BusinessMirror August 19, 2020

PHL’s ODA projects portfolio revised

By Cai U. Ordinario

ects encountered problems during implementation, prompting the eight agency-implementors to seek restructuring.

“[The projects are] expected to be restructured in CY 2020, covering extension of loan validity and/ or implementation period, changes in scope, cost, implementation arrangements and loan reallocation.

Agency requests for restructuring will require ICC [Investment Coordination Committee] review, approval, and/or Neda Board confirmation,” the Neda said.

The list included 19 projects funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the largest source of the country’s

E

VEN before the pandemic, several Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects needed to be restructured due to changes in project design and cost, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In its 2019 ODA Portfolio Review, the total ODA portfolio as of December 2019 amounted to $21.62 billion. This consisted of 84 loans worth $19.98 billion or 92 percent of the total portfolio; and 268 grants worth $1.64 billion or 8 percent.

Neda said 32 of the total proj-

RESIDENTS present their quarantine passes to policemen guarding the entrance to Dagonoy Market in San Andres, Manila. President Duterte announced late Monday that Metro Manila will revert to the more relaxed general community quarantine from August 19 to 31, 2020. ROY DOMINGO

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ODA loans; four projects each funded by the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (KEDCF) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad); and two projects funded by the Chinese government.

One project each is funded by the Ifad and the Asian Development Bank (ADB); the Italian government; and World Bank and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), or the French Development Agency.

The projects funded by Jica include the Flood Risk Management Project-Cagayan de Oro River, which is set to be restructured next Continued on A2

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Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 314

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

NOW AT P166.5B IN BICAM

TOP view of the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge Project, which is set to open in 2021, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Secretary Mark A. Villar said final pouring activities are ongoing at the midspan of the bridge, a key component of the BGC-Ortigas Road Link Project, one of 22 modes for decongesting Edsa and C5. The 210-meter main superstructure will connect across Pasig River the Lawton Avenue in Makati City and Sta. Monica Street in Pasig City.

Despite constraints posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the DPWH targets to fully finish the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge this December. PHOTO COURTESY OF DPWH

M

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

EMBERS of the bicameral conference committee deliberating the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2 have reached an agreement to further increase the stimulus fund to P166.5 billion.

This P166.5-billion proposal of the bicameral panel is higher than the proposed P162 billion of the House of Representatives and P140 billion of the Senate.

Under the highlights of the bicameral committee meeting received by reporters on Tuesday, the increases in allocation were given to the Department of Health for the employment of emergency human resource for health and to Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) cash-for-work program.

The bicameral committee also decided to increase the capital infusion to government banks; support to the agricultural sector; and credit assistance to local government units.

However, the committee agreed that the budget allocated for the Department of Tourism (DOT) was shelved and was distributed in the allocations for the DOLE, government banks and the Department of Public Works and Highways for tourism infrastructure.

P10-B TOURISM INFRA FUND SPREAD OUT AMID BUDGET ROW

T

Continued on A2

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

T

HE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) started suffering major financial losses way back in 2004 after its then president and now Health Secretary Francisco Duque launched the program dis-

tributing free 5 million PhilHealth cards allegedly to shore up the campaign of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA).

This was one of the claims made by PhilHealth Regional Vice President Dennis Adre as the Senate Committee of the Whole continued hearings on Tuesday on the

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.6870

alleged irregularities in the state health insurer.

Duque strongly denied Adre’s claim that he gave explicit instructions to PhilHealth officials to give the cards on the basis of a supposed vote-mapped distribution list.

Continued on A2

DUQUE

AP/AARON FAVILA

PhilHealth losses traced to 2004 card drive

HE bicameral conference committee on the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 has shelved the budget allocated for the Department of Tourism’s infrastructure arm, amid a heated debate between lawmakers and stakeholders—backed by Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat—over priorities amid the pandemic.

The fund was distributed in the allocations for the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), government banks and the Department of Public Works and Highways for tourism infrastructure.

A BusinessMirror source confirmed this shelved DOT budget was the P10 billion allocated by the House for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), and which the DOT chief and 17 stakeholder groups had described as unnecessary. Working capital, not more construction projects, is what pandemic-lashed tourism enterprises badly need to recover, they told congressmen.

Despite the shelving of the P10-billion budget, House Committee on Cooperative Development Chairman and COOP-Natcco party-list Rep. Sabiniano Canama urged Tourism Secretary Romulo-Puyat not to abandon the workers in the tourism industry.

Earlier, lawmakers said the House had allocated P10 billion for Tieza for its infrastructure projects and another P51 billion in additional capital to government financial institutions (GFIs) to lend out to the tourism and transportation sectors,

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4592 n UK 63.8433 n HK 6.2821 n CHINA 7.0237 n SINGAPORE 35.5951 n AUSTRALIA 35.1131 n EU 57.8255 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9825

Source: BSP (August 18, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, August 19, 2020

PhilHealth losses traced to 2004 card drive Continued from A1

Related story on Duque’s appearance at the Senate hearing on page A8.

“The Honorable Secretary knows all that is happening in PhilHealth,” Adre said as he recalled the alleged anomalies in the government-owned corporation. “He has been with PhilHealth for 20 years after all. In 2004 major financial losses were caused by the Plan 5 million.”

In 2004 Duque was PhilHealth president when a P500-million fund from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) was allegedly used illegally to purchase PhilHealth cards bearing then President Arroyo’s campaign slogan.

The program, Adre said, prompted PhilHealth to allegedly “windowdress” the financial statement for the first time in 2004 after losing billions in unpaid claims to indigents that were enrolled in Plan 5 million.

Adre said he was even instructed not to include then Davao mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte among those who will be given the share of the PhilHealth cards because he did not belong to the ruling party.

Those who questioned the plan were punished with reassignments, Adre said. “The first reassignments were made to punish those who question the Plan 5 million, and I was among those who questioned the Plan 5 million,” he said.

Asked by Sen. Grace Poe to elaborate on the Plan 5 million, Adre said the program was named as such after results of a survey in 2004 showed then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) leading by 5 million votes. Senator Poe is the daughter of the late movie actor-producer, who died months after losing to Arroyo in his first political foray, amid allegations of fraud in the 2004 polls.

‘Window-dressing’

IN the same hearing, Adre also recalled that no less than former senior vice president for finance for PhilHealth Greg Rulloda admitted in a recent meeting in Malacañang that financial statements were indeed window-dressed in the past several years.

Poe, who was adopted by FPJ and Susan Roces, thanked Adre for the clarification, adding: “Alam niyo, hindi ito dahil konektado ito sa akin, alam ito ni Senate President Sotto noong 2004 pero ’yun nga ginagamit ang isang institusyon para sa sariling layunin. Hindi naman ’ata tama iyon. Lalo na malapit na ang eleksyon noon e baka ulit-ulitin yan.…”

“Parang binibili mo na rin ang boto sa ganung klaseng paraan, hindi po ba?,” she added.

While Duque admitted that PhilHealth distributed free PhilHealth cards, he argued that the program is not linked to the elections.

“The five million [cards] were distributed based on the executive order of then President GMA and so there is no correlation between the PhilHealth program and the elections.

Cases have been filed against us and these were dismissed by Ombudsman [Conchita] Morales.”

When asked by Sen. Risa Hontiveros what motive could Adre have in making the accusations against him, Duque said: “I really don’t know why they’re making this up, but anyway the important thing is we’ll look into the records and the cases that have been filed and dismissed.”

Senate President Sotto, who was then with the FPJ campaign camp, recalled that an electioneering case was filed over the use of the PhilHealth cards, but Duque said this, too, was dismissed.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Bayanihan 2 funding

now at ₧166.5B in bicam Continued from A1

A source explained that this shelved DOT budget was the P10 billion allocated by the House for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza).

Reached agreements

THE bicameral panel also agreed on the provisions mandating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt measures including the relaxation of regulatory and statutory restrictions and requirements for a period of not more than one year from the effectivity of the proposed Bayanihan 2.

It also directed the DPWH and the DBM to immediately reinstate and proceed with the implementation of infrastructure projects and programs that were discontinued due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The bicameral version of the bill also authorizes the President to realign the unused balance of the Department of Education personnel services and schoolbuilding programs for the hiring of

parateachers and procurement of modular learning materials.

It also directed the financial institutions to prioritize in their lending and credit line operations hospitals and health-care institutions with cashflow or liquidity issues.

The committee also said a portion of the Special Education Fund may be used for the support of alternative learning modalities, printing of self-learning modules, digital education, digital infrastructure and continuity plans.

It said all unspent or unutilized balances in the Municipal Development Fund shall be utilized for measures or programs to boost the capacity of LGUs in responding to the pandemic.

Also, the panel agreed to exempt—from import duties and taxes, including donor’s tax— personal computers or similar equipment appropriate for schools donated for distribution to public schools.

The bicameral version will also include the reinforcement of bed capacity allocation of government and private hospitals

dedicated for Covid-19 response; construction of temporary medical isolation and quarantine facilities nationwide; provision of compensation to public and private health workers; and hazard pay to be given to human resources for health workers who will temporarily be engaged as medical and allied medical staff.

Pending

MEANWHILE, the bicameral committee is still deliberating on the provisions for procurement of Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, accreditation of viral testing kits that include PCR testing and other Covid-19 testing kits recommended by the Health Technology Assessment Committee, as well as the special risk allowance for all public health workers.

Also still under discussion is the mandatory Covid-19 testing of public and private health workers every 15 days, as well as life insurance, accommodation and meals for them.

The panel is still tackling the liberalization of the grant of incentives for the manufacture/

importation of critically needed equipment or essential goods and the joint venture between the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

It is also deliberating the inclusion of the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Corporation (FISTC), which aims to help financial institutions in their bad debt resolution and management of their nonperforming assets to cushion the impact of the crisis.

On the sources of funding for the Bayanihan 2, the committee said it will ask the Department of Finance to clarify why it wanted to delete the provision directing the Bureau of Internal Revenue to implement closure orders to those offshore gaming licensees, operators who fail to pay the taxes due.

Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte, a member of the bicameral panel, has said Congress will submit to President Duterte before the end of the month the final version of Bayanihan 2 for its target implementation in September.

PHL’s ODA projects portfolio revised Continued from A1

month and requires a change in cost; and the Forestland Management Project, Central Luzon Link Expressway Project, Flood Risk Management Project—Cagayan, Tagaloan and Imus River, LRT Line 1 South Extension Project, and the LRT Line 2 East Extension Project—which all require a change in cost and project extension.

Jica projects also include North-South Commuter Railway Project Phase 1 and the Metro Manila Interchange Construction Project Phase VI, which will require changes in scope and project extension.

Projects funded by Jica that will require a change in scope and cost are the Metro Manila Subway Project and the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project, Phase I. The Metro Manila Subway Project is targeted to be restructured by end of August.

All the projects needing to be restructured due to extension of implementation period are funded

by Jica. These include the MRT 3 Rehabilitation Project; Davao City Bypass Construction Project; and the Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project, among others.

The only project that must be restructured on account of a loan reallocation is the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project, also Jica-funded.

Korean projects

MEANWHILE, the four KEDCFfunded projects that will be restructured are the New Cebu International Container Port Project and Jalaur River Multipurpose Project Stage II, which require changes in cost, project extension and loan reallocation.

The other two projects are the Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction—Climate Change Adaptation in Low-Lying Areas in Pampanga Bay, which requires a change in scope and cost, and the Panguil Bay Bridge Project, which requires an extension of implementation and loan validity period.

Ifad projects that re-

quire restructuring are Rural Agro-Enterprise Partnership and Inclusive Development; Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Livelihood Project; and Convergence for Value Chain Enhancement and Rural Growth Empowerment, which require changes in scope and project extension.

The other Ifad project for restructuring is the scaling up of the Second Cordillera Highland Agriculture Resource Management Project, which requires an extension of implementation and loan validity periods, and change in cost sharing.

The two China-funded projects to be restructured are the Binondo-Intramuros and EstrellaPantaleon Bridges Project and Chico River Pump Irrigation Project.

The Bridges Project requires a change in cost and extension, and will be restructured in October.

The Chico River project requires a change in scope and cost (which rose 38.6 percent) and is up for restructuring this second semester.

Cost overruns

THE Neda said the ICC received six requests for change in cost amounting to P32.97 billion, higher than the seven requests received in 2018 amounting to P24.79 billion.

This swelled by 63.2 percent the total project costs of the six projects, now worth $85.14 billion from the initial estimate of P52.17 billion.

In 2018 the total cost overrun increased 264.02 percent from P6.81 billion in 2017. The total cost of projects increased by 33.36 percent to $99.122 billion from $74.329 billion.

“Cost overrun is defined as additional costs over and above the ICC-approved project cost,” the Neda said. “Agency requests for cost-overruns undergo the ICC review process, mainly to determine whether the project continues to be economically viable.”

This year, of the six projects, the Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) funded by ADB recorded the highest cost overrun increase at 95.99 percent.

The total project cost of the

project is now estimated at $11.32 billion from the initial cost of $5.778 billion. This represents an increase of $5.546 billion.

However, in terms of actual increase in cost, the largest was incurred by the Davao City Bypass Construction Project.

While the cost increase only represented 81.07 percent of the cost, the actual amount reached $20.956 billion. Due to the cost overrun, the new total project cost reached $46.8 billion from the initial estimate of $25.85 billion.

Portfolio performance

THE Neda said the government’s absorptive capacity improved in 2019 as the disbursement rate and availment rate of the portfolio rose. However, the disbursement ratio only posted a slight increase.

The report said overall disbursement level of the loans portfolio rose 21 percent to $2.71 billion in 2019, from $2.23 billion in 2018 due to the increase in disbursements of project loans.

“Historically, loans’ financial performance is at a decreasing trend; however, the portfolio performance is showing improvements for the past two years,” the Neda said.

The availment rate of the project loans portfolio also performed better, rising to 73 percent in 2019 from 67 percent in 2018.

Disbursement ratio barely increased by 0.80 percentage point to 20.09 percent in 2019 from 19.29 percent in 2018.

Neda also said the disbursement rate of project loans portfolio exhibited a 6-percentage point increase to 64 percent in 2019 from 58 percent in 2018.

“The project loans portfolio still registered a disbursement shortfall,” Neda said, however.

“Despite the improved performance, the project loans portfolio registered a $1.46-billion net availment backlog.”

Grants record poor

FOR grants, the data is not as rosy.

Neda said the utilization level of active grants contracted in 2019.

Data showed the utilization level of the active grants reached $0.83 billion, posting a utilization rate of 51 percent against the total

grant amount of $1.64 billion.

This reflected a 19-percentagepoint decrease in utilization rate compared to the 70 percent posted in 2018.

In terms of physical performance, Neda said out of the 329 active ODA-assisted projects, which included 61 loan-assisted projects and 268 grant-assisted projects, only 62 projects or 19 percent were physically completed.

One project was ahead of schedule and 217 (or 66 percent of total) were on schedule.

Neda said 40 projects were behind schedule or 12 percent of the total; eight (less than 2 percent) have not yet started; and one project loan closed with incomplete outputs, or less than a percent of the total.

In terms of physical status, nine of the 61 loan-assisted projects were physically completed, one was ahead of schedule, 25 were on schedule, 17 were behind schedule, one closed with incomplete outputs, and eight have not yet started.

For the 268 grant-assisted projects, 53 were already completed, 192 were on schedule, and 23 were behind schedule.

Top donors

DATA showed Japan provided the bulk of ODA assistance, accounting for a 39-percent share worth $8.51 billion for 41 loans/grants of the active ODA portfolio.

This was followed by the ADB with 26 percent worth $5.7 billion for 44 loans/grants; and the World Bank with 20 percent or $4.31 billion for 25 loans/grants.

Similar to CY 2018, the infrastructure development sector accounted for the largest share of the active ODA portfolio with 58 percent or $12.54 billion.

This was followed by the social reform and community development sector with 18 percent or $3.81 billion; and the governance and institutions development sector with 15 percent or $3.38 billion.

Other areas were agriculture, agrarian reform, and natural resources sector with 8 percent or $1.68 billion; and the industry, trade, and tourism sector with the remaining 1 percent or $0.20 billion.

₧10-billion tourism infra fund spread out amid budget row Continued from A1

micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and other industries hit hard by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, 17 major stakeholder groups in tourism wrote Congress leaders asking that the P10-billion funds for Tieza are not what the sector needs at this point, as most of the tourism-oriented businesses, being small and medium enterprises, need working capital to recover, not more tourism infrastructure. Romulo-Puyat backed their position, which is aligned more with the Senate, not the House, version.

‘Clique’

CANAMA, meanwhile, accused RomuloPuyat of “unduly lobbying in favor of the interests of tourism industry’s big players in trying to arm twist the bicameral conference committee on the proposed Bayanihan 2 into allotting a P10-billion bailout fund exclusively for them.”

“We challenge Secretary RomuloPuyat to identify these big industry players [who] want a bailout. The millions of displaced workers in the tourism industry deserve to know why they are being deprived of immediate relief with her insistence on transferring the P10-billion fund for tourism infrastructure to a financing program that will hand out so-called ‘working capital’ loans to a favored few,” Canama said.

“It is puzzling why Puyat has been adamant in securing this P10-billion fund for the exclusive benefit of her clique in the tourism industry, when there is already a larger amount of P51 billion allocated by the House for loans to pandemic-hit private businesses,” Canama added.

The lawmaker said what workers need now are jobs, which can be provided by infrastructure investments, given its high multiplier effects of creating employment, generating new businesses and stimulating consumer demand.

Canama said providing loans to big companies in the tourism sector is not even a priority at this time because even with the transition to the new normal, tourists would still be wary over going out and traveling for leisure.

Canama expressed dismay that Romulo-Puyat had told the bicameral panel that if the P10-billion fund would go to Tieza, then it would be better for Congress to allocate or give the amount instead to other sectors.

Tieza itself, in a letter to lawmakers on Monday, said the funds for the sector would best be with the DOT, to help ailing enterprises, and not with Tieza for infrastructure.

Romulo-Puyat reacts

SOUGHT for comment on Canama’s remarks, Romulo-Puyat cited Section 104 of the Republic Act 9353 (Tourism Act of 2009), which mandates the DOT to “convene a Tourism Congress of representatives of all accredited tourism enterprises and former government officials involved in the tourism industry to serve as the private sector consultative body to assist the government in the development, implementation and coordination of Philippine tourism policy.”

She added, under said law, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines has adopted its own constitution, elected officers, and established a secretariat, “both for the Tourism Congress as a whole and for component sectors.” Under the law, the TCP also nominates representatives to the different boards of attached agencies under the DOT, representing the private sector.

The TCP, and other tourism stakeholder groups, have been opposing the use of P10 billion in funds allocated for working capital loans to their sector under the Senate version of Bayanihan 2, for infrastructure to be implemented by Tieza.

As of Tuesday, 36 tourism stakeholders’ associations across the country are now urging the bicameral conference committee to allocate P10 billion in financial assistance to their sector, in the form of working capital loans to be extended through GFIs. About 70 percent of tourism enterprises are MSMEs.

In her letter to legislators on August 12, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, Romulo Puyat requested, of the P10-billion funding, “P9.5 billion be allocated for as direct assistance to the industry stakeholders through the establishment of dedicated credit lines in our GFIs for tourism enterprises to ensure their survival, and the amount of P500 million to establish Covid-19 testing centers in tourist destinations as identified by the DOT, to stimulate tourism and generate employment, in partnership with the LGU and DOH and/or private entities. We note that the P9.5 billion in credit facilities we are presently asking for actually falls short of what has been determined to be the total need of P70 billion for credit facilities to the tourism industry, but it will certainly provide immediate relief.”

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz, Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Rights group leads filing of 28th petition vs ATA

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

H

UMAN-RIGHTS lawyers and several individuals on Tuesday filed the 28th petition seeking to stop the government from enforcing Republic Act 11479, or the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020, for being unconstitutional.

In a 78-page petition, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocate, together with lawyers of the Ateneo Legal Services Center (ALSC) and individuals Main Mohammad, Jimmy Bla and Nazr Dilangalen, argued that the passage of ATA was railroaded in Congress without substantial consultation with the people, especially those affected by terrorism.

Specifically, the petitioners are seekingtoenjoin the governmentfromimplementing Sections 10, 12 in relation to Section 3 (e), 25, 29, 34, and 36 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

The petitioners said Section 29 of the ATAempowers theAnti-TerrorismCouncil to detain a person even without a judicial warrant of arrest violates Section 2, ArticleIIIofthe1987Constitution,which protects the right of a person from unreasonable searches and seizure conducted by the government; Section 29 of the ATA allowing for the 14/24 days of detention without being charged in court violates Section1,ArticleIIIoftheConstitutionon a person’s right to due process; Section 36 which empowers the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze, without need of ajudicialwarrant,thepropertyandfunds of a person proscribed or designated as a terrorist violates Section 2, Article III of the 1987 Constitution, which protects the right of a person from unreasonable searches and seizure conducted by the government.

Likewise, the petitioners argued that Section 34, which restricts a person’s movement even if evidence of his guilt is not strong violates Section 6, Article III of the Constitution which protects a person’s right to travel; and Section 12, in relation to Section 3(e), insofar as its definition of “material support” is “vague and overbroad,” thus, restricts constitutionally protected rights and produces a “chilling effect.”

“Under the guise of carefully drafted legislation and purported checks, con-

trols and balances, the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act give the impression of legality but in truth threaten and/or altogether violate the basic human liberties secured by the Bill of Rights. With the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Act, constitutional guarantees are materially and substantially invaded,” the petitioners pointed out.

Petitioners Mohammad, Bla, and Dilangalen said they have the legal standing to file the petition as they fear arrest and prosecution following the implementation of the law be��� cause they have been tagged and charged as members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and Maute Group.

Mohammad, an Islamic worship leader in the island of Simariki in Zamboanga City, was arrested three years ago inside his home by police authorities after being tagged by the government as a member of the ASG. He has been charged before the Regional Trial Court of Taguig.

On the other hand, Mohammad was detained for nearly two years at Camp Bagong Diwa, a detention center exclusively for those charged as members of the ASG. In a resolution dated April 8, 2019, the trial court dismissed the cases against Mohammad because the government’s witness was not able to identify him as a member of ASG. Bla was arrested on February 28, 2018 inside his home in Barangay Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Counter-Terrorism Division.

He was flown to Manila and detained at Camp Bagong Diwa, where Mohammad was also detained. He was tagged by the government as a member of the ASG and charged before the Taguig Regional Trial Court and his trial is still ongoing.

“The enforcement of the Anti-Terrorism Act would make petitioners Mohammad, Bla, and Dilangalen —having been officially tagged as ASG or Maute members—vulnerabletobeingrearrestedand detained on mere suspicion of being “terrorists,” even in the absence of probable cause. This is because the Anti-Terrorism Act has removed the protections that the petitioners relied on in their defense againsttheindiscriminateapprehensions and unfounded criminal prosecutions made against them,” the petition read.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, August 19, 2020 A3

Masbate quake kills retired cop, injures dozens more A

POWERFUL earthquake struck Masbate on Tuesday, trapping a family in a collapsed house, damaging other houses, low-slung buildings and a seaport and prompting people to dash outdoors for safety.

A report reaching Camp Aguinaldo said the 6.5-magnitude quake with its epicenter located 5 kilometers southeast of the municipality of Cataingan town killed a retired police official and probably injured dozens more.

Based on the report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the tremor was also felt in other parts of the Bicol region and in other provinces in the Visayas at lesser intensities.

The NDRRMC said assessments were being carried out on the affected areas in Masbate, especially in the towns of Cataingan and Uson where houses made of light materials were damaged.

A separate report from Col. Joriz Cantoria, provincial police director of Masbate, said that retired police Col. Gilbert Sauro died after the beam of his house at Sitio Alimango, Barangay Concepcion, Cataingan, collapsed and pinned him down.

