BusinessMirror December 09, 2022

PHL still among worst performers in world talent index

T

HE Philippines is still one of the worst performers in Asia and the Pacific despite a three-notch improvement in its Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) World Talent Ranking (WTR) for 2022.

The country ranked 54th out of 63 countries in 2022, three notches higher than its 57th in 2021. The country’s score was at 41.1 out of 100.

The Philippines ranked the lowest among its ASEAN-5 peers and was second to the last in the whole Asia and the Pacific region.

WORLD | A6

Peru’s president ousted by Congress after trying to dissolve the legislature

ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS

2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion

The country that ranked last in the region was Mongolia, at 62nd place out of 63 countries.

“Indirectly, quality of life and economic sustainability will indeed determine the quality of the talent pool as well. There will be winners and losers,” Arturo Bris, Director of the World Competitiveness Center (WCC), said.

The rankings were based on the scores and rankings of countries in 31 criteria that are measured and organized into three factors.

These factors include the Investment and Development fac-

tor, which considers the domestic resources committed to cultivate homegrown talent.

Another is the Appeal factor, which evaluates the ability to attract and retain talent from both the international and domestic markets.

The last factor is Readiness, which assesses the quality of the available skills and competencies in the talent pool.

The ranking of the Philippines was the lowest in the Investment and Development factor at 62nd, followed by Appeal at 43rd and Readiness, 35th overall.

Under Investment and Development, the country ranked poorly in terms of the total public expenditure on education per student at $36.1 per student. This placed the country 62nd in this criteria.

Employee training

The criteria where the country ranked the highest under Investment and Development was employee training which is a high priority in companies. This placed the country 38th overall in this criteria.

See “PHL,” A2

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS

DEBT, FOREX OPS SLASH END-NOV GIR TO $93.95B www.businessmirror.com.ph

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

T

HE country’s Gross International Reserves (GIR) stood at $93.95 billion as of the end of November 2022, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The BSP said this is slightly lower than the end-October 2022 GIR level of $94.03 billion. The decline of $73.9 million was the lowest decline in the GIR for the year.

The largest decline in the GIR this year occurred between August and September, when it went down by $4.44 billion. This was followed by the GIR decline of $2.79 billion between May and June; and $2.396 billion between July and August. " T he mont h-on-mont h decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s [NG] payments of its foreign currency debt obligations and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s net foreign exchange operations,” BSP said.

BSP noted that the country’s GIR consists of foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and special drawing rights (SDRs).

n

Friday, December 9, 2022 Vol. 18 No. 58

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages | 7 days a week

ILO pitches MNE adoption in pandemic recovery

ICON LIT UP FOR CHRISTMAS The Philippine Postal Corporation lights up the façade of the iconic Manila Central Post Office

Building with the launching of “Christmas Stamps 2022” featuring traditional Filipino Christmas scenes inspired by Christ’s Love through Unity, Faith and Prosperity. According to Postmaster General Norman Fulgencio, the postage stamps were issued to illustrate the loving nature of Filipinos and strong faith in God, such as the sharing of gifts and food, lanterns lighting up the houses and families reuniting to celebrate the joy of the Christmas season. IMAGE FROM PHILIPPINE POSTAL CORPORATION

By Samuel P. Medenilla

S

House panel to tackle with BSP sourcing funds for ‘Maharlika’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

O

@joveemarie

FFICIALS of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will meet members of the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday to discuss the funding provisions of the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF).

House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson Stella Luz Quimbo said the BSP will be one of the sources of funds for the creation of the MWF after they decided to remove the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) as

See “Debt” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 56.0180

fund contributors, amid an uproar from members of the pension funds.

According to Quimbo, Cent ra l Ba n k Gover nor Fel ipe Medalla has been reassured that the fund would only utilize profits of the BSP. “The BSP was reassured because we are not getting the BSP reserves but only the profit, as they use it [reserves] to defend the peso,” Quimbo said.

Medalla was earlier cool to the idea of creating the MWF, as proposed in House Bill 6398, warning of the dangers of another 1MDB scandal in the making.

Sen. Imee Marcos also cited, as basis for her caution, the 1MDB

mess—which ended with former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak jailed for corruption involving over $700 million of the sovereign wealth fund.

Quimbo said the government still needs funding for social services, including subsidies for the poor, constructions of hospitals, education, airports and bridges.

On Wed nesd ay, Q u i mbo said the House leadership and the economic managers had reassessed the Maharlika Fund bill as drafted by the economic managers.

“Based on our assessment of the proposed changes put forward by the economic team, we

are amending the bill to change the fund sources, removing GSIS and SSS as fund contributors and instead utilize profits of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” she said.

Upon the Speaker’s instructions, Quimbo said the changes would be introduced into the bill on Friday.

Quimbo said the funds that the BSP will invest will also be determined at their Friday hearing.

As the House tackles the bill, Quimbo said lawmakers will put in place safety nets that will ensure the success of this project.

See “House,” A2

@sam_medenilla

INGAPORE—The International Labor Organization (ILO) said countries should capitalize on the demand of multinational firms for a “humancentered” pandemic recovery by implementing its Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE) declaration, to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI).

In a press conference, ILO Multinational Enterprises and Enter pr ise Engagement Unit Head Githa Roelans said the pandemic has prompted many international companies to review their existing economic models.

“We know it [previous economic models] has generated a lot of wealth creation, but of course it has also led to inequalities, and not everyone has been gaining from the benefits of globalization,” Roelans said.

“So what I think Covid has done is to stimulate a reflection of how things should be better in the recovery out of Covid by putting people and the planet in the center of the recovery progress,” she added.

Currently, the ILO official said their online MNE help desks for business receive an average of 35,000 visitors per month.

“I think...that is an indication also of the awareness that companies are getting on the importance of aligning their policies and practices with international labor standards,” Roelans said.

See “ILO,” A2

n japan 0.4088 n UK 68.0059 n HK 7.2040 n CHINA 8.0083 n singapore 41.2382 n australia 37.4872 n EU 58.6564 n KOREA 0.0425 n SAUDI arabia 14.9024 Source: BSP (December 7, 2022)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, December 9, 2022

PHL...

Continued from A1

For Appeal, the country ranked the poorest in terms of justice, which is only fairly administered.

The country ranked 50th out of 63 countries in this criteria.

IMD’s data showed that among the criteria where the country did well was collection of personal income taxes where it placed 15th overall.

Under Readiness, the country ranked the lowest in student mobility and education assessment— ranking 57th overall in both criteria.

The country ranked the best in terms of skilled labor where the country ranked 2nd out of 63 countries and labor force growth which placed the country 3rd overall in this criteria.

“Talent competitiveness in the post-Covid period hinges greatly on the motivation level of the workforce which, in turn, relies on remuneration but also quality of life and organizational leadership of the economy,” said Christos Cabolis, Chief Economist at the WCC. Overall, Switzerland remains the leader in attracting and retaining talent for the sixth consecutive year, followed by Sweden, Iceland, Norway, then Denmark. Since 2018, Iceland has leapt from 16th to third.

Eastern Asian economies performed especially well (second regionally) in the Investment & Development and Readiness factors, testament to the importance that these economies place on education and the development of local talent.

Cai U. Ordinario

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DTI moving to resume PHL-EU FTA talks, with eye on Brussels

T

By Andrea E. San Juan

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will court European businesses to use the Philippines as a manufacturing base, among others, as it aims to resume the Philippines-European Free Trade Agreement (PH-EU FTA) negotiations.

“The FTA will be a stable platform to optimize the benefits of the large market in the EU and can take advantage of the Philippines’s existing FTA network by increasing its investments in the manufacturing sector and accessing the big market in the region,” the Trade department told reporters in a Viber message on Thursday.

According to DTI, a bilateral FTA with the Philippines is “consistent” with the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Likewise, the agency noted, the Philippines can support

the EU’s goal to diversify suppliers and enhance its cooperation on supply chains in the Asean region.

“There is a big opportunity for EU businesses to expand in the Philippines—not just to access our huge domestic market—but equally important, to use the Philippines as a base for manufacturing,” the Trade department added.

The abovementioned goals are just some of those listed in the agency’s trade agenda as Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual is set to participate in the European

Union- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (EU-Asean) Business Summit in Brussels next week.

The Trade department also said its longterm goal is to resume the PH-EU FTA negotiations, noting that this trade agreement is the “more important and permanent mechanism” in the Philippines’s relationship with the EU. Meanwhile, it added, the generalized scheme of preferences plus (GSP+) is “just a stepping-stone towards it.”

DTI said it remains committed to maintaining the Philippines’s EU GSP+ beneficiary status. As the special incentive arrangement with the EU is set to expire in 2023, the DTI said the Philippines will apply under the new scheme.

In fact, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual will be a panelist in one

Debt...

Continued from A1

Foreign investments amounted to $79.29 billion; gold, $8.96 billion; foreign exchange, $1.32 billion; reserve position in the fund, $754.7 million; and SDRs, $3.62 billion in November.

"The level of GIR, as of a particular period, is considered adequate, if it provides at least 100 percent cover for the payment of the country’s foreign liabilities, public and private, falling due within the immediate 12-month period," the BSP said.

The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

By convention, BSP said GIR is viewed to be adequate if it can finance at least three-months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

The latest GIR level is also about 6.9 times

ILO...

Continued from A1

ILO hopes the trend will lead to more count r ies a nd compa n ies adopting the MNE declaration since international firms usually rely on it to determine if their suppliers are compliant with labor standards.

The MNE is an instrument based on International Conventions, which provides enterprises ”direct guidance on social policy and inclusive, responsible and sustainable workplace practices.”

of the activities during the Summit to pursue the GSP+ and FTA agenda.

Citing a 2020 study, Pascual said two months ago that 83 percent of German companies want to resume the FTA negotiations, citing the huge potential for EU companies, with the FTA “positively” affecting competitiveness.

The European Union is the Philippines’s 5th largest trading partner in 2020. The country’s “strategic objectives” in engaging the EU in an FTA are: to secure additional duty-free market access beyond those covered under the GSP+ scheme and on a permanent basis; provide a conducive framework for attracting greater investments from the EU; and be on a par with other Asean member states who are aggressively pursuing FTAs with the EU.

the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity.

Forex intervention

Earli er , Mone t a r y Board Member Br uce Tolentino said the BSP has recently been intervening in the foreign exchange market to address volatilities in the exchange rates.

The US dollar peaked at P58.994 on October 11 but gradually declined to P56.02 on Monday and closed P55.45 on Wednesday.

"We've expended some ammunition and we'd like to try our best to preserve that ammunition for future battles," Tolentino said.

It may be noted that the GIR is one of the sources of funds eyed for the proposed Philippine sovereign wealth fund, or the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF).

Tolentino said, however that the SWF may have an impact on BSP’s role in terms of the use of GIR. (Full story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/12/06/ creation-of-sovereign-wealthfund-backed/) Companies conducting their due diligence for a certain country, Roelans said, “will most likely look at ILO NORMLEX, which is a database of the ratified conventions.”

If companies see a country has not ratified a specific convention, “the company will be paying special attention to these issues," she added.

T he additional FDI brought about by compliance with ILO Conventions, she said, will help in local job creation and skills development as countries recover from the effects of the pandemic.

House...

Continued from A1

Under the original draft of House Bill 6398, GSIS, SSS, Land Bank, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the national government are mandated to invest equity with a combined total of P270 billion to start up the fund.

GSIS was to provide an initial investment of P125 billion, P50 billion for both the Social Security System and Land Bank of the Philippines, P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines and P25 billion from the Treasury of the Philippines.

For his part, House Committee on Ways and Means Joey Sarte Salceda said the proposal is really expected to affect the cash flow of SSS and GSIS. “Now that I have already dispensed with my role as TWG Chair, allow me to make my own personal assessment of the Maharlika Investment Fund Act as currently structured. The SSS and GSIS stand to suffer a reduction in cash flow during the gestation period of long-term projects like dams and grids, while foreign financial instruments will slightly reduce cash flow in the short-term, not to mention the friction cost of foreign currency conversion,” said Salceda.

“The SSS and GSIS overall returns will also suffer a reduction initially before the long-gestation projects make ROI [return of investment], but will increase significantly as the dams and grids start getting ROI, since the return on equity for dams and grids can be as much as 40-50 percent. Meanwhile, foreign financial instruments offer the chance for higher-beta investments that could increase returns, but probably at a maximum of 2 percent increase in the GSIS and SSS’s total returns,” he added.

As for liquidity, Salceda said the longterm investments will reduce the GSIS and SSS liquidity, which could affect their ability to meet claims.

“Foreign financial instruments offer better liquidity than long-term domestic investments. But the Fund could miss profit opportunities if GSIS and SSS have to liquidate investments every so often to meet claims. In conclusion, I believe that the SSS and GSIS have more limited gains from being invested in the fund compared to the potential gains for state banks with funds they could leverage to maximum advantage,” he said.

According to Salceda, there is also a need to delete Section 38 of the Maharlika bill so that it is covered by reviews of contracts by the OGCC, and Section 41, to ensure full disclosure of documents and records.

“The deletion would make the bill more consistent with GAPP 1-4 of the Santiago Principles,” he added.

“My idea is to recapitalize the National Development Company with LandBank resources [around P700 billion] so that it becomes something like LandBank InfraCapital as an allied undertaking pursuant to LBP’s classification as a Universal Bank. This would allow the bank to more vigorously invest in dams [90 percent of water use is by farmers], grid connectivity for rural communities, among other major projects that the President wishes to undertake,” he added.

Exclusion

Meanwhile, Northern Samar Rep. Paul R. Daza commended the House leadership’s decision to amend the MWF bill and remove the GSIS and SSS as funding sources.

“This is indeed a step in the right direction,” Daza said. “As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m not entirely against having a State Wealth Fund like the [MWF].

However, we may not be able to sustain such a fund due to the current state of our economy,” he clarified.

Daza also appealed to his peers to also exclude the annual national budget as a source of funding.

“It is clear that the process of dialogue, stakeholder discussions, and expert consultations are leading to improvements to the bill. I hope that the national budget will also be reviewed as an SWF funding source, because I believe it does not belong there,” he said.

“I reiterate that there is a proper way to execute this fund. Let us please not rush this through Congress. We must study this carefully and create a working MWF that would suit our current economic situation,” Daza appealed to his fellow Congress members.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Ople shuts down firm in job-in-Poland scam

By Butch Fernandez

D

@butchfBM

EPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Maria Susana “Toots” V. Ople shut down a travel consultancy firm found offering bogus jobs in Poland.

Ople ordered the immediate closure of IDPLumen Travel Consultancy Services reported by job applicants to be charging as much as P122,000 from applicant victims.

The closure order was carried out last Wednesday by the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch (AIRB) of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in simultaneous closure operations on the firm’s headquarters in San Fernando, Pampanga and its offices in Santiago City, Isabela and Tabuk City, Kalinga.

“Please do not transact with travel consultancy firms offering jobs abroad,” Ople said warning that the firm is engaging in Illegal recruitment.

She added that there is “a oneway ticket to jail waiting for illegal recruiters running this racket victimizing job applicants.”

Ople warns that “the operations were conducted by the AIRB in coordination with local government officials and police units in the respective cities.”

She was informed that surveillance operations conducted by the AIRB revealed that IDPLumen, under the guise of a travel

consultancy firm, offered jobs in Poland for truck drivers, welders and factory workers promising monthly salaries ranging from P35,000 to P124,000.

IDPLumen neither has a license from the POEA to operate as a recruitment agency nor does it have any validated overseas job orders.

The company also collected processing fees of as much as P122,000 from prospective job applicants under two options—either regular upfront payments or a “fly now, pay later” scheme.

The DMW Secretary ordered the filing of illegal recruitment charges against IDPLumen. She is also urging victims of the agency to contact the DMW so they can assist the agency in the filing of cases against IDPLumen.

With its closure, IDPLumen and its staff will be included in the DMW’s “List of Persons and Establishments with Derogatory Record.” Inclusion in the list bars the company and its personnel from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program, aside from facing illegal recruitment charges.

Victims of illegal recruitment schemes may report their cases directly through the AIRB’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook. com/airbranch/?mibextid=ZbWKwL, through their email address: airbranch@dmw.gov.ph or their hotline at +63 2 8721 0619.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, December 9, 2022 A3

Doctors urge parents to get kids inoculated vs Covid-19

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

P

HYSICIANS are urging parents to have their children vaccinated for Covid-19 with the return to face-to-face classes noting that children and adolescents remain susceptible to such infection.

The latest World Health Organization (WHO) Covid-19 Situation Report of the Philippines showed that only 36.8 percent of children aged 5-11 years old have gotten their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Philip S. Nakpil, medical director at Zuellig Pharma Corp., echoed the call of doctors worldwide to vaccinate children.

“The longer we wait to get our children vaccinated, the higher the chances that we are putting our

children’s long-term health at risk.

Children who are now back in school are in an environment that increases their risk of getting sick, moreover, increases the possibility of bringing the virus home and infecting the family,” Nakpil said.

The pediatric Covid-19 vaccine such as Moderna mRNA vaccine and other approved Covid-19 vaccines can protect children from 5-11 years old from the severe effects of Covid-19.

These vaccines also aid in protecting the entire family—especially those at risk, such as infants and the elderly, or those with comorbidities.

Outbreaks in schools

HEALTH experts said that outbreaks of Covid-19 have previously been identified in schools, children’s

camps and day care centers, where children were less likely to observe physical distancing or wearing of masks to reduce risk of transmission.

Likewise, studies have shown that children are more likely to experience milder symptoms or be asymptomatic to Covid-19, which leads to less children and adolescents being tested, resulting in unreported cases.

This increases the risk of them infecting other children or bringing the virus home—where it can remain undetected in the child while infecting the household.

Several risk factors for severe Covid-19 in children have been reported, including obesity and preexisting conditions.

The pre-existing conditions associated with higher risk of severe Covid-19 include type 2 diabetes,

severe asthma, heart and pulmonary diseases, seizure disorders and other neurologic disorders, neurodevelopment like down syndrome and neuromuscular conditions and moderate to severe immune-compromising conditions.

Reports from the Philippine Department of Health have reflected that most children who died due to Covid-19 were unvaccinated children.

As such, Nakpil urges Filipino parents and parent figures to check with their pediatricians and apply for the vaccine through their local government units.

“The Covid-19 vaccine protects children from the severe and longterm effects of the virus, ultimately creating a safer environment for kids to be kids,” he added.

‘Terrorism, political interests big threats to peace in Mindanao’

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

P

RESIDENTIAL Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (Opapru) Carlito G. Galvez said terrorism and political interests remain as the biggest threats to gov-

ernment’s bid to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao.

During a forum last Thursday, Galvez stressed the need for unity among the leaders of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and other stakeholders for the peaceful con-

duct of the 2025 Bangsamoro Parliament elections.

“Terrorism and political divisions remain to be the threats [to the peace process in Mindanao].

Some political interests are really trying to undermine the national interest. That’s why I’m appealing

for unity among ourselves…so that we can have a very peaceful election in 2025,” Galvez said.

The Opapru chief admitted that the successful conduct of the 2025 BARMM election is the biggest challenge that the Opapru is currently facing.

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Friday, December 9, 2022 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Retail sugar prices ease as imports reach ports

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

T

HE retail price of refined sugar is showing signs of easing as nearly all imports have arrived in the country, doubling local supply of the commodity ahead of the Yuletide season.

Latest Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reports showed that the average retail price of refined sugar in Metro Manila markets fell by a peso to P100.495 per kilogram as of November 25 from P101.08 a week earlier.

SRA data showed that the average price of refined sugar in Metro Manila supermarkets fell to P102.13 per kilogram from P102.02 per kilogram while those

Higher demand

sold in wet markets declined to P98.86 per kilogram from P100.14 per kilogram.

Likewise, the wholesale price of refined sugar during the reference period softened to P4,438.18 per 50-kilogram bag (P88.76 per kilogram) from P4,555.45 per 50-kilogram bag (P91.109 per kilogram), based on SRA data.

The data also showed that 99.99 percent—about 149,976.26 metric tons (MT) of the authorized 150,000-MT importation program in the current crop year—has entered the country.

The imports boosted the country’s total refined-sugar supply as of November 27 to 511,798.06 MT, 41.68 percent higher than last year’s 361,242.85 MT.

THE country’s refined-sugar production as of end-November rose by more than half on an annual basis to 211,826.95 MT owing to favorable weather conditions and early refining operations. The latter was driven by higher demand.

Total refined sugar demand during the period was estimated at 287,767.75 MT, 17.56 percent over the 244,776.25 MT recorded in the same period last year.

SRA data showed that total physical refined stock (total supply minus total demand) was at 224,030.31 MT, 92.36 percent higher than last year’s 116,466.6 MT. SRA data indicated some softening in the retail prices of raw sugar in Metro Manila markets, especially

in wet markets.

The data showed that the retail price of raw sugar in Metro Manila market halted its upward trend as it averaged P86.105 per kilogram as of November 25 from P86.44 per kilogram a week ago.

The average retail price of raw sugar in Metro Manila wet markets declined to P83.86 per kilogram from P84.71 per kilogram. Meanwhile, raw sugar sold in Metro Manila supermarkets continues to increase, hitting a new record-high of P88.35 per kilogram, based on SRA data.

SR A data showed that raw sugar production as of November 27 rose by 29.37 percent year-onyear to 523,567 MT due to higher volume of sugarcanes milled and better yield.

USDA projections

ABOUT 6.192 million MT (MMT) of sugarcanes were milled during the reference period, which was nearly a quarter higher than the 4.962 MMT volume recorded in the same period of last year.

Sugar recovery yield, meanwhile, improved to 1.76 50-kilogram bag per ton of sugarcane milled from 1.74 level last year, based on SRA data.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected that the Philippines may import 425,000 MT of sugar in the current crop year 2022-2023, as projected local production remains insufficient to meet the country’s total demand for the commodity.

In its biannual world sugar re-

port, the USDA revised downward its output forecast for the Philippines from 2 million metric tons (MMT) to just 1.85 MMT. The latest output estimate is just a tad higher than the 1.8 MMT recorded production volume in the previous crop year, based on historical USDA data.

With the lower production forecast, the USDA sees sugar import volume for the Philippines reaching a four-year high.

The USDA projected that the Philippines will import 350,000 MT of refined sugar and 75,000 MT of raw sugar from the September 2022 to August 2023 period. (See “USDA sees PHL sugar imports hitting 425K MT,” 24 November 2022, BusinessMirror)

DBM: PHL needs to pursue budget transparency in SEA Ex-BOI exec: BARMM’s economic DBM commitment growth to stay on high trajectory

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

A

LTHOUGH the Philippines is still the leader in budget transparency in the Southeast Asian region, the government must pursue budget transparency after the Philippines slipped eight notches in a budget transparency survey for 2021, according to Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman.

