BusinessMirror December 28, 2022

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE national government plans to pool resources from government financial institutions (GFIs), private sector partners, and local government units (LGUs) to build more housing projects for the Pambansang Pabahay program, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

DHSUD Avelino D. Tolentino

III said in a televised interview on Tuesday that the housing program aims to adopt a “whole-of-nation approach” to build more houses under this program.

In fact, he said GFIs such as the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Development Bank

of the Philippines (DBP), and the LandBank of the Philippines have committed to support the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino housing program to ensure that there will be developmental loans to kick-start the construction  of the housing program.

See “GFI,” A2

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

THE Department of Energy (DOE) has officially proposed to President Marcos an administrative order that aims to speed up the implementation of energy efficiency policies to generate as much as P7 billion in peso savings or about 347.42 MW in energy savings.

“The DOE has submitted to the Office of the President a proposed Administrative Order that will further accelerate the implementation

of these policies/resolutions, which is expected to result in annual government savings of almost P7 billion or equivalent to an energy savings of 347.42 MW,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said.

He noted that as of December 13, the government has saved P284.93 million from existing policies related to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act of 2019.

The DOE, through the Inter-Agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Committee

See “DOE,” A2

Special to the BusinessMirror

BEIJING’S recent easing of its zero Covid tolerance policy bodes well for international travel, with most countries, like the Philippines, heavily dependent on the Chinese market for tourism revenue.

Starting January 8, passengers from other countries will no longer be quarantined upon arrival in China, with Beijing facilitat -

ing visa requests by foreigners especially for business travel, studies, and family reunions.

While details are still scant on Beijing’s rules for outbound travel, it is already slowly lifting the number of international flights between China and the rest of the world, while passenger quotas will also be eased. Pioneering legacy flag carrier Philippine Airlines, for one, has already announced the resumption of its Xiamen service starting with one flight a week, to and from Manila beginning January 13.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror , Fe Abling Yu, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa), welcomed the surprising development in China: “We give a lot of importance to Chinese tourists,” with the market being the second largest, pre-pandemic, in the Philippines.

Arrivals from China reached some 1.74 million in 2019, generating US$2.33 billion receipts.

Fully vaxxed only please ALTHOUGH it would be preferable

to require Chinese tourists to take a Covid-19 test at least 48 hours prior to their arrival in the Philippines, she doesn’t want this to cause any diplomatic rifts with China, which may feel it is being singled out. She recommended that government still require the Chinese tourists, like other foreign nationalities, to be fully vaccinated and present a vaccination certificate, “not just a vaccination card,” to ensure these travelers are healthy, “and also to

DOTr’s Bautista checks NAIA as holiday tourists exit airports

By Nonilon G. Reyes

THOUSANDS of departing international passengers flocked to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals Tuesday morning, mostly bound for South Korea and other Asian countries with connecting flights to United States and Canada after spending Christmas here in the country.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, who visited terminals 1,2 and 3 on Tuesday morning, said they assigned crowd control personnel to monitor and coordinate with airline personnel at the check-in counters as immigration officials manned all

counters to expedite the processing of departing passengers.

Bautista noted that travelers now experience a less stressful airport experience after the initial security checks at the airport entrance were removed as requested by passengers who used to brave long lines outside the building.

On Tuesday morning, Bautista said he saw thousands of departing passengers line up at the airline check-in counters at NAIA Terminal 1, but in a few minutes the long lines of passengers had eased.

Dana Sandoval, immigration spokesperson, said that all immigration counters are manned by

See “Tourists,” A2

DEPARTING international passengers are seen at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Tuesday morning, a scene that prompted an “all hands on deck” deployment by the Department of Transportation and Bureau of Immigration.

DOTr Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, who visited Terminals 1, 2 and 3 on Tuesday morning, said they assigned crowd control personnel to monitor and coordinate with airline personnel at the check-in counters as immigration officials manned all counters to expedite the processing of departing passengers. Story below NONIE REYES

DOH confirms FDA’s grant of EUA for bivalent vaccines

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

THE Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, on Tuesday confirmed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna and Pfizer’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccines.

Tourists.

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immigration officers in three terminals as thousands of Overseas Filipinos and foreign tourists end Christmas vacation in the country.

Sandoval also said that about 33,000 to 35,000 passengers arrive daily in the holiday season, and they expects return to pre-pandemic volumes in the coming months after the travel restrictions fully ease.

Vergeire said that they target to procure bivalent vaccines early next year.

“We are pursuing the procurement of bivalent vaccines, because articles and evidences have shown na ito ay mas makakaprotect sa ating kababayan  [that this can protect our countrymen] because of component on Omicron variant,” Vergeire said.

The DOH noted that the virus changes and one’s immunity naturally decreases over time, and that people may lose some of the protection.

According to US FDA the bivalent Covid-19 vaccines include a

component of the original virus strain to provide broad protection against Covid-19 and a component of the omicron variant, providing better protection against Covid-19 caused by the omicron variant.

In a television interview, Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of the San Lazaro Hospital’s Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, said that bivalent vaccines target the Omicron and its subvariants, including BF.7.

Reports said the current surge in Covid-19 infections in China is believed to be driven by the BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron.

PBBM, DICT roll out internet for students in remote areas

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. recently led the rollout of internet for students and teachers in remote areas as part of his administration’s “BroadBand ng Masa Program” (BBMP), which aims to provide internet connectivity in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs) across the country.

In a surprise appearance in an “Online Kamustahan” organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology

(DICT), the chief executive talked to students and teachers from various parts of the country, including the remote Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.

Students and teachers were thrilled to talk directly to President Marcos for the first time.

Many others waved their hands and greeted the President with a Merry Christmas, thanking him for taking the time to join them on Christmas Eve.

“Thank you po sa DICT…Merry

Christmas, Mister President,” one teacher from Palawan said at the online gathering.

In his message, the President vowed to cover all areas in the country under the BBMP, particularly those that have no access to mobile cellular services.

“Those in remote areas, they need this more. Especially the children, for their schooling. It’s good there are new technologies available, and we’re taking full advantage of,” the President said, partly in Filipino.

The use of digital technologies will significantly improve government services and help the country improve interconnectivity, according to the President.

“Para naman kahit saan sa Pilipinas, makakaramdam tayo ng  [In whatever part of the Philippines, we should experience] connectivity. And it s important to have that now,” the President pointed out.

DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said the program seeks to build a “direct connection” between geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and the government.

“We now have a direct connection between people and government, by using this new technology. There are many things that can be done, not just for the children and students, but also for government transactions,” Uy said.

The DICT secretary vowed to step up the program so more people can benefit.

According to the DICT, among the government’s accomplishments towards enhancing the country’s digital infrastructure are the Free Wi-Fi for All Program, which established an additional 628 operational free Wi-Fi sites—on top of the existing 4,129 sites—bringing the total live sites to 4,757 areas nationwide.

This government service has been accessed by at least 2.1 million unique users, which translates to 100,000 families provided with connectivity all over the country.

Among those who joined the “Online Kamustahan” event were students and school representatives from Pag-asa Island Elementary School in Kalayaan, Palawan; Armenia Elementary School in Uson, Masbate; Bandera Elementary School in the Island Garden City of Samal; Amai Pakpak Central Elementary School in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur; Dioryong Integrated School in Nagtipunan, Quirino Province; Villa Espina Elementary School in Lopez, Quezon; and Landang Laum Elementary School in Zamboanga City.

“Ngayon po, noong atin pong groundbreaking na ginawa sa Palayan City, Nueva Ecija... kasama rin po nating lumagda ang GFIs gaya ng SSS, GSIS, DBP at saka Landbank of the Philippines kung saan sila din po ay nag- commit ng suporta para sa ating Pambansang Pabahay program [In our groundbreaking done in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, the GFIs  like  SSS, GSIS, DBP and Landbank of the Philippines joined us, and committed support for our Pambansang Pabahay program],” Tolentino said.

Tolentino emphasized that the funds allotted for the housing program used to come from the budget of the national government. But, with this new program, he said DHSUD is seeing the need to pool funds from other institutions such as PAG-IBIG Fund, SSS, GSIS, Landbank and DBP which he said can lend money to the developers, contractors or LGU partners of DHSUD.

“So what will happen is this: those funds will serve as developmental loans that will kick start a housing construction and once that project is completed, it will be subject of bank takeouts. Then our GFIs will be repaid by the borrower/developer—that will allow our GFI to again relend the money for the next batch of housing programs,” Tolentino said, partly in Filipino.

Tolentino said phase 1 of the 11-hectare property in Nueva Ecija is expected to house 4,000 units. It is a township development wherein DHSUD plans to put up schools, open spaces, parks, market place, health center, and Barangay center. Tolentino also stressed that this is a “stone’s throw away” from workplaces and the city center.

The Marcos administration aims to build 6 million houses under the flagship housing program in the next six years.

In November, the Home Development Mutual Fund or PagIBIG Fund committed P250 billion for the administration’s goal.

Meanwhile, the Pag-IBIG Fund also signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the LGU of Bacolod City for the construction of 10,000 housing units for informal settler families (ISFs) in November.

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maintain own citizens’ safety.”

Beijing claims 90 percent of its citizens are vaccinated against Covid-19, but it only uses the locallymade Sinovac and Sinopharm. A US study found China-made Covid vaccines to be just 66 percent effective against the virus, while mRNA vaccines manufactured by Western pharmaceutical companies offer at least 90-percent protection.

Abling-Yu stressed, private sector stakeholders such as hotels and tour operators, not just the government, be on their toes “monitoring the health of all their guests,” no matter the nationality.

She also suggested returning the use of thermometers at the hotel entrances, for one: “This is also for the protection of the guest himself, who will be able to know if he has a fever or not,” and then decide whether or not to proceed with his meeting or event.

Boon for MICE sector

FOR his part, Joel Pascual, president of the Philippine Association of Convention/Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (Paceos) said, “The absence of Chinese contingents in MICE events, most especially in exhibitions, has created a huge vacuum in international expos. This

DOE. . .

Continued from A1

(IAEECC), has issued various resolutions to reduce the consumption of electricity and fuel by the government by at least 10 percent consistent with the provisions of the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP).

These include using energyefficient LED lamps and invertertype air-conditioning or similar

current development [China’s relaxation of travel restrictions] is something the industry has really been looking forward to.”

He added, “Of course, it goes without saying that proper precaution should still be put in place to prevent the resurgence of the pandemic. But all things considered, this is good for global economies, and that includes the MICE sector.” He said most MICE organizers will follow local government regulations for MICE events. “In our experience, visitors get annoyed with protocols in events that are more than what the LGU requires,” he said in response to suggestions of continued social distancing and temperature checks at events.

MICE refers to meetings, incentive tours, conventions, and exhibitions. The Department of Tourism is currently preparing a strategic action plan to implement its targets under the MICE Roadmap 2030 it launched in 2018.  (See, “PHL aims to earn P25B from MICE hostings,” in the BusinessMirror.)

In her yearend briefing, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco expressed high hopes on the resumption of outbound Chinese travel. “Our tourism attaches in Beijing and Shanghai continue to make the necessary preparations to anticipate the arrivals, and that includes negotiations with airlines in terms of the flights, both commercial and chartered.”

equivalent technologies in all government entities, local government units (LGUs), and foreign services posts. These resolutions also aim to augment the country’s economic recovery due to the adverse effect of the steep global prices of petroleum products in the local market and the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is on the part of the government alone. If the private sector can be more fully mobilized voluntarily and empower itself through efficient energy management, we can achieve more,” Lotilla said.

To date, Lotilla said 4,241 designated establishments from the commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors are implementing various projects to reduce their energy consumption.

These projects had a total investment worth P4.5 billion or an equivalent of 491.75 gigawatthours of energy savings.

“We are working to increase these numbers,” Lotilla said.

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Bureau of Immigration reported on Tuesday that it was able to prevent the entry to the country of a suspected Australian hacker.

B I Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the attempt of Risteski Borche, 40, to enter the Philippines aboard a Cebu Pacific flight from Sydney at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 last December 21 was reported to him by officials of  BI’s Border Control and Enforcement Unit (BCIU).

B orche, reportedly an Australian of Macedonian descent, is subject of an Interpol alert for being a wanted person in the Republic of Macedonia after being charged with unauthorized entry into a computer system.

T he BI said Borche is facing charges of violation of Article 251 of the criminal code of the Republic of Macedonia.

He is facing  four years imprisonment in the said country if found guilty of the charges.

T he suspect was recommended to be included in the BI’s blacklist  after being denied entry.

Me anwhile, immigration agents also arrested a South Korean fugitive wanted by authorities in Seoul for engaging in telecommunications fraud.

T he suspect was identified as Byun Jonghyun, 40 years old.

BI-FSU acting chief Rendell Ryan Sy said  Byun is also the subject of an Interpol red notice issued in April 2020.

T he said notice stemmed from an arrest warrant issued against the Korean by the Seoul central district court where he was charged with violating his country’s telecommunications business act.

Byun, according to Korean authorities, is a member of an organized crime syndicate based in Manila that defrauds their compatriots back home by engaging in voice phishing operations.

It is estimated that the syndicate’s earnings from the illegal activity already amounted to more than 674 million won or roughly half a million dollars.

T he Korean fugitive will be deported immediately following the issuance of an order for his summary deportation by the BI board of commissioners last September.

Byun has also been placed in  the BI’s blacklist to prevent him from going back to the country.

The Nation

Heavy rains from shear line to persist over parts of PHL; death toll now at 13

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

MORE than P80 million worth of farm products and government projects have been damaged due to flooding caused by torrential rains spawned by the prevailing shear line, a disaster official said on Tuesday.

At least 13 people have also been killed, while another six were injured.

At least 23 people are also still missing, Diego Agustin Mariano, head of the joint information center of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), said during a “Laging Handa” news briefing.

M ariano said the shear line spawned heavy, if not, torrential rains during the past days in at least six regions across the country, triggering flooding and landslides.

A s of Tuesday, he said at least P59,829,614 worth of crops has been

damaged along with P14,580,000 worth of infrastructure projects. Another P2,050,000 worth of irrigation systems were also damaged.

The shear line also affected 44,282 families or 166,357 people in Regions 4B, 5, 8, 9 and 10 and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Of the number, 10,536 families or 45,337 people are currently housed in government-run shelters.

A t least 534 houses, most of them in Region 10, have so far been damaged.

Mariano said the OCD is coordinating with its regional offices to check whether there are still areas that remain isolated and have not been reached yet by disaster response personnel and government aid.

He said clearing operations are also still continuing to ensure that assistance will reach those affected by the bad weather.

PNP logs 31% drop in focus crimes from Dec. 1 to 25

By Glen Jacob Jose

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday reported a 31 percent drop in the number of index crimes during peaceful celebration of “Simbang Gabi” in relation to “Paskuhan 2022” all over the country.

PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said index crimes went down by 31.13 percent or 926 from 2,975 from December 1 to 25, 2021 compared to 2,049 for the same period in 2022.

He added the index crimes decreased in Luzon by 30.11 percent (513); Visayas by 29.49 percent (189); and Mindanao by 35.56 percent (224).

T he eight focus crimes or index crimes include theft, physical injury, rape, robbery, murder, homicide, motorcycle theft and vehicle theft.

F ocus or index crimes are considered serious crimes, while non-index crimes are violations of local ordinances and laws and vehicular accidents.

Other non-index crimes are violations against women and children, illegal possession of firearms and drugs, illegal logging, acts of lasciviousness, direct assault and other crimes not listed under index crimes.

“It is with joy to mention that the past 10 days ushering Christmas Day had been generally peaceful throughout the country with no major untoward incident reported by Police Regional Offices. This encompasses the entire period of the 9-day Simbang Gabi or the Novena

masses that were similarly peaceful and orderly under the watchful presence of police patrollers,” Azurin said in a news statement.

T he PNP’s deployment of 85 percent of its personnel to the different transportation hubs, seaports, airports, business establishments, and other places of convergence resulted in the peaceful means of peoples’ celebration of Christmas.

T he country’s top cop also noted the strong collaboration and coordination among concerned government agencies and support of the community, which once again proved its effectiveness in thwarting criminal activities.

“ To all PNP personnel, I commend you for the relentless effort in maintaining peace and order during this Yuletide Season. May all these efforts be sustained until the celebration of the coming year, 2023,” said Azurin.

He added from the first hour of December 16 until 6 a.m. of Christmas Day, the PNP Command Center reported zero casualty from firecrackers or stray bullet incidents in all 17 regional jurisdictions.

W ith continuous police operations, Azurin said that 17 persons were arrested for the illegal sale of firecrackers online.

“ To the public, we continue to call on you to avoid using illegal fireworks to make our new year safe,” he said.

Ligtas Paskuhan 2022 operational guidelines include police presence such as the establishment of Police

Assistance Desks, deployment of road safety marshals and focused law enforcement operations to include the continuous conduct of PNP campaign against Illegal Drugs.

A lso included are the implementation of Republic Act 7183 (Illegal Manufacture and Sale of Firecrackers and Pyrotechnics),

target-hardening measures like utilization of force multipliers, and police-community partnership and information operations.

In line with this, the PNP chief said that they are also working in cooperation with the Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Health and other partner agencies to help

decrease, if not to eliminate, the number of damaged properties and victims of firecracker-related incidents this new-year celebration.

A zurin also said no personnel would be spared if they would engage in indiscriminate firing of firearms, while their immediate superiors would also be held accountable.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is strengthening its partnership with local government units (LGUs) and communities to help save rivers and esteros.

T he DENR, the agency mandated to manage the country’s natural wealth, is implementing the annual Gawad Taga-Ilog: Search for the Most Improved Estero in the National Capital Region (NCR).

T he award seeks to recognize the most improved esteros or waterways in Metro Manila, and to honor their barangays for the effort in maintaining them clean and trash-free.

On a broader scope, the Gawad Taga-Ilog or GTI initiative, which is now on its third year, taps LGUs and communities into the greater goal of rehabilitating Manila Bay.

D uring its launch last month, DENR OIC Assistant Secretary for

Field Operations - Luzon and

Gilbert C. Gonzales said although significant accomplishments were achieved ever since the 2019 launch for the Battle for Manila Bay, challenges in domestic sewage remain.

“As much as we want to improve the water quality in Manila Bay, it has to start from the source. Collaboration, especially with the LGUs, is necessary so we can work together and improve the water quality of Manila Bay,” said Gonzales.

For the GTI contest, LGUs will nominate their chosen estero or waterway within their jurisdiction. Nominees will be judged according to the LGUs’ management of their solid and liquid waste, informal settler families and illegal structures, habitat and resources, and sustainability and partnership.

T he search will run from November 2022 to February 2023 and awarding will be in March 2023, to coincide with World Water Day.

Recognizing the exemplary accom-

plishments of some LGUs in the past years, Gonzales said GTI is DENR’s “simple way of thanking them for helping the agency improve the conditions of our environment and making communities more livable and safer.”

