BusinessMirror January 08, 2024

BOI eyes ₧1.3T-1.5T investment approvals in 2024

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

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HE Board of Investments (BOI) said it is eyeing around P1.3 trillion to P1.5 trillion worth of investment approvals for 2024, with Renewable Energy (RE), RE equipment manufacturing, and mineral processing investments seen occupying a larger chunk of the investment approvals pie.

As the investment promotion agency recorded P1.26 trillion worth of investment approvals in 2023, BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said the agency is setting “at least P1.3 to P1.5 [trillion]” target for this year.

Asked on which will be the pri-

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mary sources of investments for this year, Rodolfo said at a media briefing on Friday, “It will be [renewable energy] RE, but in addition to RE, we will now be seeing investments in RE equipment manufacturing [and second is] mineral processing.”

However, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual, who also chairs the BOI, told reporters at the same media briefing that “P1.1 trillion is the official commitment of BOI for approvals of investments in 2024.”

The P1.1-trillion targeted “official” commitment is the figure set in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024, but Pascual explained, partly in Filipino, “Of course, the commitment is to equal what we achieved in 2023.”

At the same briefing, Rodolfo divulged that the investment promotion agency concluded 2023 by approving P1.26 trillion in investment projects. This is 73 percent higher compared to the same period in 2022, surpassing the initial P1.151-trillion Program Expenditure Classification (PREXC) target in (invesment promotion agency) IPA-approved investments for 2023.

According to the BOI, the P1.26 trillion invesment approvals is equivalent to 311 projects, up 28 percent from the projects approved in 2022.

“The projects predominantly centered on renewable energy, telco infrastructure, and the export of copper, gold, and other metals,” BOI said in a statement.

Upon full operation, the investment promotion agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said these projects are expected to create 49,030 jobs for Filipinos. In terms of sectors, the Renewable Energy and Power sector “emerged” as the top performing sector with P987.12 billion, a 141-percent surge from the P409.02 billion in 2022.

This was followed by the Information and Communication sector, securing P96.04 billion in investment approvals, followed by Mining with P79.19 billion, Manufacturing with P22.05 billion, and Infrastructure (toll roads) with P21.47 billion in investments.

See “BOI,” A2

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END-DEC GIR UP 6.56% AS IT REACHES $102.5B w

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Ease of Paying Taxes law’s signing seen to fuel growth

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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FAITHFUL CONVERGENCE In the heart of Manila, the second day of “Papugay sa Itim na Nazareno” witnessed a profound display of devotion at the Quirino Grandstand on January 7, 2024.

Capturing the essence of worship, a devotee tenderly wiped her handkerchief on the feet of the revered Black Nazarene—an act of deep veneration. Simultaneously, Quiapo Church became a gathering place for thousands of devotees, seeking blessings during the Sunday Mass in preparation for the upcoming Traslacion on January 9, 2023. Guarded by the Special Action Force and Manila Police District Police, the vicinity of the Quirino Grandstand echoed with both spiritual anticipation and vigilant protection during the sacred rituals of “Pahalik.” These moments reflect the profound connection between the worshippers and their unwavering faith. ROY DOMINGO

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE country’s dollar reserves reached over $100 billion by the end of 2023, according to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The BSP said the Philippines’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached $102.5 billion as of endDecember 2023. This is higher by 6.56 percent than the $96.149 billion posted in the same period of 2022.

However, this was a decline of 0.26 percent from the $102.72 billion posted in November 2023. The slight decline was due to the government’s debt payments.

“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s [NG] payments of its foreign currency debt obligations,” BSP said.

The data showed in terms of foreign exchange, it was at $716.3 mil-

lion, a 24.02-percent contraction from the $942.8 million recorded in the same period in 2022.

Compared to the $1.91 billion in end-November, the end-December 2023 figure represented a 62.49-percent decline.

Meanwhile, BSP said the GIR level represents adequate external liquidity buffer that is equivalent to 7.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

GIR, BSP explained, is viewed to be adequate if it can finance at least three-months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

See “GIR,” A2

RED SEA ATTACKS ON VESSELS HIKING SHIPPING COST–EXPERTS

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

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TTACKS on commercial vessels in the Red Sea will put pressure on freight cost especially for cargo from Europe and Africa, according to the president of the Association of International Shipping Lines Inc. (AISL).

“Those who import from Europe and Africa will be affected. It will now take longer as the journey will now be longer. In terms of transit times, it is expected to add 2 to 3 weeks as vessels will be going around the cape of good hope. It will be a roundabout route. Delays are inevitable at this stage,” AISL President Patrick Ronas told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message on Friday.

On Thursday, Oxford Economics said “the recent wave of attacks on ships sailing through the Red

Sea—through which around 30 percent of all container shipping traffic passes—has major ramifications for the shipping industry.”

The UK-based think tank said some shipping companies have already announced suspensions of sailing through the region, diverting ships instead around the Cape of Good Hope.

Explaining the impact, it noted that “A ship traveling at 16.5knots from Taiwan to the Netherlands via the Red Sea and Suez Canal takes about 25.5 days to complete the journey. But this rises to about 34 days if the journey is diverted.”

Through the Philippine shipping industry’s lens, Ronas recommended that Philippine exporters check their carriers or shipping lines on the expected arrival of their goods to “manage expectations.”

See “Red Sea,” A2

RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has officially signed Republic Act 11976, or the Ease of Paying Taxes Act, to stimulate the economy and safeguard taxpayer rights.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office said Marcos on Friday signed the law, seen to significantly boost the administration’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda through better revenue collection facilitated by digitalization initiatives.

Highlighted as a legislative priority during the President’s State of the Nation Addresses in both 2022 and 2023, the Ease of Paying Taxes Act is designed to support the administration’s socioeconomic goals by facilitating increased tax collection to foster economic and social development.

The law aims to modernize tax administration, ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, and the reinforcement of taxpayer rights.

By streamlining systems and minimizing the tax burden on individuals, the law aims to expand the tax net, ultimately boosting the country’s revenue collection in the long term.

The new law introduces administrative tax reforms and amend-

ments to several sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 and also aims to update the Philippine taxation system, adopt best practices, and replace antiquated procedures.

Among the law’s salient features are the classification of taxpayers into micro, small, medium, and large; electronic or manual filing of returns and payment taxes either to the BIR or through any authorized agent bank or authorized tax software provider; the option to pay internal revenue tax removal to the city or municipal treasurer; the elimination of the distinction between documentation and basis of sales of goods and services; and the classification of value-added tax (VAT) refund claims into low, medium, and high-risk.

It also features ensuring the availability of registration facilities for non-Philippine resident taxpayers; promoting and assisting taxpayers in tax processes; streamlining; reducing documentary requirements; and digitalizing BIR services through the development of the Ease of Paying Taxes and Digitalization Roadmap by the BIR. Under RA No. 11976, a 180-day timeframe is imposed to act on claims for refunds of erroneous or illegal tax collection.

See “Ease,” A2

EXPLAINER »B4

FROM HOUTHIS TO HEZBOLLAH, A LOOK AT THE IRAN-ALLIED GROUPS RALLYING TO ARMS AROUND MIDDLE EAST

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.6190 n JAPAN 0.3846 n UK 70.5416 n HK 7.1232 n CHINA 7.7659 n SINGAPORE 41.8502 n AUSTRALIA 37.2925 n EU 60.8861 n KOREA 0.0424 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8309 Source: BSP (January 5, 2024)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, January 8, 2024

23 hostages in Gaza dead, Hamas holding 129–Israel

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By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

@maloutalosig

WENTY-THREE hostages of the Hamas in Gaza Strip are dead, while 129 are still being held by the Hamas militants, the Israel military said.

“At least 23 of the abductees are no longer alive, and Hamas is holding their bodies. Four more are still declared missing,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a media briefer forwarded by the Israeli Embassy in Manila to Filipino journalists.

The latest reported fatality is 38-year-old Israeli from Kibbutz Nir Oz, Tamil Ader.

The death toll among hostages rises as the IDF continues to pounce

BOI...

Continued from A1

Meanwhile, the BOI underscored that foreign investments took up 61 percent of the approved investments pie for 2023 with P766.96 billion, a 455-percent spike from the P138.18 billion recorded in 2022.

As source of foreign investments, Germany took the lead, contributing P393.28 billion to the 2023 investment approvals. This

foreigners. The IDF admitted that three of the hostages killed in Gaza were “mistakenly shot” by one of their troops.

South Africa: It’s genocide

on the enclave since the Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7 and killed at least 1,200 people, including four Filipino caregivers.

More than 240 have been taken as hostages including three Filipinos. So far, 121 abductees have been released, three of them Filipinos.

Of the 129 people still being held in Gaza, 110 are men, 19 are women including two children, and 11 are

ON December 29, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice for crimes of “genocide” against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

South Africa said the relentless three-month bombardment of Israel in Gaza is of “genocidal character” as the campaign destroys a “substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnically group.”

Israel said it would appear before the ICJ and rebuff South Africa’s “absurd claim.”

“It should be noted that since the events of October 7 the South

was followed by the Netherlands, with P333.61 billion; Singapore, P21.45 billion; the United States, P3.55 billion, and the British Virgin Islands, P2.13 billion.

Domestic investment approvals, meanwhile, took up 39 percent of the investment approvals for 2023, reaching P492.23 billion.

Western Visayas was the top recipient of investments, as it clinched P316.89 billion. Calabarzon followed with P222.76 billion, the Bicol region got P162.92 bil-

lion; Eastern Visayas, P128.62 billion, and Ilocos Region, P122.18 billion.

“In BOI’s 56-year history, the latest figure from 2023 marks the third occurrence in the past four years the agency has surpassed the trillion-peso mark in investment approvals. The previous record was set in 2020 with P1.02 trillion amid the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, closely followed by P1.14 trillion recorded in 2019,” BOI said.

African leadership has consistently sided with Hamas, called the senior leadership of Hamas to ‘express solidarity’ with the Palestinians the day after the massacre, and accused Israel of responsibility for the ‘new flare-up,’” the IDF said.

Pretoria also hosted delegations of the Hamas, which Israel insisted is a “terrorist organization.” Israel also claimed that South Africa refused to arrest Omar Hassan al-Bashir, former president of Sudan, who was accused of genocide, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur before the International Criminal Court.

The South African government insisted that it is not under obligation to arrest Bashir during his visit to Johannesburg for an African Union meeting in 2015.

Red Sea...

Continued from A1

“Not only will the diversion cause a longer journey, but it also becomes a challenge for the ships as they will now need to restock and refuel supplies like fuel enroute around the Coast of Africa because of the longer transit time,” the shipping expert noted.

According to Oxford Economics, “while a nine-day delay to a single shipment doesn’t sound overly dramatic, the cumulative impact is considerable” as it has been “widely reported” that the extra shipping times caused by an effective closure of the Red Sea could reduce global shipping capacity by 20 percent.

It added that the reduction in shipping capacity along with higher fuel and insurance costs has led to a 200-percent rise in the cost of shipping containers on routes that would typically pass through the Red Sea. With this, Ronas said disruption in the situation in the Red Sea “will cause delays in arrival and therefore requires a reassessment on the availability of goods and raw materials coming from the countries affected.”

“Companies therefore need to review and replan,” the shipping expert said, adding that the situation may “take some time to normalize” as attacks persist to this day even though there are joint maritime patrols in the area.

“The added transit time means more fuel to burn and will add up to costs not to mention reduced turnaround time of ships meaning less journeys planned for the year by ships. This will thus affect the cost of freight,” Ronas explained.

For his part, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. told the BusinessMirror, “I still have to check whether it affects or baka hindi naman tayo dumadaan doon [ we may not be passing there anyway].”

But he noted, “I have not heard any particular [report] that we’re affected on anybody’s shipment as of the moment.”

Meanwhile, a report published by CNN last January 5 noted that Maersk, a Danish shipping and logistics company, announced that it will suspend all shipping through the Red Sea “until further notice” following an attack by Houthi militants.

Th e re p o r t a l s o n o te d t h at Maersk’s “indefinite pause adds to fears that the febrile security situation in the Red Sea is choking one of the most important trade routes in the world despite US-led efforts to increase security.”

“The Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, typically ferries as much as 30 percent of global container trade. A prolonged closure of the route could disrupt the global economy by delaying deliveries of goods, fuel and food, and pushing up prices,” the report also noted.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

GIR...

Continued from A1

The data showed it is also about six times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.

“Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months,” BSP said.

“The level of GIR, as of a particular period, is considered adequate, if it provides at least 100 percent cover for the payment of

Ease...

the country’s foreign liabilities, public and private, falling due within the immediate 12-month period,” it added.

Meanwhile, BSP said the net international reserves increased by $0.5 billion to $102.4 billion as of end-December 2023 from the end-November 2023 level of $101.9 billion.

The net international reserves refers to the difference between the BSP’s reserve assets or GIR and reserve liabilities or short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Continued from A1

It also increases the mandatory issuance of receipts for each sale and transfer of goods and services from P100 to P500 while reducing the number of Income Tax Return (ITR) pages from four to two.

The law introduces amendments to various sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as well as the repeal of Section 34(K).

It also mandates that, in order to improve the performance and efficiency of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the agency must adopt an integrated digitalization strategy by providing endto-end solutions for the benefit of taxpayers.

Among the digitalization initiatives that should be carried

out are adopting integrated and automated systems for facilitating basic tax services, setting up electronic and online systems for data and information exchange between offices and departments, streamlining procedures by adopting automation and digitalization of BIR services, and building up BIR’s technology capabilities.

The law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) shall be promulgated 90 days from the effectivity of the Act after the consultation of the Finance Secretary with the BIR and the private sector.

RA 11976 takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Panay...

Continued from A14

“After two hours, six more plants sequentially shut down.

The question is why there were consecutive shutdow ns af ter two hours. The system operator, NGCP, is supposed to protect the system from collapsing. Seven plants on the island were out, and the fact that a total blackout occurred means that the system was not protected. This is a simplistic understanding of what happened,” MORE Power’s Castro said.

He warned that during the peak of the El Niño Phenomenon, a similar incident could occur if NGCP fails to protect the entire grid system.

“Even if there is enough generating capacity, a similar total blackout could happen again if the system operator will not be active or will not be working,” he added.

The NGCP fully restored the affected feeders in Panay Island and normalized transmission operations on Friday.

NGCP: Don’t blame us

NGCP, meanwhile, has repeat-

Cha-cha...

edly said that it is not to blame for the outages, but the unscheduled power outages of generation companies.

Panay is the sixth-largest island in the Philippines, consisting of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo.

MORE’s Castro assured ongoing coordination with the NGCP to restore power to Iloilo City residents. Currently, only 48 percent to 50 percent of NGCP’s allocation is available, resulting in half of the peak demand being met and the province still facing rotational brownouts.

To address power outages that have crippled Iloilo City and various provinces in Western Visayas, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez wants the Maharlika Investment Corporation to consider investing in the NGCP. Romualdez said that such a strategic investment could provide crucial capital for infrastructure upgrades and contribute to lowering the cost of electricity for consumers.

Continued from A14

and in Lambino v. Comelec [G.R. No. 174153] the Supreme Court denied the petition for people’s initiative for various fatal defects,” Lagman said.

Contrary to the assertions made

by Lagman that there is no compliant implementing law for the people’s initiative, Alfredo Garbin Jr., former chairman of Constitutional Amendments in the 18th Congress, said recent legal developments suggest a divided opinion among justices regarding the sufficiency of RA 6735, or the Initiative and Referendum Acts, as an enabling law for amending the Constitution through this method.

Garbin noted that 10 justices have reiterated their stance that RA 6735 is adequate and sufficient as an enabling law for implementing constitutional amendments through the people’s initiative. Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban, along with Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Adolfo S. Azcuna, joined their dissenting colleagues, including

Senior Associate Justice Reynato S. Puno, and Justices Leonardo A. Quisumbing, Renato C. Corona, Dante O. Tinga, Minita V. ChicoNazario, Cancio C. Garcia, and Presbitero J. Velasco Jr. Earlier, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez announced the House of Representatives’ intention to initiate a people’s initiative to determine the voting procedures of Congress for proposals amending the 1987 Constitution.

Romualdez admitted the procedural gap in the Constitution, which does not explicitly state whether the House and the Senate should vote jointly or separately when amending the Charter.

While the 1987 Constitution outlines three modes for amending the Constitution—constituent assembly, constitutional convention, and people’s initiative—it lacks clarity on the voting process, said Romualdez during the Philippine Economic Forum in Iloilo.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Monday, January 8, 2024

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Taguig vows health services Albay mayors confirm Cha-cha after centers in Makati shut campaign via people’s initiative

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

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OLLOWING Makati City’s “abrupt” closure of the eight health centers in the Embo (Enlisted Men’s Barrio) area, the city government of Taguig has ensured that health services will continue in these barangays.

Around 1,500 residents sought accessible medical, dental and nutrition services after Taguig City’s “Love Caravan” has made its way to Barangay Cembo on Saturday. This is the second time the caravan was conducted in the Embo barangays.

Mayor Maria Laarni Cayetano personally joined the caravan and reassured residents of EMBO of continued delivery of services including health services.

There were 300 undergoing dental checkups or procedures. Additionally, more than 200 individuals took advantage of complimentary vaccination and laboratory services.

Aside from the “Love Caravan,” the following facilities of the city are open to accommodate the residents from EMBO: Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH); 31 health centers; seven primary care facilities; three Super Health Centers; a dialysis center; five animal-bite treatment centers; three main laboratories; and, 29 community-based laboratories.

Taguig also launched telemedicine in 10 EMBO barangays to augment health services delivery. Makati reneged on its earlier commitment to turn over the health centers to Taguig last October 1, 2023, a statement by the local government unit read.

The city has already stationed a satellite pharmacy for Embo residents where they can avail for free the medicines prescribed during their teleconsulation. The satellite pharmacy is located at the Genesis Building, 19th Avenue, JP Rizal Extension, East Rembo.

The City’s dialysis center has started accepting dialysis patients from Embo. Patients can access dialysis services, dialyzer and erythropoietin—all for free, the city government said.

The “Love Caravan” is a mobile program that goes around the city three times a week, strategically reaching communities to provide health services.

The program has a wide range of free medical services, including consultations, check-ups, diagnostics and laboratory services, offering residents the opportunity to avail of essential tests such as CBC, urinalysis, random blood sugar (RBS), blood typing, chest x-ray, ECG and ultrasound.

Fire stations locked

MEANWHILE, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano vowed to “get to the bottom” of the padlocking of fire stations in the City of Taguig by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), saying the issue will not end even if the stations are reopened.

In a Facebook Live broadcast on January 5, a visibly upset Cayetano said he will call for a Senate hearing on the matter and told the BFP to give a full report.

“We will have a hearing. I will get to the bottom of this. May tsansa pa kayo sa [BFP] by correcting and repenting,” he said, explaining that the word “repent” means to change the

way one thinks.

“I don’t want your excuses. You give a full report of what happened,” Cayetano was quoted in a statement as saying.

He said he only found out about the padlocking of fire stations on New Year’s Day when he and his wife and City of Taguig mayor visited the police stations of Barangays West Rembo and Comembo.

“First day of the year na bumalik ang mga EMBO sa Taguig after decades. Inimbita kami ni Lani sa West Rembo and Comembo at nagboodle fight kasama ang mga police. Pagtingin namin, sa same compound, nakakandado ang fire station,” he said.

Very emotional

THE senator said the locking up of the fire station was despite the promise made by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) through a Supreme Court resolution in December that the EMBO fire stations, which had previously been part of the City of Makati, would be transferred to the City of Taguig on January 1, 2024.

Cayetano said he discovered that the stations had already been padlocked before the end of 2023 with neither Makati nor the BFP informing Taguig.

“Nu’ng December 31, nakakandado na pala ang mga fire station, wala tayong kamalaymalay. At alam naman po natin, red alert kapag December 31, dahil maraming gumagamit ng mga paputok,” the senator said.

“I’m very emotional about this, kasi can you imagine, kung may sunog na nangyari diyan, hindi lang po ‘yung mga gamit, pati ‘yung buhay ng mga tao maaapektuhan,” he added.

Cayetano said he found out later that the fire stations were ordered padlocked on orders of City of Makati Mayor Abby Binay, who had earlier said her city would abide by the Supreme Court ruling that placed the 10 EMBOs under the City of Taguig.

‘Not acceptable’

THE senator said he immediately reached out to the Director of the Bureau of Fire regarding the issue but nothing came of it.

“Ipinangako ng director that afternoon na tatanggalin ang kandado at papapasukin na ang BFP ng Taguig. Pagkacheck ko kanina (Friday), wala pa rin,” he said.

Cayetano said when he talked to Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, he was told that Binay had claimed the fire stations belonged to Makati.

Venting his ire on Binay, the senator said what she did was “not acceptable.”

“We are a nation of laws, not of people.

Hindi naman porke’t sinabi ng mayor na sa kanya ‘yan, siya na ang matutupad,” he said.

Cayetano said it was a good thing no accidents occurred during the holidays. “Thank God walang sunog na nangyari, walang namatay at nasunugan na property.”

Expressing gratitude to Abalos for promising to resolve the matter within the day, Cayetano nevertheless said the BFP is still not off the hook.

“I am very very disgusted and very very upset at the Bureau of Fire (Protection) and I promise all of you, I will get to the bottom of this. Hindi pa tapos ‘tong issue na ‘to,” he said.

MMFF extended till Jan 14–MMDA

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HE Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) on Sunday night announced that the theatrical run of its 10 movie entries is extended until January 14.

MMDA Acting Chairman and MMFF Overall Concurrent Chairman Romando Artes said the MMFF and MMDA have received numerous calls and requests on social media to extend the exhibition of the MMFF 2023 films, which is supposed to end on January 7.

“We at the MMFF would like to express our deepest gratitude to all who have supported us and watched the movie entries, particularly those who requested for the MMFF movies to extend beyond its original run,” said Artes.

“Marami pong salamat sa inyong patuloy na pagtangkilik. Moviegoers, may mga karagdagang araw pa para panoorin lahat ng MMFF entries,” he added.

Aside from giving a week to catch the 10 festival entries, MMFF complimentary passes will also be honored until January 14.

Meanwhile, Artes said the 49th MMFF has already earned one billion to date, surpassing the performance of the 2022 festival’s P500million earnings.

Artes said they are hopeful that earnings will increase as moviegoers watch more entries.

“Truly, this year’s MMFF is a certified box office hit. This is a good sign as we gear up for the Manila International Film Festival (MIFF),” said Artes.

The 10 movie in this year’s movie lineup are: “A Family of 2 (A Mother and Son Story),” “(K)Ampon,” “Penduko,” “Rewind,” “Becky and Badette,”“Broken Heart’s Trip,” “Firefly,” “GomBurZa,” “Mallari,” and “When I Met You in Tokyo.”

The 10 official entries are set to be screened at the inaugural MIFF on January 29 to February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

This year’s edition of the MMFF is presented in partnership with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the MMFF is aimed primarily at promoting and enhancing the preservation of Philippine cinema.

Proceeds from the MMFF go to a number of beneficiaries in the film industry, such as the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (Mowelfund), the Film Academy of the Philippines, the Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council, the Optical Media Board, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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LBAY municipal mayors have confirmed their endorsement of the proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution through a people’s initiative, opting for this method among the three available options for charter change.

Following the Friday gathering of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Albay Chapter, President and Polangui Mayor Adrian Salceda affirmed that the majority of attendees voiced their backing for the ongoing signature campaign aimed at petitioning for amendments to the charter. Fifteen out of the province’s 18 mayors participated in the discussions.

“We pledged to help gather as much signatures in support of charter amendments especially after learning from experts how the Constitution’s restrictive provisions hampered our progress as a nation,” he stressed.

Invited as LMP resource persons were former Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin, Jr. former chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, and Ako Bicol Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon.

“Local government leaders, by the very nature of our roles, are intimately connected to the daily lives and aspirations of our constituents. We are at the forefront of understanding their needs, challenges, and hopes. This unique position has inspired us to take a proactive stance in the People’s Initiative, recognizing the urgent need for constitutional amendments that reflect the evolving dynamics of our society,”Salceda said.

“Our collective support for this initiative stems from a shared belief in the power of local voices and the importance of grassroots involvement in national decisionmaking. By joining hands in this signature campaign, we are not just advocating for a change in the constitutional process; we are reinforcing our commitment to a governance structure that is more responsive, inclusive, and representative of the Filipino

Red Cross issues safety tips during Traslacion

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MID the expected influx of devotees at Quiapo Church and Quirino Grandstand, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) issued safety reminders and tips for traditional Traslacion from January 7 to January 9.

“Millions of Filipino Catholics will brave the massive heat of the sun to participate in the Traslacion,”PRC Chairman and CEO Richard Gordon said.

Gordon said large crowds and long exposure in the sun may lead to dehydration, hyperthermia, hypoglycemia, and diarrhea.

“We shared our safety tips on our social media platforms detailing what partici-

pants should do and prepare for during the festivities. We are urging everyone to remain vigilant and prioritize their well-being to have a safe and peaceful Traslacion,” At least two million Catholic faithfuls are expected to join the Feast of the Black Nazareno on January 9 as the traditional Traslacion will resume this year after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gordon emphasized the importance of being vigilant, cautioning the public about the potential risks associated with large crowds, such as stampedes and certain health-related issues.

PRC Secretary-General Dr. Gwen Pang,

Bong Go gives assistance to fire victims in Davao City

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ENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go dispatched his Malasakit Team to Davao City and provided assistance to fire victims at the respective evacuation centers of Barangays Matina Crossing and Calinan Poblacion on Wednesday, January 3.

In coordination with Matina Crossing Barangay Captain Joel Santes and Calinan Poblacion Barangay Captain Pedrito Angco, the Malasakit Team distributed financial assistance, snacks, grocery packs, water containers, shirts, vitamins, masks, and balls for basketball and volleyball to a total of 57 fire victims. There were also select recipients of shoes, a watch, and a mobile phone.

“Sa mga nasunugan, huwag ho kayong mag-alala. Sabi ko nga sa inyo noon, ang gamit ay nabibili, ang pera ay kikitain, subalit ‘yung perang kikitain ay hindi po nabibili ang buhay. A lost life is a lost life forever. Pangalagaan at ingatan po natin ang buhay at kalusugan ng bawat isa,” said Go in a video message.

“Ang importante po magtulungan tayo.

Sino pa ba ang magtutulungan kung ‘di tayo lang po mga kapwa Pilipino? Kaya po nandirito kami ngayon para tulungan kayong lahat sa abot ng aming makakaya,” he added.

Go emphasized the significance of Republic Act No. 11589, or the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Modernization Act of 2021. This Act is primarily authored and co-sponsored

by Go, which augments the BFP’s proficiency through a decade-long modernization plan, including hiring additional firefighters, procuring modern firefighting equipment, and providing specialized training.

Working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and local government units, the BFP organizes frequent fire prevention campaigns and educational outreach initiatives, particularly in remote and underprivileged areas.

Go also recently co-sponsored Senate Bill No. 2451, also known as the Ligtas Pinoy Centers bill, primarily sponsored by Senator Jinggoy Estrada. Originating from the Mandatory Evacuation Center bill previously filed by Go, this proposed legislation seeks to create permanent and fully equipped evacuation centers across the country.

“Alam n’yo, napapanahon na po na magkaroon tayo ng maayos na evacuation center sa bawat lugar. Hindi lang po tuwing puputok ang bulkan, kundi tuwing may bagyo, sunog, lindol o ano pa mang sakuna para komportable, ligtas at mas mabilis makabangon ang apektadong komunidad,” he said.

Go, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, encouraged those with medical issues to take advantage of the Malasakit Center located at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in the city.

The Malasakit Centers program, initiated

by Go in 2018, was institutionalized through RA 11463, or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, legislation he principally authored and sponsored in the Senate.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the centers have already helped more or less ten million Filipinos. There are currently 159 operational Malasakit Centers nationwide.

‘Keep Luneta garbage-free during Traslacion’–group

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HE EcoWaste Coalition urged the management of Rizal Park to strictly enforce the “no smoking, no littering” policy during the conduct of Traslacion 2024 on January 9 to protect public health and the environment.

“As Black Nazarene devotees line up for the traditional ‘Pahalik’ at the Quirino Grandstand, we appeal to everyone to be considerate and refrain from smoking and littering in Metro Manila’s largest urban park,” the organization’s Zero Waste Campaigner Eloisa Tolentino said.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from near and afar are expected to visit the park for the vigil, program and solemn mass (Fiesta Mayor) to be followed by the Traslacion or the procession of the venerated image

of the Black Nazarene.