“It is vital that we realize that open government does not only benefit the system, rather its advantage cascades to different sectors of society. It creates more stable conditions to incentivize investments from the private sector, sets the stage for ensuring public trust, and strengthens the country’s democratic institution’s principles,” Pangandaman said during the “2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS) Public Forum” last December 1. The forum was organized by the La Salle Institute of Governance, together with the International Budget Partnership and Stratbase ADR Institute.

In its 2021 study, the OBS reported that the Philippines was able to maintain its lead in Southeast Asia despite a decline in its score. The Philippines scored 68 out of 100 in budget transparency, placing the country at the 19th rank out of 120 countries. In the previous round of the OBS in 2019, the Philippines got a score of 76 and ranked 10th.

PANGANDAMAN stressed the commitment of the DBM to open and participatory government and its intent to take OBS recommendations to improve budget processes.

“We are also committed to continuing working towards an open and participatory government as we chair the Philippine Open Government Partnership Stating committee,” she said. “Furthermore, we will take the recommendations of the OBS to heart and study the feasibility of introducing this in our processes.”

Suad Hasan of the International Budget Partnership (IBP) expressed hope that the Philippines would increase its efforts to improve budget transparency after falling out of the top 10 performers in the 2021 OBS. “We, in the open budget survey team, give the Philippines examples of budget documentation, especially of your citizens’ budget, very often [in presentations to other countries], and there are some really clear and simple measures to be taken that I’m sure would put the Philippines back in the top 10 performers. I am optimistic here,” Hasan said.

She further highlighted the joint congressional review committee formed during the pandemic as one of the Philippines’s initiatives for budget accountability reforms.

“This is an example of how we shared best practices from amongst countries and we also encouraged

all countries to usher in a race to the top by disclosing more and more information, especially around debt and financial risk and make these accountability reforms permanent,” Hasan explained.

While the Philippines’s budget transparency score remains at a sufficient level, experts and government officials still see the need to improve budget mechanisms to develop public access and open government further.

Public deserves to know

Digitization, e-government

DE La Salle University Institute of Governance Senior Fellow and Professor Francisco A. Magno presented the survey results and discussed that the OBS provides data and information to the public regarding the budget processes.

Magno, who serves as the OBS independent expert for the Philippines, said the public deserves to know all the ongoings on the country’s budget. “[The OBS] indicates where we are currently when it comes to the availability of information, the timeliness of its publication, and the content, especially the budget. It’s a public document; it’s the people’s money— how it is used, and how it can be an important resource for enabling us to achieve our policy goals.”

Magno urged the Marcos administration to pursue digitalization of the budget process.

“The gold standard nowadays for effective budget transparency is digitalization, providing information on public websites, the timeliness of the information, and the comprehensiveness of the content, including the eight key budget documents,” Magno said.

DBM Assistant Secretary Rolando U. Toledo emphasized their careful analysis and response to OBS indicators in increasing the transparency of budget documents.

“Currently the budget documents produced by the DBM are now published and it is assured that we have a higher score compared to the next cycle,” Toledo said. “Improvements of the score of the key budget documents under the DBM based on some IBP’s recommendations are also included in the documents.”

Stratbase ADR Institute President VictorAndresC.Manhitalsoexpressed support for DBM’s initiatives. He said that with digitization and e-government, there would be more responsive public expenditure programs for the Filipino people. He also highlighted that the Philippine governance culture is lacking accountability.

“Good policy choices on the continuing pandemic, rising inflation, food security and energy, job creation, poverty reduction, even public-private partnerships, will be the barometer of accountability moving forward for this administration,” Manhit explained.

Govt, stakeholders tackle electricity costs in Davao

By Lenie Lectura

O

@llectura

FFICIALS from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Department of Energy (DOE) and four distribution utilities (DUs) in Davao region met to explore ways to bring down powergeneration charges.

ERC Commissioner Marko Romeo L. Fuentes led the consultative meeting held recently, the agency said last Thursday.

“Even before the start of the series of the PSA [Power Supply Agreement] caravan, the ERC has already identified a number of issues and the corresponding action plans,” Fuentes said. “In fact, the ERC just recently

issued a resolution suspending the collection of the Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All).”

The ERC’s suspension of FIT-All collection spares consumers from paying P0.0364 per kWh for the next three billing months starting December 2022 until February 2023. This is one of the immediate reliefs ERC presented with the DUs during the PSA caravan.

Representatives from the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Daneco), Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative Inc. (Doreco), Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative Inc. and the Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC) discussed ideas to help mitigate the impact of increases in fuel prices on

the electricity rates.

Representatives from the DLPC said they considered buying power from the cheapest source. The electric cooperatives (ECs) sought government involvement in providing assistance to the ECs to explain to their member-consumers that the magnitude of increase is beyond their control as generation charge is a pass-through cost.

Doreco representatives shared that when they entered into contract with an Independent Power Producer (IPP) with a diesel generating plant, the cost of fuel was not that high as it is now.

The said EC manifested reliance on ERC’s extensive and prudent

review of the formula for fuel pass-through in Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).

Daneco appealed for intervention on the schedule of Preventive Maintenance Schedule (PMS) of the generating plants. This, it stressed, impacts on the ability of the DUs to source cheap replacement power.

“There already exists a global crisis on the rising prices of oil and coal which caused electricity rates to increase. These problems are the reasons why we are here to find solutions. No one knows everything, but if we work together, we can survive this extraordinary period,” Fuentes said.

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The former head of the Regional Board of Investment believes the sustained higher economic growth of the Bangsamoro region, as cited by a study, would continue.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, former managing head of the BOI in the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the research by Renato E. Reside shows a positive economic growth trend in the Bangsamoro region.

Reside, a professor of the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics, presented last month his paper “Determinants of Finance and Economic Growth within the Bangsamoro Region,” where Mastura was a discussant.

Reside said “economic intuition suggests that several factors would lead to higher growth within BARMM.” The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) replaced the ARMM in 2019.

One factor that Reside cited is the provision of systemic fund transfers from the national government to the BARMM to fund operations of the regional government that can stimulate aggregate demand with the region, as well as productivity over a longer period.

A second factor is the recent inclusion of more economically productive areas into BARMM, such as Cotabato City.

Mastura, who is now a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament, said he was optimistic that economic growth in the region as explained in the research paper would continue to be on an upward trend.

Growth trend

AS he validated Reside’s findings, Mastura said the BARMM “has been enjoying a positive growth trend since last year with the second highest regional growth rate in the country in 2021 at 7.5 percent growth rate.

“This is possibly due to the block grant transfers beginning in 2020

to the autonomous region averaging P70 billion yearly,” he said. “Also possibly due to the block grant, the BARMM capital of Cotabato City has the third-highest deposit base in Mindanao with P113 billion in bank deposits after the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro as of December 2021.”

Mastura disclosed another data showing BARMM’s fisheries production as the highest in the country in the second quarter of this year.

BARMM has total fisheries production of 346.42 metric tons or 28.6 percent, making it the biggest contributor to fisheries production in the Philippines, he added. BARMM was followed by the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) with 153.38 MT (12.6 percent); Central Luzon (Region 3) with 130.79 MT (10.8 percent); Western Visayas (Region 6) with 96.66 MT (8.0 percent); and Soccsksargen (Region 12) with 89.41 MT (7.4 percent).

He said most of the fisheries productions in BARMM, which he said were mainly aquaculture, were produced in the island provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, and Basilan. The remaining were from Maguindanao, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur.

Faster growth

DESPITE the growth figures, Mastura cautioned that the BARMM “needs to grow much faster in order to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of economic development.” “ T he 7.5 -percent economic growth rate last year coming from our low base rate is more of the base effect in economics, or in layman’s term it is a post-conflict economic rebound or bounce after years of being a conflict-affected region.

Other post-conflict areas enjoyed similar rebounds with double-digit economic growth rates, such as South Sudan, which had the highest growth rate in the world ranging from 25 percent to 30 percent after their independence vote,” Mastura said.

Reside presented last month his research paper on the BARMM during the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas– UP Professorial Chair Lectures in late November at the Bangko Sentral main office.

Marinduque farmers learn how to do better in agri-biz ventures

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said a group of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the town of Santa Cruz, Marinduque province is now better equipped with agri-entrepreneurial skills after completing a Farm Business School (FBS) program offered to farmers with small landholdings.

A ll 39 far mers from Barangay Bintakay were taught market surveying, accounting, farm bud-

get planning, benchmarking and market matching skills during the 25-session under the FBS program, the DAR said.

The DAR-FBS aims to develop ARBs to become agricultural entrepreneurs and is designed to help farmers learn and improve their entrepreneurship and farm business management knowledge and skills.

Ubaldo R. Sadiarin Jr., DAR Assistant Secretary for support services, said teaching modern farming and the basics of business to farmers are part of the agency’s plan to mold the ARBs into becoming the

new breed of farmers.

“I am excited for the things that will come your way. With all your learning from the FBS program, I am positive that your farm yield and income will increase,” Sadiarin said to the 39 graduates.

The Bintakay Farmers Association, where all the graduates are members, also received farm implements consisting of 20 electric knapsack sprayers, mulching film, UV plastic sheet, seeds, vermicast, a garden hose and a rota-tiller.

The farm implements worth P168,000 will be used for their rice

fields and for the associations’ organic vegetable production.

Federico Larracas, an FBS graduate, expressed his gratitude for all the support they have received from the government. He promised to apply his learning to his own farm.

The FBS program is a unique educational system designed by the DAR and the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture to help farmers learn and improve their knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship and farm business management.

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A5

Friday, December 9, 2022

Remulla to Congress: Fast-track IRR of SIM card registration law

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

J

USTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla called on lawmakers to hasten the release of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the SIM Card Registration Act which is expected to give the government’s all-out campaign against online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) a boost.

Remulla made the call after United Nations special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children Mama Fatima Singhateh paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday.

He said the SIM Card Registration Act is an important tool against OSEC. “We’re asking Congress, the Senate and the House to speed up the IRR for the SIM Card Registration Act for it to be executory and help us identify all the perpetrators because we know that they are using prepaid and data services in online sexual case and in trafficking children,” Remulla said.

During his meeting with Singhateh, Remulla said he handed her an official letter outlining the government’s efforts to combat the problem of child sexual exploitation.

“We also told her about our problems with our existing laws, including our Anti-

Money Laundering mechanisms which are very restrictive,” he said.

Remulla also asked the UN rapporteur to push for the sharing of databases related to OSEC among member countries of the UN. The Department of Justice and other concerned agencies earlier launched an all-out war against OSEC after data showed that the country has become the top source of such illegal content.

Remulla acknowledged that one of the major challenges in addressing the problem is technological, which is vital in tracing the perpetrators.

Remulla earlier said he would be issuing an ultimatum to all telecom companies and internet service providers (ISPs) to perform its obligations under the law that requires them to install software that will block access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography in the internet.

Under Republic Act 9775 or the AntiChild Pornography Act of 2009, telco companies and ISPs are mandated to install a program or software that will block access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography in the internet.

It also requires ISPs to notify authorities within seven days from discovery that any form of child pornography is being committed using their servers or facilities.

PHL must simplify its rules for business–trade lawyer

By Andrea E. San Juan

A

N international trade lawyer said the Philippines should focus on simplifying its rules to lure investments, among others.

“As a lawyer, it’s actually the simplification of the rules that will lead to investments.

They will not come here and look and the first thing they see is a 60-40 requirement in the Constitution even if this doesn’t affect the investor. It scares them away immediately and that’s why you have to simplify all these rules,” Anthony Abad, international trade lawyer and CEO of Trade Advisors said at the National Export Congress 2022 in Pasay City on Wednesday.

Abad cited Vietnam, which he said had simplified its laws in 2015 “just so the investors won’t have to deal with so many rules.”

Meanwhile, he also underscored that investment policy has to go hand in hand with export policy, noting that these policies will make investors decide if a country is “stable” and worth investing in. Investors eye a certain country that is the “most stable and that brings back the most returns,” Abad pointed out.

“So when I observed the people who want to make an investment toward export, will choose let’s say Vietnam or the Philippines based on what they see as least risk, highest return place. They will move back to their own country if they think it’s going to be most beneficial to them,” he added.

This, Abad said, is coined as “reshoring” which he said has been the trend since the pandemic has caused uncertainties in the global value systems. The international lawyer defined reshoring as “an insurance measure that’s mitigating risks that are given because there’s a logistics challenge.”

According to Abad, certain countries consider bringing back their manufacturing or are onshoring their manufacturing so as to lessen the risk.

As for the Philippines, he said the country is not too invested yet in regional and global value chains, adding, “the Philippines did not have to worry about the crisis because it never left the port.”

In terms of export development, Abad said the country has to go beyond “building roads” and simply hope that exports will come someday. Instead, he said, the Philippines should look at agriculture as a manufacturing process because the end product is the one that’s going to give the highest value once the exportable goods have reached the global landscape.

He cited Korea as an example: it does not only sell sweet potato in itself but has added value to it by selling Japchae, a popular Korean dish that’s made from sweet potatoes.

Korea, Abad noted, also invested in the creative aspect and cultural side of its country. “They want to sell, so there’s a valuation involved whether it’s a creative, service or agricultural product. You have to really look at the end-game.”

DTI exec sees Senate ‘positively’ acting on RCEP ratification soon

T

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) remains optimistic that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be considered “positively” by the Senate, noting that senators have taken steps to finally deliberate on the trade deal.

“The Senate has read it (RCEP) into the records and has referred it to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,” Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said, partly in Filipino.

Rodolfo also noted that the Office of the President (OP) has already submitted President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s Instrument of Ratification, which he said is “very important” in the process of getting the regional trade deal ratified.

“We have been in constant coordination with the senators with respect to the RCEP and other [free trade agreements] FTAs that

we are negotiating such as the PH-Korea FTA. Given the importance of the RCEP and the urgency, we remain optimistic that this will be considered positively by the Senate,” the Trade official stressed.

Moving forward, Rodolfo said the DTI will work with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations so that “we can respond to whatever questionsthattheymaystillhaveabouttheRCEP with the view towards facilitating the Senate concurrence to the ratification of the President.”

Rodolfo said the regional trade deal will “hopefully” be ratified by the first quarter of next year.

Last month, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said Marcos had reviewed and approved the regional trade deal. In fact, he said there was a Cabinet decision documented last October signifying the president’s support for the regional trade deal. Andrea E. San Juan

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Friday, December 9, 2022

A6

Peru’s president ousted by Congress after trying to dissolve the legislature

By Franklin Briceño

L

IMA, Peru—The president of Peru was ousted by Congress and arrested on a charge of rebellion Wednesday after he sought to dissolve the legislative body and take unilateral control of the government, triggering a grave constitutional crisis. that he was installing a new emergency government and would rule by decree. He ordered a nightly curfew starting Wednesday night. The head of Peru’s army then resigned, along with four ministers, including those over foreign affairs and the economy.

The Ombudsman’s Office, an autonomous government institution, said before the congressional vote that Castillo should turn himself in to judicial authorities.

A f ter yea rs of democrac y, Peru is in the midst of a constitutional collapse “that can’t be called anything but a coup,” the statement said.

International reaction was at times outpaced by events.

United States Amb. Lisa Kenna called on Castillo via Twitter to reverse his decree to dissolve Congress, saying the US government rejected any “extra-constitutional” actions by the president to interfere with Congress.

A short time later the Congress voted to remove Castillo.

Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said via Twitter that given recent events in Peru, Mexico had decided to postpone the Pacific Alliance summit scheduled for Dec. 14 in Lima. He said he regretted the recent developments and called for democracy and human rights to be respected.

The administration of Chilean President Gabriel Boric lamented the political situation in Peru and trusted that the crisis would be resolved through democratic mechanisms. Spain’s government strongly condemned the break in constitutional order and congratulated the country on righting itself democratically.

Castillo had said in an unusual midnight address on state television

FORMER Vice President Dina Boluarte receives the presidential sash as she is sworn-in as the new president at Congress in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. Peru’s Congress voted to remove President Pedro Castillo from office Wednesday and replace him with the vice president, shortly after Castillo tried to dissolve the legislature ahead of a scheduled vote to remove him. At left is Congress President Jose Williams and at right is Jose Cevasco.

AP/GUADALUPE PARDO

ahead of the vote that he would never stain “the good name of my honest and exemplary parents, who like millions of Peruvians, work every day to build honestly a future for their families.”

The peasant-turned-president said he’s paying for mistakes made due to inexperience. But he said a certain sector of Congress “has as its only agenda item removing me from office because they never accepted the results of an election that you, my dear Peruvians, determined with your votes.”

Castillo has denied allegations of corruption against him, saying they’re based on “hearsay statements by people who, seeking to lighten their own punishments for supposed crimes by abusing my confidence, are trying to involve me without evidence.”

Federal prosecutors are investigating six cases against Castillo, most of them for alleged corruption, under the theory that he had used his power to profit from public works.

The power struggle in Perú’s capital has continued as the Andes and its thousands of small farms struggle to survive the worst drought in a half-century.

Without rain, farmers can’t plant potatoes, and the dying grass can no longer sustain herds of sheep, alpacas, vicuñas and llamas. Making matters worse, avian flu has killed at least 18,000 sea birds and infected at least one poultry producer, endangering the chicken and turkeys raised for traditional holiday meals.

The government also confirmed that in the past week, the country has suffered a fifth wave of Covid-19

infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4.3 million Peruvians have been infected, and 217,000 of them have died.

The first president to come from a poor farming community in the nation’s history, Castillo arrived in the presidential palace last year without any political experience. He changed his cabinet five times during his year and a half in office, running through 60 different cabinet officials, leaving various government agencies paralyzed.

Although Castillo is the first president to be investigated while still in office, the probes are no surprise in a country where nearly every former president in the last 40 years have been charged with corruption linked to multinational corporations, such as the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht.

Since 2016, Perú has been entrenched in political crises, with congresses and presidents trying to eliminate each other in turn.

President Martín Vizcarra (20182020) dissolved Congress in 2019 and ordered new elections. That new legislature removed Vizcarra the next year. Then came President Manuel Merino, who lasted less than a week before a crackdown killed two protesters and injured 200 more. His successor, Francisco Sagasti, lasted nine months before Castillo took over.

Castillo on Wednesday became the second ex-president currently in custody in the country. A former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori, is serving a 25-year sentence for murder and corruption charges dating to his 1990-2000 rule.

New York Times journalists, workers on 24-hour strike

By Alexandra Olson AP Business Writer

N

EW YORK—Hundreds of journalists and other employees at The New York Times began a 24-hour walkout Thursday in what would be the first strike of its kind at the newspaper in more than 40 years.

Newsroom employees and other members of The NewsGuild of New York say they are fed up with bargaining that has dragged on since their last contract expired in March 2021. The union announced last week that more than 1,100 employees would stage a 24-hour work stoppage starting at 12:01 a.m. Thursday unless the two sides reach a contract deal.

The NewsGuild tweeted Thursday morning that workers, “are now officially on work stoppage, the first of this scale at the company in 4 decades. It’s never an easy decision to refuse to do work you love, but our members are willing to do what it takes to win a better newsroom for all.”

Negotiations took place Tuesday and some of Wednesday, but the sides remained far apart on issues including wage increases and remote-work policies.

On Wednesday evening the union said via Twitter that a deal had not been reached and the walkout was happening. “We were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal,” it said, “but management walked away from the table with five hours to go.”

“We know what we’re worth,” the union added.

But New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in a statement that they were still in negotiations when they were told that the strike was happening.

“It is disappointing that they are taking such an extreme action when we are not at an impasse,” she said.

It was unclear how Thursday’s coverage would be affected, but the strike’s supporters include members of the fast-paced live-news desk, which covers breaking news for the digital paper. Employees

China eases anti-Covid rules following protests

By Joe Mcdonald

B

The Associated Press

Vice President Dina Boluarte replaced Pedro Castillo and became the first female leader in the history of the republic after hours of wrangling between the legislature and the departing president, who had tried to prevent an impeachment vote.

Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, called for a political truce and the installation of a national unity government.

“What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country,” she said.

Lawmakers voted 101-6 with 10 abstentions to remove Castillo from office for reasons of “permanent moral incapacity.”

He left the presidential palace in an automobile that carried him through Lima’s historic downtown. He entered a police station and hours later federal prosecutors announced that Castillo had been arrested on a rebellion charge for allegedly violating constitutional order. Witnesses saw some smallscale clashing between police and some protesters who had gathered near the station.

“We condemn the violation of constitutional order,” federal prosecutors said in a statement.

“Peru’s political constitution enshrines the separation of powers and establishes that Peru is a democratic and sovereign Republic...

No authority can put itself above the Constitution and must comply with constitutional mandates.”

Fluent in Spanish and Quechua, Boluarte was elected as vice president on the presidential ticket that brought the center-left Castillo to power on July 28, 2021. During Castillo’s brief administration, Boluarte was minister of development and social inclusion.

Shortly before the impeachment vote, Castillo announced

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

were planning a rally for that afternoon outside the newspaper’s offices near Times Square.

Rhoades Ha told The Associated Press the company has “solid plans in place” to continue producing content, including relying on international reporters and other journalists who are not union members.

In a note sent to guild-represented staff Tuesday night, Deputy Managing Editor Cliff Levy called the planned strike “puzzling” and “an unsettling moment in negotiations over a new contract.” He said it would be the first strike by the bargaining unit since 1981 and “comes despite intensifying efforts by the company to make progress.”

But in a letter signed by more than 1,000 employees, the NewsGuild said management has been “dragging its feet” bargaining for nearly two years and “time is running out to reach a fair contract” by the end of the year.

T he Ne w s G u i l d a l s o s a i d t he comp a ny t ol d e mplo y e e s

pl a nning to st r i ke t hey wou ld not get pa id for t he du rat ion of t he wa l kout. Members were a lso asked to work e x tra hours get work done a head of t he str i ke, accord ing to t he union.

The New York Times has seen other, shorter walkouts in recent years, including a half-day protest in August by a new union representing technology workers who claimed unfair labor practices.

In one breakthrough that both sides called significant, the company backed off its proposal to replace the existing adjustable pension plan with an enhanced 401 (k) retirement plan. The Times offered instead to let the union choose between the two. The company also agreed to expand fertility treatment benefits.

Levy said the company has also offered to raise wages by 5.5 percent upon ratification of the contract, followed by 3 percent hikes in 2023 and 2024. That would be an increase from the 2.2 percent annual increases in the expired contract.

The Associated Press

EIJING—China rolled back rules on isolating people with Covid-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.

The move adds to earlier easing that fueled hopes Beijing was scrapping its “zero Covid” strategy, which is disrupting manufacturing and global trade. Experts warn, however, that restrictions can’t be lifted completely until at least mid-2023 because millions of elderly people still must be vaccinated and the health care system strengthened.

China is the last major country still trying to stamp out transmission of the virus while many nations switch to trying to live with it. As they lift restrictions, Chinese officials have also shifted to talking about the virus as less threatening—a possible effort to prepare people for a similar switch.

