BusinessMirror February 06, 2023

WHY ARE PEOPLE TURNING TO PSYCHEDELICS LIKE AYAHUASCA?

Restoring mining sites a must in NEDA plan

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

FUTURE mining projects must consider the restoration of various mining sites, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon underscored  that the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) recognizes the importance of responsible mining.

Mining sites, Edillon said in a recent televised interview, should be rehabilitated and restored. This has to be ensured whenever mining projects are undertaken.

“Kailangan ay mayroon talagang provision para sa restoration,  kasi mag-iexplore sila magbubutas dito, butas doon,

para lang tingnan kung ano ang talagang nasa ilalim. So dapat may provision para sa mag -rehabilitate, pag-restore niyan [There must really be a provision for restoration, because they will explore and drill holes here and there just to confirm what’s underneath. So there must a provision so they will rehabilitate and restore the land],” Edillon said.    Edillon said a number of examples may be found in countries like Australia and Malaysia where mining sites have been rehabilitated and restored.

Mining companies in the Philippines can emulate these examples when they undertake projects in the country, she added.

Edillon said environmental management is one of the most important aspects of mining in the coun -

try that needs to be considered. She gave assurances that in the future, efforts at legislation on mining will necessarily come with many consultations.

Cobalt exports

BASED on the PDP, the international sanctions placed on the export of cobalt from Russia could provide opportunities for the Philippines. Cobalt is a key input in the production of batteries.

The PDP stated the Philippines and Russia have similar amounts of cobalt reserves and are among the six sources of cobalt, after Australia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia.

“Although the Philippines produces nickel-cobalt mixed with sulphide, the

opportunity to add value and produce nickel sulphate (needed by lithium ion battery producers) in the Philippines has yet to be taken. Prolonged sanctions on Russian cobalt will likely increase investors’ interest in the Philippines,” the PDP stated.

Per the PDP, mineral resources of the country will be used for industrial value-addition. The plan states that mineral ores are preferred to be processed domestically for downstream industries.

It also stated that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will also undertake programs to enhance the integration of the iron and steel industry with mining, to include increasing the supply of iron ore and coal.

‘MIF TO FILL IN GAP WHEN PHL AS UMIC LOSES ODA’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will allow the Philippines to expand its financing sources, especially when it becomes an uppermiddle income state, a status that restricts

Official Development Assistance (ODAs).

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno cited this as one of the MIF’s benefits if the controversial sovereign wealth fund, now being tackled in the Senate, becomes a reality.

“On the ODA, the Philippines will soon graduate to be an upper middle income country (UMIC), and as such will cease to be eligible [for] the relatively less expensive ODA which are only available to less developed countries,” Diokno explained in a statement on Sunday.

“In brief, the Philippines has to develop alternative sources of financing for its priority projects as ODA financing dries up,” Diokno added. He reiterated that the MIF will widen the national government’s fiscal space, allowing it to develop more “large priority” projects at faster scale and boost investments in other key areas of the economy.

“This means more resources of government might be allocated for investment in human capital (education, health and nutrition) and social protection,” he said.

BIZMAN, EX-CABINET EXEC BOBBY ONGPIN DIES AT 86

By VG Cabuag @villygc

ROBERTO “Bobby” V. Ongpin, a businessman who was one of the most colorful members of the cabinet of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., has died in his sleep in Balesin Island on Saturday night, his family announced on Sunday. He was 86 years old.

The Marcos-era Minister of Trade and Industry was born on

January 6, 1937, the second of seven children of Luis Ongpin and Lourdes Velayo.

He was the great grandson of Roman T. Ongpin, a Filipino-Chinese businessman who aided Filipino revolutionaries against the Spanish and American colonial administration in the Philippines.

In 2021, Forbes Magazine still named Ongpin as one of the top 10 richest in the country, worth about $1.2 billion. Before his

death, he was the country’s 23rd richest man, according to recent rankings of the magazine.

Cutting rice imports needs time, tech –Neda exec

WEANING the Philippines off imported rice would take time and require investments in modern technologies, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon explained that the smaller farm lands in the country require modern technology to help farmers produce more goods.

This means, Edillon said in a recent TV interview, that the country needs to continue importing rice to prevent the country from experiencing any shortages caused by typhoons and similar disasters in the short-term.

“Kailangan nating i-maintain pa rin na mayroon tayong agriculture sector [We must still take care of our agriculture sector], also for our own security,” Edillon said. “Especially over the short-term,” she added, “we cannot avoid importing rice for the times when we are in deficit.”

Among the important considerations in boosting agriculture production and eventually exporting is the need to develop a comparative advantage, she stressed.

He is survived by his wife, Monica Arellano, his children, Stephen, Anna, Michelle, and Julian, and four grandchildren, two of whom he got to play with before he went to sleep Saturday night, according to the Facebook post of his nephew Apa Ongpin.

“He never retired, and remained sharp and undiminished by age, all the way to his last day,” Apa said.

See “Ongpin,” A2

She listed specialty rice among the products that can be exported. These kinds of rice are expensive here but are more expensive abroad, allowing Philippine exporters to earn more, she noted.

This has already been considered by the government especially when it was formulating the Rice Tariffication Law, as exporting specialty rice could be a source of income for farmers.

“It’s expensive here, but even more expensive outside. So, if we can boost it, there’s good potential in these kinds of rice,” Edillon said, partly in Filipino.

See “Cutting,” A2

it from tapping “less expensive”

LIGHTS ON FOR CANCER DRIVE The UST’s campus landmarks, such as the Main Building and the Arch of the Centuries, were lit in blue and orange, the official color of the World Cancer Day, in support of initiatives led by the Union for International Cancer Control, which aims to prevent millions of deaths each year by raising awareness and education about cancer, and pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action against the disease. February 4 is World Cancer Day. BERNARD TESTA

ONGPIN PHOTO FROM ALPHALAND WEBSITE

PHL govt working ‘double time’ to save seafarers’ jobs

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

“We may even have to move heaven and earth, if need be, to ensure these European standards are satisfactorily met,” Bautista said. “It’s about time this decades-old issue is resolved and put to rest.”

An interagency committee was formed to take up the EC’s impending action through the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). Aside from the DOTr, the panel includes the Departments of Migrant Workers, Labor, Foreign Affairs, the Commission on Higher Education and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).

MIF...

The 2022 Philippine response supposedly gave details of the remedial actions Marina put in place as well as the short and long-term measures it would carry out later.

Bautista said given the Philippines’ shortcomings, the agency pushed for a “more comprehensive plan or a template to address the EMSA findings and related issues.”

“So much is at stake here, not only jobs and much-needed remittances, but also our credibility and competence as a maritime regulator”, he said.

Continued from A1

“As a result of the scarring effect of the pandemic, upskilling and retraining of our young population have high social and economic payoff. In an aging world population, our young people—tech-savvy, easily trainable, and mostly English speaking—are our most formidable asset,” he added.

Diokno also emphasized that the MIF may finish key infrastructure projects like a mass transit system and energy transition from coal to renewables faster than the usual funding routes the national government is currently undertaking.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the EC will determine in April or May whether or not to

Continued from A14

Moreover, delegates to the wouldbe Con-Con are barred under his proposal from being appointed to public positions while it is in session and up to a year after the ratification of the proposed Charter changes in a plebiscite, Villafuerte said.

The House Committee on  Constitutional Amendments chaired by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus

Rodriguez resumed last January 26 what the chairman had described as “marathon” panel hearings and  public consultations on pending proposals to amend the 1987 Charter,

recognize the Philippine-issued Standards of Training,  Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW).

including the Con-Con bills introduced separately by Villafuerte and Rodriguez.

In House Bill (HB) No. 4926— otherwise known as the “Constitutional Convention Act”—Villafuerte proposed that the would-be Con-Con members tasked to study amendments and revisions to the 35-year-old Charter be elected simultaneously with either the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections (BSKE) this October 30 or the midterm balloting for legislators and local executives due in May 2025.

“A lot more work needs to be done” even after Marina had submitted the Philippine Response to the EMSA in March 2022, Bautista said.

Villafuerte said past Charter Change initiatives took place in the second half of the terms of past governments. This, he added,  accounts for the suspicions of a hidden political agenda to lift term limits or extend the terms of the thenincumbent officials from the President down to local elective executives.

To side-step speculation about self-serving or partisan interests of the would-be delegates, Villafuerte said HB 4926 bans them: (1) from being appointed to public positions while the Con-Con is in session and up to a year after the ratification of the proposed amendments or revisions, and (2) from running in the next balloting.

An EMSA ban, he warned, will trigger a “domino effect and the rest of the world will look down on the Philippine seafaring industry and probably affect its dominant place in the global market.”

As Villafuerte filed HB 4926 last year, Rodriguez himself filed House Joint Resolution (HJR) No. 12 establishing a Con-Con to specifically review and amend the economic provisions of our Constitution.

HB 4926 calls for the election of Con-Con delegates—at one representative for each of the 243 legislative districts.

The bill seeks to disqualify the following persons from being candidates for Con-Con delegates: (1) All incumbent elected officials of the government, including but not limited to the President, Vice President, members of the bicameral Congress, and local government officials; and (2) Persons who have been declared by any competent authority as insane or incompetent, or have been sentenced by final judgment for subversion, insurrection, rebellion or for any offense for which they have been sentenced to a penalty of more than 18 months or for a crime involving moral turpitude—unless they have been given plenary pardon or granted  amnesty. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Continued from A1

Efforts to push for food security in the medium term include decreasing stunting to below 20 percent in the medium term as part of efforts to address the triple burden of malnutrition, according to the Philippine Development Plan (PDP).

The Marcos administration aims to bring down the prevalence of stunting among children under five years of age to 25.2 percent this year; 23.8 percent in 2024; 22.3 percent in 2025; 20.8 percent in 2026; 19.4 percent in 2027; and 17.9 percent in 2028. The baseline in 2021 was pegged at 26.7 percent.

The triple burden of malnutrition, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), includes undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies.

Wasting and stunting does not only compromise the health of Filipinos, but also their ability to excel in school and potential to earn a decent living in the future. Obesity, meanwhile, makes children susceptible to diseases.

The government aims to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition or wasting for children under five years from 5.5 percent in 2021 to 5.3 percent this year; 5.1 percent in 2024; 4.9 percent, 2025; 4.7 percent, 2026; 4.5 percent, 2027; and 4.3 percent in 2028.

Overall, the PDP aims to increase the proportion of households meeting 100-percent recommended energy intake from the 21.8 percent baseline in 2018-2019.

The government aims to increase this to 25.2 percent this year; 23.8 percent in 2024; 22.3 percent, 2025; 20.8 percent, 2026; 19.4 percent, 2027; and 17.9 percent in 2028. Cai U. Ordinario

Diokno said the national government has no problem financing the initial $5-billion fund of the MIF.

He listed the possible funding sources for the sovereign wealth fund as follows: P100 billion from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, P50 billion from Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank), P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), and P100 billion to P150 billion from privatization proceeds of the national government.

“Financing through the [General Appropriations Act] is lengthier and risky since this is subject to political review and approval; the ODA, private sector solicited and unsolicited proposals are by nature, time-consuming, subject to lengthy negotiation and court challenges, and more careful appraisal, will continue,” he explained.

Ongpin...

Diokno noted that the investments from the LandBank are just 3.8 percent of the bank’s P1.3-trillion investible fund while DBP’s counterpart would be 3.1 percent of its total P800-billion investible fund.

Diokno pointed out there are also other potential sources of the MIF such as, but not limited to, foreign-exchange denominated infrastructure bonds and the royalties from the mining sector.

Continued from A1

Ongpin, along with his brother Jaime, was able to attend school through a scholarship. After graduating from Ateneo High School, he went on to finish cum laude at Ateneo de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree.

He later earned a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He subsequently led SyCip Gorres and Velayo to become Asia’s largest accounting firm.

Since 1988, Ongpin has funded thousands of full scholarships to Ateneo de Manila University, in the name of his brother, Jaime, who served as Finance secretary in the post-Marcos administration of Corazon C. Aquino, and passed away in 1987.

The brothers had attended both Ateneo and Harvard on scholarships from anonymous donors, Apa said.

He was the youngest Minister for Trade and Industry at age 42. It

PPA...

Continued from A14

Santiagosaidhowever,”Obviously, numbers are being bloated to scare the people and to discredit the program. Anybody who knows basic mathematics would conclude that P980 is smaller than P30,000 under any circumstance. We are curious where they are getting their numbers because ours is based on actual statistics and documentation.”

Under TOP-CRMS, only container deposit insurance and monitoring fee worth P980 and P3,408 empty container handling service fee must be paid by importers compared to almost P30,000 container deposit in the current existing system, he noted.

Santiago also disputed Lopez’s statement on the refund for returned containers.

“A lot of complaints from customs brokers and importers relate to the extreme delay of return of these container deposits ranging from 6 months to more than a year before anything is returned but with deductions and a lot of times not at all,” he said.

Santiago added that based on reports and statistics, less than 10 percent of containers incur any material damage in the hands of importers before they are returned to the shipping lines.

“So the question is, how come the general sentiment of stakeholders is that it takes so long to give these deposits back if at all?” he asked.

He clarified that the P980 fee already includes the P250 container deposit insurance, of which the provider may be chosen freely by the importer or

was a position he held from 1979 to 1986, when the strongman’s twodecade presidency was ended by the EDSA Revolution.

During his seven years as Minister, Ongpin had to help steer a deteriorating economy as political instability made funding from international agencies and banks difficult for the government.

Apa wrote: “After leaving government, he built and rebuilt empires, including making the deals that brought the Shangri-La Group into the Philippines, Tagaytay Highlands, PhilWeb, and culminating in Alphaland Corp., where he built his crown jewel, Alphaland Balesin Island Club. He has been expanding to the neighboring island of Patnanungan, which he planned to formally open this year.”

Apa said his uncle’s remains will be brought to Manila.

“The family will make an official announcement when wake details have been decided,” Apa said.

broker from a list of accredited insurance companies.

The TOP-CRMS will be pilot tested at the international ports in the Port of Manila namely South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal and only for foreign inbound containers, the PPA has said,.

“It will not be immediately implemented in all ports in the country and if ever, will only be implemented in PPA ports as part of its mandate to ensure efficient terminal management,” Santiago noted.

Shiptek Solutions won the contract to implement the P980-million TOP-CRMS.

The program is expected to generate as much as 84 percent savings for importers, shippers, truckers, and customs brokers, Santiago said, noting that if the system was implemented in 2022, they could have only paid P1 billion for 1.1 million inbound containers, instead of P23 billion.

“Bottom line is these people want the status quo. But it is indisputable that the status quo is problematic for us Filipinos. Look at the current costs of logistics in our country. It is paralyzing. It is easily determinable where the bulk of these costs can be found. The status quo benefits those opposing the program to the detriment of the ordinary Filipino,” Santiago added.

He emphasized: “They don’t want this to succeed because it will disrupt the status quo from which they have benefited from for decades, and yet look at where we are.” Lorenz S. Marasigan

THE Department of Transportation

(DOTr) said on Sunday the government is “working double time to save the jobs of 49,000 Filipino seafarers aboard European ships and the $7 billion they send home each year,” as it awaits the European Commission’s (EC) “impending action” on its 16-year issues with international training standards.

The Nation

UN Special Rapporteur’s visit seen to help PHL on forensics

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Department of Justice

(DOJ) yesterday announced that United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Morris Tidball Binz is scheduled to arrive today (Monday) not in his role as special rapporteur, but an expert in the field of pathology to help capacitate Filipino doctors.

A statement by the DOJ explained that Tidball Binz will stay in the country until February 9 and is expected to meet with Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, Foreign Affairs

Secretary Enrique A. Manalo, Philippine National Police Chief Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Moro Virgilio M. Lazo and National Bureau of Investigation Director Medardo G. de Lemos. He will also meet with members of the National Prosecution Service and of several civil society organizations.

Remulla said Tidball-Binz’s arrival in the country “will pave the way for forensic pathologists and enhance their practice to achieve international standard practices.”

In particular, the justice secretary said Tidball-Binz will help Filipino doctors to identify “the intricacies of wrongful death tragedies.”

“We need more capable doctors in our country to assist our law enforcement agencies in their works. This is an enormous step towards that goal,” Remulla said.

Tidball-Binz’s contributions to

forensic science, human rights and humanitarian actions to have led to the awarding of two Honoris Causa Doctorates.

For the past 35 years, Tidball-Binz has travelled to over 70 countries to carry out capacity-building missions, fact-finding initiatives and technical evaluations.

He was the one who pioneered the application of forensic science to human rights investigation in forced disappearances cases in Argentina when the said country was under military rule in the 1980s.

He is also a co-founder of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team that developed scientific methods to apply to the investigation of human rights violations and abuses.

He served as Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross Forensic Unit from 2004 to 2017, where he then headed the forensic operation for the humanitarian operation Project Plan whose main program was the Missing Persons Project until 2020.

In 2021, Tidball-Binz was appointed as one of the UN special rapporteurs.

It is these experiences and knowledge, Remulla said, that prompted him to invite Tidball-Vinz when they met on November 2022 at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland where he headed the Philippine delegation.

The DOJ chief said he asked Tidball-Binz then to lend his expertise to help Philippine law enforcement authorities investigate cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

DENR chief to do balancing act on mining, environment

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

AS mining takes center stage in the Mindanao leg last week of the multi-stakeholder dialogue by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga vowed to look into the issues and concerns raised by residents of communities affected by mining.

Pressed for comments on the violent dispersal of anti-mining barricades put up by communities in Sibuyan Island, Yulo-Loyzaga initially declined to speak about the issue.

Nonetheless, the DENR chief eventually said that “people need minerals, which requires a balancing act” on the part of the DENR.

The dialogues initiated last year by the DENR in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao aim to gather inputs from various stakeholders on environmental concerns. The inputs will form part of a policy to be developed by the DENR under Loyzaga’s watch, a statement from the agency read.

The official said to achieve a balance in terms of the approach, geographically and socially, the DENR needs to listen to all stakeholders and be satisfied after hearing them out—whether they are pro-mining or anti-mining.

“You know, I will not speak spe -

cifically to it, but I’ll tell you this, we’re here to listen and until we can be satisfied that we have heard all stakeholders, we cannot achieve a balance in terms of our approach geographically and socially,” she said. “So, these complexities need to be addressed in whatever approach we will take moving forward.”

