BusinessMirror December 17, 2021 by BusinessMirror

BSP keeps low rates despite risks of inflation By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Monetar y Board on Thursday decided to keep its all-time low interest rate for the last time this year, even amid the threats of upside risks to inflation coming into 2022. In its last meeting for the year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) maintained the interest rate on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2.0 percent. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were likewise kept at 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. This means that the BSP kept the all-time low interest rate for the entire year, keeping true to

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BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno’s forward guidance of keeping an accommodative monetary policy environment for “as long as possible” to support economic recovery. The monetary policy levers were left unchanged on Thursday despite risks to the country’s inflation outlook for next year. In the post-monetary policy meeting press conference, the BSP said they now expect inflation to average at 4.4 percent in 2021, up from their earlier projection of 4.3 percent. For next year, the forecast was also raised to 3.4 percent from the earlier forecast of 3.3 percent. “The latest baseline forecasts for 2021 and 2022 are slightly higher from the previous assess-

ment round owing to the higherthan-anticipated inflation outturn in November. Nevertheless, the projected inflation path remains within the inflation target band of 2-4 percent over the policy horizon,” Diokno said. “Average inflation is seen to settle close to the midpoint of the target range in 2023. Inflation expectations also continue to be anchored to the target level,” he added. The governor also said that the risks to these inflation forecasts are tilted toward the upside for 2022. Upside risks are linked mainly to the potential impact of continuing constraints on the supply of key food items and petitions for transport fare hikes. Strong global

demand amid lingering supplychain bottlenecks could also exert further upward pressures on international commodity prices. On the other hand, Diokno said the emergence of new variants continues to pose downside risks to the outlook for growth and inflation. “The Monetary Board observed that economic growth now appears to be on firmer ground, supported by the government’s accelerated vaccination program and calibrated relaxation of quarantine protocols. In particular, credit activity has gradually recovered in recent months, reflecting improved business activity and market sentiment,” the governor said. Continued on A9

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Economists pin hopes on amendments in PSA law

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

& Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

ILIPINOS are expected to have a Merrier Christmas this year as lockdowns are eased, but they will most certainly be greeted by high commodity prices, economists said.

OCAL economists and stakeholders are hoping that many of the amendments contained in the House of Representatives version of the Public Service Act (PSA) would be retained in the final version of the law. These amendments include two additional criteria needed to provide justification in maintaining Filipino ownership. These two criteria are the maintenance of life or occupation of the public and providing adequate service on demand. Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Luz A. Quimbo said in her discussion that this will help address concerns raised by stakeholders, such as the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, on the possible destruction of natural resources by foreign investors. “I think there’s little from Economics that can help us with this. Arguably, Economics is agnostic to where capital comes from. Capital is capital, regardless of where it comes from. So, I believe that the justification must be outside the purview of Philippines.” Economics,” Quimbo said. “I think He explained that the lost revthat the most important of these is enues are substantial funding ‘maintenance of life,’ which I believe source for goverment projects and is synonymous to protection of life.” pandemic response. In a recent forum of the UP In addition, it could have offSchool of Economics and Ayala set the tax burden of the Filipinos Corporation, UP MSI’s Laura David showsofofproducts, products, with hosts and shows with hosts and amid the financial struggles in initially expressed her misgivings guests providing more details and guests providing more details and pandemic, the official pointed out. on thetestimonies, PSA, particularly in efforts giving testimonies, Zalora said. giving Zalora said. Smuggled goods entering the to liberalize maritime transport, wouldalso alsohelp helpbrands brandsininItItwould Philippines, Arranza said, would on account of the destruction novateon onflexible flexiblesales salespromopromonovate eat into the market share of locals, wrought by as China on discounts, Philippine tions,such such asgiving giving discounts, tions, putting domestic industries at the corals in the West Philippine Sea. and offering easier and attracand offering easier and attraclosing end. tivepayment paymentoptions optionssuch suchasasthe the tive See “Economist,” A2 buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) opbuy-now-pay-later (BNPL) opContinued on A8 tion,which, which,ititsaid, said,emerged emergedasas tion, themost mostpopular popularoption optionamong among the Asian shoppers. Asian shoppers. 36.0744 n EU 56.8221 n SAUDI arabia 13.4170 Source: BSP (December 16, 2021) Indonesia, for for example, example, InIn Indonesia, Google saw saw a a “10x “10x increase increase inin Google searchesfor fore-wallet e-walletservices servicesand and searches 15xrise riseininBNPL BNPLservices servicesininthe the 15x lastfive fiveyears. years.Other Otherappealing appealing last payment options options like like monthly monthly payment installments,toto00percent percentinterinterinstallments, estfees feeson oncredit creditcards, cards,provide provide est access toto quality quality products products and and talsavviness savvinessand andtaste tastefor forluxury luxury access tal serviceswhile whilealso alsoimproving improvingfi-fiandsustainability. sustainability. services and nancialinclusion. inclusion. “Thereport reportisispositioned positionedasasa a nancial “The Zalora,for forinstance, instance,offers offers21 21 referencepoint pointthat thathelps helpsZalora’s Zalora’s Zalora, reference paymentmethods methodsacross acrossthe therere900brand brandpartners partnersnavigate navigatethe the payment 900 gion, including including cash-on-delivery cash-on-delivery region’sdiversity diversityand andevolving evolvingreregion, region’s andBNPL BNPLoptions optionsacross acrossthe themarmartaillandscape,” landscape,”Zalora’s Zalora’sCEO CEOGunGunand tail kets.ItItlaunched launchedits itsfirst firstco-brandco-brandjanSoni Sonisaid. said. kets. jan creditcard cardininpartnership partnershipwith with Aside from from digital digital partners partners ededcredit Aside RCBCand andMastercard Mastercardininthe thePhilPhillike Google, Google, Mastercard, Mastercard, H&M, H&M, RCBC like ippines,the thefirst-ever first-everfashion fashionand and Lush,Paula’s Paula’sChoice, Choice,HABIB, HABIB,AtAtippines, Lush,

‘DIGITAL DIASPORA’

The shipping crisis and the RESCUERS assist residents cross a bridge as they are evacuated to higher grounds in Tubay, Agusan del surge in domestic demand would Norte, on Thursday, December 16, 2021. Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated to safety likely account for the more exin the southern and central Philippines as Typhoon Odette (international code name Rai) approached pensive Christmas, according to Thursday at a time when authorities were warning the public to avoid crowds after the first infections them. caused by Covid-19’s omicron strain were reported in the country, officials said. Story on page A3. Former University of the Philippines School of Economics Dean Ramon L. Clarete told the BusinessMirror that delayed shipments caused by global logistics concerns would likely increase the price of Christmas goods, especially this month. “[With] delayed shipments of By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad losing about P250 billion in terms Christmas goods, even food... @TyronePiad of value-added tax annually due we would therefore expect some to smuggling based on a study it shortages and maybe our prices HE Federation of Philipcommissioned a few years ago. This may slightly go up,” Clarete told pine Industries (FPI) asked figure has gone up now, factoring this newspaper. the government to tighten in the price increases of the goods, Christmas goods, Clarete said, the monitoring of smuggling of he explained. ByManuel Manuel Cayon consumers become morediscerndiscernshould have been shipped two By T.T. Cayon consumers become more goods, saying the lost revenues Nevertheless, Arranza stressed ingand and connected,could weare are seeing months to a month before Deing we seeing from the illegal activity could have that lostconnected, revenues have betincredible innovations happening incredible innovations happening cember. But these goods could been used to boost economic deter served the country if they were inthe theretail retail sectorthat that completely in sector encounter delays due to existvelopment in the countryside and properly accounted for.completely reimagine theto shopping experireimagine the shopping experiing bottlenecks in shipping to strengthen pandemic response “We appeal the government ence,” GunjanSoni, Soni, chief executive ence,” Gunjan several countries—increasing amid the ongoing crisis. to concentrate onchief this.executive The FPI officer the Zalora Group, toldany an officer ofofthe Zalora Group, told an FPI Chairman Jesus Lim Arhas been doing this without their cost. online presentation of its Trender online presentation of its Trender ranza said in a virtual briefing let up, but we really need the govReport2021. 2021. Report See “High,” A2 on Thursday that the country is ernment to do its part because it Shedescribed describedthe the“shoppers “shoppersofof She tomorrow”asas“digital “digitaland anddiverse diverse tomorrow” across Southeast Asia.” across Southeast Asia.” n US 50.3340 n japan 0.4414 n UK 66.7731 n HK 6.4513 n CHINA 7.9042 “It’s a a digital digital diaspora,” diaspora,” she she “It’s said,citing citingGoogle Googletrend trendmonitormonitorsaid, ingthat thatshows shows40 40million millionnew newInIning ternetusers userscame cameonline onlineinin2021, 2021, ternet “bringingthe theinternet internetpenetration penetration “bringing SoutheastAsia Asiatoto75 75percent.” percent.” ininSoutheast “Infact, fact,eight eightout outofof10 10InterInter“In netusers usersininthe theregion regionare aredigidiginet talconsumers. consumers.Recognizing Recognizingthis this tal For one, one, the the Southeast Southeast Asia Asia shiftininadoption, adoption,brands brandsquickly quickly For shift Trender Report Report 2021 2021 byby Zalora Zalora expandedtheir theironline onlinepresence presencetoto Trender expanded showsthat that40 40million millionAsians Asiansmade made reachthese thesenew newdigital digitalconsumconsumshows reach theirdebut debutininInternet Internetuse useand and70 70 ers,and andZalora Zalorareported reporteda a19-per19-pertheir ers, millionhave havemade madetheir theirfirst firstonline online centincrease increaseininnew newbrands brandsthat that million cent purchasewithin withinthe the2020 2020and and2021 2021 joinedthe theplatform platforminin2021,” 2021,”she she purchase joined period, many many ofof them them attracted attracted added. period, added. anddrawn drawninto intoactual actualpurchase purchasebyby Withmore moreSoutheast SoutheastAsians Asians and With productsales salespromotion promotionand anddisdisbrowsingnow nowand andgetting gettingthemthemproduct browsing countofferings. offerings. selves more more online, online, the the average average count selves

AVAOCITY—A CITY—Aleading leading AVAO onlinebrand brandretailer retailerin inAsia Asia online seeingaasharp sharpbehavioral behavioral isisseeing shiftamong among consumers consumersand andbrand brand shift makersthat thatmay mayreinvent reinventand andinnovate innovate makers approaches, especially fromthe thelatter, latter, approaches, especially PESO exchange rates from asdata dataanalytics—since analytics—sincethe theonset onsetof ofthe the as pandemic—indicatethe theemergence emergenceof of pandemic—indicate morediscerning discerningconsumers consumersadaptive adaptiveto to more electronic,or oronline, online,shopping shoppingexperience. experience. electronic,

has all the power given to them by law and we will be there to help as we have been doing,” the FPI official said. He said that it can be used to incentivize manufacturers to locate their operations in the regions with less economic development. “That way, you will decongest traffic in Metro Manila and you will also create a balanced economic development in the farflung provinces,” he explained. “And if you have a balanced economic development, there will be no second-class workers in the

n singapore 36.8720 n australia

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FPI warns govt on huge cost of smuggling

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A2 Friday, December 17, 2021

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13K OFWs in quarantine stretch Owwa’s facilities, resources By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ROUND 13,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are now back in the country in time for the Christmas holidays, putting considerable strain on quarantine accommodations of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa).

High... Continued from A1

And this is not likely to happen this December, he said. “Higher logistics costs [may continue the next] one or two years [as the world comes] out of the global economic crisis. It will take a while for

During the launch of the National Action Plan on Sustainable, Gender-Responsive Return and Reintegration of OFWs last Thursday, Owwa Administrator Hans J. Cacdac disclosed they are providing accommodation to 12,800 OFWs. He noted the said OFWs are now staying in 212 hotel quarantine facilities. "There is no question that the Covid-19 (novel coronavirus disease) pandemic has stretched our resources," Cacdac said. The government is currently requiring all inbound passengers, including OFWs, to undergo quarantine, which could range from 3

to 7 days depending on their vaccination status and country of origin. The said measures were implemented amid the influx of returning OFWs, who want to spend Christmas with their loved ones. OWWA earlier projected around 80,000 OFWs are expected to arrive in the country this month. The longer mandatory facility-based quarantine was enforced by the government as a precaution to prevent more cases of the Omicron variant of

Covid-19 from entering the country. Health experts warned the heavy mutations of the Omicron variant makes it more infectious compared to other Covid-causing SARSCoV-2 variants. Last Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed there were two passengers, who arrived a few weeks ago, who tested positive for the Omicron variant. Both were tested while they were under facilitybased quarantine.

industries [to adjust]. [This] may be a reality we have to face in the next two years.” For Monetary Board member V. Bruce J. Tolentino, Christmas for Filipinos this year will be more

expensive if the current global shipping concerns—lack of vessels and containers—persist. The price increase could be felt in meat and wheat-based products such as pancit, bread, ham, since the raw materials for these items are imported, Tolentino added. “If shipping concerns continue, we are going to have a more expensive Christmas Noche Buena especially for those commodities which come from meat products and wheat,” he told the BusinessMirror. “These items come on ocean transport from the west coast and the port of Los Angeles right now is clogged. There is also a lack of workers due to Covid-19 but the more serious one is containers, they are really more expensive today,” he added. Economist Ramon Clarete pointed out that the global shipping problems have caused delays in the arrival of imported goods and food products, resulting in tighter supply and higher prices. “Christmas goods must have been shipped two months ago, not one month ago because of the bottlenecks in shipping in many countries. So, we would therefore expect some shortages and maybe our prices slightly going up this Christmas,” he said. “If you have shortages, price increases should be expected,” he added. Clarete thinks the country must “double” its work in producing products that can be sourced locally, particularly in the case of pork, marred by shortages due to African swine fever (ASF). This way, he explained, the country will not be too dependent on imports, mitigating the impact of higher shipping costs. “For products we can produce locally, we should double our work to build up the local capability. For example in pork, there are things we can do such as have more breeders available to local producers,” he said. “The logistics prob-

lem will persist for another year or two. This is a reality we have to face in the next two years,” he added.

Domestic reopening

Along with these concerns is the reopening of the domestic economy and greater consumer confidence, as seen in people filling up the once empty malls and restaurants. Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Roehlano M. Briones said many restaurants have started opening in time for the holidays, and a natural consequence of this is higher prices. Briones told the BusinessMirror this will also translate to the prices of specific commodities like rice which is the country’s staple. “I expect the price pressures to start this December and we’ll feel more of it by January. It could be attenuated now because it’s harvest season or tailend of the harvest season but yeah, once harvest ends, and we’re now drawing down our stocks, that’s when we’ll start feeling it,” Briones explained, partly in Filipino. The confidence to spend, Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) Associate Director Ser Percival K. Peña-Reyes said, is driven by the decline in Covid-19 cases. Peña-Reyes expects that as the economy moves to a lower alert level, “spending will be increasingly intense.” This may be what is referred to as “revenge spending” which is nothing more than pent-up demand. This is common given that the pandemic prevented people from spending and now that the economy has become more open, Filipinos would have more confidence to spend. He said in savings, which is essentially future consumption, there is “delayed gratification.” This can explain the sudden increase in spending in the country.

Economists... Continued from A1

In her presentation, David said 40 percent of the country’s coral reefs are located in the West Philippine Sea but due to the incursion of China in the disputed waters, half of these reefs have already been destroyed. However, given the explanation of Quimbo, David said this maintenanceof-life provision somehow assures them that the environment will be protected even if the government moves to liberalize maritime transport in the country. “Yung sinabi ni Congressman Stella kanina, nandito yun sa bagong [What Rep. Stella said earlier, it’s here in the new] version for the inclusion of critical infrastructure,” David said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “I hope this is also what the bicameral committee will approve including what Congressman Stella said earlier,” she added, partly in Filipino. David also noted the recommendations of former Energy Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General Rafael Lotilla to maximize the country’s international trade agreements to protect the environment. Lotilla told the BusinessMirror that stakeholders have legitimate concerns particularly on the impact of the PSA on security, the environment, and the overall “opening up” of the economy to foreign players. However, one way to address this is to limit the opening of these public services to Asean neighbors who share the same concerns as the Philippines. This was explained in greater detail by Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Ramonette Serafica, who said that even if 100-percent foreign ownership will be allowed in certain public services, the country can actually allow international players from the Asean to have 70-percent ownership while others may given less. Further, Serafica said developing a rules of origin (ROO) type of system to be put in place in terms of foreign investments in these public services will also help better protect the country’s security and environment. These can be possible with the signing of trade agreements to ensure that stakeholder’s concerns will be protected. Serafica said since trade agreements are legally binding, sanctions can be imposed on violations committed by signatory countries. This, she said, is the “rules-based” system that is in effect in trade pacts. If there are violations, aggrieved countries can file cases against violators in the context of these trade agreements. “In the context of trade agreements, which are binding, we can have what they call ‘as water’ so for example, Asean, even though, let’s say, 100 percent is passed, for Asean we will commit only 70 percent. For Asean investors, they will have more confidence to invest within the context of an agreement because there’s security in the sense of a higher level of comfort, because its done in the context of the Asean community,” Serafica explained. “I think it’s important we emphasize that there is capacity building, there is cooperation, so that’s a good thing about dealing with Asean first. If there’s this issue about violations, of course [it’s better] to start with the people you are comfortable with. I’m sure there is a way for that legally through international trade law, that that is feasible,” she added. The amendments of the PSA, Serafica said in a presentation, could usher in three structural reforms—liberalizing services trade by relaxing foreign equity limitations; improving regulatory governance; and updating regulatory substances, which refer to specifics of the content of the regulation. The PSA, Serafica said, will help improve the country’s openness to foreign direct investments. Part of the reason for this is the existing PSA, a law created in 1935. Currently, based on data from the OECD, the Philippines is the third most restrictive economy when it comes to foreign investments. The most restrictive economies are Libya and the Palestinian Authority. Cai U. Ordinario

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Group seeks lifting of ban on provincial buses in NCR By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

HE Nagkakaisang Samahan ng Mga Nangangasiwa ng Panlalawigang Bus sa Pilipinas has appealed for the lifting of the ban on provincial buses in the National Capital Region (NCR) and allow them to use their private terminals once again “as a gift” to around 4 million regular bus passengers during the holidays. Small traders also rely on buses to transport goods from different provinces to the NCR, which helps rev up the economy. In a news statement, Alejandro Yague, the group’s executive director said provincial bus operation in Metro Manila has been suspended since March 2020 due to Covid-19. But now that Metro Manila is under Alert Level 2 status, the group is appealing to relax the rules that have severely affected not only the transport sector but also the riding public who were deprived to make necessary trips through public utility buses. With the relaxation of quarantine restrictions, they said it is also high time to allow provincial bus operators and drivers to ply their routes and serve the riding public once more. The group said around 4 million Filipinos regularly ride buses from Regions 3 and 4A alone to travel to Metro Manila and vice versa. The industry hires directly approximately 60,000 bus drivers, bus conductors, and office staff, not counting the contractual and support services that include security guards, mechanics, and utility personnel. The ripple effect of the closure of the provincial bus industry translates to more than 200,000 jobs lost if one considers the loss of jobs of security and janitorial agencies, machine shops, parts and materials suppliers, vendors and concessionaires in the terminals, and other peripheral businesses relying on provincial bus operations. Under the so-called terminal exchanges, which the Department of

Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) adopted due to the pandemic, passengers coming from the provinces have to disembark in areas too inconvenient to their final destinations in Metro Manila. Such is the case of passengers coming from Central and Northern Luzon who must get off at the Philippine Sports Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, which is 30 kilometers away from Metro Manila; or Valenzuela City Gateway Terminal which is likewise a good two to three hours trip to get to their final destination in Metro Manila. The change in the bus will add at least one to two hours to their trip, causing great inconvenience and wasted time. This leaves the passengers with no other choice but to take taxicabs or AUVs up to two or three times to get to their final destinations in Metro Manila. Worse, they are forced to cough out additional P2,000 to P3,000 per person in most cases to reach their destination. According to the group, prolonging the grounding of provincial buses will eventually lead to bankruptcy of bus companies and loss of muchneeded revenues on the part of the government due to the inability of the bus companies to service loans, sustain overhead costs like staff, lease, contracts, and other fixed costs, as insistence on using common terminals would lead to higher costs, and fewer riders as passengers will eventually shift to point-to-point or P2P transport services which are allowed to enter Manila with no limitations, or other colorum vans that can do the same. The group said it is high time for concerned government agencies to relax the rules on provincial bus operation the same way it has relaxed the rules that now allow the public to finally go to and enjoy malls, markets, theaters, theme parks, and other public places to open up the economy. They need public buses to transport these same people whom they would like to patronize these establishments and to be the work force of these establishments.

Second national vaccination days off to a good start despite storm threat

ESPITE the postponement of vaccination activities in storm-hit areas, the government was still able to administer around a million jabs during the start of the second National Vaccination Days (NVD). In a televised interview with PTV, National Vaccination Operation Center (NVOC) chairperson Myrna C. Cabotaje said they were able to administer 953,624 Covid-19 jabs last Wednesday. She said this covered the vaccination efforts in the National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as well as Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4A, or Calabarzon. Calabarzon registered the highest number of administered vaccine at 187,000, followed by Central Luzon at 168,000 and Ilocos

Region at 66,000. The NVD in the said areas will be held from December 15 to 17. Vaccination efforts in other regions were postponed as local government units (LGU) in the said areas brace for the landfall of tropical cyclone Odette (international code name Rai). The NVDs in the said storm-affected areas will be from December 20 to 22, 2021. But even with the said disruption, Cabotaje said she is still confident they will be able to reach their target 7 million administered Covid-19 shots before the end of the month. She issued the statement after reporting that Regions 1 and 2 are already 37 percent complete with their three-day target administered jabs. Samuel P. Medenilla

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, December 17, 2021 A3

Authorities evacuate 100K people as Odette slams southeastern PHL T

YPHOON Odette slammed into the southeastern Philippines on Thursday and was blowing across island provinces where nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas that could be devastated by flash floods, landslides and tidal surges, disaster officials said. Forecasters said Odette (international code name Rai), which had sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour (km/h) and gusts of up to 230 km/h, blew from the Pacific Ocean into the Siargao Islands. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage, but military and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescue personnel were helping residents stranded by fast-rising waters. Disaster-response officials said about 10,000 villages lie in the projected path of the typhoon, which has a 400-kilometer-wide rain band and is one of the strongest to hit the country this year. PCG said it has grounded all vessels, stranding nearly 4,000 passengers and ferry and cargo ship workers in dozens of southern and central ports. Several mostly domestic flights have been canceled and schools and workplaces were shut in the most vulnerable areas. Disaster response personnel continued to rescue and move

Palace lauds bicam approval of proposed ’22 natl budget By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

ALACAÑANG is eyeing to boost the country’s pandemic recovery initiatives next year with the passage of the P5-trillion 2022 proposed national budget. In a brief news statement issued on Thursday, Acting Presidential spokesman Karlo B. Nograles lauded Congress for fast-tracking the ratification of the 2022 national budget. He said the Office of the President is eagerly waiting for the transmittal of the budget by Congress after it was ratified by the House of Representatives and Senate Bicameral Conference Committee. “We are grateful to our partners in the Legislature for ensuring that the Duterte administration’s last full-year budget will sustain the legacy of real change for future generations,” Nograles said. The concurrent Cabinet Secretary said the funds would be used for the Covid-19 resilience initiatives and socioeconomic recovery efforts of the government. Among the salient features of the proposed 2022 national budget is a P50 billion allocation for the special risk allowance of health-care workers and another P50 billion for the procurement of additional Covid-19 vaccine booster shots.

AVIATION SECURITY ADVISERS Police Colonel Cesar Gerente, head of the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group Region 3, inducts the new set of officers of the AVSEGroup Advisory Council on Tuesday, December 14, at Fiona’s Farm in Magalang, Pampanga. Renowned businessman Irineo “Bong” Alvaro is the council’s chairman, while Clark International Airport Corp. Vice President for Operations Irish “IC” Calaguas will serve as vice chairman. The law enforcement unit responsible for enforcing laws and regulations related to air travel in the country is the PNP-AVSEGroup. The AVSEGroup Advisory Council, on the other hand, provides recommendations to intergovernment agencies in ensuring the safety and security of the riding public in the aviation sector. PHOTO COURTESY OF CIAC

away residents from flood-hit and threatened villages amid the raging typhoon, which has pummeled the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao and Southern Luzon with strong wind and rain. In Tubigon, Bohol, Coast Guard personnel ferried residents to higher grounds, while its other members rescued villagers living near the swollen Osmeña Creek in Cagayan de Oro City. The PCG also preemptively evacuated residents of Poblacion 1 and 2 in Tubay, Agusan del Norte. As of Thursday morning, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that at least 4,615 families in Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Biliran, and Southern Leyte have been moved to safer areas. Another 28, 228 people were also preemptively evacuated in Dinagat and Surigao and Agusan provinces. Local officials in the affected provinces reported cases of flooding and landslide in some areas due to heavy rains and strong winds, which is affecting a large portion of the country, forcing the cancellation of classes and government work in the severely threatened and hardest-hit areas. In Caraga, powerful winds wrecked structures hours even before the typhoon could make its forecasted landfall.

Early video posts from disaster monitoring agencies of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Agusan provinces showed strong winds plucking off roofs of houses. Water levels have surge in major rivers in Caraga, which was placed on a red warning. The PCG has monitored a total of 4,358 passengers, drivers and cargo helpers; 1,969 rolling cargoes; 90 vessels and nine motor banca stranded in Bicol, Central Visayas, North Eastern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas and Western Visayas. Another 254 vessels and 137 motor banca are taking shelter as a precautionary measure against the possible threat of the typhoon. Typhoon Odette is the second strongest typhoon to hit Mindanao after Typhoon Pablo, which hit Mindanao in 2012. Pablo, with sustained winds of 280 km/h, was a Category 5 typhoon, which killed at least 1,500 people. Typhoon Sendong, although packing a 95 km/h wind, brought a much destructive impact in 2011 with about 2,000 dead or missing in northern Mindanao. Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar said he suspended vaccinations in his region of nearly half a million people due to the typhoon. More than 70 percent of villagers

in the province have gotten at least one shot, and Evardone expressed concern because some vaccines stored in Eastern Samar will expire in a few months. Overcrowding is unavoidable, he said, in the limited number of evacuation centers in his province, where more than 32,000 people have been moved to safety. “It’s impossible to observe social distancing, it will really be tough,” Evardone told The Associated Press. “What we do is we cluster evacuees by families. We don’t mix different people in the same place as a precaution.” About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is also located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The Philippine Red Cross said it is closely monitoring the typhoon situation after Chairman and CEO Sen. Richard Gordon instructed all local chapters to prepare for Typhoon Odette. All PRC staff and volunteers from Cebu, Passi, Aklan, Bohol, LapuLapu chapters were activated and on standby for possible deployment. AP, Rene Acosta, Manuel T. Cayon and Claudeth MoconCiriaco

A4 Friday, December 17, 2021 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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DA gets ₧100-M fresh ADB loan for farm-fishery sector By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it has received a $2-million (P100 million) grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to bankroll a program that seeks to “reduce income inequality” among farmers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In a news statement, DA said the ADB signed the agreement on Thursday to fund the Philippine Competitive and Inclusive Agriculture Development Program (CIADP2). The funding for the CIADP2 was made through ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. “The CIADP2 aims to reduce income inequality by expanding economic opportunities in the country’s farm-fishery sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” it added. DA said the bulk of the grant or $1.493 million, will be used to establish two rice-based cluster farm models in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao—to “showcase the farm and fishery

consolidation and clustering [F2C2] program.” The DA added that the program will also implement cluster farming technologies used by more advanced countries like Japan, as well as neighboring rice-exporting countries like Vietnam and Thailand. “The aim of the farm clustering is to replicate the lessons learned from relevant projects or other undertakings in the Philippines, highlighting the importance of the participation of LGUs and private sector as partners,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said. “We sincerely thank the ADB and the Japanese government for their generosity,” he added. The DA said at least $250,000 of the grant would be used by the government to conduct a mid-term evaluation of the rice trade liberalization (RTL), particularly its impacts on the rice market, industry stakeholders and government’s role in rice trade. The budget will also cover a mid-term evaluation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP).

