BusinessMirror December 17, 2022

A broader look at today’s business

Sub ‘killers’ on the prowl

Navy acquires 1st pair of ‘Wildcat’ choppers to deal with threats beneath the waves

By Rex Anthony Naval

ANY country without a functional and efficient antisubmarine warfare capability is a “sitting duck” from stealthy and deadly submarines lurking deep and silent below the waves.

These deep-sea vessels have the ruthless capability to fire their weapons at any floating target, either it be a warship or a merchant vessel.

The threat is very real for nations surrounded by vast seas and so-called archipelagic states like the Philippines, which, until now, has yet to acquire a single submarine of its own. But that’s an entirely different story to tell.

W hile damage to an unwary naval force bereft of any capability to detect, hunt and destroy this undersea threat could be horrific, at the least, submarines running amuck in the so-called sea lines of communication or SLOC could torpedo any commercial vessel within its periscope range, be it a bulk or a container ship, tanker or even your ordinary passenger liner.

The slaughter and the mayhem could force any country to surrender to the terms of its submarineequipped adversary as continued sinking of its merchant ships can severely constrain its means of carrying out its campaign and even fully disrupt its economic life.

Naysayers would probably be dismissive of this scenario and call

it the wild imagination of someone who had read too much of American writer Tom Clancy’s technothriller novels.

But a simple research would show that Great Britain’s capability to carry out its military campaign was severely affected by the unrestricted submarine campaign carried out by Germany during the First World War and the Second World War, while the Americans have nearly annihilated the Japanese merchant fleet aside from taking considerable toll on the warships of its then Imperial Navy.

Tandem of defenders AGAINST this historical backdrop, the AW-159 AgustaWestland (now Leonardo) “Wildcat” anti-submarine helicopter makes its debut to the fleet of our very own Philippine Navy (PN) as a deterrent against any possible threats from hostile submarines.

With its integration to the Navy, the Wildcat will be backed by the PN’s Jose Rizal-class frigates, which also has the capability to detect, track and, if necessary, sink hostile submersibles found intruding into the country’s territorial waters.

The helicopters are expected to increase the offensive capabilities of BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) and BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) in going against submarines. Both ships have hangar facilities capable of basing these rotary-wing aircraft while on sea patrol.

Incidentally, these two helicopters are the first-ever aircraft in Navy service capable of “prosecuting” (tracking and sinking) a socalled submarine contact.

The AW-159s were delivered to the Navy on May 7, 2019, and fully commissioned into service on June 17. They were acquired for P5.4 billion, including its munitions, mission essential equipment, and integrated logistics support.

The AW-159, previously called the Future Lynx and Lynx Wildcat, is an improved version of the

Westland Super Lynx military helicopter. The helicopter has been ordered for the Royal Navy and British Army, and is capable of speeds of 291 kilometers per hour, a range of 777 kilometers, a ferry range of 963 kilometers and an endurance of one-and-a-half hours (four hours and 30 minutes if fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks).

The AW-159s can also be armed with rockets, machine guns, missiles, torpedoes and depth charges, and fitted with modern sonar systems, the so-called “dipping flash sonar,” for tracking down submarines.

These two helicopters were declared “mission ready” in early 2021, which means pilots and their aircrew can safely take off and go about their task.

Shipboard integration work for AW-159s is still ongoing, though.

Deck landing and other shipboard integration processes are now commencing to ensure the safe and efficient pairing of these helicopters to their mother ships.

The phase was highlighted in a Facebook post by the BRP Jose Rizal on August 11 of this year, which stated that the frigate is now qualified to land and receive on its flight deck the AW-159.

“ Traversing the path of fleet interoperability, Team FF-150 held deck landing qualification (DLQ) together with the ASW (anti-submarine warfare) ‘Wildcat’ Helicopter AW-159 (NH-441) last 09 August 2022,” the socmed post said.

The DLQ is part of a series of

flight deck operations to further test and improve existing procedures, check connectivity, system integration and leveling of officers, pilots, sailors and aircrew on flight operations.

Before the actual deck landing, the ship’s crew and flight crew of the anti-submarine helicopter squadron had a series of lectures and workshops to ensure the preparedness and safety of personnel and flight deck equipment.

“ This activity marks the beginning of warfare interoperability operations between our air and surface assets, which complements the detection and engagement

HELICOPTERS.LEONARDO.COM

ONE of the two AW-159 “Wildcat” anti-submarine helicopters of the Philippine Navy. REX ANTHONY NAVAL

Russia’s war in Ukraine is becoming a winter’s arms race

By Marc Champion Bloomberg News

A combination of cold, but still wet weather and Russian consolidation along defensive lines has slowed advances by either side on Ukraine’s battlefields, but not the war’s intensity. The conflict continues to churn through limited reserves of troops and munitions at a frightening pace.

The big worry now for Russia this winter is to avoid ceding more territory to Ukrainian counter-offensives, according to three people close to the Kremlin and the Russian defense ministry. They cited concerns that the supply of ammunition and weapons has been too slow to ensure Russia’s forces hold their ground.

Who’s winning the war?

WHICH side runs low first could decide whether Ukraine or Russia emerges in the spring with the strategic initiative to potentially end the war on its terms.

The two sides have at times fired in excess of 24,000 artillery shells per day, according to a November report by the Royal Unit-

ed Services Institute, a UK think tank, as well as dozens of scarce long-range missiles, attack drones and air-defense munitions.

The high fire rates for artillery represent “a much larger consumption than NATO militaries would be able to sustain,” said Nick Reynolds, who co-authored the report.

Ukraine needs constant artillery support with guns and shells,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told allies in a video-linked appeal for more supplies at a Group of Seven leaders meeting on Monday. “We need more rocket artillery and more long-range missiles.”

The war has had two distinct theaters since at least mid-October, when Russia began a systematic campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a mix of longer range missiles and attack drones.

On Tuesday, US officials said America is poised to send Patriot air and missile defense batteries to Ukraine, pending final approval from President Joe Biden.

An announcement on that could come soon —though with its Soviet-era stocks of munitions depleted, Ukraine will need more than Patriots.

The US Army has said it will in-

crease production of 155mm artillery shells to 20,000 per month, from 14,000, by the spring, and to 40,000 per month by 2025. The estimated Ukrainian usage is already around 100,000 shells per month. For Russia, RUSI estimates its forces have been firing an average of 20,000 artillery shells per day, to Ukraine’s 4,000.

More ammo, hardware needed TANK shells are another concern for Ukraine, as production lines for Soviet-model vehicles are scarce. Zelenskiy made an urgent plea for “modern” tanks in his address, a demand driven in part by the fact that NATO standard tanks would come with a ready pipeline of ammunition.

Meanwhile in Moscow, there are worries its military is spending too many hard-to-replenish resources to little effect, and with no clear strategy to win the war. That’s even as its forces make incremental gains around the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, and its arms factories work around the clock.

P resident Vladimir Putin this month canceled his annual marathon press conference, in what several officials working in or close to the Kremlin described as evidence he recognizes the lack of gains to report.

I f Ukraine’s allies continue or increase their arms deliveries to Zelenskiy’s administration, it will be very difficult for Russian forces to avoid further withdrawals, according to a retired senior officer and defense analyst, who asked not to be identified. Criticism of the Russian war effort is punishable by jail.

Diminishing firepower?

ADMIRAL Tony Radakin said Russia faced a “critical shortage of artillery munitions,” having planned for only a 30-day war. “This means that their ability to conduct successful offensive ground operations is rapidly diminishing.”

Yet just days earlier, the head of Estonia’s defense intelligence center estimated Russia still had

about 10 million artillery shells in stock and was producing more at a rate of about 3.4 million per year. That, he warned, would allow Russia to continue the war for at least another year.

I n a sign that preparations for a new counteroffensive may be underway, Ukrainian saboteurs or rockets on Monday struck an alleged Russian barracks and road bridge at Melitopol, a town that sits astride the main road, and rail links between Russia and occupied areas of southern Ukraine and Crimea.

Current and former Russian officers offered a rare public glimpse into the military’s concerns via a recent annual conference in Moscow called the Ogarkov Readings, with some of the proceedings uploaded afterward to YouTube. They cited failures of intelligence gathering, accurate guidance systems and training. “Even our Iskander use GPS. So if the grid is shifted slightly we miss,” said Alexander Khodakovsky, a serving field commander. He was referring to Russia’s short-range ballistic missiles, known as Iskanders.

Despite greater optimism in Ukraine, where troop morale remains strong and more accurate Western systems have helped turn the war, concerns over supplies also run high.

The Russian air campaign is severely disrupting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, creating the risk of a new wave of refugees to Europe as temperatures fall. A still greater danger is that the relentless missile barrages could deplete Ukrainian air defenses to the point the skies become safe for Russia fixed wing aircraft, a potential game changer for the war, according to Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a government think tank in Kyiv.

People take for granted that Ukraine has managed to prevent Russia from gaining air dominance,” he said. “They shouldn’t.”

Bring in the Patriot THE number of Patriot batteries

that the US will deliver, assuming Biden approves the proposal, remains unknown. Whatever the amount, their supply is seen as vital given reports that Iran is preparing to supply Russia with ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s existing air defenses can’t shoot down, according to Bielieskov.

But the Patriots can only deal with one part of the threat in a few areas of the country. In the long run, more mid-range air defense systems such as US NASAMS, as well as fourth-generation combat aircraft like F-16s, will be essential to winning the air war, according to Bielieskov.

On the ground, meanwhile, a crunch point is approaching: Either the US and other Ukrainian allies must decide whether to supply enough longer-range rocket systems, such as HIMARS, to suppress Russian artillery, or release NATO stocks of conventional artillery pieces and shells reserved for a direct war between alliance members and Russia.

With 85 percent of Russian forces bogged down in Ukraine, it would be logical to release those stocks now, because it’s clear there would then be time to build up production lines and rebuild them before Russia can again pose a threat to NATO,” Bielieskov said.

The risk to Ukraine is that Russia succeeds in stabilizing the front lines through the winter, creating time to integrate newly mobilized recruits into an effective fighting force and presenting Kyiv’s allies with a protracted war and no visible path for Ukraine to reclaim its territory, according to Reynolds, the land warfare analyst at RUSI.

Th at could increase pressure on Ukraine to accept a cease-fire, even with swathes of the country still under occupation, or even see the air war return the strategic initiative to Russia.

“ There are several issues that are currently building and will shape how things develop,” said Reynolds. “It isn’t a settled environment.”

SUB ‘KILLERS’ ON THE

capability of both units,” it added. The activity concluded safely with no casualties and any faults from both platforms.

More AW-159s eyed for the Navy ACKNOWLEDGING that having an efficient anti-submarine capability is

a hallmark of a modern Navy, then PN chief Vice Admiral Adeluis Bordado, in an interview this September, said there are plans to acquire more anti-submarine helicopters to partner with their incoming major surface naval assets.

These aircraft will be paired with two incoming corvettes coming from South Korea’s Hyundai

Heavy Industries. Bordado said that this is being considered to boost the Navy’s anti-submarine capability as a whole, a recognition of the security threats posed by hostile submersibles.

Steel cutting for the two corvettes is expected to start in the last quarter of this year or early 2023.

THE potential addition of Patriot missile defense batteries to Ukraine’s arsenal comes as Kyiv and Moscow both face a critical question with the war in its 10th month: Can they secure enough missiles and artillery through winter to prevail?

POLICE officers look at collected fragments of the Russian rockets that hit Kharkiv, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, December 3, 2022. AP/LIBKOS

By Andrea E. San Juan

UNILEVER , a multinational consumer goods company, is set to launch the commercial operations of their stateof-the-art facility in Cavite by the first quarter of 2023, the Board of Investments (BOI) announced on Friday.

Evariste M. Cagatan, executive director of BOI, said Unilever’s latest P4.7-billion project is a personal-care facility, which is expected to hire as many as 130 employees.

“The Unilever expansion, that’s one of the highlights of the visit. They have shared with us their P4.7-billion project in General Trias, Cavite, this is a personal-care facility. They said I think it is one of their biggest personal-care facilities. It is a state-of-the-art facility run by 4 IR [industrial revolution] technology,” Cagatan told reporters at a virtual media briefing on Friday.

Cagatan also noted that the new facility would be using “the advanced 4th industrial revolution lighthouse which is also being used in other Unilever global facilities.”

C agatan said Unilever would have a “15 percent more capacity using the latest technology.” She also noted that the General Trias facility of the multinational consumer goods firm would generate 88,000 tons annual capacity of personal-care products.

For his part, Benjie Yap, Unilever Philippines chairman, emphasized that the P4.7-billion investment will contribute to the Philippine manufacturing sector.

We expressed to President (Ferdinand R.) Marcos our long-term commitment to sustainable and responsible growth in the country and we are optimistic that our new P4.7billion investment in a future-fit personal-care

manufacturing

factory in Cavite will contribute to the Philippine manufacturing sector’s competitiveness as we employ highly advanced technologies, with the potential to qualify the facility for the World Economic Forum’s ‘Advanced Fourth Industrial Revolution Lighthouse,’” the Unilever Philippines chairman said.

BOI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, for his part, said President Marcos highlighted that 95 percent of what Unilever sells in the Philippines are made in the Philippines.

In a separate statement on Friday, BOI, an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and one of the leading investment promotion agencies in the country, said various European firms “have committed to expanding and setting up operations to support sustainable and innovative projects in the Philippines.”

T he agency said the estimated investment pledges generated amounted to almost P10 billion. This amount, the BOI noted, encompasses the investments made by “committed” firms engaged in sustainability solutions, such as agrologistics design, ecological hydropower turbines, sustainable infrastructure, and fuel-efficient sea vessels.

The BOI top official said the President met with several European companies at the sidelines of the 10th Asean-European Union Business Summit. The DTI, Philippine Trade and Investment Center, Foreign Trade Service Corps and the BOI organized the event.

D uring the Asean-EU Summit, the investment promotion agency said the Philippines also registered its willingness to resume talks with the European Union in pursuit of a Philippines-EU free trade agreement .

British chamber bares ‘23 ‘wish list’ to PBBM admin

THE British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) has divulged its “wish list” for the Philippines for 2023 that include the push to improve the ease of doing business and continued growth of exports to further liberalize the Philippine market.

At a media briefing on Thursday, Chris Nelson, executive director of BCCP, said the Philippines needs to further liberalize its economy. He noted that one of the keys in “opening things up” is gradually improving the ease of doing business.

While the Philippines has improved in this area, the BCCP official cited digitalization as the area of ease of doing business that needs more improvement.

“I would just like to highlight digitalization, clearly that has become very prominent during obviously the pandemic, when you had to do a lot of services online or delivered online and the Philippines needs to embrace that and further invest in that area,” Nelson said.

“And one which I’ve constantly said is a top priority of your own Department of Trade and Industry, that is the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership—the largest trading bloc in the world,” he added.

Nelson also revealed that BCCP is pushing for the “continued growth of exports to further liberalize the Philippine market.”

Aside from opening up the Philippine market and improving the ease of doing business, the BCCP official said the chamber is pushing for the extension of lower tariff rates

in the next few years for meat products.