While minerals are needed, she said there’s a need to balance mining impact in terms of economic, social and environmental considerations.

“How we balance that really depends on our understanding of the complexities of the different contexts that we are actually faced with. So we cannot choose just one approach. We need to be sensitive to everything else that is going on. So you’ve brought up Sibuyan, we’ll take a good look at that,” she assured.

Sibuyanons against mining RESIDENTS of Sibuyan continued to protest the alleged illegal mining operation of Altai Mining in San Fernando town, Romblon province, because of mining’s destructive nature. Romblon has been considered having a fragile ecosystem. The province sits in Sibuyan Islands, known as the Galapagos of Asia because of its rich biological diversity.

The protesters want the mining operations stopped and demanded a thorough investigation as to how

the company was able to operate sans the necessary permits and documents such as barangay clearance, municipal business permit and a DENR foreshore lease contract. The residents said the firm was also able to secure a permit from the Philippine Ports Authority to construct a private port.

Mitigation hierarchy

LOYZAGA has said that under her watch, the DENR is adopting what she calls a “mitigation hierarchy.”

“When you are disrupting an ecosystem, if you can avoid it, you must; if you can reduce it, you must. If you need to rehabilitate, you must and, if you cannot fully rehabilitate, you must be engaged in some form of compensatory action,” she said.

Loyzaga, however, admitted that such an approach has not been fully threshed out. She said doing so will entail the consideration of the environmental management program that each company needs to undertake, the progressive rehabilitation program that they will propose and the Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) that they are mandated to put into operation.

During her time as Environment Secretary, the late Gina Lopez has called on large-scale miners to review their SDMPs and adopt a more effective “Sustainable Integrated

Area Development” (SIAD) approach to ensure their operations bring sustained economic and social benefits to their host communities.

SDMPs are provided for in DENR Administrative Order 2010-21, which is the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995).

Risk management

LOYZAGA said they are looking at the SDMP to see how it can be part of a general resilience and risk-management objective for the communities and ecosystems that are going to be disrupted.

A precondition to starting a mining operation, the SDMP is a 5-year plan carried out during the life of the mine to bring about a sustained improvement in the living standards of the host and neighboring communities. The environmental protection and enhancement program will also be reviewed, she assured.

“For us at this point, there will be a very careful look at climate-related risks and other multiple hazards that are occurring in the area, but certainly the impacts, socially, economically and in the end, the power of the governance structure at the local level to help us with monitoring, observation and analyzing the environmental impact of these activities,” she said.

Regular SRP issuance hobbled by ‘fluctuating factors’–DTI

By Andrea San Juan

In a radio show last Saturday, DTIConsumer Protection Group (CPG) Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo said the factors vary “like the climate.”

“Hindi po natin pwedeng gawin because the factors are fluctuating.

Nag-iiba iba siya ‘e katulad ng klima, ‘yung seasons natin uulan, aaraw, during summer umuulan, so affected ‘yan,” Castelo said.

[We can’t do it because the factors are fluctuating. It varies like the climate: our seasons are rainy, sunny; but during summer, it rains. So that is affected.]

The Trade undersecretary also

noted the varying prices of fuel across the globe as among the culprits.

“It’s an unforeseeable event na hindi mo talaga siya kaya i -predict unless may bolang kristal ka kagaya ni Madam Auring, ‘e wala naman tayo noon so hindi talaga natin mape -predict.”

[It’s an unforeseeable event that you can’t really predict unless you have a crystal ball like the seer, Madam Auring. We didn’t have it then; so, we can’t really predict it.]

Manpower, Castelo noted, is another factor that prevents the agency to regularly publish its price bulletin.

“Kailangan ‘yan ng sweldo, kapasidad ng personnel, o ‘yung dami ng personnel mo nag-iiba rin, nagbabago-bago. Kaya maraming dahilan kung bakit hindi tayo pwede maglagay ng regular schedule for adjustments.”

[That needs salary, personnel capacity, or the amount of personnel you have varies. There are many reasons why we cannot put a regular schedule for adjustments.]

In an earlier statement issued by DTI, the agency said Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual is taking into consideration the preservation of jobs in the country amid manufacturers’ call for price hikes.

“We understand the need for prices to be calibrated towards market realities, taking into account both consumers and the value chain impacted, so jobs are preserved,” Pascual said. “Suppose these companies would only be able to cover the cost of production with price adjustments. In that case, operations would be affected, some products might be discontinued and, worst, workers could lose their jobs if failing companies decide to close down.”

“Kailangan balanse rin ang polisiya

Davao City LGU inks agreement with PRA for reclamation project

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox

Bureau Chief

Mindanao

ng gobyerno. Patuloy natin itong pinagaaralan,” the Trade chief added. [The government’s policy also needs to be balanced. We continue to study it.]

Pascual said this after the Trade department missed its January 2023 deadline to finalize the commodity prices.

Last January 24, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. (AmCham) strongly urged the DTI to regularly publish SRP bulletins, noting that its member companies are struggling to continue production given the rising prices of raw materials and services.

In a letter addressed to the Trade chief last January 20, AmCham Philippines said it strongly urges the DTI to regularly publish SRP bulletins in accordance with the Price Act “to allow producers and manufacturers to adequately plan their operations and finances.”

AmCham Philippines Executive Director Ebb Hinchliffe, who signed the letter, said the regular publication of SRP bulletins will “ultimately help” businesses to stay afloat and continue to provide jobs and quality products for Filipinos.

DAVAO CITY—The city government has applied with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to reclaim the areas enclosed by the 18-kilometer coastal road project.

Mayor Sebastian Z. Duterte and Acting City Administrator Francis Mark H. Layog signed last January 25 a Memorandum of Understanding with PRA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Janilo. E. Rubiato and PRA Board Members Dioscorro E. Esteban Jr. and Nolasco K. Bathan. The city government application contained in the MOU covers an area of 57 hectares of reclaimable areas.

City Planning and Development Coordinator Ivan C. Cortez said the application “stems from the strategy of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in avoiding structures along the Davao City Coastal Road.”

“The city government deemed it necessary to secure the spaces between the coastline and the coastal road with the Philippine Reclamation Authority as one of the first steps in ensuring we can develop the space properly as warranted by socioeconomic and environmental demands of the city,” Cortez said.

The City Mayor’s Office has earlier officially sent a letter of intent to the

PRA on March 18, 2018, Cortez said.

From then on, he added, the city worked with various offices concerned and processed the documentary requirements, including the financial requirements.

Open space

AMONG the requirement was a resolution and ordinance from the Sangguniang Panlungsod authorizing the City Mayor to enter and sign on behalf of the City of Davao the MOU between the city and PRA “relative to the application for reclamation along Davao City Coastal Road Project.”

Duterte said the initial plan was for the reclaimed areas “to become an open space for people to enjoy leisure activities.”

Rubiato said his office “has determined that the city is pre-qualified for the reclamation.” He said the MOU “basically outlines the requirements and the deadlines for submission.”

“Without proper engineering, the structural integrity of the reclaimed land won’t be sustained and the environment would not be protected. With our guidance, we will make sure that the city, the plans of the city and the methodology will be okay so that the structural filling up of the submerged area will be to the standard. Importantly, the environment will be protected if there will be effects at least we can institute mitigating measures,” he said.

President welcomes ₧18-B Isabela Solar Power project

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomed the P18-billion 440-megawatt (MW) peak Isabela Solar Power Project, which is seen to boost the administration’s renewable energy thrust as well as local job generation.

Officials of the San Ignacio Energy Resources Development Corp. (SIERDC), the main project implementor, briefed Marcos on the project this week in Malacañang, said the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) last Sunday.

SIERDC is part of the Nextnorth Energy Group, which is developing solar and hydro projects in Northern Luzon.

The PCO said the company will begin construction next year on a 400-hectare land in Ilagan City, Is-

abela, currently being used for sugarcane and bioethanol production.

The solar power facility will start its operation by 2025.

According to project proponents, the solar power project could generate around 700 gigawatt-hours per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 1 million households.

Around 2,200 workers could benefit from the project during various phases of construction, and more permanent workers when the facility becomes operational.

SIERDC is an affiliate of the Nextnorth Holdings Corp., a Philippine-based renewable energy (RE) developer of solar and hydro projects with around 480-MW potential energy capacity.

SIERDC partners with French RE company Total Eren SA in implementing the project. Total

Eren owns more than 3,700 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacity in operation or under construction and also has over 4,000 MW of projects under development worldwide.

The company has a 60-MW peak solar PV plant in Tarlac.

TotalEnergies SE, another Francebased company and Total Eren’s shareholder, has been operating in the Philippines since 1998.

One of the world’s largest energy companies, TotalEnergies is involved in solar power project development, fuel and lubricants distribution and petroleum logistics and storage in the country.

SIERDC and Total Eren signed a joint agreement in December last year to invest in the development of the Isabela solar project, with the latter providing financial and technical expertise.

Edsa Busway privatization study finalized by end-’23

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

THE government should be able to complete the feasibility study for the privatization of the Edsa Busway within the year, a ranking official said.

In a chance interview, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary for Planning and Project Development Timothy John R. Batan said the agency received funding from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center for the study on the Edsa Busway.

“We already got the funding from PPP Center. Ongoing currently is the selection of the consultant who will do the feasibility study. So we should

be getting that this month or March for the latest,” he said, noting that completion of the studying should be between “six to nine months.”

The government is studying the privatization of the operations of the Edsa Busway, after business groups called on the Marcos administration to implement the project through a PPP.

A total of 28 private groups, including foreign chambers and local business organizations, last year said the collaboration between the government and the private sector on the Edsa Busway could “finally put an end to the daily scenario in which thousands of commuters wait in long queues in overcrowded stations while enduring unnecessary

pains and hardships.”

“Part of the study is how to do the PPP: Is it a single operator for the entire thing or separate operators for the buses? So there are different ways to structure the Edsa Busway.

Part of the study will be to give the recommendation on the best structuring for the project,” Batan said.

The Edsa Busway, which was first introduced in 2020 in response to the pandemic, is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that runs from Monumento to the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).

It used to offer free transportation to ease the burden of commuters that were affected by the pandemic. The initiative came to an end in 2022.

Payoneer to ‘intensify’ collab with BPO firms

By Andrea San Juan

EXECUTIVES of the local business of Payoneer Global Inc. said the American financial services company aims to intensify “collaborations” with outsourcing leaders in the Philippines.

“I think it’s really important to bring together all the different stakeholders that are involved in cross-border international business so we can interact, engage, and learn from each other on how to take the

customer experience to the next level,” Miguel Warren, Payoneer Regional Vice President of South East Asia said during a forum the company organized.

The BPO industry continues to be a “reliable source” of employment for Filipinos. The IBPAP also recorded a 10.6-percent increase in revenue in 2021 at $29.49 billion.

Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) Managing Director Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury noted that the Philippines accounts for 40 percent of the global customer

experience market by headcount, owing to the “gold label” quality work of Filipinos.

Payoneer recently held a forum at New Clark City to discuss industry trends, challenges, and opportunities with key stakeholders. According to Warren, the firm’s goal is “to help customers grow internationally, to go global, and to be able to help them realize ‘all the potential that tomorrow holds.’”

He claims the company is trusted by “leading” digital brands serving over 2,000 top marketplaces.

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it cannot issue suggested retail price (SRP) bulletin regularly due to “fluctuating factors” such as climate change, and price of fuel, among others.

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION/S FOR ALIEN EMPLOYMENT

Notice is hereby given that the following companies/employers have filed with this Regional Office application/s for Alien

HETTIARACHCHI, HETTIARACHCHIGE

RANUKA SRIDHARA

PECHEUR, PASCAL MARCEL ALBERT

19 OPTODEV, INC. Lot 2, Block 2, Star Avenue corner Interstar Street, Laguna International Industrial Park, Mamplasan, City of Biñan, Laguna

20 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

21 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

22 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

President / Managing Director

Brief Job Description: Direct and indirect supervision for overall personnel as required

PENG, YUANLIN

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the People’s Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner.

WANG, JIA

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the People’s Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner.

ZHU, ZHIDONG

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the People’s Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner.

SAKURAI, TAKAHIRO

23 TERUMO (PHILIPPINES) CORPORATION

124 East Main Avenue, Laguna Technopark, Malamig, City of Biñan, Laguna

Director of Administration Division

Brief Job Description:

Oversee the performance of the division

Qualification: Must

Salary Range: Php150,000 - Php499,999

Basic Qualification: Must have solid experience in high manufacturing environment

Salary Range: Php500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien.

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification: Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien.

Salary Range:

Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien.

Salary Range:

Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Psychology graduate or any related course

Salary Range:

Php30,000 - Php59,999

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE Regional Office IV-A located at 3rd and 4th Floors, Andenson Building II, Parian, Calamba City, Laguna, within 30 days after this publication.

Please inform DOLE Regional Office IV-A if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

ATTY. NEPOMUCENO A. LEAÑO II

OIC - Regional Director

Romualdez wants to calibrate food imports to stop hoarding

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE speaker of the House of Representatives has directed the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to study the option of recommending to the President the calibrated importation of onion and garlic.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez made a statement on Sunday as he warned unscrupulous traders and hoarders of onion and garlic suspected of being behind the continued high prices of these agricultural products in the market.

According to Romualdez, he has instructed the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct an investigation and, if warranted by the evidence,

recommend the filing of appropriate criminal charges against the people behind this scheme.

“This is economic sabotage,” he said.

Also, he said the House panel “will study the option of recommending to the President the calibrated importation of onion and garlic as a means to force these unscrupulous individuals to unload their stocks and drive down the prices to alleviate the burden on the consumers.”

For his part, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Mark Enverga said his committee will immediately conduct its probe against unscrupulous traders and hoarders of onion and garlic in aid of legislation.

“As discussed and instructed by Speaker Martin Romualdez, the committee on

agriculture and food will prioritize an inquiry and investigation on unscrupulous traders and hoarders of onion and garlic in aid of legislation,” Enverga told the BusinessMirror via Viber.

“It is high time that we put an end to such an unconscionable practice that affects both our local farmers and consumers. We will act on this matter immediately.”

Romualdez noted reports that despite the ongoing harvest season and the entry of imported onions, retail prices remained high.

“We received information that these people are hoarding onion, and more recently even garlic, to create an artificial scarcity in supply and induce price increases.”

However, Romualdez said that such importation should not in any way prejudice the welfare of the local farmers.

“It is very important to ensure that any importation should consist of such quantity and be done well ahead of the harvest season to avoid any adverse effect on the livelihood of our local farmers.”

Apart from the investigation, Romualdez wants daily monitoring of the prices of onion and garlic in local markets.

“People are still trying to recover from the pandemic. The last thing we need is an unreasonable rise in food prices.”

Romualdez also said concerned government agencies should address the smuggling of onion and other agricultural products that stifles the local industry.

Researcher conducts study on use of cacao waste as feed for milkfish

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO CITY—The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said a researcher from the Davao Oriental State University is studying the feasibility of using cacao waste materials as alternative feed for bangus (milkfish).

Dr. Edison Roi Macusi, associate professor at the university, is currently conducting his research on cacao waste as possible feed materials.

The study received funding recently from the DOST. A memorandum of agree -

ment (MOA) for the research project was signed by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 11 (BFAR-11) and the Davao Oriental State University.

The World Bank-funded Philippine Rural Development Project Mindanao (PRDP) also contributed P1.7 million for the project.

The funding was part of the Investments for Planning at the Local and National Levels (I-PLAN) convergence initiatives of DA that supports the implementation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and Industrialization Plan.

Macusi said the high cost of feeds “is

the number one identified problem in terms of milkfish aquaculture.” He will serve as the project’s team leader.

“One of the objectives of the project is to examine and develop locally available feed materials such as cacao waste materials. Hopefully, we can develop cheaper alternative feed ingredients,” he said.

The project titled “Enhancing Food Security, Social Inclusion, and Sustainability in the Milkfish Aquaculture Through the Use of Indigenous Raw Materials as Feed Components,” started last month and would conclude by December. Dr. Anthony Sales, DOST-11 regional

director, said he looks forward to the successful implementation of the project.

“We signed this MOA and we funded this project because we are committed to the objectives of PRDP and its component projects which are also aligned with our mandates and programs in research, development, and innovation,” Sales said.

Abel James Monteagudo, regional director of DA-Regional Field Office 11 and also the project director for the PRDP Mindanao Cluster, said the partnership with Davao Oriental State University would help address the country’s food security issues.

Food costs are tumbling but shoppers still face soaring bills

AS a rout in the price of food commodities from wheat to cooking oil deepens, the cost of products on grocery shelves continues to rise.

Almost a year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent grains and other staples soaring to a record, a United Nations’ index of food-commodity costs fell for a 10th straight month in January.

The longest falling streak in at least 33 years contrasts with the food inflation that’s worsening a cost-of-living crunch for consumers.

Food executives are warning of more price hikes to come, even as commodities like palm oil and dairy decline. Diplomats talk of the worst food crisis since World War II, with parts of Africa on the brink of famine.

This striking dissonance underscores the significant time lag for farmgate prices to feed through to those paid by households. Moreover, food commodities only make up a small proportion of the cost inputs for products such as breakfast cereals.

In the US, the farm level portion of food consumed at home is about quarter of the costs, and only about 5 percent when eating out, according to Joseph Glauber, former chief economist at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Take bread. The cost of wheat accounts

for as much as a 10th of the total cost of a loaf, Glauber said. The rest is driven by transporting the wheat, milling it, making and baking the bread, packaging it and stocking grocery stores, he said.

Higher energy prices are still feeding through to processing costs, workers are demanding higher wages and suppliers are pushing retailers for higher pay.

It’s “the tail-end of the energy price impact that’s still washing through,” Archie Norman, chairman of United Kingdom retailer Marks & Spencer, said in an interview last week. “And secondly, labor costs. We’ve got the minimum wage rising. That has a bearing on almost all growers, producers, manufacturers.”

Inflation has peaked but food prices have not, said Alan Jope, the outgoing boss of Unilever, which makes Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Food giant Nestle SA expects inflation to persist in the first half of the year with some softening after that, according Chief Financial Officer Francois-Xavier Roger.

To be sure, there are signs some prices are easing. In the US, food inflation saw the smallest increase in December in 21 months as prices for bacon, flour and fresh fruit fell. Inflation is starting to moderate, but prices are still rising, according to the boss of Conagra Brands Inc., the maker of Birds Eye frozen food

and Slim Jim jerky. “This inflation super cycle has been more significant and more persistent than I think anybody expected at the beginning,” Chief Executive Officer Sean Connolly said in an interview last month.