Another individual, Ronalyn D. Condrillon, a resident of Poblacion, Cataingan was reported injured.

Cantoria said that based on initial reports, the earthquake damaged the Public Attorney’s Office, the old and new Cataingan Public Market, Cataingan Municipal Police Station (MPS), the concrete road and docking area of Cataingan Port and several residential houses.

“Personnel of Cataingan MPS and LGU [local government unit] Cataingan, Masbate are conducting search and retrieval operations,” the police director said.

Infra damage

ROADS and bridges were cracked in

MEN refuel a backhoe being used to sift through the rubble after a strong earthquake struck Cataingan, Masbate province on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. A powerful and shallow earthquake struck the central Philippine region Tuesday, prompting people to dash out of homes and offices but there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. AP

Cataingan, the coastal town nearest the epicenter, according to Rino Revalo, a Masbate provincial administrator, and initial images of the quake’s aftermath.

A Cataingan resident, Isagani Libatan, said he was on his way to his aunt’s house for breakfast when his motorcycle suddenly swayed from left to right as the ground heaved.

“I thought it was my tire but people suddenly streamed out in panic from swaying houses then we lost power,” Libatan told The Associated Press by telephone, pausing briefly as he felt another fairly strong aftershock.

Revalo told ABS-CBN network that a three-story house collapsed in Cataingan as the ground shook and trapped the retired police officer and his family. Rescuers scrambled to save them, he said.

“People should avoid returning immed iately to d amaged structures,” he said.

Renato Solidum, who heads the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said there was no threat of a tsunami from the earthquake, which was set off by movement in the Philippine Fault. The quake was also felt in several provinces across the central Visayas region.

The Philippines lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. It’s also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.

Help is available—Palace

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday said that help for affected people in quakestricken Masbate is already available.

In an online news briefing, Presi-

dential spokesman Harry Roque assured that the government is already prepared to provide the necessary aid for those affected by latest disaster in Masbate.

“When it comes to assistance, they [affected people] should no longer worry. Food, blankets, and even resettlement areas are already prepositioned and we are already used to giving such assistance to our people,” Roque said.

Roque said President Duterte would like to “instinctively” visit the areas affected by the earthquake to check on the situation there.

However, he said the trip will still be subjected to the assessment of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

“Instinctively, the President would want to fly to Masbate, but whether he will be allowed or not [by PSG], we will still have to [wait and] see,” Roque said. Rene Acosta, Samuel Medenilla with AP

RITM affirms PGC study on mutated coronavirus strain DOJ chief says EJK task force

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

T

HE Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) has affirmed the study released by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), which showed that the G614 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of Covid-19, has been detected in the Philippines to a small sample of positive cases in Quezon City.

Reports showed that the G614 variant has almost completely replaced the original D614 virus in most of Europe and the Americas.

The Department of Health (DOH) said that there is evidence to show that the mutation makes it easier for the virus to enter its target cell and may be associated with higher viral loads in infected persons.

“This likely translates into a higher level of infectivity,” DOH said. The D614G mutation, which resulted in the G614 variant of the virus, has been reported in many other countries.

On Monday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reiterated that the study made by PGC was focused in Quezon City only.

“So it might not be a representative sample for the rest of the country,” Vergeire pointed out.

This was also emphasized by PGC that although their information has confirmed the presence of

G614 in the Philippines, all the samples tested were taken from Quezon City and may not represent the mutational landscape for the whole country.

PGC also highlighted that despite studies suggesting that the said mutation can increase viral rate of transmission, there is still no definitive evidence showing that carriers of the G614 variant are actually more transmissible than those with D614. Mutation does not appear to substantially affect clinical outcomes as well.

“As of this writing, the RITM also noted that there is no conclusive study that would define the impact of the virus mutation, disease severity and the effect to vaccines under development,” the DOH said.

Nevertheless, the DOH added it continuous to closely monitor the said mutation and other frequently observed mutations in order to better understand the evolutionary trajectory of SARSCoV-2 to provide new containment, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

“While it is critical to mitigate transmission within the country to prevent further spread of the virus, there is also a need to strengthen surveillance and control measures at our country’s ports of entry. Previous epidemics and pandemics have shown that mutations in pathogen genomes may generate new viral variants that cause more severe disease, or to spread more easily from per-

son to person,” the DOH added.

By limiting the introduction of new variants into the country, the DOH said it seeks to prevent new potentially, more virulent and/or infectious variants from coming into the country.

The RITM, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, is also currently conducting further research study of the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome sequencing.

Genome sequencing can provide the data necessary to determine patterns of virus circulation in the country such as information regarding where it came from (lineage or source of infection) and estimates when these were introduced or imported in the country.

It can complement contact tracing and identify cases that belong to the same transmission clusters and trace sources of infection. It may also provide essential information for the development of diagnostic tests, therapeutics and vaccines.

AlthoughtheDOHadmittedthattheyaregetting new information, they emphasized that regardless of what variant is causing community transmission, “thepreventivemeasurestoprotectthepublicagainst contracting Covid-19 are the same.”

“Through strict adherence and proper observance of the BIDA Solusyon strategies, we will be able to stop the disease from further spread,” the DOH said.

likely to probe Alvarez case

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USTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday said the Administrative Order 35 Task Force would assume jurisdiction over the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of human-rights activist Zara Alvarez once it is determined that she was a victim of an extrajudicial killing (EJK).

The AO 35 Task Force on EJK covers the creation of an inter-agency committee (IAC) that includes the summary killings of persons on account of their advocacies, such as labor and peasant leaders, but not common crimes involving ordinary persons.

The IAC is chaired by the Justice Secretary, and its members include the chairman of the Presidential Human Rights Committee; Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); Secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND); Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs (PAPA); Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Director General of the Philippine National Police (PNP);

and the Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Guevarra said before he would consider ordering the AO 35 Task Force on EJK to investigate the circumstances surrounding Alvarez’s death but it still would have to be determined first if her case would fall under the task force’s jurisdiction.

“We may consider her case for special investigation under AO 35 after some factchecking,” Guevarra said.

The DOJ-AO 35 Secretariat would take charge of the fact-checking.

The 39-year-old Alvarez is said to be the 13th human-rights worker of the group Karapatan who was killed during the term of President Duterte.

Alvarez was gunned down at around 8 p.m. of August 17 in a private village in Bacolod, Negros Occidental.

Her death came a week after Anakpawis chairman and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randall Echanis was killed inside his rented house last August 10 in Quezon City.

Joel R. San Juan

Valenzuela City launches call center-like contact tracing hub

By Roderick L. Abad

Contributor

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@rodrik_28

HE Valenzuela City local government launched on Tuesday the operation of its Mega Contact Tracing Center (MCTC) to help strengthen the city’s Covid-19 response via its complete facilities and equipment

similar to a call-center setup.

Ramping up the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit monitoring for Covid-19 contacts, the local government deployed 100 contact tracers, data encoders and disease surveillance officers—running a 24/7 shift of intensified contact tracing in the locality.

The MCTC is “contactless” as

contact tracers are in-charge of all incoming and outgoing calls and queries through e-mail, as well as getting all the substantial information on the contact person’s exposure, including the number of their household members.

Prior to their deployment, the Valenzuela City Health Office trained and oriented all the contact tracers

and data encoders to ensure that they will practice the “credo” of a Valenzuelano Contact Tracer, including proper guidelines on notification of exposure, verification, confidentiality and privacy and being sympathetic at all times.

“This job needs emotion for you to be able to get the right information from the patients. Think of the

patient as your family member. You should treat your patient as you want to be treated,” Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian said in Filipino.

Outside the MCTC, registered nurses, as disease surveillance officers, will be assigned on field work assisting and endorsing patients who need hospital referral.

On the other hand, rescue teams for

extraction of Covid-19 positive cases and active Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams will support the contact tracing and monitoring of the city on the barangay level.

Meanwhile, a separate team of swab test schedulers and doctors still stationed at the Valenzuela City ALERT Center are also integrated into the hub’s daily operations.

A4 Wednesday, August 19, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Lawmaker to Meralco and ERC: Enforce equitable billing scheme

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE vice chairman of the House Committee on Energy on Tuesday called on the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to implement an equitable billing scheme to secure fair and more accurate representation of consumers’ consumption and charges.

Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said his call for the implementation of an equitable billing scheme aims to address consumers’ concerns regarding power bills during lockdown months.

“Without actual meter readings, the distribution utilities were given an ERC directive to make estimated readings based on historical consumption. Naturally with more people at home, there will be bill shocks especially when the actual readings come in,” said Nograles after House Committee on Energy called on the Meralco, ERC and other industry players to explain the sudden upsurge of bills during

the lockdown months of March, April and May when meter reading activities were discontinued.

Under this equitable billing framework, customers’ total consumption from March, April to May 2020 will be prorated to compute for the average consumption for three months. Thereafter, the corresponding ERC-approved charges for the particular month will be applied.

The result will be the final amount due for the months of March 2020/ April 2020 to May 2020.

Moreover, Nograles said the committee’s recent hearing revealed that Meralco and other distribution utilities in the country utilized an existing ERC framework on estimating bills.

W hen quarantine measures eased and meters were finally read, the lawmaker said Meralco and other utilities recorded and aggregated two to three months of customers’ actual consumption, and all were billed in one month.

According to Nograles, noting that electricity rate per kilowatthour (kWh) adjusts per month, and

that there will be pricing differences when two or three months’ worth of electricity consumption were merged into just one month.

To resolve such a scenario, Nograles suggested that ERC should address the gap on the principle of estimation based on the three months’ average kWh consumption, by considering the price per kWh. “I proposed that equitable [billing] to be fair to all. I have invited the public to send their questions on their bills via e-mailed billing statements and, so far, things look in order. If there was anything to improve, it should have been a more equitable estimated billing spread across the days between two actual readings, and junk estimated billing,” he said.

Meralco has immediately implemented the equitable billing scheme for customers who had their meters read and received their bills in June.

For the customers who already received their lockdown months’ bill in May, the adjustments, whether upward or downward, resulting from the proration, will be reflected

in the August 2020 bill.

The power distribution firm also announced that this month’s electricity rate of P8.4911 per kWh is the lowest in three years, or since September 2017. This is triggered by the P0.2055 per kWh decrease in August 2020 vis-à-vis previous month, resulting to monthly savings of P41 to P103. This is the fourth consecutive month that Meralco rates have decreased.

Earlier, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano welcomed the reduction of electricity rates by Meralco this August, expressing gratitude to the company for heeding the call of the House to find ways to cushion high electricity rates.

Cayetano had earlier appealed to Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Senior Vice President Atty.

William Pamintuan to look into the possibility of giving a 50-percent discount to “at least the sectors that need it most,” or delaying the payment of electricity bills.

Cayetano also said the ERC has an important role to play in lowering electricity rates.

Group asks SRA to maintain status quo on sugar allocation

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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SUGAR industry group is urging the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to maintain the status quo on the country’s sugar allocation for the upcoming crop year 2020-2021 to allow the industry to have two markets amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a news statement issued on Tuesday, Asociacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. (AALCPI) President Roberto Cuenca said they are recommending to SRA to allocate 95 percent of total sugar output in the next crop year for the domestic market and the remaining 5 percent for the US market.

The SRA is expected to issue a Sugar Order No. 1 ahead of the beginning of crop year 2020-2021 on September 1.

“The said percentage classification takes into consideration the present situation and the balance

between ensuring sufficient domestic supply, while maintaining the status quo of a readily available export market to the United States,” Cuenca said.

“Although we like to have an all-B classification, we cannot be assured of the demand in these times and so we have to maintain the balance, Cuenca added.

Sugar industry players and experts have noted that the lockdowns and shutdown of the hospital, restaurant and industrial (HRI) sector resulted in a loss of a major domestic market for sugar producers.

Furthermore, Cuenca said the A sugar quota for the next crop year should be “without replenishment rights,” unlike what happened in the current crop year 2019-2020 wherein the SRA approved the importation of sugar as replacement for the US quota to address the gap in domestic supply.

“The SRA should be on top of the situation and make sure they have

Courts under GCQ must reopen Aug. 19­—SC continued from a8 “The Chiefs of the different Offices and Services, who shall be in-court, shall ensure that every court personnel is assigned certain tasks to effectively and efficiently implement their respective offices’ mandates even if they are working from home,” it added.

CJ Peralta said all hearings in both criminal and civil cases pending before trial courts will have to be fullyconducted in court, except when a person deprived of liberty (PDL) is involved, or under exceptional circumstances where fully-remote videoconferencing hearings may be conducted with prior approval from the Office of the Court Administrator.

He also directed trial courts to maintain a not less than 50 percent skeleton-staff.

On the other hand, night courts and Saturday courts would remain suspended until further notice.

The courts may still be reached through their respective hotline numbers, e-mail addresses and/or Facebook accounts as posted on the web site of the Supreme Court.

Hearings at the Court of Appeals (CA), Sandiganbayan, and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), according to Peralta, will be fully conducted incourt except under exceptional circumstances where at least one Justice may join remotely through videoconferencing with prior approval from the Presiding Justice, and subsequent submission of a weekly report to the Office of the Chief Justice.

They may continue to receive petitions and pleadings electronically.

Peralta also mandated the physical opening of all offices and services in the CA, CTA and Sandiganbayan with skeleton-staff of not less than 50 percent.

enough and accurate data to determine if that classification is viable as we forge into the milling season,” he added.

The Philippines again obtained the same sugar quota from the United States under a preferential trade scheme for fiscal year (FY) 2021, which will kick off in October.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) recently announced the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocations for the next FY. The Philippines was given a sugar quota of 142,160 metric tons raw value (MTRV), or 136,201 MT commercial weight, for FY 2021, which starts this October and ends on September 30, 2021.

“These allocations are based on each country’s historical shipments to the United States,” the USTR said in a news statement issued on July 22.

This is the fourth consecutive FY that the US allocated a sugar quota to the Philippines at 142,160 MTRV. Countries authorized by the US to

export sugar under the TRQ scheme may do so at lower duties.

The Philippines was given the third-largest allocation of the total 1.117 million MTRV in-quota quantity of the TRQ, next to the Dominican Republic and Brazil, which received 185,335 MTRV and 152,691 MTRV, respectively.

After a two-year slump, the country’s sugar production in the current crop year 2019-2020 is poised for recovery, latest data from the SRA showed.

Preliminary SRA data as of July 7 has reached 2.145 million metric tons, 3.54 percent over the 2.072 MMT recorded in the same period of last year.

The volume was equivalent to 42.913 million 50-kilogram bags of raw sugar, compared to the 41.447 million LKg produced last year, SRA data showed.

This is now the highest sugar output in three crop years since the record-high 2.5 MMT was recorded in calendar year 2016-2017.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A million plus young workers in PHL, AsPac risk losing jobs–report

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

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VER a million young workers are at risk of losing their jobs this year due to the pandemic, according to a report released

by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

In the report “Tackling the Covid-19 Youth Employment Crisis in Asia and the Pacific,” ADB and ILO estimated that a containment period of six months could render 1.019 million youth workers jobless this year. This will lead youth unemployment rates to surge to 19.5 percent in 2020 from 6.8 percent in 2019.

Under another estimate, where there is a short period containment of three months, a total of 687,000 youth workers could be rendered unemployed. This will result in a youth unemployment rate of 15.1 percent in 2020 from 6.8 percent in 2019.

“The projected rise in youth unemployment rates varies considerably across the 13 countries but increases are expected for all countries. In Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand, youth unemployment rates are expected to reach at least double the 2019 estimates, even in a scenario of short Covid-19 containment,” ADB and ILO said.

The report stated that job loss among the youth could double to between 10 million and 15 million across 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific in 2020.

ADB and ILO said the estimates are based on the expected fall in output and consequent decrease in labor demand for the year relative to a non-Covid-19 scenario.

T he repor t noted that in the Philippines, the pandemic a lso caused three quar ters of compa n ies to d iscont inue wages a nd st ipend s to apprent ices and inter ns.

“The biggest challenges that firms cited as preventing continued apprenticeships and internships were [1] difficulties in delivering hands-on training, [2] infrastructure issues [in both countries], [3] limited digital literacy of users [in India] and [4] cost [in the Philip-

Duque: No ₧154-B loss from fraud in PhilHealth continued from a8 At Tuesday’s resumption of the Senate inquiry, Lacson confronted the PhilHealth SVP with official documents. “I am going to show you a memorandum signed by PCEO [Ricardo] Morales dated August 7, four days before Mr. Limsiaco patently lied before this committee, when he testified under oath he was not aware of PhilHealth’s obligation as a withholding tax agent.”

Lacson noted that “based on the said Memorandum of PCEO Morales, nakapag-remita na ng 2 percent expanded withholding tax [EWT] ang PhilHealth sa BIR Pasig RDO 043 noong ika-3 ng Agosto. At galing daw ang buwis na ito sa na-release na pondo ng IRM sa HCIs [health-care institutions] hanggang July 31, 2020 na ang kabuuang halaga ay P156,738,887.”

The senator said this showed that apart from the estimated P156billion IRM releases, “pinag-abono pa nila ang PhilHealth mula sa benefit claims ng kanilang Corporate Operating Budget [COB] na kanilang ipinangbayad ng buwis na dapat ay pinapataw na bago pa lamang i-release ang pondo ng IRM sa mga health-care institutions. PAMI ang tawag dito.”

Moreover, Lacson noted that the same memorandum also “instructed RVPs to issue BIR Form 2307” or “Certificate of Creditable

Tax Withheld At Source” to the HCIs” even though the hospitals had not yet paid this and it’s still subject to liquidation.

“As a reminder,” the senator noted, the BIR Form 2307 is issued as proof of payment of expanded withholding taxes of a hospital for their IRM advanced payments received, noting: “iniisyu bilang katibayan na nakapagbayad na ng expanded withholding taxes ang isang ospital para sa kanilang IRM advance payment na tinanggap.”

He added, in a mix of English and Filipino, that, “if we follow the argument of SVP Limsiaco no tax was collected from the hospital “isn’t that besides lying, he and General Morales even instructed the RVPs [regional vice presidents] to commit the crime of Falsification of Public Documents?”

Lacson recalled that “not surprisingly,” Senate probers have “observed the same pattern of preferential treatment or favoritism to certain HCIs in some regions. Of particular concerns are the implementation of IRMs in Regions 6 and 8, probably another smoking gun that will be revealed later in today’s hearing.”

Lacson said another “blatant lie and attempt to mislead” probers was the testimony at the Senate hearing

last week by IT chief Jovita Aragona and Mr. Calixto Gabuya, who “kept insisting that the grossly overpriced network switch that they purchased amounting to P348,000 each was the Cisco 2960XR 24 Port.”

Lacson said last week’s hearing had “opened a can of worms” in the case of dialysis centers favored with prompt release of IRM funds, particularly B Braun Avitum, five branches of which got P45.17 million.

Lacson said that from 2015 to 2018 alone, P811 million in PhilHealth funds had gone to B. Braun Avitum “But that is just half of the story. In 2018 one QC branch of B. Braun Avitum posted a 133.78 percent performance in sessions-to-capacity ratio of their 15 dialysis machines. This, even though threshold capacity—or 72 sessions per month, per PhilHealth—is limited to 90 percent. This means, they had impossible dialysis sessions that reached 4,378.”

The senator clarified the committee is doing an accounting “for the number of these cases” to verify the number of cases the committee will endorse for filing cases against those involved. They are eyeing charges of malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents, among others. Butch Fernandez, Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

pines],” the report stated.

ADB and ILO also expressed concern that young workers in the Philippines, where at least 9 percent were on their first jobs, could face lack of job tenure due to the pandemic.

This, they said, would lead to youth unemployment rates to surpass that of adult unemployment rates, said to be common during times of economic contraction.

The report stated that in the Philippines, three of the four main sectors where youth found work were in the high-impact category such as wholesale and retail trade, representing 23 percent of young workers.

These workers can also be found in accommodation and food services at 11 percent and manufacturing at 10 percent. The report stated that generally, manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade accounted for larger shares of new opportunities for young women than for young men.

In order to help these young workers, ADB and ILO recommended that governments include the youth in wider labor market and economic recovery measures and implement youthtargeted interventions to maximize efficiency in the allocation of resources.

“Policy measures are urgently required to tackle the youth employment crisis in Asia and the Pacific and recover lost ground on inclusive growth and sustainable development,” ADB and ILO said.

These support measures, ADB and ILO said, include providing youth-targeted wage subsidies and public employment programs and expanding job information and employment services targeted to young jobseekers.

This includes supporting apprenticeship programs and focusing on demand-driven skills development and increasing funds for upskilling and reskilling, especially in growth sectors.

ADB and ILO also recommended investing in digital inclusion for equitable access to education, training and entrepreneurship and supporting young entrepreneurs through access to capital combined w ith non-f inancia l services.

T-bill rates post mixed results ahead of BSP policy meeting

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HE Bureau of the Treasury fully awarded P15 billion in 35-day Treasury bills (T-bills) as the average rate inched up ahead of the Monetary Board policy meeting on Thursday.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said there was still “good demand” as P118 billion in debt papers are set to mature.

The auction was nearly twice oversubscribed as tenders reached P29.313 billion, way above the P15-billion offer.

“Rates flat as market sees BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] decision is to hold [rates],” de Leon said.

The Treasury also decided not to open the tap facility auction for this tenor. The 35-day security fetched an average rate of 1.163 percent, 0.6 basis points higher than 1.157 percent in the previous auction.

For this week, the Treasury has raised over P35 billion.

On Monday, the Treasury sold P20 billion in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills and awarded an additional P900 million in 364-day debt papers through the tap facility auction.

For this month, the Treasury has programmed to borrow P170 billion from the local debt market.

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

The DBCC also expects the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio this year to increase to 53.91 percent of GDP from a record-low of 39.6 percent of GDP last year.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

HK chief Carrie Lam has credit card trouble after US sanctions

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ong Kong’s leader said she’s having trouble using her credit cards after the US imposed sanctions targeting Chinese officials and their allies in the city.

“As for myself, of course it will have a little bit of inconvenience here and there, because we have to use some financial services and we don’t know whether that will relate back to an agency that has some American business—and the use of credit cards is sort of hampered,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN posted late Monday. “But those are really meaningless as far as I’m concerned.”

Lam was one of 11 officials sanctioned earlier this month

by President Donald Trump for their roles in curtailing political freedoms in Hong Kong, amid the implementation of new national security legislation imposed on the city by China in June.

Lam said at a weekly briefing on Tuesday that US sanctions against her—and broader retaliation from the Trump administration against Hong Kong—are “totally unjustified.” She said her inability to visit the US wouldn’t impede Hong Kong’s efforts to advertise itself as a base for American firms, and said her administration was considering contesting the measures at the World Trade Organization.

“Despite some inconvenience in my personal affairs, that is nothing that I will take to heart at all,” Lam said at the press conference, before a meeting of her advisory Executive Council. “We will continue to do what is right for the country and for Hong Kong.”

Spokespeople for Visa and Mastercard didn’t immediately reply to messages requesting comment outside of business hours.

China’s largest state-run banks operating in Hong Kong are taking tentative steps to comply with US sanctions imposed on officials in the city, Bloomberg reported last week, as they seek to safeguard

Lebanese customs chief arrested over Beirut blast

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EIRUT—The head of Lebanon’s customs authority was formally arrested on Monday after being questioned over the massive explosion in Beirut earlier this month, the staterun National News Agency reported.

The investigation is focused on why nearly 3,000 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate was being stored at the city’s port. The ignition of the stockpile caused an explosion that tore through the capital, killing at least 180 people and wounding 6,000.

Thirty people are still missing after the Aug. 4 blast, which caused an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion in damage.

More than 70,000 workers are believed to be unemployed due to the explosions, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday, on top of 220,000 people estimated to have lost their jobs as a result of the financial crisis that began in October last year and those left jobless by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dujarric said some 40,000 buildings were damaged, with 3,000 residential structures severely damaged, and at least 2,000 doctors were either injured or had their clinics destroyed.

