BusinessMirror January 06, 2023

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

The purchasing power of the peso was at its weakest in four years as more expensive food and fuel caused inflation to accelerate to a 14-year high in 2022, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

On Thursday, the PSA reported the country’s headline inflation rate reached 8.1 percent in December and averaged 5.8 percent in 2022, the highest since 2008. (See story here: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2023/01/05/ph-inflation-up-8-1-indecember/)

For economists like Ateneo de Manila University’s Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr., the erosion of the purchasing power may continue given that inflation will remain an issue this year.

“The same side constraints induced by the Ukraine-Russian war persists. Second, the opening of China will increase the demand for basic material, such as oil, and so is expected to reinforce the inflationary pressures,” Lanzona told the BusinessMirror

“Third, the recession itself could possibly reduce the demand for goods globally, but the inflation is fundamentally a supply problem, hence the recession can only make the supply constraints more significant,” he added.

Data obtained from the PSA showed that the purchasing power of the peso fell by P0.0505 centavos to P0.8674 by the end of 2022 compared to P0.9179 at the end of 2021. This erosion of the purchasing power was the largest since 2018, when it declined by P0.0525 centavos.

This means every Filipino shelled out an additional P13.26 to buy goods worth P100 in 2022. Products worth P100 in 2018, which is the base year used to compute the Consumer Price Index (CPI), cost P113.26 last year.

‘BSP ready to use all available tools to temper inflation’

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is ready to take all monetary policy actions to attain the country’s inflation targets amid rising commodity prices.

On Thursday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the country’s headline inflation rate reached 8.1 percent in December and averaged 5.8 percent in 2022.

(See story here: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2023/01/05/ph-inflation-up-

8-1-in-december/)

The BSP said in a statement that given the high inflation recorded in December, the country’s “inflation outlook remains tilted to the upside” this year but “broadly balanced” next year.

“The BSP remains prepared to take all monetary policy action necessary to bring inflation back to a target-consistent path over the medium-term,” the BSP said in

a statement.

“The BSP also continues to support the timely implementation of non-monetary government measures to mitigate the impact of persistent supply-side pressures on inflation,” it added.

BSP said these upside risks include local trade restrictions as well as increased prices of fruits and vegetables due to weather disturbances.

Other factors that could increase

inflation include higher sugar prices, pending petitions for transport fare hikes, and potential wage adjustments in 2023.

“The expected upside risks to inflation over the policy horizon stem mainly from elevated international food prices due to high fertilizer prices and supply chain constraints,” the BSP said.

See “BSP,” A2

Marcos set to visit Japan, Switzerland

Be IJING—President Ferdin and R. Marcos Jr. is set to fly to Switzerland and Japan following his state visit in China this week.

In a press conference prior to his departure from Beijing last Thursday, Marcos said he will travel to Davos, Switzerland later this month to attend the World e co nomic Forum (W e F ).

“I have a trip to…later this month to Davos and Japan maybe will be the next one after that,” he said.

h o use Speaker Martin G. Romualdez earlier said Marcos accepted the offer of W e F Founder and e x ecutive Chairman Klaus Schwab to attend the next forum in Switzerland from January 16 to 20.

W e F i s an annual event held by nonprofit organizations, which is attended by political, business, and cultural leaders of society to discuss possible international and industry agenda.

See “Marcos,” A2

for China EV makers eyed

By Samuel P. Medenilla sam_medenilla

Be IJING—President Ferdin and R. Marcos Jr. is considering the grant of “concessions” to Chinese firms engaged in mineral processing and electric vehicle ( e V ) production to boost foreign investment inflows into the Philippines.

In his press conference before his departure from Beijing last Thursday, Marcos said he is considering the measure to encourage investments in the country's “infant industries.”

“So maybe that they are asking for some concession. So pinagaaralan natin ‘yan [so we are now studying that] and — but it is very important to the Philippines for

such industries to enter the country since these are part of the green economy that’s coming up. So we have to be part of it,” Marcos said.

“That is where the global economy is headed. So kailangan makapag-position tayo [so we need to position ourselves] and I think we’re heading in the right direction," he added.

During his State Visit in China from January 3 to 5, Marcos was able to secure $22.8 billion worth of investment pledges.

These investment commitments include $1.72 billion for agribusiness, $13.76 billion for renewable energy, and $7.32 billion for strategic monitoring (electric vehicle, mineral processing).

In the agribusiness roundtable meeting during the visit, Marcos

witnessed the signing of the protocol on market access for Philippine durian to China.

Also signed during the visit are investments in coconut and food processing; development of durian production; and processing and marketing, as well as alternative green technology for animal feeds and other agriculture related products; and sustainable supply of agriculture inputs, especially fertilizers.

Other signed agreements involve Chinese investments in renewable energy pursuits such as in solar and wind, as well as in related sectors including battery energy storage systems and offgrid power supply systems.

“Concessions,” A2

thousands pour into St. Peter’s Square for benedict xVI’s funeral

PHL hopes for more tourism infra investments from China

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

THE Department of Tourism (DOT) hopes China will invest in tourism infrastructure projects, following the signing of a bilateral tourism cooperation implementation program between both countries. Philippine travel agencies and tour operators are also expected to jointly promote the country and mainland China to encourage more Chinese tourism arrivals.

“We are grateful for China’s commitment and interest in partnering with the Philippines as we usher in this new era of tourism focused on building the industry into a stronger, more sustainable, and more resilient economic pillar for the country’s transformation into a tourism powerhouse in Asia,” Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said in a statement. She was part of the delegation that accompanied President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his three-day visit to Beijing.

The DOT chief signed the Implementation Program (IP) on Tourism Cooperation with the China’s Culture and Tourism Minister Hu Heping, in the presence of Marcos Jr. and China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.

“This Implementation Program

with China will generate massive employment opportunities and investments across all sectors of tourism throughout the Philippines. Our governments will work together on increasing tourist arrivals, resuming and adding direct flights to key and emerging destinations, joint promotional activities, and inviting tourism investments in infrastructure, among others,” said Frasco. Philippine carriers, however, are still on the fence about expanding their direct routes to China due to the widespread Covid infections and uncertain aviation rules there. (See, “Additional routes on hold for PAL, CEB amid China ‘reopening,’” in the BusinessMirror, January 4, 2023.)

2nd top market for tourists DATA f rom the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed total direct investments from China reached $14.77 million from January to September 2022, just 15 percent less than the $17.46 million invested for the full year 2021. No data were available on specific sectors invested in by China.

In 2019, China ranked as the second largest source of tourists for the Philippines, with 1.74 million arrivals, accounting for 21 percent of the total 8.26 million international travelers that year. In 2022, there were 39,627 tourists from China, putting the market in 10th place, of the total 2.65 million arrivals.

The agreement will implement the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries in September 2002. This developed amid continuing calls by local tourism stakeholders and more lawmakers for increased testing protocols for Chinese tourists.

Senator Risa Hontiveros was the latest legislator who suggested government “add more layers of health and security protocols” as foreign tourists increase in the country.

China continues to grapple with widespread Covid-19 infections such that Beijing had to reassure Manila that meetings between Marcos Jr. and Xi, as well as their respective officials, were conducted in “a bubble arrangement.” As per an earlier briefing by the Department of Foreign Affairs, members of the Philippine delegation were also supposed to be tested prior to their return on Thursday to Manila. Those found positive will not be allowed to join the President’s return flight and will have to quarantine in a special isolation facility in Beijing.

Joint advertising U N DER t he five-year tourism cooperation agreement, the Philippines and China will encourage and support the exchange of their respective administrators and tourism professionals to strengthen mutual development of hotels, resorts, cruise, port, tourism products, and other related indus -

tries, along with competency standards.

“We will also encourage investments in tourism infrastructure and support tourism enterprises of both countries in the development of tourism projects,” said Frasco.

She added, “Local tour operators and travel agencies will also take part in the program by jointly advertising both countries’ tourism offerings through promotional materials by highlighting significant attractions and destinations as well as enhancing public information exchange.”

A technical working group composed of officials from the DOT and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism will meet at least once a year, or whenever necessary, to further discuss the implementation covered in the agreement.

The Bureau of Quarantine revealed on Tuesday that some partially vaccinated travelers who recently arrived from China tested positive for Covid and are now quarantined. It did not say if they were Chinese or were just the eight unvaccinated Covid-positive Filipinos reported by the Department of Health on Wednesday. (See, “8 unvaxxed Pinoys from China test positive for Covid—DOH,” in the BusinessMirror, January 5, 2023.)

Concessions...

Continued from A1

Marcos said he is focusing his initiatives on agriculture and energy since these are the major causes of inflation, which accelerated to 8 percent last November.

“It’s still agricultural products, 38 percent of the inflation—11 percent is fuel, 38 percent is agricultural products pa rin. Kaya’t kailangan talagang ayusin ‘yung production natin [so we really need to boost production],” he said.

E-commerce MOU T HE Philippines and China inked an agreement that seeks to strengthen electronic commerce (e-commerce) cooperation between micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and e-commerce platforms, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on electronic commerce cooperation. The event, which was witnessed by President Marcos, was part of his three-day state visit.

According to the DTI, the MOU identified three areas of cooperation: promoting trade of high-quality featured products and services; pursuing business exchanges between MSMEs and e-commerce platforms, start-ups, and logistics service providers; and sharing of best practices and innovative experiences in utilizing e-commerce.

Pascual said Manila is pinning his hopes on the said agreement, noting that it will be “beneficial” in building the capacity of the country’s local businesses.

“This agreement will facilitate the sharing of experiences, best practices, critical information, and policies related to trade and ecommerce. We look forward to interventions that will promote consumer and merchant protection, intellectual property, data security, and privacy laws,” Pascual said.

With a report from Andrea E. San Juan

Purchasing...

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said protecting the purchasing power of Filipinos remains on top of the government’s priorities as domestic and global headwinds continue to be a challenge.

This is encapsulated in the 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda of the Marcos Administration and a devoted chapter in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028. The strategies in the PDP focus on bringing down food costs.

The PDP stated that food inflation averaged 3.7 percent between 2017 and 2021 but increased faster to an average of 6.7 percent in 2018 and 4.5 percent in 2021. In 2022, food inflation averaged 6.1 percent.

“There is an urgent need to modernize the country’s agriculture and agribusiness to increase productivity and ensure that there is adequate, affordable, and nutritious food on the table of every Filipino,” Neda Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said.

Vegetable prices

I N D ecember, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the main driver of inflation was food which posted an inflation rate of 10.6 percent. This accounted for 40 percent of total inflation in December.

Among the food items, vegetables, tubers, cooking bananas and pulses which posted a 32.4 percent increase, were among the main contributors.

This includes onion which, in December, accounted for 0.3 percentage points of inflation. The contribution of rice to the increase in commodity prices was also at 0.3 percentage points.

BusinessMirror’s editorial on Wednesday noted that the price of red and yellow onions sold in Metro Manila wet markets ranged from P550 to P700 per kilo as of January 2. (Full story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/01/04/what-caused-onion-pricesto-skyrocket/)

Mapa said that while inflation slowed on a seasonally adjusted basis, this was not an assurance that it has already peaked.

The top 5 food items that contributed to the 10.6 percent increase in food inflation were vegetables with a 2.7 percentage point share; meat, 1.4 percentage points; sugar, 1.2 percentage points; fish, 1.1 percentage points; and flour, 1 percentage point.

“The numbers are saying there is a slowdown but there is still a threat in terms of these food items because the weight of the food basket in the overall inflation is quite substantial,” Mapa said in a briefing on Thursday.

BSP...

Continued from A1

Rate hikes

G I v EN t he high inflation in December and core inflation climbing to 6.9 percent, also the highest on record according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a bank believes the BSP is poised to make another rate hike.

BPI said demand remained strong due to “revenge spending” which could continue to drive inflation in the next two quarters. Increasing interest rates, BPI said, could help keep inflation within target.

“With inflation still on an upward trend, the BSP may need to hike its policy rate further in the first half of the year,” BPI said in a statement.

“The hiking cycle of the Federal Reserve has not ended. The central bank will likely continue to hike in the next two quarters,” it added.

However, BPI expects that the direction of interest rates in the second semester of the year will change depending on the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

BPI said if the FOMC decides to cut interest rates on the back of a recession in the United States, the BSP could also follow suit.

Under this scenario, BPI said the FOMC may

Marcos...

Continued from A1

Marcos said he is also eyeing to visit Japan for his next state visit upon the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Funio Kishida.

“I think the tentative date is around the second week of February,” Marcos said.

During his trip to Japan, Marcos said he will focus on “economic security.”

“The Japanese have many concerns about regional security and we are seen, the Philippines is seen as an important part of maintaining that security in partnership with friends and partners like Japan and the other countries around the Indo-Pacific, Asia-Pacific region,” Marcos said.

Ways forward

I N a statement, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said there is an urgent need to address structural problems. If these are not addressed, the country can expect “volatility in food prices will be a recurring problem in the coming years.”

BPI said the agriculture industry has stalled in recent years which limited the production of food products. Weather disturbances and structural problems in the sector have prevented its growth.

“Since 2010, the agriculture industry has grown only by 19 percent. On the other hand, the growth of the population has been faster at 22 percent. This has created a gap between demand and supply, pushing prices higher,” BPI said.

For his part, Lanzona said in order to address the challenges in making food more affordable starts with the right mindset: inflation is not imported. He said importation is helping the country bring down commodity prices.

Lanzona also said the government should have pushed for “a strong productivity program” at the height of the pandemic. This program should have included the promotion of industry and agriculture by means of new technologies.

This program, he added, should have included investments in human capital and the strengthening of institutions that will serve the needs of the poor.

“In other words, the government should go back to the basic business of creating jobs and reducing poverty,” Lanzona said.

Earlier, B usiness M irror reported that the administration seeks to eliminate severe food insecurity in the Philippines starting next year through various mechanisms that include the lowering of tariffs on key commodities in the short-term period.

The PDP indicated that the national government targets to increase the country’s food security level in the next six years from the baseline score of 59.3.

In fact, the economic blueprint stated that the government would eradicate severe food insecurity in the country starting this year and would remain zero until 2028.

PDP also showed that moderate to severe food insecurity, estimated at 33.4 percent in 2021, would continuously decline over the next six years until it falls to 24.4 percent by 2028. (Full story: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2023/01/03/low-tariffs-nutritiongoals-anchor-food-insecurity-fight/)

bring down interest rates to a level closer to 3 percent while the BSP's policy rate may peak at 6.5 percent this year.

“The BSP will likely deliver their own cuts following the Fed, but still maintain the 100 to 200 bps differential with US rates. The BSP policy rate could go down to 4.75 percent in the latter part of 2023 if this happens,” BPI said.

In a press briefing after its last policy rate setting, BSP Governor and Monetary Board (MB) Chairman Felipe M. Medalla said the MB raised interest rates on the BSP’s overnight repurchase facility by 75 basis points (bps) to 5 percent from 4.25 percent.

This is the highest overnight repurchase facility interest rate level since February 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, when it was also at 5 percent.

Medalla said inflation in the second semester of 2023 will be closer to 3 percent than 4 percent. This lends some optimism that inflation could average 3.1 percent in 2024 from the previous forecast of 3.2 percent.

Risks to the BSP’s inflation outlook are “strongly skewed to the upside” especially for 2023 “but broadly balanced for 2024.”

The possible impact of transport fare hikes and the higher prices of vegetables and fruits are considered medium upside risks to the inflation forecast of Monetary Authorities.

Cai U. Ordinario

Japan has been the Philippines’s largest bilateral source of official development assistance for the past two decades, accounting for the bulk of the country’s total bilateral loans during the period, the Department of Finance said last year.

The Philippines has so far obtained $14.139 billion in loans from Japan, equivalent to 72 percent of its total bilateral loan portfolio amounting to $19.656 billion from 2001 to 2020, according to a report from the DOF’s International Finance Group.

Marcos has just concluded his state visit to Beijing, China from January 3 to 5.

A total of 14 bilateral agreements were signed in the said trip covering numerous areas including agriculture, infrastructure, trade and people-to-people exchange.

Samuel P. Medenilla

The Nation

PNP top brass heeds DILG chief’s

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz  @joveemarie

ASENIOR lawmaker on Thursday urged China to withdraw all its ships from the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to show good faith in its offer to resolve territorial disputes with the Philippines in the area.

“President Xi Jinping should recall all those ships, whether military, coast guard, militia, or civilian so our Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard can freely conduct patrols and our fisherfolk can do fishing activities without fear of harassment,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was reacting to Chinese media reports that the Chinese leader has told visiting President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. that Beijing is willing to resume talks on oil and gas exploration and resolve maritime issues in a cordial manner.

For his part, President Marcos said he received President Xi’s promise for a compromise and solution that could allow Filipino fishermen to operate in their historic fishing grounds.

We also discussed what we can do to move forward, to avoid any possible mistakes,misunderstandingsthatcould trigger a bigger problem than what we already have,” the Philippine leader said.

Moreover, Rodriguez has been a consistent critic of Chinese activities in the WPS and Beijing’s refusal to recognize a 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal recognizing areas the Philippines claims as part of its territory and invalidating China’s ownership of almost all of the vast South China Sea that includes the WPS.

Days before President Marcos flew to Beijing, the Philippine military reported a “swarming” of Chinese vessels in the WPS. Rodriguez welcomed President Xi’s statement, saying, “It’s a good starting point for talks.”

However, he said China should immediately allow Filipino fishermen to fish in Scarborough or Panatag Shoal (locally known as Bajo de Masinloc), a traditional fishing ground.

The Chinese Coast Guard should remove its presence there and should not chase away our countrymen. That area is part of our 200-mile exclusive economic zone [EEZ],” he said.

Scarborough is about 120 miles off Pangasinan and Zambales.

A s for oil and gas exploration, Rodriguez said the Philippine government “could immediately allow it in areas near Palawan, like Recto Bank, which is also part of our EEZ, provided that China respects our territorial rights there.”

We could engage Chinese companies as contractors,” he said.

H e said the government has stopped a local company from doing exploration activities in Recto Bank to avoid aggravating its territorial dispute with China.

Before stepping down in June last year, then President Duterte ended talks with Beijing due to what then Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Tocsin Jr. described as unresolved sovereignty and territorial issues.

Transparent

MEANWHILE , House Deputy Mi-

nority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro called on Marcos to be transparent on all the deals he and his delegation signed with China so that the public can scrutinize these agreements.

The Kaliwa and Chico river dam deals with China even reached the Supreme Court and the Court warned the Duterte administration  against the use of such confidentiality clauses in loan agreements,” she added.

“ We hope that the 14 deals signed in China would be nothing like the Kaliwa and Chico River dam deal, which contains provisions limiting the contractors to Chinese companies and disqualifying Filipinos, imposing a confidentiality clause, requiring the Philippines to waive any defense on the basis of sovereignty over its patrimonial assets, and imposing that any disputes shall be resolved by a Chinese tribunal in China and Hong Kong using Chinese laws,” said the deputy minority leader.

Castro also noted that there is a provision in the 1987 Constitution and a Constitutional Commission transcript stating that loan agreements must be submitted to Congress before they are executed, and “we hope that the recently signed loan agreements with China would be forwarded to Congress for scrutiny.

“At the end of the day, it is the Filipino people who will benefit or suffer due to these new deals with China and it is but right for us to know the details of these deals,” said Castro.

L ast Wednesday, the Philippines and China signed 14 bilateral agreements during President Marcos Jr.’s visit to Beijing.

T hese agreements include:  Communication mechanism on maritime issues between the two foreign ministries; Joint action plan for 20232025 on agriculture and  fisheries cooperation

Memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Belt & Road Initiative Handover  of certificate for PHSino Center for Agricultural Technology-Technological Cooperation Phase III MOU on digital information and communications technology cooperation

Protocol of phytosanitary requirements for the export of fresh durians from PH to China

Handover of certificate of two China-aid bridge projects in Manila (Binondo-Intramuros bridge and Estrella-Pantaleon bridge)

Framework agreement for the RMB-portion of the loan financing for three priority projects of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)

Four loan agreements for mixedcredit financing (US dollar-RMB) of 3 priority bridge projects of DPWH

Agreed on implementation of MOU on tourism

MOU on electronic commerce cooperation

MOU on Development Cooperation Plan 2023-2025

Agreement on economic and technical cooperation

Mutual recognition agreement between Bureau of Customs and Chinese counterpart on authorized economic operator program.

submits ‘courtesy resignations’

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

NATIONAL Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) command group have tendered their “courtesy resignations.”