“Keeping Rizal Park and the entire Traslacion smoke- and litter-free will be a huge challenge, but we remain hopeful that it can be achieved with the devotees leading the way,” Tolentino said.

“As imitation is at the heart of being human, we hope many, if not all, will be inspired to copy devotees who do not litter, smoke or vape because they care for themselves and the people around them and their surroundings,” she said.

During the re-enactment of Traslacion in 2020 before the COVID-19 struck, EcoWaste Coalition’s Basura Patrollers found bins and bags in Rizal Park overflowing with mixed garbage such as plastic and paper

people,” he added.

The LMP President of Albay also stressed that the municipal mayors vowed to extend all assistance to civic leaders, people’s organizations and individuals who are prime-movers of the signature campaign needed for the People’s Initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“The People’s Initiative is a call to action for all Filipinos to actively participate in shaping the laws and policies that govern our nation. As local government leaders, we are deeply aware of the legislative deadlock that has hindered national progress. This initiative presents a vital opportunity to overcome these barriers, ensuring that the will of the people is directly reflected in our constitution,” he explained.

No ’mobilization’ funds

AS this developed, Salceda denied claims

by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman that “mobilization funds” were distributed to mayors who attended the meeting.

See related story in A14, ‘Cha-cha via meanwhile, said that the organization has further improved its annual assistance for Black Nazarene devotees, which is included in PRC’s preparation and response operation this year.

“We also encourage pregnant women, children, and the elderly to attend the grand procession virtually, considering the emergencies PRC encountered in previous Traslacion, including major medical issues like cardiac arrest and childbirth,” said Dr. Pang, adding that the public can check the safety reminders on www.redcross.org.ph.

The PRC will also assist the participants of the upcoming Sinulog Festival in Cebu and Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

The senator then emphasized his efforts to advocate for more Super Health Centers nationwide, particularly establishing eleven in Davao City. This initiative aims to enhance the accessibility of essential public health services for communities.

Through the collective efforts of Go, DOH, local government units, and fellow lawmakers, sufficient funds have been allocated for 307 Super Health Centers in 2022 and 322 in 2023.

There will also be 132 Super Health Centers funded in 2024. DOH is the leading implementing agency that identifies the strategic areas where they will be constructed.

Moreover, Go is the principal sponsor and one of the authors of RA 11959, or the Regional Specialty Centers Act. The law mandates the establishment of Regional Specialty Centers within existing DOH regional hospitals.

There are specialty centers inside SPMC, which include cardiovascular care, lung care, neonatal care, trauma care, toxicology, cancer care, eye care, and dermatology care. It will also soon provide a renal care and transplant center, brain and spine care, orthopedic center, physical rehabilitation medicine, mental health, burn care, infectious disease and tropical medicine, and geriatric care.

Go, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, continues to support various projects in the city, including the construction of various multipurpose buildings and local roads, the rehabilitation of water systems, drainage systems, and flood control structures in different barangays throughout the city, the construction of a 300-bed capacity infectious diseases building for SPMC, and the acquisition of ambulances.

food containers, food waste, empty plastic bottles as well as some filled with urine, soiled diapers, sleeping materials, and lots of single-use plastics (SUPs).

Tolentino pointed out that keeping the Traslacion clean will be a excellent contribution to the ongoing observance of the “Zero Waste Month” this January as proclaimed by the late President Noynoy Aquino, as well as with the newly-launched “Kalinisan sa Bagong Pilipinas” program of incumbent President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. “Traslacion 2024 provides a good opportunity to show our solidarity with our nation’s efforts to prevent and reduce pollution, which is essential if we are to uphold the human right of every Filipino to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the EcoWaste Coalition said.

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Con-Ass poses serious risk to checks and balances.’

“It’s also untrue that voters who would sign the petition for people’s initiative will be given P100 each. That is false and utterly ridiculous,” he said.

Earlier, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales II announced that the House of Representatives plans to revive efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution this year.

This declaration follows Speaker Martin Romualdez’s acknowledgment of the need to address the deadlock on the voting process for constitutional amendments within the bicameral Congress, comprised of the House and the Senate.

Romualdez announced the House’s intention to initiate a people’s initiative to determine the voting procedures of Congress for proposals amending the 1987 Constitution.

The lawmaker admitted the procedural gap in the Constitution, which does not explicitly state whether the House and the Senate should vote jointly or separately when amending the Charter.

While the 1987 Constitution outlines three modes for amending the Constitution—constituent assembly, constitutional convention, and people’s initiative—it lacks clarity on the voting process, said Romualdez.

MMDA collected nearly 26 truckloads of trash

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HE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has collected a total of 25.52 truckloads of trash from selected areas across the 17 local government units in Metro Manila as part of its participation in government’s clean-up drive held over the weekend.

MMDA Acting Chairman Romando S. Artes said that the program—called “Kalinisan sa Bagong Pilipinas”—is a big boost to the his agency’s solid waste management initiatives.

Artes said the program is “is in sync with our constant call to the public to do their part in lessening, if not eliminating, our wastes.” He added that the MMDA joins the call of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) “to renew and strengthen community participation in our fight against indiscriminate solid waste disposal.”

“Taking care of our environment is our shared responsibility,” Artes said.

Aside from the kick-off ceremony held at the Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila, the MMDA conducted 16 other cleanup drives in different locations per city in the metropolis with a total of 350 personnel deployed for the activity.

Among the areas where simultaneous cleanup drives were held include the following barangays: Tanza (Tanza Marine Tree Park) in Navotas City; Tonsuya (Letre Creek) in Malabon City; Paso de Blas (De Castro Subdivision) in Valenzuela City; 28, 14 (C-3 Road) and 12 Lapu-lapu Creek in Caloocan City; Commonwealth and Talipapa in Quezon City; Batis in San Juan City; Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City; Tumana and Malanday (Creek) in Marikina City; Pinagbuhatan (Avesa Creek) in Pasig City; San Pedro in Pateros; Ususan Kalayaan in Taguig City; San Isidro (Tripa de Gallina site) in Makati City; 145- 190/Santo Niño, Don Carlos (Tripa de Gallina) in Pasay City; Tramo (Redemptorist Channel) in Parañaque City; Poblacion (Biazon Road) in Muntinlupa City; and, Pulang Lupa Uno and Manuyo Dos in Las Piñas City.

Coinciding with the Celebration of the Annual Community Development Day, the program is a convergence initiative to consolidate all efforts of the government to maintain and provide a healthy and safe environment for all by capacitating local government units and enabling community participation anchored on a new brand of “bayanihan.”

The initiative is in line with the Marcos government’s “Bagong Pilipinas” concept of building better and cleaner communities.

It aims to raise awareness and encourage participation among the public on environmental responsibility through proper solid waste management; to encourage local government units to invest in programs, projects, and activities on solid waste management and ecological practices, and to set up a recognition system for the cleanest barangay and municipalities.

The cleanup drive was attended by officials from different government agencies such as Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Health, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Philippine National Police, among others.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, January 8, 2024

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Nancy prods DOT to help tourism Traders’ request for price stakeholders prepare for outages adjustment under review

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM

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Special to the BusinessMirror

LAWMAKER urged tourism officials to craft a program to enable tourism establishments prepare for the challenges of regular power outages in the country, and help ease the discomfort of their guests.

In a news statement over the weekend, Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay, chairman of the chamber’s Committee on Tourism, cited the importance of electricity in the economy, in particular, helping shepherd the revitalization of the tourism industry and boosting the growth of other sectors. She made the statement in reaction to the widespread power outage in Western Visayas, which began on January 2, 2024, and affecting Boracay Island, a key tourism destination in the country.

“This isn’t just a wake-up call— it’s going to be a nightmare if we don’t fix our power supply situation,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English. “For the short-term, I encourage the Department of

Tourism (DOT) to come up with a ‘whole-of-industry approach’ as far as corrective actions to arrest future prolonged brownouts in tourism destinations. Perhaps the DOT and Tieza (Tourism Infrastructure and Zone Authority) can help in providing establishments with power outage business continuity plans as part of the incident response protocols just to keep their operations running,” Binay added.

Establishments closed

THE lawmaker urged the DOT to help draft a template for a contingency or continuity plan since most establishments do not have adequate plans to deal with energy- or communications-related

failure. Overseen by the DOT, Tieza is a government firm that helps develop and monitor tourism economic zones and funds the construction of vital tourism infrastructure. (See, “Marcos admin eyes tourism debt in West Philippine Sea,” in the BusinessMirror, January 4, 2024.) The DOT has yet to issue any statement on the power outage.

Dindo Salazar, chairman of the Boracay Foundation Inc., told the BusinessMirror the island was affected by the power outage from January 2 to January 4.

It was only on January 4th that we received partial power supply, following the request by Aklan Governor Jose Enrique T. Miraflores to prioritize electricity for Boracay, Salazar said.

“Full power was restored by the afternoon of January 5th.

Larger resorts with generators managed well, but some smaller establishments and restaurants had to close, either due to issues with their generators or not having them at all,” he added.

According to the DOT, there were some 4.3 million visitor arrivals in Western Visayas in 2022, with 1.76 million going to Boracay Island, consistently named one of the most popular beaches or islands in the world by international travel publications. Bacolod City in Negros Occidental came in second

with 618,682 tourists. Domestic travelers accounted for 4.05 million of the total visitors that year to the region, which also includes Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo (including Guimaras Island).

Long weekends

THIS developed as the DOT expressed optimism that the long weekend holidays declared by Malacañang this year will further increase domestic tourism in the country.

In a news statement, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said, “We see these upcoming extended weekends as a timely opportunity, specifically advantageous in propelling our domestic tourism forward. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to President Marcos for recognizing the pivotal role these breaks play in not only revitalizing but also sustaining our vital tourism sector, which remains a cornerstone in propelling our country’s economic resurgence by providing opportunities for livelihood and employment.”

In 2022, there were 102 million domestic trips taken, generating P1.5 trillion in revenues, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The DOT is targetting some 129.6 million domestic travelers and P3.09 trillion in domestic receipts this year, under the baseline scenario of the NTDP.

‘Consolidation key to jeepney modernization’

By Lorenz S Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

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HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) argued over the weekend that industry consolidation is essential for the success of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista emphasized the critical role of consolidating public utility vehicle (PUV) operators and drivers into cooperatives, saying that without consolidation “individual operations are inefficient without the standards of transport operations and safety.”

“It’s important to consolidate now because we need to make [land public transport] operations efficient. If we don’t consolidate, we will continue to operate the way we operate—individually, fighting on the streets, the standards of operation and safety are not proper, he said. “If we continue with the status quo, we will not be able to fix and improve public transport,” Bautista said.

He noted that the DOTr, along with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Office for Transportation Cooperatives (OTC), is committed to ensuring the effectiveness of the PUVMP, especially since the consolidation deadline passed on December 31, 2023.

Days before the consolidation deadline, the DOTr announced that those that failed to consolidate into cooperatives or corporations will be allowed to continue to ply their routes for another month.

However, they will no longer be allowed to consolidate after the temporary reprieve.

The LTFRB earlier estimated that in the National Capital Region (NCR), about 30 percent have already complied with the consolidation order. Under the new circular, the LTFRB has placed a “60 percent” minimum as for number of authorized units (NAU) in routes to ensure that PUVs can accommodate passengers.

The Passenger Forum (TPF) Convener Primo Morillo earlier

questioned the difference between the January 31 franchise extension and the December 31 deadline for consolidation.

Morillo had said that the extension of the operations of unconsolidated units is simply a move from the government to “give itself a month to address the fact that there will be a shortage in supply after the deadline.”

Akbayan also called for an extension of the PUVMP, citing the low consolidation rates in the NCR. “We urge the government to further enhance government subsidies to ease the financial burden on operators and owners upgrading to modern jeepneys. While recognizing the benefits of modernization, rushing the phase-out of traditional PUVs risks disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities,” Akbayan President Rafaela David said.

The current government subsidy for operators who will upgrade to more modern units stands at P180,000.

David said the government should also explore “innovative

Industry group seeks balance in ‘holiday economy’

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OVERNMENT should ensure that its promotion of long weekends will not compromise the competitiveness of industries, according to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

“We recognize that for a consumption-driven economy like the Philippines, long weekends provide benefits such as more opportunities for families for their recreation and social interaction,” PCCI President Eunina Mangio was quoted in a statement the group issued last Sunday.

Mangio said long weekends also encourage domestic travel and “potentially increases” tourism expenditure. “This also adds value to other sectors including retail, food and service sectors.”

Moreover, the head of the

business group said that more time with family and friends can “boost well-being and, indirectly, enhance their productivity.”

However, Mangio said holiday economics should balance making longer weekends without increasing the number of holidays.

The PCCI chief said there are already 18 scheduled regular holidays in the Philippines for 2024 and increasing this number will “undoubtedly” increase labor costs for industries especially for manufacturing and business process outsourcing.

“This will lead to additional burden for these sectors and compromise their competitiveness,” Mangio said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had been advocating for long weekends to help boost the

countr y’s tourism and encourage people to spend time with their families.

Marcos has issued several orders declaring days in December 2023 as either a regular holiday or a special non-working holiday.

The president also made January 1, 2024, (New Year’s Day) the first regular holiday of the year through Proclamation 368. The proclamation also increased the number of special non-working holidays to eight. These include the following: August 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day); (November 1) All Saints’ Day; December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary); and, December 31 (Last Day of the Year).

Also included on the list are: February 10 (Chinese New Year); March 30 (Black Saturday); November 2

financing, including governmentowned units with deferred payments by drivers.”

“The road to improved public transport must not burden those unable to afford the high costs of upgrading. Our call is clear: prioritize the welfare of passengers, owners, operators and drivers through stratified solutions, working with local companies to reduce production costs,” David said.

Addressing concerns about the transition to modernized jeepneys, Bautista reassured that the process would be gradual and that traditional jeepneys could continue operating, provided they are road-worthy. He dispelled fears of an immediate switch to modern jeepneys, noting that funding availability would dictate the pace of the transition.

“Are they afraid that they need to operate modern jeepneys immediately? We have always said that modern jeepneys will come in the future, as there is funding for it,” he said.

(All Souls’ Day); and, December 24 (Christmas Eve).

Meanwhile, Proclamation 368 also contained the list of regular holidays for 2024.

These are: January 1 (New Year’s Day); March 28 (Maundy Thursday); March 29 (Good Friday); April 9 (Araw ng Kagitingan); May 1 (Labor Day); June 12 (Independence Day); August 26 (National Heroes Day); November 30 (Bonifacio Day); December 25 (Christmas Day); and, December 30 (Rizal Day).

Marcos said he will come out with separate proclamations declaring national holidays for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eid’l Adha based on the date recommended by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos. (Full story here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/10/13/edsarevolt-deleted-from-2024-listof-special-holidays/) Andrea San Juan

By Andrea San Juan @andreasanjuan

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HE consumer protection arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced it would release an updated Suggested Retail Price (SRP) bulletin of basic necessities and prime commodities within the first quarter of the year.

The DTI unit added the SRP bulletin would be issued after finishing its review of price adjustment requests from manufacturers of canned sardines, bread, instant noodles, processed and canned meat, among others.

According to the DTI-Consumer Protection Group (CPG), out of the 217 items in the SRP bulletin, 29 percent or 63 items currently have pending price adjustments.

Meanwhile, prices of the remaining 71 percent or 154 items in the list would likely stay.

“Doon sa 63 na sinasabi natin na gagalaw ‘yung presyo, for the food items, parang mga P0.25 to P7.25 pesos lang ‘yung price adjustment diyan,” DTI-CPG Assistant Secretary Amanda Marie F. Nograles told reporters last Friday.

“Also if we compare yung price adjustment ng 2023 versus 2024 average will be around 6 percent compared to 2022 versus 2023 that is more than 10 percent,”Nograles said during a briefing in Makati City.

Of the 63 items, she noted that 59 items will have general price; two items may have weight reduction and corresponding price increase, while two items are expected to have a weight and price reduction.

Nograles revealed the products that might be affected by price adjustments once the requests have been approved by the agency.

“Yung affected nitong price adjustments will be the canned sardines, processed milk, coffee, bread, instant noodles, bottled water, processed canned meat and canned beef, condiments, tapos, yung mga non-food toilet soap, candle and battery,” she said.

The official explained the process of approving price adjustment requests from manufacturers. She added the agency

would likely decide on the price adjustments within this month. The decision would be contained in letters of concurrence or approval issued to manufacturers.

“Kada sentimo na galaw, inaanalyze yan ng DTI. We have our own formula. So we ask the manufacturers to substantiate their notice of price adjustments. And then we compare based on our own data whether we will arrive at the same price adjustment,” Nograles said.

In approving price adjustments, the DTI-CPG official also noted that the agency considers whether manufacturers are able to prove that there was indeed an increase in production cost, distribution cost, labor cost, among others, as the agency “cannot give our concurrence or approval to those who cannot prove their price adjustments.”

“Ang plano namin around this monthm we will start releasing the letter of concurrence; pero ipe-pacing namin. Kasi yung iba sa kanila 2022 pa nag file; yung iba, early [last year]. So the strategy is those who applied first yun yung una natin irerelease; so hindi sabay-sabay,” Nograles said.

She also pointed out that there might be a “lag” from the time the DTI releases the notice of approval or letter of concurrence to the time that the actual prices will reflect in the market as the manufacturers will need some time to implement the price adjustments.

Upon the issuance of these letters, she said, the DTI would “be able to release, hopefully by the first quarter of 2024,” the updated SRP bulletin “to reflect all of the adjustments.”

Meanwhile, Nograles said the increase in the cost of raw materials such as the tamban in canned sardines and the flour in instant noodles have prompted the manufacturers of these goods to file petitions for price adjustment.

“Ang isa pang major source ng price increase yung price of packaging materials and then also the transport costs,” Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said.

The last time the DTI issued an updated SRP bulletin for basic necessities and prime commodities was in February 2023.

THIS undated photo courtesy of the Manila Water Co. Inc. (PSE: MWC) shows a bird’s eye view of the Taguig Pumping Station and Reservoir (TPSR). Set to be completed in September 2025, the P1.3-billion TPSR will help ensure reliable water service to Manila Water customers in Pasig, Pateros and Taguig, the company said. MANILA WATER CO. INC.

Construction of MWC pumping station, reservoir under way

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HE Manila Water Co. Inc. (PSE: MWC) announced the company is currently constructing the P1.391-B Cayetano Pumping Station and Reservoir in Taguig City.

“The facility will help ensure uninterrupted water supply to over 1.6 million [MWC] customers in Pasig, Pateros, and Taguig,” the company’s statement read. “Set to be completed by September 2025, the facility will harness water from the company’s new water sources, namely the East Bay Water Supply tapping the eastern flank of Laguna Lake, and the Wawa-Calawis Water Supply System in Rizal.”

With a reservoir capacity of 20 million liters, the Cayetano Pumping Station and Reservoir is one of the components of the company’s Long-Term East 3 Distribution

Network System, which includes the 3.7-kilometer C-6 line, the 3.5-kilometer Ruhale Line and the 3-kilometer Cayetano Avenue line, according to the company.

The company said water security is one of the major pillars of the firm’s service improvement plan to ensure the continuous provision of 24/7 water supply, even to the farthest fringes of its concession area.

“These facilities, once completed, will lessen the company’s dependence on Angat as the major water source for Metro Manila and will address the need for greater water demand in Taguig and adjacent areas amidst the challenges brought about by cyclical El Nino patterns due to the impact of climate change on water supply,” read the company’s statement.

Monday, January 8, 2024

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

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Commercial planting of 2 GM crops gets nod

By Manuel T. Cayon

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@awimailbox

HE Philippines approved the commercial cultivation of 2 genetically modified (GM) crops last year, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA).

In the December 14 edition of the newsletter of ISAAA, the Philippines and Brazil are two of the countries that approved GM crops for commercial planting in 2023.

The Philippines approved for food, feed and processing on September 14 of thze modified canola with the “event,” or modification, dubbed LBFLFK. This was the second canola GM

version to be approved for food, feed and processing. Manila earlier approved one GM canola crop in March 2022.

The two modified canola crops were enhanced to tolerate the application of herbicides.

The Philippines also approved on August 24 last year for commercial cultivation a GM cotton version with the tag GFM Cry1A with

BT cotton planted by the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority. WWW.PHILFIDA.DA.GOV.PH

lepidopteran insect resistance and antibiotic resistance.

Lepidarian insects, or caterpillars, are known pests in forests, food crops, fibers and stored grains.

Brazil approved last March 2023 one modification of wheat tagged

HB4 for commercial cultivation.

Since 2022 nine countries have approved various genetic modifications of eight crops for commercial cultivation and production and processing for food or feeds.

Aside from the Philippines and Brazil, the United States, Nigeria,

Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Turkey and Ghana had also greenlit GM crops.

The Philippines is the first country in Asia to commercialize Bt corn, a variety that is resistant to a grain pest called the corn borer.

Since 2002, when it first approved Bt corn for commercial planting, the Philippines has given its go signal to other GM crops, such as Bt eggplant.

The government approved the commercial cultivation of the borer-resistant Bt eggplant last October 2022, almost two decades since the start of its development in the Philippines.

The Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture (DA-BPI) granted the “Biosafety Permit for Commercial Propagation (No. 22-001 Propa)” of Bt eggplant (Event EE-1) to the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The approval was pursuant to the decision made by the Departments of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Environment and Natural Resources, Health and Interior and Local Government Joint Department Circular 1, Series of 2021.

The regulatory approval came after strict and comprehensive biosafety evaluations conducted by the Joint Assessment Group composed of representatives from Competent National Authorities-Biosafety Committees, Caraan said.

It was also based on the certification of the Event EE-1 as a Plant Incorporated Protectant (Group 11A Insecticide) by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority.

Dr. Cesar Quicoy, an economist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, had said that the Philippines lost as much as P33.85 billion ($634 million) due to the delay in commercializing the insect resistant Bt eggplant.

Global rice prices surged ‘Blacklisting panel at DA should ferret out real hoarders’ in 2023—FAO report

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

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NTERNATIONAL rice prices jumped by more than a fifth last year due to host of factors, including export restrictions and poor weather, according to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last Friday.

Based on the FAO All Rice Price Index (Farpi), international rice prices in 2023 were on average 21.1 percent above their 2022 level and at their highest, in nominal terms, since 2008.

“Indica prices drove this gain, with a 25-percent annual leap. Nonetheless, Japonica, Aromatic, and Glutinous quotations were also up by 6, 11, and 17 percent, respectively,” FAO said.

“A host of factors contributed to these gains, including production disruptions registered in some major exporters in 2022/2023 due to poor weather and/or surges in input costs, heightened inf lationary pressure, as was the case of Pakistan, and concerns over the impacts of El Niño on 2023/2024 crops.”

FAO said the export restrictions imposed by India starting July 2023 had also affected prices, most notably its imposition of a ban on Indica white rice exports and a 20-percent tax on Indica parboiled exports.

“This was even if the Indian government approved exceptions to its export restrictions totaling at least 3.5 million tons since late October 2022 for a host of countries on food security grounds.”

On the demand side, the United Nations agency said efforts to keep domestic prices in check and beef up reserves also led to strong purchases by some Asian and African buyers, which also buoyed prices.

In December alone, Far pi averaged 141.1 poi nts, up 1.6 percent month-on-month and 18.6 percent above its December 2022 level.

“Indica prices underpinned December’s Farpi increase, rising by 2.6 percent month-onmonth in response to purchases

by Asian buyers, particularly Indonesia, tight availabilities in Vietnam and a further appreciation of the baht against the US dollar, in the case of Thailand.”

FAO said glutinous quotations remained close to their November levels, while aromatic and japonica prices eased by a further 2.6 and 0.6 percent, respectively.

The latest results of the Farpi were released together with FAO’s report on world commodity prices in December 2023.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally-traded food commodities, averaged 118.5 points in December, dow n 1.5 percent from November and down 10.1 percent from December 2022.

For 2023 as a whole, the index was 13.7 percent lower than the average value over the preceding year, with only the international sugar price index higher over the period.

The FAO Cereal Price Index went up by 1.5 percent from November, as wheat, maize, rice, and barley prices all rose, partly reflecting logistical disruptions that hindered shipments from major exporting countries.

“For the year as a whole, the index was 15.4 percent below the 2022 average, reflecting well supplied global markets, although FAO’s All Rice Price Index (part of the FAO Cereal Price Index) registered a 21 percent increase, largely owing to concerns about the impact of El Niño on rice production and in the aftermath of export restrictions imposed by India.”

The FAO Sugar Price Index declined 16.6 percent from November, hitting a nine-month low although still up 14. 9 percent from December 2022.

“The plunge in sugar quotations was mainly driven by the strong pace of production in Brazil, along with reduced use of sugarcane for ethanol production in India.”

The FAO Meat Price Index dipped 1.0 percent from November, reaching a level 1.8 percent below that of December 2022, due to “persistent weak import demand ” from Asia for pig meat. Regional buying interest also slowed for bovine and poultry meat d e s p it e a mpl e e x p or t a bl e supplies in large producing regions.

T

HE creation of a blacklisting committee in the Department of Agriculture (DA) is a step in the right direction, as it aligns with the anti-corruption campaign and other reforms that Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is initiating in the agency, according to Sen. Chiz Escudero.

In a media interview over the weekend, he expressed confidence that Laurel can finally clean up the controversial department and implement much-awaited reforms for the benefit of the agriculture sector, especially the farmers.

“Matagal ko nang kilala si Secretary Laurel, at hindi magnanakaw ‘yan. Hindi rin ‘yan madaling madala

ika nga sa pananakot o anumang uri ng panloloko [I have known Secretary Lauyrel a long time. He is not easily swayed by those trying to scare or scam him],” said.

“Umaasa ako na sa binuo niyang committee na ito ay tunay ngang maidentify ‘yong mga totoong hoarders at mga smugglers [I have trust that the committee he created will ferret out the real hoarders and smugglers].”

Laurel’s Special Order 11 creates the DA’s central blacklisting committee to strengthen the government’s drive against unscrupulous manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, consultants as well as hoarders and smugglers of agricultural products.

He has designated DA Legal Service Director Willie Ann Angsiy

and Procurement Division Chief Melinda Deyto as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the blacklisting committee.

Laurel also appointed DA Internal Audit Service Director Christopher Bañas to be a member of the committee, which was given 30 days from the receipt of complaints against alleged offenders to issue a resolution containing its findings and recommendations.

In the same interview, Escudero expressed his full support for Laurel’s decision to initiate organizational changes in DA just two months after President Marcos appointed him.

Laurel announced last Thursday major changes in the department’s leadership, saying the reorganization is intended to align the DA

more closely with the President’s directives to enhance operations.

“The revamp he is undertaking in the Department of Agriculture has my support because like any newly installed agency head, we should give him the freedom to pick those he can trust to the the work her envisions for his department,” said Escudero, partly in Filipino.

He stressed that his trust in Laurel’s leadership is “absolute” and he thinks the Secretary can “maximize the resources given to the agriculture sector.”

At the Senate deliberation on the proposed P167.5-billion budget of the DA and its agencies, Escudero proposed an additional P25-billion budget for the agriculture sector, which was eventually adopted by the chamber.

Group to DA: End fish importation, food insecurity

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has called on Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. to renounce food importation policies and instead support the local food producers.

According to Pamalakaya’s Fernando Hicap, from 2018 to 2023, the country imported more than 250,000 metric tons of various pelagic fishes including round scad (galunggong), mackerel, big-

eye scad (matang baka), bonito, and moon fish for the wet market.

Most of the fish were imported from China and Taiwan, the “countries known to be conducting fishing expeditions in the Philippine waters.” “[Laurel] must abandon the import-liberalization policies that have been a scourge to our local farmers and fishers. Since the country has increased the volume of its imports from 2018, farm gate prices of our local fishery produce have fallen dramatically,” he said.

“In some provinces, the farmgate price of galunggong went down to

P60-P70 per kilo from P100-P110 per kilo due to the entry of the much cheaper fish in local wet markets.”

He said the DA must instead strengthen the local agri-fisheries production through sufficient subsidies and ensuring the exclusive rights of fishers and farmers to fishing grounds and agricultural lands.

Pamalakaya has listed down other demands to address the plight of the rural sectors in the country, and consequently ensure local food security: n Stop all destructive projects in fishing grounds and coastal communities like reclamation; these

projects cause environmental degradation and drastically affect the fish stocks in the seas; n Carry out genuine rehabilitation of major fishing waters in the context of fishery and marine resources development; and n Uphold the exclusive rights of Filipinos in our territorial waters, especially in the resource and mineral-rich West Philippine Sea. Citing a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the group said the Philippines is one the most food-insecure countries in Southeast Asia.