That moderation won’t console many consumers in low- and middle-income countries, which have been particularly hard-hit by soaring food inflation, the World Bank said earlier this week. A combination of shrinking foreign exchange reserves, weakening local currencies and debt pressures are undermining local economies.

And as for commodity prices themselves, there is still much uncertainty in markets, said Glauber, a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Agri-commodities and fertilizers are still historically expensive, while grain stockpiles remain tight just as extreme weather in places like Argentina and East Africa damages crop prospects, the Washington-based think tank said last week. Also rice, the backbone of global food security, needs to be closely watched.

“There are still risks,” Erin Collier, an economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said in an interview. “Prices have come down but they’re still high and looking firm.” Bloomberg News

Can PHL-US joint patrols scale back China’s moves in Kalayaan, WPS zone?

It will also challenge China’s presence in Scarborough Shoal near Zambales, whose control it wrested from the Philippines in 2012 following a standoff. Beijing has sealed off the shoal from Filipinos who have made it their traditional fishing grounds for centuries.

The agreement on joint maritime patrols was the most important arrangement so far that the country has notched with the US in years, returning US-Philippines defense relations to a significant level.

The joint patrols, seen to counter China’s presence not only in the South China Sea, but more importantly in the KIG and WPS, have been dangled to the Philippines for years by the US, which encouraged a collective patrol, even among Asean claimant states.

The US also pushed for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines, and even

the lesser joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte where China’s activities in the KIG and WPS were at an intense level. The proposals were turned down by the former president.

During the term of the late former President Benigno Aquino III, the government toyed with the idea of forging a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement among Asean states, still to counter China in the South China Sea.

Galvez, viewing the security assurance and even economic benefits of the joint patrols for Filipino fishermen, said it was the mandate of the DND to “secure and defend our sovereignty and sovereign rights such as the freedom of our people to fish in our own waters.”

“We also share the vision of likeminded nations in ensuring freedom of navigation and a peaceful, stable and free

Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“As a member of the international community, we have a responsibility to protect the global commons in order to prevent humanity from constricting itself by ensuring that vital sea lines of communications are kept open,” he added.

Besides joint patrols, the DND said it has agreed to designate four more additional locations for rotating American troops under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The joint maritime patrols will be the first in so many years for the US and the Philippines, as nothing of such activity has ever been conducted from the time of Aquino up to Duterte, as even admitted by a defense official.

The defense official said his only recollection of an activity with the US was that of a passing exercise (PASSEX) in 2014, which is a customary routine ex-

continued from a14

ercise given for a passing navy vessel.

The joint US-Philippines patrols were among the key and important recommendations by a US private group, whose members are composed of former government officials, security experts and members of think tanks, to the administration of President Joe Biden as America seeks to revitalize its moribund bilateral relations with the Philippines, which was strained during Duterte’s term.

Another recommendation by the group, the holding of a “2+2” meeting between Washington and Manila, has also been accepted, as DND announced during Austin’s visit.

The only proposal yet to be fully implemented between the two countries is the sharing of information, given the US’ apprehension months ago that information that it will be sharing to Manila may not be handled carefully.

The World

US downs Chinese balloon, drawing threat from China

By Zeke Miller, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long, Aamer Madhani & Lolita C. Baldor

The Associated Press

floated over them.

On Saturday, Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, and noticed her neighbors looking up—and there it was, the balloon in the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw fighter jets circling and the balloon get hit.

“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a ‘Top Gun’ movie today,” she said.

The debris landed in 47 feet of water, shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly seven miles and the recovery operation included several ships. The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks.

A salvage vessel was en route.

was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the US took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.

Republicans were critical of Biden’s response.

“Allowing a spy balloon from the Communist Party of China to travel across the entire continental United States before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the White House,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

actuality, the US and China have never announced any visit, the US making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

US was hyping the situation. Some used it as a chance to poke fun at US defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the US.

President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, US officials said. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.

China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the US for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”

In its statement Sunday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”

The presence of the balloon in the

skies above the US this week dealt a severe blow to already strained USChinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.

“They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden said after getting off Air Force One en route to Camp David.

The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast.

About 2:39 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defense offi

cials said.

The spectacle had Americans look

ing to the skies all week, wondering whether the mysterious balloon had

US defense and military officials said Saturday that the balloon entered the US air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into US territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.

The balloon was spotted Thursday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos.

The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the US, giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said the US military

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., tweeted: “Now that this embarrassing episode is over, we need answers from the Biden Administration on the decision-making process. Communist China was allowed to violate American sovereignty unimpeded for days. We must be better prepared for future provocations and incursions by the CCP.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was more positive: “Thank you to the men and women of the United States military who were responsible for completing the mission to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon. The Biden Administration did the right thing in bringing it down.”

China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand—as well as China’s contention that it was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.

The Chinese government on Saturday sought to play down the cancellation of Blinken’s trip. “In

The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. One official said they carry equipment in the pod under the balloon that is not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon.

This isn’t the first time Chinese spy balloons have crossed into US airspace in recent years, one of the officials said. At least three times during the Trump administration and at least one other time during Biden’s time as president they’ve seen balloons cross, but not for this long, the official said.

Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the US was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”

Uncensored reactions on the Chinese Internet mirrored the official government stance that the

China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the balloon’s journey was out of its control and urged the US not to “smear” it because of the balloon.

In preparation for the operation Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coast, including the airports in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions. The FAA and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.

Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the giant deflated balloon descending like a ribbon toward the water.

Bill Swanson said he watched the balloon deflate instantly from his house in Myrtle Beach as fighter jets circled around.

“When it deflated it was pretty close to instantaneous,” he said. “One second it’s there like a tiny moon and the next second it’s gone.” Swanson added that a trail of smoke followed the balloon as it dropped. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Hagerstown, Md.; Tara Copp and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C.; Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tenn.; Huizhong Wu in Taipei; and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report

Pope says South Sudan’s future depends on treatment of women

By Nicole Winfield, Deng Machol & Trisha Thomas The Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan—Pope Francis warned Saturday that South Sudan’s future depends on how it treats its women, as he highlighted their horrific plight in a country where sexual violence is rampant, child brides are common and the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world.

On his second and penultimate day in Africa, Francis called for women and girls to be respected, protected and honored during a meeting in the South Sudanese capital Juba with some of the 2 million people who have been forced by fighting and flooding to flee their homes. Women, girls and children make up the majority of those displaced.

The encounter was one of the highlights of Francis’ three-day visit to the world’s youngest country and one of its poorest. Joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Presbyterian head of the Church of Scotland, Francis is on a historic ecumenical pilgrimage to draw global attention to the country’s plight and encourage its stalled peace process.

The aim of the three-way visit is to encourage South Sudan’s political leaders to implement a 2018 peace accord ending a civil war that erupted after the overwhelmingly Christian country gained independence from mostly Muslim Sudan in 2011.

Greeted by song and high-pitched ululation, Francis urged the hundreds of people gathered at Freedom Hall to be “seeds of hope,” that will soon bear fruit for the country of 12 million.

“You will be the trees that absorb the pollution of years of violence and restore the oxygen of fraternity,” he said.

The head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, told Francis that women and girls were “extremely vulnerable” to sexual and gender-based violence, with UN statistics estimating some four out of 10 have been victim to one or more forms of assault. She said women and girls were at risk for rape when they were just out doing their daily routines and chores.

“If the women of South Sudan are given an opportunity to develop, to have space to be productive, South Sudan will be transformed,” she told Francis.

The pope picked up her theme in his remarks, saying women were the key to South

Po Pe Francis meets with a group of the catholic faithful from the town of rumbek, who had walked for more than a week to reach the capital, after he addressed clergy at the st. Theresa cathedral in Juba, south sudan on saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Pope Francis is in south sudan on the second leg of a six-day trip that started in congo, hoping to bring comfort and encouragement to two countries that have been riven by poverty, conflicts and what he calls a “colonialist mentality” that has exploited africa for centuries. AP P HOTO/B EN C URTIS

Sudan’s peaceful development.

“Please, protect, respect, appreciate and honor every woman, every girl, young woman, mother and grandmother,” he said.

“Otherwise, there will be no future.”

According to UNICEF, roughly 75% of girls in South Sudan don’t go to school because their parents prefer to keep them at home and set them up for a marriage that will bring a dowry for the family.

Half of South Sudan’s women are married before age 18, and they then face the world’s highest maternal mortality rate. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said in a report last year that overall, women and girls here live a “hellish existence.”

“South Sudanese women are physically assaulted while being raped at gunpoint, typically held down by men while being abused by others. They are told not to resist in the slightest way, and not to report what happened, or they will be killed,” the report said.

Maria Nyataba Wur, a displaced woman now living in Juba who attended Francis’ event, told The Associated Press that one of her neighbors was raped in front of her children, so violently that she limped for days afterward.

“According to what she told us as a survivor was that they tied her legs apart and then three people entered her, raped her,” Wur said, adding that she lost track of the neighbor during her own efforts to flee to safety in the capital.

Mariam Nyantabo, another 36-yearold resident of a Juba protection camp, said women were grateful for Francis’ visit.

“The plight against women is shocking,” she said, noting the risk of rape comes from everyday chores like collecting firewood. “His visit is blessed to women of South Sudan, and I believe there will be a great change, the suffering of the women will be reduced.”

Welby, too, addressed the plight of women during his remarks at an ecumenical prayer service later Saturday. He praised their “incredible” strength when “on top of the grief of conflict and the responsibility to provide for your families, many of you live with the trauma of sexual violence and the daily fear of mistreatment in your own homes.”

To the men in the audience, Welby was more blunt: “You will value and honor women, never raping, never violent, never cruel, never using them as if they were there to satisfy desire,” he said to applause from the crowd.

Francis began his day meeting with the priests and nuns who minister to South Sudan’s people, urging them to accompany their flocks by joining in their suffering.

At the St. Theresa Cathedral, he heard of the sacrifice nuns have made over the years, including the 2021 ambush killings of Sisters Mary Daniel Abut and Regina Roba Luate of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Sisters. Cara Anna contributed from Nairobi, Kenya

WASHINGTON—The US military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.

G-20 energy meet in India expected to balance renewables, fossil fuels

By Sibi Arasu The Associated Press

Chile wildfires spread amid heat wave as death toll rises

Speakers, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and the International Energy Agency’s executive director Fatih Birol, will discuss the need to ramp up the transition to clean energy. But the overwhelming presence of oil and gas industry stakeholders has raised questions from climate analysts.

“This event will showcase India as a global powerhouse for energy transition,” said Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s minister for petroleum and natural gas. Puri’s ministry is organizing the event.

But Puri added that “India’s clean energy targets needs to be weighed against the country’s growing economy and rising energy requirements.” The country is set to become the world’s most populous nation this year.

India is currently the third highest emitter of planet-warming

gases but has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2070 and dramatically ramp up its renewable energy capacity.

Ahead of the event, IEA’s Birol praised India’s climate efforts, saying the country “can help drive the global agenda on clean energy transitions and energy security, with its focus on addressing technology gaps, ensuring diversified supply chains, scaling up clean fuels for the future, and mobilizing investment.”

Most of the Indian participants at the event belong to either government-owned or private fossil fuel companies, sparking concerns from climate experts.

“Gas expansion, which at least in India’s context does not make too much sense, needs looking into,” said Aarti Khosla of New Delhi-based climate think-tank, Climate Trends. “While India energy week talks about the role of

gas as a bridge fuel for energy security, it is proven that there are risks...banks are not lending too much to gas and global sentiment of investors is shifting slowly away from gas as well.”

But others say it’s important to keep the conversation with fossil fuels interests going as they remain key players in energy.

“A country like India presently needs fossil fuels to keep the lights on,” said Bharath Jairaj, who leads the World Resources Institute India’s energy program. “We can’t just assume some sectors should not or cannot be discussed, not until we find reliable, affordable and secure alternatives.”

Stakeholders from clean energy companies will also be in attendance. Sumant Sinha, the CEO of Renew Power, one of India’s larg -

est renewable energy companies, sees the energy week as a forum to understand various stakeholders’ viewpoints.

“A lot of global energy companies that we can potentially partner with will be there,” said Sinha. “And look, the reality is that even the oil and gas companies are shifting to renewables. Therefore it’s important for us to engage. It’s always good to see what the rest of the energy ecosystem is thinking about.”

India Energy Week runs Feb. 6-10 and will coincide with the first meeting of the G-20 energy transition working group. The Asian ministerial energy roundtable, where energy ministers from key Asian countries will meet, will also be held as part of the event in Bengaluru.

50-car train derailment causes big fire, evacuations in Ohio

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—A

freight train derailment in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line left a mangled and charred mass of boxcars and flames Saturday as authorities launched a federal investigation and monitored air quality from the various hazardous chemicals in the train.

About 50 cars derailed in East Palestine at about 9 p.m. EST Friday as a train was carrying a variety of products from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, rail operator Norfolk Southern said Saturday. There was no immediate information about what caused the derailment. No injuries or damage to structures were reported.

“The post-derailment fire spanned about the length of the derailed train cars,” Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Saturday evening. “The fire has since reduced in intensity, but remains active and the two main tracks are still blocked.”

Norfolk Southern said 20 of the more than 100 cars were classified as carrying hazardous materials— defined as cargo that could pose any kind of danger “including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks.” Graham said 14 cars carrying vinyl chloride were involved in the derailment “and have been exposed to fire,” and at least one “is intermittently releasing the contents of the car through a pressure release device as designed.”

“At this time we are working to verify which hazardous materials cars, if any, have been breached,” he said. The Environmental Protection Agency and Norfolk Southern were continuing to monitor air quality, and investigators would begin their on-scene work “once the scene is safe and secure,” he said.

Vinyl chloride, used to make the polyvinyl chloride hard plastic resin used in a variety of plastic products,

is associated with increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute. Federal officials said they were also concerned about other possibly hazardous materials.

Mayor Trent Conaway, who earlier declared a state of emergency citing the “train derailment with hazardous materials,” said air quality monitors throughout a one-mile zone ordered evacuated had shown no dangerous readings.

Fire Chief Keith Drabick said officials were most concerned about the vinyl chloride and referenced one car containing that chemical but said safety features on that car were still functioning. Emergency crews would keep their distance until Norfolk Southern officials told them it was safe to approach, Drabick said.

“When they say it’s time to go in and put the fire out, my guys will go in and put the fire out,” he said. He said there were also other chemicals in the cars and officials would seek a list from Norfolk Southern and federal authorities.

Graham said the safety board’s team would concentrate on gathering “perishable” information about the

derailment of the train, which had 141 load cars, nine empty cars and three locomotives. State police had aerial footage and the locomotives had forward-facing image recorders as well as data recorders that could provide such information as train speed, throttle position and brake applications, he said. Train crew and other witnesses would also be interviewed, Graham said.

Firefighters were pulled from the immediate area and unmanned streams were used to protect some areas including businesses that might also have contained materials of concern, officials said. Freezing temperatures in the single digits complicated the response as trucks pumping water froze, Conaway said.

East Palestine officials said 68 agencies from three states and a number of counties responded to the derailment, which happened about 51 miles (82 kilometers) northwest of Pittsburgh and within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the tip of West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle.

Conaway said surveillance from the air showed “an entanglement of cars” with fires still burning and heavy smoke continuing to billow from the scene as officials tried to determine what was in each car from

the labels outside. The evacuation order and shelter-in-place warnings would remain in effect until further notice, officials said.

Village officials warned residents that they might hear explosions due to the fire. They said drinking water was safe despite discoloration due to the volume being pumped the fight the blaze. Some runoff had been detected in streams but rail officials were working to stem that and prevent it from going downstream, officials said.

Officials repeatedly urged people not to come to the scene, saying they were endangering not only themselves but also emergency responders.

The evacuation area covered 1,500 to 2,000 of the town’s 4,800 to 4,900 residents, but it was unknown how many were actually affected, Conaway said. A high school and community center were opened, and the few dozen residents sheltering at the high school included Ann McAnlis, who said a neighbor had texted her about the crash.

“She took a picture of the glow in the sky from the front porch,” McAnlis told WFMJ-TV. “That’s when I knew how substantial this was.”

Norfolk Southern opened an assistance center in the village to take information from affected residents and also said it was “supporting the efforts of the American Red Cross and their temporary community shelters through a $25,000 donation.

Elizabeth Parker Sherry said her 19-year-old son was heading to Walmart to pick up a new TV in time for the Super Bowl when he called her outside to see the flames and black smoke billowing toward their home. She said she messaged her mother to get out of her home next to the tracks, but all three of them and her daughter then had to leave her own home as crews went door-to-door to tell people to leave the evacuation zone. AP

SANTIAGO, Chile—Chile extended an emergency declaration to yet another region on Saturday as firefighters struggled to control dozens of raging wildfires that have claimed at least 22 lives amid a scorching heat wave that has broken records.

The government declared a state of catastrophe in the La Araucanía region, which is south of Ñuble and Biobío, two central-southern regions where the emergency declaration had already been issued. The measure allows for greater cooperation with the military.

At least 22 people have died in connection to the fires and 554 have been injured, including 16 in serious condition, according to Interior Minister Carolina Tohá. The death toll is likely to rise as Tohá said there are unconfirmed reports of at least 10 people missing.

Sixteen of the deaths took place in Biobío, five in La Araucanía and one in Ñuble.

The deaths included a Bolivian pilot who died when a helicopter that was helping combat the flames crashed in La Araucanía. A Chilean mechanic also died in the crash.

Over the past week, fires have burned through an area equivalent to what is usually

burned in an entire year, Tohá said in a news conference.

The fires come at a time of record high temperatures.

“The thermometer has reached points that we have never known until now,” Tohá said.

As of Saturday morning, there were 251 wildfires raging throughout Chile, 151 of which were under control, according to Chile’s Senapred disaster agency.

“Seventy-six new fires appeared yesterday,” Tohá said Saturday.

The minister also suggested the fires should serve as yet another wake up call about the effects of climate change.

“The evolution of climate change shows us again and again that this has a centrality and a capacity to cause an impact that we have to internalize much more,” Tohá said. “Chile is one of the countries with the highest vulnerability to climate change, and this isn’t theory but rather practical experience.”