Documents that surfaced after the blast, the single most destructive in Lebanon’s history, showed that officials have known for years that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were stored in a warehouse at the port and knew about the dangers.

Judge Fadi Sawwan questioned customs chief Badri Daher, who was detained days after the blast, for 4 1/2 hours in the presence of his two lawyers before issuing the arrest warrant, the agency said. Daher will remain in custody as the investigation continues.

NNA said that after questioning Daher, Sawwan headed to the scene of the blast to survey the damage and will later return to question Hassan Koraytem, who was the top port official until the day of the blast.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the probe into the devastating blast is “very complex” and would not be finished quickly. Aoun said the probe is divided into three parts. The first aims to determine the circumstances surrounding the cargo, the second where it came from and who shipped it, and the third to find who was responsible for handling and securing it. AP

their access to crucial dollar funding and overseas networks. Major lenders with operations in the US including Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., and China Merchants Bank Co. have turned cautious on opening new accounts for the 11 sanctioned officials, people familiar said.

Virus control

Lam said Tuesday that she would announce a third round of viruscontrol measures. She didn’t give a time frame, but said authorities would sort out the details quickly.

“There are still infected people in the community, so we must not let down our guard,” she said.

Hong Kong has extended all existing Covid-19 related social distancing measures for a week— to August 25—as it continues to battle a new wave of cases. There was still no sign of a steadily decreasing trend in new infections, Lam said, adding that she was still concerned that there are many silent carriers in the community.

Lam also said she would give her annual policy address on Oct. 14.

Tuesday’s briefing followed the Executive Council’s summer recess and was the first time she has faced local media since the arrest last Monday of media tycoon Jimmy Lai under the national security legislation. She declined to comment on Lai’s arrest when asked by reporters.

Lam is one of the most visible Chinese leaders in the struggle over Hong Kong’s future. Her attempt last year to pass a bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland prompted months of pro-democracy protests, and she’s defended Beijing’s legal right to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature and implement the security law.

The national security measures have fueled concerns about the state of Hong Kong’s autonomy from China, including freedoms of the press and the independence of its judicial system. Both have helped underpin Hong Kong’s reputation as a global financial hub. Bloomberg News

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he Commerce Department announced further restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co. aimed at cutting the Chinese company’s access to commercially available chips, the latest move in an increasingly tense relationship between the world’s two biggest economies.

The changes, which the department announced in a written statement on Monday, build on restrictions announced in May, adding 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to an economic blacklist as the US seeks to limit adoption of the company’s 5G technology.

“We don’t want their equipment in the United States because they spy on us,” President Donald Trump said on Monday in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”

The move is the latest tit-fortat in escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing over everything from the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic to China’s increasingly tight grip over Hong Kong. Despite the US decision, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Fox Business that talks with China continue on various levels.

The restrictions are likely to further hit both Huawei’s 5G base stations and smartphone businesses because it relies heavily on foreign chips to make those, further denting China’s ambition to play a key role in global rollout of 5G technology. Huawei’s stockpiles of certain self-designed chips essential to telecom equipment will run out by early 2021.

Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB stand to benefit from Huawei’s further faltering in its 5G prowess,

while domestic smartphone rivals including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are likely to get a bigger pie of the Chinese market.

Ross said the action was aimed at closing loopholes the company explored after previous US actions. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo praised the move as a “direct blow” against the Chinese Communist Party.

Shares of Huawei suppliers dropped sharply in Taiwan on Tuesday morning after the US announced the new curbs.

A Huawei spokesperson said Tuesday that the company was still reviewing the impact internally and that it had no immediate comment. China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment sent via WeChat.

Huawei has long rejected accusations that its technology can be used to spy on foreign nations or companies.

All chip companies working for Huawei, no matter where they are, will be subject to licenses, a Commercial official said, adding that even foreign companies will be affected as long as they use US design software and equipment.

That means major Asian and European chip companies such as MediaTek Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., NXP Semiconductors

Freeland would be considered favorites to replace Morneau but two senior government officials told The Associated Press that Carney is not a potential candidate to replace him. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. One of the officials confirmed Carney has been informally speaking with the prime minister for some time.

Carney was the first non-Briton to take the top job at the 325-year-old Bank of England.

Opposition parties have been calling for Morneau’s resignation over allegations that he had a conflict of interest in a controversy with WE Charity, a scandal that has also touched Trudeau.

Trudeau has said he should have recused himself from a Cabinet decision to award a contract to We Charity to administer money to students having trouble finding work due to the pandemic.

The almost billion-dollar program came under scrutiny after it was revealed that We Charity, an organization Trudeau’s family has worked for, was chosen to administer it. Trudeau’s wife, brother and mother have been paid a combined $300,000 Canadian ($221,000) for speaking at a number of WE events.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said Morneau’s resignation is not a surprise and noted he too had a conflict of interest with the charity.

“By firing Morneau, Trudeau is hoping to take the attention off himself,” Wiseman said. “Once the government announced that Carney was ‘advising’ Trudeau, that signaled that Morneau would soon be gone.”

Wiseman said Morneau is the sacrificial lamb in the We Charity affair.

“I don’t think the departure was a product of policy differences, although the prime minister’s office would like to make it so appear,” he said.

“Morneau’s departure is a direct consequence of his association with the WE charity, with him and his family having received free trips to Kenya and Ecuador and his daughter’s employment with WE in flagrant violation of the Conflict of Interest law.”

Morneau has been Trudeau’s finance minister since the prime minister took office in 2015. He is the former head of Canada’s largest human resources firm, Morneau Shepell.

Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s former principal secretary, noted recent leaked reports of acrimony between Trudeau and Morneau and said in a Twitter message earlier on Monday to knock it off.

“Liberals are more lethal to Liberals than any competing partisans,” Butts tweeted. “Canadians have little patience for this stuff in the best of times, and these are not those. Friendly advice to former colleagues: knock it off, unless you missing losing.” AP

German minister in Tripoli to press for end to Libyan war

B

ERLIN—German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made an unannounced visit to Tripoli on Monday, saying that the world must not be lulled into inaction by the “deceptive calm” in Libya and should find a way to end the conflict.

Maas said he would meet with officials in the UN-recognized administration in the capital to “talk about ways out of this very dangerous situation” where both sides in the bloody civil war are being armed by international allies.

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATObacked uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based

A5

US bares new curbs on Huawei to broaden economic blacklist

Canada’s finance minister steps down amid pandemic O R O N TO — Ca n a d a’s f i n a n c e m i n i s t e r announced his resignation on Monday amid reports of differences with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over government spending to protect the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bill Morneau said he is leaving politics and has put his name forward as a candidate to lead the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Trudeau thanked Morneau for his five years as finance minister and said in a statement that “Canada will vigorously support his bid to lead” the OECD. Morneau and Trudeau have reportedly butted heads amid spending to backstop the pandemichammered economy. Morneau said he was not asked to resign but added that he is no longer the appropriate person for the job.

Canada’s government is predicting a historic CDN$343 billion ($260 billion) deficit for 20202021 resulting from its economic and stimulus plans to battle the impact of Covid-19. Trudeau has called the spending a lifeline to Canadians battling to stay afloat.

Recent news that Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, has been advising Trudeau during the pandemic fueled speculation that Morneau might be replaced.

Carney and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

Military commander Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled army launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture Tripoli. But his campaign collapsed in June when the Tripoli-allied militias, with Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of Tripoli and other western towns.

Hifter is supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Turkey, a bitter rival of Egypt and the UAE in a broader regional struggle over political Islam, is the main patron of the Tripoli forces, which are also backed by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.

Germany has been trying to act as an intermediary,

and in January held a summit in Berlin where participants from both sides agreed to respect an arms embargo and push Libya’s warring parties to reach a full cease-fire, but the agreement has been repeatedly violated.

Earlier this month, the US said it was “deeply troubled by the escalating conflict in Libya” and “strongly opposes foreign military involvement, including the use of mercenaries and private military contractors, by all sides.”

The White House called for a demilitarized zone around Sirte to avoid a battle over the coastal city that was once a stronghold for Islamic State militants. AP

NV, and STMicroelectronics NV may need a license to continue shipping to Huawei, though the official declined to name any specific company.

There are few semiconductor companies in the world, including those in China, that do not rely on software from US-based Synopsys Inc. and Cadence Design Systems Inc. to create blueprints for chips.

Many companies that make physical chips, including China’s own Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., use equipment from US-based Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp.

‘Significant disruption’

Among Synopsys and Cadence’s customers, Taiwan’s MediaTek has become a main chip provider to Huawei after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it will no longer ship chips to the Chinese company after Sept. 15. That’s due to the US’s export-control rules added in May, which forbade companies from making chips based on Huawei’s design using American equipment.

John Neuffer, the president and chief executive officer of the US’s Semiconductor Industry Association, said the rule “will

bring significant disruption” to the sector.

“We are surprised and concerned by the administration’s sudden shift from its prior support of a more narrow approach intended to achieve stated national-security goals while limiting harm to US companies,” Neuffer said in a statement. “We reiterate our view that sales of nonsensitive, commercial products to China drive semiconductor research and innovation here in the US, which is critical to America’s economic strength and national security.”

The latest US restrictions on Huawei are negative for European chipmakers, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts said in a note, adding that a key risk for firms such as STMicroelectronics, AMS AG and Dialog Semiconductor PLC is Chinese retaliatory restrictions on major customer Apple Inc. Additionally, assemblers that incorporate Huawei or third-party chips into their devices for the benefit of Huawei will also need to apply for a license, according to the Commerce official. That means Huawei smartphones assemblers, including Hong Kong-listed Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Ltd., may be restricted by the new rules.

Bloomberg News

A6 Wednesday, August 19, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Finding ways to link farmers to markets

T

he enhanced community quarantine restricted mobility and made it difficult for some of the country’s food producers to deliver food to markets, particularly in urban areas. Aside from the loss incurred by these food producers, they were also forced to dump unsold farm products. The landfills are the final destinations of the unsold food crops, which should have been delivered to consumers or used as raw material to make other products.

While the crops are considered organic waste, they also contribute to methane emissions. Wasted food takes up space in landfills and contributes to greenhouse gases. Food that fails to find its way into the supply chain gives us a double whammy: income losses for farmers and increased pollution.

A start-up in San Francisco, California has found a way to reduce food waste, which also helps cut methane emissions. In a Bloomberg report, Full Harvest was able to help farmers find consumers for produce that buyers no longer wanted. Through its efforts, nonprofit organizations in the United States were able to deliver some 50,000 food boxes to food insecure families in Oakland, California and New York.

The company works with local farms where it sources vegetables and other unwanted crops that it includes in boxes for food insecure families. One nonprofit organization hired jobless people to put the farm goods into individual boxes. The project has prompted observers to call for the grant of incentives to farmers or transport companies that will deliver food to consumers who need it, instead of letting the product end up in dumpsites or landfills.

The Philippines can take a cue from this American company and the coronavirus-relief program for farmers and ranchers announced

by Washington in April. Part of the funds for the program will be used to purchase food from American producers so it could go to charitable organizations instead of getting dumped. These food items can then be distributed to families that are in dire need of assistance.

The government can explore this initiative as a way of assisting Filipinos who lost their jobs and could no longer afford to buy nutritious food like vegetables and poultry products. Government data indicated that some 5 million Filipino workers became jobless in April as companies had to shutter their operations while many areas of the country were under lockdown. These workers spent more than a third of their income on food items prior to the pandemic, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The Department of Agriculture’s program of linking farmers to markets is a good first step, and the lessons learned by the agency in implementing its direct marketing program could be adopted in tailoring a food assistance program similar to the Full Harvest project. This is also a good time for the government to reimagine the agricultural supply chain, using the Full Harvest project as one of its sources of inspiration. Reforms that the government will introduce should be able to help the country and its food producers survive a pandemic similar to Covid-19 and other disruptions, such as natural disasters. In a country where many people are hungry, it’s a crime to let perfectly edible farm products go to waste.

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All About Social Security

I

T is a common perception among Filipinos that overseas employment is the best route out of poverty because one can earn more money, which enables one to save or buy properties. On top of this, overseas workers are in a better position to provide quality education to their children. Since the 1970s, we have witnessed the rising number of Filipinos seeking overseas jobs, whether professionals or skilled workers. They are taking their chances to work abroad to give their families a better life.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that about 10 million Filipinos live overseas, and around 1 million leave the country every year to find greener pastures in foreign territories. It is also noteworthy to mention that OFW remittances have helped bolster the Philippine economy with total remittances of P211.9 billion from April to September 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

SSS is aware of our modern-day heroes’ sacrifices in their desire to earn more and provide comfortable lives to their families. This is the reason why they make the difficult decision to be apart from their loved ones for years.

Aware of their sacrifices, the SSS wanted to provide a lifeline for them in times of contingencies brought about by sickness, disability, retirement, death, or unemployment.

That’s why in June 1995, SSS started the coverage of OFWs. All they need to do is to contribute part of their hard-earned money to the pension fund to avail themselves of these benefits.

In response to the growing number of our OFWs, the SSS strategically established its Foreign Representative Offices in territories with a high concentration of OFWs. These offices serve as our channel in providing every Filipino, including those working

and living abroad, access to social security benefits in addition to what they are receiving in the countries they are currently or permanently residing.

The SSS Foreign Representative Offices act as our overseas branches that attend to our current and prospective members’ needs. Notwithstanding the present pandemic situation, these offices are continuously providing through appointment system such services as: 1. Member Data Change Request.

2. Receipt of filing of benefit claim applications such as sickness, maternity, disability, death, and retirement claims.

3. Flexi-fund withdrawal.

4. UMID data capture and card release.

5. Annual Confirmation of Pensioner (ACOP).

Meanwhile, filing of loan applications and other benefit programs such as unemployment and retirement, among others, can now be accessed online through My.SSS portal in the SSS web site.

The SSS established its first Foreign Representative Office in Hong Kong in 1998. Since then, it has successfully set up other offices around the globe. Currently, there are 28 Foreign Representative Offices in 19 countries. In Asia, we have offices in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan (Taipei and Kaohsiung),

Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore, while SSS has established its representative offices in the Middle East in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Israel. In North America, SSS has established offices in Canada (Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver), and USA (Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco). In Europe, SSS offices are located in Italy (Rome and Milan), and in the United Kingdom (London). Soon, SSS will formally open its doors in Madrid, Spain, hopefully before the end of the year.

SSS Foreign Representative Offices are mostly situated at the Philippine Embassies, Consulates, or Overseas Labor Offices where our own personnel are equipped to handle any SSS transaction and inquiries similar to the services being offered by our local branches.

Fulfilling our mandate in the last 62 years, we look forward to serving more OFW members. As always, the SSS assures them of social security protection and benefits in times of need.

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

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

Anita Linda, the ‘Pambansang Lola’ and memories of Alhambra

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Aurora C. Ignacio

Lourdes M. Fernandez

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

SSS Foreign Representative Offices: Servicing OFWs worldwide

Dennis Gorecho

Kuwentong kule

T

he late actress Anita Linda should have been called the “Pambansang Lola” who gained critical acclaim for her portrayals in maternal or elderly roles.

Born Alice Bueñaflor Lake on November 23, 1924, her movie career spanned seven decades until her demise at the age of 95 on June 10, 2020.

This year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival paid tribute to Anita Linda through the online screenings of two of her films, Adela and Circa.

At the age of 74, she became the oldest actress to ever win a FAMAS award in 1998, when she was named Best Supporting Actress for Ang Babae sa Bubungang Lata.

At age 83, she was named Best Actress in the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival in 2008 for her portrayal of the main character

in Adela. It is a heart-breaking story of a woman who longs for the company of her loved ones. Her children all fail to show up and greet her on her 80th birthday, prompting her to spend the day alone in Freedom Island, a bird sanctuary where mangroves are abundant.

At age 84, she tied with Rustica Carpio for Best Actress in the 33rd Gawad Urian for the 2009 movie Lola.

Driven by selfless love, Lola tells the parallel stories of two elderly women who scrape the bottom of the barrel to raise funds for their respective grandsons.

In her last film Circa, which was

shot and released in 2019, Anita portrays Doña Atang, a once celebrated film producer from the earlier years of Filipino cinema. To celebrate her 100th birthday, she simply wants a reunion with all the actors and staff that she has worked with in the past. The preparation showed the glorious years of cinema from its workers—fragments of a colorful past filled with faded memories.

Whenever I watch Anita Linda on TV and the big screen, I miss my Lola Maria.

I belong to the 45 grandchildren of Damaso Reyes and Maria Santos.

I never met my lolo who died before I was born, but his absence was greatly compensated by the love and caring that Lola Maria has given to her grandchildren. Their 10 children followed the proverbial phrase “go forth and multiply”—thus out we came, the 45 grandchildren.

One of my vivid recollections of Lola Maria was her habit of inverted smoking of the Alhambra cigar—the lighted end was inside her mouth.

It is amazing to see old women, particularly women from the provinces, having the capability of oddly

smoking this cigar with the lighted end inside their mouth.

Years before she died in the 1980s. I asked her why her mouth served as an ashtray.

My lola said that the burning sensation in her mouth adds stimulation in the rather monotonous act of smoking.

With the lit cigar in her mouth, my lola could even roll her tongue and still talk at length only to stop to spit the ash from her mouth.

One urban legend was that this practice started during the Japanese war era when many Filipinos went into hiding.

The only way the people could smoke without being discovered from their hiding places was to put the lighted end of the cigarette in their mouth.

The Spaniards earlier introduced tobacco when they colonized the Philippines.

T he cigar t y pe cigarettes were blends of dark, air-cured Philippine tobaccos principally sourced from the Cagayan and Isabela provinces where the stronger flavor See “Gorecho,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Who are the real-life heroes in the time of Covid-19?

Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Atty. Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM

By Gustavo Gonzalez

O

N World Humanitarian Day (WHD), August 19, we celebrate and honor frontline workers, who, despite the risks, continue to provide life-saving support and protection to people most in need. On this day, we also commemorate humanitarians killed, harassed, and injured while performing their duty.

This year’s theme is “Real-Life Heroes.”

But, what does it mean to be a hero? What does it take to help those in need, the poor and at-risk communities, those who are most vulnerable when a disaster strikes?

Why should we hold up as heroic the deeds of those who everyday continue to extend a helping hand?

As I write this, I am mourning the death of a UN colleague. He died last Friday, struck down by Covid-19, at the age of 32. As a team member of the UN’s Migration Agency, he showed exemplary dedication and commitment to the situation of migrants amid this pandemic.

He was a true frontline hero, and he is not alone.

In these extraordinary times, and despite the very real danger to themselves, Filipino front line workers, like my fallen colleague, everyday put their own safety and well-being aside to provide lifesaving support and protection to people most in need.

In the Philippines, every day since the beginning of the year, humanitarian workers have stood on the frontlines dealing with the challenges arising from Covid-19 and other disaster events, like the displacement from the Taal Volcano eruption, the damage wrought by Typhoon Ambo, as well as continuing relief efforts in Marawi City and responding to those affected by the Cotabato and Davao Del Sur earthquakes. Despite the many risks, humanitarians continue to do their work, diligently and selflessly providing assistance to those who need it most.

Through years of responding to various emergencies and capitalizing on national expertise and capacity, the humanitarian community in the country has embraced a truly localized approach by recognizing what at-risk communities themselves can do in these challenging times. The private sector in the Philippines has also stepped up in sharing its resources and capabilities, joining with other humanitarian actors to support affected local governments and communities.

As we give recognition to local real-life heroes, we also need to protect and keep them free from harassment, threats, intimidation and violence. Since 2003, some 4,961 humanitarians around the world have been killed, wounded or

Gorecho. . .

continued from A6

tobacco was harvested.

These were more commonly called as the Regaliz type of cigarettes, which were wrapped in dark brown sweetened paper imported from France.

The tobacco industry created a demand for female labor called “kahistas,” eventually making their work in the factory ranked first among the occupations of women in the Philippines.

The packing process was done by the scoop of the kahista’s hand as mold in bundling the sticks in 30s and hand-packed them in swift and continuous motion.

The cigarettes were sold under popular brands like La Campana Largos, Ms. Philippines Fat, Ms. Philippines Thin, La Flor de Filipinas Fat, La Flor de Filipinas Thin, Marka Niyog Fat, Marka Niyog Thin, Malaya Largos, La Dicha, and La Flor de Luzon. I just remembered one brand used by lola: Alhambra.

I recently watched the K-drama

abducted while carrying out their life-saving duties. In 2019 alone, the World Health Organization reported 1,009 attacks against healthcare workers and facilities, resulting in 199 deaths and 628 injuries.

The Covid-19 pandemic has unveiled an important number of vulnerabilities as well as exposed our weaknesses in preventing shocks.

It has also shown that the magnitude of the challenge is exceeding the response capacity of any single partner or country. It represents, in fact, one of the most dramatic calls to work together. The success of this battle will greatly rely on our capacity to learn from experience and remain committed to the highest humanitarian values. Our real-life heroes are already giving the example.

On August 4, a revised version of the largest international humanitarian response plan in the country since Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 was released by the United Nations and humanitarian partners in the Philippines. Some 50 country-based UN and non-governmental partners are contributing to the response, bringing together national and international NGOs, faith-based organizations as well as the private sector.

Covid-19 might be today’s supervillain, but it does not deter our real-life heroes from doing their job and tirelessly working to find ways to combat the threat and eventually beat the invisible nemesis. We mourn the thousands who have lost their lives to the virus across the globe, including my colleague whom I have spoken of.

At the same time, we join Filipinos in upholding—in the midst of great adversity—the tradition of celebrating the best of human kindness, generosity, social justice, human rights, solidarity and Bayanihan spirit. We celebrate what makes our front liners and humanitarian real-life heroes. We salute them for continuously putting their lives on the line, despite the risks and uncertainties. Their efforts must not be overlooked or forgotten.

Mabuhay ang Real-life Heroes!

Happy World Humanitarian Day! Gustavo Gonzalez is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines.

“Memories of the Alhambra” which touches on a series of mysterious incidents surrounding a new and intricate augmented reality game inspired by the stories of the A lhambra Palace in Spain.

One landmark intellectual property case was decided in 1916 by the Supreme Court involving the mark “Alhambra Isabelas” wherein it was held that the name “Isabela” was a geographical and descriptive term and incapable of registration as a trademark. A manufacturer cannot be enjoined from using the word “Isabelas” on similar packages sold by it, the term “Isabela” being the name of the province where the tobacco used in making cigarettes of this quality had been grown.

As there are few left who belong to my lola’s generation, the tradition of inverted smoking is also slowly fading into oblivion.

Kule is the monicker of Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP Diliman.

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

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 A7

D

irectors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O) is a liability insurance that covers “individual directors and officers (D&Os), for loss arising from claims against them for which they are not indemnified by the corporate entity” and covers, as well, “the corporate entity, for the amount it pays on behalf of the D&Os to indemnify them for loss they sustain.” The latter is known as the “company reimbursement clause.” It can also cover the company itself in what is known as the “corporate entity clause.” The necessity of a D&O insurance lies in the fact that directors and officers can be held personally liable for corporate acts. Being a liability insurance, it does not cover suits filed by the directors or officers.

The loss referred to are litigation expenses, specifically lawyer’s fees, bonds, cost of settlement, award of damages and other monetary obligations in relation thereto, in case they are sued. Loss usually excludes fines and penalties. There are insurance policies that exclude punitive damages, as when it is prohibited by law, on the ground of public policy. The reasoning is that punitive damages is intended to set an example or punish the wrongdoer, and permitting insurance against such punishment would render such punishment ineffective.

In the Philippines, the Insurance

Commission issued Legal Opinion LO-2017-05, July 12, 2017 stating: “Exemplary damages, regardless of the nature of the proceedings where the same is awarded, are not insurable under Philippine laws on the ground that the same is against public policy.”