Argentina pushes to get out of farming time warp with better GMO seeds

A

RGENTINA is seeking to make its decades-old rules governing patented seed technology fit for the modern era, a move that would allow it to compete with agriculture powerhouse rivals Brazil and the United States.

As part of new President Javier Milei ’s sweeping reforms to liberalize the economy, seed companies including Syngenta Group Co. Ltd., Corteva Inc. and Bayer AG would be able to charge farmers royalties. That would bring investments to Argentina and give the nation access to the latest genetically modified seeds.

An arcane law dating to the 1970s protects farmers from having to pay annual fees to seed companies.

As a result, they have been left behind while neighboring Brazil has produced record crops year after year. Without the newest strains,

Argentine soybean yields are about 17 percent lower than in Brazil and the US, according to analysts at the Rosario Board of Trade.

Changing the rules would be “a huge step,” said Pablo Vaquero, a distributor of cotton seeds. “We’ve been falling behind Brazil and the US for years and now they wipe the floor with us.”

Argentina usually is the largest exporter of soy meal and soy oil, the third-biggest exporter of corn and a top global wheat supplier. But its agriculture industry has been in steady decline as governments heavily taxed farmers and meddled with exports. Most farmers voted for libertarian Milei in a bid to reverse the predicament.

The president’s package includes signing Argentina on to the latest global convention—from 1991—protecting more compre-

hensively the intellectual property rights of seed breeders. It is set to face resistance in congress, where Milei’s party is a minority.

While the current state of affairs would seem to save farmers money, it’s effectively placed the Pampas crop belt in a time warp where they plant outdated strains that yield less than their rivals abroad.

At a soy conference in September, Juan Jose Blanchard, head of Latin America at Louis Dreyfus Co., underscored how the seed technology problem has contributed to the crop industry’s decline.

“Do you know how many serious programs there are today in Argentina for improving soy genetics?” said Blanchard, an Argentine. “One, two, three maximum.

In Brazil there’s a minimum of 30.

So if we stay where we are, the gap between Argentina and Brazil in

farm productivity is going to get wider and wider.”

If the package goes through, implementation of the seed rules would be at the discretion of local lawmakers and policymakers, said Rodolfo Rossi, a former seed scientist who heads soy association Acsoja.

Previous governments tried and failed to charge farmers for seeds reaped from one harvest and used to plant the next.

For a few years from 2016, Argentina even allowed Monsanto Co.—later acquired by Bayer—to test soy cargoes for its Intacta technology and try to collect royalties. In 2021, Bayer exited the Argentine soy seed business, citing global strategy changes and a redirecting of investments in the country to “profitable” projects.

Bloomberg News

A6

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Monday, January 8, 2024

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Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

9

Regional Office No. IV-A 4th Flr. Andenson Bldg. II, Brgy. Parian, Calamba City Telefax No.: (049) 545-7362

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

January 8, 2024

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION/S FOR ALIEN EMPLOYMENT PERMIT/S (AEP/S)

NO.

ESTABLISHMENT ASIA STRUCTURAL DEVELOPER CORPORATION L17-G, B3, New Cavite Industrial City, Manggahan, City of General Trias, Cavite

2

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

3

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

4

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

5

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

6

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

7

CAL-COMP PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Lot 11, Hy Dimacali Avenue, First Philippine Industrial Park II, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

8

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

SHI, YANNI Sales and Marketing Manager

Brief Job Description: Promote and support the plans, programs and policies of the management

Basic Qualification:

Salary Range: Php90,000 Php149,999

Lead Painting Senior Engineer

Has a relevant experience as Lead Painting Senior Engineer

Has a relevant experience as Machine and Technical Control Engineer

Salary Range:

DORASWAMY, KUMAR

Basic Qualification:

Painting Equipment Consultant

Has a relevant experience as Painting Equipment Consultant

JAYAVEL, SENTHIL

Basic Qualification:

Painting Injection Specialist

Has a relevant experience as Painting Injection Specialist

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

12

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

13

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

14

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range: Php90,000 Php149,999

Painting Machine Specialist

Has a relevant experience as Painting Machine Specialist

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

JO SHUA

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

MYINT MYINT SAN

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

MYINT ZAW

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NI LAR WIN

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

15

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

PHAN CHI

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Salary Range:

Brief Job Description:

Php150,000 Php499,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

SAI CHIT SHWE

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

ALAGUVEL, SUGUMARAN

Basic Qualification:

Printing Department Team Lead

Has a relevant experience as Printing Depart Team Lead

16

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php150,000 Php499,999

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Brief Job Description:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Salary Range:

AUNG NAING KYAW

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Brief Job Description:

Basic Qualification:

Perform all work safety and with the utmost concern for the safety of self and other employees

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Php90,000 Php149,999

KRISHNAN, PRABHAKAR

Brief Job Description:

Basic Qualification:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Salary Range:

Improve the quality problems in the process of spray paint and issue quality report in the form of tracker

HTIN SHEE

Php150,000 Php499,999

Coordinate painting schedule for outgoing orders and adjust as necessary

Brief Job Description:

Salary Range:

Brief Job Description:

Collect, develop and improve spray painting product related information such as coating instructions

Provide supervision on special or technical engineering problems and methods

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Php150,000 Php499,999

Machine and Technical Control Engineer

Brief Job Description:

11

Salary Range:

Basic Qualification:

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description:

KRISHNASAMY, AKASHKUMAR

Brief Job Description:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Brief Job Description:

Basic Qualification:

Perform all work safety and with the utmost concern for the safety of self and other employees

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Must be fluent in Mandarin

VADIVELU, RAGAVAN

Brief Job Description:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE 10

1

Basic Qualification:

Brief Job Description:

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

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL, POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

HTET ARKAR

17

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

SAI KYAW HTET AUNG

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

BusinessMirror

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GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

SAI NAW KHAM

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

28

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description:

19

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

SAI ZAW HTOO AUNG

Basic Qualification:

Burmese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Burmese language

20

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

29

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

21

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

26

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

27

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999 Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

ZHANG, FANGWEI

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

31

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999 Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

33

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

NGO DINH TUAN

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

34

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description: Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

NGUYEN VAN TUY

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

35

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

TRAN DINH HUNG

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

YANG, TAOHONG

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

YANG, XIAOTONG

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

KI, YANG

Basic Qualification:

Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

XIONGLUE, XAYLAO

Basic Qualification:

Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

DIANA

Basic Qualification:

Indonesian Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Indonesian language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description:

Php30,000 Php59,999

HE, MING

Brief Job Description:

Salary Range:

MAI DUC DUNG

Salary Range:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description:

32

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

LI, JIPING

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

ENA

Basic Qualification:

Indonesian Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Indonesian language

Php30,000 Php59,999 36

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

TRUONG VAN HUNG

Basic Qualification:

Chinese Customer Service

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Brief Job Description:

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

25

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Salary Range:

LE SY DUONG

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

24

30

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

23

Php30,000 Php59,999 Basic Qualification:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

22

Salary Range:

DAI, HONGXIA

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

ZENG, YAN

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Monday, January 8, 2024

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

37

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

KONG CHEN WEI

Basic Qualification:

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Malaysian language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

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GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

WU, LI-HSUAN

Basic Qualification:

Taiwanese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Taiwanese language

47

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description:

39

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

NGUYEN QUOC VIET

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

YU, FENG-JUI a.k.a. YU, CHIHMIN

Basic Qualification:

Taiwanese Customer Service Representative

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Php30,000 Php59,999 48

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Taiwanese language

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN TIEN HUU

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

40

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

CAO, THI NHU

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

49

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

DINH GIA PHUONG

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

50

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

HO PHUC VIET

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

51

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

LE ANH NHAT

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

52

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

53

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999

LE, THI HUONG

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, THI BAO YEN

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, THI LINH

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, THI MAI THI

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

54

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, TRONG DANH

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

LEO, THI THANH HUYEN

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

55

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, TRONG NGHIA

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Brief Job Description: Salary Range:

Brief Job Description:

46

NGUYEN, QUE TRAN

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

LE VAN VU

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

45

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

44

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

43

NGUYEN, HUU DUY

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

Brief Job Description:

42

Salary Range:

Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description:

41

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

56

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

NGUYEN, VAN MAU

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

65

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description:

57

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

NGUYEN, VAN NHAN

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

66

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999 Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

67

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

68

Brief Job Description:

60

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Brief Job Description:

61

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range:

VU DUY KHANH

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

Php30,000 Php59,999

Salary Range:

JUNTEC CORPORATION

KAWASAKI, HIROYUKI

Basic Qualification:

Lot 7, Block 5, Star Ave., Laguna International Industrial Park, Mamplasan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Sales Assistant Manager/Marketing Officer

Must have Bachelor’s degree in marketing and have at least 2 years managerial experience

PHILIPPINE XIANGRUI INC. St. Peter Chanel School, Governor’s Drive, Sampaloc III, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

Php30,000 Php59,999

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

VI VAN AN

Responsible for leading the sales/ marketing team in the performance of sales/marketing activities of the company

Salary Range:

Basic Qualification:

Salary Range:

Brief Job Description:

69

PHAN, THI LE HANG

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Php30,000 Php59,999

PHAM, THI MAI

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Php30,000 Php59,999

NONG, THI MINH THUY

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description:

59

Basic Qualification:

Brief Job Description:

Salary Range:

NONG, SI LAM

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Brief Job Description:

58

TRINH, THI DIEP

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Monday, January 8, 2024

Php30,000 Php59,999

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

ZHANG, YU

Basic Qualification:

Branch Manager

Brief Job Description:

Well experienced in handling business in wholesale dealing with ice cream & dairy product

Responsible in development of business channel and sales marketing

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

62

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range:

70

Php30,000 Php59,999

QUANG, THI TRINH SAC

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

RMS COLLECT PHILS. INC. SM City Santa Rosa, Tower 1, Old National Highway, Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna

LEE, HANEE

Basic Qualification:

Specialist

With 4 or more years of call center experience

Brief Job Description: Process inbound sales calls

Salary Range: Php90,000 Php149,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

63

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

THAN, THI THU HUONG

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

71

YELLOW RIVER POWER CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPLIES CORP No. 20, Narra Rd, San Antonio, City of San Pedro, Laguna

ZHAO, DECHENG

Basic Qualification:

Project Manager

Brief Job Description:

Must be fluent in Chinese language and have work experience related to construction

Create and implement a strategic plan, Lead departments and operations of the company

Salary Range: Php60,000 Php89,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

64

GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

TRAN, THI NGOC

Basic Qualification:

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

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

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

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php30,000 Php59,999

To avail of free job referral, placement, and employment guidance services, visit the nearest Public Employment Service Offices (PESO) or log on at http://www.philjobnet.gov.ph

A9

The World BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, January 8, 2024

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Hezbollah, Israel trade heavy cross-border fire as Blinken seeks to prevent regional escalation

By Bassem Mroue, Samy Magdy & Najib Jobain

B

The Associated Press

EIRUT—Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah traded fire Saturday in one of the heaviest days of cross-border fighting in recent weeks, a day after the militia's leader urged retaliation for the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Lebanon’s capital.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that if his group didn't strike back for the killing Tuesday of Saleh Arouri, Hamas' deputy political leader, all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attacks.

With the risk of regional escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off an urgent Middle East diplomatic tour, his fourth since the Israel-Hamas war erupted three months ago.

"It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict," the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in Beirut during his own Middle East tour.

Hezbollah said it launched 62 rockets toward an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron and scored direct hits in its "initial response" to Arouri's killing. It said rockets also struck two army posts near the border. The Israeli military said about 40 rockets were fired toward Meron and

that a base was targeted. The army's chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the rockets caused no casualties in Israel.

Hagari said the military struck the Hezbollah squads that fired the rockets and also attacked Hezbollah military sites. Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed Saturday, raising the toll since the fighting began to 150.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon hit the outskirts of Kouthariyeh al-Siyad, a village about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said, adding that there were casualties.

Such strikes deeper inside Lebanon have been rare since the border fighting started nearly three months ago.

NNA also said Israeli forces shelled border areas including the town of Khiam.

Separately, the armed wing of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, the country's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close ally of Hamas, said

Russian shelling kills 11 in Donetsk while Ukraine claims it hit a Crimean air base

K

YIV, Ukraine—Eleven people were killed Saturday in Russian shelling in Ukraine's partially occupied Donetsk province, according to regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Five children were among the dead and eight further people were wounded in the attack on the Pokrovsk district, he said.

Ukraine's military claimed Saturday it successfully attacked the Saki military airbase in the west of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

"Saki airfield! All targets were hit!" Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. He also published a photo appearing to show the airfield, though it was not immediately possible to verify the image.

Russian officials did not comment on the alleged attack, but Russia's Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Saturday that it had successfully downed four Ukrainian missiles over

the peninsula overnight. Later on Saturday, the ministry reported that its air defense forces had shot down six anti-ship missiles over the Black Sea. Traffic was temporarily suspended for a third straight day on a bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized illegally in 2014, with Russia's southern Krasnodar region.

The span is a crucial supply link for Russia's war effort.

In Russia, local officials in Belgorod—some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border with Ukraine—said that an "air target" was shot down on approach to the city. Ukrainian attacks on Dec. 30 in Belgorod killed 25 people, officials there said, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week.

As Russians prepared to celebrate Orthodox Christmas, Christmas Eve masses in Belgorod were canceled due to the "operational situation," mayor Valentin Demidov said. AP

Palestinians load the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on a truck in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, January 2, 2024. AP Photo/Adel Hana it fired two volleys of rockets toward the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday night. Two of the group's members were killed in the strike that killed Arouri.

The war in Gaza was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages.

In recent weeks, Israel has been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory's south, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians are being squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while being pounded by Israeli airstrikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement reiterated that "the war must not

By Jon Gambrell

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—The United Arab Emirates on Saturday acknowledged it is conducting a mass trial of 84 inmates previously reported by dissidents as it hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks last month.

The trial likely includes a prominent activist lauded by rights group abroad.

The state-run WAM news agency quoted the country's attorney general, Hamad al-Shamsi, as saying the 84 defendants face charges of "establishing another secret organization for the purpose of committing acts of violence and terrorism on state territory."

The statement did not name the

suspects, though it described "most" of those held as members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Arab Islamist group long targeted in the autocratic UAE as a threat to its hereditary rulers.

Al-Shamsi said the accused all had a lawyer assigned to them and that after nearly six months of research, prosecutors referred the accused to trial. The statement said the trial was still going on.

In December, the trial was first reported by the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, a group run by an Emirati—also called Hamad al-Shamsi—who lives in exile in Istanbul after being named on a terrorism list by the UAE himself. That group said 87 defendants faced trial. The different numbers of defendants reported by the UAE and the group could not

day, a drone launched from an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthi militant group was shot down by the US destroyer Laboon near multiple commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the US Central Command said in a statement, adding there were no casualties or damage reported.

In talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken sought support for nascent plans for post-war Gaza that could include monetary or in-kind contributions to reconstruction efforts and some form of participation in a proposed multinational force that could operate in or adjacent to the territory.

Blinken then traveled to Turkish rival and fellow NATO ally Greece to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has been supportive of US efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading.

Other stops include Jordan, followed by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday. Blinken will visit Israel and the West Bank next week before wrapping up the trip in Egypt.

The EU's foreign policy chief also will visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday. He said he aims to jump-start a EuropeanArab initiative to revive a peace process that would result in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Magdy reported from Cairo and Jobain reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Istanbul, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

South Korea says North again fired artillery shells near their sea border

By Hyung-Jin Kim The Associated Press

S

EOUL, South Korea—North Korea conducted a new round of artillery drills near the disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, a day after the North's similar exercises prompted South Korea to respond with its own firing drills in the same area.

The North's back-to-back firing exercises come after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un repeatedly called for stronger war readiness to cope with what he called deepening confrontation led by the US. Experts say North Korea is likely to continue its provocative run of weapons tests to boost its leverage in potential future negotiations with Washington as the US heads into November elections.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the North fired more than 60 rounds into the waters north of the western sea bound-

United Arab Emirates acknowledges mass trial of prisoners previously reported during COP28 The Associated Press

be stopped" until the objectives of eliminating Hamas, getting Israel's hostages returned and ensuring that Gaza won't be a threat to Israel are met.

On Saturday, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 122 Palestinians had been killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the war to 22,722. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The ministry has said twothirds of those killed have been women or children. The overall wounded rose to 58,166, the ministry said.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah received at least 46 bodies overnight, according to hospital records seen by The Associated Press. Many were men who apparently had been shot. The dead also included five members of a

family who were killed in an airstrike.

The latest Israeli-dropped leaflets urged Palestinians in some areas near the hospital to evacuate, citing "dangerous fighting."

In the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the focus of Israel's ground offensive, the European Hospital received the bodies of 18 people killed in an overnight airstrike on a house, said Saleh al-Hamms, head of the hospital's nursing department. Citing witnesses, he said more than threedozen people had been sheltering in the house, including some who had been displaced.

Israel has held Hamas responsible for civilian casualties, saying the group embeds itself within Gaza's civilian infrastructure. Still, international criticism of Israel's conduct has grown because of the rising civilian death toll. The United States has urged Israel to do more to prevent harm to civilians, even as it sends weapons and munitions while shielding its close ally against international censure.

The US also has pressed Israel to let much more aid into Gaza. Two US senators who visited Egypt's Rafah border crossing described lines of hundreds of trucks that have been waiting for weeks to enter.

Blinken began his latest Mideast trip in Turkey, which the Biden administration believes can exert influence, particularly on Iran and its proxies, to tamp down fears of a regional conflagration.

Those fears have spiked in recent days with incidents in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. On Satur-

be immediately reconciled.

Among those likely charged in the case is Ahmed Mansoor, the recipient of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015.

Mansoor repeatedly drew the ire of authorities in the UAE by calling for a free press and democratic freedoms in this federation of seven sheikhdoms.

Mansoor was targeted with Israeli spyware on his iPhone in 2016 likely deployed by the Emirati government ahead of his 2017 arrest and sentencing to 10 years in prison over his activism.

During COP28, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch held a demonstration in which they displayed Mansoor's face in the U.N.administered Blue Zone at the summit in a protest carefully watched by Emirati officials.

ary on Saturday afternoon.

The joint chiefs said South Korea strongly urges North Korea to halt acts that heighten tensions. It said it will take corresponding military steps if North Korea continues artillery drills that pose a threat to South Korean nationals.

The statement didn't say whether South Korea would respond with its own drills. South Korean media reported the South didn't stage firing exercises, after determining the direction of North Korean shells fired Saturday was less provocative than Friday.

The Koreas' firing exercises were a violation of a 2018 inter-Korean agreement that was meant to ease front-line military tensions. Struck during a brief period of rapprochement, the accord calls for a halt in live-fire exercises and aerial surveillance in front-line buffer and no-fly zones. But rising animosities over the North's first military spy satellite launch in November has left the

military agreement in tatters, with both Koreas taking steps to breach the deal.

On Friday, North Korea used coast artillery systems to fire about 200 rounds, also north of the sea boundary, in its first maritime firing exercise in the buffer zone in about a year.

In response, South Korea's Defense Ministry said troops on two border islands fired artillery rounds south of the sea boundary. Local media said South Korea fired 400 rounds.

Ahead of the South Korean drills, South Korean authorities asked residents on five major islands near the sea boundary to evacuate to safe places due to worries that North Korea would fire back. The evacuation order was lifted a few hours later.

North Korea's military said later Friday that its drills were in response to South Korea's military training earlier in the week. It warned that North Korea will launch "tough counteraction on an unprecedented level" if South Korea engages in provocations.

The Koreas' poorly marked western sea boundary was the site of bloody naval skirmishes between the Koreas in 1999, 2002 and 2009. The North's alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship killed 46 South Korean sailors in March 2010, and the North's artillery bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island killed four South Koreans in November 2010.

In a recent key ruling party meeting, Kim fired off fierce, derisive rhetoric against South Korea, saying South Korea must not be considered as a partner for reconciliation or unification. He ordered the military to use all available means—including nuclear weapons—to conquer South Korea in the event of a conflict.

Since 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, many of them nuclear-capable weapons targeting the US mainland and South Korea. The US and South Korea have responded by expanding their military training, which North Korea calls an invasion rehearsal.

Thousands of mourners in Islamabad attend funeral for Pakistani cleric gunned down in broad daylight

I

SLAMABAD—Thousands of mourners attended a funeral Saturday for a Pakistani Sunni Muslim cleric gunned down in broad daylight on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad, police and a spokesman for the cleric's organization said.

The funeral of Masoodur Rehman Usmani was held a day after unidentified gunmen shot and killed him and wounded his driver in the neighborhood of Ghauri Town, according to a statement from Islamabad police.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which is a rare occurrence in this part of Pakistan. Police said they were using closed-circuit TV footage to track down the assailants, and vowed that they would be arrested and

brought to justice.

Authorities in Islamabad have stepped up security by deploying additional police and some embassies were advising their nationals to avoid visiting the area where the funeral for Usmani was to be held.

Usmani was a deputy secretary at the Sunni Ulema Council, which emerged after Pakistan outlawed the Sipah-e-Sahaba extremist group, which has been accused of killing thousands of Shiites in recent decades across the country.

Sunni clerics in their speeches at the funeral asked the government to ensure the arrest of those responsible for Usmani's killing. Top cleric Ahmed Ludhianvi threatened a sit-in in Islamabad if they were not arrested within the week.

The funeral was livestreamed on social media by organizers, who wanted to hold the event outside parliament. But police refused their request, and the event was instead held in a busy commercial area in Islamabad.

Pakistan has suffered frequent sectarian violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shiite groups, but authorities say it is still unclear who was behind the killing, although mourners were seen chanting slogans against Shiites and neighboring Iran, which is often accused by Sunni groups of backing Shiite organizations in Pakistan.

Most Sunnis and Shiites live together peacefully in Pakistan, though tensions have existed for decades. AP

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, January 8, 2024 A11

China sanctions 5 US defense companies in response to sanctions on Chinese firms, arms sales to Taiwan

By Ken Moritsugu

B

The Associated Press

EIJING—China announced sanctions Sunday on five American defense-related companies in response to US arms sales to Taiwan and US sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals.

The sanctions will freeze any property the companies have in China and prohibit organizations and individuals in China from doing business with them, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted online.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the sanctions would have on the companies, BAE Systems Land and Armaments, Alliant Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment,

ViaSat and Data Link Solutions.

Such sanctions are often mostly symbolic as American defense contractors generally don't sell to China.

The Foreign Ministry said the US moves harmed China's sovereignty and security interests, undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and violated the rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals.

A Switchblade 600 loitering missile drone manufactured by AeroVironment is displayed at the Eurosatory arms show in Villepinte, north of Paris, on June 14, 2022. China announced sanctions Sunday, January 7, 2024, on five American defense-related companies in response to US arms sales to Taiwan and US sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals. AP Photo/Michel Euler

"The Chinese government remains unwavering in our resolve to safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies

and citizens," the ministry statement said.

The announcement was made less than a week ahead of a presidential election in Taiwan that is being contested in large part over

how the government should manage its relationship with China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory and says it must come under its rule.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not specify which arms deal or which US sanctions China was responding to, though spokesperson Wang Wenbin had warned three weeks ago that China would take countermeasures following the US government's approval of a $300 million military package for Taiwan in December.

The deal includes equipment, training and equipment repair to maintain Taiwan's command, control and military communications capabilities.

The US said the sale would support the modernization of Taiwan's armed forces and the maintenance of a credible defense. "The proposed sale will improve the recipient's capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing operational readiness," a news re-

lease from the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

Taiwan is a major flashpoint in US-China relations that analysts worry could explode into military conflict between the two powers.

China says that US arms sales to Taiwan are interference in its domestic affairs.

The Chinese military regularly sends fighter planes and ships into and over the waters around Taiwan, in part to deter the island's government from declaring formal independence. An invasion doesn't appear imminent, but the constant military activity serves as a reminder that the threat is ever-present.

The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, but it is bound by its own laws to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself. America and its allies sail warships through the Taiwan Strait, a 160-kilometer (100-mile)-wide waterway that separates the island from China.

Senior Biden leaders, Pentagon officials unaware Voters cast ballots in a Bangladesh election for days that defense secretary was hospitalized marred by violence and opposition boycott

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—Senior Biden administration leaders, top Pentagon officials and members of Congress were unaware for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized since Monday, US officials said Saturday, as questions swirled about his condition and the secrecy surrounding it.

The Pentagon did not inform the White House National Security Council or top adviser Jake Sullivan of Austin's hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, until Thursday, according to two administration officials. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon's failure to disclose Austin's hospitalization for days reflects a stunning lack of transparency about his illness, how serious it was and when he may be released. Such secrecy, at a time when the United States is juggling myriad national security crises, runs counter to normal practice with the president and other senior US officials and Cabinet members.

Still, President Joe Biden spoke with Austin on Saturday, and expressed confidence in him, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a statement issued Saturday evening, Austin took responsibility for the delays in notification.

"I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better," said Austin, acknowledging the concerns about transparency.

"But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure."

Austin, 70, remained hospitalized due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, his press secretary said, as it became increasingly clear how closely the Pentagon held information about his stay at Walter Reed. In his statement, Austin said he is on the mend and is looking forward to returning to the Pentagon soon, but he provided no other details about his ailment.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were notified about Austin's

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a joint statement with Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, after their meeting about Israel's military operation in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 18, 2023. AP photo/ Maya Alleruzzo hospitalization, but he would not confirm when that notice happened.

A number of US officials said Saturday that many of the most senior Pentagon service leaders were unaware until Friday that Austin was in the hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Politico was the first to report the White House learned of his condition on Thursday.

Ryder said members of Congress were told late Friday afternoon, and other officials said lawmakers were informed after 5 p.m. It was not clear when key senior members of Austin's staff were told, but across the Pentagon, many staff found out when the department released a statement about Austin's hospital stay just minutes after 5 p.m. Many believed Austin was out on vacation for the week.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who took over when Austin was hospitalized, was also away. A US official said she had a communications setup with her in Puerto Rico that allowed her to do the job while Austin, who spent 41 years in the military and retired as a four-star Army general in 2016, was incapacitated.

Ryder said Saturday that Austin is recovering well and resumed his full duties Friday evening from his hospital bed. Asked why the hospital stay was kept secret for so long, Ryder said on Friday that it was an "evolving situation," and that due to privacy and medical issues, the Pentagon did not make Austin's absence public. Ryder declined to provide any other details about Austin's medical procedure or health.

"The Department of Defense deliberately withheld the Secretary of Defense's medical condition for days.

That is unacceptable," said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We are learning more every hour about the Department's shocking defiance of the law."

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, also criticized the delayed notice.

"The Secretary of Defense is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes," said Cotton in a statement, adding that if Austin didn't immediately tell the White House, "there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown."

The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest on Friday evening to Ryder and Chris Meagher, the assistant defense secretary for public affairs.

"The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage," the PPA said in its letter. "At a time when there are growing threats to US military service members in the Middle East and the US is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader."

Other senior US leaders have been much more transparent about hospital stays. When Attorney General Merrick Garland went in for a routine medical procedure in 2022, his office informed the public a week in advance and outlined how long he was expected to be out and when he would return to work.

Austin's hospitalization comes as Iranian-backed militias have repeatedly launched drones, missiles and rockets at bases where US troops are stationed in Iraq and Syria, leading the Biden administration to strike back on a number of occasions. Those strikes often involve sensitive, top-level discussions and decisions by Austin and other key military leaders.

The US is also the chief organizer behind a new international maritime coalition using ships and other assets to patrol the southern Red Sea to deter persistent attacks on commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

In addition, the administration, particularly Austin, has been at the forefront of the effort to supply weapons and training to Ukraine, and he's also been communicating frequently with the Israelis on their war against Hamas. Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Wilmington, Delaware, and Lisa Mascaro, Tara Copp and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

By Krutika Pathi

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shows her ballot paper as she casts her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Polls have opened in Bangladesh as voters began casting their ballots in an election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party.

The Associated Press

D

HAK A—Voters in Bangladesh began casting their ballots Sunday as polls opened in an election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, paving the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League to seize a fourth consecutive term.

Authorities said at least 18 arson attacks were reported across the country since late Friday, with 10 of them targeting polling places.

Four people died Friday in an arson attack on a passenger train heading toward the capital, Dhaka. The incidents have intensified tensions ahead of the parliamentary elections that the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allied groups said they would shun.

Campaigning in the South Asian nation of 169 million has been marred with violence as at least 15 people have been killed in recent months. Hostilities reached a boiling point in late October, after a massive rally in Dhaka by the BNP saw clashes with police.