Chile is requesting international cooperation to assist the firefighting efforts.

“We’re requesting support from several countries to address the emergency,” President Gabriel Boric wrote on social media. AP

Israelis protest government’s proposed judicial overhauls

TEL AVIV, Israel—Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered Saturday for a weekly demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial overhauls, which opponents say threaten Israel’s democratic values.

The protesters marched at two locations in the central coastal city of Tel Aviv, waving flags and chanting slogans against the justice minister. “Doctors fighting for the life of democracy,” read a banner raised by a doctor at the Tel Aviv protest.

The protest is the fifth against the new government, a coalition of ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties that took office in December.

The government launched proposals to weaken the Supreme Court by giving parliament the power to overturn court decisions with a simple majority vote.

It also wants to give parliament control over the appointment of judges and reduce the independence of legal advisers.

Smaller protests were reported in several Israeli cities. AP

BENGALURU, India—Over 500 energy industry heavyweights and 30,000 participants will descend on the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Monday to discuss the future of renewables and fossil fuels at India Energy Week—the first big ticket event of the country’s presidency of the Group of 20 leading economies.

MaC hine operators clean solar panels at the Premier energies Solar on the outskirts of hyderabad, india on Jauary 25, 2023. Over 500 energy industry heavyweights will descend on the southern indian city of Bengaluru on Monday, February 6, 2023, to discuss the future of renewables and fossil fuels at india energy Week—the first big ticket event of the country’s presidency of Group of 20 leading economies.

Thi S photo taken with a drone shows portions of a norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in e ast Palestine, Ohio, are still on fire at mid-day Saturday, February 4, 2023. AP Photo/Gene J. Pus KA r

editorial

Choosing China or the US...or not

ThroUghoUT civilization, smaller and militarily weaker nations usually had one of two options with stronger aggressive neighbors—be cooperative or be conquered. Either alternative created a vassal state making one subordinate to the other, which then owed not only allegiance and monetary and military tribute, but also became a pawn subject to the interests of the patron state.

It was rare for them to have voluntary alliances, as there were the few strong and geographically separated “superpowers” and the many smaller countries, which even together were no match to the empires.

An early “Mutual Defense Treaty” was the “Auld Alliance” signed in 1295 by King of Scots John Balliol and Philip IV of France. The terms of the agreement stipulated that if either country were attacked by England, the other country would invade English territory.

These alliances were not always beneficial. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia came to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia. France was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain into war.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States and the Philippines allows the US to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases for both American and Philippine forces. The US is not allowed to establish any permanent military bases. The agreement was signed by Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg in Manila in 2014. Announced last week, the US and the Philippines have agreed to four new additional EDCA sites in the country.

Both China and the US want to be the “Big Dog” in the region. Who decides the Champion?

The headlines read: “UK and Australia launch pact against Chinese economic coercion” and “US and Australia deepen defense ties, vow to check ‘dangerous’ China.” But without China, Australia’s economy turns into a “Mad Max” movie. China imports over 30 percent of all Australian exports followed by Japan (9 percent), South Korea (6 percent), India, (4 percent) and the US at 3.5 percent.

China is the largest trading partner for all Asean economies based on the total value of both exports and imports. The Philippines sells a combined $20 billion to Japan (No. 1) and the US but imports $23 billion from China. Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia have China as the largest partner for both exports and imports.

These sum up the attitudes in the region. January 12, 2023: “Vietnam’s Relations with the United States: Time For an Upgrade.” February 2, 2023: “Vietnam sees a shared future more with China than US.”

Filipinos are probably equally divided on favoring the US or China and that is understandable. The US watched the Chinese take control over the South China Sea since the 1990s while barely lifting a finger. As a result, but without any justification, China continues to harass Filipino fishing boats in the region and constantly violates the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

Wanting to stay in the middle between the two superpowers makes sense, of course. But what happens if we are ever pushed by circumstances or directly by either China or the US to make a choice?

Blessed are the farmers

RISING SUN

ShEryl (not her real name) is a new grandma, a housewife, mother, farmer, and student all rolled into one. She was selling bunches of unsoy and spicy adobo peanuts one fine Saturday afternoon in Bendita, Magallanes, Cavite. I was told she was doing the extra work to augment her income while studying to get her senior high school diploma. of course, she has children and a grandchild to take care of, a household to run, and a small business to manage.

A few kilometers from where Sheryl was selling her produce, right in front of the municipal hall, stood the business owners’ cooperative where the farmers, many of them women, deliver their goods and products for selling. One can find packets of locally grown coffee, sikwate, tea, muscovado sugar, whole peppers, banana chips, along with bottles of tomato pickles, homemade vinegar, chutney, and other food items. The mayor, Hon. Jasmin Bautista, fully supports the farmers and their cooperative by patronizing the products

and produce whenever the municipal office gives out tokens for guests and visitors. The physical store is, of course, open to the public.

The Magallanes farmers have also organized a Pick and Pay system where customers can pick vegetables from the farm and pay for their fresh pickings before leaving. Produce that are not bought are turned into various food items like tomato powder, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato pickles, tea, and many more. I was told that private corporations that buy produce from the

We really must be grateful for what is being done by the government for our agricultural sector and continue to rally behind our farmers in negotiating for better policies and programs to support their livelihood and the sector as a whole. While there are obviously numerous issues that need to be resolved at the moment—the skyrocketing prices of onions among them, obviously—it is also true that agriculture is, indeed, one of our country’s greatest resources that should be nourished better, prioritized, and given more attention.

farmers usually impose strict quality standards—e.g., a certain size for potatoes and tomatoes—that sometimes good produce that don’t quite measure up to these guidelines are discarded. To avoid wastage, the farmers process them into various food items that they can sell via the cooperative and the Pick and Pay outlet.

As one can see in the illustrations above, hard work and re -

sourcefulness are admirable qualities not just of the Magallanes farmers, but also of Filipino farmers, in general. They support one another, are generous and cheerful as they work, and are open to learning new technology and upgrading their skills to be able to cope with national and global developments. While they are self-reliant, they are likewise grateful for the support coming from the government, private partners, the general public, and even international partners. I was also informed that Canadian partners are currently working with the Magallanes farmers on capacity-building programs.    We really must be grateful for what is being done by the government for our agricultural sector and continue to rally behind our farmers in negotiating for better policies and programs to support their livelihood and the sector as a whole. While there are obviously numerous issues that need to be resolved at the moment—the skyrocketing prices of onions among them, obviously—it is also true that agriculture is, indeed, one of our country’s greatest resources that should be nourished better, prioritized, and given more attention.

State of the Union: Biden sees economic glow, GOP sees gloom

By Josh Boak | The Associated Press

WAShINgToN—going into Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden sees a nation with its future aglow.

Republicans take a far bleaker view—that the country is beset by crushing debt and that Biden is largely responsible for inflation. And the GOP now holds a House majority intent on blocking the president.

The harder reality is that the United States is on a tight rope, trying to balance efforts to reduce inflation with the need to stay upright and avoid falling into a recession. That’s with the seemingly inherent contradiction of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases and the unemployment rate falling to a near 54-year low.

Based on past speeches, Biden believes the policies adopted under his watch can fill the US with new factories and protect against climate change. Roads, bridges, sewer systems, ports and Internet service would be improved. The middle class would be more financially secure. So would America’s place in the global economy’s hierarchy.

On Friday, the president said the proof was in the January employment report. It showed 517,000 jobs were added as the unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent, making it “crystal clear” that his “chorus of

critics” were wrong.

“Here’s where we stand: The strongest job growth in history,” Biden said. “Put simply, I would argue the Biden economic plan is working.” Republicans are pushing back. They blamed Biden’s trillion-dollar plus spending for high inflation and surging gas and food prices. GOP lawmakers want to repeal his tax increases and additional money for the IRS. They oppose his forgiveness of student debt and blame him for the migrants seeking to enter the country at the US-Mexico border.

Neither side captures the fullness of the actual state of the economy.

One group of experts can read the data and claim a recession is on the horizon. A different group can focus on a separate set of figures and see reason to rejoice. It’s a disorienting moment.

Biden can celebrate the low jobless rate even as Republicans bemoan inflation that is still running dangerously hot.

“It’s the best of times and the worst of times for the US economy, to borrow a phrase,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The economy is full of

contradictions as it struggles to get beyond the massive global shocks of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Zandi said he expects the US economy will “skirt” a recession this year, though many economists believe a downturn will come.

Gus Faucher, PNC Financial Services’ chief economist, pegs the odds of a recession this year at 60 percent. But he said any downturn would be “mild” because “worker shortages will limit layoffs, consumer balance sheets are in great shape, the banking system is solid.”

Most people in the US assume the nation is already in a recession, even if they personally feel fine.

Only 24 percent of adults call the national economy good and 76 percent say conditions are poor, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. At the same time, 57 percent say their personal financial situation is good. That’s unchanged since December, but it has eroded slightly since earlier last year when 62 percent felt positively about their finances.

The key force shaping the economy right now is the Fed, which has the mission of keeping prices stable and inflation at around 2 percent. Consumer prices jumped 6.5 percent last year.

To bring down inflation, the Fed has tried to slow down hiring and

growth by raising its benchmark rate over the past year. When Biden delivered the State of the Union Address in 2022, the Fed’s benchmark rate was effectively near zero. It’s now over 4.5 percent, the fastest increase in four decades, and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the rate will likely go higher.

“Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone,” Powell told reporters after the Fed board’s most recent meeting. The Fed rate increases mark a major reversal in how the economy operates.

Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, the US central bank had held its benchmark rate near historic lows to bring back growth. That made it easier for tech start-ups because cheap money meant investors expected them to focus on growth instead of profits. Consumers got use to historically cheap rates for mortgages and auto loans.

The past year’s rate jumps produced a sudden whiplash. The stock market fell. Prominent tech companies such as Google and Microsoft recently announced layoffs. Even as computer chip companies began building new plants and crediting Biden’s policies, the world economy swung from a dearth of semiconductors to a glut. Mortgage rates initially doubled to over 7 percent, before falling back a bit to 6 percent last week.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

Lifelong learning at work

Notary public: Quo vadis?

Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

The past week was a hectic period when I had a heavy dose of lifelong learning. It has been my habit and passion to be engaged in learning. My career engagements in this area include my stint as Dean of the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Business, where I completed my three-year term in october 2022. I was also very much involved in lifelong learning in my other work and engagements in the past. I was engrossed in lifelong learning activities in my work in the past such as when I was a tax partner of Reyes Tacandong & co. And SGV & co., commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, and my numerous teaching jobs in at least five colleges and learning institutions.

Last week, I attended, together with several hundreds of fellow Certified Public Accountants the Philippine Institute of CPAs National Summit on Public Practice from January 31 to February 1, 2023, at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, and the PICPA Geographical Area Office Councils Conference from February 3 to 5, 2023 at the Twin Lakes Hotel in Tagaytay City.

For the Manila summit, the attendees learned the latest developments affecting our accountancy profession, including the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (BOA) Quality Assurance Review, material misstatement risks in the financial reports, and audit of financial statements of less complex entities.

In the Tagaytag convention, several speakers dwelled on tax-related topics, the expanded services of CPAs, the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), and Supreme Court decisions, and even a topic on overcoming mental health issues.

The two events provided a good mix of valuable learning, delicious food, and close camaraderie for all the attendees. An added bonus for us CPAs is that we were able to accumulate several Continuing Profesional Development units. These CPD learning sessions must be attended by CPAs as mandated by the CPD Law, Republic Act 9298 or the Accountancy law, RA 10192 or the CPD law, and various BOA issuances.

Compliance with these CPD rules is needed for the renewal of the CPA professional licenses and for some CPAs, their accreditation with the BOA to engage in the public practice of audit, or to teach in accounting schools. The International Federation of Accountants, which is the global governing body for the accountancy profession and where the PICPA is a member organization, prescribes 120 CPD units to be learned by CPAs in the span of three years. During my term as Chairman of the BOA, I caused the issuance of BOA Resolution 2016-358 in the early part of 2017, to effect this IFAC directive.

Aside from gathering many relevant learnings during these events, we were able to have a hearty exchange of ideas and suggestions with the government regulators that attended the sessions. These included officials from the BOA, BIR, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Quality Assurance Office, and even from the Court of Tax Appeals. Such important concerns and issues were brought out, including challenges in the BIR tax assessments and audits, compliance problems in tax filings and payments, the direction of the CPA licensure examinations, the dwindling supply of CPAs needed by industry, the quality of CPA external audits, common and frequent errors in financial reporting, the need for better accreditation processes of CPAs. During the open forum of the two sessions, I was able to highlight the recently released Supreme Court decision GR 246027. This SC decision came out with the landmark ruling that the Accountancy law provides that only the BOA can regulate and impose conditions on the practice of CPAs and that other government regulators have no authority to impose rules on the CPA practice. The case refers specifically to the deemed illegal practice of the SEC accrediting the CPA auditors as a requirement for the acceptance of the audited financial statements prepared by the auditors.

The many CPAs who attended the activities in the past week surely benefited from the added knowledge and interaction that they had during these life-long learning sessions. Looking forward to more learning opportunities.

Joel L. Tan-Torres was the former Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. Previously, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Examination of May 1979. He is now back to his tax practice and can be contacted at joeltantorress@ yahoo.com

are reluctant to fire their workers because businesses had trouble finding skilled employees during the pandemic.

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE

Part one

PATRIOT

Ionce served as a notary public. There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to notarial services. All notaries in the Philippines are lawyers although not all lawyers can be notaries public. There’s an application process regulated by the judiciary to insure that the administrative challenges of keeping tabs of all documents notarized and the solemnities behind each oath are properly addressed according to the purpose of notarization. Some of us may have seen “elderly” lawyers affix their dry seals to certain documents in the most inconspicuous places. This unadorned landscape of a notarial act sealed with a stamp unceremoniously ends with the authenticating signature of the notary public. As to why some documents entail a notarization and how this judicial function ought to be conducted deserve a mental exploration.

I am privy to one interesting circumstance involving a notarized Last Will and Testament executed by a Filipino-Chinese in the late 1990s. The heirs were required to bring the Last Will to Xiamen, China for authentication purposes. Logically, said Will had to be “red ribboned” or authenticated first by our foreign affairs office before it can be duly acknowledged in China. But before such consular “red ribbon” (now called the Apostille with an abbreviated system), the regional trial court with jurisdiction over the relevant notary public had to issue a certificate authorizing a notarial act. Unfortunately, the CANA could not be issued due to a slight discrepancy in the name of the notary public since his full family name was apparently abbreviated in the inked stamp. All efforts locating both the notary and his office proved futile. The settlement of the estate remains pending due to a confluence of several moving parts in the authentication process, none of which the heirs had control of!

Such incident is but one among a plethora of glitches an ordinary citizen can encounter with notarized documents. Some irregularities can be attributed to the notary public himself for notarizing documents without personally seeing the concerned parties to a document. Some defects can be done by certain persons who can imitate or forge the notary’s signature. More often, the abuse to these notarial functions is

when the lawyer is nowhere to be seen at all or a mere secretary masquerades as the signing notary. To some clients who place a premium on procedural convenience, said pretense can be satisfactory, by justifying that however which way the document is notarized, for as long as it is authenticated, then it will be sufficient. Sadly, this perception erodes public confidence in the integrity for which the notary is appointed as an officer of the court. After all, a notary is supposed to be an “official of integrity” according to Rule III, Section 1 of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice. Aside from citizenship, age, and residency, the Rules provide that lawyers petitioning to be a notary public, must maintain a regular place of work of business where the commission is to be issued and must not be convicted in the first instance of any crime involving moral turpitude. By affixing his imprimatur on the document, by way of an Acknowledgment or Jurat, the notary attests to the fact that the signatories appeared before him in person and showed competent proof of one’s identity (Before Me, x x x, personally appeared x x x, or Subscribed and Sworn To Before Me, x x x).

Contrary to public perception, only a handful of contracts (such as notarial wills) require notarization for their validity. This notwithstanding, there is an interminable demand for notarization services

Contrary to public perception, only a handful of contracts (such as notarial wills) require notarization for their validity. This notwithstanding, there is an interminable demand for notarization services for the primary reason that a duly notarized document carries with it the presumption of regularity, authenticity, and due execution.

for the primary reason that a duly notarized document carries with it the presumption of regularity, authenticity, and due execution. The evidentiary weight conferred upon such public document with respect to its execution, as well as the authenticity of the signatures thereon, should withstand public scrutiny. In simple terms, a private document is transformed into a public document that commands reliance from other people especially the government. However, some have complained about the cost of having a document notarized since the fees are usually computed as a percentage of the amount involved in the deed. Some went as far as insinuating that the notarial process should be done away out of obsolescence, especially when another lawyer have rendered drafting services on the document to be notarized. To those who are advocating the abolition of notarial services, redundancy if not impracticality ensues if another lawyer (notary) should be required to perform a function that was already done by another person in the same profession. A large part of this debate boils down to the credibility of the author(s) of the document. Whether the person executing a deed is to be believed should not be affected by the aid of a legal professional. Why should there be a need for further authentication when the parties’ concurrence to the agreement is reflected in their respective signatures. Those burdened by the expenses and inaccessibility of notarization in some areas echo similar questions. Those who have witnessed lawyers or people acting like lawyers performing notarial services in make-shift “offices,” or worse, along the sidewalk raises the same issue—“notary public, quo vadis?”

A judicial revamp of the notarial practice is timely and necessary without offending my colleagues in the profession who diligently and

Robust Philippine economy projected

LITO GAGNI

IT is heartwarming to see the Philippine economy now going strong after the debilitating effects of the pandemic that saw businesses close down, unemployment rise, and household income decline. In fact, traffic has again slowed down and new buzzwords have cropped up, like “revenge spending,” that shine a spotlight on the extent of the economic recovery.

faithfully perform their notarization functions. While I leave to the Supreme Court whatever reforms this practice needs, I still insist that every word contained in any document signed by the author ought to be kept, with or without the notarial act. Whether the deed produces a mere expectation of a task/event or an obligation to pay/do, the signature of the parties serves a “stamp” of approval if not validity akin to a notarial stamp.

