accounts (purchasing, contracts, WDA.)

76. CINTYA AGUSTIN Indonesian Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

Basic Qualification: College PreferablyGraduate,1YearExperience in the Similar Field, Speaks and Write Fluently (Native SalaryLanguage)Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

104. XIONG, WEILIANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

124. DUONG THI HUE Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

99. QIN, ChineseGUICHUNCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

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123. DAO THI VietnameseTUYETCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

143. MANFRED ON CHAN CHUEN Mandarin Marketing Officer Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forprepare content for the publication of marketing material and oversea distribution

97. LIU, ChineseJINLUCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

SPEED QUALITY TECH INC. 3/f Eco Plaza Bldg., 2305 Chino Roces Ave. Extn., Magallanes, City Of Makati

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suggesting information about other products and services. Basic positionnativeEnglishreadingProficientQualification:inspeaking,andwritinginandtheirrespectivelanguagefortheappliedfor,Fluent in Chinese Mandarin is an advantage. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 YOUBIN CONSULTANCY INC. 7/f Ba Lepanto Bldg., Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati 135. CAI, ChineseYOULINConsultant Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:formeeting clients to discuss their advertising needs Basic ReadingProficiencyQualification:Speaking,andWritingin Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 136. LIN, KAIHUA Chinese Technical Support Representative Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forstaycurrent with system information, changes and updates. Basic readingProficiencyQualification:speaking,andwritingin mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 137. YUAN, MandarinMENGAccount Associate Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forreconcile financial books including incoming and outgoing funds Basic ReadingProficiencyQualification:Speaking,andWritingin Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

108. ZHONG, XING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

98. PAN, ChineseYANMINCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE National Capital Region located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this Pleasepublication.inform DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic Qualification: College PreferablyGraduate,1YearExperience in the Similar Field, Speaks and Write Fluently (Native SalaryLanguage)Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

109. BATBAYAR, TEMUUJIN Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

106. ZHAN, ChineseFUQIANGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

142. LEE CIN HING Mandarin Marketing Officer Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forcontribute in the implementation of making strategies. Basic readingProficiencyQualification:speaking,andwritingin mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic ReadingProficiencyQualification:Speaking,andWritingin Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 *Date Generated: Aug 17, 2022

101. WANG, ChineseLINCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents. Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

121. YAN INN MyanmariKYONECustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

107. ZHANG, PINGYU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

134. PASANNAWONG, EKKAWIT Thai Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions; - Php 59,999

110. HANDY SAKIMAN Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

116. SYLVIA STEPHANIE LIANG Indonesian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

140. KE, MandarinQILIANGAudit Associate Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forcompletes allocated task to a high standards which meet set reporting and auditing standards

122. ZAW MyanmariLATT Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 NIPPON EXPRESS PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Lot 85 A & B, Avocado Road Fti Complex, Western Bicutan, City Of Taguig 129. FUKAMIZU, NATSUMI Assistant Manager At Ocean Cargo Division Brief Job Description: Handles customer call bookings and pick up schedules.

112. OKTAVIANI Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

115. SENDY IndonesianLEE Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

120. MYA MYA MyanmariTHINCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

102. WANG, ChineseSHIXUCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

133. LU, MandarinWEN Customer Service Specialist Brief Job Description: Customer Service Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both Oral and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

128. TRAN THI VietnameseQUYENCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Basic Qualification: College PreferablyGraduate,1YearExperience in the Similar Field, Speaks and Write Fluently (Native SalaryLanguage)Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

96. LIN, ChineseXINMINCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

SODEXO ON-SITE SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. 11/f Ba Lepanto Bldg., 8747 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati 132. JIA, ChefZHAOGANGIII Brief Job Description: Ensure kitchen team adheres to sodexo way service standards through training and role modeling; ensure standard recipes are used and food is presented according to established standards; ensure kitchen and working area comply with health and food safety standards at all times; to participate and contribute in continual improvement process through waste reduction, revenue enhancement, increased customer and staff satisfaction and improved workplace health & safety; to actively promote teamwork and cohesion by demonstrating behavioral and positive mindset examples at all times and to ensure the update all scheduled cleaning in responsible area.

WANFANG TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT, INC. 6-9/f Tower 2 Double Dragon Plaza, Edsa Cor. Macapagal Ave., Barangay 76, Pasay City

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

138. ZHANG, LIANGSHENG Mandarin Administrative Associate Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:formaking travel arrangements, coordinating conferences calls, and handling RSVPs for event. Basic readingProficiencyQualification:speaking,andwritingin mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

141. LI, RUI Mandarin Front Desk Associate Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forkeeprecord of all conversation in database in a comprehensive way

126. NGUYEN HOANG YEN NHI Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College PreferablyGraduate,1YearExperience in the Similar Field, Speaks and Write Fluently (Native SalaryLanguage)Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

95. LIN, ChineseBINGKUNCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language).

Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

105. YANG, ChineseCHAOCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

118. AH KAING HTIN Myanmari Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

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Brief Job Description: Customer service Basic Qualification: Customer Service in Korean Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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BusinessMirrorA6 www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, August 18, 2022

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Basic SalaryskillsExcellentQualification:communications(NihongoandEnglish).Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 130. KOTANI, HARUNOBU General Manager At Logistics Division Brief Job ResponsibleDescription:forgenerating sales revenue from new of existing clients. Basic Qualification: Bachelor Degree in Business Administration or Management preferred Japanese. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 SMARC GROUP ASIA INC. 11f Tower 2, Dd Plaza, Edsa Ext. Cor Macapagal Ave., Barangay 76, Pasay City 131. KIM, YONGJIN Customer Service Representative

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Basic Qualification: Must be fluent in mandarin. Fluency in English is a plus but not required; wide knowledge in traditional Chinese cuisine; ability to work with minimum supervision; responsible approach to confidentiality; with food safety and hygiene well-groomedknowledge;andable to represent sodexo in a professional manner; and amenable to work in bgc taguig – stay in. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

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100. SUN, ChineseLIJUNCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents. Basic Qualification: College Graduate, Preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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Basic Qualification: College Graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the same field, Speaks and write (Native Language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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Project aims to help raisers maximize hog production in South Cotabato town

Study and Research in

set to bear brunt of water cuts THE

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga W ITH a biogas digester and rainwater collector, a group of farmers in a sleepy agricultural town in South Cotabato can now maximize their hog production business. T he Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in South Cotabato recently turned over a unit of bio gas digester and rainwater collector to the farmer-members of Moloy ARB Association in Barangay Moloy, Surallah town.

T he provision of fertilizer will help restore the productive capacity of farmers in Tigray, where, as is the case in all regions affected by internal conflict, there has been widespread disruption of agricultural activities, elevated levels of acute food insecurity, and loss of livelihoods since November 2020. We are grateful to our resource partners, and to CERF for recognizing the need to act swiftly in supporting own food production in Tigray to avert the worrying levels of acute food insecurity,” said David Phiri, FAO Subregional Coordinator for eastern Africa and Representative for Ethiopia a.i. “ If farmers receive the inputs they need, they will be able to harvest and begin consuming this produce from October 2022. These harvests would cover their food needs for at least six months, and in the best case scenario, up to the next harvest for a significant proportion of the households, with surplus to sell.” There is a small window of opportunity to prevent severe hunger by delivering critical agricultural inputs and enable farmers to produce sufficient amount of food for the population thus averting a potential increase in humanitarian needs,” said Rein Paulsen, the director of FAO’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience.Agriculture is the main source of livelihoods for up to 80 percent of Ethiopians, especially those living in rural areas, and their produce feeds the nation. The Meher season is the most important season for crop production in Tigray. With the rainfall performing well and the outlook foreseen to be favorable, the season offers a crucial and cost-effective opportunity to improve food production and hence food availability across theTregion.odate,FAO and partners have procured just over 19,000 tons of fertilizer (40 percent of requirements), enough to meet the fertilizer needs of approximately 380,000 households. A first batch of more than 7,000 tons has already been distributed to farmers in Tigray. T he loan from the CERF, together with a similar loan by FAO, has enabled FAO to procure the additional 12,000 tons of fertilizer. These loans are against funding being secured from a bilateral donor, which will be communicated separately once Agreement finalized. T he 19,000 tons of fertilizer were procured through the Ethiopian government and the government has indicated that more fertilizer could be made available should FAO and partners mobilize further funding. FA O and partners aim at providing the total requirements of 60,000 tons to Tigray, funds allowing. FA O has benefited from CERF loan facility twice in the past: in 2020 in support of FAO’s Desert Locust control operations in the Horn of Africa and also in 2017 for Somalia to avert the risk of famine.

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

I am glad that you are receptive to the project. I hope that this sup port will be a big help in boosting your hog production,” Ali said to the farmer recipients. He also encouraged the benefi ciaries to sustain the project and suggested that they should register with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to further expand their business operation. CDA is a government agency that promotes the sustained growth and full development of cooperatives in theMcountry.oloyARB Association President Naomi Ebuetada thanked the DAR for the CPWASH projects they re ceived because he said that it would provide a boost to their business. “ We will take good care of the project and we will keep it sustain able,” she said. S urallah Municipal Councilor Harold Eslabon advised the farmers to closely coordinate with the local government unit and work hand-inhand to ward off the threat of disease that could harm farm animals.

LandBank lends ₧5.8B to boost climate resilience of farmers

SHARING Cafe. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO ADB taps SEARCA for 10-year agriculture modernization plan FAO scales up procurement of fertilizers using $10-M CERF loan America’s

16, 2021. PHOTOGRAPHER:

• Thursday, August 18, 2022 A9BusinessMirror

T he said facilities were provided under the Community-Managed Po table Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (CPWASH) Project which costs P80,000. A ssistant Regional Director H. Roldan A. Ali said these support ser vices aim to provide the community with a permanent facility to collect the rainwater for hog production and the biogas digester would convert the hog waste into methane gas that could be used for cooking.

L andBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said the bank supports investments in innova tive technologies that will help address climate change risks in the agriculture sector. “ This modernization is aimed to wards improving the production and income of our local farmers while en suring national food security amid the changing global climate,” she said in aTstatement.hroughits Climate Resilient Agriculture Financing Program, the bank said it aims to finance farming technologies, systems, facilities and equipment that will help local farms and fisheries become more adaptive and resilient to the effects of climate change, such as severe storms and prolonged drought.

A RIZONA , which grows most of the lettuce eaten in the United States each winter, will be losing about a fifth of the wa ter it gets from the Colorado River as drought and climate change dimin ish the key water basin. T he US will withhold 21 percent of Arizona’s annual water allocation from the Colorado River in 2023 as part of conservation efforts an nounced Tuesday by the Interior De partment’s Bureau of Reclamation. The measure is the latest action aimed at dealing with the first-ever water shortage in the river basin. Lake Mead and Lake Powell—the two largest US reservoirs—stand at historically low levels and combined are at 28 percent of their capacity, officials said. Farmers in Arizona, who pro vide more than 90 percent of the US’s leafy greens each November through March, have already borne the brunt of prior cuts, along with those who make a living from the state’s $23.3 billion agriculture industry. Pinal County, between Phoenix and Tucson, is likely to be hit especially hard since the area known for cotton and livestock has already seen about half its farmland go idle due to prior water reductions. “ The system is approaching a tip ping point,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Tou ton, told reporters Tuesday. “Without action we can’t protect the system and the millions of Americans who rely on this critical resource.” Interior Department officials also announced an 8 percent reduction to Nevada and 7 percent cut to Mexico’s share of river, which flows 1,450 miles from Colorado into northern Mexico and is relied upon by 40 mil lion people. The cuts are initially from Lake Mead, the reservoir on the Nevada-Arizona border formed by Hoover Dam. C alifornia, the biggest US agri culture producer, wasn’t hit with cuts. As a holder of so-called senior water rights, conditions aren’t yet severe enough to trigger reduc tions. That doesn’t mean the his toric drought isn’t taking a toll. Farmers in the northern and cen tral parts of the state have already seen their allocations slashed from other water sources, and growers in southern California who rely on the Colorado River remain nervous about future decreases. A rizona in the meantime is mak ing it clear that collaboration is ur gently needed across the region.

Agriculture/Commodities

T HE Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is scaling up the procurement of fertilizers to help farmers in Tigray, northern Ethiopia sow their fields in the midst of the critical planting season. FAO will use a $10-million loan recently approved by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The loan, which forms part of resource partners’ commitments, is helping FAO to accelerate the procurement and delivery of crucial agricultural inputs to Tigray, particularly fertilizers, which must be delivered and applied by end of August.

L andBank said the loans have been extended to 15 borrowers as of June 30 in support of building a climate-resilient agri-business value chain in the country.

T he bank said the program can finance crop, livestock, and fishery projects that utilize climate-resilient technologies, such as the adoption of planting materials and seedling techniques for climate-resistant food crops, pipe irrigation that helps pre vent water loss during dry season, and climate-adaptive farming sys tems such as terracing. Modern facilities and equipment that minimize harvest and postharvest losses during typhoons can also be financed under the program, including rice harvesters, dryers and outdoor grain storage facilities, the bank added. It also said that the program can provide credit fund for work ing capital and the construction of facilities such as greenhouses, reservoirs, rainwater collecting systems, and farm-to-market roads with drainage, and other new and emerging technologies approved and endorsed by the Department of Agriculture and the concerned Municipal Agricultural Office. Under the LandBank Climate Resilient Agriculture Financing Pro gram, cooperatives, associations, and private borrowers categorized as single proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations may borrow up to 80 percent of the total project cost. Meanwhile, the bank said local government units may borrow not more than their net borrowing ca pacity as certified by the Bureau of Local Government Finance. Term loans for working capital and permanent working capital are payable up to 1 year and 3 years, re spectively, while loans for fixed as sets and construction of facilities are payable based on cash flow but not more than its economic useful life. T he interest rate shall be based on the prevailing market rate. Land Bank said its program “underscores the bank’s commitment towards ad vancing a more resilient agriculture sector while promoting environmen tal Isustainability.”nhisrecentState of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said addressing the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector is one of the top priorities of his administration. Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Agriculture conducts its winter lettuce hub Colorado River in Bullhead City, Arizona, United States, June KYLE GRILLOT/BLOOMBERG

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While we agree that it is nec essary to take drastic measures to protect the river, Arizona cannot continue to bear an out-sized share of these measures without help from other partners,” the Arizona Farm Bureau said in a statement. T he Bureau of Reclamation an nounced plans in May to withhold 480,000 acre feet of water in Lake Powell, the artificial reservoir that straddles Utah and Arizona. The agency said Tuesday it would consider taking additional steps next April after evaluating drought conditions and water levels.

T he western US power market is also on the front line. There is a chance that Lake Powell could drop to the point next summer where the Glen Canyon Dam wouldn’t be able to produce electricity, officials said. Bloomberg News

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has commissioned the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Re search in Agriculture (SEARCA) for a 10-year plan that will enable the Philippines to become a top agricul tural producer. SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gre gorio told a press orientation that the “National Agriculture and Fish eries Organization and Industrial ization Plan” will be implemented until 2030. T he press orientation was in conjuction with the launch of the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Young Gen eration (SHARING) Cafe. “ We have already submitted our recommendations to the De partment of Agriculture [DA],” said Gregorio. T he industrialization plan has a nine-point track to carry out: Consolidated production and post harvest facilities (commodity systems-oriented)Construction of critical infra structure spatially integrated within agri-fisheries industrial business corridorsModernized food terminal fa cilities and similar facilities linked to transport nodes in urban and periurbanSmartareas.irrigation and water im poundment or retention systems serving two or more commodities Other large-scale infrastruc ture (waste management facilities, fish ports, ICT (Information Com munication Technology) including high-speed connectivity Scaled up mechanization and adoption of other commercial scaleorientedLarge-scaletechnologiesproduction and distribution of biologically safe tech nologies including biopackaging State-of-the art research and development facilities linked to province-led agriculture and fisher ies extension systems networks Development of agri-fishery enterprises and business incubation initiatives linked to large investors. Gregorio said the 10-year plan requires a budget of P5.03 trillion. “ The budget should come from the public sector, P2.5 trillion, while the other P2.5 trillion will come from the private sector.” S EARCA itself has launched its own programs that seek to at tract investments in the knowl edge economy which taps on the economy’s intellectual resources to generate wealth. F or one, the SHARING Cafe provides for creative learning ex perience that can lead the young generation to contribute to farm industrialization.TheSHARING Café is an inter active component of the SHARING innovation spaces, which aims to provide a creative learning experi ence geared towards Agriculture 4.0 in Southeast Asia,” said SEARCA. “ The SHARING Café will be an innovative venue for ‘play-to-learn’ activities for guests and fun learn ing modules for K-12 students in the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.”

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie THE Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) said it has approved loans totaling P5.8 billion which aim to help local farms and fisheries adapt to climate change.

THE

BLOOMBERG PHOTO

The World BusinessMirrorThursday, August 18, 2022 Editor: Angel R. Calso • www.businessmirror.com.phA10

The Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

The

elections.thanhisdomestictheTuesday,andWASHINGTON—PresidentJoeBidensignedDemocrats’landmarkclimatechangehealthcarebillintolawondeliveringwhathehascalled“finalpiece”ofhispared-downagenda,asheaimstoboostparty’sstandingwithvoterslessthreemonthsbeforethemidterm

THE yen has climbed over 3 percent against the dollar to around the 134.40 level since the peak of the bearishness in mid-July, dulling the calls of those who argued that 140 and higher lay ahead.

By Mike Stobbe AP Medical Writer

The currency has climbed over 3 percent against the dollar to around the 134.40 level since the peak of the bearishness in mid-July, dulling the calls of those who argued that 140 and higher lay ahead. Leveraged investors have slashed their net-bearish yen wagers to the least since March 2021, recent data from the Commodity Fu tures Trading Commission showed. Against the euro, the yen has fared even better, as investor concerns mount about the potential for recession with the region’s economy under threat from energy shortages and surging inflation. The same dynamic has helped drive the yen higher against other currencies sensitive to global economic growth. “The euro is weighed by the negative economic outlook in the eurozone relative to the US while the resources-sensitive Aussie and the Canadian dollars are sold on a retreat in commodities due to slow down concerns,” said Akira Moroga, manager of currency products at Aozora Bank in Tokyo. “Yen selling momentum is clearly weakening relative the peak phase and looks to be peaking out for now.” Still, yen bulls’ confidence levels would be even more robust if the currency could rally more against the Australian dollar—with the pair a key gauge of risk in the FX market. The yen is up just 1 percent since June 21 against the risk-sensitive Aussie. “Australia’s 10-year yield appears to have halted its decline and China’s economy is unlikely to keep deterio rating so outlook for Aussie is rela tively more sound,” said Masafumi Ya mamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

AP/CHARLIE RIEDEL

The president and lawmakers have also responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and overwhelmingly sup ported Nato membership for Sweden andWithFinland.Biden’s approval rating lag ging, Democrats are hoping that the string of successes will jump-start their chances of maintaining con trol in Washington in the November midterms. The 79-year-old president aims to restore his own standing with voters as he contemplates a reelection bid. The White House announced Monday that it was going to deploy Biden and members of his Cabinet on a “Building a Better America Tour” to promote the recent victories. One of Biden’s trips will be to Ohio, where he’ll view the groundbreaking of a semiconductor plant that will ben efit from the recent law to bolster production of such computer chips. He will also stop in Pennsylvania to promote his administration’s plan for safer communities, a visit that had been planned the same day he tested positive for Covid-19 lastBidenmonth.also plans to hold a Cabinet meeting to discuss how to implement the new climate and health care law. Republicans say the legislation’s new business taxes will increase prices, worsening the nation’s bout with its highest inflation since 1981. Though Democrats have labeled the measure the Inflation Reduction Act, nonpartisan analysts say it will have a barely perceptible impact on prices. Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday contin ued those same criticisms, although he acknowledged there would be “benefit” through extensions on tax credits for renewable energy projects like solar and wind. “I think it’s too much spending, too much taxing, and in my view wrong priorities, and a super-charged, supersized IRS that is going to be going after a lot of not just high-income taxpayers but a lot of mid-income taxpayers,” said Thune, speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event in Sioux Falls. The ad ministration has disputed that anyone but high earners will face increased tax scrutiny, with Treasury Secretary Ja net Yellen directing the tax agency to focus solely on businesses and people earning more than $400,000 per year for the new audits. The measure is a slimmed-down version of the more ambitious plan to supercharge environment and social programs that Biden and his party unveiled early last year. Biden’s initial 10-year, $3.5 trillion proposal also envisioned free prekin dergarten, paid family and medical leave, expanded Medicare benefits and eased immigration restrictions. That crashed after centrist Sen. Joe Man chin, D-W.Va., said it was too costly, using the leverage every Democrat has in the evenly divided Senate. During the signing event, Biden addressed Manchin, who struck the critical deal with Schumer on the pack age last month, saying, “Joe, I never had a doubt” as the crowd chuckled. Later, outside the White House, Man chin said he has always maintained a “friendly relationship” with Biden and it has “never been personal” between the two, despite Manchin breaking off his negotiations with the White House last year. “He’s a little bit more vintage than I am, but not much,” Manchin said of Biden.Though the law is considerably smaller than their initial ambitions, Biden and Democrats are hailing the legislation as a once-in-a-generation investment in addressing the longterm effects of climate change, as well as drought in the nation’s West. The bill will direct spending, tax credits and loans to bolster technol ogy like solar panels, consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency, emission-reducing equipment for coal- and gas-powered power plants, and air pollution controls for farms, ports and low-income communities. Another $64 billion would help 13 million people pay premiums over the next three years for privately bought health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Medicare would gain the power to negotiate its costs for pharmaceuticals, initially in 2026 for only 10 drugs. Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket pre scription costs would be limited to $2,000 annually starting in 2025, and beginning next year would pay no more than $35 monthly for insu lin, the costly diabetes drug. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a power ful political ally to Biden, noted during the White House ceremony that his late wife, Emily, who battled diabetes for three decades, would be “beyond joy” if she were alive today because of the insulin cap. “Many seem surprised at your suc cesses,” Clyburn told Biden. “I am not. I know you.”