People with mild cases will be allowed for the first time to isolate at home, the National Health Commission announced, instead of going to sometimes overcrowded or unsanitary quarantine centers. That addresses a major irritation that helped to drive protests that erupted November 25 in Shanghai and other cities.

Public facilities except for “special places,” such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, will no longer require visitors to produce a “health code” on a smartphone app that tracks their virus tests and whether they have been to areas deemed at high risk of infection.

Local officials must “take strict and detailed measures to protect people’s life, safety and health” but at the same time “minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development,” the statement said.

China’s restrictions have helped to keep case numbers low, but that means few people have developed natural immunity, a factor that might set back reopening plans if cases surge and authorities feel compelled to reimpose restrictions.

Still, after three years spent warning the public about Covid19’s dangers, Chinese officials have begun to paint it as less threatening.

People with mild cases “can recover by themselves without special medical care,” said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the China Centers for Disease Control, on his social media account.

“The good news is that the data show the proportion of severe cases is low,” said Wu. The latest changes are “small steps” in a gradual process aimed at ending restrictions, said Liang Wannian, a member of an expert group advising the National Health Commission, at a news conference.

The government’s goal is “to return to the state before the epidemic, but the realization of the goal must have conditions,” said Liang, one of China’s most prominent anti-epidemic experts.

Ray Yip, a public health expert, also emphasized the gradual nature of the shift, calling it “the first 20-degree turn of a 180-degree turn.”

“The challenge is how they will react when the case load goes way up, which will start to happen. Not sure they will hold the course of loosening up,” said Yip, who founded the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s office in China.

The government announced a campaign last week to vaccinate the elderly that health experts say must be done before China can end restrictions on visitors coming from abroad. They say the ruling Communist Party also needs to build up China’s hospital system to cope with a possible rise in cases.

But public frustration is rising now, as millions of people are repeatedly confined at home for uncertain periods, schools close abruptly and economic growth falls.

The changes have been rolled out despite a renewed spike in infections started in October. On Wednesday, the government reported 25,231 new cases, including 20,912 without symptoms.

Xi’s government has held up “zero Covid” as proof of the superiority of China’s system compared with the United States and Western countries. China’s official death toll is 5,235 since the start of the pandemic versus a US count of 1.1 million.

Rules were left in place that warn apartment and office buildings might be sealed if infections are found. Complaints that families are confined for weeks at a time with uncertain access to food and medicine were a key driver of the protests.

The ruling party switched early this year to suspending access to neighborhoods or districts where infections were discovered instead of isolating whole cities.

On Wednesday, the government said the scope of closures will be narrowed still further to single apartment floors or buildings instead of neighborhoods.

It said schools in communities with no outbreaks must return to in-person teaching.

That appeared to be a response to complaints that local leaders, threatened with the loss of their jobs in the event of outbreaks, impose closures that are destructive, might be unnecessary and exceed what the central government allows.

The demonstrations in at least eight major cities and on dozens of university campuses were the most widespread display of public dissent in decades. In Shanghai, some protesters shouted the politically explosive demand for Xi, China’s most influential figure in decades, to resign.

TheWorld Friday, December 9, 2022

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A7

Malaysia to probe ex-premier on links to public funds case

M

ALAYSIA’S anti-graft agency will summon former premier Muhyiddin Yassin and two excabinet ministers who served in his administration for the alleged misappropriation of 600 billion ringgit ($136 billion) of public funds for tackling the pandemic.

MUHYIDDIN YASSIN, Malaysia’s prime minister, speaks during a news conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia on March 9, 2020. Malaysia’s prime minister picked the head of one the country’s main banks as his new finance minister Monday amid heightened global risks and domestic policy uncertainty. BLOOMBERG

We have nothing to hide.”

A ides to Muhy iddin and Khairy, as well as anti-graft agency officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments.

News of the probe comes as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is reviewing projects and plans approved by past administrations in a bid to burnish his credentials as a reformist and fulfill his alliance’s election manifesto promises to fight corruption. Anwar himself faces criticism for picking the head of the former ruling coalition who faces graft charges as one of his deputies.

Anwar this week said the finance ministry found there was a breach of procedure in the handling of 600 billion ringgit of public funds during Muhyiddin’s time as premier.

He also ordered a review of the 5G mobile services contract awarded to Ericsson AB last year, citing concerns about cost and transparency.

Muhyiddin was prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021, and now leads the opposition. He and Anwar fought a tight election race last month that resulted in a hung parliament and set off a contest to drum up support from several coalitions to form government.

Anwar eventually got the consent from the country’s monarch to form government but he needs to keep several political blocs happy ahead of a confidence vote in parliament later this month. With assistance from Prem

The other two are former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and ex-finance minister Zafrul Aziz, who now heads the international trade and industry ministry in the new government, the New Straits Times reported, citing people it didn’t name. The funds for the pandemic included resources for vaccines, the newspaper added.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Azam Baki told the New Straits Times that the agency had opened an investigation. It wasn’t immediately clear when the three politicians would be summoned.

“There have been no calls from the MACC yet,” Zafrul told reporters at a separate event. “If contacted, I will cooperate fully.

Oil rises after 4-day drop as China moves to reopen

S. Korea widens back-to-work orders on striking truckers

By Yongchang Chin

O

IL rose after a four-day drop as investors weighed the impact of China’s moves to ease virus curbs against the risk of a slowdown in the US. West Texas Intermediate climbed toward $73 a barrel after plunging more than 11 percentover the previous four sessions as a raft of US banks sounded the alarm on a possible recession. Among the latest, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser flagged countries including the US rolling into recessionary environments.

Those concerns have been tempered by positive signals from China, which is rolling back Covid curbs in a boost for energy consumption.

Oil has weakened this month, shedding all of the year’s once-substantial gains, as central banks tighten monetary policy and the macroeconomic outlook sours. Fresh curbs on crude from Russia meant to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine have so far not disrupted trade substantially, although there is a growing blockage of oil tankers in waters off Turkey. In addition, market liquidity has been thinning out as the yearend approaches.

“Crude has been struggling amid demand worries,” said Ravindra Rao, head of commodity research at Kotak Securities Ltd. “But easing of curbs in China is creating hopes of demand revival.”

Until about a week ago, Chinese officials were still pledging to quash and eliminate Covid-19 from the world’s largest crude importer. But protests against the stringent rules seem to have hastened China’s pivot away from a policy that has been closely tied to President Xi Jinping.

Key time spreads are indicating ample near-term supply. WTI’s prompt spread— the difference between the two nearest contracts—is slipping further into a bearish contango structure. The gap was 25 cents a barrel in contango compared with 91 cents in the opposite backwardated structure a month ago. Bloomberg News

Kumar/Bloomberg.

By Kim Tong-Hyung The Associated Press

S

EOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s government expanded its back-to-work orders Thursday against thousands of cargo truck drivers who are staging a nationwide walkout over freight fare issues, saying a prolonged strike could inflict “deep scars” on the country’s economy.

The “work start” orders on steel and fuel truckers were inevitable because the strike could begin to hurt major export industries like automobiles and shipbuilding if it extends further, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said in a news conference.

The strike’s impact has so far been mostly limited to domestic industries like construction.

The orders, which were initially issued November 29 on some 2,500 cement truckers, were expanded to about 6,000 drivers transporting steel and 4,500 transporting fuel and chemicals.

Police are also clamping down on unionists who threaten or disrupt colleagues who choose to work.

The widening of the orders came even as the strike’s impact was diminishing entering its third week, with container traffic at the country’s major ports recovering pre-strike levels and cement supplies resuming at construction sites. The conservative government of President Yoon Suk Yeol has taken aggressive steps to ease delays in industrial shipments such as mobilizing nearly 200 military vehicles, including containers and fuel trucks.

Strikers represented by the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union walked out on November 24, demanding the government make permanent a minimum freight rate system that is set to expire at the end of 2022, which they say is crucial for safety and financial stability in the face of rising fuel costs.

While the minimum fares currently apply only to shipping containers and cement, the strikers are also calling for the benefits to be expanded to other cargo, including oil and chemical tankers, steel and automobile carriers and package delivery trucks.

Yoon’s government had offered to expand the current scheme for another three years but has so far rejected calls to widen the scope of minimum rates.

The orders have marked the first time any South Korean government has exercised contentious powers based on a law revised in 2004 that says failure to comply without “justifiable reason” is punishable by up to three years in jail or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($22,800). Critics say the law infringes on constitutional rights because it doesn’t clearly spell out what would qualify as acceptable conditions for a strike.

South Korean labor groups have asked the International Labor Organization to review whether the government order forcing cement truckers back to their jobs breaches basic labor rights.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has confirmed that the United Nations agency sent a letter under the name of Corinne Vargha, its director of international labor standards, requesting that the South Korean government clarify its stance over the dispute.

A8

Friday, December 9, 2022 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

editorial

House leaders heard the public outcry

T

he ability to listen—and listen well—is a critically important attribute for a leader to have. As US President Woodrow Wilson once said, “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” It’s part of the job of politicians, especially lawmakers, to listen to their constituents. That’s because leadership is a two-way street. In the best of worlds, a leader and her constituents work together to get things done.

We commend the leaders of the House of Representatives for listening to the voices of their constituents. And we thank them for acting swiftly to allay the concerns of millions of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) members who fear that their contributions, which are being eyed as seed capital for the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund, will be lost to bad investments.

In a hastily called press briefing on Wednesday evening, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, one of the principal authors, announced that House leaders and economic managers have agreed to remove the GSIS and SSS as fund contributors to the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) amid the concerns aired by business groups and the public that opposed the inclusion of the pension funds.

“This (Wednesday) morning, the House leaders led by Speaker Martin Romualdez met with the economic managers to reassess the Maharlika Fund bill as drafted by the economic managers. Based on our assessment of the proposed changes put forward by the economic team, we are amending the bill to change the fund sources, removing GSIS and SSS as fund contributors and instead utilizing the profits of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” Quimbo said.

The House Committee on Appropriations will convene on Friday to amend the bill and remove the P125 billion contribution from GSIS and the P50 billion from SSS originally stated under House Bill 6398, Quimbo said.

This is a most welcome move. As we wrote in this space earlier, the bill’s proponents certainly know that GSIS and SSS funds are not tax money but private contributions by members and their employers meant for emergency and retirement needs of those members.

Under the original House Bill 6398 that will be amended, the GSIS, SSS, LandBank, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the national government are mandated to invest equity for the MWF’s seed capital. GSIS will provide an initial investment of P125 billion, P50 billion each for the Social Security System and Land Bank of the Philippines, P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines, and P25 billion from the Treasury of the Philippines.

Quimbo said the funds that the BSP will invest will also be determined at their Friday hearing. “The BSP is still computing it because it will come from dividends. But the ballpark figure is sufficiently large, meaning good enough to start an investment fund of this nature,” she said.

Now that House leaders have addressed the objectionable part of the bill, it’s time for them to set up mechanisms for public participation in the legislative process. The linkage between citizens and their government gets strengthened when the public has ample opportunity to have their concerns heard by the legislature.

Legislative transparency is needed to create a successful sovereign wealth fund. Members of Congress have to explain to the people what the MWF is all about and how it will benefit the country. Taxpayers would like to know not only where the funds for the MWF are coming from, but, more importantly, how the money will be safeguarded.

It is important that lawmakers also seek expert opinion, so that the advantages and disadvantages of the bill and how the fund might affect the nation will be discussed.

These are things that Congress can do to promote citizen participation, improve the legislature’s public standing, and gain the public’s support for their legislative agenda. That’s also a good way to make voters think highly of their representatives in Congress.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

Online Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Chairman of the Board President Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes D. Edgard A. Cabangon Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news.businessmirror@gmail.com

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Printed by brown madonna Press, Inc.–Sun Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila MEMBER OF

Sonny M. Angara

Better Days

I

N just seven weeks after his administration was formally inaugurated in late June of this year, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. transmitted to Congress his administration’s proposed budget for 2023, otherwise known as the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

The NEP details the government’s spending priorities for the coming year, which both houses of Congress in turn deliberate on and make amendments to (within certain parameters) before approving it as the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the President’s final approval and signature.

The result of this process is the national budget, which is essentially a document that lists all the items that the Legislative Branch has authorized the Executive to spend for in the coming year, in pursuit of avowed national objectives. The budget is more than just a spreadsheet of numbers though; it is really an annual development plan. And in that sense, it represents the concrete steps that government wants to take in pursuit of the country’s collective aspirations.

President Marcos said just as much in his budget message to Congress. He underscored that the P5.628-trillion spending plan his administration was proposing was anchored on an agenda for prosper-

ity, whose overarching objective was to orchestrate the transformation of the Philippine economy “from one that is reactive, where our people suffer the effects of economic shocks, to one that is proactive, where our people are prepared and our economy is spared.”

It was with all these considerations and more that Congress made changes to the President’s proposed budget, as encapsulated in the 2023 GAA that we recently approved.

While some agencies received less than what was originally proposed, we took steps as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance to make sure that the ones critical to the nation’s recovery were provided more funding support.

For instance, given that food security stands as among the top priorities of President Marcos, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies will collectively receive in 2023 up to P98.864 billion, which is roughly P30.29 billion more than what was appropriated for 2022. Much of this funding will be

funneled towards the national programs of the DA for rice, corn, highvalue crops development, livestock, organic agriculture, and urban and peri-urban agriculture.

Note that this does not include some P55.991 billion in budgetary support for government corporations attached to the DA, such as the National Dairy Authority, the National Irrigation Administration, the Philippine Coconut Authority, and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, among several others. We understood it to be absolutely essential that in the face of high-inflation, adequate support should be given to programs that boost domestic production of food and agricultural products.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) and its attached agencies are set to receive up to P209.624 billion in 2023, which is P25.737 billion more than the appropriations it received in 2022. Such funding includes standby funds for the purchase of more vaccines (not just for Covid-19), for the hiring of emergency vaccinators, and for the establishment of specialty care centers in areas outside of Metro Manila—an advocacy close to the heart of the President.

While the economy is quickly reopening after the pandemic and people are able to get back to work, the government will be prepared to provide social assistance or ayuda albeit in a more targeted fashion.

For instance, the conditional cash transfers under the long-running Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will continue. This will

Jesus Christ is the greatest economist

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

An agenda for prosperity

Priscile Minde Yap-Bahjin

EAGLE WATCH

I

N 1999, I idiotically asked a professor why the Nobel cannot be given posthumously. The brilliant but snobbish professor simply said, “Then Jesus would have won it all, and who can top that?”

A Buddhist classmate teasingly asked, “A Nobel for what?”

“For peace, obviously,” said another.

The professor, Jesuit-raised, proceeded to agree with the bright one among the bunch—that the Nobel for Peace it is! Nevertheless, a fellow “Pilosopo Tasyo” remarked that if Christ would have it His way, and that peace would reign on earth, then there would be no free market system, as the Man from Heaven was a socialist at best, or even a communist at worst.

Did Jesus not espouse equality for all? Was he not anti-free-market? I also asked one of my favorite economics professors, the late brilliant Dr. Victor Venida, if Christ had a chance at the Nobel for Economics, not just a Nobel for Peace. Dr. Venida, wanting us to be critical thinkers, said, “Reflect on his works and teachings and, for that matter, what the Prophet Muhammad said about one’s behavior as a merchant.” His response was apt, as it respected the Islamic tradition into which I was born.

So, I mulled over what Jesus es-

poused and decided if his gospels had economic thoughts that could compete with Nobel winners. Was Jesus a great economist? Yes, I think so, for several reasons.

One, Christianity is not against the accumulation of wealth, per se.

We see this introspection through the Parable of the Talents. Jesus’ gospels work on several dimensions.

The parable relates to God’s expectations of how we serve Him through the good use of our skills and talents in helping others and bringing them to His fold. It also teaches us that, on the material level, being productive and useful pleases God. True service to humanity is not just about mere utterances of God’s teachings.

Jesus Christ, as Pope Francis reminds us, was always out to do ministry. Not all of us can become priests and nuns, and this is where the parable is instructive. Taken in the context of the Christ-Principle, it compels us to improve and apply our skills not only for our own comforts but also for social transformation.

Two, Jesus believed in empower-

run alongside other DSWD programs such as the Protective Services for Individuals and Families in Difficult Circumstances and the Sustainable Livelihood Program, and the emergency employment programs of DOLE like the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers Program or TUPAD, or the fuel vouchers and subsidies provided under the DA and the DOTr. We in Congress also made sure to adhere to the constitutional directive of ascribing the highest budgetary priority to education. This is why the Department of Education (DepEd) and its attached agencies is set to receive P678.317 billion, which is P85,652 billion more than its allocation for 2022. And also why SUCs will collectively receive P13.712 billion more than what the government originally proposed in its 2023 NEP. All these and more constitute the funding Congress has approved for the agenda for prosperity, which the government will pursue in the coming years. We in Congress saw it important to provide as much support as possible because this 2023 budget stands as the first of the new Marcos administration. We merely hoped to set the new government off to a good start.

Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 9 as Senator. He has authored, co-authored, and sponsored more than 330 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.

E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

ing his disciples and followers via real hard work, not just preaching. He performed many miracles to prove that He was the Messiah. His followers had evidence that He was, indeed, the Son of God. Confident that they were working for the “real deal,” they became passionate in the pursuit of spreading His gospels.

Three, Jesus was a carpenter (builder) and a fisherman (provider).

If we reflect on His life, He chose professions not desired by many.

How many times did He lecture in the middle of the Sea of Galilee? By contrast, today’s economists just sit in their offices and speculate on inflation and foreign exchange. They talk about growth like it is just a complicated equation that should be solved.

A true prophet should not hide.

Christ was a laborer. As my Hindu friend pointed out, he chose to be born as a poor royal and be employed in labor-intensive professions. To fully empower someone is to show that hard work is decent work. As a See “Eagle Watch,” A9

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Opinion BusinessMirror

Friday, December 9, 2022

A9

Georgia vote gives Harris Can nature rebound in the post-human landscape? reprieve as Senate tiebreaker

W

By Chris Megerian | The Associated Press

ASHINGTON—Vice President Kamala Harris needed to get to the US Senate to break a tie. But first she had to avoid causing a traffic jam.

One more senator had to vote before Harris could end the impasse, and he was in Georgetown, on the opposite side of Washington. If Harris left in her motorcade, street closures would likely cut off his route to Capitol Hill.

So she waited.

“I was on the phone with the senator’s staff telling them, you have to tell me when he’s in the car and when he’s crossed the threshold through downtown,” Kristine Lucius, former director of legislative affairs for Harris, recalled about the vote on an administration nominee last year.

Such has been the delicate balancing act for Harris, whose role as president of the Senate has been a defining feature of her first two years in office. With the help of careful scheduling—and even an eye on traffic patterns when necessary— she’s swiftly outpaced her predecessors when it comes to breaking ties.

Now the pressure will be off. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in the Georgia runoff means Democrats will expand their majority to 51 seats. Although Harris may still get called upon, such as when senators are absent, the party will have a little more breathing room on close votes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that his caucus “has been deeply grateful” for Harris’ “constant schedule juggling.”

“It’s part of her job. But I think she’s done a lot of other good things,” he said. “And now she’s going to have a little more time to do those things.

Because the need for her to be here will be less.”

Vice presidents have an infamously sparse job description under the Constitution, and one of their only responsibilities is serving as president of the Senate. It’s been a mostly ceremonial role in recent administrations. President Joe Biden didn’t have to break a single tie in his eight years as vice president.

Harris, a former senator from California, has had a much more hands-on experience because the chamber has been evenly divided in an era of sharp partisanship.

A dozen nominees would not have been confirmed without her vote.

She also helped nudge the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief measure, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic agenda, over the finish line.

All told, she’s cast 26 tiebreaking votes. John C. Calhoun, who served as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, has the record for 31—but that’s over the course of nearly eight years, rather than Harris’ two.

“Floating holds” limiting travel were built into Harris’ schedule weeks in advance when there was a chance she would be needed on Capi-

Eagle Watch . . . continued from A8

Muslim, I believe Jesus showed that more than any other prophet of Allah. When we honor hard labor as the bedrock of a nation’s productive endeavors, we elevate those who toil with sweat and tears. We value them.

Four, Jesus shunned conspicuous consumption. He was not anti-rich, but He was against evil, abusive people who just happened to be rich.

What people forget is that he had many supporters who were rich but generous and helpful.

Last, a professor of finance and banker gave us the idea why Jesus is the best economist of all time by introducing the concepts of net present value, rate of return, and intertemporality in the context of savings and investments.

tol Hill, preventing her from straying far from Washington.

When she did travel, she tended to go on Mondays, Thursdays or Fridays because most Senate votes were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And short hops to Baltimore or Richmond were preferable to flights around the country, which would make rushing back for a vote logistically complicated.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, “Any time we were here, she had to be ready, because even things that might have seemed noncontroversial, appointments and stuff, could deadlock.” Harris was “never completely free to make other plans,” he said.

One of the exceptions was the Munich Security Conference in February, which Harris attended shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“As soon as that was booked, the first person I talked to was not my husband about child care coverage, it was the majority leader’s chief of staff,” Lucius said. She had to make sure that Schumer knew he couldn’t schedule any tight votes then, “because that’s not something that you can fly home from.”

Sometimes there’s a scheduling conflict. Harris was in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas when the Senate held a confirmation vote for a Labor Department official.

The nomination unexpectedly stalled without Harris available to break a tie, so Democrats tried again in September. They were successful, and Harris wasn’t even needed as a tiebreaker.

“She’s been here when we need her,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

“We’ve accommodated her when it didn’t work out.”

Murray appreciates Harris’ trips to Capitol Hill for another reason besides tiebreakers. They’re opportunities to chat policy, from school buses to maternal health, with someone who is a heartbeat away from the presidency.

“It’s a connection you don’t often get with a vice president,” she said.

Joel K. Goldstein, a historian of the vice presidency, said Harris’ responsibility can be rewarding and frustrating.

“The upside is, she gets to be there when there’s something that’s important, and she casts a decisive vote,” he said. “The downside is, she has to be there.”

After all, the vice presidency can be a political springboard, and remaining tethered to Senate procedure is not usually an ambitious leader’s idea of a plum assignment.

But the perils of not being available have been apparent before, such as when the Senate was considering President Calvin Coolidge’s nominee for attorney general in 1925. Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Christ offers a good investment plan that transcends material comfort. By simply being good and charitable, especially to those who are in need, we are assured of a place in His Father’s Mansion. The good deeds are the seeds of investment.

Charity can be in the form of onepeso donations, soothing words to those who are suffering, time spent with elderly relatives, kindness to orphans, compassion to animals, and many others. The time covered for investing is finite, but the return on investment is infinite. While life here is temporary, the life hereafter is eternal. The interest on one’s good deeds are compounded infinitely many times.

Merry Christmas to all!