The extension on tariffs, to lower tariffs by the executive order [EO], which will expire on the 31st of December 2022. This year it was obviously signed by the former president that was obviously [former] President Duterte. So we’re optimistic that President Marcos will sign that extension...it is important for our continued supply, keeping inflation down and obviously reinforces food security,” Nelson stressed.

EO No. 171 s. 2022, which was issued in May 2022 provided for the reduction of tariffs imposed on pork, corn, rice, and coal.

Moreover, Nelson said for 2023, the BCCP is “committed to promote and make the Philippines an investment destination.”

Last month, Nelson told reporters at the sidelines of the European-Philippine Business Dialogue that the amendments to the gamechanging economic reforms including the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA) are considered a “very good move,” but stressed that the Philippines should “actually make sure people are aware of it and encourage and promote the Philippines as the best investment destination.”

Another priority in BCCP’s wish list for 2023, Nelson noted, is to boost infrastructure developments and digitalization.

The British Chamber looks forward to allowing more investments to flow through various sectors, unlock new opportunities for UK companies, and make the Philippines the gateway to Southeast Asia,” Nelson said.

Andrea E. San Juan

Marcos signs into law 2023 budget, seen to sustain growth, create jobs

By Samuel P. Medenilla & Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday signed the P5.268-trillion 2023 national budget, thanking Congress for what he described as the fastest congressional deliberations ever for a national appropriations bill.

Following the record-breaking speed in which the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was signed, President Marcos Jr. said the government is now ready to roll out with its pandemic recovery initiatives next year.

In his speech after the signing of the 2023 GAA, Marcos lauded Congress for delivering to him the “quickest and fastest” passed national budget so far, which he considers as an early Christmas gift from lawmakers.

The GAA is usually signed in the last week of December, such as in the cases of the 2021 and the 2022 national budget. The 2020 GAA was passed into law in January 2020.

Marcos stressed the importance of the fast passage of the 2023 GAA, since it will serve as a government roadmap for the implementation of its programs.

He also noted that their proposed initiatives next year are backed by Congress.

“It is always very important that the GAA has been put together in consonance with all of the plans of the Executive. And that kind of coordination, and that kind of synergy that we will gain from that is going to be an essential part of the way that we move forward,” Marcos said.

“That bodes well for us, seeing as we have many, many plans. There are many things that we need to do. There are many things that we would like to do. And we are slowly moving in that direction,” he added.

The President said he will be pushing for more legislative amendments for investment and financial policy to boost the country’s economic growth.

In a statement, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the economic objectives outlined in the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) are as follows: 6.5 to 7.5 percent real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2022 and 6.5 to 8.0 percent real GDP growth annually between 2023 and 2028; 9 percent or single-digit poverty rate by 2028; 3-percent National Government (NG) deficit-to-GDP ratio by 2028; less than 60 percent national government debt-to-GDP ratio by 2025; and the attainment of upper-middle-income status for Filipinos.

‘Most important tool’ REACTING to the signing, Speaker

Philexport presses passage of trade-related bills to hasten PHL’s export market growth

EXPORTERS are urging Congress to pass pending “critical” economic and trade-related bills, including the Magna Carta for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

In a news statement issued on Friday, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. cited some of the measures which are the magna carta for MSMEs, Philippine Ports Authority Charter or the PhilPorts Act, the International Maritime Competitiveness Act, Open Access in Data Transmission Act, Customs Amnesty Act, and reforms in the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN) law.

“We could not emphasize more the importance of getting these reforms passed as part of the conditions within which export growth and targets under the Philippine Export Development Plan or PEDP are connected,” Ortiz-Luis said

during Philexport’s general membership meeting.

A ccording to Philexport, the Magna Carta for MSMEs is a “landmark legislation” mandating development and nurturing of the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit, while the amendments to the ASIN law aim to rationalize the policy, facilitate the revival of the local industry and expand food exports.

Last August, Philexport Vice President for Advocacy, Communications and Special Concerns Ma. Flordeliza C. Leong said Philexport is pushing for additional amendments to the Magna Carta for MSMEs and for its extension to another decade. She cited critical provisions in Republic Act 9501 that can be a “game changer.”

T he Magna Carta for MSMEs recognizes that small and medium scale enterprises have the potential for more employment generation and economic growth and

therefore can help provide a self-sufficient industrial foundation for the country.

A part from this measure on MSMEs, OrtizLuis said Philexport championed the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act last year.

Re public Act 11534 or the CREATE Act introduces reforms to the corporate income tax and incentives systems.

...[However], we are faced with hurdles and confusion in its implementation,” OrtizLuis said.

Apart from the passage of these pending economic and trade-related bills, Ortiz-Luis said industry players are taking a more aggressive stance inspired by the newly launched Philippine Exports Development Plan (PEDP) and the recovery in the export performance.

Martin G. Romualdez said the budget will help the administration implement its Agenda for Prosperity to sustain growth, generate economic activities and jobs, and increase the income for Filipinos.

“It is the most important and potent tool the President, his economic team and the entire government can use to accomplish the goals of the prosperity roadmap,” said Romualdez, first cousin of Marcos Jr.

He said the House of Representatives and the Senate deliberated on and approved the President’s first full-year budget proposal “in record time.”

“As far as I can remember, the 2023 budget is one of the few spending bills signed into law in midDecember, way before the start of its implementation on New Year’s Day,” he added.

With the early signing, the administration, principally the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), now has enough time to prepare for the release of funds appropriated in the 2023 budget law, Romualdez said.

“The money needed to sustain our economic expansion momentum and keep the country on the high-growth path should be out on January 1. Agencies should be ready to keep up with their programs, activities and projects, while observing transparency and accountability,” Romualdez added.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Elizaldy Co said the P5.268-trillion 2023 budget will help the country move forward from the pandemic to prosperity.

“The annual passage of the General Appropriations Act is the single most important task of Congress. This GAA for 2023 will help the Philippines recover from the continuing effects of the pandemic

and move forward to prosperity,” said Co.

Angara: Productive investments

SENATOR Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that spearheaded efforts to ensure timely passage of the money measure, said that, “in deliberating on the 2023 GAA, Congress was well aware of the need for the government to make productive investments in human and physical capital in order to empower the people, generate revenues, and address the most pressing needs of our kababayan.”

In a statement, Angara said: “As stated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., this budget is anchored on an agenda for prosperity. We are no longer at a point where we are catching up and reacting to the developments just like the past two years. Now we can lay the foundation for the country to build on towards sustaining economic growth and providing more opportunities for our people.”

Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, in a text message to BusinessMirror, said the “timely passage”of the 2023 National Budget into law is “a Christmas gift for the Filipino nation.”

Villanueva added, “Our next job in the Senate is to make sure that there is transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. We will not let these funds meant to uplift our people’s lives fall to corruption or be squandered.”

He recalled that, “While there were disagreements on some issues during the bicameral conference committee meetings, both panels found common ground in the need to ensure that assistance is given to those who require it the most and to keep the momentum going in the country’s move towards economic recovery.”

With Butch Fernandez

New Palace EO adjusts dividend rates of DBP

By Samuel P. Medenilla

THE Development Bank of the Philippines [DBP]) will not be required to remit any percentage of its annual net earnings last year to the national government. This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 8, which reduced the dividend rate of DBP.

“Pursuant to Section 5 of RA [Republic Act] No. 7656, the percentage of net earnings to be declared and remitted by the DBP to the National Government for CY [calendar year] 2021is adjusted from 50 percent of its annual earnings to zero percent,” Marcos said.  Marcos said the measure aims to allow DBP to “comply with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regulations, and to sustain its role in the economic recovery of industries adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

DBP plays a crucial role in providing financial support to farmers, infrastructure and logistics facilities, social service and community development as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The President made the decision upon the recommendation of the Department of Finance.

EO 8 was signed and took effect on December 9, 2022, but it was only posted in the Official Gazette last Thursday.

Unilever to launch ₧4.7-B

facility in Gen. Trias, Cavite by Q1 next year

BSP chief Medalla rules out rate pause for now

THE Philippine central bank isn’t likely to pause interest-rate increases at least in the next two meetings as inflation remains far above target, Governor Felipe Medalla said.

“Inflation expectations are higher than our own forecast,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s David Ingles on Friday, a day after delivering a half-point interest-rate increase. That lifted borrowing costs to 5.5 percent, the highest since December 2008.

The likelihood of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) key policy rate change being “zero in the next two meetings is extremely low,” he said.

The Philippines is home to Southeast Asia’s fastest inflation and one of the two economies

in the region that’s yet to see price gains peak. At 8 percent, consumer price-growth is double the ceiling of the central bank’s 2 percent to 4 percent target, making its containment a top priority for the BSP.

“Infla tion will be back to 2 percent-4 percent by the third or fourth quarter next year,” Medalla said. “What we have to do is do more to make sure that happens.”

A gauge of Philippine lenders advanced 0.3 percent, reversing earlier declines, following Medalla’s comments.

The governor had on Thursday noted that the Philippine inflation problem was still mainly supply-driven.

S upply snarls, caused by the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, had driven up inflation around the world this year, forcing central

banks to take up unprecedented monetarypolicy tightening. The BSP itself raised borrowing costs by a cumulative 350 basis points, including two 75-basis point moves and three half-point increments.

Foreign exchange PRESSURE has eased to deliver outsized rate increases, however, as the peso stabilized on the Federal Reserve’s downshift in monetary tightening.

Bloomberg Economics’s Tamara Henderson expects the BSP to opt for quarter-point increments once inflation peaks, and deliver a total 50 basis points of rate increases in the first-quarter of 2023.

Medalla on Friday said BSP is still there in the currency market these days to buy

or sell dollars, compared to “largely selling” the greenback before when the peso was depreciating.

Asian economies have begun replenishing their foreign exchange reserves, with a weaker dollar easing pressure on central banks to support their currencies. The peso—which has gained more than 5 percent against the greenback this quarter along with most currencies in the region—was little changed in early trading Friday.

Medalla said on Friday the central bank has revised its view on when inflation will peak—December instead of November as seen previously. The government has set a 2 percent to 4 percent price growth target through 2026, BSP said separately in a statement. Bloomberg News

House touts Maharlika bill changes as fiscal safeguards, ayuda venues

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

THE House of Representatives has increased the amount earmarked from the profits of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) for social welfare purposes or subsidies (ayuda)—from 20 percent to 25 percent—as proposed by an opposition lawmaker, Speaker Martin G. Romualdez revealed on Friday.

Voting 279 in favor, six against, with no abstentions, the House approved Thursday night House Bill (HB) No. 6608 creating the MIF, which was earlier certified as urgent by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.

The MIF was principally envisioned as an effective vehicle to execute and sustain highimpact infrastructure projects, urban and rural development, agricultural support, and other programs that would generate more income and economic activity in the country.

We have increased the contributions of the profits of the Maharlika Investment Fund to social welfare fund that the government can utilize to provide assistance to those who need it the most,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez noted that such an increase came from a proposal of the opposition bloc in the House, although they later voted against the passage of HB 6608.

This amendment was proposed by the Makabayan bloc, which we accepted,” Romualdez added.

In his message t o peers before the House adjourned for the Christmas break, Romualdez noted that the approval of HB 6608 followed public consultations and exhaustive deliberations with agencies and stakeholders.

At the Plenary, several interpellators, and numerous hours of session were devoted to informative debates and manifestations discussing lengthily the nature, scope, and benefits of the proposed measure,” he added.

HB 6608 originally allocated 20 percent of the profits from MIF for social welfare purposes.

O pposition lawmaker ACT Party-list Rep. France Castro proposed an amendment to increase the amount to 30 percent until compromise was eventually reached to peg the increase at 25 percent.

Un der HB 6608 at least 25 percent of the net profits of the Maharlika Investment Corporation—the independent body that will manage the MIF—shall be directly distributed in the form of poverty and subsistence subsidies to families falling below the poverty threshold as determined by the Philippine Statistics Authority, in lieu of taxes and dividend remittance to the National Government.

The remainder of MIC’s net profits shall be remitted to the National Government, to be earmarked for social welfare programs and projects, excluding infrastructure projects.

Aside from increasing social welfare’s share in the profits of MIC, Castro also proposed other amendments that were accepted by the majority.

O ne such proposal is a provision to ensure government-owned and -controlled corporations like the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System, and the Home Development Mutual Fund would not be required to contribute their respective funds to the MIF.

The sponsors also agreed to accept Castro’s proposed amendments to prohibit the MIC from investing in activities or entities with a record of commission of human rights violations, or relating to the production of weapons of war, as well as in corporations involved in activities that seriously degraded the environment.

Amendments

ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said the amendments adopted on the floor are designed to make the MIF’s safeguards even tighter.

“ The third-reading version now creates an MIF that is significantly more transparent and accountable than the committee report. I am proud of the work of the Technical Working Group, which included recommendations from the minority,” said Salceda.

T he amendments, summarized, follow:

1. On the declaration of policy, the House included to “foster technological transformation”

2. On funding sources, the House clarified

that what will come from the BSP is “declared dividends” to prevent the use of funds needed for operations

3. On the objectives, lawmakers emphasized that the main object of the fund is “to promote economic development by making strategic and profitable investments in key sectors”

4. On the general framework of the Fund, the chamber required that the board formulate ethical standards, and that the MIF will be covered by “ethical standards under the Securities Regulation Code, and ethical standards set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and other significant international organizations of investment entities”

5. The House also clarified that “the provisions of Republic Act No. 8799 or Securities Regulation Code, Republic Act No. 8791 or the general banking law, Republic Act No. 2629 or the investment company act, their respective implementing rules and regulations, and other relevant laws, rules, regulations, and issuances by regulating authorities governing transactions with and among directors, officers, stockholders and related interests shall apply to the MIC.”

6. It also removed the power of the MIC to condone debts owed it

7. To ensure that usual fiscal rules apply, the chamber inserted the proviso that “all other instruments of mic shall be subject to laws, rules, and regulations on the contracting of debt and issuance of guarantees by GFIs”

8. It also deleted the provision allowing the BSP to invest part of its surplus 9. On the mandatory review by the SOF, it included a review of “the financial condition of investing GFIs”

10. Pension funds are also explicitly excluded from GFIs that may invest in the Fund 11. Lawmakers inserted a provision that the board will set targets to reduce expenses below the 2-percent cap:

a. They included a new Section on prohibited investments. These are b. activities and investments related to, and entities with a record of commission of human rights violations, including but not limited to indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, and labor; c. activities and investments related

to, and corporations involved in the production of cluster munitions, nuclear arms, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and similar technologies and equipment; d. activities and investments resulting in, corporations with a record of serious degredation of the environment; and e. similar activities, investments and corporations.