Humans are prone to be insincere with their word, in stark contrast with our Heavenly Father who always keeps His word for His promises are never broken. The same God who made His covenant not to flood the earth again during Noah’s time (Genesis 9:12-15 ) is the same God who “made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) He keeps His word by seeing us as righteous because of the sacrifice that Jesus died for us. Believers are therefore commanded to keep their word just as our Almighty God keeps His, regardless of any notarization requirement. By way of a reminder, Ecclesiastes 5:5 tells us, “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” 1 John 2:5 further prompts us: “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him.” All signatures, whether in a notarial stamp or by a party to an instrument, tell us one thing—I own whatever I said in that document. It is far from being as cast in stone, but it need not be re-authenticated unless the signature itself is put into question. For signatories to documents, for lawyers who assist clients in signing documents, and for the notaries public, who serve to “add” authenticity to these deeds, where to, indeed? Quo vadis, brethren?

(To be continued)

A former infantry and intelligence officer in the Army, Siegfred Mison showcased his servant leadership philosophy in organizations such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Offices, Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Airlines. He is a graduate of West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California. A corporate lawyer by profession, he is an inspirational teacher and a Spirit-filled writer with a mission. For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

There have been challenges made against the said law before the Supreme Court given the fact that a TNVS like Grab should be treated as common carrier like a public utility vehicle since once online, they make their services available to the public and are available for booking, hence they must be regarded as common carriers without exception.

Constitutional conflict could arise from out of the provisions of the Amended Foreign Service Act or RA 11659 that seeks to entice foreign investors.

The big increase meant monthly payments became unaffordable for would-be homebuyers, forcing many to stay in rentals.

Glenn Kelman, CEO of the real estate brokerage Redfin, said the housing market is stronger than many people expected. But the years of low rates worsened generational inequality. Baby boomers became wealthy as their homes increased in value, but then rates jumped at the time when more millennials wanted to buy and they found themselves priced out.

“A generation ago, boomers owned 21 percent of US wealth,” Kelman said. “For millennials, that number is 7 percent. They’re still on the outside looking in.”

Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for Northern Trust, said he is surprised that the rate increases have hit housing but not employment. Traditional models assumed that efforts to lower inflation would automatically include job losses. But when he talks to companies, most

“Because the supply of labor has been so starved for the past two years, firms are holding on to who they have,” Tannenbaum said. “The prevailing wisdom is if we have a recession it’s going to be shallow. Firms are going to want to be ready to go.”

As much as Biden says his mission is about giving Americans a sense of confidence, his challenge might rest with an economy in which few things are certain. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the government aid was so overwhelming that a financial market crash turned into a rally. Biden tried to assure the country in 2021 that rising prices were a temporary inconvenience, only to find that inflation defined how many perceived his first two years as president. The expectation was that interest rate increases would ultimately lead to layoffs and higher unemployment, but hiring stayed robust in a sign that the economy is unmoored from traditional expectations.

Everywhere, foot traffic to fastfood outlets, fine-dining places and malls have shot up, which nudged the gross domestic product to grow above seven percent. That growth has impressed International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva who cited the exceptional performance of the economy even with the Ukraine conflict that led to high energy prices and a spike in inflation.

There is optimism all around about the prospects for growth that lead to a brighter Christmas this year, especially with the rise in employment that saw the unemployment rate hitting its lowest in 17 years at 4.2 percent as per reports from the Philippine Statistics Authority. According to the PSA, the number of employed Filipinos in November rose to 49.71 million, with 2 million in the increase attributed to the administration of

President Marcos.

And even the peso has strengthened against the US dollar, from near the P60 level to below P54 as the economic activities came back in full force after being whipsawed as a result of Covid-19. And with the contribution from the country’s overseas Filipino workers as well as Business Process Outsourcing, the economic growth is seen eclipsing its pre-pandemic levels.

For National Economic and Development Authority DirectorGeneral Arsenio Balisacan, “the strong labor market signifies the steady recovery of our economy.” New industries have been sprouting all over the archipelago that guarantee the rise in the ranks of the employed, and the recent news emanating from the Palace shows much promise.

Thus, it gladdens the heart to know that ride-hailing company

Grab Holdings CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan has promised to create half-a-million jobs during his oneon-one with President Marcos last week. For context, that big number of new jobs is a fourth of the 2 million that the President said during the huddle, which was created since he assumed office.

So far, the only dark cloud in the horizon is the rise in the prices of agricultural products such as onions, which went up to a dizzying height of P700 a kilo in some places that resulted in several memes in the social media showing onion bulbs as replacement for the diamond that grace rings. There were even memes of photos of women sporting onion earrings to show the bulb’s newfound popularity.

It is high time for the government to ensure that the economy chugs along fine and for this, it should not attempt to come up with new rules that may result in a “glitch” in the economic order. A case in point is the status of Grab itself where a

RA 11659 sought to reinterpret the investment activity to get around the provisions of the 1987 Constitution and in the case of Grab, a question that arises is whether it is a public utility or not within the ambit of the exclusion of Transport Network Vehicle Services (TNVS) along with telecommunication companies and airlines in the Amended Foreign Service Act.

There have been challenges made against the said law before the Supreme Court given the fact that a TNVS like Grab should be treated as common carrier like a public utility vehicle since once online, they make their services available to the public and are available for booking, hence they must be regarded as common carriers without exception.

Somehow, there is a need to tweak a law that does not run counter to the Constitution. This brings to mind the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law that went through several public hearings before being crafted that led to inclusion of measures that saw to it that the farmers benefit from its passage.

The said law brought about the reduction in the price of rice, raised taxes for the benefit of farmers via “ayudas” and use of modern agricultural implements as well as breaking up the rice cartel.

continued from A12

PPA CHIEF DISPUTES CLAIMS OF NEW ORDER’S CRITICS AS CUSTOMS BROKERS JOIN FRAY

THE ports chief is befuddled why some sectors and groups want to halt digitalization efforts in the shipping industry, accusing them of spreading false information to discredit the program.

Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said those that oppose the rusted Operator Program–Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS)

“want the status quo” in the industry that, he said, is detrimental to the “ordinary Filipino.”

“We believe some sectors opposed to the program are the ones deliberately spreading false information regarding the program. We don’t understand how P980 pesos in replacement of the P30,000 container deposit will result in a 50-percent increase in the cost of goods. Or that the additional annual import cost will be P35 billion. That’s just unbelievable,” Santiago said.

Julita Q. Lopez, President of Customs Brokers Federation of the Philippines (CBFP), last week said direct financial cost of the new system will result in “almost 50-percent increase in

the cost of importing goods,” which in real terms, she said, is an annual cost of P35 billion.

The opposition to the new system gained momentum recently when 17 industry groups, backed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), among others, wrote President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ask him to intervene.

In an “urgent open letter” sent to the President seeking the immediate revocation of the PPA order, the 17 business groups said, “The PPA fails to consider that the ultimate victim of these additional costs is the ordinary Filipino consumer, who is already bleeding from an inflation rate of 8.1 percent.”

“It is unclear if the PPA has even considered reaching out to the National Economic and Development Authority [NEDA] to fully understand the impact of PPA AO-04-2021 and TOPCRMS/ECSSSF, especially at a time when the country is reeling from the effects of the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fuel price volatility, and global supply chain disruptions,” the stakeholders’ letter read.

Continued on A2

‘PEZA must have permanent head to boost investments’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

ALEADER of the House of Representatives urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appoint a permanent Director-General for the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), who can “shoot decisively in the hunt for big whales and big elephants of investors.”

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda made the statement following the confirmation of Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, who also chairs the PEZA Board.

“Many congratulations to Secretary Fred Pascual. Now I hope a permanent PEZA head is next,” Salceda said.

The current officer in charge of PEZA is Tereso O. Panga, the deputy director general who was named OIC last year after a change in administration.

Salceda said he hopes Pascual can make a strong recommendation

to the President to appoint a PEZA Director General “without further delay.”

“The world is beginning to go back to pre-pandemic normalcy, as Secretary Pascual would know. So, some unique windows of opportunity to take advantage of Covid-19 worries of multinational firms are also closing,” he said.

“Only security of tenure can give that certainty. I’ve recommended a few names, but I think Secretary Pascual can make that case to the President best,” he added, “With PEZA now having a permanent Board chair, we need a permanent

PEZA Director General, not an OIC,” he added.

According to Salceda,  a permanent PEZA head can make longerterm commitments and make a stronger case for special incentives for special circumstances to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board.

“That’s crucial for attracting big whales,” Salceda said.

As for what he meant by “big whales,” Salceda said he hopes the country could begin preparing more long-term incentive packages for “big electronics companies such as TSMC, big defense manufacturers, and firms engaged in critically de -

ficient areas, such as shipbuilding.”

“The services sector is straightforward, almost ministerial. But manufacturing, especially capital-intensive manufacturing, requires more tailor-fit incentives and various other forms of support. During PGMA’s time, we provided special electricity cost and access incentives to Texas Instruments through EO no. 666, s. 2007. That is a non-fiscal incentive that is perfectly allowed under CREATE,” he said.

Also, the lawmaker said a  permanent PEZA Director General can negotiate such incentives with big investors, but we need someone who has some job security over the remaining 5 years of this administration. The current OIC arrangement doesn’t quite meet that standard.

Salceda is particularly concerned that “we need to be very aggressive with our FDI.”

“Our import cover is a bit less than pre-pandemic levels because the BSP appears to have been conducting open market operations to protect the peso. Aggressive FDI attraction will pad our GIR and protect us from currency-related shocks. You need a permanent PEZA DG for that,” he added.

Solon pushes Con-Con for Charter amendments

WITH the government saddled with a tight fiscal space owing to massive past spending on Covid-19 response, a senior lawmaker believes the time is ripe for greater investments from abroad to accelerate post-pandemic high growth by letting  a duly-elected Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) relax foreign ownership provisions in the 1987 Charter. The latter have turned off investors despite the Philippines enjoying investment-

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

THE government’s announcement of a “restart” for joint maritime patrols with the United States has raised questions, including whether it could stop China’s incursions in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and West Philippine Sea (WPS).

While the country’s new mari -

grade ratings for over a decade, according to Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte.

In a statement on Sunday, he said the Con-Con route is the way to constitutional amendments to, among others,  lift the 40-percent ownership cap, given that the alternative proposal for Congress to do so by convening into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) would never take off, with long debates expected among lawmakers on whether the Senate and the House

time security arrangement with its treaty partner poses the greatest challenge yet to Beijing’s presence in disputed waters, the question remains: can it halt China’s march in those maritime waters?

For some legislators and even the Department of National Defense, the joint maritime patrols will cease, if not limit Beijing’s unchallenged intrusions in the KIG and WPS, and revert the use of its

of Representatives could vote for changes jointly or separately.

The president of the National Unity Party (NUP), Villafuerte expects strong support for the Con-Con proposal because of its timing, its focus on economic provisions of  our  Charter, and his proposal to prohibit would-be ConCon delegates from running in the immediate elections following the ratification via a plebiscite  of the proposed amendments.

vast waters to Filipino fishermen.

“Senator [Francis] Escudero also emphasized that joint patrols would help reduce encroachments and acts of harassment in the area,” Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. noted in a statement, as he recalled reactions to the agreement announced in last week’s visit of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III.

PANGA

PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR A wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 124th Anniversary of the start of the Philippine-American War was held on Saturday at the corner of Sociego and Silencio streets in Santa Mesa, Manila. On this site, on February 4, 1899, Private William W. Grayson, a sentry of the American 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment, fired the first shots that ignited the Philippine-American War. The ceremony was attended by Manila Vice Mayor John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto, Capt. Jonathan Salvilla of Philippine Navy, ACT-Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro and Carminda Arevalo of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. ROY DOMINGO

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Monday, February 6, 2023

B1

4 firms keen on participating in Meralco auction for electricity requirement–exec

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

Jose Ronald Valles, Meralco

First Vice President and Head, Regulatory Management Office, said via text message that there are “four total” interested bidders. He declined to reveal the identities while the competitive biddings are ongoing.

“Both are still undergoing CSP. Hopefully, we can conclude the CSP in time for the start of delivery of supply on March 26.”

These power supply contracts (PSAs), if approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), are primarily meant to cover for the hot dry season when demand for electricity is at its peak, Valles said.

Under the approved terms of reference (TOR), the power supply agreement (PSA) for the 300MW peaking power capacity covers a five-month contract supposedly to commence on February 26 to July 25.

The PSA for the 180MW baseload requirement, meanwhile, is needed from February 26 to February 25, 2024.

Meralco had set the bid submission deadline for the 300MW CSP last February 2 and the 180MW CSP last February 1. CSP aims to promote the needs of the consumers as presented in the Distribution Development Plan (DDPs) and Power Supply Procurement Plans (PSPPs) of the Distribution Utilities (DUs). Basically, it requires the DUs to undergo competitive biddings in procuring their capacity requirement. The company had reported that as of end-September 2022, electricity sales rose by 6 percent to 36,553 gigawatt hours (GWh) from the previous year’s 34,398 GWh.

Sales mix continued to shift towards the commercial segment, whose share in total sales rose to 35 percent from 33 percent a year ago. Residential accounted for 35 percent from 37 percent, while industrial segment’s contribution was retained at 30 percent.

Four firms have expressed interest to participate in the competitive selection process (CSP) for the 180MW baseload and 300MW peaking requirements of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Loans, investment boost LandBank’s 2022 income

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Land Bank of the Philippines Inc. (LandBank) said its net income rose by more than a third to a record-high of P30.1 billion last year from P21.7 billion in 2021.

LandBank said it was the first time in the bank’s history that its annual total net income breached the P30-billion level.

The state-run lender attributed the 38.2 percent year-on-year increase in its net income to “substantial interest income from loans and investments, alongside earnings from fees, commissions and foreign exchange, among other income sources.”

“[Our] strong performance in 2022 represents another milestone year, with a solid balance sheet that continues to overcome external headwinds and yield sustainable growth,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia Borromeo was quoted in a statement as saying.

“We look forward to a more favorable economic environment this year, as we take on a more prominent role in nation-building as a development institution,” Borromeo said in the statement issued last Sunday.

LandBank’s total assets grew by 21.5 percent to P3.1 trillion last year from 2.1 trillion in 2021 driven by expansion in its deposits. Total deposits of the bank last year rose by 21.8 percent to P2.8 trillion from P2.3 trillion, the lender’s statement read. According to LandBank, the government sector accounted for the bulk of the Bank’s total deposits at 67.6 percent or P1.9 trillion. This includes deposits from national government agencies and GOCCs which increased by 48.1 percent and 22.5 percent, respectively, over the previous year.

LandBank’s capital grew by 1.4 percent to P210.6 billion from P207.7 billion despite a P8.5 billion special cash dividend remitted to the national government in June due to record net income, the lender’s statement read.

“Meanwhile, the bank’s financial ratios remain at healthy levels, with return on equity at 14.37 percent, return on assets at 1.05 percent and net interest margin at 2.97 percent.”

LandBank’s sound financial position is boosting its capacity to extend support to key development sectors, as part of its broader thrust of serving the nation, the lender’s statement read.

‘Crypto-trafficking syndicate’ victims intercepted at ports

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

when applying for legal work abroad,” Tansingco added.

BI-Travel Control and Enforcement Unit Chief Ann Camille Mina reported that three of the victims were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 last January 20, after attempting to leave the country via an Air Asia flight to Bangkok.

The trio initially claimed to be traveling on a company group tour and presented several documents proving their affiliation with the said local company.

and were offered P40,000 to work as a customer service representative, a sales representative and a cook in an investment company.

They claimed they were recruited through an agent they met on social media.

Meanwhile, officers at the Clark International Airport intercepted last January 31 three male victims who attempted to fly to Thailand via a Scoot Airlines flight.

BI Immigration Norman Tansingco immediately expressed alarm over the growing number of Filipinos recruited by trafficking syndicates to illegally work in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies abroad

but ended up working for scamming companies abroad.

“We reiterate our warning not to entertain offers received on social media, and always coordinate with the Department of Migrant Workers

However, further inspection showed the trio gave inconsistent statements, prompting the officer to refer them for secondary inspection.

During that inspection, the trio confessed they were bound for Laos

The three also claimed to be working for a local cargo company, and are traveling together on a group tour. However, they later admitted to have been recruited to work as encoders and e-games staff and were offered a salary of $1,000 by an agent they only communicated through a social messaging application.

SEC, UP Law Center ink deal for fintech policies

By VG Cabuag @villygc

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has partnered with the University of the Philippines Law Center to improve the formulation of policies that could better address the regulation of financial technology (fintech) in the country.

In a ceremony held last January 19, top officials from the SEC and the UP Law Center signed a memorandum of understanding for the conduct of joint research projects, capacity building and policy analysis, and resource sharing and information sharing concerning fintech.

Under the partnership, the UP Law Center will provide aid in the creation of a legal and regulatory framework to initially address issues surrounding cryptocurrencies, before focusing on other fintech products and their corresponding regulation. For its part, the SEC will provide resources to help support activities that may be conducted by the UP Law

Perspectives Talent a top operational priority

THE KPMG 2022 CEO Outlook draws on the perspectives of 1,325 global CEOs across 11 markets to provide insight into their 3-year outlook on the business and economic landscapes. The survey results provide perspectives on “Economic Outlook,” “Technology,” “ESG” (Environmental, Social and Governance investing) and “Talent.”

Focusing on “Talent,” the report found that attracting and retaining talent is a top operational priority for CEOs in order to achieve their 3-year growth objectives (25 percent, up from 19 percent in 2021). In addition, two-thirds of surveyed CEOs (71 percent) agree the ability to retain talent with the pressures of inflation/rising cost of living is top of mind, as are the long-term impacts to organizations from the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

ESG as a recruitment and retention differentiator

A BUSINESS ’S ESG approach is increasingly seen as a differentiator when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. Of the CEOs that mentioned they were seeing significant demand for greater ESG transparency and reporting, 26 percent noted the biggest demand was coming from employees and new hires.

KPMG in the Philippines Head of Management Consulting Imelda H. Corros shares: “same as with consumers and investors, we see a growing demand from employees to associate themselves with companies and brands that are ethical, sustainable and aligned with

their personal values.”

Recession driving talent freezes

WITH a recession looming, there’s a significant short-term emphasis on hiring freezes and headcount reductions: 39 percent of CEOs have already implemented a hiring freeze, and 46 percent are considering downsizing their workforce over the next 6 months.

But when CEOs take a longer-term view, 79 percent expect their organization’s headcount to increase over the next 3 years and CEOs are still investing in their existing workforce, with half currently focused on boosting productivity.