Ms. Priscile Minde Yap-Bahjin is a Muslim raised in Catholic Schools and is a graduate student at the Ateneo De Manila University.

Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

‘W

hat happens in the absence of humans?” “In ‘ghost towns and exclusion zones, in no man’s lands and postindustrial hinterlands’—what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place?”

Those are the major questions asked by the book, Islands of Abandonment, whose subordinate title I turned into this question—Can nature rebound in the post-human landscape?

The author, Cal Flyn, asks us to travel to some of the most desolate places on Earth. She enumerates some of them—a no-man’s land marked by fences, a clearing in the woods, an exclusion zone, and a sea with a deserted shoreline. All these places share one thing in common: they were abandoned by human groups under varying circumstances of war and disaster, the ravages of afflictions, or an economic breakdown.

What happens then?

Flyn presents several cases, beginning from her native Scotland, where she writes of an old way of extracting oil from shale, a kind of sedimentary rock. Before the Middle East assumed dominance in oil production, the site, covered in what is locally termed as “bings,” was closed.

The mining villages were no more.

The reddish rocks were used for construction, even as the link of the place to mining slowly disappeared.

It was in 2004 that one ecologist visited the natural formations in order to survey the flora and fauna there, and discovered instead wildlife. The scientist, Barbra Harvie, gave it the label, “Island Refugia,” little islands of wilderness amidst new physical developments.

What was a wasteland, with reference to T. S. Eliot’s poem, a land “barren beyond description,” Flyn offers us landscape—the bings—of “recuperation and reclamation,” a “self-willed ecosystem” that is “in the process of building new life, of pulling itself bodily from the wreckage.”

The next destination is the Bikini Atoll, a cluster of coral islets with a lagoon so beautiful one wonders why

it was selected in the ’40s and ’50s as a testing site for nuclear weapons by the United States. In 1954, a device was tested, its force said to be seven thousand times more than the bomb used for Hiroshima during the Second World War. The blast was so strong it destroyed the corals, the heat from the device burning everything, with the waters in the lagoon heated one can only imagine what impact it had on the marine life in the perimeter. Writing, Flyn says, “It left a barren underwater wasteland, grossly contaminated and utterly devoid of life.”

In 2008, a group of researchers visited the atoll and saw for themselves a new underwater ecosystem.

Another team in 2017, this time from Stanford University, would inspect the lagoons again, “and found it was even more densely embroidered with life.” Quoting the project leader, Professor Stephen Palumbo, who described the spot as “visually and emotionally stunning,” the book echoes his realization about how the new reef formation had, in a sense, benefited from the “atoll’s traumatic history.” With human communities removed or evacuated from the site, there was minimal intrusion from people, resulting in more abundant life in the sea.

Flyn has a term for what has occurred in these blighted places— self-seeded ecosystems. From the abandoned shale mines of Scotland to the atoll in the middle of the Pacific, we are witnessing “a great deal about the possibilities and process of natural recovery; about nature’s resilience and capacity to recover after what would seem like a death blow.”

What Flyn tells us is a strong hope amidst destruction and banishment wrought upon by humans on the environment. She calls these stories

not of restoration but redemption.

One good thing is how the author has not gone blind about the true impact of man’s unthinking interventions as these sites mentioned may really never return to how they were from the beginning. And yet, she says, these cases offer insights into the “processes of reparation and adaptation.”

From “the Waste Land,” the book propels the reader to “No Man’s Land.” This refers to sites and landmarks produced by territorial disputes and wars, most of the time involving internecine politics, banishing not only livelihoods and lives but also populations and heritage.

It is 1974 and Turkey has invaded Cyprus. After a ceasefire has been agreed upon, a demilitarized zone is created. Vast citrus plantations are overrun; families never regain their foothold on their homes and properties. Something happens though; a green line demarcating the separation of two ethnic groups becomes a place where vegetations grow, from mildew or mold, from the “green of decay,” comes the “verdant palette of new life: leaf green, the green of fresh new shoots.”

There is more to this book. I have

barely scratched the surface of this work, with chapters on “Revelation” and “The Deluge and the Desert” I yet have to dwell into. The metaphors and images of Biblical import are enticing, threatening treatises on our physical world. But the perspectives being offered are fresh rethinking of the future.In place of an introduction, Islands of Abandonment has an “Invocation.” In it, she talks about a “huge, self-directed experiment in rewilding. Because abandonment is rewilding, in a very pure sense, as humans draw back and nature reclaims what was once hers.” One thing more exciting about Flyn’s book is the fact that she finished it amidst the pandemic, a phenomenon shared by practically all humans. Here also, she recalls for us the reports on wild animals roaming the city streets around the world while we were locked in our homes. For the writer, “these were not so much examples of nature’s healing, as nature finding the confidence to make itself seen.”

Islands of Abandonment is published by VIKING, an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Putin says Ukraine fight is taking longer than expected

By E. Eduardo Castillo & Jamey Keaten The Associated Press

K

YIV, Ukraine—Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected but said it has succeeded in seizing new territory and added that his country’s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation of the conflict.

“Of course, it could be a lengthy process,” Putin said of the more than 9-month-old war that began with Russia’s invasion February 24 and has displaced millions from their homes, and killed and wounded tens of thousands. Despite its length, he showed no signs of letting up, vowing to “consistently fight for our interests” and to “protect ourselves using all means available.” He reiterated his claim that he had no choice but to send in troops, saying that for years, the West responded to Russia’s security demands with “only spit in the face.”

Speaking in a televised meeting in Russia with members of his Human Rights Council, Putin described the land gains as “a significant result for Russia,” noting that the Sea of Azov “has become Russia’s internal sea.”

In one of his frequent historic references to a Russian leader he admires, he added that “Peter the Great fought to get access” to that body of water.

After failing to take Kyiv due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, Russia seized broad swaths of southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion and captured the key Sea of Azov port of Mariupol in May after a nearly three-month siege. In September, Pu-

tin illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions even though his forces didn’t completely control them: Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, and Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.

In 2014, he had illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

In response to an increasing influx of advanced Western weapons, economic, political and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and what he saw as Western leaders’ inflammatory statements, Putin has periodically hinted at his potential use of nuclear weapons. When a member of the Human Rights Council asked him Wednesday to pledge that Russia would not be the first to use such weapons, Putin demurred. He said Russia would not be able to use nuclear weapons at all if it agreed not to use them first and then came under a nuclear strike.

“If it doesn’t use it first under any circumstances, it means that it won’t be the second to use it either, because the possibility of using it in case of a nuclear strike on our territory will be sharply limited,” he said.

Putin rejected Western criticism that his previous nuclear weapons comments amounted to saber-rattling, claiming they were “not a factor

After failing to take Kyiv due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, Russia seized broad swaths of southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion and captured the key Sea of Azov port of Mariupol in May after a nearly three-month siege.

provoking an escalation of conflicts, but a factor of deterrence.”

“We haven’t gone mad. We are fully aware of what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said. He added, without elaborating: “We have them, and they are more advanced and state-ofthe-art than what any other nuclear power has.”

In his televised remarks, the Russian leader didn’t address Russia’s battlefield setbacks or its attempts to cement control over the seized regions but acknowledged problems with supplies, treatment of wounded soldiers and limited desertions.

Russian troops have withdrawn not only from the Kyiv area and around the country’s largest city, Kharkiv, but also from a large part of the Kherson region. Another problem for Putin are attacks this week against air force bases deep inside Russia. He put much of the country, especially border areas, on security alert recently, and fresh signs emerged Wednesday that Russian officials are strengthening border defensive positions.

In the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the governor posted photos of new concrete anti-tank barriers— known as “dragon’s teeth”— in open fields. On Tuesday, the governor had

said a fire broke out at an airport in the region after a drone strike. In neighboring Belgorod, workers were expanding anti-tank barriers and officials were organizing “self-defense units.” Belgorod has seen numerous fires and explosions, apparently from cross-border attacks, and its governor reported Wednesday that Russia’s air defenses have shot down incoming rockets.

In brazen drone attacks, two strategic Russian air bases more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the Ukraine border were struck Monday.

Moscow blamed Ukraine, which didn’t claim responsibility.

Moscow responded with strikes by artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles, tanks and mortars at residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, worsening damage to the power grid. Private Ukrainian power utility Ukrenergo said temperatures in eastern areas where it was making repairs had dropped to as low as minus 17 degrees Celsius (near zero Fahrenheit).

At his meeting, Putin discussed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists that he ordered in September to bolster forces in Ukraine. He said only about 150,000 have been deployed so far to combat zones and the rest are still undergoing training. Addressing speculation that the Kremlin could be preparing another mobilization, Putin said: “There is no need for the Defense Ministry and the country to do that.” Yuras Karmanau

in Tallinn, Estonia, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Joanna Kozlowska in London and Andrew Katell in New York contributed.

A10 Friday, December 9, 2022

MARCOS: STRONG JOBS DATA MEANS WE WON’T FALL INTO RECESSION

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

P

RESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. said he is confident the country’s latest strong labor performance will shield it from a potential recession.

In a video message, Marcos lauded preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which showed the unemployment rate falling back to prepandemic levels at 4.5 percent in Oct. from 5.2 percent last July despite high inflation rate.

Inflation rose to 8 percent in November.

“That is why I am confident the Philippines will not go in recession because [of] the unemployment rate and if you recall during the start of the administration, we talked about prioritizing employment. So now you are seeing what is happening. Let us just keep at it,” Marcos said in Filipino.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier said the expected 2023 global recession next year will affect the country.

However, it noted the country could protect itself against recession through strong domestic consumption.

Marcos assured the people the government is currently implementing measures to allow Filipinos to cope with the rising cost of living.

“You can expect we will do everything we can to bring down inf lation rate and to slow down the rise in prices [of basic goods and services],” the President said in Filipino.

‘Employment, manufacturing data point to sustained growth’

T

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE country is on track to sustain its growth in the fourth quarter following positive developments in its unemployment status and manufacturing output, the finance chief said on Thursday.

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the country’s recent economic numbers “all point to a sustained, strong fourth quarter economic performance.”

Diokno noted that the domestic jobs market continues to improve as the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 17 years while both manufacturing production and capacity utilization rose.

He added that the Philippine peso has stabilized against the US dollar and has regained footing to grow stronger at the same time as world prices are falling to

levels approximating the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “ Wit h st rong [fou r t h qu a r ter] growth the implication is that with the peso stabilizing and oil prices falling, inflation, which is the top concern of the present administration, will soon fall,” Diokno said in a statement on Thursday.

The national government is eyeing to grow the country’s economy by 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year.

Earlier, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the country only needs to grow by at least

DIOKNO 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter to meet the full-year growth target following the surprising 7.6 percent economic expansion in the third quarter.

Diokno noted that the current unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent while underemployment slid to 14.2 percent in October.

“The average number of hours worked increased too in October compared to September this year,” he said.

“The related employment numbers are equally encouraging,” he added.

Meanwhile, Diokno pointed out that

domestic manufacturing, based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries, posted a fifth consecutive month of growth, increasing by 5.1 percent in October.

“This year the country recorded contractions in April and May. But since June the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) has been growing,” he said.

“The manufacturing sector posted its highest average capacity utilization rate for the year at 72.4 percent in October 2022. The manufacturing sector is recovering well,” he added.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) earlier maintained its GDP growth target for this year at 6.5 to 7.5 percent. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/12/06/ global-risks-cut-phl-growth-goalfor-2023/) However, the DBCC revised downward its GDP growth target for 2023 to 6 to 7 percent from 6.5 to 8 percent on the back of global headwinds.

“This momentum is expected to slightly decelerate in 2023 and range from 6.0 to 7.0 percent, considering external headwinds such as the slowdown in major advanced economies,” Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said at the DBCC press conference on Monday.

DICT’s Uy tops Cabinet trust ratings

A

Y E A R E N D n at io nw i d e survey conducted by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation, Inc. (RPMD) showed newly confirmed Department of Information and Communications (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy with the highest trust rating (89 percent of respondents) among Philippine Cabinet members; and second highest approval rating (74 percent).

Uy, whose ad interim appointment was approved by the Commission on Appointments this week, has an extensive career in the ICT industry and public service. He specializes in information technology and its impact on law, justice and governmental institutions, according to a post

by DICT officials.

Uy previously chaired the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the predecessor of the Department of Information and Communications Technology He also led the team drawing up the Philippine Digital Strategy; and once served as Chief Information Technology Officer of the Judiciary.

He was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow under the Fulbright Program in University of Minnesota and a graduate of the College of Law, University of the Philippines.

In the same nationwide survey conducted by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation, Inc. (RPMD), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte received high marks for approval and trust.

T he R PMD’s “Boses ng Baya n” su r ve y, conduc te d f rom November 27 to December 2, had 83 percent of respondents satisfied w ith President Marcos’s job per for mance; and 81 p e rc e nt a p p ro v i n g t he p e r for m a nc e of V ic e P re s id e nt Duter te, who a l so ser ves a s Educ at ion Sec ret a r y. M ajor it y of respondents a lso gave the top t wo officia ls high tr ust ratings: 87 percent of respondents ex pressing tr ust

DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy is seen with DICT Undersecretary Jocelle Batapa-Sigue at the recent ITU Plenipotentiary 2022 in Bucharest, Romania where the Philippines won a seat in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council from 2023 to 2026. PHOTO FROM USEC BATAPA-SIGUE FB POST in Duter te and 87 percent in Marcos.

Abalos tops approval ratings

ACCORDING to Dr. Paul Martinez, Executive Director of RPMD, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. ranked first with the highest approval of 78 percent and 83 percent trust rating among Cabinet secretaries, followed by DICT’s Uy; Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman with 73 percent approval and 67 percent trust rating; Secretary Susan Ople of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) with 71 percent approval and 68 percent trust rating, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco with 70 percent approval and 65 percent trust.

Secretary Enrique Manalo of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) ranks sixth with 67 percent approval and 63 percent trust rating. Pursued by Secretary Erwin Tulfo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with 65 percent approval and 70 percent trust rating. Secretar y Jaime Bautista of the Department of

Transportation (DOTr) ranked 8th with 63 percent approval and a 60 percent trust rating.

Secretary Alfredo Pascual of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the 9th position with 61 percent approval and a 58 percent trust rating. On the last place, 10th status, is former Justice Secretary, now Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, with 58 percent approval and 65 percent trust rating.

RPMD sur vey also covered trust and performance ratings of other top government officials; Senate President Migz Zubiri got a 56 percent approval and 59 percent trust rating. House Speaker Martin Romualdez gathered 53 percent approval and a 55 percent trust rating. Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo got a low awareness score of 68 percent and a low approval score of 32 percent.

The RPMD “Boses ng Bayan” nationwide survey, which has a margin of error of +/- one percent, was non-commission and conducted independently using face-to-face interviews of 5,000 adults as respondents.

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Friday, December 9, 2022

Globe warns of new text scam

G

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

lobe Telecom Inc. warned consumers on Thursday about a new text scam that takes advantage of the new SIM Registration Law. Globe Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio said unscrupulous groups and individuals are scamming subscribers by sending them text messages that claim that their SIM cards have been deactivated.

The scam aims to gather personal information and even money, accord-

ing to Bonifacio.

“We have received reports that there are groups and individuals taking advantage of the new law by sending misleading text messages to unsuspecting mobile phone users. We would like to remind our customers to ignore these messages and report them to our Stop Spam

website,” he said.

Signed into law in October, Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act aims to provide accountability for those using SIM cards and aid law enforcement in tracking perpetrators of crimes committed through mobile phones.

The move is expected to boost government initiatives against fraud perpetrated through text and online messages, which have become more prevalent in recent years.

Under the law, users can only activate their new SIMs by registering with their provider. Existing subscribers, meanwhile, must register within 180 days from the start of the law’s implementation or risk having their SIM deactivated.

It has yet to take full effect, pending its rules and regulations.

Latest data show that Globe blocked more than 32.2 million scam and spam text messages in just two weeks after implementing measures to block uniform resource locators in person-to-person text messages.

From September 28 to October 13 this year, it blocked about 2.4 million SMS with clickable links daily. From January to September 2022, meanwhile, it blocked 1.3 billion spam and scam messages, already exceeding the 2021 full year total of 1.1 billion.

Globe has spent P1.1 billion on a system that detects and blocks spam and scam SMS to date.

Synergy Grid declares cash dividend for Q4

S

ynergy Grid and Development Philippines Inc. (SGP), the indirect controlling shareholder of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), has declared a quarterly cash dividend of P0.26 per share totaling P1,369,125,160.

The cash dividend for the fourth quarter is the same amount declared for the previous two quarters.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, SGP said the board approved the declaration of cash dividends from the company’s unrestricted retained earnings in view of the dividends received from NGCP, Pacifica21 Holdings Inc. and OneTaipan Holdings Inc. The cash dividends will be payable on January 13, 2023 to stockholders

of record as of December 22.

SGP conducted its follow-on offering in November last year in compliance with NGCP’s franchise undertakings.

NGCP is SGP’s sole operating asset.

It holds the sole and exclusive concession and franchise for operating the Philippines’ transmission network, linking power generators and distri-

bution utilities to deliver electricity to power distributors and cooperatives nationwide.

In the next 13 years, the grid operator is committed to invest approximately P440 billion across 211 projects which are aimed to support the growing electricity demand in the country and to make the country’s power backbone continuously reliable. Lenie Lectura

B1

Consunji: NPC owes DMCI Power ₧1.3B

D

MCI Power Corp. (DPC) officials said state firm National Power Corp. (NPC) has yet to pay the company P1.3 billion worth of fuel that was used by power plants under the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) in off-grid areas.

“We were not paid. The overdue amount is P1.3 billion. It’s already overdue for four and half months,” Isidro Consunji, chairman of DMCI Holdings Inc., told reporters in a recent interview.

DPC, the power arm of DMCI Holdings, has a consolidated installed capacity of 148MW located across Masbate, Palawan and Oriental Mindoro. Its energy portfolio includes diesel, bunker and thermal.

It was established in 2006 to energize the small and remote islands in the country that are not connected to the main power grid. It is currently the biggest off-grid power provider in the Philippines.

NPC also owes Petron Corp. P1.2 billion for diesel, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla earlier said.

“Universal charge for missionary electrification cannot sustain it even with a P0.20 increase,” Lotilla had commented.

Consunji said the issue is “very political” but he commended Lotilla for doing something about it.

“(Lotilla) said he got approval for NPC to borrow money. But, I think, more than borrowing the money you have to approve the universal charge because it really is not enough. Fuel prices have gone up three times already and if you increase the rates by 25 to 30 centavos there will be complaints. In fairness to (Lotilla), he did something. But, I think, ERC must also do something.”

NPC earlier warned of power outages in the missionary areas covered

by SPUG that could be brought about by the possible shutdown of diesel plants and the state firm’s inability to pay fuel suppliers.

The state firm said the recommended budget of the Department of Budget and Management for next year was cut by 30 percent to P32.21 billion.

NPC officials earlier told lawmakers during a Senate hearing that the budget reduction will result in the possible shutdown of 278 existing plants by the end of July 2023, of which 200 are in Luzon, 54 in Visayas and 27 in Mindanao.

NPC said its approved fuel budget of P6.385 billion for SPUG missionary areas was based on a price assumption of P37.99 per liter for diesel. However, diesel prices shot up to as high as P79.66 per liter after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Lenie Lectura

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, December 9, 2022

SEC revokes corporate registration of 2 entities

T

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has canceled the corporate registrations of Koen Solutions OPC and Phil Maritime and Ocean Institute of Technology Inc., for illegally soliciting investments from the public.

In an order dated November 28, the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) revoked the registration of Koen Solutions as a one-person corporation for violation of the Securities Regulation Code.

The EIPD noted that only securities that have been registered with the SEC through a filing of a registration statement and its subsequent approval may be offered or sold within the Philippines.

Investigations by the EIPD showed that Koen Solutions has been inviting the public to invest in its app for a guaranteed daily income of 2.5 percent to 3 percent or monthly income of 75 percenr to 90 percent,

depending on the “financial trading robots” that they choose to invest in.

The robots supposedly search for and trade cryptocurrencies that could bring stable profits to investors.

The SEC has issued an advisory against Koen Solutions as early as September 9 directing the group to stop soliciting investments from the public until it has secured the necessary license to do so.

The group continued to sell and offer investments to the public, claiming on social media that it has submitted the necessary documents for the application of a secondary license to the SEC. “Considering that nowhere is it stated in its primary purpose that

Koen Solutions OPC is authorized the engaged in the selling or offering for sale of securities to the public, the activity of Koen Solutions OPC, of selling, or offering for sale of investments is considered an ultra vires act, and therefore, constitutes serious misrepresentation,” the order read.

“These false representations of lucrative return of investment within a short period of time effectively lure the public to invest their hardearned money to their company,” the order said.

The EIPD noted that the investment scheme appears to have the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme, which is defined as an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by the new investors.

In a separate order dated November 28, the EIPD also revoked the certificate of incorporation of Phil Maritime Ocean Institute of Technology (PMOIT).

Phil Maritime was found to be inviting the public to invest at least P350,000, in exchange for a 40-percent share in the school’s annual income potentially amounting to P206,000, or a quarterly income of at least P51,000. The school also promised a return on investment within

a period of two years.

Profits will supposedly come from the school’s revenues, earnings from its training center, dormitory revenues and earnings from the school’s commercial center.

“It would appear that the promised profits and returns would be derived from the investments of [PMOIT]’s new member/investors. Necessarily, this scheme is unsustainable, as it must rely on a continuous inflow of new investors in order to make payouts to earlier investors, all the more made glaring considering that it has no actual operations yet to speak of,” the SEC said.

The SEC has likewise issued an advisory against PMOIT on September 13, advising the public to exercise caution when dealing with the group.

The investment schemes of PMOIT and Koen Solutions involve the sale and offer of securities to the public in the form of investment contracts, whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits primarily from the efforts of others.

The certificates of incorporation of Koen Solutions and Phil Maritime have been revoked, with such status caused to be reflected on the online database of the SEC.

‘PHL must put up battery stations for e-bikes’

T

he chief of the Yamaha Motor Philippines Inc. (YMPH) said the Philippines needs to build the battery stations required by electric bikes before considering its importation.

YMPH President Hiroshi Koike said policymakers would also have to think about the disposal of batteries used for e-bikes.

“We need to think a lot before bringing these (e-bikes) in; we need to think about how to have battery stations,” YMPH President Hiroshi Koike told reporters on Monday.

“As a manufacturer, we (also) need to think about how to collect the battery because when we talk about saving the environment, which is supposed to be the objective of EVs [electric vehicles], there is no point if people start throwing out the batteries everywhere. It’s not good for the environment.”

Koike noted that Yamaha already manufactures e-bikes in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the YMPH executive said rolling out EVs is only “one of the options” in reducing carbon emissions. He said the company is also looking at hydrogen engines and biofuel.