12. The chamber inserted a paragraph that the investment policy will prioritize government infrastructure and development projects

13. It increased the number of independent directors to five out of 15 (one-third, consistent with corporate good governance principles)

14. Consistent with good corporate governance, the Board will constitute an audit committee which will recommend the external auditor to be confirmed in the annual general shareholders’ meeting

15. While professional and technical services are exempt from the Procurement Law, lawmakers inserted a qualifier that the procurement of such shall still undergo competitive selection 16. Secondment of GFI employees to the MIF is limited to five years, to maintain the independence of the MIF from their owners, consistent with the Santiago Principles 17. Adopting the recommendation of the Minority, lawmakers increased the remittance to the NG for social projects from 20 percent to 25 percent. But the remittance shall not exceed the share of total contributions of the NG to the fund

18. The external auditor will be engaged annually instead of for a three-year term, consistent with good corporate governance rules

19. It also adopted the recommendation of the Makabayan bloc for a right to freedom of information for all relevant financial information on the MIF

20. Lawmakers inserted a new section requiring an annual audit for compliance with the Santiago Principles. This is also a requirement under the Principles.

21. The House also expanded penal provisions for a broader set of offenses, including collusion, intermediation for and tolerance of graft and corrupt practices, and retaliation against whistleblowers.

MAP nixes proposal to allow EV, hybrid vehicles on EDSA Busway

THE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has expressed its opposition to the proposal to allow other vehicles on the EDSA Busway, noting that the new busway on EDSA has been designed for the exclusive use of public buses.

“It is now operating efficiently conveying commuters at a shorter time, and dramatically achieved higher passenger throughput rate utilizing fewer buses. This efficiency is vital for the densest traffic corridor in Metro Manila that is used daily by over 1 million commuters,” MAP said in a news statement issued on Friday.

T he business organization stressed that policy-makers must realize the busway is still a “work-in-progress,” intended to be upgraded to full bus rapid transit (BRT) standards as announced by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista under a privatized concession being considered.

With this, MAP said implementing the proposal to allow hybrid and electric vehicles on the EDSA Busway amounts to “policy backsliding and will seriously set back the gains thus far achieved.”

M AP emphasized that “clogging” the busway with other vehicles will “severely degrade” the efficiency of the busway, which will affect the 400,000 bus passengers who use this “vital transport corridor.”

M AP divulged that the EDSA Busway conforms to globally accepted basic busway guidelines and BRT standards developed abroad over the past five decades and adopted in at least 188 corridors worldwide.

“The standards call for certain specifications, among which are a dedicated busway for the exclusive use of public buses, alignment away from traffic conflict lanes and control from inclusion and intrusion by other vehicles with its outer edges

Philexport. . .

Continued from A3

“If all the reform elements in the PEDP are achieved, we are seeing export earnings of $240.5 billion for 2028, more than double this year’s target of $112 billion,” he said.

He added 88.5 percent of the export earnings are accounted for by prominent export sectors such as electronics; agriculture; transport; home furnishings; wearables, fashion accessories and travel goods; minerals; information technology-business process management; and chemicals.

“Under the PEDP 2023-2028, one of the strategies to ease supply side constraints to export expansion is attracting and retaining domestic and foreign investments, especially in the export of high-value products and services,” Philexport said.

The plan also underscored the need to provide adequate support to export firms’ requirements in power, water and

delineated with barriers,” MAP said.

The business group said the EDSA busway must conform to these standards, otherwise it will fail as a bus rapid transit system.

F urther, it said the solution to traffic congestion on EDSA is to “fully develop” the busway into a full BRT to “conveniently and comfortably” transporting daily commuters more efficiently.

With this, MAP said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) must have “exclusive control” over the EDSA Busway, adding that other agencies must defer to the transportation department’s policy.

Last October, MAP, along with other private groups, urged the government to immediately implement the privatization of the EDSA Busway System to “finally” put an end to the daily struggle of thousands of commuters.

The private groups noted that the busway with rapid bus service has proven to be the “most cost-effective” urban mass transit system in the world.

Apar t from being cost-effective, the groups earlier noted that it is easy to implement and requires “significantly” less capital expenditures, while it can provide high efficiency and ridership capacity similar to rail trams with the introduction of the latest technology in commuter transport: high capacity, articulated trackless long bus-trains running on rubber wheels.

The private groups emphasized that the country’s commuters deserve a Busway System that is “at par with comparable systems” in other countries.

The group cited the Jakarta Busway’s “longest system” in the world and the Guangzhou System, which they said are recognized as the “gold standard.”

Andrea E. San Juan

irrigation, transport and logistics, and telecommunications connectivity.

Ortiz-Luis further said export performance so far suggests that Philippine export markets have become increasingly more diversified in recent years.

The Philexport chief said the number of economies to which the country exports has grown from 70 in 2000 to 200 now.

“Still, it’s remarkable that the composition of our top 10 export markets has hardly changed in the last decade. The market and product diversification becomes ever more relevant as sectors like the furniture and wearables are experiencing declining orders due to the recession in traditional markets such as the US [United States] and Europe,” he added.

To expand demand for Philippine exports, the PEDP outlined the importance of intensifying trade promotion, marketing, design innovation and branding initiatives; pursuing active membership in regional and bilateral preferential trade agreements; and pursuing export market diversification. Andrea E. San Juan

Our

60 centenarians in Davao Region get cash award of P100K each

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO CITY—The Davao Region has 60 centenarians who have been awarded this year the mandated cash incentive for reaching that age, the Philippine Information Agency has reported, citing data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

T he Centenarians Act of 2016 says

that a Letter of Felicitation signed by the President of the Philippines shall be given to the living centenarian. In addition to the Letter of Felicitation, a one time cash award of P100,000 shall be given to the living centenarian in recognition of his or her longevity.

We recently awarded our last batch of centenarians on September 30, we have 60 centenarians that were each given P100,000 cash grant,” said Merie Diane Jane Paez,

DSWD regional information officer on social marketing unit.

T he DSWD said one Serapia Silvosa of Boston, Davao Oriental is the oldest recipient of the cash grant, at 107 years old.

Paez said there were centenarians whose cash incentives were delayed due to the lack of supporting documents like birth certificates.

It took some time for them to secure documents that prove they were 100 years old. The one reason

the families of centenarians cannot comply is they have difficulty getting the birth certificate, ” Paez said.

A lso, many of the centenarians were migrants in Davao and were born in places such as Luzon and Visayas “thus getting their birth certificates is a difficult task,” she added. Those who were born during the Second World War have problems on securing birth certificates because official documents were either destroyed or burned.

Others have also difficulty getting birth records because they were born in remote places, or the Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs).

We would just need secondary documents such as marriage certificates or birth certificates of their children,” Paez said.

She said the DSWD has also been helping the families so that “the centenarians will not have difficulty in getting their supporting documents.”

We hope we can give them the cash grants while they [centenarians] are still alive,” Paez said.

Paez has been encouraging the family members or relatives of senior citizens who are about to centenarians to get the list of requirements and secure the needed documents “before the elderly reaches the age of 100 years old.”

When they reach 100 years old, we can earmark the money for them,” she said.

Hospitalizations signal rising Covid-19 risk for US seniors

By Carla K. Johnson & Laura Ungar The Associated Press

CORONAVIRUS-RELATED

hospital admissions are climbing again in the United States, with older adults posting a growing share of US deaths and less than half of nursing home residents up to date on Covid-19 vaccinations.

T hese alarming signs portend a difficult winter for seniors, which worries 81-year-old nursing home resident Bartley O’Hara, who said he is “vaccinated up to the eyeballs” and tracks coronavirus hospital trends as they “zoom up” for older adults, but remain flat for younger folks.

The sense of urgency is not universal,” said O’Hara of Washington, D.C. But “if you’re 21, you probably should worry about your granny. We’re all in this together.”

One troubling indicator for seniors: Hospitalizations for people with Covid-19 rose by more than 30 percent in two weeks. Much of the increase is driven by older people and those with existing health problems, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers include everyone testing positive, no matter why they are admitted.

W hen it comes to protecting seniors, “we’re doing a terrible job of that in this country,” said Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute.

A s nursing home leaders redouble efforts to get staff and residents boosted with the new vaccine version, now recommended for those 6 months and older, they face complacency, misinformation and Covid-19 fatigue. They are calling on the White House for help with an “all hands on deck” approach.

C lear messages about what the vaccine can do—and what it can’t— are needed, said Katie Smith Sloan, president of LeadingAge, which represents nonprofit nursing homes.

Breakthrough infections do not mean the vaccine has failed, she said, but that false perception has been hard to fight.

We need to change our messaging to be accurate about what it does, which is prevent serious illness and hospitalization and death,” Sloan said. “This virus is insidious, and it just keeps popping up everywhere. We just need to be real about that.”

Problems include unwarranted hesitance to prescribe the antiviral pill Paxlovid quickly in the elderly, which prompted five major medical societies to hold a web-based educational session for doctors, “Vax & Pax: How to Keep Your Patients Safe This Winter.”

Easing restrictions, broader immunity in the general population and mixed messages about whether the pandemic is over have softened the sense of threat felt by younger adults. That may be a welcome development for most, but the attitude has seeped into nursing homes in troubling ways.

Getting family consent for vaccinating nursing home residents has become more difficult, nursing home leaders say. Some residents who can give their own consent are declining the shots. Only 23 percent of nursing home staff are up to date on Covid-19 vaccinations.

Cissy Sanders of Austin, Texas, met multiple obstacles trying to get a booster for her 73-year-old mother, who is in a nursing home. No booster clinic was scheduled. The facility told her they couldn’t find a vaccinator. So she made plans to take her mom to Walgreens later this month.

“I’m concerned about the uptick in

Turn on your inner Christmas light

hospitalizations and deaths among seniors, and concerned about the lack of urgency at my mother’s nursing home in getting the residents and staff vaccinated” with the latest booster, she said.

Staff and visitors are potential entry points to nursing homes for the virus. The best facilities use a multi-layered approach, protecting residents with masks, screening questions, temperature checks and enhanced infection control.

What we’ve learned during Covid is that the rate of spread is dependent on the community rate of spread,” said Tina Sandri, CEO of Forest Hills of D.C., a nursing home

in the nation’s capital. “I feel safer in my building than anywhere else, including the grocery store.”

Meanwhile, hospitals across the country are seeing an influx of senior patients that Topol calls “pretty alarming.” Nationally, the rate of daily hospital admissions for those 70 and older with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 rose from 8.8 per 100,000 people on November 15, to 12.1 per 100,000 people on December 6, according to statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services. In California and New York, Topol said, hospitalizations for seniors with Covid-19 have already surpassed those during spring and

summer Omicron waves.

At NYU Langone Health, chief hospital epidemiologist Dr. Michael Phillips said a growing number of seniors are being admitted to his hospital with Covid-19. But the biggest increase he’s seen is in the emergency department, “which is very, very busy” with Covid-19, as well as flu patients.

Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas, said his hospital has also seen an increase in Covid-19 admissions over the last couple of weeks—and many of the patients are seniors with other health problems. Some are admitted for different illnesses and test positive for Covid-19 in the hospital. The good

news? “We haven’t seen an increase in ICU admissions,” he said.

T he new combination booster shot, which targets both Omicron and the original coronavirus, provides protection against one of the main Omicron variants pushing up cases lately: BQ.1.1, which is especially adept at escaping immunity.

But our booster rates among seniors are pathetically low,” Topol said, with only about a third getting the shot.

L ong said health care providers at Houston Methodist promote the booster “every chance we get.” But they don’t administer it to people hospitalized with Covid-19, who are generally told to wait three months after being infected to get it.

Phillips also urges people to get their boosters, especially if they are at risk of serious illness or planning to spend time with someone who is. He said they see many more hospitalizations among people who are unvaccinated.

Deaths, like hospitalizations, are now rising.

T he ultimate worry is that more seniors will die. Last spring and summer, death rates declined overall as more people gained protection from vaccination and prior infection. But the share of Covid-19–related deaths for the oldest old—adults 85 and older, who make up 2 percent of the population—grew to 40 percent.

O ver the course of the pandemic, 1 in 5 Covid-19 deaths was among those who were in a long-term care facility.

Dr. Walid Michelen, chief medical officer for seven nonprofit nursing homes operated by the Archdiocese of New York, said Americans need to continue taking the pandemic seriously. Associated Press writer Nicky Forster contributed from New York

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

are brightly shining, glowing and glittering. Liwanag, kislap, kutitap T he lighting of the four advent candles. The streets lighted at night. The brightly lit shopping and eating places. The blinking lights of the Christmas tree inside every home, and the native “parol” outside. Just thinking about it lights up my mood.

gar passes by and stops, perhaps lured by the smell of the food. He gets invited to join them. As the night gets darker, one of them wishes they had a candle. Then the guest beggar says not to worry. Suddenly, a bright glow emanates from inside everyone’s breast, until the whole place is brightened up by their collective interior lights. They then break out into a happy dance to the beat of their makeshift drums. Later, they realize that the mysterious invited guest is now gone.

T hat script I wrote was shelved and never saw light. But thinking about it, perhaps it was a crystallization of a feeling I’ve always had about making Christmas more meaningful by focusing on our inner light while enjoying the superficial lights of celebrating Christmas.

tuality in our life.

But more importantly, let us be reminded of the candle inside us. As someone said: “There’s no such thing as the light at the end of the tunnel, you must realize that you are the light.” But as John Hagee tells us: “We are indeed the light of the world—but only if our switch is turned on.”

S ome will try to dim your light. Don’t let the light go out. Protect it against the winds of anxiety, cynicism, indifference, hatred, prejudices, pride and greed. When you’re going through a rough time, it’s really important that you find the positive things to focus on because it’s easy to get sucked into the negativity of a situation that you’re in.

My wife, a former music teacher, was astonished to learn about the kind of impact she had on at least three of her pupils in the music subject she taught for a brief time. When she got to meet them once again after many years, they told her how her teaching have awakened their hidden natural talent and a lifelong love of music. As Henry Adams said, “a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

I too have three persons who are not too ashamed to admit how our friendship has not only affected them but also changed their outlook in life. Drawing from my experiences I am only too happy to share the habits I have acquired and the earned wisdom I now have.

Edith Wharton advises. Realize that your presence in critical moments might spell a difference in the lives of persons close to you.

I ’m sure you’ve come across the story of the blind man who always carried with him a lighted lamp when he went out at night. When asked why he bothered to carry a lighted lamp when he couldn’t see anyway, the blind man answered, “Yes, I am blind and this lamp may not be of any use to me. But, bright light being carried by me is for people like you who can see. At night the streets are dark, and you may not see the way. That is why I am carrying this lantern.”

al-

Years ago, I wrote a short play for a Christmas presentation intended for indigent children. It’s about this bunch of homeless street children who, during the Christmas holidays, get on jeepneys in pairs. While one beats rhythmically on a makeshift tin drum, his partner collects donations from passengers. On Christmas eve, while they are all happily gathered to share a simple noche buena, a beg -

A lbert Schweitzer once wrote: “There are times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

L et us think of the people past and present who have given us the gift of the light of knowledge, understanding, and spiri -

T he measure of the light you carry is how you affect someone’s day or life, which according to Henry David Thoreau is the “highest of arts.”

So when you walk in the room, do faces light up? That’s what you should be striving for. The author Toni Morrison, once said in a show, “Does your face light up when you see children? Because that allows your face to speak how your heart feels.”

You may have been dependent on others for being loved, being helped, being consoled, being cared. You thought that you always needed other people to guide you.

Now it’s time to turn on the light inside, that extraordinary power that lies latent in the hearts of so many of us.

