BusinessMirror August 27, 2021 by BusinessMirror

Hot money in July with $340-M net outflow By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HORT-TERM investments made by foreign investors to the Philippines yielded a net outflow in July, as withdrawals overwhelmed investments during the month. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday that foreign portfolio investments (FPI) to the country hit a net outflow of $340 million, resulting from the $1.1-billion gross outflows and $730-million gross inflows for the month. July’s FPI number is a reversal of the previous month’s

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$334.5-million net inflow. It is, however, an improvement if compared to the $453-million net outflow in July of 2020. FPI are known as “hot” or “speculative” money because they are easily pulled in and out of the local platforms in the slight change of global and local sentiment. This type of foreign investment is usually a measure of the global economy’s investing sentiment toward the Philippines in short-term prospects for yields, in contrast to foreign direct investments (FDI) which are investments placed in the Philippines in search of long-term yield.

The BSP said investors reacted to domestic developments during the month, including the release of inflation data for the first half of the year, reports of vaccinations put on hold by some local government units due to supply constraints, the rising Covid-19 cases due to the more contagious Delta variant strain; and the announcement of the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila. Broken down, about 64.4 percent of investments registered were in listed securities mainly in property companies, holding firms, food, beverage and tobacco companies, banks and transporta-

tion services; while the remaining 35.6 percent went to investments in Peso government securities. The United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Norway and Luxembourg were the top 5 investor countries for the month with a combined share to total at 77.1 percent. Despite the net outflows in July, the country is still performing better in terms of hot money flows compared to last year. For the January-to-July period, net outflows reached a total $445.88 million. This is a significant improvement from the $3.76-billion net outflows in the same period last year.

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DINERS are seen at a designated dining area at the SM City Masinag in Antipolo City. Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion is pushing for malls and restaurants in Metro Manila to allow only fully vaccinated people on their premises to create safer bubbles that could stem the spread of the virus. NONOY LACZA

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CHANGES IN FOREX RULES TO SUPPORT BIZ GROWTH—DIOKNO

HE latest amendments to the foreign exchange regulatory environment in the country are expected to support the growth of businesses and investments, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said. Recent FX reforms under Circular 1124 aim to promote greater ease in the use of FX resources of the banking system, and further streamline and simplify procedures and documentary requirements for FX transactions by allowing,

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

@TyronePiad

MANUFACTURING industry leader raised concerns over the continued lockdown measures imposed amid the pandemic as these have affected the semiconductor sector, which aims to grow by 7 percent this year.

During a general membership meeting on Thursday, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) Chairman Glenn Everett lamented that the mobility restrictions have been hampering

the industry’s operation. Manufacturing hubs Metro Manila and Laguna are under modified enhanced community quarantine until the end of August. Based on the guidelines See “Semicon,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 50.0740

among others, electronic submission of documents and use of electronic/digital signatures. “The reforms are in line with the BSP’s commitment to maintain an FX regulatory framework that is responsive to the needs of a dynamic and expanding Philippine economy,” Diokno said. Earlier this year, the BSP also allowed the sale of FX by banks to e-commerce market participants without prior BSP approval. See “Changes,” A2

Worst thing for Earth? It’s climate change By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

HE pandemic is not the worst thing that has happened to Earth in its most recent history, but a larger, more alarming catastrophe is brewing amid the chaos. According to speakers at the BusinessMirror’s online Coffee Club, climate change has a greater impact on the planet than the Covid-19 global crisis. See “Worst,” A2 THE BM Coffee Club live online forum on “Best Practices in Sustainability” August 26, 2021: Joining host Anne Ruth dela Cruz, BusinessMirror special projects editor, are Crispian Lao, National Solid Waste Commission vice chairman; Chaye Cabal-Revilla, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chief sustainability officer; and Arlene Tan-Bantoto, Nestlé Philippines head of public affairs, communications and sustainability.

n japan 0.4553 n UK 68.9118 n HK 6.4327 n CHINA 7.7324 n singapore 37.0206 n australia 36.4138 n EU 58.9521 n SAUDI arabia 13.3520

Source: BSP (August 26, 2021)

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A2 Friday, August 27, 2021

Changes… Continued from A1

The Monetary Board also recently raised the banks’ net open FX position (NOP) limit to 25 percent of a bank’s qualifying capital or $150 million, whichever is lower. The previous limit is 20 percent of unimpaired capital or $50 million, whichever is lower. A bank’s NOP represents the amount of its net assets and/or liabilities denominated in foreign currency. “While the rules are already liberalized, the BSP is continuously reviewing the FX regulatory framework of the country to ensure that these are aligned with prevailing market conditions and that the general public will have continued access to FX resources of the banking system for legitimate FX transactions,” the governor said. “The recent FX reforms are also seen to promote capital market development by allowing funding of peso deposit accounts of non-residents with peso receipts related to loans and investments, among others; and lifting the prior approval requirement for derivatives transactions of non-bank government entities,” he added.

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PhilHealth vows to pay 60% of hospital claims next week By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

HE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Thursday vowed to pay 60 percent of hospital claims next week. In a hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, PhilHealth President and CEO Dante Gierran said hospital claims will be paid through the Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM). “Next week, we will pay our debts... and this would be through the DCPM. This means around 60 percent. The amount that we need to pay to healthcare institutions would be settled outright 60 percent,” he said. “So by next week, we could wipe out 60 percent [of our debts to hospitals],” he added. PhilHealth, in its Circular 2021-

0004, provides for the use of the DCPM to facilitate the settlement of accounts payable to health-care facilities during the State of Public Health Emergency brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, Gierran said the PhilHealth has P21.1 billion unpaid claims to its accredited hospitals. Of the P21.1 billion, P10.6 billion unpaid claims are from private hospitals. “We will really pay for that [debt] because we know how the hospitals have suffered. We already have this expanded DCPM. [And we will pay] something like P17 billion. So with P17 [billion] out of P21 [billion worth

the circular on the temporary suspension of payments on claims (TSPC). The PhilHealth Circular 2021-013 imposes a temporary suspension of claims for potential fraudulent cases. But PHA’s Almora had earlier expressed “strong doubt” on the timing of the release of the circular on TSPC. Almora said the PhilHealth circular was released amid mounting pressure for them to pay hospitals. With this, Almora said the Board of Directors and Officers of the PHA, the Private Hospital Associations of the Philippines, and the President of the Philippine Medical Associations and other healthcare providers, decided to review their engagement with PhilHealth.

of unsettled debts], there would be P4 billion left,” he said. According to Gierran, the payment of P17 billion is already in the pipeline. “In fact, we are just waiting for the documentation,” he added. “However, we have a hearing tomorrow [Friday], that’s why the work would be disrupted.” Meanwhile, Gierran admitted that PhilHealth officials are hurting from the issues involving unpaid hospital claims. “Ito sasabihin ko na po: bugbog na po kami. I open my heart, bugbog na po kami, [This I have to say: we are so beaten. I open my heart: we are so beaten],” said Gierran. Gierran also said Philippine Hospitals Association (PHA) President Dr. Jaime Almora called him to apologize for “overreacting” on

Worst…

Continued from A1

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Chaye Cabal-Revilla said everyone should understand that climate change is real and it will not only create a huge negative impact on the planet today but for future generations to come. “If we think that Covid-19 is the worst thing that has happened to us, it’s not. It will be climate change because with Covid-19 we have a chance of survival by locking down, vaccinations, or wearing facial shields or masks. But with climate stage, we have PM 2.5 pollution, category 5 storms, global warminginduced earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, we have nowhere to hide and we are all vulnerable,” she said. Arlene Tan-Bantoto, who heads Nestle Philippines’ Communication and Sustainability office, agreed, saying that climate change is one of the greatest threats to life on earth with alarming and long-term effects. “These include increasing temperatures, heat waves, and heavy precipitation, as well as melting ice and permanent frost resulting in rising sea levels. We are already experiencing these effects today,” she said. Cabal-Revilla said people must have a “sense of urgency” in dealing with climate change. She likened it to a person with a terminal disease who chooses to change his lifestyle only when he is about to die. “You have to have absolute change in the same way that we need to have absolute contraction for our carbon emissions,” she said. Companies like MPIC and Nestle, the two leaders said, are embracing sustainability as part of their efforts to combat climate change.

Their efforts include investing in new technologies and resources to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the main goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. “Originally, the Paris Agreement of 2015 says that we have to be netzero by 2050. But with the things happening now, we can’t wait until 2050, by that time it’s too late for us. So everybody has to make a decision for the environment,” Cabal-Revilla said. She urged consumers to adopt a drastic change in lifestyle in order to support the collective initiatives to mitigate climate change, especially now that there is a global health crisis. “The pandemic pushed us to work even harder and gave us the sense of urgency. We’ve actually doubled our effort,” she said. Crispian Lao, the Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, echoed these sentiments, saying that everyone must adopt a more holistic approach to bolster the fight against climate change is the implementation of a more holistic approach “People talk about the three Ps of people, planet, and profit or triple bottom line or the three Es of environment, economy and social equity. It is important to blend all of these together. It cannot be standalone now if you look at sustainability,” he said. This, according to CabalRevilla, involves the linking of sustainability into the advocacies or the corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts of companies. “Sustainability is about impact for all,” she said. “Gone are the days that we just do plain CSR. We have to be able to measure and assess the impact of the things that we do.”

Semicon… Continued from A1

from the Department of Trade and Industry, some related production segments of the semiconductor industry are mandated to limit capacity to 50 percent. “There’s great demand but the strict lockdowns have caused impacts that reduced the potential,” he said. “Hopefully, these conditions improve, restrictions will be reduced; and we will be able to live up to a larger potential.” Seipi, however, has maintained its growth forecast of 7 percent for the year. “Given all the global and local trends and conditions, the Board of Trustees evaluated the condition of semiconductor and electronics industry here in the Philippines...and the consensus opinion is that it will be about 7 percent for the year,” he said. Everett noted that worldwide sales of semiconductors improved by 21.7 percent to $41.8 billion in April from $34.4 billion year-onyear; $11.65 billion came from Asia Pacific and other regions. For the local industry, the electronics industry remains to be the top export contributor with $4.03 billion in revenues last June, which showed an 8.9-percent month-onmonth growth. The major markets for the Philippine electronics sector include Hong Kong, the United States, China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Netherlands. Seipi President Danilo Lachica said that the industry has been focusing its efforts on decreasing dependence to imports to boost production. “What we’re doing here to try to minimize this import of materials will be to continue working on our parts localization program,” he said. In relation to this, Lachica said they are looking forward to opening a microelectronics wafer fab lab in a few years amid the shortage of the manufacturing input. “To protect the intellectual property, shorten the process lead time and hopefully reduce the cost, we have...to put together a labscale wafer fab. And hopefully, in a couple of years, we can build that to support the IC [integrated circuit] design industry for prototyping needs,” he said.

Further support

John Ocampo, cofounder and president of California-based semiconductor firm Gaas Labs LLC, said that the local industry requires better educational approach and more financial support if it wants to maximize participation in the global value chain. “We are not graduating enough engineers. Maybe, partly, it’s the perception that it is a tough major and maybe what causes that is the lack of emphasis on STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] early on in their education,” Ocampo said. “Before we can even start thinking about offering low-hanging fruits like R&D [research and development] credits, tax holidays, we need to fix the system,” he said, stressing there not enough incentives for engineers. In addition, he cited a need to develop an ecosystem wherein start-ups and small firms will be able to thrive. Ocampo highlighted the necessity of having more incubators, local angel investors and venture capitalists, research grants and partnerships with top engineering schools. He cited the following as main growth driver for the semiconductor industry: artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of things, cloud technology and fifthgeneration technology.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, August 27, 2021 A3

Cemap bares ‘dumping’ of Vietnam cement imports on PHL By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @TyronePiad

HE “dumping” of imported cement, coming particularly from Vietnam, has continued despite the safeguard measures in place to protect the industry, local cement manufacturers revealed on Thursday. In a news statement, Cement Manufacturer’s Association of the Philippines (Cemap) Executive Director Cirili M. Pestaño II expressed his worries over more cement being imported from Vietnam.

“With a huge surplus and lower domestic demand, we would likely see a more aggressive effort from Vietnam exporters to flood the Philippine domestic market with imported cement,” he said. Citing reports, the industry group said that Vietnam’s cement exports in the first four months were up 42 percent year-on-year to 14.9 million tons. The shipments to Philippines comprised 2.51 million tons—17 percent more than last year—of the total exports, making the country Vietnam’s second-largest cement export market.

“Imports benefit mostly the foreign manufacturers. Their exports generate jobs in their home county, not here in the Philippines where many of our people have already lost their jobs,” he said. “We must support and protect local industries— whenever necessary—if we want to recover from this pandemic.” The Cemap official noted that majority of the domestic cement manufacturers had to temporarily shut down operations during the onset of the pandemic amid mobility restrictions. On top of this, he said, the pandemic also reduced

construction activities and demand by 10 percent last year. Meanwhile, Cemap lauded the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for “finding merit in the imposition of safeguard duties against imported cement from various countries to encourage and challenge the local cement industry to be globally competitive.” “Otherwise, it could bring dire consequences for the local industry that is still struggling to recover from the ill effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” he added. In 2019, the DTI imposed a three-

year safeguard measure on cement based on the findings of the Tariff Commission that imports on said products are seen to inflict serious injury to the domestic industry. T he trade department announced its anti-dumping investigation on cement imports from Vietnam in April. This, after Cemex Philippines, Holcim Philippines Inc. and Republic Cement Builders and Building Materials Inc. filed a complaint claiming that cements from Vietnam are imported at “dumped prices,” which hurts the local industry.

DTI noted that the period of investigation (POI) for dumping is from July 2019 to June 2020. The POI of injury is from 2017 to June 2020. The Anti-Dumping Act of 1999, or the Republic Act 8752, is in place to protect the local industry from being materially injured by the dumping of articles imported into the country. “Unless stopped, the continuing increase in the volume of imported cement would cause injury not just to the local industry but also to the economy, in general,” Pestaño stressed.

Ex-cop Nuezca found guilty in shooting of mom and son Lacson suspects ‘mafia’ may be behind By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Paniqui, Tarlac has meted a double-life sentence to former policeman Jonel Nuezca after he was found guilty of two counts of murder over the killing of a mother and her son last December 20, 2020. In an 18-page joint decision dated August 26, 2021, Paniqui RTC Branch 106 Presiding Judge Stela Marie Gandia-Asuncion also directed Nuezca to pay the heirs of his victims—Sonia Gregorio , 52, and her 25-year-old son Frank Anthony—in the amount of P426,280 each. “Law enforcers thrust their lives in unimaginable zones of peril. Yet resort to wanton violence is never justified when their duty could be performed otherwise. A ‘shoot first, think later’ disposition occupies no decent place in a civilized society. Never has homicide or murder been a function of law enforcement,” the decision read. Reacting to Nuezca’s conviction, Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said: “We commend the prosecution and the honorable judge for the speedy disposition of this case. It shows that if we all put our hearts into it, we can really make the administration of justice a little more efficient.” The trial court held that the prosecution was able to establish through its evidence and witnesses, including a phone video of the shooting incident, that Nuezca shot the

JONEL NUEZCA PHOTO COURTESY OF PRO-3

victims at almost point black range, resulting in their deaths. It added that the prosecution was also able to establish the presence of the element of treachery in the commission of the crime. The decision described treachery as a deliberate attack and done without warning, leaving no chance for the victim to resist, to fight back or escape. “The attack made by the accused is so swift and sudden that the victims were not able to defend themselves. The shots fired were made in quick succession. Hence, the attack made is treacherous,” the trial court pointed out. It stressed that Nuezca shot the victims while he was holding the shorts of Frank and while her mother was embracing his son. According to Gregorio’s granddaughter Alyzza Kate Rufino Calos-

ing, who took the video of the incident using her phone, she went to the victims’ house and heard a loud explosion from a distance that came from a boga, or a polyvinyl pipe, that was fired by Frank Anthony and a certain Jaypee. It was at this juncture when Nuezca came and tried to arrest Frank Anthony that led to shouting, a commotion, and later a heated verbal altercation. When Calosing saw Mark Lander, another witness, taking a video of the commotion on two cell phones, she took the other phone and continued recording the incident. Sonia then saw the commotion and immediately went to her son Frank Anthony and embraced him to prevent Nuezca from taking custody of the latter. Calosing then heard Nuezca’s daughter joining the altercation, tell-

ing Sonia: “My father is a policeman.” Sonia reacted to the daughter by singing : “I don’t care-e-e-e-e-e” from the popular song “I Don’t Care” of a K-pop group. In this instance, a peeved Nuezca shot Sonia and then her son at close range. Florentino Gregorio, who is the husband of Sonia and father of Frank Anthony, claimed that even before the shooting incident, Nuezca already harbored a grudge against the victims because of their dispute over right of way. Nuezca surrendered to the authorities following the incident. The incident sparked public outrage against the police, which has been under fire for its failure to protect some innocent civilians in its bloody all-out war against illegal drugs. The Philippine National Police, reacting to the conviction, said the verdict showed the organization is not condoning any of its rogue members. Central Luzon Police Director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said: “This development on the case of [former Police Staff Sergeant] Nuezca goes to show of equal justice to everyone and that the PNP does not condone any infraction or wrongdoing committed by any of its members.” “Any individual regardless of status must face the crimes they have committed, there is no exemption in enforcing the law,” he added, in reaction to the sentence in a case that was closely followed by the PNP leadership. With Rene Acosta

362K doses of govt-procured Pfizer vaccine arrive at Naia

HE Philippines received Wednesday night the latest shipment of governmentprocured Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine consisting of 362,700 doses. This brings to 4.95 million doses the Pfizer brand the country has procured since June 2021. Some 312,390 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 from Covax Facility in

Belgium on board Air Hong Kong DHL flight. A separate shipment of 50,310 doses of Pfizer was also flown directly from the Covax Facility to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) also on Wednesday, August 25, 2021. Out of the 312,390 doses, the 262,080 doses were consigned to Department of Health (DOH) in Manila, while the 50,310 doses were consigned to DOH-Davao and

were flown Thursday morning to Davao International Airport by a Philippine Airlines flight. Assistant Secretar y Wilben Mayor of t he O f f ice of t he Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process a nd Economic Counselor David Gamble from the US Embassy welcomed the shipment and were immediately transported to a cold-storage facility in Marikina City. The National Task Force against

Philippine Red Cross extends aid to Cebu City’s vulnerable sectors By Claudeth Mocon Ciriaco @claudethmc3

HE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) continues to be at the forefront in providing hope to the most vulnerable as PRC’s Cebu Chapter sent out food packs to visually impaired individuals whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic. “Regardless of the current challenges that we are facing, the Red Cross will always be there. We stand to provide hope for the most vulnerable whom we serve without discrimination,” said PRC Chairman and CEO Senator Richard J. Gordon. According to PRC Cebu Chapter Administrator Vera de Jesus, Rosendo Lacaba, who is a blind mas-

seur, asked Gordon for help. Lacaba has been in touch with Gordon for support since the early onset of the pandemic. “Lacaba called for help. In no time, the PRC Cebu Chapter provided food packs containing rice, sardines, luncheon meat, baked beans, Vienna sausage, and chicken liver,” de Jesus said. All in all, de Jesus said that PRC gave food packs to 14 visually impaired individuals, 15 day workers and “no work, no pay” barber, driver, salon worker, and laundrywomen. Lacaba thanked Gordon and the PRC for heeding their call. This week, PRC Cebu Chapter will also be rolling out its food trucks to provide hot meals for health workers at Vicente Sotto Medical Center; and

in Poblacion Guadalupe in Cebu.

Ready-to-eat meals

THE PRC has also been providing ready-to-eat hot meals to Covid-19 affected individuals through the deployment of PRC’s food truck in different parts of Cebu City. Through the directive of Gordon, PRC Cebu Chapter has conducted food assistance to Safehaven facility, feeding 85 individuals composed of rescued/abused children, street dwellers, and other most vulnerable sectors in Cebu. The PRC food truck in Cebu is now bound to Vicente Sotto Medical Center to provide food assistance to 600 medical health-care workers working in the Red Zone.

Covid-19 (NTF) announced that it is working to ensure a “steady supply” of vaccines next month. The latest shipment of Pfizer vaccine is part of the 5 million doses that are expected to arrive in the country this week. Aside from Pfizer, 3 million more doses of China-made Sinovac and 1.8 million doses of US made Moderna will also be delivered, NTF chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said. Recto Mercene

overstocking of DOH medicine supply By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

EN. Panfilo Lacson is going after a suspected “mafia” behind the annually overstocked medicine supply of the Department of Health (DOH) said to be “expired” or nearing expiry dates. At Wednesday’s Senate hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Public Accountability, Lacson presented a Commission on Audit (COA) report which noted that from 2013 up to 2020, over P2.376 billion of public funds were wasted in buying “expired or about to expire” medicine supplies. The senator, citing COA findings, noted this was the biggest wasted medicine supply ordered by DOH, but cannot be distributed to intended beneficiaries, resulting in multibillion-peso public funds misused. He noted that the biggest wasted medicine supply delivery was

in 2019 amounting to P2.2 billion, but can no longer be distributed being way past expiry dates. According to Lacson, having a long experience in his early years of public service as a crack investigator, he could sense the existence of a mafia at the DOH cannot be crushed because those involved are insiders, who are quickly replaced when the old timers retire. Lacson said he believes Secretary Francisco Duque III is not incahootswiththe“DOHsyndicate,” but insisted the DOH chief mount his own inquiry and clean up the department, which Duque vowed to do. Duque, in turn, assured that among other reform measures on line, DOH officials are already working on the implementation of a “strategic plan” involving reforms in their procurement supply chain, including the ban on buying medicine supply nearing expiry dates.

GOCC, GFI employees renew call for pay hike

MPLOYEES of governmentowned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs) on Tuesday reiterated their appeal to President Duterte to carry out their salary hike that has been put on hold for several years. In a virtual news conference, officers of the Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa GOCCs at GFIs (KAMAGGFI) asked President Duterte to implement the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS) that he suspended in 2017. Nanette Jarino, KAMAGGFI secretary-general, said they are hoping the President will acknowledge their contributions to the government and grant their appeal. “We are hoping that the

government will see our efforts and contributions as public workers,” she said. On the other hand, Virginia Cabonce, vice chairperson of the group, said GOCC and GIF workers are also considered frontliners. The group has 100,000 members from over 200 GOCCs and GFIs that are engaged in public utilities and commercial activities for profit, enabling the government to earn and deliver basic services. The CPCS was initiated by the administration of late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino to streamline the compensation scale of GOCC and GFI officers and employees. In 2017, Duterte suspended the CPCS implementation through Executive Order 36. PNA

DepEd to distribute 40K laptops to schools, teachers, field offices nationwide this month

HE Department of Education (DepEd) is set to deliver some 40,000 laptops to teachers, personnel, schools, and field offices nationwide this month to provide essential support to education frontliners for the upcoming school year. “The provision of Internetcapable equipment to DepEd offices, schools, and teachers is great news for the education sector. This would go a long way in our continued implementation of our Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan and in providing technical support to our field offices nationwide,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said. The procurement of the laptops, through the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement

Service (DBM-PS), was made possible by the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan II), the government’s second stimulus package to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our direction is to provide laptops for each teacher and our DepEd offices. The Department recognizes that teachers who use their own devices bought these out of their own expense. It is still the responsibility of the state to provide government-issued laptops,” Undersecretary for Administration Alain del B. Pascua said. The mandatory recipients for the Division and Regional Offices are Implementing Units, Public Schools District Supervisors, Alternative Learning System Mobile Teachers, and Regional and Divi-

sion Coordinators under the Administration Strand. The laptops will be delivered by the supplier directly to the Regional Offices. The Regional Supply Officer will then identify the final list of recipients and take charge in releasing the allocated units of the Schools Division Offices. Furthermore, the names of beneficiaries will later be submitted to the respective regions and divisions by concerned offices for reference. Regional and Schools Division Offices may organize simultaneous unboxing and training of laptop use through online webinars or face-to-face sessions, prov ided the required health protocols and social distancing are strictly observed.

A4 Friday, August 27, 2021 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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DOE finally issues draft policy on WTE development in PHL

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday released a draft policy that will enhance the development of waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities in the country. WTE converts non-recyclable waste materials into heat, electricity or fuel. The DOE wants

WTE included in the qualified RE generating units considered as “must dispatch.”

“Must dispatch preference is given to power generation from eligible WTE facility in hierarchy of dispatch schedule,” it said, adding that the agency deems it necessary to issue a policy to “further support as well as address issues and concerns in the development of WTE in the Philippines.” Moreover, DOE said it recognizes that WTE facility projects simultaneously achieve the twin socioeconomic benefits of local government units’ (LGUs) solid waste management and

provision of additional source of power supply. The draft circular states that incentives will be given to distribution utilities procuring energy from eligible WTE facilities. “For every 1 megawatt sourced from duly registered eligible WTE facility shall be given two renewable energy certificates [REC] under the renewable energy market.” For WTE facilities with embedded system to Distribution Utilities (DU), a competitive selection process (CSP) must be conducted.

The power supply contract between the DU and the WTE facility will be valid for 10 years. However, WTE projects initiated and completed by LGUs shall be exempted from the CSP. The DOE said it would accept until September 8 comments from industry stakeholders on the draft circular. There is a proposed measure at the Senate allowing the use of WTE facilities in waste treatment and disposal and to generate sustainable energy.

Under Sen ate Bi l l 363 or the Waste-to-Energy Act (WTE Act), only waste treatment technologies that do not emit toxic and poisonous fumes into the environment will be allowed to operate. If the WTE facility is found non-compliant, it will be penalized and can be shut down by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The project proponent will be the one to shoulder the expense in the construction and operation of the facility.