This opinion covers exemplary damages awarded even in non-criminal proceedings, which was the main query. The opinion cited Article 2229 of the Civil Code, which provides that exemplary or corrective damages are imposed by way of example or correction for the public good. The opinion was rendered upon query of FPG

A recent proposal in the Philippines is to make D&O policies compulsory for listed companies, although it has been estimated that around 15 percent already provide D&O. In Hong Kong, D&O is compulsory for listed companies. In Singapore, it is not compulsory, but over 80 percent of listed companies provide D&O. In the US, over 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies have D&O insurance.

Insurance Co., Inc. The body where the litigation or case is filed may be a regulatory, administrative, civil and criminal court. The suit may be brought by shareholders of the company, customers, vendors, competitors, suppliers, regulators, creditors, and others for alleged or actual wrongful acts in the course of their corporate duties.

D&Os only cover acts or omissions relating to official activities of the company. Excluded are deliberate criminal acts as well as fraudulent acts.

History of D&O

IT was in the 1930s when Lloyd’s of London introduced this insurance for corporate directors and officers.

Its popularity did not pick up immediately. Even in the 1960s its sales

were negligible. It was only in the 1970s when its necessity was being noticed. By the 1980s and the 1990s, D&O has become a standard feature when claims against directors and officers have increased. In the 1997 Wyatt Report, it was surveyed that 31 percent of all companies could expect to have at least one claim made against its directors or officers, and each company averaged 0.87 claims.

A recent proposal in the Philippines is to make D&O policies compulsory for listed companies, although it has been estimated that around 15 percent already provide D&O. In Hong Kong, D&O is compulsory for listed companies. In Singapore, it is not compulsory, but over 80 percent of listed companies provide D&O. In the US, over 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies have D&O insurance.

GOCCs

For government-owned and controlled corporations, D&O policies are made available by the GSIS. The coverage is available for appointive directors, ex officio board members, alternates of ex officio board members, and executive officers. Authorization to provide D&O coverage is provided under Section 32 of the Code of Corporate Governance. As an alternative, a GOCC may provide for “self-insurance” by creating a Directors and Officers Liability Fund.

How to make the UAE’s deal with Israel truly historic

T

he dramatic and welcome decision by the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel is indisputably a win for both countries and for the Trump administration, which helped broker the deal. There’s an even bigger victory to be had, though, if all sides seize this opportunity to promote real peace in the region.

The three parties involved will be tempted to bask in this moment.

Though Israel’s informal ties with the UAE have been strong for years and the deal merely brings them into the open, it’s nevertheless a breakthrough: proof, especially if others such as Bahrain and Oman follow the UAE’s lead, that Israel can establish relations with Arab countries before a final settlement with the Palestinians. Beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will gratefully accept the reprieve from his political difficulties. So will US President Donald Trump, who is eager to showcase some evidence of

his deal making skills ahead of the November election.

For its part, the UAE has earned itself goodwill on both sides of the aisle in Washington—which will be useful in the struggle against its real geopolitical foe, Iran—as well as the chance to buy advanced weaponry from the US. But the leader of the UAE, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, could achieve much more.

He traded recognition for a promise from Netanyahu to suspend his threat to annex a third of the West Bank, as originally envisioned under the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan. Furious Palestinian

leaders say that was merely a fig leaf.

It doesn’t have to be.

The UAE now has a real chance to play peacemaker. Though Netanyahu says annexation has only been suspended temporarily, the fact is that he cannot afford to alienate MBZ, as the ambitious crown prince is known.

If the latter is interested in pursuing peace, he should have little difficulty coordinating with Egypt and Jordan, the only other Arab countries to have normalized relations with Israel, and most important, with the US. MBZ already has good relations with the Trump administration. A Biden White House should be even more supportive of a real peace effort.

Israeli hardliners will say the deal shows that they don’t need to make peace with the Palestinians—that joint interests in technological and economic development, and especially in thwarting Iran’s ambitions, will inexorably push Arab nations

and Israel together. They’re wrong.

Normalizing ties with other Arab countries will not eliminate the Palestinian problem. In fact, by giving up on annexation, Netanyahu is effectively admitting that Israel cannot simply impose its will in the West Bank. Any move now to restart the process of annexation, or even to stonewall peace efforts, would risk a break not just with the UAE but its partners.

Palestinian leaders, too, should see that they have to deal with the Israel they have, not the one they want. Rather than continuing to fulminate, they should work with the UAE to develop concrete and realistic counter-proposals to the Trump plan, and push to reinvigorate talks in which they’re full and constructive partners. If they do, what might otherwise be a limited bilateral agreement could herald a real breakthrough. Bloomberg Opinion

TikTok and WeChat expose big tech’s lack of innovation

By Tae Kim | Bloomberg Opinion

T

he jockeying by Microsoft Corp. and possibly other US companies to buy TikTok’s US operations shines a harsh light on how domestic technology giants are falling behind on innovation in social media and other areas of opportunity.

Both ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat are living on borrowed time in the US after President Donald Trump signed executive orders last week effectively banning the apps after 45 days. The renewed focus brings to the forefront how badly American social media apps have lagged their Asian counterparts. Consider Twitter Inc., for example. Despite spending roughly $700 million a year in research and development, the microblogging company’s main offering has stayed virtually the same over the past decade. Amazingly, its biggest innovation may be doubling the character count for each tweet in 2017. That’s not an impressive return on large amounts of investment spending. Similarly, Facebook Inc.’s and Google’s platforms haven’t been much better. The core functionality of Instagram’s photo-sharing scrollable feed and YouTube’s video search interface hasn’t changed much over the past few years.

In contrast, TikTok has brought significant innovations to shortform videos. Its personalization algorithm surfaces the most-rel-

evant entertaining content for its users, driving the app to be the most-downloaded in the world this year; it now reaches 100 million Americans. And while US services languished, WeChat has also become a super-app, expanding from messaging to payment, shopping, gaming and many other features.

Nowhere is the gap more apparent than in the critical and attractive growth market of video games.

Demand has soared as consumers turn to video games for in-home entertainment under shelter-inplace orders. According to the NPD Group, US video-game sales rose 30 percent in the second quarter compared with those a year earlier.

And the industry growth spurt may just be starting. Coming technology advances from cloud computing, semiconductors and gaming engines are positioning the industry to be on the cusp of a multiyear wave of innovation. Research firm Newzoo projects the gaming market will grow from roughly $160 billion this year to nearly $200 billion by 2023.

And the impressive growth in video games may be more sustain-

able because they are becoming the social networks of the future.

Last week, Activision Blizzard Inc. CEO Bobby Kotick talked about this important trend on a call with investors: “Games provide social interactions that connect people more deeply than any other form of entertainment,” he said. “We expect that as new players engage and form in-game connections with existing or new friends, many of them will stay engaged for the long term, and we see this as a really big opportunity.”

To take advantage of the next level of growth, Chinese and Japanese companies have prudently invested in some of the industry’s best assets around the world. Tencent now owns stakes in the preeminent mobile games leader Supercell, Los Angeles-based Riot Games— the maker of the tremendously successful “League of Legends” PC game, which has tens of millions of players—and Fortnite-developer Epic Games Inc. Last month, Sony Corp. also made a strategic investment in Epic, citing collaboration benefits of the studio’s industryleading Unreal game engine, which powers many of industry’s best multiplayer game experiences.

While Asian companies have made smart moves, American companies aren’t doing so well.

For example, in May Amazon.com Inc. introduced its first big-budget game, “Crucible,” only to pull it

from the market just weeks later after it failed to gain traction with players. Likewise, Google’s cloudgaming service Stadia and Apple Inc.’s Arcade subscription service haven’t taken off with consumers.

Further, the initial feedback from the gaming community points to another victory for Sony over Microsoft in the coming nextgeneration console war. In a stunning development, Microsoft announced on Tuesday that its critical anchor game “Halo Infinite” would be delayed to next year because of development issues, further complicating the company’s fall hardware launch. As a result, Sony now has a clear advantage with its lineup of exclusive games. To be sure, Big Tech’s core business franchises are still thriving financially.

Last month, the companies all posted better-than-expected financial results for their latest reported quarters, demonstrating their ability to generate tens of billions of dollars in profits even amid a pandemic. But the technology industry’s history is littered with examples from Yahoo to Blackberry in which dominance in one era can disappear suddenly in the next. The key signal before the declines is lackluster innovation.

With the rise of Chinese Internet apps and Big Tech’s inability to invest properly in gaming, cracks are appearing in some of Silicon Valley’s giants.

A8 Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Courts under GCQ must reopen Aug. 19–SC

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE Supreme Court has directed the physical opening of all courts, under the general community quarantine (GCQ ) beg inning Wednesd ay (August 19).

In Administrative Circular No. 45 -2020 issued on Tuesday, Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta also said the Court en banc and its three divisions will start holding sessions in-court starting today except under exceptional circumstances, where sessions may be conducted through v ideoconferencing w ith prior approval from the chief magistrate, after consultations with the respective division chairpersons and first division working chairperson. “ T he Of f ices of t he C h ief Just ice and A ssociate Just ices sh a l l op e r ate i n accord a nce w ith the respective discretions of t he C hief Just ice a nd A sso ciate Justices. A ll other offices and ser v ices of t he Cour t sha l l be physica l ly opened a nd may operate w it h a skeleton-staf f of not less t ha n f if t y percent [5 0 p e r c e n t] ,” t h e c i r c u l a r read.

Continued on A4

Policy gaps worsen Covid-19 infections in BPOs–group M

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ANY employees in the business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector are now left vulnerable from the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) due to existing gaps in government policies.

This is according to BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN), which raised concern over the rising number of BPO workers infected with Covid-19.

“It is alarming how there is an increasing number of positive [cases] in the BPO industry,” BIEN President Mylene Cabalona said in an online briefing on Tuesday.

Covid prevalence

SHE said they have received reports that at least 15 BPO companies have

now rising cases of Covid-19.

BIEN said at least 120 BPO workers are now infected with Covid-19.

Cabalona said there could more; however, she noted BPO companies are “not transparent” when it comes to reporting Covid-19 cases in their premises.

This problem is compounded by the lack of enforcement of government guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in workplaces, particularly contact tracing.

“If a worker will test positive, no

one will tell them not to go to work.

Their company will insist that they report for work so their operations could continue,” Cabalona said.

Uncovered workers

ANOTHER issue raised by BIEN Vice President Sarah Prestoza was the lack of clear government policies on who should shoulder the testing of BPO workers.

“While the guidelines say that it can be covered by PhilHealth [Philippine Hea lth Insurance Cor p.], pr ivate hea lt h insurance, or in coordination with the LGUs [local government units], the group raised concerns that unless the government categorically guarantees it will shoulder the cost, then mandatory testing may end up as an additional burden for workers,” Prestoza said in a statement.

The Department of Labor and

Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) issued Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 20-04 last Friday, which listed industries to be covered by the expanded targeted testing for workers. The list did not include BPO employees.

On Monday, DOLE and DTI issued advisory No. 20-01 to clarify that the said regular testing of workers in specified industries is only optional. It also said the said tests will be paid by PhilHealth if undertaken by a worker.

Cabalona lamented the insufficient testing for BPO workers were among the reasons Covid-19 has spread in many BPO firms.

BIEN appealed to authorities to address these issues, especially since the BPO sector is one of the top key employment generators in the country with over 1.2 million employees.

PHL wants firmer assurance Brazil meat exports safe

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

T

HE government will only lift the ban on Brazilian chicken meat imports if Brasilia could prove they have undertaken neces-

sary safety measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in their meat establishments.

This, as the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) disclosed it is also monitoring all exporting countries, especially those with high Covid-19

cases in their meat plants to safeguard the country’s food and human health safety.

However, the BAI, the agency mandated to oversee regulations over imported meat, revealed that limited funding prevents them from conducting Covid-19 tests on inbound meat shipments as well as locally produced meat products.

“It is not enough that Brazil would only appeal to lift the temporary ban. They should be able to show evidence that they have secured their meat establishments against Covid-19,” BAI Director Ronnie D. Domingo told the BusinessMirror.

“They should show what they did to safeguard the workers’ health and safety and also show what meat plants are the chicken meat they are exporting to us are coming from.

What did they do to the chicken meat from the closed meat plants?

Did they dispose of them properly or sent them to the Philippines?”

Domingo added.

Sources from the international meat trade community told the BusinessMirror that the temporary ban imposed by the Philippines on Brazilian chicken meat is “unprecedented” and serves as a “bad precedent” for other meat-exporting countries.

For one, a highly knowledgeable industry source said the ban on Brazil chicken meat sends a chilling effect to meat-exporting countries with high Covid cases in their meat establishments would be next targets of a ban.

Domingo confirmed to the BusinessMirror that the government’s technical working group is currently evaluating the status of all accredited foreign meat establishments (FMEs) from all countries allowed to export meat to the Philippines.

He said they are in constant communication with trade partners and are continuously exchanging technical notes regarding the matter.

The Philippines slapped the temporary ban on Brazilian chicken meat on the grounds that a significant number of its confirmed Covid-19 cases are in meat plants or meat establishments.

The safety of workers and health standards and measures being implemented among FMEs are requirements for accredited exporter of meat products to the Philippines.

Domingo argued that the government was being prudent and proactive in imposing a temporary ban on Brazil chicken pending sound and empirical evidence regarding Covid-19 and meat products.

The DA cited China’s statement,

in imposing the ban on Brazil chicken, that some samples of imported Brazilian chicken wings tested positive for Covid-19.

Right to sue, right to be protected

UNDER the Food Safety Act of 2013, the Department of Agriculture (DA) may undertake precautionary measures to safeguard plant, animal and human health safety sans sufficient information for use in risk assessment analyses.

Domingo said it is the right of any party or trade-partner in this matter to raise a case against the Philippines before the World Trade Organization (WTO), as industry sources noted that the country may be open to lawsuits or complains following the import ban on Brazil chicken meat.The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence that coronavirus is being transmitted through food products, especially through raw food which would still undergo processing and cooking procedures.

“This is a new disease. So would you expect an enormous amount of scientific evidence? This is a new disease. They are correct in saying there is no evidence yet, but we have a law that states that in the absence of evidence we can be prudent and take necessary actions,” he said.

“We are the regulatory agency.

We have to do something during emergency situations,” he added.

Domingo also disclosed that the government’s TWG is studying requiring meat exporters to have a Covid-19 free certification before they are allowed to ship their products to the Philippines.

The BAI chief revealed that even if they want to conduct tests for Covid-19 on imported meat products, limited budget prevents them from doing so. Furthermore, with the current situation of the country, the government’s priority for Covid-19 testing are humans, instead of animals and food products, he added.

“We are a developing country and in fact our PCR machines in DA were even lent to the Health Department for their Covid testing.

Between the animal and the human beings, it is more important to test the human beings,” Domingo said.

In relation to this, Domingo appealed that lawmakers not remove the P250-million fund for the construction of the Center for Transboundary Animal Disease under the proposed Bayanihan Part 2 law, as it would boost the government’s capacity in addressing the recent issues.

Duque: No P154-B loss from fraud in PhilHealth

H

EALTH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, tagged by a whistle-blower as the “godfather” of a mafia in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.(PhilHealth), maintained on Tuesday that there has been no P154-billion loss over the years due to alleged fraud.

“I have clarified this before the Blue Ribbon Committee last year, but I will repeat it to set the record straight. There is no such thing as a 154-billion loss,” declared Duque as he faced the Senate Committee on the Whole tackling allegations of various forms of fraud at the PhilHealth under Resolution Nos. 461, 474 and 475.

Duque shared with the committee a June 10, 2020, letter from Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo, which confirms there is no such finding in the published COA Annual Audit Reports to corroborate the allegation.

He also categorically denied “injury” to the government on the 2020 IT budget of PhilHealth, stressing that there has been no release of any funding on the project “since everything is still at the proposal stage.”

Duque, who sits as the chairman of PhilHealth board, stressed, “This is precisely because we need a more complete analysis on both hardware and software infrastructure needed

by PhilHealth.”

Duque said he recommended a complete overhaul of PhilHealth’s Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) as he wanted to put PhilHealth back on track with its IT Roadmap.

“I supported the recommendation that the audit findings be investigated by a fact-finding committee. This was echoed by other board members and it was agreed that a fact-finding committee be created.”

To date, the Board has yet to decide on how to implement this much-needed IT project prior to release of government money after scrutinizing the details of the 2020 ICT plan of PhilHealth.

Duque also confirmed that PhilHealth management has just received an Internal Audit Group report declaring that earlier discrepancies found in the IT budget proposal have been reconciled.

“I will direct Management to present this soonest so PhilHealth can move forward in its much-needed operations,” Duque said.

Lacson eyes charges

AT the outset of Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. Panfilo Lacson resumed grilling Fund Management Sector Senior Vice President Renato Limsiaco, Jr. on why PhilHealth, being a withholding tax agent of the BIR, failed to deduct and withhold from the funds advanced to private health-care institutions the taxes due them under the National Internal Revenue Code.

“At first, Mr. Limsiaco said, and I quote—“I’m sorry to say, ang Interim Reimbursement Mechanism [IRM] natin [ay] advances”—attempting to pass off that advance payments are not subject to withholding tax,” Lacson said, recalling Limsiaco’s testimony last week.

He added: “When I countered that advance payments are subject to withholding tax, he admitted that PhilHealth had in fact remitted P156 million to the BIR last August 3, and then claimed that he charged the amount to the Corporate Operational Budget of PhilHealth. Then, followed up with another lie—that he didn’t know that it was an obligation under the law that he had to withhold taxes. This was on August 11, Tuesday.”

Continued on A4

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Surge in demand for cement to lift SCG sales in H2–exec

T

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

hailand-based Siam Cement Group (SCG) has suffered a near double-digit sales reduction in the first half, but it expressed confidence that it can bounce back in the July-to-December period on the resurgence in demand for construction materials.

SCG on Tuesday disclosed its sales in the Philippines for the first semester dropped 9 percent to P322.77 million on low chemical prices. As such, profit for the period declined 13 percent to P26.16 million, com-

Marks & Spencer to cut 7,000 jobs

M

arks & Spencer (M&S) Group Plc. plans to cut about 7,000 jobs after its clothing business was hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown, adding to the toll of lost employment in the United Kingdom retail industry.

The move to eliminate about one-tenth of the store chain’s workforce follows a 39-percent plunge in the clothing and home arm’s sales in the latest 13 weeks.

A 2.5-percent gain in food sales failed to offset the impact, and uncertainty over the course of the pandemic clouds future prospects, M&S said in a statement.

After a rise in early London trading the shares fell as much as 4.9 percent amid concerns about M&S’s troubled clothing and home division. They’ve lost almost half their value this year.

The benefits of cost-cutting won’t outweigh the negatives for investors until there’s a genuine improvement in the retailer’s clothing and home unit, Peel Hunt analyst Jonathan Pritchard said in a note.

The mainstay of the UK’s downtown shopping districts was already suffering from competition with online retailers and a shift toward fast fashion, and it has embarkedonaseriesofrestructuringsinthepastdecade.

The UK suffered the biggest contraction of any major economy during the lockdown, with a 20.4-percent decline in output during the second quarter. Despite a rebound in June, consumer sentiment remains fragile and retailers have been paring jobs at a growing rate.

Since the pandemic began, UK retailers have announced more than 35,000 job cuts. They include Debenhams Plc, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s drugstores and John Lewis Partnership Plc., owner of the grocer Waitrose. Bloomberg News

pared to last year’s level.

In the second quarter alone, sales fell by 12 percent to P141.38 million due to a slowdown on all of its businesses in the country.

In spite of the setback, the firm

R

Rangsiyopash said in a statement.

“We take a dynamic approach by offering solutions, products and services that better fulfill the needs and capture the untapped market in the wake of growing trends in ecommerce, on-demand food delivery service, and health and wellness. As a result, the operating results for the second quarter of 2020 and the first half of 2020 were relatively less affected by the global economic slowdown,” he added.

SCG is also looking to expand its high value added products and services offerings, as the category contributed a hefty chunk to its first semester sales.

Based on unreviewed operating results of the firm, sales from high value added goods reached P145.59 million in the first half, or more than 45 percent of total sales for the period.

‘Remedial legislation to hasten construction of telco towers’

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

A

remedial leg islation cutting red tape in applications for telecommunication companies (telcos) to put up more cell towers to improve connectivity of cellphone users nationwide inched closer to its enactment into law.

T h is, a s Sen. Sher w i n T. Gatchalian confirmed that the Bicameral Conference Committee has adopted a reconciled Senate-House version to reduce the process of application for telcos to build additional towers.

G at c h a l i a n a s s u re d t h at “trimming down permit requirements to only one, which is the building permit, will expedite the existing procedure to improve the country’s digital infrastructure.”

“There’s a sense of urgency on the matter in this time of the pandemic. Ever ything is undergoing radical changes and everything has gone digital,” the

Rockwell concludes bond buyback ockwell Land Corp. on Tuesday said it bought back a total of P1.68 billion of its seven-year bonds since it started the buyback exercise on July 1.

The company said it concluded the buyback on August 12. The amount included P15 million that was traded on August 17, the company said in its disclosure.

Total outstanding bonds, which have a yield of 5.0932 percent, is at P3.31 billion, the company said. Rockwell, the property development arm of the Lopez group, reported a consolidated net income of P702 million in the first half, 44 percent lower than last year’s P1.26 billion.

Revenues for the period were down 40 percent to P4.14 billion, from last year's P6.93 billion, due to the imposed quarantine in Metro Manila and key cities in the Philippines where the company operates.

Residential development accounted for 80 percent of the total revenues in 2020, slightly lower than last year’s 81 percent.

The company said figures for the first half of 2019 were restated to reflect the impact of PFRS 15 mainly on cost of sales and interest expense and PFRS 16 on rent expense, depreciation and interest expense in order for the 2020 figures to be comparable.

For the second quarter alone, Rockwell had a P32-million loss as against the previous year's P538 million in income.

Revenues for the period, meanwhile, managed to reach P924 million, down by 73 percent

based in Thailand is optimistic about prospects for a recovery, especially as it expects a surge in demand for cement and other construction items.

Likewise, SCG is looking to take its operations more to the digital side to adapt to the new normal presented

by Covid-19 pandemic.

SCG President and CEO Roongrote Rangsiyopash said the firm may not be part of industries that are directly hit by the health crisis, but it monitors the global situation to respond accordingly to the changing business landscape.

“We have put in place more focused business strategies such as Prepare for the Worst, which sets up sales plans and transport arrangements for a possible lockdown; Plan for the Best, which optimizes production capacity to meet the growing demand; and Digital Transformation to bring about an Optimization Model,”

from last year’s P3.44 billion, but mostly as a result of its interest income as other revenue streams were depressed.

Residential development generated P3.31 billion in the first half, contributing 80 percent of total revenues for the period. Bulk of the revenues came from the sale of condominium units, including accretion from interest income.

Commercial development revenues, meanwhile, amounted to P770 million, 35 percent lower than last year’s P1.18 billion primarily due to concessions given to establishments in relation to the series of community quarantines.

This segment contributed 19 percent of total revenues excluding the share in the joint venture with Meralco for the Rockwell Business Center in Ortigas, Pasig.

Retail operations, which include retail leasing, interest income and other mall revenues, were significantly affected by the implementation of the quarantine. Revenues from retail operations amounted to P343 million, 48 percent lower than last year’s figure.

Cinema operations only generated P31 million in revenues from January 2020 up to last day of operations in March, which is 1 percent of the total revenue for the year. Cinema operations include Cinema ticket and snack bar sales and other cinema revenues.

Office operations generated P396 million which is equivalent to 10 percent of the total revenues. VG Cabuag

senator stressed.

At the same time, Gatchalian affirmed the need to “ensure that the location would not compromise the safety of the communities before any cell site construction could proceed.”

“We need to find out where the cell towers will be constructed and if the location is safe and is suitable for hosting a tower. We must also determine if these are consistent with our laws,” the senator said in Filipino.