In the words of Yogi Bhajan: “Spread the light, be the light.”

If you can’t be the candle, be the mirror that reflects it, as novelist

If we are to usher in the higher possibilities for our life on earth, you and I must carry the light, play our part in our personal lives, and assume our vital roles as light bearers, showing the way for the many who cannot find their way in the dark. It is a calling of our souls.

S o, this Christmas, turn on your interior light. Unlike the Christmas lights that you store away after the holidays, it’s the kind of light that you can keep turned on all the days of your life. Happy holidays to you and your family!

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, December 17, 2022

TINA SANDRI, CEO of Forest Hills of DC senior living facility, center, greets residents Cherie Neville, left, and Catherine Doleman on Thursday, December 8, 2022, in Washington. As nursing home leaders redouble efforts to get staff and residents boosted with the new vaccine version, now recommended for those 6 months and older, they face complacency, misinformation and Covid-19 fatigue. AP PHOTO/NATHAN HOWARD

Aboitiz, AIM inaugurate ‘classroom of the future’

AIM’s newest learning environment will immerse future business leaders in technology-powered surroundings to aid their learning, as Aboitiz Group President and CEO Sabin Aboitiz witnessed its unveiling.

Three years ago the Aboitiz Group, through its social responsibility arm the Aboitiz Foundation, made a $10-million donation to AIM, marked as the “Aboitiz 100th Anniversary Commitment Fund.” It is being used to address the local and regional gaps in data science and innovation. With the funding, AIM’s Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (ASITE) conducts world-class teaching and research, with real-world applications involving data-science professionals and leaders.

A tenth of the historic donation went to building the Aboitiz Tech Space, which was AIM’s flagship project of the year. Half of the donation went to interest-free loans for students.

“One of the tipping points for AIM was when we received a $10 million gift from Aboitiz. It was the single-largest cash donation in the history of Philippine higher education,” shared AIM’s president and dean Dr. Jikyeong Kang. “And so, during the pandemic, we took advantage of the fact that the campus was shut in order to continue this journey of adding new, innovative programs and educating quality students. We could also improve our infrastructure to be able to better support our academic programs, students and faculty.”

The Aboitiz Tech Space features state-of-the-art technology, and has

been expertly designed to be the most conducive learning environment for students.

With the institute’s international student base, it is particularly important that the space is suitable for both onsite and online students.

Smart cameras track the faculty or speaker as they move around the room, and automatically zoom-in on students who raise hands, ensuring that those joining online do not miss out.

Other features include ceilingmounted microphones and speakers, plus a smartboard that automatically reflects its display on panels that surround the room.

By pushing the boundaries of what a classroom looks and feels like, the Aboitiz Tech Space challenges students to innovate and think differently.

With a trailblazing approach to strategic growth, Aboitiz Group leads the way via its “Great Transformation” to become the Philippines’s first “tech-glomerate.” This means leveraging on technology and a renewed entrepreneurial spirit.

“A most integral part of this transformation is not just opening the minds of our own team members to the fantastic possibilities of innovation, experimentation and next-generation technology trends, but [also providing these possibilities and opportunities for] students here at AIM, to spread this knowledge around for anyone to learn,” said Aboitiz.

He stressed that the group’s Great Transformation is, in part, about providing opportunities through education: “As a tech-glomerate, it is very much our responsibility to

drive change for a better world by driving change for a better education. In these halls and classrooms, we hope to live up to that responsibility by harnessing the skills, talent, and knowledge needed to truly transform and advance our society toward the brave new world of the future.”

New crossroads

THE decision to use $5 million of the funding for zero-percent interest loans ensures that it would be sustainable and self-perpetuating, providing educational opportunities to as many talented young people as possible.

Since the donation there have been 67 loan grantees taking a Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS), and 75 students pursuing Master of Science in Innovation and Business at ASITE.

Through the program’s strategic partnerships, students become data-science consultants even while studying, helping organizations in-

novate through data-science and machine learning. In 2020 the MSDS program generated 15 real-world cases, while partners and stakeholders estimated a total potential revenue of $40 million from these projects. For MSDS Batch 2021, graduates saw an average salary hike of 170 percent.

“On behalf of the Aboitiz Foundation, we are happy to have been able to assist AIM in their efforts to expand their curriculum and facilities toward the direction of a bold future, and the skills and education it will require,” said Aboitiz Equity Ventures Director Erramon Aboitiz. “We celebrate with you all as we mark [these] new crossroads of innovation, technology and education.”

He ended: “[We] look forward to a whole new generation of innovators, data scientists, IT specialists and engineers [who] will be graduating from this school, and leading the way toward great discovery and progress for all.” Roderick L. Abad

Davao Occ. school inks intl exchange program with Turkey’s universities

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—The state-run marine and fisheries college in Davao Occidental recently forged a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six universities in Ankara, Turkey for an international academic-exchange program.

The Southern Philippines Agribusiness and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST) of Malita was the lone school in the Philippines to enter into an academic partnership with Ankara University, EGE University, Kastamonu University, Isparta University of Applied

Sciences, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, and Karadeniz Technical University.

According to its social-media post, SPAMAST’s tie-up with the Turkish higher education institutions would propel it to global exposure and opportunities.

The school’s president Dr. Ruth S. Lucero said: “This event will not only internationalize SPAMAST, but will also create a big leap for us, as this will pave [the] way to programs such as faculty exchange, student mobility, international conferences, collaborations, sharing of library and research facilities, dual/double

degree [programs]...and capacitybuilding of faculty-researchers.”

Dr. Lucero represented the state college in the signing of the MOU at the office of the Turkish Council of Higher Education. The exchange program materialized through the initiative of the Commission on Higher Education, dubbed as “Development of Academic Exchange Programs among Universities in the Philippines and Turkey,” the socialmedia post revealed.

“The project aims to foster academic-exchange programs with disciplines related to fisheries and marine sciences, capacitate faculty-

researchers, and push for collaborative research projects including joint, dual, or by-research degree programs between SPAMAST and the Turkish universities,” the university imparted.

Dr. Lucero signed the MOU together with Prof. Dr. Necdet Ünüvar, rector of Ankara University, and was witnessed by Turkish Council of Higher Education Vice President Dr. Haldun Goktaş, and the Philippines’s ambassador to Turkey Maria Elena P. Algabre. Prof. Michelle M. Elemino, SPAMAST director for International Affairs and Linkages, was also present.

BatStateU tops 2022 customs brokers licensure examination

BATANGAS State University (BatStateU), the “national engineering university,” has once again proven its academic excellence as it emerged as the top performing school in this year’s recently concluded Customs Brokers Licensure Examination.

As released by the Professional Regulation Commission

in November, BatStateU had an 82.86-percent passing rate, surpassing the 46.46 percent national average.

Out of 1,879 examinees nationwide, BatStateU graduate John Ro Aaron H. Ramos emerged on top, as he notched a passing rate of 91.50 percent. Three other BatStateU grads also aced the exam:

Christine Veronica G. Calingasan with 91-percent rating emerged at second spot, while Ma. Fatima A. Carag with 89 percent and Arvin I. Faigmani with 88.50-percent outputs claimed the seventh and ninth spots, respectively.

In all, BatStateU has successfully enlisted 58 new licensed customs brokers, which it considers

another remarkable feat not only for the College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality ManagementPablo Borbon Campus, but for the whole BatStateU community, as the university “remains steadfast in its adherence to produce world-class leaders in the global knowledge economy.”

IN its recent tracer study, pioneer school for software engineering

iACADEMY revealed that 98 percent of its graduates in the School of Computing have found jobs pertinent to their programs within a year after graduation.

Data presented by the Philippine Software Industry Association stated that by 2025, there will be 149 million new jobs in the computing industry globally, where 98 million are for software development.

In 2022 the demand for computing professionals in the Philippines is projected at 176,000, while graduates for the same year is only at 88,000.

Apart from global digitization rapidly creating opportunities in the digital arena, the 50-percent deficit means that students in the computing field are ensured career opportunities both in the local and global industry now and in the coming years.

“It’s very important for us that we concentrate on employment. We want our students to be gainfully employed,” shared Mitch Andaya, dean of the School of Computing. “Part of our mission to produce ‘game-changers…’ we [train] our students to be excellent in their chosen fields so that when they become key players in the industry, they are armed with the right education to truly change the game.”

Committed to bridging the gap between the graduates and the actual needs of the industry, iACADEMY has also ramped up efforts in enhancing the School of Computing’s curriculum to ensure graduates are industry-ready prior to graduation.

Embedded in the domain-specific subjects in the programs for computing

such as Software Engineering, Game Development, and Web Development are additional 500 hours of specialized training, on top of the Commission on Higher Education’s requirements. The School of Computing also constantly consults with various tech skills and trends reports like Mercer and Mettl to stay updated with the emerging demands of the industry.

The school has also partnered with industry experts such as UNITY, Linux, IBM, Python, ASUS, and many other tech giants to harness exclusive internship and career opportunities for students and empower the academe through provision of valuable insights and updates on recent innovations in tech, certifications, on-campus recruitments, plus personal and professional developmentfocused events.

“It is iACADEMY’s vision to develop game-changers who will create a positive impact in our society and contribute to the development of the country, region, and even the world,” says Cecilia Sy, vice president for Academic Affairs. “By fostering and strengthening our collaboration with industry-partners and organizations, iACADEMY is able to provide relevant and transformative education that is responsive to the developments and changes in the industry.”

For School Year 2023-24, iACADEMY offers Software Engineering, Web Development and Game Development for College in the School of Computing. The full list of specialized programs for senior high school and college are on www.iacademy.edu.ph. For applications, inquire via admissions@iacademy.edu.ph.

EDUCATION technology (edutech) company KodeGo of Globe’s 917Ventures and User Experience Philippines (UXPH) design community have teamed up for a first-of-its-kind UX design curriculum to equip students with essential skills to succeed in the industry.

With the proprietary UX curriculum, students can learn fundamentals of user-experience design through KodeGo’s short-term, fully online tech boot camps. The course is open to undergraduates, college graduates, and even career shifters for zero upfront fees.

“KodeGo’s core mission has always been to make Filipino lives better by democratizing education and providing rewarding employment opportunities,” said Fam Alonto of 917Ventures. “We believe that our partnership with UXPH brings us one step closer to our goal of making quality education more accessible to Filipinos.”

KodeGo bridges the gap between job seekers and the global demand for tech talent. Aspiring information-technology professionals can get hired in as fast as 12 weeks after completing KodeGo’s intensive 12- or 16-week training on UX Design, Full Stack Web Development, or Mobile App Development.

Meanwhile, UXPH leads collaborative technology and design-driven initiatives through events, meetings, and programs while serving as a hub for sharing information and resources. It has over 4,000 local and international members.

“As the largest nonprofit community for UX professionals, students and enthusiasts, UXPH wants to make this vision a reality with the right partner [in] KodeGo,” shared Jordan Aiko Deja of UXPH. “We have developed a curriculum

combining experiences and insights from corporate and startup industries and academia. We believe that this curriculum will help nurture the next generation of design-driven professionals who will all work together for a better country.”

In KodeGo’s UX Design course, students are introduced to the basics of UX and the human-centered design process. They also undergo the core modules which include topics like visual design, prototyping and evaluation.

At the end of the course students can already produce a complete design product and an extensive personal portfolio. They will also have the capacity to take on leadership roles.

“UXPH and KodeGo share the vision of making UX education as accessible as possible toward a design-mature society,” said Ely Apao, UXPH founder. “We look forward to seeing more competent professionals who have been trained with the right mindset and equipped with the needed skills to build the next generation of experiences and digital products.”

“At KodeGo, we strive to make an impact in the tech and education sectors and redefine the ways Filipinos can achieve professional success,” said Cristina Gervasio of the edtech firm.

“With our collaboration with UXPH, we can amplify our capacity to uplift lives with in-demand education and produce a new breed of tech and design-empowered Filipinos.”

Aside from tech courses, KodeGo provides career assistance to its graduates by connecting them with over 150 company-partners in various industries, including Asticom, Accenture and Xurpas. Learn more about KodeGo’s boot camps by visiting https://kodego.ph/.

LOCAL CHIEF EXEC MEETS MATH WHIZ Mayor Jerry Treñas (left) welcomes Grade-8 student Gihun Ng Yoo of St. Joseph School Iloilo Inc., who brought honor to Iloilo City and the Philippines by topping the Asian Science and Mathematics Olympiad for Primary and Secondary Schools in Bangli Regency, Bali, Indonesia. Yoo was a member of the 14-man Philippine team; two competed in the Primary Science tilt, six in Primary Math, two in Secondary Math, and four in Secondary Science.

KodeGo, UXPH tie up for breakthrough user-experience design curriculum

ABOITIZ Group President and CEO Sabin Aboitiz (right) at the unveiling of the Aboitiz Tech Space

THE Asian Institute of Management (AIM) recently unveiled the Aboitiz Tech Space, the first and largest “smart” audiovisual caseroom of the school.

La DoLce Vita at Santiago coVe

Travel , food, and lifestyle bloggers recently made the seven-hour journey to cover the opening of the new annex and experienced the Santorini-like lifestyle at Santiago Cove Hotel & restaurant in Northern Ilocos Sur.

From our assembly areas in SM MOA and Welcome Rotonda in Manila, we breezed through a night-long trip, to the resort.  Upon arrival, we were mesmerized by its almost kilometer-long namesake, dubbed, by many, as the “Boracay of Ilocos Sur.”

We arrived just in time for a breakfast of silog dishes (corned beef, Vigan longanisa, Hungarian sausage, beef tapa, spam, daing na bangus/espada/danggit, etc.) and coffee at its indoor Tiny Wave Restaurant. They also offer champorado, French Toast, pancakes, waffles, and sandwiches plus an egg station. After breakfast, we checked in at some of their 50 Minimalist-style, blue-and-white accented rooms (25-sq-m De Luxe, 28-sq-m Premium De Luxe, 30sq-m Junior Suite and 36-sq-m Family Suite), each equipped with air conditioning, a flat-screen cable TV, work desk/ dresser and ensuite bathroom. Free Wi-fi

is offered in all areas. From the corridor, we have a bird’s eye view of its free-form, 5-ft. deep outdoor swimming pool.

Later, a lunch of grilled chicken, pork and seafood was also served. Part of our visit involved experiencing the educational tours around Santiago and nearby towns the hotel offers. After lunch, we visited some of the town’s must-see tourist attractions such as observing the weaving of colorful abel, the traditional woven product of the Ilocos Region, from handlooms at the nearby factory of Corazon Agosto.

We next had a merienda of halo-halo and Ilocano empanada, with Mark Christian “MC” Urbano and Lorraine “Lauren” Garingo of Kuys Acoustic performing live, at the hotel-affiliated Rodrigo’s Restaurant before proceeding to watch the offloading of a 40-kilo tuna catch along the beach. Our last destination was Mapisi (from the Ilocano word meaning “to cut”) Rock, a naturally-cut rock formation. Then we went back to the hotel to attend the ribbon-cutting of the hotel’s new annex followed by the 66th birthday celebration of town Vice Mayor Josefino “Boy” Miranda.