“The remaining amount will be used for the conduct of rapid analyses of key agriculture commodities [e.g., coconut, sugar, and pork] for timely decision-making on key agricultural policy issues, establish a centralized database for key agricultural commodities at the DA, and assist relevant government agencies in achieving gender targets in all four concerned policy actions under CIADP2, ensuring that the program implementation will include gender mainstreaming,” it said. The DA said the CIADP is a $400-million policy-based loan, in line with the 2017−2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP), which aims to support government’s efforts to increase the competitiveness and inclusiveness of the agriculture sector by implementing agricultural trade policy and regulatory reforms, enhance public services and finance for the sector, and increase social protection for rural families who may be affected by the reforms.

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COA’s participatory audit strategy wins top spot in OGP impact award

HE Commission on Audit’s (COA) Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) strategy was selected first place for the Asia Pacific Region by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for its 2021 OGP Impact Awards. The recognition was announced at the Opening Plenary of the OGP Global Summit held from December 15 to 17, 2021. The OGP Impact Awards “highlight commitments that have demonstrably improved people’s lives or the quality of democracy,” and was launched by the OGP, along with the OGP Local Innovation Awards, as part of its 10th anniversary celebration to recognize the work of open government reformers in improving transparency, accountability, participatory nature, and impact of open government work. Launched in November 2012, the CPA strategy aims to enhance citizen participation in the public audit process. It is a mechanism of constructive engagement between citizens and government in conducting public audits and capacity building activities, to uphold the people’s primordial right to a clean government and the prudent utilization of public resources. The CPA is founded on the premise that public accountability can prosper only with a vigilant and involved citizenry. “We would like our people, especially the younger generation, to be involved in the work of governance. Citizens are included in the audit team to make government more effective, transparent, and accountable. After all, democracy is not only for the people, it is also by the people,” said COA Chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo. “We pledge to engage more civil society organizations as we vow to continue to cultivate this journey towards a constructive

partnership among citizens and government auditors for a more transparent, resilient, accountable and open government because this is the heart of CPA,” he added. Since 2012, CPA engagements included the multibillion-peso KAMANAVA Flood Control Project which involved 13 flood control structures meant to mitigate flooding in Northern Metro Manila, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds and the local government units’ performance in their response to natural calamities and man-made disasters, Farmto-Market Roads where compliance with specifications and the selection of locations were validated through a geo tagging tool, and the Solid Waste Management Program where the implementation of proper waste segregation and disposal was validated, including the level of satisfaction of residents on the overall cleanliness of their communities. COA has institutionalized the CPA through COA Resolution 2018–006 dated February 1, 2018. Winning first place in the Impact Awards, on the 10th anniversary of the OGP, is doubly meaningful to the COA because the CPA strategy also won the first OGP Bright Spots prize during the OGP Global Summit held in London in 2013. A video presentation on the CPA was shown by the OGP during the Civic Space Plenary Session on Wednesday, December 15, 2021. According to the OGP, the voting process had been competitive with 45 applications for the Impact Awards and 60 for the Local Innovation Awards. Over 8,000 OGP community members voted for the Impact Awards, while the Local Innovation Awards garnered votes from around 11,000 OGP members.

Rules on retaking of BARMM public lands for CARP redistribution issued By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) recently issued rules and regulations on the retaking of unused government-owned lands (GOLs) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) for distribution to qualified beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). DAR-MAFAR Joint Administrative Order (AO) 07, Series of 2021 stipulates that all departments, bureaus, offices, and instrumentalities of the government in the BARMM shall identify their coverable GOLs, and submit a list to the DAR, indicating the location and area of the said lands, actual use, and legal basis of ownership. AO 7 mandates that the DAR should provide central direction and coordination to the agrarian reform program to ensure the effective implementation of Executive Order 75, Series of 2019.

In coordination with the MAFAR, the DAR shall prepare the total inventory of the coverable GOLs, which includes the list of lands submitted by the concerned departments, agencies, instrumentalities, and those identified by the DAR. The DAR, in coordination with MAFAR, will also undertake the validation of the lands listed in the inventory, taking into consideration their suitability for agricultural use, limitations on their use under existing laws and issuances, their respective metes and bounds, and other relevant criteria required. Under the said AO, the identification, screening, selection, and installation of qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) will be based in accordance with Republic Act (RA) 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) and other related issuances of the DAR and the MAFAR. In cases of disputes, claims, and controversies involving the coverability of GOLs, the DAR Secretary will have an exclusive jurisdiction to decide based on Section 50 of RA 6657, as amended.

Trade fair in Clark to showcase GenSan, Central Luzon products

LARK FREEPORT—A tourism and trade expo that will showcase and promote General Santos City and Central Luzon’s local goods and products will be held in this free port from December 17 to 19, 2021. The trade fair was made possible

through the partnership of Clark Development Corp. (CDC), local government unit (LGU) of General Santos City, and Subic Clark Alliance for Development. Other partner agencies who supported this initiative are the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Tourism (Regions 3 and 12), Greater Clark Visitors Bureau, Hotels and Restaurants Associations in Pampanga, GenSan Producers A ssociation, and Fresh Frozen Association of GenSan. The province of Pampanga as well as the cities of Angeles, Mabalacat, and San Fernando also pledged their support for the trade fair.

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Neda chief cites critical role of innovation in Philippines’ pandemic recovery program

HILE the Philippine economy has already shown initial signs of recovery, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the country must push on and sustain its efforts to innovate. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said innovations remain crucial to advancing the country’s recovery and eradicate poverty under the AmBisyon 2040. These innovations include the passage of key legislations such as the amendments to the Public Service Act and the implementation of the Philippine identification system (PhilSys) and the Philippine Innovation Act. “Through more innovations and reforms aimed at addressing the country’s policy distortions beginning with the most basic sector, agriculture, we can transform our agriculture, manufacturing, and our services sectors, and provide better economic opportunities and outcomes for all,” Chua said. “Innovation is not simply about cutting-edge technology. Rather, at its core, innovation is about working together to find the best solutions to our most pressing problems— even basic ones in agriculture and financial inclusion. Everyone has a role to play in strengthening our innovation culture,” Chua said. The Neda chief said the economy’s performance this year, particularly in the third quarter of 2021, has exceeded expectations and will allow the country to recover its pre-pandemic GDP growth level in early 2022. However, efforts to sustain this growth means innovating, particularly the agriculture sector. Chua said, “except for some city-states, no country has achieved high-income status without first addressing agricultural productivity.” Chua said the country had already made the first step towards

this through the Rice Tariffication Law, which succeeded in bringing down rice prices for all Filipino consumers, while increasing the productivity and income of rice farmers through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Other reforms that will spur innovation in the country include amendments to the PhilSys. “Neda fully supports the urgent passage of amendments to the Public Service Act. Relaxing restrictions on foreign ownership will help us attract more investments and create more jobs that are crucial to accelerating our economic recovery. This, in turn, will expose us to new ideas, best practices, and high skills in an increasingly globalized world,” Chua said. PhilSys provides a unique and digitalized proof of identity to give every Filipino, especially the poor, access to much-needed social, financial, and digital services. As of December 10, 2021, PSA has registered 50,014,382 Filipinos to the demographic and biometric data collection. In partnership with the PSA, the Land Bank of the Philippines has also processed 6,786,939 bank account applications for low-income families through a co-location strategy in PhilSys registration centers. Along with these, the full implementation of the Philippine Innovation Act will further solidify the country’s growth prospects and improve its global innovation index by encouraging more research, development, and adaptation of new technologies. As the vice-chair of the National Innovation Council (NIC), Neda is developing the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document. This 10-year foresight will weave and harmonize existing policies and strategies based on the evolving innovation ecosystems. Cai U. Ordinario

Senate OKs vaporized nicotine, non-nicotine products regulation bill on third reading By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

HE Senate voted on third and final reading to approve a bill regulating vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, with at least five of those who voted “yes” expressing reservations, but stressing it was better to have this measure as a foil against tobacco smoking, as such will give quitters a “soft landing.” Nineteen voted yes, two abstained — Senators Bong Go and Manny Pacquiao—and two dissented, Senators Pia Cayetano and Kiko Pangilinan. Five of the 19 affirmative voters, led by Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, whose first wife Violeta Calvo was a serial smoker who died of cancer, read into the records their explanation of votes. Drilon noted he had, in 24 years as lawmaker,consistentlyworkedagainst measures favoring tobacco, singling out the 2003 landmark measure where he worked with the late doctor-senator Juan M. Flavier and which became an omnibus measure to regulate smoking. Flavier, he recalled, transformed his “Yosi Kadiri” advocacy as former health secretary into legislation. Sen. Richard Gordon said he abhors smoking and repeatedly counseled friends and relatives to kick the habit. But Gordon stressed he saw vaping as providing many of them a soft landing, and if such would help them quit tobacco, he would favor vapes. Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara recalled how his late father, former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara, quit smoking after collapsing on the tennis court. Sens. Joel Villanueva and Majority Leader Migs Zubiri also explained their “yes” with reservations.

Meanwhile, Cayetano, who had lengthily interpellated Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, the main sponsor of SB 2239, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act on the floor, also explained her vote. Her key objection was the new measure’s move to remove the regulatory powers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and move this to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). She reminded colleagues of how, “during the deliberations of the Sin Tax Bill around two years ago, HTPs [heated tobacco products] and vapes were included. No one questioned why they were included, because everyone accepted. I don’t recall. Everyone accepted from my recollection that they accepted that they are a sin product. They are harmful products. There was no discussion on that, in fact, the question was, how harmful are they, and how beneficial can they be? And that is why we did not ban. We did not ban it because it was accepted that we will allow these products, but we will regulate. Because there could be potential dangers, especially to the youth, and to the old.” Cayetano continued: “And so we decided, under the Sin Tax law, that the minimum age would be 21 years old; we limit the flavors because studies show that what attracts the youth to try vaping is the flavors. So we limited it to Plain Tobacco and Plain Menthol. And we decided that rightfully, the jurisdiction would be with the FDA. The FDA has clearly, under its laws that we also passed some nine years ago, I believe, it’s any product. It could be food, it could be drugs, it could be cosmetics, devices, anything that may have an effect on health and would require regulation.”

Friday, December 17, 2021 A5

Mindanao’s industry, services sectors incur P316.42-B losses amid contagion By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

HE pandemic has cost the Industry and Services Sector in Mindanao some P316.42 billion in losses, according to an assessment made by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). In the Rapid Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Covid-19 in Mindanao, Researcher Team Leader Christopher Prior said in his presentation on Thursday, the Industry Sector lost P134.35 billion, while the Services Sector lost P182.07 billion. However, agriculture, fishery and forestry (AFF) saw a growth of P13 million. Former MinDA Chairman and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said this was understandable given that food was a basic need. “In Region 9, it [AFF] fell by 1 percent, but in the other regions, it grew by up to 3.9 percent in one region in 2019 to 2020. Our opportunity costs study estimated that the growth was worth P13 million,” Prior said. Prior said lower occupancy rates, passenger traffic, and food services and accommodation hounded the tourism sector of Mindanao.

1st petition vs BBM’s 2022 candidacy to be resolved soon, Comelec assures By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

HE Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Second Division is now in its final phase of resolving the first petition seeking the cancellation of the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. Last Monday, the division finally ordered the petitioners led by Christian B. Buenafe and the camp of Marcos to submit their respective memoranda on the case. It gave both parties five days from the day of receipt of the order to make the submission before it resolves the case. “Thereafter, the case is deemed submitted for resolution after the lapse of the given period, with or without the parties’ memoranda,” the Comelec Second Division said in its five-page order. In a brief statement, the legal counsel of the Buenafe’s group, Theodore O. Te, said the five-day period would lapse next week. “Memoranda are due on the 20th [of December], [since] the 5th day [of the deadline] being a non working day,” Te said. The division, which includes Comelec Commissioners Socorro B. Inting and Antonio T. Kho Jr., gave the deadline for the submission of the memorandums after denying the separate motions of both parties. Buenafe’s group filed for a request for issuance of Subpoena Duces Tecum dated November 19, 2021, and Ex Parte Urgent Motion for Issuance of Subpoena Duces Tecum related to the tax case of Marcos in 1995 and 1997. The group urged Comelec to cancel Marcos’s COC due to his tax violation conviction and supposed falsification of his COC. Marcos, for his part, requested a face-to-face hearing on the case. The Comelec Second Decision denied both requests after it concluded that “clarificatory hearing and the addition of more evidence” are no longer necessary in the resolution of the case.

In terms of food services and accommodations, some regions saw declines of around 28.6 percent to as much as 49.6 percent. In terms of passenger traffic, air travel was 75 percent lower, while sea travel declined by as much as 85 percent. Tourism receipts in the Zamboanga Peninsula Region, which is the main tourist destination in Mindanao, fell by P2.9 billion in 2020, while in Davao Region, the losses reached P14.1 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Further, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region also struggled during the pandemic. This led to significant problems since 99.5 percent of all Mindanao businesses are MSMEs. These MSMEs accounted for a low of 68.5 percent of all jobs in a region while in others, the share would reach as much as 90.8 percent of total employment. Prior said in Zamboanga, some 16,000 MSMEs partially or totally closed in the first two quarters of 2020. This led to losses of P8.2 billion by the third quarter of last year. In Northern Mindanao, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported some 48,000 businesses partially or totally closed in

the second quarter but resumed operations in May 2020. In the Caraga Administrative Region, data from the DTI showed 71 percent of MSMEs were partially or total closed in April 2020. The estimated losses in this region reached P4.57 billion as of April 2020. “MSMEs indicated that finance is one of their main obstacles in recovery, particularly because business savings have been ran down; bank loans are not normally designed as ‘business recovery’ loans nor available in the smaller quantities that many MSME would need,” Prior said in his slides. “DTI CARES [Covid-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises] loans through SBCorp have to be more easily available and market opportunity consumer fairs should be resumed under health protocols as soon as possible,” he added. Piñol added that the concerns of MSMEs are the same with Filipino households, especially the middle class. He said the findings of the assessment showed that the middle class had no safety nets to rely on during the pandemic. He said while rich and poor Filipinos suffered, they were able to rely on their own savings or funds in the case of the rich while the poor were

able to rely on government assistance such as direct cash grants or through programs such as the 4Ps or the TUPAD program. “The fourth point that I liked very much about the presentation of Chris Prior was when he pointed out that the middle class actually was the most affected of all sectors of all society in this pandemic,” Piñol said. “There should be an economic recovery fund available to the middle class for them to be able to get back on their feet and contribute to our country’s economic recovery.” The lack of programs and policies for the middle class, according to former National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Secretary General Romulo A. Virola, dates as far back as 2010. He said Filipinos, regardless of whether they are poor, middle, or high income are getting poorer in the Philippines. These policies and programs, Virola said, should include those that seek to “empower” these households to contribute to the country’s economic growth and well-being. He said these include access to affordable credit in case middle-income households would like to get capital to start a business or skills training to sustain their sources of livelihood.

Friday, December 17, 2021

Editor: Angel R. Calso

People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing site in Times Square, New York on December 13. The new Omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, threatening to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of Delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row. AP/Seth Wenig

US faces double coronavirus surge as Omicron advances

he new Omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, threatening to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of Delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row. The White House on Wednesday insisted there was no need for a lockdown because vaccines are widely available and appear to offer protection against the worst consequences of the virus. But even if Omicron proves milder on the whole than Delta, it may disarm some of the lifesaving tools available and put immune-compromised and elderly people at particular risk as it begins a rapid assault on the United States. “Our Delta surge is ongoing and, in fact, accelerating. And on top of that, we’re going to add an Omicron surge,” said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, who monitors variants for a research collaboration led by Harvard Medical School. “That’s alarming, because our hospitals are already filling up. Staff are fatigued,” leaving limited capacity for a potential crush of Covid-19 cases “from an Omicron wave superimposed on a Delta surge.” Most likely, he and other experts said at a news briefing Tuesday, an Omicron surge is already under way in the United States, with the latest mutant coronavirus outpacing the nation’s ability to track it. Based on specimens collected last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Omicron accounted for about 3 percent of geneticallysequenced coronaviruses nationally. Percentages vary by region, with the highest—13 percent—in the New York/New Jersey area. But Harvard experts said these are likely underestimates because Omicron is moving so fast that surveillance attempts can’t keep up. Globally, more than 75 countries have reported confirmed cases of Omicron. In the United States, 36 states have detected the variant. Meanwhile, Delta is surging in many places, with hot spots in New England and the upper Midwest. The five states with the highest two-week rolling average of cases per 100,000 people are New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont. Universities are abruptly closing classrooms during finals week with infections multiplying at a fast rate. Both the NBA and NHL have had to postpone games, and the NFL had its worst two-day outbreak since the start of the pandemic, with dozens of players infected. Outside the US, the president of the European Union said Omicron will become the dominant variant in a month and declared that “once again, this Christmas will be overshadowed by the pandemic.” Scientists around the world are racing to understand Omicron, which has a large number of worrisome mutations in important regions of its genetic structure that could affect how it spreads from person to person. How quickly the number of cases doubles, known as “doubling time,” can give a preview of what the disease burden could be in a few weeks. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky

said Wednesday that early data suggests Omicron is more transmissible than Delta, with a doubling time of about two days. In Britain, where Omicron cases are doubling every two to three days, the variant is expected to soon replace Delta as the dominant strain in the country. The UK on Wednesday recorded the highest number of confirmed new Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began, and England’s chief medical officer warned that the situation is likely to get worse as Omicron drives a new wave of illness during the holidays. “The data out of the UK are quite alarming at this point,” and foreshadow what’s to come in the United States, said Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen genomic surveillance at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. For example, she said, by Tuesday afternoon, Omicron was already the most common variant in London. In many ways, Omicron remains a mystery. Hints are emerging from South Africa, where it was first reported, indicating it may cause less severe disease than Delta but be better at evading vaccines. But, MacInnis warned: “There’s much more that we don’t know about this variant than we do, including the severity.” At the same time, Lemieux said, there seem to be fewer tools to fight it. Some monoclonal antibody treatments don’t work as well against Omicron in lab tests, Lemieux said. Vaccines appear to offer less protection, although CDC officials said booster shots strengthen that protection. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday there is no need, for now, for an Omicron-specific booster shot. The two-dose mRNA vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna shots, still appear to offer considerable protection against hospitalization from Omicron, Fauci said. “If we didn’t have these tools, I would be telling you to really, really be worried,” Fauci said. Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said the US has the tools to fight the virus, including Omicron, and “there is no need to lock down.” With vaccines available now for 95 percent of Americans, “we know how to keep our kids in schools and our businesses open. And we’re not going to shut down.” Health officials called on Americans to get vaccinated, get their booster shots, wear masks indoors and get tested before traveling and before holiday gatherings. “Hospital capacity is already at a breaking point in many states because of severe cases of Covid-19,” Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said in a statement. Given the high level of transmission, MacInnis said there will undoubtedly be severe cases. “No matter how severely it affects healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted populations, it will hit the most vulnerable among us the hardest still,” she said. “So the elderly, the immunocompromised, other vulnerable populations will still be at greatest risk and still bear the brunt of this.” AP

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Friday, December 17, 2021

Covid-19 case in Blinken press curtails his Southeast Asia tour

ANGKOK—A positive Covid-19 test among US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s traveling party has cut short the top diplomat’s first official tour of Southeast Asia. A member of the press corps accompanying Blinken on what was to have been a three-nation visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, forcing Blinken to abandon the program at his next and last stop in Bangkok, and return to the United States. Instead of spending Wednesday night in Bangkok, Blinken flew to the Thai capital for a brief logistical layover before traveling to Guam to refuel and then continuing on to Hawaii. At the airport in Bangkok, at least two Thai ground crew members were seen wearing full protective gear as they serviced Blinken’s plane. The abrupt change in plans was caused in part by fears that others in the delegation might also test positive, requiring them to quarantine in Thailand over the Christmas holiday. The journalist who tested positive will stay in Kuala Lumpur for a mandatory 10-day isolation.

US health tab hit $4T as govt opened spigot to fight Covid

ASHINGTON—US health care spending rocketed to $4.1 trillion last year as Congress opened the spigot of federal dollars to battle the coronavirus pandemic across multiple fronts. A government report out Wednesday said national health spending jumped by 9.7 percent in 2020, more than double the usual growth rate, with health care accounting for nearly $1 of every $5 in the economy. The federal government share of health spending increased by 36 percent. In a twist, that growth was driven not so much by care devoted to patients, but by federal subsidies to keep hospitals and medical providers solvent; funding to develop and deploy Covid tests, vaccines, treatments and countermeasures; and assistance to state Medicaid programs facing a potential wave of uninsured people in a public health crisis. “The story that unfolded in 2020 and continues today is unlike anything that has happened in the past 100 years,” said the report by number crunchers at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Published online by the journal Health Affairs, the report is an annual yardstick measuring health care’s impact across the economy. Last year, as elective surgeries got canceled and telehealth replaced office visits, Congress overwhelmingly approved bipartisan measures that pumped out tens of billions of dollars to keep the private health care system from collapsing. Along with direct federal spending on Covid countermeasures and the Medicaid money for states, the strategy largely worked, said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and longtime policy adviser to Republicans. “The Covid cases precluded the hospitals from having their usual book of business,” said Holtz-Eakin. “The bailout money from the federal government was really important when the other sources just dried up.” A $122 billion Provider Relief Fund, through which hospitals could apply for taxpayer money to offset their losses, was the linchpin. “When I look at 2020, it wasn’t perfect, but I think Congress deserves high marks for what they got done,” added Holtz-Eakin. The $4.1 trillion tab for 2020 represents an increase of about $365 billion from national health spending in 2019. It works out to $12,530 per person. In other highlights, the report found: n The number of uninsured people did not balloon with job losses, but held fairly steady at around 30 million. That confirms earlier reports from the Census Bureau. However, there was a shift in coverage, with fewer people covered through the workplace and more people getting their health care through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. n Medicare rolls grew more slowly in the first year of the pandemic, but part of the reason was that people were dying. “The deceleration was driven in part by increased mortality in the population age 65 and older on account of the pandemic,” the report said. Seniors accounted for 14 percent of Covid cases, but 80 percent of deaths. n Increased federal Medicaid funding helped ease the financial burden of the pandemic on state and local governments. Health care spending financed at the state and local level decreased by about 3 percent in 2020. The federal share of Medicaid spending was about 69 percent in 2020, the highest percentage in the 50plus years of the program. n Out-of-pocket health care spending by individuals declined by 3.7 percent, a rare occurrence. That was largely due to postponed surgeries, dental care and diagnostic procedures such as colonoscopies. Employers who finance health insurance coverage for their workers also spent less. “The bipartisan federal relief effort in 2020 was critical to shoring up the US health system and helping millions of people stay insured during a national public health emergency—these data provide the hard evidence,” said health economist Sara Collins of the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund, which works to expand access. “This is absolutely a story of a sweeping bipartisan federal relief effort that worked.” But this year Americans are politically polarized over vaccine mandates and mask requirements, and Covid-19 is likely to have a continuing impact on US health care spending. “There will likely be notable effects from the widespread vaccination efforts that began in the spring of 2021 and from the emergence of the delta variant in the summer,” the report said. “Uncertainty remains regarding how the pandemic may evolve during the winter months given the emergence of the omicron variant.” AP

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken spoke with Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to explain the change of plans. “The secretary expressed his deep regret to the FM that he would not be able to visit Bangkok this week. He explained that in order to mitigate the risk of the spread of Covid-19 and to prioritize the health and safety of the US traveling par-

ty and those they would otherwise come into contact with the secretary would be returning to Washington, D.C. out of an abundance of caution,” Price said. Neither Blinken, any of his senior staff nor other members of the press corps have tested positive so far, according to Price. In a statement posted online, the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said it informed the Malaysian government of the virus

case and thanked the Malaysian authorities for their support. “The sole member of the traveling party who tested positive is observing all requirements of the Ministry of Health,” the embassy said. “We can confirm that the person was not involved and has not participated in any of Secretary Blinken’s program in Kuala Lumpur.” Blinken arrived in Kuala Lumpur late

Tuesday from Jakarta, Indonesia. He began his current journey in the English city of Liverpool, where he participated in a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting over the weekend. The State Department has been testing those on Blinken’s plane for the virus on a daily basis and Price said the journalist had tested negative in both Liverpool and Jakarta. AP

Friday, December 17, 2021

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South Korea bans gatherings of 5 or more people amid virus surge N

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India unveils $10.2 billion plan to attract semiconductor makers

EOUL, South Korea—South Korea will prohibit private social gatherings of five or more people nationwide and force restaurants to close at 9 p.m., rolling out the country’s toughest coronavirus restrictions yet as hospitals grapple with the deadliest month of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Thursday that the new measures will be enforced for at least 16 days after taking effect on Saturday, saying there’s an urgent need to bring the country to a “standstill” with the Delta-driven surge overwhelming stretched hospitals and exhausted medical workers. Schools in the densely populated capital Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, where the virus has hit hardest, will also go back to remote learning after fully reopening in November. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 7,622 new cases on Thursday, close to the daily record of 7,850 set a day earlier. That brought the national caseload to 544,117, with nearly 97,000 added in December alone. Most of the transmissions were in the capital region, where officials say more than 86 percent of intensive care units designated for Covid-19 treatment are already occupied amid a spike in hospitalizations and deaths.

More than 890 virus patients died this month, bringing the country’s death toll to 4,518. As of Thursday morning, a record 989 patients were in serious or critical condition. “During this period of standstill, the government will reinforce the stability of our medical response capabilities,” said Kim, Seoul’s No. 2 behind President Moon Jae-in, during a virus meeting. “We ask our people to respond to these efforts by actively getting vaccinated.” The viral surge has been a huge setback for President Moon Jae-in’s government, which had significantly eased social distancing rules in November while declaring a phased return to pre-pandemic normalcy. While focusing on improving the economy, officials had predicted that the country’s rising vaccination rates would keep hospitalizations and fatalities down. But there has been a surge in serious cases among people in their 60s or older, including those whose immunities have

People wait for their coronavirus test at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, South Korea on, December 16. AP/Ahn Young-joon waned after getting inoculated early in the vaccine rollout that began in February. More than 81 percent of the population of over 51 million has been fully vaccinated, but only 17 percent of people have received booster shots. After hesitating for weeks, officials moderately tightened social distancing rules last week, banning gatherings of seven or more people in the Seoul metropolitan area and requiring adults to verify their vaccination status to use restaurants and other businesses, but such measures didn’t meaningfully slow the virus’ spread. Jung Eun-kyeong, KDCA’s commissioner, said the country could see daily infections exceed 10,000 or 20,000 in the coming weeks if it fails to meaningfully slow transmissions now. She said that would push the

number of serious cases to between 1,600 and 1,900, possibly beyond what hospitals could handle without sacrificing their non-Covid-19 care. “We are seeing an average of 4,700 new cases in the Seoul metropolitan area, which is significantly higher than the maximum 3,600 level the hospital system could manage,” Jung said during a briefing. Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said the four-person gatherings limit will only be applied to fully vaccinated adults. Those who aren’t fully vaccinated will be required to eat alone at restaurants, Kwon said. The rules won’t be applied to children 18 years or younger. Restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and karaoke venues will be required to close at 9 p.m., while movie theaters, concert halls and private cram schools will have to close at 10 p.m. AP

Canada advises against foreign travel, Ontario limits events

ORON TO —T he Canad ian government on Wednesday advised Canadians against all non-essential international travel, and the largest province of Ontario capped capacity at large events like NBA and NHL games at 50 percent because of the new coronavirus variant. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadians shouldn’t travel right now and anyone entering the country is going to face extra barriers like testing. “It’s the last thing families want to be dealing with right now, but Covid in the presence of omicron is back with a

vengeance,” Trudeau said. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said all adults in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, can book virus booster shots beginning Monday if three months have passed since their second vaccine dose. Canada trails the US, Britain and other countries in getting citizens booster shots. “We aren’t going to lock down the system and try to get out this,” Ford said. Ford said the best defense is to get a booster shot. “That’s our plan and that’s what we’re going to get done,” he said.