Citing earlier reports from the Department of Information and Communications Technolog y (DICT), the lawmaker lamented “it usually takes telecommunication companies 8 months just to secure permits to construct a cell site and another 4 months for construction.”

Gatchalian cited the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) pronouncement that there used to be numerous documentary requirements and permits needed before a single tower is con-

structed, including barangay clearance, homeowners association resolution, Sangguniang Bayan resolution, occupancy permit, certificate of noncoverage, zoning clearance, and a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

He stressed, however, that Filipinos have long been clamoring for improved telecommunication services particularly during this pandemic where millions depend on internet connectivity for their daily activities, asserting the need to speed up the permit process given the increasing reliance on digital technology.

DICT officials estimated the country needs at least 50,000 additional cell towers to improve services even as data gathered by the Senator’s office showed there are 17,850 cell sites all over the country, based on the 2019 3rd Quarter Report by TowerXChange, an informal network among advisors in the market tower industry worldwide.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

B1

3 PHL companies land on Forbes Asia 2020 ‘Best Under A Billion’ list & Dennis Estopace @DennisEstopace Senior Editor

By VG Cabuag @villygc Reporter

O

nly three Philippine publicly-listed companies landed in the “Best Under A Billion” list

by Forbes Asia magazine.

These companies Asia United Bank (AUB) Corp., Crown Asia Chemicals Corp. and Vivant Corp. were among the 200 top-performing small and midsized listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region recognized by the magazine of Forbes Media Llc. In a statement issued from Singapore last August 18, Forbes Asia explained its list spotlights the publicly listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region with sales under $1 billion.

“From a universe of 18,000 companies in the region, these companies have track records of exceptionalcorporateperformance,withoneCovid-19 caveat: the list is based on the latest available fullyear annual results as of July 7, 2020, and so does not fully reflect the impact from the global pandemicled recession,” Forbes Asia’s statement read.

AUB

With sales that Forbes Asia pegged at $319 million, AUB led the trio at 24th place; it is also ahead of New Zealand’s Scales Corp. that posted a similar sales figure but a market value of $468 million, higher by $7 million than AUB’s.

The universal bank’s net income, however, was pegged by Forbes Asia higher at $86 million compared to the $30 million that Forbes Asia said that Scales, which is engaged in agribusiness, earned.

AUB shares were down on Tuesday by P0.70 to close at P45 per share on volume of 8,500 shares.

Vivant

With sales pegged at $70 million by Forbes Asia, Vivant is at 105 on the list, edging out Indonesian food production company Mulia Boga Raya PT, which had sales of $69 million.

Vivantwas$1-millionshyofthe104thcompany inForbesAsia’slist,IRJapan,whichhadsalespegged at$71million.IRJapan’s$1.859-billionmarketvalue also dwarfs Vivant’s $279 million. However, Vivant’s

$45-million net income beats that of IR Japan’s $22 million and Mulia Boga Raya’s $7 million, Forbes Asia’s list revealed. IR Japan describes itself as “a specialized investor relations company.”

Vivant has interests in various companies engaged in electric power generation (renewable and non-renewableenergy),electricpowerdistribution and retail electricity supply business.

Vivant was not traded this week so far and closed at P14 per share last Friday.

Crown Asia Chemicals

Crown Asia Chemicals brings up the rear of the Philippine troika in the list at 170 with $28 million in sales, a figure similar to Thailand’s Alla PCL, Tokyo-headquartered Ricksoft Co. Ltd. and Union Auction PCL, an automobile open auction business in Thailand, which are at 171, 172 and 173, respectively, in the list.

Crown Asia Chemicals, which is engaged in the production of plastic compounds, plastic pipes and other related products, has the same net income of $3 million as Alla PCL and Ricksoft. Union Auction’s net income was placed by Forbes Asia at $8 million.

However, Crown Asia Chemicals’s $25-million market value is miniscule compared to Ricksoft’s $275 million and Union Auction’s market value of $135 million. Alla PCL’s market value was pegged

by Forbes Asia at $24 million.

Crown Asia Chemicals closed P1.87 per share on Tuesday, unchanged from the previous day's trade.

Select group

Forbes Asia said the companies on the list have scored above their peers in a composite selection that incorporates their track record for debt, sales and earnings-per-share growth, measured over both the most recent 1-year and 3-year fiscal periods, as well as their 1-year and 5-year average returns on equity.

Forbes Asia said that in addition to these quantitative criteria, “qualitative screens were also used, and companies with serious governance issues, questionable accounting, environmental concerns, management issues or legal troubles were excluded.” The criteria also ensured a geographic diversity of companies from across the region, Forbes Asia added. “Narrowed by this range of metrics, the final list of 200 is truly a select group,” Forbes Asia said.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

SC asked to end legal tussle between MORE Power, PECO

I

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

loilo City residents on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately put an end to the legal tussle between Panay Electric Co. Inc. (PECO) and More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) over the power distribution business in the city.

In a statement, Ilonggo consumers and residents led by the city’s biggest transport group, Western Visayas Transport Cooperative (WVTC), urged the High Court to take into consideration the plight of the 65,000 power consumers in the city who will be directly impacted by the decision of the court.

“We know that in terms of legal issues, the magistrates will uphold the rule of law, but we hope they can also consider the appeal of the consumer and prioritize it and really look at the

situation in Iloilo City and the huge difference in power supply in Iloilo.

We were relieved when our electricity problems were resolved and hopefully this is what the SC will really look into,” Halley Alcarde, general manager of WVTC, said.

MORE Power holds the legislative franchise to operate the electricity distribution system of Iloilo City. It was also granted a business permit by the Iloilo City government and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the En-

ergy Regulatory Commission (ERC) but PECO continues to question the takeover of its business operations, saying it was unconstitutional.

Pending before the SC is the petition filed by MORE Power seeking to reverse the ruling issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Mandaluyong City which declared Sections 10 and 17 of Republic Act 11212 (MORE Power's franchise) as unconstitutional.

Sections 10 and 17 granted MORE Power as the new distribution utility in Iloilo City the powers of eminent domain and to expropriate any asset, including existing distribution assets in the city.

MORE Power had secured the franchise after both chambers of Congress ignored PECO’s application to renew its franchise which expired last January 18, 2019.

Last December 2019, the SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Mandaluyong RTC from implementing its decision against MORE Power.

PECO has asked the SC to reconsider its TRO which paved the way

for the expropriation of its assets by MORE Power.

Alcarde claimed that MORE Power has proven itself capable to manage the distribution system of Iloilo City even if it has only been in operation for six months.

Meanwhile, Francis Gentoral, Executive Director of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (IEDF) said MORE Power has a strong sense of accountability and transparency by providing the right service to consumers even though they are still on the transition phase.

Gentoral said IEDF, which has been actively wooing investors to Iloilo City, said they have noted a "marked improvement" in the status of power supply under MORE Power.

MORE Power President Roel Castro earlier said it will take three years to modernize Iloilo City’s distribution system. The company committed a capital expenditure of P1.8 billion. Castro said the company has already started with its modernization program by fixing the dilapidated systems of previous power distributor.

Fruitas incurs losses in H1 due to lockdown

By VG Cabuag @villygc

F

ruitas Holdings Inc., an operator of food and beverage kiosks, said it suffered a net loss of P12.3 million in the first half compared to last year’s income of P52 million as its operations were affected by the lockdown.

Revenues for the period were cut by half to P462.1 million, from last year’s P914.2 million.

“The decline was driven by the temporary suspension of operation of certain stores due to the imposed quarantine in the second half of March which continued until the end of May,” the company said in its report. The company said the decline was felt in the second quarter, when it incurred a much deeper net loss of P27.53 million as against last year’s income of P41.66 million.

Revenues fell 83 percent to P87.91 million, from last year's P518.25 million.

“The sales decline for the second

quarter of 2020 was unprecedented as we had to suspend operation of almost all of our stores because of the quarantine. It also coincided with the summer months, when our beverage sales peak. Despite this, we kept our losses to a minimum by managing our costs,” Lester Yu, the company president and CEO, said.

“We chose to reopen stores more cautiously taking into account profit contribution of each store. For June, our sales were already back to 33 percent of last year, despite Fruitas only operating an average of about 45 percent of our store network throughout the month.”

Yu said the company looks forward to a better second half and is hopeful that the combined efforts of the government and private sector will spur consumer spending.

He said, however, that it would take time for profits to return to prepandemic levels. “We also continue to pivot our business model to derive more contribution from delivery and community stores.”

mutual funds

August 18, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 199.69 -22.4% -10.46% -5.19% -20.71% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.01 -34.85% -13.96% -5.2% -26.92% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.6684 -33.34% -15.27% -7.67% -27.45% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6891 -26.87% -11.87% n.a. -23.26% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6866 -20% n.a. n.a. -19.16% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.2879 -20.32% -8.8% -4.69% -19.53% -22.11% -11.23% n.a.

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6727 -21.19% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 77.45 -34.22% n.a. n.a. -24.97% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 40.0515 -22.33% -9.15% -4.13% -21.9% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 430.72 -20.13% -8.31% -4.22% -19.16% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8974 n.a. n.a. n.a. -12.88% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0184 -22.13% -8.66% -3.79% -20.86% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 29.9219 -21.94% -8.22% -3.5% -21.04% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.797 -21.83% n.a. n.a. -21.72% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.0885 -21.91% -8.57% -3.38% -21.73% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 683.46 -21.82% -8.58% -3.57% -21.62% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.612 -32.91% -12.77% -7.71% -28.12% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.1627 -26.29% -9.96% -4.76% -24.86% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7833 -22.03% -8.77% -3.59% -21.73% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.8646 -22.33% -7.62% -3.02% -21.59% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 91.7998 -21.61% -8.12% -2.75% -21.51% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0551 16.52% 0.74% 2.27% 2.6% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.4921 18.3% 8.13% n.a.

8.23% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5694 -6.82% -4.44% -3.22% 0.42% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0654 -10.35% -4.71% -1.7% -5.3% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4238 -8.49% -3.21% -2.49% -7.89% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.185 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-19.04% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8437 -5.5% -1.5% -0.08% -6.01% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5196 -7.34% -2.44% -1.13% -7.11% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.6674 -7.89% -2.77% -1.32% -7.62% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.924 -10.04% -4% -1.29% -9.34% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.2919 -15.39% -5.01% -2.58% -14.79% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9493 -7.01% n.a. n.a.

-6.54% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8512 -15.45% n.a. n.a. -14.57% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8242 -17.86% n.a. n.a. -17.02% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8135 -18.35% -6.02% -3.5% -16.55% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03942 2.2% 3.23% 2.08% 3.19% 9.07% 1.68% 2.75% 3.34% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.0458 Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.1024 10.69% 5.75% 4.9% 4.9% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.159 4.98% 3.12% n.a.

2.68% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 368.14 4.21% 3.22% 2.59% 2.85% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9502 2.08% 1.1% -0.04% 2.53% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1981 4.07% 4.95% 5.04% 2.57% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.316 4.19% 3.31% 2.4% 4.16% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4633 4.68% 3.64% 2.04% 4.42% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.7114 8.99% 4.92% 2.88% 7.74% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.31 5.76% 4.37% 2.45% 4.24% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9629 5.84% 4.42% 2.29% 4.61% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.046 9.52% 4.09% 1.94% 8.47% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1977 5.39% 5.11% 2.86% 3.97% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7591 4.52% 4.52% 2.37% 3.41% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $478.4 3.42% 2.6% 2.81% 2.14% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є216.97 -1.32% 0.72% 1.07% -1.28% 3.17% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2419 4.14% 2.71% 2.87% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0265 2.32% 1.96% 1.66% 2.71% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0935 -0.69% 0.42% 0.53% -0.01% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5176 4.23% 4.03% 3.48% 4.75% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0610827 1.77% 2.13% 1.93% 1.3% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2394 2.1% 2.36% 2.66% 2.02% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 128.76 3.53% 3.28% 2.49% 2.33% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0441 2.35% n.a. n.a.

1.73% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2878 2.95% 3.04% 2.61% 1.8% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0472 1.6% n.a. n.a.

0.86% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0221 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.95 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-4.04%

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

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

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

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

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

August 18, 2020

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

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

44.55 92 65.65 20.3 8.2 35.9 8.22 19.84 47.7 16.4 97.4 53.8 0.84 21.95 2.63 0.96 0.285 0.64 154.4 1900 1.02

45 92.05 65.7 20.35 8.22 36.1 8.9 19.86 48.85 16.98 97.5 53.95 0.85 22 2.8 0.99 0.29 0.65 157 1925 1.12

45.9 92 65.2 20.3 7.85 35.7 8.2 19.9 48 16.4 98 54.4 0.83 21 2.62 0.99 0.285 0.67 155 1900 1.03

45.9 92.5 65.95 20.35 8.26 36.1 8.5 20 48 16.4 98 54.4 0.85 22.2 2.84 0.99 0.29 0.67 156 1900 1.12

45 91.2 65.2 20.2 7.84 35.4 8.2 19.84 48 16.1 96.95 53.95 0.83 21 2.62 0.99 0.285 0.63 154.3 1900 1.02

45 92.05 65.7 20.3 8.2 36.1 8.45 19.86 48 16.4 97.5 53.95 0.84 21.95 2.84 0.99 0.285 0.64 154.4 1900 1.12

8500 2130840 2551420 107600 2685400 2629600 120800 1356200 200 28300 439480 450 22000 7700 5000 4000 500000 236000 4360 185 82000

383400 369900 196053342.5 -49081480.5 167592769.5 11237978 2182935 -599745 21759757 -2617257 94237315 -35134260 1024030 26,984,634( 25,187,679.9999) 9600 463930 409999.9999 42853199.5 1001190 24326 -15106 18470 167475 13320 3960 143000 -54599.9998 151270 675656 -66406 351500 342000 91650 10

INDUSTRIAL

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

2.68 1.3 25.95 0.159 23.8 58.7 278 13.04 3.09 11.1 16.88 8.27 7.95 2.35 11.5 16.2 4.94 5 10.28 67.5 0.65 1.19 39 140.5 6.92 4.88 0.137 5.5 1.22 4.31 0.106 141.4 0.77 2.24 52 53 1.21 9.99 5.27 5.24 6.43 0.67 0.75 1.85 1.91 3.7 4.1 18.2 1.86 4.74 0.97 1.5 5.88

2.69 1.31 26 0.162 23.85 60 280 13.08 3.1 11.36 17 8.44 8.01 2.36 11.96 16.22 4.99 5.03 10.3 68.05 0.66 1.2 40 143 7.29 4.99 0.138 5.54 1.24 4.45 0.111 142.6 0.78 2.31 55.3 53.9 1.22 10 5.28 5.25 6.44 0.7 0.76 1.87 1.93 3.88 4.16 19.2 1.88 4.76 0.99 1.52 5.89

2.66 1.37 25.75 0.16 24.1 60 275 13.1 3.1 11.04 17.2 8.15 8.05 2.38 11.1 15.9 4.62 4.86 10.9 67.95 0.65 1.18 40.8 141 6.62 4.88 0.137 5.4 1.25 4.45 0.106 142 0.79 2.23 53 53 1.16 10.1 5.14 5.26 6.37 0.69 0.75 1.89 1.86 3.85 4.04 18 1.85 4.7 0.96 1.53 5.92

2.73 1.37 26.1 0.165 24.25 60 280 13.18 3.14 11.36 17.5 8.8 8.08 2.38 13.46 16.4 4.94 5.04 10.9 68.2 0.66 1.19 40.8 143.8 7.29 5.08 0.138 5.54 1.25 4.45 0.11 142.6 0.79 2.31 55.4 53 1.22 10.2 5.28 5.28 6.5 0.7 0.76 1.89 1.91 3.88 4.16 19 1.88 4.76 1 1.54 5.92

2.66 1.31 25.65 0.16 23.5 58.7 271.2 12.9 3.09 11.04 16.88 8.15 8 2.35 11.1 15.9 4.62 4.86 10.14 67.5 0.64 1.16 39.15 139.1 6.62 4.7 0.137 5.4 1.22 4.45 0.106 140 0.77 2.23 52 53 1.16 10 5.14 5.12 6.37 0.66 0.75 1.87 1.85 3.85 4.03 18 1.82 4.7 0.96 1.5 5.7

2.69 1.31 26 0.162 23.85 58.7 280 13.08 3.1 11.36 16.9 8.27 8.01 2.36 12 16.2 4.94 5 10.3 67.5 0.65 1.19 40 140.5 7.29 4.88 0.138 5.5 1.22 4.45 0.11 142.6 0.77 2.31 52 53 1.21 10 5.28 5.25 6.43 0.7 0.75 1.87 1.91 3.88 4.15 18.8 1.88 4.74 0.99 1.5 5.88

6267000 4459000 1466500 2070000 1918700 287260 250540 917300 1670000 185900 1159100 296400 333700 373000 71200 4875400 95000 699000 2432000 266000 746000 4571000 12700 798140 800 693000 120000 4105900 1795000 1000 80000 1740220 874000 2000 1160 30 28257000 920700 1123600 1009900 1657700 223000 261000 20000 271000 12000 764000 207700 5209000 75000 13000 765000 1214800

16915210 5912070 38073750 332990 45635400 16866979.5 69325324 11955638 5204930 2090666 19635528 2438427 2683299 881280 881078 78605428 458740 3485720 25382476 17965244.5 485790 5373430 506255 112521196 5584 3361890 16460 22586806 2211430 4450 8760 247055959 680310 4540 61154 1590 33763590 9244272 5887019 5283983 10654278 152980 196200 37600 508790 46470 3169510 3945422 9618510 354970 12850 1159890 7078380

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.47 7.62 757 51.25 6.44 1.75 6.31 0.5 0.56 0.56 4.99 3.85 8.6 424 2.89 65.3 0.6 2.32 8.56 0.51 3.33 2.88 166 910 103.5 128 0.187 0.15

0.475 7.8 762 51.6 6.45 1.76 6.4 0.51 0.58 0.6 5 3.88 8.76 425.4 2.96 65.6 0.61 2.33 8.59 0.54 3.34 3.05 172 910.5 103.6 131 0.198 0.152

0.48 7.89 755.5 50.25 6.29 1.78 6.41 0.5 0.57 0.6 5.03 3.79 8.51 430 2.9 63.5 0.6 2.33 8.35 0.51 3.32 2.99 172 896 103.6 131 0.188 0.148

0.485 7.9 762 51.6 6.48 1.78 6.41 0.51 0.58 0.6 5.05 3.88 8.94 435 2.96 66 0.61 2.37 8.59 0.55 3.35 3.05 172 915 103.9 131 0.188 0.152

0.465 7.6 745.5 49.75 6.24 1.74 6.3 0.49 0.56 0.6 4.95 3.74 8.51 420 2.89 63 0.59 2.32 8.35 0.5 3.26 2.99 168 880.5 102 128 0.187 0.147

0.47 7.79 762 51.6 6.45 1.76 6.4 0.5 0.58 0.6 5 3.85 8.76 424 2.89 65.6 0.6 2.33 8.59 0.55 3.33 3.05 168 910 103.6 131 0.187 0.152

10700000 27600 240530 757560 20805400 362000 79100 153000 1150000 1000 3755000 8583000 30700 220730 186000 1466130 185000 643000 1672700 387000 17042000 29000 290 812280 85050 740 30000 1280000

515420 74870 6742970 1041435 -16831059.5 11119176 2385014 289220 -623086 -3600090 11690 -129265 47400 -11990 -30806888 -96540 -844780 -678460 -12460252 -6500 130960 -46319025 148800 -13655373 -416700 -1751647 10729349.9996 -161636 1623333 -52095 -6587814 145250 -3836100 718800 -33040 221103

5079650 216531 182269800 38575002.5 133153700 634500 500069 76285 656270 600 18771900 32674710 262042 93827244 539600 95744132 110550 1503480 14140868 202860 56373680 86800 49060 737305735 8809992 96760 5630 193110

-720200 -30453905 14123598 -20774578 -3763190 -1188270 -15131642 -516200 -11289445.5 27140 -151100 -2983290 -2248240 463980140 -2794365 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.52 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.52 0.53 782000 413390 AYALA LAND 32.8 32.85 33.1 33.15 32.7 32.85 8279900 272044450 ARANETA PROP 0.99 1.02 1.03 1.03 0.99 1.03 4000 4040 AREIT RT 25.75 25.8 25.95 25.95 25.5 25.8 10494600 269970885 BELLE CORP 1.35 1.38 1.35 1.38 1.35 1.38 73000 99390 A BROWN 0.86 0.87 0.86 0.87 0.85 0.87 1776000 1527470 0.8 0.81 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 100000 80000 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.123 0.124 0.12 0.123 0.12 0.123 1540000 187050 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.98 4.99 5.01 5.01 4.98 4.99 618100 3084908 0.35 0.355 0.35 0.355 0.35 0.35 3370000 1179800 CENTURY PROP 0.255 0.26 0.255 0.255 0.255 0.255 20000 5100 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 15.4 15.5 15.7 15.82 15.3 15.4 432000 6727540 DM WENCESLAO 5.98 6 6.05 6.05 5.98 6 762300 4576220 EMPIRE EAST 0.265 0.27 0.26 0.27 0.26 0.27 550000 147700 FILINVEST LAND 0.92 0.93 0.92 0.93 0.91 0.93 9491000 8748430 GLOBAL ESTATE 0.78 0.81 0.77 0.81 0.77 0.81 135000 105400 8990 HLDG 8.15 8.3 7.94 8.2 7.94 8.15 130300 1046990 PHIL INFRADEV 1.02 1.03 1.02 1.04 0.97 1.02 5710000 5723950 3 3.54 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 1000 2950 KEPPEL PROP MEGAWORLD 3 3.01 3.01 3.03 2.98 3 27106000 81298940 0.25 0.255 0.265 0.27 0.249 0.25 106980000 27415130 MRC ALLIED 0.29 0.31 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 50000 14500 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 1.15 1.16 1.2 1.2 1.15 1.15 733000 851680 15.12 15.14 15.32 15.48 15.04 15.14 3723900 56408374 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.228 0.233 0.233 0.233 0.225 0.23 110000 25250 ROCKWELL 1.53 1.55 1.53 1.55 1.53 1.55 81000 124850 SHANG PROP 2.65 2.71 2.71 2.71 2.71 2.71 2000 5420 STA LUCIA LAND 1.77 1.86 1.86 1.86 1.86 1.86 20000 37200 SM PRIME HLDG 31.5 32 31.4 32 31 32 7245500 229417945 VISTAMALLS 3.72 3.83 3.73 3.8 3.71 3.73 41000 153460 1.13 1.14 1.14 1.17 1.12 1.14 960000 1090610 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 3.34 3.37 3.4 3.4 3.32 3.34 1441000 4825500

26500 -76756200 -206921975 -38640 -728440 31499.9999 -4218348 1538210 -736180 8000 -4319310 -265000 11600 -22014060 -7440 25293115 -1342850