As the election neared, authorities blamed much of the violence on the BNP, who they accuse of seeking to sabotage the election. On Saturday, detectives arrested seven men belonging to the BNP and its youth wing for their alleged involvement in the passenger train attack. The opposition party denied any role in the incident, and say they are being blamed by authorities who want to discredit their "peaceful and nonviolent movement."

On Sunday morning, Hasina and her daughter voted amid tight security at Dhaka City College, as other citizens lined up outside to cast their ballot.

The 76-year-old Hasina, the country's longest-serving leader and one of its most consequential, is widely expected to be reelected for a fifth overall term.

But a victory would come with a deeply contentious political landscape. The vote, like previous elections, has been defined by the bitter rivalry between Hasina's Awami League and BNP, led by former Premier Khaleda Zia, who is ailing and under house arrest on corruption charges.

The two women ran the country alternatively for many years, cementing a feud that has since polarized the country's politics and fueled violence

AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

around elections.

It has also stoked questions over whether the polls are credible, if there are no major challengers to take on the incumbent. Critics and rights groups say the vote follows a troubling pattern, where the past two elections held under Hasina were marred by allegations of voterigging—which authorities have denied—and another boycott by opposition parties.

The government has rejected a monthslong demand by the BNP to have a neutral caretaker government administer Sunday's vote.

Instead, the government has defended the election, saying 27 parties and 404 independent candidates are participating. But with scores of those independent candidates from the Awami League itself, and mostly smaller opposition parties in the race, analysts say the result is near inevitable.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said none of those contesting would be able to mount much of a challenge to Hasina's party, saying "the outcome is all but guaranteed, and that is that the Awami League will return again."

"This suggests that Bangladesh's democracy will be in an extremely precarious state once the election is done," he added.

The vote has also been called into question by accusations of a sweeping crackdown against the BNP. The party says thousands of their members were rounded up and jailed ahead of the vote on trumped-up charges, but the government disputed the figures and denied that arrests were made due to political leanings.

Hasina is credited with transforming the economy in a young nation born out of war, and making its garment sector one of the world's most competitive. Her supporters say

she has staved off military coups and neutralized the threat of Islamist militancy. And internationally, she's helped raise Bangladesh's profile as a nation capable of doing business and maintaining diplomatic ties with countries often at odds with each other, like India and China.

Yet her critics say her rise has risked turning Bangladesh into becoming a one-party state where democracy is under threat, as emboldened government agencies increasingly use oppressive tools to mute critics, shrink press freedoms and restrict civil society.

The global economic slowdown is also being felt in Bangladesh, exposing cracks in its economy that have triggered labor unrest and dissatisfaction with the government.

In the capital, posters of Awami League candidates and the party's boat symbol are ubiquitous, with images of Hasina plastered on numerous banners dotting the city.

After casting her ballot, Hasina dismissed concerns over the legitimacy of the vote. "I have my accountability to people. … Whether they have accepted this election or not, that is important to me," she told reporters.

"I'm trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country," Hasina added. "Without democracy, you cannot make any development."

Polls were to be open for 8 hours across the country for some 119 million eligible citizens to vote in over 42,000 stations. Polling will be held in 299 constituencies out of 300, as the election in one constituency was postponed after an independent candidate died of natural causes. About 700,000 security officials have been deployed to guard the polls and more than 120 foreign observers have arrived to monitor the vote, according to the Election Commission.

A12 Monday, January 8, 2024 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial Unanswered power issues amid NGCP’s vanishing act

I

N a stunning display of prowess, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has managed to achieve the impossible: A complete and utter disconnect with the consumers of Panay Island and Western Visayas. It’s a performance that left businesses and residents bewildered and powerless, both literally and metaphorically.

This prompted Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to chide NGCP for its inaction on repeated power outages in several Western Visayas provinces. “For three days of suffering from these brownouts due to NGCP’s incompetence, Iloilo City is losing P1.5 billion,” Treñas told CNN Philippines on January 4.

President Marcos on Friday blamed the recent blackout in Western Visayas on NGCP’s failure to maintain grid stability in the region. In a video message, the chief executive said that NGCP was unable to initiate the needed manual load dropping, which would have prevented power disruptions in Panay Island last Tuesday. (Read the BusinessMirror report, “PBBM blames NGCP for Panay blackout,” January 5, 2023).

“NGCP’s failure to act during the crucial two-hour window is a missed opportunity. As the systems operator, NGCP must proactively engage with distribution utilities and cooperatives to manage loads and prevent such system collapses,” Marcos said.

NGCP defended itself against allegations of failing to stabilize the transmission system, stating that it followed protocols. In a statement addressing the Panay generation failure, NGCP said it is mandated to “transmit power from producers to grid-connected areas.”

“As the transmission service provider, NGCP can only give an overview of the current supply and demand situation and endeavor to dispatch any and all available power. It cannot intervene on matters concerning power generation,” it said, adding that it did not detect any disturbances before the tripping incident at the Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 1 on January 2.

“Data from our system shows no abnormality in voltage and system stability,” NGCP said. “Rather than using NGCP as a scapegoat, we urge policymakers to be objective in their search for facts and not coddle certain sectors. This is not a time to push personal or political agendas, but a time for honest-togoodness solution finding,” NGCP said.

Marcos on Friday ordered the Energy Regulatory Commission to hasten the completion of the rate-reset review for NGCP following the massive blackout in Western Visayas.

He also expressed dismay that the NGCP failed to fulfill its promise to ensure the timely completion of the Mindanao-Visayas and Panay-Negros-Cebu interconnections by August 2023, adding that he is hopeful that the MindanaoVisayas Interconnection would be completed this month.

“I wish to reiterate our call that I made last year, for NGCP to be transparent to its stakeholders, utilities, and regulators, to acknowledge its responsibility and be transparent in identifying weaknesses in transmission systems. They must identify and address these issues as they are crucial for a resilient and stable power infrastructure,” he added.

Based on the ERC’s partial initial determination for NGCP’s rate reset covering the years 2016 to 2020, a P7.09-billion difference (equivalent to P35 billion for five years) between the ERC-determined annual revenue requirement (ARR) of the NGCP of P36.7 billion and the maximum annual revenue of P43.789 billion collected by NGCP from consumers through the transmission charge from 2016 to 2020, should be refunded to consumers.

NGCP’s rate reset covering the years 2016 to 2020 is an opportunity to ensure fair and just electricity rates for consumers. Refunding its over collections is not only a matter of fairness but also crucial for transparency, accountability, consumer welfare, and upholding regulatory oversight. By returning excess funds, NGCP would demonstrate its commitment to consumer interests and contribute to a more affordable and trustworthy power sector.

Meanwhile, as they hope and pray that the refund will come soon enough, the consumers of Western Visayas have not lost their sense of humor. They chuckle at the irony of a power company that seems to have lost its own power of competence. They exchange jokes about NGCP’s disappearing act, finding solace in laughter amid the darkness. But they yearn for the day when the power stays on, and the connection between NGCP and its consumers is no longer an easily shattered illusion.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Begin the year with an inspiring retreat Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

S

tart-of-the-year retreats have been a part of our lives, especially for those who like to open the year with silence and peace to be able to plan for the months ahead.

From February 3 to 9, Imee Contreras of Mindfulness Asia will be leading a 7-day silent meditation nature retreat on the beautiful island of Coron, Palawan.

Titled “Awakening to Our True Nature With the Four Foundations of Mindfulness,” the retreat will be held in La Estancia and will include the following features: Mindfulness and Meditation Guidance; Dhamma Teachings (Buddha’s teachings); Mindful Movement; Mindfulness in Daily Life Activities (kayaking, firefly watching, snorkeling, nature walk, bonfire meditation, nature gazing, island hopping); Local Cuisine (options of

I

But in that speech, there is one noticeable facet in the stock market that he took note of: insider trading, which implies that those in the know get ahead of everybody else in the market, something that is a no-no in the experiences he had as part of the Bank of International Settlements and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Remolona said there is much that needs to be done such as allowing companies with lower ratings to issue their own corporate bonds and to have index funds as well as to nudge the country’s savings rate. He noticed that only companies with Triple A ratings get to borrow from the capital market to fund their own expansion plans or diversification strategies.

But in that speech, there is one noticeable facet in the stock market that he took note of: insider trading, which implies that those in the know get ahead of everybody else in the market, something that is a nono in the experiences he had as part of the Bank of International Settlements and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Insider trading is being whispered about in the goings-on at the Philippine Stock Exchange. Everyone in

that can be deduced from the earlier trades before the news came out.

What BSP Governor Remolona cited should be a wake up call for the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as it hits at the very core of the local market. With insider trading unchecked, the local market may as well be consigned to the dustbin of history: It had the first stock exchange but it is last in the destination for investments.

Investors in the market have been citing several instances where the PSE has been remiss in its mandate to perk up the capital market. In fact, there are times that the PSE does the unthinkable—and who would not have noticed the egregious blunders that anyone can spot from far away?

The case about Abra Mining, a speculative mining stock that soared and then crashed down to earth, is one for the books. After the PSE of-

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nity and Katahimikan: National Day of Mindfulness. For more information on this silent retreat, please visit Mindfulness Asia’s Facebook page.

Another retreat is happening in Antipolo from February 24 to 25 at the Mount Purro Nature Reserve.

LINAW Ph opens “Creative Healing Retreat,” a two-day event that is centered on nature, art, and wellness.

The fee includes Creative Healing Sessions: Intuitive Art, Poetry, Meditative Movement, Sound Healing, Personal Coaching; Forest Bathing; Meditation; Bonfire Sessions; Nutritious Meals; Art Materials; and 1 night accommodation at Mount Purro Nature Reserve.

LINAW’s founder, Candice “See-

BSP head notices PSE insider trades

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

vegan and vegetarian); Beachfront Shared Accommodation; and Land Transportation.

Imee writes: “Practice periods will include silent and guided sitting, walking meditation, and Dhamma talks. Mindful activities will allow you to integrate your mindfulness practice into your daily life and to dwell in the joy of being with the natural world. This retreat will include heart practices that support and nourish your connection to self, others, and nature.”

Imee Contreras is the founder of Mindfulness Asia and co-founder and guiding teacher of the Philippine Insight Meditation Commu-

For those who prefer to plan their own personal retreats, it’s a powerful way to begin the year, too. People who are overly busy and stressed out will benefit by getting one full day (or an entire weekend) to themselves. Going someplace quiet allows one to listen to their thoughts.

N the Manila Rotary Club meeting where Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr. was guest, he cited many of his to-do list to spark a vigorous capital market in the country, where he noted that the Philippines has remained a “laggard” on many fronts that include the number of IPOs. this investment world is aware of these shenanigans, and this could be part of the reason why the local market remains a laggard among its Asean peers. This is an issue that is also being cited by big foreign funds that skip us.

And to think that the country prides itself as having established the first stock market in Asia with the setting up of the Manila Stock Exchange on August 12, 1927. However, our daily volume and value turnover is just a tenth of the trades done in other Asean countries, and this is a sad commentary on the health of our capital market.

Remolona cited, for one, that whenever listed companies report huge earnings, “nothing moves” and that the trades already happened before the release. That goes to show that there is insider trading, a fact

An” Reyes Talampas, asks these questions: Do you want to have another pause after the holiday break? Are you looking for some peace and quiet?

LINAW’s Creative Healing Retreat will help participants ignite self-renewal through meditation, intuitive art, poetry, movement, and sound healing; find serenity in silent forest walks; and receive personalized coaching to support their journey.

For more information on this retreat, please visit www.linaw.me For those who prefer to plan their own personal retreats, it’s a powerful way to begin the year, too. People who are overly busy and stressed out will benefit by getting one full day (or an entire weekend) to themselves. Going someplace quiet allows one to listen to their thoughts.

If you would like to plan your own retreat, here are some things to consider or include: doing yoga or tai chi/qigong, a run or a walk in nature, reading, journaling, reflection, meditation and prayer, listening to music or playing an instrument, making art or crafts, eating healthy (vegetarian or vegan dishes, smoothies, etc.), getting a massage, and—most important—unplugging.

ficials suspended the stock because it sold unregistered shares, PSE President Ramon Monzon came up with the bright idea of having a “white knight” for the company, which sold shares that were not supposed to be listed.

Monzon’s bright idea surprised many investors, although others saw it as a possible innovation in the investment world. A white knight, after all, is a company that saves another in a precarious situation, similar to a knight in shining armor saving a damsel in distress.

Ever since that bright idea of a white knight was floated, nothing has come out from the PSE officials on the matter. In fact, many of the investors caught in the crash of Abra Mining are still left with shares of stock that cannot be traded whilst the officials of the speculative mining stock are possibly still laughing after they have gone to the bank.

With the insider trading that the BSP governor noticed, and given the case of Abra Mining where even the culprits that sold unregistered shares remained unidentified, what prospects await the local market?

There are questions galore on why the officials of Abra Mining have remained unidentified. Who sold the unregistered shares, which is tantamount to a criminal offense in other jurisdictions? And why, oh why, did PSE President Ramon Monzon float the white knight idea?

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Blinken says Turkey ready for positive role on Israel-Hamas war

By Iain Marlow

U

S Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Turkish leaders at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at avoiding a broader war in the Middle East and rallying Arab support for Gaza’s post-conflict governance.

Blinken met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul for more than an hour on Saturday after speaking with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

With Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip about to enter its fourth month, the US is reaching out to Turkey to use its regional influence, including with Iran, to reduce the risk of a broader conflict. Washington wants to enlist Ankara’s support for plans on how to govern Gaza after the war ends, a senior US official told reporters traveling with Blinken.

“It’s clear that Turkey’s prepared to play a positive, productive role in the work that needs to happen the day after the conflict ends, and as well, more broadly, on trying to find a path to sustainable peace and security,” Blinken told reporters in Chania, a city on the Greek island of Crete, where he met Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis before departing for Amman, Jordan.

Blinken’s schedule involves crisscrossing the Middle East over several days with further stops in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank. Separately, the European Union’s top foreign policy official was in Lebanon warning against a widened conflict.

“We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading,” Blinken said. “And a big part of the conversations we’ll be having over the coming days with all of our allies and partners is looking at the steps that they can take, using the influence and ties that they have, to do just that—to make sure this conflict doesn’t spread.”

Blinken and Fidan discussed Sweden’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization accession process and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on X, formerly Twitter.

Blinken is making his fourth trip to the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis. More than 22,000 people in Gaza have died, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

On Saturday, Israeli fighter jets

struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after the militant group fired dozens of rockets into Israel. Hezbollah’s rocket volley came after Hamas blamed Israel for a drone strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that killed a senior Hamas official this week.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said they’ll continue attacks on Red Sea commercial shipping that are disrupting global supply chains.

“Any ship connected to the Zionist state will never pass the Red Sea regardless of the consequence and this decision will continue whatever the price,” Mahdi Al-Mashat, head of the Houthi political council and commander of the group’s armed forces, said in a televised speech Saturday.

European diplomats also expressed growing concern. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on X she called her called her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to tell him that “Iran and its cronies must immediately stop their destabilizing actions.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy representative, said in Beirut it’s “imperative” to keep hostilities from escalating.

“I am sending this message to Israel too: nobody will win from a regional conflict,” Agence France-Presse quoted Borrell as telling reporters.

Blinken said US goals include maximizing the protection of civilians and the flow of humanitarian assistance reaching them.

“The situation for men, women and children in Gaza remains dire,” he said.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed—especially children.”

“It’s imperative that we see substantial and sustained increase in the assistance that’s getting to them, as well as the protection of civilians in general,” he said.

Two blasts in Iran this week that killed almost 100 people—the deadliest attacks since the 1979 founding of the Islamic Republic—have also put the region on edge. Islamic State claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.

The US has already struck targets in Iraq in response to attacks by Iranbacked militias on US armed forces in the country. A US-led coalition has also warned Houthi militants in Yemen of unspecified “consequences” should attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea continue, raising the possibility of further Western strikes in the region. With assistance from Tugce Ozsoy, Sotiris Nikas and Mohammed Hatem/Bloomberg

Opinion BusinessMirror

Exegesis Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

‘I

have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Unless one is a pastor or priest, starting with a Bible verse in any publication seems odd, can easily turn other people off, and seen as unimpressive in this digital society that rewards clicks, likes, and comments from public readership.

When I started writing in this column in 2016, there were hardly any biblical connection or references in any of my articles. Over time, I purposefully included a verse or two with the obvious intent to let my readers understand that everything and anything can be and should be connected to one Almighty God. This 2024, as part of my Change Agenda, all of my writings will start with the most important (God’s Word), instead of what’s most impressive—contrary to what my marketing guru friend taught me. To catch any attention, I was told that you need that “shock and awe” factor in your opening statement, whether in your resume or cover letter, speech, or even in your answer in an essay.

And a Bible verse does not exactly impress readers, yet it ought to be the most important part of any of my writings.

Many articles ago, my pastor friend politely insisted to me that exegesis, meaning “to explain” in Greek, can be a better approach in the interpretation, explanation, and exposition of the Bible. As defined, exegesis “reads out of ” the text what the writer meant to convey while eisegesis, on the other hand, “reads into” the text what the interpreter wishes to find. After reading some of my previous articles, my pastor said that my writing style adopts more eisegesis—my own subjective interpretation of what I see in the words, not the meaning of the verse itself. Either way is good,

but one style inspires more the writer whereas the other inspires more the reader. Far from being an authority in biblical exegesis, I aim to encourage everyone to start studying God’s Word, one book at a time, one verse at a time. Of course, there are Bible apps and other online resources available.

My wish this 2024 and beyond is for my rudimentary understanding of the Bible, as exhibited in my writings, to serve as a starting point for others to develop a deeper desire to know God more.

As such, clinically dissecting the most important takeaway of this article using the exegesis style of interpretation for the very first time, we should remember three key phrases in Galatians 2:20. First, “I have been crucified with Christ” can literally mean that our old selves have died with Jesus many years ago.

So, if anyone claims that he is a follower of Jesus Christ, then he should understand that suffering comes with being crucified. After all, nails on the cross can be excruciatingly painful. But despite the suffering, since followers are “with Christ,” we look forward to surmounting all these struggles, thorns and all. We should not worry, for everything ends well just as in the case of Christ’s crucifixion. So for couples who suffered broken relationships in the past year—celebrity partners such as Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, Kim Chiu and Xian Lim, and Cherry Pie Picache and Edu Manzano, to name a few, may you be comforted with your conviction that you are crucified “with Christ,” the One who has absolute power over all creation, sharing in His suffering and conquering in the end.

Monday, January 8, 2024 A13

Many articles ago, my pastor friend politely insisted to me that exegesis, meaning “to explain” in Greek, can be a better approach in the interpretation, explanation, and exposition of the Bible.

As defined, exegesis “reads out of” the text what the writer meant to convey while eisegesis, on the other hand, “reads into” the text what the interpreter wishes to find.

Second, the phrase “and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” means that when the apostle Paul wrote this letter, he wanted to tell us that once a person is with Christ, he is no longer living for himself—and he is a new creation. Seen more as a gruesome death, the crucifixion is more of an exchange of lives as Jesus became sin for us and sacrificed His life for our sins. Hence, “when Christ lives in” us, as a result of the substitution that happened on the cross, we are expected to be Christ-like in all things that we do. We walk His walk, and we talk His talk. Simply put, we allow Christ to work in our lives, day in and day out. Thus, the next time we encounter anything disconcertingly difficult or simply annoying, we should ask ourselves—“what would Jesus do?.”

Third and finally, “I live by faith in the Son of God” behooves believers not to be anxious about anything. After all, we were created in God’s image, and though we commit sin, Jesus died for us so whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life—just like Christ living in us! The key point here is to know our standing before our Heavenly Father: we are the righteousness of God in Christ, as cemented in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Since believers are co-heirs with His Son Jesus (Romans 8:17), they share in the same blessings as Jesus does. Being “in the Son of God” is like having the best stress-reliever ever, for we look up to Him for our needs, knowing that His blessings that He shares with His Co-heirs are abundant and infinite. Living by faith suggests we acknowledge His presence in all circumstances that

come our way. For instance, money can be scarce during financial hardships. Yet whenever money comes our way, we are reminded of God’s presence. Curiously enough, in the Philippines, most may not notice the words inscribed on all peso bills—“PINAGPALA A NG BAYAN NA ANG DIYOS AY ANG PANGINOON.” In English, it is an actual Bible verse that says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalms 33:12). For those who are stressed about how they can pay their bills, worry not.

Continue to live by faith knowing fully well that Our God provides for everything since He loves us.

In The Passion Translation of Galatians 2:20, the interpretation even goes to the extent by saying that “for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one!“ Being in union as one indicates that no matter the struggle, He is with us to endure it and survive it.

As I end this article, using a new writing style, allow me to end it differently by sharing some interesting trivia related to our Bible verse today, Galatians 2:20. The apostle Paul, the writer of Galatians in the Bible, visited this region on his first missionary journey together with his faithful companion, Barnabas. Historically, Galatia is found in the highlands of central Anatolia, which is now known as Turkey. Ironically, however, 99 percent of the population in Turkey is Muslim, mostly Sunni. Still, when I visited Turkey last year, I noticed that Christians are free to worship and practice without fear of persecution or discrimination. This setting should be an eye-opener for all of us, that the grace message of the apostle Paul of old days ought to be shared and propagated, regardless.

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

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

FAA orders temporary grounding of some 737 Max jets after mishap

By Mary Schlangenstein, Julie Johnsson, Siddharth Philip & Ryan Beene

T

he Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding and inspections of some Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 aircraft, a day after a fuselage section on a brand-new Alaska Airlines jet blew out shortly after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole.

The move affects about 171 planes worldwide, according to a statement by the FAA. Alaska, the world’s second biggest operator of the type, had already grounded its Max 9 fleet in the wake of Friday’s incident after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.

United Airlines Holdings Inc., the model’s top operator, also took some of the jets out of service for inspections, as did Panama’s Copa Airlines, while Aeromexico said it will ground all of its Max 9 planes for checks.

“Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a post on X. The forced grounding marks the most severe response to an incident since the manufacturer’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far Boeing’s most popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue, with single-aisle aircraft like the Max and the corresponding Airbus SE A320neo family used on the most widely flown shorter routes.

Only two US airlines operate the

737 Max 9 variant: United Airlines Holdings Inc., with 79, and Alaska with 65. Alaska said in an update it had completed inspection on “more than a quarter” of its 737-9 fleet, without making any concerning findings. Eighteen planes that have the same design feature as the Flight 1282 jet recently underwent inspection as part of regular maintenance and returned to service without a second review. The remaining inspections should be completed in the next few days, the airline said.

United said 33 of its Max 9 jets already had the inspection required by the FAA. It said about 60 flights would be canceled on Saturday. “We are working directly with impacted customers to find them alternative travel options,” the airline said in a statement.

Flight 1282 was carrying 171 passengers and six crew from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California on January 5 when the crew reported a pressurization issue.

What followed was a rear left part of the fuselage blowing out, leaving the hole resembling the opening for a door. The aircraft returned to Portland about 20 minutes after takeoff, having reached an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,800 meters).

The forced grounding marks the most severe response to an incident since the manufacturer’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far Boeing’s most popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue, with single-aisle aircraft like the Max and the corresponding Airbus SE A320neo family used on the most widely flown shorter routes.

Inside the aircraft, which was delivered to Alaska Airlines only in October, part of the cabin wall had also torn off, exposing insulation material, images on social media showed. Video footage showed the aircraft landing in Portland in darkness, with passengers seated close to the gaping hole. Nobody was seriously injured.

“A mini boom or mini explosion rattled and kind of shook the plane,” said Nicholas Hoch, a 33-year-old architect who was on the plane, adding that there was an instantaneous depressurization of the cabin. “The best way I can describe it is as this white vapor or cloud just rushed through the plane and, you know, blew my head back a little bit. My hat flew off and that was jarring to say the least.”

The cabin lights flickered and air masks dropped from the ceiling, Hoch said. No one was sitting in two seats next to where the door

blew out, or “this story would have been a lot different,” he added. The decompression sucked the shirt off of a teenage boy in the row before, leaving him with some abrasions.

Others nearby lost cell phones, ear buds and other items as air left the cabin, he said.

China’s aviation regulator is conducting an emergency meeting to consider a response to the incident, including a possible grounding of the Boeing Max fleet in the country, according to two people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The aircraft variant involved in the Alaska Air incident isn’t flown by Chinese carriers.

China was the first country to ground the 737 Max after the two crashes several years ago. Relations have only gradually improved, with China taking the first delivery of a larger 787 model in several years in December. It has yet to resume 737 deliveries.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the matter. Boeing said it supports the FAA move and that it was in close touch with the regulator and with customers. A technical team from the US planemaker is supporting the probe. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it’s checking if it will need to mandate anything.

Some lawmakers are seeking answers from Whitaker and Boeing on how they will keep travelers flying on similar aircraft safe.

“America has long held the record of having the safest airspace

and flight protocols in the world,” Representative Norma Torres of California said in a letter to the FAA administrator. “That said, Boeing’s track record, along with the FAA’s safety oversight in recent years, has raised serious, warranted concerns for the flying public.”

The 737 Max 9 has modular fuselage layouts, allowing for emergency doors to be installed more variably depending on the number of seats. This gives operators greater flexibility with the cabin configuration.

On the Max 9, Boeing includes a cabin exit door aft of the wings, but before the rear exit door. This is activated in dense seating configurations to meet evacuation requirements. The doors are not activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft and are permanently “plugged.”

Alaska Airlines had scheduled more than 5,000 flights with the Boeing 737 Max 9 model in January, according to aviation data provider Cirium. There are 215 Max 9 aircraft in service globally, with 76 on order, including 25 by Alaska Airlines, Cirium said.

The grounding is a major setback for Boeing, which has grappled with manufacturing defects and costly repairs in recent years. Boeing has been forced to fix misaligned drilling holes in the rear section of the 737, and most recently the FAA said it’s monitoring targeted inspections of Boeing 737 MAX airplanes to look for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system.

The Alaska Airlines aircraft experienced pressurization issues

twice on January 4, the Air Current reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. A warning light had prompted Alaska Air to remove the jet from extendedrange operations, or ETOPs, the outlet said.

T he temporar y grounding, which will impact tens of thousands of customers with canceled flights, involves almost 30% of the Alaska Air’s 227 Boeing 737 family aircraft.

Aeromexico said it aims to complete the inspection of its Max-9 fleet as soon as possible, adding it will continue to work closely with Boeing and the competent authorities. FlyDubai, which has three Boeing Max 9 aircraft, said it’s aware of the reports and that its planes have a different cabin configuration than the Alaska model.

Inspections are expected to be completed in the next few days, Alaska Air Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said.

The jet didn’t appear to have suffered the type of powerful decompression that occurred on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane in 2018 when part of an exploding engine shattered a window of the Boeing 737-700, partly sucking a woman seated next to it from the plane and killing her.

“While this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation,” the carrier said. Alaska Air operates an all-Boeing fleet. With assistance from Danny Lee, Matthew Bristow, Isabel Reynolds, Yi Wei Wong, Leonard Kehnscherper and Leen Al-Rashdan /Bloomberg

A14 Monday, January 8, 2024

PHL MEAT IMPORTS DIP DOUBLE DIGITS TO 111 MMT IN 11 MOS

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

T

HE country’s meat imports posted a double-digit decline in the January to November 2023 period, according to data released by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

Based on the data, meat imports reached 1.115 billion kilograms or 111.55 million metric tons (MMT) before the Holiday season started in 2023. This was lower than the 1.252 billion kilos or 1.25 MMT shipments that arrived in the same period of 2022.

Imports in November 2023 stood at 96.315 million kilos, a 22.3-percent decline from the 123.95 million kilos shipped to Manila in November 2022.

In November 2023, BAI data showed beef, chicken, and pork imports, recorded double-digit declines in shipments.

Data showed beef imports reached 13.758 million kilos in November 2023, a 27.53-percent decline from the 18.98 million kilos shipped in the same month in 2022.

Shipments of chicken declined 23.22 percent to 34.058 million kilos in November 2023 from 44.36 million kilos in November 2022.

The BAI data also showed pork shipments reached 46.232 mil-

lion kilos in November 2023, an 18.91- percent decline from the 57.013 million kilos the country imported in November 2022.

Meanwhile, in terms of origin, majority or 81 percent of the country’s meat imports in the January to November 2023 period came from five countries, namely, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Canada and Australia.

Data showed shipments from the five countries reached a total of 904.808 million kilos; Brazil led the pack with shipments reaching 396.382 million kilos.

This was followed by the United States with 203.489 million kilos; Spain, 135.703 million kilos; Canada, 115.255 million kilos; and Australia, 53.979 million kilos.