At a news briefing on Thursday, Azurin also encouraged all the other senior officers of the organization to follow suit in order to put to stop “malicious accusations” and “innuendos” against the PNP over the alleged involvement of some of its officers in the illegal drugs trade.

On Wednesday, Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. called on all policemen with the ranks of colonel and up to submit their courtesy resignations and allow an independent five-man committee to subject them to assessments following his admission that some police officers may be involved in the illegal drugs trade.

He said the radical move should give the PNP a fresh start and deal head on the issue once and for all.

Both Abalos and the PNP were hurt by claims that policemen involved in illegal drugs are back in nefarious illegal drugs trade.

During the news briefing, Azurin admitted the involvement of some policemen in illegal drugs activities, which he said is dragging the whole PNP down and tainting its reputation.

“ This must be stopped, it keeps on repeating,” he said.

T he PNP chief said subjecting the senior officers to assessments by the five-man body should end accusations against the PNP over the issue of illegal drugs.

He recalled that in the past, some officers have also been accused of involvement in illegal drugs, which led them and their careers to suffer despite the absence of evidence.

“ There were lots of officers...they even directly suffered, they were never cleared,” Azurin said.

T he PNP chief also cited the case of the five police generals whom then President Rodrigo Duterte accused of being involved in illegal drugs.

“ There were some generals who have been accused. Until now, they

suffer. There’s no evidence, no charges were filed. They are already retired and even their family suffered,” he said.

“This must be stopped,” Azurin said.

T he PNP chief said they agreed that the assessments be carried out by an independent body.

He said the issue of illegal drugs has put the whole PNP on trial and secondary, is only the individual interests of the senior officers and that of their families.

“ This is more of a test of moral issues, character…once and for all, we have to be cleared,” Azurin stressed.

House support

LAWMAKERS on Thursday strongly supported the call for all top-ranked

police officers to submit their courtesy resignations as part of the government campaign to cleanse PNP ranks of the “deepinfection”oftheillegaldrugstrade.

House Committee on Dangerous Drugs Chairman Robert Ace Barbers and House Committee on Public Order and Safety Chairman Dan Fernandez said the government should intensify its efforts to cleanse the PNP.

“As chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, I am in full support of DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos’ call to cleanse the ranks of senior police officers who may have been ‘infected’ or involved in the illegal drug trade.”

Barbers said although there is still no concrete evidence that directly links senior police officers to the drugs trade, it is widely rumored or said to be an “open secret” about the involvement in drugs of certain law enforcement officers in the active service.

In October last year, a member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group identified as S/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr. was implicated in the storage of nearly a ton of shabu worth P6.7 billion in Manila. Since then, our anti-drug agencies had been quiet in identifying who was the drug lord, the traffickers, the protectors, the coddlers and other cohorts of Sgt. Mayo in the huge drug cache,” Barbers said.

For his part, Fernandez said Congress should strengthen the existing laws specifically penalizing men in uniform “who are in cahoots with criminal elements nowadays involving PNP officials who have no regard to laws and penalties as they can easily get away with it.” With

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Army probes military official allegedly involved in Plaza Chua murder case

THE military has initiated its own investigation over the alleged involvement of Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante over his alleged involvement in the murder of businesswoman Yvonne Plaza Chua, who was shot dead by a suspect in Davao City last week.

A rmy chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the 10th Infantry Division, which holds jurisdiction over him and his unit, is investigating Durante, commander of the 1001st Infantry Brigade.

“ The 10th ID is already conducting its own investigation. We are waiting for the results,” Brawner told military reporters. “We have advised General Durante to cooperate with any investigation on the allegations against him.”

D urante, former commander of the Presidential Security Group during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, was linked to the Chua case after reports in the social media claimed that the military official was allegedly involved in the death of the businesswoman.

T he women’s group Gabriela had also claimed that Chua herself had accused Durante of physical assault and threats.

However, Durante earlier belied any involvement in the murder of Chua, saying his name was only being drawn into the killing after the victim posted on her social media account a picture of herself with her injuries which she attributed to the Army general.

But Durante said the post made in April last year along with Chua’s allegations have been retracted by the victim herself who even issued a statement that Durante did not harm her.

W hile Brawner said that the military is probing Durante, the 10th ID said there has been no formal request or even complaint against any of its officers.

“ Thus, we could not take action based on social media [reports],” said division spokesman Capt. Mark Anthony Tito.

We will wait for the results of the investigation of the PNP [Phil-

BI bars entry of two foreign fugitives No favoritism in designation of PhilMech deputy directors, division heads–Alvindia

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has thwarted the attempt of two foreign fugitives to enter the country through the country’s international airports in Manila and Cebu.

In a news statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the two foreigners as German national Reiner Reinhold Heber, 63, and a Chinese woman named Chen Qiaolin, 30 years old.

Tansingco said the two aliens were both excluded and booked on the first available flight to their port of origin.      T heir names have been included

in the immigration blacklist, which perpetually bans them from entering the country.

H eber attempted to enter the country via Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) last January 3.

Heber is an alleged recidivist and violent offender who was sentenced to nine-years imprisonment and attempted homicide.

H e was turned back after arriving aboard a China Airlines flight from Taipei as immigration officers were already alerted about his trip by officials from the BI Intelligence Division.

On the other hand, Chen was denied entry upon arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport

(Naia)  aboard Philippine Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur last January 2.

C hen’s name reportedly registered a hit in the Interpol database, prompting BI-Naia officials to exclude and send her back to Malaysia.

Information from the Interpol’s national central bureau (NCB) in Manila revealed that Chen is wanted in China for human trafficking.

She was also charged with forging the travel documents of trafficking victims who were able to illegally enter Malaysia, Cambodia and other countries.

C hinese authorities also accused Chen of being involved in telecommunications fraud and illegal online gambling activities.

PHILIPPINE Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) Director IV Dr. Dionisio G. Alvindia defended on Thursday the designation of eight PhilMech personnel to higher posts, saying the designation of these officials was aimed to further enhance the delivery of agency services to its stakeholders.

Dr. Alvindia said that the newly designated officials are highly qualified and competent to the positions of deputy director and division chiefs, adding all of them are PhilMech employees holding better work and educational qualifications,

contrary to allegations that they are outsiders and non-PhilMech personnel that lack experience in the field of agriculture.

He said the eight PhilMech officials who were replaced from their posts have pending administrative cases at PhilMech that may cause the delay in the implementation of projects that are supposed to benefit millions of Filipino farmers.

Four of the replaced PhilMech officers were linked to the tractor case, and are now under preventive suspension to prevent them from interfering in the ongoing investigation against them,” he said.

He said the four other affected PhilMech officials are likewise under investigation for allegedly delaying the process in the implementation of various projects being undertaken by the agency.

He also noted that two of the eight PhilMech officials being replaced have applied for the positions of Director IV and Director III of PhilMech.

A lvindia claimed that the designation of new personnel is part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr’s. program to enhance the delivery of government services under his administration.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Withdraw ships from WPS, Rodriguez tells Chinese leader

ippine National Police] and the unit will cooperate with the ongoing formal investigation, if needed. We will

not condone any wrongdoings of our personnel, including senior officers,” Tito stressed.  Rene Acosta

DAVAO City Police Office Director Col. Alberto Lupaz shows the photo of the gunman responsible for the killing of Yvonnette Plaza Chua, which also contains the details of the P1 million bounty for those who can give the information and whereabouts of the gunmen. Plaza was shot at close range by one of two gunmen riding in tandem on a motorbike in front of her rented house on December 29, 2022. PNA PHOTO BY ROBINSON NIÑAL JR.

PHILIPPINE Police Chief, Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., holds a letter showing his courtesy resignation during a news conference at Camp Crame police headquarters, Thursday, January 5, 2023, in Metro Manila, Philippines. The Philippine National Police chief said Thursday he has offered to resign to encourage nearly a thousand other top police officials to do the same to regain public trust after some enforcers were arrested due to illegal drugs and further tainted the police force's notorious image.

AP/AARON FAVILA

BusinessMirror

Group urges govt to speed up Natl ID system implementation

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes  @brownindio

CONSUMER rights advocacy group CitizenWatch Philippines on Thursday urged the national government to accelerate the

implementation of the Philippine National ID system, saying the project could hasten the digital transformation of all sectors in both public and private entities crucial a sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

“We have to be clear that this is not

just any other ID card,” said Orlando Oxales, convenor of CitizenWatch. “Validation of a person’s identity establishes trust in the fulfillment of all kinds of transactions and opens up opportunities to successfully participate in the fast-growing digital ecosystem.”

Eventually, with a well-implemented ID system using biometrics, we won’t even need an ID card because printed cards can be faked, anyway,” he said, adding that the ID system is truly a game-changing digital platform and will be integral to an emerging digital economy.

Envisioned by the law

REPUBLIC Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, was signed into law in August 2018 and aims to establish a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens.

T he objective of the Philippine ID system (PhilSys) is to provide a valid proof of identity “as a means of simplifying public and private transactions, and shall be a social and economic platform that promotes seamless social service delivery and

strengthens financial inclusion for both public and private services,” according to the PhilSys web site.

“ If implemented and executed right, the result would be secure, simplified, and efficient in-person or online transactions is key in the government’s drive to promote the ease of doing business across the economic horizon,” Oxales added.

Strategic benefits

SOME of the benefits of an active national ID system include making services more accessible, promoting ease of doing business, enhancing the integrity of services, reducing fraud, enabling and promoting participation in digital government and the digital economy, and empowering Filipinos to have greater control over their personal data, thus contributing to greater transparency and accountability for how data is used in the Philippines.

O xales said the advantages of a secure and fully operational digital ID system has great implications on the economy, especially to the unbanked sector of the economy.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) earned a “satisfactory” rating of 89.78 percent in the 2022 Report Card Survey (RCS) 2.0 conducted by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).

Together with other top performing government agencies, the DENR was feted during an awarding ceremony held last December 19 in Pasay City. The DENR received a Certificate of Recognition, a Certificate of Participation, and its report card.

A total of 50 offices and agencies providing government services were subjected to the pilot implementation of the survey. These include 30 National Government Agencies, five government-owned and -controlled corporations, five local government units, five state universities and colleges and five

government hospitals.

T he RCS 2.0 is in compliance with Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

R CS 2.0 is also a tool that measures effectiveness of the Citizen’s Charter in reducing regulatory burdens and the impact of human resource systems and programs in delivering efficient government service.

DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas R. Leones, speaking in behalf of Maria Antonia YuloLoyzaga, said the entire DENR community was honored and grateful for the award.

T he high score received by the DENR in the ARTA survey was a clear indication that the agency was “on the right track in its goal to deliver excellent and efficient public service,” Leones said.

“ With a score of 89.78 percent,

It will expand access to financial technologies to empower more productive participants across all sectors of the population,” he said. “This will dramatically ease the way we transact business and competitiveness.”

The identification system will also boost e-commerce because we will know whom we are dealing with online. “No more anonymous parties and misrepresentations in online selling platforms,” he said.

This will instill seller and buyer responsibility and discipline, effectively preventing online fraud and scams.”

O xales also pointed out that government services and functions will be more efficient with the National ID system.

“ The efficiency of public services in national agencies and local government units will be enhanced.

We save time and effort because we would no longer need multiple government IDs to show proof of identity and transactions will be faster,” Oxales explained.

T he ID system, through biometrics that ascertain a person’s identity,

will also help discourage crime and boost to law enforcement.

The enforcement of the SIM Registration Act will also be facilitated by linking each SIM to a user’s PhilID making each call and SMS message traceable to the individual subscriber,” Oxales added.

He cited recent NTC data reporting 11,219,722 SIM cards registered as of January 2, 2023. “This could have been much faster had the PhilID been already operational,” he said.

Still, Oxales said, all these gains and the overall success of the National ID system will hinge on the development of the country’s digital infrastructure that would, in turn, deliver stable and fast connectivity on a nationwide scale.

Oxales said the government must also pursue partnerships between the public and private sectors to speed up the digitalization program of the country. “This is why publicprivate partnerships in the digital and telecommunication industry are crucial. We have to have the infrastructure backbone in place so all Filipinos will benefit as envisioned.”

the DENR is challenged to work even better to serve the Filipino people through prompt action on transactions done in all our offices. We remain committed to our duties as public servants,” he added.

R CS 2.0 has been under pilot implementation since it was launched in 2021 as a feedback mechanism to improve government services.

Under the RCS rating system, agencies with a rating of 95 to 100 percent are classified as Excellent agencies; 90 to 94.99 percent, Very Satisfactory; 85 to 89.9 percent, Satisfactory; 80 to 84.99 percent, Compliant; and 75 to 79.99 percent, Needs Improvement; 74.99 percent and below, Requires thorough Review of RA 11032 requirements.

For this year, the Awards Committee looked into three processes of the DENR National Capital Region, including the issuances of tree cutting and earth-balling permits, tree cutting permit for

planted trees and application for chainsaw registration.

O ther government agencies recognized as “Satisfactory Agencies” and received an RCS rating of 85 to 89.9 percent were the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund), Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Valenzuela City, Cooperative Development Authority, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Main Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Government agencies that obtained a “very satisfactory” rating or an RCS rating of 90 to 94 percent, and bagged the Silver Award were the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Government Service Insurance System, the University of the Philippines-Diliman, and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued notices of violation (NOV) to four retail firms for selling fireworks not covered by the Philippine Standard (PS) license and for not bearing the required PS mark.

O n December 29, 2022, the DTI-Consumer Protection Group (CPG) said it conducted its enforcement operations to inspect fireworks establishments in Sta. Maria, Bulacan, led by the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) and the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS).

O ut of the eight retail firms inspected during the said enforcement operations, DTI said four were issued with NOV for selling unlicensed fireworks. In compliance with the due process clause of the law, the representative of the stores was given 48 hours to provide an explanation related to the findings of non-compliance.

According to DTI, the fireworks seized during the said operation are on top of the unlicensed fireworks nabbed during the agency’s rampedup enforcement in Bocaue, Bulacan, on December 27, 2022.

L ast December 27, the trade department said it confiscated 227 pieces of unlicensed fireworks. Out of the 31 establishments inspected. Six received NOV for selling unlicensed fireworks.

T he DTI released the list of certified fireworks and firecrackers for the reference of consumers.

T he DTI-certified brands of fireworks as of December 19,2022 are: Dragon Fireworks, Diamond, LF Fireworks, Pegasus, Phoenix, Double L, Nation, LLF, Andy’s Fireworks, Pyro Kreations, Yangco Fireworks, Star Light, A. Santiago Fireworks and 4SURE Fireworks.

DTI noted that the brands mentioned are PS-Licensed companies as Republic Act (RA) No. 7183 or the Law on Pyrotechnic Devices prohibits the importation of finished firecrackers and fireworks.

To ensure product quality and safety, DTI encouraged the public to purchase fireworks with the PS mark.

“ We are one with other government agencies in ensuring consumer safety during this Holiday season. With that, the DTI supports the Department of Health [DOH] in intensifying the “Iwas Paputok” campaign; and the national police and local government units in enforcing Executive Order No. 28, restricting firecracker use to community fireworks displays,” DTI-CPG Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo said.

C astelo also enjoined consumers to fulfill their share in upholding consumer protection by being vigilant and purchasing only licensed fireworks that have undergone and passed the

DTI testing schemes.

Fireworks are among the products listed under Mandatory Certification with the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS). Products included in the list are electric fans, microwave ovens, refrigerators, washing machines, and television set, among others.

A ccording to the website of BPS, part of its mandate, as provided in the Consumer Act of the Philippines, is to protect consumers against hazards to health and safety as well as to assure the public of the consistency of standardized products in the market.

Further, to carry out its mandate, the BPS said it provides for the standardization and certification of products, both locally manufactured and imported, giving the consumers access to quality and safe products conforming to the relevant Philippine National Standards (PNS).

A ccording to BPS, it currently implements two Mandatory Product Certification Schemes: the PS Quality and/or Safety Certification Mark Licensing Scheme and the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) Certification Scheme.

“ Products covered by the mandatory certification, whether locally manufactured or imported, are not allowed to be distributed in the Philippine market without the necessary PS or ICC marks,” the BPS web site noted.

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

FORMER agriculture and sugar officials welcomed the resolution of the Executive branch to dismiss charges against them over issues surrounding the infamous sugar order (SO) 4 importation program.

Former Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio S. Sebastian said the dismissal of the charges against them would enable them to “move forward” from a “traumatic” and “challenging” experience.

“I thank President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, and Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Analiza G. Logan for their understanding in absolving us of the charges,” Sebastian, who is a CESO I, said in a news statement on Thursday.

I take note of their admonition to be more prudent and circumspect in future actions,” Sebastian added.

Former Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board members Roland Beltran and Aurelio Valderrama thanked Malacañang for rendering a “just” decision on the case.

“I have always said from the very start that I am innocent of the charges against me. I remained faithful to my oath of office, and never betrayed public trust,” Beltran said in a news statement.

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

CHINESE military and paramilitary ships have been prowling the West Philippine Sea (WPS), and even challenging Philippine Coast Guard and military vessels, as if China owns the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in that area.

T his was gleaned from the presentation of retired United States Air Force Col. Raymond Powell during a forum on Thursday organized by the Stratbase ADR Institute and the US Embassy in Manila.

Powell, of the Project Myoushu of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation in California, cited an incident on December 8 last year, wherein a Philippine Navy ship, BRP Andres Bonifacio, appeared to have been blocked by a Chinese Coast Guard vessel as it was sailing for Scarborough Shoal.

“ It was never reported or discussed,” Powell said of the incident.

A ccording to him, the Andres Bonifacio, one of the Del Pilar-class offshore patrol vessels of the Philippine Navy, was cruising within the vicinity of Scarborough when the Chinese Coast Guard vessel appeared and cut the path of the Navy ship.

T he incident, which showed the constant and regular presence of Chinese ships within Philippine maritime waters, however, was ap -

parently ignored by the patrol vessel.

Powell brought to the public the “quality and quantity” of information that was being told to Filipinos.

The retired American air force officer also cited the challenging presence of Chinese vessels just days before the resupply that was carried out by the Philippine Navy for its troops aboard the partly-sunken BRP Sierra Madre at the Ayungin Shoal during the latter part of June last year, wherein it warned the troops not to bring construction materials.

Based on Powel’s presentation, on June 18, 2022, Chinese maritime militia vessels and Chinese Coast Guard vessel 5304 appeared at the shoal.

On the following day, another Chinese Coast Guard vessel with markings 4302, also appeared at the shoal as the Philippines’ BRP Habagat was sailing or proceeding to Ayungin.

On June 20, 2022, a Chinese maritime militia vessel reinforced at the shoal after two Philippine Coast Guard vessels, BRP Capones and BRP Suluan, were cruising toward Ayungin.

T he maritime ship was one of the four Chinese maritime militia vessels that came from Subi Reef.

Powell said the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef, which is just 20 nautical miles or 37 kilometers from Ayungin Shoal, houses Chinese maritime militia vessels, and it has been serving as Beijing’s gatekeeper in Ayungin.

House panel digs deep into Jan. 1 air traffic control blunder at Naia

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz  @joveemarie

THE House Committee on Good Government will look into how the Philippine Air Traffic Management (ATM) System, which was partly funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) until 2021, malfunctioned despite being inaugurated only in 2018.

San Jose del Monte Rep. Florida Robes, the panel chairman, revealed that the new Communications, Navigation and Surveillance system for the Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM ) of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) was a product of a JICA loan between the Philippines and Japanese governments, through the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), on March 28, 2002 with effectivity date on February 21, 2003 amounting to ¥22,049 million.