Biden signs massive climate and health care legislation

By Zeke Miller & Seung Min Kim Associated Press

The Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Darlene Superville in Washing ton, and Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, S.D., contributed to this report.

MONKEYPOX CAN SPREAD TO HOUSEHOLD PETS–CDC

By Paul Byrne

Yen rally broadens past dollar in further sign big short is over

By Chikako Mogi T HE yen may be tentatively ral lying against the dollar but it is roaring ahead against other major peers in another sign the worst of this year’s losses may be behind it. The Japanese currency has jumped almost 6 percent against the euro since its late June trough and about 4 per cent against the pound from earlier that month. Since a trade-weighted yen gauge bottomed on June 21, it has risen against eight of its Group-of-10 peers and is little changed versus the otherThetwo.breadth of the yen’s strength is a sign its rebound may be more than just a reaction to the recent narrowing of the yield gap between the US and Japan—a key driver of the currency that pushed it to a 24-year low against the dollar this year. It adds weight to the theory that betting against the yen—one of the hottest macro trades of 2022—is a thing of the past and further gains lie ahead. “Yen selling generally appears to be stalling,” said Yukio Ishizuki, a senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securi ties in Tokyo. “It’s still not the phase to completely turn to yen buying, but there seems to be a general consensus that it’s becoming difficult to stick to yen selling strategy of up until now just based on monetary policy.” Three key pillars of the short-yen trade—a widening US-Japan interestrate gap, soaring oil prices and the loss of the currency’s haven status—have been crumbling as growing fears about a global economic slowdown keep a lid on yields, pressure crude prices and boost demand for traditional safe assets.

Explosions rock Russia’s munitions depot in Crimea

A WOMAN plays with a dog at sunset on November 6, 2021, at a park in Kansas City, Mo. In August 2022, health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus.

The Associated Press K YIV, Ukraine—Explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in just over a week, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people. Russia blamed the blasts in the village of Mayskoye on an “act of sabotage,” without naming the perpetrators. Separately, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant quoted residents as saying plumes of black smoke also rose over an air base in Crimea’s Gvardeyskoye. Ukraine stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for any of the blasts, including those that destroyed nine Russian planes at another Crimean air base last week. Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has used it to launch attacks against Ukraine in the war that began nearly six months ago. If Ukrainian forces were behind the explosions, that would represent a significant escalation in the war. Such attacks could also indicate that Ukrainian operatives are able to penetrate deeply into Russian-occupied territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines when he included individuals “who oppose the occupiers in their rear” in a list of people he thanked for supporting the country’s war effort. In a video address Tuesday night, he also warned people not go near Russian military installations and storage sites for ammunition and equipment. In another reported act of sabotage, Russia’s Tass news service quoted the FSB security agency as saying Ukrainian operatives blew up six high-voltage transmission towers earlier this month in Russia’s Kursk region, close to Ukraine. The Kremlin has demanded that Kyiv recognize Crimea as part of Russia as a condition for ending the fighting, while Ukraine has vowed to drive Moscow’s forces from the peninsula on the Black Sea. Videos posted on social media showed thick columns of smoke rising over raging flames in Mayskoye, and a series of explosions could be heard. The Russian Defense Ministry said a power plant, electrical lines, railroad tracks and apartment buildings were damaged. “We came out to take a look and saw clouds of smoke coming from the cowshed where the military warehouses are,” said resident Maksim Moldovskiy. “We stayed there until about 7-8 a.m. Everything was exploding—flashes, fragments, debris falling on us. Then the emergency guys came and said they were evacuating everybody.”Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said two people were injured and more than 3,000 evacuated from two villages.“The detonations are rather strong. Ammunition is strewn all over the ground,” he said, adding that several homes burned down.In what may have been retaliation for the attacks in Crimea, Russian warplanes fired missiles at a military airfield in Zhytomyr, 87 miles (140 kilometers) west of Kyiv, damaging a runway and vehicles, Ukrainian officials reported. Crimea is a popular summer destination for Russian tourists, and last week’s explosions at Crimea’s Saki air base sent sunbathers on beaches fleeing as flames and pillars of smoke rose over the horizon. Ukrainian officials warned Tuesday that Crimea would not be spared the ravages of war. Rather than a travel destination, “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and a high risk of death for invaders and thieves,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on RussiaTwitter.blamed last week’s explosions on an accidental detonation of munitions, but satellite photos and other evidence— including the dispersed blast sites— pointed to a Ukrainian attack, perhaps with anti-ship missiles, military analysts said. Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update that vessels in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet are in an “extremely defensive posture” in the waters off Crimea, with ships barely venturing out of sight of the coastline. Russia’s flagship Moskva went down in the Black Sea in April, and last month Ukrainian forces retook strategic Snake Island. The Russian fleet’s “limited effectiveness undermines Russia’s overall invasion strategy,” the British said. “This means Ukraine can divert resources to press Russian ground forces elsewhere.” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu charged that in addition to supplying arms to Ukraine, Western allies have provided detailed intelligence and instructors to help Ukraine operate weapons that can hit deep in occupied territory.“Western intelligence agencies not only have provided target coordinates for launching strikes, but Western specialists also have overseen the input of those data into weapons systems,” Shoigu said.

Bloomberg News

The legislation includes the most substantial federal investment in history to fight climate change— some $375 billion over the de cade—and would cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 out-of-pocket annually for Medicare recipients. It also would help an estimated 13 mil lion Americans pay for health care insurance by extending subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic.Themeasure is paid for by new taxes on large companies and stepped-up IRS enforcement of wealthy individuals and entities, with additional funds going to re duce the federal deficit. In a triumphant signing event at the White House, Biden pointed to the law as proof that democracy—no matter how long or messy the pro cess—can still deliver for voters in America as he road-tested a line he will likely repeat later this fall ahead of the midterms: “The American people won, and the special interests lost.” “In this historic moment, Demo crats sided with the American peo ple, and every single Republican in the Congress sided with the special interests in this vote,” Biden said, repeatedly seizing on the contrast between his party and the GOP. “Every single one.” The House on Friday approved the measure on a party-line 220-207 vote. It passed the Senate days earlier with Vice President Kamala Harris break ing a 50-50 tie in that chamber. “In normal times, getting these bills done would be a huge achieve ment,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said during the White House ceremony. “But to do it now, with only 50 Democratic votes in the Senate, over an intransigent Republican minority, is nothing short of amazing.”Bidensigned the bill into law during a small ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House, sandwiched between his return from a six-day beachside vacation in South Carolina and his departure for his home in Wilming ton, Delaware. He plans to hold a larger “celebration” for the legisla tion on September 6 once lawmak ers return to Washington. The signing caps a spurt of leg islative productivity for Biden and Congress, who in three months have approved legislation on veterans’ benefits, the semiconductor indus try and gun checks for young buyers.

N EW YORK—Health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for months has had the advice in place as monkeypox spreads in the US. But it gained new attention after a report from France, published last week in the medical journal Lancet, about an Italian greyhound that caught the virus. The dog belongs to a couple that said they sleep alongside the animal. The two men were infected with monkeypox after having sex with other partners and wound up with lesions and other symptoms. The greyhound later developed lesions and was diagnosed with the virus. Monkeypox infections have been detected in rodents and other wild animals, which can spread the virus to humans. But the authors called it the first report of monkeypox infection in a domesticated animal like a dog or cat. Pets that come in close contact with a symptomatic person should be kept at home and away from other animals and people for 21 days after the most recent contact, the CDC advises.

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM R EMOTE work should be im plemented at every opportu nity possible, both to boost the economy, ease congestion on the streets, and improve labor productiv ity and families’ well-being, according to Sen. Grace Poe. Taking the floor in Tuesday’s ple nary session, Poe delivered a privi leged speech asking the entire Marcos government to “think outside the cu bicle and allow modern technologies for hybrid work arrangements in the country to thrive in promoting inclu sive economic growth.”

Study: WFH win-win for all AT the same time, she pointed to a study published in the Philippine Review of Economics last year, recording that up to one-third of jobs in the country’s capital have telework potential, while 22 million workers’ jobs are partially teleworkable.

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

Poe drew strong support from two senators, Majority Leader Joel Villan ueva and Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada. Poe pointed out that “hybrid work is not a radical, futuristic idea whose time is yet to come. It is an old friend knocking on our door.” P residing as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, Poe has been stressing, “As it did in the past, remote work has proven its versatility and should not be downplayed or undermined.” She lamented how “the tug of war be tween working in the office and working remotely is playing out before our eyes,” citing the impasse between the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza)-registered firms on terminating work-from-home (WFH) arrangements by September 2022. “ We have seen firsthand how exces sive meddling by bureaucrats can choke out innovation,” the lawmaker lament ed, observing that “the FIRB’s heavyhanded policies appear to be headed in the same direction—a warning earlier aired by economists worried that the obsession with policy may be choking a sector that is a key pillar of growth, or the information technology and busi ness process outsourcing [IT-BPO].”

Poe added: “Working from home paid dividends in terms of physical, emotional and mental health: 74.2 percent reported improved physical fitness; 35.7 percent had a more re laxed working environment; and 27.8 percent had more time to spend on per sonal relationships,” citing the CISCO global hybrid work 2022 study. In filing Senate Resolution No. 125, Poe paved the way for the Senate to mount an inquiry into the implementa tion of the Telecommuting Act or Repub lic Act (RA) 11165 in order to propose amendments to the measure, “with the end goal of promoting work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements.” Her resolution noted, “RA 11165 recognizes technological developments that opened new and alternative av enues for employees to carry out their work, such as telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements.”

“ We are looking at amending the law in terms of procurement and all of that in the middle of an emergency,” Marcos said in an am bushButinterview.thatwill take time. So prob ably, we will extend it [state of public health emergency] until the end of the year,” he added. Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte placed the country under a state of public health emergency through Proclamation No. 922 at the onset of the Covid-19 pan demic in 2020. T he proclamation aims to “capaci tate government agencies and local government units to immediately act to prevent loss of life, utilize appro priate resources to implement urgent and critical measures to contain or prevent Covid-19.”

T he FIRB and the past leadership of the Department of Finance had argued that their insistence on limiting the WFH entitlements of the IT-BPO arose from a need to comply with the CREATE law, and compelled outsourcing firms to have workers report onsite to the export pro cessing zones where they are registered, or lose all their fiscal incentives. Several huge firms opted to lose their perks, saying it was more important to keep their workers, in whom they had also invested so much, and who keep their business successful. In her speech, Poe rued, “This is a clear example where government is the problem, not the solution.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph Thursday, August 18, 2022 A11BusinessMirror News

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario IN less than two decades, the number of seniors in the Phil ippines will reach 14 percent of the population marking the trans formation of the country to an aging society, according to the Commis sion on Population and Develop ment (Popcom). In a virtual briefing on Wednes day, Popcom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said seniors or 60 years old and over now account for 8.5 percent of the population. Based on data from the Philippine Statis tics Authority (PSA), this was at 5.9 percent in 2000. Perez explained that the United Nations considers countries with a senior population of over 10 percent to around 12 percent as the start of the aging of a society. “ It will be 14 percent by 2035— we presume this will take place be tween 2030 and 2035, but towards the end of that period,” Perez told the BusinessMirror . “[A senior population of] 14 percent is what the UN considers an aging society,” he Wadded.hatthis means for the Phil ippines, Perez said, is that while Asian countries enjoyed some 20 to 30 years of the demographic dividend, the Philippines will only enjoy its dividends for 15 years be fore it starts to age. Our demographic opportuni ty to take advantage of our large working population and a small younger population will be only for 15 years. Other countries had more time and they enjoyed great er economic benefits. But in our case, we were late in reducing our fertility rate that’s why we have a smaller window of opportunity to take advantage of this demo graphic transition,” Perez said. Given this, Perez said the national government should take great strides in improving the social protection and well-being of aging Filipinos starting today. He said the government should institute preventive programs for geriatric care and community based rehabilitation should be in place as early as possible. Perez also said discussions on increasing the age of retirement and employment opportunities for seniors should also be addressed. He recommended that the National Commission on Senior Citizens can take a lead role and with support fromAndPopcom.Ithink we should have policies to maintain a population growth rate of around 1 percent over the next 15 to 20 years. The reason for that is, we need a good number of workers, effective workers and potential workers to support the seniors whose numbers are increas ing,” Perez said. I n a study conducted under the Philippine APEC Study Center Net work of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), University of the Philippines-Cebu College of Social Sciences Associate Professor Ma. Rowena V. Mende said allowing Filipinos to flourish later in life could reduce health expenses of the government and increase productivity. Mende said senior citizens aged between 60 and 75 who are still able and willing to work “remain a valu able human resource.” This improves their individual capability to make them flourish even in their twilight years. (Full story here: sunrise-in-the-sunset-years/)nessmirror.com.ph/2022/07/02/https://busi

T he declaration will remain in effect until lifted by the President. During the said emergency, the Department of Health will be al lowed to use negotiated procurement to secure common-use supplies and equipment (CSE) instead of the usual public bidding, which usually takes a longer time to complete, as stipulat ed under Government Procurement Policy Board Resolution No. 03-2020. A mong the CSE are alcohol, sani tizers, gloves, common medicine, and testing kits.

FIVE days before the opening of classes for school year (SY) 20222023 on August 22, the Depart ment of Education (DepEd) said that the number of enrollees have reached almost 22 million nationwide. Based on the data from Learner In formation System (LIS) SY 2022-2023 as of August 17, a total of 21,837,853

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the country would remain under state of public health emergency until the end of the year to ensure government procurement during the pandemic will not be hampered.

Child population seen to dip, seniors to increase in next 20 yrs–Popcom Senators support hybrid work setup, ask govt to stop ‘choking’ WFH firms 3.6-M Pinoys battling mental health issues amid pandemic Student enrollment reaches 21.8M 5 days before start of school year

learners have registered from start of enrollment date last July 25. T he most number of enrollees came from Region 4A with 3,142,716, fol lowed by Region 3 (2,419,137), and the National Capital Region (2,330,450). T he DepEd targets 28.6 million enrollees for this school year. Earlier, DepEd spokesman Michael Tan Poa also made an appeal to par ents to enroll their children now and not on the last day of enrollment. Based on previous years, he ob served, parents trooped to schools to enroll their kids on the last day of en rollment or the first week when classes have already resumed. By enrolling their children early, he stressed, it will help DepEd prepare for the exact number of learning materi als needed, including textbooks. To our media partners, please help us also to encourage our parents to enroll their kids now,” he said. The enrollment will continue until August 22, the day classes for school year 2022-2023 is set to open. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Invoking Section 8 of the law directing the Department of Labor and Employ ment to establish and maintain a telecom muting pilot program and submit findings to Congress, Poe added, “We should push back on agencies who refuse to think ‘outside the cubicle.’ Let’s work together to turn work into something that we do, not something we only need to go to.” For his part, Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada thanked Poe for bringing up the issue of hybrid works in her speech. Estrada, a staunch advocate of labor, em ployment and human resources, noted that the WFH arrangement saved the industry and the country at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic where human intervention and human interaction activities were restricted for safety and security concerns. T he senator said he favors adopt ing a hybrid setup for types of work that can be accomplished remotely and virtually, adding that such work setup will open doors for more and better employment opportunities especially for women, senior citizens and persons with disabilities. “I also agree with all the advantages cited by Sen. Grace Poe and those men tioned by fellow advocates. We have to move with the demands of time and trend and we have to adapt accordingly,” Estrada said.

A RECENT study conducted by the Department of Health (DOH) has indicated that around 3.6 million Filipinos found themselves battling mental disor ders during the pandemic. Due to the increasing number of mental health cases in the Philip pines, two leaders in the country’s health and personal care industries, PhilCare and Johnson & Johnson Philippines Inc. (JJPI), are collabo rating to make psychological first aid (PFA) accessible to more Filipinos. Look, listen, and link PFA is about comforting someone who might be in distress, and helping them feel safe and calm by applying three basic action principles—look, listen, and link. To look is to assess the situation of the individual seeking help; to lis ten is to pay active attention to what they’re experiencing and helping them find solutions to their problem; and to link is to address their basic needs like food, water, and medicine, or to connect them to loved ones or to social support when needed. PFA can be helpful to people cop ing with everyday stress and chal lenges. These people could include health-care workers and social wel fare responders, Covid-19 survivors, families who just lost loved one, adults who feel alone, and those with vulnerabilities like mental health and substance abuse problems. “Learning PFA and understanding reactions to crises empowers all of us as helpers,” said Dr. Edgardo Juan To lentino, former president of the Phil ippine Psychiatric Association, during the recently held online forum Let’s Talk About Psychological First Aid organized by PhilCare and JJPI. Dr. Tolentino added that PFA is not anything far from physical first aid where you “put a band aid on the shallow wound of an individual, but if the wound is deeper and you can’t control the bleeding, you may have to call the ambulance or bring the person to the Emergency Room.” “ The goal of PFA is to provide safety, calm and comfort, and con nectedness to a person. As well as to promote self-empowerment by giv ing them back their sense of control,” Dr. Tolentino said. T hrough this joint effort—PFA training, facilitated by JJPI—will be incorporated into PhilCare’s Mind scapes program for mental wellness. T his will allow PhilCare’s mental health professionals to use PFA to treat their patients battling anxiety and depression brought on by the pandemic, economic uncertainties, or personal issues.

State of public health emergency may be extended until year-end, PBBM says Marcos said the extension of the health emergency also aims to give the government enough time to amend existing procurement laws.