GTI also aims to encourage Metro Manila residents to adopt a sense of ownership and a positive mindset towards their responsibility to maintain clean waterways.

Apart from GTI, sustainable efforts of the DENR in supporting LGUs and communities include Communication, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA) activities for the communities and the Dalaw Turo program for the youth.

Meanwhile, DENR-NCR Regional Executive Director Jacqueline A. Caancan announced that the GTI would include a new category this year called Hall of Fame—or “winner among the winners”—where the DENR-NCR will choose among the past winners and see if cleanliness were sustained and maintained by the respective barangays.

Visayas

AUTHORITIES huddle during a situation update and briefing with Virac, Catanduanes Mayor Samuel Laynes (center) with regard to the missing fishermen from the province on Monday, December 26, 2022. The families of the missing persons were provided assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Bicol. PHOTO COURTESY OF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR-VIRAC

BusinessMirror

Pinoys show preference for fried food as demand for fruit salad items decline

By Andrea E. San Juan

PRODUCTS related to fried food such as packaged sauce and breading mix have shown high consumption rates this year, according to a study conducted by sari-sari store technology start-up firm Packworks and sociocultural research firm Fourth Wall.

Sari IQ, a business intelligence tool created by Packworks, generated the data sets in the study.

A ccording to Packworks, a comparison data obtained from Sari IQ on December 1 to 14, between 2021 and 2022, showed that among all holiday season products, packaged sauce or “sawsawan” has the highest consumption rate with a “significant increase of 8 percent. This was

followed by breading and coating mix with an increase of 7 percent.

Meanwhile, the start-up firm said cooking oil, despite ranking in third place, remained static with a 5 percent increase.

John Brylle L. Bae, Research Director of Fourth Wall explained this “phenomenon,” saying, “At a sociocultural level, Filipinos prefer fried foods because of its association to sawsawan and the culture it breeds. The sawsawan culture epitomizes the communal nature of eating for us, Filipinos—that is, eating is more than just consuming good food, but forging long-lasting connections with others.”

M eanwhile, data from Sari IQ also shows that products related to fruit salad experienced no significant change. Evaporated milk con -

sumption increased by 2 percent, while condensed milk declined by 1 percent.

T he business intelligence tool also revealed that other fruit saladrelated products have experienced “drastic” declines, with all-purpose cream decreasing by 11 percent and canned fruits by 16 percent. This, Packworks said, suggests that Filipinos are giving up fruit salads on their holiday table this year.

Further, the start-up firm through Sari IQ, divulged that demand for sugar and seasonings has gone low, with sugar declining by 9 percent and seasonings by 33 percent. Packworks said this shows that Filipinos are becoming “more conscious” about their diet even amid the holiday season.

B ae explained the analysis of Fourth Wall, noting that the increase

in prices may be a contributing factor to Filipinos’ willingness to forgo fruit salads and sweets.

“ The aversion to sugars and salads comes from high inflation, growing concerns on diabetes, and increasing health consciousness. Meanwhile, the propensity for fried foods comes from practical considerations [convenient and economical] but also from a much deeper sociocultural consideration,” the research director noted.

A ccording to the Noche Buena price guide released by the Department of Trade and Industry last November 23, prices of all stockkeeping units (SKUs) of fruit cocktail and cream products, among others, increased.

P rices of fruit cocktail range from P56 to as much as P288, while

prices of cream range from P63 to as much as P75.

A ndres Montiel, Packworks’ Head of Data, said that Sari IQ platform provides retailers a “clear picture” of the buying trends made by sari-sari stores and their consumers.

Data generated from the platform can be customized to multiple sari-sari store categories or even specific brands where we can create geographical maps to determine and analyze the consumer behavior of each province, city or region in the Philippines, helping brands understand the customers’ buying needs and focus on areas that have high demand. The conclusion derived from data helps retailers to forecast the demand and accordingly manage the inventory,” Montiel said.

ECC bares EC compensation details for ’22

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

OVER half of the recipients of the P1.22 billion worth of Employees’ Compensation (EC) benefits released by state insurers during the first half of the year were for death and pension claims, according to the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC).

In its initial 2022 accomplishment report, ECC reported the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government System Insurance System (GSIS) were able to provide EC benefits to 204,187 members from January to July.

Most or 110,615 of the beneficiaries were under death and pension claims.

T he rest were due to sickness (79,474), disability (10,272), medical service including medical reimbursements (3,162), funeral benefits (332), one-time financial aid to qualified EC pensioners (297), and availability of rehabilitation services (35).

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it has seized P418,578 worth of uncertified products including electric fans and electric rice cookers in its recent enforcement operation in Manila.

On December 16, the DTI-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) spearheaded by Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo, conducted monitoring and enforcement operations to inspect retail firms within the Manila area.

A ccording to the trade department, the heightened enforcement resulted in the confiscation of 650 pieces of uncertified products, including 67 pieces of self-ballasted LED bulbs; 144 pieces of lavatories and water closets and 39 pieces of electric fans, electric rice cookers, electric food mixers and induction cookers.

“ The DTI’s intensified enforcement operation is to ensure that household appliances and other consumer products in the market have undergone and met safety standards,” Castelo said.  C astelo, however, explained that DTI’s enforcement initiative is not to restrict business transactions. Instead, it “safeguards” product quality that guarantees market competitiveness and consumer safety.

T he agency said all nine firms inspected were issued a notice of violation (NOV). With this, as part of the due process, the representative of the stores was given 48 hours to provide an explanation related to the findings of noncompliance.

For her part, CPG Assistant Secretary Ann Claire C. Cabochan led the monitoring and enforcement teams in inspecting 23 retail firms within Bulacan last November 18.

T hrough the enforcement conducted, DTI said it tracked assorted products that did not go through Mandatory Product Certification Schemes implemented by the DTI-Bureau of Philippine Standards (DTIBPS), as they do not have the Philippine Standard Quality and/ or Safety Certification Mark and the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) Certification.

DTI said it confiscated P457,188 worth of “nonconforming” products. These products include 11 roles of Pipes (PE) for potable water supply; 42 rolls of low carbon steel wires; 697 pieces of motorcycle helmets; induction cookers; monobloc chairs or stools; electric blenders; electric grills; microwave ovens, extension cord sets; Edison screw lamp holders; GI steel pipes and fire extinguishers.

Out of the 23 firms inspected in the province of Bulacan, four non-compliant firms were NOVs, mandating them to explain within 48 hours from the receipt of the notice.

T he standards arm of DTI regulates 87 products and systems by implementing the Mandatory Product Certification Schemes to protect consumers or potential buyers of electrical and electronic products; mechanical or building and construction materials; and chemical and other consumer products and systems.

Meanwhile, Cabochan, along with the agency’s price monitoring teams, also inspected five supermarkets in Bulacan to check their compliance with the latest Suggested Retail Price (SRP) bulletin, released last August 12.

Out of the five supermarkets, the DTI said three are compliant; while two received letters of inquiry (LOI) for selling basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPCs) priced above their SRP. Andrea E. San Juan

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO CITY—The employees’ union of Sarangani received a benchmarking visit from its counterpart from the municipality of Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte this month.

T he Sarangani Information Office said the Polanco Municipal Government Employees’ Association (PMGEA) visited Sarangani on December 14 to benchmark with the best practices of the Sarangani Provincial Employees’ Union (SPEU).

The PMGEA came all the way from the Municipality of Polanco, Province of Zamboanga del Norte, aimed at learning more of Sarangani’s best practices in governance and public service, and in bringing special welfare and other benefits to the employees,” it said.

T he PMGEA officers were accom-

panied by their Vice Mayor Alfredo Bait-it,SangguniangBayanmembers Jennifer Rodrigo, Conceso Regencia Jr., Romer Ladera, Charito Ombalino, Cristoven Insoy and PMGEA Consultant Lorimer Olario.

SPEU President Wilson Lapiz, along with the rest of the SPEU officers, welcomed the guests from Zamboanga and presented some of the union’s successful programs.

O n behalf of Governor Rogelio D. Pacquiao, Provincial Administrator Atty. Ryan Jay Ramos also extended the governor’s warm welcome to the guests from Zamboanga del Norte.

We really desire to visit Sarangani and learn from you, and ultimately replicate the best practices you are well-known for, benefiting the very workforce that spells the difference in governance and public service,” said PMGEA President Alfred Mel Dagaylo-an.

T he union’s health-care program for its members, the availed special support for active union members, the Covid-19 financial assistance, rice subsidy, the Collective Negotiation Agreement Incentive (CNAI), and the newly established SPEU building, were some of the best programs presented by the union to the PMGEA.

V ice Governor Elmer de Peralta told the guests that Sarangani’s key to achieving its best practices was to establish “a good relationship between the administration and its people.”

“ Whatever programs and projects thattheassociationwantedinPolanco would be possible if we have a good relation with the local government unit,” Peralta told the guests.

A fter the benchmarking program was held at the Conference Room of the JLC Bldg., the SPEU officers also toured the guests to some of the tourist destinations in Sarangani.

Despite such disbursement, the State Insurance Fund (SIF), which is used for the EC benefits, remains sustainable, according to ECC.

It pointed out the SIF managed by SSS is at P6.78 billion, while that from GSIS is at P33.46 billion.

Covid-19 cash aid

ON top of the said benefits from SSS and GSIS, ECC said it was also able to provide its own cash aid to workers, who contracted Covid-19 with the use of its Quick Response Funds.

A s of November, ECC released P112.1 million in cash aid to 11,168 beneficiaries.

O f which, 10,000 of the said recipients were due to Covid-19 cases.

L ast February, ECC said it was able to extend over P473 million worth of benefits to Covid-affected workers since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Better service

ECC said it plans to further improve its services to its clients in the coming years, including the use of electronic accounts for disbursing cash assistance aside from using regular checks.

DAVAO CITY—The Davao del Norte city of Panabo announced it was one of few local government units in the Davao Region that passed the 2021 Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLG).

Panabo City said it was one of only nine towns in the region which passed the government audit chaired by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

T he city government got an overall rating of 85.74 percent.

Chareina Joy S. Lacuin, head of the City Social Welfare and Development Office and City Administrator Pedrito A. Misoles represented City Mayor Jose E. Relampagos in receiving the Certificate of Commendation from the DILG Region 11 in a ceremony at Ritz Hotel in Davao City.

Panabo City said it was one of only nine municipalities, from out of 42 in the Davao Region which passed the audit, a program to support the government commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

T he local government units (LGU) were rated according to the social services and intervention for the youth’s welfare.

L ast week, Mayor Relampagos chaired a meeting among social welfare officers and parents of Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP) at Mayor’s Conference at City Hall to discuss further assistance and intervention for the abused and neglected children.

T he CNSP includes minors who are vulnerable, or victims of abuse,

neglect, exploitation, violence, discrimination, brutality, armed conflict, domestic violence and other similar situations, and those children above 18 years old who are not capable of supporting themselves.

Meanwhile, the city held its first Inter Invitational Football Festival Tournament for children at risk and in conflict with the law on December 17 and 18 at the football ground in Panabo Multi-Purpose Gym.

Lt. Col. Adelon M. Caacbay, acting chief of police, said the sporting event was intended to harness the energy of the youth and to divert them from crime.

The youth were formed into 20 teams while 741 individual football enthusiasts joined or witnessed the holding of the tournament. Manuel T. Cayon

I t is also enhancing its “Return-to-Work” Program, which is expected to mainly benefit persons with work-related disabilities (PWRDs).

With the proposed reorganization, ECC with the Occupational Safety and Health Center will continue to be more responsive to workers’ concerns by providing a relevant package of benefits, while designing more comprehensive and inclusive coverage under the EC program,” ECC said.

E CC is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which provides benefits for public and private sector employees and their dependents in the event of workconnected sickness, injury, disability or death.

AROUND 200 kids from the Aeta community of Barangay Sapang Bato in Angeles, Pampanga received gifts from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the Angeles City government, and the Abacan River and Angeles Watershed Advocacy Council Inc. (ARAW-ACI) as part of a joint outreach program this Yuletide Season.

Hundreds of donated toys, books and clothing, as well as food packs and other gift items were distributed to beneficiaries during the outreach activity at the Sitio Target Integrated School at Barangay Sapang Bato last December 22.

“ We at the BCDA are happy to meet

as well as other individuals inside and outside of our agency,” BCDA Vice President for Land and Assets Development Richard M. Cepe said.

T he gift-giving activity was also joined by Angeles City Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting, Angeles City Environment and Natural Resources Office Head Archie Lazatin, ARAW-ACI President Renato Tayag Jr. and other partners from the Adopt-A-Watershed Reforestation Program (AWRP), namely, Pampanga Press Club, Scrubbed.NET, Angeles City Water District, Jocson College, the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat, Holy Family Academy alumni, Porac Bank, and Balibago Waterworks.

these kids near the day our lord Jesus Christ was born. We’ve amassed all these

gifts through the collective efforts of the employees and leadership of BCDA,

VICE President for Land and Assets Development Richard M. Cepe hands over a gift package to a resident of Barangay Sapang Bato during the joint outreach program of BCDA, the Angeles City LGU, and

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BusinessMirror

Brand owners told: File cases vs makers of counterfeit goods

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is encouraging brand owners to pursue cases against manufacturers of counterfeit products to prevent proliferation of fake goods.

IPOPHL Deputy Director General Nelson P. Laluces said putting to stop the proliferation of counterfeit goods can be traced to the interplay of supply and demand. With this, he

said, enforcement should target the supply of such goods.

Now ’yung supply kaya meron dahil may demand. But, the target of IPOPHL in terms of enforcement is the supply. How do we do that? ’Yung supply kasi ’yun ‘yung mga brand owners dapat mag cooperate because as we’ve been explaining every time, ang IP [intellectual property] rights, private rights ‘yan,” Laluces explained.

T he IPOPHL official lamented that brand owners are generally not

inclined to pursue cases against the manufacturers of counterfeit products, unlike in the case of Louis Vuitton, a brand that went after manufacturers of counterfeit goods in courts. How do we target the supply? Brand owners should also do their part by filing complaints with us and even with the regular courts,” Laluces said.

L ast April, the 15-member National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) under the

IPOPHL seized P63 million worth of suspected counterfeit goods at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City.

T he operation, spearheaded by NCIPR member National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), led to the seizure of 755 pieces of fake Louis Vuitton products. The activity is part of the NCIPR’s commitment to remove Greenhills from the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) list of Notorious Markets for Counter-

feiting and Piracy.  For his part, IPOPHL Deputy Director General (DDG) Teodoro C. Pascua, likewise, said that people should stop patronizing counterfeit goods because if there would be no demand, suppliers would not even bother to bring the goods to the shopping center.

Pascua also noted that one of the amendments that IPOPHL is pushing with Congress is for the amendment of the IP Code for the office to

have “preliminary authority to seize and verify.”

‘Pag in-approve ’yan, IPOPHL will go to Greenhills. Kasama namin siyempre ’yung rights owner, they will tell us what is fake. We will confiscate, not permanently but temporarily,” Pascua noted.

“ We want the House of Representatives to approve that, we hope the Senate will approve that also. And we will do that with Greenhills and Divisoria,” he added.

China to end quarantines for inbound travelers as ‘Covid Zero’ dismantled

CHINA will no longer subject inbound travelers to quarantine from Jan. 8, putting the country on track to emerge from three years of self-imposed global isolation under a Covid Zero policy that battered the economy and stoked historic public discontent.

People arriving in China will only be required to obtain negative Covid test results within 48 hours of departure, according to a statement from the National Health Commission Monday. That compares with the current requirement of eight days isolation—five days at a designated quarantine hotel, or central facility, followed by three days at home.

The government said it will facilitate visa applications for foreigners who need to travel to China for everything from businesses and studies to family reunions, while outbound tourism, which dwindled to almost nothing during the pandemic, will resume in an orderly fashion. Current limits on the number of international flights between China and the rest of the world and passenger capacity will also be removed, according

to the statement.

The country also downgraded the management of Covid from the top level to the second highest, effectively removing the legal justification for aggressive Covid Zero restrictions. Still, the National Health Commission said it will continue to monitor the virus’s spread and vowed to take appropriate measures to suppress the peak of Covid outbreaks.

“Our priority now needs to change from preventing and control infection to treatment, with the goal of ensuring health, preventing severe disease and enabling a stable orderly transition as we adjust our Covid response,” Liang Wannian, a senior health official overseeing China’s Covid response throughout the pandemic, said in an interview with People’s Daily on Tuesday.

US hits China’s military drills near Taiwan as ‘provocative’

THE Biden administration criticized Beijing’s military drills near Taiwan this week as “provocative,” insisting it will continue helping the government in Taipei defend itself.

The US is worried about the Chinese activity, “which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” the National Security Council said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability in line with our longstanding commitments and consistent with our one-China policy,” it added.

While the Taiwan issue continues to be a source of tension between China and the US, it doesn’t appear to be derailing recent efforts by the two sides to improve ties. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is still scheduled to visit Beijing early in 2023 to follow up on a meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia in November.

China’s ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, hinted at the durability of relations in a commentary that appeared in The National Interest magazine on Monday.

“The differences between China and the United States—in history, culture, social

system and development path—will most probably remain in 100 years,” wrote Qin, a top contender to become China’s next foreign minister.

“But as residents of the same world, we should and can listen to each other, narrow our gap in perceptions of the world, and explore a way to get along based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” he added.

Earlier this week China held its largest military drills near Taiwan since unprecedented exercises that followed a trip to Taipei by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August. In the 24 hours to early Monday, China sent 71 warplanes toward the democratically run island that it has pledged to someday control—47 of them either across the median line in the Taiwan Strait or into Taiwan’s southwest air-defense identification zone.

China’s military said Sunday it conducted the drills in response to escalating “collusion and provocations” from Taiwan and the US.

Last week, US lawmakers agreed to a $1.7 trillion spending bill that included $2 billion in weapons funding for Taiwan. China’s Defense Ministry has blasted the US National Defense Authorization Act, which permits up to $10 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan, for playing up the China threat and interfering in the nation’s internal affairs. Bloomberg News

SOUTH KOREA FORMER PRESIDENT LEE TO BE FREED FROM PRISON ON PARDON

By Jon Herskovitz & Shinhye Kang

SOUTH KOREA’S current leader issued a special pardon for former conservative president Lee Myung-bak, who had been serving a 17-year sentence for corruption that could have kept him behind bars into his 90s.

Yoon Suk Yeol issued the pardon for Lee, 81, on Tuesday that will be effective the following day, the Justice Ministry said in a statement. Lee becomes the fourth former president to be issued a pardon since the country’s advent to full democracy in 1987.

L ee’s term from 2008 to 2013 was marked by mass protests and renewed tensions with North Korea. The corruption

charges against Lee stemmed from a probe of his brother’s auto parts company, which prosecutors alleged Lee used as a way to enrich himself while in office.