Bars and restaurants remain at 100 percent capacity. Provincial officials said the capacity limit applies only to any event with 1,000 or more spectators. There were 1,808 new coronavirus cases reported in Ontario and 2,386 in Quebec on Monday. Ford noted the omicron variant is the most contagious variant seen yet and is on the verge of becoming the most dominant strain in Ontario if it isn’t already. The city of Kingston, Ontario, announced earlier this week that it is limiting gatherings to a maximum of five people in response to the fast

spread of the omicron variant there. Some school boards in Ontario are making preparations for the possibility of a return to remote learning in the New Year. T he Toronto D i st r ic t S c ho ol Board sent a memo to parents asking that students take home personal belongings and devices from classrooms as well as any tools or supplies they might need to pivot to remote learning. The Waterloo Region District School Board issued a similar memo Wednesday, saying its staff had prepared schools to “ensure a smooth transition, if required.” AP

FPI warns govt on huge cost of smuggling Continued from A1 He warned of the eventuality: a downsizing of the firms, sparking further unemployment. “[It] could even increase the prices of production of our manufacturers since downsizing will result in smaller volumes that will absorb the fixed cost of the companies. As less volume absorbs the fixed cost making prices go up and it will create inflation,” he added. “We must protect our local industries, for we need to have a strong domestic market. It is only when you have a strong domestic market that will allow you to compete in the world market,” Arranza stressed. While the FPI’s call covers the protection of local industries, it also considers the impact of purchasing smuggled goods on the part of consumers. “It is also a consumer protec-

tion issue because of the dangers posed by substandard products, especially construction materials like reinforcing bars,” he explained.

For agriculture Meanwhile, Arranza called on the government to focus on improving the post-harvest facilities of the agriculture sector, especially for rice production, to avoid wastage. “To prevent wastage in postharvest, we want the government to put a stop to the practice of drying palay on roads,” he said. Arranza asked for an investigation as to how the budget is allocated in the sector amid the continued use of sun-drying. “The Department of Agriculture should today look into this postharvest facilities fiasco,” he said. Arranza also encouraged the use of certified seeds for palay planting to increase the production by two to three times.

EW DELHI—India on Wednesday announced a $10.2 billion plan to try to attract global chipmakers to set up shop in the country and transform it into a production hub of semiconductors. The plan unveiled by Information Technology and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw comes amid a severe shortage of semiconductors caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to global shortages of products that need them, including new cars. India wants to lure countries with economic incentives, including manufacturers with operations in China that might be willing to shift to India because of the ongoing trade disputes between the US and China, Indian officials and business leaders have said. He told reporters that incentives will attract companies involved in

various parts of the semiconductor manufacturing process. India’s government will provide fiscal support of up to 50 percent of project costs to eligible display and semiconductor fabricators, Vaishnaw said. “ Today’s historic decision will boost the development of complete semiconductor ecosystem, ranging from design, fabrication, packaging, and testing,” Vaishnaw said. The government expects its investments supporting the semiconductor sector would help create 35,000 specialized jobs and indirect employment for 100,000 people, the Press Trust of India news agency said. PTI said India is looking to push electronics manufacturing to $300 billion in the coming six years from $75 billion now w ith semiconductor chips a crucial part of that ecosystem. AP

Why the Fed feels now is time to tighten credit more quickly

ASHINGTON—For months, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responded to surging inflation by counseling patience and stressing that the Fed wanted to see unemployment return to near-pre-pandemic levels before it would raise interest rates. But on Wednesday, Powell suggested that his patience has run out. High inflation has not only persisted but also accelerated to a nearly fourdecade high. Average wages are rising. Hiring is solid, and unemployment is falling. All those trends, Powell said at a news conference, have led him and the rest of the Fed’s policymakers to decide that now is the time to speed up the Fed’s tightening of credit. The central bank said it will reduce its monthly bond purchases— which are intended to lower longterm rates—at twice the pace it had previously set and will likely end the purchases in March. That accelerated timetable puts the Fed on a path to start raising rates as early as the first half of next year. What’s more, the policymakers collectively forecast that they will raise their benchmark short-term rate three times next year—a significant increase from September, when the 18 officials had split over whether to hike even a single time in 2022. The Fed’s key rate, now pinned near zero, influences many consumer and business loans, including mortgages, credit cards and auto loans. Rates for those loans may start to rise, too, next year. The policy changes ref lect an abrupt shift by Powell and the Fed to focus more on wrestling inflation under control and less on further reducing unemployment. At his news conference after the Fed’s latest policy meeting, Powell stopped short of declaring that the job market had fully recovered from the pandemic recession. But he said “rapid progress” had been made toward the Fed’s target of “maximum employment.” And if inflation is still running high next year, he said, the Fed might decide to start raising rates even if maximum employment hasn’t been achieved. He noted recent economic reports that have shown higher inflation, solid wage growth and steady job gains. “We have to make policy now, and inf lation is well above” the central bank ’s 2 percent annual target, Powell said. “With elevated inflation pressures and a rapidly strengthening labor market, the economy no longer needs increasing amounts of policy support.” The Fed’s actions may raise borrowing costs across the economy in the coming months, although policy changes by the Fed don’t always immediately affect other loan rates. And even if the central bank does raise rates three times next year, that would still leave its benchmark rate historically low, below 1 percent. Since spring, the central bank had characterized inflation as mainly a “transitory” problem that would fade as supply bottlenecks, caused by the pandemic, were resolved. But at his news conference, Powell acknowledged that price spikes have persisted

longer than the Fed expected. Once consumers start to expect inflation to continue, Powell noted, it can make it harder for the Fed to control. If households expect higher prices, they tend to demand higher wage increases, which can then lead companies to raise prices further to offset their higher labor costs. “There’s a real risk now,” Powell said, “that inflation may be more persistent and that may be putting inflation expectations under pressure, and that the risk of higher inflation becoming entrenched has increased. I think part of the reason behind our move today is to put ourselves in a position to be able to deal with that risk.” He said the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and stable prices have been complicated by the unusual dynamics of the pandemic recovery. The Fed had hoped to see inflation rise because of very low unemployment and higher wages, which are signs of a strong economy. Instead, surging inflation has mostly stemmed from supply chain snarls and a spike in demand for goods such as furniture, cars and appliances. “The inflation that we got,” Powell said, “was not at all the inflation we were looking for.” The run-up in prices has lasted longer than the Fed expected and has spread from goods like food, energy and autos to services like apartment rents, restaurant meals and hotel rooms. It has weighed heavily on consumers, especially lower-income households and particularly for everyday necessities, and negated the higher wages many workers have received. Collectively, the Fed’s policymakers forecast Wednesday that inflation, as measured by their preferred gauge, will reach 5.3 percent by year’s end, according to the Fed’s preferred gauge. They expect inflation to slow considerably to a 2.6 percent annual rate by the end of 2022. But that’s up from its September forecast of just 2.2 percent. Gas prices have already come off their peaks. Supply chain bottlenecks in some areas are gradually easing. And government stimulus payments, which helped spur a spike in spending that boosted inflation, aren’t likely to return. The officials foresee the unemployment rate falling to 3.5 percent by the end of next year, which would match the pre-pandemic level, when unemployment was at 50-year lows. Powell said all Fed officials expect the central bank’s goal of “maximum employment” to be reached some time next year, and he pointed to a rapid fall in the unemployment rate just in the past two months, from 4.8 percent to 4.2 percent. He also noted that job openings are at near-record highs and that millions of people are quitting their jobs, which is typically a sign of a strong labor market, in which people are finding new positions at higher pay. Though the proportion of people either working or looking for work still remains notably below pre-pandemic levels, Powell held out hope that it could fully recover over time if the economy remains healthy. AP

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BSP keeps low rates despite risks of inflation Continued from A1

“The Monetary Board sees enough scope to keep a patient hand on the BSP’s policy levers owing to a manageable inf lation environment. At the same time, downside risks to the economic recovery emanate from the emergence of new Covid-19 variants as well as the potential tightening of global financial conditions,” the governor said. “Hence, preserving ongoing monetary policy support at this juncture shall help sustain the economy’s momentum over the next few quarters,” he added. Rizal Commercial Banking Commercial (RCBC) economist Michael Ricafort said the key local policy rates would still likely be maintained at the record low of 2 percent in the foreseeable future or for as long as necessary. “[This is] in view of the need to maintain accommodative monetary policy to fundamentally support and sustain economic recovery prospects in the aftermath of the lockdowns earlier this year,” the economist said. Diokno said they will continue to support the economy while keeping an eye on the potential risks to future inflation. “The BSP stands ready to respond to potential second-round effects arising from supply-side pressures, in line with its price and financial stability objectives,” the governor said.

Los Angeles port sees record 2021 imports despite supply chain snags

OS ANGELES—The Port of L os A ngeles—t he nation’s busiest—is on track to move a record volume of import cargo this year, even as officials struggle to thin a backup of ship traffic and ease supply chain snarls that have been blamed for product shortages and higher shelf prices. “The sustained and unmatched demand by the American consumer is pushing our import numbers to new levels,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told reporters in an online briefing. “We’re on track for an all-time import record in...2021.” Cargo containers are moving off the docks faster, Seroka said, but even so nearly 100 ships were drifting near the port or its neighboring sister port in Long Beach, or headed toward them. Meanwhile, about two months after President Joe Biden announced a deal to establish around-the-clock operations at the Los Angeles port, only one of seven container terminals has met that goal. Part of the problem is establishing 24-hour operations is coordinating the various stops in the supply chain at overnight hours, including warehouse

space and truck transportation. Seroka said the Los Angeles port expected to import about 5.5 million container units of cargo this year, a 13 percent jump over the previous record set in 2018. Despite a range of steps intended to speed up the flow of cargo, the November import total was down from 2020, in part because many of the ships that arrived were unscheduled and smaller in size. He said warehouse inventory is up about 2 points over the same time last year, and in-store inventories are only slightly behind 2020 levels for November. “Even with the strains on the supply chain, we continue to deliver record amounts of cargo,” he said. More needs to be done but “goods are making their way into the hands of consumers and manufacturers across the country.” Exports continued a long slide, with 33 of the last 37 months registering declines. Seroka attributed the drop in part to trade tensions with China under the Trump administration, a stronger dollar that makes US products less competitive and the large number of empty containers leaving the port for Asia, which take

up space that could otherwise be used by US products. Seroka said the number of import containers on the docks lingering for nine or more days has dropped by 56%, since port officials threatened to impose fees for slow-moving cargo that sits on the docks. Another challenge: Seroka said over 70,000 empty containers are sitting at terminals or port property, which can make it more difficult to move cargo to trucks and rail. He said port officials are urging shipping companies to clear out the backlog and, if necessary, the agency could consider financial penalties for companies that fail to do so. Asked why the congested lineup of ships remain, despite efforts to improve operations, Seroka said, “The strength of the American consumer—American factories trying to improve output—just simply means more cargo is on its way.” And he indicated that snags in the supply chain, given its complexity, are likely to continue. “It’s almost like a game of Whaca-Mole. We try to get after one issue and then two or three more pop up,” he said. AP

Friday, December 17, 2021

US releases new batch of documents about John F. Kennedy assassination

ASHINGTON—The National Archives on Wednesday made public nearly 1,500 documents related to the US government’s investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The disclosure of secret cables, internal memos and other documents satisfies a deadline set in October by President Joe Biden and is in keeping with a federal statute that calls for the government to release records in its possession concerning the Kennedy assassination. Additional documents are expected to be made public next year. There was no immediate indication that the records contained new revelations that could radically reshape the public’s understanding of the events surrounding the November 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy in Dallas at the hands of gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. But the latest tranche of documents was nonetheless eagerly anticipated by historians and others who, decades after the Kennedy killing, remain skeptical that at the height of the Cold War, a troubled young man with a mail-order rifle was solely responsible for an assassination that changed the course of American history. The documents include CIA cables and memos discussing Oswald’s previously disclosed but never fully explained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies

in Mexico City as well as discussion, in the days after the assassination, of the potential for Cuban involvement in the killing of Kennedy. One CIA memo describes how Oswald phoned the Soviet embassy while in Mexico City to ask for a visa to visit the Soviet Union. He also visited the Cuban embassy, apparently interested in a travel visa that would permit him to visit Cuba and wait there for a Soviet visa. On October 3, more than one month before the assassination, he drove back into the United States through a crossing point at the Texas border. Another memo, dated the day after Kennedy’s assassination, says that according to an intercepted phone call in Mexico City, Oswald communicated with a KGB officer while at the Soviet embassy that September. After Kennedy was killed, Mexican authorities arrested a Mexican employee of the Cuban embassy with whom Oswald had communicated, and she said Oswald had “professed to be a Communist and an admirer of Castro,” according to the memo. That’s a reference to Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader at the time and an adversary of the Kennedy White House. One CIA document marked “Secret Eyes Only” details what it says were US government plots to assassinate Castro, including a 1960 scheme “that involved the use of the criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba.” AP

A10 Friday, December 17, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

The ball we can’t afford to drop

T didn’t take a month for the Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa in November and is currently speeding around the world, to reach the Philippines. On Wednesday, the Department of Health reported that two international travelers tested positive for the new Covid variant—a 37-year-old Nigerian national who arrived on November 30, 2021 and a 48-year-old returning overseas Filipino who arrived from Japan on December 1, 2021. DOH said the two patients are currently isolated in a facility managed by the Bureau of Quarantine (Read, It’s here: PHL logs first 2 cases of Omicron variant, in the BusinessMirror, December 15, 2021). The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned the new Covid-19 Omicron variant is spreading faster than any previous Covid strain, and it is probably present in most countries of the world. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Covid update in Geneva. “Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of Omicron. And the reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet.” He said vaccines alone will not protect people against Omicron, as he called for countries to use masks, social distancing, proper ventilation and hand hygiene to prevent contagion. From the Associated Press: “The Omicron variant is spreading so rapidly it has the potential to overwhelm Britain’s hospitals, highlighting the need to strengthen coronavirus restrictions and speed up the delivery of booster vaccine shots, the country’s health minister said Tuesday. Omicron is so transmissible that even if it proves to be less severe than other variants, there is still likely to be a surge in hospital admissions if it goes unchecked, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers. His comments came as the government rushed to accelerate the national vaccination program, with a goal of offering a booster dose to every adult by the end of December.” In another AP report, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the 27-nation bloc by mid-January. Von der Leyen said she is confident the EU has the “strength” and “means” to overcome the disease, although expressing her disappointment that once again year-end celebrations will be disturbed by the pandemic. She added that the EU is now facing a double challenge, with a massive increase of cases in recent weeks due to the Delta variant combined with the rise of Omicron, as some member countries are already confronted with a record number of infections.” Good news: Pfizer announced on Tuesday that its experimental pill to treat Covid-19 appears effective against the Omicron variant. It said full results of a 2,250-person study confirmed the pill’s promising effectiveness against the virus: Pfizer said the pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by about 89 percent among high-risk adults when taken shortly after initial Covid-19 symptoms. A separate laboratory test shows the drug retains its potency against the Omicron variant, the company said. In a statement, President Joe Biden called Pfizer’s experimental pill “another potentially powerful tool in our fight against the virus.” Initially, the US government has agreed to purchase enough of Pfizer’s drug to treat 10 million people. We wrote in our Thursday Editorial that the US State Department has formally extended the invitation for President Duterte to attend the Special USAsean Summit in Washington, D.C. in January. We said it might do well for the President to accept the invitation to visit Washington and further sew up support for the country’s continuing bid to proclaim to the world our Unclos victory. Now that Omicron is in the country, and Pfizer just announced a new potent drug against the transmissible variant, we believe there is now a more compelling reason for the President to accept Biden’s invitation. We need the new drug against Omicron just as we need to boost our booster campaign. No person can better communicate our need to Biden other than President Duterte. It is absolutely essential for the Philippines to get the Pfizer drug because the WHO chief said “vaccines alone will not protect people against Omicron.” This is the ball we can’t afford to drop.

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More leeway for our schools Sonny M. Angara

Better Days

ecently, the Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the 2022 budget, which we sponsored as Chairman of the Committee on Finance. Soon it will be transmitted to the Executive, with enough time for the president to affix his signature before the year ends. Following the clear mandate from our Constitution, our education sector was given utmost priority in the budget. This means that when taken together, the items for the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and our State Universities and Colleges, among others, comprise the biggest share of national appropriations for the coming year. And rightly so, because next to the health sector and our medical frontliners, our educational institutions, as well as our school administrators and teachers have been among the worst hit throughout the pandemic. With the abrupt shift to remote learning, our teachers had to relearn how to communicate and educate their students almost overnight.

In no way has this process been easy. But it has been particularly difficult for the teachers who did not have their own laptops, tablets, smartphones or any other gadget through which they can access the Internet and interact with their students. This is why throughout Bayanihans 1 and 2, and the 2021 budget, Congress worked to include as much support as it could for teachers to make the transition and ensure the continued education of our students amid the pandemic. We sought to extend the same support in the 2022 budget, which is why significant funds have been set aside for schools at all levels to continue with remote learning, but also prepare for the return to face-toface classes once it has been deemed safe to do so. While we were deliberating, we

learned that even though funds have been set aside as support for schools to operate amid the trying conditions of the pandemic, many Schools Divisions Offices (SDOs) actually found it difficult to purchase the laptops, tablets, smartphones, WiFi Hotspots, and printers they needed because of government accounting guidelines. The particular roadblock was that the capital threshold for purchasing these items was set at only P15,000, according to the Government Accounting Manual or GAM. And because of the high demand for these gadgets throughout the pandemic, plus the logistics costs that have been driven up by the localized community quarantines, the prevailing prices were well above the threshold. This limitation had a palpable effect on the normal budgetary operations of the DepEd. According to recent data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the DepEd was able to obligate only 56 percent of its operations budget by the end of the third quarter of this year. This meant that at least P49.8 billion of its appropriations for MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) has yet to be spent. One can only imagine just how many more teachers would have been better equipped to handle a remote learning environment had the funds not been hampered by rules and regulations. To help lessen the bureaucratic

roadblocks, Sen. Pia Cayetano and I included a provision in the 2022 budget to effectively raise this capital threshold to P50,000. Hopefully, this would provide enough regulatory leeway for our SDOs to directly purchase the gadgets that our teachers need as remote learning remains the norm throughout the country. On top of that, we believe a higher capital threshold would also help our schools purchase at more affordable prices the materials and supplies they need (such as face masks, and PPEs) for ensuring the safety of our students as the return to face-to-face classes appears to be in the offing. The pandemic has caused immense disruptions across our society—including our education sector. While there are often good reasons for certain rules and regulations to be in place, it’s better to infuse a degree of flexibility, especially amid such extraordinary times. Our schools have a critical role to play in our immediate recovery from the pandemic, as well as in our long-standing pursuit of prosperity for all Filipinos. They should be given as much leeway as needed to fulfill that role.

Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 17 years. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate. E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

Amid military atrocities, Myanmar public urges gas sanctions By Kristen Gelineau, Victoria Milko And Lori Hinnant Associated Press

AKARTA, Indonesia—The young woman in Myanmar decided to speak out when she realized that money from the company she loved was now in the hands of the military leaders she hated.

She worked for Total Energies, the French company that operates a gas field off Myanmar’s coast with a state-owned enterprise. But in February, the military took over Myanmar’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the Yadana gas field. As military abuses such as the murder and detention of thousands grew, the young woman joined others across Myanmar in a groundswell of support for targeted sanctions on oil and gas funds, the country’s single largest source of foreign currency revenue. But Western governments—most notably the United States and France—have refused to take that step amid lobbying from energy company officials and resistance from countries such as Thailand, which gets gas from Myanmar. On Friday, the US announced a raft of sanctions against several Myanmar officials and entities, but again left out oil or gas revenues. The young woman has since lost

her job. And later, after protesting the military’s takeover of her country, she was thrown into prison for three weeks. “I feel very disappointed in Total because they are neglecting this country in which they invested,” says the young woman, whose name is being withheld by The Associated Press to protect her from retaliation by the military. Total and energy giant Chevron, which also is a partner in Yadana, say they are trying to protect their employees in Myanmar, and also to keep crucial gas supplies flowing to the people of Myanmar and Thailand. In August, Myanmar activists launched the “Blood Money Campaign” movement, risking their lives by marching in the streets and carrying signs that read: “Freeze payments to junta and save Myanmar.” The United Nations’ top expert on human rights in Myanmar says millions of people across the country are imposing personal sanctions by withholding taxes, refusing to pay power bills and boycotting products

linked to the military. And on Nov. 30, hundreds of human rights organizations in Myanmar joined their international colleagues in signing a letter asking Total’s CEO to stop payments to military-controlled accounts. The AP also obtained a copy of a letter from workers at Yadana to their managers calling on Total’s subsidiary, Total E&P Myanmar, to suspend export payments to the military and place the funds in a protected account. Activists are looking not to shut down the gas field, but to place revenues in an offshore bank account that the military can’t touch. The sanctions would target the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is a joint venture partner in all offshore gas projects in Myanmar, including Yadana with Total, Chevron, and Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production. Total has a majority stake in the venture and runs its daily operations, while MOGE collects revenues on behalf of the government. About 50 percent of Myanmar’s foreign currency comes from natural gas revenues, with MOGE expected to earn $1.5 billion from offshore and pipeline projects in 2021-2022, according to a Myanmar government forecast. The Yadana gas project and pipeline earned around $400 million

in revenues in 2017-2018. Yet neither US President Joe Biden nor French President Emmanuel Macron have publicly moved against Myanmar’s oil and gas revenues. In response to questions from the AP, the US State Department pointed to a list of other people and entities the US has already sanctioned, including military officials and a stateowned gems enterprise. “We will not hesitate to take further action against those who perpetrate violence and suppress the will of the people,” the department said in a statement. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the Biden administration is weighing tough new sanctions on Myanmar to pressure the country’s military leaders to restore a democratic path. An aide on the House Foreign Affairs Committee acknowledged that oil and gas make up “a huge chunk” of the military’s ability to maintain control. But a measure introduced in the House in October that specifically calls out MOGE as a potential sanctions target has yet to advance. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the thinking around the legislation, said objections from Singapore and Thailand have played a role in the Biden See “Amid,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Bongbong Marcos’ inexorable march to Malacañang Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

he latest survey results released by Publicus Asia Inc., an independent and non-commissioned polling conducted on December 6 to 10, 2021, showed presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos (BBM) increased his commanding lead over his political rivals. More than half or 51.9 percent of the voters polled have indicated BBM as their preferred candidate for president. This is 2.6 percent higher than the 49.3 percent votes that he garnered the last time Publicus Asia Inc. held a similar survey last November 16 to 18, 2021 right after the deadline for the filing of substitution of candidates had expired. While the numbers of other candidates have dropped compared to the previous survey, BBM’s support has solidified and even surged. For instance, VP Leni’s partisans were no doubt disheartened by the latest survey results where their bet suffered a loss of 1.1 percent from her previous 21.3 percent down to 20.2 percent. Instead of catching up, the opposition standard bearer has lost ground and would be hard pressed to improve her numbers to stay competitive in the run up to the 2022 presidential election. Rounding up, the results of the latest survey have clearly indicated that BBM has dominated the field. Mayor Isko Moreno was a distant third copping 7.9 percent, Sen. Bong Go, getting 3.9 percent, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, 3.4 percent, and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, 2.3 percent. BBM has completely overwhelmed his opponents that he left all of them gasping by a mile. The combined votes of his 5 major opponents only total 37.7 percent against BBM’s 51.9 percent. Even if all opposition candidates unite and rally behind one common contender, their consolidated votes based on this latest survey will still fall short of edging out BBM. BBM would still clinch the presidency with plenty of votes to spare. And BBM may be the main beneficiary of Bong Go’s withdrawal whose vaunted bailiwick is Mindanao. Without President Duterte running for public office, Mindanaoans and the President’s supporters may just heed Mayor Sara’s call to support and protect BBM. In fact, BBM contended that Bong Go’s withdrawal augurs well for his candidacy as it “signals the consolidation of administration forces” behind him and his running mate, Mayor Sara. But this claim is being challenged by Senator Pacquiao who hails from General Santos City, South Cotabato. Absent another presidential aspirant from Mindanao, Pacquiao strongly believes that he would get the Mindanao votes since he is the favorite son not only of Soccsksargen Region but of the entire island of Mindanao. Mindanao would be Pacquiao’s bastion if he gets endorsed by Duterte as he would be assured of the support of the vote-rich Davao Region, the largest in the island. Otherwise, Pacquiao would be competing against the political and filial heir of the President, Mayor Sara, who herself has established her own following in the island. But Pacquiao is practically at the cellar and even if he gets the solid Mindanao vote, that would still fall far short of overtaking BBM. But Duterte’s anointment may be the magic wand that may bring life to the moribund candidacies of Pacquiao, Mayor Isko, or even of Senator Lacson. Lacson, however, has not openly courted President Duterte’s blessing but he needs a spark to bring life to his campaign. Right now, VP Leni is ensconced in second place but she is too far behind BBM. She needs a big leap to keep at par with the leader of the pack. The others who have only scored less than 10 percent in the latest poll have to resurrect their flagging campaigns. In the case of Lac-

Many people don’t see anything in the horizon that may derail the BBM train reaching Malacañang at full speed on May 9, 2022. And time is fast running out. Only 7½ weeks remain before the election period begins for the presidential contest. Unless the opposition shapes up, the BBM juggernaut would be unstoppable and the countdown for the second Marcos presidency starts. son, it’s a pity that his early start has not given him a lead in the race. He’s the most experienced presidential candidate and his unblemished record in public service and crusade against the abhorable pork barrel have not gained traction among the electorates. It seems that the public needs more than that for his campaign to rebound and capture the people’s imagination. It’s too early to give up the ghost for the candidates languishing at the cellar. But they have to make their move before we cross the New Year. Otherwise, BBM will attract all the campaign funds from big donors who all want to make safe political bets in 2022. This will make BBM, who is personally awash with money, a more formidable candidate. And what if Mayor Sara convinces her father to endorse BBM despite the past tirades made by the President against BBM? Where President Duterte goes, PDP-Laban follows. Then the entire resources and machinery of the government will be harnessed to deliver BBM’s victory at the polls. As the song goes, it’s an impossible dream to fight an unbeatable foe. At this point, the campaign strategists of the opposition must be racking their brains figuring out how they can solve the BBM puzzle. To contemplate for a united opposition now to counter the Marcos-Duterte ++ forces is more of a political hallucination than real. I’d rather bet on the granting of the petition canceling the 2022 elections due to the pandemic than seeing the much-ballyhooed opposition unity taking place. Many people don’t see anything in the horizon that may derail the BBM train reaching Malacañang at full speed on May 9, 2022. And time is fast running out. Only 7 1/2 weeks remain before the election period begins for the presidential contest. Unless the opposition shapes up, the BBM juggernaut would be unstoppable and the countdown for the second Marcos presidency starts. Is it prudent for the opposition to capitulate and wave the white flag? I don’t think so. Take it from the recent victory of Max Verstappen in this year’s Formula One championship. Lewis Hamilton was well ahead with a lap to go and certain of winning a record 8th world championship until another racer smashed the wall. Remember there could be a glitch in this presidential election. Anything can happen in a drag race or presidential race. For instance, what if the Comelec disqualifies BBM from running? That seems to be the only way to stop BBM from becoming our next president.