US weighs EU plan to revive Iran nuclear deal abandoned by Trump

MEMBER OF 3.6 percent, airline fares slumped 7.8 percent and prices for used cars and trucks dropped 0.4 percent.” However, the food inflation index was up 1.1 percent, coffee increased by 3.5 percent, and car insurance as up 1.3 percent from the previous month. Further, food prices were up 10.9 percent from July 2022, along with electricity prices accelerating by 15.2 percent, and total energy costs were 32.9 percent higher than in 2022.Itisprobably not a good idea to have Joe Biden check your body temperature if you are sick. “Great news. Your temperature did not go up from this morning. It is still 43 degrees.”Howis the local mall business? Count the numbers of cashiers open in the department store compared to pre-Covid. I guarantee it is fewer. You do not need the Philippine Statistics Authority for the nation’s inflation numbers. April 2019: 1 pc Chickenjoy Value Meal: P79. July 2022: 1 pc Chickenjoy Value Meal: P95. July 13, 2022: “Kitty Ussher, Chief Economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, says inflation rates are likely to come back within a manageable margin by next year, and the fundamentals of the UK economy are in better shape than many business leadersThenthink.”again, “Dogs Trust, a British animal welfare group, said petowners are increasingly unable to afford their animals as the cost-ofliving crisis bites, receiving 15,000 calls this year from owners asking about the process of giving up their dogs to be rehomed, up 54 percent from last year.” And how is the Chinese economy doing? Watcheco, a Chinese portal for used luxury watches, said the price of second-hand Rolex Submariners has crashed by 46 percent since March. Luxury bag shops in Shanghai and Hangzhou have cut the prices of Hermès Birkin bags by 20 percent over the same period. The Chinese government may have had no choice but to report that the quarter-on-quarter GDP fell 2.6 percent in June. Beijing officials probably all own at least a Submariner. And Joe Biden’s dog is paid for by the taxpayers. E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

How is the local mall business? Count the numbers of cashiers open in the department store compared to pre-Covid. I guarantee it is fewer. You do not need the Philippine Statistics Authority for the nation’s inflation numbers. April 2019: 1 pc Chickenjoy Value Meal: P79. July 2022: 1 pc Chickenjoy Value Meal: P95.

officials say there are no plans to remove the designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization—heading off a political firestorm prompted by reports that the move was under consideration in Washington.TheUSopenness to the EU proposal, coupled with an Iranian response received Monday night that one European described as constructive, raised fresh hopes that Iran, the US and other signatories to the nuclear deal are close to reaching an agreement after months of tortured negotiations. Energymarkets roiled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been watching closely in anticipation that hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian crude could come back online per day once a deal is signed. Brent oil futures fell as much as 2.8 percent in London to trade at a sixmonth low on Tuesday as traders weighed the more productive tone of the Iran talks. With all sides refusing to give details, others preached caution. It’s still unclear why the prospects for agreement would have improved given that the terms of the EU prolook today’s business T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes D. Edgard A. Cabangon Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines. Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025. (Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807. (Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news.businessmirror@gmail.com www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

By Courtney McBride | Bloomberg Opinion

Poor Filipinos are individuals and families whose income fall below the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority. For a family of five, the minimum monthly income not to be considered poor is P12,030, or an income of P401 per day. IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa said the country’s growing poverty rate should be blamed not only on the Covid-19 pandemic but also on government’s response to the health crisis. “The pandemic hit every country in the world, but because the lockdowns of the Philippines were too long, they were too harsh. The lack of public health measures and the overreliance on lockdowns to contain the pandemic, that caused the economy to contract,” he said in a TV interview. “Because other countries in Southeast Asia did not have long lockdowns as the Philippines’s, their economies did not collapse as much, and did not increase poverty in the same way we did. I think that points to the government being accountable for the long lockdowns and I think they should be held accountable for the continued poverty even in 2022,” Africa added. Despite the high inflation rate and the continuing threat posed by the pandemic, the current administration remains confident that it can achieve its target of a 9-percent poverty incidence by 2028. In a press briefing, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said: “We can reduce poverty incidence by 5 percentage points at midterm, and another 4 percentage points by 2028. We aim to reduce poverty incidence among Filipinos to 9 percent by 2028.” (Read, “With 20 million poor Pinoys, 9% poverty goal stays,” in the BusinessMirror, August 15, 2022). Balisacan said the government will use the 2021 poverty data as the administration’s baseline as it pushes to undo the damage inflicted by the pandemic on the economy. He said efforts to achieve the target include resuming face-to-face classes, greater vaccine access for children and adults, and providing training opportunities for Filipinos to improve their chances of securing quality employment. The government, he said, is working to reduce the cost of doing business, enhancing inter-industry linkages and being more aggressive in promoting the country as a key investment destination in the region. The government will also provide greater support for research and development to encourage innovation.Somesolons are proposing a more radical option to help end extreme poverty in the country. Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene D. Brosas said the Marcos administration must focus on imposing wealth tax on billionaires instead of taxing digital transactions and proposing pro-big business legislations. “Imposing at least 3 percent tax on the wealth of Forbes’ 20 richest Filipinos will yield a whopping P98.2 billion. This is 8 times the projected revenues from the proposed VAT on digital goods and services, and enough to provide P10,000 cash subsidy to 9.8 million poor Filipino families,” Brosas said. The Makabayan bloc has refiled House Bill 258, which seeks to impose “super rich tax” on individuals with net value assets exceeding P1 billion. The bill proposes a tax of 1 percent on wealth of above P1 billion, 2 percent on wealth above P2 billion, and 3 percent on wealth over P3 billion. (Read, “Solons weigh in on bid to tax PHL’s ‘super rich,” in the BusinessMirror, August 15, 2022).

The point of this silly story is that actual unbiased observation is probably the best measure of anything, and while the world often plays tricks on the senses, trusting what we hear, see, and touch might be better than relying on someone else’s interpretation even when reading the thermometer.USPresident Joe Biden last Wednesday claimed that the US economy had no inflation for July. July 10, 2022: “Today, we received news that our economy had zero percent inflation in the month of July. Zero percent.” This is the president making an unequivocal statement based on data compiled and released by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. How could anyone argue with the President, especially when the data is released to the Bidenworld?was correct. The total price of the “basket of goods” was unchanged from the month of June as “The gasoline index fell 7.7 percent in July, natural gas declined

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posal don’t differ dramatically from a February draft, said Michael Singh, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council. “It’shard to see anything that’s fundamentally changed unless things are happening behind the scenes that we just can’t perceive,” he said.Former President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, and Biden had made restoring it a top foreign-policy priority. But the negotiations dragged on for months, bedeviled by Iran’s continued nuclear advances, the arrival of a more hardline government in the summer of 2021 and disagreements over what to do about the many non-nuclear sanctions that the Trump administration imposed during its waning days in office. President Joe Biden has come under intense political pressure from Republicans not to make any concessions given what they describe as its more aggressive behavior more broadly. In recent days, prosecutors charged an Iranian national with planning to kill former presidential aide John Bolton, while US officials have condemned Iranian hardliners for celebrating last Friday’s violent knife attack on writer Salman Rushdie.EUmediators had circulated a “final” proposal for salvaging the deal last week. Iran formally submitted its response to the EU on Monday night, and an official familiar with the diplomatic efforts, who asked not to be identified given the sensitivity of the talks, said the Iranian response wasTheconstructive. officialsaid Iran’s response still required study and that other parties to the nuclear talks—which include the US, China and Russia— are assessing it. On Tuesday, an Iranian government spokesman said the US should “pay a price” if it withdraws from the deal again, a comment that suggested Iran wants guarantees that the US won’t do Biden’sso.refusal to offer such a guarantee has been a stumbling block in the talks. The US argued that it can’t make any such promise given that Republicans will almost certainly try to scuttle the deal if they gain control of Congress later this year or the White House in 2024.

You put a pot of water on the stove, turn on the heat and wait. how can you determine if and when the water reaches the temperature to turn from liquid to gas?

You might personally observe to see if the water is boiling, or you could ask someone else to look at the water and tell you if it is boiling. Which of these is the most accurate? The highest potential for a “wrong” answer is with the thermometer. Most likely we would trust this method to accurately tell us when the water boils. But the temperature probe could be faulty. Further, water boils at 100°C at sea level. In Baguio, 1,500 meters above sea level, water turns to steam at 98.5ºC. The temperature app might never reach 100°C. Your friend might interpret “boiling” with the first little bubble, while you meant a “rolling boiling.”

editorial There are almost 20 million Filipinos living in poverty in 2021, which translates to a poverty rate of 18 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. In 2018, the country’s poverty rate was estimated at 16.7 percent, which means there were 17.7 million Filipinos living below the poverty threshold four years ago.

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.comThursday, August 18, 2022 • Editor: Angel R. Calso Opinion BusinessMirrorA12

Do rich Pinoys want to be a little poorer?

You could put a temperature probe in the water and wait for it to send an alarm at 100°C to your Smartphone’s “Remote Temperature App.”

The Biden administration is weighing Iran’s response to a european union proposal aimed at reviving the 2015 international nuclear agreement, with officials on both sides of the Atlantic signaling the possibility that a deal could emerge now after more than a year of false starts.

While the US so far has refused to comment in detail on the proposal, floated by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell as a last-ditch effort to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday the big issues have been “largely settled” and that it was close to what the US was looking for. “This is the text that the EU has put on the table that is substantially based on the deal that has been on the table for several months now,” PriceAdministrationsaid.

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OUTSIDE THE BOX John Mangun

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda of Albay, however, warned that “the moment you impose an outright wealth tax, it’s gone. And our business environment and jobs will suffer.” He added: “We can’t raise our taxes too high for capital because it’s so easy to move capital offshore. The best way to tax wealth is to tax the inefficient and dysfunctional use of land in this country.” Rich Filipinos are in the best position to help alleviate the suffering of their poor countrymen by heeding the advice of Pope Francis: “These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer.”

Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence

This could be just the beginning, federal authorities and private ex tremism monitors warn. A growing number of ardent Donald Trump supporters seem ready to strike back against the FBI or others who they believe go too far in investigating the former president. Law enforcement officials across the country are warning and being warned about an increase in threats and the potential for violent attacks on federal agents or buildings in the wake of the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Experts who study radicalization and online disinformation—such as Trump’s aggressive false claims about a stolen election—note that the recent increase was sparked by a legal search of Trump’s Florida home. What might happen in the event of arrests or indictments? “When messaging reaches a cer tain pitch, things start to happen in the real world,” said former New Jer sey Attorney General John Farmer, a onetime federal prosecutor who now directs the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. “And when people in positions of power and public trust start to echo ex tremist rhetoric, it’s even more likely that we’re going to see real-world consequences.”Amplifiedby right-wing media, angry claims by Trump and his al lies about the search are fanning the flames of his supporters’ distrust of the FBI—though it’s led by a Trump appointee—and the federal govern ment in general. And at least a few of Trump’s supporters now appear to be acting on his anger. Last week a man wearing body armor and armed with an assault rifle and a nail gun tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office. He was later shot and killed by police after exchanging fire with officers. Au thorities say they believe the man had posted dark messages on Truth Social, Trump’s online platform, in cluding one that said federal agents should be killed on sight. Another man drove his car into a US Capitol barricade Sunday and began firing gunshots into the air before he fatally shot himself. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Pennsylvania man who had made repeated threats on the lives on FBI agents on Gab, a platform popular with Trump supporters. “You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU,” he wrote in one post shared by authorities. A joint intelligence bulletin from the FBI and Homeland Security warns about an increase in violent online threats targeting federal of ficials and government facilities. Those include “a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI headquarters,” along with calls for “civil war” and “rebellion,” according to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press. Mentions of “civil war” on plat forms including Facebook and Twit ter increased tenfold in the hours im mediately after last week’s search of Mar-a-Lago, according to an analysis by Zignal Labs, a firm that analyzes social media content. Many of the posts contained baseless claims suggesting President Joe Biden ordered the FBI to search Trump’s home, or that the FBI plant ed evidence to incriminate Trump. “Biden sending the FBI to raid a former President, Mr. Donald Trump’s home is a declaration of WAR against him and his supporters,” wrote one poster on the Telegram platform. The intelligence bulletin also noted federal law enforcement of ficials have identified multiple threats against government officials involved in the Mar-a-Lago search, including calls to kill the magistrate judge who signed the search warrant. The names and home addresses of FBI agents and other officials have been posted online, along with refer ences to family members who could be additional targets, according to the intelligence documents. The threats are ominously simi lar to the online rhetoric that pre ceded the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, says Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House January 6 committee and the Committee on Homeland Security. “These threats of violence and even civil war—coming predomi nantly from right-wing extremists online—are not only un-American but are a threat to our democracy and the rule of law,” Thompson said. The search of Trump’s residence was executed based on a lawfully obtained warrant signed by a judge. But that’s beside the point for Trump and his allies. “This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country,” Trump wrote Monday in a post on his Truth Social. “Third RepublicanWorld!”Rep.Paul Gosar of Arizona equated the investigation with “tyranny” and tweeted, “We must destroy the FBI.” Another Arizona congressman, Republican Andy Biggs, sought to place some blame on the individual agents who executed the search. “This looked more like something you would see in the former So viet Union,” Biggs said this week. “Why did all those agents willfully go along?”Republican Sen. John Thune told reporters in Sioux Falls, South Da kota, on Tuesday that though the Justice Department has shown it followed legal protocols in obtain ing the search warrant, its reticence about the Trump investigation has caused people to question law en forcement’s motives. “There’s just a lot of unanswered questions that, left to a vacuum, create lots of suspicions among the American people, and the one thing you don’t want is people not trusting law enforcement,” Thune said. Other Republicans have tried to temper the rhetoric, as Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did during an appearance over the weekend on CNN. “We need to pull back on cast ing judgment on them,” Hutchinson said of the agents. “The FBI is simply carrying out their responsibilities under the law.” But many in the conservative me dia haven’t heeded that advice. “The raid on Mar-a-Lago was not an act of law enforcement, it was the opposite of that,” Tucker Carlson said on his Fox News show Monday night. “It was an attack on the rule of law.” Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

PBBM’S SONA on July 25 failed to address a number of critical issues facing the nation. As we pointed out in the last column, the most urgent is the challenge of creating quality and sus tainable jobs for the majority of the labor force—the “inadequately employed.”

“The problem with using the military in civilian roles is that we don’t have any control of what goes on inside” the forces, said Ana Lorena Delgadillo, director of the civic group Foundation For Justice.

Obrador wants to keep soldiers involved in policing, and remove civilian control over the National Guard, whose offi cers and commanders are mostly soldiers, with military training and pay grades. But the president no longer has the votes in Congress to amend the constitution and has suggested he may try to do it as a regulatory change with a simple majority in Congress or by an executive order and see if the courts will uphold that.López Obrador warned Friday against politicizing the issue, say ing the military is needed to fight Mexico’s violent drug cartels. But then he immediately politicized it himself.“Aconstitutional reform would be ideal, but we have to look for ways, because they (the opposition) instead of helping us, are blocking us, there is an intent to prevent us from doing anything,” López Ob radorThesaid.two main opposition parties also had different positions when they were in power. They supported the army in public safety roles dur ing their respective administra tions beginning in 2006 and 2012. When López Obrador was run ning for president, he called for taking the army off the streets. But being in power—and seeing homicides running at their highest sustained levels ever—apparently changed his mind. He has relied heavily on the mili tary not just for crime fighting. He sees the army and navy as heroic, patriotic and less corruptible, and has entrusted them with building major infrastructure projects, run ning airports and trains, stopping migrants and overseeing customs at seaports.Mexico’s army has been deeply involved in policing since the start of the 2006 drug war. But its pres ence was always understood as temporary, a stopgap until Mexi co could build trustworthy police forces.López Obrador appears to have abandoned that plan, instead mak ing the military and quasi-military force like the National Guard the main solution. “Their mandate has to be prolonged,” he said. “I think the best thing is for the National Guard to be a branch of the Defense Department to give it stability over time and prevent it from being corrupted,” he said. He also wants the army and the navy to help in public safety roles beyond 2024, the current dateline estab lished in a 2020 executive order. The force has grown to 115,000, but almost 80 percent of its person nel were drawn from the ranks of theThemilitary.United Nations and human rights groups have long expressed reservations about having the mili tary do police work. And Mexico’s Supreme Court has yet to decide on several appeals against what crit ics say are unconstitutional tasks given to the National Guard. The UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s office said last week that militarizing civil insti tutions, such as policing, weakens democracy. Soldiers aren’t trained for that, the military by nature isn’t very open to scrutiny, it has been implicated in human rights abuses, and the presence of troops hasn’t resolved the pressing question of how to reform police, prosecutors andWhilecourts.López Obrador claims human rights abuses are no longer tolerated, the governmental Na tional Human Rights Commission has received more than a thousand complaints alleging abuses by the National Guard. The agency has issued five recommendations in cases where there was evidence of excessive use of force, torture or abuse of migrants. “The problem with using the military in civilian roles is that we don’t have any control of what goes on inside” the forces, said Ana Lorena Delgadillo, director of the civic group Foundation For Justice. Delgadillo said that placing the National Guard under the De fense Department, despite consti tutional language defining it as a civilian-commanded force, is “au thoritarian,” will be challenged in court and will not help to pacify theThecountry.Mexican Employers’ As sociation, Coparmex, said in a statement that the capabilities of state police should instead be strengthened. “It is them and the (state prosecutors’ offices) that are authorized to interact with the ci vilian population,” the group said. Perhaps more to the point, the quasi-military National Guard has not been able to bring down Mexi co’s stubbornly high homicide rate. Sofía de Robina, a lawyer for the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, said the National Guard “has not been able to de crease violence,” in part because of its military-style strategy of “occupying territory.” While that strategy—of build ing barracks and conducting regu lar patrols—may be helpful in re mote or rural areas, it has proved less useful and even drawn opposi tion in urban areas. Police, who are from the towns they serve and live among the in habitants, would be more effec tive, experts say. Yet widespread corruption, poor pay and threats by cartels against police officers have weakened local and state po liceOverforces.15 years of experience with the military in policing roles has shown “the falseness of the paradigm that the army was go ing to solve the problems,” Delga dilloDesaid.Robina added that López Obrador’s latest move means try ing to keep the military in policing indefinitely, “completely defying the obligation that public safety be civil” with no limits on time or strategy. By David Klepper | The Associated Press WASHINGTON—A man armed with an AR-15 dies in a shootout after trying to breach FBI offices in Cincinnati. A Pennsylvania man is arrested after he posts death threats against agents on social media. In cyberspace, calls for armed upris ings and civil war grow stronger.