“There are different options and I think we should be open-minded and think what is best for society and customers as well.”

As for the zero tariffs on electric vehicles (EV), Koike said this may not be enough to spur the growth of the EV industry.

“It (zero tariffs) is better than

nothing. But I don’t think it is enough. Simply speaking, if we were to come up with an e-bike that has a similar performance as the current internal combustion engine, the price would be double. A few percent would not offset those.”

Koike said the country also has to invest in infrastructure. As to how it should be done, he said, “We cannot do this alone. There are so many obstacles that need to be hurdled, tasks that need to be done. Everybody is working together to think about how to do this.”

He said rolling out the EV development plan cannot happen “overnight.” He said Manila can consider pattering its EV plan after Europe’s, to learn from what it has done and avoid making the same mistakes that it committed.

Two weeks ago, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan announced the Neda Board had endorsed a new Executive Order (EO) to Marcos to implement the tarifffree policy for EVs. The zero-tariff policy will cover EVs such as passenger cars, buses, mini buses, vans, trucks, motorcycles, tricycles, scooters and bicycles among others.

“The EO will temporarily reduce the most-favored nation (MFN) tariff rates to zero percent for 5 years and completely built-up or CBU units of certain EVs, except for hybrid-type EVs,” Balisacan said.

The pending measure will exclude hybrid vehicles, which makes use of an electric motor and a traditional combustion engine. Andrea E. San Juan

MUTUAL FUNDS

December 7, 2022

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 211.46 -7.23% -5.6% -5.42% -9.28% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.3235 -20.42% -2.07% -3.31% -20.47% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.9713 -6.45% -7.16% -7.49% -8.23% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6918 -8.21% -8.5% -7.23% -8.55% First Metro Consumer Fund, Inc -a,4 0.6554 -15.83% -8.34% n.a.

-14.98% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.7163 -7.36% -3.86% -4.07% -9% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,3 0.7135 -6.51% -5.75% n.a.

-8.91% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 73.35 -23.48% -11.55% n.a.

-22.32% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 43.9486 -6.15% -4.94% -3.92% -8.68% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 450.95 -7.89% -5.39% -4.31% -9.93% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.2036 -7.83% -2.22% -2.24% -11.26% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 33.8638 -5.07% -3.67% -2.98% -7.46% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.864 -5.88% -5.28% n.a.

-8.22% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.5723 -5.26% -4.26% -3.24% -7.83% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 761.36 -5.52% -4.32% -3.26% -8.1% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6815 -7.99% -7.47% -5.95% -9.45% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.4232 -6.94% -6.66% -4.81% -9.33% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8664 -5.7% -4.61% -3.58% -8.27% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.1818 -5.72% -4.56% -3.05% -7.43% Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) COL Equity Index Unitized Mutual Fund, Inc. -a,5 1.0739 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a 1.0589 -7.9% n.a. n.a.

-8.93% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp.

-a 925.08 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Exchange Traded Fund (shares) First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 102.7764 -5.18% -4.11% -3% -7.8% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.8691 -22.42% -3.72% -4.32% -22.85% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.4762 -17.61% 3.32% 3.56% -20.05% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4623 -12.3% -2.17% -4.07% -13.58% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0696 -7.83% -2.04% -2.85% -9.29% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.53 -5.02% -1.16% -1.33% -5.98% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.1935 -5.75% -5.43% n.a.

-7.42% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9367 -2.55% -0.36% 0.09% -3.97% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.4757 -6.32% -2.74% -1.74% -7.69% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.2795 -8% -3.31% -2.15% -9.3% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0067 -4.1% -1.91% -1.67% -5.41% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3548 -6.46% -4.5% -2.86% -8.01% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8867 -4.96% -3.05% -2.16% -7.07% Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a 0.9161 -6.63% -3.23% n.a.

-7.45% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a 0.8426 -8.9% -5.29% n.a.

-10.79% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a 0.8306 -9.11% -5.66% n.a.

-11.06% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03256 -13.89% -5.15% -2.07% -14.18% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $0.9118 -13.21% -2.74% -2.51% -14.55% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.9568 -15.91% 1.08% 1.92% -17.6% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,2 $0.9921 -16.48% -2.71% -0.95% -17.23% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 376.78 0.83% 1.84% 2.28% 0.66% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.8739 -2.72% -0.43% -0.17% -0.57% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2283 -0.44% 1.26% 2.83% -0.48% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.167 -3.53% -0.73% 0.58% -3.75% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3912 -1.22% 0.6% 1.56% -1.43% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.165 -5% -1.38% 0.58% -5.25% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.3207 0.34% 1.82% 2.68% 0.12% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.8447 -2.84% 0.66% 1.96% -3.05% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0185 -0.74% 2.14% 2.02% -0.94% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1471 -0.86% 1.08% 2.51% -1.26% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6943 -1.59% 0.18% 1.79% -2.1% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $479.37 -1.92% 0.87% 1.47% -2.08% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є209.95 -4.39% -1.49% -0.37% -4.57% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.0089 -16.11% -5.75% -2.32% -16.2% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0238 -8.46% -2.65% -0.98% -8.46% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $0.8691 -14.64% -7.42% -4.22% -15.03% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.1794 -12.8% -3.09% -0.63% -13.02% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0597928 -4.09% -0.26% 0.81% -4.01% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.7601 -13.27% -4.47% -1.75% -13.64% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 133.08 1.53% 1.97% 2.52% 1.44% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0717 1.38% 1.35% n.a.

1.32% Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.336 1.64% 1.92% 2.42% 1.55% Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 100.23 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0687 0.81% 1.04% 1.36% 0.76% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a 43.886 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a 1.2813 -3.14% n.a. n.a.

-7.35% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a $0.8077 -15.86% -6.24% n.a.

-16.73% 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 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last July 8, 2021 (formerly, Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc.).

2 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last November 25, 2021.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

December 7, 2022

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

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

8,300 459,022,245 821 140,330,899.50 1,547,610 2,947,645 108,316,668.50 483,440 976,828 101,754 2,218,145 56,120,589.50 10,900,594.50 428,180 202,340 14,240 20,800 18,400 215,346 25,000

92,881,975 -63,914,883 549,640 -31,635 30,909,874.50 -478,424 80 11,050 -161,840 -3,211,477 8,839,261.50 1,600 18,400 25,000

INDUSTRIAL ACEN CORP 7.45 7.47 7.59 7.59 7.26 7.45 21,151,800 157,613,153 34.2 34.25 34.6 34.6 34.05 34.2 143,000 4,887,835 ABOITIZ POWER 1.72 1.76 1.79 1.81 1.72 1.72 1,606,000 2,791,410 RASLAG 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.29 0.295 2,410,000 718,000 BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN 16.86 17 17.1 17.1 16.8 16.86 384,900 6,506,214 FIRST PHIL HLDG 60.7 61.9 60.8 62 60.65 61.9 7,780 477,504 MERALCO 282.2 286.8 287 288.4 282.2 282.2 351,870 100,300,570 19.44 19.46 19.5 19.8 19.42 19.44 331,500 6,460,974 MANILA WATER 2.31 2.32 2.32 2.34 2.31 2.31 485,000 1,123,720 PETRON 4.7 4.8 4.78 4.8 4.78 4.8 8,000 38,300 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 8.21 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.68 5,000 43,400 11.84 11.88 11.7 11.9 11.68 11.84 294,200 3,458,846 SYNERGY GRID PILIPINAS SHELL 16.92 17 17.36 17.36 16.86 17 317,600 5,390,636 9.9 10 10.04 10.04 9.85 10 21,000 209,600 SPC POWER 1.29 1.3 1.28 1.3 1.28 1.3 7,289,000 9,408,000 SP NEW ENERGY 8.03 8.04 7.98 8.08 7.97 8.04 7,938,100 63,621,823 AGRINURTURE AXELUM 2.52 2.55 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52 236,000 594,720 CNTRL AZUCARERA 8.92 10.58 8.89 8.89 8.89 8.89 1,000 8,890 24.85 24.9 24.15 25 24.15 24.9 848,000 20,958,650 CENTURY FOOD 13.16 13.4 13.3 13.4 12.92 13.16 17,100 225,098 DEL MONTE 7.68 7.69 7.6 7.7 7.56 7.69 475,700 3,626,056 DNL INDUS 20.1 20.2 20.15 20.25 20 20.2 3,804,300 76,668,145 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 38.6 38.85 39 39.9 38.45 38.6 91,000 3,533,545 FIGARO COFFEE 0.59 0.6 0.58 0.6 0.58 0.6 892,000 528,080 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.53 3,000 1,570 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.99 1.01 0.99 1.02 0.99 1.02 1,250,000 1,261,410 FRUITAS HLDG 106.6 107 106.6 106.6 105.5 106.6 12,880 1,372,942 GINEBRA 237 241.8 246.4 246.4 236.6 237 860,660 206,075,944 JOLLIBEE KEEPERS HLDG 1.22 1.23 1.22 1.24 1.22 1.23 364,000 446,710 MAXS GROUP 5.1 5.12 5.14 5.14 5 5.12 49,700 249,296 0.114 0.12 0.114 0.114 0.114 0.114 160,000 18,240 MG HLDG 11.38 11.46 11.64 11.64 11.38 11.38 7,845,200 89,944,968 MONDE NISSIN 7.5 7.74 7.75 7.75 7.75 7.75 1,300 10,075 SHAKEYS PIZZA 0.465 0.485 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.465 170,000 79,050 ROXAS AND CO 3.66 3.74 3.74 3.74 3.65 3.65 44,000 161,960 RFM CORP SWIFT FOODS 0.078 0.081 0.08 0.08 0.079 0.079 560,000 44,250 134.4 134.8 137.9 138.7 134.4 134.4 3,481,210 475,363,127 UNIV ROBINA VITARICH 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.59 0.57 0.58 112,000 64,360 2.7 2.79 2.79 2.79 2.79 2.79 6,000 16,740 VICTORIAS 32.3 49.8 40 40 40 40 100 4,000 CONCRETE B 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.63 610,000 386,280 CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT 18.42 18.98 18.4 18.42 18.4 18.42 800 14,724 2.95 2.96 2.94 2.98 2.94 2.96 1,227,000 3,631,220 EEI CORP 4.03 4.1 4.1 4.11 4.1 4.1 98,000 401,900 HOLCIM 3.18 3.23 3.17 3.25 3.17 3.23 1,324,000 4,233,510 MEGAWIDE 18.6 19.18 19.1 19.1 19.1 19.1 1,500 28,650 PHINMA 0.55 0.58 0.54 0.54 0.54 0.54 62,000 33,480 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 0.8 0.82 0.8 0.83 0.8 0.82 397,000 324,690 1.45 1.48 1.47 1.48 1.45 1.48 55,000 81,190 CROWN ASIA 5.07 5.5 5.54 5.54 5.4 5.4 2,300 12,448 PRYCE CORP 1.54 1.56 1.55 1.56 1.54 1.56 341,000 528,770 GREENERGY 4.85 4.89 4.86 4.9 4.84 4.85 110,000 535,700 INTEGRATED MICR 0.57 0.6 0.52 0.61 0.52 0.6 2,137,000 1,215,780 IONICS PANASONIC 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 1,500 8,100 1.46 1.49 1.45 1.5 1.45 1.46 245,000 364,520 SFA SEMICON 2.62 2.63 2.69 2.69 2.63 2.63 1,191,000 3,147,310 CIRTEK HLDG

-26,883,463 463,250.00 1,720 20,650 -145,524 97,424 -49,817,320 360,150 -713,060 -575,026 2,045,702 -20,080 72,840 48,359,222 25,200 8,521,520 249,770 16,755,405 -1,502,555 -530 1,325,038 10,993,960 200,700 -39,815,060 -2,325 -52,360 8,209,553 -9,600 -3,469,480 26,580 -50,200 -11,000 -445,340

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ATN HLDG A COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES

40 128.9 8.2 99 27.75 6.9 55 8.36 19.26 55.5 23.8 90 80 1.4 3.19 0.79 0.159 920 155.9 2,500

2.04 695.5 53.8 9.95 8.82 0.355 4.07 9.93 443 46.15 2.93 8.9 3.48 1.85 2.2 0.88 910 93 1.75

41.5 129 8.28 100 27.9 6.91 55.45 8.58 19.3 57.85 24.15 90.5 81 1.44 3.3 0.88 0.16 950 158.9 2,548

2.05 700 54.95 10 8.88 0.36 4.08 9.95 446.8 46.9 2.95 8.91 3.5 1.92 2.25 0.89 917 94 1.97

41.5 131 8.21 100.2 27.7 6.7 55.6 8.34 19.4 55.35 23.75 91.2 79.5 1.41 3.4 0.89 0.16 920 159 2,500

2.05 705 55.15 9.99 8.89 0.355 4.07 9.97 450 46 2.93 8.93 3.52 1.83 2.28 0.88 940 95.3 1.79

41.5 133.4 8.21 102.4 27.95 6.91 55.85 8.36 19.6 55.35 24.1 91.8 80 1.41 3.4 0.89 0.16 920 160 2,500

2.08 712 55.4 10.08 8.89 0.355 4.07 10 450 47.6 2.93 8.97 3.53 1.83 2.28 0.9 940 95.3 1.79

41.5 128.6 8.21 99 27.7 6.7 54.9 8.34 19.26 55.25 23.75 89.5 78.1 1.39 3.2 0.89 0.16 920 155.9 2,500

2.04 691.5 53.8 9.9 8.87 0.355 4.01 9.88 440 45.8 2.93 8.87 3.46 1.83 2.16 0.88 910 93 1.75

41.5 129 8.21 99 27.9 6.9 55 8.36 19.3 55.35 24.1 90 80 1.4 3.3 0.89 0.16 920 155.9 2,500

2.05 695.5 53.8 10 8.87 0.355 4.07 9.93 443 46.15 2.93 8.9 3.48 1.83 2.25 0.88 910 93 1.75

200 3,524,690 100 1,409,690 55,600 431,400 1,960,720 57,900 50,600 1,840 93,300 621,600 136,450 306,000 63,000 16,000 130,000 20 1,350 10

17,045,000 362,460 1,049,100 2,747,800 54,600 340,000 187,000 2,291,400 399,770 2,883,700 15,000 2,007,700 32,432,000 5,000 238,000 159,000 223,250 195,000 49,000

34,990,320 254,415,715 56,894,069 27,560,519 484,976 120,700 760,630 22,761,631 177,055,528 134,383,545 43,950 17,869,601 113,304,030 9,150 528,450 141,320 205,189,465 18,284,224 87,160

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.5 0.54 0.53 0.54 0.53 0.54 36,000 19,090 5.11 5.8 5.11 5.11 5.1 5.1 10,100 51,520 ANCHOR LAND 29.8 29.9 29.3 29.9 28.9 29.9 10,944,600 322,373,360 AYALA LAND 3.07 3.13 3.15 3.15 3.06 3.07 1,363,000 4,225,540 AYALA LAND LOG ARANETA PROP 1.18 1.19 1.18 1.27 1.16 1.19 1,873,000 2,270,730 35 35.2 35.2 35.4 34.7 35 556,400 19,511,105 AREIT RT CITYLAND DEVT 0.66 0.68 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 75,000 49,500 0.076 0.079 0.076 0.076 0.076 0.076 1,000,000 76,000 CROWN EQUITIES 2.59 2.7 2.64 2.7 2.57 2.7 633,000 1,680,960 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.345 0.355 0.34 0.355 0.34 0.355 4,170,000 1,448,150 CENTURY PROP CITICORE RT 2.27 2.29 2.28 2.3 2.26 2.27 804,000 1,833,780 DOUBLEDRAGON 6.61 6.62 6.82 6.82 6.6 6.61 547,600 3,670,843 DDMP RT 1.28 1.3 1.28 1.3 1.28 1.3 2,038,000 2,626,310 6.69 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.66 6.7 398,600 2,670,441 DM WENCESLAO 0.248 0.255 0.249 0.255 0.248 0.255 30,060,000 7,490,680 EVER GOTESCO 5.67 5.7 5.75 5.75 5.48 5.7 382,500 2,149,044 FILINVEST RT FILINVEST LAND 0.87 0.89 0.89 0.89 0.87 0.87 124,000 109,070 PHIL INFRADEV 0.92 0.93 0.9 0.93 0.89 0.92 126,000 114,080 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.81 0.81 66,000 53,520 CITY AND LAND 2.24 2.25 2.28 2.28 2.23 2.24 6,400,000 14,390,730 MEGAWORLD 0.194 0.195 0.18 0.195 0.18 0.194 15,320,000 2,929,450 MRC ALLIED 12.1 12.26 12.26 12.3 12.1 12.26 1,192,100 14,523,356 MREIT RT PHIL ESTATES 0.405 0.415 0.4 0.415 0.4 0.415 110,000 45,400 2.11 2.29 2.3 2.3 2.1 2.29 19,000 41,400 PRIMEX CORP 5.78 5.84 5.85 5.85 5.69 5.84 1,395,600 8,055,754 RL COMM RT 16.16 16.18 16.12 16.36 16.12 16.18 1,578,700 25,585,264 ROBINSONS LAND 1.33 1.39 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.33 91,000 121,030 ROCKWELL 2.49 2.55 2.58 2.59 2.55 2.55 20,000 51,460 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 3.08 3.09 3.11 3.11 3.08 3.09 40,000 123,760 35 36.4 34 36.4 34 36.4 4,075,100 145,588,615 SM PRIME HLDG VISTA LAND 1.5 1.51 1.5 1.51 1.47 1.5 2,195,000 3,278,920 VISTAREIT RT 1.58 1.59 1.56 1.61 1.56 1.59 226,000 360,560

SERVICES ABS CBN 7.45 7.47 7.45 7.5 7.45 7.45 34,900 260,996 10.84 10.86 10.8 10.88 10.8 10.86 160,100 1,735,524 GMA NETWORK 2,182 2,210 2,200 2,270 2,182 2,182 125,105 276,601,520 GLOBE TELECOM 1,700 1,705 1,665 1,748 1,631 1,700 188,025 321,621,155 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.026 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.026 0.027 18,000,000 474,500 15.94 16 15.98 16.22 15.64 16 12,128,200 193,832,332 CONVERGE DFNN INC 3.5 3.59 3.59 3.59 3.5 3.5 34,000 120,440 2.99 3 3.04 3.04 2.97 2.99 1,614,000 4,827,780 DITO CME HLDG 1.54 1.55 1.63 1.7 1.55 1.55 27,264,000 44,508,320 NOW CORP 0.226 0.227 0.23 0.23 0.226 0.226 960,000 217,830 TRANSPACIFIC BR 2GO GROUP 6.7 7.23 6.72 7.23 6.7 6.7 52,300 351,191 14.1 14.4 14.2 14.4 14.1 14.1 13,600 192,790 ASIAN TERMINALS 1.15 1.22 1.2 1.22 1.15 1.22 468,000 549,400 CHELSEA 38.4 38.6 38.4 38.95 37.55 38.6 227,900 8,729,135 CEBU AIR 189.8 190 193.8 196.1 189.1 190 2,870,470 552,415,118 INTL CONTAINER 16.6 18.98 16.6 16.6 16.6 16.6 500 8,300 LBC EXPRESS MACROASIA 5.07 5.08 5.12 5.12 5.07 5.07 260,200 1,323,533 METROALLIANCE A 0.71 0.77 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 5,000 3,500 5.75 5.9 5.75 5.9 5.75 5.9 4,600 26,480 PAL HLDG 1.4 1.45 1.58 1.58 1.58 1.58 1,000 1,580 ACESITE HOTEL 6.5 6.54 6.54 6.54 6.54 6.54 200 1,308 CENTRO ESCOLAR 0.32 0.325 0.325 0.325 0.32 0.32 2,340,000 750,500 STI HLDG BELLE CORP 1.22 1.24 1.23 1.24 1.23 1.24 78,000 95,970 BLOOMBERRY 7.2 7.21 7.15 7.3 7.12 7.2 3,382,500 24,433,966 LEISURE AND RES 2.79 2.82 2.66 2.88 2.66 2.82 4,504,000 12,370,850 0.8 0.81 0.82 0.82 0.8 0.81 384,000 309,260 PH RESORTS GRP 0.455 0.46 0.455 0.46 0.455 0.455 620,000 282,750 PREMIUM LEISURE 2.81 2.84 2.88 2.93 2.8 2.84 2,342,000 6,626,100 PHILWEB ALLDAY 0.245 0.246 0.247 0.247 0.244 0.245 1,980,000 485,440 ALLHOME 1.67 1.68 1.66 1.69 1.64 1.68 17,258,000 28,909,960 METRO RETAIL 1.38 1.39 1.39 1.39 1.38 1.38 55,000 76,400 32.15 32.2 32.7 32.7 32 32.2 409,200 13,220,115 PUREGOLD 57 58 57.4 58.75 57 57 222,880 12,859,430.50 ROBINSONS RTL 70 72.95 69.1 70 68.5 70 610 42,495 PHIL SEVEN CORP 1.62 1.63 1.63 1.64 1.6 1.63 4,883,000 7,977,000 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 30.9 31.25 31.25 31.3 30.6 30.9 180,300 5,581,515 APC GROUP 0.202 0.203 0.193 0.202 0.193 0.202 320,000 63,800 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.8 0.76 0.79 596,000 467,900 MEDILINES 0.31 0.32 0.31 0.325 0.305 0.31 1,760,000 545,800 PRMIERE HORIZON 3.51 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 5,000 18,500 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL ATOK 7.35 7.54 7.5 7.54 7.23 7.54 103,800 761,717 1.85 1.87 1.78 1.95 1.78 1.87 21,110,000 39,748,240 APEX MINING 3.55 3.61 3.62 3.62 3.55 3.55 198,000 710,210 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 4.2 4.26 4.26 4.26 4.26 4.26 3,000 12,780 0.203 0.212 0.205 0.205 0.205 0.205 100,000 20,500 COAL ASIA HLDG 2.66 2.7 2.72 2.72 2.7 2.7 55,000 148,800 CENTURY PEAK 2.43 2.46 2.48 2.48 2.43 2.46 8,482,000 20,732,900 FERRONICKEL 0.112 0.114 0.115 0.116 0.114 0.114 2,830,000 325,550 LEPANTO A 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 66,400,000 664,000 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 4,500,000 45,000 MARCVENTURES 1.25 1.26 1.28 1.3 1.25 1.26 1,052,000 1,328,850 5.75 5.76 5.69 5.76 5.69 5.76 1,797,600 10,309,257 NICKEL ASIA 0.68 0.74 0.74 0.75 0.73 0.73 23,000 16,960 ORNTL PENINSULA 2.73 2.74 2.71 2.76 2.7 2.74 796,000 2,176,340 PX MINING 33.5 33.6 33.8 34.1 33.25 33.6 2,033,600 68,567,205 SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON 0.0052 0.0055 0.0052 0.0052 0.0052 0.0052 1,000,000 5,200 15.8 15.82 14.78 15.8 14.78 15.8 1,879,400 28,908,752 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.01 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.01 0.01 10,100,000 106,000 0.0097 0.0099 0.0096 0.0098 0.0096 0.0098 18,000,000 174,200 PHILODRILL 6.42 6.43 6.15 6.53 6.15 6.42 1,610,600 10,389,045 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED ALCO PREF D 362 498.8 499.2 499.2 499 499 230 114,776 99.7 102 99.7 99.7 99.7 99.7 25,000 2,492,500 BRN PREF A 38 38.2 37.5 38.15 37.5 38.15 7,600 289,425 CEB PREF 99.7 102 99.7 99.7 99.7 99.7 13,410 1,336,977 CPG PREF A DD PREF 96.8 96.85 96 96.95 96 96.85 7,880 761,656.50 965 997.5 965 965 965 965 10 9,650 GTCAP PREF A 960 999 960 960 960 960 10 9,600 GTCAP PREF B 924.5 929.5 929 929 924.5 924.5 550 508,750 JFC PREF B 87.95 90 90.85 90.9 90.85 90.85 210 19,079 PNX PREF 3B 1,000 1,014 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 20 20,000 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1,010 1,020 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 5 5,050 74.3 75 74.35 74.35 74.25 74.25 48,600 3,610,725 SMC PREF 2I 69.75 71 71 71 71 71 3,610 256,310 SMC PREF 2J