Lee rose from poverty to become a highflying executive at Hyundai Engineering & Construction, gaining popularity as a self-made man amid the country’s surging economic growth after the Korean War. He entered politics in his 50s, becoming a member of parliament and mayor of Seoul. He focused on improving the quality of life in the capital that included speeding up commutes and restoring a river in the center of the capital by tearing down a highway he helped build while at Hyundai that had been constructed above the waterway. With assistance from Seyoon Kim/Bloomberg.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention may also reduce the frequency of reporting cases, ultimately changing to a monthly report from the current daily publication, Li Qun, a China CDC official, said.

Chinese stocks extended gains for a second day, with the CSI 300 Index rallying as much as 0.9 percent on Tuesday. Shares of companies related to travel and consumer goods climbed in Japan and South Korea after China moved to end quarantine for inbound visitors. Since late November, when discontent with harsh Covid Zero

rules boiled over and sparked protests in cities across the country of 1.4 billion, officials have rapidly dismantled many of their harshest pandemic measures. The speed of change has left health experts puzzled and residents scrambling to adjust to a new way of life that’s seen infections explode and made the border curbs—put in place to keep the virus out of China—increasingly irrelevant.

The Health Commission also said China will enhance the treatment of severe patients by boosting the supply of life-saving medical devices, such as ventila -

tors, and the capacity of intensive care units. It will also repurpose quarantine facilities into hospitals for treating Covid patients.

The country has already ramped up the share of ICU beds from less than 4 per 10,000 people to 10.6 in about a month time while another 70,000 beds across the country can be converted for intensive care, Jiao Yahui, a senior NHC official overseeing hospitals said in a separate People’s Daily interview published on Tuesday.

In another sign of downgrading the impact of the virus, the government changed the Chinese name of Covid-19 from “new coronavirus pneumonia” to “new coronavirus infections.” Omicron’s much reduced virulence compared to the ancestral strain that emerged from Wuhan means most people are sickened with only mild upper respiratory tract infections, authorities said.

“The new coronavirus will linger in nature for a long time to come,” according to the statement. “It has become much less virulent than before and the disease it causes will gradually turn into a common respiratory disease.”

The world’s second-largest economy has been largely cut off since early 2020, when China first imposed a blanket ban on overseas travelers. While it later lifted the outright restriction, it kept in

place an intricate web of testing and bureaucratic requirements around international flights that discouraged most travelers and effectively kept it sealed off from the world.

Easier travel into and out of China is likely to benefit the many countries across the globe that rely on Chinese tourists. And the recent loosening of testing and isolation requirements for travel within China may also boost domestic tourism revenue, which declined 26 percent over the week-long National Day holiday in October, compared with the same period last year.

China’s abrupt U-turn on Covid Zero has upended economists’ and investors’ expectations, complicating estimates for how its policies will affect economic growth.

While there’s likely to be substantial short-term headwinds as cases increase and residents frequently stay at home, disrupting a raft of activities, the policy shift paves the way for a fuller recovery once the first major wave of infections passes. China has pledged to revive consumption and support the private sector in 2023, and economists have said signals are clear that the focus is on boosting gross domestic product, with policy makers likely to target growth of 5 percent or higher. With assistance from Lynn Chen/Bloomberg.

S. Korea launches jets, fires shots after North flies drones

By Hyung-Jin Kim The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s military fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance assets across the heavily fortified border with North Korea on Monday, after North Korean drones violated its airspace for the first time in five years in a fresh escalation of tensions.

South Korea’s military detected five drones from North Korea crossing the border, and one traveled as far as the northern part of the South Korean capital region, which is about an hour’s drive away, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The military responded by firing warning shots and launching fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the North Korean drones. The attack helicopters fired a combined 100 rounds but it wasn’t immediately known if any of the North Korean drones were shot down, according to the Defense Ministry.

There were no immediate reports of civilian damage on the ground in South Korea. One of the North Korean drones returned to the North after three hours in South Korea, while the rest disappeared from South Korean military radars one after another, the Joint Chiefs said.

The North Korean drones and the swift response from the South came three days after the North fired two short-range ballistic missile in the latest in its torrid run of weapons tests this year. Friday’s launches were seen as a protest of the South Korean-US joint air drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

One of the South Korean fighter jets scrambled on Monday, a KA-1 light attack plane, crashed during takeoff but its two pilots both ejected safely, defense officials

said. They said they also requested civilian airports in and near Seoul to halt takeoffs temporarily.

South Korea also sent surveillance assets near and across the border to photograph key military facilities in North Korea as corresponding measures against the North Korean drone flights, the Joint Chiefs said. It didn’t elaborate, but some observers say that South Korea likely flew unmanned drones inside North Korean territory.

“Our military will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korean provocation,” Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-o, director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

South Korea’s public confirmation of any reconnaissance activities inside North Korea is highly unusual and likely reflects a resolve by the conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol to get tough on North Korean provocations. North Korea could respond with more fiery rhetoric or weapons tests or other provocation, some observers say.

It’s the first time for North Korean drones to enter South

Korean airspace since 2017, when a suspected North Korean drone was found crashed in South Korea.

South Korean military officials said at the time that the drone with a Sony-made camera photographed a US missile defense system in South Korea.

North Korea has touted its drone program, and South Korean officials have previously said the North had about 300 drones. In 2014, several suspected North Korean drones equipped with Japanese-made cameras were found south of the border. Experts said they were low-tech but could be considered a potential security threat.

A White House National Security official said US officials were “consulting closely with the (Republic of Korea) about the nature of this incursion.”

“We recognize the need of the ROK to protect its territorial integrity,” said the official, who was not authorized to be identified and commented on condition of anonymity. “The US commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea remains ironclad.”

Earlier this month, North Korea claimed to have performed

major tests needed to acquire its first spy satellite and a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland. They were among high-tech weapons systems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to introduce along with multi-warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-powered submarines and hypersonic missiles.

Kim has also called for the development of reconnaissance drones capable of precision surveillance up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) deep into enemy’s territory.

In 2013, he watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target, according to the North’s state media.

North Korea had earlier released low-resolution photos of South Korean cities as viewed from space, but some experts in South Korea said the images were too crude for surveillance purposes. Such assessments infuriated North Korea, with Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong issuing a series of derisive terms to insult unidentified South Korean experts and express her anger.

North Korea is to hold a key ruling Workers’ Party conference this week to review past policies and set policy goals. Some experts say that during the meeting, North Korea will likely reaffirm its push to bolster nuclear and missile arsenals to cope with what it calls hostile US policies, such as US-led international sanctions and its regular military training with South Korea.

North Korea would eventually use its boosted nuclear capability as a bargaining chip to win international recognition as a legitimate nuclear state, the relaxing of international sanctions and other concessions, analysts say.

A PASSENGER checks her phone as an Air China passenger jet taxi past at the Beijing Capital International airport in Beijing on October 29, 2022. China will drop a Covid-19 quarantine requirement for passengers arriving from abroad starting January 8. The National Health Commission announced the change Monday, December 26, 2022, as part of the latest easing of China’s once strict virus control measures. AP/NG HAN GUAN

A NORTH KOREAN flag flutters in the wind atop a 160-meter tower in North Korea’s village of Gijungdongseen, as seen from the Taesungdong freedom village inside the demilitarized zone in Paju, South Korea on April 27, 2018. South Korea said Monday, December 26, 2022, it fired warning shots after North Korean drones violated the South’s airspace. AP/LEE JIN-MAN

The AP Interview: Ukraine FM aims for February peace summit

By E. Eduardo Castillo & Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s foreign minister said Monday that his nation wants a summit to end the war but he doesn’t anticipate Russia taking part, a statement making it hard to foresee the devastating invasion ending soon.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that his government wants a “peace” summit within two months at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as mediator.

The UN gave a very cautious response.

“As the secretary-general has said many times in the past, he can only mediate if all parties want him to mediate,” UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez said Monday.

Kuleba said Russia must face a war-crimes tribunal before his country directly talks with Moscow. He said, however, that other nations should feel free to engage with Russians, as happened before a grain agreement between Turkey and Russia.

The AP interview offered a glimpse at Ukraine’s vision of how the war with Russia could one day end, although any peace talks would be months away and highly contingent on complex international negotiations.

Kuleba also said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the results of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the US last week, and he revealed that the US government had made a special plan to get the Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year.

Kuleba said during the interview at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023.

“Every war ends in a diplomatic way,” he said. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”

Commenting on Kuleba’s proposal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state RIA Novosti news agency that Russia “never followed conditions set by others. Only our own and common sense.”

A Kremlin spokesman said last week that no Ukrainian peace plan can succeed without taking into account “the realities of today that can’t be ignored”—a reference to Moscow’s demand that Ukraine recognize Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, as well as other territorial gains.

Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have the “peace” summit by the end of February.

“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,” he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”

At the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Zelenskyy made a long-distance presentation of a 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Asked about whether Ukraine would invite Russia to the summit, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court.

“They can only be invited to this step in this way,” Kuleba said.

About the UN Secretary-General’s role, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. So we would welcome his active participation.”

The UN spokesman’s office had no immediate comment. Other world leaders have also offered to mediate, such as those in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The foreign minister again downplayed comments by Russian authorities that they are ready for talks.

“They [Russians] regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed few days ago that his country is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine, but suggested that the Ukrainians are the ones refusing to take that step. Despite Putin’s comments, Moscow’s forces have kept attacking Ukraine—a sign that peace isn’t imminent.

Zelenskyy’s visit to the US was his first foreign trip since the war started on February 24. Kuleba praised Washington’s efforts and underlined the significance of the visit.

Ukraine secured a new $1.8 billion military aid package, including a Patriot missile battery, during the trip.

Kuleba said that the move “opens the door for other countries to do the same.”

He said that the US government developed a program for Ukrainian troops to complete training faster than usual “without any damage to the quality of the use of this weapon on the battlefield.”

While Kuleba didn’t mention a specific time frame, he said only that it will be “very much less than six months.” And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine.

During Russia’s ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials.

On Monday, Ukraine called on UN member states to deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the world body. Kuleba said they have long “prepared for this step to uncover the fraud and deprive Russia of its status.”

The Foreign Ministry says that Russia never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and taking the place of the USSR at the UN Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“This is the beginning of an uphill battle, but we will fight, because nothing is impossible,” he told the AP.

Western NY death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaos

By Carolyn Thompson The Associated Press

BUFFALO, NEW YORK—Buffalo residents hovered around space heaters, hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims Monday, after 28 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York.

The rest of the United States also was reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least another two-dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country.

Up to 9 more inches of snow (23 centimeters) could fall in some areas of western New York through Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

“This is not the end yet,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, calling the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area accustomed to punishing snow.

Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.

President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the victims’ families, and offered federal assistance Monday to the hard-hit state.

Those who lost their lives around Buffalo were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.

Melissa Carrick, a doula, said the blizzard forced her to coach a pregnant client through childbirth by telephone. An ambulance crew transported the woman to a hospital about 45 minutes south of Buffalo because none of the closer hospitals were reachable.

“In any other normal Buffalo storm? I would just go because that’s what you do—just drive through the snow,” she said. “But you knew this was different.”

Scientists say the climate change crisis may have contributed to the intensity of the storm. That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which acts as fuel, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University, likened a single weather event to an “at-bat”—and the climate as your “batting average.”

“It’s hard to say,” Serreze said. “But are the dice a little bit loaded now? Absolutely.”

The blizzard roared across western New York Friday and Saturday. With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.

“It was like looking at a white wall for 14 to 18 hours straight,” Poloncarz, the county official, said.

Relief is coming later this week, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Cook said the bomb cyclone— when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm— has weakened. It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions including heavy winds and snow.

Some 3,410 domestic and international flights were canceled Monday as of about 3 p.m. EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The site said Southwest Airlines had 2,497 cancellations—about 60 percent of its scheduled flights and about 10 times as many as any other major US carrier.

Southwest said the weather was improving, which would “stabilize and improve our situation.”

Based on FlightAware data, airports all across the US were suffering from cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffa -

lo—her hometown—on Monday, calling the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded Saturday, she said.

Hochul noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another “historic” snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches (242 centimeters) the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials say the airport will be shut through Wednesday morning.

Shahida Muhammad told WKBW that an outage knocked out power to her 1-year-old son’s ventilator. She and the child’s father manually administered breaths from Friday until Sunday when rescuers saw her desperate social media posts and came to their aid. She said her son was doing well despite the ordeal and described him as “a fighter.”

In a makeshift hut in her living room, Trisha LoGrasso was still huddled around a space heater Monday with three of her children and her eldest daughter’s boyfriend. The temperature inside her Buffalo home was 42 degrees (5.5 C). She was without heat because of a gas leak, and burst pipes left her with no running water.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and this is the worst storm I’ve ever seen,” the 48-year-old said.

Melissa Osmon and her husband James were without power for more than 72 hours in the

Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, and would retreat to their car to stay warm for hours at a time.

“We even watched the Buffalo Bills game on our phone,” Osmon said, speaking by phone from her GMC Acadia.

“You can see your breath inside the house,” she said. “That’s how cold it is.”

The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle.

Storm-related deaths were reported practically nationwide, including at least eight killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky. A woman fell through Wisconsin river ice, and there was a fatal fire at a Kansas homeless persons camp.

In Jackson, Mississippi, crews struggled Monday to get water through the capital city’s beleaguered water system, authorities said. Many areas had no water or low water pressure. On Christmas Day, residents were told to boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.

“The issue has to be significant leaks in the system that we have yet to identify,” the city said in a statement Monday.

The Associated Press journalist Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise in Charleston, West Virginia; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; and Ron Todt in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Modi’s building boom setting up India as global steel savior

By Swansy Afonso

WITH China’s massive construction sector still in a funk and the US and Europe likely heading into recessions, India has emerged as a savior for flagging global steel demand.

Poised to overtake China as the world’s most populous country next year, India is in the midst of a building boom. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to modernize roads, rail networks and ports in attempt to vie with China as a manufacturing hub.

That’s set to translate into a 6.7 percent jump in steel demand to around 120 million tons in 2023, according to the World Steel Association, the highest growth among major economies. India, which also saw a similar expansion this year, overtook the US to become the world’s No. 2 steel consumer

after China a couple of years ago.

“The nation-building phase of any economy requires a lot of steel and commodities,” said Jayant Acharya, deputy managing director at JSW Steel Ltd., the nation’s biggest producer. India is going through that phase in this decade, and it could boost the country’s steel consumption to over 200 million tons by 2030, he said.

The buoyant outlook has set off a flurry of activity. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Ltd., a joint venture between India’s Mittal family and the Japanese producer, has plans to more than triple capacity to 30 million tons in the coming decade. South Korean steelmaker Posco Holdings Inc. and Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest person, are also exploring setting up mills in the country.

India produces the vast majority of the steel it uses, but it’s also being forced to import more to

meet the surge in demand. Inward shipments rose 15 percent in April through October from a year earlier to 3.1 million tons, according to government figures.

Local producers are becoming worried about the flood of cheap imports as demand dries up in traditional steel producers. China accounted for more than a quarter of imports in October, while some Russian steel is also reaching India, the government data show.

The quality of some of the steel coming in is “sub-standard,” said A.K. Hazra, deputy secretary general at the Indian Steel Association, which has requested authorities look into the matter. “We are just asking that imports should be at competitive and international prices and the quality should adhere to Indian standards,” he said.

Despite the strong growth, India is still well behind its rival Asian powerhouse in terms

of total steel consumption. Demand for next year will be less than a seventh of China’s 914 million tons, according to the World Steel Association data.

How fast India can narrow the gap will depend on the success of PM Modi’s construction roll-out, with the Ministry of Finance estimating $1.4 trillion of funding will be needed for the National Infrastructure Pipeline through 2025.

China’s real-estate problems and the lingering impact of Covid-19 will keep its steel demand suppressed next year, said Jayanta Roy, senior vice president at ICRA Ltd., the Indian unit of Moody’s Investors Service.

“Over the long term, it would depend on the recovery of the property sector on the one hand, and the government’s policy of an infrastructure-led economic growth model in China.”

IN this drone image, snow blankets a neighborhood on Sunday, December 25, 2022, in Cheektowaga, New York. Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to several hundred thousand homes and businesses. JOHN WALLER VIA AP

Reducing PHL’s trade deficit with Brazil

BR aziL in recent years has become one of the top suppliers of various meat products, such as pork and chicken, to asian countries, including the Philippines. in august, the Brazilian animal Protein association (associação Brasileira de Proteína animal or aBPa) announced its projection that Brazil will ship a record volume of meat products to the Philippines this year (See, “Brazil to export record level of chicken meat, pork to PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, August 10, 2022). Because of the country’s need to beef up our pork supply, Philippine pork imports from Brazil more than tripled in the January to June period, according to aBPa data.

Apart from pork, the Philippines is importing chicken, beef and mechanically deboned meat from the Latin American nation. The growth in the demand of the local meat processing sector for imported raw materials has created huge export opportunities for countries like Brazil that produce MDM, which is used as raw material for manufacturing affordable food items like hotdogs. Given the increasing buying power of Filipinos and the recovery of the economy from the devastation caused by the pandemic, purchases of these imported meat products would continue to rise in the coming years.

While shipments of Brazilian meat products are growing, exports of Philippine agricultural products to Brazil have declined last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The DA noted that desiccated coconuts, coconut water and concentrates, virgin coconut oil, and fractions of unrefined coconut oil are among the top 10 Philippine export products to Brazil.

Data from the PSA showed that the value of the Philippines’s total exports of coconut products to Brazil last year declined by 30 percent year-on-year to $5.041 million. In terms of volume, shipments of coconut products to Brazil plunged by 46.27 percent to 2.224 million kilograms from 4.14 million kilograms in 2020. This has contributed to the widening of the country’s trade deficit, which reached $43.22 billion in 2021, 75 percent higher than the $24.59 billion recorded in the previous year.

Given the expansion in the trade relations between the Philippines and Brazil, Manila is hoping that Brasilia would consider reducing tariffs on coconut products (See, “PHL asks Brazil to cut tariffs on coco products,” in the BusinessMirror, December 12, 2022).

According to the Department of Agriculture, Brasilia imposes a 55 percent tariff on Philippine coconut and coconut-related products. The tariff alone would discourage any local trader from considering Brazil as a possible market for coconut-related products.

Rising freight and production costs are making it more challenging for local coconut producers to compete in the international market. It would do well for Brasilia to consider the request of the Philippine government to reduce the high tariffs it continues to impose on Philippine coconut and coconut-related products. Apart from expanding bilateral trade between Brazil and the Philippines, lower duty on coconut products would encourage Philippine traders to increase their purchases of copra from the country’s more than three million coconut farmers.