LABOREM

Mexico president seen bypassing Congress to keep army in streets

Dr.EXERCENSReneE.Ofreneo

The inadequately employed in clude those without jobs (openly unemployed but looking for work), those with jobs but with limited hours of work (underemployed), the unpaid family workers, the selfemployed and micro entrepreneurs with very uncertain and limited in comes/earnings/opportunities, and the non-regular hires in the formal sector (who have no job security such as the contractuals, project hires and those without any formal employment contracts). Collectively, they constitute the overwhelming majority of the labor force. They are the nation’s working poor. They be long to the C-D-E classes who gave President Bongbong a landslide vic tory last May. Can the President return the elec toral favor given by the working poor by focusing all the government’s at tention and energy of his adminis tration on the creation of good, se cure and sustainable jobs for them? Can his administration go beyond the populist tendency of politicians to espouse instant remedies for the maladies affecting the working poor by simply announcing and allocating paltry “ayudas” or “pantawid-buhay” that can sustain the food and income needs of an individual or family good for only one to two weeks? The SONA failed to outline the administration’s program on job creation for the working poor. How ever, his Economic Planning Secre tary, Arsenio Balisacan, was quoted as saying that there are three ma jor development thrusts under the PBBM administration: re-opening of the economy; investment on hu man capital; and making “productive sectors” more productive. Further, he gave a very rosy growth and job forecast for the country in the next six years, with the national poverty rate (reported by PSA to be at 18.1 percent in 2021) eventually going down to a single digit of 9 percent in 2028. Balisacan even remarked that the Philippines can officially join the ranks of the world’s “upper” middleincome countries by 2024, a target that the Duterte administration also declared and yet failed to achieve. We wish we can share the opti mism of Secretary Balisacan. Re cords show that most of the rosy growth and job projections made by Neda at the beginning of each admin istration (from Marcos Sr. to Duterte) were never fulfilled. The same hap pened with the CGE growth-growthgrowth projections articulated by the economists who pushed for the early ratification of Philippine member ship in the WTO in 1994 and for the Philippine participation in various Asean and Asean-linked free-trade agreements.FormerDA Secretary Manny Pi ñol, citing the country’s experience in 2016-2018, pointed out that the growth-growth-growth economics under a liberalized environment does not automatically translate into more jobs, better welfare and sustainable development, as dem onstrated in the case of the failing agricultural sector. This is one reason why the farmers’ organizations in the country are united in their call for a deferment of the Philippine ratifica tion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the overhaul or repeal of the ultra-liberal Rice Tariffication Law. Jobs and incomes are falling in ag riculture.Toacertain extent, a similar phenomenon is happening in the country’s industrial sector, which has remained lilliputian compared to our industry-oriented Asian neigh bors. Our economy has evolved into a services-led one without undergoing an industrial revolution and agricul turalHowever,modernization.thePhilippines man aged to post high growth rates in the pre-Covid years of 2010-2018. This is not due to the failing agricul tural sector and stagnant industrial sector. Credit goes to the 10 million plus OFWs, who send over $35 bil lion a year to their families, and to the rise of an unexpected economic savior: the call center-BPO sector. And yet, the two legs of the econ omy (labor migration and CC/BPO) are not enough to create good and sustainable jobs for all in an economy that has become services-oriented. Thus, the army of the safeemployedprotection.”eredareprivateinmalthepercentclassifiedthemalUP19-inducedLaborofsoremployed?thethekeepsmarketandself-employed,employed,employed—unemployed,inadequatelyunderunpaidfamilyworkers,microentrepreneurstheprecariatintheformallabor(casuals,contractuals,etc.)–growing,aclearindicatorthateconomycannotstandbasedonabove-citedtwolegs.HowmanyaretheinadequatelyArecentstudybyProfesEmilyCabeginoftheUniversitythePhilippines(“TheInformalCarriestheBruntofaCovid-EconomicRecession,”CIDS,2022)assertsthat“inforemployment,”wheremostofinadequatelyemployedcanbetoo,constitutesaround83ofthelaborforce.ShegavefollowingILOdefinitionofinforemployment:“ThoseworkinginformalorformalenterprisesorhouseholdswhoseactivitiesnotcoveredorinsufficientlycovbylaborregulationsandsocialAssuch,theinformally“sufferfrompoorandunworkingconditions,lowwages, and the lack of social protection, col lective representation, and access to skills development training, technol ogy, and financial services.” According to the statistical analy sis made by Professor Cabegin, those belonging to the informal employ ment represent over 80 percent of the labor force. Further, she noted that the level of labor informality was fairly “stable,” at 82-83 percent in the high-growth decade of 2010-2020. This shows the correctness of Piñol’s observation: high economic growth does not automatically lead to more and better jobs and welfare for all. So the big challenge: how will the PBBM administration reverse the ratio, or reduce the informal and unprotected segments of the labor force to 20 percent (not 80 percent) or even Meanwhile,less? how will the Bali sacan’s three-point development program work out in the next six years? First, on more investment on human capital and social protection, this is unarguably fine. But where will the debt-saddled government go to strengthen the Covid-weakened edu cational system, and provide social amelioration and social protection to 4/5 of the labor force and their families?Astomaking the “productive sec tors” more productive, this is also good. But does the good Secretary re fer to the industrial and agricultural sectors, both of which have not been faring well under our liberalized and deregulated economy? In the first place, how will the PBBM administra tion help rebuild and transform these two weak, if not fracturing, sectors? On the expectation that growth is bound to surge with the opening of the economy, this sounds very much like the mantra uttered by former Neda DG Karl Chua: “Bring the econ omy back to the old normal.” But is the old pre-Covid normal desirable? The high level of informal employ ment or inadequate employment tells us bolder measures, including pos sible restructuring of the economy, are needed. For inquiries, please e-mail reneofreneo@ gmail.com.

Precarious labor unlimited

Thursday, August 18, 2022 Opinion A13BusinessMirrorwww.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

By Maria Verza | The Associated Press M EXICO CITY—Mexico’s president has begun exploring plans to sidestep Congress to hand formal control of the National Guard to the army, a move that could extend the military’s control over policing in a country with high levels of violence.

That has raised concerns be cause President Andrés Manuel López Obrador won approval for creating the force in 2019 by pledg ing in the constitution that it would be under nominal civilian control and that the army would be off the streets by Neither2024.the National Guard nor the military have been able to lower the insecurity in the country, however. This past week, drug car tels staged widespread arson and shooting attacks, terrifying civil ians in three main northwest cit ies in a bold challenge to the state. On Saturday, authorities sent 300 army special forces and 50 National Guard members to the border city of Tijuana.Still,López

Ph ilexport president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. has repeatedly ral lied behind the ratification of the regional trade deal, noting that of over 2,000 active members of the organization, nearly 1,000 are ex porting to RCEP economies. The opening and expansion of market access to the member economies will create positive ripple effects which can result in employment and livelihood, much needed especially now as we try to recover from and thrive again in this pandemic,” said Ortiz-Luis in a statement released by Philexport on TFriday. hePhilippine Senate has yet to ratify the regional trade deal. According to the umbrella orga nization of Philippine exporters, this has caused dismay among rel evant agencies and private sector stakeholders as they warned that further delay will slow the growth momentum and cast doubts about the country’s openness to trade andMinvestment. eanwhile,in a recent webinar, Robin Flint, First Secretary of the Australian Embassy in Cambodia, highlighted the chapter on customs procedures and trade facilitation in the regional trade pact, noting that it is among the most impor tant chapters in RCEP as it commits customs agencies to release goods within a specific timeframe. F lint said RCEP’s Chapter 4 on Customs Procedures and Trade Fa cilitation (CPTF) is a crucial one designed to provide a level playing field for all members to enforce cross-border trade. A ccording to the international trade official, the CPTF, which consists of 21 articles, is important because “you need very strong rules around how customs agencies will implement a free- trade agreement such as RCEP.” “Good rules will facilitate trade, build business confidence and fa cilitate cross-border transaction in goods,” added Flint. D uring the virtual event, Flint said that the CPTF chapter has several key provisions, including By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario I NVESTING in big data would create $100 billion worth of value for Southeast Asian countries, including the Philip pines, according to the latest re port from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). A DB said this will go a long way in fast-tracking post-Covid-19 economic recovery in Southeast Asia and would greatly benefit sec tors such as health, social welfare and protection, and education. I n its latest report, ADB es timates that in Southeast Asia alone, the size of the internet economy could triple to $300 bil lion by 2025, compared to 2019. The pace of digitalization clearly accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, underscor ing the importance of big data for the effective and efficient de livery of key public services such as health care, social welfare and protection, and education,” ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam said in a statement. “ It is crucial for policy makers across the subregion to help pave the way for big data adoption— from strategic governance to building a data-driven culture,” he Aadded.DBalso estimated that re mote monitoring systems can bring $9.4 billion in annual cost savings to the health-care system in Southeast Asia by 2030 with fewer hospital visits, shorter hospital stays, and medical pro cedures.Thereport pointed out that the use of analytics to direct highly targeted health interven tions for at-risk populations can lead to an estimated $15.5 bil lion increase in gross domestic product (GDP) across the region by A2030.DBalso said the use of digital technologies to provide person alized and remote learning and job matching can contribute an estimated $77.1 billion annually to the GDP of Southeast Asian countries by 2030. T he report, however, cau tioned that unlocking the poten tial of big data in public service delivery will require govern ments to lay the strategic and technical groundwork to maxi mize the opportunities of big data and mitigate its risks, in cluding protection for data pri vacy, fraud, and cybersecurity.

A14 Thursday, August 18, 2022

NONIE

PHILIPPINE Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) has again called on the Senate to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

BIG DATA TO UNLOCK $100B FOR SEA STATES

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573 A LAWYER has joined several transport groups in peti tioning the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional the no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP) being implemented by sev eral local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila. L awyer Juman B. Paa filed the petition after being compelled to pay huge fines and penalties for four traffic violations (obstruc tion of the pedestrian lane) he allegedly committed between May and July 2021 in the City of Manila, as captured through the NCAP before he could register his vehicle. Henamed the Manila City gov ernment through Mayor Honey Lacuna and the Sangguniang Pan lungsod ng Maynila as respondents in the petitioner. M anila’s NCAP is being imple mented by virtue of City Ordinance No. 8676, Series of 2020. Paa asked that the NCAP be de clared unconstitutional for violat ing his constitutional right to due process; for being oppressive and confiscatory; and for violation of privacy rights under Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.The petitioner said the fines im posed for the four traffic violations reached a total P13,000. However, due to late payment of the fines, a penalty of P7,320 was imposed by the city government— equivalent to approximately 56 per cent of the fine imposed or roughly, 4.6 percent penalty interest.

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM S ENATE probers sitting in the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers (Blue Ribbon) are poised to line up a full agenda for investigating controversial transac tions, as they met for the first time Wednesday and vowed to fulfill their key constitutional mandate to go af ter Pgrafters.residing over its organizational meeting, Blue Ribbon panel chair man Sen. Francis Tolentino affirmed their pledge to “accomplish the com mittee’s mandate, as well as to fulfill its powers in aid of legislation.” He confirmed that the Blue Ribbon panel lined up two hearings on rag ing controversies, starting with the sugar importation mess, set for Tues day (Aug. 23); and the alleged pricey laptops bought by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the De partment of Education (DepEd) on Thursday (Aug. 25). T olentino aired an appeal “for the members of the commit tee to be forthright in coming up with a Blue Ribbon roadmap which would entail—for purposes of the hearing—a known duration, a de fined direction and not evolve into a political circus, instead respect the rights of the witnesses and the resource persons, prevent abuses and pass the proper remedial leg islation with the known standard of proof.”Moreover, Tolentino gave as surances that “we will not be here to witch-hunt, or to have a fishing expedition, we will be here, in the succeeding hearings, to gather and uncover the truth. We will do what is right.” BlueRibbon members decided to first tackle the privilege speech of Senate President Juan Miguel Zu biri on the sugar importation order tagged as unauthorized by Malaca ñang Palace, and “the pricey laptops” bought by the DBM for the Depart ment of Education. However, no dates yet were set for inquiries lined up: on the latest PPE procurements; the scholarship pro grams under the Unified Financial Assistance System (the scholarship program of CHED), and Land Trans portation Office (LTO) transactions. Tolentino also announced that the Blue Ribbon has tapped two ex-senior ombudsmen (Melchor Carandang; and former Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera) to help the committee inquiry. A t Wednesday’s hearing, Tolen tino administered the oath of office of Mosquera, who will now stand as the committee’s general legal counsel. C arandang will serve as senior legal consultant. Tolentino said the appointment of counsels in the committee shows the “seriousness of the Senate Blue Rib bon Committee of the 19th Congress in tackling the resolutions ahead.” Meanwhile, also at the panel’s organizational meeting, Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III proposed a state-of-the-art maxi mum security prison. If a maximum security prison be built, then make it world-class in the sense that the security features in that prison should be modern,” Pimentel proposed, attending the meeting virtually, and suggested that “it should contain all compo nents of a maximum security prison designed in the year 2022.” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who joined the meeting, agreed with Pimentel and noted a crammed maximum security area in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntin lupa City. According to Remulla, the Bilibid maximum security currently houses 17,000 inmates, way beyond the limit of 7,000. S en. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa ex pressed full support for Tolentino as Blue Ribbon chief, saying he “fully agreed” with Tolentino’s avowal there will not be a “witch hunt” or “fishing expedition” in uncovering theFtruth.orher part, Sen. Risa Hontiveros enjoined the Blue Ribbon to hold to account government officials found to have misused public funds. Hontiveros renewed her appeal for the abolition of the PS-DBM over findings of allegedly overpriced lap tops purchased by DepEd. S he also cited complaints reaching her office that beneficiaries of Uni FAST have yet to receive their sub sidies. “I think this drives home the point that every time public funds are used injudiciousl—whether on tuition fees, laptops, PPE (personal protective equipment), face shields —real lives are affected,” Hontiveros stressed.

Citing ripple effects, export bloc seeks RCEP ratification

Paa claimed that he never re ceived any notice of violation from the Manila Traffic and Parking Bu reau (MTPB) as it appeared that these notices were sent to a wrong address.Despite this error, Paa said he was still compelled to pay the fines and their corresponding penalties. T he implementation of NCAP is violative of one’s right to due process due to absence of proper notice, he said. He saidthe NCAP lacks the tech nical capability to ensure that no tices of violations are received by the motorists. See “NCAP,” A2

those on pre-arrival processing, in which RCEP members commit to allow trade and customs docu mentation to be submitted prior to the goods arriving.

Blue Ribbon’s new chief Tolentino bares plans, sets hearings breaches due process, data privacy’

‘NCAP

T he international trade official added that the provisions touching on the release of goods, which call on members to maintain proce dures for clearing goods from cus toms within specific timeframes, are equally important. For general goods, customs is committed to release goods 48 hours after arrival as long as all necessary requirements have been met. Meanwhile, for perishable goods, RCEP makes commitments for customs administrations to “re lease goods from customs within six hours after arrival.” F lint noted that the inclusion of specific timeframes “goes above and beyond” the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement commitments, mak ing the whole shipment process quicker, reducing costs for the business community, and lower ing costs for customs administra tions as well. T his gives traders of food and agricultural products greater cer tainty that their products will be released swiftly after arrival, al lowing them to plan appropriately, reduce potential costs from storage using bonded warehousing, and manage risks from spoilage due to detention at customs, he explained. I n June, Ortiz-Luis noted that exporters experienced a shipping crisis as there was a shortage of ships, scheduling problems and high freight costs. RCEP is a free-trade agreement among Asean countries and their trading partners namely Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Touted as the world’s largest trade pack, RCEP represents 30 percent of the global gross do mestic product (GDP). T he regional trade pact came into force on January 1, 2022. By Andrea E. San Juan

SOFT DRINKS, HARD TIMES A man arranges carbonated drinks delivered to a store in Makati City. Reports said that makers of soft drinks are among those bearing the impact of declining sugar supply in the country. Several leading carbonated drink producers confirmed in a joint statement on Tuesday that "our industry is facing a shortage of premium refined sugar—a key ingredient in many of our products." REYES

“ This form of advanced lodg ments of documentation greatly re duces the amount of time the goods undergo customs clearances,” said the trade official. A nother important provision, Flint said, is on the advanced rulings, which commits member countries to allow for customs rul ings to be provided to traders upon request for the tariff classification of their goods. Traders, whether importers or exporters, can apply to a customs administration for advanced rul ing to get an assessment about how their goods will be treated—wheth er it’s originating under RCEP, what the customs value might be—so that they can calculate the taxes and fees. F lint said the provision on ad vance ruling brings greater cer tainty as to how a customs admin istration will treat traders’ products while reducing discrepancies at the border and making the whole pro cess of importing and exporting much quicker.

T he Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) recorded a 9-percent increase in its net income in the first half, bringing it closer to the level of its profits before the pandemic.Inastatement, the state-owned port operator said its net income for the first two quarters of the year rose to P5.02 billion, from P4.61 billion the year prior, and is 24-percent higher than its P4.06billionWhiletarget.thefigure is still 13 percent lower than its pre-pandemic profits, the agency said the rebound is “a welcome development” coming from the 50-percent drop it registered in 2020. Gross revenues went up by 14.28 percent to P9.44 billion from P8.26 billion, while expenses grew by 14 percent to P4.41 billion from P3.65 billion. Driving its revenues are the 552-percent spike in concession fees and other income, the 55-percent rise in storage fees, and the 28-percent growth in domestic dockage revenues. Still, lay-up operations and interest incomes were down by 93 percent and 87 percent respectively. Lorenz S. Marasigan

To ensure the availability of 24/7 supply, SPBBC may also get backup power from other plants in its renewable energy (R e) portfolio. The company has proposed solar power plants with energy storage system ( e S S) in Batangas, Cavite andTheLaguna.CSPTerms of Reference provides that offers, which should cover the full contract capacity, may be sourced from a single or portfolio of power plants with commercial operations not earlier than February 2019 but not later than March 2024. This CSP forms part of Meralco’s sourcing activities that will ensure availability of reliable, sufficient and cost-competitive power for its customers.Meralco is also conducting a competitive challenge for Ahunan Power’s proposal to supply 500MW mid-merit requirement from R e starting 2026, and is negotiating for another mid-merit offer of Terra Solar covering 850 MW of R eThesesupply.CSPs are in compliance with the Department of e nergy’s Renewable Portfolio Standards policy and part of Meralco’s efforts to source up to 1,500 MW of its power requirements from R e sources. T he National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to set aside the writ of mandamus it issued directing the agency to comply with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) directive of granting automatic approval to News and entertainment Network Corp.’s (Newsnet)Newsnetapplication.isseeking to operate and maintain interactive pay TV and multimedia services in the country. The CA issued the writ of mandamus lastInmonth.an86-page motion for reconsideration, the NTC through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) argued that the CA should have dismissed the petition for mandamus filed by Newsnet for being moot and for lack of merit. The NTC headed by Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said there was no more ARTA order to implement since it has already reversed its February 12, 2020 ruling through an order issued last June 17, 2022. Newsnet sought the issuance of a writ of mandamus against the NTC by virtue of ARTA’s “Declaration of Completeness and Order of Automatic Approval in favor of Newsnet” released on February 12, 2020. however, ARTA reversed its February 2020 issuance in compliance with the July 9, 2021 resolution issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) which held that ARTA does not have the authority to issue the declaration of completeness and compel NTC to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) which included the use of frequencies. The DOJ’s July 9, 2021 resolution has become final and executory as declared by the Office of the President (OP) in an order issuing an entry of judgment. The OSG said the said DOJ order has become “immutable, and may no longer be disturbed.”

The OSG said ARTA’s June 17, 2022 resolution should be considered a “supervening event” that would warrant the reversal of the CA’s decision. The OSG further emphasized that Newsnet’s legislative franchise, Republic Act (RA) 8197 expired on August 9, 2021. “Its failure to renew the franchise renders all its secondary authorities, permits and licenses arising from it revoked,” the OSG said. Newsnet franchise The expiration of Newsnet’s legislative franchise, according to the NTC, legally prevents it from approving Newsnet’s application for a CPC and the use of Newsnet’sfrequencies.CATVsystem uses Local Multi-Point Distribution System (LMDS), a wireless service which makes use of the wireless frequency spectrum to relay its signal to its subscribers. The NTC said a legislative franchise is a requirement before it could issue an authority for Newsnet to use radio frequencies under Section 1 of RA 3846 (Radio Control Act). The said provision states that: “No person, firm, company, association or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio station within the Philippine Islands without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Philippine Legislature.” Since Newsnet’s 1997 Provisional Authority (PA) and the 2014 Application for PA were revoked upon the expiration of its legislative franchise, the OSG said, Newsnet can no longer use the frequencies assigned to it, or be allowed the assignment of frequencies.

“Now even assuming that the DOJ Resolution may not affect the rights of petitioner for not being a party to the proceeding for adjudication filed before the DOJ, as found by the honorable Court, still, it is humbly submitted, however that the honorable Court cannot close its eyes to the fact that said DOJ resolution, after it had attained finality, binds the ARTA,” the OSG said. “The ARTA, in turn, in view of the determination made by the DOJ, had even complied and issued its resolution dated June 17, 2022 setting aside the order dated February 12, 2022.”

Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) said its net income in January to June declined as bad weather made it difficult for the company to ship more nickel ore.

Continued on B2

T he house Committee on Legislative Franchises has asked government agencies for a briefing on the recent deal between ABS-CBN and TV5. According to its committee schedule, the panel, chaired by Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting, will conduct a “briefing by concerned offices on the reported purchase agreement between ABS-CBN Corp. and TV5 Network, Inc.” on August 18 at 2 p.m. This after, SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, who opposed the renewal of the franchise of ABSCBN claimed that TV5 has violated its franchise by entering into a deal withTheABS-CBN.acquisition of TV5 shares signals a new era for ABS-CBN, which had lost its bid to renew its Congressional franchise in 2020. But Marcoleta said TV5 violated Section 10 of its broadcasting franchise by entering into an agreement withTheABS-CBN.lawmaker also said that “the merger left a bad taste in the mouth.”