Friday, December 17, 2021 A11

Transnationalizing Christmas Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

our small evergreens flank the entrance to the main lobby of the hotel. The trees, which are sized more like shrubs, have leaves speckled with snow. Poinsettias blazing in red and green frame the inner sanctum of the hotel, into which one can already catch a glimpse of a Christmas tree bedecked with the gold and silver glitter of the season, a cornucopia of tinsels and buntings. More is more seems to be the precept of this production design. A massive sofa, violet in velvet, centers the whole display. Where the gleam of tassels and shining faux pearls stops, snow and more snow begin. For guests wanting to have their photos taken against the décor, they need to be brisk for many are eager to capture a moment in this winter wonderland. One can go around and be greeted by elves in red and green again. These are not the elves of gothic tales but more the harbingers of joys and gifts. They are there as mascots for the greatest of them all, Santa Claus. Or Father Christmas. This old man with the verve of youth and the white beard of benevolence has his simulacra all over the hotel. He is shown climbing up a rope. Or is he climbing down a chimney? He is in papier-mâché, a grandfather cradling two boys with naughty faces. Like Santa Claus whose reality is never questioned, the whole white icy landscape of infinite happiness, where even the wreaths and ribbons appear to sing joyously, is never doubted. We do not look at this set of Christmas décor and doubt for a moment the snowflakes that bring the coziest of chill. No bracketing: the snow must be there; the

reindeer should fly over roofs and clouds; and, toys come to children at night when they are asleep or not looking. We cannot say we are neither here nor there, and that we are between and betwixt fantasy and cosplay. It is clear: We are here in the Philippines, in this tropical land of ours and this is how we present Christmas. But where traditions are here, can ideologies be far behind? In the ’50s, people talked of acculturation, a process that is simplistically drawn as looking to other practices and bringing it within one’s society. Then came appropriation, and much later, cultural appropriation. There is a conflicted attitude toward both appropriation and cultural appropriation. One is that when a minority culture copies from a dominant culture, cultural critics do not seem to mind the flow of influence. In the new world of political correctness though, there is a tendency to call out

a dominant or economically powerful society borrowing from a small, politically weaker ethnic community. With cultural appropriation comes the concept and practice of colonization. In the Philippines, the colonized experience of the Filipinos carry the burden of evangelization. The shift in the faith follows and with it the chance to consider trees as part of the divine design. It is that faith, which transforms certain objects and animals and make them part of a magical birth. The crèche is part of the whole tableau of that auspicious day in Bethlehem thousands of years ago. The Three Kings of dramatically articulated ethnicities walk into the sunrise as new heroes of salvation. Where now the Star is the last to go when we decorate our Christmas tree, be it a real tree, or one manufactured to resemble a glorious pine tree, that beacon is the major element in the legend introduced by friars and missionaries. Always, in the introduction of the foreign objects

to a culture is present a man of vision who believes polity and religion, conquest and conversion are natural heir to the fulfillment of the true mandate of globalization. And the story of the ubiquitous poinsettia is case to ponder upon. The plot begins with Joel Roberts

Poinsett who lived from 1779 to 1851. A member of the United States House of Representatives, he was the first United States Minister to Mexico. It was during one of his visits to an area in Mexico that his attention was caught by a plant called “Flor de Nochebuena.” This politician, who was also an eager botanist, sent samples of the said plant to the US. The same plant would later be known as the “poinsettia,” named after the American who, as with any colonizing narrative, “discovered” it. In our case, Christmas is not a discovery but an understanding of a difficult message. The information comes through the biography of the Son of God born to a Woman who was conceived without original sin and a father humble and confident to give a name to the child. The birth of this boy does not take place in a palace but in a lowly manger. And when the Virgin has given birth to the child, the poor, not the rich, are the f irst r e c i p i e nt s of the good tidings. That makes us smile. That makes us love this tale of economics, politics and inequality. A God among us is quite assuring. The elves, the old man who flies with the reindeer above roofs and doubts, and the snow, well, they are no big deal. The true big deal is this boy who gives the poor, little town of Bethlehem a chance. Christmas, across borders and cultures, could be about chance. The glitters are optional.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Introduction to Mindanao Development

Imagine places in the absence of strong government. People and communities will continue to live and pursue their livelihood and engage in the buying and selling of goods and services. Who sets the rules of what are legal practices? In the absence of government imposition, people will rely on informal rules seen from past community practices, norms, beliefs, and traditions. Before the advent of the modern nation-states, the rules and standard of engagements in the markets were set by local community practices. A notable development challenge in Mindanao is the informal nature of economic activities. An example is the informal barter trade in the Sulu archipelago, which takes precedence from maritime trade dating back several centuries ago. The maritime zone that separates Southern Philippines from Sabah has been a space of largely unregulated economic activity in the trade and exchange of goods that traditionally characterize

the region’s (Sulu) economy. The region is a place of constant competitional dynamics between the formal regulatory institutions of the central government, and the informal but indigenous structures that govern the maritime border anchored on the norms, practices, and local culture of the place. By implication, maritime traders, over the course of their trading activities, continually navigate between the formal and informal institutions that mediate and enforce the rules of market exchanges in the maritime border. This is also true in the larger context of Muslim Mindanao. Families, clans, and tribes of Muslim Mindanao communities are upheld by informal institutions that follow social norms, unwritten rules, and beliefs. In the case of Muslim Mindanao, intermittent conflict has historically been present even in informal institutions of extended families and clans that are upheld by local culture and were shaped during the reign of the sultanates. This array of informal institutions is pitted against the formal institutions of governance of the central government, which is supposedly the third party that sets the rules of impersonal exchanges in the market. This mirrors Muslim societies in Mindanao. They are navigating in between personal trust in the informal institutions formed by local culture and practices, and the impersonal trust (and distrust) in formal state institutions imposed by Manila. The maritime trade in the Sulu archipelago sits in this grey area between what is acceptable in local culture, and what is illegal and unacceptable under the formal rules of

and individuals.” In the first half of 2021, Chevron reported spending $3.7 million on federal lobbying in the US, with “Burma Energy Issues” and “Myanmar Energy and Investment Issues” listed as specific lobbying issues of focus. In response to questions from the AP, a spokesman for Chevron pointed to an earlier statement from the company, which said Chevron would comply with any sanctions

imposed by the US. “Any actions should be carefully considered to ensure the people of Myanmar are not further disadvantaged by unintended and unpredictable consequences of well-intentioned decisions,” Chevron wrote in its May statement. The French government says it is excluding sanctions on oil and gas because it wants to avoid adding to the burdens of Myanmar civilians,

Joselito T. Sescon

EAGLE WATCH Part Two

here are three broad, closely related vehicles of development, as emphasized by development economist Yujiro Hayami. First is the state or government institutions’ mechanisms of coordination, directional command and guidance of the economic livelihood and activities of the population. Second, the voluntary and entrepreneurial incentive mechanisms of the free market where people freely engage to sell and buy to earn profits and satisfy wants and needs. Third, is the cooperation of communities where citizens adhere to general formal rules of lawful existence, contributing to peaceful pursuit of economic activities, and largely avoiding conflict. Most of us, particularly the poorer sections of the population, probably believe in the role and responsibility of the government to help create jobs and livelihood and steer the economy to growth and development. The role of private businesses, big and small down to micro enterprises, is also seen as crucial in creating jobs and economic opportunities. Finally, the role of communities is seen as only passive, but they are crucial in recognizing peoples’ economic activities and contribution to the economy, creating optimism towards economic progress.

Amid. . .

continued from A10

administration’s hesitation to impose new sanctions, as has lobbying from Chevron. Singapore’s banks are accused by activists of holding assets on the military’s behalf, although Singapore denied in February that they had “significant funds from Myanmar companies

the central institutions of the state. Nobel prize winner Douglass North said that societies are usually stuck with habits or norms of the past, resulting in a path-dependent setting towards the future. This is true, but it is more complicated in the case of Muslim Mindanao, where central government structures are trying to impose rules but are continually contested and challenged. The Muslim Mindanao societies struggle between following informal vs. formal rules; the communal vs. impersonal entities of the state; and the traditional social norms vs. market norms. This process of transitioning is complex and may be far from being completed in a lifetime. The economic implication of these are higher market transaction costs and unpredictable changes of economic rules discouraging long-term investments. This has long-term implications to achieving economic growth and development. The establishment of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) offers a renewed opportunity to enact a legal security regime that accommodates both informal and formal institutions into the governance structure of economic activities, including trade. In doing so, it aims to create an initially fragile but peaceful climate that will pave the way towards expanding activities that promote economic development of Muslim Mindanao in particular, and the whole of Mindanao in general.

Mr. Joselito T. Sescon is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of Ateneo de Manila University.

and to target individuals from the junta rather than a vital economic sector. France also wants to “stay involved on the ground,” which requires “operational contacts” with Myanmar’s administration, according to a senior official in the French president’s office. Gelineau reported from Sydney and Hinnant reported from Paris. AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok and correspondent Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report

A12

BusinessMirror

Friday, December 17, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

24 INCH GAUGE CONSTRUCTION INC. L4 Blk. 4, Near Kay Buboy Bridge, San Dionisio, City Of Parañaque

ZHANG, ZIYUAN Project Coordinator 1.

Brief Job Description: Plan, organize, and direct the activities of a construction project, under the direction of a general manager.

PHAM LE QUYNH NGA Mandarin Customer Service Representative Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business or related field of study; Competency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, and Outlook; Knowledge of file management, transcription, and other administrative procedures. Or a related field; Good communication and interpersonal skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

17.

Brief Job Description: This is an individual contributor role; This person is responsible for accurate compilation, organization and reconciliation of data between multiple, systems utilized by 3M GSC and 3M subsidiaries

Basic Qualification: A graduate of Marketing or Business Administration, Communication course is generally required; A least 2 years of experience related to Pricing, Material Listing, Phase in Phase out or the likes

18.

BUI VAN HOI Mandarin Customer Service Representative 3.

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

19.

CHEN, QUANJIN Mandarin Customer Service Representative 4.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquires and other status DINH THI KIM DUYEN Mandarin Customer Service Representative

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

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

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status LE THI THANH HANG Mandarin Customer Service Representative

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

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

10.

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

11.

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

12.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status NGUYEN THI THU THAO Mandarin Customer Service Representative

13.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status NGUYEN THI VAN ANH Mandarin Customer Service Representative

14.

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

20.

21.

22.

23.

ASANO, MASATO Tech Writing & Translation Associate Manager 24.

Brief Job Description: Provides first line of support ad resolves simple to complex technical and non-technical issues reported by the users or systems; perform quality audit and translations; perform service desk management function; facilitate critical incident management.

WHITE CAMARGO, ALEJANDRO Technology Delivery Lead Associate Manager 25.

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

Brief Job Description: Communicate with the client’s functional design incharge about the requirement details

26.

CHAN YING SIN E-commerce Consultant (Chinese Speaking) Brief Job Description: Provide chat support to clients

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

27.

28.

29.

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

No.

33.

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

34.

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

35.

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

36.

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

37.

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

38.

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

39.

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or other relevant fields; proficient in required language; excellent communication skills both written and oral.

40.

41.

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree graduate can communicate effectively in both oral and written English and required language Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

42.

43.

KUO, PIN-YEN E-commerce Consultant (Chinese Speaking) Brief Job Description: Provide chat support to clients

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications/ Can multitask and keen to details / Able to speak Chinese and English fluently.

44.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications/ Can multitask and keen to details / Able to speak Chinese and English fluently. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

45.

46.

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f To 10/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D., Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

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

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ALTERA KARNA BUSINESS CORP. Unit No. Unit A & O Flr., No.5/f Eighty One Bldg. Newport Bldg. St., Barangay 183, Pasay City

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

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

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

ACCENTURE, INC. 7f, Robinsons Cybergate Tower 1, Pioneer St, City Of Mandaluyong

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and Written

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and Written

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5/f To 10/f, Tower 4 Pitx #01, Kennedy Road, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

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

3M SERVICE CENTER APAC, INC. 17th, 18th, 19th Floors, Bonifacio Stopover Corporate Center, 31st Street Cor., 2nd Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig

KIM, EUN-KYU Pricing Analyst (Korean)

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

www.businessmirror.com.ph

30.

CHARLES Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires CHIEM LE HONG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

DEWI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

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

47.

15.

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

16.

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

31.

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

32.

DINH THANH TUNG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

EFENDI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

ELITA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires EVA SUSANTI TJU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires FRANCIS LIAU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires HALIM HARTONO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires HENDRIK Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires ISKANDAR Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires JAN JAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires KUSNADI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires LIVINA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires MODENA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires NGUYEN ANH DUC Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires NGUYEN DUC DUY Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires NGUYEN NGOC KHOA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires NGUYEN VAN LONG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

NOVIANTY Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

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

48.

PHAM THI NGOC THUYEN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 49.

NGUYEN TRONG HIEU Mandarin Customer Service Representative

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

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

PHAM THU TRANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

50.

SANTO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION SATIMIN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

SERINA LIMERSON Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

STELLA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

TASHYA Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

TRUONG ANH NGOC Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

WIJOENO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

CHEN, WENJIN Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

KHAN, ALY Senior Business Manager 66.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries

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

67.

58.

Brief Job Description: Managing the CMS; optimizing SEO; ensuring content is up to date

NGUYEN MINH HUNG Vietnamese Sales Representative 59.

Brief Job Description: Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements and proved sales support

NGUYEN THANH DAT Vietnamese Sales Representative 60.

Brief Job Description: Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements and proved sales support

PHAM VAN TUAN Vietnamese Technical Specialist 61.

Brief Job Description: Set up the first CRM system and infrastructure to manage customers and leads

TRUONG CONG PHAT Vietnamese Technical Specialist 62.

Brief Job Description: Set up the first CRM system and infrastructure to manage customers and leads

Basic Qualification: College Graduate: Preferably 6 months -1-year as Sales Representative & Fluent in Vietnamese and English Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

LEAW YI FAN Bilingual Customer Service Officer 68.

XU, JING Chinese Account Manager 69.

63.

Brief Job Description: Is a contributing member of the audit team with the guidance of the team lead and/or Country Manager or Client Manager. Learns and uses best practices and auditing techniques of peers. Receives close supervision and guidance primarily from the audit team lead. Assists in presenting audit findings and preparing audit reports. Keeps audit team members apprised of relevant audit issues.

CHEN, YONGJIN Marketing And Sales Agent 70.

71.

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

Brief Job Description: Collecting and interpreting data, and addressing inquiries of mandarin speaking customers

HAN, TAO Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking 77.

Basic Qualification: Business admin such as managing staff and delegating task.

78.

Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas

Basic Qualification: Can contributes information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies; can help to detail, design, and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered.

WANG, SHUIYUAN Marketing And Sales Agent 72.

Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas

79.

73.

Brief Job Description: Foster human relationship through communication and distribution of marketing activities

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator JIANG, SHUQIU Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

80.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator SUN, QIANCHENG Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

81.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator WEI, BENHENG Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

82.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator YANG, JINYUE Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

83.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator YU, XUE Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

84.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator ZHU, XIAORUI Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

85.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator

MISHRA, PUSHKAR NATH General Manager Operations Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

86.

Brief Job Description: Lead Multiple tracks for our client. Manage multiple diverse delivery teams located in Manila and India

Basic Qualification: Competency in Facilitation, Digital Awareness, General Accounting, Compliance and Audit CHAUHAN, VIKRANT Senior Manager - Technology

Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Brief Job Description: Voice lead - managed end-to-end voice operation for Philippines geo which cater Manila, Alabang & Cebu delivery centers. lead solution architect for voice for large healthcare, insurance, transport & logistics and fra accounts, large-scale project migration and implementations. Define strategic capability and new initiatives for voice road map for next 3 years

Basic Qualification: Experience as business data analyst. Excellent in writing, reading and speaking Mandarin and English

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

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

ZHAO, CHONG Retail Operation Manager For Retail Store Construction And Operation Project, Field Force (ff) Management And Retail Sales Operation Project 87.

Brief Job Description: 1Responsible for retail store construction and operation management. 2. Develop retail business plan. 3. Manage all store construction including strategy, display management & field force investment strategy;

CHANDRA Sports Trader - Bahasa Speaking I 65.

Brief Job Description: Coordinate, respond and address inquiries of Bahasa speaking customer

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

COLLABERA TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED, INC. U-40 A-d, 40/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

HUANG, XUEWEI Marketing Assistant 75.

Brief Job Description: Supporting the manager in overseeing the dept. Operations

Basic Qualification: Strong written and verbal communication skills / understanding of basic business and marketing concepts / can speak English and mandarin

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Cantonese & Mandarin speaking/ know how to read & write Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering with 15-20 years or Master’s degree with 15+ years experience or any related degree Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: 1. With at least 3 year experience for retail operation management. 2. Has the ability to provide Project Management to set and align target internally with team members, allocate key tasks to each field and ensure the execution. 3. Has experience in retail basic knowledge and support the communication and training of retail business. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

IDNPLAY CORPORATION 8/f Burgundy Corporate Tower, 252 Sen. Gil J.puyat Ave., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati

NGUYEN VAN HAI Vietnamese-speaking Customer Service 88.

Brief Job Description: Serves customer by providing product service information and resolving product service problem

FILFLY CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT INC. #1295 G. Araneta Ave. Cor., N.s. Amoranto, Sto. Domingo 1, Quezon City Basic Qualification: Good in statistic and probability. Excellent in writing, reading and speaking Bahasa and English

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

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

EXLSERVICE PHILIPPINES, INC. 6th Floor, One E-com Center, Harbor Drive, Mall Of Asia Complex, Pasay City Basic Qualification: Knowledge in b.e, (extc) +avaya certified, genesys cloud, aws connect, cms, nice/verint logger. intuity audix, mm, aam, mpp, sbc, sm, acme and smgr system, healthcare, logistics transformation, voicebot, chatbot, automation. with 16 years of rich experience in driving voice operation, voice solutions and data center migration. experienced voice transformation, enabling voice, recording, sip and cloud infrastructure for organizations, identifying and implementing voice, cloud, automation solution for end customers. Platforms that link upstream & downstream processes and help enable agile.

Basic Qualification: Minimum of bachelor’s degree in economics, business management or related disciplines

HCL TECHNOLOGIES PHILIPPINES, INC. Net Cube Center, 3rd Avenue Corner 30th Street, E-square Zone, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig

ECHOTECH SERVICES INC. 18/f Philamlife Tower, 8767 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati ZHENG, BINGJIA Mandarin Field Marketing Officer

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator HUANG, LONG Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

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

Basic Qualification: Can contributes information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies: can help to detail , design and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered

Brief Job Description: Responsible for handling inbound calls, e-mails and chat with the goal of ensuring resolution of customer issues effective communicator HE, JING Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking

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

CLOVERSENSE TECHNOLOGY INC. 29/f Robinsons Summit Center, 6783 Ayala Center, Bel-air, City Of Makati

64.

Brief Job Description: Research and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas

LAO, DA Marketing And Sales Agent

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate: Preferably 6 months -1-year as Sales Representative & Fluent in Vietnamese and English Language

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

Brief Job Description: Responsible for providing market consultancy, support services in areas of business development, market entry consulting, research and sector working groups.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

GOLDENSKY INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC. Midas Hotel, 2702 Roxas Blvd., Brgy. 076, Pasay City

Basic Qualification: Proficient in Speaking Reading and Writing in Bilingual

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

74.

TEO SAY KEONG JASON Data Analyst - Mandarin Speaking

Brief Job Description: Take inquiries and request from customers and address their needs.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate: Preferably 6 months -1-year as Sales Representative & Fluent in Vietnamese and English Language

76.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree; Must be a TEAM Player Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION VOGEL, FREDERIK Consultant

EASTERN GOLD CORPORATION 503, Nueva St, , Binondo, City Of Manila

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

CHEVRON PHILIPPINES INC. 6750 Ayala Ave. Bldg., 6750 Ayala, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

LUBOTA, NSIMBA Developmental Rotational Auditor

Brief Job Description: Prepares product or service reports by collecting and analyzing customer information

No.

CYANCLAY INC. Office Unit 909 High Street South Corporate Plaza Tower 1, 26th St. Corner 9th Ave. Bgc, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Basic Qualification: College Graduate: Preferably 6 months -1-year as Sales Representative & Fluent in Vietnamese and English Language

Brief Job Description: Reviewing Current Operations and suggest improvements, analyzing all customer routes and load capacity, tires and lubricants used, and fimd ways to improves efficiency. Working with the existing sales team to visit all customers, study their needs and find ways to increase company shares in the business, setup fleet monitoring program for our end users, Conduct training and fleet inspection all over the country; Focus on developing services station to support our Customer fleets.

CURRENTCORE SERVICES INC. Unit 2c, Flr. No. 4f, One Ecom Center Bldg. Ocean Drive St., Moa Complex Subd. Barangay 076, Pasay City

ATAD STEEL STRUCTURE CORPORATION (REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE) Unit G-2 G/f New Solid Bldg., 357 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

HRAIKI, RABIH Vietnamese Digital Marketing Officer

Basic Qualification: Must be fluent in English and can understand Indian Language; Must have college degree or above; Must have at least 3 years experience in the same field as Senior Business Manager in a Recruitment and/ or Staffing Industry with Indian/Malaysian Clients

CHATTERJEE, NILABHRA Chief Technical Officer - Modern PUV DIV

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

COST PLUS, INC. U-1712 17f Cityland Herrera Tower, 98 V.a Rufino Cor. Valero Sts., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description: Operate as the lead point if contact for any and all matters specific to your customers.

A13

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write customer service inquiries

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Friday, December 17, 2021

VU DUC CUONG Vietnamese-speaking Customer Service 89.

Brief Job Description: Serves customer by providing product service information and resolving product service problem

Basic Qualification: Fluent for both native and English language, computer literate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

GERMAN-PHILIPPINE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, INC. 8/f Dohle Haus Manila, 30-38 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Ave., San Isidro, City Of Makati

JIANGSU DIBANG CONSTRUCTION PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 2106-a West Tower, Psec Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig

A14

BusinessMirror

Friday, December 17, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION HAVILL, RAYMOND Project Supervisor

90.

Brief Job Description: Lead the planning and implementation of project. Facilitate the definition of project scope, goals and deliverables MA, CHANGQING Project Supervisor

91.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

Brief Job Description: Accomplishes construction human resource objectives by selecting, orienting, training, assigning, scheduling, coaching, counseling, and disciplining employees; communicating job expectations; planning, monitoring, appraising job contributions; recommending compensation actions; adhering to policies and procedures.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English language both in written and verbal. With working knowledge in construction

No.

102.

92.

Brief Job Description: As a member, you will be responsible for accurate and timely input of valuation, cash and collaterals on derivative trades based upon valuation and cash report received from the clients/Fund Managers and will also be responsible to maintain accurate Client reference data, Market data and Economic trade data required for processing, valuation and reconciliation of our client derivatives portfolio into various OTC systems.

Basic Qualification: With good oral and communication skills in english and mandarin language familiar in the field of construction works Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

103.

104.

Basic Qualification: 1. Key requirement of Derivative domain expertise 2. Experience or working knowledge of Derivatives on OTC products. 3. Good background knowledge of client valuation process and all security types (Bonds, Equities, Commodities, and Indices etc) their accounting treatment and Derivative experience desirable. 4. Excellent communication, interaction and influencing skills. Comfortable at interacting with and communicating to all levels of management.

105.

106.

107.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 108.

JOHN, VINOY Fund Servicing Lead

93.

Brief Job Description: Managing the Fund Services Reconciliation team for Institutional funds and Mutual Funds across EMEA and WHEM region. Manage the reconciliation of Custody and Accounting books of the Clients and provide sign off to the Nav Validation teams for WHEM/EMEA region. Responsible for the resolution of breaks related Income, Trades, Capstock and Expenses for the institutional Funds.

SINGH, SANDEEP Fund Servicing Manager Iii 94.

Brief Job Description: Lead the Manila Trades team and provide oversight for work Planning, managing daily BAU operations & delivery of SLAs - Working with stakeholders to provide solutions for new products and design solutions

Basic Qualification: Post Graduate (PGPMS) Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Leadership skills including knowledge management & development, provide coaching & mentoring for global teams - Ability to partner with demanding stakeholders, managing their expectations while developing strong Working relationships with them

109.

110.

111.

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

CARVALHO, GERALD JOSEPH Mortgage Manager

95.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing and oversight of pipeline production, turn-times, quality, management of compliance and regulatory standards; including leading a team responsible for auditing Mortgage Loan applications for QC purposes prior to loan funding. The team ensures the loan application is approved and compliant with regulatory and financial guidelines.

Basic Qualification: Operations / Project Management experience including 10+ years managerial experience motivating and leading teams, Extensive experience driving process change and efficiencies in a growing business – strong focus on execution and delivery against objectives, Ability to challenge and influence stakeholders to ensure decisions are well thought out and can be executed from an operations perspective

112.

113.

114.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 115.

CHATTERJEE, ANIRUDDHA ASHIM KUMAR Operations Director

96.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for running a strong Global Center of Excellence for trade functions by delivering on overall end-to-end strategy and governance across Migrations, Service Delivery, Training, Process Reengineering, Tech Transformations & Control framework to provide a wide range of Trade finance services for all global clients SAIFUDDIN Payment Lifecycle Manager III

97.

Brief Job Description: He is Vice President for the Manila CSU team. He leads a team of 25+ people that do sanctions check on all J P Morgan transactions.

TRIVEDI, ASHWIN PREMSHANKER Trade Lifecycle Manager III 98.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for overseeing the core functions of cash and stock reconciliations across the firm ensuring that all breaks have the right ownership and that high value balance sheet impacting items are escalated and resolved quickly.

Basic Qualification: MBA in Finance Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: Graduate

99.

100.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

HAPPY Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

116.

117.

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

Basic Qualification: Graduate of Business Commerce and a Masters in Business Administration degree holder from NMIMS. Ashwin is an experienced manager with over 15 years of work experience in JPM managing Cash and the Proof and Control Team

118.

119.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 120.

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

HA THI CHUYEN Chinese Customer Service

JOHAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

No.

124.

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

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.- PHILIPPINE GLOBAL SERVICE CENTER 23/f Net Plaza, 31st St. E-square Zone, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

D SOUZA, ROHAN CLARENCE Fund Servicing Associate II

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

121.

122.

KELLY CHEN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

KELVIN ANDERSON Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries LI, DENGQI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries LUO, MOUHAI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries MA, YANAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires NGUYEN VAN HUNG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries NGUYEN VAN HUY Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries PAN, JIANQUAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries TRAN DUC THANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries TRI SUSANTY Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries VI NGOC LAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries VY VAN VINH Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries WANG, WENZHE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries WANG, XINYUE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries WINADI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries WU, WENRUI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries WU, YUBIN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

YANG, JUN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

YANG, SHUANGSHUANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

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

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

125.

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

126.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 127.

101.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

123.

HUANG, HUALI Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires

XIE, GUOHUI Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LI, HAIYAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

LI, TINGXIU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data base services

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

128.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

129.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

130.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

131.

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

132.

133.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

134.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language 135.

136.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

137.

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

138.

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

LIU, NIAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

SUN, ZHONGJIANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

NG CHIN TONG Malaysian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

BUI THI OANH Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

LAU SHU SHI Mandarin Administrative Specialist Brief Job Description: Creates and revises system and procedures

Brief Job Description: Employee orientation, development and training logistics, and recordkeeping

Brief Job Description: Work closely with management to prioritize business and information needs

LE VAN DINH Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing calls and customer services

YANG, FAN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing calls and customer services

HWANG, SEONGMIN Korean Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing calls and customer services

CAI, WEIZHONG Chinese Cargo Office Agent

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

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

Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledge in computer applications with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin, Korean and English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

PANPHIL MARINE SERVICES CORP. 2626 Maytubig St., Corner P. Ocampo St., 078, Bgy. 719, Malate, City Of Manila

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

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese language

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

NOCMAKATI, INC. 8,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,17,18 & 19 Floors, Century Diamond Center, Kalayaan Ave. Cor. Salamanca St. Poblacion, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

YANG, YUAN Mandarin Project Data Specialist

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

LIU, DOUDOU Chinese Customer Service

SOPHIA GOH CHYE SZE Mandarin HR Specialist

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

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

NEWBAY INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INC. 2/f Mezzanine Tower 1, The Enterprise Center, 6766 Ayala Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas, City Of Makati

139. HERI WEN WEN Chinese Customer Service

SONG, JIANXIANG Chinese Customer Specialist

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION Sky Garage Bldg., Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write chinese language

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Brief Job Description: Chinese Cargo Office Agent facilitate shipments of goods through shipping, and trucking terminals and docks station in China and Philippines

Basic Qualification: Ability to communicate effectively in Mandarin and basic English, both verbally and in writing. Must have an experience in shipments of goods, tariff coding system or any similar field. Strong knowledge of China and Philippine Customs Regulations and Tariffs Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

YU, SHUAI Chinese Cargo Office Agent 140.

Brief Job Description: Chinese Cargo Office Agent facilitate shipments of goods through shipping, and trucking terminals and docks station in China and Philippines

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Ability to communicate effectively in Mandarin and basic English, both verbally and in writing. Must have an experience in shipments of goods, tariff coding system or any similar field. Strong knowledge of China and Philippine Customs Regulations and Tariffs Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

No.

SHEN, JIAWEI Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 155.

HUANG, FUCHU Chinese Project Manager 141.

Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project . Activity planning and sequencing, resource planning

156.

WANG, JIANHONG Chinese Project Manager 142.

Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project . Activity planning and sequencing, resource planning

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

WANG, WUWU Chinese Project Manager 143.

Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project . Activity planning and sequencing, resource planning

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in computer science business or related field. Excellent oral and written communication both English and Mandarin; Strong public speaking skills

157.