DA releases import rules on ‘superior’ rabbit breeds for meat production By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

HE Philippines has issued new import rules to facilitate the entry of “superior” rabbit breeds to boost domestic rabbit meat production, an animal protein alternative eyed by the

government due to minimal costs and easier propagation. The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 15 that outlined the transitory guidelines regarding the importation of rabbits into the Philippines. The DA explained that they issued the guidelines to facilitate the “safe

importation and introduction of superior genetics from other countries.” The import rules, which were absent before, according to industry sources, would also prevent the “inadvertent introduction and spread of transboundary animal diseases of rabbits” in the country. The DA added that the rules were issued following a spike in the application of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) for meattype rabbit breeds. “The DA recognizes the increasing interest of many Filipino farmers in raising rabbits for meat production due to the ease in propagation and minimal production costs,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said in the circular. “The growing awareness and local acceptance of rabbit meat as an alternative source of protein amid the rising prices of major livestock commodities such as pork and poultry meat have ignited a subsequent increase in the SPS Import Clearance request for meattype rabbit breeds,” Dar added. Association of Rabbit Meat Produc-

The DA recognizes the increasing interest of many Filipino farmers in raising rabbits for meat production due to the ease in propagation and minimal production costs. Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar ers Inc. (ARaMP) President Art Veneracion told the BusinessMirror welcomed the issuance of the import rules, pointing out that they are necessary to regulate and govern the importation of live rabbits for meat consumption. “We are in favor of those rules. In fact, those came from us. We were the ones that proposed it because a lot of people wanted to import rabbit,” Veneracion said. “We told them that unless we have the transitory guidelines, the importation should be temporarily suspended.” Vener acion sh a red interest for rabbit meat farm-

ing boomed in the past two years due to lucrative profits. At the same, Veneracion added that Filipino consumers’ have developed acceptance and awareness of rabbit meat as a protein source. “Compared to when we started producing and selling rabbit meat, people are now aware that rabbit meat could be part of livestock. There is really a growing acceptance and awareness among Filipino consumers,” he said. The issuance of the import rules comes a few days after the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) disclosed that it has started crafting a Philippine National Standard (PNS) for rabbit slaughtering. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/08/18/government-crafting-standards-forslaughtering-rabbits/)

Interested rabbit importers must be registered legal entities and authorized by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) as a live rabbit importer and their rabbit farms must be accredited as well by the government agency. The source country of rabbits must be free from Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease/Viral Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD/VHD), Myxomatosis and Tularemia for the past one year and the rabbits must be born and bred in the exporting country, according to the new rules. Furthermore, live rabbits for breeding/pharmaceutical/surgical/ agricultural/industrial use should not be vaccinated against RHD/VHD. The new rules also stipulated that the imported rabbit must be at least 60 days old and not pregnant during the time of travel. “During transport, no rabbit from another country shall be permitted aboard the vessel or aircraft. No feeds other than from the country of origin are taken aboard the ship or aircraft,” the import rules read. The import rules also outlined the procedures for SPS-IC import clearance application, border clearance and processing of imported rabbits, quarantine procedures, and penalties regarding live rabbit importation. The transitory import rules will remain in effect for six months starting August 25.

To ease domestic shortage, govt lifts Dutch poultry import ban

HE Netherlands may fully resume exporting poultry products to the Philippine after the government lifted the temporary import ban on Dutch poultry, providing a long-awaited relief to meat processors. The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued Memorandum Order (MO) 49 that authorized the lifting of the temporary importation ban of domestic and wild birds and their products from the Netherlands. DA officials noted that the Netherlands has resolved its highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks, the reason behind the earlier temporary import ban, based on its report to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). “Netherlands has already provided the Philippine government all supporting documentary evidences on the disease control measures carried out by their veterinary services to contain the HPAI outbreaks in their country,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said in the MO dated August 25. The Philippine market has been temporarily closed to Dutch poultry products since January after the Netherlands reported confirmed HPAI outbreaks. But in April, the DA allowed meat processors to import mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of poultry from the Netherlands. However, meat processors were not able to capitalize the easing of the import restriction due to stringent measures that even exporters cannot comply with. Poultry MDM is one of the vital raw materials used in manufacturing processed meat products such as hot dogs, longganisa, siomai, and chicken nuggets. With the full lifting of the import ban, meat processors can now freely access Dutch chicken MDM supply, providing a boost in domestic supply that has been crippled by closure of market sources due to import bans caused by bird flu outbreaks.

The order stipulated that the importers can now purchase poultry products from the Netherlands even if they were not born and raised in the European country as long as they were sourced from countries that have been granted system accreditation by the Philippines. Should the source of the poultry imports from the Netherlands come from other countries, they must be free from bird flu or do not have existing import ban due to bird flu outbreaks, according to the document. “The lifting of the poultry ban on the Netherlands will help ease the shortage of MDM raw materials for our industry. We appreciate the action of the Department of Agriculture in accordance with the guidelines of the OIE on the resolution of avian influenza outbreaks,” the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror. PAMPI also urged the DA to fast-track the application for accreditation to export MDM to the Philippines by other tradepartners to widen the country’s supply base of the raw material. “We also hope that the DA will act faster and more expeditiously on pending requests of trading partners for accreditation to export MDM to the Philippines,” the group said. “We fully support the move of EU [Hungary and Poland] and non-EU (Turkey) producers of MDM to be accredited to export to the Philippines. The more supply we have, the more competitive prices we get, which will result in stable supply and pricing for our consumers,” it added. The meat processing industry faced supply problems this year after the entirety of Europe was technically shut down due to series of import bans slapped by the government on European countries supplying the country with chicken MDM due to bird flu outbreaks. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

www.businessmirror.com.ph

News

BusinessMirror Friday, August 27, 2021 A5

Govt eyes 40-M vaccine allocation for provinces around Metro Manila By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ITH local government units (LGU) in Metro Manila now close to achieving their respective vaccination targets, the national government is now eyeing to allocate almost 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine among its surrounding provinces.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government will be allocating 20 million jabs for Calabarzon and 17 million doses for Central Luzon. “Now that Metro Manila is close to achieving its 50 percent [vaccination

rate] target, most of the vaccines will be sent to its nearby provinces, the ‘plus areas,’ and those where there is a surge [in cases],” Roque said in an online press briefing. The so-called National Capital Region (NCR) plus areas include Metro

Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, and Cavite. Most of the country’s business activities are located in the said areas. For Cavite, Roque said, over 3.8 million doses will be sent to the province next month and another 17.4 million in the last quarter of the year. He issued the statement in response to the appeal of Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla for more Covid-19 jabs to vaccinate more of his constituents. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reported that 75 percent or 11.7 million of their target 14 million adult population in NCR already got their first dose. Of the vaccinated individuals, 4.2 million were also able to get their second dose and have become “fully vaccinated” against Covid-19. The other 7.3 million are expected to get their second dose in the coming weeks.

Senators in final push for child-rape bill continued from a12 The close-in-age exemption or the “sweetheart clause” is included in SBN 2332, which is the exemption—from being considered as statutory rape—of consensual, non-abusive and non-exploitative sexual activity between partners whose difference of age is only four years or less. Lawmakers explained this will protect young people engaged in consensual sexual activity while strongly punishing adult predators, especially those who blood relations or relationships of trust with minor-victims marks the severity of their offense. “This seeks to balance the best interests of the child considering their evolving capacities, physical and mental maturity, vis-a-vis their protection against rape, sexual abuse and exploitation,” Gordon explained of the “sweetheart clause.” Hontiveros said “this groundbreaking legislation to raise the age of sexual consent” is urgent, given the cases cited by advocates of children aged 13 or 14 “who are asked to prove in court that they did not consent to the sexual act, with some even being asked if they enjoyed it. As a result,

many victims opt to stay silent. As a mother, I am disgusted that the current state of our laws subjects a 13-year-old to this kind of cruelty. As a policy-maker, I am pleased that we now take an advantage of an historical opportunity to correct this.”

Gender-neutral

ANOTHER significant provision of SBN 2332 is that men and women may be charged with statutory rape. The proposed law, as Gordon explained, will address this issue by giving equal protection to boys. “The sexual orientation of the offender is of no importance as we find that perpetrators of sexual abuse against boys are given much lesser sentences than those found guilty of raping girls. The proposedlaw will address this issue by giving a gender-neutral protection to children,” said Gordon. The National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children (NBSVAC), a 2015 study by the government supported by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) Philippines of

3,866 children and young people (13 to 24 years old), revealed that one-in-four children (24.9 percent) reportedly suffered from any form of sexual violence in any setting. According to the data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), from 2015 to 2017, most of the victims of rape and child incest were between the ages of 14 to below 18, way above the minimum age set by RA 8353 (The Anti-Rape Law of 1997) of under 12 years old. The National Bureau of Investigation also revealed in a report in 2020 that about 17.1 percent of children aged 13-18 years experienced any form of sexual violence while growing up. A prevalence of 1.6 percent was noted in the past 12 months. “It is the policy of the State to value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human rights. It is likewise the policy of the state to recognize the vital role of the youth in nationbuilding and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being,” said Gordon.

Economic team justifies ’22 infra budget of P1.18 trillion continued from a12 “Once we get a better sense of the newly submitted NEP, we will see whether outright budget increases, or realignments, are the overriding need in our infrastructure budget. But, for now, my cursory observation is that this is a growth-enabling infrastructure budget,” he said. “We need growth-affirming proj-

ects that link centers of economic activity, open frontier areas to new development, enhance value chains in the countryside, and improve labor productivity through shorter commutes,” he added. Also, he said the government should invest in human infrastructure —hospitals, schools, rural health cen-

ters, evacuation centers, and the like. “These investments enhance the ability of our people to contribute to the economy in more productive and healthier ways,” he added. He said the country should also invest in agricultural infrastructure, especially in value-creating and value-enhancing infrastructure.

Solons raise issues on Covid-19 booster funds, P5.1-B testing kits continued from a12 “The President’s budget includes this item as a contingency. This will be implemented only if the Health authorities determine if boosters are required,” Dominguez said. House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week despite being vaccinated, appealed that the P45 billion to buy booster shots be placed instead under Programmed Appropriations. Garin, a former health secretary, also questioned the Executive branch’s “impractical” proposal under the 2022 national budget to allocate P5.1 billion for the procurement of a specific brand of Covid-19 testing kit

called GeneXpert cartridge, which she said is “more expensive” and can cater to fewer people compared to other testing kits in the market. According to Garin, the GeneXpert cartridge can only test 1 to 4 people while the other machines that the country has can test 1 to 96 people. “With the volume of infections we are having now, I find it impractical to make a line item budget of P5.1 billion very specific to a brand of a testing kit.... Why not use testing kits that are cheaper and can test more people because the amount of P5.1 billion can transcend to maybe 10 million Filipinos but if we use GeneXpert cartridges, I

believe that amount can cater to roughly only 3 million Filipinos or even less,” Garin said. Canda, who is also currently infected with Covid-19, explained that the proposed allocation of P5.1 billion for GeneXpert cartridges was part of DOH’s request when they submitted their proposal to DBM back in April. “So we really professed no expertise in the choice of testing kits so as I mentioned earlier we defer to the wisdom of Congress in the selection or the choice of testing kits if it’s more economical to use other testing kits. We don’t have any preferred brand at the moment,” Canda said.

BusinessMirror

A6 Friday, August 27, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

24/7 BUSINESS PROCESSING INC. 5th-6th-7th Flr. 81 Newport Bl Newport City Brgy. 183 Pasay City

HUANG, XIANG Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients will all their concerns.

KIM, KYOUNGSIK Customer Service Representative Basic Qualification: *Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. *Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. *Detailoriented and has the ability to multi-task.

16.

Brief Job Description: Assists clients will all their concerns.

Basic Qualification: *Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. *Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. *Detailoriented and has the ability to multi-task. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ZHAO, WEIJIE Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients will all their concerns.

Basic Qualification: *Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. *Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. *Detailoriented and has the ability to multi-task.

17.

Brief Job Description: Responding promptly to the inquiries to ensure customer satisfaction LY THUY KIEU Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Responding promptly to the inquiries to ensure customer satisfaction

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in Vietnamese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

18.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for analysing company’s financial results with respect to profits, trends, costs and compliance with budgets.

Basic Qualification: Minimum 5 year experience in a senior management roles in business consulting experience.

19.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status KETARO HOSHI Mandarin Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status WEI, WENJING Mandarin Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status XIAO, PEIXIAN Mandarin Customer Service Representative

10.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status YANG, SI Mandarin Customer Service Representative

11.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status ZHANG, MI Mandarin Customer Service Representative

12.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status

20.

13.

14.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires LUO, CHENGXING Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

21.

15.

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions

Brief Job Description: To provide results and reports of services undertaken to the Senior Manager.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

MOH YEE MEN Malaysian Customer Relations Officer 22.

Brief Job Description: Handles the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services.

LIU, XIN Mandarin Customer Relations Officer 23.

24.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

Brief Job Description: Handles the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services.

25.

26.

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

Brief Job Description: Provide executive level strategic leadership and direction in planning, implementing and evaluating

CHEN, JINGWEI Freight Coordinator Brief Job Description: Processes orders and oversees cycle of order fulfilment

LI, QINGQUAN Mandarin Customer Support Representative 27.

Basic Qualification: 21 years old and above, fluent in Korean language

30.

31.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: 21 years old and above, fluent in Korean language

32.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

LI, XIAOHANG Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor 28.

Brief Job Description: Strategist and a leader who is able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

33.

ZHANG, DONGWEI Distribution Sales Supervisor 34.

Brief Job Description: Develop and create marketing materials and collaborate with the internal teams.

Brief Job Description: Expected to lead the national product market insight, guide the national and product strategy, business objectives and implement the promotion of product solutions.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing and fluent in mandarin speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing and fluent in mandarin speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing and fluent in mandarin speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing and fluent in mandarin speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Must hold a Bachelor’s degree with major in International Trade/ Marketing/Business Management/Computer/ Electronics or the like; Proficient in English and Chinese language; With at least 3 working experience. Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

DAXIFA CORPORATION Mpire Center 93 West Avenue Project 7 Bungad 1 Quezon City Basic Qualification: Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in MANDARIN, with related BPO experience

HUANG, XUECHENG Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative 35.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in MANDARIN, with related BPO experience

Basic Qualification: Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in MANDARIN, with related BPO experience Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: A degree holder in computer science (software engineer) and with diploma in engineering informatics

36.

37.

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

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy equipment use by company; Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing and fluent in mandarin speaking Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Delivering excellent customer service and managing the needs of customer through phone calls and emails

Basic Qualification: Ability to communicate fluently in Mandarin Chinese with customers Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Ability to communicate fluently in Mandarin Chinese with customers Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Ability to communicate fluently in Mandarin Chinese with customers Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

DEXIN 999, INC. Red Hotel No. 345 Edsa Cor. Don Carlos Revilla St. Barangay 147 Pasay City CUI, SAI Mandarin Customer Support Representative 38.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

WANG, BAOYING Mandarin Customer Support Specialist 39.

Brief Job Description: Experts at their product, and their primary duty is to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

FALCONER AIRCRAFT MANAGEMENT INC. Interisland Hangar Gen. Aviation Bldg. Andrews Ave. Brgy. 191 Pasay City

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

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Brief Job Description: Delivering excellent customer service and managing the needs of customer through phone calls and emails SUN, ZONGPING Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative

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

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin and with at least 6 months experience in logistics industry.

Brief Job Description: Delivering excellent customer service and managing the needs of customer through phone calls and emails LI, DESHUN Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative

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

DA SUCCESS BUSINESS TRADING INCORPORATED 2503 The Finance Centre 26th Street Corner 9th Avenue Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

29.

Brief Job Description: Develop and create marketing materials and colaborate with the internal teams.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

DAHUA TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED (PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE) 19/f Marco Polo Ortigas Manila Sapphire Road, Ortigas Center San Antonio Pasig City

O’SHEA, DIARMUID PAUL Director Of Maintenance 40.

Brief Job Description: Ensures organization is provided with strong technical direction and adequate resources

Basic Qualification: Professional experience, airport industry professional certifications Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. Lot 5 Sta. Agueda Cor. Queensway Pagcor Drive Sto. Niño Parañaque City

41.

ZHAO, TINGTING Mandarin Customer Service Brief Job Description: To provide Chinese customer service

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in managing incoming calls Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

FLYING DRAGON NETWORK PHILIPPINES INC. 4th-11th Floor Aseana 3 Building Aseana Avenue Corner Diosdado Macapagal Tambo Parañaque City LAM THI BAN Customer Service Representative 42.

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

HAN, ZHAOCHEN Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

Brief Job Description: Develop and create marketing materials and collaborate with the internal teams. ZHOU, YILAN Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient knowledge and global experience in performing commissioning and inspection.

Brief Job Description: Develop and create marketing materials and collaborate with the internal teams. WANG, TIANXING Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions

Brief Job Description: Develop and create marketing materials and collaborate with the internal teams. TONG, XUEYANG Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: 21 years old and above, fluent in Korean language

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION LIANG, SUHAN Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

CSCEC STRAIT CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD (PHILIPPINES BRANCH OFFICE) Units A&b 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St. San Lorenzo Makati City

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language

Basic Qualification: 21 years old and above, fluent in Korean language

No.

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

CROWN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INC. 5th-7th Floor Alhi Corporate Center Aseana Avenue Tambo Parañaque City

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language

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

Basic Qualification: 21 years old and above, fluent in Korean language

COCOPIG DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY INC. Unit F 20/f Marajo Tower 26th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

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

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Brief Job Description: Handles the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services.

CHUA WEE LI Vp & Chief Information Officer

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

BLOOMBERRY RESORTS AND HOTELS INC. Solaire Resort And Casino 1 Asean Avenue, Entertainment City Tambo Parañaque City

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. Eastfield Center Cbp1, Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

ZHAO, TONG Mandarin Customer Relations Officer

ASIAN TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, INC. 11/f Tower 2 Double Dragon, Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City GONG, GYOUNGDUCK Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions SELVIN RAJAKUMAR, JESWIN FRANKLIN Technical Representative

Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f To 10/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D. Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street Tambo Parañaque City CHEN, ZHOUWEN Chinese Customer Specialist

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions SON, MINSEONG Customer Service Representative

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5/f To 10/f, Tower 4 Pitx #01 Kennedy Road Tambo Parañaque City CHEN, CAINENG Mandarin Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions LEE, DONGJIN Customer Service Representative

3030 DPP EXPRESS INC. #498 Shaw Blvd. Pleasant Hills Brgy. Pleasant Hills Mandaluyong City ANG CHIN LEONG VP Financial Consultant

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions KWON, HYEOKYUN Customer Service Representative

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 HAO, YUNFAN Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries and promotions KIM, YISEOB Customer Service Representative

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

WAN, SHAOQUN Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts)

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

www.businessmirror.com.ph

43.

44.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answeing questions, and responding to complaints

NGUYEN DUC ANH Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Customer Service ZENG, PENG Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Customer Service

Basic Qualification: College Graduate level, preferably with customer service or sales experience, fluent in mandarin and basic english Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/Level and Fluent in Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/Level and Fluent in Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

45.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION ZHANG, LAIFU Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Customer Service

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

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

60.

FUTURENET AND TECHNOLOGY CORP. Unit 2104 Robinsons Equitable Tower Adb Avenue, Ortigas Center San Antonio Pasig City HUANG, JIE Network Technical Engineer 46.

Brief Job Description: Establish and maintain network performance , builds net configuration & connections, troubleshoots problems, IP address auditing

PENG, YANBO Network Technical Engineer 47.

Brief Job Description: Establish and maintain network performance , builds net configuration & connections, troubleshoots problems, IP address auditing

Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English with Good moral character , College graduate preferably with 2years of experience Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English with Good moral character , College graduate preferably with 2years of experience

48.

Brief Job Description: Daily and weekly KPI monitoring reporting/presentation to higher management.

JASKARAN SINGH Senior Planning Optimizer 49.

Brief Job Description: Daily and weekly KPI monitoring reporting/presentation to higher management.

62.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

50.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

LEI, LINGLI Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 51.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

LI, ZHIXIONG Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 52.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

WANG, SHUO Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 53.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

WU, PEIQIN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 54.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

YANG, YIQIN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 55.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

YI, XINGXING Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 56.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

ZHANG, KUN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 57.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

ZHANG, XIANQIAO Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking 58.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking

HUANG, LONG Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking 59.

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all marketing activity and result

ZHONG, FUAI Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Analyse the productivity of the marketing plans and projects, recommend optimization to senior management

Basic Qualification: Analyse the productivity of the marketing plans and projects, recommend optimization to senior management Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Analyse the productivity of the marketing plans and projects, recommend optimization to senior management

Basic Qualification: Analyse the productivity of the marketing plans and projects, recommend optimization to senior management

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

HAMMERTIME CONSTRUCTION INC. Unit 203-s3 2nd Flr. Fbr Arcade Bldg. #317 Katipunan Ave. Loyola Heights 3 Quezon City

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in telecommunications/ Electronics engineering; 7 years+ of experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

CAO, JINGQIANG Project Support Specialist 64.

Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analysing customer needs

LI, JIANBANG Project Support Specialist 65.

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

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

66.

67.

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

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

KAWABE, TAKAHIRO Deputy General Manager Brief Job Description: Assist GM in overall branch operations

LUO, QIZHAO Compensation & Benefits Human Resource Manager 68.

75.

76.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: At least three (3) years of experience in project management and construction management or a related field is required; fluent in Mandarin / basic English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: 1. In-charge w/ the company’s C&B management 2. In-charge w/ the company’s incentive plan. 3. Manage company internal payroll system

LEE, SOHEE Korean Customer Support Representative 69.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

HE, HAIYAN Mandarin Customer Support Representative 70.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

JIA, CHUNXIA Mandarin Customer Support Representative 71.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

72.

Brief Job Description: Contribute in the implementation of marketing strategies

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

82.

83.

73.

Brief Job Description: Overall direction and stewardship of the company.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system

CAO, YICHAO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires LUO, JING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries SHI, KUN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires WU, XINJIE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires ZHANG, XIAOBO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries CHEN, HU Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries JIANG, LIANGNI Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Customer service

RAMCHANDRE, ASHWINI SATISH Agile Delivery Manager 84.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 1331 Pearl Plaza Bldg. Quirino Ave. Tambo Parañaque City

Basic Qualification: 1. In-charge w/ the company’s C&B management 2. In-charge w/ the company’s incentive plan. 3. Manage company internal payroll system Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in KOREAN and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

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

85.

Basic Qualification: International Degree in Engineering; International experience in forma works industry.

86.

87.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate/level and fluent mandarin basic english Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Knowledgeable in computer application with good oral and written communication skills

Basic Qualification: Experience with agile delivery methodologies such as scrum, kanba, with experience in managing technology projects Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Customer support and data base services Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

CHANG, YU Mandarin Operations Specialist

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin.

Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record.

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

TRAN THI PHUONG CHI Mandarin Operations Specialist

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin.

Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record

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

RED DOT MARKETING AND BRANDING INC. Unit 1514 Burgundy Transpacific Place Taft Ave. 079, Bgy. 727 Malate Manila BAO, XUE Mandarin Operation Specialist 88.

Brief Job Description: Committed to improving customer experience and operational efficiency LI, PING Mandarin Team Leader

89.

Brief Job Description: Leading the team with motivation and inspire to reach the goal and exceeding the team performances LI, JIANHUA Mandarin Team Leader

90.

Brief Job Description: Leading the team with motivation and inspire to reach the goal and exceeding the team performances LIU, XIN Mandarin Technical Support

91.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system XIE, XUECHOU Mandarin Technical Support

92.

Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

MINDSCAPE CREATIVES INC. Unit 19-o, Burgundy Corporate Tower 252 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Pio Del Pilar Makati City

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

OCEANIC SYMPHONY SERVICES INC. 3/f Salcedo One Center 170 Salcedo St. San Lorenzo Makati City

Basic Qualification: Excellent in reading, writing and speaking in Mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Facilitate scum ceremonies, identify and remove impediments for agile teams, act as a safeguard for the team and stop outside interference from affecting the team

YAN, HAIYANG Chinese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin

NEW CROSS CREDIT AND FINANCING GATE PH, INC. 16/f M1 Tower 141 H.v. Dela Costa St. Bel-air Taguig City

MEVA PHILIPPINES, INC. Level 6 The Forum Bldg. No.71-a Sct. Borromeo South Triangle 4 Quezon City SARIDZIC, MARCO TIHOMIR General Manager

Brief Job Description: Conducting research and marketing strategies to develop areas of the business opportunities

Basic Qualification: Fluent in reading and writing Japanese and English languages; more than 20 years of experience in power plant engineering design and project management

KWONG YUAN TRADING CORP. 16/f Tower 6789 Ayala Ave. Cor. H.v Dela Costa St. Bel-air Makati City DING, PENGFEI Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling service support calls

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower C4 Rd. Edsa Ext. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

YANG, BIAO Mandarin Customer Service

HONG, TAO Mandarin Technical Support

INVECH TREASURE PROCESSING CORPORATION Ground, 2nd, 3rd And 4th Floor Eight West Campus Mckinley West Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Analyse the productivity of the marketing plans and projects, recommend optimization to senior management

Basic Qualification: At least three (3) years of experience in project management and construction management or a related field is required; fluent in Mandarin / basic English

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ZHANG, CAN Mandarin Marketing Specialist

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC. U-5302, 53/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave., Cor., V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City

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

Brief Job Description: Provides project management support to the project managers, including documentation management, construction management support and project software support

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

HITACHI, LTD. 10 Rcbc Plaza 6819 Ayala Ave. Cor. Sen. Gil J. Puyat Ave. Bel-air Makati City

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

Brief Job Description: Provides project management support to the project managers, including documentation management, construction management support and project software support

WANG, XINCHENG Project Support Specialist

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

Brief Job Description: Provides project management support to the project managers, including documentation management, construction management support and project software support

74.