SERVICES ABS CBN 7.25 7.26 7.33 7.33 7.2 7.25 347200 2526217 GMA NETWORK 5.12 5.13 5.16 5.18 5.1 5.13 952700 4893912 MANILA BULLETIN 0.405 0.415 0.4 0.435 0.4 0.405 1790000 754300 MLA BRDCASTING 11.6 12.34 11.6 12 11.6 12 2800 32946 GLOBE TELECOM 2128 2130 2148 2148 2118 2130 30890 65868100 PLDT 1360 1370 1356 1393 1356 1360 112980 154987670 0.052 0.053 0.051 0.055 0.05 0.053 159180000 8333940 APOLLO GLOBAL DFNN INC 2.85 3.05 2.9 3.05 2.85 3.05 5000 14600 3.32 3.33 3.27 3.36 3.27 3.32 35636000 118467980 DITO CME HLDG 1.28 1.4 1.24 1.28 1.24 1.28 2000 2520 IMPERIAL JACKSTONES 1.62 1.64 1.68 1.68 1.6 1.6 3000 4920 NOW CORP 2.11 2.13 2.12 2.13 2.09 2.11 1956000 4129330 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.18 0.182 0.18 0.183 0.18 0.182 1560000 283390 PHILWEB 1.96 1.99 2 2 1.95 1.99 367000 725690 2GO GROUP 8.31 8.55 8.5 8.69 8.2 8.26 178100 1491460 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.78 16.72 15.72 15.72 15.72 15.72 1200 18864 CHELSEA 3.37 3.38 3.35 3.44 3.35 3.37 869000 2941210 CEBU AIR 38.9 39 39.45 39.5 38.75 39 153700 6010615 109.5 110 107.1 110.8 107.1 110 2977820 325198198 INTL CONTAINER 5.03 5.04 4.94 5.1 4.89 5.03 1900000 9485050 MACROASIA 1.67 1.7 1.66 1.7 1.66 1.7 135000 224940 METROALLIANCE A PAL HLDG 6 6.09 6.13 6.13 6 6.05 42900 259356 HARBOR STAR 0.85 0.86 0.8 0.87 0.8 0.85 2272000 1894480 1.16 1.23 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1000 1200 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG 0.031 0.032 0.031 0.032 0.03 0.032 28100000 868300 WATERFRONT 0.385 0.39 0.395 0.395 0.39 0.39 210000 82250 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.3 6.4 6.3 6.3 6.3 6.3 200 1260 FAR EASTERN U 570 590 598 598 570 570 310 178940 STI HLDG 0.3 0.305 0.31 0.31 0.3 0.305 530000 161100 BERJAYA 2.12 2.17 2.12 2.17 2.12 2.17 32000 68170 6 6.08 6.25 6.25 6 6 12907000 78339944 BLOOMBERRY 1.96 2 1.98 2 1.96 1.99 32000 63200 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.2 1.25 470000 575680 LEISURE AND RES 2.12 2.49 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 47000 112800 MANILA JOCKEY PH RESORTS GRP 2.12 2.21 2.11 2.21 2.11 2.21 2000 4320 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.285 0.29 0.285 0.295 0.285 0.285 5470000 1583250 ALLHOME 6.36 6.39 6.29 6.4 6.29 6.39 1383500 8765091 METRO RETAIL 1.44 1.46 1.47 1.47 1.43 1.46 1473000 2140960 PUREGOLD 50.6 50.9 50 51.6 49.85 50.6 2069600 105195590 ROBINSONS RTL 64.5 64.7 62.9 66 62.45 64.7 2493940 160967326 PHIL SEVEN CORP 121.3 124.9 121 125 121 125 15350 1918710 SSI GROUP 1.02 1.03 1.05 1.06 1.03 1.03 2158000 2231090 15.52 15.8 15.4 15.8 15.4 15.8 741700 11677140 WILCON DEPOT 0.295 0.3 0.295 0.3 0.295 0.3 2310000 691950 APC GROUP 6.4 6.49 6.55 6.55 6.21 6.4 9600 61493 EASYCALL PRMIERE HORIZON 0.215 0.217 0.214 0.218 0.212 0.217 6650000 1436380 SBS PHIL CORP 4.5 4.87 4.87 4.87 4.87 4.87 2000 9740

-15075330 -33440170 5800 120990 -142370 -7840 94618 -1864195 -135954949 684740 12750 -195300 1260 -4670808 -19620 -102480 -540300.0002 -3294745 -373200 -978205 87968639.5 1836210 -208820 -936124 194250 -

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Entrepreneur

Go Negosyo mentorship for fledgling MSMEs eyed

D

espite these challenging times, Go Negosyo is going to the trenches to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) bring their ideas into fruition.

Josephine Romero, Go Negosyo senior adviser for Angat Lahat sa Digital Alliance, pointed out that their former mentees are now willing to share their ideas and expertise to fledgling entrepreneurs, “Fifteen years [past], these group of entrepreneurs have grown [and] are [now] offering to share their experiences and ideas on how to pivot in these uncertain times,” Romero said in a recent webinar on “Creating Digital Ecosystems to Jumpstart Local Economies” held on August 11.

“Through the Micro Entrepreneurship Kapatid Mentorship program of Go Neosyo, we encourage micro entrepreneurs to expand their horizons outside of their hometowns,” she explained.

For a start, Go Negosyo urges them to improve their business ideas and develop bigger ambitions such as expanding beyond their provinces and even outside the country.

As of 2016, the Kapatid Micro Mentorship program has 44,400 members belonging to the MSME sector. Moreover, it has 127,000 members in the agribusiness sector, majority of which are farmers.

“We encourage them not just put up mom and pop stores for their daily sustenance but look beyond the Philippines,” Romero said.

She pointed out that the Philippine mentorship program has been adopted by the 10-member Asean for their respective entrepreneurship programs.

Led by the Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC), the Asean Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN) aims to form an ecosystem that will handle both at national and regional levels publicprivate partnerships “that promotes the integration and acceleration of MSMEs’ access to mentorship, money and markets, or “the 3Ms,” as the framework for MSME empowerment to scale up offline and online.”

The Asean-BAC is the official linkage and advisory council of the private sector champions of Asean tasked to provide private sector feedback and guidance to boost Asean’s efforts toward economic integration.

It was under the Philippines’s chairmanship of Asean-BAC chairman Joey Concepcion that AMEN was established, under the Asean-BAC Legacy Project.

Romero said Go Negosyo and AMEN as well will first concentrate on the brick and mortar businesses and encourage them to explore other platforms such as the shared economy used by Grab, Uber and Airbnb.

Moreover, Go Negosyo trains the entrepreneurs to make their businesses to be a legacy entities that can be handed to the succeeding generations.

Right now, entrepreneurs can harness services from logistics companies and financial technology (fintech) for their operations. “The e-commerce platform is a big help in transactions while fintechs help the selling to become seamless,” she said.

Meanwhile, PayMaya Enterprise Head for Public Sector Marvin Santos said local government units are in the best position to digitize their operations.

“Ideally, local government units [LGUs] should jump-start digitalization efforts by introducing services such as online payments and online purchases,” he said during the webinar.

He also stressed the role of LGUs is not to transform but enable its citizens to use digital technology in their economic activities such as digital payments and digital ayuda through e-wallets such as PayMaya and GCash. Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, August 19, 2020 B3

GoDaddy survey: Pinoy entreps remain resilient amid contagion

By Roderick L. Abad

@rodrik_28

Contributor

F

ILIPINO resilience has been put to a test anew as the country faces the Covid-19 pandemic, revealed a study that looks at the current mindset of local entrepreneurs and how the health crisis has impacted their businesses.

The newly released GoDaddy 2020 Global Entrepreneurship Survey revealed their flexibility during tough times as 1 in 3 respondents from the Philippines started a macrobusiness amid the unprecedented health emergency.

This is despite nearly half of the Filipino participants had to temporarily close shop due to different levels of community quarantines

imposed since March of this year, and that 81 percent of them suffered from loss in revenues.

“Entrepreneurs around the world continue to inspire in the way they keep marching forward even in the face of the challenges caused by the pandemic,” GoDaddy Asia Marketing Director Tina Shieh told reporters during a recent webinar.

Since not all kinds of businesses

are allowed to operate during the pandemic, some Pinoy entrepreneurs turned to digital technology to sustain operations while adhering to safety protocols.

As the virtual marketplace continues to expand, microbusiness owners are aware of the need to beef up their presence on the cyber world to stay in the competition, if not to spur growth.

Per the results, 60 percent of the participants agreed that it’s important to ensure that their businesses weather any crisis, 23 percent said technology has become their main touch point with customers, and 51 percent tapped social media and messaging apps as the main channels of communication for their enterprise.

“The current situation has fasttracked digitalization for a lot of business owners, and enabled them to continue to reach customers online,” she noted.

Moving forward, GoDaddy’s research showed that Filipino respon-

dents are looking to learn more about digital technologies and use them for their ventures, with 69 percent of them are interested more in social media, 43 percent consider creating their own business portals, 39 percent are interested in mobile apps, and 38 percent are keen on getting into e-commerce.

Still bullish on their future prospects, local entrepreneurs are confident that business recovery will come soon.

Based on the study’s outcome, 76 percent said that they expect to recover within a year, which is slightly higher than the global average of 71 percent; as 92 percent project to expand at least 25 percent in three to five years.

While still being confronted by Covid-19, Filipino businessmen remain mindful of helping others, with 72 percent of them saying it is important for their ventures to positively impact their local communities at this time—the highest among all countries surveyed.

Three out of 10 or 30 percent shared that they donated or gave part of their profit to charities since the pandemic hit the country.

“Our survey shows that Filipino entrepreneurs are fast adopters, resilient, and working hard to keep supporting their customers and their communities. Having a web site that is integrated with social media and e-commerce tools can help microbusiness owners strengthen their online presence and stay connected to their customers,” Shieh stressed.

Conducted in June of this year, the GoDaddy 2020 Global Entrepreneurship Survey involved 5,265 entrepreneurs and microbusiness owners across 10 countries, including the Philippines, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Of those surveyed, over 90 percent have 10 or less employees, half of whom are solo business operators.

Kandama: The social enterprise that empowers women, youth

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

the positive changes that they have experienced outweigh the negative effects to them. “At the end of the workshop, we clarified their vision and mission and there was a renewed motivation to ensure that we move towards our development goals,” he said.

@brownindio Contributor

I

N his college years, Victor Mari Baguila Jr. decided to discuss in his undergraduate thesis the impact of gender inequality and how treating women as catalysts of change instead of mere passive recipients of aid can lead to immense societal benefits.

He found out in his data gathering that women are essential in development, good governance and stable civil life, specifically when forms of assistance to fair sex are centered on increasing their education, their control over their resources, and their political voice. “Hence, several years after I graduated from college, when I was looking for a purpose in life, I thought of founding a social enterprise, which is Kandama, that empowers women because, as what Amartya Sen argues, “Nothing is more important for development today than the economic, political and social participation of women, and I think that women’s participation is even more significant in this pandemic,” Baguila told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview.

The birth of Kandama

Baguila initially recruited seven product designers and brands (a

Pursuing innovations

Kandama’s couture proudly shows the country’s rich heritage by combining traditional elements into modern silhouettes made of handwoven Ifugao fabrics.

furniture designer, a shoe designer, a fashion designer etc.). He took the role of systems designer who created Kandama Collective, which is both a social enterprise and a platform that facilitates the co-creation of designers and weavers in making functional and stylish products that appeal to the modern taste.

Eventually, Baguila ventured into product designing as well and had his first international show in the Melbourne Fashion Festival.

“We still collaborate with various designers because if we want to scale

our business and ensure the sustainability of our social impact, then we have to collaborate. Moreover, we are engaging celebrities to collaborate with us as well and we have very interesting ones that are in the pipeline that would definitely bring delight to our clients,” he pointed out.

To determine if Kandama is delivering the expectations to the stakeholders, Baguila conducted an assessment workshop in March 2019 on the weavers’ achievement of their core values since they joined Kandama. The weavers reported that

Nevertheless, Baguila thought he needs to learn more things in running the social enterprise. He enrolled in the Asian Institute of Management to better understand how to measure things like empowerment and motivation. Once he graduates this year and when it is already safe to travel, Kandama intends to do its next assesment workshop, hopefully before the year ends.

Baguila also contributed in modernizing the industry in his own little way as part of the multiple stakeholders. He’s much aware that there is only so much that an individual organization or person can do to execute industry-wide innovations.

“If there is anything that I have contributed, I would love to think that it is my collaboration with other stakeholders to introduce innovative designs and my work in establishing a linkage between the indigenous weavers and the global market through Paris Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, among many

other channels,” he explained.

Tapping the youth

Baguila knows that tapping the younger generation is the key to keep alive a dying tradition. He added they have to teach the youth so that they can pass it on as well to the generation succeeding them “Hence, we conduct summer workshops for kids although this has to be further institutionalized to ensure the regularity of this workshops,” he said.

“Prior to the lockdown due to Covid, we were planning to have a workshop on design theory and color combination for the weavers and their kids in partnership with a former professor from the architecture department of a university in Manila but we had to defer this until it becomes safe to travel,” he added.

Before the pandemic hit the country in January this year, Kandama has already been engaged in exporting its products. It staged shows in Hong Kong, Melbourne, New York, Paris, etc. largely to strengthen their export business.

It is currently negotiating a deal in Toronto to complement New York to serve both the gateways to North America. “We were supposed to stage a show there last May but the Covid situation disrupted it, so we are looking for alternative means of penetrating the market,” he said.

Start-ups tap a new talent pool: Pandemic-weary college students

T

o many college students, the prospect of a year of school during a pandemic—with virtual classes, restricted movements and no parties—is a huge bummer.

Some Silicon Valley start-ups, hungry for young talent, see it as an opportunity.

Over the past few months, several companies have presented an alternative to school: a remote internship, aimed specifically at young people looking for alternatives to a dismal school year.

Dozens of Silicon Valley start-ups are looking to hire fall interns, according to a list assembled by startup accelerator Y Combinator. This month, venture firm Neo organized a virtual career fair for 120 students and a range of start-ups, hoping to match pairs for internships during the upcoming academic year.

And venture firm Contrary Capital is offering to invest $100,000 in five teams of entrepreneurs if they take a gap year from school to build a company.

Such arrangements allow interns

to get paid and learn on the job, while avoiding paying tens of thousands of dollars for Zoom University. It also means that companies willing to improvise on hiring and gamble on younger workers may get new access to fresh talent. Ali Partovi, Neo’s chief executive officer (CEO), said the firm surveyed 120 students who are part of its mentorship programs and found that 46 percent of them are interested in taking a gap semester and 21 percent are interested in taking a gap year.

“There’s a potential for a big shift right now,” said Alexandr Wang, the cofounder and chief executive officer of Scale AI Inc., a start-up that helps people train computer vision.

He said Scale would hire up to 10 gap-year workers if they found the right people. For many students he talks to, school this year seems like a “sub-optimal” option, Wang said.

Companies have varying approaches to what gap year hiring would look like. Food-delivery service Postmates Inc. said it’s considering extending the tenure of the

summer interns in its robot-delivery team to allow for those who want to take time off school. And Lumos, a six-person web security start-up, is offering around $80,000 to four fulltime “fellows” to work on different projects during the academic year.

Students, meanwhile, are trying to make sense of a dizzying array of choices, as on-campus options lose their appeal. “Everyone is uncertain,” said Evani Radiya-Dixit, a rising senior at Stanford University who is considering taking a gap year, and who recently interned at X, Alphabet Inc.’s research and development lab.

Stanford made it even more confusing last week, when it abruptly announced that it was ending most on-campus housing for students for the fall quarter. “I’ve heard people say Stanford is going to be like a prison,” said Victor Cardenas, a Stanford sophomore and computer science major, now debating taking time off to build a company. “You’re only allowed to be in your dorm, and someone not in your dorm can’t be there. You have to eat 6 feet away

from everyone.”

Start-ups are particularly wellpositioned to capitalize on Covid-19 campus jitters. Bigger companies often don’t want to take on the legal hassles of bringing on students beyond regimented internship programs, said Scale’s Wang, who is 23 and has been working in tech since he dropped out of college.

“A lot of students are thinking about it, and hopefully a lot of companies are willing to take a risk on these students,” Wang said. “If you’d hire them a year from now, you should be willing to hire them now.”

Nimbler start-ups willing to experiment could gain access to star students who might otherwise have wound up in summer jobs at giants like Facebook Inc., Alphabet or Apple Inc., managers say. “Usually you would fight to get on the radar with people, and here people are reaching out,” said Emmanuel Straschnov, the co-CEO of Bubble, an app design service. Compared with regular recruiting, he said, “It’s like night and day.”

The ultimate payoff isn’t just the

student labor. “With recruiting you always play the long game,” said Nick Schrock, CEO of Elementl, a developer tools start-up that’s planning to hire three gap-year workers this fall. “A great intern who has a great network can often yield compounded returns later down the line.”

Students are assessing the tradeoffs critically, and trying to decide if what they’re getting from schools is worth the cost, especially if classes happen virtually. Levi Villarreal, who will be a senior at University of Texas at Austin, pays his own tuition. Luckily as a Texas native it’s relatively inexpensive, but he’s still weighing his options. Villarreal has previously interned at Adobe Inc. and Google, and had been looking forward to living in New York City for his internship this summer. Instead, he worked remotely from an apartment in Austin and his parents’ house in Dallas. He’s open to the idea that his disrupted school year could lead to something new and interesting, but he also wishes things weren’t so upside-down. Bloomberg News

B4

Show BusinessMirror

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

IT’S OVER

THE actor and the singer without an album to his name have long been in a relationship and theirs was considered strong and steady. The actor paid for the singer’s bills on the condition that he not work anymore. The singer’s life was quite comfortable.

He had a house, a car and some savings in the bank.

But he also wanted to work for his own fulfillment, and the actor gave his permission for one project.

Pretty soon, he began suspecting the singer of seeing someone else and he was half right. The singer was indeed seeing someone else but it wasn’t the guy that the actor thought he was dating on the side. It was someone else. In the end, the actor and the singer broke up. The latter is now living with the man who he cheated with. The man isn’t as rich as the actor.

Perhaps the singer just wanted his freedom.

NO FREEBIES

PREQUARANTINE, influencers were used to many freebies as a result of collaborations. But these are different times. Almost every business is going through a struggle. It’s true that small food businesses are doing well but if they had extra to spare, wouldn’t they spend it on themselves or their employees?

A home baker complained that influencers were reaching out to her for collabs, when all she made was bread and not even in big volumes. We’re glad to see that many stars are stepping up to help small businesses by promoting them and buying from them. One of them is a female star who’s known to be a mean girl. She posts these home cooks and bakers in her Instagram stories as her way of helping them.

Maybe influencers need to be reminded that, yes, they can influence their followers into buying food and other things, but this is not the right time for freebies.

NOTHING THERE

SHE has a pretty face and a great body, that’s for sure.

Her face and body have been enhanced by some of the country’s best surgeons but that is not the point.

The point is that she may be gorgeous but there’s nothing in there but that. She has no political and/ or social convictions, and no empathy for the plight of others. She is not mean or cruel. She just does not care and does not possess enough sense to find out what is happening in the world and most especially in her country. Even her management has given up on her. They tried to educate her but she’s remained indifferent. They’re thinking if dropping her once all her commitments to sponsors and advertisers are finished.

NOT WALKING THE TALK

SPEAKING of empathy, the actor seems to have a lot of it. He is a very political person and he even has a benefactor of sorts who has done her best for his education. She isn’t someone who had any romantic or sexual interest in him, mind you, but someone who really wanted him to succeed in life. And succeed he did. The actor may not have become a superstar but he has achieved a sort of financial stability, thanks to many projects that have come his way through the years. Everybody knows that he has strong political convictions, and that he has a heart for the poor. Or does he? Sometimes, the actor seems to be in it for the photo opportunity. Yes, he does believe in what is right and just—but he does not walk the talk.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Elizabeth Debicki to play Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’

N

EW YORK—The Crown has found its Princess Diana.

Elizabeth Debicki will play the Princess of Wales in seasons five and six of The Crown, the Netflix series announced on Sunday.

Debicki will join a new cast for the series that includes Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip. Staunton succeeds Olivia Colman and Claire Foy in the role.

Emma Corrin is playing Diana on the drama’s upcoming fourth season, but Debicki will take on the part for what’s sure to be the character’s most dramatic chapters. Seasons five and six are expected to be the show’s final seasons. No premiere date of season four has yet been announced.

“Princess Diana’s spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many,” Debicki said on Twitter. “It is my true privilege and honor to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one.”

Debicki, a 29-year-old Australian actress, is seen as a rising star after a breakout performance in Steve McQueen’s Widows. She also stars in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming thriller Tenet.

Other credits, include The Great Gatsby, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. AP

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Christina Perri, 34; Matthew Perry, 51; John Stamos, 57; Bill Clinton, 74.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rethink your strategy, make adjustments and proceed. Acceptance and compromise will be essential if you want to achieve what you set out to do this year. If you pay attention to detail and are willing to do the work yourself, satisfaction with life and all you accomplish will turn out to be worthwhile rewards. A positive attitude will enhance your life. Your numbers are 10, 12, 17, 21, 24, 37, 46.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Stay focused on what’s important and the people who can make a difference to the way your plans unfold. Don’t let a change someone makes throw you off guard. Offer others the same freedom you expect in return. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make change happen. If you want something, go after it wholeheartedly. Less talk and more action will be your ticket to a better future. Use your imagination, and you’ll come up with an innovative way to get ahead. HHHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Stop worrying and start doing. Put your plans in motion, and you will improve your lifestyle, home environment and relationships with the people who matter to you most.

Refuse to let someone from your past stand in your way.

HHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You won’t have to stand alone if you are willing to compromise. Don’t let stubbornness be an issue. Keep the peace, and you will get more than you expect in the end. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Gather information concerning something you want to achieve.

Keep an open mind, and you will discover a way to overcome anything that might get in your way.

Dedication and determination will set you apart from any competition you encounter. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You’ll come up with a host of good ideas. Before you share your intentions, test your plans. Perfection will make the difference to the response you receive when trying to gain support. HHH

TRUMP LIP-SYNC STAR SARAH COOPER GETS NETFLIX SPECIAL LOS ANGELES—Sarah Cooper, whose lip-sync parodies of US President Donald J. Trump are an online sensation, is coming to Netflix with a variety special. Everything’s Fine, starring the writer and comedian, will debut this fall, the streaming service said on Wednesday.

Cooper is working with heavyweight talent on the special: Maya Rudolph is the executive producer and Nastasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) is directing. The show will include “vignettes dealing with issues of politics,

race, gender, class, and other light subjects,” Netflix said, with guest performers taking part in short interviews, sketches and “more shenanigans.”

In her early Trump satiric video, “How to Medical,” an expressive Cooper silently mouthed along to the president’s musings about the possibilities of sunlight and disinfectant as coronavirus antidotes.

Cooper’s comedic how-to books include 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings and How to be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings. AP

17 full-length films to compete in Cinemalaya 17 DID you miss the full-length films in this year’s edition of Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival? No worries, as the main competition for Full-Length Films will make a comeback big time, with 17 films competing for the plum Best Film and other major awards in the 17th edition of the country’s biggest independent film festival.

The competing films include the 2020 Cinemalaya full-length finalists who had to unfortunately put their film projects on hold due to the pandemic.

They are: Ang Halimaw by Emmanuel Q. Palo; Angkas by Rainerio Yamson II; Bakit Di Mo Sabihin (Tell Her) by Real Florido; Bula Sa Langit by Sheenly Gener; Kaluskos by Roman Perez Jr.; Kargo by TM Malones; Kathoey by Joris Fernandez and Paolo Valconcha; Parole

by Briliant Juan; Seperate/Separate by David Corpuz; and The Baseball Player by Carlo Gallen Obispo.

Completing the list are the 2021 finalists: 12 Weeks by Isabelle Matutina; Batsoy by Ronald Espinosa Batallones, RMT; Blue Room by Ma-an L. AsuncionDagñalan; Ginhawa by Christian Paolo Lat; Guerra by Joseph Israel Laban; L+B Forever by John Carlo Pacala; and Retirada by Cynthia Cruz-Paz and Milo Alto Paz. Cinemalaya this year migrated to the digital platform due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and put the spotlight on short feature films. It was held on the Vimeo platform from August 7 to 16.

Cinemalaya will reach out to global audiences through TFC (The Filipino Channel), streaming consciousness from August 17 to 31.

Featured films can also be screened via iWanTV starting September 18 to October 2.

More information is available at www.culturalcenter. gov.ph.

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t let what’s going on around you disrupt your day. Act according to what will benefit you and your loved ones. Consider a change at home or to your financial well-being rationally if you want to come out on top. HHH

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Run the show instead of letting someone else take over. Make suggestions that will appease anyone who may try to oppose you. Act passionately, and you will win support from fence sitters waiting for someone to make the first move. Romance is favored.