The next day, after a buffet breakfast at Tiny Wave Restaurant, our educational

tour took us to the nearby town of San Esteban to visit the ruins of Bateria (Spanish for “battery”), a turreted and circular Spanish-era watchtower renovated in 2016 by the National Historical Commission.

From here, a short 7 km. (10 minutes) drive brought us to the next town of Santa Maria. Climbing an 85-step, a four-flight grand stairway led us to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, a National Landmark and chosen as a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1994.

From the church, we again boarded our coaster for the short, 45-min. (38 km.) drive to Vigan City, the provincial capital, where we got to buy bagnet (deep-fried, crispy pork belly, P550/kilo), longanisa (pork sausage, P130/pack), bibingka (rice cake from Tongson Royal Bibingka) and garlic. Walking around the city, damage from the July 27, 2022, magnitude 7.3 earthquake can still be seen at the Salcedo Park and Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Peter & St. Paul (currently closed). On the return trip to Santiago, we made a short stopover at the church of St. Stephen Protomartyr at San Esteban.

Upon arrival at Santiago, we had lunch at Royal Blood Lechon & Eatery.  Here, we dined on roasted pork lechon stuffed,

Ilocano-style, with cactus-like, oblongshaped karimbuaya leaves (scientific name: Euphorbia neriifolia linn) which gave the needed acidity to the dish that removed the foul smell pigs normally have. It was served with pork blood sauce. For an appetizer, we had dinakdakan, an Ilocano dish made with boiled and grilled pig parts. After lunch, we proceeded to Brgy. Caburao and observed a blacksmith working on knives, cleavers, and garden tools. Prior to returning to the hotel, we visited the nearby Trade Center to check out their abel products. Upon our return, we barely caught our breath as we proceeded to the beachfront bar where another treat awaited us offshore—a relaxing sunset cruise.

This wasn’t just the highlight of our day as come evening, we were invited to have dinner at Rubra Bar located at the roof deck of the just inaugurated hotel annex. Here, we got to sample a special fish-themed dinner set prepared for us by the young and dynamic Chef Chester Delos Reyes Velas: Boat Snacks (smoked Poblacion escargot, Ambucao sea urchin cream, Bantay ipon tartare), Float (Nabang River balingasang, scallops, bamboo shoot, bacon), Bai (San Jose river shrimps, Sinker

On our third and last day, some of us crossed over to nearby Sabangan Beach where, after donning life vests, we got to try out a bevy of marine sports offered by the hotel—kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, banana boating, and jet skiing.

Prior to our afternoon departure to Manila, Chef Chester again regaled us with a cornucopia of great dishes for our lunch at Tiny Wave Outdoor Pool Restaurant: Asian port spring roll, Gojuchang chicken wings, salt and pepper pork riblets, crispy calamari, Nori cheese sticks and pork sisig for appetizers; and Korean fried chicken, chili shrimp, Asian salmon fillet, grilled lemongrass pork chop and braised beef shank for our main course; complemented by dragon fruit shake and a dessert of ube cheesecake. Now that’s three days of la dolce vita!

2GO express widens delivery coverage for the holidays

2GO Express, the courier solutions provider of 2GO Group Inc., is geared up to deliver to more areas across the Philippines for the Christmas holiday rush and beyond.

With the boom in e-commerce, 2GO Express serves 95 percent of the country’s online population nationwide, and is looking forward to widen its coverage in support of social sellers, which increased exponentially during the pandemic.

“The Philippines is a very strong market for e-commerce, and that includes your MSMEs [micro, small, and medium enterprises]. Everyone would gravitate towards the larger platforms, but we are also seeing a growing number of social sellers and mono brands, and they’re localized,” says 2GO Express Senior Corporate Sales Manager for E-Commerce Honeylyn Sanchez.

“We have seen micro-enterprises like social sellers continuously growing in the Philippines for the past two years, and we intend to ride on that wave. Social sellers make an impact on retail businesses online,” she added.

2GO Express currently services more than 33,000 or over 75 percent of all barangays nationwide and is looking to grow this through key investments, which includes more omnichannel solutions to be rolled out for shippers, and their customers and consignees.

“We have been growing our service coverage and reliability, especially in the provinces, by setting up more hubs to speed up deliveries, as well as adding close to 1,000 drop-off locations—a hybrid of owned and third-party outlets—so that customers have more touch points,” notes 2GO Express AVP for Product Development Xervin Maulanin.

2GO Express is one of the country’s few

last-mile companies to utilize an automated sorting machine to makes deliveries more efficient through an enhanced data capture system by segregating parcels down to the barangay level.

To even liven up the holidays, the firm recently launched its “Pasko, Delivery, Panalo” raffle promo where customers can go to a participating outlet to book a delivery.

Each transaction entitles customers to a raffle entry for a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7, Samsung Galaxy A03 Smartphone, or a Sail and Stay package to Cebu and Boracay from 2GO Travel, or an SM Gift Pass worth P5,000. Promo runs until January 24, 2023.

Moreover, those booking deliveries in 2GO outlets at SM Mall of Asia, SM Manila, and SM Fairview can have their gift items wrapped free for every transaction made until January 5, 2023.

(Ambucao tanigue and tanigue, cassava okra seeds, dragon fruit), Catch & Release (Gabao dorado, kardis, broad beans, katuday), Hook (Ambucao tuna bladder, 8-hr. roast beef, truffle polenta) and Sweet Cruise (cornick panna cotta, seaweed brownies, smoked buko) for dessert. The food, drinks, laughter, and entertainment continued all through the night and into the early morning.

Story & photos by Benjamin Locsin Layug

Abel Weaving is an important cottage industry in Santiago.

It’S

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‘All Of Us Are Dead’ most searched Korean drama on Google in 2022

BRINGING WONDER TO EACH DAY WITH REWARDS THIS CHRISTMAS

GLOBE At Home GFiber is bringing wonderful Christmas rewards to customers this year as it aims to further enrich the lives of every Filipino at home.

“We want to make both our existing and new subscribers happy by showcasing the amazing rewards offers they can enjoy. We want this season to become memorable as the whole family enjoys fast and reliable fiber connectivity that GFiber provides,” said Janis L. Racpan, head of Globe At Home brand management.

Here are rewarding offers for existing Globe At Home subscribers: Xiaomi Shopping Vouchers with Globe Rewards Points, IKEA Gift Cards for every successful installation of a GFiber Unli Plan, and Xiaomi vouchers for every successful installation of a GFiber Unli Plan.

“Globe At Home is your partner in discovering the best holiday gifts this year that will help uplift your digital lifestyle even more. Renowned for its reliable and fast fiber technology, it is only fitting that GFiber is partnering with Xiaomi and IKEA, two of the best in providing an elevated experience at home with the aim to bring wonder to each day of our Filipino customers,” said Racpan.

Globe At Home GFiber Unli Plan is the preferred fiber Internet connection brand of the Filipino family, offering a range of affordable high-speed plans that best fit one’s budget and the growing online needs of each member. More information is available at glbe.co/GFiber.

LAST week, Google revealed the Year in Search 2022, a compilation of lists including trends, news, personalities, shows, and more that Filipinos searched for the year.

Of course, one of the lists was the Korean series that Filipinos searched for on Google in 2022.

Topping the list is Korean Netflix Original All Of Us Are Dead, which stars Park Solomon, Yoon Chanyoung, and Park Ji-hoo. The drama, an adaptation from the webtoon Now at Our School, revolves around a high school which becomes infested with zombies. If you’ve been watching Korean dramas for a while, you’d know that Yoon Chan-young was a child actor who has appeared in Mama, Dr. Romantic and many other shows. For Mama, he was named Best Child Actor in the 2014 MBC Drama Awards.

I can understand why All Of Us Are Dead became such a hit. It’s the perfect combination of drama, fastpaced action, and even social commentary. It also shows the extent to which someone will exact revenge on a person who has wronged their family member. Of course, many girls watched this show because of Park Solomon. The second season of this show is already in the works.

In second place is Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which is about a woman with autism (Park Eun-bin) and her struggles and triumphs as she navigates through her dream of becoming an attorney.

This series puts the spotlight on Kang Ki-young, who has appeared on many hit series, like What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, Weightlifting Fairy and Queen for Seven Days. I’m glad that people are now recognizing him for his talent and good looks.

Other Extraordinary Attorney Woo cast standouts are Ha Yoon-kyung, who plays Attorney Woo’s supportive colleague and former schoolmate; Kang Tae-oh, an idol who is the lead character’s love interest; and Joo Jong-hyuk, the ambitious villain whose heart turns out to be in the right place.

This 16-episode drama is very close to my heart because a close family member has autism. Park Eunbin’s acting is really commendable. I am sure that she studied well before taking on the role.

In third is the romantic comedy Business Proposal starring Ahn Hyo-seop and Kim Se-jeong, who I really adore because she is talented and seems so good-natured. The chemistry of the two leading stars is undeniably good and the second leads Seo In-ah and Kim Min-kyu gave viewers some sizzling moments (sizzling by Korean drama standards).

What I liked about Business Proposal is that Shin Hari, Kim Se-jeong’s character, is not a delicate flower. She tried to be and is an independent woman. She is also good daughter and a hardworking employee. In general, Ha-ri tries to be a kind person and make everyone around her smile.

In fourth place is Alchemy of Souls, which now has its second season showing on Netflix. I didn’t finish this and only got to the second episode. This drama stars Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min, and Minhyun. It’s the story of an elite warrior trapped in a mortal’s body.

In fifth place is Twenty-Five Twenty-One starring Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Tae-ri. This is the drama that broke my heart. I can imagine so many hearts were broken, too. Spoiler ahead: This has a bittersweet ending. You can see it coming but you still hope for the happy (romantic) ending that isn’t handed to you. The drama is beautiful though and definitely worth watching.

Lee Jong-suk returned to the drama arena with Big Mouth, which is not his usual romantic comedy. I always enjoy Lee Jong-suk’s dramas because he’s such a good actor. Here, his costar is Girls

Generation’s Lim Yoon-A. In Big Mouth, which lands in sixth place, Lee Jong-suk plays the part of a lawyer who gets caught up in a murder case that threatens his family. The ending of Big Mouth will shock you and leave you thinking.

In seventh place is Our Beloved Summer, which stars Choi Woo-shik and Kim Dam-i. The story switches from past to present and is about ex-lovers who broke up with a promise to never meet. again. Of course, they meet again and their feelings for each other are still complicated. This drama is very Gen Z.

Rounding up eighth, ninth and tenth places are Money Heist: Korea-Joint Economic Era, Shooting Stars and Happiness, which stars Park Hyung-sik, who is one of my favorite Korean actors.

Online content consumption—especially streaming—is the third biggest digital activity of Filipinos after e-commerce and food delivery, according to the latest e-Conomy SEA Report.

The study showed that 58 percent of Filipinos

regularly watch video-on-demand shows and movies.  The six major economies covered in the Google, Temasek and Bain & Company report are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“After years of acceleration, digital adoption growth is normalizing,” said the report.

Southeast Asia continues to see growth in the number of Internet users—with 20 million new users added in 2022, raising the total number of users to 460 million. However, that growth is starting to slow, and was just 4 percent in 2022 compared to a year ago.

A 10 percent year-on-year increase was seen in 2021 and an 11 percent growth was recorded in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

E-commerce continues to drive the growth in the region despite the resumption of offline shopping as pandemic lockdowns lifted. Gross merchandise value (GMV) in the sector grew 16 percent to $131 billion in 2022. ■

Startup accelerator launches $10m fund for Filipino Web3 startups

THE country’s first and only accelerator focused on Web3 ventures is backed by the leading and homegrown crypto exchange, Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX).

Archipelago Labs (A-Labs, www.archipelagolabs.xyz), a startup accelerator, has been officially launched to invest and accelerate the growth of the most promising startups and talents in the Philippines’s Web3 ecosystem.

Backed by reputable partners from the PDAX, Oak Drive Ventures Inc., and Magellan Digital Investment Group with a fund size of $10 million, A-Labs boasts a strong network of mentors, experts and capital partners who will support the startups in growing their ventures.

The program aims to back startups and founders at the grassroots level through investment funding, advisory and structured programs such as hackathons, incubation and accelerator programs targeting specific verticals and stages of development and growth.

A-Labs focuses on deploying capital in early-stage startups that address the gaps in the industry through sustainable business models and sound token economics. It is led by founders that have a good track record in technology, crypto and business, with sectors focused on the intersection of Web2 and Web3, consumer applications, infrastructure, tools, DeFi and the Metaverse.

“This marks the start of our journey in equipping founders, startups and builders with the support and tools they will need to create meaningful and impactful products, infrastructure and services. Doing these provides value from the ideation to the growth stages of each startup and will, in return, create a better ecosystem for Web3 here in the Philippines,” Archipelago Labs executive director Lance Pormarejo said during a briefing in Makati City on Thursday.

Founded in 2022, A-Labs is made up of three founders and three principals who have already made significant contributions to the startup and Web3 arena.

“We believe that with a credible support system, startups can have a higher chance of success navigating and traversing the archipelago. Through A-Labs, we aim to create better digital experiences through web3 technologies for every Filipino,” Pormarejo said.

Have Big Sky Nation, travel or work anywhere worldwide

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor

MINDFUL that people who are always on the go, whether for work, leisure or both, need a fast and dependable Internet connection, Big Sky Nation, the No. 1 travel Wi-Fi provider and trusted by top brands and corporations in the Philippines, is all geared to cater to customers who will avail its services.

Providing convenient and affordable connectivity elsewhere in the world, it is an authorized partner of SkyRoam, a clear and accessible global Wi-Fi provider that offers a lightning-fast Internet connection for travelers.

Serving different parts of Asia, the Americas, Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Big Sky Nation is all set up to give unlimited global data with an all-day battery life that lets users connect

up to five gadgets. Available via home delivery or personal pick-up through its booth at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, it provides an unwavering global connection for as low as P250 a day for its travel saver package, up to P790 per day for its travel premium package.

For busy travelers, it got them covered for last-minute bookings with its option of same-day delivery. With Big Sky Nation packages, subscribers going around Asia can enjoy strong connectivity through 4G LTE connection with a daily limit of 150MB for as low as P150 to P390 per day, 350MB for P250 to P490, 500MB for P350 to P590, 1GB for P390 to P690, and Unlimited 4G LTE for P590 to P790.

Those visiting countries in the Oceania such as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Guam and Christmas Island, can have 4G LTE connection with a limit per day of 150MB for only P250 to P390, 350MB for P350

to P490, 500MB for P450 to P590, 1GB for P550 to P690, and Unlimited 4G LTE for P590 to P790.

Meanwhile, travelers in the Americas, including Canada and Europe, can get 4G LTE connection with a limit everyday of 150MB for P250 daily rate, 350MB for P350, 500MB for P450, 1GB for P550, and Unlimited 4G LTE for P590.

Africa and Middle East visitors can enjoy 4G LTE connection with 150MB daily limit for P390, 350MB for P490, 500MB for P590, 1GB for P690, and Unlimited 4G LTE for P790.