Shipments from Brazil and the US were mostly chicken and pork. For Brazil, the bulk was composed of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) for chicken and pork cuts; while for the US, the bulk comprised Chicken Leg Quarters and pork offals.

The latter is used for famous Filipino dishes like sisig.

Imports from Spain and Canada were composed of pork, specifically pork offals for Spain and pork cuts for Canada. The bulk of the meat imports from Australia were beef shipments, specifically beef cuts.

Panay outage probe starts soon as blame game rages

T

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie & Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

HE House Committee on Energy will begin its probe this week into the regionwide unscheduled and intermittent blackout in Western Visayas or Panay Island.

Despite t he cong ression a l break, members of the Committee on Energy will meet on Thursday, January 11, to address a prolonged power outage on the Islands of Panay.

Officials of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the distribution utility (DU), specifically MORE Electric and Power Corporation, are expect-

ed to be invited to the inquiry.

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro asserted that the NGCP and MORE Power must be held accountable for the widespread blackout affecting Panay.

However, Iloilo City electric distribution utility MORE Power has refuted the allegations made

by Rep. Castro regarding the

company’s accountability for the widespread blackout on Panay Island.

Despite the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) attributing the blackout to the NGCP, Rep. Castro stands alone in implicating MORE Power in the incident.

MORE Power has firmly rejected her accusations concerning its responsibility.

Roel Castro, the company’s president and CEO, challenged the claims of Act Teachers Partylist Rep. Castro, citing the complexity of the issue and the supposed lack of understanding on her part.

“It’s difficult to address the statement of Rep. Castro. In fairness and with respect to the Congressman, she doesn’t understand the whole system, and it’s difficult to respond if their basis is wrong.

It was just an accusation without basis,” he said.

Last week, the lawmaker said MORE Power shares the accountability for the widespread blackout in Panay Island with the NGCP, questioning its infrastructure and systems in helping “protect the grid from collapsing.”

The DOE pointed the fingers at the NGCP on Friday, with Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla saying it could have implemented interventions.

Within a two-hour window, Lotilla said, citing a report from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), the NGCP could have “proactively called on the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in Panay to reduce their load in order to prevent a sub-systemwide collapse.”

With this, MORE Power’s Castro emphasized that Rep. Castro’s “accusations were unfounded.”

MOR E Power ’s C a st ro e xplained that while it’s unavoidable for there to be some disturbances or problems in the system, the collapse and subsequent total blackout could have been avoided if NGCP had taken immediate action.

He explained that at noon on January 2, 83 megawatts were lost from the grid system due to a plant shutdown, which should have been addressed. However, it was followed by six more plant shutdowns.

See “Panay,” A2

‘Cha-cha via Con-Ass poses serious risk to checks and balances’

A

SENIOR lawmaker and a party-list group have expressed concern about the attempt to convene a constituent assembly controlled by only one chamber in Congress, eroding constitutional checks and balances.

Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares expressed concern after Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman revealed that members of the supermajority coalition in Congress have initiated a campaign for charter change through a people’s initiative.

“The recent reports of another attempt at charter change will lead to a constituent assembly controlled by only one chamber in Congress and will practically remove the checks and balances envisioned by the Constitution. It also violates the bicameral nature of the Philippine government as it makes the Senate a mere bystander in attempts to amend the Constitution,” he said.

“The attempt at people’s initiative aims to insert the provision in Article XVII Sec. 1 that ‘The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members, voting jointly, at the call of the Speaker of the House and the Senate President’ can propose amendments to the Constitution,” said Colmenares.

Colmenares warned against potential disastrous consequences, stressing that a House-dominated Con-Ass would overpower the Senate, granting the House overwhelming superiority in decision-making.

He highlighted the dangerous proposals seen in past Charterchange bills, including term extensions, dilution of human rights, elimination or reduction of the Senate, and opening up the economy to foreign control.

“The House bills for charter change contained very dangerous proposals through the years, including term-extension for its members and diluting human rights provisions in the Constitution. It has also proposed the elimination or diminution of the

Senate, opening up the country’s economy to foreigners, such as the sale of lands to aliens, and allowing foreigners to control our natural resources, public utilities, schools, and media,” he said.

Last Saturday, Rep. Lagman said members of the supermajority coalition in Congress have initiated a campaign for Charter change through a people’s initiative, raising concerns and questions about the motives behind the move.

According to Lag man, the League of Mayors of Albay called for a general meeting on January 5 2024, notifying municipal mayors of an undisclosed agenda.

During the meeting, he said it was revealed that a people’s initiative would be employed as a method to amend the Constitution.

Lagman added that mayors were provided with mobilization funds and forms to be signed by at least 3 percent of the registered voters in their respective legislative districts.

Voters supporting the petition for the people’s initiative are reportedly offered P100 each, with 50 percent of the funds already advanced to municipal mayors and their coordinators, according to Lagman.

“Several disturbing questions have surfaced in light of this campaign: (1) who is the mastermind behind this initiative; (2) what amendments are being proposed; (3) where are the funds originating from; and (4) what motivates the incentivization of voters’ participation in the initiative?” Lagman said.

Lagman also sought a thorough investigation into these matters, emphasizing the need for transparency and adherence to legal processes in any constitutional amendment efforts.

“The Supreme Court in Santiago v. Comelec (G.R. No. 127325) ruled that while the Constitution allows amendments to be directly proposed by the people through initiative, there is no compliant implementing law for the purpose, See “Cha-cha,” A2

HAVEN FOR HEROES Workers at Naia Terminal 1 are busy perfecting the nearly finished Overseas Filipino Workers lounge. Tailored amenities await OFWs, from comfy seating and Wi-Fi to charging docks and power outlets. Notably, an information desk will be their go-to for trip-related queries, ensuring a stress-free wait. NONIE REYES

Indian Navy saves 6 Pinoys, 15 more off Somalia

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

T

HE Indian Navy’s elite Marine commandos rescued 21 seafarers, including 15 Indians and six Filipinos, from pirates off the coast of Somalia, Indian Ambassador to Manila Shambhu Kumaran said.

Liber ian-f lag ged vessel M V Lila Norfolk was hijacked in the Arabian Sea near Somalia’s coast Thursday.

The Indian Navy received a message from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations portal that around five or six armed men had boarded the bulk carrier.

The Nav y then dispatched its warship INS Chennai to the area and launched its maritime patrol aircraft. The warship issued

a warni ng to pi rates to aba ndon t he h ijac ked vesse l.

The Indian Marine commandos then boarded the ship Friday and didn’t see any armed pirates on board.

The Indian Navy said the pirates “probably abandoned” the ship after hearing the forceful warning from the warship.

After clearing the ship, the commandos then evacuated all the 21 seafarers from the citadel.

“Happy to learn Indian and several Philippine crew members of the vessel are all safe!” Kumaran tweeted Saturday night.

The Indian ambassador credited the “decisive thwarting” of the Indian Navy to the attempted hijacking as a “stellar demonstration” of efforts to ensure security of the oceans and of the seafarers.

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Monday, January 8, 2024

B1

DMCI unit will invest $12M ‘Chemrez is main beneficiary of hike in Semirara wind project in biodiesel blend’

T

By Lorenz S Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

he DMCI Power Corp. (DPC) is investing $12 million in its onshore wind project on Semirara Island, home of the biggest coal reserve in the Philippines.

Isidro Consunji, who chairs DMCI Holdings Inc., said the plan is to initially install a 12-MW wind power plant, with a potential expansion to over 100 MW, contingent on the installation of a submarine cable to Mindoro.

This project is set to be operational by the end of this year, with an investment of $1 million per megawatt, excluding interconnec-

tion costs, he said.

“The wind in Semirara is strong.

Solar costs about the same at $1 million per megawatt. But the plant efficiency is about 17 percent capacity factor. Wind is a minimum of 30 percent,” Consunji noted.

In a 2001 wind resource study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy laboratory, it

was found that Semirara Island has some of the best wind resources in the Philippines.

The wind corridors between Luzon and Panay, including Semirara Islands and extending to the Cuyo Islands, were found to have goodto-excellent wind power density and speed for utility-scale or village power applications.

DPC also plans to develop a 4 MW solar power project in Masbate.

Antonino Gatdula Jr., DPC president, added that the 4 MW solar project is just awaiting approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“We are just waiting for ERC. We’re done with the pre-filing; ERC just has some requirements for submission. Once submitted, we will file the Power Supply Agreement (PSA) for approval,” he said.

This project is in partnership with Masbate Electric Cooperative Inc. Last November, DMCI Holdings reported that its attributable income in January to September 2023 fell 28 percent to P20.01 billion from the previous year’s P27.62 billion, largely due to normalizing coal and nickel prices.

Consolidated core net income from January to September was about the same as last year’s due to a non-recurring gain of P2 million for the sale of a DMCI lot and a nonrecurring loss this year of P27 million because of Maynilad Water Services Inc.’s forex losses and donations.

“We saw double-digit contractions in coal and nickel index prices because of the China economic slowdown and global oversupply. However, our power businesses acted as significant buffers,” Consunji said.

Photo from www.chemrez.com

Meralco: 3 firms submit best CSP bids C

T

he Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has announced the lowest bidders for its 1,800-megawatt (MW) power supply requirement.

Three generation companies submitted the best bids during the government-mandated competitive selection process (CSP) of Meralco last Friday.

Meralco’s Bids and Awards Committee for Power Supply Agreements (BAC-PSA) disclosed the names of the lowest bidders during the bid opening session: GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD), Mariveles Power Generation Crop. (MPGC), and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI).

According to Meralco, these companies have proposed the most competitive rates for the power supply,

adhering to the stringent requirements set forth by Meralco.

GNPD offered a total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate of P6.8580 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 300 MW of the total requirement, while MPGC offered P6.9971 per kWh LCOE for another 300 MW of supply. EERI, meanwhile, put in the bid for the biggest 1,200-MW supply at P7.1094 per kWh LCOE. Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. (MPCL), the other generation company that participated in the bidding, offered for 300 MW at a rate of P7.1417 per kWh. However, with EERI’s bid completing the required 1,800 MW total supply requirement, MPCL’s bid was designated as a possible next best bid.

“All offers received were below

the reserve prices set for this CSP,” according to the BAC-PSA. Meralco BAC-PSA Chairman Lawrence S. Fernandez emphasized the “thorough assessment and evaluation of all bids,” ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and the pursuit of the least cost of electricity for consumers.

The company, he added, adhered to all guidelines set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE), underscoring its commitment to transparent and fair practices.

“As a regulated entity, Meralco has conducted its business in full compliance with all rules and regulations issued by the ERC and DOE. The Terms of Reference’s [TOR] conformity to Meralco’s Power Sup-

ply Procurement Plan were likewise reviewed and approved by the DOE and, in the process of the Bidding, was updated to consider the recommendations of ERC Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta.

To further ensure transparency, proceedings were streamed live, and all contracts resulting from this bidding process shall be subjected to regulatory proceedings and evaluation by the ERC,” Fernandez said.

The resulting PSAs from this CSP cover Meralco’s future baseload requirement for a 15-year period beginning December 2024.

This CSP was meant to replace the capacity covered by Meralco’s 2021 PSAs that were terminated in 2023 after regulatory approval. Lorenz S. Marasigan

nior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said to sustain the momentum, the market will need more “positive catalysts.”

“While the decline of inflation last December is seen to have helped in lifting sentiment, investors are still expected to look further, primarily how the inflation trend and the BSP’s policy path will be this year. Thus, investors are expected to look for clues on inflation and monetary policy outlook,” he said.

Next week, investors may also watch out for our the upcoming labor market and foreign direct investments data.

“Without positive catalysts, the local market may pull back next week on profit taking,” he said.

2TradeAsia said eyes will next be on US inflation to be announced this week. The Federal Reserve minutes alluded to likely rate cuts sometime this year, but with an uncertain cadence and rate of change.

“Overly restrictive policy has been floated and will likely be the point of tension for markets for the first half of 2024, considering recessionary fears albeit milder than 2022/23 and heightened geopolitical stress in key economies, including US election looming in the second half,” the broker said.

“In other words, a new easing cycle this year seems to be more of an eventuality instead of

a myth, and therefore brace for global funds’ asset class reallocation in anticipation of this shift in premiums, equities being primary beneficiaries.”

Immediate support is seen at 6,500 points, while resistance is from 6,700 to 6,750.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices surged during the first trading week of the year, with the main index closing beyond 6,600 points.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 179.60 points to close at 6,629.64 points.

The main index lost only once during the four-day trading week, as December inflation, which came in at 3.9 percent, was well within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ band of 3.6 percent to 4.4 percent. This brought the full year 2023 inflation rate to 6 percent.

“Admittedly this came stronger than expected, given seasonal demand and volatility-related downside risks,” broker 2TradeAsia said.

Average daily trading was still weak and was valued at P3.65 billion. There was a trading halt on Tuesday, which the was caused by the mobile trading application and its process of authenticating all accounts, according to the PSE. The PSE implemented the trading halt last January 3, from 9:32 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

The technical problem encountered was the inability of at least one-third of the trading participants to connect to PSE’s front-end order management system and for some of these TPs, the inability to send orders to the trading system.

Foreign investors, who cor-

nered only 45 percent of the trades, were net buyers at P1.37 billion.

All other sub-indices ended in the green, with the exception of the Mining and Oil index that fell 223.02 points to close at 9,777.41 points.

The broader All Shares index was up 77.93 to 3,502.52, the Financials index rose 35.83 to 1,774.71, the Industrial index increased 166.40 to 9,242.31, the Holding Firms index surged 314.27 to 6,420.27, the Property index gained 19.44 to 2,874.38 and the Services index climbed 43.83 to 1,648.82.

For the week, gainers edged losers 141 to 76 and 26 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Anchor Land Holdings Inc., Paxys Inc., Concrete Aggregates Corp. A shares, AbaCore Capital Holdings Inc., Xurpas Inc., NiHAO Mineral Resources International Inc. and Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp.

Top losers, meanwhile, were Jolliville Holdings Corp., Concrete Aggregates Corp. B, Roxas Holdings Inc., Dizon Copper-Silver Mines Inc., Global-Estate Resorts Inc., Roxas and Co. Inc. and Pacific Online Systems Corp.

This week

Share prices may go down this week as investors may pocket the gains they made during the New Year.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, se-

Stock picks

Broker COL Financials Inc. gave a buy rating on D&L Industries Inc., with a fair value estimate at P9.70 per share.

“We expect that the recovery in overall business activity should result in a more favorable sales mix for D&L and drive margin expansion over the long-term. We also believe the company’s long-term growth prospects remain attractive and expect that the significant capacity expansion from its new Batangas facility will allow D&L to scale its export business.”

D&L’s share price closed last week at P6.55 apiece.

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised investors to buy on pullbacks on the stock of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. as after it gained more than 11 percent.

“Nonetheless, the spike in price was supported by an above average buying volume. Hence, wait for a possible pullback in price as the upward momentum may likely be sustained at least for a few more trading days,” it said.

AEV shares closed Friday at P48.90 apiece. VG Cabuag

By VG Cabuag @villygc

hemr ez Technolog ies Inc., the biodiesel manufactur ing unit of D&L Industries Inc., is set to benefit from the latest government circular that proposes to increase the biodiesel blend in fuels to 3 percent starting this year.

“This directive from the DOE [Department of Energy] is a huge step towards progress and the development of the biodiesel and coconut industry in general,” Chemrez President and CEO Dean Lao Jr. said.

“This should pave the way for greater energy self-sufficiency while collectively reducing our CO2 footprint on the planet.”

The DOE has published the guidelines on the biofuel blend implementation, which called for an increase in the country’s biodiesel or coco methyl ester (CME) blend.

The said circular mandates an increase in biodiesel blend from 2 percent (B2), to 3 percent (B3) effective July 1. It will be increased to 4 percent on July 1, 2025 and 5 percent by July 1, 2026.

Since 2009, all diesel fuel sold and distributed by oil companies in the country is required to have at least a 2-percent biodiesel blend by volume.

Chemrez said a higher biodiesel blend means displacing imported petrochemical fuel with locally produced, environmentally-friendly and sustainable fuel.

Based on the annual diesel consumption of the Philippines of around 15 billion liters, an eventual hike to B5 from B2 means a 3-percent reduction in diesel volume or about 450 million liters of diesel displaced by biodiesel annually.

“With cars being one of the biggest contributors to global warming, the greater use of a more environmentally friendly biodiesel will result in a significant reduction in the Philippines’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Chemrez said.

“It is estimated that the implementation of B5 will result in about 1.1 million metric tons reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent [CO2e] annually, which is a massive reduction equivalent to 13 times the annual GHG emissions of D&L as a whole. The biodiesel industry has effectively created a giant carbon sink for the Philippines.”

Broker COL Financials Inc. said Chemrez stands to benefit most from the potential increase in the mandated biodiesel blend.

“While the [D&L] segment has underperformed last year due to sluggish demand amid high inflation and the oversupply situation in the biodiesel industry, we expect that the potential increase in the biodiesel blend would support volume growth and margin enhancement for D&L’s biodiesel business,” it said.

Chemrez currently accounts for less than 10 percent of consolidated revenues of D&L.

PSE says mobile app caused trading halt

T

he Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) said the trading halt last Wednesday was caused by the mobile trading application and its process of authenticating all accounts.

The PSE said this includes the inactive ones that have not accessed their accounts or registered any trading activity.

The PSE implemented the trading halt last January 3, from 9:32 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

The technical problem encountered was the inability of at least one-third of the trading participants to connect to PSE’s frontend order management system (FEOMS) and for some of these TPs, the inability to send orders to the trading system.

The FEOMS sends buy and sell orders for processing to the trading system.

This happened in one of the four silos in the FEOMS, which experienced stalled processes given the iterative authentication steps.

“The Exchange and the FEOMS developer have implemented a design optimization on the mobile trading application and are diligently working on further enhancements for deployment to prevent a recurrence of the issue,” the PSE said.

“The PSE remains steadfast in its commitment to engage with all stakeholders and service providers towards continuously improving and future-proofing its products, systems, and services for the investing public.” VG Cabuag

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, January 8, 2024

SEC warns public against investing in Eton Trading

T

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against Eton Phil Non-Specialized Wholesale Trading for conducting unauthorized investment solicitation activities.

The SEC named Princess SamsonFrias and Elton John M. Malabarbas, Eton Trading’s founders, as respondents in the criminal complaint filed with the Department of Justice.

The agency found Eton Trading to have solicited investments from the public without the proper license from the SEC. Also implicated in the complaint were agents of Eton Trading includ-

ing Irish Joy Ramos, Edgar Frias, Stefanie Aubrey also known as Maricor Mana, Miracle Krizia Palmares, Kirth Chehth G. Mondido, Glyzeah Nina Erpelo, Rodelane Cincollagas, King Guiller Nimer Veniegas, Mikaela Najera, Bryan Almario, Ma. Fatima Wade and Geri Lei Monique Balecha Yanes.

The Securities Regulation Code prohibits the sale or distribution of

securities without a registration filed and approved by the SEC. The Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act also prohibits investment fraud defined under the law as any form of deceptive solicitation of investments from the public which includes Ponzi schemes.

The case stemmed from various inquiries that the SEC received starting from September 2022 about the legality of Eton Trading investment solicitation activities.

Investigation by the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department uncovered various photos, videos and posts enticing the public to invest in Eton Trading, all published on the company’s Facebook account and group.

Eton Trading offered a 20 percent to 50 percent profit monthly with a minimum capital investment of P5,000 and a maximum of P100,000.

Earnings would allegedly come from the sale of wholesale products.

“There is sufficient proof that Eton Trading and [its officers] employed fraud and deceit upon the investing public to induce them to invest in this scheme,” the SEC’s complaint read.

“Lured by the false promise of quick financial gains on their investments, unsuspecting people readily turned over their hard-earned money to the coffers of Eton Trading.”

Eton Trading is not registered with the SEC as a corporation, neither did it have a pending application for the necessary licenses to sell investments.

The SEC posted an advisory warning the public against investing in Eton Trading on February 23. A cease and desist order was then issued against the company on June 15, directing it to stop soliciting investments from the public.

Kenny Rogers bullish on growth prospects

R

estaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters is bullish on its growth prospects in 2024, after posting a 22-percent systemwide sales growth last year.

Kenny Rogers Roasters Marketing Director Lorent Adrias said the restaurant plans to open 20 more stores this year and expand its nationwide store network to 150.

“Our focus for next year is to build more stores, further increase our market share by improving market penetration not only in Metro Manila but also in provincial key cities.”

The company said a series of trendsetting product launches and marketing campaigns last year “made waves and put its brand on the map of the food industry.”

For instance, it launched its Truffle Collection that featured roasted

chicken drizzled with truffle oil. The restaurant partnered with Grab to dress up its cars and riders in gold— from cars and motorcycles to jackets, helmets, and face masks.

This campaign won the Green Boomerang award from the IMMAP Boomerang Awards for Retail Media Network.

At the recent 2023 Golden Grab Awards, the brand collected different recognitions including two major marketing awards—the Campaign of the Year and the Gold Ad Trendsetter.

Kenny Rogers Roasters also won for the second-year in a row the Fan Favorite for the Roasted Chicken category and a gold for the Combo Meal segment. Foodpanda feted it as the Most Innovative Brand for 2023.

Ranked No. 1 in the Fast food/ Restaurant category for Best Cus-

tomer Service by Statista and a local newspaper, this distinction is further backed up by multiple awards, beginning with the Marketing Excellence Award for Excellence in Brand Awareness where it won gold for its Chimichurri campaign.

Individually, Adrias was honored with the 2023 Mansmith Young Mar-

ket Masters Award. These recognitions and steady revenue growth give him a bullish outlook for this year.

“This is at the heart of everything we do. We aim to remain proactive to the needs and wants of our customers while also ensuring that every visit to our store is an exciting and enjoyable experience.” Roderick L. Abad

MUTUAL FUNDS

January 5, 2024

NAV

One Year Three Year

Five Year

Y-T-D

per share Return*

Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

215.35

1.73%

-2.03%

1.4867

7.25%

3.59%

0.38%

1.9%

1.71%

3.021

2.07%

-1.49%

-5.5%

-2.02%

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.706

1.36%

-4.37%

First Metro Consumer Fund, Inc. -a

-5.12%

-5.47% n.a

1.79%

-1.85%

-2.79%

1.12%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.6374

-5.23%

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.7148-0.62%

-3.57%

-0.27%

1.2%

-4.96% n.a -0.17%

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7077-1.28% -2.59% n.a n.a MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

85.34

12.62%

-5.81%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 43.9372

-0.58%

-2.37%

-2.78% n.a

-6.32% n.a 1.28%

1.35%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

457.65

-2.43%

-2.82%

-0.18%

1.25%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

1.2216

1.35%

1.23%

-1.01% n.a

1.27%

1.14%

-0.68%

-1.79%

1.59%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.88812.05%

-1.18%

-2.38% n.a

Philequity PSE Index Fund, Inc. -a

4.6161

0.37%

-1.49%

-1.99%

1.43%

1.26%

768.08

0.25%

-1.67%

-2.07%

1.45%

1.26%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

0.7004

2.35%

-1.19%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.4343

-0.27%

-2.06%

-3.81%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.871 -0.05%

-1.98%

-2.37% n.a

United Fund, Inc. -a

0.67%

1.05%

-0.52%

-2.07%

-2.59%

1.58%

1.12%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

3.1453

1.28%

0.57%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

34.3336

1.45%

-4.5% n.a

1.39%

1.36% -0.22%

1.41% 1.26%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) COL Equity Index Unitized Mutual Fund, Inc. -a 1.0798-0.03% n.a n.a n.a COL Strategic Growth Equity Unitized Mutual Fund, Inc. -a,2

1.23%

1.018 n.a n.a n.a n.a

0.82% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a

1.0288

-4.66%

-2.27% n.a n.a

1.19%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

932.37

0.21% n.a n.a n.a

1.26%

Exchange Traded Fund (shares) First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c104.34090.86% -1.27%

-1.74%

2.14%

1.28%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.8076

-6.39%

-12.44%

-2.58%

-1.72%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a

$1.6352

14.51%

-0.92%

ATRAM

-0.32% 7.93% n.a

-1.46%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5276

3.07%

-3.07%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.2468

5.96%

-0.69%

0%

0.65%

0.52%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.5224

-0.63%

-1.86% -1.54%

-0.55%

-1.32%

-0.66%

-0.12%

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.1927

-1.13%

-1.18% n.a n.a

0.58%

1.21% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

1.9562

-0.57%

-0.33%

0.95%

1.67%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.593

3.49%

-1.89%

0.47%

0.86%

0.39%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

15.7217

2.99%

-2.6%

-0.28%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

2.0531

2.27%

-0.82%

-0.49%

1.27%

0.66%

2%

-1.45%

-1.53%

0.17%

-0.6% n.a

0.41%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.4398 Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9114

2.53%

0.66%

0.49%

0.63%

0.4% 0.54%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a 0.94583.19%

-2.68% n.a n.a

0.24%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a 0.85911.19%

-3.46% n.a n.a

0.62%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a 0.83890.27%

-3.69% n.a n.a

0.77%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a

$0.03292

2.24%

-5.6%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b$0.8973 -0.57%

-7.94%

-1.4%

0.15%

-0.99%

-0.62%

-1.04%

-0.71%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.2323

9.67%

-2.23%

4.89%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.0293

5.55%

-4.19%

1.38% n.a

2.78%

-1.32% -1.16%

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 390.58

3.4%

1.71%

2.6%

2.23%

0.01%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9095

1.73%

0.15%

0.53%

0.05%

0.04%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.3241

3.19%

1.12%

2.25%

3.74%

-0.08%

Ekklesia Mutual Fund, Inc. -a 2.2766

4.71%

-0.3%

1.33%

1.42%

-0.43%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 2.4523

2.62%

-0.01%

2.09%

Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

2.55%

0.91%

-0.62%

4.278

2.6%

-2.63%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a

1.3742

4.04%

1.31%

3.16%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

4.0348

4.43%

0.27%

2.76%

1.66%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.15%

0.24%

3.27% n.a

-0.01%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.3029

4.82%

0.99%

3.58%

2.22%

Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

4.04%

0.18%

2.73%

1.59%

-0.35%

1.0497

1.7646

1.78%

1.12%

-0.27%

0.01% -0.07% -0.37%

Corporate Debt Vehicle (units) ATRAM Unitized Corporate Debt Vehicle, Inc. -a,3

1.0085 n.a n.a n.a n.a

0.14%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$495.13

3.06%

0.74%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.94

2.05%

-0.82%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b$1.03953.02%

2%

2.55%

-0.02%

0.1%

0.85%

-0.04%

-6.71%

-1.63%

0.15%

-0.17%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0248 4.64%

-2.31%

-0.08% n.a

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc. -b$0.8545

-0.63%

-7.87%

-3.84%

-3.03%

-0.21%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.298

5.91%

-3.27%

1.05%

1.93%

1.7%

-0.79%

1.35%

1.61%

0.02%

2.34%

-4.86%

-0.6%

0.55%

Philequity Dollar Income Fund, Inc. -a $0.0609353

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.7882

ALFM

0%

-0.94% -1.72%

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 136.92

2.73%

1.79%

2.52%

2.05%

0.05%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.1088 3.25%

1.89% n.a n.a

Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a 1.37622.79%

2.45%

2%

2.03%

0.05%

0.06%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 104.68

4.15% n.a n.a n.a

0.11%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a

$1.098

2.59%

1.42%

1.56% n.a

Sun Life

0.08%

Feeder Funds ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund, Inc. -a 42.8704-1.23% n.a n.a n.a Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a

1.4462

17.31%

0.9936 n.a n.a n.a n.a

-0.63%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (Units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund, Inc. -a $0.7963-0.43% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day.

1 - Launch date is August 22, 2023.

-7% n.a n.a

b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago.

2 - Launch date is October 6, 2023.

-1.46%

c - Listed in the PSE.

3 - Launch date is May 25, 2023.

“While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper ’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www.

pifa. com.ph to see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU.”