A glimmer of hope for peace in Ukraine

LITO GAGNI

THeR e is a glimmer of hope for peace to be achieved in the current Ukraine crisis with the overtures for a peaceful settlement coming from no less than Turkish President Recep Tayyip erdogan based on a platform that saw the “release” of grains to countries in need. This is welcome news for a world grown weary of increased energy prices and inflation spikes that reduced the purchasing power of much of the world.

At the center of a possible New Year aspirations for peace in the region—and a step back from the nuclear precipice—is the grain export deal that United Nations chief Antonio Guterres brokered that led to a Russia-Ukraine peace protocol, which saw ships of both nations navigating through floating mines to deliver grains via Istanbul.

Now, there is a new hope for peace in the New Year. And, hopefully, that peace comes about…lest the world would face a nuclear catastrophe that could incinerate even those nations that are passive to the goings-on in Ukraine. On Thursday, Erdogan brought out the matter for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing crisis in a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian

leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN chief Guterres.

That peace settlement is anchored on the way that grains were exported from the war zones to countries very much in need, though there have been reports that much of the grains did not really go to the poor countries but to the rich countries. But I digress. What is important is that an initial attempt has been made to ensure that peace reigns again in that part of the world that, with globalization, has actually led to economic crises for all countries.

Why, even here in the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had to increase interest rates to counter the effects of a Ukraine crisis-induced inflation spike that saw energy

This brings to mind a previous article we had on the provenance of the Ukraine conflict: The Minsk Agreement that was not implemented. That Minsk peace protocol, so-called for having been crafted in the capital of Belarus, was supposed to have addressed the simmering war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which is populated by Russian-speaking residents.

prices notch up ever higher, and food prices rise beyond the working man’s daily wages. The United States also saw an inflation spiral not seen in 40 years, and the rich countries had to contend with higher rates that constrict economic growth.

With this turn of events, can the world expect to heave a sigh of relief at the march of these developments, courtesy of the voice from Turkey and let peace reign in the coming year?

Can the United Nations, so-named to see countries bond towards a lasting union and bring to the table all disagreements that may arise between nations, be able to broker that peace?

Let us count the ways.

From a Twitter feed of a speech made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to the Turkish youth in Erzurum a day before Christmas,

he faults the West for stepping up provocations in Ukraine instead of mediating the Ukrainian crisis.

Recently, the US Congress introduced a bill for the 2023 budget that would provide $44.9 billion in aid to Ukraine. A significant amount of US allocations will go towards its military needs.

European experts estimate that financial and military assistance to Kyiv since the start of the special military operation has exceeded $90 billion. And more are coming in. Reports show that the United States and its allies continue to carry out large-scale arms deliveries to Kyiv and train mobilized Ukrainian citizens.

The Pentagon has just announced the provision of Patriot missile defense systems, air defense equipment, and new batches of ammunition worth $2 billion to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

This brings to mind a previous article we had on the provenance of the Ukraine conflict: The Minsk Agreement that was not implemented.

That Minsk peace protocol, so-called for having been crafted in the capital of Belarus, was supposed to have addressed the simmering war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which is populated by Russian-speaking residents. The low-intensity conflict pit separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk against Ukraine.

Days before new president, old divisions tearing at Brazil

By Mauricio Savarese | The Associated Press

SÃO PaU LO—Trumpets and snares will play Brazil’s national anthem at Luiz inácio Lula da Silva’s swearing-in on Jan. 1. Then, one will hear a different song on the streets, its lyrics taking a shot at outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.

“It is time for Jair, it is time for Jair...to go away!” the lyrics say. “Pack your bags, hit the road and go away!”

When Lula clinched his election win over Bolsonaro on Oct. 30, tens of thousands of people sang the familiar tune throughout the night, pushing the song to the top of Spotify’s list in Brazil and showing one way that many Brazilians aren’t ready to extend olive branches.

Healing Brazil’s divided society will be easier said than done. Lula’s Cabinet appointments thus far favoring leftists and stalwarts of his Workers’ Party are turning off those who trusted the divisive 77-year-old to govern alongside moderates, and who joined forces after Bolsonaro repeatedly tested the guardrails of the world’s fourth-biggest democracy.

“Governing Brazil means deals with agribusiness, evangelicals, former Bolsonaro allies. It can be frustrating for half-hearted Lula voters, but that’s what they have

before them,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.

Of course, Bolsonaro’s far-right backers are hardly the picture of post-election bonhomie. Many reject results of the vote and remain camped outside military buildings nationwide, demanding that Lula’s inauguration be impeded.

Brazil’s October election was its closest in more than three decades, pitting two arch-rivals against one another. In Lula’s victory speech on Oct. 30, he declared that “there are not two Brazils,” as tens of thousands gathered outside his hotel in São Paulo to celebrate his victory and Bolsonaro’s defeat.

A hopeful sign for Lula’s bridgebuilding ambitions came days later, with leftists and moderates once again donning the nation’s yellow soccer jersey to cheer on their team at the World Cup. The shirt for almost a decade has been an anti-left symbol and often featured in pro-

tests against Lula and in favor of Bolsonaro.

Lula and his allies wore the yellow shirt, too, in an effort to reclaim it; he posted photos of himself to social media, and said green and yellow “are the colors of 213 million people who love this country.” Salesman Elias Gaspar said yellow jerseys started flying off his rack as the team’s flamboyant performances trickled in.

“Before the World Cup I would sell on average six blue shirts and four yellow out of every ten,” Gaspar, 43, said on December 4. “Now it is almost all yellow.” Soccer was a short-lived unifying force. Brazil exited the tournament earlier than expected after a surprise penalty shootout loss to Croatia in the quarterfinals, and most Brazilians stuffed their jerseys back in their drawers. Bolsonaro’s backers are the only ones still sporting the national colors.

Lula has avoided inflaming tensions, mostly refraining from public attacks against Bolsonaro or his supporters, and instead focusing speeches on helping the most disadvantaged Brazilians once he returns to the office he held from 2003 to 2010. At times, though, us-versusthem comments have slipped past

his lips. On December 22, while announcing new ministers, he said Bolsonarismo remains alive and angry among those who refuse to recognize the electoral loss, so it must be defeated on Brazil’s streets. For defense minister, Lula picked conservative José Múcio Monteiro after four years of Bolsonaro striving to secure the armed forces’ allegiance.

Other Lula appointments seem crafted to please his base and party, such as Anielle Franco, sister of slain Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco, for minister of racial equality. He also tapped long-time ally Aloizio Mercadante to head the country’s development bank—precisely the sort of position business leaders expected to remain clear of Workers’ Party hands.

Gleisi Hoffmann, the chairwoman of Lula’s Workers’ Party, said building a Cabinet would be a challenge even if Lula were only selecting progressives. Complicating decisions further is the fact that some would-be ministers are likely 2026 presidential candidates, as Lula has indicated he won’t run for reelection.

“We have our differences within the Workers’ Party, now go figure what happens when we bring a dozen See “Days,” A17

Femicides in Mexico: Little progress on longstanding issue

By Fabiola Sánchez & Fernanda Pesce | The Associated Press

ECAtEPEC, Mexico—On a November afternoon, Mónica Citlalli Díaz left home in a sprawling suburb of Mexico’s capital and headed to the school where she’d been teaching English for years. it seemed an ordinary day, but on this one, she never arrived at work.

Her absence was an immediate red flag—Díaz loved her job and was diligent about showing up. Friends and relatives papered their city, Ecatepec, with flyers featuring her photo.

After four days without any sign of Díaz, 30, they blocked the street in front of her school for hours to demand action from authorities. Two days later, her body was found alongside a highway.

Women in Mexico state, which wraps around Mexico City on three sides, were already dying at a frightening pace. From January to November, there were 131 femicides—cases of women killed because of their gender. Díaz was the ninth apparent femicide during an 11-day spate of killings in and around Mexico City from late October to early November.

The country saw more than 1,000 femicides last year—second only to Brazil in Latin America. On average, 10 women or girls are killed daily nationwide. Officials have recognized the femicide rate and violence against women as problematic for decades, yet little progress is evident in national data.

Experts and advocates say the rampant killings and history of femicide can be attributed to cultural machismo, gender inequality and domestic violence, as well as a justice system riddled with problems—police officers who don’t take reports, clumsy investigations, officials who revictimize women.

With so many cases of femicide, most get little attention. But the recent run of killings, paired with the protests from Díaz’s family, put pressure on authorities and garnered headlines.

Three days after Díaz disappeared, Supreme Court President Arturo Zaldívar called for a national protocol for handling femicides. The next day, at his daily press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he agreed.

Some states have tried to address the problem by creating prosecutor’s offices for gender crimes. The federal government has declared more than two-dozen gender violence alerts since 2015. The alerts obligate local, state and federal authorities to take coordinated emergency action and to address biases in access to justice.

In Mexico state, an alert was declared in 2015. It still stands. Ecatepec is one of the state’s 11 municipalities operating under that alert. But by authorities’ own admission, gains from alerts and other measures are limited. Six days after Díaz disappeared, Olvera found herself looking at images of her sister’s body, as photos began circulating of the latest dumped victim. Olvera recognized her sister’s pants, her shoes, her hands. “They left her tossed out like a bag of garbage.”

Commission on Femicide

IN the wake of the killings of hundreds of women and girls in the state of Chihuahua in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Mexican legislators formed a Commission on Femicide. The panel found that despite alarming violence against women nationally, it was nearly impossible to get accurate data showing the scope of

the problem.

As a result of the commission’s work, the General Law for Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence was signed in 2007. It created the gender violence alerts. In 2010, lawmakers added femicide to the federal criminal code.

Still, last year there were more than double the numbers of femicides nationally than in 2015, according to federal data. Some of that increase could be attributed to better record-keeping—not all Mexican states had codified femicide as a crime until 2017—but the death toll has risen yearly.

Dilcya García, who leads Mexico state’s prosecutor’s office on gender violence, said the issue is part of the cement of the social structure: “Violence against women is very complicated to tackle.”

The day after Díaz’s family blocked the street in Ecatepec, García sat down with them. The prosecutor told them she was committed to finding Díaz, but raised the possibility she might not be alive.

Later, it would be García who called Olvera to tell her they found her sister’s body.

In Ecatepec, a bedroom community of 1.8 million with one of Mexico’s highest concentrations of poverty, Díaz was fortunate to have a job she loved. She’d had her troubles. Díaz had her daughter Keila when she was 19. She left the girl’s father after bouts of domestic violence, according to her sister Olvera.

She moved in with her parents and waited tables, struggling to make ends meet. Then she found Quick Learning, a chain of English schools, where she studied before going on to teach.

This year, Díaz met Jesús Alexis Álvarez Ortiz, an athletic 27-year-old who worked at a hotel. He was possessive, Olvera said, and she saw changes in her sister. She lost weight, stayed out late. Still, she never missed work.

The evening Díaz disappeared, her boyfriend showed up at the family home. Álvarez Ortiz appeared nervous, tripping over his words and changing his story, Olvera said.

The next day, Díaz’s parents went to the school, where they found Álvarez Ortiz again. He accompanied them to report Díaz’s disappearance to police. Two days later, Álvarez Ortiz stopped answering the family’s messages and calls. His mother reported him missing.

Authorities say that after leaving her home that afternoon, Díaz took one taxi to a shopping center, then another to Álvarez Ortiz’s house. Surveillance video showed her enter the home but never leave. A search of the home turned up Díaz’s bloodstained clothing.

Two days after Díaz’s body was found, police arrested Álvarez Ortiz’s mother. The next day, they arrested him. An autopsy indicated Díaz had been beaten and died of a blow to the head.

Álvarez Ortiz has been jailed on a charge of forced disappearance. Diaz’s family hopes that at his next hearing, in March, prosecutors will be ready to add a femicide charge. AP photojournalist Eduardo Verdugo contributed to this report.

Long Covid: Could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles?

By Lindsey Tanner | AP Medical Writer

ABritish historian, an italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher have never met in person, but they share a prominent pandemic bond.

Plagued by eerily similar symptoms, the three women are credited with describing, naming and helping bring long Covid into the public’s consciousness in early 2020.

Rachel Pope, of Liverpool, took to Twitter in late March 2020 to describe her bedeviling symptoms, then unnamed, after a coronavirus infection. Elisa Perego in Italy first used the term “long Covid,” in a May tweet that year. Amy Watson in Portland, Oregon, got inspiration in naming her Facebook support group from the trucker cap she’d been wearing, and “long hauler” soon became part of the pandemic lexicon.

Nearly three years into the pandemic, scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long Covid and why a small portion — including the three women — have lasting symptoms.

Millions of people worldwide have had long Covid, reporting various symptoms including fatigue, lung problems, and brain fog and other neurological symptoms. Evidence suggests most recover substantially within a year, but recent data show that it has contributed to more than 3,500 US deaths.

Here are some of the latest evidence:

Women more at risk?

M A N y studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long Covid.

There could be biological reasons.

Women’s immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity.

Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. Some scientists believe long Covid could result from an autoimmune response triggered by the virus.

Women’s bodies also tend to have

more fat tissue and emerging research suggests the coronavirus may hide in fat after infection. Scientists also are studying whether women’s fluctuating hormone levels may increase the risks.

Another possible factor: Women are more likely than men to seek health care and often more attuned to changes in their bodies, Klein noted.

“I don’t think we should ignore that,” she said. Biology and behavior are probably both at play, Klein said.

It may thus be no coincidence that it was three women who helped shine the first light on long Covid.

Pope, 46, started chronicling what she was experiencing in March 2020: flu-like symptoms, then her lungs, heart and joints were affected. After a month she started having some “OK” days, but symptoms persisted.

She and some similarly ill colleagues connected with Perego on Twitter. “We started sort of coming together because it was literally the only place where we could do that,” Pope said. “In 2020, we would joke that we’d get together for Christmas and have a party,” Pope said. “Then obviously it went on, and I think we stopped joking.”

Watson started her virtual long haulers group that April. The others soon learned of that nickname and embraced it.

Mono virus SEVERAL studies suggest the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus could play a role in some cases of long Covid.

Inflammation caused by coronavirus infection can activate herpes viruses, which remain in the body after causing an acute infection, said Dr. Timothy Henrich, a virus expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

Epstein-Barr virus is among the most common of these herpes viruses: An estimated 90 percent of the US population has been infected with it. The virus can cause mono-

nucleosis or symptoms that may be dismissed as a cold.

Henrich is among researchers who have found immune markers signaling Epstein-Barr reactivation in the blood of long Covid patients, particularly those with fatigue.

Not all long Covid patients have these markers. But it’s possible that Epstein-Barr is causing symptoms in those who do, although scientists say more study is needed.

Some scientists also believe that Epstein-Barr triggers chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that bears many similarities to long Covid, but that also is unproven.

Obesity

OBESIT y is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 infections and scientists are trying to understand why.

Stanford University researchers are among those who have found evidence that the coronavirus can infect fat cells. In a recent study, they found the virus and signs of inflammation in fat tissue taken from people who had died from Covid.

Lab tests showed that the virus can reproduce in fat tissue. That raises the possibility that fat tissue could serve as a “reservoir,” potentially fueling long Covid.

Could removing fat tissue treat or prevent some cases of long Covid? It’s a tantalizing question, but the research is preliminary, said Dr. Catherine Blish, a Stanford infectious diseases professor and a senior author of the study.

Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are studying leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that can influence the body’s immune response and promote inflammation.

They plan to study whether injections of a manufactured antibody could reduce leptin levels—and in turn inflammation from coronavirus infections or long Covid.

“We have a good scientific basis together with some preliminary data to argue that we might be on the right track,” said Dr. Philipp Scherer.

Duration

IT has been estimated that about 30 percent of people infected with the coronavirus will develop long

Covid, based on data from earlier in the pandemic.

Most people who have lingering, recurrent or new symptoms after infection will recover after about three months. Among those with symptoms at three months, about 15 percent will continue to have symptoms for at least nine more months, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Figuring out who’s at risk for years-long symptoms “is such a complicated question,” said Dr. Lawrence Purpura, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University.

Those with severe infections seem to be more at risk for long Covid, although it can also affect people with mild infections. Those whose infections cause severe lung damage including scarring may experience breathlessness, coughing or fatigue for more than a year. And a smaller group of patients with mild initial Covid-19 infections may develop neurologic symptoms for more than a year, including chronic fatigue and brain fog, Purpura said.

“The majority of patients will eventually recover,” he said. “It’s important for people to know that.”

It’s small consolation for the three women who helped the world recognize long Covid.

Perego, 44, developed heart, lung and neurologic problems and remains seriously ill.

She knows that scientists have learned a lot in a short time, but she says “there is a gap” between long Covid research and medical care.

“We need to translate scientific knowledge into better treatment and policy,” she said.

Watson, approaching 50, says she has “never had any kind of recovery.” She has had severe migraines, plus digestive, nerve and foot problems. Recently she developed severe anemia.

She wishes the medical community had a more organized approach to treating long Covid. Doctors say not knowing the underlying cause or causes makes that difficult.

“I just want my life back,” Watson said, “and it’s not looking like that’s all that possible.”

Serbia places its troops on Kosovo border on combat alert

PRISTINA, Kosovo—Serbia on Monday placed its security troops on the border with Kosovo on “the full state of combat readiness,” ignoring NATO’s calls for calming down of tensions between the two wartime Balkan foes.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he “ordered the full combat readiness” of police and other security units and that they be placed under the command of the army chief of staff according to “their operational plan.”

He said in a statement that he acted on the orders of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so that “all measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo.”

It was not immediately clear what this order meant on the ground as Serbian troops have been on alert for a while on the border with Kosovo. Officials claim alleged harassment of Kosovo Serbs by ethnic Albanians who are a majority in the breakaway province that declared its independence in 2008.

Earlier Monday, Nato-led peacekeepers said they were investigating a shooting incident in a tense northern region of Kosovo, urging calm as Serbia’s top military officials

other parties,” Hoffmann said on her social media channels December 16. “It is a puzzle, it takes time.”

That may help explain why the number of ministries will nearly double, to 37.

Centrist endorsements from former environment minister Marina Silva and Simone Tebet, who finished third in the presidential race’s first round, brought in votes from Brazil’s moderates—a demographic that grew leery of Lula since the sprawling Car Wash corruption probe landed him in jail in 2018. With their support,

he beat Bolsonaro by less than two percentage points. Many expected them to be quickly announced as ministers, but negotiations have dragged on.

Thomas Traumann, a political consultant, said delays reflect the fact the president-elect has had a central role in negotiations for positions.

inspected their troops on the border in a show of combat readiness.

The incident on Sunday evening took place in Zubin Potok, a town where local ethnic Serbs have been manning road barricades for the past two weeks and where tensions have been running high.

The peacekeepers, known as KFOR, said the incident happened near one of their patrols, involving unknown people. A statement said no one was injured and “we are working to establish all the facts.”

Serbia’s defense minister and the army’s chief of staff traveled to the border with Kosovo, praising the combat readiness of Serbian troops and their firepower, including howitzers and other military hardware. Serbia, which has been armed through Russian donations and military purchases, has been sabre rattling and threatening force against its former province for a long time.