BusinessMirrorEditor: Jennifer A. Ng Companies B1Thursday, August 18, 2022

The company said its consolidated net income in the first half reached P417.4 million, 34.9 percent lower than last year’s P640.8 million. Revenues also slid 15 percent to P2.21 billion from the previous year’s P2.61 billion due to lower volume of ore shipped.“The Group encountered more rainy days this period totaling 128 rainy days compared to 105 rainy days during the same period in 2021,” the company said in a statement. FNI said it managed to complete 19 shipments of nickel ore totaling 1.035 million wet metric tons (WMT) during the six-month period, compared to 32 shipments totaling 1.740 WMT last year. “We are hoping for better weather in the third quarter, during the peak of PGMC’s [Platinum Group Metals Corp.] mining season that normally delivers more than 60 percent of FNI’s revenues for the year,” said FNI President Dante R. Bravo. FNI said the results in the first half were driven by the April to June mining operations of PGMC in Surigao del Norte, with incremental contributions from PGMC International Limited (PIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary established to facilitate relations with Chinese customers for the trading of mineral products. PGMC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of FNI, is the second-largest value exporter of nickel ore in the country. Despite the fewer volume sold for the first half, FNI said it benefited from the higher average realized foreign exchange rate this year at P52.60 compared to the prior period’s P48.24, augmenting revenues by a total of P177.1 million. “Nickel ore prices are also higher this year with an overall average realized nickel ore price at $39.21 per WMT, compared to last year’s period at $31.10 per WMT, topping up revenues by P405 million.” The resulting sales mix was 79 percent low-grade ore and 21 percent medium-grade ore in 2022 in contrast to the previous period’s mix of 84 percent low-grade ore and 16 percent medium-grade ore. These shipments comprise 0.816 million WMT low-grade nickel ore and 0.219 million WMT mediumgrade nickel ore compared to 1.465 million WMT low-grade nickel ore and 0.275 WMT medium-grade nickel ore of the same period in 2021. “We have adjusted our 2022 shipment target to 4.0 million WMT but we still look forward to a productive and remarkable season due to the strong demand from China and favorable market conditions,” said Bravo.InMarch, the company reported that its net income rose by nearly 6 percent to P1.98 billion in 2021, from the previous year’s P1.87 billion, despite bad weather conditions. FNI said its revenues last year were up by P445.5 million, or 6.1 percent, to P7.71 billion in 2021 versus the P7.26 billion recorded in 2020. Bravo said bad weather caused the company’s shipment volume to fall by 13.1 percent as it managed to ship 90 vessels of nickel ore for a total of 4.887 WMT in 2021 against the 103 vessels totaling 5.625 million WMT in 2020. FNI’s overall average realized nickel ore price for 2021 was higher by 21.5 percent at $31.78/WMT compared to $26.16/WMT for 2020. By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

“With the substantial purchase of the outstanding stocks of ABS-CBN, I believe Section 10 of the franchise of TV5 was violated because the rights and obligations have virtually been transferred to ABS-CBN,” Marcoleta said in his privilege speech. “Pupwede ba Mr. Speaker na ang isang network na di na natin binigyan ng lisensiya—because of these established violations, wala na siyang prangkisa—pwede ba siyang sumakay ng ganun ganun lang without settling the obligations to the country, to the government?” PLDT Inc. and ABS-CBN Corp. have entered into two separate multibillion-peso deals that will allow the two groups to build a bigger media, broadband, and cable empire. One of the deals involves the acquisition by ABS-CBN of 34.99 percent of total voting and outstanding capital stock in TV5 Network Inc., a PLDT unit, for P2.16 billion. Meanwhile, the other deal involves the P2.86-billion investment by Cignal Cable Corp., a PLDT unit, into Sky Cable Corp. This transaction represents 38.88 percent of the total issued and outstanding capital stock in SkyLastCable.July 12, Marcoleta filed house Resolution 36 asking the house of Representatives to conduct an investigation to determine the alleged violation of ABS-CBN with respect to its franchise and the imposition of concomitant administrative fines. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Meralco seeks bids for power deal PLDT, Smart win gold, silver SteviesPPA posts 9% hike in H1 profit CA asked to reverse ruling on Newsnet Solons want briefing on ABS-CBN-TV5 deal

FNI income falls on fewer shipments of nickel in H1

By Lenie Lectura @llectura T he Manila e l ectric Co. (Meralco) is soliciting bid offers to challenge the unsolicited proposal of Solar Philippines Batangas Baseload Corp.’s (SPBBC) 200 megawatts (MW) of baseload supply starting 2024. The utility firm said on Wednesday it has commenced the competitive selection process (CSP). Interested challengers have until August 31 to submit their e x pressions of Interest. The pre-bid conference is scheduled on September 1, while the bid submission deadline is set on October 5. The Meralco Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee said it would not accept late submissions and requests for additional time in all stages of the bidding process. SPBBC has offered a P4.65 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) headline rate at 100 percent plant capacity factor and a similar rate for the levelized cost of electricity for a period of 20 years. It proposed to source the 200-MW contract capacity and guaranteed output from its 1,800 MW solar project with 1,800 MWh of battery storage currently under development.

T he initiatives of PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. on consumer safety and digital inclusion recently received recognition from the International Business Awards. The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program, receiving entries from organizations in 67 nations and territories.Bagging a Gold Stevie® for Security/ Safety is Project Tower, an information dissemination campaign on the safety of cell sites and the regulation of radiofrequency of the telecommunication industry. In particular, the judges cited PLDT and Smart’s well-planned, wellexecuted and sufficiently explanatory video produced in the time of COVID-19 for the benefit of consumers. Receiving back-to-back Silver Stevie® awards is PLDT and Smart’s #FarmSmart initiative, recognized under the Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Corporate Responsibility category, for livelihood programs that help farmers and fisherfolk increase productivity, reach sure markets, and achieve food security through digital technologies. The International Business Awards cited #FarmSmart’s success in leveling up capacity-building initiatives to empower farming communities. early this year, #FarmSmart also received a Silver Stevie® from the Asia Pacific Stevies. “We are truly honored for these citations from the International Business Awards. We are inspired and committed to pursue more initiatives that provide security, value and lasting impact to the consumers and communities that we serve,” said PLDT and Smart FVP and Corporate Communications he ad, Cathy Yap-Yang.Winners will be celebrated during a gala banquet at the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel, in London, england, on Saturday, 15 October— the first live IBA awards ceremony since 2019. This year’s competition also featured a number of new categories to recognize organizations’ and individuals’ achievements in thought leadership.“We’rethrilled that we’re able to return to celebrating Stevie winners in person this year,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Miller. “This year’s class of honorees are as innovative, adventuresome, persistent, and successful as we’ve ever had. We look forward to celebrating their achievements with them during our 15 October awards banquet in London.”

BusinessMirror Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Thursday, August 18, 2022 B3www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Fintech starts campaign to promote QR code use

The LandBank Climate resilient Agriculture Financing Program underscores the Bank’s commitment towards advancing a more resilient agriculture sector while promoting environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, in his recent State of the nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. identified climate change and its impact on agriculture as one of the top priorities of his administration.Throughthe years, LandBank has grown into one of the leading universal banks in the country, while remaining faithful to its social mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable development. On 8 August 2022, the state-run Bank celebrated its 59th anniversary, representing almost six decades of service to the nation.

Salceda said the EOPT bill is aligned with the priority of the Department of Finance to digitalize the taxpaying process. To allow full digitalization of the taxpayer experience, the EOPT proposes to delete various provisions in the nIrC that require taxes to be paid in the BIr offices or banks within the jurisdiction of the taxpayer’s legal residence, principal place of business or principal office, thereby giving taxpayers payment flexibility. The bill also seeks to introduce provisions on taxpayers’ rights in the Tax Code and create a taxpayers’ advocate office.

THE committee has also approved the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) bill, a proposal that’s gained a strong backing by the largest foreign and domestic business groups in the country.Salceda said the EOPT bill is the most important ease of doing business proposal pending in Congress. “Taxes are often the hardest part of doing business. So, [if] you lift that difficulty, you ease much of the burden of businesses, especially small ones,” he added. The EOPT bill proposes to amend the national Internal revenue Code (nIrC) as amended by introducing administrative reforms that will simplify tax compliance and strengthen taxpayer rights. The proposal mandates the Bureau of Internal revenue to create taxpayer classifications depending on the capacity to comply with tax rules and regulations. amount and type of tax paid, gross sales and/or receipts as well as inflation, volume of business, wage and employment levels and similar economic and financial factors. The EOPT bill also calls for the implementation of simplified tax rules and regulations for ease of compliance.Tosimplify VAT administration, the proposed bill seeks to eliminate the distinction between the documentation and basis of sales as against services subject to VAT. At present, sales subject to VAT should be evidenced by invoices while services subject to VAT should be covered by official receipts. The EOPT bill makes VAT invoices the sole basis and documentation. Early filing THE bill also proposes to add a provision that the P3-million VAT threshold, which was increased by the Tax reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Tr A In) Law (republic Act 10963), may be adjusted to its present value not later than January 31, 2021 and every three years hence based on the consumer price index released by the Philippine Statistics Authority.TheEOPT also proposes to allow the payment of the taxes before they are due. This impliedly allows payment of tax not necessarily simultaneously with the filing of tax returns.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

LandBank lends ₧5.8B to agri sector climate project

Internet-based trade ACCOr DInG to Salceda, the measure seeks to level the playing field

Pre-‘Paleng-QR Ph’ EVEn before the rollout of the “Paleng-Qr Ph,” Vea said the fintech has been equipping Baguio City merchants with the Qr Ph-enabled Maya Qr These include market vendors, public utility drivers, bus stations, hotels, restaurants, groceries, pasalubong centers and tourist spots. “On top of digitalizing the public market, we’re enabling the city’s end-to-end ecosystem from sari-sari stores to government offices and large merchants. And we’re doing this all over the Philippines,” PayMaya Chief Operating Officer Khurram Malik was quoted in the statement as saying.Maliksaid that for the past years, Maya Bank has provided vendors in several markets with tools to use to meet the Qr Ph objectives. Among these are: Marulas Public Market in Valenzuela City; Antipolo City Public Market in Antipolo City; Kadiwa rolling stores; and, Divisoria street stalls in Manila City. The Maya Bank is the first fintech to adopt Qr Ph person-to-person (P2P) payments in 2019 and personto-merchant payments (P2M) in 2021. Since then, Maya has adopted the country’s interoperable Qr Ph standard across its end-to-end digital payments ecosystem, according to theTheyexecutives.addedthe 50 million registered users of the Maya Bank platform uses an application that can send and accept Qr Ph P2P payments. Meanwhile, non-Maya users can pay at more than 700,000 Qr Ph-enabled Maya Bank-merchant touchpointsPaymayanationwide.isoneof a dozen electronic money issuers tagged in the BSP’s list of InstaPay ACH participants as of July 31, 2022. It is named as a receiving-only EMI participating in the Qr Ph P2P mode. It is one of five EMIs named in the BSP’s list of Qr Ph P2M participants.

Rightsizing, procurement APA rT from the institutionalization of the CBS, the DBM is also pushing for the proposed national Government r ightsizingPangandamanprogram. also said they will focus on enhancing the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System to improve the cash management of the Bureau of the TreasuryShe(BTr).also said the DBM, together with the Department of the Finance, the BTr and the Commission on Audit, will fast-track the development of and implementation of the Budget and Treasury Management System. The latter is an “integrated, web-based and fully-automated system designed to streamline and monitor various financial transactions of government agencies.”Likewise, the DBM, through the Government Procurement Policy Board, will spearhead the implementation of the Green Public Procurement roadmap, which aims to integrate “green choices” in public procurement.

House panel OKs tax on plastics, e-commerce

Full cash-based budgeting by 2025, DBM chief vows

“While we need to level the playing field in the digital economy, such aim should not be at the expense of ordinary Filipinos relying on various digital platforms and services,” the lawmaker said. “We cannot be comforted by the assurance that there will be no pass-on charges supposedly because the digital tax will be credited as tax compliance in the platform’s origin country,” Brosas said. “ Iba ang binabayaran nilang buwis kumpara sa panukalang VAT on digital transactions proposal.” [They pay different taxes compared to the proposed VAT on digital transactions.]Thelawmaker, a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, noted that aside from the services of foreign-based platforms, the software licenses of Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. and even mobile games are covered by the bill. Brosas moved to exclude scholarly digital services commonly used by educational institutions such as webinar platforms from the coverage of the digital tax bill so as not to further burden students with additional fees.

PROPOSALS to apply valueadded tax (VAT) on the use of digital platforms, to impose excise tax on plastic bags and to simplify tax payments were approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday.

The Craf program can finance crop, livestock, and fishery projects that utilize climate-resilient technologies, such as the adoption of planting materials and seedling techniques for climate-resistant food crops, pipe irrigation that helps prevent water loss during dry season, and climate-adaptive farming systems such as terracing. Modern facilities and equipment that minimize harvest and postharvest losses during typhoons can also be financed under the Program, including rice harvesters, dryers and outdoor grain storage facilities. The Program can also provide credit fund for working capital and the construction of facilities such as greenhouses, reservoirs, rainwater collecting systems, and farm-to-market roads with drainage, and other new and emerging technologies approved and endorsed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the concerned Municipal Agricultural Office. under the LandBank Climate resilient Agriculture Financing Program, cooperatives, associations, and private borrowers categorized as single proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations may borrow up to 80 percent of the total project cost. Meanwhile, local government units (LGus) may borrow not more than their net borrowing capacity as certified by the Bureau of Local Government Finance. Term loans for working capital and permanent working capital are payable up to one year and three years, respectively, while loans for fixed assets and construction of facilities are payable based on cash flow but not more than its economic useful life. The interest rate shall be based on the prevailing market rate.

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio FInAnCIAL technology company (fintech) Maya Bank Inc. launched last Sunday in Baguio City a campaign to jumpstart the adoption of Qr Ph in the country. Maya Bank Co-Founder Orlando B. Vea said the campaign aims to digitalize transactions at the community or grassroots level, starting with public markets and local transportation. The campaign hopes to enable vendors and tricycle drivers to accept digital payments from customers via Qr Ph, the national standard for quick response (Qr) payments. Maya’s Qr codes are Qr Ph-compliant, and its app can scan any Qr Ph-powered transaction, according to Vea, who is also CEO of Paymaya Philippines Inc. “Public markets are the vibrant hubs of local economies, connecting local and regional food producers, businesses, and transport providers to consumers,” Vea was quoted in a statement as saying. “Creating the ‘digi-palengke’ experience with Qr Ph and Maya’s money platform will accelerate digital adoption and financial inclusion at the grassroots level.” The executive added the fintech fully supports the “Paleng-Qr Ph” program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), starting with this pilot with the Baguio City local government. BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong kicked off the program in ceremonies held at the city’s Malcolm Square.

Banking&Finance

Committee Chairman Albay rep. Joey Salceda said his colleagues voted to pass the proposed Digital Economy VAT, the Ease of Paying Taxes Bill and the measure imposing excise tax on plastic bags. These measures are eligible for swift approval under ru le 10, Section 48 of the House of representatives as these bills were approved on third and final reading in the Lower House during the 18th Congress. Salceda particularly noted that the proposed Digital Economy VAT law will close ambiguities in the VAT system that have allowed some digital services and goods sold over the digital space to remain outside VAT-coverage.Thelawmaker added that some P154 billion in incremental revenues over five years could go into government coffers if the bill is enacted intoThelaw.proposal seeks to impose a 12-percent VAT on providers of online services like the netflix, Spotify and Lazada platforms. Rep. Brosas reacts HOWEVE r , Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Partylist rep. Arlene D. Brosas warned against new pass-on charges to subscribers of these online streaming platforms and services once VAT is applied.

Simplify payment

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it is eyeing full implementation of the cash-based budgeting system (CBS) for the whole government by 2025. Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said last Wednesday the DBM will be pushing for the “gradual implementation” of CBS “to ensure timely and efficient implementation of government programs.”TheDBM is seeking to institutionalize the shift to a cash-based budgeting system through the proposed Budget Modernization bill, one of the priority legislative measures of President Ferdinand r Marcos Jr. As opposed to the obligation-based budgeting system, which allows the delivery of contracts beyond the fiscal year, all appropriations under the cash-based budgeting system shall be made available for obligation and implemented only until the end of each fiscal year. Payments for obligations incurred may be settled within the year or up to an extended period of three months after the end of the validity of appropriations, according to the DBM. “As stated by the President, the CBS will help ensure that every peso budgeted by the government will lead to the actual delivery of programs and projects, especially amid the execution of postpandemic recovery plans, large infrastructure spending, and increased social safety nets,” Pangandaman said in a message aired during the 2022 Economic Forum by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC). Address bottlenecks THrOuGH the CBS, the budget chief said they aim to, for one, address bottlenecks in obligations, which will lead to on-time implementation and disbursement of government programs and projects. Pangandaman added the CBS is expected to better planning of government agencies leading to higher utilization rates and improved public serviceExecutivedelivery.Order 91 series of 2019 signed by then-President r o drigo Duterte mandated the adoption of the CBS to speed up the implementation of government programs. Proposed by the DBM in 2018, the shift to the CBS faced strong opposition from lawmakers who perceived that the move would lead to budget cuts. The opposition to the proposed shift to the cash-based budgeting system, along with other issues on alleged budget insertions, caused the delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget, which led to the country clocking slower economic growth rates in the first and second quarters.

between traditional and digital businesses by clarifying the imposition of VAT on digital service providers (DSPs).The lawmaker added he hopes the fiscal space from the proposal will provide fiscal space to support digitalization of small businesses, the national broadband network and jobs centers and training for digital freelancers.“Thedigital economy is growing rapidly; but digital economy taxation is falling flat,” Salceda said. He noted that in 2019, the digital economy tax collections of the BIr was at P45 billion. By 2020, it was still at around P45“That’sbillion.hardly believable given the increase in digital transactions,” the lawmaker said. “In fact, just to clarify, this is not a new tax. We pay VAT for almost all goods and services, except those specifically exempted by law. It goes without saying that the digital economy should be subject to VAT, but we are unable to capture these revenues because of ambiguities in tax laws.” The bill said digital services such as digital advertising, subscriptionbased services and other online services that can be delivered through the Internet as VAT-able. The measure also aims to strengthen tax compliance through simplified invoicing and registration requirements for VAT-registered nonresident DSPs. The bill refers to a DSP as a service provider of a digital service or goods to a buyer, through operating an online platform for purposes of buying and selling of goods or services or by making transactions for the provision of digital services on behalf of any person.Salceda added they are also considering providing a framework for the taxation of digital assets such as non-fungible tokens, cryptocurrency and others.

STATE-run Land Bank of the Philippines Inc. (LandBank) announced it has approved loans totaling P5.8 billion to 15 borrowers under its Climate resil ient Agriculture Financing (Craf) program.Inastatement, LandBank said the program aims to finance farming technologies, systems, facilities and equipment that will help local farms and fisheries become more adaptive and resilient to the effects of climate change, such as severe storms and prolonged drought. “This modernization is aimed towards improving the production and income of our local farmers while ensuring national food security amid the changing global climate,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo was quoted in the statement as saying.