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

63.

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all marketing activity and result

No.

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in telecommunications/ Electronics engineering; 7 years+ of experience.

GLOBALLGA BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING Ground Level, Level 2-5 Floor Silver City 4, Ortigas East Ugong Pasig City

HU, LIANGLIANG Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all marketing activity and result

WU, TENGHUA Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking

GLO TECH PHILIPPINES PVT INC. Unit 1005 10th/f Corporate Center 20th Drive Mckinley Business Park, Bonifacio Global City Fort Bonifacio Taguig City HUSAIN, TANVEER Senior Planning Optimizer

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all marketing activity and result

MENG, DONGYANG Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking 61.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

LI, XIAODONG Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking

Friday, August 27, 2021

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system ZHANG, JUNFA Mandarin Technical Support

93.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, August 27, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION ZHANG, WEI Mandarin Technical Support

94.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system ZHOU, XIAOXI Mandarin Technical Support

95.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

96.

Brief Job Description: Mandarin Administrator will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals. GUO, AIMING Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor

97.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

ZHANG, LIANG Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor 98.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

108.

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

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Administrator, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

XU, YANSHENG Mandarin Steelman Supervisor 110.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

WANG, YING Mandarin Electrical Supervisor 99.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

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

YANG, JIANHUA Mandarin Electrical Supervisor 100.

111.

WANG, JIANGUO Mandarin Mechanical And Electrical Maintenance Supervisor 101.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Mechanical and Electrical Maintenance Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LI, YONGYONG Mandarin Mechanical Superintendent 102.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Mechanical Superintendent will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

WANG, SHENG Mandarin Mechanical Superintendent 103.

Brief Job Description: The MANDARIN MECHANICAL SUPERINTENDENT will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

LIU, RONGGANG Mandarin Procurement Supervisor 104.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Procurement Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

CAI, SHUNWANG Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor 105.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

ZHU, YONGJUN Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor 106.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

107.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Slip Form Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

113.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

BAI, ZIXIN Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor 114.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LI, GANG Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor 115.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

XIAO, XINGXIAN Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor 116.

ZENG, YONG Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor 117.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Slip Form Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

No.

122.

123.

124.

118.

Brief Job Description: Installing and configuring computer systems, diagnosing hardware and software faults and solving technical and applications problems

119.

Brief Job Description: Oversee support personnel and monitor line staff duties. Produce weekly report to US HQ.

121.

Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate and complete customer account info

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

HUANG, WEI-YU Mandarin Administrative Specialist

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Develop administrative staff

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Maintain and drive program knowledge for self and team

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Monitoring and maintaining computer systems and networks

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

126.

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

127.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

VPC CORPORATE SOLUTIONS INCORPORATED 11/f 100 West, Sen Gil Puyat Ave. Cor. Washington St. Pio Del Pilar Makati City

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

128.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Mechanical Superintendent, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree or ITRelated field with atleast 6 months to 1 year of working experience; Fluent in Mandarin/Basic English

129.

130.

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

MENG, TAO Mandarin Accounts Staff

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate and complete customer account info

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

QU, HONGTAO Mandarin Accounts Staff

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate and complete customer account info

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

Brief Job Description: Monitoring and maintaining computer systems and networks

Brief Job Description: Handles administrative request and queens from senior managers/officers HU, XIAOWEN Bilingual Admin Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Bilingual admin support specialist

Brief Job Description: Handles administrative request and queens from senior managers/officers LIU, HAO Bilingual Admin Support Specialist

131.

Brief Job Description: Handles administrative request and queens from senior managers/officers MENG, QINGZHEN Bilingual Admin Support Specialist

132.

Brief Job Description: Handles administrative request and queens from senior managers/officers ZHANG, HONG Bilingual Admin Support Specialist

133.

Brief Job Description: Handles administrative request and queries from senior managers/officers SHUM MUN CHUN Malay-speaking Customer Service Officer

134.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

JIAO, LIMING Bilingual Admin Support Specialist

Brief Job Description: Responsible to resolve queries of the Malay-customers through email and chats

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

Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking , reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking , reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking , reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking , reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking , reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in speaking, reading and writing in bilingual languages Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Excellent in writing, reading and speaking in Malay Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

WANFANG TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT, INC. 6-9/f Double Dragon Plaza Edsa Cor. Macapagal Ave. Brgy. 076 Pasay City LIN, YI-WEN a.k.a. ABBY LIN Chinese Customer Service Representative 135.

Brief Job Description: Maintains financial account, recommend potential products and services: attract potential to a customers

Basic Qualification: Atleast 19 years old, ability to speak write and communications in Vietnamese / Chinese mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

WELLS FARGO INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS LLC-PHILIPPINES Wells Fargo Center 1180 Wells Fargo Drive Mckinley Hill Cyberpark Taguig City

NAYAR, RAGHAV Operations Area Manager 2 - Head Of Cards And Retail Merchant Services, India & Philippines 136.

Brief Job Description: Build business and provide more end-to-end ownership and accountability of outcomes as against task related SLAs. Drive key focus metrics

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree with 20 years of extensive experience in Customer Service and Sales experience in a call center environment for Banking/Financial Services Organization Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

ZAPPORT SERVICES, INC. 36/f Burgundy Corporate Tower 252 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Ave. Pio Del Pilar Makati City RIYANTO PRATAMA Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer 137.

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelors Degree in Information Systems, 5 to 10yrs experience, MCSE+ preferred

Brief Job Description: Monitoring and maintaining computer systems and networks

CHEN, YUMENG Bilingual Admin Support Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Technical Works Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

WEN, YONGHUA Mandarin Technical Support

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

URBANDIDEAS INC. Unit 17-m Burgundy Corporate Tower 252 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Pio Del Pilar Makati City

120.

Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin

LI, HAIBO Mandarin Technical Support

TWINTEL SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE Ub 111 Paseo De Roxas Bldg. Paseo De Roxas San Lorenzo Makati City SCOGIN, JEREMY NATHAN Country Manager

WANG, HAIYANG Mandarin Accounts Staff

HUANG, YU Mandarin Technical Support 125.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic Qualification: The Mandarin Steelman Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

SUPREME CHENGHAO MANAGEMENT OPC Level 26-a Rufino Pacific Tower 6784 Ayala Ave. San Lorenzo Makati City ZHAN, YUNLONG IT Technical Support Officer

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

WU, LEI Mandarin Team Leader

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Special Heavy Equipment Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Project Monitoring Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Procurement Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Special Equipment Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as MANDARIN MECHANICAL SUPERINTENDENT excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

YU, MING Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Mechanical Superintendent, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

ZHANG, HONGYAN Mandarin Slip Form Supervisor

112.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Mechanical and Electrical Maintenance Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

WANG, HUAZHONG Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Electrical Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Steelman Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

LIU, TAI Mandarin Structural Maintenance Analyst

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Electrical Supervisor, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Special Heavy Equipment Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Deputy Project Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Special Equipment Supervisor will be strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goal.

ZHANG, JINKE Mandarin Special Heavy Equipment Supervisor 109.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION JIA, LIANSHUN Mandarin Special Heavy Equipment Supervisor

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin

SINOMA CBMIPH CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION 37b Rufino Pacific Tower Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St. San Lorenzo Makati City SHENG, CHUNTANG Mandarin Administrator

No.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Brief Job Description: Indonesian written reports on a daily operation of call center activities performing customer oriented telephone activities and various background operation duties RUDI OEI Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer

138.

Brief Job Description: Indonesian written reports on a daily operation of call center activities performing customer oriented telephone activities and various background operation duties

Basic Qualification: Indonesian speaking and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

*Date Generated: Aug 26, 2021 In the ad material of Notice of Filing of Application for Alien Employment Permits published on August 18, 2021, the position of TANSIA, PATIANA PATIENCE under INFOSYS BPM LIMITED - PHILIPPINE BRANCH, should have been read as CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCESS SPECIALIST and not as published. Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE-NCR Regional Office located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this publication. Please inform DOLE-NCR if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

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

The World BusinessMirror

Politicians getting third Covid jab as most Indonesians unvaccinated

olitical elites in Indonesia are admitting to getting a third dose of Covid-19 vaccines, defying calls from the health ministry as most of the country have not received even their first shot. Military Chief Hadi Tjahjanto and East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor said during a meeting with President Joko Widodo they’ve received their third jabs, at a time when booster shots are only given to healthcare workers. In the livestreamed video of them casually chatting before a public event on Tuesday, the president said he hasn’t gotten a third dose and that he’s waiting for the Pfizer Inc. vaccine. That clip was later taken down from the official channel. Tjahjanto denied that he’s gotten a third dose in a response to questions from Bloomberg, then later explained he’s gotten a stem cell treatment as a “booster” to his vaccine shots. Noor didn’t respond to requests for comment, while a representative for the presidential palace declined to comment. “Many people haven’t even received a single shot, yet we see public officials queuing up for a

third dose, this is really unfair,” said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, an executive director at survey institute Indikator Politik. Only 22 percent of Indonesia’s 270 million population have received their first Covid-19 shots as of Wednesday and just 12 percent are fully inoculated, according to Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. The health ministry has repeatedly said booster shots are meant only for health workers as it intensifies the inoculation campaign to curb deaths, which still number in the thousands each day. In earlier occasions, other public officials spoke openly about the extra dose, including the deputy head of the North Toraja regency, who received the Moderna Inc. vaccine as a booster, according to a report by Kompas newspaper. “Let me reiterate that booster shots are only for health workers,” Siti Nadia Tarmizi, spokesperson for the Covid-19 task force, told Bloomberg when contacted on Wednesday. “This is the responsibility of the central government, as well as regional governments, and we have hired auditors to verify the administration of these vaccines.” Bloomberg News

Experts on WHO team say search for Covid-19 origins has stalled

ONDON—The international scientists dispatched to China by the World Health Organization to find out where the coronavirus came from said Wednesday the search has stalled and warned that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is “closing fast.” Meanwhile, a US intelligence review ordered up by President Joe Biden proved inconclusive about the virus’s origin, including whether it jumped from an animal to a human or escaped from a Chinese lab, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. In a commentary published in the journal Nature, the WHOrecruited experts said the origins investigation is at “a critical juncture” requiring urgent collaboration but has instead come to a standstill. They noted among other things that Chinese officials are still reluctant to share some raw data, citing concerns over patient confidentiality. Earlier this year, WHO sent a team of experts to Wuhan, where the first human Covid-19 cases were detected in December 2019, to probe what might have triggered the pandemic now blamed for nearly 4.5 million deaths worldwide, with more than 10,000 people a day succumbing despite more than 5 billion doses of vaccine administered. In their analysis, published in March, the WHO team concluded the virus probably jumped to humans from animals, and they described the possibility of a laboratory leak as “extremely unlikely.” But the WHO experts said their report was intended only as a first step and added, “The window of opportunity for conducting this crucial inquiry is closing fast: any delay will render some of the studies biologically impossible.” For example, they said, “Antibodies wane, so collecting further samples and testing people who might have been exposed before December 2019 will yield diminishing returns.” China said Wednesday that officials should “concentrate on other possible avenues that may help trace the origin” of Covid-19 and suggested studies should be pursued in other countries. Fu Cong, a director-general in China’s Foreign Ministry, agreed it is a “pity” the search for Covid19’s origins has stalled but said it wasn’t China’s fault. “China has always supported and will continue to participate in the science-based

origin tracing efforts,” he said. He accused the US of “hyping the lab leak theory” and trying to shift the blame onto China, and implied the coronavirus might be linked to high-level American research labs, suggesting the United States invite WHO to investigate some of its installations. Marion Koopmans and her WHO-recruited colleagues listed a number of priorities for further research, including conducting w ider ant ibody sur veys t hat might identify places where Covid-19 was spreading undetected, both in China and beyond, testing wild bats and farm-raised animals as potential reservoirs of the virus, and investigating any credible new leads. Some other scientists fear the best opportunities to collect samples might have been missed during the first few weeks after some of the earliest human cases appeared linked to a Wuhan seafood market. Chinese researchers collected hundreds of environmental samples immediately after the coronavirus was found, but it is unclear how many people or animals were tested. “Once you have wildlife traders shifting over to other kinds of employment because they’re worried about whether they’ll be able to do this anymore, that window starts to close,” said Maciej Boni, a Pennsylvania State University biology professor who has studied virus origins and was not part of the WHO team. Still, Boni said scientists might be able to pinpoint Covid-19’s animal source by hunting for closely related viruses in species like raccoon dogs, mink or ground squirrels. But he said it could take about five years to do the kind of extensive studies necessary. The search for Covid-19’s origins has become a bitter source of dispute between the US and China, with increasing numbers of American experts calling for the two Wuhan laboratories close to the seafood market to be invest igated, somet hing China has flatly rejected and branded “scapegoating.” Biden in May ordered a 90-day review by US intelligence agencies of both the animal-to-human hypothesis and the lab leak theory. In July, even WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus said it was premature to have rejected the lab theory, adding that research accidents are common. AP

Friday, August 27, 2021

Strict lockdown working despite rising Delta infections–Ardern

ew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said a nationwide lockdown is working and she remains committed to stamping out a Delta outbreak of coronavirus even as case numbers continue to grow. “Overall, lockdown is having an impact,” Ardern told a news conference Thursday in Wellington. “No one wants to use lockdowns forever and I can tell you now that is not our intention. But for now, while we vaccinate, elimination is the goal, and we can do it.” Health officials on Thursday reported 68 new cases in the current community outbreak of the highly infectious Delta strain of Covid-19, taking the total to 277. The strict national lockdown has been in place for more than a week and Ardern is due to announce Friday whether it will need to be further extended. “Nothing at the moment appears to us to be necessarily unexpected, but we do need to be incredibly vigilant,” she said. “Delta has changed the rules of the game.” The Delta variant is testing New Zealand’s elimination strategy because it is so much more transmissible than the first iteration of the virus and has a shorter incubation period, giving contact tracers less time to find and isolate positive cases before they become infectious. The country has been left vulnerable by one of the slowest vaccine rollouts in the developed world, with only around 20 percent of its population fully immunized so far. Ardern said the rate of transmission within infected households was high, but it was encourag ing t hat t he outbrea k hasn’t spread beyond Auckland and Wellington. “If it weren’t for lockdown, I’m sure we would have seen cases spread further,” she said. “Lockdown is also having an impact on locations of interest. While our cases are continuing to grow, these locations of interest aren’t continuing to grow exponentially alongside them.” New Zealand ’s elimination strategy, which has seen it largely keep the virus out of the community since its initial lockdown over a year ago, remained the best path to follow for now as vaccination was ramped up, Ardern said.

Key developments Sydney’s Delta surge worsens

Sydney’s outbreak of Delta variant cases is worsening, with Australia’s largest city responsible for the bulk of new daily Covid-19 infections as New South Wales state passed 1,000 for the first time. Stay-at-home orders for New South Wales will be extended until at least September 10, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. The state saw a record 1,029 daily infections since the outbreak began in the city in mid-June, she said, and three more people died.

Some Moderna shots halted in Japan

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. said it would suspend use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in Japan after it received reports of foreign particles in the vials from several vaccination sites. Takeda is the vaccine’s local distributor. There have been no safety concerns tied to the affected vials, and vaccinations using other Moderna shots in Japan will progress as usual. A Moderna spokesperson confirmed the halt of some batches in Japan and said it is currently investigating. It believes a manufacturing issue arose at one line of its contract manufacturing site in Spain.

Singapore’s reopening commitment tested

A jump in Covid cases to more than 100 a day poses a potential test of resolve for Singapore officials who are counting on one of the world’s best vaccination rates to allow them to stay the course and keep reopening. A cluster at Bugis Junction, a local shopping mall, added 38 new cases on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. Most of them are linked to multi-story department store BHG, which was closed through August 30 for deep cleaning. The government is encouraging anyone who went to

Streets are deserted during a nationwide lockdown in Auckland, New Zealand on Wednesday, August 18, 2021. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday put the country into a three-day, Level 4 lockdown—the harshest setting that requires most people to stay at home—after the discovery of one community case. Bloomberg photo

the mall since August 17 to get a free Covid test.

Italy donates AstraZeneca doses to Vietnam

Italy will donate 801,600 AstraZeneca Covid vaccine doses to Vietnam via the Covax facility, with delivery expected in early September, according to a post on the Vietnam government’s web site. The Southeast Asian nation has administered more than 18 million vaccine doses as of Tuesday with about 2 million residents, or 2.1 percent of its population, fully inoculated, according to the health ministry. Vietnam has reported a total of over 9,300 deaths, with 81 percent in Ho Chi Minh City, of more than 377,200 local virus cases recorded in the latest outbreak that began in late April.

Manhattan bosses scale back hopes for September office return

Manhattan employers now see 41 percent of office workers returning by Sept. 30, down from an estimate of 62 percent in May, according to a survey by the Partnership for New York City conducted August 9-20. About 23 percent of workers have returned to the workplace, up from 12 percent in May. About 44 percent of employers have delayed return plans because of the rise in Covid-19 cases, though 54 percent have not made changes.

WHO backs $10 billion global health fund

The World Health Organization has backed a proposal to set up a $10 billion fund to plug the financial gap in the global health-care system exposed by the pandemic. T he annu a l Globa l Hea lt h Threats Fund is part of efforts

by G-20 finance ministers to double spending in health care and boost the financial capacity to respond to future pandemics, said Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam during a WHO press briefing on Wednesday. According to Tharman, global health security is “dangerously underfunded,” making it vulnerable to a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and future ones, unless public funding is increased. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the report, currently under consideration, is consistent with previous calls to increase financing to support the organization’s preparedness for fighting pandemics.

New NY governor adds 12,000 deaths

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who took office Tuesday, reported nearly 12,000 more deaths in the state from Covid-19 than had been publicized by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo. The state database on pandemic deaths was updated to include both the official tally from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of nearly 55,400 and previously reported state numbers of 43,400.

Delta to levy fee on unvaccinated workers

Delta Air Lines Inc. will impose a $200 monthly surcharge on employees who aren’t vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming the first major US company to levy a penalty to encourage workers to get protected. The new policy was outlined in a company memo Wednesday from Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian, who said 75 percent of the carrier’s workers are already vaccinated. Bloomberg News

Waning Covid infections helped India’s economy steady in July

ndia’s economy held steady in July as waning Covid-19 cases paved the way for a gradual improvement in manufacturing and services activity. All eight high-frequency indicators tracked by Bloomberg News remained unchanged last month, based on the three-month weighted average scores to smoothen out volatility in the single-month readings. That kept the needle on a dial measuring the so-called animal spirits steady at 5—the same speed as June. Rel a x at ion i n rest r ic t ions and a lower-than-expected hit to the economy from the second wave of the pandemic is fueling hopes of a faster recovery in coming months, with even tourism—one of the worst affected sectors—seeing a rebound. Data due August 31. will likely show gross domestic product expanded 21 percent in the April to June quarter from a year ago. That

is thanks mainly to a favorable base effect, with activity last year coming to a halt owing to a nationwide lockdown to control the virus’s spread. Here are the details of the dashboard for July:

increase seen in April, the ebbing gains largely reflect the base effect wearing off. Two positive takeaways are the return of demand for petroleum products, w ith shipments jumping 231 percent, and gems and jewelry exports growing 131 percent.

Business activity

Consumer activity

Factory managers in India saw a surge in activity in July, reflecting a pick up in orders as pandemic curbs were lifted. A similar survey of services’ purchasing managers showed improvement, although the reading remained below the 50 level that divides contraction and expansion. That kept the composite index in shrinkage territory during the month.

Exports

Exports rose 49.8 percent yearon-year in July. While that was way slower than the 196 percent

Retail auto sales, a bellwether of consumer demand, posted robust sales despite a steep rise in commodity prices and supply disruptions, according to Rajesh Menon, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Motorc yc le and t wo -wheeler sa les, an indicator of animal spirits in smaller tow ns, were little changed last month. Bank credit grew 6.5 percent in July from a year earlier, picking up from the 5.8 percent level seen in June, to post the fastest

pace since March, central bank data showed. Liquidity condit ion s re m a i ne d com for t a ble last month, with the banking system f lush with surplus cash, implying room for better credit off-take.

Industrial activity

Industrial production expanded 13.6 percent in June from a year earlier, slowing for a second straight month after a record 135 percent growth in April. Easing gains are again attributable to the base effect wearing out. Similarly, out put at infras t r u c t u re i ndu s t r ie s , w h ic h makes up 40 percent of the industrial production index, expanded 8.9 percent in June, slowing from year-on-year growth of 16.3 percent in May and 61 percent in April. Both data are published with a one-month lag. Bloomberg News

A10 Friday, August 27, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

China on top?

he United States of America in its current foreign relations is like that big, friendly classmate in school. He was always trying to help somebody out even when they didn’t want his help. It was great to have him on the basketball team and to be on your side during a fight. However, the only time that you really wanted to hang out with him is if he was buying the beer and pulutan. The other thing was that he never seemed to be able to “get the girl.” He didn’t seem to know when to be the Perfect Gentleman or when to be the Bad Boy. The other thing was that if anybody cared to do it, it was easy to be one step ahead of him. It was not that he was intellectually deficient, but that he often never saw the “punch” coming. About one month ago, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin travelled to Vietnam and made stops in Singapore and the Philippines. The purpose of his trip to the region and particularly the Philippines was to “underscore the enduring US commitment to the region.” As for Vietnam, “Austin’s Hanoi meetings will be merely diplomatic and ceremonial and will not yield substantial outcomes” like selling Vietnam more US made weapons. But this week, US Vice President Kamala Harris also travelled to Singapore and Vietnam. Of course, every “world leader” goes to Singapore probably because that nation is sort of the ceremonial Head of State for Asean. Harris also expressed support for sending an additional US Coast Guard cutter to Vietnam to help defend its security interests. Apparently, Harris and the US is unaware that the Vietnam Navy has six submarines, nine Frigates, 14 Fast Attack craft, 26 Patrol Vessels, and eight Minesweepers. Vietnam would probably prefer the price of the Cutter ($700 million) in cash and buy from Russia. Harris’ trip was delayed for three hours over an “anomalous health incident” during which China sent its envoy to meet with Vietnam’s prime minister, where they offered to donate 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine—double what Kamala was set to offer. Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the Chinese envoy and said that his country “does not ally with one country to fight against another”. Naturally, the donation of 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine by the US during the Austin visit was ignored. It is difficult to win when you are playing checkers and your opponent is playing 3-dimensional chess. But China in not only perhaps running rings around the US. In another development, there has been talk this past week that China may back its digital currency with gold. The “e-RMB” or digital renminbi launching has been a failure because no one fully trusts the Chinese government and China is not happy about that. One commentator described the current situation. “Based on my years of experience, it’s easy for me to conclude that China is sharper, smarter, shrewder and more rugged than the US when it comes to most things economics and politics.” Christopher Irons goes on to write: “Backing their currency with gold could be seen by Xi as the ultimate ‘Trump card’ of sorts, especially as the US has watched its currency fall into a precarious position over the last 18 months due to unprecedented quantitative easing. It’s the type of revelation that, if done correctly by China, can immediately hoist China’s economic status to the top of the global ladder and can immediately challenge other countries to follow suit.” Maybe it is a good idea to keep a country’s options open with regard to the US-China relationship. Since 2005

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A simpler land titling system Sonny M. Angara

Better Days

he Duterte administration has enacted several decisive measures aimed at making government processes simpler, more efficient, and more responsive to the Filipino peoples’ needs. One was signed in July—Republic Act (RA) 11573, which simplified our land titling system by improving the confirmation process of socalled imperfect titles or those that do not convey full legal transfer of a parcel of land or real estate onto its bearer. Many like the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) have rightfully pointed out that land tenure problems are among the major factors that have kept our agricultural sector stunted. Though farmers were generally free to subsist from their landholdings, they haven’t been able to meaningfully benefit from these assets because of land tenure issues, among others. And where land titling is crucial to the protection of one’s property rights and critical for making full use of one’s landholdings, unfortunately, this has long been problematic in our country. According to two of our major land laws, namely the Public Land Act of 1936 (Commonwealth Act 141) and the Property Registration Decree (PD 1529), farmers could justifiably acquire land titles by applying for an agricultural free patent with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or by judicial confirmation proceedings,

which involves the courts. Both processes were so burdensome for farmers that it was at times easier for them to turn to the informal market if ever they needed to sell or borrow against their land. RA 11573, which we principally authored in the Senate and which was sponsored by Sen. Richard Gordon, sought to alleviate these procedural burdens. Agricultural free patents are public land grants from the government—in contrast to Certificates of Land Ownership (CLOAs), which are parceled out from private lands under the country’s agrarian reform program—to citizens who can prove that for 30 years they’ve possessed and cultivated the lands in question and have paid the required taxes throughout the same period. With the enactment of RA 11573, the requirement has been reduced to only 20 years. Furthermore, where the deadline for applications of these

free patents was previously set to last December 31, 2020, the newly enacted law extended the application period indefinitely. Estimates from the DENR-Land Management Bureau and the FEF show that anywhere from 2 million to 4.8 million parcels of land could still be covered by free patents because of the indefinite extension of the deadline. This means that as many as 4.8 million families (assuming one family per parcel of land), who are longtime occupants of alienable and disposable lands, could stand to benefit with less pressure to transact their lands in the informal market. When it came to judicial confirmation, the previous system—by virtue of some strict and literal interpretations of our land laws— required applicants to present a bonafide claim of acquisition of ownership since June 12, 1945. This means claimants needed to somehow show proof that they were already making a claim to the land for close to eight decades. Furthermore, claimants also needed to present certification that the lands in question were alien and disposable (A&D) signed by the Secretary of the DENR, as well as a certified true copy of the original declaration. For one, the DENR Secretary serves a cabinet position, making it very difficult for his or her office to handle the voluminous requests for such certifications. Secondly, considering that in the intervening period so much has happened to the country and government records have been destroyed or lost, it would be very

difficult to secure original copies of the documents needed, let alone have them certified as such. According to research from FEF, judicial confirmation of land registration had become so tedious that in the last decade or so, only 5,174 titles, with an “all time low” of 140 passed in 2017, were confirmed by courts. With RA 11573, claimants just now need to show that they or their “predecessors-in-interest” have continuously possessed, occupied and cultivated the certified alienable and disposable lands of the public domain under a bonafide claim of ownership for at least 20 years. Then A&D certification of the land can now come from a duly designated geodetic engineer of the DENR, and no longer from the DENR Secretary. These amendments increase tenurial security, and encourage farmers to secure land titles. And given that titles are the most common collateral used in the capital scarce countryside, the result would be a more vibrant rural land market, with the land theoretically going to the most productive use. We believe RA 11573 will have a positive impact on the lives of many Filipinos, particularly by allowing those in the countryside to truly benefit from their land. Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 17 years. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate. E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

California looking to pay drug addicts to stay sober

By Adam Beam | Associated Press

ACRAMENTO, California—Frustrated by out-of-control increases in drug overdose deaths, California’s leaders are trying something radical: They want the state to be the first to pay people to stay sober. The federal government has been doing it for years with military veterans and research shows it is one of the most effective ways to get people to stop using drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, stimulants for which there are no pharmaceutical treatments available. It works like this: People earn small incentives or payments for every negative drug test over a period of time. Most people who complete the treatment without any positive tests can earn a few hundred dollars. They usually get the money on a gift card. It’s called “contingency management” and Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the federal government for permission to use tax dollars to pay for it through Medicaid, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled

that covers nearly 14 million people in California. Meanwhile, a similar proposal is moving through California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature. It’s already passed the Senate with no opposition and is pending in the Assembly, where it has a Republican co-author. “I think there is a lot in this strategy for everyone to like,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco and author of the bill. “Most important of all, it works.” How much it would cost depends on how many people participate. A program covering 1,000 people could cost as much as $286,000, a pittance in California’s total operating budget of more than $262 billion. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, a nonprofit agency, runs a

small, privately-funded contingency management program. It’s where Tyrone Clifford, who was addicted to meth, enrolled because they promised to pay him for every negative test over 12 weeks. His first payment was $2. That increased slightly with each subsequent negative test for a total of about $330. “I thought, I can do 12 weeks. I’ve done that before when my dealer was in jail,” he said. “When I’m done I’ll have 330 bucks to get high with.” Clifford did make it through the program without a positive test. But instead of using the money to buy more drugs, he bought a laptop computer so he could go back to school. He says he hasn’t used methamphetamine in 11 years and now works as a counselor at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, helping people who had the same addiction problems he did. Clifford, 53, said earning the money didn’t matter much. Unlike some who struggle with drug addiction, Clifford always had a job and a house and was never much in danger of losing either. But he said watching

his account grow with each negative test motivated him more than any other treatment program did. “You watch those dollar values go up, there is proof right there that I am doing this,” he said. “By no means is anyone getting rich off this program.” There is “clear and convincing evidence” that the treatment works to keep people sober from drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine, according to an analysis by the California Health Benefits Review Program. However, while research shows it is effective in keeping people sober during the program, the effect doesn’t last much beyond six months after treatment concludes. Clifford acknowledged the program doesn’t work for everybody, but added his treatment included extensive group and individual counseling sessions that kept him accountable and made him feel part of a community. Clifford said he considers the treatment a success even if people don’t make it without a positive test. “They are trying something,” See “California,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

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The origin of the Covid-19 Historicizing faiths economic crisis Tito Genova Valiente

Dr. Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr.