Kosovo remains a potential flashpoint in the Balkans years after the 1998-1999 war that ended with Nato intervention. Serbia doesn’t recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of its former province, while Western efforts to mediate a solution so far have failed.

“People who helped him like Marina and Simone will have less stature than they would have had they been appointed shortly after he won,” Traumann said. “Lula’s luck is that moderates will view his administration like many leftist Democrats see (US President Joe) Biden: they might not like what they see, but it is better than the

“It is important for all involved to avoid any rhetoric or actions that can cause tensions and escalate the situation,” KFOR said in a statement. “We expect all actors to refrain from provocative shows of force and to seek the best solution to ensure the safety and security of all communities.”

Fears of violence have soared since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The United States and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence, while Serbia has relied on Russia and China in its bid to maintain claim on the province.

The rising tensions involve several issues amid international efforts to step up mediation efforts.

Most recently, ethnic Serbs in the north put up roadblocks in protest of an arrest of a former Serb police officer.

Serbs in the north previously had walked out of Kosovo’s institutions, claiming harassment by Kosovo authorities. Belgrade repeatedly has warned it would protect local Serbs “with all means” if they are attacked.

Kosovo’s government has asked NATO troops—which deployed in 1999 after the trans-Atlantic al-

alternative.”

Biden’s attempt to bridge the political chasm could offer an instructional, albeit dispiriting, model, said Brian Ott, a professor of communication at Missouri State University who has researched the stratifying impact of social media on American political discourse.

Early in his presidency, Biden did

liance bombed Serbia into leaving Kosovo—to remove the Serb roadblocks. Prime Minister Albin Kurti, KFOR commander Major General Angelo Michele Ristuccia and LarsGunnar Wigermark, who heads an EU law and order mission, met on Monday to discuss the situation, KFOR said on Twitter.

Kurti’s office said that “the common conclusion from this meeting is that freedom of movement should be restored and that there should be no barricades on any road.”

Serbia on Sunday held a toplevel meeting after the shooting incident, with the army chief of staff later heading to the southern town of Raska, near Kosovo, where Serbian army troops are located. Local media carried a video with shots and shouts heard, but not showing clearly what happened at one of the barricades.

Gen. Milan Mojsilovic told local media that the army received “clear and precise” directions from Serbia’s populist president, Vucic. Mojsilovic described the situation as “serious,” adding that it requires the “presence of the Serbian army along the administrative line” with Kosovo, state RTS television reported. AP

not shy away from the fact that he was governing in a polarized country and played up his bonafides as a throwback to a different era when Democrats and Republicans could battle on the Senate floor before repairing to the dining room to hammer out compromises. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

EX-JOURNO PUNAY

NAMED DSWD OFFICER-IN-CHARGE

AMID the ongoing government efforts to provide aid in flood-hit areas in Visayas and Mindanao, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr, has appointed former reporter Eduardo M. Punay as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

O n Tuesday, Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) OIC Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafil confirmed the new designation of Punay, who is currently an undersecretary of DSWD.

M arcos made the decision after the Commission on Appointments (CA) bypassed for the second time earlier this month, the appointment of Erwin T. Tulfo as secretary of DSWD due to issues on his citizenship.

Garafil said “an announcement will soon be made” on the status of Tulfo in the Cabinet.

DSWD welcomed the latest designation of Punay.

“ This is needed to ensure the continuous operations of the agency and that no activities will be derailed or hampered especially now that we need to provide assistance to those affected by weather disturbance in the country,” DSWD said in a statement on Tuesday.

A s of Monday, DSWD said it already provided more than P3.2 million worth of humanitarian aid in regions 8,9, and Caraga, which were affected by the heavy rains and flooding caused by the Shear Line and Northeast Monsoon.

It noted more than 34,700 families or 133,443 individuals were affected by the said weather disturbance.

B ased on its initial reports, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported at least 13 people from said rains and flooding.

Garafil said the President met with “several officials over various issues including giving immediate assistance to those affected by the shear line rainfall and flooding in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.”

S he also said Marcos is also closely monitoring the developments of government response in the affected areas.

Samuel P. Medenilla

DOH recommends extending state of calamity post Dec. 31

By Claudeth S. Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

THE Department of Health (DOH) has recommended the extension of the state of calamity in the Philippines to the Office of the President (OP) to ensure that the pandemic response will continue.

DOH officer-in-charge

Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has expressed worries that if the the state of calamity would not be extended, “We will be losing the different strategies that we are doing.”

“ We hope that the CDC law is passed and enacted,” Vergeire said in a news briefing, noting that the state of calamity due to Covid-19 is set to expire on December 31, 2022. Vergeire was referring to the creation of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control in the country.

Vergeire said that a memo has been submitted after the CDC bill was “not enacted on time.” she said.

“ We are just waiting for the official response of the Office of the President,” she said.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte declared  a six-month nationwide state of calamity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

W hen President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office in June, he extended the calamity period to December 31.

National govt expenditures in Nov. up 10% to ₧455B

By VG Cabuag @villygc

lion, down by 3.7 percent or almost P5 billion from a year ago as the government had more revenues than its spending.

“ The cumulative budget deficit as of end-November slowed to P1.2 trillion, 7.23 percent or P96.3 billion lower compared to the budget gap posted in the equivalent period last year and was at 75 percent of the P1.7 trillion full-year program,” the DOF said.

T he increase, the DOF said, was mainly attributed to the larger national tax allotment of local government units, disbursements from capital outlay projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, payouts for the social protection programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and releases for the yearend bonus and cash gift of government employees.

T his brings year-to-date disbursement of P4.5 trillion, or   91 percent  of the P5 trillion full-year program and outperforming the previous year’s 11-month total of P4.1 trillion by 10 percent or P406.8 billion.

Meanwhile, primary spending net of interest payment posted a 12 percent growth for November, reaching P428.9 bil-

lion. This brought the cumulative primary expenditure to P4.1 trillion, up by 9 percent or P349.6 billion.

November’s interest payments totaled P26.1 billion, decreasing by 16 percent or P5.1 billion from last year’s level. The resulting interest payments as of endNovember increased to P459.3 billion, 14 percent or P57.1 billion higher from the previous year.

I nterest payments accounted for 10 percent of the total expenditures for the January to November period, increasing by almost 10 percent a year ago. On the other hand, interest payments as a percentage of total revenue declined to 14 percent from the previous year’s 14.49 percent.

F or November, the DOF said its budget shortfall reached P123.9 bil -

R evenue collection for November rose to P331.1 billion, 16 percent  or P47. billion higher year-over-year. This brought the year-to-date collection to P3.3 trillion, 18 percent  or P503.1 billion above last year’s figure and representing 99 percent of the goal for the year.

Ta xes contributed P3 trillion or 90 percent to the total and registered 17 percent growth for the period. Meanwhile, the remaining balance of P317.7 billion from non-tax sources also improved by 24 percent  from the previous year’s level.

T he Bureau of Internal Revenue  raised P237.1 billion, net of P471million tax refund, for November. The BIR’s cumulative collection from January to November reached P2.2 trillion, some  12 percent or P240.6 billion, higher over the same period a year ago and  is  90 percent  of the P2.4 trillion 2022 program.

M eanwhile, collections by the Bureau of Customs stood at P75.7 billion,  bring -

ing the January to November collections to P789.2 billion. This is 35 percent or P206 billion higher than for the same period a year ago and surpassing this year’s P721.5-billion target by 9 percent or P67.7 billion.

T he Bureau of the Treasury  income, meanwhile,  declined in November to P5.3 billion, 13 percent or P806 million lower from last year, mainly due to the high base for dividend collections.

T he BTr’s year-to-date income of P148.2 billion surpassed the revenues it raised last year  by 23 percent or P27.6 billion, and has more than doubled the P61.2-billion original 2022 full-year program.

R evenues from other offices, other non-tax including privatization proceeds and fees and charges, for the month climbed to P12.9 billion, improving by 61 percent or P4.9 billion, over the previous year. It collected some P169.5 billion for the January-November period, which was 26 percent higher than the P134.4 billion registered in the same period last year.

D educting interest payments from expenditures, NG’s primary deficit for the month increased to P97.8 billion from 2021’s P97.5 billion. The total primary deficit from January to November of P776.5 billion showed a 16 percent or P153.5-billion decline from last year’s primary balance of P930 billion.

DA to resort to ‘zoning’ to avert onion oversupply

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing to use the “zoning” of suitable farmlands to prevent an oversupply of onions.

I n a televised interview on Tuesday, DA Deputy spokesperson Rex C. Estoperez disclosed they will use the scheme to identify the “zones,” which are most suitable for planting onions.

Currently, it is like there is a ‘litsong manok (roast chicken) syndrome,’ wherein if one [farmer] plants [onion], the others will follow, creating an oversupply and bringing its price down,” Estoperez explained.

He said the zoning will allow them to “balance” the interests of both farmers and consumers.

DA issued the statement as the price of onions has now reached P460 to P520 per kilo from just P260 to P280 per kilo before, owing to a supply shortage.

T his has prompted some lawmakers to demand an investigation on the cause of the spike in the prices of onions.   F or their part, Estoperez said they intensified their monitoring against smuggled onions and those who are involved in the possible price and supply manipulation of the commodity.

“ The commitment of our monitoring team is that before the end of the year, we will identify with the help of civil society, [the onion] smugglers,” the agriculture official said.

H e also reiterated the government has no plans to use importation to address the supply shortage since the harvest season for onions will start next month thus increasing its supply in the market.

THE national government spending in November reached P455 billion, P42.3 billion or 10 percent higher than the same period last year, data from the Department of Finance showed.

VERGEIRE

FOR THE NEW YEAR Rounded fruits are seen at a stall along CP Garcia in Quezon City, on Tuesday, December 27, 2022. The rounded fruits symbolize coins or money, thus prompting the tradition to have 12 kinds of such fruits on New Year's Eve, to invite prosperity and abundance for the household. NONOY LACZA

Glitches hit SIM registration Ayala bags highest rating from CDP

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

The first day of SIM registration was not exactly smooth sailing for all three telco players, an expectation that turned into reality as official registration platforms suffered glitches and one was even forced to temporarily go offline.

Globe Telecom Inc. announced the temporary shutdown of its SIM registration portal on Tuesday, but promised to get it back online “within the day.”

a s of press time, its registration website is still down. Several Globe subscribers, however, were able to access the site and register between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m., “but the portal temporarily went offline as the site is being optimized.”

“We would like to thank our customers for going in to register early. Technical teams are working double time so the online platform can go live before the day ends. Rest assured that we are optimizing our systems to give you a better registration experience. We’d also like to remind our customers that there is enough time to register,” said yoly C. Crisanto, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications of the Globe Group.

She said Globe has been preparing for the implementation of the SIM Reg-

istration l aw but had to recalibrate its system within just 15 days given the release of new guidelines under the implementing rules and regulations (IRR), including the verification step through a “selfie.”

The IRR of Republic act (R a) 11934 was released on December 12.

“We ask our customers for their understanding as we experience these birth pains given this massive deployment of software. We’re setting the stage for our customers to have a good digital experience,” Crisanto said.

Meanwhile, Smart Communications Inc.’s registration portal had a few moments of glitches, displaying a 502 Bad Gateway Message, indicating that servers weren’t communicating with each other properly.

Postpaid subscribers had it easier. at least in Smart’s case, this reporter just needed to confirm his identity by sending “yes” to 5858.

For its part, a spokesman from Dito

Telecommunity Corp. said the registration process for the third telco was “generally smooth,” noting that as of 3 p.m., about 208,039 subscribers have been registered.

a day before the start of the registrations, the telcos and even the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) admitted that they expect “birthing pains” for the maiden implementation of the SIM Registration l aw.

This includes early attempts by scammers and bad actors to use fake registration sites to hack devices, as well as the need to fine-tune some implementation processes.

In response to this, ICT Undersecretary a nna Mae y l a mentillo said the agency has launched a 24/7 complaint center where the public can report issues related to SIM registration.

l a mentillo said the 24/7 complaint center will serve as a “support system” for the implementation of the SIM registration as this will provide a platform where SIM subscribers can report their concerns or provide suggestions on how the process can be improved.

“[W]e launched a 24/7 complaint center so that concerns can be reported immediately and acted upon promptly.”

The Complaint Center for the SIM Registration will be under the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency of the DICT.

l a mentillo said the first two weeks of the implementation of the SIM registration is considered a test period,

wherein some glitches or technical issues are expected as the public telecommunications entities fine-tune their respective processes.

‘Enhances accountability’

R EP Ron P. Salo of the K a Baya N Partylist reminded telco users that they have 180 days to comply with the law.

“The people should not be worried if they are not immediately able to register their SIMs for the law provides a 180-day period to comply, which may be extended if necessary,” Salo said in a statement. “I am also reminding the NTC [National Telecommunications Commission] and network providers to continually improve their systems to meet the demands of this law. I urge them to make the registration process as seamless as possible to make it much easier for our citizens to comply with the law.”

The IRR of R a 11934 indicated that all users are required to register their SIMs with their respective networks. Failure to register will result in the deactivation of their SIMs.

“The SIM Registration l aw enhances accountability among users in the use of mobile communications through mandatory registration. It aims to deter unscrupulous individuals from committing illegal acts through the use of mobile networks by making users’ identities known,” Salo said.

“I commend the Filipino people for their enthusiasm to comply with this law. It just shows our citizens are lawabiding and they support our government’s initiative for an orderly society.”

With a report from Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

By VG Cabuag @villygc

Ayala Corp. on Tuesday said it received the highest rating among the local conglomerates from the United Kingdom-based Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

This year, ayala received a B rating, higher than the a sia regional average of C. Based on the report from CDP—the world’s largest, most comprehensive dataset on environmental action—ayala received very high scores in the areas of governance, opportunity disclosure and risk management processes.

ay ala l a nd Inc., its property development unit, also maintained its a - rating, besting other real estate companies in the Philippines. Globe Telecom Inc., the mobile phone operator, maintained its B rating. Meanwhile, both Bank of the Philippine Islands and a C EN Corp. received scores on a par with the a s ia regional average, with BPI besting other Philippine banks.

“We’re very happy with the scores ay ala and its business units received from the CDP. These scores play an important role in keeping our companies on track when it

comes to climate action,” said a lb ert de l a rrazabal, ay ala’s chief financial, sustainability and risk management officer.

“These not only prove our strong commitment to protecting the environment but also our strong adherence to the highest standards of disclosure.”

In 2021, ayala became the first Philippine company to commit to a net zero target by 2050, aligning its business strategy with the Paris a g reement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to preindustrial levels.

Founded in 2000, CDP was the first platform to leverage investor pressure to influence corporate disclosure on environmental impact. The insights that CDP holds empower investors, companies, cities and national and regional governments to make the right choices today to build a thriving economy that works for people and planet in the long term.

according to CDP, a record-breaking 18,700+ companies representing half of global market capitalization disclosed through CDP in 2022, some 42 percent more than last year, and over 233 percent more than when the Paris a g reement was signed in 2015.

Top Japan bankers see negative rates to stay

By Taiga Uranaka | Bloomberg

TOP executives at Japan’s biggest banks are expecting negative interest rates to linger and see little immediate earnings boost after a surprise move by the nation’s central bank pushed lenders’ shares up by 13 percent last week.

Earnings won’t enjoy a meaningful lift unless the Bank of Japan scraps negative interest, according to three senior executives, who asked not to be identified discussing central bank policy in public.

But the BOJ is unlikely to immediately raise interest rates—even after a change of governor in April —unless an outsider is chosen to lead the institution, one executive said. It may be difficult for insiders to break with existing policy, the person added.

Most economists surveyed by Bloomberg see BOJ veterans as the best choices for the position, with current Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya and former Deputy Governor Hiroshi Nakaso leading the list. The central bank may also risk losing a chance to hike rates if the global economy suffers a sharp slowdown next year, another executive said.

The lukewarm reaction from executives compares with investors and strategists who are growing more bullish on Japan bank stocks, saying the BOJ’s move to allow 10-year bond yields to rise to around 0.5 percent is a precursor to a broader policy shift. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees an “increased likelihood,” of abandoning negative interest rates.

Spokespeople for Japan’s secondand third-biggest lenders, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc., declined to comment on BOJ policy. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the nation’s largest bank, also declined to comment.

Shares of Japan’s benchmark index of banking stocks surged 13% last week in the wake of the policy adjustment, which caught global financial markets by surprise.

Morgan Stanley strategists upgraded their view on Japanese lenders “as a hedge,” saying the move is positive for bank earnings and valuations as they lifted the sector to overweight from equal weight.

Still, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday stressed that the bank’s latest tweaks on its bond yield control program were not the beginning of an exit of monetary easing, but a way to make it sustainable and run smoothly.

Banking&Finance

‘Inflation persists as workers’ burden’

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

HIGH inflation will persist in the new year and compound the suffering of workers who are even now reeling from a lack of quality employment opportunities, a labor group said on Tuesday.

With this, jobseekers are facing a bleak employment outlook in 2023, the group added.

In a statement on Tuesday, Par-

tido Manggagawa (PM) said the high inflation rate, which already reached 8 percent last month, is expected to continue to make it

difficult for workers to make ends meet, especially with meager minimum wage rates.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier said the high cost of living may continue until early 2023.

“High inflation would still be a problem which would widen the gap between an average workers’ wage and the cost of living not only in Metro Manila but in most regions outside of Luzon where wages are somewhat low compared to Metro Manila but inflation is high,” PM chairman Renato Magtubo said.

The labor leader also expressed concern over the high number of underemployed workers or those people wanting more hours of work,

which rose to 6.67 million last Oct. from 5.62 million in the same period last year.

PM said this “translates to more than a million Filipinos working as casual, contractual or informal in 2022.”

“While small businesses were slowly recuperating, formal and informal workers continued bleeding from wage and income erosion, job losses, and a fall in employment quality,” it noted.

Magtubo said the prospects of small businesses and workers are made worse by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s failure to disclose his labor agenda.

“Both [small businesses and work-

ers] are far from recovering next year because of the above challenges,” Magtubo said.

PM and other labor groups have been pushing for the government to grant their proposed P100 nationwide across-the-board legislated increase and a comprehensive employment road map to ensure decent working conditions for employees in the coming years.

Earlier this month, the government economic managers announced the approval of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

The plan includes boosting support for micro enterprises and skills training so workers will have better employment opportunities.

GCash offers shopping protection amid report on online scam surge

By Roderick L Abad @rodrik_28

CHRISTMAS is over but the holiday spirit continues with various sales promos available both online and offline. As more local consumers still prefer to purchase on the web to avoid traffic jams and mall queues, swindlers on the internet are also on the rise.