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 7.3 8.46 8 8 8 8 60,100 480,800 10.52 10.7 10.52 10.7 10.52 10.7 105,300 1,117,392 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS TECH WARRANT 0.57 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.55 0.59 229,000 131,510

-13,895,950.00 -58,019,390 -36,795,422.50 -4,776,635 533,210 -1,918,148 -939,166 -26,733,795 -457,403 26,220 -88,110 -12,109,940 -9,022,160.50 -8,626,720 -932,590 543,240.00 -35,000 93,030 -673,761 -13,000 -12,450 -6,350 30,780 -2,393,910.00 -1,140 497,380 2,081,860 -9,200,458 72,071,975 -945,070 -80,447,980 -10,110,345 -52,868,500 661,100 -254,540 22,700 4,495,870 -242,456,999 8,300 45,870 5,750 115,200 3,720 2,559,801 1,026,700 -26,130 2,450 -6,439,570 -3,848,135.00 889,124 1,487,115 -7,700 -52,450 1,995,610 35,600 40,700 -7,207,360 -5,000 160,152 303,960 -6,701,505 -107,556 487,080 5,982 -190,675 -299,100 -909 -

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES BALAI FRUITAS CTS GLOBAL HAUS TALK ITALPINAS LFM PROP MAKATI FINANCE MERRYMART XURPAS

0.58 0.92 0.93 0.81 0.161 2.35 1.21 0.25

0.59 0.93 0.94 0.82 0.162 2.43 1.22 0.265

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

100.3

100.5

0.58 0.91 0.95 0.85 0.156 2.4 1.23 0.25

0.61 0.93 0.95 0.85 0.163 2.43 1.23 0.26

0.58 0.91 0.94 0.79 0.156 2.4 1.2 0.25

0.59 0.93 0.94 0.81 0.161 2.43 1.2 0.26

4,388,000 991,000 391,000 1,260,000 530,000 180,000 1,273,000 150,000

2,601,290 912,010 369,160 1,018,870 83,120 435,390 1,535,090 38,650

480,800 660,796 47,200 -94,270 -17,000 38,420 -

102 103 100.5 100.5 11,240 1,146,351 14,760

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

SSS, GSIS exclusion in MWF cheered

T

he bill seeking to create the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) would have faced legal issues had lawmakers jawboned the inclusion of pension funds’ contribution to the initiative, organized labor mused.

In a statement, the Nagkaisa labor coalition said while the officials of the Social Security System (SSS) publicly backed the MWF, its members were supposedly not consulted on the said matter.

“As members of the SSS, our members strongly object to the use of the P50 billion funds for the MWF. The commitment to use [such amount] for the MWF [did not undergo] consultation among the SSS members. Neither their consent was given,” Nagkaisa said.

Under House Bill (HB) 6398, the SSS, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines and the national government are required to invest equity with a combined total of P270 billion to start up the MWF. The MWF, which is patterned after sovereign wealth funds of other countries, will be used by the government to invest in initiatives that will promote fiscal stability, and strengthen top performing government financial institutions.

Nagkaisa cited the Supreme Court decision on the case “Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila vs SSS” (GR 15045, 20 December 1961). The High Tribunal ruled that “the funds contributed to the System created by the law are not public funds but funds belonging to the members, which are merely held in trust by the Government.”

It also noted that while Republic Act (RA) 11199 (Social Security Act of 2018) allowed the SSS to invest its Reserve Fund—its revenues that are not needed to meet its current administrative and operational expenses—its mandated P50 billion contribution to the MWF is too much.

“The SSS is allowed to invest one percent of the reserve fund in foreign investments in the first year, which may be increased by another one percent for each succeeding year, up to a maximum of 15 percent of the reserve fund,” Nagkaisa explained.

“The P50B exceeded the limit of one percent investment. Based on SSS figures at end-2021, the SSS can initially invest about P6 billion only in foreign currency-denominated investments in 2022, growing by about P6 billion per year,” it added.

The coalition lauded the decision of Congress last Wednesday to scrap the provision of the HB 6398, which would have mandated the SSS and GSIS to contribute to MWF, after it drew opposition from different sectors including business and labor.

“We are elated and the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition—the biggest aggrupation of trade unions, federations, associations, alliances in the country—welcomes the deletion of SSS and GSIS funds from the proposed bill on Maharlika Wealth Fund,” it said.

Nagkaisa is composed of 47 labor groups including the Federation of Free Workers, Partido Manggagawa, Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. Samuel P. Medenilla

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

I

B3

Insurance for jobless touted at ILO gab

By Samuel P. Medenilla

S

@sam_medenilla

INGAPORE—Universal unemployment insurance (UUI), online registration, and wage subsidies were among the measures proposed at the ongoing 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to give social welfare protection to vulnerable workers.

During the panel discussion on social protection and employment on Thursday, Department of Social Welfare Chung-Ang University Associate Professor of Social Policy Sophia Seung-Yoon Lee said the Korean government introduced a UUI with the start of the pandemic.

This was in response to the large number of workers, particularly

those in the informal sector, and new forms of work such as platform employment, who were not covered

by Korea’s initial unemployment insurance model since they have no, or have a complicated employeremployee relationship.

“So Korea was having a hard time recognizing who their main employer is. For example multiple

employer, platform workers, selfemployed workers, part time workers also, part-time workers who are in multiple workplaces,” Seung-Yoon Lee said.

“Recognizing the limitations of the current unemployment insurance, a universal unemployment insurance has been introduced in 2020 in December,” she added.

The Korean government, she said, was able to “decouple” the UUI from employer-employee relationship, by basing it on income instead and using new technology for its implementation.

The initiative, she said, is currently being implemented in phases, starting with temporary workers, then part-time workers, artists, and the self-employed, before if fully covers the poor.

Government registration, support

ALSO presented during the APRM is the initiative of the government of Bahrain to provide protection to its informal sector employers, by encouraging them to register with the government through an online

portal in exchange for incentives.

“Basically they get legalized. They will have access to subsidies to support training and development and this is one of the ways where we are bringing them to the formal from informal capacity,” Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sonya Janahi told the plenary session on revitalizing productivity growth and skills.

To encourage the transition of informal sector workers to the formal sector, Janahi said Bahrain also provided subsidies to registered employers.

“The government subsidized 70 percent of salaries for Year 1; 50 percent for Year 2; and 30 percent for Year 3,” she said.

The measure was considered a “win-win” for the government, employers, and workers since it helped address the workforce needs of the private sector whiile providing employment to the jobless.

Philippine context

ELMER Labog, Kilusang Mayo Uno Chairman and a Philippine

delegate in the APRM, stressed the need for such initiatives after the pandemic led to the “proliferation” informal workers and non-regular workforce.

Labor Undersecretary Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio Jr., however, said the new measures presented may face challenges if applied in the Philippine setting.

The UUI, for example, will need a new law to be implemented since the country’s existing unemployment insurance depends on a worker’s membership with the Social Security System (SSS).

“That will need legislation because it is specified in our law that unemployment insurance [is] for those who lost their jobs and have an employer-employee relationship,” Bitonio told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

The labor official, who represents the government in APRM, said another issue with the UUI will be who will shoulder its cost.

“So it has many implications. We are not saying it is impossible, but for now, it is not possible,” Bitonio said.

Financial sector-related bills pass second reading at Lower House

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

S

EVERAL bills related to the financial sector and the country’s economy passed second reading at the House of Representatives. These include the proposed General Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, called the “Guide Act” by lawmakers and the Real Property Valuation Reform Bill.

Through viva voce voting last Wednesday, lawmakers also approved on second reading the extension of the implementation period of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and the proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act. The “Guide Act” (House Bill 1) seeks to provide financial assistance to distressed enterprises critical to economic recovery through programs and initiatives to be implemented by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Inc. and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). These initiatives seek to address liquidity or solvency problems of MSMEs and strategically-important industries, encourage their continued operations and maintain employment levels.

The bill expands the loan assistance programs, rediscounting and other credit accommodation facilities of LBP, DBP, Small Business Corp.

(SBC) and Agriculture Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC).

It also identifies targeted sectors and intended beneficiaries of various credit facilities, as follows: for LBP, players engaged in activities in the agribusiness value chain; and, for DBP, eligible MSMEs engaged in infrastructure, services, service industry and/or manufacturing business.

Fiscal incentives

THE bill mandates the LBP and the DBP to create a special holding

Staying ahead with LEAD

N my experience in over 30 years—and counting—as an association executive, I have come to the conclusion that leadership is about people, planning and passionate execution or what I call the “3 Ps of Leadership.” This is sub-divided into four elements with the acronym “LEAD.” L: Level with people. Starting with your members, your Board and the staff, being fair, accountable and transparent are hallmarks of good leadership.

I remember when I took over as chief executive of an association many years ago, my first proposal to the Board was for it to have a retreat to review our organization’s purpose,

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, December 9, 2022

Association World Octavio Peralta mission, and vision, as well as to draw up a strategic plan to guide us forward. The result was remarkable, not only in terms of new and fresh statements of purpose, mission and vision for the association, but also a strategic plan owned by and relevant to all stakeholders.

Leveling with people is also about constantly informing all key stakeholders on the goings-on in the orga-

company (SHC) for the purpose of reinvigorating strategically important companies (SICS) experiencing liquidity issues due to significant economic challenges of national or international scope such as those from the agriculture, infrastructure, services and manufacturing industries.

HB 1 also grants incentives and exemptions to the LBP, the DBP and the SHC. These include exemption from payment of documentary stamp tax, capital gains tax, creditable withholding income tax, value-added tax, gross receipts tax and other taxes imposed under Republic Act (RA) 8424, or the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 (as amended) for a period of three years.

The bill also grants exemption from RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, for mandate-related procurements for a period of three years and: exemption from RA 10149 (GOCC Governance Act of 2011) and RA 10667 (Philippine Competition Act) for a period of three years for acquisitions of assets of an investee company.

Under the proposal, the amount of P10 billion is, hereby, appropriated out of any funds actually available in the National Treasury of the Philippines not otherwise appropriated, as certified by the National Treasurer, as additional paid-up capital of the DBP and LBP.

It also seeks to reorganize and strengthen the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).

The bill requires that the valuation or appraisal of all real property, whether taxable or tax-exempt, shall be based on prevailing market values in the locality where the property is situated in conformity with the valuation standards adopted in the proposal.

It mandates the BLGF to lead and manage the implementation of the proposal.

The proposal aims to harmonize the real property valuation for taxation purposes, which releases the Bureau of Internal Revenue from promulgating the Schedule of Zonal Values.

The bill also establishes and maintains valuation standards to govern the valuation of real property in the country. It also provides a comprehensive and up to date electronic database of all real property transactions.

ernment agencies and more than 1,700 local government units perform or require valuation functions and services using varied systems and methodologies for different purposes, thus resulting in multiple, confusing, unrealistic, or outdated values for the same property.

Extending Acef implementation

THE lower chamber also approved on second reading the Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, or the Real Property Valuation Reform Bill, which is a priority measure of the Marcos administration.

The proposal seeks to improve real property valuation for the government by adopting a market based schedule of market values (SMV) to be used as the basis of local and national real property taxation.

THE measure also ensures transparency in real property transactions to protect the public and develop confidence in the work of appraisers and assessors.

Kabayan Rep. Ron P. Salo, one of the authors of the bill, said one of the most vaunted sources of revenues is real property, which is considered as the most important natural resource and the biggest financial asset.

Citing the World Bank, Salo said that 50 percent to 75 percent of the country’s wealth is contained in land. Ironically, the land market is contributing only 6 percent to the Gross National Product, the lawmaker said.

According to Salo, the real property valuation system in the Philippines depicts “a depressing state of chaotic, inefficient and inequitable layers of bureaucracy.”

He said at least 23 national gov-

THE Lower Chamber also passed on second reading HB 6524, which focuses on the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Acef).

The bill seeks to further extend the implementation period of the Acef, which is set to expire in December 2022, to until 2028 to enable the Department of Agriculture to continue to use the funds for development activities of the farming sector.

It mandates the inclusion of duties collected from importation of agricultural products within the minimum access volume mechanism to be credited to Acef under Special Account 183 in the General Fund of the National Treasury.

The bill also directs concerned government agencies to submit pertinent documents to the Acef Executive Committee and the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization.

It also directs the Commission on Audit to conduct a full audit and report on the status of Acef grants and loans extended for the period 2016 to 2021.

House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Wilfrido Mark M. Enverga said the extension was strongly backed and recommended by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

The bill seeks to amend Section 8 of RA 8178, as amended.

Enverga said the Neda suggested revisiting such proposed provision considering that the Acef’s remaining balance is at P4.4 billion as of August.

nization, whether these are good or not-so-good news. Communicating and engaging with your constituencies is essential. People appreciate authenticity, truthfulness and honesty, especially if these come from their leader.

E: Execute effectively and efficiently. Equally important is executing the plans with pinpoint efficiency and effectiveness. Here, attention to details is the norm.

Executing effectively means you are able to monitor and measure the performance of your organization, hence it is necessary to develop key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs include membership recruitment, engagement and retention

rates, revenue to asset ratio, membership services provided, visibility actions, and budget use.

Executing efficiently, on the other hand, entails, not only that your organizational structure is adaptive to its mandate but is also flexible enough to maneuver in case of uncertain times. Making sure the organization can still function well despite remote work and resignations is important.

A: Act decisively. Part of execution, but more on leadership quality, is the ability of the chief executive to act prudently and decisively on issues and challenges facing the organization as it operates on a day-today basis. A good leader is one who

makes informed decisions, hence the necessity to know the ins and outs of the organization’s business and field of expertise. This can only happen if the leader, in the first place, is technically competent on the subject that the association is promoting or advocating.

It is noteworthy also to mention that while decision-making is a process in which everyone in the organization is bound to contribute their share of ideas and beliefs, ultimately, it is still the leader who is responsible for successfully running the organization.

D: Drive with passion. Associations are like small democracies, with members, Board, staff and

Real property valuation

Inefficient, chaotic

“We recommend that the Acef executive committee improve the disbursement of the fund and justify the additional allocation requested from import our-quota collections,” read Neda’s position paper.

Neda’s role

THE Lower Chamber also approved on second reading the proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act to provide an updated legal and policy framework for PPP projects.

The bill seeks to strengthen private sector interest in PPP projects by ensuring a competitive climate through reduced cost of doing business.

The measure provides clearer parameters on government undertaking, procedures on project approval, procurement and protest and fiscal rules on contingent liabilities.

Under the bill, National PPP Projects costing up to P5 billion shall be approved by the PPP Center unless overturned by the Investment Coordination Committee of the Neda and projects above P5 billion shall be approved by the Neda Board, upon prior recommendation by the ICC. It said local PPP Projects shall be approved by the local Sanggunians, regardless of the project cost, except those involving government undertakings using national government funds, which shall require the approval of the PPP Center for projects up to P5 billion in project cost and by the ICC-Neda for projects above P5 billion.

The bill also prohibits issuance by courts except the Supreme Court of temporary restraining orders (TROS) and preliminary mandatory injunctions against all PPP projects.

The prohibition shall not apply when the matter is of extreme urgency involving a constitutional issue, such that unless a TRO is issued, grave injustice and irreparable injury will arise.

volunteers interacting with each other and building consensus on issues confronting them and their organization. Board election is also part and parcel of this democracy, as well as the respect for the rights of all involved. For all the association’s uniqueness and intricacies, the chief executive must be able to navigate this vast and diverse interests with flair and wisdom and, more importantly, with passion to serve.

Octavio Peralta is currently the executive director of the UN Global Compact Network Philippines and founder and volunteer CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, the “association of associations.” E-mail: bobby@ pcaae.org.

B4

Relationships

Friday, December 9, 2022 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

BusinessMirror

Keeping the peace this holiday season

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Simon Helberg, 42; Donny Osmond, 65; Beau Bridges, 81; Dame Judi Dench, 88.

Happy Birthday: Refrain from letting sensitivity be your downfall. Take a cautious approach to whatever you encounter and consider what’s true before you pass the information along. Be smart, safe and secure in handling money, health and contracts. Make your vision clear to others and do what you can to turn your dream into a reality. Say no to decadent behavior. Your numbers are 3, 10, 17, 26, 39, 42, 49.

PHOTO BY EUGENE ZHYVCHIK ON UNSPLASH

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Trips, seminars, meetings or anything that gives you the wisdom and knowledge required to follow through with your plans is encouraged. A personal pick-me-up will boost your ego and give you the confidence to share your thoughts and feelings. HH

b

H

OLIDAY get-togethers and reunions can be the most stressful this time of the year.

Sure, we look forward to seeing family again, this being the first face-to-face parties for most people, but the ghosts of prepandemic Christmas reunions past are bound to rear their ugly heads and prey on everyone’s emotions.

If we don’t watch out, we’ll again return to the somewhat short fuses and heated discussions at the dining table, and remember how uncle so-so always gets sloshed and sloppy—even before the food is served? Ugh. (Yes, people, there’s always one in the family.)

Now, my younger unattached friends are telling me they are dreading seeing their nosy aunts and grandmothers who will needlessly grill them on when they are going to either get married, or have a boyfriend. (In the case of a colleague, Lia, she tells me at least her Tia Lola is a bit “more hip” that the latter will probably ask her if she has a girlfriend instead!

“Feeling politically correct ’yon,” laughs Lia at the thought of her favorite grand aunt.)

I don’t envy these girls. Nor the younger gents I know. The latter, too, apparently get the same third degree from older relatives these days. I suppose these are the signs of the times, and equality means all the young folk get the same unwanted questions about their civil status or “future plans,” regardless of gender. (Thank goodness my own older relatives, at some point, got tired of hassling me with these questions, especially after I’d respond with an incredulous, high-pitched “Why?!” Hahaha.)

In the case of Maya, she confided just the other day that she wasn’t looking forward to their clan’s first grand reunion since the pandemic. Let’s face it, so much has happened in the political sphere and with

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Inconsistency will stand between you and your objective.

Keep your emotions in check, and don’t make changes or purchases you can’t afford. Be a reasonable observer, and you’ll learn something valuable. Slow down; time is on your side. HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Use your wisdom, experience, and connections to help you manage your life, finances and relationships. Ask questions and offer suggestions; something good will develop. Leave nothing to chance or up to someone else if you want to excel. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Emotions will surface quickly, and control will be necessary if you want to avoid sensitive issues. Go over what transpired and assess the situation before you take sides or make a move. Speak from the heart, but stick to the facts. HHH

wounds still fresh from the last elections, probably the most divisive in history, Maya says her plan for next week’s party is to “deadma.” By that she means she will just ignore her aunt and uncle who had voted for the current resident of Malacañang, and just engage with her “enlightened” cousins who fortunately voted differently.

There are ways to ensure that holiday family gatherings remain civil, and guarantee that everyone is able to enjoy each other’s company. Here are a few tips on how to find (or make) peace this season: n Plan ahead. Find out what your host will need for the reunion and ask how you could help. It may be as simple as ensuring the invites have been sent to relatives, or bringing everyone’s favorite dessert or beverage. The less stressed the host is in organizing the party, the better chances she will be at her best in entertaining and making sure everyone has a good time.

n Get rid of expectations. It may be difficult, but try to get over the past hurts and pains that may have affected relationships with other family members.

Find something new or in common with them, instead of dwelling on your differences. If you’re not feeling so charitable, then, yes, it’s enough to acknowledge the presence of the annoying loyalist uncle, kiss him on the cheek, and wish him a Merry Christmas. n Let go. If you’re the (un)lucky host of this year’s family reunion, be prepared for the worst. No matter how meticulously you organize the party, there are things that can and will go wrong. The lechon doesn’t arrive, the adult children of cousin so-so’s third wife has tagged along uninvited, the grandchildren spills soda on your sofa—understand that there are some things that will be out of your control. So, just breathe in and let go. No such thing as a perfect party. (But be

Continued on B5

through a partnership with Security Bank clients Motech Automotive Education Center and Sambon P&E Philippines. SBFI provided on-the-job training (OJT) allowance while the two clients offered their premises for the OJT of 16 Don Bosco technical vocational students for five months.

“Dahil sa scholarship, nakakapag-focus na ako sa pag-aaral lalo na at may binubuhay na ako na pamilya. Malaking tulong din ang nakuha kong OJT allowance. Ngayon ay nakapasa ako sa NCII at ako’y lubos na nagpapasalamat sa Panginoon at sa Security Bank Foundation,” shares Jeffrey.

Since 1993, SBFI has provided scholarships for 1,156 scholars who are Security Bank employees, agency personnel, or their children, underprivileged technical vocational students, or underprivileged college students in eight partner universities.

SBFI also provides soft skills training

particularly to college scholars, in partnership with the bank’s training arm, SB Academy.

Sesenio Laganga III, an SBFI scholar who is the son of a janitor assigned to Security Bank, recently graduated cum laude with a BS Marketing Management degree from New Era University.

“Beyond the financial assistance for my studies, I am grateful for the personality and professional development trainings I enjoyed as a scholar. I also feel blessed to land a career opportunity in Security Bank,” says Sesenio.

Sesenio joined Security Bank in September 2022 as a branch teller in Quezon City.