ZENG, BIAO Chinese Project Manager 144.

Brief Job Description: Planning and defining scope of the project . Activity planning and sequencing, resource planning

158.

CHEN, HOUCAI Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 145.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

159.

GAO, ZHENRONG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 146.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

160.

GUO, JIANJUN Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 147.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

161.

GUO, ZIYANG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 148.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management. HU, JING Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

149.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management JIN, YINAN Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

150.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management JING, BINFENG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

151.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management

LI, XUPENG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 152.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

LIU, YICHENG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 153.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

LIU, ZHONGYU Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction) 154.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management

162.

163.

164.

165.

166.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above.

167.

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

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management ZHANG, WEN Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

168.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management ZHANG, ZHICHAO Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

169.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management ZHAO, ZHIHAO Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

170.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management.

LEE, JUHYUN Liaison Korea Market 171.

Brief Job Description: Liaison between Koreans in South Korea and Filipino counterparts

A15

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

No.

172.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

173.

174.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

175.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

176.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

177.

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

Basic Qualification: Provide assistance with technical issue

YAO, JIACAI IT Consultant Brief Job Description: Analysis and organization data

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Strong analytical, diagnostic and problem solving skills

CHEN, ZHENAN IT Specialist Brief Job Description: Assisting with network administration tasks

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Strong analytical, diagnostic and problem solving skills

WANG, HAILONG IT Specialist Brief Job Description: Assisting with network administration tasks

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

Basic Qualification: Excellent in reading, writing and speaking in Mandarin.

Brief Job Description: Maintain customer records by updating account information.

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

Basic Qualification: Significant experience as regulator, or a senior compliance manager across all areas of compliance risk within a global firm, in the financial service industry; Significant leadership experience and an experienced strategic thnker

Brief Job Description: Second line defense (LOD) function. Response for reviewing and challenging the activities of the groups business (also referred to as “the first LOD) to ensure that they effectively manage as risk owner.

UNHOOP PHILIPPINES, INC. U1006-1012 10/f Robinsons Jg Summit Center, 6783 Ayala Avenue, Bel-air, City Of Makati TAKEUCHI, YUKI Japanese Customer Support 178.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Japanese/Nihongo

Brief Job Description: Provides technical/customer support to Japanese customers and clients by researching and answering questions.

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

WATSONS PERSONAL CARE STORES (PHILIPPINES), INC. Unit No. Cbp-ia Flr. No. 9/f, West Quadrant One E-com Ctr. Bldg., Ocean Drive St., Barangay 76, Pasay City

SHUM, CHUN WAH SIMON Supply Chain And Distribution Center Director 179.

Brief Job Description: The Supply Chain Director ensures an optimized flow from supplier shelf to customer. Supporting strategic goals with a special focus on operational agility and capacity planning. The incumbent is required to deliver innovative solutions and put the customer at the heart of every decision.

Basic Qualification: Degree in Supply Chain Management, Industry Engineering and related business management courses; 5+ years working experience as member of the Executive Committee or a Business Unit Head managing supply chain functions preferably in regional setting or multinational health ans beauty retailer and related businesses. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

WIKITECH SERVICES INC. Unit 25d 2/f Zeta Ii Bldg., 191 Salcedo St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati MING, TINGDONG Mandarin Customer Service 180.

Basic Qualification: Proficient language skills and skills match to job

Brief Job Description: Opens customer accounts by recording account information

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

YE, ZHONGXING Mandarin Team Leader 181.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

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

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

Brief Job Description: Analysis and organization data

GODWIN, SHANE NIRASH Chief Compliance Officer

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Provide assistance with technical issue

WEI, YUEJUN IT Consultant

THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED - PHILIPPINE BRANCH 3058 Hsbc Center, 5th Ave. West, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

TIN NGOC MAI Mandarin Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

TELFA OUTSOURCING SERVICES INC. Unit 3b Mrb 1160, J. Bocobo St., 072, Bgy. 670, Ermita, City Of Manila

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

Basic Qualification: Proficient language skills and skills match to job

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

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

TANG, LEI Mandarin Technical Support 182.

Basic Qualification: Proficient language skills and skills match to job

Brief Job Description: Monitoring and maintaining computer systems and networks

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

XUSHENG TECHNOLOGY CORP. Flr. No. 1-5 Bldg., No. 0050 F.b. Harrison St. Cor. Williams And Roberts St., Zone 4, Barangay 013, District 1, Pasay City PENG, JINBO Mandarin Speaking Technical Support

Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin speaking

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

183.

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

ZIMI TECH, INC. 29th/f Burgundy Corporate Tower, Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Deals with hardware and application support queries and issues reported to the support desk

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

LISA CHINTHIA Bahasa Language Customer Service Representative 184.

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

RAKSO AIR TRAVEL & TOURS, INC. 3/f Rico Bldg., 112 Aguirre St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management ZHANG, LIYIN Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management ZHANG, HUANYU Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management YUAN, ZHENGHUA Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management YANG, PENG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management YANG, BING Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management. XIAO, YONGZENG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management. WEI, BAOMING Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management WANG, PENGGANG Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language. Technical skills in software as stated above. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertale site construction management. WANG, MINGZHU Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 POWERCHINA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 2101 21/f Bdo Equitable Tower, 8751 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management WANG, JIAYUE Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in computer science business or related field. Excellent oral and written communication both English and Mandarin; Strong public speaking skills

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management

WANG, HONGXING Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the overall integration, troubleshooting and acceptance of the assigned site. Undertake Site construction management

SU, WEIHAO Mandarin QA/QC Engineer (Construction)

PHILIPPINES FIBER OPTIC CABLE NETWORK LTD., INC. Unit 2802-2803, 28th Floor, The Podium, Adb Avenue, Wack-wack Greenhills, City Of Mandaluyong Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in computer science business or related field. Excellent oral and written communication both English and Mandarin; Strong public speaking skills

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Friday, December 17, 2021

Brief Job Description: Professionally handle incoming request from customers and ensure that issues are resolve both promptly and thoroughly.

TAN YING XIAN Malaysian Language Customer Service Representative 185.

Brief Job Description: Professionally handle incoming request from customers and ensure that issues are resolve both promptly and thoroughly.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in writing, reading and speaking in both English and Korean / Bahasa / Chinese Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in writing, reading and speaking in both English and Korean / Bahasa / Chinese / Malaysian Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

*Date Generated: Dec 16, 2021 Basic Qualification: Expertise in marketing. Proficient in speaking/ writing, reading Korean/ English language and has contact in Korea and Philippines

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

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

ROME NETWORK TECHNOLOGY INC. Unit 1807 Cityland Pasong Tamo Tower, 2210 Chino Roces Ave., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

A16 Friday, December 17, 2021

DZRH F2F SURVEY GIVES BBM 49.2%; LENI, 16.2%

HE Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) stand a rd-bea rer, Ferd inand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr., took the lead in the face-toface election survey conducted by radio station DZRH of the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), according to a report by the former senator’s camp. Marcos Jr. got 49.2 percent of the votes from the 7,614 respondents in the survey. In far second was Leni Robredo with 16.2 percent; followed by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno at third spot with 10.4 percent. In the fourth spot was Sen. Manny Pacquiao with 8.2 percent; Sen. Bong Go with 5.8 percent; Sen. Ping Lacson with 4.9 percent; Ret. Gen. Antonio Parlade with 0.5 percent and Leody de Guzman with 0.3 percent, said the press release citing the survey results. The DZRH noted that 4.5 percent of the respondents are undecided. Nerisa Nunag, MBC research director, said the faceto-face election survey dubbed ‘Desisyon 2022’ was conducted in 17 regions covering Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao on December 11-12. Nunag believes the influential Solid North voting bloc still could be responsible for Marcos Jr.’s big lead against other aspirants, especially in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

and Ilocos region. Marcos Jr.’s performance in recent surveys also showed that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s decision to run as his runningmate helped create a synergistic tandem, according to the Marcos camp. This complementary effect was evident in the wide margin of lead Marcos Jr. registered in the Davao region and Cagayan Valley, according to the DZRH survey. Although he is from the North, Marcos obtained the lion’s share of votes in Mindanao, with 56 percent choosing him compared to Leni’s 13.5 percent. Nunag explained that all respondents in their F2F survey were registered voters and they were asked this question: “Kung ngayon gaganapin ang eleksiyon, sino ang inyong iboboto [If elections were held today, who would you vote for]?” “Tayo ay nagbigay ng sample ballot. Nandun nakasulat ang mga tumatakbong kandidato….ang mga respondents, sila ang nag-shade ng pipiliing kandidato [We gave a sample ballot. The names of candidates were listed t h e r e . T h e r e s p o n d e nt s shaded their choices],” said Nunag. The BBM-Sara UniTeam said earlier it advocates a unifying style of leadership, seeing unity as the path to progress and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

PHL, UAE to begin trade negotiations By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE Philippine is seeking to have a wider market access with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced on Thursday that both countries have agreed to start scoping discussions for a potential trade deal. This, after Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez met with UAE’s State Minister Ahmed bin Ali Al Sayegh and Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi earlier this month at the sidelines of the Global Business Forum Asean during the Expo 2020 Dubai. “Both governments recognize the large potential to expand bilateral trade and investment relations and are working towards the finalization of key agreements that will pave the way for the start of the broader CEPA negotiations,” Lopez said. The trade negotiations, he explained, will be guided by the parties’ proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Economic and Technical Cooperation and the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) which are both under way. The said MOU paves the way for a joint economic commission to implement cooperation initiatives on several areas of trade and investment. These include agribusiness, manufacturing, renewable energy, real estate development, logistics, transportation, communication, tourism, technology and innovation. “In addition, the Philippines-

UAE IPPA is expected to further deepen economic relations between the two countries by creating favorable conditions for investments and stimulating business initiatives while ensuring that the interests and sensitivities of both parties are protected,” the DTI chief said. The IPPA seeks to boost UAE investors’ engagement in the Philippines in agribusiness, energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy, infrastructure, information technology-business process management, oil and gas and tourism. In the first nine months, net foreign direct investments from UAE reached $2.43 million. This is already more than double than 2020 full-year investments of $1.18 million. UAE, meanwhile, hosts known Philippine franchise brands and over a thousand Filipino-owned businesses from different sectors, including food and beverage, trading and logistics, consultancy and other creative services, education and training and hospitality services. Next to Saudi Arabia, UAE is the largest destination of overseas Filipino in the Middle East, the DTI noted. Majority of the Filipinos in UAE are engaged in engineering and architecture, tourism and hospitality sector, customer service, and health and medical fields. “Given our economic complementarities and the strong ties between our peoples, we are optimistic that the proposed CEPA with UAE will redound to mutual benefits and will play an important role in accelerating the growth trajectory of the Philippine economy,” Lopez concluded.

Women, youth bear brunt of Covid job losses–ADB

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

OMEN and the youth bore the brunt of pandemic job losses in four Asean countries, including the Philippines, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report. ADB said people aged 15 to 24, who represent less than 15 percent of the workforce in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, accounted for as much as 45 percent of job losses at the height of the pandemic in 2020. In the report titled, “A Crisis Like No Other—Covid-19 and Labor Markets in Southeast Asia,” women accounted for 60 percent of all job losses, including 90 percent in manufacturing, in Thailand, at the height of the pandemic. “Despite unprecedented government responses, Cov id-19 has exposed significant social protection gaps associated with high and persistent informality across the region,” said ADB Director General for Southeast A si a R a mesh Subra m a n i a m. “It also has provided an opportunity for countries to address these gaps and expand coverage to new beneficiaries and excluded groups. As recovery takes hold, the focus of fiscal policy can shift more strongly from relief to stimulus, and from stimulus to structural investments that will promote sustained and inclusive growth,” he explained. The report said young work-

ers suffered a disproportionate amount of job losses, while women were more likely to exit the labor force following job loss than men. The ADB said exits from the labor force especially in Indonesia and the Philippines that had low female labor force par ticipation rates w il l have long-term adverse effects on the working lives of women. ADB said young workers were more likely to lose jobs mainly because they dominated hard-hit sectors such as hotels and restaurants, as well as wholesale and retail trade. Women, in all the countries examined by the report and across all age groups, were more likely to leave the labor force, mainly to take care of their family during the pandemic. Women rejoining the workforce by early 2021 were mostly self-employed or in the informal sector, which may hurt their career development in the long run. “Although many female workers reentered the labor market in the second half of 2020, labor reallocation patterns indicate that part of the employment recovery consisted of ‘distress employment’ or ‘added

worker effect,’ suggesting that the quality of employment had taken a hit,” the report stated. Based on the report, a total of 8.713 million jobs were lost in the Philippines between the first and second quarters of 2020. It added that 52 percent of workers in the Philippines became unemployed.

Biggest job losses

THE total job losses in the country are more than twice the job losses in Indonesia at 3.608 million; more than three times the 2.434 million jobs lost in Vietnam; and over seven times that of Thailand at 1.079 million. With this, the Philippines experienced the steepest decline in economic growth with a contraction of 9.6 percent in the second quarter of 2020. Further, the Philippines had the largest share of households at 84 percent experiencing income losses in February–April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. “A rise in self-employment and unpaid family work resulted in job gains in Q3 [third quarter] 2020, with 24 percent of those gains occurring in wholesale and retail trade. In the last quarter of 2020, the Philippines posted a net job loss of around 1.5 million, tempered by the labor reallocation toward agriculture,” the report, however, said. In order to address the problems, ADB noted the national government implemented programs such as the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), which was linked to the existing Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). The SAP targeted its coverage to expand to 13.3 million low-income families or 52 percent of the popu-

lation, in addition to the beneficiaries of the 4Ps program. The benefit amount of 4Ps recipients increased by twofold or even threefold. SAP also had the highest adequacy of benefits among large-scale cash transfer programs implemented in the region, with a maximum benefit reaching 72 percent of the household income of the lowest income quintile. “Additionally, an emergency subsidy program was introduced, to provide a one-time cash grant and food packs to households identified by their local government units as low income, but who did not qualify for benefits under SAP. In addition to social assistance programs, the Philippines also implemented a public works program for informal workers affected by the crisis, which included displaced, underemployed, and seasonal workers,” ADB said. Meanwhile, the ADB said the pandemic worsened inequalities between skilled and unskilled workers, hurting low-skilled as well as middle-skilled ones whose jobs face automation or are being moved elsewhere. Informal workers, self-employed workers, temporary workers, and migrant workers were among the most vulnerable groups. Informal workers, who are overrepresented among the region’s poor and near-poor workers, were particularly vulnerable to the crisis because of limited job security and social protection. The region’s 10 million migrant workers were also hit by the restrictions on travel and mobility, because they often don’t have job security or access to health and welfare systems in their host countries.

SOCIAL-DISTANCING markers line the aisle of the Our Lady of Light Parish Church in Cainta, Rizal, as the faithful, wearing masks to protect themselves against the coronavirus, attend the first of a nine-day series of Night Masses or Simbang Gabi in anticipation of Christmas. BERNARD TESTA

Senate approves bill mandating SIM card registration

EN AT OR S u n a n i mou s ly passed on third and final reading the proposed SIM Card Registration Law, an awaited remedial legislation to effectively curb the proliferation of subscriber identity module (SIM) card used for fraudulent schemes. Explaining her vote in favor of the measure, Senator Grace Poe pointed out that “at the core of this measure is the promotion of security in the country, stressing that

“it is timely and fitting given that various technology-aided crimes are rampant in the country today.” Embodied in Senate Bill No. 2395, the measure requires all public telecommunications entities to make the registration of all SIM cards a prerequisite to their sale, where subscribers need to submit a registration form and present a valid identification card. Once enacted into law, it will also penalize the “use of fictitious identities to register SIM cards,

spoofing, and the unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards.” At the same time, the senator referenced the hacking incident last week where 700 accounts were breached, and an estimated total of P50 million in depositor funds was lost, as a call to urgently implement stronger security measures. She affirmed that the remedial legislation was crafted to “establish another layer of security protection for Filipinos which will hopefully deter criminals from perpetrating

their wicked plans,” at the same time stressing, “it is high time that we beef up our own infrastructures to address these threats to security.” Moreover, Poe gave assurances that the remedial legislation was “crafted with the right to privacy of consumers held at the highest regard, and with the National Telecommunications Commission ensuring that the centralized SIM card registry is done in accordance with the Data Privacy Act.”

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Del Monte triples income to $54M in fiscal first half

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

ampos-led Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) said its income for its fiscal first half ending October 31 almost tripled to $54.12 million (around P2.7 billion) from last year’s $18.6 million (P930 million), despite the single-digit increase in its revenues.

Sales for the period rose 7 percent to $1.11 billion from last year’s $1.03 billion, mainly on the strength of Del Monte Foods Inc., its unit in the United States. Del Monte Foods generated $775.6 million or 70 percent of group sales, higher by 8 percent from the previous year, driven by improved volume across major categories primarily canned vegetables and fruits following the improvement in supply and distribution gains.

The company’s branded retail and foodservice sales grew by a combined 14.7 percent which more than offset the decline in low-margin private label sales. Sales from the group’s second largest and most profitable subsidiary, Del Monte PhiIippines Inc., however, were down 2 percent both in dollar and peso terms, mainly as a result of a high base effect of last year’s performance when it saw pantry loading by consumers.

Compared to the same period two years ago, sales in the Philippines rose 7 percent while retail sales improved by 14 percent. “DMPL stayed on its course to deliver a very strong financial performance for the quarter and achieved record results for the first half. We look forward to sustaining the momentum into the second half of the year with an improved sales mix, higher new product contribution and diversified channels to expand our brand footprint,” Joselito Campos Jr., the company’s CEO and managing director, said. “And to help us mitigate headwinds from higher costs, our teams continue to execute against our strategy of maximizing operational efficiencies while increasing highermargin branded sales and reducing non-core sales.” For its fiscal second quarter alone, the company’s net profit rose 64 percent to $35.8 million from $21.9 million last year as it continued to improve its gross margin by 180 basis

points to 27.4 percent mainly from a better sales mix with increased sales of higher-margin retail branded products in the US. Sales rose 4 percent to $650.99 million from last year’s $623.45 million from improved sales in the US and international markets. Del Monte Foods generated sales of $477.5 million or 73 percent of group sales, an increase of 7 percent on strong branded retail growth, while sales of low-margin private label were reduced as planned. Philippine sales reached $186.1 million, up 3 percent from the previous year led by international market sales. More than half of the sales came from the Philippines, with the balance in the international market. The company said it is well-positioned to build on the momentum achieved last year and expects to offset the impact of commodity and transportation headwinds. “Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Group expects to generate higher net profit in fiscal year 2022.”

Aboitiz awards EPC deal to JGC By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

boitiz Power Corp. said on Wednesday it has awarded a P4.5-billion engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) deal for the 94-megawatt peak solar project in Pangasinan province to JGC Philippines Inc. The project, the second solar facility of AboitizPower next to its 58MW peak solar plant in Negros Occidental, will rise on a 196-hectare site in Cayanga, a quaint village in the municipality of Bugallon about 13 kilometers southwest of the Pangasinan’s capital.

GBP inks deal with Iloilo City

Construction on the project is set to begin immediately and is targeted to be commercially operational by the fourth quarter of 2022. JGC will commence engineering and design work in parallel with site investigation. “We’re only just beginning. There are greater things ahead, but this is surely a key step toward our 10-year strategy of growing our renewable energy capacity as well as striking a 50:50 balance between our Cleanergy and thermal portfolios by 2030,” AboitizPower President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio said. Once completed, the power plant is expected to produce 147 million

kWh of clean energy annually or enough to energize over 60,000 Filipino homes all year round. The majority of the facility’s capacity will be contracted for retail electricity supply, which can help bring cleaner and more sustainable energy to power consumers across the country. “We are excited to work with JGC Philippines on this project, given our shared values and vision of helping create a more sustainable energy system for all. This partnership is also aligned with our aspiration of growing Cleanergy in the next 10 years,” Aboitiz Renewables Inc. (ARI) Executive Director David J. Smith said.

Cleanergy is AboitizPower’s brand for its renewable energy portfolio. Aside from this latest undertaking, Aboitiz is looking at developing more renewable energy facilities in the region, with tendering on the 167-megawatt peak Laoag solar project in Aguilar, Pangasinan about to start, and having already erected two met masts in the municipality back in February as well as two more in Bugallon in September. The company is looking at investing P190 billion over a decade to grow its renewables capacity to 4,600MW, which will make up half of its total generation portfolio of 9,200 MW by 2030.

Fortune Life launches nourishing program for kids

lobal Business Power Corp. (GBP) has entered into a P15-million publicprivate partnership (PPP) deal with the city government of Iloilo for the enhancement of the La Paz Plaza, the city’s largest park and among the most visited recreation places in the area. “Being the host city of our power plants, Iloilo has been more than welcoming and supportive of our company’s endeavors through the years. In return, we have always aimed to create and participate in meaningful projects that would help raise the quality of life and contribute to the overall wellbeing of the community”, said GBP President Jaime T. Azurin. The said project will be implemented through GBP subsidiaries Panay Energy Development Corp. and Panay Power Corp. The project will transform the existing plaza lagoon into a “Blue Koi Lagoon” and establish a “Green Butterfly Garden,” targeted for implementation starting this December. Located within GBP’s two adopted barangays in Divinagracia and Lopez Jaena Norte, the improvement of Iloilo City’s park is intended to promote the La Paz Plaza as a cultural and tourism spot. Lorenz S. Marasigan

eading life insurer Fortune Life, in coordination with Holy Family Parish, Las Piñas Chapter, launched its Nourishing Program by feeding 200 children residing in Sitio Pugad Lawin, Almanza II, Las Piñas City on December 12. The company has shown its strong belief in the importance of building community shared values through this activity. Aside from the food packs, volunteers joined hands in giving away 200 school kits with Christ-

mas goodies to the poor families in the Pugad Lawin community. The program began with an opening prayer followed by the inspirational message of Rolan dela Vega, Fortune Life Senior Vice President for Finance Division. Dela Vega emphasized the importance of giving hope to the youth as he, himself, once lived in Tondo and was able to overcome hardships in life by not giving up on his dreams. The children, ages three to sev-

en, were all smiles and had fun as they were entertained by an amazing magician as part of the program. The families danced and enjoyed listening to the new Fortune Life corporate jingle entitled “Sandalan,” while they received the goodies and school kits for their kids. Fortune Life hopes that this simple activity of giving back to the community ripples a multitude of good deeds, not only during the Christmas season but throughout the year.

Friday, December 17, 2021

Meralco unveils new ICT center

he Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) new command and control center will play a “pivotal role” in the management of the distribution utility’s daily operations, enabling it to be more efficient especially in mitigating incidents and responding to power issues. Called the Operations Platform and Telecommunications Integrated Command Center (Optic), the facility aims to reduce unplanned downtime of critical ICT systems, increase productivity of employees, and enhance service delivery to Meralco customers, Meralco Vice President and Head of Information Communication Technology and Transformation Rocky D. Bacani said. “This platform plays a pivotal role in the effective management of Meralco’s daily operations, resulting in higher efficiency, improved

incidents mitigation and response capabilities which translate to consistent and reliable services to our customers and workforce. This is especially crucial at this time with the pandemic making us highly dependent on technology,” he said. The pandemic, Bacani added, encouraged millions of Meralco customers to rely on digital touchpoints. Optic improves the distribution utility’s resiliency and service reliability by providing real-time application, IT network, and communication link outage alerts to support teams to immediately restore these services, he said. Bacon said Optic, powered by artificial intelligence and operated by engineers, provides a centralized monitoring system that allows faster fault detection and restoration of technology services. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, December 17, 2021

Megaworld to infuse assets in Iloilo, Taguig into Mreit

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

egaworld Corp., the property development arm of businessman Andrew Tan, on Thursday said its board has approved the infusion of four of its buildings worth about P9.1 billion in Iloilo and Taguig into its real estate investment trust (REIT) Mreit Inc.

Megaworld said these assets are Two Techno Place, Three Techno Place and One Global Center, all in Iloilo Business Park and World Finance Plaza in McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. The transaction will increase

Mreit’s property value by 19 percent to P58.5 billion, the company said. The four office buildings have a combined gross leasable area (GLA) of 55,700 square meters, increasing Mreit’s portfolio GLA by a quarter to around 280,000 square meters.

With an average occupancy rate of 99 percent, the infused assets will start contributing to Mreit’s revenues upon execution of the deed of absolute sale before the year ends, the company said. To fund the investment, Mreit’s board approved the closing of a 10year term loan facility amounting to P7.25 billion with a local bank. To minimize volatility in interest costs, the loan will have a fixed rate. The remaining balance of the acquisition cost shall be paid using the company’s existing cash. Upon full drawdown, Mreit’s total debt will translate to 12 percent of its deposited properties as against the limit of 35 percent provided by the REIT law. Should Mreit secure a credit rating from a duly accredited or internationally recognized rating agency, the limit goes up further to 70 percent. “This transaction marks the be-

ginning of our significant growth journey. We do not have any debt on our balance sheet at the moment, so we decided to lever up in order to take advantage of the current favorable interest rate environment and enhance our returns,” Mreit President and CEO Kevin Andrew L. Tan said. “Consequently, the infusion of these prime assets will result in a 5.3 percent increase in our expected dividends for calendar year 2022 from P0.95 per share to P1 per share.” At present, Mreit’s portfolio is composed of 10 office buildings with a GLA of 224,431 square meters. These properties are in Megaworld’s Eastwood City, McKinley Hill, and IloIlo Business Park townships. The company aims to have a total portfolio GLA of 500,000 square meters by 2024 and will grow this further to 1 million square meters before the end of the decade.

CPG: Home buyers flocking to Bulacan

entury Properties Group Inc. (CPG) on Thursday said its two horizontal developments in Bulacan were well-received by home buyers. The company said Phirst Park Homes Inc. already has two subdivisions carrying the brand in the province—one in Pandi and one in Baliwag—the 10th of its 15 masterplanned communities. “Baliwag is an easy choice for aspiring first-time home buyers because it is within a province that is highly industrialized and home to IT parks, commercial establishments, and schools while its living costs are relatively lower than in the city,” Phirst Park President and CEO Ricky M. Celis said. Its Pandi subdivision was also well-received by the market, he said. “The positive take-up of our Pandi project further supports our belief in Bulacan’s potential,” Celis said. Phirst Park Homes’ Baliwag community has a location that is ideal for families that prefer quiet living and easy access to the city’s conveniences, the company said. Phirst Park is a joint venture

between Century Properties and Mitsubishi Corp. It sells horizontal affordable homes, with previously launched communities located in Tanza, Cavite; Lipa, Batangas; San Pablo, Laguna; Calamba, Laguna; Nasugbu, Batangas; Magalang, Pampanga; General Trias, Cavite; and Tayabas, Quezon. Century Properties and and Mitsubishi earlier extended its partnership through Phirst Park as they seek to build more residential and non-residential projects. “Our idea here is to increase and broaden our presence in addressable markets via new products, new formats, and in more segments,” Century Properties President and CEO Marco R. Antonio. Phirst Park posted reservation sales of P4.38 billion for the first half of the year, 38 percent higher than last year’s P3.17 billion. Its total collections hit P2.02 billion, more than double the P744 million it collected last year. For the nine months ending September 30, Phirst Park contributed P2.76 billion to Century Property’s consolidated revenues of P6.07 billion. VG Cabuag

Manila Water recognized by ARTA for EODB push

n the recently concluded Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Summit organized by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), Manila Water was presented with the award for “Doing Business, Competitiveness Ranking Mover - Dealing with Construction Permits (DWCP)” category. This is in recognition of the company’s efficient stakeholder engagement with local government units, particularly the Quezon City government, in aiding customers in securing construction permits related to new water service applications. In the summit, with the theme “Doing Business in Action: Pursuing Greater Efficiency Towards the New Normal”, ARTA highlighted the streamlining, re-engineering, and egovernance initiatives it has accomplished and implemented in the past year, as well as the projects and programs in the pipeline, all of which are geared towards the further enhancement of government service delivery strategies and promotion of ease of doing business in the country.