In fact, TransUnion’s study on global trends in digital scam shows that shipping fraud was among the top significant threats, growing by 780.5 percent from 2020 to 2021. They committed such illicit activity by using a fake website or a bogus item on a legitimate retailer’s portal to pose as trusted online sellers, as well as controlling product pages

and posting a big number of sham positive reviews and testimonials to make the products look real and of high quality.

In the Philippines, TransUnion, a global information and insights company, said suspected digital holiday shopping fraud in the Philippines was 70 percent higher than the same period in 2021, and 2 percent higher than during the rest of 2022.

“Fraudulent activity tends to be particularly prevalent in online retail during the holiday shopping season,” Pia Arellano, president and CEO of TransUnion Philippines, was quoted in a previous BusinessMirror report.

With this in mind, GCash is pitching its Online Shopping Protect so

virtual buyers can now  have a peace of mind making a purchase sans having to double- or triple-check reviews that turn out to be unreliable.

In partnership with global insurance firm Chubb, the e-wallet app provider combats online fraud with this new offering by seamlessly incorporating protection coverage into online transactions done through ecommerce platforms such as Shopee, Zalora, and Tiktok.

For only P34 per month, users can have eligible purchases protected from shipping errors up to 60 days upon receipt of products. Items paid with GCash and covered by Online Shopping Protect are also shielded from other online buying mishaps if they end up being incomplete, wrong,

defective, undelivered, fake, accidentally damaged, or stolen.

Those wishing to avail of this purchase insurance may just select GCash as payment method in the e-commerce platform. Leave the Online Shopping Protect checkbox ticked when redirected to the GCash payment portal. Provide consent to protect purchases by tapping the “Yes, Protect My Shopping” button, and complete the transaction.

While Online Shopping Protect covers most of purchases, this excludes the following: items below P250; electronic items and equipment over P10,000; jewelry, precious metals/gemstones, and watches worth more than P5,000; counter-

feit or fake goods; concert tickets; monthly-paid subscriptions; perishable goods or products, such as perfume, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals; animals, livestock, or living plants; cash, cheques, real estate, stocks, shares, bonds, currencies, or digital assets; vehicles and equipment and/or parts necessary for their operation; firearms, art, antiques, and collectible items; items confiscated or declared illegal by any government, customs, or public body.

GCash app is downloadable on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Huawei App Gallery. Register, get verified and #AlwaysProtekTODO when shopping online by getting Online Shopping Protect.

EGYPT’S banks will help secure the necessary dollars to clear a backlog of imports within four days, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Monday.

The remarks, during a televised event, offered potential end date for an overhang in commodities that’s helped fuel demand for the US currency on the black market.

Officials have been working to clear an import backlog estimated at over $5 billion in December—with goods building up at ports large due to a letter of credit requirement imposed earlier by the central bank but which authorities have vowed to lift soon.

The president’s comments come amid expectations of another devaluation in the pound following two earlier ones this year.

The International Monetary Fund had repeatedly urged authorities to embrace greater flexibility in the exchange rate—a step that helped Egypt secure a $3 billion package from the Washington-based lender.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, speaking at the same event, said around $5 billion worth of commodities had been released from the ports between Dec. 1-23 and that another $9.5 billion in goods remain at the docks.

Egypt last week hiked interest rates by 300 basis points, the most since 2016, seeking to tackle surging inflation amid expectations of a further devaluation of the pound. The Monetary Policy Committee raised the deposit rate to 16.25 percent and the lending rate to 17.25 percent, it said Thursday in a statement. Although the majority of economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted an increase, none foresaw the magnitude.

The jumbo hike comes as Egypt faces its worst foreign-exchange crunch in half a decade and the fastest acceleration in inflation in almost five years. Authorities in the Middle East’s most populous country have devalued the local currency twice in 2022, most recently at the end of October, enacting sharp rate rises in both instances.

Hit hard by the economic shockwaves of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Egypt has sought crucial aid from allies in the Gulf and turned to the International Monetary Fund to help restore confidence in local assets. The IMF last week approved a $3 billion loan for Egypt, a deal that’s expected to unlock additional financing of about $14 billion from international and regional partners.

Bloomberg News

“Live

ON December 10, 2022, the Development Center for Finance (DCF) celebrated its 30th anniversary at the North Alumni Court, Cesar E. A. Virata School of Business, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

DCF was established as a joint undertaking between the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and the Virata School of Business (VSB) of the University of the Philippines (UP) on December 10, 1992. It was set up to meet the expectation of US AID Project Report dated September 18, 1992, whereby FINEX, being the recipient of a US AID grant for Capital Markets Development Project was to set up a self-sustaining private sector center for capital market education, training,

research, and policy development. The Center was to be affiliated with a distinguished institution for higher learning.

Over the 30-year period, DCF has offered 136 public seminars, 93 in-house seminars and has trained a total of about 8,616 participants.

One significant program the Center has done is the agreement with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that started in 2010 for the PSEDCF Certified Securities Specialist Course. This intensive training program is in recognition of the importance of an effective investor education program in order to develop the

Philippine capital market, uphold the integrity of the stock exchange, and educate the general public about the fundamental principles of savings and investments. It runs for some 127 hours representing 13 modules. A mock examination is given at the end of the course.

The Center has published books

n Philippine Corporate Finance Volume 1, 2nd Edition

Edited by: Professor Emeritus Roy C. Ybañez, Professor Alberto R. Ilano (2009)

Volume 2

Edited by: Professor Emeritus Roy C. Ybañez, Professor Alberto R. Ilano (1998)

n Management Accounting and Control: Readings and Cases, 2nd edition

Edited by: Dr. Arthur S. Cayanan, Professor Emeritus Rafael A. Rodriguez, Professor Emeritus Erlinda S. Echanis (2022)

n Investment Management and the Philippine Stock Market

Edited by: Professor Alberto R. Ilano, Mr. Roberto S. Mariano, Professor Emeritus Roy C. Ybañez (2003)

n Cases in Corporate Governance (jointly with UP Business Research Foundation)

Edited by: Professor Emeritus Erlinda S. Echanis, Professor Emeritus Rafael A. Rodriguez, Dr. Arthur S. Cayanan (2020)

n Readings in Corporate Governance (jointly with UP Business Research Foundation)

Edited by: Professor Emeritus Emerlinda R. Roman, Professor Emeritus Roy C. Ybañez, Dr. Ben Paul B. Gutierrez, (2020)

Several advocacy researches have been undertaken by DCF through the members of the VSB faculty. Among them are:

n Financial condition and reporting practices of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation by Dr. Dani Rose Salazar and Professor Seung Woog Kwag

n Financial condition and reporting practices of the Philippine Health Insurance Company by Dr. Dani Rose Salazar

n A study of the performance and financial reporting practices of the Light Rail Transit Authority by Professor Jerelleen Rodriguez

Pricing in Regulated Industries:

n The price of water: Areas of controversy by Dr. Daniel Borja and Dr. Lorna Paredes

n Rate setting in the regulated sectors of the electric power industry in the Philippines by Dr. Helen Valderrama and Dr. Mia Rey

n Pricing in regulated industries: The telecommunications sector by Dr. Arthur Cayanan and Dr. Ivy Suan Public fora were conducted to discuss highlights of the advocacy researches.

For its 30th anniversary celebration, DCF offered three complimentary public webinars in 2022:

1. T he Basics of Investing, given by Dr. Arthur S. Cayanan

2. Basic Business Finance, given by Ms. Carmen V.F. Seriña

3. Simple Business Guide with Basic Accounting in the Digital Era, given by Ms. Normita Lansang-Villaruz

In the last three decades, the Center has sustained itself with a number of programs and initiatives supported by a sound financial position. More programs and initiatives may be expected as it continues its developmental journey. It is a good showcase of a successful joint undertaking between a distinguished institution of higher learning and a professional group.

Conchita L. Manabat is the President of the Development Center

FINEX and past

of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes,

the Chair of the IAFEI Advisory Council. She is a member of the Consultative Advisory Groups of the International Auditing & Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

Egypt’s banks to help clear import backlog in 4 days, El-Sisi says

as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

Dr.

for Finance. A past President of

Chair

she serves as

HAPPILY DATING

HOW true is the rumor that a beautiful actress who is separated from her husband is dating a beauty queen and they now kind of live together? The beauty queen has her own place but she spends most of her days at the actress’ house. It’s not clear how long the relationship has been going on but the actress and the beauty queen are part of a group of friends and so for months, no one even questioned why they were always together. The beauty queen has, in the past, acknowledged that she is a lesbian. She was recently in a relationship with another actress who now has a boyfriend. Meanwhile, the actress’ ex-husband is also an actor.

RUMORS AND TRUTHS

BECAUSE of pictures posted and not posted on social media over the holidays, there are rumors that the actress and her rich boyfriend have called it quits. Netizens say the split was caused by the boyfriend’s continued failure to ask her to marry him. Of course no one knows what’s really happening except the parties concerned, but is known is that it’s true the guy’s family doesn’t like the actress. They do like her and have, in fact, enlisted her help in promoting some of their businesses. One of the guy’s family members has also entered into business with the actress.

AN EMBARRASSMENT

THE former government official was accused of assault by a hotel employee while on a trip abroad. He was on a sort of business trip when this happened. Financial arrangements were made to compensate the alleged victim and these were made by government employees who were there in an official capacity. It’s scary because if what happened is true, the official has held many positions of public trust over the years—which means this incident could have happened many times already without being reported. This recent incident is said to be reason why the former government official’s wife (temporarily) left public service. She was there when it happened and she must have been mortified and embarrassed.

THE CULPRIT

THE beautiful actress is once again embroiled in a controversy after another actress said her boyfriend’s screen partner was visiting his house while they were already a couple. The thing is that, according to sources, it’s not this beautiful actress but another one, who is also lovely and talented. At the time, the second actress was already the actor’s ex. The actor was already dating his current girlfriend but he never told his ex about it so she assumed they could still flirt around as they were both single. The girl eventually met someone else and they are still together to this day.

Rapper Tory Lanez convicted of shooting Megan Thee Stallion

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—In a courtroom that turned chaotic after a trial that seethed with tension, a Los Angeles jury on Friday found rapper Tory Lanez guilty of three felonies in the 2020 shooting of hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion. The attack left her wounded with bullet fragments in her feet and Lanez’s conviction could send him to prison for more than 20 years.

Lanez, who was put in handcuffs and led to jail while wearing a powder pink coat with matching pants, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read. But moments later, after the jury was escorted out, his father, Sonstar Peterson, leapt up and shouted “This wicked system stands judged before God almighty!” as deputies closed in on him.

Peterson then pointed to the two prosecutors and yelled “You two are evil, wicked people. You know exactly what you did.”

With considerable effort, deputies wrestled him from the courtroom, where he shouted in the hallway. The jury of seven women and five men deliberated

CINEMALAYA CALLS FOR SHORT FILM ENTRIES FOR 2023 EDITION

RENOWNEd annual film festival Cinemalaya has announced that it is now accepting entries for the Short Film category for its 2023 edition.

Interested filmmakers must submit their application on or before March 3, 2023, 6 pm.

They may submit their requirements either online by following the official link at bit.ly/ Cinemalaya2023ShortFilmCallforEntries, or onsite at the Film, Broadcast, and New Media division, design Center of the Philippines (CCP Annex) at Vicente Sotto corner Magdalena Jalandoni Streets, Pasay City.

For online submission, requirements include online entry form, uploaded film, and filmmaker’s profile.

For offsite submission, entries must include: the duly completed application form; the final work in MP4 format with violator saved on USB, properly labeled with the title, production company address

and contact numbers, production date, director’s name and running time; synopsis in English; and a brief résumé and two recent 2x2 photos of the filmmaker(s). Entries must be submitted in a long brown envelope properly labeled with the proponent’s name, title and contact details.

The 10 best short films will be informed on May 26, 2023, and will compete for the Best Short Film award during the 2023 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival from August 4 to 13, 2023.

Fresh from its successful 18th edition, Cinemalaya is an all-digital film competition that aims to discover, encourage and support the cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity.

More information is available at www.cinemalaya. org or www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.

since Thursday before convicting the 30-year-old Canadian rapper, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.

Jurors also agreed that there were aggravating factors in the attack, meaning Lanez could face up to 22 years in prison and deportation when is is sentenced on January 25.

Three young children, including Lanez’s son, sat in the front row of the courtroom while the verdict was read. A young girl cried and was hugged by Lanez’s stepmother, who was also tearful before she began shouting along with her husband.

Others in the audience shouted agreement, and one woman shouted “we love you Tory” as he was led away. Supporters of Megan and Lanez gathered outside the courthouse for most of the eight-day trial and crowded the courtroom and the hallway.

The scene was tense at times, but remained mostly peaceful until the verdict was read.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified during the trial that Lanez fired a handgun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding in the Hollywood Hills in the summer of 2020. She said the two had gotten into a dispute that became especially heated when she started insulting his music.

She needed surgery to remove bullet fragments from her feet.

After the verdict, her lawyer, Alex Spiro said “the jury got it right” and said he was “thankful there is justice for Meg.”

Lanez’s lawyer George Mgdesyan said they were “shocked by the verdict.”

“There was not sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Peterson,” Mgdesyan said in a statement. “We believe this case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We will be exploring all options including an appeal.”

The shooting set off a storm of cultural issues and arguments that peaked during the trial, including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, the protection of Black women, gender politics in hip-hop, and online toxicity.

In closing arguments, prosecutors emphasized the courage it took for Megan come forward and the vitriol the 27-year-old faced for it. They said she had no incentive to tell anything but the truth.

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: John Legend, 44; Denzel Washington, 68; Edgar Winter, 76; Dame Maggie Smith, 88.

HAppY BIRTHDAY: Communication will be essential if you want to avoid trouble. Stick to the script, verify the information you receive and avoid emotional spending that can upset your financial status. Carefully look at a change you want to make, and consider how reasonable your expectations are before you begin. Preparation and organization will make differences to the outcome. Protect your health and reputation. Your numbers are 4, 16, 19, 25, 34, 38, 43.

aARIES (March 21-April 19): Move forward with optimism and the intention of bringing about positive change. Plan your actions carefully, and reach out to people who offer different points of view. A joint venture will lead to greater prosperity. Romance is favored. HHHH

bTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Change begins with knowledge, experience and the desire to be current and efficient. Don’t let someone’s uncertainty hinder your ability to do what’s best for you. Don’t feel responsible for the incompetence of others. Do what’s right. HHH

cGEMINI (May 21-June 20): Before you begin to celebrate, clear up unfinished business. Deal with people and the problems that are holding you back. Put more effort into what you want. Focus on fitness, preparation and achieving what you set out to do. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Keep your secrets to yourself. Someone will use the information you share against you if given a chance. Be smart, and deal with partnerships fairly. Offer incentives, and the rewards will exceed your expectations. Launch the changes you want to make. HHH

eLEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Refuse to let what others do or say tilt you in a direction that isn’t going to help or define you or what you want to pursue. Be aggressive, and make your decisions clear. Nothing happens overnight, but each step you take matters. HHHH

fVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Be direct, say what’s on your mind and refuse to get caught in someone’s lies or emotional problems. Protect yourself from negativity or risks that can affect your health or emotional well-being. HH

gLIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t share your plans with peers. Someone you least expect will leak information that that can hurt your status and reputation. Focus on an opportunity, and prepare to work hard to accomplish your goal. HHHHH

hSCORpIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Listen, digest the information and make changes based on legitimate mandates. You have lots to offer and plenty to lose if you don’t verify the information. Do the groundwork and consider doing your own thing rather than getting involved in a joint venture. HHH

iSAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Trust the experience you have to help you ascertain who is in your corner. Refuse to let vague information or a false implication lead to a mistake. If you want something done, do it yourself. HHH

jCApRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Refuse to let someone from your past disrupt your personal life. Consider what will make you happy, and assess what it will take to turn your intentions into something concrete. HHH

kAQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Use your energy wisely. Channel your drive into something that will help you advance, not into bailing out someone who doesn’t reciprocate. It’s time to change your strategy and focus on what makes you happy and brings you closer to your lifelong goal. HHHHH

lpISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You’ll face difficulties if you get into an emotional situation based on false information. Take a step back and assess whatever problem you face before you initiate a change. HH

BIRTHDAY BABY: You are unique, expressive and flexible. You are persuasive and creative.

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

‘closed minded’ BY ALAN MASSENGILL

The Universal Crossword/Edited by Amanda

Rafkin

RAppER Tory Lanez (left) and Megan Thee Stallion AP

P&G He ALTH, MedIcAL exPeRTS

AddReSS PeRIPHeR AL NeUROPATHY AMONG dIABeTIc PATIeNTS

By Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

THE number of diabetic patients in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and African regions is projected to rise from 393 million in 2021 to 603 million by 2045. Of these, more than half are reported to develop peripheral neuropathy in their lifetimes.

Procter and Gamble Health, the health-care division of the multinational consumer goods company P&G, recently brought together multidisciplinary medical experts from across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at the “Winning the Fight Against Neuropathy in Diabetic Patients” forum ahead of World Diabetes Day on November 14.

The event, which was hosted out of Manila and simulcasted to more than 10 countries and 3,000 participants, saw the rollout of clinical guidance on simple diagnostic procedure for peripheral neuropathy and sharing of clinical experiences by health-care professionals working in the field, one of whom is Dr. Rayaz Malik.

Malik is a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a consultant physician at the Central Manchester University Teaching Hospital. Speaking at the forum, he shared that peripheral neuropathy is highly underdiagnosed in Southeast Asia and the Middle East due to a lack of consensus guidance on routine screening and diagnostic pathways. Further, this complication often progresses asymptomatically.

“It’s kind of silent, almost,” said Malik. “Why do you go to the doctor? Because you’ve got pain somewhere. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is different because your nerves aren’t working. You don’t feel pain, so you don’t go to the doctor,” he added.

If not diagnosed and treated early, DPN can manifest with neuropathic pain that can lead to disability and even death.

“A long time ago, somebody called it a ‘Cinderella’ complication. When you think of diabetes, you think of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failures. But actually, peripheral neuropathy is more common than any of those complications. At least 50 percent of people diagnosed with diabetes get it,” said Malik.

DPN can also sometimes cause other medical problems, such as foot ulcers, heart rhythm changes and blood circulation problems.

If a patient with diabetes gets a wound infection, there’s a risk this could lead to gangrene and, in some cases, may result in amputation.

“This has a major impact on the quality of life [of the patients as] foot ulceration and amputation [have] an associated five-year mortality of 40 percent and 80 percent, respectively,” Malik said.

The first critical step to combating peripheral neuropathy is to increase the public’s awareness of the complication and communicate with patients a sense of urgency to seek medical consultation, according to him.

“While identifying a patient with early onset DPN may sound challenging, it is not and doesn’t require complex diagnostic tools to diagnose peripheral neuropathy. Simple tools like questionnaires and sensory tests can be a good start,” said Malik.