Security Bank employees can also adopt scholars for a year or even spend learning hours in exchange for scholarship program donations. For school year 2022-2023, SBFI supports the education of 422 scholars.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Set your sights on something, and don’t stop until you reach your destination. A hands-on approach will give others a chance to witness your skills and enjoy the process by which you gain ground. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Strive for perfection in all you do, and you won’t be disappointed. A change of attitude will develop as you gather information about work or one of your colleagues. HHHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Strategize, and you’ll devise a plan that excites you. Gather information and proceed to dazzle friends, relatives and peers. A reunion or conference will encourage you to set high standards and reach for the stars. Set a new trend. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Money and emotions won’t mix. Don’t feel you have to pay for others or spend to impress. Trying to buy love won’t make you feel good about yourself.

Concentrate on who you are, what you have to offer and pursuing knowledge. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A change will inspire you. Say yes to time spent with someone who brings out the best in you; the talks you have will lead to exciting prospects. Do only what you can afford, and you’ll avoid money worries.

HHH

Top financial institution supports over 1,000 scholars FOR many Filipinos, education is seen as key to poverty alleviation; however, getting a degree is a challenge for those with financial problems.

This includes Jeffrey Baluyut, a 23-yearold who graduated from junior high school in 2017. While he hoped to continue his education, he had to work to help his family with their daily needs. Three years later, he had a child and his life became more financially challenging. He still dreamed of continuing his studies by completing a technical vocational (techvoc) course. He believed that with a national certificate, he could land a better job and provide a better future for his family.

Through his determination, he pursued his dream by enrolling at Don Bosco Academy Pampanga. Luckily, he was awarded with a Security Bank Foundation Inc. (SBFI) techvoc scholarship.

The scholarship was made possible

e

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Keep your opinions to yourself, and don’t believe everything you hear. Expect someone to exaggerate or use unfair tactics to get you to reveal sensitive information.

Stick close to home and surround yourself with trustworthy people. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Host an event, entertain people you want to partner with or make your home a sanctuary where you feel relaxed. Discuss your intentions with someone you love to find out where you stand. Romance is favored. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take it easy, listen and choose to be helpful and make a difference. How you handle requests and take care of responsibilities will determine what others will do for you in return. HHHHH Birthday Baby: You are wise, diligent and flexible.

You are unique and protective.

Sesenio Laganga, a Security Bank Foundation scholar who graduated cum laude on August 12 together with his brother and parents.

H: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. HH: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. HHH: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. HHHH: Aim high; start new projects. HHHHH: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

‘interception’ by hanh huynh The Universal Crossword/Edited by Anna Gundlach

ACROSS 1 “All the best” alternative 7 Czech or Pole 11 Comedian Margaret 14 Congresswoman Waters 15 Water main, e.g.

16 Dispose (of) 17 Skip the queues?

19 ___ Maria 20 Ambient music pioneer Brian 21 Give the boot 22 Holy See leader 24 Noted sled of cinema 27 “Don’t know” 30 Fashion for the boundary-crossing type?

32 ___ Paulo 33 Inside the NBA airer 34 Yoko of the Fluxus art movement 35 Log-in requirement for the Wi-Fi in heaven?

40 Mandible 41 401(k) kin 42 Chew and swallow 43 Travel documents held in flash drives?

48 Astronomer whose name is repeated five times successively in Bohemian Rhapsody 49 Household annoyance for some cat and dog owners 53 Copenhagen resident 54 Beer barrel 55 Air pump meas.

56 Furniture that might be inflatable 57 Sitting this one out...or a hint to the starred clues’ answers 62 Single 63 Graph line 64 Accumulate over time 65 Propane, for one 66 BIC Cristals, e.g.

67 End of Lent DOWN 1 Honey-colored 2 Decline 3 Trade shows 4 By way of 5 Middle of planning?

6 Save 7 PR slant 8 Former Knick Jeremy

9 10 11 12 13 18 23 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 35 36 37 38 39 40 44 45 46 47

Koko or Kong Scooters frequently seen in Rome It’s a gamble Collective intelligence, like that of ants or Internet users Poetic tribute Young fellas Non-Rx SFO guesses Super Mario ___ Ring or musicians at a wedding This, in Spanish Earth-friendly prefix Letter-shaped sink part Tool parts with teeth Caltech’s city Sage “...roughly” Boba of Star Wars Nasty cut Home brew container One of 100 in a “Wii Sports Resort” bowling game Valve on a 54-Across ___-door policy Jamaican music genre

50 “Things fall ___; the centre cannot hold” 51 Individual People?

52 Vertical stair component 54 Word after “French” and “chef’s” 56 Marsh 58 Give the boot: Var. 59 Family 60 Landmark 2010 legislation, for short 61 Some desktops Solution to today’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Friday, December 9, 2022

Fabulous is ‘The Fabulous Ones’ T

HERE is only one word to describe the film The Fabulous Ones (Le Favolose), and that word is “fabulous.” But to stop at the fabulosity of this cinema organic to the lives of a group of transgenders/transsexuals is to not only shortchange how the work has presented separate realities of human beings but also mislead the audience into thinking this is all froth and no fury.

The film opens with ladies looking bored as they bask in the sun. They are Porpora, Nicole, Sofia, Veet and Mizia. The feel is referential: is this from a film in the 1970s, the color looking like it is Eastman rather than Technicolor? But this is not the beginning of this tale. A letter is the one that pushes this story to be told. Part confessional and part confrontational, documentary yet discreet, a folklore that is an origin myth for all transgenders, The Fabulous Ones is one splendid and bittersweet journey. It could have been just sweet but the protagonists manage to turn a simple conversation into guilt and recriminations, or into a monologue for each character delivering an oratorical piece about one’s past and present.

Porpora pulls the curtain of the stage for the divas, for they are no less than that, as she goes to their old meeting place. She is there as a de-facto historian of the Italian trans movement and has called all the other members of their quasi-formal organization.

The order of the day is to reveal to the group a letter left by one of their members, Antonia. It is a letter that has to be opened after the writer has died. There is one hitch: Antonia passed away some 30 years earlier.

As Porpora brings up the letter in between the rambling dialogues full of memories and madness,

we rediscover who these individuals are. Meta at this point, the narrative takes us back into time and attempts not only to explain the struggles they have gone through but also the dresses, the jewelry, the passion and the glory that served as companion pieces to their social histories.

And so we wonder how this letter, a dull proposition compared to the colorful lives of the characters, will turn this film into a piece that will not only memorialize pains and rejections but also commemorate human agency. In this day and age, no one expects a film about gays to follow the trajectory of tragedy. Isn’t it enough that two other characters are already dead: one a template for gay vanity and irascible wit, and the other a model for liberation and transcendence?

What can a corpse (okay, a dead gay diva) bring to a table where a banquet of identities, protective masks and revelations has been prepared?

Allow me to stretch my analysis a bit—after all, in this opera buffa and absurdist drama, the dead come back alive without regrets and devoid of heavenly or hellish pretentions. And, if you care, the living do not seem to care about the afterlife inasmuch as they care about their demand for social equality.

What ails Antonia? Well, apparently, Porpora is really at fault. If only she had opened the letter, their dead compagna in valiant fashion could have been buried properly, following her own wishes. But what happened is the nightmare of any gay male diva who has spent a joyful existence as a person in a woman’s habiliment.

Spoilers alert! The crux of the matter is Antonia’s will that says she be buried in her favorite green dress.

But the family does not want any of that because Antonia is first their son and will have to be buried in gentleman’s clothing. Reading the letter now, the group is overwhelmed with sorrow and rage.

Will Antonia be happy in the afterlife after being interred—the horror!—as a man? Of course, not. But how do they rectify this existential and metaphysical deadlock?

“Summon the soul of Antonia!” In the seance, another soul/body appears but she is not their friend.

It takes another round before Antonia comes forth, but as a masculine apparition. Remember, she was

buried costumed as a man. They are shocked, but only for a moment. There can be no end to creativity and women’s agency. They must fulfill the wishes of Antonia that, in the process, will also fulfill their own wishes. Like couturiers out to dress in eternal seasons their old friend, the male shirt and pants are banished like mortal sins, as the law of physics and reality is suspended. Magic and activism take over to deliver a very important message: in death, gay bodily IDs can be erased but life can bring back the allure of the true self for any transsexual/transgender worth her happiness.

Indeed, how many epitaphs and names out there in lonely memorial parks have been assigned gender not approved by those buried under them? How many “Johns” and “Peters” are carved in marble when

the deceased would have wished for names with the insouciance of Violetta and the bravura of Renata?

Roberta Torre is the director behind this cinema of identity-assertion, the mind rallying for the right of any human being to be what he or she is in death or in life. And, better, in the afterlife. She is also credited for the screenplay with Cristian Ceresoli and Nico Morabito. The film’s genre is notably dubbed docufiction.

The Fabulous Ones was produced by Stemal Entertainment and Faber Produzioni with Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Mit-Movimento Identità Trans. The film was shown in this year’s 35th Tokyo International Film Festival. I wish to thank the Secretariat of TIFF for allowing me online access to the films. ■

Holiday films to be screened for free this December

THE holiday favorite The Christmas Chronicles

A RICH collection of award-winning and critically acclaimed international films on the true essence of the holiday season will be screened for free on the Wednesdays of December. The meticulously selected works utilize the wonders of fantasy to remind the audience of the importance of community-building and kindness regardless of differences.

In The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

by American animator and director Clay Kaytis, the attempt of siblings Katy and

Keeping the peace this holiday season CONTINUED FROM B4 ready with the baking soda for those accidental spills!)

■ Ease up on the booze. We all know how imbibing unlimited amounts of alcoholic beverages can unleash our evil id, and often make us behave badly. If you’re the host, don’t lay out all the liquor on the bar cart. When guests see an unlimited supply of alcoholic beverages, they indulge, and you know what happens after...annoying uncle starts pressing everyone’s buttons, passions are inflamed, and fights break out. Thus, ration the (liquor) action. And if you’re the guest, eat first and take your time indulging in your chosen poison.

■ Say no. If a family member or situation makes you feel uncomfortable, just say “no.” Find a more gracious way to extricate yourself from unwelcome situations with humor or a more positive attitude.

For example, if relatives are hassling you to sing karaoke with the goal of embarrassing you for your sucky singing voice, suggest someone else who can do a better job of entertaining them. At worst, when extremely peeved, feel free to leave the toxic situation to calm yourself, and return when you’re feeling less charged.

■ Be generous. Remember the reason for the season. Christmas is a time for family and giving love all around, no matter what social or political divide to which relatives belong. Be generous in praise for the host’s entertaining skills, be grateful for the abundant food and drink shared, stop boasting about your brilliant children and instead compliment your cousin’s own spawn for their accomplishments.

Making people feel important and appreciated eases the stress of the holiday gatherings, and ensures relatives go home with not just happy tummies but thankful hearts, as well. ■

Teddy to capture the iconic Santa Claus on camera turns into an exhilarating quest to deliver all the children’s presents and recapture the holiday spirit. It will be screened on December 14, 2022.

In fantasy-romance The Bishop’s Wife (1947), German-born filmmaker Henry Koster offers a reflection on the real meaning of the Yuletide season as it follows the story of Henry Brougham, an Episcopal bishop fixated on raising funds for a new cathedral, accompanied

by his long-suffering spouse Julia and the mysterious yet charismatic Dudley who claims to be an angel from heaven. It is slated on December 21, 2022. Curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, the free and public online screenings will be conducted via Zoom every noon on the scheduled dates.

More information is available via mcad@benilde.edu.ph or www.facebook. com/MCADManila.

GMA News rebranded as GMA Integrated News TOUTED as the biggest and the most trusted news organization in the Philippines, GMA News just got stronger than ever. From the country’s leading broadcast company GMA Network, now comes the synergy of GMA News Manila, GMA Regional TV, and GMA News Online: GMA Integrated News.

As the multimedia news leader in the country, GMA Integrated News connects the Philippine islands and transcends platforms to serve Filipinos wherever they may be.

“Through GMA Integrated News, we are evolving into a dynamic multimedia global newsroom— integrating the newsrooms of GMA News, GMA Regional TV News, and GMA News Online— while staying true to the journalistic principles and confronting the challenges faced by media organizations in this digital age. GMA Integrated News is another testament to the network’s goal of serving our real boss—the Filipino people. Wherever you are in the Philippines and abroad, no matter where you are from, and what language you speak— we are one,” says GMA Integrated News acting head Oliver Victor B. Amoroso.

With more than 60 news teams and a network of more than 60 stringers based in NCR, key cities and provinces across the Philippines and territories around the globe, plus a growing pool of online writers and

reporters, GMA Integrated News brings not only the breaking news and latest information, but also muchneeded public service to viewers on air and online.

The network’s diverse slate of news programs are available in Mega Manila, 69 provinces and 16 highly urbanized cities. Online, netizens are updated via www.gmanetwork.com/news and www.gmaregionaltv. com, as well as via GMA News and GMA Regional TV’s YouTube channels and accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Viber and TikTok. At present, GMA News’ Facebook page has 21.56 million followers. Various newscasts and shows have amassed a solid online presence, as well. These include the Facebook pages of 24 Oras (9.48 million), State of the Nation (1.42 million), Saksi (1.52 million), and 24 Oras Weekend (1.7 million), among others.

On Twitter, GMA News has 6.4 million followers while on YouTube, its channel already has 12.5 million subscribers. On Instagram, it has 1.7 million followers. GMA News has 1.4 million followers on TikTok, while 24 Oras has 1.7 million.

Meanwhile, Regional TV has 582,907 subscribers on YouTube, 258,227 followers on Facebook, 123,736 on Instagram, and 22,286 on Twitter.

With GMA Integrated News, GMA Network reinforces its commitment to delivering only the best news coverage and public service to Filipinos everywhere and on whatever platform.

MOVING OUT

AFTER allegedly assaulting several women, including one of his employees, the husband of the socialite-model is reportedly seeing someone from show business. The wife and kids moved out of the family abode after the husband’s latest sexual offense, which made it to a newspaper article.

The wife had been very forgiving of what she thought were her husband’s indiscretions. She didn’t realize that all this time, he was forcing himself on women. That, to her, was the last straw. Now, she realizes her husband groomed her and that the premise of their relationship was very wrong.

SECOND CHILD

THE starlet, who was rumored to have given birth recently, is said to have an older child. The first child has a different dad from the younger one. The reason why the starlet is keeping her motherhood a secret is not because of the dad of her second baby is still legally married, but because she is afraid that a revelation might ruin her career. While she is very much in love with her current boyfriend, the starlet treasures her career and loves the independence it gives her. She knows that as far as her looks are concerned, she is at her peak, so she’s taking advantage of this for the sake of her career.

POSTING FAKES

THE young actress is known for saying yes to all sponsorship deals that come her way. The deals involve online shops selling luxury goods sending her items, with the actress posting them on her social-media platforms. One of the items she posted was called fake by one of her followers and other commenters agreed that it did. She allegedly knew it was fake but she was paid money to post it. What she did was to restrict the comments on her posts. The young actress’ affiliation with online sellers is one of the reasons why luxury brands don’t hire her as an influencer. They also think some of the luxury goods she posts on social media are fake.

FAVORITE COUPLE

THE entertainment agency is known for playing favorites and the loveteam is one of those who get good projects and ample exposure even if they have not proven anything yet. The guy is fairly new in showbiz while the girl has been around for a while. The couple is quite popular on social media but doesn’t really have big endorsements, an indicator of a celebrity’s actual popularity. Despite this, the agency continues to favor them and always makes it appear that they’re the most popular of all their talents.

B5

B6 Friday, December 9, 2022

Virbac brings in spot on topical solution Effitix for prevention of external parasites in pet dogs

First BNI Elite ‘Diamond Chapter’ in PHL Celebrates five years of business growth

F

IVE years after the founding of BNI Elite, a local chapter of Business Network International (BNI), it is officially recognized as the first “Diamond Chapter” in the Philippines with over 100 members.

BNI Elite is the largest chapter in the country after successfully growing and sustaining a roster of 105 business owners and executives, generating more than P1.5 billion in closed business since its launch.

To celebrate this significant milestone, the Red Diamond Banquet Thanksgiving Dinner was held on December 2, 2022, at Hotel Okura, Pasay City.

In attendance were BNI Philippines and Thailand National Director YP Lai, BNI Philippines National Director Dexter

BNI ELITE - Taguig, Philippines Chapter

Ortega, BNI Philippines Franchise Development Director, BNI North Luzon District Director and BNI Taguig - Philippines Executive Director Judee Quiazon, and BNI Taguig - Philippines Executive Director Jarmo Kihlstrom.

The memorable evening also recognized esteemed luminaries including members who have been with the chapter for five years: Kana Evangelista of NaturallyPlus Philippines, Bernard Mercado of BIPI Insurance Agency, Val Co of Contronics Computer Technologies, and Atty.

Raymond Joseph Pascua of Pascua & Pascua Law Offices (Evangelista and Atty.

Pascua were also two of the chapter’s founding members); the leadership team; former chapter Presidents; Gold Badge members; and members who have made

significant contributions to the chapter.

The event was capped off with the much-anticipated pinning ceremony, awarding all chapter members the “Diamond Chapter” pin, a symbol of each member’s contributions to the group’s historic achievement. BNI is the world’s largest business referral organization with over 292,000 members,10,821 chapters, and $19.4 billion in global member-generated revenue in the last 12 months. The BNI Elite chapter is part of the Taguig Region or cluster of chapters based in Taguig, Philippines.

Philippine-based business owners and executives may apply to the business referral organization by sending a message to their Facebook page at www. facebook.com/BNIEliteTaguigPH‘

FROM left Cai Lim Regala, Benson Siam, Judee Quiazon, Arjay Razon, Loiue Evan Sala, Noreen Molina, Katherine Alejar, and Kana Evangelista

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Seda announces plan to add over 500 more rooms to its portfolio

H

OMEGROWN brand Seda hotels is swiftly bouncing back in the post pandemic era and will soon add another 550 rooms to its portfolio by mid2023, according to Andrea Mastellone, senior group general manager of the Ayala Land chain with 11 hotel properties nationwide.

Revenge travel as well as the resurgence of business travel has prompted the addition of 200 more rooms to Seda Nuvali, a popular staycation and wedding destination in Laguna, and the opening by mid-2023 of 350 rooms at Seda Manila Bay, an alternative to the casino hotels in the area, announced Mastellone at an event to mark the brand’s 10th anniversary.

By 2024, the flagship Seda One Ayala at the Edsa gateway to the Makati financial district is also expected to open at the former site of the InterContinental Manila.

The re-opening of the country to foreign

visitors and heightened mobility has ushered Seda to the next decade of growth, which will be marked by a new pipeline of projects to be unveiled closer to the launch of each initiative.

In the meantime, Seda looks to its growing number of loyal guests as an indicator of the brand’s relevance and success. The Seda Edge loyalty program now has close to 100,000 members, all repeat customers. The program will soon give the highest recognition to a third tier, Elite level guests who patronize any one or more of the 11 Seda hotels 30 room nights in a year.

The Seda hotels at BGC, Quezon City, Makati, Nuvali, Cebu Business Park, Cebu IT Park, Lio, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Davao are all committed to operate sustainably. Mastellone revealed that Seda has shifted to source electricity from suppliers that provide renewable and green energy,

thus reducing its carbon footprint.

Its BGC property even has an electric vehicle charging station as part of an Ayala group initiative. Seda counts among its corporate social responsibility efforts a program with the Philippine Eagle Foundation to preserve this endangered species. This commitment led it to adopt a Philippine Eagle which has been named Mayumi.

Looking for a Puregold Panalo Shopper? Here are some characteristics of these Panalo shoppers

T

HROUGH its 25 years in the retail industry, Puregold has amassed longtime customers that have stayed loyal to this day. These “panalo shoppers” now easily navigate their favorite Puregold store, weaving their carts in and out the aisles to pick the products and goods they need.

Some of them have gone on to be successful small business owners and entrepreneurs, with Puregold as a constant “partner” in their new journey.

It’s easy to spot them. You might be one too without knowing it. Here’s a few telltale signs: They stay on the lookout for great promos in the store. There’s always a deal to be found at any Puregold branch.

Panalo shoppers always check the promo board posted right at the entrance of every branch to see what bargains await inside.

They’re in the right online communities. Puregold has online Viber communities that post consistent updates on deals and discounts. Panalo shoppers are in the Puregold Panalo Community and the Puregold Mobile community on Viber to get real time info.

They follow Puregold’s social media for promos. Puregold’s official Facebook page updates on exciting store deals.

That’s why panalo shoppers have liked the page and have it bookmarked for easy

IF YOU want to be a panalo shopper, don’t be afraid to ask for more tips. reference. They even share posts to inform friends of the latest deals.

They get a headstart at Puregold. If there’s anything our panalo shoppers agree on, it’s hopping over to Puregold before the doors open. Being the first to have a foot in the door gives you time to get a lay of the land and get first dibs at the available promos and fresh produce in stock.

They know to get a deal on the first of the month. Every first of the month, there’s the Puregold Hakot Every 1. Aling Puring and Perks members can avail a 10 percent discount on featured items and categories monthly.

They follow Puregold on TikTok and YouTube for FREE entertainment. Puregold continues to expand its reach in digital spaces. Part of this is by growing their official TikTok account @puregoldph. Longtime

shoppers follow Puregold’s fun TikTok series, and use the Puregold TikTok shop where you can purchase items right from the platform. They subscribe to Puregold Channel on YouTube to watch digital series and other online shows.

Aling Puring points alert! Small business owners who have signed up for Puregold’s Aling Puring program always keep track of the points they earn from purchases. These accumulated points may be utilized later on.

They use their points for savings at the end of the year. The best time to use Aling Puring rewards point is at the end of the year! That’s why panalo shoppers get the most bang for their buck by letting these build up over the year then unloading during year-end shopping.

They buy in bulk. The more you buy, the more you save! Buying in bulk also keeps households well stocked, and maintains precious inventory for those running their own business.

They use ecobags on Mondays and Wednesdays. Panalo shoppers know when to participate in #PuregoldWalastikGroceryDay. Not only do they help reduce the use of single use plastics in the store, bringing an ecobag on these days also helps them earn cashback points.

V

IRBAC, an animal health pharmaceutical company, brings to the Philippines Effitix, a topical solution for dogs used for the treatment and prevention of flea and tick infestations.

What's more, this innovative product has an added repellent activity against mosquitoes, which transmit heartworms.

With active ingredients fipronil and permethrin, Effitix is indeed an effective spot on solution, which keeps your dog safe from external parasites for up to four weeks.

Fleas and ticks can be killed within 24 hours following treatment. One treatment prevents further infestations for four weeks as it remains effective after bathing, shampooing, water immersion or sunlight exposure.

The product can be used as part of a treatment strategy for the control of Flea Allergy Dermatitis (FAD), reducing the risk of transmission of tick-borne diseases (canine ehrlichiosis, babesiosis) from infected ticks,

and repellent (anti-feeding) activity against mosquitoes (Culex pipiens, Aedes aegypti).

What's more, for easy and convenient application, Effitix features a unique “dropstop” pipette technology that lets you apply the product in just the right place on your pets – with no mess and no fuss.