A portion of the summit was dedicated to recognizing significant efforts of partners, such as Manila Water, aligned with the parameters of the World Bank—Doing Business Report. The award, which was presented by ARTA Director General Jeremiah B. Belgica, was received by Manila Water Enterprise Regulatory Affairs Director for East Zone, Atty. Kaye Celera-Revil on behalf of the company. “We are grateful for this recognition for Manila Water as it affirms our priority of caring for our customers through proactive partnership and efficient delivery of our services for all our stakeholders,” Revil shared. Manila Water is the exclusive water and wastewater services provider to the East Zone Concession area of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in Metro Manila. Service area includes the cities of San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Taguig, Marikina, the municipality of Pateros, and portions of Manila, Makati, and Quezon City, as well as the entire province of Rizal.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

December 16, 2021

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

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

44 126.2 92.35 25.7 9.24 52.6 8.7 19.4 20 115.9 104.9 1.6 4.05 0.64 3.23 0.84 0.295 0.6 213.8 2,600

44.95 126.3 92.95 25.85 9.3 52.65 9.3 19.42 20.2 116 105 1.69 4.15 0.65 3.33 0.86 0.33 0.67 216 2,778

43.75 126.9 92.95 25.75 9.2 50.15 9.3 19.2 20 116.2 103 1.65 4.13 0.64 3.21 0.85 0.33 0.6 213.6 2,600

43.95 127.5 94 25.9 9.4 52.7 9.3 19.58 20.2 117.3 105 1.65 4.15 0.65 3.33 0.85 0.33 0.6 216 2,600

43.75 125.5 92.05 25.65 9.2 50.15 9.3 19.2 20 115.5 102 1.65 4.04 0.64 3.21 0.84 0.33 0.6 213.6 2,600

43.95 126.5 93.05 25.9 9.24 52.6 9.3 19.48 20.2 116 105 1.65 4.15 0.64 3.33 0.84 0.33 0.6 216 2,600

1,100 48,325 1,296,930 163,859,206 1,769,300 164,548,684.50 97,900 2,528,070 101,700 940,995 7,786,230 407,544,831 1,800 16,740 48,200 929,608 10,000 201,580 694,720 80,753,000 260,410 27,220,820 31,000 51,150 45,000 185,820 223,000 142,770 16,000 52,080 70,000 58,900 20,000 6,600 239,000 143,400 630 134,764 210 546,000

INDUSTRIAL

AC ENERGY 10.56 10.58 10.2 10.76 10.2 10.76 14,495,100 152,501,882 1.04 1.08 1.05 1.05 1.04 1.04 11,000 11,450 ALSONS CONS 31.65 31.7 30.65 31.85 30.6 31.7 2,488,800 77,745,845 ABOITIZ POWER 27.45 27.5 27.45 28 27.3 27.3 1,066,000 29,334,865 FIRST GEN 71.8 72 71.95 72.4 71.5 71.8 4,570 328,330.50 FIRST PHIL HLDG 302.8 303 299 305 297.4 305 941,540 284,148,722 MERALCO 26.15 26.25 24.9 26.5 24.9 26 4,554,100 117,791,915 MANILA WATER 3.15 3.17 3.18 3.2 3.15 3.16 1,095,000 3,476,360 PETRON PETROENERGY 4.02 4.2 4 4 4 4 1,000 4,000 PHX PETROLEUM 10.48 10.8 10.4 10.88 10.4 10.88 151,500 1,643,662 19.88 20 20.1 20.1 19.86 20 18,000 358,586 PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER 14.32 14.34 14.1 14.4 14.1 14.32 264,200 3,787,092 AGRINURTURE 3.86 3.9 4 4.15 3.87 3.99 149,000 588,450 AXELUM 2.94 2.96 2.9 2.99 2.85 2.99 2,805,000 8,361,860 CENTURY FOOD 27.15 27.4 27 27.4 26.55 27.35 735,300 20,075,220 15.6 15.7 14.98 15.94 14.98 15.94 867,300 13,458,848 DEL MONTE 9 9.07 9 9.07 8.9 9 630,300 5,633,332 DNL INDUS 17.94 18 17.9 18.18 17.8 17.9 5,764,800 102,864,200 EMPERADOR 70.3 70.35 70.5 71 70.1 71 104,840 7,421,980 SMC FOODANDBEV 0.59 0.6 0.58 0.59 0.57 0.59 297,000 174,210 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.22 1.25 1.23 1.25 1.21 1.25 4,539,000 5,617,690 FRUITAS HLDG 107.7 108 107.4 108.1 107.4 107.7 20,920 2,257,941 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 225.2 225.6 223.6 228 222.8 223 1,417,180 319,552,590 LIBERTY FLOUR 20.1 28.85 27.95 27.95 27.5 27.5 182,900 5,031,550 5.41 6.69 5.41 5.41 5.41 5.41 8,000 43,280 MACAY HLDG 6.6 6.63 6.59 6.65 6.59 6.6 11,900 78,719 MAXS GROUP MG HLDG 0.15 0.167 0.164 0.169 0.164 0.167 310,000 51,550 15.94 15.96 15.64 16.04 15.64 16 23,169,700 369,910,704 MONDE NISSIN SHAKEYS PIZZA 9.3 9.4 9.4 9.4 9.3 9.3 70,000 651,638 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.64 0.62 0.62 522,000 328,290 ROXAS AND CO 1.01 1.34 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 29,000 31,900 ROXAS HLDG 0.11 0.114 0.11 0.11 0.11 0.11 350,000 38,500 SWIFT FOODS 128.9 129 128.5 129.9 127.7 129 634,550 81,838,270 UNIV ROBINA 0.69 0.7 0.72 0.72 0.69 0.7 1,994,000 1,397,740 VITARICH 2.45 2.54 2.55 2.55 2.54 2.54 10,000 25,440 VICTORIAS 47 48 47 47 47 47 500 23,500 CONCRETE A CONCRETE B 45.85 59.8 60 60 60 60 1,200 72,000 1.06 1.07 1.04 1.09 1.04 1.06 3,984,000 4,255,520 CEMEX HLDG 14.46 14.5 14.5 14.5 14.22 14.46 12,000 172,768 EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP 6.38 6.4 6.39 6.45 6.37 6.4 186,300 1,198,138 5.06 5.08 5.1 5.1 5.05 5.06 545,700 2,762,540 HOLCIM KEEPERS HLDG 1.35 1.36 1.34 1.38 1.34 1.37 3,653,000 4,990,940 MEGAWIDE 5.1 5.12 5.1 5.15 5.03 5.12 209,600 1,071,643 19.72 20 19.8 20.05 19.72 20 83,700 1,673,015 PHINMA 0.79 0.85 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 4,000 3,200 TKC METALS 0.91 0.93 0.92 0.94 0.92 0.92 2,000,000 1,850,570 VULCAN INDL 1.69 1.73 1.69 1.7 1.69 1.7 37,000 62,700 CROWN ASIA 1.45 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 24,000 36,000 EUROMED 20.55 21.55 21.55 21.55 21.55 21.55 100 2,155 CONCEPCION 2.35 2.36 2.32 2.38 2.3 2.38 2,329,000 5,470,950 GREENERGY 8.33 8.35 8.3 8.49 8.2 8.44 172,100 1,432,121 INTEGRATED MICR IONICS 0.69 0.7 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 24,000 16,820 5.75 5.89 5.96 5.96 5.84 5.89 6,400 37,754 PANASONIC 1.06 1.07 1.09 1.09 1.07 1.09 36,000 38,640 SFA SEMICON 3.57 3.62 3.5 3.64 3.5 3.64 373,000 1,331,660 CIRTEK HLDG

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PRIME MEDIA REPUBLIC GLASS SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP ZEUS HLDG

0.94 5.45 866 56.65 11.8 6.29 7.15 0.89 5.09 7.77 7.53 566 55.1 4.62 0.64 2.96 9.62 3.88 1.14 2.75 13.08 965.5 113.5 0.167

0.95 6 867 56.7 11.82 6.32 7.5 0.9 5.1 7.78 7.98 567 55.15 5 0.66 3.03 9.63 3.89 1.19 2.96 13.1 968 114 0.17

0.94 5.45 856 55.55 11.72 6.03 7.5 0.89 5.15 7.83 7.51 560 55 4.61 0.66 3 9.54 3.86 1.21 2.95 13.12 970 113 0.167

0.96 5.45 871 58 11.96 6.35 7.5 0.9 5.2 7.9 7.53 573.5 56 4.61 0.66 3 9.78 3.91 1.21 2.95 13.4 979 115.7 0.167

0.94 5.45 856 55.55 11.72 6.02 7.1 0.89 5.08 7.76 7.51 560 54.75 4.61 0.63 3 9.54 3.86 1.21 2.95 13.02 952 112.4 0.167

0.95 5.45 865 56.3 11.84 6.33 7.15 0.89 5.09 7.76 7.53 567 54.95 4.61 0.66 3 9.63 3.88 1.21 2.95 13.08 979 115.7 0.167

1,479,000 10,300 223,360 1,823,680 8,305,700 8,303,200 71,800 52,000 755,200 6,133,700 5,000 108,580 1,280,430 6,000 129,000 1,950,000 3,296,800 17,685,000 1,000 5,000 8,632,300 212,880 87,790 1,000,000

1,401,670 56,135 193,403,010 103,407,934 98,300,846 52,234,009 513,510 46,300 3,860,471 47,915,774 37,570 61,830,425 70,501,719.50 27,660 82,420 5,850,000 31,753,537 68,774,260 1,210 14,750 113,389,040 206,585,475 10,079,707 167,000

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62 406,000 251,720 6 6.45 6.46 6.46 6.46 6.46 100 646 ANCHOR LAND 35.55 35.6 35.35 35.85 34.85 35.3 10,427,100 367,888,925 AYALA LAND 47 47.05 45.8 47.2 45.75 47 875,300 41,094,200 AREIT RT 1.33 1.37 1.36 1.36 1.36 1.36 5,000 6,800 BELLE CORP 0.77 0.79 0.77 0.79 0.77 0.79 98,000 76,350 A BROWN 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.74 336,000 242,240 CITYLAND DEVT 0.097 0.1 0.103 0.103 0.097 0.1 12,830,000 1,248,960 CROWN EQUITIES CEB LANDMASTERS 2.78 2.79 2.8 2.83 2.74 2.74 904,000 2,507,850 CENTURY PROP 0.395 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.39 0.4 4,510,000 1,781,800 DOUBLEDRAGON 7.12 7.14 7 7.16 6.91 7.13 409,100 2,909,838 DDMP RT 1.79 1.8 1.79 1.8 1.78 1.79 2,169,000 3,884,690 DM WENCESLAO 6.75 6.78 6.78 6.78 6.78 6.78 127,000 861,060 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 50,000 13,000 EMPIRE EAST 0.32 0.325 0.315 0.33 0.315 0.32 5,620,000 1,815,500 EVER GOTESCO 7.39 7.4 7.42 7.44 7.3 7.4 6,069,000 44,828,250 FILINVEST RT 1.11 1.12 1.1 1.12 1.1 1.12 2,435,000 2,689,350 FILINVEST LAND 0.83 0.86 0.83 0.84 0.83 0.83 118,000 97,960 GLOBAL ESTATE 11.64 11.9 11.7 11.92 10.98 11.92 5,988,800 68,779,780 8990 HLDG 1.15 1.17 1.12 1.18 1.12 1.15 2,012,000 2,325,640 PHIL INFRADEV 0.88 0.9 0.91 0.91 0.9 0.9 2,000 1,810 CITY AND LAND 3.05 3.06 3.04 3.08 3.04 3.06 15,541,000 47,633,770 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 0.26 0.265 0.265 0.265 0.26 0.265 2,380,000 620,250 18.32 18.34 18.34 18.5 18.32 18.32 4,161,800 76,307,860 MREIT RT PHIL ESTATES 0.49 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.495 0.5 2,410,000 1,197,650 2.07 2.08 2.1 2.1 2.07 2.07 463,000 963,350 PRIMEX CORP 7.79 7.8 7.48 7.81 7.47 7.81 11,390,400 86,286,674 RL COMM RT ROBINSONS LAND 17.94 17.96 17.86 18.08 17.86 17.96 5,734,300 102,804,294 PHIL REALTY 0.206 0.219 0.21 0.215 0.21 0.215 240,000 51,300 1.48 1.55 1.48 1.48 1.48 1.48 1,000 1,480 ROCKWELL 2.7 2.85 2.89 2.89 2.89 2.89 20,000 57,800 STA LUCIA LAND 34.45 34.5 34.2 35 34.1 35 22,851,300 785,936,705 SM PRIME HLDG 3.6 3.78 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 2,000 7,600 VISTAMALLS 1.1 1.14 1.17 1.17 1.14 1.14 2,000 2,310 SUNTRUST HOME 3.41 3.42 3.45 3.45 3.4 3.41 2,494,000 8,537,630 VISTA LAND SERVICES ABS CBN 12.76 12.78 12.8 12.8 12.64 12.78 15,700 200,364 13.96 13.98 13.96 14 13.82 14 480,400 6,704,564 GMA NETWORK 0.415 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.44 0.445 30,000 13,300 MANILA BULLETIN 3,486 3,492 3,306 3,600 3,306 3,600 98,405 344,163,290 GLOBE TELECOM 1,795 1,796 1,721 1,810 1,721 1,810 233,355 417,725,165 PLDT 0.079 0.08 0.079 0.081 0.079 0.079 78,830,000 6,273,430 APOLLO GLOBAL 31.25 31.3 30.85 31.75 30.75 30.9 6,307,500 196,345,490 CONVERGE 2.46 2.5 2.54 2.54 2.46 2.46 283,000 700,470 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 5.7 5.71 5.7 5.85 5.6 5.85 3,346,000 19,169,614 JACKSTONES 1.7 1.79 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 2,000 3,600 1.45 1.46 1.48 1.5 1.45 1.45 403,000 589,340 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.3 0.305 0.305 0.31 0.295 0.305 3,190,000 959,100 1.92 1.96 1.88 2 1.88 1.97 597,000 1,180,330 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 7.51 7.7 7.5 7.8 7.5 7.6 19,100 147,249 13.88 14 14 14 14 14 200 2,800 ASIAN TERMINALS 1.63 1.65 1.66 1.7 1.63 1.7 216,000 357,880 CHELSEA 45 45.3 44.5 45 44 44.75 161,500 7,186,165 CEBU AIR 194.5 194.6 193 196.7 193 196.7 642,470 125,484,827 INTL CONTAINER 20.55 22.3 20.55 22.25 20.55 22.25 300 6,505 LBC EXPRESS 0.9 0.92 0.91 0.91 0.9 0.9 60,000 54,500 LORENZO SHIPPNG 5.26 5.28 5.14 5.31 5.14 5.31 744,800 3,918,389 MACROASIA 1.06 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 16,000 17,920 METROALLIANCE A HARBOR STAR 0.85 0.92 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 82,000 69,700 1.4 1.45 1.41 1.41 1.4 1.4 10,000 14,040 ACESITE HOTEL 1.71 1.79 1.66 1.8 1.66 1.8 78,000 132,620 DISCOVERY WORLD 0.48 0.5 0.465 0.48 0.465 0.48 150,000 71,850 WATERFRONT 7.11 7.64 7.6 7.6 7.11 7.11 2,100 15,666 IPEOPLE 0.34 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.345 5,140,000 1,756,400 STI HLDG BERJAYA 6.02 6.18 5.99 6.25 5.99 6.19 27,400 164,690 6.71 6.72 6.82 6.85 6.64 6.72 14,097,700 94,538,992 BLOOMBERRY 1.46 1.47 1.45 1.49 1.45 1.49 46,000 67,260 LEISURE AND RES 0.8 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.79 0.82 1,235,000 994,320 PH RESORTS GRP 0.43 0.435 0.44 0.44 0.435 0.435 420,000 182,950 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.6 0.61 0.58 0.61 0.58 0.6 77,303,000 46,246,910 ALLDAY 8.86 8.87 8.8 9 8.8 8.94 158,400 1,412,428 ALLHOME 1.43 1.45 1.44 1.45 1.44 1.45 141,000 203,530 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 37.2 37.25 36.75 37.45 36.55 37.4 2,523,500 93,969,445 ROBINSONS RTL 64.45 64.6 65 66 64 64.6 142,430 9,222,187 PHIL SEVEN CORP 90.5 90.9 90 90.9 90 90.9 25,110 2,282,400 SSI GROUP 1.13 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.13 1.14 483,000 549,290 WILCON DEPOT 31 31.05 31.3 31.8 31 31.3 1,196,900 37,609,830 APC GROUP 0.235 0.239 0.235 0.235 0.235 0.235 160,000 37,600 7.02 7.06 7.06 7.06 7 7.06 6,300 44,268 IPM HLDG 1.41 1.42 1.41 1.45 1.39 1.4 15,953,000 22,502,870 MEDILINES 0.6 0.62 0.6 0.62 0.6 0.6 4,300,000 2,593,830 PRMIERE HORIZON 3.9 4 3.8 4 3.8 4 5,000 19,800 SBS PHIL CORP MINING & OIL ATOK 5.96 6 6.25 6.25 5.9 5.9 594,700 3,563,090 1.35 1.37 1.34 1.35 1.34 1.35 147,000 198,000 APEX MINING 5.9 5.91 5.91 5.91 5.88 5.91 1,293,200 7,615,344 ATLAS MINING 5.15 5.29 5.34 5.34 5.15 5.15 21,500 110,744 BENGUET A 2.65 2.79 2.75 2.8 2.75 2.8 60,000 167,450 CENTURY PEAK 5.05 5.4 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.1 100 510 DIZON MINES 2.1 2.12 2.07 2.12 2.07 2.1 574,000 1,202,600 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.181 0.198 0.183 0.183 0.181 0.181 310,000 56,210 0.124 0.126 0.123 0.126 0.123 0.125 1,570,000 194,780 LEPANTO A 0.0086 0.0087 0.0086 0.0086 0.0086 0.0086 8,000,000 68,800 MANILA MINING A 0.0091 0.0093 0.0092 0.0092 0.0092 0.0092 3,000,000 27,600 MANILA MINING B 1.08 1.09 1.14 1.15 1.08 1.1 1,594,000 1,743,030 MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA 5.05 5.07 5.02 5.2 4.98 5.16 4,489,700 22,744,723 OMICO CORP 0.33 0.345 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 40,000 12,800 4.73 4.74 4.73 4.75 4.72 4.73 219,000 1,036,310 PX MINING 21.2 21.25 21.25 21.85 21.1 21.25 1,079,300 22,944,525 SEMIRARA MINING 34.8 35 34.95 36.75 33.6 34.5 1,336,900 47,115,310 ACE ENEXOR 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 1,000,000 10,100 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 381,000,000 3,811,000 ORNTL PETROL B 0.0087 0.0088 0.0088 0.0088 0.0087 0.0087 3,000,000 26,300 PHILODRILL 6.02 6.09 6.05 6.09 5.96 5.96 105,200 633,297 PXP ENERGY PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 99.05 100 99.2 99.2 99 99 22,240 2,201,840 506.5 512 505 512 505 512 140 70,950 ALCO PREF D 511 525 511 511 511 511 20 10,220 AC PREF B2R 100.8 101 101.5 101.5 101 101 57,890 5,847,540 BRN PREF A 45.35 45.75 45.3 45.35 45.3 45.35 12,200 552,665 CEB PREF 102.1 103 102.5 103 102.5 103 20,250 2,084,350 CPG PREF A 100.8 102 102 102 102 102 190 19,380 DD PREF 1,000 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 250 252,500 GTCAP PREF A JFC PREF A 1,000 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 2,000 2,020,000 JFC PREF B 1,012 1,030 1,020 1,025 1,020 1,025 2,350 2,404,000 99.4 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 27,940 2,807,970 MWIDE PREF 4 102.4 102.5 102.5 102.5 102.4 102.5 2,840 291,090 PNX PREF 3B 998 1,000 999 999 999 999 260 259,740 PNX PREF 4 1,070 1,099 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 400 440,000 PCOR PREF 3A 1,102 1,148 1,101 1,102 1,101 1,102 1,020 1,123,120 PCOR PREF 3B 78.1 79 79 79 79 79 10,120 799,480 SMC PREF 2F 79.1 79.4 76.25 79.3 76.25 79.3 47,510 3,759,543.50 SMC PREF 2I 75.55 76 75.5 76 75.5 76 110,630 8,358,120.50 SMC PREF 2K 52.1 52.5 52 52.5 52 52 84,000 4,377,230 TECH PREF B2D PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 12.1 13 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 2,800 33,880 13.02 13.12 13.08 13.12 13.02 13.06 297,200 3,888,740 GMA HLDG PDR WARRANTS TECH WARRANT 0.79 0.8 0.79 0.82 0.78 0.79 389,000 308,060

33,365,617 -15,022,217 -131,815 -460,257 80,009,221 -23,616 2,000 -7,254,842 5,177,533 74,760 546,000 74,276,712.00 -3,654,285 -918,325 -126,002.50 -32,322,946 30,633,165 804,130 4,000 57,714 -964,510 -91,690 -154,370 -220,535 -17,660 -2,008,985 9,813,744.00 -1,315,118.50 -18,600 88,653 -219,787,054 -6,590 30,724,880 574,740 -42,594,779 149,400 8,696 -2,607,766 13,700 -227,287 18,600 16,900 19,500 4,275,880.00 239,499.00 -18,000 56,400 -20,675,215 -33,352,696 38,867,334 10,100,400 7,200 996,515 7,833,332 32,494,535 -36,083,253 5,057,709 23,913,520 -8,571,392 -6,820,030 1,465,521 -98,907,725 24,935,375 -19,500 109,640 -7,900 -267,763 116,350 -162,500 10,820,603 -1,971,200 131,586 -1,976,190.00 -12,361,830 -41,764,272 49,219,321 -26,470,158.00 482,711,670.00 -3,800 -1,321,260 24,295,250 4,638,345 104,000 -20,563,100 -2,470 555,995 10,220 48,460 -158,480 -2,357,780 -46,020,626 1,248,716 -1,634,750 -42,944,162 -10,290 53,250 2,068,340.00 615,635 -28,800 5,152,340 -1,067,678.50 909,909 1,140 -4,994,060 570,790 -212,780 167,450 107,040 8,800 8,118,198.00 -165,520 -1,438,755 -6,982,405 8,700 0 -1,055,450 262,500 -3,344,308

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

ALTUS PROP ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH MERRYMART

20.85 1.25 3.1 2.42

FIRST METRO ETF

109.2

21.4 1.26 3.2 2.45

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

109.5

21.05 1.28 3.18 2.43

21.9 1.3 3.2 2.47

20.05 1.2 3.1 2.42

21 1.26 3.2 2.44

139,800 1,417,000 3,000 1,549,000

2,977,445 1,754,350 9,480 3,784,240

159,620

109 110 109 110 15,030 1,640,769 249,096

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Digitalize tax setup, DOF chief tells LGUs By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—Local government units (LGUs) have been asked to modernize their tax administration along the line of digital environment saying that the economy under the “new normal” would be “heavily digitized” and “all future processes will occur mainly online.” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III issued this call during a recognition program for topperforming LGUs in creative and innovative revenue generation. Dominguez said the LGUs must adopt digital technologies in tax administration and their other business processes “in order for them to build their revenue generation and mobilization capabilities under the new normal.” “The local governments must keep pace with this digital transition—starting with local government finance. The new economy will be highly digitized. All future processes will occur mainly online,” the chief of the Department of Finance (DOF) said. He explained that LGUs would play a key role in the country’s economic recovery “that is now gaining momentum as provinces, cities and municipalities are expected to lead in the grassroots planning, community infrastructure and the initiation of more linkages to the economic mainstream on behalf of their constituents.” “We have seen the future and it is fully electronic. We owe our constituents digital transformation of local governance,” Dominguez said in his pre-recorded keynote speech at the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) Stakeholders Recognition Program held last Tuesday at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. The Finance Secretary was said to have assured local executives that the DOF and the BLGF would support the effort of LGUs’ digital-transition initiatives. He said revenue share in national taxes of LGUs was due to increase dramatically starting next year with the implementation of the Mandanas Ruling. Dominguez said local governments would be “primarily responsible and accountable for providing their constituents with the basic services and facilities fully devolved to them.” “These expanded responsibilities devolved to them mean that LGUs have to beef up their revenue collection and absorptive capacities as they build their way towards becoming self-reliant communities,” the DOF chief said. To accomplish these tasks, Dominguez said LGUs should adopt electronic facilities for business registration and renewal, as well as for the assessment and collection of local taxes, fees and other charges. The local treasurers should start linking up with the online payment facilities already offered by government financial institutions, he added. Dominguez said these entities also serve as their depository and servicing banks to ensure safe, efficient and convenient ways of transacting with LGUs under the new normal. He said the national government and the LGUs “need to work together in improving revenue generation and tax administration to make the country’s fiscal resources last amid the pandemic.” “Even as we stretch resources to stimulate the economy, we must continuously build up our fiscal resilience,” Dominguez said. “We will continue relying on the local governments for all the vital things that need to be done as we move from a pandemic to an endemic condition.” The Finance Secretary said the government would continue the constant monitoring of communities, continuous contact tracing and the administration of booster shots “in the years ahead.” “They will be integral to the functions of the local governments,” Dominguez said.

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, December 17, 2021

Manila, Caloocan officials file case vs nonpayment of millions in taxes

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE cities of Manila and Caloocan have filed multiple criminal complaints on Thursday against 19 entities owing hundreds of millions in taxes to the government.

The city of Manila, in particular, filed a dozen separate criminal complaints with the Department of Justice against ten corporate taxpayers and one single proprietor for “Willful Failure to Pay Taxes” totaling P 239.2 million. One company is charged with two separate complaints, according to documents from the city. The papers cited that Gulfoss

International Corp., a domestic corporation engaged in importing, exporting, buying, selling, trading and distributing of goods, is being sued for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P3,428,171.20. Freight handling and logistics services firm Fiesta Cargo and Logistics Inc. is also being sued for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to

P3,748,757.14. The local government is also running after 690 Food Corp. for a total deficiency tax liability for taxable year 2016 amounting to P2,100,583.36. The papers said that Cox Trucking Corp. and Haleiwa International Corp. had total deficiency tax liability of P12,913,773.13 and P26,465,787.92, respectively. It cited another firm, Phil. Shoe Expo Mktg. Corp., as having tax liability amounting to P47,471,801.91. Other entities the local government of Manila sued are: Powerphil Trade and Logistics Corp. (tax liability at P44,567,615.40; Professional Cleaners and Manpower Services Inc. (P10,631,156.93 owed in taxes); and, Quartas Ninas Enterprises Inc. (P2,422,431.24 in total deficiency tax liability).

Meanwhile, Micro Quadkeys Corp. faces two separate criminal complaints having being sued for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P22,774,191.96 and P18,780,863.20. Cecille Paner Braza, the proprietor of Uhe Trading, is being sued for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P43,902,022.91, inclusive of increments. In Caloocan, eight delinquent taxpayers were also sued for “Willful Failure to Pay Taxes” totaling P61.2 million. Among those the Caloocan government said they charged were: D’ibex Advertising owner Jeffrey So Dela Paz for total deficiency tax liability of P6,956,885.51; R. E. Auto Supply owner Ma. Eliza Santos Yap for a total deficiency tax liability of P4,178,474.34; Lambino

Enterprises owner Jonnel Marcial Lambino for a total deficiency tax liability of P3,797,021.89; and, Han San Lumber and Construction Supply owner Jin Xu Cai for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P1,937,209.75. Also charged were: Danilo Bernardo Perez for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P2,710,428.83; Robert Alicna Ong, the sole proprietor of Ongson Builders, for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P5,179,250.72; and, Gerard Padua Munda for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P2,208,247.96. Jobill Best Agri Seeds Co, a partnership duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is also being charged for a total deficiency tax liability amounting to P34,219,764.77.