Diagnostic screening questionnaires, such as the McGill Pain Questionnaire, NeuroQoL and Neuropathy Symptom Score, are available and accessible to most health-care professionals.

Other commonly used tools for screening and diagnosing peripheral neuropathy include the monofilament test, ankle reflex and vibration perception testing.

The most simple method is to ask patients at the onset of their consultation if they experience burning or tingling, like “pins and needles,” or lancinating pains in their feet, and if these symptoms are often worse at night.

“By asking the right questions and listening to the patient, we can help them avoid severe complications. The primary care physician has a key role to play in this,” he added.

When asked about the recommended course of treatment for DPN, Malik said it would be based on the patient’s individual needs and comprehensive treatment targets depending on their peripheral neuropathy.

“Having higher glucose [levels], high blood pressure, and cholesterol—these are medical risk factors that you can treat, and it’s been shown that if you can improve these, you can delay the progression of your complication,” said Malik.

Best gift for yourself

PEOPLE often confuse giving to the point they forget that the first person they should give to is themselves. As the saying goes, you cannot give out of an empty cup. And in a season where giving is better than receiving, people often get lost in the social obligations to give gifts when they should first be refilling their empty cups.

As we begin another year, I hope you can take the time to evaluate how much you have given yourself the past year in terms of investing in your personal and professional growth. I have always believed that the best gift you can give yourself is to grow by investing in your own development because the better you are at what you do, the more people will appreciate you and help you achieve your goals. This year, give yourself the gift of a better you.

Start by identifying what you really want to accomplish next year and identifying the milestones that will indicate if you are near to achieving your goals. Most people plan and just look at their goals as the end all and be all. By identifying milestones, you can pace yourself and redirect efforts when a milestone becomes difficult to achieve. Life goals are rarely done in a straight line. By identifying milestones, you can easily avoid pitfalls and blockages by taking one step at a time. One goal you might like to learn is saying “no” more often. You need to evaluate what you have done for others the past year that have contributed to your own professional development and self-fulfillment. If you do more work for others than you do for yourself, you need to take back the time for yourself by saying “no” more often. That time could have been spent saying “yes” to activities that you enjoy doing, or activities that will help you improve the way you do your work.

Another goal you might like to achieve is adopting an attitude of gratitude. Be thankful for what you have and be content with what has been given to you. Much of the frustrations in your personal and professional life come from not being content with what you have, demanding to be given more than what you really need, or even comparing yourself to what others have. There is nothing wrong with wanting to become better and striving to be comfortable. But when others become the yardstick to measure your own happiness, you will perpetually be wanting more because there will always be someone better than you. If you want to have more, make sure that you want it for yourself and not because others have it.

To guide you in pursuing the best version of yourself, find someone who can mentor you. A mentor is someone who can help you improve an aspect of your life. This means you can have a mentor for your career development and another mentor for your personal life. This will depend on what you want to accomplish within a time frame and your personal life goals. You can find a mentor within your own circle, but you can also choose someone who is an expert in another field. The goal is to find someone who is willing to take the time to teach you and show you how they succeeded.

To help you become aware of your own biases and the way you think, write down your reflections in a

journal so you can notice patterns. One of the best tools for self-evaluation are your written thoughts because they help you see yourself from a third person perspective. It also allows you to understand how you reacted during certain times in your life and evaluate what made you think and act that way. Most of all, it will help you analyze how you react to certain situations and what triggered you to react the way you did. By knowing these, you can plan how you react the next time a similar situation happens.

Investing in yourself is actually your gift to others. By being a better person, you bring more joy and laughter to others. At work, when you improve the way you do your tasks and help others when they need it, you help create an environment where work becomes enjoyable and people look forward to working with you. At the very least, when you do your work as you are supposed to and you work professionally with others, you make it easier for others to do their work. By improving the way you do your tasks, people will appreciate you more and come to your aid when you need them.

You might also want to develop your network by reaching out to others and getting to know more people in the organization. I know of people who have worked in the same company for decades and yet do not know one single person from a different department. There are cases when someone’s role

AS we reflect on the past 12 months and reset our to-do list with new hopes and dreams, let us prepare ourselves for the possible challenges. Events may not always go as planned. When there is a particular resistance hindering your goals, you may feel angry, annoyed or disappointed. Remember: These emotions are common and valid.

“The choices that you make when faced with frustration can determine whether you will experience growth, decline, or stagnation,” seasoned psychotherapist Sean Grover, L.C.S.W., explained.

Grover, a sought-after inspirational speaker, designer of award-winning youth programs and author of Publisher Weekly’s Best New Nonfiction When Kids Call the Shots: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully and Enjoy Parenting Again, understands that some have difficulties to address the situation and choose the right path.

“Confronting it is the fuel that drives maturity,” he added. “When you engage and resolve frustration, you trigger a leap in maturity, a surge of confidence and a healthy burst of self-esteem.”

The Benilde Well-Being Center (BWC) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde likewise encourages everyone to usher in a more positive, productive and fruitful new year with a renewed energy to face life’s adversities.

BWC echoed and shared Grover’s five-step process in transforming frustration into fuel, as shared on www.sychologyToday.com, one of the world’s largest publishing enterprises exclusively dedicated to mental health and behavioral science.

Here are some reminders to embrace this coming 2023:

1. Confront frustrations. At the root of it all is discomfort. Chances are you are dissatisfied. Perhaps you feel stuck at work or unhappy in a relationship.

has limited interdepartmental interaction but this should not stop you from getting to know others from another team. Take the time to interact with others and get to know someone from another part of your organization. You might just be surprised what they can teach you about yourself and the management.

Now is also the best time to organize and declutter. If there is one thing you can do for yourself, it is to organize your work desk and throw away things that you do not need. I have always made it a point to leave the top of my desk clean before every weekend. This helps me know which are the common things I need every day and keep those that I use occasionally. By keeping your desk clean and clutter-free, you have more space to do your tasks for the day.

To know how much you have invested yourself, make a list of what you want to accomplish next year and tick them off after completing them. And at the end of the year, reward yourself as a reminder of how much you have gained for the year and as an added motivation to keep getting better.

The best gift you can give yourself is to become the best version of yourself. To do this, you need to set aside time, effort and resources so you can focus on what matters the most. When you value yourself enough to invest in your own improvement, you will draw others who will take the time, effort and resources to also invest in you. n

This leads to tense moments and more stress.

2. Set determined goals. It is now time to consider your options. How can you confront the situation? What steps can you take to address it? Who are the players involved? Engaging frustration is never easy, but personal determination awakens courage. Consider options. Journal your concerns. Make a list. Plan. Rehearse. Gather support.

3. Test. Anxiety can spike when you confront problems. You may experience doubts and pushbacks. Others may be critical of you. They may discourage you, deny your requests or undermine your plans. Obstacles frequently appear during this time. Remember: an object moving forward through space meets resistance. It is the same when you push yourself out of your comfort zone and take chances.

4. The tipping point. Do you back down from the challenge or do you press forward despite resistance? The tipping point is both exciting and terrifying. If you quit, lose your patience, or do something destructive, you return to step one: frustration. This doesn’t mean you failed. It means you have to start again.

5. The breakthrough. Hang in there. Do not quit. Persevere. Your breakthrough will come. It may be a surge of confidence, maturity or self-esteem. Each time you make it through these five steps, you will feel inspired and enlivened.

PHOTO BY SOPHI RAJU ON UNSPLASH

PHOTO BY TIM GOUW ON UNSPLASH

BDO Foundation upgrades 5 health centers in Batangas, Bohol and Cebu

AS part of its contributions to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal no. 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of all people of all ages, BDO Foundation continued to rehabilitate rural health units (RHUs) in underserved communities across the country.

The corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank recently completed the rehabilitation of Agoncillo Health Center and San Luis RHU II in Batangas, Sibonga Municipal Health Office in Cebu, and Rural Health Unit Buenavista and Tubigon Municipal Health Office in Bohol. The foundation has successfully upgraded 131 health centers since 2012.

The corporate citizenship initiative is in line with the foundation’s advocacy to help improve the healthcare delivery system in the country. The program is made possible by officers of BDO and BDO Network Bank branches, who recommend health centers that need assistance.

Guided by municipal health officers, BDO Foundation improved the aforementioned health centers’ layout and interior design, lobbies and waiting areas, offices, birthing clinics, consultation and treatment rooms,

facilities, furniture and fixtures. Using available space, the foundation also built play areas for children.

With the projects completed, health workers are now better equipped to provide primary and maternal health-care services to their constituents. BDO Foundation’s projects in Batangas, Bohol and Cebu are expected to benefit more than 192,000 people in 126 barangays.

“There are no words to express our happiness,” Agoncillo municipal health officer Dr. Richard Landicho shared. “We are happy that we will be able to serve our patients in a facility that promotes their healing and well-being. We are truly grateful to BDO Foundation for renovating our rural health unit, enabling us to continue our health programs and helping our community.”

SM employee-volunteers spread Christmas cheers in communities that need it most

volunteering goes a long way. Aside from strengthening the ties of the community, but also their relationship as a team.

“Volunteerism reflects the relationship of the group, specifically of the mall team. The bigger the action which is being volunteered, the stronger the camaraderie of the group or team involved. Volunteerism in its essence is not something that is forced nor hardly planned. It should be natural and the only way for us to practice volunteerism is to strengthen our relationship as a team and as a group–that we’re not only colleagues but also friends and families,” she capped.

Karla’s colleague from SM City Calamba, Assistant Mall Manager Elmundo Olazo also volunteered to bring cheers to Brgy. Uno and Brgy. Real by communicating with community leaders and organizing logistics and transportation to ensure safety during the event.

JuanHand partners with SeekCap for Referral Program

JUANHAND continues to expand its scope. To sustainably develop its credible identity, JuanHand signed another referral program partnership with SeekCap. The collaboration aims to provide more accessible financial assistance to everyJuan.

SeekCap is the first online lending marketplace for micro, small and mediumsized enterprises in the Philippines that offers same day approval. One of its goals is to reduce the hassle for entrepreneurs who frequently deal with voluminous paperwork, manual documentation, and lengthy turnaround times when applying for business loans.

JuanHand recognized the objective of SeekCap and decided to work closely as one of its partner lenders. The partnership intends to provide a more seamless and instant

Radenta Technologies offers Nagios XI, a powerful, trusted network monitoring software for businesses

HOW can a system administrator effectively and accurately monitor his company’s IT environment in real time? How quickly can he diagnose issues and prevent their recurrence? Most importantly, how can he detect attacks and warn the organization instantaneously?

These can only be done with a customizable network monitoring software like Nagios® XI™ the most powerful and trusted network monitoring software on the market for any business vertical. Nagios XI provides a monitoring, alerting, graphing and reporting platform for the entire infrastructure, including servers, operating systems, applications, network devices, websites, hypervisors, cloud servers, and much more.

The most effective way to proactively manage risk and mitigate business downtime related to a cybersecurity attack is to enable both complete visibility and continuous monitoring.

This allows IT security teams to have a true understanding of the organization’s cyber hygiene at any given time, allowing for more confident, informed decision-making as well as ongoing compliance monitoring, which is a growing concern in many industries.

This is where Nagios XI comes in. NAGIOS Core 4 monitoring engine allows for nearly limitless scalability and monitoring effectiveness with a reliable security engine using its Linux based system. Nagios® XI™ is multi-platform compatible. It works with Microsoft, VMware and Linux.

Nagios XI is compliant and is the best choice for end users given its readily accessible source code and growing community-based plug ins. Nagios XI monitors all mission-critical IT infrastructure to include applications, devices, services, operating systems, network protocols and systems metrics. It notifies users of incidents and gives insight into the issue for faster and smarter responses.

It provides a central view of the entire IT operations network and business processes. Dashboards show at-a-glance access to monitoring information and third-party data. Quick detection and alerting are two of the strongest points of Nagios XI. Its ability to track and alert not only network switch and router interface status, but also bandwidth and throughput rates, allows system administrators to identify security vulnerabilities on both a physical and virtual level. Operating system error logs can also be monitored and alert appropriate teams when failed login attempts or specific intrusion attempts are identified.

Nagios XI allows for proactive planning and awareness. Automated, integrated trending and capacity planning graphs allow organizations to plan for infrastructure upgrades before outdated systems catch them by surprise. Alerts are sent to all stakeholders so they can start resolving issues immediately.

Ease of use is a key feature of Nagios XI. Integrated web-based configuration interface lets admins hand out control of managing monitoring configuration, system settings and more to end users. Configuration wizards guide users through the process of monitoring new devices, services, and applications.

Nagios XI can be customized. A powerful graphical user interface (GUI) provides for customization of layout, design, and preferences on a per user basis.

Nagios XI has multi-tenant capabilities. Multi-user access to web interface allows viewing of relevant infrastructure status. User-specific views ensure clients can only see the components they are authorized to see. Advanced user management allows administrator to manage user accounts more easily. A few clicks and users automatically receive an email with their login credentials.

The extendable architecture of Nagios XI allows simple integration within house and third-party applications and its flexible deployment option that can be on Cloud, on-premises, offline, or hybrid. Community developed add-ons extend monitoring and native alerting functionality.

ONE great thing about the holidays is that gifts come from the heart, no matter their shape, size, or form. One can give tiny trinkets that hold special meanings. Others can go big and gift things where new memories would be created. Alongside these, many share the special gift of time and effort. They volunteer their skills, talents, and time to spread Christmas cheers, especially in communities that need it the most.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the season, SM employees did just this. They went out of their way to ignite the spirit of volunteerism.

To make this truly the happiest time of the year, SM Group rolled out Christmas Cheers, a simultaneous gift-giving activity through SM Foundation, Inc. (SMFI). The initiative was successfully carried out with SM Supermalls employees, who eagerly lent a helping hand.

Through the collaboration of SM supermalls employee-volunteers and SMFI, the SM group gave food packs to more than 23,700 families from various communities—from children and persons with disabilities, elderlies, typhoon victims, tricycle and kalesa drivers to street sweepers, health workers, Indigenous Peoples from remote areas, and families in low-income households.

One of the many who heeded the call of volunteerism was Karla De Leon, SM City Manila’s Assistant Mall Manager.

“The past two years have been very difficult for everyone–that a small glimpse

of hope is already enough to keep the ones still fighting, continue to fight,” she opened. “This activity connects us to our communities amidst our business and workload in the mall. I volunteered to be able to feel and experience the true spirit of Christmas while being able to represent my organization.”

With zeal, she acted as the coordinator of the activity, pulling together everyone willing to join and arranging everything needed to make the gift-giving a moment to remember. She became the medium— from information dissemination to embodiment of how the Christmas Cheers was envisioned to be.

“I think another valuable role I played is that I stayed true to who I am, hoping to be able to make other people happy and grateful this Christmas season,” she added.

Through similar activities initiated by SM Group, Karla and her fellow volunteers from SM City Manila saw the importance of volunteerism and inspired them to be part of more valuable causes.

“I have always been grateful to be part of the SM group and I am proud that the organization I am in has this innate generosity, especially to the underserved communities,” she said. “With this, our Christmas Cheers has been successful because of sincere volunteers who really wanted to be part of this activity. Everything came out naturally then. We sincerely wanted to make our beneficiaries happy.”

For their team at SM City Manila,

Some members of their host community are informal settlers, some living along rails. And so for Elmundo, he would take every chance to bring hope and serve the underserved.

“Seeing their faces and smiles drowns my heart. Hearing them say ‘Thank you, SM!’ makes me prouder to be part of SM Supermalls. So, I always join volunteer activities to be able to help others, especially the ones who are in need, even if it goes beyond the responsibilities that my position dictates,” Olazo shared why he continues to volunteer in SMFI’s initiatives.

Embedding volunteerism in his way of life, he is eager to encourage more people–be it her coworkers, friends or family–to stand and join in spreading social good.

SM employees do not stop their tireless service and volunteerism after the season of giving.

Karla and Elmundo are just two of the many other employees carrying the SM culture and philosophy of People Helping People. Through SMFI’s various initiatives, they found passion and purpose in volunteerism.

SM, through SMFI, paves ways for their employees to help the country rise above crises. They take part in beautifying and painting schools. They lend a helping hand during typhoons, flooding, fire, and other disasters. They go beyond the realms of volunteerism by establishing in their communities a culture of spreading social good.

Are

2GO Travel would like to share these

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Passengers are highly encouraged to be at the port at least four hours before their vessel’s time of departure, so they can conveniently wait for their respective boarding announcements.

Guests must secure all personal belongings and should transact only with official 2GO representatives for any concerns they may have regarding their voyage Mobile numbers and e-mail addresses

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provided at the time tickets were purchased must remain working and valid. These will be used to inform passengers via SMS and e-mail, if their voyages are affected by delays and/or cancellations.

For passengers who wish to avail of tickets, these may conveniently be booked online at travel.2go.com.ph; on-site at 2GO retail stores, SM Business Centers, any of 2,000 agents nationwide; or call (02)85287000.

Follow 2GO Travel on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for the latest updates and promos We wish everyone a safe and memorable journey this BiyaHolidays season!

AS part of efforts to help improve the health and well-being of underserved Filipinos, BDO Foundation recently rehabilitated five rural health units in three provinces.

SM employee-volunteers from SM Center Lemery hand a food pack to a child from Sitio Annex, Barangay District 4.

FRANCISCO “Coco” Mauricio - CEO of Wefund Lending Corp. “JuanHand” together with Jaime GarchitorenaManaging Director of Open Finance and John Januszczak President & CEO of UBX, the Philippines’ leading Open Finance Platform

application and approval to borrowers. Both companies are thrilled to catch sight of the success of the above-stated collaboration.

Digitalization helps Amaia Land hurdle Covid-19 challenge

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

Despite all the challenges brought about by the pandemic, Amaia Land managed to navigate the rough sailing by successfully migrating swiftly to the digital world, which enabled it to operate smoothly during volatile times.

Stephanie J. Lingad, Chief o pe rating o f ficer of Amaia, said the affordable housing unit of Ayala Land Inc. has even exceeded expectations as it emerged much stronger than before and is poised to achieve even greater heights moving forward. Lingad pointed out that to date, Amaia has sold over 50,000 residential units and has delivered over 20,000 units to buyers in 33 projects located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

“Amaia was one of the best performing developers during the recent pandemic. In 2020, the year Covid hit, Amaia was able to exceed reservation sales versus the pre-pandemic level of 2019. This was a major feat, considering that one would expect its market, the middle class, to be severely hit by the pandemic.”

She said that Amaia has remained a dominant player in the economic housing market by delivering consistently the Ayala brand of quality to its clients.“For the past 12 years, Amaia has achieved significant scale and growth in providing affordable housing to the broad C market of Filipinos.

Amaia has garnered the top share of this market in recent years and continues to focus on serving such a market, while retaining a

stable and healthy balance sheet,” Lingad said.