However, Robes said the new CNS/ATM was inaugurated only on January 16, 2018 while Department of Budget and Management (DBM) records show that the government continues to receive the loan package even in 2021.

She noted that the JICA loaned New CNS/ATM System in 2002 was

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed its decision convicting retired Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Gilmer Batestil of 20 counts of malversation of public funds and 16 counts of graft in connection with the anomalous procurement of medicines and medical supplies worth millions of pesos.

I n a 10-page resolution, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division denied the motions filed by Batestil and co-accused Victorino Chua seeking

reconsideration of its decision promulgated on September 16, 2022 for lack of merit.

T he anti-graft court, in the said ruling, sentenced Batestil to a minimum of 12 years and one day to a maximum of 18 years, eight months and one day for the malversation cases and another minimum of six years and one month to a maximum of 10 years for the graft convictions.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of P17,093,717 and indemnify the government for the same amount, which is equivalent to the amount of malversed public funds.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

ENVIRONMENTAL group

BAN Toxics on Thursday said issues of toxics and wastes continue to haunt the Philippines despite laws designed to promote a zero waste lifestyle.

On Thursday, the group led other environmental advocacy groups in calling for the promotion of zero waste as “a principle and practice” to reduce toxic and waste pollution in the Philippines, marking the 10th year anniversary of a law that declared the month of January as Zero Waste Month.

January is declared “Zero Waste Month” by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 760, signed in 2014 by former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. The proclamation promotes designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials. It also aims to conserve and recover all resources, instead of indiscriminately disposing or burning them.

According to Proclamation No. 760, zero waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. “It has been 10 years since Presidential Proclamation No. 760 was signed into law, and yet the issues of toxics and wastes still exist. In order to achieve and embrace zero waste in our lives, we must work together by implementing and promoting tox-

ics and wastes reduction programs, especially at the community level,” said Rey San Juan Jr., executive director of BAN Toxics.

Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was enacted for a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program that shall: Ensure the protection of public health and environment;

Utilize environmentally sound methods that maximize the utilization of valuable resources and encourage resource conservation and recovery;

Set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through source reduction and waste minimization measures, including composting, recycling, reuse, recovery, green charcoal process, and others, before collection, treatment and disposal in appropriate and environmentally sound solid waste management facilities in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles;

Ensure the proper segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste through the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practice in ecological waste management excluding incineration;

Promote national research and development programs for improved solid waste management and resource conservation techniques, more effective institutional arrangement and indigenous and improved methods of waste reduction, collection, separation and recovery;

Encourage greater private sector participation in solid waste management;

C hua, on the other hand was convicted for four counts of graft and faces a penalty of imprisonment of up to 10 years.

In his motion for reconsideration (MR) Batestil, insisted that there is no indisputable proof to convict him of malversation because he would not have signed the purchase orders (PO) and disbursement vouchers (DV) if there were erasures since he could have just asked an administrative officer to change them.

H e added that there is no direct and clear evidence to show that he conspired with his co-accused in

closed in 2010, but said the closing date was extended twice—in 2013 and 2017, leading to its inauguration only in 2018. The panel will also look into how the project was delayed for this long.

Robes said the local counterpart funding for the project  happened in 2017 worth P9.8 billion for the “construction of airports and navigational facilities, and acquisition of navigational equipment as stated in paragraph 6 of the General Appropriations Act [GAA].”

A ccording to Robes, the local funding for the new CNS/ATM project was worth P122,273,000 in 2017.

With the funding implementation and proper maintenance of the new CNS/ATM system, regular audit and assessment of its capability, the shutdown could have been prevented avoiding substantial risks to national security, inconvenience to passengers and substantial loss to the tourism and aviation industry,” Robes said.

Robes also said she wants to know from officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) how the New CNS/ATM System loaned from JICA malfunctioned despite its inauguration in 2018 and with local funding from the government.

R obes said she observed that there was also lack of coordination between the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and/or Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) with the airlines - as well as lack of concern for air passengers on a tight budget and may have wanted/needed to go home, or those who needed to return to work outside the country.

T he new CNS/ATM works by sending satellite signals to aircraft transponders and by using transponder transmissions to determine the precise location of aircrafts in airspace, “and its shutdown posed serious threats to aviation safety, economic losses to tourism and the aviation industry, and leaving thousands of inbound and outbound  flight passengers stranded,” Robes said.

T he New Year’s Day shutdown has affected at least 282 domestic and international flights, and 65,000 inbound and outbound passengers.

T he house panel inquiry will also focus as well on maintenance of the new CNS/ATM system, as well as presence or absence of a back-up or contingency plan.

Although the New CNS/ATM

the alleged misappropriation of public funds through falsification of public documents.

C hua, on the other hand, argued in his MR that he was entitled to be paid by the Philippine Navy having participated in the bidding, got the award and, thereafter, delivered the medicines, which were allegedly received by the Navy.

T he case stemmed from the anomalous procurement of medicines and medical and dental supplies from 1990 to 1992.

Prosecution witnesses testified during trial that there were  P53.9

million worth of medicines and medical supplies remain unaccounted for. A mong them were over P17 mil-

system is reliable, albeit the UPS problem and New Year fiasco, it is still a 2002 system and there should be plans for updating. The closing should not have taken 16 years when the original closing was in 2010 or 8 years. Robes also heard reports that caution was given to CAAP regarding the UPS—that it has too many system features dependent on one UPS. You have an uninterruptible outlet of 120 volts supplying an appliance requiring 240 volts. This should have been taken into consideration since 2018. If not, then this is surely bound to happen. This is what the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability wants to know—accountability. Where did it all go wrong and was this really a ‘force majeure’ or an act of man resulting from negligence and whose negligence?” asked Robes.

“ With the funding implementation and proper maintenance of the new CNS/ATM system, regular audit and assessment of its capability, the shutdown could have been prevented avoiding substantial risks to national security, inconvenience to passengers and substantial loss to the tourism and aviation industry,” Robes added.

lion covered by POs and DV signed by Batestil during his time as naval procurement officer.

Retain primary enforcement and responsibility of solid waste management with local government units while establishing a cooperative effort among the national government, other local government units, non-government organizations, and the private sector;

Encourage cooperation and selfregulation among waste generators through the application of marketbased instruments;

Institutionalize public participation in the development and implementation of national and local integrated, comprehensive and ecological waste management programs; and

Strengthen the integration of ecological solid waste management and resourceconservationandrecoverytopics into the academic curricula of formal and non-formal education in order to promote environmental awareness and action among the citizenry.

T he act mandates local government units (LGUs) to prepare and implement a 10-year solid waste management plan that is consistent with the national solid waste management framework.

The LGUs shall divert at least 25 percent of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities through reuse, recycling, and composting activities and other resource recovery activities and the waste diversion goals shall be increased every three (3) years thereafter.

“ Zero Waste is an ecological way to reduce our toxic and waste pollution problem in the country. We need to institutionalize environmental awareness among citizens and integrate ecological conversion into our hearts,” BAN Toxics added.

SOME P10 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized across the country during the first six months of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in office, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported on Thursday.

In a news statement, Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. said the Philippine National Police (PNP) also arrested more than 30,000 drug suspects in 24,000 illegal drug operations, which include police officers and members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

He said they also recorded minimal deaths from police anti-drug operations during the six-month period.

A balos cited the impressive efforts of the PNP as he witnessed the gallantry of men on the ground in fighting the drug menace since the start of the Marcos administration

“Alam ninyo kung ano po ang nagawa ng Philippine National Police noong nakaraang buwan. Ang ating Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at kanyang administrasyon ay umupo noong July 1. [Batay sa] records ng PNP, higit-kumulang nasa P10 bilyong ang nakumpiskang droga (You know what the Philippine National Police has done last month? Our President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his administration took office on July 1. [Based on] PNP records, approximately P10 billion worth of illegal drugs were confiscated),” Abalos said.

A mid reports of the continued existence of “ninja cops,” Abalos made the bold move of asking for courtesy resignations of colonels and generals in the police force as part of the government’s efforts to cleanse its ranks and rebuild its reputation. PNA

Ex-US Air Force officer’s report details China’s presence in WPS Retired Navy officer found guilty of malversation over unaccounted medicines, supplies

Group: Toxics, wastes continue to haunt PHL ₧10-B illegal drugs seized in first six months of Marcos admin–DILG

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Thousands pour into St. Peter’s Square for Benedict XVI’s funeral

By Nicole Winfield, Giada Zampano & Frances D’emilio The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY—Mourners poured into St. Peter’s Square early Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to pay their final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and to participate in a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one. Thick fog shrouded the Vatican before dawn as police manned metal detectors and barricades and herded well-wishers into the square. Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of faithful are flocking to the Vatican, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral

for a pope emeritus in modern times low-key.

Many hailed from Benedict’s native Bavaria and donned traditional dress, including boiled wool coats to guard against the morning chill.

“We came to pay homage to Benedict and wanted to be here today to say goodbye,” said Raymond Mainar, who traveled from a small village east of Munich for the funeral. “He was a very good pope.”

The former Joseph Ratzinger, who died Dec. 31 at age 95, is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest theologians and spent his lifetime upholding church doctrine. But he will go down in history for a singular, revolutionary act that changed the future of the papacy: He retired, the first pope in six centuries to do so.

Pope Francis has praised

Benedict’s courage to step aside, saying it “opened the door” to other popes doing the same. Francis, for his part, recently said he has already left written instructions outlining the conditions in which he too would resign.

Francis was due to preside over the funeral, which authorities estimated some 100,000 would attend, higher than an original estimate of 60,000, Italian media reported, citing police security plans.

Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, but other heads of state and government took the Vatican up on its offer and come in their “private capacity.” They included several other heads of state, at least four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives.

Early Thursday the Vatican released the official history of Benedict’s life, a short document in Latin that was placed in a metal cylinder in his coffin before it was sealed, along with the coins and medallions minted during his papacy and his pallium stoles.

The document gave ample attention to Benedict’s historic resignation and referred to him as “pope emeritus,” citing verbatim the Latin words he uttered on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced he would retire.

The document, known as a

“rogito” or deed, also cited his theological and papal legacy, including his outreach to Anglicans and Jews and his efforts to combat clergy sexual abuse “continually calling the church to conversion, prayer, penance and purification.”

The funeral rite calls for Benedict’s coffin to be carried out from the basilica and placed before the altar as the faithful recite the rosary. The ritual itself is modeled on the code used for

dead popes but with some modifications given Benedict was not a reigning pontiff when he died.

After the Mass, Benedict’s cypress coffin was to be placed inside a zinc one, then an outer oak casket before being entombed in the crypt in the grottos underneath St. Peter’s Basilica that once held the tomb of St. John Paul II before it was moved upstairs.

While the ritual is novel, it does have some precedent: In 1802, Pope

Pius VII presided over the funeral in St. Peter’s of his predecessor, Pius VI, who had died in exile in France in 1799 as a prisoner of Napoleon.

Some 200,000 paid tribute to Benedict during three days of public viewing in the basilica, with one of the last, Friar Rosario Vitale, spending an hour praying by his body. He said Benedict had given him a special dispensation to begin the process of becoming a priest, which was required because of a physical disability.

“So today I came here to pray on his tomb, on his body and to say ‘thank you’ for my future priesthood, for my ministry,” he said.

Benedict never intended his retirement to last as long as it did— at nearly 10 years it was longer than his eight-year pontificate.

And the unprecedented situation of a retired pope living alongside a reigning one prompted calls for protocols to guide future popes emeritus to prevent any confusion about who is really in charge.

During St. John Paul II’s quarter-century as pope, Ratzinger spearheaded a crackdown on dissent as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, taking action against the left-leaning liberation theology that spread in Latin America in the 1970s and against dissenting theologians and nuns who didn’t toe the Vatican’s hard line on matters like sexual morals.

His legacy was marred by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, even though he recognized earlier than most the “filth” of priests who raped children, and actually laid the groundwork for the Holy See to punish them.

As cardinal and pope, he passed sweeping church legislation that resulted in 848 priests being defrocked from 2004-2014, roughly his pontificate with a year on either end. But abuse survivors still held him responsible for the crisis, for failing to sanction any bishop who moved abusers around and identifying him as embodying the clerical system that long protected the institution over victims.

“Any celebration that marks the life of abuse enablers like Benedict must end,” said the main US survivor group SNAP.

T he Associated Press journalist Trisha Thomas contributed.

EU urges pre-flight Covid-19 tests on passengers from China

By Raf Casert The Associated Press

BRUSSELS—The European Union on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” its member states to impose pre-departure Covid-19 testing of passengers from China, in a move that is likely to upset Beijing and has already been criticized by the global airline industry.

Following a week of talks between EU health experts, the bloc stopped short of agreeing that all 27 member states impose such a travel restriction that members like Italy, France and Spain had already implemented at a national level. Instead, it only urged nations to do so.

China has already vehemently rejected such actions, warning of “countermeasures” if such policies were to be imposed across the bloc.

Even though the EU presidency said in a statement that the member states “agreed on a coordinated precautionary approach,” part of the approach fell short of full agreement.

In the most crucial part of the statement,

it said that “the Member States are strongly encouraged to introduce, for all passengers departing from China to Member States, the requirement for a negative Covid-19 test.”

On other issues, the EU said there was full agreement to have passengers wear masks when traveling to and from China and to offer advice on personal hygiene and health issues.

Earlier Wednesday, EU Commission spokesman Tim McPhie had said that the “overwhelming majority of countries are in favor” of imposing testing of passengers from China prior to departure. But the EU apparently could not find agreement to bind them all.

The Chinese government and European health experts have said there is no pressing need for any blanket restrictions on travel since the coronavirus variants emerging from China are already prevalent in Europe.

On Wednesday the International Air Transport Association, which represents some 300 airlines worldwide, lent its powerful voice to the protests.

“It is extremely disappointing to see this knee-jerk reinstatement of measures that have proven ineffective over the last three

years,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh.

“Research undertaken around the arrival of the Omicron variant concluded that putting barriers in the way of travel made no difference to the peak spread of infections. At most, restrictions delayed that peak by a few days,” Walsh said.

Still, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday he understood why numerous countries have recently taken measures against travelers coming from China, given the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government.

The EU also said it took its approach “especially considering the need for sufficient, reliable data” coming from China. The bloc said it will reassess the situation by the middle of the month, one week after China’s easing of travel restrictions on its citizens becomes official on January 8.

A day after threatening countermeasures, Chinese government spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday that “we sincerely hope that all parties will focus on fighting the epidemic itself, avoid the politicization of Covid.”

Still, the EU sought to take some sort of

joint action to ensure incoming passengers from China do not transmit any potential new variants to the continent.

Fearful of being caught unawares like at the outset of the global pandemic in early 2020, the EU Integrated Political Crisis Response group wanted quick action, and ended up with encouragement on several issues instead of imposing measures.

Wednesday’s EU Presidency statement also said member states “are encouraged” to carry out random testing of passengers and check waste water from planes arriving from China to see if it contains dangerous variants that are not common in the continent.

Over the past week, EU nations have reacted with a chaotic cascade of national measures to the crisis in China, disregarding an earlier commitment to act in unity before anything else.

Italy—where the pandemic first exacted a heavy toll in Europe in early 2020—was the first EU member to require coronavirus tests for airline passengers coming from China, but France and Spain quickly followed with their own measures.

PEOPLE gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican ahead of the funeral mass for late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on December 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement, his days mainly devoted to prayer and reflection. AP/ANTONIO CALANNI

THE coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is brought to St. Peter’s Square for a funeral mass at the Vatican on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on December 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement. AP/BEN CURTIS

Australia to buy US-made HIMARS to boost its defense capabilities

CANBERRA, Australia—Australia announced Thursday it will boost its defense capabilities by spending more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($700 million) on new advanced missile and rocket systems, including US-made HIMARS which have been successfully used by Ukraine’s military.

In Ukraine, the mobile, truck-mounted HIMARS have proved crucial in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, including a recent strike on a single building that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers.

The Australian government said the HIMARS it was buying included launchers, missiles and training rockets and

would be in use by 2026. It said the system had a current range of 300 kilometers (186 miles), which was expected to increase with technological advances.

The government said it had also signed a contract with Norway-based Kongsberg to buy Naval Strike Missiles for navy destroyers and frigates, which would replace aging Harpoon anti-ship missiles from next year.

Citing confidentiality for security and operational reasons, the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, did not give a cost breakdown of the two systems or say how many of each it was buying.

Amazon to slash 18,000 jobs in escalation of cuts

By Spencer Soper & Matt Day

AMAZON.COM Inc. is laying off more than 18,000 employees—a significantly bigger number than previously planned—in the latest sign that a technology slump is deepening.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy announced the move in a memo to staff Wednesday, saying it followed the company’s annual planning process. The cuts, which began last year, were previously expected to affect about 10,000 people. The reduction is concentrated in the firm’s corporate ranks, mostly Amazon’s retail division and human resources functions like recruiting.

“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” he said. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

Though the prospect of layoffs has loomed over Amazon for months—the company has acknowledged that it hired too many people during the pandemic—the increasing total suggests the company’s outlook has darkened. It joins other tech giants in making major cuts. Earlier Wednesday, Salesforce Inc. announced plans to eliminate about 10 percent of its workforce and reduce its real estate holdings.

Amazon investors gave a positive reaction to the latest belt-tightening efforts, betting it may bolster profits at the e-commerce company. The shares climbed nearly 2 percent in late trading after the Wall Street Journal first reported on the plan.

Eliminating 18,000 workers would be the biggest cut yet for tech companies during the current slowdown, but Amazon also has a far bigger workforce than Silicon Valley peers. It had more than 1.5 million employees as of the end of September, meaning the latest cuts would represent about 1 percent of the workforce.

At the time the company was planning its cuts in November, a spokesperson said Amazon had roughly 350,000 corporate employees worldwide.

The world’s largest online retailer spent the end of last year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers returned to pre-pandemic habits. Amazon delayed warehouse openings and halted hiring in its retail group. It broadened the freeze to the company’s corporate staff and then began making cuts.

Jassy has eliminated or curtailed experimental and unprofitable businesses, including teams working on a telehealth service, a delivery robot and a kids’ video-calling device, among other projects.

The Seattle-based company also is trying to align excess capacity with cooling demand. One effort includes trying to sell excess space on its cargo planes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Amazon, which began as an online bookstore, is seeing parts of its business level off. But it continues to invest in its cloud-computing and advertising businesses as well as video streaming.

The first wave of cuts landed heaviest on Amazon’s Devices and Services group, which builds the Alexa digital assistant and Echo smart speaker, among other products.

The group’s chief told Bloomberg last month that layoffs in the unit totaled less than 2,000 people, and that Amazon remained committed to the voice assistant.

Some recruiters and employees in the company’s human resources group were offered buyouts. Jassy told employees in November that more cuts would come in 2023 at its retail and HR teams.

In Wednesday’s memo, Jassy said the company would provide severance, transitional health benefits and job placement to affected workers. He also chided an employee for leaking the news, an apparent reference to the Wall Street Journal report.

The company plans to begin discussing the moves with affected employees on January 18, he said.

“Companies that last a long time go through different phases,” Jassy said. “They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year.” Bloomberg News

But last year the US State Department approved a potential foreign military sale, saying Australia had requested to buy 20 Lockheed Martin-made HIMARS and related equipment at an estimated cost of $385 million.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the

United States,” the US Defense Department wrote at the time. “Australia is one of our most important allies in the Western Pacific. The strategic location of this political and economic power contributes significantly to ensuring peace and economic stability in the region.”

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said it was impor -

tant the military was equipped with high-end capabilities as it sought to deter potential threats to national security.

“The Albanese Government is taking a proactive approach to keeping Australia safe—and the Naval Strike Missile and HIMARS launchers will give our Defense Force the ability to deter conflict and protect our interests,” Marles

said in a statement. Australia and the US in recent years have become increasingly concerned about China’s growing assertiveness in the Pacific. Those concerns were heightened after China signed a security pact last year with the Solomon Islands, prompting the US to push ahead with plans to reopen an embassy in the capital, Honiara. AP

By Sam Metz The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY—Eight family members, five of them children, were found dead from gunshot wounds in a southern Utah home Wednesday, according to authorities who did not provide more details or a potential motive for the killings.