Other than these affordable rates, customers can also avail of the 25 percent discount promo when they book Big Sky Nation Wi-Fi rental on their next travel. They just need to log on to www.bigskynation com and use the coupon code UNLITRAVEL.

More information is available via info@ bigskynation.com, 0917-7132855 or 0918-9647626.

Entry of foreign operators to offer more affordable Internet service to PHL

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

The gi�ts of Christmas: Five gi�t rule

infrastructure

A NETWORK infrastructure provider recently said the entry of foreign operators will ensure a competitive landscape that could offer more affordable Internet service for consumers, while supporting a growing demand for remote working and learning which are expected to stay here for the long term.

“Bridging the digital divide calls for more investments to ensure equal access to technology by bringing connectivity to rural areas, upgrading digital infrastructure, and reviewing policy frameworks to make it favorable for private sector investment in infrastructure. The entry of foreign operators will ensure a competitive landscape, thus offering more affordable Internet service for consumers while supporting a growing demand for remote working and learning that are here to stay for the long term,” said Jose Antonio Reyes, managing director, service provider, Philippines, of CommScope, a subsidiary of Hickory, North Carolinabased company.

He said the digitalization efforts of the government would not be successful if there are not enough providers that would the enhance the capabilities of the country. “However, with few network providers in the country, consumers are faced with common challenges such as lower speed and weaker connection when it comes to Internet access,”  Reyes said.

He said the cost of Internet services in the Philippines is also one of the most expensive in the region, with a 500-megabyte Internet service costing $6.3 per month, the fourth highest in the region after the likes of Singapore and Malaysia. Furthermore, the recent Google, Temasek and Bain e-Conomy SEA 2022 report unveiled that the key to unlocking the economic potential and social impact of the Philippines’s digital economy (which is expected to see sustained growth upwards of $15 billion by 2025) lies in driving greater digital inclusion of users in suburban areas.

Although 12 million Filipinos have become new digital consumers since the start of the pandemic, Reyes said there exists a huge noticeable digital divide in the Philippines between urban and suburban areas despite the accelerated digital growth over the past years, with a significantly lower number of consumers in suburban areas (20 percent to 30 percent) adopting Internet services compared to those living in urban areas (more than 90 percent).

Reyes said these challenges will require a deeper review of telecommunication regulatory frameworks to advance greater public-private collaboration in digital infrastructure investments and expand the deployment of shared resources that drive cost efficiencies, digital skills, and boost Internet access, especially in the rural areas.

For example, Reyes pointed out that one of the reasons why effort to roll out faster Internet services is being hampered is due to the number of permits per site required by an operator before deployment can happen. “But now, through publicprivate partnerships [PPP], a local government unit [LGU] can be made a partner in the process, thus eliminating time to deploy challenges.”

“These partnerships will not only enable a faster deployment of mobility and Internet services, but it will also ensure dedicated bandwidth and digital infrastructure resources provided to local schools, health-care facilities and government services.

With robust infrastructure forming the bedrock of improved Internet access, CommScope has teamed up with local service provider, Converge ICT, in fiber rollouts to expand network coverage in urban and rural areas, connecting the unserved and underserved communities in the Philippines,” he said.

HAVE you ever heard of the “Five Gift Rule?”

I read about it recently and it’s meant to help simplify your gift-shopping decisions and avoid spending too much on presents just to fill that space under the tree. The five-gift rule involves limiting your gift-giving to one for each of the following categories: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

But the fifth is the real winner. It’s the one big surprise that lets them know not only how special they are, but also how well you know them. Think of it as something that just blows them away, and maybe even gets them teary-eyed.

It could be something they really need or want, but don’t really know or don’t want to buy for themselves.

It could be an experience they’ve always wanted to try, maybe a concert ticket, a vacation, or an activity they can’t stop talking about. In our case, it can be a device they need for school, work, or something to help them enjoy their hobby.

This is the gift that gives us the chance to really prove how well we know the person and let them appreciate their passions. Instead of buying something for the sake of having a gift, we give them something they’ll really enjoy and use.

With Christmas just a few days away, our annual gift guide series will feature some of our favorite gadgets of the year that would fit all of those five gift categories.

Something they want and something they need: Think about the thing they’ve been hinting at recently. What is something they’ve been wanting for a while now, or something you feel they need?

With everything going back to the frantic normal, next year could become an even more challenging year, so getting them a new device for work/study might be among their top wants/needs.

After my MacBook suddenly went blank on me, I switched back to windows and one of the laptops I had fun using was the realme Book. realme has been the consistent No. 1 smartphone brand for almost two years now and the realme book is their first foray into the laptop market. It’s a tough market with so many established brands, but the realme book steals the spotlight with the same formula it used to dominate the smartphone market—great features at a more affordable price.

The inspiration for its design is undeniably the MacBook, which isn’t a bad thing as the sleek and stylish minimalist design makes you feel like you’re owning a more premium laptop. And the Real Blue color finish easily stands out from all the gray/silver and black notebooks.

This 14-inch laptop has a sleek aluminum alloy

body with a matte finish. It measures just 14.9mm in width and weighs 1.38 kg, but what makes it really portable is that its charging brick is just slightly bigger than your phone charger. It also uses the same USB-C cable so you won’t have to carry another cable charger for your smartphone when traveling.

While other brands have the standard full HD display, the realme Book takes it up a notch with its 2K Ultra-HD screen with 2160 x 1440 pixel resolution that delivers stellar image quality with sharp detail. It’s A OLED—Almost OLED goodness.

For a laptop this slim, I was quite surprised that the sound coming from its down-firing Harman speakers is considerably loud with great sound quality.

What also sets it apart from other laptops is its 3:2 aspect ratio, giving you more vertical room compared to most laptops that are either 16:10 or 16:9. This feature is an advantage when it comes to productivity, especially for those who usually work on documents, spreadsheets or social-media content for work.

Realme also included a couple of features not usually seen in this price segment. One is a backlit keyboard and the other is a fingerprint-sensor embedded power button.

The realme Book is capable of handling the usual tasks of most average users as it is powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core processor. It is paired with an Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 8GB DDR4 memory and 512GB PCIe SSD storage.

Aside from editing all sorts of documents, browsing the web for research, and creating socialmedia content, I sometimes do photo and short video editing, and the power combo under this laptop’s hood can handle those tasks smoothly. For casual gamers, I’m sure the realme Book can handle your favorite games as well with the right settings.

The realme Book’s 54 Wh battery can last up to 9 hours and once you need to recharge, the 65W fast charger can get you up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.

Now for artists or those working in the design or creative industry, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 is another great gift suggestion.

I have to say the Galaxy Tab S8 is the best one I’ve tried this year—especially because of the SPen. It delivers a truly flagship tablet experience and is probably the best tablet that isn’t an iPad.

The Galaxy Tab S8 flaunts a slim metallic slate that looks every bit as premium. It weighs a mere 1.1 pounds and measures 10 x 6.5 x 0.25 inches.

The 11-inch display is ideal for mobile work as it’s just the right screen size and the Galaxy Tab S8 has a 2560 x 1600 120Hz panel that is bright and vivid. This wonderful display is paired with a set of loud Dolby Atmos stereo speakers easily making it my streaming device of choice.

Like every flagship Android device of 2022, the Galaxy Tab S8 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. It also has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage making it capable of handling just about everything— apps, games, photo, video editing—and ran smoothly without any noticeable slowdown even during heavy

workloads. If you are looking for a tablet for watching videos, taking notes, surfing the web and some light productivity work, the Galaxy Tab S8 is an excellent choice that will not disappoint. The only downside is that this premium experience does come with a premium price tag as well.

I don’t think anybody will say no to a smartphone gift, and the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G is an excellent all-around smartphone that brings “awesome back” to this flagship of the A Series.

I did a video review on it on my YouTube channel EdFlix and true to the promise of the A series, it does deliver an awesome screen, awesome camera and a long lasting battery life.

The Galaxy A73 5G features a big 6.7-inch screen with a better and faster 120Hz, Super AMOLED Plus display and a pair of good-sounding speakers making it a great entertainment device.

For aspiring content creators, the Galaxy a73 has a quad camera setup headlined by a whopping 108MP camera, a 12MP ultra wide + 5MP depth sensor and + 5MP macro camera. While others brands have actually lowered their MP count, Samsung actually bumped up the cameras of the Galaxy A73 making it the first Galaxy A-series phone to ship with a 108MP primary camera.

Besides the usual, it also includes a “fun” mode that lets you play with Snapchat filters, while the unique single take mode uses AI to take multiple videos and photos in just one click.

The A73 has a Snapdragon 778 processor and 8GB of RAM, but get this, you can further boost it further to another 8GB using virtual RAM. This isn’t something new, but unlike other smartphones that add 2GB, 4GB or maybe 6GB, Samsung ramps it up to 8GB. Even without the boost, however, the Galaxy A73 handles everything well, in terms of day-to-day use or launching applications, doing social media and all that. Everything runs very, very smoothly.

The Galaxy A73 has the common 5,000 mAh battery which should easily last you a day of moderate usage. It offers 25W fast charge support; unfortunately since it doesn’t ship with one, good luck finding one that could maximize its charging speed. Overall, if your loved one is a Samsung user, you can’t go wrong by gifting them with this upgrade.

In the next part of this series, we’ll feature something to wear and something to read: Oppo’s best TWS earbuds and the OPPO Band 2. ■

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

SAMSUNG

SAMSUNG

‘Covid Zero’ exit prompts analysts to adjust China growth projections

UBS Group AG and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. were the latest to adjust forecasts on Friday, cutting estimates for this year to 2.7 percent as Covid infections spread rapidly.

Predictions for next year were raised sharply to close to 5 percent or higher, on the expectation that consumer and business activity will recover as Covid infections subside.

Latest economic data show China’s economy weakened more than expected in November before the government abruptly dropped its “Covid Zero” policy.

A rebound in economic activity since the shift is proving to be

short-lived, as infections spread in major cities and residents choose to avoid going out.

UBS now sees gross domestic product growing 2.7 percent this year, down from 3.1 percent previously. Growth will likely rebound to 4.9 percent in 2023, up from a previous projection of 4.5 percent, UBS economists led by Wang Tao wrote in a note Friday. ANZ cut its prediction for this year to 2.7 percent from 3 percent, having already raised next year’s estimate to 5.4 percent in November.

“People may be very cautious in their offline activities and voluntarily reduce their outings

and gatherings,” UBS economists said. “We expect economic activities to gradually recover from early 2023 as the first big wave of Covid infection passes.”

Other major banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have also adjusted their growth expectations for this year and next given China’s abrupt shift in Covid policy. The consensus estimate in a Bloomberg survey is for the economy to

expand 4.8 percent next year from 3.2 percent this year.

China’s top leaders are expected to conclude an annual economic policy meeting soon, which will offer clues on the government’s stance on growth and stimulus next year. Senior officials are debating a GDP growth target for next year of around 5 percent, according to people familiar with the discussions. Bloomberg News

WORLD coal consumption is set to rise to the highest level ever this year despite ambitious global goals aimed at weaning nations off burning the dirty fossil fuel.

Coal usage looks likely to increase by 1.2 percent in 2022, surpassing 8 billion tons in a single year for the first time, according

to an International Energy Agency report published Friday. It also said consumption will likely remain at that level until 2025, as declines in advanced economies are offset by demand in emerging Asian markets, such as China and India.

Europe’s heavy reliance on coal this year is largely driven by Russia’s curtailment of gas supplies to

the continent, forcing it to draw on other energy sources. It’s at a time when European leaders are also attempting to shift toward renewables to secure a clean source of power going forward.

The analysis “underlines the urgent need to massively scale up renewable power and energy efficiency so that we cut people’s

bills, secure our energy supplies, and keep essential climate targets intact,” Alexandru Mustața, a campaigner at Europe Beyond Coal said. “Importantly, no European country has revised its plans to phase out coal completely by 2030, and Europe is still on track to be coal free by the end of the decade.” Bloomberg News

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

ISTANBUL—Hatice Erdal has been given a week to vacate her rental house that is due to be knocked down. The cleaner and her husband both earn minimum wage, and even with their combined salaries, they cannot find anything within their budget in Istanbul’s exorbitant housing market.

“I found a house, it was 12,000 lira [$645], another one was 10,000 lira [$537]. I can’t pay that.... What will I eat and drink?”

Erdal said of monthly rents. “If the weather was warm, I’d live in a tent, but I can’t do that either. I don’t know what I will do.”

Economic turmoil driven by eye-watering inflation of nearly 85 percent has plunged Turkey into one of its worst property crises. Skyrocketing prices have made finding affordable housing to rent or buy an uphill battle for many, especially for millions of people earning a monthly minimum wage of 5,500 lira ($295), who also struggle to cover costs for food, energy and other expenses.

While increasing construction costs and inflation have pushed up housing prices globally, Turkey’s property crisis has been exacerbated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox policy of lowering interest rates despite high inflation—the opposite of traditional economic thinking. That has pushed many to invest in property to preserve their savings against rising inflation.

With housing in short supply, prices have soared.

People have opted to buy real estate instead of keeping savings in low-interest bank accounts.

Turkey’s central bank has slashed interest rates to 9 percent despite inflation that independent economists say reached 170.7 percent in November. Erdogan believes high borrowing costs lead to higher prices, whereas most economists say raising rates is the traditional antidote to inflation.

Foreign buyers also have inundated the Turkish property market, lured by the Turkish lira having lost some 28 percent of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of the year—on top of taking an even worse battering in 2021.

They also have the chance of acquiring Turkish citizenship through real estate purchases.

Home sales to foreigners increased by 20.4 percent between January and November, compared to the same period last year, according to the State Statistical Institute. A majority of the buyers were Russian citizens, followed by Iranians, Iraqis and Ukrainians.

The crunch pushed up the Turkish Housing Price Index by nearly 190 percent in September compared to the previous year, according to central bank figures. The yearly rise was a staggering 212 percent in Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city.

Inflation and rising housing prices also have led to unprecedented increases in rent.

“It’s the first time we are experiencing such a thing, that we are seeing prices rise so much,” real estate agent Kenan Altinay said. “Each year, we’d see difference of 20 percent or 25 percent, but this year, it has reached 200 percent.”

In a bid to keep prices in check, the government has imposed a 25 percent cap on rent increases, but few landlords adhere to the rule as they try to keep their earnings on par with inflation.

OIL headed for the biggest weekly gain since early October on signs of tightening supply and the prospect for improved Chinese demand, despite downward pressure from interest-rate hikes.

While West Texas Intermediate fell below $76 a barrel on Friday, futures are up about 7 percent for the week. There are signs that Russian flows to Asia are dipping because of the price cap, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week that oil prices could rally next year as sanctions squeeze the nation’s supply.

China’s rapid dismantling of its Covid Zero policy has prompted optimism over the long-term outlook for demand, although the near-term outlook is uncertain as virus cases surge. Consumption may recover as early as the second quarter of next year, according to Vitol Group’s Asia Head Mike Muller.

“Supply tightness took precedence over demand concerns,” said Ravindra Rao, head of commodities research at Kotak Securities Ltd. in Mumbai. “Additionally, weakness in the US dollar has supported the recovery in prices.”