EAGLE WATCH

or the country’s economic managers, the 11.8-percent gross domestic product growth rate in Q2-2021 was more than a base effect. It was seen as a sign of a “better balance between addressing Covid-19 and the need to restore jobs and incomes of the people.” It was interpreted as an indication of the government’s ability to manage risks, instead of “shutting down large segments of the economy.” This glowing assessment of economic management, however, might need to be tempered somewhat. In fact, in Q1-2021, there was a contraction of 1.3 percent in Q2-2021, when the quarantine restrictions were easing. The situation is fragile not because of the increased risks, but because of the government’s seeming inability to respond adequately to the situation. The lack of a comprehensive plan that aims to accomplish the twin goals of safety and economic growth can be seen in the continued quarterly decline in GDP. The Covid-19 economic crisis is not simply an outcome of the excessive risk aversion of firms and workers. Its origin could well be the structural transformation that has resulted in vulnerable economic sectors. These pertain to micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises that have been the backbone of the national economy over the years—accounting for 99.56 percent of total number of businesses and a third of total employment. Based on an ADB enterprises survey conducted in April 2020, 73.1 percent of MSMEs were already forced to close their operations at the start of the lockdowns. Of those that remained, revenues were down, especially for medium-sized firms. These firms may already have converted to some other operation, but with the lockdowns intermittently being imposed, these closures are still affecting the economy. Furthermore, many of these enterprises are of low productivity and may be considered informal. Of the firms that had closed, a significant proportion was small (76.4 percent) and mostly in the services sector (72.7 percent). Based on the survey, 43.8 percent of the micro, 23.2 percent of the small, and 3.9 percent of the medium-sized enterprises had no cash or savings at the outset of the first lockdown. Hence, even without the virus, market forces can cause the closure of these firms. The high employment in MSMEs started with factors that naturally drew workers away from agriculture, such as the increased mechanization in agriculture and the high income-elasticity of demand for non-agricultural goods. The employment share of agriculture declined from 51.8 percent in 1980 to 22.8 percent in 2019. However, because the manufacturing sector had been stagnant and capital-intensive, this sector did not absorb many workers. The employment share of industry rose to only 19.1 percent in 2019 from 15.4 percent in 1980. Services became the catch basin for workers moving out of agriculture, as the demand for services grew with an expanding urbanization. However, the constant influx of workers into services diminished productivity in this sector and, subsequently, created more informality and reduced wage earnings.

California. . . continued from A10

he said. If California starts paying for contingency management treatment through Medicaid, Clifford said he thinks it would mean an explosion in similar programs across the state.

The novel element of this pandemic is the degree to which it has exacerbated the disparities across firms. Large companies in the right sectors and with access to capital will continue to grow, while the small enterprises and sectors weaken and close. Targeted and proactive government spending, not broad-based programs, is, thus, necessary to transition vulnerable sectors to a higher level of resiliency, productivity, and growth. Covid-19 exposed structural weaknesses by pulling the plug on most MSMEs and the service sector, triggering a recession. Most recessions result from some shock to the economic system, typically amplified by financial accelerators, creating balance sheet effects on firms, households, and banks. The current recession, however, is deeper. It is structural in nature, since it emerged from the slow absorption of a substantial number of workers from one sector to another. Regardless of the vaccine rollout, the associated downturn might be longer-lasting. Hence, the observed slow growth can be attributed to this sluggish structural transformation. In most crises, a monetary response, such as increased liquidity, can be a solution. However, because these policies address the consequences of the crisis, and are not its origin, these are of limited efficacy. Despite continued lockdowns, industrial policies must be designed to facilitate the movement of workers, since markets do not perform well in structural transformations. If market forces were left on their own, workers would go back to either agriculture or services. However, they may work in sectors where productivity has already declined, or where production is greater than the demand even before the pandemic. Given the state of industry, large, capitalintensive firms are not inclined to absorb these workers. Even with all the liquidity and high employment rates, growth stagnates because of diminishing returns in the laborintensive sectors. Finally, the novel element of this pandemic is the degree to which it has exacerbated the disparities across firms. Large companies in the right sectors and with access to capital will continue to grow, while the small enterprises and sectors weaken and close. Targeted and proactive government spending, not broadbased programs, is, thus, necessary to transition vulnerable sectors to a higher level of resiliency, productivity, and growth.

annotations

ost in the surge of viral infections and shrouded by dirty politicking amid hunger and inability to help the people in the pandemic was an important event in Philippine history. This was the agreement reached by the Roman Catholic Church and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) or the Philippine Independent Church. The formal agreement was contained in a joint statement, which was signed on the third of August, 2021. The said document bore the title, “Celebrating the Gift of Faith, Learning from the Past and Journeying Together.” While from first impression that title appears to be light and token, one needs to go back to the histories between the two institutions to better appreciate this initiative. The relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Philippine Independent Church has been admitted by their respective leaders as one that was fractured. Embedded in the statement were these lines: “As church leaders, we ask and pray for mutual forgiveness for any injuries inflicted in the past. We shall strive for the healing and purification of memories among our members.” Add to this healing a dialogue that will be conducted in “the spirit of repentance and forgiveness,” and you have nothing short of a miracle. How did the National Historical Commission of the Philippines respond to this? How did the Catholic schools view this occurrence? I ask this question because while we are scrambling to find meaning

in the circumnavigation of an explorer and adventurer to make sense of our role in world history, here is an event that is astounding in its openness, as radical as it is almost ideologically incendiary. In another time and space, bishop’s heads would have rolled from guillotines, leaders could have been declared evil and toasted on stakes. In another historical time, wars would have been easily declared, capitals looted. When the government declared that the Philippines was serious about memorializing the arrival of Christianity in our territory, came this question: Was God present in the colonization? Was God looking as His preachers consorted with the persecutors of the “pagans” and the burning of the images they considered “sacred” among them? Difficult as the question may be, it is a question that can be asked. Historians can freely inquire about God’s participation in the occupation of a territory because, as in our case, our conversion has a history. We do not lay claim to any revelation nor do we proclaim a day when a light shone

Friday, August 27, 2021 A11

upon us and from then on we were consecrated as God’s chosen people. Our faith has a date. It is clarified by the arrival of ships, cannons and another language. It would be more difficult for the Catholic Church to question the origin of our faith. At the most, they can accept the arrival of religion and from there proceed to explain what happened then. In fact, it is to their skill that they always push our faith back to an inspiration that drove missionaries to come over and evangelize us. There is certainly candor in many of the statements in the document. It takes note of the core trait of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente as being a denomination that separated from the Catholic Church in 1902 because of what was perceived as mistreatment of Filipinos by the Spanish regime. The Aglipayan Movement is also mentioned, one that is greatly attributed to Gregorio Aglipay, the Catholic priest who remains the most prominent

symbol of the schism. Aglipay becoming the Supreme Bishop of the independent church articulated both a revolution against Spain but against Rome as well. Aglipay and the rest of the priests who joined him would stand for the persistent and continuing protest against colonial subjugation. With Aglipay also is linked the nationalist struggle of the Filipino clergy. Interesting how the document

articulates how the members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente were not against the Roman Catholic Church but rather against colonization. There are other claims, one of which is that, while the two churches were in disagreements on the matter of doctrines, both fought against social injustice. But at the core of this agreement is really the first stanza in the agreement, after the greetings, which states: “We acknowledge this gift of faith in God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as expressed in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. We share the same Baptism [underscoring mine], under the Trinitarian formula. This sacramental initiation incorporates us all in the one Body of Christ. Moreover, both Churches manifest a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin, invoking her maternal intercession for all her children to come together and for the upholding the dignity of women.” The signing of the document was held at the National Cathedral in Manila. The Iglesia Filipina Independiente was founded in 1902 by Isabelo de los Reyes and Fr. Gregorio Aglipay when they broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Under Aglipay, the said churcn took a theological position that was Unitarian, the belief that God is one entity. This is different from the Trinitarian view of the Roman Catholic Church, which spoke of Three Persons in One God. And yet, after the passing of Aglipay, the church he co-founded assumed back a position closer to the Catholic’s. It is the end of a schism. Let the bells toll for the partial death of the colonizing religion in our lives.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

The growing clamor for a safe ‘Balik Eskwela’

Dr. Leonardo A. Lanzona, Jr. is Professor of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University.

This was roughly 90 percent of the public school population during the school year 2019-2020, immediately before the pandemic. Of this number, 350,000 students, more or less, from the private schools transferred to the public schools. Registration will run until the first day of the academic year, which begins next month but it remains doubtful whether there will be more enrollees this year than last year. Before the pandemic, each school year saw an increase in enrolment due to natural increases in the number of educable population. But this trend was reversed last year with the onset of the pandemic. It will be a major achievement if this coming pandemic school year can equal the total student population last year. By the way, that’s the target set by the DepEd this year but managing our expectations is not solving our problem. Private school education has become less affordable to many families

whose livelihood has been impacted by the pandemic. The high cost of private education starting from the pre-school level has become prohibitive. I will not be surprised if a number of students in exclusive schools, which charge prohibitive fees, have dropped out instead of moving to non-elitist schools. In fact, no less than Education Secretary Leonor Briones has expressed serious concern about the low enrolment rate in the private sector. On the other hand, many students in the public schools coming from poor families do not have computers, cell phones or the required gadgets to access the school lessons. If they have the tools, they have no Wi-Fi service or communication signals. Those using mobile phones cannot even load their phones all the time. Definitely, the pandemic has only amplified the socioeconomic divide between the children of the rich and the poor. Many learners have difficulties in coping

with the lessons provided online. The efficacy of the so-called blended learning, which is a combination of online technology, modular learning and other teaching methodologies, is yet to be demonstrated. We need to assess the learning setback taking place in our schools right now. How far are our learners behind at present compared to the pre-pandemic school years? Several groups consisting of 124 organizations led by the National Union of Students are now clamoring for the face-to-face learning setup, a program which they referred to as the “LigtasNaBalikEskwela”. In a signed unity statement, the group said that “they want to return to face-to-face classes, for it is clear to us that distance learning poses more risks and drawbacks than it does with benefits….” They were also joined by Sen. Richard Gordon who suggested a return to physical, not online, classes in our schools. Remote learning, or any combination of the learning methodologies adopted by DepEd, is a disincentive to enrolment. Children love to go to school, learn directly from their teachers and study, mingle and play with their classmates. Without this actual and physical interaction with their teachers and peers, the daily excitement of attending classes is removed. Blended learning should be interesting and challenging to keep the attention of the young students. Right now, we need an effective plan to allow our kids to go back to actual physical attendance in school without compromising their health and safety. No question, it will be a gargantuan task and

California, like most of the country, has struggled with opioid abuse, including drugs like prescription painkillers and heroin. But overdose deaths from stimulants in California nearly quadrupled between 2010 and 2019, and the problem has gotten even worse since. Preliminary data from the first nine months of 2020 — when much

of the state was locked down because of the coronavirus—shows stimulant overdose deaths jumped 42 percent compared to 2019. While opioids have several pharmaceutical treatments available to help people get sober, there are none for stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine, often leaving people to their willpower

to kick the habit. “There is a clear kind of hole in regards to treatment services for individuals who have a stimulant use disorder,” said Jaycee Cooper, director of California’s Medicaid program. “At this point [contingency management] is the only thing people are pointing to that has been effective.”

Contingency management is not widely used because it’s not clear if state and federal law allow Medicaid money to pay for it. California has a law prohibiting people from profiting or receiving “kickbacks” from treatment programs. Wiener’s law would clarify contingency management is legal under state law. Whether it violates federal law

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

lasses in the public school for the school year 2021-2022 officially starts on September 13, 2021. As of August 24, the Department of Education (DepEd) has reported that 7.9 million students have already enrolled nationwide although it was not mentioned if it only covered those who enlisted in the public schools. Last school year, a total of 20.4 million learners enrolled in Kindergarten, Elementary, Junior High School, Senior High School and Alternative Learning System in public schools throughout the country.

I doubt if our school authorities are equal to this. It is gravely discomforting to note the failure of officials concerned to manage the worst disruption of education, particularly in our public schools. The closure of schools might have been inevitable in the early stage of the crisis, but concrete steps should have been undertaken to safely return to face-to-face learning. After one term of unsuccessful experiment with distance learning, education authorities should have come up with a better program to cope with the nationwide disruption of classes. More serious efforts to reopen classes safely should have been the order of the day. With due respect to our policymakers, the IATF should also give it priority, just like the attention it focuses on reopening bars and restaurants. Policy failures exacerbated by the surge of cases further sink us in the deep hole. Youth education is one of the most critical businesses that every nation should address. If we neglect this generation of learners, their future will be lost. It will severely compromise their prospects and opportunities to lead a better life ahead. Their academic failure now, or lack of it, will have ripple effects—on their future job, fulfilling career, independent living and satisfactory family life. On the macrolevel, it will have a significant impact on our country’s socioeconomic order. Our government’s failure to appreciate this current educational imbroglio will create a crisis of cataclysmic proportions worse than the coronavirus pandemic that is now ravaging us. is still a question. “We don’t think it does,” Wiener said, noting the Biden administration has signaled its interest in the treatment. Wiener’s bill would require California’s Medicaid program to pay for the treatment while Newsom’s plan would let counties choose whether to participate.

A12 Friday, August 27, 2021

Economic team justifies ’22 infra budget of ₧1.18 trillion

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

HE country’s economic managers on Thursday defended the P1.180trillion allocation for infrastructure programs of the Duterte administration for 2022 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Dur ing the br iefing on the P5.024 -trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2022, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, and Budget and Management Undersecretary Rolando Toledo said the “Build, Build, Build” program will help to create more jobs, and, in turn, stimulate growth and boost domestic consumption. “The infrastructure spending is very crucial to our recovery given the high multiplier effect. Since 2019, except for 2020, we have been programming at least a trillion-pesos worth of infrastructure and this will continue in the medium term for 2022,” said Chua, also director general of the

National Economic and Development Authority. “The infrastructure budget is programmed at P1.2 trillion, which will allow us to create around 1.5 million plus additional jobs in the construction sector,” he added. According to Chua, the Philippine economy is estimated to lose around P73.6 billion a week due to the imposition of the modified enhanced communit y qu a ra nt ine (MECQ ). He said 310,000 workers were also affected by the MECQ.

Absorptive capacity

TO feel this multiplier effect, Chua, however, said government agencies must ensure they can spend the funds they get from the national government by improving

their absorptive capacity. To boost economic recovery and provide a modernized public transport system, the DBM said the government will continuously invest in the BBB Program. Of the 2022 NEP, the budget agency said P1.180 trillion is provided for the infrastructure budget. For his part, Secretary Dominguez said the government will continue these investments to achieve a strong economic rebound in the remaining months of the administration. “In the remaining period of the President’s term, we will rapidly modernize governance, [we will] continue public investment and pursue market-friendly reforms to achieve a strong economic rebound,” Dominguez said. “With this high multiplier effect, we will maintain the pace of our BBB program. Our projected infrastructure spending will remain above 5 percent of the GDP until the end of the President’s term,” the Finance secretary added. Actual infrastructure spending in 2020 has reached just P681 billion, while the 2021 infrastructure budget, for all agencies, reached

P1.2 trillion. For his part, DBM’s Toledo said the infrastructure development remains a top priority of the Duterte administration. “The multiplier effects [of infrastructure programs] are expected to boost the economy. That’s why the BBB will be in a full swing in 2022,” he added. “This is equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP and shall be allocated for the major programs of the DPWH and DOTr, such as the Network Development Program (P128.1 billion), Flood Management Program (P113.5 billion), Rail Transport (P110.9 billion) and Land Public Transportation Program (P13.9 billion),” he said.

‘Growth-enabling budget’

FOR his part, House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said the P1.8-trillion budget for the two main infrastructure agencies alone demonstrates the administration’s commitment to strong infrastructure spending under the BBB flagship program and the equally important countryside infrastructure programs. Continued on A5

IATF TO PITCH LIMITED FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES TO DUTERTE FOR SEPT By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

HE Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will be pushing for the start of limited face-toface classes in basic education before the end of the month. This as some lawmakers, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) expressed concern over the negative effects of the long suspension of face-to-face classes on children and the economy. Among the negative effects are learning loss and mental distress for students, and economic losses for schools. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the select IATF members plan to make the presentation to President Duterte before the start of classes for public schools in September 2021. “I think the presentation should be ready soon. But this is just a presentation to help the President make a decision if the pilot [of face-to-face classes]

could be done at least in areas where there are low Covid-19 cases,” Roque said in an online press briefing on Thursday. He said the select members of the IATF will show to Duterte how the advantages of the pilot face-to-face class outweighs its disadvantages. The pilot areas, Roque said, will likely be in areas under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). “Let us wait for the President to have the necessary confidence [before he approves the face-toface classes],” Roque said. Last year, Duterte already approved the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) to start the pilot test. However, he decided to suspend its implementation in December 2020, after cases of the Alpha variant of the Covid-causing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were spotted in the country. Duterte said he will only allow the start of face-to-face classes for young students if a significant portion of the population is already vaccinated against Covid-19.

Solons raise issues on Covid-19 booster funds, ₧5.1-B testing kits By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

ARIKINA Rep. Stella Quimbo questioned the government’s move to classify P45 billion for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine booster shots under Unprogrammed Appropriations in the proposed 2022 national budget. This means, she said, the funding for such purpose may get af-

fected if the government earns less than expected revenues if another lockdown is imposed next year. At Thursday’s House budget hearing on the proposed 2022 national budget, Quimbo stressed the importance of assured funding for booster shots, noting that she has been hearing a lot of cases of fully vaccinated people getting infected with Covid-19. “The booster shot means the third

shot. We heard of many cases among those that have already been fully vaccinated, since most of the vaccines we used is Sinovac with an efficacy rate below 60 percent. Anyway, it protects us from severe cases but it is still important to get booster shots,” Quimbo said, partly in Filipino. There are a total of P151-billion Unprogrammed Appropriations under the proposed 2022 budget, including the P45 billion eyed for

buying the booster shots. Unlike programmed appropriations which already have definite funding as of the time the budget is prepared, unprogrammed appropriations require that revenue collection exceed targets, and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated. Responding to Quimbo, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Officer-In-Charge Tina Canda

said they placed the item under Unprogrammed Appropriations because there is no assurance yet that Covid-19 booster shots will be required. But Canda agreed with Quimbo that placing this item under Unprogrammed Appropriations may mean that this can be affected if the government earns fewer revenues, especially if another round of lockdown is imposed. Despite this, Canda assured law-

makers there are enough funds in the DOH budget to buy the required number of Covid-19 vaccines.

Dominguez: Funds available

A LTHOUGH t he gover nment placed the item under Unprogrammed Appropriations, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters that the funding for this is “already available.” Continued on A5

A MEDICAL technologist collects samples for a swift RT-PCR test at a drive-through swabbing facility. Results can be released in 12 to 72 hours. BERNARD TESTA

Senators in final push for child-rape bill By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

HE Senate plenary has opened deliberations into what has been described as an overdue measure that gained currency amid reports of rampant child sex abuse in the pandemic lockdowns: a bill increasing the age for determining the crime of statutory rape and other acts of sexual abuse from 12 to 16 years of age. Senator Richard J. Gordon, Chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, sponsored on Wednesday Senate Bill No. 2332 for this purpose. Also push-

ing the measure strongly is Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a child-rights advocate who chairs the Senate Committee on Women and is the principal author of the bill. Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also enlisted as a prime supporter of the bill, which had long been sought in past Congresses for over a decade. “We advocate to increase the age of sexual consent, through multisectoral partnerships with the judiciary, social welfare, education and health sectors as thousands of children are robbed of their youth—the physical and emotional effect creates lasting emotional and psychological scars, that

the damage can last for a lifetime,” Gordon said in his sponsorship speech. Gordon pointed out that the Philippines has the lowest age of sexual consent in Asia and one of the lowest in the world. The child sexual abuse, he said, can affect the victim’s psychological and physical well-being, family and intimate relationships, faith, and education and career. “It is for these reasons that Congress has a role in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in the country. We must uphold the right of the child to freedom from sexual abuse,” Gordon stressed. Continued on A5

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

D&L bond offering gets nod

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday gave the green light to the P5-billion fixed-rate bond offering of chemical manufacturer D&L Industries Inc.

In its en banc meeting, the SEC approved D&L’s registration statement for its maiden bond offering. The company hopes to sell some P3 billion of Series A bonds due in 2024 and Series B bonds due in 2026, with an oversubscription option of up to P2 billion. D&L expects to net up to P4.93 billion from the offer, assuming

the oversubscription option is fully exercised. The proceeds will be used to finance the expansion of the food and plastic manufacturer’s plant in Batangas, as well as for the partial repayment of bridge loans. The bonds will be offered at face value, and will be listed and traded on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

The offer is scheduled for September 1 to 6, with listing on the PDEX slated for September 10, according to the timetable submitted to the SEC. D&L tapped China Bank Capital Corp. as the sole issue manager, lead underwriter and sole bookrunner for the offer. The company earlier said its strong recovery continued in the second quarter, allowing it to post a first-half income of P1.39 billion, a 74-percent increase from the previous year’s P802 million. Alvin Lao, the company’s president said all of its segments recorded pre-Covid income levels and that D&L is on track to hit its 2019 income of P2.62 billion. “Our next target is to reach our income in 2018. But we can do that by next year,” Lao said. In 2018, the company’s income reached P3.18 billion, the highest in its history. Its income then fell in the succeeding year, due mainly to

the delayed passage of the national budget and the trade war between the United States and China that also affected smaller countries such as the Philippines. “Assuming that the income for the first half holds steady for the remainder of the year, we are set to reach our 2019 income level. Moreover, we see emerging positive catalysts in the horizon such as the onset of the Christmas season, an additional spending boost coming from the 2022 election campaigns, and progress on the country’s vaccination efforts that can provide upside surprises,” Lao said. Sales for the first half grew 37 percent to P14.9 billion from last year’s P10.17 billion. For the second quarter alone it grew 83 percent to P6.9 billion from P4.5 billion last year. Net income for April to June more than doubled to P671 million from last year’s P287 million.