The victims were found when police did a welfare check at the residence, according to a statement by city officials in Enoch, a small town of about 8,000 people located 245 miles (394 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.

Police said they did not detect any threat to the public.

Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was sent reeling by news of the eight bodies and that the deceased—all members of one family—were well known in the southern Utah town.

“Many of us have served with them in church, in the community and gone to school with these individuals,” Dotson said in a video statement Wednesday night.

“This community at this time is hurting. They’re

feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions,” Dotson added, noting that officials planned on releasing more information as it becomes available and the police investigation progresses.

“We won’t know the mindsets, the thoughts of the individuals who experienced this tragedy, but we all can pray that their families and the neighbors and all will come to an understanding of what happened in this place, probably in a day or two, or maybe longer,” said Dotson, choking up at one point.

Welfare checks based on calls to the police department like the one that led them to the residence where the bodies were found are routine when individuals are not seen for extended periods of time, Dotson said.

The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.

Enoch, off Interstate 15 in rural Utah, just north of the city of Cedar City and about 80 miles (128 kilometers) west of Bryce Canyon National Park, had major flooding in 2021 that caused damage at hundreds of homes.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox offered condolences in a tweet Wednesday night.

Encouraging health care workers to stay home

‘IF you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” This expression dates back to the 1940s in the United Kingdom, and is said to mean that if employers pay low wages, they cannot expect to find good employees.

The Philippines has too few jobs for its population. And because there are many applicants competing for scarce jobs that are available, employers are shamelessly offering “peanut salaries” to highly qualified applicants. Take the case of Filipino nurses: Nationwide, about 80,000 nurses graduate every year. Because they can’t find good jobs, they only have two choices—go abroad or accept “peanut salaries.” For example, nurses employed by private facilities earn an average of P17,000 a month, while those employed in government hospitals earn an average of P35,000. However, salaries of nurses in the United States average P275,000 a month.

The “huge wage differential” and the high demand for healthcare workers (HCW) due to aging populations in other countries could cost the Philippines more of its healthcare professionals in the medium term, according to the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). This is despite the deployment cap of 7,500 on healthcare workers per year. This cap was the relaxed version of the ban imposed during the pandemic to prevent the country from experiencing any shortage in health workers. (Read, “High wages, huge demand to drain PHL of more HCWs,” in the BusinessMirror, January 3, 2023)

“Demand for HCW has been amplified by the pandemic, especially in advanced economies with aging populations. This translates into a huge wage differential,” the PDP said. “The wage offer in advanced economies is expected to increase with the growing demand for health care, making it more attractive for Filipino health workers to go abroad. This may adversely affect access to, and quality of health care in the country.”

In order to create more opportunities locally for healthcare workers, the government intends to allow local government units to increase their investments on health personnel. This will be done through the adjustment of the Personnel Services cap in the Local Government Code. The adjustment can be financed given the increase in the resources of local government units, thanks to the Mandanas-Garcia Ruling and the Universal Health Care Law.

Part of the targets of the Marcos administration in the medium term is to increase the life expectancy of male Filipinos to 71.14 years old and females to 77.42 years old from the 2020 baseline of 69.63 years old for males and 75.91 years old for females.

People are living longer than ever before. Globally, life expectancy has increased by more than six years between 2000 and 2019—from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.4 years in 2019, according to the World Health Organization.

High-quality health care helps prevent diseases and improve quality of life. In countries outliving the rest of the world, longevity is a consequence of a strong health system.

The unabated migration of highly skilled Filipino health professionals won’t help improve the country’s health system. Instead, it will result in a scarcity of skilled personnel in health institutions across the country, especially in rural areas. This will also cause undue burden on the remaining health workers in the country in terms of workload.

The exodus of our health professionals reflects the socio-political and economic situation in the country. Although worker migration was conceived as a temporary measure to alleviate inadequate employment generation, it has become a persistent reality, which can have consequences on the sustainability of our health system.

For example, the demand for Filipino nurses abroad is so high that recruiters are doing more than just interviewing and signing up nurses. They have established partnerships with Philippine colleges and hospitals, providing scholarships for nursing faculty to train the next batch of nurses.

Unless socioeconomic conditions are improved and health professionals are provided with better pay and incentives, working in the country will not be a viable option for them. It would do well for government to craft policy responses to encourage them to stay home and serve their own people.

Systemic solutions

sonny M. angara

Better Days

RECEnT surveys by Pulse asia and the Social Weather Stations found that a majority of Filipinos were ready to face the new year with optimism and hope. Unfortunately, for many of our countrymen, the new year came with several challenges.

Two in particular come to mind. First were the floods and landslides caused by incessant rains brought by the amihan and a Shear Line weather system that started over the Christmas weekend. According to the January 5, 2023 situational report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), more than 680,000 persons have been affected—across 161 cities and municipalities in up to 35 provinces. And 52 individuals have reportedly died and 16 injured, while 18 are still listed as missing. Some 5,100 homes were damaged at an estimated cost of P101.615 million. The damage to agriculture is believed to have already amounted to P247 million spanning more than 7,700 hectares of crops.

The other challenge centered around the breakdown of the country’s Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Man-

agement (CNS/ATM) system at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on the first day of the year. The breakdown was reportedly caused by a power outage that would only be rectified after eiight hours. Up to 65,000 passengers across some 360 flights were left stranded. The breakdown of the CNS/ATM system also effectively disrupted the country’s entire airspace, which meant that even commercial airlines that were only overflying had to be redirected.

In each instance, government agencies tried their earnest to respond to the crisis and safeguard the interests and welfare of the people affected. Just as first responders from the LGUs did their best to evacuate and rescue residents affected by the rains and floods, so did civil aviation authorities and government workers from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) deployed

Such extreme events demand some form of post-mortem analysis and assessment. Hopefully, this can be jumpstarted for the air traffic system problem with the upcoming public hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Services to be chaired by Senator Grace Poe.

emergency response teams to address the problem and rein in the chaos.

Such extreme events demand some form of post-mortem analysis and assessment. Hopefully, this can be jumpstarted for the air traffic system problem with the upcoming public hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Services to be chaired by Senator Grace Poe.

But while accountability must be exacted, such outlier instances can only be mitigated if the relevant systems and institutions in place are capacitated and empowered to prepare and respond in the proper fashion. This is the general aim of many of the measures we have filed.

For instance, during the previous 18th Congress, it was upon the recommendation of the Safe Travel Alliance with inputs from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) that we filed a bill strengthening the CAAP. We refiled this measure in the present 19th Congress under SBN 1003.

Among the salient points of the

measure include updating the composition of the CAAP Board to include private sector representation and strengthen its safety and oversight structure; increasing the term of the CAAP Director General to a fixed term of eight years to ensure long-term continuity and proper turn-over of operational and highly technical knowledge and know-how; enhancing its fiscal autonomy; and exempting the authority from the GCG Law and the Salary Standardization Law so that it can structure compensation and benefit package to attract professionals with the specialized skills and experience needed.

Another example is the measure creating the Department of Disaster Resilience so that a separate line agency can focus all year-round on mitigating the destructive effects on our people of increasingly extreme weather events.

We should reasonably expect that more outlier events will occur in the future, which is why it is essential that we take steps to empower our systems and institutions to prepare for and respond properly to these kinds of instances.

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

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

Post-INC-1 negotiations for a plastics treaty continue

Joseph edward B. alegado

eaGLe WatCH

PUnTa del Este, Uruguay—The first intergovernmental committee meeting (InC-1) for an internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution convened by the United nations Environment Programme (UnEP) concluded on December 2 has the stage for a two-year-long process that could result in one of the most significant multilateral environmental agreements in history.

It may be recalled that in early 2022 the United Nations approved a landmark agreement to create the world’s first-ever global plastics pollution treaty. It was adopted upon the conclusion of the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Groups under the Break Free From Plastic movement have noted the high points of the five-day First INC negotiations, which included demands calling for reductions in plastic production and use, eliminating toxic substances associated with the

plastic life cycle, protecting human health, and need for a just transition, backed by many member States and even two of the worst plastic polluters, Nestle and Unilever. The participation from member States from global South-located developing countries from Latin American, the Caribbean, African, Asia and Pacific nations—especially small island developing states—was particularly notable, bringing a strong voice for urgency and high ambition in these treaty negotiations.

Few weeks before INC-1, various

The INC-1 process and the next five INCs to be conducted in France (May 2023), Kenya (December 2023), Canada (early 2024) and South Korea (late 2024) must be transparent, inclusive, and ambitious enough to ensure that a legally binding agreement with clear obligations and provisions for all Parties will be ratified during the Diplomatic Conference Plenipotentiaries on Plastic Pollution Treaty in 2025.

stakeholders have already coalesced around formations like the industryled Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty. There is also the Scientists’ Network for an Effective Plastics Treaty (#SNEPT) composed of multidisciplinary scientists and researchers. There is a need, however, for more participation from global South-based scholars and social scientists to this group.

Additionally, a diverse coalition of civil society members and rightsholders provided vital expertise and typically underrepresented perspec-

tives across the full plastics lifecycle. In particular, the leadership of waste pickers resulted in the launch of the Just Transition Initiative (building upon its earlier iteration as the Group of Friends of Wastepickers), which will ensure their representation at future INCs and bring visibility to more than 20 million people who work as waste pickers worldwide.

Among the lows, according to the BFFP movement, are the following: “The adoption of the Rules of Procedure, a document that will determine how States and organizations can engage in future negotiations, has yet to be finalized and was moved to INC-2 in May, 2023 to be held in Paris, France. The outstanding issues include whether European Union (EU) Member States will each have a vote or whether they will be treated as a single bloc during voting, and whether decisions should only be arrived at via consensus. To many observers, the latter seems to be a ploy to weaken strong measures that could be adopted to reduce plastic production.”

In her book, “Plastics Unlimited,” University of Warwick’s Alice Mah has written “the capitalist pursuit

Eraserheads and the music of our youth

kuwenTonG peyups

MusIc is everywhere, but what goes on in these tunes are messages, either straightforward or hidden. since its formation in 1989, eraserheads had seven studio albums, 44 singles, a live album, four compilation albums, 10 music videos and three extended plays.

Out of the 44 singles, 31 songs were part of the repertoire of the er aserheads reunion concert dubbed “Huling El Bimbo ” before a huge crowd of 75,000 people on December 22, 2022 at the sMDC Festival Grounds in Parañaque City that lasted for 3.5 hours.

The logo of a large inverted letter e ”  is right in the center, hanging above the band, which glowed with different colors.

s e t one songs include  Superproxy; Back2Me; Waiting For The Bus; Fine Time; Kama Supra; Overdrive; Slo Mo; Torpedo; Huwag Mo Nang Itanong; Paru-Parong Ningning; Walang Nagbago; Poorman’s Grave; Yoko and Fill Her.

set two songs include Pop Machine; Sembreak; Sabado; Ligaya; Lightyears; Saturn Return; Maling Akala; Tama Ka; With A Smile; Insomya; Christmas Party; Spoliarium and Magasin.

The last set songs include Pare Ko; Minsan; Alapaap and Ang Huling El Bimbo.

The University of the Philippines has played a special role in the formation of  er aserheads since the Diliman campus was where they started to perform in the 1990s, composed of ely Buendia, Raymund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, and Marcus a doro.

Buddy and Raymund were my roommates for two years (1989 to 1991) at the Molave dorm during my last college years.

Our room, with high ceiling and huge windows, was at the end of the second floor of the Molave boys’ wing with the original room number replaced with “a s 101.”

e ly’s room was also on the second floor, a few steps away from our room. Marcus, who was a regular “visitor” to our room, was staying at the na rra dorm, and he slept with an extra cushion pulled out from underneath Raymund’s bed.

i usually go out every time our room was used as their “practice area” since i could not study due to the “noise” they were creating.

it was beyond my comprehension that the “noise” that i tried to avoid made them known as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands in OPM history, earning them the accolade “The Beatles of the Philippines.”

The lyrics of “Pare Ko” aptly reflect how friendships were galvanized inside the campus: “O pare ko meron ka bang maipapayo. Kung wala ay okey lang. Kailangan lang ay ang iyong pakikiramay. Andito ka ay ayos na.”

The dorm is considered as another classroom where we learned the value of give-and-take, cooperation and mutual respect in dealing with a variety of personalities and characters.

“Bago maniwala mag-isip-isip ka muna. Marami ang namatay sa maling akala (Before you believe, you think first. Many died because of

The

The myth of eternal chaos and noise

Tito Genova Valiente annoTaTions

Iknew no one would listen to me on new Year’s eve had I told them there was no reason to create mayhem and noise. we had been severely noisy the whole year and if the rationale for loud, thunderous sound was to drive away evil spirits and dark energies, then we had been doing that since January of the old year. Think of the videoke that is beyond the control of even the most militaristic of barangay heads. Think of drinking and dancing parties that go well into the next day because the mayor and his councilors had been there and had left enough funds to souse up the entire village.

Given the logic (which may not be logical on the level of the practical) of what we observe, how pervasive have the shadows covered our archipelago that we need to be relentless till the last days of the year in inviting back the light?

wrong presumptions). These lines are lifted from the pop song “Maling Akala ” from their debut album Ultraelectromagneticpop!

The title and chorus of the song is a reference to the Filipino idiom  “maraming namamatay sa maling akala ” and the lyrics have been debated as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the dangers of unprotected sex. a popular phrase devoid of meaning, “maling akala,” or inaccurate assumption, is more popularly associated with the habit of assuming something to be true or incorrect, but such presumption is really not correct or “partially true” in the end.

The socio-political landscape in the Philippines is rife with “maling akala” situations, specifically fake news and misinformation.

Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news, which often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity.

The prevalence of fake news has increased with the recent rise of social media, like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Tiktok, and this misinformation is gradually seeping into the mainstream media.

a rchbishop s o crates B. Villegas said in an earlier statement that it has become difficult in the current Philippine society “to sift truth from lies and falsehood, because there are so many who have developed the stealth art of presenting falsehood as truth, of re-writing history, of harnessing the power of social media for the spread of disinformation.”

“ l ies, falsehood, fake news, disinformation have permeated all elements of Philippine society. sl ander and calumny against the reputation and good name of others have become commonplace and, sadly, an accepted fact of national life,” Villegas said.

The concert was a nostalgic journey driven by songs that have become part of our adolescent lives when we were pursuing both academic excellence and progressive thinking.

it is a reminder that we should not only reminisce the innocence and enthusiasm of our youth, but we also have to look at the joys in our lives.

Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez. com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

Rituals being rituals, how aware are we about the meanings of ceremonials and how conscious is our society of the premise of avoidance behind all observances, that taboos are as sacred as graces embedded in the feasting?

This year, as in the previous years of the millennia, as the clock struck 12 (which differed according to time zones), we accepted one truth, that 2022 had left us so that 2023 could enter our calendrical lives. The change is not merely numerical but cosmological. This means that, following Fiona Bowie, a noted anthropologist of religion, we have to contend with our “conception of the nature of the universe and its workings” and, more importantly, “of the place of human beings and other creatures within that order.”

in her book, The Anthropology of Religion, Bowie speaks of how we, as members of a human group, create stories that will explain about our own conception of the origin of the world and other elements in that world. The raucous and revelry every time the last days of the year arrive derive their significance from the

tales that we tell each other why we believe there is a new Year, and how heralding such fresh start demands our most basic human intervention—the production of noise from anything we can lay our hands on. Thus cars honk at the expense of sleeping infants, sick old people and nervous pets; kitchen utensils are banged till our mothers go crazy; fireworks are thrown, some creating fires destroying homes rather than symbolically rebuilding them for the next 365 days.

What is our story then about the dawning of a new Year? What is our cosmology?

a mong the older generations, there remains the belief in the Bakunawa, a serpent-like mythical being that ruled the sk y. in other accounts, this magnificent Being (never a monster) places itself in the bowels of the ea rth, ruling all motions and lives above the ground, reigning over the affairs of wise men and fools, distinguishing between the sacred and the profane. The Bakunawa is our geomancer, the seat of the indigene’s ea rth Magic. This serpentine Being, for lack of a better appellation, functions like feng shui, except that it does not follow

the masters of the latter belief whose propensity to color-code the auspicious color (or colors, just to have all bases covered) for the year is more the function of the fastidiously fickle-minded fashion market than the inscrutability of Fate.

i like to believe though that we, as a people, have moved farther from the belief systems where the Bakunawa is the supreme symbol and have grafted our faith onto the accessible feng shui, with its overwhelming flamboyance and commercialism.

listen to what feng shui says: blue is the lucky color. What happened to magenta? at the close of 2022, it was circulated how the said color would bring fortune and happiness. Where did that color come from? Why not fuchsia, a color hated by many after weddings but remains a favorite of bridesmaids for reason only brides would know. The interpretations of magenta victimized many ardent

this tradition) is seductive: it tracks the mundane, including what color the underwear should be so as to attract love into your life. Well, i like that—hues and love, boxers or briefs, panties or half-slips. a nd yet, i would like to cling on to a more metaphysical notion of the universe, the one that does not trivialize loving and living. The more i read the feng shui elements being circulated online the more i tend to see the attitude to this kind of geomancy as wishy-washy. For one, there are just too many animals of fortuity we might as well bring in the zoo to watch over our luck or misfortune.

What happened to the majesty of the Bakunawa? The last time i got hold of a document detailing this Being was a magical moment. it was on the back cover of Kalendaryong Bikol, an almanac. its shape was kin to the medieval dragon but

of unlimited growth is the key problem underlying the plastics crisis.”

The book has clearly provided the argument for the clear link of plastic production to climate change as plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and feedstocks derived from crude oil refining. Thus,

stakeholders who are part of the inC process must ensure that the world’s plastic polluters’ virgin plastic production is cap. Further, problematic plastics must also be eliminated and the polluter pay principle must be included in the envisioned legally binding instrument.

Companies like Unilever and nestle that have both called for a cap on plastic production during inC-1 will be able to walk the talk by changing their own business models to match

believers, with photos of people in family reunions wearing color palettes ranging from the barely-pink to deep purple (perhaps a nod to the rock group) to sacerdotal violet, then to aubergine and lavender. now, it is blue because it is the color of the Water Rabbit. hu h! he re is also where the modern feng shui ( i am certain there was a viable, more rigid ancient form of

China-Philippines relations expected to reach new heights with PBBM visit

China-PhiliPPines relationship has entered a new stage as Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. in Beijing on Wednesday during Marcos’s three-day state visit to China.

This is the first foreign head of state hosted by China in 2023. a nd this state visit is also President Marcos’s first trip to China and his first official visit to a non- a s ean country. a t the meeting, President Xi alluded to the thousand-yearslong engagement between the two countries and said that despite the differences in national condition and political system, the two countries share similar goals in their developmental path.

The two countries have set agriculture, infrastructure, energy and people-to-people engagement as the fundamental pillars of China-Philippines cooperation, and that China is willing to help and work with the Philippines to advance the development in these areas.

The recent years have laid a solid foundation for China and the Philippines. Over the past six years, China-Philippine trade doubled in

their statements.it is high time for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) responsible for using single-use plastic in their packaging to invest in reuse systems instead of single-use, eliminate problematic packaging types like sachets, and drastically reduce their plastic use.

Further, the plastics treaty must ensure support in achieving its objectives for countries of the global south and those economies in transition, including through: a dedicated

volume, surpassing $82 billion in 2021. China remained the Philippines’s largest trading partner for six consecutive years.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, China was the Philippines’s second largest source of tourism income, an industry that contributed 12.7 percent to the Philippine economy in 2018. a total of 1.74 million Chinese tourists visited the Philippines in 2019, an increase of 38.58 percent from 2018.