Amaia recently added another feather to its cap as the go-to developer of affordable housing after winning the Best Emerging Residential Real Estate Developer— Philippines Award at the 2022 Global Business o utlook Awards. Global Business o utlook awards excellence of businesses in the private and public sectors around the world.

Lingad pointed out the company has consistently been an innovator in its field and has introduced successful products, including projects with sustainability features that benefit both the planet and the residents.

Amaia’s market includes government employees, teachers, manufacturing employees, small business owners, starting professionals and families of Filipinos working abroad. Its developments are anchored on five pillars—Location, Feature and Amenities, Quality, Buying Experience and Living Experience.

On the rebound MEA NW hI LE , Colliers Philippines is quite positive that the Philippine property sector is on a recovery path after experiencing a heavy

beating for two and a half years from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Now is the right time to focus on innovation and differentiationled recovery strategies especially

as developers and investors continue to face a precarious global economic and political environment,” said Joey Roi

Associate Director, Research of Colliers

Primehomes lights up Capitol Hills with festive giant lantern display

PRIME h o ME S R eal Estate

Development Inc. (PREDI) ramps up the holiday festivities as it officially opens the giant Christmas lantern in Capitol h i lls, Quezon City. The giant lantern is open to the public who wishes to view or take photos.

The giant lantern sits atop Casa ha rdin, which is an interactive park for the residing community. Casa h a rdin boasts of a variety of commercial options in its Sales Pavilion ideal for Christmas shopping. Visitors may also visit and explore the nearby Christmas bazaar to enjoy classic Filipino delicacies and products.

“At the nativity, the star that shone the brightest led to the best destination. This is what our giant lantern symbolizes. Creating purposeful spaces is at the heart of Primehomes, and with the giant lantern display at Casa h a rdin, we hope to provide Filipino families with a new festive place to celebrate the magical spirit of the holiday without needing to leave Metro Manila,” said Primehomes Marketing h e ad Grace Feliciano.

Kicking off the annual tradition of Primehomes festivities, Casa h a rdin is donning a Filipinoinspired theme this year, with the giant Filipino parol as the main attraction. The space was designed to champion the rich culture of the country so visitors can feel the spirit of Christmas the way Filipinos celebrate it.

Adding to the vibrancy of the place, Primehomes also decorated

Philippines in their latest report.

Colliers also urged developers to give importance to amenities such as open spaces and green areas. Based on their Q3 2022 Resi -

dential Survey, Bondoc said about 90% of respondents believe that having green and sustainable features are important in purchasing a residential unit.Furthermore, Colliers sees more developers pursuing the sustainable path by securing green building certifications for their residential towers.

“We believe that this will play a crucial role in future-proofing residential projects,” he said.

Bondoc also urged developers to assess the viability of launching more master-planned communities to capitalize on the government’s infrastructure projects. In the next 12 to 36 months such as the completion of big-ticket projects including MRT-7, LRT-1 Cavite Extension, North-South Commuter Railway and Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) raising the attractiveness of key provinces in Central and Southern Luzon for more township developments.

Leechiu hires new executives for its business expansion

Casa h a rdin with a thousand Capiz lights to heighten the holiday cheer, giving the park a daylight atmosphere even at night.

“Primehomes finishes off its year of notable achievements with a special Christmas treat to Filipinos. We Pinoys celebrate this season like no other country does. Christmas is essentially embedded in our culture, and we’d like to invite everyone to come to Casa h a rdin,” Feliciano added.

Visitors are advised to visit Casa h a rdin at dusk hours to chance upon the giant lantern at its peak alongside a view of the clear dark sky. It also serves as a perfect spot to visit right after Simbang Gabi to delight in the spirit of the holiday. Primehomes’ Christmas lights display, including the giant Pampanga lantern, is on display until mid-January 2023.

The 20-foot tall and 20-foot wide lantern was designed by lantern makers in San Fernando, Pampanga’s famous annual lanternmaking competition as a celebration of the city’s Lantern Festival. Pampanga is deemed the Christmas capital of the Philippines, known for its world-class local lanternmaking industry.

Primehomes is a comprehensive real-estate development enterprise that sets a tradition of excellence in the real-estate industry through responsible urban building and developments. To learn more about Primehomes, visit https://www.primehomes. com.ph/.

Leechiu Property c o nsultants (LP c ) announces the appointment of two new key executives to head the company’s latest business expansions; Alfred L ay, Director for h o tels, Tourism & Leisure, and Philis Theresa c r uz, who was recently named Director for Residential Sales and Leasing.

systems development, hiring and training, marketing, managing sales targets, client relations, documentation, title transfer, and operations, to cite a few.

She is a licensed real-estate broker, appraiser and consultant who graduated cum l aude with a degree in Bachelor of Science in e c onomics from the u n iversity of the Philippines-Diliman and was a consistent outstanding student at St. Theresa’s c olege, Q c . P hilis placed 6th in the real estate appraiser board exam in 2015. Philis will be spearheading the formation of LP c ’s new residential team that is poised to broaden and strengthen the company’s capabilities in this market segment.

appointment to LP c was announced earlier. She brings with her more than 25 years of experience in the industry, having been part of c e ntury Properties as its head of Leasing and Resale Group for 10 years. Prior to her stint as h ead of Leasing and Resale, Philis also held the role of marketing manager in-charge of

The addition of these two new business leaders strengthens LP c s capabilities. The firm anticipates a marked increase in residential transactions and looks forward to a su rge in tourist activity as the country emerges from the c o vid-19 pandemic.

David Leechiu, LP c ce O, has forecasted that tourism will be among the key pillars of the Philippine economy in a few years particularly as more international airports and other infrastructure are completed throughout the country.

Bondoc,

ALFRED LAY P H i L is T HERE s A C R uz

Am A i A has sold over 50,000 residential units and has delivered over 20,000 units to buyers in 33 provinces located in Luzon, Visayas and mindanao.

Am A i A has consistently been an innovator in its field and has introduced sustainability features that both benefit the planet and residents.

i n 2020, the year Covid hit, Amaia was able to exceed reservation sales versus the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

Editor: Jun Lomibao

BATTLE RESUMES AT BIG DOME

ready to make our own adjustments.”

Ginebra tries to create more separation over the visiting team in Game 2 set at 5:45 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

By Josef Ramos

BARANGAY Ginebra

San

Miguel head coach Tim Cone knows the great wall of a defense the Gin Kings used in fending off the Hong Kong Bay Area Dragons in Game 1 will be up for a much tougher test as they go for a 2-0 Finals series lead in the Philippine Basketball Association Cup Commissioner’s Cup.

“ Their coach is brilliant so he’s going to figure out a way to penetrate our defense and we expect a huge battle,” Cone told BusinessMirror on Tuesday. “We have to be agile and

BBM’s vision

Lanterns launch campaign against Warriors in PSL

Laguna-

Life-Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup resumes Wednesday at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.

T he Pampanga-San Pedro match is set at 8 p.m. after Koponang Lakan ng Bulacan and Bagong Cabuyao-Homelab Nation try to get back on track when they clash in the first game at 6 p.m.

The Lanterns are hoping to draw firepower from Archie Concepcion, Mitchelle Maynes and Arvie Bringas in their campaign in the league presented by Winzir and co-presented by SCD Cosmetics and Dumper partylist and supported by NET 25, Adcon, Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don Benitos and Finn Cotton.

The Warriors are raring to make up for a 57-99 rout at the hands of Pampanga Royce Hotel last December 15 to halt a three-game skid.

W ith a drastically overhauled lineup, San Pedro will pin its hopes on new players Mark Doligon, Jopher Custodio and Jan Colina to improve its 1-3 win-loss record.

B ulacan absorbed a 60-69 loss to San Juan last Thursday and dropped it to 2-2.

Former Philippine Basketball Association players Jason Ballesteros and Leo Najorda and Keanu Caballero will carry the fight for Bulacan.

W ith a 1-2 record—including a 52-74 shellacking it suffered against Pampanga Royce—Cabuyao will lean on CJ Cadua, Joel Jolangcob and Jude Codiñera.

The Gin Kings were tremendous in defense that Hong Kong’s snipers and slashers were shackled all game long resulting to a 96-81 victory the home team pulled off before 18,252 fans who packed the Mall of Asia Arena on Christmas Day Sunday.

B ay Area coach Brian Goorjian didn’t conceal his team’s mission of breaking Ginebra’s defense.

We have to come out with a solution,” said Goorjian, whose coaching smarts send shivers down his rivals’ spines as he marked his career with a still-fresh bronze medal finish for Australia at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.

G oorjian said his team would

on sports

FILIPINO athletes made their mark on the global stage in the last quarter of the year about to end—a breakthrough Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Jose Emmanuel “Noli” Eala described as running in consonance President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s vision for Philippine sports.

P resident Marcos hailed Filipino athletes as the country’s “new heroes” and Eala said that they did just that in the last three months of 2022.

Our athletes further sustained their momentum under a newlychartered plan for Philippine sports,” Eala said. “Fresh achievements both in elite and grassroots sports were achieved in that period.”

Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz Naranjo topped all performers with her world championships gold medal in Bogota, Colombia, in November, winning what used to be the only

MAJOR champion Yuka Saso’s buildup for the 2023 Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) season gathers momentum after she linked up with Federal Land Inc. as a brand ambassador for the real estate developer.

The 2021 US Women’s Open champion said she’s delighted to have signed up with Federal Land, which marked its golden anniversary celebrations Tuesday with the FilipinoJapanese gracing the soft opening of the first-ever Mitsukoshi Mall in the country at the Grand Central Park in North BGC (Bonifacio Global City).

“I’m so honored to be invited and partner with Federal Land, Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. Just by walking through today (Tuesday), they are really bringing the best of Japan to the Philippines,” said Saso, whose Fil-Japanese ties makes her a prime example of how strong partnerships could produce excellence.

History galore in PBA Finals

Th at pretty much

definitely address Ginebra’s clamping defense especially on his prolific import Andrew Nicholson, who churned in below-normal numbers in Game 1.

He got to be able to move somehow…everywhere he goes to step, a guy steps in front of him, smacks him,” Goorjian said.

The 6-foot-10 former Orlando Magic power forward struggled in offense but still managed 27 points and 12 rebounds in Game 1. His teammates, however, fell victim to the Gin Kings’ brute force.

H ayden Blankley averaged 12.5 points before the Finals but missed all his shots from the field and got only four points from the foul line. The Dragons also made 30 of 78 shots as against the Gin Kings’ 38 of 76 in Game 1.

G oorjian also acknowledged

Justin Brownlee as a major problem.

Over the course of the game, what stood out was ‘we got to do something about Brownlee,’” he said.

B rownlee led the Gin Kings with 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, while LA Tenorio flashed veteran form and finished with 22 points.

Christian Standhardinger, who was responsible for making life difficult for Nicholson, scattered 16 points and collected 10 rebounds.

Fortunately for Cone, Brownlee’s a go for Game 2 despite an injury scare in Game 1 where he rolled his ankle.

He’s good to go,” said Cone as he also acknowledged Ginebra’s fan support as a great motivator. “I am hoping the fans will rally behind us again.”

on track in fourth quarter of 2022–Eala

National Sports Associations (NSA) Consultative Meeting where he met with officials from 68 of 74 NSAs at the Philippine International Convention Center last October 13.

elusive title in his illustrious and inspiring weightlifting career.

Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam also won gold medal at the Asian Basketball Confederation Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan, while Olympic gymnast Caloy Yulo claimed a silver and a bronze at the 51st artistic gymnastics world championships in Liverpool.

Meggie Ochoa and Kimberly Anne Custodio joined the elite roster by winning gold at jiu-jitsu’s world championships.

E ala’s stint as chairman began with a well-attended PSC-

E ala, the 11th chairman of the PSC, asserted the need for mutual respect between the agency and the NSAs, as well as “responsible autonomy rooted in transparent management of government funds.”

B esides laying out the agency’s plans and programs, Eala also established the framework of his administration’s national sports agenda.

We will establish a pathway to success beginning with the “Duyan ng Magiting” or the “Cradle of the Brave” at the grassroots level leading to the tweaked version of the Gintong Alay which we will call Project: Gintong Laban which is to be implemented at the elite level,” he said.

A n improved relationship with the

Philippine Olympic Committee was also tops in Eala’s priority at the PSC.

A part from strengthening ties with the NSAs, Eala and Commissioner Olivia “Bong” Coo also ensured the PSC’s continued support to elite athletes even with a full board yet to be completed.

President Marcos’s concern for Filipino athletes continues to be the driving force behind the PSC caring for Philippine sports like no other,” Eala said. “Some of these elite athletes were fully cultivated in the grassroots programs of the sports agency such as the Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games.”

B efore the year ends, the PSC successfully conducted the return of the Batang Pinoy National Championships in Ilocos Sur from December 17 to 21.  More than 6,000 delegates from 140 provinces, cities and municipalities competed in the Batang Pinoy.

Saso gears up for 2023, inks deal with Federal Land

It always feels like home. I was born here and grew up here. I hope to come back a lot more but obviously I can’t. December and January are the only time I can come back,” said Saso, who led the festivities with a ceremonial tee-off on a golf simulator where she showed her world-class swing and shared tips and her expertise with future golf champions and enthusiasts.  Hopefully I can come back around summertime where there’s a lot of junior tournaments I can visit. Hopefully I can do that but I can’t promise,” she said.

“It’s awesome. It reminds me of when I started playing golf. To see how they enjoy golf, it’s awesome. It reminds me not to forget to have fun in golf. They inspire me. Hopefully I can inspire them a little bit and I can continue doing those stuff in the future,” said Saso, referring to the seven junior golfers who took part in the mini-clinic.

Finals showdown pitting Ginebra against Hong Kong.

I f he wins a record-extending 25th PBA title, Ginebra’s Tim Cone can become the first coach to foil an invader’s bid to capture a PBA trophy.

L ikewise, another Cone crown can deflect another foreigner’s victory achieved 42 years ago.

It was in 1980 that Nicholas Stoodley, a French fashion apparel brand from the US, became the first foreign team to win a PBA championship, scoring a 2-0 sweep of the defunct Toyota Tamaraws in the PBA Invitational best-of-three series at the then Araneta Coliseum.

The Fashionmakers’ victory ended the Toyota Tamaraws’ three-year reign as Invitational champion that began in 1977.  The late Fortunato Acuna was the losing Toyota coach in 1980 after piloting the Tamaraws to victories in the same conference in 1978 against Tanduay and in 1979 against archrival Crispa.

Not long after the loss to Nicholas Stoodley, Acuna committed suicide by drinking poison.

The Dragons are expected to fight furiously today (Wednesday) as they are in a bounce-back mode after

Her Filipino-Japanese heritage is an embodiment of discipline, perseverance, and excellence, which mirrors our partnerships’ commitment to provide unique living experiences within our developments,” said Federal Land Inc. president and COO Thomas Mirasol.

“ We believe that strong partnerships are essential for reaching greater excellence and higher standards in the industry. During our golden year, we showcase Japanese ingenuity and Filipino sensibilities in our projects, thereby projecting the best of both worlds in terms of quality and innovation,” Mirasol said. “Our collaboration with Yuka is yet another example of achieving this objective. We are very excited to have her grace the first-ever Mitsukoshi in the Philippines and interact with some of our local patrons.”

dropping a humiliating 96-81 Game One loss last Sunday in their best-of-seven series against the Gin Kings at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

The ball is in our court so we got to get better for the second game,” said Hong Kong’s Brian Goorjan, the bronzewinning Olympic coach of Australia.  “We got pretty well manhandled [in Game One].”

So tightly guarded were the Dragons that they could only eke out a 30-of-78 for a languid 38 percent shooting from the field as against the Kings’ 38-of-76 tries for a high of 50 percent.

We won’t allow the Gin Kings to get away with murder again,” said the history-seeking Goorjan, who is aiming to become only the second foreigner to win a PBA title coaching an alien team.

W hile 6-foot-6 import Justin Brownlee dished out his usual deadly form that produced 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 13 rebounds and 6 assists on Sunday, ageless LA Tenorio deserves credit, too, with his all-around play in manufacturing 22 points to emerge the game’s most valuable player.

Well,

Hidilyn’s wish(es) for 2023: Be at her best, a role model

HIDILYN DIAZ-NARANJO

got one fervent wish in Bogota early this month when she won her first world championships gold medal.

But the Olympic champion has several other wishes for the new year when she’ll be busy as a bee competing in a heavier weight class as she tries to qualify for her fifth straight Olympics in Paris 2024.

My wish for 2023 is to perform my very best in all Olympic qualifying events,” Diaz-Naranjo told BusinessMirror on Tuesday. “But I also want to learn more about life.”

S he won gold in Bogota in the women’s 55 kgs category, the same division she topped in Tokyo July last year. But the weight class won’t be in the Paris program.

I nstead, she’ll be making a major adjustment in her physique and technic with Paris as her ultimate goal over the five upcoming Olympic qualifiers in the next 16 months. Paris, she said, is just one of her wishes for 2023.

I’m praying that I influence young athletes, more athletes, to dream high and learn the values of excellence, respect and God’s teachings,” the 31-year-old weightlifter from Zamboanga City said. “And more time with my husband [coach and trainer Julius Naranjo] … quality time.”

S he also wishes for weightlifting’s inclusion in the Palarong Pambansa, University Athletic Association of the Philippines and National Collegiate Athletic Association.

D iaz-Naranjo won a seat in the International Weightlifting Federation Athletes Commission during the elections that coincided with the world championships in Colombia—another mission

For, by winning the first conference five straight years from 2015 and then early this year, they failed to collar a three-crown jewel each time despite practically having enough tools to do it.

S lam honors just simply too elusive for Leo Austria, who has won 8-of-9 title tries thus far as SMB coach.  Tough luck.

T HAT’S IT   Is it true that my kumpadre Noli Eala will be replaced by Dino Aldeguer, the former La Salle point guard whose Hail Mary shot won for the Archers the 1999 University Athletic Association of the Philippines crown over University of Santo Tomas, as chair of the Philippine Sports Commissioner any day now?  Why so soon?  Wasn’t Eala, a former PBA Commissioner, appointed only last August 30? Anyare?...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BARANGAY Ginebra is chasing history.  The Dragons of Hong Kong are trying to make history.  And San Miguel Beer is ruing history.

describes the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup that is now chugging its

A nd why is SMB in lament mode?

in getting themselves ousted in the semifinals— by the Dragons—the Beermen lost another crack at the coveted Grand Slam for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

IT will be a battle of who’s smarter from the bench—Ginebra’s Tim Cone or Hong Kong’s Brian Goorjian.

THE Pampanga G Lanterns make their debut against a revamped San Pedro

ARS Warriors as the Manila Bankers

YUKA SASO (center) with (from left) Mitsukoshi General Manager Mitsunori Morohoshi, Federal Land

President and COO Thomas Mirasol, Nomura Real Estate Development General Manager of Overseas Business Masaya Hirao and Mitsukoshi Deputy General Manager Koichi Asakawa.

EALA