PSALM thumbs down park in Paco assets By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

TATE-OWNED firm Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) thumbed down the idea of a heritage conservation group to turn its properties in Paco into an open space and a public park. In a letter to Ivan Anthony Henares, president of The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH) Philippines dated August 24, 2021, Psalm president and CEO Irene Joy Besido-Garcia said the eight lots the government firm owns in Isla de Provisor “are not contiguous to one another,” with private properties interspersed, and accessible by a narrow road with informal settlers along it. “It is also important to let you know that there exists high voltage structures and transmission lines

Evergrande EV stock loses $80B in world’s worst rout

hares of China Evergrande Group’s electric vehicle unit are collapsing in Hong Kong, wiping about $80 billion from what was the property developer’s most valuable listed asset. China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. sank as much as 22 percent Thursday after its parent said the unit lost 4.8 billion yuan ($740 million) in the first half. The EV business’s market value was about $87 billion at its April 16 peak, greater than that of Ford Motor Co. and almost four times the capitalization of China Evergrande itself at the time. Evergrande NEV shares are down 92 percent since, the worst performance in the Bloomberg World Index and lagging even China’s tutoring stocks. Evergrande’s subsidiaries are being punished on concern the world’s most indebted developer will need to sell assets at a steep discount amid mounting pressure from Beijing. Shares of listed businesses— including the 65 percent stake it owns in Evergrande NEV—are the most liquid if Evergrande needs to generate cash quickly. Evergrande in May raised $1.4 billion from the unit in a heavily-discounted share sale. Bloomberg News

right in the middle of the Isla de Provisor area and they are situated on the property owned by Meralco…. Obviously, the presence of this very critical power installation makes the place not ideal for a public park or for any land usage that will make the location densely populated,” added the PSALM official. As such, the substation needs to be fully secure against possible sabotage, which could interrupt the power supply to Meralco’s clients which include the Malacañan Palace, the Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs, Phi l ippine Genera l Hospita l, and the United States Embassy. “Constructing a public park right beside a very critical substation could pose serious national security risks,” underscored BesidoGarcia.

Asset was offered to Isko

Lastly, she pointed out that PSALM did offer its Isla de Provi-

sor properties for sale to Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso. “We thought that the local government might have some public purpose or use for it. In Psalm’s letter dated 4 September 2019, and received by the Office of the Mayor on 6 September 2019, Psalm provided the details of the property and invited the city government to a meeting to discuss it further. Unfortunately, Psalm did not receive any response from the Officer of the Mayor. Perhaps the City of Manila did not see the need to acquire and develop it.” In its position paper, TICCIH urged Moreno to use Psalm’s properties in Isla de Provisor as part of a larger Central Park in Manila. (See, “Heritage advocates push for open space at state-owned Paco property,” in the BusinessMirror, August 24, 2021.) PSALM, however, has tried to sell said properties thrice before in a bid to pare down the National Power

Corp.’s (NPC) remaining financial obligations in keeping with Republic Act 9136 (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001). NPC’s remaining obligations amount to P367.89 billion as of June 30. “If we do not pay the NPC financial obligations now, we will all suffer the effects of more expensive electricity in the coming years, which could in turn hamper our country’s economic progress,” said Besido-Garcia. The PSALM official invited TICCIH to bid on the eight lots at Isla de Provisor, currently offered at a minimum of P527.09 million. She added they plan to move the deadline for the submission of bids “by at least two weeks because of the quarantine restrictions that prevented the conduct of due diligence by interested bidders.” The deadline was originally set for August 31. The properties used to be the site of the decommissioned Manila Thermal Power Plant, which have since been sold.

URC products among ‘most chosen consumer brands in Asia’–Kantar

lobal consulting firm Kantar has named segmentleading products made by Universal Robina Corp. (URC) as among the “most chosen consumer brands across Asia,” amid a shift in consumer behavior as a result of challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Payless instant noodles was named as the Philippines’s “fastestrising brand.” The brand reached 2.3 million more homes last year. “Payless’ proposition played a large part in its success,” Kantar said. “Positioning the brand as value for money, yet still delicious, is proving to be a winning formula for Payless.” Great Taste, meanwhile, was among the Philippines’s most chosen brands in the beverage sector, as instant coffee, like instant noodles, remains a household staple, especially now. The coffee brand also ranked 13th in the most chosen FMCG brands in the country. Kantar also highlighted snacking brands Nova and Piattos as among the “fastest risers” and most chosen food brands. Nova reached 1.1 million more homes last year. “The brand also adapted well to the changes in the channel landscape as the lockdown forced sarisari stores to close,” said Kantar. ”Hypermarkets and supermarkets remained resilient and Nova was able to leverage on its strong position

in these channels, helping ensure availability.” In Vietnam, meanwhile, C2 was listed as among Top 3 fastest-growing brands in urban Vietnam, according to the Vietnam Brand Footprint by Kantar Worldpanel. It remains as the leading ready-to-drink tea brand in Vietnam. URC Vietnam believed that by providing greater value and greater satisfaction in every bottle they sent out to the market, investing to strengthen the brand love, and constantly innovating, they can grow and win the support of Vietnamese consumers. Despite the impact of the pandemic, over the last 12 months,

they have successfully introduced four new products to the market. URC’s Chief Marketing Officer Mian David said URC’s rankings in Kantar’s list shows that the company has been adapting well to a shift in the way consumers purchase their food needs. Consumers are spending more time at home and are more mindful with their purchases, focusing more on what is essential rather on what they want. “Even in these difficult times, URC aims to delight our consumers with good food choices. The wide reach of our brands allows us to live that purpose everyday” said David.

Friday, August 27, 2021

TWS to build Manila Water sewage treatment plant

oshiba Water Solutions Private Limited (TWS) and local construction firm Frey-Fil Corp. have secured a contract to construct a sewage treatment plant for Manila Water Company Inc. within the famous Hinulugang Taktak, a tourist spot in Antipolo City, Rizal. TWS will be responsible for the design, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of process and electro-mechanical equipment as well as the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the plant for one year. The project involves the construction of the Hinulugang Taktak Sewage Treatment Plant in the Province of Rizal to the east of Metro Manila, Philippines. TWS said in a statement that The Hinulugang Taktak Sewage Treatment Plant will have a sewage treatment capacity of 16 million liters per day (MLD). The project is scheduled to be completed in 2023. In 2016, the Philippines introduced stringent regulations on wastewater, including requirements for biological nutrient removal (BNR), or the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. This project includes the construction of an advanced treatment plant compliant with these regulations in order to contribute to the improvement of the water environment in Metro Manila led by Manila Water. The process technology of the new

plant is “Moving Bed Bio-film Reactor (MBBR)”, which has an advantage in space efficiency. Since 1997, Manila Water has been engaged in the construction and operation of water supply and sewage facilities in the east zone of Metropolitan Manila (Metro Manila) as per the concession agreement with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System. The company provides water treatment, water distribution, sewerage and sanitation services to more than six million people in the East Zone, comprising a broad range of residential, semi-business, commercial and industrial customers. The East Zone encompasses 23 cities and municipalities spanning a 1,400-square kilometer area that includes Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Marikina, most parts of Quezon City, portions of Manila, as well as the following towns of Rizal: Angono, Antipolo, Baras, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, Jala-Jala, Morong, Pililia, Rodriguez, San Mateo, Tanay, Taytay, and Teresa. TWS engages in engineering, procurement and construction, O&M businesses for public water supply and sewerage plants and industrial water treatment facilities around the world, including in India, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East, and North and Central Americas. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Nestlé PHL on 110th year reaches out to 110 LGUs with ₧110M in products

Nestlé products were turned over to the local government of Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Contributed Photo

ver the course of 110 years, Nestlé Philippines has become the Kasambuhay ng Pamilyang Pilipino, the trusted companion in life nurturing Filipino families. Welcomed into the country’s homes for generations, the company’s products serve the nutritional needs of Filipinos throughout the day and the various stages of life, while its programs seek to make a difference in society and for the planet. This year, on its 110th anniversary, Nestlé is distributing P110 million worth of its products to families in 110 cities, municipalities and provinces across the Philippines with the help of its partners. As of mid-August, products have already been delivered to the cities of Tanauan and Lipa in Batangas and Batangas province; Calamba, Cabuyao, and Sta. Rosa in Laguna province; Caloocan, Pasig, Manila, and San Juan in Metro Manila; and Tarlac City in Tarlac province. The initiative comes in the face of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, with recipients living in communities where Nestlé operates, as well as coffee farmers, waste pickers, and Wellness Campus teachers. Participating Nestlé brands include BEAR BR AND, MAGGI, NESCAFÉ, KOKO K RUNCH, MILO, and CHUCKIE. As the company marks its 110th year in the country, it aims to accelerate its advocacy programs that help enable millions of children and families to lead healthier, happier lives; enhance the quality of life of thousands of Filipino coffee farmers; and strive for zero impact on the environment. “We thank all the Filipino families who are according us the privilege of being their Kasambuhay

in everyday life, our employees both past and present who have driven our growth and continue to do so, our public and private sector partners who are making it possible for us to serve people and the environment, and other stakeholders who motivate us to think harder and lead better,” said Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO Kais Marzouki. “Our efforts do not end here. As we move forward, we are committed to intensifying our share of the work in pursuing progress for the country, nourishing Filipinos, enhancing the quality of their lives, and achieving zero waste as well as net zero carbon emissions. At Nestlé Philippines, we are determined to enhance our role as your Kasambuhay for Good,” Marzouki added.

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, August 27, 2021

No decision yet on NGCP public offering mode–ERC

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Thursday it has not yet ruled on whether it is allowing the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to conduct other modes of public listing. Under NGCP’s franchise, the company can undertake public listing or in substitution submit proof of the listing of any company that owns or controls at least 30 percent of NGCP’s outstanding capital stock. This can be achieved through the share swap transaction and follow-on offering of 20 percent of Synergy Grid & Development Phils. Inc.’s (SGP) shares. “We will evaluate when they file,” said ERC Commissioner Rexie Digal when sought to elaborate on the agency’s August 21 order. “We have not had the chance to rule on it because it was not made an issue in the case

for which we granted the extension.” The ERC stated that it has retained the six-month extension, or until, November 14 this year, for NGCP to conduct an initial public offering (IPO). “The Commission hereby stressed that the definite and set deadline on November 14, 2021 for compliance of NGCP of its IPO will not be extended.” The agency said it will not hesitate to impose sanctions in case NGCP’s legal obligation under its franchise is not complied with. Also, the ERC order, it stressed, “should not be taken as allowing or

prohibiting any mode of ownership dispersal allowed under the law to be undertaken by NGCP as this was not made an issue in the entire proceedings.” NGCP is partly owned by Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. (MOGRC) and Calaca High Power Corp. (CHPC), with each company owning a 30-percent plus one share in the issued shares of NGCP. OneTaipan Holdings Inc. and Pacifica21 Holdings Inc. own 100 percent of MOGRC and CHPC. Henry Sy Jr. owns 67 percent of One Taipan while Robert Coyuito Jr. owns 65 percent of Pacifica21. The shares of stocks of Sy and Coyuito in the two firms will be swapped with shares from Synergy Grid & Development Philippines Inc. (SGP), which will purportedly result in MOGRC and CHPC becoming indirect subsidiaries of SGP and the latter gaining indirect control of NGCP. Simply put, SGP will own shares in OneTaipan and Pacifica21 which are shareholders in MOGRC and CHPC, which collectively own more than 60 percent of NGCP shares, thereby en-

abling SGP to have indirect control over NGCP. NGCP has informed the ERC that the share swap transactions have been completed. It said that it will only have to make a public offering of its shares through a follow-on offering of up to 20 percent of its shares, to meet the minimum public offering requirement under SEC rules for SGP to remain a listed company. In view of the share swap transaction, NGCP sought clarification from the ERC if its decision does not prohibit other mode of compliance, such as the listing of any company in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) which owns or controls at least 30 percent of the outstanding capital stock of NGCP, which can be achieved through a backdoor listing. NGCP wants to know from the ERC if it is entitled to avail itself of either IPO or listing of any company in the PSE that owns or controls at least 30 percent of the grid operator’s outstanding capital stock to comply with NGCP’s franchise. Digal said ERC has yet to rule on this.

‘Steer clear of illegal investment schemes’

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against investing in schemes being offered by some gasoline companies as these may be fraudulent. In its advisory, the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection department said it received reports that these small gasoline companies are advertising that investors can co-own a gas station for a minimum amount of P300,000. These companies usually offer subscription to the shares of stock of the company, franchise agreement, co-franchisee agreement, partnership agreement, co-ownership contract and other forms of contract that offers to the public an opportunity to invest in their company and earn profit “hassle free.”

The agency did not yet name the gasoline companies offering such investment schemes. “In the said offers, the construction, management and operation of the gas stations will be the responsibility of the company. The investors just have to place their money, sign the contract, then wait for the quarterly distribution of profits,” the agency said. “Some would even offer a guaranteed profit by claiming that the loss will be shouldered by the company.” The SEC said it has a list of firms that are allowed to offer and sell securities. “Investments not included in the list are deemed to be unregistered and therefore not authorized to be offered to the public.” VG Cabuag

mutual funds

August 26, 2021 NAV

One Year Three Year Five Year

per share

Return*

Y-T-D Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

219.9

12.11%

-5.98%

-4.09%

-3.22%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

1.4772

44.23%

-0.48%

0.76%

12.51%

15.58%

-10.17%

-7.17%

-3.55%

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0219

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7372 9.15%

-7.42% n.a.

-8.3%

First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7479

-4.91% n.a.

0.85%

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a

4.8787

7.74% 15.43%

-3.68%

-2.34%

-1.27%

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7349

11.47%

-5.75%

-6.01%

MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

97.63

24.39%

-5.29% n.a.

-4.23%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a

44.9402

14.39%

-4.48%

-3.07%

-4.07%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

472.9

11.71%

-4.1%

-3.42%

-3.29%

Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5

1.0809

22.22% n.a. n.a.

-1.49%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

1.1777

17.43%

-3.38%

-2.11%

0.81%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

34.137

16.1%

-3.75%

-1.93%

-1.82%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.8815

13.25% n.a. n.a.

-3.45%

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a

4.6206

15.22%

-3.56%

-3.82%

-2.27%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

771.79

15.12%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

0.6993

16.59%

-7.7%

-5.53%

-2.73%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.541

13.75%

-5.89%

-3.58%

-2.28%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8814 14.72%

-4.12%

-2.58%

-3.96%

United Fund, Inc. -a

-4.12%

-1.64%

-2.75%

-3.6%

-1.91%

3.2278

15.39%

-3.79%

-2.43%

-3.28%

-3.72%

Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c

103.6276

15.1%

-3.65%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.1801

10.58%

4.68%

5.68%

-1.9%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.8342

20.6%

12.54%

11.84%

9.65%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a

1.6633

5.75%

-0.81%

-1.9%

-0.32%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a

2.1978

6.78%

-1.64%

-1.69%

-3.83%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5919

7.86%

-0.42%

-0.56%

-1.34%

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1905

3.81% n.a. n.a.

NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

1.19%

1.9506

6.53%

0.18%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.6674

5.26%

0.07%

-1.11%

-3.19%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

16.4298

5.89%

0.22%

-1.07%

-2.99%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

2.0491

7.44%

-1.06%

-0.73%

-2.15%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5255 8.03%

-2.18%

-1.81%

-1.33%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9808

4.45% n.a. n.a.

-4.09%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8985

7.35% n.a. n.a.

-5.34%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8849

9.27% n.a. n.a.

-5.17%

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

9.99%

-0.15%

0.8864

-2.73%

-2.14%

-4.08%

-0.68%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a

$0.03836

-2.52%

2.8%

1.16%

-1.94%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b

$1.093

3.87%

3.26%

3.16%

-4.97%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.8033 15.44%

9.56%

8.32%

6.43%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.2266 6.98%

5.52%

4.37%

2.04%

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

372.62

1.17%

3.04%

2.41%

0.42%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9248

-1.29%

1.1%

0.09%

1.29%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.2376

1.21%

3.52%

4.25%

0.71%

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

August 26, 2021

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 FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

43.45 111.9 82.65 24.25 9.35 46 9.8 20.65 55.25 19.76 113 80.7 1.2 4.29 0.6 2.9 1.24 0.345 950 213 2,450 0.87

45.45 112.4 82.95 24.35 9.36 46.1 10.5 20.7 56.1 20 114.3 80.9 1.21 4.3 0.64 3 1.34 0.36 975 215 2,550 0.95

43.5 113.5 83 24.3 9.38 46.4 9.78 20.6 56.05 20 113.4 79.5 1.2 4.32 0.6 2.93 1.23 0.35 950 215.8 2,450 0.95

43.5 113.5 83.55 24.4 9.38 47 10.5 20.8 56.05 20.1 115 81 1.21 4.32 0.6 2.93 1.23 0.35 950 216 2,450 0.95

43.45 111.9 82.55 24.25 9.28 45.95 9.78 20.5 56 20 113 79.5 1.2 4.29 0.6 2.93 1.23 0.35 950 214 2,450 0.95

43.5 111.9 82.65 24.25 9.35 46 10.22 20.65 56 20.1 113 80.9 1.2 4.3 0.6 2.93 1.23 0.35 950 215 2,450 0.95

36,800 968,310 842,210 73,900 137,500 2,509,200 12,500 125,400 1,410 2,200 409,850 73,970 84,000 197,000 14,000 74,000 2,000 180,000 10 1,060 185 10,000

1,600,785 108,807,450 69,777,457.50 1,793,490 1,281,447 116,298,280 124,120 2,590,615 78,961.50 44,170 46,497,812 5,953,459 101,300 849,490 8,400 216,820 2,460 63,000 9,500 228,236 453,250 9,500

43,515 3,514,829 -16,039,644 90,050 -41,554,265 -365,170 20,100 -3,598,646 1,947,615 -8,620 441,000 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 9.2 9.21 9.35 9.35 9.15 9.2 23,039,300 212,952,628 1.17 1.2 1.16 1.2 1.16 1.2 530,000 624,260 ALSONS CONS 26.45 26.5 26.1 26.7 26.1 26.5 5,321,700 140,751,600 ABOITIZ POWER 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.61 0.58 0.6 12,404,000 7,374,500 BASIC ENERGY 28.3 28.45 29.3 29.3 28 28.3 888,500 25,142,545 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 74 74.1 73.95 74.1 73.95 74 44,480 3,290,893 MERALCO 287.2 290 290 290 286 290 192,610 55,697,904 MANILA WATER 18.7 18.72 18.5 18.88 18.5 18.7 2,815,700 52,731,336 PETRON 3.11 3.15 3.16 3.16 3.11 3.11 1,722,000 5,387,340 3.92 3.97 3.92 3.97 3.91 3.91 1,003,000 3,922,070 PETROENERGY 12.62 12.88 12.8 12.88 12.8 12.88 25,000 321,418 PHX PETROLEUM 18.3 18.32 18.18 18.34 18 18.3 350,300 6,387,504 PILIPINAS SHELL 12.7 12.82 13 13.2 12.68 12.82 232,900 3,020,764 SPC POWER VIVANT 15 16.54 16 16 16 16 600 9,600 5.81 5.85 5.95 6 5.8 5.9 273,000 1,600,763 AGRINURTURE AXELUM 2.83 2.87 2.82 2.89 2.82 2.85 150,000 427,630 CNTRL AZUCARERA 13.96 14.1 13.96 13.96 13.96 13.96 700 9,772 25 25.05 25.3 25.3 25 25.05 159,800 4,007,510 CENTURY FOOD 13.16 13.18 13 13.2 13 13.16 248,100 3,249,628 DEL MONTE 8.25 8.26 8.3 8.35 8.21 8.25 1,928,400 15,943,630 DNL INDUS 15.22 15.24 15.8 15.88 15.18 15.22 10,340,200 157,365,988 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 78.45 79.9 78.85 79.9 78.4 79.9 270,500 21,427,186 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.67 0.65 0.65 28,000 18,320 1.22 1.25 1.18 1.3 1.18 1.25 17,371,000 21,363,740 FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA 103 104.6 103 106 100.2 104.6 32,110 3,319,868 JOLLIBEE 199.4 201 205 205 199.4 199.4 368,880 74,124,261 27.35 28.95 29.95 29.95 29 29 800 23,590 LIBERTY FLOUR 7.09 7.89 7.9 7.9 7.9 7.9 700 5,530 MACAY HLDG 6.3 6.32 6.18 6.3 6.18 6.3 429,700 2,672,019 MAXS GROUP 0.218 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.22 0.22 320,000 71,350 MG HLDG MONDE NISSIN 16.28 16.3 16.62 16.68 16.22 16.3 12,798,800 209,077,518 SHAKEYS PIZZA 7.71 7.8 7.65 7.85 7.65 7.85 6,900 54,085 ROXAS AND CO 0.89 0.9 0.89 0.92 0.89 0.9 5,427,000 4,861,710 RFM CORP 4.47 4.5 4.59 4.59 4.59 4.59 2,000 9,180 0.13 0.131 0.132 0.132 0.13 0.131 3,060,000 400,260 SWIFT FOODS 142 143 142.8 145 142 142 1,014,200 145,368,576 UNIV ROBINA 0.8 0.81 0.85 0.85 0.81 0.81 2,007,000 1,647,660 VITARICH 2.31 2.45 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 10,000 23,000 VICTORIAS CONCRETE A 49.05 50.95 49.05 49.05 49 49 2,200 107,810 1.23 1.24 1.23 1.24 1.21 1.24 915,000 1,126,670 CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT 14.32 14.38 14.22 14.36 14.1 14.32 43,900 623,604 8.35 8.49 8.28 8.5 8.26 8.35 55,500 463,104 EEI CORP 6.8 6.82 7 7 6.75 6.8 89,800 614,661 HOLCIM 6.26 6.33 6.21 6.35 6.21 6.33 457,300 2,873,720 MEGAWIDE 13.88 14.24 13.96 13.96 13.96 13.96 27,500 383,900 PHINMA 0.98 1 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 249,000 244,020 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 1.49 1.5 1.54 1.57 1.49 1.5 13,900,000 21,183,690 CROWN ASIA 1.71 1.72 1.7 1.71 1.7 1.71 1,599,000 2,718,340 1.78 1.83 1.79 1.79 1.79 1.79 31,000 55,490 EUROMED 5.2 5.43 5.25 5.44 5.25 5.44 2,000 10,684 MABUHAY VINYL 5.4 5.44 5.44 5.44 5.44 5.44 15,800 85,952 PRYCE CORP 21.75 22 21.3 21.95 21.3 21.95 8,900 193,175 CONCEPCION 2.83 2.9 2.92 2.95 2.83 2.83 6,148,000 17,716,990 GREENERGY 8.58 8.63 8.74 8.85 8.56 8.58 458,000 3,974,689 INTEGRATED MICR 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92 229,000 210,470 IONICS PANASONIC 5.78 6.02 6.02 6.02 6.02 6.02 3,200 19,264 1.19 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.18 1.2 349,000 416,240 SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG 4.51 4.52 4.64 4.65 4.52 4.52 2,162,000 9,878,720

57,165,196 -4,817,950 -29,030 -762,720 875,488.50 15,102,602 17,470,428 -854,960 3,046,734 -51,920 441,862 8,460 -750,650 -41,776 -7,446,456 -14,305,342 -4,724,837 221,290 -589,377 1,234,788 5,530 1,265,185.00 -14,942,266 -36,895 -1,222,840 -7,860 54,555,100 830 -70,680 70,127 -635,882 558,010 113,525 -828,830 -1,281,545.00 11,900 290,350

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.03 1.04 1.02 1.04 1 1.04 5,425,000 5,560,810 6.1 6.36 6.1 6.37 6.1 6.37 5,100 31,137 ASIABEST GROUP 777 778 745 790 745 778 571,580 438,345,710 AYALA CORP 41.75 42 41.6 42 41.3 42 1,133,800 47,422,230 ABOITIZ EQUITY 10.18 10.2 10.56 10.56 10.12 10.18 2,570,200 26,456,194 ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG 4.86 4.87 4.48 4.86 4.4 4.86 29,491,000 138,968,030 ANSCOR 6.86 6.94 6.68 6.95 6.68 6.95 51,100 353,491 0.96 0.97 0.96 0.97 0.95 0.97 1,098,000 1,052,570 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.59 0.6 0.57 0.61 0.55 0.6 1,341,000 768,730 ATN HLDG A 0.57 0.58 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.58 175,000 100,000 ATN HLDG B 4.97 4.98 4.98 4.99 4.96 4.98 1,672,000 8,321,420 COSCO CAPITAL 6.3 6.31 6.38 6.47 6.28 6.3 8,165,800 52,139,252 DMCI HLDG 7.51 7.78 7.51 7.79 7.51 7.78 31,600 243,601 FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A 2.73 2.97 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2,000 5,600 551 552 530 559 530 551 385,910 211,950,510 GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV 3.82 4.28 3.82 3.82 3.82 3.82 407,000 1,554,740 64.95 65 67.65 68.5 64.1 64.95 3,017,840 198,848,981 JG SUMMIT 5.34 5.74 5.88 5.88 5.33 5.75 10,100 57,708 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.5 5.9 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 1,000 5,500 KEPPEL HLDG A 0.7 0.71 0.68 0.7 0.67 0.7 389,000 268,620 LODESTAR 3.02 3.08 3.02 3.08 3.01 3.02 1,523,000 4,589,840 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 9.06 9.09 9.1 9.25 9.06 9.06 10,781,900 98,263,149 METRO PAC INV 3.85 3.86 3.88 3.99 3.83 3.86 79,735,000 308,333,300 PACIFICA HLDG 3.15 3.28 3.11 3.15 3.11 3.15 7,000 21,810 1.99 2 2.11 2.11 1.98 2 465,000 939,440 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1.19 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 34,000 41,480 982 988.5 1,008 1,008 982 982 160,345 158,097,932.50 SM INVESTMENTS 110 111 111 112 110 110 170,220 18,793,283 SAN MIGUEL CORP 133 137 133.1 137.6 133 133 1,940 258,291 TOP FRONTIER 0.191 0.195 0.192 0.192 0.19 0.191 3,890,000 743,470 ZEUS HLDG