The topical solution is available for puppies and dogs eight weeks old or older in three dose sizes for dogs from 4 to 40 Kg. With Effitix, you can sleep soundly at night knowing that your pet dogs are safe and protected from the dangers of external parasites.

Virbac Effitix will be available starting December 16, 2022 at authorized online pet stores, and February 2023 at leading physical pet shops and vet clinics. To know more about the product, visit their website at https:// ph.virbac.com/home.html, their Facebook Page @VirbacPH, and Instagram profile @ virbac_philippines.

Running out of gift ideas for that special man in your life? Get him an AMERICAN CREW gift pack

T

HE holiday rush and taking into consideration the best gift for him can be so stressful, but the thing is, it doesn’t have to be. Even if the man you're shopping for is your practical Dad, brother-in-law, handsome hubby, sometimes annoying boyfriend (lol), or beloved granddad who claims that he doesn’t need anything to look extra cool during the season, there are several gifts you can get them to look awesome during your holiday events.

Our list includes an array of products perfect for your guy’s ultimate needs to make him look and feel good this Christmas: Cleanse & Exfoliate with American Crew’s Vegan Detox Shampoo and moisturize with Vegan Moisturizing Conditioner: Made to thoroughly cleanse, American Crew’s Vegan Detox Shampoo acts as a scalp exfoliant, as well as a hair detox, removing excess sebum and product build up, that works well with American Crew’s infused with moisturizing Vitamin B5 formula that promotes healthylooking hair. This vegan silicone-free product is suitable for men aiming for the hydrated, nourished, healthier hair for the season. If he’s feeling low during the cold season, the naturally certified American Crew Citrus Mint fragrance energizes and invigorates him, making him more active during the colder days.

‘Tis the season for #skincare even for him!

START his Christmas morning with an American Crew’s Acumen In-Shower Face Wash treat that gently removes dirt and oil containing AC ACUMEN COMPLEX that serves as a skin

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA. Christmas is just around the corner but you still don’t know what to give your loved ones this season of giving. Why not go local and give them a Buko Pie!.

From its sweet and silky smooth filling to its flaky and buttery crust, Buko Pie is definitely the must-have “pasalubong” when coming from Laguna and Cavite. It is also fast becoming the gift of choice. For the best buko pie in town, visit Balai Plamera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center in Silang Cavite.

antioxidant and moisturizer, matched perfectly with American Crew 2-in-1 Moisturizer and Beard Conditioner that serves as a beard and skin moisturizer or American Crew Beard Balm that serves as both conditioner and styler, it is a soft balm that tames and conditions the beard with a flexible application for styling.

For the dude who shaves daily, American Crew’s Ultra Gliding Shave Oil is the perfect prep for every shaving sesh! This product softens the beard and prepares the skin for a close and comfortable shave without leaving an oily residue. The formula includes Essential Oils that help prevent irritation during shaving and Rice Bran Oil that contains powerful antioxidants and anti-aging benefits.

Whether you’re stocking up for yourself or looking for great holiday gift ideas, catch our #AmericanCrew gift sets at Mitsukoshi BGC, LOOK SM Aura and SM Mall of Asia, Stud & Sassy Barber Salon, Sports Barbers, Bench Fix Salon, Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell, Bench Barbers and Covent, or online via newsummitcolors.com

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

HIDILYN DIAZ-NARANJO BLOWS AWAY FIELD IN BOGOTA

JAPAN’S Saki Maruyama (left) and Erika Habaguchi are all thumbs up after making it past the qualifiers.

WORLD CHAMPION!

Japan’s Maruyama, Habaguchi lead beach volleyball qualifiers in Subic

S

UBIC—Japan’s Saki Maruyama and Erika Habaguchi flexed just enough muscles under a blazing sun on Thursday to lead the march of qualifiers to the main draw of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures at the Subic Bay Sand Court.

Maruyama and Habaguchi, however, had to eliminate Ami Shirahata and Sayaka Yamada, 21-18, 22-20, from a seven-pair Japanese contingent in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).

Regardless, Maruyama and Habaguchi were an excited and a happy tandem who enjoyed the Subic sun and the warm welcome from the enthusiastic crowd who were treated to a free entry on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the facility that played venue to the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

“It was hot but we enjoyed our match,” said Habaguchi, who at 41 still packs the same solid form she flashed as a member of the Japan national team to the Incheon 2014 Asian Games.

The fans, Habaguchi said, were just too enthusiastic to meet, greet and take selfies with the Japanese pair who competed in a Challenger event only two weeks ago in Torquay, Australia.

“They’re all very cute,” both Habaguchi and Maruyama, 30, who were sought for selfies by schoolaged kids drawn to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB)-standard

competition as well as local volunteers who they described as “very friendly and hospitable.”

Canada’s Darby Dunn and Olivia Grace Furlan rallied past France’s Manon Rebuffel and Melody Benhamou, 18-21, 21-18, 15-10, to also advance to the women’s main draw where three teams from the Philippines as well as 11 more squads from Japan, Norway, Singapore, Czech Republic, Netherlands, USA, Canada, South Korea and France await.

Ryoto Sato and Ryo Shindo also of Japan advanced to the men’s main draw after beating Austria’s Stefan Schosswohl and Matthias Gersin, 21-19, 23-21, along with Israeli’s Tomer Hadar and David Lanciano, who outplayed Czech’s David Lenc and Filif Habr, 2220, 21-18.

The qualifiers went well into late afternoon Thursday with four men and four women teams earning tickets to the main draw for men and women of the event supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT Home and Rebisco and also backed by Akari, F2 Logistics, Asics, SBMA, Philippine Olympic Committee, Smart Giga Play, Cignal Play, OneSports, OneSports+, Senoh and Mikasa.

The main draw matches start at 8:30 a.m. and broadcast live over OneSports and OneSports+ on Friday.

The finals are set Sunday.

Dragons, Hotshots eye semis

T

HE Hong Kong Bay Area Dragons and Magnolia Hotshots go for a quick entry to the best-of-five semifinals when they face separate opponents Friday in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The Dragons, who topped the elimination with 10 wins and two losses, holds a twice-to-beat advantage over the eighth-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters who they face starting at 3 p.m.

No. 2 Magnolia, also 10-2 after the eliminations, has the same twiceto-beat advantage over the No. 7 Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters in their 5:45 p.m. game.

Super import Myles Powell, only 6-foot-2 but with a 37.5-point average in eight games, tweaked his ankle during practice forcing the Bay Area Dragons to tap again 6-foot10 National Basketball Association veteran big man Andrew Nicholson for another tour of duty in the league.

Despite the huge disadvantages, Rain or Shine Coach Yeng Guiao said they would try to hand on for as long as they can to forge a do-or-die quarterfinal game.

The Fuel Masters, who were 6-6 in the eliminations, are expected to lean on young guns Tyler Tio and Encho Serrano to stay alive in the series.

Josef Ramos

CARL JANO CORPUS of Manila Southwoods chips from the eighth hole of Camp John Hay Golf Club.

I

By Josef Ramos

T’S mission accomplished with a flourish for Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn DiazNaranjo at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships on Thursday in Bogota, Colombia.

Putting emphasis on “with a flourish,” Diaz-Naranjo left no room for any Thomas to doubt her performance by sweeping the snatch, clean and jerk and total lift in the world championships, which unlike the Olympics, offers three separate gold medals for each form.

“Thank God!” Diaz-Naranjo posted on her Facebook page minutes after ruling the women’s 55 kgs category, barely 17 months from winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in July 26, 2021.

Diaz-Naranjo’s gold medal numbers were pegged at 93 kgs in snatch, 114 kgs in clean and jerk and 207 kgs in total lift.

Her opponents? They couldn’t scratch the surface and missed posting an Olympic-size upset at Bogota’s Gran Carpa Americas Corferias.

Hometown bet Roselba Estela Morales del Aguila lifted 110 kg in clean and jerk and 199 kgs in total lift to settle for silvers in both forms and 89 kgs in snatch to add a bronze medal.

Mexico’s Ana Lopez Ferrer got silver in snatch with 90 kgs and bronze medals with 108 kgs in clean and jerk and 198 kgs in total lift.

Diaz-Naranjo could have entertained doubts on herself as she targeted the only gold medal missing from her collection of titles.

The journey to Bogota differed because she’s had more days attending to functions and socials rather that sweating in the gym after she turned into a multi-millionaire sports heroine and personality since winning that gold in Tokyo.

She’s now also married to her coach and trainer Julius Naranjo—on the first year anniversary of her Tokyo conquest—a status that relatively draws negatives from skeptics.

“We predicted that she’s going to win it all,” Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas national Coach Richard Pep Agosto told BusinessMirror moments after the gold medalwinning feat. “Hidilyn [Diaz] really prepared hard for this.”

Prepared hard Diaz-Naranjo did with her the now famous Team HD—Julius Naranjo as head trainer and coach, sports nutritionist Jeaneth Aro, sports psychologist Karen Trinidad and latest addition assistant trainer Rowell Garcia.

“We are truly grateful to Team HD for this is a result of hard work, a combination of determination, continuous training and confidence,” Philippine Olympic Committee President

HIDILYN DIAZ-NARANJO now has it all—Olympic and world championships gold medal and Asian and Southeast Asian crowns.

Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said.

“Hidilyn knows that there are people behind her who truly supports her.”

“Greatness comes when special people congregate and unite for a common goal,” Tolentino said. “This recent breakthrough of Hidilyn is proof that Filipinos are strong and talented individuals.”

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Jose Emmanuel “Noli” M. Eala congratulated Diaz-Naranjo saying “Hidilyn has proven once again that the fire in her heart to be second to none in her field continues to burn

Southwoods zeroes in on Fil, Am crowns in Baguio City tilt

M

ANILA Southwoods padded its lead in both Fil and Am championship divisions on Day 2 of the 72nd Fil-Am Men’s Invitational regular tournament at the Camp John Hay Golf Club and Baguio Country Club (BCC) courses in Baguio City on Thursday.

Korean Jeff Jung mixed four birdies with three bogeys for a one-under 68 worth 37 points and lead the way for the Cavite-based Fil squad.

Kristoffer Arevalo backed Jung

with a 35 points while Gabriel Manotoc and Carl Jano Corpus added 33 each for 138 points and 286 total for 36 holes.

Forest Hills also produced an impressive 134 points, almost matching the leader’s output for the day, to keep its hold of second spot with a 263 aggregate.

Gus Pacheco shot par worth 36 points, Edison Tabalin contributed 34 and Rocky Co and Jose Raymundo nailed 32s for Forest Hills.

Januarius Team (124-245) was

third on Raymund Sangil and Terence Macatangay’s 35 points each and RJ Rizada’s 31 and Kirby Lachic’s 29.

Southwoods’ second crew amassed a consecutive 119 points to be at 238.

A young Royal Northwoods team composed of junior golfers made 102 for 205 followed by Riviera-Batangas Barakos with 190 after a 95 at BCC. Josh Jorge and Lanz Uy signed for 35 and 34, respectively, and Japanese Shinichi Suzuki and Masaichi Otake each counted for 25 as Southwoods

Mbappé, rested and relaxed, ready to take on England in quarterfinals

D KYLIAN MBAPPÉ isn’t injured when he missed a recent training session. AP

Editor: Jun Lomibao | Friday, December 9, 2022 B7

OHA, Qatar—Yes, Kylian Mbappé will be ready to face England at the World Cup on Saturday. No, the France forward was not injured when he missed a recent training session.

France teammate Ibrahima Konaté delivered a reassuring message about Mbappé on Wednesday, news that perhaps England fans did not want to hear three days before the teams meet in the quarterfinals.

“There’s nothing worrying.

Nothing to make a controversy about,” Konaté said, explaining Mbappé had a recovery session away from the training field on Tuesday— normal routine two days after a game in the round of 16.

Mbappé’s two goals in that 3-1 win over Poland gave him a tournamentleading five at this year’s World Cup. He is expected to be closely marked on Saturday by England’s fastest defender, Kyle Walker.

“Walker is one of the best right backs in the world. I’m looking

forward to seeing this great battle,” Konaté said of the Manchester City defender, who he knows well from playing for Premier League rival Liverpool.

Now in his second season in the Premier League, Konaté was asked what he had learned from the style of game France will face Saturday at Al Bayt Stadium.

Konaté singled out the need to keep high levels of concentration at all times or “pay in cash” for any mistakes. AP

and remains the benchmark by which every weightlifter and Filipino athlete must measure themselves against.”

“The PSC will forever be proud of Hidilyn as the epitome of a great champion and will always provide support in her continuing quest to bring honor to our country.

Mabuhay!” Eala said.

Diaz-Naranjo at 31 has it all— Olympic and world championships gold medal and Asian and Southeast Asian crowns.

But she aint done yet—Paris beckons in 2024. looked poised to retain its crowns in both premier divisions.

Zach Villaroman led all Northwoods scorers with 29, Patrick Gene Tambalque had 28, Tristan Jefferson Padilla 26 and Alexander Rajah Crisostomo 19. Santino Pineda’s 18 did not count.

Gerald Katigbak starred for Riviera-Batangas Barakos with 26, while Erik Escalona made 24, Eric Gozo 23 and Takuya Kawamura 22.

Frayna blitz queen

W

OMAN Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna beat Woman International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas in the 11th and final round Wednesday night to crown herself blitz champion of the Philippine National Women’s Chess Championships presented by Nova Wellness Center at the PACE. Frayna, 25, was undefeated with 9.5 points on eight victories and three draws.

The Army personnel from Bicol was a clear 2.5 points ahead of the field headed by WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda, who split the point with Bea Mendoza to end up at second with 7.0 points.

Wunderkind April Joy Claros shocked reigning national standard champion WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego to seize third place.

Claros ended up tied with Bea Mendoza on 6.5 points but won after the tiebreak.

Senate hails Philippine youth chess team

T

HE Senate adopted a resolution commending the Philippine delegates for their outstanding performance during the Sixth Annual Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 304 (Adopted Resolution No. 34), introduced by Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid congratulating and commending the entire Philippine delegation for dominating the event, was adopted Wednesday by the upper chamber taking into consideration SRNs 306 and 308 authored by Senators Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, respectively.

“Our young woodpushers conducted their medal haul with ease over their

opponents, dominating the entire competition and claiming the top spot in Chess Federation Rankings in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),” Lapid said.

The Philippine chess team bagged 32 gold, 27 silver and 21 bronze medals to emerge as the overall champion in the tournament.

The young athletes dominated their opponents across all divisions of the event, claiming 12 golds in individual blitz, rapid and standard play and 20 golds in the team event of all three categories.

The Philippines was also declared as the best chess federation in the event over Mongolia and Vietnam, which placed second and third, respectively.

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

MAKE WAY FOR THE ALL-NEW HONDA BR-V Friday, December 9, 2022

B8

Editor: Tet Andolong • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Story & photos

by Randy S. Peregrino

running at 24°C temperature at minimum fan speed.

B

OASTING over 23,000 units sold in the Philippines since its introduction in 2016, Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) officially launched the all-new BR-V to pay tribute to its strong market reception, becoming one of HCPI’s best-selling models.

According to HCPI, the latest-generation seven-seater compact SUV has received a positive market response for its fresh look with exuding SUV appeal and bigger dimensions during its preview at the 8th Philippine International Motor Show last September 2022.

SUV form, MPV function NOW donning a fresh exterior design, the all-new BR-V finally embraced its proper SUV form. The new look flaunts compelling character body lines all over. The front end’s matte black grille now comes standard, except for the range-topping VX CVT Honda SENSING variant’s gloss black finish. Another upgrade is the newly designed full-LED headlights and Daytime Running Lights. Also available are LED fog lights available on the VX CVT with Honda SENSING, V CVT, and S CVT variants. The auto on-off lighting function is exclusive to the

Sensitized

THE all-new Honda BR-V S CVT variant (left) with the V CVT top-of-the-line variant.

One of the main highlights of this latest version is the higher ground clearance to complement the new SUV form. Matching that are the new 17inch aluminum wheels, available to all CVT grades, while the S MT variant comes with a set of 16-inch rims. Going over the rear, the BR-V is treated with newly designed LED taillights that elegantly illuminate the night. These new rollers match well with the matte black body claddings.

There are more inside SEVERAL notable enhancements are the taller headroom, increased legroom, and lateral space for both second

and third-row occupants. Moreover, the flat-folding seats provide flexible cargo loading. Honda claims that the all-new BR-V continues to focus on its three (3) core values, particularly in terms of SUV and MPV values. A 60:40 split second row with One-Touch Tumble and a 50:50 split third row with Dive Down Mechanism serve a wide range of needs.

The newly-designed dash panel highlights a seven-inch touchscreen display audio, paired with a six-speaker system (VX CVT with Honda SENSING and V CVT) and a four-speaker system (S CVT and S MT). The infotainment system supports various functions, including Bluetooth, Apple

THE newly-designed dashboard CarPlay, Android Auto, and USB connection. Leather upholstery is exclusive to the VX CVT Honda SENSING and V CVT variants, while the S CVT and S MT are treated with high-grade fabric. Also noteworthy is the added seat height adjuster feature for the driver. Steering wheel-mounted audio controls and rear air ventilation are standard across all variants.

Other convenience features include Remote Engine Start and One Push Start System (VX CVT with Honda SENSING, VX CVT, and S CVT). Smart entry, meantime, is available for both VX CVT with Honda SENSING and V CVT, while the S CVT and S MT variants feature keyless entry. Moreover, there are Power Adjustable Door Mirrors (all variants), while both the VX CVT with Honda SENSING and the V CVT variants come with Power Folding Door Mirrors with Integrated LED Side Turn Signal Lights.

New and more efficient engine MOTIVATION comes from a new 1.5-liter DOHC i-VTEC engine capable of generating 119 hp and 145 N-m maximum torque. This new and improved engine is paired with a new CVT transmission, resulting in better fuel efficiency and response.

Efficiency-wise, HCPI claims that the new engine achieved an impressive fuel economy rating of 24.71 kilometers per liter (V CVT), followed by the top-of-the-line 1.5 VX CVT Honda SENSING, registering 23.49 kilometers per liter. On the other hand, the 1.5 S CVT achieved 22.62 kilometers per liter. These figures were based on the recently concluded fuel economy run in partnership with the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP).

The test ran for 128 kilometers of highway driving, 60-80 kph speed at 1,500-2,000 engine rpm, with air-con

VOLVO EXPANSION SURE BOON TO INDUSTRY

V

OLVO continues to expand as it announces the opening next year of its dealership in Pampanga, another robust proof that the industry is on a redoubtable rebound.

Partnering with the prestigious Gateway Group, Volvo will open its doors near the booming Clark International Airport at Freeport in the second quarter of 2023, finally making its presence felt in the vastly-improving motoring market in Northern Luzon.

Said Volvo’s Paolo Ella: “The Volvo Pampanga showroom will reflect the brand’s new retail environment. Designed to showcase Scandinavian-inspired values of calm, clean lines with ‘cool on the outside and warm on the inside’-style architecture, the Volvo Retail Experience (VRE) is a space where guests can feel at home.”

Paolo invites the Volvo faithful to visit the temporary Volvo site at MacArthur Highway, Baliti, San Fernando, Pampanga, with the Gateway Group only too happy to provide ample assistance to Volvo’s discerning clientele.

“We tread on an exciting path towards becoming a truly electrifying car brand— both in the products we carry and the quality of service we provide,” said Alberto B. Arcilla, the lawyer-CEO of Volvo Philippines. “We have full confidence in our partner and look forward to a thriving relationship with the Northern Luzon market. We want to bring Volvo cars closer to people and provide them with the freedom to move in a personal, sustainable, and safe way.”

He said Volvo Philippines, through its distributor Scandinavian Motors Corp. and dealer Viking Cars, Inc., has been a strong and steady pillar in the local automotive industry for 28 years, adding: “We continue to roll forward with plans of expanding growth in key areas around the country.”

Present in the signing ceremony were Gateway Group’s top guns Markane Goho, Michael Goho and Gerry Hernandez. They were joined by Volvo’s Arcilla, Christopher Lee Yu, Matthew T. Lee and Froilan Valencia.

“Volvo Pampanga will certainly be a gateway for new and exciting opportunities for the brand. We look forward to seeing you

IN pursuit of Honda’s global goal of realizing zero traffic collision fatalities by 2050, the all-new BR-V’s top grade now comes with Honda SENSING. It offers a series of advanced safety technologies that provide comprehensive protection via timely warnings and automatically take action to reduce the risk of accidents.

The latest model has been awarded a 5-star rating in the latest ASEAN NCAP testing (New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asia).

The Honda SENSING safety features include Lead Car Departure Notification System (LCDN), Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Road Departure Mitigation System with Lane Departure Warning (RDM with LDW), and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). Standard features are Speed Sensing Auto Door Locks, Dual and Side Airbags, Reverse Camera with Guidelines, Driver and Front Passenger Seat Belt Reminder, Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Hill Start Assist, Security Alarm, Immobilizer, Emergency Stop Signal, and ISO Fix Child Seat Anchor.

Pricing, colors, and genuine accessories THE top-spec 1.5 VX CVT with Honda SENSING retails at P1.39 million, while the 1.5 V CVT is at P1.295 million. As for the S grades, the CVT variant retails at P1.15 million, while the manual version is at P1.09 million.

Available body colors are Premium Opal White Silver Pearl (new color, additional P25,000, VX CVT, and V CVT), Meteoroid Grey Metallic (new color; all variants), Crystal Black Pearl (V CVT and S CVT), Lunar Silver Metallic (all variants), Taffeta White (S CVT and S MT) For accessory upgrades, exhaust pipe finisher, tailgate garnish, front fender garnish, door mirror garnish, side step garnish, door visor, cargo tray, rear seat back protector, and door handle protector are all available.

there.” Yu said.

All the best, Albert.

Honda online

FROM Bryan Aaron Rivera: “Purchasing genuine parts and accessories is now easier with Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.’s (HCPI) online parts-selling platform at its official website www.hondaphil.com Honda recommends genuine parts and accessories that are guaranteed made of quality materials that passed stringent tests.

Using genuine parts helps ensure safety and maintain the vehicle’s pristine condition.

Customers can also have peace of mind and save money in the long run, as they wouldn’t have to worry about parts breaking down and needing to be replaced more often than usual. Now, customers can shop for Honda genuine parts and accessories in the comfort of their homes, or from anywhere, through their mobile devices, for regular-priced or discounted parts and accessories from 32 participating dealerships nationwide.”

Shopping made easy, indeed.

PEE STOP Congrats to Isuzu PHL Corp. for a successful staging of their Christmas Party after a two-year absence due to the pandemic. Cheers to Yvonne, Mila, Nelda & Chairman!...Glad to see the Vios Cup stage a super successful third and final leg at Clark Freeport, Pampanga. Till next year, fellas!...MayaSoh & Ikap warmly greet their parents, the Wigo/Avanza driving Ricky & Malaya Sadiwa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. Best wishes!