A Bloomberg gauge of the US dollar is below its 200-day moving average and lower for the week, making commodities priced in the greenback cheaper for overseas buyers.

Oil is set to end the year slightly higher following a volatile period of trading that’s been exacerbated by a persistent lack of liquidity. The market is still facing headwinds, with the European Central Bank echoing a warning from the US for more rate hikes, raising concerns of an economic slowdown.

Bloomberg News

NEW YORK—The freewheeling holiday shopper of 2021, happy to spend money to relieve some pent-up pandemic demand, has given way to a more practical consumer this year, many small business owners say.

The reason: inflation.

Stephanie Sala felt last year had a YOLO, or “you only live once,” feel to it. People were splurging— spending $250 on a giant stuffed avocado, for example—at her eight Five Little Monkeys toy stores around the Bay Area in California. This year, the purchases are more low-key: Legos, Pokemon and anything mushroom-related are popular toys.

Sala says Five Little Monkeys probably won’t reach the same level of sales as last December but believes “we’ll still be well ahead of 2019.” That’s crucial for her because the last seven days leading up to Christmas account for 10 percent of annual sales.

In some ways, the bustling holiday shopping season feels like a return to pre-pandemic days: More people are out and about, shopping in groups and buying for themselves as well as gifts for friends and family.

And there’s plenty of merchandise to select from because the supply chain snags that plagued last Christmas have largely subsided.

But small retailers say this year is still far from “normal” because decades-high inflation is forcing them to raise prices and making shoppers rein in the uninhibited spending seen in 2021 when they were flush with pandemic aid or gains from the stock market.

Fifty-seven percent of US adults say it has been harder to afford the things they want to give, a dramatic increase from 40 percent one year ago, according to a poll from The

The season did get off to a relatively strong start. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all types of payments including cash and credit card, said that overall sales on Black Friday rose 12 percent from the year-ago, although that isn’t adjusted for inflation. Sensormatic Solutions, which tracks store traffic, said the number of shoppers was up 2.9 percent on Black Friday compared with a year ago.

“This year is much more ‘ordinary,’ which means pulling out all the stops to make sales goals,” said Nathan Waldon, who owns Nathan & Co., two gift shops in Oakland, California.

Higher costs are having an effect. The wholesale prices for the Paddywax candles Waldon sells have increased 20 percent to 40 percent across the line. He’s charging $34 for candles he sold for $28 a year ago. The price increases “slow the rate of sale and it also cuts into our margins,” he said.

Waldon makes up about onethird of his annual revenue during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He says it will be hard to beat last year’s holiday sales numbers, when shoppers came out in droves early to secure must-have items and splurged due to demand that built up during the pandemic.

“I feel like a little hamster on a treadmill,” he said. “We’re definitely chasing after those numbers.”

Waldon is not alone. According to a survey from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, 52 percent of small businesses say their profitability this holiday season is not meeting expectations compared to last year.

Smaller companies can’t offer the discounts that bigger chains do. Eighty four percent of small businesses said they think bigger retailers have a competitive advan-

tage due to their ability to better withstand inflationary pressures and offer lower prices.

“They feel like they’re being squeezed by higher costs for labor and inventory and the cumulative impact is making it much more difficult to make a profit, despite the fact that 79 percent said they have raised prices compared to last year,” said Joe Wall, National Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices.

Inflation is also a factor in decisions made by shoppers at Society Boutiques shops owned by Tanya Noegel outside of Atlanta and in Columbus, Wisconsin. At her four boutiques, which sell women’s clothing and accessories, she had a record number of holiday shoppers during the Black Friday weekend, including regular customers she hadn’t seen during the pandemic.

But habits have changed as shoppers worry about inflation and the possibility of recession.

“Customers tell us they want to purchase multiple items, as they’ve done in the past, but are purposefully making smaller purchases and looking for discounts and promotions when making those purchases,” Noegel said.

Sweaters, puffer vests and blouses are popular items so far this year. Wholesale apparel prices are up 5 percent and she’s had to increase wages company-wide by almost 30 percent in order to retain and hire staff.

“That to me, as a small business, is a big number,” she said. “My profit margins are down from last year and my payroll costs are much higher.”

Still, she’s happy how things are going so far this holiday season all things considered.

“All in all, we’re very pleased with our numbers this year and we’re expecting good things throughout the rest of the holiday shopping season,” she said. AP

Property lawyer Idil Bora says courts have been overwhelmed with eviction lawsuits due to disputes over rent increases.

“Civil Courts of Peace, which are tasked with dealing with these cases, have such heavy workloads that hearing dates are set for five or 10 months later,” she said.

It has left people like Duygu Ataman Gunay uncertain about what comes next. Gunay, an architect, is worried that her landlord will increase her rent more than she can afford when it’s up for review next month.

“I don’t know what awaits us in January,” she said. “Either our rent will increase by threefold or [the landlord] will put the house up for sale.”

She said the cost of rent, food and clothing has risen by two- or threefold and that white-collar workers like her haven’t received salary increases that keep pace with rising prices.

“Our purchasing power has fallen totally,” Gunay said. AP

AIR raid sirens went off across all Ukrainian regions early Friday as Kremlin forces launched the latest large-scale missile attack.

Among the targets were “crucial infrastructure” in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. Widespread power outages were reported there and in Poltava. Explosions were also heard in at least three districts of Kyiv. A residential building was hit in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with casualties likely, officials said.

The strikes come a day after a top Ukrainian army commander warned there’s “no doubt” Russian forces will attempt to seize Kyiv as soon as January after failing in the spring, potentially from a staging ground in Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Minsk on Monday for talks with his Belarusian counterpart.

The US on Thursday sanctioned

Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest tycoon but left his company, mining giant MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, untouched as it tries to maintain stability in the metals market. The Pentagon confirmed plans to expand its training in Germany for Ukrainian forces.

Friday’s missile barrage appears to be the ninth by Russia since early October focused on Ukraine’s infrastructure. Russian forces continued offensive operations near Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the east, Ukraine’s General Staff said in its latest update.

Russian troops shelled the Nikopol district in the central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight and parts of the Mykolaiv region in the morning, local authorities said.

The city of Kherson was hit by artillery fire, with Russian shells hitting residential areas and killing a woman and a child and injuring two people, according to the local military administration. Bloomberg News

Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

CHINA’S abrupt ending of its Covid Zero restrictions have forced economists to make sharp revisions to their growth projections for this year and next.

World’s coal consumption set to breach new record this year

Inflation dampens otherwise bright small biz holiday season

Russia launches new large-scale missile offensive in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region

Oil set for weekly gain on signs of tight supply, China comeback

Home prices and rents skyrocket in Turkey amid economic turmoil

Japan calls China ‘unprecedented strategic challenge’ in security shift

JAPAN

Landslide at Malaysia campground leaves 16 dead, 17 others missing

BATANG KALI, Malaysia—A landslide

Friday at a tourist campground in Malaysia left 16 people dead and authorities said 17 others were feared buried at the site on an organic farm outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

An estimated 94 Malaysians were believed to have been at the campsite in Batang Kali in central Selangor state, around 50 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur, when the incident occurred, said district police chief Suffian Abdullah.

He said the death toll has risen to 16, including a five-year-old boy. Seven people have been hospitalized with injuries and rescuers were searching for the estimated 17 missing people, he said. Another 53 people were rescued without harm.

Suffian said the victims had entered the area, a popular recreational site for locals to pitch or rent tents from the farm, on Wednesday. More than 400 personnel, including tracking dogs, were involved in the search and rescue efforts.

The Selangor fire department said firefighters began arriving at the scene half an hour after receiving a distress call at 2:24

a.m. The landslide fell from the side of a road from an estimated height of 98 feet and covered an area of about 1.2 hectares. It posted photos of rescuers with flashlights digging through soil and rubble in the early hours of the morning.

Some families with young children who were rescued took refuge at a nearby police station. Survivors reportedly said they heard a loud thundering noise before the soil came crashing down.

Leong Jim Meng, 57, was quoted by the New Straits Times English-language daily saying he and his family were awakened by a loud bang “that sounded like an explosion” and felt the earth move.

“My family and I were trapped as soil covered our tent. We managed to escape to a car park area and heard a second landslide happening,” he told the newspaper. He said it was surprising because there was no heavy rain in recent days, only light drizzles.

The campsite is located on an organic farm not far from the Genting Highlands hill resort, a popular tourist destination with theme parks and Malaysia’s only casino. Access to roads leading to the area have been blocked. AP

Twitter suspends journos

TWITTER Inc. suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists covering the social network’s billionaire owner Elon Musk, who alleged they were endangering his family.

Late Thursday, reporters from publications including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Mashable and CNN were listed as blocked and their tweets were no longer visible. Musk said the suspended profiles, which included sports and political commentator Keith Olbermann, were of people who had posted his real-time location, describing the information as “basically assassination coordinates.”

“I was given no warning. I have no email or communication from the company about the reason for suspension,” New York Times reporter Ryan Mac tweeted from a new account. He posted a screen grab from the app saying he’s been permanently suspended. “I report on Twitter, Elon Musk and his companies. And I will continue to do so.”

The mercurial owner of the service followed up with a poll among his followers as to when he should remove the suspensions. The vote concluded he should remove the bans, and he issued a new poll with fewer options where voting again leans toward lifting the restrictions. The standard ban period for disclosing personal location information — also known as doxxing — on the service is seven days, he said.

“You doxx, you get suspended, end of story, that’s it,” Musk said in a journalist-hosted Twitter Spaces session shortly after his first poll. Participants in the Spaces audio session included the Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, who, alongside other banned reporters, was still able to participate in the network’s live audio service.

of competing social network Mastodon, which had posted a link on its Twitter page to an account on its own service that uses publicly available flight data to track Musk’s private jet. Musk argued that pointing or linking to any source that might reveal his jet’s whereabouts was tantamount to posting his real-time location. On Wednesday, Twitter had suspended multiple profiles that tracked private jet locations, including his.

Twitter’s owner, who took the reins under the banner of freespeech absolutism and eliminating censorship, tweeted that “doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else.” He pinned a tweet to his profile explaining his reasoning and that he believed the offending Twitter profiles had threatened his family.

“This is management as dark performance art,” said Paul Barrett, deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, in an email. “The one thing for which we can all thank Musk is that he’s demonstrating, day by day, how dangerous (and self-destructive) it is for so much corporate power to be concentrated in the hands of a few Silicon Valley moguls.”

CNN, whose reporter was swept up in the rash of suspensions, responded by saying “the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising. Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses the platform. We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”

An email to Twitter seeking comment on the journalists’ suspensions wasn’t immediately returned. Bloomberg News

The new strategy, expected to get the green light from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet Friday, also lays out plans for Japan to obtain longer-range missiles—including developing its own hypersonic weapons—as part of a radical upgrade of its defense capabilities. Kishida is set to give a news conference in Tokyo focusing on the changes at 6 p.m.

The shift was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tensions over Taiwan that included Chinese missiles lobbed into waters close to Japanese islands earlier this year, and North Korea stepping up its missile launches.

Japan treads carefully when it comes to the language it uses in describing the security concerns posed by its biggest trading partner China, though it has used the word “threat”’ in Defense Ministry documents in regard to the likes of North Korea.

Referring to a “remarkable” build-up of missile capability in the region, the government says in the document it is becoming difficult to deal with the situation simply by

strengthening the country’s existing missile defense network.

The revisions to three documents governing Japan’s security and defense strategy call for acquiring “counter-strike capability” that would enable it to target an enemy’s military facilities, in a turning point for a country bound by a pacifist constitution since 1947.

The government plans to buy Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Tomahawk missiles for that purpose, according to the documents. The missile has a range of more than 1,250 kilometers (780 miles), meaning it could be used to hit naval bases on the east coasts of China and Russia.

Japan also intends to obtain sufficient supplies of missiles, including those made on its own, over the coming decade with ranges long enough to strike military assets in its three nuclear-armed neighbors that have been a focus of Tokyo’s concerns.

W ith its new strategy in place, the government is also considering revising the defense guidelines

governing its military cooperation with its only formal treaty ally, the US, according to Kyodo News, which cited government sources.

Kishida may raise the issue during a visit to the US the government is seeking to organize for next month, the agency said.

Japan will retain its “exclusively defensive” posture as well as its ban on nuclear weapons, according to the documents.

Nevertheless, China has made clear to Japan its objections to the wording in the new documents, saying Beijing was committed to maintaining peace and stability.

“The Japanese side ignores facts,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a Wednesday news conference. “Hyping up the ‘China threat’ to find an excuse for its military build-up is doomed to fail.”

Kishida has already announced plans to increase defense spending by about 60 percent to ¥43 trillion ($315 billion) over the next five years. Following wrangling over how to fund the move, his ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to agree on a plan to raise taxes, Kyodo News said, but will avoid setting a date for a move likely to be unpopular with the public.

Plans are also in place to raise the Coast Guard budget by 40 percent, Kyodo News reported Friday.

By comparison, South Korea’s government plans to increase its defense spending to more than 70 trillion won ($53 billion) annually by 2026. China allocated an estimated $293 billion to its military in 2021, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Rules governing the transfer of defense equipment will also be reviewed under the strategy, as Japan launches a three-way project with the UK and Italy to develop a next-generation stealth fighter jet and seeks to support its domestic defense industry.

Other items included in the documents are:

n Establishment of a new organization overseeing cybersecurity policy n Strengthening of Japan’s Coast Guard

n Infrastructure build-up based on the needs of the SelfDefense Forces and Coast Guard n Public-private cooperation to promote transfers of defense equipment; ensuring a strong defense manufacturing base by 2027

Major increase in cyber and space defense personnel; no increase in the total number of SDF personnel, currently at 247,000. Bloomberg News

Nokor performs key test to build more agile ICBM

surprised if they’d look to do additional testing and development of these motors before moving to flight-testing.”

The fuel in solid-propellant rockets is already loaded inside, which helps to shorten launch preparation times, increase the weapon’s mobility and make it harder for outsiders to detect what’s happening before liftoff.

North Korea already has a growing arsenal of short-range, solidfueled ballistic missiles targeting key targets in South Korea, including US military bases there.

According to the KCNA report, Thursday’s test was to verify specific technical features of the high-thrust solid-fuel motor based on the thrust vector controlling

technology. It said the test results showed all the technical indices proved its reliability and stability.

Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it’s difficult to assess the thrust output claimed by North Korea.

But he said that “what is potentially significant is the claimed ‘thrust vector controlling technology,’ with imagery suggested gimbaled exhaust nozzle which can redirect the thrust to effectively steer the missile.”

He said that’s a much more advanced method of thrust vectoring than a previous method traditionally used on the North’s solid motor missiles. AP

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korean leader Kim Jong

Un supervised the test of a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor” for a new strategic weapon, state media reported Friday, a development that could allow him to possess a more mobile, harder-to-detect arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that can reach the mainland US.

Thursday’s “static firing test” of a missile engine at the country’s northwest rocket launch facility was the first of its kind in North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. It said that the test provided “a sure sci-tech guarantee for the development of another new-type strategic weapon system.”

Kim praised scientist and technicians over the test, saying he expected the new weapon would be built “in the shortest span of time,” KCNA said.