“We have to show and demonstrate to the rest of the world how important the relationship is between the Philippines and China,” President Marcos said during the meeting. The most important demonstration from the meeting is how the two countries, despite having sensitive problems and conflicting interests on certain issues, could still work together and insulate the overall development of the relationship from these differences.

China and the Philippines do have contentious arguments over the south China sea. Territorial disputes in the region had indeed led to occasional political clash and tensions

financial mechanism and technical support and technology transfer similar to the Paris climate agreement.

The inC-1 process and the next five inCs to be conducted in France (May 2023), Kenya (December 2023), Canada (early 2024) and south Korea (late 2024) must be transparent, inclusive, and ambitious enough to ensure that a legally binding agreement with clear obligations and provisions for all Parties will be ratified during the Diplomatic Conference Plenipo-

between vessels on the seas.

During his meeting with President Xi on the sidelines of the a PeC economic l eaders’ Meeting in 2022, President Marcos stressed that China-Philippines relationship should not be defined by maritime issues. a nd the fact that the two countries upgraded their relationship despite territorial disputes shows that managing differences while moving forward is not a political slogan, it is an achievable objective. it is achievable to not let one issue define a relationship.

Future needs to be a watchful one TheR e ’s continuous pressure to break the relationship up. Provocations from other parties are set to continue. Us Vice President Kamala ha rris’s visit to Palawan province was a message of intimidation sent by the United states while standing on Philippine soil.

For the Philippines, it could be a difficult path. The southeast a sian archipelagic nation relies heavily on the Us for security measures. it is the largest recipient of Us military assistance in the indo-Pacific region since 2015, according to the Us embassy

tentiaries on Plastic Pollution Treaty in 2025. a s of the moment, member states namely e c uador, Rwanda, Peru, and senegal are bidding to host the said landmark event.

a s i n C chair Gustavo MezaCuadra of Peru said during his closing speech, quoting United nations secretary-General a ntónio Guterres, “Plastics are fossil fuels in another form and pose a serious threat to human rights, the climate, and biodiversity…l ook beyond waste and

without the latter’s ferocity. it is the same being imagined as swallowing the Moon or the sun during eclipses, the divine creature able to ingest the Old Year and release the new. it had a crown on its head, carrying with it life mysteries, whose directions no colors and no noise can predict, and no human can foretell.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

in the Philippines.   More than $1.14 billion worth of equipment and training have been delivered to the Philippines. Between 2015 and 2022, the Us has conducted more than 850 naval visits to the country.

This security relationship, while important to the Philippines, could also be the Trojan horse in its diplomatic engagement with China.   i f the relationship is to continue progressing, both China and the Philippines must be watchful. While keeping the sensitive issues contained and making sure the relationship is not defined by them, both sides need to consolidate the achievements and expand other aspects of the relationship so that enough cushion is created to offset any undercutting from other parties and countries. The relationship has to anchor hard on the pragmatic cooperation that benefits both countries.

Editor’s note: CGTN’s First Voice provides instant commentary on breaking stories. The daily column clarifies emerging issues and better defines the news agenda, offering a Chinese perspective on the latest global events.

turn off the tap on plastic.” The next inC meetings and processes leading to the potential enactment of a legally binding treaty in the first half of 2025 is crucial to solve this environmental crisis.

Mr. Joseph Edward B. Alegado is a part-time lecturer at the Department of Economics and School of Government of the Ateneo de Manila University. He is also currently a doctoral researcher at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University in Canberra.

Dennis Gorecho

University of the Philippines has played a special role in the formation of Eraserheads since the Diliman campus was where they started to perform in the 1990s, composed of Ely Buendia, Raymund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, and Marcus Adoro.

Electricity rates in January may go up, says Meralco

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

THEManila Electric Co. (Meralco) warned on Thursday that power rates are likely to go up this month.

It did not say by how much, but the utility firm is expected to announce it in the next few days. “There is a strong likelihood that prices will increase this January,” said Meralco utility economics head Lawrence Fernandez in a Viber message.

The [December] supply month saw the grid placed under several yellow alerts and experienced more days with the imposition of the secondary price cap, compared to the November supply month.

B esides this, the DRTU-1

[Distribution Rate True Up-1] refund will have been completed in December, so that this deduction will no longer appear on January bills,” he said.

W hile the foreign currency exchange improved, which would help manage the dollar-denominated portions of the power generators’ charges, Fernandez said Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices remain elevated last December, as the reductions in peak and average demand were more than offset by the increase in capacity on outage.

DRTU-1 worth P13.89 billion was implemented in March 2021. The average refund rate of P0.27 per kilowatt hour (kwh) for residential customers ended in December last year.

T here are other DRTU refund orders of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that will be completed this month and in May.

DRTU-2 worth P4.84 billion started in March 2022 and will end this month. During this period, residential customers are entitled to a P0.19 per kwh of refund.

T he implementation of DRTU-3 was completed last November. The total refund amounted to P7.8 billion or P0.47 per kwh for residential customers.

DRTU-4 is from July 2022 to May. The P21.8-billion refund is equivalent to P0.87 per kwh of savings to residential customers.

A ll four DRTU adjustments have reached P1.80 per kwh for residential customers. This means that after Meralco would have completed the implementation of DRTU 1 to 4, residential customers will see an increase in their electricity bills.

T he DRTU adjustments helped temper customers’ monthly bills for the past months.

‘CONGRESS MUST PROBE SURGE IN ONION PRICES’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE Makabayan bloc has called on Congress to investigate the potential overpricing and price manipulation of onions in the market.

I n House Resolution 673, Gabriel Rep. Arlene Brosas, Act Teachers Rep. France Castro and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel said there are reasons to believe that there is an “ongoing control and manipulation” of onion prices from farmgate to market retail by big traders who store onions in cold storage warehouses.

T he lawmakers said large traders, importers, and even smugglers profit hugely from onions’ high prices, while consumers shell out more to purchase onions as a result.

From September to October 2022, the solons said the price of white onion began to go up, rising to around P300-P400 per kilogram.

A s of December 28, 2022, they added that the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that the price of local red onions was between P500 and P720 per kg, while the price of local white onions was P600 per kg.

“ Such price level of onions surpassed the highest daily minimum wage in the country at P570, and was way higher than the per-kilogram cost of pork in the market,” said the lawmakers in the resolution.

Based on news reports, the lawmaker said the farmgate price of onions in midNovember 2022 was just P25 to P27 per kg.

“ Despite the low farmgate price of on -

ion, its retail price in markets and stores has continued to increase. Such huge discrepancy indicates potential price manipulation which makes onions more expensive. Aside from that, smuggling and over-importation of onions remain major problems, which also severely affect local supply and prices,” they added.

Traders purchase onions from farmers at a low price and sell them at a higher price during times of high demand season, lawmakers said.

A ccording to the solons, an estimated 100,000 kg of yellow onions worth P30 million that were smuggled were seized by the authorities in late November 2022 or at a time when the price of onions were escalating.

T he DA also pegged the suggested retail price for onion at P250 per kg, which will be in effect until the first week of January, but lawmakers said such a short-term measure has so far failed to bring down the overall price of onions in the market.

T he Makabayan bloc said President and Agriculture chief Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “directly accountable for failing to address the problem of onion price spike despite the widespread concerns of consumers, and must be compelled to stop traders and smugglers in profiteering from the situation.”

W ith this, the bloc said that the House of Representatives through the Committee on Agriculture and Food should immediately conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on the potential overpricing and price manipulation of onions in the market.

Manila bans poultry from 9 trade partners

Agriculture

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

MANILA has imposed temporary import bans on 9 trade partners that have confirmed bird flu outbreaks to protect the domestic poultry industry from the transboundary animal disease.

T he Department of Agriculture (DA) issued six separate memorandum orders (MO) that temporarily suspended the importation of poultry products from Poland, Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Chinese Taipei, Ecuador, Moldova, Peru, and Ukraine.

Manila said these trade partners have confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as reported by their competent authorities to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

“ There is a need to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus to protect the health of the local poultry population,” Senior

said in MOs 80 to 85.

DOE expands list of products carrying energy labels

F.

W ith the temporary import ban in place, the government has suspended the processing and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for all poultry imports from the banned countries.

T he imported items covered by the temporary import ban are domestic and wild birds including their poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen, based on the documents.

Stoppage and confiscation of all shipments of the above-stated commodities [with the exception of heat-treated products] into the country by all Veterinary Quarantine Officers/lnspectors at all major ports of entry,” Panganiban said.

T he Philippines usually imposes a temporary import ban on a trade partner with a confirmed transboundary animal disease outbreak that could threaten local livestock and poultry populations.

THE Department of Energy (DOE) has expanded the coverage of the Philippine Energy Labeling Program (PELP) in a bid to “further promote the energy consumers’ welfare.”

E nergy Consuming Products (ECPs) used for cleaning and laundry, cooking and food processing, cooling, heating and ventilating, grooming and personal care, information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, and lighting are now covered by the PELP.

T he PELP provides for a mandatory national labeling system for ECPs based on the energy performance of products. It aims to transform the market and encourage the shift in consumer behavior towards using energyefficient products and technologies by empowering them through the information displayed on the labels at points of sale.

L abeling of ECPs initially covers air conditioners, refrig -

erating appliances, television sets, and lighting products such as self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), linear fluorescent lamps (LFL), or double-capped fluorescent lamps (DFL), single-capped fluorescent lamps (SFL), lamp ballasts and light emitting diode (LED) lamps.

“ With conservation and efficient utilization of energy among the major strategies of the gov -

ernment to realize energy selfsufficiency and reduce environmental impacts of energy generation and utilization, we are now expanding the coverage,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said.

Under DOE Circular No. 202211-0035, all importers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and retailers of ECPs with or without a prescribed Minimum Energy Performance Products (MEPP) requirement are now required to

bear the energy label that specifies the energy efficiency rating of the product model.

M EPP is a minimum energy performance set by the DOE for specific energy-consuming products. The star ratings on the energy label correspond to the product’s energy performance. The lower limit of the one-star efficiency range corresponds to the prescribed MEPP. The higher the energy performance, the greater number of stars, which indicates that the product is more efficient.

Non-compliance, removal, defacing, or altering of the energy label will be subjected to fines, penalties, and criminal liability as provided under Sections 32 and 33 of Republic Act 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (EECA).

T hese include the imposition of fines ranging from P100,000 for the first offense to as much as P1 million for the third offense.

Lenie Lectura

LOTILLA

Undersecretary Domingo

Panganiban

Aboitiz Power secures ₧20-B loan from Landbank for RE

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

Aboitiz Power Corp. (Aboitiz Power), through its clean energy subsidiary Aboitiz Renewables inc. (AR i), has secured a P20-billion loan from the Land ba nk of the Philippines (Landbank) to help attain its goal of growing its renewable energy (RE) portfolio to a total of 9,200 megawatts (MW).

ects, including constructing new RE power plants.

“This loan will allow us to continue providing clean and sustainable energy to help meet the growing demand in the country,” Aboitiz Power Chief Renewables Officer James A. Villaroman.

The power firm is targeting to grow its RE portfolio to 4,600MW or half of the total 9,200 MW capacity, alongside its thermal assets, which the company targets to generate by 2030. Villaroman said the loan facility aligns with Aboitiz Power’s 10-year RE growth strategy.

The power firm will spend P190 billion within this decade for an additional 3,700 MW of clean energy capacities. As of November 2022, the company has over

1,000 MW of disclosed and ongoing RE projects, which include solar, floating solar, hydro, and onshore wind.

Aboitiz Power Chief Financial Officer l i za l u v T. Montelibano said the loan is a testament to the company’s strong financial position and its lending partners’ trust in the organization.

“We look forward to continuing to work with l a ndbank and other financial institutions as we drive the growth of renewable energy in the country,” Montelibano said.

Aboitiz Power recently entered into a joint venture agreement with RE firm Mainstream Power to develop a 90-MW onshore wind project in l i bmanan, Camarines Sur.

LOPEZ-lEd Energy development Corp. (EdC) has lined up six wind power projects that have been cleared by the department of Energy (dOE) for the conduct of system impact studies (SIS).

Based on dOE data, EdC proposed projects are: the 996-megawatt (MW) Iloilo-Guimaras offshore wind power; 100-MW Guimaras onshore wind power; 768-MW Guimaras-Negros Occidental offshore wind power; 582-MW Guimaras 1 offshore wind power; 90-MW Pasuquin wind power; and, the 144-MW Ilocos Norte wind power.

Other power projects that were allowed to pursue the study are the following: 56-MW Cabangan solar project of Upgrade Energy Philippines Inc.; 1,200-MW Quezon combined cycle power plant of Orion Pacific Prime Energy Inc.; 650-MW

Bugallon solar power of 3 Barracuda Energy Corp.; and, 54-MW Iloilo 1 wind power of Iloilo 1 Renewable Energy Corp.

These power firms secured their permit for SIS last december of 2022.

The SIS is an assessment conducted by the Transmission Network Provider or System Operator in addition to the Grid Impact Studies. The SIS is necessary in order to determine the adequacy of the grid and its capability to accommodate a request for power delivery service.

The dOE has approved a total of 104 projects for the conduct of SIS since the start of the year. These projects have been issued with certificates of endorsement to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for clearance to undertake SIS. Lenie Lectura

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

THE Philippines saw improvements in Internet speeds for both fixed broadband and mobile in december, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said last Thursday.

Citing a yet-to-be-published report by Ookla, NTC Officer-inCharge Commissioner Ella Blanca B. l opez said the median fixed broadband speed increased by 7.01 percent to 87.13 Megabits per second (Mbps) in december from 81.42 Mbps in November.

Meanwhile, the median speed for mobile yielded a 4.49 percent month-on-month growth to 25.12 Mbps from 24.04 Mbps.

l o pez said these represent a 26.39-percent increase for fixed broadband and a 17.33-percent in-

crease for mobile since the Marcos administration took office.

“The continued improvement in internet speed is a welcome development as President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Jr. encourages the country to embrace digitalization if it wants to survive and thrive in a post-pandemic economy,” she said.

The december report of Ookla has yet to be published on its official website.

l opez attributed the faster Internet speeds to the streamlining of permits from the local government units (lGUs) for telco infrastructure deployment.

“Improvement on internet speed is largely attributed to this development as telcos are able to fast-track building infrastructure—cellular towers and fiber optic network— necessary in boosting services and connectivity,” she said.

THE Batangas City Grand Terminal shared the love and joy of the holiday season with the selected indigent senior citizens of Barangay Alangilan, Batangas City and nearby barangays by hosting a gift-giving activity entitled “YOU-withUS Activity: An Environmental,

Social and Governance Project (ESG)” on d e cember 29, 2022 at the Batangas City Grand Terminal, Arrival Area.

Now on its fourth year, the ESG was funded by the proceeds from the “Batangas Kakanin for a Golden Cause” program organized by Batangas City Grand Terminal

THE power arm of Vivant Corp. is acquiring a solar power firm that has plans to put up a 22megawatt peak (MWp) solar power project in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.

Vivant disclosed last Thursday that Vivant Energy Corp. (Vivant Energy) signed a share sale and purchase agreement with Cleantech Global Renewables Inc. (Cleantech) to acquire 1,250,004 shares of the latter in San Ildefonso Alternative Energy Corp. (SIAEC), the project company for the solar plant project. The deal will be completed

upon fulfillment of all conditions for the sale.

Also, Vivant Energy signed a subscription agreement for the 3,749,996 unissued shares of SIAEC.

TFC Capital (Philippines), Inc. served as the transaction adviser of Cleantech.

The transaction was approved by the Board of Vivant Energy on d e cember 22, 2022.

SIACEC is CleanTech’s second solar project in the area. It is currently in its construction stage. With its 64,380 solar panels and

headed by Geka Gado, Marketing Officer.

Among the beneficiaries this year were 50 indigent senior citizens of Barangay Alangilan, Batangas City and nearby Barangays. Hygiene kits, goodies and food were given to the beneficiaries.

Also present during the event were Cecilia Mendoza, Terminal Manager; Cristy Villamor, Officer-in-Charge; and all the staff of Batangas Ventures.

The “YOU-with-US Activity” is an annual project of the Batangas City Grand Terminal in support of the community.

five inverters, the 24.5 hectare site has the capacity to generate 30 gigawatts every year. With this, the solar plant has the capability to provide power to approximately 15,000 households, which translates to an offset of 18,000 tons of CO2 annually.

l a st year, Vivant Corp. said it was allocating a budget of P25 billion to finance various projects that it plans to put up until 2027. Among the power projects lined up include a 212MW solar farm, 62MW solar and battery storage project, and 129MW solar rooftop.

The company has set a target of 1,000MW of installed power generation capacity, of which 30 percent will come from renewable energy sources.

The Cebu-based firm earlier reported a net income of P491.26 million in the third quarter of last year, 11 percent down from P551.86 million in the same period in 2021.

Revenues went up to P1.65 billion, or 26 percent from the same period a year ago, but expenses ballooned by about half to P1 billion.

INFORMATION and communications technology solutions provider ZTE Corp. painted a rosy outlook for 2023, after finishing strong last year.

ZTE Chairman li Zixue said 2023 will be a year where the company will be “executing with precision,” as 2022 “marked the start of the company’s expansion phase.”

“[I]n the future, the external environment will only be more complex. Against such a backdrop, the digital economy has become an irreversible trend and a key driving force for countries to rebuild their economies and competitive advantages. As a driver of the digital economy, ZTE will stick to its strategy and capitalize on the opportunities brought by computing power, renewable energy and digitalization, to resolutely fulfill the goals set for the expansion,” l i said.

According to li, ZTE has maintained a year-on-year revenue growth in terms of operator, enterprise and consumer business and guaranteed rapid development of innovative business, involving Server and Storage Products (SSPs), termi-

nals, 5G applications, automotive electronics and digital energy.

He added that in 2023, ZTE looks at retaining its leadership in key technologies and will “strive to win first place in the competitiveness of major products.”

ZTE Philippines President Wan Min echoed li ’s statements.

“The year 2022 was a strong year for ZTE. Globally, we grew 10.4 percent for the first three quarters year-on-year. despite the challenges of the first three quarters of 2022, ZTE relentlessly collaborated with its industry partners and practiced its own positioning as a driver of digital economy,” he said.

Min added that ZTE will strengthen its collaborations with partners to continue treading on a growth trajectory.

“In the Philippines, we continue to be the industry’s solid partner in driving the digital economy through key projects that were instrumental in expanding and providing innovative technology and cost-efficient solutions to support our customer to provide a better network for the consumers,” he said.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

Aboitiz Power said last Thursday that the long-term debt financing would fund ongoing expansion and development proj-

BPI to PSE: No impact from snafu

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that it was able to successfully correct all the duplicate transactions as of Wednesday evening.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, BPI said its website and mobile application platforms are already accessible and back to normal to serve its account holders.

“There was no material impact to the bank’s business, financial condition and operations. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] has likewise been updated on the successful resolution of the issue. No further instruction has, so far, been received,” BPI said.

In a statement sent to the media last Thursday, BPI said it regretted the incident and the negative impact it had on their account holders.

BPI also thanked their customers for their “patience, understanding and support” last Wednesday saying they were “humbled” by their client’s trust that the bank would safeguard their accounts.

“No one is ever perfect and when you stumble, you admit and address,” BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco said. “This incident only strengthens our resolve to always pursue excellence, uphold the highest banking standards and repay the trust and confidence our customers place in us.”

On January 4, 2023, some BPI account holders’ ATM, CAM deposit, POS and e-commerce debit transactions from December 30 to 31, 2022 were posted twice.

‘Hoy BPI’

BECAUSE of the incident, “Hoy BPI” and “0431 Debit Memo” trended on Twitter with many holders of BPI accounts taking to social media to air their grievances over the double debit transactions.

Many of those who posted their grievances provided screenshots of their debited accounts containing amounts that were transacted between December 30 and 31 last year.

The posts also contained screenshots of the BPI mobile app stating “We are unable to provide access at this time. Please try again,” effectively blocking users from their accounts.

Many of those who posted their rants on social media also implored that BPI should return the debited accounts saying the funds were already reserved for various expenses.