January 5, 2024

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK COMMERCE BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG MANULIFE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

126,530 254,038,878 2,187 160,263,087 20,729,840 490,561 168,682,604 2,463,900 1,002,752 34,791 11,425 28,643,030 26,375,095 160,270 150,800 46,410 41,300 763,601 149,750

35,068,816 -32,679,026 15,550 119,245 26,882,888 -13,090 -11,425 -10,118,842 -1,626,150 105,910 -41,300 666,288 108,800

INDUSTRIAL ACEN CORP 4.46 4.47 4.3 4.5 4.24 4.47 16,338,000 72,588,300 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.54 0.55 2,832,000 1,557,420 ALSONS CONS 0.81 0.82 0.79 0.83 0.77 0.81 5,629,000 4,458,890 ALTERNERGY HLDG ABOITIZ POWER 38.25 38.3 37.75 38.45 37.7 38.25 1,248,600 47,464,110 RASLAG 1.2 1.22 1.22 1.24 1.22 1.22 86,000 105,000 0.184 0.185 0.183 0.184 0.18 0.184 1,110,000 202,980 BASIC ENERGY 17.82 17.92 17.94 17.98 17.82 17.82 71,700 1,284,370 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 62.75 62.95 62.75 62.75 62.75 62.75 1,230 77,182.50 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.6 6 6 6 6 6 2,400 14,400 398 399 397 399 393 399 38,770 15,413,836 MERALCO 18.84 18.86 18.56 18.9 18.5 18.84 982,100 18,438,040 MANILA WATER PETRON 3.45 3.5 3.49 3.5 3.45 3.45 801,000 2,770,800 PHX PETROLEUM 4.56 4.9 4.4 4.9 4.4 4.9 11,000 53,400 7.05 7.3 7.09 7.35 7.09 7.3 133,200 965,880 REPOWER ENERGY 31.25 31.3 29.95 31.5 29.95 31.25 3,776,400 116,421,855 SEMIRARA MINING SYNERGY GRID 6.69 6.7 6.52 6.82 6.47 6.7 1,626,000 10,854,010 SHELL PILIPINAS 10.9 10.92 10.82 10.96 10.8 10.9 178,500 1,943,088 7.15 7.2 7.1 7.2 6.95 7.2 28,800 202,990 SPC POWER 1.28 1.29 1.29 1.31 1.26 1.29 42,481,000 54,139,180 SP NEW ENERGY AGRINURTURE 0.74 0.75 0.76 0.78 0.73 0.74 7,641,000 5,736,080 AXELUM 2.26 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.28 2.28 102,000 233,420 31.4 31.5 31 31.8 31 31.5 891,800 28,069,065 CENTURY FOOD 6.06 6.18 6.35 6.35 6.18 6.18 55,200 343,523 DEL MONTE DNL INDUS 6.53 6.55 6.5 6.56 6.49 6.55 1,797,100 11,725,783 EMPERADOR 20.8 20.85 20.75 21.05 20.75 20.85 1,387,500 28,968,975 50.5 50.9 50.5 51.5 50 50.5 22,120 1,113,797.50 SMC FOODANDBEV 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.66 0.64 0.65 6,297,000 4,081,190 FIGARO COFFEE FRUITAS HLDG 0.9 0.91 0.93 0.94 0.85 0.9 7,972,000 7,163,160 GINEBRA 166.5 168.9 168 168.8 166.2 168.8 2,360 396,700 257 258 255.8 258.6 253.2 258 657,440 169,161,682 JOLLIBEE 1.43 1.44 1.43 1.44 1.41 1.44 1,723,000 2,462,660 KEEPERS HLDG MAXS GROUP 3.34 3.4 3.29 3.43 3.27 3.4 68,000 228,340 MONDE NISSIN 8.51 8.52 8.59 8.61 8.48 8.52 4,207,200 35,839,655 9.9 10.02 10.04 10.04 9.9 9.9 7,200 71,324 SHAKEYS PIZZA 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.435 0.435 990,000 432,900 ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP 2.99 3 3 3 3 3 83,000 249,000 SWIFT FOODS 0.055 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062 10,000 620 123.3 123.4 122 124 122 123.4 1,691,390 208,386,740 UNIV ROBINA 0.52 0.54 0.52 0.54 0.51 0.54 242,000 125,650 VITARICH 0.93 0.96 0.92 0.99 0.92 0.93 776,000 746,270 CEMEX HLDG EC VULCAN CORP 0.63 0.64 0.6 0.63 0.6 0.63 619,000 379,550 6.25 6.27 6.16 6.39 6.01 6.25 1,842,300 11,368,940 EEI CORP 3.15 3.2 3.09 3.2 3.08 3.2 803,000 2,495,590 MEGAWIDE 19.52 20.25 20.3 20.3 20.3 20.3 200 4,060 PHINMA CROWN ASIA 1.53 1.55 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.55 97,000 151,100 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 100 580 MABUHAY VINYL 5.2 5.25 5.36 5.36 5.2 5.25 50,200 262,532 PRYCE CORP 13.72 14.48 14.48 14.48 14.48 14.48 600 8,688 CONCEPCION GREENERGY 0.225 0.226 0.229 0.23 0.225 0.226 7,930,000 1,805,570 INTEGRATED MICR 3.08 3.09 3.07 3.14 3.07 3.09 281,000 868,730 1.09 1.1 1.03 1.1 1.02 1.09 3,405,000 3,661,010 IONICS 5.18 5.66 5.66 5.66 5.65 5.66 4,000 22,620 PANASONIC SFA SEMICON 2.38 2.41 2.36 2.42 2.34 2.41 423,000 1,014,240 CIRTEK HLDG 1.88 1.89 1.76 1.95 1.76 1.88 2,679,000 4,957,230

8,410,650 107,250 27,400 -9,917,000 -1,033,472.00 -14,432.50 6,827,568 2,338,052 -1,742,160 -49,000 2,831,135 -4,167,748 -1,110,004 -25,920 12,299,310 -478,650 6,840.00 1,989,620 25,078 -3,106,568 9,785,430 -718,489 -17,990 -21,840 87,841,054 591,900 -43,700 -9,848,571 65,336.00 39,150 -249,000 -112,872,012 -18,600 -451,387 46,230 18,235 22,700 -61,820 350,150 -24,100 -51,170

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LT GROUP PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA REPUBLIC GLASS SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP TOP FRONTIER ZEUS HLDG

33.05 132.8 7 104.3 31.25 8.6 54.4 8.6 18.66 54 22.05 73 46.8 1.38 2.63 2.73 1,130 177 2,720

1.09 711.5 49.5 11.46 11.5 0.44 0.38 0.38 4.79 10.1 5.45 1.8 606 3.24 42.5 9.11 1.19 2.73 2.9 0.95 890 109.6 96.25 0.07

34 133.1 7.26 104.5 31.3 8.62 54.45 8.72 18.72 55.3 22.5 73.1 46.85 1.41 2.65 2.75 1,180 177.8 2,730

1.1 714.5 49.9 11.48 11.88 0.47 0.39 0.415 4.83 10.12 5.5 2.34 606.5 3.48 42.9 9.16 1.31 2.74 3 0.96 896 109.8 102 0.083

33.3 130.6 7.29 104.3 31.2 8.5 53.9 8.6 18.66 53.65 22.85 71.75 47.45 1.41 2.6 2.73 1,180 176.4 2,720

1.05 723 49.4 11.4 11.88 0.43 0.39 0.38 4.75 10.1 5.45 1.69 601.5 3.3 41.3 9.1 1.33 2.8 3 0.97 889.5 109.9 102 0.083

33.5 133.1 7.29 105.5 31.25 8.6 54.8 8.6 18.7 55.3 22.85 73.4 47.45 1.41 2.65 2.73 1,180 177.8 2,730

1.11 723 49.9 11.46 11.9 0.43 0.39 0.38 4.83 10.14 5.45 1.69 606 3.3 42.9 9.18 1.33 2.8 3 0.97 899 109.9 103 0.083

33 129 7.29 104 31.1 8.5 53.6 8.6 18.66 53.65 22.85 71.6 46.3 1.38 2.6 2.73 1,180 175 2,720

1.05 708.5 49.2 11.34 11.88 0.43 0.39 0.38 4.75 10.02 5.45 1.69 601 3.22 41.1 9.05 1.33 2.72 3 0.95 886.5 109.1 102 0.083

33.5 133.1 7.29 104.5 31.25 8.6 54.45 8.6 18.7 55.3 22.85 73.1 46.85 1.41 2.65 2.73 1,180 177.8 2,730

1.1 711.5 49.9 11.46 11.9 0.43 0.39 0.38 4.79 10.12 5.45 1.69 606 3.22 42.9 9.16 1.33 2.74 3 0.96 896 109.6 103 0.083

3,800 1,922,980 300 1,534,720 666,500 57,400 3,108,230 286,500 53,700 630 500 392,160 562,600 116,000 57,000 17,000 35 4,330 55

23,324,000 171,180 232,400 1,588,800 66,200 20,000 20,000 10,000 105,000 2,424,300 300 6,000 279,430 30,000 4,681,400 1,705,600 10,000 244,000 99,000 44,000 202,450 61,630 1,120 10,000

25,353,690 121,768,760 11,565,745 18,154,356 786,980 8,600 7,800 3,800 503,210 24,490,906 1,635 10,140 168,671,255 97,520 198,019,975 15,545,898 13,300 671,420 297,000 42,530 180,885,890 6,748,691 114,306 830

PROPERTY ANCHOR LAND 6.97 6.97 6.97 6.97 6.97 1,500 10,455 34.3 34.35 34.8 34.8 34.1 34.3 16,683,200 571,667,440 AYALA LAND 1.84 1.85 1.79 1.84 1.73 1.84 1,242,000 2,236,280 AYALA LAND LOG ALTUS PROP 8.96 9.29 9 9.29 9 9.29 1,000 9,229 0.96 0.98 0.99 1 0.96 0.97 1,038,000 1,011,560 ARANETA PROP 33.95 34 33.75 34 33.75 34 782,000 26,556,185 AREIT RT 0.67 0.69 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.68 255,000 173,350 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 32,000 22,620 CEB LANDMASTERS 2.57 2.58 2.58 2.58 2.55 2.58 515,000 1,326,050 0.275 0.285 0.28 0.285 0.28 0.285 1,210,000 338,950 CENTURY PROP 2.58 2.59 2.59 2.6 2.57 2.59 2,279,000 5,902,470 CITICORE RT DOUBLEDRAGON 8.1 8.15 8.17 8.18 8 8.1 176,100 1,430,241 DDMP RT 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.23 1.2 1.22 2,426,000 2,948,540 5.2 5.28 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 10,000 52,000 DM WENCESLAO 0.124 0.126 0.12 0.125 0.119 0.125 1,740,000 213,660 EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO 0.275 0.29 0.28 0.29 0.28 0.29 1,020,000 290,700 FILINVEST RT 2.84 2.85 2.84 2.86 2.79 2.84 3,058,000 8,640,740 0.64 0.65 0.62 0.65 0.62 0.65 17,203,000 10,888,620 FILINVEST LAND 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 851,000 723,340 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 8.61 8.96 9.2 9.2 8.56 8.96 91,800 805,201 GOLDEN MV 840.5 880 840.5 880 840.5 880 170 148,810 0.53 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.52 0.56 90,000 47,750 PHIL INFRADEV 0.73 0.75 0.74 0.75 0.73 0.75 45,000 33,230 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 2.02 2.03 2.01 2.03 2 2.03 13,580,000 27,430,200 MRC ALLIED 1.33 1.37 1.32 1.38 1.32 1.37 79,000 106,510 12.7 12.72 12.78 12.78 12.66 12.72 743,400 9,458,222 MREIT RT 0.231 0.275 0.275 0.275 0.228 0.26 110,000 28,540 OMICO CORP PREMIERE RT 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.56 654,000 1,014,710 RL COMM RT 5.01 5.02 5.01 5.04 5 5.02 1,628,700 8,167,226 15.9 15.98 15.98 15.98 15.84 15.98 1,065,300 16,996,614 ROBINSONS LAND 0.165 0.17 0.165 0.165 0.165 0.165 10,000 1,650 PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL 1.38 1.42 1.41 1.41 1.41 1.41 26,000 36,660 SHANG PROP 3.74 3.77 3.74 3.78 3.74 3.77 90,000 338,470 3.35 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.35 3.4 28,000 95,100 STA LUCIA LAND 33.1 33.25 33.6 33.6 33.1 33.1 9,268,000 307,641,545 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 2.26 2.36 2.38 2.38 2.38 2.38 1,000 2,380 0.8 0.85 0.8 0.84 0.75 0.8 42,000 33,680 SUNTRUST RESORT 1.76 1.77 1.72 1.76 1.71 1.76 1,827,000 3,177,500 VISTA LAND 1.7 1.72 1.71 1.73 1.7 1.71 405,000 693,770 VISTAREIT RT

SERVICES ABS CBN 4.53 4.58 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.58 85,000 388,530 8.89 8.9 8.88 8.97 8.83 8.9 550,600 4,903,052 GMA NETWORK 0.23 0.237 0.23 0.237 0.23 0.237 20,000 4,670 MANILA BULLETIN GLOBE TELECOM 1,725 1,726 1,721 1,738 1,721 1,726 20,330 35,118,985 PLDT 1,279 1,280 1,283 1,283 1,271 1,280 47,590 60,791,255 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.013 0.014 73,300,000 972,200 APOLLO GLOBAL 9.41 9.42 9.1 9.47 9.03 9.42 15,887,300 148,464,565 CONVERGE DFNN INC 3.12 3.2 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 4,000 12,480 DITO CME HLDG 2.47 2.48 2.33 2.48 2.33 2.47 4,387,000 10,718,220 1.24 1.25 1.25 1.27 1.2 1.24 928,000 1,139,860 NOW CORP 0.135 0.139 0.139 0.139 0.139 0.139 10,000 1,390 TRANSPACIFIC BR ASIAN TERMINALS 15.5 15.7 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 14,800 229,400 CHELSEA 1.41 1.47 1.42 1.48 1.4 1.41 250,000 357,220 33.15 33.2 32.8 33.4 32.8 33.2 209,000 6,922,335 CEBU AIR 251.8 252 252.8 255 251 252 828,410 209,026,674 INTL CONTAINER MACROASIA 3.95 3.97 4 4 3.95 3.97 268,000 1,063,860 PAL HLDG 5.2 5.49 5.1 5.68 5.07 5.2 46,200 248,197 0.74 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 5,000 3,850 HARBOR STAR 8.02 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 200 1,700 CENTRO ESCOLAR FAR EASTERN U 566 597.5 566 566 566 566 1,110 628,260 6.81 7.32 7 7.32 7 7.32 5,100 36,916 IPEOPLE 0.485 0.49 0.49 0.49 0.485 0.485 2,960,000 1,445,700 STI HLDG 1.18 1.19 1.18 1.19 1.18 1.19 315,000 374,170 BELLE CORP BLOOMBERRY 10.14 10.2 10.26 10.26 10.02 10.2 3,450,500 35,101,680 PACIFIC ONLINE 4.49 4.5 4.43 4.55 4.42 4.5 1,800,000 8,088,420 0.88 0.9 0.88 0.9 0.88 0.88 951,000 839,580 PH RESORTS GRP 0.67 0.68 0.65 0.68 0.65 0.68 5,430,000 3,629,620 PREMIUM LEISURE DIGIPLUS 8.28 8.29 7.9 8.29 7.9 8.28 3,157,000 25,684,645 PHILWEB 1.73 1.75 1.74 1.75 1.69 1.75 109,000 190,380 0.162 0.163 0.16 0.163 0.16 0.162 8,230,000 1,332,540 ALLDAY 7.6 8.09 7.6 8 7.5 8 30,500 230,565 BERJAYA ALLHOME 1.26 1.27 1.2 1.27 1.19 1.27 3,314,000 4,101,270 METRO RETAIL 1.22 1.27 1.27 1.27 1.2 1.27 96,000 120,640 27.95 28 27.25 28 27.1 28 1,240,500 34,339,285 PUREGOLD 40.15 40.2 40.6 40.6 40 40.2 338,200 13,587,710 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 75 76 76.1 76.1 75.95 76 3,140 238,641.50 SSI GROUP 2.63 2.64 2.6 2.66 2.6 2.64 1,358,000 3,584,010 UPSON INTL CORP 1.59 1.67 1.69 1.69 1.69 1.69 3,000 5,070 23.2 23.5 23 23.85 22.1 23.5 3,694,200 85,497,800 WILCON DEPOT 0.219 0.229 0.217 0.229 0.216 0.229 230,000 50,210 APC GROUP MEDILINES 0.325 0.335 0.325 0.33 0.325 0.33 350,000 114,650 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.168 0.17 0.165 0.168 0.165 0.168 510,000 85,040 4.4 4.54 4.38 4.55 4.38 4.55 8,000 35,690 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL ATOK 5.1 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.1 5.1 200 1,050 2.97 2.99 2.98 3.05 2.97 2.97 1,622,000 4,868,950 APEX MINING ATLAS MINING 3.51 3.57 3.52 3.52 3.52 3.52 1,000 3,520 4.78 4.79 4.72 4.85 4.71 4.79 129,000 615,920 BENGUET A 4.83 4.89 4.81 4.99 4.81 4.89 16,000 78,080 BENGUET B 2.13 2.14 2.13 2.17 2.13 2.14 1,117,000 2,395,820 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.028 0.029 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.027 100,000 2,700 0.077 0.08 0.08 0.081 0.078 0.078 1,520,000 120,130 LEPANTO A 0.079 0.081 0.081 0.081 0.081 0.081 10,000 810 LEPANTO B 0.0046 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 11,000,000 52,800 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.0046 0.0047 0.0044 0.0044 0.0044 0.0044 2,000,000 8,800 1.08 1.09 1.1 1.1 1.09 1.09 2,527,000 2,759,970 MARCVENTURES 5.15 5.16 5.2 5.22 5.12 5.15 1,328,900 6,853,251 NICKEL ASIA 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.64 28,000 17,980 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 3.26 3.28 3.24 3.3 3.24 3.26 2,076,000 6,804,950 UNITED PARAGON 0.004 0.0044 0.0043 0.0043 0.004 0.004 2,000,000 8,300 5.25 5.4 5.1 5.62 5 5.62 46,200 241,141 ENEX ENERGY 0.008 0.0081 0.0079 0.008 0.0079 0.008 8,000,000 63,300 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.0081 0.0082 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 3,000,000 24,300 0.0077 0.0081 0.008 0.008 0.0075 0.008 27,000,000 211,000 PHILODRILL 3.78 3.85 3.89 3.89 3.86 3.87 16,000 61,800 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED ACEN PREF A 1,035 1,042 1,042 1,042 1,042 1,042 1,730 1,802,660 1,070 1,080 1,070 1,080 1,070 1,080 165 176,750 ACEN PREF B 2,480 2,502 2,502 2,502 2,480 2,480 185 459,240 AC PREF AR CEB PREF 33.1 34 33 33 33 33 1,600 52,800 94.2 95 94.95 95 94.95 95 700 66,497.50 DD PREF 96 96.9 96.9 96.9 96.9 96.9 110 10,659 EEI PREF B 910.5 930 910 910 910 910 110 100,100 JFC PREF B MWIDE PREF 4 90.05 93.2 91.95 92 91.25 92 6,710 617,168.50 215 225.8 229.8 229.8 227.8 228 50 11,414 PNX PREF 4 980 991 990 991 990 991 960 950,410 PCOR PREF 3A 980 1,005 992 992 980 980 140 138,330 PCOR PREF 4C SMC PREF 2F 72.9 73 73 73 72.9 72.9 3,960 289,000 70.05 70.1 72.4 72.4 70.1 70.1 99,520 6,995,092 SMC PREF 2I 67.1 67.95 67.5 67.95 67.05 67.05 7,150 482,251.50 SMC PREF 2J 66.1 68.75 68.9 68.9 66 66.1 16,760 1,107,183 SMC PREF 2K SMC PREF 2N 77.2 78.5 78.5 78.5 78.5 78.5 1,010 79,285 48.1 48.5 48.5 48.5 48.5 48.5 7,600 368,600 TECH PREF B2D

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS

ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR TECH WARRANT

-1.42%

8.56% n.a n.a

-1.54% Sun Life Prosperity World Income Fund, Inc. -a,1

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

WARRANTS

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units)

www.businessmirror.com.ph

4.23 8.31

4.34 4.34 4.34 4.34 4.34 2,000 8.9 -

0.305

0.315

0.29

0.315

0.29

0.315

330,000

2,682,350 10,669,615 306,280 -6,118,848 28,780 10,788,758 107,217,260 -97,520 24,561,215 1,618,509 42,871,960 856,089 104,106 -5,621,020 -21,080 14,550 7,533,320 123,030 -7,100 -11,200 1,460,720 -160,868 23,800 -9,170 -287,900.00 -47,940 -2,524,310 -78,399 -26,400 3,180 -4,400 1,391,740.00 1,621,972 4,680 -1,200,412.00 1,535,304 -14,100 29,920 -83,262,160 -1,169,400 38,040 -19,780,585 -1,494,835 33,878,053 3,120 -1,670,090 -28,770 212,350 -3,260,665 -33,034,014 43,350 -62,900 -75,520 -17,384,770.00 180,520 -26,400 29,480 6,861,234 -16,100 -776,180 63,500 13,321,125 -12,510,940.00 -214,320 -7,750 -3,380 -459,295 -29,250 18,390 -8,900 -108,980 -459,450 -810 -1,843,131 -39,470.00 -1,802,660 -

8,680 -

-8,680 -

100,750

-

SMALL, MEDIUM & EMERGING

0.375 0.43 0.375 0.41 1,920,000 801,800 -84,000 0.78 0.78 0.75 0.75 5,000 3,780 0.97 0.97 0.96 0.97 106,000 102,460 -9,700 0.65 0.69 0.65 0.69 138,000 92,180 0.06 0.061 0.06 0.061 110,000 6,700 2.1 2.1 2.06 2.06 23,000 47,900 2,100 1.03 1.09 1.02 1.06 3,816,000 4,044,710 -128,800 0.24 0.24 0.216 0.24 340,000 80,590 -

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

104.2 104.5 103.3 104.5 30,500 3,171,269 -39,520

BALAI FRUITAS CTS GLOBAL HAUS TALK ITALPINAS LFM PROP MAKATI FINANCE MERRYMART XURPAS

FIRST METRO ETF

0.41 0.75 0.96 0.66 0.057 2.06 1.06 0.24

104.2

0.425 0.78 0.97 0.69 0.063 2.38 1.07 0.247 104.5

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Monday, January 8, 2024

B3

Lower tariffs, revival of PHL How to elevate finance value mango exports eyed by DA through Generative AI Perspectives

G

ENERATIVE AI (Gen AI) is currently causing a buzz across the commercial world. While artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have been successfully applied to specific problems for some time, the ability of Gen AI to generate new content and its accessible user interface makes it hugely relevant to a broad spectrum of organizations as well as to their finance functions. AI might not be new, but it is moving very fast, and CFOs need to think differently and quickly understand how to leverage it.

A marriage of Gen AI capabilities and finance can create better speed and efficiency by eliminating redundant or manual activities, allowing finance professionals to focus on higher value tasks. But like its predecessors, Gen AI is only as good the underlying data and well-engineered prompts and will only be effective when it is embedded in the right way within the finance function.

With only 57 percent of respondents from the KPMG 2023 Global Technology Survey believing that Generative AI will be most important in helping their business achieve its short-term ambitions over the next 1-3 years, there is scope to allay some fears and support more risk averse potential adopters to understand what is possible and how to implement safely.

Intro to Generative AI in Finance

KPMG professionals believe that CFOs and finance functions are well positioned to lead the way with Gen AI. Finance already has a key role in driving the execution of organizational strategy, creating and protecting value and shaping an effective enterprise architecture and are often tasked with data stewardship. In addition, finance functions are ripe with potential opportunities to disrupt themselves and harness the power of Gen AI across five broad enabler categories: content and insight generators; information extractors; smart chatbots; language translators; and, code generators.

By unlocking the power of digital, AI has the potential to deliver significant value to the finance function.

Real world example: insights and story telling

KPMG professionals have learned from work around the future of finance that leading organizations are investing heavily in effective business partnering, focusing on competencies such as impactful storytelling, empathy, and leadership. The ability to tell a story behind the insights is more important than ever. This can help CFOs deliver faster and more insightful analysis across organizations, enable tailored commentary and rapid fire ‘answers’ to stakeholder questions, forecast through text to reasoning to help CFOs ‘predict’ the results and help identify risks and potential new strategies for tackling recurring problems.

Cross-functional Gen AI

THE power of Gen AI is magnified when it can be used across functions to break down silos within the organization, achieving scalable AI solutions across the enterprise and unlocking cost savings.

For example, the period end close

process can be challenging for organizations, even those using a cloud enterprise resource planning system.

Leaders often struggle to get timely and insightful information that supports better decision making. They face issues such as inefficient processes, limited access to real-time data, and workforce burnout, all of which can hinder decision-making.

Risk and challenges

CFOs navigating the growth of Gen AI must consider the multitude of risks, including data protection, false or biased decisions, compliance with regulations, upskilling, intellectual property, and environmental sustainability. Mitigating these risks requires a strong Gen AI Strategy, operating model, and governance structure. Effective risk management is crucial for organizations to prioritize in order to mitigate these risks.

Aligning Gen AI with your finance transformation: a strategy for success

IMPLEMENTING ‘point-AI’ solutions here and there across the finance function is unlikely to deliver significant long-term benefits. In fact, it could create a legacy problem for tomorrow.

Instead, organizations should adopt a more strategic approach, in which Gen AI can align with, and enhance, your existing finance transformation initiatives and is embedded within your operating and technology model.

By the nature of it, a program of Gen AI implementation is heavily dataready centric. To get the best results requires focus on the “Performance Insights and Data Layer of the Target Operating” model. For most organizations, there’s much to do around data to be able to exploit it to the full. Therefore, it is important to work with partners that have the right combination of data skills, together with the experience of how to maximize the capability of data within an AI enabled finance function.

Wider finance transformation picture

THE KPMG Powered Enterprise transformation methodology adapts well to the world of Gen AI and the disciplines required to deliver it in finance. This is especially so around vision, data architecture, talent upskilling, value realization and intercepting emerging tech—as well as providing an effective framework for deploying (and maintaining) responsible AI. This excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/services/advisory/management-consulting/kpmg-poweredenterprise.html#a2 © 2023 KPMG Int’l Ltd. is a private English company limited by guarantee. R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership, is a member firm of a global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG Int’l Ltd. All rights reserved.

E-mail ph-kpmgmla@kpmg.com or visit www. home.kpmg/ph.

This article is for general information purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice to a specific issue or entity. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the BusinessMirror, KPMG International or KPMG in the Philippines.

M

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

ANILA is keen on negotiating for lower tariffs for bananas and the revival of its mango exports to Tokyo, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. recently met with Japanese officials and businessmen at the Asean-Japan Summit.

Tiu Laurel said the DA has already scheduled a meeting between Filipino and Japanese officials at the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Agriculture slated for the second quarter of this year.

“This very first meeting of the joint agriculture committee of the two Asian neighbors here in the Philippines will provide an avenue

to follow through the agri-fisheries trade and market access discussions started in Japan,” Tiu Laurel was quoted in a statement as saying.

According to the DA, Philippine bananas are staples for Japanese consumers, accounting for 22 percent of their food basket.

The Philippines’s proximity to Japan allows the country to deliver low-cost bananas and other tropical fruits compliant with Japanese food standards.

Given this, Tiu Laurel said Ma-

nila looks at the review of JapanPhilippines Economic Partnership Agreement as a good initial opportunity “to discuss the Philippines’ appeal for lower tariff on bananas.”

Under Jpepa, an economic partnership agreement between the two countries, tariff on Philippine banana is pegged at 8 percent from April 1 to September 30, and then increased to 18 percent for imports between October 1 and March 31.

The DA is also seeking to revive the Japanese market for Philippine mangoes, whose export had declined sharply since Japan adopted in 2011 stricter sanitary and photo-sanitary standards, especially the maximum residue limit.

During the Asean-Japan Summit in December, Tiu Laurel led ceremonies to mark the re-entry of Philippine mangoes to Japan, with the presentation of the tropical fruit to his Japanese counterpart.

Agriculture Attache Aleli Maghirang, who is assigned at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, said she is hopeful that fresh Davao mangoes’ re-entry in the Japanese market will spur “greater confidence to our exporters to continue supplying to Japan.”

Maghirang said the country’s agriculture exports to Japan amounted to $679 million in the third quarter of 2023.

In the past three years, Manila’s exports to Tokyo amounted to $2.89 billion. The country’s highest export earnings from shipments to Japan was $1.08 billion in 2020 followed by $894.4 million in 2021 and $916 million in 2022.

DA said Japan is the second largest market for Philippine agri-food exports, enjoying a trade surplus of $824 million in 2022. At the end of the third quarter last year, Philippine agricultural trade with Japan showed a $596.4 million surplus in favor of the Philippines.

Subsidy offered as DepEd stops Senior-HS program

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

S

TUDENTS dislocated due to the discontinuance of senior high school (SHS) programs in state universities and colleges (SUCs) can shift to private education institutions and avail of tuition subsidy from the national government, according to the vice-chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Makati City Rep. Luis N. Campos Jr. said last Sunday that the national government, allocating P27.8 billion in the 2024 General Appropriations Law, offers tuition subsidies to disadvantaged Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in private secondary schools.