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

Use of plastic THE House Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday also endorsed for plenary approval the substitute bill imposing excise tax on singleuseHouseplastic.Committee on Ways and Means Vice Chairperson Mikaela Angela B. Suansing, principal author of the bill, said the use of plastic bags as means of transporting fresh produce, meat, clothing and other consumption good has become customary in the conduct of trade not only in the Philippines but in other country as well. To reduce its costly environmental impact, Suansing said several countries have already imposed taxes on the use of plastic bags, while others have even gone so far as to implement a total ban. “Given this concern, it is, therefore, necessary that the Congress finally address the environmental and human costs brought about by the proliferation of plastic bag waste,” sheSuansing’sadded. proposal seeks to impose a P20-excise tax per kilogram on plastic bags. By imposing this levy, she said all stakeholders will be encouraged to explore and utilize environmentfriendly alternatives to single-use plastic bags given its detrimental effects on the individual while generating additional revenue for the government.Thiswillhelp fund the government’s solid waste management programs under the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the lawmakerSalcedaadded.earlier said the proposal will provide the government an additional P4.8 billion annual revenue. Pain to industry THE bill will also add a new section designated as Section 150-C of the nIrC of 1997. under the new section, an excise tax in the amount of P20 shall be imposed for every kilogram of plastic bag removed from the place of production or released from the custody of the Bureau of Customs. The bill defines plastic bags as secondary level plastics made of synthetic or semisynthetic organic polymer. These products are commonly known as “ labo ” or “sando ” bags, with or without handle, used as packaging for or container of goods.However, the Philippine Plastics Industry Association Inc. (PPIA) told lawmakers the proposal will hurt and eventually “kill” the industry. The PPIA said members of the industry are currently facing the negative impact of local ordinances banning the use of plastic bag in their areas. Several local government units have already issued ordinances against single-use plastic bags.

SILLASEN and Manalo DFA-OPCD/VANESSA UBAC AT the ‘Flavors of Canada,’ there was definitely room for dessert. CANADIAN EMBASSY

Danish diplomat pays farewell call on SFA

Envoys&Expats

PHL raises Asean priorities in foreign ministers’ confab

TAIWAN ASSISTS Representative Peiyung Hsu (second from left) of the Republic of China’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines donated $200,000 as disasterrelief fund to assist Filipinos affected by the recent earthquake in Northern Luzon at a handover ceremony on August 10. Governor Dominic B. Valera of the province of Abra (center) as well as Chair and Resident Representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office Silvestre Bello III (second from right) accepted the donation.

SENATE OIRP/RED SANTOS/OFFICE OF THE SENATE PRESIDENT ACTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE Ambassador Laure Beaufils of the United Kingdom (second from right) launched the “Climate Action Implementation Programme” with Mayor Josefina G. Belmonte of Quezon City (second from left). The former cited the “key role cities play to turn the tide on climate change,” and that her country is proud to work with C40 Cities to support Quezon City in delivering its bold vision for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Apart from the 55th AMM, other foreign minister-level meetings included postministerial conferences with dialogue partners, the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the Asean Plus Three (APT) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 29th Asean Regional Forum (ARF), and the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Interface Meeting with the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. During the 55th AMM, Lazaro reiterated that the Arbitral Award and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, are the twin anchors of policy and actions of the Philippines on the SCS/WPS. She said that while the Philippines remains committed to regional efforts to resolve disputes, it is taking note of the growing list of countries backing the award. Lazaro expressed hope that the new EAS Plan of Action (20232027), which was adopted during the EAS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, will fuel the momentum of identifying concrete ways to address pressing regional and global challenges such as public-health emergencies, climate change, and emerging opportunities in digital technologies, among the new generation of issues. She also announced the Philippine hosting of the EAS Workshop on Maritime Cooperation in Manila in September, underscoring that “maritime cooperation will remain at the heart of Philippine initiatives in the [summit].” As country-coordinator for Asean-European Union Dialogue Relations, the undersecretary cochaired the post-ministerial conference with the latter. The meet adopted the plan of action to Implement the Asean-EU Strategic Partnership (2023-2027), and approved the convening of the two regions’ Commemorative Summit on December 14 in Brussels to mark 45 years of their dialogue relations. She also delivered this region’s common statement on the said relations, with focus on cooperation in cyber security, maritime security, trade, connectivity, pandemic response and postpandemic recovery, environmental protection, and addressing climateDuringchange.the 29th ARF, Lazaro highlighted its importance as a platform for dynamic cooperation on global issues.

AMBASSADOR Grete Sillasen paid a farewell call on Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo at the Department of Foreign Affairs Headquarters on August 10. On her successful tour of duty, Manalo congratulated Sillasen, who served as the Kingdom of Denmark’s envoy to the Philippines since December 2019. “I wish to convey my deep gratitude for Denmark’s continued assistance and sharing of expertise in developing renewable energy, including efforts to secure local energy efficient markets,” remarked Manalo. Among the ambassador’s accomplishments were the valuable assistance in elevating their relations, especially in expanding bilateral trade and increasing the presence of Danish companies in the Philippines.During the meeting, opportunities to further trade and cooperation in the fields of education, culture, agriculture, and maritime matters were discussed. Both sides agreed to work toward further strengthening the ties between the Philippines and Denmark. By Malou Talosig-Bartolome ONE distinct feature among Filipinos around the world is that we always love to eat. (Filipino nurses overseas have intimated to me that even at the height of pandemic, when a kababayan brings food inside the pantry and with all else fully clothed in personal protective equipment—including other nationalities—everyone just forgets about social distancing.) So it’s no wonder that when the Canadian Embassy in Manila invited Philippine government officials, law-enforcement officials, business leaders, the local diplomatic community, farmers, students and media for a sit-down dinner, around 1,500 people showed up at the Conrad Manila Hotel in Pasay City! “Whoa!” I exclaimed upon seeing Public Affairs Head Carlo Figueroa at the function room. “I didn’t expect something this big for a sit-down dinner“Flavorsreception.”ofCanada” was the embassy’s first major social salvo since the onset of the pandemic and rightly so, as they are celebrating 73 years of diplomatic relations with the Philippines, and 50 years of the North American country having a full-service deputation in Manila. Carlo reminded me to proceed to the bar for the special welcome aperitif: a delightful cocktail of Canadian gin, apple juice, calamansi juice, Baguio strawberry compote and lemon soda. As I sat at the media table, I saw the cocktail glass of ABS-CBN reporter Willard Cheng already half-full. “It’s delicious! Didn’t know it has alcohol!” he beamed. Manila Bulletin columnist Carol Malasig also warned sheepishly: “It’s super masarap. Traydor siya.” So I just took a sip…the only time I was able to discipline myself, as I was my own driver that night. (Note to self: Take a Grab when attending diplomatic“Tonightfunctions.)youwill experience a taste of Canada, presented by young Filipino chefs combining local and Canadian ingredients in some traditional indigenous cuisine paired with beverages such as our fine wines,” Ambassador Peter MacArthur said as he welcomed guests. The four-course meal didn’t disappoint. In fact, it exceeded my expectations, and mine were kind of “high,” considering that two chefs also spoke during the opening: Chef Carlo Miguel from Les Toques Blanches and Executive Chef James McFarland from the University of Saskatchewan.Forappetizers, we were introduced to British Columbian salmon cured with can-Natur amble maple syrup, then relished with pickled blueberries, microgreens and purple potato crisps. A nectar-like tiny plastic stick protruded atop the salmon, which was surprisingly the mustard citrus vinaigrette. I was so amazed that I shot a video of myself spreading the vinaigrette atop the salmon for my Instagram story feed. Then I realized, was the vinaigrette for the microgreens? Because the sweetened salmon can already stand on its own. As I am very much a salad person, I thought the rest of the meal was already a bonus. Oh well, was I wrong. The salmon appetizer followed with a bun that was “food architecture” in itself: it was baked and designed to look like wild mushroom, complete with brown spores on its cap and stalk. It’s so unique you don’t want to mess it up, but since it’s food (plus, we were already hungry), we had to split it. Inside was very soft Canadian pulled pork. There was also black powder around the bun called “forest crumb” (maybe toasted crumbs left behind by Hansel and Gretel?). What stood out though were the green dots around the bun that are actually watercress. Alas, it was a “Wild, Wild West siopao con wasabi!” For vegans, you can skip this paragraph because it’s a sin to omit talking about Canada’s famous protein: beef. Leek-ash rubbed Canadian ribeye with Canadian blueberry jus, “Three Sisters” smoked corn purée, beans and squash, pickled red onion pedals and puffed Canadian wild rice, said the menu. For me, ribeye was simply the dead giveaway. I thought of my husband who loves steak right away and taught me how to love steak. I’m not a fan of red meat. But this one was very tender and cooked medium rare, I didn’t realize I was also mindlessly drinking the wine being poured in my glass. I checked the menu: baco noir reserve and semillon Sauvignon Blanc barn quilt. “Tomorrow, we need to lift some weights,” I nudged at Carol (who is 20 pounds lighter than me). Of course, that was just my rational mind justifying the caloric intake. And speaking of calories, did I say I was on a diet? Bannock bread pudding with maple semifreddo and fresh Canadian berries... What the heck is a bannock? So I dug in my dessert fork and tried it. What is semifreddo? Again, fork: Do your thing. Canadian berries? Nah... Oh, there you are... In my mouth. The food master of that evening was Chef Brown. But he could not have served 1,500 stomachs without the help from students from five Philippine state “U”s: Benguet State University, Central Luzon State University, Central Mindanao University, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, and Mariano Marcos State University. They collaborated with the University of Saskatchewan for this project inspired by Canada’s indigenous culinary heritage. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada Beef, Canada Pork, and Canadian food suppliers supported this endeavor. In fact, AAFC’s assistant deputy minister and vice president for International Affairs was in town for this event. She said “the Philippines is, for Canada, an important agri-food and seafood export market. [We take] great pride in being a committed trading partner to the Philippines, even at the height of the pandemic, and in contributing to global food security through trade andWhocollaboration.”saysdiplomacy is for diplomats? How much are the Canadian salmon, maple, pork and beef again? Need I say the food was delish? I have been blaming the pandemic for my weight gain. But that night, nah… it was Canada’s fault (wink).

As Philippine leader to the Asean Senior Officials’ Meeting, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and Asean Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro represented Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo during the foreign minister-level meetings in the Cambodian capital city from July 30 to August 5. The meetings allowed Asean member-states to discuss issues of common concern with each other and with external partners including, among others, the situation in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (SCS/WPS), the Myanmar crisis, pandemic recovery, situation in Ukraine and cross-strait developments, as well as traditional and nontraditional security issues such as climate change, terrorism and cyber security.

Thursday, August 18, 2022 www.businessmirror.com.phB4

UNDERSECRETARY Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro and Prime Minister Hun Sen DFA

SENATE VISIT Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri received Ambassador Michèle Boccoz at the upper chamber. In their meeting, she shared the various events lined up to commemorate the 75th anniversary celebration of Franco-Philippine diplomatic relations. As their countries welcomed new governments, both officials agreed to explore various dimensions to enhance cooperation, especially in defense, renewable energy, and food security. Zubiri also vowed to reinvigorate parliamentary exchanges and dialogues between France and the Philippines, which have remained strong and robust.

PHNOM PENH—The Philippines raised various priorities, including the assertion of the Arbitral Award in disputed waters, at the 55th Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings (AMM).

Canada returns to scene via ‘digestive diplomacy’

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how to hElp childrEN copE JUST as age affects how children absorb the news, age also influences which strategies are most effective in helping children cope. Noncognitive strategies typically involve avoidance or distraction. Closing one’s eyes, holding on to an attachment object, leaving the room or avoiding news altogether are examples. These strategies work best with younger children. Cognitive strategies require the child to think about whatever is frightening them in a different way, with an adult often providing a verbal explanation to help. These strategies work best with older children. When dealing with depictions of fantasy, for example, a cognitive strategy that is quite effective is reminding children that what they see “is not real.” Unfortunately, mass shootings are real. In these cases, the adult can emphasize that the news event is over, that it was far away or that such events are rare. Providing a reassuring message—that the child is safe and loved—also helps.

n AN ADAPTIVE, FUTURE READY CURRICULUM. With the advent of technological tools, children now have more access to resources that previous generations could not even imagine. Embracing the ever-changing digital world, SmartClass is an innovative learning system that’s built for the Asfuture.the Filipino child’s educational needs change, so too should the learning systems adapt and evolve. With SmartClass’s flexible learning, the next generation will be empowered to take control of tomorrow.

7-9 MONTHS According to Benitez the first crawl occurs sometime between a baby’s seventh and ninth month. “Having figured out how to roll over, babies will now start trying to move forward. They do this by scooting [using their bottom to propel themselves forward] and arm crawling [using their arms and legs to drag themselves forward on their stomach] and then to a full crawl on all fours.” Pulling themselves up to an unsupported sitting position along with raking at small objects are other developmental milestones in this quarter. By now, your baby would be familiar with certain names and words, too: Watch them react when you call their name or say an emphatic “No!” And while they still babble, the sounds that come out of their mouth will indicate emotions like glee, sadness, or displeasure. n 10-12 MONTHS A baby’s first word—usually “Mama” or “Dada”—will be uttered around the 10th to 12th months. “By their first birthday, they would know how to say at least three words, including expressions like ‘Uh-oh,’ and try to imitate what adults are saying,” says Benitez. Communicating through gestures like pointing at objects they want by using their index or forefinger, waving goodbye or blowing a kiss, and responding to simple verbal requests are also observed at this stage. He/she will also be able to play simple action games, transfer objects from one hand to the other and put them in receptacles. Your baby’s growing social awareness may make him wary of strangers but also begin to enjoy interacting with familiar people. n 1 YEAR The first steps happen around the first birthday when they succeed in pulling themselves up and moving around on their feet while holding on to furniture for support. “They also would have better use of their hands, using their thumb and forefinger (the pincer grasp) to feed themselves or hold objects like a spoon to bring it to their mouth while feeding,” she explains. “They are now able to find things that you hide [object permanence] and will enjoy a game of hide-and-seek. Socially, they will begin to engage in imitative play with a parent or sibling and follow simple“Again,commands.”everybaby is unique and grows at their own pace. More often than not, minor developmental delays may be temporary and can be overcome through adequate developmental stimulation,” Benitez“Ultimately,emphasizes.youknow your baby best. If you are concerned or observe no progress or change in crucial milestones—for instance, your baby cannot hold up their head in three to four months, cannot sit up on their own in 10 months, or does not babble or say a single word at 12 months—inform your pediatrician immediately. Trust a qualified health professional to assess if your concerns are founded and take the appropriate measures to address any delays.”

First smile, first step, first word: Is your baby’s development on track?

HOW FLE XIBLE LEARNING CAN HELP YOUR CHILD REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL

By Nicole Martins & Erica Scharrer Indiana University | UMass Amherst

THERE is nothing a baby cannot do that will not bring a smile to Mom and Dad’s face. From their adorable babbling to clutching at your finger with their tiny hand, to breaking into a gummy smile and speaking their very first word, a baby’s simple actions always succeed in melting their parents’ hearts. “In Pediatrics, such actions are known as developmental milestones, or the things most children can do at a certain age,” says Dr. Bernadette Benitez, MD, a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics specialist from the Center of Pediatric Development and Rehabilitation of leading health institution Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed, www.makatimed.net.ph). “In the years that a newborn becomes an infant then a toddler, developmental milestones happen month after month, and it is exciting to witness a baby grow up and develop right before our eyes.”

rEcoMMENdatioNS for thE youNgESt kidS FOR kids under 7, it is critical to limit exposure to the news. Watching a tragedy on the news can include graphic images and sounds. Very young children will not understand that what they see are replays of the same event and not another tragedy happening again. Reassure the child. Kids at this age are most worried about their personal safety. It’s important to make them feel safe, even when the adults themselves are worried, as studies show that fear is contagious. Distraction is also helpful. Although it is important to listen and not downplay concerns, doing something fun together that takes a child’s mind off what is happening can go a long way. how to hElp kidS iN thE 8-12 raNgE FOR kids between the ages of 8 and 12, it is still important to limit exposure. Admittedly this is more challenging as children age. But making a concerted effort to turn off the news is helpful, especially if the child is sensitive. Talk about news. If kids go online, try to go with them. Consider setting URLs to open to nonnews portals. Be available for conversation. Ask kids about what they know. Correct any misconceptions with facts. Listen carefully and ask what questions kids have, and then respond honestly with a focus on the basics. Reassure children that they’re safe and that it is OK to feel upset. Do something to help. Consider ways to help survivors and their loved ones. dialiNg iN with tEENS’ NEEdS WHEN it comes to teens, it is critically important to check in. In all likelihood, teens learn of news events independent of their parents. But parents and caregivers should offer to talk with them to get a sense of what they know about the situation. This also gives the adult an opportunity to listen to underlying fears and offer insights. Again, try to address concerns without dismissing or minimizing them. Help teens develop news literacy. If parents or caregivers disagree with how a news event is portrayed in the media, they should discuss this with their child. Emphasizing that there can be misinformation, repetition or exaggeration might help teens put tragic events into a wider perspective. THE CONVERSATION

n A SOLID SUPPORT SYSTEM. Aside from improving the traditional homeschooling paradigm, SmartClass also lets parents be more involved in their child’s education. Unlike most traditional homeschooling curricula where the parent is the child’s primary and only educator, SmartClass parents receive support from professional teachers, coaches and coordinators through one-on-one consultations. Such a support system ensures that the student is on track, and that they’re inspired to learn so parents can rest assured that they’re giving their child quality education. In fact, SmartClass has the seal of approval from Ayala Corp. and the Yuchengco Group—two formidable conglomerates that partnered to create APEC in line with their commitment to nation-building through affordable but quality education.

Children are bombarded with violence in the news— here’s how to help them cope

While certain developmental milestones are expected once a baby hits a particular month, parents must remember that each baby is unique and develops at his own pace. “Just because your friend’s child achieved a developmental milestone at the predicted month and yours did not, that does not necessarily mean there is already a problem with your baby,” the pediatrician assures. Developmental milestones are achieved across a given age range, with some children achieving them later than others yet still falling within the acceptable range. What then can parents look forward to with their newborn in the next 12 months? Benitez offers the following guidelines: n FIRST 3 MONTHS The first smile happens sometime between their first and third month. “Initially, it will be just to themselves,” she points out. “But within three months, a baby will smile in response to you.” In this first quarter, babies are also expected to raise their head and chest transiently when lying on their stomach; recognize sounds like their parents’ voices and turn their head from side to side; focus on and follow faces and objects with their eyes; and make jerky arm and leg movements. “You will also observe them to start using their hands,” adds Benitez. “In these first three months, from the basic grasping reflex, babies will be able to open and close their hands more often, grasp objects, and bring their hands to their mouth.” 4-6 MONTHS A baby’s first laugh can be heard between the fourth and sixth months. This is usually in response to social overtures by adults. “They will also try to ‘speak’ to you by cooing or imitating sounds like ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh,’” the doctor states. “They will also start squealing and ‘blowing raspberries’ by sticking their tongue out and blowing.” These are also the months when babies have better control of their hands: note them grabbing objects like toys or your hair and bringing them to their mouth, and trying to reach for dangling objects. Other developmental milestones at this stage include rolling over from stomach to their back and vice versa; sitting up with support and having great head control; bouncing up and down with their legs when held upright; and responding to their name and different emotions by the tone of a speaker’s voice.