In the afternoon of Wednesday, Tweets from BPI account holders already contained updates that their accounts have been restored. These were posted alongside posts from other account holders who have yet to see reversals in their transaction records.

The country’s third-largest lender by assets said in August last year that 4.9 million of their 8.46-million client base has been enrolled in digital channels as of 2021. The bank said it also has a growing list of over 80 application programming interface partners covering nearly 800 products and services, with over 100 million transactions in 2021.

Banking&Finance

PhilHealth told to explain hike stay

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) directed the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) last Thursday to explain implications of the suspension of the state insurer’s scheduled premium hike this year on its financials and operations.

“With its commitment to align with the administration’s transparency agenda, the Governance Commission strives to ensure that the GOCC Sector, in this case PhilHealth, is fully compliant with the President’s directives,” GCG Chairman Alex L. Quiroz said.

Quiroz was referring to the memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin to suspend

the scheduled increase of PhilHealth member’s premium contribution to 4.5 percent from 4 percent as well as the hike in incoming ceiling from P80,000 to P90,000.

He said the data that the PhilHealth would submit to the GCG would be used as an additional reference in the evaluation of the state insurer’s performance.

PhilHealth is a government-

DepEd cites partnership with ALC Group's firms

owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) attached to the Department of Health.

PhilHealth Acting Vice President of Corporate Affairs Group Rey T. Baleña said also on Thursday that the GOCC would follow the directive of the Office of the President (OP) on suspending the increase on premium contribution and income ceiling this year.

Baleña assured Filipinos that the suspension of the increase would not affect PhilHealth’s existing packages and benefits.

However, Baleña disclosed that the new packages that PhilHealth was planning to roll-out this year might face certain “adjustments” due to the suspension of premium contribution increase.

The new packages that would be affected are the out-patient therapeutic care for severe acute malnutrition and the out-patient mental health benefit, Baleña noted.

He said that PhilHealth will provide further details regarding the impending “adjustments” on the

two new benefit packages in the coming days.

“But suffice to say, these packages will push through,” he said in a television interview.

Compliance IN a statement issued last Thursday, Acting President and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said that in a meeting held last January 4, the Philhealth Board of Directors affirmed the GOCC’s compliance with the directive from the President of the Philippines to suspend the premium rate increase from 4 percent to 4.5 percent and the increase of income ceiling from P80,000 to P90,000 in Calendar Year (CY) 2023.

With such suspension, the premium rate for CY 2023 remains at 4 percent with income ceiling of P80,000, Philhealth said.

“A separate advisory will be issued to provide the guidelines implementing the said directive particularly for the direct contributors,” it added.

In addition, the new benefit pack-

ages for roll-out, which were scheduled to be sourced from the premium increase, shall be implemented as planned. These include the following: outpatient therapeutic care for severe acute malnutrition; outpatient package for mental health; and, comprehensive outpatient benefit, among others.

“The Management was directed to employ the necessary strategies to ensure implementation of these benefits,” Ledesma was quoted in the statement as saying.

“Likewise, we assure the public that the current benefits being enjoyed by members will not be affected by the said suspension.”

The Philhealth chief added they are also reiterating that PhilHealth’s financial standing remains strong.

“The Management is confident that, notwithstanding the suspension of the increase in premium rates, PhilHealth is more than able to meet its financial obligations to its members and partner health care providers.”

‘Same old same old’ in the New Year?

THE expression “same old same old” means the same thing has always happened, been done, or talked about but not acted upon, which implies that such thing tends to be monotonous, boring or unacceptable.

In the context of the New Year and in the midst of the pandemic, having a “same old same old” approach, theme or topic for your association may prove detrimental or even disastrous.

Here are a few things I have learned the past year from American association management expert and consultant, author and professional speaker Mary Byers:

THE Department of Education (DepEd), headed by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, concurrent DepEd Secretary, awarded Certificates of Partnership to CSBank (Citystate Savings Bank) and Fortune Life Insurance Co. Inc., two member companies of the ALC Group, during DepEd’s Partners Appreciation Program held on December 13, 2022, at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

The certificates were in recognition of the companies’ continued support for basic education.

Last November 14, CSBank and Fortune Life hosted a stakeholders and partners meeting for the External Partnership Service of the Department of Education to call for support for schools affected by typhoons. It was held at the Citystate Tower Hotel in Manila, another member company of the ALC Group.

DepEd Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs and Partnerships Ger-

ald L. Chan also met with CSBank and Fortune Life Insurance senior officers during the pre-event to discuss possible partnerships to help the department rebuild schools and support their projects and programs.

In a statement, ALC Group chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon thanked DepEd for the recognition and expressed full support for the department’s projects through various partnerships with the member companies of the ALC Group.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Education, especially to DepEd Secretary and our Vice President Sara Duterte, for these Certificates of Partnership presented to our member companies, CSBank and Fortune Life Insurance. We are happy to help DepEd in achieving its goals by supporting its projects in all the ways that we can,” Cabangon said.

The ALC Group was founded by the late Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.

Inflation forces migrants to reduce remittances

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

WORLDREMIT Group Ltd., a leading digital remittances company, announced the results of its second Cost of Living index, where the organization has sought to understand how the worsening inflation crisis has affected the lives of international money senders around the world.

The survey found that 82 percent of remittance senders agreed that the cost of living for the people that they send money to has risen since the start of the year.

Highlighting the impact of infla-

tion on people around the world, almost half (45 percent) noted they now only send money to immediate family, rather than friends and distant relatives. 1 in 9 people worldwide rely on money sent from friends and relatives who have migrated abroad for work. With several factors contributing to increased financial pressure, new data showed that 72 percent of respondents in the US, 41 percent in Australia and 44 percent in the UK have taken up a side hustle (a job in addition to their main source of income), with 27 percent of respondents on average across our three markets indicating they did so to support the increase in their own cost of living.

Of the respondents who cited having a side hustle, 89 percent reported that they would maintain their side hustle in the next 12 months.

Households around the world are set to re-examine their spending habits in light of inflation, with more than a quarter of respondents (26 percent) saying that they are curtailing discretionary spending on entertainment such as dining out or going to the cinema or theatre. For example, in the UK, nearly twothirds (65 percent) of people noted concerns regarding the cost of utility bills, highlighting the change in spending habits of UK households as a result of the energy crisis.

1. On value proposition. When members ask what they are getting for their membership dues, many associations reply by showing them a big list of things they do. Mary says it’s like throwing “spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks!” For associations to succeed in today’s crowded marketplace, they need to focus on value and not the things that they do; not features but benefits, outcomes and results. A clear and succinct value equals easier member acquisition and retention.

2. On product and service offerings. There are three interrelated factors here: narrow focus, considered “fit,” and a built-in automatic review for products. Some associations have broad and unrelated busi-

nesses which compete for resources that are scarce, hampering mission delivery. It is imperative for them to determine if these businesses are fit for purpose. Associations are also good at adding programs and services but poor in eliminating those that should be abandoned or those considered as “sunset,” i.e., in decline or to be phased out.

3. On demographics. Millennials now represent almost half of the workforce and the way they participate in associations is much different from the generations before them. They are digital natives and are more comfortable using technology, such as using apps for membership journey and education. So instead of an “either-or” strategy (either in-person or virtual; either digital or printed publication), associations should instead adopt an “and” strategy.

4. On digitalization. Many associations chose to stay slow in their digital transformation effort, believing their members will be left behind if they move too fast. However, as

more digital natives become members, they expect their association to embrace technology much quicker. This disconnect poses challenges to these associations that are now trying to catch up. Creating a “digital first” mindset has become even more essential now.

5. On governance. The three key elements here are smaller competency boards, intentional onboarding and “DEI” (for diversity, equity and inclusion). Smaller boards of seven to nine members are easier for members to participate in and take responsibility. Competency refers to a specific area of expertise that the association needs to fulfill its mandate. An example is the need for someone in the board who is knowledgeable on digitalization if digital transformation is the goal. It can also be a need for board members who have soft skills like visionaries, team players and consensus builders. Intentional onboarding is orienting new board members to get their feet wet quickly, while DEI helps build an inclusive culture committed to increasing diversity and promoting fairness.

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

Inflation seen climbing slower this year

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

AN economist-lawmaker on Thursday said he sees reason to be optimistic, although with some caution, that 2023 will see more acceptable inflation levels than 2022, as December 2022 inflation hit 8.1 percent, leading the annual average to hit 5.8 percent.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said there is good reason to believe that oil, transport and energy prices will be cheaper or at least not inflate as quickly as they did in 2021 and 2022.

“Leading projections indicate a supply surplus starting Q1 [first quarter] of 2023, as demand slows down and the US and other nonOPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] countries try to undercut the global cartel. [Also] the world seems to have already adapted partly to the RussiaUkraine conflict, with Europe being able to fill their reserves without Russian piped gas,” he said. “So, oil and energy prices could stabilize.”

Salceda, however, warned that “the entirety of 2022 showed that

the country’s food price issues are structural.”

Alarming SALCEDA said that food inflation remained the biggest contributor to December 2022 inflation and, at 10.2 percent, “is extremely alarming.”

“The highest price indices among commodities under food are vegetables at 32.4 percent and sugar at 38.8 percent, which we produce at a structural deficit but which are also very prone to smuggling,” he said.

“In other words, you have smugglers who are not only not paying their fair share of taxes and duties; they are also profiting from high domestic prices.”

Salceda said that the country’s “predicament with onion prices” shows broader systemic issues with the country’s food trade and production system.

“We now have the world’s most expensive domestic onion prices. We have some of the world’s most expensive domestic sugar prices. Why don’t we just allow legal importation, at least among industrial or largescale users like restaurant chains for onions and food manufacturers for sugar? These prices are obvious

bubbles that we can burst,” he said. Rice

THE lawmaker also pointed out that rice price inflation is the slowest among all food items in the CPI. The country tariffied its rice trade regime in 2019.

“With proper farmer support mechanisms, we can protect domestic food producers without killing other industries that use raw agricultural goods. We posted recordhigh production of palay in 2021 and 2022 production is projected to go just slightly below that, despite high fertilizer and fuel costs,” Salceda said.

He believes it is time “to break the smuggling cartels among onion, meat, fish and other key agri commodities, make the food trade regime more transparent and open to all.

“That should help lower food prices—since part of the artificially high prices in these products is that some smugglers are also oligopolies in the domestic market,” Salceda added.

He said his Committee on Ways and Means has already committed to “focus its investigation and policymaking efforts on agricultural smuggling” in 2023.

Octavio Peralta

Association World

Vice President of the Philippines and Department of education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte, together with Deped Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs and Partnership Gerard L. chan, poses with representatives from the ALc Group of companies, namely (seated, from left) cSBank APDS Loans Area

Head Anthony Pascual, APDS Loans Head Dennis Mancilla, Fortune Life AVP-corporate communications Floreda c constantino and SVP-Group Sales and Related contracts Virgilio S. Aquino.

CREDIT: ALC GRoup of CompAn Es

Relationships

Building—and sustaining— relationships

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

RTHDAY: Let your hunches lead the way this year, and you’ll turn your dreams into a reality. Think outside the box and make a point of being unique and setting trends that encompass new beginnings and exciting adventures. Stop wasting time and waiting for things to come to you. Take a stance, plan your strategy and execute your rights and intentions. Your numbers are 8, 19, 22, 27, 33, 41, 45.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Keep emotions out of important decisions. Distance yourself from outside influences, and size up situations to fit your needs. Look for the best way to enhance your life through physical activity and disciplined actions. HH

IHAVE always believed that all human beings, by nature, want to do good and live in harmony with others. Of course, despite the best of intentions, many of us lose our way out of necessity, i.e., poverty for one, or due to the necessities of our jobs, or perhaps just out of weakness, whether this be in mind, body, or spirit. Some too, get easily influenced by fake information out there on the Internet, or by hanging out with the wrong kinds of people.

The new year brings a lot of opportunities for all of us, especially when it concerns our relationships with others. It is a time to get over personal hurts, and move toward reconciliation. A time for listening, instead of just doing the talking all the time. A time to get to know others on a deeper level and share calm conversations, instead of looking at faults and blaming others for disruptions in our little world, or in society in general.

n Be positive. In your next meeting with friends or family, try not to greet them with “Oy, tumaba ka! (Hey, you’ve gotten fat!)” It’s not the best conversation starter, especially if you’ve not seen each other in ages. Even if you think you’re complimenting them by saying, “Maganda ka pa rin. (You’re still beautiful.),” or “Ang payat-payat mo na! (You’ve gotten so thin already!),” it’s still a poor way of greeting another person. Any comments on another person’s appearance is frankly, shallow. I don’t even know how Filipinos came to adopt this ill custom, often considered rude by foreigners. We do as well, but we often let it go because we want to be thought of as “nice”.

n Open up to honest communications. Living in our well-connected world, we carry on conversations via text messaging, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Chats, WhatsApp, etc. Whether talking online or meeting other people face to face, an open and honest attitude establishes trust. This means listening intently to what is being said by the other person, withholding judgement, and sharing experiences on a level the other can relate

with. Focus on what the other is saying, instead of one’s own issues. Making a sincere attempt to converse and understand others will open them up to share more of themselves.

n Learn to appreciate others. Be respectful of other people’s time, work and thoughts. So in a conversation, put your mobile phone down and pay attention to what’s being said. Go beyond the usual “Kumusta na? (How are you?),” and learn to ask meaningful questions about the other’s personal goings-on. If it is a work colleague you’re meeting with, ask about their parents or their family, and if it is a personal friend or family member, find out more about their studies/careers, or their latest hobbies. To build better relationships, it’s best to get a bigger, or more well-rounded picture about the people around you.

n Be supportive and learn to ask/accept help

5 easy ways to have a healthy new year

A NEW year has dawned and while pandemic fears have eased a bit, it remains very important to stay healthy and protected, so you can lessen your worry about untimely sickness among family and friends.

From health drink Goodday, here are ways to ensure that you have a safe and healthy new year:

1. MAkE HANd wASHiNg A HABiT Regular hand-washing can lessen the spread of germs, especially if you’re meeting with different family members and friends. It’s also a simple and quick way to help avoid sickness during gatherings.

2. EAT ANd PrEPArE HEALTHY diSHES

It’s important to have healthy meals with fruits and vegetables always on the menu. This will provide you and your loved ones

from others. When people you care about are down, offer your support even just by holding their hand, listening to their troubles, or giving them a hug. You don’t have to go down the same path by agreeing that their boyfriend/mom/boss is a monster, since clearly you are hearing only one side of the story. In most cases, being a shoulder to cry on can be the best appropriate response to someone in need. Similarly, don’t be afraid to reach out to others when you need any kind of support. Most people feel valued when their help is needed, and are happy to be able to support others. Always be gracious when that help comes.

n Invest your time. When trying to build or sustain relationships, we need to actually take the time to do so. Just because we’re all connected online,

Continued on B5

the nutrients you need to feel upbeat and energized in the new year. Of course, don’t forget to drink water in between meals as well.

3. BE MiNdfUL Of digESTiON ANd iMMUNiTY Have a bottle of a healthful drink in your fridge ready, such as Goodday (bit.ly/3VKjuIW ). This cultured milk drink contains unique paraprobiotics Lactobacillus paracasei MCC1849, also known as LAC-Shield, which can help strengthen one’s immune system. It aids in the production of antibodies to build the immunity you need to keep healthy. Plus, it can improve your digestive health, too. Goodday comes in three flavors: Original, Strawberry and Mango, in 80ml and 350ml bottles that both kids and adults will enjoy. It’s a great health and energy booster to

get you through the everyday hustle and bustle. Goodday is available at convenience stores and supermarkets nationwide, and online on Lazada and Shopee.

4. HAvE A wOrkOUT ScHEdULE It can be hard to maintain a full-on workout at the gym several times a week, but you can always do quick workouts from home, like yoga or brisk walking around your neighborhood, so you’ll feel alert throughout the day. Consistent physical activity can also help boost your immune system.

5. gET SOME MUcH-NEEdEd rEST It’s important to have enough rest every day to recharge mind and body. Make sure that you get at least eight hours of sleep, and even have a free day for yourself so you can just focus on your me-time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Mull over your choices before deciding. Refuse to let anyone bully you into something that doesn’t fit your style, beliefs or desires. Be true to yourself and do what makes you feel comfortable. HHHH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): An energetic approach to what you want to achieve will encourage success. An innovative approach to showing others what you have to offer will stretch minds and bring positive input that reinforces the idea that you are doing something worthwhile. HHH

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Embrace and promote positive change by spreading joy and the know-how to reach bliss. Educate yourself about something piquing your imagination; the information you obtain will give you the wherewithal to make better decisions and connect with like-minded people. Avoid excessiveness and temptation. HHH

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be the person everyone comes to for advice and looks to as an example. Stand up for your rights and beliefs, and don’t let anyone shake what works best for

fVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Align yourself with outstanding individuals in your community, and you will receive the help you need to bring about positive changes. Stop being hard on yourself and recognize what you have to offer. HHH

gLIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t slip in the wrong direction. Boost yourself up by getting involved in something that concerns you. Putting your energy where it counts and can do some good will be uplifting and attract someone who can make a difference in your life. HH

hSCORpIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Ride whatever wave entices you. Look for adventure, strive for perfection and please yourself. Changing how you treat others will prompt them to give you more respect and add credence to your demands. HHHHH

iSAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep moving forward, and don’t let anyone interfere with your crusade. Make a point to reconstruct a good workspace at home that prompts you to increase your qualifications and strive to reach your goal. Plan to do the work yourself. HHH

jCApRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Gear up and take charge of whatever situation you face. Staying in control will be difficult if you come head to head with opposition. Distance yourself from those trying to sabotage your attempt to head in a direction that’s better for you. HHH

kAQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Physical activity is favored. Put your muscles to good use and make changes that add to your comfort and well-being. Do your best to entertain someone who interests you, and you’ll gain access to information that encourages positive decisions and new beginnings. Romance is encouraged. HHH

lpISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Change your priorities to suit your needs. Focus on how you feel and what you can do. The feedback you receive will help you decide which path will take you where you want to go. HHHHH

BIRTHDAY BABY: You are engaging, confident and persuasive. You are informative and welcoming.

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

BY RICH kATz AND JEFF CHEN

The Universal Crossword/Edited by Anna Gundlach

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Kate McKinnon, 39; Julie Chen, 53; Gabrielle Reece, 53; Rowan

PHOTO BY HELENA LOPES ON UNSPLASH

‘Emily in Paris’ plus sensuality and poverty in Philippine cinema

‘g! Flicks’ beats rival programs ‘darna’, ‘the iron heart’ in t V ratings

GTV’s movie block G! Flicks continues to post strong prime-time TV ratings, beating separately its rival shows Darna and The Iron Heart on TV5 and A2Z.

The program, which features a star-studded movie lineup on GMA Network’s second free-to-air channel, bested its competitors Darna and The Iron Heart from Monday to Friday, according to Nielsen NUTAM People Ratings for December 12 to 16.

On December 12, Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns received a people rating of 3.8 percent. This was followed by Andy Lau’s Shock Wave, which posted a people rating of 4.7 percent on December 13. Meanwhile, Sam Worthington’s Man on a Ledge posted a people rating of 4.5 percent on December 14.

Also ahead of its rival programs was Jackie Chan’s Police Story 3: Supercop, which posted a people rating of 4.8 percent on December 15. And finally, on December 16, Emily Browning’s Ghost Ship registered a people rating of 4.5 percent.

During the covered period, Darna only registered 2.8 percent, 2.9 percent, 3.7 percent, 2.9 percent, and 3.2 percent people ratings on TV5, while it only posted 2.8 percent, 2.7 percent, 2.3 percent, 2.9 percent, and 2.4 percent people ratings on A2Z. The Iron Heart, meanwhile, only posted 2.4 percent, 2.5 percent, 2.9 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.6 percent people ratings on TV5. Also, it only registered 2.3 percent, 2.2 percent, 2.3 percent, 2.7 percent, and 2.2 percent people ratings on A2Z.