The P27.8 billion for the SHS Voucher Program (SHSVP) provides tuition grants to enable qualified Grade 10 completers, as determined by the Department of Education (DepEd), to enlist for Grade 11 and Grade 12 in private high schools, according to Campos.

“Assuming SHS students currently enrolled in SUCs cannot be accommodated in DepEd schools in their communities, they can enroll in private schools and the SHSVP can pay for their tuition,” Campos said.

The threat of student displacement arose after the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in a December 18, 2023, memorandum, insisted that SUCs that are still offering the SHS program no longer have the legal authority nor the funding

to do so.

The SHSVP pays for the tuition of underprivileged Grade 11 and Grade 12 students placed in private schools owing to the lack of DepEd schools in their communities, or because existing public schools are already overcrowded.

“We must stress that private high schools are the government’s partners in improving public access to basic education,” Campos said.

Campos said the SHSVP also helps to provide income to private high schools, many of which suffered severe financial difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We need private high schools to keep on operating viably, especially in communities where we lack public schools,” Campos said.

Probe

MEANWHILE, House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France L. Castro led the Makabayan bloc’s filing of House Resolution 1533, initiating an inquiry into the recent directives from the DepEd and the CHED regarding Republic Act (RA) 8545 (amending RA 6728), otherwise known as the “Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education.”

The resolution aims to scrutinize these issuances in the context of ensuring the right to access quality education.

Castro emphasized the government’s lapse during the transition

period, citing its failure to conduct comprehensive consultations with stakeholders before unilaterally discontinuing subsidies for affected students.

The teacher-legislator stressed the necessity of investigating DepEd’s and CHED’s recent actions to assess if the program’s implementation aligns with the constitutional mandate of providing quality education for all, irrespective of economic status.

She underscored the responsibility of the House of Representatives to exercise oversight, particularly regarding educational programs, ensuring adherence to principles of equity, transparency, and accountability.

Expressing concern for the educational quality of Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in SUCs and local universities and colleges (LUCs), Castro called for a thorough investigation.

She urged a pause in the implementation of memoranda, advocating for prudent solutions to address the issue.

Review

IN light of the belated pronouncement of CHED on the stoppage of the program of the SUCs taking in Senior High School enrollees, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers called on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to review the composition and competence of the appointed CHEd commissioners.

Barbers said that instead of ex-

tending assistance to the DepEd in continuing the program with the objective of improving the quality of our basic education, CHED instead focused on certain minor technicalities, betraying their competence in the education system as a whole.

“Instead of being part of the solution, CHED created another problem. It is as if our educational system is not beset with enough problems. The callous pronouncement only shows the priorities and incompetence of the sitting set of commissioners, whose qualifications and outputs should now be reviewed by a body created by the President,” Barbers said.

“It is not enough that we appoint Masteral or Doctorate degree holders as CHED commissioners. We should make sure that they possess outstanding managerial experience, expert and experienced educators, tested by time, and with proven track record and character. Some commissioners act like Gods and lord it over the institutions of higher learning. These are questions of character which do not have a place in our educational system,” the lawmaker added.

“It is about time that we review the performance of each individual commissioner so that we may appoint the rightful people who can check our slide in education standards and improve our global standing, not just on paper but in actual performance of our graduates,” Barbers said.

Easing core inflation in the US seen reinforcing optimism at Federal Reserve

U

NDERLYING US price pressures probably continued to recede as 2023 drew to a close, backing up optimism at the Federal Reserve about the path for inflation.

The consumer price index excluding food and fuel, a measure favored by economists as a better indicator of underlying inflation, is seen increasing 3.8 percent in December from a year earlier.

That would mark the smallest annual advance since May 2021, and illustrates the progress the Fed has made on squelching inflation that during 2022 clocked in at the fastest pace in 40 years.

While price growth is still above the central bank’s goal, the latest readout from officials’ December meeting showed policymakers acknowledge that interest rates have likely peaked, along with a willingness to lower borrowing costs this year.

At the same time, officials “reaffirmed that it would be appropriate for policy to remain at a restrictive stance for some time until inflation was clearly moving down sustainably,” according to the meeting minutes.

The government’s CPI report on Thursday will be followed the next day by the producer price index. The measure of wholesale inflation, excluding food and energy, is also seen cooling on an annual basis.

US central bankers speaking in the coming week include New York Fed President John Williams and the Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic.

Elsewhere, UK growth data, German industrial numbers, and central-bank decisions from South Korea to Peru will keep investors focused.

Asia

THE Asia-Pacific region gets its first rate decision of 2024 on Thursday when the Bank of Korea meets.

Economists don’t expect a policy change in South Korea, with the focus falling instead on whether authorities retain their hawkish tilt even as the Fed slowly begins to lean the other way.

The Bank of Japan gets some key statistics to parse. On Tuesday, Tokyo consumer prices, a leading indicator of the national trend, are forecast to show inflation slowing in December.

Also that day, household spending probably fell again in November, and data a day later may show why: Pay gains are still lagging rises in the cost of living.

Australia may see retail sales rebound in figures due on Tuesday, along with building approvals, while it gets inflation data on Wednesday and trade on Thursday.

China’s consumer and producer prices come Friday, as do India’s consumer inflation and industrial production data for December and November, respectively. Philippine

trade data are due between Monday and Thursday.

Europe, Middle East, Africa

MANUFACTURING reports will draw the most attention in the euro zone in the coming week, as industrial data is released in its largest economies.

Most significantly, Germany, the biggest member of the euro zone, will release factory orders on Monday and production numbers on Tuesday.

Both those measures are expected by economists to show small improvements in November from levels at or near the lowest in three years, during a quarter when most reckoned the country was in recession.

For the euro region as a whole, economic confidence on Monday and unemployment on Tuesday may draw the most attention.

The European Central Bank tends to begin the year quietly and 2024 is no exception. Only a few appearances

are scheduled, including French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau on Tuesday, Vice President Luis de Guindos and Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel on Wednesday, and ECB chief economist Philip Lane on Friday.

Over in the UK, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and colleagues testify to parliament on financial stability on Wednesday. Two days later, gross domestic product for November will be released, with a partial rebound expected by economists from October’s drop.

Meanwhile, the London Underground will come to an effective standstill for most of this week after talks to avert a strike by the RMT union failed to produce a breakthrough.

Switzerland releases inflation numbers on Monday that may show a mild acceleration — though remaining comfortably below the 2 percent ceiling targeted by the Swiss National

Bank for the seventh month in a row.

Poland, Serbia, Romania

THREE monetary decisions are scheduled in Eastern Europe: On Wednesday, Poland’s central bank is likely to extend a pause in rate cuts following the government’s plan to boost budget spending, and as inflation stays elevated.

Serbian officials on Thursday may keep borrowing costs on hold as they await a return of price growth to their tolerance band.

And on Friday, Romania’s central bank is also expected to leave rates steady, at 7 percent, as policymakers watch for resurgent inflation due to tax changes in the first part of 2024.

Hungary’s latest reading of consumer-price growth will be released the same day, with a slowdown to 5.9 percent anticipated by economists.

That’s still faster than all but one member of the euro zone, neighboring Slovakia. Bloomberg News

B4 Monday, January 8, 2024

Explainer BusinessMirror

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From Houthis to Hezbollah, a look at the Iran-allied groups rallying to arms around the Middle East

By Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press

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issiles, rockets and drones struck targets around the Middle East this week as the United States, Israel and others clashed with Iran-allied militant groups—with attacks hitting in vital Red Sea shipping lanes, along Israeli-Lebanon borders emptied by fleeing residents and around the region’s crowded capitals and US military installations.

Together, Israel and its U.S. allies were facing two realities they knew all too well going into the war in Gaza: The Gaza-based Hamas militant group is far from alone as it battles for its survival. And by launching an all-out campaign to eliminate Hamas as a fighting force, Israeli and American leaders also are confronting simultaneous attacks from a strengthening defensive alliance of other armed militant groups linked with Hamas and Iran.

This week, the risk of being drawn into a wider, more chaotic and deadlier conflict with an array of regional enemies loomed large. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior Biden administration envoys were traveling to Middle East capitals on Friday to calm tensions and deter further attacks.

Here’s a breakdown of the armed groups facing the United States and Israel in the Middle East, a look at what unites some of them, and what’s different about each.

Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah train in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, Sunday, May 21, 2023. AP/Hassan Ammar

the Houthis, the Houthis moved increasingly close to Iran as a source of materiel support.

Saudi and US attempts to formally end the Saudi-led war in Yemen have failed to bring Yemen’s war to a close, but had succeeded in stopping what were sporadic missile and drone strikes by the Houthis against their richer Gulf neighbors. The Houthis, who have limited popular support in Yemen outside of their immediate base, are seen as more independent of Iran in their actions than some of the other groups in the alliance. The strikes on shipping since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza are some of the Houthis' first outward-facing attacks, other than at its Gulf enemies.

THE SITUATION

The United States is scrambling to quell attacks by a range of armed groups that are allied to Iran and to each other. They are: n Hamas in Gaza; n powerful Hezbollah, the dominant force in Lebanon; n smaller militias in Iraq and Syria; n Houthis in the poor Arabian peninsula country of Yemen, who are sometimes seen as more of the loose cannons of the alliance.

All the groups have escalated attacks on US, Israeli or global targets within their reach since Israel launched its war in Gaza on October 7, after Hamas’s deadly crossborder raids. The aim of Iran and of the armed groups at large is to aid Hamas with attacks that distract the focus of Israel and the United States, and that make the military, economic and political costs of continuing the war against Hamas too great for Israel and the United States.

The groups don’t necessarily want further additional escalation themselves, given their odds in any all-out confrontation with two of the world's strongest militaries, experts say. But under the leadership of the late Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the US in 2020, the far-flung array of Iranian-allied militias knitted themselves into a more cohesive network.

They also grew into a common understanding, said Randa Slim, a regional analyst with the Washington-based Middle East Institute: When the survival of any one was threatened, all would rally.

THE PLAYERS: HAMAS What: Based in Gaza. Founded in 1987

IRAN-ALLIED MILITIAS IN SYRIA AND IRAQ What: Array of smaller Iranian-backed

militant groups that have battled with U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria for years. Mount sporadic attacks against bases in the region where US troops are deployed to fight Islamic State group insurgents.

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the Israeli flag as one of them waves a Palestinian flag in a pro-Palestinian rally at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, November 18, 2023. AP/Vahid Salemi

at a time of widespread protests by Palestinians against Israel ’s occupation. Has early ties to one of the Sunni world’s most prominent groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the 1920s.

Has vowed to annihilate Israel and has carried out suicide bombings and other deadly attacks on civilians and Israeli soldiers.

Background: Hamas seized control of Gaza by force in 2007, the year after it won parliamentary elections there with 44 percent of the vote. Israel has kept Gaza under a devastating blockade ever since, restricting movement of people and goods in and out of the territory. Hamas receives backing from Arab and Muslim countries, including Qatar and Turkey. Although a Sunni Muslim group, Hamas leaders have moved closer to Shiite Muslim Iran and its allies over the years. Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel were seen by many as Hamas’s bid to reclaim relevance on the world stage. Israel's far-right government had sidelined any attempt at a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian political agreement, and world attention faded away.

HEZBOLLAH What: Formed in 1982 in response to

the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where it is based. One of the strongest members of the Iran-allied alliance, militarily and organizationally. A Shiite Muslim group. Took part in repeated attacks against the United States through the mid-1990s, including the deadly 1983 bombing of a US Marines barrack in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. Has participated in Lebanon’s government since 1992. Its military wing is stronger than the country's armed forces.

Background: A 2006 war with Israel provoked by Hezbollah’s kidnapping of Israeli soldiers devastated southern Lebanon and Beirut. Many ordinary Lebanese are deeply fearful of a new war with Israel in the wake of the Gaza fighting. Wary of a repeat of the war itself, Hezbollah has lobbed rockets and missiles across its southern border into Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, losing fighters daily in return fire, but held back from further dramatic escalation. That may have changed with a presumed Israeli strike this week that killed a Hamas leader sheltering in

Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that his group had to retaliate, or else all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack.

HOUTHIS What: Based in Yemen, overseeing one of

the world’s most vital shipping routes for oil and other trade. Have launched rockets, missiles and drones at commercial vessels during the Gaza war. Forced some major shippers to change route and threatens a potentially major toll on the world's economy. Formally known as Ansar Allah. Had its start as one of several armed groups vying internally for power in fractured, impoverished Yemen. While Shiite Muslim, it’s of a different branch than Iran. Group’s motto calls for destruction of Israel and the United States, though it has been largely focused on affairs in Yemen.

Background: At odds with Yemen's government, Houthis seized control of Yemen's capital in 2014 and soon controlled much of the north. After Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates opened attack in 2015 in an unsuccessful attempt to rout

Background: There has been a dramatic spike in attacks by Iran’s proxies in those two countries since the open of the war between Israel and Hamas. Iraq says it is working with the US to contain the militias there. On Thursday, the US unleashed an airstrike against the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad, killing a high-ranking militia commander. It was an attempt to discourage more attacks.

THE ISLAMIC STATE, AL-QAIDA AND OTHER ARMED SUNNI MUSLIM GROUPS What: Israel’s deadly military campaign

in Gaza, and the United States' support for it, are sparking calls to action by violent extremist groups that have long battled the West and other enemies.

Background: On Thursday, a spokesman for the Islamic State called on Muslims around the world to carry out killings in what he said would be vengeance for the people of Gaza. “Oh lions of Islam, hunt your prey—the Jews, Christians, and their allies—in the streets and alleyways of America, Europe, and the world,” Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansar said in a speech transcribed by the SITE intelligence group. “Break into their homes, kill them, and torment them in every way you can.”

Style

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • Monday, January 8, 2024

B5

New yearnings GIFTS GALORE

Going for fresh and sweet or effortlessly chic is easy FROM donning party chic at the office holiday gathering to looking your best in the season of cheer or otherwise, it is always a great time to elevate our lip game.

Adding even the slightest dash of lip color defines the feature that shines when you smile or laugh—boosting your confidence and your mood in a single swipe. For your go-to looks, there are tons of effortlessly chic, wearable, and fuss-free makeup ideas to consider. You can vamp up your fits with ombre lips, or embrace the cooler weather with strawberry makeup look. Or you can go bejeweled with some eye-catching makeup in icy silver, glittery gold, or vivid pastels that all go best with a subtle and natural shade of pink or that trendy lip liner-andgloss combo.

Whichever you’re going for, complete your look with Mentholatum LipCare Water Colour Lip Balm. It should be your go-to balm as it delivers a sheer, natural color. It’s complete with a nourishing, melt-into-your-lips formula with flower oils such as jasmine and chamomile extracts that keep your lips petal-soft and plump. This limited-edition offering is a beauty must-have for quick everyday application, or for easy makeup looks that call for MLBB shades. Just line your lips and glide this on, and you’re all good.

It’s also a versatile lip product. Water Colour Lip Balm can be a great primer, making it the perfect base for any lip pigment or used as a lip topper to give you that stylish high shine finish. You can even get creative by applying it with your other favorite lippies to achieve that ombre lip effect. It’s offered in three gorgeous shades to match your look: Charming Red, Sugar Coral, and Sweet Pink. Now available exclusively at Watsons, it’s a thoughtful stocking stuffer for you and your friends who could use a multifunctional daily lip balm that moisturizes, adds a natural tint, and delivers an on-trend sheen.

If you’re looking to tick off that “something unique” on your gift list, Mentholatum LipCare also offers LipIce Magic Color that glides on clear, then changes to your own unique subtle pink hue to enhance the natural beauty of your lips. Pick the Strawberry for its fresh and sweet berry flavor, or Fragrance Free to keep things simple.

Check out Mentholatum LipCare at selected Watsons branches nationwide, or shop online at watsons.com.ph or the official Mentholatum store on Lazada and Shopee.

Coach bags, Sofia Andres for F&C Jewelry, Seiko Prospex Watch, Old Navy, Sarah Lahbati for Nanis Italian Jewels, Montblanc Muses Maria Callas Special Edition, and Banana Republic.

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LONG with the New Year resolutions are new yearnings for shiny, new things. Here are some indulgent suggestions: For bag collectors, the new place to lose oneself in is at the new Coach store at Greenbelt 5.

The New York-founded brand houses its latest Shine Collection, which introduces the iconic Tabby and new Penn designs in metallic and patent leather, and the playful Coach Shapes bags.

For those who fancy fine jewelry, there are homegrown heirloom brand F&C Jewelry and Nanis Italian Jewels. Founded in Iloilo City in 1973 by enterprising couple Marcelino M. Florete Jr. and Susan Caperonce-Florete, F&C occupies a special perch in the local luxury scene. In 2010, it collaborated with Rajo Laurel for a capsule collection called Rings

by Rajo. Over the years, it had actresses Bea Alonzo and Coleen Garcia as brand ambassadresses.

For its 50th year, F&C, which can be found at all SM Stores and its flagship store in Ayala Malls Glorietta, enlisted fresh-faced actress Sofia Andres who shared: “Jewelry can symbolize status but beyond that, it’s a form of self-expression. It allows one to express one’s style and taste in fashion, and it also helps to convey your emotions just like when you give jewelry to your loved ones for their birthdays, weddings, and many more.”

Meanwhile, Rustan’s Silver Vault introduces the latest jewel in its crown—Nanis Italian Jewels.

Founded in 1990 by Laura Bicego and her husband Piero Marangon, Nanis’ mantra is to “free the jewelry” from its traditional confines and offer jewelry made by women, for women while its logo says, “FabbricFabbrica del lusso Italiano contemporaneo,” which means factory of Italian contemporary luxury, encapsulating the brand’s soul which “aims to fully express the sophisticated contemporary woman through the medium of gold.”

For clotheshorses, Old Navy and Banana Republic are excellent options. This season, Old Navy offers pants in various permutations: the stretchy Wide-Leg Pixie pants for that main-character vibe, the pleated and wide-leg Taylor Trouser for a glow-up look, and the Cargos for a family-friendly feel.

Banana Republic Greenbelt 5 and www. bananarepublic.com.ph offer ultimate versatility and timeless style. There are rugged-yet-refined women’s pants and jeans, crafted in wool and cotton. The men can also freshen up their wardrobe with foundational pieces such as dress shirts that go from business to pleasure. The brand also carries perfectly tapered cargo pants with lots of pocket space.

For watch collectors and culture advocates alike, there’s the Seiko Prospex Watch inspired by the

Ifugao Rice Terraces. Limited to only 1,500 pieces, the timepiece is made of stainless steel and bezel with ceramic display, sapphire crystal with magnifier, anti-reflective coating on inner surface; LumiBrite on hand, indexes, and bezel; and a water resistance of 200m/660 ft, as well as ridging etched on the face with the image of the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

And finally, for fellow writers, there’s the Montblanc Muses Maria Callas Special Edition.

Inspired by ‘La Divina’—the divine one—the luxury label incorporated her iconic style in its newest collection of writing instruments. Turquoise was one of Callas’ favorite colors, so the resin of the cap and barrel of the pens are of the same hue.

Montblanc is available at Rustans Makati, Rustans Shangri-La, Rustans Cebu, Greenbelt 5, City of Dreams, Resorts World and Solaire Resort Entertainment City.

One of the 20th century’s style icons, Callas was oftentimes clad in haute couture and luxurious accessories. “[Montblanc’s] clip, particularly the clip stone, is an homage to Callas’ great love of jewelry and flowers.

The stone’s petal shape recalls the leaf of a new rose that was named after Callas in 1965, while the stone’s deep turquoise shade pays tribute to the color of the Aegean Sea, honoring Callas’ Greek roots,” the company stated. ■

three products from the line, these would be my top picks.

Another thing I like about the line is that they leave the hair smelling so good. All the products in the line are Curly Girl Method compliant, sulfate free, silicone free, color safe, and dermatologically tested. They have skincare inspired textures, vegan formulas and highly sensorial formulas.

For a minimalist hair care routine for curly hair using products from this line, you can start with the shampoo and the Nourishing Conditioner and Leave-in. After that, you can apply the Defining Caring Cream and coil the hair

needed.

Would I purchase the products? I most probably would for my daughter. Now that I’m older, my hair is no longer pin straight but wavy so I have been enjoying the Nourishing Conditioner and Leave-in as well because it defines the waves and eliminates frizz.

The products are available on Lazada (New Summit Colors) and HairMNL. By the way, you don’t need to buy the products as a set. You can get them individually for around P1,300 each.

Curly hair don’t care

I HAVE never understood the Filipinos’ fascination for pinstraight hair. As a child, I had very straight and thin hair so it couldn’t hold clips or ribbons. So I would look wistfully at the curly and lustrous hair of my classmates and wish I had curls, too. My daughter got her curls from her father and all her life, she has wanted straight hair. Early this year, we went to a Korean salon and the hairstylist gave her a really short haircut that brought tears to her eyes. That unfortunate haircut, however, had a happy result. She realized that styled properly, she could wear her hair down without using a hair straightening tool.

Revlon Professional recently sent me their ReStart Curls Ritual set for curly hair, which includes a Nourishing Cleanser, Nourishing Conditioner & Leave-In, Nourishing Buttery Mask, Defining Caring Cream, Multipurpose Gel-to-Oil, and NextDay Refreshing Tonic. The whole set costs more than P5,000 so it’s expensive but if you just use it when you’re leaving the house, you could justify the expense (a form of what Gen Z calls “girl math”).

Here’s a breakdown of the products: ■ RESTART CURLS NOURISHING CLEANSER. This is a dual action gentle cleanser that helps to balance scalp microbiome and nourishes curly hair, while moisturizing and hydrating it. This curl-defining shampoo is formulated with jojoba oil, and vegan biomimetic lipids that restore hair’s natural oils. After using this, you will see that curls are indeed

more defined but soft.

■ RESTART CURLS DEEP NOURISHING BUTTERY MASK. This dual action mask helps to balance the scalp’s microbiome and deeply nourish curly hair. This is formulated with jojoba oil, shea butter, and vegan biomimetic lipids. It claims to provides ultimate curl definition.

■ RESTART CURLS NOURISHING CONDITIONER AND LEAVE-IN. This nourishing dual action conditioner is formulated with jojoba oil and vegan biometric lipids. It is formulated without silicones, as are all of the products in the line.

■ RESTART CURLS DEFINING CARING CREAM. This dual action leave-in caring curldefining cream “melts” into hair, helps to balance the scalp’s microbiome, and defines curls. It contains jojoba oil and a mix of defining sugars.

■ RESTART CURLS MULTIPURPOSE GELTO-OIL. This innovative dual action multi-use hair gel-to-oil helps to balance the scalp’s microbiome, nourishes and defines curls.

Infused with natural oils for extra-bouncy curls, this 95 percent natural-origin oil formula can be used as a pre-wash, definer or refresher.

■ RESTART NEXT-DAY REFRESHING TONIC. This nourishes while reactivating curls the day after and provides long-lasting frizz control. The hair tonic is formulated with jojoba oil and a mix of defining sugars for immediate definition and bouncy curls.

Here are my thoughts on the products: The must-haves, in my opinion are the shampoo, the Nourishing Conditioner and Leave-in, and the Multipurpose Gel-to-Oil. The Nourishing Conditioner and Leave-in can be used as a rinse-off and leave-in conditioner so it’s a very practical product. It makes curls tight if you coil them. Meanwhile, the Multipurpose Gel-to-Oil can be used pre-shampoo and as a leave-in conditioner so, yes, if you could only buy only

as

EATING BETTER

ONE of the promises I made to myself in the new year is to eat better and include more vegetables in my diet.

A new favorite is Stuff’d, a casual dining concept from Singapore that serves Mexican and Turkish-influenced salad bowls, burritos, kebabs and quesadillas.

Aside from the burritos, which you can have custom made to your liking and preferences, one of the new offerings at Stuff’d is the Grain Bowl, which has two servings of grains, lettuce, and tomato salsa, with a choice of adobo black beans or buttered corn, paired with grilled chicken or beef chili con carne. I have only so far tried the grilled chicken with my burritos and bowls but I heard that the beef chili con carne is also quite good.

What I usually have is the Daily Bowl, which lets me choose five toppings (I usually go for soba noodles, lettuce, corn, edamame, and black beans with chicken) and a choice of sauce. The choices include roasted sesame and sweet Thai chili. Stuff’d burrito is available in either chicken or beef chili con carne variations and combines tomato salsa and sour cream with iceberg lettuce. You can customize the burrito through sauce options, which include BBQ sauce and mayo cucumber.

I wish I could go to Stuff’d in Eastwood City more often but I live so far away. I have a better chance when they open their second branch in One Ayala Makati.

Follow Stuff’d on Instagram (@stuffdph) for updates.

REVLON Professional’s ReStart Curls Ritual set is a line of products for curly hair. PHOTOS COURTESY OF REVLON PROFESSIONAL

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Monday, January 8, 2024

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Enchanted Kingdom receives government citations, is finalist for IAAPA 2023 Brass Ring Excellence Awards in two categories

THE CLEANEST FUEL IN NUEVA ECIJA CAN NOW BE FOUND IN STA. ROSA

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UEVA ECIJA, widely regarded as the Rice Bowl of the Philippines, can now also boast of being squarely on the growth map of the country’s fastest-expanding chain of fuel stations, Cleanfuel.

Strategically located along Fort Magsaysay Road, Brgy. Soledad, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, the latest Cleanfuel station in the country occupies a vast 2,400 square meter property, making it possible for even several of the largest commercial trucks to simultaneously refuel without blocking the main thoroughfare.

The large property offers more than just maneuvering room for large trucks; locals and travelers alike can visit the onsite convenience stores, food alley, and use Cleanfuel’s famous hotel-quality airconditioned restrooms. With a huge parking space for patrons, you’ll be spending more time shopping than waiting for a parking slot.

If you’re a first-timer at Cleanfuel, don’t forget to inquire about their VIP card or download their newest Rewards App, which

automatically enrolls you in Cleanfuel’s rewards program. The physical VIP card serves as your electronic “key card” to use the air-conditioned bathroom, while the rewards are mostly household items that are both practical and from recognized brands. The more you fuel up at Cleanfuel, the closer you get to exchanging your earned points for a useful item!

As the purveyor of Quality Fuel for Less, Cleanfuel recognizes the importance of contributing to the local economy and supporting the growing needs of Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija’s residents. The new Cleanfuel station is set to provide reliable and affordable fuel options, High Grade Diesel, Clean 91, and Premium 95, ensuring that residents and businesses in the area have access to clean, highquality fuels and exceptional service.

Cleanfuel is committed to delivering top-notch fuels that are efficient, cleanburning, and meet the highest industry standards. Customers can trust Cleanfuel for their vehicle fueling needs.

Outstanding customer service has be-

E

NCHANTED Kingdom (EK), the first and only world class theme park in the Philippines, garnered three government recognitions this year from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Tourism (DOT), amplifying the company’s steadfast vision to be a world-class integrated attractions destination in Asia, and the Philippine leader in wholesome family leisure and entertainment EK was recognized by BIR as the Top 2 Highest Value Added Tax contributor in the Biñan-West Laguna District for the first semester of 2023.

This recognition stands as proof of the company’s prompt and accurate payments, making a significant contribution to the attainment of the district’s revenue goal for the first half of 2023.

EK’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Melissa Y. Monicayo emphasized the company’s commitment to pay the right taxes on time to the BIR. “This is in part of EK’s obligation to give back to our community, as we recognize our impact to the progress of our region,” she explained. In fact, Santa Rosa City Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas acknowledged EK as one of the city’s top taxpayers during EK’s Giant Parol Lighting held last November.

Last November, the DTI-Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion (BDTP) gave a special recognition to Enchanted Kingdom for being the first and longest Go Lokal retail partner during the FlexPinoy: Saludo sa Go Lokal! Retail Partners appreciation ceremony held at the DTI Head Office in Makati City. The event recognized Go Lokal retail partners and store operators who have made significant contributions to the continued success and growth of the innovative market access program of the DTI-BDTP. According to Ms. Ma. Cherina Consunji, Head of Merchandise Division, Enchanted Kingdom embraced the “Go Lokal” initiative and promotes indigenous products through the establishment of “Pugad” in 2016. “Pugad is EK’s local souvenir shop which aims to provide access to new markets and a bigger audience for

come a virtual trademark of Cleanfuel. Its friendly, professional staff are expertly trained and dedicated to providing excellent customer service. As a result, customers can expect an efficient and pleasant refueling experience.

With Cleanfuel’s favorable pricing versus its competitors, Cleanfuel offers affordable fuel prices to provide cost-effective options for the local community, with the assurance of world-class fuel quality and purity.