-334,430 -46,923,485 9,265,405 -6,686,574 128,610 -3,606,230 8,798,479 35,382,135 26,620,281 -90,780 -65,519,657 -221,802,990 400 40,260 -14,399,900 -5,791,208 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.66 0.67 0.68 0.68 0.66 0.66 93,000 62,410 6.12 6.9 7 7 6.9 6.9 26,000 180,400 ANCHOR LAND 34.2 34.3 34.1 34.45 34.05 34.3 5,623,300 192,671,495 AYALA LAND 1.1 1.11 1.11 1.11 1.1 1.1 36,000 39,740 ARANETA PROP 37 37.1 37 37.3 36.95 37 234,700 8,696,100 AREIT RT BELLE CORP 1.37 1.41 1.36 1.41 1.36 1.41 24,000 33,020 0.86 0.87 0.89 0.89 0.86 0.87 484,000 417,290 A BROWN 0.78 0.79 0.78 0.79 0.78 0.79 586,000 460,260 CITYLAND DEVT 0.124 0.125 0.129 0.129 0.125 0.127 640,000 80,880 CROWN EQUITIES 6.1 6.25 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1 100 610 CEBU HLDG 3.28 3.3 3.12 3.3 3.1 3.3 4,366,000 14,044,710 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.45 0.46 0.445 0.46 0.435 0.46 55,490,000 24,787,950 CENTURY PROP 10.1 10.2 10.4 10.4 10.1 10.1 443,800 4,526,206 DOUBLEDRAGON DDMP RT 1.8 1.81 1.82 1.82 1.79 1.8 7,978,000 14,374,310 DM WENCESLAO 6.97 6.99 6.92 6.98 6.92 6.97 15,100 105,056 0.28 0.285 0.28 0.285 0.275 0.285 1,640,000 456,450 EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO 0.39 0.395 0.39 0.415 0.375 0.395 40,530,000 16,020,600 7.19 7.25 7.25 7.34 7.16 7.25 1,426,000 10,316,448 FILINVEST RT 1.1 1.11 1.1 1.11 1.1 1.11 7,576,000 8,387,220 FILINVEST LAND 0.87 0.89 0.85 0.89 0.85 0.87 6,000 5,280 GLOBAL ESTATE 7.2 7.48 7.47 7.49 7.2 7.2 18,500 136,122 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 1.3 1.31 1.33 1.33 1.28 1.31 363,000 473,130 1.29 1.3 1.34 1.35 1.28 1.3 405,000 533,270 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 2.92 2.93 2.95 2.95 2.92 2.93 12,528,000 36,733,130 MRC ALLIED 0.31 0.315 0.305 0.32 0.295 0.315 20,210,000 6,277,950 PHIL ESTATES 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.53 0.53 7,418,000 3,988,550 1.96 1.97 1.89 1.97 1.89 1.96 175,000 339,520 PRIMEX CORP 16.68 16.8 16.86 17 16.54 16.8 2,388,800 40,120,894 ROBINSONS LAND 0.27 0.275 0.275 0.28 0.27 0.275 1,080,000 297,650 PHIL REALTY 1.51 1.53 1.51 1.51 1.51 1.51 54,000 81,540 ROCKWELL STA LUCIA LAND 3.01 3.06 3 3.09 3 3.06 98,000 300,810 34.15 34.5 34.55 34.55 34.05 34.5 5,473,800 188,291,765 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 3.7 3.8 3.7 3.8 3.68 3.8 20,000 74,100 1.61 1.66 1.62 1.7 1.62 1.68 276,000 460,780 SUNTRUST HOME 3.51 3.54 3.53 3.55 3.5 3.51 642,000 2,258,270 VISTA LAND SERVICES ABS CBN 11 11.02 10.9 11.02 10.9 11 218,500 2,403,336 13.64 13.68 13.76 13.76 13.6 13.64 1,366,100 18,684,948 GMA NETWORK 0.405 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.43 20,000 8,600 MANILA BULLETIN 2,936 2,948 2,570 2,994 2,570 2,948 569,235 1,614,645,150 GLOBE TELECOM 1,448 1,449 1,345 1,460 1,345 1,449 807,315 1,158,166,630 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.124 0.125 0.129 0.134 0.123 0.125 608,390,000 77,421,140 CONVERGE 31 31.2 29.75 31.95 29.75 31 22,162,700 686,787,555 DFNN INC 3.81 3.85 3.8 3.88 3.8 3.81 216,000 832,570 DITO CME HLDG 8.95 8.96 8.3 9 8.3 8.96 44,930,600 393,585,932 2.21 2.25 2.25 2.27 2.25 2.25 10,000 22,560 JACKSTONES 2.13 2.14 2.07 2.18 2.03 2.14 7,683,000 16,333,810 NOW CORP 0.415 0.42 0.405 0.435 0.405 0.42 33,270,000 14,006,300 TRANSPACIFIC BR 2.2 2.23 2.19 2.25 2.19 2.23 159,000 351,230 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.08 8.22 8.25 8.25 8.07 8.08 10,500 86,370 2.67 2.68 2.6 2.72 2.6 2.67 1,055,000 2,822,720 CHELSEA 43.75 43.8 43.85 44.35 43.75 43.75 393,400 17,280,690 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 180 180.1 180 182.5 178.2 180 804,570 144,639,302 16.3 16.78 16.3 16.3 16.3 16.3 300 4,890 LBC EXPRESS 4.84 4.87 4.89 4.94 4.82 4.87 1,190,000 5,806,160 MACROASIA 1.75 1.77 1.84 1.84 1.68 1.75 332,000 577,370 METROALLIANCE A 1.81 2 2.05 2.14 2 2 10,000 20,650 METROALLIANCE B HARBOR STAR 1.07 1.11 1.13 1.16 1.07 1.11 397,000 449,470 1.67 1.7 1.74 1.74 1.65 1.7 201,000 335,930 ACESITE HOTEL 0.096 0.097 0.1 0.1 0.095 0.097 235,550,000 22,971,630 BOULEVARD HLDG DISCOVERY WORLD 2.27 2.33 2.46 2.46 2.23 2.33 454,000 1,026,160 0.52 0.54 0.52 0.54 0.52 0.54 1,196,000 623,190 WATERFRONT 550 594.5 555 555 555 555 20 11,100 FAR EASTERN U 7.11 7.47 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 1,000 7,100 IPEOPLE 0.34 0.345 0.345 0.355 0.345 0.345 2,340,000 817,150 STI HLDG 5.34 5.5 5.34 5.5 5.34 5.5 5,100 27,746 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 6.1 6.13 6.1 6.2 6.01 6.1 3,515,500 21,485,526 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.95 2.03 1.95 2.03 1.94 2.03 41,000 80,690 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.49 1.44 1.48 54,000 78,800 LEISURE AND RES 1.65 1.67 1.62 1.67 1.62 1.65 1,777,000 2,907,360 PH RESORTS GRP 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.42 750,000 312,600 PREMIUM LEISURE 5.8 5.95 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 300 1,740 PHIL RACING 8.15 8.37 8.34 8.54 8.13 8.37 2,309,800 19,359,145 ALLHOME 1.29 1.31 1.3 1.3 1.29 1.29 803,000 1,039,710 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 39.95 40 40.2 41.45 40 40 1,599,600 64,930,060 ROBINSONS RTL 50 50.7 52 52.1 49.75 50 1,795,620 90,139,301.50 PHIL SEVEN CORP 84.5 85.25 85 85.8 84.5 84.5 13,560 1,152,253 SSI GROUP 1.12 1.13 1.12 1.13 1.09 1.12 2,826,000 3,148,440 23.5 23.95 24.25 24.25 23.5 23.5 1,882,100 44,849,170 WILCON DEPOT 5.35 5.65 5.5 5.98 5.22 5.65 87,400 472,621 EASYCALL 470.6 478.2 470 480 470 478.2 1,080 514,852 GOLDEN MV 6.85 7.1 7.05 7.1 7.05 7.1 5,000 35,400 IPM HLDG PAXYS 2.46 2.47 2.46 2.46 2.46 2.46 4,000 9,840 1.15 1.16 1.22 1.23 1.15 1.15 27,083,000 31,842,180 PRMIERE HORIZON

MINING & OIL ATOK 6.04 6.05 5.91 6.06 5.9 6.04 1,789,900 10,668,920 1.49 1.51 1.5 1.52 1.5 1.5 1,923,000 2,886,390 APEX MINING 6.3 6.31 6.39 6.39 6.29 6.3 905,000 5,707,614 ATLAS MINING 4.98 5.2 5.28 5.28 4.95 5.2 157,900 782,674 BENGUET A Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2597 -2.25% 2.09% 1.26% -1.58% COAL ASIA HLDG 0.285 0.3 0.295 0.3 0.29 0.3 60,000 17,650 First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.439 -0.86% 3.2% 1.64% -0.58% 2.8 2.88 2.88 2.88 2.88 2.88 2,000 5,760 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 6.01 6.18 6.03 6.03 6 6.01 18,000 108,246 -3.42% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.4759 -4.89% 4.22% 1.12% 2.22 2.23 2.31 2.31 2.21 2.23 8,000,000 17,898,750 FERRONICKEL 0.285 0.29 0.27 0.285 0.27 0.285 860,000 241,350 GEOGRACE Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3183 0.49% 3.97% 2.68% -0.22% 0.138 0.139 0.14 0.14 0.138 0.138 4,410,000 614,570 LEPANTO A Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9788 0.43% 4.64% 2.1% -0.56% 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 2,500,000 26,000 MANILA MINING A 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 545,100,000 5,474,100 MANILA MINING B Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0364 -0.72% 4.7% 1.54% -0.54% MARCVENTURES 0.94 0.95 0.96 0.99 0.93 0.95 172,000 163,490 1.22 1.26 1.22 1.24 1.2 1.24 118,000 143,630 NIHAO Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.2151 0.61% 5.04% 2.43% 0.28% 5.73 5.74 5.64 5.75 5.57 5.73 19,878,200 111,692,393 NICKEL ASIA ORNTL PENINSULA 0.9 0.91 0.93 0.93 0.91 0.91 141,000 128,410 Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7494 -0.34% 4.38% 1.76% -0.32% 5.59 5.6 5.65 5.65 5.52 5.59 475,700 2,649,978 PX MINING Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 16.52 16.68 16.5 16.88 16.5 16.52 2,687,000 44,787,442 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0079 0.008 0.0083 0.0083 0.0079 0.008 300,000,000 2,409,700 UNITED PARAGON ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $487.81 1.89% 3.15% 2.09% 0.81% 15.96 16 16 16 15.94 15.96 36,400 580,926 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 23,900,000 262,900 ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є220.61 1.59% 1.08% 0.83% 0.65% 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 4,000,000 44,000 ORNTL PETROL B ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2065 -2.9% 2.56% 1.39% -5.77% 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 32,200,000 339,400 PHILODRILL 6.16 6.18 6.24 6.36 6.13 6.16 451,100 2,784,482 PXP ENERGY First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0262 -1.13% 1.85% 0.86% -1.5% PREFFERED PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0537 -3.55% 0.44% -1.12% -3.57% HOUSE PREF B 100.8 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 1,000 101,500 Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5287 0.73% 5.1% 1.89% -0.27% 515 538 515 515 515 515 2,400 1,236,000 AC PREF B1 103.4 109 109 109 109 109 10 1,090 ALCO PREF C Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0631018 3.4% 3.56% 2.08% 1.26% 520 524 520 520 520 520 4,100 2,132,000 AC PREF B2R 43.7 43.75 44 44 43.7 43.7 44,400 1,943,430 CEB PREF Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2021 -1% 3.26% 0.71% -0.67% DD PREF 100.7 100.9 100.9 100.9 100.6 100.7 20,810 2,096,649 Money Market Funds 999 1,018 998.5 1,000 997.5 1,000 4,320 4,315,032.50 GTCAP PREF A 1,022 1,048 1,022 1,022 1,021 1,021 2,000 2,042,100 GTCAP PREF B Primarily invested in Peso securities 100.7 100.8 101 101 101 101 1,210 122,210 MWIDE PREF 101 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.8 200 20,360 MWIDE PREF 2B ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 130.53 1.31% 2.96% 2.53% 0.55% 106 106.7 106.7 106.7 106 106.7 250 26,640 PNX PREF 3B First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0545 1% n.a. n.a. 0.61% 1,002 1,003 1,003 1,003 1,001 1,003 805 807,095 PNX PREF 4 1,020 1,025 1,020 1,020 1,020 1,020 10 10,200 PCOR PREF 2B Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.3084 1.55% 2.79% 2.55% 0.91% PCOR PREF 3A 1,115 1,117 1,116 1,116 1,116 1,116 2,200 2,455,200 76 76.2 76.1 76.25 76 76.2 24,850 1,892,792 SMC PREF 2C Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 76 76.65 76 76.65 75.85 76.65 7,550 573,731.50 SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F 78.6 78.7 78.65 78.7 78.65 78.65 164,930 12,971,745 Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0583 1.02% 1.61% n.a. 0.56% 78.1 78.9 78.9 78.9 78.05 78.1 6,080 474,879 SMC PREF 2I Feeder Funds 75.6 76.9 76.25 76.25 75.55 75.55 31,000 2,354,170.50 SMC PREF 2J 76 76.75 76.5 76.5 76 76 27,000 2,060,493 SMC PREF 2K Primarily invested in Peso securities PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.3281 29.14% n.a. n.a. 17.57% ABS HLDG PDR 10.4 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 50,000 525,000 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 12.18 12.2 12.24 12.24 12.14 12.18 119,500 1,456,938 GMA HLDG PDR ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.99 4.21% n.a. n.a. 1.02% WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.47 0.48 0.5 0.51 0.45 0.47 2,184,000 1,035,255 1.74 1.75 1.85 1.89 1.66 1.75 36,133,000 63,532,940 TECH WARRANT 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."

7,566,785 2,551,500 349,730 131,950 -975,938 -5,000,720 -417,000 -63,450 -1,229,634 -1,535,730 -36,193 -149,840 -7,262,980 12,950 -62,660 -17,430 -10,803,542 8,100 -19,350,235 -766,560 592,859,700 221,847,550 -1,468,290 -239,840,230 595,350 -10,552,592 665,280 -230,500 -35,400 -127,745 11,142,681 361,370 -324,180 -275,250 2,737,503 -815,000 8,950,083 -576,800 22,226,600 -31,566,620.50 241,120 -741,960 6,518,875 -94,000 -5,471,380 -500,273 234,000 955,102 5,760 726,850.00 -5,600 -75,312,737 5,590 -8,583,980 48,000 -72,386 -1,930,290 -122,210 -10,670 76,000 - -525,000 48,800 189,140 -125,670

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE MERRYMART

19.8 2.04 2.4 3.78

FIRST METRO ETF

103.4

20.65 2.06 2.73 3.79

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

103.5

20.5 2.01 2.4 3.74

21.5 2.09 2.4 3.87

19.8 2.01 2.4 3.71

20.65 2.06 2.4 3.79

198,900 165,000 50,000 7,767,000

4,083,200 335,550 120,000 29,554,910

135,400 57,570

103.6 103.6 103 103.4 16,600 1,712,951 154,800

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, August 27, 2021

Central bank upgrades funds-transfer system

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE high volume of online transactions brought about by mobility restrictions prompted the central bank to upgrade the gross settlement system, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno announced on Thursday.

The 5 Cs of a successful sales team

S a banker in my previous career before I became an association executive, I have learned the “5 Cs” of the credit process: character, capacity, capital, collateral and conditions. These 5 Cs are used to assess the creditworthiness of a borrower. Recently, I have learned another set of “5 Cs” after attending the webinar, “Creating a Sales-Focused Culture in your Association,” organized by the Answers for Associations, an Australian online community of associations headed by Angela Shelton. The speaker, Ingrid Maynard, founder and managing director of “The Sales Doctor,” has worked with organizations to transform the way they sell to achieve a new level of success. While one could argue that associations are not exactly in the business of selling, there could be ideas and approaches they may learn from sales people. Here are the “5 Cs” I picked up from the webinar and added my inputs based on my knowledge and experience with associations: 1. Clarity. This revolves around purpose and how clearly this is articulated to the sales team. Questions for the sales team like, “What do you want to achieve?”, “What resources are needed?”, “Who is your target market?”, and “How do you engage customers?” resonate as well to the membership team in the context of associations. A study of remarkable associations in the United States by the American Society of Association Executives showed that alignment of purpose with member services is an essential element for the associations’ success and sustainability. 2. Capability. This focuses on the questions: “What people skills are needed for the current market?”, “What is the right structure to make an impact?”, “What systems and procedures should be in place and what enabling technologies are required?”, “What other knowledge should be sourced?”. During this pandemic, associations have also asked the same questions, adapted, and became resilient by pivoting to virtual events and online courses to engage and help their members, as well as reskilled

Association World Octavio Peralta and upskilled their staff. 3. Communication. This encompasses meeting customers where they are, the consistency of messaging, and individual as well as team communication. Similarly, for associations working remotely, there are also challenges in communication. With the appropriate tools, talent and technologies, however, these issues have been manageable. Empathizing with and understanding the team’s respective situations through frequent communication in a WFH environment is key to cohesion and productivity. 4. Community. This deals with the dynamics of belongingness and togetherness, especially when meeting in person is limited or restricted. Building teams, peer-to-peer networks, social and support mechanisms, as well as buddy systems, are helpful in these trying times. Associations have taken the opportunity to create online member communities to share information, learn from each other, and celebrate their achievements together. 5. Coaching. This enables the team members to be present though remote, as well as being able to be heard and to shine on their own merits through individual, team and peer coaching and mentoring. In like manner, associations will serve their members well by providing advice and guidance to their members on their goals and helping them reach their full potential. The column contributor, Octavio Peralta, is founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives and concurrent president of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. Peralta’s views do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s. E-mail: obp@adfiap.org

In a virtual news briefing, Diokno said the country’s next-generation peso real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) “PhilPaSSPlus” is now on live run. The PhilPaSSPlus RTGS can settle higher volumes of payment instructions at faster speed compared with the RTGS system that the BSP has decommissioned, according to documents provided by the BSP. PhilPaSS is a real-time gross settlement system that is owned and operated by the BSP. It processes and settles interbank payment transactions of banks through their demand

deposit accounts. The PhilPaSSPlus project was launched in December 2019. The development of this new facility aims to equip the country with stateof-the-art technology, enabling its RTGS to deliver comprehensive functionalities and settle larger volumes of financial transactions of varying types and complexities. “Equipped with advanced features, ‘PhilPaSSPlus’ is a key milestone in our continuing efforts to have an efficient, secure and inclusive digital settlement platform

for both large value and retail payments,” Diokno said. PhilPaSSPlus also accepts only the globally prescribed ISO 20022 payment messaging standard, enabling the country to integrate with both domestic and cross-border payment ecosystems. “PhilPaSSPlus forms part of the BSP’s digital transformation initiatives, which entail leveraging on emerging technologies to expedite payment services that have become a necessity in these extraordinary times,” Diokno said.

Just recently, the BSP reported that Filipinos continued to shift towards digital banking due to the movement and operational restrictions brought about by the government’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country. In particular, financial transactions through the country’s two automated clearing houses—PESONet and InstaPay—were higher by 276 percent in volume and 127 percent in value in April, compared to the figures recorded during the same month in 2020.

Ex-BankWise execs cleared of charges of violating CB Act By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the criminal charges filed against two former bank executives of the now defunct BankWise Inc. after the Department of Justice (DOJ) took more than a decade to indict them for violation of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7653 or The New Central Bank Act. In a 16-page decision penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, the Court’s Second Division nullified the charges filed against Vicente J. Campa Jr. and Perfecto M. Pascua, former vice chairman and vice president of Bankwise, respectively, on the ground of inordinate delay. The Court’s decision nullified for grave abuse of discretion the orders issued on August 13, 2019, October 1, 2019, and October 7, 2019 of the Regional Trial Court of Makati City denying petitioner’s plea for the dismissal of the case. The petitioners sought the dismissal of the cases before the trial court on ground of inordinate delay. They argued that the unreasonable length of the investigation before the

DOJ violated their right to a speedy disposition of their cases as mandated under Section 16, Article III of the 1987 Constitution. “Here, petitioners were unduly prejudiced by the 10-year delay because access to records and contact to witnesses could prove to be too difficult to effectively defend themselves in trial,” the High Tribunal pointed out. “More, they were never informed or updated on the status of the investigation, depriving them of any opportunity to adequately prepare for any impending trial, mentally, physically, and even financially - especially considering their advanced age. In fact, petitioners mentioned that the delay made them believe that the proceedings had been terminated due to the sheer length of time that they were left hanging,” it added. The case stemmed from the complaint filed on September 12, 2007, by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) before the DOJ against the officers of BankWise Inc., including petitioners and five others, for violation of Monetary Board Resolution 14601 in relation to Section 3 of RA 7653. In the complaint, the BSP charged petitioners along with their co-ac-

cused with issuing unfunded manager’s checks and failing to present documents to support the bank’s disbursements in acquiring assets. After the preliminary investigation, the case was deemed submitted for resolution on August 29, 2008. However, the DOJ’s resolution finding probable cause to indict the petitions for the offense came out only after 10 years and five months since it was submitted for resolution. Accordingly, the DOJ filed before the RTC, Makati City 11 informations against Campa and five against Pascua for violation of Monetary Board Resolution 1460 in relation to Section 3, RA 7653. The SC noted that under the Rules on Criminal Procedure and the Manual for Prosecutors investigating officers and the prosecuting agency are given a maximum of 60 days from date of assignment to conclude preliminary investigations. However, the DOJ took about 10 years and five months from the filing of the complaint on September 12, 2007, before it issued a resolution dated February 8, 2019 finding probable cause to indict petitioners. “Clearly, this is way beyond the periods for investigation set forth under Sec-

tion 3, Rule 112 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Manual for Prosecutors,” the SC declared. The Office of the Solicitor General, which represents the DOJ in the case, had admitted to the delay but attributed it to the changes in leadership in the DOJ during the course of the investigation, the complexity of the case, as well as the DOJ’s workload. But, the SC said these circumstances do not justify the delay of 10 years in resolving the case. The SC gave weight to the petitioners’ claim that their case was already submitted for resolution before the DOJ as early as August 29, 2008 and that there were no further proceedings or introduction of new evidence were made. The Court also noted the manifestation by the DOJ that when the case got reassigned to Assistant State Prosecutor Vilma D. Sarmiento on January 23, 2019, she concluded the investigation in less than a month and finalized the DOJ Resolution on February8, 2019. The SC pointed out that if it took Sarmiento only less than a month to resolve the case, then the 10 years and five months delay “was unaccounted for, unexplained and certainly inordinate.”

LandBank lends ₧68 million for purchase of PUVs

tate-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced it will finance the purchase of modern jeepney units set to benefit 500 drivers in Novaliches, Quezon City. LandBank said in a statement it released last Thursday it has approved a P68-million loan to the Novaliches Development Co-operative (Novadeci) for the procurement of 32 modern jeepney units. The project will be financed under the bank’s “Special Package for Environment-Friendly and Efficiently-Driven Public Utility Vehicles” program. The brand-new, modern public utility jeepneys (PUJs) will ply the routes of Novaliches in Quezon City to Malinta in Valenzuela City and vice versa. “LandBank stands ready in helping transport cooperatives nationwide to make the shift to safer and more efficient vehicles,” Landbank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo was quoted in a statement

as saying. “Together with the DOTr [Department of Transportation] and the LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board], we will continuously support efforts to modernize the country’s transport system for the benefit of transport players and the riding public.” As of end-July this year, the bank has provided financial support amounting to P1.95 billion to 45 public transport cooperatives and corporations for the purchase of 922 modern PUJs, covering a total of 53 routes. Another 45 loan applications are currently being processed amounting to P4.23 billion to procure 1,823 units of modern jeepneys. Under the LandBank’s lending program, loans are released to borrowers 45 days upon submission of all necessary requirements. Novadeci Chairman Leonisa A. Fausto welcomed the financing and thanked the bank. Fausto added the support would go a long way as they

BANK JAB

This montage of photos courtesy of EastWest Banking Corp. shows employees getting inoculated against Covid-19. The bank said an estimated 924 employees and third-party hires from its stores in Cebu and in nearby areas are set to be vaccinated in the Visayas leg of its vaccination program. Following the successful Luzon legs of its nationwide vaccination program in Muntinlupa City and Clark, Pampanga, EastWest will officially kick off the Visayas leg in Cebu City and other provinces starting August 27, 28 and 30. Image courtesy EastWest Banking Corp.

apply government’s transport modernization program. Through LandBank’s lending program, eligible borrowers may loan up to 95 percent of

the PUJ’s total cost at an interest rate of 6 percent per annum, payable based on cash flow but not to exceed a maximum of seven years. Bianca Cuaresma

PDIC: 96.7% of deposit accounts fully protected by insurance as of 1st quarter

S deposits in the Philippine banking system continued its growth during the pandemic, fully insured deposits, likewise, increased, rising by as many as 5 million accounts by the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2020. The latest data released by state deposit insurer Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) showed that as of March 31, it fully insured 96.7 percent or 78.2 million of the 80.9 million total deposit accounts maintained in 528 banks nationwide. This represented an increase of 6.8 percent or 5 million fully insured deposit accounts compared to the 73.3 million deposit accounts recorded in the same period in 2020. The state deposit insurer also reported that total insured deposits grew by 5.9 percent to P3.0 trillion as of the end of March 2021 from

P2.9 trillion as of March 2020. Of the total insured deposits, 55.8 percent or P1.7 trillion were fully covered by deposit insurance as of the end March 2021 while 44.2 percent or P1.3 trillion were partially insured up to the maximum deposit insurance coverage of P500,000. Fully insured and partially insured deposits accounted for 11.3 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively, of the P15.0 trillion total deposits in the system. Total deposits in the Philippine banking system expanded to P15.0 trillion as of the end of March 2021, 7.8 percent more than the P13.9 trillion recorded in the same period last year. The growth mirrored the increase in deposit accounts to 80.9 million in the first quarter of 2021, or by 6.8 percent from 75.8 million as of the end of March 2020. “The current deposit data augur

well on depositor confidence in the Philippine banking system despite the pandemic as backdrop. We are optimistic that the depositing public will continue trusting banks and for bank deposits to sustain their steady growth to help fuel the economy,” PDIC President and CEO Roberto B. Tan was quoted in a statement as saying. “The PDIC, as a financial safety net, will always remain committed to its pursuit of depositor protection and in promoting financial stability in the country through responsive and effective services.” Breaking down the year-onyear growth in the number of accounts based on deposit size, data showed that those with deposit balances greater than P100,000 up to P500,000 grew the fastest. From 4.8 million accounts in March 2020, these accounts grew by 7.1 percent to 5.1 million accounts in March 2021.