HHHH

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep your emotions out of the equation. Discuss matters rationally, and offer solutions that will improve your home life and your relationship with those you love.

An unexpected lifestyle change is heading your way.

HH

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Be the one to take action. Don’t sit around waiting to see how others respond. Focus on taking advantage of an opportunity that will safeguard you from the economic fallout. HHHHH

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Change only what’s necessary. Your best response to someone putting demands on you is to step back and observe. Choose intelligence over pleasing others. Take charge of your life, and refuse to let someone dictate what you can do. HHH

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Pay attention to what others are experiencing. Make personal improvements that boost your confidence and attract compliments. Dealing with problems that the seniors or children in your life face will bring you closer to a solution. Romance is favored. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are precise, smart and persistent.

You are entertaining and friendly.

‘being shellfish’ BY ROBERT H. WOLFE The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 “Como ___?”

5 Feed the kitty 9 Fable’s lesson 14 Mini-___ (convenience store) 15 Beach bucket 16 Chip away at 17 Spill the beans 18 Gloomy aura 19 Requirements 20 Lobster trap foilers?

23 He followed FDR 24 Dingy dwelling 25 Sound effect in a tunnel 27 Plea at sea 28 Despite the fact that 32 The Addams Family cousin 35 Ball girls?

37 Wan 38 What some trees provide 40 Lithium-___ battery 41 Inch along 42 Singer India.___ 43 Take care of

5 “I told you so!”

4 46 Present period?

48 Recede 50 Sign to interpret 51 Manhunt target?

55 Bud you constantly text, perhaps 57 Steamed green part of a lobster?

60 Dinghy mover 62 Quattro automaker 63 Light source 64 Scented candle emanation 65 Tech news site 66 Fourth-largest Great Lake 67 Yarn purchase 68 Smoothie green 69 Bears’ lairs DOWN 1 Fire remnant 2 Taco topper 3 Land parcel 4 Royals’ opportunities?

5 Placate 6 Org. that awarded John Lewis a Spingarn Medal

7 Cash box 8 Jazzy Fitzgerald 9 Stand-up person 10 Unrefined find at a mine 11 Where lobsters keep their eggs?

12 What a summer does?

13 Out of concern that 21 Congressional investigation 22 Dampens 26 Lead-in to “frost” 28 Singly 29 Allow to use 30 Indian clarified butter 31 Flashy promotion 32 Brit’s “My word!”

33 No ___ Traffic 34 Not-so-meaty lobster posterior?

36 Wasn’t truthful 39 Judge to be 41 Hooded snake 43 Nickname that anagrams to “not I” 44 One may eat at your place 47 Capital of Iran 49 Sent an invoice

51 Runway walker 52 Summer driving hazard 53 Leave no way out for 54 Works with keys 55 Push-up ___ (certain undergarments) 56 Item for eating or tuning 58 Poster holder 59 Albacore, for one 61 Early Beatles label Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Image BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Wednesday, August 19, 2020

GLOBAL SURVEY: SMILING MAKES PEOPLE HAPPIER THE Philippines ranked fourth in the World Health Index, a ranking of healthiest and least healthy markets across the globe that was revealed during the recent global health survey commissioned by the A.S. Watson Group, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer.

Over 5,500 consumers across 10 markets in Asia and Europe aged 15-60 participated in the survey from November to December last year to share their thoughts on a wide range of health topics.

The Netherlands topped the healthiest market list, followed by Singapore, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mainland China, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Other takeaways of the survey: n Happier people are healthier. 91 percent of the respondents believe that smiling and laughing have a lot of health benefits. Yet, only 66 percent smile enough due to stress. By generation, Gen Z smiles more and is happier than the more mature groups including Gen Y, Gen X, and Boomers. And Gen Z tends to consider themselves as healthy. n Family and health are by far the most important aspects of life. When it comes to ranking the importance of life aspects, Family (87 percent) and Health (84 percent) top the list, with Wealth and Love (33 percent and 32 percent) in the third and fourth with a wide gap. Malina Ngai, Group COO of the A.S. Watson Group and CEO of A.S. Watson Asia and Europe, believes that “if the survey were conducted two months later in February this year, I am sure this result will even be more pronounced with people putting family and health at the very top priority in life.” n Credible information matters. As fake news and information flood the Internet and social media, consumers nowadays tend to seek health information from credible sources. The research revealed 61 percent still commonly see a doctor when feeling unwell and 43 percent go to the store for OTC medication. Yet only 15 percent of respondents turn to pharmacists for advice. The A.S. Watson Group believes that more and more people will seek for the help of pharmacists as they are reliable, professional, and easily accessible. Watsons Philippines has a strong network of 1,436 pharmacists nationwide. n How to stay healthy. To lead a healthier lifestyle, over 80 percent of the respondents believe that enough sleep, a healthy diet, and regular exercise can keep them healthy. But 40 percent of them fail to do so. More and more people (60 percent) are interested in taking vitamins and dietary supplements to improve their health.

At the A.S. Watson Group, 1 billion shoppers bought health products last year and sales for the health category increased 11 percent year-on-year.

The insight from the group shows that there are more and more people investing in their health and well-being, with vitamins and supplements booming globally at a 12 percent growth year-on-year. In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Watsons Call & Deliver service ensures safe and convenient access to medicines and personal care essentials.

More information is available at bit.ly/2DPvlUf.

What’s your number?

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RECEIVED an unusual e-mail today. Normally, I would ignore these e-mails but I noticed it was asking me to rate the services of an online shopping app with just one question—the net promoter score. Ask me three years ago to answer and that e-mail would have been sent to trash faster than you could finish reading this sentence.

But after working for three years in a company which relied heavily on data analytics, I was happy to take that extra minute or two to answer.

What changed my mind to answer is what is called data analytics. Put simply, it is the science of evaluating raw data to draw sound conclusions in order to make better products and services. Raw data can come from multiple sources including observations, internal processes, sales, surveys, and other information the different departments in your organization use. A careful analysis of these data will help you understand your business better and implement changes which will benefit your employees, target market, and your organization.

What most businesses do not know is how to make sense of all the information they currently have about their organization and their market. As their organization expands, these data points also multiply exponentially and soon enough, they find themselves entangled in a web of numbers. To avoid this, organizational objectives need to be broken down into departmental targets, and then narrowed down into individual scorecards with the understanding that individual performance targets inevitably contribute to the overall goal. A framework of how to integrate target markets and competitors in these measures, whether from the enterprise level or individual scorecard level, will help the different departments in creating metrics to evaluate their own performance. Later on, this will help your organization understand what needs to be measured and what needs to be done to achieve organizational goals, and how the different measures interact with one another.

Understanding these data points and the relationship between internal processes and customer reactions to your products and services become a feedback mechanism for understanding what your customers really need.

Social media is replete with complaints and while they are bad for your reputation, it is a rich source of what needs to be improved in your business. While it is true that

In this age where everything is interconnected with technology, I still find it hard to believe that some businesses completely ignore customer sentiments, like that homeschool online bookstore which blocked me when I was following up on my book orders which had been delayed for more than a month.

But I am also optimistic because more and more businesses are intently listening to their customers through different feedback channels. you cannot please everybody, you need to understand that your business runs on customers and if they have had enough and find an alternative, they will take their business elsewhere.

You can use the data you have now as a baseline to understand your customers and implement changes.

Whatever information you collect will help you to predict future trends in your industry and improve existing tools.

I used to work for a hospital where each doctor you go to needed all your medical tests and records.

To help doctors and patients alike, the hospital implemented a centralized database for medical records where patients can authorize which doctors can have access to their medical records. This helped doctors give their prognosis faster because of the insight provided by a patient’s medical records in the database.

In the same manner, your organization will significantly benefit from data analytics if you know what to measure.

This can lead to innovations and better ways of working to address overlapping and redundant processes and systems.

For example, when you have several departments and teams doing similar work and having the same targets, you can consolidate them and save on manpower. Or when survey results show that your customers would rather talk to a person rather than be caught in a loop with a chatbot. It should make your customer’s life easier. And this begs the question of whether telecommunication companies and Internet providers in the Philippines actually listen to their customers or are too far removed from what is actually happening to their customers because they would rather be first in using a new technology, or, worse, are more concerned with locking their customers in for two years of dismal service.

Analyzing your organization’s data also will help you reduce cost not only by tightening internal processes and improving your products and services, but also by

providing alternative solutions to customer needs and wants. A good understanding of your target market helps you develop new products and services which customers would not have thought of until you offered these to them.

The mobile phone used to be just for phone calls and short messaging until a company decided to successively include features like a personal information manager, music player, camera, and now it can even function as a personal computer. These new features were a product of market research driven by analyzing data and understanding what customers need.

But most importantly, data analytics will provide insights for better decision-making. Like the doctors having an overview of their patient’s medical history, a dashboard for all the measures used in your organization can provide real time information to help the organization’s leadership make better decisions and adapt to changes as needed. The dashboard would need to have only the relevant measures and should also show how the different measures interact and affect one another. This gives decision-makers full knowledge of how their resolution will affect the entire organization.

In this age where everything is interconnected with technology, I still find it hard to believe that some businesses completely ignore customer sentiments, like that homeschool online bookstore which blocked me when I was following up on my book orders which had been delayed for more than a month. But I am also optimistic because more and more businesses are intently listening to their customers through different feedback channels. The Net Promoter Score is just one question but it opens the door to more questions on what customers really need and want. And so I took the time to answer that e-mail and gave them the highest score of 10 because if I want to continue enjoying their services, I will continue to let them know.

If we asked people to rate your organization, what would your number be? n

8 simple strategies to fuel your body during a pandemic PEOPLE eat for many reasons—pleasure, emotional release, boredom or to connect with others. And then there is eating during a pandemic. Whether you find yourself working from home, in quarantine or transitioning back to an office, chances are good that Covid-19 has impacted how you eat.

As a dietitian, I address eating disorders and disordered eating, defined as a behavior that doesn’t quite fit the criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis. I do this by helping students at Binghamton University to eat in ways that support both optimal physical and mental health. In working with students who have food concerns, I teach them that food doesn’t have to be a problem but rather a source of fuel that supports our bodies and minds. And while the pandemic has shaped our lives in unexpected ways, there are a few simple strategies to help you strike a nutritional balance no matter

your situation.

1. Eat like clockwork. Our bodies love routine and tend to perform best with repetition. This is especially true of eating. Without the structure of a regular work or school day, or when your “desk” is within arm’s length of your fridge, it can be easier to eat erratically. Try to eat at around the same time each day. This can help regulate hunger and fullness cues, leading to more mindful decisions about what and when to eat.

2. Prioritize sleep. Sleep quality and quantity are tied to the way we eat. A lack of sleep is associated with higher levels of the hormone grehlin, which signals hunger, and lower amounts of leptin, the hormone that signals fullness. Poor sleep quality and quantity also seem to be correlated with an enhanced reward response to foods that seem irresistible— salty, sweet, oily—and that can lead us to reach more often for those foods. The best

way to support your sleep is to practice good sleep habits. Try going to bed and waking up at consistent times each day.

Put screens away an hour before bedtime, and avoid caffeine eight hours before you go to sleep.

3. Stock a nutritious pantry. These days, trips to the grocery store are often less frequent, especially if you are quarantined for illness or exposure.

Stocking up on nutritious foods that can be stored for several weeks is a good practice so you are prepared no matter what the situation. This practice makes it easier to throw together easy, healthy meals using what you have on hand.

4. Shop for the freezer. One of the biggest challenges of infrequent grocery shopping is fresh fruits and vegetables, which tend to spoil within a week. Shop for produce that lasts longer such as carrots, potatoes, cabbage, apples, winter squash, oranges, clementines, yams,

celery and sweet potatoes. If you have the freezer space, stock up on frozen vegetables and fruit, which are flash frozen right after being picked, locking in most of their nutrients. Not only do these products last a long time, but they can be less expensive and equally nutritious as fresh vegetables.

5. Cook creatively. There are many ways to build balanced, nutritious meals by combining protein with a starch and a vegetable. Keep an arsenal of creative “no recipe” recipes or ideas that allow you to cook with what you have.

6. Pack a lunch. Heading back to work? Consider packing a lunch.

Bringing your own lunch may be necessary anyway, as workplace cafeterias and eateries may be closed or have limited service. Bringing food from home tends to result in a more nutritious meal and can help to avoid areas where people congregate to

purchase and eat food.

7. Snack with intention. Many people tend to snack more when they are stressed. This is a normal response. Just make sure that these foods don’t displace regular, balanced meals. To be more conscious about snacking, use a bowl or plate rather than eating directly out of a container. This helps you see how much you’re eating and can slow how quickly you eat. Most importantly, if you’re going to have a snack, enjoy it!

8. Keep moving. Move your body when working from home or quarantining. It is more important than ever to have a consistent exercise routine. In addition to the numerous benefits of physical activity, including boosting your immune system, exercise can have a positive impact on how and what you eat. People who exercise may be more likely to be motivated to fuel their body properly.

THE CONVERSATION

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B6 Wedneday, August 19, 2020

SM Foundation donates 24,000 Kalinga Packs for jeepney, tricycle, and UV express drivers Richmonde Hotel Iloilo wins awards from the biggest international travel sites

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M Foundation distributes 24,000 Kalinga packs—each containing 5kg of rice and food essentials—to jeepney, tricycle and UV Express drivers across the country due to route disruptions caused by COVID-19.

RHI facade

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OUTED as the trailblazer in the first class hotel category in Iloilo City, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, a member of the Megaworld Hotels group, was recently honored by the world’s most reputable travel platform, TripAdvisor, and two of the biggest online travel agencies, Agoda and Hotels.com of the Expedia Group company, with awards that recognized its excellence in customer service and guest experiences in the past year.

By consistently receiving great feedback on TripAdvisor, Richmonde was feted with the 2020 Travelers’ Choice Award, placing it in the top 10% of hospitality businesses around the globe. This is the fourth consecutive TripAdvisor award of Richmonde Iloilo. In the dining category, the hotel’s restaurant outlet, The Granary, got its second win this year.

For the top hotel reservation sites on the web, guest ratings and reviews play a huge role in influencing bookers. This 2020, Richmonde was bestowed by Agoda with the Customer Review Award and by Hotels.com with the Loved by Guests Award for garnering a score of 9/10 in overall guest satisfaction.

Richmonde Hotel Iloilo general

RHI the Granary

manager, Natalie Lim says of the newest triumphs of the hotel, “Receiving these recognitions during these challenging times is very encouraging and gives all of us even greater motivation to push forward and further improve our products and services. Although this has always been our goal year after year since we opened, it warms our hearts to know that our guests appreciate the care and attention we put into our jobs. We are truly grateful for the honor they have given us, and we remain optimistic that we will get to see them again and that happier days will be upon us soon.” Cleofe Albiso, group general manager of Megaworld Hotels, further

adds, “With the pandemic affecting the hotel industry, these accolades could not come at a better time. These days, travelers need a dependable and highly recommended hotel when they venture out again in the new normal. Now, they will surely look to Richmonde when they travel to Iloilo City.”

Richmonde Hotel Iloilo is located at Megaworld Boulevard cor. Enterprise Road, Iloilo Business Park, Mandurriao, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines. For more information on the hotel, log on to www. richmondehoteliloilo.com.ph or visit the hotel’s official Facebook page, www. facebook.com/RichmondeHotelIoilo and Instagram account, @Richmonde.RHI.

The Hyundai Tucson: More than just your usual SUV

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UYING your dream SUV can be intimidating especially in these trying times. With each car brand offering something new and exciting, there are too many options in the SUV market that are vying to be everyone’s choice for a safe and secure ride, thus making it easy for consumers to overlook the things that are, not only the best for them, but also which bring out the best in them.

Take the Hyundai Tucson. Despite being trusted as a classic, some may claim that it appears to be “basic” compared to its current competitors. What they might not realize is that the Tucson’s benefits are beyond its appearance. It has a lot of things to offer that will leave you thrilled for more adventures and keep you confident to stay driven, new normal or not: More than the usual looks. “First impressions last” and the same truth applies to the Tucson, which is known as one of the most striking SUVs in its segment. Bearing Hyundai’s refined, Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design philosophy with its iconic hexagonal front grille, brilliant head lamps, and sleek lines that emphasize its bold, muscular physique, the Tucson will always stand out on the road.

This effort forms part of Operation Tulong Express (OPTE), a social good program of SM Foundation in collaboration with SM Supermalls and SM Markets to address the needs of communities during calamities and crisis.

More than your usual power. The Tucson is regarded as a powerhouse in terms of performance. Available with a 2.0-liter CRDi engine mated to 8-speed AT, it offers more dynamic but responsive driving control at any rpm range.

More than your usual drive. Capable of providing a maximum power output of 185 Ps and maximum torque of 402 Nm, the Tucson gives you the power, acceleration and maneuverability that can match those of 7-seater SUVs… without compromising your fuel efficiency, of course! Ultimately, the Tucson is your go-to ride for that perfect mix of power and efficiency that can surely take your driving experience further.

More than your usual safety. Safety has always been a priority of Hyundai for its drivers and passengers alike, and it’s ingrained in the littlest details, like the Tucson’s body frame.

Last year, the Tucson made waves in Taiwan after it remained intact and left its passengers unharmed from a fallen boulder incident. This is a testament to the Tucson’s durability since its frame is made of 51% Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS), a type of steel that’s known to be lighter for

better fuel efficiency, but twice as rigid as conventional mild steel.

As for parking, the Tucson makes it easier and safer, thanks to its Infotainment System that, apart from its integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto*, also serves as the monitor for your reverse camera.* It also comes with standard reverse sensors.

It also has other important safety features, like dual airbags, Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Downhill Brake Control (DBC)*, Hill-Start Assist Control (HAC)*, and added security features like the Smart Key System* with immobilizer*.

More than your usual comfort. Space inside the Hyundai Tucson is no issue.

The knee, head, and legroom are more than enough for five passengers to have a comfortable ride, while its wide and spacious cargo area offers lots of storage space for your items.

Your sensible and fun ride does not end there. Once you buy a Tucson, Hyundai’s 5-Year Unlimited Mileage Warranty coverage guarantees you a longer, worry-free ownership experience that’s hard to find elsewhere.

For someone who wants to experience more than the usual ride and drive, the Hyundai Tucson is your choice for better journeys ahead.

Log on to www.hyundai.ph/cars/tucson or the Hyundai Philippines Facebook Page to learn more about the Hyundai Tucson.

To avoid unnecessary trips and continue social distancing, interested buyers may request for a quote or apply for an auto loan at the Hyundai Online Market Experience (HOME) Page www.hyundai. ph/shop/HOME.

Spend an immune-boosting wellness weekend at Aegle Wellness Center in Balesin Island

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OR those who have cabin fever and anxiety about traveling nowadays, don’t fret! Aegle Wellness Center’s Serenity Series in Balesin Island is just what you need.

Aegle’s Serenity Series in Balesin Island is a succession of wellness weekends in a secluded, private paradise, dedicated to revitalizing the mind and body. For your peace of mind in these extraordinary times, all safety precautions and guidelines are in place for a worry-free wellness retreat—from the private hangar lounge to the UV-treated luxury villas in Balesin. Each Serenity Series weekend is designed to be a life-changing experience with various wellness activities, complemented

by Aegle’s world-class medical services and treatments to boost not only your immune system, but your well-being as well.

To kick off the Serenity Series, Aegle had their Tai Chi + Wellness Weekend last Friday to Sunday, July 17 to 19. An exercise that originated in China as a martial art and has been practiced around the world for centuries, tai chi is a series of controlled and graceful body movements that address the key components of fitness (muscle strength, flexibility, and balance), which is why it’s done by people of all ages and fitness levels—even those recovering from surgeries or injuries. Spearheading the tai chi sessions is Jose Antonio “Jo” Anonas, a tai chi instructor for 13 years who has been practicing it for about two decades.

Yoga beginners and enthusiasts alike and those seeking a mental health boost can book their upcoming Serenity Series Balesin: Yoga + Wellness Weekend on Friday to Sunday, July 31 to August 2. Leading the way this weekend is Rosan Cruz, Urban Energy Healer and Kundalini yoga instructor. Compared to other types of yoga, Kundalini yoga is more spiritual and philosophical in nature. Aside from yoga postures, it includes meditation, breathing techniques, and chanting.

According to Rosan, “Kundalini yoga, known as the Yoga of Awareness, helps you regain control of yourself so that you are not controlled by your thoughts and feelings. As a science of the body, Kundalini yoga helps improve blood circulation, cleanses the organs, and increases strength and flexibility. As a science of the mind, it helps you balance your emotions, become positively extroverted, strengthen your willpower, and free your energy.” Rosan will also be conducting gong bath sessions where all guests, especially those who find it hard to stay relaxed when meditating, can experience the calming and healing effects of sound therapy. She added, “Aside from its revitalizing effect on the immune and nervous system, gong baths serve as excellent therapy for all stress-related issues, depression, fatigue, feelings of separation, loneliness, anger, fear and hostility, and other conditions caused by a lack of balance and harmony in the body and mind.”

If you haven’t tried tai chi, Kundalini yoga, or gong baths yet, there’s no better place to start something new than in an island paradise with its fresh ocean breeze, beautiful scenery, and acclaimed gourmet food to boost your well-being. Expect more featured activities such as art and photography classes, as well as sports, in Aegle’s future Serenity Series Balesin weekends.

With the safety of the guests as the topmost priority, all will be done in compliance with the strict health and safety guidelines and protocols based on existing regulations and international standards to ensure that Balesin Island remains COVID-free.

All Serenity Series Balesin wellness

Kundalini yoga helps regain control of one’s self so as not to be carried away by thoughts and feelings

weekends will include Manila-Balesin Island round-trip airfare, one COVID-19 Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT), luxurious villa accommodation in Balesin for three days and two nights, daily healthy gourmet breakfast, and the following Aegle diagnostics and treatments: Body Composition Analysis to gauge your body’s fat and muscle content; Direct Micronutrient Analysis to determine if there are harmful toxins in your body; Light Therapy to stimulate your brain’s hormone secretion and improve your body’s processes; and Autonomic Nervous System Stress Response test to get an overview of your nervous system and stress threshold, just by lying down for three minutes.

Guests will also get a 30-day supply of Immune Booster Packs—a set of uniquely formulated supplements that contain the highest appropriate levels of vitamins B12, C, and E, and folate, zinc, and selenium.

They can also choose from either Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy—helps expedite cell repair and regeneration through pure oxygen—or an Immune Boost IV Drip session that will support and power up the body’s defenses against sickness and viruses. Guests will also be entitled to choose an Aegle Aesthetics treatment to try: a choice between having a local fat-reduction slimming treatment on one body area (face, arms, tummy, back, or thighs) or FaceFitness—an Aegle-exclusive treatment and the Philippines’ first facial workout designed to keep the face healthy, toned, and young-looking.

In addition, guests will experience Thalassotherapy—a treatment that makes use of the seawater and its natural elements for detoxification, anti-ageing, and regeneration.

Aegle - Balesin is the only facility in the Philippines, and one of very few in Asia, that offers Thalassotherapy. Guests will also have time to explore the island and its villages that are authentically patterned after the best seaside destinations around the world.

The package rate is Php 52,000 per person, for twin sharing in a luxurious villa. Each villa can accommodate up to three people, provided that all three stayed together in the same residence 14 days prior to the wellness weekend. The package rate for an additional person in the villa starts at Php 28,000.

For bookings and inquiries: +63.2.8737.0077, +63.917.821.9795, +63.949.889.6237, or info@ aeglewellnesscenter.com

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 B7

Your home as your safe space in the new normal

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HE Covid-19 pandemic has definitely changed the way we live. It has disrupted usual routines, upended lives, made individuals rethink their priorities and abruptly adjust to the ways of the so-called new normal.