Cleanfuel president and CEO, Atty Jesus “Bong” Suntay, said, “We are excited to inaugurate our new station in Sta. Rosa Nueva Ecija, as this is the start of many branches that we will open in Central Luzon. In addition, we will also add more stations in Aliaga and Cabanatuan City soon.”

Nueva Ecija was chosen as the site for Cleanfuel’s latest station owing to the fact that the province is one of the top producers of agricultural products in the country, and thereby a vital transport route. Its principal crop is mainly rice, but corn and onion are produced in significant amounts as well. The province is alternately referred to as the “Rice Granary of the Philippines”. Other major crops of the province are banana, calamansi, garlic, mango and vegetables.

Cleanfuel extends its invitation to the residents, farmers and businesses of Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija to the latest Cleanfuel station in the country and experience firsthand how Cleanfuel sets itself apart from the rest. A company that values community and growth, Cleanfuel looks forward to becoming a trusted partner in the progress of Sta. Rosa and, eventually, the entire Nueva Ecija.

“We will remain focused on delivering exceptional products and services, embracing innovation, and staying true to the value that have brought us this far,” explained Suntay.

#tACboForACause: Ayala kicks off 190th year with a meaningful, inclusive run

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O jumpstart its 190th anniversary celebration, Ayala Corporation (AC) welcomes 2024 with tACbo, a run for the benefit of Ayala Foundation’s education programs. tACbo is happening on January 14, 2024 at Ayala Triangle Gardens. Net proceeds of this event will support Ayala Foundation’s education programs, including The Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education (CENTEX), which provides holistic, quality education for bright children from economically disadvantaged families.

Around 6,000 runners from diverse backgrounds are expected to join the tACbo. Runners can sign up for any of the categories: 21K, 10K, 5K, 3K, 1K. Runners and their beloved dogs can also participate in a special 1K run. Interested runners may sign up here: https://bit.ly/3vganbg.

Meanwhile, Ayala Multi-Purpose Cooperative is also sponsoring select PNP cadettes, persons with disabilities, and child runners to join tACbo.

TCL to Showcase Leading Technology Portfolio, Solutions to Inspire Greatness at CES 2024

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CL Electronics, a leading consumer electronics brand and the world’s top two TV brand, recently announced its presence at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), taking place in Las Vegas in January 2024. The company will showcase over a hundred cutting-edge products, demonstrating its leading technology portfolio spanning 15 product categories, including QD-Mini LED TVs, TCL FreshIN air conditioners, TCL Free Built-in Series refrigerators, washing machines, feature-rich mobile devices, AR glasses, commercial displays, one-stop smart energy solutions and more.

As a leading company in premium largescreen TVs and Mini LED technology, TCL is set to present its latest breakthroughs in display technology at CES 2024 and unveil one of the world’s largest QD-Mini LED TVs to audience in the North American region for the first time.

In addition to the award-winning home theater systems, the company will introduce one of the industry’s first smart connected mobile device entertainment solutions which combine smartphones, tablets, smart glasses, and other devices. Among these, the latest NXTPAPER display technology optimized for the human eyes and the RayNeo AR glasses with revolutionary full-color 3D head-up display and powerful AI capabilities will be revealed.

Together with its renowned partners worldwide, TCL continues to inspire greatness for global users through a variety of groundbreaking collaborations, including its role as the Official TV Partner of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States.

In addition, TCL will demonstrate its commitment to a greater and more sustainable future through its latest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

TCL has witnessed consistent growth throughout

Ayala Foundation will also invite child runners from CENTEX schools in Manila and Batangas to join tACbo. You may sponsor their run here: https:// bit.ly/3NEDQ4T Established in 1998, CENTEX was designed to break the cycle of poverty in some of the most vulnerable communities in the country. It focuses on the essentials for lifelong learning, including classroom pedagogy, development of critical thinking skills, values clarification, and use of technology in the classroom. It promotes collaboration among teachers, parents, and other family members in honing students’ confidence and competencies not just inside the classroom but also through after-hours learning.

CENTEX also holds teacher training initiatives that promote student development and community engagement. Present in 19 locations, CENTEX, through its Training Institute, has trained and mentored 10,644 public school teachers since 2011. the first three quarters of 2023. Notably, TCL TVs ranked first in overall shipment in the Philippines, Australia, Myanmar, and Pakistan. Shipment of TCL TVs in the North American region increased 11.4 percent YoY, placing the company third in terms of shipment in the United States. Elsewhere, TCL TVs were second in France and third in the Czech Republic and Sweden in terms of shipment. For mobile devices, TCL smartphones ranked top three in Android phone shipment in North America. Other TCL products including air conditioners and RayNeo’s AR and XR glasses are also leading global markets with their latest, innovative features.

For more details, please refer to the below:

TCL CES 2024 Press Conference

Date and Time: 11 am (PST), January 8, 2024 Location: Mandalay Bay, Islander Ballroom in the North Convention Center TCL CES Booth Date: January 9 to 12, 2024 Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall #18708

artisanal products in the country,” Ms. Consunji furthered.

And most recently, EK was one of the awardees during the “Mabuhay at Salamat Po! Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) Recognition Celebration of Love” held last December 12 at the Makati Diamond Hotel, Makati City. Led by DOT Secretary, Maria Christina Frasco, the event recognized the significant contributions of Enchanted Kingdom and other institutions in advocating the FBSE and contributing greatly to the achievement of training more than 124,000 tourism frontliners for 2023.

As of this writing, 89 percent of EK’s full-time cast members have been trained under DOT’s flagship program which is envisioned to enhance and uplift the quality of tourism services in the country aimed at fostering excellent service to tourists as part of our distinct Filipino brand. Pauline C. Barreiro, EK’s Learning and Development Manager and a certified FBSE enterprise trainer shared that EK is geared towards training 100% of its full-time Cast Members by next year.

Moreover, Enchanted Kingdom’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Dr. Cynthia R. Mamon also shared that the world-class theme park is a finalist in two categories for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Brass Ring Excellence Award, which recognizes significant achievement in the global attractions industry.

EK is a finalist for the Human Resources Excellence: Best Health and Wellbeing Strategy category and the Games and Merchandise Excellence: Best Retail Visual Merchandise Display category. Winners will be officially announced and the awarding will be in the The Venetians, Las Vegas in March 2024.

“The year 2023 is a remarkable year for Enchanted Kingdom, as we recover from the impact of the recent pandemic. We are looking forward to a more magical 2024 as we continue to deliver world-class leisure and entertainment to all Filipinos. As our Anniversary slogan goes, “Be the Magic...Be Enchanted!” Dr. Mamon said.

Pinoy esports teams gun for victories at the Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 Grand Finals

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T is all systems go for the highly anticipated Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 Grand Finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on January 13 and 14. Twenty-six teams from across the Asia Pacific region will compete in Dota 2 and VALOR ANT for the coveted Predator Shield and their share of the $200,000 prize pool.

The question is: How will Filipino teams fare in the tournament?

For Dota 2, iconic teams Blacklist International, Execration, and defending Asia Pacific Predator League champions Polaris Esports will be joined by the winners of the Philippine qualifiers, Made in Philippines.

For VALOR ANT, Team Secret, one of the most renowned teams in the VCT Pacific League, will be alongside Oasis Gaming and ZOL Esports, who both qualified during the Philippine Finals.

“It will be anybody’s game. Predator League is the stomping ground of the region’s upand-coming esports talents. We are excited

to see who is hungry enough for the victory to overcome the competition and win the Predator Shield,” said Sue Ong Lim, General Manager at Acer Philippines.

The two-day event will be filled with ac t ion- pac ked ga m i ng , meet - a nd- g reet sessions with Predator ambassadors, and performances by top Filipino artists, including Acer ambassadors Sarah Geronimo and SB19.

“January 13 and 14 will be an esports and entertainment spectacle like no other. We have prepared so many exciting activities and awesome surprises that everyone will surely enjoy,” said Princess Laosantos, Senior Marketing Manager at Acer Philippines.

Tickets are now available through SM Ticket booths or online at https://www.smtickets. com/tickets/AsiaPacificPredatorLeague.

For more information and updates about Predator League, visit www.facebookcom/ PredatorGamingPhilippines or the official website www.predator-league.com.

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, January 8, 2024 B7

Namamana: Public Relations blood is thicker.

The author with her father, Willie Capulong and her son, Pocholo Reyes VIII taken in 2016

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a m a m a na m a rk s my first column for BusinessMirror as the newest member of the local franchise of International Public Relations Association (IPRA). Thanks to the invitation of my University of Santo Tomas schoolmate Red Samar, Corporate Communications Head of JG Summit Holdings Inc. IPRA board and members warmly welcomed me at the General Membership Meeting held in July 2023.

At my inaugural monthly meeting, the launching of the outstanding book project, “PR Matters: A Communicator’s Guide to the Dynamic World of Public Relations” was the biggest agendum. A whole two months were spent in handson preparation by seasoned public relations practitioners for the launch of one of the most awaited PR trade books.

Trust me, “PR Matters” created so much buzz that even my 81-year-old dad egged me to give it to him as his birthday present.

You might ask why an octogenarian would want a copy of the book.

My dad, Willie Capulong, is a former newspaper man turned PR practitioner. Following a warm recaption for the “PR Matters” book, he wanted his copy to still compare notes. At his prime age, he maintains his Facebook column, attends local press conferences in Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and maintains one housing and

n Nathalie Bernardo takes the helm as VP and Site Head for Sun Life Global Solutions in the Philippines

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Sun Life Global Solutions (SLGS), a microcosm of the global insurance and asset management leader Sun Life, has appointed Nathalie Bernardo as Vice President and Site Head for Sun Life Global Solutions (SLGS)

Philippines. In this new role, Nathalie will be responsible for leading SLGS Philippines organization and furthering strategic imperatives. Her core responsibilities will include driving technology and digital solutions/outcomes for Asia and business operations and client care for Canada and the US. Tarun Sareen, Managing Director at Sun Life Global Solutions, stated, “SLGS is on a transformational journey, advancing on delivering solutions to our Clients working with business groups as one Sun Life, enabling digital transformation and furthering innovation. We care deeply about

The author with her father, Willie Capulong and siblings, Winnie Mercado (right) and Gigi Gregorio (middle) taken in July 2023.

few politicians as clients.

Growing up, I witnessed him implement PR campaigns where some tactics and tools had been done by me with my two other sisters. Four decades ago, our weekends, rain, or shine, were almost always spent delivering press releases to major dailies and tabloids in the Metro.

I have memorized the routes and locations of the major dailies and publications. I know the best time to deliver the press releases to meet the so-called deadlines. I grew up meeting up close and personal, editors in chief, business, and motoring editors. I even met my first boyfriend, now husband, at the National Press Club since we were both campaigning for specific press candidates running as officers.

Without a doubt this inceptive exposure to the field propelled me to take up Communication Arts at UST where the late and much-loved Ramon Bong Osorio was a college teacher in about 3 or 4 professional courses, particularly PR courses, Introduction and Advance. Upon graduation in 1990, armed with a cloth of independence, I declared that I would work outside WEC and Associates. Being a “nepo” baby, I landed a PR Assistant job under the tutelage of Romeo “Butch” Pajarillo, then director of Public Relations Unit at the Department of Trade and Industry.

My dad worked for a leading Cebu-based motor vehicles dis-

our Clients, our colleagues, and our communities, and are passionate about driving positive outcomes. We are excited to have Nathalie on board. She brings strong leadership credentials and rich experience in multi-functional operations management, client engagement, global solutions delivery, building organizational capabilities, and delivering technology solutions for the business.

I am looking forward to Nathalie playing a key role in this strategic evolution and wish her great success.”

With more than 20 years of experience, Nathalie comes with

tributor as their corporate communication head starting from when Japanese motorcycles were its prime product moving to the four wheeled vehicles, South Korea’s Daewoo and American made Chrysler cars. In 1994, I joined my dad at his firm where we had a petroleum company as a client and took charge of their break in the Philippine market in the mid 1990’s.

In my current role as head of Corporate Affairs, Public Relations management is one of the pivotal tasks. Back to the PR grind, I see myself duplicating some of Dad’s strategies and tactics. In the decades he spent in Public Relations, I picked up a lot of timetested lessons and soft skills that others would have just read in textbooks. Here are top five lessons:

1. Pakikisama (Building Relationships) —James E. Grunig

who coined the Excellence Theory, emphasized the role of public relations in building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. This significant role was well introduced to me at an early age and somehow, it is but natural to foster new and genuine connections, networking, and cultivating trust for whatever account I was working with. Perhaps this is the layman’s term where ma-PR originated from. When you put relationship building and maintaining as a core function of PR, then all your efforts will center on ensuring that trust is always upheld.

ing with your publics. This too is what I learned from my dad, who started as a reporter for The Manila Times and the defunct Daily Express. Through his own writing, he passed on the art of crafting compelling messages, tailoring communication to different audiences, and utilizing various channels to deliver information effectively.

3. Pang-aangkop (Adoptability and Flexibility) —This skill

is necessary in an ever-evolving discipline. My dad pushed the importance of being in tune with the latest in industry trends, technological advancements, and societal changes. Now more than ever, in today's digital age, communicators of all ages must navigate various online platforms and channels. In the late 80’s, all my college friends had it easy since we drafted our thesis using the early versions of Apple desktop called Macintosh computers at the time when most of our classmates used typewriters for their manuscripts. So even if we are called immigrants of the digital age, both my dad and I strictly ensure we keep up with the latest devices, relevant apps, and acknowledge the strong presence of artificial intelligence.

4. Pangako ng etika at integridad (Ethics and Integrity)—I have

doubt, public relations professionals need persuasive communication skills. But form and substance dictate how one communicates.

Joseph McCormack in his book, Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less, focused on brevity as a skill that one must possess to be effective in communicat-

learned early on that the only way to conduct one’s agenda is through ethical means and maintaining exacting standards of integrity.

I used to joke that we could have amassed wealth if my dad had leveraged his connections decades ago. No matter how lucrative a project may be, if it will end up unacceptable to the environment and our society, it will not be accommodated. As a result, I have given one too many lectures on ethical decision-making process, emphasizing the long-term benefits of ethical behavior to establish credibility and trust.

strong leadership credentials in IT solutions, global delivery models, IT service management, and customer service delivery. She has a proven track record in multifunction operations management, multi-geography support, shared services, global delivery center management, customer engagement, and vendor management.

Nathalie commented, “I am honored to be a part of Sun Life Global Solutions. As I undertake this new journey, I look forward to driving SLGS Philippines in alignment with SLGS vision and SLGS Next Strategy. My primary focus will be enabling business growth

and ensuring the delivery of topquality services. I will also work towards harnessing the strength of our dynamic workforce to enhance our value proposition and foster essential business partnerships across various markets.”

During her tenure as Managing Director at Accenture, Nathalie was responsible for driving business growth and delivering quality services. Her achievements included establishing the Philippines as a primary delivery location for Infrastructure and Cloud Services for the Japanese market, ensuring seamless delivery during Covid-19 mobilization, and successfully

2. Pakikipag-usap (Effective Communication) —Wit hout a

5. Pagkamalikhain (Creativity and Innovation) —Definitely

being creative and innovative are key skills in any field. PR often calls for producing creative ideas and thinking outside the box to capture what is now called a scarce commodity - attention and engage audiences at their preferred platform. To be creative, one must be exposed to a wide range of inspirations through reading, joining interest clubs, constant updating, and continuous learning. My dad encouraged all his kids to embrace creativity, explore innovative approaches, and challenge conventional thinking.

Succinctly, there are more lessons from my dad that would entail a whole book. Fortunate it may seem, my kids are walking in the same communication and creative industries arena. The communication courses I handle at the Department of Communication at Far Eastern University allow me to pass on these lessons to Generation Z students integrating technology-driven creative output.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Rowena Capulong Reyes, PhD is the vice president for Corporate Affairs of Far Eastern University (FEU). She is an executive committee member of the Metro Manila Film Festival 2023 and heads its education committee.

She was formerly the Dean of FEU Institute of Arts and Sciences and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. She is the immediate past president of the Philippine Association of Communication Educators serving two terms.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations.

Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

merging Service Desk and Workplace into a new portfolio, among others. Nathalie’s previous roles at Coca-Cola Far East and HewlettPackard Asia Pacific also demonstrated her ability to excel in global program management, transformation activities, and managing large teams. Nathalie’s academic qualifications are a testament to her craft and dedication. She has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management Engineering, a minor in Chemical Engineering from De La Salle University, and an MBA from the De La Salle University Graduate School of Business.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 | M

onday, January 8, 2024 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Sports scribes salute RSA, MVP T

WO of the country’s top businessmen and sports patrons stand side by side in the coming San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Annual Awards Night.

San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon S. Ang and First Pacific Company Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan will be honored as Executives of the Year for working together to restore dignity and faith to Philippine basketball in the year just passed.

The traditional gala night is set January 29 at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel where the best of the best of Philippine sports in 2023 will be feted in a celebration presented by ArenaPlus, the leading sports entertainment in the Philippines, and major sponsors Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Milo and PLDT/Smart.

Also backing the event are Philippine Basketball Association, Rain or Shine, 1-Pacman Partylist of Rep. Mikee Romero, and Premier Volleyball League.

Known corporate rivals whose competitiveness spilled over to the basketball court, Pangilinan

and Ang would set aside their competitive nature to work together for Philippine sports.

The initial outcome came in the form of the country’s successful co-hosting of the FIBA World Cup where SMC came on board as major partner of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas—of which Pangilinan is chairman emeritus—to help defray the staggering cost of staging the event country hosted for the first time after 45 years.

But their biggest collaboration happened during the 19th Asian Games at a time when Gilas Pilipinas lost the core of its FIBA World Cup team, including head coach Chot Reyes.

With barely three weeks left before departing for Hangzhou, the two giant corporations held a landmark meeting at the last minute and mapped out the course of action for the country’s Asiad campaign.

Tim Cone was elevated from deputy to head coach of the Philippine team, while players from both the SMC and MVP franchises were made available for the Gilas Pilipinas roster.

The partnership produced a historic moment as the underdog Gilas squad came out triumphant and

SAN MIGUEL Corp.

President and CEO Ramon S. Ang (right) and First Pacific Company Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan will be honored as Executives of the Year.

Bennie slam

San Miguel import Bennie Boatwright Jr. looks unstoppable as he slams one in against Terrafirma in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioners Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The Beermen won, 132110. COURTESY OF RUDY ESPERAS bagged the basketball gold for the first time in 61 years.

Given up for dead, the hastily assembled unit of Cone came back from the grave and pulled off a miraculous 77-76 comeback win in the semifinals against host and defending champion China behind the heroic of Justin Brownlee, whose two improbable three-pointers in the final 23 seconds lifted the Filipinos to the dramatic victory.

Gilas later took care of business against Jordan in the gold medal

Top 30 parbusters see action in new PGT season at TCC

LEBRON JAMES is perturbed by the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss. AP

T

HE Country Club (TCC) Invitational—forerunner of each Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) season—tees off with its 19th edition on January 23 with a stellar cast made up of the top 30 in last year’s PGT Order of Merit (OOM) creating an intense competition for both substantial prizes and coveted prestige at the TCC course in Canlubang.

Guido van der Valk aims not just for a repeat but a “three-peat” victory in the 72-hole championship, which is staking P6 million in total prizes for the second straight year, maintaining its status as a major championship.

The Dutchman beat Lloyd Go by five shots last year to break a trend of one-stroke victories in the four previous years.

Van der Valk’s previous triumph in 2020 further highlights his prowess, making him a formidable contender in the tournament offering a top prize of P2 million.

The championship—launched by International Container Terminal Services Inc. chairman and CEO Ricky Razon in 2003 to honor his father and ICTSI founder Don Pocholo—has evolved into an annual gathering of the country’s elite and emerging talents.

There were no TCC Invitationals in 2015-16 and 2021-22.

Expected to join van der Valk in the title hunt are reigning OOM winner and last year’s PGT two-stage champion Jhonnel Ababa, along with other leg titlists Clyde Mondilla, Reymon Jaraula, Ruperto Zaragosa and Ira Alido and former TCC Invitational winners such as Tony Lascuña, Frankie Miñoza, Miguel Tabuena and three-time champion Angelo Que. The TCC course, known for its exacting features, including sheer length, unsettling hazards and sleek putting surface, adds an additional layer of difficulty with stifling heat and high winds expected at this time of the year, making it a true test of golf for the men of the tour.

LeBron James: We just suck right now

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OS ANGELES—LeBron James didn’t sugarcoat his increasingly sour feelings after the Los Angeles Lakers spiraled to their 10th loss in 13 games Friday night, falling 127-113 to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“We just suck right now,” a visibly perturbed James said after he scored 32 points in the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss.

Anthony Davis had 31 points in Los Angeles’s latest discouraging defeat since winning the inaugural National Basketball Association (NBA) In-Season Tournament.

The Lakers—who gave up a season-high 23 3-pointers to a Memphis team that’s last in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage— have beaten only San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Charlotte since raising the trophy in Las Vegas four weeks ago.

Before the game, coach Darvin Ham said he felt confident in his job security because of his discussions with owner Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka.

After the Lakers’ latest dismal effort, Ham praised his team’s areas of improvement while expressing a curious frustration with the public reception of their recent struggles.

“This is the NBA, man,” Ham said.

“This is a marathon. You have to look at the totality of the picture. I’m tired

of people living and dying with every single game we play. It’s ludicrous, actually. It’s like, ‘Come on, man. This is a marathon.’ We hit a tough stretch.

It’s the same team. We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we’ve just got to get back to that.

We’ve got to keep the fight, though.

We cannot lose our fight.”

James doesn’t share his coach’s optimism: He reacted negatively to a suggestion that the Lakers’ solid play in the tournament final was an indication that this team can be a championship contender.

“That was just two games, though,” James said. “That was a small sample. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas, keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games.

We took care of that business…but that was really just two games.”

Austin Reaves had 19 points and a career-high 12 assists, but the Lakers dropped to 0-2 to begin a 12-game stretch with just one game outside of Los Angeles. The Lakers acknowledge they’re feeling the strain of their losing streak.

“Wearing this uniform, you get a lot of flack, and guys are watching you under a microscope as a team,” Davis said. “You have a couple of bad games, lose a couple in a row, you can’t lose your confidence. Can’t be on social media, listening to whatever people are

play, 80-70, to regain Asia’s cage supremacy the country last held in Jakarta 1962.

Incidentally, Ang and Pangilinan were previously named Executive of the Year individually by the country’s oldest media organization headed by its president Nelson Beltran, sports editor of The Philippine Star.

Pangilinan was honored with the prestigious award in 2014, while Ang was bestowed the recognition in 2018. saying. We’ve got to stay together in this locker room and find our way out of it. There’s no help coming. There’s no cavalry. We’ve got to do it with the guys we’ve got and remain together.”

Jaren Jackson Jr. hit five 3-pointers and scored 31 points and Marcus Smart added 29 points with a season-high eight 3-pointers for the Grizzlies, who earned just their second win in six games.

Desmond Bane had 24 points and 13 assists while Ja Morant scored 21 points for Memphis, whose starting lineup combined for 21 of those 3-pointers. Smart had missed 16 consecutive 3-point attempts over the past five games in a low-percentage shooting season before he hit the first of his 8 3-pointers against the Lakers.

Ziaire Williams added 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter while the Grizzlies pulled away from the Lakers with a game-ending, 24-10 run.

“We got some pretty good looks,” James said. “They turned us over. I had two critical turnovers, missed four free throws. But we had our chances.”

Los Angeles had won six consecutive home games over the Grizzlies in the past 12 months, including three straight in the Lakers’ first-round playoff upset of the second-seeded Grizz last spring.

“It was good, because obviously we haven’t won here in a while,” Morant said. “It’s the team that knocked us out of the playoffs. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be right now during the season, so this was a big-time win for us. We can carry the momentum from this game.”

The Lakers played without two regulars and frequent starters: D’Angelo Russell missed his third straight game with a bruised tailbone, and Rui Hachimura missed his second in a row with a strained left calf.

During the third quarter, Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins got a technical foul for stepping onto the court during play to argue about a no-call during a loose ball scramble between James and Jackson. AP

Nadal fears surgically repaired hip hasn’t healed

A VISUAL masterpiece, The Country Club’s No. 17 has developed a reputation for testing the pros down the stretch.

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RISBANE, Australia—Rafael Nadal has concerns over his surgically repaired left hip just three matches into his comeback from a year-long injury layoff, and just over a week before the Australian Open.

The 22-time major winner needed a medical timeout in the third set of his Brisbane International quarterfinal loss to Jordan Thompson on Friday after failing to convert three match points in the second.

He miscued an overhead backhand on his first match point in the 10th game of the second set, about two hours into the contest. He then missed consecutive forehands from

6-4 in the tiebreaker before No. 55-ranked Thompson rallied to win 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

With the Australian Open starting January 14, Nadal’s rehabilitation from the hip injury and surgery that sidelined him for all of 2023 after the last Australian Open will be tested.

“I hope to have the chance to be practicing next week and to play in Melbourne,” he said. “Honestly, I am not 100 percent sure of anything now.”

Nadal said it felt more like a muscle issue than the tendon problem that caused him so much trouble last year, and he was hopeful it was just fatigue.

“A lot of things can be happening

Paalam leads ABAP box off cast vying for Paris Olympics qualifier

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By Josef Ramos

ARLO PAALAM embarks into hard labor starting this week as he tries to get past the first of two major hurdles in his effort to go for the Olympic gold medal that eluded him in Tokyo three years ago.

Paalam clinched silver at the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021 but that didn’t guarantee his spot on the national team whose members—who will be named after January 15—will still have to go through qualifiers for Paris 2024.

“Everybody’s aspiring to become an Olympian so it’s hard to pick for now, but by this coming week we will have a decision,” Patrico Gaspi told BusinessMirror on Sunday.

Gaspi, head coach of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, along with deputy coaches Ronald Chavez Sr. and Reynaldo Galido and secretarygeneral Marcus Jarwin Manalo have a tough task on their lap determining who gets to qualify for the Olympic qualifying tournaments.

“We just started last Friday and then we continue this coming week to figure out who’s in and who’s out,” Gaspi said.

Only Eumir Felix Marcial has so far qualified for the light heavyweight class in the Paris Games for his silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last October.

Paalam, now fighting as a higher featherweight from the lighter flyweight class in Tokyo, has to contend with three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Ian

Clark Bautista and 2021 Asian championships bronze medalist Junmilardo Ogayre.

The box off are in also being conducted in men’s flyweight, featherweight, welterweight and middleweight with the toughest aspirants flying to Busto Arsizio in Italy for the first world Olympic qualifying competition from February 29 to March 12.

Aspiring for a spot in the flyweight class are Asian under22champion Aaron Bado, 2022 world youth silver medalist Ronel Soyum and two-time SEA Games winner Rogen Ladon.

Cambodia SEA Asian Games light welterweight king Paul Julyfer Bascon, Mark Ashley Fajardo and John Paul Panuayan are fighting for qualification in the light welterweight division while Barcelona 1992 Olympian Chavez’s son, Ronald Jr., Tyler Tanap and Marjon Piñar are contesting for the middleweight berth.

Tokyo Olympic featherweight silver medalist Nesthy Petecio and flyweight Aira Villegas aren’t going through a box off but are being evaluated by the coaches, along with men’s heavyweight aspirant FilipinoBritish heavyweight John Marvin.

Also on the watch list are women’s middleweight Hergie Bacyadan and bantamweight Claudine Veloso.

The coaches are holding the box off at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

The last qualifying tournament will be held in Bangkok from May 23 to June 3 and the Paris Olympics are from July 26 to August 11.

RAFAEL NADAL’S rehabilitation from the hip injury and surgery is being tested. AP in a body like my body after a year without playing tennis,” he said. “So hopefully it is just that, just a muscle that is supercharged. If that’s the thing, perfect.”

The 37-year-old Spaniard opened the tournament with straightsets wins over Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler but was pushed for three hours and 25 minutes by Thompson in what was his third match in four nights.

His energy level waned at the start of the third set. And after Thompson took a 4-1 lead, Nadal was assessed by the trainer for his upper left leg and took a medical timeout.

He said the pain was in “a very similar place to what happened last year, but different stuff.”

“It’s not the same like last year at all because when it happened last year, I felt something drastic immediately,” Nadal said. “Today I didn’t feel anything. The only problem is because the place is the same, you’re a little bit more scared.”

After sending a backhand long on match point to end the longest rally of the match, Nadal walked around the net to embrace Thompson. He blew a kiss and waved to the crowd as he walked off Pat Rafter Arena around midnight. AP