In the Philippines, the pandemic forced several industries not only to reduce their workforce but also to temporarily suspend business operations. However, as the country moves on from the worst of the pandemic, industry leaders have now refocused their attention on hiring and retaining potential recruits to grow and expand their businesses.

Corros shares: “as we recuperate from the impacts of the global health pandemic, building on Talent and internal capacity posts a competitive advantage.” Despite the on-going threats of a possible recession, business leaders must not lose sight of their long-term objectives and the value of an agile and robust People strategy.

Different organizations have now integrated flexible working set-up options to meet the needs and demands of their employees. “The so-called new normal gave birth to novel and innovative ways of managing a business made possible through fast digital

regarding cryptocurrencies and fintech activities.

It will also recognize the university as an official partner in the initiatives. With this, the SEC and the UP Law Center aim to further understand the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding fintech, for the formulation of new policies that may be applied in the Philippines.

“At present, we at the SEC have been making use of laws and regulations tailored for traditional securities. Although these principles were laid down in the 1930s, they are considerably effective against cryptocurrency scams that are just run-off-the-mill Ponzi schemes,” SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aquino said in his speech during the signing ceremony.

“However, we strive to serve the Filipino the best way possible—that is why we are motivated to issue rules addressing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, specifically for the issuance of digital assets and the regulation of digital asset exchanges,” Aquino said.

UP College of Law Dean Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II welcomed the collaboration with the agency.

“We commend the SEC for being proactive in addressing these challenges brought about by new technologies that enable more efficient ways of transacting business. Acting, especially, in defense of the investing public without hampering growth,” Vistan said.

The SEC has been pursuing several initiatives to address emerging technologies in the financial sector.

In 2021, the SEC established the PhiliFintech Innovation Of -

fice in order to understand and better regulate the use of fintech in the Philippines. The new office is intended to serve as the first point of contact for fintech companies applying for registration, or existing fintech companies that have been operating or are introducing new fintech products, in navigating the agency’s regulatory landscape.

The SEC is currently drafting rules on digital-asset exchanges to ensure that trade in such assets meet global standards on investor protection, market integrity, and transparency.

adoption and transformation, stronger implementation of ESG initiatives and more inclusive work dynamics,” Corros explained.

Fostering a spirit of experimentation

HYBRID and/or remote working has had a positive impact on hiring, collaboration and productivity over the past 2 years. However, many multinational organizations are launching returnto-office plans to usher in a “return to normal”, and 65 percent of CEOs envision in-office as the go-to office environment in 3 years’ time (with 28 percent saying hybrid and 7 percent fully remote). Employee expectations when it comes to remote work are evolving, so CEOs need to develop a better working structure that suits their people in what is still an emerging area.

Even if the supply-demand side of labor shifts in favor of businesses (giving managers more scope to insist on being in-office), CEOs need to make sure their people have purposeful interactions. How do CEOs define what an optimal structure looks like?

Now is the time to experiment and see what works best. Active listening, empathetic communications and a commitment to finding the right balance over the long term will be key.

Exploring opportunities for growth

n Experiment with ways of working. As organizations launch returnto-office plans, it’s important for CEOs to develop working structures that suit their people. It’s time to experiment and see what works best. Active listening, empathetic com-

munications and a commitment to finding the right balance over the long term will be key.

n Tell your ESG story. A business’s ESG approach is increasingly seen as a differentiator when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. And with many CEOs saying they’re struggling to tell a compelling ESG story, it’s important for CEOs to articulate to stakeholders the steps they’re taking to address ESG in their organizations.

n Build, don’t follow. Organizations and their employees are changing, and leaders need to reinvent the enterprise workforce. The old talent management playbooks are out of date, and the challenge is that there aren’t new ones to replace them—yet. The way forward involves strategies that include reinventing the workforce, focusing on the social side of ESG, leveraging analytics and designing a nurturing experience.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/ home/insights/2022/08/kpmg-2022-ceo-outlook/ people-and-talent-trends.html.

© 2023 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG Intl. Ltd., a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved. For more information, email ph-kpmgmla@kpmg. com, social media or visit www.home.kpmg/ph. This article is for general information purposes only and should not be considered professional advice to a specific issue or entity. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the BusinessMirror , KPMG International or KPMG in the Philippines.

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced last Sunday its officers from Manila and Pampanga have intercepted six suspected victims of a “crypto trafficking syndicate.”

This undated photo shows the headquarters of the Land Bank of the Philippines inc. in Malate, Manila. For the first time in the history of the state-run lender, annual total net income breached the P30-billion level. Photo courtesy of Land Bank of the PhiL PPines nc.

Why are people turning to psychedelics like ayahuasca?

By Michael Casey The Associated Press

It's widely used in South America where it is legal in several countries, including Peru and Brazil.

But in the United States, it remains illegal because the brew contains the psychedelic N, N-Dimethyltryptamine or DMT.

Despite its illegal status, ayahuasca has become increasingly popular in the US, and interest has intensified as celebrities like NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Hollywood star Will Smith talked about attending ceremonies. Supporters have formed churches to hold their ceremonies, which are largely held underground in homes, at rented facilities or in remote locations like deserts.

What happens when you drink the tea?

T H o S e who drink ayahuasca report seeing shapes and colors and going on dream-like journeys that can last several hours. Some say they can encounter dead relatives as well as friends and an assortment of spirits who talk to them. Surveys of tea drinkers have reported that most experience a range of physical and mental effects after drinking ayahuasca. The most common physical reaction, according to a study in PL o S Global Health, was vomiting or nausea while other lesser side effects include abdominal pain and headaches. A majority of participants also reported seeing and hearing things, feeling alone or having nightmares—though almost all those reporting mental effects felt they were beneficial to their growth. According to the study, 2.3% of those surveyed reported needing medical attention after taking ayahuasca.

Why do people take ayahuasca?

A GR oWING number of people in the United States are turning to ayahuasca to address a range of mental ailments they say conventional medicine has failed to remedy.

Many turn to the ceremonies to help with eating disorders, depression, substance use disorders and post-traumatic stress. o ne study, using data from the Global Ayahuasca Project, reported that most people with depression felt it had “very much improved” or “completely resolved,” while most of those with anxiety reported that their symptoms were “very much improved” or “completely resolved.”

But medical experts caution that not enough research has been done in the United States to confirm these findings — though smaller studies have been done in Brazil and other countries.

“There aren’t really the same kinds of studies that have been done above ground in the United States that allow us to know how well does it really work, who does it really work the best for, what are the real side effects of it,” said Anthony Back, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He is leading a study using psilocybin, a hallucinogen found in some mushrooms, to help doctors and nurses with symptoms of depression and burnout linked to their work during the pandemic.

o ur knowledge (of ayahuasca) is kind of limited,” he said. “There is not as much information about safety as the regular other medical treatments that you might get if you went to a regular doctor in the United States. It’s kind of in the early stages I would say—interesting, intriguing, promising.”

Where is the movement headed?

SoM e supporters worry the popularity of ayahuasca could prompt a federal government crackdown. Some advocates have reported ayahuasca shipments from South America being seized and churches closing for fear of legal trouble.

o thers worry reports of sexual assaults at ceremonies, sickened participants or organizers ripping

off people could prompt the federal government to act.

Some groups have formed churches in the hopes of being protected from prosecution by a 2006 US Supreme Court ruling. Citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a New Mexico church won the right to use ayahuasca as

a sacrament. A subsequent lower court decision ruled o regon branches of a different ayahuasca church could use it.

The US Drug e nforcement Administration, which declined to comment for this story, set up a system in 2009 for churches to be recognized as having an excep -

Psychedelic churches in US pushing boundaries of religion

HILDALE, Utah—The tea tasted bitter and earthy, but Lorenzo Gonzales drank it anyway. On that night in remote Utah, he was hoping for a life-changing experience, which is how he found himself inside a tent with two dozen others waiting for the psychedelic brew known as ayahuasca to kick in.

Soon, the gentle sounds of a guitar were drowned out by people vomiting—a common downside of the drug.

Gonzales started howling, sobbing, laughing and repeatedly babbling. Facilitators from Hummingbird Church placed him face down, calming him momentarily before he started laughing again and crawling.

“I seen these dark veins come up in this big red light, and then I seen this image of the devil,” Gonzales said later. He had quieted only when his wife, Flor, touched his shoulder and prayed.

His journey to this town along the Arizona-Utah border is part of a growing global trend of people turning to ayahuasca to treat an array of health problems after conventional medications and therapy failed. Their problems include eating disorders, depression, substance use disorders and PTSD.

The rising demand for ayahuasca has led to hundreds of churches like this one, which advocates say are protected from prosecution by a 2006 US Supreme Court ruling. In that

case, a New Mexico branch of a Brazilianbased ayahuasca church won the right to use the drug as a sacrament—even though its active ingredient remains illegal under U.S. federal law. A subsequent lower court decision ruled Oregon branches of a different ayahuasca church could use it.

“In every major city in the United States, every weekend, there’s multiple ayahuasca ceremonies,” said Sean McAllister, who represents an Arizona church in a lawsuit against the federal government after its ayahuasca from Peru was seized at the port of Los Angeles.

The pro-psychedelics movement’s growth has sparked concerns of a government crackdown. In addition to ayahuasca shipments being seized, some churches stopped operating over fears of prosecution. There are also concerns these unregulated ceremonies might pose a danger for some participants and that the benefits of ayahuasca haven’t been well studied.

It was dark as the Hummingbird ceremony began on a Friday night in October, except for flickering candles and the orange glow of heaters. Psychedelic art hung from the walls; statues of the Virgin Mary and Mother Earth were positioned near a makeshift altar.

Participants sat in silence, waiting for Taita Pedro Davila, the Colombian shaman and traditional healer who oversaw the

ceremony.

A mix of military veterans, corporate executives, thrill seekers, ex-members of a polygamous sect and a man who struck it rich on a game show had turned up for the $900 weekend. Many appeared apprehensive yet giddy to begin the first of three ceremonies.

The brew contains an Amazon rainforest shrub with the active ingredient N, NDimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and a vine containing alkaloids that prevents the drug from breaking down in the body.

Those who drink ayahuasca report seeing shapes and colors and going on wild, sometimes terrifying journeys that can last hours. In this dreamlike state, some say they encounter dead relatives, friends and spirits.

“You were invited for a weekend of healing,” Davila told the group, before people lined up for their tea.

Locking eyes with each participant, Davila uttered a prayer over the cups before blowing on them with a whistling sound and handing them over to drink.

Gonzales and his wife, Flor, were among the ayahuasca newcomers.

They had driven from California, hoping for relief for 50-year-old Gonzales. He'd battled drug addiction for much of his life, was suffering the effects of Covid-19 and had been diagnosed with early stage dementia.

“My poor body is dying and don’t want

it to die,” said Gonzales, who rarely sleeps and is prone to fits of anger.

Maeleene Jessop was also a newcomer but grew up in Hildale, the Utah town where the ceremony was held. She is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a polygamist offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hildale was the group's stronghold. The ceremony was held in a tent on the grounds of a house once owned by a former FLDS member.

Jessop, 35, left the church after its leader, Warren Jeffs, was arrested for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. He is serving a life sentence in federal prison. Jessop has struggled to adapt to her new life, battling depression and haunted by the physical and sexual abuse she endured as a child.

The roots of ayahuasca go back hundreds of years to ceremonial use by Indigenous groups in the Amazon. In the past century, churches have emerged in several South American countries where ayahuasca is legal.

The movement found a foothold in the United States in the 1980s and interest has intensified more recently as celebrities like NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Hollywood actor Will Smith talked about attending ceremonies.

Some spend thousands of dollars to

tion to the Controlled Substances Act. But Sean McAllister, who represents an Arizona church in a lawsuit against the federal government after its ayahuasca from Peru was seized at the Port of Los Angeles, said no churches have been approved. Most people in the movement, he said, view that option as “a complete waste of time."

“The government wants to keep a lid on this thing. They want to keep it as small as they can,” said McAllister, adding that the D e A would be skeptical of people claiming ayahuasca connects them to God.

Could decriminalization help?

So M e supporters hope moves to decriminalize ayahuasca and other psychedelics in several states will reduce the risk of prosecution. Decriminalization efforts have succeeded in Colorado and o regon and a bill is pending in California. More than a dozen cities — mostly in California, Massachusetts and Washington—have passed resolutions that deemphasize the prosecution of various drugs including ayahuasca.

“Part of what we are trying to do is get the word out and change

the laws in the United States so this is 100% legal and you never have to worry about it,” Brian Cantalupi, a lead facilitator with the California-based Hummingbird Church, told participants at a recent ayahuasca ceremony. The church, which once largely operated underground, now holds ceremonies in the open. But it’s unclear if the new laws sanction ayahuasca ceremonies. even if they did, participants could still face federal prosecution.

“From the perspective of Colorado, it does seem under the new law that people can get together and share ayahuasca but the question is how much are they allowed to have. That is not clear,” said Mason Marks, the senior fellow of a psychedelics project at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School. “It doesn’t mean that it’s a free for all and people can do what they want. There are still a lot of restrictions.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

attend five-star ayahuasca retreats in the Amazon. But in the US, the movement remains largely underground, promoted by social media and word of mouth, with ceremonies held in supporters’ homes, Airbnb rentals and remote areas to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.

Like many of these, Hummingbird won’t be mistaken for a traditional Western church.

It has no written text and relies primarily on Davila’s prayers, chants and songs to guide participants through the ceremony.

Davila follows traditions learned from his grandfather.

Courtney Close, Hummingbird’s founder

who credits ayahuasca with helping her overcome cocaine addiction and postpartum depression, believes the designation as a church helps show that participants are “doing this for religious reasons.” But when it comes to defining it as a religion, Close stressed that depends on individual participants’ experience.

“We just try to create a spiritual experience without any dogma and just let people experience God for themselves,” she said.

Back in California, Flor Gonzales is convinced ayahuasca is behind her husband’s improvement. “I just feel like we have a future,” she said. AP

AyAhuAscA is a psychedelic tea whose roots go back hundreds of years to ceremonial use by Indigenous groups in the Amazon region.

A P itC her of ayahuasca, right, sits on an altar covered by a bundle of leaves called a “wayra” used in a spiritual ceremony hosted by hummingbird Church in hildale, Utah, on Saturday, October 15, 2022. AP/J ESSIE WARDARS k I

hU mmingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca retreat in the small town of hildale, Utah, just south of Zion national Park, on Sunday, October 16, 2022. the town was previously known as the stronghold for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the mormon church. AP/J ESSIE WARDARS k

PA rti C i PA nt S lay face down on the grass during an integration circle at an ayahuasca retreat in hildale, Utah, on Saturday, October 15, 2022. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. AP/J ESSIE WARDARS k I

Style

Refilling your shampoo bottle instead of buying new one reduces plastic-use impact

HOw TO STICk TO YOUr gLOw-UP gOALS fOr 2023

JUST like that, the new year is here—and that means coming up with New Year resolutions like learning a new skill or eating healthier. But don’t forget your glow-up goals, too, because pimples, sun damage, wrinkles, and more irreversible damage can happen to anyone. That’s why it’s important to stick to your skin-care goals for the year.

A vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free and proudly Filipinomade skin-care brand, Hello Glow (www.helloglow.com.ph) helps you get the best skin care that you need. Want to know how to achieve your best skin?

Here are some quick and easy tips:

n SET rEmINDErS Just like you may do for your meetings or important events, why not program a daily reminder on your phone for your skincare regimen? It’s quick and easy, and it may go a long way in accomplishing your goals. If you prefer, you can also try Post-it notes or scheduling it in your planner.

n USE PrODUCTS YOU LOVE For those who have sensitive and irritated skin, the Hello Glow Blemish Miracle Set soothes and exfoliates with AHA/BHA, getting rid of dead skin cells that cause dullness and acne breakouts. If you’re prone to acne, there’s also the Hello Glow Acne Defense Set that is made in Korea. What’s better, it comes with an Acne Solutions Cleansing Gel, Pore Tight Repairing Toner, and Pore Acne Spot Drying Cream which are powered by salicylic acid and tea tree oil.

For combination skin, the Hello Glow Advance Rejuvenating Set offers a potent combination of powerful molecules and active botanicals that leaves your skin refreshed. If the goal is to lighten dark spots and acne marks, you can try Hello Glow All-Natural Whitening Set, which uses safe and natural plant- and fruit-based ingredients in the set: the Clarifying Toner, Sunscreen Cream, and Whitening Cream.

n CHOOSE A PrODUCT THAT LETS YOU gLOw frOm wITHIN For a healthy glow from within, you may want to consider trying Hello Glow Fit to Glow Red Iced Tea, the newest drink that may help with weight loss, lower blood sugar levels, and relieve constipation. It has chia seeds for a high source of fiber, L-carnitine for improving metabolism, and psyllium husk to help improve your cholesterol and digestive health so your skin radiates beauty inside and out. Plus, it’s got a sweet and sour raspberry taste and can be a great snack alternative.

n DrESS UP THE ArEA fOr YOUr SkIN PrODUCTS A simple yet effective way to help you stick to your skin-care routine is to keep everything you use in one area. That way you’re not scrambling and looking for the items you need when it’s time to cleanse or moisturize.

Hello Glow skin-care sets and Hello Glow Fit to Glow Red Iced Tea are available at Watsons, The SM Store, Robinsons Department Store, Alfamart, and other leading department stores and supermarkets nationwide, as well as online on Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, and Zalora.

OVER the last couple of years, I have become even more conscious about the amount of bottles and sachets I dispose of as a result of using personal-care products.

We have seen the effect of global carbon dioxide emissions produced as byproduct of human activities like manufacturing and traveling on the planets. Our summers are harsher, our typhoons are more cruel, and our oceans and seas are choking. It’s just February and the noonday heat in the Philippines is as hot as if it was summer.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the environment and its degradation but I try to do what I can to reduce my own carbon footprint. Our household has been segregating garbage for over 15 years and prepandemic, our food waste went to a family that raises pigs. They would gather the food waste everyday to feed to their pigs. This stopped because we think the family went home to the province during the pandemic.

We have stopped using sachets because they are actually single-use plastics. I know that sachets are affordable and accessible to most Filipinos, so I have decided to exclude myself in this waste problem.

For context, the Philippines is way behind other countries in terms of sustainability in the beauty and personal-care industries. When we use the words sustainable, refillable and other buzzwords, we use it in the Philippine context. Many people still aren’t into sustainability.