It has also allowed individuals to see their living spaces in a new light, making one better appreciate the value of having a home or a safe sanctuary.

With social distancing and staying home widely encouraged and imposed, individuals have now more than ever realized the merits of owning a property where security and safety are ensured.

“The pandemic continues to pose a threat to every individual and without a vaccine, we don’t see the Covid-19 ending soon. And if there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s the importance and undeniable value of having your own safe space—a home where you can actually live, work, study and play comfortably and afford with that much-needed peace of mind,” said Sta. Lucia Land Inc. President Exequiel D. Robles.

“It’s often been said that every hardworking individual must have on his possession a sanctuary where he or she can raise a family without having to worry about their welfare and safety. And never has this advise been more valuable than now when everyone is encouraged to stay at home because of the pandemic,” he added.

As one of the country’s long-standing, trusted property developers, Sta. Lucia Land continues to create homes, communities and mixed-use developments that are well-equipped for the new normal.

Located in key locations across the country, the company’s high-quality projects have long served as a safe sanctuary and a conducive space for individuals to raise their family, nurture their passions and realize their dreams.

With more than four decades of creating sustainable communities, Sta. Lucia Land has long served as a reliable partner of many Filipinos who continue to aspire for a better quality of life. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the company had already equipped its communities and developments with features that would allow for a safe, comfortable and convenient live-work-study-play lifestyle.

“It has always been our mission to create and deliver developments that would allow individuals to thrive and live comfortably whatever the situation may be.

And while no one was ready for this pandemic, we believe that the thorough and meticulous planning that we put in each of our projects allowed our residents and investors to be more resilient and capable of easily adjusting to the needs of the times,” Robles explained.

“The new normal forced many of us to restrategize and rethink our priorities.

Now more than ever I think we’ve really seen the value and merits of having your own safe space. That’s why we highly encourage individuals to save up and invest

Sta. Lucia Land developments offer adequate open spaces, which are necessary in this new normal

Sta. Lucia Residenze offers the comfort and convenience of having a mall just one elevator ride from your doorstep

in a home that would afford them that much-needed security and at the same time allow them to continue being productive and successful,” he added.

It has built over 250 pioneering projects, from lakeside developments and residential towers to golf and country clubs and master-planned townships, Sta. Lucia Land continues to innovate through

the years, especially to suit the changing needs and demands of every Filipino.

It has projects in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Baler, Palawan, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Bacolod and is continuously looking to expand their reach.

The company even furthered its efforts to serve Filipinos working abroad by establishing offices outside the country. It has

offices in London, Singapore and Dubai.

It also has accredited real-estate brokers and sales personnel based in Ireland, Italy, France and Spain.

“We have projects in almost every part of the country, all of which were built and developed to help fulfill every hardworking Filipino’s dream to have their own home. These developments serve as a testament to our commitment to continuously create and deliver projects that are built and ready for the future,” Robles noted.

A nd to help possible homebuyers achieve their aspiration of owning a safe space in the time of Covid-19, Sta. Lucia Land is offering various promotions like easypay, discounts, flexible payment terms among others.

“We encourage homebuyers to look at property investment as a means to have a safe and secure future. Our homes, as proven by this pandemic, are our only refuge, a sanctuary where we can continue to find solace and comfort. Our homes are safe spaces where we can continue to thrive and be productive with or without the pandemic,” Robles concluded.

Perks of being quarantined in Acciona brings construction expertise to Malolos-Clark rail project condos and apartment buildings

By Roderick L. Abad

S

PANISH company Acciona, together with its local partner EEI, will build one of the sections of the P19-billion Malolos-Clark Railway Project of the Department of Transportation.

The Asian Development Bank-financed contract involves the construction of a 6.5-kilometer main railway line, which includes an elevated portion, an underground section with cut and cover that will give access to the Clark International Airport station, substation, and auxiliary facilities. The rail line will become a major transport infrastructure in the metropolitan region of Manila.

“The project will cut the travel time between Clark and Manila from two to three hours by bus to one hour by train while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by

F

OR most of us, this Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of how living spaces maintain a person’s sense of well-being and safety. The quarantine restrictions have forced consumers to find ways of maximizing what available spaces we have— and adapting living space to function as not just homes, but also as offices and recreation spaces. There may be no perfect place to live during periods of forced lockdowns, but condominium living—despite its limitations—has proven to be a safe and convenient strategy.

Master-planned townships provide what you need in one neighborhood

Modern condos and apartments built within masterplanned communities address the advantage of convenience. Townships like Federal Land’s Metro Park in Bay Area and Grand Central Park in North Bonifacio Global City have essential establishments, such as supermarkets, banks, hospitals, pharmacies, schools, shopping centers, offices and transport stations nearby.

Despite the many restrictions of the community quarantine, having ready access to these services gives residents the assurance and peace of mind of knowing that you can find anything you might need nearby— especially in the case of an emergency.

Good condos give you ways to stay physically and mentally healthy

As quarantine restrictions were lifted, some condominiums could provide residents with a bit of a breather with their green and open spaces. Residents who live in properties with wide-open spaces can safely do their exercise routines, go for a walk or enjoy the fresh air.

If you had a condo with a lovely roof deck or multiple amenities—you could be doing your mental and physical health a favor.

It became a welcome break for the residents to have a place to move around and not feel trapped in their units. Some buildings even go the extra mile of putting up themed gardens, like The Grand Midori Ortigas, with its Zen garden that provides a calmness, a sanctuary.

Since no one knows how long this pandemic will last— or even if it will be the last one, it’s good to have that extra space to shake off cabin fever.

Some condominiums also of fer alternative spaces for your work-from-home needs. Premium residential developments such as Mi Casa in Metro Park and The Seasons Residences in BGC feature amenities that provide a quiet working space separate from your home.

Functional spaces give you more room to move around

When movement is extremely limited, a residential development with thoughtfully designed indoor and outdoor spaces is a haven for its residents.

Fortunately, there are developers who plan the interior unit spaces with great detail for the benefit of its occupants—considering multi-functionality and the efficiency of every bit of available living space.

These are not typical cookie-cutter condos. Instead, these developments create tranquil and breathable environments for their residents. Large-cut units such as in Four Season Riviera and One Wilson Square are prime examples of these. Four Season Riviera has spacious three-bedroom and four-bedroom suites that cater to every dweller’s needs. The extra rooms can be converted as a home office, a children’s classroom, an entertainment room and even a personal gym. Selected units in One Wilson Square come with verandas where you can enjoy sweeping views of a cleaner Metro Manila skyline. Now that’s thoughtful design.

more than 60,000 tons annually,” said Ruben Camba, country manager of Acciona.

According to him, this initiative will create about 24,000 local construction jobs in the next three years and 14,000 more jobs related to the railway system’s operation. “It will lead to larger, indirect employment, and economic benefits to local businesses, such as suppliers of raw materials, which in turn will create more jobs,” he added.

Acciona has vast rail infrastructure experience. The group is now constructing the Follo Line in Oslo, Norway for the Norwegian Railway Authority, which will become the longest railway tunnels in Scandinavia upon completion.

Likewise, it is responsible for the Legacy Way tunnels in Brisbane, Australia, a project that has since received numerous awards for both its technical execution and

environmental protection measures. Another noteworthy project is the company’s design and execution of the Dubai Metro Red Line expansion for Expo 2020.

It developed line 3 of the Santiago de Chile Metro and line 1 of the Quito Metro in Ecuador. In Spain, it has built several metro lines in both Madrid and Barcelona.

Opening its commercial office in Manila in April 2019, Acciona has been operating in the country since 2016 after being awarded the contract for the design, construction, operation, and one-year maintenance of the $127-million Putatan II water treatment plant that will cater to nearly 1.5 million people.

At present, the Spanish firm is developing the 650-meter-long Cebu-Cordova cable-stayed bridge, which will link Cebu City and Mactan International Airport. The project has so far reached the 50-percent completion mark.

#TheBetterPlace to live for Filipinos in the new normal

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ITH the new normal happening and work from home setup in place for some, Filipinos are looking for a location that they deem the better place to live. Here comes a refreshing and exciting prospect: city living in a provincial setting. Iloilo City fits the bill, with less congestion, less high-cost living expenses, and a more laid back and stress-free way of life. Dubbed as “the most livable city” in 2014, Iloilo City is high on the list when it comes to viable areas to relocate.

In 2018, Iloilo City was recognized as the No. 1 city in terms of governance and ranked the 11th safest city in Southeast Asia. In the ongoing Covid crisis, Iloilo City is praised for its swift and effective measures to lower the spread of Covid-19 in the province. One of the first cities to go on strict lockdown, Iloilo City has long implemented mass testing in the city and was able to organize localized efforts to provide for its citizens during the lockdown.

Despite all of its accolades, real-estate prices in Iloilo continue to be relatively lower than nearby provincial cities, which are also in the path of economic growth and modernization. With all of Iloilo’s achievements in recent years, Iloilo City now becomes truly an ideal location to reside during the new normal.

B&P Property Group opens the WV Towers 1 & 2 (For more information, visit www.bandppropertygroup. com), located in master-planned Mandurriao Garden Residences in Iloilo City as the newest option for safe and better living. Like other B&P developments, WV Towers has fashioned itself around the new normal, implementing amenities, features, and services that are targeted against the spread of sicknesses and viral

Façade of WV Towers 1 & 2

infections, and are well-suited for the new normal.

“The reality is, real-estate developments have a responsibility to adapt to the new normal. We now live in an era of staying home and staying safe” says William Bantigue, chairman of B&P Property Group. “The concept of ‘home’ is becoming ever more important: with this new way of life, the home is not just a place to live, but also a place to work, study, exercise and entertain.

Our developments have been more than ready in accommodating this new lifestyle. It is now not only our privilege but our duty to build homes for people where they will feel secure.”

Here are some reasons WV Towers is #TheBetterPlace to live. For starters, WV Towers is a low-density development, with only a few units available per area space. This ensures privacy and social distancing between residents, effectively lowering community transmission. Each unit is fitted with at least one balcony to ensure proper ventilation, and compared to many condominiums, units

in WV Towers are sized bigger than the average to give family members ample space.

As the new normal discourages us to spend too much time in public places, WV Towers are designed to become a haven for working—and playing—from home.

All homes are Internet connection ready for maximum productivity and entertainment, and amenities are designed to encourage safe enjoyment close to home: leisure amenities are well-designed to keep residents entertained, while condo and subdivision development gardens and open common areas allow for fresh air and freedom of movement.

Finally, WV Towers are also built against a background of safety for all: the property management strictly implements hygiene, sanitation and security protocols, and for emergencies and essential needs, the development is strategically located near essential services and establishments, such as hospitals, government offices, schools and churches. Reni Salvador

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Wednesday, August 19, 2020

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

NO LAYOFF AT PSC A

DIDAL AND HER SKATEBOARD

Margielyn Didal, Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, strikes a pose for the Red Bull DIY which comes to the Philippines to empower the Filipino skateboarding community with an opportunity to help them construct dream skate spots.

SILVER MEDAL FOR E.J. E

RNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA looked like a Tokyo Olympics-bound athlete in no hurry and settled for a silver medal in the virtual “Who is the Finest Pole Vaulter?” competition on Monday.

Obiena cleared 5.60 meters at the World Pole Vault Centre in Formia, Italy, where he has stayed during the Covid-19 pandemic, finishing behind training partner and Rio 2016 champion Thiago Braz of Brazil who submitted 5.70m.

Matt Ludwig of the US clinched the bronze with 5.35m, while former world champion Pawel Wjciechowski of Poland was fourth with 5.20m.

“It has been a fruitful two weeks with three medals, but the gold remain elusive, hope to get them in the coming competitions,” said Obiena, who also took silver in the 13th Triveneto International Meeting in Trieste, Italy, last August 1.

The Southeast Asian Games record holder has a personal best 5.81m.

Obiena is one of four Filipino athletes who have qualified for the postponed Tokyo Olympics. The others are world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno.

D.O.C.: DIRTY OLD CYCLIST A

N 80-year-old cyclist was stripped of an age group world record and handed a one-year ban by the United States AntiDoping Agency (Usada) after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

Barbara Gicquel was tested after provisionally setting a 500 meters time trial world record in the women’s 75 to 79 age group on August 29 last year.

A sample provided by Gicquel following a request from USA Cycling was found to have contained metabolites of methyltestosterone, an anabolic agent.

Usada annulled all of Gicquel’s results since August 29, 2015, after she admitted using a medication which contained the banned substance since March 2005. She had retroactively applied for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE), which was rejected by Usada.

Usada said Gicquel did not declare the medication on any of her previous doping

ROUND 250 Contract of Service (COS) employees of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are keeping their jobs, PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez assured on Tuesday.

“Before this Covid-19, we have communicated with Malacañang that we will let go of some contractual employees,” said Ramirez, adding that they would be serving the agency until August 31.

But Ramirez said the global pandemic made the PSC change its mind.

“We in the PSC board made a collective decision that it [termination of contracts] will not happen. We will not remove anyone from the PSC unless there is cause. We are in very difficult times,” Ramirez stressed in the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.

“In these difficult times, how would they bring to the table food for their families?” said Ramirez, 70, who is currently is locked down with his wife Mercy at the athletes’ quarters at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City.

The contractual employees are serving the PSC in various capacities from clerk to consultants.

“The PSC is thinking beyond sports, about fortitude and sacrifice,” the 70-year-old Ramirez told the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Amelie Hotel Manila and Braska Restaurant, and powered

by Smart with Upstream Media as official webcast partner.

At least P1 billion of the PSC’s budget for 2020 were turned over to the national government in its campaign to fight the pandemic.

Al Mendoza | alsol47@yahoo.com

Saso shines amid gloom

CHAIRMAN William Ramirez says the Philippine Sports Commission is keeping its contractual employees.

The sports agency also allowed the use of the Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila as quarantine facilities.

The assistance also included 350 beds and the 500 laptop units that were used for last year’s 30th Southeast Asian Games.

“The PSC is not only focused on sports now. We are adapting to the environment,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said the PSC is carrying out its day-to-day operations under a meager budget with nothing much to spare, thus the need to sacrifice the monthly allowances of national athletes and coaches that were cut in half since last summer.

But despite the financial difficulties, Ramirez said the athletes and coaches will continue receiving their allowances.

“Once our finances go back to normal, the athletes and coaches will receive what they used to get from the PSC,” he said.

The PSC’s monthly shares from Pagcor was pegged at P120 million before the pandemic. When casinos were closed starting last March 15, the remittance went down to P9 million in April and a measly P7 million in the last two months.

Ramirez reminded the athletes to be vigilant during pandemic and advised them to avoid falling ill.

“We pray that no one will be sick. It’s very expensive,” he said, adding that the hospital bill of one of five PSC employees who tested positive of the virus already breached P2 million.

“The expense is approaching P3 million for the third week of hospitalization,” he said.

“It’s getting bigger.”

DISTANCING BREACH

Vancouver Canucks’ Zack MacEwen (71) gets roughed up after running into St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen, not seen, during the second period of Game Four of their National Hockey League first-round playoff series on Monday in Edmonton, Alberta. AP

control forms.

“Her TUE application was denied because the documentation she submitted did not establish that she had a medical condition that required the use of methyltestosterone and indicated that her use of the medication was likely to provide an additional athletic performance benefit beyond a return to a normal state of health,” Usada said in a statement.

Gicquel also lost titles in the individual pursuit, sprint and time trial, including age group records in the 200m flying start time trial and 2-km individual pursuit, following the disqualification of her results.

She attempted to contest her results but an independent arbitrator “concluded that Gicquel’s results should be disqualified starting August 29, 2015, the date on which she first learned that her medication contained a prohibited substance,” Usada said.

Insidethegames

London ride draw big field

T

HOUSANDS of riders from across England got on their bikes over the weekend to raise crucial funds for charities during the first two days of the My Prudential RideLondon.

The participants took on challenges over a range of distances and on a variety of wheels, including bicycles, tandems, Brompton bikes, roller skates, scooters and skateboards.

The virtual event subbed this year’s Prudential RideLondon that was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has been incredible to see how many people have been out this weekend, many in

unfavorable weather conditions, and completed a My Prudential RideLondon challenge,” Hugh Brasher, event director of Prudential RideLondon, said.

The participants engaged in 100-, 46- and 19-mile options, plus FreeCycle that allows a rider to set his or her own distance with a 1-km minimum.

By using the My Prudential RideLondon app, the participants were able to track their own ride and compare it to the actual Prudential RideLondon routes. They received personalized finisher’s certificate and finisher selfie frames.

PBA back to square one in return bid HE Philippine Basketball Association (PSC) is practically back to square one in its effort to return to training and the first order of the day following the lifting of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) on Wednesday would be the mandatory testing of all members of the league’s 12 teams.

The compulsory swab testing was scheduled last August 6 and 7 but was trampled over by Malacañang’s declaration of an MECQ in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces last August 4.

And for PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial, hope springs eternal.

“The teams are free to start training if there’s no problem with the tests,” Marcial said. “They would have the go signal to do so but they have to follow our guidelines and protocols.”

The mandatory procedure are set this Thursday and Friday, Marcial said.

San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia team members will take the swab tests at the company’s facility at the San Miguel Corp. headquarters in Ortigas. The other teams, Marcial said, arrangements with the Makati Medical Center.

Negative results would allow a team to proceed to a “closed-circuit” training, the

first step toward full scrimmage and possibly, according to Marcial, a restart of the 45th season in October.

Marcial said the league’s “closed circuit” training program means a player, coach and staff must strictly follow a “home-car-gymand back” routine. He said violators will be immensely fined.

“If the situation continues to lighten up, the teams could do scrimmages and when the National Capital Region is placed under the MGCQ, maybe we can start by October,” Mahercial said.

Barangay Ginebra Head Coach Tim Cone said the MECQ is a relief.

“We’re all going back after a long, long stretch,” Cone said. “Back to zero.”

BROOKLYN Nets center Jarrett Allen battles for the ball against the Toronto Raptors’ Serge Ibaka (9) and Norman Powell (24). AP

engaged. I loved our energy, our attentitiveness and focus. That’s all you can ask for.”

VanVleet had 11 assists with only one turnover, becoming the first Raptor in franchise history to combine 30-plus points and 10-plus assists in a playoff game.

Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, meanthile, had enough answers to withstand Luka Doncic’s record-setting debut—especially after his running mate was thrown out of the game.

Leonard had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and the Clippers got a big boost from the ejection of Kristaps Porzingis to beat the Dallas Mavericks, 118-110, in Game One of their Western Conference series.

Doncic finished with 42 points, most ever by a player in his first postseason game, and added nine assists and seven rebounds. He had the No. 7 seed hanging right with the Clippers for much of the night.

“I mean, he’s great,” Leonard said.

But Los Angeles pulled into the lead when Porzingis was ejected for picking up his second technical foul in the third quarter and Doncic couldn’t bring the Mavs all the way back.

Game Two in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday.

Paul George added 27 points and Marcus Morris had 19 for the Clippers. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18 points and Porzingis finished with 14, along with Seth Curry.

Also on Monday, Jayson Tatum had career playoff highs of 32 points and 13 rebounds and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-101, in Game One of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff, while Jamal Murray scored 10 of his 36 points in overtime on a day Donovan Mitchell erupted for a Jazz playoffrecord 57 points as the Nuggets beat Utah, 135-125, in the opener of their first-round series.

“Offensively, it doesn’t feel like he’s got 32 at the end of the night,” Celtics Coach Brad

Raptors, Clippers, Celtics, Nuggets go 1-0 in playoffs

T

L

AKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—Fred VanVleet scored 30 points and led Toronto’s sizzling three-point attack as the defending National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Raptors beat the Brooklyn Nets, 134-110, in the opening game of their first-round playoff series on Monday.

VanVleet went eight of 10 from three-point range and the Raptors shot 22 of 44 from beyond the arc as a team as they maintained playoff intensity even without any fans attending postseason games at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. The Raptors’ 22 3-pointers matched a season high and set a franchise playoff record.

“We didn’t really get that playoff atmosphere in terms of that, but I thought we hyped ourselves up,” VanVleet said. “I thought this is the most locked in we’ve been all year.

It felt like guys were amped up and energized.

Having won one [title], it kind of puts you at a peace throughout the year, and now it’s time to kick it into gear. I thought we were pretty

THAT’S ALL

IN pocketing the NEC Karuizawa Open and becoming the first Filipina to win in the prestige-laden Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), Yuka Saso zoomed amazingly to a pinnacle achieved by someone so young.

Only 19 years old, Saso stunned not only the proud Japanese but the world as well with a final-round, nine-under-par 63, running away with the victory while being only a professional for a mere three months.

Definitely, she’s a burst of sunlight amid the gloom of the pandemic.

“Before the final round,” said Saso, “I was still looking for consistency.”

How true as she shot 72 in the second round after a brilliant 66.

And was the stigma of her failed pro debut in the ISPS Handa Classic in June suddenly haunting her?

Saso missed the cut there and that might have been a dampener for any dream-chaser, coming after failing to earn her US LPGA card earlier.

But Saso is made of sterner stuff, proving it almost in an instant by bouncing back strongly to finish a fighting fifth in her next assignment, the Earth Mondahmin Cup. “I’ve always known Yuka as a fighter, someone who has the heart of an inherent warrior,” said Diamond Motors’ George Blaylock, a consistent supporter since Day One of Saso’s career.

With that second-round 72 dropping her suddenly to third place going to the final round, Saso summoned strength after strength with every shot she made in the final round.

“I just tried to hit all my shots well,” she said.

She did. And she must have even done it so well that her four-shot victory in the happiest weekend of her life netted her the P6.6 million champion’s purse, the biggest single paycheck of all time won by any Filipino golfer.

With her steely resolve to “hit all my shots well” in place—good golf, indeed, is hitting all your shots well—Saso birdied five of her first nine holes to grab the lead, never relinquishing it and even finishing her crown-clinching round with a flourish.

Cruising already to a virtual victory after leading by two shots with two holes to go, Saso showed some bravado that all the more endeared her to her fans and even to her closest rivals and peers.

Gazing at the green of the par-5 16th 200 yards away, Saso, without hesitation, pulled out a 6-iron, planted it spectacularly to within eight feet, and made the eagle putt.

That gave her a four-shot lead that she carried mightily after the 18th hole to embellish her triumph for the ages.

With that, the tough-as-nails teenager stared at an P11.5-million bankbook, adding her P4.5 million fifth-place winnings at the Mondahmin Cup. “Her win is the first of many more,” said Rick Gibson, who was the national team coach when Saso won the gold in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games where she also spiked the victory with an eagle.

Ah, that eagle.

Saso also had 200 yards for her approach at the par-five 16th. That time, she hit a 4-iron, landing it on the fringe 15 feet away. Dramatically, she drained the putt to ensure victory.

And to think that this time, last weekend in Japan, Yuka used a 6-iron from 200 yards in gobbling up another eagle. What a tremendous improvement in length.

Need I stress the obvious that the future is here?

THAT’S IT LeBron James and the No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers face today Damian Lillard and the No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association West first-round playoffs opener at 9 a.m. No, not beer. Wine’s more like it beside the lazy boy.

Stevens said. “He just plays the game within himself. He did a lot of good things tonight.”

Jaylen Brown scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Kemba Walker added 19 points for the Celtics.

Joel Embiid had 26 points and 16 rebounds and Josh Richardson and Alec Burks each added 18 points for Nikola Jokic finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds for Denver. He had a chance to win it in regulation at the buzzer, but his right-handed hook shot over Utah’s Rudy Gobert was off the mark. Murray took over in the extra period, sealing the game on a 3-pointer with 46.8 seconds remaining.

Game Two is also on Wednesday.

Mitchell was the star of the show in the absence of Mike Conley, who left the NBA bubble to return to Ohio for the birth of his son.

Mitchell’s scoring spree surpassed the Jazz mark of 50 by Karl Malone on April 22, 2000, against Seattle. AP