Investment in retirement savings up

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on December 16 that the value of contributions in the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) hit P237 million in September this year, up 62 percent from the P144 million recorded in the same month last year. In a statement, the Central Bank attributed the increase to the promotion of the retirement savings program for Filipino families, especially those working abroad. “We continue to actively promote financial security and encourage more Filipinos to plan for retirement and set aside funds for their sunset years through PERA,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno was quoted in the statement as saying. As of the third quarter of the year, there were a total of 4,001 PERA contributors. Contribution from

full-time employees comprised 70 percent of the total at 2,827, followed by self-employed individuals at 15 percent of 590 individuals. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) also comprised around 15 percent of PERA contributors. PERA is a voluntary retirement savings program created under Republic Act 9505 (An act establishing a provident personal savings plan, known as the PERA). This platform supplements existing retirement benefits from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, and private employers. Anyone with a Tax Identification Number can be a PERA contributor. An individual may contribute a maximum of P 100,000 while OFWs can put up to P 200,000 annually. By the time the contributor reaches 55 years old and has invested in PERA

for at least five years, they can redeem the PERA investment tax-free. The BSP statement said the central bank designed a roadmap for the end-to-end digitalization of PERA, following its launch in September 2020. Seedbox Philippines, the digital platform provider of PERA, is an open-architecture platform that allows individuals to invest in PERA funds from different fund providers depending on their needs. Among the benefits of the PERA include a 5-percent income tax credit on the PERA contribution that can be used to pay income-tax liabilities. OFWs can claim this tax credit against any internal revenue tax liability in the country. All income earned from investments and reinvestments are also exempted from taxes on investment income. Bianca Cuaresma

Unite vs online gambling, public urged By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

ORMER Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano has pivoted to the public in a bid against the legalization of e-sabong and other forms of online gambling. “Parents, teachers, priests, pastors, ministers, imams: we have to speak up so that we can stop the spread of vices that threaten to destroy our values,” Cayetano said. According to the senior lawmaker, e-sabong and other forms of online gambling are difficult to regulate unlike off-line or “physical” gambling. “Pastimes are personal choices; be it going to casinos or playing tong-its

[3-player rummy card game] or betting in cockfighting,” Cayetano said. “My point is that whether you do it at home or in a casino or a cockfighting arena, there are regulations. If we allow online gambling, imagine, your children could easily access these vices at school. You could access these vices at work.” Citing the social ills that come with online gambling, Cayetano said he is optimistic the public will resist efforts to promote and legalize these vices. “I’m hoping that we come to a realization as a people that there are things that we should really prohibit,” he added. In September, the House of Representatives approved on third-and-

final reading a bill that would grant a 25-year legislative franchise to the e-sabong outlet-operator Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc. Shortly after, the House Ways and Means panel approved a bill seeking to grant the Visayas Cockers Club Inc. a similar legislative franchise. In the Senate, however, Cayetano found allies against e-sabong as Sen. Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe, chairman of the Committee on Public Service, last week suspended the hearing on granting a 25-year franchise to Lucky 8 Star Quest. Poe said she was inclined to have the bill go through a technical working group that will examine not just the operations but the social ills the game creates.

Bank of China adds new forex mode in online app By VG Cabuag

@villygc

ANK of China (BOC) Manila on Thursday announced it launched a new foreign-exchange (forex) conversion feature in its mobile and Internet banking facilities that allows for individual clients to convert their peso to renminbi, US dollar and euro in real time. This is the Philippines’s first real-time renminbi foreign exchange conversion feature in a mobile app, the bank said. “The improvements to our online forex conversion capacity is a reflection of our direction as a bank as we continue to grow our digital capabilities in support of our customers in the Philippines,” Deng Jun, country head of the bank said. The bank said the move is in line with its ongoing digital transformation strategy to find new ways

to engage with both existing and potential customers in the Philippines. This is also in support of the “Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023” of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that encourages the availability of more innovative and responsive digital financial products and services for clients, a statement from the bank read. Forex conversion has been available on its mobile and net platforms since 2019, but this feature was limited to conversions from one foreign currency to another foreign currency, such as renminbi, dollar and euro. The bank has expanded that to include the Philippine peso as well, with conversions being done in realtime during transaction hours. The only requirement is that individual clients must have both

originating currency and target currency accounts with Bank of China Manila. For example, a client who wants to convert peso to renminbi should have both a peso account and a renminbi account with Bank of China Manila. W h i le t he ba n k o p e r ate s through a single branch in Bonifacio Global City, the new online real-time forex conversion system makes it convenient for individual clients to transfer their peso to their other foreign currency accounts and vice versa. “A lot of business is now being done online, and the demand for faster and more convenient services is growing. That’s why digitalization has become an important part of our strategy. So that we can continue to serve our clients in the most efficient manner possible,” Deng Jun said.

INFLATION AND DEBT In this undated photo, women inspect fruits sold on a street in London, United Kingdom. In the second quarter of this year, measures of household and business debt as a share of economic output saw some of the steepest drops on record in several advanced economies, according to data published last week by the Bank for International Settlements.

Bloomberg News

The ACT of Membership Engagement

EMBER engagement has always been a challenging task for associations as it straddles right between recruitment and retention in the membership journey. It actually starts during prospecting and accelerates when a member joins. It must be sustained during membership; otherwise, retaining the member will be difficult. At the recent 9th Associations Summit that my organization, the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), held virtually, the American Society of Association Executives represented by Senior Director for Member Relations Amy Hemphill and Associate Director for Online Communities Megan Kuhman discussed “Member Engagement: Ask, Capture and Take Action (ACT)” and how ASAE managed to take on a sustained member engagement program during the pandemic. The technology-driven ACT methodology, premised on the simple notion that “people will talk to and engage with you if you ask them a question,” covers these steps and considerations: n Ask questions like: “What do you value? What do you need? What are your pain points?” n Capture these data into the member’s insights of wants, needs, and interests. n Take action to deliver tools, opportunities, and community to support member growth. The ACT framework was applied to three key membership engagement tools: 1. On-boarding campaign. ASAE asked 12 questions during a year-long campaign and sent them to 28,000 members. Then individual responses were captured and were relayed to members. Reports were displayed on a dashboard and gave opportunities for ASAE to reach out again when other things open up. 2. The ASAE chat box. This typically asks the question, “Can I help you?” It captures data on whether the

Association World Octavio Peralta chatters are using the tool and what they are asking. ASAE then determines what actions can be taken resulting to the development of more resources for members such as sample practices and policies as well as templates. 3. The ‘Collaborate on-line’ community. The platform, whose tagline is “conversation and community connected by ASAE,” has 17,565 active members and 80 groups across the whole membership. The “ask” is for members to join the community, connect with peers, exchange experiences and solutions, and provide recommendations. The “capture” consists of data on whether members are joining and staying in the community, are posting in the platform and are getting responses, what are they talking about and are there actions that ASAE can take. The “take action” consists of tagging content for future community search results. Final thoughts: There is need to evaluate how you are reaching your members and finding ways to create a two-way conversation. Automate, when possible, but the human touch is still paramount in any action taken. Engage internal staff to be part of the actions taken. Capture and analyze data for trends and make changes, based on captured data, to reach more members. The pandemic has made it more imperative for associations to engage with their members in more ways than one. Those that did have thrived and those that lagged behind have stalled. Octavio ‘Bobby’ Peralta is the founder and the CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives; the “association of associations.” E-mail: obp@adfiap.org.

Relationships

Friday, December 17, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Milla Jovovich, 46; Bill Pullman, 68; Eugene Levy, 75; Ernie Hudson, 76. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Airtight plans are encouraged if you want to bulldoze your way through the upcoming year without a hitch. A little too much or too little will throw you off course. Balance, fair play and sheer determination will enhance your chance to outmaneuver anyone who tries to stand in your way. Keep the momentum flowing, and shoot for the stars. Your numbers are 5, 13, 24, 28, 32, 41, 49.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Pay more attention to what’s ahead of you and less to what’s behind. Letting go of what’s no longer working for you will liberate you from routine and boredom. Put your time, energy and skills into something meaningful. A proposal looks inviting. ★★★★

IF it ain’t broke, why fix it? The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas appears to be on a designing spree. First, they came for the BSP logo, then the P1,000 bank note. What else will they redesign next? PHOTOS FROM BSP

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Uncertainty will leave you feeling restless. Rethink your long-term plans, and adjust to suit trends. A heartfelt discussion with someone you respect will put your mind at ease and encourage you to put your energy where it counts. ★★★

Redesigning history... what a joke, no?

HEN the film Heneral Luna made waves sometime in 2015, earning praise not just from historians but also from the movie-loving public, a few tweets caught my eye, one of them from actor Epy Quizon. In the film, Quizon played the role of Apolinario Mabini, dubbed by historians as the “sublime paralytic” for being the brains behind the Philippine revolution. According to the tweet, a couple was overheard walking out of the theater after watching the film and the girlfriend asked “Bakit daw nakaupo lang si Mabini sa buong movie? [Why was Mabini seated throughout the movie?]” A stupid joke? Probably not, because Quizon himself chimed in with his own tweet: “Actually I was asked by a group the other day why my character never stood up....” He added in lament, “Apparently some of the kids nowadays don’t even know who Mabini is.... That is sad.... What have we been teaching in our history classes?” If someone as iconic as Mabini (and who, I thought, was among the most popular of Philippine historical figures) isn’t even known by kids today, how much more World War II heroes like Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, suffragette and Girl Scouts Founder Josefa Llanes Escoda, and Armed Forces of the Philippines Brig. Gen. Vicente Lim? Yet the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas saw it fit to erase their images from the P1,000 bank note and replace them with the Philippine eagle. BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno defended their decision by saying, “Heroes will remain heroes whether they are in the notes or not.” But what good are they remaining as heroes when half the population don’t even know who they are? And as a government entity, doesn’t the BSP also have a responsibility to make citizens aware of where we have come from, and how far we have gone in reflecting the ideals of our national heroes? Look, I have no quarrel with the Philippine eagle. It’s a glorious creature that speaks to our strength as a people—never mind that it is a bird of prey, and in

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The changes happening around you will turn into a learning experience. Be receptive, and everything will fall into place. An interesting connection you make will turn into a helpful and resourceful partnership. A financial gain or contract looks promising. ★★★

see the details of that contract. A few are none too glad glad the BSP committed this dastardly deed against history because it has revived discussions on national heroes, and how we teach our children to recognize and honor their memory. (Historian Dr. Ricardo Jose describes it as a “slap in the face of heroes.” See: bit.ly/33wlTl4.) Tangonan did say the BSP will continue to print the old P1,000 bill with the heroes on its front. And he agreed the next crop of BSP officials and policymaking Monetary Board members can choose to change the Eagle note’s design. Well, Diokno’s term ends in 2023. Small mercy for us, I guess. If you want to know what Vicente Lim IV, the great grandson of Brigadier General Vicente Lim, thinks about this kerfuffle, check his Facebook page at bit. ly/3F50Rbe. ■

stark contrast to our nation being often preyed on by colonizers and other foreign powers instead. But its image could have been very well put on the back of the paper bill, along with the country’s map, the South Sea Pearl and depiction of the Tubbataha reefs. I’m sure the brilliant artists at the BSP can design an excellent collage of all these images. (But, please, don’t blame them for the ugly, new Gold Eagle beer-like BSP logo; obviously, it was done to please their art-challenged bosses. The previous logo these artists designed under Gov. Amado Tetangco Jr. was stylish and more art-forward. There was no need to revise that logo, too.) Was there some urgent need for the note’s redesign? For sure, our paper bills need to be improved to make them last longer, so I do applaud the BSP’s decision to switch to the stronger polymer material. This has long been the trend in other countries. The new P1,000 note will be more hygienic and be less prone to counterfeiting. But remove the national heroes too? BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan, whose background is in financial technology or e-payments, is apparently on top of the currency redesign. He explained on ANC’s After the Fact the reason for the change, and why the monetary authorities wanted to bring back the flora and fauna series. “It’s a cyclic thing.... We believe the Philippine eagle really symbolizes the strength and the freedom of the Filipino character, for one. And, second, it communicates the message the independence and clear vision of the BSP in working to chart the course of a more inclusive economy.” Uhm, okay. Diokno also claimed the redesigned P1,000 bank note had the approval of the National Historical Institute. This is patently false, of course, since the NHI’s functions have long been taken over by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Even NHCP chairman Rene Escalante told Rappler: “NHCP was not part of the process of approval,” and plead the media to leave the agency out of the mess. That the BSP governor wasn’t even aware NHI no longer existed is well, a joke, no? I’m not sure if any of the reporters asked Diokno if he wasn’t just playing politics, ensuring the win of some candidates identified as agila or anak ng agila with the redesigned P1,000 bank note. He did say the new polymer bills will be test-circulated in April or May next year—or just in time for the elections. It’s important to note that this redesigned note is final, with the BSP having signed a contract with the Reserve Bank of Australia for its printing. Now, let’s

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A learning curve is apparent. Be open to suggestions and willing to do the legwork, and you will achieve your goal. A promise or commitment will bring you closer to someone special. A change you make will get positive results. ★★★

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Surround yourself with reliable people who helped you in the past. The way you present what you want to pursue will lead to interest and backing that can help you reach your goal. Make sure your research is foolproof. ★★★★

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Keep your facts straight, and you’ll avoid trouble. Use your imagination when trying to please someone you love. Plan a special event that will put you in the spotlight. You will accomplish plenty if you are direct about what you want. ★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Embrace life and be a participant, and you’ll rise to the top. How you treat others and what you bring to the table will put you in a leadership position. Kindness and generosity will count if you want to get your way. ★★★★

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take an innovative approach to life, and you’ll discover something about who you are and what makes you happy. Reevaluate your current situation, and you’ll recognize what to initiate to acquire peace of mind. Personal growth and a healthy attitude are favored. ★★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Remember the past and how others treated you before you trust again. Scrutinize situations thoroughly, and determine what’s best for you before you proceed. A friendly demeanor will protect you from an unsavory situation. Take the high road. ★★★

DELIGHT IN THE COMFORTING, FAMILIAR FLAVORS OF A FILIPINO HOLIDAY FEAST

NOW that Christmas is looking better this year, families and friends are once again preparing to get together and finally catch up in person—just like in the good old days. Make this special moment even more memorable by preparing dishes that your family and friends have always loved. Whether you’re safely gathering for Noche Buena or Media Noche, or a long-awaited reunion, nothing can be as comforting and enjoyable as the familiar flavors of Filipino dishes. That’s why The Maya Kitchen has put together a selection of easy-to-make yet celebration-worthy, and, most importantly, Pinoy-approved recipes with Maya products that make holiday preps easier and these dishes more delicious. This holiday is looking to be merrier and brighter than before, so make it count by preparing a Filipino holiday feast. Yuletide recipes can be found at www.themayakitchen.com.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Energy, passion and determination will help you flourish. If you do something uplifting or participate in something that makes a difference, you will gain significant satisfaction and knowledge that points you in an exciting direction. Follow your heart. ★★★

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Spend more time at home. Prepare for upcoming events. Don’t let a last-minute change of plans ruin your day. Do what you can, and you’ll be happy with the results. An energetic approach to life and love will pay off. ★★★★★

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You’ll misread what someone is trying to convey. Don’t overreact or start a feud when keeping the peace is in your best interest. Use intelligence to combat any negativity you encounter, and offer help to those who have lost their way. ★★ BIRTHDAY BABY: You are intelligent, curious and playful. You are engaging and passionate.

‘ﬁrst place’ BY GARY LARSON AND AMY ENSZ The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Campfire residue 4 Brood X insect 10 University official 14 Post-O.R. destination 15 Travel on foot 16 Actress Watson or Thompson 17 United Kingdom, e.g.? 19 AKB48 genre 20 British boarding school 21 Post-wedding title, for some 22 Fried pancake often served with sour cream 23 Doctor ___ (Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme) 26 Dark blue shade 27 National anthem, e.g.? 32 Weekly sitcom, e.g. 35 What makes the earth turn? 36 Actress Thurman 37 Warning signs 38 Baby panda 39 Movie excerpts 41 Zilch 42 Aries, in the zodiac 43 Founder of philosophical Taoism

44 48 49 53

Utopia? “Around the World” toy Try Not at all overly wordy, rather unlike this clue itself 55 Ticked off 57 Something you might get in trouble for breaking 58 Time line sections 59 Local citizenry? 62 “Good one!” 63 Goes onstage 64 Part of a sleeve? 65 No good ___ goes unpunished 66 Puts forth 67 Messy room, metaphorically DOWN 1 Helpers 2 King of Ragtime Joplin 3 Funny stuff 4 Chinese life force 5 Particle with a charge 6 Some scam artists 7 In the distance 8 Lowers, like the lights 9 Enjoyed some jajangmyeon

10 11 12 13 18 22 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 38 39 40 42 43 45 46 47

“Situation seems so familiar” feeling Ineffective executive Run ___ (go wild) Back of the neck Pain relief brand On the ___ (fleeing) Denials Gloomy ___ (alliterative pessimist) Science Guy Bill Opposable digit Apt name for a burglar Little devils It’s cracked when all the pieces come together Princes, e.g. Send out Four-person Olympic event Half-___ (rhyming coffee order) Musical group? People who play paper against scissors, e.g. Kanga’s kid Like candles in a menorah Threw out Center ofa storm Piece of equipment for hanging

50 51 52 53 54 55 56 59 60 61

Christmas lights Necessities Fabric fold Short-tempered Be inclined Lake that’s 3/4 vowels Tailless cat Poker pot starter Gymnastics champion Suni The A-Team muscleman Braying beast

Solution to today’s puzzle:

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Fox anchor Chris Wallace makes his own news with move to CNN NEW YOrK—Veteran anchor Chris Wallace has left Fox News after 18 years for CNN, dealing a significant blow to Fox’s news operation at a time that it has been overshadowed by the network’s opinion side. Wallace delivered the surprising news that he was leaving at the end of the Fox News Sunday show he moderates, and within two hours CNN announced he was joining its new streaming service as an anchor. CNN+ is expected to debut in early 2022. “It is the last time, and I say this with real sadness, we will meet like this,” Wallace, who is 74, said on his show, which airs on the Fox network and is later rerun on Fox News Channel. “Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at Fox promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise.” Wallace was a veteran broadcast network newsman, working at both ABC and NBC News, before the late roger Ailes lured him to Fox with the promise of his own Sunday show. Methodical and never showy—in contrast to his father Mike, the legendary 60 Minutes reporter—Chris Wallace was known for his willingness to ask hard questions of all guests no matter their politics. He was the first Fox News personality to moderate a presidential debate, doing it in 2016 and 2020. The debate he moderated last year went off the rails when then-President Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Wallace had expressed his concern about the strident opinion programming to Fox executives multiple times, including recently after Tucker Carlson’s documentary on the January 6 Capitol insurrection, Patriot Purge, aired on Fox’s streaming service. Two Fox News contributors, Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, cited that program in choosing to quit the network. In contrast to when Shepard Smith left in 2019— he is now doing a news show at CNBC—Wallace was coming to the end of his contract with Fox. But he turned down an offer for a multiyear extension and pay raise to leave for CNN. Wallace said that he wanted to “try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in.” In CNN’s announcement, he said, “I look forward to the new freedom and flexibility streaming affords in interviewing major figures across the news landscape—and finding new ways to tell stories.” CNN said more details about Wallace’s new role will be forthcoming. He’s the biggest name among the hires at CNN+, which has also brought on former NBC News anchor Kasie Hunt and business journalist Scott Galloway. AP

DINGDONG DANTES

MARIAN RIVERA

DINGDONG, MARIAN PAY TRIBUTE TO REAL-LIFE SUPERHEROES IN YEAREND SPECIAL

POWER couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera will banner this year’s GMA News and Public Affairs’ year-end special, titled Year of the Superhero, which tells the inspiring stories behind some of the most heroic moments of 2021. What does it take to be a superhero? This is the question Dingdong and Marian hope to find the answers to as a brandnew year opens up. The couple is no stranger to stories of the superhuman kind, having played iconic heroes on GMA’s prime-time shows. But this time, they ask: What about the heroes we don’t watch in the movies, or read about in books? The couple collaborated with some of the industry’s finest—international artist Leeroy New, award-winning children’s book author Augie Rivera, and the acclaimed director Rico Gutierrez—in an hour-long special honoring our modern-day heroes. Marian will walk us through the giant 3D art installation by contemporary Filipino artist Leeroy New. His inspiration was drawn from the stories of ordinary citizens who lifted our spirits in the face of adversities in the year 2021. Leeroy’s work depicts the inspiring stories of the Olympians who raised our flag in Tokyo, the nurses who saved 35 infants from a burning hospital, and the youth behind the community pantry initiative which made headlines this year. The special looks back at the rescue of the survivors of the C-130 Hercules aircraft crash in Sulu, news of a police officer who assisted a woman giving birth on the street in Capiz, and the viral story of the girl who rescued her pet dog from being hit by an oncoming train. Dingdong takes us through each page of our heroes’ journeys in a comic book storytelling directed by GMA’s renowned director Dominic Zapata. Year of the Superhero airs on January 1, 2022, 7:45 pm, on GMA.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Friday, December 17, 2021

‘Asakusa Kid’: Cinema as counterculture and nostalgia YUYA YAGIRA of Asakusa Kid

HERE are two ways of getting to know this man—as Beat Takeshi the comedian, or Kitano Takeshi, the acclaimed filmmaker and favorite among arthouse film aficionados. One knows him as a comedian, a part of two-man team doing “manzai,” a kind of standup funny man show composed of one doing the straight, deadpan role and the other the “boke,” the fool or dimwit. As part of the Two-Beat, Takeshi Kitano shocked everyone by going outside the boxed Japanese tradition of manzai, which drew laughter from misunderstanding, pun and self-deprecation. On Japanese TV, Kitano with his partner Beat Kiyoshi developed a fast banter out of the miseries of the aged, the disabled, and even children. With the world outraged and his works subjected to censorship, he went on to become an actor and even acted opposite David Bowie in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, as a POW camp sergeant. It was directed by Oshima Nagisa, a director who carried the notoriety of two films, In the Realm of the Senses and In the Realm of Passion, works that blurred the line between art and pornography. Takeshi Kitano wrote how the Japanese audience laughed at the sight of him doing drama. Not to be dissuaded, he began making films. By the time Kitano released his film Sonatine in 1993, the world’s attention had been drawn toward him—he with those long shots, camera works that played with stasis, and acting that was non-acting. It was, however, in 1997, when his Hana-bi (Fireworks) was awarded the Golden Lion in the Venice Film Festival that Kitano was taken seriously as an artist. He would make more films. Takeshi Kitano would experience his lows but he persisted. But why belabor this long intro into the life of Takeshi Kitano? The good news first: Netflix has started streaming Asakusa Kid, a film based on the memoir written by the man. The bad news (for some with the highest of expectations): nothing about the arts of Takeshi Kitano are in Asakusa Kid. So, what’s the excitement then? Asakusa Kid should be a wonderland trip for Japanese cinema buffs or anyone who is passionate about the many dimensions of a culture as depicted on-screen. That there are films about the beginning of a comedian that has nothing to do with the refined and rigorous aesthetics of Japanese culture. That one can perorate on the origin of Japanese cinema without the burden of anime and technology. That, perhaps, manga or Japanese comics did not originate from drawings but from the disturbances in the hearts of the artists. Asakusa Kid tells the story of this man, Takeshi Kitano, a dropout from Meiji University, one of the oldest universities in Japan, who ventures into Asakusa, works as an elevator operator and janitor, and becomes an apprentice to a top comedian in a

strip club. The film is also the tale of the last days of live shows in the “shitamachi,” referring to the low areas of Edo but evolved to become “downtown” in all its seediness. Asakusa was the entertainment district during the Edo Period. This was the “ukiyo,” the territory of the floating world. Add the “e” to it to mean picture and you have ukiyo-e, the visualization of a fluid era where the courtesan consorted with the “ronin” or masterless samurai, a misnomer because during the Edo Period, the samurai as a class had all but disappeared, where the proto-yakuza dealt with the merchant, and where the “burakumin” or outcaste thrived, and poets like Bashō wrote of geisha, Kabuki actors, and other ephemera. Asakusa begins with the nostalgia of the place, where a young man is initiated into an art form that is meant to kill the old art forms because that is the only highway to success. But this is Asakusa also where the debt of gratitude to a master is never forgotten. In a tender scene, Takeshi Kitano now a successful TV performer, visits his mentor, Fukami, and gives him the reward money he won from a contest. It is close to an insult—a pupil giving his master an allowance— but the master gruffly pokes fun at the benevolence, that act masking gallant defeat. The two go out to spend the money on food and drinks in a bar where they entertain the crowd with their banter. Hailing a cab, the master gives Takeshi a fare from the money he had earlier received from his protégé. A treat in Asakusa Kid is the man who plays Takeshi Kitano. He is Yuya Yagira, the then 12-year-

old actor in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Dare mo Shiranai (Nobody Knows), which won for him the Best Actor in Cannes, the youngest in the history of that film concourse. Tender and brutal, vulnerable but daring, Yuya Yagira’s Takeshi Kitano pays tribute to a man who crosses over from comedy to drama, tracking how art mirrors the absurd and the lofty, a refraction, too, of the contradictions that projects about humanity inhabit. There is another gift for fans wondering where Takeshi Kitano got his idea to make all his actors perform a kind of Busby Berkeley tap-dance show in his blustery “remake” of Zatoichi, the immortal series originated by Katsu Shintaro as the Blind Swordsman. In the final scene of Asakusa Kid, the master and his pupil do a tap dance, a nod to the magic of old Hollywood that gloried once in the underbelly of Tokyo’s Asakusa, affirming the inexorably international character of cinema. Asakusa Kid stars Mugi Kadowaki who, as the stripper aspiring to be a singer, is regret and bravado personified; Honami Suzuki, gritty and hopeful even when her partner, the master comedian, refuses to see the fall of their theater. Finally, behold Yo Oizumi as Senzaburo Fukami, the master comedian. He is the ultimate tragic figure, elegant in his look because as an entertainer in a world that is slowly fading, hunger is trivial compared to image and fashion. Asakusa Kid is produced by Django Film and Nikkatsu, and distributed by Netflix. It is directed by Gekidan Hitori. n

Joaquin’s movie to be shown ahead of dad Isko’s on December 15 By Leony R. Garcia WrITEr-DIrECTOr Perry Escaño makes history as his film Caught in the Act would be the first Filipino film to be theatrically released on December 15—after 21 months of cinema drought due to the global health pandemic. Banking on the mass appeal of the youth and high school life story, the comedy-cum-mystery adventure movie stars hot newbies of today’s generation: Joaquin Domagoso (GMA artist and son of presidential aspirant Manila Mayor Isko Moreno) and Andi Abaya (ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother first runner-up). Joaquin and Andi get their biggest break on film as they portray senior high school students who, together with their teammates, invent a new mobile app which allows people to report crimes happening in their campus and in their community. The app is part of the final school project of Team Just Do It. While testing the app, they get to witness a crime committed by a syndicate group. The app successfully sends the report about the ongoing crime to the rightful authoritiy, but human intervention deletes the report. How the innocent teeners decide to avert the crime (which involves their favorite teacher) and come faceto-face with their possible tormentors heighten the

suspense. “Caught in the Act depicts how talented Filipinos are when it comes to inventions. The film promotes good Filipino traits, like not giving up in the face of trials and adversities of life, working hard, being responsible, and remaining hopeful in achieving their dreams in life,” said Escaño. “Most Filipinos nowadays, especially the millennial generation, are into social media. With this timely movie, we would like to spread awareness that apps are useful, helpful and are the easiest ways interact and connect. [Used properly], they are important in our daily lives, especially in times emergency,” he added. Being introduced in this movie are new faces are Bamboo B., Jhassy Busran and Josh Lichtenberg. Lending support are acting veterans Karel Marquez, Lance raymundo, Shido roxas, John Gabriel, Tony Co and EJ Panganiban. Produced by MPJ Entertainment Productions and Golden Brilliance, Caught in The Act hits cinemas on December 15, 10 days before Christmas and the annual Metro Manila Film Fetival where the film about the Manila Mayor is expected to compete. Written and directed by Perry Escaño, the film’s executive producers are Josie Paynor, reagan romero, and JCB Production.

JOAQUIN DOMAGOSO in Caught in the Act.

B6 Friday, December 17, 2021

Join holiday crafting at SM Novaliches

ROM Decurate’s success last year, this holiday season, SM City Novaliches is inviting everyone to once again channel your inner crafter and shop something special for yourself and your loved ones as they introduce, HOBBY-TAT, your home for modern crafts and anything handmade. Hobby-tat is an avenue for SMEs where they could showcase their craftsmanship, promoting local artworks

and handmade products which also can be a good gifting ideas to customers looking for something unique and artsy to give this holiday season! Cute home decors, macramé, curated dried flowers, rattan home decors are just some of the products that will surely craft up your Hobby-tat experience. SM City Novaliches is inviting everyone to continue to #SupportLocal and #ShopLocal and let the holiday

crafting and shopping begin. Hobbytat will run until January 10, 2022 located at the ground level near the Mall Atrium. Always remember to follow SM City Novaliches’ #SafeMallingAtSM guidelines as you enjoy an #AweSM shopping and dining experience. For more updates, like and follow SM City Novaliches on Facebook and Instagram.