WHY do I like Emily in Paris it is shameless. Because Emily is shameless. Shamelessness here, however, should not be construed as negative; rather, it should be seen as a sort of moral recklessness. When have you ever watched a TV show or a film where political correctness does not have a place, where ethnocentrism is a daily consumption?

Paris is a fantasy land for Emily and, until her Brit lover comes along, she never sees the place as an illusion. For a marketing person, Emily does not even see Paris as a product that has been developed by similar-minded persons like her.

For Emily to be real, she has to contend with a Paris that really exists. That becomes the business of this series, to prove that there is this city for lovers. Like in all frothy narratives, viragos ultimately become allies of Emily, our lead character, in one sweep of a trench coat.

For the episodes of Emily in Paris to work, Emily herself has to be a bit dumb. She reports to the office and acts like Sylvie’s serf, all because of Emily’s fault. Didn’t she understand that her US office has acquired this Paris agency, and Sylvie is not technically her boss? But where would the Emily of Lily Collins be without the Sylvie played with such aplomb by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu?

To enjoy Emily in Paris, the hit Netflix series, is to not take it seriously. That was my state of mind during the last days of 2022. Suspension of disbelief is the tool for this presentation. Here in this old city of possibilities, everyone is disarming. From Emily’s “men” to the women she encounters‚they all leap from pages of stereotypes and only their bravado stops them from being caricatures. There’s the Gabriel of Lucas Bravo to the Alfie of Lucien Laviscount, the Mindy Chen of Ashley Park to the Camille of Camille Razat. All conscious of how they feel but not how they think. Logic is negotiable.

Speaking of looks, there are rumors going around that Lucien Laviscount is one of the top contenders for the next James Bond. C’est la vie. As for the other supporting actors in the series, give me Ashley Park, singing and everything, anytime.

Strangely enough but maybe not strange at all, there were other artifacts of divertissement I indulged in before I ran out of my Christmas fruitcake. These were the old Filipino films from the late 1940s and 1950s, readily available online. The films were: Himala

Building—and sustaining— relationships

Continued from B4

we sometimes think that’s enough sharing of our lives with others. My friend Des, who I’ve known close to 30 years, lives abroad, but once or twice a year we get down to messaging each other either during the other’s birthday, or some milestone that needs to be shared. We call it our regular “pulse-checking,” a period of time we converse longer, updating the other about what’s going on in our respective lives, instead of the short messages we exchange. Just the other day, I read a piece in the New York Times about scheduling an eight-minute phone call with people we miss. In that brief period, the author said she and her friend were able to cover a lot of topics, which left her humming and happy because of the connection restored. Make the time to renew friendships with people we want to keep around in our lives.

Of course, there are individuals we would rather not think or care about, maybe because they treated us badly, or we feel they are not making as much investment as we are in the relationship. In such cases, it’s best to let go and move on.

Remember, to have a meaningful relationship with others, there needs to be some regular or emotional commitment. In the absence of such, building or sustaining the relationship is not be worth our time or effort. n

ng Birhen and Pasiya ng Langit, both directed by the underrated and unheralded Susana C. de Guzman; Kung Ako’y Mahal Mo by Dr. Gregorio Fernandez; and Kundiman ng Lahi by Lamberto Avellana.

Himala ng Birhen is the oldest (1947), with Rosa del Rosario playing a barrio girl, which is quite a stretch given her strong mestiza features. She also has this low voice, making her appear domineering even in light moments. Gloriously lovely, her build and glamor could have been the reason why she would then be asked four years after this film to essay the first Darna.

Pasiya ng Langit has Celia Flor and Priscilla Cellona. Fate is all over the plot of this film. Two sisters are separated by the fact of adoption: the younger one goes to a wealthy but kind (the qualifier has to be there) couple, while the older one becomes the adopted daughter of a music teacher, played by Jose Corazon de Jesus, Jr., the son of the legendary poet. Between the two sisters is Mario Montenegro who, in the film, is a doctor who rushes to the barrio because of an epidemic. There is only one word to describe Montenegro, the Filipino-French actor, and that is “debonaire,” an adjective reserved for men who are elegant and suave.

The other two films (Kung Ako’y Mahal Mo and Kundiman ng Lahi) share a leading lady, Charito Solis. These two films prove to be rediscoveries, with the first running on a compelling screenplay, and the latter by cinematic presence and daring direction.

In Kung Ako’y Mahal Mo, a man (Nestor de Villa)

saves a woman (Charito Solis) from being raped but ending in jail after killing accidentally the “villain.”

The coincidences are there but how Fernandez stages them with such ease and suspense must have charmed the audience then used to a predictable unfolding of stories. While Solis has always been a good actress, De Villa in this film rises above that famous boy-next-door charm to mold a credible character. He was nominated three times for FAMAS but not for this film.

With only his name, Avellana, on the screen, the director captures Charito Solis at her rawest, sensual mode. Solis is this young girl who seems oblivious to the fact that her physicality is torturing her tio (Joseph Cordova in a role that could stand with majesty along the same roles done by Van de Leon, Eddie Garcia and Vic Silayan), lusting at her. How did Solis escape the moralist’s wrath of the early 1960s everytime she bent down with half her breast exposed to all the bad men out there? Was it because her beauty was most ethereal in close-up shots, with the camera in love with her?

If there is a theme that runs dominant across the four films, it is that of poverty. Films of the period were not interested in entering the world of the rich, the way our present cinemas and romcoms are obsessed with. The directors of the period seem interested in understanding and romanticizing the world of the poor. Or could it be that to be miserable in life while remaining impoverished is the perfect fodder for drama and tears? n

sheriff: no foul play in ‘avengers’ star snow tractor injury

RENO, Nevada—The serious injuries actor Jeremy Renner suffered while using a snow tractor to free a snowbound motorist on a private mountain road near Lake Tahoe appear to be the result of a “tragic accident,” the sheriff in Reno said on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old Avengers star was seriously hurt when he was run over by his own snowcat after using it to free a vehicle driven by a family member that became stuck in 3 feet (0.9 meters) of fresh mountain snow on New Year’s Day, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said.

An investigation is continuing but there were no signs of foul play or any indication Renner was impaired at the time of the Sunday morning incident, Balaam told reporters.

“At this point in the investigation...we believe this is a tragic accident,” the sheriff said. “He was being a great neighbor and he was plowing those roads for his neighbors.”

The accident left Renner in critical but stable condition with chest and orthopedic injuries, according to a publicist and sheriff’s officials who said Renner was flown by medical helicopter about 25 miles (40 kilometers) to a Reno hospital.

About the same time reporters were gathering with Balaam on Tuesday, Renner posted an Instagram photo of himself in a hospital bed and a message, missing an apostrophe.

“Thank you all for your kind words,” it said. “Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”

Balaam said Renner had used his Pistenbully snow groomer, a 7-ton vehicle he owns, to tow another personal vehicle that had become snowbound on a private road he shares with neighbors.

“After successfully towing his personal vehicle

from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his [snowcat] to speak to his family member,” Balaam said. “The Pistenbully started to roll. In an effort to stop [it], Mr. Renner attempts to climb back into the driver’s seat. It’s at this point that Mr. Renner is run over.”

The sheriff said the snowcat was impounded and is being examined by investigators “for any mechanical failure and why it started to roll.”

“He was helping someone stranded in the snow,” Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve told the Reno GazetteJournal on Monday night. She said she and the actor are friends and that she was called about the accident shortly after it happened near the Mt. Rose Highway that connects Reno to Lake Tahoe.

“He is always helping others,” the mayor told the newspaper.

Balaam said on Tuesday that it took first responders from Reno more than 30 minutes to traverse the several miles of snowy road to reach Renner on the private road off the highway.

As many as 20 vehicles had been abandoned on the roadway while 3 feet of fresh snow fell overnight, slowing the fire engine and ambulance response.

A publicist for Renner said in a statement on Monday that he suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries and remained in critical but stable condition in intensive care unit following surgery at a Reno hospital.

Renner plays Hawkeye, a sharp-shooting member of the superhero Avengers squad in Marvel’s sprawling movie and television universe.

Balaam said the two-time acting Oscar nominee has become an honorary deputy sheriff in Reno through his participation in the county’s “Shop with the Sheriff” program that raises money for children to

shop for Christmas gifts. “Throughout the community he has been very generous,” the sheriff said.

Renner scored back-to-back Oscar nominations for The Hurt Locker and The Town. His portrayal of a bomb disposal specialist in Iraq in 2009’s The Hurt Locker helped turn him into a household name.

The Avengers in 2012 cemented him as part of Marvel’s grand storytelling ambitions, with his character appearing in several sequels and getting its own Disney+ series, Hawkeye.

“His popularity amongst kids in the ‘Marvels,’ he has a huge impact,” Balaam said on Tuesday.

“Those kids who he touched during ‘Shop with the Sheriff,’ I can guarantee you they will never forget that moment,” he said. “They call him Hawkeye.” AP

lily Collins and lucien laviscount in the netflix hit series Emily in Paris.

Popular movie titles and major Hollywood stars can be seen on G! Flicks weeknights at 8 pm on GTV.

DLSU consecrates Santuario de La Salle at its Laguna campus in Biñan

DE La Salle University opens its doors to the faithful with the Consecration of Santuario de La Salle at its Laguna Campus in the City of Biñan.

Santuario de La Salle is a gift of the Lasallian Family to the Church, which celebrated the culmination of its 500th Anniversary of Evangelization in the Philippines this year. The Santuario seeks to promote the devotion to St. John Baptist de La Salle as the Patron Saint of Teachers.

Conceptualized in 2011, constructed during the tercentenary celebration of the death of St. John Baptist de La Salle in 2019, and consecrated in November 2022, the sanctuary serves as a repository of the Founder’s relic and opens its doors as a pilgrimage site for educators. The sanctuary’s overall design and concept came from the architectural firm CAZA, inspired by the Lasallian Star of Faith—the Signum Fidei.

The relic of St. La Salle was transferred from its prior home in De La Salle University Dasmariñas to the Laguna Campus where it was enshrined.

Present during the consecration were the family of alumnus Ramon “Chito” Villavicencio (De La Salle

College Commerce ‘62, MBA ‘64), who donated the main sections of Santuario de La Salle in their shared mission to support the holistic development of students and the spiritual nourishment of the Lasallian community members and pilgrims.

In a message read by former DLSU President Br. Raymundo Suplido FSC, DLSU President Br. Bernard Oca FSC shared the special significance of November 21 for Lasallians: “On this same day, the 21st of November in the year 1691, at a time when the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was

in deep crisis, John Baptist de La Salle, Nicholas Vuyart, and Gabriel Drolin promised to remain together in Society even if they would have to beg and live on bread alone. This was to be known as 'The Heroic Vow'. In Tagalog, it simply means, walang iwanan.”

The Eucharistic Celebration to consecrate the Santuario de La Salle was led by Bishop Buenaventura Famadico D.D. from the Diocese of San Pablo, together with other priests from neighboring parishes, and was attended by Lasallian Brothers from various La Salle schools.

EastWest Customers Can Feel Secure with Information Technology Industry Leaders on Duty all day, night

management and there are analytical tools using geolocation, or other means to identify abnormal behavior in account movements.”

An avid cyclist, Regala draws parallels from safety on the road while on a bike to his line of work. “Biking is like Cybersecurity. You have to keep on pedaling or you will fall, just like in Cybersecurity, you need to keep on looking for new ways to defend the cyberspace. You have to stop, look, and listen. Always find time to identify possible threats and navigate the terrain to find the best course of action”.

Hailing from a military background from the US along with extensive international professional experience, Pusag seeks to give meaningful service to the Bank’s employees and customers. “The military was about identifying what people require to be successful. Individuals are very important, and you need to understand what they need to succeed.”

SM

THE journey to success always starts with a single step. This rings true for SM Scholar Roderick Cajefe. Since there was only an elementary school in his hometown, he would walk for one and a half hours to go to his high school and another hour and a half to reach home. Moving an inch closer to his dreams, his hard work paid off as he finished high school as the class salutatorian.

Braving the road less taken AS a salutatorian, Roderick was eligible for scholarships but he had to find a way to move closer to his aim of being the first in their family to earn a degree while prioritizing their needs at the same time.

He decided to leave home and enter college as a working student while completing other requirements for scholarship applications.

Thankfully, he was among those who were given the SM Scholarship at Leyte Normal University (LNU). He finished his Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Filipino in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

Sharpened by life’s challenges, he took his bravery up a notch by choosing to review independently and coach his classmates. Instead of enrolling in a review center, he bought review books from renowned review centers as it was not as expensive compared to availing of the full review package.

“I reviewed all by myself with the resources available online, materials shared by my college classmates,” he said. “I availed of a paid membership for an online session for our major. It was a six-day weekend coaching, but I only got to attend two sessions because I had to work, review, and coach.”

“While I was a self-reviewee, I served as a mentor to my classmates who were also doing self-review. I made a group chat where we had discussions and drills. I also answered their queries,” he added.

Today, Roderick has come a long way. He is one of the 71,080 passers in the recent Licensure Examinations for Teachers at the secondary level. Only 50.94 percent out of the 139,534 examinees passed and even ranked 9th place.

Eight out of his nine fellow batchmates, who self-reviewed, also passed. A person with a passion for teaching and sharing knowledge even before passing the licensure exam, Roderick is now ready to take on his duty as an educator.

Inspired by the teachings of Henry “Tatang” Sy, he intends to stay in the country in order to hone the minds of the youth and inspire them in reaching their own goals despite the challenges brought about by poverty.

“Tatang once said that we should give our best and our all to bring honor to our families and SM Foundation. Small as it may be, this would be our way of giving back the kindness. Since I was given an opportunity to rise, I also want to be an instrument in spreading social good. I intend to teach with empathy and provide my students with enough tools, resources, skills and knowledge so that one day, they can also break their own cycle of poverty, making their dreams a reality,” he capped.

Fashion icon Chynna Mamawal launches her first of many CASA clothing stores in the Philippines

And this is where the high-end style and touch of Chynna Mamawal melds with pragmatic casual clothing.

Casual clothing is now Chynna Mamawal’s latest canvas.

THIS

the doors of EastWest

and IT threats. Sharing decades of experience between the two, they lead the Bank’s Cybersecurity and Information Departments with EVP Rick Pusag as the Technology and Productivity Head and FVP Joey Regala as the Chief Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer.

With Pusag at the helm of systems and infrastructure and Regala manning the gates of cybersecurity, customers can feel at ease knowing that these industry experts are on their side, at all times.

As cases of bank fraud climb in this challenging climate, EastWest remains vigilant in its efforts to keep the Bank and its customers secure against future attacks. Regala’s group is chiefly concerned with data protection and cybersecurity, while Pusag’s group handles the IT infrastructure that both customers and employees interact with. The two collaborate to keep EastWest’s cybersecurity up to date.

“EastWest is constantly adjusting to the cyber terrain, looking for vulnerabilities and mitigating them accordingly,” says Regala. “Our office, the Information Security and Data Protection Office, consistently coordinates with the IT Group to further strengthen cybersecurity.”

Regala stands in the way of

threats to protect the Bank and its customers. He transitioned from Auditing to Accounting to IT Auditing and now Cybersecurity working for nearly 30 years of wide information technology experience. He has worked with different companies and banks along with being a trailblazer in the Information Safety Officers Group (ISOG) where he was the former President. A member of the PNP - Anti CyberCrime Advisory Council and the BAP Cybersecurity Working Committee.

What Regala deems vital in his line of work is a learning mindset. “You have to learn the behavior of people, of people on the other side, in order to prevent potential attacks. The Cybersecurity Officer continues to stress the importance of knowing how threats are formed and how they will attack. “You have to learn from the hacker, learn to think like the hacker.”

According to Regala, cybersecurity defense is like a castle with many layers of protection, he uses the term “Defense in Depth,” a security strategy that enacts multiple security measures to protect against threats. He also stresses the significance of the use of AI and Machine Learning when it comes to identifying and solving IT threats.

“The power of AI is a big help in detecting threats and identifying errant behavior to prevent attacks. Machine learning assists in identifying fraud

He also stresses that “leadership is through motivation and pointing others in the right direction to succeed. The world of tech and banking can hold multiple challenges, but these can always be overcome with the right people and the right mindset.”

Sharing that a good day at work means finding solutions to problems and solving them with your team, Pusag remains confident of the Bank’s ability to handle both current and future threats. “In the recent months, EastWest has made significant investments to upgrade and futureproof its technology infrastructure.”

Being resilient and having a positive mindset is crucial not only in work, but in life as well. Pusag shares, “In a job where there is always a challenge, it is best to remind yourself that nothing is insurmountable, and you can overcome that hurdle and resolve them. You need people to bounce those situations with.”

Pusag states that the Bank is always ready to handle the threats that will come their way. “We aim to fully implement and exploit EastWest's investment in the digital experience platform.”

The customers of EastWest can rest assured knowing that experts such as Regala and Pusag are on the job. They maintain the stance that there is a love to protect their clients and to put them first in terms of safety and security.

Casa

Chynna believes that “fashion need not be very, very exclusive. I want every Filipino to be fashionable regardless of the price tag.

“This is why I am launching CASA. CASA is all about casual wear. But mind you, it’s not just casual wear. It’s casual wear with my distinct design aesthetic in it. Normally, clothing stores come up with generic designs for their market. You have no idea who designed them. But the CASA outfits have my distinct aesthetic in them. I want to see my designs being worn by every Filipino and I want us to all look fabulous. After all, it’s all about ‘who’ you wear, ‘how’ you wear it, and ‘why’ you wear it. I want the world to see, ‘Oh, Filipinos are so fashionable even in casual clothes!’” she said.

Currently one of the Philippines’ most influential fashion designers, Chynna Mamawal stands out as a young female entrepreneur who champions the “fashion for all” philosophy. Hers is arguably the defining fashion story of this present generation that has survived even the pandemic. Closing shop was not an option. She continued to design at a very high level of craft despite the odds and the uncertainty of the times.

With the success of her CHYNNA MAMAWAL ATELIER, Chynna wants to be remembered well beyond fashion. Known for her highly exclusive luxurious designs for bridal gowns, bespoke suits, and highly-applauded evening wear ensembles, she now wants to be the boundary breaker in the highly-bordered fashion industry through CASA.

“Design is design. It can cross borders. Design can even go to album covers, can it not? My designs are now in casual clothes through CASA. I also wanted to start a brand that is 100 percent homegrown and proudly made in the Philippines. From the design, and the concept, to the actual clothing. I want the world to follow my lead—a Filipino designer— when it comes to casual clothing. That’s my vision,” the young female entrepreneur proudly mentions.

Every piece in CASA is Filipino-made. The design node of her practice is that every piece is put together by her incredibly talented team—Filipino master cutters, master sewers, seamstresses, the best clothing craftsmen in the country.

“Every piece that you buy, you’re helping a lot of people—from the fabric suppliers here to our sewers, our packers, our salesladies, the malls,” Chynna reiterates, continuing to push forward her desire to give opportunities to the skillful Filipinos who need it.

By breaking conventions of what an artist and fashion designer is capable of, Chynna’s casual clothes are very functional, comfortable, and affordable.

As Chynna explains, “Because in Chynna Mamawal’s design world; design will always be inter-connected; be it in the blending of high couture fashion with streetwear. So why not my designs in casual wear? I think I belong to a new generation of creatives where I refused to be limited or classified into one job or business title.”

Being “the future” and the masters they are, Chynna aims to connect with the everevolving Gen Z, as well as the Millennials and the young professionals through her clothing store.

“I want to connect beyond an age bracket, beyond the sphere of fashion. I really enjoy doing CASA because I get to design a lot of pieces that can be worn by a lot of people. We’re making fashion accessible to everyone,” says Chynna

Proudly Filipino-made, Chynna dreams of bringing the wonders of CASA nationwide with the goal of building 60 stores in the next two years. Eventually, to further showcase the incomparable talents of her kababayans, she aims to share her wonderful affordable collection internationally.