These were followed by deposits of P100,000 and below which surged by 6.8 percent from 68.5 million accounts as of March 2020 to 73.2 million accounts as of March 2021. Deposit accounts exceeding the maximum deposit insurance of P500,000 also grew at almost a similar rate. From 2.5 million accounts as of March 2021, this deposit group increased by 6.6 percent to 2.7 million accounts as of March 2021. In terms of amounts, deposits with balances of above P500,000 posted the biggest growth at P13.3 trillion as of March 2021, an upturn of 8.2 percent from P12.3 trillion registered as of March 2020. Deposits more than P100,000 up to P500,000 posted the next fastest year-on-year growth at P1.2 trillion as of March 2021 or an increase of 7.2 percent compared with the P1.1 trillion recorded in the same period

last year. Deposits of P100,000 and below posted a 1.6 percent year-onyear growth to P540.9 billion as of March 2021 from P532.3 billion as of March 2020. Collectively, savings and demand deposit/NOW (negotiable order of withdrawal) accounts accounted for the lion share in total domestic deposits at 77.3 percent or for P7.3 trillion and P4.3 trillion, respectively. Time deposits and LTNCDs (longterm negotiable certificates of time deposits) represented the balance of 22.7 percent at P3.4 trillion. The economic impact of the pandemic on many Filipinos may have put liquidity at the forefront of many depositors’ priorities. This is evident in the 11.3 percent year-on-year contraction in the total time deposit and LTNCD balances, and in the growth rates for savings and demand/NOW deposits at 15.3 percent and 14.9

percent, respectively. From the previous P3.8 trillion total balance as of the end of March 2020, the combined amount of time deposits and LTNCDs declined to P3.4 trillion. Meanwhile, total savings deposit amounts grew to P7.3 trillion by the end of March 2021 from P6.4 trillion as of March 2020. Demand deposit/NOW account balances also went up, reaching P4.7 trillion as of March 2021from P3.7 trillion in the same period in 2020. The PDIC is an active member of the Financial Sector Forum composed of Philippine financial regulators and staunchly encourages saving through banks. It also strongly advocates financial literacy and financial inclusion as its corporate social responsibility program to promote its mandate of depositor protection and financial stability.

Friday, August 27, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Kayla Ewell, 36; Jessie Mei Li, 36; Sarah Chalke, 45; Chandra Wilson, 52. Happy Birthday: You’ll sail to victory if you stay on course, don’t give up and make a point to enjoy the ride. Life is about achieving happiness, and it’s your responsibility to take the initiative to engage in pastimes with people who add to your mental and emotional wellbeing. Put some muscle behind your words. Surpass your expectations. Your numbers are 3, 14, 22, 25, 32, 36, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Listen to people you know you can count on to tell you the truth. Consider what makes you happy, healthy and wise. Spending time laboring over how to please others will leave you feeling uncertain about your future. HHH

❶ ❶ DESPITE the

chilly weather in Madrid in January, the Jardin de Sabatini still attracts thousands of visitors who want to enjoy its lush greenery.

❷

Wanted: Green public spaces

PHOTOS: STELLA ARNALDO

❷ THE Square

Charles de Gaulle in Toulouse may be a small park compared to most cities in France, but many residents find time to sit on its benches to watch the dancing fountains.

NE of the best things about traveling is to see how expansive the open public spaces in many countries are. They have well-managed parks with lush greenery, cool dancing fountains, sculptures, and benches on which people can just sit and ponder their lives, read, or just take in the fresh air. Parks allow us to just watch other people walk, talk among our friends while seated under the trees, or laugh at the kids and their families playing or running in the grass. Aside from Central Park in New York, which has to be the most popular green space in the world, one park I especially adored was Jardin de Sabatini in Madrid—lovely gardens which were part of the Royal Palace. Located across the hotel I was staying in, I would often visit it before setting out to the nearby commercial areas. Jardin de Sabatini had well-trimmed hedges in rows amid flourishing trees. I would sit and imagine the burst of colors that would dot the entire garden whenever spring came around. It was January when I visited, and while snow rarely blankets Madrid during winter, it was still freezing for a tropical native like myself that I couldn’t stay in the gardens too long. Kensington Gardens in London is also another favorite open space. It forms part of the so-called green lung of the city, and includes Hyde Park and

Saint James Park. Aside from the massive open greenery, there are fountains and sculptures, the most famous of which is the Peter Pan statue. So at dusk, just when the fog rolled in, I kept a watchful eye for the fairies and other magical creatures that live in the area, according to the children’s book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Closer to the Kensington Palace, the official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is the Sunken Garden, where flower beds planted in the memory of Princess Diana are located. (At the time of my visit, the statue of the late princess with her two boys had yet to be installed.) To reach the Sunken Garden, visitors pass through an arch growth of twigs and vines. Despite the many visitors to this part of the palace grounds, there is an almost reverential air in the area. Perhaps people imagine the late princess walking among the flowers and remain quiet so as not to disturb her reverie. I recall these and other gardens in my significant travels as I read that Metro Manila apparently has only 200 hectares of parks, along with public and other civic spaces. With our dense population, that translates to about 1 square meter of public park and open spaces (PPOS) per person. Compare that to Singapore, which has 320 parks totaling 2,500 hectares, giving its residents about “60 sqm of PPOS per person,” said The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH) Philippines, a group of heritage conservationists and advocates, urging the creation of a public space in the Psalm-owned properties at Isla de Provisor in Manila. (See “Heritage advocates push for open space at state-owned Paco property,” BusinessMirror, August 24, 2021.)

In 2010, the World Health Organization determined urban cities have to provide a minimum of 9 sqm PPOS for each person, I suppose, for optimal mental health. These open spaces also have to be accessible, safe and functional. “Just to reach the

minimum, we need 1,800 hectares for more parks and open spaces in Metro Manila,” said TICCIH. UN Habitat, which envisions a better quality of life for urban areas, agreed: “The network of open public space not only improves quality of life but also mobility and the functioning of the city. Welldesigned and well-maintained streets and open public spaces can help lower rates of crime and violence, make space for formal and informal economic activities, and [extend] services and opportunities to a diversity of users, particularly for the most marginalized...[a] public space is ‘the poor man’s living room’ and important for recreation, social, cultural and economic development.” Unfortunately, most local government leaders have been shortsighted and would rather allow unload their properties to mall developers, instead of yielding them to green open spaces and public parks. In Metro Manila, the only park of note is Luneta in Manila. Back in the 1970s, the Luneta was a place my parents would bring us to run and play, or relax amid the water fountains. It was such a beautiful spot of greenery that we would even bring visiting relatives from abroad there. It was also a regular lunch venue for those of us in the elementary grades on school field trips. But even back then, Luneta was nowhere near the lushness and expanse of Central Park or other public spaces I mentioned above. Sure, pocket gardens in mall developments in the metropolis are a welcome addition, but how many people can they really accommodate? Lunchtime will find visitors from nearby offices packing them in, mostly to smoke. Now that we are all locked in the Metro as this pandemic continues to sow sickness and depression among us, the need for foliage-filled open spaces has become even more urgent. Perhaps it is time for voters to put back the environment and mental health on the political agenda and demand our candidates running for public office to meet the challenge. n

Stars urge youth to rock the vote Continued from B5 a million followers to create change. So it’s good to see that within our circle in Star Magic, we’re doing this. As simple as one vote seems, your vote matters.” As ambassadors, the stars will emphasize the role of the youth in nation-building through their participation in the elections as they take part in BMPM workshops

nationwide and BMPM voter education efforts on social media. “Pinapakita na sa pamamagitan ng BMPM, ng citizen journalism, na pwede tayong makatulong para sa ating barangay, ekswelahan, at bayan. Panahon na uli ng eleksyon, kaya tulong-tulong po tayong mag-patrol. Nandito po kami para sa inyo, eleksyon man o hindi,” Bayan Mo, i-Patrol Mo head Weng Paraan said. Filipino citizens aged at least 18

years old, who are residents of the country and currently living in the place they intend to vote in for at least six months are eligible to register. They just need to fill out the online forms on iRehistro (irehistro.comelec.gov. ph/cef1) and go to the nearest Comelec office to submit their accomplished application forms together with a valid ID and a photocopy of it. The deadline for voter registration is on

September 30. According to fiery and admirable Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, the country now has 5.77 million new voters for the 2022 national elections. And to quote another fiery and admirable woman, Taylor Swift, “it’s not enough to just want change.... You have to go and make change by voting.” So, go out and register and vote in 2022.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You’ll have trouble making up your mind. Take time off, and give yourself a chance to chill. The more relaxed you are, the easier it will be to differentiate between what someone wants you to do and what you want. HHH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Listen carefully. You’ll be offered information that lacks detail. Don’t let anger set in or put you in a compromising position. Look at the big picture, and you’ll figure out a way to do your own thing and avoid interference. HHH

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take better care of your health and well-being. Choose moderation over excess and patience over criticism. Look for a way to make your home more comfortable and entertaining. A suggestion that leads to an unexpected change in direction looks promising. HHHH

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Before you act, think matters through and look for solutions to keep the peace. It’s better not to overreact or take sides. Be the logical person everyone looks to for guidance, and you’ll gain respect. HH

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Conversations will be entertaining and informative. Suggestions made will stimulate your mind and encourage you to participate in something requiring stamina and fortitude. Your instincts will help you outmaneuver anyone who challenges you. HHHHH

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Put more time and effort into self-development and home improvements. The difference it makes will save you money and encourage a healthier environment. Reconnect with someone who inspires you, and you will come up with an idea you can develop jointly. HHH

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Adopt change, and make it into a positive experience. Refuse to let negativity or your grievances be what’s remembered when optimism will open doors and lead to new beginnings. Be innovative, and you’ll discover something or someone who encourages progress. HHH

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One step forward and three back. Refuse to get entangled in someone’s plot. Do your own thing, and pay attention to detail. Question anything suspicious or remotely underhanded, and don’t be afraid to do what makes you happy. HHH

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A passionate approach to whatever you do will draw attention and support. Arrange to connect with someone who may pose a problem, and put your persuasive tactics to work on settling matters before they escalate. Take better care of your health. HHHHH

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Refuse to let your emotions take over. Look inward, and put your energy where it will help you the most. Physical fitness, personal growth and financial management will make a difference to the way you feel and what you pursue. HH

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take the initiative to make things happen. Get involved in something that involves helping a cause or someone who matters to you. The suggestions you make will be valued by someone influential. HHHH Birthday Baby: You are open-minded, enthusiastic and persistent. You are innovative and helpful.

‘star-crossed lovers’ by andrew mcintyre The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Dined 4 Bat wood 7 Shar ___ (wrinkly dog) 10 Kitchen meas. 13 Was a segue for 15 Liquor in a pina colada 16 Steamy, or dreamy 17 14-Down’s lover, in a medieval story 18 8-Down’s lover, in a Greek myth 20 Not tricked by 21 Hair goo 23 Pine (for) 24 Rodeo rope 26 Like a 2020 calendar, in two ways 27 Loses, as one’s coat 30 Gin’s partner 32 It doesn’t stand for “any time money” 34 Sharpens 35 Word between “no” and “luck” 36 To and ___ 37 Summer mo. with no federal holidays 38 This puzzle’s has a bonus if you read the letters where the lovers cross in order by column

0 Tit for ___ 4 41 ___: Vegas (2021 TV reboot) 42 Kind of Japanese beef 43 Choose by a vote 45 Jeopardy! legend Jennings 46 Surrounded by 48 What erasers often leave, ironically 49 42-Down’s lover, in Hunger Games books 51 47-Down’s lover, in a 1920s novel 53 Tilted, to a Brit 54 City east of KC 55 Comfort 59 Soldier with a sword, say 61 Yosemite Falls’ range, informally 63 Latish lunch hour 64 Mermaid’s home 65 Person playing low notes 66 Takeoff guess at JFK 67 Common ID 68 Football gains: Abbr. 69 “It all makes sense now!” DOWN 1 High male voice 2 Gull’s relative

3 Rewrite, perhaps 4 Tiny colony member 5 Deer also called bucks 6 Perfectly frank 7 Gamer who was once a noob 8 Lover of 18-Across 9 Accuse, as an officeholder 10 Subsequently 11 One plays in Toy Story 4 12 Quart divisions, briefly 14 Lover of 17-Across 19 It may have a wide brim 22 Remaining details 25 Animal that brays 27 Rough home 28 Kitchen pot filler that isn’t cooked 29 Designed 31 ___ Lock (computer key) 33 Applesauce maker 38 Ketchup ingredients 39 The Sopranos network, once 42 Lover of 49-Across 43 Long dash lengths 44 Sections of cakes 47 Lover of 51-Across

0 Bodily canal site 5 52 Trojan War epic 56 Cantata solo 57 Pageant garment 58 “Como ___?” 59 Grief 60 Did a marathon 62 Letter with two curves

Solution to today’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

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Stars urge youth to rock the vote

IT is more or less 30 days before the deadline of registration for new voters. The upcoming elections will be very consequential—with the country divided, a pandemic that seems to have no end, and an economy circling the drain—so it is very important to exercise your right to vote. I don’t know if this is what urged Robi Domingo to message Star Magic head and ABS-CBN boss Lauren Dyogi one Sunday afternoon regarding the importance of Star Magic artists to be registered voters. One thing I am sure of: Robi knows the influence he and his Star Magic colleagues have especially among the youth, and they would like to use this to inform, educate and encourage more Filipinos to register to vote and participate in the upcoming 2022 national elections. Anyway, after that fateful text, Lauren coordinated with the ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs Department, as well as the Commission of Elections (Comelec) to banner the voter registration campaign of ABS-CBN’s Bayan Mo, i-Patrol Mo (BMPM). Now, before anyone accuses this as a vanity project of these celebrities and that it won’t have any impact, think twice. You have to remember that young people comprise a third of the voting population. In the last national elections, it took 16 million to elect a president. And during the mid-term elections, there were 22 million actual youth voters. So imagine the power of young people in shaping this country’s future. Besides Robi, very active in this campaign are Ria Atayde, Edward Barber, Donny Pangilinan, Miles Ocampo, Aya Fernandez, Alora Sasam, Karina Bautista, Josh Colet, Anji Salvacion, Charles Kieron, Heaven Peralejo, Pepe Herrera and Dominic Ochoa. “This is a most consequential election in our country’s history kaya mahalaga na manindigan tayo sa karapatang ito. Maraming salamat sa Star Magic at Comelec, pati sa iba pang grupo na nagsusulong ng voter registration,” ABS-CBN News head Ging Reyes said. Meanwhile, Comelec director James Jimenez said that artists speaking out about the importance of voting is a big help in convincing people to register for the elections. “Natutuwa kami sa proyektong ito para ma-address ’yung perennial problem na ’yan, ’yung disinterest o pagiging unengaged ng mga kabataan. Ang kabataan ngayon ay bumubuo ng mahigit one-third ng ating voting population,” he said. For Robi, a single vote can spell a huge difference for the future of the country. “Remember that we’re going to be part of something big. It’s not a story of a champion or a titleholder, this is not just our story, it’s history. It will have a ripple effect on the future generations. Instead of saying ‘isa lang ako,’ say ‘isa pa ako,’” Robi shared. Star Magic artist Ria added, “You don’t have to have

Continued on B4

• Friday, August 27, 2021

Critics consider animation, two documentaries for Best Film in 44th Gawad Urian

OR the first time, not one but two documentaries and an animated film are being considered for Best Film in this year’s Gawad Urian. The animation is Hayop Ka! (Rocketsheep Studio; Spring Films); the two documentary films are Aswang (Cinematography Films) and A Thousand Cuts (Ramona Diaz, et al.). Completing the lineup of nominees are the following films: Kintsugi (Solar Films, Centerstage), Lahi, Hayop (Sine Olivia Pilipinas), Midnight in a Perfect World (Globe Studios, Epicmedia) and Watch List (Dark Star Pictures/Uncork’d Entertainment). The list of the nominees for Best Director is made doubly exciting with five women directors (Alyx Arumpac, Dolly Dulu, Ramona Diaz, Antoinette Jadaone and Irene Villamor) sharing a stellar space with Jay Altarejos, Lawrence Fajardo, Lav Diaz (relatively, the veterans) and Avid Liongoren and Ben Rekhi. For Best Actress, Alessandra de Rossi playing the beleaguered mother in a land where all are suspects for drug use leads the list of nominees who are composed of new thespians. Tested veterans gild the nomination for Best Supporting Actress, with Dexter Doria and Lolita Carbon turning in a compelling performance to merit being part of the list. The Best Actor category is a mix of new and tested performers, with Elijah Canlas, last year’s Best Actor, braving a new challenge. Anything, anything at all can happen here. For the Best Supporting Actor, there are only five nominees, interestingly the same number as the one for Best Supporting Actress. The following is the complete list of nominees: BEST FILM n Aswang n Hayop Ka! n Kintsugi n Lahi, Hayop n Midnight in a Perfect World n A Thousand Cuts n Watch List BEST ANIMATION n Hayop Ka BEST DIRECTOR n Joselito Altarejos, Memories of Forgetting n Alyx Arumpac, Aswang n Dodo Dayao, Midnight in a Perfect World n Dolly Dulu, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Lav Diaz, Lahi, Hayop n Ramona Diaz, A Thousand Cuts n Lawrence Fajardo, Kintsugi n Antoinette Jadaone, Fan Girl n Avid Liongoren, Hayop Ka! n Ben Rekhi, Watch List n Irene Villamor, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets BEST ACTRESS n Jasmine Curtis, Alter Me n Glaiza de Castro, Midnight in a Perfect World

n Alessandra de Rossi, Watch List n Charlie Dizon, Fan Girl n Shaina Magdayao, Tagpuan n Bela Padilla, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets n Lovi Poe, Malaya n Sue Ramirez, Finding Agnes n Cristine Reyes, Untrue BEST ACTOR n Elijah Canlas, He Who is Without Sin n Enchong Dee, Alter Me n Noel Escondo, Memories of Forgetting n Keann Johnson, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Nanding Josef, Lahi, Hayop n Adrian Lindayag, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Zanjoe Marudo, Malaya n JC Santos, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS n Sandy Andolong, Finding Agnes n Lolita Carbon, Lahi, Hayop n Dexter Doria, Memories of Forgetting n Hazel Orencio, Lahi, Hayop n Bing Pimentel, Midnight in a Perfect World BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR n Micko Laurente, Watch List n Jake Macapagal, Watch List n Jess Mendoza, Watch List n Dino Pastrano, Midnight in a Perfect World n Enzo Pineda, He Who is Without Sin BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN n Ferdie Abuel, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets n Endi Balbuena, Rolando Inocencio, Kintsugi n Vincent Chiu, Malaya n Timi Dominguez, Alter Me n Maolen Fadul, Untrue n Darrel Manuel, Memories of Forgetting n Ericson Navarro, Watch List n Ericson Navarro, Magikland n Benjamin Padero, Carlo Tabije, Midnight in a

GMA News and Public Affairs among worldwide leaders in digital video GMA News and Public Affairs continues to lead Philippine news organizations in viewership in the top online video platforms. According to data from Tubular Labs, GMA News ranked No. 5 worldwide among video publishers in the News and Politics category in July. GMA Public Affairs, meanwhile, ranked No. 18 for the month, also ahead of every other Philippine organization in the list. The GMA News digital platforms feature up-to-the-minute breaking news on the latest developments in the Philippines. The Express version of 24 Oras, the network’s flagship newscast, is also available on-demand on GMA News Online and the GMA News YouTube channel for Filipino viewers around the world. “In these uncertain times, GMA Network is committed to delivering ‘Serbisyong Totoo’ to Filipino viewers in the country and around the world,” said Marissa L. Flores, GMA Network senior vice president for News and Public Affairs. Meanwhile, storytelling powerhouse GMA Public Affairs continued to fly high on digital platforms, powered by flagship news magazine program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho. With 25 million followers, KMJS is now the most-followed television

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

program in the Philippines. Aside from the best of GMA News and Public Affairs on television, the network’s digital platforms have also been offering up original programs that have been a hit for online viewers, including GMA News Feed, snackable video alerts featuring breaking news updates; “Need to Know,” an explanatory journalism series distilling complex issues into easy-to-understand animated videos; Stand for Truth, a pioneering mobile journalism newscast for millennial and Gen Z viewers hosted by Joseph Morong; The Mangahas Interviews, featuring hard-hitting conversations led by veteran journalist Malou Mangahas; and The Howie Severino Podcast, featuring GMA News and Public Affairs pillar Howie Severino and guests in riveting conversations. “Our digital teams strive to bring the most relevant stories to every Filipino, wherever they may be and whatever device they use,” said Jaemark Tordecilla, GMA Network senior assistant vice president for News and Public Affairs Digital Media. Viewers can check out more of these stories at www. gmanews.tv and on GMA News and GMA Public Affairs social-media accounts.

Perfect World n Mitoy Sta. Ana, Finding Agnes BEST SCREENPLAY n Herlyn Alegre, et al., Kintsugi n Joselito Altarejos, Memories of Forgetting n Manny Angeles, Hayop Ka! n Dodo Dayao, Midnight in a Perfect World n Lav Diaz, Lahi, Hayop n Dolly Dulu, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Ben Rekhi, Rona Lean Sales, Watch List n Irene Villamor, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY n Alyx Arumpac, Aswang n Nic Bagaoisan, et al., Memories of Forgetting n Albert Banzon, Gym Lumbera, Midnight in a Perfect World n Neil Daza, Fan Girl n Lav Diaz, Lahi, Hayop n Jensen Gomez, Malaya n Rody Lacap, Magikland n Lee Mariano, Alter Me n Daniella Nowitz, Watch List n Marvin Reyes, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Zach Sycip, Finding Agnes n Boy Yniguez, Untrue n Boy Yniguez, Kintsugi BEST EDITING n Joselito Altarejos, Memories of Forgetting n Lawrence Ang, Midnight in a Perfect World n Alyx Arumpac, Aswang n Mai Calapardo, He Who is Without Sin n Manet Dayrit, Magikland n Franchesca de Castro, Jaye Jacinto, Hayop Ka! n Ramona Diaz, A Thousand Cuts n Nick Ellsberg, Watch List n Lawrence Fajardo, Kintsugi n Noah Tonga, Alter Me BEST MUSIC n Arnel Barbarona, The Highest Peak n Teresa Barrozo, Fan Girl n Len Calvo, Hayop Ka! n Kian Cipriano, Brain Coat, On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets n Jhaye Cura, Paulo Protacio, The Boy Foretold by the Stars n Malek Lopez, et al., Midnight in a Perfect World BEST SOUND n Alyx Arumpac, Aswang n Cecil Buban, Lahi, Hayop n Franchesca de Castro, Jaye Jacinto, Hayop Ka! n Corine de San Jose, Midnight in a Perfect World n Liza Espinas, Watch List n Lawrence Fajardo, Kintsugi n Kongchak Studio, Fan Girl

THE Howie Severino Podcast

The list of nominees for Best Documentary and Best Short Film will be released separately on another date. The recipient of the Natatanging Gawad Urian, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Gawad Dekada, representing the best of the decade, will be released a few days before the awarding ceremonies, the date of which will be announced soon. n

LAV DIAZ’S Lahi, Hayop

B6 Friday, August 27, 2021

Araneta City marks National Heroes Day 2021

SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. tops-off Lanson Place Mall of Asia

M Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC) topped-off yet another iconic property, Lanson Place Mall of Asia. Leading the ceremony were SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Executive Committee Chairman Hans T. Sy, SM Hotels and Conventions Corp President Elizabeth T. Sy, and SM Hotels and Conventions Corp Executive Vice President Peggy E. Angeles. Slated to open in 2022, the first Lanson Place in the Philippines is located at the heart of the Mall of Asia complex surrounded by the flagship SMX Convention Center Manila and the imposing eCom office buildings. “We are very much looking forward to bringing our renowned hospitality to the Philippines and this exciting milestone brings us one step closer to being able to offer our guests the comfort of home, the devotion of our colleagues and the spirit of the Lanson Place community,” said Michael Hobson, Lanson Place Hospitality Management CEO Michael Hobson.