Trying to live more sustainably is not a one-off action or a trend. It has to be done consciously and with purpose. It is not easy, particularly in the Philippines, where many people are still not into sustainability.

I have also tried to reuse bottles. For example, we have three washing stations in our home. No one is allowed to enter the house without washing up in the garden first. The bathroom sink downstairs is the second washing station and the kitchen sink is the third one. I know that this means we use a large amount of hand soap so what I do is to buy refill packs from Watsons and just refill the original bottles.

Refill packs, according to Watsons Philippines, are 40 percent cheaper than regular packs. They also produce 75 percent less plastic waste as compared to regular bottles. These refill packs are available in all Watsons stores and online via the Watsons App.

“According to the recent survey done by Nielsen, Watsons is at 73 percent awareness for sustainability.

We can all feel all it, the scorching heat. Visayas and Mindanao didn’t get to celebrate the holidays because of the typhoon. There is really a need for responsible and sustainable retailing,” said Patrick Yu, Watsons marketing manager.

To encourage its customers to do good by reusing dry and empty Naturals by Watsons bottles can be

The comeback of Queen Isabela

the Indigenous Peoples Community, and second runner-up Cherry Lee Garlijo from the municipality of Alicia.

This year, the pageant was held at the massive amphitheater at the eight-hectare Queen Isabela Park. The sprawling park and province were named after Queen Isabella II of Spain, who had a stormy reign from 1833 to 1868 before she was deposed. The park is front and center of the provincial capitol, the seat of power of the province.

“Dalawang taon na pandemya. Pero kahit na may pandemic, masayang-masaya ang ating mga mamamayan,” Gov. Rodito Albano III said as he thanked the municipalities and cities that participated in the Bambanti Festival.

ISABELA is considered the “Queen Province of the North.” And on an unusually chilly night in late January, a new “queen” was crowned to “rule” over the second-largest province in the country in a scorching and unpredictable competition. It was part of the week-long Bambanti Festival, with the theme Isabela: Pagharap sa Bagong Hamon ng Kinabukasan, which saw a record number of revelers despite intermittent rains.

Catherine Joy Lucero Legaspi, hailing from the municipality of San Manuel, bested 29 other contestants as she was selected by a panel that included Miss Universe 1984 third runner-up Desiree Verdadero Abesamis, worldrenowned designer Albert Andrada, New York-based businessman Danny Pagsambugan, acclaimed filmmaker Jeffrey Jeturian, and Miss Universe 2011 third runner-up Shamcey Supsup Lee. Queen Isabela Tourism is Julie Mae Villanueva from the City of Cauayan. Queen Isabela Culture and the Arts is Johanna Trisha C. Cinco from the municipality of Ramon. First runner-up is Jaycel Lumauig representing

Vice Gov. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, the Bambanti 2023 director general alongside festival director Nilo Agustin, commended the fighting spirit of the Isabeleños: “At ngayon ay importante na makabangon muli sa paghamon. Importante ang ating pagkakaisa.”

During the pageant, 30 queens (out of a possible 37) were proudly escorted onstage by their respective mayors as they were introduced wearing their resplendent creative attires.

This is perhaps the only pageant in the Philippines that does this kind of touching segment.

The other delegates who cracked the Top 10 were Santa Maria’s Angelyn Lopez; Quirino’s Karla Mae Dulay; Roxas’ Christine Mae Mapatac; Benito Soliven’s Jessica Carbonel; and Echague’s Jazkaren Corpuz. Best in Talent was Jon Jesusa del Mundo of Naguilian; Best Creative Attire was Ramon wearing Vinze Asuncion; Best in Creative Attire was Echague wearing Kennedy Jhon Gasper; Best Portrait/ Photogenic was Roxas and Best in Swimwear was Cauayan City; and Texter’s Choice awardee was Quirino.

The delegates wore swimwear by Ricky Abad and evening

so we can be aligned. We are asking our suppliers to look for sustainable options so; for example, we can up-cycle the materials,” said Yu.

Gen Z holds the key to shifting the way we consume beauty products.

Yu said Watsons has gained 100 percent sales uplift in the Refill Station in the SM Megamall. There has also been a 200 percent sales uplift for refills in Watsons stores that have them. On average, three refill bottles are sold every week in the stores that

So how can we, as consumers, recycle, reuse and refill personal-care products?

Instead of bringing sachets, frequent travelers can refill smaller bottles with the personal-care products that they frequently use, such as shampoo, conditioner and body wash. More and more hotel chains and even boutique hotels are using larger refillable bottles for these products as well so it’s best to check out their refilling policies before you pack.

Buy refills and support companies that make

If you have no choice but to use sachets, look at

Bring a foldable reusable bag in your purse, whether you have plans to shop or not.

Buy refills and just fill the bottles you already have at home. For example, because we’re all using a lot of rubbing alcohol, you can buy a gallon of it and just refill your smaller bottles. n

gowns by Albert Andrada. The best in both was Juliemae Villanueva of Cauayan City.

The Top Ten delegates had to hurdle hard-hitting questions from the judges. San Manuel’s Legaspi was asked, “As part of the younger generation, why do you think we struggle in having a sustained, developed and advanced agricultural economy if we [are] dubbed as an agricultural country?” The lovely lass’s winning reply: “For me, it is because we don’t patronize our own first. We patronize others’ products before [our own]. And this is a reminder for everyone that it is not too late to patronize our own, and to contribute to the growth of our economy. We must put our country first because our country’s tomorrow depends on how we shape it today.”

The morning after her historic victory for San Manuel, Legaspi gave a glowing tribute on Facebook to her supporters, especially her mother Nerissa Bauso Lucero, her mentor Rodel Gamilla Salviejo, and her designer Michael Angelo Alejandrino Abrogena:

“Lately I’ve been so mean with myself. I’m so focused on the woman I wanted to become and kept thinking that I’m still too far from the success I want to attain, but then I realized that I’ve come so far already and the woman I am today is the person I wanted to be. I got so afraid of failing that I kept myself on track as possible, kept myself firm and created no room for mistakes, but as I recollect I saw that those failures are what made me this competent today and I can say that I failed many times, got disappointed with my own performance but learned from it, and that is why I succeeded.

So to everyone who’s fighting and anxious to fail, it’s okay, that’s valid but don’t let your negativity consume you. Enjoy life and let things flow according to God’s divine will.”

QUEEN Isabela 2023 Catherine Joy L. Legaspi

PHOTO BY TEDDY PELAEZ

WATSONS marketing manager Patrick Yu

A taste of home at Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center in Silang, Cavite

PBBM appoints Special Envoy to China for trade, investments and tourism

MAYNARD S. Ngu has been appointed as Special Envoy of the President to the People’s Republic of China for Trade, Investments and Tourism.

The Special Envoy for Trade, Investments and Tourism promotes the interests of international trade and investment while improving local market awareness in nations and industries made up of people appointed to nonpolitical posts.

Ngu is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cosmic Technologies Incorporated, the company behind the tech giant Cherry Mobile which was established in 2009 competing head on with the global brands. His sharp business acumen has led Cherry Mobile to continuously expand the scope of his business portfolio under his conglomerate, MSN Group of Companies.

Philippines has designated a Special

Envoy to China who is responsible in building beneficial relationship and cooperation between the two countries which is one of Ngu’s expertise. He is experienced in managing bilateral relationships, fostering communication, as well as providing insights that would focus on discussing the potential investments for both nations. The strategy will lay out a plan for boosting Philippines' economic links with China, promoting two-way trade to increase investors from China.

As a Special Envoy for Trade, Investments and Tourism it is a key role to initiate discussions with stakeholders in business, maximizing the substantial trade and other economic opportunities.

Ngu's competency and familiarity with doing business in China transcends better coordination with the private sector, international organizations, financial institutions, and other social partners.

Active Group chairman and founder launches book during his 79th birthday celebration in Lipa, Batangas

book titled “Antonio A. Turalba: Passion & Integrity” during his 79th birthday thanksgiving celebration last January 21, 2023 at the world-class Mount Malarayat Golf & Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.

In the book, Turalba looks back at the exemplary course he has taken, and identified particular elements that have characterized his long and productive career. With over five decades of exceptional accomplishments in the fields of architecture, design, construction management, real estate development, business, and finance, the Turalba’s entrepreneurial success story, written by multi-awarded author Alfred “Krip” A. Yuson, offers invaluable lessons for future generations to inspire them to their own successes.

Culinary Adventures, Inc. was the caterer for the event. The party was hosted by singer Kate Castillo. Other artists included pianist Mike Morales and Vince Lahorra and the Jazz Quartet. The book is available for sale at the Mount Malarayat Golf & Country Club and proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the scholarship programs of the Turalba Foundation.

Savoy Hotel Mactan to showcase new dishes monthly through ‘Secret Menu’ with Executive Chief Semblante

SAVOY Hotel Mactan is proud to announce the launch of its new monthly series, "Secret Menu" with Executive Chef Coke Semblante. This exciting series will showcase exclusive dishes, “OFF THE MENU” with a rotating roster of guest chefs, each bringing their unique culinary perspectives and specialties to the table.

“We are thrilled to bring this new experience to our guests,” said Semblante. “Our secret menu series allows us to push the boundaries of traditional cuisine and offer truly one-of-a-kind dishes that can

only be found here at Savoy Cafe.” Each month, guests can expect a new menu filled with innovative and delicious creations, featuring the best in local and international flavors. These dishes will only be available for a limited time, making each visit to Savoy Cafe a new and exciting culinary adventure.

“Food is an important part of the travel experience, and we are committed to providing our guests with memorable dining experiences,” said Semblante. “The secret menu series is a way for us to bring a touch of excitement and exclusivity to

our guests' dining experience.” Join Semblante and his talented roster of guest chefs as they create a culinary masterpiece every month at Savoy Cafe. This is a dining experience you won't want to miss!

For more information, you may contact us at +032 494 4000 / +63 917 854 0739 or email fbservice@savoymactan.com. You may also follow us on our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) at Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown | Facebook / @savoymactannewtown / Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown.

FOR centuries, food has been a key element to make celebrations and festivities more meaningful and remarkable. In different parts of the world, food has been the center of gatherings providing comfort and colors that create more meaningful conversations. In the Philippines, food has provided distinction and cultural uniqueness that make it more interesting and exciting.

Over the past couple of years, Filipino food has been making waves in different parts of the world mainly due to the increasing number of Filipinos abroad. Along with this, gaining popularity in developing countries such as America and England, Filipino food is now considered a must-try and must-enjoy cuisine in the world whether it’s from a fast food chain or fine dining restaurant.

As the new era continues to be in favor of the rich and diverse culture of Filipinos, Filipino food remains a main attraction among local and foreign guests in the Philippines. With many regions being considered a leading food hub, Cavite is one of the provinces in the country that takes pride in providing heartwarming dishes that captivate even the most discriminating palettes.

Nestled at the heart of Silang, Cavite is Balai Palmera Restaurant & Pasalubong Center, a budding destination among local and international guests, Balai Palmera takes pride in serving authentic and unique Filipino dishes with Caviteno twists.

Led by Chef Ryan Mapilis, president of Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center, this restaurant offers a grandeur ambiance suited for large groups and families. With its modern Filipino interior, Balai Palmera provides its guest with that homey feel while enjoying sumptuous Filipino dishes that have bold and rich flavors.

“The trend that was established by our colleagues in the international scene has brought so much pride and challengse to all local restauranteurs. We, at Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center, use this as inspiration in providing our guests a remarkable and memorable dining experience with their loved ones,” shared Chef Ryan.

Since it opened its doors to the public last year, Balai Palmera has seen a significant increase in the number of guests from Metro Manila as well as balikbayan overseas Filipino workers, who are looking for a spacious and decent place to dine with their families and friends, and craving for

some authentic Filipino dishes that are to their liking and budget.

“We’re very happy to welcome more of our kababayans here in Balai Palmera, whether they are from the city, nearby provinces, or balikbayans who are spending their vacation here in the country. We are committed to making their experience here in Balai Palmera worthwhile, something that they will forward to visiting again once they revisit the Philippines,” Chef Ryan added.

Located along Aguinaldo Highway, Bypass Road, San Vicente 2, Silang, Cavite, Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center offers a wide array of offerings that have been a hit among tourists and foodies. Guests can also bring with them some souvenir goodies that are sure to remind them of their wonderful time here in the Philippines.

From the assorted tarts, which include local flavors such as banana and buko, to their lovely pastries and bread, guests cannot resist these local offerings. Among the crowd’s top favorites is Balai Palmera’s Buko Pie, which exudes natural flavor as it is usually served fresh out of the oven.

“Food has been an important component that provides strength and power to our bodies. Good food gives us not just fulfillment but positive energy through our hearts, mind, and soul and motivates us in our lives. Capped with relaxing ambiance and wonderful Filipino service, Balai Palmera Restaurant & Pasalubong Center is devoted to making its guests’ visit fulfilling, remarkable and meaningful while carrying out that distinct Filipino pride that we carry where ever we are,” Chef Ryan concluded.

Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center is located at Aguinaldo Highway, Bypass Road, San Vicente 2, Silang, Cavite, and at Tagaytay-Sta. Road Brgy. Pasong Langka, Silang, Cavite. For other information, updates, and news, you may follow Balai Palmera Restaurant and Pasalubong Center is on their official Facebook and Instagram accounts.

STARK FITNESS GYM GRAND OPENING. The brand new gym, which is situated on the 2nd Floor of San Antonio Mall along Buendia Ave, opened its doors last January 27, 2023. This grand opening event attended by some well-known celebrities such as Max Collins, Jameson Blake, Winwyn Marquez, Michelle Vito, Pat Sugui, Tyronne Tan, Kim Rodriguez, model Kirst Viray and fitness influencers like Princess Legazpi, Dan of Fitness, Coach Legran, Coach Anton. Members of the media were also present. As the gym showcased its own premium and

SEC okays merger of insurance company AXA PHL with former subsidiary Charter Ping An

THE Securities and Exchange Commission has given the green light to the effectivity of the consolidation between AXA Philippines—a joint venture between the Metrobank Group, GT Capital, and the Paris-based AXA Group— and its former general insurance subsidiary Charter Ping An Insurance Corp.

The approved union concluded the yearslong process that started when the former acquired the latter in 2016.

While the merger took place years prior to the ensuing pandemic and other global issues, the need for easier and more convenient methods to acquire insurance became more urgent with the advent of these volatile periods.

“Recent times have highlighted the importance of protecting what matters to us,” said AXA Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Bernardo Serrano Lopez.

With the consolidation, AXA fully absorbs Charter Ping An, thus, providing its customers

with an improved and robust suite of insurance products: from life, health, savings and investments, to car and home insurance products, to name a few.

“Since we offer different types of insurance that cater to the varied protection needs of our customers, it will be much more convenient for our customers to find solutions for their insurance needs under the single AXA brand,” he noted.

“Convenience has become a vital necessity. Merging life and non-life insurance under a single brand takes that convenience a big step further and becomes another means for us to be of service to our customers,” Lopez stressed.

Clients of Charter Ping An will not be affected by the merger, and all current policies will remain valid and are considered active and in force, subject to the relevant terms and conditions of their insurance policies.

Other existing contracts with Charter Ping An that have not previously expired remain valid as well. Roderick L. Abad

ARCHITECT Antonio “Tony” A.

Turalba, the founder and chairman of the Active Group of Companies, one of the country’s leading real estate developers for over 53 years, launched his

THREE generations of Turalbas during the book signing: Arch. Toti Turalba, President & CEO, Active Group; Arch. Tony Turalba, Chairman, Active Group; Juha Turalba, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing, Active Group

The best of both worlds: Analog vs. Digital

Matters

By Joy Lumawig- Buensalido

IN a recent personal survey I did among a few former colleagues for an earlier topic, my friend

Eleanor San Jose Modesto sent me an interesting quote that led me to write about the differences between analog and digital technology. In his column in Canada’s National Post, writer Andrew Coyne wrote:

“In a digital age in which everything is available everywhere all the time, where every experience can be delivered electronically and every technology of communication has been puree’d into the same universal flow of infinitely reproducible 0s and 1s, the hottest growth is in the market for things: finite, imperfect, irreducibly physical. Rather like human beings.”

Coyne’s words made me recall how those of us in the communications industry, who were denizens of the analog age, had readily migrated to the digital landscape.

Indeed, we grew and progressed in school and at work with analog technology at our disposal, considering ourselves fortunate to have communication tools such as landline telephones—even more so if we owned photocopiers, audio tapes, and VCRs. How happy we were to have simple television sets, blissfully unaware that cable shows would soon occupy our leisure hours, while Smartphones, Internet TVs, social media, and some such digital distractions would further hog our waking hours. Are we now considered “dinosaurs” for looking back with nostalgia at those years when Analog tools and equipment served us well and our children did not hanker for pricey but pointless gadget upgrades?

Full disclosure: I have kept my landline phones for which I found more practical use during the pandemic. I could talk for lengthy periods to friends and colleagues without worrying about weak signals and dropped calls. And I definitely found that listening to their voices was far more comforting, and our connection more palpably felt, than when communicating through SMS.

Steadfast, Reliable Analog

A qu IC k google search for examples of analog signals revealed that the human voice and the thermometer are two classic examples of analog. Just using these validates my preference for analog.

First, I sincerely believe that there is nothing like hearing the human voice when dealing with loved ones, colleagues, clients, friends, and—in the PR profession—the media. I agree that emails and texts may not be as intrusive as real-time calls, but when there’s a need for a serious discussion, I’d say, “Make that call! [A caveat: unless your reason for calling is urgent, always

check first if the person is free to take your call].

A second good reason for liking analog: because the good old-fashioned thermometer was dubbed as a sample of analog, let me cite why I’d rather use a “mercury” thermometer to check my body temperature. During the pandemic, whenever we needed to take our temperature, we found the mercury thermometer as more reliable, consistent, and accurate.

This was stated in clearer terms by my husband, Dr. Adrian Buensalido, who said: “Digital thermometers are not as consistent nor accurate as the analog ones. Even digital blood pressure devices are often so erratic that we need to try it for several times to achieve a fairly accurate reading. Try using two digital thermometers one after the other and compare; they will most likely give you different readings. But the old thermometer is always consistent and accurate.”

Furthermore, my husband— to this day—chooses to buy and use an analog mechanical watch, which he prefers to wind every day instead of replacing expired batteries in digital watches. He also says that when his analog watch becomes vintage, its value will be much, much more than its digital, battery-operated counterparts.