SurrouNdEd By NEwS aNd iNforMatioN IN an era of 24-hour news coverage, it is likely that children will come across disturbing news content. For some kids, this exposure is deliberate. Teenagers report that they find it important to follow current events. And more than half of teens get their news from social media and slightly fewer get their news fromChildrenYouTube.under 12 show little interest in the news, yet many still encounter it. Young children’s news exposure is almost always accidental, either through background television viewing or through family discussions of current events. No matter how much parents or caregivers try to shield children, then, they are likely to come upon the news. thE NEwS aS a catalySt for fEar SEVERAL studies have examined children’s fear responses to news. Six months after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Boston-area parents reported that children who viewed more news coverage on the day of the attack were more likely to display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, have behavior problems and show hyperactivity and/or inattention than children who watched less news. More recently, an international survey of over 4,000 9-to-13-year-olds from 42 countries found that over half of the children were scared by news stories about the Covid-19 pandemic. Fear and anxiety can also be spurred by exposure to news events that are more commonplace. In a 2012 study of elementary school children in California, nearly half of them said they saw something on the news that made them scared. The news stories that were most frequently mentioned were natural disasters, kidnappings and burglaries. Sadly, we live in a country where gun violence is common. A 2022 study found that children’s exposure to news coverage of mass shootings not only made them afraid for their personal safety, but was correlated with the belief that their school and society at large were dangerous. Whether catastrophic or common, fear reactions endure. A survey of college students found that 50 percent of them could remember a specific news story they had seen during childhood that frightened, worried or upset them. The effects included feeling scared and being unable to sleep. And 7 percent of participants said they were still frightened of that event at their present college age. agE of thE child MattErS CLEARLY, media can frighten children and adolescents. But decades of research show that frightinducing content does not affect all children the same way. Young children demonstrate what researchers call “perceptual dependence,” which means that they react to stimuli in terms of what those stimuli look, sound or feel like. This often comes as a surprise to parents, but it helps explain why preschoolers may cry when they see movie characters like the Grinch or E.T. Preschool children are more likely to be frightened by something that looks scary but is actually harmless than by something that looks attractive but is truly harmful.Aschildren mature, they develop the capacity to be frightened by abstract threats. Studies of children’s reactions to news coverage of wars show that although children of all ages are affected, younger kids respond mainly to the visual aspects of coverage such as homes torn apart, whereas older children are more responsive to abstract aspects such as fears that the conflict will spread.

O VER 100 mass shootings have taken place in the US since the rampage in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four massWithshootings.gunviolence, war and other tragedies in the news, children are often exposed to scary images and information.Parentsand caregivers are faced with the dilemma of wondering how to speak with their children about the unspeakable. How can adults help children feel safe when imagery about tragedies abounds throughout the media? We are communication scholars who specialize in children and media. We have extensively studied children’s views of and responses to violence in the media. Our research findings and those of other scholars offer insights into how news can contribute to children’s fears and on how to help children cope.

THE Filipino school system has been the same for 100 years, with children boxed into traditional classrooms and rigid class schedules. But as we’ve observed since the beginning of the pandemic, learning does not have to be restricted to the boundaries of a classroom. Each child is unique. They differ in how much time they need to learn something, what sparks their interest, and what tools and resources work best for them. So why pigeonhole all students into one outdated learning setup? For many children, flexibility is key to helping them reach their full potential. This is what APEC Schools’ SmartClass offers (www.apecschools.edu.ph). An innovative e-homeschooling program, SmartClass is designed for independent, curiositydriven learners. n LIMITLESS LEARNING. While the traditional setup might work for some, many students today require more breathing room to grow. As a home e-schooling program, SmartClass allows the Filipino child to learn from the comforts of their homes. Whether they want to breeze through a lesson or to slow down for more in-depth understanding, students can go at their own pace. This way, they no longer have to adjust to their classmates’ learning needs, ensuring that they completely understand the lesson. Instead of revolving around grades and tests, the platform focuses on honing problem-solving skills. Independent learners are tasked to conduct research and work on case studies across two or more subjects. This way, students are empowered to take control of their education and develop critical thinking and creativity.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Huawei and BDO Foundation bring laptops to schools

British Chamber’s trade mission pledges support to make the Philippines an investment destination Kent & Medway, Essex, and South Essex. The said event activities include market briefing and business matching. Recently, the Chamber successfully organized a three-day in-person trade mission, which offered UK meat exporters the opportunity to explore the Philippine market and effectively promoted British meat. Further to this, the Chamber will have a follow-up event slated in December. The Philippines remains an attractive destination for UK investments, furthermore, the promise of the new administration to open up the economy guarantees policy continuity in favour of creating a more investmentfriendly environment for foreign businesses.

PUBLIC school students and teachers in Benguet, Lanao del Sur, Negros Oriental, Palawan and Quezon stand to benefit from the donation of laptops.

PCCW Solutions has been ranked number one in Systems Integration and Custom Application Development in Hong Kong SAR by IDC for eight consecutive years since 2014. The new company builds upon PCCW Solutions’ track record as one of the region’s leading IT services providers. The 4,000-strong IT professionals will continue to partner closely with our customers to help them succeed in a more complex and rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Jerry Li, CEO of Lenovo PCCW Solutions, said, “This strategic partnership is a unique opportunity to accelerate the growth of our IT solutions business in the region. The new company, Lenovo PCCW Solutions, enables our customers to call upon a diverse wealth of skills, expertise, and go-to-market capabilities across Lenovo Solutions and Services Group. We are excited to embark on this growth journey, which enables us to expand our skillset, footprint, and solutions portfolio. With the combined strengths of our highly skilled talent, we look forward to contributing further to smart city development in the region.”

Win

Thursday, August 18, 2022B6

DBP eyes added support to local inventors

L ENOVO PCCW Solutions Limited, the new strategic partnership between Lenovo Group and PCCW set to capitalize on the estimated US$320 billion Asia IT services market, recently marked its first day of operation. The new company provides one-stop customer solutions that integrate IT services, devices, and digital infrastructure, and empowers clients to transform their businesses and operations with technology – from managing complex integrations to enhancing competitiveness with innovative applications.Throughthe partnership, the company benefits from Lenovo’s global footprint in more than 180 markets, broad portfolio of end-to-end solutions, solid pedigree in innovation, and strong go-to-market and delivery capabilities. Ken Wong, Executive Vice President of Lenovo and President of Lenovo Solutions and Services Group, said, “The partnership marks an important milestone in Lenovo’s service-led transformation journey since the formation of our Solutions and Services Group, as it bolsters the company’s capabilities to drive leadership in IT solutions. The synergy of capabilities and talents across the two organizations will help the new company grow in reach and competitiveness in markets across the Asia Pacific region.”

Accepted by DepEd Marawi City schools division superintendent Anna Zenaida Unte-Alonto, the computers were distributed to Banggolo Elementary School, Madaya Lilod Elementary School, Mambuay Elementary School, Mamintal Disomangcop Central Elementary School, Marawi City Elementary School, Marinaut I Elementary School and Marinaut II Elementary School. A few weeks earlier, Huawei and BDO Foundation also turned over laptops to schools in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. The event was witnessed by DepEd Dumaguete City schools division superintendent Dr. Gregorio Cyrus Elejorde, Huawei Philippines public affairs manager Chahol Liang, BDO Foundation president Mario Deriquito and the heads of BDO branches in the city. The brand-new computers were distributed to Amador Dagudag Memorial Elementary School, Calindagan Elementary School, Cantil-e Elementary School, Hermenegilda F. Gloria Memorial High School, Junob National High School and West City Science Elementary School. Aside from Dumaguete and Marawi, the corporate citizenship initiative also includes Benguet, Puerto Princesa City in Palawan and Tayabas City in Quezon. The donation forms part of an agreement DepEd and BDO Foundation signed with Huawei, the global leader in information and communications technology infrastructure and smart devices.

COURTESY CALL. Junca Global Partner, a Japanbased information technology (IT) firm which focuses on developing the digital capability of Micro and Small enterprises represented by its chairman, Dr. Hisayuki Nagatome, recently paid a courtesy call to Senator Win Gatchalian. Among others, the discussion tackled the subject on how to ease of doing business for Japanese entrepreneurs which eventually will facilitate the influx of more investments in the country. “We welcome Dr. Nagatome to the Philippines and we wish him well in his future endeavors here,” Sen. Gatchalian said.

T HE company’s journey started in 2005 as a loving by-product of bonding between mother, Sue Morales, and daughter, Jela Morales. Klaypel is a unique art medium made of moist colored paper intended to provide families, friends, and communities with a shared art experience. “I’d fondly say that we are in the “dutdot business” because of how Klaypel is applied on each Klaypel kit canvas,” says Sue, the founder of Klaypel. “In our 16 years in the dutdot business, we’ve seen relationships restored; anxiety surpassed; inspiration bloomed; and so much more. This is the power of each Klaypel art kit.”, Sue adds. True to its mission to spark hope and inspire creativity - one color, one artwork, one story at a time, Klaypel is giving every Filipino artist (at least 18 years of age) , an opportunity to win up to P500,000. Enter the biggest Klaypel art competition in the Philippines with a theme called “Usbong”, is a Filipino term that means “sprouting; budding; growing”. Why Usbong? Because Klaypel would like to help artists reignite their passion for the arts and give them a chance to showcase their art work to a broader audience. A culminating activity will follow the Usbong Art Competition in a themed event called “Klaypel Land” which will be held in Clark from November to December 2022. Learn the mechanics and Register for “Usbong” here: www.klaypelph.com/ usbong. Use the official thea#KlaypelArt#UsbongKlaypelArtCopetition2022hashtags:#UsbongPH.Ifyou’dliketobesponsorofthismomentousevent,talktoKlaypelteam.Email klaypelph@gmail. com or call 02-8807-4209/ 09456011516. P500,000 at Klaypel‘s year celebration

A new chapter in IT services: Lenovo PCCW Solutions starts first day of operation as a new company

Market data estimates the Asia IT services market to be worth approximately US$320 billion in 2022, with expected growth at a CAGR of more than 10% to exceed US$470 billion by 2026. Lenovo PCCW Solutions is uniquely positioned to capture the growth opportunities in the market.

C HRIS Nelson, Executive Director, and Trustee of the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) underscored President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s pledge to make the Philippines an investment destination. “First and foremost, the fact that he actually describes that he wants the Philippines to be an investment destination, and that’s the very key of what we are trying to achieve,” said Nelson. Nelson is also delighted that President Marcos Jr. cited the passage of laws regarding liberalisation of the economy particularly the Public Service Act (PSA) and the Foreign Investments Act (FIA) which the Chamber has been long pushing to be amended. Additionally, the Chamber is determined to support the government's initiative to draw in more foreign investors. In this regard, the British Chamber will host a two-day virtual Trade Mission in September focusing on the food and beverage sector in collaboration with Kent County Council. The Trade Mission is organized by the Chamber in support of promoting the Philippines as an investment destination and helping small businesses from East Sussex,

IN support of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) efforts to give more learners and educators access to computers, BDO Foundation and Huawei Philippines have partnered to provide laptops donated by Huawei to five DepEd schools divisions all over the Thecountry.partners recently turned over laptops to schools in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur in a ceremony led by Huawei Philippines and BDO Foundation officers.

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S TATE-OWNED Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is looking at extending financial grants to three outstanding local inventors who recently won a national competition for the most promising solutions and technologies for critical sectors of the economy, a top official said. DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the Bank may provide additional support to the winners of the local competition with the Filipino Inventors Society (FIS) dubbed as “The Inventor’s Pitch,” to facilitate the commercialization and mass production of their products and inventions.“Weare looking to extend financial grants that may be utilized at the inventors’ disposal for the production and commercialization of their outstanding and deserving innovations,” Herbosa said. DBP is the sixth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy – infrastructure and logistics; micro, small and medium enterprises; the environment; and social services and community development. FIS is a non-government organization of Filipino inventors who hold patents to their works and innovations in the Philippines and overseas. Its membership has widened to include professionals and entrepreneurs who espouse the organization’s cause to develop Philippine indigenous technology and innovations.Herbosa said the winners of the competition were Rodrigo Duque for his “Portable Unihoused Water Purification and Sterilization Apparatus”, Justino Arboleda for his “Method of Producing Coco Board and Product thereof for

ATTENDING THE INVENTOR’S PITCH AWARDING CEREMONY ARE, FROM LEFT: DBP Executive Vice President Paul D. Lazaro; DBP Development Advocacy Committee Chair Director Dante V. Liban; DBP Director Maria Lourdes A. Arcenas; Inventor Justino Arboleda and DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa.

Various Housing and Carpentry Works”, and William Chua for his “ManilaBlock: an interlocking building block.” He said the three were chosen from 11 finalists by a panel of judges composed of top officials from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, National Economic Development Authority, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, and DBP, with each receiving a cash prize of P300,000. “DBP hopes that this competition would help raise the level of public awareness on the passion and dedication of our brilliant inventors,” Herbosa said. DBP Development Advocacy Committee Chair Dante V. Liban said the Bank is committed to scale up financial support to Filipino inventors whose innovative works are pivotal in improving available technologies to key sectors such as health care, environment and agriculture. He added that DBP will continue to encourage the development of relevant technologies and meaningful solutions to local problems, through its various loan programs and socio-civic undertakings. “Our goal is to showcase not only the ingenuity of our Filipino inventors but also to catalyze national development, especially in the most crucial yet vulnerable sectors of our economy,” Liban said. In 2021, DBP partnered with FIS to consolidate support for the development of viable local projects and indigenous technologies while enabling the Bank to advance the provisions of Republic Act No. 7459, or the “Investors and Invention Incentives Act of the Philippines,” which mandates state banks to provide financial assistance to Filipino inventors.

EXCITING COLLABORATION. Sheraton Manila Hotel and American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in the Philippines led the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the upcoming 120th Anniversary of the Chamber and the launching of the newest events plug and play place, COLLAB on August 24, 2022. Business leaders and corporate decision makers will be in attendance for a one-of-a-kind night of networking, fellowship, exhibition, and entertainment. A symposium titled “MICE is NICE” will also be held featuring tourism’s finest as they share their insights about the industry bouncing back. Signing the agreement are, from left: Sheraton Manila Hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing Lala Quilantang, Marriott International’s Multi-property Vice President in the Philippines Bruce Winton, Sheraton Manila Hotel’s General Manager Anna Vergara, Am Cham’s Executive Director Ebb Hinchliffe, AmCham’s Project Manager Kieroville Rojas, and Sheraton Manila Hotel’s Cluster Director of Marketing Communications Archie Nicasio.

W ITH t he continued threat of getting Covid-19, more Filipinos are becom ing health conscious and are fortify ing their immune system holistically through balanced diets, vitamin supplements, suffi cient rest, and a positive mindset. Add to these a slew of over-the-counter (OTC) preparations to help protect us from harmful viruses and bacteria that cause ill nesses and their attendant bodily discomforts.

A “Fill the Nutrient Gap” report by the United Nations’ World Food Program showed that 37 percent of households on average are unable to produce nutritious diet, but if they p roduce their own food, it goes down to 30 percent. “If they can produce more than what they need and they can sell the excess like in front of their houses at lower prices, the number of house holds unable to afford nutritious diet g oes down to 14 percent. Best thing, if they can sell their produce at mar ket prices, they can totally afford a nutritious diet, where costs go down to zero,” Dr. Acuin said. in harmonization,” he said. To resolve the situation, the Healthcare Infor mation Management Systems Society (HIMSS) created the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) or EMR Adoption Model. It is an eight-step process that allows users to track their progress against healthcare organizations across the country and view all scores in the HIMSS Analytics Database. EMRAM measures clinical outcomes, patient engagement and clinician use of EMR technol ogy to strengthen organizational performance and health outcomes across patient populations. The internationally applicable EMRAM incor porates methodology and algorithms to score a whole hospital, including inpatient, outpatient and day case services provided on the hospital environment.“Thesystem scores hospitals in the Philip pines and around the world relative to their digital maturity, providing a detailed road map to ease adoption and begin a digital transforma tion journey towards aspirational outcomes,” De Luna explained. Optimize work environments M E ASURING evidence-based data at each stage, organizations use EMRAM to optimize digi tal work environments, improve performance, and financial sustainability, built a sustainable workforce and support an exceptional patient experience.Someofthe hospitals in the Philippines adopt the EMRAM Electronic Medical record Adoption model and it is estimated that 80 percent of the hospitals in the country have not reached the stage 4, 5, 6 and 7. This is where De Luna’s team comes in. His company’s solution is to create synergy and in teroperability with the goal of meeting DOH’s agenda for private and public hospitals. “Our goal is to guide, assist, and provide Philippine hospitals with innovative and highlyadvanced technologies and systems in achieving HIMSS EMRAM Level 7 to improve patient safety, increase patient satisfaction, support clinicians and secure data,” De Luna said. Patient safety T O improve patient safety, De Luna said the team will evaluate and improve this by optimizing their EMR implementation to provide access to critical information when and where clinicians need it. This will also help increase patient satisfaction as there will be a reduction in time and errors in care“Andelivery.effective EMR is one that is designed for the distinct uses of the clinicians who work with it. The EMRAM ensures the workflow and content in the digital tool meets the needs of the clini cal teams while monitoring compliance with ap proved standards,” he said. It is also critical that policies and practices are in place for data security to ensure a successful EHR EMR implementation. “The EMRAM guides the organization in poli cymaking for the appropriate use of data in the EMR stores and the level of access available to clinician teams and others within the organiza tion,” De Luna said.

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t he urban setting W H ILE p roducing their own food works well in rural or provincial areas, the same cannot be said in the urban communities, where ac cess to food is almost exclusively driven by h aving enough money to buy them.

AntivirAls needed in PHl’s COnstAnt PAndemiC bAttle

“Antivirals are a way forward considering how vaccinations are going right now and how we have seen cases come and go. We need to bring in anti viral medicines to build up our defenses against Covid,” he said. Other jabs needed SINCE viral mutations continue to exacerbate the pandemic situation, Concepcion also recommended that a similar plan for bivalent vaccines must be done, targeting both the original strain of the Covid-19 virus and the highly contagious Omicron variant. “These new formulations will need an EUA [Emer gency Use Authorization] if the pharmaceutical com panies do not obtain their Certificates of Product Registration by the time the State of Public Health Emergency expires,” Concepcion said. The EUA is a mechanism that allows the use of medical countermeasures which have yet to receive government approval. The State of Public Health Emergency will lapse in September. In cases like these, he guaranteed that the private sector is prepared to step in and enter into another tripartite agreement as it did in 2020 with a project called “A Dose of Hope”. This enabled the Philippines to overcome regula tory roadblocks when Covid-19 jabs were yet to be ap proved by the Food and Drug Administration. Utilization guidelines TO avoid wastage of vaccines, the Go Negosyo founder emphasized that the private sector needs to be assured that this time around, there will be clear parameters on their Likewise,use. he suggested the country follow the lead of the countries of reference for the vaccines’ utilization.“Theimportant thing is that the inventory must be there when we need it, and we must be already lay ing the groundwork now,” he pointed out. For him, antivirals and bivalent vaccines must form part of the plan so the country can live success fully with Covid-19. “The first defense is still vaccination, especially the boosters, and this has to become an ongoing ac tivity,” Concepcion said. “Second is the continued wearing of face masks.” Filipinos remain quite compliant with face mask rules, he observed, while citing that surveys have shown that they will keep on wearing such protec tive gear even after the health crisis is declared over. “Third is we need to have antivirals available. Antivirals work if you take them early enough in the illness, and if we prevent people from getting severe illness and being hospitalized or dying, we can learn to manage Covid even as cases go up,” he stressed.

Alternative protein sources L AVILLA said the DOST-FNRI published the 2022 Menu Guide Calendar titled “Nutritious Meals for Healthier Families in the New Nor mal.” “The recipes made use of alternative pro tein sources like tofu, monggo, tinapa, dilis, root c rops, leafy and green vegetables. Costs of ingre dients for the recipes range from P44 to P150, a nd the recipe is good for a family of five people.” She said that by looking at the calorie and nutrient contribution of the recipes, people will find that the recipes are able to supply the necessary energy needed by adults and children, including essential nutrients like calcium, iron, or vitamin A. Some of the recipes in the menu guide in clude unusual-sounding dishes like Chicken Veggie Nuggets with Fried Egg, Monggo Curry, Kala-Mote (Kalabasa and Kamote) patties, Tokwa Mechado, among others, all within the P250“Thebudget.DOST-FNRI, just like the famous ta gline of a bank, found ways on how to meet nutrient requirements within the budget and with what is available.”