“SMHCC takes pride in bringing the Lanson Place brand to the country. As the hospitality industry moves closer to its recovery, we believe that the introduction of Lanson Place Mall of Asia will help pave the way to a more robust and dynamic tourism in the Philippines,” added SMHCC President Elizabeth T. Sy. Within 15 minutes away from the capital’s two international airports, Lanson Place Hotel and Serviced Suites Mall of Asia is strategically located near the city’s main commercial and entertainment districts as well as tourist attractions such as museums and historical landmarks. The hotel rooms as well as the well-appointed serviced apartments are designed in sleek, contemporary style. Facilities include an all-day dining restaurant, a fitness center and a rooftop swimming pool offering a full view of the picturesque Manila Bay. An al fresco facility on the podium caters to relaxing intimate events. Currently, the SMHCC portfolio is

comprised of nine (9) hotel properties with a combined inventory of more than 2,200 rooms and close to 38,000 sqm. of leasable convention space. The list of properties under SMHCC includes Taal Vista Hotel, Pico Sands Hotel, Conrad Manila, Radisson Blu Cebu, Park Inn by Radisson Clark, Park Inn by Radisson Davao, Park Inn by Radisson Iloilo, Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA, Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod, and the SMX Convention Centers and trade halls. Lanson Place Hospitality Management Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wing Tai Properties Limited (Wing Tai), a publicly listed company in Hong Kong (HKEx stock code: 369). Wing Tai currently manages 8 properties (in which Wing Tai has equity in two) under the Lanson Place brand, comprising luxury Personal Hotels and Residences in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, as well as two upcoming properties in Manila and Melbourne (to be opened in 2022 and 2023).

RANETA City joins the commemoration of the National Heroes Day on August 30, 2021 by saluting the bravery and heroism of Filipinos at the City of Firsts. The commemoration at the City of Firsts will start on August 27 with the launch of the #LivingHeroes virtual exhibit in partnership with the J. Amado Araneta Foundation (JAAF). The exhibit will feature exemplary and inspiring stories of modern-day Pinoy heroes who made an impact during the pandemic. The online community must also watch out for the announcement of the

#AranetaNewHeroes costume contest via Araneta City’s Tiktok account, which will put to test the creativity of netizens and their familiarity on Filipino heroes. Entries will be accepted from August 27 to 30, with the winner to be announced on August 31 and take home Php 10,000. Also, get to know the revolutionary generals behind the names of the six major roads in Araneta City. As part of the National Heroes Day, Araneta City will post a trivia story on its blogsite on August 29 to recount the history and origin behind the naming of these thoroughfares. Plus, enjoy a FREE delivery experience from Araneta City’s Ask Ara personal shopping service on August 29. Then on August 30, the City of Firsts, together with Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, will treat some modern-day heroes — the bus drivers in Araneta City Bus Station, jeepney drivers in Cyberpark Jeepney Terminal, and UV Express drivers in Farmers Plaza transport terminal —with freebies to keep them hydrated and energized on their trips the whole day.

Strengthening One Health Education

“O

NE Health” is an integrative effort of multiple disciplines —working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—to attain optimal health for people, animals, and their shared environment. The objective of this program is to promote the ‘One Health’ concept among students, school officials and teachers in Thai border schools, support expansion of SEAOHUN programs to new member countries, create a regional student program, and promote the One Health success story of the ‘Lawa model’, to make it widely accessible. In January 2021, Chevron partnered with Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) and other public agencies to increase health literacy and an understanding of the One Health approach, with the launch of a program called, “Strengthening One Health Education in Southeast Asia”.

The program, which runs through December 2022, aims to improve public health literacy in children to lay the foundation for effective public responses to infectious disease threats in the future, foster One Health University Networks and develop One Health leaders in Southeast Asia and train health professionals from all member countries to apply the integrative One Health approach with active community engagement. Member countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The program plans to train 50 primary school teachers to incorporate One Health into their teaching curricula, provide One Health education to 1000 primary school children, engage 200 university students in regional student activities and provide One Health training to 230 in-service professionals.

Heart experts: Vax protects vulnerable population

ATTENDING THE TOP -OFF EVENT, FROM LEFT: SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Executive Committee Chairman Hans T. Sy, SM Hotels and Conventions Corp President Elizabeth T. Sy, and SM Hotels and Conventions Corp Executive Vice President Peggy E. Angeles officially mark the topping-out of Lanson Place Mall of Asia.

Security Bank Cards, Store Specialists Inc. hand over donation to Philippine Red Cross

ECURITY Bank Cards together with specialty retailer, Store Specialists Group Inc (SSI), turned over PHP271,800 to the Philippine Red Cross to support its COVID-19 operations, specifically for its isolation facilities initiatives. The donation was part of a campaign spearheaded by SSI where qualified transactions made by Security Bank credit cardholders in all SSI Group brands would merit a PHP100, PHP500, and PHP1000 donation to the PRC. The fundraising program ran from November 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. “Through this joint initiative, Security Bank’s Mastercard credit

cardholders were able to enjoy exclusive offers from SSI and raise funds for the Philippine Red Cross’ Samaritan program. The Philippine Red Cross has been a source of strength for many Filipinos as the country fights the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re hopeful that through this donation, we can help the nation heal and get better,” says Celeste Lim, FVP and Head of Security Bank Cards Business Development and Operations Group. The SSI Group is the Philippines' largest specialty retailer, with an established brand portfolio that includes some of the world's most sought-after international brands. SSI is a market

leader in the country's specialty retail market through the size and breadth of its brand portfolio and store network covering over 94 brands and 593 stores nationwide. Security Bank Corporation and has been offering credit cards since the 1970s where it introduced the first credit card franchise in the country, Diners Club. Since 2003, Security Bank has been a partner of Mastercard for its suite of products. The virtual turnover ceremony were attended by Vanesa Lee-Calixto, Director of Philippine Red Cross for Fund Generation & Business Development, Michelle Suarez, Head of Marketing & Communications for SSI Group, Anton Huang, President & CEO of the SSI Group, Sylveth OngIko, Events and Partnerships Manager for SSI Group, Jan Thomas Aaron Uy, Usage and Campaign Management Head for Security Bank, Elizabeth Quiambao, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the SSI Group, Gian Panganiban, Cards Sales Head for Security Bank, Jo Ann Paz, Wealth Management Relationship Manager, and Isabel Quah, Events and Partnerships Officer for SSI Group. For more information on Security Bank’s promos, you may visit www. securitybank.com/promos or Security Bank’s Facebook page at www. facebook.com/SecurityBank

LOSE to 80 percent of COVID 19 patients in National Capital Region hospitals are unvaccinated/or not fully vaccinated according to health experts. The UP-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), its Hospital infection Control Unit (HICU) reported that as of August 17, 2021, the unvaccinated adults are more critically ill with COVID 19. They comprise 85 percent of the 60 years and above and 78 percent of the less than 60 years in the ICU. Although all are susceptible to SARS-COV2, there are those who can be infected more than others. The vulnerable to Covid19 includes those with advanced age, hypertension, heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions. These and more were discussed as Dr. Richard Henry Tiongco II and Dr. Luigi Pierre Segundo of the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) hosted the Usapang Puso sa Puso (UPP) “Pangamba sa Bakuna: Ang Puso sa Gitna ng PandemyaVersion 2”, stream lived in August 25. “As cardiologists we want to help our people get well informed, to understand the reason behind COVID infections, the importance of vaccination and saving lives, to end the pandemic,” Tiongco and Segundo stressed. Dr. Tiongco, an interventional cardiologist and Dr. Segundo, a cardio-electrophysiologist were joined by Dr. Razel Nikka Hao, director III from the DOH Disease Prevention & Control Bureau; Dr. Regina Berba PSMID Council member (Infectious disease expert) and Dr. Marysia Stella Tiongco-Recto, a past PSAAI president (allergy/immunology expert). According to Dr. Berba, medications generally do not interact with the vaccine. So they should not be stopped, including antibiotics, and monthly shots of penicillin even for those with rheumatic heart disease, for instance. In fact, she said, “mas dapat bantayan

at alagaan ang sakit sa puso kaysa sa bakuna.” “For those with chronic illnesses, two months after the start of treatment, pede na pumunta sa vaccine center. They have to finish the antibiotics first Yan po ang general guide. If you have other worries, consult with your doctor,” Berba said. ‘Yung mga profoundly ill, sila yung mga hindi natin pinu-push na mabakunahan. If ever may chance sila na mabakunahan, we advise them against live or whole virus vaccine. Kaunti lang itong group na ito sa atin. Pero most of the patients kahit naka-steroids, kahit nagke-chemo, pag pinayagan ng doctor nila, okay kahit na anong vaccine ang ibigay sa kanila,” Dr. Recto said. “Those who have allergies should be vaccinated. Pag may allergy sa food or medication, you can be vaccinated. Unless, may allergy ka sa components ng vaccine like polysorbate, poly ethylene glycol, aluminum hydroxide. Kung wala ito, kahit anong bakuna pwede sa mga may allergy,” Recto added. Amidst the confusion over the choice of vaccination brand and opposing reviews on which is the better option for people with comorbidities, health experts said that regardless of brand, all these vaccines are effective to prevent severe COVID and death, and are deemed generally safe. “Keeping CVD at bay is also putting COVID away. Foiling an imminent CVD or COVID attack should go hand in hand. Being fully vaccinated builds your resistance against an imminent COVID-19 attack. Keeping a healthy lifestyle. Preventive cardiology is vital in these difficult times. Most hospital are full. Maintaining a cardiovascular system healthy/ managing your cardiovascular issues and knowing your risk factors and doing something about it, lowers your risk of catching the virus.” the heart experts shared.

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Friday, August 27, 2021 B7

Presenting: Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Gym

HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will rechristen selected facilities to honor Filipino sports heroes for their unparalleled achievements that have brought honor to the country. Most of the sports heroes to be honored with this development are enshrined Philippine Sports Hall of Famers, except for Hidilyn Diaz, who won the country’s first Olympic gold

medal in Tokyo last month. The weightlifting gym at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila, will be renamed as the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Gym. The PSC Board also renamed the Rizal Memorial Tennis Court as the Felicisimo Ampon Tennis Court, the swimming pool as Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool and the Rizal Memorial Athletics and Football Stadium

‘Rise Up’ on karate

OUTHEAST Asian Games karate gold medalist Jamie Christine Lim will banner Saturday’s Philippine Sports Commission Rise Up Shape Up online program. Lim, a national team standout, also used to compete in the Women’s Martial Arts Festival and will share her journey that saw her achieve several international titles. The online program starts at 10:30 am. Lim will be joined by the next generation of karate champions who won medals in the recent Seventh Women’s Martial Arts Festival. Seventeen young karatekas who bagged gold medals in the festival will share their stories and inspiration in the sport. “The PSC is in full support of the Women’s Martial Arts Festival as this contributes to strengthening the country’s excellence in sports especially highlighting women empowerment,” PSC Women in Sports Oversight Commissioner Celia Kiram said. Kiram will also talk about the history of karate in her K-Isport segment.

Roglic bounces back in 11th stage, Eiking keeps overall lead

ALDEPEÑAS DE JAÉN, Spain—Primoz Roglic prevailed on the steep final climb Wednesday to earn his second stage victory in this year’s Spanish Vuelta, cutting into the overall lead of Odd Christian Eiking. Roglic went past Enric Mas in the final meters of the 133.6-kilometer 11th stage in southern Spain. The two-time defending champion also won the first Vuelta stage. “It was a hard stage, short but super hot again. I was also suffering a lot, but luckily I had enough for the win in the end,” Roglic said. “Enric Mas is also very strong, luckily I had a little more. It’s always nice to win, you never know when the last one will be.” It was the seventh career stage win at the Vuelta for Roglic, the Slovenian rider from team JumboVisma. He relinquished the leader’s red jersey after crashing near the end of the 10th stage on Tuesday. He is now third, less than two minutes behind Eiking, with the threeweek Grand Tour race just past the halfway point. Guillaume Martin stayed second overall, less than a minute behind Eiking, who finished 10th on Wednesday. Mas remained in fourth place, ahead of Miguel Angel Lopez. “My biggest opponents for the jersey were at the front. I didn’t want to lose too much time, so I just followed them and it resulted in a top 10, that’s also nice,” Eiking said. “It was really hard, but I’m glad I could keep it, and I hope I can keep it tomorrow, too.” AP

as Simeon Toribio Stadium. “These athletes have given the honor to the country with their achievements in sports and we want to keep their legacies alive for this and the next generations,” PSC Chairman William Ramirez said. “We want to pique the interest of the people who will read about or visit the facility. Who is Teofilo Yldefonso? What did Felicisimo Ampon do that this venue is named to him?” Ramirez said the sports agency intends to build a twostory Philippine Sports Museum also at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. The building, he said, is part of the Duterte Administration’s Build, Build, Build Program.

Bejino overwhelmed by glare of racing against world’s best CHINA’S Dong Lu competes in the women’s 100-meter freestyle-S5 heat at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre during the Paralympic Games on Thursday. AP

PACQUIAO VS. UGAS II? THE World Boxing Association is honoring Manny Pacquiao as “Champion for Life.”

By Josef Ramos

HREE days after suffering an upset loss, Manny Pacquiao hinted of a rematch with World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight champion Yordenis Ugás in January Pacquiao and his family remained in the US and inserted an exclusive interview with theathletic.com, telling veteran writer Lance Pugmire that he’s open to a rematch with the Cuban orthodox boxer. The sitting Philippine senator earlier stressed that he’ll announce

PRIMOZ ROGLIC earns his second stage victory this year.

next month on whether or not he’s retiring from boxing or if he will be running for president in May’s general elections. MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons confirmed to BusinessMirror on Thursday that the interview did happen in one of Pacquiao’s homes in Los Angeles. “Yes, that’s a legit one,” said Gibbons, referring to Pugmire’s article at The Athletic, quoting the eight-division world champion that “I can come back in January and I’ll see about it.” Gibbons said that the 42-yearold Pacquiao could get a rematch if he wants to. “All he needs is ask Premier

dent apologized to Pacquiao about their “mistake” of stripping him of the WBA belt because of inactivity. “It takes a big man to come face to face with someone and explain that they are wrong. He showed up with his wife at MGM, and he said that he was misled and he didn’t understand exactly what was happening and he apologized later on—and that’s it,” Gibbons said. Pacquiao, according to Gibbons, accepted Mendoza’s apology. The WBA chief also commended Pacquiao, telling him that “you have behaved like a real gentleman and you teach lessons to others.” Pacquiao won the WBA belt from Keith Thurman last July 20, 2019, at the MGM Grand Arena via split decision. But the boxing body stripped Pacquiao of the title last January 30 and categorized him as “champion in recess” and elevating Ugás as champion. The WBA is preparing an honorary title for Pacquiao as part of its centennial celebration, Gibbons said.

PBA TO RESUME SEASON 46 IN BACOLOR

HE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will resume its 46th season in Bacolor next month, according to Commissioner Willie Marcial. Marcial also expressed confidence that the league will complete a two-conference season despite the disruption in the Philippine Cup because of the surge of Covid-19 infections. “Once we resume by September without disruption, I think we can achieve our goal of having two conferences this season,” Marcial told BusinessMirror on Thursday. He also announced that Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda approved of the league’s resumption at the Don Honorio

ERENA and Venus Williams added themselves to the list of big-name withdrawals from the US Open on Wednesday, making this the first time since 2003 neither of the sisters will appear in the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. Serena, who turns 40 next month, cited a torn right hamstring that has kept her out of competition since she was injured in the first set of her first-round match at Wimbledon in late June. Venus, who is 41, said she has a leg injury. They announced their decisions via social media posts about 10 hours apart. “Not the best news from Serena and I today. I, too, am unable to play the US Open. It’s super super super disappointing,” Venus said. “Having some issues

Boxing Champions [PBC] big boss Al Haymon,” Gibbons said. PBC promoted the Pacquiao-Ugás fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Pacquiao (67-8-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts) admitted that he was fatigued during his fight with Ugás (27-4 record with 12 knockouts) and suffered cramps in his thighs and legs. Pacquiao and his family are expected to fly home this weekend. The WBA, the oldest professional world boxing sanctioning body, meanwhile, will honor Pacquiao as a welterweight “Champion for Life.” Gibbons confirmed that before Sunday’s fight, he arranged a meeting between Pacquiao and WBA President Gilberto Mendoza at the senator’s suites at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. “The WBA honored the senator’s accomplishments, what he has done, and what he has given to boxing,” Gibbons said. “And that’s a gesture that should be done, it’s very nice for the WBA to recognize him.” Gibbons said that the WBA presi-

Ventura State University gym under a semi-bubble environment. “We are already allowed to play by the local government units [Bacolor and Pampanga] and the university,” Marcial said. “University officials already agreed in principle for the use of their gym.” Marcial, however, didn’t mention a date for the season’s resumption, but said that he gave the teams a week to practice. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases allowed the PBA to open its 46th season last July 16 in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) or modified GCQ. But the games at the Ynares

Arena in Pasig City were suspended last August 6 because of the surge in virus infections in Metro Manila and neighboring areas. The 12 teams, Marcial said, will be billeted in different hotels in Pampanga during the conference. The league will return to its original venue once Metro Manila reverts to GCQ. “If everything goes okay in the last week of September or by October, we will go back to Manila,” he said. Marcial also said that almost all of the 350 members of the PBA family are fully-vaccinated. Josef Ramos

NO SERENA, NO VENUS IN U.S. OPEN with my leg all this summer and just couldn’t work through it.” The Americans join Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in sitting out the competition in Flushing Meadows, where play begins next Monday, raising questions about what the future of tennis might look like without

them. The draw for the tournament is Thursday. This will be the first major tournament since the 1997 Australian Open without any of the four in the singles brackets. Venus made her Grand Slam debut at the 1997 French Open, Serena arrived the next year, Federer showed up in 1999 and Nadal in 2003. Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, a record in the professional era. Only one player in tennis history owns more, Margaret Court with 24. Venus has won seven, including at the US Open in 2000 and 2001. Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic share the men’s record of 20. “After careful consideration and following the advice of my doctors and medical team, I have decided to withdraw from the US Open to allow my body to heal completely from a torn hamstring,” Serena wrote in her post Wednesday. AP

THIS marks the first time since 2003 that neither of the Williams sisters—Serena or Venus—will appear in the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. AP

WIMMER Gary Bejino struggled in his Tokyo Paralympic Games debut on Thursday, finishing dead last among six entries in the second heat of the men’s SM6 200-meter individual medley event and exited early at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo. The first Filipino campaigner to plunge into action, Bejino seemed awed by the moment as he clocked three minutes and 17.9 seconds in his heat, 34.12 seconds behind Colombia’s Nelson Crispin Corzo, a Rio Para Games double silver medalist, who led seven others into finals with a time of 2:43.07. Bejino also placed last among the 17 swimmers who saw action in the race, a lackluster showing that coach Tony Ong attributed to the pressure and nerves felt by the 23-year-old athlete after his opening stint in the quadrennial sportsfest for the cream of the crop of para athletes in the world. “It’s Gary’s to be in the Paralympics and he is still young— and the pressure got into him being in the first event,” Ong said. “I still need to talk to him about it so he can settle down for his successive events.” Ong said that while Bejino did well in the 50-meter butterfly leg of the event, overall, they still lacked enough time to prepare despite the month’s workout they had at the Philippine Science High School indoor pool. Ong was hopeful that his ward would be able to redeem himself in his three remaining events—men’s 50-meter butterfly on August 30, 400-meter freestyle on September 2, and 100-meter backstroke on September 3. Stepping up to the plate next for the Philippine Paralympic squad are swimmer Ernie Gawilan and wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, who will compete on Friday in the stint supported by the Philippine Sports Commission. Both veterans of the 2016 Rio Para Games, Gawilan dives into the pool in the men’s SM7 200-meter individual medley race at 10:03 a.m. (9:03 a.m. in Manila) in the first of three heats where the top eight will advance to the finals at 6:22 p.m. (5:22 p.m.) Mangliwan, who was the country’s flag-bearer during the opening ceremonies of the meet last Monday, wheels into play in the T52 men’s 400-meter run also in the opening heat 10:43 a.m. (9:43 a.m. in Manila) at the Japan National Stadium. The top three finishers from each of the two heats plus the two next fastest wheelchair racers among the 13 entries will complete the eightman cast in the finals scheduled at 10:16 pm. (9:16 p.m. in Manila). A native of Tabuk, Mangliwan, 41, vowed to dedicate his race not only for the country but also for his coach, Joel Deriada, who was left back home after testing positive for Covid-19 on eve of the team’s departure for the Japanese capital. Deriada said from Manila that the athlete was in high spirits and was eager to perform well in the event where he also reached the finals in Rio de Janeiro five years ago. “I told Jerrold that there are some things that we might not understand but to use what happened to me as added motivation to do his best,” said the coach, who was with the athlete in Rio, and disclosed that he has tested negative for the virus in a succeeding test.

B8 Friday, August 27, 2021

Motoring BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Honda brings in the New Civic Type R Story by Randy S. Peregrino

INCE its highly-anticipated introduction in 2017, Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) finally brought in the updated Honda Civic Type R. With a new sporty exterior design and performance updates,

it aims to improve the model’s already exhilarating driving performance. Having the highest distinction for performance, particularly for the Civic model line-up, the Civic Type R has been in demand with the first one hundred (100) units made available for the Philippine market, booked

within 48 hours upon the announcement of its availability. Today, the Civic Type R continues to be one of the most sought-after and desired performance vehicles. Due to the model’s strong following, multiple recognitions, rich racing heritage, and several track records broken in some of the world’s most challenging racetracks.

Improved aerodynamics.

Honda Philippines

Improved aerodynamics

The exterior received sporty updates while still boasting a comprehensive and improved aerodynamic package. The New Civic Type R now sports a fresh front grille design with a new thinner grille beam. It provides a larger air intake area equivalent to 13 percent. Combined with the Type R’s updated radiator core, this decreases coolant temperature by up to 10 degrees (under Honda internal testing) during high-demand situations, such as track driving. Both the front and rear bumpers now have new lower fog light surrounds. It features a fresh symmetrical design, smooth surfaces, and sleek styling blades, contributing to the New Civic Type R’s cleaner styling. Along with the side skirts, the carbon fiber-finished front splitter, side under spoilers, and rear diffuser with a sporty red accent line, still runs around the entire vehicle providing a distinctive look. Meanwhile, the spoiler works in conjunction with vortex generators found by the rear edge of the roofline. Diverting air flow across the tail and generating additional downforce on the rear axle, the wing contributes to overall negative lift. It improves road-holding abilities, mainly through high-speed corners for better high-speed stability. Of course, there are the enlarged wheel arches with 20inch Berlina Black alloy wheels.

Enhanced feel behind the wheel

A new Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel and a new teardrop style gear knob, similar to previous Type R models, have been introduced for the New Civic Type R. These updates aim to optimize steering wheel grip and improve gear shift feel and accuracy. Further, these subtle changes combined aim to enhance the driver’s feel once behind the wheel. On top of these new upgrades, the exclusive Type R serial number plate below the gear shift lever is still there. Of course, these updates complement well the interior’s high center console, Type R spec bucket seats with suede-effect red and black fabric trim. Then, the carbon center inlays and red accents on the Type R’s dashboard extending towards the side door panels. Providing vivid information and a highly intuitive user interface is the seven-inch full-color Thin Film Transistor (TFT) LCD Display. It makes up the central section of the instrument cluster. It can display a variety of different function readouts including, Driving mode display (+R, Sport, Comfort), LED gearshift indicator light, Turbo boost pressure gauge, Throttle/brake input display, and G-Meter. Moreover, the seven-inch Touch Screen Display Audio System with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability also received an update. The control functions for the infotainment and climate control system are both new, with additional physical buttons and tactile knobs for optimum usability and functionality.

Same exhilarating powertrain and then some

Retained is the 2.0-liter VTEC TURBO engine generating an impressive 306 horsepower at 6,500rpm and a staggering 400 N-m of maximum torque from 2,500rpm to 4,500rpm. Transferring power to front wheels is a six-speed manual gearbox equipped with a rev match control system enabling the car to sustain full force during gearshifts. To emphasize its soulful performance, the New Civic Type R now has an Active Sound Control (ASC), complementing the Type R’s triple exhaust system’s refined note. With ASC, the Type R’s audio system provides an enhanced engine sound within the cabin during aggressive driving in Sport and +R modes, refining it during acceleration in Comfort mode and improving the driving experience. As for the suspension system, it made further improvements in terms of responsiveness and confidence-inspired handling. Even the brake systems with Brembo four-piston calipers paired to a new two-piece floating 350mm front brake discs and new brake pads have received enhancements. Apart from braking improvements, the thermal efficiency also reduces brake fade for increased capabilities during high-intensity driving for optimized on-track performance. Further, there is the improved Adaptive Damper System’s control software allows faster road condition evaluation, resulting in enhanced damper reactions for better handling response and ride quality.

Now with Honda SENSING

As part of Honda’s aim to provide collision-free and safe mobility, the New Civic Type R now comes equipped with Honda’s SENSING suite of driver-assistive functions. Through a monocular camera and wave millimeter radar simultaneously working to monitor and assess various road conditions in front of the vehicle, the function alerts the driver of potential hazards that may occur. Honda’s suite of driver-assistive features provides an array of advanced safety features such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), and Lane Departure Warning (LDW). Other standard safety features are Front Driver and Passenger Airbags, Side and Side Curtain Airbags, Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Hill Start Assist (HSA), and Multi-View Reverse Camera w/ Guidelines.