British Chamber: Foreign direct investment crucial to support Philippine growth

S the United Kingdom and the Philippines celebrate its 75th year of bilateral relations, the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) is committed to support and deepen relations with the government, local and other foreign business groups between the two countries to forge long standing partnership and trade relations. Through the Overseas Partner Delivery (OPD) programme, the Chamber has continuously assisted a growing number of UK companies since the programme started in 2014. Among those who have successfully done business in the Philippines are from Retail, Food and Beverage, Automotive, Manufacturing and Advance Machinery sectors. In relation to boosting the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors, the Chamber looks forward to seeing accelerated efforts liberalizing the economy by easing restrictions on foreign investments in particular, in retail, transportation, telecommunications and other significant sectors. “We will continue to support the national government’s efforts to improve competitiveness and ease of doing business in the country,” said BCCP Executive Director and Trustee Chris Nelson. “Most importantly, we are pleased that economic bills amending the Retail Trade Liberalisation Act only awaits for President Duterte’s signature and the Foreign

BCCP Executive Director and Trustee Chris Nelson Investment Act amendments awaiting to be transmitted to Malacañang. On the other hand, we remain optimistic that the same progress will be made to the equally‐ important amendments to the Public Service Act to boost key sectors of the economy,” Nelson added. The British Chamber is confident that with approval of economic reforms, will make the Philippines competitive, regionally and globally. Therefore, it urges Congress to approve the priority bills immediately to finally be able to promote the changes extensively in our network in the UK. The Chamber would like to thank its new and existing members for all their continued support this year and beyond.

Converge exhibits consistent highspeed internet for 3 straight quarters

EADING fiber internet provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. has been verified by global internet testing and analysis leader Ookla® as the most consistent fixed internet provider in all eight regions where it has a presence, including Metro Manila, for the third consecutive quarter this year. Based on the recent Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data for Q3 2021, Converge provided the most consistent high-speed broadband in Metro Manila, Central

Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite-LagunaBatangas-Rizal-Quezon), Ilocos, Bicol, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Visayas and Davao. These are the same areas where Converge currently operates. According to Ookla, Converge’s average internet download speeds for the major regions such as Metro Manila is at 81.76 Mbps, Calabarzon at 80.36 Mbps, Bicol at 65.47 Mbps, Davao at 62.66 Mbps, and Central Visayas at 79.54 Mbps.

For Q3 of 2021, Converge garnered a consistency score of 82.13%. This marks a steady improvement in consistency, starting off from 72.75% in Q1 2021, to 79.46% in Q2. This score measures the percentage of a provider’s samples that equals or exceeds a fixed threshold of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. For Q3, Converge also has an average latency rate of 8ms and jitter rate of 19ms. The Philippines has an average latency rate of 20ms for Q3. “We take it to heart to deliver the reliable connectivity that Filipinos deserve and being recognized by a credible entity such as Ookla, confirms our hard work while we continuously expand the network and consistently provide world-class internet connectivity to more areas nationwide,” said Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus Romero. #ExperienceBetter with the fastest-growing fiber internet provider, Converge ICT Solutions Inc. Visit convergeict.com for more details.

Meralco secures ISO 9001:2015 Certification for QMS

HE Networks Group of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has been awarded with an ISO 9001:2015 certification for incorporating quality management system in its operations. This is a testament of Meralco’s commitment in #KeepingTheLightsOn and in providing service excellence to its customers, the community, and the country despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic. Present during the ceremonial awarding on December 9 at the Meralco headquarters in Pasig City

were, from left: Sheena C. Santos, Meralco Substation Services Asset Management Staff Engineer and Networks ISO 9001:2015 Certification Project Manager; Marvin G. Gonsalves, SAVP and Head of Networks Project Portfolio Management and Networks ISO 9001:2015 Certification Project Sponsor; Ronnie L. Aperocho, Meralco SVP and Head of Networks; Gilmore A. Rivera, SOCOTEC Philippines, Inc. Operations Director; Jose S. Reyes Jr., Meralco VP and Head of Networks Technology and Asset Management and

Networks QMS Manager; and Jerah L. Duran, SOCOTEC Philippines, Inc. Marketing Officer. ISO 9001 is an international standard on Quality Management System (QMS) which shows the ability of an organization to consistently provide quality products and services that meet the requirements of customers. The certification was issued on May 25, 2021 by SOCOTEC Certification Philippines, Inc. under the recognition of United Kingdom Accreditation System (UKAS) following a series of audits.

DOLE-PRA AGREEMENT ON ALIEN EMPLOYMENT. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that will facilitate information sharing on holders of Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SSRV) with Alien Employment Permit (AEP) is signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre ‘Bebot’ Bello III and Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) General Manager Bienvenido K. Chi on Wednesday, December 9 at the DOLE Central Office in Intramuros, Manila. The labor secretary (2nd photo) is also joined by Atty. Antonio V. Rivera (left) and General Manager Chi of PRA (2nd from left), and DOLE Undersecretary Renato L. Ebarle. (Photo by Jerome Sajise IPS/DOLE)

Rex Education empowers barangays via its Edukampyon Local Governance Webinar

HE barangay is the basic level of governance or political unit that exists only in the Philippines. It serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community. Recognizing their role as duty-bearers, Rex Education and the Center for Local Governance and Professional Development, Inc. (CLGPD) created the Edukampyon Local Governance Webinar Series. With the call, “Alamin. Matuto. Makilahok,” the webinar series focused on helping barangay officials and local government units (LGUs) in deepening their understanding of their roles as public servants. “What we aim for everyone to see is how policies and guidance from the top levels of our government are implemented on the ground with help and assistance from our local governments. What we want to leave behind with everyone is hope, borne of the realization that there are champions of education much closer to your homes, and that you too, can become champions of education,” said REX Education Chief Executive Officer Don Timothy Buhain. The series is anchored on REX Education’s Edukampyon agenda: to champion education and help create an environment where every lifelong learner is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, challenged, and valuesoriented. It also values the essential role of duty-bearers from various communities as Edukampyon themselves and contributors to nation-building. This 9-episode series is a campaign to highlight the duties of LGU officials as champions of education. It also serves as an introduction and supporting material to Rex Education’s recent release, the Barangay Handbook on Leadership and Management, which is a set of handbooks covering laws, implementing rules and regulations (IRRs), program activities, and legal opinions for barangay officials to use as references. The first two episodes tackle policies, programs, and systems of early childhood care and development in the Philippines.

Episodes 3 to 9 cover Barangay Governance; Barangay Social Services; Barangay Fiscal Management; Barangay Justice, Security, and Disaster Preparedness; and Barangay Accountability. Each episode features keynote speakers who shared their expert insights on each topic, including Hon. Epimaco Densing III, undersecretary for operations of the Department of Interior and Local Governance (DILG), who shared his expertise on Barangay Governance and the roles and responsibilities of the barangay officials under the Local Government Code of 1991; Kathrine Joyce Dellosa, medical officer for the Department of Health’s (DOH) Bureau of Local Health Systems and Development; Hon. Tonisito M.C. Umali, undersecretary for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Legislative Affairs, External Partnerships, and Project Management Service; Brenda Miranda and Mary Ann Rada of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF); Cheryl Navarro, disaster risk reduction focal person of the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) National Barangay Operations Office; Elenida Del Rosario-Basug, director of the climate change service of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); and Atty. Enrique Dela Cruz, Jr., municipal councilor of Baliuag, Bulacan and lecturer at the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance. Each episode also includes experiences and best practices shared by different barangay exemplars. “We hope can deepen everyone’s understanding about the importance of the barangays and local governance on the success of implementing government policies. If we want change, it’s important that everyone does their part to help the government. We are the change,” said Usec. Densing. The episodes are available on the official Facebook page of Rex Education while. The Barangay Handbook is available at Rex Bookstore branches nationwide or through orders@rexestore.com

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

Sports BusinessMirror

MALIXI RUNS AWAY WITH 15-SHOT WIN A MATEUR Rianne Malixi flirted with a record shattering romp but slipped with a backside mishap, settling for a 15-stroke romp over Harmie Constantino on a closing 70 in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Midlands Ladies Classic in Tagaytay City on Thursday. Malixi was on course to breaking Princess Superal’s 16-stroke winning margin over Cyna Rodriguez at Highlands in 2018 after matching it with a running eagle-aided threeunder card after 12 holes for a fourunder overall total. But she double bogeyed the par-4 No. 13 then birdied the 16th to finish with a 33-37. Still, it was an imposing triumph for a 14-year-old making her first appearance on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT), her 54-hole total of three-under 213 underscoring her dominant run she anchored on a second round 70 that put her unassailably ahead by nine over Daniella Uy. She could’ve scored high and would’ve still won by a mile but Malixi nevertheless played like she was the pursuer, putting up instead another under-par round that proved as an exception rather than the rule at the wind-raked Midlands layout. “It’s a great experience. I’ve been

able to compete with the great pros and I was able to manage myself great and I’m very happy with that,” said Malixi, who came into the P750,000 event hoping to provide a stiff challenge to the pros but instead came out practically spared of any kind of tests. For she proved a cut above the rest, controlling the pace despite a 73 start then pulling away over her nearest pursuer with a second round 70. With a lead too big like the Midlands greens, Malixi showed no signs of slowing down, birdying the par-5 second hole then gunning down an eagle on No. 6. She tried to pound the course—and the record—at the back but got derailed by a double bogey on the 13th. With Malixi clinching the overall championship and the low amateur trophy in runaway fashion, the pros slugged it out for runner-up honors and the top purse with Constantino pouncing on Uy’s backside fumble with birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 to salvage a 75 and a 228 total. Constantino, who swept the two Eagle Ridge-Aoki legs, pocketed the top P116,250 prize and claimed the Order of Merit title in her rookie season with total earnings of P609,750 over eight legs. “I played really well in the front

nine although I missed a lot of greens,” said Malixi, while crediting her short game that enabled her to execute the shots the way she had wanted. “Although I struggled in the back nine, I was able to maintain myself, to compose myself in a very good way,” said Malixi. who honed her skills and gained experience through a number of competitions abroad, including the US Girls Junior, the US Women’s Amateur, the Women’s Amateur AsiaPacific, the PXG Women’s Match Play, a pro event, and the Se Ri Park Desert Junior, which she won. Sunshine Baraquiel, who reigned at Highlands for her breakthrough win last month, also birdied the 16th to post a second straight 77 for joint third place at 230 with Marvi Monsalve, who carded a 76. Each received P75,000. It was sorry windup for Uy, who birdied No. 6 to firm up her hold of second, only to tumble to solo fifth with four bogeys and two double bogeys, including on No. 13, for a 79 and 231 worth P60,000. Laurea Duque, the low amateur at Eagle Ridge-Aoki last March, also hobbled with a 77 for sixth at 233 while Riviera-Couples leg winner Chanelle Avaricio hardly recovered from two 80s with a 79, limping to seventh place with a 239 total. Apple Fudolin and Lovelyn

Panamanian national player told reporters, referring to the end of first quarter where the score was tied at 16-all. “But we started playing fast the next few minutes, we played hard and I love the team’s chemistry, added Bishop, a replacement for Shabazz Muhammad who withdrew because of family issues. Combo guard Nards Pinto also sparkled by scattering 11 of his 18 points in the second quarter when Merco bolted to a commanding 4836 halftime cushion. “Tony [Bishop] is a proven team player and a veteran of many leagues. I think he knows how to

win,” said Pinto, who lost 12 kilos from his previous 91 kilos during the off season. “I am now at 78 kilos. It’s hereditary [uric acid] but I am okay now.” The Bolts pressed even more in the third quarter and built their biggest lead at 75-51 behind Bishop’s layup with a minute left before the payoff period. Meralco was never threatened and sent Blackwater to its 22nd consecutive loss since the last conference. Rashawn McCartney had 19 points while import Jaylen Brown had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the now 0-3 Bossing.

PSC bestows Gintong Gawad on 8 women

crafted glass trophies and P50,000 each from the PSC. Oversight Commissioner for Women in Sports Commissioner Dr. Celia Kiram handed the awards in the presence of Chairman William Ramirez. Atty. Guillermo Iroy Jr., Merlita Ibay and other distinguished guests. The panel of judges included athletics legend Elma Muros-Posadas, two-times Paralymics bronze medalist Adeline Dumapong, Marilou Cantancio, Christine Abellana, Dr. Erdessa Fiordeliz, Salvacion de los Angeles and University of the Philippines Dean of Human Kenetics Francis Diaz. “We thoroughly evaluated and scrutinized the track records, credentials and achievements of the awardees to make sure they rightfully deserved the awards,” Kiram said.

ONY BISHOP proved he’s a worthy replacement as he powered Meralco to a lopsided 98-77 triumph over Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday. Bishop made an impact in his PBA debut with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, 13 rebounds, two steals and three blocks in 38 minutes on the floor. “It’s a good start for us, we came up strong despite being sluggish in the first five minutes,” the former

IGHT women who distinguished themselves for promoting and propagating grassroots sports in their localities received the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) Gintong Gawad 2021 in simple but meaningful ceremony at the sports agency’s offices in Manila recently. After a month-long search, eight role models were picked as endorsed by their respective local government units—Kyla Soquilon, Rhea Haina Garcia, Amihan Reyes-Finis, Norma Alamara, Dr. Ma. Janelyn Fundal, Dr. Drolly Claravall, Jonathan Arias and the Provincial Government of Pangasinan led by Governor Amado Espino III.

Soquilon was bestowed the Modelo ng Kabataan (swimming), Garcia was hailed as Gintong Atletang May Kapansanan (athletics), Finis got the Gintong Tagasanay (rhythmic gymnastics), Alamara was named Ina ng Isports sa Kumunidad, Claravall as Natatangi Makabagong Produkto Pang Isport and Arias for Proyektong Isport Pang Kabataan. Espino was nominated by the Pangasinan Provincial Government because of his dedication and devotion to sports that under his administration, the province had 7,741 female beneficiary athletes and coaches. The awardees received beautifully-

Japan judo body gives equipment, gear to PHL fed

Guioguio finished tied at eighth with 244s after an 80 and 81, respectively, in the season-ending tournament of the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc, which assiduously put up the eight-leg circuit under the bubble setup despite two suspensions due to the surge of coronavirus cases last March and July.

JENNA NAPOLIS clinches a bronze medal at the jiu-jitsu world championships in Abu Dhabi.

HILIPPINE bets in jiu-jitsu billiards and bowling reaped success in tournaments held in the United Arab Emirates to lead the honor roll for November. Jenna Napolis touched off the trif ecta of feats in the UAE when she captured the bronze medal in women’s – 52 kgs adult event of the Jiu-jitsu International Federation World Championships at the Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi. Napolis pulled off two submissions against Aigerim Kuatkyzy of Kazakhstan to finish No.3 behind champion Moldier Mekenbayeva of Kazakhstan and Duong Thi Thanh Minh of Vietnam. Fancied cue master Carlo Biado struck gold in the Abu Dhabi Open 9-ball Championship at the Power Break Billiards Hall. The reigning US Open champion overwhelmed compatriot Jordan Banares in the finals, 13-6, to complete his unbeaten run in the

A OUTGOING Philippine Judo Federation president Dave Carter (sixth from right) and Deputy Chief of Mission Minister Yamamoto Yasushi (seventh from right) pose after the turnover of the donation of tatami mats and uniforms from the All-Japan Federation held at the Embassy of Japan on Wednesday. Witnessing the event is PJF Treasurer Ma. Lyn Versoza (fifth from right) and the athletes and coaches of the national team.

Southwoods pads lead to 31 points

ANILA Southwoods played like a hungry lion that after a year’s hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Carmona (Cavite)-based team has the premier FilChampionship title of the shortened 71st FilAm Invitational Golf Tournament virtually in the bag on Thursday. All five of Southwoods’s players were consistent throughout the tournament Baguio City is hosting anew at Camp John Hay and Baguio Country Club (BCC) courses. In the penultimate round on Thursday at the shorter but trickier BCC, Josh Jorge posted 30

S a parting gift and legacy to the local judo community, outgoing Philippine Judo Federation (PJF) President Dave Carter on Thursday received close to P1 million worth of equipment and gear from the All-Japan Judo Federation during a simple turnover ceremony at the Japan Embassy in Pasay City. Carter accepted the donation of the AJF, led by Japan Olympic Committee President Yamashita

while Raymund Bunquin and Augusto Pacheco chipped in 22s. Time Cargo moved down to second spot after 94 for 320 points on the 26s from Junjun Plana and Joseph Tambunting. Gary Sales and Ruel Cabral added 25 and 17, respectively. X1R Mizuno fell to third spot with 315 after an 89 behind the 24 of Gabriel Macalagum, 23 of Brixton Aw, 22 of Ace Stehmeier and 22 of Antonio Arce. “We did not expect to take the lead, the course played hard today,” said Forest Hills captain Bunquon after they surged to the top spot after starting out third—13 off Time Cargo. “We will still go for good scores on the last day tomorrow,” added Bunquin, who was the first to score a course record at CJH—a six-under 63 when it re-opened in 1998 under the Camp John Hay Development Corporation and after years under American management.

FOREST Hills’s Raymond Bunquin studies his putt during third round action on Thursday.

RIANNE MALIXI misses breaking the record 16-stroke winning margin in the domestic tour.

Bishop dazzles in Meralco’s lopsided win vs Blackwater By Josef Ramos

Friday, December 17, 2021 B7

points, Masaichi Otake had 29, Sean Ramos 28 and Ryan Monsalve 27 for a 114-point total for the day and a 382 aggregate. Lance Uy, after a team best 37 on Day 2, didn’t count with a 26 but it didn’t matter as Southwoods built a 31-point lead over perennial rival Luisita Golf and Country Club. Luisita produced only 104 points on the 27s of Joaquin Hernandez, Gabriel Manotoc and Andres Lorenzo—who finally counted after lackluster performances at the longer and easier Camp John Hay course in the first two days—and a 23 from Jed Dy. Leandro Bagtas made 22 and didn’t count. “I told the boys to just play their games tomorrow and not mind the scores,” Southwoods skipper Thirdy Escano said. Forest Hills, meanwhile, made a charge at the BCC, scoring 100 points to move past second day co-leaders Time Cargo Logistics and X1R Mizuno with a three day total of 324 in the Am Championship. Jose Inigo Raymundo made a flight best 29 points at the difficult BCC course where pin placements were a puzzle to most players the past three days. Rodel Mangalubna had 27 points,

JIU-JITSU, BILLIARDS, BOWLING BETS SET MARK IN NOVEMBER 64-man competition. The Philippine bowling team, meanwhile, delivered the goods in Dubai where it captured two bronze medals in the International Bowling Federation Super World Championships. Men’s team players Kenneth Chua, Patrick Nuqui, Merwin Tan and Ian Dysangco and women’s squad members Rachel Leon, Mades Arles, Norel Nuevo and Uella Marcial accounted for the country’s first podium finish in the world meet since Biboy Rivera’s individual masters gold medal in 2006. Over in the US, Francis Casey Alcantara teamed up with England’s Mark Whitehouse to win the doubles crown in the International Tennis Federation $25,000 M25 Harlingen Country Club Pro Circuit Tournament in Texas. Golf star and reigning US Women’s Open titlist Yuka Saso was recognized as a 2021 Rolex First-Time

Winner on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, receiving the accolade a few weeks after announcing her decision to elect Japanese nationality when she turns 22. In the local front, the TnT Tropang Giga and the Meralco Bolts split early leg honors in the inaugural PBA 3x3, Kaya FC Iloilo ruled the Copa Paulino Alcantara, AICC Manila captured the maiden FilBasket Subic Championship and F2 Logistics (women) and Team Dasma Monarchs (men) reigned supreme in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation Champions League. Golfers Harmie Constantino, Sunshine Baraquiel and Chanelle Avaricio, meanwhile, shone bright in the local ladies’ circuit. Constantino won the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Aoki Classic at Eagle Ridge while Baraquiel and Avaricio broke through in the ICTSI Tagaytay Highlands Ladies Challenge and ICTSI Riviera Ladies Challenge, respectively.

Yasuhiro, of 97 tatami mats and 100 judo uniforms from Deputy Chief of Mission Minister Yamamoto Yasushi under the Japanese government’s “Sport for Tomorrow” program. Witnessing the turnover was PJF Treasurer Ma. Lyn Versoza, national judokas John Viron Dalafu Ferrer, Marco Tumampao, Khrizzie M. Pabulayan and Dylwynn Keith Gimena and national coaches Rick Jayson Senales, Gilbert Ramirez

and Paul Michael de Vera. “We are happy to be able to contribute to Filipino athletes through judo, the sport that has a close relationship with Japan,” noted Yamamoto, who was also a judo practitioner during his younger days. He also cited the country’s success in winning its first Olympic gold medal through weightlifter Hidylin Diaz in the last Tokyo Summer Games.

Motoring

B8 Friday, December 17, 2021

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Kia leads the way towards the future

with movement that inspires N

Story by Randy S. Peregrino

OW with a new logo, appearance, and slogan, Kia recently ushered in its new brand philosophy, new product offers, a new Customer Experience, and more. The event also marked the day when the globally-recognized automaker accelerates into a brighter and bolder future with inspiring movement. The Korean automaker is set to lead a transformation through thoughtful design and the elevation of the in-car experience, aiming to provide consumers with what they need to drive full speed towards what inspires them. “Our brand’s purpose is to create spaces that will inspire consumers through our product design. To create more time for consumers so they can focus on what inspires them and what they aspire for. To create innovative experiences that can influence people and today’s culture,” said Manny Aligada, president of Kia Philippines. Fulfilling this new brand’s purpose requires being open to possibilities. In the Philippines, knowledge creates these possibilities—knowledge about different people, cultures, backgrounds, lifestyles, and needs. As such, Kia is fully committed to fully integrating this knowledge into its new purposedriven vehicles.

The all-new Kia Sorento

Sleeker, bigger, and bolder, the Sorento sets the bar high as the epitome of what Kia stands for. Boasting a refined yet bold exterior, the Sorento makes an eye-catching statement. With its sleek and sporty design—and the iconic tiger-nose grille—it speaks of success and achievement at first sight. Inside, the genius in the details is more than apparent. Comfort fit for a boss is assured by its spacious and luxurious interior, including leather seats, with the SX variant’s

power seats with driver memory, front-seat cooling and heating, and more. The ingeniously designed seven-seater has other practical amenities that take into account the comfort of passengers even in the second and third rows. Motivation comes from a 2.2-liter Smartstream Diesel motor paired with a dual-clutch auto transmission. The powertrain offers enhanced power, efficiency, and more precise shifting (compared to the previous generation) that crystallizes what Kia means by “Movement that Inspires.” Smart just as it is striking, the car’s cutting-edge technology offers advanced safety features. It includes Blind Spot View Monitor, 360 Degree Surround View Camera, Rear Cross, Forward Collision Assist, and Lane Keep Assist available for the SX variant. As for a great experience with every ride it offers, it comes with the SX variant’s 12.3inch LCD instrument cluster and wireless mobile phone charger. An eight-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and a six-speaker system came in standard. The all-new Sorento is high in design, performance, and safety. More so, it comes with supreme peace of mind for years to come. Because with Kia, all vehicles come with a five-year or 160,000 km warranty (whichever comes first). Owners are also entitled to quality after-sales services nationwide and 24/7 Roadside Assistance for a worry-free ownership experience. The all-new Kia Sorento 4x2 SX 8DCT variant is now available, while the 4x2 EX 8DCT will be on the market by January 2022. Price starts at P2.398 million.

The All-New Kia Sorento.

Kia Philippines

The Kia Stonic Style Edition

For Kia, inspiration can come from anywhere, and sometimes, it creates ideas that turn into icons. It is what the Stonic Style Edition is all about. It’s a stylish subcompact SUV made for millennials who get their inspiration from exciting designs. It’s a vehicle that combines award-winning aesthetics with modern and practical features. Like the all-new Sorento, the Stonic Style Edition also carries the new logo and features stylish body skirts and blacked-out wheels. To mark the latest release as a notch above the rest, it features a unique Style Edition badge at the rear for all to see. It will be available by the fourth week of November. The Stonic Style Edition 1.4 AT retails at P895,000.

Inspiration is at the heart of Kia’s new customer experience

Scheduling a test drive or a visit to a dealership comes with ease, thanks to its upgraded online channels and social media setups. When customers arrive at the dealership, immediately noticeable is the new spirit of Kia from its unique look and feel.

The new Kia Stonic Style Edition.

Kia Philippines

Walk through the doors and be surrounded by the elevated ambiance that brings to life the Kia vision to inspire. As for customer service, various training programs have been developed to ensure that all Kia sales representatives take customers through every step of the process with extra care and personalized service. And this new level of attention extends even after the sale is made.

Recovery amid new models

Kia’s new brand message, “Movement that inspires,” comes at a good time for Filipinos. According to Kia, everyone could all use a reminder that there is still a future to be optimistic about. Dreams are still achievable despite these challenging times. It is all about the right inspiration to reignite everyone’s drive for life. With Kia’s new brand image and purpose, the company can deliver exactly that. at 178ps and 221Nm, respectively. The ES 300h rolls on 215/55 R17 tires. Since it was first unveiled in 1989, 2.65 million Lexus ES units have been sold worldwide. It is a Lexus core model that accounts for 1/4th of its vehicle sales in 2020.

Camry Hybrid

HE good news is that vehicle sales in November jumped to 26,456 from 22,581 in October—an increase of 17.2 percent which is the highest monthly performance so far for the year. Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said: “Recovery is underway as restrictions started easing, and economic activities have resumed at improved levels.” Year-to-date, Campi and TMA sold 240,642 units, a 22.7-percent growth compared with the same period last year. Wait till we’re done with the season.

Isuzu Smoother

FROM Isuzu Philippines’s Yvonne Linchangco: “Isuzu officials were joined by Inteco president, Raymond Jarina, and Isuzu Quezon Avenue branch manager, Ranvin Jarina in turning over recently the first Isuzu N-Series Smoother truck to vice president Minelli Ong of Kimwealth Infinity, a supplier of lighting fixtures located in Congressional Avenue, Quezon City. During the turnover ceremony, Ong said: “Isuzu QA has always been our dealer over the years…The concept of drive like AT, efficient like MT convinced us to buy the N-Series

Smoother.” In response, Isuzu president Hajime Koso said: “In 2020, we finished as the Philippine’s top truck brand, making us the number 1 truck brand for 21 years in a row. This year, with the Isuzu N-Series Smoother, we want to take the same lead.”

Lexus ES

TWO variants of the Lexus ES have been launched to smashing success recently, says Jade B. Sison. The Lexus ES 350 Premier is pegged at P4,728,000 and the Lexus ES300h at P3,758,000. Both are way off my budget and only a lotto jackpot could solve the fix. Lexus has been a dream ride of mine like the BMW. The ES 350 has a 3.5-liter V6 engine that offers 302ps and 356Nm of torque. Mated to this is an 8-speed Direct-Shift Automatic transmission. Power is put to the ground through 235/45 R18 tires. The 2.5-liter inline-4 engine of the ES 300h is equipped with laser-clad intake valve seats, which permit increased airflow into the cylinder and an optimized intake port shape that increases the tumble-flow turbulence of incoming air and fuel for highspeed combustion. Power and torque is rated

TOYOTA’s new Camry Hybrid is described by TMP president Atsuhiro Okamoto as “wellloved for its powerful elegance that comes with quality, durability, and reliability. We have redefined greatness with this new executive sedan.” The New Camry runs on Toyota’s revolutionary HEV Technology. Carrying the innovative concepts also present in the Prius, Corolla Altis Hybrid, and the Corolla Cross Hybrid, the new Camry’s Hybrid system dynamically and seamlessly switches from gasoline engine to hybrid battery based on speed, acceleration and driving conditions. Camry, from “Kanmuri” in Japanese, means “crown.” It has been a favorite among customers from around the world, rightfully earning the dub, “King of Sedans” as it grabbed the category-leading segment share of 71 percent in 2020. Price starts for the 2022 Camry at P2,335,000, with reservations blasting off December 11.

PEE STOP Congrats again to the partnership

of MG Philippines and Shopee on their yet successful 12.12 Christmas Special where guests had the chance to win the best-selling MG 5 Core MT Sedan, an event that was mainly the brainchild of Lyn M. Buena, the executive director and senior vice president of MG Philippines. Cheers!