TOP Officers Rick Pusag and Joey Regala guard

against cybersecurity

cybersecurity

JOEY Regala, FVP and Chief Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer

RICK Pusag, EVP and Technology and Productivity Head

December, fashion designer Chynna Mamawal opened the first of many of her casual stores CASA in Isetann, Recto where her unique design perspective is focused on more fashiondesigned casual wear for men and women.

is a Filipino-made clothing brand that offers quality and stylish everyday casa clothing for men and women.

CHYNNA Mawalwal at the opening of CASA.

AMIDST poverty, SM scholar Roderick Cajefe is the first in his family to earn a degree.

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Jerusalem eyes Japanese’s WBO ‘minimum’ crown

RISING star Melvin Oliva

Jerusalem goes after Masataka Taniguchi’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum weight belt on Friday night at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan.

It will be Jerusalem’s first shot at a world title.

The fight was originally scheduled on New Year’s Day Sunday but the Japanese organizers agreed to postpone the fight after Jerusalem’s flight was one of those canceled because of the technical glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“ Everything is okay now, I don’t feel any trouble and so far my condition is fine,” the 28-yearold Bukidnon-born fighter told BusinessMirror on Thursday. “I’m not affected with the flight postponement.”

A v ictory by Jerusalem would ends the Philippines search for a world champion in almost a year.

Jerusalem (19-2 won-lost with 11 knockouts) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Thailand’s Chayaphon Moonsri on January 25, 2017, in Thailand for the World Boxing Council minimum weight belt.

I will make sure I become a world champion. This is my second opportunity so I hope I can do it now,” he said.

Taniguchi, also 28 and a southpaw, is 16-3 with 11 knockouts.

Jerusalem is joined by coach Michael Domingo and promotermanager JC Mananquil of Sanman Promotions. Josef Ramos

| Editor: Jun Lomibao

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—

Cristiano Ronaldo has just completed a move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, but made a slip up during his  official presentation  in Riyadh on Tuesday when mistakenly saying he had “come to South Africa.”

Perhaps the Portugal great was disorientated by the whirlwind nature of his arrival at his new club, which saw him fly out to Saudi on Monday night, before undergoing a medical the next morning and then being greeted by thousands of cheering fans at Al Nassr’s Mrsool Park stadium.

“ For me it is not the end of my career to come to South Africa,” Ronaldo said at a news conference before stepping out on the field at the 25,000 capacity stadium. “I really don’t worry about what people say. I took my decision and I have responsibility to change that, but for me I’m really, really happy to be here.”

A fter what was clearly a slip of the

tongue, Ronaldo went on to outline his reasons for joining Al Nassr and said he had turned down “many clubs” around the world to complete one of the most surprising moves in soccer history

“ I want to give a different vision of this country and football. This is why I took this opportunity,” he said. “I know the league is very competitive. People don’t know that, but I know because I saw many games.”

R onaldo has signed a two-and-ahalf-year contract to play in the Saudi Pro League and will reportedly earn up to $200 million a year.

The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus forward also said is ready to play straight away with Al Nassr facing Al Ta’ee on Thursday.

However, the 37-year-old Ronaldo was handed a two-match suspension by the English Football Association in November for knocking a mobile phone out of the hand of a supporter after a game against Everton last April.

He had already left United by the time of the ruling, but the FA said the suspension would be transferred to any new club. AP

Brazilian players absent from Pelé’s funeral

SÃO PAULO—Brazilian soccer stars past and present are under fire from fans for skipping Pelé’s funeral and opting to pay their respects on social media.

The three-time World Cup champion was buried in his hometown Tuesday after more than 230,000 mourners passed by his casket at Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos. Pelé died last Thursday after a battle with cancer.

Fans expected former Santos players like Neymar, Rodrygo and Giovanni to attend. They also hoped retired greats like Zico, Romario, Ronaldo, Kaká and Ronaldinho Gaucho would show up at the beach city 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of São Paulo.

Their social media accounts were flooded with comments by angry fans after Pelé’s burial.

None of the players from Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning squad attended. One of them—former star midfielder Kaká—was criticized because he had complained during an interview in December that Brazilians do not honor their sports heroes as much as foreigners.

You didn’t even show up for the funeral of the man who paved the

w ay for you to have the life that you have,” said Joao Vitor Custodio on Kaká’s Instagram post about Pelé that drew more than 5,000 comments, including many about his decision not to come for the tributes.

I n Neymar’s Instagram post mourning Pelé’s death, one fan wrote: “It is easy to say, but you sent your father and did not come.” The Brazil striker later limited comments in that post to people he knows.

N o foreign footballers came to Brazil for Pelé’s tributes, funeral and burial.

Former midfielder Mauro Silva was the lone representative of the 1994 team that won the World Cup in the United States. He is currently an executive at the São Paulo state soccer federation.

Some of Pelé’s surviving Brazil teammates from the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cup titles were unfit to attend, like 91-year-old Mário Zagallo, and others like Roberto Rivellino were reportedly too upset.

Fans didn’t seem to believe those who said they tried but could not get to Santos in time, like Cafu.

PNVF to hold first national U18 tourney

THE Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) will revive the First PNVF National U18 Championships for Boys and Girls in February and March, federation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara announced on Thursday.

“

This is to reactivate the grassroots and age-group competitions which will also be basis of the selection of national age-group teams,” Suzara said.

The joint tournament is scheduled February 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 and March 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 both at spruced-up Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila and the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

I nquiries and registration are available at the PNVF website http:// volleyballphilippines.com/

The last time the inter-secondary U18 tournament was held was when the PNVF was still called the Philippine Amateur Volleyball Association decades ago.

Th the busiest national sports association in 2022 for having hosted major international competitions—a Men and Women leg of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) last June at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Asian Volleyball Confederation Women’s Cup last August and Champions League last November both at the PhilSports Arena and the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in Subic last December with Sisi Rondina and Jovelyn Gonzaga winning gold and Genesa Jane “Jen” Eslapor and Floremel Rodriguez settling for silver.

A lso on tap for 2023 are again the VNL at the Mall of Asia Arena in July and Champions League in November. The PNVF also forged a training partnership with the Japan Volleyball Association for indoor and beach volleyball.

“Unfortunately and with a lot of sorrow I could not attend Pelé’s funeral, I was on the other side of the globe and at work. My flights to return to Brazil started only in the early hours of Wednesday, I can only get to Brazil tomorrow,” he said. “Does that change what I feel for Pelé, or what he represents to me and to soccer in general? Never!”

R ivaldo, who lives in the United States, took a similar path.

Even if I were in Brazil I am not sure I would have attended the funeral,” Rivaldo said. “I don’t like to pay tributes at that time, I am not against those who do. I met Pelé, I was with him many times and I had the opportunity to honor him during his life.”

A mong the distinguished former Brazilian players who did come for the tributes were Bayern Munich’s Zé Roberto, Manchester City’s Elano and Roma’s Paulo Roberto Falcao. Those three have a connection with Santos.

Except for Santos, few active players and executives of Brazilian clubs attended the funeral. All top flight clubs are in preseason. AP

CONE BRACES FOR SEESAW FINALS SERIES

By Josef Ramos

TIM CONE braces for another major Hong Kong Bay Area comeback as the Finals series for the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup crown has started to look like a seesaw battle.

Now it’s their turn to response in Game 4 after what they did in Game 2,” said Cone, whose Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings took Game 3, 89-82, two nights ago to move up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

ame 4—set at 5:45 p.m. Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena—could change in complexion with the Dragons potentially changing their import.

rolific Andrew Nicholson sprained his ankle in Game 3 and was immediately brought to a hospital for treatment. Cone said the Dragons could potentially replace him with the equally prolific Myles Powell.

We don’t have any idea yet if they change their import. If they do, we have to make our own defensive adjustments,” Cone said. “But I am praying and hoping that Nicholson will be fine and available to play.”

Justin Brownlee carried Ginebra on his shoulders by scattering 19 of his 34 points in the pivotal fourth quarter of Game 3.

L A Tenorio also stepped up in the final period for the Gin Kings by scoring six of his eight points, with Scottie Thompson making a crucial putback off Nicholson and Malonzo breaking a tie with a triple under one minute remaining.

We just kept going, kept playing aggressively and got out energy from the crowd,” said Brownlee, who also had 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals in Game 3.

Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian could hardly hide his frustration about Game 3 but refused to mince words, unlike Powell and Hayden Blankley who

were summoned by the Commissioner’s Office for reacting negative on how the referees called Game 3.

N icholson had 23 points and 24 rebounds in Game 3 for the Dragons, who obviously need consistency from Game 2 hero Songwei Zhu, who only scored 12 points on Wednesday night after scoring 25 points in Game 2. Blankley finished with only 10 points.

C hristian Standhardinger made 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field while Thompson had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds and Malonzo made 10 points for the Gin Kings.

The Gin Kings opened the series with a 96-81 win in Game 1 where Goorjian admitted he and the Dragons groped on how to play a PBA championship series.

The Dragons fought back strong in Game 2 with a disciplined game marked by a solid defense, 99-82, to even the series.

Malixi salvages 71, trails Hong Kong bet by 5 shots in Florida

IANNE MALIXI dominated the last two par-5s to salvage a one-under 71 but fell five strokes off Hong Kong’s Virginie Ding at the start of the Women’s Orlando International Amateur at the Orange Country National Golf Center and Lodge in Florida Wednesday.

alixi cracked a frontside par-game marred by missed birdie opportunities with three birdies in the last nine holes, including the long holes on Nos. 14 and 17, as she bucked a two-bogey mishap to post a 36-35 round at Crooked Cat, one of the two courses hosting the 54-hole championship which drew a huge field of 180 bidders.

e top 70 and ties after 36 holes will advance to the final round.

Pampanga unbeaten in 4 games

PAMPANGA Royce Hotel overpowered 1Munti, 82-67, Wednesday night to stretch its winning run to four and keep hold of solo second in the Manila Bankers Life-Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Z ach Huang led Pampanga Royce with 15 points and six rebounds, while heady playmaker Renzo Navarro also shone with 12 points—

all from beyond the arc. J olo Mendoza and JB Bahio added 11 points each as the charges of coach Sandro Soriano scored a fitting follow up to a 7452 thumping of Bagong CabuyaoHomelab Nation last December 19 and rose to 4-0 won-lost in the league presented by Winzir and copresented by SCD Cosmetics and Dumper party-list, and supported by NET 25, Adcon, Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don

Malixi, 15, kept flashing fine form off the mound and with her iron play but continued to struggle on the greens that has stymied her previous title bids. Her first putt from 20 feet lipped out and she missed her chances inside 9 feet miss on the next two holes.

S he did drain a long putt to save par on the par-3 No. 8 then buriued a seven-footer for birdie on No. 10 to launch her backside drive. But after two regulation pars, the top International Container Terminal Services Inc.-backed campaigner missed the par-3 No. 13 green, chipped short and muffed a par-putt bid from close range.

S he recovered the stroke on the par-five 14th but missed another seven-footer for birdie on No. 15 and

Benitos and Finn Cotton.

The Emeralds fell to their fourth straight loss, including a sorry 71-76 setback to erstwhile winless Cagayan de Oro-PSP last week, for a 1-4 card.

Rence Alcoriza carried Manila to a 91-85 victory over Nueva Ecija to get back on track. A former Arellano University standout, Alcoriza notched 20 points, six rebounds and two assists for the Citystars, while Levi Hernandez backed him up with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Kyle Neypes and Marcy Arellano also combined for 28 points for Manila, which made up for a 66-82 defeat to Sta. Rosa Laguna last

blew a four-footer for par on the next. She, however, birdied the last long hole, No. 17, to save a 71.

But Malixi stood too far behind Ding at 20th place as the latter, billed as the next Hong Kong superstar, sizzled with seven birdies against a bogey for a 66 and a one-stroke lead over Americans Alice Hodge and Ami Gianchandani, who matched 67s.

Five players posted similar 68s and five more matched 69s to guarantee a tight, fierce chase for the championship, the second of three Florida events lined up for Malixi, who placed second in last week’s Citrus Golf Trail in Sebring.

S he will next vie in the Annika

Invitational from January 15 to 17 at the Eagle Creek Golf Club.

December 15 and improved to 3-3.

T he Slashers reeled off to their third loss in a row, counting a sorry 76-78 decision to defending champion Davao OccidentalCocolife last December 17, for a 2-4 record.

Domark Matillano paced 1Munti with 12 points and four rebounds, while RJ Ramirez had 10 and four.

Jerick Nacpil’s 14-point, nineboard effort went for naught for Nueva Ecija, which also got 13 markers from Daryll Pascual.

Jerome Juanico and Jeremy Cruz contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively for the Slashers.

CRISTIANO RONALDO speaks during a press conference for his official unveiling as a new member of Al Nassr club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday. AP

Ronaldo: For me it is not the end of my career to come to South Africa...oops!

EXPECT Justin Brownlee to play with more intensity in Game 4.

RIANNE MALIXI keeps flashing fine form.

Motoring

HYUNDAI IONIQ 5

IS “JAPAN IMPORT CAR OF THE YEAR”

Story & photos by Randy S. Peregrino

HYUNDAI Motor’s first dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) model has been accorded one of the most prestigious accolades in a car awards competition. Recently, the IONIQ 5 all-electric SUV topped other models, such as BMW iX, Land Rover Range Rover, and Renault Arkana, to win the 2022-2023 Import Car of the Year at Japan Car of the Year (JCOTY). While Hyundai’s all-electric SUV was also named one of the 10 Best Cars of the Year, this is the first time for a Korean automaker to win an award at the JCOTY.

Japan Car of the Year was established in 1980 to name the 10 Best Cars of the Year and final winners for each category after test drives and final votes from Japan Car of the Year’s Executive Committee. Vehicles released in the Japanese domestic car market between Nov. 1 of the previous year and Oct. 31 of the current year are eligible for the annual competition. Earlier in November, IONIQ 5 was selected for the

10 Best Cars for 2022-2023 from among 48 candidates.

“IONIQ 5 signals a bold new direction in electric mobility for customers in Japan and worldwide. Already the winner of prestigious global awards, including World Car of the Year, to be recognized in Japan is a significant achievement, especially against such strong competition,” said Won Sang Cho, CEO of Hyundai

Mobility Japan. “Since it went on sale in Japan earlier this year, IONIQ 5 has received positive feedback from consumers who have praised the IONIQ 5’s design, engineering, and excellent driving range. We will continue to strive to contribute to the future of mobility with sincerity and humility for the Japanese market.”

The IONIQ 5 was developed based on Hyundai Motor Group’s

Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). The model boasts a futuristic design, innovative interior space suited for various lifestyles, eco-friendly materials, dynamic driving performance, and safety.

The EV also offers a vehicle-to-load (V2L) function and various driver assistance features to enhance the in-car experience for drivers and passengers.

The JCOTY Commission commented that the judges highly evaluated IONIQ 5 for its innovative exterior and interior design, outstanding driving range, and dynamic performance. They also valued its various convenience and safety features that enhance driving pleasure.

The model has earned many prestigious global awards, including World Car of the Year in April and the 2023 MotorTrend SUV of the Year in October. In addition, it has won 2022 German Car of the Year, 2022 UK Car of the year as well as 2022 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems, Car & Driver’s 2022 EV of the Year, Auto

2022-2023 Japan Car of the Year: Nissan SAKURA, Mitsubishi Ek X EV

2022-2023 Japan Import Car of the Year: Hyundai IONIQ 5 2022-2023 Design Car of the Year: BMW iX

2022-2023 Technology Car of the Year: Nissan X-TRAIL

2022-2023 Performance Car of the Year: Honda CIVIC e:HEV/Type R

2022-2023 Kei Car of the Year: Nissan SAKURA, Mitsubishi Ek X EV

Motor und Sport’s No1 electric vehicle, Auto Bild’s Best Import Car of the Year World Electric Vehicle of the year and Auto Zeitung’s best electric vehicle.

In line with Hyundai Motor’s vision of ‘Progress for Humanity,’ the company established Hyundai Mobility Japan in 2022 to provide zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) to the market through an online platform designed to appeal to younger, eco-conscious Japanese customers.

Due to tied votes, 11 models won this year’s 10 Best Cars for 2022-2023 Japan Car of the Year. During last year’s 8th Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS), Hyundai Motor Philippines (HMPH) previewed the IONIQ 5 and presented the company as Hyundai’s new official distributor of passenger cars in the country. With a 350 kW DC charger, the IONIQ 5 can charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in 18 minutes. The long-range 72.6 kWh battery in the all-wheel drive version, IONIQ 5, is propelled by two electric motors (front and rear axles), providing 300 hp and 605 N-m of instant torque. On paper, acceleration from zero to 100 km/h is achieved at 5.2 seconds.

GROWTH MATTERS; ELIJAH’S EHEADS

Wala nang‘too old, too old.’ Hehe.

“May higanteng baliktad E sa stage. Doon pa lang, sumisigaw na ako ng Eraserheads!

“Opening number palangmayhologram appearance na si ‘King of Rap’ Francis M.

social turmoil.

DON’T fret over an industry report that the Philippines ranked fifth among six Asean (Association of Southeast Nation) economies in overall vehicle output from January to November last year.

Kno w why?

We had an astonishing growth of nearly 50 percent for the fourth straight month in November as the country joined the world in the continuing robust recovery of the pandemic-hit auto industry.

According to the Asean Automotive Federation, the Philippines produced 10,315 units in November. That was up by 48.3 percent compared to the 6,956 units churned out in the same month in 2021.

We now totaled 84,138 units produced in 11 months, which was a 6.9-percent increase compared to 78,714 units collected in January-November last year.

Isn’t that reason enough to rejoice?

Thailand was the runaway leader yet again, producing 1,790,082, Indonesia second at 1,330,238, Malaysia third at 633,421 and Vietnam fourth at 216,882.

Myanmar brought up the rear at sixth at 3,115 but got a huge consolation by recording the highest growth at 134.4 percent amid the country’s political and

The Philippines produced 83,846 units in 2021, 67,297 in 2020, 95,094 in 2019 and 79,763 in 2018.

Year-ender records from Campi are being awaited. Paging Campi president Atty. Rommel Gutierrez.

Elijah’s Eheads

WHO said industry executives are a bunch of stiffs?

Exclude Elijah Marcial, the hardworking vice president for sales distribution department of Toyota Motor Philippines.

Elijah, who I fondly call Elijahwon, has just emerged from the recent Eraserheads concert. Here is her “letting her hair down” electric moment.

“Eheads fan ako since I was 10 years old (3 decades ago), when their first album ‘Ultraelectromagneticpop’ came out.

“I watched the 2008 and 2009 reunion concerts, too.

“I wasn’t planning on watching them this time as I thought I might be too old na Ayokokonangtumayoatmakipagsiksikan

“But thank God I got a last-minute VIP ticket—for free! Sino ba naman ako para tumanggi.

“Then, they played almost all the songs from their first three albums, including the ones that were not released. Pati iyong songs na si Raymund Marasigan ang sumulat kinanta. Songs that I know by heart kaya I sang my heart out, too! Mayroong performances with an orchestra, meron din with guest rappers na second gen ni Ely B at Francis M.

Kahit may 30-minute break after the first set, and a fake ending to prepare for a spectacular encore, ayun nandun sa dulo lahat ng hits.

“Hindinagwawalaonababaliwangmga tao. Nagsi-sing-along lang, parang nakikijam sa barkada.

“Kahitapatnaorasnaakongnakatayo(no drinking para no portalet break din!) OK lang.

“Tumatanda na ako, tumatanda na rin sila.

“Alamnanaminkunganoangmahalaga at dapat pagpahalagahan.

“They hugged each other pati other band members at the end of the last song habang may fireworks.

“Parasaakin,atbakaakolangito,masaya akonaang‘HulingElBimbo’ng Eraserheads ay nagtapos sa peace and friendship.

“Thank you, Eheads.”

To be a fan is to be faultlessly faithful.

PEE STOP Again, I wish everyone to be healthy, wealthy and Godly all year long. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Editor: Tet Andolong • www.businessmirror.com.ph