Abad likewise believes that other viruses could come in the wake of SARS-CoV, maybe far less serious ones but which could cause up per respiratory tract infections (URTI) accom panied by throat pain and mouth sores. Thus, he takes pride in the accessibility of Covidone, largely thanks to its OTC status. “You can avail of Covidone anytime to ensure you stay safe, healthy, and comfortable,” he affirms. Abad also shares that Covidone was a prod uct of the company’s dedication to its corpo rate social responsibility and close cooperation with healthcare professionals who shared the same mission of helping the government and the country’s frontliners stem the transmis sion of the coronavirus. “We are a company that cares,” says Abad. “Covidone is our way of showing that we care by giving everybody one more step to being safe from the virus and ending it once and for all.” Abad reminds everyone, however, that Co vidone cannot take the place of immunization and government-mandated health protocols. He advises users to follow instructions when applying Covidone TS spray to their throats. “Make sure to exhale and say ‘aah’ because you don’t want to inhale the substance,” says Abad, who warns that doing so could produce ad verse effects. “Also, the liquid must not remain in your throat for more than 15 seconds; be sure to spit out the excess fluid once you’re done.” Get Covidone Throat Spray at Lazada or Shopee, as well as select drug stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets nationwide. Direct purchase at covidone.ph will also be avail able soon!

“Early recognition and treatment within two days of illness will pre vent complications of leptospirosis, so early consultation is advised,” the DOH added.

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor T HE national government needs to plan and look for other ways so that Filipinos can learn to live with Covid-19 amid the slow vaccination rate in the Philippines, according to an entrepreneurial czar. Go Negosyo Founder Joey Concepcion believes the next step is to stock up on antiviral medicines. At present, there are two antiviral medicines avail able through prescription in the country: Molnupi ravir and Paxlovid. Their supply has been unstable, especially with the rising number of Covid cases in recent weeks.

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new throat spray helps fight infections like Covid-19Avoid walking in floodwaters to prevent

NutritioN Needs should still be addressed amid a paNdemic–experts

of PACSSM (Philippine Association of Central Services and Sterilization Man agement Inc.) where he tackled the topic “Innovation and Transformation in the Healthcare industry: Focusing on AI (Artificial Intelligence), IT (information technology) and Remote Monitoring.” EHealth Medical and Enterprise Systems Distribution was established primarily for the purpose of identifying hospital ICT (information and communi cation technology) project engagements by finding opportunities and match ing those with company resources and EHealth Medical’s strategic technology of partners and suppliers so that they can come up with a project. “There is a poor, slow recording, and data processing as well as duplication of processes like repeated recording of the patient’s demographic data and past medical histories from one health facility to another. There is also a very long reporting process,” De Luna said. Quality of data DATA q uality, De Luna explained is a problem in terms of reliability, timeli ness, accuracy, and completeness, which, in turn will affect decision making. “In terms of inefficient policies, there is poor governance for data security. Many data or health information come from disparate systems and locations with different data formats and lacking By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco L EPTOSPIROSIS i s a deadly but preventable disease. The Department of Health (DOH) said that leptospirosis is trans mitted through skin abrasions while walking in moist soil, rice fields, and sugar cane plantations contaminated with the urine of an infected animal, likeOnerats.can also acquire the disease through contaminated water like swim ming pools, flood waters, accidental immersion, occupational abrasion, or direct contact with urine or even tissues of infected animals. DOH Officer-in-Charge Undersec retary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that 1,178 leptospirosis cases have been re corded in 2022, of which 165 cases were detected from June 26 to July 23. Vergeire said that the regions that have recorded the most leptospirosis cases in this most recent period were the National Capital Region (NCR), Cagayan Valley, and Central Luzon. At least 156 Filipinos have died of the“Wedisease.know that every time there is a rainy season, there is flooding, our popu lation then becomes more vulnerable,” Vergeire said as she urged the public to take precautions when wading through floodwaters.Shereminded the public to wear boots, wash their feet after contact with floodwater, and to get checked by a healthcare professional in case of symptoms. Cause T HE c ause of this disease is Leptospira bacteria with an incubation period of seven to 10 days. Signs and symptoms are fever, nonspecific symptoms of muscle pain, head ache, calf-muscle pain, and reddish eyes in some cases while severe cases result in liver involvement, kidney failure or brain“Thus,involvement. somecases may have yellowish body discoloration, dark-colored urine and light stools, low urine output, severe headache,” the DOH said. For treatment of leptospirosis, the physician may prescribe antibiotics.

However, inflation and the war between Russia and Ukraine happened. Prices of pe troleum products soared and brought about a s pike in prices of goods and services, par ticularly food. For a nation where malnutrition has been a pe rennial, chronic and deceptive threat, the biggest v ictims are the children who are more prone to infections and viruses when malnourished. It was estimated that 30 percent of kids under five years of age are stunted, and the country ranks among the Top 10 globally with the greatest number of stunted children. And then there is still the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

By Anne Ruth Dela Cruz A S p art of its agenda, the Depart ment of Health (DOH) has stated that both private and govern ment hospitals should invest in ehealth (electronic health) and data for decision making.TheDOH also mandates the use of EMR (electronic medical records) as well as promote interoperability of hospital information system that will enhance the healthcare information exchange (HIE) connecting networks of private and government hospitals across health systems.Thiswill come in handy with the full implementation of the Universal Health Care Act which provides all Fili pinos with guaranteed equitable access to quality and affordable health care goods and services and protected against financial risk. Health system challenges ACCORDING to Cris M. De Luna Jr., Managing Director of EHealth Medical and Enterprise Systems Distribution, there are three main challenges to the country’s health system—patient reg istration, data quality and inefficient policies to better understand the real time information for decision making. De Luna was a guest speaker at the recently held 22nd Annual Convention

Food security in the Philippines D UR ING t he most recent weekly “Stop Covid Deaths” webinar titled “Nutrisyon sa Panahon ng Pandemya: Can P250 a Day Feed a Family?” orga nized by the University of the Phil ippines, together with UP Manila N IH National Telehealth Center and in cooperation with UP Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Dr. Cecilia Acuin, Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, University of the Philippines Los Baños, pointed out that accord ing to the Rapid Nutrition Assessment s urvey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) among food insecure households in low, medium and high-risk areas in late 2020 or at the height of the pan demic, food insecurity significantly i ncreased way before the inflationary effects on the country’s food supply. “Right now, the FNRI is already conducting the 2022 version of the survey, and I’m a little bit worried on the country’s state of food insecurity,” Dr. Acuin said. “We need food for nutrition, and we need good food for good nutrition, and we need good nutrition for good health,” she added. She pointed out that if house holds produce part of their own fo od, it can help lower the cost of producing a nutritious diet. If food production exceeds the household’s own needs, it can reduce the costs of a nutritious diet to almost zero.

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz Health& Fitness BusinessMirror Thursday, August 18, 2022 B7

Can P250 daily food budget produce a nutritious diet?

By Rory Visco Contributor

Dr. Acuin proposed nutrition-smart agri cultural strategies, which she grouped into t wo: increase density of nutrients per food item, and the best way to do that is through food staples like rice, wheat, root vegetables, meat, fish, milk, and increase the quantity of non-staple food such as eggs, small fish, spe cific green leafy vegetables. “Quite of number of these can also be produced in urban settings, but it needs cooperation and assistance from the government to enable this.”

The latest to hit the market is the newly launched throat spray brand Covidone TS, an antiseptic spray that kills 99.9 percent of germs and viruses in the throat and mouth, protect ing these from insidious infections such as Covid-19.Asa0.5 percent active povidone-iodine spray, Covidone TS works as an antiseptic like povi done-iodine when applied to external wounds. When sprayed directly into the throat and oral cavity, Covidone kills the pathogens that cause throat disease and, in the process, helps relieve the pain and swelling that result from it. “We believe we’ve found a convenient way to give consumers the ultimate piece of Covid armor they need to feel protected and secure when stepping out of their homes,” says Nutra na Health and Wellness Co CEO Ernesto Abad II. “In addition to face masks, handwashing, and rubbing alcohol, a few throat sprays of Covidone provides an extra layer of protection that gives you that feeling of reassurance.”

ACCORDING t o Emilita Lavilla, Head of the Dietary Service of the PGH, the answer to the question is a “yes.” She said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), where the FNRI is an at tached agency, produced recipes and made sub stantial research on how Filipinos can respond t o the tough times by producing practical ways that can enable households to meet the P250 daily food budget for a nutritious family meal.

pushes govt ehealth agenda

Pagaura eyes redemption in Penong 5150

T HE Philippine National Volleyball Federation released on Wednesday the names of 14 players who will play in the the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup for Women starting Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City. The national women’s team is composed of players from newlycrowned Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference champion Creamline. The team opens its campaign against Vietnam on Sunday before taking a Monday off. T he Philippines resumes its bid against China on Tuesday and Iran on Wednesday before wrapping up pool play action against Korea on Thursday.Thenational women’s team needs to finish in the top four in Pool A to qualify for the quarterfinals. The fifth-placed team in Pool A will finish in ninth place. Pool B was reduced to four teams after the withdrawal of Kazahkstan on Tuesday. Japan, Thailand, ChineseTaipei and Australia make up Pool B. Four players—Alyssa Valdez, Jia de Guzman, Jema Galanza and Risa Sato—were part of the Philippine squad that placed ninth in the last AVC Cup for Women competition in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, in 2018. Completing the 14-women team are Ced Domingo, Jeanette Panaga, Michele Gumabao, Ella de Jesus, Pau Soriano, Kyla Atienza, Fille Cayetano, Kyle Negrito, Rose Vargas, and Tots Carlos. S herwin Meneses is the head coach and his assistants are Karlo Santos and Bok Morado, with strength and conditioning coach Mark Caron.

1 BRODETH

O n Wednesday, the PATAFA’s new leadership under president Terry Capistrano, reinstated Obiena, who last May handily won the men’s pole vault gold medal, leapt to a bronze at the Silesia leg of the Diamond League and the most important of all, won the country’s first World Athletics Championships medal in Eugene, Oregon, in May. Obiena, whose focus is breaking 6.0 meters to be one of the world’s elite, had his feet on the ground in this victory. “ I am very thankful to PATAFA leadership and PSC for reinstating me back to the national team,” Obiena told BusinessMirror in a message. “Whilst I shall properly leave the past in the past; I believe the facts have spoken. The Commission on Audit has spoken. My fellow countrymen have spoken.”

Josef Ramos

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA: This is the right and just decision—and one in the best interests of Philippine sports.” AP K IMI BRODETH sets out for the Palawan PawnshopPalawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) City of Naga national age group tennis tournament upbeat but wary of her chances for another golden double with a slew of rivals out to foil her bid in the Group

Cool Smashers change to national team jersey for AVC Cup for Women

Obiena added: “And my team and I have proven our dedication with my performances on the world stage and a first-ever World Championships medal.”

Manila to host EASL Final Four

The 26-year-old back-to-back SEA Games gold medalist broke the Asian record twice. He did it first in Innsbruck, Austria, with a leap of 5.93 meters in September last year and again with a statement 5.94 meters in Eugene. He has thrown his tumultuous past with his own federation out the window and is focused at returning to the Olympics in Paris 2024 as he praised the PSC for reinstating him. This was the right and just decision— and one in the best interests of Philippine sport[s],” he said. “It’s also a decision that is congruent with the values and principles of the Olympic Spirit.”

A HEALTHY Dwight Ramos is back in harness for Gilas Pilipinas bringing with him high hopes for a squad reeling from consecutive setbacks in international play. H is reason for having a high? National Basketball Association veteran Jordan Clarkson and 7-foot-2 Kai Sotto. Jordan is a great player and I’m excited to play with high level guys,” Ramos told BusinessMirror on Wednesday. “And Kai? He’s also a great player with international experience.” “ Last year, I played with Kai in the Clark [Pampanga] and I’m really excited to see him play again for the country,” said the 23-year-old Filipino-American Ramos, referring to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup Qualifiers early this year. C larkson and Sotto are expected to arrive in the country anytime this week. They are part of a 24-member pool for two FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches later this month. Joining the three are Philippine Basketball Association players Calvin Oftana, Jamie Malonzo, Kevin Alas, Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi, Jio Jalalon, Ian Sangalang, Chris Newsome, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, Arvin Tolentino and Robert Bolick, as well as free agent Roosevelt Adams. Completing the team are Bobby Ray Parks, Thirdy Ravena and Kiefer Ravena and collegiate players Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and Francis Lopez. The team began practicing on Monday night with head coach Chot Reyes and Tim Cone at the Meralco Gym along Ortigas Avenue. R amos sustained a shin splints injury last month, forcing him to be sidelined during the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Jakarta where the Philippines missed the top eight for the first time in 15 years. G ilas flied to Beirut for a match againt Lebanon on August 25 and flies back home for a game at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City against Saudi Arabia four days later.

our colleagues at the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), and the Filipino fans for welcoming us,” EASL CEO Matt Beyer said. The Final Four weekend will be unique and memorable, bigger than any event EASL has ever held, featuring a music festival and a variety of fan activations,” Beyer added. N o pre-departure or onarrival Covid testing, nor quarantine is required for fully vaccinated travelers, which meant Manila is ready for a warm-up event to the FIBA World Cup taking place in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines beginning in August 2023. “ The decision to stage the inaugural EASL Final Four in Manila this March is a welcome development,” PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said. “The Philippines is a basketball-loving country and Filipino fans will be following the EASL games closely.” M arcial added: “Hosting the Final Four would be an exciting prelude to the FIBA World Cup as our country opens its doors to the global basketball community next year.”TNT already clinched one of two PBA berths to represent the country in the kick-off season on October 12 after entering the finals of the ongoing Philippine Cup.

Ramos’s injury heals, JC,forwardlookstojoinKaiinGilas

Ormoc lass seeks to sustain win run in Naga tennis tilt tournament which got underway in Cebu on Wednesday. Brodeth hopes to get past Zenna Logrono in the first round of what promises to be an uphill battle in 16-under play with Judy Ann Padilla, Joy Ansay, Kate Imalay, Angel Vosotros, Chloe Ortega, Keena Clarke and Nicole Bonza all geared up for a crack at one of the eight division titles in the penultimate leg of the four-stage Cebu swing of the circuit which wraps up in Consolacion, Laray next week. For details, contact Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464. Brodeth also top-bills the 18-under category that also features Padilla, Vosotros and Tiffany Nopcos, whom the Ormoc City lass toppled in three sets to spike a two-title romp in last week’s leg of the circuit presented by Dunlop in Mandaue. McLeen Gomera also tries to make it back-to-back in boys’ 16-under class but the Bacolod, Lanao del Norte bet faces another tough test in the premier side, headed by last week’s tormentor John David Velez, also from Ormoc City, Cyd Villamar, Hans Cabellon, Ivan Manila and Bryan Paster. The boys’ 14- and 16-under categories drew 64-player cast each while the girls’ 12-, 14- and 16-under groups feature 32-entry list apiece, underscoring the sustained popularity of the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop president and CEO Bobby Castro to help boost the development of the sport and produce future members of the national team. Focus will also be on Danao, Cebu’s Juvels Velos, who posted the biggest reversal last week when he upended a slew of seeded rivals to snatch the boys’ 14-under diadem, including a three-set escape over No. 1 Josh Lim in the finals of the tournament backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and Universal Tennis Rating. A nsay, meanwhile, banners the girls’ 14-under cast that also includes Imalay, Alexa Cruspero and 12-year-old Caroliean Fiel, who also gets the top seeding in her age bracket that also features Jan Dagoon, Zita Clarke and Cruspero.

B8 | Thursday augusT 18, 2022 Editor:mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phJunLomibao

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA is back—officially—as a member of the national team for athletics, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) announced on Wednesday. Oh, what a journey Obiena needed to trek to get his name back on the list—a world championships bronze medal, a gold at the 31st Southeast Asian Games and another bronze at the prestigious Diamond League. A ll that happening in an eightmonth span beginning on January 1 when his name was stricken off the list by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA)—no thanks to a liquidation mess that necessitated the intervention of professional arbitrators to clear things up.

C apistrano and the PATAFA board formally endorsed Obiena’s return to the national team through a special board meeting last Saturday. PATAFA executive Vice President Willie Torres transmitted the resolution, as instructed by Capistrano, to the PSC. PSC Executive Director Atty. Guillermo Iroy Jr. said Obiena will officially be on the national team roster thisPmonth.SCOfficer in Charge and Commissioner Bong Coo welcomed the development, saying “we are thankful to the PATAFA leadership for taking this step to solidify the strength of our national athletics team.”

T HE Blu Boys take their turn make a bid for next year’s World Cup Softball in New Zealand as the team leaves for Japan at end of the month to compete in the Men’ Softball World Cup Qualifier. We believe we have relatively good chances of taking one of the two slots at stake as Japan will take the first seat in all probabilities, this is part of our continuous effort to develop the sport and men’s softball here,” Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier said. The qualifying tournament is scheduled September 3 to 9 in Shimanto in Kochi while next year’s world cup finals will be hosted by NewThZealand.eBluBoys, aching to redeem themselves from their disappointing runner up finish in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, will be composed of eight carryovers from that team and players from University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Adamson University and Polytechnic University of the Philippines. The team is coached by former softball standout Apol Rosales. A s part of their preparation, the Blu Boys underwent a recent teambuilding at the PJLI training Center in Antipolo City and will play a series of tuneup games against teams from Dasmariñas in Cavite and Tanauan and Cuenca in Batangas. These will be good practice games considering our opponents will feature former national players,” Rosales said. “Our concern is we have a lot of rookies and it would have been better had we gotten international exposure prior to this.”

DWIGHT RAMOS’S injury has healed and looks prime for games against Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

EJ OFFICIALLY BACK ON NATIONAL TEAM

By Josef Ramos

THE Creamline Cool Smashers hope to bring their championship smarts to the continental arena.

Blu Boys gear up for World Cup Japan qualifiers

R eigning champion Seoul SK Knights and runner-up Anyang KGC will represent the Korean Basketball League (KBL) in the meet, the P. League + of Chinese Taipei is sending the Taipei Fubon Braves, the B. League of Japan will have the Utsonomiya Brex and Ryukyu Golden Kings, and the Bay Area Dragons are competing in behalf Greater China. “ Having recently spent time in Manila for the EASL inaugural grouping ceremony, I can say with certainty that this is a great decision by EASL to host the Final Four Weekend in this magnificent city,” KBL Commissioner Kim Hee Ok said. “Manila is truly a basketball city with some of the biggest and liveliest crowds.” At the same time, EASL also announced the Final Four Weekend for Season 2 taking place in early 2024, will be held in Okinawa, Japan. The prefecture of Okinawa and the OCVB couldn’t be happier to partner with EASL in the planning and promotion of the 2024 EASL Final Four. We are thrilled that Okinawa has been chosen as the destination for this global sporting event at our state-of-the-art Okinawa arena,” said Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau Chairman Yoshiro Shimoji.

F OILED at home in Bohol, Jonathan Pagaura focuses on a top podium finish in a short course race down south this time as he headlines the crack field in Penong’s 5150 Davao, which fires off September 4 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. Pagaura, a Maribojoc native, yielded the overall crown and the 2529 age group title to Lanao del Norte’s Satar Salem in Sun Life 5150 on his home turf last July but has toughened up for another stab at glory in the upcoming endurance race set over the Olympic distance of 1.5-km swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run. The Omega Triathlon Team spearhead also saw action in the recent Ironman 70.3 Philippines Cebu but could only post a seventh place finish in his age division and 17th in the overall competition. But those stints only made the former duathlete a lot tougher and ready for another shot at 5150 glory against an equally determined international field at The Wrec, Hijo Resorts Davao. Meanwhile, 10 foreign entries, including two each from France and the United Kingdom, are in the early roster of the event organized by The Ironman Group/Sunrise Events Inc., all set for an explosive staging after being postponed twice the past two years due to pandemic. R egistration is ongoing until race week. For details, log on to penong’s.5150philippines.com or follow us on social-media accounts: Penongs5150Davao with Hashtags (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter): #Penongs5150 and #5150Davao. A lso vying in the event, held for those building up to reach Ironman level, are athletes from Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Greece, France, the US and Qatar. B esides the individual competitions, other titles to be disputed are the relay all male, relay all female and relay mixed and the Sunrise Sprint featuring 750-meter swim, 20-km bike and 5-km run.