The third reason why analog is infinitely preferable was contributed by veteran advertising practitioner, Eleanor Modesto, who asserts:

“Millennials and Gen Z kids probably cannot imagine what life was like for Baby Boomers when the world was mainly analog. During that time, there were clear borders: one works in the office and goes home after. Today, everyone works wherever they may be as long as they are tethered to a WiFi connection. Whenever I sit in front of my laptop or send work messages via my smart phone, time would dissipate in the background and work would stretch way beyond standard ‘office hours’, sometimes at past midnight or until dawn! k eeping my boundaries is one reason I like working in an analog world.”

The wonders of digital technology

WHILE some of us still hanker for our old analog days, there is no denying that digital technology has made our lives and work so much easier and faster. It has radically modified all aspects of our lives starting with our homes, travel, education, shopping, entertainment, and especially how we work. Our work devices such as computers, phones, and tablets are now more compact, faster, lighter, and more versatile. Huge volumes of data and information can be stored locally or remotely, and instantly moved around virtually. Even the concept of “information” has expanded to include media such as photos, audio, and video, and no longer refers to just words and numbers. Don’t take my word for it.

The u niversal Business School Tech blog listed down seven advantages of digital technology:

1. Social Connectivity. Everyone can be connected anywhere. Digital technology makes it easy to stay in touch with friends, family, and work remotely, wherever you are in the world. One can connect through words, video, audio, and other media. Websites, apps, and software have all been designed to help users to socialize. With social media, messaging, texting, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, everyone can be connected in the digital world.

2. Speed of Communication. We can now communicate faster. Internet speeds have developed exponentially since the early days of dial-up. Ever faster broadband facilitates the transfer of large amounts of information across the web almost instantaneously, making it possible to show video and audio in real-time, send large data files, and access data from virtually anywhere in the world. Traditional media generally takes very long to send.

3. Versatile Working—Flexible Work Practices. The nature of work has been totally transformed by digital technology. Increased connectivity options mean that many people now have more opportunities such as working from home. Remote working has become increasingly common. Many jobs, meetings, and communication can now be done easily from hundreds or even thousands of miles away without the need for all workers to be present in the same building. Many other flexible working practices are made possible, thanks to digital means.

4. Limitless Online Learning Opportunities and Education. Anyone with internet connection can also access a huge proportion of the world’s knowledge online. Lessons and courses can now be delivered virtually. Advances in communication now make it possible for realtime interaction with most of the world and to learn directly from sources.

For example, you may now register or attend international or foreign events or courses from wherever you are. Digital technology can also be easier to use for people with disabilities and can give them regular access. Today, many schools are already offering online classes in combination with face to face.

5. Smarter Machines and Devices for more efficiency. Digital technology is increasingly making machines smarter. In some cases, the machines no longer need humans to operate them, freeing up workers from often

boring tasks for more interesting pursuits. In other cases, smarter devices mean better standards of safety or a better experience for the user. Products and services drop in price as the technology develops and becomes more common. Many tasks can now be done directly by customers, rather than having another person act as an intermediary. For instance, booking vacations or travel, buying tickets to a concert, and even paying bills can now be done by the customers directly online.

6. Information Storage. Digital technology enables the storage of massive amounts of information in relatively small spaces. Large amounts of media, such as photos, music, videos, contact knowledge, and other reports can be carried around on small devices like mobile phones. Thanks to various apps, physical locations and other data can also be stored online, enabling it to be obtained from any device which has internet access.

7. Editing has Become Easier. One of the great advantages of digital technology over established media is that the information can be easier to edit or manipulate. Word processing has brought about a revolution in the editing of text. Video editing, which used to require costly studios and equipment, can now be done on a laptop anywhere from an outdoor place to a bedroom. All sorts of photographic impressions are now available, as well as the ability to creatively alter images.

Three decades ago, not even the smartest individual could envision something like digital technology radically changing the way we live. So what would better suit the world today—analog or digital?

I say, let us use the best of both worlds and aspire for a harmonious and happy balance between old and new. To quote Andrew Coyne again: “New technologies, it seems, do not always replace the old. They can sometimes co-exist, as the limitations of the old technology are rediscovered as its virtues.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Joy Lumawig-Buensalido is the President and CEO of Buensalido PR and Communications. She was past Chairman of the IPRA Philippine chapter for two terms.

PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@ gmail.com.

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Lakers lose as James closes in on NBA record

NEW ORLEANS—When LeBron James was pulling up his dribble to float an alley-oop pass to Anthony Davis, or diving into the stands in an attempt to regain the ball for the Lakers, he appeared far more concerned with immediate team goals than making National Basketball. Association (NBA) history.

Yet, after nearly 40 minutes on the court, James couldn’t stop Los Angeles from losing ground in the standings, even as he gained on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring mark.

James moved 36 points away from breaking the NBA career scoring record in the Lakers’ 131-126 loss to New Orleans on Saturday night that ended the Pelicans’ losing streak at 10 games.

“I just want to win,” James said. “You know, you play the game the right way and see what happens.”

James had 27 points to go with nine rebounds and six assists as he continued to close in on AbdulJabbar’s record total of 38,387 points.

“I’m tired as hell,” James said, but added, “I’ll be ready to go on Tuesday,” when the Lakers play next.

Brandon Ingram had his best game since returning 10 days earlier from a nearly two-month injury absence, scoring 35 points for the Pelicans on an array of drives and jumpers, sometimes in heavy traffic as he was fouled. AP

Cañiza women’s open tennis on at PCA courts

WOMEN’S tennis gets a big

boost as the Rina Cañiza

Women’s Open gets going Monday with a mix of veteran campaigners and rising stars slugging it out for top honors in individual competition and doubles play at the Philippine Columbian Association outdoor courts in Paco, Manila.

La Carlota’s Alexa Milliam heads the 64-player cast that includes Alexei Santos, Justine Maneja, Miles Vitaliano, Althea Ong, Mikaela Vicencio, Kryshana Brazal and Joanna Tan.

They are all after the top P50,000 prize staked in singles and another P50,000 in doubles competition of the week-long Group A event presented by Dunlop.

A former national player and an active club campaigner, Cañiza is partnering with the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) to further boost women’s tennis, help raise the level of play in their side of the battle and produce future national team players.

Cañiza and the PPS-PEPP, led by Palawan Pawnshop president and CEO Bobby Castro, are putting up a six-leg circuit with two tournaments each to be held in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

B8 Monday, FeBruary 6, 2023

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

WHO ELSE, BUT HIDILYN!

HIDILYN DIAZNARANJO will be bestowed the Athlete of the Year award for the second consecutive year during the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night on March 6 at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.

Already the best Filipino athlete for winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, Diaz-Naranjo went for the only title missing from her collection—the world weightlifting championships gold medal which she accomplished last December.

The PSA’s biggest trophy is actually the fourth for DiazNaranjo—she also won in 2016 for her silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and her gold medal in Jakarta where she shared the accolade with four others at the 18th Asian Games in 2018. She also joined a short list of four-time Athlete of the Year awardees—boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr.

“Hidilyn DiazNaranjo is the unanimous choice as Athlete of the Year for 2022. Her latest triumph is testament to her being a true worldclass

athlete who continues to be an inspiration to Filipinos since her historic gold medal win at the Tokyo Olympics,” said PSA president Rey Lachica, sports editor of Tempo.

The Awards Night is also presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cignal TV with major sponsors Philippine Olympic Committee, Tagaytay City Mayor

Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, Milo, Rain or Shine, 1Pacman Rep. Mikee Romero, Philippine Basketball Association, OKBet and the Intenational Container Terminal Services Inc.

A Second Lieutenant at the Philippine Air Force, DiazNaranjo kicked off her 2022 campaign by retaining the gold medal in the women’s 55 kgs

Top pros bracing for tough challenge at TCC Invitational

AN elite 30-player cast—led by five former champions and a host of young guns—gear up for four days of battle in the P6-million The Country Club (TCC) Invitational that unwraps Tuesday at the TCC course in Laguna.

The winner pockets a record P2 million in what looms to be another survival of the fittest the way it has been on a course that offers lots of high-risk plays.

“TCC is so tough that it really is your fight with the course. No matter who plays in the tournament, it’s a tough course for all,” said Guido Van der Valk, the last winner of the Philippine Golf Tour’s (PGT) flagship tournament in 2020.

Van der Valk edged Clyde Mondilla by one shots with a seven-over 297 total in a wild finish that has marked each TCC Invitational. The past three editions of the event were also decided via one-shot victories, further underscoring the course’s unpredictability.

Tom Kim, now a rising star on the Professional Golfers Association Tour, nipped Keanu Jahns on a 290 total in 2019, Micah Shin foiled Miguel Tabuena in 2018, and Tabuena outlasted Juvic Pagunsan in 2017 on a 13-over 301 total in brutal conditions.

“Your whole game needs to be good—driver and long irons because the course is long, short game because no matter how good you play you will miss the greens,” added Van der Valk, who scored two victories in last year’s seven-leg PGT to emerge one of the marked players in this week’s championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

of weightlifting at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam last May.

Two months later, she entered a new phase of her life by marrying long-time Coach Julius Naranjo in Baguio City.

Following a brief rest, Diaz was back to active competition and conquered the world with her golden feat in Bogota, Colombia.

GOLD FOR EJ IN POLAND

By Josef Ramos

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA won

a gold medal at the Orlen Cup 2023 on Sunday in Poland for a fourth podium finish in a span of only 10 days in the young indoor season.

The world No. 3 Obiena cleared 5.77 meters, enough for the title in the competition held at the Atlas Arena in Lodz for another podium finish after his silver in Cottbus last January 26, gold in Roubaix last January 30 and bronze in Uppsala only last Friday.

“Happy to take the winning gold here today in Lodz, Poland at the

one extra attempt to Kendricks.

Orlen Cup. It was a difficult battle, both physically and mentally,” Obiena posted on his Instagram account a few hours ago after his triumph.

“Now we rest and recover for the Copernicus Cup on February 8.”

American Sam Kendricks, the world No. 28 who foiled Obiena’s gold medal bid at the Internationales Springer-Meeting in Cottbus, Germany, bagged the silver medal with a 5.70-meter effort. He went for 5.82 meters but failed thrice.

Poland’s Piotr Lisek also cleared 5.70 meters but was shoved to the bronze medal—he made the height

Joining him in the hunt are Shin, 2004 champion Tony Lascuna, 2013 winner Frankie Minoza and three-time titlist Juvic Pagunsan, along with Mondilla, Zanieboy Gialon, Michael Bibat, Reymon Jaraula, Jhonnel Ababa, Lloyd Go, Ira Alido, Joenard Rates, Sean Ramos, Ruperto Zaragosa III, Rico Depilo, Orlan Sumcad, Jerson Balasabas, Gerald Rosales, Jay Bayron, Dino Villanueva, Anthony Fernando, Fidel Concepcion, Albin Engino, Enrico Gallardo, Richard Sinfuego, Art Arbole, Mars Pucay, Paul Echavez and Dan Cruz.

All get the chance to test the 7,256-yard course, whose water-laced No. 18 is long considered as one of the best finishing holes in Asia, one last time in Monday)’s pro-am tournament where they will partner with officials and guests of the sponsoring International Container Terminal Services Inc.

Obiena faced off with 10 other pole vaulters in Lodz, including KC Lightfoot, who snatched silver at 5.91 mneters—behind world and Olympic champion Armand Duplantis—from Obiena at the Mondo Classic in Sweden via countback.

Lightfoot was nowhere near his elements and was unsuccessful in all his attempts in Lodz.

Obiena, who holds the Asian outdoor record of 5.94 meters, already announced that he’s skipping the Asian indoor championships next week in Astana because no airline could accommodate poles to and from the Kazakhstan capital.

The Copernicus Cup on Tuesday are set in Torun, Poland.

PNVF names men’s pool members, training camp in Chinese-Taipei up

THE Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) announced on Sunday the members of the national men’s pool from which the national team to the Cambodia 32nd Southeast Games in May will be culled out.

The pool buckled down to Day 1 of practice at the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Pavilion under head coach Odjie Mamon, according to PNVF president Ramon “Tats” Suzara.

The pool, Suzara said, will then fly to Chinese-Taipei on February 15 for a 10-day training camp, which includes tune-up matches against Taiwanese pro clubs Taipower, Win+Streak, Taichung Apollo and TFMI Falcon in the cities of Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tauyuan.

Big steps for Asians in UFC

INDIAN mixed martial arts fighter Anshul Jubli knocked out Indonesian Jeka Seragih in the second round of their light heavyweight match at UFC Fight Night Sunday. Jubli is only the second India born fighter to enter the world famous Octagon and the first to win a match. His predecessor Bharat Khandare lost his first and only fight (after which he was suspended and

“This partnership with the Chinese Taipai Volleyball Association, through its secretary-general Chan Jing-Jong, is just part of the various deals or joint programs that the PNVF has forged with our foreign counterparts,” Suzara said.

The members of the pool are Jade Disquitado, Lloyd Josafat, Rex Intal, Rwenzmel Taguibolos, Leo Ordiales, Joshua Umandal, Vince Lorenzo, Jay Rack de la Noche, Madzlan Gampong, Kim Dayandante, Jelex Mendiola, Vince Mangulabnan, Edward Camposano, Jayvee Sumagaysay and Noel Kampton.

Joining Mamon are assistant coach Rommel John Abella, strength and conditioning coach Miggy Samonte, trainer Mark Alfafara and team manager Jerome Guhit.

eventually released for doping).

Jubli fought in the Road to the UFC that was rolled out prior to UFC 280 in Singapore in June of 2022. Although with his advancing to the finals of the Road to the UFC, he and Seragih were able to secure UFC contracts.

The win solidifies Jubli’s place as he has won three of his fights (including two in the Road to the UFC) in the world’s top combat sports organization.

The fighter from Uttrakashi, Jubli was tabbed as an underdog as his Indonesian foe knocked out all his three opponents heading into this UFC Fight Night clash. But Jubli battered Seragih to earn the win.

And it was instant karma for the Indonesian whose childish antics including sticking out his tongue at the Indian totally backfired on him.

“India is here,” exclaimed Jubli to the UFC Apex crowd and to Bleachers’ Brew.

What he is doing for Indian mixed martial arts is massive. While cricket and chess are the top sports in India with basketball and football growing, Jubli asserts that wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts are on the rise.

A victory would certainly generate more interest in combat sports and the UFC.

And now Anshul is 7-0 in his MMA career.

During an exclusive interview with Jubli—who I specifically asked for—he was humble at all times. Never boasted about anything despite the fact that he was undefeated heading into his first official UFC match.

Jubli told Bleachers’ Brew: “I hope to be for India what Manny Pacquaio was for Filipinos.”

While Manny wasn’t the first Filipino world boxing champion, he is by far the most accomplished and famous. No doubt, inspiring many many more to follow in his footsteps.

I took special interest in this particular match between Jubli and Seragih because it was between two Asian fighters.

The Road to UFC program was specifically for Asian fighters and two Filipinos participated in the tournament. Unfortunately, both got booted out after their very first fight.

One of those fighters, John Adajar, looked like he was going to beat his Korean foe, Han Seul Kim, as he staggered him on a couple of occasions. But a mistake committed by Adajar when he got to the canvas saw him tap out due to a triangle armbar.

Watching that live as it happened, I thought that the mis take was also because wrestling and jiu jitsu are not natural

Marcial battles veteran boxer from Argentina

EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL squares

off with veteran Ricardo Ruben Villalba of Argentina for his fourth professional fight on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

“He [Villalba] is a veteran and a truly tested warrior,” said the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Marcial of his opponent whom he’ll fight for eight rounds. “That’s why I’m training hard and smart because I know that the time will come for me to fight somebody like him.”  Villalba, 33 and a native of Buenos Aires, is coming off a three-fight losing skid, bringing with him a professional middleweight record of 20 wins, seven defeats and one draw.

The Argentinian—two inches shorter to Marcial’s 5-foot-11 height—is more of a slugger and a durable fighter than the 27-year-old Marcial’s last opponent, American Steven Pichardo. Marcial beat Pichardo via unanimous decision in a six-round bout despite getting bloodied from a cut above his right eyebrow from an inverted head butt last October 8.

He negated a three-knockdown scare from American Isiah Hart, his tall opponent at 6-foot-2, and won via a fourthround technical knockout last April in Las Vegas. His first pro fight was a a unanimous decision win over another American, Andrew Whitfield, in December 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Marcial is being trained by Mexican Jorge Capetillo. Josef Ramos

sports to Filipinos. I had a feeling that if his Korean foe got him to the mat, he could reverse the tide.

That was one time I hoped I was wrong.

The Filipinos who have done well in the UFC are all Fil-Ams. Like Anshul Jubli, I am waiting for the first homegrown star to make an impact; a real significant impact in the UFC.

Week in and out, as much as I enjoy interviewing the top fighters in the world, I always will have an interest in Asian fighters.

And speaking of Asian fighters, Filipino-Australian Josh Culibao (10-1-1) will be fighting this coming UFC 284 (February 12 in Australia). He will be up against Armenian Melsik Baghdasaryan (7-1-0) in a featherweight match in the preliminary rounds.

Culibao is 2-1-1 in the UFC. A win will certainly boost his stock in the UFC. However, it will not be an easy fight as the Armenian is also 2-0 in the UFC.

Next week is going to be exciting.

Now, I would love to also see the effect of Anshul Jubli’s win in India that is targeted as the next big thing after China in terms of being a global economic power, sports and culture.

HIDILYN DIAZ-NARANJO is the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s Athlete of the Year for 2022.

THE members of the national pool are (standing from left) trainer Mark Alfafara, head coach Odjie Mamon, Jade Disquitado, Lloyd Josafat, Rex Intal, Rwenzmel Taguibolos, Leo Ordiales, Joshua Umandal, assistant coach Rommel John Abella and strength and conditioning coach Miggy Samonte; (seated from left) Vince Lorenzo, Jay Rack Dela Noche, Madzlan Gampong, Kim Dayandante, Jelex Mendiola, Vince Mangulabnan and Edward Camposano. With them are (standing middle row from left) Philippine National Volleyball Federation national team commission chairman Tonyboy Liao, Secretary-General Donaldo Caringal, national team commission member Oliver Mora and team manager Jerome Guhit.

JOHN “EJ” OBIENA’S making the podium as his comfort zone.