North Korea is likely referring to a solid-fueled ICBM, which is among an array of high-tech weapons systems that Kim vowed to introduce during a major ruling Workers’ Party conference early last year. Other weapons systems Kim promised to manufacture include a multi-warhead missile, underwater-launched nuclear missiles and spy satellites.

The latest motor test showed

that North Korea is determined to carry out Kim’s vows to develop such sophisticated weapons systems despite its pandemic-related domestic hardships and US-led international pressures to curb its nuclear program.

In recent months, North Korea has test-fired a barrage of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, including last month’s launch of its developmental, longest-range Hwasong-17 ICBM designed to carry multiple warheads.

Some experts say North Korea would eventually use an expanded arsenal to seek sanctions relief and other concessions from the United States.

“We’d been expecting a test of this kind for a while. Largediameter solid propellant rocket motors will enable North Korea to deploy larger submarine-launched missiles and, more importantly, more survivable and responsive intercontinental-range ballistic missiles,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Unlike liquid propellant missiles, solid propellant missiles are fueled at the time of manufacture and can thus be released far more quickly in a war, all else being equal,” Panda said. “I wouldn’t be

will describe China as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” in a new national security policy, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg.

North Korean government.

who Musk says imperiled his safety

Malixi cards 68, charges to within 2 shots off leader

RIANNE MALIXI used an early fumble to fuel a scorching backside drive for a four-under 68 to move to within two shots off Hyo Song Lee halfway through the Malaysian Amateur Open at the Palm Resort Golf and Country Club in Senai, Johor, Friday.

Malixi actually missed holing out with an eagle after reaching the closing par-5 18th in 2 to within pin-length distance, the ball sliding past the cup for a 35-33. But her fiery backside run more than made up for her struggle in the first round that led to a 73 as she moved to solo second at 141 for a fiery third round shootout with the Korean, whom she had shared third place with in the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship in Thailand last month.

Playing in a flight ahead of Malixi’s, Lee snapped a two-birdie, two-bogey card after 11 holes with three birdies in the last three holes as the reigning Korean Amateur Open champion stayed in control at 139 after a 69 with two rounds left in the 118th staging of the World Amateur Golf Ranking event.

“I hit more fairways today [yesterday] and made a lot of birdie opportunities,” said the International Container Terminal Services Inc.-backed Malixi, who still rued some missed chances while trying to get the feel of her strokes and Cempaka’s surface in the early going.

“I definitely left some putts out there but I was able to pull off a couple of long putts. Missed most of my [birdie] chances in the first nine then converted most at the back,” said the member of the 2022 American Junior Golf Association All-Star squad and the Rolex Junior All-American First team.

ARGENTINA LIES ON MESSI’S SHOULDERS

DOHA, Qatar—As Lionel Messi approaches his second and likely last World Cup final, the stakes could hardly be higher.

The same goes for Argentina after more than 30 years of disappointment since it last won soccer’s ultimate prize.

For Messi, victory against France at Lusail Stadium on Sunday is a chance to finally get his hands on the one major trophy that has eluded him in his storied career.

In doing so, he would push ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has also never won a World Cup, in the long-running rivalry between the two greatest players of their generation.

While 37-year-old Ronaldo exited the tournament at the quarterfinals stage, benched by Portugal and in tears in the likely recognition that his last chance had passed, Messi is summoning some of his finest moments in an Argentina shirt to inspire his country’s run to the final.

“Each time we see him play, he makes us and the players feel something special,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “There’s something about him that people like, not only Argentines.

“We feel lucky and privileged to have him wear our shirt.”

Messi’s place alongside Diego Maradona as one of Argentina’s two most iconic soccer stars has been secure for some time now. But he is yet to emulate Maradona’s greatest achievement by leading his national team to a World Cup title.

Maradona did that in Mexico in 1986 and Messi has lived

with the expectation of repeating the feat since he emerged as a prodigy at Barcelona nearly 20 years ago.

There have been numerous false hopes during that time.

There was the potential “dream team” of Maradona as coach and Messi as star player in South Africa in 2010. But Argentina went out in the quarterfinals after being beaten 4-0 by Germany.

In 2014, with Messi approaching his peak years, Argentina reached the final in Brazil.

Again it faced Germany. Again Messi was on the losing side, beaten 1-0 through extra time.

At the age of 35, he knew this was probably his last shot at the World Cup and he has risen to the occasion as the tournament’s co-leading scorer with France forward Kylian Mbappé with five goals.

Perhaps more notable have been his assists, such as the disguised pass for Nahuel Molina’s goal against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Then there was his mesmerizing run, turning Croatia defender Joško Gvardiol inside out, before setting up Julián Álvarez for Argentina’s third in the semis.

“It’s at least something I can talk [about] with my kids one day that guarded this great, great player,” Gvardiol said Thursday.

Those assists have been indicative of the fact that Messi can no longer do it on his own. The emergence of Álvarez, with four goals, has been vital to Argentina’s progress.

Messi doesn’t dominate for an entire 90 minutes anymore.

Instead, he decides matches with key moments.

He isn’t as dynamic as he was in his younger years, but he has been more influential than at any of his previous four World Cups.

While Messi is aiming to complete his personal collection of trophies, having won four Champions League titles and seven Ballon d’Or awards for the best player in the world, Argentina is looking to end its long wait for a third World Cup.

It won the tournament for the first time when hosting in 1978 and then again eight years later thanks to Maradona.

Messi was supposed to emulate that feat long before now.

If he retires without ever winning the World Cup, then how much longer will Argentina have to wait?

No wonder each moment of Messi magic and every win is greeted with such an outpouring of emotion.

The sense of anticipation is growing among Argentina fans, who have lit up the tournament in a sea of blue and white, marching through the streets of Qatar.

Messi is feeding the belief that this could be their time again.

If this is his farewell tour, he has given his supporters a wild ride along the way.

And with or without a World Cup, Scaloni has no doubt about Messi’s status as the greatest of all time.

“It seems like we say that just because we’re Argentinians and we fall into the trap of being selfish because it is very Argentinian to say that,” he said. “But I think there are no doubts.” AP

PACQUIAO PASSES FIRST TEST TOWARD IMMINENT COMEBACK

of  Barcelona Olympics gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya in a catchweight welterweight encounter in 2008.

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur—Franz Isaac Ubaldo was 12 years old when he won gold medals at Puerto Princesa City’s pool in the 2019 Batang Pinoy.

Now 15—the age limit for the Philippine Sports Commission’s flagship grassroots sports program—Ubaldo’s just too glad on his farewell stint in the 2022 Batang Pinoy Nationals the Province of Ilocos Norte is primarily hosting at the Quirino Sports Stadium in nearby Bantay.

“I missed the games very badly,” Ubaldo, a senior at the P. Guevarra National High School in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, said. “I’m happy that I can still swim for Laguna here in Ilocos Norte.”

Ubaldo won the boys’ 50-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle gold medals in Puerto Princesa just months before the Covid-19 pandemic halted all activities, sports competitions included, for the next two years.

And because he’s grown up as a 15-yearold, he raised his own ante and his targeting golds in the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley.

He’s one of 1,386 children athletes who’ll be plunging into action on the day the formal opening ceremony kicks off the 21-day Batang Pinoy Nationals—the first multi-sport competition to be staged as the country recovers from the pandemic—at the Quirino Sports Stadium.

The return of the Batang Pinoy gathered 3,827 athletes accompanied by more than 500 coaches and 525 delegation members in the Ilocos Norte capital with 2,187 athletes vying in the virtual competitions.

Senator Imee Marcos, Ilocos Sur Governor Jerry Singson, Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Jose Emmanuel “Noli” Eala and Commissioner Bong Coo and Tokyo Olympics boxing silver medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam will open the event.

“The goal of Governor Singson is to show to the whole country, not just the province and Region I, that Ilocos Sur tourism is now fully open to business,” said Jester Singson, special assistant to the governor in sports.

Swimming, archery, badminton, chess, table tennis, weightlifting, cycling, athletics and the demonstration sport obstacles sports are in the roster of face-to-face competitions, while arnis, dancesport, judo, karate, muay, pencak silat, taekwondo and wushu will be played online.

ON Sunday last week, Filipino boxing legend Manny  Pacquiao—a former senator and the only one on earth to win no less than a dozen world championships in an unequaled eight divisions—battled South Korean martial arts Youtuber DK Yoo in a six-round exhibition.

Pacquiao won without a sweat in what served as prelude to his eventual return to the sport that earned for him and his family enormous wealth and international fame only a few of his kind had attained.

But at 44, isn’t it too late for Pacquiao to return to the ring as a pro?

There are actually quite a few former champions who retired at a ripe age only to return fighting and win world titles.

The most famous comeback was heavyweight George Foreman, who initially retired in 1977 at age 28, but returned 10 years later—and lost twice.

But Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion of all time at age 45. He would have four more fights before again retiring for good in 1997 at 48.

Sugar Ray Leonard, one of boxing’s most beloved pros, retired in 1984, came back three years later and move up in weight to challenge the much feared KO master Marvin Hagler and emerged the winner in a famous but disputed split-decision to defy the odds and win the title after such a long layoff.

At that age—Pacquiao turns 44 this Saturday—not a few expressed concern to see him climb the squared ring again for high-level fights even against the upcoming pretenders in his welterweight division like Jaron “Boots” Ennis,  who, according to reports, is being eluded by 147-pound top dogs Terrence Crawford and Errol Spence.

Pacquiao, despite his 72-fight career with eight losses, is not new to hanging up his fighting gloves and retrieving them back at least six times since his embarrassing KO defeat to unheralded Rustico Torrecampo in 1986 following a 15-fight winning streak (13 by KOs) since turning pro in 1995.

He came back from that first career setback for another string of victories, including an eight-round stoppage of Thai Chatchai Sasakul in December 1998 for the World Boxing Council flyweight plum that actually set the tone of his remarkable 12-year, eight-division title conquests.

He yielded the throne to another Thai, Medgoen Singsurat, when  he failed to make the required 112-pound limit in 1999.

But Pacquiao is not Pacquiao if he couldn’t again rise when  he falls. The climb from one weight class to another continued. He took his second world jewel, then International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight from African Lehlo Ledwaba (technical knockout in six rounds) in 2001, and two years later, his third by, again, stopping the popular Marco Aantonio Barrera of Mexico (TKO in 11) for The Ring featherweight belt.

Eric Morales, Barrera’s countryman, would spoil Pacquiao’s title run by outpointing his future friend in his debut in the super featherweight in 2005, although Pacquiao more than made up for this twice, both via knockouts.

Pacquiao would then go on another unbeaten 15-outing streak in the next five years until 2010 which gifted  him the last five of his amazing record, making him the first man to win world championships in eight weight classes.

Pacquiao would crown himself the WBC super featherweight kingpin at the expense of what would be one of his arch nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez, who he will meet four times.

David

The husband of former Sarangani Vice Goernor Jinkee with whom he has five children,  ended his title run by ruling the vacant WBC super welterweight division by beating black and blue a taller and bigger Antonio Margarito in 2010.

That bloody unanimous victory clinched for him the “Fighter of the Decade” for 2000 to 2009 over  archival Floyd Mayweather Jr., who himself made a comeback to boxing after two years of retirement in 2009. That was besides Pacquiao accorded “Fighter of the Year” three times.

Before making it to the 147-pound category, the then lightweight Manny fashioned out one of the greatest upsets in prizefighting history with a TKO in 9-round  conquest

Pacquiao would suffer back to back ring losses in 2012, losing his WBO world welterweight jewel in a questionable split decision to American tough guy Timothy “Dessert Storm” Bradley before getting knocked out by Marquez in December in a non-title showdown.

Calls for going back to private life sprang following this double whammy.  But as he has been saying often: “Hindi pa tapos ang laban!”

He regained his WBO crown by outclassing the talkative  Bradley in 2014. He finally earned  a crack at Mayweather after a long almost six years of talks and lost again in a fight Christened “Fight of the Century” for the sixth time in his career due to an injured right shoulder.

The much-awaited May 2015 contest generated an all-time high of nearly 4 million pay per view buys worldwide.

But Pacquiao would again come back the following year repeating over Bradley in the third of their trilogy before taking on big American Jessie Vargas for his third stint as WBO welterweight titlist.

Then came the 12-round loss to former Australian school teacher Jeff Horn, who robbed him of his WBO belt via another controversial verdict.

But again, Manny surprised the entire boxing world by winning yet another world title—the WBA regular welterweight belt by stopping a former dreaded KO artist himself, Argentine Bomber Lucas’s Matthysse inside seven rounds in a bout held in Kuala Lumpur in 2018.

Back in Las Vegas, he successfully defended the same title by pounding out a unanimous decision win over Adrien Broner then took the challenge of then undefeated Keith Thurman, knocking the latter down in the early going, to win via a close split decision in 2019.

Due to inactivity brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Pacquiao was stripped of the crown in an unmerited decision by the WBA, which it awarded to Cuban Yordenis Ugas pro bono.    Ugas became a legit champion after beating Pacquiao while subbing for Errol Spence, who claiming injury, begged off from a title encounter scheduled in 2019.

That prevented Pacquiao from regaining the throne he rightfully owned until unceremoniously taken away from him.

That victory over Yoo definitely indicated Pacquiao is back. When? Millions of his fans worldwide will have to wait.

And it won’t be for long.

Archery, badminton, chess and table tennis will also have kick off their competitions on opening day. Archery will be held at the San Ildefonso Central School grounds, badminton at the Ilocos Sur Badminton Center and Vigan Convention Center, chess at the Baluarte Function Hall and table tennis at the San Vicente Gym.

On Sunday, athletics get going at the Quirino oval, archery, cycling starting and ending at the Provincial Capitol in Vigan and weightlifting at the Caoayan Gym.

Diaz (TKO in 9) for the WBC lightweight, the rugged Briton Ricky Hatton (KO in 2) for the Ring Magazine lineal world super lightweight and another future Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto for the World Boxing Organization welterweight diadem (TKO in 12).

FOR Lionel Messi, victory against France at Lusail Stadium on Sunday is a chance to finally get his hands on the one major trophy that has eluded him in his storied career. AP

Close to 4K athletes vying face-to-face as Batang Pinoy returns in Ilocos Norte

A DOUBLE-GOLD winner in Puerto Princesa in 2019, Laguna swimmer Franz Isaac Ubaldo is back for his own last plunge at the Batang Pinoy.

RIANNE MALIXI jumps in to contention in Malaysia.

44.

45.

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

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HUBEI SHUIZONG WATER RESOURCES AND HYDROPOWER CONSTRUCTION CO. LTD. - PHILIPPINES BRANCH OFFICE Unit A & B, 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

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LIU, LEI Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative

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Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 IBM BUSINESS SERVICES, INC. 8th Floor, 1800 Bldg., Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City

TCHOUAFFI KAMENI, FIRMIN Hr Advisor

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NGUYEN VIET BINH Chinese Speaking Data Entry Clerk

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TENG KAH CHUN Chinese Speaking Data Entry Clerk

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MANNA, SANTANU Senior Analyst - Assurance Services

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SHARMA, HARSHA Senior Analyst - Assurance Services

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